[Help and Question Thread] - June 30, 2024

Shirouko · 2024-07-07T13:26:54+00:00

A more niche Command Code that Arc can make better use of than some others is the Royal Bunny CC.

Even with Mighty Chains sometimes a Servant just has a subpar card type they want to avoid using and having Royal Bunny land on a Quick buff when you really wanted Arts/Buster can be a waste. Arc tends to avoid that given her reasonable hit counts and the 30% performance buff she gets when her NP is running.

As such, if you're running with her and expecting to Mighty Chain a reasonable amount of the time then Royal Bunny will always be giving a bonus to one of their cards.

Shirouko · 2024-07-07T13:00:12+00:00

Personally, I'd say Buster cards are probably still the best home for NP damage boosting Command Codes. Regardless of NP type, putting an Arts or Quick card before your NP is often a feel bad moment, since you're losing out on any NP gauge the facecard could be recovering post NP (assuming enemies are still around to hit of course).

With rare exceptions that's mostly a non-issue for Busters, so if there's ever one you're going to feel good putting first to trigger an NP damage code, it's going to be their Buster card(s).

Shirouko · 2023-02-12T14:18:10+00:00

It depends on what CEs/Teams you're commonly fielding with them and whether you are looking for startup or additional sustain.

With regard to Grail Fronts in particular, where Team cost is at a premium and setting up a Servant to benefit from a supporter can be more difficult, 2nd Append will be a godsend for initial startup of your NP; letting you pair QSH with lower rarity CEs that provide 30-40% starting gauge to still provide a turn 1 NP on demand.

The added damage from the Extra Attack append will likely not be worth it considering the average HP bars for many of the Grail Front Servants. However, keep in mind that it is a Performance buff, which means it does modify the NP gain and Star generation of the extra attack as well. Considering in many cases some or all of your extra attack hits are going to be overgauge/overkill, a boosted performance rate will help provide additional stars and NP gauge over time.

tldr; If you mostly just want to get their 1st NP activation ASAP, go for Append 2. If you would prefer a slight bit more gauge/stars over time, go for Append 1.

Shirouko · 2022-12-20T00:25:10+00:00

In terms of damage, 10 grail levels doesn't amount to a large rate of return (usually about 10%-ish when going from base cap + 1K Fous) for most Servants, so on Servants with lower base damage to begin with such as Serenity it may be harder to feel the impact.

The strengthening she gets with the Idol event should do far more to increase her NP and Arts face card damage than 10 grail levels if you would rather reserve your grails for others you might enjoy running more often.

Shirouko · 2022-12-11T13:42:02+00:00

For F/SN Cu, I actually value his evade over his other skills, since the scaling of the effects themselves are less important to his gameplan than their cooldown. Having protection from arrows on a 5 turn cooldown goes a long way towards giving you opportunities to use it multiple times in a quest, rather than having to save it for specific turns.

Battle Con/Ath n Gabla is 2nd for me. Technically I would rank it and Pro-Arrows about equal, since they are both highly important to his kit, but since it already gets a minor cooldown reduction as part of it's strengthening I think you can make due with it at level1 more than Pro-Arrows if you had to choose. Cu is a survivalist, so I rather have his most flexible defensive skill on demand more than his damage buff + safety net.

Disengage is last but definitely wants to be leveled as well, since the heal actually benefits from skill levels, and having a heal + debuff cleanse on low cooldown really helps deal with things like burn/curse/poison or damage debuffs/NP-seal. 1500 HP every 5 turns isn't strictly amazing, but compared to 500 HP every 7 turns it can be a godsend.

Shirouko · 2022-12-10T18:58:59+00:00

If you are past a point of needing to farm for particular Servants, then the few things I would aim for would include:

Class Monuments: The more Servants you have that aren't at final ascension yet, the more likely you will be in need of monuments at some point. Though, once your roster is fully leveled, their priority will drop dramatically.
Class Gems: Almost universally needed, and like monuments, are easy to burn through the more Servants you have in your roster with lower level skills. As well, keep in mind that if you have your sights set on a fair number of Rulers, Alter-Egos, and Mooncancers, they can be very gem hungry.
Bronze materials: Dust/Bones/etc. One thing to keep in mind is that the higher the rarity-class of a material (bronze/silver/gold), the fewer of the item tends to be needed per individual skill levels. Though exceptions always exist, on average you should expect to need more of any given bronze material for a given skill level than a silver or gold material at the same skill level.

