What's coming in Honkai Star Rail 1.2: Kafka, Blade, Luka and more

Honkai: Star Rail's upcoming version 1.2 is releasing soon on 19 July and will see the debut of the much-awaited 5-star Stellaron Hunters Blade and Kafka as well as the new 4-star Luka!

Blade and Kafka are an enigmatic duo that have been making the Star Rail community go crazy.

Kafka is the enchanting femme fatale that played a big part in the Trailblazer's journey while Blade is a menacing swordsman whose past is greatly intertwined with that of Dan Heng.

Meanwhile, Luka is the star of the underground Fight Club of Belobog, as well as a proud member of both Natasha's Wildfire and Pitch-Dark Hook the Great's Moles!

There's a lot of exciting events to look forward to in version 1.2, but we're sure you Trailblazers are curious about Kafka, Blade, and Luka, and what role they can play in your teams. So here's everything you need to know!

Kafka

Kafka wields the Lightning element and follows the Path of Nihility, with her kit focusing on applying DoT (damage-over-time) and lowering the toughness bars of your opponents.

This makes Kafka an ideal character to add to your team when you're looking to inflict to constantly deal damage against your enemies, though she is perfectly capable of delivering them in huge bursts too!

Kafka's skill, Caressing Moonlight, allows her to deal Lightning DMG to a single target, as well as partial DMG to adjacent enemies. When the enemy still has a toughness bar, her skill will chip away 60 points of Weakness Break, making her a great pick to chunk through Lightning-weak enemies.

In addition, using Kafka's skill against enemies who are already afflicted by a DoT will make all DoTs placed on them immediately trigger a significant portion of the original DoT amount.

Kafka's ultimate Twilight Trill deals Lightning DMG to all enemies with a very high chance to apply Shock. Once inflicted with Shock, enemies will immediately take damage equal to a significant potion of the DoT, and will continue to receive Lightning DMG at the beginning of very turn for 2 turns.

In addition, if enemies are currently afflicted with Shock when casting Kafka's burst, the Shock status will deal another instance of DMG.

While Kafka's skill and ultimate already lets her unleash a huge amount of DMG against enemies, her talent lets her dish out even more even when it's not her turn. Gentle But Cruel will allow Kafka to launch a follow-up attack after an ally deals a Basic Attack on an enemy.

The follow up attack will have a very high chance to inflict Shock that is equivalent to that applied by her ultimate. This effect can only be triggered once per turn and will last for two turns.

Kafka's major Traces further improves her damage output and ability to sustain it over the course of battle.

Her A2 Trace, Torture, makes enemies immediatly receive DMG from all currently applied DoT sources (instead of just Shock) whenever she uses her ultimate.

Kafka's A4 Trace, Plunder, alleviates some of her energy needs by immediately regenerating 5 energy whenver an enemy is defeated while afflicted with Shock.

Meanwhile, Kafka's A6 Trace, Thorns, increases the base chance for her ultimate, technique, and follow-up attack to inflict Shock by 30%. This makes it so that Kafka no longer needs to build Effect Hit Rate on her Relics, letting you focus on more offensive stats like ATK and Crit Rate/DMG.

Finally, using Kafka's technique, Mercy is Not Forgiveness, to start a battle lets her deal Lightning DMG to all enemies with a very high chance of inflicting Shock equivalent to that applied by her ultimate for 2 turns.

While Nihility characters are more known for their debuffs instead of their damage output, Kafka stands out for her incredible damage potential. With that said, she does still inflict enemies with two primary debuffs: Shock and Death.

If you're looking for a character that can demolish enemies with ease, whether it's over the course of multiple turns or in just one, then Kafka is for you.

Blade

Blade wields the Wind element and follows the Path of Destruction, he is a terrifyingly powerful DPS that consumes his own HP to enhance his damage while regenerating any HP he loses as he continues to engage in battle.

Blade's skill, Hellscape, consumes 30% of his Max HP to enter the Hellscape state. When in this state, Blade can no longer use his skill but will have his DMG output significantly increased while enhancing his Basic Attack to also deal damage to enemies adjacent to his target for 3 turns.

If Blade's current HP does not meet the 30% Max HP requirement to use his skill, it will instead reduce his HP to 1. In addition, using Blade's skill does not end his turn and will also not regenerate any energy for him.

Blade's ultimate, Death Sentence, sets his current HP to 50% of his Max HP and deals Wind DMG to a single enemy equal to the sum of a portion of his ATK, his Max HP, and the amount of HP he lost in the current battle. Enemies adjacent to the main target will also receive Wind DMG equal to the sum used for the DMG to the main target, though the values are lower.

The total HP lost by Blade that will be used for his ultimate's DMG will be capped at 90% of his Max HP. This value will be reset and re-accumulated with every use of the ultimate.

