WHY Preservation path is Underrepresented in the game | Honkai Star Rail

[@lalalalalalalalalari]

it's probably because preservation would make abundance obsolete. That's why abundance nowadays needs something unique, not only healing, to catch up with preservation characters.

[@eeveeofalltrades4780]

Preservation is good, but it can't do much against some enemies, for which Abundance is better.

[@Catboloni]

@@lalalalalalalalalari i think thats what they did to lingsha

[@yasser5422]

I had a few ideas before for a 4 star preservation character: A team wide shield like Sunday’s boss. Providing DEF stats for the team and some dmg reduction. divide the dmg the team takes and divide the heal(this could benefit blade). A character that increases team max hp and keep stacking max hp instead of shielding or healing (would also benefit blade).

[@Xhydria-4]

I think they should and probably would do that seeing how some leaks suggested hp related mechanics in the future

[@deler1064]

Something tells me that you might be a blade main...

[@kidsIIIII009]

what about a shielder that gives 100% shield to a target ally and 50% shield to adjacent allies. Basically Preservation HuoHuo Also a shielder where any debuffer gains a shield everytime an enemy receives debuff. Basically Acheron but instead of stacking her ult, it stacks shield and whenever a shielder is hit enemies who hit the shielder gains debuff, much like the trending market LC (Topaz Preservation LC). The skill would be giving def reduction (Blast), it’s not as much as what Jiaoqiu gives

[@ArchonKujo]

It's true that preservation in HSR is very inadequate, Because the games most adequate choices were damage, support, and healing, that's basically what they're going for mostly, It makes the preservation category look meaningless even though it's definitely one of the most helpful mechanics, Aventurine Is by far the best character in that category alone, and that is why I am pulling him, in this current meta it's always break effect, which I could heavily agree that it'll probably be meta for a while, just imagine we have a character which does break effect while also being part of preservation, That idea alone would probably make that specific character the most broken unit in the game without question.

[@Ionic_Glace]

I got this 1 idea for a Preservation unit that coincidently fit your expectation: 4-star Physical Preservation (5-star ideas will be put into brackets) Basic ATK - Deal Physical DMG based on character's ATK to 1 enemy. Skill - Deal Physical DMG based on character's ATK to all enemies and apply a Taunt to all enemies. (This attack also generate a shield that scaled of character's HP, last for x turns and refresh shield strength when Skill is casted again) Ultimate - Deal Physical DMG based on character's ATK to all enemies and delay enemies action by x%. (This attack have x% base chance to apply Tetrify to all enemies attacked, lasting for 1 turn. Tetrify increase DMG taken and count as Bleed DMG. When enemies taking action, deal x% Physical DMG based on enemies max HP, not exceeding x% of character HP.) Talent - When character is being attacked, all allies gain a shield that equal to x% of the lost HP during that attack. (When character attack or being attacked, the shield generatedby Skill will be reinforced, increasing shield strength by x%, upto x times.) Passive node: - Increase character's BE based on their HP%. When character dealing Break DMG, restore their HP. (Increase character's BE based on their HP and increase Shield Strength based on BE. When character dealing Break DMG, restore HP to all allies.) - Increase 30% Effect RES to all allies with a shield. (Increase 50% Effect RES to all allies when shield exist.) - Increase character's HP by x%. All attacks now deal additional Physical DMG based on character's max HP. (With a chance to inflict Tetrify, delaying the enemies action by x%) this is just 1 of my ideas, there are way more cool way to make Preservation units, without them rlly powercreeping the others.

[@dragunityx12]

​@@Ionic_Glace actually really good kit, but make it scale off def or some trash stat because a lot of people already have spare atk and HP relics lol. Hoyo wants the endgame to be endless relic farm after all

[@Rexy2552]

Pretty sure its not that healing makes preservation look inadequate its more like the few good abundance we have also support their team like lingsha/gallagher go on break teams because they buff break damage, meanwhile the 2 fivestar preservations only give a little crit rate and both e1 give a little crit dmg which is less impactful than 50% break dmg. This being said i feel the biggest reason people dont run preservation if they run a sustain at all is just because they dont have them, as someone who has fu,aventurine, lingsha, and gallagher built, the comfort and overall enjoyment of the 2 preservations far outweighs the little more dmg the abundance brings because who cares if u can heal 1 billion hp per turn if feixiao cant survive 1 hit? So i think the thing they are going to have to do to make abundance good is either gatekeep preservation(which is awful) or make abundance into more of a psuedo harmony path like they seem to be doing with huohuo,lingsha, and gallagher. Yet whenever they decide to release a new preservation they have to make them better or different team structured to make people pull them over the preservations they have which means powercreep will make it even worse for abundance so i think them rarely making more preservations is the best way to make all of them impactful while keeping other paths relevant for as long as they can

