Introduction

This coming Monday will feature the debut of the Yu Yu Hakusho Collab and one of the most powerful leaders available in the game, Yusuke .

This Collab REM features only 5 and 6-star cards with rates mirroring Full Metal Alchemist along with a similar distribution of value as Yusuke soars above the competition. Thankfully, the Monster Exchange system will grant players the chance to trade in four 6* GFE/Yu Yu Collab cards for Yusuke. This process will save countless Magic Stones and sets an exciting precedent moving forward.

One main drawback of the Yu Yu Hakusho Collab is the somewhat lower base stats and fewer awakenings prevents many from being used as a sub; however, several cards feature powerful/unique actives that can make them desirable inherits.

This article will summarize each card’s strengths and weaknesses in the current meta to help you determine if it is worth rolling in. There will be a supplemental article discussing the Monster Exchange for Yusuke being published in the next few days.

Video commentary

—video coming soon—

Overview

Yu Yu Hakusho Collab REM
6 Star base
5 Star base

Yu Yu Hakusho Collab REM Rankings – May 11, 2018
SS
S
A
B
C
D

Order within each tier is random and not reflective of ranking

Regardless of card’s ranking, you should always keep it if it is your very first time acquiring them with the possible exception of 6* cards that are not Yusuke as you can utilize the Monster Exchange system

6 Star base

All 6* base cards can be used in the Monster Exchange for other 6* cards from the Yu Yu Hakusho Collab.

Yusuke – SS

Active: Reduces cooldown of other skills by 1 turn. Removes lock status on orbs. Change all orbs to Water & Light orbs (13 turn CD)

Leader Skill: Light attribute cards HP x1.5, ATK x1.5, RCV x1.5. All attribute cards ATK x4 when reaching 7 combos or above. All attribute cards ATK x2.5 when reaching Light & Water combos

Awakenings:         

Pros

Cons

Powerful & synergistic active Incredible Leader Skill One of the best/the best in the game Multi-component ATK multiplier Some damage control Unconditional HP/RCV multiplier Flexible team building Mono colour potency Easy activation Only requires Water & Light combos Double 7c  AND Box  Can be used as a powerful sub Balance typing means he can use any Killer Latent Worth Monster Exchanging for See separate article

Not a pretty girl

Yusuke is pretty much the dream PAD card at this point in time as he is features powerful awakenings, active, and leader skill. In fact, by owning Yusuke, one will be able to clear far more content than what they could normally approach due to the sheer power he brings. Furthermore, he can be used as a valuable sub due to Box  and 7c  awakenings.

Looking at his leader skill, Yusuke is able to form a 2.25x HP / 225x ATK / 2.25x RCV team that only requires light-based cards along with matching Light and Water orbs. Furthermore, his defensive multipliers are constant and not conditional on matching which helps facilitate stalling and improve overall consistency. However, it is the 225x ATK that helps push him into his own league.

Comparing Yusuke’s Leader Skill to Edward , Edward comes out ahead in the defensive multiplier department due to shielding granting more effective health. However, Yusuke boasts a significantly higher ATK multiplier which can help overcome durable spawns with greater ease. As such, Yusuke trades out some durability for significantly more damage output along with not having to micro manage his health for activation.

Some may point out that a 225x ATK multiplier is on par with other leaders (eg. Rikuu ), but the fact that Yusuke has several offensive awakenings enables him to pump out consistent damage output. This is important because his effective output when achieving 7 combos is 900x ATK which is on par with a full activation Reincarnated Anubis . Granted any 7c sub on dual Anubis teams will have higher output, the odds of hitting 10 combos on a consistent basis through 6×5 boards is quite low.

The combined durability with an easy to activate ATK multiplier provides Yusuke with amazing consistency thoughout challenging content.

In regards to team composition, running light-based cards will be the default answer as Yusuke himself can pseudo carry the team with his own damage output. This potentially makes him more friendly to build compared to Edward who needs to both incorporate rainbow coverage (for Skill Charge ) and higher HP cards to sustain his 50% clause. Furthermore, the naturally higher damage multiplier somewhat eases the dependency on high damage subs as full activation would sweep most content.

Void Damage Penetration

In addition to all of the above wonders of Yusuke’s leader skill, he will act as potentially the best option for Void Damage Penetration . This is because he features dual 7 Combo which helps bolster his own output along with being able to utilize any latent Killer awakening. Having high personal damage is key to utilizing the Box awakening as those cards are often required to hit the entire HP bar of the boss as other cards are voided out.

