In Honkai: Star Rail, Yunli is a 5-star character who is a Physical character and belongs to the Destruction path. In a team, she can play the role of a primary or secondary damage dealer, dealing massive damage with her counterattacks. In this guide, you will be able to learn about her best builds, light cones, and relics. We will also tell you about the recommended squads with her.
Note: The talented swordswoman from Zhuming Xianzhou has not yet been officially released, so the information presented here is based on the information obtained during beta testing. If necessary, we will update the guide when the heroine appears in the game.
Yunli's Main Features
How to Get Yunli
This heroine can only be obtained during the event Jump. In the near future, the corresponding banner will be launched as part of the first phase of patch 2.4. If you want to be among the first to know about her next rerun, we advise you to bookmark this article.
Let's add that HoYoverse has only given away a 5-star character once for winning the “Best Mobile Game of the Year” nomination, and never for completing various events, so it's highly likely that you'll only be able to unlock this talented swordswoman from Zhuming Xianzhou using Jumps.
Yunli's Stat Progression
The table below shows how the heroine's basic stats change as she levels up.
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| Level | Attack Power | Defense | HP | Speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 63 | 185 | 94 | |
| 20 | 180 | 122 | 360 | 94 |
| 40 | 347 | 235 | 693 | 94 |
| 60 | 513 | 348 | 1100 | 94 |
| 80 | 679 | 461 | 1358 | 94 |
Note that her critical damage, critical hit chance, and taunt are 50%, 5%, and 125 units respectively at any level, and her energy reserve is 240 units.
Yunli's Abilities
The most important ability of the swordswoman is the talent “Bright Forge”, since it is the basis of her entire gameplay, so let's look at this passive first. When attacked by an enemy, Yunli immediately counterattacks, which deals physical damage to the attacking enemy equal to 60-120% of her attack power, and also damages adjacent targets in the amount of 30-60% of her ATK.
If there are no enemies nearby to counterattack, it strikes random enemies. The heroine additionally restores 15 units of energy if she receives a blow.
Explanation: The main purpose of the talent is to accumulate energy. For example, when receiving a blow from an enemy, she will receive a total of 25-35 units of energy (5-15 from the enemy attack, 15 from the passive, and another 5 from the counterattack). This significantly simplifies the activation of the ult, which significantly increases the heroine's attacks.
When using the basic attack “Gust Flip”, she deals physical damage to the enemy in the amount of 50~100% of her attack power. At the same time, she restores 20 units of energy and penetrates 30 units of tenacity.
Explanation: Regular, unremarkable attacks that can deal relatively significant damage due to the heroine's high basic attack. You will most likely use them quite often due to the skill's not very high utility. This will allow you to save skill points.
After using the Shockwave skill, she restores health in the amount of 20-30% of her attack power +50-200 units, and also deals physical damage to the selected target and nearby enemies in the amount of 60~120% and 30-60% of her attack power, respectively. At the same time, the skill restores 30 units of energy and penetrates 60 units of durability (the explosion can remove another 30 units).
Explanation: The skill deals very little damage and often gives less energy than a counterattack that deals the same amount of damage. For this reason, it is not necessary to use the skill on every turn of Yunli – it is better to use a basic attack to save points. However, it can be useful if you need to urgently heal the heroine.
After using the super ability “Heaven's Messenger”, she places Taunt on all enemies and gains the Block status until the end of the ally's or enemy's next turn. The next counterattack is replaced with Intuition: Extermination, which deals physical damage to the attacking enemy equal to 132-220% of Yunli's attack power and 66-110% to adjacent targets, and then the heroine deals 6 additional hits to random enemies, the damage of which is equal to 43.2-72% of the heroine's ATK. After this, the Block status is removed.
If the counterattack was not activated during the Block, Yunli will perform an Intuition: Chop attack, dealing physical damage to a random enemy equal to 132-220% of Yunli's attack power and 66-110% to adjacent targets. Critical damage of both attacks is increased by 60-100%. The damage dealt is considered super ability damage.
