Sparkle is Honkai: Star Rail's new premier 5-star Harmony support character! Here's how you build her plus her best gear and teams

We are now in the second half of Honkai: Star Rail version 2.0 and with it comes the debut of a new 5-star character in Sparkle!

Sparkle wields the Quantum element, follows the Path of Harmony, and is the game's new top-tier support character. She can greatly empower her team's damage-dealer by buffing their ATK, DMG%, and Crit DMG while also advancing their action forward and providing additional skill points for the entire team.

If you were lucky enough to get Sparkle, then read on as we break down how to build her properly as well as her best Light Cones, relics, and teammates!

Sparkle's kit and how to best utilise her

Behind the Mask

Every 5-star Harmony character in the game has proven to be very powerful, and Sparkle is no exception. With all of the things she brings to the table, she will be an excellent support in a hypercarry team where she can focus all of her buffs on the team's singular damage-dealer.

Sparkle's skill, Dreamdiver, increases the Crit DMG of a single ally based on her own Crit DMG while also advancing their action forward by 50%, similar to Bronya's skill. At level 10, this ability grants a Crit DMG bonus of 45% plus 24% of Sparkle's own Crit DMG bonus to its target.

Initially, Dreamdiver's Crit DMG buff only lasts for 1 turn but will be extended to 2 turns after unlocking her A4 major Trace.

Next up is Sparkle's Talent, Red Herring, which passively increases the total amount of skill points available for the entire team by 2. In addition, whenever an ally consumes a skill point, all allies will receive a DMG% buff for 2 turns which can also stack up to 3 times.

At level 10, Sparkle's Talent provides a 18% DMG buff at max stacks that can also be increased by her ultimate, which we'll talk about next.

Sparkle's ultimate, The Hero with a Thousand Faces, recovers 4 skill points for the entire team and grants all allies the Cipher buff. At level 10, Cipher grants an additional 10% DMG boost to that provided by her Talent for 2 turns.

When Sparkle has all 3 stacks of Red Herring and has used her ultimate, your entire party will receive a whopping 48% DMG buff.

Sparkle's major Traces round out her skillset nicely by helping with her energy needs and further boosting her support capabilities.

Sparkle's A2 Trace, Almanac, gives her an additional 10 energy whenever she uses her basic attack while her A4 Trace, Artificial Flower, extends the Crit DMG buff provided by her skill to 2 turns.

Meanwhile, Sparkle's A6 Trace, Nocturne, lets her provide a passive 15% ATK buff while also letting her enable the vaunted mono-Quantum lineup. When there are 1/2/3 characters in the party with a Quantum elemental alignment, Sparkle will grant them an additional 5/15/30% ATK buff.

So, if Sparkle is in a mono-Quantum team, she will grant all her teammates a huge 45% ATK buff.

Finally, Sparkle's Technique, Unreliable Narrator, grants the entire party the Misdirect buff for 20 seconds. Characters with Misdirect will not be detected by enemies in the overworld and starting a battle with the buff active will also recover 3 skill points for the entire team.

When leveling up Sparkle's abilities, her skill should be your first priority followed by her Talent then ultimate — though they should all be maxed out eventually. You also don't need to level up her basic attacks as she will be using her skill as much as possible and will only use her basic attack in the rare occurrence that you run out of skill points.

In battle, make sure to use Sparkle's Technique first to maximise the amount of skill points in your team's disposal. Spam her skill on your team's damage-dealer to buff their Crit DMG and use her ultimate whenever it's available for a further boost in damage output.

When built correctly, Sparkle should be able to use her ultimate once every 3 turns, which flows nicely with the 2-turn duration for the buffs provided by her skill and ultimate. While Sparkle can generate tons of skill points by herself, her need to spam her skill also requires you to still have at least one skill point-positive character in your party for worry-free skill point management.

Sparkle's best gear

Light Cones

Sparkle's best Light Cone is obviously her signature, Earthly Escapade, which passively increases her Crit DMG by 32%. At the start of the battle, it also grants her the Mask buff for 3 turns. While Sparkle has Mask, her allies have their Crit Rate increased by 10% and their CRIT DMG increased by 28%.

For every 1 Skill Point Sparkle recovers (including Skill Points that exceed the limit), she gains 1 stack of Radiant Flame. And when she has 4 stacks of Radiant Flame, alll the stacks are removed and she gains the Mask buff again, this time lasting for 4 turns.

But if you don't have Sparkle's signature Light Cone, don't fret as she still has plenty of great alternatives to choose from.

Her best 5-star alternative is Bronya's signature Light Cone, But the Battle isn't Over. This Light Cone increases the energy regeneration rate of its wearer by 10% and increases the DMG of the next ally taking action by 30% after they use their skill.

In addition, this Light Cone regenerates 1 skill point whenever they use their ultimate on an ally. This effect can be triggered once after every 2 uses of the wearer's ultimate.

When it comes to Sparkle's 4-star Light Cones, your choice will largely depend on which allies she will be supporting. But generally speaking, Past and Future will be your best bet because it is free-to-play friendly and can be acquired and superimposed for free through the Forgotten Hall's Light Cone Manifest.

