Apocalyptic Shadow is an endgame mode in Honkai: Star Rail, challenging you to defeat two difficult bosses, each with unique mechanics. The mode is centered around Weakness Break, creating a distinct meta that sets it apart from other endgame content. In this guide to the Version 3.7 Apocalyptic Shadow, you'll discover the best lineups, strategies, and tips to earn valuable in-game rewards!
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What is Apocalyptic Shadow?
Apocalyptic Shadow is a challenging endgame mode in Honkai: Star Rail, where you face projections of two bosses across four difficulty levels. The goal is to score 6,600 points to earn three stars across both bosses, with faster clears granting more points. Progress is timed by Action Value, and completing the mode requires two separate teams.
Each boss starts with a Steadfast Safeguard buff that reduces damage taken by 50%, which is removed when the boss is Weakness Broken. Thus, using the correct elemental teams is crucial, as failing to Weakness Break greatly reduces your damage. Additionally, players can gain a Ruinous Embers buff when bosses are Weakness Broken, which changes with each new version of Apocalyptic Shadow.
Ruinous Embers for Version 3.7
Unlike previous versions of Apocalyptic Shadow, the Ruinous Embers buff in 3.7 does not immediately trigger ultimates. Instead, it advances your team’s action, allowing them to act with zero Action Value spent on the timer. This version of the buff also increases Memosprite Skill and Ultimate damage, making certain teams more effective in Version 3.7 Apocalyptic Shadow.
| Buff | Description |
| Ruinous Embers | When enemy targets with "Steadfast Safeguard" are Weakness Broken, dispels control states for all allies, and allies immediately take action and restore HP. All enemy targets take 15% more Memosprite Skill DMG, and 25% more Ultimate DMG. |
Node 1: Sky-Shrouding Stardevourer Swarm
Boss Information
| Sky-Shrouding Stardevourer Swarm |
| Weakness Types |
The primary mechanic of Sky-Shrouding Stardevourer Swarm is the summoning of Sting enemies when attacked. These enemies are empowered to deal increased damage and apply crowd control effects to your team. Defeating the Sting enemies causes them to explode, dealing damage and reducing the boss’s Toughness bar, which is crucial for achieving a Weakness Break efficiently.
The boss will occasionally become immune to break damage, making it necessary to defeat its summons in order to reduce its Toughness. For this reason, characters capable of dealing high AoE damage are highly recommended for this encounter.
Available Buffs
Before facing this boss, you can choose from the following buffs to apply at the start of the fight:
| Buff | Description |
| Brand of Anamnesis | At the start of battle, when there are 2/3/4 Remembrance characters in the team, increases the DMG enemy targets received by 5% / 10% / 20% respectively. This effect also applies to all new enemies that enter combat. |
| Hardened by Frost | Increases Ice DMG dealt by all ally targets by 50% and increases SPD by 10%. |
| Heroic Vanguard | After the character in position 1 in the team uses Ultimate, increases their Weakness Break Efficiency by 50% and increases CRIT DMG by 50%, lasting for 1 turn(s). |
The first buff, Brand of Anamnesis, strongly favors a mono-Remembrance team, as it increases the damage enemies take by up to 20%. The second buff, Hardened by Frost, boosts Ice damage by 50% and increases SPD by 10%, making it especially valuable for Ice-based DPS teams. The final buff, Heroic Vanguard, enhances Weakness Break Efficiency and Crit DMG by 50% when the first character in your team activates their Ultimate, providing a strong benefit for any DPS reliant on their Ultimate.
Recommended Teams
| Team Name | Team Lineup |
| Castorice | |
| Evernight Main DPS | |
| Phainon | |
| The Herta |
Castorice and Evernight are at the top of the meta and can easily clear this boss, with Castorice as Main DPS or Evernight as Main DPS. Their performance is enhanced further by the Brand of Anamnesis buff.
Phainon with the Heroic Vanguard buff can also perform well on this stage, but may require more investment than other teams to shine in an AOE scenario. However with the right investment, such as Cerydra and Cyrene he can also deliver a great performancein this stage.
