HoYoverse game anniversaries are always something to look forward to for fans, as they’re often treated to exciting rewards during such events. Perhaps its most generous title when it comes to giveaways is Honkai: Star Rail, which will bring out all the stops for its second anniversary celebration. Apart from getting free Stellar Jades and Star Rail Special Passes, the fans will also receive a free copy of Ruan Mei or Luocha. Both are solid units, despite being older characters. However, one of them may be a significantly better choice than the other for most players.
The formal start of the second anniversary festivities for Honkai: Star Rail will fall on April 26, 2025, which is just before the second banner phase for Version 3.2. Players will be able to claim their free limited five-star during this event.
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Ruan Mei is the Obvious Best Choice for Honkai: Star Rail Version 3.2’s Character Selector
Here’s a quick overview of the two choices:
- Ruan Mei (Harmony-Ice): This unit supports her whole team by boosting their Break Effect, Break Efficiency, RES PEN, and SPD through her Skill, Talent, and Ultimate. She’s mostly used in Weakness Break-focused teams with Firefly, and Rappa.
- Luocha (Abundance-Imaginary): This character fills the sustain role by providing passive healing with his Talent and burst recovery using his skill. He’s a skill-point positive healer who has risen to popularity once more with the rise of HP-gobblers like Mydei and Castorice. These units enjoy Luocha’s skill-point positive and consistent healing output.
When it comes to the overall value that a unit can provide to an account, Ruan Mei stands head and shoulders above Luocha for various reasons.
Ruan Mei is an Ace Support for Most Teams
This support unit is the best in slot for Weakness Break-focused teams. However, Ruan Mei also shines in other compositions, like Kafka’s Damage Over Time team. Ruan Mei’s Talent provides a SPD boost of up to 10.4% for all allies except herself. This helps Kafka and Black Swan take more turns, and in turn, apply and detonate more of their deadly DoT effects. Plus, the raw DMG and Resistance Penetration boost she provides with her Skill and Ultimate just lets those detonations hurt enemies even more.
She’s also great for Hypercarry comps as a secondary support for the same reasons. Ruan Mei helps solo carries like Dan Heng Imbibitor Lunae get more turns in and delete enemy HP bars with her DMG buffs and Break Effect boost. Her versatility alone makes her a must-pick for any account.
Even Ruan Mei’s First Couple of Eidolons are Worth Picking Up
Eidolons are extra-powerful, but ultimately non-essential, upgrades to characters. Most players don’t usually bother getting these, as they require pulling a duplicate copy of the character, which can mean spending another unit’s worth of Star Rail Special Passes. However, the 5-Star Selector event gives players who already have Ruan Mei to get her amazing Eidolon 1, and even her Eidolon 2, which work as follows:
- E1 – Neuronic Embroidery: When Ruan Mei’s ultimate is up, allies ignore 20% of an enemy’s DEF when attacking them. This means that the damage that allies deal will have less push-back on the enemy’s side. This, along with the ult’s RES PEN bonus, can take any team’s damage to new heights.
- E2 – Reedside Promenade: When Ruan Mei is present in battle, all teammates increase their ATK by 40% when damaging broken enemies. This is a niche pick for those who want to deal obscene amounts of damage with their Super Break Firefly or Rappa team.
The only good reason to skip Ruan Mei is if players already have her E2. Eidolon 3s aren’t worth getting for most characters, as they only provide max trace level boosts. Even if players are pining for a proper sustain like Luocha, there are excellent alternatives like the ever-reliable Four-Star skill point and ultimate energy battery Gallagher. For players, especially F2Ps, who want to get the most value out of the upcoming free selector, Ruan Mei is the way.
- Released
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April 26, 2023
- ESRB
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T for Teen