Anime Vanguards Update 5.5: Lord of Shadows – Full Breakdown & Highlights
By Paquito Jr Conde | May 14, 2025

The long-awaited Update 5.5 for Anime Vanguards has arrived! Titled Lord of Shadows, this patch delivers powerful new units, a dangerous raid, system-wide improvements, and a ton of quality-of-life upgrades. Whether you're a veteran or returning player, here’s everything you need to know to stay ahead of the game.
Anime Vanguards Update 5.5: Lord of Shadows
Released on May 5, 2025, Update 5.5 introduces exciting new content, powerful units, and major system overhauls. Here’s everything you need to know:
🆕 New Units
Several new characters join the fray, each with unique abilities to shake up your strategies:
- Deruta (Hunt) – Available through the Gem Banner.
- Smith John – Earned from the new Ruined City Raid.
- Clatakiri (Mochi) – Rewarded upon reaching Floor 50 in Worldlines Mode.
- Delusional Boy – A secret unit that may drop in the Ruined City Raid.
🏙️ New Raid: Ruined City
Face the formidable Lord of Shadows in this brand-new raid, playable in both Normal and Nightmare difficulties. Team up with up to three allies to conquer the challenge and earn powerful loot:
- Delusional Boy (Secret Unit)
- Birb Familiar
- Auric Coins – New currency exclusive to this raid
- Gems and Gold
Auric Coins can be spent in the Ruined City Raid Shop for:
- Dog Bone and Atomic Essence (for Evolutions)
- Black Spirit Familiar
- Phoenix and Elemental Shards
- Trait Rerolls and Fortune Catalyst
🔄 Odyssey Mode Rework
Odyssey Mode has been reimagined with streamlined gameplay and better progression:
- Team Management: Begin with your full team. Units rest for one floor after being used.
- Modifiers: Now bought in the Odyssey Shop, which restocks every other floor.
- Floor Structure: One stage per floor. After each, choose to increase, keep, or reduce difficulty.
- Rewards: Earn Corruption Crystals, Phoenix Shards, and Elemental Shards on each floor and run completion.
- Boss & Vault Rooms: Every 5th floor features a tough boss followed by a vault with bonus modifier chests.
- Limitless Mode: The classic Odyssey experience is back as its own mode.
🌐 Worldlines Season 4
Season 4 resets all players to Floor 1. The new top reward for reaching Floor 50 is Clatakiri, replacing Friran. Climb the ranks to earn this exclusive unit!
🎯 Tournament System Rework
Tournaments have been rebalanced for a more competitive and diverse experience:
- Map Pool: Only Story Maps are used, with no repeats two weeks in a row.
- Mutators & Modifiers: Each week, enemies have 2 random Mutators and 3 Modifiers.
- Element Shifts: One element is buffed (up to +200%), one is weakened (down to 50%).
- Unit Rotation: Top 2 most-used units are banned next week. A rarely-used Mythic+ gets a 500% damage boost!
🐾 Familiar Reroll System
You can now reroll your familiars’ stats and elements using Phoenix Shards and Elemental Shards. This provides greater flexibility and power customization.
🛠️ Quality of Life Improvements
- Crafting & Synthesis UI: Merge materials faster and more clearly.
- Quick Craft: Instantly create all evolution items for a unit.
- Recommended Units: Easily see which units are best for each stage.
- In-Match Enemy Index: Track encountered enemies and bosses during gameplay.
- Revamped Endscreen: Post-match UI is now cleaner and more informative.
- Unit Preview: Quickly change skins and familiars.
- Unit Locking: Prevents accidental selling of rare units.
- Auto Summon Priority: Prioritize Elite Summons when using Auto Summon.
- Bug Fixes: Over 40 issues resolved, including UI glitches and inventory crashes.
🎁 New Redeem Codes
Use these codes in-game for special rewards (level requirements apply):
- CORRUPTION – Free Corruption Crystal (Level 40+)
- ODYSSEYFIX – 10 Trait Rerolls + 2 Corruption Crystals (Level 30+)
- 1MILLION – Miscellaneous rewards (Level 40+)