Honkai Star Rail Black Swan Kit, Best Build, Light Cones & Teams Comps

Black Swan is a 5-star Nihility character with the Wind damage type in Honkai Star Rail and is best for DoT DPS builds. She comes with a complicated kit, with the potential of dealing insane DoT damage. Black Swan is featuring in the first phase of the Honkai Star Rail 2.0 version and if you plan to pull for her, here are the details on Black Swan kit and her best build you need to work towards.

Who is Black Swan in Honkai Star Rail?

Black Swan is the Memokeeper of the Garden of Recollection. She is described as a mysterious and elegant soothsayer, who bears a warm smile and patiently heeds the words of others to use them as a pretext for entering their memories.

Honkai Star Rail Black Swan Release Date

Black Swan was released with the Honkai Star Rail 2.0 update on February 6, 2024. She is featured in Phase 1 and will remain on the banner till February 27, 2024.

Black Swan’s Kit And Cycle Rotation (At Max Level)

Black Swan will quickly shoot up in the Honkai Star Rail character tier list on her release. She features a complex kit but with massive damage potential. Let’s look at Black Swan’s kit and see how to play her best.

• Percipience, Silent Dawn (Basic Attack): Deals Wind damage to a single enemy with a base chance of 74% to inflict a stack of Arcana. If the target is already inflicted with Wind Shear, Bleeding, Shocked, or Burning, then each debuff has a 74% base chance to inflict an additional stack of Arcana.
• Decadence, False Twilight (Skill): Black Swan’s Skill deals Blast Wind Damage with a 100% base chance of inflicting 1 stack of Arcana to the enemies, and also lowers the enemy Defense by 23.8%, lasting 3 turns.
• Bliss of Otherworld’s Embrace (Ultimate): Deals AoE Wind Damage and inflicts Epiphany on all enemies for 2 turns. Epiphany makes the enemies take 30% more damage on their turn, and the Arcana effect on them is regarded as Wind Shear, Bleed, Burn, and Shock effects. Additionally, when the Arcana effect triggers at the beginning of the next turn, the stacks don’t reset. This effect can be triggered 1 time during the Epiphany duration, and its charges are replenished when Epiphany is applied again.

• Loom of Fate’s Caprice (Talent): When an enemy receives DoT at the start of each turn, there is a base chance of 72.5% to inflict 1 stack of Arcana on them. Enemies with Arcana will receive Wind DoT equal to 300% of Black Swan’s Attack. This Damage multiplier increases with each stack of Arcana. Then Arcana resets to 1 stack (max stack 50). Furthermore, when Arcana alone deals Damage at the start of the turn, she triggers additional effects depending on the number of Arcana stacks inflicted on the enemy — 3 or more stacks deal Wind DoT to adjacent enemies with a 72.5% base chance of inflicting Arcana on adjacent targets, 7 or more stacks makes the current DoT ignore 20% of the target’s and adjacent enemies’ Defense.
• From Façade to Vérité (Technique): Inflicts Arcana on all enemies after entering battle with a 150% base chance. If Arcana is inflicted successfully, the effect continues to repeat with a 50% base chance until it fails to inflict Arcana.

Black Swan’s kit revolves around her inflicting the Arcana debuff on enemies, which can stack up to 50 times. Both her Skill and Basic Attack apply Arcana, but you must always prioritize her Skill. The number of Arcana stacks also increases based on other DoT debuffs applied on the enemies, so she needs a debuff applier with her to maximize her damage.

Black Swan: Relics, Planar Ornaments, and Sub Stats

Black Swan has a complex kit that can potentially deal insane damage with the correct Relics and Stats. Here are the Relics, Planar Ornaments, and Stats for the best Black Swan build in Honkai Star Rail.

Best Relics for Black Swan

• 4-piece Prisoner in Deep Confinement (Best for Black Swan)
• 4-Piece Pioneer Diver of Dead Waters (Best Alternative)

The 4-piece Prisoner in Deep confinement set is perfect for Black Swan as her kit is primarily for DoT builds. This relic set gives a 12% flat increase to attack and reduces the defense of enemies by 6% for every DoT applied on them (max 3), which will significantly increase Black Swan’s damage output.

The 4-piece Pioneer Diver of Dead Waters, a new Penacony relic, is also a good alternative for Black Swan, as it increases damage taken by debuffed enemies, while also increasing her Crit Rate.

Best Planar Ornaments for Black Swan

• 2-piece Space Sealing Station (Best for Black Swan)
• 2-piece Firmament Frontline: Glamoth (Best for Speed builds)
• 2-piece Pan-Cosmic Commercial Enterprise (Good for meeting the effect hit rate requirements of Black Swan)

When it comes to the Planar Ornaments, the 2-piece Space Sealing Stations is best for any Black Swan build as it gives her a straight attack boost. You can also use the 2-piece Firmament Frontline: Glamoth if you are doing a speed build and can meet the steep 160-speed requirement during battle.

The 2-piece Pan-Cosmic Commercial Enterprise is also a good choice to add an extra effect hit rate.

