Honkai: Star Rail – Boothill build and ascension guide

Check out the best Light Cones and Relics for Boothill in Honkai: Star Rail
HoYoverse

Light up every son of a nice lady standing in your way with the muddlefudgin’ best Honkai: Star Rail Boothill guide. This 5-Star character dealing Physical Damage and following The Hunt is a lethal cowboy and bounty hunter, adept at forcing enemies into one-on-one duels and coming out on top.

Boothill’s Skill, Sizzlin’ Tango, throws Boothill and his chosen target into the Standoff state for two turns – or until one of them has been eliminated or gets inflicted with Weakness Break. In this state, Boothill gains access to his Enhanced Attack and taunts the targeted enemy, forcing it to attack Boothill. Both sides are additionally affected by a debuff, increasing the damage they take from each other’s attacks. Whenever Boothill kills or breaks a target in Standoff, he dispels the Skill and gains a stack of Pocket Trickshot.

He can hold up to three stacks of Pocket Trickshot thanks to his Talent, Five Peas in a Pod, and each of them increases his Enhanced Attack’s Toughness Reduction substantially. In addition, they boost Boothill’s Break Damage when attacking targets suffering from Weakness Break.

His Ultimate, Dust Devil’s Sunset Rodeo, applies Physical Weakness to the target for two turns, deals Physical Damage to it, and delays its action.

Boothill’s Eidolon Levels, which are obtained with duplicate copies of the character, further boost his power. Eidolon 1 starts him off with Pocket Trickshot and allows him to ignore some Defense when attacking, while Eidolon 2 enables him to recover a Skill Point when gaining Pocket Trickshot during a Standoff, in addition to increasing his Break Effect temporarily. Eidolon 4 buffs Boothill’s damage in Standoff while reducing the damage he takes. Finally, Eidolon 6 allows him to deal even more Break Damage when his Talent’s effect is triggered.

Honkai: Star Rail – Boothill: best Light Cones

Boothill’s DPS primarily comes from his Break Damage, which means you’ll want to maximize his Break Effect stat. His signature Light Cone, Sailing Towards A Second Life, is designed to achieve just that. It not only boosts this key stat, but allows Break Damage to partly bypass the enemy’s Defense. In addition, it provides the wielder with additional Speed if they surpass a certain Break Effect threshold. Boothill’s riding into the sunset with this one.

Aside from his signature Light Cone, Boothill’s options are pretty limited as he’s the first Hunt character with such a focus on Break Damage.

Best Light Cones for Boothill:

  • Sailing Towards A Second Life (5-Star)
  • Cruising in the Stellar Sea (5-Star)
  • Sleep Like the Dead (5-Star)
  • Swordplay (4-Star)
  • Final Victor (4-Star)
Honkai: Star Rail Boothill brandishing his revolver.
As a Galaxy Ranger, Boothill is following a path of justice. / HoYoverse

Honkai: Star Rail – Boothill: best Relics

Again, the crucial stat for Boothill is Break Effect, so his Relic Set and Planar Ornaments should reflect that. Critical Hit Rate and Critical Hit Damage are great to have as well. Attack is actually less critical, since it doesn’t influence Break Damage, but it’d be the cherry on top. As always, Speed is definitely an important factor, as it will allow Boothill to get into the action earlier and make full use of his equipment.

Best Relic Sets for Boothill:

  • Thief of Shooting Meteor (2) + Watchmaker, Master of Dream Machinations (2) – +16% Break Effect x2

Best Planar Ornaments for Boothill:

  • Talia: Kingdom of Banditry (2) – +16% Break Effect, additional +20% Break Effect if the wearer’s Speed surpasses 145.

Prioritize the following Relic and Planar Ornament stats for Boothill:

  • Head – HP (Primary), Break Effect, Speed, Critical Hit Damage %, Critical Hit Rate %
  • Hands – Attack (Primary), Break Effect, Speed, Critical Hit Damage %, Critical Hit Rate %
  • Body – Critical Hit Damage % or Critical Hit Rate % (Primary), Break Effect, Speed, Critical Hit Damage % or Critical Hit Rate %, Attack %
  • Feet – Speed (Primary), Break Effect, Critical Hit Damage %, Critical Hit Rate %, Speed
  • Planar Sphere – Physical Damage % (Primary), Break Effect, Speed, Critical Hit Damage %, Critical Hit Rate %
  • Link Rope – Break Effect % (Primary), Speed, Critical Hit Damage %, Critical Hit Rate %, Attack %
Honkai: Star Rail Boothill running through a hail of bullets.
Boothill is all about inflicting Weakness Break and then hammering his target with Break Damage. / HoYoverse

Honkai: Star Rail – Boothill: best teams

Boothill feels right at home in the “Break Meta” that’s been created by the addition of Trailblazer (Imaginary) and their Super Break mechanic, hence you’ll want to put the cybernetic cowboy in league with the game’s protagonist for maximum carnage.

