MMM - Illusory Insectoid Invoked Invents Industrial Inhuman Instruments In Inspired Implementation (Kashin Koji)

The Modern Magus Magazine

Well, that content drought ended faster than expected. And with a lotto event, too!

I suppose maybe the great first-quarter drought we’ve been used to by now isn’t so bad this year. Then again, it isn’t the first quarter anymore.

In any case, we’ve got a return of the Ninja Warrior ripoff-style event, this time with actual ninjas, who would’ve thought. And the Prilya crew are involved too. Because you can’t have a fatal death game televised for entertainment without underage girls, too.

Introduction

You know Naruto is a cultural icon at this point when it’s easier to find info on a character’s Naruto expie than their actual historical figure. All-around mysterious sorcerer figure in Japanese folklore, skilled in the art of illusions, and maker of Karakuri (at least, in the Fate lore), huh?

An effective bait to make me spend my Quartz right before Summer and a story chapter, but don’t you know?

Genjutsu of that level doesn’t work on me!

Servant Data

Assassin

QQAAB (Archer)

Quick Card

Arts Card

Buster Card

5

4

3

5

8

Attribute	Earth
Alignment	Neutral Evil

Stage 1
Stage 2
Stage 3
Stage 4

Max HP 12,568

HP Rank

Max ATK 11,674

ATK Rank

Base Atk	1,804	Base HP	1,843
Max Atk	11,674	Max HP	12,568
Grail Atk	12,779	Grail HP	13,769

Traits

Card Hits	5	4	3	5	8
Per Hit	0.50%	0.50%	0.50%	0.50%	0.50%

	NP per Hit (%)	0.50%
NP when Attacked (%)	4%

	Star Absorption	102
Star Generation per Hit	25.0%

Invi Shield

Genjutsu (Gaijutsu) EX

Apply Invincible to all allies (1 time, 3 turns).
Increase own NP Gauge.
Gain Critical Stars.

Show Info

Lvl	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
NP +	20%	21%	22%	23%	24%	25%	26%	27%	28%	30%
Stars +	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	20
CD	9	9	9	9	9	8	8	8	8	7

First on Koji’s skill lineup is Genjutsu (Gaijutsu). With a canonical obstinance to call it by the name in parenthesis, or “Gaihou”, this skill now lets you throw Uchiha clan members into your bizarro crossover fanfics even more easily.

This skill is superpowered from the get-go, providing a 1-time, 3-turn Invincible buff to the entire team, on top of a solid 30% NP gauge charge for Koji herself, and if that wasn’t enough, a 20 star bomb as the cherry on top. It goes without saying this is a potent skill, acting as a gauge charger, team defensive cooldown and minor offensive tool all in one. Considering how powerful all the existing Illusion-based skills are in this game (wielded by the Merlins), it’s probably unsurprising this one is strong, too.

The flaw to it, of course, is a long cooldown. While a 9-turn base cooldown isn’t heinous considering the power of the skill, it does mean Koji’s gauge charger is on a longer wait than most, especially for the amount of gauge it provides. A shame, but a worthy trade for this much power in one skill.

Quick Up

Innovation for Slaughter B+

Increase own Quick Card effectiveness (3 turns).
Increase own ATK (3 turns).
Apply buff to self (3 turns): Increase own NP Gauge when attacking with Quick Cards.

Show Info

Lvl	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Quick +	20%	21%	22%	23%	24%	25%	26%	27%	28%	30%
ATK +	10%	11%	12%	13%	14%	15%	16%	17%	18%	20%
NP (when using Quick Cards) +	5%	5.5%	6%	6.5%	7%	7.5%	8%	8.5%	9%	10%
CD	8	8	8	8	8	7	7	7	7	6

Next is Innovation for Slaughter. Gotta say, it’s a metal as hell skill name, and that compliment is completely meaningless because I’m the one who translated it that way. No, no, please - hold your applause.

This is Koji’s primary offensive steroid, providing 30% Quick boost and 20% Attack Up to her for 3 turns, as well as a buff which provides her with 10% NP gauge every time she uses a regular Quick card for 3 turns. The benefits to her damage output from this skill are naturally great, while also improving her stargen and NP gain off her primary card type by a decent sum.

Getting NP gauge off of every Quick card she uses also looks incredible on paper, but it’s a little deceptive. It doesn’t apply to her NP for one, and with a BAAQQ card deck, she’s actually only putting out 2 Quick cards every 3 turns, so even in ideal circumstances this buff will translate to 40% NP gauge at most if you use it in the middle of a 3-turn card cycle.

Naturally it’ll be satisfying to get that bonus NP gauge, and it improves her Quick card NP gain by a weird proxy, but it’s fundamentally not a particularly impactful buff, especially for farming purposes.

