Introduction
Halloween 2018 comes with a set of unique challenges that restrict team selection based on certain Servants’ characteristics. Each challenge will have a different restriction which allows only certain Servants to participate, including support Servants. While the challenges themselves are not particularly hard, Masters without a large roster of Servants may feel hard-pressed to craft a workable team for each challenge.
This guide will focus on the top 5 Servants to bring for each challenge, whether already owned or just as a support Servant. In many cases, challenges can be completed with a good Friend Servant alone, so do not panic if none of the recommended Servants are available in your roster.
Challenge Quest Restrictions
Table of Contents
Graveyard
The gauntlet kicks off with an all-female quest, the first challenge features all Saber mobs for three out of four difficulties and Lancer mobs for the Demonic difficulty. The bosses of all difficulties are male Servants.
The all-female requirement is a relatively lax one due to the abundance of female Servants in the game. The story support offered is an NP 2 Cleopatra at level 65 with only two skills. Generally, a support Cleopatra at level 90 will outperform her, so don’t bother using her over other support options.
Female Only | |
Recommended Servants
Servant | Bonus | Description |
Minamoto-no-Raikou | Berserkers are generally quite good for mixed-class fights and this node is no exception. All three waves also feature multiple enemies, making it a good playground for Raikou. Most of the bosses possess the Heaven or Earth trait, meaning her Mystic Slayer will be extremely effective here. | |
Ibaraki-Douji | +50% | Ibaraki does not have the AoE damage of Raikou, but instead sports a whopping 50% damage bonus from the event, as well as a versatile skillset. Also being one of the best female Berserkers in the game cements her place as a go-to choice for this round. |
Nightingale | Considering all the bosses are Servants, Nightingale can shine with her Understanding of the Human Body, Berserker class and good supportive skillset. Nightingale will, however, require a strong damage dealer to accompany her to bring the best out of her skillset. | |
Euryale | Aside from the Demonic difficulty, which is littered with Lancer enemies, Euryale is one of the best choices for all the remaining ones. Her anti-male niche is unparalleled, and her Archer class makes her extremely durable against all the Saber enemies. | |
Elisabeth Bathory (Brave) | +100% | Thanks to her fantastic 100% Bonus damage during the event, Elisabeth can deal great damage even without class advantage in three out of four difficulties. She is also one of the more F2P friendly choice although upgrading her Noble Phantasm requires further progress in these Challenge Quests. |
Castle Town
The Castle Town challenge quests are a counterpart to the first challenge, this time asking players to opt for the gentlemen instead. All difficulties have 2 waves of Caster enemies and a last wave composed of three Servants with mixed classes.
Male Only | |
Recommended Servants
Servant | Bonus | Description |
Zhuge Liang (El Melloi II) | Easily the best possible support for this node thanks to his outstanding buffs and ability to charge teammates’ NP bar immediately. Even if players already have their own Zhuge Liang, getting another as a friend Support and using them in conjunction with a strong damage dealer is highly effective for all difficulties. | |
Lancelot | Ironically, the Berserker version of our Story Support is the better alternative for this node. Berserkers are great for AoE challenges with multiple different classes, but for this node they are even more valuable due to the presence of Saint Martha (Ruler) in the highest difficulty. Lancelot, however, will require assistance with NP generation to function, such as Kaleidoscope or Zhuge Liang, as his NP generation rate is terrible. | |
Robin Hood | +50% | With a 50% bonus to damage output during the event and incredible nuking capacity, Robin Hood can blow up any of the bosses with one Noble Phantasm. His downsides, however, are that he will require a strong supportive cast to bring out his full potential, as well as the fact that his NP is single target, meaning he will take a few turns to take out all the bosses in the last wave. |
Gilgamesh | Gilgamesh is the perfect Servant for any boss rush scenarios that involve several Servants. His Enuma Elish hits incredibly hard and he is extremely self-sufficient as a damage dealer. He can function even without a strong support setup as long as he has even a little critical star support. | |
Eric Bloodaxe Spartacus Arash | Thanks to their low cost and strong AoE Noble Phantasms, they are the perfect throwaway Servants to heavily damage everyone in the last wave, after which teammates can clean up. They are, however, incredibly squishy due to low stats and lack of strong survival tools. |
Forest
A fairly simple node as Western Servants are extremely abundant in all classes. The enemy composition is similar to the previous nodes in that the first two waves consist of solely Assassins with Servants in a different class functioning as bosses in the last wave.
