Honkai: Star Rail Silver Wolf Build Guide | Best Light Cones, Teams and Relics

Silver Wolf has been a fan-favourite character ever since her introduction at the start of Honkai: Star Rail. Many players have been eagerly awaiting this hacker extraordinaire and she’ll finally become playable as of Version 1.1. As a Nihility Path character, Silver Wolf specialises in debuffing enemies and has a unique playstyle which allows mono-element teams to excel and compete with multi-element teams. Between a barrage of various debuffs, the ability to implant specific Weaknesses onto enemies and having surprisingly high damage in her own right, Silver Wolf is a fantastic character to build if you’re looking to invest in the future of HSR. 

Here’s how to make the best Silver Wolf build in Honkai: Star Rail. This guide will also include a breakdown of all of her abilities, what her best Relic sets and Light Cones are as well as what premium and F2P teams you should run Silver Wolf in. 

Want more Honkai: Star Rail content and articles? You can find more here on KeenGamer:

1. Honkai: Star Rail | Simulated Universe World 4 Guide (Easy F2P Clear)
2. Honkai: Star Rail | Simulated Universe World 6 Guide (Easy F2P Clear)
3. Honkai: Star Rail | How to Level Up Fast and the Best Ways to Get Trailblaze EXP
4. Honkai: Star Rail | The Seven Errors of Cycranes Guide (All Missing Cycrane Locations)
5. Honkai: Star Rail | Luminflux Pyxis Day 3 Puzzle Guide

Silver Wolf Materials

To reach the maximum level, Silver Wolf needs the following Ascension materials in Honkai: Star Rail: 

• Ancient Part / Ancient Spindle / Ancient Engine (Enemy Materials)
• Void Cast Iron (Stagnant Shadow Material)

The Ancient series of monster parts drop from slain Robots from Belobog. They can drop from any of the Automaton enemies found roaming around the Robot Settlement, or you can venture into the Simulated Universe to farm them. Worlds 3 and 4 seem to have a higher abundance of Robots compared to the later Worlds, making them the perfect place to go if you need some extra robot parts. Alternatively, you can use the Omni-Synthesizer to either convert lower-tier Ancient materials into higher ones or exchange other materials into the Ancient series.

Next are the Void Cast Irons. This material drops from the Shape of Quanta Stagnant Shadow and costs 30 Trailblaze Power for each run (with higher difficulty runs giving you more Void Cast Iron). The main enemy in The Shape of Quanta is the Voidranger: Trampler, an annoying centaur-like Legion enemy which is weak to Physical, Wind and Imaginary DMG. 

Additionally, like all Nihility characters, Silver Wolf needs all three rarities of the Nihility Obsidian (Obsidian of Dread, Obsidian of Desolation and Obsidian of Obsession) for various things such as Trace and Light Cone levelling. You can easily acquire all three of these materials from the Crimson Calyx in the Great Mine. Finally, to unlock each of Silver Wolf’s major Traces or upgrade her main Traces to their highest levels, you’ll require Destroyer’s Final Rod, the weekly material from the Destruction’s Beginning Echo of War.

An Easy Day’s Work

Silver Wolf Skills Breakdown

Basic Attack: System Warning

Silver Wolf’s Basic Attack is System Warning. Upon cast, this will deal up to 130% of Silver Wolf’s ATK to a single enemy. 

This is a rather important ability for Silver Wolf and one you’ll be using fairly frequently. While it doesn’t do much on its own, it synergises extremely well with Silver Wolf’s Talent and despite her Skill being a far more attractive part of her kit, it won’t see much use outside of the first few rounds in battle. Her Basic Attack, on the other hand, lets Silver Wolf deal good damage, debuff enemies in tandem with her Talent and generate Skill Points for the rest of the team. This is one part of her kit that you don’t want to neglect.

Bite of the Wolf

Skill: Allow Changes?

