The spirited lieutenant of the Xianzhou Luofu, and also its most proficient swordsman. He is born for swords and obsessed with them. Whenever a sword rests in his hand, none would dare to underestimate this genius still in the early days of his youth.
Perhaps the only thing capable of dulling his treasured blade's sharp edge is time.
To learn more about Yanqing check the sections below. Use the tabs to quickly switch to the kind of information you're looking for - kit, traces, review or build guides.
This character has no video guide yet.
Last review update
Patch 2.6
Last major build/calcs update
Patch 2.6
Last profile update*
November 12th, 2024
*Profile update means smaller edits to relics, stats, synergies or teams that don't require new calculations.
To learn more about Yanqing check the sections below. Use the tabs to quickly switch to the kind of information you're looking for - kit, traces, review or build guides.
Profile
Review
Build and teams
MoC/PF/AS Statistics
Calculations
Profile
Frost Thorn
Single Target
Energy gain: 20
Break: 10
Darting Ironthorn
Single Target
Energy gain: 30
Break: 20
Amidst the Raining Bliss
Single Target | 140 energy cost
Energy gain: 5
Break: 30
One With the Sword
Single Target
Energy gain: 10
Break: 10
The One True Sword
Enhance
Energy gain: 0
Break: -
Icing on the Kick
Frost Favors the Brave
Gentle Blade
Svelte Saber
Eidolon 1
When Yanqing attacks a Frozen enemy, he deals Additional Ice DMG equal to 60% of his ATK.
Supine Serenade
Eidolon 2
When Soulsteel Sync is active, Energy Regeneration Rate increases by an extra 10%.
Sword Savant
Eidolon 3
Skill Lv. +2, up to a maximum of Lv. 15. Basic ATK Lv. +1, up to a maximum of Lv. 10.
Searing Sting
Eidolon 4
When the current HP percentage is 80% or higher, Ice RES PEN increases by 12%.
Surging Strife
Eidolon 5
Ultimate Lv. +2, up to a maximum of Lv. 15. Talent Lv. +2, up to a maximum of Lv. 15.
Swift Swoop
Eidolon 6
If the Ultimate's buffs are still in effect when an enemy is defeated, their duration is extended by 1 turn.
Review
Fantastic free stats that carry you through the early game,
Has limited crowd control with his follow-up,
Deals with Ice-weak foes easily.
Exclusively single-target with no way around it,
Requires very heavy investment and a Shielder to even have a chance of dealing damage,
Ends up being very resource-hungry trying to maintain his Talent,
Impossible to avoid wasted stats leading to lower damage values than expected,
Can absolutely ruin your 50/50.
Yanqing is a standard 5-star character and a single-target specialist. He has competent damage against single foes and has impressive CRIT buffs through his Talent and Ultimate. His Talent also allows him to occasionally launch a follow-up attack after attacking with a chance of Freezing the foe. He relies on not taking any damage at all to maintain these strong buffs, losing them immediately if this condition is not met, and requiring an additional turn to regain the benefits.
This poor boy. I’m sure he’s actually one of the strongest people on the Luofu, but he just keeps picking fights with, like, the precious few people stronger than him. Sadly it doesn’t get too much better for him in actual gameplay. I will lead with the statement that Yanqing can do very considerable damage — IF everything goes his way, but I will show you why that may be far more difficult to achieve than you’d expect.
Yanqing’s Talent gives him a buff called Soulsteel Sync and is activated by his Skill. While Soulsteel Sync is active, Yanqing is less likely to be targeted by enemies and gains up to an extra 20% CRIT Rate and 30% CRIT DMG. With Soulsteel Sync active, any attack that Yanqing makes has a 60% fixed chance of launching a follow-up attack on the attacked foe, dealing up to 50% ATK and having a 65% base chance to Freeze the target.
As far as stat-boosting Talents go, this is certainly one of the more impressive ones, and can result in a great deal of damage coming out, especially if the follow-up occurs even semi-frequently, and — huh? What’s this last line here… ‘When Yanqing receives DMG, the Soulsteel Sync effect will disappear.’ Oh.
Yeah… This sounds like it’s not something that should be too difficult to maintain but this is quite literally any amount of damage. Even a literal single digit point of damage — even literally 1 damage, and all of the benefits of this Talent vanish into thin air. Worse still is that when Yanqing uses his Skill to activate this Talent, he’ll only start benefiting from its effects after his turn ends, meaning you have an entire turn of downtime if you take any damage at all.
This was far less of an issue in the early moments of the game when enemies were simple and predictable. Nowadays, enemies can quite frequently bust out AoE attacks without much warning, both Blast and full AoE. AoE abilities don’t really care about Yanqing’s reduced likelihood of being targeted because, quite simply, who cares when you can just hit everyone, right? This makes it extremely challenging to maintain this Talent’s effects, making whatever powerful bonuses it does provide completely moot.
