Honkai Star Rail Dan Heng is a character with a striking appearance and mysterious past, so it's no wonder people are so interested in him. But who exactly is he, and how can you get the best out of him in your comp? In our Dan Heng build guide, we endeavor to give you some insight into this tight-lipped guard from the Astral Express, as we take a look at his attacks and abilities, his best build, light cones, and relics.
If you want to get familiar with the other faces you can meet on your Trailblazing adventure, check out our Honkai Star Rail tier list, Honkai Star Rail next banner guide, and Honkai Star Rail codes to bag yourself some freebies. We also have other build guides for the likes of Honkai Star Rail's Jade and Honkai Star Rail's Kafka.
Here's everything in our Honkai Star Rail Dan Heng build.
What's the best Honkai Star Rail Dan Heng build?
Dan Heng is a four-star wind character who follows the path of the Hunt. Wielding a spear named Cloud-Piercer, he's a single target damage dealer who is surprisingly strong in the early stages of the game, especially for a free starter character. He scales well with eidolons, is naturally very speedy, and has high ability multipliers, but he poses a steep learning curve, has no means of AoE, and requires high investment if you want to keep playing him later in the game.
Here's a brief overview of our best HSR Dan Heng build:
| Best light cone | In the Night |
| Light cone alternatives | Only Silence Remains |
| Best relic set | Eagle of Twilight Line |
| Best planar ornament set | Space Sealing Station |
| Main stats |
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| Sub-stats |
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Dan Heng's best light cone is In the Night which buffs his crit rate, crit damage, and base damage. His best relic set is Eagle of Twilight Line paired with Space Sealing Station, making him relatively easy to build for new players.
His kit is all about speed and critical hits, so we recommend building him with plenty of crit rate, crit damage, speed, attack, and wind damage. He's a solid damage dealer throughout most stages of the game, and can keep up relatively well if you put enough investment into him and pair him up with the right team.
How to use Dan Heng
As mentioned above, Dan Heng is a purely single-target damage dealer. His skill deals up to 260% of his attack to a single enemy, and, if the skill lands a crit hit, he has a 100% base chance to slow the target enemy by 12% for two turns. This slow is super important to his ultimate, which makes its reliance on landing a crit hit a little troublesome. However, as it strikes the enemy four times in total and each one can trigger the slow, if you build him with enough crit rate you should be able to pull this off quite reliably.
Note that the 12% slow that he applies isn't particularly useful in the grand scheme of things, and you won't see much benefit on the battlefield – its main purpose is to act as a priming tool for his ultimate.
On that topic, Dan Heng's ultimate deals 400% of his attack to a single enemy. If the enemy is slowed, this multiplier increases by an additional 120%. That means that Dan deals a whopping 520% of his attack as damage to a single slowed enemy, which is pretty darn impressive, especially for a four-star starter character.
To make it even better, his ultimate has a relatively low energy cost, meaning he should be able to use it relatively frequently – and pairing him up with an energy-buffing teammate like Honkai Star Rail's Tingyun or Honkai Star Rail's Huohuo can essentially provide him with back-to-back ultimates.
Dan Heng also has a pretty handy talent, that gives him 36% wind res pen when he's targeted by an ally ability. This makes allies like Tingyun all the more valuable to him, as you can use her ability on him to trigger his wind res pen buff and allow him to shred through enemy defenses with his next attack.
So, to summarize – Dan Heng performs best when you pair him up with a buffer like Tingyun that can target him with an ability, as this will trigger his talent's wind res pen buff. You can also use Dan Heng's skill to apply slow to enemy, and hold off using his ultimate until you have slowed enemies to devastate. With this in mind and enough investment, Dan Heng can be a truly formidable foe and a very respectable damage dealer.
What are the best light cones for Dan Heng?
Dan Heng's best light cone is In the Night, Honkai Star Rail's Seele's signature light cone. Its effect synergizes well with his speed and crit damage-based kit, allowing him to ramp up power throughout the battle.
The four-star light cone Only Silence Remains is made specifically to match Dan Heng's kit, so it's a great cheaper option. Additionally, equipping a character with a light cone that matches their path allows them to utilize the light cone ability it offers – meaning you should aim to equip Dan Heng with a light cone that follows 'The Hunt' path if you don't have Only Silence Remains.
