Ceui
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10 Min read Yanqing is one of the seven Standard 5-star units in the game and is always available from all banners. Yanqing is a Single-Target Damage Dealer, atypical of being a Hunt character, with a gimmick that he gains a lot of innate stats if he is not damaged.
Yanqing’s playstyle is quite simple: he just wants to click his Skill as often as possible and focus down an enemy one at a time. When Yanqing uses his Skill – Darting Ironthorn, he will enter the Soulsteel Sync state for 1 turn. While he is in Soulsteel Sync state, his Talent will increase his Crit Rate by 20% and Crit Damage by 30%.
Furthermore, Yanqing will have a 60% chance to launch a follow-up attack equal to 50% of his Attack against the target that he attacks, with a base 65% chance to inflict Freeze on said enemy for 1 turn, and his aggro will also be decreased. While frozen, this enemy will take Additional Damage equal to 50% of Yanqing at the beginning of their turn. Soulsteel Sync will be dispelled if Yanqing receives damage.
His Ultimate further leans into the Soulsteel Sync state being his pivotal gimmick. Upon use, Yanqing will gain a whopping 60% Crit Rate, and if he is in the Soulsteel Sync’s state, Yanqing will gain another 50% Crit Damage buff for one turn, before dealing damage equal to 350% of his Attack.
Using his Ultimate while not having Soulsteel Sync is a massive damage loss due to the buffs not triggering; hence, this is one thing players must keep in mind when fielding Yanqing.
Yanqing’s major traces are quite simple. His first trace – Icing on the Kick makes him deal 30% more Additional damage to any enemy with Ice Weakness. His second major trace – Frost Favors the Brave increases his Effect Res by 20%, which is frankly quite useless in practice. Last but not least, when he lands a Critical Hit, his Speed will be increased by 10% for 2 turns.
Yanqing’s Technique is a straightforward self-buff that increases his Damage to enemies at 50% HP or higher by 30% for 2 turns upon entering battle.
Maintaining Soulsteel Sync provides most of Yanqing’s power; hence, to maintain this state all the time, Yanqing needs to be paired with a Shielder, as this is the only mechanic that can help him completely avoid damage.
Beyond that, Yanqing is a victim of the early game design of Honkai Star Rail, where a character with very middling damage output by modern standards is further crippled by restrictive mechanics.
Despite the large amount of Crit buffs that he gets, Yanqing’s multiplier value is simply too weak compared to limited Damage Dealers of similar mould like Feixiao or Archer, and lacks any other powerful tools to compensate. As such, Yanqing is a contender for the title of the weakest 5 Star unit in the game.
Basic Attack – Frost Thorn: Deals Ice DMG equal to 100% of Yanqing’s ATK to one designated enemy.
Skill – Darting Ironthorn: Deals Ice DMG equal to 220% of Yanqing’s ATK to one designated enemy and activates “Soulsteel Sync” for 1 turn.
Ultimate – Amidst the Raining Bliss: Increases Yanqing’s CRIT Rate by 60%. When “Soulsteel Sync” is active, increases Yanqing’s CRIT DMG by an extra 50%. This buff lasts for one turn. Afterwards, deals Ice DMG equal to 350% of Yanqing’s ATK to one designated enemy.
Talent – One With the Sword: When Soulsteel Sync is active, Yanqing is less likely to be attacked by enemies. Yanqing’s CRIT Rate increases by 20% and his CRIT DMG increases by 30%. After Yanqing attacks an enemy, there is a 60% fixed chance to launch Follow-up ATK, dealing Ice DMG equal to 50% of Yanqing’s ATK to the enemy, which has a 65% base chance to Freeze the enemy for 1 turn.
The Frozen target cannot take action and receives Ice Additional DMG equal to 50% of Yanqing’s ATK at the beginning of each turn.
When Yanqing receives DMG, the Soulsteel Sync effect will disappear.
Technique – The One True Sword: After using his Technique, at the start of the next battle, Yanqing deals 30% more DMG for 2 turn(s) to enemies whose current HP percentage is 50% or higher.
Icing on the Kick: After Yanqing attacks, deals Ice Additional DMG equal to 30% of Yanqing’s ATK to enemies with Ice Weakness.
Frost Favors the Brave: When Soulsteel Sync is active, Effect RES increases by 20%.
Gentle Blade: When a CRIT Hit is triggered, increases SPD by 10% for 2 turn(s).
Yanqing’s Eidolons are all low value. This is mainly because Yanqing, by himself, is a weak unit, so even though these are all beneficial to his damage output, the increases are not meaningful enough to make a noticeable difference.
Light Cones
Main Stats
Relics
Planar Set
In the Night: Increases the wearer’s CRIT Rate by 18% / 21% / 24% / 27% / 30%. While the wearer is in battle, for every 10 SPD that exceeds 100, increases DMG dealt by Basic ATK and Skill by 6% / 7% / 8% / 9% / 10%. At the same time, increases the CRIT DMG of Ultimate by 12% / 14% / 16% / 18% / 20%. This effect can stack up to 6 time(s).
As Yanqing has good base Speed and a Speed buff from his trace, he can get a decent amount of stacks from In The Night. This Light Cone provides a very noticeable amount of boost to Yanqing’s primary Damage sources – his Skill and Ultimate.
