Wasted Draws

Thankfully, my desperate newbie phase didn't last too long. I had awful banners to pick from early on, these seemed like good choices. Things may have been different if the selective draw was the newer format that guaranteed your picks, rather than a 50% chance to get them.

• I often consider Professor Schera to be my newbie mistake. Having her at +3 for the SP reduction wasn't a complete waste, but the damage wasn't good enough to carry me until a good banner came along. The only thing positive that came out of it was that I got a copy of Maid Liatris.
• I regret drawing on Bright Moon Dalvi the first time I saw her on banner. It felt like a lot of draws to get +0 and I wasn't willing to commit more than that. It's not that it's a bad costume, it was just not a good new player investment since she didn't help me do anything that my existing costumes couldn't already do. It felt like less of a waste once her Summer costume came out and I could use her for FH. I did eventually +5 her with the help of property tickets.
• I regretted spending draws on Red Riding Hood Rou while she was on banner for a long time. It was considered a PvP costume and I got no value out of it until Tower of Salvation came out. Even then, I'd rather have Helena or Liberta, even if they're buffing the wrong damage type for my deck. A year later, she ended up being a useful companion for Blade. During the 2.5 anniversary (almost a year after Blade's release) she got an incredible buff, just in time to finish getting her to +5 from off-banners.
• I regretted drawing on Olivier's EX with a week left on the banner. I broke my own rule about not drawing on an exclusive until the last day of the banner. I thought that getting it might let me avoid buying her Fallen Wings costume from the powder shop, just so I could clear level 12 on the first day. I spent 70 draws to get one with no off-banners and I ended up getting one from a free draw 3 days later. I didn't even make it to the top 1000, but I did clear my first level 16.
• I probably should have stopped at 200 draws on Boo Ghost Granhildr, leaving her at +2. I had her at +3 when I did my final clear and lucked into an extra copy just before the 2nd exchange. I was willing to commit at the time because I already had +5 Comeback Idol, but I worry this is going to be one of those niche costumes that will be useful once and then never again.
• I probably should have stopped at 200 draws on Faithful Wings Olivier. Not because it was a poor investment, but because I had shit luck and should have cut my losses. I ended up at +1 after 200 draws, then only got 1 other copy after spending another 200 draws. So +2 from draws, +4 after 2 exchanges, and +5 from pub recruitment. If I'd stuck with the 200 draws, I would have finished at +3 while she was on banner and grabbed the +4 from the powder shop. I'm currently drawing on light property tickets, so I probably could have coped my way to +5 that way. Win some, lose some. Thankfully, I only need to draw on the new banners for the 2.5 Anniversary.
• When the 12Pick Exclusive banner opened, I only had 11 missing EXs. Seemed like drawing on drawing on a single banner that excluded anything I don't need was a better choice than drawing on individual EX banners. It was not. I got 5 of my picks, but only 2 of them were new, and one of them I got later from a free draw anyway. I didn't even get the ones I really wanted and had to draw on those banners anyway. It's really disappointing that they went with 12Pick instead of 1Pick.

Not Enough Draws

After the desperate newbie phase came the overly conservative phase. It stings when you get threads from an off-banner draw on the only +5 character you have. I was confident the costumes I was drawing on were good, but I hesitated going all in. My reasoning was that if I left room to get copies from an off-banner draw, then I've essentially saved tickets and powder for something else. Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn't. More often than not, it takes several months to get that last copy.

The other part of my hesitation came from a fear of not being able to max out the costumes I really needed. First was the meta reruns during the anniversary, then it was an endless stream of powerful new costumes, then the Senran collaboration, then the limiteds for the 1.5 anniversary. Avoiding spending as much as possible so I could have something that might be better in the future only made me regret later that I didn't spend on the things I really wanted at the time they were available. It's good to save so you can afford to get nice things in the future, but not if you skimp drawing on something you need and end up having to spend multiple selective upgrades or add them to your selective banner later.

