In any gacha game, deciding who you should save for and who should you skip is always one of the toughest decisions and it’s no different in Honkai: Star Rail. The universe is full of so many aloof and unique characters and, unless you’re very lucky or very rich, you won’t get to invite them all to your team. Sometimes, you’ll know that a character is perfect for your playstyle and team right away whereas, other times, it’ll take a bit of investigation to figure out which units are best for you. In version 1.4 of Honkai: Star Rail, we’ll be getting our first-ever rerun of Seele alongside the mysterious Jingliu, famed Sword Champion of the Xianzhou Luofu, and Topaz, debt collector for the IPC.
As two damage-focused units, Jingliu and Topaz can appear quite similar at first despite their discrepancies in Path and Element, but there are pretty significant differences that need to be considered before you decide to splash some cash. Jingliu is the textbook definition of a main DPS unit, focusing on raw offence above all else to both her benefit and her detriment. Meanwhile, Topaz follows a similar damage-heavy path with her Trotter summon Numby, but she supplements it with some interesting and potentially game-changing support capabilities. Some Trailblazers have already decided which team they’re on but others will likely feel a bit lost and unsure.
In this article, we’ll be diving deep into the kits and playstyles of Honkai Star Rail’s newest 5-star characters, Jingliu and Topaz, who are set to join the game in the upcoming 1.4 version update. We’ll be taking a look at their strengths and weaknesses to help you decide whether either unit is worth pulling on with your hard-earned Stellar Jade.
Want more Honkai: Star Rail content and articles? You can find more here on KeenGamer:
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- Honkai: Star Rail | Simulated Universe World 4 Guide (Easy F2P Clear)
- Honkai: Star Rail | Simulated Universe World 6 Guide (Easy F2P Clear)
- Honkai: Star Rail | The Seven Errors of Cycranes Guide (All Missing Cycrane Locations)
- Honkai: Star Rail | Luminflux Pyxis Day 3 Puzzle Guide
Should You Pull Jingliu in Honkai Star Rail 1.4?
Jingliu Kit Overview
First up is the mysterious blindfolded woman who has captured many players’ hearts since all the way back before release. I’m, of course, talking about Jingliu, perhaps the second most anticipated character in the entire game after Kafka. As our first Ice damage Destruction character, Jingliu is all about damage which is both a good and a bad thing, depending on how you look at her kit and how long you’ve been playing.
Jingliu’s main gameplay gimmick comes from her Syzygy stacks, with the primary method of acquisition being Jingliu’s Skill and Ultimate. Upon reaching 2 stacks of Syzygy, Jingliu will enter the Spectral Transformation, advancing her Action so she can instantly act and increasing her CRIT Rate massively. While in this state, Jingliu can only use a move called Moon on Glacial River which is a Blast Skill that deals Ice DMG to multiple targets at once, consuming a stack of Syzygy per use. There’s another part to the Spectral Transformation state which acts like a double-edged sword: using an attack consumes HP from all of her allies, increasing Jingliu’s ATK in response. As we said, Jingliu is about big damage and very little else.
Jingliu has a lot of potential for high damage, especially when she’s outfitted with various buffs and effects from support characters. However, there are very big, glaring issues surrounding her, ranging from her risky kit to her single-minded playstyle to her unfortunate positioning relative to banner timing. While incredibly strong and undoubtedly one of the biggest damage dealers in HSR, there are a lot of hurdles you’ll need to consider and get across when summoning Jingliu in 1.4.
Here’s everything you need to know about why you should, or shouldn’t, pull Jingliu in Honkai: Star Rail 1.4.
A Delicate Flower in a Deadly Hand
Pros
The biggest positive in Jingliu’s favour is simply her raw damage output. Between her Spectral Transformation state, the ATK buff she gets from draining HP and the Ultimate DMG boost she gets from her final major Trace, Jingliu is likely capable of the highest single damage number in the game. Out of every character in Star Rail, Jingliu is the pure embodiment of a damage dealer and there will be very few places where she does not shine. If you manage to pick up Jingliu, you’ll have a monster on your hands, that’s for sure, especially thanks to her ridiculously high multipliers and stat boosts.
Additionally, unlike some recent characters, Jingliu’s playstyle is mercifully simple. Use your Skill and Burst to gain stacks of Syzygy, enter the Spectral Transformation state and deal very big damage for a few turns. Compared to the Skill Point nightmare of Dan Heng IL, you can turn most of your brain off when playing Jingliu and just admire the pretty animations and big numbers. It’s also worth noting that Moon on Glacial River doesn’t cost any SP, meaning that Jingliu can focus entirely on attacking while the rest of your team uses up the free Skill Points to heal, buff or even attack without stepping on Former Sword Champion’s toes.
