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Fire Trailblazer Guide

Updated for Version 2.0

Note that the information given may change if new discoveries are made. More extensive testing is in progress.

Join our Discord to check on and participate in the theorycrafting process.

Introduction

Fire Trailblazer is the Preservation iteration of the 5-Star Trailblazer of Honkai: Star Rail. All players receive this character for free as part of the storyline of Jarilo-VI. Unusual for a Preservation character, Fire Trailblazer’s kit focuses as much on offense as it does on defense, with a damaging Ultimate and Enhanced Basic ATK, teamwide Shields, and ability to Taunt enemies. While less suited to being a team’s sole defensive character, Fire Trailblazer shines in teams that want that extra edge in durability without sacrificing too much damage to get it.

New Content

InfographicsInfographics have been updated.
Tank Fire Trailblazer/Planar OrnamentsPenacony: Land of the Dreams has been added.
Warrior Fire Trailblazer/Light ConesDestiny’s Threads Forewoven has been added.
Warrior Fire Trailblazer/Planar OrnamentsFrontline Firmament: Glamoth and Broken Keel have been added.

Infographics

Tank

Design: euphorysm | Content: AnemoneMeer

Warrior (Offensive/Defensive Hybrid)

Design: euphorysm | Content: AnemoneMeer

Character Overview

Fire Trailblazer’s Talent grants the entire party a weak Shield whenever the Trailblazer acts, including when they use their Ultimate. They are also currently the only source of the Taunt effect available to players, which forces all affected enemies to target the user, overriding all other targeting. As Taunt bypasses resistances to Crowd Control effects, it offers a reliable method of controlling enemy actions, particularly against enemies who typically resist controlling effects.

The other half of Fire Trailblazer’s Talent is Magma Will, stacking as they attack and are attacked, up to a total of 8 stacks. Once Magma Will reaches 4 or more stacks, Fire Trailblazer will expend them on their next Basic ATK to do a powerful AoE Basic ATK that still generates SP, as well as increased Energy.

This combination of offense and defense makes Fire Trailblazer more of a bruiser than a straight defensive tank. While their Taunt is more reliable than other Crowd Control effects, their inability to prevent large amounts of AoE damage from killing their teammates and their offensive potential encourages a more hybrid playstyle.

As Fire Trailblazer and Physical Trailblazer are the same character, you cannot use them both in a team.

Playstyles

Tank

Fire Trailblazer’s Taunt bypasses enemy Control Effect RES, making it the most reliable tool in the game to control the actions of Boss enemies, who often possess Control Effect RES in addition to Effect RES. With their constant Shields and Damage Reduction as well as potential self-healing, it is possible for Fire Trailblazer to act as a solo defensive unit, albeit at a large SP cost. The constant shielding afforded by Fire Trailblazer excels at preventing the damage dealt by weaker enemies across encounters in the overworld, and their Taunt effect is extremely disruptive to most story Bosses.

While covered in this guide, we do not suggest Tank Fire Trailblazer as a long-term investment. Although their kit is extremely effective in the overworld and Simulated Universe, they struggle heavily in Memory of Chaos and Swarm Disaster; there, enemies will have devastating AoE attacks that can wipe out a party regardless of Taunt, as well as far higher SPD stats, potentially causing Tank Fire Trailblazer to lose precious Taunt uptime. Of particular note is the Everwinter Shadewalker, which inflicts delay on every hit and can be summoned by Frigid Prowler, causing Tank Fire Trailblazer’s already low Base SPD to result in lost turns when Taunted. As a result, Tank Fire Trailblazer is extremely effective for new players, but transitions poorly to endgame.

Warrior (Offensive/Defensive Hybrid)

Fire Trailblazer possesses both a Base ATK and Base DEF of over 600, combined with dual scaling on their Abilities. The constant small Shields granted by their Talent act as a powerful boost to the effectiveness of healers as well as Fu Xuan’s damage redirection. As such, it can be very effective to build Fire Trailblazer fully into the role of a hybrid, both dealing and absorbing damage.

