With so many incredible characters to choose from, knowing who to pull for and who to skip is an interesting dilemma in Honkai: Star Rail. Version 2.1 is the next step in the Astral Express’ journey through Penacony, the land of dreams, fakeries and fantasy. As many will have experienced during 2.0, Penacony is home to many fanatical and intriguing characters, all of whom seem to be in it for their own gain and benefit. During Honkai: Star Rail 2.1, you’ll have the chance to claim some of these characters for yourself as four unique 5-stars will be available for players to pull on, with one being the deadly and beautiful Acheron and another being the glitzy gambler Aventurine.
Acheron is the intimidating yet absent-minded Galaxy Ranger whom players first encountered during their visit to Penacony and she promises an exciting new main DPS playstyle which is unlike anything else in Honkai Star Rail. Opposing her is the cunning and crafty Aventurine, one of the IPC’s greatest manipulators, who hopes to find a spot in your roster as a powerful offensive and defensive force of nature. Between these two newcomers and the two enticing reruns coming during 2.1, some Trailblazers may be spoilt for choice when it comes to choosing who to pull for.
In this article, we hope to break down Acheron and Aventuinre, the two newest 5-stars coming to Honkai: Star Rail in Version 2.1, to help you decide which one to pull on. This will include a look at both of their kits and their individual strengths and weaknesses. We’ll also be taking a look at the two characters rerunning during 2.1 to further determine which 5-star is worthy of your hard-earned Stellar Jade.
Want more Honkai: Star Rail content and guides? Then you can find more, including everything set to arrive in Version 2.1, here on KeenGamer:
- Honkai: Star Rail 2.1 Livestream Overview and Anniversary Rewards
- Honkai: Star Rail | All Lordly Trashcan Locations in Penacony
- Honkai: Star Rail | Simulated Universe World 6 Guide (Easy F2P Clear)
- Honkai: Star Rail | The Seven Errors of Cycranes Guide
- All Reverie (Reality) Treasure Chest Locations in Honkai: Star Rail
Acheron or Aventurine?
Should You Pull for Acheron in Honkai Star Rail 2.1?
Acheron Kit
The first headling act of Honkai: Star Rail 2.1 is Acheron, a forgetful but deadly Galaxy Ranger who haunts the memories of those she’s previously encountered. Acheron is a 5-star Lightning Nihility unit, the exact same classification as the Stellaron Hunter Kafka. Despite being a main DPS, Acheron’s playstyle is unlike anyone else in Star Rail, largely thanks to several unique gameplay gimmicks which push her away from the standard damage dealer role.
The core of Acheron’s kit is her unique buff, Slashed Dreams. Instead of needing a certain amount of Energy like most characters, Acheron will only be able to unleash her Ultimate if she gathers enough Slashed Dream stacks, which she’ll earn either when using her Skill or whenever an opponent receives a debuff. Once she hits 9 stacks, she can unleash a devastating barrage of attacks which lower enemy Toughness regardless of Weakness and All-Type RES, allowing Acheron to cleave through any foe with ease. Acheron is also capable of inflicting enemies with her own special debuff called Crimson Knot which increases the damage of her Ultimate.
With a focus on amassing debuffs over a desire to hoard a ton of personal buffs, Acheron’s certainly a strange and somewhat confusing character to wrap your head around, especially when you start introducing a lot of her kit’s more obtuse and restrictive aspects. Playing Acheron means rewiring how you see certain parts of the game and prioritising things you may not have thought about when playing other damage dealers. For some, she’ll be an exciting breath of fresh air but, for others, Acheron will be a perplexing enigma of a character.
Leave Nothing Behind
Acheron Pros
First and foremost, Acheron is stupidly strong. Even when compared to some of Star Rail’s other heavy hitters, Acheron’s potential damage output is ridiculously high, mainly thanks to her powerful Ultimate. Between the ability to designate specific targets with her Ultimate’s first three slashes to the large damage multipliers you can get from the Crimson Knot debuff, Acheron will likely climb the ranks of the game’s strongest damage dealer at a blistering pace. That isn’t even considering her Technique which instantly kills lower-level targets, allowing you to coast through exploration or the Simulated Universe. When played correctly, Acheron is pure power.
