Honkai Star Rail’s 2.0 update is out, and it takes you to the lovely dream city of Penacony. It’s full of mystery, it’s got a bunch of lovely landscapes and puzzles in its plethora of dungeons, and it’s got some good music to boot.

Most importantly, the 2.0 update heralds the coming of a new 5-star waifu: Black Swan, a wind-based Nihility character who looks like a host from a Romanian gypsy -themed Las Vegas attraction. In all seriousness, she’s quite the powerhouse, so here’s a guide if you plan on utilizing her assets to the fullest.

For more walkthroughs, head to our Honkai Star Rail 2.0 guides hub page.

Overview

Black Swan is a Wind elemental Nihility character, meaning she can do good amounts of damage to all opponents. As of now, she is considered one of the strongest wind-based damage-over-time characters. Her gameplan is simple: just apply Arcana onto enemies. The more stacks of Arcana you can land, the more DOTs you can deal onto enemies the longer they’re in the field.

Black Swan Eidolon List, If You’re Planning To Gacha Her Tons

1: Seven Pillars of Wisdom – While Black Swan is active in battle, enemies afflicted with Wind Shear, Bleed, Burn, or Shock will have their corresponding Wind, Physical, Fire, or Lightning RES respectively reduced by 25%.

2: Weep Not For Me, My Lamb – When an enemy target afflicted with Arcana is defeated, there is a 100% base chance of inflicting 6 stack(s) of Arcana on adjacent targets.

3: As Above, So Below – Skill Lv. +2, up to a maximum of Lv.15. Talent Lv.+2, up to a max of Lv.15.

4: In Tears We Gift – While in the Epiphany state, enemy targets have their Effect RES reduced by 10%. And at the start of their turn or when they get defeated, Black Swan regenerates 8 Energy. This Energy Regeneration effect can only trigger up to 1 time while Epiphany lasts. And this trigger count resets after the enemy gets inflicted with Epiphany again.

5: Linnutee Flyway – Ultimate Lv. +2, up to a max of Lv. 15. Basic Attack Lv.+1, up to a maximum of Lv. 10.

6: Pantheon Merciful, Masses Pitiful – When enemy targets get attacked by Black Swan’s allies, Black Swan has a 65% base chance of inflicting 1 stack of Arcana on the target. Each time Black Swan inflicts Arcana on an enemy target, there is a 50% fixed chance to additionally increase the number of Arcana stacks afflicted this time by 1.

Black Swan Best Build

Best Light Cone: Reforged Remembrance

Best Relic Combo: Prisoner in Deep Confinement, Pan-Cosmic Commercial Enterprise, Eagle of Twilight Line, Firmament Frontline Glamoth, Space Sealing Station

When equipping Relics, the main stat you want to boost for Black Swan is Effect Hit Rate. If you get this number as high as possible, you can max out her damage buff from her third bonus ability (via getting more gachas of her, so good luck!). Black Swan’s DOTs scale on Attack and Speed stats, so get equipment that boosts those specific stats so that she acts sooner in a turn cycle.

Best Team Combination

F2P: Black Swan, Serval, Asta, Natasha

Premium: Black Swan, Kafka, Ruan Mei, Huohuo

Premium #2: Black Swan, Jingliu, Fu Xuan, Luocha

The best kind of units to complement Black Swan and her assets are support units in the Harmony and Abundance discipline. Also, having an extra Destruction or Nihility character helps too if you need a second element to exploit. If you’re dealing with enemies weak to Wind and at least one other element, consider switching the other damage dealer with another element.

Premium #2 was our go-to team for the majority of the 2.0 questline. Black Swan and Jingliu (Destruction, Ice) handle damage-dealing duties, while Fu Xuan and Luocha keep the whole team alive. In the Stellaron Sam fight, Fu Xuan and Luocha ironically helped out in breaking down his barrier, since he’s weak to Quantum and Imaginary.