Rabbit's Reviews #299: Leonardo da Vinci (4* Ruler)

Introduction

Given her longtime plot relevance, Da Vinci is perhaps overdue for getting a welfare version. She makes her debut in style, though, with a super solid kit in a generally strong class. Da Vinci’s primary value is as a general-purpose support. While her support value is meaningfully lower than most of the SSR options, Da Vinci compares favorably to supports at the SR level, bringing good general buffs and NP gain tools. Beyond that, she has defensive class advantage against almost everyone and solid class-agnostic damage output herself. All-in-all, this makes her above all else a great gap-filler for newer accounts. She can help to support any given Servant, and she can also fill-in as a DPS if you’re missing a good option in a given class. While established players aren’t likely to get as much use from her, Da Vinci is a healthy addition to the game and has an all-around strong kit.

Servant Data

Ruler

QAABB (Saber)

Quick Card

Arts Card

Buster Card

3

Attribute	Human
Alignment	Lawful Summer

Stage 1
Stage 2
Stage 3
Stage 4

April Fool's

Max HP 11,756

HP Rank

Max ATK 9,157

ATK Rank

Base Atk	1,526	Base HP	1,881
Max Atk	9,157	Max HP	11,756
Grail Atk	11,087	Grail HP	14,254

Traits

Card Hits	3	3	3	3	3
Per Hit	0.67%	0.67%	0.67%	0.67%	0.67%

	NP per Hit (%)	0.67%
NP when Attacked (%)	3%

	Star Absorption	102
Star Generation per Hit	10.0%

Stage	Cost	Materials
2	50,000	x1 Genius Egg
3	150,000	x1 Genius Egg
4	500,000	x1 Genius Egg
Max	1,500,000	x1 Genius Egg

Level	Cost	Materials
1 → 2	100,000	x4 Gem of Archer x4 Gem of Rider x4 Gem of Berserker
2 → 3	200,000	x4 Gem of Saber x4 Gem of Lancer x4 Gem of Caster x4 Gem of Assassin
3 → 4	600,000	x4 Magic Gem of Archer x4 Magic Gem of Rider x4 Magic Gem of Berserker
4 → 5	800,000	x4 Magic Gem of Saber x4 Magic Gem of Lancer x4 Magic Gem of Caster x4 Magic Gem of Assassin
5 → 6	2,000,000	x4 Secret Gem of Archer x4 Secret Gem of Rider x4 Secret Gem of Saber
6 → 7	2,500,000	x4 Secret Gem of Saber x4 Secret Gem of Lancer x4 Secret Gem of Caster x4 Secret Gem of Assassin
7 → 8	5,000,000	x10 Shell of Reminiscence
8 → 9	6,000,000	x12 Egg of Truth
9 → 10	10,000,000	x1 Crystallized Lore

Level	Cost	Materials
1 → 2	100000	x4 Gem of Archer x4 Gem of Rider x4 Gem of Berserker
2 → 3	200000	x4 Gem of Saber x4 Gem of Lancer x4 Gem of Caster x4 Gem of Assassin
3 → 4	600000	x4 Magic Gem of Archer x4 Magic Gem of Rider x4 Magic Gem of Berserker
4 → 5	800000	x4 Magic Gem of Saber x4 Magic Gem of Lancer x4 Magic Gem of Caster x4 Magic Gem of Assassin
5 → 6	2000000	x4 Secret Gem of Archer x4 Secret Gem of Rider x4 Secret Gem of Berserker
6 → 7	2500000	x4 Secret Gem of Saber x4 Secret Gem of Lancer x4 Secret Gem of Caster x4 Secret Gem of Assassin
7 → 8	5000000	x10 Eternal Ice
8 → 9	6000000	x12 Glowing Star Fragment
9 → 10	10000000	x1 Crystallized Lore

All Type Up

Dreaming Machine A

Increase Quick Card effectiveness for an ally (3 turns).
Increase Arts Card effectiveness for an ally (3 turns).
Increase Buster Card effectiveness for an ally (3 turns).

