Honkai: Star Rail 1.6: Should you pull for Dr. Ratio's eidolons or his signature Light Cone?

The second half of Honkai: Star Rail version 1.6 is upon us and it features one of the most intriguing banners so far, only fitting since it'll be the last one before the game moves to Penacony with version 2.0 in February.

What makes this banner intriguing is the fact that its debuting 5-star, the Imaginary Hunt character Dr. Ratio, will be given to all players for free once the second half starts. So, if you were one of those players that saved up some Stellar Jade to get Dr. Ratio, you have the choice to save those for version 2.0 or spend them now to get his signature Light Cone or eidolons.

So, if you're still torn on what to do, read on as we break down why you should pull for Dr. Ratio's eidolons and his signature Light Cone.

Are Dr. Ratio's eidolons worth it?

Don't let the fact that he's a free 5-star character fool you, Dr. Ratio should be a must-build for most players.

As a Hunt character, Dr. Ratio is all about dishing out a huge amount of single-target damage with frequent follow-up attacks that are triggered by debuffs on enemy targets. He is also able to trigger massive buffs to his Crit Rate and Crit DMG on his own, making it easier to build him. Dr. Ratio's Imaginary elemental alignment also makes him a go-to pick against the multitude of bosses with an Imaginary weakness.

But if you're one of those players who saved up Stellar Jade to get Dr. Ratio and now have a surplus since he'll be given for free, is it worth it to spend those and get his eidolons? Let's break down what they do in order to judge their value.

Dr. Ratio's E1, Pride Comes Before a Fall, increases the maximum stackable count for his A2 Trace, Summation, by 4.

Summation is arguably Dr. Ratio's most impactful Trace, as it gives him a stacking 2.5% Crit Rate bonus and 5% Crit DMG bonus for every debuff on his target whenever he uses his skill. At E0, Summation has a max stack count of 6 for a 15% Crit Rate and 30% Crit DMG bonus.

If you get his E1, Summation's max stack count increases to 10 for a 25% Crit Rate and 30% Crit DMG bonus. In addition, Dr. Ratio will immediately get 4 stacks of Summation at the start of every battle.

While those are some eye-popping buffs, you have to remember that you need to maintain 10 debuffs on your target for the Crit bonuses to be active. This is easily achievable if you pair Dr. Ratio with characters who generate a lot of debuffs like Silver Wolf or E1S1 Topaz. With that said, this does limit your team building options somewhat.

Dr. Ratio's E2, The Divine is in the Details, lets him deal an additional 20% of his ATK as Imaginary DMG for every debuff an enemy target has upon being hit by his Talent's follow-up attack. This effect can be triggered a maximum of 4 times, for an additional 80% of Dr. Ratio's ATK as Imaginary DMG on a target with four debuffs.

After his first two eidolons, Dr. Ratio's next three give him additional levels on his abilities as well as bonus energy whenever he uses his follow-up attack.

Finally, Dr. Ratio's E6, Vincit Omnia Veritas, increases the amount of follow-up attacks triggered by his ultimate by 1. In addition, it increases the DMG of all his follow-up attacks by a whopping 50%. As should be expected of an E6 effect, Dr. Ratio becomes insanely powerful if you invest in him this much.

But with all that said, is it worth going for Dr. Ratio's eidolons or are you better off being satisfied with him staying at E0?

To be frank, Dr. Ratio is already very powerful at E0 that getting his eidolons should be considered a luxury upgrade. But if you're willing to whale on this banner to get Dr. Ratio's eidolons, then his E1 will provide the most bang for your buck. E2 and E4, which increases the level of his skill and Talent by 2, are also worthwhile upgrades.

As for his E6... well, it's an E6 upgrade so your character is supposed to become insanely powerful should you ever get to that point.

But while Dr. Ratio's eidolons are good but not really necessary upgrades, his signature Light Cone on the other hand...

Should you get Dr. Ratio's signature Light Cone?

Dr. Ratio's signature Light Cone, Baptism of Pure Thought, is insane and definitely provides better value than his early eidolon upgrades. It's so good, in fact, that other Hunt characters can still make very good use of it even if the passive isn't tailor-made for them.

Baptism of Pure Thought passively gives its wielder a 20% Crit DMG bonus. They also get 8% more Crit DMG for every debuff on an enemy target, stacking up to 3 times for a whopping 44% Crit DMG bonus against a target with 3 debuffs on them.

In addition, this Light Cone also grants its wielder the Disputation effect whenever they use their ultimate to attack an enemy target. Disputation increases the wielder's DMG by 36% and enables their follow-up attacks to ignore 24% of their target's DEF for 2 turns.

When wielding his signature Light Cone and assuming he is attacking a target with 6 debuffs after using his ultimate, these are the buffs Dr. Ratio will get: 15% Crit Rate, 74% Crit DMG, 86% DMG bonus, and 24% DEF ignore.

Those aren't counting his base stats and any additional stats from relics, by the way. Even without having to resort to a high-effort min-maxed build, your Dr. Ratio will still get some very sweet Crit ratios (pun intended) by just having his signature Light Cone.

So, if ever you're deciding between Dr. Ratio's early eidolons and his signature Light Cone, then you're gonna get a lot more value by spending your Stellar Jade to get Baptism of Pure Thought. Plus you get a nice picture of Dr. Ratio in the bathtub.

TL;DR: Dr. Ratio's signature Light Cone provides better value compared to his early eidolons, it's better to spend your Stellar Jade on that instead

Honkai: Star Rail version 1.6 features three new characters, namely the 5-star Ice Harmony character Ruan Mei, the 5-star Imaginary Hunt character Dr. Ratio, and the 4-star Quantum Destruction character Xueyi. Dr. Ratio will be given to players for free at the start of the second half of this version.

After version 1.6 comes the massive version 2.0 update in February 2024, which will see the release of a new planet in Penacony as well as three new characters in Black Swan, Sparkle, and Misha.

Yan Ku is a full-time dog parent, part-time (gacha) gamer, and part-time writer.

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