Lynx is Honkai: Star Rail's new 4-star healer, but how good is she and should you build her?

While the biggest highlights of Honkai: Star Rail version 1.3 are the two new 5-star characters in Imbibitor Lunae and Fu Xuan, let's not forget that we're also getting a new 4-star character: Lynx Landau!

Lynx is the youngest of the Landau siblings, looking to follow in the footsteps of her older siblings Serval and Gepard and help restore Jarilo VI to prosperity following the resolution of the planet's Stellaron Crisis.

Lynx wields the Quantum element and follows the Path of Abundance, providing healing and debuff cleanse with her abilities while also having the ability to draw enemy aggro to certain characters.

So you might be wondering, how good is Lynx compared to the other healers we have in the game? Is she worth building and slotting into your teams? Well, read on as we answer those questions and guide you through how to best utilise Lynx and her kit.

How good is Lynx compared to other healers?

There are four characters in the Abundance Path: Luocha, Bailu, Natasha, and Lynx.

Among those four, Luocha is hands-down the best with his off-turn healing from his skill and healing field from his Talent.

Luocha won't be giving up his spot as the Honkai: Star Rail's best healer anytime soon, but we think Lynx has a very good case to be the second best healer in the game — yes, even better than the 5-star Bailu.

Let's compare the two.

Lynx vs Bailu

While Bailu provides bigger healing numbers and a free revive, the healing from her skill is RNG-dependent and her revive is honestly just a crutch that ideally should never get used anyway.

However, the big drawback with Bailu as a healer is that she doesn't have a way to cleanse debuffs from allies, something all other healers in the game have.

Lynx vs Natasha and Luocha

On the other hand, Lynx has a targeted heal and Max HP buff from her skill that can also manipulate enemy aggro.

Her ultimate provides a party-wide heal and, more importantly, debuff cleanse, something that Luocha and Natasha don't have.

And yes, while Lynx doesn't have a revive ability, you ideally shouldn't need one anyway if your healer is doing their job properly.

As a cherry on top, Lynx gets Natasha's E6 HP-scaling normal attacks for free. Since you want to build a lot of HP on Lynx, her damage output with her normal attacks will be noticeable if you choose to invest in them.

So, with all due respect to Bailu and Natasha, we can confidently say that Lynx is the second-best healer in the game right behind Luocha (which is no small feat) and that she is definitely worth building up.

Lynx's kit and how to best utilise her

As an Abundance character, Lynx supports her teammates by providing healing, debuff cleanse, and Max HP buffs. If your party has Destruction or Preservation characters that you want to tank enemy attacks, Lynx can use her skill to draw enemy aggro to them.

Lynx's skill, Salted Camping Cans, restores the health of a single ally. In addition, it also applies the Survival Response buff to the target ally and increases their Max HP based on Lynx's Max HP for 2 turns.

If the target ally of Lynx's skill follows the Path of Destruction or Preservation, the chance that they will be targeted by enemy attacks will also be greatly increased.

Should the entire party's health be brought low, then Lynx can use her ultimate, Snowfield First Aid, to restore their health based on her Max HP and remove 1 debuff from them.

Lynx's Talent, Outdoor Survival Experience, boosts her healing capabilities by making her skill and ultimate provide continuous healing for 2 turns. It also boosts the healing effect for allies affected by Survival Response.

Lynx's major Traces boosts her healing utility. Her A2 Trace, Advance Surveying, regenerates 2 energy for her if an ally with Survival Response gets hit by an enemy attack while her A4 Trace, Exploration Techniques, increases her chance to resist crowd control debuffs by 35%.

Meanwhile, Lynx's A6 Trace, Survival in the Extreme, extends the duration of the continuous healing from her Talent by 1 turn.

Finally, Lynx's Technique, Chocolate Energy Bar, grants all allies the continuous healing effect from her Talent for 2 turns at the start of the next battle.

Lynx will be a valuable addition to any team in need of a healer and debuff remover. Characters that need to draw enemy aggro like Clara and Blade will find her especially useful as a teammate.

