Best Teams for Pure Fiction in Honkai: Star Rail (1.6)

Pure Fiction is the newest challenge mode in Honkai: Star Rail with a high emphasis on AoE damage rather than focusing on a single target. For that reason, the best-recommended characters here are a bit different than usual, and here are some of the best teams for the mode.

Best Pure Fiction Teams in Honkai: Star Rail

While any character can clear the stages given enough investment, the teams listed here focus on getting all 12 stars in Pure Fiction with the least effort possible. Use them according to the stage’s weaknesses and adapt them to fit your own characters. Teams aren’t listed in any particular order, and any variation of these will most likely get you some good stars.

1 – Argenti Hypercarry

• Team Example: Argenti, Tingyun, Pela (Flex), Huohuo (Flex).
• Other options: Hanya, Luocha, Fu Xuan, Natasha.

This game mode is the perfect playground for the Knight of Beauty. Bring as many damage-increasing utilities as you can to ramp up its damage to the maximum. Tingyun is essential to quickly stack Argenti’s energy, so try to keep her on his side whenever possible.

Hanya is also a viable option, especially with Planetary Rendezvous Light Cone + Penacony set. Use her instead of Pela if you want. You might not get enough usage of her single-target debuffs as you normally do, though, as targets will usually die quickly.

2 – Himeko Follow-Up

• Team Example: Himeko, Asta, Ruan Mei (Flex), Fu Xuan (Flex).
• Other options: Herta, Topaz.

This is Himeko’s time to shine. Pairing her and Asta makes Breaking opponents easy, which makes her go absolutely crazy with those Follow-ups. Ruan Mei makes it even better if you have her. Alternatively, you can bring Herta with her as her own follow-up is pretty easy to activate, too, with this setup. If bringing Asta, give her Planetary Rendezvous at the very least.

Topaz can help with this playstyle, being one of the few viable Hunt characters in this mode thanks to enhancing character’s follow-ups. She also helps with Fire breaks, enabling Himeko to deal even further damage.

3 – Jing Yuan Follow-Up

• Team Comp: Jing Yuan, Tingyun, Pela (Flex), Huohuo (Flex).
• Other options: Hanya, Luocha, Fu Xuan, Serval.

Pretty much the same case with Argenti, but Tingyun can be the holder for Planetary + Penacony. The Lightning Lord can take a bit longer to hit the enemies, so having extra energy to make up for it with your Ultimate is a must. Slot in Serval as a sub-carry if there are enough Lightning-weak enemies in this stage.

4 – Jingliu/Herta Ice Teams

• Team Example: Jingliu, Herta, Pela, Gepard (Flex).
• Other options: Ruan Mei, Tingyun, Asta.

Traditional Jingliu teams are efficient here, but the Herta variation is particularly strong. You still want to boost Jingliu mainly, but Herta will do the job of finishing whichever opponents remain on the field once she finishes attacking. Their Ultimates can go crazy here, so using them to Break your enemies at the right time is perfect, especially if you bring Ruan Mei.

You can also go for a regular Jingliu carry team or use Herta in her place if you don’t have her. Results can still be the same with powerful supports at the carry’s side.

5 – Qingque Carry

• Team Example: Qingque, Bronya (Flex), Xueyi (Flex), Fu Xuan (Flex).
• Other options: Lynx, Hanya, Tingyun.

Qingque is the perfect unit for dealing Qingqillion damage to the never-ending waves of enemies in Pure Fiction. If you haven’t built yours yet, she’s surprisingly strong for a 4-star once you get her E4, and becomes an even stronger beast at E6. Xueyi is a great partner for her, so bring her too if you have her.

If you have a strong Seele but haven’t leveled your Qingque yet, you can borrow her items exclusively for this mode, so you only have to bother with leveling an Erudition Light Cone. This team can be quite SP-heavy, so be careful.

6 – Destruction Carries

• Team Example: Any Destruction character, Pela, Bronya (Flex), Luocha (Flex).
• Other options: Tingyun, Yukong, and Abundance characters in general.

Dan Heng, Blade, Clara, Xueyi, and other Destructions characters are all amazing in this mode. They usually have a Blast attack (three targets maximum), but that’s usually enough for getting 3 stars if they’re well-built. They’re particularly good in dual-carry comps (especially Xueyi and Clara), so consider adding them. Otherwise, your usual comp for these will do fine.

Clara, in particular, can be slower as she depends on being hit. But with lots of enemies in each wave, it’s hard for that not to happen.

What Characters Are Bad for Pure Fiction?

As for what you should be avoiding, Hunt characters will struggle way more than others due to lacking AoE damage, so avoid bringing those into your team, with Topaz being an exception in certain cases.

Nihility DoT comps also struggle a bit with reapplying their debuffs at the new targets, but can still do pretty well regardless of that. Paths with raw, direct damage (namely Erudition and Destruction) are still preferred, but they’re okay for getting some easy stars.

If running a dual-carry comp with overinvested units, Abundance/Preservation characters are unnecessary if you can delete enemies quickly. No need for healing if there’s no damage received. But this is a more specific case, especially in later stages where damage stacks up pretty fast. When in doubt, bring a sustain character just in case.