HSR Gilgamesh Build Guide 4.4 — Best Light Cones, Relics & Teams

The HSR Gilgamesh build guide every Trailblazer needs is here: Gilgamesh is the free 5-star Lightning Destruction hypercarry arriving with the Fate/stay night [Unlimited Blade Works] collaboration in Honkai: Star Rail Version 4.4, claimable by every player from July 24, 2026. Picture the King of Heroes standing atop the Astral Express, a sky full of golden portals opening behind him as blades rain down and the turn order bends to his will — that is exactly how his kit feels once it comes online. This guide is layered for both newcomers who just heard "there's a free 5-star" and veterans plotting every substat, so everyone walks away knowing precisely how to gear, team, and pilot him from day one.

Pre-release note: the numbers below reflect current community testing and the official 4.4 preview stream. Values may be tuned before the collab opens, so cross-check in-game on release day before committing materials.

🔥 Why Gilgamesh Matters (Even Though He's Free)

Free units are usually filler. Gilgamesh is not. He is a genuine endgame-capable hypercarry — a main damage dealer your whole team is built around — handed to every account for simply logging in during the collab. For a fresh or returning roster, that is an instant top-tier DPS with zero pulls spent.

In plain terms: a "hypercarry" team funnels buffs, energy, and turns into one character who does the bulk of the damage. Gilgamesh fills that slot, and unlike most free characters he scales into the hardest content in the game rather than falling off after the early story.

• Path / Element: Destruction, Lightning. Destruction units mix strong single-target and blast (AoE) damage with survivability, making them flexible carries.
• Zero pull cost: claimed free through the Fate/stay night login event — see our Fate Collab Part 2 preview for the exact claim steps.
• Account-defining for lighter rosters: if you lack a strong burst or AoE carry, he immediately becomes your best damage option.
• Endgame ready at base: community testing has E0 Gilgamesh comfortably clearing current Memory of Chaos, Pure Fiction, and Apocalyptic Shadow.

⚡ Gilgamesh Kit Breakdown — The Interest Engine

Gilgamesh's whole design revolves around one resource: Interest. He banks Interest whenever allies act and whenever any ally uses an Ultimate, then spends it to take extra turns, empower his Skill, and inflate his massive Ultimate. The faster your team acts, the more Interest he hoards — and the more often he detonates.

In plain terms: think of Interest as a savings account that pays out in extra actions. Every teammate's turn is a small deposit; his Ultimate is the big withdrawal. This is why he feels so different from a "press Skill, press Ultimate" carry — his damage compounds the longer a fight runs and the faster your team acts, rewarding you for building a lineup that keeps the turn wheel spinning rather than one that dumps everything in a single burst. Understand that loop and you understand the entire build: every gear and teammate choice below exists to keep Interest flowing.

• Basic Attack: standard single-target Lightning hit — used mostly to sit at low energy cost while Interest builds.
• Skill (DEF Ignore): his Skill deals blast Lightning damage and applies a 30% DEF ignore to the target, which is why his numbers spike hard against tanky elite and boss enemies.
• Talent (Interest → Extra Turns): as Interest stacks, Gilgamesh gains extra turns and enhanced Skill windows, chaining his actions when the rhythm lines up.
• Ultimate — Enuma Elish: a heavyweight 600-energy AoE nuke. Because his Max Energy is so high, each cast becomes a tactical bomb rather than a routine finisher, and the more Energy consumed, the harder it lands.

How to pilot him: keep the team acting quickly, let Interest snowball, use his Skill to strip DEF on the priority target, then release Enuma Elish inside your biggest buff window. He rewards patience within a single cycle — hold the Ultimate one action longer if it means a fuller Energy bar.

📌 Gilgamesh Build At a Glance

Short on time? Here is the community-consensus build in one block — the full reasoning follows below.

