Breakthrough effect Honkai: StarRail — a basic characteristic that increases the consequences of vulnerability penetration. When the white scale of the enemy's durability is reduced to zero, his weakness can be penetrated, which leads to the emergence of various effects, or more precisely, penetration damage is inflicted, the enemy is thrown back by a burst and/or an elemental status is imposed. The indicator in question is responsible for the quantitative increase in these negative effects.
In the guide, we will talk about the penetration effect parameter in HSR and analyze the principle of its operation, as well as ways to increase this characteristic in the game. In addition, we will introduce heroes who will benefit from a stat boost.
How the penetration effect works in Honkai: Star Rail
Let's consider a situation familiar to all players: heroes using elements that match the enemy's vulnerability reduce the white bar of his durability located above his health. When they deplete this scale to zero with their attacks, a breaking through vulnerability, which:
- Deals Penetration damage once.
- By default knocks back an enemy in the queue by 25%.
- Has a base chance of 150% to inflict an elemental status on the enemy according to the element the character used. The status will inflict periodic damage (except for Imaginary and Quantum elements).
- Removes 10% resistance to all damage from the enemy.
- Interrupts an empowered attack being prepared by the enemy.
Penetration effect in XSR enhances the first 3 aspects from this list. In practice, this means that the damage when breaking through vulnerability will be greater, the enemy will move further in the queue (only in the case of Imaginary and Quantum damage), and the periodic damage from the status will be even stronger.
What is penetration efficiency and super penetration
In addition to the basic concept, there are also related definitions, but they operate on different principles:
- Penetration efficiency — a term used to describe how well a character's skills reduce the enemy's durability bar. This indicator only increases directly, meaning the value of the penetration effect will not affect it in any way.
- Super Penetration — a special type of damage that depends on the penetration effect. In addition, it can increase depending on the damage inflicted on the stamina (including the penetration efficiency). It is important to note that super penetration only works on targets with an already destroyed stamina scale.
Which characters need the penetration effect?
In order to understand whether a hero should upgrade the penetration effect, you need to evaluate three aspects:
- How good is the hero at reducing durability?. Some characters remove a lot of stamina when they hit a vulnerability, others don't do too well with it. The damage of each hero's skill along the white bar is equal to one of 4 values: 15, 30, 60, 90. The easier it is for the hero to reduce his stamina, the more often situations will arise in which he will achieve Breaking Vulnerability with his action.
- Does the hero have buffs from eidolons and/or traces?, enhancing the discussed characteristic.
- What damage does the character do?. Different one-time damage multipliers apply to all elements upon penetration. Physical, Fire (×2) and Wind (×1.5) penetrations are multiplied by a larger number. Ice and Electric are multiplied by 1. Quantum and Imaginary by 0.5, but they can knock enemies further back in the queue. Other calculation formulas work for periodic damage after penetration (each is unique), but Weathering shows the best results.
