Sandbox / Honkai Star Rail Dan Heng

Honkai: Star Rail (Main Character Index)
Astral Express (Dan Heng)
Locations: Herta Space Station | Belobog | Xianzhou Luofu
Stellaron Hunters
Aeons

With the revelations about his past, there will be unmarked spoilers. Read at your own risk!

Dan Heng / "Cold Dragon Young" / Dan Heng・Imbibitor Lunae / High Elder of the Luofu

Voiced by: Li Chunyin (Chinese), Kent Itō (Japanese), Kim Hye-sung (Korean), Nicholas Leung (English)

Imbibitor Lunae (left) and Dan Heng (right)

A quiet young man who serves as the guard for the Astral Express. Although often quiet and brooding, Dan Heng loves his way around a book and his skills with a spear are virtually peerless. His past is shrouded in mystery and is often off-limits for discussion, but to him his demons are something to be feared.

In truth, long before he joined the Astral Express, he was the former Vidyadhara High Elder of the Xianzhou Luofu, protector of the Ambrosial Arbor, the Imbibitor Lunae, his true identity. Prior to his birth, the previous Imbibitor Lunae, his ancestor Dan Feng, committed a grave sin that threatened all of the Xianzhou Luofu, leading to his subsequent punishment, imprisonment, and perpetual banishment from the Xianzhou Alliance. The punishment inflicted upon him robbed him of the ability to pass down his full strength to his reincarnation, leading to Dan Feng being reborn as the man now known as "Dan Heng".

