Servant Rank Up Quest Part 6 & New Interludes

Ah, Servant upgrades, what's not to love about them? It's been a while since the last round of Rank Ups in particular, with the previous part 5 being all the way back in October. Ah, a simpler time, before we went on a Barbatos farming spree and before Merlin made Buster what it is today. Unlike previous Rank Up sessions, this is the first time Servants actually receive NP upgrades in a Rank Up quest. In fact, all the Rank Ups are for NP upgrades!

In addition, this batch of upgrades coincides with some very important Interludes to some fan-favorites. Each of the upgrades from this coming week will be discussed, as well as what they mean for each Servant for their relative place in the game. Lastly, the Tier List will shift somewhat based on these upgrades. 

For those focused on just the global server, there are a few new tidbits one may want to know in advance. In the future (ETA: August of 2020 for Global), all Rank Up Quests will reward 2 Saint Quartz instead of 1 for completion (given retroactively - so don't hold off on completing them). Furthermore, completing a batch of 10 Rank Ups Quests will reward a whopping 10 Saint Quartz more, which caps at a whopping 80 Rank Ups completed (a diligent Master may thus receive 160 Saint Quartz in August of next year). 

In addition, a recent update (ETA: April of 2021 for Global) applied the same 10 Saint Quartz milestone for each 10 Interludes completed. These Interlude milestones reach all the way to 190 completed. 

Masters are thus highly advised to slowly level up and unlock all these Interludes and Rank Ups over time. It's a more long-term objective for any Master to pursue. With a 2x EXP success rate during the download campaign and ½ AP for Rank Up Quests, now is an excellent time to hammer out these new and any remaining old Rank Up Quests. Consider waiting for a Hunting Quest day with unneeded materials to knock out some Rank Ups Quests. 

Luminosite Eternelle: Finally, the vaunted Jeanne d'Arc NP Upgrade is here. The NP Upgrade not only removes the stun aspect entirely from Jeanne's NP, it also adds a teamwide debuff cleansing effect to it. It should be no surprise that this is a massive buff for Jeanne and really improves her entire performance, as it becomes much easier to charge her NP again. In addition, she can actually unleash a full NP Arts Brave chain at last without requiring a special set up. 

With her stun removed, Jeanne becomes a much more appealing Servant to bring along, especially in situations where Merlin's Invincibility cannot be triggered often enough to cover for the party. As Jeanne's Invincibility is tied to her NP, it can be used with shorter downtime, as long as Masters can help her charge her NP.

Still, because through Clairvoyance EX we know what Challenge Quests will appear, we know how often we actually are able to make full use of Jeanne's capabilities. It just so happens that the toughest quests often have strict damage benchmarks that make it much more difficult to rely on stalling strategies. Jeanne remains a slow clearer as well, with little use outside of the hardest content, especially if a Master is in no danger of being defeated. Thus, in practice, Jeanne becomes a much stronger pick, but she's not as integral to many Challenge Quests as the likes of Tamamo-no-Mae, Waver and Merlin. Given our Tier List is consolidated for general use (both farming and Challenge Quests), we can't quite give her a place beside Tamamo:

Jeanne d'Arc’s tier placement has improved from 3 → 2.

Sanat Kumara: There is not much to say to be honest. A nice increase in NP damage, accompanied by a very niche Ignore Defense effect, rounds out Helena's kit quite well. Helena already did admirable NP Damage for a Caster, but if her chance-based NP Damage buff activates, she's actually in the top 5 AoE 4* Servants for raw NP Damage now! 

Honestly, the sheer value of her NP charging and damage buff for farming was already excellent, but with her damage she's also excellent at farming waves herself. Her cooldown issues aren't solved, but why bring a knife to a gunfight? 

Helena Blavatsky’s tier placement has improved from 3 → 2.

Legend of Dracula: The Skill upgrade every Vlad owner has been waiting for. Between his own reduced Arts NP damage (an unusually low modifier, which required an Interlude to reach normal damage levels), and his lack of any in-kit NP steroids, Vlad desperately needed a damage buff of his own. 

And what a buff it is. 30% Attack for 3 turns every 5 turns is great, especially given how he is often glued to Tamamo (and Arts teams in general) when it comes to his Challenge Quest performance. The cooldown reduction provided by Tamamo synergizes excellently with this skill. In addition, the defense buff is improved by 7.6%, which is in practice much more potent than it seems. As a Berserker Vlad already receives more damage than usual (thus doubling the effectiveness of defense buffs) and if stacked with other defense buffs (by, say, Mash or Waver), then the stacked defense buffs make Vlad rather sturdy for a Berserker. He still remains glued to Arts teams (and hard content), but he is a staple DPS pick for them from now on.

Vlad's tier placement has improved from 3 → 2.