When building a more offensively oriented Fire Trailblazer, it is important to remember that the most commonly available buffs are ATK% and CRIT DMG%, granted by Planar Ornaments as well as the abilities of Harmony characters. As a result, it is better to focus on building the stats you cannot get from the buffs of allies, such as DMG% and CRIT Rate, in order to maximize the effectiveness of buffs given by allies.

Warrior Fire Trailblazer is extremely effective in endgame content but can struggle early on. Their need for more stats as well as building around utilizing the buffs of allies makes them extremely reliant on overall account investment. For content with particularly large damage output, such as Swarm Disaster, they are a perfect fit into teams that want an extra edge in durability.

With the release of Pure Fiction, Warrior Fire Trailblazer has found another piece of endgame content where they excel. With their constant access to AoE and Blast damage through their Ultimate and Enhanced Basic ATK, their combination of offensive and defensive potential helps against the large numbers of weaker enemies.

Traces

Basic ATK

Basic ATK | Ice-Breaking Light

Trace Description

Ice-Breaking Light [Single Target]

Deals Fire DMG equal to 50%/100%/110% of the Trailblazer’s ATK to a single enemy and gains 1 stack of Magma Will.

Ice-Breaking Light [Blast]

Consumes 4 stacks of Magma Will to enhance Basic ATK, dealing Fire DMG equal to 90%/135%/146.25% of the Trailblazer’s ATK to a single enemy and Fire DMG to equal to 36%/54%/58.5% of the Trailblazer’s ATK to enemies adjacent to it.

Both the default and Enhanced versions of Ice-Breaking Light generate SP. Has the distinction of being the most powerful SP-generating attack in all of Honkai: Star Rail as of Version 1.5 after Eidolons are included.

It’s worth noting that the Enhanced version of the Basic ATK generates 30 Energy instead of 20, allowing Fire Trailblazer to gain their Ultimate more quickly than one might expect.

Skill

Skill | Ever-Burning Amber

Trace Description

Ever-Burning Amber [Defense]

Increases the Trailblazer’s DMG Reduction by 40%/50%/52% and gains 1 stack of Magma Will, with a 100% base chance to Taunt all enemies for 1 turn(s).

Taunt ignores Control Effect RES, severely reducing the amount of EHR you need to make this reliable.

Ultimate

Ultimate | War-Flaming Lance

Trace Description

War-Flaming Lance [AoE]

Deals Fire DMG equal to 50%/100%/110% of the Trailblazer’s ATK plus 75%/150%/165% of the Trailblazer’s DEF to all enemies. The next Basic ATK will be automatically enhanced and does not cost Magma Will.

Deals decent damage due to having additional DEF scaling, and is a very powerful tool for Breaking many foes at once. Also has the added benefit of reapplying the Shield from their Talent, even during an enemy’s turn.

Talent

Talent | Treasure of the Architects

Trace Description

Treasure of the Architects [Enhance]

Each time the Trailblazer is hit, they gain 1 stack of Magma Will for a max of 8 stack(s).
When Magma Will has no fewer than 4 stacks, the Trailblazer’s Basic ATK becomes enhanced, dealing DMG to a single enemy and enemies adjacent to it.
When the Trailblazer uses Basic ATK, Skill, or Ultimate, apply a Shield to all allies that absorbs DMG equal to 4%/6%/6.4% of the Trailblazer’s DEF plus 20/80/89. The Shield lasts for 2 turn(s).

The Shield granted from Treasure of the Architects is given on all actions taken by Fire Trailblazer, including their Ultimate.

Technique

Technique | Call of the Guardian

Trace Description

Call of the Guardian [Defense]

After using Technique, at the start of the next battle, gains a Shield that absorbs DMG equal to 30% of the Trailblazer’s DEF plus 384 for 1 turn(s).

Almost completely useless. The Shield only applies to Fire Trailblazer themselves, and they will already Shield themselves on their first action. As Shields do not stack, it is highly suggested you spend your Technique Points elsewhere.

A2 Bonus

Ascension 2 Bonus Ability | The Strong Defend the Weak

Trace Description

The Strong Defend the Weak

After using the Skill, the DMG taken by all allies reduces by 15% for 1 turn(s).

Mandatory for Fire Trailblazer to function as a defensive unit.

