If we’ve said it once, we’ve said it a thousand times: we’re still catching up to Japanese servers on Blue Archive. No banner will make that more apparent than this one because it’s Christmas in June.

Japanese servers got this banner back around the appropriate holiday, but we’ll have to make do with some out of season festivities. This new banner includes Christmas versions of Serina and Hanae, but are they worth rolling for?

Sumi Serina (Christmas)

Sumi makes an appearance as a Support Striker, bringing up the backline with long-lasting Crit DMG buffs! On paper she looks really good for Yellow raids like Chesed or Binah. But there’s two things to keep in mind here; firstly, she’s not Limited meaning she can appear in normal pulls going forward. Secondly, she’s overshadowed by other buffers like Ako, Himari, and the upcoming Fuuka (New Year) (literally coming next banner).

Asagao Hanae

Honestly? Nothing great here. AoE Heal Over Time effect is nice, but everything except her Sub Skill is just healing and more healing. You’ll rarely need that much healing and when you do, there are better choices like Nodoka (Hot Spring) for AoE and normal Hanae for single target healing.

Should I Pull?

None of these students are Limited/Unique which means they can all appear as a random 3-star in other pulls. We know we keep saying this but we’re -STILL- catching up to Japanese servers and we’re proceeding rapidly through events to get there.

There’s some amazing Limited/Unique students coming up in the near future. Mainly Mika in late July and a few others in August and September. So you do have a little bit of time to replenish your Pyroxenes if you pull.

To sum it up: Don’t pull. Christmas Hanae is just kind of a mediocre unit overall. Serina is a lot better but she’s overshadowed by other damage buffers like Ako, Himari, and of course the upcoming Fuuka (New Year). Her only niche case is in comps where you have 3 other damage dealers are blasting away at a boss. But the tried and true method of supporting one big damage dealer and stacking buffs is still the meta.