Aventurine is a top-tier Honkai: Star Rail shielder and sub DPS rolled into one! Here's how you build him plus his best gear and teams

We are now in the second half of Honkai: Star Rail version 2.1 and with it comes the debut of a new 5-star character in Aventurine!

Aventurine wields the Imaginary element and follows the Path of Preservation, able to constantly provide arguably the strongest shield in the game. But he does more than just protect his teammates, as Aventurine can also take on a sub DPS role with constant follow-up attacks.

If you were lucky enough to get Aventurine, then read on as we break down how to build him properly as well as his best Light Cones, relics, and teammates!

Aventurine's kit and how to best utilise him

The relentless gambler

Aventurine is the game's first character to fully scale off his DEF stat, as it makes both his shields sturdier and his attacks hit harder. One of the things that make Aventurine so good is that his shields are always active, as he can generate them with his skill (thereby making his defensive utility not ultimate reliant like Gepard), creates them automatically at the start of battle, while also refreshing and stacking them up as his Talent gets triggered.

Aventurine's skill, Cornerstone Deluxe, lets him provide all his allies with the 'Fortified Wager' shield that can block DMG equal to 24% of his DEF plus 320 for 3 turns at level 10. Fortified Wager can stack up from Aventurine's other abilities up to 200% of the current shield value it has.

Aventurine combines both offensive and defensive utility with his Talent, Shot Loaded Right. It causes all allies with the Fortified Wager shield to receive a 50% Effect RES buff at level 10 while also giving Aventurine 1 stack of 'Blind Bet' whenever they get attacked. Aventurine also gains an additional 1 stack of Blind Bet if he himself was attacked.

Aventurine is also able to resist crowd control debuffs every 2 turns when he has Fortified Wager.

When Aventurine has 7 stacks of Blind Bet, he will consume those stacks to launch a 7-hit follow-up attack at a single random enemy with each hit dealing 25% of his DEF as Imaginary DMG at level 10. Blind Bet also has a max stack cap of 10.

Aventurine's ultimate, Roulette Shark, lets him go all-in on offense by letting him unleash an attack on a single target enemy that deals 270% of his DEF as Imaginary DMG while also inflicting the target with the 'Unnerved' debuff for 3 turns. When allies hit an enemy with the Unnerved debuff, the Crit DMG for that attack is increased by 15%.

In addition, using his ultimate randomly gives Aventurine 1 to 7 stacks of Blind Bet to help immediately trigger his follow-up attack.

Aventurine's major Traces further improve both his offensive and defensive capabilities while also giving him an added synergy with other characters that use follow-up attacks.

Aventurine's A2 Trace, Leverage, gives him a 2% Crit Rate buff for every 100 DEF he has over 1,600 up to maximum 48% Crit Rate bonus when he reaches 4,000 DEF. This Trace makes it easier to build Aventurine as stacking as much DEF as possible on him will also buff his DMG while also strengthening his shields.

His A4 Trace, Hot Hand, lets him grant all allies a Fortified Wager shield equal to one provided by his skill for 3 turns at the start of battle. Gepard mains will know how much it hurts when you start a battle without enough energy to create the shield from his ultimate. Fortunately for players with Aventurine, this will never be a problem.

Meanwhile, Aventurine's A6 Trace, Bingo!, lets him gain 1 stack of Blind Bet whenever an ally launches a follow-up attack. He can gain up to 3 Blind Bet stacks in this way until the start of his next turn.

In addition, when Aventurine triggers the follow-up attack from his Talent, he will provide all allies with a Fortified Wager shield that can block DMG equal to 7.2% of his DEF plus 96. The ally with the weakest shield when the effect is triggered will also receive that bonus shield twice.

Finally, Aventurine's Technique, The Red or the Black, lets you channel his gambling spirit by spending Technique points to randomly gain a party-wide 24%, 36%, or 60% DEF boost for 3 turns at the start of the next battle. Using this Technique repeatedly will retain the highest DEF boost gained.

When leveling up Aventurine's abilities, prioritise his skill and Talent first followed by his ultimate, though you want to have them all maxed out eventually. You also don't need to level up his basic attacks, though they do increase his DMG output somewhat as he wants to use his basic attacks whenever possible during his turn.

Aventurine is able to keep his shields up constantly, as he starts the battle with them already active while also stacking up more when he triggers the follow-up attack from his Talent.

