Jingliu Guide

Updated for Version 2.7

Note that the information given may change if new discoveries are made. More extensive testing is in progress.

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Introduction

Jingliu is our first Limited 5★ Ice character and follows the Path of Destruction. Emulating the phases of the Moon, she also transitions between two phases, one where she accumulates stacks of Syzygy and one where she can unleash powerful Blast AoE skills while draining the HP of her teammates. Like many other Destruction units, she brings a nice mix of AoE and single-target damage to any team.

New Content 

Infographic	Updated Relic ranking, updated synergies.
Eidolons	Added damage calculations.
Light Cones	Added damage calculations. Added Dance at Sunset, Brighter Than the Sun, Nowhere to Run, and Something Irreplaceable.
Relics	Added damage calculations.
4-Pc Scholar Lost in Erudition	Jingliu’s new general BiS. Its partner Relic Set, Sacerdos’ Relived Ordeal, also happens to be BiS for some of Jingliu’s best teammates, such as Sunday and Bronya. This makes it the most efficient Cavern of Corrosion to improve your Jingliu team.
2-Pc Combinations	While farming for a 4-Pc Scholar set, playing 2-Pc combinations can be an excellent stepping stone to a full set, and are very competitive.  2-Pc options include: Scholar Lost in Erudition, Pioneer Diver of Dead Waters, Hunter of Glacial Forest, ATK%, SPD. 2-Pc Scholar’s 8% CRIT Rate is very helpful for improving Jingliu’s consistency. Although 2-Pc Pioneer is powerful, it does require a debuff like Ruan Mei or Pela’s Ultimates to activate its effect. This locks Jingliu to always playing a debuffer teammate if she wants the full benefit of her Relics. Note that Jingliu’s lower-than-average Base SPD (96 SPD) means that 2-Pc SPD Set Effects are worth slightly less in terms of SPD substats than it would on some other units. 94%-95% of 4-Pc Scholar Lost in Erudition’s performance.
Character Comparison	Added On the Fall of an Aeon comments, removed Dan Heng • Imbibitor Lunae.
Notable Synergies	Added Sunday, Robin, and Jiaoqiu. Split category of “Buffers/ Debuffers” to “Uptime Improvement Supports” and “Aura Supports”.
Sunday	Jingliu’s best support for both damage and comfort. Sunday offers a full Action Advance, Energy, and powerful DMG%, CRIT Rate, and CRIT DMG buffs with nearly full uptime. His 20% CRIT Rate can be difficult to build around, since Jingliu gives herself 50%. The Energy regeneration from his Ultimate lets her recharge her Ultimate one turn faster, sometimes giving her an extra Enhanced Skill. Sunday does not use much SP, and can even become SP-positive with his signature Light Cone, opening the floor for a variety of other teammates. Sunday is best played with a Slow Skillspam playstyle, although Fast Skillspam is also viable. Check out the KQM Bronya Guide for an explanation of playstyles including Slow Skillspam and Fast Skillspam.
Robin	One of Jingliu’s best supports — for the first cycle. Robin’s Action Advance is helpful for somewhat reducing Jingliu’s downtime, and she provides useful ATK, CRIT, and DMG buffs that persist during Concerto. Robin synergizes well with other Action Advance characters due to enabling extra Advances, as well as characters with teamwide buffs / debuffs that boost her own Concerto damage. However, Robin’s high-cost Ultimate can be a hassle to work around, and playing her with Jingliu is an overall uncomfortable experience, requiring external Energy sources such as Quid Pro Quo, or Huohuo. Outside of low cycle runs, Robin’s performance feels lackluster for the amount of effort involved, falling behind other 5★ options after the first cycle or so.
Jiaoqiu	Jiaoqiu provides his own AoE personal damage as well as a high uptime universal Vulnerability debuff. Especially with upgrades such as his signature or E1, he can match or exceed the supportive abilities of his peers, although he lacks utility to keep Jingliu in Spectral Transmigration. Although his improvement for Jingliu’s personal damage is weaker than an E4 Pela equipped with S5 Resolution Shines as Pearls of Sweat without upgrades, he is still a stronger pick, as he can take advantage of his own Vulnerability and contribute quite a bit of personal damage, especially if other “aura” supports are in the team.
Teams	Removed Dual Damage Dealer archetype. Updated team examples.
FAQ	Removed outdated information.

