Yanqing is among the 5-star characters in Honkai: Star Rail who can unleash tremendous levels of damage. He is among the DPS carriers who can clear later Forgotten Hall and Memory of Chaos floors with relative ease, and overall, he's a solid unit that may fit in most teams that require an ST damage dealer.

The best benefit of Yanqing's kit could it is very simple to build. Unlike other Honkai: Star Rail characters, this icy swordsman can passively grant himself the stats he must deal his big damage bursts. Still, players have to be careful when building this character so that they don't get any wasted stats. Here's a guide covering just that.

Honkai: Star Rail Yanqing Build

Yanqing is an Ice Hunt character, making him a great option for fighting high-health targets. His single-target damage output is near to none, but players need to be mindful of the way they build Yanqing, especially while he's still being leveled up.

Core Stat Priorities: CRIT DMG, ATK%, CRIT Rate, SPD

Planar Ornament Stats: Ice DMG, ATK%

Relic Sets: Hunter of Glacial Forest (4PC), Space Sealing Station (2PC), OR Celestial Differentiator (2PC)

Light Cones: Sleep Like the Dead (5-star), Swordplay (4-star), Only Silence Remains (4-star)

One thing about Yanqing: since he gets a lot of free CRIT Rate and CRIT DMG from his kit, players can place ATK% and SPD higher up within their stat priorities list, but this is only restricted to when Yanqing's Trace levels aren't yet high enough to supply the CRIT stats he needs. Aim for a minimum of a 20% CRIT Rate from Relic sub-stats and let Yanqing's passive bonuses supply the rest.

The Hunter of Glacial Forest 4-piece bonus synergizes well with Yanqing's playstyle while he relies on using his Ultimate for dealing damage and gaining CRIT buffs. Players can mix this with Musketeer of Wild Wheat's 2-piece bonus instead when they want more consistent damage when Yanqing's Ultimate isn't available or if the enemy's Toughness bars are broken.

Similarly, Space Sealing Station may be the superior Planar Ornament set for this character—Yanqing needs just as much ATK because he can get to create his CRIT buffs worthwhile. For general play or when grinding easy content, Celestial Differentiator might be the better option since it will let Yanqing assassinate an important target throughout the very first turn of the fight.

As for Light Cones, players can safely skip on something that gives CRIT Rate once Yanqing's Traces happen to be leveled up. CRIT Rate is still useful, but ATK% or CRIT DMG will offer you more value over time.

Yanqing Abilities and Trace Leveling Order

Yanqing is extremely reliant on having his Traces leveled up since this is where his CRIT buffs originate from. He might feel underwhelming in the beginning, but once his abilities get upgraded by Level 50 or 60, players can go to town together with his high burst damage.

Amidst the Raining Bliss (Ultimate)

Darting Ironthorn (Skill)

One With the Sword (Talent)

Basic attack

Although One With the Sword is Yanqing's supply of free CRIT stats, his other abilities still take leveling priority. Early on, will still be better to buff raw damage than CRIT stats because the latter relies heavily on the first kind. However, it's worth noting that Amidst the Raining Bliss includes a base 60% opportunity to critically strike, and when Soulsteel Sync from Darting Ironthorn is active, this chance rises to 75% at Trace Level 1.

Take Yanqing's first and third Ascension passives once they become available and obtain the floating stat Traces if needed. His second Ascension passive could be skipped for until players start having problems with incoming enemy effects and debuffs.

Yanqing only reaches enjoy his free stats if spams Darting Ironthorn. This, combined with the fact that Soulsteel Sync deactivates when Yanqing is hit, means that he's very SP-intensive. Players will have to build the best team so that they don't end up unable to use any abilities whatsoever.

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