Just last month, Honkai: Star Rail was released, and players have wasted no time in strengthening their character setups. Constructing a Honkai character necessitates careful planning and a thorough comprehension of when and where to utilize their abilities. One standout among the game's many characters is Clara, who excels in various aspects and is favored by many players.

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Honkai Star Rail Clara Build

Clara, the versatile character in Honkai: Star Rail, showcases exceptional performance across a wide range of combat scenarios. Despite belonging to the Destruction Path, her outstanding targeting skills and impressive damage output make her a viable alternative to the Erudition and Hunt classes. While Clara's power may not quite reach the same level as those paths, she still exhibits remarkable capabilities as a substitute. Consequently, presented here is one of the optimal builds for Clara in Honkai: Star Rail.

1. Clara character overview

Clara and her adoptive robot father, Svarog, form a powerful duo. Clara's setup requirement is worth it, as her potential damage surpasses all other characters in the game by a wide margin. Her talent is where her power lies, with a permanent 10% damage reduction and Svarog's immediate retaliation against enemies who harm Clara, dealing up to 160% ATK damage and applying a Mark of Counter. This allows Clara to passively inflict significant damage, particularly in AoE scenarios, without any cost.

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Clara character overview

Clara's skill deals AoE damage to all enemies and doubles its damage against marked enemies by consuming Marks of Counter. Even without marked enemies, using Clara's skill actively is important as it generates more energy for her crucial ultimate ability. The ultimate further enhances her talent's damage reduction by 25% at max level, totaling 35% for 2 turns, while significantly increasing her aggro. Additionally, Svarog's Counter is enhanced, doubling its damage and spilling 50% of the damage to adjacent targets. Clara's ultimate plays a vital role, greatly boosting her survivability, increasing counter damage, and generating ultimate energy through increased enemy aggro.

It's important to note that Clara does not want to be paired with characters who also draw aggro, such as Gepard and Preservation Trailblazer, as it diminishes her damage output. Gepard and Preservation Trailblazer are valuable shielding supports for endgame content, but their aggro-drawing abilities don't synergize well with Clara. Instead, March 7th is an ideal partner for Clara, as March's shield draws aggro and complements Clara's increased aggro from her ultimate, maximizing counters for both characters.

Clara's traces enhance her pseudo-tanking playstyle, safeguarding her ability to retaliate. A2 increases Clara's resistance to crowd control debuffs by 35%, reducing the chances of being affected by status effects like Freeze or Imprisonment that could hinder her counters. A4 grants a fixed chance of 35% to remove debuffs whenever Clara is attacked, ensuring she can break free even if debuff resistance fails. A6 further amplifies Svarog's counter damage by 30%.

Clara's damage output varies but even at the lowest end, she remains highly competitive, easily surpassing other characters. With Clara, you can effortlessly decimate enemies, and her scaling capabilities ensure she becomes even stronger over time.

2. Honkai Star Rail Clara best build

Light Cones

It's crucial to have a clear understanding of the appropriate light cone for Clara, considering she has one specifically designed for her. The 5-Star light cone called "Something Irreplaceable" provides significant benefits by boosting Clara's ATK by 24% and restoring her HP by 8% of ATK when she defeats an enemy or takes damage. It also grants a 20% damage increase until the end of her next turn, although this effect can only occur once per turn and cannot be stacked. Since this light cone is exclusively designed to enhance Clara's abilities, it is the optimal choice for her.

Clara Screenshot
Honkai Star Rail Clara

However, obtaining a five-star light cone like "Something Irreplaceable" can be challenging. In such cases, players should consider alternative light cones that focus on enhancing Clara's attack. One option is the "Nowhere to Run" light cone, which increases Clara's ATK by 24% and restores HP equal to 12% of ATK when she defeats an enemy. Another viable choice is the "Collapsing Sky" light cone, which boosts Clara's Basic ATK and Skill DMG by 20%.

Relics

The most suitable Honkai Star Rail relic set for Clara is the "Champion of Streetwise Boxing" due to her reliance on attack and physical damage. When equipped with two pieces of this set, Clara's physical damage is boosted by 10%. Alternatively, using the full set of four pieces, Clara's ATK increases by 5% each time she attacks or is hit. This effect can accumulate up to 5 times throughout the battle.

Another viable choice for Clara is the "Space Sealing Station" relic set, which significantly enhances her overall damage output. However, in order to fully activate the set's effect, Clara must equip a relic with a Speed Main Stat or acquire other sources of speed, such as sub-stats or buffs.

3. Clara Team Composition

In the early stages of the game, players who have Clara will find it beneficial to team her up with March 7th due to their excellent synergy. March 7th can provide shields to allies and gain a free attack when the shielded ally is hit. With Clara's ability to draw aggro and Svarog counterattacking when she is attacked, March 7th can shield Clara and unleash additional damage after Svarog's attack, further enhancing Clara's survivability.

Honkai Star Rail March 7th Selfie
March 7th

To maximize the bonus attack combo, players can consider adding Herta to the team. The combined counterattack from Clara and March 7th often brings enemies below 50% health, triggering Herta's bonus attack and dealing AoE ice damage to all foes. Since Herta and March 7th are easily obtainable early in the game, this team composition is effective and straightforward to build. The fourth character slot can be filled based on the scenario's elemental and utility needs.

Clara also synergizes well with Asta, whose party-wide damage buffs amplify the devastating impact of the bonus attack chains. Pela is another excellent choice, reducing enemy defenses and making them more vulnerable to counterattacks and March 7th's follow-up shots. Since Clara's damage output relies on her taking hits, bringing a character with healing abilities can be effective. Natasha, with her exceptional single-target and group healing skills, along with an attack debuff in her technique, is a suitable healer for this purpose.

An incredibly powerful synergy awaits Clara with the upcoming 5-star character Jing Yuan. He excels in AoE lightning damage and summons the Lightning-Lord every turn in combat, which performs follow-up attacks on the same target as Jing Yuan and damages adjacent targets. This pairs exceptionally well with Clara's high damage output, allowing them to swiftly annihilate enemy health bars.

>>> Read more: Honkai Star Rail Arlan Build Guide: Relics, Light Cones And Teams