Okay so while writing my last post I had a thought.
So. We all know that Aha is legit a fucking obsessed with Akivili. We dont exactly know why ofc; though theres a fairly reasonable theory that its because like them, Akivili was also an aeon close to humanity, and could understand them better than the other Aeons. This theory makes sense ofc ofc.
But i had another idea.
What if Aha was a Astral Express Nameless?
“Well yeah Stxr, they pretended to be apart of the Crew to mess with Akivili for a year”
No no. Not that. I mean what if Aha was apart of the Nameless before they ascended?
Cause, we know both Aha and Akivili are some of the oldest known Aeons. Id say they’re both apart of the ‘second generation’ aeons lol.
But we dont exactly know WHEN Aha ascended. We kinda know when Akivili did. Its not impossible for Aha to have traveled with the Express before they ascended.
And climbing to the top of the imaginary tree? Idk man, sounds pretty Trailblaze-y to me..
It makes alot of sense as to why Aha adores Akivili so much. Akivili was formerly their Aeon. Of course Aha adores them! They’re much more fun that the rest, and Aha was their friend!
Akivili is an Aeon who is known to havr loved their followers. Why would that change when one became an Aeon? If anything it allowed them to be closer.
Also it paints Pom-Poms line about Aha being ‘the worst Nameless’ in a different light. Yes, Aha at the time was genuinely a member of the crew, but also they were a genuine member of the Crew once.
Honestly, I dont have much evidence, but I feel like it makes sense. Aha does genuinely seem to like the Nameless, (two of the previous winners of the Phantasmoon Games seem to be Nameless as well, Isee a former navigator iirc, and Oswaldo) so maybe beyond them just being extensions of Akivili, they also like the Nameless as their ‘juniors’.
Aha being a former Nameless is also interesting in the context of their relationship with Nanook as well. Nanook is implied to be someone who was offered to join the Express, but refused, leading to their ascension as Nanook. And then Aha did join, and it lead to their ascension as Aha.. Destruction & Elation being wildly different paths, and both ascensions being butterfly effects of their choice on whether or not they took the ticket.
I had a thought, what if the trailblazer is one of the finality cats that Dahlia talked about in the recent story quest?
Cuz like, here's the thing, finality exists in a state where the end (finality) is a constant, but it's beginning (as in the aeon finality is born from) can be any of the aeons in different ways, because all concepts taken to their extreme end the universe, obviously we know of four finalities (those being destruction, harmony, nihility, and the fourth one that almost became rememberance but currently remains unspecified) , but what if instead of trying to look into the box to ascertain whether the cat is dead or not (locking Finality into a specific path), you disregard the whole thing and rely on the fact that the condition of the cat is unknown, if the finality cats are part of Terminus' body, and if Terminus can be born from any path, then in theory all paths belong or will belong to terminus, and thus Terminus can be any path, and THUS any of the cats that make up Thier body can be any of the paths.
Now what if you grabbed one of those cats, and you changed it into a person,that person would in theory also possess a connection to every path in a way, which in turn would make it easier for them to become a pathstrider of multiple paths.
And so, what if that person had golden eyes like the cats do?
Cookie Run: Kingdom characters if they were HSR pathrstriders... (a ramble)
I caught a wild case of late-night thoughts recently where I started contemplating about CRK and HSR and began wondering what paths would CRK characters be on if they were pathstriders in HSR ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ
This is purely based on vibes and sleep-deprived thoughts, but gameplay wise, I think Pure Vanilla Cookie would totally be an Abundance character (though if you held me at gunpoint and told me to choose something else, I would pick Harmony as a second choice). Lore-wise though, I could potentially see him as a Member of the Genius Society (alongside White Lily Cookie pre-truth).
I can totally imagine Pure Vanilla having... like... an alternate path form (kinda like the Trailblazer or March 7th) that's Nihility and based on his Truthless Recluse form ヽ(°〇°)ﾉ
I can def see Hollyberry Cookie as a Preservation character gameplay-wise, tho I'm not sure what faction she would be a part of lore-wise. ¯\_(- > -)_/¯
Dark Cacao Cookie, however, I can imagine as a Hunt character and a part of the Xianzhou Alliance, I think...
Weirdly enough, I can sort of vaguely see Golden Cheese Cookie as either a Remembrance or Harmony character gameplay-wise under the same logic as Jing Yuan being Erudition. Lore-wise though, I guess Golden Cheese gives me the vibes of someone who'd be a part of Penacony. At first I thought the Land of Festivities didn't suit her vibes, but then I remembered the appearance of the Golden City, so lore-wise, she could be a part of Penacony, probably a Dreamweaver.
