Ruan Mei in Honkai Star Rail: guide to the best builds

In Honkai: Star Rail Ruan Mei is 5 star character, who has an Ice type of combat and belongs to the Harmony path. In a squad, she can serve as a support, buffing allies. In this guide you can learn about her best builds, light cones And relics. We will also tell you about the most optimal commands with it

Note: The Genius Society scientist has not yet officially come out, so the data presented here is based on information obtained through beta testing. If necessary, we will update the guide when the heroine appears in the game.

Main Features of Ruan Mei

How to get Ruan Mei

This heroine can only be obtained during the event Jump. In the near future, this banner will be launched as part of the first phase of patch 1.6. If you want to be one of the first to know about her next rerun, we advise you to bookmark this article.

Let's add that HoYoverse has never given 5-star characters for completing various events, so you can only unlock the brilliant scientist with the help of Jumping.

Progression of Ruan Mei's characteristics

In the table below you can see how the heroine's basic parameters change as her level increases.

Note that her critical damage, critical hit chance and taunt are 50%, 5% and 100 units respectively at any level, and her energy reserve is 130 units.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Ruan Mei

Thanks to her unique abilities, she can buff her allies, enhancing their attack capabilities. Its advantages also include:

• She has a fairly high base attack power for a Harmony character, which allows her to inflict good ice damage (for support) to enemies with regular attacks, which she will use quite often.
• Capable of passively inflicting damage when allies break through enemy vulnerabilities or when opponents try to restore their stamina. The amount of damage depends not on the strength of the heroine’s attack, but on the penetration effect. This brings her a little closer to being a sub-DD.
• An extremely versatile buffer, as it is capable of directly increasing all damage dealt by allies and their speed without any additional conditions. Can further increase damage with the help of Trace, but with certain requirements (more details in the disadvantages).
• Significantly buffs the effectiveness of breaking through vulnerabilities of allies, allowing them to keep enemies in a broken state for almost the entire cycle (they will not be able to attack you), and we remind you that without durability, resistance to all types of damage among mobs drops by 10%. In addition, this reveals the mechanics of breaking through vulnerabilities in a new way, allowing you to build new battle tactics around it (more details in the section on how to play Ruan Mei).
• It is quite easy to assemble, since you will not need to spend your energy on pumping up many characteristics, trying to perfectly balance them - it will be enough to increase the penetration effect, energy recovery and speed for a confident buff to your allies. In addition, the penetration effect and speed are increased by traces.
• It can perfectly fulfill its main role without opening eidolons and purchasing signature weapons, which F2P players will certainly like. At the same time, unlocking eidolons is not a waste of time and resources, as it enhances the positive aspects of the heroine and allows you to give her additional capabilities on the battlefield.
• Saves and generates new skill points for the team, since its abilities can last several turns.
  It is highly advisable to take it into the Virtual Universe, as it allows you to inflict significant damage on enemies and break through their vulnerabilities at the very beginning of the battle.

However, this researcher still cannot be called ideal, since she also has her own shortcomings, namely:

• The damage from regular attacks and passives, although not bad for a support, is however not high enough for Ruan Mei to be considered a full-fledged sub-detonator. You can make a damage dealer out of her only by opening the fourth and sixth Eidolons, so it will be inaccessible to many players.
• Basic defense and health indicators leave much to be desired, which negatively affects its survivability, so you will have to take care of having a good shieldman/healer in your team or try to increase its HP and defense with secondary stats from relics.
• The duration of the buffs depends on the number of turns of Ruan Mei, that is, if she manages to walk twice in a cycle, the bonus from her ult will immediately disappear. It is advisable that she does not do this before the damage dealers. This leads to the need to properly balance the speed so that it is not too high or low.
• The high cost of the superpower (130 units) makes the heroine very demanding in terms of energy restoration. You will have to sacrifice the connecting rope by taking it to the VE.
• To get the maximum increase in damage from the “Candlelights on the surface of the water” trail, you will have to increase the penetration effect to at least 180%, which can be very problematic if you do not have the necessary cones.
• It fully reveals its potential only if the player has a larger roster of characters, when he can choose between damage dealers of different elements to receive various bonuses from breaking through vulnerabilities (more details below).

Ruan Mei's abilities

When using a basic attack "Needle with Orchid" She deals ice damage to the enemy equal to 50~130% of her attack power. At the same time, it restores 20 units of energy and penetrates 30 units of durability.

Explanation: Standard unremarkable strikes. Except that she does a little more damage than other Harmony characters due to her increased attack power.

After using the skill "The Repeating Melody of Singing Strings" she gains Overtone status for three turns. Its duration is reduced by one turn at the beginning of each heroine's action. While she has this buff, the damage of all allies increases by 16-40%, and their vulnerability penetration efficiency increases by 50%.

Explanation: Gives a net increase in damage, which will be useful for absolutely any damage dealer. Plus, squad members will be able to break through enemies' defenses much faster, stripping them of their defenses, preventing them from attacking back, and increasing the damage they take. It is advisable to have two DDs in your team, rather than one hypercarry with a bunch of supports, so that the largest number of characters can take full advantage of the buff.

