Rabbit's Reviews #289: Miss Crane (5* Caster)

Introduction

Miss Crane is a brand-new Limited SSR Support Caster. She’s a solid notch below the top-tier supports, but she brings a pretty interesting mix of utility that enables a couple of unusual and interesting setups. She is, in large part, a “rich-get-richer” Servant, in that her value is highly dependent on having a host of existing support units to leverage, and her value for Arts teams is mostly overkill. For Quick teams, though, she makes Chen-Gong-Style CQ teams a little more accessible in that she has looser CE requirements and better tools for supporting Quick units than does Chen Gong. Buster damage-dealers are somewhat out of luck (as has been the trend recently), in that they generally need to play a longer game, and Crane doesn’t help with that, but if all you want is to hit big one-turn numbers, she can enable some amusing setups on the Buster front as well.

Altogether, she’s an interesting but largely unnecessary support. She can help Quick Servants keep up with Arts a little more effectively, especially if you have lots of supports but not an MLB Kaleidoscope, but she sits at an awkward level of investment where she’s not overly helpful to new accounts and is excessive for established accounts. This makes her more a novelty than a practical support. She’s a powerful and interesting novelty, to be sure, but she doesn’t actually change the game much in practical terms.

Servant Data

Caster

QAAAB (Caster)

Quick Card

Arts Card

Buster Card

3

4

2

5

-

Attribute	Earth
Alignment	Neutral Good

Stage 1
Stage 2
Stage 3
Stage 4

April Fool's

Max HP 14,971

HP Rank

Max ATK 9,749

ATK Rank

Base Atk	1,506	Base HP	2,195
Max Atk	9,749	Max HP	14,971
Grail Atk	10,672	Grail HP	16,401

Territory Creation (Atelier) C+

Increase your Arts Card effectiveness by 7%.
Increase your Arts Card Critical Star Drop Rate by 30%.

Item Creation (Cloth) A

Increase Received Buff Success Rate by 10% for all allies while on the field.

Card Hits	3	4	2	5	-
Per Hit	0.39%	0.39%	0.39%	0.39%	0.39%

	NP per Hit (%)						0.39%
	NP when Attacked (%)						3%

	Star Absorption	49
	Star Generation per Hit	10.8%

Overview

Material Requirements

Stage	Cost	Materials
2	100,000	x5 Caster Piece
3	300,000	x12 Caster Piece x6 Phoenix Feather
4	1,000,000	x5 Caster Monument x6 Lamp of Evil-Sealing x5 Eternal Gear
Max	3,000,000	x12 Caster Monument x10 Eternal Gear x12 Rainbow Thread Ball

Level	Cost	Materials
1 → 2	200,000	x5 Gem of Caster
2 → 3	400,000	x12 Gem of Caster
3 → 4	1,200,000	x5 Magic Gem of Caster
4 → 5	1,600,000	x12 Magic Gem of Caster x3 Lamp of Evil-Sealing
5 → 6	4,000,000	x5 Secret Gem of Caster x6 Lamp of Evil-Sealing
6 → 7	5,000,000	x12 Secret Gem of Caster x4 Phoenix Feather
7 → 8	10,000,000	x8 Phoenix Feather x3 Tsukumo Mirror
8 → 9	12,000,000	x8 Tsukumo Mirror x24 Rainbow Thread Ball
9 → 10	20,000,000	x1 Crystallized Lore

Servant Skills

Oh boy, Crane’s skillset. Even as supports go, Crane’s skillset is remarkably complex in terms of how it functions. Recommended skill order is 2>3>1.

Invi Shield

Lady's Affection for Garments EX

Apply Invincible to all allies except self (1 turn).
Increase Critical Star Drop Rate for all allies except self (3 turns).
Gain Critical Stars based on number of [Spiritron Dress Users] except self.

Show Info

Lvl	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Star Rate +	50%	55%	60%	65%	70%	75%	80%	85%	90%	100%
Stars per ally +	5	6	6	7	7	8	8	9	9	10
CD	7	7	7	7	7	6	6	6	6	5

While I could examine Love of Fashion in a vacuum—as I typically do with skills—Crane is an odd bird whose skills are very clearly intended to be used all at once, and in conjunction with her NP. Crane’s skillset is nothing if not cohesive, and while you could divide up her utility in separate chunks, there’s not really much practical reason to do so. Love of Fashion specifically grants invuln to both of Crane’s allies for a turn. This kind of selfless defensive utility can be nice on supports who you don’t want to stick around, as you can time it to let an AoE NP blow up the support. Crane, however, has the disappearing handled within her own kit. Crane’s NP removes her from the field, which means this skill is functionally a partywide invuln when paired with Crane’s NP. The skill also provides star gen buff that sticks around on the allies who remain on the field, helping them to generate stars and enable crits. This is particularly useful for Arts Servants, who, in conjunction with Crane’s third skill, can actually achieve some consistent and reasonable crit damage, which is normally beyond their reach. The last effect on this skill is a star burst contingent on having allies with costumes. Crane’s NP needs 20 stars to work, so if you’re running a pair of costumed Servants, Crane meets that condition on her own. There are quite a few damage-dealers who have costumes, but supports with costumes are a bit rarer. At the time of writing, you’re looking at the likes of Lanling, CasGil, Helena, and Mash. Lanling and Casgil can be nice partners for Crane teams, but generally speaking you’re better off ignoring the star burst effect and just bringing an outside source of stars. The number of damage dealers who have costumes and a star burst worth at least 10 but fewer than 20 stars is surprisingly low, so the actual practical benefit this provides towards enabling Crane’s NP isn’t all that high.

