Building Your First Team

Team composition basics — roles, free F2P characters, Light Cone matching, and early investment priorities.

A balanced team of four covers DPS, support, healing, and a flex slot. Star Rail gives you strong free characters early — learn how to build around them before pulling.

The Four Roles

Stellaron Hunters artwork — Official artwork — Stellaron Hunters. © HoYoverse

Every team needs damage, sustain, and utility. In early game, one strong DPS carried by supports outperforms four under-leveled characters.

Main DPS — your primary damage dealer (Hunt, Erudition, or Destruction)
Support/Buffer — Harmony or Nihility characters that amplify the DPS
Healer/Sustain — Abundance or Preservation to keep the team alive
Flex — sub-DPS, second support, or weakness coverage

Free Starter Characters

These characters are free through story progression and form a solid F2P foundation. Level them before investing heavily in gacha pulls.

March 7th

Shield / Freeze

Dan Heng

Single-target DPS

Herta

AoE DPS

Natasha

Healer

Natasha is your primary healer until you pull Luocha or Bailu
Herta excels in AoE content and Pure Fiction later
Dan Heng is a reliable single-target DPS for early story
March 7th provides shields and freeze control

Light Cone Matching

Each character equips one Light Cone. The Light Cone's path must match the character's path for stat bonuses to apply. A mismatched Light Cone works at reduced effectiveness.

3★ Light Cones like Adversarial and Void are fine for early game
On the Fall of an Aeon (free) is excellent for Hunt DPS characters
Post-Op Conversation (free) works on any Abundance healer
See /light-cones for the full database and character recommendations

Investment Priority

Spreading resources across too many characters slows progression. Focus on four characters first, then expand to eight for Memory of Chaos.

Level main DPS to 80 first — character levels matter most
Level their Light Cone to 80 (same priority as character)
Raise talents to level 6 on key skills before farming relics
Speed boots (Speed main stat) are the priority relic slot for most characters

Sample Early Teams

These F2P-friendly teams handle story, Simulated Universe, and early farming. Swap in gacha characters as you pull them.

Story: Dan Heng + Herta + Natasha + March 7th
AoE farming: Herta + Serval + Natasha + flex support
See /teams/f2p-starter for a detailed F2P team comp guide
Check individual character pages for meta build recommendations