Honkai: Star Rail’s Simulated Universe is a great piece of endgame content. This rogue-lite spin on traditional Star Rail gameplay allows you to test teams and strategies in strange, wacky environments with a large library of interesting buffs, abilities and quirks. No run is ever really the same. You fight through randomised rooms and gain access to an assortment of Blessings and Curios to help you tackle the looming final boss of each World. With plenty of fun to go around, it is a must-play part of HSR. It is also quite challenging, though, and many players will feel that once they come across World 4.
World 4 is the second major stopping point after World 3’s Gepard. This time, it’s Svarog and his army of little robots standing between Trailblazers and the Stellar Jade they desperately crave. Luckily, there’s a great method for consistently clearing World 4 which uses a team made up of completely free-to-play characters and Light Cones, allowing anyone a chance to beat this difficult challenge in Star Rail.
Here’s your guide to World 4 of the Simulated Universe in Honkai: Star Rail, including a free-to-play method for defeating the World’s tough final boss, Svarog (Complete). If you want to see a guide on the next part of the Simulated Universe, World 5, you can find our guide on that here.
Want more Honkai: Star Rail content and articles? You can find more here on KeenGamer:
- Honkai: Star Rail | Reroll Guide and Character Tier List
- Honkai: Star Rail | How to Level Up Fast and the Best Ways to Get Trailblaze EXP
- Honkai: Star Rail | Relic Guide: Caverns of Corrosion, Planar Ornaments, Best Relic Sets
- Honkai: Star Rail | How to Unlock the Triple Authentication Room
- Honkai: Star Rail | The Seven Errors of Cycranes Guide (All Missing Cycrane Locations)
World 4 Overview
World 4 of the Simulated Universe is where things start heating up in Honkai Star Rail. You’ll have to have completed a good deal of the story before setting foot into World 4, and you have to have previously beaten World 3. The recommended level for this Simulated Universe World is Level 55.
The majority of enemies roaming around come from Belobog, with a particular focus on robots and Automatons as seen in the Great Mines area. As for what elemental weaknesses are most common here, World 4 has a large share of foes weak to Fire and Lighting. This includes the crop of Elite enemies, all of whom are weak to Fire.
Who Are We Fighting?
The Planar Ornament sets unique to World 4 are Talia: Kingdom of Banditry (Break Effect set) and Sprightly Vonwacq (Energy Regeneration set). Whenever you defeat an Elite enemy, you can choose to spend 40 Trailblaze Power on an Immersion Device for a chance at either of these two Relic sets.
Like with all of the higher-level Worlds in the Simulated Universe, World 4 contains 13 total floors. 7 are dedicated to either combat floors or event floors. Meanwhile, Elite enemies will be stationed on floors 4 and 8, with Respite chambers claiming floors 5, 9 and 12.
Bash Some Baddies
Svarog
The final boss of World 4 is the indomitable Svarog. This fight will play out very similarly to the battle you had against him during the Belobog Trailblaze Missions, only Clara’s robot dad is packing a much bigger punch this time round.
The complete version of Svarog in World 4 is Level 55 on base difficulty. He deals Physical DMG with all of his attacks and is weak to Fire, Wind and Lightning Damage. Svarog also has high resistance to several status effects including Freeze, Entanglement and Imprisonment.
Svarog will use a few primary attacks throughout the fight. He can use several others, but they are phased in and out as the fight proceeds and you get through his three health bars:
- Banishing Punch: Deals Physical DMG to a single target.
- Burning Beam: Deals Physical DMG to a single target and delays their action.
- Oversaturated Bombardment: Deals massive Physical DMG to all targets, with a high chance to reduce their DEF. This debuff can stack.
- Power Amplification: Slightly increases the DMG dealt by all friendly units. This DMG boosting effect is stackable.
Svarog Breakdown
One of Svarog’s main gimmicks is the constant minions that he summons. The type of add he spawns will change between phases, starting as small Beetle and Hound Automatons units before escalating to the bothersome Direwolves and finishing on the hellish Auxillary Arms. Having multiple targets to deal with is already an issue, but Svarog doesn’t rest on his laurels just because he has support backing him up: alongside his minions, Svarog will deal a massive amount of damage.
