Rabbit's Reviews #238: Bartholomew Roberts (1* Rider)

Bartholomew Roberts (also known as Barti Ddu, or Black Bart) is the Rider of the new bronze bunch. With a high level of star control and offensive buff value that surpasses even Hans, Barti is a highly valuable free servant. His own damage output is somewhat constrained by his low stats, but his offensive lean makes him a powerful budget plug buffer, and in general he’s an excellent new option for fast-moving teams, and particularly those that lean Quick.

As a one-star servant, Barti has really low attack and similarly low HP. This is one of his two primary drawbacks—even with remarkably high buff value and all four main types of general-purpose damage buffs (for maximum multiplicative stacking) Barti’s actual damage output is constrained by his low base stats, and his low HP makes him vulnerable to dying quickly against non-Casters. His other main weakness is his NP gain—1.3% on Arts is well below standard for his deck (which typically falls in the 1.6-1.7% range) and his Quicks only barely enter into “passable” territory. Fortunately his star gen is a bit better, with NP-led brave chains in particular able to generate a large number of stars. For passives he has a low level of Riding and the lowest level of Magic Resistance.

Ascension Materials

Stage	Cost	Materials
2	10,000	x2 Rider Piece Open Rider Piece configuration options
3	30,000	x4 Rider Piece Open Rider Piece configuration options x8 Fool's Chain Open Fool's Chain configuration options
4	90,000	x2 Rider Monument Open Rider Monument configuration options x2 Black Beast Grease Open Black Beast Grease configuration options x2 Ghost Lantern Open Ghost Lantern configuration options
Max	300,000	x4 Rider Monument Open Rider Monument configuration options x4 Ghost Lantern Open Ghost Lantern configuration options x4 Serpent Jewel Open Serpent Jewel configuration options

Skill Enhancement Materials

Level	Cost	Materials
1 → 2	10,000	x2 Gem of Rider Open Gem of Rider configuration options
2 → 3	20,000	x4 Gem of Rider Open Gem of Rider configuration options
3 → 4	60,000	x2 Magic Gem of Rider Open Magic Gem of Rider configuration options
4 → 5	80,000	x4 Magic Gem of Rider Open Magic Gem of Rider configuration options x1 Black Beast Grease Open Black Beast Grease configuration options
5 → 6	200,000	x2 Secret Gem of Rider Open Secret Gem of Rider configuration options x2 Black Beast Grease Open Black Beast Grease configuration options
6 → 7	250,000	x4 Secret Gem of Rider Open Secret Gem of Rider configuration options x5 Fool's Chain Open Fool's Chain configuration options
7 → 8	500,000	x10 Fool's Chain Open Fool's Chain configuration options x2 Shell of Reminiscence Open Shell of Reminiscence configuration options
8 → 9	600,000	x6 Shell of Reminiscence Open Shell of Reminiscence configuration options x24 Reactive Gunpowder Open Reactive Gunpowder configuration options
9 → 10	1,000,000	x1 Crystallized Lore Open Crystallized Lore configuration options

As I mentioned above, Barti’s skillset is notable for containing all four main types of general-purpose damage boostage: NP damage up, card type up, attack up, and crit damage up. Recommended skill order is 2>3>1.

Outside of farming, Barti has two notable use cases. The first is as a budget semi-support for low-end Quick teams. His flexible buffs and crit enabling make him an alternative to (or a partner for) Hans in teams that want to move fast. He can help another DPS to drop a bar while also boosting party crit damage and providing a bit of damage himself (particularly against Casters). He won’t be especially valuable in this role if you have higher-end Quick tools like Osakabehime and Skadi, but for newer players or those with few Quick options he makes the playstyle a lot more accessible.

Barti’s second potential use case is as a sacrificial- or plug-buffer. Barti’s one-turn damage ampage has the potential to be very high, so rather than trying to keep him around and dealing with his low stats, you can let him drop all his skills, NP, and then die off. There are several ways to accomplish this, ranging from using a taunt CE (which likely precludes using his NP) to having Chen Gong use him as fodder for his own NP. Barti/Buster ‘Zerker/Chen Gong is a really strong Buster fastplay shell provided you have the starting NP CEs to make it work and can survive the turn or two needed to fill their NP gauges to full. A Barti->DPS->Chen Gong NP chain is likely to drop the first health bar of pretty much anything, and then the DPS has a 20% defense debuff and a 40% crit amp to make use of on the next two turns. Arjuna Alter is a particularly strong candidate for the DPS slot, and as Barti and Chen Gong are both free, you can safely grab Arjuna off support, even if you don’t actually have the guy.

Outside of taunt CEs and starting NP CEs, Barti can work well with passive star gen CEs (whether that’s 2030 or something that provides stars and another effect) or even with his bond CE. Barti’s bond CE boosts party NP gain and NP damage, which complements his kit wonderfully provided he stays alive long enough for it to matter.

Barti has two major weaknesses: his NP gain and his stats. While his NP gain isn’t fixable, his stats are (to an extent). If you find yourself using Barti often and you like the way he plays, grails will make him both hit harder and survive longer. With an actual stat pool to work from, Barti’s strong mix of multiplicative buffs gives him surprisingly strong crit potential and respectable NP damage. This doesn’t help him much as a plug-buffer, but as a traditional semi-support he’ll be significantly improved.

Barti’s gotten a touch lost in the mix amidst all the (well-deserved) excitement about Chen Gong, but if you’re able to set aside the ludicrous Caster for a moment, Barti is a super impressive budget tool. He lacks Hans’s stability, but in exchange he fits much more elegantly into fastplay teams, and he opens up a lot of possibilities to players without high-end tools—and high-end Quick tools in particular.

Overall: 9/10
Single-Target DPS: 5/10
AoE DPS: 7/10
Survivability: 2/10
Offensive Utility: 9/10
Defensive Utility: 3/10
Farming Usefulness: 9/10
Preference for Hidden Eyes: 10/10