JP Release Date: 08/10/2022
NA Release Date: 08/2024
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This is a surprisingly crowded anniv season. Right on the heels of Arc, we get Proto Merlin, making her mobile FGO debut as a summer unit, despite having never had her base version released. There’s a first time for everything, I suppose. Proto Merlin is our third Pretender, and like the two before her, she’s silly good. She’s another Arts support, with batteries and steroids and the whole shebang. She’s also, well, basically just Merlin but Arts. This isn’t quite the compliment it would have been a few years ago, but if nothing else she’s a solid sidegrade to Tamamo and Reines (depending on what you need), and for players without stacked support benches, she’s invaluable.
Let’s get into this one, shall we?
Base Atk | 1,786 | Base HP | 2,027 |
---|---|---|---|
Max Atk | 11,556 | Max HP | 13,822 |
Grail Atk | 12,650 | Grail HP | 15,143 |
Increase your Arts Card effectiveness by 4%.
Increase your Debuff Chance Rate by 11%.
Increase NP Gauge each turn by 5% for yourself.
Begin battle with +20% NP Gauge.
Increase your Critical Strength by 10%
Increase your Mental Debuff Resist by 10%.
Increase your Death Resist by 10%.
Card Hits | 4 | 3 | 4 | 5 | - |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Per Hit | 0.53% | 0.53% | 0.53% | 0.53% | 0.53% |
NP per Hit (%) | 0.53% | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
NP when Attacked (%) | 3% |
Star Absorption | 102 | |
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Star Generation per Hit | 19.8% |
Lady Avalon has a slightly more defensive stat lean than our only other SSR Pretender, which is fine for a support, but her stats really don’t matter, as she’s not here to hit things and health fluctuations are too marginal to matter much in most cases. Her internals are fine; her deck is not conducive to star gen, and her Arts and Quick cards are both very slightly below the low-end of normal. She has enough in-kit NP charge and star gen, though, that her internals are largely irrelevant in practice.
Merlin has a huge range of passives, as is typical for Extra classes. She starts with Territory Creation, for marginally better NP gain, and Item Construction, which makes her third skill very slightly more reliable. Mixed-Blood is the same as base Merlin’s, giving 5% charge each turn, and Rapid Casting is a unique passive that gives Merlin 20% charge at the start of battle. This stacks with Mana Loading, too, making it very easy for Merlin to NP asap. She finishes off with Independent Manifestation, giving a mix of middling-use buffs. Crit damage up doesn’t mean much on a full support, and Mental Debuff Resistance and Death Resistance are unreliable and niche. Still, lots of passives, some of which are very good.
For appends, the only one that matters is Mana Loading. Mana Loading lets Proto Merlin NP instantly with one fewer enemy on the field (more on that later) and is therefore worth it. The other two are basically useless and you can ignore them safely.
Ascension Materials
Stage | Cost | Materials |
---|---|---|
2 |
100,000
|
|
3 |
300,000
|
|
4 |
1,000,000
|
|
Max |
3,000,000
|
Skill Enhancement Materials
Level | Cost | Materials |
---|---|---|
1 → 2 | 200,000 | |
2 → 3 | 400,000 | |
3 → 4 | 1,200,000 | |
4 → 5 | 1,600,000 | |
5 → 6 | 4,000,000 | |
6 → 7 | 5,000,000 | |
7 → 8 | 10,000,000 | |
8 → 9 | 12,000,000 | |
9 → 10 | 20,000,000 |
Append Skill Materials
Level | Cost | Materials |
---|---|---|
1 → 2 | 200000 | |
2 → 3 | 400000 | |
3 → 4 | 1200000 | |
4 → 5 | 1600000 | |
5 → 6 | 4000000 | |
6 → 7 | 5000000 | |
7 → 8 | 10000000 | |
8 → 9 | 12000000 | |
9 → 10 | 20000000 |
Lady Avalon’s skillset is literally just Merlin’s with some slight changes. Recommended skill order is 1>3>2, but all three are very good and no ordering is wrong here.
