In Honkai: Star Rail, Black Swan and Sparkle are both helpful characters within their own niches.
Players may now immerse themselves in fresh tales and the continuation of Trailblazer’s adventure in Honkai: Star Rail thanks to the opening of the Penacony sector. They can also discover new areas of this universe and interact with new individuals. With future patches, gamers may also anticipate the introduction of a wider range of playable characters, which will enable them to construct even more flexible teams if they so want.
Black Swan and Sparkle are the first two 5-star characters to be added to the Honkai: Star Rail roster in version 2.0. The fan community has shown a great deal of interest in both characters, mostly because of their appearances and animations. Even while it would be tempting to pull for both based just on this, players who want to save money may need to consider other features of the game when deciding which character is more valuable to pull for. Here’s some additional information about what players can anticipate from these characters and if they should choose one over the other, but ultimately, the choice still comes down to which character players find more entertaining.
Star Rail: Black Swan or Sparkle in Honkai
Though different in rarity, Black Swan is a Wind element Nihility character that shares similarities with Sampo in both route and element. Similar to Sampo, Black Swan is primarily concerned with Damage over Time (DoT), but in a more intricate way. Conversely, Sparkle is a Quantum element Harmony character, giving Quantum greater adaptability for mono-Quantum teams and eventually giving them access to characters from all routes.
In light of this, they each offer unique perspectives to the table by assuming roles that are either healer- or non-DPS-focused. Players should consider how well these characters fit into their roster and how easy they are to create, since they will take the role of either a sub-DPS or support unit in team configurations. Overall, any of them may be highly valuable to pull if players discover that their responsibilities match the makeup of their teams.
Positions
As a Nihility character, Black Swan is more in line with those that emphasize applying Damage over Time (DoT), as opposed to those like Pela or Welt that concentrate primarily on debuffing opponents’ stats. Nevertheless, Black Swan is superior in both capacities as she can deal more damage and lower an enemy’s DEF with an AoE. In light of this, players may still find her valuable in the absence of any DoT powers. However, Black Swan is a viable sub-DPS for DoT-focused teams because to her own stack application of Arcana, which amplifies DoT damage while using previously applied DoTs.
Conversely, Sparkle is a Harmony unit that is comparable to Bronya in that she may both advance allies and raise their Crit DMG dependent on her own Crit DMG and an additional basic modifier. But because Sparkle may boost the maximum skill point cap and produce more skill points, she also offers a special advantage to team configurations. Despite this, she also raises the team’s DMG in addition due to the employment of skill points and Cipher stacks. Furthermore, Sparkle’s 6th Ascension characteristic is quite helpful for mono Quantum teams in particular as it raises the ATK of Quantum-Type friends by larger amounts depending on how many Quantum characters are already on the team.She is still helpful, nevertheless, even for teams who aren’t quantum.
Taking these factors into account, players’ choice between the two characters ultimately comes down to whether they choose a sub-DPS character that focuses on debuffs and dots or another special buff support. The characters that players may currently access and the unique requirements of their team configurations may have a significant influence on this choice.
Constructions
Black Swan is an excellent choice to use the 4-piece Prisoner in Deep Confinement set because she primarily depends on DoT and debuffs as a sub-DPS. Black Swan’s ATK is increased by this set, and when adversaries have DoTs applied to them, she can disregard their DEF.If players do not have access to the Prisoner in Deep Confinement set, she still has some leeway in selecting alternative relic possibilities, such as the 4-piece Eagle of Twilight Line set or even the 4-piece Genius of Brilliant Stars set. These sets can grant non-DoT bonuses, such boosting Wind DMG, moving ahead, and disregarding foes’ DEF.
Comparable choices are offered for Planar Ornaments, where she can select from several sets, such the 2-piece Firmament Frontline: Glamoth set or the 2-piece Pan-Cosmic Commercial Enterprise set. With the first choice, Black Swan may increase her speed-based ATK% and DMG%, which is a valuable stat for her overall. However, she also benefits greatly from Pan-Cosmic Commercial Enterprise’s increased Effect Hit Rate and ATK%, as her base likelihood of dealing certain effects isn’t always 100% and the additional EHR improves her own damage even more. Based on their availability, players will need to choose the optimal set for her and think about how to best min-max her.Her trademark light cone, Reforged Remembrance, is without a doubt the greatest choice among the available light cones because it provides increased Effect Hit Rate, DoT DMG, and ATK%. To make the most of her, players don’t have to pull for her light cone; instead, those who want to save money may still get a lot from 4-star alternatives like Eyes of the Prey or Good Night and Sleep Well.
