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Black Swan Best Builds, Teams & Relics

Honkai: Star Rail
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Character Profile Build Guide Best Teams

Introductions

Black Swan is a 5★ Wind Character following the Path of Nihility. Black Swan is a strong old DoT Carry who has been buffed significantly with her recent Novaflare Update.
Our Black Swan Build Guide will show you the best Light Cones, Relics and Team Compositions build the best Black Swan you can.

In Patch 4.0 Black Swan received a Novaflare update buffing her kit, adjusting how she works and, increasing her strength. This guide will be based on the newly buffed Novaflare version and there is no reason to use the old version of the character. The Novaflare buff is approximately a ~50-60% DPS increase for Black Swan Teams. For more information on what changed see the dedicated section below.

Black Swan's Best Light Cone

The percentage numbers listed showcase the relative Team DPS increase when you take into account both the Light Cone Effect(s) and Cones Base Stats.

Reforged Remembrance (S1)
107.9%
Increases the wearer's Effect Hit Rate by 40.0 / 45.0 / 50.0 / 55.0 / 60.0%. When the wearer deals DMG to an enemy inflicted with Wind Shear, Burn, Shock, or Bleed, each respectively grants 1 stack of Prophet, stacking up to 4 time(s). In a single battle, only 1 stack of Prophet can be granted for each type of DoT. Every stack of Prophet increases wearer's ATK by 5.0 / 6.0 / 7.0 / 8.0 / 9.0% and enables the DoT dealt to ignore 7.2 / 7.9 / 8.6 / 9.3 / 10.0% of the target's DEF.

Sources: Event Warp (limited)
This is Black Swan's Signature Light Cone. This Light Cone provides a huge amount of stats but most importantly grants Black Swan enough DEF Ignore to reach 100% DEF Ignore when factoring in Black Swans Skill, her best Relic Set and other teammates effects.
Those Many Springs (S5)
107%
Increases the wearer's Effect Hit Rate by 60.0 / 70.0 / 80.0 / 90.0 / 100%. After the wearer uses Basic ATK, Skill, or Ultimate to attack an enemy target, there is a 60.0% base chance to inflict "Unarmored" on the target. While in the Unarmored state, the enemy target receives 10.0 / 12.0 / 14.0 / 16.0 / 18.0% increased DMG, lasting for 2 turn(s). If the target is under a DoT state inflicted by the wearer, there is a 60.0% base chance to upgrade the "Unarmored" state inflicted by the wearer to the "Cornered" state, which additionally increases the DMG the enemy target receives by 14.0 / 16.0 / 18.0 / 20.0 / 22.0%, lasting for 2 turn(s). During this period, the wearer cannot inflict "Unarmored" on the target.

Sources: Event Warp (limited)
This is Jiaoqiu's Signature Light Cone. This Light Cone is strong due to offering a huge amount of Effect Hit Rate which makes gearing easier, letting you get more ATK% instead, and applying a large DMG vulnerability to enemies which increases the damage of all teammates not just Black Swans. This will perform worse in teams that do not have Hysilens as it sacrifices personal damage for the debuff.
Holiday Thermae Escapade (S5)
106.1%
Increases the wearer's DMG dealt by 16.0 / 20.0 / 24.0 / 28.0 / 32.0%. After the wearer attacks, there is a 100% base chance to inflict the attacked target with Vulnerability, increasing the DMG they receive by 10.0 / 11.5 / 13.0 / 14.5 / 16.0% for 2 turn(s). Effects of the same type cannot stack.

Sources: Nameless Glory
This Battlepass Nihility Light Cone that has a lot of DMG % and a large increased DMG taken debuff that will boost the entire team's DPS. As this Light Cone does not have Effect Hit Rate it makes gearing more challenging as Black Swan needs to have 120% EHR.
Why Does the Ocean Sing (S1)
105.1%
Increases the wearer's Effect Hit Rate by 40.0 / 45.0 / 50.0 / 55.0 / 60.0%. When an enemy target gets inflicted with a debuff by the wearer, there is a 80.0% base chance for them to enter "Enthrallment," lasting for 3 turn(s). Effects of the same type cannot stack. While the target is in "Enthrallment," for every 1 debuff applied by the wearer on the target, increases the target's received DoT by 5.0 / 6.3 / 7.5 / 8.8 / 10.0%, stacking up to 6 time(s). When the target gets attacked by an ally, increases the attacker's SPD by 10.0 / 12.5 / 15.0 / 17.5 / 20.0% for 3 turn(s). When the wearer gets knocked down, removes all "Enthrallment."

