Welt Guide

Updated for Version 1.5

Note that the information given may change if new discoveries are made. More extensive testing is in progress.

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Introduction

Welt is a 5★ Imaginary-Type Nihility unit available via the Stellar Warp in Honkai: Star Rail. As a Nihility unit, his kit revolves around debuffs that Slow the enemy — but unlike some other Nihility units, he is best played as a damage dealer. In that role, he brings powerful AoE damage with both his Skill and Ultimate, with the ability to condense his Skill damage onto one enemy in single-target scenarios.

In this guide, we’ll cover the playstyles, synergies, and build options that will allow you to get the most out of Welt.

Infographic

Mechanics

The core of Welt’s kit is his Talent, which lets him deal extra damage whenever he hits a Slowed enemy. This ability, rather than making use of damage-amplifying debuffs, allows him to turn non-offensive debuffs like Slow and Imprisonment into an effective source of damage. The Skill multipliers may not seem impressive on first glance, but once you consider how many times they get triggered in a rotation, they quickly add up to some very respectable damage numbers.

Welt’s core gameplay loop consists of using his Skill every turn, along with strategic use of his Ultimate to delay enemies, amplify his Skill’s damage, deal with mobs, or all three at once. The high amount of Toughness damage he does means he will be inflicting Weakness Break on enemies often, and his Action Delay keeps them broken for longer, letting him capitalize on the buffs he gets from attacking Toughness Broken enemies. Having a decent amount of Speed on Welt is also important to this end.

As Welt’s Ultimate has great Crowd Control, he can counter irritating enemy mechanics, or cut out enemies’ extra actions entirely by Imprisoning them right after their primary action. While this method cannot stop some enemies from using certain attacks outright (e.g., Decaying Shadow’s “Binding of the Golden Age”), it can still reduce incoming damage by a meaningful amount. This allows for Welt’s teams to make do with a lot less sustain.

Welt’s kit is not, however, without its flaws. The most notable of them being that his Skill is a Bounce attack, which can result in smaller enemies soaking up damage you would want to direct towards Elites or Bosses, or hitting enemies that have a counter-attack mechanic. Another weakness is that a decent part of Welt’s damage is locked behind his debuffs, which necessitates building EHR to land them. This puts him at a disadvantage against fast enemies, ones that can remove debuffs, or waves with respawning enemies. These all have workarounds, and are by no means dealbreakers, but are weaknesses that should be acknowledged if you wish to play Welt.

Overall, the synergy between Welt’s Talent and his Crowd Control makes him function in a way unlike any other damage dealer; the more he controls the battlefield, the more damage he does.

Trace Priority

Welt’s Talent and Skill make up the bulk of his damage, but his Ultimate has good mob-clearing potential and applies a significant Action Delay that scales with Trace level. Ideally, all three should receive equal amounts of investment. Basic ATK will be rarely used, and does not need to be leveled much.

Traces

Note: Trace levels shown are 1/10/12 (Basic ATK 1/6/7).

Eidolons

(Calculations done under KQM standards, with E0 Welt at Lv. 80, 6/9/9/9 Traces, and S5 Loop – CRIT Rate/SPD/Imaginary DMG Bonus/ATK main stats, using Space Sealing Station and 4-Pc Wastelander. No buffing teammates. ST = single-target, AoE = 3 targets NLRem’s Big Welt Doc)

Playstyles

Primary Damage Dealer

As Welt prefers to use his Skill every turn, using him as the main damage dealer in a team allows him to make the most use of his impressive multipliers, and has the potential of increasing his Crowd Control via more frequent Ultimates. Less incoming damage can even allow him to exchange defensive supports for offensive supports where other damage dealers may be unable to do so.

Welt’s Ultimate should be saved for the most opportune moments, and not used immediately after Welt’s Energy is full. Due to the 1-turn duration of Imprisonment, it can mean completely missing out on the Imprisonment debuff if the enemy takes a turn before Welt. In most cases, using it during the enemy’s turn is a good rule-of-thumb to stick to, but if Welt takes action again before the enemy, it is advised to use it during his turn (or as soon as it becomes available).

