The Simulated Universe is one of Honkai: Star Rail's more challenging game modes. It takes players on a roguelite adventure with random bonuses and items that all disappear after every run. These effects bring the power levels of the player's characters to heights they otherwise won't be able to reach normally, but the same goes for the enemies they'll face in these artificial worlds.
World 3 of the Simulated Universe is a particularly problematic experience due to how strong its final boss can be. Even teams above the recommended level of 45 can have a tough time surviving against all the AOE attacks they'll have to face here. There are many ways to conquer this world in Honkai: Star Rail, though, and here's one that uses an unexpected combination of characters and Path Blessings.
Honkai: Star Rail - Recommended World 3 Characters
The majority of enemies in World 3 are all weak to Physical and Lightning DMG; this includes the elites and Gepard, the world's final boss. With that in mind, here are two team comps to consider using for this challenge:
- Clara/Physical Trailblazer
- March 7th
- Bailu/Natasha
- Serval
Victory can be achieved with a pure F2P team using Physical Trailblazer as the team's main DPS, with Serval as the secondary damage dealer. March 7th is the preferred tank for this for reasons to be explained later, and, of course, always have a healer to help keep the team alive. Use the 5-star counterparts of these units if possible.
Physical Trailblazer is very good at breaking the Toughness bars of the two hardest possible enemies in this Simulated Universe World: Gepard and the Silvermane Lieutenant. The latter may not appear in a run, but if they do, they can be a serious problem because of their strong counter-attacks. Breaking the miniboss' Toughness bar is essential to winning against it. Seele also does well for this encounter as most Silvermane Guard enemies are weak to Quantum damage.
Path Blessings and Curios
The Elation and Remembrance Paths synergize extremely well with this team composition, though it depends on the player's luck. Elation blessings can increase March 7th's counter damage exponentially. When combined with Remembrance's Freeze-related effects, March can hard-carry this team with her Ice DMG and follow-up attacks.
This doesn't mean the rest of the team won't benefit from the passive effects players can grab on the way to the boss. Here are some recommended Blessings to keep an eye out for:
- Champion's Dinner - Cat's Cradle (Elation) - Increases follow-up attack DMG. All damaging ultimates are considered follow-up attacks
- Auto-Harmonica: Whitest Night (Elation) - Follow-up attacks inflict Aftertaste DMG (extra hits of random elements) 1–3 times
- Suspiria (Elation) - Increases follow-up attack DMG
- The Painted Albatross (Elation) - Deal extra damage to all enemies hit by follow-up attacks
- Experience: Primordial Hardship (Remembrance) - Increases DMG taken by Frozen enemies
- Ultimate Experience: Shudder (Remembrance) - Dealing DMG with an ultimate has a chance to inflict Ice Weakness on an enemy
- Skirting Life and Death (Hunt) - Increases CRIT Rate
- Imperishable Victory (Hunt) - Defeating an enemy advances the character's next turn forward by 100%. Grants Critical Boost at the start of the next turn
The Elations damage buffs are ridiculously powerful, which is why March 7th is so effective with this particular setup. Even if players don't get Champion's Dinner to buff the rest of the team, having March with counters that deal over 2.5K damage per hit is enough to supplement the group's DPS against boss-type enemies. Such a setup is extremely RNG-dependent, though.
As for Curios, try to look for the following:
- Dimension Reduction Dice
- Robe of Beauty
- Gold Coin of Discord
- Record From Beyond The Sky
Dimension Reduction Dice can help players find the right Blessings they need in order to make this setup work. Meanwhile, the Robe of Beauty and Gold Coin of Discord combo can boost the team's damage output based on the amount of Cosmic Fragments they have. Record from Beyond the Sky, on the other hand, helps the team tank through the many AOE attacks the bosses have in World 3.
Honkai: Star Rail is now available on Android, iOS, and PC. A PlayStation version is in development.