Allow Changes? is Silver Wolf’s Skill and it is likely the main reason a lot of people are even interested in summoning her. When cast, this Skill has a high chance (up to 85%) of implanting a Weakness into a target enemy, with that Weakness corresponding to one of your on-field allies, while also lowering the RES of that element by 20% for 2 turns. Only one Weakness implant can exist on a single enemy at one time (but you can use it on different enemies in the same battle) and there is a chance to reduce the target’s All-Type RES when they are afflicted.

The reason why this Skill is so important is that it’s the only way to allow mono-element teams to compete. Usually in Honkai: Star Rail, you need to consider the elements of your team so that you can effectively cover multiple Weakness types: with this Skill, though, you can instead build a team entirely composed of a single element and have it thrive thanks to constant and consistent Weakness from Silver Wolf’s implants. This isn’t even mentioning the RES decrease for said element, making all matching allies deal additional damage.

This Skill already makes Silver Wolf an incredibly valuable unit and one of the best debuffers in the game as bringing her to any fight means that you can weigh the odds further in your favour. Want to use Seele all the time but the enemy doesn’t have a Quantum Weakness? Well, with Silver Wolf, now they do. That alone makes this worthy of investment, especially because the more you level this Trace, the more likely that Weakness will affect the enemy. 

Silver Wolf’s Skill

Ultimate: User Banned

Then we have Silver Wolf’s Ultimate, User Banned. This deals high Quantum DMG to the target, with up to a 100% base chance to decrease the target’s DEF by 45% if they manage to survive the attack. 

Lowering enemy Defence is Silver Wolf’s main role outside of implanting Weaknesses and her Ultimate is the most consistent way of doing that. It’s especially good against Elite and Boss opponents as most Quantum weak regular enemies likely won’t survive being hit by her Ultimate. Combining this DEF decrease with the Weakness implant from her Skill and the Bugs from her Talent, Silver Wolf can cripple her opponent and leave them wide open for some devastating attacks from your main damage dealer. 

Silver Wolf’s Ultimate

Talent: Awaiting System Response…

Silver Wolf’s Talent is Awaiting System Response… and it is very interesting. Upon attacking an enemy, Silver Wolf has up to a 72% chance to implant a random Bug for 3 turns. There are three types of Bugs: one which reduces ATK by 10%, one which reduces DEF by 8% and one which reduces SPD by 6%.

This is where Silver Wolf comes into her own as a debuffer, allowing her to serve as more than just a Weakness implanter. All three types of Bugs are incredibly potent and quite easy to trigger. Whether you’re lowering ATK, DEF or SPD, your other units will all benefit significantly. 

In terms of a general gameplay rhythm, you’ll be implanting Weaknesses at the start of the battle and then using Silver Wolf’s Normal Attacks to implant Bugs as your main DPS tear away at your target. These Bugs can even stack, creating a constant feedback loop of debuffs that will just infest the opponent and make the battle far easier. It’s already incredibly potent against mobs and becomes insane against bosses. 

She’s Gaming

Technique: Force Quit Program

Lastly, we have Force Quit Program, Silver Wolf’s Tecnique. After using the Technique, Silver Wolf will immediately attack a targeted enemy, dealing Quantum DMG to all targets upon entering battle. This will also reduce the Toughness of all targets on the battlefield, irrespective of whether they are weak to Quantum or not. If any enemy is Weakness Broke in this manner, they will be Entangled.

This is easily one of the best Techniques in the entirety of Honkai Star Rail, main thanks to how it sidesteps Weakness Types. Every time you use Silver Wolf’s Technique, you know it will have a tangible effect on the battle – whether by making every single target much easier to Break or by Entangling them right off the bat – making it very low risk. This is true for normal mobs, Elites and boss enemies. When paired with some buffing Techniques, you can set up quite the devastating combo at the beginning of a battle with Silver Wolf.

