The best Honkai Star Rail Serval build, Light Cones, and Relics

The best Honkai: Star Rail Serval build helps the Belobog rockstar keep enemies shocked and taking lightning damage for almost the entire battle.

Serval is a fantastic - and free - area-of-effect attacker who fits with any party, held back in our Star Rail tier list only by her relatively low attack power.

If you need some extra Stellar Jade to throw at the banner for an extra Serval or two, check out our Star Rail codes list for some freebies.

Honkai Star Rail Serval build

What is the best Honkai Star Rail Serval build?

Serval excels at inflicting shock and dealing damage over long periods of time. The lightning damage her skill and ultimate deal scales on her attack, as does the shock follow-up damage. Attack, lightning damage, and energy are Serval’s most important stats to focus on in her build.

Best Serval Light Cone – Make the World Clamor

Make the World Clamor is Serval’s signature Light Cone, and while Night on the Milky Way is a popular choice, I prefer Makes the World Clamor. The wearer regenerates a decent chunk of energy once a battle begins, and they get a nice Ultimate damage buff as well. It’s a perfect fit for Serval.

Night on the Milky Way grants the user an attack buff and then a further damage buff when they inflict weakness break. That’s grand, but only if you’re in a battle against enemies with lightning weakness.

The Seriousness of Breakfast, which you can get for free, gives the user a damage buff and then, after they defeat enemies, an attack buff of up to 16 percent at the lowest level and 32 percent at the highest.

On the 3-star side is Sagacity, which gives the wearer a substantial attack buff for two turns after they use their ultimate.

Best Serval Relics – Cavern Relics

Band of Sizzling Thunder works perfectly for Serval.

• Two-piece effect: Raises lightning damage by 10 percent
• Four-piece effect: Wearer’s attack increases by 25 percent for one turn after using their skill

Musketeer of Wild Wheat is a decent alternative if you can’t get a set of Sizzling Thunder that you like.

• Two-piece effect: Raises attack by 10 percent
• Four-piece effect: Basic attack increases by 10 percent and speed increases by 6 percent

Best Serval Relics – Planetar Ornaments

Space Sealing station raises the user’s attack by 12 percent, and after their speed reaches 120, they get another 12 percent buff.

That’s the standard Ornament set for Serval, but if you want to make it almost guaranteed that Serval will cause shock on foes, try Pan-Galactic Commercial Enterpirse. This set raises the user’s effect hit rate by 10 percent and buffs their attack by an amount based on their effect hit rate.

The best Relic stats for Serval are attack, energy, lightning damage, and energy regeneration. She’ll still function perfectly well without them, but if you’re after optimization, those are the stats you want.

Is Serval good?

Serval is excellent, and better still, she’s free. Her initial attacks might seem weak, but she excels at dealing damage over time by inflicting shock with her skill. Her Ultimate extends shock duration, and her talent adds extra lightning damage to shocked enemies. There’s basically no instance where Serval won’t be dealing damage.

She’s also unique among Erudition characters, thanks to her talent. While Serval is designed to deal damage to multiple enemies, she can inflict a decent amount of damage to single targets with the extra lightning damage her follow-up attack.

As an Erudition character, she won’t be the one taking down powerful foes on her own, though. Make sure to include someone such as Seele or Clara to deal with tougher opponents. Tingyun is an excellent choice as well, since she can keep Serval’s energy full.

Should I pull for Serval?

You don’t have to! HoYoverse gives Serval to everyone who plays Honkai Star Rail, and she unlocks as soon as you complete the Warp tutorial. Pulling for Serval’s Eidolons isn’t a bad idea, though it’s not strictly necessary. Her first Eidolon triggers a second basic attack, and the second one restores energy when she uses her talent. The fourth Eidolon is a bit pointless – it just shocks enemies who aren’t already shocked, though her Ultimate shocks everyone – and six buffs the amount of damage dealt to shocked foes.

The short version is, if you get more Servals, that’s great – but you don’t really need to go out of your way to try and unlock her Eidolons.

If you opt for a certain scythe-wielding warrior to party up with Serval, take a look at our build guide to make the most of her, and don’t forget to increase your Equilibrium Level and tackle the Simulated Universe for some extra rewards.