Blue Archive Banner Guide: Rates, Pity, and JP Schedule

Which Banners Are Running on JP?

Your next Blue Archive banner pull depends on your server: JP and Global use different recruitment rules. On JP, Hifumi (Racing) and Azusa (Racing) have pickup periods ending November 11, 2026. Check your server’s schedule and guarantee system before committing your Pyroxene.

JP pickup student	Starts	Ends
Hifumi (Racing)	October 28, 2026, 11:00	November 11, 2026, 10:59
Azusa (Racing)	October 28, 2026, 11:00	November 11, 2026, 10:59

Use the in-game countdown to plan around your local deadline. These are JP recruitment periods; keep them separate from Global scheduling.

The preceding JP cycle included Tomoe (Qipao), Kanna, and Noa reruns from October 21 through October 28. Earlier October pickups included Tsumugi alongside returning students such as Eri, Kanoe, Miyako (Swimsuit), and Saki (Swimsuit).

Official page: Blue Archive (store.steampowered.com)

Pull Costs and Recruitment Rates

Recruitment uses Pyroxene, with two standard spending options:

• Single recruitment: 120 Pyroxene.
• 10 recruitments: 1,200 Pyroxene, with the tenth result guaranteed to be 2★ or higher.

A ten-pull does not increase your chance of getting a 3★ student. Its guaranteed minimum applies to the tenth result’s rarity.

Student rarity	Regular recruitment probability
1★	78.5%
2★	18.5%
3★	3%

A single featured pickup student has a 0.7% recruitment rate. That is distinct from the overall 3★ rate: pulling a 3★ student does not automatically mean you get the featured character.

Read the featured student’s individual probability before pulling. An increased overall rarity rate and an increased chance for your target are separate benefits.

Global: How the 200-Point Spark Works

Global pickup recruitment uses Recruitment Points. Each pull earns one point, and 200 points let you directly recruit an eligible featured student. Players commonly call this exchange a “spark.”

When two pickup banners run concurrently, their Recruitment Points are shared. You can pull on one and use the shared points to claim an eligible featured student from the other.

The deadline matters: unused points become Keystone Pieces when the pickup period ends. They do not carry forward as Recruitment Points.

For a spark funded entirely with Pyroxene, the calculation is:

200 pulls × 120 Pyroxene = 24,000 Pyroxene.

Budget around that full amount when your goal is a guaranteed featured student. Pulling the target earlier is possible, but the 0.7% individual rate does not promise an early result.

You do not have to exchange immediately upon reaching 200 points. Redeem before the recruitment period expires.

JP: Recruitment Charge and Carryover Pity

JP changed its pickup system with the July 29, 2026 update, replacing Recruitment Points with Recruitment Charge for applicable banners.

The guarantee thresholds are:

Recruitment Charge	Guaranteed result
100	A 3★ student, with a 50% chance of being the featured student
200	The featured student

Getting the featured student resets the corresponding Charge counter. Getting an off-rate student does not reset it—even when that student has a separate pickup banner running at the same time.

JP tracks two types of Charge:

• Recruitment Charge, shown in light blue: regular pickup banners.
• Limited Recruitment Charge, shown in pink: Limited, Anniversary, Encore, and Recollection banners.

Charge is shared among banners of the same type and survives the end of a pickup period. Regular and Limited Charge remain separate.

Check the counter’s color before switching banners. Progress toward a regular pickup guarantee does not transfer into the Limited counter.

This changes how you plan around a deadline. Global’s expiring spark points and JP’s persistent Charge follow different rules, so apply the system shown on your own server.

JP Recruitment Count Rewards and Ticket Expiration

JP also has Recruitment Count Rewards, which track pulls during the current banner cycle. These rewards are separate from Recruitment Charge.

Limited-time 10-Recruitment Tickets are awarded when you first reach these cumulative pull counts:

• 70, 130, 150, and 170 pulls.
• 270, 330, 350, and 370 pulls.