Using a superpower "Petals on the water, rest in a dream", she summons a Magic Circle for two turns, the duration of which is reduced by one turn at the beginning of each heroine action. While it is in effect, allies' penetration of all types of resistance increases by 15-30%. Allied hits apply the Blooming Plum debuff to the enemy.

This effect is triggered when the enemy tries to restore his resistance - it prolongs his state of broken vulnerability and delays the action by an amount equal to 20% of the heroine's broken effect + 10%. In addition, he inflicts penetration damage, the amount of which is equal to 30-60% of the damage of Ruan Mei's ice penetration. Mobs without toughness cannot re-gain Blooming Plum.

Explanation: Team members will be able to deal even more damage to enemies, as their defense will be reduced. For example, if a boss has 60% resistance to ice, then when the Magic Circle is active, this parameter will decrease to 30%, and, therefore, ice characters will be able to hit him more painfully.

Opponents will also be given a debuff that will prevent them from regaining their toughness for another turn and will delay their action, leaving them vulnerable to attacks. In addition, Ruan Mei passively deals damage to these targets. When fighting enemies with Ice Vulnerability, it will be possible to keep them Frozen for almost the entire fight.

As for the heroine’s passive talent - "Somatotypic spiral", then it increases the speed of all allies by 8-11%. When squad members penetrate an enemy's vulnerability, the heroine deals additional penetration damage equal to 60-150% of her ice penetration damage.

It is also impossible not to mention the technology "Silk Serenade", the use of which allows you to obtain the status of the same name. When the battle begins, the heroine automatically activates her skill without spending skill points.

In addition, in the Virtual Universe, when activating a technique in the event of an attack by any enemy ally, the opponents' resistance will decrease, regardless of the type of their vulnerabilities. If resistance is broken, an effect occurs corresponding to the element of the attacking character, that is, a physical hero will inflict Bleeding, a wind hero will cause Weathering, and so on. Moreover, each blessing increases penetration damage by 100%. After the fortitude is destroyed, he receives additional penetration damage equal to 100% of the damage of Ruan Mei's ice penetration.

Traces of Ruan Mei

In addition to the above abilities, the heroine’s leveling tree also includes other enhancements that provide passive bonuses or permanent increases to characteristics. They mainly increase its penetration effect, defense and speed. You can see all the traces in the pictures below.

Eidolons of Ruan Mei

To unlock them, materials of the same name are required, which are issued when duplicates of the heroine appear, which, of course, is random. And considering the rarity of 5-star character drops, be prepared to spend a lot of money and time on this. Fortunately, even without eidolons, Ruan Mei can effectively act as a buffer for the team. If you still decide to start opening them, you can stop at E1 and E2, which significantly increases the heroine's usefulness as a support character, as she will further increase the damage dealt by allies, allowing them to ignore enemy defenses and increasing their attack power. If you want to turn Ruan Mei into a sub-DD, you will have to open E6, which will significantly increase the passive damage she deals.

1. Neural pattern – allies under the influence of the Magic Circle begin to ignore 20% of the enemy’s defense.
2. Walk along the reeds - increases the attack power of allies by 40% when dealing damage to enemies with a broken vulnerability.
3. Emerald Pirouette – the level of ult and talent increases by two. The maximum level for both increases to 15.
4. Flickering Shine of the Mirror – increases the penetration effect of Ruan Mei by 100% for three turns when the enemy’s stamina is destroyed.
5. Decorative hairpin - the skill level increases by two, and the basic attack - by one. The maximum level for the first increases to 15, and for the second – to 10.
6. Fan on the folds of silk fabric – increases the duration of the Magic Circle by one turn and increases the damage multiplier in the talent by another 200%.

How to play as Ruan Mei

With it, the system for breaking through vulnerabilities will sparkle with new colors, since it will allow your damage dealers to break through enemy shields much faster and more often (in one cycle it will be quite possible to do this 2-3 times), applying appropriate effects to them and building new tactics around them.

Let us remind you that each penetration effect deals its own damage and imposes a unique debuff, the benefit of which will vary depending on the opponents. For example, Burning (fire penetration), which has high initial damage and good periodic damage, works better against large crowds, and Binding (quantum penetration), which has low initial damage, but stacks up to 5 times when hitting allies, and then explodes, causing significant damage.

Considering this information, in the presence of Ruan Mei, it makes sense to choose damage dealers based on the enemies’ vulnerabilities. For example, if you have to fight a large number of ordinary mobs that are vulnerable to fire and wind damage, then you should take fire fighters against them. If you plan to engage in a fight with a powerful boss who has physical and quantum vulnerabilities, then you should take a quantum main DD.

Of course, all this only works if you have a large selection of characters from different elements. Silver Wolf can mitigate this problem a little, which is capable of inflicting vulnerabilities on opponents that correspond to the elements of the fighters you need. Otherwise, you will just have to take damage dealers of suitable elements.

