Should You Have Pulled Phainon? HSR 4.3 Rerun Pull Value Guide

Version 4.3 Phase 2 gave players a second shot at Phainon, the blazing hero of Amphoreus and one of the most self-sufficient hypercarry DPS units in Honkai: Star Rail. His rerun ran alongside Cyrene from June 24 through July 14, 2026. With the banner now closed, this is a retrospective look at what Phainon does, how he holds up, and whether he's worth chasing on his next return.

If you're building an Amphoreus team or just want a Physical DPS who carries his own weight (literally — he barely needs team support), Phainon is the kind of unit worth bookmarking.

Character Overview

• Rarity: 5★
• Path: Destruction
• Element: Physical
• Faction: Chrysos Heirs (Amphoreus)
• Origin: Aedes Elysiae — the destroyed frontier village he shares with Cyrene
• Release: Version 3.4 (July 2, 2025)
• Real Name: Khaslana — the name he takes in his transformed state
• Signature Light Cone: Thus Burns the Dawn (5★ Destruction)
• Coreflame: Worldbearing — he's the demigod who carries the fate of the world

Phainon is the "Nameless Hero" of the Amphoreus storyline, and his gameplay mirrors his lore: a lone deliverer who ignites himself to burn down everything in his path. Mechanically he's a transformation-based Physical hypercarry — he spends the opening phase of a fight building a gauge (Coreflame), transforms into Khaslana, and then unleashes enormous AoE and bounce damage while being nearly unkillable.

Kit Summary

Phainon has two stances. In base Phainon form you build Coreflame; once transformed into Khaslana, you spend a resource called Scourge for devastating attacks.

Phainon form:

• Basic ATK — "Stride to Deliverance" Single-target Physical damage.
• Skill — "Let There Be Light" A Blast attack that grants Coreflame points and deals Physical damage to the target and adjacent enemies. This is your gauge-builder.
• Ultimate — "He Who Bears the World Must Burn" Costs Coreflame points. Transforms Phainon into Khaslana, opens a countdown on the Action Order, and delivers a huge AoE blow. This is the trigger that switches you into the damage phase.

Khaslana form (transformed):

• Enhanced Basic — "Creation: Bloodthorn Ferry" A Blast Physical attack that gains Scourge. Note it doesn't refund a Skill Point — Phainon is self-fueling here.
• Skill — "Calamity: Soulscorch Edict" The survivability engine. Enters a "Soulscorch" state where Khaslana takes 75% reduced damage, forces enemies to act, and retaliates with a Counter (Follow-Up ATK) every time an enemy moves. Each Soulscorch stack amplifies the counter's multiplier. This turns enemy turns into your damage.
• Skill — "Foundation: Stardeath Verdict" The nuke. Consumes all Scourge (up to 4) for a massive Bounce Physical attack, dispels debuffs on himself, and at max Scourge adds a distributed AoE hit. This is where Phainon's burst lives.

Technique

Phainon's overworld Technique lets him stride through the field and engage pre-combat, setting up his Coreflame gauge so he can transform sooner.

Key Eidolons

• E0: A complete hypercarry. Phainon needs no dupes to delete content — his base numbers and survivability are already top-tier.
• E2: A notable throughput jump — the standard stopping point for spenders who want him to keep pace with newer DPS releases.
• E6: The ceiling. Maximizes his transformed-state uptime and turns Stardeath Verdict into a screen-clearer. A whale goal, not a necessity.

Signature Light Cone: Thus Burns the Dawn

Thus Burns the Dawn is Phainon's tailored 5★ Destruction cone, boosting his CRIT stats and amplifying his transformed/Khaslana damage. It's a clean, strong match.

Is it necessary? No — there are excellent craftable Destruction cones that keep E0 Phainon competitive. The signature is a meaningful upgrade if you're investing (E2+), but an F2P Phainon on a free cone will still clear all endgame content. Skip it unless you're going deep.

Pull Value Assessment

For F2P Players

Phainon is one of the most F2P-friendly hypercarries in the game. He's self-sufficient — his transformed state tanks for itself (75% damage reduction), he fuels his own gauge, and he doesn't demand a specific premium support to function. At E0 with free relics and a craftable cone, he clears Apocalyptic Shadow, Pure Fiction, and endgame modes comfortably. High value.

For Low Spenders (Express Pass / monthly)

E0 Phainon is enough for most players. If you want him to stay at the top of the meta as new DPS units release, E2 is the sensible ceiling — it's where his scaling keeps pace. Skip the signature cone unless you have spare Oneiric Shards.

