All Honkai: Star Rail paths explained

An ever-growing roster of unique characters feels like a staple within miHoYo games and Honkai: Star Rail is no exception. Honkai: Star Rail takes the uniqueness of characters that is present within Genshin Impact one step further as they not only possess elements but also dedicated paths that players will need to learn about.

Every character in Honkai: Star Rail has both a specific element and an allocated path. Learning how each path works is crucial to succeeding in battle as players will need to craft a team lineup that includes a variety of paths so they are suited to take on any combat scenario.

Related: All male characters in Honkai: Star Rail ranked by hotness

Whether you’re joining HoYoverse’s expansive world for the first time or coming over from one of their other games like Genshin or Honkai Impact 3rd, paths are a new feature that all players have yet to experience. The fancy titles that paths go by might make them seem confusing or intimidating to learn about, but luckily they are much simpler than their titles make them seem.

What are Paths in Honkai: Star Rail?

Paths are essentially the type of role a character will play during combat. You can think of them as Honkai: Star Rail’s version of classes or roles. Each character has a specific path denoting how they will function in battle. Some characters will excel at attacking foes while others are suited to protecting the team.

Dedicated paths that directly outline the kind of role a character is designed for are quite an upgrade in comparison to Genshin where players must remember the individual skillsets and roles of each character for themselves.

Paths are an immensely useful feature that makes team building and general understanding within Honkai: Star Rail extremely accessible for players who have been part of HoYoverse for years and those who are joining for the first time with Honkai: Star Rail.

All paths in Honkai: Star Rail

There are seven unique paths that characters may be part of in Honkai: Star Rail. These paths are:

• The Destruction
• The Hunt
• The Nihility
• The Erudition
• The Abundance
• The Harmony
• The Preservation

The official title of each path provides a clue as to how they work, but to truly grasp them you’ll want to learn exactly how each one works and how they look with each unique character.

The Destruction – Tough and heavy damage dealers

• MiHoYo describes this path as one that “deals outstanding amounts of damage and possesses high survivability. Suitable for various combat scenarios.”

Characters who are part of The Destruction path possess vitality and thus the capacity to live longer in battle while also excelling at dishing out solid damage. These characters can be thought of as Bruiser units capable of both withstanding damage and dishing it back out.

Some of the characters within this path include Clara, a Physical character, and Hook, a Fire unit.

The Hunt – Strong single-target damage dealers

• MiHoYo describes this path as one that “deals extraordinary amounts of single-target damage. The main damage dealer against elite enemies.”

Those who walk The Hunt path possess extraordinary damage-dealing abilities beyond that of all other classes, but their capabilities only function on a singular target level. This makes them the most efficient and deadly damage dealers in all of Honkai: Star Rail but with the caveat that they can only tackle one target at a time.

Characters within this path include those such as Seele, the first featured five-star in the game and an impressive Quantum unit, and Yanqing, who wields the Ice element.

The Nihility – Debuffers

• MiHoYo describes this path as one that “applies debuffs to enemies to reduce their combat capabilities.”

Characters of The Nihility path excel at reducing enemies’ capabilities and general power. They apply debuffs that incapacitate enemies which thus allows players to attack them more efficiently. Their skills also generally help to chip away at foes over time rather than vanquishing them immediately.

The skills of Nihility characters vary drastically depending on the individual unit. Welt’s Nihility path combined with his Imaginary skillset allows him to fully imprison foes while also dishing out powerful area of effect damage while Pela’s Ice-based abilities expose enemies’ weaknesses and inflict breaks upon them.

The Erudition – Widespread damage dealers

• MiHoYo describes this path as one that “deals remarkable amounts of multi-target damage. The main damage dealer against groups of enemies.”

Players can think of members of The Erudition path as excellent area of effect and multi-target damage dealers. These units are excellent for handling many foes at once and will shine in battles against many opponents but are less helpful in dedicated boss battles.

Characters within this path include those like Himeko, a Fire unit capable of hitting many enemies with her widespread firey attacks, and Qingque, a Quantum force with a skill set that enhances her team and strikes many foes at once.

The Abundance – Healers

• MiHoYo describes this path as one that “heals allies and restores health points to the team.”

Of all of Honkai: Star Rail’s paths, The Abundance might be the most straightforward and easy to understand. Those who are part of this path essentially excel at healing their allies. They seem to always possess at least one damage-dealing ability too, but their strong suit is restoring health to the entire team.

In the simplest of terms, those within The Abundance path are healers. Characters like Bailu and Natasha are members of this class and excel at restoring health to themselves and their allies.

The Harmony – Buffers

• MiHoYo describes this path as one that “applies buffs to allies to improve the team’s combat capacities.”

Members of this path function in essentially the polar opposite way of those within The Nihility path. Instead of debuffing foes as The Nihility path does, those within The Harmony path apply buffs to their team.

Buffs and effects vary drastically depending on the character. Bronya can dispel a debuff that a foe may have applied to her teammate, grant an overall attack increase, and raise critical rate while Tingyun can restore energy and increase the damage output of her allies.

The Preservation – Shielders

• MiHoYo describes this path as one that “possesses powerful defensive abilities to protect allies in various ways.”

Characters who walk The Preservation path are essentially epic defensive units that focus entirely on keeping their teammates safe. Some characters within this path are solely focused on defensive mechanics while others have some lighter protective skills matched with attack abilities.

Those that are part of this path have varying skill sets like Gepard who has tough shields and March 7th who has lighter shields and an area of effect damage dealing skillet.

Which Honkai: Star Rail path is best?

Ultimately, there is no one best path in Honkai: Star Rail because all of them come with benefits and drawbacks. The best team lineup will have characters from four of the seven unique paths to capitalize on all of the different ability types.

While you can’t rank the paths based on their overall function, you can compare them based on specific criteria. Different combat situations will be easier to deal with when you bring along characters of different path types.

The best paths for heavy damage dealing are The Hunt, The Destruction, and The Erudition. The Hunt for brutal single-target damage that is oftentimes so effective it will eliminate an enemy with just one attack, The Destruction is solid for longevity and effective damage, and The Erudition is immensely helpful against many foes at once.

Based on my experience with these paths, players will want to have at least two of them on their team. It’s best to have the two be from different paths as this will allow Trailblazers to effectively face any combat scenario they come across.

If you find that you’re dealing decent damage but struggling to survive until the end of the battle, it is probably because you’re lacking solid support to help them last throughout the battle. This is where the four other paths come in.

For survivability, players will want characters who are part of The Preservation and The Abundance. These units will work to shield and heal allies so they have a safe and healthy environment to battle in. Characters on The Nihility and The Harmony paths are powerful allies when you have a solid lineup but are struggling to get through your enemies’ defenses.

Overall, players will find the most success in battle when they have four different paths present on their team. It is generally a solid idea to have two of the damage-dealing characters and two of the most support-based units, but this structure may vary if you have a particular unit that is especially versatile.

Dot Esports gathered this information by playing Honkai: Star Rail Version 1.0 “The Rail Unto the Stars” on PC.