[@thomassas6073]

or a schielder that gives the same shield from sunday's boss

[@samkelly5045]

The best way to explain it in my opinion is, Abundance units sustain after the damage is taken, while Preservation units sustain beforehand. Preservation units prepare ahead of time, while Abundance units only get to work once damage has been done. A squishy character like a Hunt unit would rather stay protected by a shield or have damage reduction ahead of time rather than getting hit and hoping that they survive the attack just so they can get healed. What’s worse is when you lose the aggro RNG lottery and one of your characters gets hit by every single enemy, I’ve definitely had more slip ups with Abundance units compared to Preservation units. The only way I could see a Preservation unit losing their use is if Abundance units just get a crap ton of utility added onto their kits just to keep up, or they add an enemy that ignores shields.

[@usmanya5110]

Or maybe an HSR version of furina?

[@Kris-w4w4h]

​@@usmanya5110 A hsr version of furina would be extremely hard to pull cuz then you'd have basically a jingliu passively sucking out chunks of your hp when you're already squishy enough

[@aperson6562]

@@Kris-w4w4hI mean furina has hp drain built in so it’s it’s not far fetched to assume this version would have it too

[@eeveeofalltrades4780]

Abundance is best paired with Destruction characters, while Preservation is best with Hunt and Erudition.

[@rrr87011]

I think about this everyday

[@Catboloni]

@@rrr87011 me too. Im hoping for another preservation unit to come soon. Doesnt have to be tanky but at least they could offer some unique utilities

[@sphong0610]

I was thinking that Dunn, the puzzle shifu, and Mika could have been good 4star preservation units from each planet. Dunn could have his signature counter attack mode. Shifu could summon monsters, and Mika could do something..?

[@LizardKingRequiem]

I really wish they could focus on filling out the unit types we’re missing, like phys and wind preservations, ice abundance, etc I also think that they should just make another fire preservation cause fire trailblazer was never going to stay relevant anyways and its been longggg enough

[@Nyx309]

As a person who has E1S1 DPS Aventurine (shield on ultimate) and Fu Xuan I start thinking sometimes how they’re going to create a new limited 5 star that’s on bar with these two, Imagine Diamond releasing in 2026 or later and he straight up powercreep them

[@usmanya5110]

I have a feeling the only way to powercreep aventurine is to make a better version of him with even more extra utility For some reason i feel like fu is abit more susceptible though since she hardly has a BiS team except maybe jingyuan and Mono quantum which isn't as meta as it once was.

[@Nyx309]

@@usmanya5110 yep that’s what I was thinking, this Aventurine vs. future preservation (that shield) is going to be Gallagher vs. Lingsha because I don’t believe a character will 100% do his role better (infinite shields and 50% effect res and debuff on ult)

[@kuraiko-ct8gt]

Funny enough genshin had the same promblem with zhongli like why use this healer whej you can use zhongli, the only other time when youd use a healer is if they applied hydro like kokomi. But then genshin added 2 thihgs that added it so people would use shielders less, ememies that do dmg through shielder like weather the attack directly goes through or weather they do dot like the wolves and then furina for secound method to stop using zhongli allowing for people that heal and change in hp tp gain dmg bonus if we have someone like that were good or other methods like the enemys doing increased or backloaded dmg through shields or disabling them interally we could also have abundace increase hp like the niche they need thats exculsive to them more so that fuxuan does and lynx but maybe this portion is allowed to stack up to maxuim of 100 of the health bar then it slowly goes down like a colored healeth bar then it can be on par with other shielders and then make big healers more intersting but all and all theres many many ways they can go about this promblem rather than just not adding preservation i meant hunt and erudation chracters fixed there dmg of either being single target only or not doing any by using follow up attacks so if they can get there gimick so can abundace

[@rinz5027]

If they dont want to release new overpowered sustain units, then buff the current ones with better equipment. Give Gepard a dedicated set where he can have some EHR and Effect Res, and a dedicated planar that has Def and ERR%. Give healers a small buff like, once a healer has healed allies, the healed ally gains atk% buff. That's another way of solving the problem.