Secondly, Acheron is going to play a lot differently than any other DPS in Honkai: Star Rail. Usually, most DPS units are looking for a smorgasbord of buffs from Harmony units to increase their damage but Acheron is very different. Between her need for debuffs to get her Ultimate and one of her major Traces, Acheron is going to perform far better if you forego buffers in favour of debuffers. While small, this change is pretty significant in shaping the kind of teams and playstyles you’ll use Acheron in, potentially helping stave off any repetitiveness in the gameplay formula.
Nothing Withstands Nihility
Acheron Cons
Acheron’s Achilles heel is also her greatest strength: her unique Ultimate. Because it doesn’t rely on Energy, Acheron would cap the potential of powerful meta-supports like Huohuo and Tingyun, two all-stars whose main supportive effects provide ATK and Energy to their allies. Compared to most other DPS units, Acheron will have a much tougher time sorting out potential team compositions because of her unique style of play.
This is only exacerbated by her reliance on debuffers, specifically Nihility debuffers. Aside from using Acheron’s Skill, the main way to get Slashed Dreams is via giving or receiving debuffs, the domain of the Nihility Path. In addition, one of Acheron’s Traces substantially increases her ATK when paired with 1 or 2 other Nihility characters. While this is a very enticing and interesting way to play, it also limits Acheron’s ease of use, especially for F2P players who may not have powerful Nihility characters like Silver Wolf, Welt, or Kafka. If you don’t have debuffers, Acheron is going to feel sluggish and far less effective, making her an overall tough unit to build teams around.
Finally, the last major negative about Acheron isn’t even to do with her kit but her Path and Element combination. Acheron is the third Lightning DPS character we’ve gotten since Honkai Star Rail launched and, with Jing Yuan just getting a rerun and Kafka being one of the most popular characters upon her release, there’s a large chance that a lot of players already have that combination covered. Acheron is plenty powerful but Star Rail’s endgame and combat mechanics expect you to have as many Elements and Paths as possible which causes some to look elsewhere for their new characters, at least for now.
Unbothered, Undeterred
Final Verdict
Without a doubt, Acheron is going to be one of the strongest DPS units to grace the halls of Honkai: Star Rail and she’ll be doing it in style, too. With a design that calls back to one of the most popular and iconic characters in Honkai lore, some of the flashiest animations we’ve ever seen, and a kit that’s unlike anything else, Acheron promises to be an exciting addition for anyone lucky enough to pull her. If you can gel with Acheron’s Ultimate-heavy playstyle and have the necessary debuffers to support her, you’ll likely be unable to put her down.
However, things come to a halt when you start to peel back the intricacies of Acheron’s high damage. There, you’ll start to unravel that she’s quite the F2P unfriendly unit thanks to her reliance on other Nihility characters, her strict team-building requirements, and how her playstyle alienates or limits some of the game’s strongest buffers. Picking up Acheron means submitting almost everything to Acheron: there’s going to be very little room for meaningful expression or team composition possibilities thanks to how harsh her requirements are.
At the end of the day, Acheron is likely going to quickly ascend the ranks of Star Rail’s most popular and most powerful character lists. If you’re an experienced player who has the kind of support or debuffers that Acheron needs and you’re willing to pull for yet another Lightning DPS, there’s very little standing between you and conquering Star Rail’s endgame. On the other hand, if you’re a newer player looking to snag a strong DPS for your team, maybe consider the other heavy hitter of 2.1 instead.
Should You Pull Acheron?
Should You Pull for Aventurine in Honkai Star Rail 2.1?
Aventurine Kit
Meanwhile, get ready to gamble your life during phase 2 of Honkai: Star Rail 2.1 as Aventurine, the sly and duplicitous IPC lap-dog, arrives as the next featured new 5-star. Aventurine is the first Imaginary Preservation character in the game, meaning that Imaginary is one of the first Paths to get both kinds of sustain – Preservation and Abundance. As for his playstyle, Aventurine is set to be one of Star Rail’s most reliable and consistent shielders while having a unique place amongst certain team compositions.
Aventurine can be most accurately compared to Gepard, another Preservation 5-star, as they both primarily defend their allies with shields. Upon casting his Skill, Aventurine will provide all allies with a stackable Fortified Wager shield, allowing Aventurine to repeatedly use his Skill to increase his shield’s strength. Additionally, one of your allies under the protection of Fortified Wager will receive a substantial increase in Effect RES. Whenever Aventurine or this buffed ally get hit by an attack, Aventurine will gather Blind Bet stacks which result in a devastating Follow-Up Attack whenever he reaches a total of 7 Blind Bet stacks.
