As one of the main characters of the Honkai Star Rail Amphoreus Arc, Phainon is making his grand return with his rerun banner during Version Update 3.7 Second Half in Honkai Star Rail. In this guide, we will learn how Phainon’s skill kit works and how to build the best Phainon in Honkai Star Rail with the best Lightcones, Relics and Teams.
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Phainon Skill Kit & Playstyle Analysis
General Introduction
Phainon is a 5-star character of the Destruction Path and Physical Element. He embodies the concept of a hypercarry main DPS character in the team by removing all allies in the team to enter his solo mode upon using his Ultimate to deal with all enemies by himself.
Skill Analysis & Leveling Priority
 | Normal Basic Attack: Deal one Physical Damage Instance to one enemy. Enhanced Basic Attack: Gains 2 points of “Scourge”, deals one instance of Physical Damage to one enemy and the adjacent targets. |
| Leveling Priority: Medium | |
| Basic Attack | |
| Reason: Leveling this ability up helps optimize Phainon’s damage output as a DPS character. | |
 | Normal Skill: Gains 2 Points of “Coreflame”, deals Physical Damage to 1 enemy and the adjacent targets. Enhanced Counter Skill: Taunts all Enemies and causes them to immediately take action, Phainon takes less damage from enemies and deals more damage for each attack made by the enemies. Afterward, deal Physical Damage to all enemies based on the amount of attacks Phainon took from enemies. Gains “Scourge” points based on the amount of enemies on the field. Enhanced Active Skill: Dispel 1 debuff from Phainon, then deal one big enhanced physical damage instance to all enemies. For every “Scourge” Points consumed, deal 4 instances of physical damage to one random enemy. If the maximum 4 points are consumed, deal even more Physical Damage to enemies and spread the damage output to all enemies instead of only one enemy. |
| Leveling Priority: Highest | |
| Skill | |
| Reason: Phainon’s main damage ability and his most important ability, therefore, players need to prioritize leveling this up to allow Phainon to deal as much damage as possible. | |
 | Upon having 12 points of “Coreflame”, consume all to enter his Khaslana Mode and deploy a Territory. While in Territory, all other teammates leave the field and all enemies have Physical Weaknesses. Khaslana doesn’t have a turn counter but is given 8 extra turns based on Phainon’s based speed. After using up his last extra turn, deal 1 instance of Physical damage to all enemies and exit the Khaslana state. |
| Leveling Priority: High | |
| Ultimate | |
| Reason: Leveling this ability enhances the damage output of Phainon when he exits the Khaslana state, which should be leveled to maximize his overall damage output. | |
 | Normal Talent: Phainon can activate his Ultimate when he has 12 Coreflame points and can carry up to 3 excess Coreflame points. After exiting his Ultimate mode, return all consumed excess Coreflame Points. Coreflames can be gained when being targeted by enemies’ attacks or being targeted by allies’ buff abilities. When granted a buff by an ally, increases Phainon’s Critical Damage. Enhanced Talent: Gains 4 points of “Scourge” upon using Ultimate. While in Ultimate Mode, Phanon gains enhanced HP and Attack stats, can’t be inflicted with crowd control debuffs and can’t be defeated in battle and restore a portion of his HP after attacking. When taking a killing blow, instead of being knocked down, Phainon immediately ends his Ultimate Mode instead, dealing Physical damage to all enemies. After his Ultimate ends, increase the speed of all allies. |
| Leveling Priority: High | |
| Talent | |
| Reason: Leveling Up Phainon’s talent helps to boost the amount of critical damage he gains when being targeted by an ally’s buff, maximizing his damage output when he is out of his Ultimate state. In his Ultimate state, leveling this ability help boost the amount of stats Phainon gains, making this ability extremely important to be leveled up to maximize Phainon’s damage. | |
 | When the battle starts, gains 1 point(s) of “Coreflame.” When the transformation ends, gains 3 point(s) of “Coreflame.” |
| Unlock Priority: High | |
| Bonus Ability 1 | |
| Reason: A good ability that allows Phainon to quickly get his Ultimate up and improves his overall rotation. | |
 | When receiving healing or a Shield from a teammate, deals 45% increased DMG for 4 turn(s). This effect cannot trigger repeatedly within one turn.When receiving an Energy Regeneration effect from a teammate’s ability, gains 1 point(s) of “Coreflame.” |
| Unlock Priority: High | |
| Bonus Ability 2 | |
| Reason: An extremely powerful bonus ability to both helps to improve Phainon’s rotation by allowing him to gain extra coreflames while also helping boost his damage output when he receives healing or shields. | |
 | When entering combat or ending transformation, increases ATK by 50%. This effect can stack up to 2 time(s). |
| Unlock Priority: High | |
| Bonus Ability 3 | |
| Reason: A powerful Bonus Ability that permanently increases Phainon’s attack stat throughout the battle. | |
Playstyle Guide & Rotation
Phainon is one of the most unique main DPS character in Honkai Star Rail with a skill kit that embodies the concept of the Hypercarry main DPS character.
