Black Swan is Honkai: Star Rail's long-awaited 5-star DoT DPS! Here's how you build her plus her best gear and teams

Honkai: Star Rail version 2.0 is finally here and with it comes the arrival of a new 5-star character in Black Swan!

Black Swan wields the Wind element, follows the Path of Nihility, and is the game's long-awaited 5-star damage-over-time (DoT) character. Not only does she deal a ton of DoT, she can also increase the amount of damage received by enemies!

If you were lucky enough to get Black Swan, then read on as we break down how to build her properly as well as her best Light Cones, relics, and teammates!

Black Swan's kit and how to best utilise her

A deadly remembrance

Black Swan deals death by a thousand cuts with her unique 'Arcana' debuff, which she can stack on enemies whenever she uses her basic attack and skill or whenever enemies receive DoT.

Arcana deals Wind DoT to enemies similar to the Wind Shear debuff and also triggers additional effects based on the amount of stacks on an enemy.

Black Swan's kit is centered on her Talent, Loom of Fate's Caprice, which gives her a 65% base chance at level 10 of inflicting Arcana on enemies that receive DoT at the start of their turn.

When enemies are afflicted with Arcana, they receive Wind DoT equal to 240% of Black Swan's ATK at the start of their turn. Each stack of Arcana also increases the DoT DMG multiplier by 12%.

Arcana also triggers additional effects based on the number of stacks on an enemy only when it causes DMG at the start of their turn.

When an enemy has 3 or more Arcana stacks, it will also deal Wind DoT equal to 180% of Black Swan's ATK to adjacent enemies and has a 65% base chance of inflicting 1 additional Arcana stack on them. When an enemy has 7 or more Arcana stacks, it also enables the current DoT dealt at the start of an enemy's turn to ignore 20% of the DEF of the target and any adjacent enemies.

Arcana can stack up to 50 times and will reset to 1 stack after dealing its DoT.

As mentioned before, Black Swan can apply Arcana stacks on enemies by herself with her basic attacks or skill.

Her basic attack at level 6 has a 65% chance of inflicting the target with 1 stack of Arcana. If the target also has other DoT debuffs on them (Wind Shear, Bleed, Burn, Shock), then each debuff has a 65% base chance of inflicting 1 extra stack of Arcana.

Black Swan's skill, Decadence, False Twilight, has a 100% base chance of inflicting 1 stack of Arcana on its initial target and any adjacent enemies. At level 10, It also deals Wind DMG equal to 90% of Black Swan's ATK and has a 100% base chance of reducing the DEF of its targets by 20% for 3 turns.

Meanwhile, Black Swan's ultimate, Bliss of Otherworld's Embrace, deals Wind DMG equal to 120% of her ATK to all enemies at level 10 and inflicts them with the Epiphany debuff. Epiphany causes all affected enemies to take 25% more DMG in their turn and causes all Arcana stacks to become regarded as other DoT debuffs.

In addition, Epiphany also causes Arcana stacks to not reset upon the enemy's next turn. This effect can be triggered once during Epiphany's duration and can be used again by reapplying Epiphany with another use of Black Swan's ultimate.

Meanwhile, Black Swan's major Traces let her apply more stacks of Arcana on enemies and incentivises building Effect Hit Rate stats.

Her A2 passive, Viscera's Disquiet, gives her a 65% base chance to inflict 1 extra stack of Arcana when using her skill on enemies afflicted by other DoT debuffs.

Her A4 passive, Goblet's Dredges, gives her a 65% base chance to inflict 1 stack of Arcana whenever an enemy enters the battle. In addition, she also has a 65% base chance to inflict 1 stack of Arcana, stacking up to 3 timess in one attack, whenever an enemy receives DoT during an ally's attack.

Black Swan's A6 passive, Candleflame's Portent, is arguably her most important. It increases her DMG by an amount equal to 60% of her Effect Hit Rate, up to a maximum DMG increase of 72%. Since you need to build Effect Hit Rate to constantly apply Arcana stacks on enemies, this passive streamlines her build and is a great boost in damage.

Finally, using Black Swan's Technique, From Façade to Vérité, gives her a 150% base chance to inflict 1 stack of Arcana on all enemies at the start of the next battle. For each successful application of Arcana on an enemy, it will keep inflicting another stack with the base chance getting halved each time until it fails.

When leveling up Black Swan's abilities, her Talent should be your first priority followed by her skill then ultimate — though they should all be maxed out eventually. You can also elect to skip leveling up her basic attacks, although doing so will increase the chance that it will inflict Arcana stacks on an enemy.

In battle, use Black Swan's Technique to inflict Arcana stacks on all enemies before the first attack even lands. Spam her skill or basic attacks to inflict more Arcana stacks then use her ultimate to increase the amount of damage received by enemies. Repeat this process until all enemies are dead.

