Have to agree with you. Apocalyptic shadow bosses have fun mechanics. Also aventurines gambling phase is really fun rather than tedious to go through with a hunt character, atleast for me. I think my favorite aspect was definitely star rail devs finally adding echo of war bosses in end game modes and it's really good as the fact that they just made entirely new mechanics for the old bosses. Really makes things fresh. I still have my problems with the mode, however I do think it's one of the more creative modes they have added. So here's hoping they make more modes like this and this time more refined lol.
It was a lot of fun surprisingly to go against Aventurine and trying to hit the amount of dice value to be able to attack him yesss. I think specifically for the Hunt at least, if it was for Destruction or Blast characters, it must have felt rough seeing no damage go to adjacent enemies, unless the spacing had properly aligned. That being said, Echoes of War being part of Endgame content is the major thing I am most happy for too. And them making them feel entirely new with pseudo reworks to their kits for the patch is an amazing way to keep us on alert. The mode still needs to be a bit more refined, mainly that they still are currrently just pushing for what is most meta, like things were initially with Pure Fiction. I hope that within the next few patches, when "New" end game content arrives, they can shift the focus towards more fun and creative mechanics for us to battle rather than "The flavour of the patch is Follow ups, so build that or you're gonna have a bad time" The Endgame Content patches for HSR have been amazing. The Devs have cooked so hard with them. I am scared, but also incredibly hyped for what the next big expantion for Divergent Universe / Simulated Universe [Expantion Module] will be
@@ManCarSua Yup I believe AoE/Blast Characters do fall behind a little against Aventurine. But Nonetheless seeing Aventurine not being an annoying boss fight to go through was such a relief. His actual boss fight out of AS is pretty annoying because he just stalls with his Gambling Phase like crazy. I think this is a LOT more better version of his boss fight and more fun to go through imo. Yeah I'm hoping in future Once more new endgame content is added they go easy on AS by making it not specifically orientated around the new characters in the patch anymore. It will definitely be more fun that way. Also yes I'm also very much looking forward to a new SU expansion as DU was... Disappointing honestly, but hoping they don't make the same mistakes as they did with DU with the new SU expansion.
@@Cap_6278 Yeah, it is minimal, they still perform well. It just sucks seeing damage be so low when the dice you hit is higher than the amount we have stacked. Aventurine was a lot of fun in the end, and that is what matters beyond it all. The stalling phase in regular Aven fight is so annoying you are so right, especially when he targets your supports to be the only active character during the gamble. I look forward to new AS bosses and redesigns, so I am happy seeing whatever the hoyo devs got cooking up in the kitchen. To me, DU was a lot of fun, but that is mainly because I am a huge fan of roguelikes, so I kinda look at it like that. I am just used to get rolled by RNG and salvaging runs in Isaac/Hades/Slay the Spire. But I can see how people found it annoying. I do hope that as more patches go on, they keep updating and fixing the rough parts of it
Yeah I do understand if you like DU, but myself I really didn't like the RNG and it's a lot worse on V6-8, I literally failed to get RNG in most of my runs when I was trying to clear V8 with useless scholar Acheron. I do think I enjoyed GnG a lot more than this. However, fighting new enemies was pretty cool. Can't wait to fight Hoolay in SU lol. And the newly added Equations were very creative. But the final bosses being able to counter your equations becomes awful at times ALSO FINALLY SOMEBODY ELSE THAT AGREES THAT THEY SHOULD DEFINITELY ADD ECHO OF WAR BOSSES IN SU TOO!!
Cocolia saw the game was RPG decided we were now the mobs she was gonna slay. And also proceeded to ignore the turn based system We all suffered vs Cocolia for real ☠
I really love HSR's creativity with endgame modes, and the fact that they keep doing more new, fresh things is amazing! Another great video ♥ Have a great day!
The fact she could infinitely combo us and had more CC than anything else was awful. Also Apocalyptic Shadow does make enemies to be SO FAST so it is scary ;-; I hope they rework her a bit when she returns. And that they keep Geppie there. Because if they put that Cocolia with Bronya it is GG for all of us
these newer apoc are definitely more fun and better thought out, I stand on the hill that firefly's release made the end game very unenjoyable for a few months because her playstyle is way too different so now that the content isn't catered to her specifically it's way more fun imo
Yeah, as we get more patches I hope they become more fun and interesting. The Cocolia/Argenti was a rough introduction, but it was fun. Similarly Kafka/Doomsday Beast were very demanding on what characters you can actually use. So this time, it was wonderful having more options for AoE and generally clearing enemies with the party Sadly yeah, they tailored TOO much to firefly. And that essentially made it so everyone else suffered during the Super Break meta. Especially since very few characters actually benefit from the Break Effect buffs given in some of the new content or even in the new Destruction Divergent Universe Blessings
@@ManCarSua yeah exactly my point, even though I was lucky enough to get boothill some end game content was still very rough I'm glad we moved to fua meta which is way more general and accesible
AS and DU are pretty great for sure. I genuinely want more insanely difficult challenges to tackle. They don't even have to give rewards. I'd be so hype if next AS they had a difficulty level 5 that was genuinely borderline impossible even if you have the new character its built for, but it gives no jade so you don't miss anything if you cant clear it.
