Game modes

In addition to exploring the overworld and doing missions, Honkai: Star Rail also offers a number of other game modes for the player to enjoy as well.

Throughout the overworld in Honkai: Star Rail, you will encounter a number of dungeon type entrances that you can enter to farm resources and materials to progress your account. However, Trailblaze Power must be expended in order to obtain the rewards for completing these stages.

The different stages are:

Calyx

There are two types of Calyx: Calyx (Golden) and Calyx (Crimson).

Calyx (Golden) are your basic resource stages and provide Character EXP material, Light Cone EXP material, or Credits depending on which Calyx (Golden) stage you are farming. These Calyx also drop basic enemy materials based on the region that you are farming the Calyx (Golden) in. For example, if you are farming a Calyx (Golden) in Penacony, then you will obtain Penacony basic enemy materials.

Calyx (Crimson) provide Character Trace and Light Cone Ascension materials. There are a number of different Calyx (Crimson) stages, each corresponding to one of the playable Paths. Each Character and Light Cone require a certain Trace material from one of these Calyx as an upgrade material. Make sure to check which one your Character and Light Cone need and farm the appropriate Calyx (Crimson) stage.

It costs 10 Trailblaze Power to do one Calyx stage.

You can queue up to 6 Calyx runs at a time. Essentially, this allows you to repeat the same Calyx stage without having to exit and re-enter. Each run will cost you 10 Trailblaze Power (60 Trailblaze Power total if you queue up 6 runs).

Stagnant Shadow

• These stages reward Character ascension materials. Each stage drops a different ascension material, so make sure to check your Character page to see which one the Character that you are ascending needs.
• It costs 30 Trailblaze Power to do one Stagnant Shadow stage.

Cavern of Corrosion

• These stages reward Relics.
• It costs 40 Trailblaze Power to do one Caven of Corrosion stage.

Echo of War

• These are your weekly boss stages and reward Relics, Tracks of Destiny (Character skill level upgrade material), and Light Cones.
• You can only do 3 Echo of War runs every week. However, you can do the same Echo of War stage multiple times.
• It costs 30 Trailblaze Power to do one Echo of War stage.

Here's a video showing the mode in action:

Forgotten Hall is a game mode where the objective is to defeat a group of enemies in as few turns as possible. After completing a Forgotten Hall stage you will be awarded between 0 to 3 stars for that stage depending on how many turns it took you to defeat the enemies in that stage. The more stars that you are awarded, the better the rewards you receive.

It is a more challenging game mode with the final stages being considered as end game content.

Forgotten Hall is divided in two parts: Memory and Memory of Chaos.

• Memory consists of 15 stages and provides a one time reward of Stellar Jades upon completion.
• The later stages of Memory require the use of two teams of up to 4 Characters.
• Memory of Chaos consists of 10 stages and reward Stellar Jades upon completion
• Memory of Chaos stages are more challenging than Memory stages.
• Memory of Chaos stages reset periodically, allowing the player to complete them again for additional Stellar Jades.

Here's a video showing the mode in action:

Pure Fiction is a wave clearing game mode consisting of 4 different stages where you assemble two different teams to fight respawning enemies with the goal of defeating as many enemies as possible within a time limit. You will receive a score rating based on how well both teams performed. This score will determine how many stars (0-3) and the rewards that you will receive for that stage. The more stars you have, the better the rewards.

You can obtain Stellar Jades and other rewards for clearing Pure Fiction stages. These stages reset periodically, allowing you to play through them again for more Stellar Jades.

Apocalyptic Shadow is a boss attack game mode in which you build two teams to take on two different bosses. The objective of this game mode is to defeat both bosses in as few turns as possible and there are 4 difficulty levels for each boss. You will be awarded between 0 to 3 stars for each difficulty level that you’ve completed which in turn determines the rewards that you will get. The more stars you have, the better the rewards.

You can obtain Stellar Jades and other rewards for completing this game mode. Apocalyptic Shadow also reset periodically, allowing you to play it again for more Stellar Jades.

Simulated Universe is a roguelike game mode where the player will select a team of four Characters to venture inside a simulated world to collect a random set of buffs that they can use to enhance their team and fight the enemies inside. The player will progress through a set of semi-randomized combat and non-combat stages with the goal of defeating the boss in the final stage.

This game mode does not require the player to spend any Trailblaze Power to play it and there is no limit to how many times the player can start a run in the Simulated Universe. The player can however optionally spend Trailblaze Power to obtain Planetary Ornaments (Character equipment) while inside certain stages of the Simulated Universe.

Players can also earn rewards such as Stellar Jades and Star Rail Passes on a weekly basis via this game mode.

Learn more about this mode here:

Simulated Universe

Divergent Universe is a variant of the Simulated Universe and follows the same basic mechanics with some added twists to further emphasize the roguelike nature of the game mode.

Like the Simulated Universe, this game mode will ask you to create a team of four Characters and use them to collect a random set of buffs while going through a set of semi-randomized combat and non-combat stages with the goal of defeating the boss in the final stage.

One of the main differentiators between the Simulated Universe and Divergent Universe is the ability to quickly farm Planetary Ornaments in the Divergent Universe. After each Divergent Universe run, you have the option to save the set of buffs that you obtained during that run into a temporary save file, up to a maximum of 4 different save files. These save files last for one game version and will be deleted at the start of a new game version (typically every 6 weeks). Once you have at least one save file, you can use it to enter special Planetary Ornament farming stages in the Divergent Universe menu where you can farm for the Planetary Ornaments directly without having to play though a Simulated Universe run.

Playing through the Divergent Universe will award you with rewards such as Stellar Jades and Star Rail Passes on a weekly basis. These weekly rewards are the same and are shared with the weekly Simulated Universe rewards, so you only need to play one of the two game modes to get the weekly rewards.