HSR Version 3.8 Apocalyptic Shadow: Primate Knight Full Guide

Hey, Trailblazers! Every time a new “Apocalyptic Shadow” stage drops in Honkai Star Rail, I can't wait to dive. In this guide, featuring the familiar face and introducing a new boss, LDshop will combine environmental buffs and enemy mechanics to share dozens of recommended team compositions. The goal is to help as many Trailblazers as possible achieve full-star rewards this cycle~

I've taken a deep dive into the mechanics, Toughness break timings, buff synergies, and team builds, and put everything together in this complete guide! 

HSR 3.8 Apocalyptic Shadow Buffs

Ruinous Ember: Primate Knight

When enemy targets with "Steadfast Safeguard" are Weakness Broken, dispels control states for all allies, and allies immediately take action and recovers Skill Points.

Increases Break DMG taken by all enemy targets by 25%, and Memosprite Skill DMG taken by 15%.

 

Finality’s Axiom

Node 1

• Shatterstrike: Increases Break DMG dealt by all allies by 10%. When an enemy target enters the Weakness Break state, further increases Break DMG by 5%. This effect can stack up to 4 time(s).
• Linebreaker: The 1st character in the lineup ignores 15% of the enemy target's DEF when dealing DMG.
• Unto Apotheosis: When ally targets consume Skill Points, increases their CRIT DMG by 6%, stacking up to 10 times.

Node 2

• Past Life: Shadowed Reverie: When there are 3 ally memosprites or more currently on the field, increases all allies' dealt DMG by 60%.
• Whirlwind Turn: After ally targets attack an enemy target with 1 or more DoT states, increases their SPD by 25% for 3 turn(s).
• Knowledge and Decorum: While any character following the Path of Erudition is in the team, increases all allies' All-Type RES PEN by 15%.

 

In comprehensive consideration, the advantaged main DPS for this cycle are:

Node 1:

Firefly	Rappa		Phainon
Anaxa		Evernight

Node 2:

Firefly	Rappa		Evernight
The Herta		Castorice

 

Node 1: Silver Knight of Virtuous Gallantry

Silver Knight of Virtuous Gallantry
Weaknesses: Imaginary, Physical, Ice, Fire	Resistances: Quantum, Wind, Lightning
Boss Trait
Steadfast Safeguard: Boss Mirage takes 50% less DMG. After Weakness is broken, action gets additionally delayed and DMG taken increases by 100%.	Reversal of Fortune: Boss Mirage can switch its own Combat Stance in battle and summon different statues to fight. When characters defeat statues in the "Soulfreed" state, DMG dealt by the team in this battle will be increased.
Combat Stance: The Silver Knight of Virtuous Gallantry will change their status throughout the fight: Chivalric Wrath: Summons Speartip statues and takes less DMG from all sources. When 4 statues are on the field, the knight enters the Toughness Protection state. Golden Harvest: Summons Shield statues and increases the knight's DMG dealt from all sources. Medal of Elegance: Summons The Honored statues. When statues exist on the field, the knight cannot be selected as a target.
Turn Back the Tide: When Boss Mirage uses "Soulfreed" in Phase II, it will target all statues.	Stellar Aegis: For every unit on the enemy's side of the field aside from the Boss, all enemies receive 5.0% less DMG and deal 3.0% more DMG.

 

Tips

Build for fast Break, not slow chip. Bring strong Imaginary / Physical / Ice breakers (multi-hit or AoE), plus a solid sustain, and plan your rotation around one big “Break → burst” window. Treat each statue wave as the real HP bar: clear them quickly so you’re not fighting through damage reduction and higher incoming damage.

Phase 1: hard-focus any summon the moment it spawns to unlock his Weakness—don’t spread damage. If the Speartip statue is up, deleting it early is ideal because its counter-hit helps shred Toughness. Bounce/Blast skills shine since they finish a statue while still tagging the boss.

Phase 2: pre-charge energy, then erase the four front statues ASAP. Hold Ultimates until you’re about to regain Toughness damage, then chain Break into full burst. Don’t rely on crowd control—play clean, break fast, cash out.

As for Finality’s Axiom and Team Comp synergy, with Shatterstrike, run a Break-focused core: 1–2 fast multi-hit breakers (Blast/AoE) to trigger Weakness Break often and stack the bonus quickly. Add a support that boosts speed/energy so Break windows come faster, plus a sustain that won’t slow rotations.

With Linebreaker, place your main damage dealer in slot 1. If you pick Unto Apotheosis, use an SP-hungry carry and pair them with SP-positive support/sustain so you can keep spending Skill Points and ramp CRIT DMG smoothly.

 

Recommended Teams

Shatterstrike Teams

Firefly	The Dahlia	Fugue	Lingsha
Rappa
Boothill

This lineup doubles down on Shatterstrike: a Break carry (Firefly / Boothill / Rappa) deletes statues fast and triggers repeated Breaks to ramp stacks. Fugue + The Dahlia keep the tempo high with speed/energy and Break-focused buffs, so you hit Break windows on schedule. Lingsha keeps you safe while staying SP-positive for consistent clears.

 

Linebreaker Teams

Phainon

Cerydra

Sunday

Dan Heng • Permansor Terrae

Linebreaker rewards a pure hypercarry: put Phainon in slot 1 so every hit benefits from 15% DEF ignore, then let Cerydra and Sunday focus on buffing and turn/energy tempo to maximize his action count and burst timing. Dan Heng • Permansor Terrae is here primarily as a tank/shield sustain, keeping the team stable so you can spend aggressively and stay on-script through statue waves and Break windows.

