Tingyun is arguably the best 4-star support character in the game. She is able to boost a single ally’s ATK and DMG significantly while also providing a large influx of Energy to said ally with her Ultimate. She is able to elevate damage dealers in hypercarry comps to impressive levels while remaining largely SP-positive. She is a staple support character and it is highly recommended that every player pursue her acquisition.
This honestly might be the shortest review of the bunch because Tingyun is really rather cut and dry; she’s just that good. If you don’t have her, get her. If you have her and you’re not using her, what are you doing??
Tingyun’s Skill selects a single ally to buff with Benediction, increasing their ATK by up to 50%. This ATK increase cannot be more than 25% of Tingyun’s own ATK, so she does want some of that stat to better buff allies. Benediction is also unique in that it allows the buffed ally to deal additional Lightning DMG equal to 40% of the buffed ally’s ATK. Benediction lasts for 3 turns.
What this additional Lightning damage essentially does is provide a raw DMG multiplier increase to the buffed ally. I often say how rare certain damage boosts are, be it RES PEN or DEF Shred, but this one thing is actually the rarest. Raw increases to DMG multipliers is the single biggest increase to damage you can get because it’s completely undiluted — in fact it makes any other boosts you get better. Tingyun being able to provide a boost of this calibre with a push of a button and have it last for 3 turns is immaculate. Not only this, but because it’s tied to turn count rather than action count, anything that counts as an Extra Action will not deplete Benediction in any way, making things like Seele’s Resurgence, ally follow-up attacks, or even just any Ultimates highly efficient.
Tingyun’s Ultimate restores 50 Energy for a target ally and increases their DMG by up to 50% for 2 turns. While it has a steeper than average Energy cost of 130, the ability to grant any ally you choose 50 flat Energy is exceptional. For many characters who rely on their Ultimates, Tingyun is an invaluable addition that allows them to have higher uptime on their big hitting setups. Even for characters who do not rely on their Ultimates, 50 Energy is 50 Energy; it’s always appreciated.
Tingyun’s Talent also interacts with Benediction, causing an additional instance of DMG equal to 60% of the buffed ally’s ATK whenever Tingyun uses her Basic ATK. This means Tingyun can also contribute some non-negligible damage in between reapplying her Skill’s Benediction. It’s not likely to be making a huge difference, but it can assist in defeating trash adds.
Her Bonus Ability Traces are incredibly important to her gameplay. A2 increases her SPD by 20% for 1 turn after using her Skill, A4 increases Basic ATK DMG by 40%, and A6 will regenerate 5 Energy immediately at the start of each of her turns.
Because of Tingyun’s kit, the single most important stat to maximising her effectiveness is SPD. All the SPD in the world, because the faster Tingyun is, the faster she gets Energy back, and thus the faster she can give Energy back to your damage dealer. A 20% SPD boost for free after using Skill is very much appreciated, especially due to Tingyun’s extraordinarily high base SPD of 112. Taking more turns before your damage dealers also means more opportunities to take advantage of the free Energy being given from A6. It is easily the most important stat for her.
Eidolons are not a necessity for Tingyun, but there is a strong argument to be made for obtaining them at your convenience. They are all largely self-explanatory and as powerful as they say. E6 in particular is incredibly useful as it causes her Ultimate’s Energy restore to go from 50 to 60. It may initially seem like a meagre increase, but you would be stunned at how big of a difference this makes in practice.
For as long as damage dealers need Energy for their Ultimates, Tingyun will continue to be a dominant support character.
Honkai: Star Rail is a game where team building matters most and while our tier list takes the optimal setup into account, a lot of characters can work and do well - even those ranked lower - when you invest into them. Also for story or lower difficulties of Simulated Universe, you don't need to worry about ratings and tiers. You can safely clear that content even with F2P characters as long as you build your team correctly.
Available ratings:
- Memory of Chaos (MoC) - how the character performs in the Memory of Chaos. Blast and single target damage are important here while AoE has niche uses against some bosses.
- Pure Fiction (PF) - how the character performs in the Pure Fiction. AoE is king here, followed by Blast while single target damage is mostly useless.
