Honkai: Star Rail Silver Wolf Mono Ice team Guide
Jun. 11, 2023Honkai: Star Rail Silver Wolf Mono Ice team Guide
In thisHonkai Star Rail Silver Wolf Mono Ice Team Guide, we will cover a special mono Ice team build for Honkai Star Rail. The team centers around the newly released Silver Wolf, who has the ability to force a weakness of choice on enemies. This unique utility allows for the creation of unusual teams that focus on one or two elements. The mono Ice build heavily relies on swiftly breaking enemy shields and freezing them. By doing so, we eliminate the need for a healer and free up team slots for more offensive options.
There were five Ice characters available in Honkai Star at launch, and we need to choose three of them to build our Mono team. The fourth character will always be Silver Wolf, as they add the Ice weakness.Yanqingis the sole main Single Target Ice DPS, so I highly recommend including him. For the remaining slots, you have the choice betweenMarch 7thorGepardas adefensive Support. Lastly, you can opt forHertaas theAOE DPSorPelaas the secondoffensive support.
Enemies, by standard, have a 20% damage resistance against elements they are not weak to, and zero resistance against elements they are weak to. Therefore, Silver Wolf’s skill eliminates this resistance, increasing the overall damage dealt by the entire team. The Ice weakness function also enables the entire team to damage the toughness bar, resulting in Ice or Quantum breaks, delaying enemy actions, or even forcing them to skip a turn.
Additionally, Silver Wolf’s Technique allows her to break an entire line of smaller enemies at the start of a battle. As a result, the crowd control capability of a Mono Ice team with Silver Wolf’s Quantum is immense, effortlessly manipulating enemies.
Toughness is a shield that every enemy possesses on top of their HP bar. Smaller enemies have a smaller Toughness bar, whereas elites and bosses have a larger Toughness bar, requiring more effort to break. In this Mono Ice team guide, each character’s abilities have different Toughness damage values. It’s important to note that the Toughness damage is a fixed value for each ability and cannot be altered by stats.
Our objective is to maximize Toughness breaking, so let’s review the damage thresholds for each character.
Yanqingpossesses the highest Ice Breaking capability, as he can spam his Skill every turn, dealing two break units of damage. He also has a high chance of performing a follow-up attack, which adds an extra break unit. If Yanqing successfully uses his Ultimate once every three turns, the total number of break units adds up to around 10-11 in three turns for a single target.
Silver Wolf typically starts the fight by using her Technique, which deals two break units of damage to all enemies. She then uses her Skill for two units, performs a normal attack for one unit, and unleashes her Ultimate for three units. In the same three turns, this amounts to 9 break units on a single target and 2 break units on all enemies.
Pela, on the other hand, cannot use her Technique if Silver Wolf has already used hers. In this case, Pela resorts to using one skill, two normal attacks, and one ultimate in three turns. This results in 6 break units on a single target and 2 break units on all enemies.
March 7th‘s skill doesn’t directly break the enemy’s shield since it targets an ally with a shield. However, March 7th can counter with follow-up attacks up to three times per turn. Additionally, her Ultimate targets all enemies and recharges rapidly. If March 7th takes a lot of hits, she can use her Ultimate twice in the first three turns. This amounts to a total of 4 break units on all enemies, plus 9 other break units distributed among enemies that attack the shielded ally.
These four characters are the primary shield breakers who fit into our Star Rail Mono Ice team. When combined, they can break over 30 units on a single target in the first three turns. In addition to the 8-9 AOE break units, this is more than enough to break enemies twice or even thrice.
Enemies’ toughness bar does vary, depending on enemy type. But most smaller enemies in Memory Of Chaos don’t have a Toughness of more than 4 units. Between Silver Wolf Technique and AOE of either Pela or March, you can easily break adds in the first or second turn. As for the boss itself, you can bring it down in a similar amount of time, if you target it.