A4 Bonus

Ascension 4 Bonus Ability | Unwavering Gallantry

Trace Description

Unwavering Gallantry

Using Enhanced Basic ATK restores the Trailblazer’s HP by 5% of their Max HP.

Self-healing helps to reduce the need for attention from other defensive units. Stacking SPD increases the effectiveness of this Trace.

A6 Bonus

Ascension 6 Bonus Ability | Action Beats Overthinking

Trace Description

Action Beats Overthinking

When the Trailblazer is protected by a Shield at the beginning of the turn, increases their ATK by 15% and regenerates 5 Energy until the action is over.

A useful Trace made stronger by stacking SPD. The additional Energy granted by this Trace helps deal with enemy targeting randomness if you do not use Skill, and the Shield can often survive when you Taunt enemies due to the immense Damage Reduction granted by Fire Trailblazer’s Skill.

Note: Trace levels shown are 1/10/12 (Basic ATK 1/6/7).

Trace Priority

> > >

Talent > Basic ATK > Ultimate > Skill

Fire Trailblazer’s Talent is their source of Shields and is required to fulfill their role as a Preservation character. As their Skill gains only 1% Damage Reduction per level, only to themselves, and only for a single turn, it is not particularly valuable to level.

Eidolons

Eidolon 1

Eidolon 1 | Earth-Shaking Resonance

Eidolon Description

When the Trailblazer uses their Basic ATK, additionally deals Fire DMG equal to 25% of the Trailblazer’s DEF. When the Trailblazer uses their enhanced Basic ATK, deal Fire Additional DMG equal to 50% of the Trailblazer’s DEF.

The reason why Fire Trailblazer’s Basic ATK is so good. High Base ATK and DEF both allow you to take full advantage of the added scaling.

Eidolon 2

Eidolon 2 | Time-Defying Tenacity

Eidolon Description

The Shield applied to all allies from the Trailblazer’s Talent will block extra DMG equal to 2% of the Trailblazer’s DEF plus 27.

Enables greater passive Shields from their Talent, giving a solid bump in overall damage mitigation.

Eidolon 3

Eidolon 3 | Trail-Blazing Blueprint

Eidolon Description

Skill Lv. +2, up to a maximum of Lv. 15.
Talent Lv. +2, up to a maximum of Lv. 15.

You already aren’t taking damage when using Skill, so extra mitigation is overkill, but getting another increase to the strength of the passive Shields is very welcome.

Eidolon 4

Eidolon 4 | Nation-Building Oath

Eidolon Description

At the start of the battle, immediately gains 4 stack(s) of Magma Will.

Helps to fuel E6. With high SPD, you can Basic ATK and Taunt back-to-back early into the fight, gaining E6’s DEF bonus.

Eidolon 5

Eidolon 5 | Spirit-Warming Flame

Eidolon Description

Ultimate Lv. +2, up to a maximum of Lv. 15.
Basic ATK Lv. +1, up to a maximum of Lv. 10.

Not a hugely meaningful Basic ATK increase, but getting an even stronger Ultimate helps to contribute more damage to the team overall.

Eidolon 6

Eidolon 6 | City-Forging Bulwarks

Eidolon Description

After the Trailblazer use enhanced Basic ATK or Ultimate, their DEF increases by 10%. Stacks up to 3 time(s).

Reaching 3 stacks early into the fight should always be a priority. Enemies rarely have attacks that need to be Taunted away on the first turn.

Builds

Tank

Tank Fire Trailblazer should generally be seen as more of an early-game build as opposed to a build used for Memory of Chaos. As such, while the equipment suggestions here are their best and should be used when available, it is not worth spending large sums of Trailblaze Power on perfect Relics or Light Cones that cannot transition to Warrior build or other characters.

Light Cones


Moment of Victory
Easily the Best-in-Slot Light Cone for Fire Trailblazer, Moment of Victory offers everything that they could possibly want and makes Belobog of the Architects far easier to activate.

If you are particularly attached to running Fire Trailblazer in your teams, buying Moment of Victory from the shop may be worth doing. It is simply that much better than all other options.

The increased aggro from Moment of Victory is less useful on Tank Fire Trailblazer as Taunt already forces enemies to attack them. Even without this benefit, the raw stats given by Moment of Victory are simply that good.