Phase 3 is the biggest wall in the Svarog fight. He outputs a lot of damage in the first two phases, but the third one is hell thanks to the addition of the Auxillary Arms. These adds are given commands by Svarog and can do one of two things: trap your allies or obliterate them. When they first come onto the field, Svarog will command the Arms to steal away one of your allies, meaning that they cannot act, be healed or use their Ultimate. Eventually, the Arms will become Overcharged and effectively act as a one-hit KO on any of your team should they get to their next turn unscathed. The only way to stop either of these effects is to Weakness Break the Arms or kill them before they can act.
Between the constant stream of robot minions, very high damage and the potential to completely dismantle your team in the final phase, Svarog has certainly earned his infamy in Honkai: Star Rail. If you aren’t prepared, he will completely crush you in the space of a single turn or whittle down your team one by one. There are a few ways around the metal man, though, and one of the best contains completely F2P characters.
Svarog (Complete)
Team Composition
Depending on your Warps and how many varying characters you have, you may have a team that is better suited to tackling World 4. However, the following team is one completely comprised of free-to-play characters and one that can consistently clear the Simulated Universe with a high degree of success. It is also one of the most fun playstyles in Star Rail at the moment, as it is one built around dealing massive amounts of DoT damage.
The F2P strategy for World 4 is:
- Serval (Erudition) + The Seriousness of Breakfast
- Asta (Harmony) + Past and Future
- Trailblazer (Preservation) + We Are Wildfire
- Natasha (Abundance) + Quid Pro Quo
We will mention that, if you happen to have Sampo, he works exceptionally well in this team composition. Because our entire strategy is going to rely on DoT and the Path of Nihility, Sampo’s ability to raise the damage of DoT effects will drastically increase your power and damage potential. Of course, Sampo is very hard to get a hold of right now so stick with the above team if you are lacking him.
World 4 Team
Serval
Perhaps the key and central figure of this team is Serval. She’ll be serving as our primary damage dealer, although perhaps not in the traditional sense. While her Skill and Ultimate can hit hard (especially against the plethora of Lightning weak robots that World 4 is crawling with) it’s her capacity to instantly induce Shock that makes her a winning candidate for this team. Serval has great synergy with the Nihility Path, good pairings with the other team members and can Break practically everything in sight.
The main secret to Serval’s success lies in her Skill and Talent. Her Skill, Lightning Flash, is a guaranteed Shock prock on up to three targets. This already makes her a great fit for the main Path in this strategy – the Path of Nihility – but it gets even better because her Talent lets her hit Shocked enemies for additional damage. If that wasn’t enough, she can also extend the duration of Shock significantly by hitting afflicted targets with her Ultimate. Serval is one mean debuffing machine.
In addition to that, Serval can confidently take on a lot of what World 4 has to offer. As expected of a World headed by Svarog, a lot of Automaton enemies roam the floors and Serval is a perfect match, capable of easily breaking them with just a hit or two. Additionally, she’s great against Svarog himself for a similar reason: this is especially true in the 3rd phase as she can reliably Break the Auxillary Hands to free trapped teammates.
Serval is truly a worthwhile member and worth levelling beyond World 4.
Serval, the Erudition
Asta
Another great addition to the team is Asta. Not only does she serve as another source of DoT, pairing perfectly with Serval and Nihility, but she is also a great source of ATK and SPD buffs for the whole team. And, just like with Serval, she can take advantage of her high Break potential on the long list of Fire weak enemies in World 4.
Asta’s main debuff is Burn, which she can apply easily. Thanks to the multi-hit nature of her Skill, Asta can very effectively tear down any Fire Weaknesses to apply Burn to multiple targets. If you want a more secure way, though, she can also apply it via her Normal Attack with the Trace bonus ability Sparks. No matter how you get Burn on the enemy, it will synergise beautifully with Serval’s Shock as a way to do even more DoT damage: with two forms of DoT already in the party, this allows certain Nihility Blessings to shine even more than they already did.