Infographic

Credits to: Eris, skylarke, and KQM Staff

Character Overview

Jingliu’s kit revolves around her special mechanic of Syzygy stacks, and the enhanced state that comes with it. When Jingliu gains two Syzygy stacks, she will enter the Spectral Transmigration state, in which she will gain a CRIT Rate buff and an ATK buff fueled by draining the HP of her teammates. Spectral Transmigration converts her Skill into an Enhanced Skill, which consumes Syzygy stacks instead of SP. The majority of Jingliu’s gameplay focuses on getting into her Spectral Transmigration state, and staying there as long as possible.

Playstyle

Jingliu invariably wants to use her Skill on every turn to enter her Spectral Transmigration state and deal the majority of her damage. Although her Basic ATK does generate the same amount of Energy as her normal Skill, its lack of Syzygy generation to fuel Enhanced Skills means it should be avoided at all costs. 

Proper timing of buffs will help to maximize damage output, as Jingliu is almost entirely reliant on being in the Spectral Transmigration state to deal most of her damage. When Jingliu is not in the Spectral Transmigration state, avoid using fast-expiring buffs such as Bronya and Sparkle’s Ultimate, as Jingliu’s 100% Action Advance on entering her enhanced state will consume their duration much faster. If poorly timed, it’s possible for none of Jingliu’s Enhanced Skills to be buffed.

Her SP use is rather variable, going from full negative during her downtime to neutral during her enhanced state’s uptime. This small amount of extra SP during her Spectral Transmigration can be used by her teammates to keep uptime on their effects.

Her Ultimate should be used during her enhanced state in the vast majority of scenarios. Her enhanced Ultimate does a significantly larger amount of damage compared to her non-enhanced Ultimate, which results in a very large loss of damage when using it out of her Spectral Transmigration state. In addition, her Ultimate is the only way to gain additional Syzygy stacks during her enhanced state. Using her Ultimate outside of that state results in the loss of its damage, as well as the damage from an additional use of her Enhanced Skill. 

Keep in mind that Jingliu does not lose her Spectral Transmigration state until the end of the turn in which she reaches zero Syzygy stacks. As long as Jingliu’s Ultimate is used before the turn ends, she can extend the state. 

However, there are a few cases in which her Ultimate should be used unenhanced, such as:

1. To prevent imminent death by Breaking the enemy Weakness or killing a dangerous enemy.
2. To finish off the last enemies of a wave in order to conserve cycles.
3. To trigger her Spectral Transmigration state early, which is most relevant against weak mobs.

Otherwise, even if Jingliu needs to hold her Ultimate for a turn or two, it is worth delaying the usage of her Ultimate to ensure it is used when she is in the Spectral Transmigration state, as the damage output is otherwise pitiful compared to its damage when enhanced.

Traces

Note: Trace levels shown are 1/10/12 (Basic ATK 1/6/7).

Trace Priority

Skill levels enhance her Enhanced Skill, which is where the majority of her damage comes from. Talent levels increase the ATK and CRIT Rate buff she grants herself, and her Ultimate, while making up less of her overall damage than her Enhanced Skill, still packs a heavy punch and is worth leveling. Her Basic ATK can be safely ignored, as it is never optimal to use.

Eidolons

Build

Light Cones

Note: Calculations done in a team with Jingliu, Bronya, Ruan Mei, and Gallagher assuming Jingliu with 4-Pc Scholar Lost in Erudition and Rutilant Arena. Additional calculations for I Shall Be My Own Sword were done with E4 Pela with S5 Resolution Shines As Pearls of Sweat, and with 4-Pc Genius of Brilliant Stars.

