Welcome to the Honkai Star Rail: Simulated Universe Guide, where we provide expert tips and tricks to maximize your experience within Herta’s simulation. Assemble a powerful team, engage in epic battles, and unlock the secrets of the universe. Get ready for an enthralling journey and what is possibly the best game mode to spend your time in Honkai Star Rail!
What is the Simulated Universe?
The Simulated Universe is a game mode in Honkai Star Rail where you can build a team of four characters and challenge enemies in an enclosed world. The goal is to defeat the boss of that world and earn some cool rewards. There are a total of 7 worlds that are currently playable.
Each world will unlock as you complete your main Trailblaze missions, as well as clear the end bosses of each world in the Simulated Universe itself. There are also different levels of difficulty which you can unlock starting from World 3. You can unlock each level of difficulty by defeating the level before it.
Anyway, here’s the Simulated Universe Wiki if you want to do a deep dive into everything. Note that it may not be complete, though.
How to Unlock Simulated Universe
After defeating the Doomsday Beast, you are introduced to Herta, the owner of the Herta Space Station, where the game begins. She’ll send you a text asking you to visit her in her office located on the lower left of the Master Control Station on the Herta Space Station.
Meet up with her, and you’ll get to start the ‘Simulated Universe: Closed Beta’ quest, which is your first foray into the Simulated Universe. Once the quest is done, you will have the basic knowledge of how to battle and earn rewards through the Simulated Universe.
However, you would have to complete quite a bit of the main quest in order to fully unlock the Simulated Universe, as its boss battles/enemies are parallel to the bosses and enemies you will come across in your Trailblaze mission.
Simulated Universe Stages
There are different types of stages set in the Simulated Universe which you will experience as you go through each world:
- Combat Stages
- Domain – Occurrence / Domain – Transaction
- Domain – Respite
Combat Stages
These are your typical combat stages where you have to fight enemies. They can be mobs, elite enemies and even boss enemies. Typically, you can identify which enemy you will be going up against by the stage title.
- Domain – Combat: these are typically mob enemy battles.
- Domain – Elite, Domain – Challenge: these are elite enemies or battles.
- Domain – Boss: these are boss battles.
At the end of each battle, you will get to choose from three random Blessings. Blessings are buffs, and there are a total of 7 Paths with about 15 Blessings each available in the game. More on that later.
Plus, defeating elite enemies can occasionally grant you the chance to pick a Curio as well as a Blessing. Curios act as buffs for your team as well, but it can be a one-time use. We’ll also talk more about them later.
Domain – Occurrence / Domain – Transaction
These stages are typically non-combat stages where you get to obtain a Curio, Blessing, or some Cosmic Fragments to exchange with Herta in the upcoming levels. These Cosmic Fragments allow you to enhance your Blessings, giving you powerful buffs. You can also obtain Cosmic Fragments by destroying breakables in the Simulated Universe.
Typically in these domains, you’ll encounter events in random worlds. This part of the Simulated Universe typically works like a text-based adventure game, albeit a very short one. You get to decide your actions and reaction to whatever happens within the story. You can either get rewards or be thrown into a fight based on your decisions.
Additionally, you can access these Encounters and Events when you click on the Index on the front page of the Simulated Universe. If it is a new event, you will gain some Stellar Jades, so be sure to collect your rewards.
Domain – Respite
Respite is exactly as its name suggests. You will get healed and characters in your team that have fallen can be revived on this stage. Additionally, skill charges will refresh here, and you can even add another character to your team or switch them out.
This domain is typically set in between a couple of battles, as there’s no way for you to heal your characters or refresh their skill charges. You can only do so by destroying purple or green containers or healing them during battle.
Once all that is done, be sure to talk to Herta and put your Cosmic Fragments to use by upgrading two random blessings, getting a random curio, or purchasing a random blessing.
Finally, right before the big boss battle at the end, you can use up all your Cosmic Fragments to enhance your Blessings with Herta. This enhancement option will only be available at the final boss battle.