The Hell Where Ideals Burn: Increases the wearer’s CRIT Rate by 16% / 20% / 24% / 28% / 32%. When entering battle and if the allies’ Skill Points max limit is 6 or higher, increases the wearer’s ATK by 40% / 50% / 60% / 70% / 80%. After the wearer uses a Skill, increases their ATK by 10% / 12.5% / 15% / 17.5% / 20%, stacking up to 4 time(s).
This Light Cone gives a very large Attack boost to the wearer, provided the team’s Skill Point max limit is 6 or higher, which can be provided by Sparkle. Sparkle has good synergy with Yanqing, so it is a pretty solid option for Yanqing if he is paired with her.
Swordplay: For each time the wearer hits the same target, DMG dealt increases by 8% / 10% / 12% / 14% / 16%, stacking up to 5 time(s). This effect will be dispelled when the wearer changes targets.
Amongst 4 Star Hunt Light Cones from the gacha, Swordplay provides the biggest damage increase, as long as Yanqing focuses on one target at a time and doesn’t change targets frequently.
Cruising in the Stellar Sea: Increases the wearer’s CRIT Rate by 8% / 10% / 12% / 14% / 16%, and increases their CRIT Rate against enemies with HP percentage 50% or less by an extra 8% / 10% / 12% / 14% / 16%. When the wearer defeats an enemy, their ATK is increased by 20% / 25% / 30% / 35% / 40% for 2 turn(s).
Cruising is a fantastic free-to-play light cone for any Hunt character due to the good amount of raw stats that it provides and the fact that it can easily be acquired from Herta’s shop.
Since Yanqing gets a lot of Crit Rate from his kit (around 80% if he can maintain Soulsteel Sync), it is best to get Crit Damage% for his main body pieces. Both attack and speed boot are viable. Speed would be better when paired with supports that can 100% action advance him, like Sunday and high Attack buffers like Robin or Cerydra; while Attack is good when paired with units like Sparkle or Remembrance Trailblazer, who are harder to speed tune and can act as a Speed boot for him. For Orb, Ice Damage% and Attack% are both good main stats options. Similarly, his rope should be Attack% to maximize his damage as well.
Crit Damage% and Attack% are the best sub stats to look for when building Yanqing. Getting just enough Crit Rate% to reach cap (around 20%) is also a good option if he is not paired with another source of Crit Rate, such as Sunday or Remembrance Trailblazer.
This set boosts both of Yanqing’s primary damage sources – his Skill and Ultimate. The Crit Rate can be redundant if he gets some other Crit Rate% boost, but in general, this set should provide the most stable amount of boosting to his damage output.
Yanqing can take advantage of all the boosts that this set provides, especially the raw stats, making it a very good alternative.
Salsotto boosts two out of three of Yanqing’s damage sources, which are his follow-up attack and Ultimate.
Similar to Inert Salsotto, this set boosts the other main primary damage source of Yanqing’s damage – his Skill.
Since Dan Heng – Permansor Terrae is free for most players, and he is also Yanqing’s best partner, this set is a very strong option if they are paired together.
Yanqing is essentially the prototype of hypercarry in Honkai Star Rail. Therefore, he works with practically all hypercarry supports. Due to his mechanics, Shielder is an absolute must when it comes to a sustain unit.
Sunday / Robin / Tribbie: These units are the pinnacle of hypercarry supports and all work well with Yanqing. The ideal combination should be Sunday and Robin, as Sunday provides everything Yanqing needs (Action Advance, Energy, Crit Rate buff, Crit Damage, and Damage buff) while Robin further amplifies his damage output while also benefiting from his frequent follow-up attacks.
Cerydra: Cerydra is one of the best Supports for Skill-based Damage Dealer and provides both a large Attack boost and a Skill duplication mechanic, both are great for Yanqing.
Sparkle / Remembrance Trailblazer: Both units can let Yanqing run Attack boot. Sparkle can let Yanqing run Archer’s Signature Light Cone, which a lot of players would have due to the pulling event during Patch 3.4, while Remembrance Trailblazer offers a very useful True Damage boost, which is not diluted by Yanqing’s high amount of self-buffs.
Cipher / Silver Wolf: Since Yanqing has a lot of self-buff, Nihility units can provide really good damage amplification that is not as diluted as Harmony units.
Sustain
Dan Heng – Permansor Terrae: Amongst Shielders, DHPT is by far Yanqing’s best partner since he also provide massive attack buff for his Bondmate, and Yanqing’s frequent attack will also advance the Souldragon more often.
Aventurine: Aventurine’s shielding capacity is easily among the best in the game, especially when the enemies are aggressive. He also provides minor damage boosting to Yanqing via his debuff.
Gepard: Gepard is the most basic Shielder option. While he does not provide any additional boost to Yanqing, his shielding capacity is still good enough to keep Yanqing healthy.
At this stage of the game, Yanqing is simply too weak to be considered building up for most players. The only situation where Yanqing should be raised is for very new players who are lacking a Single-Target Damage Dealer to get through the earlier parts of the game and accidentally pull Yanqing.
Thanks for reading! For more resources, check out our other Honkai Star Rail Guides.
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