Light Cone	Damage	Notes
I Shall Be My Own Sword	111-127%	Jingliu’s BiS. Every attack in the Spectral Transmigration state will be buffed by the fully stacked passive, as she will first drain her teammates’ HP, gaining 3 stacks. The stacks will then be cleared after her Skill does damage. Gains a little more value if used with other sources of DEF reduction, such as 4-Pc Genius of Brilliant Stars and Pela.
On the Fall of an Aeon	108-112% (Full uptime)  100% (No uptime)	F2P BiS at S5. Its actual value will vary with the frequency of Weakness Breaks caused by Jingliu.
A Secret Vow	88-94% (S1)  94-106% (S5)	A Secret Vow is quite a good option, particularly at S5. It is very competitive even without triggering the passive effect, because Jingliu does not have much DMG% in her kit. Good if On the Fall of an Aeon is occupied by another unit and you have this Light Cone lying around.
Dance at Sunset	98%	A viable but underwhelming option, as CRIT DMG is valuable. Dance at Sunset’s increased Taunt value can help Jingliu gain the 5 Energy she needs per Ultimate although it improves her chances of dying. Not worth pulling specifically for Jingliu.
Brighter Than the Sun	98%	A poor placement for a limited Light Cone, but usable for its CRIT Rate and high base ATK. Jingliu does not Basic ATK, so she cannot utilize the Energy Regeneration Rate and ATK% buff. Not worth pulling specifically for Jingliu.
Under The Blue Sky	88% (S1) 95% (S5)	One of Jingliu’s better 4★ options, especially at S5 when your Relics lack CRIT Rate. The passive is relatively easy for Jingliu to trigger if weak mobs are present due to her Skill’s Blast targeting.
Nowhere to Run	92% (S1) 97% (S5)	Usable for the ATK%. Not worth deliberately picking and superimposing from the Battle Pass if other options such as A Secret Vow are available.
Something Irreplaceable	95%	Can outperform Under the Blue Sky if Jingliu is frequently being hit and/or killing enemies, or if superimposed. Not worth going out of your way to obtain.
Collapsing Sky	79%	Surprisingly strong for a 3★ Light Cone, but still far weaker than any of the above options. Usable if there are literally no other options.

Relics

Relic Sets

Note: Calculations done in a team with Jingliu, Bronya, Ruan Mei, and Gallagher assuming Jingliu with I Shall Be My Own Sword and Rutilant Arena.

Relic Set	Damage	Notes
4-Pc Scholar Lost in Erudition	100%	Jingliu’s new general BiS. Its partner Relic Set, Sacerdos’ Relived Ordeal, also happens to be BiS for some of Jingliu’s best teammates, such as Sunday and Bronya. This makes it the most efficient Cavern of Corrosion to improve your Jingliu team.
2-Pc Combinations	94-95%	While farming for a 4-Pc Scholar set, playing 2-Pc combinations can be an excellent stepping stone to a full set, and are very competitive.  2-Pc options include: Scholar Lost in Erudition, Pioneer Diver of Dead Waters, Hunter of Glacial Forest, ATK%, SPD. 2-Pc Scholar’s 8% CRIT Rate is very helpful for improving Jingliu’s consistency. Although 2-Pc Pioneer is powerful, it does require a debuff like Ruan Mei or Pela’s Ultimates to activate its effect. This locks Jingliu to always playing a debuffer teammate if she wants the full benefit of her Relics. Note that Jingliu’s lower-than-average Base SPD (96 SPD) means that 2-Pc SPD Set Effects are worth slightly less in terms of SPD substats than it would on some other units.
4-Pc Genius of Brilliant Stars	94-96%	4-Pc Genius of Brilliant Stars is an excellent option if enemies are Quantum Weak and other sources of DEF Reduction such as Pela’s Ultimate, Jingliu’s signature Light Cone, or Ruan Mei’s E1 are present.  The lower substat quality from completing a 4-Pc set and the inability to use 2-Pc Genius makes it a subpar choice for farming, especially as 2-Pc Scholar Lost in Erudition is rather powerful.  Keep in mind that DEF reduction from all sources has a cap of 100%, after which DEF cannot be reduced any further.
4-Pc Hunter of Glacial Forest	95%	4-Pc Scholar Lost in Erudition is always better than Hunter of Glacial Forest, making this set inefficient to farm unless you want its partnered set, Eagle of Twilight Line. It does still provide slightly more damage than most 2-Pc/2-Pc mixes.
4-Pc Pioneer Diver of Dead Waters	90-94%*	Although 4-Pc Pioneer can theoretically be competitive with other options, it requires uptime on multiple debuffs, and becomes useless if Jingliu’s team cannot consistently inflict debuffs.  Completing a 4-Pc set also necessarily decreases the quality of your relics, making this set suboptimal for Jingliu versus 2-Pc combos where you can pick and choose substats.

