Overview
The Starcrusher Swarm King: Skaracabaz (Synthetic) is an Echo of War boss in Honkai: Star Rail that was added in Version 1.6, and is a required boss for one of the Trailblaze Continuance quest. Just like the other enemies you'll face near its arena, it's a tough fight that requires you to juggle between multiple enemies at once, requiring a good team and a good strategy to defeat (please note: auto is a good strategy if you have a decent team). If you've invested in certain types of party members, the fight shouldn't be too difficult, but will still pose a challenge even if you have prepared yourself. It is the Echo of War boss for The Swarm faction, functionally serving as the boss variant of a Gnaw Sting and serving as a boss form of the Stings as a whole.
The boss can be found in the center of the Seclusion Zone of the Herta Space station on the lowest floor. It's the area that the Critter Pick event takes place, so you'll likely know your way around the area if you explore a little for the event.
The boss is fought directly in the center of the arena.
Data Bank Bio
"The replica of the Emanator of Propagation by Ruan Mei, briefly manifesting in the world in an incomplete form. Its original form is a giant lepisma that inherited the mandibles of the Imperator Insectorum. It can collect in its mouthparts the death ray that fragmented celestial bodies, and make shattered stars incubators for procreated offspring. It was once of the nightmares across multiple worlds during the Swarm Disaster."
Extra Notes
It is vital that you bring characters that can not only inflict Weakness Break onto the boss itself, but also the two types of enemy that it can spawn, which we will also talk about in this guide. The Starcrusher Swarm King: Skaracabaz (Synthetic) and the Gnaw Sting both deal Quantum Damage, while the Lesser Stings deal Wind Damage.
For recommended F2P units, The Trailblazer (Physical) is vital for this fight, as they can inflict Weakness Break on every enemy in the battle and hit multiple enemies at once. March 7th can hit both the boss and the Gnaw Stings with Ice Damage to inflict weakness break, and can shield allies as well as hit the whole enemy team with certain attacks. Yukong can hit both the boss and the Lesser Stings with Imaginary Damage to inflict Weakness Break, and Asta can hit multiple Lesser Stings with Fire Damage to inflict Weakness Break. For alternative F2P units, Herta can deal Ice Damage, Natasha and Sushang can deal Physical Damage, and The Trailblazer (Fire) can deal Fire Damage. Please note that you can only use one variant of The Trailblazer at a time. It's not recommended to bring Quantum characters such as Qingque as the Starcrusher Swarm King: Skaracabaz (Synthetic) resists Quantum Damage. If you have suitable replacement units for these characters, feel free to use them.
For the rest of this guide, I will now be referring to the Starcrusher Swarm King: Skaracabaz (Synthetic) as Skaracabaz (Synthetic) due to how long the name of it is, and the fact that despite the clone's instability, they are practically the same entity in the short period that the clone's existence is maintained in the physical realm. Skaracabaz (Synthetic) has two phases, each with mostly unique movesets.
Skaracabaz (Synthetic) resists Quantum Damage and is weak to Physical Damage, Ice Damage and Imaginary Damage.
Gnaw Stings are weak to Physical Damage and Ice Damage.
Lesser Stings are weak to Physical Damage, Imaginary Damage and Fire Damage.
Starcrusher Swarm King: Skaracabaz (Synthetic) as shown in the Data Bank.
Moveset - All Phases
Swarm King Cannon - Skaracabaz (Synthetic) will attack a single party member, dealing Quantum Damage.
Radiating Venom - Skaracabaz (Synthetic) will attack a single party member, dealing Quantum Damage with a high chance to debuff them with Entanglement. This attack will also summon a Gnaw Sting. To see the Gnaw Sting's moveset, see its entry below. Entanglement is the Quantum weakness break debuff, delaying the afflicted character's turn and dealing minor Quantum Damage at the start of their turn.
Moveset - Phase 1
Pyrolysis Death Beam - Skaracabaz (Synthetic) will attack a single party member dealing Quantum Damage and hitting all adjacent party members with slightly weaker Quantum Damage.
Carapace of Begotten Swarm - Skaracabaz (Synthetic) will buff itself with the Multiply status. This reduces the amount of damage it takes and summons a Gnaw Sting every time Skaracabaz (Synthetic) is hit. If you are lucky enough to inflict Weakness Break while Skaracabaz (Synthetic) is Multiplying, it will deal damage to every enemy on the field and all enemies aside from Skaracabaz (Synthetic) will take extra damage from attacks.