Although I can see White Lily Cookie's gameplay path being Erudition, I think it would be more interesting if she (for similar reasons as Jing Yuan and what I suggested for Golden Cheese) were a Destruction character. Though as I mentioned before, I do think she would be a member of the Genius Society pre-truth. Post-truth, I do think it would be interesting if she had become a part of the Antimatter Legion (maybe even as an Emanator) or the Annihilation Gang.
Shadow Milk Cookie gives me Nihility vibes, tho I do think that, narrative-wise, he too would have been a part of the Genius Society during his Sage/Fount of Truth days (or maybe a member of the Intelligentsia Guild). After becoming a beast tho, I can see him becoming a pathstrider of Enigmata (the opposite of Nous' Erudition) or a Masked Fool (giving in entirely to Aha's hedonism)
I think Cream Unicorn Cookie's gameplay path would either be Abundance, Harmony, or Remembrance. Don't know what they would be lore-wise tho. ᐠ( ᐛ )ᐟ
Tho I think Wedding Cake and Black Forest Cookie's gameplay paths would be Harmony and Destruction respectively
I’ve decided to post all my character builds for anyone who might find that kind of thing interesting or potentially helpful. While I’ve got a decent amount of HSR build knowledge under my belt, you should take everything you see with a grain of salt; I’m not a guide maker and I won’t pretend to be, but I’ll do my best to include my thought process/rationale for the builds that I’ve chosen to use.
If you have any questions about any of my builds or builds in general, don’t be afraid to drop them in my ask box! I might not personally be able to give you the most comprehensive answer about meta or statistical data, but I’m willing to look into it if you’re in need of genuine assistance.
I'll be updating the linked path posts any time a new character or relic set has been announced. Updates will also be made whenever large upgrades have been made on my character's builds.
"The path presided over by the Aeon Yaoshi. Selfless, altruistic, and healing actions are manifestations of the Path of Abundance."
The path of Abundance exclusively consists of healers. Kits may include:
ally revival
individual/team-wide debuff dispelling
Some units may also offer supportive utilities such as:
personal action advancing
increased energy regeneration, personal crowd control resistance, or break damage buffs
individual ally aggro manipulation
AOE enemy buff dispelling
"The path presided over by the Aeon Nanook. Reckless, wrathful, and destructive actions are manifestations of the Path of Destruction."
The path of Destruction consists of single and multi-target/blast, break, and counter-attack damage dealers. Kits may include:
enhanced basic attacks
follow-up attacks triggered by personal/ally aggro or hp reduction
damage buffs from personal/ally health draining
personal healing
aggro manipulation
"The path presided over by the Aeon Nous. Thoughtful, logical, and strategic actions are manifestations of the Path of Erudition."
The path of Erudition consists of single and multi-target/blast, break, and follow-up damage dealers. Kits may include:
enhanced basic attacks
damage based follow-up attacks
specialized ultimates (multi-tiered damage)
personal/ally damage buffing
"The path presided over by the Aeon Xipe. Understanding, supportive, and cooperative actions are manifestations of the Path of Harmony."
The path of the Harmony exclusively consists of ally-buffing supports. Kits may include:
turn manipulation
enhanced skill point recovery
individual/team-wide buffs to overall damage, atk, crit rate/damage, break effect, speed, or energy regeneration
"The path presided over by the Aeon Lan. Decisive, ruthless, and vengeful actions are manifestations of the Path of The Hunt."
The path of the Hunt consists of single-target, break, and follow-up attack damage dealers. Kits may include:
enhanced basic attacks
team-triggered follow-up attacks
specialized ultimates (non-traditional energy charging and multi-tiered damage)
personal action advancing or speed buffing
Individual ally-buffing of speed, damage, or toughness reduction are also possible through March 7th - The Hunt.
"The path presided over by the Aeon IX. Slothful, exhausted, and meaningless actions are manifestations of the Path of Nihility."
The path of Nihility consists of single and multi-target/blast damage dealers and enemy debuffing supports. Kits may include:
specialized ultimates (non-traditional energy charging)
TJ will come back to this section later because nihility is complicated, and I'll need to reread everyone's kits in depth to be accurate here.
"The path presided over by the Aeon Qlipoth. Patient, sacrificial, and protective actions are manifestations of the Path of Preservation."
The path of Preservation exclusively consists of shielders/tanks. Kits may include:
personal character revival or taunting buffs
enhanced basic attacks
aggro-based follow-up attacks
Some units may also offer supportive utilities such as:
buffs to crit rate/damage, effect resistance, or crowd control resistance
personal/team-wide healing or received damage reduction
ally damage mitigation
Yeah, that was more detailed than I was originally planning to be. The yapping demons took over again, apparently. Navigation with a little side of education for your learning pleasure.
