Honkai: Star Rail Yukong Mono Imaginary Team Guide
Jul. 11, 2023Honkai: Star Rail Yukong Mono Imaginary Team Guide
In thisYukong Mono Imaginary Team Guide, we will cover a special Imaginary team build for Honkai Star Rail. The team centers around Yukong who can buff attack, inflict Crit Rate, Crit Damage, and Imaginary Damage. She also pairs well withSilver Wolf, who has the ability to force a weakness of choice on enemies. This unique utility allows for the creation of an unusual team that focuses on Imaginary with some Quantum. The mono Imaginary build heavily relies on swiftly breaking enemy shields and Imprisoning them. By doing so, we delay enemies’ turns, preventing them from acting and keeping them in the broken state for longer.
The Imaginary element is one of the least represented elements in the game, with onlyWelt Yangbeing available at launch. By the release of patch 1.1, two new characters joined the roster,Yukong, andLuocha. That enables players to use them withSilver Wolf, to create a Mono Imaginary team. Luocha fills thedefensive supportrole, Yukong is abuffer, Silver Wolf isdebufferand sub-DPS, and Welt is a damage dealer.
This forms a team with only two elements, Imaginary, and Quantum. So if the enemy has a weakness to either of these two elements, Silver Wolf guarantees applying weakness to the other. If an enemy has a weakness to neither, Silver Wolf has a 50% chance to apply each weakness. Therefore, Silverwolf can easily eliminate the standard 20% enemy resistance to Imaginary or Quantum.
All of the Imaginary characters have excellent toughness breaks, compared to their counterparts from other elements. Silver Wolf has even more breaks, so enemies have little chance to stay unbroken. This provides an extra layer of defense to team and helps the healer save Skill Points in the process. These Skill Points can be used by offensive characters instead meaning they can go more damage.
As with every mono-element team, the goal is to break enemies faster for extra damage, and crowd control. Smaller enemies have a smaller Toughness bar, whereas elites and bosses have a larger Toughness bar, requiring more effort to break. In this Mono Imaginary 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.
Yukong is the only character in the game who has the opportunity to use two Break units with her normal attack. Unlike all Harmony characters, her Ultimate inflicts three weakness break units. She’s designed for break teams, so the mono Imaginary team is a perfect fit for her.
In the case of using Yukong in a burst support style, she has three turns of rotation. Dealing two normal attacks, one skill, and one Ultimate. This sums up to seven Break units on a single target in three turns, which is impressive for a buffer.
Silver Wolfdoes her usual rotation, starting with the Technique for two break units in an AOE. Then she uses her skill for two break units and her normal attack twice for two more units. Finally, she unleashes her Ultimate for an extra three units. This total results in nine Break units for a single target, and two Break units in an AOE.
Luochais another unconventional character, with a kit not following the same pattern as other healers. His skill triggers automatically, so he doesn’t actively use it, or consume SP. This allows him to heal passively a lot more than other healers, but more importantly, he charges his Ultimate faster. The ultimate deal damage, and inflict two units of Imaginary Weakness Break to all enemies. In three turns, Luocha puts five Break units into a single target and two units into AOE.
Weltis the only Imaginary DPS character so far, until Imbibitor Lunae’s release in version 1.3. As a DPS, he uses his skill in every turn, and it hits three times, each inflicting one Break unit. In AOE, the skill hits random enemies, but against a single target, it all focuses on the same target. His ultimate is an AOE, and inflicts two break units.
To force Welt to use Ultimate every three turns, you need more energy Reg, or have enemies hit him. But if you successfully do so, he can break 11 units in a single target. So he matches the breaking capability of the best DPS breaker, Yanqing. Though in an AOE, he can cause two break units to all enemies, and distribute his 9 breaks among enemies.
In a single target scenario, The Mono Imaginary team can break up to 32 break units in three turns. There’s no boss in the game that has such a high toughness bar, so it’s bound to break pretty fast.
In an AOE though, the breaking ability varies depending on the number of enemies. Welt skill has limited hits, and it can’t break a lot of enemies together. It also targets random enemies, so it might ignore the enemy with a toughness shield, and pick an already broken target, wasting some break potential.
