Phase 2 of Honkai: Star Rail Version 2.5 will see the release of Lingsha, a Fire-Abundance unit focused on weakness breaking. She shares a niche, Path, and Element with Gallagher, a 4-star character currently the best-in-slot sustain for Firefly and Boothill comps. She also provides a stronger Break DMG debuff and more consistent healing. As such, some players expect that Lingsha will replace Gallagher in those teams. However, others think he can still keep up with his 5-star counterpart and is better than her in one aspect.
Gallagher has been a mainstay in Firefly and Boothill teams because he can increase the Break DMG taken by enemies by up to 13.2% with his Besotted debuff, which he can trigger using his ultimate or technique. Plus, his skill, ult, and enhanced basic attack can provide decent healing to allies. He can also deal massive toughness damage on his own against Fire-weak enemies, especially when he’s at Eidolon level 6. However, the trait that makes him outclass even standard and limited 5-star sustain units in Honkai: Star Rail‘s endgame mode tier lists right now is his ability to become an energy and skill point battery for his team.
What Makes Gallagher a Potent Skill Point and Energy Generator
Gallagher’s A4 Major Trace, Organic Yeast, advances his action forward by 100% after he uses his ultimate, Champagne Etiquette. It’s a great way to trigger his extra healing and damage from his Nectar Blitz-enhanced basic attack. It’s also an excellent tool for generating skill points or energy for his team with the right Light Cone.
Gallagher’s Excellent and Affordable Light Cone Choices
Players can tune Gallagher’s playstyle by equipping him with one of these three great LCs:
- Quid Pro Quo: At Superimposition 5, this regenerates 16 Ultimate Energy to a random ally that has lower than 50% Energy at the start of the wearer’s turn. Since Gallagher can take an extra turn after using his ult, he can essentially provide 16 Energy each to two allies or 32 Energy to one. Players can purchase Quid Pro Quo from Honkai: Star Rail‘s Forgotten Hall shop, so it’s essentially free to acquire and upgrade.
- Multiplication: At S5, this three-star light cone advances the wearer’s action forward by 20% after using their basic attack. This simply makes Gallagher attack more during every encounter, generating skill points for the DPSes and supports that need them. Three-star light cones like Multiplication are abundant in Limited and Standard Pulls, so it’s easy to get copies of it for superimpositions.
- Post-Op Conversation: This improves the wearer’s energy regeneration rate by 16% and increases their outgoing healing after using their ult by 24% at superimposition 5. This ensures that Gallagher gets his ultimate, and its corresponding action advance, faster while also providing a healing boost. This is harder to get a copy for than the previous LCs, as it is a 4-star that can only be acquired by pulling.
Firefly needs maximum uptime on her ultimate to be effective, but she has a 240 Energy requirement that she can’t quickly regenerate after she exits her combustion state. Quid Pro Quo Gallagher can give her the Energy boost she needs to get her ult up ASAP. Meanwhile, Multiplication Gallagher is a boon for premium follow-up teams, as he can keep the team’s skill points up while also quickly stacking Feixiao’s Flying Aureus. For players who struggle to keep their team alive during boss fights, Post-Op Conversation is the answer.
With Gallagher’s best light cones, players can customize him to provide the resources his team needs by simply using his basic attack and his A4 Trace’s action advances. This is what gives him an edge over Lingsha in the SP and Energy regeneration department. She can only advance her summon’s actions and its attacks can’t generate Skill Points. Therefore, she can’t maximize Quid Pro Quo and Multiplication like her 4-star counterpart can. Players can also get these great LCs by just grinding the game’s quests and endgame modes, making it easy to build Gallagher to his full potential.
