MMM - Merlin-Mentored Magus Musters Mindbreaking Meta, Mofu-Mofu Mikooon in Misery (5th Anniversary Gacha)

Table of Contents

The Modern Magus Magazine
Introduction
Servant Data
Overview
NP Generation
Servant Skills
Noble Phantasm
Conclusion
Outro
Links

The Modern Magus Magazine

Transcript of Interview with Tamamo no Mae, self-proclaimed Foxy Caster, 18:29 JST, 10/8/2020

“...So yes, as I was saying, that’s why daikon is best used in dishes to bring out the salty flavour of the broth.”

“Thank you very much for your cooking tips, Miss Tamamo, though they were hardly the reason for this interview. Getting to the point - a new Caster will be hitting the gacha very soon, and the FGO playerbase’s eyes are lingering on the banner, wondering if they’ll meet a new “broken ass, stupid ass, loopin’ ass, 50% gauge chargin’ support”, much like the Skadi incident a few years back. Your thoughts?”

“Well, my perspective may be slightly different due to being the sole dedicated Arts support in the SSR pool, but I consider any new comrades to run alongside in farming (if that damn Empress in her SSR form didn’t outclass me there…) or challenge quest (maybe I’ll be able to provide consistent clears that don’t take 3-digit turn counts?) a welcome change! While I sincerely doubt my position as the go-to Arts support Caster will change, I welcome all rivals, whether in Love or the Meta!”

“Bold words, Miss Tamamo. Bold words indeed. We’ll be taking a quick commercial break, so stay tuned as we come back to hear the reactions from our pundits regarding this new Saberface, the so-called Ace to complete the class hand of an overmilked sameface.”

5 minutes later…

The interviewer merely looks on, nonplussed, at the form of the once-prideful foxy Caster clutching the edges of her seat in a panic attack, sobbing and whining in a manner that leaves you unsure if it’s a heartbroken lover or lost kitten.

“Truly tragic, dear viewers, but I can’t say I didn’t see it coming. With the recent scaling up of Reines Archisorte to match the present meta of 50% gauge charging, this sort of development was sadly inevitable. I’m afraid the state of our interviewee means we must cut things off there, but I can leave you with one message before the end of our broadcast:

All Hail The Arts Meta.”

Introduction

Artoria Caster

Kawasumi finally finished her royal flush, I see, and with a bigger bang than any Saberface prior, if I’m being honest. Leaving aside the fact that her 3rd ascension pulls out Marmyadose and casually confirms that Nasuverse Arturia had Herc’s sword lying around, I don’t think I need to explain to readers that this lady will be important in story and gameplay both. I’ll just get down to the brass tacks, since there’ll be a lot of it this edition.

Servant Data

Caster

QAAAB (Caster)

Quick Card

Arts Card

Buster Card

Attribute	Star
Alignment	Neutral Good

Stage 1
Stage 2
Stage 3
Stage 4

April Fool's

Max HP 14,406

HP Rank

Max ATK 10,546

ATK Rank

Base Atk	1,629	Base HP	2,112
Max Atk	10,546	Max HP	14,406
Grail Atk	11,544	Grail HP	15,782

Traits

Card Hits	3	3	3	5	-
Per Hit	0.54%	0.54%	0.54%	0.54%	0.54%

	NP per Hit (%)	0.54%
NP when Attacked (%)	3%

	Star Absorption	50
Star Generation per Hit	11.0%

Dmg Up

Charisma of Hope B

Increase ATK for all allies (3 turns).
Increase NP Gauge for all allies.

Show Info

Lvl	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
ATK +	10%	11%	12%	13%	14%	15%	16%	17%	18%	20%
NP +	20%	21%	22%	23%	24%	25%	26%	27%	28%	30%
CD	8	8	8	8	8	7	7	7	7	6

If the Merlin-like appearance of her staff in her first two ascensions weren’t enough, Casturia just rolls up with a slightly altered version of Merlin’s Charisma. Hell, even her profile notes the similarities.