Let the Mara Take Over
Cons
There is one obvious, glaring issue with Jingliu’s kit and that’s her tendency to consume HP from her allies. Like a frosty vampire, Jingliu will constantly sap health away from your entire team whenever she attacks. While this does massively buff her own damage output, it can result in some very sticky situations if you don’t plan for it. This results in having to prepare a bunch of shields or consistent heals beforehand from characters like Gepard or Luocha (which means you’re missing out on more buffs from other supports) or you’ll need to have some source of aggro control to lessen the likelihood that your weakened supports get targeted while on low health.
Another thing to note about Jingliu is that she’s very much an “all-in” type of character. As we just discussed, you’ll need some form of intense, party-wide healing or damage mitigation to make sure that you can survive Jingliu’s bouts. That leaves very little room for a sub-DPS or another damage dealer to share in the revelry: if you’re going to be playing Jingliu, she is going to hog the spotlight and need everything – healing, shields or buffs – focused solely on her. This also limits what kind of compositions you can place her in and, while there are a few solid pairings where she shines (for example, Jingliu and Blade pair perfectly), it can make team building a bit of a hassle.
Lastly, there’s the unfortunate fact that Jingliu is joining the game after a long line of very similar damage dealers. Jingliu is the third consecutive Destruction character we’ve had, beginning with Blade in 1.2 and continuing with Dan Heng IL in 1.3. This influx of main damage dealers does overshadow Jingliu a bit: if you have Blade, Dan Heng or even someone like Kafka, why should you focus on pulling Jingliu (who’s just more damage) instead of a future support or healer? Topaz also suffers from this slightly but she can evade it due to her additional utility, something Jingliu cannot do. In this case, being frontloaded with damage is actually detrimental. This negative will dissipate over time and as more characters are released but, as of 1.4, Jingliu is far from required.
Icy Moon
Final Verdict
Jingliu is exceptional at one thing: damage. As the first Ice Destruction character, Jingliu fills a much-needed position as a high-damage Ice character, with only Yanqing truly filling that position up until now. Her attacks allow her to hit multiple targets at once without using up Skill Points and her main rotation is almost boringly simple, allowing players of any skill level to feel invincible in her shoes. In essence, Jingliu is the quintessential ice DPS character and many people will appreciate her purely for her massive damage output.
However, it’s getting to the point now where “big damage” isn’t enough of a selling point, not when we’ve just gotten stupid strong characters like Blade or Dan Heng IL. Aside from hitting hard, Jingliu offers next to no utility outside of her Technique: in fact, she’s actively hurting the team by draining their HP. As such, Jingliu’s team often needs to be completely built around her so that she can work most effectively, limiting her potential compositions and forcing healers or shields to make up for her shortcomings (especially when she cannot heal herself or her allies). If you’re just looking for a massive damage dealer, Jingliu is perhaps the best in the game. If you’re looking for anything else, you’ll need to keep hold of your Jade.
At this point in Honkai: Star Rail’s lifespan, Jingliu is far from a required or must-pull unit. However, for those still determined to pull for her, they’ll get to use one of the strongest characters in the game and someone whose raw damage output can break a lot of different areas of the game. Jingliu enjoyers will be sitting pretty.
Should You Pull Jingliu?
Should You Pull Topaz in Honkai Star Rail 1.4?
Topaz Kit Overview
The second character we’ll be discussing today is Topaz, our first Fire Hunt character and leader of the Special Debts Picket Team under the Interastral Peace Corporation. As a unit, Topaz differs from the majority of Hunt characters already in Honkai Star Rail in two key ways: the first is that she focuses on using Follow-Up Attacks as her main method of offence, whereas the second is that she can be played as sort of a hybrid support unit.
Topaz’s Warp Trotter friend Numby is her main claim to fame. Like Jing Yuan’s Lightning Lord, Numby is part of Topaz’s Talent and she summons him at the start of battle. Topaz’s overall playstyle revolves around getting Numby as strong as possible by buffing up his damage output and giving him plenty of additional Actions. Her Skill will apply a debuff called Proof of Debt onto an enemy, causing them to become the target of Numby’s Follow-Up Attack, whereas her Ultimate will cause Numby to enter the Windfall Bonanza! state which massively increases his DMG multipliers and CRIT DMG for 2 attacks. In a lot of ways, she plays like a single-target version of Jing Yuan, allowing her to retain high overall damage while still having the backup of a summon.