The toughness bar of enemies does vary, depending on the enemy type. However, in Memory of Chaos, most smaller enemies generally have a toughness bar of no more than 4 units. With the combination of Silver Wolf’s Technique and the AOE abilities of either Pela or March, breaking the adds within the first or second turn becomes an easy task. Similarly, if you focus your team’s firepower on the boss itself, you can bring it down just as quickly.
Cocolia in her Weekly Boss domain have the highest toughness bar, but she’s highly resistant to Ice and freeze. Our Mono Ice team doesn’t fit this encounter anyway, and you’d be better off with another team. Keep an eye on ourHonkai Star Rail guidesto learn more about teams that fit different bosses.
However, it’s important to note that Cocolia, in her Weekly Boss domain, possesses the highest toughness bar. Moreover, she exhibits high resistance to Ice and freeze. Consequently, our Mono Ice team is not well-suited for this particular encounter, and it would be more advisable to utilize a different team composition. Stay tuned to ourHonkai Star Railguides for further information to learn more about teams that best fit different bosses
Ice break forces the enemy to skip a turn and advances its next turn by 50%, resulting in a total action delay of 50%. On the other hand, Quantum Break starts at a default of 20% action delay, which can be multiplied by the Break Effect. If you stack over 150% Break Effect on Silver Wolf, it becomes more advantageous to use her to deliver the breaking hit. This way, you can achieve an action delay of more than 50%.
Even if Silver Wolf’s Break Effect is lower than 150%, it is still preferable to break with her. The reason is that Quantum Break provides much higher Break damage. Both Quantum and Ice abilities deal their Break damage when the enemy recovers from the break, rather than instantly upon breaking the toughness. However, the Quantum Entanglement build accumulates stacks with every hit you land on the broken enemy, up to a maximum of 5 stacks. These stacks multiply the Break damage and allow Silver Wolf to unleash significant damage.
Ice Break doesn’t involve stacking or function as a damage-over-time effect. It triggers only once, resulting in significantly lower damage overall. Even if you ensure that Pela delivers the breaking hit and stack Break Effect, it still won’t be the optimal build for a Silver Wolf Mono Ice team.
There may be instances where you have no control over who breaks the enemy’s toughness. Due to Yanqing’s high number of hits compared to average supports, he may unintentionally break the shield without giving Silver Wolf a chance. In such cases, it’s acceptable to stick with Yanqing’s rotation, as his damage output is substantial in the first two turns with his Technique active. We rely on the hope that Yanqing’s RNG favors us and leaves the breaking hit to be dealt by Silver Wolf.
Break damage in Honkai Star Rail follows a complex formula, and maximizing it is crucial in a Silver Wolf build. Silver Wolf teams inherently deal more Break damage compared to non-Silver Wolf teams. This is because Break damage doesn’t scale with the damage stats of allies but rather with enemy Defense and resistances. Silver Wolf excels at shredding both enemy Defense and Resistance, allowing her to significantly boost Break damage.
If you ensure that Silver Wolf delivers the breaking hit, the Break damage will scale with her character Level and the Break Effect stat. So that’s how we build her, with Break Effect where applicable.
In this Star Rail Silver Wolf Mono Ice Build, the Break Effect main stat should be on Rope, Effect Hit Rate on Body, Speed on Boots, and Sphere can be flexible. Pair this setup withThief of Shooting MeteorRelic Set, for Break Effect, andGenius of Brilliant Starsfor Ignore Def.
For Light Cone, stick with the free event reward,Before the Tutorial Mission Starts, it’s easily her best pick.
Yanqingtakes on the role of the primary damage dealer, and the entire team is built around maximizing his DPS. His effectiveness heavily relies on avoiding damage in order to boost his Critical Rate, Critical Damage, and trigger his Follow-up Attack. To protect Yanqing from taking damage, we employ two methods: utilizing a shield from either Gepard or March 7th, and inflicting crowd control effects on enemies to prevent them from attacking.
Once Yanqing is safeguarded, it is crucial for him to consistently use his skill every turn to maintain all the bonuses from his Talent. However, this consumes SP, so it is important to ensure that the rest of the team does not heavily rely on SP usage, leaving enough for Yanqing. Fortunately, with Silver Wolf, Pela, and March having the flexibility to forgo their skills and and use normal attacks instead.