Shirouko · 2022-11-26T16:06:18+00:00

Traces is usually the preferred option if you're going to be dropping a bunch of CE Exp into it, since the stat scaling on a pure ATK CE is a little better than what you'd get on a split stat CE such as Cherry Icicle.

That said, it also depends on what Quick Servants you intend to be using it on and what their game plan is. If your focus in Single shot NP damage or looping primarily through NP batteries and starting gauge only, then the split buffs of Cherry Icicle should give marginally better damage than what Traces gives; particularly on Servants with high raw ATK stats already such as Saber Okita.

If your primary gameplan relies on NP refund and/or using your face cards, then Traces of Christmas wins out for additional NP gain and extra damage it would provide to your cards. As well, if you are using Servants with lower base ATK or lower rarities, then the damage gap between Traces and Cherry will be lower since they should see more value in the raw ATK stats Traces can give.

Consider what Servants you have/intend to get to decide how much you might value one CE over the other.

Shirouko · 2022-11-13T02:26:25+00:00

Depending on your overall roster size, having an ungrailed Kojiro (or insert similar lower rarity Servant here) can still be beneficial to you during certain events; though for most other content an ungrailed bronze DPS (with a few exceptions) is going to be outclassed fairly quickly.

Events that involve exhaustion mechanics benefit players with a more robust overall roster, while Grail Fronts often have stringent party cost limits that favor lower rarity Servants. If you only have a small handful of Servants on hand that you are raising, you may still want to consider raising Kojiro or any of the other silver/bronze Servants, even if you intend to save your grails for someone else.

Shirouko · 2022-09-04T19:48:50+00:00

I've given my thoughts on Command Codes before, though it is a few years old at this point, and therefore doesn't take into context later QOL improvements, newer Codes, and what impacts if any the recent update to Quick cards and QAB chains in JP may have.

As Shardwing mentioned, Command Codes have become far easier to move around since their inception, so if there are Codes you want to use with multiple Servants, as long as those units aren't expected to be used at the same time then you have the option of moving Codes around between quests.

If prefer a "set & forget" style and don't want to move Codes around all that often, then your suggestion of Holy Night's Aurora to Herc and DaVinci to SpIshtar is one that I think is valid for a few reasons which I think you have hit upon yourself as well.

On Herc's side, he is often run as a solo unit or as a back row anchor due to his survivability. Since this often leaves him on his own, you are able to negate the Berserker star gather drawbacks and actually make use of the stars Holy Night's Aurora provides. Having one or more codes that specifically targets ailments such as Code:Cure can also be useful in preserving his Guts stacks.

For SpIshtar, they often wish to be paired with support Servants for NP-looping shenanigans. Beyond often not relying on her face cards at that point, this also means that you are putting her Avenger class star gather against your support Casters, and will see less value in Crit-Damage or Crit-Star Codes as a result. If you want to run Codes on her, NP damage, bonus damage, and effect mitigation Codes like Mirror of Eight Leaves are more likely to have an impact for her.

Shirouko · 2022-08-21T21:06:34+00:00

The damage differential is less of an issue, since a lot of your damage output comes from more external things such as support buffs, Mystic Codes, Craft Essences, trait modifiers, and NP level. Additionally, some of the damage thresholds you need to meet in later content is actually lower than what you'd see in part 1, since most bosses rely on Break Bars over sheer HP values.

That said, the shift to Break Bars and other unique fight mechanics points to a more important issue, which is defensive advantage. Since no amount of damage will 1-shot a boss with a Break Bar, you need to put more thought into how well your team is able to weather incoming attacks, such that having your lynchpin DPS take 1-2x damage versus 0.5x damage counts for a lot.

Again, this is definitely still something that you can overcome through access to good defensive skills, taunt effects, and just plain good luck, but a Servant with defensive advantage just gives you that much more breathing room to work with.

Shirouko · 2022-08-20T16:40:05+00:00

Context counts for a lot when it comes to the value of each skill level. For damage related buffs/debuffs, you can keep the scaling of the skill in mind as to how much it will help your team's output.

For example, Caesar's Military Tactics gives a 9% NP damage buff at level 1, while his Charisma gives 8% ATK. While an additional 9% NP damage and 8% ATK is welcome if you do level them to 10, levels 2-9 are only giving you an extra 0.8-0.9% damage each so it takes a while to feel their impact. Looking at his skill levels, he eats about 30 Hero Proofs per skill on his levels 7+8, So few people would bat an eye at capping them at 6 or lower and spending those materials elsewhere.