Sources: Event Warp (limited)
This is Hysilens's Signature Light Cone and is a potent option for Black Swan. This Light Cone increases grants Effect Hit Rate and applies a DoT vulnerability debuff that scales with the number of debuffs on the enemy. Allies who hit targets afflicted with this debuff get a 10% SPD Buff.
If your Black Swan is not E1, you will not have enough debuffs to maximise this Light Cones effect. However, if you do have E1 then it becomes a joint best-in-slot with Reforged Remembrance. This Light Cone is better played on Hysilens and multiple copies of the Light Cone do not stack.
Lies Dance on the Breeze (S1)
104.5%
Increases the wearer's SPD by 18.0 / 21.0 / 24.0 / 27.0 / 30.0%. After the wearer uses an attack, there is a 120.0% base chance to inflict the "Bamboozle" state on every enemy target. While under the "Bamboozle" state, enemy targets have their DEF decreased by 16.0 / 18.0 / 20.0 / 22.0 / 24.0% for 2 turn(s). If the wearer's SPD is higher than or equal to 170, there is a 120.0% base chance to inflict the "Theft" state on every enemy target. While under the "Theft" state, enemy targets have their DEF decreased by 8.0 / 9.0 / 10.0 / 11.0 / 12.0% for 2 turn(s). When "Bamboozle" or "Theft" is repeatedly inflicted, only the most recently inflicted instance takes effect.

Sources: Event Warp (limited)
This is Ciphers's Signature Light Cone. This Light Cone has a powerful DEF reducing debuff that is a massive boost to overall team DPS alongside a large SPD% boost. This SPD% is not immensely valuable on Black Swan as post Novaflare update she does not need to use her Skill to maintain her Def Shred debuff. Additionally, this Light Cone lacks Effect Hit Rate making her harder to gear and reach her 120% Effect Hit Rate Breakpoint.
Resolution Shines As Pearls of Sweat (S5)
103.9%
When the wearer hits an enemy and if the hit enemy is not already "Ensnared," then there is a 60.0 / 70.0 / 80.0 / 90.0 / 100% base chance to "Ensnare" the hit enemy. "Ensnared" enemies' DEF decreases by 12.0 / 13.0 / 14.0 / 15.0 / 16.0% for 1 turn(s).

Sources: Stellar Warp
This is a 4★ Light Cone for Nihility Characters that applies a DEF reduction debuff on enemies increasing overall team damage. This Light Cone does not have any Effect Hit Rate which will make gearing more challenging.
Eyes of the Prey (S5)
100%
Increases the wearer's Effect Hit Rate by 20.0 / 25.0 / 30.0 / 35.0 / 40.0% and increases DoT by 24.0 / 30.0 / 36.0 / 42.0 / 48.0%.

Sources: Stellar Warp
This 4★ Light Cone provides a significant amount of Effect Hit Rate and DoT DMG which are both valuable stats making this a strong 4★ Light Cone for Black Swan. The Effect Hit Rate on the Light Cone makes the gearing process easier as Black Swan needs to reach 120% Effect Hit Rate to maximise the effect of her A2 Trace Candleflame's Portent.
Holiday Thermae Escapade (S1)
99.7%
Increases the wearer's DMG dealt by 16.0 / 20.0 / 24.0 / 28.0 / 32.0%. After the wearer attacks, there is a 100% base chance to inflict the attacked target with Vulnerability, increasing the DMG they receive by 10.0 / 11.5 / 13.0 / 14.5 / 16.0% for 2 turn(s). Effects of the same type cannot stack.

