After the explosive launch of Honkai: Star Rail (HSR) with Seele and the rest of the characters in the game, here comes the newest 5-star character to watch out for–the formidable general Jing Yuan! As part of HoYoverse’s tradition of bringing new and exciting characters every few weeks to their games, Jing Yuan finally puts the hype into overdrive with his much-anticipated release. Let’s dive deep into Jing Yuan’s story, skills, and play style and find out why he is a must for your team.
Jing Yuan’s Origins
Before we get into the nitty gritty of Jing Yuan’s skills, it’s important to explore the backstory of this enigmatic icon of the Xianzhou Alliance. Jing Yuan came from a loyal family that has served Luofu’s Realm-Keeping Commission for generations. As a young man, he has always been interested in wielding a sword and becoming a great warrior. Jing Yuan entered the Cloud Knights and showed greatness at an early age when he won a bloodless victory against a group of Jellyfish abominations on a strange ocean planet. As a young and up-and-coming warrior, Jing Yuan trained under the tutelage of the great Cloud Knights swordmaster Jingliu where he learned the art of swordsmanship and honed his skills to perfection. Both master and student developed a strong bond that would last for years to come.
Eventually, Jing Yuan became one of the most respected and feared warriors in the Xianzhou Luofu, but what made him a legend was his defeat of his own master, Jingliu. The Xianzhou Luofu is mostly inhabited by long-life species of human and humanoid beings that were gifted by the Aeon of Abundance with immortality. However, this gift comes with a curse, which transforms them into Mara-struck monsters. Jing Yuan’s master succumbed to the curse and brought upon freezing hell to the Cloud Knights and the Luofu. Despite his loyalty to his master, Jing Yuan had to put an end to Jingliu’s rampage and defeated her with his mastery of the Lightning Lord. This made him the legend that he is today.
The Divine Foresight and Arbiter General of the Xianzhou Alliance
With Jing Yuan’s military and strategic prowess combined with his exceptional swordsmanship, he eventually rose as the Divine Foresight and one of the seven Arbiter Generals of the Xianzhou Alliance. This role requires him to be the eyes and ears of the Xianzhou Luofu, constantly surveying the realm for any signs of danger or threat.
Jing Yuan’s power comes from the skilful use of his glaive and his master over the entity known as the “Lightning-Wielding Thunder-Clapping Spirit-Squashing Lord.” Yes, that’s right. The true name of that god-like spirit that Jing Yuan summons is quite a mouthful, but most people only know it as the Lightning Lord. Whenever Jing Yuan is faced with a formidable opponent or a dire situation, he calls upon the Lightning Lord to aid him in battle. The spirit manifests as a fierce being wielding a gigantic lightning blade that can devastate even the toughest opponents.
Jing Yuan’s leadership and bravery have proven invaluable to the Xianzhou Alliance. He has led successful campaigns against the Mara-struck monsters, defended the realm against invading forces, and helped maintain peace and prosperity in the Xianzhou Luofu for more than a century. His reputation as a legendary warrior and strategist has made him a respected figure throughout the land.
Jing Yuan’s Kit and Playstyle
Jing Yuan is an Erudition character that also wields the lightning element, making him a specialist in multi-target damage. Like Himeko and Herta, he is capable of using follow-up attacks in the form of the Lightning Lord. However, his follow-up mechanic works a little differently. The Lightning Lord works separately during battle and will even count as a different character in the Turn Order. The Lightning Lord starts off with a base 60 SPD and 3 Hits Per Action (HPA). The more HPA the Lightning Lord has, the more damage he can deal during his turn.
Let’s break down Jing Yuan’s skills to understand how he utilises his attacks and how he synergises with the other characters in your team:
Combat Skills
Prana Extirpated (Talent): Jing Yuan’s talent allows him to summon the Lightning Lord in battle and utilise him as a separate attacker. The Lightning Lord is an auto-attacking entity that can only be triggered when it’s his turn to attack in the Turn Order. As mentioned above, the Lightning Lord’s damage relies heavily on its HPA. Every time Jing Yuan uses his skill and his ultimate, the Lightning Lord gains 2 and 3 HPA, respectively. Once the Lightning Lord reaches the maximum stacks of HPA, which is 10, he can deal an insane amount of damage to a single enemy as well as adjacent enemies to it. However, when Jing Yuan is knocked down or is affected by debuffs from enemies, the Lightning Lord will also receive the same effect as Jing Yuan.
