Our return to Penacony, the Land of Dreams, in Version 2.6 of Honkai: Star Rail marks not only the beginning of a new story arc but also the introduction of a brand new character with Rappa. As a member of the fabled Galaxy Rangers – the same organisation Boothill belongs to – Rappa is an extremely capable fighter with an eye for flair and a love for all things ninjutsu. As Star Rail’s first Imaginary Erudition character, Rappa can go toe-to-toe with Firefly as one of the game’s strongest Break-focused DPS units, making her an excellent choice for those who enjoy Superbreak.
Here’s how to make the best Rappa build in Honkai: Star Rail Version 2.6. This guide will cover everything from Rappa’s kit and what order you should prioritise levelling her Traces, to her best Relic sets, Light Cones, and team composition choices.
If you’re looking for some other Star Rail build guides, you can find more here on KeenGamer:
- Honkai: Star Rail Lingsha Build Guide
- Honkai: Star Rail | All Lordly Trashcan Locations in 2.2
- Honkai: Star Rail | All Scorchsand Audition Venue Hidden Challenge Solutions
- Honkai: Star Rail | Simulated Universe World 6 Guide (Easy F2P Clear)
Rappa Release Date and Banner Availability
First and foremost, when is Rappa joining the playable roster of Honkai: Star Rail and how long will she be available for? Rappa is the only new 5-star unit joining the game in Version 2.6 and she’s heading the patch’s first phase alongside Dan Heng Imbibitor Lunae, who returns for his second rerun.
Rappa’s Character Event Warp, “Eyes of a Ninja”, launches on October 23rd and will remain as one of the featured Limited Event Warps for three weeks until November 13th. The 4-star characters Lynx, Xueyi, and Yukong will all see boosted drop rates while pulling on either Rappa or Imbibitor Lunae’s banners. Any 5-star character you are lucky enough to pull on the Eyes of a Ninja Event Warp has a 50% chance of being Rappa.
If you are unable to obtain Rappa during this time, you’ll need to wait for her to rerun in a later version update if you want to add her to your roster. Usually, characters in Star Rail rerun roughly every 6 months, although Rappa may return earlier than expected if Hoyoverse experiments with their double and triple reruns.
Honkai: Star Rail Rappa Kit Overview
Ninjutsu: Rise Above Tumbles (Basic ATK)
The first ninja tool in Rappa’s arsenal is her Basic ATK, Ninjutsu: Rise Above Tumbles. Ordinarily, this attack simply deals a minor amount of Imaginary DMG to a single target, making it a rather forgettable ability, especially for an AoE attacker like Rappa.
However, Rappa’s Basic ATK also has an Enhanced variant – Ningu: Demonbane Petalblade – which becomes active after using her Ultimate and scales based on her Basic ATK Level. The first two hits of Rappa’s Enhanced Basic ATK deal Blast Imaginary DMG, whereas the third and final hit deals AoE Imaginary DMG to all targets on the field. These attacks will also lower Enemy Toughness regardless of whether or not they are weak to Imaginary DMG: Weakness Broken enemies will trigger the Imaginary Imprison effect upon Breaking in this manner.
While Rappa’s ordinary Basic ATK is easily the least worthwhile part of her entire kit – she’s an AoE Break-focused character so a low damage, single-target move is rather obsolete – the Enhanced variant is an important thing to consider as unleashing Rappa’s Ultimate is your goal in every combat encounter. You want your Demonbane Petalblade attacks to deal decent damage, especially when they are your main source of Weakness Break, forcing you to pay a little more attention to Rappa’s Basic ATK.
Ninja Strike: Rooted Resolute (Skill)
Next up is Ninja Strike: Rooted Resolute which is Rappa’s Skill. Like with most Erudition characters, this simply deals with a chunk of AoE Imaginary DMG which hits all targets on the field.
As we just stated, Rappa is a Break-focused DPS and her Skill is a great way to quickly shred multiple Imaginary Toughness Bars at once. While it isn’t the most powerful part of her kit, it is a solid way to efficiently narrow in on that end goal of Weakness Breaking with her Ultimate.