Phainon’s main gameplan is relatively simple: buff Phainon with as much buffs as possible from allies, from attack buffs, damage buffs, critical stat buffs to shielding and healing to make him gain as much coreflames stacks and as much stats as possible, before using Phainon’s Ultimate to allow him to enter his Solo mode.
When in his Ultimate Mode, you have 8 turns of Phainon to deal as much damage as possible. Phainon will gain “Scourge” points when attacking in this mode, and when his “Scourge” points reaches 4, uses his enhanced active skill to nuke the enemies with as much damage as possible. After using up all his turns, Phainon will exit the Ultimate Mode, gaining back all of his teammates to allow you to buff him up again to repeat this damage cycle.
Phainon Best In Slot And F2P Lightcones
Phainon Best Lightcone Choices
Some of Phainon’s Best Lightcone Choices are:
 |  |  |
| Thus Burns the Dawn | On the Fall of an Aeon | A Trail of Bygone Blood |
| Limited 5* Lightcone | Herta Shop 5* Lightcone | Gacha 4* Lightcone |
| Attack: 687 |
| Defense: 396 | |
| HP: 952 | |
| Thus Burns the Dawn | Lightcone Rating: Best In Slot |
| Effect: The wearer’s base SPD increases by 12. When the wearer deals DMG, ignores 18% of the target’s DEF. After the wearer uses Ultimate, obtains “Blazing Sun,” which is removed at the start of their turn. While “Blazing Sun” is in possession, increases the wearer’s DMG dealt by 60%. | |
| Explanation: Phainon’s signature Light cone that offers him a good base speed increase to allow Phainon’s Extra Turns to move faster while he is in his Ultimate Mode. The Lightcone also massively boosts Phainon’s damage output by allowing his damage to ignore a portion of enemies’ defense while boosting his overall damage output. | |
| Attack: 529 |
| Defense: 396 | |
| HP: 1058 | |
| On the Fall of an Aeon | Lightcone Rating: Best F2P Alternative |
| Effect: When the wearer attacks, increases their ATK by 8% in this battle. This effect can stack up to 4 time(s). After the wearer breaks an enemy’s Weakness, increases DMG dealt by 12%, lasting for 2 turn(s). | |
| Explanation: The best alternative for Phainon as it boost Phainon’s overall damage output by boosting his attack stat and increases his damage output when he breaks an enemy’s weakness. | |
| Attack: 529 |
| Defense: 330 | |
| HP: 1058 | |
| A Trail of Bygone Blood | Lightcone Rating: Alternative Lightcone |
| Effect: Increases the wearer’s CRIT Rate by 12%. The Skill DMG and Ultimate DMG dealt by the wearer increase by 24% . | |
| Explanation: A good alternative for Phainon as it provide Phainon with additional Crit Rate and boost his Skill damage output. | |
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Phainon Best Relics, Ornament Set and Stats
Phainon Best Relics And Ornament Sets
In terms of Relics, Phainon should use his signature Relic Set Wavestrider Captain , which provides him with a critical boost and a massive attack boost after he has been buffed by other allies.