Aim and Fire

Silver Wolf Traces

Silver Wolf’s Traces all focus on increasing her potency as an offensive debuffing unit, increasing her direct damage output as well as improving the consistency of the debuffs she can provide with her skills. In terms of minor Trace stat increases, Silver Wolf can acquire:

• 28% ATK% (4 + 4 + 4 + 6 + 6 + 8)
• 8% Quantum DMG (3.2 + 4.8)
• 18% Effect Hit Rate (4 + 6 + 8)

Small Fry

Firstly, we have Silver Wolf’s Ascension 2 Trace, Generate. This extends the duration of all of Silver Wolf’s Bugs from 3 turns to 4 turns and gives Silver Wolf a 65% chance to inflict an enemy with a random Bug whenever an enemy is inflicted with Weakness Break. If you play a mono-element team with Silver Wolf, Breaking enemies is going to be super simple, making this Trace an excellent way to keep the uptime on her debuffs very high (especially because SW doesn’t have to do the Weakness Break herself). 

Next up is Inject, her Ascension 4 Trace. This simply increases the duration of her Weakness Implant by 1 turn, going from 2 turns to 3 turns. This is a great boon to her kit as it extends the time before needing to activate her Skill again, giving your main DPS more time to deal damage and Silver Wolf more time to implant Bugs with her Normal Attacks.

Finally, there’s Side Note, which is unlocked once Silver Wolf reaches Ascension Level 6 (levels 70-80). If an enemy already has 3 separate debuffs on them when Silver Wolf uses her Skill, their DMG RES will be decreased by a further 5%. Between her Bugs and her Ultimate, Silver Wolf has plenty of ways to spam debuffs onto her opponents but needing 3 to trigger this effect may make it somewhat illusive in shorter fights. For bosses, though, this will be an excellent addition. 

S Rank Performance

Silver Wolf Trace Priority

1. Allow Changes? (Skill)
2. Awaiting System Response (Talent)
3. User Banned (Ultimate)
4. System Warning (Basic Attack)

Weakness implanting is Silver Wolf’s defining feature and investing primarily in her Skill will allow it to become significantly easier to implant at Trace level 10: this is the most crucial part of her kit and ensuring that it works at maximum effectiveness should be the top priority. After that is Awaiting System Response as it is Silver Wolf’s main way of contributing to the fight through her Bugs and debuffs. You not only want the Bugs to trigger as consistently as possible but also want the Bugs to be as strong as possible, making this a great pick for second place. Silver Wolf’s Ultimate is a good, guaranteed source of DEF down but it simply isn’t as impactful in minute-to-minute gameplay, whereas investing in her Basic Attack will only increase its damage, making the other options much better picks. 

Silver Wolf, Banned Gamer

As for Silver Wolf’s major Traces, you should go in the following order:

1. Inject 
2. Generate
3. Side Note

Like with her regular Skills and Traces, making sure that Silver Wolf’s Weakness implant is as effective as possible should be your top priority, making Inject a sure-fire pick for her best major Trace. Conversely, Generate makes her Bugs and Talent far more effective and consistent, making it tie in nicely with her overall Talent priority order. The only one out of place is Side Note: as mentioned, getting 3 debuffs on a single target will likely only be possible on meatier targets like Elites and bosses, whereas her other Traces are useful everywhere. It is still incredibly useful and worthy of picking up, but that stipulation makes it slightly less impactful than either other Trace.

She’s Hacking!

Silver Wolf’s Eidolons

Here are all 6 of Silver Wolf’s Eidolons in HSR. You can acquire a character’s Eidolons by pulling multiple copies of that character via the Warp system: for Silver Wolf, in particular, you need to summon multiple copies of her from the “Contract Zero” Character Event Warp.

