Key takeaways
- Two new units added to the summon pool, one damage-focused and one support-focused.
- Three new stages (10.5-1 through 10.5-3) with a shared material drop table.
- Trait reroll rework — rerolls now cost a new currency instead of Gems, with a pity counter.
- Balance pass on six older units, mostly reducing AoE ultimate uptime.
- Quality-of-life: faster auto-retry, a “sell all duplicates” filter, and stage-specific drop previews before you enter.
Anime Vanguards Update 10.5: The Complete Guide
Anime Vanguards Update 10.5 is a mid-cycle progression patch: it adds two summonable units, three new story stages with a material-farming rotation, a rework of the trait reroll system, and balance changes that weaken several meta backline carries. The fastest route for returning players is to clear the new Act stages on Nightmare first (they unlock the Update 10.5 material drop pool), then spend your saved Gems on the 10.5 banner rather than the older general pool, and only then go back to finish Infinite Mode milestones you skipped.
What’s Actually in Update 10.5
According to the game’s official patch notes, Update 10.5 is not a new “world” — it slots into the existing story progression as an interlude chapter. That matters for returning players because nothing was reset, and your old units are still legal in every mode. What changed:
- Two new units added to the summon pool, one damage-focused and one support-focused.
- Three new stages (10.5-1 through 10.5-3) with a shared material drop table.
- Trait reroll rework — rerolls now cost a new currency instead of Gems, with a pity counter.
- Balance pass on six older units, mostly reducing AoE ultimate uptime.
- Quality-of-life: faster auto-retry, a “sell all duplicates” filter, and stage-specific drop previews before you enter.
New Units in Update 10.5
Both new units sit in the current banner rotation, and neither is a limited-time exclusive, so there’s no hard deadline pressure. That said, the reroll currency introduced in this patch is far more useful on the 10.5 banner than on legacy pools.
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Estelle (Celestial Ver.) — the meta pick
Estelle is a ranged single-target carry with a stacking damage passive that triggers on every kill. Her numbers look modest at base but scale hard in wave content, which is exactly what the new 10.5 stages are built around. Placement matters most: put her on the far back tile behind a taunt unit, because her passive resets if she’s the one taking hits. Per the in-game ability text, her ultimate grants a short window of guaranteed critical hits — save it for the wave boss, not the trash mobs.
Rook — the support that fixes squad slots
Rook is a ground support unit whose passive reduces the cooldown of adjacent allies’ abilities. He does almost no damage himself, which makes him a trap for new players who judge units by the damage number on the summon screen. For anyone running a two-carry composition, Rook effectively adds a third ability rotation for the cost of one tile. His main trade-off: he eats a slot that could hold a second damage dealer, so he only pays off if both your carries are placement-sensitive.
New Stages and Their Material Drops
The three new stages share one drop table, but the per-run yield and the difficulty scaling differ enough that you should not farm them evenly. The table below reflects drop counts observed consistently across repeat clears; treat them as typical yields, not guaranteed amounts.
| Stage | Difficulty | Primary Drop | Typical Yield / Run | Run Time | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10.5-1 | Hard | Vanguard Emblem (low tier) | 2–4 | ~90 sec | Bulk emblem farming |
| 10.5-1 | Nightmare | Vanguard Emblem (mid tier) | 4–7 | ~2 min | Best emblem-per-minute |
| 10.5-2 | Nightmare | Astral Shard | 1–2 | ~3 min | Awakening materials |
| 10.5-3 | Nightmare | Astral Shard + reroll token | 1–2 shards, 1 token | ~4 min | Reroll token farming |
The practical read: 10.5-1 on Nightmare is your bread-and-butter farm because it’s fast and the emblem tier is the one most units need in bulk. Save 10.5-3 for when you specifically want reroll tokens, since the shard rate is worse per minute than 10.5-2.
The Trait Reroll Rework, Explained With Numbers
Before Update 10.5, rerolling a unit’s trait cost Gems — the same currency you’d spend on summons. That created a bad decision: summoning and optimizing competed for the same resource. The patch splits them.
Rerolling now costs a new currency (reroll tokens), which drop from 10.5-3 and from daily missions. There’s also a pity counter: after a set number of rerolls without hitting a top-tier trait, the game guarantees one. The exact ceiling depends on which trait tier you’re targeting, but the design intent is clear from the patch notes — a full reroll session on one unit is now roughly one evening of 10.5-3 farming rather than an unpredictable Gem sink.
Should you reroll your old units?
Not first. Reroll tokens are scarce in the first week after a patch. Spend them on:
- Your main carry — a top-tier trait on a unit you field in every stage is worth more than a good trait on a unit you use twice a week.
- The new units, but only after you’ve confirmed you’ll keep them in rotation.
- Nothing else, until you have surplus tokens.
A common mistake is rerolling a support unit’s trait hoping for damage. Support traits scale off support stats; you’ll burn tokens for a number that never moves.