But even without Welt’s skill, the team can still break 6 units in an AOE in three turns. Both Luocha and Yukong can switch the target of their Normal Attacks to break the enemy of choice.
Due to the RNG nature of Silver Wolf skill in the absence of several weaknesses on enemies, it’s better to use her against enemies already weak to one of the team elements. So we aim to use the Mono Imaginary team against enemies already weak to Quantum, or Imaginary.
To start off, Honkai Star Rail doesn’t have a lot of enemies who have higher Imaginary resistance than usual. The only Elite with 40% Imaginary resistance is Aurumaton Gatekeeper. So be careful not to use this team against him.
On the other hand, all of Kafka, Gepard, and Bronya’s bosses have innate Imaginary weaknesses. On top of several elites such as Voidranger: Trampler, Stormbringer, and Automaton Direwolf. Then there is a roster of enemies weak to Quantum, such as Abundant Ebon Deer, and Cocolia bosses. These also include the Silvermane Lieutenant, Guardian Shadow, and Blaze Out of Space and Ice Out of Space, who are all elites. So Mono Imaginary teams will have an easier time against them, inflicting the correct weakness 100% of the time.
Imaginary Break delays enemies by 30%, multiplied by the Break Effect, in addition to inflicting a Slow debuff. While Quantum Break delays the enemy by 20%, multiplied by Break Effect, and does massive delayed damage.
Applying slow effect is important for meeting certain conditions, such as triggering Welt’s talent, or Loop Light Cone passive. However, Welt’s skill is usually a good source of applying Slow, so you don’t have to Break for Imaginary. So in most cases, breaking the enemy’s toughness with Quantum is better, for the extra damage.
That way, we can build the Quantum character, Silver Wolf with a Break Effect then focus on doing the last hit to the enemy’s toughness bar with her, to cause Quantum break. That’s for a single target since Silver Wolf can’t target multiple enemies. For an AOE, either Welt or Luocha will apply the Break. Break applied to smaller enemies is not very impactful, since break damage scale with the total toughness that the enemy has.
Quantum Break requires hitting the enemy five times after the Break to deal maximum damage. That’s easier with a high Break Effect, as it delays the enemy’s turn, and gives the team a window of opportunity to attack before the enemy has time to recover. You can also increase this attack window by Breaking right after the enemy’s turn.
In teams without Silver Wolf, you will use an Imaginary Break. In that case of using a DPS breaker such as Serval, you can Break using Lightning instead of adding on more damage.
In a Mono Imaginary team, Silver Wolf follows a typical Break Effect build. This is the same case withMono Ice Team, since all the elements of Ice, Quantum, and Imaginary are control elements. Out of them, Quantum inflicts the best Break and deals significantly more damage.
Using a Break Effect on Rope, Effect Hit Rate on Body, Speed on Boots, and Sphere can be flexible for your build. Pair this setup withThief of Shooting MeteorRelic Set, for more Break Effect. If your Silver Wolf can reach 145 Speed, she can useTalia‘s Planetary set for even more Break Effect. Otherwise, use thePan-Galacticset for more Effect Hit Rate and Attack.
For Light Cones, stick with the free event reward,Before the Tutorial Mission Starts, it’s easily her best pick.
Yukong is an offensive support who can buff the Attack and Crit of two team members. She requires adjusting the entire team’s speed, to force certain turn orders. You always need to have Welt take turns after Yukong, and not before her, to always get her buff.
On top of that, Yukong is required to adjust their energy value herself according to the damage dealer. If your Welt can refill his energy in three turns, Yukong also needs her Ultimate to be ready in three turns. That way, she buffs his ultimate as well as his skill. For a three-turn ultimate, Yukong needs Meshing Cogs Light Cone + Energy Reg Rope at E0. She uses two normal attacks, and one skill in these three turns.
On E2, Yukong has the option of going with eitherMeshing Cogs+VonwacqPlanetaryset, or S1Memories of the Past+Energy Reg Rope.
An alternative playstyle, is to use three skills per 3 turn rotation, which consumes a lot of SP. However, this style guarantees high uptime for Yukong’s buff and generates higher energy. This eliminates the need for an Energy Light Cone. This lets Yukong usePlanetary Rendezvousinstead, to deal a massive damage buff to Welt.