• Pure White Blessing Refithea: I was at a point in my roster's development where I didn't see the need to draw more than a single copy. As far as I was concerned, Diana was better. I could barely manage to have a single FH team, 2 strong teams seemed like forever away. It only took a few months before I started kicking myself for being so short-sighted.
• Eris: Most people didn't see her true value at the time, and I was no exception. Even if I had, I just didn't have the draws to make her good so I probably made the right choice to skip instead of going half way. When there was a rerun, I decided to wait and see if I got the EX from a free draw, since she was barely relevant anymore. On the last day, I had about 50 pity, so I spent until I got a 5* EX, but it was an off-banner, so I decided to pass. It was dumb, I regretted it 2 days later.
• DJ Venaka: I regret not getting more copies when she was on banner. I was holding out for the upcoming H Lathel and B Helena reruns, wanting to make sure I had enough draws to guarantee what I needed. It ended up working out alright, but it would take over 6 months to go from +0 to +5.
• Nebris is the Cinderella of BD2. It can be hard to predict if that new character will become as good as Nebris or as bad as Michaela based on their initial costume. Nebris's first costume was considered nothing special, since it was just for self-buffing. Her second costume was good enough to draw for at least a few copies, but the timing of her release was poor (Senran collaboration was at the same time). However, there were people that outright skipped the broken third costume and are still regretting it. It took 6 months to go from +0/+0/+2 to +2/+4/+5 through lucky off-banner draws and lots of wind property tickets. I recommend not doing this if you can avoid it.
• Sacred Justia: Despite being broken OP, I hesitated to max her out. I thought +3 was good enough to coast the rest of the way on off-banner draws. I needed to make sure I could +5 B Helena, since her banner was coming up next. Not having the cooldown reduction did hurt for a long time on Light Season FH, but I was always able to clear level 10 without it. It would take over 6 months to get that +4 when she appeared in the PvP shop. I also skipped drawing on her EX and it took 10 months to get it from an off-banner draw.
• Pool Party Justia: It's easy to regret not drawing more copies after the fact. At the time, she was considered PvP only, so I wanted to save my draws for something else. It wasn't until Tower of Salvation came out that she became truly valuable for PvE. Though, as ToS became easier thanks to costume upgrades and OP artifacts, her value has dropped somewhat.
• Beach Vacation Eclipse It felt unlucky to spend ~240 draws to get +2 at the time. Unfortunately, the collaboration was coming up soon, so I stayed on the conservative side.
• New Hire Seir: When she was on banner with Deal Snatcher Luvencia, I chose Luvencia instead because she seemed like the more useful investment. Dark was my weakest element at the time. I was worried that Seir would only be relevant for that FH and never used again, but she ended up being a permanent fixture in GR and occasionally useful in FH. As a result, I ended up in "unidupe hell" for a few months to fix it. Then they added the Recommended 5* tickets, making me regret wasting the selective upgrades.
• Wind Dancer Venaka: I recruited her from the pub and used a selective upgrade, then skipped drawing on her because I was starting to worry I wouldn't have enough draws saved for the Winter limiteds. I probably would have been fine taking her to +3, but it was better to be safe than sorry. Probably should have taken her out of the powder shop instead of T&FT Loen, too. However, things worked out thanks to wind property tickets and the addition of the Recommended 5* tickets.

Miscellaneous Notes

• Sylvia is my waifu. She's meta for water season FH and GR but rarely used otherwise. I had terrible luck with off-banner draws and spent more powder on her than any other character. I finally got all 4 of her costumes to +5 on 2026-02-09.
• Last Hope Loen: my first +5. I ended up getting 300 threads about 2 weeks after I maxed her out. Because of this, I tend not to draw to +5 unless it's a really important upgrade.
• Comeback Idol Yuri: This is the closest I've gotten to +5 from strictly off-banner draws. I made a powder shop purchase in July 2024, bringing her to +4. The final copy came in March 2025. Her EX was the first exclusive banner I spent draws on.
• Wild Dog Luvencia: I wasn't intending to take her to +5, but I ended up with +4 on the last 10-pull for 200 draws so I may as well do the exchange. The selective upgrade was spent early on in the banner when I wasn't certain if I'd be able to max out the limiteds, but I needed the +1 for SP reduction in FH.
• Shadowed Dream Sonya: I only intended to draw to +4, but I ended up with a double when I was already at +2 and had an exchange ready to use.
• Queen of Gluttis Granadair: 4 week banners are stressful, especially if it's a support. I recruited with a contract and ended up with +3 right as I hit 200 draws on the first day and held the exchange until the first day of the following fiend hunt. On the 3rd day of the FH, I got her from a free draw, putting her at +5 (224 total draws). I only intended to go to +4 while on banner and spend powder to +5 her.