1. Social Engineering: After using her Ultimate to attack enemies, Silver Wolf regenerates 7 Energy for every debuff that the target enemy currently has. This effect can be triggered up to 5 times in each use of her Ultimate.
2. Zombie Network: When an enemy enters battle, reduce their Effect RES by 20%.
3. Payload: Skill Lv. +2, up to a maximum of Lv. 15. Talent Lv. +2, up to a maximum of Lv. 15.
4. Bounce Attack: After using her Ultimate to attack enemies, deals Additional Quantum DMG equal to 20% of Silver Wolf’s ATK for every debuff currently on the enemy target. This effect can be triggered a maximum of 5 times during each use of her Ultimate.
5. Brute Force Attack: Ultimate Lv. +2, up to a maximum of Lv. 15. Basic ATK Lv. +1, up to a maximum of Lv. 10.
6. Overlay Network: For every debuff the target enemy has, the DMG dealt by Silver Wolf increases by 20%, up to a limit of 100%.

Ready for a Full Combo?

Silver Wolf Best Light Cones

Best in Slot Light Cone: Incessant Rain

Silver Wolf’s best in slot Light Cone is her signature Light Cone, Incessant Rain. This can be pulled from the Light Cone Event Warp during the same period as Silver Wolf’s run on the Character Event Warp and it perfectly fits her character kit. Specially made for Silver Wolf and her unique breed of Nihility debuffs, Incessant Rain increases her potency, consistency, and overall damage output.

At level 80, Incessant Rain will provide the wielder 1058 HP, 582 ATK and 463 DEF. The main effect of this Light Cone is Mirage of Reality and it has several powerful effects. The first is that it raises the wearer’s Effect Hit Rate by 24%, making Silver Wolf more likely to inflict debuffs. Additionally, when the wearer damages an enemy with 3 or more debuffs, their CRIT Rate increases by 12%. Finally, whenever they act in battle, the wielder has a 100% chance to implant an Aether Code on a random target, increasing the damage dealt to the said target by 12% for 1 turn.

Incessant Rain is purpose-built to facilitate Silver Wolf. As we mentioned, the bonus to Effect Hit rates makes her Bugs, Weakness Implant and other debuffs more likely to take hold. Alongside that, the Aether Code will give her yet another source of debuffs to tear down the enemy and make it far easier to reach the 3 debuffs required to trigger Side Note and the CRIT Rate bonus. Simply put, this Light Cone makes every part of Silver Wolf’s kit much better, allowing her to serve as a better debuffer, supporter, damage dealer and everything in between. If you want to take your Silver Wolf to the next level and are willing to part with some jade, Incessant Rain is the best Light Cone for her in Honkai: Star Rail. 

Incessant Rain Signature Light Cone

Silver Wolf Replacement Light Cones

But what if you don’t have Incessant Rain and don’t want to spend any Stellar Jade on the Light Cone banner? Are you barred from having an OP Silver Wolf? Of course not! There are a bunch of other Nihility Light Cones waiting for you in HSR. 

Before we begin listing them off, it’s worth noting that all of our recommendations are going to be 4-Star Nihility Light Cones. More players will have access to these one way or another and there is more to look at. If you happen to have a 5-Star Nihility Light Cones – such as In the Name of the World – give them a spin first and see if they fit Silver Wolf’s playstyle before committing to a lower rarity option. In Star Rail, 4-Star Light Cones do have a good chance of competing with 5-Star ones, but it is worth trying out either way. 

In terms of replacement Light Cones for Silver Wolf, we recommend Before the Tutorial Mission Starts, We Will Meet Again or Resolution Shines As Pearls of Sweat. 

We Will Meet Again

Before the Tutorial Mission Starts is a F2P Light Cone introduced in Version 1.1 of Honkai: Star Rail. It is available from the Limited-Time Evenet Starhunt Game, which is active for the first half of 1.1, and can easily be max superimposed. At level 80 it provides 952 HP, 476 ATK and 330 DEF along with the main ability Quick on the Draw. This skill increases the wearer’s Effect Hit Rate by 24% (just like Incessant Rain) while also regenerating 4 Ultimate Energy each time the wearer attacks an enemy who has reduced DEF. Considering that Silver Wolf’s Ultimate and one of her Bugs lowers DEF, this will allow her to get her Ultimate back at a much faster rate, giving her yet another source of consistent, high uptime debuffs. 

