In this Honkai Star Rail March 7th Build Guide we’re going to be covering the defensive support March 7th Build. This build focuses on shielding herself and her teammates, to protect them from damage, as well as enabling certain characters that rely on shields to function.
Honkai: Star Rail March 7th Build Guide
March 7th is a guaranteed character that everybody gets for free. She’s an Ice Bow user from the Perseverance Path that currently has the strongest single target shield in game. Not only that, but her shield is more accessible, and has an additional taunt. And combined with her ability to freeze enemies, and cleanse debuffs from allies, she is the ultimate defensive support from early to endgame. Not to mention her counter ability, that helps her increase the team’s damage and shield breaking capability.
Overall, March 7th is a stable character in a lot of team compositions, and usually one of best characters to build in game. She has slightly lower stats than her rivals in the Perseverance path, but she makes up for it with her skills. She puts a single target shield on one ally or herself, with every cast of her skill. And after her 4th Ascension, her shield lasts for 4 turns. So you can virtually put shields on all of your team, once per turn.
In practice though, you only need the shield on a couple characters, as long as you manage enemy aggro properly. Fortunately, aggro management comes with the shield in one package. So enemies are more likely to attack the character with the shield on, allowing you better control of combat.
March 7th Build Guide – Active Skills
Skill leveling Priority: Skill >> Ultimate > Talent > Basic Attack
Frigid Cold Arrow – Normal Attack
March 7th will use her normal attack quite often, because we rarely need new shield every single turn. Beside that, we don’t need March 7th to spend a lot of skill points, but rather generate them. We can play her as a natural unit, using her skill once, and her normal once. This keep overall points she spends and generate equal.
For this Honkai: Star Rail March 7th Build, the damage of normal attacks is nothing exceptional if we build her into full Def for shield strength. However, it can still help break toughness on enemies weak to Ice. However, March will hit enemies more often with her counter (from Talent), which can hit hit twice per turn. So we give normal attack lowest priority in terms of leveling up, to save up material for more important skills.
The Power of Cuteness – Skill
The shield comes from March 7th’s skill, and she can cast this on any ally, or herself. This shield has highest numerical values with up to 61% of March 7th’s DEF plus 846 flat shield strength at highest level. It also last three turns by default, and 4 turns after 4th Ascension. So it can be very tanky, with high uptime.
The first use on first turn determine who get most aggro, so you control the flow of battle. That’s especially easy if you have high enough speed, to shield up before any enemy attack. You can use it on March herself, and play tank. Or use on your main dps, to grant them more energy, because your character gain energy when they are hit by an enemy.
There’s also a special case for specific characters, such as Clara and Yanqing. Clara needs to be hit to deal more damage, so March 7th shield can help her get aggro and protection. On other hand, Yanqing need to not get damaged by enemies to marinating his high damage, and March 7th help him as well. Yanqing can get hit safely, as long as that hit doesn’t deal damage. So again, March 7th shield is the solution.
As mentioned before, we don’t use shield every turn, and we prefer alternating between skill and normal attacks.
Girl Power – Talent
It’s very simple but effective talent, where March 7th will counter attack any enemy that attack a shielded ally. And by shielded ally, it mean any shielded ally, no matter where that shield comes from. That make March 7th a decent pick, even if team have another shielder (such as Fire Trailblazer) in some cases. Not only that, but it also trigger on any shield you get from blessings in Simulated Universe. So March 7th goes really well with Perseverance Blessings in Simulated Universe.
The talent can counter attack twice per turn, and deal same damage as normal damage. It help her generate more energy, to cast ultimate more often. As well as breaking toughness of enemies weak to Ice. So overall, very nice tool in her kit.
Glacial Cascade – Ultimate
At the cost of 120 energy, March 7th cast AOE Ice ultimate, that cover the entire field. With 50% chance to freeze enemies at default, which rise to 65% chance at 6th Ascension. This chance can rise even more with stats from gear or Light Cones.
The frozen enemies will further receive one instance of damage in the next turn. ÷It’s very good was way to force enemies to skip a turn, and also break their toughness. March 7th will need few turns to regain her full energy, but if she gets enemies to hit shielded characters every turn, it will increase her energy generation. So in a team with Gepard or Fire Trailblazer, March will ultimate more often.
