Honkai: Star Rail – Best Physical Destruction Trailblazer Build

Image: Hoyoverse via HGG

Human Made

Penned by Brittany Alva

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

Reviewed by Jeffrey Hsu

Honkai: Star Rail gives players several great units for free, and one of those is the main character, the Trailblazer. The Trailblazer is unique because of their special ability to change Paths (classes). In this guide, we’ll be going over how to build the best Physical Destruction Trailblazer in Honkai: Star Rail.

Let’s get started.

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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 updates 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 Physical Trailblazer in Honkai: Star Rail

Physical Destruction Trailblazer is focused on dishing out as much damage possible to either a single target or multiple targets. This damage ramps up based on their Attack stat, which is the main focus of their kit. 

Alternatively, they can focus entirely on boosting their Break Effect stat and just shredding through enemies’ Toughness bars (as long as they’re weak to Physical). Given their kit deals quite a bit of Toughness damage and naturally rewards them for doing so, this is a viable build.

During the early game, they’re an incredibly useful character, as most enemies early on will have physical weaknesses and often appear in packs.

However, Physical Trailblazer will begin to fall behind a bit once you reach the end-game. Luckily, by then you’ll have access to their Fire Preservation Path, which is considered one of the best characters in the game.

Combat Skills of Physical Trailblazer

Physical Trailblazer’s Basic Attack is just a single-target attack. Their Skill is an AoE attack that deals more damage to an enemy and any enemies beside it.

Their Ultimate has two options that mimic their other abilities. One is a single-target attack that dishes out massive damage that scales on the Trailblazer’s Attack stat. The second option deals slightly less damage, but it’s an AoE attack that will hit three enemies. 

Physical Trailblazer also has a Trace that increases Attack if the Trailblazer breaks an enemy’s shield (i.e. triggering Weakness Break). There are also Bonus Traces that increase Crit Rate, restore HP, increase Defense, and regenerate energy. 

Physical Trailblazer’s Technique heals the team based on the Trailblazer’s max HP. 

Traces & Leveling Priority for Physical Trailblazer

Leveling Physical Trailblazer’s Traces will look different for everyone, depending on your team comp. If you’re running Physical Trailblazer in a team with a character of The Hunt, we suggest prioritizing the Trailblazer’s AoE Skill.

However, if you don’t have a single-target-focused character on the team, then prioritizing the Trailblazer’s Basic Attack may be the better option.

Of course, you should always be unlocking any Bonus Abilities that you can as you Ascend the Trailblazer, along with increasing their Ultimate’s level. 

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

Recommended Major Traces Order: Fighting Will > Ready for Battle > Perseverance

Best Light Cone for Physical Trailblazer

There are several good options for Physical Destruction Trailblazer when it comes to Light Cones.

• On the Fall of an Aeon (5-star) – You’ll quickly and easily max out its stacking ATK buff, and it synergizes with your desire to break Toughness bars. Plus you can easily obtain enough copies via Simulated Universe to max out its Superimposition.
• Something Irreplaceable (5-star) – Provides a very hefty ATK stat and has a passive that once per turn will further boost your ATK and heal you whenever you defeat an enemy or get hit.
• A Secret Vow (4-star) – Solid choice that provides a respectable DMG boost that doubles against enemies with a higher health percentage than you.
• The Moles Welcome You (4-star) – Has a good ATK stat, and you can easily get all 3 stacks of its ATK buff simply by attacking.
• Collapsing Sky (3-star) – Respectable stats and boosts your Basic ATK and Skill damage.

Best Stats for Physical Trailblazer

Since Physical Trailblazer is best suited as a DPS unit, you’ll want to prioritize the usual holy trinity of: CRIT DMG, CRIT Rate, and ATK. For every 1% of CRIT Rate, aim for 2% of CRIT DMG.

If you’re going for the Break Effect build, you’ll change up your stat priority a little bit to focus on increasing Break effect.

The ideal main stat on each relic is as follows:

For substats, aim for the following priority:

Best Relics for Physical Trailblazer

There are a couple good build options when it comes to your Relics for Physical Trailblazer. While more than just the following sets are viable options, these are the best combinations to optimize them as a DPS.

Standard DPS Build

Cavern Relics:

• Champion of Streetwise Boxing (4-piece): The 10% boost to Physical DMG is just value, and if the battle goes on for a couple turns, you’re going to get the full 25% ATK boost.

• Musketeer of Wild Wheat (2-piece) + Champion of Streetwise Boxing (2-piece): You’re just looking to boost your upfront damage output as much as possible.

Planar Ornamental Relics: You have two solid choices for this build. Both options are perfectly fine, and mostly come down to personal preference.

• Space Sealing Station set will provide you with a large 12% ATK boost. You should be able to gain enough Speed from your Relics to activate the secondary 12% ATK boost.
• Inert Salsotto set is an alternative to boost your CRIT Rate and further amplify your Ultimate and follow-up DMG.

Break Effect Build

Cavern Relics:

• Thief of Shooting Meteor (4-piece): Given this set is all about boosting your Break Effect stat by 32%, it’s a given. Plus, you get 3 Energy back whenever you inflict a Weakness Break!

Planar Ornamental Relics:

• Talia: Kingdom of Banditry set provides a substantial 16% boost to your Break Effect stat. Since the build also encourages building Speed, you should have no trouble reaching the criteria to also get the secondary 20% Break Effect boost.

Best Teams for Physical Trailblazer

Because Physical Destruction Trailblazer can fit into a few different roles, they can work in almost any fill spot that needs a Physical Damage character. The only thing you should do is make sure there’s a healer or shielder on your team, even if it’s just someone like March 7th. 

A simple but effective F2P team centered around Physical Trailblazer consists of:

• Physical Trailblazer
• Natasha
• March 7th
• Dan Heng

Join the High Ground

That’s everything you need to know about how to build Physical Destruction Trailblazer in Honkai: Star Rail. They’re a fantastic early game character and will serve you reliably as a Physical damage dealer.

Are there any different suggestions you would make? Let us know in the comments below, and feel free to subscribe for more Honkai: Star Rail content. 

Happy Gaming!