Blue Archive 4.5th Anniversary Pull Guide: Armed Aris, Kei, Hoshino, and Kuroko Priority
Ashi Prasadi
|2026-05-28The upcoming Blue Archive 4.5-Year Anniversary Festival brings a massive meta shift to the game. It is confirmed to feature the debut of a brand-new armor classification alongside the return of top-tier powerhouse students. Navigating the high-stakes banners of Blue Archive requires precise resource management, especially when a milestone celebration introduces game-changing mechanics. Wanna dominate there, learn their kits and to learn the pulling order for Armed Aris, Kei, Battle Hoshino (B.Hoshino), and Shiroko Kuroko (Terror)? Let’s get deep dive in with this Blue Archive 4.5th anniversary pull guide.
Contents
The Blue Archive 4.5th Anniversary Banner Mechanics
Before allocating your Pyroxene reserves, it is a mustl to understand the distinct structural phases of this anniversary event. The celebration splits into two separate recruiting windows, each operating under entirely different rate-up rules and pool structures.
Phase 1: The 100 Free Pulls Week (May 26)
The Blue Archive anniversary kicked off with a standard recruitment window offering 100 free pulls distributed across the first segment.
- Featured Units: Alternate utility variants Armed Rio (Plugsuit), Armed Himari (Hoverbike), and the farmable world raid reward Armed Toki will be there in the Blue Archive tier list.
- Important Caveat: These free pulls cannot be saved or carried over into the Phase 2 Festival banner. You must spend them within Phase 1.
Phase 2: The Double Rate-Up Festival (FES) Banner (June 9)
As soon as the free-pull week concludes, the official Festival banner goes live. This is where your primary Pyroxene reserves should be deployed.
- The 6% 3-Star Rate: The base rate for pulling any 3-star student doubles from the standard 3% to 6%, making this the most cost-effective time to flesh out an underdeveloped roster.
- Limited Availability: All four focal students: Armed Aris, Kei, Battle Hoshino, and Shiroko Kuroko are FES-limited. They will not join the permanent recruitment pool after their banners expire. Armed Aris and Kei are the primary rate-ups, while Battle Hoshino and Shiroko Terror receive dedicated rerun rate-ups.
Decoding the Meta Shift: Composite Armor
The headline mechanic of the Blue Archive 4.5th Anniversary is the official introduction of Composite Armor which is represented visually as a distinct green defense type. Armed Aris and Kei are the vanguard units debuting this trait.
Understanding exactly how this defense tier interacts with existing offensive types is vital for predicting upcoming Raid requirements so here is a look:
|
Attack Type |
Effectiveness vs. Composite Armor |
Damage Modifier |
|---|---|---|
|
Corrosive (Green Attack) |
Weakness (Major Counter) |
200% Damage |
|
Penetration (Yellow Attack) |
Effective |
150% Damage |
|
Explosion (Red Attack) |
Resistance |
50% Damage |
|
Mystic / Sonic / Siege |
Neutral |
100% Damage |
Strategic Note: Composite Armor treats Yellow (Penetration) damage as highly effective (150%), so these new students offer alternative flexibility in established Yellow mechanics while preparing your roster directly for future Green-centric endgame content.
