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WhileHonkai: Star Railmight not be an F2P-friendly game, it’s worth mentioning that the free five-star characters provided by the game are actually quite decent. This has been shown time and again whenever the Trailblazer gets a new path, but it was also proven with Archer during the Fate collaboration.
Archer is a five-star Quantum DPS following the path of The Hunt, and he’s arguably one of the best characters to have for various endgame modes, even with his single-target damage. Thankfully, you’re able to also get his best gear for free if you play your cards right, allowing you to build him to his maximum potential.
Best Archer Light Cones
After pulling a character in Honkai: Star Rail, or in Archer’s case, claiming him for free as soon as you log in to the game, you first have to place a suitable Light Cone on them. Each Light Cone has some base ATK, HP, and DEF, but their main attraction is the passive. However, you’re able to onlyactivate this passive if the Light Cone shares the same path as the characterthat it’s equipped on.
This means that you can only use Light Cones from The Hunt path for Archer. Hisbest choice is The Hell Where Ideals Burn, which is his signature Light Cone. You can get it for free by doing 200 pulls on any banner during the Version 3.4 update. However, you also have other choices, including a decent F2P second-best option.
Synergy With Archer
The Hell Where Ideals Burn
This Light Cone first gives Archer some extra Crit Rate, which can beuseful to beat the required Crit Ratefor his best Planar Ornaments. You get this Crit Rate boost as soon as you equip the Light Cone on the character.
Moreover, it can increase his ATK by a whopping80 percent in the battle after he uses his Skill four times. Once achieved, this ATK boost permanently stays on him for the entire battle.
Cruising in the Stellar Sea
You can get this Light Cone forfree through the Simulated Universe, and with maximum Superimposition, itgives Archer the same 16 percent Crit Ratethat he can get from his signature, which is already quite big.
It also gives him 40 percent ATK upon defeating an enemy,which can be great if you have some easy summonsto defeat on the field. Finally, he can enjoy an additional 16 percent Crit Rate on enemies below 50 percent HP.
Worrisome, Blissful
If you’ve pulled for Topaz’s signature Light Cone in Honkai: Star Rail, it can also be a great choice for Archer as it gives him up to 24 percent Crit DMG on an enemyafter he hits them with two of his follow-up attacks.
you’re able to also get an18 percent Crit Rate boost along with 30 percent increased DMGfor his follow-up attacks.
See You at the End
This is a simple four-star Light Cone tailor-made for Archer, and you can get it from the battle pass. It gives him an extra24 percent Crit DMG and 24 percent DMG on Skill and follow-up attacks.
Final Victor
Finally, if you don’t have any of the above Light Cones, you’re able to use this on Archer to get12 percent ATK and 32 percent Crit DMG. However, you’d want to switch to Cruising in the Stellar Sea as soon as you can.
Best Archer Relics And Planar Ornaments
Once you’ve chosen the best Light Cone for your free Archer in Honkai: Star Rail, the next step is to farm for his Relics and Planar Ornaments. If you’re in the early game,you don’t have to worry about these too much just yet. However, it gives you most of the required stats and bonuses for the endgame.
Archer works the best withGenius of Brilliant Stars and Rutilant Arena sets respectively, and thankfully, both of them are available in the early game. When you have two or four pieces of these sets, you can get a bonus that suits Archer. Here are your other choices:
1
Genius of Brilliant Stars
Upon equipping this set on Archer, you may already get a 10 percent DMG increase and 10 percent DEF shred while attacking the enemy. Furthermore, if the enemy has Quantum RES,you can get an extra 10 percent DEF shred on them.
2
Scholar Lost in Erudition
Alternatively, you may also use this set on Archer to get a bit of Crit Rate boost along with 20 percent Skill and Ultimate DMG. After using your Ultimate,your next Skill’s DMG is further increased by 25 percent.
Archer Planar Ornaments
Unfortunately, Archer only has one good choice for Planar Ornaments, and here’s why:
Rutilant Arena
This set gives him an additional eight percent Crit Rate, making it even easier to get the required Crit Rate. Upon getting 70 percent Crit Rate,his Skill DMG is further increased by 20 percent from this set.
Sub-Stats
Crit DMG/Rate > ATK Percent
Even after being a DPS, you need as low SPD as possible on Archersince he consumes a lot of Skill Pointsduring his turn.
The idea is to regenerate a ton of Skill Points with other characters between his turns, whichalso means you’ll need high SPD on all other team members.
F2P Archer Team
Archer, Tingyun, Remembrance Trailblazer, Gallagher
While Archer might be a free character who also has his best Light Cone given for free,his best team composition doesn’t quite follow the same situation. Archer can consume up to ten Skill Points in a single turn, which means that Sparkle is nearly a staple character for him as long as you have her.
With Sparkle and Archer together,you’re able to raise the Skill Point cap of your team to nine. In the third slot for his best team, you can use any Quantum Support character. This will help you achieve the full ATK buff from Sparkle’s passive.Tribbie and Silver Wolf are the best optionsfor this slot, but Cipher also works as an alternative.
If you don’t have any Quantum support units for the third slot,you can also use Fu Xuan as the sustainerto get the ATK buff from Sparkle.
Finally, Huohuo is undoubtedly the best sustainer for Archer’s team since herEnergy Regeneration can help him trigger his follow-up attacks more often. However, you can also use Aventurine as a substitute. It’s important to remember that youdon’t want to use sustainers that constantly consume Skill Pointsin this team.
On the other hand, Archer’s F2P team gets a significant downgrade due to the lack of extra Skill Points from Sparkle. However,Tingyun can be used to supplement some Energywhile also regenerating a bunch of Skill Points. Whileusing Harmony Trailblazer in this team, it’s also important not to use their Skill often.
WhileGallagher doesn’t bring a lotinto this team apart from healing,he’s still the best sustainer since he needs to use his Skill the least.
Apocalyptic Shadow Rating
S+ Tier
Of course, as you’d expect from a character on The Hunt path with single-target damage like Archer, he can’t perform in Pure Fiction since that modespecifically needs you to attack multiple enemies at the same time. However, outside of that, Archer is one of the best DPS characters you may have. He also becomes a contender for the top DPS spot if you have Sparkle.
Archer also has a very specific play style where yousimply need to funnel your Skill Points from all other characters into him, which also makes him an easy character to pick up. His kit is quite easy to understand, and here’s what you need to know:
Archer’s Kit, Explained
Archer’s Stat Priority, Explained
As you might already expect from above,Archer’s priority for upgrades is his Skillsince you get the maximum damage from it. You can then upgrade his Ultimate followed by the Talent. While there’s no need to fully upgrade the Basic Attack, it’s still recommended to give it a few levels.
Of course, you also have to unlock hisBonus Abilities and other Trace nodeswhenever possible.