Moveset - Phase 2
Carapace of Nurtured Disaster - Essentially a buffed version of Carapace of Begotten Swarm. Skaracabaz (Synthetic) will buff itself with the Multiply status. This reduces the amount of damage it takes and summons a Gnaw Sting or a Lesser Sting every time Skaracabaz (Synthetic) is hit. If you are lucky enough to inflict Weakness Break while Skaracabaz (Synthetic) is Multiplying, it will deal damage to every enemy on the field and all enemies aside from Skaracabaz (Synthetic) will take extra damage from attacks. After this attack, Skaracabaz (Synthetic) will always use Ovum of Collapsed Star.
Ovum of Collapsed Star - Skaracabaz (Synthetic) will attack every party member for massive Quantum Damage. This is Skaracabaz (Synthetic)'s strongest attack damage-wise.
Gnaw Sting
A Gnaw Sting as shown in the data bank
"A subspecies of Stings that underwent mutations during reproduction, adept at using Quantum toxins in their mandibles to corrode away the bodies of their prey."
Gnaw Stings are normal enemies that appear primarily in the Herta Space Station. They deal Quantum Damage.
They can be summoned by Skaracabaz (Synthetic) in both phases.
Horn Slash - The Gnaw Sting will attack a single party member, dealing Quantum Damage. The Gnaw Sting will prioritize party members afflicted with Entanglement, and will add an extra stack of Entanglement if they hit.
Decay Eulogy - The Gnaw Sting will deal Quantum Damage to all of its allies after it dies, also slightly increasing the amount of damage they take.
Lesser Sting
A Lesser Sting as shown in the Data Bank
"The youngling of a True Sting. Based on their Growth Stage, young true stings can further be divided into Juvenile Stings and Young Stings."
Lesser Stings are normal enemies that will primarily appear in the Herta Space Station. They deal Wind Damage.
They can be summoned by Skaracabaz (Synthetic) in phase 2.
Prepare to Fight - The Lesser Sting will afflict itself with Charge. When Charging, it will always use Bursting Detonation.
Bursting Detonation - The Lesser Sting will attack a single party member, dealing Wind Damage and hitting all adjacent party members with weaker Wind Damage. The Lesser Sting will die after using this attack. Party members hit by this attack have a chance to be afflicted with Outrage. When Outraged, characters can't be controlled, instead attacking one random opponent.
Entomon Eulogy - The Lesser Sting will deal Wind Damage to all of its allies after it dies, also slightly increasing the amount of damage they take.
Drops
Starcrusher Swarm King: Skaracabaz (Synthetic) drops:
- Musketeer of Wild Wheat (Artifact Set)
- Thief of Shooting Meteor (Artifact Set)
- Lucent Afterglow (Currency)
- Quid Pro Quo (Abundance Light Cone - Regenerates energy to allies)
- Fermata (Nihility Light Cone - Increases Weakness Break affect, increases Shock and Wind Shear DMG, applies to DoT)
- We Are Wildfire (Preservation Light Cone - Decreases DMG taken and restores HP of allies)
- River Flows in Spring (Hunt Light Cone - Increases SPD and DMG until you take damage, regenerating next turn)
- Past and Future (Harmony Light Cone - Increases DMG of next ally after using a Skill)
- Woof! Walk Time! (Destruction Light Cone - Increases ATK, increases Burn and Bleed DMG, applies to DoT)
In addition to these, Starcrusher Swarm King: Skaracabaz (Synthetic) also has a unique drop called the Past Evils of the Borehole Planet Disaster. The Past Evils of the Borehole Planet Disaster are Trace Ascension items that can be used to Ascend the Traces of Ruan Mei and Xueyi.
The Past Evils of the Borehole Planet Disaster.
Extra Notes
If there are any other guides you want to see or you just have a question about the guide or game, don't forget to comment down below and I'll try my best to give you a detailed answer to your search. Any criticisms are greatly appreciated, so don't forget to like the guide if you want to see more or comment on how I can improve my guides.
Hope this helps beat the boss, because it took a few tries for me to beat it myself.
