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MMM - Dogged Doggo Doyens are Deferred Deep Delves as Decrepit Dramatist Dictates Densetsu no Dissertation (Nanmei Yumihari Hakkenden Gacha)

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The Modern Magus Magazine

Well this is quite the surprise, but a welcome one - a sudden new event in between the hype of Traum and all of our Anniversary / Summer content feast in a month’s time?

Shame for the western audience that it’s surrounding a piece of Japanese literature few had heard of prior to the event, but it’s never too late to learn, huh?

It’s surprising Bakin’s work never took off in the West. After all, it has an overflow of cute dogs. That always gets the crowds going, right?

Hakkenden Banner 1
NA Release Date: 06/04/2024
Introduction

If I had a dollar for every time a famous figure in Japanese culture was an elderly man, but was made a cute girl in Fate because their daughter helped them produce their works at some point, I’d have $2, and boy if that isn’t going into my Summer gacha funds.

And hey, given we got a new addition to the old man roster in the last gacha, I’ll forgive it this time.

Servant Data
Rider
Riding B

Increase your Quick Card effectiveness by 8%.

Magic Resistance B

Increase your Debuff Resist by 17.5%.

Divinity C

Apply Damage Plus for yourself (Total Card Damage +150).

Overview

As a 5* Rider, Bakin unfortunately seems to embody some of the lesser quirks of the class. Riders have some of the lower base stat totals of any class, and it can result in Attack stats like Bakin’s, sitting clean at the second-lowest for her class and rarity, only above Medb. She does compensate for it with the second-best HP, but unless you’re specifically a full support (which, hint, she’s not) that’s ultimately a strict drawback.

While thankfully Bakin gets her fill’s worth of HP for that tradeoff, it’s still not a great position to be put in.

Her passives are more or less typical, too. With modest ranks in Riding, Magic Resistance, and Divinity, she gets a decent boost to her Quick cards, some resilience to debuffs, and a minute boost to card damage in exchange for weakness to anti-Divine trait effects.

Not a particularly stellar start.

NP Generation
Servant Skills
Noble Phantasm
Conclusion

So how is Bakin, looking at the big picture? On one hand, she’s looking like a dog’s dinner (In British speak, this is somehow a compliment):

Bakin makes for a solid farmer. In spite of her pathetic base NP gain, somehow her NP makes up for it with interest, being able to loop consistently in a good range of setups. Add in her ability to run Black Grail setups and high damage ceiling when hitting her effective traits, and she’s probably going to be the ideal option for farming nodes, even for those not in her class advantage.

Bakin has a singular, if very powerful, supportive niche. The Eight Virtues’ buff is one of the strongest singular buff skills in the game, providing unmatched offensive and defensive support in one, long-lasting, relatively-low cooldown package. While it’s still not enough to make her a valuable dedicated support, this support alone, combined with the minor 10% gauge charge she can provide to allies, may make her a worthwhile off-support in some situations.

However, sometimes it’s also best to let sleeping dogs lie:

As I feel like I’m saying a lot lately, being able to do Black Grail farming setups doesn’t excuse mediocrity otherwise. The Rider class in particular is very harsh on the competition for farming, especially Arts, with Habetrot being a high-damage, high-consistency Arts farmer with a similar aptitude for Black Grail setups, and, unlike almost any other Servant in the game, she’s available to everyone at any time at NP5, with no need for event reruns or permanent Main Interludes. While her supportive capabilities do let her stand out a little, Bakin fails to do anything that justifies her gacha SSR price tag compared to Habetrot.

Honestly, at this point introducing any AOE Arts Rider feels a little unfair. Habetrot is practically a gift directly from Kinoko Nasu to the rosters of FGO players, and as a result it’s very hard for another Servant to waltz into her specialty and beat her. Bakin is unfortunately no different in that regard.

While she has some fun tools to play with, such as her Arts card-based damage ramping from Gesaku Zanmai, as well as her incredibly powerful ally buff and the dual effective damage buffs on her NP, in a practical sense she can’t do much to distinguish herself.

And frankly, it presents an issue for me. The MMM’s general objective is to assess whether a Servant is only worth obtaining for your love of the character (no seal of approval), powerful enough to make a meaningful contribution to a Servant roster (seal of approval), or a centralizing Servant who can perform roles in gameplay that no other option can (recommendation). Were she in any other class, it’d be simple for Bakin to be handed the Seal and be done with it.

But Habetrot makes things difficult, since the bar for a passing farming Rider in FGO suddenly becomes “are they any better than Habetrot?” rather than “are they capable of farming class advantage consistently?” And frankly, it feels unfair to adjust my own assessment criteria solely because some Scottish midget with a big gun exists.

So here, Rath™ Seal of Approval, with the “Please bear in mind you can use Habetrot if you want.” disclaimer on the side.

Outro

A single new Servant means a short MMM, and this one is no different. Based on what people have spoken about in datamines, we may be due another gacha and Servant attached for this event, but I’m keeping that under wraps for both myself and the viewers.

Until then, remember to send your little puppers on errands, and I’ll catch you all on the flipside!

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