Honkai Star Rail’s Simulated Universe isn’t intended to be difficult endgame content — that honor goes to the Forgotten Hall — but the new Swarm Disaster mode comes with a new difficulty level called Torturous that is testing the patience of even the most experienced Trailblazers.
Difficulty level 5 of Swarm Disaster is some of the hardest content currently available in Honkai Star Rail for several reasons, but also like the normal Simulated Universe, it’s completely manageable with the right team, the right Blessings, and just the right amount of luck.
Look, I’m going to be so real with you right now. I know we usually offer F2P-friendly options in our build guides here at Attack of the Fanboy or give you alternatives for characters you might not have, but Torturous difficulty is some of the hardest content in the game right now. If you aren’t easily clearing Memory of Chaos regularly, then you might want to come back and try this later.
Best Torturous Difficulty Team Composition in HSR
It’s going to be hard to clear without a team of built 5-Stars. This is made even worse because you’re going to want Imaginary and Quantum DPS characters for this run, and most of the good ones are 5-Stars like Seele, Silver Wolf, Welt, or Imbibitor Lunae.
With that said, there are a handful of team compositions that will make your life a lot easier. As long as you have a handful of 5-Star units with good Relics and stats, you should be able to get through this.
Seele Quantum Carry Team
Here’s a great team that can easily hold its own during Swarm Disaster’s Torturous difficulty.
- Seele
- Luocha
- Bronya
- Tingyun
Using the Hunt Path, this team can deal insane amounts of damage so you won’t have to worry about staying alive too long. As you’d expect, it revolves around Seele. Use Tingyun to buff her, Bronya to advance her turn and provide additional buffs, and Luocha to keep the team alive and apply Imaginary Weakness Breaks. Make sure your team is built for CRIT, especially Seele. With the right Hunt Blessings, she can decimate the True Sting’s health bar at the end of the last Plane.
Kafka DOT Team
Next up, a DOT-focused team can get around some of the elemental restrictions.
- Kafka
- Serval
- Silver Wolf
- Bailu
This team relies upon Kafka and Serval placing constant Shocked DOTs on enemies and having Kafka detonate them with her abilities. Silver Wolf can imprint Electric weaknesses on enemies that don’t have it, and Bailu will keep everyone alive. This is a Skill-Point-hungry team, but with plenty of Nihility Blessings, your damage should be high. Plus, there are Nihility Blessings that heal your team based on DOT damage, so look for those.
Imbibitor Lunae Imaginary DPS Carry Team
If you were lucky enough to pick up Imbibitor Lunae, here’s a lineup centered around buffing him for huge boss damage.
- Dan Heng – Imbibitor Lunae
- Yukong
- Tingyun
- Luocha
This team doubles down on the Imaginary weaknesses of the bosses. With Imbibitor Lunae’s crazy damage output being further enhanced by Yukong and Tingyun, he should be able to nuke the boss HP bar if Luocha can keep everyone alive long enough. Use the Hunt Path to secure those sweet CRITs during tough fights.
Tanky Gepard Team
If you keep dying and want to focus on survivability, then Gepard is the best tank in the game.
- Gepard
- Imbibitor Lunae
- Silver Wolf
- Luocha
This is basically the same as the Imbibitor Lunae team composition described above, but with Gepard filling in to keep your team protected from the insane damage output of the True Sting boss and other foes in the Swarm Disaster. Silver Wolf slots easily into any team because of her great debuffs, but you can swap her out for another debuffer if you want. You can also swap Luocha out with another healer, but he’ll help you preserve Skill Points for Imbibitor Lunae, and he capitalizes on the Imaginary elemental recommendation for Swarm Disaster, too.
Best Paths for Torturous Difficulty
The best Path to choose in your Torturous difficulty Swarm Disaster run is going to depend on your team and strategy, but just like in the regular Simulated Universe, not all Aeons are created equal.
1. The Hunt
First up, the Hunt Path is incredibly powerful because of the boosts you can get to CRIT Rate, CRIT Damage, and Speed. The boss can’t hurt you if you abuse the turn order and CRIT them to death in a few turns.
2. Nihility
Next, Nihility is an underrated but still busted Path if you’re using characters like Kafka. The Path Resonance can inflict DOTs on top of the DOTs that your team is capable of, and there are plenty of Nihility Blessings that heal your team or increase the damage taken by enemies based on DOT damage. Plus, Suspicion is an often overlooked debuff that comes with the Path of Nihility, and it can launch your DOT damage to the moon.
3. Abundance
Don’t overlook the Path of Abundance, either. It’s one of the best Paths in Simulated Universe for teams that need a little bit of help with harder content, so it’s perfect if you’re struggling here. Bring Bailu or Luocha and really reap the benefits of Abundance Blessings. Your team will be impossible to kill, and healing will boost more than just your team’s HP if you choose the right Blessings and Curios.
Use Mercy to your advantage and try to select domains with Mercy already applied. This way, you can build up as many Blessings as possible before the countdown ends. Good luck, trailblazer! You’ll need it.
This guide was written while playing Honkai Star Rail on PC.
