Honkai: Star RailTrailblazer • ElationBest build, teams and other guides

[Overview]

The Elation Trailblazer is a solid free support for the Elation archetype. They are able to provide specific benefits to Elation teammates, such as providing Certified Banger points upfront and allowing one ally to instantly use their Elation Skill. They themselves are able to generate Punchline with every attack they use, and can deal Elation DMG based on the highest Certified Banger in the team. While not as meta-defining as their Remembrance form, they are still very potent within their designated archetype.

[Intro]

Aha decided it would be funny to give the racoon lightsticks that turn into lightsabers. THEY'RE right, it is funny.

Going into it immediately, you should temper your expectations. The Elation Trailblazer is definitely not a bad or weak unit, it's not like we've returned to Destruction levels or anything, but if it wasn't already painfully obvious that the Remembrance Trailblazer is an extremely privileged unit, you're going to realise that pretty quickly.

This is nowhere near the level of that Path, and that's fine, but it does mean that deciding which of the two Paths you want to run becomes quite a difficult decision, especially given that the Trailblazer can only participate on one of your teams in the endgame.

If you're all in on the Elation train, then you're going to want to use the Elation Trailblazer, and it's going to be pretty good actually, especially for someone that everyone has access to.

But if you're one of the many older players who have full teams from Amphoreus, or even some teams from Planarcadia, then you may find the trade-off to be less than satisfactory.

This will naturally change over time as more and more Elation units come out, and the need and desire for more Elation units within each Elation team grows; in that case the Elation Trailblazer is going to be a very worthwhile addition, purely for the universal benefits for those Elation teams. Right now there's only really one full Elation team with Silver Wolf lv.999, and while it's definitely far stronger with the premium supports, if all you'll have is the Elation Trailblazer, then you can actually still play the team reasonably well.

Even still, while it's not at the level of Remembrance, you still shouldn't underrate the Elation Trailblazer. There is a skill curve to making the most of them, and if you really know what you're doing, you may even be surprised by how good they are within the Elation setup.

[Abilities]

The Trailblazer's Talent gives them 10 fixed Energy each time they attack, and also generates 3 Punchline for the whole team. This also includes the Certified Banger description, which for them lets their Skill deal an additional 30% Elation DMG to all enemies.

Curiously enough, this Elation DMG is calculated using the highest Certified Banger points on the team, meaning that if someone is zooming far ahead with their Certified Banger, the Trailblazer can mooch off of that value to deal some higher damage.

Their Skill will deal 60% ATK to all enemies and will immediately grant 20 Certified Banger points for themself. This is unique in that it's the first direct generation of Certified Banger without the need to use the Elation Skill through the Aha Instant. This also means that the Trailblazer can guarantee having the effects of their Certified Banger state permanently as long as you have the SP to spare.

Now, 30% Elation DMG is not exactly massive, but it can definitely be a surprising amount of damage to come from this otherwise dedicated support, especially in AoE scenarios. Without Super Wolf or Sparkle on the team however, you may not always have the SP to take advantage of this Skill.

The Ultimate will immediately gain 5 Punchline points and targets an ally to grant them 50% CRIT DMG for 3 turns. This also instantly cleanses all Crowd Control debuffs from the target ally.

If the ally has an Elation Skill, they will instantly gain 10 Certified Banger and then immediately use their own Elation Skill once for free, taking 20 fixed Punchline into account.

Again, a unique gimmick of granting Certified Banger before the Elation Skill. This can actually help ramp up your teammates faster by giving them more Certified Banger than they would otherwise have, meaning their individual benefits are scaled slightly higher, even if it is only by 10 points. The 20 fixed Punchline means it's not too weak either, though it is important to note that this is a single-target Ultimate and only one ally will be affected.

Oh and if the ally doesn't have an Elation Skill, you give them a 50% Action Advance instead, but you'll never use this Path outside of a full Elation team anyway so this will never come up.

Looking at both the Talent and the Ultimate, it's clear that the Elation Trailblazer is essentially a tuned down version of Yao Guang, having similar mechanics but only being able to benefit one ally at a time instead of the whole team.

Despite this, 3 guaranteed Punchline on every single attack they make is pretty good, and it means that SPD is also extremely important for them. If you've been paying attention this has been a running theme for pretty much every Elation unit so far, SPD is king, and the Elation Trailblazer actually has above average base SPD at 106, so even more reason to go for higher SPD to pump that Punchline.

