Clara Guide: Best Builds, Rotations and Team Synergies

Welcome to the ultimate guide on mastering Clara, the Destruction 5-star character in Honkai Star Rail. Known for her exceptional survivability and powerhouse damage output, Clara is a character worth mastering.

This guide will cover everything you need to know about Clara's build, best teams and how to optimize her performance.

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A Comprehensive Guide about Clara: The Unstoppable Force

Who is Clara?

Clara, a 5-star Physical character, is a standard unit in Honkai: Star Rail. Known for her hybrid DPS style, Clara is unique for her health-based mechanics and her path of destruction.

She boasts high base HP and attack stats, positioning her as one of the beefiest and most potent characters in the game.

Despite her low speed and energy cost, Clara's high base stats contribute significantly to her overall performance.

Many people wonder how old is Clara in Honkai: Star Rail. Clara is estimated to be around 10 to 12 years old, and she is around 5'1 tall (or 1.55m).

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Clara's Abilities: Unleashing the Power of Svarog

Clara's abilities are tied with her trusty robot, Svarog, that can dish out significant damage to enemies.

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Basic Attack: I Want To Help

Contrary to its name, Clara sends Svarog to attack the enemy, dealing physical damage, and regenerating energy and a skill point.

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Talent: Because We're Family

This talent is the linchpin of Clara's abilities, offering three significant effects:

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1. Damage reduction by 10% when Clara is hit.
2. The attacker gets marked with a debuff, the "Mark of Counter."
3. Svarog counterattacks, inflicting physical damage, dealing toughness damage, and regenerating energy.

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Skill: Svarog Watches Over You

An AOE damaging skill that doubles the damage if the enemies have a Mark of Counter applied.

Using this skill removes the marks but deals toughness damage to all enemies and regenerates energy.

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Ultimate: Promise, Not Command

Clara's ultimate offers three bonuses:

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1. Additional damage reduction, which when combined with her talent, results in significant damage reduction.
2. Increased aggro for two turns, causing enemies to target Clara more frequently.
3. Enhancement of Svarog's counterattacks for the next two counters, allowing him to counter whenever any ally is attacked and inflicting splash damage.

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Technique: A Small Price for Victory

Increases Clara's chance of being hit for two turns, enabling her to perform counters frequently right from the start.

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Clara's Traces and Eidolons: Maximizing Her Potential

Clara's traces and eidolons play a crucial role in boosting her capabilities. Her ascension passives are especially potent, offering benefits like debuff removal, CC resistance, and increased counter damage. For trace priority, focus on your ultimate then talent, followed by her skill and basic.

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Eidolons: Clara's Secret Weapon

Clara's eidolons offer significant enhancements to her abilities:

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1. The first eidolon allows her skill to no longer remove Marks of Counter on the enemy, maximizing damage output.
2. The second provides a 30% attack boost after using her ultimate.
3. The third one increases her Basic Attack and Skill levels.
4. The fourth grants an extra 30% damage reduction when hit.
5. The fifth increases her ultimate and talent levels, boosting counter damage output and total damage reduction.
6. The final eidolon ensures that Svarog triggers the Talent’s Counter and marks them with the Mark of Counter whenever any other ally is hit.

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Pros and Cons: Understanding Clara's Strengths and Weaknesses

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Pros

1. Counter Mechanic: One of Clara's unique strengths is her counter mechanic. Even when it's not her turn, she can deal significant damage, setting her apart from other characters.
2. High Damage Capacity: Clara's damage multipliers and the frequency at which she can trigger them make her top-tier in terms of damage output.
3. Aggro Management: Clara's ability to attract enemy attacks away from her teammates allows squishier units to survive longer. This makes her a valuable hybrid of a tank and a DPS.
4. Self Damage Reduction: Clara can significantly reduce the damage she takes, making her a durable unit on the battlefield. When combined with her high base defensive stats, she can be quite the tank.
5. Debuff Removal and CC Resistance: Clara's ability to remove debuffs and resist crowd control mitigates some common problems with follow-up or counter-attack units.
6. Diverse Damage Spread: Clara has a balanced mix of single-target and AoE damage options. Her counters deal heavy single-target damage, while her AoE skill, combined with her ultimate enhanced counters, provides wide-range damage.

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Cons

1. Aggro-Based Damage: Clara's damage output is heavily dependent on her being hit by enemies. If she isn't attacked, her damage output significantly decreases. This reliance makes her damage somewhat RNG based, which can lead to inconsistent performances.
2. CC Vulnerability: While she has some resistance to crowd control (CC), being hit with CC effects will prevent her from performing any counters. This can significantly limit her damage potential.
3. Damage Reduction from Broken or CC'd Enemies: Enemies that are either broken or under crowd control effects will take less damage from Clara. This can significantly reduce her damage output, especially when paired with allies that frequently break or freeze enemies.
4. High Skill Requirement: Clara is a challenging character to use effectively. Her gameplay varies depending on the course of the battle. Managing her rotations and deciding whether to use skills or basic attacks for sustain requires careful consideration and strategic planning.