Explanation: Considering that Chop is slightly weaker than Extermination, it is extremely important to choose the right moment to use the ult, that is, you do not need to activate it immediately after accumulating 120 units of energy. If you do this before your ally's turn, the Block status will disappear, and the heroine will not perform the Extermination strike.
So you should activate the ultimate right before the enemy's turn (preferably the most dangerous one in the arena) to cast Taunt on him. As a result, he is guaranteed to attack the swordswoman, and she will perform an enhanced counterattack Intuit: Extermination. Let's add that the developers specifically allowed players to accumulate 240 units of energy in Yunli – the energy received in excess of the norm (120 units) will not burn in vain while you wait for the right moment to activate the superpower.
It is also impossible not to mention the Preemptive Strike technique, the use of which allows you to get the Ward effect for 20 seconds. If during its effect Yunli (or her allies) attacks an enemy or is hit, then after the start of the battle she will immediately use Intuition: Extermination on a random target, increasing the damage of this attack by 80%.
Yunli's Footprints
In addition to the above abilities, the heroine’s leveling tree also includes other enhancements that provide passive bonuses or permanent increases to characteristics. It's mainly about increasing your maximum health, attack power, and critical hit chance. You can get acquainted with them all in the picture below.
Next, we will briefly consider special tracks with their own mechanics:
- Fire Disc – After each activation of Intuit: Chop, her next activation is replaced by Intuit: Extermination. This allows you to use the most powerful counterattack in at least half of the ult's actions, if the enemies are not eager to attack Yunli. At the same time, you can see that the next blow will be Extermination by a small glowing icon near the heroine's portrait.
- Exorcism of Demons – if Yunli has the Block status, it is impossible to take control, and the damage she receives is reduced by 20%. This passive reduces the likelihood that the heroine will be incapacitated after activating the ult before the enemy's turn.
- True Split – Using a counter attack increases Yunli's attack power by 30% for 1 turn. Simply increases the character's overall damage.
Yunli's Eidolons
To unlock them, you need the materials of the same name, which are given out when duplicates of the heroine drop, which, of course, is random. And given the rarity of 5-star characters, be prepared to spend a lot of money and time on this. Fortunately, even without Eidolons, Yunli can easily play the role of the main damage dealer in the team. Below is a list of them:
- Weathered Blade Does Not Get Dirty – increases the damage done by Intuit: Chop and Intuit: Extermination by 20%. The latter deals 3 additional hits more.
- First Glitter at Dawn – counterattack ignores 20% of the target's defense.
- Mast Length – the ult level increases by two, and the basic attack – by one. The maximum level of the first increases to 15, and the second – to 10.
- Iron Song of the Craftsman – after using Intuit: Cutting and Intuit: Extermination increases the heroine's resistance to effects by 50% for 1 turn.
- The Old Blade Will Outlive Them All – the skill and talent level increases by two. The maximum level of both increases to 15. Good increase in overall damage.
- Walk in the blade, speak in the zither – While Block is in effect, if the enemy activates their ability, regardless of whether they attack Yunli or not, Intuit: Annihilation is still used. When dealing damage through Intuit: Chop or Intuit: Annihilation, the critical hit rate increases by 15%, and the penetration of physical vulnerability increases by 20%.
If you plan to knock out eidolons and you have a limited budget, then you can easily stop at E1 and E2. The first will enhance the heroine's bonus attacks, and the second will allow them to deal much more damage. The first eidolon is less useful, so if you have to choose between it and the signature, we advise you to take the second option.
How to play as Yunli
Many compare Yunli to Clara, considering her an improved version of the Belobog resident, but this is not true at all. Firstly, the gameplay for the swordswoman requires more involvement in the process, since it is not enough to just press the ult and wait for you to be attacked – you need to correctly guess the moment, activating the super ability right before the turn of the enemy you want to finish off as soon as possible.
Secondly, Yunli is more suitable for destroying strong single enemies, since the counterattack Intuition: Extermination allows you to deal 6 additional blows to one target in the absence of other mobs nearby. In addition, her skill only hits 3 enemies, while Clara's hits everyone on the battlefield, and enemies with marks receive increased damage. Plus, the latter will be attacked more often if there are many enemies in the arena.
