New Honkai: Star Rail Players Can Benefit From Kafka and Dr Ratio Banners

The latter half of Honkai: Star Rail Version 1.6 features banners focusing on Kafka and Dr Ratio. However, due to the poor selection of 4-star characters, you might want to consider saving for 2.0 characters.

As a reminder, Version 2.0 of Honkai: Star Rail will be the playable debuts of Black Swan, Sparkle, and Misha. Black Swan in particular will be a Nihility character just like Kafka. That’s not to say you shouldn’t pull for Kafka though. She’s a fantastic DPS who does really well with characters like Sampo and Guinaifen. Meanwhile, Dr Ratio is a great single-target DPS whose Eidolons only make him better. The problem is that once you start pulling, you absolutely must pull until you get a 5-star. Otherwise, you’re wasting your Stellar Jades.

Kafka and Dr Ratio are both really good in Honkai: Star Rail

Since we all got Dr Ratio for free, you’re going to be pulling for his Eidolons. Dr Ratio’s first and second Eidolons are really good, which means you don’t have to go nuts and pull until E6. Kafka, too, is an excellent unit and is pretty much essential if you want to have a DoT team in Honkai: Star Rail. There’s an entire world of difference between a DoT team with Kafka and a DoT team without.

If you’re going to pull on any of the banners, I highly suggest pulling on Kafka’s. This is only if you want a DoT team but you don’t want Black Swan for some reason! While we don’t know the 4-stars who’ll be on Black Swan’s banner yet, I highly doubt they’ll be as bad as the current roster. If DoTs aren’t your thing or you don’t feel like raising DoT units to pair with Kafka, then you can always just skip these banners and save for a future character.

Dr Ratio, like Kafka, is really good even without Eidolons. So I do not recommend pulling on this banner. While it’s really funny that Dr Ratio’s banner is such a snoozefest (which backs up his in-lore reason as to why he’s free for players), I sincerely doubt that HoYoVerse will keep up the gag for future updates. Waiting for his re-run to grab Eidolons is a valid option.

The four-stars aren’t great on the Honkai: Star Rail Kafka and Dr Ratio 1.6 banners

I’ve dunked on the 4-stars in the Honkai: Star Rail Version 1.6 second phase banners multiple times at this point. What’s up with that, you ask? It’s hyperbolic, because technically, all three of them are good in their own way. Hook is good at inflicting Burn damage, Sushang is great against enemies you can Break, and Natasha is still one of the best healers in the game. The problem is their availability, as well as power creep.

Most players who regularly pull in the game probably already have them at E6, which means there’s little value in pulling them again. That’s really the main issue with the banner. There are also more characters in the game now, which means that there are better options for their respective niches. The only exception to this is Natasha, whose cleanse, Regen-style healing, and panic button Ultimate can make her hard to fully replace.

Though neither the Kafka nor the Dr Ratio banners are good for veteran players, they’re great for new players. Sushang, Hook, and Natasha are all easy to build and good for clearing early game content. If you’re a newbie though, I highly recommend pulling on Dr Ratio’s due to the extra investment you’ll need to put into setting up a DoT team for Kafka.

Honkai: Star Rail is readily available on the PS5, Windows PC, and mobile devices. Between Versions 1.6 and 2.1, players can get Dr Ratio for free. He is also in the gacha, but you can only pull for him while the “Panta Rhei” Character Event Warp is active.