Western Only | |
Recommended Servants
Servant | Bonus | Description |
Nikola Tesla | Tesla has both an extremely fast NP generation rate and an AoE Noble Phantasm that hits many of the bosses (including all three bosses in the toughest difficulty) extra hard. Tesla makes for a great choice for the later quests. | |
Cu Chulainn (Alter) | Great single target damage output and fantastic survivability ensures Cu Alter will stay useful throughout every difficulty. | |
Nitocris | +50% | The best mob clearer for this event. With high bonus damage during the event and instant access to her Noble Phantasm, Nitocris has no trouble wiping out either the first or second wave, and can deal a lot of damage against the last wave. Don’t expect her Instant Kill to trigger against the bosses however. |
Robin Hood | +50% | The chivalrous hero we all need and deserve. For players that prefer a team built around one budget heavy nuker, Robin Hood is the man for the job. He might not get the job done as fast as Tesla, but every Noble Phantasm of his deals tremendous damage against anything in these quests. |
Elisabeth Bathory (Brave) | +100% | Thanks to a humongous 100% bonus damage from the event, Brave Liz is an excellent choice for players without strong limited Servants. Of all the difficulties, she will only struggle with the Archer boss in the lowest difficulty. |
Cavern
At first sight it might seem like a small restriction, but Fate has a massive roster of King or Queen Servants, many of whom are usually strong performers. The enemy composition for this node is also quite troublesome as it changes between difficulties, meaning aside from running neutral damage or Berserkers, players will have to readjust their teams as they clear each difficulty.
No Kings or Queens | |
Recommended Servants
Servant | Bonus | Description |
Minamoto-no-Raikou | Most of the King or Queen Servants have the Heaven or Earth traits, making them an easy target for Raikou. Her class also means she has no fear of doing reduced damage and can be the main damage dealer for all difficulties. | |
Cu Chulainn (Alter) Sakata Kintoki Heracles Ibaraki-Douji | +50% (Ibaraki only) | All of them are strong single target Berserkers that pass the restriction for this challenge. Amongst them, Ibaraki will offer the best sustained damage output thanks to her event bonus. |
Zhuge Liang (El Melloi II) | He may not have a crown but he will always be the king of gameplay in Fate Grand Order. As he is not weak to any of the enemies and is the best support possible for any damage dealer in the game at the moment, Zhuge is simply the best one can get. | |
Lancelot Tamamo Cat Frankenstein Darius III Spartacus | Good AoE Berserker options for players that can boost their NP gauge and keep them alive throughout the first two waves. | |
Oda Nobunaga | Nobu will struggle in the Demonic difficulty, but for other difficulties she is extremely useful. The abundance of Saber mobs and Servants with Riding / Divine traits make her a fantastic F2P option for players without other options. |
Snowfield
Da Vinci’s List is a more restrictive male-only requirement, with only certain male Servants being part of the list (along with D’eon and Ushiwakamaru). This challenge features many Lancer enemies, making it particularly tricky due to most Saber powerhouses being females and therefore unable to participate. To make matters worse, two out of four difficulties feature an Archer boss in the third wave to prey on any Sabers Masters may want to bring along.
Da Vinci's List Only | |
Recommended Servants
Servant | Bonus | Description |
Zhuge Liang (El Melloi II) | Zhuge is the best choice for any Masters who want to blow through this quest quickly and efficiently. His offensive buffs are potent, but his defensive buffs and NP battery are the factors that make him so reliable for these kinds of challenge quests. | |
Cu Chulainn (Alter) Sakata Kintoki Vlad III | There are few available single target Berserkers for this quest, but thankfully, they are all fantastic at their job. Cu Alter offers the best chance of clearing the quest without a proper supporting team, while Vlad will outperform all competition in an Arts team setup. Kintoki has the best short-term damage, but is also the most fragile out of the three. | |
Ozymandias | With the ability to act as both NP battery for the team and a powerful damage dealer in his own right, Ozymandias is one of the best all-rounders one could bring. This challenge quest also does not have any Assassin enemies, meaning players can take the King of Kings into the challenge without any worries about class disadvantage. | |
Siegfried Gawain Lancelot (Saber) Rama | These Sabers can help take out the Lancer enemies efficiently. Do note that they won’t be very effective against the two Archer bosses in the Expert and Demonic difficulty respectively. | |
Hans Christian Andersen William Shakespeare Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart | The holy trinity of budget supports are, thankfully, all available for this challenge quest, offering a lot of team building flexibility thanks to their low Party Cost. Hans is a cornerstone for many Arts teams and provides the team with both offensive and defensive tools. Shakespeare and Mozart are tailored towards more offensive approaches and require more extensive setup, but the benefits they bring for their low cost are very much worth it. |
Lava Tube
This is a very easy node. The enemy composition consists mostly of Caster mobs and Berserker bosses, with the exception of Demonic difficulty having two Lancer bosses. A strong Rider can carry this node with proper support. Do note that the bosses are all males, so anti-Male Servants can definitely find a lot of use here.