However, even in this case, Ruan Mei will bring you incredible benefits, giving you many buffs. The main thing is to keep her speed at such values ​​that she does not move very often, otherwise her buffs will end before the damage dealers have time to use them 2-3 times. Plus, you will have to use the skill more often, which will increase the consumption of skill points.

As for the optimal rotation, it will look like this:

1. Try to use the technique before attacking the enemy to immediately use the heroine's skill without spending skill points. Damage dealers will be able to inflict increased damage from their very first moves.
2. If you were able to use the technique, then when Ruan Mei takes the turn, use her normal attack. Otherwise, use her skill.
3. While the Overtone status is active, use normal attacks, and when it ends, use the skill again.
4. Naturally, you also need to activate your ult when ready to further strengthen your allies.
5. At the same time, you will deal additional damage to enemies in passive mode. True, without open E6 it will turn out to be relatively small.

Best builds for Ruan Mei

Best Light Cones

When choosing a weapon, you should take a closer look at those options that increase the penetration effect, energy recovery and/or speed, and also provide some additional buffs to the team. The table below shows the most interesting specimens.

The best relics

As for the choice of ordinary relics mined in the corrosion caves, you can collect a full set "The Thief of the Falling Meteor", 2 parts of which increase the penetration effect by 16%, and 4 parts increase this parameter by another 16%. When the wearer breaks through an enemy's vulnerability, he receives 3 units of energy. An excellent option for Ruan Mei, which allows you to increase the efficiency of her abilities, which depend specifically on EP.

You can also collect the full set "A messenger wandering in the hacker space", 2 parts of which increase the speed by 6%, and 4 parts increase the speed of all allies by 12% for one turn if the bearer of the ult uses an ally. Bonuses are not cumulative. Thus, you will be able to increase the speed of not only Ruan Mei, but also her associates - you will only have to use the superpower more often.

If you have not yet managed to assemble the entire set with the desired characteristics, you can combine the Thief with the Messenger or "Long-living student", 2 parts of which increase health by 12% (will allow you to increase the heroine’s survivability).

Now let's move on to planar jewelry, which is mined in the Virtual Universe. The list below shows the recommended options (the numbers indicate the priority of choice):

Concerning characteristics of relics, then you need to choose as follows:

• Body: HP/Defense% (to increase the heroine’s survivability) or critical chance. (if you want to bring her closer to the role of sub-DD)
• Legs: speed
• Planar Sphere: HP%/Def% or Ice Damage (if you want to move it closer to the sub-detonation role)
• Connecting rope: energy recovery
• Additional characteristics: penetration effect > speed > HP%, Defense%, effect resistance

Best commands for Ruan Mei

The scientist's buffs will be useful to almost all damage dealers, since all fighters want an increase in damage, speed and efficiency of breaking through vulnerabilities. However, if you take into account that bonuses are given to all allies, and not to one character, then it is advisable to assemble squads of two fighters, and not one hypercarry.

We also recommend taking an additional support who can “fill” Ruan Mei with energy so that she can activate her ultimate more often. Naturally, the team must have a good shield warrior or healer. The table below shows several of the most interesting pack options.

Leveling up Ruan Mei

How to increase abilities (what to download first)

The pictures below demonstrate the materials and their quantities required to maximize the basic attack, skill, superpower and talent.

• A harmonious melody, a song of the clan and a symphony of constellations are obtained from a sepal located in the Robot Settlement (Yarilo-VI), or using Synthesis.
• Sprouts of Immortality, Ethereal Flower of Immortality, and Branch of Immortal Glory are obtained from Abundance Abominations, Quests, and Enemies in the Virtual Universe or through Synthesis. They can also be purchased for unquenchable ashes at the Pom-Pom store.
• Past Wormhole Disasters - Obtained by fighting the boss King of the Starfall Swarm: Skarakabaz.
• Imprints of Fate - obtained in the Virtual Universe, issued with a battle pass and purchased for unquenchable ashes in the Pom-Pom store. Sometimes they are a reward in temporary events.

Concerning priority for leveling up abilities, then we recommend upgrading the skill, superpower and talent at the same time, since all three allow you to buff your allies. If you have limited resources, then give priority to skill. Increase basic attacks according to the residual principle.

How to level up a character

At certain levels you will need to elevate the heroine by spending a large amount of resources and credits:

• Exaltation (level 30): credits x4000 and sprouts of immortality x5
• Exaltation (level 40): credits x8000 and sprouts of immortality x10
• Exaltation (level 50): credits x16000, ethereal flowers of immortality x6 and gelid chitin x3
• Exaltation (level 60): credits x40000, ethereal flowers of immortality x9 and gelid chitin x7
• Exaltation (level 70): credits x80000, branches of immortal glory x6 and gelid chitin x20
• Exaltation (level 80): credits x160000, branches of immortal glory x9 and gelid chitin x35

Gelide Chitin can be obtained from the Stagnant Shadow located in Cloud Crossing (Loufu Xianzhou).