Collab REM Review – Bleach

It’s easy to get excited for NA’s first high-profile collab since Fist of the North Star in November, but almost all players should temper their expectations for the Bleach Collab. While the six-star top-end in Rukia and Ichigo are about as good as collab rolls get, this REM basically ends there as there’s a distinct lack of usefulness from both the four- and five-star rarities. What’s particularly striking is the lack of even a single standout silver which has been a trend in most special and collab REMs for a while now. Hitsugaya and Urahara have great farming potential, but even at five-star rarity getting the triples needed for them to reach their full potential is a tall order for most players. Unless you’re a fan of the IP or just to want throw stones at GungHo for the chance of Rukia or Ichigo, I’d strongly suggest passing on this REM.

For those curious, here are some roll numbers from Pad-Plus. The numbers seem fairly typical, with the six-stars being about 2-3% and the five-stars at 5-6%.

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6-Star Gold Eggs

Grades are given relative to monsters of the same rarity.

Rukia – S

Pros

• By far the best roll in the REM
• Excellent damage (56.25x) and RCV multipler
• The perfect home for water’s once leaderless TPA subs
• Trades offensive awakenings for utility and sub flexibility

Cons

• Best subs lacking time extends can make her difficult to use for some players

Notes

If you follow my JP Aggregate Leader List, then you’ll know that Rukia has consistently been regarded as an elite leader since her release. Her attack multiplier is fairly high for a combo-based leader skill and her RCV boost gives her tankiness comparable to most of today’s top leads. Add a solid column spawning active with haste and a surprisingly strong water TPA sub pool and you have a great leader.

Her only knocks are being bindable and having no offensive awakenings. As there are very few cards that have the trifecta of bind immunity, high attack and RCV multipler, there’s only so much one can expect (I believe only Ra Dragon, Yomi Dragon and Ushio & Tora qualify. Astaroth might be considered an exception, too). As for her offense, she can make up for that with subs like Scheat and Orochi; her SBRs make up for their lack thereof and her combo-based leader skill makes it easier to stack TPA matches to further increase their damage potential.

One should not forget the player skill factor, though. Eight combos is not a simple feat for most players, especially when you add TPAs into the equation. Most Bastet players eventually find that reaching seven combos is quite doable, but you also have to remember that the team is overflowing with time extends where Rukia’s best subs generally lack them. That being said, Rukia is still at a Bastet-level of offsense even at seven combos and on top of that you don’t have to use an active to get there (not to mention the RCV multipler). So if you think Bastet is capable, then Rukia is that much better.

I see Rukia being one of the few collab leaders that actually justifies the cost to obtain which is high praise, for sure.

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Ichigo – A

Pros

• DKali board change
• Excellent awakenings
• 76x ATK multiplier
• God killer awakening
• Leader skill scales well

Cons

• Active-reliant leader skill

Notes

Ichigo is quite powerful, but I have to admit that I overestimated his capabilities when I first saw him. It feels like he has all the components of a broken lead: DKali board change, high ATK multiplier, an RCV multiplier, and great awakenings. While all those attributes do indeed contribute in making him a great lead, his constraints also prevent him from breaking into the elite level. While his leader skill’s active reliance can be built around, the meta has advanced far enough beyond the Egypt 1 power level where such such a constraint can’t be overlooked, nor does he bring enough to the table to overcome it. Not being able to burst or heal on demand without an active use is a huge demerit, especially when considering dungeons like Arena 1 and 2 where active conservation in the later floors is of utmost importance. While there are certainly other nitpicks — like having rather poor damage for a rainbow activation… yeah, 76x is weak nowadays, blame Ra Dragon — this is the main reason why Ichigo is inferior to other, similar leads.

That being said, he’ll make a great Sephiroth sub. There’a also skill inheritance.

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5-Star Gold Eggs

Grades are given relative to monsters of the same rarity.

Hitsugaya – B (A for co-op farming)

Pros

• Easy co-op farming
• Poorman’s Neptune Dragon

Cons

• Need dupes/trips for effective co-op farming

Notes

Hitsugaya’s main asset is his ability to trivialize farming through co-op. A change to multiplayer that has yet to hit NA is the sharing of skill boosts between both teams. This means Hitsugaya’s two skill boosts make it possible for his 17-turn board change to be up on the first turn without too much work. For the most part Neptune Dragon is used to lead these teams, but for players that don’t have one, leading with Hitsugaya himself appears to be a good option. For those chasing the six-stars that also enjoy co-op, getting dupes of this card will be a nice little bonus from an otherwise poor REM.

Outside that he doesn’t have much use and is basically just a bad Neptune Dragon. That in itself has some value, though, as players that previously had no leader can now find some use for their water box and put any Neptune Dragon friends to use.

