Apocalyptic Shadow HSR Guide: Dominate the Latest Honkai Star Rail Challenge

Apocalyptic Shadow is the newest permanent endgame content in Honkai: Star Rail, testing players with challenging boss encounters. This comprehensive guide will show you how to unlock Apocalyptic Shadow, the best team compositions to use in Version 3.0, effective strategies to defeat the bosses, and understand the reset mechanics and rewards. Prepare to delve into the shadow and emerge victorious!

How to Unlock Apocalyptic Shadow

Access to Apocalyptic Shadow is unlocked by completing a specific story mission within Honkai: Star Rail.

Finish Grim Film of Finality

To unlock Apocalyptic Shadow, you must first complete the Grim Film of Finality mission. This mission is located in the Dreamflux Reef area. Progress through the story quests until you reach and complete “Grim Film of Finality”. Once this mission is finished and you have spoken to Elegy, the first stage of Apocalyptic Shadow will be unlocked, granting you access to this new challenging game mode.

Apocalyptic Shadow Best Teams

Team composition is crucial for success in Apocalyptic Shadow. Each phase features different bosses with unique weaknesses and mechanics, requiring strategic team building. Here are some of the best team recommendations for the current phase, Locust’s Instigation:

Locust’s Instigation Best Teams

This phase of Apocalyptic Shadow features two challenging bosses: the Sky-Shrouding Stardevourer Swarm and the Opportunistic Provocateur. Here are effective team compositions for each boss encounter.

First Boss: Sky-Shrouding Stardevourer Swarm

This boss is vulnerable to Physical, Ice, Quantum, and Imaginary damage types in the first half. Teams focusing on these elements will have an advantage.

Second Boss: Opportunistic Provocateur

The second boss is vulnerable to Fire, Lightning, Wind, and Imaginary damage. Building your second team around these elements is key to efficiently defeating this boss.

Team Building Considerations

When building your teams for Apocalyptic Shadow: Locust’s Instigation, keep the following elemental weaknesses in mind:

Use Physical, Ice, Quantum, and Imaginary Characters

Enemies in the first half, specifically the Sky-Shrouding Stardevourer Swarm boss and its summons, are weak to Physical, Ice, Quantum, and Imaginary damage types.

For the first boss, it’s highly recommended to use DPS units that excel at dealing damage to multiple enemies. Characters with frequent attacks are particularly effective against the Starcrusher Swarm King and its numerous summons.

Use Fire, Lightning, Wind, and Imaginary Characters

For the second half and the Opportunistic Provocateur boss, focus on Fire, Lightning, Wind, and Imaginary damage dealers.

Characters that can inflict significant Toughness damage are invaluable for the second boss. Quickly breaking the Toughness of the Lotus summons is crucial for weakening the boss and gaining beneficial buffs.

How to Beat Apocalyptic Shadow Locust’s Instigation

Understanding the mechanics of each boss in Apocalyptic Shadow is key to devising effective strategies. Here’s a breakdown of how to defeat the bosses in the Locust’s Instigation phase:

Sky-Shrouding Stardevourer Swarm Boss

This boss fight is centered around managing the Swarm King’s summons and exploiting its weakness break mechanic.

Defeat Sting Summons to Reduce Toughness

The Sky-Shrouding Stardevourer Swarm King frequently summons Gnaw Stings. Prioritize defeating these Sting summons. Attacking and defeating Gnaw Stings is crucial because it deals significant Toughness damage to the Swarm King.

Breaking the Swarm King’s Toughness not only delays its actions but also weakens the Insect Eggs, which buff the Sting summons, making them easier to manage in the long run.

Prioritize Lesser Sting Enemies in Phase 2

In Phase 2, the Swarm King introduces Lesser Sting enemies. These Lesser Stings can inflict Enrage on your characters, which can disrupt your strategy.

Focus on eliminating Lesser Stings as quickly as possible, ideally before they get a chance to attack. Preventing Enrage is vital for maintaining control of the battle and ensuring your team’s survival.

Opportunistic Provocateur Boss

The Opportunistic Provocateur boss fight revolves around managing Lotus summons to gain buffs and weaken the boss’s powerful attacks.

Defeat Lotuses For DMG Buffs

In both phases of the Opportunistic Provocateur fight, focus on defeating the Lotus summons. These summons are key to both weakening Phantylia and strengthening your team.

Destroying Destruction Lotuses grants your entire party a valuable Break Effect buff, increasing the damage dealt when breaking enemy Toughness. On the other hand, destroying Abundance Lotuses provides an All-Type DMG buff, boosting the overall damage output of your team.

Defeat Lotuses to Weaken Eternal Condemnation

In Phase 2, Phantylia gains a devastating attack called Eternal Condemnation, which locks onto all units and unleashes a powerful blow.