Texture of Memories
Effect RES is extremely important to Tank Fire Trailblazer, as losing a turn can sacrifice valuable Taunt uptime, potentially causing allies to become knocked down. The additional shielding and damage resistance granted by Texture of Memories further serves to increase Fire Trailblazer’s durability.

By combining Texture of Memories and the Broken Keel Planar Ornament Set, 100% Effect RES becomes possible with strong substats, granting absolute immunity to all debuffs.

Day One of My New Life
When combined with the Damage Reduction from Fire Trailblazer’s Skill, Day One of My New Life grants allies a combined total of 21.8% to 25.2%  Damage Reduction. Together with the additional DEF% granted by this Light Cone, Day One of My New Life is the best option for dealing with AoE damage and a powerful general option.

Trend of the Universal Market
A niche choice for Nihility teams, Trend of the Universal Market offers both increased DEF% and Burn DoT based on DEF upon being hit. A 40% to 80% DEF-scaling DoT does not deal significant damage on its own, but can serve to fuel the Nihility Light Cone Good Night and Sleep Well or act as an additional DoT for Kafka or Black Swan.

We Are Wildfire
A decent and accessible 4-Star option. While it lacks a strong Ability, its base stats are a perfect complement to Fire Trailblazer. The additional Damage Reduction offered by We Are Wildfire helps with party durability during the period before Fire Trailblazer’s 6th Eidolon has been fully stacked.

As Tank Fire Trailblazer is typically used in the early game, when accounts are less invested, the additional healing can help with reducing reliance on Space Anchors and consumable healing.

Better than all possible 3-Star options, and freely available from the Forgotten Hall shop.

Relics

Relic Sets

4-Pc Knight of Purity Palace
Extremely important for Fire Trailblazer, offering the largest available increase to their shielding capacity. It is nearly impossible to justify running any other set on them.

When using 4-Pc Knight of Purity Palace with maxed Traces, Fire Trailblazer converts about 10.08% of their DEF to Shields with 139 base Shield.

4-Pc Guard of Wuthering Snow
While significantly worse than Knight of Purity Palace, Guard of Wuthering Snow offers Damage Reduction as well as healing when below 50% HP, allowing a constant stream of Taunts in critical scenarios without risk of being knocked down.

It’s also far more Trailblaze Power efficient since it shares a Cavern of Corrosion with the Genius of Brilliant Stars set, which is a very powerful generalist Relic Set.
Planar Ornaments

Belobog of the Architects
An additional 30% DEF adds a noteworthy amount of additional shielding, and reaching the 50% Effect Hit Rate requirement is slightly less Effect Hit Rate than needed to achieve 100% accuracy on Fire Trailblazer’s Taunt. Belobog of the Architects is easy to suggest and impactful for all teams.

Broken Keel
Effect RES is extremely important for maintaining Taunt uptime on Fire Trailblazer, and Broken Keel offers 10% Effect RES as well as a party-wide CRIT DMG buff. The only thing holding Broken Keel back is that some teammates, such as Kafka, may not value CRIT DMG as a stat.

Fleet of the Ageless
The 120 SPD threshold is easy to reach on Tank Fire Trailblazer, who wants to go as fast as possible for self-healing and DEF buffing. However, the 12% HP is not particularly impactful and easily outperformed by Belobog of the Architects and Broken Keel in terms of personal durability. For teams that do not want CRIT stats, Fleet is superior to Keel.

With better substats, Fleet of the Ageless can outperform the 30% DEF or 10% Effect RES of the other sets, but without substats, it is slightly worse due to offering less to Fire Trailblazer.

Penacony: Land of Dreams
With its offering of 10% DMG and lack of any stat requirements, Penacony: Land of Dreams can be quite tempting for teams using a Fire-Type damage dealer. For Tank Fire Trailblazer in particular, Penacony: Land of Dreams can struggle due to the only other free Fire-Type character players are given being Asta, a Harmony unit who requires significant investment to function as a damage dealer.

The additional 5% Energy Regeneration Rate has no impact on Tank Fire Trailblazer’s Ultimate uptime and can be ignored.

