How To Beat Pollux, Netherwing Husk, Ferry Of Souls In HSR

Pollux will also likely make her way to the Forgotten Hall, so knowing how to beat her is paramount if you want all 36 stars. We’ll go over what you need to know today.

All Pollux, Netherwing Husk, Ferry Of Souls Attacks

Pollux, Netherwing Husk, Ferry Of Souls sitting in a field of flowers in Honkai Star Rail.

The greatest threat Pollux poses is not a lengthy attack list like the Flame Reaver, nor is it massive damage potential like Nikador. Instead, her strategy is robbing your team of health using “non-fatal” damage.

She can even reduce every member of your team to one HP, then let her tentacles do the rest.

While Pollux won’t immediately down your team after reducing them to one HP, you will need to save your sustain character’s best healing to make sure her next attack doesn’t send you packing.

Pollux does, of course, have a set of more traditional attacks, but her ability to drain HP is far and away her strongest ability.

Pollux, Netherwing Husk, Ferry Of Souls Passive Abilities

Pollux, Netherwing Husk, Ferry Of Souls passive abilities in Honkai Star Rail.

You won’t need to deal with too much from Pollux’s passives, as they mostly determine the damage you deal and how much of a specific effect builds when Pollux deals damage.

Passive Name

Description

Damage Mitigation

(Unremovable)

Pollux takes 90% reduced damage from all sources.

Dream of Demise

(Unremovable)

When Pollux reduces a character’s HP, it builds Desperate Bubble gauge. At 100% Desperate Bubble, Pollux’s action advances, and she enters the Fragrance of Death state on her next turn.

Pollux, Netherwing Husk, Ferry Of Souls Attack Effects

Pollux, Netherwing Husk, Ferry Of Souls damage and debuff effects in Honkai Star Rail.

Pollux is unique because she introduces new damage types and effects to the game, primarily around HP manipulation rather than raw damage. These effects and damage types also define the flow of her fight.

Effect

Description

Non-fatal Damage

A character is attacked by non-fatal damage cannot have its HP reduced below one, even if the attack would otherwise do so.

Atrophy Damage

Fixed damage that cannot be reduced by shields or redistributed by character abilities.

Even Distribution

Damage and debuffs inflicted by this kind of attack are split evenly across all targets.

Fragrance of Death

Pollux Speed increases at the end of every turn. When she or her Long Arm of Sorrow tentacles are attacked, all targets are healed and Desperate Bubble’s buildup is reduced. If Desperate Bubble is consumed, this state is dispelled.

Indulging Slumber

When a character in this state deals damage, the damage they do is reduced. This effect dispels if that character’s HP is restored past a certain point.

Pollux, Netherwing Husk, Ferry Of Souls Phase One Attacks

Pollux, Netherwing Husk, Ferry Of Souls phase one attacks in Honkai Star Rail.

The first phase of the fight with Pollux sets the stage for the rest of the battle, as she doesn’t gain many additional attacks in phase two. Her big, flashy ultimate doesn’t arrive until phase two either, so you can take a bit more time in this first segment to learn the encounter.

However, Pollux can still reduce your entire team to one HP in this portion of the encounter, and you’ll need to start healing as soon as she does.

After using her massive HP-draining attack, Pollux’s Long Arms of Sorrow tentacles will have their actions delayed to give you a single set of turns to start healing.

Save your healing character’s Ultimate for the one-health portion of the fight, as those attacks give you an effective extra turn that takes turn order priority.

Attack Name

Description

To Die in Aromatic Pain

Pollux enters the Fragrance of Death enhanced state and deals massive, Quantum “non-fatal” Atrophy damage to all characters. All affected characters are also afflicted by Indulging Slumber.

To Stay the Fallen

Deals Quantum damage to a single target, converting some damage to Atrophy damage for characters with health above a certain percentage.

To Bury the Slumbered

Deals massive Quantum damage to all characters, evenly distributing the damage across them. If any character’s HP is above a specific percentage, the damage dealt is instead Quantum Atrophy damage.

To Mourn the Departing

Deals Quantum Atrophy damage to three random characters.

Bitterness Delivers Belated Evil News

Enhances all active Long Arms of Sorrow and advances its action. The enhanced state lasts three turns.

Inky Fog of a Near Death Dream

Decreases damage taken by both Pollux and the Long Arms of Sorrow. They accumulate Desperate Bubble when damaged, transitioning Pollux to the enhanced Fragrance of Death state when Desperate Bubble reaches its maximum.

While enhanced, Pollux and the Long Arms of Sorrow lose their innate damage reduction.

When the Fragrance of Death state is dispelled, Pollux will take additional damage and restore characters’ HP.

Because I Could Not Sleep For Death

When Pollux or The Long Arms of Death hit a character with an ability, that character acquires an unremovable DoT effect that deals more non-fatal damage the more HP the character has.

The Long Arm Of Sorrow Attacks

One of Pollux, Netherwing Husk, Ferry Of Souls arms attacking in Honkai Star Rail.

Pollux has two tentacles that fight alongside her called The Long Arms Of Sorrow, and they have both their own turns and brief attack list. They’re most dangerous after Pollux uses To Die in Aromatic Pain and reduces your team’s HP to one, as they deal lethal damage.

Attack

Description

The Living Shan’t Flee

This attack deals minor Quantum damage to one character.

The Dead Shan’t Avoid

Deals minor Quantum damage to one character and the two adjacent to them. Characters with HP above a certain percentage receive Atrophy damage instead.

