Honkai: Star Rail – Best Fire Preservation Trailblazer Build

Image: Hoyoverse via HGG / Brittany Alva

Human Made

Penned by Brittany Alva

Brittany is our resident Palia and Honkai: Star Rail specialist.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Hsu

Besides being the main character, the Trailblazer is also one of your best characters in Honkai: Star Rail, capable of switching their Path and fulfilling different roles in your party. In this article, we’ll specifically be going over the best build for Fire Preservation Trailblazer, one of the best units in the game.

Here’s everything you need to know to build your own Fire Preservation Trailblazer in Honkai: Star Rail. 

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The Many Paths of the Trailblazer

The Trailblazer currently has two different Paths in Honkai: Star Rail so far:

• Physical Destruction – you begin the game with it.
• Fire Preservation – acquired towards the end of the story on planet Jarilo-VI.

You can expect to eventually gain access to every type of Path as the game continues to progress and update in the future. Hoyoverse may even eventually let you mix up your elements down the road.

How to Switch the Trailblazer’s Path

First, open up your character screen and go to the Trailblazer. On the bottom right side of the screen, there will be an option that says Switch. Clicking that will let you change the Trailblazer’s Path whenever you want. 

Ascension Materials for the Trailblazer

It’s fairly easy to level up and ascend the Trailblazer, and considering they’re such a powerful unit, you should be doing this from the very start. Luckily, the Trailblazer’s character level is preserved across all Paths, so you only have to do it once.

Here are the different items you’ll need to fully ascend the Trailblazer:

• 248,400x Credits
• 12x Thief’s Instinct
• 13x Usurper’s Scheme
• 12x Conqueror’s Will
• 28x Enigmatic Ectostella

How to Build Fire Trailblazer in Honkai: Star Rail

The Fire Preservation Trailblazer is easily one of the strongest characters in Honkai: Star Rail. Intended to serve as the primary tank on their team, the Fire Trailblazer excels at absorbing enemy attacks and shielding their allies, before unleashing powerful counterattacks.

As their primary role is a tank, they unsurprisingly scale heavily with the DEF stat, making them the ideal target to get hit. While they already have a naturally high taunt value due to their Preservation Path, they’re also currently the only character with a true Taunt, ensuring enemies only target them.

Additionally, they’re easily the most accessible and one of the strongest tanks available in the game, surpassed only by Gepard in terms of tanking capability. As if that’s not enough, the Fire Trailblazer is also excellent at dealing AoE Fire Damage. Having them on your team not only provides the flexibility to incorporate more offensive characters, but also creates a strong AoE presence.

Whether you use them on your main team or build them for challenging fights, they’re an essential character for every player to build.

Combat Skills of Fire Trailblazer

The Fire Trailblazer’s kit is a bit complex due to their Passive abilities. Getting hit or using any of their abilities will grant you a stack of Magma Will, up to a max of eight stacks.

When the Trailblazer has four or more stacks of Magma Will, their next Basic Attack will automatically be enhanced to be stronger and deal AoE fire damage. Additionally, every turn that Fire Trailblazer uses any ability, they will grant all of their allies a shield that scales off the Trailblazer’s DEF stat.

Note: Their first Eidolon will add an additional 25% of their DEF as bonus Fire damage to their Basic Attack. This bonus is increased to 50% of their DEF for an enhanced Basic Attack.

The Fire Trailblazers’ combat Skill not only reduces all incoming damage they receive, but also draws all enemies’ attention towards them for one turn. This skill can be upgraded via Eidolon to reduce the damage allies receive as well, which is particularly useful for mitigating damage from AoE attacks.

As for their Ultimate, the Fire Trailblazer deals damage to all enemies, scaling off the Trailblazer’s ATK and DEF (with a higher emphasis on their DEF stat). Additionally, it enhances their next Basic Attack without costing any Magma WIll.

Before going into battle, using their Technique will give the Fire Trailblazer a powerful one-turn shield that scales with their DEF at the beginning of the battle.

Traces & Leveling Priority for Fire Trailblazer

How you build Fire Trailblazer in Honkai: Star Rail will depend on what you want to use them for. They can be built with their Attack or Defense at the forefront. Generally, you’ll want to focus on Defense considering Fire Trailblazer shines as a tank, not as a Fire DPS unit (although a DPS build is somewhat viable, Asta is a better free option that everyone will get at the beginning of the game). 