General Tropes

• Catapult Nightmare: After leaving Jarilo-VI, Dan Heng has a nightmare involving Blade and wakes in this fashion, suddenly sitting up in a panic and breathing heavily. Unfortunately for him, Kafka directs the Astral Express to the Xianzhou Luofu in pursuit of Stellaron activity, where none other than Blade is getting involved with Xianzhou authorities.
• Dark and Troubled Past: While he refuses to outright discuss his past, he's got some particularly bad blood with the Xianzhou Luofu to the point where he's essentially "kill on sight" if he ever dares step foot in it again. It's also mentioned in one of his stories that he's changed his appearance numerous times while running from whatever it is he's running from. That said, he fears Blade even more than the Alliance, which causes alarm bells to go off when he finds out that Blade is on the Xianzhou Luofu and convinces him to board the ship to warn his friends.
• Dragon Ancestry: Is a descendant of the draconic Aeon Long the Permanence.
• Dub Pronunciation Change:
  • The characters of his name (simplified 丹恒, traditional 丹恆, pinyin "Dān Héng") are read as "Tankō" (katakana "タンコウ") in Japanese and "Danhang" (hangul 단항) in Korean.
  • "Imbibitor Lunae" ("Moon Drinker") is another of Dan Heng's titles as High Elder of the Vidyadhara. The characters of his name (simplified 饮月君, traditional 飲月君, pinyin YǐnYuèJūn) is read as "Ingetsu-kun" in Japanese.
• The Exile: Dan Heng has been banned from setting foot on the Xianzhou Luofu due to a cardinal sin executed by his previous incarnation, Dan Feng, which causes him to decline to visit the Luofu with the others. His ancestor's exile is further detailed in Dan Heng's Character Story 1. Relatedly, according to some papers found on the Luofu, it was Jing Yuan who gave said sentence, when the Vidyadhara Preceptors and Ten-Lords Commission planned to give Dan Feng a harsher sentence. He immediately breaks the rule when he discovers that Blade is onboard, recognizing the latter's danger. After Phantylia's defeat, Jing Yuan absolves Dan Heng's ban as thanks for his assistance, and allows him to freely visit the Luofu from then on. However, Dan Heng only takes his time to look after Bailu and repair the Ambrosial Arbor's seal, and has decided to leave afterwards as a Nameless.
• Gameplay and Story Segregation:
  • In the final set of missions of the Xianzhou Luofu storyline, Dan Heng undergoes a transformation into the Imbibitor Lunae for the remainder of the story arc. However, his original pre-transformation self can still be used and deployed at this time despite not changing back into his "Dan Heng" self until after Phantylia's defeat.
  • Dan Heng and the Imbibitor Lunae can both exist in the same team and fight alongside each other despite being the same person.
  • You can potentially pull and play as the Imbibitor Lunae the moment the Warp menu unlocks as early as the Prologue, long before Dan Heng undergoes the transformation into the Imbibitor Lunae late in the Xianzhou Luofu story arc.
  • In the battle against Phantylia, Dan Heng (as the Imbibitor Lunae) will aid you as an assist character who can unleash a powerful attack against the boss upon command once you have enough energy. Both Dan Heng's original self and the playable Imbibitor Lunae can be participating in the same fight as playable party members, making it there be up to three Dan Hengs with no explanation.
• Guyliner: Dan Heng wears red eyeliner at the bottom corner of his left eye. As Imbibitor Lunae, his other eye will get one as well.
• I Choose to Stay: After completing his Companion Mission, Dan Heng is offered a chance to resettle in his homeland by Jing Yuan, with the former's banishment having been revoked. Inverted however, as Dan Heng insists that the Astral Express still needs him and is staying with them through thick and thin.
• Really 700 Years Old: Despite looking no older than his late twenties, Dan Heng has already lived several lifetimes as Imbibitor Lunae.
• Semi-Divine: As a Vidyadhara, he is a descendant of Long, the Aeon of Permanence.
• Sins of Our Fathers: Even though Dan Feng's sins were supposed to be extinguished after his reincarnation into Dan Heng, the latter was still punished for the acts of his previous incarnation by being banished from the Luofu.
• Straight Man: Whenever the Trailblazer or March 7th goof off, Dan Heng will often be there to make wry comments about their antics.
• The Stoic: He never talks about his past and is quite serious, putting him in contrast with March. The only time that he has displayed more expressive emotion is after waking up in a panic from a nightmare in the "Nightmare" trailer. In the game proper, his mask of stoicism also has a rock taken to it when he realizes Blade is on the Luofu, and the Trailblazer, March 7th, and Welt have marched right on board, blissfully unaware of just who or what they're facing.
• That Man Is Dead: An interesting variant where technically the man in question, Dan Feng, really is dead and Dan Heng is his next reincarnation. Despite resembling his previous incarnation as the Imbibitor Lunae, Dan Heng insists on Jing Yuan to stop treating him as if he’s the High Elder Dan Feng and instead treat him as Dan Heng, member of the Astral Express crew.
• Martial Pacifist: If his combat voice lines are any indication, Dan Heng doesn't particularly enjoy fighting and typically tries to avoid it whenever possible. In Belobog, he was justifiably opposed to telling Cocolia all the details about the Astral Express's purpose and the Stellaron, fearing it would lead to conflict. Given that he's "on the run", it's logical that he'd like to avoid conflict as much as he could. He also takes no pleasure in fighting Yanqing, even though he needs to defend himself lest he gets taken away from reuniting with his friends and imprisoned.
  "I have no interest in conflict."
  "Fighting is meaningless."
  "I have no interest in stoking conflict. I came to ensure the safety of my friends. […] I didn't wish to harm anyone... But there's no other way. Forgive me."
• Undying Loyalty: Dan Heng considers himself first and foremost a member of the Astral Express crew, and insists he is not Dan Feng, his previous incarnation. His loyalty to the Astral Express is exemplified at the end of his Companion Quest, where Dan Heng turns down Jing Yuan's offer to stay at the Luofu despite his banishment edict being annulled, choosing to instead travel with the Trailblazer and friends.
• Walking Spoiler: It's very difficult to talk about Dan Heng without revealing the full extent of his past, namely how he is the current reincarnation of Dan Feng, the previous Imbibitor Lunae, whose actions formed the root of Dan Heng's Dark and Troubled Past. The existence of Dan Heng・Imbibitor Lunae as a playable character does not help much in dispelling spoilers. Due to Imbibitor Lunae's heavy ties into Dan Heng's backstory, all spoilers relating to the former will be unmarked.

