Combat in Honkai: Star Rail can be a little difficult to digest since there are so many factors that are involved. Follow-up attacks are one of them. Here's everything you need to know about it, from what it does to how you can successfully integrate it into your battle strategy.
What are follow up attacks in Honkai Star Rail?
Follow-up attacks are additional sources of damage that some characters use in the game—ones that are activated after a certain requirement is met. For example, if March 7th shields an ally and that ally gets hit, she will use a follow-up attack on the enemy that dealt damage. Another prominent example of a follow-up attack is used by Himeko. When up to three enemies have their weaknesses broken, Himeko will use a powerful AoE follow-up attack.
Related: Honkai Star Rail Combat Guide – how to use Skill, Ultimate, Technique, & more
Characters that can perform a follow-up attack
Unfortunately, not every character in Honkai: Star Rail gets follow-up attacks. In fact, it's somewhat rare for a character to get this ability. At the moment of writing, here are some of the characters in-game who can perform a follow-up attack:
- March 7th: If she shields an ally and that ally gets hit, March will perform a follow-up attack.
- Himeko: When an ally breaks an enemy, Himeko will use a follow up attack on every enemy on the field.
- Herta: If any enemy goes below 50% health, Herta will unleash an AoE follow up attack.
- Jing Yuan: Has a companion (Lightning Lord) whose attacks are treated as follow-up attacks.
- Clara: When Clara gets attacked, Svarog will mark the attacker and use a follow-up attack.
- Yanqing: Yanqing has a chance of dealing a follow-up attack when his Soulsteel Sync passive is active.
Characters that get immediate turns (or with the "Advance Forward 100%" in their skill description) like Seele and Sushang do NOT perform follow attacks with those extra turns. They will not benefit from Light Cones that boost follow up attack DMG. The skill description will always specify if characters have follow up attacks in their kit.
Honkai Star Rail follow-up attack strategies
If you were lucky enough to pull a character who can perform a follow-up attack—congratulations! Follow-up attackers, like Himeko and Jing Yuan, make good sub DPSes. Stack ATK and Crit Rate/DMG on them wherever possible. And unless they have to use a skill to trigger the conditions for their follow-up attack (like March 7th) they don’t need SPD either.
We find that they often benefit from Energy Regeneration % on their Rope as well. This will allow them to stack energy very quickly, letting them use their Ultimate just as fast. Our Himeko has one. She’s extremely useful in Calyxes with enemies weak to Fire and Echoes of War because of it. If your stats aren't good enough to spam Ult damage, ATK on your rope will work just as well.
There is also a Planar Ornament set called Inert Salsotto, which boosts follow up attacks and Ultimate DMG. With Energy Regeneration % on your Rope and a good ATK/Crit Rate/Crit DMG balance, it's an unbeatable build!
Still learning the ropes in Honkai: Star Rail? Pro Game Guides has you covered with Honkai Star Rail Effect Hit Rate, Explained – How it works & what it does and Honkai Star Rail Pity System, Explained – Banner Mechanics & Chances.
Shane Foley is both a huge gamer and a Contributing Writer at Pro Game Guides. He's been gaming ever since the Nintendo 64 came out, and he knows everything there is to know about Pokémon, Fire Emblem, Zelda, and several other Nintendo franchises.