Main Stats


Body

Boots

Sphere

Rope
DEF%SPDDEF%DEF%
Substats

Effect Hit Rate (until 30-50%) > SPD  DEF Effect RES > HP > Effect Hit Rate (until 67%)

Effect Hit Rate Body

Tank Fire Trailblazer has very few stats that they need, largely just focusing on SPD, DEF, and Effect Hit Rate unless stacking Effect RES as well. Combined with the presence of 3 different DEF% pieces, it is extremely easy to stack Effect Hit Rate substats to to the point where Fire Trailblazer’s Taunt will always hit all but the highest level enemies. Running an Effect Hit Rate Body renders further sources of Effect Hit Rate nearly worthless, leading to stricter Relic optimization. As Tank Fire Trailblazer generally is not effective as the lone defensive unit against endgame content, 67% EHR is useful, but not required.

SPD

While being durable is important, additional SPD offers opportunities to recover HP and SP via Enhanced Basic ATKs without sacrificing Taunt uptime.

Effect RES

While Effect RES is extremely important to avoiding debilitating Control effects, small amounts of Effect RES do not change the odds of powerful enemies hitting their Crowd Control effects. As such, you should either commit to stacking it, or avoid it in favor of other stats.

Warrior

The preferred build for Fire Trailblazer in endgame. The suggestions given assume that you are making use of any one of the Harmony characters available in Version 1.5 of Honkai: Star Rail and suggested stats may change with the release of future Harmony characters who offer different buffs.

Warrior Fire Trailblazer should be used alongside an additional defensive character in circumstances where incoming damage is too high for them to effectively deal with alone.

Light Cones


Moment of Victory
Easily the Best-in-Slot Light Cone for Fire Trailblazer, Moment of Victory offers everything that they could possibly want and makes Belobog of the Architects far easier to activate.

If you are particularly attached to running Fire Trailblazer in your teams, buying Moment of Victory from the shop may be worth doing. It is simply that much better than all other options.

Day One of My New Life
The best readily available 4-Star option for more aggressive builds, Day One of My New Life offers high Base DEF, additional DEF%, and increased durability to allies to compensate for weaker Shields. The All-Type RES offered by Day One of My New Life stacks additively with other sources of All-Type RES, though there are not currently ways to do so.

This Is Me!
Available from Nameless Glory, This Is Me! offers even more offensive power in the form of a large increase to the DEF scaling of Fire Trailblazer’s Ultimate, as well as DEF on par with 5-Star Light Cones and an additional DEF% bonus atop that.

While a very strong option, its availability is restricted to only those able to purchase Nameless Glory, and Fire Trailblazer’s Ultimate requiring 120 Energy with no capacity to fit Energy Regeneration Rate in their Relics drags down this Light Cone’s value somewhat.

Landau’s Choice
Increasing Fire Trailblazer’s aggro leads to more Magma Will stacks, directly translating to a damage increase. The additional Energy from being attacked more often only further benefits Fire Trailblazer’s damage output. Taking less damage can be helpful, but it is unlikely that Fire Trailblazer will be knocked down when running two defensive characters.

Loses some value in AoE-heavy scenarios where redirecting attacks is not possible.

Destiny’s Threads Forewoven
Tailored to Warrior Fire Trailblazer’s needs, Destiny’s Threads Forewoven is both freely available from the Forgotten Hall shop and acquired by progressing through the Penacony storyline. The DEF to DMG% conversion offered by this Light Cone pairs well with Fire Trailblazer’s DEF-scaling Ultimate and Enhanced Basic ATK.

Destiny’s Threads Forewoven requires 4000 DEF in order to max out its DMG% bonus. While possible to reach, this value requires particularly DEF-heavy relics, and should not be prioritized over properly balancing Warrior Fire Trailblazer’s stats.

Relics

Relic Sets

4-Pc Knight of Purity Palace
Extremely important for Fire Trailblazer, offering the largest available increase to their shielding capacity. It is nearly impossible to justify running any other set on them regardless of build. For Warrior Fire Trailblazer, even with less emphasis on DEF stacking, the sheer amount of extra Shield strength gained from the 4-Pc effect of Knight of Purity Palace makes it extremely difficult to justify not using it.

