#his DPS is also too weak for it to be viable either | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

freyayuki · 3 years ago

Text

Final Fantasy Record Keeper Physical Fire-Weak Argent Odin Fight

The Argent Odin or White Odin fights in the Final Fantasy Record Keeper (FFRK) mobile game are quest level 600. They are either weak to physical or magical damage.

Their elemental weakness depends on the kind of Odin you’re fighting. For instance, the fire-weak version deals ice damage.

It was after I defeated the physical-weak version of 6-star Magicite Shiva for the first time that the Argent Odin quests got unlocked.

I was interested in taking on fire-weak White Odin with Genesis Rhapsodos from Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII as my main DPS.

Currently, Genesis Rhapsodos is my absolute, most favorite Final Fantasy VII (#ad) char. He’s the reason why I’m playing Final Fantasy Record Keeper.

But I couldn’t take on the fire-weak version of White Odin. At least not yet. I mean, I could, but I shouldn’t if I wanted to up my chances of actually winning.

See, the thing is, Shiva’s Hoarfrost Blessing also increases the damage dealt and reduces the damage taken in the Argent Odin fights but that only applies to his ice-weak version.

For fire-weak White Odin, I needed the 6-star Magicite Ifrit’s Perdition’s Blessing. This Blessing also boosts fire damage and decreases fire damage taken in the same way Shiva’s Blessing does for the ice element.

So it was only after finally being able to beat Ifrit that I went back to eying this Odin fight.

The first time I gave this quest a try, I was only able to deal 30.9% damage to White Odin (WOdin) before I lost.

More information about physical, fire-weak Argent Odin

Argent Odin has lots of annoying gimmicks to watch out for. The fight could get quite complicated. It can also take a lot of time because WOdin has a lot of HP. One small mistake could cost you the run.

For instance, if I end up using Passionate Salsa instead of Dispel, and/or if I use Wrath instead of casting Sentinel’s Grimoire, then I have to restart the fight.

Here’s a list of some of WOdin’s gimmicks:

He casts Doom on the chars that are in slots 2 and 4 - so I put my support and Chain user here

He Slows chars with no en-fire or fire elemental infusion with the Absolute Zero move - the healer needs to be ready to re-Haste or it’s game over

He has this move called Argent Zantetsuken that has 3 levels

You’ll know this is coming because there’s gonna be a countdown starting at 3. Before the countdown reaches 1, you need to reduce his rage level down to 1, preferably 0. Level 2 is fine, but Level 3 is literally game over.

At certain HP percentage thresholds, he has the tendency to increase his rage

If this happens around the time he’s about to cast Zantetsuken, then you’re dead unless you can break his rage down to 1 or 0.

If the fight takes too long, then he’ll use Argent Warp to auto-eject the entire party, automatically ending the battle

He has 2 phases

At certain thresholds, he will use Argent Diffusion to remove 1 stack of en-fire

Your DPS needs en-fire to increase their damage output

He uses Dampen Fire to increase his resistance to the fire element

If he manages to stack this enough, then the damage of your fire DPS will plummet.

He uses Mighty Guard which gives him Protect, Shell, and Haste, so it’s necessary to bring Dispel

His Argent Gungnir move drops everyone’s HP down to 1 and interrupts them

He can Sap too which is very bad for Last Stand

I remember one time where he triggered everyone’s Last Stand then, before I could heal my party, they all died from Sap. So, yeah, best bring Regenga or some other way to counter Sap.

His Antiheal reduces your healing output for a few seconds

His Achromatic Aegis move will increase his Defense, Resistance, and Mind by a lot for 4 seconds

There are a few relics that can specifically counter this, but over-bufing is also a viable strat. Since the stat up only lasts for 4 seconds, it can also just be ignored.

In short, eff this fight. LOL. It’s really freaking difficult. Had to keep on tweaking my team, moving chars around, changing their equipment, etc.

Physical, fire-weak White Odin team

Here are the chars I used against fire-weak White Odin as well as the list of relics that I have for them:

Genesis Rhapsodos from Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII

Limit Break Overstrike (LBO), Light of Doom

Synchro Arcane Soul Break (SASB), Purgatorial Wave

Awakened Arcane Soul Break (AASB), Genesis Rhapsody

Arcane Overstrike Soul Break (AOSB), SOLDIER’s Epic

Ultra Soul Break (USB), Apocalypse Genesis

Glint+ Soul Break 1 (G+1), Epic of Creation

Glint+ Soul Break 2 (G+2), Epic of Heroism

Glint Soul Break (G), Epic of Destruction

Legend Materia Relic (LMR), Fierce Opposition

Balthier (Ffamran mied Bunansa) from Final Fantasy XII

Chain Soul Break 2 (CSB2), Incendiary Trap

AASB, Untouchable Hellfire

G+2, Scarlet Sky Fluke

Burst Soul Break 1 (BSB1), Gatling Gun

BSB2, Spark of Change

Vincent Valentine from Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy VII

LBO, Galian Scratch

SASB, Bestial Claws

AASB, Chthonian Blaze

USB1, Lucrecia’s Lament

USB2, Dirge of Cerberus

CSB, Cerberus Soul

Tyro from Final Fantasy Record Keeper

AASB, Fantasy Grimoire Vol. I

AOSB3, Triple Phase

USB4, Arbiter’s Tome

USB3, Divine Veil Grimoire

USB1, Warder’s Apocrypha

G, Purifying Grimoire

BSB, Keeper’s Tome

Unique Soul Break 2, Sentinel’s Grimoire

LMR1, Archival Secrets

Lenna Charlotte Tycoon from Final Fantasy V

SASB, White Magic Mastery

AASB2, Spreading One’s Wings

AASB1, Champion of Life

USB4, Princesses’ Prayer

USB3, Essence of Water

G+, Tycoon’s Protection

BSB1, Phoenix of Tycoon

Physical, fire-weak Argent Odin fight latest try

Anyway, so a few tries later and I actually managed to get pretty far. Argent Odin was down to 24.6% HP. The problem was that all of my chars were basically nearly dead already.

In the screenshot below, you can’t even see their HP bars anymore. IIRC, Last Stand had just been triggered so they were all at 1 HP.

Could Lenna get them all back to full health before - yeah, no. Unfortunately, wasn’t able to manage it.

Everyone died soon after. White Odin still had 23.8% HP left. The total damage I was able to deal was 76.2%.

Sigh. Too bad, huh? Well, at least I was able to get pretty far. Now to tweak my team some more.

Making changes to my physical, fire-weak White Odin team setup

I even bought Balthier’s fire imperil USB from the The Record Lab. His BSB2 can already imperil fire but the USB was better so I thought I might as well get that and drop Spark of Change.

I also switched out Lenna’s and Vincent’s positions so Lenna was now on slot 5 while Vincent was on slot 3. I don’t know. It feels like Lenna can build more gauges on slot 5.

She definitely needs a lot so I don’t have to fully rely on Tyro to give her bars since he also needs to cast his Soul Breaks and feed some gauge to Balthier.

I put Tyro and Balthier on slots 2 and 4 so they’ll be the ones to get the Doom debuff. Can’t afford to have my DPS die, and of course Lenna needs to be alive since she’s the one who’s gonna be reviving her dead allies with her Awakening 1.

I like having Genesis on slot 1 or the leader position of the party, so I’m glad that it’s not that slot who gets the Doom debuff because otherwise I would have had to move him.

Genesis, Vincent, Lenna, Tyro, and Balthier vs. physical, fire-weak Argent Odin

Anyway, cue what feels like a million tries later, and I somehow managed to bring WOdin’s HP down to 15.6%. My chars were all kinda nearly dead though.

But, hey, at least you can still see their HP bars unlike before. If I can just get Lenna to use her USB4, I might have a chance.

Can’t remember anymore if I still had one more use of the Fabula Priestess Roaming Warrior (RW) that I chose to borrow. This one instantly heals the party.

Thankfully, I was able to heal my chars though I can’t recall now if it was thanks to Fabula Priestess or Lenna’s USB4. It was probably the latter though.

A few seconds later, I used Genesis’s AOSB. I think by this time the effects of his Sync have run out or was close to running out already. I used his AASB earlier in the fight.

So I had a lot of gauges (AOSBs cost 3 bars unless they’ve been max honed in which case they will only need 2) to spare for SOLDIER’s Epic.

Genesis’s AOSB plus the other attacks from Vincent and even Balthier helped lower WOdin’s HP further down to 8.2%.

For Vincent, I used his Sync earlier in the fight because its Command 1 can imperil fire. After the effects of his Sync had run out, I activated his AASB.

Balthier was focused on building his Soul Break bar so I could keep on using his Ultra to imperil fire as well as his Chain.

It was only way later, towards the end of the fight, that I ended up using his AASB since he had the gauges to spare. In the screenshot below, the effects of his AASB were still up so he has infinite uses of Trinity Bombshell.

Before, I had Balthier equipped with Lifesiphon while Genesis had Omega Drive. Both increase the user’s Soul Break gauge a lot but, AFAIK, Omega Drive gives a bit more.

Since Genesis only really needed 2 bars at a time, I decided it was better for Balthier to get Omega Drive instead of Lifesiphon.

The screenshot above shows the words: “Behold, the Calamity Slayer!”. Argent Odin says this line on Turn 9 of Phase 2.

After this shows up, you only have 4 turns left before he’ll use Argent Zantetsuken Level 3 and automatically end the fight.

So, yeah, I really needed to end this fight, or it’s over. So as soon as Genesis’s turn came up, I tapped on his Limit Break Overstrike.

In the screenshot below, Odin’s HP was down to 6.2%. The countdown for Argent Zantetsuken was at 1. And the Limit Break gauge was colored yellow, indicating that I’d just queued an LBO to be used.

To my relief, it worked. Genesis’s Light of Doom got cast before Odin could hit me with Argent Zantetsuken Level 3. Phew.

It worked too, dealing enough damage to take WOdin’s HP down to 0. IIRC, it dealt the max damage of 99999x5.

Which means I just won! Hell, yes! So freaking pleased. This was the very first Argent Odin that I’ve been able to beat.

So glad I got to use Genesis for this fight and that he was the one who dealt the killing blow. This was a very intense battle that took quite a while to finish but it was all worth it because I managed to win.

Rewards for beating physical, fire-weak White Odin

Winning this fight gave me my first White-Armored Echoes accessory as well as a Blade of Recollection: Ice dagger, a Lord’s Gauntlet: Physical Ice bracer, and an Odin (Ultra Attack) Magicite.

White-Armored Echoes gives 500 HP and moderate resistance to all elements. Both the dagger and bracer can be leveled to 50 and they add a small boost to ice damage. The dagger increases both the magic and attack stat while the bracer increases the attack, defense, resistance, and evasion stats.

I just beat the version of WOdin who deals ice damage so I get why I just got a dagger and a bracer that boosts ice elemental attacks. But still. I wish I could have gotten ones that boost fire damage.

Looks like I’m gonna have to defeat the water-weak version of Argent Odin if I want those though. Unfortunately, that’s definitely not happening anytime soon since my water tech is severely lacking.

I gave the accessory to Lenna to further increase her HP. Hey, can’t have my healer dying now, can I? LOL.

Besides, Genesis already has really high HP because of course I increased his stats as much as I possibly could.

I maxed out his Crystal Waters. Yeah, I even gave him the Waters to increase his mind and magic even if he doesn’t need them.

He has over 600 Magia. His fire attack, attack, defense, resistance, and HP stats all have 100 each. The rest went to elemental defense with ice and dark getting more than the others.

Ice is a given, especially since I was up against WOdin, and I usually have Genesis deal with ice enemies although I try to bring him to all the battles I can.