Yanqing’s Skill deals up to 220% ATK to a single enemy and will activate Soulsteel Sync for 1 turn. Herein lies the next issue; Soulsteel Sync only has a 1-turn duration, so if Yanqing is ever afflicted by crowd control effects like Concussion or Freeze, and his turn is skipped, this will also result in needing to wait for the next turn over to make use of Soulsteel Sync once more.
Yanqing’s Ultimate first buffs his CRIT Rate by 60%, with up to an additional 50% CRIT DMG if Soulsteel Sync is active. These buffs last for 1 turn and stack additively with his Talent’s CRIT buffs. He then deals up to 350% ATK to a single enemy. Without his Talent’s effects active, Yanqing loses a considerable amount of damage from this Ultimate and on the following turn. It also has a very high Energy cost of 140.
Everything revolves around this Talent for him, and it’s got the harshest penalties for even the slightest thing going awry. Took a single point of damage? No more Talent. Missed your turn because of unavoidable crowd control? Must be a skill issue. Didn’t have the SP to use his Skill without interruption? Okay, that might actually be a skill issue…
Perhaps now you see why it’s difficult to maintain Yanqing’s damage profile. His ability multipliers are also lower than you’d expect for a unit entirely limited to single-target damage and that’s mostly to account for the large amounts of free CRIT stats he gets from his Talent and Ultimate. The issue of course is that if Soulsteel Sync ever drops for whichever of the many reasons it might, Yanqing’s damage vanishes in a flash, and it takes a lot to get back to it.
A team for Yanqing must contain a Shielder. Only damage done to Yanqing’s actual HP bar will disable Soulsteel Sync, so Shields are outright necessary for him to function in the end game where there is frequent incoming AoE damage. This currently limits you to Aventurine and Gepard.
If you want to be safe as well, having a way to cleanse Yanqing is also useful because you don’t want to have your turn forcibly skipped, and the only way you can do that without having to run a double sustain comp is to use Bronya for her Skill’s cleanse before the Action Advance. This is yet another standard 5-star character that you may not have access to, and another character who is better spent on other less temperamental DPS characters.
Finally because of his extremely high-cost Ultimate, the last unit will almost certainly be Tingyun, and this takes her away from other Ultimate-reliant units who can do far more damage against far more enemies with the Energy Tingyun grants them.
This is the dilemma. Even if your Yanqing is well-built and well-invested, he has a crippling reliance on his other teammates to actually be able to use the power he has, because again, if everything goes his way he actually deals very considerable damage.
But actually, what about those CRIT stats? 20% CRIT Rate and 30% CRIT DMG from his Talent is pretty good, this is true, but then an additional 60% CRIT Rate from his Ultimate means that with no further investment, Yanqing naturally sits at 85% during his Ultimate. See, this is an issue because it’s a colossal overcap if you’re trying to build Yanqing with Planar sets like Rutilant Arena in mind.
Yeah, it’s ironic how the best thing about Yanqing at lower levels is also his biggest headache at the end game. It’s pretty much impossible to not waste stats with this guy. My advice is just accept that you’re going to have crazy overcapping of CRIT Rate and just go for the maximum consistency. This is especially true due to his Bonus Traces.
Yanqing’s A2 will deal an additional 30% ATK to Ice-weak foes. His A4 will increase his Effect RES by 20% during Soulsteel Sync, and his A6 grants him a 10% SPD increase for 2 turns upon scoring a CRIT. It’s very easy to maintain this SPD bonus, and it’s also quite appreciated due to Yanqing’s high base SPD of 109. Against specifically Ice-weak foes, Yanqing will definitely destroy them if you can facilitate the rest of his kit.
As a standard 5-star character, it is not unlikely to get Eidolons for Yanqing over time. It is with a heavy heart that I must say I don’t think they really improve much for Yanqing as his issues are not with his damage. Amusingly I think E6 might be the one that makes things a little easier, and even then it’s a bit of a coin toss. The worst part about him is that he can show up to ruin your pity, and depending on who you ask, that makes him far and away the worst character in this game.
In the original version of this review I said ‘I encourage you to experiment to see where the pitfalls start and end, and adjust your setups accordingly’, and I can safely say we are all now very well aware of where the pitfalls start. What I can’t see is where they end.
Honkai: Star Rail is a game where team building matters most and while our tier list takes the optimal setup into account, a lot of characters can work and do well - even those ranked lower - when you invest into them. Also for story or lower difficulties of Simulated Universe, you don't need to worry about ratings and tiers. You can safely clear that content even with F2P characters as long as you build your team correctly.
