All Ascension and Trace Materials for Kafka in Honkai: Star Rail

Farm for her faster than you can say "boom"

Star Rail Kafka Ascension Materials Featured

The first character we’re introduced to in Honkai: Star Rail is none other than Kafka. Briefly playable during the game’s tutorial, she’s now finally being made playable in the 1.2 update “Even Immortality Ends,” acting as the featured character in the second half following Blade. 

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Blade is a strong and awesome character, but let’s face it: almost everyone’s going for Kafka in this patch. Even the devs called her “mommy” in the last HSR livestream. Well, they almost did. But anyway, you’re probably also interested in her if you’re reading this, so here are all the materials you’ll need for Kafka in Star Rail.

All Required Ascension Materials for Kafka in Honkai: Star Rail

Kafka is a Nihility Lightning character focused on DoT damage, much like Serval or Sampo. But as a 5-star, she requires even more items for leveling. Here’s a complete list:

Ascension Materials

  • x65 Shape Shifter’s Lightning Staff
  • x5 Thief’s Instinct
  • x15 Usurper’s Scheme
  • x15 Conqueror’s Will
  • x828,000 Credits
  • x260 Traveler’s Guide

Lightning Staffs are obtained from the Shape of Doom Stagnant Shadow boss found in the Stargazer Navalia. Bring Ice, Imaginary, and Wind characters. You can always bring help from a good Support character as it makes things easier.

Star Rail Kafka Ascension Materials Boss
Screenshot by Prima Games

The Thief’s Instinct items and their evolutions are all obtainable from the Antimatter Legion enemies found around the Herta Space Station. You can always synthesize the lower-grade ones into their bigger versions and also send your characters on Assignments to get some extras.

Traces Materials

  • x18 Obsidian of Dread
  • x69 Obsidian of Desolation
  • x139 Obsidian of Obsession
  • x41 Thief’s Instinct
  • x56 Usurper’s Scheme
  • x58 Conqueror’s Will
  • x12 Regret of Infinite Ochema
  • x8 Tracks of Destiny
  • x3,000,000 Credits

Tracks of Destiny are obtained through many methods, such as Events and Simulated Universe rewards, while the Regret of Infinite Ochema requires you to defeat Phantylia in the Echoes of War weekly boss battles. She’s way tougher than previous EoW encounters, so be ready!

Star Rail Phantylia Featured
Screenshot by Prima Games

Related: How to Unlock and Defeat Phantylia in Honkai: Star Rail

You’ll need all of these for maxing out Kafka, so prepare to spend a few hours of your life in the Crimson Calyxes for Nihility characters for a while. Not to mention the atrocious amount of Credits needed too for all that, so be prepared.

Remember that you don’t necessarily need to have it all pre-farmed to play her, but there’s nothing like the feeling of maxing out a character the moment they’re out. And I’m pretty sure a lot of people are doing exactly that with Kafka when she’s finally out.

And those are all the materials required for completely leveling Kafka. And if you’re not rolling for her, don’t worry. Hoyoverse isn’t slowing down with the newcomers so soon, and there’s certainly someone that you definitely want to save your Stellar Jades for.

About the Author

Patrick Souza

Patrick has been working for Prima since 2022 and joined as a Staff Writer in 2023. He's been interested in gaming journalism since college, and that was the path he took once he had his degree in hands. Diligently ignores his ever-growing backlog to keep raiding in Final Fantasy XIV, exploring in Genshin Impact or replaying some of his favorite RPGs from time to time. Loves tackling hard challenges in games, but his cats are still the hardest bosses he could ask for.