If you are looking to acquire hero gear in 'Seven Knights Re:BIRTH' (hereinafter SKRB), you simply must conquer the raid content. The Bull Demon King summons minions called 'Hongdam' to gain damage reduction and damage increase buffs. Naturally, the key is to clear these Hongdam quickly to deny the boss those pesky buffs.

This is where Espada shines. Her passive skill stacks a unique buff exactly four times, which perfectly matches the number of Hongdam minions the Bull Demon King summons. Plus, she deals 'HP-proportional' damage, which is just the thing for a boss with a massive health pool. KookminTree has analyzed Espada, the hero who has been the primary marker for the Bull Demon King since the launch of SKRB.

Q. What kind of hero is Espada?
A. She is a single-target dealer who inflicts magic damage proportional to the enemy's HP.

The core of Espada is her 'Magic Purification' passive. Every time an enemy dies, she gains one stack of the Magic Purification buff, up to a maximum of four. Each stack provides a potent boost of 8% magic damage and 10% critical hit rate. At maximum stacks, that’s a 32% magic damage increase and a 40% critical hit rate boost. If you secure a base critical hit rate of 60%, she hits 100% crit rate during combat. Skill upgrades push the magic damage boost to 10% per stack, and at 2nd Transcendence, she gains a 29% magic damage reduction effect.

'Purification Shot' deals magic damage to a single enemy and applies a 5-turn magic vulnerability debuff. This debuff increases magic damage taken by 26% by default, or 33% when the skill is upgraded. Since it's applied to the target, it also boosts the damage output of other magic heroes in your party.

'God's Judgment' is Espada's main skill. It consumes all four stacks of Magic Purification to deal additional damage proportional to the target's max HP. This additional damage is capped at 1,300% of Espada's attack power. Without the buff, it deals 425% damage. Once upgraded, the base coefficient hits 515%, and at 6th Transcendence, it scales massively to 32% of max HP with an attack power cap of 1,600%. Many users exploit this to hit the minimum required crit rate and then push crit damage and attack power to the absolute limit to one-shot the Bull Demon King.

Q. What are Espada's core buffs and debuffs?
A. Magic vulnerability and Magic Purification.

As mentioned, Espada’s real heavy hitter is 'God's Judgment' unleashed after hitting four stacks of Magic Purification. The cycle for the Bull Demon King raid is simple: 'Kill 4 Hongdam - Fire God's Judgment.' Because all of Espada's skills are single-target, she needs a little help from her friends to clear the Hongdam, a role currently filled by Daisy.

Magic Purification provides magic damage and crit rate boosts until God's Judgment is fired. The standard rotation is to use Purification Shot first to increase final damage. However, you must keep an eye on the Bull Demon King's skill cycle. If you spam it blindly, your skill cooldowns will get tangled, making it difficult to use God's Judgment at the right moment. Watch your rotation carefully; it's the key to clearing the raid.

Q. How should I set up Espada?
A. Base your setup on the Tracker and Avenger sets, and aim for a 60% critical hit rate.

Espada's gear is strictly limited to the Tracker and Avenger sets. Because she has only been active in the Bull Demon King raid and the Advent Expedition with Teo, players have historically stuck to the Avenger set, which includes a 'boss damage increase' stat. However, a user recently shared an experiment on the community forums showing that the Tracker set actually results in higher damage. The common denominator for both sets is hitting that 60% base crit rate. Since Magic Purification provides a 40% crit rate boost, you don't necessarily need to aim for 100% crit rate from gear alone.

A 6-star Espada starts with a 5% crit rate, plus 18% from 4th Transcendence, giving you a base of 23%. With the weapon's main stat providing 24%, equipping two gives you 71%, while one gives you 47%. If you aren't at 4th Transcendence yet, equipping two weapons only gets you to 53%, leaving you 7% short. You can make up the difference with gear sub-stats, so keep that in mind if you are chasing the high score.