Apocalyptic Shadow Guide and Rewards in Honkai: Star Rail

The current Apocalyptic Shadow Phase is the Dominance of Netherveil of Version 3.8. This phase will last from February 2, 2026 until March 16, 2026. Each phase lasts about six weeks, and will reset on a Monday at 04:00 server time.

In order to unlock Apocalyptic Shadow, you need to reach Penacony and complete the Grim Film of Finality in Dreamflux Reef. The very first stage will be accessible once you talked to Elegy.

Apocalyptic Shadow is located in Dreamflux Reef in Penacony:

Apocalyptic Shadow is one of the available endgame modes in Honkai: Star Rail where you face off against 2 different bosses featuring new combat mechanics.

Apocalyptic Shadow can be a relatively challenging mode if you come unprepared. You will need two fully leveled and properly equipped teams as you will have to beat two different bosses.

The two bosses you have to face are essentially projections of the Finality: it's bosses you already encountered during previous quests. However, this time they function differently than their normal version: they are stronger, more tanky, and come with different attacks and mechanics. The amount of new mechanics depends on the stage/difficulty level of the current fight.

When you enter the main menu, you can view the current Phase, the remaining time for the active phase, and the two current bosses you need to face.

Each Apocalyptic Shadow Phase has a total of 4 stages you need to complete. Each stage ramps up in difficulty. Defeating the two bosses of a difficulty will unlock the next one. The difficulty is not set by Equilibrium Level. It's fixed difficulties for each challenge.

Apocalyptic Shadow also has specific rules:

• Ruinous Embers - Each Phase has a different Ruinous Embers which are specific effects taking place during the battles.
• Finality's Axiom - Those are three different buffs that are available for each Phase. When you pick your team for a boss, you can choose which buff you want active. Pick wisely depending on your team's strength and the available buffs.
• Boss Trait - Each boss will have specific additional abilities or effects compared to their normal version. As you go up in difficulty, they also gain more traits.

Apocalyptic Shadow works with a value timer. Every time allies or enemies take action, the corresponding values is deducted from the timer. Your goal is to defeat the boss before the value timer is depleted if you want to get the most points. The points you get at the end of a battle depends on the percentage of HP left on the boss, and the remaining Action Value after successfully defeating the boss.

This means that the less HP the boss has left, and the faster you defeat him, the more points you will get at the end of the fight.

If you want the max rewards for a stage you need to reach a total of 60,000 points at the end.

If you don't defeat the Boss, you get less points. You can rechallenge each boss as many times as you want in order to try and get a better score. Just know that once your team is used, it is recorded for that stage. If you want to swap the team for any of the two bosses of one difficulty, you will have to reset both bosses of that same difficulty. Otherwise you have to retry with the same team and same equipment on both bosses.

When a new Phase starts, everything resets. However, if you complete with 3-stars each challenges, you can directly challenge the higher difficulties which will then automatically unlock the rewards for the previous ones if you manage to complete it with 3-stars again.

The Current Phase is called Dominance of Netherveil and the two bosses you have to face are Soulhook Sovereign and Guide of Withering and Decay.

6.

Bosses, Mechanics, and Recommended Teams

Here is a breakdown of both bosses, as well as recommended teams and best tips to get the maximum points!

Soulhook Sovereign Guide of Withering and Decay

6.1.

Soulhook Sovereign

The first boss you can face is the Soulhook Sovereign, also know as Kafka:

• Recommended Elements: Physical, Fire, Wind, Imaginary
• Resistances: Quantum, Lightning, Ice

6.2.

Boss Traits

Boss Trait	Description
Steadfast Safeguard	Boss Mirage takes 50% less DMG. After Weakness is broken and action gets additionally delayed, additionally increases DMG taken by 100%.
Battlefield Transfer	Boss Mirage summons 2 Elite Enemies to assist in battle. Boss Mirage will transmit its own Weakness Type to summons, but when those summons are defeated, Boss Mirage's Toughness will be additionally reduced.
Stellar Aegis (Difficulty 3+)	For every unit on the enemy's side of the field aside from Boss Mirage, all enemies receive less DMG.
Turn Back the Tide (Difficulty 4)	When the Boss Mirage uses "Puppet Understudy" in its second phase, it will apply Enhancement effects to all summons.

6.3.

Special Mechanics

Always prioritize defeating summons. Doing so will transmit their Weakness Type back to the Boss Mirage. After defeating any summon, it will increase the DMG received by other summons. Take advantage of this mechanic to quickly defeat the other summons. Increasing Effect RES or using abilities can assist with removing the Dominated status applied by Boss Mirage.

This boss has 2 Phases:

• Phase 1 - Boss Mirage will summon Blaze Out of Space and Ice Out of Space to assist it in battle, and transmit its own Weakness Type to the summons. Prioritize defeating the summons. Defeating all summons will make the Weakness Type transmit back to the Boss Mirage.
• Phase 2 - Boss Mirage will summon Dreamjolt Troupe's Beyond Overcooked and Memory Zone Meme "Shell of Faded Rage" to assist it in battle, and transmit its own Weakness Type to the summons. Prioritize defeating the summons. Defeating all summons will make the Weakness Type transmit back to the Boss Mirage.