• Best Light Cone: I Am As You Behold (signature); A Thankless Coronation as the top alternative.
• Relics: Lightning DMG / ATK% 4-piece cavern set + a SPD-oriented planar ornament.
• Main stats: CRIT Body · SPD Feet · Lightning DMG Sphere · ATK% Rope.
• Substat priority: CRIT Rate/DMG > SPD > ATK% > Energy Regen.
• Best team: Gilgamesh + Saber + Ashveil/Mortenax + Huohuo (or any fast, Ultimate-heavy core with a healer).
• Eidolon stop: E0 for nearly everyone; E1 if the banner is generous.

💎 Best Light Cones for Gilgamesh

Your Light Cone choice swings his ceiling more than any other single decision. Here is the ranked community-consensus order.

• ⭐ Signature — I Am As You Behold: the best-in-slot. It grants roughly 18% ATK and 10% Energy Regen Rate, raises Ultimate DMG by 10% of Energy consumed (up to 60%), and after his Ultimate or at battle start hands the whole team 25% CRIT DMG. Every stat on it feeds his Interest-and-Ultimate loop.
• 🟢 A Thankless Coronation (5★ alternative): big 36% CRIT DMG, and using an Ultimate boosts ATK by 40% (up to 80% if Max Energy ≥ 300). An excellent non-signature pick that suits his high-energy frame.
• 🟡 Battle Pass / 4★ options: any Destruction cone with ATK%, CRIT, or Energy Regen works. Because he arrives free at his base version, an F2P player can run a battle-pass or event 4★ cone and still field a fully functional hypercarry.

In plain terms: prioritize Energy Regen and CRIT. Gilgamesh lives and dies by how often — and how big — his Ultimate fires.

🔮 Best Relics & Planar Ornaments

Gilgamesh wants a relic package that rewards frequent actions and Lightning damage over a single all-in burst, plus a planar set that helps him take more turns.

• Cavern Relics (4-piece): a Lightning DMG / ATK%-oriented 4-piece that amplifies his repeated hits and Ultimate. Community testing favors an action-economy set over a pure single-window burst set, since his damage comes from many actions, not one.
• Planar Ornament (2-piece): a SPD-oriented ornament set. More speed means more turns for the team, which means more Interest and more empowered Skills — a compounding gain for his engine.

Main stat targets:

• Body: CRIT Rate or CRIT DMG (whichever balances your ratio toward ~1:2).
• Feet: SPD (default) — the extra turns are worth more than a flat ATK% foot on this kit.
• Planar Sphere: Lightning DMG.
• Link Rope: ATK% (or Energy Regen Rate if you are struggling to fund Enuma Elish).

📊 Substat & Stat Priority (with Breakpoints)

Chase substats in this order:

1. CRIT Rate and CRIT DMG — aim for a healthy CRIT ratio around 70% / 200% once fully built.
2. SPD — hit a comfortable 134 SPD breakpoint first; push toward ~160 if your supports can keep pace, since speed directly feeds Interest.
3. ATK% — his multiplier engine, valuable but behind CRIT and SPD.
4. Energy Regen Rate — only if you cannot reliably fire Enuma Elish each rotation; his signature cone and a support battery usually solve this.

In plain terms: get your CRIT ratio and speed right first, then stack ATK. Do not over-invest in Energy Regen if your team already refunds his energy.

👥 Best Team Comps for Gilgamesh

Gilgamesh slots into any lineup built around fast, repeated actions and frequent Ultimates. He does not require a specific partner, but a few pairings are clearly best.

👑 The Fate Dream Team (with Saber)

If you own Saber from the first Fate collab banner, build toward this. After Saber lands three cumulative attacks, she and Gilgamesh trigger a Joint Follow-Up Attack, dealing Lightning damage equal to 400% of Gilgamesh's ATK and Wind damage equal to 600% of Saber's ATK to all enemies. It is his single highest-ceiling comp.

⚙️ The Action-Economy Core (no Saber needed)

• Ashveil — turns Gilgamesh's frequent attacks into repeated follow-ups against her Bait, and her DEF reduction lifts the entire team's damage.
• Mortenax Blade — his Charge cycle accelerates off Ashveil's extra hits, producing more free Skills while his Zone amplifies everyone.
• Huohuo — sustains the lineup and restores team-wide Energy, keeping the attack-heavy rotation flowing so Interest never stalls.

