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One of the most unique aspects ofHonkai: Star Railis the path system, which is assigned to each character when they’re launched. While you’re able to find elements of other paths in a character’s kit, their main play style is usually based on the assigned path, and the same can be said for Black Swan.
She’s a five-star Nihility character having Wind as the combat type. Apart from having one of the best designs and animations in the game, she’s also quite a strong DPS unit if used correctly.
Best Black Swan Relics And Planar Ornaments
Due to Black Swan’s kit, you might not have a lot of Relics and Planar Ornaments that suit her play style,but the ones that do can give her a ton of value:
Relics
Prisoner in Deep Confinement
This is undoubtedly the best in slot set for Black Swan as it gives her a much-needed ATK boost while also allowing her toignore up to 18 percent of the enemy’s DEF.
This DEF ignore works even with the DoT damage andstacks with the DEF reduction from her Skill.
Genius of Brilliant Stars
Whenever a character has DEF reduction in their kit, this set always works for them since it canlet you ignore an additional 20 percent DEFof the enemy.
Of course, you’ll have toensure the enemy has Quantum weaknessfor this to work.
Eagle of Twilight Line
This set can also be decent on Black Swan if you’re an early-game player, however, itwon’t give you nearly as much valueas the other sets mentioned above.
Planar Ornaments
Pan-Cosmic Commercial Enterprise
This set gives you a small Effect Hit Rate boost while alsoincreasing your ATK up to 25 percentif you have a 100 percent or more Effect Hit Rate.
This can easily be done for Black Swan andATK is one of the best statsyou can have on her.
Space Sealing Station
This is adecent early-game choicefor Black Swan since you may use the 24 percent ATK provided by the set.
Black Swan Relic Stat Priority
After you choose the best set you can put on your Black Swan, the next step is tofarm these sets until you get the desired main and sub-stats. This is the most time-consuming aspect of building a character since you can farm for days without getting a single good piece if you’re unlucky.
Thankfully, Black Swan is one of the easier characters to build sinceyou’re not looking for rare Crit stats on her. Instead, here’s what you need to build on her:
ATK Percent
Effect Hit Rate > SPD
You need a total of 120 percent Effect Hit Rate on Black Swan tofully utilize her Bonus Ability and get a 72 percent DMG bonus. Moreover, since she already gets this huge DMG bonus in her kit, you can afford to build ATK Percent main stat even on her Planar Sphere. Since you don’t have as many requirements for her Relics, it’s important to build as much SPD as possible.
Best Black Swan Light Cones
The next step is to choose the best Light Cone for Black Swan depending on the availability on your account:
Reforged Remembrance
It’s no surprise that Black Swan’s signature weapon is her best in slot as it gives her extra Effect Hit Rate, ATK, and allowsher to ignore the enemy’s DEF, which stacks with her abilities.
However, keep in mind that this is quite a niche Light Cone andis only good for herfor the most part.
Patience Is All You Need
The DMG bonus from this Cone might be a little unnecessary for Black Swan, but the SPD andextra DoT from it makes it worth using on her.
Solitary Healing
This is one of the best Black Swan Light Cone options for F2P players since it can increase her DoT damage after using her Ultimate,which also prevents her from losing the Arcana stacks.
Moreover, if you’re fighting a group of smaller enemies,you’ll be able to use her Ultimate much moredue to the Energy regeneration.
Eyes of the Prey
The Effect Hit Rate and DoT DMG increase from this Light Cone is quite good on Black Swan, butyou’ll need it on higher Superimpositionto get a decent value.
Resolution Shines As Pearls of Sweat
Another Light Cone to stack with Black Swan’s DEF reduction in the kit, this onereduces the opponent’s DEF for one turnas long as you have a high Effect Hit Rate.
It’s also viable to use this Light Cone on theDoT teammate that you’ll use with Black Swanif you have a better one for her.
Before the Tutorial Mission Starts
This Cone was given for free during a limited-time event at the beginning of Honkai: Star Rail. If you’re lucky enough to have it, youwon’t have any problems with Black Swan’s Energy Regeneration.
It’s Showtime
Finally, the F2P Light Cone released alongside Penacony can also be used on Black Swan if you don’t have any other option. It canprovide you with both DMG and ATK bonuses.
Black Swan Trace Priority
It can be quite confusing when you read Black Swan’s kit for the first time, sohere’s a simpler version of pointsexplaining exactly what she does:
Now that you know how Black Swan’s kit works, it’s also necessary to learn what you should upgrade first since resources are quite limited in Honkai: Star Rail. Black Swan’s Talent takes priority since it decides theamount of damage dealt by your Arcana stacks and the effectiveness of the special effectstriggered with higher stacks.
After that, you can upgrade her Skill followed by the Ultimate. Youstill have to upgrade Black Swan’s Basic Attackas well, but you can do that last.
Is Black Swan Good?
While Honkai: Star Rail is a generous game, youstill get a limited number of wishes through the daily grind. If you’re an F2P or low-spending player, you may’t afford to go for every character unless you’re extremely lucky. This leads to situations where you have to skip certain characters to get others, especially with the game having two new five-stars every update.
However, Black Swan isundoubtedly one of the strongest DPS characters in the game. There’s a misconception that she’s not as good without Kafka, but she can still beat everything with just a four-star DoT character like Guinaifen or Sampo. If you’re missing a good Wind DPS character on your account, you can go for her without a second thought.
Of course, the final decision depends on your preference and play style sinceyou’d want to prioritize your fun over meta.
