Skip to main content

Long read: The beauty and drama of video games and their clouds

"It's a little bit hard to work out without knowing the altitude of that dragon..."

If you click on a link and make a purchase we may receive a small commission. Read our editorial policy.

Honkai Star Rail Jing Yuan best build, Ascension materials, Traces, team, and Light Cone

Everything you need to know about Jing Yuan in Star Rail.

Jing Yuan is a 5-Star Lightning character of The Erudition path who was added to Honkai: Star Rail during Phase 2 of the 1.0 launch Banners.

While Jing Yuan is be featured as the boosted 5-Star character in his 'Swirl of Heavenly Spear' Banner in version 1.0, he will eventually return at some point in the future when the Banner schedule cycles back to him.

Whether you get him, or want to prepare for if you do Warp for him successfully, it's good to know the best Jing Yuan build in Honkai: Star Rail, including his best Relics and best team. It's also handy to learn what his Eidolon perks are, and what Ascension materials and Trace materials are needed to level up Jing Yuan to his full potential.

Jing Yuan materials and stats:

Jing Yuan build:

Watch on YouTube
Version 2.1 Trailer - "Into the Yawning Chasm" | Honkai: Star Rail

Honkai Star Rail Jing Yuan kit

Jing Yuan is a 5-Star Lightning character of The Erudition path, who is best used for multi-target damage and breaking weakness bars on enemies weak to Lightning.

Here's a summary of Jing Yuan's abilities and stats in Honkai Star Rail:

  • Element: Lightning.
  • Path: The Erudition.
  • Rarity: 5-Star.
  • Banner: Swirl of Heavenly Spear.
  • Normal Attack: Glistening Light (Deals Lightning damage equal to 50% of Jing Yuan's attack stat to a single enemy).
  • Skill: Rifting Zenith (Deals Lightning damage equal to 50% of Jing Tuan's attack stat to all enemies, and increases Lightning-Lord's attack count by two for the next turn).
  • Ultimate: Lightbringer (Deals Lightning damage equal to 120% of Jing Yuan's attack stat to all enemies and increases Lightning-Lord's attack count by three for the next turn).
  • Talent (passive ability): Prana Extirpated (Summons Lightning-Lord at the start of the battle. Lightning-Lord has 60 base speed and three base Hits Per Action. When the Lightning-Lord takes action, its hits are considered as follow-up attacks, with each hit dealing Lightning damage equal to 33% of Jing Yuan's attack stat to a single enemy, and enemies adjacent to it also receive Lightning damage equal to 25% of the damage dealt to the target enemy.).
  • Technique (overworld ability): Command Talisman (At the start of the next battle, Lightning-Lord's attack count in the first turn increases by two).
  • Bonus Trace 1: Battalia Crush (If the Lightning-Lord's attack count is greater or equal to 6 in the next turn, its Crit damage increases by 25% for the next turn).
  • Bonus Trace 2: Man With a Plan (At the start of the battle, immediately regenerates 15 Energy).
  • Bonus Trace 3: War Marshall (After using Skill, Crit Rate increases by 10% for 2 turns).

Honkai Star Rail Jing Yuan Ascension materials

Shape Shifter's Lightning Staff.

You need to use Jing Yuan Ascension materials to upgrade his health, attack, defence, critical hit effectiveness, and other important stats.

For Jing Yuan you need to get a lot of Immortal Scionette and Shape Shifter's Lightning Staff materials to fully upgrade his capabilities.

Here's all the Ascension Materials for Jing Yuan in Honkai: Star Rail:

  • x15 Immortal Scionette
  • x15 Immortal Aeroblossom
  • x15 Immortal Lumintwig
  • x65 Shape Shifter's Lightning Staff

For more details, here's what Jing Yuan Ascension materials you need for each Ascension level:

Jing Yuan Ascension level Jing Yuan Ascension materials Credit cost Reward
Level 20 x5 Immortal Scionette 4,000 x1 regular Star Rail Pass
Level 30 x10 Immortal Scionette 8,000 None
Level 40 x3 Shape Shifter's Lightning Staff, x6 Immortal Aeroblossom 16,000 x1 regular Star Rail Pass
Level 50 x7 Shape Shifter's Lightning Staff, x9 Immortal Aeroblossom 40,000 None
Level 60 x20 Shape Shifter's Lightning Staff, x6 Immortal Lumintwig 80,000 x1 regular Star Pass
Level 70 x35 Shape Shifter's Lightning Staff, x9 Immortal Lumintwig 160,000 None

Honkai Star Rail Jing Yuan Trace materials

Key of Wisdom.

