Honkai: Star Rail Tier list (April 2025)

Categories

• DPS - Characters that mainly focus on dealing damage and being the main source of it in the team they are placed in,
• Support DPS - Characters that fall within this category are very rarely played as the primary or sole damage dealer of the team and instead almost always play alongside another character that fills that role instead. Support DPS are still built with the intention to deal damage themselves but also have a kit containing buffs/debuffs to bolster their team's performance and/or have abilities that are directly dependent on others in order to function.
• Amplifier - Characters that do not focus on dealing damage but instead amplify the damage other teammates deal by granting allies buffs or debuffing enemies,
• Sustain - Characters who are capable of keeping the team alive with their abilities.

Special tags

Tags are split into 3 categories: Pros, Cons and Archetype which represent the most defining features of a character's kit and the current meta archetypes they fit into. Archetype tags indicate a connection between characters with that tag e.g. Acheron requires debuffs to work and Silver Wolf applies them. Here is a full list of all current tags and what they mean:

• Break - the character belongs to the Break archetype focusing on Break Effect and Break Efficiency,
• Debuff - the character belongs to the Debuff archetype applying one or many debuffs or has a kit that directly relies on them to function,
• DoT - the character belongs to the Damage-over-Time archetype specializing in applying and/or amplifying DoT effects,
• FuA - the character belongs to the Follow-up Attack archetype benefitting from, buffing or delivering powerful Follow-Up Attacks.,
• Summon - the character fights alongside summons or other entities,
• Advance - the character can manipulate the turn order by either action advancing their allies or themselves,
• Buff - the character can apply various Buffs to help their teammates,
• Delay - the character can delay enemies and hinder their actions in battle,
• Energy - the character can recover the teammates energy,
• SP-Friendly - the character is substantially more skill point friendly than other characters in their role.
• SP-Unfriendly - the character is substantially more skill point un-friendly than other characters in their role.
• Partner New! - the character is incredibly reliant on being partnered with one specific character in order to function at the highest level. Characters marked with this tag will perform one (but sometimes even more) tiers lower than their listed position on the tier list without those characters alongside them.

Meta Lines

Meta Lines categorize each section of the tier list into a power bracket. Here are the four brackets:

• Apex Characters (T0 & T0.5) - characters in this bracket are the cream of the crop. They can do outrageous amount of damage, provide massive buffs (or debuffs) or keep the team alive no matter what the enemy throws at them. They simply can achieve the best, most consistent and accessible results in their best teams, allowing you to easily clear the content,
• Meta Characters (T1, T1.5, T2) - characters in this bracket make clearing the content a breeze, but compared to the Apex characters they require more work from your side. Either their team options are more restrictive, they require bigger Relic investment or they possess a notable weakness or downside. Still, they are all great and won't disappoint you if you give them what they need to shine,
• Niche Characters (T3 & T4) - characters in this bracket are lacking in one or many fields of their role. These characters still possess the ability to clear all content with the right build, endgame blessing, team or enemy line-up but have much lower play rates and success rates than Meta and Apex characters,
• The Forgotten Ones (T5) - characters in this bracket struggle. A lot. Either their kits simply don't work in the mode or they require a ton of investment and love to be able to work. Just avoid them unless your husbando or waifu landed here and you believe in the power of love.

Half tiers

To further define the tier list and correctly represent the power level of each character in relation to each other we have added half tiers to the higher tier brackets. Under our previous system a tier rating jump of 1 tier rating made it difficult to position characters accurately, often leading to multiple characters ending up in the same tier despite a clear power and utility difference.

Criteria

• Manual play,
• Using optimal team composition/support characters,
• Character level 80,
• All Major Traces unlocked and skills upgraded to level 10,
• Character equipped with level 80 non-limited 4★ or 5★ Light Cone (including the 'standard' Light Cones),
• Battle Pass Light Cones aren't taken into account because you can't obtain them without spending,
• Character equipped with 5★ upgraded gear with optimal Main Stats and Sub Stats (with 24 desired sub stats out of a possible 54),
• Eidolon level 0 for 5★ characters,
• Eidolon level 0/6 for 4★ characters.

