Epic Seven has announced that the newest 5* unit coming from the Collaboration Rerun with “That Time I Reincarnated As A Slime” (TenSura) is Shuna’s older brother, Benimaru.

Benimaru will be recruitable starting today from when the maintenance ends which will run from 03:00 – 09:00 UTC.

While it isn’t Shion, Benimaru is still a Limited Hero and from what I can tell based on the preview of his skills shown in the video, he seems like a really good character to punish teams who bring Extra Turn heroes such as Zahhak, Amid as well as Conqueror Lilas.

We should note that since Benimaru has not been released yet, this will be a first impressions guide based on his recently released character preview that is meant to showcase his abilities.

With that being said, here’s a quick run down of Benimaru’s character sheet, Benimaru is a 5* Fire Warrior that has Attack (%) as his Imprint Release, and Critical Hit Chance (%) when Concentrated.

Animations and Skills

Similar to that of Milim, Benimaru’s animation comes from proccing his s2 passive called, Universal Perception. The passive has a stacking Fighting Spirit mechanic that once full will trigger Hell Flare, an attack that deals damage to all enemies which penetrates defense by 30% on its own, with an additional 30% added if Benimaru is given Multilayer Barrier.

The s2 passive has Benimaru starting the first battle with 50 Fighting Spirit and in the event of an enemy’s extra turn, Universal Perception dispels all debuffs from Benimaru and grant him Multilayer Barrier before increasing his Combat Readiness by up to 25%. Besides giving Benimaru additional Defense penetration when casting Hell Flare, Multilayer Barrier also grants him Increase Hit Chance by 50% and is a buff that cannot be dispelled.

In terms of animation, the Hell Flare look as cool as it does in the anime with a huge purple explosion that ends with the camera doing an orbiting shot of the area showcasing it. Its definitely one of the best ones I have seen thus far in the game.

Moving on to his other skills, Benimaru’s s3 (Ultimate) is called, Show No Mercy which grants him 25 Fighting Spirit (50 if he has multilayer Barrier), it is a single target attack that decreases the Defense of the target for 2 turns while also increasing the Combat Readiness of the ally with the highest Combat Readiness value (other than Benimaru) by 15%.

Lastly, Benimaru’s s1, Move Out Of The Way is a basic attack that can gain additional damage from Soulburn (10 souls required) and if granted Multilayer Barrier.

Suggested Sets

Speed + Immunity/Penetration/Critical Hit Chance – I think Benimaru would fit best within the 240-250 speed mark similar to that of characters like Remnant Violet, this is to ensure that in the event that you manage to proc Universal Perception, the 25% Combat Readiness boost would certainly have you moving the next turn in most scenarios.

This may not be the most optimal set as of now, but for the purpose of this guide and based on the preview video released alone, I personally think the most standard build for him right now would be is to go Speed + Immunity/Penetration/Critical Hit Chance.

Possible Counters

Teams that do not have Extra Turn heroes would be great at shutting down Benimaru’s overall effectiveness during Arena scenarios, most of the matchups right now (at least in my tier) does not utilize this with the lineups mostly consisting of Belian, Arowell, Adin and Angel of Light Angelica.

Final Thoughts

Judging from his kit in Epic Seven, Benimaru definitely does not qualify for the “must have” category like Rimuru, all his skills does sound very amazing but this only applies to match ups against teams that utilize the Extra Turn mechanic. Most of Benimaru’s kit does rely on the Multilayer Barrier to be fully realized and the condition to gain Multilayer Barrier is way too specific as opposed to Rimuru’s Analyze and Assess which triggers if the enemy that hits you has a buff.

However, due to this perhaps he can be used as a good deterrent in RTA? Many heroes nowadays take advantage of the Extra Turn mechanic as mentioned above so perhaps he could potentially act like Rimuru and railroad the opponent into picking a hero outside his usual rotations.

In any case, I would be rolling for Benimaru just to get the ensemble together in Epic Seven’s lobby, while I personally wont see much use out of him as my gear rolls are not fantastic as is. Maybe in the near future with more heroes coming out Benimaru’s true potential would be realized and hopefully by then I would have gotten some decent gear to get him.

There is also the potential to get his artifact as well, which does seem great overall.

You may find more details on Epic Seven and the collaboration hero Benimaru at their official website.

Epic Seven is available for iOS and Android devices.

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Epic Seven

Publisher: Smilegate Megaport

Developer: Super Creative

Release Date: 2018-11-08

Android, iOS

And thus began the 7th World... Diche, the Goddess of Life, summoned all of her waning power and once again gave shape to the Guardians and the Heir of the Covenant.

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