Based on these aspects, we can conclude which characters need the penetration effect in HSR:
| Character | Optimal characteristic value |
|---|---|
 ruan mei | The optimal value of the characteristic is at max. level - 180% and more. The percentage of increase in damage from the “Candle lights on the surface of the water” trail, as well as the overall effectiveness of some of the girl’s personal abilities, including the ultimate skill “Petals on the water, rest in a dream,” depends on the indicator. |
 Xueyi | The optimal value of the characteristic is at max. level varies from 100% to 150%. In this case, the increase in the parameter to 150% begins after the critical indicators (crit. damage and critical chance) are “adjusted”. The usefulness of the stat, in turn, is primarily revealed through Xuei's ability to ignore the target's types of vulnerabilities and deplete its durability. |
 Gallagher | The optimal value of the characteristic is at max. level varies from 60% to 150%, where 150% is the limit. The indicator itself has a direct impact on the character’s healing efficiency through the “Unusual Proportions” trace. |
 Imaginary. hero | The optimal value of the characteristic is at max. level varies from 150% to 300% excluding the ultimate skill bonus. The indicator influences the passive buff for the team, provided through the fourth eidolon “Crown with White Doves”. |
 Firefly | The optimal value of the characteristic is at max. level - 360% and more. The operation of the “Module β: Instant Armor” trace, with which the girl deals damage with super penetration, depends on the parameter. |
 Boothill | The optimal value of the characteristic is from 260 to 300%. The Penetration effect is an important stat that not only affects a certain portion of damage, but also increases the crits from the Ghost Charge trail. |
 Linsha | The optimal value of the characteristic varies from 100% to 200%. The indicator affects the damage dealt and the healing done due to the mechanics of the first trace "Bright Red Flame". |
 Rappa | The optimal value of the characteristic is from 160% and higher. The parameter determines the amount of damage inflicted by the character, mainly when using an enhanced basic attack. |
 Fugue | The optimal value of the characteristic is 220%. Stat required to provide maximum percentage increase to allies' penetration effect with the "Essence of Phecda" trace. |
The following characters are worth considering separately:
- Silver Wolf. The parameter needs to be overclocked to 50-80% if the Stellaron hunter is in a mono-quantum squad.
- Himeko, Sushan, Pathfinder (Physical), qingque и Serval. Can be collected through the "penetration effect", since the main abilities penetrate the durability bar quite well. The optimal value of the characteristic at the max level is 120%. Note: the build is effective only against enemies vulnerable to the characters' element.
- Heroes aimed at DoT play - Kafka, Black Swan, Guinaifen, Sampo, Luke. This parameter will allow you to deal a little more damage when the vulnerability is broken. However, the feature is not a priority. Optimal value at max. level - up to 50%, the percentage itself is “increased” thanks to the “lower” parameters in the artifacts.
How to increase the penetration effect
The actual penetration damage that the player sees on the screen, including periodic damage, depends on two separate parameters that can be changed:
- Character Level. The higher the level of a particular hero, the greater the special multiplier will be, invisible in the characteristics, but increasing the numbers on the screen and independent of the penetration effect. Upgrade your heroes with experience materials to punch harder.
- Penetration effect.
The following methods for increasing the second characteristic are known:
- Upgrading eidolons and traces for some characters.
- Equipment light cones and / or artifacts, offering an increase to the corresponding indicator.
- Upgrading cave relics and planar decorations. This characteristic is often found as a secondary indicator. In addition, can act as a main stat on a connecting rope.
Light cones on ED
The game contains light cones that affect the “breakthrough effect” parameter:
| light cone | Skill effect |
|---|---|
 A promise kept in the heart (Path of Destruction) | The penetration effect increases by 28-56%. When the owner uses a superpower, his crit. the chance increases by 15-30% for 2 turns. |
 Reflection of the past me (Path of Harmony) | The penetration effect increases by 60-100%. After the owner uses a superpower, the damage done by all allies is increased by 24-40% for 3 turns. If the owner's penetration effect becomes greater than or equal to 150%, the unit regains 1 skill point. At the beginning of each wave, 10-20 units are immediately restored. energy of all allies. This effect cannot stack with effects of this type. |
 Memories of the past (Path of Harmony) | The penetration effect increases by 28-56%. Using an attack by the owner additionally restores 4-8 units. his energy. This effect can only trigger once per turn. |