To keep turn order consistent, the difference in speed between herself and the team must not be great. At the same time, she must act before the DPS, who’s Welt in this Star Rail Mono Imaginary team setup So one suggested speed value for the team is: +145 Silver Wolf, +137 Yukong, 134 Welt, 125 Luocha. This means the entire team uses Speed Boots, and both Silver Wolf and Yukong can use more speed sub-stats, or a Speed set to get more turns at the start of each battle.
Use Crit Rate on Body, Speed on Boots, Energy Reg on Rope, and Sphere is flexible. Pair this setup with aMusketeerSet, for extra speed. AndFleet of the AgelessPlanetary set.
Luocha is easily the best fit for an Imaginary team. With healing and the correct element, he can fill a defensive slot no problem. He has heals from his skill and talent that both trigger automatically, saving us SP. The heal is also reactive, so Luocha doesn’t waste his time over-healing an ally on full HP.
His normal attack and Ultimate attack, attack enemies, break shields, and deal damage. So he fills many roles in the team, not only as a healer. His AOE Ultimate is good for breaking smaller enemies, or two boss floors.
Use Attack on Body, Speed on Boots, Attack on Sphere, and Energy Reg on Rope. Pair them with a hybrid Attack + Healing Bonus set, andSpace StationPlanetaryset
For Light Cones, you can useShared Feeling, orQuid Pro Quoto help the team with Energy.
Before the Star Rail Mono Imaginary team’s existence, Welt was regarded as a mere debuffer, or offensive support character. However, the two banners that appeared in version 1.1, brought further options such asSilver Wolf,Luocha, and Yukong. These are the characters that form a Mono Imaginary Team, and they gave Welt a chance to shine as the main DPS, and even a hyper carry.
Welt’s skill hits 3 times and procs his talent three more times against slowed enemies. This stacks up to almost a 400% attack modifier on a single target. That’s almost similar to Seele’s modifier on her Ultimate, and double her modifier on skill! It doesn’t mean Welt deals more damage thanSeelebecause she gets other great sources of damage from double turns and massive Crit and speed buffs. But what it does mean is thatWelthas a chance to compete with the correct buffs.
Welt doesn’t have innate Crit buffs, and his base speed is very low compared to characters from the Hunt Path. He needs Speed Boots, on top of speed sub stats, and Crit Rate Body, Imaginary Damage Sphere, and Attack on Rope.
Use an Imaginary Relic Set such asWastelanderon Welt. Even without meeting the Imprisonment requirement for Crit Damage buff, the Crit Rate and Imaginary Damage alone makes it better than any other set. Pair it with theSpace Sealing StationPlanetaryset for a good attack boost.
If you don’t have Silver Wolf, or your Silver Wolf is busy on the other side, you can use Pela, Tingyun, or Bronya in place of Silver Wolf. She will provide fewer debuffs, and she can’t inflict weakness on enemies that don’t have it to begin with. But considering how some content has quite a few enemies weak to the Imaginary element, it’s a valid strategy. Pela in a Mono Imaginary team has the option to use only normal attacks, and still generate enough energy to use their Ultimate often. While Bronya can build full speed to generate enough SP, while still using her skill enough times.
This playstyle is useful to save much more SP compared to using Silver Wolf. Instead, Skill Points can then be used on Yukong, spamming her buff every turn. This in turn increases Welt’s DPS, generates more Energy for Yukong, and enables her to build more DPS stats.
In this section, I explain in detail the two playstyles you play with a Yukong Mono Imaginary Team.
Welt’s Technique is a debuff, you can cast and switch, as well as Bronya’s Technique if you use Bronya. However, Yukong’s and Silver Wolf’s Techniques are active abilities, so you should choose only one or the other.
Among these, Silver Wolf is the best to start a battle with. She inflicts two units of toughness break on all enemies, regardless of their element. She also procs her talent, to apply one of her debuffs on all enemies. It’s the only chance where Silver Wolf hits enemies in sn AOE, so don’t waste it.
Most characters in the Mono Imaginary Team require an investment in the Energy Regeneration Rate (ERR) stat, to use their ultimate enough times. ERR is not easy to come by, and no sub-stat can provide it. The only sources available for it is on the main stat on Rope, the Vonwacq Planetary set, and some Light Cones.