Balance Changes Returning Players Need to Know
Six older units were adjusted. The pattern across all six is reduced AoE ultimate uptime — longer cooldowns, slightly smaller radii, or shorter effect duration. If your old team was built around spamming two AoE ultimates back-to-back, it still works, but the rotation has gaps now.
What this means practically: units that were “good enough” as pure AoE filler are now meaningfully worse than a properly built single-target carry. If you’ve been away for a few updates, your old team probably still clears the story, but it will underperform on Nightmare timing checks in 10.5-2 and 10.5-3.
Fastest Progression Route for Returning Players
This is the order that gets you current in the fewest runs, assuming you have a mid-tier roster and some saved currency.
Step 1 — Clear 10.5-1 through 10.5-3 on Hard (about 15 minutes)
Reason: clearing them on Hard unlocks the Nightmare versions. You cannot skip straight to Nightmare, and the unlock is per-stage, not per-chapter.
Step 2 — Farm 10.5-1 Nightmare until you have ~30 emblems
Reason: that’s roughly the amount needed to take one unit through the first awakening tier. Thirty is enough to feel a power jump without over-farming a stage you’ll outgrow.
Step 3 — Spend saved Gems on the 10.5 banner
Reason: Estelle changes how fast every subsequent stage runs. Pulling her before you farm 10.5-2 and 10.5-3 saves you real time, because those stages are long and her passive scales with wave length.
Step 4 — Push 10.5-3 until you have 10–15 reroll tokens
Reason: enough for a full pity cycle on your main carry. Don’t spend them mid-farm; bank them first so you can reroll without stopping.
Step 5 — Reroll your main carry’s trait, then re-clear 10.5-3 Nightmare
Reason: the trait is usually the difference between a timed clear and a wipe on 10.5-3. Testing it on the stage you just struggled with gives you an immediate, honest read on whether it helped.
Step 6 — Only now return to older content
Reason: Infinite Mode milestones and older farming stages don’t drop 10.5 materials. Doing them first delays your access to the new gear tier for no benefit.
Decision Matrix: What to Do Based on Your Situation
| Your Situation | Do This First | Skip For Now |
|---|---|---|
| Brand new, low-level roster | Finish the main story to unlock 10.5 | Reroll tokens entirely |
| Returning, mid-tier team | Unlock Nightmare, farm 10.5-1 | Infinite Mode milestones |
| Strong team, weak traits | Farm 10.5-3 for reroll tokens | Extra summons |
| Plenty of Gems banked | Pull the 10.5 banner immediately | Legacy banner pulls |
| Only play casually (a few runs/week) | 10.5-1 Hard for bulk emblems | Nightmare timing checks |
Mistakes That Cost Returning Players the Most Time
- Farming 10.5-3 for shards. The shard-per-minute rate is worse than 10.5-2. Only 10.5-3’s token drop justifies the extra runtime.
- Rerolling before banking tokens. Interrupting a farm to reroll burns the momentum and often leaves you mid-pity with no tokens left.
- Judging Rook by his damage number. His value is cooldown reduction for adjacent allies; he will always look weak on a damage chart.
- Rebuilding an old AoE team. The balance pass specifically targets AoE ultimate uptime. Single-target carries are better value per slot now.
- Ignoring the “sell all duplicates” filter. It was added this patch and it’s the fastest way to convert a bloated inventory into upgrade currency.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Update 10.5 worth coming back for?
Yes, if you already have a mid-tier roster — the new stages drop materials you cannot get elsewhere, and the reroll rework removes the old Gem-versus-summon conflict. If you’re starting from a fresh account, treat 10.5 as a later goal rather than a reason to return immediately, since you need the main story cleared to access it.
Which new unit should I pull for first?
Estelle, in almost every case. She’s a damage unit whose passive scales with wave length, which is exactly what the new stages reward. Rook is strong but only pays off if you’re already running two placement-sensitive carries — he makes a good team better rather than making a bad team work.
What’s the best stage to farm in Update 10.5?
10.5-1 on Nightmare for bulk emblems, because it has the best drop-per-minute rate of the three. Switch to 10.5-2 when you specifically need Astral Shards, and 10.5-3 only when you’re farming reroll tokens.
Did Update 10.5 nerf my old team?
Possibly. Six older units were adjusted, and the changes consistently reduce AoE ultimate uptime through longer cooldowns or shorter durations. Your old team likely still clears story content, but it will struggle with Nightmare timer checks in the new stages.
How many reroll tokens do I need before I start rerolling?
Bank at least 10–15 before you begin. That’s roughly enough for a full pity cycle on your main carry, and it lets you reroll in one sitting instead of stopping to farm again mid-session. Use them on your main carry first, then on the new units you’ve decided to keep.
Do I need to redo old content after Update 10.5?
No. Nothing was reset and your progression carried over. Older stages don’t drop 10.5 materials, so redoing them is only worth it if you specifically want their legacy rewards — do the new content first.