Charisma of Hope is quite simply one of the strongest skills in the game. It may sound weird putting it that way when fundamentally it’s just Merlin’s (already very good) skill except +1 cooldown and +10% gauge charge, but that 10% makes a big difference. What differences do I mean? The following:

Two Casturias can charge both an allied servant’s and their own gauges to full from a 50% gauge CE, without applying their skills suboptimally. Casturia and Merlin/Waver can do the same, meaning this perk is flexible.
One Casturia can fully gauge charge two servants with LB Hollow Magic, meaning Kaleidoscope is no longer as much as a benchmark for basic farming teams.

And just in general, 30% x 3 is better than 20% x 3. It’s 30% more NP gauge to play with, meaning not only your offensive Servant of choice, but Casturia herself is getting her gauge up quicker.

And naturally, the attack buff is also great. Never anything wrong with a Charisma buff, even if the cooldown is slightly higher than normal.

Start Np

Protection of the Lake A

Increase NP Gauge for an ally.
Increase NP Gain for all allies (3 turns).

Show Info

Lvl	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
NP +	10%	11%	12%	13%	14%	15%	16%	17%	18%	20%
NP Gain +	20%	21%	22%	23%	24%	25%	26%	27%	28%	30%
CD	7	7	7	7	7	6	6	6	6	5

Completing the holy formula for a 50% gauge charge support, we have Blessing of the Lake. On its own this isn’t too spectacular a skill, being a moderate targeted gauge charge paired with a solid team NP gain up.

But as I said, being able to provide 50% gauge charge to an ally is important. That perk alone is what bumped Reines from a niche support into a competitor for NP gauge charge support, at least for non-Quick servants. Sadly with Casturia around, that new niche of Reines’s may soon be limited to Buster Servants alone. But more to the point, team NP gain boost is useful. Even throwing cards aside, it’s a boost to the defensive NP gauge servants get when being hit, boosting Arturia’s own gauge gained from 3% to 4% in most cases. May not sound like much, but if you’re facing fights with AOE attacks doing 3-5 hits each, it adds up to a lot of NP gauge quick.

And of course, such a buff helps immensely with NP Looping. Asclepius (bless his soul, since with just 2 skills Casturia has already outclassed him) already had value for providing the same sum of NP gain boost. Whether for Arts or Quick looping, this perk is useful. Add in the 50% gauge charge, and she’s a really strong option. In most cases, she outclasses Nero Bride in supporting looping, too.

Oh right, and the 7-turn base coolodown for this skill is pretty low, all things considered. Even one turn can make the difference for getting a NP off in time, so it’s worth bearing in mind.

Arts Up

Sword of Selection EX

Increase Arts Card effectiveness for an ally (3 turns).
Apply Special ATK [Threat to Humanity] to an ally (3 turns).
Apply Invincible to an ally (1 turn).

Show Info

Lvl	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Arts +	30%	32%	34%	36%	38%	40%	42%	44%	46%	50%
Special ATK +	30%	32%	34%	36%	38%	40%	42%	44%	46%	50%
CD	8	8	8	8	8	7	7	7	7	6

If the first two skills were the One-Two to break open the meta’s guard, then this thing is the uppercut. It’s funny. Sword of Selection frankly isn’t even an outstanding skill. Obviously 50% Arts Up for 3 turns is amazing, and on par with Tamamo’s Fox Wedding, but in most cases you’ll find more use in Fox Wedding’s heal than the awkwardly-placed Invincible buff and niche anti-Threat to Humanity buff.

It’s more that Casturia has a useful tool like an Arts buff paired with her prior two skills. One of Tamamo’s most crippling weaknesses is her lack of on-demand gauge charge support, and Casturia already has the best gauge charging in the game. Add in a skill that matches Tamamo’s greatest strength, and, well.

Let’s just say my dramatized skit at the start holds pretty true to life. In a farming capacity, at least, there’s zero reason to use Tamamo if Casturia is an option. Though frankly, Nero Bride already made that the case. It’s just more solidified now.

