Dan Heng Honkai: Star Rail Guide for Relics, Light Cones, and Skills

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Dan Heng is one of the first characters we meet when starting out in Honkai: Star Rail (HSR). If you’ve immediately taken a liking to him then you’re in luck since he is also given for free upon completing the ‘Eye of the Storm’ portion of the game’s very first chapter ‘Today Is Yesterday’s Tomorrow’.

Introduced to us as the Astral Express’ train guard and archivist, he’s quickly turned into a fan favorite in the HSR community. Known for his sassy attitude, he serves as the comedic straight man to March 7th and either Caelus or Stelle. Together, they form the Astral Express’ lovable trio that journeys to new worlds, solving one Stellaron crisis at a time.

His past may be shrouded in mystery but learning what Dan Heng is capable of in game is not. This Dan Heng Honkai: Star Rail guide will walk you through all the ins and outs of his kit, from relics to skills, to turn your Cloud Piercer into a critting machine.

Best Relic Set and Ornament for Dan Heng

Dan Heng likes to move as swiftly as the wind and cut just as hard as it too. Eagle of Twilight Line allows him to do that by increasing his Wind DMG and moving his action forward with each Ultimate cast. You can obtain this relic set by challenging the Path of Gelid Wind of the Cavern of Corrosion.

These are the bonuses that Eagle of Twilight Line grants:

• 2 Piece Bonus: Increases Wind DMG by 10%.
• 4 Piece Bonus: After the wearer uses Ultimate, their action is Advanced Forward by 25%.

For his Planar Ornaments, you’ve got two viable options. The first one is Space Stealing Station which increases his overall damage output by buffing his ATK. The second option is Inert Salsotto as it gives its wearer a flat amount of CRIT Rate along with improving their Ultimate and follow up attack damage. Dan Heng can use both to great effect so it comes down to stats and players’ preference as to which one is better. Both sets can be obtained as rewards in the Simulated Universe, from World 3 and World 6 respectively.

Space Sealing Station gives the following effects:

• Increases the wearer’s ATK by 12%. When the wearer’s SPD reaches 120 or higher, the wearer’s ATK increases by an extra 12%.

To compare, here are the perks in using Inert Salsotto:

• Increases the wearer’s CRIT Rate by 8%. When the wearer’s current CRIT Rate reaches 50% or higher, the wearer’s Ultimate and follow-up attack DMG increases by 15%.

Stats to Prioritize for Dan Heng

Dan Heng’s ideal gear should have the following stats:

• Body: CRIT Rate
• Feet: ATK% or SPD
• Planar Sphere: Wind DMG
• Link Rope: ATK%

A CRIT Rate body piece gives him assurance that his attacks are more likely to crit than not. Although he is not lacking for SPD due to his skill being able to slow down enemies, players can consider running SPD boots on him so that he can attack more frequently but other than that, ATK% boots will suffice in general. He can run Wind DMG for his Planar Sphere and ATK% on his Link Rope, further improving his offensive capabilities.

Consistency is key for Dan Heng. You’ll want to get crit numbers as a substat on each piece of his gear and aim for a 1:2 ratio between CRIT Rate and CRIT DMG. Apart from that, getting ATK% and SPD are also great to have. Break Effect, though not as important as the ones previously mentioned, can also be useful to some degree.

Best Light Cone for Dan Heng

Premium Light Cones are hard to come by but they’re compensated with great stats and even greater abilities. The Path of the Hunt has a lot of great light cones but the limited ‘In The Night’ sits on top of the list. Using this on Dan Heng will not only increase his CRIT Rate but also give him a conditional ability that stacks more damage on all of his skills depending on his speed. The only problem with this light cone is its availability as the banner for it has passed and players that would like to get a copy of it will have to wait for a rerun.

Here’s a review of ‘In The Night’

• Increases the wearer’s CRIT Rate by 18/21/24/27/30%. While the wearer is in battle, for every 10 SPD that exceeds 100, the DMG of the wearer’s Basic ATK and Skill is increased by 6/7/8/9/10% and the CRIT DMG of their Ultimate is increased by 12/14/16/18/20%. This effect can stack up to 6 times.

If you still want to use a 5-Star light cone on Dan Heng but missed out on getting ‘In The Night’, ‘Sleep Like the Dead’ is an adequate substitute. Instead of CRIT Rate, this light cone gives its wearer a flat amount of CRIT DMG along with a useful ability that increases your crit chances if your prior attack did not crit. ‘Sleep Like the Dead’ is only available through warping or by buying it in the Starlight Exchange shop for 600 Undying Starlight.