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Clara's Relics and Light Cones: Boosting Her Damage Output

The selection of the right relics for Clara can significantly enhance her damage output and overall performance. Here's a more in-depth look:

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Four-Piece Pioneer Diver of Dead Waters Set

Clara's new Best in Slot set if her team can consistently apply 3 debuffs on the enemy team.

Boosts damage dealt and crit stats, making it a slightly better choice than the Champion of Streetwise Boxing set.

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Four-Piece Physical Set

This relic set is the second most effective for Clara.

It boosts her physical damage output, which aligns perfectly with her role as a physical damage dealer.

This set ensures Clara maximizes her potential, making her a formidable force in any battle.

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Ashblazing Grand Duke Set

A newer addition that benefits follow-up attacks, which are crucial to Clara’s kit.

Although it offers a lower ATK boost than the Champion set, its 2-piece combination with the physical set can be highly effective.

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Longevous Disciple Set

While beneficial, it falls slightly behind due to its HP% bonus not directly contributing to damage increase.

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Musketeer Combo

Another viable option is a combination of two Physical pieces with two Musketeer pieces.

The Musketeer set enhances Clara's ATK, which can further increase her damage output.

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Planetary Sets

In terms of planetary sets, the Inert Salsotto is the only viable choice for Clara.

Since Clara's speed won't hit 120, the Space Sealing Station ornament isn't applicable.

However, Clara's counters qualify for Inert's follow-up bonus damage percentage, making it an excellent fit.

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Main Stats and Substats

For the main stats on your relics, prioritize Crit DMG + Crit Rate, ATK% and Physical DMG%.

These stats align perfectly with Clara's role as a physical damage dealer.

For the substats, aim for a few in speed until she hits around 96, and then prioritize crit and attack percentage. Any bonus tank stats are also beneficial due to the amount of damage she'll be tanking.

Aim for at least 3k attack, a strong critical ratio, and adapt her speed based on team needs and battle conditions.

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Optimal Late Game Stats for Clara

ATK: 3,500+

Speed: 100+

Crit Rate: 60%+

Crit DMG: 120%+

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Clara's Best Light Cones

When selecting light cones for Clara, considering her three primary playstyles is crucial.

The most suitable light cones for her include:

1. Dan Heng IL's Signature: Exceptional for SP positive or neutral playstyles, enhancing attack and critical damage.
2. Blade’s Light Cone & Clara's Signature: Similar benefits, making them top choices for SP-negative playstyles.
3. Aeon: A robust free-to-play option, offering a well-rounded damage boost.

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These light cones amplify Clara’s counterattack mechanism, augmenting her damage output in various combat scenarios.

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Rotations and Team Compositions: Optimizing Clara's Performance

Clara's team composition is crucial to maximize her potential.

Each team composition has its strengths and weaknesses, and the best choice often depends on the specific battle scenario.

It's worth experimenting with different team compositions to find what works best for you and your playing style.

Clara functions well in different roles, and various team compositions can enhance her performance:

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Clara as the Main DPS

Clara can serve as the primary damage dealer in a team, especially with the right support.

A typical team might include two supports and a solo sustain.

For example, a team of Yukong, Luocha, Tingyun, and Clara provides excellent synergy. Yukong and Tingyun offer significant damage buffs while Luocha provides critical sustain and cleanse abilities.

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Clara as a Sub DPS

In another setup, Clara can serve as a sub DPS, providing damage and Skill Points for the main DPS.

In this case, a typical team might include a solo sustain or double sustain, alongside a main DPS.

For instance, teams like Clara-Bailu-Tingyun-Seele or Clara-Natasha-FireMC-Sushang work great.

Clara's high base stats and damage output help relieve some pressure from the main DPS.

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Mono Physical Team

Another viable team composition is a mono-physical team.

This setup involves using only physical damage dealers in your team, optimizing the Physical damage output.

A team like Natasha, Sushang, Silver Wolf, and Clara can be very potent.

However, it's crucial to remember that added breaks from certain characters might decrease Clara's potential damage output.

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Other Synergies

1. Blade: Enables a dual DPS setup, complementing Clara’s counter-based damage.
2. Topaz: A recent addition proving to be one of Clara’s best teammates, enhancing team damage and synergizing well with Clara’s counters.
3. Huohuo: Offers strong sustain and complements Clara's playstyle with additional attack boosts and healing.

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Mastering Clara's unique abilities and strategy can help you dominate in Honkai: Star Rail.

With this guide in hand, you're well on your way to becoming a Clara expert!