Skip E.H. Special Recruit (March 5–19) unless you're a whale with gems to burn. Crown and Rapi: Red Hood — both expected on the 3.5th Anniversary banner — are T0 units that define the meta for 6–12 months. E.H. is B-tier. F2P and dolphin players who split gems between both banners risk arriving at Anniversary empty-handed.
Quick Verdict: Anniversary vs. E.H. at a Glance
If you don't own Crown or Rapi: Red Hood, stop here and start hoarding. If you're a whale who already has both at MLB, the E.H. section is worth reading.
The 3.5th Anniversary Banner
Shift Up confirmed the anniversary event runs March–April 2026. Two featured units:
Crown — T0 Burst II Pilgrim buffer. Defines which Burst III units are viable in sustained content. Highest F2P pull priority in the current meta.
Rapi: Red Hood — T0 Burst III Fire Machine Gun DPS. SSS-tier bossing, SS-tier story. Slots into almost any team.
Crown is the rare Burst II that makes your Burst III units better. Missing her isn't just a roster gap — it actively limits every team you build around sustained fights.
The timing problem: E.H. closes March 19. Anniversary runs through April. Any gems spent on E.H. are permanently gone from your Anniversary budget before the Anniversary banner even ends.
E.H. Special Recruit: Full Breakdown
E.H. is a Burst III Wind Attacker (Elysion, SMG) running March 5–19, 2026. Same pity system as Anniversary — 4% SSR, 2% rate-up, 200-pull hard pity.
Kit and Limitations
Her S1 generates 4 ammo stacks on Burst activation, giving full uptime in burst-cycling compositions and ~70% sustained DPS efficiency. Skill priority: S2 to level 7 → S1 to level 4 → Burst to level 10.
Critical mistake to avoid: never pair E.H. with Alice. Alice's infinite-ammo mechanic prevents the reload that triggers E.H.'s S1 stack generation. It looks like good synergy. It isn't — it caps her at 70% potential.
Overload gear priority: Head > Gloves > Chest > Boots, with 4× Elemental DMG and 1–2× Max Ammo rolls.
Optimal Team Compositions
Notice the problem: E.H.'s optimal team requires Crown and Rapi: Red Hood. Pulling E.H. without those units is actively counterproductive.
Step-Up and Selector
The Step-Up structure: 6,600 Gems for 31 pulls across four phases (Phase 1: 100 Gems/1 pull; Phase 2: 1,500/10; Phase 3: 2,000/10; Phase 4: 3,000/10). Community consensus: maximum one Step-Up run, and only if your Anniversary budget is already secured.
Gold Mileage accumulates at 1 ticket per Special Recruit pull and carries over indefinitely. At 200 tickets, you can exchange for any featured SSR in the Mileage Shop. If you're already at 120 mileage, you need only 80 more pulls (24,000 Gems) to guarantee E.H. — a completely different decision than starting from zero.
Pity Mechanics: How Both Banners Work
Both banners share identical systems. Here's what's confirmed versus what's community-observed:
The key distinction: Gold Mileage carries over — pulls on E.H. feed the same pool you'll use on Anniversary. But the soft pity counter resets when a banner closes. Your mileage is safe. Your pull streak is not.
Practical example: pull 50 times on E.H. without hitting the featured SSR, and those 50 pulls' worth of soft pity progress disappears on March 19. The mileage stays. The streak doesn't.
The Gem Math
Hard pity costs 60,000 Gems on either banner. Your existing mileage is the variable that changes everything.
Pull Costs
Single pull: 300 Gems
10-pull: 3,000 Gems
Soft pity range: ~18,000–30,000 Gems (60–100 pulls)
Hard pity: 60,000 Gems (200 pulls)
E.H. MLB worst-case: 800 pulls / 180,000 Gems
Effective Cost by Current Mileage
Check your mileage count before making any decision about E.H. A player at 180 mileage is making a 6,000-Gem call, not a 60,000-Gem one.
F2P Monthly Gem Income
Active F2P players earn roughly 8,000–12,000 Gems per month, with daily missions yielding ~80 Gems/day (~2,400/month baseline). Anniversary login bonuses and event rewards add on top.
Community-recommended savings target: 15,000–25,000 Gems by March 5 (51–83 pulls). That's the floor for a meaningful Anniversary shot without relying entirely on mileage.
Free Gems: Active CDK Codes
Redeem via Notice → Event Notice → CD-Key Portal (requires completing tutorials 1–4):
35 free vouchers. Redeem them now.
If you're 20–30 pulls short of a guaranteed T0 unit, Goddess of Victory NIKKE cheap gems top up for anniversary banner through BitTopup offers competitive rates and fast delivery — worth considering when you're close to pity on a hard end-date banner.
Anniversary vs. E.H.: Head-to-Head
Meta Value
Community rankings weight content performance at 60% Boss (Story/Intercept/Co-op/Union Raid) and 40% Campaign:
Crown: Immediate impact across all content. No realistic Burst II replacement. Amplifies every Burst III on your roster.
Rapi: Red Hood: Best-in-slot for the meta boss team (Little Mermaid → Crown → Cinderella → Red Hood → Naga). SSS bossing, SS story.
E.H.: Solid in burst-cycling campaign content. No slot in the meta boss/raid team. Requires specific setup — including Crown and Red Hood — to reach her ceiling.
Spending 60,000 Gems to guarantee a T0 unit that defines your team for 6–12 months is categorically better value than the same spend on a B-tier unit whose optimal team requires the Anniversary units anyway.
