Optimal Honkai: Star Rail Huohuo Setup - Abilities and Team Compositions

New healer Huohuo was introduced in the 1.5 update of Honkai: Star Rail. As a judge-in-training for the Ten-Lords Commission, she is equipped with a powerful spirit named Tail, a glowing green fox tail attached to her body. Despite appearing as a timid and pitiful Foxian girl, her exceptional healing and energy regeneration abilities make her one of the game's top supports to date. For a comprehensive understanding of Huohuo, including details about her abilities and the most effective way to build her, continue reading.

Skill: Talisman: Protection

Ultimate: Tail: Spiritual Domination

Talent: Possession: Ethereal Metaflow

Technique: Fiend: Impeachment of Evil

Ascension Passives

Best Light Cone for Huohuo5-Star Light Cones

4-Star Light Cones

3-Star Light Cones

Best Relics for HuohuoHuohuo's Relic stats

Best teams for Huohuo

Huohuo abilities

Huohuo is introduced as the game's first five-star unit with the dual role of a healer and battery. Her unique abilities allow her to not only restore health but also charge up everyone's Ultimate when she calls upon Tail. This sets her apart from Tingyun, another top support character, who can only charge one ally at a time. Essentially, Huohuo combines the healing abilities of characters known for their Abundance with the energy recharge capabilities of Tingyun. As her Ultimate levels up, she becomes even more effective at recharging energy, making it crucial to prioritize this aspect before her Skill and Talent.

Basic attack: Banner: Stormcaller

Huohuo inflicts Wind DMG equivalent to 25% of her Max HP on enemies. The percentage increases to 65% at max level.

Skill: Talisman: Protection

Huohuo's splash healing ability primarily targets one ally, with residual healing affecting adjacent allies. She removes one debuff and restores health by 14% of her Max HP plus 140 to the target ally. Adjacent allies also receive healing equal to 11.2% of Huohuo's Max HP plus 112.

When it's time to fight, Tail is sometimes possessed by Huohuo.

Ultimate: Tail: Spiritual Domination

Huohuo's Ultimate ability turns her into a team battery, allowing her to restore Energy for all allies by 15 percent of their respective Max Energy. Additionally, she boosts their ATK by 24 percent for 2 turns.

Talent: Possession: Ethereal Metaflow

After using her skill, Huohuo gains an effect called Divine Provision, which lasts for 2 of her turns. While active, Divine Provision restores 3 percent of Huohuo's Max HP plus 30 for allies at the start of their turn or when they use their Ultimate, and it also dispels one debuff from allies. This effect can trigger up to 6 times, and using the skill again resets the effect's trigger count. Additionally, every ally with 50 percent HP or lower receives an emergency heal.

Technique: Fiend: Impeachment of Evil

Huohuo curses nearby enemies with Horror-Struck, a debilitating status effect that decreases their attack power. Upon entering battle with Horror-Struck enemies, there is a 100 percent chance of reducing each enemy’s ATK by 25 percent for 2 turns.

Ascension Passives

Ascension 2 Passive--Fearful to Act: At the start of battle, Huohuo immediately gains Divine Provision for 1 turn.

Ascension 4 Passive - The Cursed One: Increases the chance to resist Crowd Control Debuffs by 35%.

Ascension 6 Passive - Stress Reaction to Horror: Huohuo regenerates 1 Energy when her Talent is triggered to heal allies.

Best Light Cone for Huohuo

Huohuo's Ultimate charges up during the Night of Fright, supporting her team effectively. It's no surprise that her signature weapon, Night of Fright, boosts her Energy Regeneration Rate and allows allies to activate healing and attack buffs with their Ultimates. This means that not only does Huohuo charge up her Ultimate more quickly, but the entire team also receives significant benefits from it.

However, Night of Fright is not the only five-star Light Cone that complements Huohuo. Time Waits for No One, the only 5-star Abundance Light Cone on the standard banner, provides a substantial HP and Outgoing Healing buff that works well with all Abundance characters.

Huohuo's best 4-star Light Cone, Shared Feeling, is highly valued for its ability to increase Outgoing Healing and regenerate 2 Energy for all allies when the wearer uses their Skill. This enhances the energy efficiency of Huohuo's team. Additionally, the Post-Op Conversation benefits her with its Energy Regeneration boost, although it is not as beneficial as another Abundance character's Ultimate that heals allies, such as Natasha and Lynx.

