The head security officer of the Astral Express is a stoic figure who packs a very mean punch, and he also happens to be one of the three starting characters in Honkai Star Rail. Dan Heng may seem underwhelming at first, but with the right synergies, he can strike with the force of a great typhoon and make minced meat out of anything that stands in the way.
Building characters in Honkai Star Rail takes time and effort, but all of it pays off in the long run. Dan Heng, like other DPS carries, is especially reliant on proper resource allocation, team synergy, and item choices—players who want to get the most out of him will need to make the right decisions when it comes to investing in his kit.
Dan Heng's Playstyle, Skills, and Passives
Dan Heng is a Hunt character, which means he specializes in dealing damage to single targets. All of his abilities revolve around dealing damage, and he has very little utility outside of the one very specific debuff that he can apply.
Cloudlancer Art: Torrent is Dan Heng's bread-and-butter skill. It deals good damage and if it scores a critical hit, it lowers the SPD of the target by a small amount. This debuff comes into play when using Dan Heng's ultimate, Ethereal Dream, which deals significantly more damage against Slowed targets. Additionally, whenever he gets targeted by an ally's ability, Superiority of Reach activates, passively giving him extra Wind RES PEN and further boosting his damage. These form the brunt of Dan Heng's playstyle, and they encourage players to build as many offensive stats on him as possible.
Dan Heng synergizes extremely well with anyone who can give him buffs of any sort. Certain five-star characters like Bronya, Tingyun, and even March 7th can trigger his passive, which leads to him dealing even more damage per turn. It's also worth mentioning that his Technique ability, Splitting Spearhead, gives him 40% more damage for three turns at the beginning of combat. Always use this when engaging tough enemies while rocking a Dan Heng-focused team.
Skill Leveling Order
- Ethereal Dream
- Cloudlancer Art: Torrent
- Superiority of Reach
- Basic attack
Recommended Light Cones and Relics for Dan Heng
Dan Heng benefits greatly from Light Cones and Relics that boost his CRIT Rate and attack damage.
Only Silence Remains is an excellent Light Cone for boss fights. It gives users a passive damage boost along with a CRIT Rate bonus whenever there are fewer than two enemies on the field. For general play against groups of enemies, Darting Arrow is a decent option for snowballing.
As for Relics, the Eagle of Twilight Line set is good for increasing his damage output and the frequency of his turns. Alternatively, players can stick with using Musketeer of Wild Wheat for raw damage bonuses. For substats, prioritize CRIT Rate, CRIT DMG, ATK, and Wind DMG.
Players who are lucky enough to get Eidolon 4 on Dan Heng will get to enjoy an effect that advances his next action forward by 100% after scoring a kill with his ultimate, which means he gets to act more often for higher damage potential. This can drastically increase the value of certain Light Cones, especially ones that have on-kill activation requirements.
Honkai Star Rail is available on PC, Android, and iOS. A Playstation version is coming soon.