Sparkle’s construction options may feel a little more constrained, even though the team options are more flexible. This is due to the fact that her greatest set is the 4-piece Messenger Traversing Hackerspace set, which complements her Advance Forward mechanic and will further boost both her own and the team’s speed when Sparkle uses her Ultimate. As for the Planar Ornaments, players can choose 2-piece Broken Keel for general use or 2-piece Penacony Land of Dreams if they are particularly interested in using her in Mono-Quantum teams. This is because Penacony is one of the few who can currently use this Planar Ornament set to its fullest advantage.Though she usually only needs to focus on Crit DMG, Speed, ER, and other stats for survivability like DEF or HP, players may notice that she may be a little easier to min-max with the main/sub stats than Black Swan. This could even allow them to use Bronya’s set pieces if they can.
Depending on what players have accessible, she gets access to a somewhat wider variety of light cone possibilities. The greatest choice for her is Earthly Escapade, her distinctive light cone, as it would not only raise her Crit DMG further but also raise the Crit Rate and Crit DMG of her allies. With that, if players have the means to think about it, it may even be a smart choice for other Harmony characters.Nonetheless, Bronya’s Signature light cone is also advantageous for those looking to cut costs. But the War Isn’t Over Nevertheless, there is the new F2P option Dreamville Adventure via the Lightcone Manifest store, which demands careful preparation based on speed and the chosen ability type, and the 4-star Gacha option Planetary Rendezvous for Mono-Quantum Teams.
Advantages and Disadvantages
Before choosing to pull for either Black Swan or Sparkle, players should weigh their advantages and disadvantages. Although both characters have special skills that may provide for an enjoyable gameplay experience and be very helpful for teams, it is advisable to build up resources for future characters.
Black Swan’s Strengths and Weaknesses:
| Strenghts | Weaknesses |
|---|---|
| Can make DoT-oriented teams even more viable.Can both provide DoT and enemy debuff which makes her a good- all-round nihility character.Skill-point positive/neutral since her basic attack can also stack Arcana on top of dealing DMG.Can work well with a diverse range of other DPS charactersProvides unique synergies with characters like Kafka or SampoCan have versatile builds. | Her ideal team compositions are quite restricted as of now due to a lack of DoT-applying characters.She may not be as future-proof as some other sub-DPS/support characters.Players may notice she is more replaceable than intended depending on the current challenging content variants, particularly if the enemies do not have a weakness to wind. |
Sparkle’s Strengths and Weaknesses:
| Strenghts | Weaknesses |
|---|---|
| Might stay relevant for a long time due to strong buffs and skill management.Offers a wide variety of buffs for all allies, and can work well with many different team compositions.Extremely Skill-point positive.Can enable optimal Mono-Quantum team comps, especially when paired with Silver Wolf.Easy to build with minimal min-maxing requirementsDoesn’t need to activate Ultimate as often as other Harmony characters unless she is utilized in skill point heavy teams. | Her Crit DMG and overall DMG buff is not unique, hence may not be as worth in teams that do not heavily rely on skill points.Needing to build Crit DMG and Speed might cut from her survivability if players are unable to focus on DEF / HP stats alongside these. |
Conclusion: Selecting Black Swan over Sparkle
Players may make well-informed judgments on whether to pull for these characters or hold off until later releases by being aware of both characters’ strengths and shortcomings as well as how they work well with current teammates. Additionally, finding the best decision may involve taking into account elements like the playstyle that is wanted, the resources that are accessible, and long-term team-building techniques. To select the best choice, it’s crucial to take into account the following specific information, nevertheless, as Black Swan is a more specialized and Sparkle is a more generalist:
Players should pull for Black Swan if:
- They have access to characters like Kafka or Sampo, and enjoy DoT oriented team compositions.
- They do not require new Harmony characters and have heavily invested in those like Bronya (potentially with Eidolons).
- Looking for a new sub-DPS who can deal AoE dmg, DoT and also debuff enemy.
Players should pull for Sparkle if:
- If they require unique and versatile Harmony character options, and have not yet obtained Bronya or invested in her.
- They are particularly interested in playing hyper-carry DPS characters like Dan Heng – Imbibitor Lunae, who is quite skill point heavy, or otherwise Quantum DPS options like Seele or Qingque.
- Have Silver Wolf and Xueyi for further excellent synergy.