Honkai: Star Rail's turn-based combat system involves building a team of four characters, each with their own set of abilities that they can unleash when it's their turn. However, in some cases, you don't always have to follow the turn system, such as when you use characters' Ultimates and also perform follow-up attacks.

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When there are different characters in the same game, there is definitely a difference in their power level that puts them on different levels.
Follow-ups are attacks that can be activated automatically while ignoring turn order, and are an integral part of some characters' kits. With the release of supports that significantly kill the next attacks like Topaz, Sparkle, and Robin, you might want to consider making these next attack based characters.
Updated on 01 Dec 2024 by Sanyam Jain: With the release of more characters in Honkai: Star Rail, the developers have made their vision for the next characters quite clear. You may not get much value from these characters on their own, but when placed in a synergistic team, these units can surprise you.
12 July
- Rarity: four stars
- Type: Quantum
- Route: Destruction
Xueyi's playstyle involves gaining Karma stacks for her talent, Karmic Perpetuation, which she can gain whenever she or her allies lower an enemy's difficulty. The more the difficulty drops, the more Karma stacks are added, and after gaining eight stacks, he consumes them all to immediately initiate a next attack.
What brings Xueyi down on this list is because her follow up attacks aren't her main source of DMG, as her Skill and Ultimate have significantly more DMG and her Ultimate even ignores weaknesses. Besides, it takes so long to get stacks for his next attack that it's not worth focusing on.
11 blade
- Rarity: five stars
- Type: the wind
- Route: Destruction
Silent Swordsman Blade is a member of the Stellaron Hunters who has self-healing abilities in both the story and the game. His playstyle revolves around sacrificing his HP to deal DMG with his abilities and charging up his talent, Shuhu's Gift:
- When the blade takes DMG or uses up its own HP, it gains one stack, up to five stacks.
- At max stacks, immediately makes a follow-up attack to all enemies and restores HP.
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Unlike the previous characters on this list, Blade's next attack deals a significant portion of his DMG and can deal damage to all enemies on the field. You can also easily stack it, as Blade can gain three stacks in just one turn using its advanced Ultimate, Skill, and Basic Attack.
10 Aventurine
- Rarity: five stars
- Type: imaginary
- Route: keep
Aventurine is a stable character that can summon stackable shields for her entire team with her Skill and follow-up attacks. With his talent, Shot Loaded Right, he gains the following effects:
- When shielded allies are attacked, it gains a stack of blind bet.
- After reaching seven blind bet stacks, it consumes seven stacks to perform a follow-up multi-hit attack on random enemies and creates a shield for all allies after unlocking its third bonus ability, Bingo!
Depending on how you build him, Aventurine's next attack can make him a significant sub-DMG dealer or a reliable sustainer with endless shield stacks. The best part is that you can run him without using any skill points and he can still protect your team.
9 herta
- Rarity: four stars
- Type: ice
- Route: Enlightenment
Herta has been touted as one of the weakest characters in the game in the past and was only good for spawning weak mobs on auto mode. However, with the addition of Pure Fiction, a game mode that focuses on AoE DMG, Hertha and her spinning follow-up attacks are once again in the spotlight.
Herta with her talent, well, I'll do it myself, when an ally attack causes the enemy's power to drop below 50%, Herta will launch a follow-up attack, dealing DMG to all enemies. The good thing about his next attack is that it can activate multiple times in one action, spinning Hertha non-stop and destroying AoE phases.
8 jade
- Rarity: five stars
- Type: Quantum
- Route: Enlightenment
Even after the majority of battles in Honkai: Star Rail were AoE-based, Erudition suffered as a lane for a long time. This is mainly because the units in this lane have very high limits on how much damage they can deal. Argent, who needs great supports like Tingyun and Huohuo for his Ultimates, is a perfect example.
However, the release of Jade improved Erudition significantly, as she can overpower a specific ally and also deal more damage based on the number of units the hit ally attacks. This makes him act as both a secondary DPS and a buffer, making him a great pairing for most AoE units.