Another option, the frightfully fitting Abundance Light Cone, Hey, Over Here, is available from the current ongoing event, A Foxian Tale of the Haunted. This Light Cone increases the wearer's max HP, which aligns well with Huohuo's skills that scale with HP.

Last but not least, the three-star Cornucopia Light Cone serves as a functional "intermission" Light Cone until you obtain a better option, especially considering that each Superimposition increases its HP bonus. Four and five-star Light Cones outperform it in terms of stats, so it is advisable to replace it with one of the aforementioned choices when the opportunity arises.

Huohuo waves her flag to dispel demons and also to attempt surrender. Here's a brief overview of all the recommended Light Cones as they appear in the game at Level 1:

5-Star Light Cones

Night of Fright: Boosts the wearer’s Energy Regeneration Rate by 12%. When an ally uses their Ultimate, the wearer restores HP for the ally with the lowest current HP by an amount equal to 10% of the healed ally’s Max HP. Additionally, when the wearer provides healing for an ally, it increases the healed ally’s ATK by 2.4%. This effect can stack up to 5 times and lasts for 2 turns.

Time Waits for No One: Increases the wearer's Max HP by 18% and Outgoing Healing by 12%. When the wearer heals allies, the amount of Outgoing Healing is recorded. When any ally launches an attack, a randomly targeted enemy takes additional DMG equal to 36% of the recorded Outgoing Healing value. This Additional DMG matches the wearer's Type, is not affected by other buffs, and can only occur once per turn.

4-Star Light Cones

Greetings, Look Here: Boosts the wearer’s Maximum HP by 8%. When the wearer activates a Skill, raises Outbound Healing by 16% for 2 turn(s).

Mutual Empathy: Raises the wearer's Outbound Healing by 10%. When using a Skill, restores 2 Energy for all allies.

3-Star Light Cones

Cornucopia: When the wearer activates their Skill or Ultimate, their Outgoing Healing is boosted by 12 percent. This effect doubles to 24 percent when reaching Superimposition Level 5.

Best Relics for Huohuo

Huohuo's top priority when it comes to Relics is speed. Fortunately, her best Relics allow for easy customization. We suggest using two Passerby of Wandering Cloud to increase her Outgoing Healing by 10 percent, and Longevous Disciple to boost her Max HP by 12 percent. These buffs work in harmony to enhance her healing, energy recharge, and other abilities, and are effective for most teams regardless of speed tuning.

It would not be advisable to use a four-piece set for Passerby of Wandering Cloud or Longevous Disciple, as the benefits would not justify the investment. A slight increase in Skill Point at the start of battle and Huohuo's lack of benefit from Longevous Disciple's Crit Rate increase, make them less valuable options for her.

Honorable Mention: The Messenger Traversing Hackerspace set can function as a useful two-piece set for Passerby of Wandering Cloud or Longevous Disciple, providing an additional speed buff for survival, particularly when Huohuo is the only source of protection. The four-piece set is ideal for teams seeking maximum speed, especially with players skilled in speed tuning.

Descriptions for each mentioned Relic set are as follows:

Passerby of Wandering Cloud

Two-piece effect: Increases Outgoing Healing by 10 percent.

Four-piece effect: At the beginning of the battle, immediately recovers 1 Skill Point.

Longevous Disciple

Two-piece set bonus: Boosts Max HP by 12%.

Four-piece set bonus: After getting hit or losing HP, whether by ally or self, CRIT Rate increases by 8% for 2 turns, stacking up to 2 times.

Messenger Traversing Hackerspace

Two-piece effect: Increases SPD by 6 percent.

Four-piece effect: Using the Ultimate on an ally increases the SPD of all allies by 12% for 1 turn. This effect cannot be stacked.

For your Ornaments, an easy choice is Fleet of the Ageless, which increases Huohuo's HP and also buffs allies' ATK.

Ageless Fleet: Boosts the wearer's maximum HP by 12%. When the wearer's speed reaches 120 or above, all allies' attack increases by 8%.

Keel of the Damaged: Enhances the wearer's Effect Resistance by 10%. When the wearer's Effect Resistance is 30% or more, all allies' critical damage increases by 10%.

