Best and Worst New Units in Anime Overload 05

The best new unit in Anime Overload 05 is the first-half limited burst DPS — it is the only addition in this update that clears current endgame content at low investment and still scales to the top of the damage charts when maxed. The worst is the second-half limited debuffer: its damage-over-time kit is outscaled by a free event healer, and taking it to full awakening costs roughly 40% more resources than the burst DPS while returning about two-thirds of the value. Everything else sits in between, and the two standard-pool additions are quietly the best value in the patch for anyone who is not chasing a limited banner.

This guide ranks all nine new units from the 05 update by role, upgrade value, resource cost, and team compatibility, and it tells you plainly which ones are poor investments so you can stop spending before you regret it.

The verdict at a glance

If you only read one table in this article, read this one. “Functional” means the unit has its key passive unlocked, sits at the level cap for its current ascension, and has its core skill at level 8 — the point where most units start performing the job you pulled them for. “Maxed” means full ascension, full skill levels, and the awakening tier that unlocks the final passive.

How these rankings were built

Four axes decide every placement in this article, and they are weighted differently depending on who you are.

• Role fit. Does the unit do a job that the current endgame actually asks for? A damage dealer that cannot break shields is worth less than a weaker damage dealer that can, because content gates on mechanics more often than on raw numbers.
• Upgrade value. How much does the unit improve per copy and per skill level? Some kits are 90% functional at one copy. Others need three duplicates before the rotation stops feeling clunky, which is a very different purchase.
• Resource cost. Manuals, cores, gold, and time-gated ascension materials. A unit that costs 110 manuals to max competes with two units that cost 55 each, and in a game where manuals arrive at a fixed weekly rate, that is a real trade.
• Team compatibility. How many existing units does the new addition make better, and how many does it require? A unit that needs two specific partners is a much bigger commitment than a unit that slots into any team.

One important framing note before the individual write-ups: “functional” is the number that matters for most players. Fully maxing a unit is a long-tail project that only pays off in the top bracket of competitive modes. If you are deciding where to spend this patch, compare the “cost to functional” column, not the “cost to max” column.

The resource math behind the rankings

Resource cost is where most ranking lists get vague, so here is the actual accounting. The 05 update introduced a slightly steeper manual curve on limited units — the last four skill levels on a limited unit now cost 1.4x what they cost on a standard-pool unit of the same role. That single change is why the standard-pool caster ranks above the limited tank despite the tank having a stronger kit on paper.

Read that table against the verdict list and the shape of the patch becomes obvious. A player earning roughly 28 manuals a week can bring one limited unit to functional in about a week and a half, but maxing it takes over three weeks of complete manual income with nothing else competing. Two limited units in the same patch is not a resource problem you can solve by playing more; it is a scheduling problem, and it means you are choosing one unit and letting the other sit at level 6 skills for a month.

Unit-by-unit breakdown

1. First-half limited burst DPS (Fire) — the patch winner

Role. Single-target burst damage with a short setup window. The kit front-loads damage into a three-second window after a skill cast, which lines up neatly with the break phases most bosses use in the current endgame rotation.

Why it ranks first. It is the only new unit that is genuinely good at one copy. The passive that matters — a damage bonus that scales with the number of debuffs on the target — unlocks at the first ascension, not at the final awakening. That means a player who pulls a single copy and stops has roughly 85% of the unit’s ceiling, which is unusually generous for a limited banner and is the single biggest reason to prioritise this banner over the second half.

Upgrade value per copy. Copies one through three are strong, adding roughly 12% damage each through stat scaling and skill level caps. Copies four and five are mostly luxury: they add about 8% combined and cost 30 manuals. If you are deciding where to stop, stop at three. The fourth and fifth copies are for players who are already clearing everything and want a leaderboard number.

Resource cost. Functional at 24 manuals and 3 cores. Maxed at 96 manuals and 15 cores. The gold cost of a full build lands around 4.6 million, which is meaningfully more than the standard-pool caster but is justified by the fact that this unit will still be used in six months.

Team compatibility. Excellent. It wants a debuffer and a healer and does not care which ones. Any team that already runs a support with a defence-down or burn application can slot it in without changes. It is also one of the few damage dealers that does not demand a specific elemental partner, so it works in mono-Fire and in mixed comps.

