Yukong is free in Honkai Star Rail 1.2! Here are her best builds, gear, teams

Honkai: Star Rail version 1.2 will see the debuts of three new characters: the 5-star Stellaron Hunter duo of Blade and Kafka as well as new 4-star character Luka.

But even if you aren’t pulling on Blade or Kafka’s banners, you can still get one new-ish character in this version: the 4-star character Yukong! She can be acquired for free by completing Stage 1 of the new Memory of Xianzhou in the Forgotten Hall.

Yukong wields the Imaginary element and follows the Path of Harmony. She is one of the best buffers in the game, providing massive boosts to the party’s ATK, Crit Rate, and Crit DMG, while also dishing out some solid damage herself. With that said, utilising Yukong’s kit can be very challenging relative to other support characters in the game.

But don’t let that discourage you, Yukong is definitely worth all the effort. So, read on as we break down her kit as well as her best Light Cones, relics, and team compositions.

Yukong’s kit and how you can best utilise her

The Xianzhou Luofu’s Helm Master

As a Harmony character, Yukong’s role in the team is to provide buffs to her allies. And while her buffs are good enough to make her a top support pick, her kit also lets her contribute a significant amount to the party’s damage output.

Yukong’s primary method of buffing her allies is through her skill, Emboldening Salvo. When used, Yukong gains 2 stacks of Roaring Bowstrings, which increases the ATK of all allies by a whopping 80% at level 10.

Every time an ally’s turn ends, Yukong loses 1 stack of Roaring Bowstrings. However, Yukong does not lose a stack when the turn she gained Roaring Bowstrings ends.

Yukong further boosts the party’s damage with her ultimate, Diving Kestrel, which lets her deal a large amount of Imaginary DMG to a single enemy. If Roaring Bowstrings is active when Yukong uses her ultimate, it additionally increases all allies Crit Rate and Crit DMG by 28% and 65%, respectively, at level 10.

Yukong’s Talent, Seven Layers, One Arrow, boosts her own damage output by making her basic attacks deal additional Imaginary DMG based on her ATK while also increasing the amount of enemy Toughness it reduces by 100%. After Yukong’s Talent is triggered, there will be a 1 turn cooldown before it can be triggered again.

Yukong’s major Traces are not as impactful as her abilities, but they do provide some nice utility.

Yukong’s A2 Trace, Archerion, lets her resist 1 debuff application every 2 turns. Her A4 Trace, Bowmaster, boosts her synergy with other Imaginary characters by increasing the Imaginary DMG dealt by all allies by 12% whenever she is on the field. Meanwhile, her A6 Trace, Majestas, regenerates 2 energy for Yukong every time an ally takes action while Roaring Bowstrings is active.

Finally, Yukong’s Technique, Chasing the Wind, lets her enter a ‘Sprint’ mode that increases her movement speed by 35% for 20 seconds. When Yukong initiates a battle by attacking enemies while in Sprint mode, she automatically gains 2 stacks of Roaring Bowstrings.

When levelling up Yukong’s abilities, your top priority will be her skill and ultimate. You can choose to ignore levelling up Yukong’s normal attacks and Talent if you want to save resources, but they can still be worth the effort as they let her deal good damage of her own.

In battle, Yukong leads the charge by using her skill and ultimate to give the party massive damage buffs. Her Talent also lets her dish out good damage of her own, especially against enemies with an Imaginary Weakness.

We recommend having Yukong alternate turns where she uses her buffs and then her normal attacks. This gives your party a smooth flow of one buffed rotation, followed by one non-buffed rotation where you regenerate skill points and energy, before continuing that cycle.

As you can probably guess by reading through her kit, Yukong’s buffing capabilities are dependent on Roaring Bowstrings and its 2-stack limit.

When Roaring Bowstrings is active and Yukong uses her ultimate, all allies gain a whopping 80% ATK, 28% Crit Rate, and 65% Crit DMG at level 10. However, the 2-stack limit means that those buffs can only be used by the two characters that act after Yukong. Therefore, you will need to set your party up in a way that the two characters acting after Yukong are your damage-dealers.

You can ensure optimal rotations by making sure Yukong has the highest Speed in your party and that your two damage-dealers are second and third. Make sure the one character who can never benefit from Roaring Bowstrings is your defensive support, so that the buffs aren’t wasted on a character who isn’t meant to deal damage.

