Greetings from the Summoners War Dev Team!
Time flies and we are already in the last week of June.
Over the past weeks, our dev team has been hard at work making careful preparations to welcome a very special guest.
Today, we are thrilled to finally share detailed news about the upcoming collaboration with the TV anime Frieren: Beyond Journey's End.
On June 29 PDT, the collaboration between Frieren: Beyond Journey's End and Summoners War will begin.
We are already excited to see what kind of adventures Frieren and her friends will embark on while on Sky Island.
We have poured our hearts into preparing this so you can experience the charming characters of the original series in a fresh way within Summoners War, so we hope you read through today's dev note to the end.
Before we dive into the dev note, we have prepared a video that shares more about the collab.
You can watch the video in the link below.
[ ▼ Watch the Dev Story Video ▼ ]
■ Summoners War X Frieren: Beyond Journey's End
On June 29 PDT, Frieren and her party, continuing their journey, will arrive on Sky Island!
Frieren: Beyond Journey's End is a manga series currently serialized in Weekly Shonen Sunday by Shogakukan, written by Kanehito Yamada and illustrated by Tsukasa Abe.
The story is set in a world "after" the Hero's Party has defeated the Demon King. It follows Frieren, a mage who has lived for over a thousand years and once helped defeat the Demon King alongside the Hero, as well as the people she newly encounters on her journey.
With its moving story and dialogue, along with battles fought through magic and swordplay, distinctive humor, and compelling characters, the series has captivated many readers.
The series has received numerous manga awards, including the Grand Prize at the Manga Taisho 2021, the New Creator Prize at the 25th Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize, the 69th Shogakukan Manga Award in 2023, and the 48th Kodansha Manga Award in the shonen category. The manga volumes currently in publication have surpassed 35 million copies in cumulative circulation, creating a major sensation among manga fans, and the third season of the TV anime is confirmed to begin broadcasting in October 2027.
As this series has been loved by many people across the world, we believe there are many Summoners who have been eagerly looking forward to this collab.
In this collab, we will showcase five characters from the anime, reimagined with the unique flair of Summoners War.
Now, let us introduce the Frieren Collab Characters who will become your new allies.
■ Frieren Collab Characters
We have selected five main and key characters from Frieren: Beyond Journey's End—[Frieren, Fern, Stark, Übel, Himmel]—to join as Collab Characters.
An elf mage collector who is insensitive to the subtle emotions of herself and others, Frieren,
a hard-working and dependable mage, Fern,
a cowardly yet excellent warrior who can fight for someone else, Stark,
a highly intuitive First Class Mage who acts on emotion and instinct, Übel,
and the legendary hero who served as the starting point for Frieren's long journey, Himmel.
Just like previous collabs, these Collab Characters will be added in Awakened form only, using their unique character names.
They will be divided into default 4★ or 5★ depending on the Collab Character's attribute.
In particular, the legendary hero Himmel will appear exclusively as a default 5★ Water Attribute.
We are preparing an event so that all Summoners can obtain him, so keep this in mind.
Please refer to the table below for more details.
You are probably most curious about how the battle scenes from the anime have been brought to life in Summoners War.
To give you a sneak peek, we would like to share some of the Collab Characters' skills in advance.
Our dev team found Stark's skills to be highly impressive,
as his Skill 1 and Skill 2 are designed to reliably protect allies.
We believe it will remind you of Stark taking the lead to protect his comrades in the anime.
In addition, we are preparing to include familiar, iconic lines.
We hope you enjoy hearing these famous lines firsthand during battle.
We are very curious to hear your thoughts now that you have checked out the skills.
We will be working hard until the very last moment to present the skills for the unrevealed attributes in their best possible form, so please look forward to them.
As always, we have prepared a variety of collab exclusive content so that you can fully enjoy the collab experience.
Let's go over the content prepared for the Frieren Collab one by one.
■ Collab Exclusive Event Building: Royal Capital
First, let us introduce the exclusive space, the "Royal Capital," where various collab content is gathered in one place.
The Royal Capital is a special space that will appear on Sky Island only during the collab event period,
and it is a highly symbolic place where Frieren ended her adventure with Himmel the Hero and his party.
You can enter the building shown in the screenshot either by pressing it directly or by using the collab event icon added to the right side of the island screen.
Once you enter the Royal Capital, you will see a screen that lets you view all collab-related content at a glance.
We will take a closer look at each piece of collab content available through this screen.