Just like Ascension, to get the most out of using Jing Yuan you will have to level-up his attacks and passive abilities by using Trace materials, which vary from character-to-character.

For Jing Yuan, you need to use a lot of Key and Immortal Scionette materials to fully upgrade his capabilities.

In total, to upgrade all of his traces, here's all of the Jing Yuan Trace Materials you need:

  • x8 Tracks of Destiny
  • x12 Destroyer's Final Road
  • x18 Key of Inspiration
  • x41 Immortal Scionette
  • x56 Immortal Aeroblossom
  • x58 Immortal Lumintwig
  • x69 Key of Knowledge
  • x139 Key of Wisdom
  • 3 million Credits

Honkai Star Rail Jing Yuan Eidolons

By getting duplicates of Jing Yuan from Warping on Banners, you will receive his Eidolon. This material allows you to unlock Eidolon levels, with each upgrade either improving an existing attack or passive ability.

Here are all of Jing Yuan's Eidolon level upgrades in Honkai: Star Rail:

  • Slash, Seas Split (E1): When Lightning-Lord attacks, the damage multiplier on enemies adjacent to the target enemy increases by an extra amount equal to 25% of the damage multiplier against the target enemy.
  • Swing, Skies Squashed (E2): After Lightning-Lord takes action, damage caused by Jing Yuan's basic attack, skill, and Ultimate increases by 20% for two turns.
  • Strike, Suns Subdued (E3): Increases the level of Jing Yuan's Ultimate by two and basic attack by one, with a maximum upgrade level of 10.
  • Spin, Stars Sieged (E4): For each hit performed by the Lightning-Lord when it takes action, Jing Yuan regenerates two energy.
  • Stride, Spoils Seized (E5): Increases the level of Jing Yuan's Skill and Talent levels by two, with a maximum upgrade level of 15.
  • Sweep, Souls Slain (E6): Each hit performed by the Lightning-Lord when it takes action will make the target enemy Vulnerable. While Vulnerable, enemies receive 12% more damage until the end of the Lightning-Lord's current turn, stacking up to three times.

How to play Jing Yuan in Honkai Star Rail

Jing Yuan is of The Erudition Path, which means he's best used for multi-target AOE (area of effect) damage and weakness bar breaking. As he attacks with Lighting, he performs best when up against multiple enemies weak to Lightning, like many of the robot enemies. Jing Yuan also does very well when in multi-target battles with lots of weaker enemies, as he can wipe them all out quickly.

Your goal with Jing Yuan is to use his Skill and Ultimate as much as possible, which build Lightning-Lord stacks, causing even more AOE Lightning damage to all enemies in the battle when the Lightning-Lord strikes (you can see when this will happen in the turn order). These are considered follow-up attacks, so you should keep that in mind when choosing your Blessings in the Simulated Universe.

When Jing Yuan is your main DPS, focus all your Skill Points and ally buffs on him to increase his attack, Crit Rate, and Crit Damage as much as possible, just remember to leave him Skill Points in your rotations.

You should aim to get at least seven stacks of Lightning-Lord (which you can see by his avatar in battle) to cause a good amount of damage when the Lightning-Lord hits, anything past seven is even better!.

Best Jing Yuan team comp in Honkai Star Rail

There isn't one team you should always run with Jing Yuan because different Elements and Path abilities are required to clear harder content. Sometimes you'll need a character who can dispel buffs, sometimes you'll need a shielder, and sometimes you just need somebody of a different Element to deal with enemies Jing Yuan can't kill quickly enough.

Bronya is a good teammate to pair with Jing Yuan if you want more turns.