Roles

We compare characters within their role - so DPS are compared to other DPS and the ratings are adjusted based on their performance within the role. Don't try to compare characters between roles (for example an Amplifier with a DPS), because their ratings mean different things.

• DPS - Rating is heavily influenced based on the characters ability to deal enough damage to achieve the 3-star objective, the easier and more quickly achieved the higher the rating,
• Support DPS - Rating is heavily influenced based on the damage they provide, the buffs and debuffs or efficiency boost these characters create or the utility they provide against certain encounters,
• Amplifier - Rating is influenced based on the damage amplification abilities of the character and the utility they provide to the team,
• Sustain - Rating is influenced based on the characters ability to keep the team alive and the utility they provide. The more utility and higher the safety, the higher the rating.

Other criteria affecting the ratings

Each tier list rates characters based on their average value in the specific game mode it represents. The higher a character is rated on the tier list the greater their power and more widely they can be used effectively in the mode, helping the players in getting all rewards every cycle. We aren't looking at 0-cycle potential. We consider:

• Flexibility - how the characters kit functions against various enemy types, amounts of enemies and their ability to perform when not fighting against enemies vulnerable to their element,
• Investment - some characters require specific limited 5★ units, heavy investment in certain relic sets or an abundance of sub-stats in order to function at the highest level. Each of these points impacts the rating in a negative way. - the more the character requires to perform well, the bigger the impact,
• Utility - recently released characters possess abilities that lie beyond their defined role, for example Amplifiers/Sustains that can deal decent damage. The more a character helps the team outside of their role, the bigger positive impact on their rating it has.

09/04/2025

In this update we’ll be tackling the release of

• 
  Castorice - Based on our initial testing, we have decided to place Castorice in T0 for MoC and T0.5 for AS and PF. It’s worth noting that Castorice can absolutely put up T0 performances in AS and PF at the time of her release, but the buffs and encounters of both modes at the time (or shortly after she drops) heavily favor her. For this reason, until we see additional phases from her, we’re not granting her the top spot in those modes and taking it slow (just like we did with The Herta).
• Castorice uses Bailu LC's for the purpose of the tier list rating. The calculations on the profile != tier list criteria.
• 
  Trailblazer • Remembrance - RMC has been strong since their release and every new top tier character that drops seems to have a place for them in their team - Castorice is no exception and RMC is one of her best teammates. Castorice’s arrival marks a tipping point and we’re raising their rating to be T0 in all three modes.
• 
  Luocha - Similar to RMC, Luocha’s meta relevance has been on the rise as of late and he has gotten another boost from Castorice’s release - which when combined with his spot alongside Mydei, gives him two top meta teams to play within. With that said, his rise on the tier list wont be quite as decisive as he has direct competition in his role alongside Castorice from the incredibly flexibly Gallagher, who works not only with Castorice, but many other teams and archetypes as well. We’re raising Luocha in PF and watchlisting him to move up in MoC pending next phase results.

Moving onto MoC, we've seen there the introduction of the Flame Reaver boss which adds another AoE-themed fight to the mode and the debut of the new enemies: Noontide Gryphon (Elite that summons hoards of adds) and Moonlit Pegasus - both boasting tremendous HP pools, sitting at roughly 60% of the boss of side 2 (Kafka). On top of new enemies, the HP and difficulty increased again in MoC. The result of those factors is the continual domination of characters with access to potent AoE kits and - in the case of the new elites - exceptional blast damage. At the same time, most 1.x and 2.x characters continue to decline (with a few exceptions). Because of that, we had to make some adjustments to the ratings:

