One of the most important additions to Honkai: Star Rail in Version 1.6 is Pure Fiction, a brand-new permanent endgame mode which runs alongside Memory of the Chaos. In Pure Fiction, you must choose and dispatch two teams of four to take down waves of continually respawning enemies for points, making use of various bonuses and buffs to obtain as many points as possible. The higher your score, the more stars you obtain and the more rewards you can get, with 720 Stellar Jade, tons of Credits and even some Jade Feathers on offer for those who can successfully clear Pure Fiction.
However, as a new permanent addition to HSR’s endgame, some may be confused as to when Pure Fiction will be available when compared to Memory of Chaos. Additionally, you need to approach Pure Fiction in a completely different way to most of Star Rail’s other content, leading certain Trailblazers to find themselves stumped when approaching each stage. With that in mind, we’re here to break down everything you need to know about Pure Fiction, including when it becomes available, as well as give you some tips that can help you beat this new mode.
Here’s everything you need to know about Pure Fiction, the newest endgame mode in Honkai: Star Rail.
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What is Pure Fiction in Honkai Star Rail?
Pure Fiction is a brand new type of permanent endgame content which has joined the game in Honkai Star Rail Version 1.6. It’s very similar to the current endgame mode, Memory of Chaos, in that you will enter various fixed stages and face down opponents within a time limit. However, compared to the more methodical, speed-clear approach most players have towards the MoC, Pure Fiction asks you to be a lot more relentless and focus on pure power over everything else.
To unlock Pure Fiction, you’ll have to complete the Adventure Mission Youci’s Clever Decor which becomes available after you beat the Demise of Immortality Trailblaze Mission. Here, you’ll be introduced to Youci, a strange talking bird who resides on the Xianzhou Luofu and will enrapture you with stories. They’ll teach you how Pure Fiction works and be your way of attempting runs. Additionally, the first time you complete this mission and clear Stage 2 of Pure Fiction, you’ll receive a free copy of Lynx, a 4-star Quantum Abundance character.
During Pure Fiction stages, enemies will continually respawn and your main goal is to defeat as many opponents as possible within the time limit, earning points for each opponent you slay. Just like in Memory of Chaos, you will create two teams of four who will face different threats, with each team having 5 rounds to get as many points as possible. There is a score limit of 40,000 on each node: if one of your teams manages to get up to 40,000, that node will instantly end.
To progress to later stages of Pure Fiction you need to score at least 30,000 points between your two teams. Each stage also awards stars depending on your score, with one star for hitting 40,000, 50,000 and 60,000 points, which you can then use to obtain rewards: one star will get you 60 Stellar Jade and 20,000 Credits for a total of 720 Stellar Jade if you can collect all 12 stars and score 60,000 points on all the stages. Stars seven to twelve will also net you 100 Jade Feathers which you can spend in the Priceless Jewels store.
The Stages of Pure Fiction
Whimsicality and Cacophony
Whimsicality is like the Memory Turbulence in Memory of Chaos. Each instance of Pure Fiction will have a different overall modifier applied to it, giving you some kind of bonus or buff to potentially build your teams around. For the very first instance of Pure Fiction, the Whimsicality modifier will cause enemies to become afflicted with the Shatter debuff upon being attacked by your Ultimates, eventually causing them to explode and deal damage to adjacent targets. The Whimsicality is set to change with each Pure Fiction instance so be sure to check it before each run for some added help.
In addition to Whimsicality, we have the Cacophonies. These are buffs which you can outfit your teams with that interact, in some way, with the current Whimsicality. Each team can equip one Cacophony at a time. For the first Pure Fiction instance, the Cacophonies can add additional Shatter stacks from your Ultimate, add a chance for enemies to instantly become afflicted with Shatter upon entering battle, or increase Ultimate damage whenever enemies with Shatter are defeated. Certain teams are going to benefit from one of these buffs more than others and playing around them is sure to help out big time when it comes to clearing these floors.
As we mentioned, the Whimsicality and its associated Cacophony buffs are sure to change with each new instance of Pure Fiction, introducing new buffs and new ways to play. If you want to maximise your success instead of Pure Fiction, make sure that you read up on and consider playing into these bonuses.
Whimsicality and Cacophony
Pure Fiction Availability
Pure Fiction isn’t replacing the Memory of Chaos, so some players may be wondering what kind of availability the two modes will have. Previously, one instance of Memory of Chaos would run for 2 weeks, within which time players needed to complete as many floors as possible to earn up to 600 Stellar Jade: when those 2 weeks ended, a new instance would begin, resetting players progress back to floor 1 and refreshing the available Stellar Jade.
In a way, this is still the case. When a new instance of Memory of Chaos launches, it will remain exactly the same as before with one major change: instead of being available for 2 weeks and then disappearing, it will remain for 6 weeks. This gives 6 weeks to figure out the floors and obtain all of the rewards.
Then, 2 weeks after Memory of Chaos launches, a new instance of Pure Fiction will launch with the same set of rules, having an availability period of 6 weeks with a total of 4 stages to clear and 720 Stellar Jade to earn. Once another 2 weeks have passed, the second Memory of Chaos instance will become available while the first is still active. 2 weeks after that, the second Pure Fiction instance will go live and the first Memory of Chaos instance will end.