Yanqing can reach near 100% Critical Rate on his skill and follow-up attacks. Even on minimum investment, he can achieve 100% Critical Rate with his ultimate. Therefore, it is recommended to prioritize Crit Damage as the main stat on his Body, Attack (or Speed) on his Feet, Ice Damage on his Sphere, and Attack on his Rope.
In terms of Relic Sets, Yanqing is relatively easy to gear up. The hybrid combination of 2xHunter of Glacial Forestand 2xMusketeer of Wild Wheatperforms exceptionally well and comes close to being his best option. This setup allows players to obtain favorable sub stats on the hybrid set and requires less farming. However, for endgame progression, the goal is to acquire the 4xHunter of Glacial Forestset. As for the Planetary Ornament set, if Yanqing uses Attack on his Boots, theInert Salsottois a recommended choice. However, if your Yanqing utilizes Speed on his Boots, then theSpace Sealing Stationis a better pick.
Among the available Light Cones in our Mono Ice team, Swordplay stands out as the best option. Yanqing can fully utilize Swordplay if he avoids switching targets and focuses on single-target DPS. It surpasses the Five Star Free-to-Play Light Cone options available for Yanqing.
The chosen Preservation character for this Star Rail Silver Wolf Mono Ice team isMarch 7th. March 7th is preferred for her powerful shield and, more importantly, her abilities to break enemy toughness and freeze them. While Gepard can provide a shield for the entire team and consume less SP, March 7th offers a more offensive playstyle and can deal Ice break in an area-of-effect (AOE) manner.
The chosen Preservation character for this Star Rail Silver Wolf Mono Ice team is March 7th. March 7th is preferred for her powerful shield and, more importantly, her abilities to break enemy toughness and freeze them. While Gepard can provide a shield for the entire team and consume less SP, March 7th offers a more offensive playstyle and can deal Ice break in an area-of-effect (AOE) manner.
In this Mono Ice team with Silver Wolf, we have the advantage of applying both Ice and Quantum weaknesses to enemies. With a full Ice team, we can break enemy toughness rapidly. Every counter from March 7th and every ultimate contributes to breaking the enemies and helps maintain control over them. Additionally, by focusing on Effect Hit rate, we can freeze enemies even without breaking their toughness. With the adjustments made to enemy Effect Resistance in Patch 1.1, March 7th’s chances of successfully freezing enemies have improved. Due to the team’s ability to charge March 7th’s ultimate quickly, you will have frequent access to AOE freeze and break abilities.
March 7th’s primary role is to shield Yanqing and any other team members who are at risk of taking significant damage. When the shielded characters are hit, March 7th will counterattack. The shield provided by March 7th is durable, lasting for 4 turns, and since the team aims to eliminate enemies quickly, it is beneficial for the team’s overall strategy.
For a pure shield strength build, it is advisable to prioritize Defense as the main stat on all of March 7th’s relics. However, for an offensive playstyle, you will need Effect Hit Rate on the Body gear, Speed on the Boots gear, and Defense on the remaining gear pieces. Using Energy Generation on the Rope gear is optional, as March 7th can typically manage without it.
March 7th benefits from theKnight of Purity PalaceRelic Sets, which provide Defense and enhance shield strength. As for the Planetary Ornament set, she is the only character who can make effective use ofBelobog of the Architects. With a high Effect Hit Rate, March 7th can obtain a 30% Defense bonus from the Planetary Ornament set, compensating for not having Defense as the main stat on every gear piece and creating a well-rounded build.
While there are various good defensive Light Cones available, for this particular Mono Ice build, I recommend saving resources for theMoment of Victory Light Cone. It is a Five Star Light Cone and Gepard’s signature weapon, offering high Defense and Effect Hit Rate. With this Light Cone equipped, you can generate substantial shields while still being able to freeze most enemies.
