Highlights
- Tanks are essential for team longevity in Blue Archive , absorbing damage and providing support for allies to deal damage to enemies.
- Unique characters like Hoshino (Swimsuit) and Yuuka (Tracksuit) offer tanking capabilities along with crowd control and repositioning skills.
- From traditional tanks like Tsubaki to versatile options like Marina and Mine, players have a variety of tank units to choose from for different playstyles.
Whether players are trying to score the highest rank in PVP or trying to take down the most difficult Raid bosses, every good Blue Archive team build needs a Tank unit. From traditional tanks that use shields and restore their health, to characters who just happen to have enough HP to take hits from the frontlines while wiping out enemies quickly, it’s a good thing Blue Archive has so many great Tanks available for players to choose from.
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Tanks are massively important in ensuring the longevity of a team and making sure that the rest of the units they’re fighting alongside have the time and support to deal enough damage to take out even the toughest enemies. This article covers Tank units in Blue Archive from best to worst, and explores what makes them so good. It also includes accessible options for newer players, including free units.
1 Hoshino (Swimsuit)
A Support Unit Capable Of Tanking The Toughest Hits
The special summer skin version of Abydos' vice president, Hoshino, Hoshino (Swimsuit) is a three-star Striker who deals Explosion damage. While Hoshino isn't a Tank unit in the traditional sense - the game actually lists her as a Support unit - she fights from the front of the team, and is so good at absorbing damage that she can function very capably as both a tank and a support, making her invaluable to any play style.
Hoshino's Passive Skill increases her defense and attack by a set percentage, making her effective as a tank while still establishing her as an effective damage-dealing unit. Alongside this, Hoshino also recovers a set amount of health every 40 seconds thanks to her Normal Skill, which means she doesn't have to be completely reliant on healers and can self-sustain quite easily. The rest of her skills allow her to act as a Support for her teammates by increasing their attack and Skill cost regeneration rates.
However, one negative point about this version of Hoshino is that she's limited, meaning she won't show up on the standard gacha banner. However, she's expected to have a Global server rerun in late July, giving players plenty of time to save up for this must-have unit.
2 Yuuka (Tracksuit)
Essential For Repositioning Teammates
Another limited three-star character, Yuuka (Tracksuit) is a special event Tank unit. She fights from the front of the team as a Mystic Striker and does a great job at both tanking hits and repositioning the players' units to keep them out of danger. This is a massive help against certain bosses that target specific areas on the field or that consistently aim at certain characters.
More specifically, Yuuka's kit revolves mostly around her EX Skill, which allows her to reposition three allies on the field to a chosen location and then cast a healing barrier. Her Normal Skill also adds to this, casting the same barrier on Yuuka every 30 seconds, as long as she does not already have a barrier up. Her Passive and Sub-Skills allow Yuuka to attack faster and also boost her Mystic damage, making her especially useful as a tank that can also deal damage effectively.
Despite the fact that this version of Yuuka is limited, she has already had one event rerun earlier in 2024 on the Global Blue Archive server, making it even more likely that she'll also have another event banner next year, too.
3 Mika
Not Technically A Tank, But She'll Wipe Out Enemies So Quickly It Doesn't Matter
While Mika isn't actually a Tank student - listed as an Attacker in the game - she is one of the most broken units on the roster. As such, she is more than capable of tanking huge amounts of damage while both fighting from the front of the team and dealing enough damage to be able to wipe out bosses in one hit. In fact, each of her Skills focuses entirely on either dealing damage to enemies or boosting her attack, so players will not necessarily have to pay careful attention to raising her Skills to get the most out of her high defense. Instead, players should focus on her equipment - more specifically, her Badge and Watch slots - to try and increase her max HP.
However, similar to the characters mentioned above, Mika is a limited three-star who does not appear on the regular gacha banner. Unfortunately, unlike Hoshino (Summer), who has a confirmed rerun date, or Yuuka (Tracksuit), who has had reruns previously, there has been update about whether Mika will receive a rerun banner any time soon. However, Mika was the previous highlight of the specialBlue Archive 'Festival Banner' in Summer 2023. It can be tentatively assumed by this that she's an important enough unit to return at some point, though the earliest opportunity will be at the end of 2024.
