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The best Honkai Star Rail Yanqing build, Light Cone, and Relics

He plays a critical role on any team

Stack up the extra damage with the best Honkai: Star Rail Yanqing build. Yanquing is unique among Path of the Hunt characters, with skills and talents that raise his critical rate and damage and let him take down the toughest foes with ease.

The downside is that he has absolutely no way to attack multiple enemies, and his status effects are limited. You’ll need a good party to make the most of him.

If you need some support characters for Yanqing check out our Star Rail codes list for some free Stellar Jade.

Honkai Star Rail Yanqing

What is the best Honkai Star Rail Yanqing build?

Yanqing already has high attack and skills that scale well off his attack. The most important part of his setup is his Soulsteel Synch talent, which boosts his critical hit rate and damage and has a 50 percent chance of launching a counterattack. Boosting critical hit damage and rate even further is a priority to help get the most out of this talent.

Honkai Star Rail Yanqing – Best Light Cone

Cruising in the Stellar Sea is an excellent Light Cone choice for Yanqing, since it buffs the user’s critical rate outright and then doubles that buff if the enemy has 50 percent HP or less. The user’s attack also increases for three turns after they defeat an enemy. The buffs are comparatively small, but they’re constant.

Sleep Like the Dead is another strong pick. It raises the wearer’s critical damage by at least 32 percent and, when their basic attack or skill don’t result in a critical hit, their critical rate goes up by 40 percent for one turn. You can only activate this effect once every three turns, though, so it’s not that reliable.

Dan Heng’s Only Silence Remains works well with Yanqing too. It gives the wearer a flat attack buff and, when two or fewer enemies are on the field, they get a critical ratebuff. If you wheel Yanqing out for formidable foes and boss fights, consider Swordplay. This one gives you an attack buff when you strike the same enemy, and it stacks up to five times.

For 3-star Light Cones, your best options are Arrows or Darting Arrow. Arrows gives the wearer a hefty critical rate boost for three turns after a battle starts, and Darting Arrow provides an even heftier attack buff for three turns after the wearer defeats an enemy.

Honkai Star Rail Yanqing – Relics

There aren’t many Relic sets in Star Rail’s launch version that work for critical hit characters, though Hunter of Glacial Forest halfway fits the bill.

  • Two-piece effect: Raises ice damage by 10 percent
  • Four-piece effect: Critical damage increase by 25 percent for two turns after the wearer uses their ultimate

Yanqing only deals ice damage, so that’s a nice little buff. While a two-piece effect tied to critical rate might be preferable, this will have to do for now.

Musketeer of Wild Wheat is a popular second choice since it boosts Yanqing’s atatck.

Two-piece effect: Raises attack by 10 percent Four-piece effect: Raises speed by six percent and attack by a further 10 percent.

Prioritize attack, critical hit rate, and critical damage for the body piece and attack or speed for the feet.

Honkai Star Rail Yanqing – Ornaments

Yanqing can make good use of two ornament sets. One is Space Sealing Station. It raises attack by 12 percent and then, after the wearer’s speed reaches 120 or higher, they get another 12 percent attack buff.

You may also want to try Celestial Differentiator. It boosts the wearer’s critical rate by eight percent, and after they reach a critical rate of 80 percent or higher, their attack and skill deal 20 percent more damage.

Whatever you choose, prioritize attack, ice damage, and critical hit rate and damage for your stats.

Is Yanqing good in Honkai Star Rail?

Yanqing is very good, with just a few exceptions that held him out of the top spot in our Honkai Star Rail tier list. He’s superb against single targets and can deal an impressive amount of damage, especially when you give his critical hit rate the attention it needs.

Yanqing’s basic attack has the usual low scaling you’d expect, but his skill is much more impressive. It deals ice damage the scales to 110 percent of Yanqing’s attack and activates Soulsteel Synch for one turn. While this state is active, Yanqing gets a critical hit and damage buff, and when he attacks, he has a 50 percent chance of triggering a follow-up attack that has a 65 percent chance of freezing a foe.

These follow-ups are handy, but infrequent enough that we don’t recommend building Yanqing around them. His critical damage is more important.

Yanqing’s ultimate increases his critical rate and, if Soulsteel is active, his critical damage as well. These buffs last for one turn, and then the ultimate deals ice damage equal to 210 percent of Yanqing’s attack. With the right buffs and planning, that’s a lot of damage, but only to one enemy, which is Yanqing’s biggest weakness.

Like Seele, he’s a greedy DPS who needs support. Tingyun is an excellent choice, thanks to her attack buffs and energy regeneration ability. Asta helps buff his attack and, to a lesser extent, his speed, while Bronya ensures he’s attacking as often as possible. Pela’s single-target debuffs make it easy to defeat foes quickly, and you may want a tank or healer to keep Yanqing safe.

These are the current popular teams, and while they’re certainly effective, they have no multi-target or damage-over-time potential. We recommend picking two supports and a sub-DPS such as Sampo, Himeko, or Serval to help speed through battles and cover your weak points.

Should I pull for Yanqing?

Honkai Star Rail isn’t short of strong main DPS characters to lead your party, and Yanqing is available permanently on the standard banner. He’s a good character for sure, but you shouldn’t go out of your way to try and pull for him. The same is true if you already have Yanqing and are curious about his Eidolons. They’re fine, but not much more than that. None of them are particularly necessary.

Don’t forget to increase your Equilibrium Level and tackle the Simulated Universe for some extra rewards and a deep dive into Star Rail's lore.

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Josh Broadwell

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