Let's add that Yunli doesn't necessarily have to be turned into a main damage dealer – you can easily use her as a sub-DD/tank, who will distract enemies, give you additional skill points, using mainly basic attacks, and constantly deal damage with counterattacks without your direct participation.
As for the optimal rotation for Yunli, it will look like this:
- Activate the heroine's technique before the start of the battle to immediately deal a powerful blow to the enemies. In the Virtual Universe and its varieties, you will be able to destroy all ordinary mobs at once or remove their resistance.
- After Yunli's turn, you can use her basic attack to save skill points for sub-DD and/or supports, since counterattacks still give the same or even more energy and deal the same damage. An additional 10 energy and hundreds of damage will not change the fight dramatically. You can use the skill if you urgently need to finish off an enemy or heal the heroine.
- When you accumulate the first 120 units of energy, and the ult becomes available to you, do not use it right away. Wait for the moment when the enemy you want to destroy quickly (boss or elite enemy) is about to go and only then activate the super ability so that the selected monster is guaranteed to attack Yunli and receive Intuition: Extermination from her.
Yunli's Advantages and Disadvantages
Thanks to her unique abilities, Yunli can inflict huge damage with counterattacks, both to single enemies and groups of opponents. Her advantages also include:
- She has high basic attack and health (these parameters are additionally increased by Traces), which has a positive effect on her damage and survivability.
- Mainly aimed at dealing damage to single targets, but also shows itself well in battles with large groups of enemies, as her counterattacks hit several targets at once.
- Capable of performing the function of not only a damage dealer, but also a tank, distracting the attention of enemies with the help of Taunt. At the same time, you do not have to spend healer abilities on her, as she can heal herself.
- Her build is relatively easy to build, because she does not require high speed, since she deals most of her damage with counterattacks, and her ult significantly increases critical damage. As a result, you can focus all your efforts on just two stats: attack power and critical hit chance.
- Allows you to save skill points, since the heroine does not need to activate her skill all the time. This makes it easier to use her with some hypercarry who needs skill points.
- Thanks to the double energy reserve, she can easily gain it even after the ult is ready for use.
Plays her main role perfectly even without Eidolons, which will surely appeal to F2P players.
However, there are some downsides, some of which follow directly from her advantages:
- Her main source of damage is her counterattack Intuit: Extermination, which is triggered after activating her ultimate, so it is extremely important for her to gain energy as quickly as possible. However, if enemies do not attack her often, she may have problems with this.
- You need to be extremely careful when using the ultimate to ensure that Intuit: Extermination works on the right enemy. However, not all players will like to constantly monitor the actions of allies and enemies. In addition, the effectiveness of this tactic can be significantly reduced if mobs move slowly or rarely attack.
- She doesn't work well with characters who apply Freeze, Imprisonment, or other types of long-term stun, because in this case, enemies will not be able to attack her, and, therefore, she will not be able to carry out counterattacks.
- She can only apply Taunt during actions of the ult, but at the same time it is important for her that opponents hit her more often. Therefore, it is extremely important to get her signature weapon or take a support that increases the probability of attack (Lynx, March 7).
Best builds for Yunli
Best light cones
When choosing a weapon, you should pay attention to those options that increase attack power, critical hit chance, and the probability of being attacked, as well as enhance bonus attacks and superpowers. The table below presents the most interesting options.