Tropes applying to Dan Heng, member of the Astral Express

Dan Heng

Introduced: April 26, 2023 (v1.0 "The Rail Unto the Stars" [game launch])

A Mysterious Passenger Escaping His Past

^{Click to see his full Warp artwork.} 

Rarity: 4★
Path: The Hunt
Type: Wind

Dan Heng is a swift attacker that focuses on dealing high single-target damage, with ways to speed himself up and slow enemies down. Using his Skill, Cloudlancer Art: Torrent, he can inflict Slow (penalty to Speed Stat) on his target for 2 turns as he attacks them, and his Ultimate, Ethereal Dream, is a strong strike that becomes more damaging if his target is Slowed. In addition, his Talent, Superiority of Reach, allows his next attack to bypass a fraction of his target's Wind Resistance after receiving any kind of buff from his allies, while his Technique, Splitting Spearhead, increases his Attack stat for the first three turns of the next battle.
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• Armor-Piercing Attack: His Talent increases the Wind Resistance Penalty of Dan Heng's next attack^note By 18–45% depending on Trace levels whenever he receives a Status Buff from his allies, activated at least every two turns.
• Cooldown Manipulation: His second Eidolon Resonance, Quell the Venom Octet, Quench the Vice O'Flame, reduces the cooldown of Superiority of Reach from two turns to one.
• Critical Hit Class: Players are incentivized to build up Dan Heng's Critical Rate to get a lot of mileage out of his Skill, which is guaranteed to inflict Slow on his target whenever it scores a critical hit, and by extension his Ultimate, which enjoys greater damage against Slowed enemy. In addition, his first Eidolon Resonance, The Higher You Fly, the Harder You Fall, increases his Critical Rate by 12% whenever his target's HP is over half.
• Extra Turn: In a variant, his fourth Eidolon Resonance, Roaring Dragon and Soaring Sun, automatically pushes forward his next action (right before the current character or enemy's turn) whenever he defeats an enemy with his Ultimate.
• Famed In-Story: He becomes popular in the Belobog Underworld after he shows up at Fight Club under the title "Cold Dragon Young" and wallops some of their battle bots. You can find some fans in the Fight Club hotly anticipate his return, to which you can give them a photo of him for their collection.
• Glass Cannon: Dan Heng can deal very high damage and is very fast, as expected of his Hunt archetype, but he has low HP and Defense, and can't take a hit very well, though this can be ameliorated through his second-ascension Bonus Ability, Hidden Dragon, which reduces the chance of enemies targeting him whenever his HP falls below half.
• Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: He gets stabbed through the chest by Blade's sword during their encounter on the Xianzhou Luofu. He survives, and causes him to reveal his true identity as the Imbibitor Lunae.
• In-Series Nickname:
  • "Cold Dragon Young" is a moniker of his, and it's mentioned during his participation in the Fight Club boxing ring of Boulder Town.
  • During the Xianzhou Luofu Trailblaze Quest, Sushang keeps calling him "Silent, but Deadly" because he rarely speaks despite volunteering to fight alongside her and Luocha.
• Invocation:
  (Ultimate activation) "The truth of life and death, revealed in an instant."
  (Normal speed and ×2 speed) "This sanctuary... is but a vision. Break!"
• Kiss of Life: Subverted. Attempts to give the Trailblazer CPR upon finding them unconscious in the Herta Space Station, but March 7th sees that they are awaking and pushes him out of the way.