 Solitary Healing (Path of Nothingness) | The penetration effect increases by 20-40%. When the wielder uses a superpower, their damage over time is increased by 24-48% for 2 turns. Defeating an enemy with a damage over time effect applied by the owner restores 4-6 units. his energy. |
 Fermata (Path of Nothingness) | The penetration effect increases by 16-32%. The wearer's damage dealt to Shocked and Weathered enemies is increased by 16-32%. This effect also applies to damage over time. |
 What is reality? (Path of Abundance) | The owner's penetration effect is increased by 24-48%. The wearer's basic attacks restore 2-4% of his health plus 800 units. |
 Where do dreams return? (Path of Destruction) | The wearer's penetration effect is increased by 60-100%. When the owner inflicts penetration damage on the target, the “Defeat” status is applied for 2 turns. Enemies with this effect receive 24-40% more penetration damage from the owner, and their speed is reduced by 20%. Effects of this type cannot stack. |
 Sailing to a second life (Path of the Hunt) | The penetration effect increases by 60-100%, and the penetration damage inflicted ignores 20-32% of the target's defense. When the penetration effect in battle reaches 150% or more, the speed increases by 12-20%. |
 Hidden in the night shadows (Path of the Hunt) | The effect of penetration is increased by 28-56%. At the beginning of the battle or after dealing penetration damage, the speed is increased by 8-12% for 2 turns. The effect can only be triggered once per turn. |
 Only the aroma will remain (Path of Abundance) | The penetration effect increases by 60-100%. After the character uses the super ability to attack enemies, it applies the "Carefree" status to them for 2 turns. Enemy targets in this state receive 10-18% more damage. If the owner's penetration effect is higher or equal to 150%, the damage received by the enemy increases by an additional 8-16%. |
 Ninja Scroll: Chaos Purge (Path of Erudition) | The penetration effect increases by 60-100%. When entering combat, immediately restores 30-40 units of energy. After the owner uses the super ability, the "Thunder Rescue" status is activated. When the character performs 2 basic attacks, his action moves forward by 50-70% and the status disappears. The effect is refreshed the next time the ult is used. |
 Home at the end of a long road (Path of Nothingness) | The penetration effect is increased by 60-100%. When penetrating an enemy vulnerability, there is a 100% base chance to apply the Burning debuff, which increases the target's penetration damage taken by 18-30%. The effect lasts for 2 turns and can stack up to 2 times. |
 After the calm of Harmony (Path of Erudition) | The penetration effect increases by 28-56%. After using the super ability, the character's speed increases by 8-16% for 2 turns. |
Additionally, it is worth noting that weapon “cards” have a class identity, that is, for example, only a Path of Harmony hero can equip the light cone of the Path of Harmony.
Cave relics on the EP
Some basic artifacts can significantly increase the stat in question, as well as offer third-party bonuses:
- Thief of Shooting Meteor : 2 pieces - increases the penetration effect by 16%, 4 pieces - increases the penetration effect by an additional 16%, and when the owner breaks through the enemy’s vulnerability, restores 3 units. energy.
- Watchmaker of sleepy shenanigans: 2 pieces - increases the penetration effect by 16%, 4 pieces - when the owner uses his superpower on an ally, the penetration effect of all allies increases by 30% for 2 turns (this effect cannot stack).
- Iron cavalry against the invasion: 2 parts - increases the penetration effect by 16%, 4 parts - if the owner's penetration effect is higher than or equal to 150%, then when dealing penetration damage, 10% of the enemy's defense is ignored. If the penetration effect is higher than or equal to 250%, then the super penetration damage dealt ignores an additional 15% of defense.
Planar decorations on EP
Additional effects of planar decorations can affect the increase in the parameter:
- Thalia - the land of bandits: 2 parts - increases the owner's penetration effect by 16%. If the owner's speed is greater than or equal to 145 units, then his penetration effect increases by an additional 20%.
- Lotus Lantern Palace: 2 pieces - Increases the owner's penetration effect by 16%. If the owner hits an enemy with fire vulnerability, their penetration effect increases by 40% for 1 turn.
We hope that the guide helped you master the characteristic of the penetration effect in Honkai: Star Rail and build a character that smashes enemies to pieces when breaking through a vulnerability. Leave all questions regarding the mechanics of stat work, compatible heroes and leveling in the comments to the article. Read other useful game guides in the relevant sections: completing missions, guides, builds.