While one can use Yusuke as a sub for his Box awakening, he is amazingly effective as a leader for his own team due to the fact that two cards will have the Void Damage Penetration. This has great implications for 3p Dragon Rush and the new Arena 4 as players can now easily blast their way through Void spawns without having to greatly alter their team composition. Usually players who wish to utilize a Box awakening require both a supplemental burst and bi-colour board changer but Yusuke is somewhat the whole package via his own high personal damage and synergistic active.

In conclusion, Yusuke is simply incredible and stands head and shoulders above the rest of the competition. For the most part, it will be worthwhile to trade in for him via the Monster Exchange but that will be covered in a separate article.

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Kurama – B

Active: Change Fire, Jammer, Poison & Mortal Poison orbs to Wood orbs. Delay 2 turns to all enemies (11  turn CD)

Leader Skill: All attribute cards ATK x4 when HP is greater than 50%. RCV x3 when matching exactly 4 connected heart orbs. All attribute cards ATK x3, 25% all damage reduction when attacking with 6+ Wood orbs at the same time

Awakenings:         

Pros	Cons
Removes hazards 2 turn delay Modest leader skill Has some farming applications Unevolved form has 5 turn delay	Orb hungry Rows are less popular Damage reduction is conditional HP-conditional ATK

Kurama has a different active skill in their unevolved form that provides 5 turns of delay on a 20 turn cooldown. This is akin to Orochi  /Zeta Hydra  and is mostly notable for being able to transfer stats to Wood type cards. With that being said, Kurama will most likely be evolved to take advantage of their leader skill.

While row-oriented teams are less desirable for traditional content, they excel in farming scenarios. This is because players can convert the entire board to wood and swipe for 144x ATK. This is quite high and will most likely make short work of most content; however, the new Kaede will feature no Skyfalls which hastens clear times so Kurama already faces tough competition.

If using as a traditional leader, Kurama will be hard to use efficiently due to the fact that their damage reduction (and some stalling potential) is tied to matching 6+ connected wood orbs. This can be frustrating, but at least the RCV component is easy enough to activate, just be aware that you will vulnerable to most attacks without the 6+ connected wood orbs.

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Hiei – B

Active: Dark attribute ATK x3 for 1 turn. Randomly spawn 9 Dark orbs from non Dark orbs (16 turn CD)

Leader Skill: All attribute cards ATK x2 when reaching 2 set of Dark combos. ATK x1 for each additional combo, up to ATK x3 when reaching 3 combos. All attribute cards ATK x4, 25% all damage reduction when reaching 6 combos

Awakenings:         

Pros	Cons
Modest leadership potential Reliable damage reduction Self sufficient active Burst + 9 Dark orbs Skill Charge	Awakenings are mixed Leader Skill is orb hungry Makes 9 dark orbs but no Box  Active has a long cooldown if no Skill Charge/as an inherit

Hiel is a bit of melange of various metas as his awakenings, active, and leader skill are somewhat all over the place. As a leader, Hiel requires 9 dark orbs for full activation (3 combos) but utilizes TPA  for supplemental damage which further adds to his orb hungriness. Thankfully, the damage reduction is somewhat constant/reliable due to the fact that it only requires 6 combos to activate. This is a large saving grace as it will enable players to somewhat stall while waiting for 9 dark orbs; however, it may become more challenging when your board starts having more dark orbs as they cannot be matched away until 9 or more are present.

Looking at Hiel’s other awakenings, the Skill Charge  can greatly reduce the active’s base cooldown which helps mitigate the longer base cooldown; however, his active will remain on the 16 turn cooldown if used as an inherit which can become problematic.

Unfortunately, Hiel could have been quite formidable if he had come with a Void Damage Penetration awakening. This is because his active skill has beautiful synergy due the ability to produce exactly 9 dark orbs (required for 3×3 box) along with a 3x Dark ATK burst.

