Jiaoqiu: The best relic builds, light cones, and teams in HSR

Grab some milk trailblazers, because Honkai: Star Rail’s Jiaoqiu is bringing enough spice to set enemies ablaze with the right build.

This foxian alchemist is chef, medic, and debuffer all in one. The medic portion is just for flavor, as Jiaoqiu’s kit doesn’t actually have any healing. Instead, he focuses on seasoning enemies so his more damage-dealing allies can feed on them. Version 2.4 is out now, and with wave two of the update, Honkai: Star Rail introduces Jiaoqiu as a playable limited 5-star character following wave one’s Yunli.

Here are the light cones, relic builds, and teammates that make Jiaoqiu shine in Honkai: Star Rail.

Jiaoqiu Trailer — “Pneumanull Rice” | Honkai: Star Rail

Builds for Jiaoqiu in Honkai: Star Rail

The best Jiaoqiu builds focus on amplifying his debuffs with the Hackerspace or Pioneer Diver relic sets.

Jiaoqiu is a path of nihility fire damage dealer with a unique debuff, Ashen Roast. Because of his talent, all of his damaging moves have a chance of inflicting Ashen Roast, dealing damage-over-time and increasing the amount of damage they take.

Outside of battle, Jiaoqiu can use his technique to set an area alight, making any enemies he initiates combat with take fire damage. His skill is a fiery blast, giving even more of a chance to spread his Ashen Roast seasoning. His ultimate makes sure everyone gets a seat at the table, inflicting each enemy with Ashen Roast stacks equal to the max on the field, dealing damage, and setting a burning field.

With such a heavy focus on debuffs, Jiaoqiu’s not-so-secret ingredient is effect hit rate, so prioritize EHR as his main substat with the Hackerspace or Pioneer Diver relic sets. Planar sets like Pan-Cosmic Commercial Enterprise supplement Jiaoqiu’s EHR and attack percent to boost his effectiveness both as a debuffer and a DoT applier.

As with many characters, Jiaoqiu’s signature light cone, Those Many Springs, compliments his kit with an extra boost of flavor. It lets him shred armor, with an extra shred when the opponent is under a DoT effect, as well as boosting his ever-desired EHR.

Best team for Honkai: Star Rail’s Jiaoqiu

Jiaoqiu does best feeding hypercarries or slow-roasting opponents with a DoT team.

Jiaoqiu provides a strong option for Acheron hypercarry teams, cutting the opponents’ defense as well as boosting her power through her kit’s synergy with nihility units. Throw in a support like Aventurine and another nihility unit and Jiaoqiu adds himself to the “Acheron is her own archetype” team in Honkai: Star Rail. Another option on the table is to set him up in a damage-over-time team alongside Kafka or Black Swan. The simple plan is to stack DoT effects and survive while the opponents melt.

As the hype builds around Honkai: Star Rail’s Jiaoqiu, players might be wondering whether he’s worth the rolls. His debuffs are strong, but they really shine depending on the teammates he’s paired with, and outside of that, his kit might be a bit clunky. But with Version 2.5 and Jiaoqiu’s boss on the horizon, the players who skip Jiaoqiu will have enough to look forward to if they skip here.