Of course, even the most carefully-planned Yukong team compositions can run into problems, especially against enemies with attacks that either disable characters or reduce their Speed. Certain characters, Light Cones, or Relics can also cause the Speed of characters to fluctuate, so make sure everything is accounted for.

One way to work around having your optimal rotation ruined is through well-timed use of character ultimates, which lets them act at any time when Yukong’s buffs are active. This is especially useful for characters whose damage output is largely reliant on their ultimates.

Yukong’s best equipment

Light Cone

Yukong’s best 5-star Light Cone is Bronya’s signature, But the Battle Isn’t Over. This Light Cone has everything you need; at S1, it passively gives Yukong 10% Energy Regeneration Rate, restores 1 skill point whenever she uses her ultimate every 2 turns, AND boosts the DMG of the ally taking action after Yukong uses her skill by 30%.

If you don’t have Bronya and have this Light Cone, then give it to Yukong. With that said, don’t feel forced to get it as Yukong has some very good 4-star options as well.

Yukong’s best 4-star Light Cone is her signature, Past and Future, which can be acquired through gacha, as a drop from Echo of War, or purchased in the Forgotten Hall’s Light Cone Manifest.

Past and Future increases the DMG dealt by the ally taking action after Yukong uses her skill by 16% at S1 and up to 32% at S5.

Another good 4-star option is Carve the Moon, Weave the Clouds, which can be acquired by purchasing Nameless Glory from the Battle Pass. This Light Cone lets Yukong provide a random party-wide buff whenever she takes action that either increases ATK, Crit DMG, or Energy Regeneration Rate.

If you’re planning on running Yukong in a mono-Imaginary lineup, you can also consider going for Planetary Rendezvous, which increases the DMG of allies if they have the same elemental alignment as its wielder.

Relics

When it comes to Yukong’s Cavern of Corrosion relics, you can mix and match between the Musketeer of Wild Wheat and Wastelander of Banditry Desert sets.

The Musketeer of Wild Wheat set increases Yukong’s ATK by 10% with its 2-piece set bonus while its 4-piece set bonus increases her Speed by 6% and basic attack DMG by 10%.

Meanwhile, the Wastelander of Banditry Desert increases Yukong’s Imaginary DMG by 10% with its 2-piece set bonus while its 4-piece set bonus increases her Crit Rate by 10% when attacking debuffed enemies and her Crit DMG by 20% against Imprisoned enemies.

You have three configurations you can choose from: 2-piece Musketeer of Wild Wheat and 2-piece Wastelander of Banditry Desert, 4-piece Musketeer of Wild Wheat, or 4-piece Wastelander of Banditry Desert.

Your best bet for a generalist set will be the 4-piece Musketeer of Wild Wheat set while the 4-piece Wastelander of Banditry Desert set can greatly improve Yukong’s damage output in certain team compositions. But you can always go with a mixed 2-piece set of both if you want.

As for Yukong’s Planar Ornament relics, your best choice will likely be the 2-piece Fleet of the Ageless set, which increases her Max HP by 12% and gives a party-wide 8% ATK bonus if her Speed reaches 120 or higher.

Yukong’s best teammates

As a Harmony character, Yukong can fit into any team that needs her massive damage buffs.

With that said, she can shine the brightest in teams where she can also take advantage of her Talent. Currently, she can do this in either a mono-Imaginary lineup or a duo-element composition, both of which require the 5-stars Silver Wolf and Luocha.

In the mono-Imaginary lineup, Welt Yang can be the main damage-dealer (at least until Imbibitor Lunae is released), Yukong acts as the buffer and secondary damage-dealer, while Luocha provides healing. Silver Wolf then rounds out the party by implanting Imaginary Weakness to enemies who don’t already have it.

Meanwhile, the duo-element composition is composed of Yukong, Luocha, Silver Wolf, and a Quantum DPS, either Seele or Qingque. Aside from dishing out a mix of Imaginary and Quantum DMG, this lineup works pretty similarly to the mono-Imaginary composition.

Blade is the featured 5-star of the first half of Honkai: Star Rail version 1.2. The second half will see Kafka take the spotlight as the featured 5-star alongside the debut of new 4-star character Luka.

After Honkai: Star Rail version 1.2 comes version 1.3, which features new 5-star characters Imbibitor Lunae and Fu Xuan as well as a new 4-star in Lynx Landau. Version 1.3 is expected to come out in mid-August.

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

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