Glistening Light (Basic ATK): Jing Yuan swings his glaive, dealing Lightning DMG to a single enemy.
Rifting Zenith (Skill): Jing Yuan targets all enemies on the battlefield with multiple slashes from his glaive, dealing Lightning DMG and also increasing the Lightning Lord’s HPA by 2 points.
Lightbringer (Ultimate): Jing Yuan calls forth the Lightning Lord and strikes at all of his enemies, dealing Lightning DMG and increasing the Lightning Lord’s HPA by 3 points.
Spirit Invocation (Technique): Jing Yuan casts the technique onto himself before going into battle. Once the fight begins, the Lightning Lord’s HPA increases from 3 to 6 points.
Playstyle and Team Synergy
Basically, Jing Yuan works well in a Hypercarry team composed mostly of healers/shielders and buffers. Despite being a multi-target specialist, Jing Yuan is still capable of dealing decent single-target damage due to the Lightning Lord’s attacks. This makes him a good all-around damage dealer for bosses and mobs of enemies. Buffers like Bronya, Tingyun, and Asta work quite well with Jing Yuan. On the flip side, if you prefer using debuffers like Pela and Welt, Jing Yuan can still benefit from their abilities as they can weaken his enemies, making it easier for the Lightning Lord to deal devastating damage. You can further reinforce your team for survivability with a healer like Natasha or a shielder like March 7th or the Trailblazer (Preservation).
The ideal set-up for a team with Jing Yuan is to have one healer/shielder + two supports. Putting another DPS character that’s also skill-point-hungry may affect Jing Yuan’s ability to deal damage, so it’s best to focus on support characters that can enhance his abilities.
Jing Yuan will mostly utilise his skill and ultimate in every battle, as both of those attacks grant HPA to the Lightning Lord. Your goal is to earn skill points with your other characters’ basic attacks and let Jing Yuan use up those points to boost his Lightning Lord. Ideally, you must use two skills and one ultimate before the Lightning Lord’s turn in order to bring its HPA stacks up to 10. Combined with your team’s buffs, this will maximise your damage in every turn cycle.
How to Properly Build Jing Yuan
To fully utilise his kit, you must first understand how SPD and other stats work with the Lightning Lord:
- The Lightning Lord is considered a follow-up attack. So any buffs or bonuses on follow-up attacks will benefit the Lightning Lord.
- Any ATK or DMG bonuses applied to Jing Yuan will also affect the Lightning Lord’s attacks.
- SPD buffs, however, don’t affect the Lightning Lord.
- When faced with multiple enemies, the Lightning Lord will randomly choose which opponent to target.
Now that we know how the Lightning Lord works, building Jing Yuan will become much easier. For Jing Yuan’s Traces, prioritise his Talent, Skill and Ultimate as those are the core elements of his kit. You can forget about his Basic ATK since he won’t be using it that much. Only put points in his Basic ATK if you have resources to spare.
For Light Cones, his signature weapon, “Before Dawn”, is the best weapon for him. If you don’t have that, then any 4-star Erudition Light Cones that boosts his CRIT, SPD or ATK will do.
For Relics, a 4-piece Band of Sizzling Thunder set is the best choice since it greatly boosts his Lightning Damage. Combine it with Inert Salsotto for the spheres and ropes to complete his set. As for the stat prioritisation, CRIT Rate and CRIT DMG should be at the top of your list. However, building SPD and ATK should be your next priority.
You’re probably asking, “If the Lightning Lord isn’t affected by SPD stats, why use that for Jing Yuan’s build?“
This is because buffing Jing Yuan’s SPD allow him to attack more and attack often, making sure you can build HPA to its maximum stacks before the Lightning Lord unleashes its devastating attacks. Additionally, faster SPD means Jing Yuan can use his Skill and Ultimate more frequently, dealing more Lightning Damage to the enemy team.
Jing Yuan, the mighty general of the Cloud Knights, is a force to be reckoned with on the battlefield. With the fearsome Lightning Lord by his side, he is capable of dealing massive damage to enemy teams and controlling the battlefield with his lightning-based abilities. Jing Yuan is just the latest addition to Honkai: Star Rail’s growing roster of characters, and he brings a unique playstyle and strategy to the game. If you’re looking for a powerful DPS character that can take on multiple enemies at once, Jing Yuan is definitely worth considering.
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