Honkai Star Rail Divergent Universe and Apocalyptic Shadow explained

Hoyoverse has revealed a sneak peek at some of the major new features coming in Honkai Star Rail version 2.3, and a new permanent game mode and Simulated Universe overhaul are coming to the game very soon.

While Honkai Star Rail has had several Simulated Universe events, the new Divergent Universe mode is a complete overhaul allowing for more efficient Planar Ornament farming with additional rewards. In addition, Apocalyptic Shadow is a new piece of endgame content joining the likes of Memory of Chaos and Pure Fiction, allowing Hunt characters to shine in challenging boss battles.

Honkai Star Rail Divergent Universe Explained

The Divergent Universe is less of a limited-time event and more of a complete overhaul of Honkai Star Rail’s Simulated Universe. The original Simulated Universe is here to stay, but it looks like the new Divergent Universe is going to make farming Planar Ornaments much easier. Hoyoverse also states that Divergent Universe will be a major research focus in the future for Simulated Universe, so expect updates to the mode going forward.

In Divergent Universe, there will be more varied combinations between Blessings and Curios with even more unique effects added. Divergent Universe will add points to your weekly Simulated Universe rewards too, so you can pick and choose which mode you want to play. Plus, you can restart your run from the same stage when defeated, so there’s no need to start over entirely.

The main benefit of choosing Divergent Universe over Simulated Universe is the new Planar Ornament Quick-Claim feature. After clearing Divergent Universe, you can make a save file that allows you to repeatedly challenge boss enemies over and over to farm Planar Ornaments. The save file resets every week, but you don’t have to repeatedly work your way up to a boss if you want to farm during a given week.

Honkai Star Rail Apocalyptic Shadow Explained

On top of Divergent Universe, a new permanent endgame mode called Apocalyptic Shadow will debut during Honkai Star Rail version 2.3 as well. It will rotate regularly alongside Pure Fiction and Memory of Chaos, but it’ll allow for entirely different team compositions to shine.

Apocalyptic Shadow is like a souped-up version of Echo of War, pitting players against bosses that they’ve faced before in the story. These bosses will have modifiers that make the fights more challenging, however, but it shouldn’t be too crazy if you’re already familiar with Memory of Chaos and Pure Fiction.

You’ll be able to get up to 720 free Stellar Jades during each phase of Apocalyptic Shadow, so it’s worth testing your might and seeing how many stars you can earn. With Apocalpytic Shadow added to the rotation, there will now be two weeks between every endgame Honkai Star Rail update with the game cycling between Apocalpytic Shadow, Pure Fiction, and Memory of Chaos phases in that order.

While Honkai Star rail version 2.3 is still far away, there’s plenty of content coming in the version 2.2 update. Robin and Boothill will make their debut as featured 5-Star characters, and these units are some of the most exciting charaters that the game has seen in some time.