■ Collab Limited Content: Event Dungeon [Subjugation Request]
"Subjugation Requests" will take place in a new event dungeon with an atmosphere similar to the Northern Plateau's Rufen Region where Frieren's party traveled in the animation.
This event dungeon is content where you become Frieren's party, roaming across the map and engaging in battles against demons.
As you explore various locations and overcome each battle you encounter, you will eventually face a powerful boss.
Now, let's look at how it works one by one.
▶ Event Dungeon: Subjugation Request
- The event dungeon consists of three difficulty levels: Normal, Hard, and Hell.
You will explore various parts of the map along with the Frieren character on the screen.
The concept of this event dungeon is exploration, and the beauty of it is that you never know what will happen in the explored locations.
While battles with demons await you in most places, on rare occasions, a treasure chest may appear.
Since it is a box with unknown contents, a curious Frieren probably won't be able to just pass it by.
As you continue your exploration, the exploration gauge will gradually fill up.
Once the gauge is full, you will face the boss of that difficulty, and defeating the boss allows you to proceed to the next difficulty level.
▶ Frieren Support Characters
Collab Support Characters are provided in the event dungeon Subjugation Request.
All battles are fought with a party of five Monsters.
To start a battle, at least one Frieren Collab Character must be included in your party.
Even if you do not own a Collab Character yet, four Collab Characters will be provided upon your first entry into the event dungeon, and you can choose one to use in battle.
▶ Special Effects
You can acquire special effects each time you clear a battle.
As you explore the map, you will encounter numerous battles, and each time you overcome one, a special effect that will boost Frieren's party will be granted as a reward.
Upon clearing a stage, three random effects will appear on the result screen, and you can choose one to apply to your party.
Two of them consist of effects that increase the stats of the entire party, while the other focuses on heavily buffing the stats of the Collab Characters. Choosing the right effect to fit the situation and your party will be the key strategy to clearing stages and defeating bosses.
A helpful tip! Once acquired, these effects do not disappear but stack up continuously.
Since they carry over even when you move to the next difficulty level, Frieren's party will grow increasingly stronger as you explore further.
Thinking carefully about which effect to choose and when to choose it will add another layer of fun to enjoying Subjugation Request.
(Please note that the event dungeon resets weekly, and the accumulated effects will also be reset.)
Here's a sneak peek at some of the effects you can encounter in Subjugation Request.
Next, let us introduce the powerful bosses awaiting you in the event dungeon.
■ Event Dungeon [Subjugation Request] Bosses
In each difficulty, Solide, Hemmung, and Revolte—who fought fierce battles against Frieren's party—will appear as powerful bosses.
Among these three bosses, we would like to first introduce the skills of Revolte, who appears in Hell difficulty.
Revolte, the Hell difficulty boss, battled fiercely against Stark with exceptional swordsmanship in the anime.
In this event dungeon as well, Revolte is expected to exert relentless pressure with attacks that strip beneficial effects and stun foes.
With the [Expert Swordsman (Passive)] skill that grows stronger as his HP drops,
and the instant-kill skill [Final Counter] used as a finishing blow, he will be a boss that you cannot let your guard down until the end.
In the battle against Revolte, forming a balanced party is key. Bring a Monster that can absorb powerful single-target attacks alongside Support Monsters that can cleanse harmful effects and provide recovery.
Rather than Veromos, a popular cleanser pick, we would like to recommend Lulu and Friends, capable of consistently removing allies' harmful effects.
Pairing them with Dias to absorb Revolte's fierce attacks would also be a great strategy.
■ Event Dungeon [Subjugation Request] Rewards
By defeating the boss and clearing each difficulty level, you can acquire rewards corresponding to that difficulty.
The event dungeon resets weekly. Clearing the final Hell difficulty stage will grant you special weekly rewards.
The weekly rewards are as follows.
The event dungeon reset will occur at 12:00 AM on Monday, based on server time.
However, please note that Week 1 will run from Jun. 29 to Jul. 5, and Week 2 will begin on Jul. 6.
A moment to catch your breath is essential in the middle of a long journey.
To capture the vibe of sitting around with friends, enjoying a delicious meal, and playing light games,
we have prepared a brand-new minigame for this collab.
■ Collab Exclusive Content: Minigame [Summon Dice]
For this Frieren Collab, we have prepared a minigame where you roll dice to trigger various effects and battle enemies.
We designed the UI and stages to give you the immersive feeling of spreading out a board game on a table and planning strategies.
