HoYoverse is definitely spoiling their player base with new and very strong upcoming characters in the far and near future of Honkai Star Rail. That does sound pretty appealing, right? But how do these frequently new releases affect the already existing character line up?
Isn't he stunning? The Divine Foresight Jing Yuan was one of the first limited 5-Star characters that HoYoverse released in version 1.1 of Honkai Star Rail. He has a fantastic story background and a pretty interesting kit of abilities.
But despite being really lovable and friendly, is he actually a good and strong character to play? Or did his position within the game started to crumble already?
How is the general holding up?
Honkai Star Rail: The Hard Truth About Jing Yuan
Just some weeks ago, right after Jing Yuan's banner finally dropped back in version 1.1, he was considered to be THE best damage dealer within the entire game. Especially his AOE damage capacities with his Lightning Lord passive were out of this world!
In the meantime, however, a seriously heavy fate is looming over the once so strong Jing Yuan: He is mid now. — At least that's what some parts of the community might call him. But how hard did the power creep really hit Jing Yuan, or can you still make him work perfectly fine, when trying to clear the Memory of Chaos?
Jing Yuan's Main Problems
To be precise, Jing Yuan has basically two main problems, that make him look a little less cool and powerful, than he actually is, being:
- His signature Light Cone “Before Dawn”, or rather the absence of it.
- Kafka. (Is that to anyone’s surprise?!)
Of course, Kafka can only cause trouble here as well, but can we really be mad at her? …
Let's take a look at the Light Cone issue first.
The Importance of Signature Light Cones
Let's get the obvious out of the way: The signature Light Cone of each character is the best in slot choice for maximizing their damage output.
However, if you are free-to-play, you might not want to pull on the weapon banner, since there are so many leaked characters, that you want to save your Stellar Jades for them instead. Means, you most likely skip the Light Cones banners completely and prefer using one of the f2p options, which there are a bunch of them!
A lot of units do work quite well with at least one of the 4-Star Light Cones, making them more f2p-friendly. Unfortunately, Jing Yuan does not belong to that category. The damage difference between him, using his very own Light Cone, or a 4-Star option is quite significant. Because of that, there is a huge disparity in opinions within the community about Jing Yuan's damage output.
The ones, who did get his Light Cone, still really like him and are using him in almost every single MOC or Simulated Universe run. On the other hand, players who decided to go for the 4-Star weapon instead, are slowly but surely facing issues when trying to clear said content, which is pretty disappointing if you ask me.
Other characters, are dealing much better with a rather f2p approach and can put out even more damage with a little less commitment. A good example for that is Kafka.
Jing Yuan Got Power Crept
And yet again, Kafka, is here to steal the show!
Let's keep it short and sweet: Kafka is the current limited 5-Star character and to say the least, she is probably the strongest unit in the entire game right now.
Poor Jing yuan has to face off against the queen of Star Rail …
Unfortunately for Jing Yuan, Kafka is also dealing AOE Lightning damage, and I'm pretty sure, you know exactly where this is going. Jing Yuan is getting heavily power crept after Kafka got released a few days ago. Despite following different paths, both would take up the same spot within a team since both are meant to be damage dealers. And from a f2p perspective, Kafka is working so much better with a 4-Star Light Cone than Jing Yuan does, which makes her overall damage to investment ratio much better as well in my opinion.
Speaking of me, I also pulled for Jing Yuan after he got released, and I was really excited about him, since his story is just so good and his kit feels really nice to play. Personally, I do get what people are complaining about when ranting about Jing Yuan's damage. However, he still is a very potent character in my opinion and with a bit of effort, he can clear the entire end game content with ease. I still enjoy playing him a ton!
On the other hand, especially after getting Kafka now as well, there is a significant difference in how f2p-friendly these two characters are and to be fair, Kafka is clearly the winner here.
Power Creep is a known problem within gatcha games. The most important thing to by-pass the issue is to just not care about the meta. Just play whatever you like and choose characters you really enjoy gameplay and story wise. With enough effort, every unit can carry you through the game!