[Jotaku]

For solo, since you play alone, there is no limitation on path. You can take as many paths as possible since no one will chase you or your ally as a team. The risk for going as many paths as possible totally depends on you. Also there are meta builds that takes 6 paths for solo mode as well.

Usually 5~6 path builds are more well-balanced than 4 path build. Then, is it better if I take 5~6 path build, like always?
It depends on the performance of the 4 path build. If you can make items fast using 4 path build and kill fast before others make all items, then use it, especially if you look for meteorite or life of tree early on, you may need 4 path builds more, especially when you need one of them for weapon crafting.

However, most builds as meta plans takes 5 paths and they perform better than 4 path builds (oppositely, 4 path build also may perform better than 5~6 path builds if it is upgraded by meteorite or tree of life). And there is auto resurrection for first 2 days and in those 2 days, you will very likely obtain all the required items if your build takes 5 paths but not 6 paths. I mean, since you have auto resurrection and time, then you might focus on stronger builds which are more likely 5 path builds. 6 path might be too late, but well-balanced 6 path builds can also out-perform 4~5 path builds. But usually this doesn't happen. Most of the builds that look its best without gold-colored rare items are made within 5 path.

From my experience in duo/squad, if your ally is a type of player who dies lot anyways in first 2 days, no matter how fast build you made and helped allies quickly using 4 path builds, your entire team will very likely lose at the end anyways (not being top 1 team). So I means you rather want to focus on your play and builds high quality by having quality equipment. Highly skilled players they all know how to survive in first 2 days without your helps.

You don't want to think too much on how many paths your builds requires as long as it takes less than or equal to 6 path. Rather, focus on the quality and performance of your build. If you use 4 path build, try to always consider getting meteorite/tree of life on early time (day 1~2), this can be risky though if you fail or getting late. Also highly well-balanced 6 path build can also outperform 4 path builds with 1 gold-colored rare item. There is no answer, so you want to focus on the quality and performance of the build rather than the number of paths.