If you're worried about how Blade can survive battles with how much he consumes his HP, let his talent free you of worry.

Shuhu's Gift lets him gain stacks of Charge up to 5 times whenever he sustains DMG or consumes his own HP. When Charge reaches 5 stacks, Blade will consume all stacks and unleash a follow-up attack on all enemies that deal Wind DMG equal to a portion of his ATK plus his Max HP. In addition, Blade will restore 25% of his Max HP.

Blade's major Traces further improve his ability to sustain himself through battle.

His A2 Trace, Vita Infinita, increases all incoming healing for Blade by 20% when his current HP is at 50% or lower of his Max HP. Blade's A4 Trace, Neverending Deaths, provides another source of healing by restoring his HP whenever he attacks an enemy after using the enhanced Basic Attack from his skill.

Blade's A6 Trace, Cyclone of Destruction, increases the DMG of the follow-up attack from his talent by 20%.

Using Blade's technique, Karma Wind, to start a battle consumes a portion of Blade's HP to deal Wind DMG equal to a portion of his Max HP to all enemies. If Blade's current HP does not meet the requirement for his technique, his current HP will be reduced to 1.

Blade embodies the Path of Destruction, consuming his own HP to lay waste to all enemies before him while keeping himself just on the edge of death's door. If you want a DPS character that can sustain himself through any battle while only getting stronger the more HP he loses, Blade is perfect for the job.

Luka

Luka wields the Physical element and follows the Path of Nihility, specialising in dealing damage-over-time through the Bleed debuff while also increasing the amount of DMG received by a single enemy. Unlike Kafka, who works more like a Main DPS, Luka is more of a support-type character with Sub-DPS potential.

Luka's skill, Lacerating Fist, deals Physical DMG equal to a portion of his ATK to single enemy target while also inflicting them with the Bleed debuff for 3 turns.

Bleed will deal Physical DMG equal to a portion of the enemy's Max HP at the start of each turn, though the DMG dealt cannot exceed a certain amount of Luka's ATK.

Luka's ultimate, Coup de Grâce, deals Physical DMG determined by his ATK to a single enemy while also increasing the amount of DMG received by the target for 3 turns. In addition, using Luka's ultimate will give him 2 stacks of Fighting Will, which we'll get into below.

Fighting Will plays into Luka's talent, Flying Sparks, lets him accumulate up to 4 stacks of Fighting Will whenever he uses his basic attack, skill, or ultimate. When Luka has 2 or more stacks of Fighting Will, his basic attack will be enhanced to deal three weak hits followed by one strong hit to an enemy target.

In addition, hitting a target inflicted with Bleed with Luka's enhanced basic attack will immediately trigger Bleed to deal DMG to the enemy equal to a portion of its original DMG to the target.

Luka will also start battles with 1 stack of Fighting Will.

Luka's major Traces improves his damage output and utility. His A2 Trace, Kinetic Overload, is especially valuable as it allows Luka to dispel 1 buff from an enemy target whenever he uses his skill on them.

Luka's A4 Trace, Cycle Braking, helps with his energy needs by regenerating 3 energy for every stack of Fighting Will obtained. Meanwhile, Luka's A6 Trace, Crush Fighting Will, improves his damage output by giving him a 50% chance to deal an additional hit when using his enhanced basic attack.

Finally, using Luka's technique, Anticipator, to start a battle lets Luka deal Physical DMG and inflict Bleed equivalent to that from his skill to a random single enemy. In addition, Luka gains 1 additional stack of Fighting Will, which will let him use his enhanced basic attack immediately.

Luka will be a valuable addition to any DoT-based team, especially alongside Kafka. He provides a steady source of DoT as well as buff dispels and damage boosts on enemies. Not to mention, Luka can deal a significant amount of DMG of his own.

Kafka, Blade, and Luka will be released in Honkai: Star Rail version 1.2, which will launch on 19 July.

Blade will be the featured 5-star character of the version's first half while Kafka will take the spotlight in the second half, with Luka being one of the 4-stars running alongside her.

Honkai: Star Rail version 1.2 will also add tons of new content to the game, including a new weekly boss, new areas in the Xianzhou Luofu, events, and more. For more details on what's to come in Honkai: Star Rail version 1.2, check out the full preview here.

After Honkai: Star Rail version 1.2 comes version 1.3, which features new 5-star characters Imbibitor Lunae and Fu Xuan as well as a new 4-star in Lynx Landau. Version 1.3 is expected to come out in mid-August.

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

For more gaming news updates, visit https://yhoo.it/YahooGamingSEA. Also follow us on Twitter, as well as our Gaming channel on YouTube, and check out Yahoo Esports Southeast Asia’s Facebook page!