Shorter than 165cm | |
Recommended Servants
Servant | Bonus | Description |
Zhuge Liang (El Melloi II) | “I swear i thought he was taller”. Being Zhuge is truly suffering. Not only does he look out of place in this array of beautiful ladies under 165 cm, he is yet again being overworked by every Master out there. Who said that being so good at their job is a blessing? | |
Orion Euryale Tamamo-no-Mae (Lancer) Queen Medb | All of the best anti-male specialists in the game are available for this challenge quest, and while they won’t do particularly well against the Caster mobs (barring Queen Medb), they should be able to handle any male bosses the game throws at them. Do note that Euryale and Orion will struggle against Romulus and Leonidas in the Demonic difficulty, so plan accordingly. | |
Francis Drake Altria Pendragon (Santa Alter) Mordred (Rider) Alexander | These are AoE Rider options for fast clearing. Amongst these, Drake is the most well-rounded with her combination of strong NP damage, Star Generation and fast NP generation. Santa Alter and Alexander are strong F2P options, with Santa Alter being one of the strongest AoE hitters in the game, while Alexander is easy to raise to NP5 and brings strong supportive abilities. Mordred Rider can cycle through multiple Noble Phantasms during the battle, but to bring out her full potential she will require further team support. | |
Jeanne d'Arc (Alter) | With the majority of the bosses being Berserkers, Jeanne Alter is an excellent candidate to vaporize them all with her dark flames. | |
Ibaraki-Douji | +50% | Since most of the bosses are Berserkers, Ibaraki’s value is not as high in this node as she would be in other nodes since other Servants will have a 2x class advantage multiplier as opposed to her 1.5x. However, she is still extremely good thanks to event bonus damage and the ability to hit both Caster mobs and Lancer bosses for increased damage. |
Castle Gates
Meeting this restriction is not particularly hard thanks to the large roster of original Servants. The mobs for this node are mainly Sabers, with the exception of Advanced difficulty having Archer mobs instead. The tricky part of this quest is Amakusa in Demonic difficulty if players lack the right Berserkers or Avengers, but generally it is not a particularly challenging node.
Servants that originally appeared in FGO | |
Recommended Servants
Servant | Bonus | Description |
Minamoto-no-Raikou | With Demonic and Demon Lord difficulty both featuring different classes in the last wave, Raikou is the natural choice to handle them. Additionally, she will deal bonus damage against several of them, including Gawain, Cu Chulainn, Siegfried and Altria. | |
Ibaraki-Douji Sakata Kintoki Cu Chulainn (Alter) | +50% (Ibaraki only) | These are the reliable Berserkers available for this node, and they will be useful throughout all difficulties with their high and consistent damage. Their survivability is still on the lower side with the exception of Cu Alter, so bringing support to help keep them alive is highly advised. |
Jeanne d'Arc (Alter) Edmond Dantes | As the only available high-rarity Avengers, they are an excellent answer to Amakusa Shirou in the Demonic difficulty. Their usefulness does extend to the other difficulties if players lack strong Servants with class advantage, as their neutral damage is quite valuable in multi-class challenges like these. | |
Nikola Tesla Oda Nobunaga | Both Servants are Archers with strong AoE and bonus damage against common traits. A lot of the bosses in this challenge have the Heaven or Earth trait or the Riding/Divinity traits for Tesla and Nobu to abuse respectively. The abundance of Saber enemies throughout all four difficulties also make them quite valuable. They are, however, vulnerable to Cu Chulainn in the Demon Lord difficulty. In this case, bringing a Saber along to take care of Cu specifically is a good idea. | |
Eric Bloodaxe Darius III Kiyohime Arash | These Servants are decent F2P options for wave clearing with low Party Cost. While they most likely won’t be able to kill the last wave with their Noble Phantasms, their damage should still weaken the bosses enough for the rest of the team to clean up. |
Pyramid
It is not an exaggeration to say this is the node tailor-made to showcase our new Lancer. Every enemy is a Servant with Evil Alignment, ensuring that Vlad III will have a great time, especially considering that the story support Vlad III even comes at level 90 and NP level 5. The last node of the whole gauntlet doesn’t pose much of a challenge, even for Masters with a less optimized Servant selection.
Heroes of Justice | |
Recommended Servants
Servant | Bonus | Description |
Vlad III (Extra) | +50% | Support: Vlad’s Noble Phantasm will deal strong damage against everything in this quest barring Saber enemies thanks to a combination of the Anti-Evil damage modifier on his Noble Phantasm and the event bonus damage boost. |
Gilgamesh Nikola Tesla | In any challenge full of Servant enemies, Gilgamesh will be the stellar pick because of Enuma Elish’s anti-Servant bonus damage. Tesla has narrower coverage, but still hits extremely hard against any Servants with the Heaven or Earth trait and has a higher Noble Phantasm up time. | |
Minamoto-no-Raikou | Berserker? Check. AoE Noble Phantasm? Check. Bonus damage modifier against a vast majority of enemies? Check. High Critical Damage output? Check. There is no doubt that Raikou is the full package for this challenge. | |
Ibaraki-Douji Sakata Kintoki Heracles | +50% (Ibaraki only) | As always, Berserker servants are the natural choice for challenges that feature enemies of different classes. All three of these servants possess potent single-target damage, with varying perks: Kintoki brings strong frontal burst, Herc brings consistency, and Ibaraki has both tankiness and her 50% event bonus damage buff. |
Zhuge Liang (El Melloi II) | Zhuge Liang’s value in multi-class challenges is even higher than normal, as his offensive and defensive buffs can turn neutral damage dealers into powerhouses. Just having one Zhuge in the team will make the quest go much more smoothly and quickly. |