Huohuo's Relic stats

Huohuo's primary task is to hunt heliobi, malevolent spirits resembling ghosts. The most crucial aspect to focus on is her HP. Huohuo's healing and buffs are directly linked to this stat, making it her top priority. Opt for HP% boosts with boot relics initially, but aim to switch to SPD later on. Without sufficient SPD, Huohuo may be outpaced by enemies, jeopardizing her ability to survive long enough to administer heals.

Huohuo is not designed for combat, rendering sub-stats like ATK, Crit DMG, and Crit Rate irrelevant. The key areas to concentrate on are HP%, SPD, and Effect Res. As previously mentioned, her attacks are influenced by HP%, while SPD enables her to act before her adversaries. Effect Res enhances her resilience against bosses with heavy status effects and makes her eligible for equipment such as the Broken Keel Ornament Set.

Best teams for Huohuo

Huohuo is a versatile character who synergizes well with many other characters, including Guinaifen. As a healer and battery, she can seamlessly integrate into almost any team, negating the need for redundant healing and energy-boosting characters. With Huohuo covering these essential roles, the focus can shift to assembling a team of three other characters that synergize to maximize damage output. Here are a few examples of teams that can effectively work with Huohuo:

- Huohuo (Healer), Jingliu (DPS), Bronya (Support), Tingyun (Support)

The team is centered on empowering Jingliu, a destructive character with high damage output against both single and multiple targets. However, Jingliu can be replaced with any other damage dealer to carry the team. Bronya directs turns and buffs teammates, while Tingyun fills empty Ultimate gauges as needed. Some may view Tingyun as excessive for this team. Additional members include Huohuo as the healer, Sushang as the DPS, Pela as support, and Yukong as support.

To make the first team more free-to-play friendly, it's recommended to include at least two other five-star characters. Jingliu can be replaced by Sushang, or alternatively, Dan Heng, Physical Trailblazer, or Hook can serve as four-star replacements. Pela is useful for debuffing enemies and reducing their defenses, making it easier to defeat them. As a free-to-play character, Yukong is capable of buffing ATK and raising Crit Rate for her teammates when her ability is active. The recommended lineup for the team includes Huohuo as a healer, Kafka as a DPS, Guinaifen as a Sub DPS, and Asta as Support.

Asta has the ability to burn enemies and increase speed at the same time, which is especially important if you choose not to utilize speed buffs in Huohuo's Relic set. Guinaifen, another character specializing in Burn damage over time (DoT), can deal even greater damage with Asta's support. Additionally, Kafka, known for her DoT abilities, benefits from both Asta and Guinaifen with her DoT-focused skills and ultimate. It's worth noting that other DoT characters such as Luka or Sampo can be used in place of Guinaifen and Asta. The team composition includes Huohuo as the healer, Trailblazer as the DPS, Serval as the sub DPS, and Asta as the support.

Huohuo is capable of performing well in a free-to-play team, though the results may not be as impressive as those of teams with five-star characters. Physical Trailblazer is effective in various situations, particularly when it comes to exploiting enemy weaknesses and defeating them in groups. Serval is exceptional at dealing damage to multiple targets, exploiting weaknesses, and shocking enemies. Meanwhile, Asta enhances the team's speed so that Huohuo can take advantage of her abilities as frequently as possible.

Typically, Huohuo teams are centered around a main damage-dealer with two support characters, who either weaken enemies or strengthen allies. Alternatively, these teams may include a main DPS, secondary DPS, and a support character focused on buffs or debuffs.

Editor's P/S

As a Gen Z fan, I am excited about the new Honkai: Star Rail character, Huohuo. She is a versatile healer and battery who can provide support to her team in various ways. Her abilities, such as Banner: Stormcaller, Talisman: Protection, and Tail: Spiritual Domination, ensure the safety and strength of her allies. I am particularly impressed by her Ultimate ability, Tail: Spiritual Domination, which allows her to restore Energy for all allies and boost their ATK. This makes her an invaluable asset to any team.

In terms of building Huohuo, I would recommend focusing on her Energy Regeneration Rate and HP. This will allow her to use her Ultimate more frequently and provide more healing to her team. I would also recommend equipping her with the Night of Fright Light Cone, which boosts her Energy Regeneration Rate and allows allies to activate healing and attack buffs with their Ultimates. Overall, I think Huohuo is a great character with a lot to offer. I am excited to see how she performs in the game.