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Raizen – B

Active: Change left-most column into Heart orbs. Inflict Light damage equal to ATK x200 to 1 enemy in exchange for reducing HP to 1. Affected by enemy element and defense (6 turn CD)

Leader Skill:  Light attribute cards ATK x3. ATK x2 when HP is less than 50%. ATK x3 when simultaneously clearing 5 connected Light orbs

Awakenings:         

Pros	Cons
6 turn cooldown 200x ATK & is not HP sensitive Spawns a column of heart orbs Reduces team HP to 1 Sets up actives like Grimmjow  3 L  awakenings FUA  <50%  awakening Interesting leader skill	Lower button damage Only need 1 to set up HP L awakenings are less practical overall 0 base RCV

Raizen is an interesting card from the Yu Yu Hakusho Collab as he works somewhat like a reverse Yog  in that he can achieve spectacular level of damage with a low combo count provided players are within his HP range. However, Raizen requires players to be below 50% HP along with no defensive multiplier components. This can become problematic to juggle against preempetives and heart skyfalls but his base active somewhat solves this problem. One can argue that the column of hearts is meaningful, but utilizing the Valentine’s Box is a better option due to the awakenings transferred over along with the HP not being reset to 1.

Despite his leadership potential, Raizen may often be utilized as a button farming inherit. This is because his active is able to deal 200x ATK without factoring the team’s HP level. As such, a Raizen inherit can be the first button you activate which can deal lethal amounts of damage if placed on a card with Coop Boost  awakenings. Furthermore, the HP being set to 1 can be amazing as it will trigger some leader skills but also enable buttons like Grimmjow  to function as they require 1 HP for maximum output. Thus, players would use Raizen for the HP reset plus 200x ATK and switch to stronger button actives afterwards.

In terms of his sub potential, Raizen will most likely be overshadowed by other FUA  options as his offensive awakenings are impractical for most teams to incorporate.

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Sensui – A

Active: No skyfall combos for 2 turns. Randomly spawn 6 Dark orbs from non Dark orbs (4 turn CD)

Leader Skill: No skyfall matches. Attacker type cards All Stats x1.5. ATK x2 at 5 combos. ATK x2 for each additional combo, up to ATK x12 at 10 combos

Awakenings:         

Pros	Cons
Double 7c  awakenings Guard Break  Potentially powerful Leader Skill Damage control 2.25x HP/RCV 4 turn base cooldown No skyfalls -> damage control	No Skyfalls caps damage output Restricted to Attacker types

Sensui can be thought of as an Attacker form of Reincarnated Kushinadahime  as both share the same HP and ATK multipliers along with a no Skyfall clause. Thankfully, Sensui comes with an RCV component to help compensate for the lower healing potential of Attackers along with stronger awakenings.

Unfortunately, Kushinadhime has been on the decline due to the fact that the no Skyfall clause caps her overall damage output along with damage control being less relevant. With the introduction of FUA , Damage Void Penetration , and Fujin  style actives, the actual need to control one’s damage is at an all time low. As a result, the meta has somewhat shifted to a phase where players need to deliver explosive amounts of damage and rely on those awakenings/actives to counter boss mechanics.

With this in mind, Sensui is already at a disadvantage despite the fact that he comes with stronger awakenings and a much shorter base cooldown. This is not to say that Sensui is lackluster as he will still be able to clear content, but will be harder to waltz through challenging content and may sometimes find yourself struggling to pump out enough damage on a poorly distributed board.

On the bright side, Sensui can function as an alternative to Dark Kali  as a sub since both feature double 7 Combo  and Guard Break . In fact, they only slightly differ in awakenings but the shorter base cooldown of Sensui may make him an appealing choice. Starting at only 4 turns, Sensui can easily inherit an active skill of your choice and in a pinch, can act as damage control solution should the situation arise. This is because the 2 turns of no Skyfalls means no additional combos can be matched which can also prevent suicide via poison orb Skyfalls.

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5 star base

Kazuma Kuwabara – D

Active: Deal 100000 damage to 1 enemy. Ignore enemy element and defense. Change 2nd column from the right into Light orbs (8 turn CD)

Leader Skill: Light attribute cards HP x1.5, ATK x2.5. ATK x3 when simultaneously clearing 5 connected Light orbs

Awakenings:      

Pros	Cons
100,000 True Damage Spawns a column of Light orbs Guard Break	Little practical usage outside niche inherit

Kazuma Kuwabara is an underwhelming 5* card from the Yu Yu Hakusho Collab as his active skill is situational at best. Being able to deal 100,000 true damage to a single enemy is nothing special and because it only hits one target, it cannot be used to sweep through PreDRAs or other floors with multiple high defense cards. Furthermore, with the introduction of Guard Break  and higher ATK multipliers, most teams do not require True Damage when faced with high defense spawns.

