Honkai: Star Rail players can pull for Saber during the game's collab event with Fate/stay night.

The Holy Grail War has finally arrived in Penacony in Honkai: Star Rail's long-awaited collaboration event with Fate/stay night [Unlimited Blade Works]! As part of the collaboration, all Honkai: Star Rail players will be able to pull for the 5-star character Saber, the most iconic character in the Fate franchise.

Saber in Honkai: Star Rail wields the Wind element and follows the Path of Destruction, using her near-invisible sword in battle and unleashing its true form as Excalibur to smite all enemies. Saber's playstyle revolves around unleashing Excalibur using ultimate, and while it has a very high energy cost, its sheer power is well worth the effort. If you want to win the Penaconian Holy Grail War with Saber, read on as we break down her abilities plus her best Light Cones, relics, and teammates!

Saber build guide in Honkai: Star Rail x Fate/stay night [Unlimited Blade Works] collab

Saber's kit revolves around her iconic ultimate, Excalibur, which deals a massive amount of Wind DMG based on Saber's ATK to all enemies, in addition to 10 instances of Wind DMG to a single random enemy. After unleashing Excalibur, Saber's basic attack, Invisible Air: Barrier of the Wind King, gets enhanced into Release, the Golden Scepter.

While Saber's basic attack only deals Wind DMG to one target, her enhanced basic attack deals Wind DMG to all enemies. And if there are two or fewer enemies still standing when the enhanced basic attack is used, Saber deals additional Wind DMG to all enemies. Saber's enhanced basic attack also gives her two stacks of ‘Core Resonance,’ a mechanic we'll explain later on.

Saber's ultimate requires a whopping 360 energy to activate, so the rest of her kit is built to let her gain more energy in order to unleash Excalibur. This is driven by her Talent, Dragon Reactor Core, which lets her gain stacks of Core Resonance, with each stack regenerating a fixed eight energy for Saber.

Saber gets one stack of Core Resonance at the start of battle and gains three stacks whenever an ally uses their ultimate. She also gains a 60% DMG buff for two turns after an ally uses their ultimate.

Aside from her allies using their ultimates, Saber also gains Core Resonance stacks by using her skill, Strike Air: Hammer of the Wind King. It is a Blast-type attack that deals Wind DMG to its primary target and any adjacent enemies while also granting Saber three stacks of Core Resonance.

If Saber has enough Core Resonance stacks to regenerate her energy bar to full after using her skill, then all Core Resonance stacks are consumed to enable her ultimate for activation while also increasing the DMG multiplier of her skill by 14% for each stack of Core Resonance.

Saber's skill also ties into her A6 major Trace, Crown of the Star, which increases her Crit DMG by 50% for two turns after using her skill. In addition, this Trace also increases Saber's Crit DMG by 4% for each stack of Core Resonance up to a maximum of eight stacks counted for a 32% Crit DMG buff. The rest of Saber's major Traces further facilitate her energy regeneration to let her use her ultimate more in battle. 

Her A2 Trace, Knight of the Dragon, which passively increases her Crit Rate by 20% and gives her the ‘Mana Burst’ effect upon entering battle and after using her enhanced basic attack. When Mana Burst is active, and if Saber has Core Resonance stacks and her Energy can be fully regenerated by using her Skill and consuming all Core Resonance stacks, Mana Burst is consumed to recover one skill point and let Saber immediately take action.

Meanwhile, Saber's A4 Trace, Blessing of the Lake, lets her accumulate up to 120 excess energy. After using her ultimate, the excess Energy is cleared and a corresponding amount is regenerated. At the start of battle, if Saber's energy is below 60% of its maximum, it is regenerated to 60%.

Finally, Saber's Technique, Behold, the King of Knights, increases her ATK by 35% for two turns at the start of battle and gives her two Core Resonance stacks.

In battle, focus on getting Saber to full energy to unleash her ultimate by using her skill, or having her allies use their ultimates to gain Core Resonance stacks. You can then unleash Excalibur to smite your enemies, and if they are still standing after that, Mana Burst helps Saber quickly activate her ultimate again.