Here are HSR Dan Heng's best light cones:
| In the Night | Increases Dan Heng's crit rate by 18%. While he is in battle, for every ten speed that exceeds 100, Dan Heng's basic attack and skill's damage is increased by 6% and his ultimate's crit damage is increased by 12%. This effect can stack up to six times | Gacha |
| Only Silence Remains | Increases Dan Heng's attack by 16%. If there are two or fewer enemies on the field it also increases his crit rate by 12% | Gacha |
| Darting Arrow | When Dan Heng defeats an enemy, increases his attack by 24% for three turns | Gacha |
What are the best relics for Dan Heng?
As a primary DPS character, we recommend equipping Dan Heng with a four-piece set of Eagle of Twilight Line as this boosts his wind damage. As with Genshin Impact, we believe that maintaining a 1:2 crit rate to crit damage ratio is ideal, and ensuring you have a decent level of energy regeneration helps you dish out ultimates more frequently, and should never be overlooked.
You can also pair two pieces of Eagle with two pieces of Musketeer of Wild Wheat for a cheaper damage buff in the early game. Dan Heng's best planar ornament set is Space Sealing Station, which synergizes with his speed-based kit to greatly buff his attack.
Here are HSR Dan Heng's best relics:
| Eagle of Twilight Line | Two pieces equipped: increases wind damage by 10% Four pieces equipped: after Dan Heng uses his ultimate, his action advances forward by 25% |
Cavern of Corrosion: Path of Gelid Wind in the Herta Space Station Storage Zone |
| Musketeer of Wild Wheat | Two pieces equipped: increases attack by 12% Four pieces equipped: increases Dan Heng's speed by 6% and his basic attack damage by 10% |
Cavern of Corrosion: Path of Drifting in Jarilo-VI's Corridor of Fading Echoes |
Here are HSR Dan Heng's best planar ornaments:
| Space Sealing Station | Two equipped: increases Dan Heng's attack by 12%. When his speed reaches 120 or higher, Dan Heng's attack increases by an extra 12% | Immersion Reward devices in World 3 of the Simulated Universe |
Dan Heng stat recommendations
When you pick the best relics for Dan Heng, we recommend prioritizing these stats.
Main stats:
- Body: crit rate
- Feet: speed
- Planar sphere: wind damage
- Link rope: attack%
Sub-stats:
What are the best Dan Heng team comps?
Dan Heng is a great free-to-play DPS option, so he works with a range of support, shield, and healer characters. You can also play him with Honkai Star Rail's Welt and Honkai Star Rail's Tingyun to slow enemies and buff Dan Heng's damage for explosive ultimates.
Here's an example of a F2P-friendly Dan Heng team:
 Dan Heng |
 Trailblazer(Preservation) |
 Yukong |
 Natasha |
And here's an example of a Dan Heng 'hyper carry' team comp:
| Dan Heng |
 Welt |
 Tingyun |
 Bailu |
What are Dan Heng's skills?
Dan Heng's abilities make him a great single-target attacker who is able to chain his basic attack, skill, and ultimate to attack the same enemies repeatedly. With a high crit rate, he can increase the chance of slowing his foes to increase his ultimate's damage.
Active skills:
| Basic attack | Cloudlancer Art: North Wind Deal wind damage equal to 50% of Dan Heng's attack to a target enemy |
| Skill | Cloudlancer Art: Torrent Deal 130% of Dan Heng's attack as wind damage to a target enemy. On a critical hit, there's a 100% chance to reduce the target's speed by 12% for two turns |
| Ultimate | Ethereal Dream Deal 240% of Dan Heng's attack as wind damage to a target enemy. If the enemy is slowed, it increases Dan Heng's ultimate's damage by 72% |
Passive skills:
| Superiority of Reach | When Dan Heng is the target of an ally's ability, his next attack's wind resistance penetration increases by 18%. This effect can trigger again after Dan Heng has taken action one time |
Technique:
| Splitting Spearhead | After using a technique, Dan Heng's attack increases by 40% for three turns in the next battle |
Traces:
| Hidden Dragon | When Dan Heng's HP is at 50% of his max HP or lower, reduce the chance of enemies attacking Dan Heng |
| Faster Than Light | When launching an attack, there's a 50% fixed chance to increase speed by 20% for two turns. This effect cannot stack |
| High Gale | Dan Heng's basic attack deals 40% more damage to slowed enemies |
What are Dan Heng's eidolons?