Nindo Supreme: Aishiteru (Ultimate)
Rappa’s Ultimate, Nindo Supreme: Aishiteru, is where things get very interesting. With enough Energy, Rappa will enter the Sealform state, immediately giving her one extra turn (just like when Firefly activates her Ultimate). Rappa will also gain three shots of Chroma Ink and increase her Weakness Break Efficiency and Break Effect.
While in the Sealform state, Rappa can use her Enhanced Basic ATK while her Skill and Ultimate will be unavailable. Each Basic ATK consumes one Chroma Ink, with the Sealform state ending once Rappa runs out of Chroma Ink. The additional Weakness Break Efficiency and Break Effect ensure that Rappa will be able to deal high damage and break multiple targets at once when this Ultimate is cast.
The easiest way to think about Rappa is by comparing her to Firefly, Star Rail’s reigning champion when it comes to Break DPS units. While both rely on getting their Ultimates, Firefly is a marathon runner who excels at cramming in multiple high damage Actions in a single turn, whereas Rappa is a sprinter who can dish out incredible amounts of DPS across the entire field in one action. As we mentioned earlier, your main goal when playing Rappa is going to be getting your Ultimate as fast as possible so you can unleash chaos in that one, mesmerising Action.
Ninja Tech: Endurance Gauge (Talent)
Alongside her Ultimate, Rappa’s Talent, Ninja Tech: Endurance Gauge, is another incredibly vital part of her gameplay loop. Each time an enemy target is Weakness Broken, Rappa gains one point of Charge, up to a maximum of ten points. When the third hit of Ningu: Demonbane Petalblade hits, Rappa will consume all Charges to deal additional Imaginary Break DMG to all targets, with each Charge consumed increasing the Toughness DMG dealt as well as the Break DMG Multiplier.
The final blow of Rappa’s Ultimate is where the majority of her damage comes from, especially if you’re running her with Super Break in mind. This Talent ensures that her final hit will deal massive amounts of damage if you play around it, incentivising you to go for Weakness Break over everything else: the more Charges you have going into the Ultimate, the higher Break DMG – and, thus the higher Super Break DMG – you’ll be dealing, simple as.
Ninja Dash: By Leaps and Bounds (Technique)
Rappa’s final ability is her flashiest and that’s Ninja Dash: By Leaps and Bounds, her Technique. For one Technique Point, Rappa will hop aboard her hoverboard and enter the Grafitti state for 20 seconds. Running into an enemy or attacking them will cause Rappa to enter combat, reducing the Toughness of all enemies regardless of Weakness Type. Furthermore, she will also deal Imaginary Break DMG to each target and adjacent targets as well as regenerating 10 Energy for herself.
Rappa’s Technique is a great way to start off a battle in the overworld, especially if it is against large groups of opponents. While solid against bosses and single-targets, its main use is against packs so that Rappa can begin rapidly building up Charges much sooner, especially when you factor in the extra Energy gains. Still, it is a very useful Technique across the board.
Rappa’s Traces and Passive Abilities
By unlocking all of the minor stat increases across Rappa’s Trace Tree, she’ll be able to benefit from the following stat increases to ATK, SPD, and Break Effect, three of her most important stats:
- 28% ATK Boost
- 9 SPD Boost
- 13.3% Break Effect Boost
At Character Ascension 2, Rappa can unlock Ninjutsu Inscription: Sky High, her first Passive Trace. When the Weakness of an elite-level or higher enemy is broken, Rappa additionally gains 1 point of Charge and regenerates 10 Energy. This Trace simply rewards you for putting in the effort to break higher-level targets, giving you additional Charges to make the extra effort worth it. This will, inevitably, result in more damage at the end of Ultimate and gives you more reason to focus on larger targets compared to just singling lower-health mobs.
Then, at Character Ascension 4, Ninjutsu Inscription: Sea Echo will become available. While in the Sealform state, after Rappa uses an Enhanced Basic ATK to deal DMG to a Weakness Broken enemy target, she will convert the Toughness Reduction from this instance of DMG to one instance of 60% Super Break DMG. This Trace gives Rappa her own instance of Super Break, much like Firefly, allowing her to pair even better with vital Break supports like the HMC or Ruan Mei, increasing her damage output considerably and allowing you to confidently run her as a Super Break DPS.
