Anime Apocalypse: Return by Death and King of Greed Abilities Explained

Anime Apocalypse pushed its “The Endless Cycle!” update on 9/5/2026, and the headline additions are two brand-new abilities: Return by Death, built around Subaru’s whip, and King of Greed, a heavy area-damage kit. The same update brings in The King of Greed as a world boss, a Guild Battles gamemode with Guild Points and Guild Upgrades, and the Season 5 battlepass.

Quick answer: Both abilities are already live. Equip Return by Death or King of Greed into an ability slot, then roll traits on that slot — Reaper and Shinigami are the mythical traits tied to them, each at a 0.5% roll chance.

Everything added in The Endless Cycle update

The patch is a mix of new content and new cosmetics. Here’s the full list of what landed.

Type	Addition
World boss	The King of Greed
Gamemode	Guild Battles
Progression	Guild Upgrades and Guild Points
Battlepass	Season 5
Ability	Return by Death
Ability	King of Greed
Title	The King of Greed
Gadget	EMT
Cosmetic	Greed Outfit
Cosmetic	Bobby Hair Pin

Return by Death moveset

Return by Death is the Subaru kit, and it fights with a whip. Basic attacks swing wide and keep enemies at arm’s length rather than pulling you into melee range, which suits the rest of the kit.

Move	Role in the kit
M1s	Whip swings used as the standard attack chain
El Minya	Offensive ability in the main rotation
Shamak	Offensive ability in the main rotation
Unseen Hand	Offensive ability in the main rotation
Return by Death (V)	Signature move that leads into the ultimate

Return by Death ultimate going off during a fight in Anime Apocalypse — The Return by Death ultimate firing off after the V-move.

Note: the ultimate is the least flashy part of both new kits. The regular moves carry more of the damage, so don’t build your whole rotation around saving the ultimate.

King of Greed moveset

King of Greed leans on reach. Its basic attacks cover a wide area, so it clears grouped enemies faster than a single-target kit, and its abilities keep that same large-hitbox theme. In-game, it carries the line “I am satisfied. Utterly, completely satisfied.”

Move	Role in the kit
M1s	Wide-area basic attacks
Sky Splitter	Offensive ability in the main rotation
Earth Shatterer	Offensive ability in the main rotation
Never Ending Rain	Offensive ability in the main rotation
Slowdown (V)	Signature move that leads into the ultimate

Reaper and Shinigami traits: stats and roll chance

Traits are rolled per ability slot, and both new abilities have a mythical trait sitting at a 0.5% chance. Reaper pairs with King of Greed, Shinigami pairs with Return by Death. The two are close in power but pull in different directions, and Shinigami’s cooldown line is a penalty rather than a bonus.

Stat	Reaper	Shinigami
Roll chance	0.5%	0.5%
Damage	+30%	+25%
Attack Speed	+10%	+15%
Walkspeed	+3%	—
CD Reduction	+10%	-5%
Coins	+7%	+10%
EXP	+7%	+10%
Lifesteal	+5	+8

Reaper is the safer damage trait thanks to the cooldown reduction and the small movement bump. Shinigami trades a bit of raw damage and cooldown for faster swings, more sustain, and better coin and EXP gain, which makes it the friendlier option if you’re still grinding progression.

How to equip the new abilities and roll traits

Open your ability menu and slot the new ability. King of Greed and Return by Death can sit in different slots at the same time, so you don’t have to pick one.

Select the slot holding the ability you want to improve, then roll traits on it. Traits are locked to the slot you roll, so rolling Slot 1 does nothing for whatever is in Slot 2.

Keep rolling until the mythical trait appears. At 0.5%, expect a long stretch of common results before Reaper or Shinigami shows up. You’ll know it worked when the trait name and its stat lines replace the previous trait on that slot.

Testing both kits in the tutorial level

The tutorial level is the cleanest place to learn either moveset, because it drip-feeds objectives while you get a feel for the timing. Early on it asks you to interact with gates, tracked with a counter in the corner of the screen.

Tutorial objective reading Touch the gate to open it 0 of 6 as the player runs up to a gate — The tutorial’s gate objective, tracked as a running counter on screen.

Movement prompts come next. The tutorial calls out holding CTRL to slide, which is worth practicing before you take either kit into a real fight, since both rely on closing or creating distance between ability casts.

Tutorial prompt telling the player to hold CTRL to slide — The slide prompt that appears during the tutorial.

Yellow arrows mark the route through the city while the slide objective ticks up, so you can chain slides along the path instead of stopping to practice in one spot.

Yellow arrows marking a path through the city with the slide objective at 1 of 6 — Yellow arrows point the way while the slide counter climbs.

Between segments you get a card pick, choosing one upgrade from options such as Ability Mastery I, DMG I, and Extra Life I. Ability Mastery and DMG both feed directly into how hard the new movesets hit, while Extra Life buys you room to experiment with unfamiliar rotations.

Card selection screen offering Ability Mastery I, DMG I, and Extra Life I — The card pick screen with three upgrade options.

If you’re deciding which of the two to chase first, the split is straightforward. King of Greed with Reaper is the more consistent damage setup thanks to its wide basic attacks and cooldown reduction, while Return by Death with Shinigami rewards faster swings, more lifesteal, and quicker coin and EXP gains. Either way, the trait roll is the real time sink, not unlocking the ability itself.