Keep in mind that Welt’s Ultimate will push enemies back in the turn order, so Welt can gain turns on enemies if their next turn is only a few AV before his.

In AoE scenarios, Welt’s Ultimate can do a lot of heavy lifting by clearing out weaker enemies, and for this purpose it is a good idea to make sure it is sufficiently buffed when using it. Combat encounters can be unpredictable, so use your own judgment for when best to do so.

Secondary Damage Dealer

Due to Welt’s strong Crowd Control and damage amplification, he can also work alongside another damage dealer to great effect. Though he prefers to use his Skill every turn, he can adopt a more Skill Point-neutral playstyle to accommodate another damage dealer. An Energy Regeneration Rate Link Rope may be preferred over ATK to ensure better Ultimate uptime, but Welt’s damage will typically suffer as a result.

The logic behind when and when not to use Welt’s Ultimate remains the same as in the Primary Damage Dealer playstyle outlined above.

It should be noted that Welt’s specific debuffs and SP consumption make him a very complicated slot-in for a lot of teams, especially if you’re trying to maximize team damage.

Build

While Welt can be played in multiple ways (as outlined above), his ideal build is the same for every playstyle.

Relics

(Calculations done under KQM standards, with E0 Welt at Lv. 80, 6/9/9/9 Traces, and S5 Loop – CRIT Rate/SPD/Imaginary DMG Bonus/ATK main stats, using Space Sealing Station for the Relic comparisons, and 4-Pc Wastelander for the Planar comparisons. Relative damage values stated are compared to no Set Effect. Pan-Cosmic set assumes 49% EHR. NLRem’s Big Welt Doc)

Relic Sets

4-Pc Wastelander of Banditry Desert (115.8% of no Set Effect)	This set was designed with Welt in mind, and it shows. With a Set Effect that provides massive amounts of CRIT to debuffed and Imprisoned enemies, it is by far his highest-damaging option. Note: the CRIT Rate from 4-Pc Wastelander does not contribute toward CRIT Rate requirements for Rutilant Arena or Inert Salsotto.
2-Pc Combinations (109.5% of no Set Effect)	If a 4-Pc set of Wastelander of Banditry Desert is not feasible, one can opt to combine the 2-Pc Wastelander of Banditry Desert with a 2-Pc set of either Musketeer of Wild Wheat or Messenger Traversing Hackerspace.
4-Pc Genius of Brilliant Stars (105.5% – 111.7% of no Set Effect)	The damage of this set with its full Set Effect rivals that of the 2-Pc combinations above. There are, however, few enemies that have both Imaginary- and Quantum-Type Weaknesses. A viable set when using Welt with Silver Wolf, although 4-Pc Wastelander of Banditry Desert is still preferable.

Planar Ornaments

Firmament Frontline: Glamoth (110.8% of no Set Effect)	This set buffs both ATK and DMG% of the wearer much in the same vein as Space Sealing Station. Due to the abundance of DMG% in Welt’s Traces, Supports, and some Light Cones, it is roughly a sidegrade to Space Sealing Station in most cases.
Space Sealing Station (110.5% of no Set Effect)	As Welt’s damage is largely made up by his Talent, a set like Space Sealing Station, which buffs the entirety of his damage, is one of the best options for him.
Pan-Cosmic Commercial Enterprise (109.6% of no Set Effect)	The Effect Hit Rate and bonus ATK from this set may seem perfect for Welt, except he typically does not build enough Effect Hit Rate for it to outperform Space Sealing Station. A strong option nonetheless.
Rutilant Arena (106.7% of no Set Effect)	This may seem like his best set at first glance, except Welt’s Talent and Ultimate make up a rather significant portion of his total damage. Overall, a very underwhelming set. Comparable to Pan-Cosmic even under ideal circumstances.
Inert Salsotto (106.1% of no Set Effect)	Welt’s Ultimate makes up a somewhat small portion of his damage, but the Set Effect is much easier to activate than the one for Rutilant Arena, meaning this set can outperform it at certain levels of investment.

