Fate/Grand Order III - Protecc those Smiles

[Saambell]

I have MLB Chaldea Lunchtime and MLB Mona Lisa. The only mystic code I'm missing is the Fate/Extra School Uniform from back near launch. If thats coming up soonish I need that rare prism for sure. Otherwise I was looking at the Training CE that boosts Master EXP.

[Resileaf]

I have MLB Chaldea Lunchtime and MLB Mona Lisa. The only mystic code I'm missing is the Fate/Extra School Uniform from back near launch. If thats coming up soonish I need that rare prism for sure. Otherwise I was looking at the Training CE that boosts Master EXP.

I can't recommend buying CEs that increase master EXP. That barely ever has any effect on your progress, and once you're at max level, it's completely useless.
As far as the mystic code you're missing goes, I have no idea if it's on the rare prism shop or if it will be in the future or whatever.

[nightwyrm]

I have MLB Chaldea Lunchtime and MLB Mona Lisa. The only mystic code I'm missing is the Fate/Extra School Uniform from back near launch. If thats coming up soonish I need that rare prism for sure. Otherwise I was looking at the Training CE that boosts Master EXP.

In that case, since you don't have anything pressing you need from the RP store, just store the extra Helena copy in the 2nd archive for now. If something comes up in the store you want, burn it; if nothing comes up or if you rolled someone you hate more, then raise her NP level.

I would also advise against buying the Training CE. It doesn't actually give that much more EXP and becomes useless once you maxed level.

[Nerocite]

Do you have MLB bond CE and Mona Lisa CE? I can't think of much else you can buy with rare prisms.

Around next November they will add bond grails, which cost 3 RPs, and give 30 SQ when you reach the next bond level.

[Leecros]

Around next November they will add bond grails, which cost 3 RPs, and give 30 SQ when you reach the next bond level.

Oof, I was thinking that it was earlier next year, but now that I think about it...I was thinking of Jalter's outfit...




Anyway, as far as challenge missions go...

Spoiler

Show

Da Vinci's definitely gave me the hardest time by far out of all of the challenges. I almost beat it on my first attempt with my challenge squad: Merlin/Holmes/Tamamo Support, but missed Da Vinci giving herself ignore invulnerability and it trashed me when she got her NP off.

Then my next two attempts had me bring Jeanne over Tamamo and I kept getting caught in Sphinx Hell. The sphinx would keep me from stunning Da vinci until her ignore skill wore off and then Da Vinci would just trash me and make me sad. This continued through two attempts and ended when I got a lucky break and took out the sphinx before she could get her target focus skill off.

My reward was....Nothing of value. I haven't gotten anything worthwhile from any of the tickets that I've won.

[Kitten Champion]

Oh, I beat Medb's challenge mission after a bunch of failed attempts of trying to kill her with defence-ignoring NPs that went down with varying success - I probably could've finished it with lancer Raikou if I spent a command seal but I underestimated how much damage Medb did by herself - only to say "screw it" and just blow away all of the soldiers with a friend's 200% damage Jalter.

Though the real takeaway is my continued shock and awe at Cu's endless value, he took three of Medb's NPs without issue and delivered the last 100K damage to finish her off. I've been wanting him in my main party since I got him, but getting Claws of Chaos for everyone was a pretty big ordeal until Nerofest. I emptied the shop of them as first priority.

Then I got Lord El-Melloi II with the ticket, which is my first SSR Servant and is also just all-around useful. His ascension materials aren't outrageous to get either, which is great since I just used most of my Caster stuff to raise Babbage and Medea and wasn't looking forward to grinding forever.

[Hunter Noventa]

Something is very wrong.

I tossed a couple more tickets at the Nerofest banner and got a second Brynhild. Now I'm paranoid I won't get what I want come Christmas.

[nightwyrm]

7M DL campaign announced. Choose your free SR and get your quartz ready for Merlin!

I'm just annoyed all the 1/2 QP enhancement and double exp success rates ends before Lartoria's solo rate up.

[ellenate]

Something is very wrong.

I tossed a couple more tickets at the Nerofest banner and got a second Brynhild. Now I'm paranoid I won't get what I want come Christmas.

I can't bring myself to go for a servant if i already have an ssr for the class. (i already feel guilty for almost never using vlad)

7M DL campaign announced. Choose your free SR and get your quartz ready for Merlin!

