Arlan is a Lightning Destruction character in Honkai: Star Rail who serves as a high-risk, high-reward DPS capable of dealing strong single-target and AoE damage at the cost of his own HP. His kit revolves around sacrificing health instead of using Skill Points, allowing him to attack consistently without draining team resources while scaling his damage the lower his HP gets LootBar. His Ultimate delivers powerful Lightning AoE damage, making him effective against multiple enemies, while his Talent reduces incoming damage when his HP is low, helping him stay alive despite his self-sacrificing playstyle. As a unique and aggressive damage dealer, Arlan is especially valuable for players who want a SP-efficient DPS that can maintain constant pressure throughout battle.
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Arlan Character Overview
Arlan is a 4-star Lightning Destruction DPS in Honkai: Star Rail who specializes in dealing strong single-target and AoE damage while sacrificing his own HP instead of using Skill Points. His gameplay centers around trading survivability for consistent damage output, allowing him to stay active every turn without consuming team resources. This makes Arlan a unique SP-efficient DPS who can maintain constant pressure, but requires careful management to avoid being defeated.
His combat flow revolves around managing his HP while maximizing damage output. Arlan’s Skill consumes his HP instead of Skill Points, dealing Lightning damage and allowing him to attack repeatedly without draining the team’s economy. This gives him a very aggressive playstyle where he can keep dealing damage every turn as long as he survives. His Ultimate delivers strong Blast Lightning damage, making him effective at both wave clearing and focused pressure on tougher enemies.
His Talent defines his high-risk identity, granting him increased damage based on how much HP he has lost, meaning the lower his HP, the higher his damage output becomes. This creates a playstyle where Arlan performs best when staying at low HP, balancing between maximum damage and survivability.
Arlan’s Traces further support this playstyle with survivability tools rather than raw damage buffs. His A2 Tracerestores HP when he defeats an enemy at low HP, helping him recover and avoid accidental deaths. His A4 Trace increases resistance to DoT debuffs, making him less vulnerable to damage-over-time effects. His A6 Trace provides a protective effect at the start of battle when he is at low HP, allowing him to briefly negate incoming damage and stabilize early in combat.
Together, these passives make Arlan a high-risk, high-reward DPS who relies on careful HP management and proper support to fully unlock his damage potential.
Arlan Trace priority
| Talent | Priority |
| Skill | ★★★★★ (Top) |
| Ultimate | ★★★★☆ (High) |
| Talent | ★★★★☆(High) |
| Basic | ★★★☆☆(Medium) |
Arlan is a high-risk DPS whose damage is concentrated mainly in his Skill and Talent, making proper leveling priorities important for maximizing both his output and consistency. Since his playstyle revolves around spamming his Skill without using Skill Points while staying at low HP, investing in the right abilities will significantly improve his performance.
His Skill should be your top priority, as it is the core of his kit and his most frequently used ability. Instead of consuming Skill Points, it costs HP to use, allowing Arlan to attack every turn without draining team resources. Because of how often it is used and how much of his total damage comes from it, leveling this ability provides the biggest and most immediate DPS increase.
His Ultimate comes next in priority, as it provides strong Lightning Blast damage and helps with both wave clearing and additional burst. While it is not used as often as his Skill, it still plays an important role in his overall damage output and is worth investing in after his main ability.
His Talent is also a high priority, as it directly increases his damage based on how much HP he has lost. This is what enables his high-risk, high-reward playstyle, allowing him to deal significantly more damage when played at low HP. While it doesn’t deal damage on its own, it heavily amplifies all of his attacks, making it very valuable over the course of a fight.
His Basic ATK is the lowest priority, as it is rarely used in practice. Since Arlan does not rely on Skill Points, he almost always prefers using his Skill instead, making his Basic ATK largely irrelevant for his overall damage.
Overall, Arlan’s optimal investment path focuses on maximizing his Skill first, followed by his Ultimate and Talent, while leaving his Basic ATK for last, ensuring you get the most value out of his HP-based damage playstyle.
Arlan Best Light Cones
When choosing a Light Cone for Arlan, the main goal is to increase his overall damage while supporting his HP-based playstyle.
Focus on Offensive Stats: Arlan performs best with Light Cones that provide ATK%, CRIT Rate/CRIT DMG, or DMG% boosts, since most of his damage comes from repeatedly using his Skill. Because he doesn’t consume Skill Points, he benefits greatly from consistent offensive bonuses that amplify his frequent attacks.
Overall, the ideal Light Cones for Arlan are those that boost his raw damage and maintain consistency, allowing him to fully capitalize on his high-risk, high-reward DPS playstyle.
| Recommended Light Cones | |
|---|---|
A Secret Vow (4★) | Increases DMG dealt by the wearer by 20%. The wearer also deals an extra 20% of DMG to enemies whose current HP percentage is equal to or higher than the wearer’s current HP percentage. |
On the Fall of an Aeon (5★) | When the wearer attacks, increases their ATK by 8% in this battle. This effect can stack up to 4 time(s). After the wearer breaks an enemy’s Weakness, increases DMG dealt by 12%, lasting for 2 turn(s). |
Arlan Relics, Ornaments & Stats Priority
1. Relics
For Arlan, there are two strong Relic choices: Band of Sizzling Thunder and Scholar Lost in Erudition.
