The BEST Guide to MAXIMIZE Jiaoqiu! | Relics, Light Cones, Teams

This is a free-to-play guide for the upcoming Fire Nihility five-star character, Jiaoqiu. He is one of the characters to be released in Patch two point four and will most likely appear in Phase two of Patch two point four. Jiaoqiu is the third limited Fire unit after Firefly to be released in Honkai Star Rail. He is the first limited Fire Nihility unit. Jiaoqiu is a great support for Acheron, and you want to pull for him if you have her. However, Jiaoqiu can be replaced with Pela.

Jiaoqiu’s Major Trace 1, Pyre Cleanse, reduces the enemies’ Effect Hit Rate by 30% when a field exists. At the beginning of each turn, the enemies receive additional fire damage equal to 150% of Jiaoqiu’s attack. Jiaoqiu activates a field with his ultimate.

Jiaoqiu’s Major Trace 2’s, Hearth Kindle, effect is that when Jiaoqiu's Effect Hit Rate is higher than 80%, for each 15% exceeded, Jiaoqiu additionally gains 60% attack, up to a maximum of 240%. Ideally, you want 140% effect hit rate to maximize trace two’s effect.

Jiaoqiu’s Major Trace 3’s, Seared Scent, effect is that when a Field exists, enemies entering the battle are inflicted with Roast the Ash. The stacks inflicted is the same as the highest stack of Roast the Ash currently afflicting an enemy in the battle, with a minimum of 1 stacks.

Jiaoqiu’s basic attack is a single target ability.

Jiaoqiu’s skill, Scorch Onslaught, deals A.O.E. fire damage scaling off his attack and inflicts one stack of Roast the Ash on the primary target. Jiaoqiu deals more damage to the target enemy and less to the adjacent enemy.

Jiaoqiu’s ultimate, Pyrograph Arcanum, costs 100 energy. Its effect sets the number of Ashen Roast stacks on enemy targets to the highest number of Ashen Roast stacks present on the battlefield. Then, he activates a Field and deals Fire damage, scaling off Jiaoqiu's attack on all enemies. While inside the field, enemy targets take increased Ultimate damage, with a 50% base chance of being inflicted with 1 stack of Ashen Roast when taking action. This effect can only be triggered once for enemies in each turn. The Field lasts for 3 turns, and its duration decreases by 1 at the start of this unit's every turn. If Jiaoqiu is knocked down, the Field will also be dispelled. Field uptime is really important for Jiaoqiu because his major traces’ effects rely on the field being up.

Jiaoqiu’s talent’s, Quartet Finesse, Octave Finery, effect is that when Jiaoqiu uses an ability to hit an enemy, there is a guaranteed chance of dealing 1 stack of Roast the Ash. It increases the initial damage enemies receive, with each stack additionally increasing damage to a maximum of 5 stacks. Roast the Ash will last 2 turns. Roast the Ash and Ashen Roast seem to both be debuffs to the enemy, which is great for Acheron because she can easily get her ultimate.

Jiaoqiu’s technique, Fiery Queller, is a dimension and deals fire damage scaling off Jiaoqiu's attack to all enemies, applying 1 Roast the Ash stack.

I will go over non-gacha options if you want to go for Jiaoqiu as a free-to-play player. If you have Acheron and want to improve her team, you should consider pulling for Jiaoqiu. If you don’t have Acheron, you could possibly play Jiaoqiu on a D.O.T. team, but that is still up in the air.

From my first impressions, Jiaoqiu is not particularly free-to-play friendly because he is a nihility support that only seems to be really good on Acheron teams and nothing else.

Jiaoqiu is optimally used in Acheron teams because his Roast the Ash is a debuff, so Acheron can easily get her ultimate and easily proc Pioneer Diver of Dead Waters’ effect of increasing critical damage to enemies with 3 debuffs. Since Acheron is mostly used in Memory of Chaos and Apocalyptic Shadow, Jiaoqiu will be used in these gamemodes. It’s possible that Jiaoqiu’s Field makes Acheron even more viable in pure fiction, but currently that is unknown.

Jiaoqiu’s kit scales off attack and effect hit rate. Therefore, it is important to focus on Attack and effect hit rate Relic substats.

Jiaoqiu’s best four-piece relic set is probably Pioneer Diver of Dead Waters. Its two piece effect is to increase damage dealt to enemies with a debuff by 12%. Its four piece effect is to increase Critical Rate by 4%. The wearer deals 8% or 12% increased Critical Damage to enemies with at least 2 or 3 debuffs. After the wearer inflicts a debuff on enemy targets, the aforementioned effects increase by 100%, lasting for 1 turn. Jiaoqiu can easily proc the four piece effect using his ultimate’s field to get stacks of Roast the Ash which count as debuffs. The secondary effect can also be procd by Jiaoqiu since he inflicts debuffs on enemies himself with his abilities. An alternative offensive relic set is a combination of two piece Firesmith of Lava-Forging, which increases Fire damage by 10% and Musketeer of Wild Wheat, which increases attack by 12%. An alternative supportive relic set is a combination of two piece Guard of Wuthering Snow, which reduces damage taken by 8%, and Messenger Traversing Hackerspace, which increases speed by 6%.

