A strong Honkai Star Rail Phainon build is much easier to put together than usual, thanks to how much Phainon relies on party members and good strategy for his stats. Like most Destruction characters, Phainon needs attack, crit rate, and crit damage to function well, but crit rate is the only one he can't receive from a passive effect. That does put heavier-than-usual emphasis on putting together the right team, though Sunday aside, some of Phainon's most useful allies are free or common characters.

Our HSR Phainon build breaks down his best Light Cone and Relics, along with detailed Phainon team recommendations.

Honkai Star Rail Phainon build

Honkai Star Rail Phainon Light Cones

Phainon's signature Light Cone is Thus Burns the Dawn, and while it's useful, it isn't essential. Thus Burns the Dawn increases the wearer's base speed by 12, which is handy since a faster Phainon is one who can stack Coreflames more quickly. It also lets the wearer ignore 18 percent of the target's damage and, when they use their ultimate, grants them the Blazing Sun effect, which raises damage dealt by 60 percent but only for one turn.

Saber's signature, A Thankless Coronation, is useful for Phainon as well. It increases the wearer's crit damage by 36 percent and, after they use their ultimate, buffs their attack by 40 percent. The energy effects don't help Phainon, but the other two stats are nice to have.

Then there's Clara's signature, Something Irreplaceable. This one raises attack by 24 percent and, when the wearer is attacked, they deal 24 percent more damage for one turn. Phainon's the only character who will be attacked while his ultimate is active, so you're always going to have that buff. Something Irreplaceable is also easier to obtain, since it's in the Light Cone shop and costs memory shards, which you get from the battle pass – not idea, but easier to deal with than hoping for a limited 5-star option.

Finally for 5-stars is Fall of an Aeon, obtainable from Herta's store. It buffs attack by eight percent when the wearer attacks, and the effect stacks four times.

Phainon, like most HSR 3.x characters, doesn't have many 4-star options. Your best bet here is A Trail of Bygone Blood, which raises crit rate by 12 percent and skill and ultimate damage by 24 percent.

Honkai Star Rail Phainon Relics

Phainon's best Relic set is Wavestrider Captain.

• Two-piece effect: Increases crit damage by 16 percent
• Four-piece effect: When the wearer is the target of an ally's ability, they gain the Helper effect. When this happens twice and the wearer uses their ultimate, they consume both stacks and get a 48 percent attack increase for one turn

If you can't obtain that one yet, Scholar Lost in Erudition is a decent choice.

• Two-piece effect: Raises crit rate by eight percent
• Four-piece effect: Skill and ultimate deal 20 percent more damage. After the wearer uses their ultimate, their next skill deals 25 percent more damage

You could also mix attack sets if you just need an attack buff, such as Musketeer of Wild Wheat and Prisoner in Deep Confinement.

Honkai Star Rail Phainon Ornaments

Likewise, Phainon has one Ornament set that's perfectly suited to his needs, Arcadia of Woven Dreams.

• When there are currently more or less than four ally targets in battle, each additional/missing ally target increases the wearer and their memosprite's damage by nine/12 percent, up to a maximum of 4/3 stack

In other words, Phainon will deal nine percent more damage for every additional ally on the field, not including your four standard party members. That means memosprites, and it also means he can maintain decent damage output even without entering his ultimate phase. When Phainon's ultimate activates, all allies leave, so he's guaranteed a 36 percent damage buff during his ultimate regardless of who his teammates are.

Honkai Star Rail Phainon stats

Phainon's stat requirements are unusual in the sense that most of his big numbers happen on the battlefield. His third passive grants him a 50 percent attack buff when battle starts and when his ultimate ends, and those last throughout the battle. His second passive grants him a 45 percent damage buff for three turns if he receives shields or healing from an ally, and his talent has a little bit tucked in that grants him a 15/30 percent crit damage buff for three turns any time he receives a buff from an ally.

That, plus his Relic and Ornament buffs, mean you get to be a little more lenient with your Relic rolls. Ideally, you want his attack to be at least 2,500, with 75 percent crit rate and as much crit damage as you can get – 150 or higher, preferably. Speed is also useful, and since he can easily get so many attack buffs from his kit, you can freely opt for speed boots instead of attack.

So, TL;DR:

• Body: Crit rate or crit damage
• Feet: Speed
• Orb: Attack or physical damage
• Rope: Attack percentage

Honkai Star Rail Phainon teams

Phainon needs allies who buff him so he can charge his ultimate more quickly. Any buff counts, whether it's Asta's speed boost or Hyacine's After Rain, and energy regeneration skills will give Phainon one Coreflame toward his 12-Coreflame cost. That gives you quite a lot of freedom in picking his team, though less so if you want the Ornament set's off-burst buff. If that's the case, you'd want to go for:

• Phainon
• Remembrance Trailblazer
• Hyacine
• Castorice

Which is sort of a wonky team in that Castorice doesn't do much for Phainon other than make up for his off-burst damage output. Remembrance teams might be more viable in future updates, but for now, you could just as easily swap Sunday for Castorice.

Phainon benefits from crit damage buffs, so Sunday, Bronya, or Sparkle is essential for him if you have them. If not, focus on defense shredding characters such as Cipher, Silver Wolf, Tribbie, Jiaoqiu, or Pela, and reduce the enemy's defense before Phainon uses his burst. That way, he might not deal as much crit damage on his own, but he can still wear enemies down. The Remembrance Trailblazer is an excellent and free teammate as well.

A shield-generating character, such as March 7th or Aventurine, or any healer also make good choices, given Phainon's passive buff that raises his damage when he receives shields or healing.

What tier is Phainon in Honkai Star Rail?

Phainon's powerful, easy to build, and works well with most parties, including a lot of 4-star and free characters. He's an easy pick for the S-rank of our HSR tier list – though having said that, if you don't have Sunday yet, it's worth pulling for him instead of Phainon during Phainon's first banner. Sunday benefits any damage dealer, whether it's Blade, Jing Yuan, or Castorice, so he's more widely useful than Phainon in most teams.

Head over to our Star Rail codes page for some freebies to help with your next pulls, whether you're after Phainon or saving for a future banner.

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