• 
  Firefly T0.5 T1. Since the arrival and shift toward AoE in MoC, Firefly (at E0) has been unable to dominate quite like she used to, losing out to characters with AoE-themed kits. Firefly also continues to suffer at the hands of new bosses that dodge her Technique like Flame Reaver, forcing her to rely on natural Fire Weakness (absent on a lot of recent encounters) or having to implant pesky adds one by one! This MoC phase sadly continues the downward trend and Firefly isn’t quite keeping up with her competition in the Apex tiers at the moment, so we’re lowering her rating for now.
• 
  Feixiao T0.5 T1. Similar to Firefly, Feixiao is also suffering in the post 3.0 world. The constant AoE encounters and unbelievably tanky elite enemies she has to take out individually, mean Feixiao isn't clearing as fast as characters with AoE based kits or absurdly strong Blast attacks (Mydei or Aglaea) that have the elemental advantage over her.
• With Feixiao moving down for the time being, we’re also adjusting the rating of her partners - March 7th (Hunt), Topaz and Moze - who see the most use by her side.
• 
  Kafka &
  
  Black Swan T1.5 T2. Do we need to say anything? DoT is on the decline and slowly we're losing hope that the archetype will ever recover.
• 
  Blade T3 T2. HP meta is on the raise and Blade benefits from it enough to raise him back into the Meta section on the tier list.
• 
  Argenti T1 T0.5 &
  
  Herta T1.5 T1. Some characters that are played alongside the meta power house The Herta - like Argenti and Herta (Small edition) - are performing above their current placements on the tier list. Based on this, we’re raising their ratings for now, but may reassess their position after the release of Anaxa who promises to be a potent “3.0 powered” Erudition partner for The Herta.
• 
  Ruan Mei T0 T0.5. Ruan Mei isn’t currently utilized as a first choice for any of the new overlords of MoC - Mydei, Castorice, The Herta or Aglaea. While she’s still incredibly generic and can actually be used as a 2nd or 3rd choice for each of them (as well as many other high rated characters), we feel it isn’t enough at this point in time to hold onto her T0 position, especially with Firefly moving down the list.
• 
  Huohuo T0.5 T0. Huohuo is commonly used with the two powerhouses - The Herta and Aglaea - where her energy regeneration is incredibly impactful. Because of that, her performance in the recent phases drastically improved, even overtaking Aventurine and Lingsha whose main archetypes are on the decline. For these reasons we’re raising her up a tier.
• 
  Aventurine added to watchlist. Aventurine’s constant shielding and comfortable SP-positive playstyle remains a mainstay for many players' rosters, making him an ever popular choice. With that said he has a distinct disadvantage compared to some of his peers. The shields that make him so comfortable also mean he can’t be run with the self sacrificial obsessed Castorice or Mydei, who are two of the strongest damaging characters in MoC right now. He can be run alongside The Herta and Aglaea but each of them have other sustains they might prefer more instead. Aventurine still has his top place alongside other high tier units, but with many of them experiencing a drop off and without a best in slot foothold alongside the Tier 0 DPS threats that continue to crop up, we’re watchlisting him to potentially move down next update.
• 
  Boothill added to watchlist. While Firefly performance is dropping, Boothill showcased the opposite behavior. Despite low playrate, his performance in the last 2 phases of MoC was quite good and we're considering raising him back to Apex tier - pending next phase results.

Our next update will be after the next phase of Apocalyptic Shadow (so next week) and will involve a major restructure of the top tiers of the mode (as things are getting too crowded there).

27/03/2025

This phase of Pure Fiction has continued the trends we’ve seen in the mode since the rework while maintaining the sharp difficulty increase that occurred in 3.0. The major exception to this trend has been the release of

Fortunately, or unfortunately, Tribbie can be used with every character (your DPS will fight over her), so the gains accrued are somewhat balanced. Another somewhat concerning trend continues to occur in Pure Fiction though - and it's the widening gap between certain power houses belonging to “Big Erudition”. Characters like

The Herta

Argenti

Due to the fact above, we’re making some adjustments to the tier list as well as marking (or remarking) a few characters with the watchlist tag. As Pure Fiction settles in, it’s clear after the rework some characters are far more consistent than others and consistency is a big part of what it means to remain in the Apex Tier. Here are the changes and watchlists we’re moving forward with this time:

