Abstract: Continuous pulses with adjustable rise time are used to generate the discharge. This study investigates the transient breakdown characteristics and measures the time-resolved plasma parameters. With a shorter pulse rise time, both the breakdown voltage and breakdown current increase, and the enhanced Laplacian electric field concurrently leads to the formation of plasma with a higher electron density and excitation temperature. Higher reversed voltage and current are observed at the pulse fall time due to a stronger local electric field. Although a higher second peak in the excitation temperature is attributed to the local electric field, it does not affect the electron density, which continues to drop until the next pulse breakdown.