Aventurine Outshines Acheron in Honkai: Star Rail 2.1

Acheron felt like HoYoVerse’s golden child going into Honkai: Star Rail 2.1. She’s an expy of Raiden Mei from Honkai Impact 3rd and Raiden Shogun from Genshin Impact, after all. Yes, Aventurine featured prominently in Honkai: Star Rail marketing for 2.0 and 2.1, but he was framed more of an antagonistic spy. However, after going through the 2.1 Trailblaze Missions in “Cat Among Pigeons,” I can’t help but feel he’s the true star of this storyline and even more exciting than her. 

Editor’s Note: There will be some spoilers for 2.0 and mild spoilers for 2.1 of Honkai: Star Rail below, but no details about Aventurine or Acheron’s identities or positions in 2.1.

Both Acheron and Aventurine are rather swiftly introduced once the Nameless head to Penacony, but there’s a decidedly different tone to both. She is immediately framed as some sort of ally. She assists the player when they happen upon the same area together. The two exchange meaningful words. Both end up crying after the experience. 

Meanwhile, Aventurine comes across as something of a flashy scam artist and gambler. He offers to help the Trailblazer get into the hotel, at a price. He talks about friendship, while also insinuating it is a means of serving his own ends and getting something out of the deal. Not to mention he’s one of the top folks at the Interastral Peace Corporation (IPC) and, even though Topaz ended up generally being “fine” after the incident at Jarilo-IV, that whole corporation and its means of buying up the less fortunate to profit on them in the name of “preservation” is… skeevy. 

I mean, HoYoVerse has Acheron flat out “save” the Trailblazer from Aventurine when they are cornered by him at a point in 2.0. He was trying to coerce some sort of favor and seemed generally untrustworthy, and because of her he ended up ushered out.

It’s only with the 2.0 Trailblaze Mission cliffhanger in “Whodunit” that HoYoVerse turned things on its head. In case you didn’t heed that spoiler warning up there, here it is again. We get the wham moment of seeing Robin, pop star and Sunday’s sister, dead in the water of the room. Black Swan, another individual who’d been proved trustworthy so far and constantly rescuing or aiding the Astral Express members, brings us to Aventurine. It’s also this IPC member who’s offering us the most truth about Acheron, Robin, and the situation in general. 

If there’s one thing I didn’t expect going into the 2.1 update for Honkai: Star Rail, it’s to find that Aventurine is actually genuine. But here we are. Not only that, but his character development and arc ends up being astonishingly well-handled. Even though both he and Acheron end up being supporting protagonists and having their playable moments during these latest Trailblaze Missions, he’s the one that comes out feeling like there’s the strongest narrative to his tale. 

Sure, Acheron is interesting. Yes, we get some revelations about her identity. The thing is, we already knew about some of these things. Her role in things came up at the end of 2.0 during “Whodunnit.” Her character trailer went over the incident with the Annihilation Gang and Duke Inferno. It’s fun to see her with Welt Yang, considering his connections to Mei and that it gives the Astral Express member more screen time. However, I’d say it doesn’t feel as exciting and emotional.

Meanwhile, Aventurine’s segments are filled with these captial-M Moments. We get flashbacks showing who he is and what his life was like leading up to his role as one of the IPC’s Ten Stonehearts. These are heartfelt, dramatic, touching, and devastating scenes. There’s intrigue as he deals with Sunday and the new mission he’s given on Penacony. It’s even absolutely hilarious at parts, given the banter he has with Dr. Ratio during certain segments. There are all these feelings coming up for a character who seemed very one-dimensional before, and he’s so having his moment.

Even in terms of combat, I’m genuinely vibing more with Aventurine than I am with Acheron. I’d been saving up for her banner for a while and that, combined with the first anniversary currency and warp tickets, meant I got her. She’s a fantastic DPS character, especially if you build her up with other Nihility characters like Black Swan or Kafka. I didn’t expect to want or need another Preservation person, as I have Gepard and the Trailblazer and prefer my teams to involve two damage dealers, a person applying buffs or debuffs, and Luocha.

But Aventurine is shockingly stunning. I was amazed to find that, when playing through his portions of the 2.1 Trailblaze Missions, he is my ideal type of Preservation character. Like Luocha, it feels like he’s more geared toward passively aiding the party while still doing major damage. So you come into a fight? Everyone already has shields! Enemies attack? Aventurine is counting down each hit up to seven to prepare to unleash damage on everyone. His Ultimate? It’s fantastic at affecting a single target and helping the team by “unnerving” them so critical damage is increased. (I also had it once also boost him to up to seven points of Blind Bet too, netting an achievement and immediately dealing damage to everyone. His Skill? Everyone has a shield now. He’s designed to still be a great damage dealer while protecting folks, and I love that. 

There’s no competition here, given Honkai: Star Rail is a game where all four-star and five-star characters can feel viable depending on how you play and the teams you build, but it all comes down to Aventurine feeling so much stronger than Acheron after 2.1. It’s incredible how HoYoVerse used him throughout the storyline here. Not to mention his kit makes him feel like a really useful Preservation character. She’s fun too, but I didn’t expect to come away with this gambler stealing my heart.

Honkai: Star Rail is available on the PS5, PC, and mobile devices. Acheron is available via the gacha until April 17, 2024. Aventurine’s banner will launch on April 17, 2024.