Breakpoint to watch. At skill level 8, the burst window extends from 2.5 to 3.5 seconds. That extra second is the difference between landing two empowered hits and three, and it is the single highest-value manual spend in the entire patch. If you do nothing else with your manuals this month, get this skill to 8.

Verdict. Pull. If you can only afford one unit this update, this is the one, and one copy is enough.

2. Second-half limited buffer-healer (Water) — the safest support in months

Role. Team-wide healing plus an attack buff that refreshes on every third skill cast. It is a sustain unit that quietly doubles as a damage amplifier, which is a combination the game has not released since the previous anniversary.

Why it ranks second. Support units age better than damage dealers. A healer that keeps a team alive through a mechanic-heavy fight stays relevant even after the damage numbers around it inflate, because the thing it provides — survival — never gets powercrept in the same way. The 05 endgame encounters in particular punish teams without sustained healing, which pushes this unit’s value up.

Upgrade value per copy. Flat and predictable. Each copy adds roughly 9% healing throughput and shortens the buff refresh cycle slightly. There is no awkward threshold where the kit suddenly works; it is useful at one copy and better at four. That predictability is worth a lot when you are budgeting.

Resource cost. Functional at 18 manuals and 2 cores — the cheapest limited unit in the patch to bring online. Maxed at 72 manuals and 10 cores, also the cheapest limited ceiling. This is the unit you build when your manual stock is thin but your team keeps dying.

Team compatibility. Universal. It fits any composition, has no elemental requirement, and its buff stacks with the standard-pool buffer that most accounts already own. The only teams that do not want it are ones that already run two healers, which is a rare and usually temporary situation.

Breakpoint to watch. Skill level 7 unlocks the cleanse on the healing skill. In the current endgame, roughly a third of the boss mechanics apply a stacking debuff that reduces healing received, and a cleanse on the heal is the cleanest answer to it. Prioritise skill 7 over raw stat nodes.

Verdict. Pull if you do not already own a top-tier healer. If you do, this is a luxury, and your pulls are better spent on the first-half banner or saved for the next patch.

3. Standard-pool AoE caster (Wind) — best value in the update

Role. Multi-target damage with a wide, cheap skill that hits every enemy in a large radius. It is a farming and wave-clear unit that also holds up in multi-boss encounters.

Why it ranks third despite being standard pool. Two reasons. First, standard-pool units cost less to build — 20 manuals to functional instead of 24, and a gentler curve on the last four skill levels. Second, you will accumulate copies of it passively over time from every off-banner pull, which means the “cost to max” number is effectively free if you play long enough. A limited unit at five copies costs real pulls. This one costs patience.

Upgrade value per copy. Slow but compounding. Copies one through four add modest stat gains, then copy five unlocks a cooldown reduction that is genuinely transformative — the skill comes back fast enough to chain waves without downtime. It is a unit that feels mediocre until it suddenly does not.

Resource cost. Functional at 20 manuals and 2 cores. Maxed at 90 manuals and 14 cores. The manual count is high because it needs six copies, but the cores are cheap and the gold is standard.

Team compatibility. Flexible. It pairs well with any grouping skill — anything that pulls enemies together turns its wide hitbox into a genuine advantage. It also benefits more than most units from attack buffs, which makes the second-half buffer-healer a natural partner.

Breakpoint to watch. The cooldown reduction at copy five is the whole kit. Before it, the unit is a decent wave-clearer. After it, it is the fastest farming unit in the game. If you have four copies sitting unused in your roster, this is the moment to finish it.

Verdict. Build it. Do not spend limited pulls chasing it, but do not neglect it either — it will quietly become one of your most-used units.

4. First-half limited shield tank (Earth) — strong, but situational

Role. Team-wide damage absorption with a taunt and a reflect component. It exists to eat the burst windows that would otherwise delete your damage dealers.

Why it ranks fourth. The kit is excellent. The problem is that it only matters in content that has a lethal, unavoidable burst phase, and the current endgame has exactly two encounters like that. In everything else — farming, story, most events — a tank is a slot you could spend on more damage. That makes it a high-quality answer to a narrow question.

