The best Honkai Star Rail Jing Yuan build, Light Cones, and Relics
Jing Yuan is a mighty warrior and one of the strongest AoE fighters
The best Honkai: Star Rail Jing Yuan build is pretty straightforward to put together, thanks to a few suitable relic sets, though if you want Jing Yuan at his best, you'll need to rely on specific substats.
At early levels, Jing Yuan excels as an attacker who can deal heavy damage to multiple targets several times in one turn, but you shouldn't expect much from his skill and ultimate. Almost all of his utility comes from his follow-up attacks.
Our Honkai Star Rail Jing Yuan build guide explains which Light Cones and Relics are best for Jing Yuan and how to use him in battle.
Honkai Star Rail Jing Yuan build
What is the best Honkai Star Rail Jing Yuan build?
Jing Yuan’s setup revolves around the Lightning Lord, an entity who fights alongside Jing Yuan and deals follow-up damage that scales on his attack. You might think any build should focus on buffing Jing Yuan’s attack, along with skill and ultimate damage, but you'd be wrong. Attack is important, but Jing Yuan needs critical rate and critical damage buffs to really shine, since most of his damage comes from follow-up attacks..
Honkai Star Rail Jing Yuan – Light Cone
Before Dawn is Jing Yuan’s signature Light Cone, and it’s pretty clear why. It raises the wearer’s critical hit damage by 36-60 percent and boosts skill and ultimate damage by 18-30 percent. The wearer generates a Somnus Corpus when they use their skill or ultimate, which boosts the power of their next follow-up attack by 48-80 percent.
The Birth of the Self is another excellent choice, and as a 4-star Light Cone, it’s one you’re more likely to get as well. Birth of the Self increases follow-up attack damage by 24-48 percent, and if the enemy has less than half of their HP, the follow-up damage boost doubles.
Serval’s Make the World Clamor might not affect follow-up attacks, but it’s a strong pick anyway. This one regenerates 20-32 energy for the wearer when a battle starts and buffs their ultimate damage by 32-64 percent. Jing Yuan’s ultimate deals a pretty decent amount of damage this way, but best of all, the energy recharge buff means you can fire off his ultimate - and get its boost for the Lightning Lord - more frequently. That'll also save on skill points, since you won't have to use Jing Yuan's skill as often.
The Seriousness of Breakfast is a nice, easy-to-obtain cone with no special conditions attached. It boosts the wearer's damage and buffs their attack when they defeat an enemy, and you can get it for free in the Forgotten Hall's Light Cone store.
Sagacity is a good choice on the 3-star side, as it provides a hefty attack buff after the user unleashes their ultimate. You may also want to try Passkey, which restores energy when the wearer uses their skill.
Honkai Star Rail Jing Yuan Relics
Jing Yuan has a couple of Relic set options, though neither of them affect his critical hit stat. You’ll have to rely on ornaments for that.
Band of Sizzling Thunder used to be the best choice. It's still decent, but The Ashblazing Grand Duke is better.
- Two-piece effect: Increases follow-up attack damage by 20 percent
- Four-piece effect: Increases wearer’s attack by six percent every time a follow-up attack deals damage. Effect stacks eight times and lasts three turns or until the wearer uses another follow-up attack.
That suits Jing Yuan's skillset perfectly, though you could mix it with Sizzling Thunder if you wanted.
- Two-piece effect: Increases lightning damage by 10 percent
- Four-piece effect: Raises attack by 20 percent for one turn after the wearer uses their skill
Honkai Star Rail Jing Yuan – Best Ornaments
Jing Yuan has a few strong ornament choices, but Inert Salsotto is our favorite so far. It raises the user’s critical rate by eight percent, and once that rate reaches 50 percent, it buffs their ultimate and follow-up damage by 15 percent.
Jing Yuan Relic stats
Jing Yuan isn't fussy to build, unless you want to go all the way with his substats.
Body: Crit rate or crit damage Feet: Attack or speed Sphere: Attack or lighting damage Rope: Attack or energy regenerationSpeed works for the feet piece if you're having trouble getting the Lightning Lord's count up each round. If not, or if you have high energy regeneration, aim for attack instead. It's a pain, but try aiming for crit rate or crit damage in your substats as often as you can.
Is Jing Yuan good in Star Rail?
Jing Yuan is an excellent choice for teams who need an area-of-effect attacker. His follow-up attacks hit more often than Himeko’s, and while he doesn’t inflict shock as often as Serval, his ultimate is slightly stronger. The Lightning Lord’s attacks also make up for Shock damage, and his traces raise his damage even further.
Jing Yuan’s normal attack is the same as pretty much every other basic attack. It deals lightning damage equal to 50 percent of his attack to one enemy. His skill damages all enemies, and while it’s fairly weak – also 50 percent of Jing Yuan’s attack – it gives the Lightning Lord two more hits per action. It also hits twice, so you end up dealing a fair amount of damage, even with low multipliers.
His ultimate deals lightning damage equal to 120 percent of his attack to all enemies and gives the Lightning Lord three more hits per action.
The Lightning Lord is where most of Jing Yuan’s power comes from. The lord takes up a slot on the action bar like a playable character and starts a battle with three hits per action, which means his attacks damage enemies three times. He gains two hits per action when Jing Yuan uses his skill and three when he uses his ultimate, and the Lightning Lord’s attacks inflict shock.
The short version is that between the two of them, it’s very easy to shred enemy health, especially if you have a debuffer in your party. Pela, Tingyun, and Asta are excellent support choices for Jing Yuan. He needs a good single-target character as well, to help mop up whoever’s left after his AoE attacks. Seele might be overkill, though she’s certainly effective. Sushang, Hook, and Clara are strong alternatives.
For your fourth slot, you could add a healer such as Natasha or a tank like Gepard, or you could also bring in someone like Sampo, who helps shred enemies with his stacking status effects.
Should I pull for Jing Yuan?
There really isn’t a powerful Erudition or multi-target character who can match Jing Yuan as of the launch version. Even Serval struggles to deal damage that equals his, though her shock stackers certainly come close. He’s not strictly necessary for completing the story, but if you want an exceptionally strong fighter who makes very short work of any mob, whether they’re weak to lightning or not, then you should definitely pull for Jing Yuan.
If you miss out, just bear in mind that there will be rerun banners in the future, and Jing Yuan will appear again.
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.