Pull Strategy by Player Type
F2P: Don't Touch E.H.
Your gem ceiling for March is roughly 15,000–25,000 Gems — enough for a realistic shot at one Anniversary T0 unit with mileage help, not enough to safely engage both banners. Every gem on E.H. is a gem that can't guarantee Crown.
Priority: Crown first (highest universal impact), then Rapi: Red Hood. If you own both, bank gems for the next high-priority banner.
Dolphin: One Step-Up Maximum
Consider a single Step-Up run on E.H. (6,600 Gems / 31 pulls) only if your Anniversary budget is already locked in. Between the Step-Up and 22 more Anniversary pulls, take the Anniversary pulls — the ROI is better.
The Monthly Pass ($4.99 for 300 + 100/day × 30 = 3,300 Gems/month) remains the highest-value recurring purchase. First Purchase tiers (T1: 640 Gems, T2: 1,440, T3: 3,000) are worth it if you're close to a pity threshold on Anniversary.
Whale: Both Banners, Mileage Optimization
Every E.H. pull feeds the same mileage pool you'll use on Anniversary. If you're planning 200+ Anniversary pulls anyway, E.H. mileage contribution is essentially free. For E.H. MLB, budget 180,000 Gems worst-case — still a significant commitment for a B-tier unit, even at whale level.
The Skip Both Scenario
Already own Crown and Rapi: Red Hood at solid investment levels? Skipping both is legitimate. Nayuta, Little Mermaid, and Cinderella are next in community priority rankings — save for those.
The Mileage Insight Most Guides Miss
The E.H. vs. Anniversary decision isn't binary for players near the 200-ticket threshold.
At 120 mileage: pulling 80 times on E.H. (24,000 Gems) guarantees E.H. via the Mileage Shop. Those 80 pulls also build soft pity on E.H. before you pivot to Anniversary. You're not wasting gems — you're converting mileage into a guaranteed unit.
At 0 mileage: pulling 100 times on E.H. without hitting the featured SSR costs 30,000 Gems, leaves you at 100 mileage, and your soft pity resets March 19. The mileage carries forward, but you've paid 30,000 Gems for a B-tier unit you may not have gotten.
The threshold that changes the decision: 150+ mileage. Below that, skip E.H. Above it, the math becomes genuinely interesting even for dolphins.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
Splitting gems without reaching pity on either banner is the single most damaging mistake this patch. Full list:
The gem split — 20,000 on E.H. + 20,000 on Anniversary = 133 pulls total, no guarantee on either, soft pity on E.H. resets March 19.
Ignoring mileage count — the most important variable in your pull decision. Check before planning.
Pairing E.H. with Alice — Alice's infinite-ammo mechanic prevents the reload E.H.'s S1 needs. Caps her output. Most common E.H. team-building mistake.
Spending Anniversary gems on standard banners — standard pulls don't contribute to Anniversary featured rate-up pity the same way. Patience matters.
Skipping CDK codes — 35 free vouchers sitting unclaimed is a real cost.
Final Decision Guide
Do you own Crown AND Rapi: Red Hood?├── NO → Save everything for Anniversary. Skip E.H.└── YES → Do you have 60,000+ Gems after Anniversary budget?├── NO → Skip E.H. Save for next priority unit.└── YES → Are you at 150+ Gold Mileage?├── YES → E.H. is worth considering (low gem cost to guarantee)└── NO → Whale? Pull E.H. then Anniversary. Otherwise skip.
Verdict by Player Type
If you're close to Anniversary pity and running low on gems, the Goddess of Victory NIKKE genesis crystals recharge discount March 2026 through BitTopup can bridge the gap — competitive pricing, instant delivery, useful when banners have hard end dates.
FAQ
How many gems to guarantee pity in NIKKE? 200 pulls = 60,000 Gems at hard pity. Alternatively, 200 Gold Mileage Tickets exchanged in the Mileage Shop. Existing mileage reduces your effective gem cost proportionally.
Does pity carry over between Anniversary and E.H.? Gold Mileage carries over indefinitely. Soft pity pull counters are community-observed to reset when a banner ends. Mileage is safe; streaks are not.
What free pulls are available during Anniversary? Login bonuses and event rewards (per Shift Up's official schedule), plus 35 Advanced Vouchers from active CDK codes: PUNYQUEEN (10), NIKKECHRISTMASPARTY (10), NIKKESTELLARBLADE (5), 3YEARSWITHNIKKE (10). Redeem via Notice → Event Notice → CD-Key Portal after tutorials 1–4.
Should F2P players pull E.H. at all? No. E.H. is B-tier, her optimal team requires the Anniversary units, and F2P gem ceilings aren't sufficient to safely engage both banners.
What happens to mileage tickets if unused? They carry over indefinitely across all Special Recruit banners. No expiration. Track them carefully — they're a long-term resource.
Is E.H. worth pulling if I already own Crown and Rapi: Red Hood? Only at 150+ mileage (significantly reduced gem cost) or if you're a whale with surplus resources. Even then, 60,000 Gems for a B-tier unit is a high opportunity cost with T0 units regularly entering the banner rotation.
Mechanics and rates reflect officially confirmed Shift Up data as of March 2026. Soft pity thresholds are community-observed, not officially published. Update immediately if Shift Up announces changes to banner rates or the E.H. unit pool during the anniversary window.