DOT is back baby! Are you ready to build the best Kafka team DOT composition in Honkai Star Rail?
Kafka is one of the best 5-star DPS characters in Honkai Star Rail, who specializes in dealing shock DOT (damage over time) and follow-up attacks.
With Hoyoverse focused on adding and building more follow-up attacks and break-damage dealing units, DOT teams have taken a back seat, which is what makes Kafka such a vital character, especially if you’re looking to build a powerful all-DOT team.
Kafka re-runs happen frequently in Honkai Star Rail, and if you’re planning to add this enigmatic Stellaron Hunter to your party or looking to get her Eidolons, you may first want to take a moment to check her synergizes with other units in the game.
This ONE Esports guide explains the best Kafka team compositions in Honkai Star Rail for both premium and free-to-play accounts.
Best Kafka teams – premium and free-to-play
Best Kafka team for premium accounts
| HONKAI STAR RAIL CHARACTER | NAME | ROLE |
 | Kafka | DPS |
 | Black Swan | Sub-DPS |
 OR  | Ruan Mei/Tingyun | Amplifier |
 | Huohuo | Healer |
Black Swan may have great chemistry with Acheron, but she has an even greater synergy with Kafka. If Black Swan inflicts DOT on any enemy, Kafka’s skill can deal immediate damage based on her DOT’s original damage.
Moreover, enemies immediately take bonus damage every time she uses her ultimate. Enemies affected by Black Swan’s ultimate take more damage from all sources, and Kafka can benefit from it the most since she’s the primary DPS unit of this team.
With Kafka by her side, Black Swan inflicts more stacks of Arcana on enemies using her basic attack, skill, talent, and trace, which, in turn, increases her wind DOT output. Black Swan’s basic attack can also benefit Kafka, as the latter’s talent will allow her to unleash a follow-up attack with a 100% chance of inflicting Shock DOT.
Ruan Mei’s does what she does best, which is to boost all allies’ damage and break efficiency output. Since both Kafka and Black Swan deal DOT damage, they both benefit from Ruan Mei’s buffs.
You can swap Ruan Mei with Tingyun to specifically boost Kafka’s damage output, but we don’t recommend doing that unless you don’t have the former.
Huohuo heals all allies and regenerates energy, so not only can Kafka and Black Swan deal more damage and unleash their ultimate abilities frequently, but they can survive longer, which is a win in our book.
Best Kafka DOT team for premium accounts
| HONKAI STAR RAIL CHARACTER | NAME | ROLE |
| Kafka | DPS |
| Black Swan | Sub-DPS |
 OR  | Jiaoqiu/Guinaifen | Sub-DPS |
| Ruan Mei | Amplifier |
The best thing about live service games is that their meta is always evolving. In the case of Kafka, it means you can now pair her up with multiple equally powerful DOT characters and annihilate any and every foe along the way.
For Kafka’s DOT team, we recommend Black Swan and Jiaoqiu as Sub-DPS DOT units. You can also swap Jiaoqiu with Guinaifen. The synergy and playstyle would remain mostly the same.
Having Black Swan and Jiaoqiu (or Guinaifen) on the team increases Kafka’s ultimate damage output, thanks to one of her bonus Traces. More importantly, Jiaqiu’s ultimate creates a Zone within which enemies take more ultimate damage. It benefits all three DOT-dealing characters, as the Zone lasts for up to three turns.
It’s also worth pointing out that all three DOT characters have different elemental affinities, so reducing enemy toughness shouldn’t be too much trouble for this highly versatile team. Furthermore, with Ruan Mei on the team, break damage increases significantly.
As always, Ruan Mei boosts the entire party’s damage, allowing Black Swan, Jiaoqiu, and Kafka to deal more DOT from their repertoire of abilities.
Please note that this offense-focused Kafka DOT has no healer or shielder unit, so we don’t recommend using it for lengthier activities like Pure Fiction.
Best Kafka team for free-to-play accounts
| HONKAI STAR RAIL CHARACTER | NAME | ROLE |
| Kafka | DPS |
| Guinaifen | Sub-DPS |
 | Asta | Sub-DPS/Amplifier |
 | Natasha | Healer |
Thankfully, you can put together a surprisingly powerful, budget-friendly Kafka team in Honkai Star Rail.
Asta is the trump card of this Kafka team. Not only can she buff the ATK and speed of all allies and deal immense fire DOT to enemies, but she can also increase Guinaifen’s chances of inflicting the Firekiss debuff on enemies.
In case you didn’t know, enemies inflicted with Guinaifen’s Firekiss take increased damage. Thanks to this, Kafka deals even more damage.
Natasha provides healing and remove debuffs, thus allowing this team to sustain for longer periods of time.
READ MORE: Best Feixiao team in Honkai Star Rail — premium and free-to-play