Finally, at Character Ascension 6, you can unlock Ninjutsu Inscription: Withered Leaf, Rappa’s final major Trace. When an enemy target becomes Weakness Broken, increases the Break DMG taken by 2%. If Rappa’s current ATK is higher than 2400, for every 100 excess ATK, additionally increases this value by 1%, up to a max additional increase of 8%. This effect lasts for 2 turns. To reach the higher conversion rate for this Trace, you’ll want to ensure that Rappa has around 3200 ATK while in combat: this will make all of her damage increase considerably while also massively boosting her Break DMG, boosting both her initial Break and Super Break DMG.
Rappa Trace Priority in HSR
- Nindo Supreme: Aishiteru (Ultimate)
- Ninja Tech: Endurance Gauge (Talent)
- Ninjutsu: Rise Above Tumbles (Basic ATK)
- Ninja Strike: Rooted Resolute (Skill)
When it comes to levelling Rappa’s Traces, her Ultimate and Talent go hand in hand and should be the primary focus of any Rappa build in Honkai Star Rail. The higher the level of Rappa’s Ultimate is, the higher the extra Break Effect she’ll receive from entering the Sealform state. This translates into higher Break DMG, higher Super Break DMG, and just makes her far more lethal as a Break-oriented DPS. In the same vein, her Talent will increase the additional Break DMG per Charge consumed which, once again, ties into her role as a Break DPS. Both of these Traces work off of the same general theme and should be levelled together for the best results.
In third place on the hierarchy is Rappa’s Basic ATK. While it does dictate the damage of her Enhanced Basic ATK blows and you’ll want them to hit relatively hard, most of the utility from the Demonbane Petalblade attacks is how efficiently they Break opponents: their Toughness Bar DMG is the real prize, not their base DMG and, unfortunately, you’re not able to increase the amount of Toughness DMG Rappa deals by levelling her Basic ATK. So, make sure to invest in her Basic ATK so that Rappa’s Ultimate can feel powerful, just don’t do it at the detriment of her Ultimate or Talent.
Lastly, Rappa’s Skill just isn’t useful or synergistic enough to prioritise over the other three aspects of her kit. You should level her Skill as it is a great way to quickly lower the entire field’s Toughness and gain Charge stacks, but that is all separate from the Skill’s DMG which is the only thing levelling the Trace will impact. As such, it’s an easy option for last place. Don’t focus on levelling Rappa’s Skill until her Ultimate and Talent are at a comfortable level.
Rappa’s Eidolons
While pulling on Rappa’s Character Event Warp, you may get lucky enough to roll multiple copies of the eccentric Galaxy Ranger, which will net you one of Rappa’s Eidolons. You can use these consumables to unlock new abilities and bonuses for Rappa, increasing her performance or utility tenfold in certain situations.
- Returned Is the Revenant With No Ferry Toll: During the Sealform state, DMG dealt by Rappa ignores 15% of the targets’ DEF. After exiting the Sealform state, she regenerates 20 Energy.
- Free Is the Mind Enlightened by Haikus: The Enhanced Basic ATK’s first 2 hits have their Toughness Reduction against the one designated enemy increased by 50%.
- Many Are the Shrines That Repel No Hell: Skill Lv. +2 and Talent Lv. +2.
- Lost Is the Nindō Devoured by Time: While in the Sealform state, Rappa increases all allies’ SPD by 12%.
- Steady Is The Ranger With Unerring Arrows: Ultimate Lv. +2 and Basic ATK Lv. +1.
- Righteous Is the Wrath That Spares No Evil: When battle starts, Rappa gains 5 points of her Talent’s Charge and its upper limit increases by 5 points. After launching the third hit of Ningu: Demonbane Petalblade, gains 5 points of Charge.
Fortunately for Rappa, a lot of her early Eidolons are excellent, making her a great pick for low-spenders who want to make their Break DPS even better. In particular, her E1 is just a straight-up damage increase for just using her Ultimate, boosting her Enhanced Basic ATK DMG, her Break DMG, and her Super Break DMG while also refunding some Energy for quicker Ultimate gains.