Sources: Nameless Glory
Resolution Shines As Pearls of Sweat (S1)
99.6%
When the wearer hits an enemy and if the hit enemy is not already "Ensnared," then there is a 60.0 / 70.0 / 80.0 / 90.0 / 100% base chance to "Ensnare" the hit enemy. "Ensnared" enemies' DEF decreases by 12.0 / 13.0 / 14.0 / 15.0 / 16.0% for 1 turn(s).

Sources: Stellar Warp
Patience Is All You Need (S1)
99.4%
Increases DMG dealt by the wearer by 24.0 / 28.0 / 32.0 / 36.0 / 40.0%. After every attack launched by wearer, their SPD increases by 4.8 / 5.6 / 6.4 / 7.2 / 8.0%, stacking up to 3 times. If the wearer hits an enemy target that is not afflicted by Erode, there is a 100% base chance to inflict Erode to the target. Enemies afflicted with Erode are also considered to be Shocked and will receive Lightning DoT at the start of each turn equal to 60.0 / 70.0 / 80.0 / 90.0 / 100% of the wearer's ATK, lasting for 1 turn(s).

Sources: Event Warp (limited)
Good Night and Sleep Well (S5)
99.0%
For every debuff the target enemy has, the DMG dealt by the wearer increases by 12.0 / 15.0 / 18.0 / 21.0 / 24.0%, stacking up to 3 time(s). This effect also applies to DoT.

Sources: Stellar Warp
This 4★ Light Cone provides a massive amount of DMG % for Black Swan per debuff on the enemy. Black Swan does not apply enough debuffs to receive the maximum effect from this Light Cone but her teammates will apply enough. This Light Cone also lacks Effect Hit Rate that makes gearing less efficient.
Eyes of the Prey (S1)
94.6%
Increases the wearer's Effect Hit Rate by 20.0 / 25.0 / 30.0 / 35.0 / 40.0% and increases DoT by 24.0 / 30.0 / 36.0 / 42.0 / 48.0%.

Sources: Stellar Warp
Fermata (S5)
93.6%
Increases the wearer's Break Effect by 16.0 / 20.0 / 24.0 / 28.0 / 32.0%, and increases their DMG to enemies afflicted with Shock or Wind Shear by 16.0 / 20.0 / 24.0 / 28.0 / 32.0%. This also applies to DoT.

Sources: Forgotten Hall Store, Echo of War

Best Relics and Planar Ornaments for Black Swan

Best Relics for Black Swan

These are the best Relic Sets to build for Black Swan. The percentage shows the relative difference to Black Swan's best performing set.

Prisoner in Deep Confinement
100%
2-Piece Set: Increases ATK by 12.0%.
4-Piece Set: For every DoT the enemy target is afflicted with, the wearer will ignore 6.0% of its DEF when dealing DMG to it. This effect is valid for a max of 3 DoTs.
This Relic Set is by far the best set to build for Black Swan due to how potent DEF Ignore is. If you are playing with Black Swan's Personal Light Cone Reforged Remembrance then other options are closer as you will be over 100% DEF Ignore in most teams. If you do not have Reforged Remembrance then other Relic options are over 5% DPS behind and not worth considering even if you have extremely poorly rolled Prisoner in Deep Confinement set pieces.
Eagle of Twilight Line
98.2% Prisoner in Deep Confinement
2-Piece Set: Increases Wind DMG by 10.0%.
4-Piece Set: After the wearer uses their Ultimate, their action is Advanced Forward by 25.0%.
2-Piece Set: Increases ATK by 12.0%.
4-Piece Set: For every DoT the enemy target is afflicted with, the wearer will ignore 6.0% of its DEF when dealing DMG to it. This effect is valid for a max of 3 DoTs.
Using 2pc-2pc Set options can be a viable option. We suggest using two of:
  • Eagle of Twilight Line — 10% Wind DMG.
  • Prisoner in Deep Confinement — 12% ATK.
  • Musketeer of Wild Wheat — 12% ATK.
  • The Wind-Soaring Valorous — 12% ATK.
  • Hero of Triumphant Song — 12% ATK.
  • Hero of Triumphant Song — 12% ATK.
It is approximately 0.2% less DPS to use 2 12% ATK sets over using Eagle of Twilight Line. For reference, one ATK% roll on gear is worth approximately 0.4% Team DPS so you would need to get at least five additional ATK% rolls, while still maintaining her minimum of 120% Effect Hit Rate, for this to be competitive with a Prisoner in Deep Confinement 4pc.