Individual Student Breakdowns
|
Student Name |
Role and Damage / Armor Type |
Notes |
|---|---|---|
|
Battle Hoshino (B.Hoshino) |
Frontline Tactical Support / Offensive Tank Sonic (Purple) / Elastic (Purple) |
Kit Assessment: Battle Hoshino remains an absolute apex-tier unit in Blue Archive. Her EX skill provides a localized, continuous offensive aura that drastically accelerates the Attack Power and Critical Damage values of nearby allies. Beyond raw offensive amplification, her passive skills grant high self-sustain, allowing her to serve as a high-defense anchor in complex endgame stages. Raid Relevance: Universally mandatory for high-tier Sonic (Purple) Raids like Kurokage and an exceptional multi-purpose slot-in for hybrid scaling teams. |
|
Shiroko Kuroko (Terror) |
Main Dedicated DPS / Hypercarry Mystic (Blue) / Heavy Armor (Yellow) |
Kit Assessment: Shiroko Terror is designed purely to melt single-target boss health bars. Her kit relies on a low-cost, rapidly cycling EX skill that delivers high-multiplier tracking damage. Combined with passive self-buffs that continuously scale her Critical Rate and Attack Speed based on elapsed battle time, she easily out-damages standard blue dealers. Raid Relevance: Dominates Mystic Raids (such as ShiroKuro and Goz) and functions as a premier hypercarry option across general neutral-damage challenges. |
|
Tendou Aris (Armed Ver.) |
Mid-line Burst Dealer Mystic (Blue) / Composite Armor (Green)
|
Kit Assessment: Shedding her traditional bulky railgun for an agile Assault Rifle setup, Armed Aris operates on a unique "Energy Level" mechanics system. Her 2-cost basic utility skill rotates her own EX skill to the bottom of the deck, redrawing a fresh skill card while adding 1 stack of Energy (capping at 2). When her primary EX skill is unleashed, it consumes these accumulated Energy stacks to multiply her straight-line linear damage by up to 3x, while turning all base damage output entirely into EX-type damage. Raid Relevance: Highly effective for clearing waves in specific linear environments and functions as an optimal choice for high-armor single-target encounters requiring rapid deck cycling |
|
Tendou Kei |
Rear-line Piercing DPS / Special Utility Penetration (Yellow) / Composite Armor (Green) |
Kit Assessment: Making her highly anticipated transition from an AI entity to a fully playable humanoid student, Kei is equipped with a heavy Railgun. Her kit focuses on massive linear piercing multipliers combined with intrinsic stat boosts to base HP and Critical Damage via her customized Amplifier field. Notably, when deployed alongside any variant of Aris on the same active tactical squad, both students trigger a completely unique, synchronized victory animation. Raid Relevance: Tailor-made for heavy straight-line mob clearing and acts as a primary DPS option for upcoming bosses designed around the green Composite Armor profile |
Pulling Priority
When allocating your Pyroxenes on the FES banner, follow this strict priority order to maximize account progression efficiency:
Highest Priority: Battle Hoshino (B.Hoshino):
If you do not own B.Hoshino, this is your primary spark target. Pure hypercarries can occasionally be borrowed from a high-level club member, but universal tactical supports that alter your entire team's stat floor cannot be skipped. Her aura completely alters clear-time speeds in endgame environments.
High Priority: Shiroko Kuroko (Terror):
As a blue hypercarry, Shiroko Terror represents raw account power. If your account lacks a premier single-target Mystic killer, Shiroko Terror fills that critical hypercarry void perfectly.
Balanced Priority: Tendou Kei vs. Armed Aris:
Armed Aris and Kei should be evaluated based on your current roster needs. They introduce the Composite Armor ecosystem, so they are heavily future-proofed.
- Select Tendou Kei if you require massive backline multi-hit linear scaling to match upcoming heavy-defense endgame bosses.
- Select Armed Aris if you prefer low-cost deck-cycling strategies and rapid burst profiles to cycle through skills quickly.
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People Also Ask
Should I skip the Phase 1 banners to save free pulls for Armed Aris and Kei?
No. The 100 free pulls provided during the first week of the 4.5th Anniversary celebration are strictly locked to the Phase 1 banners. They do not accumulate, convert, or carry over into the Phase 2 Festival banner. You must spend them within Phase 1 before they expire on June 9.
What makes the 4.5th Anniversary Festival banner better than standard banners?
The Festival banner features a permanent 3-star drop rate optimization, doubling the standard acquisition probability from 3% up to 6%. Additionally, it is the only recruitment window where elite FES-exclusive students like Battle Hoshino and Shiroko Kuroko become obtainable or targetable via rate-ups.
Do Armed Aris and Kei require specific team setups to be effective?
While both excel independently in Penetration and future Corrosive roles, deploying them together unlocks ideal thematic synergy. They both feature the new Composite Armor defense type and share a unique custom tactical victory animation when finishing a combat stage on the same active team, though their skill mechanics function completely self-sufficiently.
Conclusion
And that is how your priority for the Blue Archive 4.5th anniversary pulls should go. First, it should be B. Hoshino and then Shiroko Kuroko. While the least should be the Tendou Keri and Armed Aris, it does not mean that they are less useful. Now that you have learned their worth with this guide, here is your chance to test your luck. And do not forget to claim the best from the Blue Archive codes as well.
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