Upgrade value per copy. Front-loaded in an awkward way. Copy one gives you the taunt, which is the core function. Copies two and three add shield strength, which is nice but not transformative. Copies four and five add the reflect scaling, which is the part that makes the unit genuinely powerful — and that means the good version of this unit is a four-copy purchase, not a one-copy purchase.

Resource cost. Functional at 16 manuals and 2 cores, which is cheap. Maxed at 70 manuals and 12 cores. The gap between those two numbers is where the trap lives: a lot of players will build it to functional, find it underwhelming, and either abandon it or over-invest trying to fix it.

Team compatibility. Demanding. It wants a healer who can top up through chip damage and a damage dealer who can operate without a support slot. It does not fit teams that already run two supports, and it actively conflicts with dodge-based damage dealers whose kits assume they will be targeted.

Breakpoint to watch. The taunt duration only exceeds the boss burst window at skill level 9. Below that, there is a half-second gap where the boss retargets, and that gap is exactly where teams die. If you are not going to take this skill to 9, do not bring the unit to the two encounters that need it.

Verdict. Pull only if you are pushing the hardest content and your current team is dying to burst phases. Otherwise, skip and revisit on the rerun.

5. Standard-pool sub-DPS (Lightning) — the sleeper pick

Role. Off-field damage that continues ticking while you are on another character, plus a small energy generation passive that speeds up the whole team’s rotations.

Why it ranks fifth and why that undersells it. Off-field damage does not show up well in damage-per-second screenshots, which is why this unit gets ignored in most ranking lists. But the energy generation passive makes every other unit on the team better, and in a game where rotations are gated by cooldowns, shaving two seconds off your team’s cycle is worth more than a few percent of personal damage.

Upgrade value per copy. Cheap and linear. Copies add off-field damage in small increments and reduce the energy passive’s internal cooldown at copies three and five. Nothing dramatic, nothing wasted.

Resource cost. Functional at 14 manuals and 1 core — the cheapest functional cost in the entire patch. Maxed at 80 manuals and 12 cores. This is the unit you build when you have a small pile of manuals and want the biggest team-wide improvement per manual spent.

Team compatibility. Best-in-class. It fits any team that has a main damage dealer, which is every team. It pairs especially well with the first-half burst DPS because the energy passive lines up with that unit’s burst window almost exactly.

Breakpoint to watch. Skill level 6 is the practical target. It unlocks the second off-field tick, which roughly doubles the unit’s contribution, and it costs 18 manuals to reach from zero. That is the best manual-to-performance ratio in the update.

Verdict. Build it. If you are free-to-play and wondering where your first 20 manuals should go this patch, they should go here.

6. Event healer (Nature) — free, fine, and easy to over-build

Role. Single-target healing with a small regeneration effect. It is a starter healer handed out through the update’s event track.

Why it ranks sixth. It is free, and free is good. But it is strictly worse than the second-half buffer-healer at every investment level, and it is worse than several older healers that most accounts already own. Its value is entirely in the early game and in accounts that have no healer at all.

Upgrade value per copy. Copies are farmable from the event shop, so you can reach the higher awakening tiers without spending pulls. The gains are modest — about 7% healing per copy — but the cost is time rather than currency, which is a fair trade for a new account.

Resource cost. Free copies, 12 manuals to functional, 48 to maxed, 0 cores to functional and 6 to maxed. The manual cost is low because it is an event unit, and that is the one thing it has going for it.

Team compatibility. Neutral. It fits anywhere a healer fits and brings nothing extra. No buffs, no cleanse, no elemental synergy.

Breakpoint to watch. Do not take the skills past level 6. The levels above that add healing percentage that this unit’s base numbers cannot leverage, and those manuals are worth more on literally any other unit in this list.

Verdict. Claim it, level it to 6, and stop. Over-investing in the free healer is the most common resource mistake in the first week of a new patch.

7. Standard-pool crit DPS (Light) — powercrept on arrival

Role. Single-target damage that scales with critical rate. Straightforward, no utility, no team buffs.

Why it ranks seventh. It is not a bad unit. It is a unit that was already outclassed before it arrived. The first-half burst DPS does everything this does, but better, with a shorter setup and a useful passive. The only reason this unit exists in the ranking at all is that you may already own several copies of it, and a five-copy standard unit beats a one-copy limited unit in raw stats.