Best Main and Sub Stats

Relics	Main / Sub-Stat
Head	HP / Attack % > Speed > Effect Hit Rate
Hands	Attack / Attack % > Speed > Effect Hit Rate
Body	Attack % > Effect Hit Rate / Attack% > Speed > Effect Hit Rate
Feet	Attack % > Speed / Attack % > Speed > Effect Hit Rate > Break Effect
Planar Sphere	Wind Damage Boost / Attack % > Speed > Effect Hit Rate > Break Effect
Link Rope	Attack % > Energy Regeneration Rate / Speed > Attack > Effect Hit Rate

When it comes to the Main and Sub stats for Black Swan, make sure to hit 100-120% Effect Hit Rate to get the most out of Black Swan’s kit. You can also add Effect Hit Rate as the main stat on the Body piece, if you are failing to meet the requirements.

Other than that, Speed and Attack are very important for Black Swan. Build her Speed to get faster turns, which means more stacks of Arcana before the enemy can take their turn.

Best Light Cones for Black Swan

• Reforged Remembrance (Signature Light Cone): Effect Hit rate increases by 40% and when the wearer deals damage to an enemy inflicted with Wind Shear, Burn, Shock, or Bleed, they will gain 1 stack of Prophet (max 4 stacks) and each type of DoT can only generate 1 stack. Each stack of Prophet increases the wearer’s Attack by 5% and the DoT dealt ignores 7.2% of the target’s Defense.
• Eyes of the Prey (Best 4-Star Alternative): Effect Hit Rate increases by 20% and increases DoT by 24%.
• Solitary Healing (Best F2P option): Increases the Wearer’s Break Effect by 20%. Furthermore, the DoT is increased by 24% when the wearer uses their Ultimate, lasting for 2 turns. When an enemy inflicted with DoT from the Wearer is defeated, regenerate 4 energy for the wearer.

Black Swan Ascension and Trace Materials

All Ascension Materials for Black Swan:

Materials	Quantity
Credit	308k
Extinguished Core	15
Glimmering Core	15
Ascendant Debris	65
Squirming Core	15

All Trace Materials for Black Swan:

Materials	Quantity
Credit	3 Million
Fiery Spirit	18
Extinguished Core	41
Starfire Essence	69
Glimmering Core	56
Heaven Incinerator	139
Squirming Core	58
Past Evils of the Borehole Planet	12
Tracks of Destiny	8

Black Swan Eidolons in Honkai Star Rail

• Seven Pillars of Wisdom (E1): Reduces Wind, Physical, and Lightning Resistance for enemies with Wind Shear, Bleeding, Burning, and Shocked States respectively when Black Swan is active in battle.
• Weep Not For Me, My Lamb (E2): When an enemy with Sacrament is defeated, apply 5 stacks of Sacrament on adjacent enemies.
• As Above, So Below (E3): Skill Level + 2, up to Level 15 max, Talent Level + 2, up to Level 15 max.
• In Tears We Gift (E4): Enemies effect Resistance will reduce by 10% when under the Epiphany state. Furthermore, Black Swan regenerates 8 energy when an afflicted enemy is defeated. This effect can only trigger once while Epiphany lasts and it replenishes once the target is afflicted with Epiphany again.
• Linnutee Flyway (E5): Ultimate Level + 2, up to Level 15 max, Basic Attack Level + 1, up to Level 10 max.
• Pantheon Merciful, Masses Pitiful (E6): When allies attack enemies, Black Swan has a 65% base chance of inflicting Sacrament on every enemy hit. When Black Swan inflicts Sacrament, she has a 50% chance of increasing the Sacrament stack by 1.

Black Swan Traces in Honkai Star Rail

Bonus Abilities:

• Viscera’s Disquiet (Ascension 2): Apply 1 stack of Sacrament on a single target for each debuff (Wind Shear, Bleed, Burn, or Shock) on the enemy after using her Skill.
• Goblet’s Dredges (Ascension 4): Inflict 1 stack of Sacrament (65% base chance), up to 3 times with a single attack, every time a target receives DoT during the single attack of allies.
• Candleflame’s Portent (Ascension 6): Increases Damage equal to 60% of her Effect Hit Rate (maximum 72% damage increase).

Stat Boosts:

• Wind Damage Boost: 14.4%
• Attack Boost: 28%
• Effect Hit Rate Boost: 10%

Best Team Comps For Black Swan

Order	Main DPS	Sub DPS	Support	Sustain
Best	Kafka	Black Swan	Pela	Huohuo
Alternative	Black Swan	Guinaifen	Pela / Silver Wolf	Luocha
F2P	Black Swan	Sampo	Asta	Lynx

Black Swan is best suited for DoT teams. If you already have Kafka, then definitely pair her with Black Swan. You can also use other Debuff appliers if you don’t have Kafka, like Guinaifen, Luka, or Sampo. Other than that, pair her with Pela or Silver Wolf. Black Swan can work with most Sustains, but Huohuo will give her an Attack buff and help recharge energy faster.

Should You Pull for Black Swan in Honkai Star Rail?

Black Swan is a powerful character in HSR and perfect for DoT teams. If you have invested in DoT characters in the past or want to try out DoT teams, then you should definitely pull for Black Swan. With Acheron releasing in Honkai Star Rail 2.1, Nihility characters are going to get a massive damage buff. Share your thoughts on Black Swan and tell us whether you will pull for her.