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Arlan is a four-star DPS character in Honkai: Star Rail. He belongs to the Path of Destruction, meaning he is a specialist when it comes to single-target damage.

Related: Honkai: Star Rail - Beginner Tips

Using Arlan's Skill in battle doesn't cost a Skill Point, but it instead sacrifices some of his HP to damage your target. The tradeoff with Arlan is that his attack increases when his HP is lower than 50 percent, meaning he needs a tank and a shield to make sure he doesn't get himself killed. If you want to build Arlan, focus purely on his damage output.

Best Relics And Planar Ornaments For Arlan

Honkai: Star Rail - Band of Sizzling Thunder Relic information from the Calyx Screen

Thanks to Arlan being on the Path of Destruction, he is capable of dealing incredible single-target damage. This suits his role as a DPS, but he can be something of a glass cannon due to how his damage comes from not being at full HP.

Since there's no real reason to increase Arlan's defence or HP, you should consider doubling down on a standard DPS build. This means focusing on Crit Rate / DMG, ATK Percentage, and Lightning DMG. For this, you should consider the following Relic sets for their bonuses:

Type

Name

Reason

Relics

Band of Sizzling Thunder


Two-piece set bonus: Increases Lightning DMG by ten percent. Four-piece set bonus: When using your Skill, increase your ATK by 20 percent.

Due to Arlan's self-damaging ways, this Relic set is the best one for him. You could opt for a two-piece Band of Sizzling Thunder and a two-piece Muskteer's set to increase Arlan's attack further, but this is up to your preference. Going for a full Band of Thunder set will increase Arlan's DMG overall, which is perfect for him.

Planar Ornaments

Space Sealing Station


Two-piece set bonus: Increases ATK by 12 percent. If your speed is over 120, your ATK increases by another 12 percent.

Space Sealing Station is another DPS standard for most characters. Arlan naturally increases his damage by hurting himself, which is triggered when using his Skill. The more he hurts, the more damage he does, so stacking attack bonuses is always a good idea for Arlan.

Arlan has a big problem with Speed, which seems to be a theme among most Destruction-type characters.

If you feel like it, you can opt for Speed on your Feet slot instead of ATK Percent, it depends on your preference.

Otherwise, you should consider these Main Stats for Arlan when picking his Relics.

Body

Crit Rate or Crit DMG

Feet

ATK Percent or Speed

Planar Sphere

Lightning DMG

Link Rope

ATK Percent

Best Light Cones For Arlan

Honkai: Star Rail - Arlan Light Cone Mutual Demise on the character screen

When building Arlan, you might be tempted to give him the five-star Light Cone, Something Irreplaceable. We don't actively discourage this, but it is important to know that the passive effect of this Light Cone restores Arlan's HP.

Giving Arlan HP back means he won't be doing optimal damage.

If you're okay with this, you should use Something Irreplaceable. It effectively increases his survivability, while dropping his damage.

Generally speaking, Arlan doesn't want to be healed unless he's absolutely dead in the water. Your first port of call for Arlan should be to shield him.

With a shield, Arlan keeps his low HP, can still survive hits, and will have increased damage, so we suggest giving him On the Fall of an Aeon.

Light Cone

Rarity

Reason

On the Fall of an Aeon

Five Star

On the Fall of an Aeon increases your attack whenever you perform an attack. This works for Basic Attacks and Skills – perfect for giving Arlan even more damage. It increases your attack power further when you get a Weakness Break. As mentioned, feel free to swap this out for the Something Irreplaceable Light Cone.

A Secret Vow

Four Star

This is arguably the best four-star Light Cone for Arlan, thanks to how its ability works. It increases your attack by 20 percent, and you deal extra 20 percent damage to enemies who have more HP than Arlan. Considering how Arlan should always be at low HP, he will do 40 percent extra damage to all enemies initially, making him a strong attacker without much investment.

Mutual Demise

Three Star

Mutual Demise increases your Crit Rate by 12 percent if you have less than 80 percent HP. Again, with Arlan damaging himself to attack the enemy, he should always benefit from this Crit Rate bonus.

Collapsing Sky

Three Star

Simple but effective, this Light Cone increases your Basic Attack and Skill damage by 20 percent. You get this Light Cone for free, and from wishing on any banner.

When deciding which Light Cone, you shouldn't compare these too much. They all work for a specific setup.

If you want more Crits from Arlan, go for Mutual Demise. If you want more damage across the board, choose any others.

The best thing about the three-star Light Cones is that they are easy to Superimpose to rank five since you should gather several copies by playing and using Star Rail passes.

Arlan Traces Overview And Priority

Honkai: Star Rail - Arlan Traces overview in the character screen, showing his Talent

Arlan's Talent, Skill, and Ultimate are key abilities to level up first. We suggest levelling them in that order. His Talent increases his damage based on how much HP he's lost, synergising with his Skill wonderfully.

Ability Name

Type

Description

Lightning Rush

Basic Attack

Deals Lightning damage to one target. This attack does more damage if Arlan has low HP.

Shackle Breaker

Skill

Spend 15 percent of Arlan's max HP to deal Lightning damage to one target. This attack does more damage if Arlan has low HP. If Arlan doesn't have enough HP, he will be reduced to one HP when using the Skill. He can't kill himself using this.

Frenzied Punishment

Ultimate

Attacks one enemy for huge Lightning damage. Enemies on either side of the target will take splash damage, based on Arlan's ATK stat.

Pain and Anger

Talent

Increases Arlan's DMG for every percent of HP he is below his max HP. This skill can be levelled, increasing the damage bonus.

Swift Harvest

Technique

Attack an enemy on the field to start a fight with AoE Lightning Damage to all foes.

Repel

Bonus Ability

If Arlan's HP is less than 50 percent when entering a battle, he will be immune to all damage other than DoTs until he attacks.

Endurance

Bonus Ability

Increases Arlan's chance to resist DoT debuffs by 50 percent.

Revival

Bonus Ability

If your HP is lower than 30 percent when killing an enemy, Arlan will restore a bit of HP.

Out of his Bonus Abilities, you should unlock Repel first, Endurance second, and Revival last. The HP restoration is good for keeping Arlan slightly topped off with HP, but it is generally better for him to stay at a low HP.

Using a shield character with Arlan is the best practice, and bring a tank that can take all the aggro away from him.

Are Arlan's Eidolons Worth It?

Honkai: Star Rail - Arlan Eidolon overview in the character screen, showing his fourth one

Arlan's Eidolons are worth it if you somehow don't have a main DPS or Lightning character. They all serve to increase his damage, which will add up in the long run.

His best Eidolons are his first, fourth, and sixth. The first Eidolon gives his Skill 10 percent more damage if he's on low HP, while the fourth Eidolon lets Arlan survive a killing blow once per battle.

His final Eidolon increases the already considerable damage his Ultimate does, also inflicting full damage to any adjacent enemies.

Since Arlan is not on the Featured Banner, he is hard to obtain.

You can get him from pulling on any, but your chances are severely slow.

His Eidolons are worth it, so if he ever appears with an increased drop rate, you should consider pulling for Arlan if you like using him.

Next: Honkai: Star Rail - Best Builds And Light Cones For Clara