Planar Ornaments

Note: Calculations done in a team with Jingliu, Bronya, Ruan Mei, and Gallagher assuming Jingliu with I Shall Be My Own Sword and 4-Pc Scholar, Lost in Erudition.

Planar Ornament	Damage	Notes
Rutilant Arena	100%	BiS. The majority of her damage comes from her Enhanced Skill, and she is also severely lacking in innate DMG%.  Because Jingliu grants herself up to 50% CRIT Rate and deals the vast majority of her damage in Spectral Transmigration, it is not worth building 70% CRIT Rate to activate the secondary DMG Bonus outside of Spectral Transmigration.
Firmament Frontline: Glamoth	99%	A decent option, but is dependent on its 135 SPD threshold.  Although 160 SPD is hard to achieve without dedicated SPD buffers such as Asta and Hanya, 135 SPD is easy to reach with just SPD Boots and 2 SPD substat rolls. Even without the bonus from 160 SPD, Glamoth remains better than all other options save Rutilant Arena. The bonus from 160 SPD does not allow Glamoth to surpass Rutilant Arena, so do not go out of your way to activate it.
Space Sealing Station	98%	Because of her Talent, Jingliu has little need for the ATK% granted by Space Sealing Station, but also struggles to make use of most other Planar Ornaments besides those that offer CRIT. If you already have some usable pieces, Space Sealing Station can be a good temporary option until you acquire a decent Rutilant Arena set.
Inert Salsotto	97%	Even though it is worse than other options, Inert Salsotto has the advantage of being active at all times instead of only during Jingliu’s enhanced state. While using Jingliu’s Ultimate without being in her enhanced state is generally a large damage loss, it can be useful for quickly ending a fight.
Izumo Gensei and Takama Divine Realm	No Other Destruction: 96%  With Other Destruction: 100%	Jingliu is rarely played with a second Destruction unit, making this Planar set a worse Space Sealing Station in most situations. Even with a second Destruction unit such as Blade to activate the extra 12% CRIT Rate, this Planar set cannot outperform Rutilant Arena, and should only be used if you do not have another option.

Stats

Body	Boots	Sphere	Rope
CRIT DMG	SPD	Ice DMG Boost	ATK%

Substats

CRIT Rate (until 50%) = CRIT DMG > SPD > ATK%

Due to the large amount of CRIT Rate her Talent provides and how much of her damage is loaded into the Spectral Transmigration state, Jingliu does not need more than around 50% CRIT Rate. With Talent at level 10, the bare minimum to activate Rutilant Arena is 20%, but running higher amounts is strongly suggested for consistency.

Jingliu has a fairly high amount of SPD in her base kit due to her Traces, and with SPD Boots this brings her up to 130 without any substats. Reaching general SPD breakpoints with her often only takes only one or two substats.

ERR Rope?

Due to the large ATK buffs inherent in her kit, an Energy Regeneration Rate Rope is not significantly worse than an ATK% Rope in damage, but it does not lead to any practical and consistent breakpoints. Benefiting from an ERR% Rope is often dependent on getting Energy from external factors such as kills and getting hit.

ATK Boots?

While ATK Boots can be considered if using an Action Advance unit such as Bronya or Sunday with the Fast Skillspam playstyle, the overall damage is comparable to SPD Boots on Jingliu with a Slow Skillspam playstyle. Furthermore, a unit built with such high SPD takes a noticeably higher level of investment. 

Without a Fast Skillspam Action Advance unit, ATK Boots should not be considered at all. 

ATK Sphere?

Although Jingliu does have a massive innate ATK buff, in scenarios with large DMG% buffs, such as a support combination of Ruan Mei and Bronya, an ATK% Sphere can be competitive, though still inferior to Ice DMG Boost.

E1 or S1?

Jingliu’s S1 is a better upgrade than her E1. While her E1 sounds great on paper, only the 24% CRIT DMG is unconditionally useful, while the rest requires pure single-target. Many fights against Elites and Bosses involve them summoning weaker enemies, making the value of E1 highly variable. Meanwhile, her signature Light Cone, I Shall Be My Own Sword, provides great unconditional bonuses that she can easily trigger during Spectral Transmigration, and will typically lead to more damage over the course of a battle.