To mitigate this threat, defeat all Lotus summons before Phantylia’s next turn. Successfully destroying the Lotuses will significantly weaken Eternal Condemnation, making it survivable and preventing potential team wipes.

Apocalyptic Shadow Boss Mirages

Here’s a detailed look at the characteristics and traits of each boss mirage in the Locust’s Instigation phase:

Sky-Shrouding Stardevourer Swarm

Sky-Shrouding Stardevourer Swarm Boss Traits

Sky-Shrouding Stardevourer Swarm Summon Info

Opportunistic Provocateur

Opportunistic Provocateur Summon Info

Opportunistic Provocateur Boss Traits

Apocalyptic Shadow Reset

Apocalyptic Shadow is a recurring game mode with phases that reset periodically, offering fresh challenges and rewards.

Apocalyptic Shadow Reset Calendar

The Apocalyptic Shadow phase resets on a regular schedule, ensuring a constant stream of content for players.

When Does Apocalyptic Shadow Reset?

A new phase of Apocalyptic Shadow is released every six weeks, and each phase lasts for the same duration. Apocalyptic Shadow always resets on a Monday at 04:00 server time. This consistent reset schedule allows players to plan their gameplay and anticipate new challenges.

Current Phase: Locust’s Instigation

Each new Apocalyptic Shadow Phase introduces a different Ruinous Embers effect and Finality’s Axiom buffs, changing the gameplay dynamics and requiring players to adapt their strategies. Progress made in clearing Apocalyptic Shadow stages also resets with each phase, allowing players to re-collect the available rewards, including Stellar Jades and other valuable resources.

How to Play Apocalyptic Shadow

Apocalyptic Shadow presents a unique gameplay format that requires strategic team deployment and efficient combat tactics.

Face Two Boss Mirages

In Apocalyptic Shadow, you will face projections of formidable foes from the Honkai: Star Rail universe, known as Boss Mirages. Each stage features two distinct Boss Mirages that you must defeat consecutively. These are not simply re-skinned versions of regular bosses; they possess different or enhanced attacks and abilities, demanding careful preparation and execution.

Before each battle, you can view each enemy’s specific traits and abilities, allowing you to tailor your team composition and strategy accordingly. Each phase offers four challenge difficulties, with increasing rewards for higher difficulty clears.

Choose Finality’s Axiom Buffs

Similar to Pure Fiction, Apocalyptic Shadow allows you to select buffs to empower your teams. Since you need to deploy two teams to face the two Boss Mirages, choosing the right Finality’s Axiom buffs is crucial for maximizing your combat effectiveness. Each Apocalyptic Shadow phase offers a selection of buffs, and strategically picking buffs that synergize with your chosen teams is key to achieving victory.

Defeat Bosses as Quickly as Possible

Apocalyptic Shadow stages incorporate an Action Value Timer, adding a time-sensitive element to the battles. This timer decreases with every action taken by both your team and the enemies. Your final score is determined by two factors: the remaining Action Value after defeating both bosses and the total HP of the bosses you managed to deplete.

Therefore, your primary objective is to defeat both Boss Mirages as quickly as possible while minimizing the number of actions taken. Efficient team rotations, maximizing damage output, and strategic use of Ultimates are essential for earning high scores and maximizing rewards in Apocalyptic Shadow.

Apocalyptic Shadow Rewards

Participating in Apocalyptic Shadow offers a variety of valuable rewards, making it a worthwhile endgame activity.

Free 4-Star: Xueyi

For players who successfully clear Difficulty 2 of Apocalyptic Shadow for the first time, Xueyi is available as a free 4-star character reward. In addition to Xueyi, you will also receive 300 Stellar Jades and 1 Self-Modelling Resin, making the initial clear highly rewarding.

List of All Free Characters in Honkai: Star Rail

Rewards Per Difficulty

Each time you clear an Apocalyptic Shadow difficulty level, you will receive a set of base rewards:

Total Insignia Rewards

By accumulating Insignias from Apocalyptic Shadow challenges, you can earn significant rewards over time:

For each insignia earned in Apocalyptic Shadow, you receive 60 Stellar Jades and 20000 Credits. Once you reach your ninth insignia, the Stellar Jade reward increases to 80 Stellar Jades per insignia, further incentivizing continued participation. These insignia rewards reset periodically, allowing you to earn them again in each new phase.

From collecting 7 to 12 Insignias within a phase, you can also acquire up to 600 Jade Feathers. These Jade Feathers can be exchanged in the Priceless Jewels shop, under the Jokes Come True tab, for valuable items like Self Modeling Resins and Relic Remains, providing further character progression resources.

Honkai: Star Rail Related Guides

Expand your Honkai: Star Rail knowledge with these related guides:

Honkai Star Rail Wiki Guide

Honkai: Star Rail Wiki Front

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