The other major thing about Topaz is her ability to buff Follow-Up Attack damage from any source. If an enemy has the Proof of Debt effect from using her Skill, they will take bonus damage from any Follow-Up Attack: this includes Numby, Jing Yuan’s Lightning Lord, Blade’s Shuhu’s Gift or Clara’s Counter. This opens up the door for Topaz to be more than a simple damage dealer, allowing her to become a sort of hybrid support DPS for other Follow-Up Attackers.
With the introductions out of the way, here’s why you should consider pulling on Topaz in Honkai: Star Rail Version 1.4.
It’s Show Time
Pros
First and foremost, Topaz’s best trait is the additional utility and damage she adds to Follow-Up Attacks. Not only does Topaz buff her own Follow-Up Attack with Numby (which can lead to some very nice damage), she also buffs the Follow-Up Attacks of other characters, too: whether it’s Blade, Clara, Himeko or even someone like Herta, Topaz will massively buff their damage output. This allows Topaz to comfortably integrate into a ton of different team compositions, serving as either a competent sub-DPS with buffing capabilities, a pure support unit built to enable her much stronger companion or even a Fire Hunt solo carry. On its own, this part of Topaz’s kit makes her very desirable and a top-tier unit.
While it is certainly true that Topaz could have been just another main damage dealer, her unique Path and Element combination does make her stand out a bit more than her competition. We’ve had a limited Destruction character on the Event Warp for the past three consecutive patches, whereas we haven’t had a limited Hunt character since Seele in 1.0. Hunt characters specialise in one-on-one battles, dealing as much damage to a single enemy as they can, which gives Topaz a nice niche area to operate in terms of her own damage output. Her Follow-Up Attack utility will always make her useful but her potential to deal good damage alongside that as our first Fire Hunt character makes her even more consistent and strong.
Finally, while this isn’t exactly related to Topaz herself, it is worth noting for the 1.4 version update. Topaz’s Character Event Warp is going to be available during the latter half of 1.4 and, on her Warp, will be the newest 4-star to join the game, Guinaifen. Guinaifen is HSR’s first Fire Nihility character and she is based, primarily, around Burn. Not only does Gunaifen work very well with most other Fire characters (Topaz included) but she makes an excellent addition for Kafka as another source of DoT damage. Even on her lonesome, Guinaifen is a very fun and strong unit who, like Topaz, works well in a lot of different compositions. If you’re looking to flesh out your roster with powerful 4-star and 5-star characters, pulling on Topaz kills two birds with one stone.
In the Lucrative Eye of the Storm
Cons
The biggest downside to Topaz isn’t really a downside as such: instead, it’ll be a nagging feeling whenever you go to build Topaz and put her in a prospective team. Because Topaz buffs Follow-Up Attack damage so well and so efficiently, it can be hard to justify placing her in any team where Follow-Up Attacks aren’t the main focus: sure, she does good damage on her own and the Follow-Up Attack buff she provides effects herself, but why use her when there are other, more consistent DPS units? This is the same dilemma facing Kafka who, by working so well in DoT teams, struggles to find an identity outside of DoT. If you simply plan on running Topaz with a bunch of Follow-Up Attackers, this complaint is very mild; if you’re lacking key Follow-Up Attackers like Himeko, Clara or Blade, though, it is a more important consideration for pulling her.
Aside from that internal pressure, Topaz still struggles against the fact that she’s another main damage dealer after a line of similar units, as of late. While we did discuss the fact that she can cut a unique space in the meta with her combined damage and utility, it doesn’t change the fact that many players will likely be loaded up on damage dealers: since 1.0, we’ve had Seele, Jing Yuan, Blade, Kafka, Dan Heng IL and now Jingliu and Topaz. As a turn-based RPG, Honkai Star Rail demands a lot more variety in your team compositions to succeed in the endgame and, if you already have a lot of DPS units, it’s probably a better idea to start looking ahead to more support characters like HuoHuo who can help round out your overall roster.
Everyone Owes
Final Verdict
Despite being a Hunt character, Topaz avoids most of the same pitfalls that Jingliu trips into. Her added Follow-Up Attack utility and overall versatility allows her to belong comfortably in many different compositions and in many different roles: Topaz can reliably be a main DPS solo carry, a sub-DPS or a Follow-Up Attack support unit all at once. This makes her a very safe unit to pull on as you know she is very usable right now, while her ability to buff Follow-Up Attacks will also raise the potential of future characters built around Follow-Up Attacks.