E1 is dynamic; if adjacent enemies die in the middle of an attack, E1’s extra Ice DMG will activate for the subsequent hits, giving it greater consistency if Jingliu has the damage to quickly clear out adjacent mobs.

Overall, Jingliu is already a very strong unit at E0 with F2P options, and both should be considered luxury pulls that should be considered after obtaining competitive 5★ supports.

Character Comparisons

Blade

Jingliu is similar to Blade in that she uses less SP than most traditional damage units, spending many turns without using any SP. However, her overall consumption is slightly higher due to the fact that it will take two non-enhanced Skills for her to enter Spectral Transmigration and she can typically use three Enhanced Skills while she is in the Spectral Transmigration state before repeating the cycle. 

Unlike Blade, her damage does NOT scale with HP.

If in a scenario where you lack signature Light Cones and need to run both characters at once, Jingliu does not have many good alternatives to On the Fall of an Aeon, as all of them are better for Blade. This means it’s a much better idea to give Jingliu On the Fall of an Aeon while Blade uses another option such as A Secret Vow. 

Yanqing

Yanqing and Jingliu both are Ice damage dealers with significant CRIT buffs in their kits.

However, despite their combat similarities in the story, their kits are very distinct from one another in game. Yanqing is more teammate-dependent, requiring a powerful shielder like Gepard or Aventurine for best results, whereas Jingliu’s main condition is only draining a small amount of teammate HP.

Although both have a powerful hit in their Ultimate, for Yanqing, his Ultimate and the Skill directly following it represents the vast majority of his damage. For Jingliu, her damage is spread out further between her Ultimate and Enhanced Skills.

Keep in mind that if running both Jingliu and Yanqing together, her HP drain does not affect his Soulsteel Sync buff.

Notable Synergies

Although some of these units fit multiple categories, they have been sorted by their most notable features.

Uptime Improvement Supports

The majority of Jingliu’s damage occurs during Spectral Transmigration, which requires 2 non-enhanced Skill uses to re-enter. This means supports that help Jingliu re-enter her state through frequent Action Advances or extend her state via Energy regeneration are necessary.

Sunday	Jingliu’s best support for both damage and comfort. Sunday offers a full Action Advance, Energy, and powerful DMG%, CRIT Rate, and CRIT DMG buffs with nearly full uptime. His 20% CRIT Rate can be difficult to build around, since Jingliu gives herself 50%. The Energy regeneration from his Ultimate lets her recharge her Ultimate one turn faster, sometimes giving her an extra Enhanced Skill.  Sunday does not use much SP, and can even become SP-positive with his signature Light Cone, opening the floor for a variety of other teammates.  Sunday is best played with a Slow Skillspam playstyle, although Fast Skillspam is also viable.  Check out the KQM Bronya Guide for an explanation of playstyles including Slow Skillspam and Fast Skillspam.
Bronya	Jingliu has very little DMG% in her kit, making Bronya’s Skill buff incredibly potent when used while Jingliu is in Spectral Transmigration. Bronya’s Advance Forward can also effectively double Jingliu’s actions. Note that Jingliu’s 100% Advance Forward when entering Spectral Transmigration means that Bronya’s Skill buff will expire if Jingliu had it before, unless Bronya is E6. Bronya’s Slow Skillspam playstyle is her best playstyle for Jingliu, although it is sensitive to desync and buff timings and only has half uptime on her Skill. Bronya’s Fast Skillspam playstyle is also viable, especially if it allows for the use of more powerful, SP intensive supports that otherwise would not be possible.
Tingyun	Tingyun’s ATK buff is fairly diluted on Jingliu due to her Talent’s incredible amount of ATK, but Tingyun still ends up being a potent support for Jingliu due to the Energy regeneration and DMG Boost provided by her Ultimate. Due to the Action Advance from Jingliu’s Talent, she will use up the duration on Tingyun’s buff quickly, requiring more frequent Skill usage from Tingyun to compensate. This also results in a noticeable anti-synergy with units like Bronya and Sunday that Advance Forward Jingliu’s action even more frequently.
Sparkle	Sparkle provides a large amount of DMG%, CRIT DMG, and a 50% Action Advance. Although Jingliu herself does not need Sparkle’s SP generation as much as other damage dealers, Sparkle does allow for more SP-hungry teammates to be played, as well as enabling more flexible SP use in general.  The Fast Skillspam playstyle, in which Sparkle is run as fast as possible, is the best choice, since Jingliu wants to minimize downtime and enter her enhanced state as fast as possible. Note that a Jingliu played with Sparkle should use ATK% Boots.