Start Np

Overnight Haori B

Increase own NP Gauge.
Decrease own HP by 2,000 [Demerit].
Apply Target Focus to all allies except self (3 turns).

Show Info

Lvl	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
NP +	50%	55%	60%	65%	70%	75%	80%	85%	90%	100%
CD	9	9	9	9	9	8	8	8	8	7

One-Night Gown is a 100% battery. That alone would be notable, as it lets Crane immediately NP with any (or no) CE. Unfortunately, if you don’t have a way to generate stars immediately elsewhere on the team, the actual benefit of this relative to a smaller battery is somewhat lessened, as you’ll need a starting star burst CE on someone (presumably Crane herself), which has just as much team cost as running a Kaleid. Still, instant NP access is nice, and it’s especially great when paired with damage-dealers who have their own significant star bursts. Beyond that, the skill gives a 3-turn taunt to both remaining allies. The first turn of this taunt probably won’t do much, since Crane will be using her NP anyway, but it buys Crane’s replacement two turns of safety. Alternatively, if you’re running Crane alongside a DPS and two other supports, you can use One-Night Gown and then plug the support out to leave the DPS as the only taunting unit on the field. This both protects your supports for a potential second buff cycle and lets your DPS benefit from the defensive NP gain that comes from taunting. You’d need a way to protect the DPS, of course, but between Castoria, Reines, and Merlin (among a number of other lower-value Servants) there are plenty of options for doing so, especially if the DPS has survival tools of their own. This skill does come with an HP demerit for Crane, but given how unlikely she is to actually take damage, it’s not super relevant.

Critical Star Absorption Up

Thousand-Year Gratitude A

Increase Critical Star Gather Rate for an ally (3 turns).
Increase Critical Strength for an ally (3 turns).
Apply Instant Death Immune to an ally (3 turns).
Decrease own HP by 1,000 [Demerit].

Show Info

Lvl	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Star Gather +	300%	320%	340%	360%	380%	400%	420%	440%	460%	500%
Crit Dmg +	30%	32%	34%	36%	38%	40%	42%	44%	46%	50%
CD	7	7	7	7	7	6	6	6	6	5

1000 Years’ Gratitude is a targeted self-mod. The star weight buff isn’t enough to guarantee Berserkers or Avengers crit, but for everybody else, this combined with Crane’s star gen buff enables easy access to more powerful crits. This isn’t especially helpful to Quick units, who are generally flush with stars and crit buffs anyway, but some Buster Servants will appreciate the help, and for Arts teams especially this provides a consistency of crit access that’s very difficult to attain otherwise. The skill also makes the target immune to instant death, which is highly niche but potentially situationally useful. As with the prior skill, there’s an HP demerit here that means little in practice.

Noble Phantasm

Innocence, The Crane's Tearful Farewell Poem EX

(Can only be used when there are at least 20 Critical Stars available)
Increase ATK for leftmost ally aside from self (3 turns).
Increase NP Strength by 30% for leftmost ally aside from self (3 turns).
Order change self to last reserve slot.
[Can only switch out if at least two party members are on the field]
[Servant from position #4 of backline will enter the field]

<Overcharge>

Increase NP Gauge for leftmost ally aside from self.

Show Info/Video

Innocence, The Crane's Tearful Farewell Poem

Tenimuhou - Tsurunoenishi Namida no Wakare

	Rank	Classification	Hit-Count
	EX	Anti-Personnel

Effect	(Can only be used when there are at least 20 Critical Stars available) Increase ATK for leftmost ally aside from self (3 turns). Increase NP Strength by 30% for leftmost ally aside from self (3 turns). Order change self to last reserve slot. [Can only switch out if at least two party members are on the field] [Servant from position #4 of backline will enter the field]

Level	1	2	3	4	5
Atk +	20%	30%	35%	37.5%	40%
NP Damage +	30%	30%	30%	30%	30%
Order Change

Overcharge Effect	Increase NP Gauge for leftmost ally aside from self.

