Look, let's be honest, Seven Knights Re:BIRTH is back with the second phase of its Demon Slayer collaboration on October 15th. Following the first wave featuring Tanjiro Kamado and Zenitsu Agatsuma, legendary heroes from the elite Hashira rank, Giyu Tomioka and Shinobu Kocho, are joining the roster. Along with these heavy hitters, the developer has rolled out brand-new awakening systems and exclusive collaboration gear.

First up, Giyu Tomioka, the Water Hashira, enters the fray as a versatile hero packing serious defensive capabilities, party protection, and enemy debuffs. Giyu Tomioka boasts rock-solid survivability thanks to 'Pain Endurance,' which scales block probability with defense and splits 75% of direct damage over five turns, alongside immunity to cooldown increases. Moreover, Giyu Tomioka utilizes the 'Water Breathing' passive to absorb 35% of incoming damage meant for backline versatile allies after damage reduction. Giyu Tomioka also passively boosts the defense of all allies while dropping the critical hit rate of the opposing team.

The first skill, Water Breathing Seventh Form: Drop Ripple Thrust, knocks down the critical hit rate of the three highest-attack enemies by up to 31%. The second skill, Water Breathing Tenth Form: Constant Flux, deals piercing damage to all enemies, heals allies, and grants three instances of damage nullification to versatile allies. The awakening skill, Water Breathing Eleventh Form: Dead Calm, is where things get spicy, stacking extra damage and defense for Giyu Tomioka while granting the 'Mark' effect, which provides versatile allies with complete immunity to all damage for two turns. Expect Giyu Tomioka to serve as a premier tank and buffer for versatile-centric compositions.

Joining the party is Shinobu Kocho, the Insect Hashira, a magical hero equipped with 'Extreme Poison,' a nasty special debuff that scales with the target's max HP, and a 'Camouflage' mechanic. Shinobu Kocho starts fights in a camouflage state that completely avoids single-target attacks and guarantees evasion, popping the effect one more time even after reviving. Upon resurrection, Shinobu Kocho slaps opposing forces with debuffs reducing incoming healing by 52% and effect resistance by 34%. Furthermore, every stack of 'Poison Accumulation' triggered when taking hits simultaneously ramps up magical attack power and restores HP.

The first skill, Insect Breathing of the Butterfly: Dance of the Capricious, deals devastating piercing damage to a single foe and spreads Extreme Poison to four other enemies if the main target is already poisoned. The second skill, Insect Breathing, Dance of the Dragonfly: Compound Eye Hexagon, ambushes front-line enemies with buff blocks and six consecutive piercing hits. Filling the awakening gauge unlocks Insect Breathing, Dance of the Centipede: Hundred-Legged Zigzag, which strips all buffs from the enemy team and applies Extreme Poison based on how many buffs were removed. Depending on the current stacks of Poison Accumulation, Shinobu Kocho can even slap enemies with healing prohibition, buff blocks, and instant death, making Shinobu Kocho an absolute menace in protracted battles.

By the way, getting your hands on Shinobu Kocho won't even break a sweat since the character is handed out purely through attendance rewards. The Demon Slayer Attendance Part 2 event delivers the character on day one, followed by 20 Demon Slayer Summon Tickets needed for the collaboration pickup gacha on day two.

And that is not all, mate. Giyu Tomioka can also be claimed through the Demon Slayer Growth Mission point rewards. Simply playing the game normally by upgrading gear and clearing event dungeons racks up mission points, ultimately netting you a shiny Radiant Skill Enhancement Stone as the grand prize.

Exclusive collaboration gear designed to squeeze every drop of performance out of both heroes can also be acquired without any complex crafting processes simply by participating in events. The Nichirin Blade of Water Hashira Giyu Tomioka and the Nichirin Blade of Insect Hashira Shinobu Kocho are distributed through character-specific special missions and pickup summons. This Seven Knights Re:BIRTH x Demon Slayer collaboration event wraps up with the maintenance on October 29. Head over to the official Seven Knights Re:BIRTH Lounge for the finer details, and best of luck with your pulls.