With that in mind, the Guard Break awakening may help solve some problems for a newer player who does not have access to flashier and more powerful options.

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Genkai  – D

Active: Water & Light attribute cards ATK x2.5 for 1 turn. Change left-most column into Water orbs and the right-most column into Light orbs (12 turn CD)

Leader Skill: Water & Light attribute cards ATK x2.5. Increases time limit of orb movement by 2 seconds. ATK x3 when simultaneously clearing 5 connected Water or Light orbs

Awakenings:      

Pros	Cons
Spawns a column of Water & Light 2.5x ATK burst	Neither component is amazing Double rows are better 2.5x is not that high

Genkai is another lackluster 5* card as they do not fulfill any niche particularly well. Being able to spawn a column of water and light orbs is not that meaningful as an orb changer while the 2.5x ATK component is easily outclassed by most burst actives. Furthermore, combining both elements results in a significantly longer cooldown which can make it challenging to justify as an inherit slot.

Double columns is less valuable compared to double rows because double rows when used after a full mono board changer can be manipulated to form numerous combos. This is vital for speed farming as less brain power is required and results in  more consistent activation along with better promoting both Boxes  and Amen  usage.

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Koenma – A

Active: Bind recovery for 4 turns. Awoken Bind recovery for 4 turns. 50% damage reduction for 3 turns (14 turn CD)

Leader Skill: Change the board to 7×6 size. Water attribute cards HP x2

Awakenings:     

Pros	Cons
High value active skill Combines 2 valuable components Makes for a wonderful inherit	Mostly used as an inherit

Koenma is a wonderful card to own simply because they provide a high value active skill to inherit. As players begin to progress into harder dungeons, it becomes vital to have both a shield and solution to awoken binds. Thus, Koenma will be a highly prized inherit as they can address both problems with a single active while still having a reasonable cooldown.

Comparing Koenma’s cooldown to other shielding options, players are only spending a few extra turns to combine both components (eg. Reincarnated Susano  is 11 turns for the same value shield plus haste).

While Koenma is only able to remove 4 turns of awoken binds, this is often sufficient for most content outside of Alt. Arena. As such, owning a Koenma may help lessen the need to bring Odin Dragon  for some content and is well suited for content like the new Arena 4.

Overall, Koenma is going to be a highly prized inherit while also transferring some stats to Water cards.

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Kaname Hagiri – D

Active: Remove lock status on orbs. Reduce enemies’ defense to 0 for 1 turn. Effects carry forward on sweep (11 turn CD)

Leader Skill: Attacker type cards HP x1.5, ATK x1.5. ATK x2.5 for clearing each Fire or Dark orbs in a cross formation

Awakenings:     

Pros	Cons
100% DEF break Removes locked orbs	Neither component is highly desirable Rarely need both components at the same time

Kaname Hagiri is another disappointing card from the Yu Yu Hakusho Collab due to the fact that their active skill is quite weak due to it combining two niche components. This increases the total cooldown along with players rarely needing both components at the same time outside of maybe 3P Dark Metatron.

The main problem with 100% DEF break is that Guard Break  is often a cleaner solution along with many top tier leaders having a high enough multiplier to burst through. In addition, the removal of locked orbs can be meaningful, but is best when combined with a more powerful secondary effect.

Taking all of this into consideration, it makes it hard to justify using Kaname Hagiri in the vast majority of situations.

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Botan – C

Active: +2 combo count for 1 turn. Avoid all Dark damage for 1 turn (15 turn CD)

Leader Skill: Light attribute cards HP x2, ATK x1. Increases time limit of orb movement by 5 seconds. RCV x3 when matching exactly 4 connected heart orbs

Awakenings:     

Pros	Cons
+2 combo count 1 turn dark damage void	15 turn cooldown Rarely need both components Better options for either aspect

Botan is an unfortunately a lackluster card due to the fact that both components of her active skill are rarely needed which increase the total cooldown to the point where it becomes challenging to use.

Most +2 combo count actives have a much shorter cooldown along with a more meaningful secondary effect whereas a full single turn void like Ganesha  is 13 turns.