| Name | Characteristics | Ability |
|---|---|---|
Sunset Dance (5 stars) | HP: 48- 1058 Attack power: 26-582 Defense: 21-463 | Significantly increases the likelihood that the owner will be attacked and increases their critical damage by 36-60%. After the owner uses the ult, he gets 1 charge of Fire Dance, which lasts for 2 turns and stacks up to 2 times. Each charge increases the damage dealt by the next attack by 36-60%. Yunli's signature weapon, increasing all the stats she needs. Except that it does not give a critical chance, so you will have to get it from relics. With this cone, it will be unnecessary to take Lynx into the squad. |
Brighter Than the Sun (5 Stars) | HP: 1058 ATK: 635 DEF: 396 | Increases Crit. Chance by 18%. When the owner uses a basic attack, he gains 1 level of Dragon's Call status for 2 turns. Each level of Dragon's Call increases Attack Power by 18% and Energy Recovery Speed by 6%. Dragon's Call status can be stacked up to 2 times. Gives Yunli the critical chance he needs. Since you will be using the basic attack often, you can easily activate the passive, which will make it easier for you to accumulate energy for the ult and increase the damage from counterattacks. |
Inaccessible side (5 stars) | HP: 57~1270 Attack power: 26~582 Defense: 15~330 | Increases critical strike chance and health by 18-30%. When receiving an attack or losing health, the hero's damage increases by 24-40%. The buff disappears after using the attack. Gives Yunli the critical chance she needs and increases her survivability. Again, she will be able to activate the passive without any problems, because the heroine will be attacked often, so her counterattacks will be able to inflict even more damage. |
Something Irreplaceable (5 Stars) | HP: 1164 ATK: 582 DEF: 396 | Increases attack power by 24-40%. After destroying an enemy or receiving a hit, immediately restores health equal to 8-12% of attack power. The wearer's damage increases by 24-40% until the end of the next turn. The bonus is not cumulative and is activated only once per turn. Significantly increases attack power, which increases her overall damage, and restores a little health, favorably affecting the heroine's survivability. It activates the passive without problems, because, like Clara, Yunli will be attacked quite often, so she will be able to carry out buffed counterattacks. Only crits will have to be taken from relics. |
About the Fall of Aeon (5 Stars) | HP: 1058 ATK: 529 DEF: 396 | Increases the wearer's attack power by 8-16% in the current battle every time they attack an enemy. Stacks up to four times. If a vulnerability is penetrated, damage increases by 12-24% for two turns. The main advantage of this cone is that it is free, as you can get it from Gerta's shop in the Virtual Universe and awaken it to the maximum level. Significantly increases the heroine's attack power, and therefore her overall damage. However, there may be some problems with penetrating durability, because opponents may simply lack physical vulnerability. |
Under the Blue Sky (4 stars) | HP: 43~952 Attack Power: 21~476 Defense: 15~330 | Increases attack power by 16-32%. When defeating an enemy, increases the chance of a critical hit by 12-24% for 3 turns. A decent cone that increases the heroine's overall damage and the likelihood of her dealing a critical hit. True, he will be able to fully reveal his potential only when fighting large groups of enemies or bosses that can summon regular mobs. |
Nowhere to Run (4 stars) | HP: 43~952 Attack Power: 21~529 Defense: 12~264 | Increases attack power by 24-48%. After defeating an enemy, heals the owner by 12-24% of their attack power. Significantly increases ATK, which increases Yunli's overall damage, and allows her to be healed, which is quite useful given the tank's gameplay. Not a bad weapon, however, it is obtained from the Battle Pass. We do not recommend spending money on it when you can get “On the Fall of Aeon” for free. If you already have this cone, then you can safely give it to the swordswoman if there are no alternatives. |
The Moles Welcome You (4 Stars) | HP: 1058 ATK: 476 DEF: 264 | Grants 1 level of Mischief when attacking with a basic attack, skill, or ultimate. Each level increases attack power by 12-24%. Can greatly increase attack power with his passive, which is very easy to use – just hit enemies with almost any attacks. Unfortunately, bonus attacks are not included here, so the stacks will be gained slower than expected. |
Secret Oath (4 stars) | HP: 1058 ATK: 476 DEF: 264 | Increases damage by 20-40% and deals an additional 20-40% damage to selected enemies with a higher percentage of health than the wearer. Significantly increases overall damage, and activating the second part of the passive at the cone will not be difficult, because enemies will often attack Yunli, reducing her health bar. The main thing is not to try to fully heal the heroine all the time. |
The promise kept in the heart (4 stars) | HP: 43 ~952 Attack power: 21~476 Defense: 15~330 | Increases the penetration effect by 28-56%. When a hero uses an ult, his chance of crit. attack increases by 15-30% for two turns. Yunli's piercing effect isn't very useful, although she can quickly pierce through enemy vulnerabilities with her frequent counterattacks. The main value of this cone is to increase her critical hit rate, which the heroine really needs. At 5th awakening, it can significantly increase her damage. |
Woof! Time to Walk! (4 Stars) | HP: 952 ATK: 476 DEF: 330 | Increases attack power by 10-20% and damage dealt to enemies with Bleeding and Burning effects by 16-32%. The bonus also applies to periodic damage. Considering the bonus, it is essential to have a fire character in your team. Can be used as a starting weapon until you find better options. This cone increases the heroine's overall damage and allows her to deal increased damage to enemies with a vulnerability pierced by Yunli herself, since then they will be given the Bleeding status. |
Best Relics
As for the choice of common relics mined in the Caves of Corrosion, the table below shows the most optimal options.
