Honkai: Star Rail – Herta build and ascension guide
Add a little bit of magic to your party with the best Honkai: Star Rail Herta build. Madam Herta, a member of the renowned Genius Society and owner of Herta Space Station, may be insufferable as a boss (thanks to a fantastic voice performance), but luckily she won’t be in a position to command you when she joins your team as a free character. Following the Path of the Erudition and dealing Ice Damage, Herta specializes in swirly follow-up attacks.
Her Skill, One-Time Offer, is an area-of-effect Ice Damage attack that hits every opponent on the field and deals more damage to enemies with more than 50% of their HP.
Herta’s Ultimate, It’s Magic, I Added Some Magic, is another Ice Damage attack against the entire enemy roster. Both attacks are based on Herta’s Attack stat.
Herta has a big mouth, but she's got a bigger hammer to back it up.
HoYoverse
Her Talent, Fine, I’ll Do It Myself, triggers a follow-up attack by Herta whenever an ally’s attack causes an enemy’s HP to fall below 50% of their maximum HP. Like her Skill and Ultimate, this attack hits every adversary on the field.
Herta’s Eidolon levels, which can be obtained by getting duplicates of her, mostly focus on buffing her Normal Attack and Talent damage.
Honkai: Star Rail – Herta: best Light Cones
Herta is a bit of a weird case, as her signature Light Cone, The Birth of the Self, isn’t the best choice for her in every situation. While this piece of equipment greatly enhances the strength of her follow-up attacks, the way these attacks are triggered limits them to very few uses per battle. That’s why using Himeko’s signature Light Cone, Night on the Milky Way, may be better for a more consistent damage increase.
Night on the Milky Way boosts the wearer’s Attack for every enemy on the field and provides an additional damage buff whenever an opponent is inflicted with Weakness Break. Since Herta is primarily a character used to beat masses of enemies, this provides better value in most cases.
In general, though, the Erudition offers quite a few useful Light Cones for Herta, so you should be able to find one that fits.
Best Light Cones for Herta:
- Night on the Milky Way (5-Star)
- Before Dawn (5-Star)
- The Birth of the Self (4-Star)
- Today is Another Peaceful Day (4-Star)
- Geniuses’ Repose (4-Star)
- Data Bank (3-Star)
- Sagacity (3-Star)
Honkai: Star Rail – Herta: best Relics
It’s all about going on the offense for Herta, so you want more damage stats like Attack and Critical Hit Damage on your Relics.
Best Relic Sets for Herta:
- The Ashblazing Grand Duke (4) – +20% follow-up attack damage, +6% Attack each time the wearer uses a follow-up attack to deal damage. This effect lasts three turns and can stack up to eight times. It's removed the next time the wearer uses a follow-up attack.
- Hunter of Glacial Forest (2) + Musketeer of Wild Wheat (2) – +10% Ice Damage, +12% Attack.
Best Planar Ornaments for Herta:
- Inert Salsatto (2) – +8% Critical Hit Rate, +15% Ultimate Damage and follow-up attack damage, when wearer’s Critical Hit Rate surpasses 50%.
Prioritize the following Relic and Planar Ornament stats for Herta:
- Head – HP (Primary), Critical Hit Damage %, Critical Hit Rate %, Attack %, Speed
- Hands – Attack (Primary), Critical Hit Damage %, Critical Hit Rate %, Attack %, Speed
- Body – Critical Hit Rate % (Primary), Critical Hit Damage %, Attack %, Speed, Break Effect %
- Feet – Speed (Primary), Critical Hit Damage %, Critical Hit Rate %, Attack %, Break Effect %
- Planar Sphere – Ice Damage % (Primary), Critical Hit Damage %, Critical Hit Rate %, Attack %, Speed
- Link Rope – Energy Regeneration Rate % (Primary), Critical Hit Damage %, Critical Hit Rate %, Attack %, Speed
Honkai: Star Rail – Herta: best teams
Herta excels at defeating waves of weaker opponents thanks to her area-of-effect attacks.
This team is a superb wave clearer, which can easily dispatch several enemy teams made up from weaker creatures like you’d encounter them in places like the Calyx on the Outlying Snow Plain, which generates character XP materials.
Herta and Himeko deal lots of slash damage, activating their follow-up attacks to multiply their damage. Bronya adds buffs and tempo control into the mix, though you could replace her with Tingyun or Asta for a similar purpose. Bailu or Natasha keep the team safe, in case damage comes through.
Honkai: Star Rail – Herta: ascension materials
Here’s everything you need to know to get Herta ascended to the maximum level and upgrade all of her talents.
Herta requires the following ascension materials to get to level 80 in addition to the necessary XP:
- Credits x246,000
- Extinguished Core x12
- Glimmering Core x13
- Squirming Core x12
- Horn of Snow x50
You can collect Cores from enemies in Backwater Pass and Rivet Town as well as the Simulated Universe. You can create or exchange them through the Omni-Synthesizer on the Astral Express, too. Extinguished Cores are one of the base materials you can easily farm through the Daily Assignments to your characters, making for a steady income of the material.
Horn of Snow is dropped by the Stagnant Shadow in the Corridor of Fading Shadows or gained through exchange. The best source of Credits is the Golden Calyx in the Great Mine.
Since we've only been dealing with Herta's puppets, we haven't actually met the genius herself yet.
HoYoverse
Herta requires the following materials to upgrade her combat abilities and Traces:
- Credits x2,400,000
- Extinguished Core x28
- Glimmering Core x42
- Squirming Core x42
- Key of Inspiration x12
- Key of Knowledge x54
- Key of Wisdom x105
- Destroyer’s Final Road x12
- Tracks of Destiny x5
For the materials already mentioned, check above. Keys can be farmed in the Crimson Calyx in Rivet Town. As usual, you can create the high-level materials by using up lower-level materials in the Omni-Synthesizer on the Astral Express.
Destroyer’s Final Road is a rarer material only gained from the Echo of War (Supply Zone) domain, while Tracks of Destiny can be obtained during time-limited events, the Embers Exchange, the Nameless Honor, or as a Simulated Universe Points Reward.
