Honkai Star Rail’s Ruan Mei is an elegant and sweet-natured woman, known for her position as member 81 of the Genius Society and co-creation of the Simulated Universe. As a dedicated scientist, she’s fairly mysterious, so we’re here to share her best build, including light codes and relics, with you.
Ruan Mei is just one of many unique and powerful Honkai Star Rail characters available in this sci-fi universe. It can be hard to know who to choose for your team, so we’ve ranked them all in our Honkai Star Rail tier list. If you need some more stellar jade, check out our Honkai Star Rail codes guide for some freebies.
Let’s dive into the genius mind of Honkai Star Rail’s Ruan Mei.
When is Honkai Star Rail Ruan Mei’s release date?
Ruan Mei is available on the current Honkai Star Rail banner, throughout the first phase of version 1.6.
What’s the best Honkai Star Rail Ruan Mei build?
| Best light cone | Past Self in Mirror |
| Light cone alternatives | Memories of the Past |
| Best relic set | Thief of Shooting Meteor |
| Best planar ornament set | Broken Keel or Fleet of the Ageless |
| Main stats |
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| Sub-stats |
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Ruan Mei’s best light cone is Past Self in Mirror, which massively buffs her break effect while increasing the whole team’s damage output. Her best relic set is Thief of Shooting Meteor with plenty of break effect, speed, HP%, and defense% stats. We’re currently torn between Fleet of the Ageless and Broken Keel as her best planar ornament set.
How should I use Ruan Mei?
Ruan Mei is a wonderful support character and currently the only unit in the game that can increase your team’s weakness break efficiency while buffing everyone’s attack. She takes a lot of investment, but she’s definitely worth it
What are the best light cones for Ruan Mei?
Unsurprisingly, Ruan Mei’s best light cone is her signature cone, Past Self in Mirror. It fits perfectly with her break effect-centric kit and further buffs the whole team’s damage while her ultimate’s field is active.
Of course, limited five-star cones are hard to come by, so Memories of the Past is a great alternative. It also buffs Ruan Mei’s break effect, though admittedly not as much, and can top up her energy after each attack. If you can pair this with her Days Wane, Thoughts Wax trace, she’ll be much easier to power up in combat.
| Light Cone | Effect | How to obtain |
| Past Self in Mirror (five-star) | Increases Ruan Meri’s break effect by 60%. When she uses her ultimate, increases all allies’ damage by 24%, lasting for three turns. Should the break effect exceed or equal 150%, recover one skill point. During the start of every wave, all allies regenerate ten energy. Effects of the same type cannot stack |
Light cone event warp |
| Memories of the Past (four-star) | Increases Ruan Mei’s break effect by 28%. When she attacks, she regenerates four energy. This can trigger once per turn | All banners |
| Past and Future (four-star) | When Ruan Mei uses her skill, the next ally taking action deals 16% more damage for one turn | Purchase from the Forgotten Hall store |
| Mediation (three-star) | Upon entering battle, Ruan Mei increases the speed of all allies by 12 points for one turn | All banners |
What are the best relics for Ruan Mei?
In a turn of events that’s fairly rare for premium characters, Ruan Mei’s best relics are a four-piece set of Thief of Shooting Meteor. Yes, that’s right! She uses one of the earliest relic sets available in the game thanks to its fantastic break effect stats and additional bonuses.
You can also pair two Thief of Shooting Meteor with two pieces of Messenger Traversing Hackerspace for additional speed or two pieces of Longevous Disciple for increased max HP and survivability. We’re still perfecting her build, so try mixing and matching these sets and see what happens.
Ruan Mei has quite a few options for planar ornaments. Fleet of the Ageless can help with her survivability and grants the team additional attack buffs if her speed is high enough. Broken Keel buffs her effect resistance so she’s less likely to fall victim to debuffs. Penacony, Land of Dreams is also an option if you’re struggling with energy regeneration or fancy running an ice-heavy team, but it’s a lot harder to farm.
| Relic set | Effect | How to obtain |
| Thief of Shooting Meteor | Two pieces equipped: increases break effect by 16% Four pieces equipped: increases Ruan Mei’s break effect by 16%. She regenerates three energy when she inflicts weakness break on an enemy |
Cavern of Corrosion: Path of Jabbing Punch in Jarilo-VI’s Silvermane Guard Restricted Zone |
| Messenger Traversing Hackerspace | Two pieces equipped: increases speed by 6% Four pieces equipped: when Ruan Mei uses her ultimate on any ally (including herself), speed for all allies increases by 12% for one turn. This effect cannot stack |
Cavern of Corrosion: Path of Elixir Seekers in The Xianzhou Luofu’s Alchemy Commission |
| Longevous Disciple | Two pieces equipped: increases max HP by 12% Four pieces equipped: when an enemy hits Ruan Mei or an ally (including herself) consumes Ruan Mei’s HP, her crit rate increases by 8% for two turns. This effect can stack two times |
Cavern of Corrosion: Path of Elixir Seekers in The Xianzhou Luofu’s Alchemy Commission |
Planar ornaments
| Planar ornament set | Effect | How to obtain |
| Fleet of the Ageless | Two pieces equipped: increases Ruan Mei’s max HP by 12%. When Ruan Mei’s speed reaches 120 or higher, all allies’ attack increases by 8% | Immersion Reward devices in World 3 of the Simulated Universe |
| Broken Keel | Two pieces equipped: increases Ruan Mei’s effect resistance by 10%. When Ruan Mei’s effect resistance is at 30% or higher, all allies’ crit damage increases by 10% | Immersion Reward devices in World 7 of the Simulated Universe |
| Penacony, Land of the Dreams | Two pieces equipped: increases Ruan Mei’s energy regeneration rate by 5%. Increases damage for all other allies with the same damage type as her by 10% | Immersion Reward devices in World 8 of the Simulated Universe |
Relic stat recommendations
Main stats:
- Body: HP% or defense%
- Feet: speed
- Planar sphere: HP% or defense%
- Link rope: energy regeneration rate or break effect
Sub-stats:
- Break effect
- Speed
- HP%
- Defense%
What are Ruan Mei’s abilities?
