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Best Honkai Star Rail Arlan build

The best Honkai Star Rail Arlan build complements his high-risk, high-reward DPS kit like lightning in a bottle, and keeps this glass cannon unit on his feet.

Arlan stands at his post as security aboard the Herta Space Station, though his congenial nature can turn deadly with the best Honkai Star Rail Arlan build.

What is the best Honkai Star Rail Arlan build? Bringing the Head of Security at the Herta Space Station onto your team is a worthy one, but may require a little bit more planning to make his complex and oftentimes stressful kit work in your favor. Contrary to his Security Leader status, Arlan doesn’t really know how to take care of himself as his key passive ability increases his damage output the lower his HP gets. However, with some clever tweaking, he’ll become quite the powerhouse.

While not ranking the highest on our Honkai Star Rail tier list due to his complexity in the early game, our best Honkai Star Rail Arlan build will transform him into a strong DPS unit among the full roster of Honkai Star Rail characters. However, the best units to pair him with can typically be found in the latest banners, so we highly recommend checking out our up-to-date list of HSR codes to scoop up any free Stellar Jade going spare. All that said, here’s the best Arlan build you can craft in Honkai Star Rail.

What is the best Honkai Star Rail Arlan build?

The best build for Arlan is:

  • Light Cone  On the Fall of an Aeon
  • Relics  Band of Sizzling Thunder
  • Planar Ornaments – Space Sealing Station set
  • Eidolon Turn the Tables
  • Team comp – Arlan, Tingyun, Gepard, Bronya

Arlan’s risky passive is his strength, which we can capitalize on by choosing equipment that offers multiple boosts to his ATK stat, where the main goal is to pull off the biggest ultimates possible on the first turn. By entering fights at low HP and with his energy fully charged, we can pair him with lightning and ATK-aligned equipment, and even aim for some later Eidolon survivability to get the most out of him.

The best Honkai Star Rail Arlan build leans on low HP

Best Arlan Light Cones

The best Light Cones for Arlan are:

Light Cone Effect
On the Fall of an Aeon (five-star) Whenever the wearer attacks, their attack is increased by 8% in this battle, up to four times. When the wearer inflicts weakness break on enemies, the wearer’s damage increases by 12% for two turns.
A Secret Vow (four-star) Increases damage dealt by the wearer by 20%. The wearer also deals an extra 20% of damage to enemies with a higher HP percentage than the wearer.
Collapsing Sky (three-star) Increases the wearer’s basic attack and skill damage by 20%.

While some may think A Secret Vow meshes well with Arlan’s kit, we wouldn’t wholly disagree. He’s meant to be run at low HP, so the extra damage increase when attacking those with more HP than him is solid. However, On the Fall of an Aeon allows you to stack multiple attack boosts, on top of an added weakness break damage buff, making it overall the more consistent Honkai Star Rail Light Cone option.

Best Arlan Relics

The best Arlan Relics are:

Relics Effect
Band of Sizzling Thunder set (four-piece) Increases Lightning damage by 10%. When Arlan uses his skill, his attack increases by 20% for one turn.

It’s a simple choice for Arlan, we want to increase damage across the board for him, which the lightning-aligned Band of Sizzling Thunder set provides. The key is timing the usage of his ultimate directly after his skill in order to take full advantage of that 20% increase provided by the Honkai Star Rail relics in this set. With some good support or defense debuffs applied to the enemy, Arlan’s Frenzied Punishment will shock your foes into quick submission.

Best Arlan Planar Ornaments

The best Arlan Planar Ornaments are:

Planar Ornaments Effect
Space Sealing Station (two-piece) Increases Arlan’s attack by 12%. When Arlan’s speed reaches 120 or higher, he’ll receive an extra 12% attack on top

Our choice for Arlan’s best planar ornaments is the easily acquirable Space Sealing Station set, which is an equally easy jump in his attack stat, pairing him with a speed-increasing support unit like our best Asta build will help Arlan pop off quickly.

The best Honkai Star Rail Arlan build relies heavily on relics

Best Arlan Eidolon

The best Eidolon for Arlan is:

Eidolon Effect
Level Four: Turn the Tables When struck by a killing blow in battle, Arlan immediately restores HP to 25% of his max HP. The effect is removed after it is triggered once, or after two turns have expired.

Arlan’s passive talent lines him up to be one of the quintessential glass cannon builds in Honkai Star Rail, so ideally, we want to increase his viability through survivability with Turn the Tables. With Arlan requiring low HP to maximize his DPS, the first turns of any battle will be the most crucial, so working towards this later Eidolon level increases his ability to stay alive. Without the Eidolon, running a tank like Gepard or the fire Trailblazer can be a good alternative in the meantime.

Arlan Ascension Materials

The Ascension Materials for Arlan are:

  • Lightning Crown of the Past Shadow (Ascension only)
  • Destroyer’s Final Road
  • Worldbreaker Blade/Lifeless Blade/Shattered Blade
  • Squirming Core/Glimmering Core/Extinguished Core

As always, Worldbreaker Blades and Lifeless Blades can be the more worrisome of drops to guarantee from Calyx (Crimson): Path of Destruction. If you’ve been participating in the gacha side of things, you’ll likely have some Undying Embers left over that you could use to purchase the base Shattered Blades and synthesize them forward to use in Arlan’s valuable Trace upgrades.

The best Arlan team comp is a mixed bag

Best Arlan team comp

Arlan’s best team comp is:

Party Member Role Light Cones Relics
Arlan DPS On the Fall of an Aeon Band of Sizzling Thunder, Space Sealing Station
Tingyun Support Carve the Moon Weave the Clouds Band of Sizzling Thunder, Sprightly Vonwacq
Gepard Tank Moment of Victory Knight of Purity Palace, Belobog of the Ancients
Bronya Support But the Battle Isn’t Over Eagle of Twilight Line, Fleet of the Ageless

Arlan is best situated amongst plenty of attack-boosting support, provided in spades by the damage buffs attached to Tingyun and Bronya’s ultimates. When popped in tandem, Arlan’s DPS soars into explosive territory, with Gepard nearby to tank and keep our little lightning nuke from getting fried on the enemy’s upcoming turn, should they even survive. There’s plenty of energy regeneration at play here from our support units too, which should end any battle quickly and resolutely in Arlan’s favour.

Now, that’s everything you’ll need to put together the best Honkai Star Rail Arlan build. While chasing his level four Eidolon is all down to luck, it’s made easier by spending your Honkai Star Rail Undying Starlight on Star Rail passes for bonus Warps. We also recommend checking out the likes of Blade and Kafka as we approach the Honkai Star Rail 1.2 release date for more damage-dealing synergy.