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With Honkai: Star Rail having just been released nearly four months ago, some things can be pretty overwhelming to learn if you’re only just starting out. If you’ve never played HoYoverse’s other popular IP, Genshin Impact, then it’s bound to seem a little complicated, too. So here’s your guide to ascending the main character of your choosing in Honkai: Star Rail.
Trailblazer starts out as the Physical element, and is on the Path of Destruction, which makes them a great damage-dealer for both single-target and AoE. Later, you can switch Paths at will, to a Fire element on the Path of Preservation, which is a more defensive role with some nice burst damage. Thankfully, the materials for ascending Trailblazer doesn’t change based on which Path you’ve swapped to.
Ascending your Trailblazer, or any of your characters, also requires an increase in Equilibrium level, which you’ll be prompted to do as you play when your Trailblaze level reaches the appropriate points. It’s also highly recommended to keep your Trailblazer at level with the rest of your team, for the sake of having them ready for story progression reasons.
Honkai: Star Rail is available for PC and mobile download and is slated for a Q4 2023 release on Playstation 5.
More Honkai: Star Rail guides:
A Genshin Impact Guide to Honkai: Star Rail | Everything You Need to Know | Free Pulls and Gift Codes
Ascension Materials
Trailblazer needs a handful of materials that increase in quality and quantity with each level of ascension. The first of which is called Thief’s Instinct.
Thief’s Instinct is the first form of the items you’ll need, and they’re perhaps the easiest to collect along the way. They drop from Voidranger: Reaver enemies within the Storage Zone and the Supply Zone on the Herta Space Station, so you’ll likely collect them passively as you play through the game before you can even do your first ascension. They also drop from Simulated Universe enemies, also located on the Herta Space Station, which vary from room to room.
Once you have your Omni-Synthesizer, you can exchange other materials you might have an excess of or simply don’t need for Thief’s Instinct.
Alternatively, you can obtain some from Assignments if you’re really wanting to stock up more. The amount of hours spent per assignment makes the base rewards increase, and if you match up characters you have with the Recommended Path it asks for, you get even more. Even better is the fact that sending out characters on these Assignments doesn’t remove their ability to have them in your team, so you can send them away without worry.
The next level of these items is called Usurper’s Scheme. They drop from the same places but at Equilibrium Levels 2+, and you can also use the Omni-Synthesizer to create them if you have an excess amount of the Thief’s Instinct that are sitting around, collecting dust. These can also be exchanged similarly to Thief’s Instinct, but with the caveat that the items you’re exchanging them for are also the second stage.
The third and final stage of these items are called Conqueror’s Will. They’re obtainable the same way as Usurper’s Scheme are, but the drops require Equilibrium Level (4+) to receive.
The other item that’s needed is something called Enigmatic Ectostella. This is a unique item that only Trailblazer uses for ascension materials, which means that the ways to obtain these are rather limited, and you can’t earn more than what’s required.
The first source of these are from your Level Rewards. As an example, reaching level 38 will reward you with three, and 39 will reward you with three more, for the six total you need once increasing your Equilibrium Level to 3. The second source is from your Mission Rewards, so they can be earned simply by doing the Trailblaze Missions, the main story, as you progress.
Materials by Ascension Level
| Ascension 1 – Level 20-30 | 4 Thief’s Instinct 3,200 Credits |
| Ascension 2 – Level 30-40 | 12 Thief’s Instinct 6,400 Credits |
| Ascension 3 – Level 40-50 | 5 Usurper’s Scheme 4 Enigmatic Ectostella 12,800 Credits |
| Ascension 4 – Level 50-60 | 10 Usurper’s Scheme 6 Enigmatic Ectostella 32,000 Credits |
| Ascension 5 – Level 60-70 | 4 Conqueror’s Will 8 Enigmatic Ectostella 64,000 Credits |
| Ascension 6 – Level 70-80 | 6 Conqueror’s Will 10 Enigmatic Ectostella 128,000 Credits |
