The best Honkai: Star Rail Jing Yuan build

The best Honkai: Star Rail Jing Yuan build centres around his Lightning-Lord; an electric spirit he summons at the start of each battle to zap enemies from on high. As Jing Yuan uses his skill and ultimate, he stacks the Lightning-Lord with hits per action, determining the number of times it'll follow-up attack when its action rolls around—that's about it in terms of character mechanics.

Jing Yuan may be an Erudition character—adept at dealing with lots of enemies at once—but his Lightning-Lord is so powerful he effectively breaks the mould of that role and deals decent damage to just about anything, especially if it has a lightning weakness. Here, I'll run through my best Jing Yuan build, plus his abilities, Eidolons, and what materials you'll need to ascend him as you increase your world level.

The best Jing Yuan build

Jing Yuan is a pretty simple character to build since his damage is so reliant on Lightning-Lord's follow-up attacks. Considering how often Lightning-Lord is going to be hitting enemies as you stack it with hits per action, it makes sense to build Jing Yuan towards crits, but also to buff his lightning damage so those attacks hit harder.

• Light Cone: Before Dawn or The Birth of the Self

There are a few good light cone options for Jing Yuan, but the best is the five-star Before Dawn. This increases crit damage by 36% plus skill and ultimate damage by 18%. When Jing Yuan uses his skill or ultimate he gains Somnus Corpus, which is consumed when a follow-up attack occurs and increases its damage by 48%. Lightning-Lord's actions count as follow-up attacks, and since Jing Yuan's skill and ultimate both stack Lightning Lord with hits per action, it's a simple yet powerful light cone effect. 

If you're looking for a four-star alternative, The Birth of the Self is a decent choice. This straight-up buffs follow-up attack damage by 24%, which provides massive value for Lightning-Lord. If an enemy's HP drops to 50% or lower, this damage is also doubled. If you have neither of these, then I'd potentially suggest The Seriousness of Breakfast, which you can buy from The Forgotten Hall light cone manifest shop. This increases damage by 12%, and attack by 4% for every defeated enemy, up to three stacks.

• Relics: Band of Sizzling Thunder (Four-pieces equipped)

Since he's going to be dealing lightning damage almost constantly, it makes sense to equip Jing Yuan with the Band of Sizzling Thunder set, buffing lightning damage by 10% for two pieces, and increasing attack by 20% for one turn when you use a skill for four pieces. I quite like this interaction since Jing Yuan's skill stacks Lightning-Lord with attacks, but you could always swap out two pieces for Musketeer of Wild Wheat instead and get that straightforward 10% attack buff.

For stats, you'll want to prioritise crit rate, crit damage, speed, and attack, which will help him hit hard and often. Plus, with the massive amount of attacks that Lightning-Lord will be unleashing, it makes sense to build towards crit potential to make the most of them.

• Planar Ornaments: Inert Salsotto (Two-pieces equipped)

While you could go for Space Sealing Station and its attack buff, Inert Salsotto is better if you want to crit often. This set increases crit rate by 8%, plus when you get to 50% crit rate, ultimate and follow-up attack damage are buffed by 15%, which is understandably very strong for Jing Yuan. In terms of stats, you'll want a lightning damage boost on the sphere if you can get it, then either attack or energy regen on the rope. What's most important of all is hitting that 50% crit rate for the extra follow-up attack damage, and to guarantee Lightning-Lord a steady stream of crits while he's striking enemies. 

Jing Yuan abilities and Eidolons

Here are Jing Yuan's combat abilities, bonus abilities for character ascension, and the Eidolons you can upgrade him with if you acquire additional copies:

Jing Yuan Ascension materials

Here's what you'll need to ascend the Jing Yuan fully, not counting character xp materials:

• 15 Immortal Scionette
• 15 Immortal Aeroblossom
• 15 Immortal Lumintwig
• 65 Shape Shifter's Lightning Staff
• 300,000 Credits approx

Immortal Scionette and its higher rarity variants, Aeroblossom and Lumintwig, come from defeating Mara-Struck enemies on the Xianzhou Luofu, but you can also get them from the Embers exchange if you have spare Undying Embers, or by sending characters on the Root Out the Turpitude assignment. Shape Shifter's Lightning Staff comes from the Stagnant Shadow: Shape of Doom in the Xianzhou Luofu region. Lastly, credits and xp materials can be farmed from Golden Calyx or you can purchase the latter at world stores.