Still, it’s a strong offensive buff with a good duration, and even the relatively harsh 8-turn base cooldown on it won’t prevent it from being an essential aspect of Koji’s damage profile.

Stun

Mystic Eye B

Chance to inflict Bound (similar to Stun) on an enemy (1 turn).
Increase own Critical Star Gather Rate (1 turn).
Increase own Critical Strength (1 turn).

Show Info

Lvl	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Bound Chance	50%	55%	60%	65%	70%	75%	80%	85%	90%	100%
Star Gather +	300%	320%	340%	360%	380%	400%	420%	440%	460%	500%
Crit Damage +	50%	55%	60%	65%	70%	75%	80%	85%	90%	100%
CD	9	9	9	9	9	8	8	8	8	7

Lastly is Mystic Eye. Yes, Eye. Singular. She only has one. And they don’t even distinguish it as a certain kind of Mystic Eye, though there’s good reason for that:

There are a multitude of Mystic Eyes in the Fate universe, as you’re probably familiar with, but the most common form is Binding, the very type of Mystic Eyes that Ilya possesses in the original Fate/Stay Night. It’s probably natural to assume that by default, Mystic Eyes are presumed to be Binding-type, unless stated otherwise.

Sort of like how Mana Burst is by default just a burst of raw ether, unless it’s specified to be attuned to an element.

As you might expect, this skill has a 100% chance (modified by debuff resistances) to apply Binding to a targeted enemy, which is just a fancy word for Stun. I expect there may be some specific programming distinctions made in the event or future to make it unique from Stun, but so far as I know there’s no gameplay difference right now. In addition, this skill boosts Koji’s star weight by +500% and Critical Damage by 100% for 1 turn, enabling a particularly devastating crit turn for her.

Stun, or effects like it, are very useful utility tools to have around in difficult content, doubly so ones that are fairly consistent to apply, like this one. Add in the big crit buffs and Koji is more than capable of eviscerating her foes the turn it’s used, even if it doesn’t have much use in farming content.

The true flaw to this skill is its cooldown, packing a 9-turn base cooldown for no conceivable reason - I’d understand it more if the Binding debuff applied to every enemy, not just one. In any case, this skill’s on a pretty harsh cooldown, so Koji’s kit as a whole takes a while to get ready once more.

Noble Phantasm

Karakuri Genpou - Shishifunjin B

Deal damage to all enemies.
40% Chance to inflict Instant Death on all enemies.

<Overcharge>

Chance to inflict Bound on all enemies (1 turn). [Activates first]
Deal supereffective damage against [Bound] inflicted enemies. [Activates first]

Show Info/Video

Karakuri Genpou - Shishifunjin

Mechanized Illusion - Lion's Mad Rush

	Rank	Classification	Hit-Count
	B	Anti-Personnel/Anti-Army	8

Effect	Deal damage to all enemies. 40% Chance to inflict Instant Death on all enemies.

Level	1	2	3	4	5
Damage +	600%	800%	900%	950%	1000%
Death Chance	40%	40%	40%	40%	40%

Overcharge Effect	Chance to inflict Bound on all enemies (1 turn). [Activates first] Deal supereffective damage against [Bound] inflicted enemies. [Activates first]

Charge	100%	200%	300%	400%	500%
Stun Chance	60%	70%	80%	90%	100%
Supereffective ATK +	150%	162.5%	175%	187.5%	200%

As always, we have the Noble Phantasm to round things off. Karakuri Genpou - Shishifunjin is a wonderful mouthful to say, but thankfully all we have to look at is the gameplay.

An AOE Quick NP, this is naturally going to fall under some farming calcs later, but first we have the effects. Before dealing damage, this NP has a 60% chance to inflict Binding to every enemy, scaling on Overcharge. This alone is a really great effect, having a high chance of leaving enemies incapable of acting, even if they survive Koji’s NP, but also has inherent synergy itself - as after this comes the damage, with a Super-Effective modifier versus Bound enemies, scaling on Overcharge as well.

So essentially, versus any enemy, this NP has a 66% (after factoring in Koji’s Debuff Success Rate Up passive) chance at baseline to deal a significant 50% bonus damage, with the odds and damage growing even further with Overcharge. Naturally that doesn’t factor in enemy debuff resistance, but that alone is a pretty nice potential damage boost, and Koji can make that damage boost nigh-guaranteed for a single enemy with her Mystic Eye skill.

And lastly, this NP has a 40% Instant Death chance applied after all the damage to every enemy struck. So far as NP’s go this is pretty low, but when farming many enemies pack low natural Death Resistance, so this has a decent chance of picking up a stray kill if Koji’s damage output is lacking (but obviously, we’d prefer if it weren’t). On the whole, it’s an insignificant detail.