• Mythology Gag: Dan Heng shares some similarities to Xiao, as well as to some extent Kaedehara Kazuha, from an earlier miHoYo RPG, Genshin Impact—in general, all three are handsome, youthful-looking men with wind-aligned powers and are haunted by Dark and Troubled Pasts; in particular, Dan Heng shares Xiao's mastery of the spear and origins in a place with a Chinese cultural aesthetic, as well as Kazuha's maple-leaf aesthetic and fugitive status.
• Pre-Asskicking One-Liner
  (Battle Begins: Weakness Break) "It's too late to repent."
• Simple, yet Awesome: Of the three starter characters, Dan Heng's kit is the most focused, lacking the Trailblazer's adaptability or March 7th's sheer utility. The choice between using his Basic Attack, Skill, and Ultimate can be boiled down to how hard he wants to hit one enemy at a time. Relative to his fellow Hunt Pathstriders, Dan Heng also lacks additional gimmicks (e.g., Seele's Extra Turn, Yanqing's Full Health Bonus, or Sushang's damage bonus against Weakness Broken enemies), the closest being that his Ultimate deals bonus damage against Slowed enemies and the ability to increase his Wind Resistance Penalty. Despite this, Dan Heng is one of the strongest DPS units in the early game, and among the launch characters his single-turn damage is second only to Seele.^note Seele and Dan Heng are calculated on single-turn damage, without Eidolon Resonances, with their respective optimal Relics, equivalent critical hit stats, and Superimposition 5 Cruising in the Stellar Sea, where Dan Heng deals about 1% less than Seele. However, because of Seele's Extra Turn ability, the difference is more pronounced in practice. See here for more details.
• Starter Mon: Dan Heng is one of the two characters you more or less begin play with; you'll catch up with him in the main elevator of Herta Station, and he permanently joins the roster mechanically at that time.
• Status Buff: His Technique boots Dan Heng's Attack by 40% for the first three turns of the next battle, while his fourth-ascension Bonus Ability, Faster Than Light, grants him a 50% chance to enjoy a 20% Speed boost for two turns whenever he attacks.
• Status Effect-Powered Ability: His Ultimate increases in damage potency against Slowed enemies.^note Depending on Trace levels, its damage is equivalent to 240–480% of Dan Heng's Attack stat by default, 312–624% against a Slowed enemy In addition, Dan Heng's sixth-ascension Bonus Ability, High Gale, adds a 40% damage boost for his Skill against Slowed enemies.
• Status Infliction Attack: Cloudlancer Art: Torrent has a guaranteed chance to inflict Slow (12% penalty on their Speed stat) on Dan Heng's target for two turns whenever it lands a critical hit. His sixth Eidolon Resonance, The Troubled Soul Lies in Wait, increases the penalty to 20%.
• Upgrade Artifact: By getting his Eidolons, you can activate his third Eidolon Resonance, Seen and Unseen, which adds two levels to his Skill and one to Basic Attack, while his fifth, A Drop of Rain Feeds a Torrent, adds two each to his Ultimate and Talent.
• Weapon Specialization: Dan Heng's associated Light Cone is "Only Silence Remains" (4★), whose "Record" passive increases his Attack stat by 16–32%, as well as Critical Rate by 12–24% if there are less than two enemies in the field. With the way his kit works, the latter boost increases his chances of inflicting Slow with his Skill (thus increasing his Ultimate's chance to deal more damage), especially when there are a few enemies left or when facing off against bosses.

