How to Break Shields Quickly in Honkai Star Rail

In Honkai Star Rail, you take on the role of a powerful Trailblazer wielding the destructive power of the Stellaron. As a Trailblazer, your mission is to explore the vast universe and protect planets affected by the mysterious and dangerous Stellarons. Along the way, you will encounter a wide variety of space monsters, each of which has a toughness bar above their head that serves as a shield against attacks. In this guide, we’ll show you the best ways to break through these shields and defeat even the toughest monsters in Honkai Star Rail.

Toughness Bar in Honkai Star Rail

In Honkai Star Rail, understanding elements is crucial to defeating enemies effectively. There are seven unique elements in the game: Physical, Fire, Wind, Ice, Lightning, Quantum, and Imaginary, and each enemy is weak to certain elements. As you engage in battles, you’ll notice a toughness bar above the enemy, which indicates their level of resistance to attacks.

Moreover, by getting closer to the enemy, you will be able to identify its weakness and use it to your advantage. During the battle, you can also see the enemy’s elemental weakness displayed over their character, giving you an idea of which elemental attacks to use to break their shield.

In Honkai Star Rail, using the elements that enemies are weak against is the most effective way to break their shield. When an enemy’s shield is broken, they go into break mode where they cannot take any actions for one round and are vulnerable to increased damage. However, it’s important to note that enemies will regenerate their shield in the next round, so you will need to break it again to keep them in the break mode.

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Breaking a shield can also apply a special effect on enemies depending on the element used to break them. Here are the effects for each element:

• Physical: Bleed effect (7% damage over time to bosses and 16% damage over time to minions for two turns)
• Fire: Burn (100% damage over time for two turns)
• Wind: Wind Sheer (100% damage over time multiplied by stack count for two turns)
• Ice: Freeze (Freezes enemy, inflicts 100% damage over time for one turn, and delays action)
• Lightning: Shock (100% damage over time for two turns)
• Quantum: Entanglement (100% damage over time multiplied by stack count and delays action)
• Imaginary: Imprisonment (Delays action)

Most enemies have multiple weaknesses, so you don’t necessarily need to rely on a specific element all the time. By being mindful of team’s elemental affinities and planning your attacks, you won’t have any problem breaking shields in Honkai Star Rail. While you are here, check out our guides on Honkai Star Rail.