Even if the opponent isn’t weak to fire or is actually resistant to fire, I’ll try to make him there work anyway. LOL.

As for the dark defense - well, IIRC, the bosses of the Final Fantasy VII Cardia Dungeons love dealing dark damage.

Anyway, aside from being kinda miffed about getting a bracer (the artifacts are actually better than this dagger) that boosts ice damage instead of fire, I was also pretty annoyed at only getting 1 copy of the Odin (Ultra Attack) Magicite.

When I defeated the 6-star ice Magicite, Shiva, for the first time, I got 2 copies of her - one as part of the initial clear rewards and the other for being able to beat her within 2 minutes.

This let me have a Level 65 Shiva so I only needed 2 more copies to get her to Level 99. The WOdin fight only gives you 1 copy though and it’s for being able to win within 2 minutes. Which meant I was stuck with a Level 50 Odin.

Nevertheless, I leveled it up to 50 and added it to my Magicite deck then tried the WOdin fight again so I could get more copies. I lost. WTF?

And also, how in the world did I manage to win the first time? LOL. I don’t know. I kept on trying, and I kept on losing which was really, really freaking frustrating.

So for now decided to take a break from the Argent Odin fight by taking on a 5-star Magicite level 400 quest. Also wanted the chance to try out my new Odin Magicite. I talk more about that in another post.

Much, much later: okay, it’s time to get back to the Argent Odin fight. Level 50 Odin’s fine and all, but I want to be able to get him to Level 99.

Physical, Fire-Weak White Odin Successful Parties List

Oh, by the way, I was looking at the list of successful parties that players used when they cleared this dungeon for the first time, and I actually saw my team there!

That was the first time I ever noticed that. It was a very pleasant surprise. I also saw a few parties that included Genesis. I’m happy to see him being used in hard content like this.

Here’s a screenshot of my party from that list with their equipment, abilities, Legend Materia and Record Materia:

Physical, Fire-Weak Argent Odin Team Equipment Info

Everyone’s equipped with Black-Armored Echoes, an accessory that gives moderate resistance to all elements. Everyone has artifact weapons to boost their primary stat - attack for my DPS and mind for my healer.

Genesis, Balthier, and Vincent all have armor that gives a boost to fire damage. And, yeah, all those outfits belong to Genesis. Of course, I kept them.

I kept all of his weapons and armor. Whenever I get dupes, I just fuse them together. Genesis and Vincent also have artifacts that gives a small boost to fire damage.

Genesis has the Record Materia (RM) that lets him deal more damage if he’s hitting an enemy’s weakness so I really needed to imperil fire and stop Odin from increasing his fire resistance.

Balthier and Tyro have the RM that increases their Soul Break gauge a lot whenever they use their abilities.

Vincent has the RM that increases his damage if he’s wielding a gun while Lenna has the RM that lets her start a battle with 2 gauges so she can use her AASB2, which grants the party Protect, Shell, Haste, and Regenga, right away.

Genesis has his LMR and his Trance Legend Materia (LM). Balthier has his dualcast Machinist LMR and his LM that gives him a chance to imperil fire whenever he uses a Machinist ability. They never procced during this fight because I had him spamming Omega Drive.

Even if I actually get to use his AASB, the LMs still won’t proc because he’s equipped with Trinity Bombshell which is a Sharpshooter ability. I would have given him Trinity Grenade, a Machinist ability, but I wasn’t able to max hone it yet.

Actually, in a lot of my previous tries, Balthier was equipped with Burnt Offering, a Machinist ability that has the chance to imperil fire. I found Offering to be pretty unreliable though.

It’s good when it procs but that doesn’t always happen. I needed more consistency which was why I had to resort to using Balthier’s imperil USB.

Vincent has his dualcast fire LMR and his Trance LM. He’s equipped with his Hero Ability, Beast Flare, and Burnt Offering. He used to have Wrath instead of Offering.

Ended up giving him Offering for some early imperils. Had him spam that until he could get enough gauges to cast his Sync.

Tyro has his LMR that lets him start the battle with no action delay for 2 turns and his LM that increases the duration of his stat up buffs. Lenna has her LM that increases white magic healing a small amount and LM that gives her the chance to increase her healing output when a white magic ability triggers.

Too bad neither of these were all that useful since she was usually spamming Passionate Salsa. Well, Aqua Heal from her USB4 is White Magic-type and Dispel is White Magic too so at least it’s not entirely useless.

Magicite Deck Information

Here’s a screenshot of and info about my Magicite deck:

Ifrit with 2 Empower Fire

Deathgaze with Blade Ward and Spell Ward

Madeen with Healing Boon and Health Boon

Madeen with Attack Boon and Deadly Strikes

Shiva with Healing Boon and Health Boon

When I tried this fight again with Odin in my deck, I dropped Deathgaze to add him in. I moved Ifrit to my sub Magicite while I had Odin as my main.

I thought he was pretty good even at Level 50 because his entry dealt a lot of damage whereas Ifrit’s barely did 10k. All of his follow-ups were able to break the damage cap, easily lowering WOdin’s rage level, whereas Ifrit could barely get a thousand.

But it seemed like he was messing up my run. I suppose him being Level 50 and being unable to equip passives really gimped my team’s stats.

When I dropped him and went back to the deck I used when I managed to beat him for the first time, I was able to win. But it took me a lot of tries.

Can’t seem to make my runs more consistent. It’s frustrating and annoying, especially when I’m late into the fight already and then I end up losing.

I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve had to repeat this fight. I’m so freaking sick and tired of this quest. Just give me my Level 99 Odin already, please.

By now, I’ve basically memorized what needs to be done in the first part of the fight although I can still end up having to restart there if I tap on the wrong thing.

It’s the latter parts that usually trouble me since there are plenty of runs where I don’t even manage to get that far.

Physical, Fire-Weak Argent Odin Fight Info

So the fight goes something like this:

Genesis uses Lifesiphon, Balthier uses Omega Drive, Vincent uses Burnt Offering. If I’m lucky, Offering will actually imperil fire. Tyro uses Wrath while Lenna casts her AASB2.

Genesis, Vincent, and Balthier do the same thing on their next turn. Lenna uses Dispel to remove Odin’s buffs while Tyro casts Sentinel’s Grimoire to boost the party’s defense and resistance.

Then Lenna spams Salsa (later on, I also tried Curada instead) while the men build up their Soul Break bars. Then things tend to go differently depending on what I end up doing.

Some tries, I have Tyro Entrust his bars to Lenna. Other times, he Entrusts to Balthier, or I just have him use his USB4.

Sometimes, I use Balthier’s USB2 as soon as he has 2 bars. Other times, I wait until he has nearly 4 before using it so I can use his Chain right afterwards. There were also times wherein I ended up casting the Chain first before USB2.

Vincent uses his Sync either as soon as he has 2 bars or after Balthier activates the fire Chain.

Sometimes, I delay using Genesis’s Soul Breaks and let Vincent start attacking on his own for a few turns. I used to spam Vincent’s Sync Command 1 because it can imperil fire.

But in my latest tries, I opted to just spam his Sync Command 2 because it’s guaranteed to break the damage cap. If I’m lucky, he can dualcast that and the imperil from Burnt Offering will actually proc.

Once the effects of Vincent’s Sync have run out, I use his AASB though sometimes I let them overlap for a bit.

For Genesis, I start with his G+1 then his AASB. When the effects of his AASB have run out, I use his G+2 then his Sync. Sometimes, I end up casting his AOSB before going G+2 then Sync.

It’s really necessary to be careful with when you start activating the Sync or AASB of your DPS. There were times wherein I ended up having both Vincent and Genesis deal a lot of damage which is good but then they ended up pushing past the threshold where Odin was rage-happy.

His rage level would be 3 then my DPS would drop it down to 2 or even 1 if they dualcast their moves. And then, seemingly all of the sudden, Odin’s rage level would increase to 3 again. WTF!?

This is bad if he’s about to use Argent Zantetsuken. I’ve had to restart many a fight because I ended up being hit with Argent Zantetsuken Level 3.

I also needed to watch out for Absolute Zero. I have to skip Lenna’s turn a bit before this happens because she needs to be ready to use her AASB right away to revive Tyro and Balthier and re-Haste.

The Absolute Zero move happens near where Tyro and Balthier die to Doom. I’ve had to restart many a fight because I end up having Lenna use Salsa or one of her other moves instead of skipping her turn so when the Slow move happens, it takes forever for it to be her turn again. So she and everyone else just ends up dead before she can move.

In the first part, I couldn’t go too fast or I’d end up pushing Odin past certain thresholds that would cause him to keep on increasing his rage level.

Once I get past the first Argent Zantetsuken though, I needed to be fast. I had to push him to phase 2 ASAP before my party gets auto-ejected.

There are lots of times wherein my party’s HP gets lowered a lot, and then I panic and end up tapping on both the healing RW and Lenna’s USB4, which is a waste unless the anti-heal debuff was currently up.

Worse, I’d sometimes end up having Vincent or even Genesis use the RW when they should be focused on attacking.

Having Tyro’s AASB and USB4 up is a great way to boost damage, especially when coupled with the fire imperil and the boost from the fire Chain. All of these also help to bypass the damage reduction from Achromatic Aegis.

In the last phase of the fight, if Balthier actually has gauges to spare, it’s best to just use his fire imperil USB instead of casting his AASB.

Well, sometimes it works well enough, but I needed to watch out because Odin dampens fire again in this part. There were times where my damage ended up being resisted since Odin was able to stack dampen fire.

Vincent’s Dirge of Cerberus USB is actually pretty good since the brave command can break the damage cap. When he ran out of his AASB and Sync, which usually tended to happen, I cast this USB so he can keep helping deal damage.

Lenna’s USB4 is really good. The Regenga can overwrite sap although if I manage to time things right, my team wouldn’t be sapped at all. Still, the Regenga is always appreciated.

I have to use one of her equipped abilities before being able to get the Last Stand though. This can be tricky because I need 2 turns before my party can have Last Stand via Lenna’s USB4. I have to go either Salsa or Dispel then the Aqua Heal brave command.

Genesis is super special awesome, like always. Just need to get everything properly set up then he can really deal great damage.

The screenshot below isn’t the best looking one, but it’s hard to get decent pics when you’re also trying to focus on the fight.

At least it does show how much damage Genesis can deal. I’m sure I could get it higher with more buffs, imperils and support.

Genesis’s LBO usually deals max damage, particularly if it’s used near the end of a Chain although this requires perfect timing. Sometimes, the Chain ends before the LBO gets cast which causes the damage to plummet somewhat, or I end up casting it in the middle part of the Chain or something.

Heck, there are times when I end up tapping on, say, Genesis’s AOSB when I meant to activate his Sync instead. Then I have to scramble to get Tyro to Entrust bars to him because AOSBs cost a whopping 3 gauges unless they’ve been max honed, in which case they’ll only cost 2.

I’ve also been tweaking my Magicite deck, trying different combinations to see what could work, what could get me another win.

I’ve tried with various combinations of a Madeen with 1 Attack Boon and 1 Deadly Strikes, Shiva with Blade Ward and Spell Ward, Shiva with Health Boon and Healing Boon, Madeen with 2 Deadly Strikes, Madeen with 2 Attack Boon, etc.

Anyway, after what seemed like forever, I was finally able to get my second win against Argent Odin. The battle ended after 1 minute and 01.95 seconds. This is much longer when compared to my first win which ended at 1 minute and 0.86 seconds.

As usual, it took me countless more tries before I was able to get my third win. This one ended at 57.08 seconds.