Like Genshin Impact's constellation system, you can unlock Honkai Star Rail eidolons by pulling multiple copies of a character. Each eidolon offers a different benefit. Here are Honkai Star Rail Dan Heng's eidolons, and what they do.
Here are all of HSR Dan Heng's eidolons:
| E1: The Higher You Fly, the Harder You Fall | When the enemy Dan Heng hits has 50% HP or above, Dan Heng's crit rate increases by 12% |
| E2: Quell the Venom Octet, Quench the Vice O'Flame | Reduces talent cooldown by one turn |
| E3: Seen and Unseen | Increases the level of Dan Heng's skill by two, up to a maximum of level 15. Also increases Dan Heng's basic attack by one level, up to a maximum of level ten |
| E4: Roaring Dragon and Soaring Sun | When using his ultimate to defeat an enemy, Dan Heng's next action is advanced forward by 100% |
| E5: A Drop of Rain Feeds a Torrent | Increases the level of Dan Heng's ultimate by two, up to a maximum of level 15. Also increases Dan Heng's talent by two, up to a maximum of level ten |
| E6: The Troubled Soul Lies in Wait | The slow triggered by Dan Heng's skill now reduces the enemy's speed by an additional 8% |
What are Dan Heng's ascension materials?
In theory, leveling up characters in Honkai Star Rail is fairly simple since you just need a bunch of character EXP materials. However, when Dan Heng reaches certain level caps you need to use special materials to ascend him.
You can get extinguished, glimmering, and squirming cores from flamespawns, Simulated Universe enemies, assignment rewards, from the embers exchange, or by using the omni-synthesizer. For the wind-specific item storm eye, you need to take down the Honkai Star Rail stagnant shadow in Rivet Town.
Here are all of HSR Dan Heng's ascension materials:
| Required level | Credits | Materials |
| 20 | 3.2k | Four extinguished core |
| 30 | 6.4k | Eight extinguished core |
| 40 | 12.8k | Five glimmering core and two storm eye |
| 50 | 32k | Eight glimmering core and five storm eye |
| 60 | 64k | Five squirming core and 15 storm eye |
| 70 | 128k | Seven squirming core and 28 storm eye |
Here's where to get all of HSR Dan Heng's ascension materials:
- Cores – dropped by Flamespawn, Frostspawn, Windspawn, and Thunderspawn in Backwater Pass and Rivet Town, also dropped by Simulated Universe enemies
- Storm eyes – Stagnant Shadow in Rivet Town
What are Dan Heng's trace materials?
Traces are the main skills and extra buffs that your characters have access to. Here are all the materials you need to fully level Dan Heng's traces:
- 12 arrows of the beast hunter, 54 arrows of the demon slayer, and 105 arrows of the starchaser
- Obtain from the Bud of the Hunt in the Outlying Snow Plains, embers exchange store, the Herta Space Station world shop, Jarilo-VI world shop, and synthesis
- 28 extinguished cores, 42 glimmering cores, and 42 squirming cores
- Obtain from flamespawn enemies, simulated universe enemies, assignment rewards, synthesis, embers exchange store, and the Herta Space Station world shop
- 12 destroyer's final roads
- Obtain from the Destructor's Beginning: Echo of War in the Herta Space Station's Supply Zone
- Five tracks of destiny
- Battle pass, simulated universe rewards, event rewards, and the embers exchange store
- 2.4 million credits
Skill trace priority
- Ultimate = Skill > Talent > Basic attack
Major trace priority
- Faster Than Light > Hidden Dragon > High Gale
That's everything we know about Honkai Star Rail's Dan Heng and how to create the best build for him. While you're here, make sure to check out our Genshin Impact tier list and Genshin Impact codes for more Hoyo goodies. If you're after some freebies elsewhere, we have a bunch of Roblox codes including the new Dress to Impress codes and Anime Royale codes.