Black Swan in Honkai Star Rail: guide to the best builds

In Honkai: Star Rail Black Swan is 5 star character, which has a Wind type of combat and belongs to the path of Nothingness. In a team, she can play the role of a primary or secondary damage dealer, aimed at dealing periodic damage (DoT) and applying debuffs. In this guide you will learn about her best builds, light cones And relics. We will also tell you about the recommended units with her.

Note: The Memory Keeper has not yet been officially released, so the data presented here is based on information received as part of beta testing. If necessary, we will update the guide when the heroine appears in the game.

Main features of the Black Swan

How to get a Black Swan

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 2.0. 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 only once gave a 5-star character in honor of winning the category for “best mobile game of the year” and never for completing various events, so it’s highly likely that you can unlock the Black Swan only with the help of Jumping.

Progression of Black Swan Characteristics

In the table below you can see how the basic parameters of the fortuneteller change as its 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 120 units.

Advantages and disadvantages of the Black Swan

Thanks to her abilities, she can inflict significant periodic damage to both single and multiple targets. Its advantages also include:

• Pairs well with other damage-dealing characters, as they help her increase the number of Arcana she casts on enemies.
• Black Swan is capable of not only lowering the defense of opponents, but also increasing the damage they receive, which eliminates the need to take a debuffer into the team for DoT. With a certain amount of Arcana, periodic damage completely ignores 20% of the enemy’s defense.
• It can independently accelerate its damage, receiving multipliers from the number of Arcana available on targets. Thanks to the Omen in the Shadow of a Candle trail, the damage also increases depending on the hit chance of the heroine's effects.
• Quite easy to assemble, since in order to cause damage it mainly needs to pump up only two characteristics: attack power and chance of effects hitting. This heroine does not need crits, since periodic damage is not capable of causing critical damage.
• It is capable of inflicting high damage on both strong single opponents and large groups of enemies, so it is suitable not only for battles with bosses, but also for quickly clearing dungeons in automatic mode.
• He can play well as a damage dealer without unlocking eidolons or having a signature, which will certainly appeal to F2P players.

However, this memory keeper should not be considered an ideal character, since she also has her own shortcomings, namely:

• Even with well-leveled abilities, the probability of applying Arcana is less than 100% (with the exception of skill), and given the resistance to applying effects in many enemies, then be prepared for the fact that not all of your actions will lead to an increase in Arcana stacks. At the same time, the heroine’s damage largely depends on their number. Not everyone may like gameplay based on such randomness. If you don’t want to depend on it, you will have to increase the chance of effects hitting to at least 120%.
• Arcana are reset to level 1 after the debuff is activated, that is, at the beginning of each level, so they need to be accumulated again all the time. This can only be avoided with the help of a superpower, which is relatively expensive (120 units), which is why you will have to look for relics to restore energy.
• It is imperative to have other characters playing through periodic damage in order to constantly support it on enemies, since the accumulation of Arcana depends on this. Otherwise, the heroine’s overall damage will noticeably decrease. All this imposes certain restrictions on setting up the optimal squad with the Black Swan.
• In addition to the attack power and the chance of hitting effects, it is often necessary to pump up speed in order to activate the passives of planar jewelry and have time to cast Arcana before the opponents turn. Therefore, you will have to sacrifice basic characteristics for the sake of speed.

Black Swan Abilities

The most important ability of a memory keeper is talent "Caprice of the Weaving of Fate", since it is on its basis that all of its gameplay is built, so let’s first consider this passive. When an enemy receives periodic damage at the beginning of a turn, with a probability of 50-72.5%, 1 level of Arcana status is applied to him, which inflicts on him a wind DoT in the amount of 96-300% of the heroine's attack power at the beginning of each of his actions.

Each additional stack of Arcana increases the damage multiplier by 4.8-15%, after which the number of levels is reset to 1. You can reach a maximum of 50 status stacks. Let’s add that depending on the number of Arcana available on the enemy, additional effects can be activated:

• If there are three or more Arcana, neighboring targets receive wind periodic damage in the amount of 72-225% of the heroine’s ATK, and with a 50-72.5 percent probability, 1 stack of status is applied to them.
• If there are seven or more Arcana, the DoT inflicted ignores 20% of the defense of the attacked enemies.

Explanation: Arcana in its normal form acts as Weathering, that is, it deals wind damage over time. The Black Swan can gain stacks of status both independently and thanks to other DoTeras in the squad, while inflicting gigantic damage. For example, at the 10th level of the talent, with an attack power of 2600 units and 7 Arcana collected, it will inflict 8424 damage to the selected target at a time and another 4680 damage to adjacent enemies, and this does not take into account ignoring and reducing defense, as well as increasing the damage received and adding additional statuses to the ulti.

