Honkai Star Rail’s Commencement Reception lets you choose a free 5-star limited character as part of HSR 4.2’s anniversary celebrations. The lineup is a tempting array of seven characters who, at one point in the game’s lifecycle, were among the best you could have. Times change, though, and not every character is worth investing time and materials in anymore.
Below, we break down which free 5-star character is best in HSR’s Commencement Reception and what they’ll add to your team.
Which free 5-star character should you pick in HSR’s Commencement Reception?
Two of the characters have the highest value depending on which other characters you have available. Two are less useful, but still strong in certain circumstances. And three of them should be avoided at all costs.
The two high-value characters are Kafka and Sparkle.
Pick Kafka if:
- You have Hysilens (Kafka’s DOT effects are perfectly suited for Hysilens)
- You have Black Swan (Black Swan’s Arcana powers up with DOT effects, which Kafka regularly provides)
- Or you have both OR at least one other high-powered DOT character PLUS Ruan Mei or another character who can buff damage or advance turn order
Pick Sparkle if:
- You have Sparxie
- You’re running any Elation DPS like Silver Wolf Lv. 999
Sparkle’s not-quite-full-turn action advance is still a bummer, but now that her skill point buffs can overfill and not be lost, she’s more useful than ever. That, plus all Elation characters need energy more than anything else, which Sparkle is excellent at helping provide.
What about Acheron and Aventurine?
Aventurine is still a useful sustain unit who can provide continuous shields. However, the meta has shifted further away from single-target enemies, which makes his ultimate’s debuff much less helpful than before except in certain circumstances like Apocalyptic Shadow. And even then, you’d likely be better served with a more powerful unit, since his multipliers are quite low compared to most 3.x and 4.x characters.
Acheron suffers from the same issue with lower multipliers, though her team requirements have become even more restrictive than they were when she debuted. She needs two Nihility characters to reach her maximum potential, and they ideally need to be debuff-centric — not DOT-centric. There aren’t many of those, and it’s a lot of investment just for one character whose damage output still won’t match more recent characters.
And Jing Yuan, Jingliu, and Imbibitor Lunae?
No. Unless you really like these characters and don’t care about endgame challenges, there’s no reason to opt for any of these. Jingliu’s damage output is still terribly low even after her rework, and Jing Yuan is in a similar situation to Acheron. He needs Sunday, and even then, his output is much lower than a more recent character’s. Imbibitor Lunae requires far too many skill points and gives far too little in return.