Secret Units sit at the very top of the rarity ladder in Anime Expeditions, above Mythic, and they are the hardest characters in the game to land. There are three of them right now, and each one comes from a completely different source with its own odds and pity system. If you are trying to work out where to spend your grind time and Gems, the routes below are what actually matter.
Quick answer: The three Secret Units are 8th Sword (Berserk), Shadow (Divine), and Crow (Black Fire). Clear Spirit City Raid Act 3 for a 1% chance at 8th Sword (guaranteed after 35 clears), reroll the Standard Banner with Gems for a 0.01% shot at Shadow (guaranteed at 10,000 summons), and pull the limited-time Villain Banner for the same 0.01% chance at Crow.
Every Secret Unit and how to obtain it
The three Secret Units split into two categories. 8th Sword is a raid drop, while Shadow and Crow are gacha pulls with brutal 0.01% rates. Here is exactly where each one comes from, along with the pity fallback if the odds do not go your way.
| Unit | Source | Drop rate | Pity |
|---|---|---|---|
 8th Sword (Berserk) | Clearing Spirit City Raid Act 3 | 1% drop | Guaranteed after 35 raid clears (one-time) |
 Shadow (Divine) | Standard Banner, using Gems | 0.01% drop | Guaranteed at 10,000 summons (500,000 Gems, one-time) |
 Crow (Black Fire) | Limited-time Villain Banner | 0.01% drop | Guaranteed at 10,000 summons (one-time) |
Crow only appears while the Villain Banner is live, so it is a missable unit rather than a permanent target. No official return date is currently confirmed for that banner. Shadow, by contrast, stays in the permanent Standard Banner, so its pity counter keeps building the more you summon.
8th Sword (Berserk): raid grind route
8th Sword is the most reachable Secret Unit because it does not depend on gacha luck alone. Every clear of Spirit City Raid Act 3 rolls a 1% chance for the unit to drop. If it never appears, your 35th clear hands it over automatically through a one-time pity, so the grind has a hard ceiling.
The unit is built for scaling single-target damage. It applies pressure to everything in range, cleanses its own stuns with a follow-up attack, and executes low-health enemies. After 25 takedowns it enters Berserk State for 15 seconds, raising its damage by 20%, lowering its SPA by 10%, and applying Dismembered on every hit.
Note: Raids sit behind a level 25 gate, so you will need to push your account level through Story and Expeditions before you can farm Act 3 at all.
Shadow (Divine): Standard Banner rerolls
Shadow is a Gem-only chase. You summon on the Standard Banner and hope the 0.01% rate hits. There is no shortcut around the odds, but the pity does eventually pay out at 10,000 summons, which costs 500,000 Gems. That number makes Shadow a long-term collection goal rather than something you rush.
Its value comes from team-wide utility. Shadow Realm transforms the whole map, rewinds enemies in range, and grants a 25% damage buff to all Magical units for 30 seconds. Divine Spirit summons a permanent minion that cannot be killed, stunned, or despawned and deals 100% of Shadow’s base damage, at the cost of stunning Shadow itself for 15 seconds. Its Winged Spirit and Wolf Spirit passives add further summoned damage, with the Wolf Spirit upgradable on its own.
Crow (Black Fire): limited Villain Banner
Crow shares Shadow’s 0.01% odds and 10,000-summon pity, but it only exists on the limited-time Villain Banner. Once that banner rotates out, you cannot pull the unit until it returns. If Crow is your priority, you need enough Gems banked to make a serious run while the banner is active.
Crow works around illusions and shields. Regular attacks apply Illusion for 12 seconds, and while an enemy is under Illusion it stores all damage taken from Crow, then releases 25% of that stored damage as a small AoE when the effect expires. Its Black Fire also punishes shielded enemies, stacking on any target inside range that carries a shield.
Which Secret Unit to chase first
For most players, 8th Sword is the sensible first target. Its 1% raid drop and 35-clear pity are far kinder than a 0.01% gacha pull, and it delivers some of the highest late-game single-target damage in the game. Shadow and Crow both demand either exceptional luck or a huge Gem stockpile, so treat them as goals to save toward once your Mythic core is already carrying content.
Before you start rerolling either banner unit, stock up on free Gems by redeeming active Anime Expeditions codes. Do not spend Gems on Secret hunting until your Standard Banner Mythic core is finished, because a Secret Unit is not a replacement for a working team.
How to confirm you got one
A successful pull or drop places the unit directly into your collection, where you can inspect it, upgrade it, and slot it into a team. For 8th Sword, the unit appears in your rewards after the qualifying Act 3 clear or lands automatically on your 35th run. For Shadow and Crow, the summon screen shows the Secret rarity result at the end of the pull. If nothing appears after a raid clear, that clear simply failed the 1% roll and did not reach pity yet, which is the only reason it will not trigger.
