Black Swan in Honkai: Star Rail is a very powerful DoT attacker whose Light Cones and Relics should strengthen her unique Arcana debuff. This guide will give you some tips and advice on how to build your Black Swan.
In order to build her, you must first understand her kit. Black Swan’s kit revolves around inflicting the enemy with as many stacks of Arcana as possible, which will then deal loads of damage at the start of an enemy’s turn. Like all of the other DoT users, Black Swan does not require a lot of Crit stats because neither Crit Rate nor Crit DMG affect DoT. Instead, you’ll want to focus on giving her lots of Effect Hit Rate. Not only does Black Swan want it for ensuring she can hit an enemy with Arcana, but one of her Talents scales her DMG boost based on her Effect Hit Rate.
Here are the Best Light Cones for Black Swan in Honkai: Star Rail
- Reforged Remembrance
As Black Swan’s signature Light Cone, it’s a given this would be her best-in-slot. It increases her Effect Hit Rate, as well as grants Prophet stacks every time she deals damage to an enemy that has a DoT on them. Every stack of Prophet will increase her ATK and allow her to ignore the target’s DEF, which will let you deal more DMG with her DoTs. - Patience Is All You Need
This is Kafka’s signature Light Cone, but it’s a very good generic Nihility Light Cone as well. It increases how much DMG she can do, as well as increases her SPD. It can also deal Erode, which is a separate DoT from Shocked, thus it’ll add an extra DoT to an enemy. While SPD isn’t exactly as important for Black Swan compared to Kafka, it’s still nice to have since it’ll allow her to hit the enemy more often. - Good Night and Sleep Well
This is a great generic Light Cone because of its effect. It increases her DMG for every debuff the target has on them, but it caps at three stacks. Because debuffs count as DoT, and Black Swan will naturally inflict a lot of them due to her kit, she’ll be able to enjoy the max benefits of this Light Cone. - Before the Tutorial Mission Starts
Before the Tutorial Mission Starts was an event-only Light Cone from Version 1.1. However, if you have it, you can consider putting it on Black Swan. It increases her Effect Hit Rate, as well as regenerate Energy when she hits an enemy with reduced DEF. Black Swan can activate this second effect without Pela or Silver Wolf, since her Skill can reduce enemy DEF. - Eyes of the Prey
Eyes of the Prey has a very simple effect, but it works well with Black Swan’s needs. It increase her Effect Hit Rate and how much damage her DoT deals. At S1, the boosts are 20% and 24%, respectively, so even if you don’t have a lot of copies, it’s a nice bonus.
Here are the Best Relics for Black Swan
- 4-pc Prisoner in Deep Confinement
These are the best Relics to put on Black Swan in Honkai: Star Rail. They increase her ATK, as well as allows her to ignore enemy DEF. In general, you’ll want most of your DoT characters to use this set. - 2-pc Eagle of Twilight Line, 2-pc Prisoner in Deep Confinement
This is a good chimera set to use if you don’t have enough good pieces for a full Prisoner set. You’ll be able to get an ATK boost, as well as a Wind DMG boost. While you won’t be able to deal quite as much damage as a full Prisoner set, Black Swan can still do decent damage, especially with the right Light Cone and team. - Pan-Cosmic Commercial Enterprise
This is a great Planar Ornament set for Black Swan because it increases her Effect Hit Rate. It also boosts her ATK based on her Effect Hit Rate. Because Black Swan naturally wants a high Effect Hit Rate for her Talent passive, you’ll likely reach the threshold to max out Pan-Cosmic Commercial Enterprie’s bonus. - Firmament Frontline Glamoth
This is a good Relic set for Black Swan because it increases her ATK, which will let her deal more DoT damage. However, you’ll need to reach either 135 or 160 SPD to get the bonus DMG boost. Black Swan doesn’t necessarily need a lot of SPD, but if you are able to hit those numbers, then you can consider putting Glamoth on her.
Honkai: Star Rail is readily available on the PS5, Windows PC, and mobile devices. You can only pull for Black Swan in Honkai: Star Rail when the “Ripples in Reflection” Event Warp is active.
