The Simulated Universe is a key element in Honkai: Star Rail, consistently updated and revamped in each version of the game to reflect the latest gameplay tweaks and the introduction of new characters. You can look forward to a fresh version being released approximately every few patches.
The recent Amphoreus update followed this trend. Initially unveiled during the Penacony update, the Divergent Universe has been rebranded as Protean Hero and revamped entirely. Players familiar with the previous Divine Comedy version will find some comfort in this new iteration, yet the numerous changes and enhancements will make it feel like an entirely new game experience.
Unlocking the Divergent Universe: Protean Hero
Before you dive into the new challenges that this game mode offers, you need to have previously unlocked Divergent Universe. To do so, you must complete the standard Simulated Universe World 3 along with the “Farewell, Penacony” Trailblaze Quest.
After completing these tasks, you’ll gain access to the Divergent Universe: Terminal Interface at the Radiant Feldspar.
Depending on your choices in the quest, the Radiant Feldspar may be referred to as Trailblaze’s Stern, The Tatalov, or The Soaring Clock Hand!
To finalize the unlock process, complete the “Light Slips the Gate, Shadow Greets the Throne” Trailblaze Quest. Additionally, players have the option to utilize the Finality’s Vision feature if they wish to access it sooner.
Once all prerequisites are met, head back to the Radiant Feldspar to finish the “Divergent Universe: Hymn of Value” quest. After a few straightforward dialogues, you’ll be all set to explore the divergence.
Overview of Protean Hero Rules
Protean Hero serves as an enhanced version of the main Simulated Universe, featuring several notable distinctions. The core objective remains the same: progress through stages with your chosen team while collecting Blessings, Curios, and Cosmic Fragments to boost your strength.
You will navigate through 13 rooms (18 in higher difficulty settings) spread across three Planes. These rooms may host enemies (Combat, Encounter, and Boss), special events (Occurrence, Adventure, and Wealth), or be completely safe (Respite, Store, and Escapade).
Each Plane comprises random room selections, but always includes a Boss room at the end, while the final room of the third Plane is consistently a Respite room.
Older features from the Divergent Universe, such as Equations and Weighted Curios, continue to exist in this mode. If you are familiar with these mechanics, you’ll feel comfortable, though many have received balance adjustments.
All your characters start at Level 80 with temporarily enhanced Traces, Light Cones, and Relics strong enough to complete a run. However, your custom builds are often more powerful. Characters can be switched out at any time during the gameplay.
Upon finishing a run, you can save your current Blessings, Curios, Equations, and other enhancements into a Save File. This Save File can later be utilized in Planar Extraction.
Understanding the Day and Night System
Combat in the Divergent Universe: Protean Hero alternates between Day and Night states. Similar to Amphoreus’s Dawn and Evernight versions in certain areas, the same concept applies here.
The Day and Night states provide different buffs to active participants in battle:
- Day: Allies recover 30% of their maximum HP when Day starts and heal 5% HP at the beginning of each turn.
- Night: Allies deal 30% more damage, but enemies also inflict 15% more damage.
Every battle begins with the chosen period, with the other state appearing after a few turns. This is akin to the Memory of Chaos’s cycles but with slightly different durations. Golden Blood’s Boons can introduce new effects for these periods.
Day and Night each have a 50 percent uptime initially, although this can shift as the run progresses. Their effects ramp up based on your current Threshold (difficulty), enhancing the buffs to help manage the substantial HP pools seen in endgame content.
Explaining Golden Blood’s Boons
The primary damage mechanism in Protean Hero is the Golden Blood’s Boons. When you enter this game mode, you select a Day or Night-enhancing effect to greatly assist you during your run.
Some effects can increase Final Damage during Day or reduce HP consumption during Night, and even extend each cycle’s duration.
After passing through four rooms, you receive an Enhancement for your existing Golden Blood’s Boons. These upgrades are highly beneficial, so it’s wise to plan your run around a favorable enhancement you encounter.
A Golden Blood’s Boon can reach a maximum of Enhancement Level 3. When you reach a third Enhancement room, you can opt for a new Boon, which can be either a Day or Night Boon.
Be sure to consider Enhancements that complement your current team/build. Since you can freely switch out characters, feel free to adjust your team to take advantage of a powerful upgrade.
Overview of Trait Effects
A new addition to this mode is Traits. Much like Path Resonances in the Simulated Universe, Traits activate once you acquire Blessings with specific Keywords, granting unique effects to your team.
Each Path has one Trait, providing significant boosts even if it’s not your primary focus. Each Blessing from that Path enhances the Trait effect.