In general, we recommend bringing a healer or efficient shielder when up against hard stages in the Forgotten Hall and Simulated Universe. Bailu is the ideal healer choice, as she can revive one ally per battle, but Natasha will do perfectly fine, especially if you need a Basic attacker in between heals to build Skill Points with. For shields, Gepard is the best choice, but March 7th can work too.

Some other great supports for Jing Yuan will provide debuffs on enemies, or buffs on Jing Yuan to increase your damage per turn. Picking a support with an Element that enemies are weak should factor into your own best team comp, unless Jing Yuan is strong against all enemies.

Bronya is always a good pick for buffing, as her Ultimate increases attack and Crit damage for the whole party, and her Skill allows Bronya to switch to another character and give them an extra turn.

Other fantastic supports include Asta, who can increase Jing Yuan's speed and attack, Pela, who reduces enemies' defence and can dispel their buffs, Welt, who lowers the speed of enemies, and the current MVP of 4-Stars, Tingyun, who regenerates Energy and can buff Jing Yuan's damage even more.

Best Jing Yuan Relics in Honkai Star Rail

Part of the Band of Sizzling Thunder set.

For Jing Yuan, we recommend the 4-piece Band of Sizzling Thunder Relic set to increase his Lightning and Skill damage. The 4-piece Musketeer of Wild Wheat is also a good, easily obtainable set that can increase his attack stat and speed. You can also use the 2-piece's of each if you don't have the 4-piece Sizzling Thunder yet.

For your 2-piece Planar Ornaments, we suggest using the Inert Salsotto if you want to increase Jing Yuan's Ultimate damage, or the Celestial Differentiator if you want to increase Basic and Skill attack damage.

However keep in mind that to take advantage of these perks Jing Yuan needs to have a Crit rate of 50% for the Inert Salsotto, and a Crit rate of at least 80% for the Celestial Differentiator.

Best Jing Yuan Light Cone in Honkai Star Rail

Before Dawn.

As it's his signature, the 5-Star Before Dawn Light Cone is Jing Yuan's best weapon in Honaki: Star Rail.

Before Dawn increases Jing Yuan's crit, Skill, and Ultimate damage, and also gives him the Somnus Corpus ability. This buff activates after a follow-up attack, increasing the follow-up damage.

For other 5-Stars, we recommend the Sleep Like the Dead or Cruising in the Stellar Sea to increase Jing Yuan's Crit Rate.

As for 4-Star options, The Birth of the Self is also good for increasing the follow-up damage of Jing Yuan's Ultimate.

Other 4-Star options you can use while you try for other Light Cones include Make the World Clamor for Energy and Ultimate damage, and The Seriousness of Breakfast to increase damage and attack when enemies are defeated.

Depending on what Superimposition Level you have on it, The Birth of the Self might even be a better pick than the 5-Star Light Cones, bar Jing Yuan's signature.


Version 2.1 with Acheron, Aventurine, and Gallagher is here! So make sure to redeem those new codes for Stellar Jade if you want them or future characters - and check all characters out on our regularly updated tier list. For everything else, we have pages on the next Banner, Ministry of Education quiz answers, how to get more Star Rail Passes, and an English voice actors list.


Best Jing Yuan build in Honkai Star Rail

Keeping in mind that the best team comps in Star Rail are very situational, if you want to take advantage of his huge multi-target damage potential while keeping him alive, we have compiled what we think is currently the best Jing Yuan build in Honkai Star Rail:

  • Jing Yuan Best Light Cone: 5-Star Before Dawn.
  • Jing Yuan Best Relics: 4-Piece Band of Sizzling Thunder and 2-Piece Inert Salsotto.
  • Jing Yuan Best team comp: Bronya, Bailu, and Tingyun.

Replace Tingyun with a shielder like Gepard if you need more survivability.

It's entirely up to you whether you want to spend your Stellar Jade to Warp on Jing Yuan's Banner, but he is a good AOE damage-dealer, performing much better than his 4-Star counterpart, Serval.

Good luck levelling up Jing Yuan in Honkai: Star Rail!

Read this next