In Honkai: Star Rail, Destruction path characters have always been the go-to core damage dealers for almost any team. Not only do they come with incredibly high damage modifiers, but most of them can pull double duty: dishing out massive single-target burst while also clearing out waves of multiple enemies quickly. They work perfectly for everything from pushing through the main story to tackling the toughest endgame content. As more Destruction characters join the playable roster, many Trailblazers are left asking one question: who is actually the highest damage output Destruction character in the current version of the game? In this guide, we’ll break down the raw damage output of every available Destruction character to help you figure out who to pull for and who to invest your leveling resources into.
How We Ranked These Characters
For this ranking, we focused exclusively on raw damage output as our core scoring metric. We excluded extra utility like survivability or support capabilities to get a clear picture of each character’s pure strength as a damage dealer. All rankings are based on characters at max constellation, with fully upgraded, endgame-built relics and light cones. We tested both common damage scenarios: single-target damage against bosses and area-of-effect damage against groups of enemies, then combined the results to get our final rankings.
Breakdown of Every Current Destruction Character’s Damage Output
Jingliu (5-Star Ice Element)
Widely accepted as the current damage ceiling for all Destruction path characters, Jingliu’s damage output has almost no noticeable weaknesses. Her passive ability grants a massive damage buff, and she pairs an area-of-effect combat skill with a high-multiplier single-target ultimate ability. This means she’s just as effective at clearing out waves of minor enemies as she is at instantly bursting down tough boss targets. At max constellation, she pushes her damage ceiling even further, and she can pull off incredible damage against every type of enemy and encounter, making her extremely versatile for any team composition.
Jing Yuan (5-Star Lightning Element)
Jing Yuan’s entire damage kit revolves around his summon, the Lightning Lord, which focuses on passive, off-field area-of-effect burst damage. In encounters with multiple enemies, he can stack tons of extra hits on the Lightning Lord, and a single well-stacked ultimate can clear out an entire screen of enemies in one go. He also boasts incredibly consistent, reliable damage output for longer, drawn-out fights. That said, since almost all of his damage is tied directly to the Lightning Lord, his single-target damage against bosses falls a little short of Jingliu’s. He also runs into issues against enemies that can clear buffs or push back his action bar, since these mechanics make him lose stacks on his Lightning Lord and tank his overall damage output.
Blade (5-Star Wind Element)
Blade is a classic blood magic-style single-target damage dealer, who consumes his own health to unlock massive damage boosts. He doesn’t need a lot of energy to use his combat skill repeatedly, so he can pump out incredible consistent damage during long single-target encounters, and he shines particularly when fighting high-health bosses. The main downside to Blade is that almost all of his attacks are focused on single targets, so his area-of-effect clear capability is fairly weak. His damage output also relies heavily on high investment into his level and gear, so his overall versatility can’t match the two 5-star Destruction characters we covered above.
Free and 4-Star Destruction Characters
The Physical Destruction Trailblazer, which is given to all players for free early in the game, is built to be a hybrid sub-DPS with extra utility. Her raw damage output can’t compete with the top 5-star Destruction characters, but she’s perfect for helping new players get through the early game. Every other 3-star and 4-star Destruction character currently available are built for very niche, specific encounter scenarios, and their maximum overall damage is far lower than what 5-star Destruction characters can hit. Unless you’re building a very specific, specialized team composition, we don’t recommend investing in any of these lower-rarity characters as your main damage dealer.
Final Verdict: Who Is The Strongest DPS?
When looking at both pure damage output and overall versatility, the strongest Destruction damage dealer in the current version of the game is without a doubt Jingliu. She puts up top-tier damage numbers regardless of whether she’s fighting a single boss or a group of enemies, and dumping all your leveling resources into her immediately after pulling her will never be a waste of your materials. If you often find yourself fighting multiple groups of enemies in longer encounters, Jing Yuan also delivers a very smooth, comfortable damage experience. If you primarily fight tough single-target bosses, you should prioritize investing in Blade instead.
Of course, raw damage strength is also impacted by your team composition, the quality of your relics, your overall character investment, and the unique mechanics of whatever encounter you’re fighting. At the end of the day, the character that fits well with your current existing roster and playstyle is always the best damage dealer for you to build.