Show Info

Lvl	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Quick +	10%	11%	12%	13%	14%	15%	16%	17%	18%	20%
Arts +	10%	11%	12%	13%	14%	15%	16%	17%	18%	20%
Buster +	10%	11%	12%	13%	14%	15%	16%	17%	18%	20%
CD	7	7	7	7	7	6	6	6	6	5

Dreaming Machine is a super simple skill. It buffs all three card types for one ally by 20% for 3 turns. 20% is a bit low as 3-turn buffs go. Consider that Helena has an AoE version of the same skill, albeit on a much longer CD. Still, Da Vinci has other damage buffs elsewhere, and this lets her support any Servant’s favored game plan while also functionally boosting their NP gain, so it’s a solid skill overall.

Start Np

Treasure Checker B

Increase NP Gauge for an ally.
Increase NP Gain for an ally.

Show Info

Lvl	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
NP +	10%	11%	12%	13%	14%	15%	16%	17%	18%	20%
NP Gain +	20%	21%	22%	23%	24%	25%	26%	27%	28%	30%
CD	7	7	7	7	7	6	6	6	6	5

Treasure Checker is a slightly weaker version of Castoria’s Avalon le Fae skills. It’s a 20% battery that also buffs the target’s NP gain by 30%. This is still a very good skill even lacking the AoE component on the NP gain. Da Vinci can use this skill to help an ally NP, while also making it easier for them to loop. This skill is useful on anyone, but it’ll be most beneficial for Arts and Quick Servants, helping to shore up loops for Servants who might otherwise struggle.

Np Dmg

Shining at Twilight EX

Increase NP Strength for all allies (3 turns).
Increase NP Overcharge Level by 1 for all allies (1 turn).
Decrease Critical Rate for all enemies (3 turns).

Show Info

Lvl	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
NP Damage +	10%	11%	12%	13%	14%	15%	16%	17%	18%	20%
Crit Rate -	10%	11%	12%	13%	14%	15%	16%	17%	18%	20%
CD	7	7	7	7	7	6	6	6	6	5

Sparkling in the Twilight boosts the entire team’s NP damage for 3 turns, while also boosting Overcharge level on the turn it’s activated. As a purely supportive tool, this is a nice buff. NP damage tends to be the rarest damage bracket for supports, and in Oberon teams its effect can be doubled for additional impact. The Overcharge boost also won’t help every Servant, but it can amount to a slightly increased support impact from Da Vinci in some situations, while also synergizing especially well with Castoria teams. Furthermore, the fact that this skill is AoE means Da Vinci has solid self-buffs even when acting in a fully supportive role, allowing her to output good damage in a pinch to potentially finish off a break bar or a miscellaneous additional enemy. All-in-all, this is a great support tool. It also reduces the enemy team’s crit chance, and while 20% may seem like not a lot of crit reduction, it’ll more-or-less prevent enemy crits from low-crit-rate units without additional buffs.

Noble Phantasm

Dinosaur Summer Goodbye A

Deal damage to a single enemy.
33% Chance (Green Bullet) to gain 30 Critical Stars.
33% Chance (Blue Bullet) to increase NP Gauge for all allies by 20%.
33% Chance (Red Bullet) to increase ATK for all allies by 20% (3 turns).

<Overcharge>

Increase own NP Strength (1 turn) [Activates first].

Show Info/Video

Dinosaur Summer Goodbye

An Unforgettable Summer Vacation, A Cretaceous Dream

	Rank	Classification	Hit-Count
	A	Anti-Personnel	3

Effect	Deal damage to a single enemy. 33% Chance (Green Bullet) to gain 30 Critical Stars. 33% Chance (Blue Bullet) to increase NP Gauge for all allies by 20%. 33% Chance (Red Bullet) to increase ATK for all allies by 20% (3 turns).

Level	1	2	3	4	5
Damage +	600%	800%	900%	950%	1000%
Green: Stars +	30	30	30	30	30
Blue: NP +	20%	20%	20%	20%	20%
Red: ATK +	20%	20%	20%	20%	20%

Overcharge Effect	Increase own NP Strength (1 turn) [Activates first].