4 Tsubaki
The Perfect Example Of What A Tank Should Be
For many Blue Archive players, Tsubaki will be their first proper introduction to traditional Tank units in the game. This is thanks to her two-star rarity, meaning she can be pulled for on any gacha banner. Thankfully, not only is she easy to get, she's also an incredibly good Tank that only gets better the more she's built.
Tsubaki is a Penetration Striker unit who fights from the front of the team. One main feature of Tsubaki's play style is her EX Skill, which increases her defense by a set percentage for 30 seconds while also allowing her to taunt enemies in an area. Similarly, her Sub Skill has her take less incoming damage while reloading. However, arguably the best part of her kit is her Normal Skill, which has Tsubaki heal herself by a certain amount once per match if her HP hits 30% or below. These features make Tsubaki a great feature on any team, as she can take the heat off her teammates and doesn't need to rely entirely on a healer.
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While Tsubaki is only a two-star character, she can be farmed through two Hard stages - 15-2H and 23-2H. Alongside this, her Elephs have also appeared within several event shops within the game, including in event reruns. As such, Tsubaki can easily be built to three-star and above - and she definitely should be, since she remains a great staple from early-game to late-game.
5 Marina
A Top Tank Option For PVP
Marina is a three-star Penetration damage Tank who fits into many different playstyles efficiently, making her a great choice for anyone looking to invest in a Tank that can be used across the game. She's especially good in PVP, making her a top choice for players who want a Tank that does a little bit more work than lower-star units like Tsubaki. However, she's also available through the regular gacha banner, making her relatively accessible (especially compared to the limited three-star units on this list). Marina has also had several rate-up banners in the past, making it very likely she'll have another at some point.
As Marina is another option for damage-dealing Tanks, her build splits between her ability to tank and her ability to take down enemies. Her Normal Skill is arguably the most valuable part of her build as a Tank, as it allows her to become invincible for a certain amount of time when her HP hits 20% or lower. The time she remains invincible increases as her Normal Skill is leveled up, starting at 12 seconds and reaching 22.8 seconds at max level. Her Passive also helps her as a Tank, as it increases her evasion by a certain percentage. Similarly, her Sub-Skill also increases her evasion by a certain amount when her EX Skill is active, stacking alongside her Passive. Overall, the mix of evasion and invincibility makes Marina a Tank that's more than capable of keeping herself out of harm's way while she deals damage.
6 Hoshino
Great At Taking Hits And Dealing Damage
Unlike her Summer exclusive skin, Hoshino actually is a Tank unit - and a very good one at that! She effectively deals Penetration-type damage from the front while taking hits for the rest of her team. Alongside this, she's also great at crowd-controlling enemies, and she can fit into different teams and play styles quite easily, making her a great option even in PVP settings.
Similarly to her Summer form, Hoshino's Normal Skill allows her to continuously cast healing upon herself when her HP hits 30% or lower, meaning that she can self-sustain well without having to rely entirely on Healer units to keep her going. Alongside this, her Sub-Skill also allows her to cast a healing barrier whenever her damage-dealing EX Skill is currently active, making her somewhat similar to Yuuka (Tracksuit) in that regard. Her Passive Skill also raises her defense, allowing her to last longer on the battlefield.
Hoshino is relatively easy to get, as she is available in the regular banner gacha and has previously had limited banners. On top of this, she's also farmable in two Hard levels: 7-3H and 11-3H. Players are definitely encouraged to farm her, as she's a very useful character to have.
7 Yuuka
Given To Players For Free
Yuuka is quite literally the earliest Tank unit that players will encounter in Blue Archive, as she's given to the player as a free unit during the tutorial section of the game. While her status as a free unit reflects the fact that Yuuka may not be quite as good as Tsubaki, she still does her job well, and is especially useful as a two-star Mystic Striker.
Yuuka is a Tank unit that fights at the front of the team. Similar to her limited Tracksuit skin, her EX Skill creates a barrier for her that gradually heals her, lasting for up to 20 seconds. She also heals herself for a certain amount whenever she takes cover thanks to her Sub-Skill, although this is slightly unreliable due to some levels having very little cover, and due to this Skill having a 10-second cooldown. Finally, her Passive increases her defense by a set percentage.
Alongside the fact that she's given to the player for free, Yuuka is also very easy to continue farming. She's the first unit that can be farmed in Hard gameplay levels, appearing in 1-1H, though she also appears again in 4-3H and 12-2H. Similarly to Tsubaki, she has also been featured as a reward in certain events.