 

Unto Apotheosis Teams

Cyrene

Evernight

Trailblazer (Remembrance)

Hyacine

This Unto Apotheosis team is basically “SP burn → CRIT DMG ramp → cash out.” Evernight is your main stack engine because she actually wants to spend SP to keep her summon/buffs online. Hyacine can also spend SP on key turns to stabilize HP while still contributing to the ramp.

The smart part is the SP economy: RMC and (often) Hyacine can take SP-positive turns to refill, while Cyrene plays more like a window enabler—she spends SP to set up, then keeps output without needing to spam Skill every turn. That keeps stacks climbing without the team stalling.

 

Node 2: Blaznana Monkey Trick

Blaznana Monkey Trick
Weaknesses: Imaginary, Lighting, Ice, Fire	Resistances: Quantum, physical, Wind
Boss Trait
Steadfast Safeguard: Boss Mirage takes 50% less DMG. After Weakness is broken, action gets additionally delayed and DMG taken increases by 100%.	United Front: All enemy units take 50% less DMG and possesses Switch Tally while in "Classroom Channel." After Boss Mirage's Weakness is Broken, the DMG it receives increases by 100%.
Switch Tally: Unit in the "Classroom Channel" state will gain 1 point in the Switch Tally when attacked. When the Switch Tally hits the max, it will switch the unit to the "Off-Class Channel" state and also reduce the Boss Mirage's Toughness and immediately obtain that unit's "Off-Class Channel" reward 1 time.
Tally Loss: At the beginning of every turn, enemy units in "Classroom Channel" will lose a certain number in the Switch Tally.	SPD Boost: Increases SPD for "End-of-Semester Dinner."

 

Tips

Don’t tunnel one target—this fight is won by flipping units out of Classroom fast. Bring AoE / bounce / frequent FUA and speed/advance so you can max Switch Tallies before they decay each turn. Every time a unit switches to Off-Class (via enough hits or a Break), it shaves a big chunk off the boss’s shared Toughness (up to 1/7 each), and the whole pack shares HP, so wide damage is always efficient. Save your real burst for after the boss is Weakness Broken (damage spikes hard). Track End-of-Semester Dinner: it cleanses CC and removes Break, so don’t rely on perma-freeze—Break a member to delay it, then keep hitting; once all are Broken, each hit chips 2 Toughness, letting multi-hit teams snowball into the next Break.

Talking about Finality’s Axiom, if you take Past Life: Shadowed Reverie, build around summons/memosprites: run multiple memosprite-capable units (plus a sustain/support that doesn’t eat the slot) so you can keep 3+ allies’ summons on the field consistently and enjoy the 60% team DMG boost.

With Whirlwind Turn, prioritize a DoT applier who can keep at least one DoT on enemies at all times, then pair them with fast multi-hit/AoE attackers to trigger the SPD buff every turn and snowball extra actions. If you pick Knowledge and Decorum, slot in one Erudition AoE DPS to unlock the teamwide RES PEN—perfect for this node’s shared-HP, multi-target pace.

 

Recommended Teams

Past Life: Shadowed Reverie Teams

Castorice	Evernight	Cyrene	Hyacine
Cyrene	Evernight	Trailblazer (Remembrance)	Hyacine

Both teams are built to keep 3+ memosprites on-field, so Past Life: Shadowed Reverie stays active almost permanently, turning the node into a straight DPS race. The Castorice version leans harder into raw damage/pressure, while the RMC version trades some output for smoother rotation control and safer pacing. Hyacine anchors sustain without killing tempo, so you can keep hitting to farm Break-triggered advantages.

 

Whirlwind Turn Teams

Hysilens	Kafka	Robin	Dan Heng • Permansor Terrae
Acheron	Hysilens	Tribbie	Dan Heng • Permansor Terrae

Both comps exploit Whirlwind Turn by keeping DoTs up 24/7: Kafka + Hysilens spread/trigger DoT so most hits grant the 25% SPD buff, accelerating channel flips and Break pace. Robin turns that tempo into extra actions, while DHPT shields (and cleanses via summon). In the alt team, Acheron cashes those debuffs into stacks, and Tribbie adds teamwide RES PEN.

 

Knowledge and Decorum Teams

The Herta	Tribbie	Anaxa	Dan Heng • Permansor Terrae
Anaxa	Sunday	Cyrene	Dan Heng • Permansor Terrae

For Knowledge and Decorum, these two lineups make sense because they all include an Erudition unit (The Herta / Anaxa) to activate 15% All-Type RES PEN, then leverage Erudition’s multi-target pressure to hit the monkey squad’s shared HP and accelerate the fight’s Break/Tally pacing. Dan Heng • Permansor Terrae provides the safety net so you can keep cycling attacks instead of playing slow.

 

Conclusion

If this Apocalyptic Shadow in HSR V3.8 feels “weirdly tanky,” it’s because both nodes are designed around earning your damage: Node 1 is all about statue control → Break → burst, while Node 2 rewards tempo comps that keep flipping channels and snowballing shared HP/Toughness. Pick a Finality’s Axiom that matches your roster and the stage becomes way more consistent. 

And if you’re gearing up for this cycle’s banners or just need a quick refill before your next run, LDShop’s the comfy option: fast checkout, secure Oneiric Shard top-ups, and you’re back to grinding Break windows instead of fighting payment pages. Good luck—and may your clears be clean and your rewards shiny.