Past and Future makes it so that, after its wielder uses their skill, the next ally taking action will deal 16% more DMG for 1 turn. At S5, that DMG bonus grows to 32%, making this Light Cone the best generalist 4-star option for Sparkle.

If Sparkle is in a mono-Quantum lineup, then consider using Planetary Rendezvous, especially if you have it at high Superimposition levels. This Light Cone increases the DMG of characters of the same elemental alignment as its wielder by 12% at S1 and 24% at S5.

If you're playing Sparkle in a team that wants to have as many turns as possible, then go for Dance! Dance! Dance! This Light Cone will advance the actions of all allies forward after its wielder uses their ultimate.

Of course, we can't forget the ever-reliable 3-star Light Cone Meshing Cogs. Since you want to use Sparkle's ultimate as much as possible, then this Light Cone and its powerful energy regeneration effect should not be missed despite its low rarity. You can also go for Memories of the Past if you have it at high Superimposition levels as it has a similar effect to Meshing Cogs while also buffing Break Effect.

Relics

Sparkle's options when it comes to Cavern of Corrosion relics is fairly flexible, as she only needs to build up as much Crit DMG and Speed as possible to maximise her support capabilities.

With that in mind, your best bet will be the 4-piece Messenger Traversing Hackerspace set, which increases its wielder's Speed by 6% with its 2-piece bonus while its 4-piece bonus increases the Speed of all allies by 12% for 1 turn after its wielder uses their ultimate.

But if you already have enough Speed on Sparkle, you can also consider going for more defensive options like a 2-piece mix of the Longevous Disciple and Guard of Wuthering Snow sets to ensure her survivability.

When it comes to Sparkle's Planar Ornament relics, your choice will once again depend on which allies she will be supporting.

Generally speaking, your best bet will be the Broken Keel set, which increases its wielder's Effect RES by 10% and buffs all allies Crit DMG by 10% if the wielder's Effect RES is at 30% or higher.

If Sparkle is in a mono-Quantum lineup, then go for the Penacony, Land of the Dreams set, which increases its wielder's energy regeneration rate by 5% while also providing a 10% DMG buff to all allies with the same elemental alignment as its wielder.

While a generally inferior option, the Fleet of the Ageless set can also be a worthwhile pickup if your Sparkle is having trouble with survivability. It will increase her Max HP by 12% while also buffing the ATK of all allies by 8% if her Speed is at 120 or higher.

The main stats you should look for in Sparkle's relics are Crit DMG for the body, Speed for the feet, and Energy Regeneration Rate for the Link Rope. Since Sparkle doesn't need to do damage, you can go for a defensive main stat on the Planar Sphere like HP% or DEF to aid in her survivability.

The only substats you need are Crit DMG and Speed, though HP and DEF are not that bad too since it makes Sparkle tankier.

Sparkle's best teammates

With all the buffs Sparkle provides, she slots in very nicely as the primary Harmony support for a hypercarry team.

Since this is the same niche that Bronya occupies, having Sparkle frees up the game's other premier hypercarry support for your second team in endgame content like Memory of Chaos. But don't let that stop you from running Sparkle and Bronya together in one team for the memes and to really supercharge your choice of hypercarry.

One advantage Sparkle has over Bronya is that the Crit DMG buff from her skill lasts for 2 turns, unlike the latter's DMG buff that only lasts for 1 turn. This means that Sparkle's buff persists for characters who deal damage outside of their turn, mainly follow-up attack damage-dealers like Topaz and Dr. Ratio.

Of course, Sparkle's skill point generation is a godsend for skill point-hungry damage-dealers like Imbibitor Lunae, Qingque, or anyone else who likes to spam their skills.

And let's not forget that Sparkle's A6 Trace finally lets players run the vaunted mono-Quantum lineup, where she will be supporting the likes of Seele, Qingque, and Xueyi. The third slot in this team will be occupied by Silver Wolf, who can ensure all enemies you face will have a Quantum elemental weakness while also providing DEF shred and a host of other debuffs.

Finally, your choice of sustain character in a mono-Quantum lineup will be between Fu Xuan and Lynx. Fu Xuan will be the obviously superior choice, thanks to her party-wide DMG reduction and Crit Rate buffs.

With all that said, the insane buffs Sparkle provides lets her effectively support any damage-dealer except for damage-over-time characters like Black Swan or Kafka. So if you have Sparkle, any character will feel like a hypercarry, so go nuts (just as the Aeon of Elation Aha would want you to do).

Honkai: Star Rail version 2.0 was released on 6 February and features a new planet in Penacony, three new characters in Black Swan, Sparkle, and Misha, as well as tons of other new content. To find out more about what's in version 2.0, check here.

The second half of version 2.0 features the debut of Sparkle and a rerun for Jing Yuan. If you're still on the fence on who you should pull for this banner, check out our guide here to help you decide.

After version 2.0 comes version 2.1 in late March, which features three new playable characters in Acheron, Aventurine, and Gallagher.

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

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