Honkai: Star Rail version 2.0: Should you pull for Sparkle, Jing Yuan, and their signature Light Cones?

The second half of Honkai: Star Rail version 2.0 is almost here and this is looking like quite the banner. Players looking for a new top-tier support will enjoy the 5-star Quantum Harmony character Sparkle while those looking for a new DPS can look to the first rerun for the 5-star Lightning Erudition character Jing Yuan.

So, should you spend your hard-earned Stellar Jade on Sparkle or Jing Yuan? What about their signature Light Cones? We've got you covered, so read on and we'll help you decide.

Need a lot of skill points and DMG buffs? Get Sparkle

Sparkle wields the Quantum element and follows the Path of Harmony, greatly empowering her teammates prowess in battle by providing tons of skill points as well as DMG% and Crit DMG buffs.

If you're running a skill point-hungry DPS like Imbibitor Lunae, Qingque, or anyone else who likes to spam their skills, then Sparkle will be their best support. Not only that, she also has added synergy with Quantum characters like Seele and fully enables the vaunted mono-Quantum lineup.

Sparkle's buffs are distributed evenly throughout her abilities and Traces, so let's break down what each provides.

First off, Sparkle's skill increases the Crit DMG of a single ally based on her own Crit DMG for 1 turn. At the same time, the target of this ability will also have their action advanced forward by 50%, similar to Bronya's skill.

Sparkle's Talent and ultimate will be her primary way of providing additional skill points for her teammates alongside a bevy of DMG buffs.

Her Talent passively increases the total amount of skill points available for the entire team by 2. In addition, whenever an ally consumes a skill point, all allies will receive a DMG% buff for 2 turns which can also stack up to 3 times.

Meanwhile, Sparkle's ultimate recovers a whopping 4 skill points for the entire team and grants all allies the Cipher buff. Cipher grants an additional DMG boost to that provided by her Talent for 2 turns.

Sparkle's major Traces round out her skillset nicely by helping with her energy needs and further boosting her support capabilities. Her A2 Trace gives her an additional 10 energy whenever she uses her basic attack, her A4 Trace extends the buff provided by her skill, while A6 Trace gives a party-wide ATK buff that also increases based on the number of other Quantum characters in her team.

Finally, Sparkle's Technique lets the entire party avoid getting detected by enemies in the overworld while also recovering skill points at the start of the next battle.

Every 5-star Harmony character in the game has proven to be very powerful, and Sparkle is looking to be no exception. Her DMG%, Crit DMG, and skill point buffs makes her a universal support that can be comfortably slotted into most lineups in need of a damage boost.

Sparkle should also be relatively flexible when it comes to her build. For her Cavern of Corrosion relics, your best bet will be the 4-piece Messenger Traversing Hackerspace set for its Speed buffs for both Sparkle herself and her teammates. As for her Planar Ornaments, you have the choice between the Fleet of the Ageless, Sprightly Vonwacq, Broken Keel, or Penacony, Land of the Dreams sets.

We'll discuss Sparkle's Light Cone options in the signature Light Cone section below.

Need an all-around Erudition DPS? Get Jing Yuan

Jing Yuan wields the Lightning element and follows the Path of Erudition, with his kit centered around his powerful Lightning-Lord summon. Jing Yuan's abilities empower his Lightning-Lord, which acts as its own unit and performs a follow-up attack on enemies.

As said before, Jing Yuan's kit is centered around his Lightning-Lord summon from his Talent. It fights alongside Jing Yuan by dishing out follow-up attacks, and can be considered as its own unit with 60 base Speed and 3 base attack count.

The key to unlocking Jing Yuan’s power is by maximising his Lightning-Lord’s attack counts, which has a cap of 10 and resets to its base values after it attacks. You can increase the Lightning-Lord’s attack counts by using Jing Yuan’s skill and ultimate.

However, you have to remember that the Lightning-Lord will be unable to act or even disappear entirely if Jing Yuan gets affected by crowd-control debuffs or gets knocked down.

Jing Yuan’s skill deals Lightning DMG equal to all enemies while increasing the Lightning-Lord’s attack count by 2 for the next turn. Meanwhile, his ultimate deals Lightning DMG to all enemies while increasing the Lightning-Lord’s attack count by 3 for the next turn.

