Honkai Star Rail Pure Fiction Out of Thin Air guide: Best teams and tips

Pure Fiction has reset in Honkai Star Rail and a new phase is now live! Out of Thin Air is the latest Pure Fiction challenge in Honkai Star Rail, and it’s yet another follow-up attack phase. Thankfully, there are some workarounds if you don’t have many follow-up units built.

Best Pure Fiction Teams for Out of Thin Air

For this phase of Pure Fiction, follow-up attacks will charge Whimsicality, which will deal a set amount of damage to enemies once you reach 10 points. Launching as many follow-up attacks as possible without a short period of time is crucial to success in Out of Thin Air.

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

This isn’t the first follow-up attack-centric Pure Fiction phase that we’ve seen in Honkai Star Rail, so you should already have a good idea of which characters work the best here. Topaz, Aventurine, and Clara really shine in Out of Thin Air, for example.

Stage 1

The first stage of Out of Thin Air only pits you against level 55 enemies, so it’s easy to brute force your way through it with a team of level 80 characters. We recommend these teams for the first stage of Out of Thin Air.

• Team 1
  • Clara
  • Xueyi
  • Fu Xuan
  • Robin
• Team 2
  • March 7th
  • Herta
  • Topaz
  • Pela

With the first team, Clara will unleash most of the follow-up attacks while Xueyi occasionally pitches in. Robin and Fu Xuan are strictly there for support, so feel free to swap them out for other sustain units and buffers/debuffers. Since this team doesn’t get as many follow-up attacks, you should choose Distortion as the Cacophony buff since it reduces the Whimsicality requirement by four.

On the second team, March 7th, Herta, and Topaz will unleash nonstop follow-up attacks while Pela enhances their attacks by shredding enemies’ defense. You can replace Pela with any debuffer or buffer of your choosing, and you can replace Topaz with Himeko if you need to. Distortion works well as the Cacophony buff for this team as well, but you can also choose Chicanery (which increases Ultimate damage and causes Ultimates to charge Whimsicality) since this team has high average energy regeneration rates.

Stage 2

Things heat up a bit in the second stage, but you still have a level advantage on your side if your units are maxed out. We recommend these teams for the second stage of Out of Thin Air.

• Team 1
  • Herta
  • Pela
  • Xueyi
  • Fu Xuan
• Team 2
  • Clara
  • Topaz
  • Himeko
  • Aventurine

The usual suspects work well here, so Herta and Xueyi will maximize your follow-up attack potential while Fu Xuan and Pela support. You can swap them out for any sustain or support units of your choosing. We recommend going with either Distortion or Chicanery for this team’s Cacophony buff. Herta and Xueyi’s follow-up attacks are more than enough for Distortion to trigger Whimsicality quite often, but the increased Ultimate damage (and more importantly, the fact that Ultimates can charge Whimsicality) makes Chicanery a solid choice as well.

For the second team, Clara, Topaz, Himeko, and Aventurine are follow-up powerhouses. Paired with Distortion, they’ll trigger Whimsicality several times per turn. You probably don’t have all of them, though, so you can substitute as needed. If you need to replace them with non-follow-up attackers, then use Exaggerate for your Cacophony buff. This will make standard attacks charge Whimsicality as well. It’s not an ideal replacement, but it will help if you don’t have enough follow-up attack units.

Stage 3

The third stage is the first real challenge for this phase of Pure Fiction. The recommended elements stay mostly the same, though, as there just aren’t enough follow-up attackers to allow for any more diversity. We recommend these teams to clear stage three of Out of Thin Air.

• Team 1
  • Xueyi
  • Clara
  • Robin
  • Natasha
• Team 2
  • March 7th
  • Topaz
  • Himeko
  • Ruan Mei

Xueyi and Clara are back in the spotlight for the first team since you can’t do much better than them for Physical/Quantum follow-up attacks. You can swap out Robin for any support unit (we recommend Lynx for this team) and Natasha can be replaced with someone like Fu Xuan or Hanya if needed. Distortion is easily the best Cacophony buff for this team. Jing Yuan is also a surprisingly good pick for the first team, as is Kafka since most enemies have an Electric weakness.

For the second team, March 7th is the best sustain since she counters Ice weaknesses and performs frequent follow-up attacks. Ruan Mei really helps with that too if you have her, but you can swap her out for Pela if you don’t. Since Fire is recommended, Topaz and Himeko are your go-to units. If you don’t have Himeko or Topaz, then swap in other Ice/Fire DPS units like Jingliu, Guinaifen, Yanqing, or Hook and choose the Chicanery Cacophony buff to capitalize on their Ultimates.

Stage 4

The fourth and final stage of Out of Thin Air is a real challenge. You have to defeat Gepard and the Abundant Ebon Deer back to back, and both require very different strategies. Use these teams to get three stars on stage four of Out of Thin Air.

• Team 1
  • Aventurine
  • Robin
  • Clara
  • Jing Yuan
• Team 2
  • Fu Xuan
  • Topaz
  • Himeko
  • Silver Wolf

While Electric isn’t recommended by the game for the first half, most of the enemies are weak to it so you can bring Jing Yuan alongside Clara for a very capable follow-up attack duo. With Robin buffing the team’s damage and Aventurine coming in with his own follow-up attacks that will trigger quite often as Gepard continually summons Silvermane guards, you’ll trigger Whimsicality over and over. With this team setup, Distortion is the way to go for your Cacophony buff.

If you don’t have these units, then you can choose the Exaggerate Cacophony and just focus on normal attacks. Welt, Dr. Ratio, and Dan Heng Imbibitor Lunae work great in that regard. A Super Break team with Firefly and Harmony Trailblazer also works incredibly well against Gepard (especially paired with the Chicancery Cacophony that buffs Ultimates).

For the second team, Fu Xuan will keep the team alive and whittle down some weaknesses during the Ebon Deer fight. March 7th also works as a sustain unit since the Ebon Deer and other enemies have Ice weaknesses. Silver Wolf will debuff and shred defense so Himeko and Topaz can make the most of their limited turns. With Distortion in effect, you’ll charge Whimsicality incredibly fast.

If you don’t have them, then you can swap in other Quantum, Fire, and even Ice units for an Exaggerate or Chicanery team. Jingliu is exceptionally strong for this fight because of her Ice AOE capabilities, and the same can be said for Guinaifen and Xueyi for Fire and Quantum respectively. Asta is also a remarkably strong buffer for this fight, and the speed buffs provided by her Ultimate are very helpful with Pure Fiction’s limited turn count.