When using a basic attack "Epiphany, Dawn of Silence" it inflicts wind damage on the enemy equal to 30~78% of its attack power, and has a 50-74% chance of casting 1 stack of Arcana. Each Bleeding, Weathering, Shock or Burning status that an enemy has has a 50-74% chance of inflicting 1 additional Arcana. At the same time, it restores 20 units of energy and penetrates 30 units of durability.

Explanation: By itself, a regular blow does very little damage, so its main purpose is to apply Arcana, because in theory it can inflict 5 levels of status at once. It is quite possible to achieve such a result in the Virtual Universe, but in a normal game, even with additional DoTers in the team, you will most likely get a maximum of 2-3 stacks per attack.

After using the skill "Decadence, sunset of lies" it deals wind damage to the selected target and adjacent enemies in the amount of 45~112.5% ​​of its attack power, and also with a 100% probability places 1 stack of Arcana on them and reduces their defense by 14.8-23.8% by 3 progress. At the same time, the skill restores 30 units of energy and penetrates 60 units of durability (an explosion can remove another 30 units).

Explanation: Unlike a regular strike, the skill can guarantee up to 3 Arcana on enemies (if you do not take into account their resistance to effects) even at a low level, and also reduce their defense. It is recommended to use the skill as often as possible to restore energy and steadily accumulate stacks, however, if there is a lack of skill points and there are other DoTers in the team, you can easily reduce its use to 1 time in 3 turns, since that is how long the defense debuff lasts.

With the “Restless Entrails” track open, the importance of the skill will not increase much, since, although in theory he will be able to cast up to 7 stacks of Arcana, in reality this will be extremely problematic. Firstly, the likelihood of additional four levels will be reduced to 65%, and, secondly, this requires that the selected target have Bleeding, Weathering, Shock and Burning.

Using a superpower "Caprice of the Weaving of Fate", she casts Epiphany on all enemies for two turns, increasing the damage they receive by 15-30%. The Arcana they have is considered the Bleeding, Shock, Weathering and Burning statuses. When a debuff is triggered at the beginning of a turn, its stacks are not reset - this bonus is activated only once during the duration of the Epiphany of one ult.

All enemies also receive wind damage equal to 72-144% of the heroine's attack power. Let's add that the ult penetrates 60 points of durability and requires 120 units of energy, while restoring 5 units.

Explanation: The damage from the superpower is negligible, so it can not even be taken into account when considering it. The Insight status is of much greater interest. It not only increases damage against enemies, but also significantly increases the significance of Arcana. The fact is that this one debuff counts as 4 weakenings at once. As a result, while the ult is active, characters who interact with a certain DoT status will be able to activate the Arcanum (for example, Luka (E1), Sampo (E4) or Guinaifen).

In addition, your stacks will not be reset once during the duration of the superpower. That is, if you can accumulate 10 Arcana in a cycle, and then they work, then on the next turn you will have 10 levels left, and you can continue accumulating them for another turn.

It is also impossible not to mention the technology "Accepting truth, rejecting appearances", the use of which allows you to place 1 stack of Arcana on all enemies at the beginning of the battle with a 150% probability. If successful, 1 additional stack is applied to the target until the chance of application becomes 0. In this case, the probability of each subsequent hanging is 50% of the chance of the previous one, that is, the second time it will be 75%.

Footprints of the Black Swan

In addition to the above abilities, the heroine’s leveling tree also includes other enhancements that provide passive bonuses or permanent increases to characteristics. It's mainly about increasing wind damage, attack power, and effect hit chance. You can see them all in the picture below.

Deserves special mention "Outlines on the Bottom of the Cup" And "The Sign in the Shadow of a Candle". The first has a 65% chance of placing 1 stack of Arcana every time an enemy receives periodic damage from allies' attacks. He can gain a maximum of 3 status levels in one attack.

The second increases the damage caused by the Black Swan by 60% of her chance of being hit by effects, that is, if this parameter is 120%, then the heroine’s damage will increase by a maximum of 72%.

Eidolons of the Black Swan

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, Black Swan can play the damage dealer/debuffer role very well.

If you still plan to open eidolons, then you can easily stop at the 1st one, since it gives a significant increase in damage to other DoTers present in the squad. The best option, of course, is E6, which allows the heroine to deal gigantic damage even in the absence of characters with periodic damage in the team. The list below describes all the Eidolons.

1. Seven Pillars of Wisdom - Reduces the physical, wind, electrical and fire resistance of enemies with Weathering, Shock, Burning and Bleeding by 25% respectively.
2. Don’t cry for me, my lamb - when you defeat an enemy with an Arcanum, there is a 100% chance that 6 levels of Arcanum will be applied to adjacent opponents. This eidolon will be useless when fighting strong single enemies that do not call for support.
3. As above, so below – the level of skill and talent increases by two. Maximum level for both: 15th.
4. Tears - also a gift - reduces the resistance to the effects of enemies with Insight by 10%. When the turn of an enemy with this status begins or his death, the heroine regains 8 units of energy. This bonus can only work once during the duration of the ult.
5. Along the path of migratory birds, the ultimate level increases by two, and the basic attack level increases by one. The maximum level for the first increases to 15, and for the second – to 10.
6. The gods are glorified, the martyrs are consigned to oblivion - the heroine has a 65% probability of placing 1 stack of Arcana on the enemy when he receives a blow from an ally. Each placement of this status has a 50% chance of increasing the number of its levels by 1.

