Blue Archive guide – Shiro and Kuro February 2023

Blue Archive has released their latest Total Assault raid Shiro and Kuro. This tag team of circus characters is one of the more eccentric boss fights in the game.

Here’s what you need to know about dishing out damage to this mouse and bird duo.

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Core Mechanics

Shiro and Kuro are a “Special” armored boss, meaning they’re weak to Mystic attacks from students.

Mystic damage characters are some of the most unusual in the game. So it’s possible if you’re a newer players you might be missing some core students for high level clears.

It’s helpful to remember that Piercing damage is neutral against Special armor, so many of the students from our Chesed or Binah guides can be used in a pinch.

Shiro and Kuro are a two phase boss. First you’ll fight Shiro who likes to roll from side to side on her ball.

Unlike other bosses, Shiro and Kuro don’t have a special move when their ATG bar is full. Instead their basic attacks and powers are ranked up.

Like other bosses, their ATG gauge can be filled by making them “Groggy”. The Groggy Meter for Shiro and Kuro fills as they take damage.

Creating Cover

Shiro and Kuro have a unique mechanic that interacts with Cover. Cover are the bits of rock, barricades, and other terrain that students can crouch fire from behind.

Some students have EX abilities that create Cover and they have a unique niche in Shiro and Kuro raids.

When Shiro or Kuro use an ability that will send a ball at a student, the ball can be blocked with Cover. If the damage doesn’t break the Cover, the ball will be bounced back.

When the ball is bounced back, Shiro or Kuro will immediately enter a Groggy state and wipe their ATG gauge.

Our Team Suggestion

Strikers

Ichinose Asuna: This is a helpful reminder that 1-star unit doesn’t necessarily mean weak. Characters can raise their star rating and can be vital for some team comps. Case in point is Asuna; she’s a strong single target damage dealer who buffs herself with her EX abilities. Her EX ability also causes her to dash in a direction you choose which can help her dodge painful AoEs.

Shirasu Azusa (Swimsuit ver.): The swimsuit version of Azusa is another single-target heavy hitter. While normal Azusa does Explosive damage, Swimsuit Azusa does Mystic damage. Her EX ability does high single target damage and applies a damage over time effect. She’s the perfect complement to a team because she has a passive chance to reduce the enemy’s defense when she hits a target.

Kuda Izuna: Izuna is just like Asuna. She has a lot of single target damage, self-buffs, and her EX ability allows her to dodge AoEs. In Shiro and Kuro you can never have too many characters like this.

Kosaka Wakamo: The Fox of Calamity herself. Wakamo is another damage dealer like Azusa who synergizes with high damage teams. Her EX ability explodes for even more damage based on how much damage is dealt after its used. She also does up to 29.7% extra damage to bosses depending on her skill levels.

Support

Kawawa Shizuko: Sadly this is basically the only place Shizuko shines. Which is a shame because she’s adorable. Her EX ability creates cover for bouncing back attacks from Shiro and Kuro. Her passive abilities can lower the boss’s attack and increase her allies crit chance.

Sumi Serina: You’re going to want some healing, and Serina is one of the best for this raid. Positioning is everything to dodge AoEs and her heal can move allies away while topping off their health. It’s also super cheap to use.

Substitutions

Sunaookami Shiroko (Riding ver.) (Replaces Any Striker): Cycling Shiroko doesn’t synergize with damage per se, but she does synergize with status ailments. Her EX ability does solid single target damage despite being an AoE and one of her passives gives her increased damage against targets with ailments. She can replace any Striker, but make sure she’s on a team with someone like Swimsuit Azusa who can keep the debuffs going.

Kuda Izuna (Swimsuit ver.) (Replaces Any Striker): Swimsuit Izuna is kind of a worse version of Izuna since she lacks mobility, but her damage output potential is almost greater. One of her passives activates more often when she crits, so make sure she’s on a team with crit boosting allies like Shizuko.

Tendou Alice (Replaces Any Striker): Alice is one of the weaker choices but she can do big bursts of damage when she’s fully charged up. Her passive abilities increase her crit rating drastically when using her EX ability. But her lack of mobility makes her vulnerable to AoE.

Waraku Chise (Replaces Any Striker): Chise does middling damage but applies a good burn debuff to synergize with Cycling Shiroko. She’s a good pick if you have no one else.

Waraku Chise (Swimsuit ver.) (Replaces Any Striker): Similar to normal Chise but slightly worse? Her EX ability can do huge damage but depending on the rest of your team comp you’ll probably have better use for your EX meter.

Endo Shimiko (Replaces Shizuko): Shimiko is another Special unit that creates Cover with her EX ability. But her passives are more defensive instead of offensive, making her a worse version of Shizuko in most cases. However Shimiko is only a 1-star unit, so it’s likely that you have her even if you don’t have Shizuko.

Himuro Sena (Replaces Serina): Honestly, Sena is preferable if you’re running a team of mobile strikers already. You won’t need the movement from Serina and Sena also adds some extra damage to your team. Rather than a Substitution we would recommend Sena over Serina if you’re running a mobile team. This might not work at higher level raids though if your immobile damage dealers like Wakamo get obliterated.

Yutori Natsu or Kasuga Tsubaki (Replaces Any Striker): If your team is a bit underleveled you’ll probably want a tank. In that case Natsu and Tsubaki both work. We’d suggest Natsu over Tsubaki since she has a passive that increases your team’s attack speed.

Piercing Damage?

As we said earlier, Shiro and Kuro take neutral damage from Piercing attacks, and if you’re not invested in your Mystic students then you can use some of these characters instead.

Since the only big mechanic for the boss is that they do AoEs and their ball attacks can be blocked by cover, the real goal here is to do as much single target damage as possible. To that end, Piercing attack characters with debuffs that can supplement the one or two Mystic attackers you do have are preferable.

Konuri Maki (Replaces Any Striker): The damage dealing star of Chesed and Binah is nearly as good in Shiro and Kuro. In fact she might even be better than she is in Chesed since her Paintball Lob passive will definitely hit the boss. This means she can reliably debuff the boss and still slam out respectable damage.

Murokasa Akane (Replaces Any Striker): Akane’s whole existence is built around debuffing her opponent’s defense. While she was too narrow in focus for Chesed, she can come back in this raid to help your Mystic Strikers shine.

If you need more than two Piercing Strikers you’re already scraping the bottom of the barrel so you’ll just want to maximize damage however you can.

Honorable Mention

Shiraishi Utaha (Replaces Shizuko and Shimiko): Utaha is a Special unit that creates Piercing damage turrets. But she has a niche role here in that her turrets can block the ball. Unlike Cover this won’t bounce the ball back, but it can do a little extra damage and eat a hit for one of your Strikers.