Simulated Universe Ability Tree
Once you have completed your basic Simulated Universe quests, you will get introduced to this Ability Tree. These are permanent upgrades that you can use during your Simulated Universe runs. You only have to activate them once by using Ability Points. These Ability Points are obtained after every Simulated Universe run.
Path Resonance, Blessings, and Curios
Path Resonance
As we’ve briefly mentioned, there are 7 Paths for you to choose from at the beginning before entering battle. This Path Resonance stands for the different types of Buffs you will be able to get in the universe. After obtaining 3 Blessings from the chosen Path Resonance, you will be granted the special Path Resonance’s Ability to use in battle.
There’s also a chance to enhance your Path Resonance Ability as you further expand your Simulated Universe Ability Tree. There are three different enhancements to choose from. The first enhancement is obtained after 6 Blessings of the chosen path. The second enhancement is obtained after 10 Blessings, and the third enhancement is obtained after 14 Blessings.
Paths to Choose From
Here are the different paths you can choose from:
| Path | Perks | Resonance Skill |
| The Preservation | Increases max damage absorption by 10% on the shield given to characters. Increases the chance of Blessings of Preservation to appear. |
Spend 100 Energy to use this ability and resonate with the Path of Preservation. Deals physical damage to enemies based on the total shield between all Allies. |
| The Remembrance | Reduces target enemy’s effect RES by 10%. Increases the chance of Blessings of Remembrance to appear. |
Spend 100 Energy to use this ability and resonate with the Path of Remembrance. Deals ice damage to enemies with a 120% chance to Freeze all enemies for 1 turn. |
| The Elation | 24% increase in damage dealt by follow-up attacks. Increases the chance of Blessings of Elation to appear. |
Spend 100 Energy to use this ability and resonate with the Path of Elation. Deals follow-up attacks of a random type to all enemies 3-5 times. |
| The Hunt | Increases character speed by 6%. Increases the chance of Blessings of the Hunt to appear. |
Spend 100 Energy to use this ability and resonate with the Path of the Hunt. Deals Wind damage to all enemies based on the current attack of the character with the highest attack. |
| The Destruction | Reduce damage taken by 6%. Increases the chance for Blessings of Destruction to appear. |
Spend 100 Energy to use this ability and resonate with the Path of Destruction. Deals Fire damage to all enemies based on the HP difference between the max HP and current HP of all allies combined. |
| The Nihility | Increases character DoT by 15%. Increases the chance of Blessings of Nihility to appear. |
Spend 100 Energy to use this ability and resonate with the Path of Nihility. Granted an 80% chance to apply Burn, Shock, Bleed and 2 stacks of Wind Shear to all enemies for 2 turns. |
| The Abundance | Increases character HP recovery by 10%. Increases the chance of Blessings of Abundance to appear. |
Spend 100 Energy to use this ability and resonate with the Path of Abundance. Restores HP for all characters by 50% of their max HP and increases their max HP by 15% for 2 turns. |
Which Path to Choose?
With all that information, you might be wondering which path should you choose. Well, here’s a brief breakdown of what each path is suitable for:-
Path of Preservation
This Path allows you to play around with shields, so it is a great option for those who enjoy turtling and hiding behind one. The amount of damage dealt is based on the Shields your characters employ. Truthfully, it might take a longer time for you to kill the boss, but it is a great Path for F2P players.
Path of Remembrance
This Path allows you to take control of the battlefield and cast a Freezing state upon enemies. Essentially, the Freezing state will freeze enemies while you attack them, making it an easy win. With the right Blessings of Remembrance, you will be able to cheese through all of the Worlds available in the Simulated Universe.
Path of Elation
Compared to the other two, this Path is more defined by the characters you have as it focuses on follow-up attacks. This Path is perfect for characters like Clara and Seele which have follow-up attacks as part of their kit.
Path of Hunt
This one is the fastest Path for you to defeat your bosses and complete your worlds. That is, with the right characters and set-ups of course. Characters that work with Speed like Seele, Bronya and Dan Heng, work really well with this Path as it allows them to attack the bosses multiple times.