8 Mine
Debuffing, Healing, And Repositioning - She Can Do It All
As the president of Trinity's Remedial Knights, it may come as no surprise that Mine is an effective Tank unit that is capable of self-sustaining and healing with her myriad of Skills, as well as helping her teammates by debuffing enemies. Mine is a front-fighting Explosion Striker unit who, for the most part, can do a bit of everything. This makes her very useful in several game modes, including Raids and PVP.
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Firstly, with her EX Skill, Mine is able to jump to a chosen area on the field, keeping her out of harms way. She's also able to debuff enemies' evasion and defense by a certain amount - an amount which increases if the enemy is medium-sized. Alongside this, her EX Skill also deals damage to enemies, making it a good all-rounder for evasion, debuffing, and damage. To help support her as a Tank, her Passive Skill increases her HP by a percentage. Importantly, her Sub-Skill allows Mine to provide healing to herself whenever her EX Skill is active. If she is already actively healing herself, the healing will instead be changed to Crit Res, also allowing her to tank hits more effectively.
While Mine is in the regular gacha banner pool, players will also be relieved to know that she has had a rate-up banner in the past and is set to have another later this year, scheduled in early August. This means there's plenty of time to save up for any players interested in pulling for Mine.
9 Neru (Bunny)
A Great Self-Sustainer
The Millennium's C&C leader's three-star limited skin variant, Neru (Bunny), turns her into a Tank unit that is capable of self-sustaining and repositioning herself to keep herself out of harm's way. This makes her a unit that can fit in nicely anywhere in the game, though she can really shine in certain Joint Firing Drills and Explosive Raids, or even do a good job against most units in PVP.
The primary focus of Neru's build is her EX Skill, which allows her to reposition herself to a chosen location on the field and then cast a healing barrier on herself that lasts for 20 seconds. Whilst doing this, she also attacks enemies in a round AOE. Her Normal Skill is also useful, as it increases her evasiveness. Her Passive and Sub-Skills are slightly less useful for her as a tank as they primarily focus on damage dealing, but for players interested in Tank units who are also capable of taking down enemies, this makes Neru a good choice.
While Bunny Neru is a limited character typically appearing alongside Blue Archive'sBunny Chaser On Board event, there's good news: Neru has already had two rate-up banners, with another scheduled for mid-June of this year on the Global server.
10 Miyako (Swimsuit)
Excels In Evasion Above All Else
The leader of RABBIT Platoon's summer-themed skin variant, Miyako (Swinsuit), also doubles up as a pretty good evasion Tank unit. A three-star Explosion Striker on the frontlines, Miyako specialises in being able to debuff and attack enemies with a very short EX Skill cooldown. However, Miyako finds herself in a slightly worse position than many of the other Tank units on this list due to her lack of self-healing or self-sustaining abilities, meaning that she is far more reliant on a Healer.
Miyako's EX Skill costs only 2 bars to cast, working as an attack and a debuff against enemies. This is what makes her so great; here, she can act as an attacker who can make the very most of her good evasion and HP to attack as many enemies as possible in a short amount of time. Her other Skills support this, with her Normal Skill increasing her evasion, her Passive Skill increasing her HP, and her Sub-Skill rewards her for successfully evading enemy attacks by speeding up her cost regeneration, allowing her to use her EX even faster.
Though Miyako can't currently be farmed or purchased with coins in the shop, she is in the regular gacha banner. She has also previously had a rate-up banner, though there are no other rate-up banners for her currently scheduled in the Global version of Blue Archive.
11 Tsurugi
An Attacker Who Heals After Wiping Out Enemies
Tsurugi is a three-star Striker specializing in Penetration damage. Although she's listed as an Attacker rather than a Tank, she fights from the front of the team and is capable of tanking damage and self-sustaining through healing.
With her Normal Skill, Tsurugi heals herself by a certain amount each time she defeats an enemy. This links in well with her EX Skill, which focuses on her attack by dealing damage in a fan-shaped area and increasing her attack. Similarly, she helps sustain herself and stay alive longer thanks to her Passive Skill, which increases her speed by a set amount.
While Tsurugi is not farmable through Hard levels like many other regular three-star units on this list, she is available in the regular gacha pool of three-stars, and a certain amount of her Eleph can be bought with Joint Firing Drill coins from the shop. Tsurugi also had a rate-up banner over a year ago, though it seems unlikely that she will have another in the future.
