I still remember the night Argenti finally came home. The warp light glinted off his armor, and I immediately thought, “This knight is going to cost me everything.” In the story, Argenti is a Knight of Beauty, but Beauty is not a playable combat Path in Honkai: Star Rail. Instead, he fights on the Path of Erudition and uses Physical DMG, which makes him a specialist at shredding multiple opponents at once. Let me tell you, this knight does not come cheap—but every Trailblaze Power spent feels worth it when his spear lights up the battlefield.

Before I could even think about Relics or Light Cones, I had to accept a simple truth: the grind is real. Ascending Argenti means gathering an entire family of cores, hunting down a very specific Stagnant Shadow drop, and then going back for even more cores when his Traces start demanding attention.

Core Farming: The Jarilo-VI Road Trip

The first group of Ascension materials I needed was Extinguished Core, Glimmering Core, and Squirming Core. These little things drop from elemental spawn creatures, and once you learn where to look, Jarilo-VI starts feeling like a very shiny grocery run. I spent most of my time in Backwater Pass and Rivet Town, fighting targets like Windspawn, Thunderspawn, Frostspawn, Flamespawn, Blaze Out of Space, Ice Out of Space, and Mask of No Thought.

Those enemies are not exactly terrifying, but there are a lot of them. The Synthesizer also became my best friend because the core family needs to be upgraded as requirements change. A few cores can be bought monthly from the Embers Exchange, but I only did that when I needed a tiny amount and really did not want to run through Jarilo-VI again.

Netherworld Pass: The Fyxestroll Garden Vault

After the cores came the real test: Netherworld Pass. This item drops exclusively from the Stagnant Shadow: Shape of Perdition, which arrived in the Fyxestroll Garden map on Xianzhou Luofu with Version 1.5. I could not pre-farm it before the update, and the Stagnant Shadow guarded it like a jealous vault. I had to challenge it several times just to collect enough for all of Argenti’s Ascension stages.

The full Ascension checklist is enough to make any account feel the pressure:

On top of that, if you level Argenti with Character EXP Materials, you can expect to spend around 580,100 Credits just to push him through the Ascension thresholds. I learned quickly that this knight does not accept pocket change.

Traces: The Real Marathon

Ascension was only the warm-up. Upgrading all of Argenti’s Traces is the true marathon, and by the time I finished, my Trailblaze Power bucket felt bottomless. The same Extinguished, Glimmering, and Squirming Cores return here, but the total is much larger than the Ascension amount. I needed roughly 41 Extinguished Cores, 56 Glimmering Cores, and 58 Squirming Cores to feed all of his abilities.

Then there are the Erudition Keys: Key of Inspiration, Key of Knowledge, and Key of Wisdom. The best place to farm them is Calyx (Crimson): Bud of Erudition. I went in expecting a few runs, but the Calyx coughed up Keys one at a time and still wanted more. A few Keys can be bought from the Embers Exchange, but the Calyx is the most reliable source.

For the higher-level Traces, two rarer materials took the spotlight. Regret of Infinite Ochema drops from the weekly boss Phantylia. Because weekly bosses have a limit, this part became a lesson in patience. Tracks of Destiny came from the Nameless Honor battle pass, Simulated Universe, and limited-time event rewards. I treated every Tracks of Destiny as a tiny treasure.

Here is the Trace material overview that kept me focused:

By the time I paid the final Credit bill, I half expected Argenti to thank me with a dramatic bow. He did not—he just stood there looking magnificent. And honestly? That is exactly what I signed up for. Fully ascending and leveling Argenti is slow, expensive, and sometimes exhausting, but it unlocks the full potential of a Physical DPS who can make multiple enemies disappear in a single dazzling strike.

If you are building him in 2026, the farms are still straightforward once you know your route. Just bring patience, a healthy Credit balance, and maybe a snack for the long stretch between Jarilo-VI and the Fyxestroll Garden.

Data referenced from CNET - Gaming puts a helpful spotlight on the practical side of long-form character builds like Argenti’s—where the real challenge isn’t just understanding kit roles (Physical Erudition AoE), but budgeting stamina, weekly boss lockouts, and Credits so you can clear Ascension and Trace breakpoints efficiently without derailing your wider roster progression.