Graciously wielding her sword under the moonlight, Jingliu is available in Honkai: Star Rail as the game’s first limited 5-star Ice character, walking on the path of Destruction much like her former companions who were also released recently. Much like Blade and Dan Heng: Imbibitor Lunae, she also brings a unique mechanic that makes her stand out from the boys.
If you were also captivated by her dazzling (and menacing) looks, here’s everything you need to know about how to build her properly.
Jingliu Overview and Team Role in Honkai: Star Rail
Similar to other Destruction characters, Jingliu is an incredibly powerful DPS character who gets stronger by sacrificing something for higher damage. But instead of consuming her own life or her team’s whole SP, Jingliu consumes her own teammates’ HP instead.
She gains a Syzygy stack with each Skill or Ultimate, and with two of them, she enters the Spectral Tranmigration state where she removes her blindfold. She gets tons of free status but will consume 4% of her party’s HP each turn (this cannot knock them out). Each attack consumes one stack, and she reverts to normal when she reaches zero.
You can use her Ultimate right after losing her final stack to immediately get a new one and maintain her transformed state. You’ll still lose the state if you’re too slow or if Auto Battle doesn’t use it in time.
Always begin with her Technique if possible as it already gives her one stack right off the bat. You always want to use her Skill, but her attacks won’t consume (nor generate) SP while transformed, you’re free to use your Supports/Sub-DPS skills at your leisure. This leads to interesting compositions if you can keep your team alive and kicking throughout the whole battle.
Traces & Eidolons
Her main Traces should be leveled in the following order: Skill > Talent > Ultimate. Normals can be skipped since she really doesn’t use them. Her most important Ascension Trace is from Ascension 6 (increases Ultimate DMG while transformed), but they’re not as game-changing as they usually are with other characters. Don’t neglect them, though. She also gets 37% free Critical Damage from Traces, so you definitely want to max those ASAP.
Jingliu’s comes from her Skill, which generates Sygyzy stacks to transform her and it’s enhanced when she’s going all out. This is her primary damage tool, but it’s nothing without her Talent, which gives her tons of free Attack/Critical Rate while in the special state. Her Ultimate is more of a complement to all that but also helps maintain her transformed state for a bit longer.
As for her Eidolons, they’re mostly focused on giving an even bigger boost when she’s transformed. E2 is a good stopping point as you get more Attack from consuming allies’ HP and is also receiving some extra Critical Damage from her E1, as well as making her even more efficient at killing bosses. E6 is straight-up broken, but don’t expect to have it unless you spend a few hundred dollars.
Best Relics for Jingliu
The 4-piece Hunter of Glacial Forest is the only viable for Jingliu by far. She makes full use of both effects and gives her Ultimate even more value. 2-piece Musketeer of Wild Wheat and 2-piece Hunter is a viable choice, but the full Hunter set is your endgame goal. 4-piece Musketeer is not advised since Jingliu doesn’t use Basic Attacks.
For the Planar Ornaments, the Rutilant Arena is the go-to option. She gets at least 40% free Critical Rate in her transformed state from her talent (50% if you max it out), so you only need 22% more (already accounting for Arena’s 8% bonus) to activate its secondary effect whenever she transforms. This also makes reaching a 100% Critical Rate on her reasonably easy.
| Set Piece | Main Stat |
| Head | HP |
| Hands | Atk |
| Body | Critical Damage/Critical Rate% |
| Boots | Speed/ Atk% |
| Sphere | Ice DMG% |
| Link Rope | Atk% |
Body should ideally be Critical Damage, but Critical Rate is fine if it helps activate Rutilant Arena. Have a higher emphasis on Damage for substats if you go that road. Speed boots are preferred, but Atk% is usable if running Bronya. She’ll also only need two more Speed from substats (assuming all Traces are activated) to get to the 134 breakpoint.
For substatus, look out for Critical Damage/Rate, Attack% and Speed. You can safely go Atk% with your Rope since having her Ultimate always ready isn’t always your biggest concern. Despite requiring well-built supports to work well, Jingliu herself isn’t that demanding to build, thanks to the free stats she gets naturally.
Best Light Cones for Jingliu
Destruction Light Cones are generally useful for most characters, but there are some obviously better choices here and there. Here are the best ones for Jingliu.
1 – I Shall Be My Own Sword
Her signature Light Cone is tailor-made for her and the best choice overall. It inflicts extra debuffs on her targets and combined with its high status, it becomes unmatched by any other choice available.
2 – On the Fall of an Aeon
The usual F2P option for her is quite competitive thanks to free Superimposition levels. While being more conditional compared to her signature, it’s still the best option for her, surpassing even other 5-stars at high Superimposition levels.
3 – Something Unreplacable
If you got Clara’s LC from the banner but aren’t using it on her, Jingliu will gladly take it. The secondary passive isn’t that proc to use since Destruction characters naturally draw more aggro. You can even use Lynx to make her an easier target if you want to consistently activate it.
4 – The Unreachable Side/ Brighter Than the Sun
Those are more niche choices that work well on her as stat sticks but are ultimately better for their intended users. Unreachable Side can see some better usage if you use the same Lynx strat mentioned above with it. But if you have any of these cones, you probably have the proper characters, too.
5 – A Secret Vow
It is an incredibly powerful and popular 4-star option for Destruction characters. Jingliu won’t find herself on low HP as much as her fellow pathwalkers to reliably activate its second passive, but the first one alone makes it worth it.
6 – Under the Blue Sky
More Critical Rate might be unnecessary, but the Attack bonus is the biggest out of all 4-star Light Cones. It’s also a nice extra if you haven’t reached 100% already.
Best Jingliu Teams and Compositions
While 4% isn’t much HP, it adds up fast if you don’t finish the fight during her first transformation, so you need some kind of protection for your allies. Sustainers like Fu Xuan, Gepard or Luocha should always be beside her. She can function well with 4-star sustainers like Lynx too, but these units make her main drawback nonexistent, especially Luocha, since his field heals the party right after their HP is consumed.
Next, you want her to be online as much as possible. Bronya and Tingyun can take care of that with their buffing capacities, so bring them according to availability and your own team’s needs. Asta is fine too, but she’s not as great at helping Jingliu maintain her transformation.
The final slot should be dedicated to a debuffer such as Pela or Silver Wolf. Pela gets extra valuable with E4 as she also breaks the enemy’s Ice RES. Silver Wolf gives similar debuffs while also making the enemy weak against Ice. If you bring her alongside Jingliu and Gepard, there’s at least a 50% chance of getting the right weakness off.
While the sustainer slot is non-negotiable, you can always swap either a buffer or debuffer for another DPS that suits the current battle. A double buffer/debuffer team isn’t bad, either. It all comes down to your actual needs and how well said characters are built because Jingliu herself isn’t difficult to build. But without characters like Bronya or Tingyun advancing her actions forward, she loses a lot of value compared to others.
She requires a good team to unleash her full potential, but she can get even higher value out of those thanks to her unique perks. While she might be slowly succumbing to Mara, her sword skills are still on point, and she’s definitely worth building for any type of content. It’s a Destruction era, after all.
