Honkai: Star Rail Which 5-Star Standard Character Should You Choose?

Express Gift is a time-limited event which gives us one free 5-star standard character. This event will stay until the end of version 3.2, so there's no rush. But it's best if you claim the reward now in case you forgot about it later.
Do you have trouble choosing the unit? Keep reading to see the pro and con for each standard character.

Which 5-Star Standard Character Should You Choose?

In Express Gift, the 5-star characters you can choose from are: Himeko, Welt, Bronya, Gepard, Clara, Yanqing, or Bailu.

Honkai: Star Rail has been released for more than a year so you can bet each and every standard character has been overshadowed by newer characters with the same function as them. But that doesn't mean these units are completely useless. In fact, most of them are still widely used in the end-games and still viable!
It's best to choose the standard character that your account needs; such as choosing Himeko if you lack AoE DPS, Gepard if you don't have enough sustain, etc.

Himeko (AoE DPS)

One of the best unit to choose if you lack many of the standard characters. When the game first came out, Himeko may not have too many meta fans because AoE content is sparse. But now that Pure Fiction game mode exist, Himeko can be crowned as the queen of said game mode because of her AoE attacks. If you're lacking AoE DPS, Himeko should be your first choice.
(Priority) Rating: 5⭐/5⭐

Assuming you already have Himeko E0 and thinking to get her E1, the effect is situational because if Himeko is played with a buffer and her SPD is increased, she may out-speeding her supports.

Welt (Debuffer & Sub/Hybrid DPS)

Contrary to Himeko, Welt is widely accepted when the game first released since his number is enough for the Simulated Universe and Memory of Chaos. But now, with the expansion of MoC, the health of enemy targets has increased and the difficulty spiked up making his damage seems very low. His position as Sub-DPS in the team itself is overshadowed by many other Sub-DPS that can provide more debuffs and higher damage (especially against pure buffers and debuffers which are the raging trend in the current meta). Overall, his recommendation priority is not high.
(Priority) Rating: 2⭐/5⭐

If you already have E0 Welt and he's already invested, his E1 is pretty good and a decent stopping point as other Eidolons effects is situational and can only be considered decent.

Bronya (Buffer)

Bronya is one of the most useful character in the past and current meta. Sure, Sunday may be the new and better Bronya since he also advance summons' action (which will be the new meta in Amphoreus 3.0), but that doesn't mean Bronya loses her value. There are so many other DPS aside from Jing Yuan (Summoner DPS) that still works well with Bronya so if you don't have her nor Sunday, she's really recommended to be chosen from.
(Priority) Rating: 5⭐/5⭐

Bronya's E0 is great, but E1 is even better! Remember one of her con where she is SP-negative since you'll need to use her Skill a lot? Getting her E1 can help with that by providing 1 Skill Point when Bronya uses her Skill. Yes, it only has 50% chance, but better than nothing.
Special mention that her E6 is the most useful one (unlike other standard characters's E6) since the DMG Boost for the target will have increased duration by 1 turn, so you can save Skill Point.

Gepard (Shielder)

There's not many shielder in Honkai: Star Rail so some Trailblazers may have an eye out for Gepard. New players or not, you might have seen the comparison between Gepard and Aventurine (another Preservation unit). Truth to be told, Gepard is relatively good, but definitely fell far behind Aventurine since the latter has an easier time and is more consistent in creating shields. One of the best team for Gepard is with Acheron by equipping Trend of the Universal Market LC (if there's no Jiaoqiu).
(Priority) Rating: 4⭐/5⭐

Most of Gepard's Eidolon is okay, but what stood out the most is his E4 that increase the whole team's Effect RES. New enemies keep coming and usually, they can inflict debuff to your characters. Increasing the whole team's Effect RES is definitely a lifesaver for the end-game content. But that is too high of a bar, so let's look at his E1. This gives his Skill a 100% base chance to trigger freeze enemies. You don't really use his Skill too much since it's better to save the SP for your DPS and buffer, but if you have extra SP or Gepard need more Energy for his shield, using Skill is a clutch move.

Clara (Counter DPS)

Despite having Yunli as the new Counter DPS, Clara still shines a lot in the end-game content. Since Clara doesn't need any SPD, you can focus building her with ATK and Crit to maximize her damage output. There is a downside though. As mentioned in the pro, her damage is outside of her turns and she needs to be attacked by enemies to trigger the Follow-Up ATK aka her main damage output. Unfortunately, Clara doesn't have built in increased aggro like Gepard so you can only rely on Dance at Sunset LC or teammate that can increased aggro like March 7th and Lynx, which is an easily obtainable 4-star characters. If you're lacking DPS character, she's the one to go.
(Priority) Rating: 5⭐/5⭐

If you have Clara, it's best if you choose her E1 because it's removes the annoying mechanic of her Skill interfering with Mark of Counter. If you already have E1, then go for E2 because it's also good!

Yanqing (Single-Target DPS)

As much as I love Yanqing's character development when he's fighting against Hoolay in the Trailblaze Mission, still can't deny how it didn't mirrored his kit in the game. Yanqing is a Hunt character which mean he's a single-target DPS. These kind of DPS isn't bad per se (I mean, look at Feixiao), but Yanqing is on a whole other level.
To put it nicely, he's decent. He needs to avoid taking damage to keep his Soulsteel Sync up or his damage will drop significantly. In other words, he needs a working shielder (Aventurine is his best friend) to prevent himself being hit by enemies. Even with that, his damage is not enough in the current end-game content where the enemies have humongous HP pool, especially since his main output is from Ultimate and you'll have a hard time getting Energy. Maybe choose him if you already got everyone else? But if not, choose other character please.
(Priority) Rating: 1⭐/5⭐

The only notable Eidolon for Yanqing is his E4 which increases his Ice RES PEN, and if you almost reach this number, my condolences for you.

Bailu (Healer)

When the game first came out, losing to Bailu is considered winning because the lack of healers at that time is devastating (there's only Natasha aside from Bailu). But nowadays, there are a LOT of healers which provides more than just healing, notably cleansing - something that Bailu doesn't have. In the current content, most if not all enemies can inflict debuff on your characters, and cleansing is an important part when facing them. If you don't have any other healers, Bailu is still a good addition to your roster, but better pray if you're facing a boss with debuff skills.
(Priority) Rating: 3⭐/5⭐

If you have Bailu, her E1 is pretty good (although situational) since if your characters are overhealed which may occur more often than not, it will turn into Energy.