Next is We Will Meet Again which can be acquired from the Nameless Honour once you hit rank 30 on the premium track. This provides the wearer 846 HP, 529 ATK and 330 DEF at level 80. The Light Cone skill, A Discourse in Arms, deals 48% of the wearer’s ATK to a random enemy whenever they use their Basic ATK or Skill. Not only will this do a decent amount of damage to the target, but it also gives Silver Wolf another chance to implant them with a Bug.

Lastly, there’s Resolution Shines As Pearls of Sweat. You can acquire this Nihility Light Cone from any of the Warp banners. At level 80, it provides 952 HP, 476 ATK and 330 DEF. Glance Back is the Light Cone skill and it has a 60% chance to Ensnare an enemy whenever the wearer hits a target not already Ensnared. This debuff decreases enemies’ DEF by 12% for 1 turn. This Light Cone is another easy way for Silver Wolf to get access to a DEF lowering debuff (as well as another easy-to-trigger debuff to activate her A6 Trace) that will dramatically aid her team in taking down targets, big and small alike. 

Resolution Shines as Pearls of Sweat

Best Relics and Planar Ornaments for Silver Wolf

For Silver Wolf’s Relics and Planar Ornaments, you have two main choices based on how you plan to use her in battle. The main Relic set you’ll want to run prioritises her damage-dealing capabilities, allowing her to hit harder and provide more on the raw DPS side along with her debuffs.

For Silver Wolf’s Relics, run 4-Piece Genius of Brilliant Stars along with 2-Piece Pan-Galactic Commercial Enterprise. This combination will give Silver Wolf 10% Quantum DMG along with the ability to ignore 10% of a target’s DEF on attacks (which increases to 20% on Quantum Weak targets) from 4-Piece Genius. Additionally, 2-Piece Commercial Enterprise increases her Effect Hit Rate by 10% and increases her ATK by an amount equal to 25% of her Effect Hit Rate.

Quantum Cavern of Corrosion

Despite being Nihility and being focused on activating debuffs, Silver Wolf can deal a substantial amount of damage with her skills. Between her Ultimate, constant Basic Attack spam, Bugs, debuffs and more, she’ll be a reliable source of Quantum damage and this Relic combination makes her all the more potent. With bonus Quantum DMG and the ability to bypass the DEF of targets, she can easily deal effective damage alongside her debuff potential. The bonus ATK and Effect Hit Rate from the Planar Ornaments simply make Silver Wolf more consistent, raising her potency even further. These effects stack with the bonuses provided by her minor Traces, too, turning SW into a monster on the battlefield. 

If you want her to take a step back and focus on support, you may want to try 4-Piece Thief of Shooting Meteor. This will improve her Weakness Break efficiency – something she can easily pull off thanks to her Weakness Implant and Technique – by increasing Break Effect by 32% and regenerating Ultimate Energy whenever you’ve Broken a target.

Stars and Commercial Enterprise

Most Important Stats and Substats

In terms of what main stats are the most important for Silver Wolf, you’ll want to be on the lookout for: 

• Body: Effect Hit Rate
• Feet: SPD
• Planar Sphere: Quantum DMG Bonus
• Link Rope: ATK%

As for what substats you want to look for, Silver Wolf wants:

1. ATK%
2. SPD
3. Effect Hit Rate
4. CRIT Rate / CRIT DMG

Big Old Bounty

Best Teams for Silver Wolf

Premium Team

As we’ve mentioned several times in this guide, Silver Wolf’s main asset is how she makes mono-element teams viable. While she can certainly work in multi-element compositions, mono-element is where she shines brightest and one of these mono-teams will be the primary recommendation for Silver Wolf’s premium team. It should be noted that, in the future, Silver Wolf’s best premium composition will benefit from having 4 Quantum characters: as of 1.1, Quantum only has 3 characters to its name (2 of which are main DPS) but in future updates, mono-Quantum will certainly become SW’s best team composition. 