Character at 5★ are rated at their Eidolon 0 with their best in slot non-limited Light Cone.
Available ratings:
MoC
PF
AS
Build and teams
The numbers show the percentage damage output increase/decrease compared to the Light Cone marked with 100%.
109.89%
Increases the wearer's CRIT Rate by 18/21/24/27/30%. While the wearer is in battle, for every 10 SPD that exceeds 100, the DMG of the wearer's Basic ATK and Skill is increased by 6/7/8/9/10% and the CRIT DMG of their Ultimate is increased by 12/14/16/18/20%. This effect can stack up to 6 time(s).
Source: Event Warp (limited)
107.65%
For each time the wearer hits the same target, DMG dealt increases by 8/10/12/14/16%, stacking up to 5 time(s). This effect will be dispelled when the wearer changes targets.
Source: Stellar Warp
100.65%
Increases ATK of its wearer by 16/20/24/28/32%. If there are 2 or fewer enemies on the field, increases wearer's CRIT Rate by 12/15/18/21/24%.
Source: Stellar Warp
100%
Increases the wearer's CRIT rate by 8/10/12/14/16%, and increases their CRIT rate against enemies with HP less than or equal to 50% by an extra 8/10/12/14/16%. When the wearer defeats an enemy, their ATK is increased by 20/25/30/35/40% for 2 turn(s).
Source: Herta's Store
98.31%
Increases the wearer's CRIT DMG by 30/35/40/45/50%. When the wearer's Basic ATK or Skill does not result in a CRIT Hit, increases their CRIT Rate by 36/42/48/54/60% for 1 turn(s). This effect can only trigger once every 3 turn(s).
Source: Stellar Warp
The percentage numbers showcase the relative DPS increase when you take into account the set bonus only. For some characters there's no DPS (or its equivalent) available and in that case we listed the sets in the order of priority.
106.17%
Increases CRIT Rate by 8%.
Increases DMG dealt by Skill and Ultimate by 20%. After using Ultimate, additionally increases the DMG dealt by the next Skill by 25%.
100%
Increases Ice DMG by 10%.
After the wearer unleashes their Ultimate, their CRIT DMG increases by 25% for 2 turn(s).
99.54%
Increases CRIT Rate by 8%.
Increases DMG dealt by Skill and Ultimate by 20%. After using Ultimate, additionally increases the DMG dealt by the next Skill by 25%.
If you can't put together a top recommended 4P set with satisfactory sub/main stats, mix and match the 2P Bonuses from the following instead:
100%
135 SpeedIncreases the wearer's ATK by 12%. When the wearer's SPD is equal to or higher than 135/160, the wearer deals 12%/18% more DMG.
98.74%
Increases the wearer's CRIT Rate by 8%. When the wearer's current CRIT Rate reaches 70% or higher, the wearer's Basic ATK and Skill DMG increase by 20%.
96.99%
Increases the wearer's ATK by 12%. When the wearer's SPD reaches 120 or higher, the wearer's ATK increases by an extra 12%.
SPD (breakpoint) > CRIT RATE (Until soft cap) = CRIT DMG > ATK% > CRIT RATE (After soft cap)
HP: 2800 - 3000+
DEF: 800 - 900+
ATK: 2500 - 2900+
CRIT RATE: 20%
CRIT DMG: 160% - 200%+
SPD: Base Speed (Hyperspeed Sparkle/Bronya) / 134 (Recommended) / 143
Skill > Ultimate > Talent > Basic
Icing on the Kick (A2) > Gentle Blade (A6) > Frost Favors the Brave (A4)
The teams in the section are generated based on the current Memory of Chaos data we have gathered. If you want to see more statistics about the mode, check the MoC/PF/AS Statistics tab.
Yanqing guide videos aren't available yet.
MoC/PF/AS Statistics
This section contains information about Yanqing performance in the latest Memory of Chaos cycle (2.5), latest Pure Fiction (2.6) and the latest Apocalyptic Shadow (2.6), and the commonly used Relics and Cones in both modes. The page will be automatically updated every 2 weeks once enough data is gathered in the current cycle.
If you want to share your clear information with us, you simply need to fill the form below and provide us with your UID and make your Hoyo profile public - we will automatically parse the MoC/PF clear information from your profile after that!
MoC/PF/AS Stats FormCharacters are ranked with appearance rate, which is how often a character was used in Memory of Chaos by the players who we have scanned, regardless of whether they own the character or not. Ownership rate currently cannot be obtained.
Characters are ranked with appearance rate, which is how often a character was used in Pure Fiction by the players who we have scanned, regardless of whether they own the character or not. Ownership rate currently cannot be obtained.