The best planar set is probably Pan-Cosmic Commercial Enterprise because its effect is to increase the wearer's Effect Hit Rate by 10% which is a crucial stat for Jiaoqiu. Meanwhile, the wearer's attack increases by an amount that is equal to 25% of the current Effect Hit Rate, up to a maximum of 25%. Attack percent is also really important for Jiaoqiu. Firmament Frontline: Glamoth could be used to increase Jiaoqiu’s attack but requires either 135 speed or 160 speed to be optimal. Fleet of the Ageless is a defensive option by increasing Jiaoqiu’s Maximum HP, and if he reaches 120 speed, allies’ attack increase. Obviously, if Jiaoqiu gets a signature relic set and a planar set, use those instead.

Jiaoqiu should use an Effect Hit Rate main stat for the body relic piece. For the feet relic piece, Jiaoqiu can either use the speed main stat or the attack percent main stat. I would lean more toward the speed main stat because he wants to use his abilities more often and is not a main D.P.S. Jiaoqiu will most likely use a fire damage main stat for the planar sphere. An energy regeneration rate link rope main stat will likely be the most optimal for Jiaoqiu since he wants to have his field up often.

The relic substat priority for Jiaoqiu will be effect hit rate up to 140, then attack percent, then speed, and lastly H.P.

Recommended endgame stats for Jiaoqiu will likely be two thousand six hundred H.P., two thousand five hundred attack, eight hundred defense, one hundred thirty four speed, fifty percent critical rate, one hundred percent critical damage, and one hundred forty effect hit rate.

Jiaoqiu’s ability priority is likely Talent, then ultimate, then skill, and lastly, basic attack.

Jiaoqiu’s major trace priority is likely Seared Scent, then Pyre Cleanse, and finally Hearth Kindle.

Jiaoqiu’s best light cone is obviously his signature light cone, Those Many Springs. It increases Jiaoqiu’s effect hit rate. If Jiaoqiu uses any ability, there is a 60% base chance to inflict Unarmored on the enemy. The Unarmored state increases the damage received by the enemy for two turns. When Jiaoqiu deals damage to a target with the Unarmored effect, there is a 60% base chance to escalate the state to the Cornered state. In the cornered state, the target enemy's damage received is increased by even more. The best free-to-play light cone is Before the Tutorial Mission Starts. It increases the wearer's Effect Hit Rate. When Jiaoqiu attacks enemies that have reduced defense, he regenerates energy. A four star gacha light cone option is Resolution Shines As Pearls of Sweat. Its effect is that when Jiaoqiu hits an enemy and if the hit enemy is not already Ensnared, then there is a chance to Ensnare the hit enemy. Ensnared enemies' defense decreases for 1 turn. If you want to deal more damage with Jiaoqiu, then you can use Good Night and Sleep Well, which increases Jiaoqiu damage dealt for every debuff the target enemy has, up to 3 stacks. A three star light cone option is the Void, which increases Jiaoqiu’s effect hit rate for 3 turns from the start of the battle. A free-to-play four star lightcone is It's Showtime. When Jiaoqiu inflicts a debuff on an enemy, he gains a stack of Trick. Every stack of Trick increases Jiaoqiu's damage dealt for a maximum of 3 stacks. This effect lasts for 1 turn. When Jiaoqiu's Effect Hit Rate is greater than or equal to 80%, increases his attack.

Jiaoqiu’s best premium team is himself, Acheron, Silver Wolf, and Aventurine. Jiaoqiu and Silver Wolf provide a lot of debuffs in a short amount of time. Aventurine needs to use Trend of the Universal Market to apply debuffs. If you have Eidolon 2 Acheron, you can replace Silver Wolf with Sparkle to give more actions to Acheron. Any preservation unit can replace Aventurine as long as you use Trend of the Universal Market. A free-to-play team with Jiaoqiu and Acheron would be himself, Acheron, Pela, and the Fire Trailblazer. Pela applies debuffs with her ultimate and at eidolon 4 with her skill. If you have Gepard, you can replace the fire trailblazer. If you have Welt, you could replace Pela. Jiaoqiu could possibly work with Dr. Ratio because he needs debuffs to use follow up attacks. But this is not optimal since Jiaoqiu does not launch follow up attacks. A D.O.T. team with Kafka and Black Swan could be another possibility, but it is not optimal because there is no mention of Jiaoqiu applying a D.O.T. with any of his abilities.