This also benefits the Trailblazer themself because of the 10 fixed Energy they gain from attacks as well, and yes this also includes their own Elation Skill. Their Ultimate costs 160 which is quite steep for being only a single-ally forced Elation Skill, so you want to make sure you have it as often as possible.

Their Elation Skill deals 8 Bounces, with each Bounce dealing 20% Elation DMG to a random enemy, and then finishing off with a final strike of 60% Elation DMG to all enemies. It's actually a pretty good amount of damage you can do, again considering that this is a dedicated Elation support. It's not going to be winning any awards like SW999's Elation Skill, but a total of 220% Elation DMG to a single target is pretty okay, actually.

Worth mentioning is the Technique, as it will grant the team either 20% Elation or 30% Elation for 3 turns at the start of combat. Which one you get is random but it's skewed towards the 20%. Regardless of which you get, it's a sizeable early boost for the whole team, so it warrants a mention.

As you can imagine, being a slightly weaker version of an archetype defining character is quite far from what one might consider 'bad', though it does mean that actually piloting the Elation Trailblazer in a team can be quite a bit more challenging, since you have even more reason to carefully pick and choose who you buff, as well as when.

There's a skill curve to it, and it can feel pretty rough when you're not used to it yet, but please don't write the character off just because YOU'RE struggling to play them. The power is there, if you're worthy.

[Bonus Traces]

A2 is a converter. For every 200 ATK over 1000, the Trailblazer gains 10% Elation, up to a maximum bonus of 60% at 2200 ATK. That's a good amount of Elation you may be thinking, but the base ATK is horrible at only 465, so you're going to need to work for that maximum bonus, even if it's not actually that hard to reach.

Just be sure that this doesn't take away vital substats from the other things you actually want on Elation units, namely being SPD and CRIT stats. You'll get a few free ones from your orb but even with the fixed Energy from the talent, you'll probably want Energy Regen on the rope. Could have been anything else but attack and I would have liked it more, but still, it's there and worth maxing if you want to maximise the damage that the Elation Trailblazer does.

A4 grants 15% CRIT Rate, and restores 1 SP when the Trailblazer uses their Ultimate. Good to make up for the SP you might be consuming on using the Elation Trailblazer's Skill, or to go even more SP positive if you aren't looking to spam the Skill anyway.

Lastly, after an ally uses an Elation Skill, A6 will grant 2 additional points of Certified Banger the next time the Trailblazer uses their Skill. Not the ally, the Trailblazer.

These Traces kinda suck I won't lie. They genuinely look like the kind of stuff we saw pre Penacony, and that's really disappointing. If I had to put a reason for it, it's almost as if it's recompense for the anomaly that was Remembrance Trailblazer, and now the new Path is paying for those sins.

[Eidolons]

As the main character, you're guaranteed to get all these Eidolons for free. The base kit is good, the Bonus Traces are rubbish, and these early Eidolons do a lot of heavy lifting.

E1 makes it so that after using their Skill, the next time they use their Ultimate on an ally will grant an additional 2 Certified Banger points. This stacks up to 3 times, meaning that if you Skill 3 times between Ultimates, when you go to use it, you will be granting an extra 6 Certified Banger. Not hugely impactful but it is still extra damage for the DPS you're buffing.

E2 will increase the Elation of your Ult target ally by 12% for 2 turns. 12% is not a lot, but it's a free boost to Elation, meaning it's still one of the only ways to directly buff Elation DMG.

E4 will make enemies struck by the Trailblazer's Elation Skill take 10% more damage for 2 turns. Being able to apply a Vuln to enemies is very impactful, even if it is only 10%. With how fast Aha will be acting in a full Elation team, it's reasonable to assume this will have full uptime, especially if you're also running Yao Guang, so this is a good boost.

Finally, E6. When using the Elation Skill, the Trailblazer's CRIT DMG will increase by 100% for 3 turns. I'm resisting the urge to call this utterly meaningless, but it's honestly not too far from that reality. The Elation Trailblazer is not a damage dealer, they are a support with damage in their kit. For this to be the E6 is honestly quite laughable.

Don't get me wrong, I said they can do surprisingly decent damage, and that's true, but it's nowhere near enough to justify an entire Eidolon for buffing their personal damage, much less the E6.