Increase Arts Card effectiveness for an ally (3 turns).
Increase Max HP for an ally (3 turns).
Increase Critical Strength for an ally (1 turn).
Lvl | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Arts + | 30% | 32% | 34% | 36% | 38% | 40% | 42% | 44% | 46% | 50% |
Max HP + | 2000 | 2100 | 2200 | 2300 | 2400 | 2500 | 2600 | 2700 | 2800 | 3000 |
Crit Damage + | 50% | 55% | 60% | 65% | 70% | 75% | 80% | 85% | 90% | 100% |
CD | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 6 |
Light in Those Hands is Arts Hero Creation. That’s literally all it is. 50% Arts up and a 3k Max HP increase for 3 turns, with a 100% crit damage up on the turn it’s used. Done. The crit damage buff is kind of limited on Merlin due to its short direction and timing, and it’s even more awkward here, given that Arts Servants typically need their Arts buffs on turn 1 for refund, and you typically don’t have stars yet at that point. Arts Servants also tend to have lower crit damage due to their NP-focused kits and their lower average number of Buster cards. The crit damage buff here is mostly incidental—the Arts buff is the draw. And the Arts buff is great! We take those.
Increase ATK for all allies (3 turns).
Increase NP Gauge for all allies by 20%.
Increase NP Overcharge level for all allies by 1 (1 time, 3 turns).
Lvl | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
ATK + | 10% | 11% | 12% | 13% | 14% | 15% | 16% | 17% | 18% | 20% |
CD | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 6 |
Flower Blooming on a Summer Night is a variation on Dreamlike Charisma. Like Dreamlike Charisma, is gives 20% charge and 20% attack up, which is nice. It also gets an overcharge buff, in exchange for a turn longer cooldown. This is largely a positive trade for Arts specifically, as Castoria stall benefits substantially from sources of Overcharge up. More interestingly, though, this Overcharge buff actually determines whether Lady Avalon is better for damage push than Tamamo is. Servants with damage buffs that scale with Overcharge and last for multiple turns typically get more overall damage push from Proto Merlin than from Tamamo, while the reverse is true for everyone else. It’s an interesting balancing act, in some respects.
Apply Invincible to all allies (1 turn).
Inflict Delayed Debuff on all enemies: Decrease NP Gauge by 1 after a turn (1 time). [Cannot stack]
Increase own NP Gauge per enemy on the field.
Lvl | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
NP per enemy + | 10% | 11% | 12% | 13% | 14% | 15% | 16% | 17% | 18% | 20% |
CD | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 8 |
Succubus’s Vicinity is Proto Merlin’s answer to Illusion. Like Illusion, it’s an AoE Invuln, but it also comes with an AoE NP drain. This is usually bad on an invuln, for timing reasons, as draining an enemy’s NP gauge keeps them from NP-ing on the turn you use your defensive skill. Fortunately, Lady Avalon gets around that by making her drain delayed. She can protect against NPs two turns in a row—once via the invuln, and then once the turn after via the drain. Nifty! The skill also charges Proto Merlin’s NP gauge 20% per enemy on the field. Lady Avalon can have up to 60% immediate charge from other sources (her passive, her second skill, and Mana Loading), so in any fight with at least two enemies, Proto Merlin can NP immediately with just her own kit. Realistically there will also be a Castoria somewhere on the field, though, so even one enemy is typically enough. This skill also gains a turn of cooldown relative to base Merlin’s version, which would normally be a disadvantage on a defensive skill… but Proto Merlin can usually count on a Castoria being available to provide Solemn Defense, making the cooldown on this not much of an issue.
Increase Max HP for all allies (3 turns).
Increase NP Gauge each turn for all allies (3 turns).
<Overcharge>
Apply to self: Gain Critical Stars each turn (5 turns).