| Name | Bonuses | Advantages |
|---|---|---|
Courage of the Wind | 2 pieces: Increases attack power by 12%. 4 pieces: Increases critical hit chance by 6%. After using the bonus attack, increases super ability damage by 36% for 1 turn. | The best option for Yunli, which will significantly increase the damage of her Intuition: Extermination, because she will be able to activate the second set bonus without problems. Let us remind you that the damage from this bonus attack is considered super ability damage. |
Burning to Ashes Duke | 2 parts: increases bonus attack damage by 20%. 4 parts: When the owner performs a bonus attack, their attack power increases by 6% each time this bonus attack deals damage. This effect can be stacked up to 8 times and lasts for 3 turns. The effect is removed the next time the owner performs a bonus attack. | A good alternative to the previous set, which will significantly strengthen the heroine's counterattacks. Intuitive: Extermination will also deal more damage due to the increase in Yunli's attack power. Can be used if there are suitable stats. |
Dead Waters Discoverer | 2 pieces: Increases damage dealt to enemies with debuffs by 12%. 4 pieces: Increases critical chance by 4%. The owner's critical damage against enemies with at least 2/3 debuffs is increased by 8%/12% respectively. After the owner debuffs an enemy, the above effects are increased by 100% for 1 turn. | A fairly powerful set for Yunli, which can significantly increase her overall damage. She herself is able to debuff enemies (Taunt), but this will not be enough to get the most out of the set, so be sure to bring 1-2 characters of the Path of Nothingness to help her. |
Street Boxing Champion | 2 copies: Physical damage stat increases by 10%. 4 copies: After using an attack or getting hit, the wearer's attack power increases by 5%. | Can be used as a starting set if it has the right stats. However, it is recommended to swap it for the more useful sets listed above later. |
Now we move on to planar decorations that are obtained in the Virtual Universe. The list below shows the recommended options (the numbers indicate the priority of choice):
| Planar Decoration | Bonuses | Reasons for Choice |
|---|---|---|
1) Frozen Salsotto | 2 copies: the wearer's critical hit chance is increased by 8%. When the total value of this stat exceeds 50%, the damage of bonus attacks and ults increases by 15%. | The perfect set for Yunli, as it not only gives her the necessary crits, but also increases the damage of normal counters (bonus attacks) and Intuit: Annihilation (superpower). |
2) Duran Dynasty of Wolves | When an ally performs a bonus attack, the wearer gains 1 level of Feat (maximum 5). Each stack increases the owner's bonus attack damage by 5%. Having gained 5 levels of Feat, the wearer additionally gains a 25% bonus to critical damage. | Critical damage is less useful for Yunli than critical chance, since the former is already increased by the ult. The passive allows you to significantly increase the damage from counterattacks. You can take it instead of the previous set with more suitable stats. |
3) Heavenly Differentiator | 2 parts: increase the owner's critical damage by 16%. If the owner's critical damage is higher or equal to 120%, then at the beginning of the battle the owner's critical chance increases by 60% until the end of his first attack. | Thanks to the ult, the heroine can easily overcome the 120% mark, so her critical chance will increase significantly, and, consequently, her damage. However, in terms of usefulness, this set is still inferior to the previous two. |
As for the characteristics of the relics, you need to choose as follows:
- Body: Critical Hit Chance
- Legs: Attack Power%
- Planar Sphere: Physical Damage Bonus
- Connecting Rope: Attack Power%
- Additional Stats: Critical Hit Chance > Attack% > Critical Damage > Energy Recovery
Yunli performs powerful single attacks, so it is recommended to keep her critical hit chance as close to 90-100% as possible so that she is guaranteed to perform crits with each Intuit: Extermination. Critical damage can be given less attention, but with the bonus from the ult, it should be at least 110-120%.
