5 mistakes to avoid while playing Cipher in Honkai Star Rail

After acquiring Cipher in Honkai Star Rail, players will be busy building the character and farming various materials for her. If Trailblazers pre-farmed all of that beforehand, they can easily skip this process and start using her in various activities. Since Cipher is a brand-new character, Trailblazers might wonder what they shouldn’t do while playing with this unit.

This article takes a look at five mistakes you should avoid while playing Cipher in Honkai Star Rail.

Note: Some aspects of this article are subjective and solely rely on the author’s opinion.

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Mistakes you shouldn’t make while playing Cipher in Honkai Star Rail, explored

1) Equipping the wrong gears on Cipher

Lushaka is a good Planar Ornament set for Cipher (Image via Sportskeeda Gaming || HoYoverse)

Right after acquiring Cipher in Honkai Star Rail, it's exceptionally important to equip the right gear set on her, especially if you are thinking of challenging the end-game activities. Since this Nihility character’s kit is quite unique, farm the correct gear to make sure she can utilize her abilities to their full potential.

When you build Cipher with all the right items, she can easily defeat elite enemies in an instant. Moreover, if you are wondering what the best gear set for her is, take a look at our Cipher build guide.

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2) Placing her in teams without synergy

Cipher has good synergy with Acheron (Image via Sportskeeda Gaming || HoYoverse)

Although Cipher is known to have good synergy with almost every character in Honkai Star Rail, \some teams don’t suit her playstyle. Hence, figure out what these teams are and make sure they don’t end up placing this Nihility unit in them.

For now, the team comps Trailblazers shouldn’t place Cipher in are the Break Effect ones, which is a no-brainer for those playing this gacha title over a long time. Besides that, Cipher can be placed in most teams. If you don’t know or are wondering what are her best teams, check out our Cipher teams guide.

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3) Using the character without knowing how her kit works

Since Cipher is a Nihility unit, players might think she excels in placing debuffs on the enemies, which is not quite wrong. However, she primarily specializes in dealing hefty chunks of damage to the enemies and making them vulnerable, simultaneously. Moreover, she has access to follow-up attacks.

If you don’t know much about her kit, you won’t be able to utilize her kit to its full potential. This will ultimately end up with her not being able to complete various activities efficiently.

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4) Utilizing Cipher as a main DPS unit

Players shouldn't use Cipher as a main DPS (Image via HoYoverse)

Another mistake that you shouldn’t make while playing Cipher in Honkai Star Rail is using her as a main DPS unit. Since the majority of her damage comes from recording damage that her allies deal, especially the main DPS of the team, she is not fit for the role and won’t be able to be effective on the battlefield.

Hence, always utilize Cipher as a sub DPS unit so she can easily deal an absurd amount of damage with her abilities. Moreover, her ability to place a debuff on an enemy will further assist her in dealing an exceptional amount of damage.

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5) Investing in a single stat

An Ornament piece that mostly rolled CRIT DMG (Image via Sportskeeda Gaming || HoYoverse)

Like any other characters in Honkai Star Rail, one mistake you should always avoid is investing in a single stat. For Cipher’s case, it is not an exception. Since she is able to deal a good amount of damage while making the enemies vulnerable, invest in several stats, especially in CRIT Rate, CRIT DMG, SPD, and EHR.

Hence, if you end up investing in one of the abovementioend stats than the rest, your Cipher build will still work, but she won’t be as efficient when tackling various end-game activities.

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For more articles related to Honkai Star Rail, check out the following section:

• Honkai Star Rail 3.3 banners order and schedule
• Honkai Star Rail 3.3 Light Cones: All signature LCs officially revealed
• Cipher banner in Honkai: Star Rail: Release date, 4-stars, and Light Cones
• Best Hyacine build in HSR: Light Cones, relics, stats, teams, and more
• Honkai: Star Rail Hyacine teams guide: Best F2P and premium team comps