In particular, this minigame progresses by continuously clearing stages.
Since each situation unfolds differently with every challenge, we are curious to see how you will solve them and how far you will go.
Even if you leave the game after a victory and return later, you can resume where you left off. Please enjoy it at your own pace.
Let's take a closer look together with the screenshots we have prepared.
When you first enter the minigame, you will see the screen shown above.
To prepare before starting the game, enter the [Ready] menu.
▶ Ready
First, you must choose a Monster to play the game with.
Five Monsters are provided each week, and you will select one of them to play.
Each Monster has a unique skill that can be used once per stage, so deciding which Monster to bring along will be your first strategic point.
The dev team chose Laika, who possesses the following skill.
Once you have decided on your Monster, it's time to set up items on your dice.
The die in Summon Dice is a 6-sided die with values from 1 to 6.
You will start with two of each of the three initial basic items (a total of 6),
and you can equip these basic items to the dice values from 1 to 6.
Please refer to the table below for the detailed effects of the basic items.
Items can be equipped by directly dragging them to the corresponding dice slots.
For example, you can equip the first item to slots 1 and 2, the second item to slots 3 and 4, and the third item to slots 5 and 6.
Deciding which item to place on which die value is the core strategy of Summon Dice. We encourage you to find your own combination.
▶ Summon Dice Game Screen
Now that you have finished your game preparations, let's take a look at the actual gameplay screen.
The boss you need to defeat is located at the top of the screen, and the Monster joining you is positioned at the bottom.
Let's briefly go over the screen layout.
▶ How to Play Summon Dice
The game begins with your turn.
Each turn, you roll three dice, and the effects of the items equipped to the resulting values will trigger from left to right.
Since dice values are entirely random, watching how your items play out each turn is the biggest charm of Summon Dice.
Let's also briefly go over the basic elements to keep in mind while playing the minigame.
HP is the most crucial stat, as reaching 0 results in defeat,
and the Shield is a barrier that absorbs damage instead of your HP.
Among the items, some deal damage to enemies, while others generate a Shield for you.
Items that deal damage to enemies are divided into physical attacks and magic attacks.
Physical attacks deal high damage but must deplete the enemy's Shield first if they have one.
On the other hand, magic attacks deal slightly lower damage but bypass the Shield to target the enemy's HP directly.
Since these two types of attacks have distinct traits, keeping them in mind when setting up items on your dice will be helpful.
To summarize:
Physical Attack: Deals high damage but attacks the Shield first if a Shield is present.
Magical Attack: Deals lower damage but targets HP directly.
Once your turn ends, the boss's turn will proceed.
You can check the boss's next action in advance to see what kind of attack they are preparing for their upcoming turn.
If a powerful attack is forewarned, it will make the match more thrilling as you hope for a good dice roll on your turn.
In addition, various other item effects, such as Continuous Damage that inflicts damage every turn, are prepared.
We hope you experience them firsthand through gameplay.
▶ Purchase and Upgrade Items Upon Victory
A shop will appear every time you win a match in Summon Dice.
In the shop, you can check out new items or review the items you currently own.
You can upgrade your existing items or purchase newly discovered ones using the coins you collected.
Of course, you can also sell items you no longer need.
You can readjust the setup of your purchased items at any time before starting the next game.
One thing to keep in mind is that this shop is only available when you win a battle.
Therefore, make sure to carefully decide which items to purchase and upgrade when the shop opens.
You can fine-tune your setup in the shop and take on the next stage with a much stronger presence.
The pool of items appearing in the shop will gradually expand through [Achievements].
While you start out with only three basic items, there are roughly 30 types of items prepared.
New items will be unlocked each time you clear stages and complete achievements.
These unlocked items are guaranteed to appear in the next shop and can be acquired for free, allowing you to use them right away.
▶ Upgrade Skills Upon Defeat
Don't be too discouraged even if you lose a game.
Every time you are defeated, you will earn skill points proportional to the stages you cleared.
You can use these skill points to upgrade skill effects that apply permanently to Summon Dice throughout the collab period.
Skill upgrades can be reset and redistributed at any time.
Since skill points accumulate through gameplay, you will eventually break through even the toughest stages.
You can access skill upgrades through the [Skill] menu on the Summon Dice minigame entry screen.
▶ Summon Dice Collection Rewards
Each time you unlock an item while playing Summon Dice, you will fill up your item collection.
