There are a ton of cool and colorful characters in Honkai Star Rail, and the main protagonist just so happens to be one of the best options players can choose from right from the get-go. By default, they use their trusty metal baseball bat as a weapon. However, as the game progresses, they'll eventually be able to get new elemental powers, the first of which is fire.
The Trailblazer doesn't just get fire powers in Honkai Star Rail—they get an entirely new Path, changing the default Destruction one to that of Preservation. This effectively makes them a tank, which will greatly expand the possible team compositions players can make with the characters they have available. Here's how to unlock this new power.
How to Get the Trailblazer's Path of Preservation
Getting the second subclass for the Trailblazer is impossible to miss because it's all the way at the end of the Jarilo-VI quest line. Players need to reach Trailblaze Level 24 and keep following the story missions until they reach the last one called End of the Eternal Freeze.
This mission predictably pits the Astral Express crew against Cocolia atop a snowy mountain. The supreme guardian has a few tricks up their sleeve, but It's nothing that players can't beat. The boss fight itself is more of a spectacle than a challenge—just make sure to bring a fully-leveled team that can exploit Fire, Lightning, and Quantum weaknesses. March 7th, Dan Heng, Serval, and the Trailblazer are enough to overpower the enemies in this encounter.
The fight against Cocolia is multistaged. After a series of battles and cutscenes mid-way through, players will actually get a trial version of Fire Trailblazer in their party. They'll come with improved stats and leveled-up skills to help finish the rest of the fight. Beat Cocolia to permanently unlock the Path of Preservation and the cool, flaming lance that comes with it.
After the boss fight, players will be able to freely swap between Destruction and Preservation. However, they will need to level up Fire Trailblazer's Traces from scratch, so make sure to have enough upgrade materials to keep this character at peak performance. Thankfully, unlike in Genshin Impact, players won't need to farm for any Character EXP items because Fire Trailblazer's level will always remain constant between their equipped Paths.
Fire Trailblazer is more of a bruiser than a tank. They can take enemy aggro and soak up more damage than other characters, but their kit has a notable emphasis on damage buffs. It's best to pair them with a healer or March 7th, so they don't lose too much HP while tanking.
Honkai Star Rail is available on PC, iOS, and Android. A PlayStation version is on the way.