Rappa’s Best Light Cone in Honkai Star Rail
Best in Slot: Ninjutsu Inscription: Dazzling Evilbreaker (Erudition)
Rappa’s best Light Cone in Honkai: Star Rail is her signature Erudition Light Cone, Ninjutsu Inscription: Dazzling Evilbreaker. This 5-Star Light Cone is available to pull from the Light Cone Event Warp while Rappa’s Eyes of a Ninja Character Event Warp is still ongoing and it’s the best in slot for Rappa because of how it specifically augments her kit, granting her the most beneficially stat bonuses while also improving the quality of life of her Break-focused playstyle.
At level 80, Ninjutsu Inscription: Dazzling Evilbreaker will have 953 HP, 582 ATK, and 529 DEF and grant the wearer access to the Exorcism ability. Exorcism, firstly, increases the wearer’s Break Effect by a massive 60%. Secondly, when entering battle, the wearer will immediately regenerate 30 Energy. Thirdly, after the wearer uses their Ultimate, they obtain the Raiton effect, which advances their action by 50% after using two Basic ATKs.
When it comes to Rappa, this Light Cone just kicks all of the boxes. The huge Break Effect increase is great for increasing her damage amount whether you intend to use her as a standard Break DPS or a Super Break DPS, whereas the extra Energy at the start of a fight just ensures that you’ll be able to reach the apex of her gameplay loop much sooner. Meanwhile, the Ration effect will give you more opportunities to exploit your opponents no matter their SPD stat: for Rappa, this means giving you more opportunities to Break them before they act, freeing up time for you to deal damage and stopping them from damaging you.
Best Replacement and 4-Star Light Cones for Rappa
For those without the funds to pull for Dazzling Evilbreaker, you’ll be pleased to know that Rappa has several potent Erudition Light Cones that she can use instead. We won’t be recommending any 5-Star Limited Erudition Light Cones due to their rarity and lack of availability but most of them should prove excellent on Rappa so give them a go if you have them.
Here are the best non-signature Erudition Light Cones for Rappa in Honkai: Star Rail:
- Eternal Calculus (5-Star Herta Store Light Cone): Increases the wearer’s ATK by 8%. After using an attack, for each enemy target hit, additionally increases ATK by 4%. This effect can stack up to 5 times and last until the next attack. If there are 3 or more enemy targets hit, this unit’s SPD increases by 8%, lasting for 1 turn(s).
- After the Charmony Fell (4-Star Gacha Light Cone): Increases the wearer’s Break Effect by 28%. After the wearer uses their Ultimate, increases their SPD by 8%, lasting for 2 turns.
- Make the World Clamour (4-Star Gacha Light Cone): The wearer regenerates 20 Energy immediately upon entering battle, and increases Ultimate DMG by 32%.
Eternal Calculus is the latest 5-Star Light Cone to be added to Herta’s Shop inventory and, fortunately for us, it works very well on Rappa. Firstly, the extra ATK increase is always going to be very nice, especially when almost all of Rappa’s DMG scales purely off of ATK and you can use it to gain more Break DMG from her A4 Trace. Secondly, as an AoE attacker, Rappa will be hitting multiple targets in almost every Action, ensuring that you’ll have high uptime on both the ATK and SPD bonuses present on this Light Cone. And, of course, as a Herta LC, it will be very easy, if a bit tedious, to get Eternal Calculus to S5 for huge stat bonuses, making it a very solid option for non-signature Rappa builds.
Aside from Eternal Calculus, there are two gacha Erudition Light Cones which can also work well. After the Charmony Fell fits very well into Rappa’s overall gameplay by naturally increasing her Break Effect and giving her some additional utility after using her Ultimate: more SPD means more attacks which means more Energy which means more frequent Ultimates. Meanwhile, Make the World Clamour is an excellent option if you want to get your Ultimate off as soon as possible and want all of its damage to hit even harder. They both work well in most Rappa builds, with After the Charmony Fell being the more useful in moment-to-moment gameplay.
Rappa’s Best Relic and Planar Ornament Sets in Honkai Star Rail
As a Break-DPS, Rappa can forego any focus on CRIT Rate or CRIT DMG, allowing her to put all her eggs into ATK and Break Effect. As such, when building Rappa, you’ll want to focus on Relic and Planar Ornament sets which increase either of these two core stats and, fortunately, there are some pretty great options at her disposal.
