Honkai: Star Rail is giving all players the 5-star character Dr. Ratio for free, should you build him?

Honkai: Star Rail players are in for a treat next week as all players will be getting the 5-star Imaginary Hunt character Dr. Ratio for free when the second half of version 1.6 goes live on 17 January as thanks for the many awards that the game amassed at the end of last year.

In order to get your free Dr. Ratio, you first need to complete the Trailblaze Mission "Blue — A Moment of Peace" and unlock the mailbox function. Players will have from the beginning of version 1.6 to version 2.1 to obtain Dr. Ratio for free. Of course, he can still be acquired through traditional means through the limited-time Warp in the second half of version 1.6.

Free characters in HoYoverse games don't exactly have the best reputation, just look at Aloy from Genshin Impact. However, Dr. Ratio will be bucking that trend as he is already looking to be a powerhouse and should be a must-build for all players.

But before we break down why you should build your free Dr. Ratio, let's look at his kit first. Luckily, we were given a great preview in the Trailblaze Continuance mission "Crown of the Mundane and Divine", where he got to flex his well-educated muscles as a trial character.

As a Hunt character, Dr. Ratio is all about dishing out a huge amount of single-target damage with frequent attacks.

His primary source of damage will be his Talent, which gives him a fixed chance of launching a follow-up attack against the target he last used his skill on. The base chance for the follow-up attack to get launched is 40% and will be increased by 20% for each debuff the target enemy has. If you inflict at least three debuffs on Dr. Ratio's target, then he will be 100% guaranteed to launch his follow-up attack after using his skill.

Dr. Ratio can then use his ultimate to increase the barrage of follow-up attacks against his target. After using his ultimate on an enemy, then all ally attacks on that target will cause Dr. Ratio to launch his follow-up attack for up to 2 times.

If you think Dr. Ratio's skill, ultimate, and Talent combo is already strong, just wait until you check out his Traces. His major Traces gives him some insane self-buffs, including 15% Crit Rate, 30% Crit DMG, and 50% DMG buffs based on the number of debuffs his target has. To ensure his target will get the debuffs he needs to buff up his damage, one of Dr. Ratio's major Traces also reduces the Effect RES of the enemy hit by his skill by 10% for 2 turns.

Finally, Dr. Ratio's Techique lets him summon a statue of himself that creates a special dimension that taunts nearby enemies. Initiating a battle against an enemy in the dimension reduces the Speed of all enemies by 15% for 2 turns.

As you can tell from his kit, Dr. Ratio is designed to shred single-target enemies, making him a perfect boss killer. Even if Erudition characters are getting the spotlight right now with the recent release of Pure Fiction, Dr. Ratio is still going to shine in content like Echo of War and Memory of Chaos.

The fact that Dr. Ratio wields the Imaginary element also makes him a go-to character to use against the multitude of bosses with an Imaginary weakness. These include Bronya, Yanqing, Gepard, Kafka, Swarm: True Sting, Phantylia, and Starcrusher Swarm King: Skaracabaz.

If you're worried that you'll be forced to spend Stellar Jade or Trailblaze Power to get Dr. Ratio some proper gear, don't fret!

If you have enough Herta Bonds saved up, then you'll be able to acquire and superimpose the 5-star Hunt Light Cone Cruising in the Stellar Sea for free. Aside from its 5-star stats, this Light Cone increases its wielder's Crit Rate by 8% — which gets doubled if their target is at 50% HP or less — and buffs their ATK by 20% for 2 turns after defeating an enemy.

If you don't have Herta Bonds, then you can still get the 4-star Light Cone River Flows in Spring by using Lucent Afterglow in the Forgotten Hall's Light Cone Manifest. This Light Cone can also be acquired as an additional reward when clearing Echo of War.

River Flows in Spring increases its wielder's Speed by 8% and DMG by 12% as long as they don't take damage, so make sure to have a hefty shield on Dr. Ratio at all times when using this Light Cone.

As for Dr. Ratio's relics, his best options have been available for a while now so you should have enough stocked up for him to use once he arrives.

For his Cavern of Corrosion relics, you have the choice between the 4-piece Wastelander of Banditry Desert set or a mixed set of the 2-piece Wastelander of Banditry and 2-piece Ashblazing Grand Duke.

The 4-piece Wastelander of Banditry Desert set gives its wielder a 10% Imaginary DMG bonus with its 2-piece bonus while its 4-piece bonus increases their Crit Rate by 10% against debuffed enemies and their Crit DMG by 20% against enemies afflicted by the Imprison debuff.

Meanwhile, the 2-piece Ashblazing Grand Duke set bonus increases its wielder's follow-up attack DMG by 20%, a huge boost to Dr. Ratio's primary source of damage. Don't bother going for this set's 4-piece bonus though, as it only buffs follow-up attacks with multiple hits — Dr. Ratio's follow-up attack only has one hit.

Dr. Ratio's go-to Planar Ornament relic set is hands-down the 2-piece Inert Salsotto set, which increases his Crit Rate by 8% and his follow-up attack and ultimate DMG by 15% when his Crit Rate reaches 50% or higher.

The main stats you should go for are Crit Rate/DMG for the body, Speed for the feet, Imaginary DMG bonus for the Planar Sphere, and ATK% for the Link Rope. Substats to go for are Crit Rate/DMG, ATK, and Speed.

If you made it this far and still aren't convinced to build Dr. Ratio, then I don't know what to tell you. He is looking like a powerhouse character that is too good to be given away for free — and yet he is just that.

If you're in need of more DPS characters, then he will be a godsend to your account as you're basically saving an entire pity's worth of pulls to get a new one. If you already have a good enough roster, then having a free character joining the party wouldn't hurt.

Should you now be set on building Dr. Ratio once he arrives in the second half of Honkai: Star Rail version 1.6, look out for our detailed guide on how to best build him as well as his best gear and teammates closer to his release.

Honkai: Star Rail version 1.6 features three new characters, namely the 5-star Ice Harmony character Ruan Mei, the 5-star Imaginary Hunt character Dr. Ratio, and the 4-star Quantum Destruction character Xueyi. Dr. Ratio will be given to players for free at the start of the second half of this version.

After version 1.6 comes the massive version 2.0 update in February 2024, which will see the release of a new planet in Penacony as well as three new characters in Black Swan, Sparkle, and Misha.

Yan Ku is a full-time dog parent, part-time (gacha) gamer, and part-time writer.

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