Honkai: Star Rail Tier List — Version 4.4 (July 2026)

This list is built for Version 4.4 — In Ravages Does the Whistle Sound, live since 15 July 2026 and running to 26 August 2026 (HoYoverse update details). Two authorities carry the rankings below: Prydwen (T0→T3 scale, last updated 24 July 2026) and Game8 (SS→C scale, explicitly “as of Version 4.4”, same date). Prydwen averages Memory of Chaos, Pure Fiction and Apocalyptic Shadow over the last three phases; Game8 rates overall.

Where they disagree we say so instead of flattening it. A tier list that hides a one-tier split between the two biggest boards is telling you less than it knows. Any character marked split below is one where Prydwen and Game8 do not line up, and the gap is usually about game mode rather than raw power.

One honest limit: neither board publishes character ranks for Simulated Universe, Swarm Disaster or Forgotten Hall. Those modes are covered further down in prose, and no invented tiers are offered for them.

Carries first, because this is the slot most people are actually rolling for. Tier letters map to the two boards as: S = Prydwen T0 / Game8 SS, A = T0.5 / S+, B = T1 – T1.5 / S+, C = T1.5 – T2 / S with a stated weakness.

Two units are worth reading twice. Archer and Ashveil are both top-tier on an averaged board and both explicitly bad at five targets, which is the entire premise of Pure Fiction. If your blocker is a Pure Fiction stage, neither is the fix.

Supports decide clears more often than carries do, and this is where the two boards disagree most. Sunday and Tribbie sit a full tier apart between Game8 (SS) and Prydwen (T0.5). Neither board is wrong: Sunday feeds one carry, Tribbie favours two, and an averaged board punishes specialisation.

Sustains

You need exactly one, and the best one in the game is free.

A single ranking cannot describe three endgame modes with opposite requirements, which is why the splits above exist. Prydwen publishes per-mode boards; the practical read:

Current rotation windows from the official 4.4 notes: Apocalyptic Shadow 20 July – 31 August, Pure Fiction 3 August – 14 September, Memory of Chaos 17 August – 28 September.

Simulated Universe, Swarm Disaster and Forgotten Hall

Neither Prydwen nor Game8 publishes a character ranking for these, so this guide does not invent one. What is defensible: the same premium cores clear them, generalist and Break amplifiers (Ruan Mei, Fugue, Gallagher, Nova, Elation shells) are the common picks, and Prydwen states outright that lower Simulated Universe difficulties do not need high-tier units if the team is built coherently. Treat Forgotten Hall as Memory-of-Chaos-shaped — blast and single-target — until a dated source says otherwise. If you see a “Swarm Disaster tier list” elsewhere with confident letter grades, ask which board it came from.

Traced comps only, from Prydwen character pages, Game8 build pages and Sportskeeda's 4.4 team round-up. No theorycrafted filler.

The strongest thing about the current patch for a low spender is that several apex-tier units cost nothing.

Do not treat these as cheap to finish: Game8 calls Acheron's signature light cone effectively mandatory, Sparxie is markedly better with hers, and Nova has limited light cone options. A free character is not the same as a completed one.

New in 4.4: Himeko • Nova (Fire Erudition), Rin Tohsaka (Quantum Erudition) and Gilgamesh (Lightning Destruction). The Fate collab moved into its second phase on 24 July, with the free five-star choice open until the end of 4.6. Phase 2 of 4.4 opens on 5 August with Cerydra, Anaxa and Aventurine; Version 4.5 is scheduled from roughly 25 August with Robin and then Aventurine.

What that did to the meta: both boards updated on 24 July and both moved Nova straight to the top. The shift over recent versions has come from new kits and from the Elation, Remembrance and Break shells maturing — not from published balance numbers. No official buff-and-nerf table was available for 4.3 to 4.4, so this guide makes no numeric balance claims.

How to spot a stale list elsewhere: if Jingliu, Blade, Ratio or the original Himeko are still being sold to you as meta carries, you are reading a 2.x or 3.x page. Prydwen has all of them at T3 or below for current endgame.

Rankings here are not our opinion. They are the two boards the community actually uses, read on the dates below, with disagreements preserved rather than averaged away.

• Prydwen Institute — Honkai: Star Rail tier list, last updated 24 July 2026. Per-mode boards for Memory of Chaos, Pure Fiction and Apocalyptic Shadow; ratings average the last three phases.
• Game8 — tier list stated “as of Version 4.4”, last updated 24 July 2026; Nova build and team page updated 29 July 2026.
• HoYoverse official — Version 4.4 update details (15 July 2026): version window, new characters, and the endgame rotation dates quoted above.
• Sportskeeda (15 July 2026) — 4.4 team compositions.
• Pocket Tactics and Notebookcheck — independent confirmation of the 15 July go-live and the collab schedule.

Methodology and limits. Where Prydwen and Game8 differ by a full tier the entry is marked split and both grades are shown. No character ranks are published for Simulated Universe, Swarm Disaster or Forgotten Hall because neither board publishes them. Paths are given only where confirmed on a character page; a few units are listed by element alone for that reason. This page describes Version 4.4 and will be revisited when 4.5 begins in late August 2026.