So circling back round, card buffs are great, if you are fighting a Threat to Humanity enemy (which is fairly rare, but it’s gonna crop up a lot in main story bosses, so great there) then your target Demon Pillar / Beast / Fantasy Tree / Digital Kouhai are gonna get annihilated.

As for the Invincible component, it’s good, but in practice you will very rarely put it to use the way you’d hope. You’re popping this thing on your damage dealer turn 1, then every turn it’s off cooldown. It’s unlikely you’ll be able to use the Invincible buff to actually live NP’s. Convenient if it comes up, but in practice you’ll be using it otherwise. And besides, Casturia already has NP defense covered…

Noble Phantasm

Around Caliburn A

Increase ATK for all allies (3 turns).
Clear Debuffs for all allies.

<Overcharge>

Apply Anti-Enforcement Defense [Reduce damage to 0; disregards Ignore Invincible] to all allies (1 time, 3 turns).
{Overcharge increases the number of times}

Show Info/Video

Around Caliburn

The Star of Hope

	Rank	Classification	Hit-Count
	A	Anti-Army

Effect	Increase ATK for all allies (3 turns). Clear Debuffs for all allies.

Level	1	2	3	4	5
Atk +	30%	40%	45%	47.5%	50%
Debuff Clear

Overcharge Effect	Apply Anti-Enforcement Defense [Reduce damage to 0; disregards Ignore Invincible] to all allies (1 time, 3 turns). {Overcharge increases the number of times}

Charge	100%	200%	300%	400%	500%
Times	1	2	3	4	5

If you’d been following some of the datamining done in the leadup to the Anniversary strengthening quests, you would know many speculated about a new Invincible-type buff being paired with Arturia’s Avalon.

Well, it was half-right. Around Caliburn is Casturia’s NP, and a simple, but quite unbreakable enchantment. A non-damaging Arts NP, it has 3 effects - A strong attack up buff for the team over 3 turns, a team debuff clear, then a team Enforcement Defense buff, as it’s being translated for now.

Enforcement Defense might have an unfamiliar name, but it’s literally just Invincibility that can’t be bypassed with Invincible Pierce. The buff lasts for 3 turns, and has a “hit count” that scales with overcharge - 1 hit at base, going up to 5 hits with 500% overcharge.

So on the whole, it’s got all three parts of the support triangle - offense, utility, and defense. The attack up shouldn’t be passed over considering how much it can impact a NP turn’s damage, a team debuff cleanse is an extremely useful tool (and franky, I’m glad I no longer have to run Medea Lily in Challenge Quests to have one on demand), and team Invincibility goes without saying as being an important staple for difficult quests. You’ll pretty much be using this NP like Skadi’s - a pinch defensive option with some offensive / utility applications that you keep up your sleeve till you need it. Unlike Skadi, Casturia’s own Charisma means she gets a good headstart to charging her own gauge, so she typically doesn’t face the same issues Skadi does of needing to build up gauge.

As for the aspect of the NP ignoring Invincible Pierce...there are presently 6 offensive NP’s that apply Invincible Pierce before damage, and don’t also remove buffs anyway to kind of make the gesture meaningless. While that may sound like few, CQ’s also have a habit of making Servants pop skills automatically before their NP, or giving them Invincible Pierce on gauge break. So the odds of Casturia’s special Invincible buff having it uses are fairly high.

Conclusion

So how goo- Okay, for once I won’t do this spiel. You know Casturia is good if you aren’t buried under a rock, so I’ll just provide you with the convenient bullet points:

Not just possessing 50% gauge charge to prop up NP’s for farming, Casturia presently is the only servant to provide 30% team gauge charge on a skill (since if we’re being technical, Tamamo could with NP overcharge and Voyager can with the right teammates on his NP), which allows her to open up composition properties no other top tier support can. Not to mention it floods over to her own NP gauge, making it easier to put her own NP to use.