In the [Collection] menu, you can check the list of items unlocked and claim rewards based on the total number accumulated.
Please refer to the table below for detailed rewards.
That wraps up our introduction to Summon Dice.
The controls are simple, but it offers an increasingly thrilling challenge as you progress through the stages.
We highly recommend giving it a try.
■ More Collab Exclusive Content
▶ Frieren Collab Characters in the Trial of Ascension
In the Trial of Ascension opening on July 14, 10:00 PM PDT, Frieren Collab Characters will appear as enemies on the boss floors every 10 floors.
You can earn a Frieren Scroll as a reward by clearing Normal 50F, so be sure to give it a try.
* Collab content in the Trial of Ascension will be available from July 14, 10:00 PM to Aug. 14, 9:59 PM PDT.
▶ Arena Rival Master X
The mysterious Master X, who appears during every collab period, is back once again to challenge you.
Please look forward to the deck combinations prepared for this collab.
You can battle Master X once per day. Attempts reset daily at 12:00 AM, based on server time.
▶ Collab Special Emojis
Limited edition emojis featuring various expressions of the Frieren Collab Characters will be available as event rewards.
Use them in chat to have fun with other Summoners.
▶ Collab Missions and Collab Pass
During the collab period, you can complete Daily and Weekly Collab Missions to earn collab event currency, various rewards, and Collab Pass EXP.
Daily missions reset at 12:00 AM, and weekly missions reset at 12:00 AM on Monday, based on server time.
Most collab missions are designed to be completed naturally through gameplay. Participate at your own pace to earn rewards.
■ Collab Period and How to Obtain Collab Characters
▶ Collab Period: Jun. 29 - Sep. 1 PDT
The Frieren Collab is currently being prepared to go live with the v9.2.6 update on Jun. 29 PDT.
Original Monsters that will replace the Collab Characters will be added in a future update on a separate schedule.
We will notify you of the update schedule through a future notice.
▶ How to Obtain Collab Characters
During the collab period, you can obtain Collab Characters through various summon methods.
Once summoned, Collab Characters can be used permanently.
After the collab period ends, they will no longer be obtainable through normal summon methods.
However, any Frieren Scrolls you possess beyond the collab period can be used to summon Frieren Collab Characters.
* Frieren Collab Characters can be summoned through the following methods.
All summon scrolls that can summon default 4-5★ Monsters have a chance to summon Collab Characters.
(Excluding summon methods with fixed Monster lists, such as Legendary Engrave Summons, Engraved Scrolls, or Engraved Summoning Pieces.)
■ Additional Information
▶ Event Dungeon [Subjugation Request] Weekly Schedule
Subjugation Request will reset weekly at 12:00 AM on Monday, based on server time.
(Please note that Week 1 will be an exception, running from Jun. 29 to Jul. 5.)
▶ Collab Special Events
To celebrate the collab update, special events packed with amazing rewards will go live.
We have also prepared exclusive gifts that can only be obtained during the collab period,
so be sure to participate in the events and claim the gifts prepared for you.
Details of the collab special events will be shared through separate notices, so please hang tight just a little longer.
In addition, a guide page with some more details on Frieren Collab Characters is now open.
Check out the page for some of the Collab Character details in advance!
[ ▼ Collab Preview Page ▼ ]
That wraps up everything we wanted to share in advance about the collab.
We hope this dev note brought some exciting news to those who have been waiting for the next update.
(Please note that the details shared in this dev note are provided to help with your understanding.
As development and testing are still in progress, some details may differ in the actual update.)
The update discussed today is being prepared to go live on Jun. 29 PDT.
Also, we have prepared a special gift to everyone for reading the developer's note.
Log in to Summoners War during the claim period and get your gift!
- Recipient: All servers
- Special Gift: Devilmon x1, Mystical Scroll x5, Energy +300
- Distribution Period : Jun. 25, 3:00 AM - Jun. 30, 7:59 AM PDT
* The reward will be sent to your Inbox upon logging in during the claim period. Please try restarting the game if you don't see your reward in the Inbox.
* Energy +300: 100 Energy will be sent 3 times.
We are doing our best to ensure this collab becomes a memorable event for all, so please look forward to what's coming next.
We sincerely thank all Summoners who always send unsparing love and support to Summoners War.
We will be back with even more exciting news in the next dev note.
Thank you.
©Kanehito Yamada, Tsukasa Abe/Shogakukan/ “Frieren”Project