There have been a lot of amazing characters recently released in Honkai: Star Rail, from the powerful Firefly to the version of March 7th following The Hunt path. That being said, few stand out the way that Sparkle does. She might be a devious trickster in the story, but she’s an invaluable ally during battles. Let us help you get to grips with this excellent character.
Read More: The Ultimate March 7th (The Hunt) Build for Honkai: Star Rail
Sparkle is a Quantum Harmony character, ideal for teams that often use skills. This is primarily emphasized by her talent, which increases the maximum number of usable skill points, and her ultimate, which recovers skill points for the team. Both of these, in addition to her talent ability, increase ally DMG. Whether you’ve only just managed to unlock Sparkle through her banner’s rerun, or need a refresher on how to use her more efficiently, here are my build guidelines for this excellent support.
Best Sparkle team composition
If you have teams, or even a single character that can easily hog skill points, Sparkle can make a difference. You’ll get the most bang for your buck by using her on a team with other Quantum characters, thanks to one of her bonus abilities that increases their ATK. Nevertheless, she’ll shine no matter who she’s paired with.
Two DPS Quantum characters that will reap the most benefits are Seele and Qingque. Both can become real powerhouses with all the different DMG and ATK buffs. The extra skill points can also help Seele land her skill ability more often, and let Qingque search more often for matching tiles with her skill. I will concede that not being able to find a matching tile after spending additional points is one of the most disappointing feelings I’ve had while playing though.
When it comes to DPS characters of different types, Acheron and Imbibitor Lunae certainly come to mind. Acheron will make great use of the buffs and benefit from being advanced forward by Sparkle’s skill. The recently released Jiaoqiu is also a great secondary Support for an Acheron-centered team. Imbibitor Lunae will benefit for the above reasons, on top of being able to burn through skill points to deal more damage.
Lynx and Fu Xuan are the optimal choices for your healer role. Extra skill points will ensure Lynx can heal far more often. Fu Xuan doesn’t need to use her skill that much, which means the rest of your team will have plenty of points available. They’ll each be able to trigger Sparkle’s Bonus ability to buff Quantum characters as well, which is great news if you have a DPS of the same type.
Best Sparkle Light Cones
There are quite a few Light Cone options for Sparkle, but the most effective are those that support other characters. Here are the top choices to make her an even bigger asset.
Earthly Escapade is the 5-star light cone that runs alongside Sparkle’s banner, and just like other 5-star characters such as Yunli, the related light cone is the best choice. What makes Earthly Escapade a standout is that it provides huge buffs to Crit Rate and Crit DMG.
Read More: Master Counters With the Best Yunli Build for Honkai: Star Rail
The next best option is the 5-star light cone, The Battle Isn’t Over. It will increase energy regen for the wearer and regenerate a skill point whenever they use their ultimate. More importantly, the next ally after Sparkle uses her skill will deal more damage for one turn. This pairs nicely with her skill which will advance the ally that she chooses. The only caveat here is that this is Bronya’s featured light cone, so you might be waiting a while to get it.
If you want a more accessible version of the above light cone, Past and Future is a wonderful alternative. The simple thing it does is increase the next ally’s damage after the wearer uses their skill. It’s not as strong of a buff, but it’s easier to gather these from the Forgotten Hall than it is to hope RNG is on your side for a limited-time item.
Which Traces to prioritize
Everything in Sparkle’s kit is helpful, but some aspects are better prioritized than others. Here are the Traces to look out for when you’re upgrading.
- Red Herring – Upgrading her talent will increase how much the team-wide damage buff will be whenever an ally uses a skill point. Considering how skill-heavy most Sparkle teams are, this ability will constantly be in play and should be upgraded
- The Hero with a Thousand Faces – While you can’t improve how many skill points are recovered, upgrading Sparkle’s ultimate does affect the additional DMG boost to her talent. Both of these should be upgraded together
- Artificial Flower – This bonus ability extends Sparkle’s Crit DMG buff until the start of the ally’s next turn. On paper, this doesn’t sound too impressive, but it can help with any awkward timing issues, depending on everyone’s SPD stat
- Nocturne – If you’re building a mono-Quantum team, this is a necessary bonus ability. The base 15 percent ATK increase for all allies is great already, but it goes further by boosting Quantum characters’ ATK by 5-30 percent depending on how many are on the team
Best Sparkle Relic Sets
Equipping the best Relic and Planar Ornament sets isn’t too difficult. All you have to keep in mind is that Sparkle needs to be fast, and needs to increase ally DMG. I’ve listed the preferred options below.
- Messenger Traversing Hackerspace is a must-have for nearly every build. The 6 percent SPD increase is solid, and the four-piece effect can boost the entire team’s SPD further by 12 percent. Sparkle is just plain better with these relics
- If you don’t care about team SPD, then Musketeer of Wild Wheat is a decent alternative. Its two-piece effect increases ATK by 12 percent while the four-piece increases SPD by 6 percent and Basic ATK by 10 percent
- Broken Keel can fit in perfectly as long as a particular stat is high enough. The first part of the planar ornament increases the wearer’s effect RES by 10 percent. If this stat reaches the minimum of 30 percent, the whole team will enjoy a 10 percent increase in Crit DMG. Sparkle’s skill will buff a selected ally’s Crit DMG based on a percentage of her own, meaning this ornament can make the skill far more deadly
Sparkle might have taken six months to return, but she’s easily still one of the best Support characters in Honkai: Star Rail. Her utility is second only to Ruan Mei, and even that might be arguable depending on what kind of teams you prefer. Unless her banner rerun goes against a character that completely changes the game, I can’t imagine a better use for your Stellar Jade and Star Rail Special Passes.
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