Man, I really wish I could make my runs more consistent. This is so freaking painful. Just want a Level 99 Odin already. I’m sure having one would really make a lot of difference.

I’ve tried looking at other team comps for this fight but most make use of chars that I don’t have.

And they all have a max leveled WOdin as their man Magicite which I obviously wouldn’t be able to replicate.

Naturally, it also took me for-freaking-ever before I was able to get my fourth win. The fight ended at 56.73 seconds.

I actually thought I was gonna have to restart again because Vincent died sometime during the last phase while the effects of his AASB were still active.

Not even sure what happened anymore. Fight’s really freaking fast-paced, especially when you’re trying to rush to bring Odin down to the appropriate HP threshold to make sure you don’t end up getting auto-ejected.

Hmm. It looks like Last Stand got procced earlier and I hadn’t been able to refresh it yet. Since Genesis was still alive, I decided to keep going.

Used Genesis’s Sync and was able to get through the rest of the fight with just that. Was gonna use his LBO too but didn’t get the chance to since the fight ended already.

Cue huge sigh of relief. So freaking glad was able to make it. Also, finally, I have the last copy I need in order to be able to level my Odin to 99. Just need to farm the Arcana needed to level him up.

Conclusion

So what about you? Have you tried any of the Argent Odin fights yet? Which chars did you use to take on White Odin? What do you think about these quests? Feel free to share your thoughts and opinions by leaving a comment below or by reblogging or replying to this post.

Notes:

screenshots are from my Final Fantasy Record Keeper game account

#final fantasy record keeper #final fantasy 7 #this post stars:#genesis rhapsodos #vincent valentine #balthier #lenna charlotte tycoon #tyro #from #ffrk #games #mobile games #gacha games #ffrk fire wodin #ffrk magicite fights #ffrk argent odin fights

2 notes · View notes

ayamari-no-goshi · 4 years ago

Text

Eidolon 13 | (T)

ff.net | AO3

Fandom: Danny Phantom (DP)

Summary: AU: What started off as the result of a simple act of rebellion ends up causing his life to spin out of control. How will young Danny cope with the results as well as a past that has a strange habit of coming back to haunt him.

Warnings: rated T for violence, mentions of death, kidnapping, and various other things

Chapter warnings: implied adult taking advantage of a child

Parings: hints of Danny/Sam much later on

Notes: originally uploaded to Ff.net. Cross-posted to AO3 and tumblr

Chapter 13: Perceptions

The pain was like nothing Danny had ever experienced. With each flare, his body became rigid in a desperate attempt to withstand it. He tried, desperately, to relax as the tension just added to the pain, but it was to no avail. The flares were coming in increasing intervals, and his body could not help but brace for them. It was made worse by the lingering burning sensation left from the previous attacks.

A scream escaped him as another flare, more intense than the last, forced him into an unnatural arch. He collapsed almost as soon as it was over. Gripping at the pristine carpet, he bit his lip to hold back another cry as an echo of the pain washed over him. It was difficult to tell how many of the painful flares had coursed through his body or how much time had passed since Vlad forced the unknown substance down his throat. All he understood was the pain was getting more intense, lasting longer, and affecting more of his body each time. Though he was not sure exactly how he knew, the pain he was experiencing had started on or in his skin and was progressively creeping inward, like a small camp fire slowly growing to its full potential.

He wanted to move, to run, to escape from the torture, but it was no use. The pain had left him feeling extremely fragile as if he would shatter if he attempted to move. There was no telling if the strange liquid along with the flares was actually doing damage to his body, or if his current predicament was benign. But it didn't matter anyways. Even if he did manage to move, he would just be struck down by another spasm.

Even if it did kill him, he was going to fight to the very end. He needed to know if Winston was okay, to apologize to his friends for being kidnapped, and to find out what exactly happened to his parents. He absolutely had to accomplish those before he died. There was no way he could ever face his friends and family again if he didn't.

…

Damn, it looked like he wouldn't be able to accomplish his goals after all. His body was beyond exhausted, so much so he could barely muster the strength to open his eyes. The linger burn still coursing through his abused body indicated he was still among the living. The slow and steady thumping of his heart and the rasps of his shallow breaths were the only sounds within the barren room. Each sound seemed to getting weaker as the moments crawled by, but it was difficult to tell just how much more his body could take before it just gave out.

His breath hitched as another flare engulfed his body, but it was different from all the previous ones. It was far more intense and showed no signs of stopping. His body was too overwhelmed by the sensation to even make a sound, and he briefly wondered if this was what dying felt like as the fiery pain seemed to be burning away what was left of his short life. Flashes of regret began to blend into his reality as a small part of his mind registered it was truly the end.

A strange tingling in his finger tips interrupted the pain and alerted him to a new sensation. An icy cold was beginning to seep into his hands. Did that mean the pain spasms were coming to an end? Relief washed through him but was almost immediately replaced by fear as he realized the cold wasn't a blessing. It had begun to snake its way into his body at an alarming rate, freezing the burning flesh and replacing the previously living tissue with frozen death.

The flaring pain did not dissipate as the coldness spread. Instead, it seemed to fight back against the cold to reclaim control. His body became a battle ground between fire and ice, living and dead, as the two forces warred back and forth. Cold tendrils grasped his heart and lungs momentarily halting them bringing more intense pain.

He grabbed at his chest and neck wishing there was something he could do as the fire intensified and tried to burn away the cold. His breathing quickened as he tried to keep himself from falling into the darkness which was gathering at the edges of his vision. The fire was back in control of his lungs, but it was losing ground. Within moments, the cold tendrils had wrapped themselves completely around them. As he took his last painful breaths before his lungs seized completely, he vaguely registered that the door to the room was opening as the blackness finally overtook him.

…..

Consciousness came back to him gradually. Better phrased, his concept of awareness returned. He knew he was curled into a ball while laying on something soft… a bed perhaps? He was stiff and wanted to move, but refrained due to a lingering notion… What was it…? Pain. He had been in pain before waking, but from what?

Slowly, he opened his eyes to find himself on a pure white bed with dark wooden posts. The room it was sitting in had little in terms of furniture and was also an unremarkable white color. Sitting up, his eyes caught sight of a stain on the carpet. An image stirred in his mind of a strange green substance spilling on it. Blood perhaps? No… his wasn't purely green; it was mixed with a human's red.

But wait… wasn't he human? He shook his head of the thought. It didn't seem completely right, but it wasn't entirely wrong either. He glanced at his hands in the hopes they held some sort of clue to his jumbled thoughts, but they were unremarkable: tanner than average will giving off a faint whitish glow.

Sitting up, he rested his face in his hands as he tried to piece together his jumbled thoughts. Most of his memories were blurs, flashing with momentary clarity before speeding away. Why wouldn't anything come to him? He knew someone who he didn't really like placed him in the room, but the reason behind it remained gone. Maybe some food would help him think better.

How had he not noticed how hungry he was until now? The feeling of emptiness in his stomach was enough to make him woozy. The feeling combined with a general weakness throughout his body made him feel hesitant to move lest he pass out again. Yet, he knew if he could make it to the center of the room there was something which would at least hold him over until he could find something more substantial.

Instinct eventually won out over his reason, and he forced himself to look for it. He tried to stand but nearly collapsed as soon as he started to put weight on his feet; whatever he had gone through before waking had really taken a toll on his body. Frustrated, he called upon the small reserve of energy held within his core to help take him to his destination.

Thinking it would be alright, he allowed himself to drop down to the floor, only to fall to his knees when gravity reasserted itself. Wow, he was weaker than he thought. Good thing the energy source was directly below him. He hesitantly placed a hand on the carpet above what he thought might be a large battery. He could feel it pumping out energy throughout the room under the floor and through the walls. Though it was difficult to tell exactly what the energy was, he knew it was somewhat dangerous to him. Perhaps it was designed to keep him in the room? Or maybe it was there to help prevent him from falling through the floor.

He could worry about the implications later. Right now, he needed to feed. Carefully, he pushed his hand through the carpet and wood underneath and allowed it to rest on the top of the machine beneath him. He could feel the energy start being directed from the machine and into his hand. He smiled in delight as the energy, which he now knew was electrical with some ectoplasmic properties, filled his body with power and lessened the hunger.

Vaguely, he wondered if it would be a problem if he continued to take the energy from the machine. Whoever had placed the machine there would probably be upset if it stopped working... So, he would only take a little bit more and then try to find another more viable source for later. It was a good plan, but a strange notion broke through his satisfaction. It wasn't normal for someone to put their hand through a solid object.

Panicked, Danny pulled his hand out of the floor and stared at it. He… he had just purposely put his hand through the floor! How did he…? Why did he…? He glanced down at the spot in question, hoping for some sort of answer. Nothing seemed out of place. Heck, if it wasn't for what had happened and the strange sensation telling him something was there, he wouldn't have even known the machine was just under the floor.

Confusion took over his thoughts as he rationally tried to understand how he knew it was there let alone take energy from it. He barely made any progress as he was suddenly hit with a wave of nausea. A groan escaped him as he could feel the sheen of sweat starting to form on his skin. Going from experience, he knew he was not going to be able to accomplish anything substantial until it passed. Danny took slow deep breaths as he propped himself against the bed as he attempted to wait it out.

Was this really going to continue to happen every time something weird happened to him? If so, he was really going to have to consider investing in Pepto-Bismol.

…

"Ah, I see you're awake," a cultured voice said in an offhanded way after the door to the room opened. There was a momentary pause before it spoke again, "Feeling under the weather? I can't say I blame you. Not only is your body adjusting to its new constitution, but ectoplasm isn't the friendliest of substances to ingest."

Danny could feel his eyes widen as he turned around to look at his captor. "Y-You knew about this…? W-what did you do to me?"

Vlad just smiled as he walked over and crouched down in front of him. "Of course I knew! We're the same breed after all." He then gently grabbed Danny by the jaw to prevent the boy from looking away. "I knew the concentrated ectoplasm would be enough to trigger a proper transformation. You should thank me; it would have taken you months to get this far."

"Transformation…? I don't…. What are you talking about?" He stammered as he tried to make sense of what the older man was saying as he slapped the man's hand away from him. Though he was feeling much better than he was previously, he didn't want to get too aggravated. There was no telling when his stomach was going to rebel against him again.

"You haven't realized it yet? …Or perhaps you've been too… occupied to even consider the differences in your body." Without a warning, Vlad then grabbed him by the arm and yanked him into a standing position before pulling him out of the room and down the hall. Danny barely had time to register the yellow and green décor of the hallway before he was shoved into what appeared to be an exceptionally large powder room complete with a full sized mirror. "Perhaps this will help make things clear, though I have to admit, I believed you were going to look much more impressive. Ah well, that will teach me to take complete stock in old legends."

Taking a few moments to make sure he was mostly fine before he gave the billionaire a puzzled glance. The man's response was to smirk and wave him towards the mirror and the reflection within it. Hesitantly, Danny complied though a few confused moments passed before he understood what he was truly seeing.

The boy in the mirror had a slightly tanned complexion combined with incredibly bleached (but was it truly bleached…?) snowy white hair with silvery highlights. The boy's eyes were an unnatural color; the same green of the drink Vlad had forced into him. The clothes were rather plain: straight legged black jeans with a couple accent chains and a black t-shirt with white trimming along the neck and sleeve edges. A white studded belt and black half-gloves with white cuffs completed the look.

It took him even longer to realize the image in front of him actually belonged to him. His immediate reaction was to look over his body to see if he wasn't hallucinating. How in the world did he manage to get into his current get up? While he didn't mind the overall effect (it was actually somewhat cool), he was a little more than creeped out by the implications. Glancing at the billionaire who was leaning against the door looking rather smug, Danny had to repress a shudder. No about of therapy would ever fix this.