Charge	100%	200%	300%	400%	500%
NP +	30%	35%	40%	45%	50%

Crane’s NP is highly unusual in that it’s a single-target support NP. The NP boosts the attack and NP damage of the target in the leftmost slot, unless that target is Crane herself, in which case it targets the ally in the center slot. This means Crane teams need to take positioning into account so as to not accidentally, say, get stuck throwing your NP damage buffs onto a Skadi. The NP also charges the target’s NP gauge, which has a bit of anti-synergy with the rest of the NP, as using this prior to the offensive NP to boost damage wastes the NP charge effect, while using it after the offensive NP loses out on the damage boosting potential. In practice, the damage buffs are likely to be more useful, and if you’re counting on the NP charge, you’re probably better off bringing a more flexible support. The NP also requires having access to 20 stars, which implies needing to bring specific Servants or star burst CEs, the former of which limits Crane’s usefulness and the latter of which quickly inflates team cost.

The star of this NP, though, is the fact that Crane moves herself to the backline. In other words, Crane’s ideal use case is to use all three of her skills on turn one, use her NP, and immediately leave the battle to make room for an extra support. In this regard, she functions like a variant of Chen Gong who has looser CE requirements and provides actual persistent buffs in exchange for having a much higher team cost and not being free. An alternative comparison would be Nobukatsu, who also provides damage buffs, NP charges, and crit buffs, before removing himself from the field with his NP. The crux of Crane’s power, then, is not the value she innately provides, but rather the fact that she can provide that value while still allowing access to an extra support in the first three turns.

What this means, in practice, is that Crane is an underwhelming support unless you have the ability to run three other top-tier supports and you’re in a context where fastburn clears are feasible. Access to a few more buffs and an extra support in the first few turns is not especially valuable for a team that intends to clear in 10-20 turns, but for a team that wants to clear in 3-5, this value can be huge.

Usage Tips

Crane’s best use case is for loop-oriented Quick and Arts teams in CQ contexts, with the caveat that Arts teams don’t actually need the higher potential damage ceiling Crane provides, which leaves Quick as her ideal use case. Fastburn Crane uses all her buffs on the first and then uses her NP to make room for a backline support—probably Castoria, in Quick contexts, or Tamamo/Waver/Reines, in Arts contexts. Chen Gong can accomplish similar things, of course, but Chen doesn’t bring meaningful buffs for Arts or Quick, and in Quick contexts Chen usually requires an MLB Kaleid to use his NP on turn one. Arts damage-dealers, by contrast, gain the ability to crit, which can significantly push the damage ceiling of someone like MHXX or Vlad.

The above is, of course, contingent on having at least two other native supports, a source of initial stars, and a CQ that can’t be cleared quickly without Crane but can be cleared quickly with her. In short, it’s a very specific use case.

If you want to use her in sub-optimal setups, though, her support value is lessened a fair bit. In slower-moving teams, such as Buster comps, you can have Crane hang around and make use of her utility as it becomes relevant, more like how you would use a traditional support. Her targeted self-mod is generically useful, and her invuln can help get through a dangerous turn in an emergency, but the fact that she’s going to be leaving the field sooner rather than later—whether by using her NP or by taking damage—makes her less appealing as a sustained support pick than even certain free Servants (most notably Mash). She’s more valuable as a sustained support in the back line, as she returns to the fight on the turn following her NP if there’s no one else waiting, but her high cost makes her harder to slot in as a backup support than, say, Nobukatsu or (again) Mash.

Strange as it is to say, Crane’s ideal CE is no CE at all. Crane’s single biggest drawback is her high cost, as devoting an SSR’s worth of cost to someone who’s ideally only in battle for a turn or two is a pretty big ask. Crane’s 100% battery means she can afford to run CE-less if you can supply her with stars, which takes the cost burden off a little. Otherwise, CEs that provide 20 stars right out of the gate are ideal, since they ensure Crane can use her NP immediately.

Given that Crane is a support, CCs that provide support or utility effects are probably her best bet. That said, optimal Crane play has her using her NP before she ever has a chance to get her cards off, so CCs are largely wasted on her and should go to other Servants first.

Grail Potential

Conclusion

Crane is theoretically very powerful in that she provides buffs and then removes herself from the field. If she were low-rarity and free, I’d be singing her praises right about now. Unfortunately, she finds herself in the odd position of being a Limited support Servant who’s only really valuable if you already have a bunch of other Limited support Servants, in which case you can probably clear content with ease anyway. There are definitely team comps that will use her to do interesting and powerful things, and she’s probably superior to Chen Gong as a support for Arts and (especially) Quick teams, but given the content we’ve seen thus far, the cases in which she meaningfully increases a given player’s power ceiling in a direction that provides practical benefit for clearing content seem like they’ll be vanishingly rare.

It can be tough to anticipate how much actual value a new and very different support will provide, so it’s entirely possible I’ll look back on this and say I’ve undervalued her—it happened with Himiko, for instance—but at the moment I don’t see Crane as much more than a nifty novelty.

Rabbit's Arbitrary Ratings

Overall: 7/10
Single-Target DPS: 1/10
AoE DPS: N/A
Survivability: 6/10
Offensive Utility: 7/10
Defensive Utility: 5/10
Farming Usefulness: 3/10
Costume Design: 10/10