Tropes applying to Imbibitor Lunae, High Elder of the Luofu

Dan Heng・Imbibitor Lunae

Introduced: August 30, 2023 (v1.3 "Celestial Eyes Above Mortal Ruins" [first half])

Rarity: 5★
Path: The Destruction
Type: Imaginary
Basic Attack: Beneficent Lotus (standard), Transcendence (enhanced 1), Divine Spear (enhanced 2), Fulgurant Leap (enhanced 3)
Skill: Dracore Libre
Ultimate: Azure's Aqua Ablutes All
Talent: Righteous Heart
Technique: Heaven-Quelling Prismadrakon

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• Achilles' Heel: He act as one to any enemy that targets or punishes characters that use skills such as the Guardian Shadow's skill ban, the Aurumaton Gatekeeper's sanction gauge and the Malefic Ape's special aggro - since his skill isn't actually 'cast' in a way that expends his turn, he can use it without worrying about retalitaion.
• Added Alliterative Appeal: His Ultimate ability is named Azure Aqua Ablutes All, going hand-in-hand with the flowery, poetic naming of attacks from Xianzhou Luofu's characters.
• Awesome, but Impractical: Imbibitor Lunae's potential damage output is far and away the highest of any character in the game as of his release. That being said, it comes at the price of some truly obscene skill point consumption that by itself severely limits the available support and team options he's built with. His Squama Sacrosancta serves as a way to mitigate this, being consumed in place of skill points provided he has at least one stack to spare.
• "Back to Camera" Pose: The first full view of Imbibitor Lunae's form after his transformation completes has him face away from the camera.
• Charge Attack: Imbibitor Lunae's Skill allows him to consume a Skill Point to power up his Normal Attack. This can be done up to three times in a single turn, with each charge further powering up the attack and granting it Blast.
• Cleavage Window: Has a prominent diamond-shaped window at the front of his outfit.
• Critical Hit Class:
  • One of three stats Imbibitor Lunae can upgrade via his Trace tree is his Crit Rate, with him getting a 12% boost once fully unlocked.
  • Dracore Libre, in addition to enhancing his basic attacks, can grant him stacks of increasing Crit Damage by a certain amount up to three times.
  • With Jolt Anew unlocked in his final ascension, Imbibitor Lunae has an extra 24% Crit Damage when attacking enemies who are weak to Imaginary.
• Dash Attack: While in the "Leaping Dragon" state from activating his Technique, Heaven-Quelling Prismadrakon, Imbibitor Lunae's attack outside of battle is changed to a forward lunge.
• Difficult, but Awesome: Depending on your team composition and build tuning, Imbibitor Lunae can be this or Awesome, but Impractical. His unrivaled damage ouput is only matched by his expensive skill point costs. Not managing your skill points well will result in underwhelming performance. But proper support and skill point management allow him to decimate waves of enemies and bosses alike with his huge damage multipliers.
• Draconic Humanoid: Naturally has the features of a Chinese dragon due to his heritage as a Vidyadhara. An interesting thing to point out that unlike Bailu, Dan Heng's extremely long tail is usually unseen (outside of one of his Idle Animation).
• Dragons Up the Yin Yang: Is a Draconic Humanoid holding a floating black-and-white ball.
• Early-Bird Cameo: Before his official debut in the game, he was teased in the Official Release trailer, the version 1.2 trailer and Blade's trailer.
• Fanservice Pack: If you already thought Dan Heng was handsome, transforming into Imbibitor Lunae turns him into a Long-Haired Pretty Boy in a Sexy Backless Outfit with a detached sleeve and a Cleavage Window that shows off his figure more. In one cutscene in his Companion Quest, it starts zoomed in on said Sexy Backless Outfit and slowly zooms out to reveal he and Bailu sealing the Ambrosial Arbor roots together. And even before that, the Brighter Than The Sun light cone promotional animation has the camera zoom in on his cleavage window while Dan Heng grunts.
  Nicholas Leung (Dan Heng's English VA) during 1.3's special program: "He looks pretty good for a man in chains... if y'know what I mean."
• Flower Motifs: White lotuses, which are featured in his outfit, attacks and splash art, and he also emerges from one after his transformation.
• Foreshadowing: Dan Heng's true nature and identity has been hinted way before the game even launched.
  • This official art shows him standing in front of a screen that has the image of a Chinese dragon while the full moon can be seen through the window outside. The lighting makes it appear as if the moon is dripping down into the wine cup that Dan Heng is holding.
  • In the 2023 New Year celebration art, Dan Heng's headband has green horns that are similar to the ones that grow on his head later.
  • In response to March 7th suggesting that she is hundreds of years old, Dan Heng tells her that he "has met several long-life species, but hasn't seen any that looks like you."
