Summary
- Early character choices in Blue Archive determine success.
- Characters like Serika and Nonomi are critical for beginner teams.
- Strategic investment is key in choosing characters for long-term success.
There’s nothing quite like the first few weeks in Blue Archive—where every story stage feels like a tactical puzzle, resources are tight, and each new student unlock can make or break the early roster. In a game where team synergy, skill cycling, and armor match-ups are the real mid-bosses, picking the right beginner characters is about building a foundation that will carry new players through every mission and every raid.
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Whether it’s Serina’s quick medkits saving a run or Tsubaki’s tanking redefining what “unkillable” really means, these students quietly teach the fundamentals—like positioning, skill timing, damage typing, and team-building—for every new player. So, this list will break down the characters every new Sensei should know, and why they’re the true unsung heroes of Kivotos.
8 Ushimaki Juri
The Oddball Who’s Easily Replaceable
- Attack: 170
- Defense: 118
Juri is a character every Sensei will acquire early on, but her value isn't immediately obvious. Juri’s entire kit revolves around her 3-cost EX Skill, which summons a pot that pulls nearby enemies into one spot. For a brand-new player, this is a fantastic, low-stakes introduction to the powerful mechanic of forced movement and enemy grouping.
However, her practical use is almost non-existent for half the game, until Kaiten FX Mk.0 Total Assault, where grouping enemies is key. For this reason, players should avoid investing any resources in her and learn to prioritize broadly useful students over those with extremely narrow, situational gimmicks.
7 Ibaragi Yoshimi
Crowd Control for When Options Are Thin
- Attack: 268
- Defense: 19
Yoshimi, the 1-star Special from Trinity, fills the “crowd control” niche with a bit of flair and a lot of fireworks. Her EX skill is a 4-cost missile barrage that stuns and damages an area. It’s perfect for interrupting dangerous skills or buying time against enemy waves. She is a lifesaver for beginners, learning to interrupt powerful enemy attacks.
Yoshimi is a classic jack-of-all-trades and a master of none. Her damage doesn't compare to dedicated attackers, and her crowd control is less reliable than specialized units. She finds a temporary home in early teams tackling Heavy Armor (Yellow) enemies or in the Hieronymus Total Assault, where stuns are part of the boss mechanic.
6 Waraku Chise
The Essential Mystic Damage Dealer
- Attack: 245
- Defense: 20
Few beginner units feel as essential as Chise when the story starts, flooding the field with Special Armor enemies. This 2-star Striker from Hyakkiyako is the go-to solution for the waves of Special Armor (Blue) enemies that populate early-to-mid-game missions. Her EX Skill creates a large field of persistent Mystic damage, teaching the concept of Damage over Time (DoT) in an effective way.
As a 2-star student, she's relatively common in recruitment, but her true strength lies in her farmability from Hard Mode stages 14-2H and 17-2H. This accessibility makes her a highly recommended medium-to-high investment priority for all new players. Leveling her skills provides a fantastic return, and she remains a core unit for farming teams and the ChesedTotal Assault well into the endgame.
5 Kuromi Serika
For Explosive Damage and Skill Cycling
- Attack: 311
- Defense: 19
Serika is one of the best long-term investments a new player can make, period. This 2-star Striker from the Abydos Foreclosure Task Force is a premier single-target damage dealer who excels at taking down bosses with Light Armor (Red).
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Her EX Skill costs a mere 2 points, the lowest in the game, and it buffs her own Attack and Attack Speed. Serika’s cheap skill allows players to "cycle" through their hand of skills much faster, enabling more frequent use of a tank's shield or a healer's emergency heal. This makes her a fantastic addition to almost any team, even outside her boss-killing specialty.
4 Izayoi Nonomi
The Guaranteed Wave-Clearing MVP
- Attack: 290
- Defense: 80
Nonomi is a gift from the developers to every new Sensei. This 2-star backline Striker is given to every player for free, along with enough materials to promote her to 3-stars, through the "New Teacher Guide Mission."
Her EX Skill unleashes a devastating cone of Piercing damage that can delete entire screens of enemies. Her primary role is to be the MVP of early-game farming, particularly for EXP Commissions, which are packed with dense waves of Heavy Armor (Yellow) enemies perfectly suited to her kit. Efficiently clearing these stages is crucial for leveling the rest of the roster, and Nonomi is the key to doing it.
3 Hayase Yuuka
Evasion Specialist Who Teaches the Power of Gear and Dodging
- Attack: 119
- Defense: 29
For new players, Yuuka is the tank that feels almost magical, dodging hits with her high evasion and shrugging off what does land with a personal shield. This 2-star Explosive Striker is free from the tutorial and can be easily promoted via early Hard mode stages.
Her 3-cost EX Skill gives her a durable shield, making her incredibly self-sufficient and a reliable frontline anchor for nearly all story content. Yuuka’s passive healing and reliance on cover introduce beginners to the value of positioning and gear, especially when her survivability leaps after she is equipped with a Tier 4 Bag.
2 Kasuga Tsubaki
The Unkillable Frontline Anchor for Early Teams
- Attack: 251
- Defense: 94
If there's one character who defines the early game meta, it's Kasuga Tsubaki. This 2-star Striker from Hyakkiyako is the most dominant tank for all early and mid-game content. Her EX Skill Taunts all enemies, forcing them to attack her while buffing her defense.
But her most iconic ability is her Normal Skill, a massive self-healing that triggers automatically when her health drops below 30%, often bringing her from the brink of death back to full. This combination makes her astonishingly self-sufficient and forgiving of tactical mistakes. Tsubaki’s Special Armor gives her resistance to Explosive damage; because of this overwhelming utility, she becomes the highest investment priority for any new player.
1 Sumi Serina
The Medkit Master and Team Saver
- Attack: 167
- Defense: 24
Every team needs a lifeline, and Serina is the beginner’s savior. As a 1-star special student, she is universally available to every single player from day one. Her EX Skill costs only 2 points to drop a medkit at a chosen location, healing the first ally who moves to it. A beginner will soon realize that Serina’s medkit is also a powerful repositioning tool.
Players can use it to pull a Striker out of an enemy's telegraphed attack zone. Eventually, when they master this tactic, they can use her to move their tank to a precise spot, manipulating all enemy AI to converge for a perfect AoE wipe. This unparalleled combination of accessibility, low-cost efficiency, and tactical depth makes her the most important investment for any new Sensei.