The E3 and E5 help to buff the general Abilities further, making the CRIT DMG buff of the Ultimate go to 54%, and slightly amping the general Elation DMG that the Trailblazer does (though again, this isn't saying much).

[The Rest]

A speedy support with an important Ultimate? You know what that means...

Eagle!

You can mald on your own time that yet another is claimed by the funny shenanigans of the Twilight of Eagle Line Relic set (but use Diviner if nobody else is running it).

You may think I've been rather negative so far in this review, and if so, well... you're right. I think it's a bit of an upset to see the new Path be so niche in their use case and not even really innovate anything either.

But again, a discount version of Yao Guang is still really damn good for the team overall, and the Ultimate alone is carrying the value of the kit tremendously. Even if you don't build for any amount of damage whatsoever, if all you do is provide extra Elation Skills to the busted Elation main DPS characters, you are doing a very good job overall.

As alluded to earlier, this can be hard to micromanage depending on the exact main DPS you're with; someone like Super Wolf for example can be a bit tricky to decide when to Ult with the Trailblazer, I mean do you Ult now to get to SW999's Ult faster or do you hold off a bit to get that colossal city nuke of the Enhanced Elation Skill?

Choices and consequences are something that will crop up a lot in future I predict, especially as it depends on the Elation units you bring alongside the Trailblazer. The current premium Elation team for Super Wolf may not make use of the Elation Trailblazer at all unless you forfeit a sustain, as it's a dual DPS comp of Sparxie and Super Wolf, something that the single-target buffing of the Elation Trailblazer can't keep up with.

If you opt for a true hypercarry setup in Elation however, this is where the Elation Trailblazer can really shine through, and being able to fully dedicate their Ultimate to only a single ally can have dramatic consequences for the enemies depending on how stupidly powerful said ally's Elation Skill is.

While Yao Guang and Sparxie are currently quite important for Super Wolf, the Trailblazer can facilitate Super Wolf's kit by enough to make the team actually playable, and then it's a matter of personal skill and stat investment. Is it going to magically make you 0 cycle like the premium Remembrance team or whatever the hell Evernight is? Doubtful. But it's still more than enough to allow you to play with Super Wolf and see moderately good success.

This will change over time as more Elation characters release, as some might be significantly less willing to be paired with a second DPS character, and so in those cases the Elation Trailblazer will also be a natural pairing.

I can't overstate how good it is to just GIVE a free Elation Skill on an Ultimate, but this also means it's even more devastating if you use it incorrectly or at an inopportune time. This is already evident with SW999, but I don't think it's going to get any easier, especially if Elation units have specific buffs or states they want to be in before using their Elation Skill.

It very much seems like the Elation Trailblazer is geared towards supporting a solo act Elation main DPS, and in this regard is quite good at it for Super Wolf already, but could be even better for the upcoming Evanescia, so definitely keep an eye out for that.

'Well if it's like this maybe I'll just use Remembrance Trailblazer on the Elation team instead!' Good flipping god do NOT do that to yourself. The Elation cast vastly outpace the buff provided by Mem, and the constant Action Advancing will also absolutely ruin your Certified Banger state. Whatever value you get from the Action Advance and True DMG buff is completely overridden by the deficit from losing Certified Banger for even just a single turn — what's your Super Wolf gonna be doing with the True DMG buff but without her Banger state, huh? 36% of nothing is still nothing, bozo.

Yeah... just save Remembrance Trailblazer for their own teams okay? You can even make sure that their Path is automatically saved per team preset, so make use of that and you'll be just fine.

If you want to run Elation, then the light-sticks should come out with no questions asked (even if it's through gritted teeth).

[Wrap up]

You need to git gud with this form before you can really pop off, but pop off you shall, and I promise the effort is worth it... if only so you can say you actually know how to play the game. That'd put you ahead of like 90% of this player base, probably. Maybe more.

And hey, as I said, Elation teams are gonna be bigger and better with more units soon most likely, so Elation Trailblazer is definitely going to have a place in the meta, and should not be ignored. Plus they have some of the coolest animations they've ever had on this Path, and that does matter.

After Remembrance Trailblazer, there's potential to maybe get some super cool EXTRA Trace like they got at the end of Amphoreus, so who knows, maybe it'll break them wide open (please do this Hoyo, it would be so funny).

And don't EVER nerf the stacking of Mushy Shroomy's Adventures, that is an actual godsend for everyone involved, this Light Cone is utterly fantastic.