• 
  Herta T0 T0.5. In previous iterations of our tier list, Herta has done enough to be worthy of Tier 0 being a more accessible and still powerful alternative to Jade albeit behind her in performance. Now with the release of Tribbie who arguably performs above Jade the bar has been raised. We feel Jade is worthy of sitting alongside Tribbie for now but Herta doesn’t quite meet the bar. We’re lowering her down a tier for this reason.
• 
  Aglaea T1.5 T1. Aglaea continues her hallmark creep up all of our tier lists with her latest achievement being Pure Fiction. Aglaea has demonstrated competent scores in the mode since her release, matching some of her higher rated Lightning DPS peers blow for blow. With her most recent results, we’re raising her tier again.
• 
  Jing Yuan T0.5 T1. Last phase we had Jing Yuan on the watchlist in order to see if he should remain in the Apex tier. This phase, Jing Yuan unfortunately hasn’t bounced back quite in the way we hoped. When paired with Tribbie his scores were strong, like most characters experiencing the “Tribbie gap” but without her much less so. Right now we feel Jing Yuan is most accurately placed alongside Aglaea as such we’re moving him inline with her new rating for now.
• 
  Kafka &
  
  Black Swan T1.5 T2. Well, It's that time again - DoTs going down the tier list. The game continues to get harder and no DoT support has been released or announced. We look forward to Hoyo's planned buffs for older characters and have high hopes for DoT support soon (Hoyo please).
• 
  Mydei T2 T3. Mydei has performed below expectations in Pure Fiction. Is he capable of scoring competently in sustainless teams alongside helpers like Tribbie? Yes. Is that realistic for most people, worth doing or worthy of remaining in the “meta” tiers? At this stage we don’t think so. Because of this we’re lowering him for now.
• 
  Trailblazer • Harmony T1 T1.5. Break doesn’t have the same edge it used to in Pure Fiction when compared to the CRIT-based Erudition powerhouses like Jade and The Herta. On top of this the new Remembrance MC is scoring unbelievably well and is in direct competition (you can literally only run one or the other) with Harmony MC and most are preferring RMC. It’s due to these reasons, we’re following through on our watchlist from last time and lowering their tier by one.
• 
  Acheron added to watchlist (again). Acheron was watchlisted last time to move up due to her outstanding performance - this time we're listing her to move down instead. Last phase Acheron dominated, having one of her strongest performances to date, while this phase she has performed significantly worse, especially if you don't have Jiaoqiu. But even with him, this phase Acheron struggled quite a lot.
• 
  Rappa added to watchlist (again). Rappa like Jing Yuan is a character we marked with the watchlist to move down in the last update. This update we’re renewing her watchlist - something we try almost never to do. We're doing this because:
• Rappa, as part of the Break archetype, is one of the most notorious benefactors of “sustainless” teams. The difference between running 3 strong supports and Rappa and 2 supports plus a sustain is often the difference between a 40,000 maxed score and barely scraping by on 30,000. Especially when the phase isn’t Fire weak for Lingsha to exploit. Rappa’s 2nd most played team composition, and highest scorer, is “sustainless”.
• Unlike many other DPS characters, Rappa doesn’t need to use Tribbie and still sees tremendous success without her on the team. Where the top 5-6 scoring teams of most DPS include Tribbie, Rappa’s does not.
• When either the enemy isn’t Imaginary weak or the True Grit buff isn’t usable (or both) Rappa suffers. We saw the perfect storm of this occur in 3.0. This is definitely a demerit for Rappa compared to some of her peers who care significantly less for enemy weaknesses and buffs.
• With all three of these things in mind, we have a character that is not only very volatile between phases but also between players. The difference between a Rappa player who is willing to run her sustainless and one who isn’t, is tremendous and the difference in scoring for Rappa between phases in favor of her and against is also staggering. Because of this, we have decided to wait one more phase to decide Rappa’s fate.

19/03/2025

We have just added

Pure Fiction tier list is the next to be updated (as a new phase just started) and you can expect it to happen next week.