When using 4-Pc Knight of Purity Palace with maxed Traces, Fire Trailblazer converts about 10.08% of their DEF to Shields with 139 base Shield.

4-Pc Musketeer of Wild Wheat
Being readily available from Echo of War and chests, Musketeer of Wild Wheat can be acquired without much effort. While strictly inferior to Knight of Purity Palace by a large margin, the additional ATK% and Basic ATK DMG% can be useful to take advantage of Fire Trailblazer’s Enhanced Basic ATK’s high scaling.

Useful if you do not have or do not want to farm for Knight of Purity Palace, but should be replaced when possible.

2-Pc Firesmith of Lava-Forging / 2-Pc Knight of Purity Palace
While tempting, due to Fire Trailblazer wanting DMG% when built more aggressively, 2-Pc combinations should generally be avoided. Musketeer of Wild Wheat is easier to acquire and Knight of Purity Palace is the best option in all situations. If you happen to have spare pieces with sufficiently high stats, you can make use of 2-Pc Firesmith of Lava-Forging until you manage to complete your 4-Pc Knight of Purity Palace set.
Planar Ornaments

Belobog of the Architects
The additional shielding offered by Belobog of the Architects is always useful. While 50% Effect Hit Rate can be difficult to reach in more offense-oriented builds, even unactivated Belobog is still valuable.

Becomes better when run with the 5-Star Light Cone Moment of Victory, which allows easier activation of Belobog of the Architect’s additional 15% DEF buff.

Frontline Firmament: Glamoth
Less efficient to farm than Inert Salsotto, which shares a cavern with Belobog of the Architects, but potentially more impactful. Fire Trailblazer’s low SPD stat of 95 can make reaching the 135 SPD required to activate Frontline Firmament: Glamoth difficult, but its 12% DMG bonus is more impactful than the 15% DMG Bonus to Ultimates from Inert Salsotto.

Inert Salsotto
Inert Salsotto offers 8% CRIT Rate up front, and the 50% CRIT Rate requirement is mostly taken care of by running a CRIT Rate Body. The 15% DMG bonus to Ultimates is useful, but mostly serves as a small bonus atop the 8% CRIT Rate.

Penacony: Land of the Dreams
Strong, but very niche, Penacony: Land of Dreams is an excellent option for Warrior Fire Trailblazer when paired with a Fire-Type damage dealer. As a secondary defensive unit, it can be difficult to meet the conditions required to use Penacony: Land of Dreams as its optimal use case requires fights to be challenging enough to warrant a second defensive character, while also being best fought by a Fire-Type damage dealer. When these conditions are met however, Penacony: Land of Dreams becomes one of the best options for Warrior Fire Trailblazer.

The 5% Energy Regeneration Rate is occasionally useful, allowing for a 3 Enhanced Basic ATK, one Basic ATK rotation provided Warrior Fire Trailblazer generates 4.5 Energy from taking damage.

Fleet of the Ageless
Fleet of the Ageless offers very little benefit to Fire Trailblazer, but it does buff their allies, helps Fire Trailblazer endure Taunted attacks, and does not require any specific changes to their equipment to activate its party-wide buff. While outperformed by other sets, it is a perfectly fine option.

Broken Keel
Best used alongside the Light Cone Destiny’s Threads Forewoven, Broken Keel offers a party-wide buff to CRIT DMG and potentially helps Warrior Fire Trailblazer resist enemy debuffs.

When not using Destiny’s Threads Forewoven, it is very difficult to justify using Broken Keel over other options. Warrior Fire Trailblazer wants a wide variety of stats and without Destiny’s Threads Forewoven, acquiring enough Effect RES to have a chance of resisting enemy debuffs requires too much investment to be practical.

Main Stats


Body

Boots

Sphere

Rope
CRIT Rate or DEF%SPDFire DMG% or DEF%DEF% or Break Effect
Substats

DEF > SPD > CRIT > ATK
OR
DEF > Break Effect > SPD > ATK

Break Effect

Fire Trailblazer is not necessarily the best character for inflicting Weakness Break, as Asta, Himeko, and Hook are all more effective at Breaking enemies than Fire Trailblazer. Furthermore, there are no Preservation Light Cones that help with inflicting Weakness Break, and only one 3-Star Light Cone that benefits from it.