[@UltimatePollo3495]

There is mate there is a set coming when someone uses skill on a targeted allie increase crit dmg by 18%

[@usmanya5110]

​@@UltimatePollo3495 idk how that's gonna help geppie but that's gonna help the limited ones.

[@UltimatePollo3495]

@@usmanya5110 it will give bailu a buff

[@scp3999]

imo the like crux of it rn is a choice between a preservation vs general use healer and the abundance swiss army knife rn is gallagher, and what's making him so good is the light cones he can use. speed/advance for more sp regen or qpq for team energy. the only general utility lc rn that's reasonably accessible is day one of my new life and that won't be providing anything except doing more preserving

[@scp3999]

does the herta shop lc even have any value except as a stat stick? lmao

[@OTCThermal]

It’ll be interesting if they add a couple of Preservation new units focused on the following archetypes: Dot, Break, Hyper Carry, Servants, etc.

[@jacquelynthompson5346]

That’s actually really funny bc I chose Gepard for my free 5-star. I do regret not getting E1 Bronya or Himeko, but now I have 2 usable preservation characters

[@tesseract7864]

I like the idea of a dot shield it would also be interesting if it functioned a bit like the curio that nullifies the damage your characters take from enemy dots.

[@sourgrpes0_0]

im a new player and luckily got aventurine, i rlly CANT imagine how would i clear any high levels SU without him..

[@reireiryuuji]

I refuse to believe people are still using bronya

[@JMike-bq6rl]

The Preservation Class is being "Preserved"? No way?!!!!😮😮😮

[@Catboloni]

@@JMike-bq6rl 🤣🤣

[@Kinger_of_the_circus]

Abundance characters have been filling that spot perfectly fine Lingsha is my go to

[@MoriartyUC]

Lingsha being able to shred toughness from a bunny, ult, bunny combo is so much value. Went from needing 2 sustains to beating Feixiao weekly boss fight to now just having rappa and lingsha bully the crap out of her

[@patricksarmiento4901]

Suggestion: A Preservation character that creates a shield to everyone that when broken, it will heal and cleanse a character.

[@Catboloni]

@@patricksarmiento4901 thats a good idea

[@danishyland]

Maybe an interesting unit for a 4* Preservation would be a fast evasion tank, the caveat being they cannot fully guarantee your allies won't die [RNG BASED]. Their skill could grant all allies the ability to evade any enemy action that scales off the unit's spd (caps out at 60%) (debuff or attack). While their ultimate could grant an additional 40% chance to evade actions for a few turns (Making it 100%). To sweeten the deal, whenever an ally would would evade an enemy action it will cause this unit to gain a charge, upon having so many charges allows the unit to immediately take action (another turn), granting them an enhanced basic attack that does a bit of damage (basically acting as a subdps similar to Gallagher in his break team). In addition, their talent could be whenever an ally evades an action grants them 50% dmg mitigation for the next attack they would otherwise not avoid (high but this unit cannot 100% guarantee you won't die, and the following attack, should rng not be in your favor, will not have the dmg mit applied if you get hit twice in a row without avoiding once). E6 could make it so whenever an ally avoids an action heals them for a bit of their HP (to increase sustainability).

[@nasipadang1da]

another HSR content creator already talk about "evasion" in turn based game. it really broke game mechanic when chara and enemy have counter for that mechanic. the game now already have 3 type of evasion 😂 the yt channel is waveman, and the vid is "why you cant (and shouldn't) dodge"

[@jerryeljeremy7790]

I think we are just too fast in judging the game. It's only like a year. I believe when we go to Belobog again in 3.X, they will start releasing Preservation again. Because there are lots of mechanic they can make. Like preservation don't have to always use shield. What about Barriers? Like Argenti's barrier but stackable. But the dev could make an attack that can pass through shields/barriers so consider to pull healers too.

[@MaybeNooon]

I'd like to see a preservation around parry mechanic.

