Arlan — Honkai Star Rail Character Guide

Overview

HP-consuming Lightning DPS who sacrifices health via Skill to reach up to 72% bonus DMG at low HP. Fully SP positive, enabling SP-hungry supports, but requires shielders exclusively — healers restore HP and gut his damage bonus.

HP-sacrificing Lightning Destruction DPS who trades health for damage via Skill (15% Max HP cost per use, no SP cost). Talent grants up to 72% bonus DMG scaling linearly with missing HP, peaking at 1 HP. Operates at perpetually low HP, requiring shields instead of healers to preserve the damage bonus. Fully SP positive since Skill never consumes SP, enabling SP-hungry teammates.

Key Mechanics

• Arlan has the lowest base DEF of any character (330 at level 80). At 1 HP, any unshielded hit is instantly lethal. Shield uptime must be near-permanent — even brief gaps between shield applications can result in death.
• Since Skill costs HP instead of SP, Arlan generates +1 SP every turn unconditionally. This makes him ideal for funding SP-hungry supports like Sparkle or Sunday, but the team must include a shielder rather than a healer.
• Speed investment is a double-edged sword: faster Arlan takes more actions (more damage) but also takes hits more frequently, accelerating shield depletion. Shielder speed must keep pace with Arlan's speed to maintain coverage.
• DEF is more valuable than HP for Arlan because his Skill costs a fixed 15% of Max HP. Higher Max HP means more HP drained per Skill use, while DEF reduces incoming damage without increasing the self-damage cost.

Best Teams for Arlan

Shielded Hypercarry

Arlan sacrifices HP with every Skill use to maximize his Talent bonus (up to 72% more DMG at 1 HP). Shields protect him at that threshold instead of restoring HP, preserving the damage bonus. He is fully SP positive so SP-hungry amplifiers are welcome. Speed buffs and frequent action advances accelerate shield depletion — a faster Arlan takes more hits before shields refresh, increasing the risk of death. Shielders with high uptime like Aventurine are strongly preferred over Gepard.

• A-tier: Arlan, Tribbie, Sunday, Aventurine
• B-tier: Arlan, Ruan Mei, Silver Wolf, Aventurine
• B-tier: Arlan, Tingyun, Trailblazer • Remembrance, Gepard

Best Teammates

Amplifiers: Tribbie (S+), Sunday (S+), Sparkle (A), Ruan Mei (A), Cipher (A), Silver Wolf (A), Trailblazer • Remembrance (B), Tingyun (B), Bronya (D)

Sustains: Aventurine (S+), Hyacine (A), Dan Heng • Permansor Terrae (A), Gepard (A), Fu Xuan (C), Gallagher (D)

Investment Priority

1. E6 — Transforms Ultimate into full 320% AoE damage hitting all 3 targets equally (instead of 320%/160%) — his most meaningful power spike and primary stopping point for Pure Fiction and multi-target Memory of Chaos stages.
2. E2 — Removes 1 debuff on Skill or Ultimate use, providing meaningful survivability against ATK reduction and enemy Bans. Secondary priority after E6.
3. LC S1 — On the Fall of an Aeon at S1 provides strong ATK stacking (up to 64% at 4 stacks) and DMG bonus on Weakness Break. Grab it if eidolons are unavailable.

Best Relics

Recommended: scholar-lost-in-erudition with rutilant-arena

Stat targets: CRIT Rate 60-70%, CRIT DMG 120-140%+, SPD 134+, ATK 2400-2800+

Main stats: Body: CRIT Rate / CRIT DMG · Feet: SPD / ATK% · Sphere: Lightning DMG / ATK% · Rope: ATK%

Important Notes

• Requires shielders exclusively — any healer that restores HP eliminates or reduces the Talent damage bonus, making Arlan deal significantly less damage
• DEF stat is the lowest of any character (330 base at level 80), making him extremely fragile; a single unshielded hit at 1 HP is lethal
• Speed buffs increase how often Arlan acts and takes hits, accelerating shield depletion — ensure shielder speed supports the faster Arlan
• Not worth heavy investment compared to other DPS of equal resources; best reserved for players who enjoy his unique playstyle