Aura Supports

Since Jingliu frequently takes actions, she appreciates supports that provide high uptime “aura” buffs/debuffs that do not expire based upon Jingliu’s turn. 

Ruan Mei	One of Jingliu’s best supports, providing potent DMG% and RES PEN for essentially no effort. Ruan Mei’s buffs are tied to her own turns, which prevents desyncs due to Jingliu’s frequent Advances. Her increased Weakness Break Efficiency can also improve the uptime of On the Fall of an Aeon. Ruan Mei’s signature Light Cone, Past Self in Mirror, makes playing Jingliu feel a bit smoother, thanks to the flat 10 Energy regeneration per wave and the extra SP generation. With an ATK Rope, Jingliu needs an extra 5 Energy for a 5-turn Ultimate. If unable to obtain this 5 Energy, Jingliu loses out on one Enhanced Skill, greatly reducing her damage. This is easily obtained with an attack or a kill, but this is unreliable at the beginning of a battle, especially if there are no weak adds, or if Jingliu’s Technique successfully freezes enemies. Due to Ruan Mei and Jingliu’s shared Type, she can carry Planetary Rendezvous, although it does result in Ruan Mei’s Ultimate being delayed by a turn compared to Memories of the Past. Ruan Mei can also use Penacony, Land of the Dreams as an option for further buffs.
Robin	One of Jingliu’s best supports — for the first cycle. Robin’s Action Advance is helpful for somewhat reducing Jingliu’s downtime, and she provides useful ATK, CRIT, and DMG buffs that persist during Concerto. Robin synergizes well with other Action Advance characters due to enabling extra Advances, as well as characters with teamwide buffs / debuffs that boost her own Concerto damage.  However, Robin’s high-cost Ultimate can be a hassle to work around, and playing her with Jingliu is an overall uncomfortable experience, requiring external Energy sources such as Quid Pro Quo, or Huohuo. Outside of low cycle runs, Robin’s performance feels lackluster for the amount of effort involved, falling behind other 5★ options after the first cycle or so.
Jiaoqiu	Jiaoqiu provides his own AoE personal damage as well as a high uptime universal Vulnerability debuff. Especially with upgrades such as his signature or E1, he can match or exceed the supportive abilities of his peers, although he lacks utility to keep Jingliu in Spectral Transmigration. Although his improvement for Jingliu’s personal damage is weaker than an E4 Pela equipped with S5 Resolution Shines as Pearls of Sweat without upgrades, he is still a stronger pick, as he can take advantage of his own Vulnerability and contribute quite a bit of personal damage, especially if other “aura” supports are in the team.
Pela	Pela’s AoE DEF Reduction and high SP generation make her a great Jingliu partner. Additionally, her E4 can inflict Ice RES Reduction on enemies, allowing for even more damage at the cost of slightly more SP usage. Pela is one of Jingliu’s few supports that can be played fully SP positive. If other teammates are using too much SP, Pela is available to help.

Sustain

Jingliu’s persistent team damage adds up over time, and appreciates the presence of a dedicated healing unit to mitigate it. If your team is dead, Jingliu can’t take their HP to fuel her damage. 