[@thefearturkey6944]

Ngl thats kinda already aventurine

[@supayambaek]

That's Clara lmao

[@MoriartyUC]

basically a preservation that has a follow up attack but thats already in the game

[@kairos-049]

Because we have already 2 preservation units who trivialize every combat encounter outside of really high level simulated universe runs

[@nasipadang1da]

preservation in HSR is like hydro chara in genshin

[@Mixtrelle]

another factor might be necessity. I can get full stars on every endgame content this far with only gepard (and bailu/galagher on my other team). getting fuxuan/aventurine is only for mere convenience. I think they need to rework shield mechanics in general. current shields works just like extra hp so the variations are only thick but slow refresh or thin but fast refresh on top of aoe or single, and maybe give few extra stats for the limited ones. I see there's already some ideas but they are limited to game modes and I'd like to see them applied to future preservation characters.

[@vengeflyking2722]

I think they didn't expect people to succeed without substains so after Loucha they gave them buff or dps abilities to make them feel more worth it.

[@Jett125]

What about "shadow"? My idea is that you cast shadow and the enemy only has a certain Percentage chance to land a hit. The ultimate could cause a small amount of healing over time like lynx and you could throw in some other small things too like debuff the enemies or something like that

[@neil3500]

Good topic on video, subscribed!

[@everdred12a]

I picked Gepard when I hit my free summon and I regret it so much 😭

[@thefearturkey6944]

Imo the issue is that when making a new preservation unit we have several audiences new players veterans and 0 cycle players. New players will benefit from a general preservation unit think fu xuan but older players a slight upgrade to fu xuan isnt enough. Theyd want a specialized unit a dot preservation unit would be amazing for veterans and they get to dust off kafka and black swan but new players who dont have those characters and knowing hoyo will do reruns back to back with that character is basically making it impossible for newer players to get said unit. Then 0 cycles players to pull for a preservation unit it has to go above and beyond and either replace a sub dps or a support or fill both roles. Thats just how it is hoyo they likely will go the specialist route as the game is getting older but it still will be hard to make a mechanic thay incentives pulling. If a enemy ignores shield ill just run fu xuan.

[@stormpony918]

Sigh I'm eagerly waiting for a jade rerun just cause I want to make a stonehearts teame that actually viable which requires jades e1

[@donnyv4750]

I’d do just about anything to get a good 2nd presentation unit not named Aventruine. 4 or 5 star I’ll take either.

[@theunknown1760]

Still using gepard

[@PrownPawn]

Still using gepard

[@snow40k93]

Still using gepard

[@DRERayan]

Still using gepard

[@ko-cutszaiya7032]

Still using gepard

[@benjamintay9619]

Still using gepard

[@dante19890]

We have enough tanks

[@pralenkaman8105]

My opinion without watching the video yet: Shields are just too strong right now, before they start experimenting with more preservations and especially 4 star preservation units, they need to find a way to nerf them, like an enemy type that deals more damage to shielded units or an enemy type that straight up ignore shields Problem is that aventurine is already kinda the best shield character, he can basically give a second health bar to all the party with his skill and FUAs, how do you improve that? Basically make them do what aventurine does but add damage, like something similar to the quake damage from SU gamemodes

[@bletwort2920]

My opinion without watching the video yet: Preservation in theory is better sustain than Abundance as Preservation offers protection against one shot. The reason why Healers are go the go sustain for most players is because of the characters themselves offering cleanse and buffs alongside sustaining the team.

[@duongnguyen-s1i]