Upgrade value per copy. Back-loaded. The crit damage conversion passive only becomes meaningful at copy four, and the kit’s ceiling is roughly 70% of the burst DPS at equivalent investment. That is a real gap.

Resource cost. Functional at 22 manuals and 2 cores. Maxed at 92 manuals and 14 cores. It costs nearly as much as the best unit in the patch and delivers substantially less.

Team compatibility. Needs a crit rate buffer to function at all, which means it occupies two team slots to do one job. That is the definition of an inefficient unit in the current meta.

Breakpoint to watch. If you do build it, skill level 8 is the floor — below that the crit conversion does not reach the threshold that makes the passive worth having.

Verdict. Skip unless you already have four or more copies sitting in your roster and no better single-target option. Do not spend manuals on it in a patch that contains a better version of the same role.

8. Rerun limited ranged DPS (Ice) — only for collectors and one specific comp

Role. Ranged damage with a long animation and a high multiplier, balanced around a stationary playstyle.

Why it ranks eighth. It is a rerun, which means anyone who wanted it has had a chance to get it, and the 05 patch did not buff it to match the new damage ceiling. It also has the highest manual cost of any unit in this update — 26 to functional and 100 to maxed — because limited units got the steeper curve and this one did not receive a compensating adjustment.

Upgrade value per copy. Strong at copies one and two, then flat. The fourth and fifth copies add a small multiplier increase that does not change any breakpoint.

Resource cost. The most expensive functional cost in the patch alongside the debuffer. For the same manuals you could take the burst DPS to skill 8 and the sub-DPS to skill 6, which is a much better team.

Team compatibility. Narrow. It wants a specific grouping support and a specific shield to survive its long animation, and it does not work at all in fast-rotation teams. There is exactly one composition where it shines, and that composition requires two other limited units.

Breakpoint to watch. There is not one worth chasing. The kit’s problem is animation length, not numbers, and no skill level fixes that.

Verdict. Skip, unless you are a collector or you already own the two units its best composition requires. If you do own those two units, it is a genuine upgrade — but that is a small group of players.

9. Second-half limited debuffer (Dark) — the trap banner

Role. Damage over time plus a stacking defence reduction. On paper it is a support-damage hybrid that should be excellent.

Why it ranks last. Three reasons, and they compound. First, the damage-over-time scaling is capped at a low number of stacks, so the unit’s ceiling arrives early and then stops growing — extra copies do almost nothing for the damage portion. Second, the defence reduction is weaker than the one the free event healer applies as a side effect of its regeneration, which means the unit’s main utility is duplicated by a unit you get for free. Third, it has the steepest upgrade curve in the patch: 28 manuals to functional and 110 to maxed, more than any other unit, for the least return.

Upgrade value per copy. Poor. Copies one and two are the only ones that matter, and even those only add about 6% each. Copies three through five are close to dead weight, and the final awakening passive increases the duration of a debuff that the target usually dies before the end of anyway.

Resource cost. Functional at 28 manuals and 4 cores. Maxed at 110 manuals and 18 cores. Compare that to the sub-DPS at 14 manuals functional, or the buffer-healer at 18. This unit costs twice as much to bring online as the second-best support in the patch and does less.

Team compatibility. Awkward. It wants a team built around damage over time, but the game’s current damage-over-time support is weak, so building around it means building around a weak archetype. In mixed teams it contributes little, because its debuff overlaps with effects more common units already provide.

Breakpoint to watch. None worth the manuals. Skill level 7 extends the debuff duration by two seconds, which sounds useful until you notice that most boss phases in the current endgame are shorter than the debuff already lasts.

Verdict. Do not pull. Do not build it if you pull it by accident. This is the unit to skip, and if you are choosing between this banner and the first-half banner, the choice is not close.

Team compatibility: which new units actually want each other

The 05 units were clearly designed as two loose packages, and knowing the packages saves you from building a unit that has no home.

The practical takeaway: the burst DPS and the buffer-healer together form a complete team with two free slots for whatever you already own. The tank, the debuffer, and the rerun ranged unit each require you to build around them, and each one takes slots away from units you have already invested in. That structural difference is worth more than any individual stat comparison.

Which unit should you pull? A decision matrix

Match your situation to the row, and take the recommendation. These assume you can realistically acquire one, maybe two, units this patch.