Before obtaining the Memory of Victory Light Cone, you can use the free Four StarWe Are Wildfire Light Cone. It decreases the damage taken by all allies for 5 turns, allowing the shields on them to last longer, and also provides healing to allies with low HP at the start of battle.
Pelais another valuable character in the Silver Wolf Mono Ice team, as she can contribute to breaking ice toughness in an AOE manner with her Ultimate ability. Additionally, she has the capability to inflict Defense Reduction on all enemies, effectively covering the single-target playstyle of Silver Wolf.
Not only that, but stacking Defense Reduction on top of Silver Wolf’s on the main target is very potent. Almost doubling any damage the team deals, from any source. The reason being, is that Enemy Defense reduces the damage taken to less than half by default. Therefore each point of Defense removed, results in a higher increase in damage than the previous.
Let’s consider an example: Suppose an ally deals 10,000 damage at level 80 against a level 80 enemy with a 50% Defense multiplier. If Silver Wolf inflicts a 45% Defense shred, the multiplier increases to 65%, resulting in 13,000 damage. Adding another 45% Defense shred from Pela increases the multiplier to 91%, resulting in 18,200 damage. Thus, the initial 45% Defense shred translates to a 30% damage increase, while the additional 45% Defense shred provides a 40% further damage increase. This illustrates the value of stacking Defense shred.
Pela’s skill also removes enemy buffs, enhancing the team’s survivability. Overall, she brings added value to the Silver Wolf Mono Ice team. Additionally, Pela buffs the entire team’s Effect Hit Rate, which aids in landing Defense reduction and enables both Yanqing and March to successfully freeze enemies.
As a Nihility character like Silver Wolf, Pela relies on Effect Hit Rate to successfully land her debuff. Therefore, it is recommended to equip Effect Hit Rate on her Body slot, Speed on Boots, and Energy Regeneration on Rope. This leaves the Sphere slot open for either Attack, Ice damage, or a defensive stat depending on your preference and team composition.
In terms of Relics, Pela benefits from using theMusketeer of Wild Wheatset, as it provides a speed boost. Speed can be challenging to increase, and this set helps Pela reach the desired speed of 135, allowing her to take two turns in the first round of battle. For the Planetary Ornament slots, Pela can use either the standardFleet of the Agelesssupport set for a team-wide attack buff orSprightly Vonwacqto increase her Energy Regeneration and advance her turn in the first round to apply debuffs before the damage dealers’ turns.
When it comes to Light Cones, Pela cannot use the eventLight Cone Beforethe Tutorial Mission Starts since Silver Wolf will be using the only available copy. As an alternative, Light Cones such asEyes of The Prey, which provides Effect Hit Rate, orResolution Shines As Pearls of Sweat, which offers extra Defense shred, can be suitable options for her.
In some cases where going full offense is challenging and enemies have potent AOE attacks, it may be necessary to adjust your team composition accordingly. This adjustment depends on the available characters in your roster and the weaknesses of the enemies you are facing.
In higher floors of Memory of Chaos, where you encounter three waves, including a boss wave, the enemies in each wave may have different weaknesses. Since Silver Wolf is primarily a single-target support, you can consider incorporating other elemental characters into your team to match the second most prevalent weakness among the enemies.
For example, you can replace Pela withFire Trailblazeras a fire unit. Teaming up Fire Trailblazer with March can greatly enhance the survivability of your team. If the enemies are weak to fire, Fire Trailblazer can effectively break shields in AOE. They bring taunt, damage reduction, and solid damage output. Fire Trailblazer is a character available to all players and is considered one of the best characters to invest in throughout the game.
If you have a five-star healer such asBailuor Luocha, in addition to the guaranteed Natasha, you can use a healer on each side of your team. In this case, you would choose the healer whose element matches the enemy’s weakness. For example, you can use Bailu against lightning-weak enemies or Natasha against physically weak enemies. Although healers do not provide significant breaking capabilities, it’s still advantageous to match the weakness to ensure that Silver Wolf does not inflict the wrong weakness.