Paired with a variety of stat buffing abilities which allow him to boost his or his allies’ DEF or CRIT DMG, Aventurine excels as a powerful sustain character: he can defend, can deal big damage, can synergise with plenty of other characters, and he’s incredibly flexible. Honestly, there’s very little standing between Aventurine and a place in your team, especially when he belongs to the under-supported Preservation Path. However, depending on the strength of your other sustain units or the kind of characters you have available, Aventurine’s attractiveness may diminish slightly.
Ready to Gamble It All
Aventurine Pros
Firstly, Aventurine is perhaps the most reliable and consistent Preservation shielder in Honkai: Star Rail. Compared to Gepard, Star Rail’s current best shielder, Aventurine bestows shields with his Skill and not his Ultimate, meaning that you’ll have easy access to high defence without relying on Energy. Then, when compared with March 7th, Avneturine’s shields protect the entire team and not just a single character, making him a far more effective tank. While he does lack the Freeze utility that both of these characters have, his raw damage output and ability to Imprison enemies more than makeup for it, positioning Aventurine as one of the best sustains in the game.
Speaking of damage output, Aventurine is the first sustain unit to provide a lot of direct value to Follow Up Attack compositions. Aside from March, who performs a Follow Up Attack on any enemy who hits an ally protected by her shield, Preservation and Abundance units haven’t yet been able to tap into the power of Follow Up attackers. With Aventurine, Follow-Up compositions now have a reliable Preservation character, one who can easily protect them with his stackable shield while still benefiting from any Follow-Up Attack buffs from characters like Topaz. Aventurine is the next step in a whole team capable of delivering devastating Follow-Up Attacks, making him almost a must-pull for fans of that playstyle.
Lastly, Aventurine’s unique Path and Element combination makes him a very desirable unit, at least this early on in Star Rail’s life cycle. With his addition, Imaginary now has access to one of the game’s best healers and one of its best shielders, giving you a lot of coverage when it comes to tackling certain encounters. Additionally, Preservation is Star Rail’s least supported Path, skyrocketing Aventurine’s value. As we mentioned with Acheron, having a wide range of characters with unique Path and element combinations will make getting through Star Rail’s endgame encounters much easier.
Gold Rush
Aventurine Cons
The main thing standing between Aventurine and a spot in your roster will probably be Fu Xuan, widely regarded as the best Preservation unit in the game. While characters like Aventurine, March and Gepard defend their allies with shields, Fu Xuan mitigates and tanks the damage directly using her matrix. In general play, most Trailblazers will likely find Fu Xuan’s variety of stable buffs and defence options more palatable than Aventurine’s: it’s hard to turn down free CRIT Rate on top of having sky-high defences, after all. Of course, shields will excel in certain environments (such as against the new Dreamjolt Troupe enemies) but, on average, he’ll still pale when compared to the might of Fu Xuan.
Furthermore, while it’s a relatively small part of his overall kit, there is a factor of randomness to his play style, one which you need to consider when bringing him into tough content. Both his Ultimate and his Technique have an element of luck thrown into them, with the former awarding a random amount of Blind Bet points towards his next Follow-Up Attack and the latter increasing the DEF of his team by a different amount. In ordinary play, this is a fun, flavourful inclusion which fits Aventurine’s character but, if you’re tackling the latter floors of Hall of Chaos or Pure Fiction, it makes him a bit unreliable.
Roll of the Dice
Final Verdict
With some of the strongest and easiest shields to activate in the game and a suite of powerful damaging and buffing options, Aventurine is a very easy unit to recommend to both experienced and newer players. Preservation is the least supported Path in the game but it’s also one of the most important, especially with Penacony placing a larger premium on shields. As such, getting a hold of a unit with great coverage and the ability to hold its own in any situation will be greatly to your benefit.