Path of Destruction
For most, the Path of Destruction is a tough one to use as it is highly dependent on the Blessings you get. It has some of the strongest Blessings in the game, but as your Blessings are randomised, you may not even get them. But if you do, then you’ve essentially won the game.
Path of Nihility
Characters that inflict DoT (damage over time) work best under the Path of Nihility. This means that characters like Serval and Sampo will have amplified damage. This Path triggers DoT on enemies automatically and aids in killing them faster.
Path of Abundance
There are not many healers in the game, but this is where they would shine. This Path provides a lot of Healing to your team and buffs up your Healers. Additionally, this Path prevents your characters from dying and resists debuffs inflicted by bosses or enemies. Characters like Luocha and Natasha work well here.
Blessings
After a fight, you are granted a chance to pick one out of three Blessings presented to you. The Blessings can be of 1-star or 2-star rarity. 3-star Blessings are super rare, but they come up occasionally. As previously stated, Blessings are randomized, so you may get Blessings from your chosen Path as options or none at all.
Naturally, some Blessings grant better buffs than most. Yet we can’t really say much about them as it truly depends on luck and strategy. Aside from that, at the beginning of the Simulated Universe, you will only be granted access to 3 Paths and their Blessings – Preservation, Remembrance, and Elation. The rest will be unlocked as you progress further.
Curios
Similar to Blessings, you will typically be presented with three Curio options. The only difference is that there are negative Curios which will grant you a debuff rather than a buff so take note of that. Curios can only be unlocked in World 3.
There are some Curios that expire after one usage and others that are permanent. Plus, some Curios specialize in boosting specific Paths and typically have their own set of conditions to meet. You can obtain Curios during the Domain – Occurrence, Domain – Transaction, and Domain – Respite stages.
Once you’ve unlocked the node on the Simulated Universe Ability Tree, you will be able to start a run with a Curio as well. Lastly, you can get Curios from random events that get triggered during your run.
Simulated Universe Rewards
There are several ways to get rewards in the Simulated Universe:
- First-time clearance rewards for each World.
- Rewards are given after every run.
- You can obtain Immersion Rewards by exchanging through Immersifiers within the Simulated Universe itself.
- Point Rewards are awarded when you hit a certain amount of points after each run. The maximum points depend on how far along you are in the universe. These are reset every week.
- Go through your Index and make sure you claim your one-time rewards for uncovering new Blessings, Curios and Events.
In terms of what rewards you can get, here’s a list:
- Credits
- Stellar Jades
- Lost Gold Fragments
- Star Rail Pass
- Herta Bonds
- Tracks of Destiny
- Planar Ornaments
- Herta’s Character (you can use to activate her Eidolons)
Simulated Universe Guide to Each World
World 1
Final Bosses: Ice Out of Space, Blaze Out of Space
Best Abilities: Quantum, Physical, Wind
Team Level Recommendation: Level 16
These bosses focus on applying Fire DoT and Frozen to their enemies, but their damage is rather low. This is the easiest entry-level point of the Simulated Universe, just to familiarise yourself with what’s ahead. You could just use your existing team for this one or characters that fit with the best abilities to take on the bosses.
World 2
Final Bosses: Automaton Grizzly (Complete), Automaton Direwolf (Complete)
Best Abilities: Lightning, Ice
Team Level Recommendation: Level 35
These two Automatons are a match made in heaven. One focuses on AoE attacks and damage, while the other offers single-target attacks and damage. The Automaton Grizzly can also spawn some explosive enemies that you will have to defeat immediately or will damage you further.
For World 2, you could go with Serval, Herta, Asta, and Natasha as a team. If you have 5-star characters like Bailu or Himeko, that would be great additions as well. Yanqing and Pela could be of use in terms of exploiting the bosses’ Ice Weakness and decreasing enemy defense as well.
