New Daily Quests - A Review and Analysis

With the Summer Event coming to a close, the daily Training Ground quests have (finally) been updated to incorporate some of the newer materials. For newer Masters, this is a nice change as the newest Servants often require materials from Singularities new Masters don’t readily have access to.

Sadly the new dailies still have low drop rates and any new materials from Camelot and onward are not included. Events remain the best source of materials. 

In any case, in this Analysis we’re going to cover three facets of the new Training Grounds.The end of the upcoming month is going to feature some of the hardest Quests so far and being prepared is half the battle.

1. We’re going to discuss what new materials can be found in the dailies and in which daily they can be found.
2. We’ll cover how the new monster spawns have reshuffled the old drop rates.
3. We’ll end with some recommendations on what to farm and who to upgrade this week. 

The main purpose of the Training Grounds remains the same despite the update. For new Masters the Training Grounds are the best source of Ascension Pieces and Monuments outside of Event Shops, while for veteran Masters they are the best locations for farming the coveted Skill Gems.

Considering how Skill Gems are often a rarity in Event Shops and mainly limited in large numbers to lucrative lottery-type Events, the Training Grounds will inevitably be a farming mainstay. Realistically, any additional rare material drops should be considered a bonus rather than a target. 

The new drops are introduced in tandem with the corresponding monsters. These monsters often have one core class they are associated with (such as Bicorns with the Lancer class). It thus should come as no surprise that the materials are divided according to the monsters and the class they are associated with.

The changes are as follows

Note that the drop rates for these materials are often 2 to 3 times worse than Free Quests for specific monster materials. Unless the need is dire or there is a ½ AP event going on, it is more efficient to grind the material in a Free Quest or to wait for an Event Shop.

Having additional monsters and materials isn’t always a direct improvement for all Masters. The Training Grounds function by spawning a random set of monsters or Servants. Depending on what spawns, a particular run may or may not have the potential to drop a certain material type.

For example, a spellbook spawn in the Caster Training Ground will always have a chance to drop a Forbidden Page. If no such monsters spawn though, then there will also be no opportunity to get Forbidden Pages. This is particularly useful when tracking any Secret Gem drops as they generally require a gold Monster (not a Servant) to spawn. 

With more Monsters in the pool, supposedly the odds of spawning a particular Monster will be affected as well. However, despite the increased variety in spawns, the drop rates do not seem to be significantly affected.

In practice the effect on the drop rates is fairly minor with only a 0-1% flat percentage change in drop chance for most materials, however the major exceptions are included in the table below.

Cautionary note: the most recent NA drop rates for the old Training Ground didn’t have a very large sample size, so take the following with a grain of salt. The new drop rates should be more accurate but as the NA community gathers more empirical data of their own, the drop rates may need updating.

(APD = Average AP per Drop, the amount of AP you have to spend on average to get a drop)

In general, ½ AP Training Ground Events are excellent opportunities to replenish your stock of Skill Gems. Grinding enough Secret Skills Gems is generally a problem but crucial to properly powering up a Servant roster.

Servants become a lot stronger and more versatile with skills at rank 6 or 10. The improved cooldown is essential for many strategies and makes a large difference in overall performance.

Whether to use apples on this event or not depends largely on how desperate you are for skill gems. Using a couple of apples to get level 6 skills is actually a pretty good investment as ½ Training Ground Events aren’t very common and Skill Gems remain elusive until Christmas.

Apart from farming Skill gems, with ½ AP some of the Free Quests offer some interesting material farming opportunities. Do note that even at best these dailies are merely on par with Free Quests for some materials during ½ AP. Focus on Skill Gems first and foremost.

Training Ground Update Infographics

When farming Skill gems, consider sticking to either the 10 AP or the 40 AP variants. It cannot be understated that the drop rate for Secret Gems is terrible and that the amount of Magic Gems dropped while farming for them will be sufficient to keep pace. Only Secret Rider and especially Secret Caster Gems have good drop rates.

The 20 and 30 AP nodes are therefore safe to avoid unless Magic Gems are needed immediately. Similarly, farming normal blue gems is most efficient at 10 AP if the Magic Gems are farmed at the Expert option anyway.

Consider also which particular Servants need to be prepared for future content. The upcoming Prisma Illya Event is actually one of the easier events in the game and meant to be cleared by Masters of every level. Female Servants do receive a large power boost from the event CEs, but preparing specifically for Prisma Illya is a bit overkill. 

Preparing for the event that comes after, Nero Fest, is a much better idea. Nero Fest contains challenges that push teams to the limit.

While the Challenge Quests can be cheesed with the right support and a bunch of resets, preparing a competent team and strategy will be more satisfying and hopefully less frustrating. Nero Fest also includes a very lucrative lottery, so make sure to keep a healthy supply of apples ready for the event.

For Nero Fest prepare the following Servants to gain access to a good foundation and more strategies. This is not an exhaustive list, but more of a...guideline.

Happy Grinding!