13/03/2025

This Apocalyptic Shadow Tier list update is a smaller one. We focused on adjusting the ratings of recently released characters to better reflect how they fit into the meta, alongside making a few other changes.

While this update is a relatively minor one, you can expect major changes either next phase or the one after, specifically focused on the Damage Category. The reason for this is the overabundance of characters residing in the Apex Tier for this mode. If everyone Apex, no one is. Apocalyptic Shadow is a game mode with a much wider variety of encounters than the other two and this variety allows for more characters to have stand out performances over a collection of phases. This is the reason so many characters reside in the Apex Tier currently.

With that said, based on the upcoming character release schedule and drip marketing, we’re confident that the upcoming characters have a good shot at raising - or exceeding - the current Apex power level, continuing the dominance every 3.0 character has displayed so far.

Upcoming characters:

• 
  Mydei a Destruction character releasing incredibly soon,
• 
  Castorice a Remembrance character releasing in 3.2 who is expected to be a damage dealer,
• 
  Anaxa who also releases in 3.2 and is an Erudition character who could be a strong standalone Erudition DPS or work well as a support damage dealer for The Herta (or both).

Going by the track record of 3.0, none of these characters should be weak. By waiting for more of the 3.0 cast to release, we’re confident it’ll be much clearer which characters should remain in Apex and which should not.

While we’re waiting to address the “too many Apex Characters” problem, we did some smaller changes. Here are the characters receiving adjustments this time:

• 
  The Herta T0.5 T0. The Herta has dominated every phase of every mode in endgame since the time of her release. We initially assigned her a somewhat conservative placement in Apocalyptic Shadow, but she’s proven multiple times now that she has what it takes to stand at the top. While this is the case for now, it should be noted that current phases are heavily tailored towards her kit, element and playstyle.
• 
  Aglaea T1 T0.5. Aglaea like The Herta has also has shown she’s far more capable in Apocalyptic shadow than expected, continuing the trend of 3.0 dominance. Aglaea isn’t quite as popular a choice nor as easy to play as her peers but she is certainly capable of achieving outstanding scores in the mode (some of the highest) when played right. For this reason we’re raising her into the Apex Category.
• 
  Kafka
  
  Black Swan
  
  Dr. Ratio
  
  Clara have not been performing at a level we associate with the tiers they’re currently placed in and the other characters that reside there. For this reason we’re moving them down.
• 
  Trailblazer • Remembrance added to Watchlist. Trailblazer Remembrance has displayed incredible performances in all three modes and AS is no exception. While predominantly played with The Herta, they’re also a top pick for sustainless compositions which are rising in popularity and a decent option for Aglaea teams. This combined with the suite of potential damage dealers coming down the line, all of which are expected to be playable with Trailblazer Remembrance, we’re watchlisting them to move to T0.
• 
  Firefly added to Watchlist. Firefly had a tougher time this phase as she struggles against the featured bosses that require AoE to deal with and that feature respawning trash enemies her Technique can’t easily implant Fire weakness into. As one of the most played damage dealers in AS, and a long standing powerhouse, we’re not dropping her just yet, but keeping an eye on if she can bounce back - since this was the first phase in a long time where she struggled so much. Though, if she won't recover, she will drop from T0 next update.
• 
  Topaz & Numby added to Watchlist. Topaz has been performing notably worse than March 7th (Hunt) in Apocalyptic Shadow encounters that involve frequent target swapping, invulnerability phases (that force target swapping) or AoE encounters of which as of late there have been a lot of. The reason Topaz falls behind in these scenarios is that her kit revolves around a single target mark which takes time to move while March revolves around a buff she never has to move. Ultimately, this means March’s kit is almost always fully online while Topaz’s can have downtime. While March 7th (Hunt) is pulling ahead in recent phases we’re just watch listing Topaz for now.
• 
  Seele added to Watchlist. Seele displayed an amazing performance this phase, albeit whilst only being used by very few players. We’re placing a watch list on her to see if she can pull off another convincing performance over the next 2 phases to climb herself out of the niche category of tiers.

