Best Serval Honkai Star Rail build: Light Cone, Relics, teams, more

❘ Updated: 2023-11-14T16:55:54

HoYoverse

Serval is one of Honkai Star Rail’s free characters, so it’s always good to know how to build her in case you need some free help in battle. Here’s how to build Serval with the best Light Cone, Relic set, and teammates in HSR.

Honkai Star Rail players meet Serval early in the game while exploring the Belobog storyline. Gepard‘s sister sides with the main heroes, meaning you can unlock her for free in HoYoverse’s RPG.

So, if you’re looking to build Serval in Honkai Star Rail, here are the best Light Cone, Relic sets, and teams for her in HSR.

Serval’s abilities in Honkai Star Rail explained
Best Relics for Serval in Honkai Star Rail
Best Planar Ornament for Serval
Best Light Cone for Serval in Honkai Star Rail
Best Honkai Star Rail teams for Serval

Serval’s abilities in Honkai Star Rail explained

Serval is a four-star Honkai Star Rail Lightning element character in the Path of The Erudition. This means she’s capable of dealing massive amounts of AoE damage, as well as applying DoT.

She’s boosted in the second phase of update 2.1 in Aventurine’s banner, but you can pull Serval from permanent banners as well.

Here are all of Serval’s abilities in Honkai Star Rail:

Roaring Thunderclap (Basic attack) – Deals Lightning DMG to a targeted enemy.
Lightning Flash (Skill) – Deals Lightning DMG to a single enemy and a little less Lightning DMG to adjacent enemies. This ability has a chance to Shock enemies for two turns. While Shocked, enemies take Lightning DoT at the beginning of each turn.
Here Comes the Mechanical Fever (Ultimate) – Deals Lightning DMG to all enemies. What’s more, enemies already Shocked will extend the duration of their Shock state by two additional turns.
Galvanic Chords (Talent) – After Serval attacks, deals even more Lightning DMG to all Shocked enemies.
Good Night, Belobog (Technique) – Immediately attacks the enemy. After entering battle, deals Lightning DMG to a random enemy, with a 100% base chance for all enemies to become Shocked for three turns.

Since you’ll want Serval to deal as much damage as she can, you should focus on increasing her ATK, CRIT Rate, and CRIT DMG stats.

Additionally, enhancing her SPD can help Serval Shock enemies faster and more often. On the other hand, improving her Energy Regen can be a great move to spam her Ultimate more often and, with that, Shock enemies for longer.

Best Relics for Serval in Honkai Star Rail

Band of Sizzling Thunder

Two-piece bonus: Increases Lightning DMG by 10%.
Four-piece bonus: When the wearer uses Skill, increases the wearer’s ATK by 20% for one turn.

Band of Sizzling Thunder is the tailor-made Relic set for Lightning characters in Honkai Star Rail. What’s more, it increases the wearer’s ATK when they use their Skill, so it’s great for players trying to enhance Serval’s damage output however they can.

Musketeer of Wild Wheat

Two-piece bonus: ATK increases by 10%.
Four-piece bonus: The wearer’s SPD increases by 6% and Basic ATK DMG increases by 10%.

As you might know by now, Musketeer of Wild Wheat is the easiest Relic set to get in the game. It focuses on improving the character’s damage output, so it also works great with Serval. It’s the default Relic set for almost all DPS characters and a good alternative when you can’t get others.

Thief of Shooting Meteor

Two-piece bonus: Increases Break Effect by 16%.
Four-piece bonus: Increases the wearer’s Break Effect by 16%. When the wearer inflicts Weakness Break on an enemy, regenerates 3 Energy.

The Thief of Shooting Meteor Relic set can also work very well with Serval. Enhancing her Break Effect allows her to deal more damage, and it gives her abilities more chances to Shock enemies, thus inflicting DoT.

Serval has her own workshop in Belobog’s Administrative District.

Best Planar Ornament for Serval in Honkai Star Rail

Space Sealing Station is the go-to Planar Ornament for characters in charge of dealing damage in Honkai Star Rail. The two-piece set increases Serval’s ATK by 12% and then by another 12% when her SPD reaches 120 or higher. Pretty straightforward but also very effective.

Celestial Differentiator is almost as good for Serval since it focuses on her CRIT capabilities. This Planar Ornament starts by increasing Serval’s CRIT DMG by 16%. Then, when her CRIT DMG reaches 120% or higher, after entering battle, her CRIT Rate increases by 60% until the end of her first attack.

Alternatively, Pan-Galactic Commercial Enterprise can be good for Serval as well. This Planar Ornament increases Serval’s Effect Hit Rate by 10% while also increasing her ATK up to a maximum of 25%.

Best Light Cone for Serval in Honkai Star Rail

Before Dawn

Jing Yuan’s signature Light Cone is the best option for Honkai Star Rail characters in the Path of The Erudition. This Light Cone increases Serval’s CRIT DMG alongside her Skill and Ultimate DMG by different amounts. After she uses her Skill or Ultimate, she gains Somnus Corpus. Upon triggering a follow-up attack, Somnus Corpus is consumed and the follow-up attack DMG increases.

Make the World Clamor

Serval’s own Light Cone doesn’t seem like much but can be very useful, considering her Ultimate. This light Cone makes Serval regenerate up to 32 Energy immediately upon entering battle. Additionally, it increases her Ultimate DMG up to 64%, which can be devastating.

The Seriousness of Breakfast

Lastly, Pom-Pom’s Light Cone is another interesting option for characters in the Path of The Erudition. This Light Cone will increase Serval’s DMG up to 24%. What’s more, for every defeated enemy, Serval’s ATK will increase up to 8%, stacking up to three times. This can make Serval a relentless attacker.

Best Honkai Star Rail teams for Serval

As we mentioned, Serval’s focus in Honkai Star Rail should be on dealing AoE damage as well as inflicting enemies with Shock. However, she can’t really take all enemies on her own, so you’ll need to pair her with another powerful DPS. Of course, you can’t complete your team without a healer, and a support character can also prove very useful alongside Serval.

Since Serval is a free-to-play character, pairing her with other free characters can work very well. With Dan Heng as your main DPS and Natasha or Lynx as your healer, you can then choose between the Fire Trailblazer or March 7th to be your tank/shielder. This is a pretty straightforward composition that will help you through most of the game.

Alternatively, you can pair Serval with Sampo to take advantage of his DoT buffs. You won’t have a single-target DPS character, but completing the team with a healer and a character in the Path of the Nihility, like Pela or Silver Wolf, can give you very good results.

For more Honkai Star Rail content, you can check out some of our other guides: