Fate/Grand Order General

[MrSmokestack]

48 minutes ago, eclipse said:

Figures.

What IS The Black Grail used for, anyway?  That 500 HP ding per turn sucks.

You have a Robin Hood.

And so do I :^)

Edited October 17, 2017 by MrSmokestack

[eclipse]

1 minute ago, MrSmokestack said:

You have a Robin Hood.

And so do I :^)

That's what Kaleidescope is for.

Which reminds me, I need to get stuff for his final ascension.  The art is adorable (the bird, that is).

[eclipse]

1 minute ago, MrSmokestack said:

You have a Robin Hood.

And so do I :^)

That's what Kaleidescope is for.

Which reminds me, I need to get stuff for his final ascension.  The art is adorable (the bird, that is).

[MrSmokestack]

1 hour ago, eclipse said:

That's what Kaleidescope is for.

Which reminds me, I need to get stuff for his final ascension.  The art is adorable (the bird, that is).

Kuickscope is alright for now, but later on bosses get enough HP that Hood gets more mileage out of extra NP damage, NP gain, or Arts up from Formalcraft or his Bond CE. IE and K-Scope are more convenient for farming.

Halloween Princess looks like the best of both worlds then. It gives a nice bump to NP damage as well as a 50% starting NP at max limit break, or 100% NP turn 1 with a Waver support.

Robin Hood is great.

[eclipse]

Just now, MrSmokestack said:

Kuickscope is alright for now, but later on bosses get enough HP that Hood gets more mileage out of extra NP damage, NP gain, or Arts up from Formalcraft or his Bond CE. IE and K-Scope are more convenient for farming.

Halloween Princess looks like the best of both worlds then. It gives a nice bump to NP damage as well as a 50% starting NP at max limit break, or 100% NP turn 1 with a Waver support.

Robin Hood is great.

What's a Waver?  The guy never shows up when I try to summon him.

I much prefer Halloween Princess, because it doesn't kill me.

[Emeraldfox]

Yo, what quests give what. Trying to grind for things to get the CEs and materials for both Nero and Tamamo Thot(and Nightingale)

[Time the Crestfallen]

37 minutes ago, Emeraldfox said:

Yo, what quests give what. Trying to grind for things to get the CEs and materials for both Nero and Tamamo Thot(and Nightingale)

For all your grinding needs!

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1_SlTjrVRTgHgfS7sRqx4CeJMqlz687HdSlYqiW-JvQA/view#gid=1623869169

[Emeraldfox]

Ah, I should have been a little more clear, sorry. I meant the event quests.

[MrSmokestack]

@Emeraldfox

-40 AP is the only one that you can repeat for Pumpkins and the Maid CE for Bats. Other than that, it has a little bit of everything.

-30 AP is mostly for Trick Bats and the Halloween Princess CE for Candles.

-20 AP for equal chance of candles and cupcakes, rare chance for bats, and the 3* CE for Cupcakes

-10 AP for candles and cupcakes only, plus the 3* CE for Cupcakes

Guerilla and Party Time give Fruits and have an increased chance to drop all mats, including Pumpkins and the 5* CEs above. You can withdraw from the node with Atalanta if she doesn’t drop Halloween Princess when you defeat her.

Hope this helps.

[Emeraldfox]

Yeah, that's what I was looking for, thanks.

[Shiki]

On 18.10.2017 at 7:44 PM, MrSmokestack said:

@Emeraldfox

-40 AP is the only one that you can repeat for Pumpkins and the Maid CE for Bats. Other than that, it has a little bit of everything.

-30 AP is mostly for Trick Bats and the Halloween Princess CE for Candles.

-20 AP for equal chance of candles and cupcakes, rare chance for bats, and the 3* CE for Cupcakes

-10 AP for candles and cupcakes only, plus the 3* CE for Cupcakes

Guerilla and Party Time give Fruits and have an increased chance to drop all mats, including Pumpkins and the 5* CEs above. You can withdraw from the node with Atalanta if she doesn’t drop Halloween Princess when you defeat her.

Hope this helps.

1 correction; Guerilla quests give 1 pumpkin as reward, not apples, and they do not drop CEs.

Question:
How likely is it to clear the shop within the event duration?
I don't really aim to get everything (don't need the Saber stuff). Here's what I want from the shop:

Pumpkins: Caster Liz, Crystallized Lore
Bats: Caster Liz, Halloween Princess (x4), Twinkle Candy (x4)
Candles: Caster Liz, Reverse Scale (x10)
Cupcakes: Caster Liz, Homunculus Baby (x20), Dragon Fang (x20), Ghost Lantern (x20)
If something is left, I will spend it for some Lancer/Caster monuments.

I already got the Lizs from Pumpkins and Candles, 1 Maid in Halloween for greater Bat drops, 1 Halloween Princess and 2 Reverse Scales.
Is my goal within realistic proportions or do I have to use apples? Do I need more Maid in Halloweens? I'm pretty sure I won't be able to beat the higher level guerillas (I am capped at Lvl 50 with all of my servants), so I will miss lucrative farming spots for Pumpkins and Bats.

[Caster]

Spoiler

 Got a new English account,  FC is 422,345,842 if you want to readd me.

[MrSmokestack]

@Sophie Sent.

1 hour ago, Talandar said:

1 correction; Guerilla quests give 1 pumpkin as reward, not apples, and they do not drop CEs.

Question:
How likely is it to clear the shop within the event duration?

I already got the Lizs from Pumpkins and Candles, 1 Maid in Halloween for greater Bat drops, 1 Halloween Princess and 2 Reverse Scales.
Is my goal within realistic proportions or do I have to use apples? Do I need more Maid in Halloweens? I'm pretty sure I won't be able to beat the higher level guerillas (I am capped at Lvl 50 with all of my servants), so I will miss lucrative farming spots for Pumpkins and Bats.

I just got my 3rd Maid CE from a Guerilla quest.

I’m not sure if clearing the shop is possible without spending at least one or two fruits, but the event gives so many of them that it doesn’t hurt to take a dip into your supply just to rush for CEs and make grinding go by faster.

It’s best to buy out all the CEs from the shop first, grabbing the Maids before anything else. After that, you can buy out the Halloween Princesses which in turn makes grinding Candles easier.

Cupcakes are an afterthought and 1-2 of the 3* CE should suffice, since you can trade spare pumpkins for 50 Cupcakes apiece, and Trick Bats for 5 each.

If you want to buy out the shop, I recommend shifting gears to grabbing the CEs before grabbing whatever else you need.

40 AP until 3 Maids, then 30 AP until you have four Princesses + a random Princess CE drop since MLB’ing that is a huge asset later on.

Feel free to ignore statues and even monuments since the Training Grounds can be used instead.

[Shiki]

1 hour ago, MrSmokestack said:

I just got my 3rd Maid CE from a Guerilla quest.

Oh. I read the spreadsheet wrong, dammit.

So I should get Maid in Halloween for the bat drops.
Can they stack up 5 times or do the CEs have a limit? (e.g. 3 Jack-O-Lanterns would give +3 Candles on each drop, so 5 copies could give +5?) I know that the MLB CEs do not get the additional drop bonus.

EDIT:
FC: 863,169,679
Only notable Servant is Heracles. I gave him Maid in Halloween if anyone needs more bats.

Edited October 19, 2017 by Talandar

[MrSmokestack]

38 minutes ago, Talandar said:

Oh. I read the spreadsheet wrong, dammit.

So I should get Maid in Halloween for the bat drops.
Can they stack up 5 times or do the CEs have a limit? (e.g. 3 Jack-O-Lanterns would give +3 Candles on each drop, so 5 copies could give +5?) I know that the MLB CEs do not get the additional drop bonus.

Trick Bat grinding is a religion.

There is no limit to how many times you can stack the same CE on your team, although you might want to keep it to three or four at most if your units need specific CEs to beat the 30 / 40 AP nodes quickly and/or reliably.

Fortunately, Halloween Princess and Little Halloween Devil are good CEs in a vacuum already. But for my specific situation, for example, at a minimum Medea needs Formalcraft or she just doesn’t do enough damage after buffs, even with Halloween Princess.

[Sire]

Welp, I starting playing this game on a whim. I basically have no knowledge of this franchise and seem to be doing "okay" for the first starting zone. The story has me interested and the gameplay looks fun, so I see myself playing this for a while.

So, any tips for a clueless player? I do feel like I am the clueless guy in the story who was just dragged into everything - no training, somewhat confused, yet holding my own.

At the moment I am just using Mash (the starter Shielder) and Tamamo Cat (since she seems to be good). The whole "invest cards into characters" thing is somewhat confusing since I'm used to Fire Emblem Heroes, but I think I'll get by.

[MrSmokestack]

@Sire If you aren’t planning on spending money please don’t on this game, unless you really like Tamamo Cat I would suggest rerolling. The summon rates are not kind to free and even paid players, and it’s best to have a strong pool of at least 1-2 gold servants, especially 5* ones like Zhuge or Jeanne for early content.

Long post is long so I’ll spoiler the rest.

Spoiler

-If you’re just starting out, get your servants leveled quickly by doing the “Ember Gathering” quests, which give EXP cards that you can feed to them. Once you have enough max AP to do the Expert level Ember (40 AP), you can field a Jeanne support from your friends list and she’ll be able to solo most of it with her healing as well as her Ruler class making her resistant to all the enemies save Berserkers. Once you have a sizeable gold EXP card stash you can start selling silver EXP cards for Mana Prisms, which you can use for Fous or Summon Tickets.

-When your units hit their level cap, you’ll have to increase it by expending certain items in a process known as “Ascension”. Each unit has their own ascension requirements, which can be grinded for on certain days of the week in the “Training Grounds” quests.

That’s all I have for now. If you have any other questions feel free to ask.

[Shiki]

As a fellow newbie (though I do have experience with the Fate series), some more tips:

1.) FGO Gacha is merciless. FEH is nothing more than a breeze compared to this. It will break you, so you should definetly re-roll until you are satisfied. Unfortunately, re-rerolling takes a long time if you want to roll a 5* Servant. In my humble opinion, I don't think a 5* is necessary to start with. Most 3* Servants are much easier to use, require less grinding for their ascension (which is pretty much the hero feather investment but much much more grind heavy) and some of them outclass 4*. Unlike FEH where you need 5*s, FGO makes it more than possible to play with 3* and lower.
Some recommendations:

Spoiler

- Cu Chulainn (3* Lancer): Literally unkillable. Easily the most reliable Servant in the game. There is really nothing bad about him.
- Robin Hood (3* Archer): Best budget boss killer in the game thanks to his Noble Phantasm.
- David (3* Archer): Great support. He can apply a party-wide dodge which comes very handy against enemy Servants.
- Ushiwakamaru (3* Rider): Good team support with a strong Noble Phantasm.
- Medea (3* Caster): She is useful in certain battles where buffs are posing a problem. She can remove buffs with her Noble Phantasm and her first skill allows her to use it on demand. Kinda weak at low levels though.
- Hans Christian Andersen (2* Caster): Regarded as the best budget support, he takes some time to get used to. His buffs are randomly applied but with high enough NP level this goes up to 80%, which is just enough to make it worth.
- Georgios (2* Rider): A tank if you need one.
- Sasaki Kojiro (1* Assassin): Roll him with FP und use him if you reach Orleans. Trust me on this, you will not regret it.

The first 30-quartz gacha guarantees a 4* Servant from a restricted pool. But in this pool there are 2 you really want to roll for; Heracles and EMIYA.
Heracles is brutal. He is a Berserker like Tamamo Cat but he kills enemies so fast, you can't even compare those two. Later on, he even gets skills that increase his survivability which negates the general downside of Berserkers being glass cannons. He is regarded as the best 4* Servant in the game.
Emiya on the other hand is less impressive early on and is kinda mediocre for now. He requires long investment and will get stronger through certain event quests that upgrades his skills. During events Emiya is quite often a "bonus" unit to use for, so he is pretty reliable in that department. If you don't want to spend that effort to him, I would recommend to skip him and focus on getting Heracles.

2.) During battle, you want to focus on 2 types of card sets. Either try to create a Brave Chain or 3 cards with the same color. Something, the tutorial doesn't tell you, is that the position and type of your cards matter. Each type (Buster, Arts, Quick) have their attack multiplier. Buster is the strongest, Arts is normal and Quick is weak. These types affect your selection as well. Not only does the first card indicate what effect your set gets, the attack power increases depending on the position. The first card has the least power, while the last one is the strongest.
For example:
Let's say you have Mash. She has Buster, Buster, Arts, Arts and Quick. If you want to do the most damage with her, the best arrangement is Buster Arts Buster. 1st Buster increases the attack of all cards and the 2nd Buster at the end of the chain to get most damage out of it.

3.) Always try to get at least 100 Mana Prisms each month. You need these to purchase all summoning tickets in the shop. Summoning Tickets are you free Black Keys summons and Quarz is quite sparse in the game, so you really should grab everything you can to roll on the gacha.

4.) DO NOT SELL Servants. At least not new ones. Every Servant can unlock its own Interlude which are additional sources of Quartz or materials. Some of them make your Servants even stronger. Also, if you have duplicates, you can merge them to increase their Noble Phantasm level. Noble Phantasms is the special of the Servant and some Servants rely completely on it to be effective.

5.) Don't forget about Friend Points. Everytime you use a Servant from the Support slot you earn FP. These can also be used to roll on a special gacha which gives you 1*-2* Servants, CEs and experience. 3* Servants are also possible but it will happen very rarely.

Edited October 20, 2017 by Talandar

[MrSmokestack]

9 minutes ago, Talandar said:

Unfortunately, re-rerolling takes a long time if you want to roll a 5* Servant. In my humble opinion, I don't think a 5* is necessary to start with. Most 3* Servants are much easier to use, require less grinding for their ascension (which is pretty much the hero feather investment but much much more grind heavy) and some of them outclass 4*. Unlike FEH where you need 5*s, FGO makes it more than possible to play with 3* and lower.

2.) During battle, you want to focus on 2 types of card sets. Either try to create a Brave Chain or 3 cards with the same color. Something, the tutorial doesn't tell you, is that the position and type of your cards matter. Each type (Buster, Arts, Quick) have their attack multiplier. Buster is the strongest, Arts is normal and Quick is weak. These types affect your selection as well. Not only does the first card indicate what effect your set gets, the attack power increases depending on the position. The first card has the least power, while the last one is the strongest.

4.) Also, if you have duplicates, you can merge them to increase their Noble Phantasm level. Noble Phantasms is the special of the Servant and some Servants rely completely on it to be effective.

Building off of this:

Spoiler

1. While 5* units are not absolutely necessary for beating later content, unless you put money into the banners that guarantee a 5*, it is safe to assume that you will not be able to roll one outside of rerolling. You can spend 30 quartz and get one, or spend hundreds and not get one. If there was one mistake I’ve made since I first started playing, it was not taking the summon rates seriously and choosing not to reroll. Save your sanity and don’t risk it.

2. The characters you choose directly play a roll in what cards you can use on a given turn. You have a “deck” of 15 cards that is shuffled at the end of every third turn, and it contains cards from each of the three units currently in play. Pick your units based on how many they have of a certain card, since not all “decks” are built the same; EMIYA for example has 3 Arts cards while Heracles has 3 Buster cards. It’s also worth noting what type of card each of your unit’s Noble Phantasms are, since that can allow for additional chains.

Speaking of chains, you can play multiple Noble Phantasms in one turn, known as an NP chain. The second NP in a chain will have its charge increased by 100% and the third will have a 200% charge increase. “Overcharging” NPs sometimes affects damage dealt, but it more often than not simply improves additional effects associated with it, like HP recovery or Critical Star drop rate.

For now, focus on units with 2-3 Arts cards, since being able to use NPs repeatedly is essential for beating harder content. Buster cards are good for grinding quickly, and Quicks can be used to generate stars for Crit teams, but those come up later on and even now are a bit inconsistent. But I digress.

4. 4* and even 5* units can get away with mediocre NP’s so long as their deck and skills are strong, but NPs are the most important thing to take into consideration for the lower rarities. There are some truly gamebreaking NPs that are balanced by being found on weaker units, such as Hans Christian Andersen and his Marchen Meines Lebens, a teamwide buff that gives Atk, Def, and HP per turn. Even a 2* with an objectively poor kit can be made great with a strong NP and a way of accessing it reliably. There are many other examples, but Hans is the most frequently cited and the list would be too long to explain the rest.

 

[Caster]

3 hours ago, Sire said:

Welp, I starting playing this game on a whim. I basically have no knowledge of this franchise and seem to be doing "okay" for the first starting zone. The story has me interested and the gameplay looks fun, so I see myself playing this for a while.

So, any tips for a clueless player? I do feel like I am the clueless guy in the story who was just dragged into everything - no training, somewhat confused, yet holding my own.

At the moment I am just using Mash (the starter Shielder) and Tamamo Cat (since she seems to be good). The whole "invest cards into characters" thing is somewhat confusing since I'm used to Fire Emblem Heroes, but I think I'll get by.

That's hell you're walking into.

but really most of what other people have said should work

[Sire]

Looks like there is plenty of suggestions to try and reroll. For reference, I currently have... (spoiler)

Spoiler

Note: I briefly looked at the Gamepress Tier List and found Mash to be excellent (although that is probably with heavy investment and end-game content) and Tamamo Cat can seemingly handle her own even if she is not super top tier.

Mash - The starter hero. I am using her and Tamamo Cat as my main "duo party" and I find her defense skills to be useful.

Tamamo Cat - Currently my MVP since she can deal lots of damage. Mash works well with her since she can shield this hero.

Mata Hari - At the moment she is serving as my "Assassin" character. I have not invested or used her seriously yet though.

Cu Chulainn (Caster) - Apparently rewarded from story progression, and I did enjoy his contribution when I used him as a Guest NPC. I plan on raising him at some point.

Gaius Julius Caesar - Apparently this guy can be paired up with plenty of people, but I will admit I am not really a fan of his depiction in this title. If he is that good, then perhaps mechanics will override personal taste.

Romulus - This guy sorta looked cool, but then he has his weird "Praise The Sun!" pose. He is still Level 1, but I threw him in the backup slots to gain Bond Points.

Musashibou Benkei - I guess I'm used to the Warriors incarnation of this guy, but I'm not sure if he is any good.

Georgios - This character has my interest and seems all right, but if he is to function as a tank, I already have Mash for that. Although, she is apparently hampered because she is heavily reliant on story progression, so raising him may not be a bad idea.

Sasaki Kojiro - He seems all right, but I haven't invested in him yet and just finished the starting zone.

As for specific points...

@MrSmokestack [Ember Gathering & Powerleveling]

Thanks for the tip! I don't know if I should be spamming these to farm as a part of me wants to continue the story (currently just started Orleans), but this is useful to know.

@Talandar [FGO Gacha, Card Sets, Mana Prisms, Interludes, & Friend Points]

Yeah, I kinda figured that out when I looked up the detailed summoning rates. Fire Emblem Heroes is definitely more generous in that regard as FGO seems to be made or broken on what characters the player has. However, I'm not big into rerolling and I'm used to being dealt a poor hand in life. Besides, if I manage to play the poor hand well, then the resulting conclusion should be more satisfying, yes? (As I am also unfamiliar with the franchise, I have no real "must have" characters and am mostly just going off of tier lists and if the character appeals to me.)

I also figured out chaining cards rather early, as well as chaining the NP powers together with each other and normal cards. The positioning of cards is also something I quickly figured out. The one thing I still need to do though is figure out proper team composition. Mash + Tamamo (Shielder + Berserker) is doing all right for me and I can typically toss in a high level "Guest Character" to trivialize content.

