The first “Gentle Eclipse of the Moon” banner in Honkai: Star Rail features Jingliu, with Tingyun, Qingque, and Sampo as the 4-stars. It is a very interesting line-up at this point of the game, as all three of the 4-star characters are pretty good investments. But should you pull on this banner, or should you save for someone else?
How is Jingliu as a Unit in Honkai: Star Rail?
As a general rule of thumb, you should pull on gachas if you’re really interested in the character. Because Jingliu is a Destruction unit, she fills the DPS niche. As I mentioned time and time again, the only characters I strongly advise people to pull for are Abundance or Preservation units since they’re pretty irreplaceable. But Jingliu in particular feels…fine. I don’t really feel like I added anything to my line-up getting her. However, I freely admit that a huge part of this is likely due to Blade and Dan Heng Imbibitor Lunae appearing in consecutive versions prior to Jingliu’s debut.
The best way I can describe Jingliu is that she feels like using Tartaglia in Genshin Impact. In her Spectral Transmigration state, she’s great. Outside of it, she’s just alright. Of course, there are ways to maximize her time in it. You can run her with characters like Asta or Bronya, give her Relics to increase her SPD, or ER to take advantage of her Ultimate giving her a Stack. Even with minimal investment, she does pretty decent damage. She’s also easy to use and easy to build, as opposed to how you may need to speed tune or balance stats for other characters.
Another advantage Jingliu has is that she’s great even without her signature Light Cone. This is in comparison to characters like Kafka or Jing Yuan, who need theirs to impress. If you are hurting for an attacker or an Ice character (or you don’t have Silver Wolf), Jingliu is a nice character to have. But from a purely gameplay point of view, if you have other characters you’re more interested in at the moment, you can totally skip Jingliu. She feels like a luxury rather than a necessity.
What About the 4-Stars on Jingliu’s Banner?
As mentioned earlier, the 4-stars on Jingliu’s debut banner are Tingyun, Sampo, and Qingque. Qingque is a good and unique Quantum DPS that everyone has. So you’d really be pulling for her Eidolons. Her Eidolons are good and balanced, so she’ll play the same while making things easier for you (mainly through recovering her Skill Points). As a reminder though, Seele is re-running in the latter half of Version 1.4 so if you only want Qingque for a Quantum DPS, you can try waiting for Seele.
Tingyun is always good. She’s a fantastic Harmony support who can run on any team, and she’s also fairly Skill Point-positive. As for Sampo, he’s got new life in him now that Kafka is in the game. DoTs are a fun way to inflict damage and Sampo is a beast when you run him with her. I’d say that Tingyun is the main drawing point of the banner though.
All in all, this banner feels like it’s only about 6/10. Even if you’re not interested in Jingliu, you can try pulling on it a few times to try and get Tingyun. However, she is also available to purchase in the Starlight Exchange Store. Unlike 5-stars, you cannot guarantee a 4-star (I personally did not manage to E6 Tingyun while pulling for Jingliu). So, as we say in Canada: know your limit, play within it.
Honkai: Star Rail is readily available on the PS5, Windows PC, and mobile devices. The “Gentle Eclipse of the Moon” Character Event Warp (the Jingliu banner) is in the first phase of Honkai: Star Rail Version 1.4. The second banner (Topaz’s banner) should start from October 27, 2023.
Published: Oct 12, 2023 08:00 am