Best Planar Ornaments

Revelry by the Sea
100%
2-Piece Set: Increases the wearer's ATK by 12.0%. When the wearer's ATK is higher than or equal to 2400/3600, increases the DoT DMG dealt by 12.0%/24.0% respectively.
This is Black Swan's best-in-slot Planar Ornament and gives a lot of DMG% while you have at least 3600 ATK. Black Swan will trivially get 3600 ATK as she does not build SPD and Kafka grants 100% ATK to all allies who have at least 75% Effect Hit Rate which Black Swan should always have.
Pan-Cosmic Commercial Enterprise
98.3%
2-Piece Set: Increases the wearer's Effect Hit Rate by 10.0%. Meanwhile, the wearer's ATK increases by an amount that is equal to 25.0% of the current Effect Hit Rate, up to a maximum increase of 25.0%.
This is Black Swan's second best Planar Ornament as both ATK% and Effect Hit Rate are strong damage stats for Black Swan. This Planar Ornament can be useful if you do not have an Effect Hit Rate Light Cone to make it easier to get 120% Effect Hit Rate.

Black Swan's Stat Priority

Body
Effect Hit Rate
>
ATK%
Feet
ATK%
Planar Sphere
Wind DMG Boost
>
ATK%
Link Rope
ATK%
Stat Priority
Effect Hit Rate (To 120%)
>
ATK%
>
ATK
=
SPD
=
Effect Hit Rate (Over 120%)

Recommended Endgame Stats for Black Swan

HP
2800+
DEF
800+
ATK
3600+
Effect Hit Rate
120%
SPD
Base SPD

Traces Priority

Skills Priority
Talent > Skill > Ultimate > Basic
Major Traces Priority
Candleflame's Portent > Goblet's Dredges > Viscera's Disquiet

Black Swan Build Comments

Character Explanation Novaflare Update Build Advice Triple DoT Teams Dual DoT Teams Teams without Kafka

Character Explanation

Black Swan is a DoT Character based around her talent Loom of Fate's Caprice. Her Talent provides the "Arcana" DoT that is special since it counts as a Bleed, Burn, Wind Shear and Shock DoT effect.
Additionally, Arcana will not expire after being applied and can stack up gaining additional damage. Her Arcana DoT is applied to every enemy automatically by her A4 Trace Goblet's Dredges.

When Black Swan's Arcana DoT ticks on the enemy's turn it will lose half of its current stacks unless her Ultimate (Bliss of Otherworld's Embrace) debuff "Epiphany" is active. After this it will reduce the number of total stacks to the current maximum for damage (50 baseline, 80 with her E6 Pantheon Merciful, Masses Pitiful) if it has more stacks remaining.

The main sources of Arcana Stacks are:

  • Allied DoT Ticks — This includes ticks from the enemies turn or forced ticks like from Kafka's Skill and Follow-up ATK.
  • Black Swan's A6 Trace Viscera's Disquiet — This allows for Black Swan's Basic ATK, Skill and, Ultimate to apply 5 stacks to each enemy hit.
  • Black Swan's Ultimate Bliss of Otherworld's Embrace — On enemies in the Epiphany state Black Swan has a 50% fixed chance to gain an additional stack of Arcana.

Black Swan will apply a powerful DEF Shred based on the level of her skill Decadence, False Twilight. This debuff is also applied by her Basic ATK and Ultimate via her A4 Trace Goblet's Dredges,

Black Swan increases the damage of all allies via her A6 Trace Candleflame's Portent. The increase provided to allies is based on her Effect Hit Rate, granting 60% of her Effect Hit Rate as damage to everyone. The maximum damage provided is 72% which will happen at 120% Effect Hit Rate. This results in Effect Hit Rate being the most important stat for Black Swan to build until she has 120% Effect Hit Rate.