The main downsides for pulling on Topaz in 1.4 honestly aren’t a massive deal. The biggest issue is simply that she’s another main damage dealer after several patches stuffed to the gills with likewise characters. If you’ve been here since 1.0 and have been pulling every patch, there’s a high likelihood that you aren’t really in need of another DPS unit right now. Instead, you likely need more Abundance, Nihility or Harmony characters and, with HuoHuo, a 5-star Abundance unit, on the horizon, it can be hard to justify pulling for yet another damage dealer. That’s on top of the internal bias and pressure you’ll feel to always put Topaz in a Follow-Up Attack team, similar to the same pressure surrounding Kafka and DoT.
However, on the whole, Topaz is amazing because of how safe she is as an investment (which is very fitting considering that she works in the IPC). Like Silver Wolf before her, getting your hands on Topaz right now will set you up brilliantly for future patches and give you an excellent character to mess around with in the meantime.
Should You Pull Topaz?
Jingliu or Topaz?
In a perfect world, every player would be able to get both Jingliu and Topaz while remaining F2P. However, in reality, most players will only be able to go after one of these two new 5-star units in 1.4. As such, who should you be prioritising pulling on? The frosty Ice Destruction main damage dealer or the Follow-Up Attack buffing Fire Hunt enabler?
If you’re a complete newcomer to Honkai Star Rail, Jingliu will gain a lot more value and become the most viable choice between herself and Topaz, especially if you’re missing some of the signature main damage dealers like Blade or Dan Heng IL. Jingliu’s damage-dealing capabilities are very high and her flaws can be addressed well enough by free-to-play characters like Natasha. On the other hand, Topaz really thrives when you have a large list of potential compositions and characters to slot her in; without that variety, she’ll likely feel lacking, even as a strong Fire Hunt character in her own right.
As such, for anyone who isn’t a new HSR player, Topaz is the far better option. Players who have been around for several versions should have amassed a large quantity of different characters and they will, in all likelihood, have at least a few that work synergistically with Topaz. Whether it’s Jing Yuan, Himeko, Clara or even Blade, Topaz works with so many different characters and playstyles, enabling and buffing Follow-Up Attacks to an insane degree. That’s alongside her own strength with Numby, which isn’t anything to scoff at. Compared to Jingliu, Topaz offers so much more in term in terms of investment: in a sea of damage dealers, especially Destruction ones, Jingliu can get lost in the waters whereas Topaz can push through quite handily.
However, if pure strength is your only concern and you weren’t around for the first banner of Honkai: Star Rail’s release, Seele should become your number-one priority over either Jingliu or Topaz. The Belobog native has her first rerun during phase 2 of Version 1.4, at the same time Topaz is running. Seele has ridiculous single-target damage potential which makes her adept at both add clear (especially with her Talent that refreshes her turn on kill) and boss killing and, since her initial run, more characters like Silver Wolf, Fu Xuan and Lynx have arrived which can better facilitate and raise her output significantly. Compared to Seele, Jingliu and Topaz are far more niche, specialised units, whereas Seele is just a monster who slays her foes without remorse.
Jingliu or Topaz?
So, are either Jingliu or Topaz considered must-pull units? While not as essential as a character like Silver Wolf or Fu Xuan (who are both must-have units for any player), Topaz certainly fits this description. Her ability to buff other Follow-Up Attacks has incredible potential and, with her at your side, you may be able to vastly boost the potential of future characters who rely on that type of damage, making them far more desirable and viable as a result. In comparison, Jingliu is just another damage dealer – a strong one, don’t get me wrong – which we already have plenty of.
As we always say, though, the meta doesn’t define everyone. To many, picking their favourites and building them up to be strong is far more gratifying and satisfying than simply choosing the strong character from the get-go: if you just love Jingliu’s elegant design and have been waiting for her since those initial Star Rail trailers, don’t let anyone stop you from summoning her and her Light Cone. Although, if you are one of those players who cares about the meta, I would recommend focusing on Topaz over Jingliu (and Seele over both of them if you don’t have her).
That was our breakdown of the two new 5-stars coming in Honkai Star Rail Version 1.4, Jingliu and Topaz, and we hope this article helped you work out who to prioritise in the upcoming update. Make sure to check back in on KeenGamer once 1.4 has been released for build guides on Jingliu, Topaz and Guinaifen, the newest Fire 4-Star also arriving in the next version.