Black Swan's best gear

Light Cones

Black Swan's best Light Cone is obviously her, Reforged Remembrance. It passively increases her Effect Hit Rate by 40% and makes it so that whenever she deals DMG to an enemy inflicted with DoT debuffs, the targets will individually gain 1 stack of Prophet, which can stack up to 4 times.

In a single battle, each type of DoT can only generate 1 stack of Prophet. Every stack of Prophet increases Black Swan's ATK by 5% and the DoT dealt will ignore 7.2% of the target's DEF.

If you don't have Black Swan's signature, don't fret as she has plenty of strong alternatives.

Her best 5-star alternative is Solitary Healing, which can be acquired and Superimposed for free through the Simulated Universe’s Herta Store. At max Superimposition level, it increases its wielder's Break Effect by 40% and increases the DoT dealt by them for 2 turns after using their ultimate. In addition, whenever an enemy affected by a DoT from its wielder is defeated, it will also regenerate 6 energy for them.

As for the other 5-star Nihility Light Cones, we don't really recommend them as their passives don't really synergise with Black Swan's kit. Instead, we recommend going for the 4-stars below (assuming you don't have Solitary Healing).

Your best free-to-play Light Cone for Black Swan will be It's Showtime, a new 4-star Light Cone added in version 2.0 that is available for free through the Forgotten Hall's Light Cone Manifest.

It's Showtime lets its wielder gain a stack of Trick whenever they inflict a debuff on an enemy. Every stack of Trick increases the wearer's DMG by 6%, which stacks up to 3 times and lasts for 1 turn. In addition, it will also increase their ATK by 20% if their Effect Hit Rate is 80% or higher.

As for the gacha 4-star Light Cones, your best bet will be Eyes of the Prey. It increases its wielder's Effect Hit Rate by 20% and their DoT by 24%. You can also go for Good Night and Sleep Well, which increases its wielder's DMG by 12%, stacking up to 3 times, for every debuff a target enemy has.

If you have none of the above Light Cones, then Resolution Shines as Pearls of Sweat, Fermata, and Before the Tutorial Mission Starts are also good pickups.

Relics

Black Swan's best relics are obviously the DoT-focused relic sets.

Your Cavern of Corrosion relics should be the 4-piece Prisoner in Deep Confinement set. It increases its wielder's ATK by 12% with its 2-piece set bonus while its 4-piece bonus lets them ignore 6% of the enemy's DEF whenever they attack a target afflicted by a DoT. That DEF ignore mechanic stacks up to 18% when the target has 3 or more DoT debuffs on them.

As for Black Swan's Planar Ornament relics, you should go for the 2-piece Firmament Frontline: Glamoth set. It increases its wielder's ATK by 12% and increases their DMG by 12%/18% when their Speed reaches 135/160 or higher.

The main stats you should go for are ATK% or Effect Hit Rate for the body (ATK% if your Effect Hit Rate is already 120% or above), Speed for the feet, Wind DMG bonus for the Planar Sphere, and ATK% for the Link Rope. Substats to go for are Effect Hit Rate (need to hit 120%), Speed, and ATK.

Black Swan's best teammates

As Honkai: Star Rail's second DoT queen, Black Swan's best teammate is the game's other queen of DoT, Kafka. Kafka deals a ton of Lightning DoT on her own, but what makes her the perfect teammate for Black Swan is her ability to cause all DoT debuffs on enemies to deal DMG outside of enemy turns with her skill and ultimate.

With Black Swan dealing more DMG during enemy turns, Kafka's ability to pop DoT debuffs on her own turn ensures your damage output remains constantly high.

The third slot in a Black Swan-Kafka can be filled by a third DoT unit, but we recommend putting Ruan Mei in this slot instead if you have her. Ruan Mei buffs her allies' DMG, Weakness Break Efficiency, Speed, Break Effect, and All-Type RES PEN — basically all the stats Black Swan and Kafka need to supercharge their damage output.

If you don't have Ruan Mei, then that third slot can go to 4-star DoT characters like Sampo, Guinaifen, and Luka for even more DoT debuffs.

Alternatively, you can also go with ATK and DMG-buffing Harmony characters like Tingyun or Asta. DEF-shredding Nihility characters like Silver Wolf and Pela can work too.

As for the fourth slot in a Black Swan-Kafka team, just go with any skill point-positive sustain character as Black Swan and Kafka will want to use their skills as much as possible.

Out of the available sustain characters we have, your best bet will be Huohuo. Not only does she provide a ton of healing and cleanse, her ultimate can also give her teammates a much-needed boost of energy.

Honkai: Star Rail version 2.0 will drop on 6 February and features a new planet in Penacony, three new characters in Black Swan, Sparkle, and Misha, as well as tons of other new content. To find out more about what's in version 2.0, check here.

After version 2.0 comes version 2.1 in late March, which features three new playable characters in Acheron, Aventurine, and Gallagher.

Yan Ku is a full-time dog parent, part-time (gacha) gamer, and part-time writer.

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