Genshin Impact’s new endgame mode, Stygian Onslaught, was supposed to be a big deal for hardcore players after years of Spiral Abyss. Instead, HoYoverse dropped a clunky, overtuned disaster that feels like it’s built for whales and screws over everyone else. With bosses that have ridiculous HP, stupidly short timers, and mechanics that basically demand specific characters, it’s just a beefed-up Abyss that’s no fun. YouTubers are ripping it apart in videos, and Redditors are losing it over how bad it is.
A Lazy Rehash of Spiral Abyss
Stygian Onslaught is basically a boss rush where you bring three teams of four characters—no repeats—to fight souped-up versions of the Hydro Tulpa, Lava Dragon Statue, and Secret Source Automaton: Overseer Device. Sound familiar? It’s just Spiral Abyss Floor 12 with a new name, but with insane HP pools (like 30 million across three bosses on the toughest setting) and a brutal 120-second timer per fight, plus a 180-second cap for the fancy 5-star weapon skin. This isn’t clever difficulty; it’s just lazy number-crunching to make things hard, punishing anyone without maxed-out meta teams.
The whole thing feels half-baked. Instead of cool new mechanics or rewarding smart play, HoYoverse just made HP sponges with tight timers. One Redditor summed it up: “Short timer + giant HP pool is never fun.” You also start with zero energy for Elemental Bursts, so you’re stuck wasting time building energy before you can even fight properly. It’s a setup that screams “pull for Mavuika or Skirk” since they don’t need energy as much, which is just HoYoverse pushing their latest banners. It’s not about skill—it’s about your wallet.
A Whale’s Playground, Everyone Else’s Nightmare
The difficulty in Stygian Onslaught is just absurd. Even players who crush Spiral Abyss and Imaginarium Theater are getting wrecked on Fearless and Dire difficulties. One long-time player with a stacked account—every character, multiple five-star weapons—said they “handled Fearless fine” but called Dire “way too much.” YouTubers like Zajef77, who knows the game inside out, are failing Dire bosses even with heavily invested teams, proving you need whale-level gear to stand a chance.
The mode basically demands specific characters. Hydro Tulpa needs Cryo units to stop its HP-regen Mini-Tulpas. Lava Dragon Statue wants Pyro powerhouses like Emilie or Chevreuse to stun it. Overseer Device? You’re toast without Escoffier or Skirk for steady Cryo. If you don’t have these characters (or their high constellations and signature weapons), good luck. A Redditor griped, “My account’s solid, but I’m stuck because I never built Dendro.” YouTube channels like Gacha Gamer are calling it “way too hard,” pointing out that even veteran accounts can’t handle Difficulty 5 in co-op for rewards like Dust of Enlightenment. It’s not about being good at the game—it’s about spending big.
Predatory Rewards and FOMO
The rewards are a slap in the face. You get 450 Primogems for clearing the first three difficulties, which most players can manage, but the good stuff—weapon skins and Dust of Enlightenment—is locked behind Menacing, Fearless, and Dire. Want the 4-star skins? Clear Dire. The 5-star skins? Clear Dire in 180 seconds total. Oh, and those skins vanish after the patch ends, which is a cheap trick to pressure you into playing. One player said, “The best reward in the game, and it’s basically nothing.”
The artifact farming is a joke too. You can spend Resin for extra artifacts in the first 10 days, but the payout’s awful. An X user complained, “I barely survived Difficulty IV and got ONE extra artifact for all that?” With the Resin cost and crazy difficulty, you’re better off sticking to normal artifact domains.
Community Outrage and a Call for Change
Reddit and X are blowing up with complaints. Posts like “Stygian Onslaught is terrible design” and “This boss is the worst thing in Genshin” are getting thousands of upvotes. Players feel punished for not having specific characters or skipping banners. One F2P player with five years in the game said, “First time I feel screwed for not pulling Mavuika, Skirk, or Kinich.” X users are calling it “the worst endgame mode ever” and saying “98% of players can’t get the skins.”
Co-op is a nice idea, but it’s pointless since only solo clears count for the best rewards. Even in co-op, the high HP and short timers make it a grind, with players barely scraping by even with good teams.
A Missed Opportunity
Stygian Onslaught could’ve been awesome—a tough, rewarding mode that showed off Genshin’s combat system. Instead, it’s a frustrating, whale-only slog that cares more about money than fun. Players don’t want easy content; they want fair content that rewards skill, not just spending. One Redditor nailed it: “Hard, challenging content is fine, but giant HP pools and mechanics that force specific teams suck.”
HoYoverse could fix this by easing up on timers, cutting HP bloat, or making bosses less character-dependent. For now, Stygian Onslaught is a harsh reminder of Genshin’s growing power creep and greedy monetization. As players keep complaining, let’s hope HoYoverse listens before the next patch throws more unobtainable skins at us.
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