The best Honkai: Star Rail March 7th build

The best Honkai: Star Rail March 7th build focuses on boosting the archer's shields and her ability to freeze enemies before they get those powerful attacks off. One of the things that March 7th is good at is protecting allies, and countering any enemy that tries to harm them. Her abilities boost your chances of surviving, especially in the earlier part of the game when you don't have access to a healer.

I'm not even sure you need a healer most of the time when you have a well-built March 7th in your roster, since she provides a steady stream of shields that bait enemies into attacking them. Here, I'll walk you through what I recommend in terms of light cones, relics, and planar ornaments if you want to maximise her shield strength and ability to freeze.

The best March 7th build

March 7th is most effective as a shielder, defending allies with her Girl Power counter, plus using her ultimate to freeze enemies. Since her shields scale with defense, that's the priority stat, but you'll also want to boost effect hit rate to make use of her freezing. 

• Light Cone: This is Me or Moment of Victory 

The best overall Preservation light cone is the five-star Moment of Victory which boosts defense by 24% and effect hit rate by 24%. It also buffs both March 7th's shield strength and her ability to freeze enemies with her ice-based attacks. On top of that, Moment of Victory  increases the chance of the wearer being attacked, and since March 7th's Power of Cuteness shield also has a chance to bait enemies, this can turn her into a very effective decoy. If that wasn't enough, it also increases defense by an extra 24% if that character is attacked.

That said, as a five-star light cone it is quite hard to get hold of. As an alternative, I'd suggest the four-star This is Me. This light cone grants 16% increased defense and a buff to ultimate damage based on 60% of the wearer's defense. Considering you'll be stacking defense to strengthen March 7th's shield anyway, this presents a nice little synergy that also works with her playstyle of shielding, countering to charge her ultimate, and using it to freeze enemies. 

• Relics: Knight of the Purity Palace (Four-pieces equipped)

If you're using March 7th primarily for shields, then Knight of the Purity Palace is the best relic set. Two-pieces increase defense by 15%, while four-pieces provide 20% extra shield strength for those she creates. Of course, if you're finding that your shields are unnecessarily strong and you want to optimise something else, you could always swap out two pieces for Hunter of the Glacial Forest, which gives a 10% ice damage boost. 

You'll get a four-piece set of Knight of the Purity Palace as a Trailblaze level reward at rank 17, but you can also get it at the Cavern of Corrosion: Path of the Holy Hymn once you arrive in Xianzhou Luofu in the main story and unlock it. You get Hunter of the Glacial Forest at the Cavern of Corrosion: Path of Gelid Wind on Herta Space Station after you unlock them during the Jarilo-VI story quest. For stats, I recommend defense for shield boosting—and ultimate damage if you're using This is Me—some effect hit rate for more freezes, and attack also. 

• Planar Ornaments: Belobog of the Architects (Two-pieces equipped)

The best ornament for a March 7th's shields is the Belobog of the Architects, increasing defense by 15%, and double that if you've managed to build that effect hit rate to 50% or higher. Sadly, this is one of the ornament sets that won't become available until one of the later Simulated Universe worlds, so you might have to make do with the Space Sealing Station set and its 12% attack buff until then. Also, be sure to keep an eye out for one with an ice damage boost. 

March 7th abilities and Eidolons

Here are March 7th's combat abilities, bonus abilities for full character ascension, and the Eidolons you can upgrade her with if you acquire an extra copy of her in the Warp:

March 7th Ascension materials

Here's what you'll need to ascend March 7th fully:

• Twelve Thief's Instinct
• Thirteen Usurper's Scheme
• Twelve Conqueror's Will
• 50 Horn of Snow
• 246,400 Credits

You can farm Thief's Instinct via character assignments, defeating Voidranger enemies in the Storage Zone and Supply Zone on the Herta Space Station, and in the Simulated Universe. They are also available to buy at the Embers Exchange if you have Undying Embers. Horn of Snow can be farmed from the Stagnant Shadow: Shape of Rime on Jarilo-VI, which you unlock once you ascend your world to Equilibrium Two at Trailblaze level 30.

Raising your world level will also unlock more character ascensions and give you better access to the upgraded versions of Thief's Instinct that drop from enemies, such as Usurper's Scheme and Conqueror's Will.