Honkai Star Rail Black Swan kit and Traces priority

Honkai: Star Rail’s Black Swan kit puts a fresh spin on damage-over-time (DOT) effects and gives Black Swan a spot on any team. Her talent applies multiple stacks of a new-ish DOT type that shreds enemy defenses and makes DOT effects hit harder, and her ultimate marks enemies and increases how much damage they deal. Black Swan’s kit, more than most, has a lot of moving parts, and they all center on Arcana.

Our Black Swan kit and Traces priority guide explains how the Memokeeper works and which skills you should focus on.

If you're looking for more Black Swan help, check out our Black Swan build overview, our picks for the best Black Swan teams, and a rundown of the Black Swan materials you need.

Honkai Star Rail Black Swan kit

Black Swan talent: Loom of Fate’s Caprice

I’m breaking with the usual format and starting with Black Swan’s talent, since it’s so important for understanding her kit.

When enemies take DOT damage at the start of a turn, they have a 50/65 percent base chance of receiving an Arcana stack. Arcana can stack 50 times and resets after one turn. Enemies afflicted with Arcana take wind damage equal to 96/240 percent of Black Swan’s attack, and every additional Arcana stack increases that DOT multiplier by 4.8/12 percent.

When Arcana causes damage at the start of a turn, Black Swan will trigger bonus effects.

• 3 Arcana stacks: Deals wind damage equal to 72/180 percent of Black Swan’s attack to adjacent foes, with a chance of inflicting Arcana on them as well
• 7 or more Arcana stacks: The current DOT will ignore 20 percent of the enemy’s defense

Black Swan basic attack: Percipience, SIlent Dawn

Black Swan deals wind damage equal to 30/60 percent of her attack with a 50/65 percent base chance of inflicting one Arcana stack on the target enemy. If the enemy has any other DOT effects active – shock, wind shear, burn, bleed – each DOT type has a 50/65 percent base chance to inflict an Arcana stack.

Black Swan skill: Decadence, False Twilight

Black Swan deals wind damage equal to 60/90 percent of her attack to the target enemy and adjacent foes. This attack has a 100 percent base chance of inflicting one Arcana stack and a 100 percent base chance of reducing the affected enemies’ defense by 14.8/20.8 percent for three turns.

Black Swan ultimate: Bliss of Otherworld’s Embrace

Black Swan deals wind damage to all enemies equal to 72/120 percent of her attack and inflicts the Epiphany status on all foes for two turns. Enemies with Epiphany take 15/25 percent more damage, and their Arcana stacks are treated as wind shear, bleed, burn, and shock. For one turn, their Arcana stacks are not reset, and this reset canceling will refresh when Black Swan applies Epiphany again.

Black Swan technique: From Facade to Verite

Each enemy has a 150 percent base chance of receiving one Arcana stack when the battle begins. If the attempt is successful, the enemy will receive a second Arcana stack, and the process continues until the effect fails.

Black Swan bonus Traces

• Viscera’s Quiet: After Black Swan’s skill hits an enemy suffering from burn, bleed, wind shear, or shock, there’s an extra 65 percent base chance to inflict another Arcana stack
• Goblet’s Dredges: There is a 65 percent base chance to inflict one Arcana stack when a target enters battle. Every time an enemy receives DoT during a single attack by an ally, there is a 65 percent base chance for the target to be inflicted with one Arcana stack, up to three stacks in one attack.
• Candleflame’s Portent: Increases Black Swan’s damage by an amount equal to 60 percent of her effect hit rate, up to a total of 72 percent.

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Honkai Star Rail Black Swan Traces priority

• Talent
• Skill
• Ultimate
• Basic attack

Black Swan’s most important trace and the way she deals most of her damage is her talent. The damage scaling is through the roof compared to her other skills, so spend most of your materials on that Trace first.

Her skill almost ties with her ultimate, but the fact that the defense reduction lasts for three turns, while Epiphany’s damage boost lasts for two means it’s just a little bit more worthwhile. Leveling both at the same time is a good idea, if you’ve got the materials for it.

If you're wondering who else might work with Black Swan, check out our Honkai Star Rail tier list, and head over to our Star Rail codes page for some freebies to help with your next pull.