"So… What do you think of the new you, Daniel?" Vlad asked him once he realized Danny was done taking in his new appearance.

"What do you mean 'what do I think'? How did you…? When did you….?" Danny's hands flailed as he tried to piece together a coherent question. Several more half-formed phrases were sputtered as slowly backed away from Vlad until he bumped into the sink.

The older man chuckled darkly as he watched Danny's frantic movements. "I assure you that the only thing I've done after giving you that drink was to place you on the bed. Nothing more, nothing less. Your current appearance is a product of your transformation."

"Transformation…? Is that what you're calling it?" Danny spat at Vlad as his suspicions began turning into horror. "Ugh!" Another wave of nausea overcame him causing him to stumble. Vaguely he understood his body still hadn't recovered properly which was being amplified by his panic. But, the majority of his mind just wanted to know 'why now'?

As he tried to recompose himself, his hand which was resting on the sink suddenly slipped. He was able to catch himself before he fell on his face, but quickly realized he hadn't actually slipped. Instead, his hand had decided it was a great time to become insubstantial and pass through it and part of the dark mahogany cabinet underneath. Panicking both from the event and the knowledge someone who was not a friend had witnessed the strange event, he tried to pull his arm free only to realize it had become effectively stuck.

"Panicking is only going to make the situation worse." Vlad's tone was rather matter of fact as he surveyed the scene. Danny couldn't understand how he wasn't disturbed by the sight in front of him, until he remembered Vlad wasn't just a man, he was a literal monster as well. The older man moved forward slightly with an outstretched hand. "Here, let me help you. There are several pressing matters awaiting both of us, and it saddens me to see you struggling with the most basic of your powers."

"Stay away from me! You're nothing more than a seriously crazed up fruitloop!" he shouted as he frantically tried to free his arm. Vlad paid him no mind as came over, gently grabbed his arm, and phased it out of the sink.

Under normal circumstances, Danny would have thanked the man for helping him out of such a situation. However, getting an arm stuck in a sink could never be considered 'normal.' "Get off me!" he shouted as he shoved Vlad, startling the older man. Knowing he had a chance, Danny made a break for the now unguarded door and ran down the hall in the opposite direction from where he originally came.

…

After turning yet another corner, Danny came to the conclusion he was hopelessly loss in a gigantic house belonging to a madman who was currently chasing after him. He wasn't even exactly sure how he knew the billionaire was in pursuit, but something in the back of his mind kept whispering that he needed to keep moving as Vlad wasn't too far away. It wasn't quite a flight or fight instinct as that wouldn't give him knowledge of which general direction Vlad was in, but he wasn't too sure what else to call it. Whatever it was, it was certainly useful. Even if he couldn't find the exit, he would at least be able to stay one step ahead of his pursuer.

… Well, as long as his energy held up he could stay ahead. He was still rather stiff from the pain and convulsions from prior to passing out. It also didn't help he was still nauseous, but it was starting to pass. He was pleasantly surprised. Usually, he wasn't very athletic, but he had covered an impressive amount of ground in the time he had escaped from Vlad. It was probably adrenaline, but he didn't care. Any little edge which could help him get away was very welcome.

He shook his head as he rested against a nearby wall as he gave himself a moment to relax and try to get all the images out of his head. Not knowing exactly what happened to him while he was unconscious was serious starting to freak him out, but he needed to keep his wits about him if he was going to have any chance of escaping.

A cold sensation interrupted his thoughts causing him to look to his right. Vlad was starting to get close to where he was again, but how was the man coming from that particular direction? Wasn't he coming from behind him a few minutes before hand? He shook his head again as he started sprinting down the hall. Fear was starting to eat at him as he ran. Vlad's presence seemed to get closer every time he came to another bend. It was almost as if he was moving through the walls…. It took Danny a moment to realize that was a very real possibility. If Vlad could pass through solid objects such as people, wouldn't he be able to do the same with the walls?

Danny skidded to a stop as he came to another crossway in the green and yellow decorated corridors. He was getting nowhere fast, and he only had moments before Vlad found him. Taking another quick break, he took the left hallway and started moving even faster than he had been previously. At the end of the hall was an open area, which appeared to lead to a large staircase. If he could get there, he would probably be somewhere near an exit!

There was only a few feet left until he would be able to see the new area clearly, meaning it would only take a few seconds, but his luck refused to hold out. He stumbled which caused him to fall face first to the floor.

….

Danny was incredibly disoriented as his vision cleared. He must have hit his head when he fell. Damn it! He had been so close! Wait, how long had it been since he fell? Had Vlad found him? Standing up, he found himself in a rather large room with the ceiling being exceptionally high. More than a little unsure where he was, he started looking around for an exit.

The walls of this room were even more unremarkable than the ones in the room he had been trapped in for a few days. Theses ones were a dull gray; no different than a slab of concrete. In fact, that maybe exactly what they were made of. There were no windows or apparent doors which made it feel more like a prison. Vlad must have found him and thrown him in to teach him a lesson. Damn it! How was he going to be able to escape now?

While he continued to look around, something hard stabbed him in the back. He was about to swat it away when a strange and unpleasant energy spread from the object's tip into his body. A scream escaped him as the energy burned and shocked him, creating a feeling almost equaling the pain of the spasms from earlier. Just as suddenly as they started, they stopped. Relief washed through him as he tried to recover, but it was short lived. Something hard hit his face and sent him flying into the closest wall about three feet off the floor.

Sliding down the wall was almost as bad as being hit. The wall had originally been a smooth texture, but his impact created several spider web cracks. To say the least, it was a very unpleasant feeling to slide over them as he fell to the floor. As he tied to sit up and figure out what hit him, something with that same pulsing energy as before came very close to his neck. He looked up to see a glowing green bo staff being wielded by what he assumed was a person. It appeared to have a woman's shape, but it was dressed in a protective suit… What were they called…? Hazmat…? Yes, hazmat… that sounded right.

The suit was a strange blue – gray color and skin tight. It had a hood which was pulled up over the unknown person's head, hiding the hair. Redish goggles completed the outfit and made the person's eyes seem inhuman and angry.

"Don't move!" the person hissed, moving the end of the bo staff a little closer to Danny's neck. "I don't know why Vlad sent you, but I am not going to let a ghost harm either me or my daughter!" The voice was harsh, protective, and unfamiliar, but it was female.

"Woah! Hold on a second!" Danny stammered as he eyed the glowing weapon in front of him. "I'm not going to hurt you! I didn't even realize you were here!"

The woman's eyes narrowed from within her goggles as she connected her staff with his skin once again. His screams only ended when the staff's strange energy was no longer coursing through his body. "Nice try ghost," she told him as she stabbed him with it again. "But I'm not going to fall for it! All of you are the same!"

"Wh-what are you talking about…?" Danny asked weakly as the weapon was removed. Not only were the shocks painful, but they seemed to be zapping his strength. "What ghost? I'm… I'm not a ghost!"

"Oh, and I suppose normal people have unnaturally white hair and glow?"

"Hey, that was something Vlad did to me…! Wait a minute… I'm glowing?" A memory from when he first woke up in the white room flashed though his mind. He glanced down at his hands and examined them closely. It was hard to see in the light, but there did appear to be a faint white glow around his hands. "Why the hell am I glowing? What was in that drink he gave me?"

"You didn't even realize…" the woman muttered faintly as she continued to stare at him. Her expression wasn't completely devoid of malice, but at least some curiosity had made its way into it. "You're either newly formed or a really good actor… Hmm… I've never gotten to study a newly formed ghost before…"

Danny tried to scoot away from her. He didn't like how this conversation was starting to go. However, he would probably still choose dealing with the woman with the weapon and questionable sanity instead of the creepiness that was Vlad any day. "Look, I really didn't mean to bother you!" he told be quickly as once again looked around for an exit, but it was difficult due to the woman's proximity to him. "I really want to leave as much as you seem to want me to, so if you could please just show me where the door is, I'll be out of your hair!"

The woman frowned at his words as if she was making sure she had heard him correctly. She once again put her staff underneath his chin. He flinched at the touch as he prepared for another shock, but none came. He opened his eyes to see that the woman was using the staff to help her get a clearer view of his face. What was it with people doing that to him? Was there something wrong with the way he looked? Well… that was a ridiculous question to ask with his current appearance, but at least the woman wasn't shocking him this time.

"Fascinating! Your form is incredibly similar to that of a human's, and you clearly still think like one."

"'Think'? What's with this think business? I am human!"

The woman seemed like she was about to say something else, but was gently pushed aside by a smaller form with long red hair. "Mom!" the figure warned as she glanced back and forth between him and the woman. "You're scaring him!" She then turned towards Danny, smiled, and extended her hand. "Here, I'll help you up. By the way, my name is Jazz."

============================================

Um, I'm just going to point this out now. I don't support Pompous Pep, at all, or adults taking 'advantage of children'. But with the way Vlad's acting and being very vague about the entire event, combined with Danny having no clue how he got the change of clothes adds up to Danny's suspicions. Honestly, I wasn't even expecting to add that bit in there until I started writing it and realized, "wow, this situation just suggests pedophile…. Vlad, you are a creepy man!"

Oh, and to explain the part where Danny woke up… I'm not sure how many of you are familiar with the different aspects of ghosts, but it is not unusual to see electronic equipment act up or lose power when a ghost is present. Current belief is that the ghost will somehow barrow power from a device and use it manifest itself. Some can also draw on emotions (like Spectra), but those tend to be negative entities.

#Eidolon #my writing #fanfic #fanfiction #danny phantom #danny phantom au #dp #dp au #danny fenton #sam manson #vlad plasmius #tucker foley #maddie fenton #jazz fenton #fantasy #paranormal #supernatural

9 notes · View notes

fgodestinyawakenings · 4 years ago

Note

Which 4 star would you recommend? 🤔

Sorry for the late reply since I’m currently studying a part-time course on the weekday ^^;

I’d say it’s always boil down to what you really need the most in your party? A particular class like Saber, Caster, Extra Classes? Or more of, DPS, Tank and Healer? If you’re going for husbando/waifu, again, all the following above are irrelevant and just grind for QP. Because raising a waifu/husbando isn’t cheap

I’ll put the rest under the cut for Servants (sort by classes), numbering are based on what I used most or feels good which is debatable before anyone starts murdering me. And also some I have yet the chance to try because they are not home for me after rolling/i didn’t pick them at all

Sabers:

ST NP:

Lancelot

Yagyu Munemori & Rama

Diarmuid Saber

Papalot will always be my number one no matter who says, and been saving my ass in both FGO JP and NA. His own skill alone is summary of enjoying hearing him crit his enemies to death. With support like Tamamo and Castoria, he makes the pain twice as fun :D

Unfortunately for all his attacks, he’s your glass canon. So you don’t have either of the two support or just any support in general, he’s going to die ASAP. Munemori’s 2nd and 3rd skill are a headache with them being mixed together, especially that Evade + increase attack

Munemori is the one I feel should actually be on par very closest to Lancelot with both sharing the same NP type. In terms of surviving longer, this old swordsman is your choice. But in terms of consistent attack, it’s Lancelot.

Oh my sweet Rama, while I’m sorry DW is a dick in putting your wife in Arcade (BECAUSE FUCK YOU DW, THAT’S WHY). You’re worth to grind and have on par with Munemori. So far in LB whether or not having any Demon enemies, his damage especially on crit is as good as Lancelot. But unortunately, this skill is a one-time effect, so need to know when to make use of that burst to kill your Boss. Lastly, he’s got the Guts in terms of own survival kit.