Novaflare Update

In this section we will detail the main changes that Black Swan received with her Novaflare Update. Overall these changes are a 50-60% DPS increase for the team and vastly improve team skill point economy.

The most significant changes were done to Black Swan's DoT Arcana. This DoT is from Black Swan's Talent Loom of Fate's Caprice. Here are a list of the changes to the DoT:

  • The DoT no longer needs 3 Stacks to ignore DEF and this will now always apply.
  • The DoT will now always cleave when it ticks at the start of an enemies turn.
  • Stacks of the DoT no longer reset to 1, instead halving each time it ticks at the start of the enemies turn. With her Ultimate debuff active the stacks will not decrease.
  • Black Swan can gain more than 3 stacks per DoT event, significantly boosting the number of stacks.
  • Black Swan always adds 5 stacks with her Basic ATK, Skill and Ultimate to each enemy hit thanks to her A4 Trace Goblet's Dredges.

Black Swan's A2 Trace Candleflame's Portent now applies to all allies. This is a significant boost to overall Team DPS as it previously only applied to Black Swan.

Black Swan's DEF Shred debuff, applied from her Skill Decadence, False Twilight, can now be applied by any of her abilities thanks to her A4 Trace Goblet's Dredges. This lets you choose to only use Basic ATKs which makes her strictly SP positive. This is a huge boon for DoT teams as they were historically Skill Point starved and getting to use Skill on Hysilens makes her Ultimate uptime easier to maintain.

Black Swan's Ultimate Bliss of Otherworld's Embrace's debuff Epiphany now increases damage enemies take at all times instead of only during their turn.

Build Advice

The most important stat to build on Black Swan is Effect Hit Rate. It is extremely important to get to 120% Effect Hit Rate to cap out the effect of Candleflame's Portent. This will also give enough Effect Hit Rate so that Black Swan will always apply her DEF shred debuff.

We suggest using an Effect Hit Rate body as it makes gearing Black Swan significantly easier at low investments and it is required if you not using an Effect Hit Rate Light Cone.

1 ATK% roll on Black Swan is approximately 0.4% to 0.5% Team DPS, depending on your other gear and character setups.

If you are going for a high investment Black Swan (30+ useful substats) then using an ATK% Body can be better as it balances the stats you are aiming for on your gear better letting you get more total useful substats but we do not recommend it for most people as it is very hard to get gear of this quality. Information on gearing like this is detailed below.

With an Effect Hit Rate Body and a 40% Effect Hit Rate Light Cone Black Swan will only need approximately 7 substats of Effect Hit Rate to reach 120% Effect Hit Rate. With this setup she can obtain a maximum of 16 ATK% rolls with reasonable chance across her gear (Valid on 4 pieces as she has ATK% Rope and Shoes) for a maximum of 23 ATK% + EHR Rolls. We strongly suggest also aiming for Flat ATK on her ATK% pieces as these are approximately 40% of the value of an ATK% roll and makes it easier to roll better Relics. With lucky 4+ ATK% upgrade pieces you could get more damage but that many upgrades are extremely rare to obtain on a single stat.

With an ATK% Body she will need ~18 substats of Effect Hit Rate to get to 120% EHR but will only have a reasonable maximum of 12 ATK% rolls across her gear since you cannot roll ATK% on an additional piece. Combined this would be ~30 substats usefully used. This is very difficult to hit however as it needs you get 3 or 4 useful upgrades on every item. This setup is equal to an Effect Hit Rate Body at 7 ATK% Rolls without taking into account additional Flat ATK rolls which are worth about 40% of an ATK% roll each.

Speed is not a very powerful stat for Black Swan as most of her damage comes from her DoT which gets most of its stacks from other DoT Ticks. Having higher SPD will slightly increase Black Swans ultimate uptime but this is not a significant DPS gain compared to investing in ATK%. That being said if you find yourself in need of more Skill Points then getting a small amount of SPD on Black Swan to match her to Hysilens can help with Skill Point generation.

We do not suggest using an Energy Regeneration Rate Rope as the increased Ultimate Uptime is worse for DPS than having more ATK. Using an Energy Regeneration Rate rope is approximately 2.5% less DPS (~5 ATK% substats).