Brynhild Romantia: The first of two upgrades Brynhild receives, the added NP Damage and increase to her stargen buff are rather nice. Brynhild has always had decent generation stats and an okay niche, but she lacked the sheer damage output both Scathach and Tamamo (Lancer) could provide. Her own Brynhild's Beloved anti-trait coverage isn't as potent as either of her direct competitors (many of the affecte Servants are Sabers), so the base damage upgrade is very welcome to compensate. With her NP Upgrade, Brynhild becomes the reliable alternative to Tamamo (Lancer); not quite reaching the same heights, but more consistent. 

Compared to Scathach her NP damage was always rather far behind (although very little can match Scathach when it comes to raw NP Damage), and Scathach's own kit is very well put together with little dead weight. However, Brynhild doesn't suffer from the her rival's odd hit counts, and benefit from being a Buster Servant in the prime Merlin era. Her synergy with strong supports allows her to perform just as well now in the right set up - and having a targetable Star Gathering buff with Hero Creation around is very powerful indeed.

Brynhild’s tier placement has improved from 3 → 2.

(Note: The Japanese Rank Up Images will be replaced with the global versions once they are available). 

Thunderer: Billy the Kid receives an upgrade to his NP Upgrade and a stronger Overcharge effect. A nice addition for Billy fans, but it doesn't massively improve his performance and he remains mostly focused on his critical potential. With such amazing competition (and a stellar class in the first place), he is still not strong enough to compete with the Tier 2 Archers. 

Billy the Kid remains in Tier 3. 

La Mort Espoir: Why oh why can't Sanson profit from the Anti-Human against Servants (they're humanoids). Even an NP Upgrade won't solve his damage problems, but of course any damage improvement is well appreciated for those who like using Sanson. In addition, the Overcharge becomes pretty nice, with a 30% Defense Down for 3 turns at 100%. Since his overarching role and usefulness changes little:

Charles Henri Sanson remains in Tier 4. 

Chariot My Love: Queen Medb's second upgrade (out of 3), and arguably her most important one. Medb's problem has always been her lack of powerful steroids for herself, and her plain lack of damage. With only Jeanne d'Arc and Nightingale below her in base attack (before class modifiers), Medb simply doesn't hit that hard even against males. Even on JP that won't change very much, although she does receive another steroid to use (for herself or others) later. 

But, with an NP Upgrade, her damage numbers look quite a bit better. Her NP Generation has always been amazing, with both a charge skill and excellent NP Gain. She can pull her weight a lot better and simply is a better pick all-around. Her competition for main ST Rider remains utterly amazing though, with the like of Ozymandias and Quetzalcoatl vying for attention, and the ridiculous Sakata Kintoki (Rider) nibbling at her heels from a rarity below. Regardless, she certainly isn't Tier 5 material anymore:

Queen Medb’s tier placement has improved from 5 → 4.

Hippogriff: The first of two upgrades in a short period of time (relatively), and it's the one that doesn't really change a thing for Astolfo until the second upgrade arrives. Astolfo's second upgrade is a skill upgrade that gives Evaporation of Sanity a 50% NP Charge - ideal to use with an upgraded NP. Such high NP charges on an AoE SR Servants are decidedly rare and makes Astolfo a mini-Drake. Until then though, this NP Upgrade does little to improve performance as it is so difficult to charge NP with Astolfo. 

Expect a massive upgrade in Tier Placement once the skill upgrade arrives, but for now:

Astolfo remains in Tier 5. 

Balmung: Finally, finally will the Dragonslayer be truly worthy of the moniker. This NP Upgrade rounds out Siegfried's purpose wonderfully, adding both a nice increase to his base NP Damage, and an additional 20% NP Gain buff that lasts for 3 turns. Siegfried already scales amazingly against Dragon enemies (of which there are surprisingly many - all Altria Servants are Dragons after all), and an extra buff to his NP Damage is very noticeable given how well his buffs scale against them. 

With his niche now truly in place, and that his performance is now at least pretty decent even against normal enemies, Siegfried has outgrown his old placement for sure. Sumanai no longer. 

Siegfried’s tier placement has improved from 4 → 3.

Zabaniya: Serenity's always been a bit of a weird Arts Assassin, with a focus on harassment and poison damage in her kit. An NP Upgrade doesn't substantially impact her performance, but the added poison damage (and base damage) is a nice boon nonetheless. For those who like to use her, it is a welcome change, but her overarching performance vis a vis other Assassins doesn't truly change much. As such:

Hassan of the Serenity remains in Tier 4. 

Chariot of Boudica: Boudica receives her second upgrade, but rather than walking a different route to Mash, Boudica instead gains a similar 3-turn Attack buff on her NP. It lasts for 3 turns, is 20% at base, and it is a pretty decent effect by itself. But it does little to change Boudica relative placement as her competition remains stronger (although she synergizes decently with Mash) and her Rider class remains weak for a support role. Still, those who like Boudica will find her more useful. 

Boudica remains in the COOOOOOOL Tier.