Characters are ranked with appearance rate, which is how often a character was used in Apocalyptic Shadow by the players who we have scanned, regardless of whether they own the character or not. Ownership rate currently cannot be obtained.
This section lists the characters that were most commonly paired with Yanqing in the current phase of Memory of Chaos.
This section lists the characters that were most commonly paired with Yanqing in the current phase of Pure Fiction.
This section lists the characters that were most commonly paired with Yanqing in the current phase of Apocalyptic Shadow.
Eidolons data comes from players we have scanned who used Yanqing in the current MoC cycle (1), in the current PF cycle (1) or in the current AS cycle (0) and had the character placed in their Profile.
1%
99.99 cyc.Eidolon 0
100%
99.99 cyc.When Yanqing attacks a Frozen enemy, he deals Additional Ice DMG equal to 60% of his ATK.
100%
99.99 cyc.When Soulsteel Sync is active, Energy Regeneration Rate increases by an extra 10%.
1%
99.99 cyc.Skill Lv. +2, up to a maximum of Lv. 15. Basic ATK Lv. +1, up to a maximum of Lv. 10.
1%
99.99 cyc.When the current HP percentage is 80% or higher, Ice RES PEN increases by 12%.
1%
99.99 cyc.Ultimate Lv. +2, up to a maximum of Lv. 15. Talent Lv. +2, up to a maximum of Lv. 15.
1%
99.99 cyc.If the Ultimate's buffs are still in effect when an enemy is defeated, their duration is extended by 1 turn.
Light Cones are ranked with usage rate among the players we have scanned who used Yanqing in the current MoC cycle (1), in the current PF cycle (1) or in the current AS cycle (0) and had the character placed in their Profile.
100%
99.99 cyc.Increases the wearer's CRIT DMG by 30/35/40/45/50%. When the wearer's Basic ATK or Skill does not result in a CRIT Hit, increases their CRIT Rate by 36/42/48/54/60% for 1 turn(s). This effect can only trigger once every 3 turn(s).
Source: Stellar Warp
Relic Sets are ranked with usage rate among the players we have scanned who used Yanqing in the current MoC cycle (1), in the current PF cycle (1) or in the current AS cycle (0) and had the character placed in their Profile. The results are limited to top 5 combinations. Flex means 2 random Relic pieces that don't combine into a Set.
50%
Increases Ice DMG by 10%.
After the wearer unleashes their Ultimate, their CRIT DMG increases by 25% for 2 turn(s).
50%
Increases CRIT Rate by 8%.
Increases DMG dealt by Skill and Ultimate by 20%. After using Ultimate, additionally increases the DMG dealt by the next Skill by 25%.
50%
Increases the wearer's ATK by 12%. When the wearer's SPD is equal to or higher than 135/160, the wearer deals 12%/18% more DMG.
50%
Increases the wearer's CRIT Rate by 8%. When the wearer's current CRIT Rate reaches 70% or higher, the wearer's Basic ATK and Skill DMG increase by 20%.
Relic Stats are shown based on the Relics used by the players we have scanned who used Yanqing in the current MoC cycle (1), in the current PF cycle (1) or in the current AS cycle (0) and had the character placed in their Profile.
Calculations
Don't use the damage output calculations as an indication on who is worth pulling or investing as those are just simulations and in day-to-day gameplay there's a lot variables. Use the numbers only to supplement your knowledge and treat them as the 'floor' of a character's damage output which you can further scale with proper team and investment.
The simulation showcases characters damage potential in the 5 cycle turn limit of Memory of Chaos against 1 target and 3 targets. The section below has all the rules listed.
General:
Enemies:
Units:
Disclaimer for this particular calculations:
Yanqing will deal more damage post E1 when placed in teams that can consistently Freeze. These calculations assume Yanqing is never hit in battle.
And here are the Relics and the Light Cone used in the calculations above:
Increases the wearer's CRIT rate by 8/10/12/14/16%, and increases their CRIT rate against enemies with HP less than or equal to 50% by an extra 8/10/12/14/16%. When the wearer defeats an enemy, their ATK is increased by 20/25/30/35/40% for 2 turn(s).
Source: Herta's Store
Increases CRIT Rate by 8%.
Increases DMG dealt by Skill and Ultimate by 20%. After using Ultimate, additionally increases the DMG dealt by the next Skill by 25%.
Increases the wearer's ATK by 12%. When the wearer's SPD is equal to or higher than 135/160, the wearer deals 12%/18% more DMG.
CRIT DMG (81.6%), ATK (54.4%)
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Yanqing's kit grants himself up to 80% Crit Rate. With high uptime on the buff, any Crit Rate above 20% is essentially wasted.