As much as a husbando you are my dear Diarmuid... You’re also fucking expensive in terms of grinding 180 stakes to raise you. NP damage is good which is unfortunately held back that your defense buff removal comes AFTER dealing damage to your enemy. He’s more in need of a good support like Skadi to put him to his fullest potential (or heck hell you might as well take Caesar since he does better than him being in the same NP quick category)

AOE NP:

Artoria Alter

Siegfried

Suzuka & Nero

Gawain

Artoria Alter being first aside story-locked, her damage output for me is the highest among all I have used just using her skills alone. But may or not need strengthening to upgrade Intuition, have her more crit-based attack? (dude, everyone getting their intuition replaced.)

Siegfried ranked higher to me because he’s still hits hard enough in my opinion to replace AOE saber that I don’t have such as Artoria Alter in JP. However, he’s still easily replaceable once you got better AOE Sabers. And, you’ll still want him in some event and main story mobs where dragon-type enemies show up.

Compared the two above after using Suzuka, she’s definitely ranked third with lower NP damage. Charm, well, may or not work but LB debuff immunity is saying otherwise for all male servants. But her skill of generating her own stars help her in criting and gaining NP slightly more faster.

For Nero’s case, she’s more on survivalist skill thanks to her 3 times Guts skills. Arts AOE NP Saber are limited until you get budget Jason next year which, yeah, Jason works better than her if you want NP damage. Her attack boost is based on RNG probably either want to love or have hate sex with you to get that buff out. Again, if you want more of surviving long duration fights in LB thanks to break bars, she’s your good choice.

While Gawain is story-locked issue too, he’s heavily reliant on his skills. Which those skills are also can be highly reliant on field to be Sunny before strengthening. But charging of NP will take a long while with his current deck set, so you’ll need a better support or AOE Saber to do the work

Support:

Chevalier D’eon

If you haven’t grinded Georgios or Leonidas, they are your best replacement for tank support. The two I mentioned will do a far more better job than D’eon, aside wanting their NP to debuff.... Which unfortunately also not that useful in current LB difficulty, too many servant bosses are putting up debuff immunity.

Archer:

ST NP

Chiron

Tomoe Gozen

Emiya Alter

Tristan

Chiron-sensei as per his lore is more of a support due to his skills revolving mainly in supporting your party. Castoria and Tamamo may or not fix with his damage output but you definitely want that remove defensive buff which comes BEFORE dealing damage at your Boss enemy.

Tomoe’s burn debuff makes her one of Arjuna Alter’s best friend if you’re aiming for him in the future. But aside from that, her skills are quite generic of attack + np damage buff, crit gather and drop (lacking of crit dmg to make her good on her own right) and guts to survive. However she isn’t story-locked, so if you can wait for her to spook...

Emiya Alter: I haven’t tried what’s the changes aside increased in damage output with Castoria. But he’s more of a staller in removing enemy gauge by 1 and if you have those annoying enemies with tons of defense buff, he’s your Servant against to fire a hole in them. Only issue his normal version Evade and star drop rate is gone and replace with a defense buff, so may or not need support to keep him alive

For Tristan I didn’t put him high because if you have David, he’ll do a more slightly better job than him? Reliant on Skadi if you have her to boost his damage for NP, which... If you’re doing NP charge from his skill, do remember he has that unfortunate debuff of NP seal that blocks him from using NP during or not the same turn. Though if you’re getting him to complete your Knights of Round Table Servants collection urgently and not caring about gameplay, go ahead :D

AOE NP:

Mama Emiya

Atalante

Now that’s my mom who raised me :D But anyway, Emiya’s investment especially 2 years later with that one last NP strengthening, he’s a nightmare of Arts AOE Archer once Castoria joins into the party. Right now before strengthening, he still crits hard in single attacks with his own star generation + also having evasion to survive.

Without Skadi especially, Atalante both damage output of normal and NP is very weak. Her NP more or less served as a function to gain a one-time burst of 60+ stars. But if you have Skadi and your friend support does, then get her for one of your Quick Archer Servant farming if you don’t have her.

Lancer:

ST NP:

Li Shuwen

Vlad III EXTRA

Medusa Lancer

Li Shuwen will be one of decent choice Arts Crit Lancer before Kagetora kicks in next year. A good burst of his NP helps to kill your enemy Boss ignoring that he also have a instant death NP. Though said burst is relying on both 1st and 3rd skill which... they should have just kept either one (preferably ignore invincibility) and pointless for them to stack. 2nd skill however is ok with your evasion to survive and increase star gather rate.

Vlad III EXTRA’s NP... Pretty much gonna see more Evil Servant in the future so he’s good to keep around. And that ignore invincibility is good until DW being a dick and put Archer Servant with Solemn Defence in the future LB. Despite lacking skills to survive, he has his own HP recovery that also buffs his defense and attack. And a decent taunt if you haven’t got Leonidas ready, for 1 turn. Though damage output you’ll need support like Merlin to increase.

Maybe just me without Skadi, Medusa Lancer ranked low due to her damage output. But having Skadi will increase her rank with 1 skill keep her alive (invincibility + guts), 1 skill to stall (charm and provided it’s male servant), and 1 last skill for one-time burst in attack.

AOE NP:

Parvati & Artoria Alter Lancer

Valkyire

Fionn

Elizabeth Bathory

Nezha

Artoria Alter Lancer being another Servant who like her Saber, does well in her AOE NP damage. And a good debuff of NP seal to stall + def buff ignore damage. However trying to gain NP for her is problematic if you don’t have support like Merlin to do so.

Parvati will be one of the many Servants recommended to have if you’re going for Double Skadi farming. She’s got good NP refund and good support to other Servants. But make sure your Skadi or support having a star generator CE to get her loop going.

Like Parvati, you’ll need Valkyire if you already got the former for double Skadi farming. She’s more on a defensive in surviving if not use for farming, and definitely Skadi regardless to improve her damage performance. Beside that, her NP is applied with good buff such as ignore evasion and instant death for demonic enemies (excluding them working on enemy Servants)

If you’re aiming for Castoria next two years, Fionn is one of the Servants to invest for farming. And latest strengthening has upgrade to give more of NP charge to himself and your party. His own NP buff to mental debuff immunity is good to prevent him from being stun like charm, etc. However if you’re in need of Rare Prism and any other reason or so, feel free to burn him.

Elizabeth doesn’t rank high since she’s more support and debuff oriented Servant than damage. Support being attack that gives additional boost to female servants and debuff lower defense and curse. Unless you’re urgent to complete your Eli-chan collection, she’s not in a hurry to get and can spook anytime.

While Nezha has a good skill kit of own Quick + Buster buff, increase star weight and remove debuff, and guts + NP charge.... Most of her skills are best used if they are at max level. And even at max level, her low NP damage isn’t that a viable choice with better AOE NP Servants above be it farming or attack.

Rider:

ST NP:

None of the above

This is the only rare case I really don’t recommend getting, especially mary and anne. The two are definitely meant to be glass canon which unlike Hijikata, there’s no guts for them to survive if you want to utilize their NP at its fullest. Welfare and 3 star like Ushiwakamaru and Ryouma, Mandricardo in the future does a better job than her.

AOE NP:

Astolfo

Martha

Marie

In terms of damage output among the 3 Riders, Astolfo hits hardest and also perfectly compatible with double Skadi farming. Has 2 rank up on strengthening their NP and 3rd skill to improve farming performance. However outside farming, they definitely still need Skadi to keep that performance.

Martha is one of the more recommended Servants when it’s come to Challenge Quest. Mainly her instant team debuff removal and enemy buff removal targetable, and additional healing. Damage output may be easily fix with Merlin and Waver to deal more. But, as of now her status whether being useful is debatable as most LB debuff on your team are permanent thus rendering her to rank lower.

Despite sharing the same NP type, Marie ranks lower using more of a support for herself and her allies on her damage. Her NP buffs while it’s provide good support, it can easily be replaceable with either Jeanne, Merlin, Waver, etc. But if you’re not concern for her and already got Astolfo, you can still get her to invest on Quick farming. Or raise Medusa who could do about the same like Astolfo...

Caster

ST NP

Queen Sheba

Circe

Sheba while story locked, she fits well in both support and own DPS of herself for CQ and in LB. NP damage may be concern but having Tamamo and Castoria will makes up for it, especially in surviving for long fights. Her excellent NP gain with good crit buff helps her to refund NP easily for spam.

Circe while provide good support (debuff removal and star gather) and debuff (poisoning AOE), she ranked lower from a few things. One being very bad NP gain (if your NP charge skill on CD), low NP damage which can be compensated with good support, and debatable stun NP effect. If you already have Xuangzang or Caster Shuten, you’re better off with them.

AOE NP:

Nitocris

Caster Gilgamesh

Nursery Rhyme

Helena

Thomas Edison

Nitocris ranking top for her being the best farming Servant to have, and remained that spot with now Castoria boosting her damage. NP Charge skill at full 100% when needed, increase death chance (can be RNG and not effective with some enemies) and Guts + Buff removal making her a Servant recommended to have. And of course being the best.... You’re gonna need to offer her 180 bones of your dead enemies to upgrade her skills to the max, making her one hell of an expensive material grinding Servant to have.

Caster Gilgamesh with wisdom now considered one of the recommended Arts Support Caster if you don’t have Tamamo or Castoria. While damage can be lacking, his NP debuff of lowering defense helps your other Arts DPS to crit to death thanks to his skillset. Despite that, he still additional support and composition which preferably best work when the team deck in total has higher percentage of Arts cards.

When paired with the right team, Nursery can be one of the good damage dealing and staller for AOE Caster. The latter however is RNG dependant which praying it works in your favor. She also have good NP refund and self-charging with her skill making her easily spamming her NP. But she’ll need good support to boost her damage and star generation to utilize her.

If you still haven’t gotten Waver and willing to wait for that SSR ticket in the future, she’s your alternative with all cards type buff, 20% NP gauge charge and own crit star generator. NP deals good damage, which further improve with either Tamamo and/or Castoria. However, many may turn away of choosing her because of notorious long skill cooldown even at max level. Also if friend support already got your main 4 or now 5 support of Caster, you’re better off with other Servants unless you want her for farming.

Thomas gonna need his strengthening to increase his rank here, mainly that 1st skill to reduce skill cooldown which is targetable. While his NP and normal damage is weak, he makes up by being the best stalling support (provided no debuff immunity), having skill seal, NP seal to stall enemy Servant. 3rd skill of his provide a good buff to your main DPS to overcharge their NP level. And, also being a story-locked servant some may consider getting him if you can accept the long cool down (2nd skill at 10 turns CD on max level) on his skill.

Support

Medea Lily

If you’re wondering who is the White Mage/Healer in this game, that would be Medea Lily. Pure healing + Debuff removal and now a targetable buff removal resist? That’ll be her where many sought her in Challenge Quest. But her skillset is overshadowed easily by your Top 5 Caster (Merlin, Waver, Skadi, Tamamo & Castoria) who can do those said job if not better than her.

Assassin:

ST NP:

Yan Qing & Emiya Assassin

Wu Zetian

Carmilla

Chiyome

Yan Qing while I put him first, he can easily replaceable with Jack who does better star generation. Or pair them to generate even more stars while you watch them burn your potato phone. His recent skill upgrade increase his damage making him more usable in fights, but will still need Skadi to invest him well.

Emiya Assassin, with good NP damage buff like Ignore Defense + Invincibility and NP drain, own Arts buff, and targetable taunt, he’s one of the recommended Servants for Arts DPS with Castoria when she’s out. And especially needing Castoria because of his horrible Arts card NP generation... If you got Shiki who’s doing better along with Hundred face Hassan, you’ll want them for damage and own survival kit.