The five most common investment mistakes in this patch

• Maxing the free event healer. Taking it past skill 6 costs 36 manuals and returns almost nothing. Those manuals are 60% of a functional sub-DPS.
• Chasing copies four and five on the burst DPS. The combined gain is around 8%. Two extra copies cost roughly 40 manuals and 6 cores, which is more than a fully functional support.
• Building the debuffer because it is a limited unit. Limited does not mean strong. This one is the most expensive unit in the patch to build and the weakest in practice.
• Spreading manuals across four units. Half-built units underperform in every mode. One functional unit beats three units stuck at skill 4.
• Ignoring the skill-8 breakpoint on the burst DPS. The extended burst window is the single largest performance jump available in this update, and it costs about 22 manuals to reach from skill 6.

Pity, saving, and what to do with a limited budget

If you are working with a limited number of pulls, the sequencing matters as much as the choice. Hard pity sits at 80 pulls, with soft pity beginning around 65, and pity carries across banners within the same patch. That means a player who pulls to soft pity on the first-half banner and does not get the burst DPS is not starting from zero on the second half — they are 65 pulls into a guaranteed unit, and the smart play is to finish the pity on whichever banner has the unit you actually want rather than switching targets mid-way.

For a free-to-play player earning pulls from dailies, events, and the monthly shop refresh, a realistic budget for this patch is somewhere between 90 and 130 pulls. That is enough for one guaranteed limited unit and part of a second. Given that, the recommendation is simple: guarantee the burst DPS, and if you have pulls left over, put them toward the buffer-healer rather than the debuffer.

If you already own a strong healer and a strong single-target damage dealer, the honest answer is that this patch does not require you to pull at all. The standard-pool caster and sub-DPS will carry you, and saving through 05 for the next major update is a legitimate strategy — arguably the best one for accounts that are already clearing the current endgame.

Frequently asked questions

Is the debuffer ever worth building?

In one narrow case: if you already own every damage-over-time unit in the game and have a fully built damage-over-time team, this unit slots in and improves it by a modest amount. For anyone else, the answer is no. The free event healer provides a comparable defence reduction as a side effect of healing, and it costs nothing.

Do I need copies of the burst DPS, or is one enough?

One is enough. The passive that defines the unit unlocks at the first ascension, and the first three copies together add about 36% damage. If you want to invest further, stop at three. Copies four and five are leaderboard purchases, not functional ones.

Which unit is best for farming and dailies?

The AoE caster, once it reaches copy five and unlocks the cooldown reduction. Before that, the sub-DPS is the better daily driver because its off-field damage lets you clear trash while moving between objectives. Neither requires limited pulls.

Should I pull on the rerun banner for the ranged DPS?

Only if you already own the two support units its best composition requires. As a standalone unit it is the second-most expensive unit in the patch to build and it does not outperform the standard-pool alternatives at equivalent investment.

What if I pull the debuffer by accident?

Leave it at level 1 or level it for collection purposes only. Do not spend manuals on it, and do not spend cores. The resources are worth more in your stockpile for the next patch.

How long does it take to bring one limited unit to functional?

At an average income of 26 to 30 manuals per week, roughly eight to ten days of dedicated manual income, plus the ascension materials from the weekly boss rotation. Maxing a limited unit takes three to four weeks of complete manual income with nothing else competing for it.

The bottom line

Anime Overload 05 is a one-unit patch. The first-half limited burst DPS is the best thing in it, it works at a single copy, and it has the cheapest path to a genuinely powerful breakpoint of anything released this update. The second-half buffer-healer is a strong second choice for anyone without a top-tier healer. The standard-pool caster and sub-DPS are the best value for players who do not pull on limited banners at all, and both are worth building from copies you will accumulate anyway.

The second-half limited debuffer is the trap. It is the most expensive unit in the patch to build, its main utility is duplicated by a free unit, and its damage ceiling arrives too early to justify the investment. Skip it, bank the resources, and you will be better positioned for the next update than most players who pulled on both banners.

Values in this guide reflect the state of the game as of the 05 patch and shift with balance hotfixes and new ascension tiers. Treat the resource figures as planning ranges rather than fixed constants, and check the in-game skill descriptions before committing manuals to a breakpoint.