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The world of Honkai: Star Rail features a ton of playable characters with each having a specific Path and combat types. Combat types can also be called elements, and they're used to break an enemy's Toughness bar, which puts them in a vulnerable state until their next turn.

RELATED: Honkai: Star Rail - Complete Combat Guide

On the other hand, a character's Path decides their role in a team. These Paths belong to the Aeons of the world, beings with powers superior to anyone else. Herta also has a special program to understand more about these Aeons since people don't know too much about them.

Updated June 3, 2023: We've updated this article to include a video guide that breaks down everything you need to know about each Honkai: Star Rail path.

Path Of Destruction

Honkai Star Rail Trailblazer Closeup

The main character of Honkai: Star Rail, called the Trailblazer, follows the Path of Destruction at the start of the game. This Path has a bit of everything since the Destruction characters deal massive damage to the enemies and have some abilities that can allow them to live longer in combat as well.

The sustaining abilities might not be available when the character is low level, which means that their true potential shines only when they're ascended to a higher level. Characters following this Path can also have massive damage in both single-target and multi-target scenarios. Nanook is the Aeon of Destruction.

The all-rounder aspect of the Destruction characters makes them the safest to upgrade in the game.

If you're an F2P or a low-spending player, you'll have to think about who you want to upgrade since the materials are scarce.

Path Of Abundance

Honkai Star Rail Bailu Closeup

Following the Path of Yaoshi, the Aeon of Abundance, these characters believe in healing your team more than dealing damage to the enemies. While they might still have a basic attack that can deal a bit of damage, most of the abilities for Abundance characters are based around healing an ally or the party.

Much like the Abundance characters, Honkai: Star Rail also believes in giving since it gives you Natasha for free just by progressing the story, and she is an Abundance character. You'll be able to keep your characters alive for much longer with Abundance in your party.

Path Of The Hunt

Honkai Star Rail Yanqing Closeup

The Hunt is the Path that'll give you big numbers in Honkai: Star Rail. Lan is the name of the Aeon for this Path, and as the name suggests, people of this Path hunt for the undead that once ravaged their homeland. The characters of this Path specialize in single-target damage, which is great for fighting bosses.

The characters in Destruction Path might be decent for single-target damage, but they'll never beat the numbers that can be given by Hunt characters at the same level. Though the downside is that you won't deal multi-target damage, which can be quite bad if you're fighting a group of low-health enemies.

Path Of Preservation

Honkai Star Rail Gepard Closeup

Gepard holds the mantle of the Path of Preservation on the standard banner, and they're backed up by the Aeon named Qlipoth. These characters have the goal of protecting their team at any cost, which means that they'll have phenomenal defensive capabilities like damage reduction or shields.

They can also apply particular debuffs to the enemies that delay or cancel their turn, which in turn reduces the overall damage on your team. Although, you shouldn't expect any damage output from these characters since they're only there for keeping your team alive.

Abundance and Preservation characters have their own roles even though they both protect the team.

Abundance will heal up the damaged characters while Preservation prevents them from taking damage in the first place.

Path Of Erudition

Honkai Star Rail Himeko Pose

The Path of Erudition comprises of characters that want to deal a good amount of damage, but they also believe in equally distributing the damage between your opponents. As you can guess, these characters are the best at multi-target damage, and the Aeon that rules this path is called Nous.

The damage from these characters will always be higher than multi-target damage of any other path, but they usually won't apply any debuffs to the enemies other than the debuffs from Weakness Break. Ideally, you'd never use these characters against single-target boss enemies.

Path Of Nihility

Honkai Star Rail Welt Basic Pose

IX is the Aeon of the Path of Nihility, and he doesn't believe in interacting with others. According to the lore, IX doesn't even interact with other Aeons. Welt is the Nihility character on the standard banner, and he has some of the coolest animations for abilities. Nihility characters are known for putting debuffs on enemies.

These debuffs can range from immobilization to RES shred, which makes the enemy take more damage. Using these characters will give you a decent source of damage while also weakening your enemies with the debuffs.

Path Of Harmony

Honkai Star Rail Bronya Closeup

The Path of Harmony works in an exact opposite way from Nihility. Instead of applying debuffs to the enemies, these characters are known for applying buffs to your party members. The Aeon of Harmony called Xipe is known for ruling multiple worlds and bringing Harmony to them.

These characters usually increase the damage dealt by your party members, which makes them great with damage-dealing Paths like Erudition, The Hunt, or Destruction. If you're going against boss enemies, it's quite important to have a Harmony character on your team during late game.

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