If you have Gepard, you can also replace March with him. This trade-off sacrifices freeze, break, and AOE potential in exchange for increased team survivability. This tactic is useful against enemies with heavy AOE attacks where relying solely on March’s shield may not be sufficient to sustain your team, and breaking all enemies quickly becomes challenging.
Due to the strategic advantages provided by Yanqing’s Technique and Silver Wolf’s Technique, it is indeed beneficial to start battles with them. Yanqing’s Technique grants a powerful two-turn damage buff, making it essential to cast it before every battle. Similarly, Silver Wolf’s Technique is an AOE attack that inflicts two units of Quantum break on all enemies, regardless of their weakness. This ensures that Silver Wolf will break the toughness bar of all small enemies, delay their turns, and apply Entanglement.
Starting a battle with Entanglement is a huge advantage, making Silver Wolf the ideal character to open with her Technique. Each hit an enemy receives before recovering increases the amount of damage they will take from Entanglement upon recovery. Therefore, it is highly recommended to follow up with AOE attacks during the first turn. To execute this strategy effectively, precise planning is necessary.
All characters start the battle with half of their energy filled, so March starts with 60/120, Pela starts with 55/110, and Yanqing starts with 70/140. Therefore, they need to build the same amount of energy in order to use their ultimates. Pela can easily restore energy against debuffed enemies. Silver Wolf’s Technique applies a debuff before the battle begins. As a result, Pela needs to perform two normal attacks (20×2 energy) and proc her talent twice (generating 5~10 energy with each attack on a debuffed enemy). This requires Pela’s talent to be at least level 7 or higher, allowing her to generate 8 energy with each hit. Achieving two turns in the first cycle can be accomplished if Pela has a speed of 135.
Now for March, refunding March’s ultimate in the first cycle is a bit more challenging. She requires 60 energy, and broken enemies cannot trigger her counters. Thus, she needs the same 135-speed as Pela and must use two casts of her skill, each costing 2 SP. This becomes extremely difficult if you also use two of Yanqing’s skills and one of Silver Wolf’s skills in the first cycle. However, there is a workaround by reducing Yanqing’s speed and equipping him with Attack Boots instead.
You start with 3 SP by default, and ensure that all of Silver Wolf, Pela, and March have speeds over 135 to enable them to take two turns. Meanwhile, Yanqing’s speed is set below 135 so that he only takes one turn. Begin by using Silver Wolf’s Skill (-1 SP), followed by Pela’s Normal attack (+1 SP), March’s skill on Yanqing (-1 SP), and Yanqing’s skill (-1 SP). This will leave 1 SP remaining for the next turn within the same cycle.
It’s important to note that the order in which characters take their turns is determined by their Speed. If Pela and Silver Wolf have slightly higher speeds than March and Yanqing, you can refund SP before the latter two take their turns. Now, return to Silver Wolf and use her normal attack (+1 SP), followed by Pela (+1 SP), and finally March’s skill on herself (-1 SP). This concludes the first cycle with 2 SP remaining, allowing you to cast both Pela and March’s ultimates to AOE the entire enemy line.
If you are facing high-level enemies, they may have enough speed to recover from being broken before the first cycle ends. However, during the recommended rotation, every enemy will have taken at least 3 hits from AOE attacks. Then the team will have delivered 4 additional single-target hits on specific enemies. As a result, it is possible to reach the maximum of 5 Entanglement stacks on two enemies, preferably the fastest ones, which allows for their quick elimination.
With Silver Wolf having a high Break effect, her attacks will inflict significant Entanglement damage. Additionally, if Pela is built for DPS, she will also contribute to the overall damage output. The enemy targeted by Yanqing should be defeated in one hit. As a result, the first wave of enemies should be obliterated easily, either dying immediately or coming very close to death.
Yanqing’s Ultimate is the most powerful damage-dealing ability in the entire team. But it also has the highest energy cost. Yanqing starts with 70/140 energy, so he needs 70 energy to cast his first ultimate. In the first cycle, he takes one turn and uses his skill (30 energy). In the second cycle, he gets his second turn and gains an additional (30 energy). While this is not enough to fully recharge his ultimate, Yanqing has a +60% chance to perform a follow-up attack, which restores another 10 energy.