Entering Pure Fiction
In short, a typical version update will look something like this:
- Week 1: Memory of Chaos 1 Starts
- Week 3: Pure Fiction 1 Starts
- Week 5: Memory of Chaos 2 Starts
- Week 7: Pure Fiction 2 Starts + Memory of Chaos 1 Ends
In essence, you will still be getting a new piece of endgame content to do every 2 weeks like before which will allow you to earn 720 Jade each instance, but, importantly, you’ll have much longer to complete these instances. With 6 weeks to complete each run instead of just 2, you can take your time and plan things out better. In fact, by the time the second Memory of Chaos or Pure Fiction instance launches, you’ll still have time to revisit the previous one. This gives you time to figure out additional strategies and even pull for new characters who could help get you that sweet Stellar Jade.
Pure Fiction and Memory of Chaos Availability
Pure Fiction Tips and Tricks
Use Erudition and AoE Characters
Hunt and Destruction characters rule the roost in most of Star Rail’s content, whether endgame or not, mainly because of their ability to deal huge amounts of damage to a single target. In comparison, Erudtion characters, who are mainly focused on dealing AoE damage, simply aren’t as competitive in most scenarios. This held true for most of the Memory of Chaos instances, with Hunt or Destruction clears in abundance when compared to Erudition.
Well, Pure Fiction is where that changes. Because the main aim of the mode is to defeat as many targets as possible and there will always be five enemies on screen, Erudition characters shine like they never have before, able to output incredible amounts of damage to multiple targets at once. While certain Hunt characters like Seele certainly can compete, the single-target focus of most Hunt units will simply put you at a disadvantage: only defeating a single target on your turn will only net you a middling amount of points compared to characters who can hit, and defeat, swathes of enemies in a single move.
What this means is that characters like Himeko and Herta, two Erudition units who were previously mocked and only used for farming level-up books, have suddenly become the strongest characters in the entire game. Their synergy with each other and their ability to dish out continuous AoE damage through their Skills, Ultimates and even off-turn using their Talents is invaluable in earning as many points as possible.
If you want to succeed in Pure Fiction and get as many points as possible, you should 100% invest in your Erudition or AoE characters. If you haven’t pulled on Jing Yuan or Argenti, the two limited 5-star Erudition units, or haven’t been lucky enough to get Himeko, you will still have access to Herta (available for free from the Simulated Universe), Qingque (available as a reward for clearing Memory of Chaos for the first time), and Serval (given to players for free), three characters who, in the Pure Fiction framework, can become incredibly strong.
Erudition is King
Focus on Damage Above Survivability
To get the maximum amount of stars and the highest amount of Stellar Jade per stage in Memory of Chaos, you needed to both complete them promptly while keeping your entire team alive: if even one character went down during your run, you would lose one of the stars. As such, characters on the path of Preservation or Abundance are a near necessity, ensuring that you can have shields, damage mitigation or healing for the later stages.
The same cannot be said of Pure Fiction. In this mode, score is the only thing which matters to get the stars and rewards: you can out the other side with three of your characters dead and your final character on their last legs but, if you scored 40,000 points or higher, you’ll be walking away with those rewards. Rounds are also a lot shorter in Pure Fiction, with a maximum of 10 rounds between your two teams compared to the 25+ rounds of Memory of Chaos.
In response to this, you should focus on making your teams as lethal as possible in terms of offence rather than defence. Without needing to accommodate a healer or a shielder, you can slot in another sub-DPS or support, someone who will directly benefit your team with more damage or more buffs. Sure, having a healer to survive big attacks is nice but that isn’t as big of an issue in Pure Fiction where you can destroy enemies nearly instantly with the right compositions. In this mode, raw damage is king.
Certain sustain characters like Fu Xuan and Huohuo still have their uses in Pure Fiction, with Fu Xuan boosting ally CRIT Rate (and CRIT DMG at E1) with her Skill whereas Huohuo can give a sharp injection of Energy to the whole team with her Ultimate. However, the main takeaway is that your teams will no longer be shackled to the idea of needing to have one or more sustainability characters: instead, going whole hog on being as strong as possible is a completely viable strategy and one you will need to balance if you want to get the most out of Pure Fiction in Honkai Star Rail.
60,000 Score is the Goal
Make Use of Whimsicality and Other Bonuses
The final major tip is to simply make sure that you are using and abusing the Whimsicality and Cacophony buffs as much as possible. While you can brute force your way through the Pure Fiction stages, they’re designed in such a way that you will, inevitably, bump up against the current modifiers. In fact, you can’t even begin a stage without assigning each of your teams a Cacophony, so you may as well play into them.
Taking the current Whimsicality modifier as an example, teams who can quickly and efficiently get their Ultimates back are going to be in a much better spot than those who need to wait them out, as they’ll be able to apply more Shatter stacks. As such, characters like Huohuo, Tingyun and Bronya have even more value as supports as they can either directly feed your character’s Energy or give them another turn instantly, whereas DPS like Himeko and Herta become invaluable as they can reliably gain Energy through their Follow Up Attacks.
In addition to this, knowing what kind of Cacophony buffs to put on each team is equally vital as certain characters and compositions will make better use of them than others. A team that can ensure that they have a quick path to their Ultimates will benefit massively from the Rupture buff, increasing their Ultimate DMG when defeating Shatterstricken enemies. On the other hand, a team focusing more on follow-up attacks may prefer to use the Excitation Cacophony to ensure that they can still apply a steady stream of Shatter without their Ultimates.
If you decide to ignore Whimsicality and Cacophony and just brute force Pure Fiction, you’re just making life way harder for yourself: check out these buffs and let them carry you to victory.
Take Advantage of Your Buffs
That was everything you needed to know about the new Pure Fiction permanent endgame mode in Honkai Star Rail.