Charge	100%	200%	300%	400%	500%
NP Damage +	20%	25%	30%	35%	40%

Dinosaur Summer Goodbye is solid as an offensive NP and less impressive as a support NP. Offensively, it provides a pre-cast NP damage buff and then deals single-target Buster damage. With Da Vinci’s self-buffs, her innate Ruler attack modifier, and her being auto-NP5, this will do quite good damage. Nothing to complain about, really. Unfortunately, this NP’s supportive effects are tied to a randomness mechanic. The NP can provide a ton of stars, charge the whole team’s NP gauges, or increase the whole team’s attack. These are all very nice benefits, especially in the context of Da Vinci’s existing support tools. 30 stars for easy crits and better effective NP gain? Nice! Party charge for easier recursion? Awesome! Another attack buff on a free SR who already has good party buffs? I’ll take it! The problem here is that you have no idea which you’ll get, which means you can’t count on any of them. You can’t rely on Da Vinci as a crit support because she has no way to fuel crits outside of this. You can’t count on the 20% charge for loop shenanigans because it might whiff. You can’t reliably position Da Vinci’s NP before an ally’s for the attack buff since you might not get it. In some respects, this isn’t terrible—you’ll get a nice bonus out of this NP no matter what—but it makes it more difficult to use Da Vinci optimally, since the attack and NP charge effects imply different positionings of her NP. If Da Vinci’s NP always did the charge, you’d want it at the end of an NP chain. If it always provided attack, you’d want it at the start. Even though Da Vinci’s support value is fine regardless, not being able to count on this effect is not a great feeling.

Usage Tips

There are two primary use cases for Da Vinci. The first (and generally strongest) is as a support. Despite being a free SR, Da Vinci’s support value is comparable to Nero Bride’s. Da Vinci brings less battery in exchange for more damage against non-Sky enemies, as well as better NP gain boostage in some circumstances due to Da Vinci’s card-type buffs. This means Da Vinci works well in a third-support slot regardless of team type: she can support a Buster, Quick, or Arts Servant more-or-less equally effectively, which can be particularly helpful if you don’t have a deep bench of supports. She also works well as a backline servant in the 5th or 6th slot, as she can come in late in a fight and support any surviving Servants, or even use her buffs on herself to try to close out the fight with her own damage output. She’s a super flexible Servant—again, similar to Bride in that respect—which means she can go pretty much anywhere in pretty much any team and likely contribute well.

The other use case for Da Vinci is as a DPS. While she’ll generally fall short relative to class-advantaged units, Da Vinci has good steroids and innate resistance to most classes, which makes her a good general-purpose damage dealer. As a Buster unit, her favorite supports are either Koyanskaya and Oberon, who can help her output damage rapidly, or Merlin and Castoria, who facilitate a stall-leaning crit-focused gameplan. Given that Da Vinci has an innate way to boost the team’s Overcharge, she gets less out of Himiko as a support than most Buster units do, so I’d advise leaning into her Merlin synergy and relying on her innate damage resistances rather than trying to avoid taking damage entirely (as Himiko/Castoria teams typically do).

For support usage, Da Vinci’s preferred CE is generally going to be a Kaleid. Ideally, Da Vinci has Mana Loading at max level, which lets her use her NP for a random support benefit while also being able to use her battery on an ally. Outside of that, 2030 or a CE that gives starting critical stars (such as Carp or Crowning Beauty, Greater Glory) can be useful to fill in the crit-support gap in Da Vinci’s toolkit. As a DPS, you might want to bring a CE like Aerial Drive, which boosts damage and helps Da Vinci get moving faster. The Black Grail is, as always, the best option for raw damage, but given DPS Da Vinci’s preference for slower teams, the damage demerit can add up over time, particularly if you’re relying on Castoria’s invulns rather than the healing double Merlin provides.

Command Codes with support effects can be nice on Da Vinci in order to complement her support value. Everyone’s Da Vinci Chan is (fittingly) a particularly good choice, effectively increases Da Vinci’s support buff potential while also playing into a more selfish gameplan. CCs that remove buffs from enemies also work well for similar reasons.

Grail Potential

Conclusion

Free support tools are always welcome, and Da Vinci is quite good as a support, especially by SR standards. Her NP is the least-valuable piece of her kit, and even that has potential value as an emergency damage source or (if you’re lucky) extra utility piece. Her value drops the more developed your box is—if you have lots of powerful supports and favored damage-dealers in every class, there’s not much reason to bring Da Vinci—but she’s at minimum useful in pretty much any team, and she’s a fantastic option for newer players, which makes her a good addition to the game overall.

Rabbit's Arbitrary Ratings

Overall: 8/10
Single-Target DPS: 7/10
AoE DPS: N/A
Survivability: 4/10
Offensive Utility: 8/10
Defensive Utility: 3/10
Farming Usefulness: 6/10
Archaeology: 10/10