World 3
Final Boss: Gepard (Complete)
Best Abilities: Physical, Lightning, Imaginary
Team Level Recommendation: Level 45
Truthfully, the original fight against Gepard is way more intense and frustrating to get through. There are three phases that you will have to fight through, though. Gepard also employs an annoying shield that basically takes all your damage away. But with heavy hitters on your team that can break through Gepard’s Weaknesses, you’ll win in no time.
Some characters to consider for your team would be Natasha, Welt, Seele, Serval, Fire Trailblazer, Herta, and Sampo. You could mix and match based on who you have and your needs. But generally, having a character that could enforce the Imaginary ability is a good idea for this fight. Welt is the best Imaginary wielder that also provides great support for your team.
World 4
Final Boss: Svarog (Complete)
Best Abilities: Lightning, Wind, Fire
Team Level Recommendation: Level 50
Different enemies will spawn through the three different phases of Svarog’s final battle. There are mini robots followed by two Automaton Direwolfs and then a bunch of automated robotic hands. These hands are the most annoying ones to deal with as they can capture your characters, and you can’t heal, shield or prevent it from happening unless you destroy them.
A F2P team composition like Serval, March 7th, Asta, and Natasha would help activate the Lightning and Fire weaknesses of most of the available enemies. Interchange them with Sampo, Hook, Fire Trailblazer, Gepard, and perhaps even Yanqing. Truthfully, the all-free-to-play team feels like the best-fitting one.
World 5
Final Boss: Stellaron Hunter: Kafka (Complete)
Best Abilities: Wind, Imaginary, Physical
Team Level Recommendation: Level 60
The good thing about this fight is that Kafka doesn’t spawn any new enemies or have any allies to help her. The bad part is that she spams the ‘Dominated’ effect on multiple characters on your team. Healers like Natasha or cleansers like March 7th are required in a team if you want a chance at winning at all.
For F2P players, a team comprising Dan Heng, Asta, Fire Trailblazer, and Natasha should work well. Otherwise, you can interchange characters like Welt, Bronya, Clara, March 7th, Sampo and Sushang to have a better chance at winning.
World 6
Final Boss: Cocolia (Complete)
Best Abilities: Fire, Quantum, Lightning
Team Level Recommendation: Level 60
Cocolia throws everything at you in battle. She can spawn enemies, will constantly apply the Frozen state through ice pillars, and even bring in Bronya as a Support to allow her more turns in battle. Truthfully, it may be harder to use a fully F2P team here as you need more hard-hitting damage dealers to counter Bronya’s support in phases 2 and 3.
However, if you are looking to purely use a F2P team, you could put Serval, Asta, Fire Trailblazer, and Natasha together. For those who are more liberal, Seele, Himeko, Hook, and Bailu would do a great job at tearing Cocolia down. You can replace Bailu with Natasha and Himeko with Fire Trailblazer if you don’t have them, but you get the gist.
A hard-hitting DPS, a good healer, and some hard-hitting flame ability is what you need.
World 7
Final Boss: Abundant Ebon Deer (Complete)
Best Abilities: Fire, Ice, Quantum
Team Level Recommendation: Level 61
The most recent addition to the Simulated Universe allows you to come face to face with the Abundant Ebon Deer once again. This boss has an endless list of resistances, so you will really need to specify your characters, or you will end up losing. The Abundant Ebon Deer is resistant to Lightning Attacks, Wind Attacks, Frozen RES, and Imprisonment RES.
There are also three phases to this fight. The deer can summon Ambrosial Arbor Branches as minions and deals damage to both single and multiple targets. When the branches are out, those are what you should aim to destroy first, as they will end up restoring his HP.
If you’re F2P, you can use Qingque, March 7th, Fire Trailblazer, and Natasha. If not, Gepard, Luocha, Fire Trailblazer, and Seele should do the trick.
To Conclude
In the vast universe of Honkai Star Rail, may our guide equip you with the knowledge to conquer Herta’s thrilling simulation. Embark on an unforgettable journey, harness your power, and unveil the mysteries of the universe. For more Honkai Star Rail guides, be sure to head to our Guides category and indulge!
The adventure awaits – may your virtual endeavors be victorious.
