Black Swan vs Jing Yuan: Speculating which 5-star to pick in Honkai Star Rail

The upcoming Honkai Star Rail version 2.0 features brand new 5 and 4-star characters, and you can obtain limited-time characters by rolling in the event Warp banners. You will be able to acquire Jing Yuan, a Path of Erudition unit, and Black Swan, a brand-new Wind character, in the first phase of the upcoming update.

As both characters excel in dealing damage, Trailblazers might wonder what is the best 5-star character to pick in Honkai Star Rail. This article discusses which 5-star character to pick, along with an analysis of both units' abilities.

Note: This article is based on leaks and is subject to change.

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Black Swan’s abilities in Honkai Star Rail

Black Swan in Honkai Star Rail (Image via HoYoverse)

The following section details Black Swan’s kit:

• Basic ATK: unleashes an attack that deals Wind damage and has a chance to inflict Sacrament. Every debuff that affects an opponent has the potential to deal an extra stack of Sacrament if the opponent is under the effects of Burn, Wind Shear, Shock, or Bleed.
• Skill: Deals Wind damage to three adjacent opponents to inflict a stack of Sacrament. Additionally, the adversaries' DEF stat will be lowered by 20.8 percent. The effects are active for three turns.
• Ultimate: Upon activation, deals Wind damage to all adversaries on the battlefield and inflicts Epiphany for two turns. When an opponent is affected by the effect, they will take additional damage when their turn begins, and the Sacrament effect is treated the same as the Bleed, Shock, Burn, and Wind Shear effects.
• Talent: At the start of the turn, when each opponent receives DoT (Damage over Time), there is a chance for them to be inflicted with Sacrament. Wind DoT will be applied to the enemies while they are affected by Sacrament. Each stack of the effect increases the damage multiplier by 12%. Sacraments can be stacked up to 99 times.
• Possessing three or more stacks of Sacrament deals Wind DoT to nearby enemies, with a chance of inflicting them with Sacrament.
• With seven or more Sacrament stacks, the DoT can ignore 20% of the opponent's DEF.
• Technique: Upon activation, a Stack of Sacrament will be applied to every opponent at the beginning of the battle. If the Sacrament stack is successfully inflicted, the procedure will recur until the debuff is not applied.

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Jing Yuan’s abilities in Honkai Star Rail

Jing Yuan in Honkai Star Rail (Image via HoYoverse)

Jing Yuan’s kit is detailed in the section below:

• Basic ATK: Deals Lightning damage to an opponent.
• Skill: Unleashes an attack that deals Lightning damage to all adversaries. Furthermore, it gives Lightning-Lord two more Hits Per Action for the following turn.
• Ultimate: Deals Lightning damage to all enemies and gives Lightning-Lord three more Hits Per Action for the next turn.
• Talent: Jing Yuan summons Lightning-Lord at the start of the fight. The Lightning-Lord’s hits are considered follow-up attacks that deal Lightning damage to random enemies.
• The Hits Per Action of Lightning-Lord can stack up to ten times. Lightning-Lord's SPD increases by 10 when its Hits Per Action increases once.
• Technique: Lightning-Lord's Hits Per Action increases by three at the beginning of the subsequent battle.

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Black Swan vs Jing Yuan: Speculating which 5-star to pick in Honkai Star Rail

During the first phase of the upcoming 2.0 update of Honkai Star Rail, Trailblazers should summon Black Swan. She is a Path of Nihility character who wields the power of the Wind element. She deals excellent Wind damage through DoTs (Damage over Time). When paired with characters excelling in the same field, such as Kafka, Black Swan can be valuable to the party.

On the other hand, Jing Yuan is an excellent character, but he can't keep up with characters like Black Swan because the latter deals much more damage than he does. Players should save their Stellar Jades even though Jing Yuan can be useful.