Triple DoT Teams

Triple DoT teams are mainly based around Hysilens, Kafka and Black Swan. These teams are the standard team setups available and is significantly ahead of other triple DoT options.

We do not recommend playing triple DoT teams without Kafka from the team as she makes up a significant source of your teams overall DoT Ticks.

Triple DoT teams are useful for endgame content like Anomaly Arbitration as they do not use any Support Characters that are in high demand for other teams.

Sampo at E4 or higher is the best replacement character for either Kafka or Hysilens if you want to make a triple DoT team with Black Swan work as he can trigger DoT effects. Despite this he is still far behind in both power and comfort.

Dual DoT Teams

The main core for a Dual DoT team is Kafka and Black Swan with a powerful Harmony or Nihility support as their third Character. Common options include Robin, Cipher, Ruan Mei, Tribbie or Silver Wolf

A more niche Dual DoT team that can function is Hysilens, Black Swan and using Cyrene as the support. This team works because Hysilens will be able to trigger DoT effects after being buffed by Cyrene which deals competitive damage but has a long ramp up time.

These teams are completely viable and deal excellent damage but they use characters that are highly competitive for other teams which can make it harder to field multiple strong teams for 2 or 3 Team content.

Teams without Kafka

We do not recommend playing DoT Teams without Kafka unless you are specifically playing Hysilens with Cyrene. This is because Cyrene allows for Hysilens to fill the role of Kafka and trigger DoT effects.

Ideally in teams without Kafka you would run an E4 or higher Sampo and play him in a similar fashion to how Kafka is usually played. He will use his Skill every turn to try and trigger as many Wind Shears as possible to let Black Swan deal damage.

Black Swan's Best Teams

To learn all about Black Swan's synergies and best team compositions, check our dedicated Black Swan's team page below:

Black Swan Teams

Black Swan's Best Eidolons

Black Swan's first Eidolon is by far her most powerful Eidolon and we would strongly suggest stopping there as the future Eidolons are not efficient investment compared to the other DoT Characters. Black Swan's second Eidolon can make Pure Fiction slightly more comfortable as it starts enemies on a higher stack total but is still worse than vertically investing in the other core DoT characters.
Recommended vertical investment order for DoT Teams is Hysilens' E1 (48.9%) -> Black Swan E1 (31.8%) -> Hysilens' E2 (30.8%) -> Kafka E1 (18%) -> Kafka E2 (10.8%).
Listed below are our calculations for Kafka's Eidolons:
Listed below are our calculations for Black Swan's Eidolons:

Eidolon % Diff % Diff E0 Comment
Seven Pillars of Wisdom 31.8% 31.8% This is Black Swans best Eidolon by a large margin and reduces all enemy RES by 25% which is a significant DPS gain.
Weep Not For Me, My Lamb 6.5% 42.6% This Eidolon is quite powerful for an E3 as it boosts the levels of Black Swans Talent which makes up the vast majority of her damage output.
As Above, So Below 7.7% 83% Most of Black Swan's Damage comes her Ultimate making the levels extremely valuable.
In Tears We Gift 4.6% 49.2% This E4 does not increase Black Swans damage significantly on Single Target as her Ultimates uptime is high enough on extended encounters. This does provide a large increase to the burst damage provided within her ultimate. On AoE encounters this is significantly stronger in AoE environments provides get closer to 20% DPS increase.
Linnutee Flyway 0.4% 49.8% Black Swan's Basic ATK and Ultimate do not contribute much to her overall damage making this weak. Most of the DPS increase comes from the increased Ultimate amplification size.
Pantheon Merciful, Masses Pitiful 28.3% 92.1% Very strong Eidolon. This Eidolon increases the maximum stacks of Arcana to 80 and grants additional stacks of Arcana whenever they are triggered.
Saeldur
Staff Author
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This guide has been written by Saeldur, an Evoker Theorycrafter since the class came out in Dragonflight. He is an accomplished high end player with top parses on multiple specs, an Expert on the Evoker Discord, and has a deep understanding of many other classes, and how they interact with Augmentation Evoker.

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