For Whales / Completionists

E2S1 is the practical sweet spot; E6S1 turns him into one of the highest personal-damage units in the game. Whales building the definitive Amphoreus roster should run Phainon alongside Cyrene — her "Ode to Worldbearing" buff is built specifically for his Khaslana form and unlocks his true ceiling.

Team Compositions

• The Aedes Elysiae Core: Phainon + Cyrene (her Ode to Worldbearing is made for him) + a sustain (Huohuo / Lingsha) + a buffer (Sunday / Robin). This is Phainon's strongest team by far.
• Self-Sufficient Hypercarry: Phainon + Robin + Huohuo + a flex sub-DPS. Because Phainon tanks and fuels himself, you can spend the rest of the team on amplifying his burst.
• Physical-Focused: Phainon + a Physical weakness-applier or sustain + buffer. His Physical damage loves enemies with broken Toughness.

Phainon vs Alternatives

Phainon competes with other premium Physical Destruction / hypercarry DPS:

• vs. Yunli: Yunli is a Physical Destruction counter-DPS — phenomenal at punishing enemy attacks. Phainon brings a similar counter flavor (via Soulscorch) but layers a massive proactive Bounce nuke on top. Phainon is more well-rounded; Yunli is the counter specialist.
• vs. Clara: Clara is the classic Physical Destruction budget counter carry — free/standard and still strong. Phainon is a clear tier above in raw output and survivability, but Clara remains the best F2P Physical alternative if you can't get Phainon.
• vs. Other-element hypercarries (Feixiao, Acheron, etc.): Phainon's niche is self-reliance — he needs less team investment to hit his numbers. Element matchups still matter, so he complements rather than replaces a different-element carry.

The verdict: Phainon is arguably the most complete Physical DPS in the game — high burst, high survivability, low team demand.

Build Snapshot: Relics & Main Stats

Phainon is a CRIT-scaling Physical hypercarry, so his build is the classic "stack CRIT, then ATK and Physical DMG" profile — with the twist that his transformed Khaslana state is so self-sufficient you can lean fully into offense:

• Body: CRIT Rate or CRIT DMG (aim for a roughly 1:2 ratio; his Soulscorch state's 75% damage reduction makes glass-cannon stats safe).
• Boots: ATK% for raw burst, or SPD if you want him cycling into his transformation faster.
• Planar Sphere: Physical DMG Bonus or ATK%.
• Link Rope: ATK% — his gauge is self-fueled, so he doesn't need Energy Regen.
• Substat priority: CRIT Rate / CRIT DMG > ATK% > SPD > HP%.

Set choices: Equip your strongest Physical / Destruction DPS 4-piece; a CRIT-stacking 2+2 set works well as an interim. His signature cone Thus Burns the Dawn is a clean upgrade but not required — craftable Destruction cones keep E0 Phainon clearing all endgame content.

Strengths & Watch-Outs

Strengths: Enormous single- and AoE burst via Stardeath Verdict; built-in 75% damage reduction in Soulscorch makes him nearly unkillable; fully self-fueling gauge means he barely costs Skill Points or team support; his Counter follow-ups punish enemy turns, so he's strong against aggressive bosses.

Watch-outs: His damage is back-loaded — he needs a turn or two to build Coreflame and transform before the real numbers land, so he's less effective in very short fights. He's also a premium carry with limited team-synergy upside unless you pair him with Cyrene, whose Ode to Worldbearing is the multiplier that pushes him over the top. If you already run a different top Physical DPS (Yunli, Clara), Phainon is an upgrade but not a mandatory one.

Verdict: Pull or Skip?

Verdict: Pull (when he returns). Phainon is a top-tier, self-sufficient hypercarry who demands little from his team and delivers enormous Physical burst with built-in survivability. The 4.3 Phase 2 banner has ended, but if you missed him, he's well worth saving jades for on his next rerun — and if you already run Cyrene, the two are designed to peak together.

Already pulled him? You've got one of the most future-proof DPS units in the game — a carry who won't ask much of your supports and who only gets better as more Amphoreus characters (and the Chrysos Heir roster) expand. Skipped him for Cyrene? Defensible — she's his best partner — but circle back for him next time, because the two were explicitly designed to peak together on the same team.

Related Tools

Want to know exactly how many Stellar Jade it takes to guarantee Phainon or Cyrene on their next rerun? Our Honkai: Star Rail gacha calculator runs the real pity math — soft-pity thresholds, 50/50 win/lose scenarios, and the full jade budget for a guarantee.