New Years Guaranteed Gacha Guide

The very first new years guaranteed gacha has finally shown its face. Whereas last year a similar guaranteed gacha was part of the Thanksgiving celebrations, this year the guaranteed gacha is back to where it originally was on the JP server.

For new Masters a quick summary: the guaranteed gacha will 100% summon at least one 5* Servant. Unlike normal banners, Masters can select only one of these banners, can only roll once, and these banners can only be rolled for with Paid Quartz. This time around the Servants are divided according to their classes. Additionally, all Banners contain all story-locked Servants & rarities of their class even if Masters have not cleared the required Story Chapters yet! Edison can be rolled from the Caster Gacha for example.

The guaranteed gacha is often the place where f2p Masters tend to lose their innocence, and where the odds are actually rather good at getting something you are specifically rolling for. But it is also the place where the most evil of spooks occur. Do you want another duplicate, good sir/madam?

Balancing who you really want, and what is the smart, safe, choice, isn’t easy at all. In this guide we will try to give a little bit of extra information and value to each of the options and some considerations to contemplate. We can’t make this decision for you however, and it remains a gamble even if the odds are good.

Remember, only Paid Quartz can be used for this banner. Paid Quartz is Saint Quartz that can only be obtained from purchasing Saint Quartz from the Da Vinci Store with cold hard currency. It is impossible to obtain this Saint Quartz in-game through quests, log-ins, etc.

When purchasing Saint Quartz, make sure to pay special attention to how many Saint Quartz the pack actually contains and how many of those Saint Quartz are Bonus Quartz. Bonus Quartz do NOT, I repeat, do NOT count towards the Paid Quartz amount and cannot be used for the guaranteed gacha. Try not to underestimate the amount of money you need to spend to participate in this banner.

Essentially, going past the required 30 Paid Quartz with a bigger pack can grant a fair bit of Saint Quartz extra for future banners. But, whether that trade-off is worth it depends on your own budget. The excess Paid Quartz can be saved up and used for the next guaranteed gacha banners.

The next guaranteed gacha will be in July 2019. It’s the most random guaranteed gacha of them all: All 5* Servants ever released will be a part of that banner and it’s a complete shot in the dark as to what will tumble out of that one.

Alright, so, with the Paid Quartz purchased, what’s next? Which banner should be rolled on?

Well, the easy answer to that is: Roll for who you like! Which banner contains the most Servants you would enjoy playing with and roll for that!

…

What? You expected more? Oh alright then.

In my (entirely personal) opinion, what seems to set the tone more than anything else is avoiding failure, that is, avoiding disappointment. This is especially relevant as you have to open your wallet to even participate in this banner. 

Rolling a Servant you really did not want may cause more harm than the happiness resulting from actually rolling the Servant that you were aiming for. The feeling of missing out on something, or suffering from a bad deal can really sour the entire game experience. This disappointment may occur even if what you have actually gained is something that is, in isolation, a good deal.

That would be my personal advice: To try to avoid a situation which has a good chance of disappointment, and to consider a “safer” alternative if there is one. Some Masters have downright quit playing over the results of previous guaranteed gachas. Still, for some Masters who pine for that one particular Servant, the odds are probably too big to give up. Try not to be too emotionally involved and prepare yourself for what may happen if the pendulum does not swing in your favor. Expect disappointment, and hope for the best.

And remember: even if the odds are high, even this gacha is gambling.

Gameplay-wise, the answer to which banners are really tempting is more easily answered. Of course, the various writeups will provide a decent picture of each Servant within these banners, as will the Tier List Explanation to a certain extent. Always keep in mind that our explanations remain subjective to a certain degree - and that they are locked to the current state of the NA server. Some Servants do see some changes in the upcoming period and have more “value” as we move through newer content.

There are two main factors, aside from your personal tastes of course, to take into consideration: Duplicates and holes in your Servant roster.

For many Masters, especially those who tend to spend very little on the game, rolling a duplicate is often a disappointment. A new Servant often provides new gameplay, a new goal and of course more gameplay options. Banners that contain Servants you rolled in the past are therefore less tempting, and Masters should keep in mind that a duplicate is always possible if they choose such a banner anyway. Story-locked Servants are extra tempting to roll for as they cannot appear as a spook in most common rate-ups.

Similarly, it generally takes a while for a Servant Roster to have all possible roles and classes covered. Often, there is one class or role (AoE, ST, Support, etc.) that isn’t as readily available. Using this gacha to fill that hole is a really solid strategy. A special note for the Support role here: for Masters without Merlin/Tamamo/Waver and to an extent, Gilgamesh (Caster), Helena Blavatsky, and so forth, the Caster banner has incredible value. A high rarity support Caster of your own yields some incredible benefits during hard Quests, or, in the case of Waver, farming possibilities.

The following table will have some extra commentary and advice on each banner. Again, these are subjective and need to be taken with a measure of salt.