Winds of Avalon
Utopia Waiting in the Distance
Rank | Classification | Hit-Count | |
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A | Anti-Personnel |
Effect | Increase Max HP for all allies (3 turns). |
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Level | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
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Overcharge Effect | Apply to self: Gain Critical Stars each turn (5 turns). |
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Charge | 100% | 200% | 300% | 400% | 500% |
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5 | 10 | 15 | 20 | 25 |
Winds of Avalon basically Garden of Avalon for whales. If you have NP1 Proto Merlin, it’s mostly a downgrade, getting a bit more upfront healing (in the form of a Max HP increase) in exchange for less healing over time and shorter duration on the charge-per-turn effect. In exchange, the healing and NP charge both scale with NP levels. An NP5 Proto Merlin offers 10% NP charge per turn for 3 turns, which can actually matter for farming, since Proto Merlin NPs for free. She provides the same Arts buffs as Tamamo, but she effectively reduces loop thresholds by 5-10% depending on her NP level. There will be cases where an NP5 Lady Avalon lets a Servant loop, but an NP1 Lady Avalon doesn’t.
I don’t love that, personally. Support NP levels have historically been marginal damage increases, which feels “fairer” to me. But that’s neither here nor there, I suppose.
Anyway, it’s a solid NP, though maybe a little weaker for Arts than for Buster. Stars per turn in Arts teams is a little less valuable due to Arts Servants typically not having as effective of ways to use those stars, and Proto Merlin slots in best as a third-support for double Castoria teams, so you’re less likely to be feeding her Overcharge levels and stacking multiple NPs than you would be with Merlin. This NP has some real value in stall contexts, and whale version may be useful for farming, but on the whole I’d call it a slight downgrade from base Merlin.
Lady Avalon is an Arts support! You use her to support Arts Servants! Wow!
Despite how similar her kit is to Merlin’s, Proto Merlin is more of an in-between role splitting the difference between Tamamo and Reines. She provides less damage than Tamamo and more then Reines (usually), while she provides more charge than Tamamo and less than Reines (again, usually—overcharge, relative NP levels, and fight durations can swing both of these factors one way or another). Assuming you have a full support box, Proto Merlin’s value is significantly lessened. If what you want is damage, Tamamo has you covered. If you want charge and overcharge for Castoria, Reines does that better than Proto Merlin does.
Lady Avalon’s advantage is the specific mix of things she offers. She brings charge and overcharge (like Reines) while also bringing Arts buffs and healing (like Tamamo). She may not be the best at either, strictly speaking, but having both makes her a very safe choice for Arts stall, especially considering she also has a party invuln for emergency situations. Proto Merlin/DPS/Castoria is an extremely stable stall shell. It’s arguably the best in the game now, in fact, especially outside of the “pure” stall setup that is Merlin/Himiko/Castoria. Merlin/Morgan/Castoria mostly wastes Castoria’s Arts buff, where the Proto Merlin equivalent makes full use of both supports’ steroids and thus is likely to move faster assuming you’re using an appropriately strong DPS.
Arts is, fortunately, not hurting for strong damage-dealers to slot-in. It would be easier to name all the bad picks than all the good ones, and even then, the supports pull so much weight, weaker point Servants would probably still work well. Two particularly notable strong choices, though, are Beni-Enma and Lancer Ryouma. Beni gives partywide buff removal resistance, as well as some extra party charge, covering the one major gap in this shell and speeding the team up a little. Ryouma, meanwhile, brings big damage and some utility, while also providing a party overcharge buff that can be cycled with Lady Avalon’s to ensure Castoria is providing four hits of invuln every three turns, effectively negating any survival advantage Reines might bring.
Don’t have Castoria, or don’t want to bring her off support? No problem! Lady Avalon is a meta support in her own right, and while non-Castoria teams will be a lot weaker in relative terms, they can still be very strong with the right setup. Tamamo is a good partner for Lady Avalon, as Tamamo can help to alleviate Proto Merlin’s very long cooldowns. Tamamo/Proto Merlin teams are vulnerable to NPs on staggered or short cooldowns, as well as to powerful crits, but if you’re running a fight that’s short enough you can afford to lose people on an unlucky turn, they can work nicely together.
