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Honkai: Star Railfeatures a turn-based combat system, which means all your characters will be on the field at all times, and they’ll all take damage from the enemy. This makes healers, tanks, and shielders an integral part of the game since you have to protect your squishy DPS characters.
Gepard is one of the tank/shielders in the game who has Ice as the combat type. He can be acquired from the Stellar Warp banner or Character Event banner if you lose your 50:50. It can be quite easy to build this character because his stat requirements are easy to meet.
Updated Jul 26, 2025, by Sean Murray:Gepard can really set your Honkai: Star Rail team up for success, but only if you give him the best Relics and Ornaments. This guide will teach you how best to build Gepard, and also give you tips for other Honkai: Star Rail topics thanks to the new links.
Best Relics And Planar Ornaments For Gepard
Relics and Planar Ornaments are unlocked after progressing in the game for a bit, andthey can be farmed from Caverns of Corrosion and Simulated Universe respectively. When you have two or four pieces from the same set of Relics and Planar Ornaments, you’ll get a special bonus ability unique to the set.
Here are some of thebest set bonuses for Gepardin Honkai: Star Rail:
Relics
Knight Of Purity Palace
This is the best in slot Relic Set for Gepard as itincreases your DEF by 15 percent andthe damage that can be absorbed by your shield is also increased by 20 percent. This effect applies to all the characters shielded by Gepard.
Moreover, you’ll alsoget a complete four-star set of this Relic by leveling upand collecting rewards from Pom-Pom.
Guard Of Wuthering Snow
This Relic set is more focused on keeping Gepard alive than his shielding capabilities. Itreduces the damage taken by the character by eight percentand regenerates your health and Energy if you’re below 50 percent Health.
This is great during the early game since you won’t have a lot of DEF on him,which leads to his shield not being as tanky.
Messenger Traversing Hackerspace
If you’re confident in the amount of DEF you have on Gepard just from the Relic and Planar Ornament stats,you may use this set to let him give your team some extra buffs.
Whenever your Ultimate is used on allies,this set provides everyone a SPD boost to all allies for one turn. This can be quite good in limited-cycle content like the Forgotten Halls.
Planar Ornaments
Fleet Of The Ageless
While this Ornament set might not be the best for Gepard,you can farm it quite early since it’s available in World Three itself. It increases your maximum HP and your allies' ATK if you have over 120 SPD, which is necessary.
Sprightly Vonwacq
Even though this set doesn’t have any DEF to buff Gepard’s shield strength,it can still be considered best in slot for him. The set gives you some Energy Regeneration Rate along with advancing your actions forward.
Gepard can only trigger his shield through the Ultimate, and both of these stats will help you get this ability much faster.Your shield might be a little weak, but you can trigger it more often.
Belobog Of The Architects
This set can only be acquired in the sixth world of Simulated Universe, which makes it quite hard to get.It increases your DEF by up to 30 percent if you have enough Effect Hit Rate, which is one of the most important stats on Gepard.
This DEF increase will also increase your shield strength, andit might just make your shield last until you get your Ultimate back.
EachRelicandPlanar Ornamentwill have its ownmain and sub-statsthat aremore important than the set bonuses during the early game. Here are all the main stats you should look for when it comes to Gepard:
Link Rope
Energy Regeneration Rate / DEF Percent
It’s recommended to haveat least three items with DEF Percent as the main statsince you’d want your shield to be as tanky as possible.
Getting anEnergy Regeneration Rate on Link Ropemight be better than Effect Hit Rate on Bodysince it’ll let you shield more often.
As for the sub-stats,you should look for DEF Percent, DEF, Effect Hit Rate, Effect RES, and SPD, in that order. Effect RES can be very important on Gepard since you wouldn’t want him to get immobilized when you desperately need his shield.
Best Light Cones For Gepard
Gepard can only use theLight Cones with the Preservation path if you want to trigger its special ability. Though you still have plenty of choices for him:
Moment Of Victory
Of course, Gepard’s signature Light Cone takes the crown for being his best in slot. As soon as you put this Light Cone on him,he gets a 24 percent DEF and Effect Hit Rate boost on Superimposition One. Moreover, your chances of getting attacked are increased.
This stacks with one of his Bonus Abilities, andit also increases his DEF even further if he’s attacked.
Landau’s Choice
This can somewhat be considered a four-star variant of Moment of Victory as italso increases the chances of Gepard getting attacked. Instead of increasing your DEF, this Light Cone reduces the DMG taken by the character.
Day One of My New Life
This is a simple Light Cone that gives Gepard some extra DEFwhile also increasing all-type RES for all the party members. It allows Gepard to protect his teammates a little even when the shield isn’t active.
This Is Me!
You’ll get a 16 percent DEF bonus as soon as you put this Light Cone on Gepard. Moreover,your damage increases based on your DEF every time you trigger your Ultimate, which is the main part of Gepard’s kit.
You can only attack a particular enemy once with the increased DMG.
Amber
Thankfully, Gepard also has some good three-star Light Cone choices in case you don’t have any of the Light Cones mentioned above.This Light Cone gives you a straight boost of 32 percent DEFif you have it on Superimposition Five.
Moreover, if your HP is below 50 percent, you get another 32 percent DEF boost.This makes it go up to 64 percent in total, which is phenomenal. The only downside of this Light Cone is the lower base stats since it’s a three-star.
Gepard Traces Overview And Priority
Much like every other character, Gepard has aset of eight main Traces that include active and passive abilities. However, his Traces work more as specific abilities to make the character better rather than working together. Here’s what they do:
Fist Of Conviction
Basic Attack
Deals a certain amount of Ice DMG to a single enemy based on Gepard’s ATK.
Daunting Smite
Skill
Deals multiple instances of Ice DMG to a single enemy, andalso has a 65 percent base chance to freeze them. Frozen enemies can’t take action on their next turn and take additional damage.
Unyielding Will
Talent
If Gepard loses all his HP, he doesn’t get knocked down.Instead, he instantly regenerates a certain percentage of his HP. You can only trigger this effect once per battle.
Comradery
Technique
Gives ashield to every character based on your DEFwhen you start the next battle after using the Technique.
Gepard has ahigher chance of getting attackedin battle
Commander
Bonus Ability
If the Talent is triggered, Gepard also gets hisUltimate for free.
Fighting Spirit
Gepard’sATK is increased based on 35 percent of his DEF. This effect refreshes every turn.
Your Technique is already unlocked when you get the character, butyou have to spend some materials to unlock his Bonus Abilitiesonce you have the required ascension. Moreover, you can upgrade his Basic Attack, Skill, Ultimate, and Talent as you ascend the character constantly.
Out of all the abilities, Gepard’sUltimate takes priority since you need his shield to be as strong as possible. Follow this up with his Skill and then Talent. It’s important to note that your chances to freeze the enemies don’t increase as you upgrade your Skill. Moreover, you don’t have to upgrade his Basic Attack.
If you want to deal some damage, you canupgrade his Basic Attack to level three or four.