- 4pc Iron Cavalry Against the Swarm: Increases Break Effect by 16%. If the wearer’s Break Effect is 150% or higher, the Break DMG dealt to the enemy target ignores 10% of their DEF. If the wearer’s Break Effect is 250% or higher, the Super Break DMG dealt to the enemy target additionally ignores 15% of their DEF.
- 4pc Thief of Shooting Meteor: Increases Break Effect by 32%. When the wearer inflicts Weakness Break on an enemy, they regenerate 3 Energy.
Whether you want to run Rappa as a standard Break DPS – ala Boothill – or as a Super Break DPS – ala Firefly – the best Relic set to go with is, undoubtedly, full Iron Cavalry. The additional Break Effect offered by the two-piece bonus is already great as it means more Imprison and Super Break DMG for Rappa’s Ultimate. Meanwhile, between Rappa’s bevvy of personal buffs (Ultimate, Light Cone, etc.) and the effects of her best allies (Ruan Mei, four-piece Watchmaker, etc.), reaching and maintaining 250% Break Effect should be a piece of cake, meaning that Rappa will be constantly benefitting from an effect equal to her E1. And that isn’t even considering the extra Super Break DMG. Whichever build you’re using on Rappa, Cavalry is the best bet.
However, if you’d prefer to go down the straight and narrow and just focus on Rappa’s Break DPS identity, full Meteor Thief isn’t bad either. Compared to Cavalry, Meteor Thief gives you double the additional Break Effect while also providing you with an extra source of Energy for simply Breaking opponents, something Rappa is already adept at: in fact, in areas like Pure Fiction or those with additional weaker mobs, Meteor Thief may prove more useful than Cavalry for getting quick, efficient Ults. However, in moment-to-moment gameplay and especially in longer boss encounters, full Cavalry will be better for most players.
Meanwhile, when it comes to what Planar Ornament sets you should run on Rappa, consider either of the following options:
- 2pc Talia: Kingdom of Banditry: Increases the wearer’s Break Effect by 16%. When the wearer’s SPD reaches 145 or higher, the wearer’s Break effect increases by an extra 20%.
- 2pc Space Sealing Station: Increases the wearer’s ATK by 12%. When the wearer’s SPD reaches 120 or higher, the wearer’s ATK increases by an extra 12%.
Of the two recommended sets, two-piece Talia is definitely the trickier to take full advantage of. While the extra 16% Break Effect is very nice to have on hand, ensuring that your Rappa is at 145 SPD for the extra 20% buff is pretty tricky, especially if you don’t want to skimp out on damage or ATK. Manage to hit that perfect balance, though, and you’ll be rewarded with an excellent Rappa that has high Break DMG and high SPD, giving you multiple opportunities to Break opponents and build up both Charge stacks and Energy.
Meanwhile, if 145 SPD is a bit out of reach and you’d prefer to double down on your strengths, 2pc Space Sealing Station is a lot more approachable as it only requires 120 SPD, something easily achieved with SPD Boots on Rappa. In this instance, the 24% extra ATK will result in a lot more damage output and put you within a better spot to reach the upper limit of Rappa’s A6 Passive, allowing you to convert all that extra ATK into additional Break DMG.
Most Important Stats for Rappa
As mentioned earlier, Rappa is purely a Break-focused DPS, meaning that there is very little reason to run either CRIT Rate or CRIT DMG on her. This makes her much easier to build than some other DPS characters as you only need three main stats: ATK, for higher overall damage, Break Effect, also for more damage, and SPD, for more Actions per Turn.
Here are the main stats you should be hunting for on Rappa’s Relics in Honkai: Star Rail:
- Body: ATK%
- Feet: SPD
- Planar Sphere: ATK%
- Link Rope: Break Effect
Then, here are the four best substats for Rappa’s Relics, ordered in terms of priority:
- Break Effect
- ATK%
- SPD
- Flat ATK
Rappa’s Best Team Comps in Honkai Star Rail
Rappa Super Break Team
Like all characters with a Break Effect niche, Rappa works super well in any team focused on Super Break, especially because she can trigger her own instance of it thanks to her Character Ascension 4 Trace. The best Super Break team currently features Firefly as the lead damage dealer with the Harmony MC, Ruan Mei, and Lingsha as support units to back her up. Luckily for us, this is also Rappa’s best team as she’s essentially a more AoE-focused Firefly substitute. Except for everyone running Kalpagni Lantern, this comp works almost the exact same way as Firefly’s.