If you want a set that offers moreconsistent and reliable damage, Band of Sizzling Thunder is usually the better option. It increases Lightning DMG and provides an ATK boost after using Skill, which fits perfectly with Arlan’s playstyle since he uses his Skill almost every turn. This allows him to maintain steady damage output throughout the fight.
On the other hand, Scholar Lost in Erudition is a strong alternative if you want to place more emphasis on his Skill and Ultimate damage. Since a large portion of Arlan’s damage comes from these abilities, the set can perform very well, especially if you’re aiming for more direct offensive scaling rather than consistent buffs.
Overall, Band of Sizzling Thunder is generally the more natural and consistent choice, while Scholar Lost in Erudition works as a solid alternative depending on your build and available pieces.
| Recommended Relics | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1st | Band of Sizzling Thunder | 2-PC Increases Lightning DMG by 10%. 4-PC When the wearer uses their Skill, increases the wearer's ATK by 20% for 1 turn(s). |
| 2nd | Scholar Lost in Erudition | 2-PC Increases CRIT Rate by 8%. 4-PC Increases DMG dealt by Skill and Ultimate by 20%. After using Ultimate, additionally increases the DMG dealt by the next Skill by 25%. |
2. Planar Ornaments
Rutilant Arena, Firmament Frontline: Glamoth and Inert Salsotto are relatively close to each other. Choose based on which set has the best substats.
| Recommended Planar Ornaments | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1st | Rutilant Arena | 2-PC Increases the wearer's CRIT Rate by 8%. When the wearer's current CRIT Rate reaches 70% or higher, the wearer's Basic ATK and Skill DMG increase by 20%. |
| 2nd | Firmament Frontline: Glamoth | 2-PC Increases the wearer's ATK by 12%. When the wearer's SPD is equal to or higher than 135/160, the wearer deals 12%/18% more DMG. |
| 3rd | Inert Salsotto | 2-PC Increases the wearer's CRIT Rate by 8%. When the wearer's current CRIT Rate reaches 50% or higher, the wearer's Ultimate and follow-up attack DMG increases by 15%. |
3. Stat priority
| Main Stats | |
| Body | CRIT Rate >= CRIT DMG |
| Feet | Speed >= ATK% |
| Planar Sphere | Lightning DMG > ATK% |
| Link Rope | ATK% |
| Sub-Stats Priority | |
| CRIT RATE = CRIT DMG > ATK% = SPD | |
Arlan Team Recommendations
Arlan mainly wants teammates who can keep him alive without healing him too much, while also boosting his overall damage. Since his kit revolves around staying at low HP to maximize damage, he benefits more from shielders and defensive supports rather than traditional healers.
The most important thing is surrounding him with allies who can provide shields, damage reduction, and offensive buffs like ATK, CRIT, or DMG amplification. Shielders are especially valuable because they allow Arlan to stay at low HP safely, preventing him from being defeated while still maintaining his damage bonuses. In contrast, heavy healing can actually reduce his damage potential by pushing his HP too high.
For the final slot, a sustain unit is still important, but it should ideally be a shielder or light healer rather than a full healer. This keeps the team stable without interfering with Arlan’s playstyle. Overall, Arlan works best in hypercarry-style teams with shield support, where the focus is on protecting him at low HP and amplifying his damage output.
| Main Dps | Support | Support | Sustain |
Arlan | Sparkle | Sunday | Dan Heng • Permansor Terrae |
Arlan | Sparkle | Tribbie | Aventurine |
Arlan | Sunday | Ruan Mei | Dan Heng • Permansor Terrae |
Arlan | Bronya | Tribbie | Aventurine |
Arlan | Bronya | Tingyun | Trailblazer (preservation) |
Arlan Eidolons
| Eidolon | Rating | Effect |
E1 | ★☆☆☆☆ | When HP percentage is lower than or equal to 50% of Max HP, increases DMG dealt by Skill by 10%. The effect of E1 is fairly underwhelming and a small damage increase. |
E2 | ★☆☆☆☆ | Using Skill or Ultimate removes 1 debuff from this unit. A very situational E2. If you are already using a sustain this doesn't matter much. |
E3 | ★★★☆☆ | Skill Lv. +2, up to a maximum of Lv. 15.Basic ATK Lv. +1, up to a maximum of Lv. 10. A solid E3, as he benefits from additional Skill levels. |
E4 | ★★☆☆☆ | When struck by a killing blow after entering battle, instead of becoming knocked down, Arlan immediately restores his HP to 25% of his Max HP. This effect is automatically removed after it is triggered once or after 2 turn(s) have elapsed. A situational but meaningful E4 that provides a revive. |
E5 | ★★★☆☆ | Ultimate Lv. +2, up to a maximum of Lv. 15.Talent Lv. +2, up to a maximum of Lv. 15. A decent E5 that improves his Ultimate damage and slightly boosts his talent scaling. |
E6 | ★★★★★ | When the current HP percentage drops to 50% or below, Ultimate deals 20% more DMG, and the DMG multiplier for adjacent targets is raised to the same level as that for the primary target. A good E6 that helps Arlan deal much more damage. |
Conclusion
While Arlan may not be the most meta or safest DPS option in Honkai: Star Rail, he remains a unique and effective damage dealer for players who enjoy a more aggressive, high-risk playstyle. His ability to deal consistent damage without consuming Skill Points makes him especially valuable in certain team compositions, and when paired with the right shield support, he can maintain strong pressure throughout a fight. While he requires more careful management compared to standard DPS units, he can still deliver solid performance, particularly in the early to mid stages of the game.
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