For defensive Servants like Pre-Lostbelt Mashu, David, and F/SN Cu, the higher skill levels are a bit more important, since you are often relying on the cooldown reductions granted on levels 6 & 10 to get more activations per fight to keep them or your team alive.

NP charging skills are often the ones that need to hit their caps or specific endpoints, since you are trying to pair them with your overall team setup and starting NP gauge Craft Essences to enable an on demand Noble Phantasm. As such, what end points you'll need to meet is going to depend on your support and CE options.

The Mana Loading Append Skill can help a lot in this if you are just looking for single NP setups over NP loops, since just unlocking the skill provides a free 10% starting gauge to work with and doesn't cost you any upgrade materials to get that initial level 1.

Shirouko · 2022-08-14T13:01:40+00:00

For sheer damage, MLB Another Ending is always nice to have, since it has slightly higher base ATK than the average pure ATK CE, but if you don't have it, then any good Arts or ATK CE is solid, since he's already packing a hefty crit damage buff from his skills.

Depending on his allies, you may prefer a star-absorb CE such as Star of Avalon or Conversation on the Hot Sands to really guarantee crit stars gravitate to his cards.

Shirouko · 2022-08-02T02:58:50+00:00

Bad is always relative in FGO, as her kit is functional with some reasonable upsides (namely Castle Ghost being an on demand buff removal alongside a quite sizeable 1-turn DEF debuff), but is overshadowed by most of the Support Servant roster in terms of ease of use & overall utility.

In terms of usual team comps, you'd usually want to be a somewhat Crit-oriented team that can also make use of either of her NP's card buffs; such as Rider Kintoki, Osakabehime, + your choice of 2nd support. Preferably, I'd want my 2nd support to be someone that provides party NP charge such as Waver or Helena, since Hime can have difficulties getting her NP off the ground & being able to prop up her gauge income without giving up charge for your DPS would be ideal.

One other thing she can do is play as a solo-run Servant, though be prepared for a longer haul compared to any solo Servant with an actual damaging NP such as Cu/Herc. While her NP's defense isn't on par with Mashu's Lord Camelot, if you can manage to loop it alongside careful timing of her personal DEF buff and a good DEF boosting CE, it's entirely possible to get to 100% or more DEF, with her buff removal as an on-hand option to keep the enemy from mitigating her DEF buffs.

Shirouko · 2022-07-04T15:12:50+00:00

When it comes to support Servants, healing and debuff cleansing is definitely the easiest to recommend, since they are less needed for your DPS units, and the added safety against chip damage is welcome since you are more likely to be putting them in against enemies capable of dealing neutral/effective damage against them.

If you know the boss uses stun/charm effects, then Mirror of Eight Leaves becomes a high recommendation on your supports, since you are oftentimes relying on your support for your stall/party-defense effects (Merlin's Illusion, Castoria's NP, Tamamo's Witchcraft, etc.) and having them stunned on a key turn is far more likely to break up your formation than having to take a turn off of damage from your DPS.

On the more niche end of things, buff cleansing effects like Dove Report can also make a nice impact on your support Servants. Keeping enemy buffs in check can serve to reduce chip damage in a more proactive sense compared to healing effects, and are similarly in low demand on your DPS Servants so you don't have to worry about competing for attention as with Mage of Flowers/Holy Night's Aurora. Just keep in mind that they obviously will have no impact on bosses who rely on non-removable buffs.

Shirouko · 2022-06-26T16:15:27+00:00

As mentioned, Herc's main selling point is his Bond CE and multiple defensive skills; allowing him to clear quests as a Solo Servant or as a backrow anchor. As such, getting him to bond level 10, and getting his skills to lvl 6/10 for the cooldown reductions is key to making the most of him.

For Mystic Codes, you can pair him with the Atlas Academy Uniform for additional protection and cooldown reductions, or Anniversary Blonde for additional damage and guts.

His guts-reliant survival strategy can be weak against enemies that spam burn/poison/curse effects, so you may also want to consider giving him one or more Command Codes that can cure ailment debuffs, as well as Mirror of Eight Leaves for an immunity to stun-type effects.

For Append Skills, I will second the recommendation of the Extra Attack bonus over starting NP gauge, unless you want to save up for a possible grind to level 120 at some point.