Taking this into consideration, it makes it challenging to justify using Botan as an inherit if you own other +2 combo count actives.

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Chu – A

Active: Recover 50% of max HP. Inflict Light nuke damage equal to team Water & Wood ATK x40 to all enemies (20 turn CD)

Leader Skill: Wood attribute cards ATK x3. Water attribute cards RCV x2. All attribute cards ATK x2 on the turn a skill is used. ( Multiple skills will not stack )

Awakenings:     

Pros	Cons
40x team Water & Wood nuke Alternative to Nergigante Hutner  Healing can help Zeus Verse  teams	No Coop Boost  Have to inherit Can run into SB issues Healing can ruin other buttons (Vritra, Grimmjow)

Chu is a potential alternative to Nergigante Hunter  as they both offer the same 40x team ATK to two colours but Chu is less ideal overall. This is because Chu lacks a Coop Boost  awakening which forces him into an inheritance role as he will not deal sufficient damage to button through some spawns. As such, teams may run into Skill Boost  issues when trying to juggle his 20 turn cooldown plus the base card’s own active.

In addition to this, the healing component can be either a blessing or curse depending on the team being used. If players are running a Zeus Verse  set up, the 50% heal can help ensure they stay at max health and their full multiplier. On the other hand, teams like Machine Goemon  and Dark Metatron  rely on being low health along with other button actives like Grimmjow  and Vritra .

Taking all of this into consideration, Chu can possibly be used but requires more planning and finesse compared to a Nergigante Hunter build.

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Jin – B

Active: Change top-most row & bottom-most row into Wood orbs (13 turn CD)

Leader Skill: Wood attribute cards HP x2, RCV x2. ATK x3 when simultaneously clearing 6 connected Wood orbs

Awakenings:      

Pros	Cons
Cloud Resist  Forms 2 rows on a reasonable cooldown Helps wood row farming Helps produce additional combos	Green row farming is less powerful overall

Jin is an interesting card as he is the only monster to feature the Cloud Resist  as a natural awakening in NA. Granted the Cloud Resist can be gained via Super Awakening, they do become disabled in coop. However, it would most likely be challenging to actually use Jin as a sub in any situation as she will mostly be used for his active skill.

Being able to produce 2 Wood rows is naturally valuable for Wood farming teams as a single active can potentially sweep 2 floors. Unfortunately, Wood row farming is less potent compared to Fire but players can still abuse the 2 rows for other teams.

It has become increasingly popular to utilize cards with both the Box  and 7 Combo  (look at Yusuke) but it can be challenging to achieve on a standard 6×5 board. As such, players may use a full board changer to a single colour that is not Wood then use Jin afterwards. This results in a a 18/12 distribution which can be easily broken up into the 3×3 Box and 7 combos.

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Karasu – B

Active: Change all orbs to Fire, Dark & Jammer orbs (7 turn CD)

Leader Skill: All  attribute cards ATK x2.5 when reaching 1 set of Jammer combo. ATK x1.5 for each additional combo, up to ATK x4 when reaching 2 combos. All attribute cards ATK x2, 25% all damage reduction when reaching 5 combos

Awakenings:     

Pros	Cons
7 turn cooldown board changer Double Machine Killer	Active generates Jammers No Skill Boost  Cannot use Machine Killer latents

Karasu’s active is on a quick 7-turn cooldown which is quite powerful for a full board changer. Unfortunately, he also produces Jammers which are undesirable by the vast majority of teams. Granted there are some teams that like Jammers, they have never really took off and tend to be more of a meme than practical overall. Regardless, with a 7-turn cooldown, Karasu can be comboed with other actives that remove Jammers into a more desirable colour.

In regards to his sub potential, Karasu can be used as a reasonably effective Machine killer due to his personal 9x damage. Sadly, he lacks other awakenings along with low weighted stats as well as being unable to utilize Machine Killer latents.

Conclusion

The Yu Yu Hakusho Collab is an exciting event as it will mark the debut of Yusuke  along with being able to utilize the Monster Exchange system to trade in for 6* cards.

For the most part, this Collab is mediocre outside of Yusuke and may result in players simply using the Monster Exchange instead of rolling.

Let me know what you think about the Yu Yu Hakusho Collab REM and how much you plan on rolling.

There will be a separate article analyzing the viability of using the Monster Exchange system for Yusuke  coming soon.

Happy Puzzling!

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