Wu Zetian would be in line with Kiritsugu if not better for damage, but is heavily reliant on her Imperial Privliege RNG to work with her. Skadi support and buff removal NP makes her one of the recommended Assassin Quick NP DPS to pick if you’re lacking..

Carmilla is low rank while despite having good NP gain, charge and own healing with a staller..... You’re better off having other Servants like Wu Zetian. Or even Jack who does more better than her on the Anti-female damage.

Chiyome definitely her low damage despite NP spam and charge, make her least wanted for SR ticket. Even NP seal can be ineffective with those having debuff immunity, which many other Assassins are doing their job including the 3 stars one.

AOE NP:

Katou Danzo

While waiting for Gray next year, Danzo is your currently only 4* Assassin with more on the support side. Having both targetable evasion and invincibility, she can keep either DPS or support Caster against enemy on their attacks and NP. AOE damage may not be boost a bit with the help from said support caster, unless your enemies are demon to work against.

Support:

Stheno

Aside additional Rare Prism to exchange, Stheno acts more of a support if you want to challenge yourself with a Divine Servant theme in CQ, etc. She along with Gorgon Sister are known for their notorious Charm Lock in CQ, and NP now easily spammable to remove buffs on enemy. Stheno together with Euryale is why Gawain is having nightmare every night ever since his humiliating defeat in Camelot. But in terms of damage output, you definitely want alternative Servant than her. And support wise, you’re also better off with others if you’re not that into Divine team routine.

Berserker:

ST NP:

Heracles

Penthesila

Beowulf

Atalante Alter

Ibaraki

Aside being bias because that’s my boy I raised and grailed him, Heracles will be your number 1 must have Servant to have for all Master. One of the best surviving Servant for long fights, may need a little boost from support Caster. His investment to get Bond 10 will be a long while but will definitely be worth it once achieved. Now, with the latest strengthening his Guts Skill and own CE makes him the monster on why Lancer ga Shin Da and Emiya in Saber Route one of a nightmare to fight with.

Penthesila while ranked second despite lacking of Greek Males (doesn’t include Achilles avoiding her), she provide a good Buster support for all team, own NP charge and debuff immunity for herself that brings out a high NP damage. However, without Merlin... She’ll die before finding and killing Achilles.

I swear to god DW has a grudge against you, Beowulf. But hey, after his strengthening next year, good bye intuition, hello Inspired Hero that increased crit damage and gather rate! If you’re looking for a more general damage unlike Penth, he’s your boy. High NP damage and Guts to keep him in the game longer, but requires support to boost NP gain and normal damage.

Like many other Quick Servants, Atalante Alter is Skadi compatible. A ST NP with staller and curse debuff, her own crit generation, gather and damage allow her to produce good NP damage. Yet like all Berserker she falls harder in terms of glass canon like lacking of survival skills. Her critical dmg is hard to maintain with her 1st skill merely providing her a one time burst.

Probably the one Servant who fits truly as a glass canon is Ibaraki, NP damage can be comparable with Heracles, Penth and Beowulf. Removing own debuff and enemy buff is a good thing, but defense buff alone may not save her from enemy Servants who hits the poor banana like a truck. NP gain may also need boost from support due to her triple BBB in her deck.

AOE NP:

Lancelot Berserker

Frankenstein

Tamamo Cat

The most recommended yet also possibly need additional whaling is Lancelot Berserker. The moment Skadi appears, he’s on the top list of having in party to do farming. Own NP create large amount of sum and massive crit boost helps to refund NP. But, without Skadi and needing NP2 at least, he’ll be ranked lower.

Frankenstein will be your alternative to berserker Lancelot if you already have him. But like Berserker Lancelot, you’ll need Skadi to do the looping. Her own NP Damage boost and increase gain helps for the loop, but unfortunately you’ll need Servant with debuff removal to remove her stun after using her NP. Aside farming....You’re gonna want other Servant to save her from getting killed within few turns.

Tama Cat aside being one of Chaldea main cook, she’s more utilized for farming after abusing poor Waver and Caster support. And poor Waver everyone will have to do their best to protect Tama Cat who took a few turns of napping (stun) after using her NP. Beside that, she does provide an RNG of NP drain and own defense and attack boost. However other than farming, you’re better off with other AOE Servants for survival.

Avenger:

Situational between Gorgon or Hessian Lobo

Because a Ruler enemy is very rare to find aside coming LB3 without mention spoilers on who, it’s more or less situational. Do you want for the sake of it? Want to do your own CQ rules to experiment against? If so, AOE or ST NP?

AOE being Gorgon where she got a a decent AOE NP Damage with a stun but definitely need support to survive (guts may not be sufficient) and star generation. She’s also story-locked which if you want to get her before Babylonia, might as well do so.

Hessian Lobo is compatible with Skadi and alternative if you don’t Avengers like Jeanne Alter. Good crit gather for 3 turns with Skadi or any other Servants provide star generation. NP damage has own boost of ignore evasion and additional crit damage, excluding your instant death. While having buff removal is one and atk decrease, your death resist is still ineffective on enemy Servants boss.

#shastawarlord #hope this helps a little in your decision for SR ticket

9 notes · View notes

prettycottonmouthlamia · 5 years ago

Text

F/GO 3-star Tier List

It is time for a 3-star Tier list. This one took a lot more time and deliberation and definitely has Servants whose placement is more arguable. There are also just a lot of good 3-stars in general, with most of them being A-ranks, although quite a few are pretty close to B-rank.

Grails start making less of a difference here, to the point where this is the last time they’re worth mentioning. The boost in statistics helps 3-stars with better kits, typically later released ones, more than older Servants who have less useful kits. While a lot of 1 and 2-stars are significantly improved by Grails, 3-stars get more diminishing returns and so most of the time, bumps up the tier list are smaller.

Also worth noting here: Casters who are more focused on dealing damage tend to get favored a little more. Assassins can be notoriously difficult enemies to face and having that defensive advantage can be really important. Casters are sub-par DPS usually compared to other Servants, but being anti-Assassin is really important.

3-star Tier List (help me)

S-Rank Euryale: Euryale is on the lower end of S-rank. She is very focused onto her niche, but her niche is anti-Male, which is very wide and she's excellent in that niche. Between her NPs insanely high damage, her ability to charmlock, np drain, and lower attack, she can keep many Male enemies completely locked down. Even though Mental Debuff Immunity is more common, she still excels against the many male enemies regardless. Her very natrual synergy in Arts team is also noteworthy.

Grails will make her even more powerful than before. Her damage will be extremely high even against neutral and resisted classes, especially with support. Her initial niche problems still remain, but she'll still be really good.

Robin Hood: Robin Hood is one of the most consistent DPS Servants in the game. His bonus damage condition is incredibly easy to fulfill, since it can be applied to basically any Servant, he has two rather good skills, and his damage is incredibly high with zero offensive buffs to go with it. His face card damage is his only flaw as its rather weak, but his incredibly high NP damage will balance that out. An absolutely fantastic Servant. Watch out for Debuff immunity though.

Grails...will make him hit incredibly hard. A grailed Robin Hood can hit around 100k against neutral targets, so he's a very good grail invest.

Cu Chulainn: On the flipside from an extremely powerful nuke Servant, we have one of the most difficult to kill Servants in the game. Between Protection from Arrows, Battle Continuation, and Disengage, he can last a really long time against most enemies in the game. His NP will do a fair amount of damage too, although it has no real damage buffs to go alone with it. It's enough though, to do his job most of the time. Unfortunately, he has a major weakness against buff removal and Pierce Invul, and against certain bosses he might not be able to do enough damage to finish them off before he dies.

Grails help Cu out a lot. The extra HP makes him a lot tankier and he does more damage with the extra attack. A Level 100 Cu has a much broader range of enemies he can tank against effectively, although he still has the same weaknesses as before.

David: David is one of the best budget supports in the game, and it's almost purely because of his second skill, as one of the only sources of AoE protection in the game. He can also boost the party's Attack and has a lot of tankiness himself with his first skill. The only problem is that his NP is pretty weak, even against Saber targets, although it inflicts Skill Seal which can be helpful. David is a Servant that is very likely to end up in your party whenever there is an AoE NP coming your way, or to help protect fragile Berserkers.

Grails will make David's NP do a fair bit more damage, and he'll have fairly decent face card damage as well. It benefits him a lot less than other Servants because he's more support than tank or DPS.

Hassan of the Hundred Faces: If you've ever wondered who the stiff competition is for the Arts Assassin slot, its Asako. Her immediate strengths are not in super high NP damage, but it is in her amazing ability to loop her NP with the myriad modifiers to her ability to gain NP and her 13 hit NP. Not only that, but she also have an evasion skill and a really large heal that's not difficult to use, making her a strong solo Servant or in a party. Her NP will pretty much shut down enemy crits, although it is a little overkill, and she will reduce the enemy's Arts resistance by 20% to help support other Arts Servants.

Grails will amp up her already rapidly escalating damage as well as give her more bulk. It makes her a more consistent solo Servant and gives her a stronger initial NP in a party. Overall great grail invest target.

Asclepius: Very easily the best healing support in the entire game. Medea Lily, BB, and Irisviel all have their niches, but Asclepius has some much in his kit to make him worthwhile. He has large heals, gives Guts, Debuff immunity, debuff clear, NP charge, NP gain up, NP seal...it's a very, very stacked kit. Asclepius can't really do damage and he's a little less effective if there isn't debuffs involved, but he's absolutely one of the best 3-star supports, period.

Grails will improve his HP, which can help Asclepius in more stall dedicated comps. It's not a great invest target though, because there are better stall Servants and he doesn't have a great benefit from having more ATK.

A-Rank (boy this is gonna be big) Gaius Julius Caesar: Caesar is a one man wrecking ball. He can do incredible amounts of NP damage thanks to his large buff numbers and upgraded NP, way surpassing other Saber DPS Servants like Bedivere. In addition, he can also be used as a viable support Servant, due to the fact that none of his boosts are selfish and either help the whole party or can be targeted. His lack of survivability and his more subpar NP gain hold him back from being a strong S-rank, but its pretty close.

Grails boost his damage to even more insane heights. He will still need help with his defenses since he still lacks any hard or soft survival, but he becomes a lower S-rank Servant with Grails just due to how powerful he is.

Boudica: Boudica requires a specific Servant to do anything, but on the plus side, she works with basically every Servant in the game. She is an insane damage booster support thanks to Romulus = Quirinus, giving a DPS 60% anti-Roman damage, 50% crit damage, 20% Arts performance, and a 20% Attack up, along with some Defense ups. It's enough to really send a Servant's damage sky high, which more than makes up for the specificity. If you're lucking enough to have Romulus yourself, you can use two Boudica for some really silly damage. Of course, Boudica doesn't do much outside of being a damage buffer, but she excels in what she does.

Grails will basically not improve her performance. She's not a tank like Mash and can't really do damage, so the extra HP and ATK are not super beneficial.

Ushiwakamaru: Ushi does really strong single target damage. She's not as absolutely crazy as Caesar is, but she has Evasion to keep her alive. Her buffs will make her do a lot of damage against Casters even on her own and with supports that damage can get a lot higher. She doesn't even have bad NP gain thanks to her first skill. What keeps her from S is that she lacks any utility and is a more selfish DPS than others.

Grails will naturally boost her damage even higher. It's enough to put her at the cusp of S-rank, a very, very high A-rank.

Alexander: Alexander is more of an offensive support Servant. He can certainly do good AoE damage, but he's a little outclassed in that regard but other Servants who are more consistent. His ability to buff the damage of Quick servants and remove buffs grants him a powerful support role while also having the ability to do damage and generate stars. He'll be less useful if there aren't Quick servants, but overall, he can still do fairly well in a support role.

