Relics are one of the biggest power spikes in Universal Tower Defense. They sit on top of traits and raw stats, and because you can move them between units, a good set stays valuable even as your roster changes.
Relic basics: slots, pieces, and rarity
Every unit can equip three relics:
- Head – hats and headgear that usually carry a unique effect, such as refunding yen or reducing ability cooldowns.
- Body – shirts, coats, or uniforms that lean toward damage, range, or attack speed buffs.
- Legs – pants that mostly provide raw multipliers like base damage or armor damage.
Relics come with two layers of power.
Set identity defines the themed bonus (crit-focused, elemental, utility, and so on) if you equip all three pieces from the same set on a single unit. That bonus sits on top of the smaller buffs that live on each item.
Stats and perks are the individual numbers on a relic. Each relic has one main stat and at least one sub-stat. Higher rarity items reach higher stat ceilings and unlock more sub-stats as you upgrade them.
Rarity matters because it controls two things: the maximum level of the relic and how many sub-stats it can roll. A mythic relic at max level will always outrun a legendary of the same type in raw numbers, even if their set bonus is identical.
How to get relics in Universal Tower Defense
Relics drop as rewards when you clear stages. What you get depends on the mode and difficulty you choose, so farming in the right place saves a lot of time.
Farming body and leg relics in Story Mode
Story Mode Acts are where shirts and pants drop. Each stage (Ninja Forest, Marine Base, Hollowed Moon) has six Acts and is tied to two relic sets.
Step 1: Open Story Mode and pick the stage that matches the set you want. Ninja Forest is for the Naruto-themed sets, Marine Base for the One Piece sets, and Hollowed Moon for the Bleach sets.
Step 2: Set the difficulty to the highest level you can consistently clear, ideally Nightmare. Higher difficulty sharply improves your chances of rolling rare and mythic relics.
Step 3: Farm the same Act repeatedly until you get both the body and leg piece you’re targeting in a rarity you’re happy to invest in.
Nightmare on high difficulty multipliers is currently the most efficient way to get mythic body and leg relics, because it combines strong drop rates with good gem income per run.
Farming head relics in Virtual Realm
Head relics only drop from Virtual Realm, a separate mode with three stages and three Acts each.
Step 1: Enter Virtual Realm and hover over an Act to see which head piece can drop and its chance. Each stage aligns with the same anime themes as Story Mode.
Step 2: Choose the Act that matches the set you’re building, then push the highest difficulty your team can handle.
Step 3: Repeat the Act until you secure the matching hat for your body and leg pieces.
Virtual Realm tends to be more demanding than Story, but the payoff is big. Many head relics provide effects you cannot get anywhere else, like yen refunds or true damage procs.
All relic sets and what they do
There are six named sets in the game, each tied to specific stages and elements. Five of them are visible in drop tables at any time; one (Master Ninja) appears primarily in player builds but follows the same rules.
| Set | Stage / Source | Head bonus | Body & legs bonus |
|---|---|---|---|
| Junior Ninja | Ninja Forest | Increases all buffs received by x1.1 | +5% base damage, +10% Wind damage |
| Master Ninja | Ninja Forest | Every 5 attacks, +20% DoT damage for 10 seconds | +5% base damage, +10% Dark/Rose/Fire damage |
| Sun God | Marine Base | Every 6 attacks, gain damage equal to the unit’s Range (1 Range = 1% damage) for 7 seconds | +5% base damage, +10% Light/Water/Ice damage |
| Laughing Captain | Marine Base | Ability cooldown reduced by 10% | +5% base damage, -5% attack cooldown, +5% range |
| Berserk Shinigami | Hollowed Moon | Every 6th attack deals 20% bonus true damage, ignoring resistances | +5% base damage, +15% armor damage |
| Ex Captain Uraharo | Hollowed Moon | Refunds 5% of yen spent on upgrading the unit | +10% critical rate, +25% critical damage |
Within these sets, individual pieces carry their own effects as well. For example, Ex Captain Uraharo Pants and Cloak both provide 10% crit rate and 25% crit damage, while the matching hat is the yen-refund piece. Berserk Shinigami pants and uniform both increase normal and armor damage, while the headpiece triggers the true damage proc.
Relic stats, main perks, and sub-stats
Relic power comes from the combination of the set bonus and the numbers printed on the item itself.
Main stats are the headline perk on a relic. Only one can exist per item, and it grows the most when you level the relic. Body pieces can roll main stats such as damage, crit damage, hyper armor damage, or damage over time. Legs can push pure damage, seconds per attack (SPA), range, crit rate, crit damage, DoT, buff potency, or effect resistance. Heads often lean into buff potency or elemental damage, but can also roll SPA, range, crit stats, DoT, buff potency, or resistance.
Sub-stats are smaller perks that unlock as you upgrade. Any of the secondary stats mentioned above can appear here, including damage, SPA, range, crit rate, crit damage, DoT, buff potency, effect resistance, and elemental damage on heads.
Upgrading a relic uses gold and Power Ups. Every three Power Ups, the relic attempts to unlock a new sub-stat or improve an existing one. That roll can fail, which means reaching a “perfect” piece is expensive and luck-based.
On practical builds, it is usually enough to hit a strong main stat (for example 60% damage on body and legs) and then aim for two or three relevant sub-stats like extra DoT, more crit damage, or reduced SPA.