 | Wavestrider Captain |
| 2-pc: Increases CRIT DMG by 16%. | |
| 4-pc: When the wearer becomes the target of another ally target’s ability, gains 1 stack of “Help,” stacking up to 2 time(s). If there are 2 stack(s) of “Help” when the wearer uses their Ultimate, consumes all “Help” to increase the wearer’s ATK by 48% for 1 turn(s). | |
| Explanation: Phainon’s best Relic Set as it helps him to gain a massive amount of Attack stat that lasts for the entire duration of Phainon’s Ultimate while also providing him with a good critical damage boost. | |
For Ornaments, Phainon should use the Arcadia of Woven Dreams set as he can make use of the full beneficial effect of the Relic set when only he is on the field.
 | Arcadia of Woven Dream |
| 2-pc: When the number of ally targets on the field is not equal to 4, for every 1 additional/missing ally target, increases the DMG dealt by the wearer and their memosprite by 9%/12%, stacking up to 4/3 time(s). | |
| Explanation: The set allows Phainon to gain a massive 36% Damage increase when he is the only one on the field, which can be triggered with Phainon’s Ultimate. | |
Phainon Best Main Stats & Sub Stats
As a Main DPS Hypercarry character, Phainon wants as many offensive stats as possible, including Attack, Critical Stats and Speed.
| Piece | Main Stats |
| Body | Crit Damage% or Crit Rate% |
| Feet | Speed or Attack% |
| Orb | Attack% or Physical Damage% |
| Rope | Attack% |
| Priority | Sub Stats |
| 1st | Critical Damage |
| 2nd | Critical Rate |
| 3rd | Attack |
| 4th | Speed |
Important Stat Threshold:
– For E0 Phainons, players should prioritize using Speed Boots for Phainon instead of Attack% Boost in order to allow him to take his turn much faster when he is in his Ultimate Form. For E1 Phainon and above, using Attack% boots is much more beneficial.
– Focus on providing Phainon with as much Critical Rate and Critical Damage as possible, with an emphasis on Critical Rate as many of Phainon’s teammates will provide him with a lot of Critical Damage.
Phainon Best Teams
Phainon F2P Hypercarry Team
 |  |  |  |
| Phainon | Bronya | Ruan Mei | Dan Heng Permansor Terrae |
| Main DPS | Support | Support | Support/Sustain |
This team serves as Phainon’s best F2P team, as all of Phainon’s teammates can be obtained for free through various means while playing the game. Bronya provides Phainon with a damage buff, a critical damage buff and an attack buff with her skill kit and can be obtained through the free 5-star selector. Ruan Mei provides Phainon with a buff that allows him to deal more damage to all enemies while boosting his Break Efficiency and can be obtained through the character shop. Finally, Dan Heng Permansor Terrae offers Phainon a shield, boost his attack, and allow Phainon to gain an additional attack through his dragon summon even when he is off the field. Dan Heng Permansor Terrae can be obtained for free when players log in during version 3.6 and 3.7.
Phainon Premium Hypercarry Team
|  |  | |
| Phainon | Sunday | Cerydra | Dan Heng Permansor Terrae |
| Main DPS | Sub DPS/ Support | Support | Sustain |
Phainon’s best in slot team and his premium team. This team function somewhat similar to his F2P team, with much more potent buffs and skill kit of the supports that help skyrockets Phainon’s damage overall. Sunday help boost Phainon’s critical rate and critical damage stats and give him a massive 50% damage boost when he has a summon, which can be achieved with the help of Dan Heng Permansor Terrae. Cerydra massively boost Phainon’s Skill damage output by granting massive critical damage boost when using skill and allow Phainon to reuse his skill without consuming his turn when her stacks reach maximum. Dan Heng Permansor Terrae offers Phainon a shield, boost his attack, and allow Phainon to gain an additional attack through his dragon summon even when he is off the field.
Conclusion
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