  • Dan Heng received his In-Series Nickname "Cold Dragon Young" in Boulder Town.
  • Dan Heng's second-ascension Trace is named "Hidden Dragon".
  • Dan Heng acts as Mr. Exposition to Sushang when she's trying to remember more details about the Vidyadhara.
  • Dan Heng's first Character Story mentions him seeing his body clearly for the first time, and how "this body" belongs to "this current name".
• Glass Cannon: Imbibitor Lunae can dish out some truly immense damage with his Fulgurant Leap, but he is quite fragile for a Destruction Pathstrider, having weaker defenses than his peers and no way to mitigate damage on his own.
• Guest-Star Party Member: Following Dan Heng's transformation, he (as the Imbibitor Lunae) becomes a temporary playable character when fighting Yanqing to avoid arrest, and later rejoin the Trailblazer and friends at the request of Jing Yuan, though his stats cannot be viewed and usage of his Ultimate and Technique is disabled at these times.
• Horned Humanoid: Has a pair of green translucent dragon horns on his forehead, as natural for his Vidyadhara heritage.
• Interface Spoiler: Imbibitor Lunae's presence in the Characters section of the Data Bank reveals him to be the same person as Dan Heng, giving away his identity prior to joining the Astral Express.
• Invocation:
  (Ultimate activation) "Awaken, dormant scales!"
  (Normal speed) "Delve Hidden Moon...World-Cleansing Dragon! Hmph!"
  (×2 speed) "World-Cleansing Dragon! Hmph!"
• Invulnerable Attack: When performing his Dash Attack while in the "Leaping Dragon" state, he completely nullifies any attacks that hit him.
• King Incognito: The Astral Express knew nothing about his origins until Dan Heng reunites with them at Scalegorge Waterscape, and as a illegal visitor numerous Luofu citizens found his face familiar, but were not able to recognize him as the former High Elder.
• Making a Splash: His attacks take on the form of water, some of which he can shape into his Cloud-Piercer spear or a Chinese dragon.
• Mr. Fanservice: Dan Heng was already quite handsome and cute on his own, but his appearance as the Imbibitor Lunae ramps up the attractiveness even further, gaining an ethereal allure, a Sexy Backless Outfit, and showing a good deal more skin.
• Mythology Gag: With the reveal of Imbibitor Lunae, Dan Heng has additional parallels to Fu Hua from Honkai Impact 3rd. Both are youthful looking dark-haired immortal leaders associated with a Chinese mythological creature of their respective groups from a Chinese-inspired society who was killed in the past and left their homeland after their revival. Imbibitor Lunae's appearance can also be described as a gender-bent version of Fu Hua's Azure Empyrea battlesuit, featuring ink brush stroke effects in his basic attacks, as well as the yin-yang symbol represented by the black-and-white ball he holds.
• Parting the Sea: Imbibitor Lunae does this so that the rest of the party can walk through the ruins of Scalegorge Waterscape to get to the roots of the Ambrosial Arbor and stop Phantylia.
• Past-Life Memories: Unlike normal Vidyadhara, the High Elder has the ability to pass down not only his power but also his memories from past incarnations down to new reincarnations. Unlike his previous incarnations however, Dan Heng's memories were sealed away as punishment for his previous incarnation Dan Feng's actions and he only remembers fragments over the course of the Luofu story.
• Pointy Ears: Dan Heng's ears grow during his transformation, revealing his true Vidyadhara nature, while Dan Feng always had them.
• Power Makes Your Hair Grow: When becoming the Imbibitor Lunae and regaining his previous incarnation's power, Dan Heng's normally short hair grows until it reaches his waist.
• Reduced Mana Cost: His Squama Sacrosancta, which can be used in place of skill points for Dracore Libre. He can gain two from using his Ultimate, and can start with one if he strikes an enemy while enhanced by his Technique. His second Eidolon Resonance, Imperium On Cloud Nine, increases the Squama Sacrosancta he gains from his Ultimate to three, and additionally lets him take his turn immediately after using it.
• Sexy Backless Outfit: Has a lotus-shaped window located in the middle of his back.
• A Taste of Power: You get to play and control Imbibitor Lunae in the Trailblaze missions "Dragon Mislay, Dreams Astray" and "Oblation Obtained, Order Ordained". Notably, both missions are first released in version 1.2, while Imbibitor Lunae himself is unobtainable from the Warps until the version after 1.2.
• Transformation Sequence: Somehow being Impaled with Extreme Prejudice by Blade causes Dan Heng to become encased in a ball of water from which a giant water dragon emerges, then returns to him, resulting in a Magic Plastic Surgery that undoes the effort he went into looking like a regular human as well as a Significant Wardrobe Shift.