Here’s a list of all available Traits and their effects:
|
Blessing Path |
Trait Name |
Description |
|---|---|---|
|
Remembrance |
Obsession |
Entering a battle or summoning a Memosprite grants you stacks of Obsession. When you take an action, there’s a chance to gain an extra stack. Each stack boosts your allies’ ATK by 1% and HP by 0.5%, with a maximum of 20 stacks, and you lose 2 stacks every turn. |
|
Nihility |
Murmur |
Murmur charges when enemies suffer from Damage over Time (DoT) effects. Enemies entering battle are affected by Murmur, which counts as Wind Shear damage. Murmur deals damage based on your allies’ ATK, reaching up to 4,000% depending on charges. |
|
The Hunt |
Critical Boost |
Using an ability grants your allies 1 stack of Critical Boost. Each stack increases Crit Rate by 6% and Crit Damage by 12%, capping at 8 stacks. The next ally to attack inherits these stacks, but they disappear if you get attacked. |
|
Destruction |
Blazer |
30% of your HP recovered/lost or Shield damage reduction turns into Blazar Charges. You lose 60% of your charge at the start of each turn. When allies attack, they deal extra damage equal to 40% of your total Blazar, although this damage cannot defeat an enemy. |
|
Elation |
Aftertaste |
Follow-Up attacks deal Aftertaste damage equal to 50% of the target’s ATK. This damage type is random and considered follow-up Attack Damage. |
|
Propagation |
Soul Chrysalis/Butterfly Soul |
Soul Chrysalis starts at 60% charge at the beginning of the battle and increases by 8% for each Skill Point used. Once it hits 100%, the next 8 Basic Attacks or Skills inflict an additional 50% True damage. |
|
Erudition |
Brain in a Vat |
Using Ultimates enhances your Brain in a Vat. When it reaches 100%, your Ultimate will be charged again immediately after usage. |
|
Harmony |
Harmonize |
Boosts your Weakness Break Efficiency. Breaking enemies applies Harmonize to them, which increases the Break DMG they receive and deals Quantum Break Damage. |
Strategy Guides and Build Planning
You can select a Strategy Guide for your Protean Hero sessions. These guides suggest a team and highlight many recommended Equations that complement your setup. Recommended Blessings and Equations will be marked whenever you encounter them.
The guides are created by other players, and you have the option to make your own via the official site.
You can opt for a Guide as soon as the run starts, but feel free to swap to others at any time by clicking the Guide icon in the upper left corner.
Using a Guide isn’t compulsory but can be quite beneficial for understanding the mode. You might even discover fresh ways to optimize your compositions, so consider giving it a shot.
Returning Features
Numerous features introduced in previous iterations of the Simulated Universe and Divergent Universe make a comeback in Protean Hero, albeit with slight adjustments. Below is a summary of these features and what has changed:
Equations and Weighted Curios
Equations and Weighted Curios function as before, with many new additions. Some have been revamped or removed entirely to better fit the game mode.
Notably, since the Remembrance Blessings have undergone significant revisions, its Equations are mostly brand new. The Harmonious Equations have taken the place of the Abundance and Preservation Equations.
Inspiration Circuit
Upgrades from the Divergent Universe are universally applicable, meaning all enhancements made during Divine Comedy carry over. Moreover, you can now access Titan Odes, which unlock additional bonuses during Day and Night cycles.
Ordinary and Cyclical Extrapolation
These two modes operate similarly to past iterations of the Divergent Universe:
- Ordinary Extrapolation provides one-time rewards across each of its five difficulty levels. The additional Torturous Difficulty increases each time you clear it.
- Cyclical Extrapolation resets weekly and awards extra Synchronicity Level points. You will receive specific Equations, Curios, and Day/Night effects needed to complete the stage.
You should complete the weekly Cyclical Extrapolation to earn rewards and fulfill your weekly Nameless Honor missions.
Excessive Conversion
Higher difficulty levels will feature Excessive Conversion stages, where the battle lasts only two cycles. Instead of bosses, more enemy waves will appear. Rewards also depend on how many enemies you defeat after the second wave.
Rewards from Protean Hero
In addition to numerous Stellar Jades, you can earn a wealth of Materials, Experience Books, Credits, and other rewards from the Protean Hero mode. Many of these rewards come from various categories within this game mode.
|
Reward Category |
Description |
|---|---|
|
Herta’s Store |
Similar offerings as those in the regular Simulated Universe; you can acquire Light Cones, Star Rail Passes, icons, and Probability Museum exhibit items. |
|
Gallery Of Possibilities |
Every Blessing, Equation, Golden Blood’s Boon, Curios, and Occurrences you collect are tracked here. Accumulating certain amounts of these yields Stellar Jades. |
|
Stable Computing Array |
One-time achievements pertaining to the Protean Hero Divergent Universe. Play through various difficulties with different Equations to earn these rewards. |
|
Synchronicity Level |
Synchronicity Points are granted for each run, irrespective of whether you succeed or not. Each Level renders different rewards, prominent items of which include Wishful Resin, Self-Modeling Resin, and Stellar Jades. |
|
Weekly Reset |
Completing the weekly Cyclical Extrapolation (or any other mode) allows you to claim your weekly Simulated Universe rewards. |
Planar Extraction is also accessible within the Protean Hero version of the Divergent Universe. This mode allows you to collect Planar Ornaments efficiently, utilizing your Save Files from preceding regular runs.
You will only face the relevant boss without going through its Simulated Universe world and can repeat this process as long as you have Trailblaze Power. This serves as the most straightforward way to acquire the 2-piece sets for your characters.