Jing Yuan’s major Traces strengthens his Lightning-Lord’s attacks while helping him maintain uptime with his ultimate. His A2 Trace gives the Lightning-Lord a 25% Crit DMG buff if its attack count is equal or greater than 6, his A4 Trace immediately regenerates 15 energy at the start of battle, and his A6 Trace increases his Crit Rate by 15% for 2 turns after he uses his skill.

Using Jing Yuan’s Technique to start a battle also gives his Lightning-Lord an additional 2 attack counts at the start of the encounter.

Since Jing Yuan wants to use his skill and ultimate as much as possible to strengthen his Lightning-Lord, he needs Harmony characters that increase his Speed or advance his action forward like Bronya, Sparkle, or Ruan Mei. Topaz also pairs very nicely with Jing Yuan as she buffs follow-up attack DMG, acts as a secondary damage-dealer, and makes up for his relatively lackluster single-target damage.

You also want to prevent any crowd-control debuffs from ruining Jing Yuan's rotation, so your best bet for a sustain will be Fu Xuan. With that said, any Abundance sustain who can cleanse debuffs or Preservation sustain to tank enemy aggro will still be a good teammate.

Since a huge part of Jing Yuan's damage output comes from his Lightning-Lord's follow-up attacks, his best Cavern of Corrosion relic set will be the 4-piece Ashblazing Grand Duke set for its huge buffs to follow-up attack DMG. In that same vein, his best bet for Planar Ornaments will be the 2-piece Inert Salsotto for its buffs to both ultimate and follow-up attack DMG.

We'll discuss Jing Yuan's Light Cone options in the signature Light Cone section below.

Should you pull for Sparkle and Jing Yuan's signature Light Cones?

Like all the 5-star Harmony characters we have so far, Sparkle still excels with 4-star and even 3-star Light Cones due to how powerful her base kit is. This makes her signature Light Cone more of a luxury, but it is still very nice to have if you can afford it.

Sparkle's signature, Earthly Escapade, increases her Crit DMG by 32%. At the start of the battle, it also grants her the Mask buff for 3 turns. While Sparkle has Mask, her allies have their Crit Rate increased by 10% and their CRIT DMG increased by 28%.

For every 1 Skill Point Sparkle recovers (including Skill Points that exceed the limit), she gains 1 stack of Radiant Flame. And when she has 4 stacks of Radiant Flame, alll the stacks are removed and she gains the Mask buff again, this time lasting for 4 turns.

If you don't have Sparkle's signature, then her Light Cone of choice will depend on which characters she'll be supporting.

If she is supporting a Quantum DPS, then go for Planetary Rendezvous. If she is supporting a non-Quantum DPS, then Past and Future will be a nice pickup. And if there are two DPS characters in her party, then consider Dance! Dance! Dance!

Of course, we can't forget the ever-reliable 3-star Light Cone Meshing Cogs. Since you want to use Sparkle's ultimate as much as possible, then this Light Cone and its powerful energy regeneration effect should not be missed despite its low rarity. You can also go for Memories of the Past if you have it at high Superimposition levels as it has a similar effect to Meshing Cogs while also buffing Break Effect.

As for Jing Yuan, he like all other Erudition characters are rather limited when it comes to effective free-to-play Light Cones.

So if you really want your Jing Yuan to reach his full potential, then he needs his signature, Before Dawn. It increases his Crit DMG by 36% as well as the DMG of both his skill and ultimate by 30%. In addition, it also gives him a buff after using his skill or ultimate that increases the follow-up attack DMG of his Lightning-Lord by 48%.

But if you don’t have Jing Yuan's signature, a good 5-star Light Cone alternative is Night on the Milky Way, which is notably available on the Starlight Exchange. It gives Jing Yuan a stacking 9% ATK bonus up to 5 stacks. In addition, it gives him a 30% DMG bonus when an enemy is inflicted by Weakness Break.

You can also go for the Battle Pass Light Cone Today is Another Peaceful Day, which gives Jing Yuan a considerable DMG based on his max energy. Since Jing Yuan has a high energy cost of 130, this Light Cone gives him a 26% DMG buff at S1 and a 52% DMG buff at S5.

For free-to-play Light Cones, you can go for The Seriousness of Breakfast or The Day the Cosmos Fell.

Honkai: Star Rail version 2.0 was released 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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