Grails will primarily boost his damage out with his NP. He's still A-rank because his NP is not his primary role, but he makes a good invest target none the less.

Cu Chulainn (Caster): Caster Cu is a supremely sturdy Caster-class. He's got the same Protection from Arrows his Lancer version have, and Caster Cu has a mix of the two for his other skills. His Rune Magic is considerably better since it charges his NP charge, although his Disengage isn't anymore potent. With an upgraded NP and a 20% Buster effectiveness buff he'll do fairly decent damage, but his overall NP damage is still really low since its an AoE NP with only a small damage buff. Like his Lancer version, his strength is in his survival, not his raw damage.

Grails have a similar effect on Caster Cu that it does on Lancer Cu. It pushes him to a low S-rank because he still is a little inferior in terms of survivability and damage than Lancer Cu, but he's better at dealing with multiple enemies.

Lu Bu Fengxian: Lu Bu is one of the kings of single target damage. Thanks to his various buffs, he does a lot of single target damage and functions as a very powerful nuke that ignores defensive buffs. Unfortunately, two of his skills have some fairly hefty demerits and he needs outside support to do much after his NP. It's counterbalanced by his NP doing a lot of damage, but in several cases Lu Bu is not strictly needed and falls into a low A rank.

Grails make Lu Bu do more big boom kill and makes him a little less frail overall. It puts him in high A-rank, as it still doesn't solve any of the initial problems in his kit, but just makes him better at what he does.

Cu Chulainn (Prototype): Cu Chulainn Proto can be considered a more offensive version of normal Lancer Cu. It's a comparison that's waned since Cu has gotten strengthened, but Proto Cu still has very good survivability, crit damage, and anti-Wild Beast damage. He'll still be good in situations where normal Lancer Cu is, but less effective because of his lower overall DPS. Against Wild Beast enemies he'll vastly outperform him however.

Grails will improve Cu Prototype much in the same as Lancer Cu, and put him in a more mid ground S tier, similar to Euryale. Good servants who excel in their niche, although Cu is a little less extreme about it.

Paracelsus von Hohenheim: Paracelsus is one of the best Arts supports in the entire game. He has an amazing ability to enable Arts servants to do more damage and have a much better shot at looping their NPs, thanks to his Arts bonus and very high NP gain bonus. This is pretty much Paracelsus' niche however, as his NP is incredibly weak because of its lacking power and so will even struggle to take out waves of Assassin enemies. Fortunately, you don't really need him to do this, as whoever he is buffing is probably more than capable of doing it themselves.

Grails do not really benefit Paracelsus because he's still not a good farmer even with the extra ATK. He might be able to kill some Assassin waves but there are much better Servants to invest grails in and he basically doesn't change in viability.

Charles Babbage: Charles is probably the lowest A-tier on this list. He's generally pretty decent at dealing with Assassin waves and even bosses because of his good buffs and double buster deck. Unlike other Casters who do lack some synergy because of their triple Arts deck, Babbage can fully utilize a number of supports thanks to his second buster card and star absorption skill. He's not very useful outside of dealing with Assassins, but it is an important niche to have and Babbage is the best 3-star for doing that in terms of damage.

Grails have an unfortunate affect on Babbage. He has one of the lowest ATKs post grail which means they don't actually boost his damage all that much, but rather give him a lot of HP. It doesn't really help his position, but, it can still be useful if you want a decent budget Assassin killer.

Fuuma Kotarou: Fuuma is a pretty good AoE Assassin. He provides a lot of utlity to the team, from crit chance down to a targetable Evade, Buff Block and Def down along with a severe debuff resistance down, and an NP that provides a further defense down as well as the chance to inflict Skill Seal. It's a really good kit that allows him to excel in multiple situations. He's also pretty good at generating crit stars thanks to his good hit counts, but his primary weakness is that his NP is a little underpowered despite the Defense down on his 3rd skill, and his NP gain is not very good as his Quicks under perform in that regard.

Grails will boost his damage output to the point where he would qualify to fit in high A rather than mid-A. He's not quite S-rank with grails because his NP gain is still rather subpar and hence it is difficult for him to ramp up his damage past that.

Tawara Touta: Touta fits in mid A rank. He has a lot of bulk to work with, with his Evasion and multiple heals, and all of his damage buffs last for 3 turns which is very nice for overall damage. His NP will deal a lot of damage against Demonic enemies, of which there are several to where his niche will come in handy, and it can even be good against some Servants. Outside of his niche, he's just a bulky Archer with semi-decent damage, but he is very good at dealing with Demonic enemies compared to other Servants.

Grails will push him a little higher into A-rank, helping to keep his damage a little more consistent and a fair bit higher in his niche. The extra HP will also help his bulk out, and so he is a good invest target.

Bedivere: Bedivere is a very solid offensive Saber Servant. He has a decent Buster up on his NP as well as a modest NP damage up, as well as some defensive skills against debuff and an NP charge. His NP charge is what helps him remain in competition with Caesar as it makes his NP more consistent, although considerably less powerful. His Buster gets a lot better with Overcharge as well, so it is worth exploring that option because his scales considerably well. His lack of hard survival is a downside, and even though he has a 30% NP charge, his overall NP gain is a still a little low for his card set.

Grails help out Bedivere more than Caesar because Bedivere needed the extra power to compliment his consistency and better survival, which puts him in a solid S-rank compared to Caesar's low S-rank.

Jaguar Man: Jaguar Man stands out as the most offensive Lancer in the 3-star lineup. She has three powerful offensive buffing skills that make her face card and NP damage really good. She also has decent survival in her first skill with the 2 hit evasion, and more potential in Forest battlefields. However, Jaguarman isn't without fault. Her cooldown on her first skill is extremely long, and without the added star gen and star absorb on her third skill she may find it hard to crit. These are not insurmountable problems however, and she still has really good damage overall.

Grails boosts her durability which isn't very important but the extra damage you get is. It puts her in high A-rank with a very hard hitting NP and hard hitting crits, but her natural kit problems are still there unfortunately.

Billy the Kid: Billy is really good for being able to instantly pop an NP with Quickdraw and a 50% Starting NP CE. It not only ignores Evade and does fairly decent damage, but it also debuffs crit rate. Outside of that, Billy is a bit more mediocre than most. He has very high potential crit damage but he doesn't have a strong ability to generate stars so he will need outside support for that. He fits very well in low-A around where Babbage is because he is good when you need a quick ST NP, but may fall off.

Grails will boost Billy's damage to the point where he fits more solidly in A, although not quite mid A. It makes his NP do more damage which is what he needed because his NP is consistent already. A good buff in the future will definitely make him considerably better.

Christopher Columbus: The best AoE Rider in the 3-star rarity. He has a strong NP charge similar to Spartacus, as well as 3 steroids to boost his NP damage, one of which comes with a decent star bomb. His NP also comes with a large crit chance down to all enemies which is more than enough to shut them down entirely. He doesn't require supports but heavily benefits from them to improve his damage. He fits into low A because despite being the best AoE Rider and overshadowing numerous others, his NP gain is really bad so he will find it difficult to continue to perform in many cases.

Grails will put Columbus comfortably in mid A-rank. It improves his damage enough so it becomes pretty consistent overall, and although it doesn't help his NP gain, it helps with his initial game plan of a quick NP.

Hozoin Inshun: Inshun is pretty controversial. He has a potentially explosive ceiling to his damage, but can't always consistently reach it. He functions very well as a solo servant or in certain team comps. He's a low A-rank similar to Babbage and Billy, but purely because of his incredibly high damage output. If he were more mediocre, he'd easily fall into B-rank. His kit has really good synergy which makes him good for solos, but he doesn't have the most potent survival options which hampers him a bit. He's tricky to use but not bad, and doesn't require Skadi as many people think. He will work well with many support Servants.

Grails will push Inshun to mid-A. He still only works in those specific situations, but the extra bulk makes doing solos a lot easier and the extra atk pushes his damage ceiling even higher.

Okada Izou: As we move out of the continual low-A ranks, we finally reach a Servant who is probably just one buff away from being an S-rank. He has very good damage on his NP thanks to his incredibly high Humanoid bonus, but also his high crit star generation and crit damage will allow him to continue to do high damage when his Huamnoid buff is in downtime, and he synergizes with crit based Arts supports even better than Asako. There are two main problems though: he is a limited 3-star, which means getting NP5 is more difficult and his viability will fall with lower NP levels because he needs to use his NP consistently, and he's extremely selfish and offers no real utility, just damage. Still a fantastic Servant overall however.

Grails will push Izou right into S-rank due to providing the extra damage he needs to be consistent overall. A fantastic invest target.

Avicebron: Avicebron is one of the strangest Servants on this list. He has a very consistent NP but it is not strong, and only has a modest overcharge effect. The reason he is here is because of his 3rd skill, which provides the party a solid heal and 3 hits of invulnerability when he dies. This is a really, really good skill for coming back from the brink, it works incredibly well with any Servant that has a hard survival option or Guts. He's even more consistent if you have something like the GUDAGUDA Poster Girl CE to reliably trigger his 3rd skill, although waiting for an NP is also a viable decision.

Grails don't really improve Avicebron since he's basically mostly used for his 3rd skill, and not for damage purposes. Extra HP may impede his ability to trigger his skill as well.

William Tell: Tell is a weaker Robin Hood in terms of raw NP damage and consistency. While his NP has similar numbers, it has a much harder condition to fulfill, and as of today, May 9 2020 (I’m keeping this here to show how long this one took comparatively), there is no way to give Evasion to the opponent, so there's no way to fulfill this condition without relying on the enemy. If this was all there was, he'd probably end up in B-rank. However, he has more than simply just his NP. He has a massive 30 crit star bomb, a very solid 3 turn Arts performance and 3 turn debuff immunity, as well as a massive 100% crit damage for 1 turn, so he can function with crit damage as well as NP damage and has enough utility to make it to A-rank, and his NP damage if the opponent has Evasion is even more nutty than Robin's, inconsistent as it is.

Grails boost Tell's damage output, but the problem with Tell is more in his consistency than his raw damage, which is enough as it is. He's not a bad grail invest target for sure, but until more reliable Evasion abuse comes into play, Tell won't rise into high A or S-rank.

Mori Nagayoshi: More is another limited 3-star, and another high A-rank. His damage potential is incredible, with a strong Attack up and an incredibly strong crit damage up as well. He even gives the team a star bomb when he dies, which is very useful. His NP is decent and inflicts a Def down plus giving Pierce Invul, but it is not the focal point of his kit and so even though he is limited, his NP level is less of a liability than Izou. Mori is incredibly frail however, as he gives himself defense debuffs, and once he boosts his crit damage, pretty much all buffs will fail on him. He still remains an absolutely insane crit monster though.

Grails will push Nagayoshi into low S-rank. In truth, he was a very high A-rank to begin with so even though he does more damage, it's not a massive leap in usefulness, but he's a good grail target none the less.

Mandricardo: Now for the Blackjack 21 A-rank, Mandricardo. Mandricardo is another solid A-rank, and competes with Ushi for the role of ST damage dealer. He doesn't do as much damage as Ushiwakamaru does, but, offsets that by his NP being an Arts NP, granting him a different set of supports as well as more potential for refund and looping. In addition, he also can give himself a Taunt which is always appreciated even if he is not much of a tank. He lacks any hard survival but makes up for it with good raw damage. His second skill is a great last resort option for dealing huge damage and removing an enemy's defensive buffs.