Freezing Beauty – Technique
Technique is a skill that character can use outside combat, mainly to initiate combat with big advantage. It have a maximum amount of charges, so you can’t use in every encounter. March Technique directly attack enemies, so it’s used to initiate combat.
Upon start, she attack all enemies with Ice weakness, doing damage to their toughness. It also freeze a random enemy, causing it to skip the very first turn. For this utility, I prefer to use the Technique of March 7th over the Technique of dps characters.
Honkai: Star Rail March 7th – Traces
Traces are passive skills that character unlock after leveling, and reaching certain ascension levels. You need to farm and spend resources to unlock traces, but they give powerful enchantments to your character. For a defensive support such as March 7th, you want to prioritize Def stats from minor traces, and all major traces; Since major traces all give very important utility.
Purify – Major – Ascension 2
This Trace is very decisive part of March kit, because it enable the skill to cleanse 1 debuff from ally. There are a lot of debuffs enemies can inflict in Honkai Star Rail, such as Freeze, Burn, Shock, Bleed, Wind Shear, Imprisonment, and Entanglement. And while some merely do more damage, like burn and shock, others can cause your characters to skip a turn, such as Imprisonment and Freeze.
So adding using a cleanse to your team is a great defensive utility. Note that Natasha have a similar cleanse, which is reactive. Using both March 7th and Natasha in same team is not a bad, because they can cleanse each other’s in case either of them get frozen or Imprisoned. That’s especially useful in Echoes of war weekly bosses, since Doomsday Beast Imprison, and Cocolia freeze.
Reinforce – Major – Ascension 4
This Trace is very straight forward, increase the shield duration to four turns, instead of three. It’s great quality of life improvement, to reduce the skill points consumed by March. You will now skip using her skill more often.
Ice Spell – Major – Ascension 6
Adding 15% freeze rate to March ultimate, on top of the base 50% chance. So you freeze enemies more often, especially if you invest in “Effect hit Rate” on Relics
Minor Traces
March 7th gets ten minor stats increases, distributed as the following
- Ice damage (Five Nodes)
- Def (Three nodes)
- Max HP (Effect Res Nodes)
We prioritize Def Traces only, until we reach highest Equilibrium level. Because at highest Equilibrium level, we get a lot of extra materials from farming Crimson Calyx. Before that, it waste a lot of time and resources to try raise all traces on all characters.
Honkai: Star Rail March 7th – Light Cone
For this Honkai: Star Rail March 7th Build, gear is a curial part of building characters in Honkai Star Rail, and usually require some testing with various teams and setups to get the highest performance. In this section, I’ll go through the recommended Light Cone for March 7th, to fulfill her defensive support role.
Light Cone are similar to weapons in other games, and while you can equip any light cone on any character, only cones matching the character path can provide full benefits. March 7th is of “Perseverance” Path, which focus on protecting allies with shields. You can get Light Cones from in-game rewards, or randomly from wishing on various banners. And I’ll go through some of free and gacha options for March 7th.
Amber – Three Stars
The starter Light Cone for Preservation characters, with highest Def value among three stars. It also have a passive that increase Def by a percentage, and then another Def increase if HP drops below 50%.
It’s straight forward Light Cone, with no special skills attached. So think of it as just some early shield strength without investment. As a three Stars, you can easily get Amber to maximum Superimpose (Refinement) tier for higher Def buff. Don’t Ascend and level it beyond level 20 though, because sooner, you will get a free four star upgrade.
We Are Wildfire – Four Stars
One of the few guaranteed Light Cones in game, you get from shop reward in Boulder Town. This not only help you get in early game, but also give you one extra superimposed (refinement) tier after getting more copies from gacha.
Stats-wise, “We are Wildfire” have the highest attack value among four stars. Once you level it, you will see notable increase in March damage. It’s free damage, that will help you clear early game content faster. It also have very good Def value, and you will maintain decent shield strength.
The passive give all team a decrease in damage taken for five turn, and heal any ally whos HP is less than maximum at battle start. This is very good passive in teams that can’t use healer with March at same time. And even in teams with a healer, it decrease the necessity of constant healing, and saves your team some skill points.
This Is Me! – Four Stars
Another four star option that can be considered over “We are Wildfire” is “This is me!”. The reason I consider it is the higher than usual Def base stat, and percentage Def increase. The def on it is equal to some five star Light Cones. And it enable March to grant even bigger shields, and convert her Def stat into damage increase on her ultimate as well.