So with the effects laid out, let’s look into the damage output and refund. At the very baseline, Koji’s NP with just her own skills active will deal a pretty weak 18.9k damage neutral. However, if she manages to hit an enemy afflicted by Bound, that jumps up to 28.3k, well above the average for an AOE Servant on their own. Naturally this isn’t consistent outside of an enemy you target with Mystic Eye, but most of the time Koji will get this damage bonus, so it’s worth factoring in.

The baseline refund is far more impressive, providing Koji with 16% NP gauge with her own buffs live. When thrown into a typical double Ruler Skadi composition, that refund bumps up to 32%. With a 50% gauge CE in the mix, she can easily meet the benchmarks for 3-turn looping.

In such setups, her damage output is nothing to scoff at. With the aforementioned setup, 1k Atk fous and an appropriate 50% gauge CE, she manages to deal 57k dmg neutral wave 1 and 2 (85.7k if they’re Bound), and 80k on wave 3 (120k if bound). While those numbers aren’t mind-blowing, it is a fairly consistent farm, and one that easily meets damage benchmarks with class advantage.

…but can she run Black Grail setups? I’m glad to say she can, though the refund setup is a little tight. Double Ruler Skadi is a necessity, and you also need a Reines or Castoria as a 3rd support on Battlesuit Swap, simply because OG Skadi doesn’t provide enough refund off her Quick buff compared to a NP gain buff. Koji will also need level 10 Mana Loading, but that’s often a given for Black Grail setups, especially when you have a 30% gauge charger.

In such setups, Koji’s damage output skyrockets, dealing 117k neutral waves 1 and 2 (176k bound), and a hefty 136k (204k bound) for the final wave. While not breaking any records, that’s enough damage to farm neutral nodes, even assuming no enemy gets bound except the boss on wave 3 for maximum efficiency.

At this point, that kind of performance is frankly kind of standard, but it’s worth keeping in mind there are just as many mediocre farmers out there who can’t manage consistent farm loops with class advantage as there are ones who are very ordinarily capable like Koji.

Conclusion

So how’s Koji on the whole? Well on one hand, she’s starting you down with her Doujutsu, casting a Genjutsu to make you think she’s the best Servant around:

As I’ve already established, Koji is a solid farmer. She can handle class advantage nodes with relative ease in 50% gauge CE setups, and if you’re resolute on using her for it, she can also do something resembling universal farming with Black Grail, though the setup is fairly fragile on refund and high investment. With the addition of her potentially high damage peaks and Instant Death on her NP to perhaps carry her where damage can’t, she isn’t too bad an option for a farming Assassin.

Koji has a pretty decent profile for high-difficulty content. Access to Stun-like effects on AOE NPs is rare, especially with the high application rate and refund that Koji has access to in her own NP. Add in her solid team support from her Invincible buff, and the overall utility of her high stargen and Binding debuffs, and she’s got plenty to make her desirable as a damage dealer in the game’s greater challenges.

However, that’s ultimately a trick, and reality paints a grimmer picture:

While Koji is a good farmer overall, in comparison to more budget farming options or the better universal farmers out there, she’s fairly outclassed. Grey and the Summer Valkyries are welfare farming Assassins with a similar investment demand for their optimal farming setups, while other high-rarity Assassins like Tezcatlipoca and Huyan Zhou perform similarly, if not significantly better.

At this point it’s almost routine, but Koji is yet another member of the Servants who are capable farmers, but primarily in their class advantage, even if they’re technically capable of universal farming with a high investment setup. That doesn’t make her bad by any means, but simply not particularly stand-out compared to the rest of FGO’s continually expanding Servant roster.

What she does have to her credit, though, is her pretty impressive performance in more difficult content. Stun/Charm/Binding tied to NP’s are incredibly useful in a number of scenarios, especially when you have NP refund and overall NP gain as good as Koji’s. Add in her small selection of team support tools and she makes any team more resilient, while still providing a scary degree of offense if she’s supported properly.

So while she may not be that exceptional on the farming front, she is capable, and combined with her pretty fun strategy to be deployed in difficult content, she proves an interesting Servant to use, if nothing else. Rath™ Seal of Approval.

Outro

An unexpected event, given how close we are to an exciting new set of story chapters and game mechanics to come with, but a welcome one. Compared to most, I’ve never been a hardcore lotto event grinder, but I always appreciate the sudden rejuvenation to my ascension materials and QP supplies, regardless if the Servants involved are worth my interest.

Now, if I could actually learn to organize my present box so it doesn’t overflow in the first week of such events…well, then I would really be living in an illusion. Until next time!

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MMM - Illusory Insectoid Invoked Invents Industrial Inhuman Instruments In Inspired Implementation (Kashin Koji)

The Modern Magus Magazine

QQAAB (Archer)

Quick Card

Quick Card

Arts Card

Arts Card

Buster Card

Traits

Tags

Invi Shield

Quick Up

Stun

Karakuri Genpou - Shishifunjin

Outro

Links

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