Honkai: Star Rail 1.4: Should you pull for Topaz, Seele, and their signature Light Cones?

The second half of Honkai: Star Rail version 1.4 will feature its first-ever double banner and 5-star rerun as the Fire Hunt character Topaz, alongside her pet Warp Trotter Numby, will be making her debut while the Quantum Hunt character Seele will be the game's first 5-star to get a rerun.

If your team is in need of more single-target firepower, especially in the current boss-heavy Memory of Chaos, then this banner is for you. But who should be your pick? Read on we'll help you decide.

Need a follow-up attack enabler? Get Topaz

Topaz wields the Fire element and follows the Path of the Hunt, wielding a kit that is centred around Numby and follow-up attacks. While Topaz and Numby dish out a lot of damage on their own, they also enable teams that are centered on follow-up attacks, similar to how Kafka enables damage-over-time compositions.

In battle, Topaz summons Numby with her Talent to fight alongside her as its own character, similar to Jing Yuan and his Lightning-Lord.

Whenever it takes action, Numby will launch a follow-up attack that deals Fire DMG based on Topaz's own ATK. Numby's target will always be the enemy afflicted by the Proof of Debt debuff from Topaz's skill, which also increases the follow-up attack DMG received by the afflicted enemy. In addition, Numby's action will also be advanced forward by 50% whenever Topaz or her allies hit the enemy afflicted by Proof of Debt with follow-up attacks.

Topaz can then buff up Numby with her ultimate to let it enter the Windfall Bonanza! state for 2 attacks, which increases its DMG multiplier and Crit DMG. In addition, Numby's action will be advanced forward whenever the enemy afflicted by Proof of Deby gets hit by basic attacks, skills, or ultimates from allies — not just follow-up attacks — while in the Windfall Bonanza! state.

Since Topaz can buff follow-up attacks for her allies and her allies' follow-up attacks will buff Numby, she is best used alongside as many characters with follow-up attacks as possible.

The characters with follow-up attacks in their kits include Clara, Jing Yuan, Kafka, Blade, Himeko, Yanqing, March 7th, and Herta. Among these, Topaz's best teammates will be those who can perform multiple follow-up attacks per turn, the most noteworthy being Clara and March 7th.

With that said, Topaz can function perfectly fine as the lone follow-up attack character in her team, as one of her major Traces makes her basic attacks be considered as follow-up attacks.

Even so, it's always best to pair Topaz with at least one other follow-up attack character, especially one that can cover her lack of area-of-effect damage — Topaz is a Hunt character specializing on single-target damage, after all. Because of this, Clara is her best teammate by far in a dual DPS setup.

So, if you already have Clara or other follow-up attack characters, then Topaz can massively boost their damage output and let you breeze through any encounter.

And if that wasn't already enough to get you to hand over your (Stellar Jade) taxes to Topaz, Numby also tracks down Trotters and treasure chests in the overworld and increase the amount of Credits you earn after battles. This works in the Simulated Universe too, granting additional Cosmic Fragments with a small chance to earn a Curio. Topaz and Numby stonks to the moon!

Don't like your enemies getting a turn? Get Seele

Seele wields the Quantum element and follows the Path of the Hunt, being the poster girl for her Path by specialising in quickly taking down one enemy before moving on to the next before they could react.

Even if Seele was the game's first-ever limited 5-star character, she has been on top of the game's DPS tier lists and has never left since. And for good reason, with the right build and team around her, she can take down all enemies before they could even take their turn!

Seele's kit is centred around her Talent, which lets her enter a buffed state after defeating an enemy. In this buffed state, her DMG is increased and she received an extra action. Defeating another enemy while in the buffed state will not give her an extra action, however, until her next turn.

Meanwhile, Seele's skill and ultimate let her deal tons of single-target damage to quickly dispatch enemies and trigger her buffed state to move on to her next target. Her skill also has the added benefit of giving her a 25% Speed boost for 2 turns.

Seele works best in a hypercarry team where she is surrounded by two offensive supports and one defensive support. By far her best teammate is, as if it could be anyone else, Bronya!

In turn-based games like Honkai: Star Rail, Speed and turn manipulation mechanics are just as important, if not more so, than how much damage a character deals outright. While Seele already has a lot of Speed and can get extra turns from her Talent, Bronya's ability to give her an additional turn is what makes this pairing so powerful. If Seele and Bronya are together in your team, then you can make the memes of every turn belonging to Seele into a reality.

With that said, Seele can still shine without Bronya alongside top 4-star supports like Tingyun, Asta, or Pela. As long as you have support characters to give Seele the buffs she needs, then you're golden.

So, if you're looking for the prototypical Hunt DPS that can take on both single-target enemies or even pick off entire mobs one after the other, then pull for Seele and watch your foes disappear into the sea of butterflies!

Should you pull for Topaz and Seele's signature Light Cones?

As with any other 5-star character, Topaz and Seele start reaching their full potential once they have their signature Light Cones equipped. But are they must-pulls? Before we can answer that question, let's first look at what each Light Cone does.

Topaz's signature Light Cone, Worrisome, Blissful, increases her Crit Rate by 18% and her follow-up attack DMG by 30%, which are very good stats to have. In addition, it lets Topaz apply up to 2 stacks of Tame to enemies hit by her follow-up attacks. Every stack of Tame increases the Crit DMG received by the afflicted target by 12%, buffing both Topaz and her allies.

Meanwhile, Seele's signature Light Cone, In the Night, passively increases her Crit Rate by 12%. In addition, for every 10 Speed she has over 100, Seele's basic attack and skill DMG is increased by 6% while her ultimate's Crit DMG is increased by 8%. This effect stacks up to 8 times.

I wouldn't say both Light Cones are must-pulls in the sense that Topaz and Seele will be weak without them, they're more than fine even with 4-star Light Cones. With that said, Topaz's signature may be more worth it in the long run as it provides damage buffs for both herself and her teammates. On the other hand, the buffs given by Seele's signature only apply to her.

If you're reluctant to spend Stellar Jade on the Light Cone banner, then you're better off going with the 5-star Hunt Light Cone Cruising in the Stellar Sea, which can be acquired and superimposed for free through the Simulated Universe's Herta store.

At max superimposition level, Cruising in the Stellar Sea gives its wearer a 16% Crit Rate buff, which doubles when they are attacking an enemy with 50% or less of their Max HP. In addition, defeating an enemy increases their ATK by 40% for 3 turns.

While Cruising in the Stellar Sea pales in comparison to the signature Light Cones for both characters, it is their best alternative for its 5-star stats, solid passive, and the fact that it's free.

Topaz and Seele are the featured 5-star characters for the second half of Honkai: Star Rail version 1.4, which also features the debut of the 4-star Fire Nihility character Guinaifen as well as the launch of the game's PlayStation 5 version.

Version 1.5 in mid-November will also see three new characters, namely Huohuo, Argenti, and Hanya.

Yan Ku is a full-time dog parent, part-time (gacha) gamer, and part-time writer.

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