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Urahara – B (A- as a system)

Pros

• Easy system farming
• Possible future jammer implications

Cons

• Needs triples for effective farming
• No skill bind resist

Notes

Where Hitsugaya is for co-op, Urahara is for solo, minimal-effort farming. His main appeal is basically only having to match the jammers he generates to do respectable damage thanks to a 25x multiplier and plenty of rows. With four on your team — Both leads and two subs — you can loop his actives, qualifying as a system team. Like the Cloud system, the team affords two flex slots for damage or utility, but unlike Cloud this team can have trouble reaching 100% SBR. It also doesn’t benefit from a generous HP multiplier, which can make multiple/large preemptives a bit trickier to navigate. At the very least, this team helps alleviate the pain NA has experienced due to the lack of Gon; Urahara’s not nearly as good for general use, but NA will appreciate having access to a decent wood-based farming team.

Outside system farming, Urahara doesn’t have many applications. Despite GungHo pushing jammer support down our throats, it still hasn’t taken off and I’m not sure if it ever will. He has some interesting possible interactions as a sub. Algedi is the obvious fit, but he’s not terrible for a Spica row team, either. While maybe not as good as Osiris due to the lack of OEs, he still has the same, quick cooldown, generates an additional wood orb, creates jammers that can subsequently be changed by Spica, and actually has a skill boost.

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Kenpachi – C+

Pros

• An orb enhance + delay could have niche applications

Cons

• Doesn’t resist the most important element: dark
• Low 9x multiplier, requiring six orbs

Notes

I don’t even know where to start. Kenpachi is basically a bad version of Castor. Amusingly, a match-five activation would’ve made more sense as it would have synergy with his active skill. His active is his most attractive point, though, and could maybe see use as an assist skill on dark match-five teams that also need a delay (to address perseverance monsters, for instance).

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4-Star Silver Eggs

Grades are given relative to monsters of the same rarity.

Chad – B-

Pros

• Great skill inheritance assist skill
• Row spawn makes solving the board simpler

Cons

• No skill boost

Notes

Chad is one of the better silvers in this REM if only for his excellent active skill. In rare cases you might use his actual card, but for the most part I foresee him being used as an assist skill especially on speed farming teams. Putting his skill on Tengu seems particularly attractive.

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Rangiku – C-

Pros

• Kyonyuu

Cons

• Kyonyuu

Notes

I’m not even going to waste time trying to make up a use for this card.

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Orihime – C

Pros

• Skill inheritance

Cons

Notes

Orihime is fairly hopeless as a card, but there is some mild hope for her with skill inheritance. Her active is quite flexible defensively and the usefulness of the hearts in addition to the shield shouldn’t be underestimated. While shields aren’t normally thought of as a rare skill due to all the farmables, there are only about 10 cards that qualify for inheritance that aren’t from a special or collab REM. Then add the relative low cost of obtaining Tans and this situation isn’t all that unfeasible. The main drawback is that she requires Woodpys to skill up, but a base cooldown of 10-turns isn’t horrendous.

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Yoruichi – C+

Pros

• Active can help HP threshold teams

Cons

Notes

It’s a bit disappointing that this could have been an NA Shiryu stand-in, but being at 11 turns rather than nine is a large drawback for speed farming teams. She’s a mildly interesting Gon sub, but, of course, NA doesn’t have that option so the next best thing is GZL.

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Ishida – B

Pros

• NA’s first light-only skyfall buff

Cons

• Can’t loop actives with only two cards

Notes

This is about as close light gets to an Indian 2/Zaerog skyfall-style active. However, trading a turn of skyfall for an extra spawned orb is a raw deal as you can’t loop actives with only two cards. Awoken Apollo will intrude on his uniqueness, whenever he gets released here. Of all the Bleach silvers, Ishida is the most respectable leader.

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Conclusion

As it goes with most collabs, the Bleach REM is mostly trash with a couple standouts at the highest rarities and a few role players at the lower end. The value is particularly bad for casual players as the silvers are all basically unusable, even in the extreme early-game. This makes Bleach an abberation as recent special and collab REMs have had a standout at the lower rarities: NY: Sandalphon, Christmas: all the silvers, FotNS: Mamiya, Eva: Shinji, Halloween: Izanami and Thoth & Sopdet, Summer: Awilda. The exceptions are Final Fantasy and Batman, but at least FF has Squall at five-star and Batman gets a pass for having such an outdated lineup. So basically Bleach has the worst low-end lineup since the last chibi hell that was PAD Academy. People are going to roll anyways, but hopefully this review gives you an idea of what to expect for your stones.

I’m not sure how much I’m going to roll. What I want most is 3x Urahara. 3x Hitsugaya would also be nice. I don’t care too much for the six-stars, but Rukia would be nice in case I ever roll a Scheat. I need to remember to keep a few Chads on hand for farming applications, too. I’d like to limit my spending, though, as the more ammunition I have for the next iterations of Final Fantasy, PAD Academy and PAD Island the better. Good luck to those who roll!