Budget substitutes: any Skill-Point-light sustain (Aventurine, Lynx, Gallagher) plus a fast damage-amplifier works. The only real requirement is tempo — keep the team acting.

🔄 Optimal Rotation (Turn-by-Turn)

Gilgamesh is not a "press buttons randomly" carry — his damage lives in a clean loop. Here is the reliable opening cycle:

1. Turn 1 — Skill on the priority target to plant the 30% DEF ignore and start banking Interest from the hit.
2. Let supports act (Ashveil Bait, Mortenax Charge, buffers) so every ally action deposits more Interest.
3. Skill again once your amplifiers are up, converting the empowered window into blast Lightning damage.
4. Release Enuma Elish the moment your team's biggest buff and DEF-shred window overlaps — never dump it into a bare target.
5. Repeat, using Basic Attacks only to bridge energy gaps when the Ultimate is a single action away.

In plain terms: shred, stack, nuke, repeat. The whole team exists to keep Interest flowing so his Ultimate fires as often as possible.

📊 Gilgamesh vs Your Current Roster

Judge him by what he adds to teams you already run, not by raw hype:

• If you lack a strong AoE or burst carry: Gilgamesh is an immediate account upgrade — a free top-tier DPS that fixes your biggest hole for zero pulls.
• If you already own a premium hypercarry (Firefly, Feixiao, Acheron-tier): he becomes a superb second team anchor, letting you two-team dual-side endgame modes like Memory of Chaos without borrowing carries.
• If you run Saber from Part 1: he is arguably your new best team, thanks to the Joint Follow-Up synergy.
• If your roster is thin on sustain: pair him with Huohuo or any energy-positive healer first — his engine stalls without team energy to keep tempo high.

💵 F2P Value Breakdown

For free-to-play and low-spend Trailblazers, Gilgamesh is one of the most generous gifts HoYoverse has handed out. A functional E0 build costs you 0 warps, a battle-pass or event Light Cone, and a set of farmable relics. That alone competes with characters other players spent 80+ warps to secure. Prioritize your limited relic-farming energy on his CRIT and SPD pieces, lean on a 4★ energy-positive sustain, and you have an endgame-viable carry without touching your Stellar Jade savings — which you can then hold for the paid headliners.

📈 Damage Ceiling & What Investment Buys

• E0 on a 4★ Light Cone (free baseline): a fully functional Destruction hypercarry that clears current endgame — remarkable value for a login reward.
• E0 + signature (I Am As You Behold): the biggest single jump, sharpening his Ultimate and handing the team CRIT DMG. This is where he goes from "great free unit" to "premium carry."
• Full CRIT/SPD relics + Saber comp: pushes him into top-tier clear speed on the hardest floors.

🎯 Eidolon Priority — Where to Stop

Because he is a limited collab unit, extra copies come only from the paid banner, so be deliberate.

• E0 — the recommended stop for most. Clears everything current content asks of him.
• E1 — the standout upgrade if you get lucky: his DEF shred applies party-wide instead of only to his own hits, and he self-charges Energy whenever Interest advances — a real quality-of-life and damage spike.
• E2+ — whale territory: smooth optimizations, not baseline needs. Do not chase copies of a limited collab unit unless you are a dedicated collector.

📅 Claim & Banner Timeline

• Version 4.4 live: July 15, 2026 (headlined by the Himeko Nova launch and reruns).
• Fate Collab Part 2 opens: July 24, 2026 at 12:00 server time.
• Gilgamesh claim window: log in anytime from July 24 through the end of Version 4.6, then finish the collab event to fully unlock and level him.
• No hard expiry: like Part 1, these banners persist through 4.6, so there is no deadline panic.

Deciding whether to also chase the paid headliner? Read our Rin Tohsaka pull analysis and the full 4.4 Everything New overview before splitting your Jade.