Welp, I have no idea what Mana Prisms are, but I have been getting some from the Daily Quests. I suppose Summoning Tickets are quite important since Quartz is seemingly rare in FGO, unlike the Orbs in FEH.

I haven't been selling anything, but I have been using some duplicates characters for EXP and upgrading the Noble Phantasms. 

I also figured out the importance of Friend Points as well as some people granting an extra +75 FP, so I've been focusing on that when I do not have an NPC Guest. A shame the rates are lower and such, but at least there is that free summon per day deal with the "Friend Point Gacha."

@MrSmokestack (Again) [5* Units, Deck Composition, Noble Phantasms]

I believe I am already insane and forsaken, just see my member title. If I never get a 5* character, then I suppose that is what Fate has store for me.

Now the way Decks work is an interesting concept and I'm sure I should understand it more for proper party composition and synergy. At the moment I am doing rather well with Burst cards with some Arts in there, but I like to think I know enough strategy to manipulate the cards as needed. For example, if I know I can beat a round of monsters without using Burst, then I'll build up some Criticals or the NP Gauge. Also, as explained above, I learned how to NP Chain. (At the moment I am unleashing them as soon as I reach 100, but I guess overcharging will become more important as I make further progress).

I'll also keep in mind the important of Noble Phantasms. At first I was doing all right with just Bursting enemies down, but when I got the NPC Caster, I found the joy of unleashing the Wickerman at regular intervals. Tamamo's is also pretty good, save for that two turn stun effect it has on her...

@Sophie [Welcome to Hell]

Hell? I've seen through worse. I'm totally screwed, aren't I?

* * * * * TLDR * * * * *

Thanks for all the advice! It may be a mistake not to reroll, but I was never much for rerolling and am used to being screwed over by RNG and luck. I accept the fact I will likely never see a 5* character in my roster due to how difficult it is to get materials for proper summoning, no matter how tempting some of the characters may be.

That aside, I am rather enjoying the story for what it is and the combat system, but I am still fairly early into the entire thing. I'm hoping the Gacha aspect of FGO will not break this enthusiasm down the line...

[Shiki]

You drew the saviour of France. All is well in this world!

Like I said, FGO is perfectly playable without re-rolling. It just has the problem that getting good Servants later on is Russian Roulette. However, as long as you keep pulling you get a wider range of 3* Servants and the occasional 4*.
Tamamo Cat is still decent enough since she is a Berserker after all.

For a team recommendation: Mash + Tamamo is fine. I can't stress this enough but put Kojiro in your team, at least during Orleans. There is really no reason not to since 1* Servants have the lowest cost besides Mash. Otherwise, Caesar is easily the best choice. He gives you 2 Buster cards and can buff your team's damage output with Charisma.

Mash doesn't get good until the game reaches Chapter 6. This is going to take at least a year. She will be a serviceable tank, but her lack of Taunt doesn't really help and compared to other Servants her ascension is tied to story.
Georgios' strength lies in his first skill. It gives Taunt which is the reason why he is such a good tank. Being able to draw away attacks is so important in FGO, especially since stray crits can easily 1-shot Berserker Servants. To reduce that risk is super important.

Mana Prisms are another currency that you earn. You already did Dailies which are the main source of Mana Prisms. You also earn them if you burn Servants, Craft Essences or Embers in the shop. Mind you, only Embers are ever legimate to burn because everything else is too important. Servant can be burned when you earned another copy after reaching NP5. Before that, don't unless you are very desperate for tickets (like I did once where I burned both Caster Cu and Gilles to get the September tickets in time ... many regrets).

[MrSmokestack]

@Sire 

Your Units:

Your pool should be good enough for now.

Spoiler

-I would prioritize building up Georigos as soon as possible. As Talandar mentioned, he has a Taunt that lasts 3 turns, taking damage away from your frail DPS units and generally removing RNG from the quest for the most part. He also has a healing and self-revive skill which further promotes his use as a tank. Even his damage is alright with Ascalon as his NP, which is single target and applies Dragon trait to any enemy it hits. This can provide him with incredible synergy with a certain other unit. However, he will want extra HP to bulk attacks effectively and so gets better each time he’s ascended.

