Honkai: Star Rail Trace Leveling Priority Guide: What to Level First

Here is the verdict up front: unlock the three major traces the moment you can afford them, then level the one damage ability your character actually leans on, and save your Tracks of Destiny for the last two levels of that one ability. Everything else is timing and triage.

Traces are where a lot of your account's real power hides. A five-star at level 80 with mismatched traces loses to a four-star with the right ones maxed. But traces are also a slow, credit-hungry grind gated by materials you cannot rush, so knowing the order matters more here than almost anywhere else in the game.

The three kinds of traces

Every character's trace tree splits into three groups, and they do not share a priority.

• Skills. The five leveled abilities: Basic ATK, Skill, Ultimate, Talent, and Technique. These scale up to level 10 (Basic caps at 6, Technique does not level) and eat the bulk of your materials.
• Major traces (the bonus abilities). Three passive nodes, usually labeled A2, A4, and A6, that unlock a permanent effect: a damage bonus, a healing boost, an extra Skill Point, a debuff. They cost a flat, modest sum and do not scale. They are the single best return on investment in the whole tree.
• Stat nodes (the small traces). The little hexagons that grant flat DMG%, ATK%, HP%, SPD, effect hit rate, and so on. Cheap individually, but there are a lot of them.

Priority, in order

For essentially any character:

1. Unlock all three major traces first. They are cheap, they never scale, and they are frequently the character's identity. Skipping them to push a Skill from 6 to 7 is a rookie mistake.
2. Level the primary damage ability to 6 to 8. Which ability that is depends on the character (see below).
3. Grab the stat nodes that match the character. A DMG% node on a DPS, a SPD or Effect Hit Rate node on a support. Ignore the ones that give a stat the character does not use.
4. Push the secondary abilities to a comfortable level (usually matching or one below the primary).
5. Only then spend Tracks of Destiny to take the primary ability from 8 to 9 to 10.

Which ability is the "primary" for your role

This is the part people get wrong. The most expensive ability is not always the most important one.

• Hunt and Erudition DPS (single-target and area damage): the Skill is usually the workhorse, so it goes first. Ultimate second if the character's rotation revolves around it.
• Destruction DPS with enhanced Basic ATKs (the ones whose Skill or state turns their Basic into the main damage button): Basic ATK first. It is the exception that catches everyone, because Basic normally levels last.
• Ultimate-centric carries: if the character dumps most of their damage into the Ultimate, that is the priority regardless of Path.
• Abundance (healers): the Skill or Talent that governs healing output, whichever the kit uses. You want the numbers high enough to outheal the content, then stop.
• Harmony (supports/buffers): frequently the Talent or Ultimate that carries the buff. Many Harmony units get most of their value from major traces plus one leveled ability, so they are cheap to bring online.
• Preservation (shields): the Skill or Talent that sets the shield value.
• Nihility (debuffers/DoT): the ability that applies the debuff or DoT, plus every Effect Hit Rate stat node you can find.

When you are unsure, check the character's role in the best characters guide and confirm the rotation with the current best teams.

Tracks of Destiny: the real bottleneck

Traces climb to level 10, but levels 9 and 10 each require a Track of Destiny, and Tracks are rare. You get a trickle from Simulated Universe, the Nameless Honor pass, and various shops, and that trickle is the actual limit on how many characters you can finish.

The rule: do not spend a Track until the ability is your character's confirmed damage button and the character is a keeper. Level 6 to 8 is cheap material grinding; level 8 to 10 is your scarcest resource. A Skill at 8 is already most of the power; the jump to 10 is a single-digit-percent gain that you should reserve for your two or three best damage dealers, not spread thin across the roster.

The material grind, and how to plan it

Trace materials come from several sources, and running out of one stalls the whole tree:

• Trace ascension materials (the tiered kind, from Calyx: Buds) come from the same Trailblaze Power farming as level-up mats. Farm the Bud that matches your priority characters.
• Boss ascension materials for the higher trace levels come from weekly and world bosses.
• Credits are the silent tax. Maxing traces across a team costs a small fortune, so keep an eye on your credit income before you commit.
• Tracks of Destiny as above.

Batch it: pick one character, take every skill to the same level in one sitting so you are not context-switching, and stop at the level where the content you play stops punishing you.

How high is high enough?

You do not need level 10 everywhere. Sensible stopping points:

• Main DPS you clear endgame with: primary ability 9 or 10, secondaries 8 to 9. Reserve the Tracks here.
• Secondary/off-field DPS: primary 8, the rest 6 to 8.
• Supports and sustains: the one buff/heal ability to 8, major traces unlocked, stat nodes for SPD and Effect Hit Rate grabbed. Most of their value is not in raw ability level.
• Bench units: major traces only, if that.

Speed is a special case: because turn order can make or break a rotation, a support's SPD stat nodes and gear often matter more than an extra ability level. See the speed tuning guide before you assume more ability level is the answer.

A worked example of the order

Say you just pulled a Hunt DPS whose Skill is the damage button:

1. Unlock all three major traces. Done in minutes, huge power spike.
2. Skill to 6, then 8, farming the Calyx material as you go.
3. Grab the CRIT and DMG% stat nodes; skip the DEF ones.
4. Bring Ultimate and Talent to 6 to 8.
5. Push Basic ATK last, only if you have spare mats.
6. Once the character is your Abyss-clearing carry, spend two Tracks of Destiny to take the Skill to 10.

Quick answers

What traces should I level first in Honkai: Star Rail? The three major (bonus) traces, always. Then your character's primary damage ability, then matching stat nodes, then secondaries, then Tracks of Destiny for the last two levels.

Are Tracks of Destiny worth it? Yes, but only on your best two or three damage dealers. Levels 9 and 10 are small gains for a scarce resource; spread them thin and every character stays slightly underpowered.

Do supports need high traces? Rarely. Most Harmony and Abundance units get their value from unlocked major traces, one leveled ability, and SPD, not from maxing everything.

Traces are one piece of a character's power budget. Pair this with the relic substat priority guide, the light cones guide, and, if you are early, the beginners guide. New to the account or planning pulls? Grab current redemption codes, check the tier list, and browse the full Honkai: Star Rail wiki hub.