[Guide] Honkai Star Rail – Should You Pull for Guinaifen

Street performing superstar Guinaifen joins the ever-growing cast of Honkai Star Rail with a burning passion, bringing along the arts of acrobatics and explosives.

An outworlder now residing in the Xianzhou, Guinevere had taken on the name given to her by her buddy Sushang and became a fiery street performer and a popular streamer.

Guinaifen is a 4★ Fire-Type character who walks the Path of Nihility. She is a Burn Damage Over Time (DoT) specialist who can easily engulf multiple enemies in flames while weakening their defenses.

Standing Ovation (Basic ATK)

Deal Fire DMG to a single enemy target.

PatrAeon Benefits (Talent)

When Guinaifen is on the field, there is a high chance of applying the Firekiss debuff to enemies after they receive damage from Burn. The Firekiss debuff lasts for 3 turns and stacks up to 3 times, and enemies under the effect will receive increased DMG.

Blazing Welcome (Skill)

Guinaifen chucks a stick of dynamite to a target, dealing Fire DMG to them and any adjacent enemies with a high chance of applying Burn. When Burned, enemies will take a Fire DoT equal to a percentage of Guinaifen’s ATK at the start of each turn, lasting for 2 turns.

Watch This Showstopper (Ultimate)

Sounding a gong, Guinaifen sends out a rampaging pack of adorable Ditings to the enemies before exploding a stick of dynamite, dealing Fire DMG to all enemies based on Guinaifen’s ATK. If any enemy is currently inflicted with Burn, then the DoT effect will immediately trigger.

Skill Showcase (Technique)

When activated, immediately attacks the enemy by throwing a stick of dynamite. After entering battle, deal Fire DMG 4 times to a random single enemy each time, with a high chance of inflicting Firekiss on them.

Ascension Traces

High Poles (Ascension 2) – Basic ATK has an 80% base chance of inflicting an enemy with Burn that is equivalent to that of her Skill.

Bladed Hoop (Ascension 4) – When the battle begins, Guinaifen’s action is Advanced Forward by 25%.

Walking on Knives (Ascension 6) – Guinaifen will deal 20% more DMG to enemies inflicted with Burn.

With a fiery charm, Guinaifen is quite an explosive support. Not only does she deal an impressive amount of DoT, but is also able to inflict enemies with a debuff that increases the damage taken by them.

The source of her strength came from her Talent, PatrAeon Benefits. While she is alive and kicking on the field, enemies who sustain damage from a Burn DoT have a high chance of being afflicted with the Firekiss debuff. This particular debuff will then cause the damage taken by the victim to be increased by 7%, stacking up to 3 times for a total of 21%.

This is an exceptionally strong debuff, comparable to the likes of DEF Shred. What’s crazier is that the debuff lasts for 3 turns, and thus can be kept permanently active in practice. Of course, it is only fitting for her to be able to apply Burn herself to trigger the Firekiss debuff and she does so rather easily with an extremely high application chance and wide AoE coverage while boasting an impressive DoT multiplier.

All this results in her being a viable support in many scenarios and team composition, contributing quite significant damage on her own while weakening enemies to strengthen allies’ damage output.

Eidolons

Even without Eidolons, Guinaifen is a capable support. However, if you have some Stellar Jades to spare, there are some noteworthy Eidolons that can further level up her efficiency in combat.

Eidolons
		E1 - Slurping Noodles During Handstand
Effect: When Guinaifen uses her Skill, there is a 100% base chance to reduce the enemy’s Effect RES by 10% for 2 turns.
A good Eidolon as it reduces the Effect RES of enemies, which in turn, increases the chance of applying DoT and debuffs on them.
		E2 - Brushing Teeth While Whistling
Effect: Increases the DMG multiplier of Burn applied by Guinaifen’s Basic ATK or Skill by 40%.
Excellent Eidolon to unlock. Greatly increases the Burn DMG simply by attacking using a Basic ATK or Skill.
		E3 - Smashing Boulder on Chest
Effect: Increases Skill level by 2, and their max level to 15. Increases Basic ATK level by 1, and their max level to 10.
More damage stats are always welcome.
		E4 - Blocking Pike with Neck
Effect: Whenever the Burn DoT applied by Guinaifen deals damage, she regenerates 2 Energy.
Another excellent Eidolon as this allows Guinaifen to use Ultimate a lot more frequently.
		E5 - Swallowing Sword to Stomach
Effect: Increases Ultimate level by 2, and their max level to 15. Increases Talent level by 2, and their max level to 15.
Since one of Guinaifen’s biggest strengths is her Talent, this is a good Eidolon to target.
		E6 - Catching Bullet with Hands
Effect: Increases the stackable Firekiss count by 1.
General damage increases as more Firekiss stacks mean the mode damage enemies will be taking.

Recommended Relics and Planar Ornaments

As a Nihility character who relies on applying DoT to enemies regularly, Guinaifen would want a high Effect Hit Rate to make the process more consistent, preferably around 70%.

Since her Burn DMG scales primarily on ATK, focus on providing her with as much of said stat as possible. Energy Regeneration Rate is also a recommended stat to focus on as it will allow Guinaifen to cast her Ultimate a lot more often.

For Relic sets, it is recommended to run a mix of 2 pieces of Firesmith of Lava-Forging with other sets.