The tickets expire 40 days after the pickup banner’s release. Their expiration is tied to the banner’s release date, rather than the day you claim them.

The count bonus is shared across concurrently running banners, but Archive Recruitment and recruitment using paid items do not contribute. Count-reward progress resets when the banner cycle ends, while Recruitment Charge persists.

Check ticket expiration before deciding how long to save them. Carryover pity does not extend a limited-time ticket’s lifespan.

First-time count rewards can each be claimed once per pickup recruitment period. After those rewards are exhausted, the reward sequence continues into repeat rewards.

Archive Recruitment and Other Selectable Banners

Several recruitment types let you choose a featured target from a defined roster. Their student pools and counters deserve a separate check before you spend.

Archive Recruitment

Archive Recruitment contains legacy standard students and lets you select your desired rate-up student.

It accepts dedicated Archive 1-Recruitment Tickets, Archive 10-Recruitment Tickets, or Pyroxene. Pulls earn separate Archive Points, with 200 points exchangeable for a student.

Students moved into Archive Recruitment leave the regular recruitment pool. They no longer appear in standard or pickup recruitment.

If your target has been archived, use Archive Recruitment rather than hoping for an off-rate appearance elsewhere. The feature reached JP in July 2025 and Global in September 2025.

Encore Recruitment

JP introduced Encore Recruitment in February 2026 for a selectable roster of legacy limited students. Under JP’s revised pickup system, Encore belongs to the Limited Recruitment Charge category.

Its initial roster included students such as Azusa (Swimsuit), Mashiro (Swimsuit), Neru (Bunny Girl), Karin (Bunny Girl), Aru (New Year), and Mutsuki (New Year).

Students placed in Encore are not expected to receive further individual Limited pickup reruns. Plan around their Encore availability instead of assuming another standalone rerun.

Limited Dash Recruitment

JP added Limited Dash Recruitment in May 2026. It is available to new players for 28 days after their first login and resembles Recollection Recruitment.

It uses separate Limited Dash Points, with 200 points exchangeable for a student. Check that initial access window before postponing pulls on this recruitment type.

Anniversary Rates and Recollection Recruitment

Anniversary, or Fes, recruitment raises the overall 3★ probability to 6%. The featured student’s individual rate remains 0.7%.

Anniversary recruitment outcome	Probability
Featured student	0.7%
Non-featured anniversary students, combined	0.9%
Regular-pool 3★ students, combined	4.4%
Any 3★ student, total	6%

The 0.9% portion is divided equally among eligible non-featured anniversary students. The 4.4% portion is divided equally among eligible regular-pool 3★ students.

Do not read “double rates” as a doubled featured-student chance. The increase applies to the total 3★ probability.

Anniversary students stay outside the regular gacha pool. Their dedicated reruns usually arrive around 18 months later, during another anniversary, while eligible previous anniversary students can appear in anniversary recruitment.

Recollection Changes the Anniversary Pool

JP introduced Recollection Recruitment in December 2025 for selectable legacy anniversary students. Under JP’s revised system, it uses the Limited Recruitment Charge category.

Once an anniversary student moves into Recollection, that student leaves the anniversary recruitment pool and will not appear in future anniversary banners.

Check whether an older anniversary target is still in the Fes pool or has moved to Recollection before choosing where to pull.

What Duplicate Students Give You

Duplicate recruits provide both Eligma, used in the Shop, and the corresponding student’s Eleph, used to raise Mystic level.

Duplicate rarity	Eligma	Normal duplicate Eleph	Featured pickup duplicate Eleph
1★	1	1	—
2★	10	5	20
3★	50	30	100

Exchanging Global Recruitment Points for a featured student you already own gives 100 of that student’s Eleph and 50 Eligma.

JP also added a first-acquisition bonus on July 21, 2025: the first time you recruit the rate-up student from a given banner, you receive 100 additional character Eleph.

Keep Eligma and Eleph separate when planning an exchange. Eligma is the shop resource; Eleph belongs to the specific student you recruited.