Introduction
The most straightforward team composition in the entire game, and also the most effective for the majority of the story’s early stages. The goal of a Buster Blitz team is simple – load up as many Berserkers or servants with large Buster card totals in your team, then destroy the enemy as quickly as possible, optionally using a powerful Noble Phantasm to defeat the stronger ‘boss mob’ of the quest. In contrast to most team archetypes, support servants are almost entirely optional, as the goal is to simply throw out as much damage as frequently as possible.
Strengths
- Exceptionally fast, simple and efficient gameplay. This team archetype will deal the most damage per-turn on a basic level by far, and it will show in how quickly you will be able to plough through even more difficult content leading into the London and America singularities.
- Does not require difficult-to-obtain servants to function well. Heracles, being selectable with the free SR servant promotion, is a key member of this archetype and is also quite accessible, while some of the best Berserkers for this form of team, like Kiyohime and Lu Bu, are 3 star servants, and as a result are very easy to obtain.
- Does not require heavy strategizing. In other team archetypes to function well you often need to consider skill usage, card chain order and Noble Phantasm deployment carefully, however for this archetype the best chain to perform is almost always going to be a Buster chain, Brave if possible. In the same way, the presence of selfish damage and survival skills on the most common team members for this archetype means skill usage is incredibly easy to understand, too.
Weaknesses
- The Buster Blitz team is very ‘ride or die’, so to speak. If it succeeds, it usually succeeds hard. However, if it meets a setback in the form of being hit by an AOE Noble Phantasm or a few unlucky crits, it begins to struggle very quickly where other team archetypes can recover.
- The typical team members of a Buster Blitz team lack supportive or utility abilities, which means they can often get walled by more tricky skills such as dodges or defence buff spams when other teams can get around it using their common team members.
- Being so Berserker-heavy, Buster Blitz teams often lead to a need to grind for Berserker components heavily. This kind of team can be more difficult to level up compared to others, which feature class diversity.
Battle Strategy
The Buster Blitz team’s main priority is to kill as many enemies in a single turn as cleanly as possible. In most scenarios, killing an enemy unit takes away one of the opposing side’s attacks for the turn, which in turn increases the durability of your own team. While doing so, and presuming it is necessary, it is important to raise the NP gauge of your most powerful Noble Phantasms.
Since damage on the quota, pretty much every chain used should begin with a Buster card, with Buster chains being used when necessarily to gain optimum damage output. Single target Noble Phantasms should be preserved for the final wave of the quest to eliminate the ‘boss mob’, while AOE Noble Phantasms can be used readily to clear out the remainder of the second or third wave.
In terms of Craft Essences, Kaleidoscope and Buster boost CE’s are your best friend. For servants with good NP gain like Kiyohime, using Kaleidoscope is unnecessary, however your primary single target damage dealer should have your best starting NP gauge CE available in order to nuke the ‘boss mob’ of a quest.
Key Members
Inarguably the best Berserker available in the game, and for good reason. He packs very solid base stats, a good attack buff and two powerful clutch defensive skills alongside a straightforward single-target NP, which all comes together to produce an intensely strong damage dealer. Unlike most team archetypes, the best servant for the composition doesn’t hold the team together, but he undoubtedly is the best at the archetype’s goal.
Often called a discount Heracles, there’s no shame in such a title when he performs on a similar level. Though Lu Bu possesses less defensive skills and lower stats than Heracles due to his rarity, Lu Bu’s Noble Phantasm effect is arguably better, and he has a much better chance at reaching higher Noble Phantasm levels due to his lower rarity, letting him potentially out-damage Heracles as a NP nuker. It’s also worth noting that Lu Bu has the best base statline of any 3 star servant, even in the JP game, making him a very worthy option to invest in.
Though expressly inferior to her fellow SR Berserker, Tamamo Cat is still a solid option for this team archetype. Her higher HP pool and heal on her NP makes her a little bit more consistent than her fellow Berserkers, however her NP gain and offensive power are dreadful to compensate. She does have an AOE NP, which can be particularly useful in some scenarios, while also being the only Berserker in the game to claim to have some form of stargen due to her Quick NP’s nature of producing stars.
Provided to the player for free upon completing the Orleans singularity, Kiyo is the picture of accessibility, while also possessing the best NP gain of any Berserker in the game. Though in terms of raw offensive power she’s inferior to Tamamo Cat, her status as a free unit as well as her AOE NP makes her a solid option if single-target damage is already covered.
Last but not least is one of the most-forgotten units in the entire game. Poor Bloodaxe doesn’t really get featured much anywhere, and people tend to sleep on his potential despite possessing superior NP damage output compared to Kiyohime, and very close regular card damage. Even before his skill strengthening buffs he’s a solid choice for an AOE NP Berserker, and after them he’s got both good durability and damage output.
The best Berserker in the game when he comes out, and he stays on his throne for quite a while. Kintoki possesses both an immense attack stat and solid skill set, allowing him to equip a limit-broken Halloween Princess (Free Halloween Event CE) and gain a full NP gauge on turn 1 using his Animal Dialogue skill. Add in the defence pierce effect on his NP and an immensely strong attack buff and he hits like an absolute truck. Very much the icon of this team archetype.
When directly compared to his fellow SR Berserkers, you may question what Beowulf has over them: Compared to Heracles almost all of his skills and base stats are lacking, and the overcharge effect on his NP isn’t particularly useful, either. However, Beowulf has one simple feat to him which is worthy of note – he has the highest NP damage output of any SR servant, period. In fact, it’s so high he beats some SSR’s in single target NP damage, including Vlad. If you’re looking for the absolute king of NP damage output, he’s worth considering.
Future Stars
An SR Berserker with a simply solid skill set and NP. Her main selling points are her incredibly strong 3 turn NP damage steroid, the fact said steroid also gives her entire team a Charisma-equivalent attack buff for the same duration, her very solid durability for a Berserker and a buff-removal effect on her NP, a very sought-after effect. Her damage output is on a similar level to Heracles, and in some scenarios her defensive power is actually better.
The Berserker who eventually challenges Kintoki’s position of best Berserker, and for good reason. Packing an even higher attack stat and superior Madness Enhancement, Cu Alter hits like an absolute truck while possessing three amazing survival skills. Thanks to the attack buff tied to his Noble Phantasm, he still bats around Kintoki’s damage numbers despite not having as good offensive skills. On the whole, both him and Kintoki are about even, though.
Though generally agreed to not be a particularly good unit, Florence has some good reasons to be included in a Buster Blitz team. Firstly, she’s still a Berserker, meaning she packs very good damage output in spite of her extremely defensively-aligned base stats. Secondly, she has a very powerful Buster buff skill to support her fellow Berserkers with, to the point that she can sometimes increase the team’s damage more than a third selfish Berserker would. Finally, she is a very good “insurance” unit – as the game’s story progresses, this team archetype gets weaker and weaker, until it eventually becomes unviable. However, a team of, say, Nightingale, Cu Alter and Ibaraki can easily take on lategame content consistently. This is due to how effective as a healing and defensive support Nightingale is in spite of packing the offensive nature of a Berserker. As such, she’s worth keeping an eye on.
