The latest update of HoYoverse’s space-faring RPG, Honkai: Star Rail, has seen the addition of two brand-new characters that players can try and pull for: Yunlin and Jiaoqiu. But these characters have a lot of unique quirks, which brings us to the question: Should you spend your hard-earned Star Rail Passes for either of them?
Welcome to Pull or Pass, where we dive deep into each character, providing a comprehensive list of their pros and cons, so that you can decide if they’re for you. In this first installment, we’ll be focusing on Jiaoqiu, the sly foxian healer.
Understanding Jiaoqiu
Jiaoqiu is a Fire-type character who follows the Path of Nihility. In combat, Jiaoqiu’s attacks have the chance of inflicting the Ashen Roast debuff, which is similar to the Burn state, where the more stacks the enemy has of this debuff, the more damage they take.
When he uses his Skill, Scorch Onsalught, he deals Fire damage to a specified target and any who are adjacent. His Ultimate skill, Pyrograph Arcanum, turns the battlefield into an enormous yuanyang hot pot, compounding the effects of Ashen Roast for enemies already afflicted.
After his Ultimate is triggered, enemies receive more damage from other party members’ Ultimates, and has a chance of applying even more stacks of Ashen Roast. This means that characters such as Acheron, who can consistently trigger their Ultimates are great for synergizing with Jiaoqiu, which is an important aspect if you decide to go for him.
Should You Go for Jiaoqiu’s Light Cone?
Jiaoqiu’s Light Cone increases his Effect Rate by 60%, and applies a condition where you have a chance of applying a status effect that will increase damage dealt to enemies if they’re afflicted by any DoT, or whenever he uses any skill against the enemy.
This definitely helps, but there are loads of good alternatives to it if you’re short on Star Rail Passes. The best alternative is Sampo’s 4-star Light Cone, Eyes of the Prey. It doesn’t have any additional effects, but it instead provides a 20% increase to the Effect Hit Rate and a decent 24% to the damage over time effect.
Sampo’s Light Cone is also easier to Superimpose, and if you have this cone fully maxed out, the effect increases to 40% Effect Hit Rate and a 48% increase on damage over time!
Recommended Relics for Jiaoqiu
If there’s one stat effect that Jiaoqiu loves to have, it’s Effect Hit Rate. His Bonus Ability, Hearth Kindle, increases his ATK by 60% for every 15% above 80% Effect Hit Rate. Don’t worry, I did the math and that effectively means that 95% Effect Hit Rate grants 60% ATK boost, and 110% will grant 120% ATK bonus, for example. A high Effect Hit Rate will also consistently apply his Ashen Roast status to an enemy.
My recommended set would be Pioneer Diver of Dead Waters, which is also the same set that characters such as Acheron, utilize. This Relic Set increases its damage to the wielder depending on what debuffs are active on the enemy. Given that Ashen Roast does count as a debuff, these conditions are very easily met.
When considering his Ornaments, the best recommended set is the Pan-Cosmic Commercial Enterprise, which is obtained from World 5 of the Simulated Universe. You might be starting to notice a pattern here.
Indeed, we’re going to give Jiaoqiu as much Effect Hit Rate as possible, since this increases the probability of attacks inflicting debuffs on a target. In this case, we want Jiaoqiu to consistently trigger his Ashen Roast. Some Energy Regeneration is also recommended for Jiaoqiu to trigger his Ultimate, which can apply the debuff to all enemies.
Recommended Teams for Jiaoqiu
After doing some testing, there are three teams that work massively well with Jiaoqiu’s abilities. For the purposes of this guide, we have opted to use as many accessibile characters as possible.
However, due to Jiaoqiu’s nature, a premium character works best as a Main DPS. Jiaoqiu himself should not be used as the main DPS, as his damage output relies on DoT, which the main DPS should take advantage of.
Team A: Did Someone Say Damage Over Time?
Our first team, as the name implies, will rely on using characters that apply a lot of damage over time. This is why we have Kafka in our team here, as she can consistently take advantage of our lineup.
Team B: Acheron and the Blazing Sword
Our second team takes advantage of Acheron. Jiaoqiu’s skills increase the amount of Ultimate DMG his teammates deal, which is perfect for her. And this team also meets the conditions of Acheron’s trait that requires two Nihility characters to be present in the team.
Should You Pull for Jiaoqiu?
Overall, Jiaoqiu is a truly formidable “damage-over-time monster”, taking full advantage of his Nihility path. If you have a character like Acheron or Kafka, or anyone that can take full advantage of his skills, then I defintely recommend pulling for him.
However, if you’re trying to synergize him with characters from other paths, such as The Hunt or Destruction, who are more likely to benefit more from the Break effect, he might not be the best of characters to pull for. Unlike Sparkle, another character that’s being reprinted alongside him, he won’t flexibly slot into other teams.