Where each named piece drops
For quick reference, these are the confirmed drops for the core sets:
| Relic | Set | Mode | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ex Captain Uraharo Pants | Ex Captain Uraharo | Hollowed Moon Story | 10% crit rate, 25% crit damage |
| Ex Captain Uraharo Cloak | Ex Captain Uraharo | Hollowed Moon Story | 10% crit rate, 25% crit damage |
| Ex Captain Uraharo Hat | Ex Captain Uraharo | Hollowed Moon Virtual Realm | Refunds 5% of yen after upgrading the unit |
| Berserk Shinigami Pants | Berserk Shinigami | Hollowed Moon Story | +5% damage, +15% armor damage |
| Berserk Shinigami Uniform | Berserk Shinigami | Hollowed Moon Story | +5% damage, +15% armor damage |
| Berserk Shinigami head relic | Berserk Shinigami | Hollowed Moon Virtual Realm | Every 6th attack deals 20% bonus true damage |
| Sun God Pants | Sun God | Marine Base Story | +5% damage, +10% Light/Water/Ice damage |
| Sun God Shirt | Sun God | Marine Base Story | +5% damage, +10% Light/Water/Ice damage |
| Sun God Hat | Sun God | Marine Base Virtual Realm | Every 6 attacks, gain damage equal to unit range for 7 seconds |
| Laughing Captain Pants | Laughing Captain | Marine Base Story | +5% damage, -5% attack cooldown, +5% range |
| Laughing Captain Shirt | Laughing Captain | Marine Base Story | +5% damage, -5% attack cooldown, +5% range |
| Laughing Captain Hat | Laughing Captain | Marine Base Virtual Realm | 10% ability cooldown reduction |
| Junior Ninja Pants | Junior Ninja | Ninja Forest Story | +5% damage, +10% Wind damage |
| Junior Ninja Jacket | Junior Ninja | Ninja Forest Story | +5% damage, +10% Wind damage |
| Junior Ninja Headband | Junior Ninja | Ninja Forest Virtual Realm | Buffs received are 1.1x stronger |
Best relic sets by unit type
“Best” always depends on the unit and mode you’re building for, but a few patterns stand out.
Crit-focused carries perform extremely well with the Ex Captain Uraharo set. Units that already gain crit rate or crit damage from their passives or the Duelist trait multiply those bonuses further with +10% crit rate and +25% crit damage from the body and legs. The head’s yen refund is also helpful in longer modes where you need to keep upgrading multiple towers.
Armor shred and true damage units pair naturally with Berserk Shinigami. The extra armor damage on the body and legs plus 20% bonus true damage every sixth hit lets them handle high-armor waves that would otherwise slow your run.
Elemental damage dealers benefit from the two anime-flavored sets:
- Sun God is ideal for Light, Water, and Ice units, especially those with high attack speed, because the head’s damage buff scales directly with range and triggers on every sixth hit.
- Master Ninja supports Dark, Rose, and Fire units that rely on damage over time. The head’s periodic +20% DoT boost stacks neatly with burn, bleed, and similar effects.
Wind units and buff-centered teams lean on Junior Ninja. The 10% Wind damage on the body pieces is straightforward, while the headband’s buff amplification becomes very strong next to units that provide large area buffs, such as damage or range auras.
Ability-heavy supports and actives almost always want Laughing Captain. The ability cooldown reduction on the head, plus shorter attack cooldown and extra range on the body and legs, directly improves support units with strong actives and high-value spells. It is a standout choice for Lulu and similar designs that gate their power behind ability timers rather than basic attacks.
Example high-impact builds
Some units illustrate how far relics can push a kit.
Spade (Donut) as a burn carry thrives on Master Ninja. His fire-based DoT stacks very well with the set’s +10% Dark/Rose/Fire damage from body and legs, while the head’s periodic DoT boost amplifies each burn tick even further. Aim for damage as the main stat on both coat and pants (around 60% each on strong pieces), with DoT and SPA in sub-stats, then elemental damage on the head.
Admiral (Magma) is another DoT-heavy Fire unit that fits Master Ninja perfectly. Extra hyper armor or SPA in sub-stats lets him apply Confusion and burn more frequently.
Kriatu (Cheater) is a crit-scaling monster, but there is a nuance. He only gains crit rate from traits, not from iline relic crit, so Ex Captain Uraharo is less efficient on him than on other duelists. For Kriatu, it is often better to use Sun God or Berserk Shinigami with SPA-heavy sub-stats to trigger his self-scaling faster.
Wind units alongside Miku (Super Star) excel with Junior Ninja. Because the headband amplifies all buffs received, any damage or range buff from Miku and other supports gets multiplied, while the Wind damage bonus makes their elemental attacks hit harder.
How to prioritize and upgrade relics
Gold and Power Ups are limited early on, so it helps to be selective.
Step 1: Pick two or three core carries and supports you plan to keep for a while (for example an S-tier DPS, a strong Air/Hill, and your main support).
Step 2: Farm their ideal sets first, focusing on body and leg pieces with the right element or archetype (crit, DoT, armor) rather than chasing every possible drop.
Step 3: Only push relics past mid-level once their main stat and set alignment fit that unit. Investing heavily into off-element or mismatched pieces almost always feels bad later.
For damage dealers, main stat damage on body and legs is usually the highest priority, with SPA, crit stats, or DoT as secondary. For supports, range, SPA, and buff potency matter more, while raw damage can be lower.
Relics turn already strong units into full builds that can clear Nightmare, Infinite, and Virtual Realm consistently. Once you understand which sets match your elements, how set bonuses trigger on attack counts, and where to grind the right stages, most of the complexity drops away. From there, it becomes a long-term gear chase: tightening main stats, stacking better sub-stats, and moving your best sets onto whatever unit defines your roster next.
