Honkai: Star Rail has introduced a slew of new characters in its version 2.4 update, but the first one to be made playable is the broadsword-wielding Yunli. This Xianzhou native makes a big impression in the story content as she helps train fellow character March 7th with sword fighting. Her harsh (if not bratty) personality has also been a great foil to her rival Yanqing.
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What makes this Physical Destruction character so fun to play is that she’s all about dealing damage with counters. Although her kit does provide some self-sufficiency in terms of healing and buffs, you’ll need the right items and team members to make the most out of her potential.
Best Yunli team composition
Each of Yunli’s counters is considered a follow-up attack, and she can throw them out pretty consistently. She’ll work best in a team that can assist and benefit from follow-up attacks. I’ve detailed a handful of choices below.
If you’re looking to have two DPS on a team, two great options to consider are Topaz or Jade. Yunli’s counters mesh well with these characters, either by triggering Numby for Topaz or building up charge for Jade. Both are prime candidates if you enjoy follow-up characters in Honkai: Star Rail.
Your top choices for a Support role would be Tingyun or March 7th (The Hunt). Tingyun can provide some great ATK buffs and more importantly, she can regenerate 50 energy for an ally with her ultimate. March 7th (The Hunt) on the other hand can deal some DPS damage while also benefiting from Yunli’s counters to fill up her charge bar. With the Tide Tamer bonus ability, she can also grant Yunli with a CRIT DMG buff.
Lynx is undoubtedly the best healer to pair with Yunli. Aside from her skill providing an ally with healing and a bump to their max HP, it can also aggro enemies to the selected ally if they’re on the Path of Destruction or Path of Preservation. Yunli is thankfully part of the former and will benefit greatly from enemies focusing on her.
Best Yunli Light Cones
Finding the right light cone can do wonders for a character by providing flexibility or cementing their game plan. For Yunli, she’ll work better with something that boosts her follow-up damage or at least makes her hit harder.
Just like Firefly or any other 5-star character, Yunli’s best light cone is the one that runs alongside her banner. Dance at Sunset buffs her CRIT DMG and increases the chance for enemies to attack her. Up to two stacks of Firedance can also be gained from using Ultimate attacks, with each one increasing follow-up attack DMG.
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Two other great options are The Unreachable Side and Something Irreplaceable. Both provide solid buffs to CRIT Rate and ATK% respectively, alongside DMG buffs that can be triggered from being attacked. The former has only appeared alongside Blade though, while the latter has been a mainstay in Stellar Warp and every Light Cone Event Warp.
Which Traces to prioritize
Every character has traces that are more important to focus on than others, and that’s true here too. Below are my recommendations based on which standard and bonus abilities can make the biggest difference in a fight.
- Flashforge – Yunli’s talent is arguably the biggest priority when it comes to upgrading traces. Even though her ultimate can output a lot more damage and is equally important, her talent is the basis for her typical counters and is bound to be your most consistent source of damage
- Earthbind, Etherbreak – I only briefly mentioned it above, but her ultimate should be given as much attention as her talent. Yunli’s ultimate either prepares a parry attack called Intuit: Cull or the slightly less damaging Intuit: Slash if nobody triggers the parry. Aside from inflicting damage, you’ll also be aiming to regenerate your energy as soon as possible
- Fiery Wheel – This bonus ability is triggered whenever Yunli activates her ultimate and ends up using Intuit: Slash. It guarantees that the next time you use that particular attack, it will trigger Intuit: Cull instead
- True Sunder – Another must-have bonus ability, this provides a 30 percent buff to Yunli’s ATK after using a counter. It only lasts one turn, but having a light cone and teammates to aggro enemies can help her repeatedly trigger it
Best Yunli Relic Sets
It should come as no surprise that your priority with relic sets will be those that complement follow-up attacks. There are a few different options here depending on your team, but I’ve listed out the best below.
- The Wind-Soaring Valorous fits Yunli very well. Having all four pieces provides a 12 percent increase to ATK and a 6 percent increase to CRIT Rate. It can also buff her ultimate with 30 percent more DMG after a follow-up attack, which she’ll have plenty of
- The Ashblazing Grand Duke is worth it just for the two-piece effect providing a 20 percent increase to follow-up attack DMG. The four-piece effect isn’t as great for Yunli, although it’s still a good option if you lack anything better
- When it comes to Planar Ornaments, Inert Salsotto practically feels tailor-made. It can give buffs to CRIT Rate and both ultimate and follow-up attack DMG
- If you’re considering a team that pairs Yunli with another follow-up DPS, you might want to use the Duran, Dynasty of Running Wolves Planar Ornament set instead. It gains stacks every time an ally uses a follow-up attack, up to a maximum of five times. Each stack increases follow-up attack DMG by 5 percent and at the maximum it also grants a 25 percent increase to CRIT DMG
Honkai: Star Rail has continually added characters who can throw out follow-up attacks, but counters are seldom seen. Yunli easily earns the title of best counter DPS with attacks that are consistent and usually AoE. Despite requiring more specific teams than other characters, you’re sure to have fun tackling story or endgame content alike.
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