for the standard collector, is it better to choose bronya or himeko? i have both fu xuan and aventurine and they make me so :)). for those who are planning going 1 or the other, i might be qualify to answer cause i used both for quite some time but ofc go for whoever u want. although aventurine sustain is more comfy, without follow up in the team, u will def feel a difference because his A6 trace, but if u dont do follow up, there are 3 downsides, since his shield wont refresh as much and higher chance on overcap the stacks because his trace most of the time completes the final stacks needed but without it, u can be waiting for an enemy big aoe which will prob overcap his stacks, 3 less dmg and less weakness reduction. u will notice this quite a long especially in pf, u can check argenti/aven clear or acheron/aven clear and u would usually notice the shield would be quite low hp and the user has to his skill once in a while to refresh compare to a follow up team where aven can just basic all the time. aventurine also cant cleanse, though his effect res is very usefull, there are times it is never enough like against those cc blue trees of the deer, or just strong cc. fu xuan: her 3 biggest weakness are risk of one shot if not properly built/balancing stats compare to aventurine or if without enough er, u team would be wither away, no way to cleanse, the cc prevention is only once per skill but it cant cleanse dot, u have to use her skill at least once per 3 turns no exceptions since if the barrier is down for 1 turn... ur team will prob die during or after u activate the barrier again. though she is still sp positive and her cc prevention has upsides also, u can plan ahead and use her skill before an enemy huge cc attack like the cc puppet which garanties 100% protection against it unlike aventurine which u have to gamble if ur team will be cc or no (lore accurate lol). fu xuan is great against heavy single target attacks because she just absorbs while aventurine if the enemies has huge single target dmg or focus one ally, the shield will highly break and if aven shield breaks then uhh good luck cause it will stagger quickly. also havent tested myself but i saw clips of fu xuan in gold and gears... uhhh yeah..... fu xuan sustain is usually better than aven but worse in follow up teams, also depends on enemy. i tried testing this myself against the bug with a classic premium dot team, kafka was too fast for aven so i think her shield expire and his shield didnt refresh fast enough i think so bs and kafka died while fu xuan they live casually. and also for fu xuan, anything that doesnt kill her even 1 hp left does nothing to her cause she will just regen it back up lol. final note: preservation is definately more comfy than abundance but abundance has more cleanse, huohuo cleanse per turn and lingsha cleanse outside her turn. so that can be noticeable. sustain also usually dont have to worry about one shot while abundance yes and usually preservation is more sp positive. hope this comment actually did smth lol. also for the average player, u wont build aventurine dps cause not high enough relics so its possible fu xuan crit rate buffs are better

[@breakingsky]

bronya !! even tho she’s a standard char, she’s a rlly good harmony unit

[@MoriartyUC]

Bronya. Her value still holds strong. While himeko did gain some value after PF was launched, she's still relatively useless outside of that mode. Bronya isnt gatekept by modes so much as shes gatekept by the characters u own. With her LC and E1, she gives some insane buffs with some level of SP leniancy. E2 basically makes it so you dont have to min max speed tune her. E4 is a nice touch, comes in handly every now and then but that E6 is insane. Currently have her E4 and actually looking to get her E6 because she basically unlocks so many new team comps that normally dont get used or pretty unoptimized.

[@duongnguyen-s1i]

@@MoriartyUC ooh ok thx a lot for the detail. im thinking of getting her but no one in my acc can use her...... its actually funny lol. i have the package for dot team and RRAT follow up team but im still considering bronya but himeko perfomance in pf plus she can be play in super break also entice me a lot cause i can do jade/herta one side and himeko superbreak another but thx for ur advice, ill keep that in mind when the 300 standard comes

[@MoriartyUC]

@@duongnguyen-s1i yea i mean ultimately its up to u and what u need. Id still prefer her over himeko because even though shes good for PF, its isolated. Also did a run with E3S1 himeko for PF and my E0S1 rappa team scored higher than her even while giving her an E1S1 Ruan Mei and E0S1 Robin to buff. She is amazing for clearing waves on waves of enemies but man does it hurt when there arent enemies coming and the only dmg she can do is with her skill.

[@kimkardashi-un2.051]

​@@MoriartyUC Himeko is really good in this patch moc

[@GhostDraggon_]

It sucks there's only 4 Preservation units. And one of them is literally unusable for anything after 20 minutes into the game. Honestly I prefer them over Abundance. I have Luocha and Gallagher but they don't hit the same as my Aventurine or any of the support Fu Xuans I occasionally borrow. I have a MUCH easier and comfier time keeping my team alive when I use Preservation units 😢

[@crusherjoe8520]

Take this with a grain of salt as it is unofficial, but according to a reliable source, there will be 0 new Preservation units, and only 1 new Abundance unit, from 3.0 up till 3.4 - 3.6. This is subject to change, of course. I myself am taking this rumor seriously. I have E0S0 Aventurine and have his E1 guaranteed as I halfheartedly tried to get Rappa, but lost the 50/50 fairly early. I could skip E1 Aventurine and have E0 Sunday guaranteed instead within, going by personal experience, at most, 69, 70, or 71 pulls. I am currently at 11 pity. This information helped me to decide to get E1 Lingsha now, who is already great, whose value should rise in 3.x. HP scaling DPS units will be coming in 3.x, and Linghsa and Luocha has been rumored to have been tested with them.