6.4.

Finality's Axiom

The current Finality's Axiom are:

• Crimson Tide - Increases Physical DMG dealt by all allies by 50%. When a unit uses a Skill, restores 20% of that unit's HP.
• Dire Straits - When ally targets deal DMG to enemy targets afflicted with 3 DoT states or more, increases Weakness Break Efficiency by 50%.
• Rime Piercer - Increases all enemies' Break DMG taken by 10%. After Breaking an enemy's Weakness, increases all allies' SPD by 20% for 2 turn(s)

6.5.

Recommended Teams

Finality's Axiom	DPS	Sub-DPS/Support/	Support	Sustain
Crimson Tide	Phainon	Sunday	Cerydra	Dan Heng • Permansor Terrae
Crimson Tide	Yunli	Tribbie	Robin	Dan Heng • Permansor Terrae
Dire Straits	Hysilens	Kafka	Black Swan	Dan Heng • Permansor Terrae
Dire Straits	Hysilens	Kafka	Black Swan	Huohuo
Rime Piercer	Firefly	The Dahlia	Fugue	Lingsha
Rime Piercer	Rappa	The Dahlia	Fugue	Lingsha
Rime Piercer	Boothill	The Dahlia	Fugue	Lingsha

6.6.

Guide of Withering and Decay

The second boss you can face is the Guide of Withering and Decay:

• Recommended Elements: Ice, Wind, Quantum, Imaginary.
• Resistances: Fire, Lightning, Physical.
• This boss also resists Control Effects.

6.7.

Boss Traits

Boss Trait	Description
Steadfast Safeguard	Boss Mirage takes 50% less DMG. After its Weakness is broken, its action is additionally delayed, and the DMG it receives increases by 100%.
Withered Verdure	In this combat, ally units' HP will not drop below 1, and any DMG taken exceeding a certain amount of their current HP will be converted into "HP Overload." Ally units in the "HP Overload" state will have their DMG dealt and Weakness Break Efficiency greatly reduced.
Tender the Rigid (Difficulty 3+)	"The Long Arms of Sorrow's" Max Toughness increases.
Tenacious Resolve (Difficulty 4+)	Reduces DMG received by all enemies, but every Weakness Type they have increases DMG received.

6.8.

Special Mechanics

When ally targets enter the "HP Overload" state, their DMG dealt and Weakness Break Efficiency are greatly reduced. Prioritize restoring their HP to dispel this state. Inflicting Weakness Break on "The Long Arms of Sorrow" will reduce the Boss Mirage's Toughness and HP. If the Boss Mirage is in the "Fragrance of Death" state, it will also restore allies' HP.

This boss has 2 Phases:

• Phase 1 - In this combat, ally units' HP will not drop below 1, and any DMG taken exceeding a certain amount of their current HP will be converted into "HP Overload." Ally units in the "HP Overload" state will have their DMG dealt and Weakness Break Efficiency greatly reduced. Prioritize healing ally targets in "HP Overload" state.
• Phase 2 - When Boss Mirage uses "Death Wishes For More Death," it will deal fatal damage to ally targets in "HP Overload" state. Before "Death Wishes For More Death" is used, restore HP to dispel the "HP Overload" state from all ally units.

6.9.

Finality's Axiom

The current Finality's Axiom are:

• Unstoppable Force - DMG dealt by memosprites ignores 20% of the target's DEF.
• Innervation - Increases all allies' Skill DMG by 30%. At the start of their turn, if their current HP percentage is equal to or lower than 1%, restores HP equal to 15% of their Max HP.
• Unstoppable Momentum - When a character uses Ultimate, increases their Weakness Break Efficiency by 100% and increases CRIT DMG by 40%, lasting for 3 turn(s).

6.10.

Recommended Teams

Finality's Axiom	DPS	Sub-DPS/Support	Support	Sustain
Unstoppable Force	Castorice	Evernight	Cyrene	Hyacine
Unstoppable Force	Evernight	Cyrene	Remembrance Trailblazer	Hyacine
Innervation	Archer	Sparkle	Silver Wolf	Gallagher
Innervation	Anaxa	Cerydra	Cyrene	Dan Heng • Permansor Terrae
Unstoppable Momentum	The Herta	Anaxa	Tribbie	Lingsha
Unstoppable Momentum	Saber	Sunday	Tribbie	Huohuo

Each time the Apocalyptic Shadow resets, you will be able to obtain the following rewards. These are split into Kalpa's Gift and Finale's Gift with Kalpa's Gift being for each Star obtained and Finale's Gift being for each stage cleared.

Clearing Difficulty 2 of Apocalyptic Shadow for the very first time will allow you to claim Xueyi for free! On top of that you will also obtain 300 Stellar Jade and 1 Self-Modeling Resin.

For more information on the other free characters, you can check out our dedicated guide:

TempestWaltz

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Tempest is a lifelong gamer who loves diving deep into MMOs and RPGs. When he's not chipping away at all the quest objectives and exploration goals, you can find him enjoying a break from the grind in optional minigames area.