HSR Memory of Chaos: Gambler’s Plight review – Silver Wolf is so back

The original endgame of Honkai: Star Rail, Memory of Chaos, remains one of the most fun – and sometimes frustrating – challenges for players. Whether it’s tackling the task of obtaining every possible star for the first time or a self-imposed labor like doing so within a single cycle, building powerful teams for this mode is what collecting all those characters and farming their perfect Relics is for.

The latest MoC – Gambler’s Plight (released August 4, 2025) – truly feels like it rewards a deep and varied roster: I’ve used a total of six different teams in the eight combat challenges from Stage 9 to 12 — more than for any previous MoC.

What’s refreshing about this iteration of the mode is that the current gimmick is fairly universal, despite being a DoT effect. Pretty much any team can use the extra damage from targeting the debuffed enemy with Skills to its advantage, so for once it doesn’t feel like the mode is focused on exhorting a recent or upcoming character, trying to nudge people into pulling.

Let's review my successful run through the current MoC and see if there's anything in it that can help you get those stars.

Gambler’s Plight – Stage 9

• Team 1: Archer, Sparkle, Silver Wolf, Gallagher
• Team 2: Firefly, Fugue, Ruan Mei, Lingsha
• Cycles: 0 (3/3 Stars)

Archer has a good time in the first half of this stage with Quantum Weakness being abundant and his kit being Skill-focused, meaning that he can easily benefit from the stage buff. As long as you have some Quantum DMG available to you, this half should be doable.

Firefly seemed perfect for the second stage, even with Fugue instead of Trailblazer (Harmony) — I’d definitely recommend a Break DMG team to anyone struggling here, since that archetype is especially effective against The Past, Present, and Eternal Show.

Gambler’s Plight – Stage 10

• Team 1: Acheron, Kafka, Black Swan, Huohuo
• Team 2: The Herta, Jade, Trailblazer (Remembrance), Lingsha
• Cycles: 2 (3/3 Stars)

My Lightning DMG options are somewhat limited to Acheron and Kafka (I have Jing Yuan, but no Sunday), so they had to take up the mantle here. While intended to boost Kafka as a DoT character, her recent buffs do benefit Acheron as well, since more Follow-Up Attacks mean more debuff infliction, which in turn charges Acheron’s Ultimate faster. While it’s not optimal, they are strong enough to get the job done on this level.

The second half is a perfect playground for The Herta, although a Break DMG team around Firefly or Rappa would perform nicely here as well. In fact, they might be the better option — Energy reduction abilities, like these enemies have them, can be very annoying for The Herta, who is so reliant on her Ultimate. I just like the way she smugly deletes the entire field.

Gambler’s Plight – Stage 11

• Team 1: Saber, Bronya, Cipher, Huohuo
• Team 2: The Herta, Jade, Trailblazer (Remembrance), Lingsha
• Cycles: 6 (3/3 Stars)

Wind Weakness being abundant is all the excuse I need to whip out Saber and Excalibur any foe in sight, but characters like Blade or Feixiao will do nicely here. If you have a Black Swan DoT team, that’s another possible choice for this half.

Flame Reaver is a tough nut to crack, as he’s both tanky and actually dangerous thanks to his own damage output — usually, my go-to way is using The Herta or Castorice, as they provide ample ways of targeting both Flame Reaver and his clones, weakening his damage output.

Gambler’s Plight – Stage 12

• Team 1: Saber, Bronya, Cipher, Huohuo
• Team 2: Castorice, Trailblazer (Remembrance), Silver Wolf, Lingsha
• Cycles: 10 (3/3 Stars)

Teams that were successful in the first half of Stage 10 or 11 should be doing nicely in Stage 12. Svarog is among the less dangerous foes you can face, though his Auxiliary Robot Arm Unit can ruin your set-up sometimes, introducing a bit of RNG.

By far the most challenging part of this MoC was the second half of Stage 12 for me — I did not pull for Phainon, you see, and my only Physical DMG 5-Star is Clara, who isn’t exactly a beast at clearing enemies on a timer. But that’s where a deep roster comes in handy. 

I tried the Archer comp I used in Stage 9 at first, but it was far too squishy and got obliterated before I even got to Aventurine. I considered using the Acheron comp, but as unoptimized as it is I didn’t fancy my chances of getting full stars with it. Then I remembered that Silver Wolf is, in fact, quite usable outside of Mono-Quantum comps now thanks to her recent buffs. Having her fill in for Cipher on Castorice’s team solved the problem of Aventurine not having any Quantum Weakness — but it was still a close thing, literally down to the final attack before the turn counter went over the critical threshold. GG, Wolfie. GG.

I’m not one to complain about HP inflation, but that man sure is tanky, eating dragon breath after dragon breath like it was nothing. Still: With a generally applicable combat mechanic and a varied roster of foes, I think this has been the most fun MoC in HSR for a good while.

As always, your own solutions will likely end up differing from the ones above, since everyone has different characters, equipment, and preferred comps. Just remember not to stress out over zero-cycling the challenges, since that literally doesn’t matter, and just aim for those three stars on all stages to earn those Stellar Jades.