Content disclaimers and credits under the cut. Thanks for stopping by!
Important things to note:
All my build showcases have been generated through Fribbels Honkai Star Rail Optimizer.
Fribbels automatically displays your characters at level 80 character and light cone experience so that you can preemptively evaluate their build at its maximum potential.
Fribbels relic scoring weight can be manipulated to meet your personal wants (this is especially useful for making non-damage dealers into true damage dealing characters) and those relics are notated with an Asterix (*). Most of my build showcases have been generated with the default weighting intact; any deviations will be notated accordingly.
Following the above point, some of my characters may have multiple different builds: e.g., crit vs traditional Sampo, break vs traditional Guinaifen, 4pc purity palace + keel vs 4pc pioneer + salsotto Aventurine, etc. Each build will be properly titled, and their functionality/niche will be emphasized for clarity’s sake.
If you're interested in generating your own build showcases but you’d prefer to see characters with their current in-game statistics, Enka.Network is an excellent platform to do so. Enka does not currently have a relic scoring feature so you will not be able to see the value of your pieces through their generated showcases. They do, however, have roll quality stat breakdowns that can be toggled on/off.
The quotes listed underneath the Path and Character headers are tidbits sourced from the game's plethora of loading screens. I pulled the text from Fandom's Honkai: Star Rail Wiki page on loading screens and characters respectively.
All the path overviews and kit summaries were written in my own words; however, I did use Prydwen's HSR Character's List to look over the kits of characters that I don't own, so here's their honorable mention.
A flag for the path of destruction from Honkai Star Rail
Intended use for those of the path, who follow Nanook the aeon of destruction, for those who simply admire either and any and all reasons tied to the path of destruction.
Okay, with the information we have now, the attachment Elation aligned characters have to the Trailblazer is wild. And ALSO destruction aligned characters..
Trailblazer is almost 100% a resurrected Akivili.
Thus far, the aeons closest to Akivili are Nanook, Aha, and Terminus. Considering Terminus is imo, Akivili as well, im ignoring them tho.
Nanook & Aha have had the most interesting relationships with Akivili thus far, with Aha, aeon of Elation, mourning Akivili’s fall, with Nanook’s ascension perhaps coming as a result of a refusal to join the Express.
Every follower of Destruction we’ve met has had an interest in Trailblazer, as well as people connected to the path. Beyond the Chrysos Heirs, we have Lygus, Fugue, Constance, Phantylia.. theres been a tie to the Trailblazer, an interest in them.
Same with Elation followers just fucking adore TB. As ive said before, Sampo is lowk pathetic for Trailblazer’s approval, Giovanni made a whole game just for Trailblazer. Cipher enjoys the Trailblazer’s presence and is seemingly more sincere with them than like, anyone else except maybe Aglaea. Sparkle actually likes Trailblazer alot more than we originally thought lol.
Considering asat's whole "the only lie i ever sayed to you as being your father" and "wheatering curse=entropy loss syndrome=defying the path you are bound to", do you think he actualy DID get the wheatering curse and is defying some path,assuming destruction, can't be elation or traiblaze since the other lord ravager don't show signs of of wheatering curse despite defying their former paths, maybe It can be finality??
ELS is a bit different that the weathering curse with the whole ‘defying the path’ thing. The Weathering curse is moreso a punishment. Meanwhile ELS wasnt a punishment, but a precaution. A way to just make sure they’d self destruct before they could rebel, basically.
And honestly I wouldnt be surprised if he technically wasnt lying, and had some kinda Destruction related illness.
The man cant keep a path for the life of him, clearly.
However, theres still the likelihood of Asat having been a Finality Pathstrider for a bit.
And specifically, Asat’s wording is important.
“It is the inescapable price for being a child of Destruction who dares to betray her fate.”
Fuckass fate-
We know that fate is a powerful force in HSR, and few have the genuine ability to deny it. Currently theres three people that we know of who arent fully beholden to it.
Acheron, Silver Wolf, and Trailblazer. The first two due to being Emanators of their specific paths and the form of Emanator they are.. and the Trailblazer because of their still mysterious connections to Trailblaze & Finality.
Theres ofc different levels of fate. And Finality is the path most strongly tied to it.
Asat having some form of illness tearing him apart because of his abandonment of either Finality or Trailblaze or Elation finally catching up to him would be interesting.
But honestly, I dont really fully believe the guy when he says hes never lied. He has not proven himself trustworthy enough to be taken seriously when he says that.
Villains that dont lie to the protagonist are fascinating.. but i dont believe he’s really one of them tbh.
