[Meca Ranking] It is time for another look at the 'Seven Knights Re:BIRTH' (SKRB) landscape. The Arena meta has been idling in a state of stagnant comfort. Platon’s reign as the top-picked hero seems practically set in stone, and the research into the optimal five-man squad appears to have reached its conclusion. With the 'best five' now firmly established, they occupy the top five pick-rate spots, and frankly, there seems to be no meaningful counter-strategy on the horizon. Let's dissect the numbers via the Arena team composition charts.

Juri: The lone spark amidst the decline of the original Seven Knights

It appears Platon has no intention of vacating the throne. Having enjoyed five consecutive weeks of solo dominance, Platon reached a pick rate of 84.3% this week, a 3.7% point jump. The elite entourage of Vanessa, Melkire, Colt, and Rin has also solidified their presence, with the pick rates for the trio—excluding Rin—showing a slight uptick.

As for the final slot in Platon’s magic-heavy deck, the tug-of-war between Yeonhee and Colt has finally ended. After much deliberation, high-ranking players have sided with Colt. Colt saw a 4% point increase to reach 63%, while Yeonhee suffered a 3.3% point decline.

Meanwhile, the three original Seven Knights, despite their impressive stats, are teetering on the edge of irrelevance. Rosie has already fallen out of the rankings, and Pii, who was barely clinging to a spot, saw a 2.7% point drop this week. Conversely, Juri managed a 1.7% rebound to climb to 11th place. We will delve deeper into the reasons behind Juri's resurgence in this week's Best Pick section.

If Rin is missing from your party, you better stack up on effect resistance

With Platon’s pick rate soaring, formation trends are following suit. The Offensive formation, essentially Platon’s playground, rose by 4.9% points, successfully breaking into the 60% range. Additionally, quite a few rankers are still utilizing Platon within the 2nd place Defensive formation.

In the pet department, Pike and Lu continue their battle for the top spot. This time, Pike edged out the competition by a 0.6% point margin. Given how close their pick rates are, calling a winner is splitting hairs—the only differentiator being Pike’s inherent effect resistance.

Recently, some rankers have opted to bench Rin in favor of other heroes. Rin’s traditional role was to use the opening skill to inflict 'Confusion' on opponents, effectively dampening their skill efficacy and mitigating status ailments.

However, the current meta heavily favors builds that can overcome Confusion, such as Weak Point Attack and Effect Resistance. As Rin’s influence waned, players sought alternatives. The increased adoption of Pike seems to be part of this shift; while Pike offers less raw defensive utility than Lu, the effect resistance is far more valuable in the current climate.

Best Pick of the Week

The Juri-Platon Offensive formation: A nightmare for opponents stacked with Legendary Rings

This week’s Best Pick is undoubtedly the Offensive formation Platon Magic Deck. The original 'Magic Backflow' trio of Melkire, Vanessa, and Rin has seen Rin depart, replaced by the original Seven Knights veteran, Juri. While this specific iteration doesn't boast the highest overall pick rate, it is delivering stellar win rates depending on the matchmaking environment.

Juri’s return is inextricably linked to Platon’s rise. With the sidekick Melkire performing well, the Platon deck requires three Magic-type heroes to function. The inclusion of Colt forced the departure of Yeonhee, leaving the Melkire-Vanessa-Rin configuration as the only way to satisfy the Magic Backflow conditions.

With the prevalence of Legendary Rings making it necessary to suppress Revive and Immortal effects, top-tier players have swapped Rin for Juri. Juri applies 'Eternal Destruction' to nullify death-triggered effects, and since Juri is a Magic-type hero, the Magic Backflow condition remains intact. While Eternal Destruction isn't a silver bullet in every matchup, it is certainly proving to be a cheeky and effective choice at the highest levels of play.

Total War Pick of the Week

Kits claims the solo #1 spot in Total War

A new season of Total War is arriving with the upcoming update. The previous season concluded with the adventurer 'Kits' taking the top spot. With a final round score of 18,560, Kits secured the victory by a 400-point lead over the runner-up, 'Fokal'. The final five-team setup consisted of a Karma Defensive deck, a Platon-Juri Magic deck, a Teo Offensive deck, a Nia Instant Death deck, and an Orly-Sylvester Magic deck.

Running two Magic decks in Total War has become the new standard. The release of Orly, who supports Magic-type heroes, combined with Juri’s synergy in the Platon party, has provided more breathing room. The addition of Sylvester, Orly’s partner-in-crime, has made distributing Magic-type heroes across teams much more manageable.

The two parties differ primarily in formation and pets. Platon uses the Offensive formation, while Orly uses the Defensive formation. The former relies on hero survival to fuel damage, utilizing Lu, while the latter pushes for maximum damage output by selecting Yeonji. It is fascinating to see such divergent strategies utilized within the same Magic-type archetype.

Seven Knights Re:BIRTH User Poll

The previous poll asked about the ideal transcendence level for the new hero, Daisy. As a PvE-focused unit, we were curious about the community's recommendation. The results showed an even split between 2-transcendence and 0-transcendence—the so-called 'name card' acquisition. Only 2.2% of adventurers recommended 6-transcendence for the skill enhancement. While transcendence levels are 'the more the merrier', saving your Rubies based on these results might be the smarter play.

Our next poll focuses on the 'Advent Expedition' revealed in the latest developer note. Before adventurers can challenge the final boss, the God of Destruction, players must defeat the illusions of the four Old Lords. The developer note details the unique traits and strategies for each, as seen in the image above. Which illusion do you think will be the easiest to conquer? We look forward to your participation, and the results will be revealed in next week's Meca Ranking.