Light Cones

Incessant Rain	Welt’s best Light Cone overall. The Effect Hit Rate makes building Welt much easier, and the CRIT Rate is superb. Additionally, Welt’s Action Delay allows him to make much better use of the Aether Code debuff than any other Nihility character; the fewer turns your enemies take, the more this Light Cone shines. Especially good when used with multiple Harmony characters.
In the Name of the World	Welt’s signature Light Cone. Welt can make full use of its passive effects, although they do not benefit him nearly enough. The EHR and ATK in its passive only apply during Skill use, which does nothing to alleviate Welt’s EHR requirements, as they are based around his Ultimate and A2 Bonus Ability. As it is available from the Undying Starlight shop for purchase, everybody has easy access to one of his best Light Cones without needing to rely on RNG.
Patience Is All You Need	Using Kafka’s signature Light Cone may seem strange when Welt’s Action Delay directly counters any DoT effects, but Welt greatly benefits from the Damage Bonus and SPD that this Light Cone provides. If you’re one of the few people who aren’t already using this on Kafka, consider it a decent option for our resident grandpa.
Good Night and Sleep Well	A 4-Star Light Cone that is very competitive with other 5-Star options, sometimes out-damaging them at S5. It is, on the other hand, reliant on superimpositions to be competitive. Note: At higher superimpositions, an ATK% Planar Sphere can be competitive to Imaginary DMG%, particularly if using Bronya or Tingyun.
Loop	A 3-Star Light Cone that is unexpectedly strong. Welt has no issue with activating its passive, and being low-rarity, it is very easy to fully superimpose. A good F2P option, as there are few easily accessible Nihility Light Cones that play to Welt’s strengths.
Resolution Shines as Pearls of Sweat	Notable for its team buffing utility, but loses out to Loop in terms of Welt’s personal damage if it’s your only source of DEF reduction.
Before the Tutorial Mission Starts	Although it can allow Welt to shorten his rotations and still run an ATK% Rope at E0, it requires pairing him with another DEF-reducing character. Even so, the damage isn’t notable, and there are other characters who need this Light Cone more than Welt does.

Stats

Body	Boots	Sphere	Rope
CRIT Rate / CRIT DMG	SPD / ATK%	Imaginary DMG%	ATK% / Energy Regeneration Rate

SPD Boots are preferable to ATK% unless Welt can gain enough SPD through other means (e.g., Bronya, Asta, etc.).

Substats

CRIT Rate/CRIT DMG ≥ SPD ≈ ATK
EHR to ~30–43%*

*Why not 67% Effect Hit Rate?

Although some amount of Effect Hit Rate (EHR) is always necessary to apply debuffs, Welt’s status as a damage dealer means that any excess EHR is effectively “wasted damage,” because building it sacrifices stats such as ATK, SPD, and CRIT.

Furthermore, the usual recommendation of 67% EHR is only beneficial when fighting the following 6 enemies at the time of writing: Abundant Ebon Deer, Cocolia (excluding her Echo of War variant), Doomsday Beast, Svarog, Swarm: True Sting, and Phantylia the Undying. Of these enemies, only Phantylia and Swarm have Imaginary-Type Weakness, and all the rest have some sort of Imprisonment / Control Effect RES in addition to their high Effect RES, meaning Welt is unlikely to apply Imprisonment even with 67% EHR, and is significantly disadvantaged against them overall.

As the above enemies are not being considered for Welt’s debuffing requirements, the required EHR to guarantee Welt’s debuffs drops to 43%. Players may find it acceptable to run even less, because the chance of landing debuffs is still very high (91%) with EHR values as low as 30%.

With E2 Silver Wolf, Welt’s general EHR recommendation is around 11% EHR.