26/02/2025

• 
  Tribbie has been added to the tier list to the Support DPS category. She could be placed in Amplifier category too, but compared to other characters there she focuses on dealing damage first while her supportive abilities are secondary.
• No other changes to the tier list have been made - her impact on other characters will be included in next tier list update once we gather the next set of data in all 3 modes.

23/02/2025

This update will address the latest phase of Memory of Chaos, the increasing difficulty associated with the mode, but also the shift in meta (caused by new enemies and buffs introduced recently).

Memory of Chaos continues to become more challenging with each phase but 3.0’s MoC is particularly brutal. The difficulty increases are the result of (but not limited to):

• Higher enemy damage numbers and more lethal battle scenarios,
• Higher HP of the enemies,
• New and much harder enemies types and mechanics,
• Encounters and buffs specifically tailored towards new characters (and in some cases against old characters),
• A need to make the game harder to justify the higher power level of new characters (powercreep).

We base our tier list on the 3 most recent phases, and MoC 2.7 served as an introduction to a heavier AoE-focus and increase in difficulty, but 3.0 doubles down on this - with a specific push via the buff tailored toward new characters. The result of this is two thirds of the phases influencing the tier list heavily, favoring new characters and leading to large shifts in categories containing them (mostly the DPS).

Tier list changes:

• 
  Aglaea T0.5 T0. We placed Aglaea conservatively on our tier list in order to observe how the community would receive her more restrictive than average requirements. Aglaea smashed 3.0’s MoC which was custom made for her but also performed great in 2.7’s MoC which wasn’t specifically made with her in mind (and she was the fastest there too). We feel she deserves to sit in Tier 0.
• 
  Qingque T4 T3. The little gambling gremlin actually thrives in the most recent phases so we're raising her up a tier.
• 
  Firefly &
  
  Feixiao T0 T0.5. Just like in the transition between 1.x and 2.x, as we move from 2.x to 3.x, we’re seeing an increase in power for new characters, new enemies/mechanics that favor them and a fall off of older characters. Feixiao and Firefly are two of the high profile casualties of this. Both characters are still absolutely strong but Feixiao is at a disadvantage in the AoE-focused phases and Firefly, while technically a Blast damage dealer, doesn’t thrive in AoE either and has particular trouble with bosses that spawn multiple enemies frequently that aren’t weak to Fire (a common occurrence of late). The combination of Feixiao and Firefly losing their usual edge due to unfavorable conditions, and The Herta and Aglaea getting exactly what they need to succeed is why we are reshuffling the highest tier.
• 
  Boothill T0.5 T1. Boothill is currently at a severe disadvantage in the latest MoC phases, being a single target character against predominantly AoE encounters. Until the focus returns to single target, we’re lowering his rating for now.
• 
  Yunli T0.5 T1. Yunli is currently not performing on par with other Apex rated damage dealers especially considering the adjustment in rating to Firefly and Feixiao. We had Yunli on the edge of the Apex tiers before but with the adjustment to other characters ratings and the higher requirements of the mode, we’re lowering her rating for now.
• 
  Clara T1.5 T2. Similar to Yunli, Clara is struggling in the recent phases as they're not as tailored to her gameplay style as the previous ones.
• 
  Blade T2 T3. Maybe Blade finally received what he dreamt of - a glorious death. But kidding aside, time wasn't kind to our berserker and he's one of the worst performing limited characters in the last 3 phases, so we're dropping him out of the Meta tier.
• 
  Tingyun T1 T1.5. Tingyun’s niche as an Energy battery has been usurped by Sunday and her amplification abilities have been powercrept, resulting in low play rates, lower scores and no best in slot teams in the meta. Tingyun is still perfectly usable and is a 2nd, 3rd or 4th pick for a lot of characters but as a result of the above we’re lowering her rating.
• 
  Asta T2 T3. She's simply not used anymore - being 3rd or even 4th pick in various teams as the limited Amplifiers just offer more.
• 
  Hanya T3 T4. Same reasoning as with Asta.
• 
  Fu Xuan T0.5 T1. Compared to Gallagher, Lingsha, Aventurine and Huohuo, Fu Xuan hasn’t aged quite as well. Her kit lacks the synergy of the aforementioned characters, and her sustain is less flexible in the face of the harder content we’re experiencing (read: she explodes too often from strong AOE attacks and you can't prevent it). Fu Xuan still maintains competitive clear times and high usage for now, but measured up to characters like Huohuo who have direct synergies with newly released units like Aglaea and The Herta via her energy gain, she doesn’t quite have the same edge.