Huohuo	Jingliu’s best sustain option for pure damage, although not mandatory for a strong team. Huohuo’s Ultimate can let Jingliu get her Ultimate a turn faster, which can allow for one extra Enhanced Skill during her Spectral Transmigration state and decreases her downtime. Its ATK% buff, although not as significant, is appreciated. Jingliu’s low SP use can also allow for Huohuo to use her Skill more often, improving healing, cleanse amount, and Ultimate uptime.  However, If Jingliu is run with SP-heavy teammates such as Bronya, Huohuo will struggle to maintain uptime, and other SP-positive healers may be a better option.
Very SP-Positive Healers: Gallagher, Luocha	Although Jingliu herself is only a bit SP-negative, many of Jingliu’s best teammates are very SP negative or Energy-hungry. SP-positive healers, especially when equipped with Multiplication, can fuel more SP-negative Jingliu teammates. They also have the ability to equip Quid Pro Quo, which can help increase Jingliu’s Spectral Transmigration uptime.
Lynx	Lynx applies Healing-over-Time with everything she does, allowing her to keep up with Jingliu damaging her teammates. Keep in mind that without use of her Skill, Lynx’s healing may be unsatisfactory.  Lynx can indirectly regenerate some Energy for Jingliu with her Taunt buff from her Skill, which turns the chance of Jingliu being hit from a coin flip to a near-guarantee if the enemy attacks two or more times.
Preservation Units	As of the current Version, all Preservation units lack high amounts of healing, potentially leading to issues if healing cannot be sourced elsewhere, especially in extended fights.  However, in shorter fights such as in Pure Fiction, Preservation units can be used for other utility, such as buffs, SP, or one-shot protection. As long as the fight ends before Jingliu kills your team, you’re in the clear.

Damage Dealers

Blade

Jingliu’s ability to reduce her teammates’ HP allows her to accelerate the activation of Blade’s Talent without relying on enemy attacks, as well as build up more damage for his Ultimate. More frequent Talent activations lead to both more damage and more Energy for Blade. As Jingliu only consumes 4% of a character’s Max HP when attacking in her Spectral Transmigration state, and Blade’s Talent only requires 5 stacks to activate, this synergy has the added benefit of helping Blade to sustain himself without an Abundance character managing his HP. Keep in mind that dual damage dealer teams are noticeably weaker than using a hypercarry team composition with either of the damage dealers, especially since Blade and Jingliu have a one-way synergy — while Jingliu helps Blade’s stack generation, Blade does not help her at all.

Notable Anti-Synergies

Anti-Synergies

Arlan

Arlan will naturally take himself to 1 HP given time, removing Jingliu’s ability to generate ATK from his HP. Arlan also wants dedicated shielders such as Gepard, who struggle to keep up with Jingliu’s teammate damage and have their Shields expire sooner when placed on Jingliu.

Teammate Gearing

Low Investment Characters

Jingliu converts the HP of her allies into ATK for herself, and damages them in the process. Underleveled and under-equipped allies have less HP to convert into damage output and are more at risk of dying to enemy attacks as a result of this HP drain. A total of 10,000 Max HP is required to max her buff throughout her three other teammates. An uneven distribution is fine, such as two teammates with 3,000 HP and one with 4,000 HP.

Teams

Fast Hypercarry

This is the easiest team archetype to play with Jingliu. Similar to other 5★ carries, a team like this focuses on boosting Jingliu’s damage output with support units. 

For team order, if not utilizing positional buffs such as Lushaka, the Sunken Seas, placing Jingliu in the second or third position allows her to have a higher chance of being hit for Energy, and takes advantage of her tankiness compared to the typical hypercarry support (The second position is suggested for aesthetic reasons). Sustain units also tend to have a high amount of defensive stats, and also do well in a central position while squishier supports should be relegated to the sides.

Example Teams

Although Asta and Yukong’s ATK% buffs are less important for Jingliu, their SPD and CRIT buffs are very useful, as well as the ability to Break.

Lynx can be replaced with any other Abundance unit, but is already an excellent choice.

An excellent and accessible option with only 4★ teammates. 

Tingyun’s Ultimate provides incredible value here, as the DMG% greatly enhances Jingliu’s damage, and the Energy provided helps Jingliu to use her Ultimate much more frequently. A 3-turn Ultimate build on Tingyun may be preferred here, assuming she still has the HP to survive and fuel Jingliu’s Talent. 

Pela in this team mostly brings DEF Reduction, although the extra Ice Toughness Reduction can be useful against Elites and Bosses. Pela also tends to have SP to spare in this team, leaving room to use her Skill if at Eidolon 4 or higher. 

In this team in particular, Gallagher will have excellent healing for all units due to Pela, Tingyun, and Jingliu’s relatively high attack frequencies. It’s worth noting that due to Gallagher’s debuffs, this is one of the few team setups in which 4-Pc Pioneer Diver of Dead Waters could be viable for Jingliu if Pela is holding Resolution Shines As Pearls of Sweat and/or is E4.