That isn’t all, though, as Asta’s main role as a supporter on the Path of Harmony comes to play. The most obvious buff she has is her team-wide SPD buff with her Ultimate, but her Talent will also result in a stacking ATK buff to all party members. Even though she is on the path of Harmony, these buffs also affect Asta’s damage including her Burns. They’re so universally useful, especially in an area stacked with Fire Weak enemies, that she could almost be recommended even without her insane DoT potential.
The main downside to Asta is that she is very fragile: one unlucky turn can spell lights out. Fortunately, this team has a solution for that.
Asta, the Harmony
Preservation Path Trailblazer (Fire MC)
With all these squishy supports and DPS, we need some defence. To fulfil that role, bring the Fire Trailblazer to Star Rail’s Simulated Universe World 4. As another Fire character, the Trailblazer can chip in with some very respectable damage here and there while standing in the frontlines as the team’s tank. Their taunt and shield generation are both enough to warrant a spot on this team, and everything else they provide is just the cherry on top.
The main role of any Preservation character is to protect their teammates and the Fire Trailblazer is arguably the best at that in all of Honkai: Star Rail. While their shield capabilities aren’t as impressive as Gepard or March, they’re good enough to get the job done which when paired with taunt allows them to elevate to a defensive powerhouse. Taunting is especially important in World 4, as drawing Svarog and his Automaton’s attention is a great way to make sure your team survives long enough for the DoT strategy to whittle him down.
On top of that tanking potential, the Trailblazer has great coverage. Their Fire element will allow them to deal good amounts of Weakness Break damage to most of the enemies in World 4, including Svarog and his robot companions: the MC’s Enhanced Normal Attack, in particular, is great at cleaving through large swathes of enemies without needing to expend a Skill Point like Asta.
Remember to taunt often and attack whenever an opportunity opens itself and the Trailblazer will easily carry you through World 4.
Trailblazer, the Preservation
Natasha
Lastly, to round out the team, Natasha is here to make sure everyone stays nice and healthy for the duration of the run. Very little needs to be said about Natasha and her role in Honkai: Star Rail. As the game’s only widely available healer, Natasha has made her home in many teams thanks to her handy ability to keep every alive. It helps that she’s such an excellent character, too, and she brings another level of survivability to the team alongside the Trailblazer.
While your Preservation MC will be drawing aggro, there are unavoidable AoEs and other stray attacks that can spell potential disaster for either Asta or Serval. Natasha is here to ensure that you always have a great source of backup healing. She can get rid of pesky debuffs, something useful as Svargog can reduce your DEF, and can provide the entire team with a nice 50% heal with her Ultimate.
Outside of healing, Natasha is a perfect Skill Point generator. When you’re not using her to heal, her Normal Attack will just continually make sure you have at least one ready for your other three party members, who are admittedly rather Skill-hungry. Technically, Natasha can also inflict a debuff through Bleed if she Breaks an enemy, adding another arrow to your quiver of DoTs (even if this won’t be happening very often).
Natasha does exactly what you think she does: she’s versatile, great at healing and capable of multiple degrees of support. Don’t forget to bring Nat with you when you venture into World 4 to face Svarog.
Natasha, the Abundance
Path and Blessing Recommendations
Path of Nihility
The Path of Nihility, overlooked by the Aeon known as IX, is an interesting Path that has the potential to be one of the strongest in the whole game so long as you have the characters to support it. Compared to other Paths like Abundance, a bit more effort is required to make Nihility work, requiring a large focus on DoT debuffs to be effective: if you can meet this requirement, Nihility will reward you with some of the most fun moments in Honkai: Star Rail.
As you’ve probably guessed by now the Nihility Path focuses entirely on DoT debuffs. This includes Bleed, Burn, Shock and Wind Shear effects. Blessings of Nihility usually revolve around making your DoTs do more damage or have more utility, with some turning the process of applying a DoT into a supportive affair that buffs damage from all sources, heals you or some other crazy things that can take your team to the next level.