This is not a free Light Cone though, and not even a gacha reward. It’s Battle Pass exclusive, and you get that only by paying real money. A lot of people buy Battle Pass though, for the other resources it gives. So if you are one of these players, consider picking “This Is Me” if you don’t need another offensive weapon.
Texture of Memories – Five Stars
You get the chance to buy this weapon In Herta’s store after clearing enough worlds in Simulated Universe. So basically it’s a free weapon, minus the opportunity cost of not buying a dps weapon instead. For this reason, I’d get this weapon for March, only if your main team uses two Perseverance Path characters. Such a team lack a healer, and have a Fire Trailblazer and March together. And have the Trailblazer playing Tank, with March spamming her shield to keep Trailblazer from getting any damage you can’t heal.
This weapon have high HP, high Attack, and Def similar to “This is Me!”. But the beauty of it, is that it grants March herself another shield, based on HP. This shield is naturally bigger than her own shields, since HP stat is much higher than Def. This way, March can skip shielding herself, and focus on shielding the three other characters, removing the need for a healer altogether. It’s advanced setup that isn’t tested yet, but it should be viable. Especially if we give Fire MC one of the Light cones that decrease team damage taken.
March 7th Relics
In this Honkai: Star Rail March 7th Build, relics works similar to artifacts in Genshin Impact. You have four slots, Head, Gloves, Body, and Feet. Then two other slots that unlock at higher levels. Head always come with Flat HP stat, Gloves comes with Flat Attack. Then Body and Feet comes with random stats. So gearing the Head and gloves would lean more towards finding the best sub stats, while Body and Feet need need to also roll a good main stat.
For March 7th, we have few defensive stats we can focus on, depending on the role she play in team. In short, if March is the only defensive Support in team, you need pure Def build. If you play March with a healer, you can mix offensive stats with defensive stats. And if you play March with another Perseverance character, you can focus on speed and Def.
Standard build for March in early game and in most teams is full Def though. You should focus on it for easier time, and to be able to skip March skill in some turns, to save more skill points for dps characters.
You can get Def as main stat on all of Body, Feet, Planar Sphere, and Link Rope. That’s more slots than any offensive stat, so you can easily get very high Def value. Actually, more than the attack value any offensive characters can achieve. However, you might consider getting Effect hit Rate on Body, in case you use Remembrance Path blessings In simulated universe. In that case, you would like either Break Effect or Energy regeneration on Rope.
Knight of Purity Palace
You unlock this Relic set fairly early, and you can use it from that point to endgame. The Knight of Purity Palace gives straight up Def, and shield strength multiplier. So it’s the best suited for defensive role, I see no other option worth investing on March. Unless you prioritize better sub stats, so you use hybrid set of two pieces and two pieces. But ultimately, hybrid are only temporary option before you get good artifacts in all slots.
Honkai: Star Rail March 7th Build – Eidolons
March 7th Eidolons are good addition to her strength in this Honkai: Star Rail March 7th Build, if you were lucky to get some of them. She’s a four star, so Eidolons are much easier to get over time.
Her E1 generates more energy, E2 give another shield to ally with lowest health, and E4 give one more counter, and increase counter damage. These are all great quality of life, making March even stronger as the game progress and you get more copies of her.
Her E6 add a heal over time to shielded allies, which open up a whole new playstyle that rely on March and no healer at all.
Honkai: Star Rail March 7th Team Composition
Team consists of four characters in Honkai Star Rail, where you usually seek to fill several roles, such as single target dps, AOE dps, shield breakers, and both defensive and offensive supports. The combat system prevent you from using one character to break all shields, since shield break only if you attack it with the elements it’s weak against. Therefore, the game still encourage player to build very diverse team, with four different elements, or at the very least three elements.
In this section, I’ll go through some of the recommended team members that goes well with March. Note that March is a support, so she have so many team options, one guide is not enough to cover them all. So I’ll focus on one f2p team you can use to beat Cocolia boss in Echoes of war weekly encounter. This team stacks defensive characters to tank the insane AOE damage Cocolia make to low level teams. While covering four different elements to exploit all the weaknesses Cocolia and most enemies have.
