In version 3.6 of Honkai: Star Rail, HoYoverse officially announces the addition of a new permanent endgame mode called “Anomaly Arbitration”. This came after months of player demand and rumors about new high-difficulty content. The announcement gives a clear description of the next great challenge in the game that is going to be above the existing trio of Memory of Chaos, Pure Fiction, and Apocalyptic Shadow.
At a recent HoYolab post, Anomaly Arbitration is set up as a progression of trials to a final challenge. In the first three trials, the player has to develop three different teams. This requirement puts team selection under scrutiny and tests the player’s strategic insight. A character used in one trial cannot be used in another. This concept is common in high-level content, in order not to let players depend too much on a few strong units. So far, players have free choice of combinations to face the final hard boss after finishing these three stages.
This update is not easy to activate, though. Players must have completely beaten through all high-difficulty content first, including Stage 12 of Memory of Chaos, Stage 4 of Pure Fiction, and Difficulty 4 of Apocalyptic Shadow. This makes Anomaly Arbitration the ultimate test for players eminently skilled at the current challenges of the game. The developers have also confirmed that players can take their time to do these tasks, as they don’t have to do them all in one version update.
In addition to the new mode, version 3.6 will include other quality-of-life enhancements, such as team formation guides and a new event preview tab. Although still months away, fans can probably expect to receive more information during the next official livestream, where the spotlight will also be on newly introduced characters Cerydra and Hysilens. Anomaly Arbitration is set to become the hardest mode yet in Honkai: Star Rail, and the community is keen to see if it truly delivers on that promise.