Me too, the insanely difficult and unfair boss fights/optional content is one that I live for in RPGs. Like going after super end game bosses in Disgaea or having to plan cheese strats to beat enemies that are higher in strength than my team should be Honestly difficulty 5 for just like Credits would be great. Or they can give a few more of the feather currency thingy (idk if the name) which we can exchange for credits or in case someone doesn't do their content because they took a break, they they would have back up funds to buy the shop when they return idk
Every endgame modes in short: 1. SU/DU = Custom skill tree (Erudition) 2. MoC = Stats check (Remembrance) 3. PF = Multitarget party (Enigmata) 4. AS = Puzzles (Finality) The next 2 end game modes I want them to add are: *1. Elation = Skill based, Reaction time, & Chaos* In the action bar, enemy won't wait your turn and instead slowly coming to the top of the bar to take action. There are only 2 elites (1 per wave) & your job is to attack faster than them cuz they won't wait your turn. The enemy will always move from one point to another on the ground so you need to aim your attack correctly too. You cannot use "Auto button" in this mode. *2. Nihility = Nuking & Planning* Enemy now can spawn in a row (front to back) and Hunt chars has the highest pierce DMG. There are 10 waves, each wave will have 2 cycle before it move to the next wave. Your job is to plan your attack to Nuke as many enemies before the wave reset to next. Points will be accumulated, defeating enemies at the same time will give you combo points.
I like that these game modes are path related and they bring in a little bit of lore with them. It is a really smart way to get players hooked in for a bit in other mysteries 1. When I read Chaos. The first thing that came to mind was how in Undertale Sans messes with your UI and damages you. But that being said, the concept of enemies just having before they essentially interrupt you with an Ult action like we do would be so chaotic and so funny. Honestly having dummies appear next to the boss would be cool, purely for the sake of having the enemy shift positions if that was the case. So it shifts between them 2. Piercing damage and having actual frontline/backline would be so cool. They implemented that with Argenti's Apocalyptic Shadow, so it would be interesting to see that return. I like that idea you've cooked up
@@ManCarSua yooo I can't believe you caught the reference. Yes the first one is a reference to Sans fight, he basically broke the rules of classic turn-bassed enemies. So I wanted to do the same here cuz Aha never follow rules. Also the more I think about it, Pierce DMG should be added as universal mechanic to HSR like Break DMG/Effects. Perhaps make it like: • Single target can pierce all enemies • Blast can only pierce 2 (the center target only) • AoE & Bounce cannot pierce
@@jerryeljeremy7790 I am glad I caught it in that case! That is honestly awesome. Seeing Aha just break the rules on us would be a lot of fun. Chaotic and horrifying, but fun. If anything I do want to see it in an event once Pierce would be neat to see. For multi waves yeah, and having enemies take dmg as soon as they spawn from having waited on the backlines
As a big Firefly fan I can say that release of Firefly held back the first apocalyptic shadow too much. They tried to implemant aoe weakness break and failed
I hate to have to agree with that, as a fellow Firefly fan. They were hard pushing Break Effect Meta it was really hard to actually use any other teams or deal with TOO many enemies at once. (Especially Cocolia having each pillar have its own weakness, we couldn't go an Erudition/Destruction character that properly) I am glad the mode has new space to breathe now that we are in a Follow Up/Hunt meta, that is more accessible since we have more characters of that playstyle
It is absolutely haunting but I love it. The sound design team always pops off with the effects. The sounds when we attack with Acheron or Firefly is just so pleasing. Same for Aventurine's coin rain for me
AS and SU/DU is HSR devs doing alpha test to next game mechanics for upcoming characters kind of smart and cost effective having your player base be data source on how to implement or balance it out.