However, Aventurine’s glaring flaw is his kit’s reliance on luck to act to its full effectiveness. Several parts of his kit are steeped in an amount of RNG which can make playing him frustrating: failing a battle because you got unlucky won’t feel great and will mean that you cannot rely on Aventurine. Like Qingque, you’re taking on a significant amount of risk when it comes to running Aventurine which may cause some players to simply default to a much safer option like Fu Xuan, someone who, on average, is just a safer bet to take into the endgame.
Of course, good luck and bad luck come in equal measure and you’ll likely come across an equal amount of situations where Aventurine’s gambling goes in your favour. If you’re willing to play dice and accept that sometimes you’ll fall out of the world’s favour, Aventurine will prove to be a stalwart companion and defender for your team, especially if you’re running one focused on Follow Up Attacks. Even outside of those compositions, Aventurine is strong both offensively and defensively, making him an excellent choice in most situations.
Should You Pull Aventurine?
Acheron, Aventurine, Reruns, or Save?
Of course, Acheron and Aventurine aren’t the only units on the Character Event Warp during 2.1. You’ll be able to summon two other limited 5-stars during 2.1 who, interestingly, both mirror the newcomers in terms of playstyle and role. One is a supremely powerful DPS who rules the meta and can stand toe-to-toe with an Emanator like Acheron, whereas the other is one of the most competent and reliable healers you can have.
During phase 1, Acheron is going to be running alongside Luocha, the shifty merchant we met on Luofu who has some dealings with the Abundance. He’s a 5-star Imaginary Abundance unit and one of the most competent sustains in the game, putting him in direct competition with Aventurine. Both are going to be competing for the same spot in your team and both are sustains whose main form of utility is simply having high damage output.
Meanwhile, Acheron’s mirror in 2.1 is Jingliu, the icy cold swordmaster of the Xianzou Luofu who’s running with Aventurine. Just like Acheron, Jingliu is a ridiculously strong main DPS, only she’s a 5-star Ice Destruction unit. Jingliu feels like the quintessential main DPS, a character who wants to soak in as many buffs as possible – whether they be ATK, CRIT, or Advance Forward – so that she can destroy stuff lightning fast. This is almost the exact opposite of Acheron, a DPS who wants to drown her targets in debuffs so that can erase them in a single slash.
As you can see, you cannot go wrong with pulling any of these characters as they’re all top-shelf units when it comes to their specific field. In fact, many would consider all four characters must-pull units for a variety of reasons. However, who should you focus on pulling if you’re a new player and who should you focus on as an experienced Trailblazer?
2.1 Character Event Warps
If you’re a newcomer on the Astral Express and are looking to fatten out your roster with some of the best characters the game has to offer, we recommend prioritising Jingliu if you need a DPS and Luocha if you need a healer. Jingliu is the crystallisation of everything you’d want in main DPS – strong, effective, relatively easy to build around – making her well-suited for helping newer players crush whatever interstellar threat gets in their way. On the other hand, Luocha’s ability to heal on command, strip enemy buffs, cleanse his team of debuffs, and deal high damage makes him an easy recommendation for those looking to survive Star Rail’s most brutal challenges.
However, on the flip side, if you’re an experienced player and already have some other limited 5-stars in your possession, Acheron and Aventurine become much more valuable. Acheron’s true potential will only emerge if you pair her with other Nihility units, especially those like Silver Wolf who can drastically lower important stats like DEF, and those are hard to come by for newer payers. Meanwhile, Aventurine can work anywhere but he performs best in Follow Up Attack teams alongside characters like Topaz where his damage is allowed to shine alongside his shielding.
Faces of 2.1
As always, though, pull for whoever you want. If you only have access to a small handful of Nihility characters but love everything about Acheron, you’ll be able to make her work, same for if you’re feeling like taking a gamble on Aventurine even if you dislike Follow-Up Attacks. Whether you’re a meta slave or want to pull on a character purely for their looks and personality, you should do with your Stellar Jade as you see fit. 2.1 is easily one of the best sets of banners in all of Honkai: Star Rail, meaning that there’s little chance of regretting your summoning decisions no matter who you roll on.
That was our breakdown of the two newest 5-stars in Honkai: Star Rail Version 2.1, Acheron and Aventurine, as well as who you should focus on pulling based on their individual attributes. If you’d like to know how to properly build Acheron and Aventurine, as well as Star Rail’s new 4-star Gallagher, make sure to check back in on KeenGamer once Version 2.1 launches on March 27th.
