Besides being a member of the Genius Society, Ruan Mei is one of the best Harmony characters in Honkai Star Rail, provided you have the right build. She’s an excellent support that shines at making your other party members act faster and ignores enemies’ resistance. While she might not do much damage, she will make your DPS characters raze the battlefield and even delay the break effect of many enemies, making her a game-changer for many situations. However, since she’s a 5-star character, you should pray to get her whenever her banner shows up.
The Best Build for Ruan Mei in Honkai Star Rail
Ruan Mei belongs to the Path of Harmony and uses the Ice element in Honkai Star Rail, which means she’s a buffer, similar to Hanya or Bronya. While every member of this Path shines in its own way, Ruan Mei’s gimmick is increasing your party’s RES PEN (Resistance Penetration), meaning they can bypass most foes’ resistance and do more damage. However, you need a few things to make Ruan Mei act faster and provide better buffs to your whole party.
Best Light Cones for Ruan Mei
Given her 5-star rarity, Ruan Mei excels with her featured Light Cone. However, there are other Light Cones that benefit her, and in the end, all you must do is focus on her Attack, Speed, and Break Effect stats. To help you build Ruan Mei, here are the Light Cones we recommend for her in Honkai Star Rail:
- Past Self in Mirror (Best): Increases the wearer’s Break Effect by 60%. After the wearer uses their Ultimate, it increases all allies’ DMG by 24%, lasting for 3 turns. Should the wearer’s Break Effect exceed or equal 150%, 1 Skill Point will be recovered. At the start of each wave, it immediately regenerates 10 Energy for all allies. Effects of the same type cannot stack.
- Carve the Moon, Weave the Clouds: One of the following effects is applied randomly at the start of combat and whenever the wearer takes action: Increase all allies’ ATK by 10%, increase all allies’ CRIT DMG by 12%, or increase all allies’ Energy Regeneration Rate by 6%.
- Memories of the Past: Increases its wearer’s Energy Restoration Rate when using Basic ATK and Skill by 16%. For every weakness break inflicted on an enemy, it increases SPD by 8 up to 3 times.
Overall, Ruan Mei’s personal Light Cone is the best, as it provides a lot of buffs for her and the other team members. You get increased damage, a better Break Effect, and the chance to recover skill points and even energy, making it the best there is for her. However, we also recommend equipping her with Memories of the Past if you don’t have the best one for her.
Best Relic Set for Ruan Mei
While she might benefit from an increased speed stat or other Harmony-aligned relic sets, there is one that is perfect for her. Since her Ultimate increases the broken status of an enemy, you need to focus on a set that makes breaking foes faster. This is the one we recommend:
- Thief of Shooting Meteor (4 Pieces)
- 2-Piece Bonus: Increases Break Effect by 16%.
- 4-Piece Bonus: Increases the wearer’s Break Effect by 16%. When the wearer inflicts Weakness Break on an enemy, it regenerates 3 Energy.
- Planar Ornament: Broken Keel
- 2-Piece Bonus: Increases the wearer’s Effect RES by 10%. When the wearer’s Effect RES is at 30% or higher, all allies’ CRIT DMG increases by 10%.
It is imperative to focus on the Break Effect stat for her while using the Planar Ornament’s bonus to buff your party further. Besides that, try to get Speed on almost every Relic piece to help Ruan Mei act faster.
Best Team Comp for Ruan Mei
Adding Ruan Mei to a team might seem easy, but it isn’t, at least not if you want an optimal party. While you can use her to enhance other members, she does better on teams with a few elements and synergizes perfectly with Silver Wolf. These are some of the teams we recommend:
- Imaginary Team
- Main DPS: Imbibitor Lunae
- Support: Ruan Mei
- Second Support: Silver Wolf
- Healer: Luocha
- Quantum Team
- Main DPS: Seele/Xueyi
- Support: Ruan Mei
- Second Support: Silver Wolf
- Healer/Tank: Lynx/Fu Xuan
We recommend any of these teams because Ruan Mei helps more in mono-elemental team comps. However, you can add any DPS you want, and if you don’t have Silver Wolf, you can use any other support that buffs or debuffs enemies.
As you can see, building Ruan Mei in Honkai Star Rail isn’t difficult; however, it is a bit challenging to add her to a good team. Although, this doesn’t mean she’s bad. She’s an excellent support that can change the tide of any battle, and you should add her when possible. Still, a team with few elements will help even more.
