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.
An Aeon that hails from multiple harmonious celestial worlds. THEY preside over the Path of Harmony. THEY are the amalgamation of thousands of entities that preaches the joy of human harmony and unity.
Certain character descriptions may contain story spoilers: Bronya, Sunday, Tribbie. If you’re not caught up to the most current version of the game, please read them at your own discretion.
Asta (e6)
The lead researcher of Herta Space Station and a lady from a renowned family. She's an astronomer overflowing with curiosity, and excels at managing the disparate staff of the space station.
benched: her build is actually so cooked right now because I kept taking her pieces for other units since she had some of my best spd relics
will likely stay benched for a good while. I don't have any other teams that I want to put her on at the moment and I hate relic swapping
Bronya (e2)
Belobog's current Supreme Guardian. She possesses pride befitting of a princess, but also the determination and integrity of a soldier.
bronya's build fluctuates depending on the dps I'm playing with. this is what she's been running the most consistently though
she's definitely in the market for a new set: I'd prefer to have her on sacerdos for the cdmg buff it offers to the team
her spd situation is a bit odd since I occasionally like to use her with boothill and he's way too fast for the -1 spd setup. at the same time she's also too fast to use this build with my slower units. relic loadouts when, hoyo?
I'd also like to get her sig at some point. 75/25 losses and the standard banner have not felt like giving it to me yet. could I get if from the shop? yes, but I'd rather use my starlight on limited pulls than standard cones. surely hers will show up soon (copium)
latest update - 6.19.25 | fribbels score - 439 A+
Cerydra
unreleased (3.5)
there's a high chance that I end up pulling her. I've really gotten into the habit of getting harmony units just because I want as many supportive options as possible for endgame. no clue what her kit will be like since that hasn't been announced yet, but I doubt it'll be something I want to skip out on in the current climate of the game
Hanya (e6)
benched and stripped: she's pretty much useless to me since I was only using her as a substitute for my dhil team until I could pull sparkle
don't have any other units that can truly take advantage of what she offers so I don't think she'll ever be coming off the bench
Imaginary Trailblazer (e6)
A person who boarded the Astral Express. They chose to travel with the Astral Express to eliminate the dangers posed by the Stellaron.
benched: not interested in playing superbreak and RMC is much more valuable to me at this stage of the game
Robin (e0s1)
A singer renowned across the cosmos, regarded as the superstar of the Starry Stage. Her captivating voice serenades Harmony to audiences across the universe.
currently working toward getting her to 160 spd. while it's not necessary for her to be that fast, I'd like the chance to do some endgame cycling shenanigans with her at some point
it took me far longer to pull her than I would've liked after originally skipping her 2.2 debut for boothill. wasn't able to make it happen until 3.0 but the important thing is that I got her! she was well worth the wait
latest update - 7.20.25 | fribbels score - 488 SS
Ruan Mei (e1s1)
Member 81 of the Genius Society. Jointly developed the "Simulated Universe" with Herta, Screwllum, and Stephen. A master in the field of life sciences, she has an emotionless disposition and is only obsessed with research.
she's a bit faster that I'd like her to be. if she was slower her skill wouldn't run out nearly as fast as it currently does. e2 boothill isn't hurting for skill points, especially with gallagher on the team, so having her be faster for more skill point generation is a bit pointless for my team setup
would also like to stack more survivability stats on her since she's already hitting the necessary break and spd breakpoints to grant her dmg buffs
her planars are quite bad, I'd like to get those replaced at the very least. the rest of the former points are of a much lower priority
latest update - 6.19.25 | fribbels score - 437 A+
Sparkle (e0s1)
A member of the Masked Fools, passionate yet unpredictable. She roams between major factions, amusing herself by turning the world upside down on her own.
it's been nearly 11 months since I pulled her and I still haven't been able to hit 160 spd. don't love that for me
would also like to make the switch to sacerdos for her. perhaps even 2pc/2pc spd if 160 continues to evade me in the 4pc setups
not a high priority right now, she does what I need her to do and I'm not inclined to fix what isn't broken
latest update - 6.19.25 | fribbels score - 436 A+
Sunday (e0s1)
The former head of the Oak Family and the elder brother of Robin. After the upheaval of the Charmony Festival was quelled, he bid farewell to Order and his homeland, boarding the Astral Express in search of a new path.
spd tuned for as close to a -1 spd setup with like 4 different units, I've had to make some interesting relic choices because of this
really want to get a better body and sphere for him. he's got a lot more defense than is needed; an hp sphere would be more beneficial in the long run. unfortunately, I don't farm lushaka nearly enough to make that happen naturally
I ended up getting him during debut after all. don't regret my decision to get him instead of dhil's cone in the slightest; he's been infinitely more valuable to my account than that cone ever would've been and he saved jing yuan from getting benched. pretty huge in my eyes
latest update - 6.19.25 | fribbels score - 423 A
Tingyun (e6)
Amicassador of the Sky-Faring Commission of the Xianzhou Luofu. She travels with business delegates, forging trade relationships and alliances with many worlds.
another unit I'd like to switch to sacerdos at some point: low priority as well since she's another case of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it"
her planars are on the rougher side. the sooner I can replace them the better
her survivability is also questionable. could do with a bit more hp for comfort—not that she dies very often as it is. never hurts to pad her health bar though
latest update - 6.19.25 | fribbels score - 430 A+
Tribbie
Tribbie, Trianne, and Trinnon: The Chrysos Heir of Janusopolis, the demigod of "Passage." Once a demure and beautiful Holy Maiden, she had regressed to the form of a child. Such is the price she paid for the Coreflame. Trianne sacrificed herself in the Flame Reaver's attack. Her soul dissipated completely, and she turned into a doll that looks just like her.
unowned: had to skip her during her release banner even though I really didn't want to since I'd already started hoarding for my Phainon fund
will be getting her at the first reasonable opportunity that I get because she’s adorable, incredibly strong, and unlikely to fall off for a very long time
Yukong (e6)
Head of the Sky-Faring Commission on the Xianzhou Luofu. Yukong was a seasoned pilot and a deadshot. Since heading up the commission, she's been buried under mountains of paperwork.
unleveled: haven't ever felt the need to use her, not even back in the early days of the game and I don't see that changing now
