Jing Yuan has entered the battlefield in Honkai Star Rail! Here's how you build him

Make way for the Arbiter-General! Jing Yuan has now entered the battlefield in Honkai: Star Rail as the game’s second banner 5-star character, taking the spotlight in the second half of version 1 after Seele’s debut in the first half.

Jing Yuan is one of the seven Arbiter-Generals of the Xianzhou Alliance’s Cloud Knights, and one of the six Charioteers of the Xianzhou Luofu, known for ravaging entire battlefields in the past before he helped usher in an era of peace for the Alliance.

Jing Yuan is a Lightning character that follows the Path of Erudition, specialising in dishing out massive area-of-effect damage with his fearsome Lightning Lord.

With the right equipment and teammates surrounding him, Jing Yuan can wipe the entire battlefield clean in one turn by using his skill, ultimate, and his fearsome Lightning-Lord’s follow-up attack.

Jing Yuan’s kit and how you can best utilise him

Swirl of Heavenly Spear

As an Erudition character, Jing Yuan specialises in dealing massive area-of-effect damage. His kit is centered on the Lightning-Lord he summons thanks to his talent, Prana Extirpated, at the start of battle.

The Lightning-Lord fights alongside Jing Yuan by dishing out follow-up attacks, and can be considered as its own unit with 60 base Speed and 3 base attack count. At max talent level, each count of the Lightning-Lord’s attack deals Lightning DMG equal to 72% of Jing Yuan’s ATK to a single enemy and 25% of the damage dealt to the main target to adjacent enemies.

The key to unlocking Jing Yuan’s power is by maximising his Lightning-Lord’s attack counts, which has a cap of 10 and resets to its base values after it attacks. You can increase the Lightning-Lord’s attack counts by using Jing Yuan’s skill and ultimate.

However, keep in mind that the Lightning-Lord will be unable to act or even disappear entirely if Jing Yuan gets affected by crowd-control debuffs or knocked down.

Jing Yuan’s skill, Rifting Zenith, deals Lightning DMG equal to 110% of his ATK at max level to all enemies while increasing the Lightning-Lord’s attack count by 2 for the next turn.

Jing Yuan’s ultimate, Lightbringer, deals Lightning DMG equal to 216% of his ATK to all enemies while increasing the Lightning-Lord’s attack count by 3 for the next turn.

Jing Yuan’s major Traces strengthens his Lightning-Lord’s attacks while helping him maintain uptime with his ultimate.

His A2 Trace, Battalia Crush, gives the Lightning-Lord a 25% Crit DMG buff if its attack count is equal or greater than 6. At A4, Man With a Plan, immediately regenerates 15 energy for Jing Yuan at the start of battle. Finally, his A6 Trace, War Marshal, increases his Crit Rate by 15% for 2 turns after he uses his skill.

Using Jing Yuan’s Technique, Command Talisman, to start the battle gives his Lightning-Lord an additional 2 attack counts at the start of battle.

In battle, make sure to give Jing Yuan’s Lightning-Lord as much attack counts as possible to maximise his damage output.

After using his skill and ultimate, the Lightning-Lord will have an attack count of 8. If Jing Yuan’s skill and ultimate weren’t enough to take down the enemy, then the Lightning-Lord’s follow-up attack should finish it off. You can reach the Lightning-Lord’s max attack count of 10 by using Jing Yuan’s Technique to start the battle then unleashing his full combo in your first turn.

Jing Yuan’s best equipment

Light Cones

Jing Yuan’s best Light Cone is, of course, his signature, Before Dawn. This Light Cone increases his Crit DMG by 36% as well as the DMG of both his skill and ultimate by 30%. In addition, it also gives him a buff after using his skill or ultimate that increases the follow-up attack DMG of his Lightning-Lord by 48%.

Before Dawn gives Jing Yuan massive DMG buffs across the board and it’s easy to see why his signature Light Cone is his best. But if you don’t have his signature, a good 5-star Light Cone alternative is Night on the Milky Way, which is notably available on the Starlight Exchange.

Night on the Milky Way gives Jing Yuan a stacking 9% ATK bonus up to 5 stacks. In addition, it gives him a 30% DMG bonus when an enemy is inflicted by Weakness Break. While this Light Cone pales in comparison to Jing Yuan’s signature, it is still a good alternative for its 5-star stats and solid buffs.

As for 4-star options, your best bets are either The Seriousness of Breakfast or The Birth of the Self.

The Seriousness of Breakfast increases Jing Yuan’s DMG by 12% while also buffing his ATK by 4% for every defeated enemy, which can stack up to 3 times. Meanwhile, The Birth of the Self increases the DMG of follow-up attacks (which buffs the Lightning-Lord’s attacks) by 24%, which doubles when the target’s HP is below or equal to 50% of its Max HP.

Relics

As for Jing Yuan’s relics, his best Cavern of Corrosion Relics set is hands-down the 4-piece Band of Sizzling Thunder, which increases his Lightning DMG by 10% while also giving him a 20% ATK bonus for 1 turn after using his skill.

For his Planar Ornaments, you can go for either the 2-piece Inert Salsotto (World 6) or 2-piece Space Sealing Station (World 3).

Inert Salsotto is the better option of the two, as it gives Jing Yuan a 8% Crit Rate bonus as well as a 15% DMG bonus to his ultimate and follow-up attacks if his Crit Rate reaches 50% or higher. With that said, the Space Sealing Station is also a solid option for its 12% ATK buff, which gets doubled if Jing Yuan’s Speed reaches 120 or higher.

The main stats you should go for are Crit Rate/Crit DMG for the Body, ATK% or Speed for the Feet, Lightning DMG Bonus for the Planar Sphere, and Energy Regen Rate or ATK% for the Link Rope.

Meanwhile, try to get as much Crit Rate/Crit DMG, ATK%, Speed, and Break Effect from your substats.

Jing Yuan’s best teammates

With Jing Yuan’s insane burst damage potential, his best teammates are characters that will either provide further boosts to his damage or protection and healing against enemy attacks.

Jing Yuan’s best buffers are Bronya and Tingyun while Pela can shred the enemy’s defense. For defensive supports, you can either go with Gepard, the Preservation Trailblazer, or March 7th for shielding, or either Bailu or Natasha for healing.

Since Jing Yuan’s damage is often enough to carry your team’s damage output, it’s best to surround him with two buffers/debuffers and one defensive support.

But don’t forget that you can switch out one of your buffer/debuffer supports for another damage-dealer if you need another character for a Weakness Break against enemies who don’t have a Lightning Weakness.

Honkai: Star Rail is currently in the second half of version 1, which is expected to last until early June.

Honkai: Star Rail officially launched on 26 April on PC, Android, and iOS. The game will also be made available on PlayStation some time after release. You can download the game here.

If you're still just starting with Honkai: Star Rail or want to try the game out for yourself, we've got you covered! You can check our beginner's guide, guide to building the starter characters, and guide to its gacha system.

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

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