I am honestly down for them to keep doing these alpha tests on us for new game mechanics. They have been doing well and it is really smart to both make us experience it is as players and then get this power in our hands as a character
That is fair. A lot of people were singing praises and saying that when Apocalyptic Shadow would release, it would be more "Single Target" focused, so Hunt Characters could shine. But that was mainly content creators and tiktok saying it I feel. I personally don't end up trusting speculations or take them to 100% face value until the game shows it It was dissapointing we haven't goten our Single Target Hunt content. But I can also see how just battling one enemy can get to be too tedious and boring and feel like you are just beating a stat stick rather than a challenging boss. At least that is how I see it. Still one day, I do hope we get some fun Single Target content for Hunt mains
*In the waiting room for the next rotation of endgame* But fr, with AS I'm having so much fun -- even after (barely) clearing all stars -- trying new comps or better rotations/equipment/etc. to get better clears, but it's the new boss mechanics that makes it fun. I'm especially loving the Aventurine one this season. Just now I finally figured how to take my Blade team from barely 3339 points to 3400 something😂 Before that my winning score had been 3295 (Blade) and 3320 (Ratio). Now I'm standing proud with 3400 on both sides. The previous version saw a win with Ratio against Kafka (3392pts), and Superbreak Blade against the Doomsday Beast (3479pts), best part being my Blade wasn't even built for break🤣
Same honestly, I cannot wait for the next wave of endgame content I hadn't realized we got already Threshold Protocols 7 and 8. And although I am happy we got more flex rewards, I was dissapointed to see that it was just a health upgrade for enemies + 15% less dmg when not weakness broken. So they just became damage sponges rather than something new. I do hope we get more levels in Divergent Universe to make it harder, but also that it rewards us with more power too to match this scaling The Aventurine one, they freaking cooked so hard with it. It is so much fun, the music also helps the fight pop off in all honesty and being in a forever "gamble" state that doesn't feel awful was so much fun, also the whole Casino vibes it gave just made it even more hype for me personally. Also 3400 on both sides is awesome!! Super Break is just so strong lmao. I am glad to see your Blade has been popping off!
I definitely agree with you. While MOC and PF are fun endgame modes that encourage you to branch out the units you build, out of the three, Apocalyptic Shadow is the best endgame mode due to the devs being able to add special gimmicks or rework bosses to add a fresh new spin on them. Altho in cases like Cocolia and the Doomsday Beast, they can be a total pain for players to go through. Thankfully Cocolia wasn't too much of an issue for me because I used a Firefly team and she broke Cocolia fast enough for neither phase to be too bad lol. Aventurine gave me some trouble because I forgot he could reduce your energy so you can't pull off your ultimates as often.
Yeah both MoC and PF are very fun and I still enjoy playing them. Especially because of how the game devs optimize the game. Apocalyptic Shadow has slain with how amazing the concept behind it is. The special gimmicks and reworks are top tier. I do feel bad for the hoyo programmers that gotta work overtime to keep Apocalyptic Shadow alive. They are the MVPs Cocolia doing her infinite combo was horrifying and I still remember seeing Tiktoks of people getting eternally combo'd to death lol. Aventurine's Energy drain was so annoying to deal with at times yessss. I hate it also baits you into thinking that we will get to use our ults from getting a charge after being attacked, but get drained instead ;-;
AS to me is much more fun endgame content than MoC or PF, the unique mechanic every cycle is really interesting to me PF on the other hand..... suck balls
AS decided to be innovative yeah, they definitely cooked there PF could be fun, but also Horde battles do get a bit dull. So I can see that it isn't the game mode for everyone. Herta and Himeko going Blender mode is fun, but it does get old doing it every cycle
They've just added DU Threshold 7 & 8... Sadly it's just HP sponge. The new update also reduced the amount of RNG at the start of the run, which made every Thresholds much more bearable to fight. I used to pick T3 for normal runs since it's a good middle ground, but with the recent changes, it felt a bit too easy (maybe because I've played too much).
Yeah I learnt about that yesterday. I am a bit dissapointed they just made them dmg sponges rather than actually increasing the difficulty through other means. I do want them to bring back enemies using resonances against us. New Blessings at the start is so good now They also added some busted curios. So that could be it too. Like the one that fully heals your party and Tecnique points at the start of every room or getting 5 extra heat too. Not to mention the fragment generating curios
Previous one was AWFUL for me, it made me regret getting new endgame gamemode and i wanted it to be deleted because of how character specific it was (I dont have a single proper FUA team, and with a fully upgraded Boothil at side 1 and Acheron at second i barely got 12/12 after HOURS of rearranging characters and artifacts), but after i saw how they implemented current AS, i fell in love with it.