Out of the recommended teams, The Herta is the most flexible. Instead of Anaxa for example, 4-star Herta can also perform very well in this boss thanks to her Ice-based follow-up attacks which benefit from the Hardened by Frost buff and instead of Dan Heng • Permansor Terrae you can consider using Hyacine.
Dan Heng • Permansor Terrae is recommended first because he is on-element for this boss with its Physical weakness, while Hyacine would require a weakness implant from Anaxa to deal toughness damage. As long as you're able to comfortably defeat the Stings the boss spawns though, you will be able to inflict Weakness Break!
Node 2: Opportunistic Provocateur
Boss Information
| Opportunistic Provocateur |
| Weakness Types |
The primary mechanic of Opportunistic Provocateur is summoning Lotus enemies that must be defeated to deal toughness damage, as she will not be able to take Toughness damage until one is defeated. Additionally, defeating one of her Lotus summons grants your team a buff of either All-Type DMG Boost or Break Effect boost, depending on which type of Lotus you defeat.
There are two types: Abundance Lotus and Destruction Lotus. The best strategy is to defeat the summon that will benefit your team the most.
This boss can reduce your max HP with a debuff so bringing a sustain that can cleanse negative effects is recommended.
Available Buffs
Before the battle, you have the choice to pick one of three buffs to assist you:
| Buff | Description |
| Dire Straits | When ally targets deal DMG to enemy targets afflicted with 3 DoT states or more, increases Weakness Break Efficiency by 50%. |
| Stunning Remark | Increases the Weakness Break DMG received by all enemies by 15%, and additionally increases Super Break DMG received by 20%. |
| Sweeping Force | Increases CRIT DMG of all allies' Basic ATK and Ultimate DMG dealt by 30%, with an additional increase of 30% against enemy targets that are Weakness Broken. |
Your first option, Dire Straits greatly enhances teams that rely on damage-over-time (DOT) effects.
The second choice, Stunning Remark is a powerful buff for Super Break teams that want to quickly inflict Weakness Break.
Finally, Sweeping Force increases Basic ATK and Ultimate damage by 30%, increasing to 60% when an enemy is Weakness Broken. This buff benefits a variety of teams that rely on Ultimate DMG or Basic ATK DMG.
Recommended Teams
| Team Name | Team Lineup |
| Firefly Superbreak | |
| Hysilens DoT | |
| Saber Hypercarry | |
| Anaxa Hypercarry |
Like in the first stage, there is a lot of flexibility for your teams. For example, instead of Firefly you could use Rappa instead, who both benefit from the Stunning Remark buff. The Hysilens DoT line-up is enhanced by Dire Straits. Both Anaxa and Saber perform well on this stage, helped by the Sweeping Force buff. All the reccomended line-ups will have an amazing perfomance against this boss!
Apocalyptic Shadow Rewards
Kalpa's Gift
If you earn all 12 stars from the 4 stages of Apocalyptic Shadow, you earn the following rewards:
| In-game Model | Reward | Quantity |
| Stellar Jade | 800 | |
| | Jade Feather | 600 |
| Credits | 120,000 |
Finale's Gift
For completing all 4 stages, you can obtain these rewards from Finale's Gift:
| In-game Model | Reward | Quantity |
| Traveler's Guide | 24 | |
| Refined Aether | 12 | |
| Lost Crystal | 24 | |
| Lucent Afterglow | 96 | |
| Credits | 120,000 |
Nether Puppet
Completing Stage 2 of Apocalyptic Shadow for the first time grants you extra rewards from the Nether Puppet event:
| In-game Model | Reward | Quantity |
| Xueyi (★★★★) | 1 | |
| Stellar Jade | 300 | |
| Self-Modelling Resin | 1 |
Conclusion
Apocalyptic Shadow is Honkai: Star Rail's most unique endgame with specific team requirements and special mechanics that don't exist outside of this mode. Teams that have not been performing well in other endgame modes may be top performers in this game mode due to the very specific requirements for each boss battle.
Apocalyptic Shadow can be quite demanding as the required teams change every version, and can be difficult to keep up with. For that reason, if you want to obtain new characters or 5-star Light Cones so that you can fully clear Apocalyptic Shadow, use Lootbar.gg to top up Honkai: Star Rail safely and conveniently!
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