Active skills:
| Skill | Effect |
| Basic attack: Threading Fragrance | Deals ice damage equal to 50% of Ruan Mei’s attack to a single target |
| Skill: String Sings Slow Swirls | After using her skill, Ruan Mei gains Overtone, lasting for three turns. When Ruan Mei has Overtone, all allies’ damage increases by 16% and weakness break efficiency increases by 50% |
| Ultimate: Petals to Stream, Repose in Dream | Creates a field for two turns that increases all-type resistance penetration by 15% for all allies. Allies’ attacks apply Thanatoplum Rebloom to enemies. When marked enemies attempt to recover from weakness break, Thanatoplum Rebloom triggers, extending the duration of their weakness break, delaying their action by 20% of Ruan Mei’s break effect plus 10%, and dealing break damage equal to 30% of Ruan Mei’s ice break damage. |
Passive skill:
| Skill | Effect |
| Talent: Somatotypical Helix | Increases speed by 8% for all allies excluding Ruan Mei. When allies break an enemy target’s weakness, Ruan Mei deals break damage equal to 60% of her ice break damage to this enemy |
Technique:
| Technique | Effect |
| Silken Serenade | After using the technique, at the start of the next battle, Ruan Mei automatically uses her skill without consuming skill points. In Simulated Universe when Ruan Mei has Silken Serenade, the team member actively attacking enemies will always trigger enemy weakness regardless of their type and reduce all enemies’ toughness. When breaking weakness, triggers weakness break effect corresponding to the attacker’s type. For every blessing in possession (up to a max of 20), the toughness-reducing damage of this attack increases by 100%. After breaking an enemy target’s weakness, additionally deals break damage equal to 100% of Ruan Mei’s ice break damage to the enemy |
Traces:
| Trace | Effect |
| Candle Lights on Still Waters | In battle, for every 10% of Ruan Mei’s break effect that exceeds 120%, her skill additionally increases allies’ damage by 6%, up to a maximum of 36% |
| Days Wane, Thoughts Wax | Ruan Mei regenerates five energy at the start of her turn |
| Inert Respiration | Increases break effect by 20% for all allies |
What are Ruan Mei’s eidolons?
Eidolons are bonus abilities that you unlock when you pull multiple copies of a character. If you’re lucky enough to pull multiple Ruan Meis, here are her eidolons:
| Eidolon | Effect |
| Neuronic Embroidery | While her ultimate’s field is deployed, all allies’ damage dealt ignores 20% of the target enemy’s defense |
| Reedside Promenade | With Ruan Mei on the field, all allies increase their attack by 40% when dealing damage to enemies with weakness break |
| Viridescent Pirouette | Increases Ruan Mei’s ultimate level by two, up to a max of 15, and her talent level by two, up to a max of 15 |
| Chatoyant Éclat | When an enemy target’s weakness is broken, Ruan Mei’s break effect increases by 100% for three turns |
| Languid Barrette | Increases Ruan Mei’s skill level by two, up to a max of 15, and her basic attack level by one, up to a max of ten |
| Sash Cascade | Extends the Petals to Stream, Repose in Dream field’s duration by one turn. Somatotypical Helix’s break damage multiplier increases by 200% |
What are Ruan Mei’s ascension materials?
To ascend Ruan Mei to her highest level, you’ll need to pass some checkpoints along the way. Unlocking her full potential requires plenty of immortal scionettes, aeroblossoms, and lumintwigs which you can farm from mara-struck enemies or purchase in the Xianzhou Luofu World Shop. You’ll also need to defeat the Honkai Star Rail stagnant shadow in Cloudfort to farm gelid chitins.
| Required level | Credits | Materials |
| 20 | 4k | Five immortal scionettes |
| 30 | 8k | Ten immortal scionettes |
| 40 | 16k | Three gelid chitins and six immortal aeroblossoms |
| 50 | 40k | Seven gelid chitins and nine immortal aeroblossoms |
| 60 | 80k | 20 gelic chitins and six immortal lumintwigs |
| 70 | 160k | 35 gelid chitins and nine immortal lumintwigs |
What are Ruan Mei’s trace materials?
You need trace materials to fully power up all of Ruan Mei’s attacks and bonus abilities. Here’s the full list of materials and where to find them:
- 41 immortal scionettes, 56 immortal aeroblossoms, and 58 immortal lumintwigs
- Obtain from synthesis, mara-struck enemies, and simulated universe enemies
- 15 harmonic tunes, 72 ancestral hymns, and 139 stellaris symphonies
- Obtain from the Bud of Harmony crimson calyx in the robot settlement, synthesis, and the embers exchange
- 12 past evils of the borehole planet disaster
- Obtain from the Borehole Planet’s Old Crater echo of war on the Herta Space Station Seclusion Zone
- 11 tracks of destiny
- Obtain from events, simulated universe rewards, the embers exchange, and nameless honor
- Three million credits
That’s everything we know so far about Honkai Star Rail’s Ruan Mei. If you fancy checking out Hoyoverse’s open-world RPG, make sure to visit our Genshin Impact tier list, Genshin Impact codes, and Genshin Impact events guides. We also have builds for characters like Genshin Impact’s Albedo and Genshin Impact’s Wanderer.