💡 Build Tips & Pilot Tricks

• Pre-farm his materials before July 24. Since he is free, stock ascension and trace mats now so you can use him instantly on claim day.
• Lead with his Skill on tanky targets to apply the 30% DEF ignore before your big damage window.
• Don't waste Enuma Elish at low Energy. Hold one action longer for a fuller bar — the Ultimate scales with Energy consumed.
• Feed him tempo, not Skill Points. He is not Skill-Point hungry, so he pairs well with SP-thirsty supports like Sparkle.
• Balance your CRIT ratio toward roughly 1:2 (Rate:DMG) before stacking raw ATK.

🧪 Materials to Pre-Farm Before Claim Day

Because Gilgamesh is free and available the moment the collab opens, the smartest prep is having his upgrade materials ready so he is combat-ready on July 24 instead of days later.

• Credits and EXP materials: stockpile a comfortable buffer so you can rush him from level 1 to your equipped cap in one sitting.
• Trace materials: farm the relevant weekly-boss and cavern drops in advance; his Skill and Ultimate are his damage backbone, so level those traces first.
• Relic farming energy: begin farming his CRIT and SPD relic set now, since good substats take days of runs. Do not wait until he is in your hands.
• Ascension gems: keep a reserve of the standard ascension gems so his ascensions never stall your progress.

In plain terms: a free character is only free value if you can actually use him. Front-load the farming now and he walks onto your team at full strength.

🚨 Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Missing the free login window. The most painful error — log in during the collab to secure him.
• Building him as a slow burst carry. His engine is action economy; low-SPD builds starve his Interest.
• Skipping Energy Regen entirely. If Enuma Elish only fires every third cycle, your damage collapses — fix energy first.
• Chasing Eidolons on a limited collab unit. E0 is more than enough for nearly everyone.
• Ignoring his DEF shred. On bosses, that 30% DEF ignore is a huge chunk of his real-world damage.

🛡️ Survivability & Why Destruction Helps

One underrated perk of Gilgamesh being a Destruction unit is durability. Destruction carries typically bring more effective HP and self-sufficiency than glass-cannon Erudition or Hunt DPS, meaning he can survive a stray boss slam that would delete a squishier carry. This matters in Apocalyptic Shadow and Pure Fiction, where enemy AoE punishes fragile teams. You still want a real sustain in the fourth slot, but his kit forgives a mistimed shield or a missed heal far better than most hypercarries — a genuine bonus for newer players still learning enemy patterns.

📈 Final Verdict — Gear Him Day One

Gilgamesh is the rare free 5-star that deserves your best relics and a real team around him. Claim him on July 24, prioritize a CRIT + SPD relic package with a Lightning DMG sphere and ATK% rope, feed him tempo through fast supports and a healer like Huohuo, and hold his Ultimate for your biggest window. Stop at E0 unless the banner is unusually kind, and slot his signature I Am As You Behold if you happen to pull it. Do that, and a login reward becomes one of the strongest carries on your account — no Stellar Jade required.

🆕 New to Honkai: Star Rail?

Honkai: Star Rail is HoYoverse's turn-based space-fantasy RPG where you build teams of four and win by managing turn order, "Skill Points" (a shared team resource you spend and refill), and elemental weaknesses. A "warp" is the gacha pull that grants characters from a rotating banner. Gilgamesh comes from a crossover with the Fate/stay night anime — and the beginner-friendly headline is that he is free just for logging in during the event, making July 24 a perfect on-ramp for new and returning Trailblazers. If you are still deciding your 4.4 priorities, start with our Himeko Nova build guide and the 4.4 banner prep guide.

With free Gilgamesh landing July 24 and a full collab event to clear, now is the moment to make sure your account is ready to pull, gear, and push endgame. Explore verified Honkai: Star Rail accounts to jump in with the roster you want, accelerate daily farming and material prep with reliable hourly services, and clear the toughest Memory of Chaos floors through professional boosting — all handled securely so you spend your time actually playing.

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