‘Sleep Like the Dead’ grants its wearer the following:

• Increases the wearer’s CRIT DMG by 30/35/40/45/50%. When the wearer’s Basic ATK or Skill does not result in a CRIT Hit, increases their CRIT Rate by 36/42/48/54/60% for 1 turn. This effect can only trigger once every 3 turns.

Budget Alternative

His 4-Star options are nothing to scoff at as they can still provide some decent abilities even at a lower rarity. For Dan Heng, his best alternatives are the light cones ‘Swordplay’ and his complementary light cone ‘Only Silence Remains’. They provide different buffs from one another and though it’s not as good as the 5-Stars in terms of general use, they’re powerful in the right situations. ‘Swordplay’ requires its wearer to keep attacking the same target to maximize its effect while ‘Only Silence Remains’ is at its best when facing two or fewer enemies.

Using Swordplay gives its wearer this ability:

• For each time the wearer hits the same target, DMG dealt increases by 8/10/12/14/16%, stacking up to 5 times. This effect will be dispelled when the wearer changes targets.

Meanwhile, ‘Only Silence Remains’ grants these effects:

• Increases ATK of its wearer by 16/20/24/28/32%. If there are 2 or fewer enemies on the field, increase the wearer’s CRIT Rate by 12/15/18/21/24%.

Dan Heng Skill Priorities

• Cloudlancer Art: North Wind (Basic ATK) – Dan Heng’s Basic ATK deals 50 to 110% of his ATK as Wind DMG to an enemy.
• Cloudlancer Art: Torrent (Skill) – His skill deals Wind DMG equal to 130 to 286% of his ATK to a single enemy. He can also reduce a target’s SPD by 12% for 2 turns if he deals them a critical strike.
• Ethereal Dream (Ultimate) – Dan Heng’s Ultimate strikes a single enemy with Wind DMG equal to 240 to 432% of his ATK. If the target enemy is Slowed, Dan Heng’s Ultimate’s DMG multiplier increases by 72 to 130%.
• Superiority of Reach (Talent) – When Dan Heng is the target of an ally’s Ability, his next attack’s Wind RES PEN increases by 18 to 40%. This effect can be triggered again after 2 turns.
• Splitting Spearhead (Technique) – Using his technique increases his ATK by 40% at the start of the next battle for 3 turns.

His skills in order of importance, from most to least:

• Ultimate (Ethereal Dream)
• Skill (Cloudlancer Art: Torrent)
• Talent (Superiority of Reach)
• Basic ATK (Cloudlancer Art: North Wind)

You should max out his Ultimate first as it benefits the most from its level ups, granting great damage scaling to his low energy cost ultimate. Even though leveling his Skill up does not improve the amount of SPD that he reduces from his enemy, the improvement to his skill damage is still substantial enough to take second priority. His talent also appreciates some levels so that he can cut through more of his enemy’s Wind Resistance which translates to more damage dealt. Players can leave his Basic ATK for last as it only offers 110% scaling on max level, literally dealing less damage than his skill even without levels.

To level up Dan Heng’s skills, you’ll need the following resources:

Materials like Destroyer’s Final Road can only be obtained by completing Echo of War and spending 30 Trailblaze Power. It is also time-gated as Echo of War only allows for two attempts every week so players need to strategize on where to dedicate their limited resources first.

Best Dan Heng Team Compositions

Dan Heng is a great single target DPS, able to rival the damage of other higher rarity characters when his talents are utilized optimally either through gameplay or team building. He can also function in a team with another DPS, preferably someone that can deal AoE damage so that Dan Heng can focus on cleaning up the stragglers.

This lone wolf actually works well with the following characters:

• March 7th (A good duo. March 7th can give him shields and activate his talent)
• Welt (Mr. Yang is king in slowing enemies down which empowers Dan Heng’s ultimate)
• Trailblazer (Fire) (Astral Express represent. Just an overall good taunt tank)
• Bronya (Buffs his ATK, CRIT DMG, activates his talent, and grants him another turn)
• Serval (An AoE DPS character that’s not skill point hungry)
• Asta (Great SPD support)
• Natasha (Good healer)

Honkai: Star Rail has done an exceptional job in providing players with starter characters that are not only likable but also good enough to go toe to toe with the hardest of challenges this game has to offer. The journey on the Astral Express is bound to be a long one but given enough dedication and investment, good companions like Dan Heng can be with you every step of the way.