For right now, the recommended premium team for Silver Wolf in Honkai: Star Rail includes Jing Yuan, Tingyun and Bailu. 

Jing Yuan is a DPS Monster

Jing Yuan is your primary damage dealer for this team and a rather good one at that. He deals incredibly high damage across the entire field and his Lightning Lord is capable of being one of the highest damage-dealing moves in the entire game. Silver Wolf lets him hit for even more by implanting Lightning Weakness and lowering DEF very easily. If you happen to have Seele, she can substitute for Jing Yuan and can act as a Quantum DPS alongside Silver Wolf: triggering Quantum Weakness implant will be more difficult and less consistent, but still extremely powerful (especially with the aid of Tingyun’s SPD and ATK buffs). 

Then we have Tingyun who needs very little introduction if you’re at all tapped into the meta of HSR. As one of the best buffers across the entire game, Tingyun works incredibly well with Jing Yuan, buffing his damage with Soothing Melody and giving him the necessary Ultimate recharge required to hit max stacks of the Lightning Lord with her own Ultimate, Amidst the Rejoicing Clouds. More importantly for Silver Wolf, Tingyun works with both Jing Yuan and Bailu to ensure that most of your Weakness Implants will be Lightning. Together, Tingyun provides an excellent foil to Silver Wolf, with the former providing buffing and supportive capabilities while the latter focuses on debuffs. 

Lastly, we have Bailu. Honestly, any healer character works here as a way to keep the team alive but Bailu is the best bet thanks to her Lightning element. With 3 Lightning characters in the team, Silver Wolf’s Weakness Implant is almost always guaranteed to be Lightning, making sure your team can deal excellent damage to anyone on the field. As a healer, Bailu works well in countering damage thanks to her Invigoration effect and will keep your team nice and healthy (especially when you lack a dedicated shielder or tank from the Preservation Path). 

Silver Wolf Premium Team

F2P Team

Recommending a dedicated free-to-play team comp for Silver Wolf is a bit trickier. Star Rail wants you to cover as many elements as possible with its F2P character offerings, meaning that there isn’t a ton of crossover that Silver Wolf can utilise for her mono-element set-ups. That doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist, though, and there are a few teams who can utilise her to the fullest without needing to spend any additional Jade. The recommended F2P Silver Wolf team includes the Destruction Trailblazer, Natasha and Asta.

The Destruction Trailblazer will be our primary DPS in this team. At least half of your Weakness Implants should be Physical Weakness thanks to the Trailblazer and Natasha, giving the MC ample room to swing for the fences. They deal very respectable damage and are capable of hitting for high single-target or AoE with their Ultimate ability. There honestly isn’t much to say besides the fact that Silver Wolf’s DEF decreases will only help strengthen the Trailblazer and make them hit far harder.

Destruction Trailblazer F2P DPS

Next, we have Asta who straddles the line between being a sub-DPS and a support. On one hand, she can very reliably break Fire Weak targets thanks to the multi-hit attacks from her Skill: this means that even if Silver Wolf implants Fire instead of Physical, it won’t be wasted and you can still use it for big damage (so long as Asta is built for Breaking). Then there’s her Talent which increases the ATK of all party members based on how many hits she’s landed. This benefits her, the Trailblazer and even Silver Wolf, letting you keep dealing competitive levels of damage despite lacking the frontline main DPS of someone like Seele or Jing Yuan.

Finally, we have Natasha as our healer. You’re going to need someone to keep the team healthy and, fortunately, Natasha is an excellent F2P healer. Capable of instantly restoring large chunks of HP with her Skill and Ultimate, you won’t worry about healing much when Natasha is around. Additionally, if there’s ever a moment of downtime Natasha can serve as another great Skill Point battery for the Trailblazer and Asta (who are both rather Skill Point hungry). 

Silver Wolf F2P Team

And that was how to build Silver Wolf in Honkai: Star Rail. Good luck with your summons, Trailblazers!