I'm just annoyed all the 1/2 QP enhancement and double exp success rates ends before Lartoria's solo rate up.

Having gone through nerofest for the second time, i see the appeal of double merlin. that said-

pfft, i don't need double merlin. nerofest is over.

[NeoPhoenix0]

looks like i won't be able to MLB the event CE, the quests won't drop the 5th copy at all and time is quickly running out.

[ellenate]

looks like i won't be able to MLB the event CE, the quests won't drop the 5th copy at all and time is quickly running out.

whoa, that was close. I got a drop early on and for some reason i just thought i had enough to mlb. just farmed enough medals for the last one.

thanks for that.


was able to do all the cq besides 3

revival (i feel i can do the revival easy, just need to sit down, and focus.)
hassan (i know i don't have the patience for hassan, not even going to try)
da vinci (I gave up when i realized her np ignores invul...)


got 12 of the 15 tickets, feel good.

[Resileaf]

da vinci (I gave up when i realized her np ignores invul...)

It doesn't ignore invul naturally, but she can put an ignore invul buff on herself. As she spends most of her time buffing herself or her team, you have to constantly be on the lookout for when she pulls out the pierce invul, and make sure to prevent her from NPing while it's up.

Not that I think I'll manage to take her down either. I've tried and tried and tried, but I just don't have it in me to continue beating my head on her as I have.

[Saambell]

So this Nerofest was very nice for me.
First the Gacha did me a nice and handed me two more Nero Classics getting mine to NP 3, as well as Nero Bride, which basically has fulfilled all my dreams when I started this game.
Second, I farmed the heck out of the Lotto, getting me up to 22nd lotto box.
Third, I had 2 CEs drop, though the second was a long while after I had bought the Shop ones, so its just Archive Filler I guess.
Fourth, Petal farming left me with a nearly Bond 10 Herc. A few more days of random grinding should get him the rest of the way.

Didn't even try the Challenge Quests, Tickets weren't enough of a draw for the stress they cause. Sure, I missed out on 2 more Lores, but I struggle to get skills up high enough to need them, so I'm fine with just the shop one.

Thinking I'm going to save my SQ for Osakabe-hime and Trick Or Treatment. Merlin is fine as a Support, but he's not that good. Hes merely ok on arts stall, and doesn't help quick or buster at all. As for the 4 Star Ticket, I'm leaning Lancelot Saber. Now that I have Nero Classic's Bond 10 CE that has a Party Wide Arts Buff and Nero Bride for support, he's looking a lot more appealing.

[ellenate]

Didn't even try the Challenge Quests, Tickets weren't enough of a draw for the stress they cause. Sure, I missed out on 2 more Lores, but I struggle to get skills up high enough to need them, so I'm fine with just the shop one.

Some of them have hard counters though, like 70% of them are mindless fights if you bring the right support.

Last year, fresh to the game, i was able to clear everything besides gil.

[Callos_DeTerran]

Thinking I'm going to save my SQ for Osakabe-hime and Trick Or Treatment. Merlin is fine as a Support, but he's not that good. Hes merely ok on arts stall, and doesn't help quick or buster at all. As for the 4 Star Ticket, I'm leaning Lancelot Saber. Now that I have Nero Classic's Bond 10 CE that has a Party Wide Arts Buff and Nero Bride for support, he's looking a lot more appealing.

If you're saving for Osakabe-hime then I won't try to dissuade you, but you are massively under-selling Merlin. He doesn't have the general utility of Waver (not quite, its damn close), but for a Buster or, more specifically a Buster Crit team? He will MELT through most content..its bad enough they have to program in enemies favoring to attack Casters or specifically Merlin to try and mitigate his affect on the game.

[Saambell]

If you're saving for Osakabe-hime then I won't try to dissuade you, but you are massively under-selling Merlin. He doesn't have the general utility of Waver (not quite, its damn close), but for a Buster or, more specifically a Buster Crit team? He will MELT through most content..its bad enough they have to program in enemies favoring to attack Casters or specifically Merlin to try and mitigate his affect on the game.

As I said, hes fine as support. But building a team for double merlin does not work for me. You try pulling 2 or 3 cards of a 15 card deck exactly when you need them. I can go into a battle with 9 arts cards and go 5+ turns without a arts chain. I have some of the worst draw luck in any card game you can pick. Also buster crits? Hes arts crits at best. I dont see him as a buster character at all. He uses his 3+1 arts cards for chains, and boosts crit stars with his np. To make him a buster character they would have to give him a buster up buff to one of his skills. Maybe the third one, the Max Hp Up is kind of useless outside of stall teams. Otherwise, I'll take a NEET waifu over a meh arts support anytime.

