HSR Currency Wars Best Bond Tier List - School & Faction

Welcome to this Honkai: Star Rail Currency Wars Bond Tier List, where we break down both School bonds and Faction bonds with a focus on high-diff runs. Instead of just shouting “S tier!” and moving on, we’ll talk about why each bond actually feels good (or terrible) in real high-diff runs, and how much pain it takes to bring them online.

Think of this as a cosy little handbook: which bonds can solo-carry, which ones are just cute econ side hustles, and which should stay in the “only if I misclicked” bucket. If you’re trying to push Currency Wars seriously and not just vibe in A5, this guide is here to help your rolls hurt a little less.

 

School Bond Tier List

School Bonds are your playstyle labels in Currency Wars – things like Break, DoT or Follow-Up decide how your team fights, not who shows up on the board. In this part, we’ll see how each School Bond performs in A8 runs with a full roster, judging their ceiling, consistency, and how much they punish you for bad rolls.

S Tier

Energy

Energy is the classic example of “strong characters ≠ automatically broken bond”. The flow is absolutely disgusting if you reach high breakpoints (8–10 Energy) and have Aglaea as your main engine; she’s widely regarded as one of the strongest Currency Wars carries, with absurd damage and fast turns.

The problem is getting there on A8: chasing 10-Energy demands a lot of time and HP, and greedy econ lines are heavily punished at that tier. So the verdict: Energy flow as a system is S tier, but only if you commit, stabilize early with her as a “battery cheat,” and don’t die before the engine comes online.

 

Debuff

Debuff flow is one of the few archetypes that feels good early, mid, and late. Once you grab Acheron, the whole board scales off layered debuffs, and damage stays relevant all the way to A8 bosses.

The downsides are pure logistics: you often need two bond emblems to really pop off, and cleanse-heavy environments can hard-grief your setup by stripping stacks mid-rotation. Still, in terms of curve, it’s easily first-tier among maxed flows, provided you respect anti-debuff stages and don’t slam it into hard cleanse.

 

DoT

DoT is basically the safest “all-trial” line: slap in six DoT units and you cruise through early A8 without your HP bleeding out, even if your roster isn’t stacked.

It also comes online super easily if your first Investment Environment hands you a DoT bond emblem — from there, you just fish for a Hysilens / Black Swan to carry the pacing. Without a real anchor, though, your mid-to-late damage falls off hard.

Its biggest natural counter is any Purification/cleanse environment, which straight-up deletes your stacks and makes the whole setup collapse — those floors feel like getting hit with the dad-with-the-belt special.

But overall? For high-difficulty stability and long-curve scaling, DoT sits comfortably in top tier.

 

A Tier

Skill Points

Skill Points flow is one of the most satisfying high-roll archetypes: once online, it dumps huge SP into a single carry, chains massive skills, and turns late-game rounds into fireworks. The problem is the road there: your early/mid board is heavy, clunky, and often full of expensive supports that don’t pull their weight until you reach big SP thresholds.

So while an A8 run where you hit everything feels insane, most runs just fall apart during the transition. That’s why it lands in that space of “strong when it works, unreliable when it doesn’t” — fun and powerful, but too inconsistent to sit at the top of the meta.

 

Quantum Resonance

Quantum Resonance is basically bonded with Belobog and in practice it’s mainly a showcase for Seele. Fill your Quantum slots, flip the resonance on, and anything without serious bulk just evaporates in Seele’s butterfly storms.

The downside is support tax: core pieces like Silver Wolf and Fu Xuan sit in the pricier brackets, so putting the whole package together early in A8 is very RNG-dependent.

If you do manage to assemble the full Quantum battleship, it absolutely feels top of the food chain — but the setup curve is steep enough that it settles in high A tier rather than a free S.

 

AoE ATK

AoE is one of the smoothest early-game lines: once you hit five AoE units, the first node is basically lawn-mowing mode. Throw in Cosmic Scholar or any econ support and the whole curve feels super comfy.

The issue shows up on bosses — without top-end pieces (The Herta / a real AoE carry) or solid amp, your single-target checks get ugly fast, and the “spam AoE and sweep” plan runs out of steam.

Overall, AoE is stable, easy to pilot, and great for early maps, but it’s not the strongest closer for A8 finals. A feels right: good, reliable, just not cracked.