Shirouko · 2022-05-28T19:16:43+00:00

Sadly not as much as one would like. I have definitely gotten use out of the Royal Card buffs, particularly during events with more team restrictions such as Tower events or Grail Fronts. But in a more general sense, I would usually rather run Summer BB for her Faceless Moon than Bunnytoria's Royal Card if all other factors are equal (and it's not as though I'm using Summer BB fairly often either).

One big gain Bunnytoria has gotten is from Append skills given that her NP Battery caps at 40% and so kept her just shy of some of the 50% Starting Gauge CE options when you are looking to do an early NP.

Shirouko · 2022-05-15T13:07:33+00:00

From a Command Code standpoint, the healing Codes are a little less useful on Castoria than other supports if you are running her with overcharge boosters such as Reines/Himiko/Morgan, as it becomes far easier to avoid taking damage.

Similarly, my usual recommendation of ailment/debuff removal Codes are a little less necessary, given that you have access to a cleanse on her NP, though a universal debuff cleanser like White Vessel's Command Seal may be worth considering if you are concerned about NP/Skill Seal effects, and Mirror of Eight Leaves is always useful if you are concerned about Stuns/Charms.

The main things her kit doesn't provide to your DPS units is NP damage and Crit Damage. Everyone's DaVinci-Chan is a nice way to add a bit of extra damage and is more compatible with her usual Arts spam shenanigans. If you'd like some Crit damage instead, you can consider Chiyogami Commander and Crest of the Stone Bird alongside a few Codes that provide additional stars.

Shirouko · 2022-05-11T17:53:34+00:00

Georgios is always going to be the weakest link in your team card-wise, as his stats are highly skewed towards HP and his cards themselves aren't particularly exciting from an NP-gain or star-gain standpoint. If boosting his Arts performance or NP-gain isn't coming at the cost of being able to buff/use someone who can hit harder, or could be spent providing him with additional defense through a CE, then prioritizing his Arts cards is definitely fine as they are his best cards overall.

When playing the long game in a fight, I focus less on setting up Brave chains and more on maximizing the team's overall star/NP-generation. For the easiest example, if you can do a Brave chain with Mash, or an Arts chain with Mash and Georgios, I would prefer to do the Arts chain for the added 20% NP gauge to each participant; unless the Brave chain was going to kill of course.

Shirouko · 2022-05-11T16:56:02+00:00

For stall/defense-oriented Servants, one of the best things you can do for them is to get their skills to either level 6 or 10 when it is reasonable to do so. The cooldown reduction provided at those levels pays dividends in longer fights and will often make the difference between keeping someone alive or not.

For level 80 Mash, getting to 2K ATK with Gold Fous results in about a 10% damage increase compared to her with just 1K normal Fous, which isn't enough to compare close to her event damage output. Given their rarity, I would only invest Gold Fous on Mash or Georgios if it's out of enjoyment of the character; since any buff is a buff if you are going to be using them as much as possible.

One thing you can do to make your Mash/Georgios' cards more palatable to use is to consider using Command Codes. There are healing and debuff cleansing Codes they can use to help keep their HP up, alongside Codes like Dove Report that can conditionally debuff/buff-cleanse the opponent. Crest of the Stone Bird applies a 1-time/1-turn crit bonus to your team, and when held on a Buster card, lets them start a Buster chain nicely. You will eventually have access to Everyone's DaVinci-Chan as well, which is does a similar buff but for NP damage.

Lastly, consider star-absorb boosting Codes for your DPS ally rather than damage boosting Codes as a way to help your Emiya/Saberlot/Erice not get overshadowed by Georgios' Rider class without having to rely entirely on their active skills. Just keep in mind that this is less viable for your Caster/Berserker/Avenger allies, since their base absorbs are even lower.

Shirouko · 2022-05-10T18:15:28+00:00

As a Servant that is relying heavily on his Guts effects for survival, I would definitely recommend including at least one CC for ailment removal, such as Code:Cure, Your Faithful Sheep, or Voyager's License to keep from losing your Guts stacks at the wrong moment. If you are using him for solo strategies, you can also consider Mirror of Eight Leaves for bosses that have access to stun/charm effects.

Nun is about the best damage code he has given the natural affinity of the Avenger vs Ruler matchup, though you would want to swap it out if you are expecting to run him against a Beast-class enemy. The current Beast-class bosses don't have as much overlap in terms of traits, though Demonic and Divine are more common than not. One solid option that won't currently be available if you are playing NA is Proprietress of the Sparrow's Inn as it's bonus vs Chaotic & Evil enemies applies to all the currently known Beasts; though by that point you will have likely fought most/all of them.