IX, Aeon of Nihility
The best Blessings of Nihility come in two camps. The first type is the ones which will make your DoTs stronger and more efficient: Why Hasn’t Everything Already Disappeared? is a great Blessing which lets all of your DoTs trigger one additional time allowing for a ton of extra damage for free, whereas more straight forward ones like Tragic Lecture and Questioning of Purpose will let you shred through enemy health and toughness at rapid speed.
The second type of strong Nihility Blessings is the ones which let DoTs act as utility options alongside having high damage. Before Sunrise and Offerings of Deception are both pretty simple on the surface (the former regenerates Energy whenever DoT DMG is dealt, while the latter heals all party members on DoT DMG) but they both have incredible potential. Likewise, Hell is Other People lets you spread the Shock and Burn you get from Weakness Breaks onto adjacent enemies, spreading damage over time carnage everywhere you go. Honestly, all of the Nihility Blessings are excellent and you should try to pick up as many as you can.
Another thing to mention with Nihility is the Path Resonance. IX’s Resonance manifests as an instant application of as many DoTs as possible onto the opposing side. Upon triggering the Resonance, the enemy side will be hit with a barrage of debuffs which have a chance to apply any DoT in the game: these can stack, resulting in most enemies walking away from this Resonance with up to 10 DoT stacks on them at once. If it was just this, it would already be excellent, allowing incredible synergy with your Blessings and even with your damage dealers.
Nihility Path Resonance
What makes this Path Resonance even better, though, are the Resonance Formation Blessings. The first of these special upgrades to the Resonance can be picked up once you acquire 6 Blessings of Nihility, with a second one coming once you’ve gotten your hands on ten Blessings. These upgrades turn your Path Resonance from a nice source of instant DoT into an attack that will absolutely cripple your opponents, draining their health in a matter of a turn or two.
The best Resonance Formation is Resonance Formation: The Doubtful Fourfold Root. When selected, this guarantees that every possible DoT will apply to the targets of the Resonance while also increasing the stacks of those DoTs by one. This is rather straightforward and very effective for it: the more DoTs you can guarantee on the opponent, the more damage they’ll take, the more Energy you’ll regenerate, the more health you’ll get back and so much more.
The other top-tier Formation Blessing is Resonance Formation: Suffering and Sunshine. This Blessing makes it so that, alongside your suite of DoT effects, your Path Resonance will also inflict the enemy with 2 stacks of Confusion and Devoid. Confusion triggers on Weakness Break and it will instantly cause all DoTs currently affecting the target to trigger, whereas Devoid reduces Toughness regeneration. With this Formation, you essentially turn your DoTs into a ticking time bomb: Weakness Breaking enemies is very easy with your team, giving you another great damage option that can make short work of even bosses like Svarog.
Resonance Formation Blessings
Other Paths
The Path of Nihility is certainly the focal point of this strategy, but the Simulated Universe is rarely so kind. You’ll likely run into other Blessings and other Paths in your journey. Fortunately, there are a good few which synergise well with Nihility and will provide you with some great buffs to aid in your DoT dealing adventure.
First up is the Path of the Hunt. Focused primarily on buffing SPD and CRIT, Hunt Blessings can aid you in increasing how much control you have over the turn economy. With more SPD, your two fastest characters (Serval and Asta) will get to move first and make sure that they can quickly Break enemies and apply the debuffs they need to make the strategy work. You may even be able to get so fast that Serval and Asta can act a second time, improving their damage output even further. Picking up a few Hunt Blessings that enhance SPD or give you some bonus CRIT for additional damage isn’t ever going to hurt.
The other major Path to look out for is the Path of Remembrance. While Freeze isn’t a DoT like Nihility’s other effects, it is a great source of lockdown and turn control. Having the ability to Freeze the enemy after a certain number of attacks, or even just have them Frozen whenever a battle begins, is a huge boon for your team’s needs: it lets them sneak in and get off their DoTs early, allowing you to reap the rewards as early as possible. Freeze is easily one of the best debuffs in the entire game so adding it to your repertoire only makes sense.