Between Life and Death

While the Long Arm of Sorrow is in the Overdue Obituary state, The Living Shan’t Flee is enhanced to The Dead Shan’t Avoid.

Pollux, Netherwing Husk, Ferry Of Souls Phase Two Attacks

Pollux, Netherwing Husk, Ferry Of Souls phase two attacks in Honkai Star Rail.

The second phase of the Pollux, Netherwing Husk, Ferry Of Souls boss fight adds only a single new attack, but like Nikador and the Flame Reaver, it’s a doozy. Big, flashy, and dealing a ton of damage, you need to prepare for it, as it can come shortly after the one-HP attack.

You’ll know the big attack is coming because Pollux’s icon on the turn order will show as shimmering, so start healing immediately. Breaking Pollux’s Toughness can cancel the attack, but in our playthrough, it came out so fast there wasn’t time.

Attack

Description

Death Wishes For More Death

Deals Quantum Atrophy damage to all characters. Characters in the Indulging Slumber state take additional damage, have their action delayed, and have a high chance of becoming Entangled.

Tips For Beating Pollux, Netherwing Husk, Ferry Of Souls

Pollux, Netherwing Husk, Ferry Of Souls using its ultimate attack in Honkai Star Rail.

There are two main things you should focus on when fighting Pollux:

  1. Keep your healer ready for the To Die in Aromatic Pain attack. No matter who your healer is, it’s imperative you get your team back from the one-HP brink before Pollux or her tentacles can do any real damage.
  2. Reduce the Fragrance of Death gauge as much as possible. You can’t stop the buildup, but once the gauge fills, dealing damage to Pollux and its Long Arms of Sorrow reduces the gauge and thus the amount of buffs the boss has active.

As an HP manipulator, fighting Pollux with a shield unit like Aventurine or Gepard is a losing game. The dragon’s abilities go right past any shield effect.

Worse, because almost all of Pollux’s attacks deal AoE damage, units like Fu Xuan are liable to take KO-level damage. And that’s not considering the damage Pollux deals that can’t be redistributed, making Fu Xuan’s kit essentially worthless.

In short, your Sustain character will need to be a more traditional healer like Huo Huo, Lingsha, Luocha, or Gallagher.

Best Teams To Beat Pollux, Netherwing Husk, Ferry Of Souls

Castorice and her dragon Pollux ready to fight in Honkai Star Rail.

Like any new gacha game boss, the best character to beat Pollux is Castorice, the featured character released alongside her. Castorice makes quick work of all of Pollux’s mechanics and, with the right team, melts the boss’s HP in literal seconds.

Pollux also has Wind and Imaginary weaknesses, meaning you have other options from previous releases.

Premium Castorice Team

Castorice, Trailblazer, Tribbie, and Luocha in a team in Honkai Star Rail.

Character

Rarity

Path

Element

Type

Castorice

5-Star

Remembrance

Quantum

Main DPS

Remembrance Trailblazer

5-Star

Remembrance

Ice

Support

Tribbie

5-Star

Harmony

Quantum

Support/DPS Hybrid

Luocha

5-Star

Abundance

Imaginary

Sustain

  • Castorice is the best DPS to fight Pollux with, thanks to her sheer volume of Quantum output, Skill point friendliness, and ease of use.
  • Remembrance Trailblazer buffs Castorice to deal True Damage, essentially doubling her damage output.
  • Tribbie applies a massive Defesne ignore to the team and offers some of the best supplemental DPS in the game to boot.
  • Luocha’s healing field makes every character’s attack heal the entire team, including Castorice’s dragon’s breath weapon, giving everyone a bit more leeway.

Premium Rappa Team

Rappa, Trailblazer, Fugue, and Lingsha in a team in Honkai Star Rail.

Character

Rarity

Path

Element

Type

Rappa

5-Star

Erudition

Imaginary

Main DPS

Harmony Trailblazer

5-Star

Harmony

Imaginary

Buffer

Fugue

5-Star

Nihility

Fire

Buffer

Lingsha

5-Star

Abundance

Fire

Sustain/Hybrid DPS

  • Rappa dishes out impressive Super Break damage across the enemy field, as long as the enemy’s Toughness is broken.
  • Harmony Trailblazer enhances Rappa’s Super Break damage output and offers a modest amount of Imaginary damage of their own.
  • Fugue takes Rappa’s Super Break damage to another level and applies a second Toughness bar after an enemy’s been broken, allowing them to break twice.
  • Lingsha is a healer and DPS in one, so long as the enemy is Weakness Broken.

Free-To-Play Team

Qingque, Trailblazer, March 7th, and Gallagher in a team in Honkai Star Rail.

Character

Rarity

Path

Element

Type

Qingque

4-Star

Erudition

Quantum

Main DPS

Remembrance Trailblazer

5-Star

Remembrance

Ice

Support

Imaginary March 7th

4-Star

Hunt

Imaginary

Sub-DPS

Gallagher

4-Star

Abundance

Fire

Sustain

  • Qingque offers serviceable AoE Quantum damage despite being a massive Skill Point sink.
  • Remembrance Trailblazer lets Qingque deal additional True Damage, making up for her otherwise lacking DPS.
  • Imaginary March 7th provides some follow-up attack damage and Weakness Break on her chosen target.
  • Gallagher allows your team to heal off attacking Pollux, provided you’ve used his Ultimate to apply the Besotted debuff. His single-target heals are nothing to sneeze at, either.

Next

Honkai: Star Rail – Every Playable Character’s Age, Height, Path And Element

We take a look at the age, height, path and element of every playable character in Honkai: Star Rail.

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