Break Effect is good when it works, but defensive characters are often brought to fights where the enemy is not Weak against their attacks, reducing its value on Fire Trailblazer. If enemies are weak to Fire-Type damage and Fire Trailblazer is able to reliably trigger the Weakness Break instead of another character on the team, Break Effect is effective.

ATK% and CRIT DMG

While Fire Trailblazer’s attacks scale well with ATK%, and building CRIT Rate naturally leads to wanting additional CRIT DMG, they are also the most commonly buffed stats from allies. Warrior Fire Trailblazer typically wants to build their stats to maximize the benefits gained from allies instead of further sacrificing defensive effectiveness.

If you are running Fire Trailblazer over another damage dealer or buffer, it is because you value the additional durability their Shields bring to the team. Building more offensively helps to offset the damage loss of bringing a second defensive character, but you should not sacrifice their role as a defensive character to chase offensive stats.

Effect Hit Rate

When being played as a Warrior instead of a Tank, Fire Trailblazer’s Skill becomes more valuable for reducing incoming AoE damage as opposed to redirecting attacks off of allies. Reaching the Effect Hit Rate required to guarantee their Taunt is a large investment for little reward.

Character Comparisons

March 7th

March 7th Sticker 01 - March 7th

March 7th’s potent single-target shielding and aggro-drawing capabilities help her to focus attacks on characters such as Clara and keep them alive through focus fire. Fire Trailblazer instead focuses on improving the overall team survivability and at the cost of being a less versatile tool, their guaranteed Taunt has less randomness than simply increasing a character’s aggro. 

Both March 7th and Fire Trailblazer are prone to consuming large amounts of the party’s overall SP budget when attempting to act as the sole defensive unit of a team. However, Fire Trailblazer’s kit tends to be the more reliable of the two for general use as a second defensive pick, due to its higher reliability, better resilience against AoE damage, and higher damage output. March is instead more prone to higher highs and lower lows, with some fights forcing her to constantly utilize her Skill even as a secondary defensive unit.

Gepard

Gepard Sticker - Second Closed Beta

As a solo sustain unit, Gepard is a vastly superior option to Fire Trailblazer, offering significantly stronger Shields through his Ultimate that can actually manage to stop damage. If you’re simply looking for a Preservation unit who prevents incoming damage, you should always run Gepard over Fire Trailblazer.

Gepard, however, struggles to do damage, both to enemy HP and Toughness bars. This can make Gepard an extremely awkward pick as a second defensive unit, as you have more than likely committed half your team to not dealing damage. This places the entire burden of both direct damage and Toughness damage onto one or two characters and minimizes the value of party-wide buffs.

If you are only bringing one defensive unit, Gepard is always the superior pick.

Notable Synergies

March 7th Sticker 01 - March 7th
March 7th
As March 7th counterattacks whenever an ally with a Shield is attacked, and Fire Trailblazer provides Shields on every action, combining the two maximizes the value of March 7th’s Talent while helping to deal with her struggles against AoE damage.

This pairing becomes even better as March 7th gains Eidolons, granting her the ability to heal as well as significant buffs to her counterattacks.
Fu Xuan Sticker 03 - Celestial Eyes Above Mortal Ruins
Fu Xuan
In spite of her Preservation status, Fu Xuan focuses on dividing damage between allies and herself and healing. Fire Trailblazer’s Shield may not be strong enough to stop all incoming damage directed to Fu Xuan, but the constant Shields ensure her teammates can survive through anything, often without taking any damage at all.

Due to how Fu Xuan’s durability works, Fire Trailblazer’s Shield is often sufficient to completely negate the potential of Fu Xuan’s death from redirected damage. The worst case scenario of Fu Xuan being exactly 1 HP above her Talent activation threshold is made far less perilous with constant shielding and the potential for increased damage resistance.

AoE Buffers
Fire Trailblazer’s high Basic ATK damage allows them to benefit from the teamwide buffs of Harmony characters. Not all Harmony characters offer teamwide buffs however, and while their Basic ATK is strong, it is not worth buffing over a dedicated damage dealer.