Grails will push Mandricardo to the very bottom of S-rank. He's a little higher than Ushi here because he's more likely to get multiple NPs off, and so the extra damage compliments the consistency that he is able to get. If he gets an NP interlude soon, he'll fit nicely into S-rank.

B-Rank (yes, they exist) Medea: Medea has some pretty good things going for her. She has buff removal on her NP and a hugely powerful NP charge on her first skill, allowing her to do buff removal on demand, and often multiple times very quickly. She also can clear debuffs and boost NP gain for a turn. Unfortunately, her NP damage is really bad due to having really low damage values on her NP, and with more servants getting buff removal her niche is no longer as strong as it was before. She's still good and with proper support she can do fairly good damage, but she's not always the best choice.

Grails do boost her damage, but unfortunately, its not really enough to push her out of B-rank.

Medusa: Medusa has a few pretty good parts of her kit, including a decent stun, NP charge, and NP gain up. Her NP will also boost the party's star gen and decrease enemy crit chance. However, unfortunately, Medusa's kit is a little disjointed without much synergy, she doesn't benefit herself from the star bonus, and her Quicks are terrible and make using her more difficult. She can be good if paired with Alexander, but she doesn't quite make the cut compared to Columbus, but still a high B-rank.

Grails help her damage out and will help to put her in low A-rank, a little higher than Columbus, since her damage will be better. She also trades Guts for a Stun, which is roughly even.

Romulus: Romulus has a very good kit that ties together really well: a lot of healing, an NP charge, a strong but inconsistent Attack and Defense up, and a targetable Guts with a Buster up attached to it. Romulus can do really surprising damage with his NP when he lucks out with Imperial Privilege, especially since its unupgraded. In addition, his NP will further boost his damage. Romulus is mid-A because his second buff is inconsistent and his 3rd buffs are extremely short lived, especially the Guts which hampers its use as a defensive tool.

Grails will boost his damage, but it doesn't solve the glaring problems in his kit. He will actually do more damage ungrailed with Imperial Privilege than Grailed without it, so it doesn't really change where he stands in B-rank.

Darius III: Darius is a pretty low-B. He has three pretty good skills in Golden Rule, Disengage, and Battle Continuation which all synergize well together. Healing, debuff removal, and Guts provides longevity while Golden Rule helps to make the NP more consistent. His NP will do decent damage to all enemies and debuff them, but he's not very high impact. Like Bloodaxe, who is similar, the lack of good steroids hurts, and both are outclassed pretty heavily by Spartacus.

Grails will put Darius in more of a mid to upper B-rank. He still has his flaws but he does more damage overall which is useful.

Hector: Hector is another AoE Lancer, and while he doesn't have the raw damage Romulus can have, he's more consistent and provides more utility, making him a solid B-rank. His NP drain and Stun are always inconsistent, but it is still a valuable tool especially on a 5-turn cooldown, and he also provides damage cut for the party, and can heal debuffs. His NP is very bread and butter but ignores Defense buffs which can be useful.

Grails will push him to an upper B-rank by giving his NP a bit more power to compete with Romulus more. Outside from that it's not especially impactful.

Fergus mac Roich: The Saber Buster gorilla. Fergus' damage can be kind of surprising because of his triple Buster kit and solid Attack steroid. He even comes with good survival options in an evade and a couple of defense buffs. His NP is AoE, does decent damage, and inflicts a Defense Down for more face card damage. Unfortunately, his NP generally requires either support or a Kaleidoscope to get consistently, which lowers his ceiling, and while his face card damage is good, he won't be able to keep up in ST with Bedivere or Caesar.

Grails give Fergus remarkably good stats, giving him a lot of HP and a pretty good amount of Attack. It's enough to push him into a low-A-tier because of it. Having the extra HP helps with building his NP gauge indirectly as well.

Kid Gil: Kid Gil is a pretty good silver AoE Archer. Unfortunately, he's not that great overall. He benefits from having a solid Charisma and really good NP gain with Golden Rule, but he only comes out of it with decent NP damage and an NP that's incredibly hard to time right thanks to its 1 turn debuffs. His Charm is also really inconsistent and not a strong point in his kit, thanks to having no survival options. He can overperform with the right timing, but overall is just a decent AoE with no real niche other than good NP gain.

Grails help to push him into high B thanks to his higher damage, but he's not going to be able to compete with Touta or Arash most of the time even with Grails. It is still, however, a decent option.

Geronimo: Geronimo has really good NP damage for his class, and his NP has a number of good, if a little underpowered, effects attached to it. The problem with Geronimo is that everything else is completely out of whack, and he barely qualifies for B-rank as a result. His Buster up isn't completely useless even those his Quick up is, and his NP gain is decent enough but nothing spectacular. Geronimo definitely has the potential to rise up into A-rank and be a really good Assassin killer, but he needs buffs to do that.

Grails push Geronimo to a solid B-rank by giving him more damage, enough damage to start being a threat to some neutral weak waves of mobs instead of just Assassins. It's not enough to carry him any further though.

Hassan of Serenity: Serenity fits very nicely in B-rank. She's nowhere near as good at dealing damage as Asako is, since her NP damage is pretty low due to low ATK and no damage buffs. On the hand, she provides a lot more utility than Asako does and fits nicely into more defensive teams. She has NP drain, crit chance down, crit star bombs, Skill and NP Seal. She can even do some fun DoT strats if you have the right units. Her NP gain isn't great though and using her offensiely is really tough to justify.

Grails push Serenity almost to A-rank. It's a sizable boost to her damage and makes her more consistent, which helps with her utility, but she really can't break into A-rank just because of specificity.

Red Hare: Red Hare is middle B-rank, and probably the worst of the 3-star AoE Riders. His kit is more crit based, having more abilities to make crit stars and do decent amounts of crit damage. The problem is all of his damage boosts are burst in nature, only working a certain number of hits, which doesn't work well with the crit strategy, and his NP damage is rather low and he doesn't have a good overcharge. He does have a good evasion though and can be useful, but isn't consistent enough.

Grails help out his damage, especially for his, and because of this he rises to just about Medusa. He can do more damage overall, but timing is still a problem with his skills, especially since they don't last too long.

Antonio Salieri: Probably the highest B-rank, and very close to an A-rank. Salieri is useful because he's a good offensive Avenger, with decent burst damage and crit potential. He's very similar to Red Hare, but being Arts is a bit more advantageous, and his overcharge eff is better on his NP. Unfortunately like Red Hare, he suffers from having similar issues with his skills, although it is more in terms of burst effectiveness rather than timing like Red Hare. His niche in killing Rulers and Berserkers is also really notable, as he doesn't face any competition except from Gold units.

Grails give him that extra oomph to land him in low A-rank, as he'll do more damage with his crits and his NP this way.

C-Rank Kiyohime: Kiyohime can do some fairly decent damage with her NP, but her kit lacks any hard survival skills and lacks any way to make her NP more consistent. She has a very good Quick and Extra card, but they really rely on other Arts card to generate a lot of NP. Her Def up is largely mitigated by her Stalking and her burn and stun gimmicks are too inconsistent to be used reliably. Overall, there are just better AoE Berserkers to use than Kiyohime.

Grails boosts Kiyohime's damage enough that she'll end up in low B-rank. All of her problems still exist, but she can deal enough damage with her NP to take out even more mid-tier waves and so can be useful there.

Gilles de Rais (Saber): Gilles is a heavily outclassed Servant, but can function as a pretty decent damage dealer thanks to his large buffs and psuedo-permanent Buster buff. Some of his weaknesses can be mitigated thanks to Command Codes, which helps out his bulk and consistency. Gilles would be a lot better if his Tactics did something useful to him, or if his NP buffs lasted longer and maybe give him more crit stars, but right now, he's a Servant who has a potentially good ceiling that requires a lot of help to get there.

Grailed Gilles is still a C-rank Servant. He can do more damage than before, and has a lot more HP to tank on, but he is still a flawed Servant that requires support and is only useful in certain situations.

Mephistopheles: Mephisto is a rather unique C-rank, because he does actually have a pretty relevant niche. His third skill inflicts a 3-time buff block, the best in the game in fact, and can make or break certain boss battles. Unfortunately, Mephisto is C-rank because that is pretty much where his usefulness lies. He has a mediocre Witchcraft which isn't ever fully reliable and a poor star regen skill, and an NP which doesn't do anything notable. Even upgrading his buff block doesn't do anything notable. Mephisto is probably the C-rank Servant you'll be using the most, but if you don't need buff block, there's no reason to use him over better Casters.

Grails improve his NP damage but it doesn't change his standing at all. His NP still isn't good and he has no way to boost its damage on his own. Grails aren't going to help someone whose niche is primarily a one-time skill use.

Jing Ke: Jing Ke is really close to being a competent B-rank. Jing Ke can do some really competent burst damage, but unfortunately, its only when the stars align (get it?). Her damage buffs only last for 1 turn and so don't have good uptime, he hit count is bad so she relies on her NP to generate stars, and she's incredibly fragile due to having low HP, no survival skills, and an NP that inflicts damage to her. A lot of launch Servant woes end up compounding onto Jing Ke, and while she's the best Quick Assassin DPS on a budget, it's not a niche that necessarily needs filling all that often, especially since Asako is far better than her on general DPS.

Grails not only boost her NP damage, but also give her more HP which helps Jing Ke have some breathing room. She's still pretty flawed but does become a low B-rank because of how grails help her. You might be better off waiting for more Jing Ke buffs before grailing her, however.

Diarmuid Ua Duibhne: Another high C-rank that is really close to being a competent B-rank. Diarmuid is a pretty outclassed Lancer that suffers from having pretty bad utility and low damage output. He is certainly usable, but has serious flaws. His NP gain is only mediocre even with two Arts cards, his third skill is completely useless on him due to his incredibly low hit counts, Love Spot is very situational and is a null skill most of the time, and his NP, while it removes buffs, does low damage compative to other NPs. Some more buffs to his kit would make him more usuable.

Grails give Diarmuid the damage boost he needs in order to end up in B-rank. A grailed Diarmuid will end up being a fairly servicable Lancer who is fairly useful against female bosses, although he is still pretty outclassed by most other Lancers.

D-Rank Gilles de Rais: While Saber Gilles is at least somewhat interesting, Caster Gilles has pretty much nothing that makes him remotely usable. His only niche is Terror, but if you need someone who has mediocre, AoE Stun, you can use Shakespeare instead. Gilles has pretty much no useful skills, he has a AoE NP with no good effects and no way to boost its damage, and will always be outclassed even by the more mediocre Casters.

Grails will make him do more damage, sure. He will still bring less to the table than other Servants, and hence, will still continue to reside in D-rank.

Henry Jekyll and Mr. Hyde: In contrast to Gilles, Jekyll and Hyde are a very interesting Servant with an incredibly unique gimmick. Unfortunately, having a gimmick is not the same as having a niche. Jekyll is completely dead weight as an Assassin, having no ability to deal damage, providing meaningful support, or generate stars. None of his skils are remotely usable as Jekyll, his hit counts are bad, and his stat spread favors HP. His NP will change his class to Berserker, give him a large Max HP and Buster bonus, and fully heal him, but Hyde is still a pretty mediocre Berserker vulnerable to buff removal. A lack of a damaging NP means he can't really make use of his buffs beyond mediocre face card damage. The best thing about Hyde is the most consistent stun in game at 160%, able to even pierce really high debuff resistance, but the effort required to field that isn't useful. Jekyll requires a Waver level rework to really be worth taking seriously.

Grails make him better statistically, sure, but it has no real impact on his performance. Grail him if you like psycho twinks.

#fate grand order #fate series #fgo #3-stars are really good y'all

10 notes · View notes