June 2024

Honkai: Star Rail Update: Firefly vs. Jade - Who to Choose?

🟣 Content Overview :

Firefly and Jade are new characters in Honkai Star Rail's 2.3 update.
Firefly is a Fire Destruction character with mechagirl powers.
Jade is a Quantum Erudition character debuting in Phase 2.
Firefly launched on June 18; Jade launches on July 10.
Firefly works well with F2P characters; Jade fits into more teams.

Game Tips: Honkai Star Rail's Farewell Penacony Update

Should you pull for Firefly or Jade? Both characters arrive in the 2.3 epilogue update, but who deserves your attention?

By Jess Reyes

Published Thursday 1:00 PM

Honkai Star Rail concludes its Penacony chapter with two highly anticipated characters arriving in its 2.3 epilogue. HoYo's turn-based RPG is still worth playing a year later, with its riveting story and complex combat, and that's partly thanks to Firefly and Jade. But who should you choose in the coming month?

Honkai Star Rail 2.3 Firefly and Jade Release Dates

This update kicks off with Firefly, a Fire Destruction character who brings tons of damage and utility with her mechagirl powers. She's also a major supporting character from the start of Honkai Star Rail 2.0.

Jade, a Quantum Erudition character, is the second featured five-star and Topaz and Adventurine's boss from the IPC Strategic Investment Department. Her name has popped up many times in the story, but she makes her official debut in the chapter during Phase 2.

Firefly is out now. She launched with the start of the 2.3 update on June 18. Jade launches in the later half of the update on July 10. Ruan Mei (Ice Harmony) and Argenti (Erudition Physical) will run alongside Firefly and Jade respectively.

Honkai Star Rail 2.3 Phase 1 (June 18 - July 10)

Firefly (Fire Destruction)
Ruan Mei (Ice Harmony)
Boosted 4-Stars: Gallagher (Fire Abundance), Misha (Ice Destruction), Xueyi (Quantum Destruction)

Honkai Star Rail 2.3 Phase 2 (July 10 - July 30)

Jade (Quantum Erudition)
Argenti (Physical Erudition)
Boosted 4-Stars: Serval (Lightning Erudition), Natasha (Physical Abundance), Asta (Fire Harmony)

Should I Pull for Firefly or Jade?

If you like the look or personality of one character over the other and only need a little bit of convincing based on their kit, seriously just go for the one you want. Both Firefly and Jade have enough strengths to keep you happy if you decide to pull for them.

That said, here are a few reasons why you might consider one or the other and a few pros and cons for each:

Firefly

Works well with F2P-friendly characters
Ultimate immediately makes her take action
Enhanced Skill and Talent implant Fire weakness
Takes less damage the lower her HP

Firefly was already expected to be one of the strongest DPSes in the game upon launch. Now that she's out and about, we've easily concluded that those suspicions are true. All her skills work together to restore health, regenerate energy, push her forward in the turn economy, and even implant weaknesses to enable her Break Effect. These skills make it easier to enable her without the help of popular support characters like Tingyun, Bronya, and Huohuo.

Her Skill increases power and charges her Ultimate, which is where she deals the most damage with enhanced attacks. These attacks don't require you to use Skill Points either. She also applies Fire weakness to enemies herself, eliminating the need to implant weaknesses with a character like Silver Wolf. Like many Destruction characters, she consumes HP to increase her attack power, but that isn't much of an issue when she heals herself and reduces damage the lower her health is.

She's also easier to invest in for newer players because of how well she works with easy-to-obtain characters. Harmony Trailblazer is her best teammate thanks to how well she can utilize their Super Break effect. If that wasn't enough to make you pull for her, Harmony Trailblazer is available for free right now through the "When Charmony Rings Out" permanent event in the Travel Log section of Star Rail's phone dashboard. That way you don't even need to catch up to Penacony if you just started to unlock Harmony Trailblazer.

Besides Trailblazer, you can use whichever healer you want and another Harmony or Nihility character to help with skill point management or maximize damage. Firefly notably works well with Ruan Mei, the other five-star running alongside her and a popular support in the Break Effect meta. Gallagher is the best healer because his outgoing healing and debuffs scale based with Break Effect. His Fire element ensures that he can help break Toughness because of Firefly's implant ability too.

Many other characters besides Ruan Mei and Gallagher can enable her even if they won't work as well. Maybe you raised Asta or still only have Natasha as a healer. Those two would work. I'd still say Ruan Mei is the second-best teammate after Harmony Trailblazer, but she's a five-star. In short, pull for Firefly if you want a strong, self-sufficient hypercarry DPS that leans into the Break Effect meta.

Jade

Can fit into more teams than Firefly
Buffs teammate with skill that increases speed and offers coordinated attack
Ultimate that buffs follow-up attack
Follow-up attack raises Crit DMG
Skill point friendly

Jade might not be able to defeat loads of enemies on her own, but adding her to a well-equipped team can make taking down waves of foes easier than without. She fills an entirely different role than Firefly as a sub DPS and enabler. Even though she's an Erudition character (multi-target-focused), she has Harmony-like traits and self-buffing that gives her more utility than the average.

Jade's Skill significantly increases the speed of your ally of choice and turns them into a Debt Collector. The Debt Collector benefits from a hefty speed boost and coordinated attacks while this buff is active. As this is happening, Jade collects stacks similar to Adventurine from each attack, which eventually triggers a heavy-hitting follow-up attack. She works best when paired with Erudition or follow-up-focused teammates that can help build her stacks.

Unfortunately, Jade's best teammates will be hard-hitting five-star characters like Blade or Argenti. Blade in particular works well because Jade can trigger his buffs with her Skill, which consumes HP from the target. Jingliu and Blade are one example of a popular pair that use the same mechanic. Jingliu eats Blade's HP, which then triggers his heavy-hitting follow-up attack between turns. Jade fits a similar role for Blade.

Herta in particular is worth highlighting as a F2P teammate because she's free and you can earn her Eidolons from the Simulated Universe. Both Herta and Himeko work well as Debt Collectors with their easy-to-trigger follow-up attacks. Meanwhile, Argenti and Blade just do a lot of damage but can be an expensive investment for newer players who don't have enough resources to get them.

On the bright side, because Jade is a sub DPS or support, you might get more use out of her in the long run because she'll fit into more teams. Many Erudition characters work well in double DPS teams that excel in clearing waves of enemies, and it's just a matter of mix and matching depending on type weaknesses. In a Firefly team, Firefly is the star. She doesn't have the means to support; her kit is mostly for her benefit rather than enabling others.

Who is Better: Firefly or Jade?

If you can only pull for one, I'd suggest going for Firefly. She can deal much more damage on her own and can break Toughness on virtually any enemy. She doesn't need other DPSes to enable her, and her best teammate is a free one that you've technically had since the beginning, therefore have probably already raised. Firefly also has a lot of built-in utility like recharging her own Ultimate and implanting Fire weaknesses to enable her Break Effect abilities. While strong, Jade works best as part of a double DPS comp and still doesn't offer as much utility as Firefly.

Again, this is just based on damage and investment. Jade is still a good choice if you don't particularly want Firefly. I'd argue that you should still pull for Ruan Mei over her, but that's beside the point. For a new player, Firefly is better value because her best teammates are easy to get. Therefore, investments will be cheaper. Jade requires other strong characters around her to be strong herself.