New Watchlist additions:

• 
  Kafka &
  
  Black Swan - The rapidly increasing difficulty of MoC has been rough on a lot of characters, but the DoT archetype is one suffering more than most. Black Swan, Kafka (and by extension the DoT archetype) have not done well in the past two phases, so we’re placing both characters on the watch list but expect them to move down barring any drastic changes in 3.1’s phase.

New feature - Double Placement!

We have revamped the tier list backend which allows us now to place characters in multiple 'columns' at the same time. This change was caused by

The Herta

We've placed the new Support DPS Argenti in T1 for now, but he's close to reaching the Apex tier - pending the next phase results.

Do let us know what you think of this change and who else do you think should get it!

15/02/2025

Today we're making big adjustments to the Pure Fiction tier list. The rework of this mode is still relatively fresh and compared to last phase this one is was substantially more difficult to clear. As a result of this, expect more changes in the near future but also a number of characters to be placed on the watchlist instead of being moved right away. We also brought back the character usage over time section in the PF Analytics that showcases last 2 phases average data.

Now, let's to go over all the changes.

The first thing we want to tackle is the Break/Superbreak archetype that had a pretty rough time since the rework. Caused by the rework itself, but also the lack of Fire and Imaginary weakness and lackluster buffs for the archetype. We don't know if the trend will continue with the buffs favoring other archetypes during the 3.x patch, but for now the experience playing Break teams is pretty miserable.

• 
  Firefly T2 T3. Firefly is the biggest loser among the Break archetype under the new Pure Fiction rule set. Firefly was never outstanding in the mode but she was able to carve herself out a niche thanks to her reasonable blast damage but more importantly frequent Fire Weakness implant. In the new Pure Fiction, her blast is severely diminished and her Fire Implant potential has been slashed: Firefly is only able to implant the very first enemies of each wave with her Technique - all subsequent enemies that spawn (which is a lot) are unaffected. The result of this is less effective damage for Firefly, dramatically reduced effectiveness against non-Fire weak enemies and a drop from the “meta” tiers.
• 
  Himeko T1 T1.5. While not really a pure Break character, Himeko is commonly played with Firefly (or instead of her) so it's not surprise, she's also affected by the rework in a negative way. While she can be used with The Herta as her Erudition partner, other characters like Herta, Serval or Argenti are picked over her. We will have to wait what direction Himeko will go next, but for now we're lowering her half a tier.
• 
  Rappa (Added to watchlist) - Compared to Firefly, Rappa has suffered less but is still clearly hurting from the lack of a good themed buff and a side containing Imaginary weak enemies. With absolutely nothing going Rappa’s way we’re placing her on the watchlist but are giving her one more phase to recover.
• 
  Trailblazer • Harmony (Added to watchlist) - With Firefly six feet under and Rappa catching strays, it's no surprise than Harmony Trailblazer’s play rate and performance have both suffered as a result. With both this characters primary teammates on the chopping block, alongside the meteoric rise of Remembrance Trailblazer (a mutually exclusive competitor) we’re placing Harmony Trailblazer on the watchlist to move down.

Now let's talk about the DPS and Sub-DPS belonging to other archetypes.