Cheaper supports can work, too! Mozart brings a lot of nice Arts buffs, for instance, and while he’s unlikely to live to use them twice, you can use a taunt CE to turn that weakness into an advantage, letting him take a turn of hits and die to make way for another party member. Proto Merlin also provides enough healing that a support with lots of defense buffs can be enough to keep the party alive until NP turns—Mash and Waver are obvious candidates. Reines also works well, as her NP’s overcharge buff helps Proto Merlin generate more stars, making her more likely to flood the field.
In non-Castoria teams, damage-dealers who bring party protection are especially valuable. For fights against enemies with ST NPs, or for fights where crits are the main threat, taunt-tanks like Fionn and Percival are especially great. Summer Erice actually also has a taunt-dodge combo, making her a great ST alternative to the two above. Summer Kiara, alternatively, has a partywide one-hit dodge, which she can cycle with Proto Merlin’s invuln to deal with enemy NPs.
It’s also worth mentioning again that Proto Merlin probably enables certain atypical farming setups, thanks to the passive charge on her NP. Even at NP5, Proto Merlin provides at most 40% total charge in farming contexts—10% going into waves 2 and 3, and 20% that can be used whenever—but the fact that that charge can be split over three waves and comes on a Servant who pushes Arts NP refund means there are Servants who will be able to loop certain combinations of enemies they couldn’t otherwise.
I’m not going to go into details on any of these comps, for a few reasons. First off, it would take a lot of time to find these specific situations, lay them out, and give all of their intricacies—and it would only be a small subset of examples anyway. I have a bunch of reviews to get through, and at least one of them (Ibuki’s) is going to be Long, so I’m eliding this in the interest of getting those out more promptly. Perhaps more importantly, though, those refund thresholds will be heavily dependent on Proto Merlin’s NP levels. If you’re going to invest in NP levels, you’re probably better off doing it for damage-dealers you know can loop (so that they can hit higher damage thresholds) rather than on a support who might sometimes enable damage-dealers you may or may not have to loop a little better. Loop setups that depend on Proto Merlin exist, but they aren’t really practical or important, so unless you’re really interested (in which case I’m sure someone else will do an in-depth breakdown of all the possibilities), you can pretty safely ignore Proto Merlin for farming, except as an alternative to Tamamo.
Lady Avalon doesn’t actually need starting charge in order to NP immediately, in most cases. I’d recommend taking advantage of that to the extent possible, which probably means running either Prisma Cosmos or 2030 for a CE. 2030 quickly pushes Proto Merlin’s star gen to levels at which incidental crits are pretty likely, while Prisma helps Lady Avalon NP even more frequently than she normally would.
Support CCs are the best pick for Lady Avalon, though the specifics are pretty open-ended. Buff removal CCs can be situationally handy, while NP damage CCs can be nice for helping the team move a little faster. Healing is also a solid choice, especially since Proto Merlin’s heals come in the form of max HP increases, meaning damage sustained can still be healed off.
Proto Merlin is a support, and as such her stats don’t actually matter that much. If you’re grailing her, it’s for character loyalty, and maybe for having marginally more survivability when stalling. Personally, I’d say it’s not worth it.
Lady Avalon is a meta Arts support. She splits the difference between Reines and Tamamo while also emulating a lot of base Merlin’s value. If you don’t already have Tamamo, Reines, and Merlin, she probably brings some value to you—and if you don’t have Castoria, she definitely does—but if you have all of the existing meta supports, she’s a bit redundant. This is a fine place to be, albeit a little weird—new meta supports usually land with more of a splash.
Overall: 10/10
Single-Target DPS: 1/10
AoE DPS: N/A
Survivability: 7/10
Offensive Utility: 9/10
Defensive Utility: 7/10
Farming Usefulness: 8/10
Definitely Having No Beast Traits Whatsoever: 10/10