Herta is weird. Honestly, if you've been playing Honkai: Star Rail since the beginning, you probably have a love-hate relationship with the Master of the Space Station. She’s a free 4-star Erudition character, which usually means "bench warmer" in most gacha games, but Pure Fiction changed everything. Suddenly, everyone needs those Herta ascension materials because "Kuru Kuru" is basically the meta for clearing waves of enemies. If you're looking at your level 20 Herta and realizing she needs to be level 80 to actually do damage, you’ve got some farming to do.
It's easy to mess this up. You might think you can just dump generic materials into her, but Herta belongs to the Ice path and follows specific drop tables that can be a massive drain on your Trailblaze Power if you aren't efficient.
What You Actually Need for Herta’s Ascension
Basically, you’re looking at two main "food groups" for Herta: the world drops and the Stagnant Shadow boss drops. Unlike some of the newer Penacony characters who require materials from across the galaxy, Herta is an OG. Most of her stuff is found right on the Herta Space Station or Jarilo-VI.
For her character level ascension, you need Extinguished Core, Glimmering Core, and Squirming Core. These drop from those annoying Fragmentum monsters. You know the ones—the masked flames and ice spawns that hover around the storage zones. If you’ve been doing your daily assignments, you probably have a mountain of these, but don't get cocky. Once you hit the level 70 to 80 stretch, the Squirming Core requirements get pretty steep. You’ll need 15 of the purple-tier Squirming Cores just for that final push.
Then there’s the boss material. You need the Gelid Chitin.
This comes from the Stagnant Shadow: Shape of Icicle. You’ll find this challenge over in Cloudford on the Xianzhou Luofu. It’s an Ice-type boss fight, so don’t bring Herta to farm her own materials unless she’s already well-built; it's a bit of a slog otherwise. You’ll need 50 of these total to get her to level 80. If you are at Equilibrium Level 6, you usually get 5 per run. That’s 10 runs, or 300 Trailblaze Power. Plan accordingly.
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The Trace Materials are the Real Grind
Leveling the character is the easy part. It's the Traces—her actual abilities—that eat your resources alive. Herta is an Erudition character. This means she uses the Key series: Key of Inspiration, Key of Knowledge, and Key of Wisdom.
You find these in the Calyx (Crimson): Bud of Erudition.
Let's talk numbers because they're kind of depressing. To max out just one of her major abilities, you need a ridiculous amount of these Keys. We’re talking 105 of the purple Key of Wisdom units if you’re trying to max everything. Most people shouldn’t do that. Focus on her Talent and her Ultimate first. Her Basic Attack is almost useless unless you’re just desperate for a Skill Point. Honestly, just leave the Basic Attack at level 1 or 2. Save your sanity.
The secondary material for Traces is more Cores. More Extinguished, Glimmering, and Squirming Cores. It never ends. You also need Path-Prestige Exuvia, which you get from the Echo of War: Destruction's Beginning. That’s the Doomsday Beast fight at the Space Station. Since you can only do Echo of War three times a week, do not spend these on a whim.
Why People Fail at Building Herta
Most players treat Herta like a secondary character. They give her "hand-me-down" Relics and ignore her Trace levels. Then they take her into Pure Fiction and wonder why she isn't clearing the stage.
The secret isn't just the Herta ascension materials, it’s the synergy. Herta thrives when enemies drop below 50% HP. If your Trace levels are too low, her follow-up attack—the "Kuru Kuru" spin—won't do enough damage to trigger the next chain reaction. You want her Talent to be at least level 8. Anything less and you're just tickling the enemies.
Where to Farm Cores Efficiently
Stop running around the open world like a maniac. It’s a waste of time. If you need the Core series, use the Assignments feature. Set two of your characters to farm "Inextinguishable Light" for 20 hours every day. You'll get a steady stream of Extinguished Cores without spending a single point of energy.
If you're truly desperate and out of assignments, head to the Backwater Pass on Jarilo-VI. The enemies there are densely packed and drop Cores at a decent rate. But really, just use the Omni-Synthesizer. If you have a billion drops from other enemies, like the mechanical gears from the robots, just convert them. The 2-to-1 ratio is annoying, but it saves your real-world time.
The Hidden Cost: Credits and EXP Guides
We often forget the "boring" materials. To get Herta from level 1 to level 80, you need:
- Approximately 3.3 million Credits.
- 290 Traveler's Guides (the purple XP books).
If you are low on these, you aren't building Herta this week. You're farming the Golden Calyx. It’s a bitter pill to swallow when you want to see big numbers, but the math doesn't lie. A level 70 Herta in a level 80 environment takes a massive "level penalty" to her damage output. In Honkai: Star Rail, being lower level than the enemy reduces your damage by a specific percentage formula. Don't let her stay at 70.
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Breaking Down the Trace Priority
Since you probably don't want to spend three weeks in the Erudition Calyx, here is how you should prioritize spending those hard-earned Keys:
- Talent (Fine, I'll do it myself): This is her bread and butter. This is why she exists. Max this.
- Ultimate (It's Magic): High AOE damage that helps push enemies below that 50% HP threshold for her talent.
- Skill (Offer You a Diamond): Useful, but mostly just a setup for her follow-up.
- Basic Attack: Ignore it. Seriously.
Also, don't forget her Bonus Abilities. The "Efficiency" node increases her Skill's damage boost against frozen enemies, and "Icing" increases her Ultimate's damage. These require the boss drops from the Doomsday Beast. Make sure you have at least 2 or 3 of those Path-Prestige Exuvia ready.
Final Logistics Check
Check your inventory before you start teleporting around. Do you have the Tracks of Destiny? These are the limited-time items you get from the Nameless Honor (Battle Pass) or the Simulated Universe rewards. Herta needs these for her highest-level Traces and her major Ascension passives. You can't farm these with Trailblaze Power. If you're out, you're stuck until the next week or event.
If you are planning to pair her with Himeko—which you should, they are the "Golden Duo" of AOE—remember that they both use Erudition Keys. You will be in that Calyx for a long time. It’s better to farm for one, get them to a usable state (level 70/80 with level 8 Traces), then switch to the other. Trying to max both simultaneously is a recipe for burnout.
Actionable Next Steps for Building Herta
Start by checking your Echo of War count for the week. If you haven't done your three runs, go kill the Doomsday Beast right now. You need those rare drops. Next, set your daily assignments to focus on Cores so you stop needing to farm them in the overworld. Once that's settled, dump your daily Trailblaze Power into the Stagnant Shadow: Shape of Icicle. You need 50 Gelid Chitin, and that is a fixed goal you can knock out in a couple of days.
Only after she is ascended to level 80 should you enter the "Key hell" of the Erudition Calyx. Focus your energy on the Talent and Ultimate Traces first. If you've got extra Credits, buy out the materials from the Space Station's world shop—the one where you spend Hertareum. It’s essentially free materials for just playing the game. Get her built, get into Pure Fiction, and start collecting those easy Stellar Jades.