Honkai: Star Rail Endgame Modes Guide

In This Guide

• What the Endgame Modes Are
• Memory of Chaos: Clear Everything Within the Cycle Limit
• Pure Fiction: More Kills, More Points
• Apocalyptic Shadow: A Race Against Two Bosses
• Starward Mode and Anomaly Arbitration: For Deep Rosters
• Who Is Strong in Each Mode (Version 4.6)
• Building Teams for the Endgame
• Reset Schedule and Rewards
• Frequently Asked Questions

What the Endgame Modes Are

The endgame is a set of hard combat modes that open up as you progress through the story. The three main ones are Memory of Chaos, Pure Fiction and Apocalyptic Shadow, and each scores you its own way. What they share: roughly every six weeks a mode moves to a new phase with new enemies and buffs, and you can earn its rewards again.

How to Unlock Each Mode

Memory of Chaos: Clear Everything Within the Cycle Limit

For most players this is where the endgame starts. It has 12 stages, each split into a first and second half, and each half takes its own 4-person team. You win a stage by wiping out every enemy before the Cycles run out, so how fast you clear is what counts.

Each half has its own enemy lineup, so the halves often want different Types depending on enemy Weaknesses. That’s why you want at least two main DPS of different Types. Each phase also adds a shared effect on every fight that changes from phase to phase, so read it before picking teams.

• Split your strength across both teams. Stack all your best characters in one half and the other half runs out of Cycles, costing you stars anyway.
• Pick main DPS that hit the Weakness. Usually you have to hit an enemy’s Weakness to deplete its Toughness. Weakness Break then delays the enemy’s action, buying you more time.
• SPD is your friend. More SPD means more turns per Cycle, so you have a better shot at clearing in time. How to build it is in the Relics and stats guide.
• Bring someone to keep the team alive. One character going down mid-fight breaks your rhythm, so almost every team saves a slot for a healer or shielder.

Team ideas, Type picks and the strongest characters for this mode are in the full Memory of Chaos guide.

Pure Fiction: More Kills, More Points

Pure Fiction has 4 stages, again with two halves for two teams. You only get 4 Cycles and enemies keep respawning, so the aim isn’t to clear the field but to defeat as many enemies and deal as much damage as you can for points. Before the fight you pick a team buff called a Cacophony, and each phase offers several.

Respawning Enemies and the Grit Gauge

1. Defeat the regular enemiesDefeated small enemies keep getting replaced. Each one that falls damages the boss and fills this mode’s own gauge, called Grit.
2. Fill up GritA full gauge puts your team in Surging Grit, with strong buffs for a while, so you clear much faster. That’s the best window for your Ultimates.
3. Defeat the boss to move onOnce the boss goes down, the next wave rolls in and you keep scoring with whatever Cycles are left.

• Favor DPS who hit many targets. Enemies come in respawning crowds, so one attack that hits the whole group scores far faster than picking them off one by one.
• Don’t tunnel on the boss. Defeating small enemies already damages the boss and fills Grit, so steady clearing wears the boss down too.
• Read the buffs before you choose. Pick the Cacophony that matches how your team deals damage, not the one that just sounds strongest.

Team ideas, Type picks and the strongest characters for this mode are in the full Pure Fiction guide.

Apocalyptic Shadow: A Race Against Two Bosses

Here you face two bosses: mirage versions of bosses you’ve fought before, with new attacks and abilities. Each boss gets its own team, so you still need two teams. A phase comes with 4 difficulty levels and every one of them pays out, and like in Pure Fiction you pick a buff before the fight (here it’s called Finality’s Axiom).

Each fight runs on an Action Value timer, and every action, yours or the enemy’s, eats into it. Points come from two things: how much of that timer is left when the boss falls, and how much HP you took off the boss. Put simply: the sooner the boss goes down and the fewer turns it takes, the higher your score.

Bosses here often have gimmicks, like passing their Weakness to the enemies they bring along or splitting into copies. The general fix: take out the extras first to cut more of the boss’s Toughness, then pour in damage right after you break the boss’s Weakness. More in the Break and Super Break guide.

Team ideas, Type picks and the strongest characters for this mode are in the full Apocalyptic Shadow guide.

Starward Mode and Anomaly Arbitration: For Deep Rosters

Since version 4.3, all three modes have Starward Mode. Switch it on and the mode’s top stage becomes a Starward Stage: three fights, with a separate team for each. Earn the Prismatic Star there and each mode pays an extra 100 Stellar Jade plus some Jade Feathers for the endgame shop.

Anomaly Arbitration, the fourth mode, opens once you full-star the hardest stage of the other three. You clear 3 trial stages, each with a different team, before the final stage. Its rewards aren’t Stellar Jade but mode-specific items plus Self-Modeling Resin, so newer players don’t need to rush it.

Who Is Strong in Each Mode (Version 4.6)

This section follows the site tier list, updated October 6, 2026. The good news is that a whole group sits at SS in all three modes: Pearl, Robin • Summeretto, Silver Wolf LV.999, Ashveil, Sparxie, Yao Guang, Aventurine • Waveflair, Evernight, Evanescia, Castorice, Himeko • Nova, Firefly, Mortenax Blade, Cyrene, The Dahlia, Sunday, Tribbie, Robin, Hyacine, Lingsha and Dan Heng • Permansor Terrae. If you can’t decide who to pull, anyone from this group is useful everywhere.

If your roster leans on characters from earlier versions, don’t worry. The group at S+ in all three modes includes Acheron, Phainon, Anaxa, Hysilens, Aglaea, Bronya, Gallagher, Trailblazer (Remembrance) and Trailblazer (Harmony). Familiar faces like Blade, Silver Wolf, Jingliu, Luocha and Tingyun still hold S+ in Memory of Chaos and Apocalyptic Shadow. If you’ve built them, keep using them. They just don’t stand out like the SS group.

Building Teams for the Endgame

1. Build 8 characters firstAll three modes need two 4-person teams. With 8 decently geared characters you can play most stages. For Starward Mode, plan for 12.
2. Cover several Types with your DPSWeaknesses change between halves and between phases. Two main DPS of different Types make swapping teams much easier than two of the same Type.
3. Stick to the usual team shapeMost strong teams today run one main DPS, one or two supports who boost damage or give allies Action Advance, and one sustain. Huohuo and Hyacine fill that last slot very often, and Lingsha and Gallagher are options too.
4. Build stats for the playstyleCRIT-based teams want SPD, CRIT Rate and CRIT DMG. Break teams, like Firefly with The Dahlia and Fugue, want Break Effect instead (see the Break and Super Break guide).

Some Strong Teams Right Now (for Reference)

Reset Schedule and Rewards

All three modes reset on a Monday at 04:00 server time (UTC-5 for America, UTC+1 for Europe, UTC+8 for Asia). Each phase lasts about six weeks, and the three modes don’t switch phases together, so each has its own end date.

Besides Stellar Jade, the stages give Credits, Traveler’s Guides, Lost Crystals and Refined Aether. Star milestones also pay Jade Feathers, a currency for the Priceless Jewels shop, which sells items like Self-Modeling Resin and Relic Remains. Full-starring all three modes every phase adds up to a big pile of Stellar Jade, well worth the effort. To spend it wisely, see the Stellar Jade and pity guide.

Frequently Asked Questions

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