Kafka in Honkai Star Rail: Official reveal, abilities, and more

Exploring Kafka
Exploring Kafka's ability and expected release date (Image via HoYoverse)

Honkai Star Rail is advancing to be HoYoverse's next big title boasting multiple unique characters with distinctive abilities. While the game’s current roster has limited playable units, many are lined up to be released in the future banners. Among them, Kafka is one of the notable figures rumored to roll out in update 1.2.

The recent tweet from Honkai Star Rail shared the Stellaron Hunter’s splash art along with her in-game description, element, and rarity. Moreover, she was playable at the beginning of the Astral Journey, so fans are familiar with her sub-DPS and DoT potential as a “Nihility” character.


Every detail about Kafka in Honkai Star Rail explored

The official tweet from HoYoverse reported Kafka as a member of the Stellaron Hunter, who works under the command of Desny’s Slave Elio as one of their trustworthy persons. Her name has been entered in the Interastral Peace Corporation's wanted list, along with a single sentence describing her as someone who likes to collect coats. Furthermore, her splash art reveals she is an upcoming Lightning 5-star unit in Honkai Star Rail.

Kafka’s banner has been speculated to release alongside Blade in the update 1.2. By taking into account the 42 days update cycle, the exact launch date for the patch can be calculated. Since the game premiered on April 26, 2023, version 1.2 will likely drop on July 19, 2023. However, the dates are tentative for now, and the official release lies at the discretion of the developer. It is also important to note that her banner phase is speculated to be in the first half, which is subject to change at any given time.


Kafka’s abilities

youtube-cover

Since Kafka was playable during the Honkai Star Rail’s prologue, it has been confirmed that she treads on the “Nihility'' Path. She can also inflict Lightning DoT damage on multiple enemies during combat. Her complete set of abilities is listed below for the reader’s convenience.

  • Basic ATK: Inflicts Lightning DMG on a targeted enemy based on 50% of her ATK.
  • Skill: Executes 70% of Lightning DMG on a targeted enemy and 25% on the adjacent based on her ATK. On an opponent inflicted by the DoT effect, it deals DMG equal to 100% of the current effects.
  • Ultimate: Deals Lightning DMG on all her opponents, which equals 38% of her ATK. Additionally, there is a 100% base chance for them to get Shocked, which will inflict 82% of the received DMG. The Shocked enemy will also receive 64% Lightning DoT damage scaling on her max ATK.
  • Talent: She immediately deals 75% of her ATK as Lightning DMG on a Shocked enemy whenever an ally uses basic ATK.
  • Technique: Triggers 50% of her ATK as Lightning DMG to a random enemy when she enters the battle. All enemies have a 100% base chance of getting Shocked for the next three turns. They will also get 50% Lightning DoT DMG from Kafka at the beginning of each turn.

Considering all of her abilities, it can be assumed that players will develop some interesting DoT-based team composition after her release in Honkai Star Rail.

Quick Links