 

B Tier

Heal

Pure heal flows are mostly filler right now: you pick them up when the pieces fall into your lap, not as a main game plan. They’re great for stabilizing scuffed boards, buying time on bad econ curves, and patching up chip damage, but you generally don’t want to spend an entire flow just on “not dying.” As a splash, healing is solid and low-risk; as a core archetype, it’s still firmly in the “nice to have, not what you aim for” camp.

 

Shield

Shield-focused flows are in a similar spot, but with noticeably more upside. Most of the time they’re just extra padding so your actual carry can run greedier lines — but the Chassis of Retribution Phainon team has already proven there’s a real archetype here. With Phainon’s massive, buffed shields plus built-in counter tech, the setup isn’t just a meme anymore; it’s a functional, emerging strategy with real late-game legs.

 

C Tier

Bloodflame

On paper, Bloodflame is hype: HP consumption → big AoE slaps, lots of characters, very anime. In A8 runs with 8-Bloodflame-unit boards, the numbers just don’t keep up – you’re bleeding yourself out to scrape one layer of HP off enemies. Castorice almost never fully charge on time, so you end up with a fragile board that pays HP for damage it simply doesn’t have. Fun in mid ranks, but not for A8.

 

Break

Break looks like a real archetype on the compendium, but in practice the floor is bottomless. If your early shops don’t give you the core breakers (Fague), you’re just chain-losing every reward node while staring at a sea of random pieces. Firefly being a 5-cost means many A8 runs simply never see a proper capstone, so you’re stuck with low-frequency, low-impact breaks and awkward partial synergies. If you really want to play Break, the realistic line is: park one–two Break pieces, lean on Energy or DPS to survive, then pivot only if Firefly actually shows.

 

Follow-up ATK

Follow-up flow’s problem is high ceiling, low floor on high difficulty. Early game you basically have trial Feixiao doing her best, but action speed is low and true follow-up chains barely exist, so “tempo” is mostly a rumor. By the time you finally assemble the “real” FUA board, A8 enemies have so much HP and mitigation that your beautiful chain of hits looks like a gif: very busy, damage bar doesn’t move. It’s the classic case of “looks busted in highlights, turns to mush in actual runs.”

 

Faction Bond Tier List

Faction Bonds care about where your characters come from – Xianzhou, Astral Express, Belobog and friends turn shared hometowns into extra stats, summons, or juicy econ. Here we zoom in on how each Faction Bond holds up in high-difficulty Currency Wars, separating true top-tier lineups from the NPC-level tags you only activate by accident.

 

S Tier

Xianzhou

Xianzhou is one of the few lineup Bonds that actually carries damage at A8 rather than just looking pretty. Lightning-Lord hitting all enemies gives you real, repeatable DPS as long as you field enough Xianzhou units.

The downside is consistency: high-diff lobbies where you naturally roll triple Xianzhou Emblems + good gear are rare, so fully committing to 10-Xianzhou is a bit of a high-roll fantasy, but when it happens, it absolutely feels like “all-in and win.”

 

Day Demigod

Day Demigod is the only side of the Demigod Bond that really deserves the “recommended” stamp. With the right exclusive gear and global Energy support, Day-side carries can convert that extra gauge into fast, frequent ults that actually matter for A8 check damage.

The 3-Day Demigods setup is the one worth recommending: Aglaea’s stack-up style gear plus Day-aligned carries lets you stack tempo and keep ults cycling, so as a side econ/sustain package it’s genuinely strong at high difficulty.

The catch is that it heavily prefers specific cores and strategy cards, but when the stars align, Day Demigod feels like a legit win-condition Bond rather than just flavor.

 

A Tier

The Planet of Festivities

The Planet of Festivities functions as premium utility wrapped in a Bond, offering reliable tempo and team-wide “breath” that slot smoothly into most high-tier comps. Current meta builds such as Phainon commonly run 4 Festivities + 4 Energy as a backbone because each Festivities unit contributes high-value buffs that amplify a carry’s damage, scaling, and overall consistency. Its lineup pieces also integrate cleanly with top performers like Phainon, Sunday, and Firefly, making the Bond one of the easiest to fit without compromising your main strategy.

The problem is slot pressure — in real A8 runs, your big synergies are already crowded, so fully committing to the Bond is hard. Great as a “one-card makes the whole team better” lineup, not so great as your main win-con.

 

Galactic Voyager

This is the “same nature as Planet of Festivities” group you referenced: single-card to whole-team value, where just one copy already gives meaningful buffs. They typically show up in guides as high-impact headliners plugged into Festival or Energy shells, feeding damage, SP, or utility to the whole squad.