Again, while Welt definitely relies on EHR to apply his debuffs — which all contribute to his damage one way or another — slightly increasing the chance of debuff application is not worth losing a significant chunk of damage.

ERR or ATK Rope?

With all the benefits Welt gets from his Ultimate, including its AoE damage potential and Action Value pushback, it can be tempting to put an ERR Rope on him instead of ATK for faster Ultimates. There are, however, some very good reasons not to go this route:

• Tingyun can instead be used in place of an ERR Rope, allowing for even faster Ultimates while also keeping an ATK Rope on Welt. This combination beats ATK Buffers + ERR Rope in terms of damage.
• Due to the rarity of ERR Ropes, you are much more likely to get an ATK Rope on a desired set with good substat rolls than an equivalent ERR Rope.
• Even though ERR Rope increases the frequency of Ultimates, it does not sufficiently offset the overall loss of damage from forgoing ATK. This remains true even in AoE, or when there are additional ATK buffs on Welt.
• Using an ERR Rope and Sprightly Vonwacq to achieve a 2-turn Ultimate with an E2 Welt is not recommended. Doing so is much worse for Welt’s damage than simply sticking with ATK Rope and damage-oriented Planar sets.

ERR Rope should only be considered if the additional utility of faster Ultimates outweighs the damage loss, which should not be the case if your main damage dealer is Welt. Even in AoE, where the difference between ATK and ERR Ropes grows smaller as more enemies are present, ERR will rarely deliver better results than ATK.

Break Effect

Although it is still best to be Breaking with Imaginary in a Welt team, building Break Effect on Welt will not provide the same increase in damage that one may see from ATK, SPD, or CRIT.

Character Comparisons

Dan Heng・Imbibitor Lunae

While Welt and Imbibitor Lunae are both Imaginary damage dealers, they share nothing else in common. Their ways of dealing damage are different, their teams are different, their SP consumption profile is different, one is permanently available, the other is limited… you get the point. Comparing them is pointless.

Kafka

Both being 5-Star Nihility damage dealers, Welt and Kafka have some striking similarities in their kit designs; from a full-AoE Ultimate to abilities that trigger additional damage when attacking enemies afflicted with certain debuffs, they both take advantage of their respective Types’ Break characteristics. They do this while fixing some key drawbacks of their respective breaks, such as the need for enemies to take turns for DoT damage, and the defensive nature of Slow and Imprisonment.

Kafka and Welt, due to the nature of their abilities having teamwide benefits, both have the ability to be played alongside other damage dealers.

Seele

An unexpected comparison at first glance, but these characters have something very unique in common: the much-beloved “no, you don’t get a turn” playstyle. Although Seele is still the clear winner in terms of damage, Welt has the notable upside of this turn skipping being on the enemy side, allowing the whole team to get turns in while the enemy stands there, helplessly taking every attack.

Notable Synergies

Buffers

Tingyun	As with most damage dealers, Welt benefits greatly from Tingyun’s Energy share, especially due to his Ultimate’s short-lived debuffs and capacity for mob-clearing. With good timing and a 3-turn Tingyun, Welt can even enjoy a long string of 2-turn Ultimates, lasting longer the faster Tingyun is in relation to Welt. Tingyun’s potency dwindles as you acquire more Eidolons on Welt (Particularly E2 and E6), but she is the bread-and-butter support for an E0 Welt.
Yukong	Yukong being the premier Imaginary buffer, Welt makes great use of Yukong’s ATK% and CRIT buffs, A4 Bonus Ability, and potential to hold Planetary Rendezvous. He also generally appreciates the additional Imaginary break she provides. Additionally, due to Welt’s strong Crowd Control and the lack of any SPD buffs in his kit, Welt is one of the most predictable targets for Yukong’s buffs.
Bronya	Bronya’s numerous buffs, as well as her Action Advance, are very potent on Welt. This is because he benefits greatly from extra actions against enemies, allowing him even greater uptime on his A6 and Wastelander of Banditry Desert 4-Pc Set Effect. A Skill Point-neutral Bronya will amplify Welt’s damage about as much as the Foxian Beauties above, but if you can spare the SP to use her Skill every turn, she will elevate his damage like no other.
Asta	For the discerning player, pairing Asta’s massive SPD buff with Welt’s impressive Action Delay can result in some very amusing scenarios of lapping various enemies many times in a row. Asta’s ATK buffs are not very impressive in single-target, which is at odds with Welt’s preference for single enemies, but her impact to a team is very noticeable — especially if she has a few of her notable Eidolons.