Any Abundance
Combining healing and shielding is always a potent combination for survival, and Fire Trailblazer’s higher damage output relative to other Preservation units minimizes the loss of damage output from doing so.

Notable Anti-Synergies

Gepard Sticker - Second Closed Beta
Gepard
Shields from multiple sources do not stack, and Gepard’s increased aggro drawing capabilities conflict with the assured Taunt of Fire Trailblazer. Both characters end up fighting over benefits that do not stack with each other and lose out on a lot of their potential when paired together.
Clara Sticker - Second Closed Beta
Clara
Clara wants to take hits, but Fire Trailblazer’s Taunt pulls attacks away. The added focus fire of Clara’s Counter-centric playstyle quickly chews through Fire Trailblazer’s Shield when there are multiple enemies, and other defensive units simply offer Clara more benefits while helping Clara to tank hits for the party.

Teams

Tank

Fire Trailblazer — Support — Support — Damage

While generally not suggested past the early game, there is nothing stopping you from building teams in which Fire Trailblazer is the sole defensive unit. These teams are most common on relatively fresh accounts delving into Memory of Chaos for the first time, where they may not have any other defensive characters besides Fire Trailblazer, March 7th, and Natasha.

When building teams where Fire Trailblazer is the sole defensive option, prioritize either characters who can clear quickly or can endure damage well.

Example Teams

Dan Heng • Imbibitor Lunae
Fire Trailblazer — Tingyun — Pela — Imbibitor Lunae

Dan Heng • Imbibitor Lunae possesses the raw damage output to clear fights before Fire Trailblazer’s weak shielding becomes an issue. Imbibitor Lunae’s increased aggro as a Destruction character helps to draw Blast attacks to the corners where they deal less overall damage to the team.

Warrior

Fire Trailblazer — Defensive — Support — Damage

As Warrior Fire Trailblazer is typically a utility pick taken to provide extra durability without losing as much offensive power as other options, their list of potential teams is virtually limitless. The teams below are more to illustrate how Fire Trailblazer fits into and benefits them, as opposed to fixed suggestions.

Example Teams

Wildfire
 Fire Trailblazer — Natasha — Bronya — Seele

A thematically fitting team for Fire Trailblazer that nonetheless takes full advantage of their kit. With Eidolons, Natasha generates Energy whenever she is damaged, allowing any Taunted Blast attacks that strike Fire Trailblazer to fuel Natasha’s Ultimate. Fire Trailblazer easily takes advantage of Bronya’s ATK and CRIT DMG buffs with their powerful Enhanced Basic ATK, while also fueling Seele’s unending hunger for SP.

Xianzhou Luofu
Fire Trailblazer — Fu Xuan — Yukong — Jing Yuan

Another thematic team that makes use of every facet of Fire Trailblazer. Fu Xuan’s damage redirection can come at a risk of instant death against AoE damage, particularly if she ends up just barely above her healing threshold. Fire Trailblazer’s Shield helps to improve Fu Xuan’s durability, and the extra Damage Reduction from Fire Trailblazer’s Taunt further shores up Fu Xuan’s defenses against the worst that enemies can throw at her. Yukong and Fu Xuan both buff CRIT stats, which both Jing Yuan and Fire Trailblazer can take full advantage of. Taunt can be used to redirect Crowd Control effects away from Jing Yuan, preventing any potential loss of Lightning-Lord stacks or actions.

Asta Express
Fire Trailblazer — March 7th — Asta — Dan Heng

A free team that nonetheless works well together. Fire Trailblazer’s constant Shields provide a continuous stream of follow-up attacks from March 7th’s Talent. Asta’s SPD and ATK buffing helps to maximize the amount of follow-up attacks that March 7th can do, and Dan Heng’s Talent can be activated by March 7th’s Skill and Asta’s Ultimate. The enemy SPD reduction offered by Dan Heng’s Skill is useful as well.

Credits

Authors

AnemoneMeer
Sushou
Arbutus unedo

Editors

ducc
Ley
N[L]Rem

Publishers

Chase
spphrs

Changelog

  • 3 December 2023 – Published for v1.5
  • 8 December 2023 – Added Infographics (v1.5)
  • 12 February 2024 – Updated for Version 2.0

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