Only use Aventurine's skill when you see your party's shield are low, otherwise just use his basic attacks to generate skill points for the party. And when Aventurine's energy is full, use his ultimate on the enemy you want to focus your offense on to increase the Crit DMG it receives from ally attacks.

Aventurine's best gear

Light Cones

As with any other 5-star character, Aventurine reaches his full potential when he has his signature Light Cone, Inherently Unjust Destiny, as it maximises both his defensive and offensive capabilities.

Aventurine's signature increases his DEF by 40% and lets him gain a 40% Crit DMG buff for 2 turns whenever he provides a shield to an ally. In addition, his follow-up attacks will also inflict a debuff on his target that makes them receive 10% more DMG for 2 turns.

Don't feel forced to pull for Aventurine's signature though, as there are plenty of good 4-star Preservation Light Cones already available, namely Day One of My New Life, Landau's Choice, Trend of the Universal Market, Destiny's Threads Forewoven, or Concert for Two.

Among these, we recommend going for Destiny's Thread Forewoven as it can be acquired and Superimposed for free through the Forgotten Hall's Light Cone Manifest.

At S1, it increases his Effect RES by 12% while increasing his DMG by 0.8% for every 100 DEF he has, up to a maximum DMG boost of 32%. At S5, it increases his Effect RES by 20% while increasing his DMG by 1.2% for every 100 DEF he has, up to a maximum DMG boost of 48%.

Relics

Aventurine's go-to Cavern of Corrosion relic set is the 4-piece Knight of Purity Palace set. It increases his DEF by 15% with its 2-piece bonus while its 4-piece bonus increases the max DMG that shields created by him can absorb by 20%.

If you want to lean more towards Aventurine's offensive capabilities, you can also go for a mixed set of the 2-piece Knight of Purity Palace and 2-piece The Ashblazing Grand Duke sets. The Ashblazing Grand Duke set's 2-piece bonus increases the DMG of follow-up attacks from its wearer by 20%.

Meanwhile, Aventurine's choice for Planar Ornament relics will vary depending on your team's needs.

For a generalist set, we recommend going for the 2-piece Inert Salsotto set, which increases its wielder's Crit Rate by 8% and increases their ultimate and follow-up attack DMG by 15% if their Crit Rate reaches 50% or higher.

If you're looking for a more support-oriented option, go for the 2-piece Broken Keel set. It increases his Effect RES by 10% and grants a party-wide 10% Crit DMG bonus if his Effect RES reaches 30% or higher.

The main stats you should go for Aventurine can vary are Crit Rate/DMG for the body, Speed or ATK% for the feet, ATK% or Lightning DMG Bonus for the Planar Sphere, and ATK% for the Link Rope. Substats you should go for are Crit Rate/DMG, Speed, and ATK%.

Aventurine's best teammates

As a Preservation character, Aventurine can be slotted very comfortably as the solo sustain character for pretty much any team.

With that said, Aventurine's A6 major Trace gives him strong synergy with follow-up DPS characters like Topaz, Dr. Ratio, Jing Yuan, Himeko, and Herta. Their constant follow-up attacks will let Aventurine trigger his Talent's follow-up attack more often and make his shields stronger.

Clara is the only follow-up DPS character that doesn't synergise well with Aventurine as she wants to be the one tanking enemy attacks for the team to trigger her counterattacks. Aventurine's status as a Preservation character will unfortunately tank enemy attacks Clara would prefer going to her instead.

Right now, Aventurine's best team features him as the shielder and sub DPS alongside Topaz and Dr. Ratio, who act as the main damage-dealers. You can then round out this lineup with Ruan Mei as she buffs everyone's DMG, Weakness Break Efficiency, Break DMG, and Speed.

Honkai: Star Rail version 2.1 was released on 27 March and saw the release of three new characters in Acheron, Aventurine, and Gallagher, reruns for Luocha and Jingliu, and two new areas in Penacony. Not only that, version 2.1 is also Honkai: Star Rail's first-year anniversary patch and as such will give players tons of rewards!

If you're still torn on whether you should pull for Aventurine or Jingliu in the second half's banners, then we can help you decide.

After version 2.1 comes version 2.2 in May, featuring two new 5-star characters in Robin and Boothill.

Yan Ku is a full-time dog parent, part-time (gacha) gamer, and part-time writer.

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