Debuffers

Silver Wolf

Silver Wolf, on top of her overloaded debuffing capabilities, has a SPD Reduction bug that can also help activate Welt’s Talent. If using Good Night and Sleep Well, another Nihility character is also valuable, as Welt by himself can only guarantee 3 stacks on its passive when enemies are Imprisoned. At E2, Silver Wolf makes building Welt much easier due to the reduction in EHR necessary to debuff enemies.

Pela

A very Skill Point-positive character who can be very beneficial if running Skill Point-hungry teammates such as Yukong or Bronya. For players who missed patch 1.1 or are using the event Light Cone Before the Tutorial Mission Starts on Silver Wolf instead, Welt can still allow Pela to have permanent uptime on her DEF Reduction by Slowing the enemy enough for Pela to lap them. Pela’s A4 Bonus Ability also helps Welt by decreasing his EHR needs.

Damage Dealers

Sushang (E1+)	Sushang’s E1 allows her to use her Skill against Toughness Broken enemies without using SP, which synergizes with Welt’s Action Delay extending the Weakness Broken state of enemies. In this case, building Break Effect on Sushang would be complicated by the very same delay that Welt is providing, as it increases the interval between Breaks and DoT procs.
Dan Heng (Hunt)	Dan Heng and Welt both have abilities that focus on Slowing enemies, and gain more damage from the debuff. There are some caveats to the pairing, particularly if considering SP consumption or trying to fit a character to activate Dan’s Talent. A fun combination nonetheless, but will require planning ahead and manual play to get the most from it.
Arlan	Arlan doesn’t want to take damage, and doesn’t use SP. Welt prevents your enemies from taking action, and likes to use Skill every turn. You get the picture.

Notable Anti-Synergies

Characters Who Benefit from Frequent Enemy Actions

DoT units (e.g., Kafka, Sampo, Luka)	Welt has multiple ways of Slowing and delaying enemies, causing them to act less often. Since Damage Over Time effects scale directly with the frequency of enemy turns, this creates a natural anti-synergy. Even though Kafka can trigger DoT effects outside of enemy turns, a significant portion of her teams’ damage still comes from DoT dealt during enemy turns.
Characters who want to Weakness Break frequently (e.g., Himeko, Sushang)	Characters with strong break damage are also somewhat inconvenienced by Welt’s Action Delay, as it lengthens the time between individual breaks. This is especially true for a character like Himeko, who would like to have breaks happening as frequently as possible.
Characters who want to be attacked (e.g., Clara, Blade)	For characters who do want enemies to hit them, Welt’s Slow and Imprisonment can quickly become much more detrimental than any of the damage amplification or personal damage he brings. Clara and Blade both rely on getting hit for part of their damage — and in Clara’s case, it’s the vast majority of her damage.

SP-Hungry Damage Dealers

Imbibitor Lunae, Qingque, etc.	Welt is best run as a damage dealer who uses Skill every turn, which creates a natural anti-synergy with other SP-hungry damage dealers.
Seele	Seele rather SP-hungry, and a second damage dealer can be especially detrimental if they consistently steal enemy kills. Welt’s Skill bounce targeting random enemies only makes this issue more noticeable.

Teams

Hypercarry

As Welt has such strong personal damage and Crowd Control, pairing him with two characters to increase his damage is an excellent way to use his abilities to the fullest. He isn’t too picky with which supports he can use (a somewhat rare trait), even if he has a strong synergy with the two Foxian Beauties in particular. Double sustain will rarely be needed, even in the hardest content.

