Honkai Star Rail Pure Fiction Fictitious Wordsmithing guide: Best teams and tips

A new Pure Fiction phase is now live in Honkai Star Rail, and Fictitious Wordsmithing brings back the classic follow-up attack buffs that the mode is known for.

As per usual, the featured 5-Star characters that you can currently pull for are the best picks for this round of Pure Fiction, but you can still perform well even without Aventurine or Topaz if you have a solid roster of strong units. Some Cacophony buffs even allow you to circumvent the follow-up attack mechanic entirely, too.

Best Pure Fiction Teams for Fictitious Wordsmithing

In this phase of Pure Fiction, follow-up attack damage will be accumulated and once the damage amount builds up to 100%, a set amount of damage will be dealt to all enemies. Basically, you’ll get bonus damage if you land enough follow-up attacks.

• Best Stage 1 Teams
• Best Stage 2 Teams
• Best Stage 3 Teams
• Best Stage 4 Teams

While the newly-released Aventurine and all-time follow-up attack queen Topaz are featured in banners during version 2.1 and 2.2 respectively, you can still make do with the usual follow-up attack staples like Herta and Himeko. This is a fairly standard round of Pure Fiction without too many gimmicks, so you can get most of the stars and rewards with just about anyone.

Stage 1

The first stage of Fictitious Wordsmithing only pits you against level 55 enemies, so getting three stars on this stage should be a breeze if you bring in level 70-80 units. Try these team compositions to make quick work of stage one.

• Team 1
  • Herta
  • Ruan Mei
  • Clara
  • Aventurine
• Team 2
  • Dr. Ratio
  • Jing Yuan
  • Kafka
  • Gallagher

In the first team, Clara, Aventurine, and Herta will deliver nonstop follow-up attacks. Ruan Mei is there to provide damage buffs to the team, but you can swap her out for another Harmony unit if you don’t have her. Really, you just need one good follow-up attack DPS unit to clear this stage with ease.

For your Cacophony buff, go with Extrapolation. This will regenerate Ultimate Energy for the entire team when the Whimsicality effect is triggered after landing enough follow-up attacks, which will keep Clara’s retaliation follow-up attacks rolling and trigger more of Aventurine’s follow-up attacks as well.

The second team relies on Jing Yuan and Dr. Ratio to deliver follow-up attacks. Jing Yuan’s Lightning Lord attacks are self-explanatory, but Dr. Ratio relies on debuffs to increase his follow-up attack chance. That’s where Kafka and Gallagher come in. Plus, Kafka has follow-up attacks of her own that follow an ally’s normal attack, so this team has fantastic synergy overall.

Team two’s Cacophony buff should be Examination, which increases the Whimsicality damage buff by 60% after three follow-up attacks instead of accumulating damage normally. Since Dr. Ratio and Kafka’s follow-up attacks are fast and frequent, this Cacophony buff makes up for their relatively low damage.

Stage 2

Stage two steps things up a little bit, but the enemies’ elemental weaknesses line up perfectly to allow for some classic follow-up attack team compositions. These are the best team lineups for this stage.

• Team 1
  • Topaz
  • Himeko
  • Herta
  • Ruan Mei
• Team 2
  • Dr. Ratio
  • Jing Yuan
  • Kafka
  • Aventurine

You really can’t get a better follow-up attack team than the squad deployed in team one. Topaz, Himeko, and Herta are the poster girls of follow-up attacks for a reason, and Ruan Mei makes them even stronger. As long as you have just one of them, you can swap the rest out for other units if you need to. The best Cacophony buff for this team is Extrapolation since it’ll keep everyone’s Ultimates charged.

For the second team, everyone is capable of performing follow-up attacks quite often. With Aventurine keeping everyone shielded, Jing Yuan can focus on building charges for the Lightning Lord. Dr. Ratio can then trigger Kafka‘s follow-up attack while she adds DoT damage to enemies and increases Dr. Ratio’s follow-up attack chances. Extrapolation is the best Cacophony buff here, too.

Stage 3

The third stage is where things start to get serious. With a good team, though, it shouldn’t be too hard. Try these team lineups to clear stage three.

• Team 1
  • Aventurine
  • Clara
  • Topaz
  • Herta
• Team 2
  • Acheron
  • Black Swan
  • Sparkle
  • Huohuo

The first team just crams a bunch of follow-up attack users into the same lineup, which should get you through the first half of this stage with ease. You can swap in Himeko instead of Topaz or even put in March 7th instead of Aventurine if you need to. The best Cacophony buff for this team is Examination, which will essentially ensure that you trigger the Whimsicality effect after just a few attacks since this team launches follow-up attacks so frequently.

For the second team, you can bypass the follow-up attack mechanic entirely if you just use Acheron and Black Swan with Sparkle buffing and Huohuo keeping everyone alive. You’ll need to choose Reductio ad Absurdum for the Cacophony buff to keep getting Whimsicality progress, though. You can swap in other buffers or support units like Bronya or Luocha if needed.

For a more traditional follow-up attack team, try adding Jing Yuan, Kafka, Blade, or Himeko to the lineup instead of Acheron and Black Swan. If that’s the case, then you’re better off swapping the Cacophony buff to Examination or Extrapolation.

Stage 4

The fourth and final stage of Fictitious Wordsmithing is quite a challenge. You’ll face off against Bronya in the first half and then finish off with Sam in the second half. Thankfully, their elemental weaknesses line up nicely. Try these team compositions if you’re struggling with stage four.

• Team 1
  • Himeko
  • Herta
  • Ruan Mei
  • Pela
• Team 2
  • Jing Yuan
  • Tingyun
  • Sparkle
  • Aventurine

The first team relies on the classic Himeko and Herta duo to perform all the follow-up attacks you need. They’ll need some help with damage, though, so that’s where Pela and Ruan Mei come in. If you choose the Extrapolation Cacophony buff, their Ultimates will constantly recharge and you’ll be able to output a ton of damage each incoming wave ridiculously fast. Topaz is a solid replacement for Himeko if you have her, too.

For the second team, Jing Yuan acts as a hypercarry with Tingyun and Sparkle ensuring he can put out as much damage as possible. Aventurine is there to keep everyone shielded from damage, especially during the battle with Sam, and his follow-up attacks will help build Whimsicality as well. Choose Reductio ad Absurdum for this team’s Cacophony buff so you can build Whimsicality progress with normal attacks from the entire lineup. You can swap out Aventurine for another buffer/debuffer if you favor speed over survivability, but make sure that you have enough HP to take a few hits.