When Dr. Ratio first appeared in Honkai: Star Rail’s 1.6 update back in late 2023, he caused a stir not only because of his aloof charm but also because he was the first-ever 5-star character handed out for free. Fast forward to 2026, and many new Trailblazers still find themselves wondering: is it worth building him now that the character pool has expanded dramatically? In a word, absolutely. Dr. Ratio remains a top-tier Imaginary DPS, and leveling him feels less like grinding and more like carefully tuning a vintage harpsichord—each material you slot in tightens the strings of his devastating follow-up attacks until they hum with lethal harmony.
To bring Dr. Ratio to his full potential, a player must gather the standard suite of resources required for any 5-star Hunt character, but the specific components follow a logic all their own. Think of it like preparing a three-course meal for a discerning gourmand: you can’t just raid a single pantry. You’ll need enemy drops from the cosmos’s shadiest thieves, a Shapestealer’s edict ripped from its core, an arsenal of arrow-shaped scrolls, and shards of calamitous memory from a weekly boss fight. Below is a complete breakdown of the materials, organized so you never waste a single Trailblaze Power.
🌌 Materials at a Glance
| Category | Required Item |
|---|---|
| Enemy Drop | Thief's Instinct → Usurper's Scheme → Conqueror's Will |
| Ascension Boss Drop | Suppressing Edict |
| Trace Material | Arrow of the Beast Hunter → Arrow of the Demon Slayer → Arrow of the Starchaser |
| Weekly Boss Drop | Past Evils of the Borehole Planet Disaster |
The enemy drops cascade from common thugs across the Xianzhou Luofu and other areas where the Disciples of Sanctus Medicus or vagrant thieves lurk. Like harvesting mushrooms after a rain, you’ll find these items piled high in your inventory if you make even a slight detour through the Alchemy Commission or in Simulated Universe runs. The Suppressing Edict, on the other hand, demands a proper confrontation with the Shape Shifter boss in the Seclusion Zone—a foe who tests patience as much as damage output.
🔺 Ascension Phase Breakdown
Ascending Dr. Ratio costs the expected 308,000 Credits, a handful of Suppressing Edicts, and a steadily increasing quantity of Thief’s Instinct-line materials. The real bottleneck tends to be the Edicts, which only drop from the Shape Shifter. One plausible strategy is to stockpile these over several days while also farming the enemy drops passively through assignments, transforming the whole process into a leisurely activity rather than a frantic scramble.
Imagine the ascension process as building a towering sandcastle: the early phases feel easy, but the final tiers require you to bring all your buckets at low tide—that’s your concentrated farming window. Once the castle stands, though, his base stats and Traces unlock their full glory.
🏹 Trace Materials & Where to Find Them
Dr. Ratio’s talent tree mirrors other Hunt characters in structure but diverges sharply in the materials required. It’s wise to separate your farming into three distinct lanes:
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Basic Attack Traces
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Skill, Talent, and Ultimate Traces
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Skill Tree (Bonus Nodes)
1. Basic Attack
The bread and butter of his weaker yet free-to-use action. players need to repeatedly clear the Hunt Calyx located in the Outlying Snow Plains of Jarilo-VI to collect Arrows of the Beast Hunter, Demon Slayer, and Starchaser. Because the Basic Attack caps at level 6, the material cost here is noticeably lighter—akin to fueling a candle instead of a whole bonfire.
2. Skill, Talent & Ultimate
These three abilities scale all the way to level 10, swallowing up far more Arrows and Credits. Additionally, from level 7 onward, each upgrade demands Past Evils of the Borehole Planet Disaster, which drops exclusively from the Echo of War fight against Phantylia the Undying in the Seclusion Zone. This weekly lockout can feel like trying to fill a reservoir drop by drop, so consistency is key. Save your weekly Echo of War attempts for this boss without fail.
3. Skill Tree Bonus Nodes
These extra stat boosts are a treasure trove of Crit Rate, ATK%, and a modest DEF sprinkling. The material mix here blends the lower-tier Arrows with more enemy drops, but no boss materials. Completing all the bonus nodes makes Dr. Ratio’s follow-up attacks hit with the force of a metronome-timed hammer strike, consistent and punishing.
🧭 A 2026 Perspective: Is He Still Worth It?
By the summer of 2026, the Honkai: Star Rail roster has ballooned with newer, flashier damage dealers. Yet Dr. Ratio’s unique focus on follow-up attacks and his complete self-sufficiency—no need to gamble on gacha luck—keep him locked in as a smart investment. For free-to-play Trailblazers or those who missed earlier Imaginary powerhouses, leveling Dr. Ratio is akin to discovering an antique telescope that still reveals the clearest of night skies.
Farming his materials may occasionally feel like solving a Rubik’s cube with one hand while juggling Trailblaze Power, but the payoff is a unit that can dismantle Memory of Chaos stages and high-difficulty events with a sly smirk. Plan your weekly Echo of War, auto-farm the Outlying Snow Plains Calyx, and hunt those thieves at your leisure. Before long, you’ll have a stone-cold professor ready to hand out F’s to every enemy in sight—prescribing critical thinking with a chalk that happens to be made of pure Imaginary energy.