One of Jingliu’s best teams. This team relies on Bronya’s Advance to double Jingliu’s turns and Ruan Mei’s high uptime buffs to boost damage. Running Slow Skillspam Bronya is still optimal, but keep in mind that Ruan Mei’s SPD buff is a percentage, not a flat amount, which can result in Bronya acting first with closer SPD values (such as 135 on Jingliu, 134 on Bronya). Adjust your builds accordingly. 

If running Slow Skillspam Bronya, Luocha’s high SP positivity is especially appreciated. Units that require more SP usage but provide more buffs, such as Fu Xuan and Huohuo, can result in SP imbalance and massive damage loss. Other SP positive healers can easily be used in Luocha’s place on this team, such as Bailu or Gallagher. 

To replace Luocha with a more offensive and SP-intensive unit such as Fu Xuan or Huohuo, check out less SP-intensive Bronya playstyles such as Fast Alternating and Fast Double Alternating on the Bronya Guide. Bronya can also be replaced with Sunday, or Ruan Mei with Pela for better SP economy.

A surprisingly competitive team that performs best outside of pure single-target. Although technically a Hypercarry team, in spirit this team is more of a multi damage dealer setup, as Jingliu’s majority on team damage is slim and can even be overtaken by Robin and Jiaoqiu with larger numbers of enemies. Robin and Huohuo buff team ATK, while Jiaoqiu’s Vulnerability increases all team damage. Due to the large ATK buffs from Robin and Huohuo, Jiaoqiu will do far better built with CRIT than ATK here after reaching SPD and EHR breakpoints. 

Huohuo’s Ultimate solves any Energy regeneration issues that Jingliu, Robin, and Jiaoqiu may have, and can even be played SP neutral in this team for better buff uptime and Energy gain.

A fast Abundance unit holding Quid Pro Quo can be a substitute for Huohuo.

This team focuses on funneling Energy to Jingliu. With Energy from Tingyun, Sunday, and Huohuo, it is even possible for Jingliu to manage 100% uptime on her Spectral Transmigration state with some external Energy or a Fast Skillspam Sunday. Sunday’s Slow Skillspam playstyle burns through Syzygy stacks too quickly to achieve this, but is still a viable way to play him in this team. Jingliu and Sunday’s efficient SP use lets Tingyun and Huohuo use SP more aggressively than usual, allowing them to recharge their Ultimates more frequently and generate more Energy for Jingliu.

FAQ

Q: “Can Jingliu kill her teammates?”

A: No. She stops draining HP when her teammates are at 1 HP. This also means that she does not receive an ATK% buff from that teammate. 

Q: “Is Jingliu’s downtime really that significant?”

A: Her Action Advance upon entering Spectral Transmigration helps to mitigate her downtime significantly, but you will generally have at least one turn of downtime where all Jingliu can accomplish is her normal Skill. Her downtime is a fundamental mechanic that must be played around in order to get the most out of her. This may include using Energy generating supports to help her get her Ultimate faster, or careful use of her Ultimate to extend Spectral Transmigration.

Q: “Does Jingliu need to cap her ATK buff?”

A: While Jingliu does not strictly need to fully cap her ATK buff, it is ideal to do so to maximize damage. Furthermore, it is very easy to max it out assuming a full 4 unit team with decently leveled Relics. 

Q: “How much sustain does Jingliu need? Does she need 5★ units or double-sustain?”

A: Jingliu’s team HP drain is not significant enough that her team is on the verge of death on every turn, but is noticeable enough to affect gameplay. Her HP drain amounts to a couple hundred per unit per Enhanced Skill, about as much as a weak enemy hit. This means that units without or with weak healing, such as Preservation units, do not pair well with her if no additional healing is supplied.

Credits

References

JL ATK and Energy by Soul Fish
Jingliu Gear by skylarke

Changelog

• 22 October 2023 – Published for v1.4
• 29 November 2023 – Added Infographic for v1.4
• 17 April 2024 – Updated for v2.1
• 16 December 2024 – Updated for v2.7
• 14 January 2025 – Updated instance of “Toughness DMG” to “Toughness Reduction”