The Hunt and the Remembrance
How to Beat World 4
To beat World 4 of the Simulated Universe choose the Path of Nihility at the start. The main strategy as you go through World 4 is to collect as many Nihility Blessings as you can, at least so you can pick up one of the Formation Blessings. The upgraded Path Resonance goes a long way in making chunkier, boss targets more approachable as they will take absurd amounts of damage from the many debuff stacks from the Resonance: without them, Svarog and the other Elites become way harder when you just have Serval and Asta to rely on, strong as they may be.
As such, your utmost priority should be collecting at least 6 Nihility Blessings. To make sure that you have the best chance of getting the Blessings you require, try to take on twice as many combat floors as you do event floors. With 13 floors in total, there are 9 chances at getting Blessings directly – as the other 4 spaces are taken up by Respite spots or the final boss – and combat floors are the only way to guarantee at least one Blessing. Event floors can certainly help, but their sheer randomness can sometimes throw off the run and take you down some strange turns.
With regards to combat, try and use your Path Resonance as often as you can. The sheer amount of damage over time will help you shred through low-level enemies with ease, and it will drastically reduce the difficulty of Elite enemies. You don’t want combat dragging on too long as it increases the chance of your weaker characters being targeted and taken out. Natasha and the Trailblazer are there to help, of course, but don’t overestimate their power, especially against some of the more irritating Elites. Spam your DoTs, use your Resonance, and end the fight as fast as you can.
Get through all the floors, pick up as many Blessings and Curios as you can and you will eventually reach the 13th chamber, where Svarog patiently waits for your challenge.
A Mechanical Menace
Svarog Boss Fight
The final boss of World 4 is the final step you need to conquer this part of Honkai: Star Rail. Svarog won’t down without a fight, though, and you’ll need to be able to adapt with each phase change to make sure you can take him down.
Once the battle begins, wait for Svarog to summon his first set of Automaton allies and then cast your Path Resonance. This will catch all of the enemies inside the Resonance, inflicting them with a ton of DoT debuffs that will make dealing with them way simpler. In terms of the Automatons themselves, your multi-hit attacks with Asta, Serval and the Trailblazer should be enough to deal with them. Be warned, though, that the ones weak to Physical DMG will heal Svarog, so try to prioritise them if you want to take them out.
If all goes well and you have enough Nihility Blessings when entering this fight, Svarog should take some hefty damage each round from the DoT. This damage is going to win you the fight and it’s your job from here on out to simply survive. Asta and Serval should focus on getting Svarog’s toughness bar down, while Natasha and the Trailblazer heal and draw all the aggro they can. Whenever the Resonance Path becomes available to use again, pop it to cause another shower of DoT debuffs on Svarog and his robot buddies.
Svarog and his Army
In phase 2, the Direwolves will appear. The main issue with these guys is that they will act immediately at the start of the turn. This means that they will instantly attack your party without you being able to defend or taunt them, leaving Serval and Asta open for assault. The Direwolves will also mark a target after their initial attack, locking onto them for later damage. To prepare for this situation, save Natasha’s Ultimate in Phase 1 so that you can have it ready here. Similarly, Trailblazers should taunt the Direwolves to draw their attention away from locked-on targets. Repeat the steps you did for damage in Phase 1.
When your reach Svarog’s final phase, you need to be ready to deal with the Arms. They are the priority, even more than Svarog is: you can stop them from acting if you Break Svarog before the Arms are given a command, which you should keep in mind if he is close to the end of his toughness bar. With Serval and Asta, you have two great sources of Break for the Arms and can quickly get out any ally trapped within. The Trailblazer would stop attacking at this point and be purely focused on taunting: with any luck, they’ll be the ones that the Arms continually take, leaving your DPS open for the rescue mission.
Get rid of the Arms, survive Svarog’s onslaught and he will eventually drown in a sea of DoT. Congratulations! You’ve completed World 4 of the Simulated Universe in Honkai: Star Rail. This gives you another one of Herta’s Eidolons as well as some credits, Stellar Jade and currency which you can spend at Herta’s Shop for some easy pulls or a 5-Star Light Cone.
World 4 Cleared
That was how to beat World 4 of the Simulated Universe in Honkai: Star Rail.
