[Guide] Honkai Star Rail – Should You Pull for Luka

Punching his way into Honkai Star Rail and boarding the Astral Express together with fan-favorite Kafka is Luka, the boxing champion of Belobog’s Boulder Town.

Luka is a renowned cage fighter with consecutive championships under his belt, whose optimism led him to inspire the children of the Underworld to dream big.

Character Preview

Luka is a 4★ Physical-Type character who walks the Path of Nihility. He excels at repeatedly punching a single enemy to inflict Bleeding on them and keeping up the offense.

The breakdown of his kit is as follows:

• Direct Punch (Basic ATK) – Deals Physical DMG to a single target.
• Flying Sparks (Talent) – Whenever Luka uses his Basic ATK or Skill, he receives 1 stack of Fighting Will, up to 4 stacks. When he has 2 or more stacks of Fighting Will, his Basic ATK is enhanced to Sky-Shatter Fist. At the start of every battle, Luka will possess 1 stack of Fighting Will.
• Sky-Shatter Fist (Enhanced Basic ATK) – When activated, consumes 2 stacks of Fighting Will. Luka will then hit 3 times on a single target with Direct Punch, following up with a Rising Uppercut. Each hit deals Physical DMG to the target, and if Rising Uppercut hits a Bleeding target, the DoT damage will trigger 1 time.
• Lacerating Fist (Skill) – Deals Physical DMG to a single target and has a high chance to inflict Bleed on them. While Bleeding, the victim will take a percentage of their max HP as Physical DoT at the start of each turn but the DMG will not exceed more than a certain amount of Luka’s ATK.
• Coup de Grâce (Ultimate) – Luka receives 2 stack(s) of Fighting Will immediately, gaining a chance to increase a target’s DMG received for 3 turn(s). Then, deals Physical DMG to a single target.
• Kinetic Overload (Traces – Ascension 2) – When Luka uses a Skill, immediately dispels 1 buff from the enemy target.
• Cycle Braking (Traces – Ascension 4) – For every stack of Fighting Will obtained, Luka additionally regenerates 3 Energy.
• Crush Fighting Will (Traces – Ascension 6) – When using the Enhanced Basic ATK “Sky-Shatter Fist”, every hit of Direct Punch will have a 50% fixed chance for Luka to perform 1 additional hit. This effect does not apply to additional hits generated in this way.

Luka specializes in pure offense and focuses on targeting a single target with his flurries of attacks, inflicting Bleed status on them in the process. As Luka fights, he naturally becomes stronger as he ramps up his offense through stacks of Fighting Will, dealing more damage toward enemies that are Bleeding.

Suggested Relic Set

For Relic sets, Champion of Streetwise Boxing will be the recommended set for Luka, increasing his Physical DMG by 10%, and if he attacks or hit, additionally increase ATK by 5% for up to 5 times. Alternatively, the Musketeer of Wild Wheat set or the Thief of Shooting Meteor set are good options too, depending if you are aiming to increase Luka’s overall ATK or boost his Break Effect.

As for Planar Ornaments, we recommend getting the Pan-Galactic Commercial Enterprise set which gives Luka a 10% Effect Hit Rate by default, and additionally up to 25% of Effect Hit Rate as ATK. Another set to go for is the Space Sealing Station as it gives Luka bonus ATK to increase his Bleed damage.

For the Relics and Planar Ornaments’ main stats, we recommend aiming for:

• ATK% or Effect Hit Rate for Body Slot
• ATK% or SPD for Feet Slot
• Physical DMG Boost for Planar Sphere
• Energy Regeneration Rate for Link Rope

Since Luka’s strength largely lies behind the Bleed DoT he inflicts upon his enemies, we highly recommend prioritizing Effect Hit Rate for him to apply the status effect consistently. As for other sub-stats, aim to increase the stat that the Luka’s Bleed damage scales with based on the ability descriptions, in this case, the ATK attribute.

Suggested Light Cones

Onto the Light Cones recommendation, we would go with the upcoming Resolution Shines As Pearls of Sweat 4★ Light Cone. This particular Light Cone grants Luka a chance to inflict the enemy with Esnared upon attacking them. Ensnared is a status effect that lowers the affected enemy’s DEF, thus boosting Luka’s overall damage output.

Alternatively, you can go with Good Night and Sleep Well 4★ Light Cone, which increases the damage dealt by the wearer the more debuff the target has on them, up to a maximum of 3 increases. Since DoT also counts as a debuff, Luka naturally will be able to gain the damage boost.

Another good option is Eyes of the Prey 4★ Light Cone, which will grant Luka an increased Effect Hit Rate and DoT damage. A simple yet effective boost to Luka’s overall offense and utility.

Final Thoughts

Overall, Luka seems to be a decent character, falling in the middle of a straightforward damage dealer and a DoT-reliant character. One thing to note is that all of Luka’s abilities are single-target thus making him unreliable in fighting crowds but in exchange, he will do well against a single boss.

For team recommendation, the first character to come to mind when talking about DoT is Kafka, the upcoming highly anticipated new 5★ character. Her whole gimmick is triggering DoT damage early without waiting for turns, thus she relies on other teammates to help apply DoT, which makes Luka a great option to support her. Since Luka also does not require frequent Skill usage, he can help generate Skill Points for Kafka as well. If you are looking to pair Luka with Kafka, Sampo would be a great addition to the team for more DoT applications, further boosting Kafka’s potential.

Another great teammate for Luka is Sushang, taking on a Physical-focused team composition for frequent Weakness Breaks on enemies that are weak to the element. If you are looking for support who can buff Luka’s potential, Asta would make a great ally as she could increase Luka’s ATK and SPD.

All in all, Luka is a decent character for dealing Physical damage but does not exactly bring anything new to the meta. If you are already pulling for Kafka, you might have a chance to obtain Luka as he will be releasing alongside her in the next featured banner.

What do you think of Luka? Join the discussion on the GamerBraves Discord server and share your thoughts on Luka.

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Honkai Star Rail

Publisher: miHoYo

Developer: miHoYo

Release Date TBC

Android, iOS, Microsoft Windows

Honkai: Star Rail is an all-new strategy-RPG title in the Honkai series that takes players on a cosmic adventure across the stars.

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