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Yanqing

Yanqing

Ice-1

Ice

Hunt-1

Hunt

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Yanqing is one of the 5-star characters in Honkai: Star Rail who can unleash tremendous amounts of damage. He is one of the DPS carries who can clear later Forgotten Hall and Memory of Chaos floors with relative ease, and overall, he is a solid unit that can fit in most teams that need an ST damage dealer.

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The best part of Yanqing's kit is it is very easy to build. Unlike other Honkai: Star Rail characters, this icy swordsman can passively grant himself the stats he needs to deal his big damage bursts. Still, players need to be careful when building this character so they don't get any wasted stats. Here's a guide covering exactly that.

Honkai: Star Rail Yanqing Build

Yanqing on the Xianzhou Luofu in Honkai: Star Rail

Yanqing is an Ice Hunt character, which makes him an excellent option for fighting high-health targets. His single-target damage output is close to none, but players have to be mindful of how they build Yanqing, especially while he's still being leveled up.

  • Core Stat Priorities: CRIT DMG, ATK%, CRIT Rate, SPD
  • Planar Ornament Stats: Ice DMG, ATK%
  • Relic Sets: Hunter of Glacial Forest (4PC), Space Sealing Station (2PC), OR Celestial Differentiator (2PC)
  • Light Cones: Sleep Like the Dead (5-star), Swordplay (4-star), Only Silence Remains (4-star)

An important thing about Yanqing: since he gets so much free CRIT Rate and CRIT DMG from his kit, players can place ATK% and SPD higher up in their stat priorities list, but this is only reserved for when Yanqing's Trace levels are not yet high enough to provide the CRIT stats he needs. Aim for at least a 20% CRIT Rate from Relic substats and let Yanqing's passive bonuses provide the rest.

The Hunter of Glacial Forest 4-piece bonus synergizes well with Yanqing's playstyle because he relies on using his Ultimate for dealing damage and gaining CRIT buffs. Players can mix this with Musketeer of Wild Wheat's 2-piece bonus instead if they want more consistent damage when Yanqing's Ultimate isn't available or if the enemy's Toughness bars are broken.

Similarly, Space Sealing Station is the superior Planar Ornament set for this character—Yanqing needs as much ATK as he can get to make his CRIT buffs worthwhile. For general play or when grinding easy content, Celestial Differentiator might be the better option because it will let Yanqing assassinate a priority target during the very first turn of a fight.

As for Light Cones, players can safely skip on anything that gives CRIT Rate once Yanqing's Traces have been leveled up. CRIT Rate is still useful, but ATK% or CRIT DMG will offer more value in the long run.

Yanqing Abilities and Trace Leveling Order

Yanqing in Honkai: Star Rail

Yanqing is very reliant on having his Traces leveled up since this is where his CRIT buffs come from. He might feel underwhelming at first, but once his abilities get upgraded by Level 50 or 60, players will be able to go to town with his high burst damage.

  • Amidst the Raining Bliss (Ultimate)
  • Darting Ironthorn (Skill)
  • One With the Sword (Talent)
  • Basic attack

Although One With the Sword is Yanqing's source of free CRIT stats, his other abilities still take leveling priority. Early on, it's still better to buff raw damage than CRIT stats since the latter relies heavily on the former. However, it's worth noting that Amidst the Raining Bliss has a base 60% chance to critically strike, and if Soulsteel Sync from Darting Ironthorn is active, this chance goes up to 75% at Trace Level 1.

Take Yanqing's first and third Ascension passives when they become available and get the floating stat Traces when needed. His second Ascension passive can be skipped for until players start having trouble with incoming enemy effects and debuffs.

Yanqing only gets to enjoy his free stats if spams Darting Ironthorn. This, combined with the fact that Soulsteel Sync deactivates when Yanqing is hit, means that he is very SP-intensive. Players will need to build the right team so they don't find themselves unable to use any abilities at all.

Honkai: Star Rail was released on April 26th for PC and mobile devices. PS4 and PS5 versions are in development.