Rabbit's Reviews #256: Mandricardo (3* Rider)

As Atlantis’s new 3* Servant, Mandricardo does quite well. He comes with a self-sacrifice gimmick that can be interesting, but in practice he’s actually a remarkably straightforward Arts DPS. He’s a free Servant who will be easy to NP5, and he has good internals and great steroids for an ST Servant. His gimmick is just a bonus, and you can safely ignore it most of the time.

Mandricardo has pretty middling stats as 3* Riders go, with low-average attack and high-average HP. This noncommittal stat spread doesn’t really do him any favors, but his steroids are high enough he ends up with strong damage anyway. His NP gain is a bit above average relative to his deck, and his hit-count spread and innate Arts and Quick buffs mean he will build meter quite quickly. His low-ish hit-counts mean he won’t make a ton of stars, but his Quicks aren’t terrible for that purpose in a pinch, and he also has Riding to boost them further. Mandricardo also has a middling level of Magic Resistance to occasionally let him avoid a debuff.

Ascension Materials

Stage	Cost	Materials
2	30,000	x4 Rider Piece Open Rider Piece configuration options
3	100,000	x8 Rider Piece Open Rider Piece configuration options x10 Void's Dust Open Void's Dust configuration options
4	300,000	x4 Rider Monument Open Rider Monument configuration options x20 Fool's Chain Open Fool's Chain configuration options x4 Meteor Horseshoe Open Meteor Horseshoe configuration options
Max	900,000	x8 Rider Monument Open Rider Monument configuration options x7 Meteor Horseshoe Open Meteor Horseshoe configuration options x16 Great Knight Medal Open Great Knight Medal configuration options

Skill Enhancement Materials

Level	Cost	Materials
1 → 2	50,000	x4 Gem of Rider Open Gem of Rider configuration options
2 → 3	100,000	x8 Gem of Rider Open Gem of Rider configuration options
3 → 4	300,000	x4 Magic Gem of Rider Open Magic Gem of Rider configuration options
4 → 5	400,000	x8 Magic Gem of Rider Open Magic Gem of Rider configuration options x10 Fool's Chain Open Fool's Chain configuration options
5 → 6	1,000,000	x4 Secret Gem of Rider Open Secret Gem of Rider configuration options x20 Fool's Chain Open Fool's Chain configuration options
6 → 7	1,250,000	x8 Secret Gem of Rider Open Secret Gem of Rider configuration options x7 Void's Dust Open Void's Dust configuration options
7 → 8	2,500,000	x13 Void's Dust Open Void's Dust configuration options x3 Warhorse's Young Horn Open Warhorse's Young Horn configuration options
8 → 9	3,000,000	x8 Warhorse's Young Horn Open Warhorse's Young Horn configuration options x16 Shining Silver Crown Open Shining Silver Crown configuration options
9 → 10	5,000,000	x1 Crystallized Lore Open Crystallized Lore configuration options

Mandricardo’s skillset is super straightforward in practice. Recommended skill order is 3>1>2.

Mandricardo favors standard Arts teams. Tamamo is a great partner for him, as she can help keep his innate buffs active nearly constantly (on top of, of course, boosting his damage). Any supports who can provide defense buffs can also help Mandricardo, with Mash and Waver as the obvious picks. Lanling can also be a good partner, as his attack- and crit-damaged-focused buffs pair nicely with what Mandricardo has innately and his damage cut can help Mandricardo with withstanding damage. Jinako, by contrast, can use her targeted invuln to turn Mandricardo’s taunt turn into a turn of guaranteed safety for the party (assuming no AoE attacks are around).

Painting Summer is a great CE choice here, as it helps Mandricardo get going faster and makes it easier for him to loop his NP. The Black Grail is also awesome, supercharging Mandricardo’s already-strong NP damage. In teams with Mash or Waver, though, you also might consider CEs that provide defense buffs, as defense stacking can bring Mandricardo closer to a turn of total safety while taunting.

Mandricardo is a free ST servant with great innate steroids, so he’ll scale very nicely with grails. If you like his kit and find yourself using him often, he’s a great grail target.

As Arts DPS Servants go, Mandricardo is about as straightforward as they come. Fortunately, he’s also very good. He has excellent steroids and good internals, along with a little bit of damage control in the form of his taunt and the potential for gimmick shenanigans with his second skill. He’s less exciting if you already have Ryouma, but if you don’t—or even if you just want to run someone different—he’s a great pick.

Overall: 9/10
Single-Target DPS: 9/10
AoE DPS: N/A
Survivability: 4/10
Offensive Utility: 3/10
Defensive Utility: 5/10
Farming Usefulness: 4/10
Self-Doubt: 10/10