-Caesar might seem mediocre as a 3* Saber, but he actually a very good long term investment. He has the highest Atk of the 3* Sabers and of 3* in general, has Charisma, Incite, and Tactics which are all geared towards boosting the team’s damage. Topping it all off is his Single Target Noble Phantasm, which is essential for the singular, high HP bosses that appear later on.

-Sasaki Kojirou is a meme among Fate fans, especially in FGO. Back in JP, when Jeanne supports were god and few servants actually had levels on them, Wyverns were a tough enemy type to go up against, and Orleans is littered with them. With some investment, people found that low rarity assassins like Kojirou where highly durable against them, thanks to their evade, as well as having class advantage and crits to kill them quickly. He was quickly dubbed the “Savior of France” for this reason.

While Kojirou is certainly very solid for a 1*, having an Evade, ST NP, and good star gen, let me point you to my personal favorite assassin, Hassan of the Cursed Arm. Hassan I find is better than Kojirou where it counts, having an Evade that applies three times—as opposed to REGEND’s lasting only one turn—as well as better stargen on his Quick. Both will be recieving roughly the same amount of investment due to rarity, and Hassan in a direct comparison is more worthwhile.

Your Comments:

I would prioritize grinding before going back to story quests. The 40 AP Ember gives 15,000 Master experience each time it is completed, and at a low level this can result in repeated level ups that constantly refill your AP. Seeing your AP bar be something like 500/45 shouldn’t be a surprise when powerleveling. Leveling your Master character is essential since it not only increases the AP cap, but it also increases the maximum cost you can use on your team and your max number of friends.

The cost system is balanced in a way that encourages using lower-rarity units and CEs. Mash has a cost of 0, but each 5* card adds either 12-16 to the total, each 4* card adds 9-12 to the total, and in this fashion the cost continues to drop for lower rarities. In fact, even in JP the Cost cap is nowhere near high enough to be able to field a team of all 5* units and CE’s. Better get friendly with your FP chumps.

Edited October 20, 2017 by MrSmokestack

[Shiki]

7 hours ago, MrSmokestack said:

While Kojirou is certainly very solid for a 1*, having an Evade, ST NP, and good star gen, let me point you to my personal favorite assassin, Hassan of the Cursed Arm. Hassan I find is better than Kojirou where it counts, having an Evade that applies three times—as opposed to REGEND’s lasting only one turn—as well as better stargen on his Quick. Both will be recieving roughly the same amount of investment due to rarity, and Hassan in a direct comparison is more worthwhile.

One thing, to keep a mind about this.
While Hassan is at max. level superior to Kojiro, he is certainly inferior at the start. He unlocks his dodge at 3rd ascension and you are likely done with most of the story when you get to that point. Kojiro has his dodge from the beginning. So he needs long-time investment to really shine.

Unlike FEH, where only the maximum potential of a unit matters, the actual progression in FGO will be a big factor in your enjoyment. You will be stuck for a long time with underleveled Servants because of materials, Level cap etc.
Some of the best Servants (mostly 5*) are pretty awful early on and it can be a real drag to do the story with them because of that. That's why you have Servants like Kojiro who require minimal investment and can wipe the floor in the early parts of the story. If you find him lacking after Orleans you can just drop him and get away with virtually no loss because the investment to a 1st ascension of a unit is neglible compared to what you are doing later.

[eclipse]

@Sire

Find my Friend Code somewhere in this topic, and add me.  On the support list, there's a row of icons at the top.  Select Assassin.  I'm going to get that one-star guy in my lineup to level 90.  Take him out for a spin - he's absolutely hilarious.

I didn't reroll, but it turns out I got insanely lucky with my summons.  Managed to snag a tank early-on, then pulled a team that worked surprisingly well together.  The great thing about this game is that you WANT to ascend most of the cast up at least once, and that particular ascension is cheap.  Get a feel for how the various servants work, and see what clicks for you.  One of my rotating servants is Alexander - he's hardly the best Rider, but he does what I need him to.