Preword
The Journey to the West (or Go West!) event is widely considered to be one of the most tedious and heavy farm-centric events in Fate Grand Order. A wise man once aptly summarized this event as “you farm to get the privilege to farm for another privilege to farm”. Go West can take a massive chunk of time and attention from players, even with the much needed improvement in Craft Essences’ bonus to material drops.
As such, planning out efficient teams that can quickly evaporate any 40 AP or Talisman quests can preserve players’ sanity from overexposure to FGO’s farm fest. For Masters whose priority are first week’s drops, this event will limit Servants’ options due to drops bonus, while the vast improvement in Grand Lotus’s drop rate from Craft Essence grants much better wiggling room for more efficient team composition. While this guide won’t be a detailed farming guide for players, it should serve as a recommendation list for Servants who could perform well in this event for particular quests without getting overly detailed.
Servant Suggestions
You might want to get used to seeing Arash in many farming guides. The Great Hero of Persia is one of the best farmers in the game thanks to his incredibly potent Noble Phantasm, low cost and the ability to die (literally) to bring his teammates into battle. What Arash does best is to hold a starting NP charge Craft Essence, blast the waves that you want to clear, and bring in someone from the backline who will handle the next wave or powerful party buffs. While he perform exceptional against Sabers and Berserkers enemies, Arash’s obscene damage output allow him to be one of the best team members to handle non-Lancer waves, such as the first wave of Tianzhu (100 Talisman Quest).
If you haven’t gotten a NP level 5 Arash by now, then it’s time to spend that sweet stash of Friend Points (preferably after the event is already here so you can get the event’s 3 stars Craft Essence while you’re at it).
Recommended for: All Nodes
There will be no rest for Zhuge Liang, even after that hellish National Oni-bullying week. Zhuge Liang’s prowess needs no introduction, especially for an event with a lack of pre-charge NP bar Craft Essences like Go West (The Classic Three Great Heroes). Zhuge Liang is useful in every single node you want to farm, and stacking two Zhuge Liang with support system will only make the farming process much smoother.
Recommended for: All Nodes
A highly leveled Karna, especially with high Noble Phantasm level can be a huge time saver, as Tianzhu (100 Talisman Quest) will be one of the most farmed quests of the events thanks to the high drop rate for Hearts of Foreign God, as well as dropping all other much needed materials. Thanks to his NP charge skill and bonus damage against Divine enemies, Karna can deal massive damage against himself and his brother in the last wave of this Quest, both of whom take extra damage from Vasavi Shakti. As a cherry on top, he also fair decently in Boddhisattva quest (Atalante as boss with two Amazoness) and , while also providing a bonus drop increase in Lotus at the same time.
Substitute: Scathach (bonus damage against Divine) / Brynhildr (Bonus damage against Karna and effective against Arjuna)
Recommended for:
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Ascetic Journey - Advanced (30 AP): Euryale / Medusa / Stheno
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Ascetic Tianzhu - (100 Talisman): Karna / Arjuna
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Boddhisattva (40 AP Level 70): Atalante / Amazoness
While she carries no bonus at all for this event, Jack the Ripper is a very handy Servant to have against Florence Nightingale, as she is the best and most efficient female Berserker killer in the game. Most players will spend the majority of early farming in this node as it gives the most Talisman, as well as having solely Rider-class enemies accompanying Nightingale, making Jack a perfect match for this Node. Furthermore, as many bosses in this event are female, Jack can fill the damage dealer role for players that have low variety on their teams.
Substitute: Carmilla (Bonus Damage against Female), Ryougi Shiki Assassin (High NP damage, fast NP generation)
Recommended for:
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Ascetic Journey - Flaming Mountain (40 AP): Nightingale / Dragon
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Ascetic Journey - Advanced (30 AP): Euryale / Medusa / Stheno
- Boddhisattva (40 AP Level 70): Atalante / Amazoness
This event is one of the good times for Mordred to shine, thanks to her ability to charge her own NP bar and being one of the best Lancer Alter killers. With both class advantage and bonus damage against Artoria, Mordred can easily one shot Artoria and deal considerable damage to the two Nagas in Tathagata - the hardest but also most rewarding quest in term of Orbs reward.
Substitute: Siegfried (Bonus damage against Dragon enemies, effective against Lancer)
Recommended for:
- Tathagata (40 AP level 90): Lancer Artoria Alter
Before getting to the big nodes, having someone who can breeze through the the weaker nodes can be a huge timesaver. Nikola Tesla is that guy for this event. This handsome genius stands out for his amazing bonus damage against Earth or Sky Events, which conveniently features in Advanced Training node that feature the Gorgon Sisters and especially the Expert Training node with Mordred being the big bad. Furthermore, Tesla also possesses Pioneer of the Stars, one of the best skill for farming there is, and Galvanism to massively improve his ability to access his Noble Phantasm quickly.
Substitute: Gilgamesh (bonus damage against Servants, Golden Rule)
Recommended for:
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Ascetic Journey - Expert (40 AP): Mordred
- Ascetic Journey - Advanced (30 AP): Stheno / Euryale / Medusa
Instant NP charge, strong Critical Stars generation and the abundance of Caster enemies make Francis Drake a top tier farming Servant for this event. She is one of if not the best Servant to bring for Vidyaraja and can help the team immensely in Tianzhu and Tathagata with her ability to instantly delete Caster waves. Drake however does not have any bonus damage modifier so she will not be killing bosses fast, but her AoE damage will help players save a lot of time and effort.
Substitute: Santa Artoria Alter (extremely strong AoE damage against Casters)
Recommended for:
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Ascetic Journey - Tianzhu - (100 Talisman): Demons
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Vidyaraja - (40 AP): Helena Blavatsky, Book
- Tathagata (40 AP level 90): Naga
There is no Berserker in the game who can do what Kintoki does nearly as well - heavy frontal burst. The Golden Man is one of the best boss killers for farming events like thanks to his high basic damage, the ability to do turn 1 Noble Phantasm with Animal Dialogue, while being a Berserker. Pair Kintoki alongside someone who can do AoE damage, and they can make quick work of most boss waves in this event. Do note that while he is extremely useful even against mobs, Kintoki is particularly fragile due to lack of survival tools. Protecting him with Servants like Zhuge Liang or a Taunter could vastly improve his effectiveness and ensure he survives to deliver his GOLDEN strike on the boss.
Recommended for: All nodes