Compared to Planet of Festivities, they’re less demanding to slot, which makes them feel even better in real drafts: you can splash them into almost any powerful core.

 

Cosmic Scholar

Galactic Scholars are one of the main economy bonds: their effect stacks Cat Cake layers based on the stars of your Scholar units, then converts those layers into extra rewards (gold/value) each fight. If you can high-roll 4 Scholars early, your econ spikes hard, letting you hit level and shop interest thresholds faster than other players—and even feed streaks for things like Black Tower.

The honest downside is that most Scholar units aren’t individually cracked, and the bond is very star-hungry; in bad rolls you’ll feel like you’re griefing your board just to stack cats. As a pure econ engine in the hands of someone comfortable with A8 pacing, though, it absolutely deserves A tier.

 

Belobog

Belobog got a real community re-evaluation: people realized that with Seele + six Belobog units + Quantum synergy, it can absolutely slam high-diff fights. The defensive and offensive layering is legit when you hit the full package.

The flip side is that it’s very demanding: you need multiple specific 4-costs and Quantum pieces while still surviving the early nodes. If you can manage that transition, Belobog feels great; if not, it just looks like copium in your match history — hence a high but not “broken” tier.

 

B Tier

Night Demigod

Night Demigod has some cute reward and scaling angles (see the Bond mission for maxing Night Demigod rewards), but the team building is scuffed: the Night Demigod units don’t naturally fall into the strongest high-diff lines.

You can clear with it, but compared to Day Demigod or Xianzhou, it tends to feel like you’re forcing puzzle pieces into the wrong slots — playable, but rarely your first pick in A8.

 

Express Cohort

Express Cohort gives generic buffs and utility to your train crew, and Welt as the lone 5-cost, high-rarity member can bring surprisingly good control and debuffs in this mode.

The issue is that even 6 Express Cohort doesn’t feel like a true win condition: you get some damage and SPD, but nothing as game-warping as Xianzhou or Belobog cores. At 4 Express Cohort is acceptable as a side bond; pushing deeper usually doesn’t pay for the slots in A8. Solid, serviceable, but rarely the star of the show.

 

C Tier

Galaxy Rangers

Sea Rangers is the definition of win-more / icing-on-the-cake. The Bond doesn’t drag your comp down, but it also doesn’t solve any of A8’s problems — no big breakpoint in damage, no crazy tempo swing.

Ideal usage is as a early-game Bond: you open it, ride the small stats and utility to stabilize, then stop investing and let your real synergies take over.

 

Stellaron Hunters

Stellaron Hunters lives in the same neighborhood as Galaxy Rangers: okay early, rarely core late. Small buffs, some QoL, but nothing even on the level of A Tier.

If you get it naturally while building strong squad, cool, you take it. But over-chasing Stellaron Hunters just to see the Bond icon glow is usually how you end up missing more important comps.

 

Wolf Hunt

On paper, Borisin evolving through the fight sounds cool, but in high difficulty it’s basically “all or nothing”. You need something like maxed Borisin + premium carries (Jingliu / Feixiao / Yunli) and at least two Wolf Hunt emblems before it starts to feel worth the slot.

Most of the time the Bond units don’t really link into a coherent comp, and if you don’t get enough gears to speed up Borisin’s level-ups, you’re just bleeding tempo while Borisin waddles around doing chip damage.

 

IPC

IPC is almost pure filler design: you technically get something (like an extra Coin at 5-cost thresholds), but it doesn’t move the needle in hard content.

You never go into a game thinking “I’m going to build IPC.” It’s more like “oh, I accidentally turned this on while buying actually good characters” — which is why it sits at the very bottom.

 

Conclusion

If you’ve made it this far, you now know which bonds in Currency Wars are real main characters and which are glorified background extras: Energy, Debuff and DoT as your reliable School cores, Xianzhou, Day Demigod, Festivities and Belobog as the standout Faction picks, with the rest filling in as econ tools or pure NPC vibes.

At the end of the day, your Honkai: Star Rail Currency Wars Bond Tier List isn’t just about chasing S tiers—it’s about knowing when to pivot, when to greed, and when to let a bait bond go.

And if you want a little extra help high-rolling those comps, you can always top up your Oneiric Shards safely and cheaply via LDShop before diving back into Currency Wars. Build smarter, roll happier, and let the good bonds do the heavy lifting for you.