- Rappa (Ninjutsu Inscription: Dazzling Evilbreaker) | 4pc Iron Cavalry + 2pc Talia: Kingdom of Banditry
- Harmony Trailblazer (Memories of the Past) | 4pc Meteor Thief + 2pc Penacony, Land of Dreams
- Ruan Mei (Past Self in Mirror) | 4pc Watchmaker + 2pc Talia: Kingdom of Banditry
- Lingsha (Scent Alone Stays True) | 4pc Iron Cavalry + 2pc Kalpagni Lantern
The staple team member in this Rappa composition is, obviously, the Harmony Trailblazer as they’re the one responsible for the team’s high Super Break DMG. While Rappa is capable of causing her own instance of Super Break, it will stack well with the one generated by the HMC’s Ultimate, allowing her to perform multiple instances of Super Break DMG per round for insanely high damage on Broken targets. They will also be able to raise the Break Effect of the entire team in multiple ways, including four-piece Watchmaker, which will improve the damage output (and healing) of the entire team considerably.
Alongside the Trailblazer are Ruan Mei and Lingsha, two equally important members of this composition. Ruan Mei is one of the best general support units in all of Star Rail but she really shines in Super Break and Break-focused compositions because her unique buffs not only delay Weakness Break recovery (allowing you to deal Super Break DMG damage for a sustained period of time) but she also increases Weakness Break Efficiency and provides an All-Type RES PEN, both of which are excellent for Rappa. Then, lastly, there’s Lingsha who works as a healer sub-DPS hybrid: her Outgoing Healing increases with Break Effect, her Fire Weakness Break potential is incredibly high, and she increases the entire team’s Break DMG with her Ultimate.
F2P and Low Investment Rappa Team
While the Harmony Trailblazer is well within reach, Lingsha and Ruan Mei may be unavailable for quite some time. Fortunately, there are plenty of suitable replacements for Rappa’s F2P or low investment composition which keep the core identity of the team the same: you’ll still be dealing high Super Break DMG while benefitting from a wide variety of buffs and bonuses. In this team, Lingsha is replaced by her 4-star F2P counterpart Gallagher, a very competent Break Effect-focused healer, while Ruan Mei is substituted for Asta, a very reliable Fire Harmony unit whose ATK and SPD buffs work wonderfully with Rappa.
- Rappa (Eternal Calculus) | 4pc Iron Cavalry + 2pc Talia: Kingdom of Banditry
- Harmony Trailblazer (Memories of the Past) | 4pc Watchmaker + 2pc Kalpagni Lantern
- Asta (Planetary Rendezvous) | 4pc Meteor Thief + 2pc Penacony, Land of Dreams
- Gallagher (What Is Real?) | 2pc Meteor Thief, 2pc Wandering Clouds + 2pc Kalpagni Lantern
The Trailblazer works the same way in this team as they do in the premium Super Break team so there’s no change here. Asta, on the other hand, functions a bit differently from Ruan Mei. In place of Ruan Mei’s All Type RES PEN and Weakness Break Efficiency, Asta will provide the entire team with an easy-to-access ATK buff from her Talent, one Rappa can use to increase her Break Effect DMG considerably. Then, with her Ultimate, Asta will boost the entire team’s SPD, another vital stat for ensuring that Rappa can get as much Energy as possible in moment-to-moment combat.
Finally, we have Gallagher, the defacto Super Break healer before the introduction of Lingsha, and even since she was introduced to many. Despite lacking the more utilitarian or support-focused aspects of Lingsha’s kit, Gallagher has very competitive healing while also having excellent single-target Super Break DMG. Gallagher’s Bessotted debuff can also increase the Break DMG taken by enemies just like Lingsha, meaning that he will also be increasing Rappa’s damage output while keeping everyone alive.
That was how to make the best Rappa build in Honkai: Star Rail.