Blue Archive Breakthrough Joint Firing Drill ends on Monday, November 2, 2026 at 18:59 UTC. This week’s drill uses Field Warfare terrain and Elastic Armor enemies. Stage 4 is the difficult one: students and the scarecrow steadily lose HP, and your students deal more damage while their health is high.
That makes healing part of your damage plan, not just a way to stay alive. Stage 3 rewards EX Skill use, but Stage 4 also punishes a team that lets its health slip. The drill opened after maintenance on October 27, so anyone who still wants its score rewards has a short window left to finish their attempts.
Blue Archive Breakthrough Joint Firing Drill: dates and enemy type
Nexon’s October 27 patch notes confirm the event period and rules below. All times are in UTC, which matches GMT in the UK during November. The published end time is a deadline for this drill season, not a separate reward-collection period.
| Detail | November 2026 Breakthrough Drill |
|---|---|
| Starts | October 27, after maintenance |
| Ends | November 2 at 18:59 UTC |
| Terrain | Field Warfare |
| Enemy defence | Elastic Armor |
| Drills per score | Three |
| Rewards | Joint Firing Drill Coins and Credit Points |
The Blue Archive Breakthrough Joint Firing Drill uses the total from three drills to determine rewards. One excellent clear is not enough on its own. Plan three workable squads rather than spending all your strongest students on the first attempt.
What changes in Stages 1, 2, 3 and 4?
In the Blue Archive Breakthrough Joint Firing Drill, Stages 1 and 2 have no additional special rules. They are useful places to assess whether your team can handle the Elastic Armor opponents before moving up. The extra mechanics begin in Stage 3, and both of those effects matter in Stage 4.
| Stage | Official special rules | What to focus on |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | None | Clear consistently |
| 2 | None | Test a stronger squad |
| 3 | Each EX Skill use increases allied ATK and Healing | Work useful EX Skills into the rotation |
| 4 | Stage 3 buff, plus constant HP loss for students and scarecrow; allies deal more damage at higher current HP | Balance healing, EX Skills and damage |
In Stage 3, the Blue Archive Breakthrough Joint Firing Drill boosts allied Attack and Healing whenever you use an EX Skill. That is a reason to keep your skills working, but not to fire a valuable heal into a full-health team. Time it for when it can help.
How to approach Stage 4 without losing damage
In Stage 4 of the Blue Archive Breakthrough Joint Firing Drill, the hardest rule is easy to overlook: your students’ HP decreases continuously, and so does the scarecrow’s. Unlike a straightforward damage race, this stage links your damage output to how healthy the attacking students are at that moment. A squad that begins strongly can lose momentum if its HP runs down.
Bring enough healing to keep your main damage dealers in good condition, and use EX Skills regularly enough to benefit from the stage’s attack and healing boost. Healing matters twice here: it supports survival and helps preserve the higher-current-HP damage effect. Watch the health bars as the run progresses instead of assuming early damage will continue at the same rate.
Nexon has not specified a percentage for the EX Skill boost or HP-based damage. Nor does its notice say the HP drain can be removed. Focus on the confirmed mechanics: steady healing, useful EX Skills and keeping attackers healthy.
How scoring and the rewards work
Your Blue Archive Breakthrough Joint Firing Drill score combines all three attempts. This determines your Joint Firing Drill Coin and Credit Point rewards, so a decent second and third clear can be worth more than endlessly chasing a tiny improvement on the first.
Check the Blue Archive Breakthrough Joint Firing Drill screen to compare available stages, review your total score and confirm the reward information. If a higher stage is repeatedly failing, completing a stage your remaining roster can handle is more useful than leaving that slot unfinished. The exact best composition will depend on your students, their upgrades and the stages they can reliably clear.
Older Blue Archive Breakthrough Joint Firing Drill guides can show different enemy armour or stage modifiers. Those rules rotate, so do not borrow a previous season’s healing or debuff mechanic and apply it to this one. For October 27 to November 2, the defining combination is Elastic Armor, EX Skill buffs and Stage 4 HP management.
What should you do before the deadline?
Open the Blue Archive Breakthrough Joint Firing Drill before 18:59 UTC on November 2, check that you are looking at the current Breakthrough season, and complete your three-drill score. If time is tight, focus on successful clears and the reward thresholds visible in your own account. You can then review how much another attempt could improve the combined result.
Finish the Blue Archive Breakthrough Joint Firing Drill before Hod Grand Assault starts on November 3. They are separate events. A Hod clear will not make up for missing the drill deadline.
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Official source: Nexon’s October 27 Blue Archive patch notes.
