A Good Arlan Build in Honkai: Star Rail Makes Him a Blood Knight

Arlan is a four-star Honkai: Star Rail character with a risk-reward mechanic. His Shackle Breaker Skill lets you deal damage in exchange for sacrificing his health, and his Pain and Anger Talent increases his damage even further based on how low his HP gets. Which means for the best Arlan Honkai: Star Rail builds, you want to load him up with a Light Cone and Relic set that increases his attack, hopefully also boosts his health, and helps him survive long enough to deal tons of damage.

What are the best Light Cones for a Arlan build in Honkai: Star Rail?

In my mind, there’s only one possible three-star Light Cone for an Arlan build in Honkai: Star Rail. That’s Mutual Demise. We already know his health is going to be low. Shackle Breaker is going to take 15% of his health for each use. Once he gets below 80% health, this one guarantees at least a 16% buff to his critical hit rate. Since it’s a three-star, you won’t have any problem Superimposing it. That could mean hitting the up to 28% bonus like I did in my game. It’s fantastic and a relatively low investment.

With a four-star one, I’d say try going with Nowhere to Run for Arlan. If he defeats an enemy, he’ll restore a percentage of his health. It also boosts his attack by at least 24%.

Given he’s Peppy’s caretaker, it’s a crime Woof! Walk Time! doesn’t work for him.

As for the five-star ones, I’d suggest On the Fall of an Aeon. Here’s the official description for an one that isn’t Superimposed. “Whenever the wearer attacks, their ATK is increased by 8% in this battle, up to 4 time(s). When the wearer inflicts Weakness Break on enemies, the wearer’s DMG increases by 12% for 2 turn(s).”

What are the best Relics for a Arlan build in Honkai: Star Rail?

Like Hook and a lot of four-star characters, your goal with an Arlan build in Honkai: Star Rail will be to go with either Musketeer of Wild Wheat to boost his attack for all the moveset abilities that deal more damage based on his attack stat or pick Band of Sizzling Thunder to increase his Lightning damage. But in this case, I’d really say the latter is the smarter choice due to how often you’ll use his Skill and get that attack buff for doing so as a result.

Musketeer of Wild Wheat is basically the default Relic set for many characters since Honkai: Star Rail’s launch. If Arlan equips two pieces, his attack goes up by 12%. Four pieces means his damage is up by 10% and speed up by 6%. In the event you haven’t already gotten over 10 pieces from various missions and rewards, you can stop by Jarilo-VI’s Corridor of Fading Echoes to get pieces from the Cavern of Corrosion: Path of Drifting.

So Band of Sizzling Thunder is great for two reasons. One is the two-piece 10% Lightning damage buff. It’s handy for him. But even better is the four-piece benefit. When you have four, he gets a 20% attack buff for a turn after using his Skill. Given his nature as a “blood knight” and how much damage he can do with Shackle Breaker, it’s worth it to take advantage of that.

Honkai: Star Rail is available for PCs and mobile devices, and PS4 and PS5 versions are in development.