Honkai Star Rail Aventurine kit and Traces priority

Honkai: Star Rail's Aventurine kit finally gives folks without Fu Xuan a decent Preservation sustain option. Aventurine creates shields with his skill for the whole party, and they stack, two very simple things that make a world of difference in challenging battles.

His kit has half a dozen more features built in, and there's quite a bit to keep track of. Our Honkai Star Rail Aventurine kit breakdown explains how it all works and what your Aventurine trace priority should look like.

Aventurine basic attack: Straight Bet

Aventurine deals Imaginary damage equal to 50/110 percent of his defense to a single foe.

Aventurine skill: Cornerstone Deluxe

Aventurine provides shields called Fortified Wager to all party members that last for three turns and block damage equal to 16/24 percent of Aventurine’s defense plus an additional 80/320 damage. The shields Aventurine provides stack, and the effect can stack up to 200 percent of the original shield’s value.

Aventurine ultimate: Roulette Shark

Aventurine gains between one and seven stacks of Blind Bet and deals Imaginary damage equal to 162/270 percent of his defense to a single target. Roulette Shark inflicts the Unnerved debuff on the targeted foe, which lasts for three turns and increases the amount of critical damage that enemy receives by nine/15 percent.

Aventurine talent: Shot Loaded Right

Allies with Aventurine’s Fortified Wager shields receive a 25/50 percent effect resistance buff. This buff does not stack with additional Fortified Wager shields. If Aventurine has a Fortified Wager shield, and an enemy attack him, he gains one stack of Blind Bet. He unleashes a follow-up attack when he gains seven Blind Bet stacks, a seven-hit bounce attack that deals Imaginary damage equal to 12.5/25 percent of Aventurine’s defense with each random hit.

Aventurine technique: The Red or the Black

Aventurine triggers one of three possible effects:

• High chance to increase defense by 24 percent
• Middling chance to increase defense by 36 percent
• Small chance to increase defense by 60 percent

The effect lasts for three turns after battle starts, and it doesn’t stack. If you use Aventurine’s technique multiple times, your party only retains the most recent value.

Aventurine bonus Traces

Aventurine gets a well-rounded set of bonus Traces, so it’s worth unlocking them all as soon as you can – especially his A3.

• Leverage (ascension 2): Aventurine’s crit rate increases by two percent for every 100 of his defense that exceeds 1,600. He can gain an additional 48 percent. You’d need 4,000 defense to hit that max buff, which is a major ask. It’s worth aiming for as much as you can without driving yourself mad, though. High defense boosts his other skills, and if you’re using Inert Salsotto, it makes activating that set’s buff easier to do without giving up other Relic stats for it.
• Hot Hand (ascension 4): Aventurine automatically applies Fortified Wager to all party members and himself when battle starts.
• Bingo! (ascension 6): Aventurine gains one Blind Bet stack when an ally with Fortified Wager uses a follow-up attack. This effect can happen three times, and the effect count resets during Aventurine’s turn. When Aventurine uses his own follow-up attack after gaining seven Blind Bet stacks, he creates two Fortified Wager shields without consuming skill points. The first Fortified Wager blocks damage equal to 7.2 percent of Aventurine’s defense plus an additional 96, and the second is the same, but applies only to the party member who currently has the weakest shield. Both Fortified Wagers last the usual three turns.

Aventurine Traces priority

Aventurine’s kit has a lot going on, but he’s a Preservation character. He exists to shield your party, so anything else is just a bonus. Make his skill your top priority, followed by his talent. A 50 percent effect resistance buff is nothing to scoff at. Aventurine’s ultimate deals a lot of damage, but the Unnerved state’s crit damage increase is comparatively small – definitely not big enough to warrant spending materials on it first.

When you’ve got some spare mats, spend them on his basic attack. Scaling on defense means it’ll deal a respectable amount of damage – especially with the Leverage bonus Trace – though it shouldn’t be a main priority.

The short version of that is:

• Skill
• Talent
• Ultimate
• Basic attack

If you're wondering who might work with Aventurine, check out our Honkai Star Rail tier list, and head over to our Star Rail codes page for some freebies to help with your next pull.