The arrival of the new hero 'Dong-young' in 'Seven Knights Re:BIRTH' (hereinafter SKRB) has sent shockwaves through the arena meta. According to an analysis by official partner creator 'MovingTV', the pick rate for magic decks—which previously hovered near zero—has spiked dramatically. It seems Dong-young is indeed the savior the meta desperately needed. Meanwhile, 'YoonKungKungTV' has highlighted the character's stellar synergy with 'Melkire', providing detailed equipment setups and real-world combat footage. You can find all the juicy details below.

A 'Venom'-based continuous magic damage dealer

Dong-young wields a debuff called 'Venom', which is essentially a souped-up version of 'Poison'. Since the game classifies Venom similarly to Poison, it can be put to good use in the 'Water Element Dungeon'. Unlike standard Poison, which caps at 6% of max health, Venom deals a staggering 30% of max health as damage, though do keep in mind that the damage is capped at 150% of Dong-young's attack power.

Given the unique debuff, Dong-young's kit is perfectly tailored for applying Venom and capitalizing on it. 'Breath of the Underworld' deals fixed damage equal to 22% of magic attack if the target is already poisoned. 'Touch of the Abyss' inflicts both 'Fear' and Venom simultaneously. The passive, 'Companion of the Underworld', automatically applies Venom with a 100% chance after two allied skills are used, sparing you the need to manually queue Dong-young's skills. At 6-star transcendence, it gets even better by adding a '20% Magic Vulnerability for 2 turns' effect.

MovingTV suggests that as long as Dong-young survives, the hero provides consistent pressure for the team. Because the core mechanic revolves around damage proportional to the target's HP, it looks like a powerhouse against defensive decks. Even when facing offensive decks, the Venom is quite effective at stripping away 'Damage Immunity'.

YoonKungKungTV has noted that the synergy with Melkire is exceptional. Dong-young's skill set is versatile enough to handle any deck type, and Melkire's 'Magic Backflow' interacts perfectly with Venom to ramp up the damage output. The creator also stressed that a 'Critical Hit Rate' setup is vital. We will break down the specifics below.

Creator Best Clips

MovingTV - The evaluation will likely climb higher as more magic deck heroes are released

MovingTV produced a tier list video featuring Dong-young, ranking the hero at a 'National Power Level'. Before this release, the magic deck pick rate in the arena was effectively 0%, but that has jumped to nearly 40% since the update. Echoing the sentiment of YoonKungKungTV, MovingTV emphasized the synergy with Melkire and hinted that once the next magic deck hero—already teased in a live stream—drops, the stock of this hero will only continue to rise.

YoonKungKungTV - Recommends a critical hit setup to counter the defensive hero 'Aris'

YoonKungKungTV recommends a 'Critical Hit Rate' setup specifically to counter defensive decks, with a keen focus on the hero 'Aris'. In the SKRB system, 'Block Rate' is influenced by Critical Hit Rate; high crit chance forces hits to be normal damage instead of blocked. Since Aris relies on counter-attacking upon a successful block, stacking crit is the key to shutting the hero down. For those looking to counter defensive compositions, the creator recommends an 'Assassin' set with at least 90% Critical Hit Rate, alongside Effect Accuracy and Speed.

While an 'Avenger' set is an option, it lacks the necessary secondary stats for PvP beyond just increasing damage, making it difficult to balance 'Speed - Critical Hit Rate - Effect Accuracy - Effect Resistance' simultaneously. If you are struggling with your Dong-young build, check out the video above to see how this magic deck operates in practice.