Stats Priority
Effect Hit Rate / ATK%	ATK% / SPD	Fire DMG Boost%	Energy Regeneration Rate / ATK%
Substats Priority	Effect Hit Rate → ATK% / SPD → Break Effect
Recommended Relic Sets
	2-Piece Bonus - Increases Fire DMG by 10%.		Recommended to run 2 pieces of this Relic alongside other sets. Fire DMG boost is essential as it is Guinaifen’s primary element.
Firesmith of Lava-Forging	4-Piece Bonus - Increases the wearer's Skill DMG by 12%. After unleashing Ultimate, increases the wearer's Fire DMG by 12% for next attack.
	2-Piece Bonus - ATK increases by 12%.		Mix 2 pieces of this set with Firesmith of Lava-Forging for one of the best builds for Guinaifen as it will increase her overall DMG output.
Musketeer of Wild Wheat	4-Piece Bonus - The wearer's SPD increases by 6% and Basic ATK DMG increases by 10%.
	2-Piece Bonus - Increases SPD by 6%.		2 Pieces of Messenger Traversing Hackerspace along with 2 pieces of Firesmith of Lava-Forging is the next best thing for Guinaifen as the SPD increase allows her to act sooner and more in battle, opening rooms for her to inflict more Burn like an arson she is.
Messenger Traversing Hackerspace	4-Piece Bonus - When the wearer uses their Ultimate on an ally, SPD for all allies increases by 12% for 1 turn(s). This effect cannot be stacked.
Recommended Planar Ornaments
	2-Piece Bonus - Increases the wearer's Effect Hit Rate by 10%. Meanwhile, the wearer's ATK increases by an amount that is equal to 25% of Effect Hit Rate, up to a maximum of 25%.		Best Planar Ornament choice for Guinaifen since she requires Effect Hit Rate and ATK for more effective Burn DMG.
Pan-Cosmic Commercial Enterprise
	2-Piece Bonus - Increases the wearer's ATK by 12%. When the wearer's SPD reaches 120 or higher, the wearer's ATK increases by another 12%.		A good alternative as it provides Guinaifen with ATK, the main scaling stat for her Burn DMG. Note that she should have at least 120 SPD for the secondary effect to trigger.
Space Sealing Station

Recommended Light Cones

For Light Cones, Guinaifen is fortunate as she can make good use of a variety of different Nihility Light Cones such as the following:

5★ Light Cone(s)
	Increases the wearer's DMG to debuffed enemies by 24%. When the wearer uses their Skill, the Effect Hit Rate for this attack increases by 18%, and ATK increases by 24%.		Another good choice. However, keep note that the Effect Hit Rate only affects Guinaifen’s Skill.
In the Name of the World
4★ Light Cone(s)
	For every debuff the target enemy has, the DMG dealt by the wearer increases by 12%, stacking up to 3 time(s). This effect also applies to DoT.		One of the best options in terms of pure damage, especially if you can hit the recommended Effect Hit Rate of 67% for consistent infliction of debuffs.
Good Night and Sleep Well
	Increases the wearer's Effect Hit Rate by 20% and increases DoT by 24%.		Sampo’s Light Cone is another good choice, increasing a set percentage of Effect Hit Rate to make hitting the requirements easier while the DoT increase made her Burn more potent.
Eyes of the Prey
	When the wearer hits an enemy and if the hit enemy is not already Ensnared, then there is a 60% base chance to Ensnare the hit enemy. Ensnared enemies' DEF decreases by 12% for 1 turn(s).		A decent alternative that sacrifices personal damage slightly for more team damage output.
Resolution Shines As Pearls of Sweat

Final Thoughts

Given her ability to increase damage inflicted upon her enemies, Guinaifen is an unexpectedly amazing support in Honkai Star Rail. At first glance, one may assume she is your typical DoT unit, however, her Talent allows her to be near-universally applicable in many scenarios.

Especially considering the fact that you can easily maintain a full uptime on the debuff while shredding down enemies with Guinaifen’s exceptional great personal damage.

For such power, Guinaifen is however an investment-heavy character as she requires a few important stats to hit a threshold before being able to be competent in battle. This means there is little room for defensive attributes so you may want great healers or defenders to keep her top up.

As a DoT-oriented character, she will obviously be a great pairing with Kafka as her team is all about DoT. Since her Talent also triggers from any Burn status, other Fire characters who can apply said DoT easily will make great teammates such as Hook and Asta. To ensure Guinaifen can cast her Ultimate ever so often, Tingyun is a great support for that.

Overall, Guinaifen is a great support who is viable in many situations thanks to her widely appreciated damage vulnerability debuff that can potentially be kept permanently active. She has high personal damage, especially for support, and can easily proc all Burn DoT without a sweat. There is a catch, however, as she is a high-investment character and may not show her potential immediately.

What do you think of super streamer Guinaifen in Honkai Star Rail? Join the discussion on the GamerBraves Discord server and share your thoughts on Guinaifen and her packs of murderous Ditings.

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Honkai Star Rail

Publisher: miHoYo

Developer: miHoYo

Release Date TBC

Android, iOS, Microsoft Windows

Honkai: Star Rail is an all-new strategy-RPG title in the Honkai series that takes players on a cosmic adventure across the stars.

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