Cover-Credits:
Hoyoverse
Sparkle is Honkai: Star Rail's newest Harmony character. She is set to debut as a playable character in patch 2.0 and if you are on the fence about getting her, we are here to make your decision easier. She is undoubtedly one of the strongest supports you can get for characters that are hungry for SP (Skill Points) but she might not be a must-pull unit depending on what characters you have.
When Should You Pull For Sparkle in Honkai: Star Rail?
If you have the Stellar Jade necessary to pull for Sparkle, here are some of the situations where you should pull for Sparkle:
You Want to Play Mono Quantum and Have The Necessary Units
Sparkle has a trace that gives you a massive ATK% boost if you have Quantum units in the team. The trace reads, "Increases all allies' ATK by 15%. When there are 1/2/3 Quantum allies in your team, increases Quantum-Type allies' ATK by 5%/15%/30%."
You want to run at least three Quantum units to get the full benefits of the Trace. Seele and Qingque are the two perfect carries to use in a mono Quantum setup.
While Xueyi is also an option, she is better off when paired with Ruan Mei and a second support like her sister Hanya, who can also grant her Skill Points and boost her SPD.
Silver Wolf is a mandatory unit if you want to play mono Quantum because she can implant Quantum weakness on any enemy. When you combine her kit with Genius of Brilliant Stars (bonus DEF% ignore on Quantum-weak enemies), you get a solid damage bonus.
One of the weaknesses of Silver Wolf is that she is SP hungry and her debuffs are single target unlike Pela who has slightly weaker debuffs but with full area-of-effect coverage. Silver Wolf can also debuff multiple targets but it involves multiple uses of her Skill which makes her a SP hungry unit. This is where Sparkle comes in and grants you all the SP you need to maintain your debuffs on enemies, implant Quantum weakness, and still have enough SP to grant to your DPS units.
You Want to Play Dan Heng Imbibitor Lunae or Qingque
If you have Dan Heng Imbibitor Lunae, you know how frustrating it can be to manage your SP. While he has incredibly high burst damage, he is held back due to how SP hungry he is. His support options become limited and Sparkle seeks to fix exactly that.
The same goes for Qingque. She has a weird balancing act of wanting the perfect tiles but getting them too early can be detrimental. You want to spend your SP to stack your damage bonuses and Sparkle grants you enough SP to play around.
Sparkle vs Bronya: Who is Better?
While players continue to get into silly debates like Bronya vs Ruan Mei or Bronya vs Sparkle, you can just use all of them. The 5-star Harmony characters in Honkai: Star Rail all have situations where they are the best at their jobs and Sparkle is no different. While Sparkle's damage bonuses are similar to Bronya's, it can be frustrating to play Bronya with SP hungry DPS characters.
Even if you have Bronya, Sparkle can be a great addition to your account. That being said, you should pull for characters only if you like them. If you do not enjoy Sparkle's playstyle or design or other gameplay elements, do not feel forced to pull for her.