As for attack power, it should be above 3000 units. Health is even better to increase to 3100-3200 units.
Best Teams for Yunli
As we have already noted above, Yunli can play the role of both the main and secondary damage dealer. In the first case, she will need any supports that can increase attack power, critical hit chance and energy recovery, as well as enhance bonus attacks and super abilities. The best options in this case are Zaryanka and Hoho. The latter will also be able to heal the swordswoman if necessary.
If you are looking for a budget healer, then pay attention to Lynx, as she will not only be able to heal Yunli, but also increase her attack power (E4) and the likelihood of being attacked by enemies. When using the Discoverer of the Dead Waters, we recommend that you combine the swordswoman with Pele, who will apply additional weakening to enemies.
When using Yunli as a sub-detailer, you can choose the main damage dealer of a character who either also uses bonus attacks ( Jasper, Ratio, Topaz), or needs a large number of skill points (Moon Eater, Jingliu). The table below shows all the most interesting variants of units.
| Main-DD | Sub- DD | Sub-DD/Support | Support |
|---|---|---|---|
Yunli |
March 7 (Imaginary) |
Pela |
Lynx |
Yunli |
Robin |
Tingyun |
Hoho |
Yunli |
Topaz (Doctor Ratio) |
Robin |
Aventurine |
Moon Eater |
Yunli |
Sparkle |
Fu Xuan (Hoho, Lynx) |
Jasper |
Yunli |
Silver Wolf |
Lynx |
Yunli Leveling Up
How to Increase Abilities (What to Level Up First)
The images below show the materials and their quantities needed to fully level up your basic attack, skill, superpower, and talent.
- Borisinian Teeth, Lupotoxic Fangs, and Moonbeast Fangs are obtained from Crimson Sepals found in Scaly Gorge or via Synthesis.
- Artificial Mechanical Component, Mechanical Cylinder Wheel, and Mechanical Chaos Heart are obtained from Aurumathons in Lofu Xianzhou, quests, and enemies in the Virtual Universe, or via Synthesis. They can also be purchased with Everlasting Ash from the Pom-Pom Shop.
- Penance of the Eternal False Body – obtained during the battle with the boss in the echo of war, located in the Scaly Gorge.
- Footprints of Destiny – obtained in the Virtual Universe, issued by the Battle Pass and purchased for unquenchable ash in the Pom-Pom store. Sometimes they are a reward in temporary events.
As for the priority of pumping abilities, we advise you to first increase her superpower and talent. Pump the skill and basic attacks on a residual basis.
How to elevate a character
At certain levels, you will need to Ascend the hero, spending a large amount of resources and credits:
- Ascension (level 30): Credits x4000 and Artificial Mechanical Component x5
- Ascension (level 40): Credits x8000 and Artificial Mechanical Component x10
- Ascension (level 50): Credits x16000, Mechanical Cylinder Wheel x6 and KMM Work Permit x3
- Ascension (Level 60): Credits x40000, Mechanical Cylinder Wheel x9, and KMM Work Permit x7
- Ascension (Level 70): Credits x80000, Mechanical Heart of Chaos x6, and KMM Work Permit x20
- Ascension (Level 80): Credits x160000, Mechanical Heart of Chaos x9, and KMM Work Permit x35
The KMM Work Permit can be obtained from the Stagnant Shade located in the Clock Studio Theme Park.