Lynx's best gear

Light Cones

Lynx's best Light Cone is the 5-star Time Waits for No One, Bailu's signature which can be acquired through the Starlight Exchange if you haven't lost the 50/50 to it yet.

This Light Cone passively increases its wielder's Max HP by 18% and Outgoing Healing by 12%. Meanwhile, its active effect records the amount of healing done by them and adds a portion of it to the next ally's attack, similar to the Dewdrop mechanic for the Path of Abundance in the Simulated Universe.

As for Lynx's 4-star Light Cone options, her best bets are either Warmth Shortens Cold Nights or Quid Pro Quo. When deciding between these two, you need to factor what your party needs. Warmth Shortens Cold Nights provides more healing while Quid Pro Quo gives added utility by regenerating energy for allies.

Warmth Shortens Cold Nights is Lynx's signature and passively increases her Max HP by 16%. In addition, it restores HP to all allies equal to 2% of their respective Max HP whenever she uses a basic attack or skill.

Meanwhile, Quid Pro Quo can be acquired through the Forgotten Hall's Light Cone Manifest. At the start of the wielder's turn, it regenerates 8 energy (16 at S5) for a randomly chosen ally except the wielder whose current energy is lower than 50%.

Other 4-star Light Cones that you can go for are Shared Feeling, Post-Op Conversation, and Perfect Timing. All three boost Lynx's healing abilities, with Shared Feeling helping with energy regeneration and Perfect Timing adding Effect RES.

It should be noted that all the above Light Cones are solely acquired through gacha, except for Time Waits for No One and Quid Pro Quo. But since Time Waits for No One requires a lot of Undying Starlight, we recommend going for Quid Pro Quo instead.

While it doesn't outright boost Lynx's healing abilities, its energy regeneration passive is invaluable for any team. Not to mention the fact that it can be superimposed relatively easily.

Relics

Let's take a look at Lynx's best relic sets now. For her Cavern of Corrosion relics, your best bet is a mix of the 2-piece Passerby of Wandering Cloud and 2-piece Longevous Disciple sets. The 2-piece Passerby of Wandering Cloud set increases her Outgoing Healing by 10% while the 2-piece Longevous Disciple set increases her Max HP by 12%, both of which boosts her healing capabilities.

As for Lynx's Planar Ornament relics, your go-to should be the 2-piece Fleet of the Ageless set. It increases its wielder's Max HP by 12% and, if their Speed reaches 120 or higher, provides a party-wide 8% ATK bonus.

The main stats you should go for are Outgoing Healing Bonus for the Body, Speed for the Feet, HP% for the Planar Sphere, and Energy Regeneration Rate or HP% for the Link Rope. Meanwhile, the substats you should be looking for are Speed, HP%, flat HP, and Effect RES.

Lynx's best teammates

As an Abundance character, Lynx can be slotted into any team that needs a healer. With that said, the aggro manipulation from her skill makes her an especially good pairing with Blade and Clara — two Destruction characters that want to tank enemy attacks to help them dish out damage.

In addition, Lynx can also be slotted into the newly-minted Mono-Quantum composition, pairing with Fu Xuan to provide sustain for Silver Wolf and either Seele or Qingque.

With Lynx and Fu Xuan ensuring the party's survivability, you can run Silver Wolf to ensure any enemy you encounter will have a Quantum Weakness to be exploited by Quantum DPS characters Seele and Qingque.

Lynx makes her debut to Honkai: Star Rail in the second half of version 1.3 alongside new 5-star Quantum Preservation character Fu Xuan. Dan Heng • Imbibitor Lunae was the featured 5-star of the first half of this version.

After version 1.3 comes version 1.4, which will see the debuts of new 5-stars Jingliu and Topaz as well as the new 4-star Guinaifen. Honkai: Star Rail version 1.4 is expected to be released on 11 October alongside the launch of the game's PlayStation 5 version.

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

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