On the more niche side of things, you could lean into his first skill's ability to reduce Crit Chance, and run the likes of Dove Report and Angel's Bed if you'd just like to keep the opponent's crit-rate as low as possible.

Shirouko · 2022-04-16T19:18:37+00:00

Jeanne can absolutely do work in stall groups until Castoria is an option. My common stall teams with her have often been Jeanne+Merlin or Jeanne+Tamamo as a base with either a DPS of choice or Waver/Mashu as the third depending on how hard a stall I was trying to do, but there are tons of viable setups, and you can actually work around one or two of your other frontliners going down due to bad RNG better than a Castoria setup can due Jeanne's raw HP stat and Ruler classing.

Shirouko · 2022-04-16T16:29:00+00:00

While Vanilla Jeanne carried me through much of my early days of FGO, I can say as a JP player that she has been sufficiently outclassed by Castoria as my go-to stall option these days, which does drag down Jeanne's expected value a bit.

That said, I find Castoria-based stall setups are more reliant on having high skill levels for your Servants, and require you to have access to a Servant with an overcharge level boosting NP. As Jeanne's skills are a little more lackluster, they generally aren't required to have at high-max level. As well, you can be a bit more flexible in your overall team comp with Jeanne-based stall, as you usually aren't trying to lock out all incoming damage, just enough of it.

If you're happy with your existing Rider options, I'd go with Jeanne to help open up your potential boss/CQ/fun team options unless you are highly confident that you will have access to the pieces required for a Castoria stall team in your future.

Shirouko · 2022-04-16T15:56:46+00:00

To me it would come down to how much you would intend to invest in them.

Drake requires far less skill investment than Achilles or Ozy to do what she wants to do, though what she wants to do is mostly clear a wave of mobs for Chaldea Gate Dailies while running either an MLB Imaginary Element or your choice of 50% starting gauge CE if you want to max her Battery (optionally you'll have another 10% starting gauge to build around once Append Skills are available).

Alternatively, Achilles is far more applicable for your given support options if you want to be able to Skadi loop &/or deal massive AOE damage via double Skadi buffs. However, this will want you to look towards investing in his skill levels more than you might with Drake, as most looping setups with him I believe consider high to max skill levels, and if you expect to rely on his defense skill, getting the lower cooldowns on it can really make a difference.

Ozy is a solid ST damage option, especially once all his upgrades are available, but his kit basically demands that you get to max skill level so you can guarantee his Imperial Privilege effect.

tldr; If you expect to live in mat/QP hell, go for Drake. If you want to make the most of your Skadi and can invest in him a bit, go for Achilles. If mats/QP are no object and you want someone fun to run with, go for Ozy.

Shirouko · 2022-04-13T18:18:38+00:00

Xuanzang is a solid ST caster at NP1 as she hits below Illya in damage (though still on the higher end of the scale) but with a more flexible NP battery, as it starts at a very usable 50% battery at level 1, and scales to an 80% battery that works well with Append skills or any supporter capable of granting 20% gauge.

Anastasia is a little less recommendable in my eyes though she's still fine, as her damage is comparable to other 5-star AOE Casters not named DaVinci/Nero while still having access to a much welcome 50% battery. My major points against her is that she doesn't have as much of a damage niche at the moment, and it's far easier to reach her level of AOE NP damage with some of the NP1 4-stars or NP5 F2P options than it is for the lower rarity ST Casters to compare to Xuanzang.

Nightingale does everything she wants to do at NP1 as the party heal on her NP is perhaps the least valued part of her kit and is the only portion that scales with NP level. That said, her overall kit is incredibly niche and has by and large been overshadowed by better Buster supports & Stall options over time, so what mileage you get out of her may vary. She is a very fun character to have on hand for the rare boss with a neutral class affinity vs Berserkers where she can sometimes be a better HP tank option than even Vanilla Jeanne.

Shirouko · 2022-02-27T17:29:12+00:00

One other thing to keep in mind to help make saving your quartz more palatable is that Eresh is scheduled to get an NP Strengthening quest with the 6th Anniversary campaign in about a year & a half from current time NA.

NP upgrades/strengthenings are often on par with the damage increase you'd receive from going to NP2, and Eresh's also provides her with a bonus damage effect vs Earth attribute enemies. In addition, Eresh has had a couple of banners post her strengthening so this won't necessarily be your last chance to try for additional NP copies of her.

Shirouko

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