The previous one with Kafka did feel absolutely miserable. Mainly the fight vs her being WAY TOO tailored for very specific teams. The doomsday beast was annoying but much more do-able I think Congrats on getting 12/12. Though I am sorry you had to suffer so much with that. I ran had to brute force Kafka in a friend's account with Firefly and then hope for good RNG and beat the Doomsday beast with Acheron and Pela. It was so annoying and so many resets They have been improving every AS slowly but surely. So I am hyped for what they will do with the remaining Echo of War bosses we haven't faced yet. I am terrified and hyped to fight Sunday ngl whenever that happens. And now Feixiao joins that roster
@@omegablaster5329 Dr Ratio and Boothill on one same team is something I never thought I would hear. But I want to try out now that I look at it. Since Boothill does apply a Taunt debuff too and can be relatively Tanky... I must try this for myself
I think Apocalyptic Shadow as a mode a bit BS. It's made to say "oh, you don't have our shiny new toy? Too bad, you're screwed up for good". My least favorite one was when they favored break teams
"It's to do with the new characters?" Me doing AS with Seele every patch. xD (Just to say I do my MOC and AS with almost all my DPS, so I use both my old ones and my new ones)
It is rough that they do try to force a very specific playstyle like how things began with Pure Fiction. The buffs should allow for more team options I do agree on that. In concept I love it, but it does need a bit of refinement. Still, seeing new bosses has been a great experience and that is something I do love Apocalyptic Shadow for Yeah, Break Teams have been favored as the new shiny mechanic. So hopefully they tone it down in future patches
@mcbx3d Also, ooooh doing the runs with Seele is honestly really cool. I need to rebuild some of my old characters who I left half built. I imagine vs Aventurine she must have been a lot of fun clearing the dice
@@ManCarSua yeap, I needed SW to put the Quantum weakness, but Seele does a lot of dmg and toughness just killing the dices. It was the most Fun character that I tested in this new AS.
I love Apocalyptic Shadow! I enjoy the special mechanics of the old bosses and even stall just to see the new attack animations. It seems like they’re trying to implement a new Echo of War now every Apocalyptic Shadow cycle until all current six Echo of War bosses have been used For me, Cocolia was not too bad because my Huohuo just kept me alive with ease and my DoT and Acheron team just destroyed Cocolia. I then watched my friends do it and they suffered a lot The Echo of War bosses in Apocalyptic Shadow that I’m scared of is most likely Shadow of Feixiao and The Harmonius Choir: Dominicus because both bosses focus on Weakness Break. Shadow of Feixiao already has Steadfast Safeguard, so I’m intrigued on what they’re going to do. They might even give The Harmonius Choir: Dominicus more Toughness Layers than the normal one. I hope they also implement a mechanic for enemies and bosses to share a Toughness Bar just like the HP so that even Erudition characters can shine even more as they kinda are bad for Apocalyptic Shadow unless all enemies have the same weakness. It would also just be a fun mechanic for new future story bosses The thing I also wish they implement in Apocalyptic Shadow is to retry old Apocalyptic Shadow bosses for fun. I loved some of the bosses and it would just be interesting to play around with I think they can also just use bosses that they already have if we don’t have any bosses left that haven’t been used. They could just give them a different name with even newer mechanics and traits and I think it would be fine
They have done an amazing job with them. And yes me too! I replay the fights to see if they added a new animation or some sort of new attack and I just gush about it and I adore it. So far Kakfa buffing her allies has been one of the things that caught me most off guard Cocolia with Huohuo sounds great to prevent the permafreeze. Nice Also, yeah since Shadow of Feixiao is the newest boss it will be the most terrifying to face if they make any big alterations like they have for all the bosses so far. Dominucus with more toughness layers would be interesting, especially since we are likely to be getting hit by some nasty attacks too. A shared Toughness bar would be sick to see. I definitely want to see a Pure Fiction Horde like battle in the story at some point. Like where we have to defend against an invantion or something I really wish we could have a wayback machine to revisit those previous boss fights from 2.3 and 2.4 yeah, they were amazing fights and so much fun. That is why my hope is that they add them into some new version of Divergent/Simulated Universe Module. That way we can face them and since we don't do those TOO often but still weekly it is content where the boss can still kick our asses and feel fun And yesss they can rework some enemies into super bosses. Like they did for the Direwolf and the other blue robot in Gold and Gears. Making super mega Elites and Bosses too, kinda like how The Past, Present and the Eternal Show exist in this way
I'm both really afraid and excited about what they're gonna do with Scarakabaz. I fully expect him to summon the True Sting in phase 1, and then summon other Scarakabaz in phase 2.
@@jerichtandoc7789 That would be terrifying! It could be possible that Scarakabaz will stay in the Multiply state for the whole fight until Weakness broken
@@jerichtandoc7789 he is gonna learn the shadow clone jutsu just for us. Seeing 2 Scarakabaz would make so many players just soil their pants instantly. But now I do want to see something of that caliber