Example Teams

(Keep in mind these are not the only possible teams for Welt, just some examples)

F2P

As far as freely-available supports go, Welt has good synergy with most of them. Due to the SP consumption of these buffers, it is advised to alternate Skill and Basic ATK on both Yukong and Asta.

Double Harmony

Tingyun covers Welt’s Energy needs while providing sizable ATK and DMG Bonus buffs, along with additional damage from Benediction. Yukong provides strong ATK and CRIT buffs, allowing Welt to compress a lot of damage into fewer turns. E1 Tingyun complicates SPD tuning for Yukong, but it is a small price to pay for one of Welt’s highest-damaging teams.

Triple Nihility

Another option for a Hypercarry team, this time using two DEF-reducing Nihility characters. With Pela’s A4 Bonus Ability and potentially Silver Wolf’s E2, Welt’s EHR needs drop by a considerable amount, allowing one to stack even more offensive stats on him.

Silver Wolf also has the potential to function as a damage dealer if so desired, and it is not a loss to break with Quantum, as Welt applies Imprisonment with his own Ultimate.

Quantum-Imaginary (Silver Wolf)

The randomness of Silver Wolf’s Weakness implant may entice you to create a team consisting of as few Types as possible, such as this one. Although there are many enemies with either Quantum- or Imaginary-Type Weakness, there should be little reason to use Silver Wolf’s Weakness implant against enemies that already have Imaginary-Type Weakness.

Any Imaginary or Quantum sustain is viable, but Luocha is a very good pick for the slot due to his SP-positivity, and Welt’s Crowd Control will rarely necessitate that Luocha use his Skill. The Imaginary break on Luocha’s Ultimate also aids in maintaining uptime for the 4-Pc Wastelander of Banditry Desert Relic set.

Dual Damage Dealer

As mentioned above, Welt can be fairly functional when used alongside another damage dealer, although it is difficult to do so while making use of Welt’s abilities to the fullest. As with Welt’s Hypercarry teams, there will rarely be need for a second sustain character, because Welt himself reduces incoming damage by a significant margin.

The examples given here are by no means Welt’s best teams, but show off synergies Welt has with certain types of damage dealers.

Example Teams

Dan Heng and Welt

Another F2P-friendly team composition.

As Dan Heng’s abilities also use Slow debuffs to deal extra damage, he has some innate synergy with Welt. This combo does, however, have difficulty with Skill Point usage, and only a few supports can buff both damage dealers while activating Dan Heng’s Talent and remaining SP efficient — Pela is chosen here for her general SP benefits, but a high Eidolon Asta can be another option. Care should be taken when attempting to use a healer or shielder to activate Dan Heng’s Talent, as one could waste it at an inopportune time.

This team usually prefers Dan Heng alternating Skill and Basic ATK, rather than Welt, as Dan’s A6 Bonus Ability increases his Basic ATK’s damage against Slowed enemies.

Arlan and Welt

Arlan consumes his own HP instead of Skill Points when using his Skill, and thus is a prime pick to go alongside an SP-negative Welt. Additionally, Welt’s Crowd Control makes it much easier to keep Arlan at low HP. Asta can capitalize on Arlan’s SP neutrality to use her Skill often, improving her Charging Stack and SPD buff uptime.

A shielder in the sustain slot is preferred due to Arlan working best at low HP.

Sushang and Welt

Sushang and Welt are two characters who get a lot of benefits from attacking Toughness Broken enemies. Thus arises a team that has decent synergy, even if Welt’s delay lowers the damage of any break DoTs from Sushang.

A support like Pela is valuable for her SP generation and damage amplification, but other options such as Silver Wolf or Asta are also good, especially if Sushang is E1.

Credits

Changelog

• 3 December 2023 – Published for v1.5
• 8 December 2023 – Added Infographic (v1.5)