Therefore, using two skills and one follow-up attack is enough for Yanqing to use his ultimate on his second turn. The ultimate should be used on the enemy with the highest health and as many debuffs as possible. If you followed the recommended rotation and eliminated the first wave in the first cycle, the second wave will consist of fresh enemies without any debuffs. It’s important to note that each new wave resets the rotation, so the cycle in the second wave will start with two turns for Pela, Silver Wolf, and March.
This wave will not have the effect of Silver Wolf’s Technique and the enemies will not start broken. Essentially we can exploit March’s counters to charge her ultimate. Silver Wolf likely saved her ultimate from the first cycle and can use it here along with her skill on the same enemy. Pela won’t be able to regain her ultimate in time for the second cycle, and the same goes for March. Therefore, we make do with Silver Wolf’s Def shred, Yanqing’s Crit buff from his talent, and his own Technique, which is still active in his second turn. Yanqing’s Skill combined with his ultimate should swiftly dispatch the main enemy.
Use one normal attack and one skill from Pela (+1 SP), one skill, and one normal attack from Silver Wolf (Zero SP). If the enemy doesn’t heavily damage your team, you can also use two normal attacks from March (+2 SP). Additionally, Yanqing uses his skill once (-1 SP). Thus, the total gained SP is +2, in addition to the remaining 2 SP from the previous cycle, resulting in 4 SP available for the third cycle.
For the success of this Star Rail Silver Wolf Mono Ice team, we save nothing for the third cycle. Our goal is to regain all ultimate abilities, use all skills, and finish off the second wave, or at least a significant portion of it. Unless we have built an insane amount of Speed, each character will have only one turn, and we must make the most of it.
If Pela’s Talent is maxed, she will have regained (5+30+20+10+10=75 energy) from the second cycle, as long as she keeps hitting a debuffed enemy. Therefore, in the third cycle, we use her skill for an additional (30+10 energy), which will refund her ultimate for a massive Def shred debuff on all enemies.
March has the potential to counter up to six times between the second and third cycles, resulting in a total of (60 energy). She also uses her normal attack twice in the second cycle for an extra (40 energy). Therefore, any action she takes in the third cycle will replenish her energy. At E0, if March freezes any enemy with her ultimate, she will regain even more energy. So she has a chance to replenish her energy even if she doesn’t perform a high number of counters.
Silver Wolf can indeed refund energy quickly with her event Light Cone. Each time she hits an enemy with the Def shred debuff, she gains an additional 8 energy. Since most enemies that Silver Wolf hits will have this debuff, whether from her ultimate, talent, or even Pela’s ultimate, she can generate energy efficiently.
Therefore, you should utilize all the team’s ultimates and skills, aiming to score a wave clear. This will enable you to start the boss wave early and have multiple cycles and turns to finish it off.
Mono Ice is an example team build that Silver Wolf brings to Star Rail. It has a very unique playstyle and focuses on hammering enemies with Break and freeze. It has very high single-target DPS, as well as AOE crowd control. The Ice element provides an easy way to incorporate more offensive characters while maintaining good team protection.
If you build Silver Wolf with Break Effect, make sure to deal the breaking hit with her for huge damage. Freeze is a good combo with Quantum Break because it forces enemies to delay their toughness recovery. This gives extra turns to your allies to build up Entanglement stacks.
Yanqing greatly prefers to stay shielded so that he doesn’t lose his Soulsteel Sync buff. However, some enemies can combo him down below shield strength. If that happens, it might fully charge Yanqing’s Ultimate. You shouldn’t rush and use the Ultimate immediately since an Ultimate without Soulsteel Sync loses a significant buff.
Stay tuned for more Honkai: Star Rail Guides. For more Honkai: Star Rail content, check ourHonkai Star Rail Guide: 5 Best Eidolons, as well as our Tier lists forDefensive Supports,Offensive Supports,AOE DPS, andSingle Target DPS. And the full list of ourcharacters Build guides.
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