• 
  Aglaea T2 T1.5. Aglaea has performed better than anticipated albeit with low representation overall (below 2%). We see the potential some players have demonstrated with Aglaea in the mode and if she continues to perform/improve we may raise her even further next phase.
• 
  Yunli T1 T1.5. Yunli, what happened to you? Despite this phase featuring a lot Phys-weak enemies, Yunli's performance is just terrible. It looks like post-rework, her counter-gameplay is just too slow for the mode where you need to kill things as fast as possible and we're dropping her because of that.
• 
  Clara T2 T3. Same reasoning as Yunli - Clara's archetype is just too slow for the new Pure Fiction.
• 
  Feixiao T2 T3. The mode rework hit her badly. Previously she could be paired with Herta and be used as enabler for her, but it's no longer the case in the new format and her performance dropped.
• 
  Jingliu T3 T4. With some characters dropping to T3, they pushed Jingliu further down. She's still struggling and hopefully will get some love from the devs soon.
• 
  Topaz & Numby &
  
  March 7th • The Hunt T3 T4. Single-target characters struggle too much post rework and we're dropping both Topaz and Stabby March because of that as they are closed to the Forgotten Ones than Meta characters.
• 
  Sampo T4 T5. DoT as archetype is struggling but while Kafka and Black Swan still have some uses, Sampo doesn't.
• 
  Acheron (Added to watchlist) - Acheron paired with Jiaoqiu has produced back to back dominating performances, rivaling even the freshly released The Herta. With that said, both phases featured Lightning Weakness and this phase features enemies that apply debuffs on death, boosting her performance. For now we’re placing her on the watchlist to move to T0 if she maintains pace or better yet improves next phase.
• 
  Jing Yuan (Added to watchlist) - While Aglaea surprised us in a good way, Jing Yuan did the opposite. He had everything going for him this phase (Weakness, Grit mechanic, buffs) and yet in both our data and in the hands of our testers, he didn't perform at the level he should. Because of this we're placing him on watchlist to see how he performs in the next phase.

Finally, let's talk about the Amplifiers.

Before this update, we placed all top Amplifiers in T0.5 together to see who would come out on top once the meta in the new PF settled. With the exceptional entrance of Remembrance Trailblazer, the current struggle of Break and the need to make a move and prevent a traffic jam of 6 of the best characters residing in T0.5, we’ve decided to follow through with some adjustments - even if we will need to modify them in the event Break recovers or other characters falter.

• 
  Trailblazer • Remembrance T1 T0. Remembrance Trailblazer’s debut performance in Pure Fiction has been impressive to say the least, being one of the go-to supports for The Herta teams. While Remembrance Trailblazer certainly saw the most play and best scores with The Herta, that’s not the only team in which they proved to be viable in. As one of the top choice of one of the best damage dealers, a huge play rate and one of the best average scores alongside the potential to be played in other comps we feel Remembrance Trailblazer has enough on their resume to be placed in T0 for now.
• 
  Robin T0.5 T0. Robin is one of the most versatile Amplifiers in the game - being able to play with virtually any non-Break DPS and improve the team's performance. Full team action advance is just too broken.
• 
  Sunday T0.5 T0. Similar to Remembrance Trailblazer, Sunday has found a place in The Herta teams but also is one of the top picks in other high meta and apex damage dealers teams. Sunday has a lower play rate, score and struggles with skill points at times in some teams, but we feel his flexibility and current performance in the reworked PF is enough to set him apart from those in T0.5.
• 
  Asta T3 T4. Asta isn't having a good time nowadays as she's usually the last pick in teams where she could be used, so we're dropping her down a tier.
• We also want to mention
  
  Jiaoqiu. Ever since his release, Jiaoqiu has performed exceptionally well in Pure Fiction achieving some of the highest scores each phase. When considering who to place in T0 in this update his placement was discussed heavily. Ultimately we feel he isn’t at a T0 level - the reason is that he is essentially chained to Acheron. He is the character closest to being a single-use character that simply has no other uses in the meta outside of being Acheron slave, and that's not enough to place him in T0 - especially if she's not T0 either.

We also have added Partner tag to two new characters:

• 
  Jiaoqiu who relies on
  
  Acheron (95-97% of JQ teams in our data use Acheron)
• 
  Serval who relies on
  
  The Herta

Why

Feixiao

Also, new MoC phase starts in 2 days, so we decided to just wait and update the tier list for this mode once we gather data for it and test the new characters there.