How to play as Black Swan

Your main task when playing as a Diviner is to accumulate as many Arcana stacks as possible in one turn in order to inflict maximum wind damage over time to the enemy. It is advisable to apply at least 7 status levels in one cycle so that the damage partially ignores the enemy’s defense.

This is not as difficult to do as it might seem at first glance, but only if you have characters in your squad who can instantly activate damage from DoT statuses with their attacks. Such heroes now include Kafka (ultimate), Guinaifen (ultimate), Sampo (E4) and Luka (E4). In this case, their attacks will impose additional Arcana.

However, you can increase the number of stacks applied by any other characters that cause periodic damage with their abilities, for example, Hook, Serval or Asta, however, their accumulation in this case will be slower. Don’t forget also about the ultimate, which allows you to collect Arcana in two turns instead of one.

When fighting groups of enemies, try to use the skill on the central enemy in order to additionally hit the two mobs adjacent to him. In the heat of battle, attack with your skill and basic attack only those opponents who already have DoT statuses to gain additional Arcana.

As for rotation, its optimal option would look like this:

1. Use the Black Swan technique to immediately cast Arcana on all enemies and continue to cast them with a decreasing chance in subsequent turns.
2. Use the heroine's skill to deal some damage and be sure to give your opponents status stacks and lower their defense for three long turns.
3. While acting as other characters, use abilities that apply damage over time or instantly activate its application to create a base for applying additional Arcana or instantly attaching them to enemies.
4. Activate your ult when you are ready, since it makes no difference whether you use it before or after the Black Swan, because in any case you will only be able to save your accumulated Arcana stacks once.

Best builds for Black Swan

Best Light Cones

We have already noted above that the main attention should be paid to the hit chance of effects, attack power and speed. So look for weapons that can boost these stats. Options that can reduce enemy defense and/or increase damage over time are also suitable. The table below shows all the optimal light cones for the heroine.

The best relics

As for the choice of ordinary relics mined in corrosion caves, we advise you to pay attention to sets that increase attack power, chance of hitting effects and wind damage, as well as in one way or another covering periodic damage in their bonuses. The table below shows the best options.

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: effect hit chance (priority) or attack power (depending on the situation)
• Legs: speed
• Planar Sphere: Wind Damage or Attack Power
• Connecting rope: attack power (priority) or energy recovery (in case of acute shortage)
• Additional characteristics: effect hit chance > attack power > speed > penetration effect

Best Teams for Black Swan

We have already noted above that the fortuneteller goes well with characters who deal periodic damage, as they help her gain Arcana stacks. The heroes that work best are those that can instantly activate Bleed, Weather, Shock, or Burn.

However, at E6 the need to use only DoTers is slightly reduced, as Black Swan begins to receive Arcana from any attacks of his allies. As for buffers, she will benefit from those who can increase the speed and power of attack. Crits are useless to her, so supports that increase them are definitely not needed in the pack. The table below shows the most optimal units.

Leveling up the Black Swan

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.

• Fire Spirit, Starfire Essence and Heavenly Cremator are obtained from the sepal found in the Alchemy Commission (Lofu Xianzhou) or through Synthesis.
• Extinguished, flickering and writhing cores are obtained from Fragmentum monsters, quests and enemies in the Virtual Universe or using Synthesis.
• Past Wormhole Disasters - Found in Echoes of War "Old Wormhole Crater" located in the Isolated Zone (Hertha Space Station).
• 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 it is advisable to upgrade your superpower, skill and talent in parallel to each other. If resources are limited, first pump up your passive and then your ultimate and skill (that is, it should be 1-2 levels ahead of the last two). Raise your basic attacks last.

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:

• Ascension (level 30): credits x4000 and extinct core x5
• Ascension (level 40): credits x8000 and extinct core x10
• Ascension (level 50): credits x16000, flickering core x6 and ashes of the Ascended x3
• Ascension (level 60): credits x40000, flickering core x9 and ashes of the Ascended x7
• Ascension (level 70): credits x80000, writhing core x6 and ashes of the Ascended x20
• Ascension (level 80): credits x160000, writhing core x9 and ashes of the Ascended x35

Ascended Ashes can be obtained from the stagnant shadow “Form of a Celestial” located in the Alchemy Commission (Lofu Xianzhou).

• Honkai Star Rail Promo Codes (2024)
• Banners at Honkai Star Rail: Jump Schedule 2023
• Best Honkai Star Rail Characters: Hero Tier List
• Best Teams in Honkai Star Rail: Squad Build Guide
• Acheron in Honkai Star Rail: guide to the best builds