We can’t sacrifice offensive stats on our main DPS Welt to get energy, so we leave him at 100% ERR. This will make his energy fall short in a three-turn rotation. So he needs to rely on getting hit once, to get enough energy for an Ultimate. Getting hit is something that happens often, so Welt will be fine most of the time. Another solution is to use him with an E6 Yukong, who can then pop her ultimate whenever Welt fully charges his ultimate.
On a support such as Yukong though, we raise her energy to the point where she uses her ultimate every three turns. That’s possible with S5 Meshing Cogs Light Cone + two normal attacks + one skill. Or by using three skills instead, and going for another Light Cone with no energy.
On Luocha, he spam his normal attacks only, and get little energy from it. However, he will cast skill outside his turn, when an lly get below 50% HP. This cast costs no SP, and refund free energy.
On Bronya, due to the lack of an exceptional energy refund, we rely on her taking more turns than usual. On top of that, we give her more ERR by equipping Vonwacq + ERR Rope.
Skill Points are a finite resource, because every character either consumes it by using their Skill, or generates it by using a normal attack. For each character that goes SP negative to use their skill every turn, we need an SP positive character who doesn’t use their skill to balance it out. For every SP-neutral character, we can add another SP-neutral character.
In this Mono Imaginary team, the main DPS is Welt, so he needs all the SP he can get. Then Yukong either goes SP neutral, or SP negative. To use Yukong’s skill every turn, we need two characters that use no skills, which is not ideal. So here’s how I recommend solving the SP issue:
For SP negative Yukong, I prefer using Bronya in place of Silverwolf, because Bronya advances her own turns. This results in Bronya taking more turns than usual, so she generates SP for herself to use her skill. However, Bronya’s skill should give Welt an extra turn, so the team still needs more SP. You can get this SP by building even more speed on a character who uses only normal attacks, namely Luocha.
If Luocha uses a mix of speed and gains advance forward from a Wind set, he has a chance to jump up the turn order. He can then generate the missing SP needed to wrap up the rotation.
The other playstyle for Yukong is going SP neutral by using a balanced amount of skills versus normal attacks. So in three turns Yukong can use two normal and one skill, or use one skill and one normal attack every two turns. This way, you save a lot more SP for a second support or second DPS to use their skill.
Here we have much more SP to spare, so we can use the Silver Wolf skill more often, to apply weakness to more enemies. It’s a useful tactic against floors with two bosses, to break them both. It also leaves room for the healer to use their skill if the need arises, without affecting the rotation.
Using Yukong’s normal attacks give the team a much higher Break capability, because Yukong has two units of Break in her normal attack. It adds more crowd control instead of dealing higher damage. It also allows the team to concentrate their damage in bursts, which synergizes with enemies who have a weakened mode.
Some enemies such as Automaton Grizzly will get a Def Reduction debuff if it fails to cast one of his abilities. The Aurumaton Gatekeeper will also summon smaller enemies that debuff him upon their death. So in both these cases, using a burst of DPS at the right time yields a huge damage increase.
This Star Rail Mono Imaginary Team has a unique composition that can includr Silver Wolf or without her. There is a big roster of enemies weak to Imaginary, and all who are a part of the current roster have a high Break efficiency. The team also excel in both single target scenarios and AOE, because of the extra AOE Break.
With the core three Imaginary units filling the main three roles, you can fill the last slot with flexible options. If not Silver Wolf, then you can match the element of 4th unit with the enemy weakness. Therefore, you get to Break enemies more often, especially if you use characters from the Erudition path. You can also use more offensive supports, or another Quantum damage dealer such asQingque. Finally, when the Imbibitor Lunae releases soon in version 1.3, the team will be even more potent, with an even higher DPS floor and ceiling.
At higher Eidolons, Yukong can go for a higher DPS build. She benefits from her own buff, and her ultimate has high modifiers. Her Eidolons solve her energy issues, and so it frees her to use more offensive relics.
Stay tuned for moreHonkai: Star Rail Guides. For more Honkai: Star Rail content, check ourHonkai Star Rail Guide: Best Relics To Farm. For more team builds, check ourSilver Wolf Mono Ice team Guide.
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