Therefore, you’ll want to prioritize upgrading their Talent first, as it governs the shield you generate for your party. Afterwards, we recommend focusing on your Ultimate and Skill. Additionally, as your Equilibrium level increases, make sure to unlock any new Major Traces that are available. 

Recommended Combat Skills Order: Talent > Ultimate > Skill > Basic

Recommended Major Traces Order: The Strong Defend the Weak > Unwavering Gallantry > Action Beats Overthinking

Best Light Cone for Fire Trailblazer

There are several great Light Cone options for Fire Trailblazer in Honkai: Star Rail that work for both free-to-play players and those spending money. 

• Moment of Victory (5-star) is definitively the best Light Cone for Fire Trailblazer. The raw stats and 24% DEF boost are amazing. Factor in the increased chance of being targeted and ability to trigger a second 24% DEF boost, and it easily becomes the best option for a tank.

• This Is Me! (4-star) is one of the best 4-star options, as it grants a respectable 16% DEF buff while drastically bolstering the strength of your next Ultimate by 60% of your DEF. Just note the Ultimate boost is once per target. If there are multiple targets, switch to get the boost!

• Trend of the Universal Market (4-star) also gives a a 16% DEF buff and inflicts a Burn DoT to whatever hits you, dealing 40% of your DEF as damage per turn.

• Amber (3-star) is a good early choice if you don’t have access to the above options. Amber is very similar to Moment of Victory, but it provides much lower base stat and DEF buffs. 

Best Stats for Fire Trailblazer

As a tank, the Fire Trailblazer’s stats should be as DEF-heavy as possible – especially to bolster the shield you give your team. As a bonus, all of the noteworthy damage you deal (Ultimate and first Eidolon) scales with DEF.

The ideal main stat on each relic is:

For substats, aim for the following priority (reminder – substats cannot be the same as the main stat):

Best Relics for Fire Trailblazer

When it comes to Relics for the Fire Trailblazer, there’s only one real choice for your Cavern set. However, you’ll have a few options available for your Planar Ornamental set.

Standard Tank Build

Cavern Relics:

• Knight of Purity Palace (4-piece) is undoubtedly the best option. It increases DEF by 15% as a two-piece set, but its four-piece set makes it so that any shields created by Fire Trailblazer can soak up 20% more damage. Since you’ll be creating new shields for your team pretty much every turn, this is pure value.

Planar Ornaments:

• Belobog of the Architects is the best overall set choice due to its 15% DEF boost. While it can be a bit difficult to reach the 50% Effect Hit Rate criteria for the secondary 15% DEF boost, it’s well worth the effort.
• Fleet of the Ageless is potentially a better option if you want the Fire MC to take on more of a support role. Having more HP is always great on a tank, but it’s the 8% ATK boost to your allies that’s the real draw. Pair it with a strong damage dealer like Seele to really get value out of it.
• Sprightly Vonwacq is a great alternative if you want to spam your Ultimate as much as possible. The secondary effect helps ensure you’ll always act before enemies, which is great for taunting enemies and making sure your allies are always shielded.

Best Teams for Fire Trailblazer

Because nearly every team in Honkai: Star Rail can use Fire Trailblazer, they can work with nearly any comp you can think of. However, pairing them with Natasha is almost always a good option. With Natasha’s healing and Fire Trailblazer’s Taunt and Shields, it’s incredibly difficult for your units to die. 

You can run a very solid team with any two units, as long as one of them focuses on damage. For free-to-play players, March 7th, Dan Heng, Herta, and Serval can all serve this role. March 7th in particular performs well, because she can give the Trailblazer a Shield that lets her counter attack whenever enemies attack the Trailblazer (who can use their Taunt to ensure this happens).

You can also elect to not use Natasha at all – the Fire Trailblazer’s Shield is more than sufficient for a majority of the content in Honkai: Star Rail. You can easily make any team you’d like and then use Fire Trailblazer to protect your weaker units. 

The most important thing about building a team with Fire Trailblazer is positioning them correctly. Because the Trailblazer is targeted most of the time, they should be at either end of your lineup to reduce the amount of splash damage inflicted on your party from AoE attacks. Ideally, the character positioned next to the Trailblazer should have either really high HP or DEF to ensure they survive.

Join the High Ground

And that’s it for our guide on how to build the Fire Preservation Trailblazer in Honkai: Star Rail. With this build, you’ll be an unkillable burning god on the battlefield!

Is there anything you would change about our build or anything else you would like us to cover? If so, let us know in the comments below. And make sure to subscribe to our weekly newsletter for more Honkai: Star Rail and other gaming content!

Happy gaming!