  • Boothill (Main DPS), Trailblazer (Imaginary) (Sub DPS), Ruan Mei (Support), Gallagher (Support)

Boothill will be the team’s main source of damage, focusing down enemies one by one. Ruan Mei and Trailblazer will provide teamwide buffs revolving around Break Effect and ensure that Weakness Broken enemies stay in that state for longer – or straight-up die, thanks to Super Break. Finally, any sustain will do for this team, though Gallagher is the optimal choice when it comes to the party’s damage output, as he’s centered around breaking enemies as well.

Honkai: Star Rail Boothill with a bullet-shaped cigar in his mouth.
Boothill is the star of his team. / HoYoverse

Honkai: Star Rail – Boothill: ascension materials

Here’s everything you need to know to get Boothill ascended to the maximum level and upgrade all of his talents.

Boothill requires the following ascension materials to get to level 80 in addition to the necessary XP:

  • Credits x308,000
  • Tatters of Thought x15
  • Fragments of Impression x15
  • Shards of Desire x15
  • IPC Work Permit x65

You can collect Tatters of Thought, Fragments of Impression, and Shards of Desire from enemies on Penacony as well as the Simulated Universe. You can create or exchange them through the Omni-Synthesizer on the Astral Express, too. Tatters of Thought is one of the base materials you can easily farm through the Daily Assignments to your characters, making for a steady income of the material. IPC Work Permits are dropped by the Stagnant Shadow at Clock Studios Theme Park or gained through the exchange of similarly rare materials. The best source of Credits are the Golden Calyxes found on Jarilo-IV, the Xianzhou Luofu, and Penacony.

Honkai: Star Rail Boothill in a seedy bar.
Boothill seems to be antagonistic towards the IPC, even being on its Wanted list. / HoYoverse

Boothill requires the following materials to upgrade her combat abilities and Traces:

  • Credits x3,000,000
  • Tatters of Thought x41
  • Fragments of Impression x56
  • Shards of Desire x58
  • Meteoric Bullet x18
  • Destined Expiration x69
  • Countertemporal Shot x139
  • Lost Echo of the Shared Wish x12
  • Tracks of Destiny x8

For the materials already mentioned, check above. Meteoric Bullet and its upgraded versions can be farmed in the Crimson Calyx at the Scorchsand Audition Venue on Penacony. As usual, you can create the high-level materials by using lower-level materials in the Omni-Synthesizer on the Astral Express or use Tears of Dreams as a substitute.

Lost Echo of the Shared Wish is a boss material only gained from the Echo of War (Salutations of Ashen Dreams) domain in Penacony’s Grand Theater, while Tracks of Destiny can be obtained during time-limited events, the Embers Exchange, the Nameless Honor, or as a Simulated Universe Points Reward.


Published
Marco Wutz

MARCO WUTZ

Marco Wutz is a writer from Parkstetten, Germany. He has a degree in Ancient History and a particular love for real-time and turn-based strategy games like StarCraft, Age of Empires, Total War, Age of Wonders, Crusader Kings, and Civilization as well as a soft spot for Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail. He began covering StarCraft 2 as a writer in 2011 for the largest German community around the game and hosted a live tournament on a stage at gamescom 2014 before he went on to work for Bonjwa, one of the country's biggest Twitch channels. He branched out to write in English in 2015 by joining tl.net, the global center of the StarCraft scene run by Team Liquid, which was nominated as the Best Coverage Website of the Year at the Esports Industry Awards in 2017. He worked as a translator on The Crusader Stands Watch, a biography in memory of Dennis "INTERNETHULK" Hawelka, and provided live coverage of many StarCraft 2 events on the social channels of tl.net as well as DreamHack, the world's largest gaming festival. From there, he transitioned into writing about the games industry in general after his graduation, joining GLHF, a content agency specializing in video games coverage for media partners across the globe, in 2021. He has also written for NGL.ONE, kicker, ComputerBild, USA Today's ForTheWin, The Sun, Men's Journal, and Parade. Email: marco.wutz@glhf.gg