7 Himko
- Rarity: five stars
- Type: fire
- Route: Enlightenment
Another “destroyer” character is 1.0 Himeko, who accidentally formed an auto-follow combo with Herta, allowing for an endless cycle of follow-up attacks between the two. Just like Herta, the release of Pure Fiction allowed her to shine once again, as her next attack is very easy and effective against enemy mobs.

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With her talent, Victory Rush, Himeko gains a stack of charge when a weak enemy is broken, and after gaining three stacks, initiates a follow-up attack. This attack deals DMG to all enemies on the field and is great for comboing with other attack-based characters, such as Herta, Xueyi, and Topaz.
6 Clara
- Rarity: five stars
- Type: physical
- Route: Destruction
Clara is the first character in the game whose main source of DMG is focused on her next attacks. With her talent, Because We Are Family, enemies that attack Clara will instantly receive a counter from her companion, Mr. Swarog, which allows her to deal DMG while enemies attack her.
With his Ultimate, he increases the attack chance of enemies for two turns, and his counter also DMGs nearby enemies and increases his AoE. Additionally, while his Ultimate is active, allies attacked by enemies will also trigger his counter.
5 Onely
- Rarity: five stars
- Type: physical
- Route: Destruction
When Yunli was first released in the game, the community was uncertain about her. This was mainly due to her reliance on attack, even if Kate herself looked pretty good. Basically, whenever he is attacked, Yunli will counterattack the attacking enemy and deal AoE DMG.
This attack can be countered with his Ultimate which can have up to two stacks for it. If you have decent supports like March 7 or Lynx that can increase Yunli's attack chances, she can easily surprise you with her damage in battle.
4 Jing Yuan
- Rarity: five stars
- Type: thunder and lightning
- Route: Enlightenment
Jing Yuan was the next raid main character for a while and could deal with Hunt level DMG against Single-Target bosses despite being an Erudition character. Like Clara, her main source of DMG revolves around her next attack, and she continues to get stronger as you keep releasing strong support characters for her.
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With his talent, Prana Extirpated, he summons Lightning-Lord at the start of battle, which has his turn in the action as well as the base SPD. Whenever Jingyuan uses his Skill or Ultimate, the Lightning-Lord's SPD and Hits Per Action will increase, and he will descend to destroy enemies as soon as it is his turn.
3 Topaz and Nambi
- Rarity: five stars
- Type: fire
- Route: hunting
Topaz and Nambi are meant to be a next attack character, with each part of their kit being considered as a next attack. A large part of their play style comes from their skill, “Trouble Paying?” which has the following effects:
- An enemy enters the target with the Proof of Debt status, increasing the DMG they take from subsequent attacks by 25% to 55%.
- Numby Fire deals DMG to the target and the attack is treated as setting up a follow-up attack.
At first glance, Topaz and Nambi may seem like typical DPS, but they shine even brighter when used as support for other late-attack characters. In addition, when allied follow-up attacks hit an enemy with proof of liability status, Numby's action is Advanced Forward, allowing it to attack earlier.
2 Dr. Nisab
- Rarity: five stars
- Type: imaginary
- Route: hunting
Dr. Ratio is another Hunt unit that excels at delivering high single target DMG. He requires enemies to have debuffs to successfully trigger the passive effect of Skill, Cogito, Ergo Sum:
- When Dr. Ratio uses his skill, he has a constant 40% chance to make a follow-up attack against his target.
- For each time an enemy is targeted, the constant chance to initiate a subsequent attack increases by 20%, capped at four debuffs.
With his Ultimate, he uses Wiseman's Folly on an enemy target. When allies attack that target, Dr. Ratio will automatically launch his next attack, allowing you to take out all of your enemies with an endless barrage of follow-up attacks.
1 Physiao
- Rarity: five stars
- Type: the wind
- Route: hunting
While developers have taken various steps to attract follow-based teams and bring them into the meta, Feixiao served as the icing on the cake with his fantastic kit. Even after being a character from The Hunt, which is not a good route for AoE based enemies, Feixiao still found his place.
This is mainly because he can do follow-up attacks continuously and also has a special Ultimate that counts as a follow-up attack as well. This means that the Ultimate gets choked off both the Ultimate bonus and the follow up DMG bonus, making him an absolute damage machine.