When leveling up Saber's abilities, your priority should be her ultimate first, followed by her basic attack, Talent, and skill–though you want to have them all maxed out eventually.

Saber's best Light Cones, relics, and teammates

Light Cones

Saber's best Light Cone is, of course, her signature: A Thankless Coronation. It passively increases her Crit DMG by 36%, which is always a welcome stat boost. After using her ultimate, it also increases her ATK by 40%–and if her max energy is greater than or equal to 300 (which it is), it also regenerates a fixed 10% of her max energy and once again increases her ATK by 40%–lasting for two turns.

If you don't have Saber's signature Light Cone, she has plenty of alternatives to choose from thanks to the Destruction Path's abundance of strong Light Cones.

Among the limited 5-star ones, you can go for Phainon's signature, Thus Burns the Dawn; Imbibitor Lunae's signature, Brighter than the Sun; or Clara's signature, Something Irreplaceable, as stat sticks since their passive effects don't really synergise with Saber's kit. 

A more worthy option will be the ever-reliable On the Fall of an Aeon, which can be acquired and Superimposed for free through the Simulated Universe's Herta Store. This Light Cone is also Saber's best free-to-play option.

Among the 4-star Destruction Light Cones, your best bet will be the new Battle Pass Light Cone A Trail of Bygone Blood. While not free, Under the Blue Sky and The Moles Welcome You are worthwhile options as well that most players should have a few copies lying around if they've played the game long enough.

Relics

Since Saber's DMG output is heavily reliant on her ultimate, her go-to Cavern of Corrosion relic set will be 4-piece Wavestrider Captain set. It gives Saber a passive 16% Crit DMG boost and a 48% ATK buff for one turn after using her ultimate, provided she was the target of two ally abilities beforehand.

For Saber's Planar Ornament relics, go for the 2-piece Inert Salsotto set. It increases her Crit Rate by 8% and, if her Crit Rate is at 50% or higher, increases the DMG of her ultimate by 15%. More Crit Rate is always nice and the ultimate DMG buff on Saber is a no-brainer.

The main stats you should go for in Saber's relics include: 

  • Body: Crit Rate/DMG–Crit Rate is preferred since she buffs her own Crit DMG already
  • Feet: Speed or ATK%–ATK% is preferred since Saber is able to advance her own action
  • Planar Sphere: Wind DMG% Boost
  • Link Rope: ATK%

Teammates

As a traditional ATK and Crit-scaling damage-dealer, Saber's best teammates follow the typical Harmony support-sustain support-flex slot formula. With that said, Saber's high energy cost makes it so that her best teammates are those who can help her quickly gain more energy. 

For the Harmony support slot, your best bet will be none other than Sunday. He gives a ton of DMG buffs, advances Saber's action by 100% with his skill, and regenerates energy for her with his ultimate. Another great pick will be Tingyun, who also gives plenty of buffs while also regenerating energy for Saber with her ultimate.

You can run both Sunday and Tingyun together for Saber to supercharge her energy regeneration. If those two aren't enough, then you can give your sustain slot to Huohuo, who can regenerate energy for the entire party using her ultimate. The support trio of Sunday, Tingyun, and Huohuo pretty much guarantees Saber can use her ultimate on demand when played right. 

With that said, any one of Sunday, Tingyun, or Huohuo can be enough to help Saber get enough ultimates off in battle while letting you use other characters. Tribbie, Bronya, or Robin are good alternative picks on the Harmony support slots. You can even run ultimate spammers like Serval or Argenti on support builds, as they can generate plenty of Core Resonance stacks for Saber to help her gain more energy.

If you feel like your Harmony and sustain slots provide enough buffs and energy regeneration for Saber already, you can also consider handing the third support slot in your Saber team to Nihility debuffers like Silver Wolf and Cipher. 

Thanks to the buffs she received in Version 3.4, Silver Wolf is now the best debuffer in the game by reducing the DEF of all enemies with her ultimate to further boost Saber's DMG output. Meanwhile, Cipher acts more like a sub-DPS than a straight-up debuffer, using her ultimate to help the team finish off any enemies still left standing after Saber unleashes Excalibur.