Offensive Arts support is good. I may have glossed over it since generally speaking providing boosts to NP gain is more powerful than offensive boosts, but Casturia gives +20% attack and +50% Arts boost over 3 turns, or +50-70% attack if you’re dropping a NP before the damage dealing. That’s basically Arts Merlin, if Merlin’s NP also gave an offensive boost. And that’s discounting the possibility your opponent has the Threat to Humanity trait. Let’s just say Casturia-supported MHXX will obliterate some targets with not a scrap to spare.

Arts NP looping. Casturia is basically what you get if Paracelsus got a 50% gauge charger, then was EVEN BETTER. No other servant provides the level of support she provides for Arts looping. While previously Paracelsus and Nero Bride kind of sat at the top tier of desirability for such comps, Casturia basically jumped atop the pyramid and made a new tier towering over them. So many Servants can Arts loop now when it wasn’t possible before, and also while dealing immensely more damage than previously possible. Servants like Summer Musashi are now all-class farming monsters on par with Zerkerlot or Dantes, simply because Casturia entirely covers for her weaknesses when applied to farming.

All the Challenge Quest applications. Arts servants have always had some of the most devastating and powerful ST servants at their disposal - whether Yagyu’s harsh attack-down plastering, Orion (Stacy, not Chad) denying the target any hope of NP’ing, or Euryale ending all males’ hopes of having a turn. Often the issue for Arts ST servants, outside of outliers like Vlad III, has been keeping their NP looping. Casturia largely fixes these problems, and opens up the way for Arts ST Welfares like Saber Hokusai or Kagetora to crush challenge quests much like Kintoki Rider does under Skadi.

As good as Casturia is, she does have one region she can’t really cover for:

Long term sustain. Casturia lacks any healing effects, or even simply defensive boosts. Skadi has the same problem, but even she has her critical rate down debuff and damage cut on her NP to provide some level of long term sustain. Casturia really wants to finish fights hard and fast, or limit the enemy’s offensive might through her choice of damage dealer (which is where pseudo-defensive damage dealers like Yagyu or Casgil come in handy). But let’s be real, you don’t have to run double Casturia. Most people won’t even have the option - and that’s where Merlin or, that’s right, Tamamo can shine. Both Casters meld excellently with Casturia, covering her weakness in sustain, while also handing their own supportive niches for consistency. But in farming situations, Casturia still wants a clone of herself in most cases, sadly.

So with this in mind, I can confidently say the ‘era’ of the Big Three is pretty dead. Waver was always great, Merlin kind of blew the expectations for a support wide open, Skadi followed in his wake, and the new meta kind of left Tamamo wanting. Then Reines is kind of latching on with her own niches and 50% gauge charger. Casturia is the true successor to form the triad of 50% card buffer Casters, but it’s not like she makes the other top tier supports irrelevant.

...okay, Tamamo and Reines took a hit for sure, but it doesn’t mean they’re no longer good. Their applications have just been filled by a new, stronger option. Regardless, we have 4 “top” supports then 2 “kind of top” supports now. Guess we need to come up with a new parallel to apply. Era of the Five Gods, maybe? I can at least attribute Mew2King to Waver and Mang0 to Merlin.

I’m getting off track here. The way you dress the new meta doesn’t really matter, just the fact it exists. Casturia is a superb servant, and you could argue she’s more impactful than Skadi to the game, since she’s more applicable than her outside of her chosen card type. If you’re willing to take the gacha dive, she’s worth the effort. Rath™ Seal of Approval, with a recommendation.

Outro

And here I was, thinking this Anniversary would bring an inconsequential niche servant like Nemo and I could mentally sit aside, preparing myself for Summer. Hah.

One thing I did want to cover in this issue of the MMM was generally how farming and tackling CQ’s will shift with Casturia’s presence, but a fellow Gamepress writer has kindly already leapt aboard that ship, with their writeup being here:

A (Slightly) More In-Depth Look at the Impact of Caster Altria

As for me, I have the horizon of Summer to look forward to. Ignoring my uncontrollable lust for Lanling’s new costume, I figure the servant lineup is gonna be interesting, to say the least.

...I’m just glad Summer Musashi is going to be free easy farming for it, hah.

See you all next time.