
You just canโt get enough of Herta in Honkai: Star Rail. The game just gives her away like free coupons. So you might as well put her to good use using our Herta Honkai: Star Rail guide.
If you ever need someone who can freeze enemies en masse while providing you with the catchiest Japanese combat voice lines, Hertaโs your best bet. Just make sure to give her the best relics, Light Cones, and skill allotment.
The Best Relics for Herta

Herta is an Ice Element character in Honkai: Star Rail so naturally, youโd want to give her the only Ice DMG relic set in the game, which is the Hunter of Glacial Forest.
Being on the Erudition Path, Herta mostly functions well as an offensive area DPS. Her gameplay is thus straightforward; just pump up her offensive abilities and stats and give her the following relic sets.ย
Hunter of Glacial Forest
You can farm for the Hunter of Glacial Forest in the Cavern of Corrosion in Storage Zone, Herta Space Station. It shares a relic reward pool with Eagle of Twilight Line which is the best-in-slot (BiS) relic set for Wind DMG characters so you might want to plan those farming runs.
As for โstats and bonuses, Hunter of Glacial Forest has the following:
- 2-Piece Bonus – Increases Ice DMG by 10%.
- 4-Piece Bonus – After the wearer unleashes their Ultimate, their CRIT DMG increases by 25% for 2 turn(s).
Herta benefits well from the 4-piece bonus since her bread-and-butter would be her Ultimate ability, so you can reap that considerable damage boost.
Meanwhile, youโll want to give her the Inert Salsotto Planar Ornament set.
Inert Salsotto (Planar Ornament)
As always, you get a chance to obtain the Inert Salsotto Planar Ornament set in the Simulated Universe. For Herta, itโs a must-have since this one focuses on giving her as high of a CRIT Rate as possible, and it also buffs her Ultimate.
Inert Salsotto has the following bonuses:

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- Increases the wearer’s CRIT Rate by 8%.
- When the wearer’s current CRIT Rate reaches 50% or higher, the wearer’s Ultimate and follow-up attack DMG increases by 15%.
Herta will easily be able to obtain or sustain that second bonus sentence since having a CRIT Rate of 50 percent or higher is the standard way to build DPS characters in a HoYoVerse game, just as โit is in Genshin Impact. Honkai: Star Rail is no exception.
Relic Stats to Prioritize
As for which relic stats to prioritize for Herta, youโll want the usual DPS suite. Herta thrives off of having high CRIT stats, allowing her to whittle down enemy health. Youโll also want to boost her ATK stats and her Break Effect so that she can cause some heavy disruptions with her freeze status effect.
So in order of importance (most to least), hereโs what you should look for in Hertaโs relic stats:
- CRIT Rate / CRIT DMG (Body) (try to aim for a 1:2 ratio)
- Ice DMG (Planar Sphere)
- ATK / ATK% (Hands, or everything else)
- Break Effect (Link Rope)
- Speed (Boots)
Youโll also want those stats as the relic substats, not just the main stats.
Best Light Cones for Herta

As for Hertaโs Light Cone of choice, she has her own signature gear with her in the art, but sheโs only a 4-star character and a free one, nonetheless. So her signature Light Cone isnโt the best for her.
Instead, the best Light Cone for Herta (and just about any Erudition Path character at the moment) would be Jing Yuanโs signature weapon, โBefore Dawn.โ Itโs that good.ย
Before Dawn
This 5-star monster turns just about any Erudition Path character into a walking calamity. It also syncs well with the stats and the Planar Ornaments we chose for Herta. Moreover, it makes Hertaโs Ultimate a lot more powerful.
Here are the stats and bonuses for โBefore Dawnโ:
- Increases the wearer’s CRIT DMG by 36%.
- Increases the wearer’s Skill and Ultimate DMG by 18%.
- After the wearer uses their Skill or Ultimate, they gain Somnus Corpus. Upon triggering a follow-up attack, Somnus Corpus will be consumed, and the follow-up attack DMG increases by 48%.
That wall of text defies the Geneva Convention. Itโs the whole package for Erudition Path characters.
Budget Alternatives

Too bad โBefore Dawnโ is a limited-run weapon. So a lot of people likely didnโt get it. And thatโs okay since there are budget alternatives for Herta.
You can have a look at โThe Seriousness of Breakfastโ, which has the following bonuses:ย
- Increases the wearer’s DMG by 12%.
- For every defeated enemy, the wearer’s ATK increases by 4%, stacking up to 3 time(s).
It takes a while to wind up to get the full benefit, but you canโt be choosy at this point.
With that said, you can also consider โToday is Another Peaceful Dayโ which has the following bonuses:
- After entering battle, increases the wearerโs DMG based on their Max Energy.
- DMG increases by 0.20% per point of Energy, up to 160 Energy.
You can also work toward Himekoโs signature 5-star Light Cone which is available in the in-game store (via the menu). Itโs called โNight on the Milky Wayโ and itโs a good โ 5-star alternative to โBefore Dawn.โ
Skill Priorities for Herta

As we mentioned above, Hertaโs Ultimate ability is her bread-and-butter. So youโll want to prioritize leveling that up above all else (assuming you have the resources or the Ascension level).
When spending those finite level-up resources in Honkai: Star Rail, make sure to follow this priority list for Herta:
- It’s Magic, I Added Some Magic (Ultimate) – Deals Ice DMG equal to 120%โ240% of Herta’s ATK to all enemies.
- One-Time Offer (Skill) – Deals Ice DMG equal to 50%โ125% of Herta’s ATK to all enemies. If the enemy’s HP percentage is 50% or higher, DMG dealt to this target increases by 20%.
- Fine, I’ll Do It Myself (Talent) – When an ally’s attack causes an enemy’s HP percentage to fall to 50% or lower, Herta will launch a follow-up attack, dealing Ice DMG equal to 25%โ47.5% of Herta’s ATK to all enemies.
- What Are You Looking At? (Basic ATK) – Deals Ice DMG equal to 50%โ130% of Herta’s ATK to a single enemy.
Youโll be using Hertaโs Ultimate ability whenever itโs available and all her relics funnel toward strengthening this ability. So use it generously.
To level up these abilities, youโll need copious amounts of these resources:
Extinguished Core (tier 1) | Key of Inspiration (tier 1) | Millions of Credits |
Glimmering Core (tier 2) | Key of Knowledge (tier 2) | Destroyer’s Final Road |
Squirming Core (tier 3) | Key of Wisdom (tier 3) | Tracks of Destiny |
You can obtain most of these through events, quests, and Calyx Dungeons.
Herta Team Composition

Sheโs an Erudition Path character and this Path is reserved for minion killers, not boss killers. Naturally, youโd want to pair Herta with a Hunt Path character so they can take care of bosses or tougher singular enemies.
Buffing up Hertaโs attacks is also a good way to speed up the fights. Overall, she synergizes well with any team or character that needs a nuker or area DPS. Consider these characters for Herta:
- Dan Heng / Seele / Sushang (any Hunt Path character for single-target DPS)
- Himeko / Jing Yuan / Serval (Erudition Path characters also work well with Herta)
- March 7th / Gepard (tanks and shield givers that have the Ice Element help Herta with crowd control and survivability)
- Tingyun (allows Herta to frequently use her Ultimate)
- Asta (for softening up targets)
- Welt (also to debuff and slow down enemies)
- Any healer
Above all else, just make sure to follow this Herta Honkai: Star Rail guide to ensure that she works optimally with the suggested teammates. Sheโll be twirling in no time with the right build!