Healer from Abundance Path
At early levels, we need straight up healer against any challenging content. Whether in campaign, Simulated universe, or Weekly bosses. I can sometimes skip healer slot in campaign and simulated universe, to deal more damage and clear faster. But once you go against very high health boss, and battle takes more than few turns, you need a healer.
I straight up use Natasha to fill this healer role, because she’s only free healer, and she’s also a good healer. With March shield, Natasha can skip her skill in most turns, and rely only on her ultimate to heal. That way, you use her normal attacks more often, generating skill points for your dps. That’s a subtle increase in team damage, because game doesn’t have a lot of other ways to generate skill points.
Natsha enable the team to start battle with one extra skill point, through her use of “Passerby of Wandering Cloud” Relic set, which is absolute advantage in first few turns. And if you get “Fine Fruit” or “Shared Feeling” Light Cone, you can also generate energy for allies.
Toughness breaker with Lightning element from any Path
Lightning is very important element in breaking toughness, especially for Cocolia boss fight. The reason is, lightning inflict enemies with Shock debuff, which deal damage over time. In other words, lightning characters hit enemies several times per turn, so they bring down their shields faster.
The choice of a lightning character against bosses is a bit harder though, because game doesn’t have a lot of single target lightning dps character at launch. Jing Yuan will solve this issue later, when he get released at May, 2023. But he’s still a limited five star character, and not everyone will be able to have him.
That leave us with Arlan, who doesn’t inflict shock, rending him less useful. And on other hand, we have Serval, who’s more focused on AOE, but have an excellent shock application. I highly recommend picking Serval, without looking back. She’s one of the few characters who will cover all your AOE needs, while still doing important job against bosses. She also have access to some Light Cones with energy regeneration, so she can spam her ultimate for more shield breaking.
Game also recognize Serval importance in Cocolia fight, by having special achievement for dealing the killing blow to her by Serval.
Fire or Quantum DPS from Any Path
Fire weakness is another widely spread weakness, that a lot of enemies have. Both weekly bosses Cocolia and Doomsday Beast have fire weakness as well. So it’s a guaranteed good match against most content in early game.
I prefer Fire to play as a dps because it have more single target damage than lightning, and they come with additional benefits as well. The choice here is among three characters, Asta, Fire Trailblazer, or Hook. With first two being guaranteed free characters, and Hook being a random pull from gacha.
Hook have 100% base chance to apply Burn, which scale both her dps and toughness break. But she need to use a lot of skill points, and energy. On other hand, Fire Trailblazer is excellent at generating skill points, not consuming them. They don’t inflict burns, but provide team with extra shields, and can taunt enemies. While Asta provide team wide speed buff, have great toughness breaking capability, and cost skill points. The character of my choice is Fire Traileblazer, for the importance of generating skill points while maintaining damage.
On other hand, you can use Quantum dps instead, namely Seele, if you got from her limited banner. But that’s not a free to play option.
Final Tips
March 7th is the main shielder in Honkai Star Rail, and as mentioned before, she’s not mutually exclusive character with other shielders. You can mix and match her with other defensive supports, whether they are healers or shielder. March can perform well under any circumstance, and she add a bit of crowd control from freeze. She can fit several teams, and skyrocket team’s survivability.
Her rotations are also flexible, and you can simply change and adapt to enemies attack patterns. But generally, you want to start first turn with casting her shield on the most likely ally to get attacked. Usually that’s herself, or the ally who started the fight with his or her Technique. Using March as a tank have the additional benefit of having slightly higher aggro. So I prefer starting all fights by casting her skill on herself.
Afterwards, you might want to skip her skill in second turn, to generate skill point rather than consume more. But that’s only safe if enemies already targeting her, and they deal no massive AOE. If they deal AOE, then you need to shield the next character who will be more affected by AOE. When any shielded character gets hit, Match will automatically counter attack the enemy. And for her ultimate, use it whenever possible.
If you have Bailou, you can change team composition drastically, and it’s one of the very few teams that doesn’t need March. Otherwise, she’s a stable companion you would like to take anywhere.
Stay tuned for more Honkai: Star Rail Character Guides and be sure to drop by our Twitch Channel if you have questions about the game. And check out Honkai: Star Rail Seele Guide. For more Honkai: Star Rail content, check out Honkai: Star Rail Guide – F2P Characters Overview, Honkai: Star Rail Beginner Guide, and Honkai: Star Rail Gameplay Overview (F2P Turn-Based RPG).