[NeoPhoenix0]

merlin is overrated. sure he is the best support for a buster crit team
(though double merlin seems extremely inefficient with all those arts cards in it)
but like there is literally nothing in the game that needs it, and i suspect there never will be anything that needs it.

[chainer1216]

So how much does leveling up a NP get you?

I have an Emiya i use a lot and picking up a copy for free to level up his NP is pretty tempting.

[spectralphoenix]

To make him a buster character they would have to give him a buster up buff to one of his skills. Maybe the third one, the Max Hp Up is kind of useless outside of stall teams.

Hero Creation EX (the hp buff) does give a buster performance buff - 50% for three turns at level 10. And a one-turn 100% boost to crit damage in the bargain. That's why Merlin is so great for buster teams.

So how much does leveling up a NP get you?

I have an Emiya i use a lot and picking up a copy for free to level up his NP is pretty tempting.

Assuming you've completed his interlude, NP2 will boost damage from 400% to 500%. There are diminishing returns after that. The attack down won't change because it's dependent on overcharge. You will gain the ability to charge to 200%, but that tends to be impractical (NP chains work regardless of NP level.) Personally, I wouldn't go for it unless you have most of the available options already.

[Leecros]

merlin is overrated. sure he is the best support for a buster crit team

You are correct, Merlin is overrated...However the thing about Merlin is a much larger problem than just Merlin. Buster Builds were already extremely powerful before Merlin came about. A large percentage of the playerbase was already using Buster Teams because they were just so good at dishing out damage. They were the fast, easy way out of most fights.

Then Merlin came about....Suddenly Buster Teams went from being the fast, easy way out to being the fastest and easiest way out. That's where the problem with Merlin came about. He basically exploited the inbalance between Buster, Quick, and Arts .

(though double merlin seems extremely inefficient with all those arts cards in it)

It is actually pretty effective. You spam his NP to keep your hp up and use his first skill to charge your Buster Servant's NP and depending on the CE's of the Servant's involved, you could theoretically be unleashing your Buster Servant's NP every second or third turn....with it being supercharged by Merlin's First and Third Skill.

but like there is literally nothing in the game that needs it, and i suspect there never will be anything that needs it.

I mean, that's kind of obvious. If people needed double merlin for things and they didn't roll merlin...


....the game would have been dead in Japan a year and a half ago.



(I'm still probably going to cause critical damage to my bank account trying to roll for NP2.)

[NeoPhoenix0]

So how much does leveling up a NP get you?

I have an Emiya i use a lot and picking up a copy for free to level up his NP is pretty tempting.

NP 2 is usually pretty good and usually is a significant damage boost, plus being able to charge your NP to above 100% is useful at the very least against things with NP drain effects so you can still NP, or in bosses with long wind-ups to get more overcharge effect. So NP2 is really good, everything above that is nice but not particularly significant.

It is actually pretty effective. You spam his NP to keep your hp up and use his first skill to charge your Buster Servant's NP and depending on the CE's of the Servant's involved, you could theoretically be unleashing your Buster Servant's NP every second or third turn....with it being supercharged by Merlin's First and Third Skill.

like i could be wrong but you get like very little damage when you aren't bustering, every arts card is low damage and every merlin NP is no damage. one merlin seems much better than two, maybe pair one merlin up with a nice main DPS with a buster or buster/arts based support/off dps. the moment you double merlin it just seems so much worse than any tamamo based arts team/crit arts team. where the arts cards will be doing significant damage all the time minus any tamamo NPs or any other support NP you bring along if you want a second support.

double merlin just seems to ruin every possible reason for using merlin in the first place.

[Velaryon]

looks like i won't be able to MLB the event CE, the quests won't drop the 5th copy at all and time is quickly running out.

I had two drop back to back in the last hour of the event. Would have been nice to have them earlier, but better late than never.

[Leecros]

like i could be wrong but you get like very little damage when you aren't bustering, every arts card is low damage and every merlin NP is no damage. one merlin seems much better than two, maybe pair one merlin up with a nice main DPS with a buster or buster/arts based support/off dps. the moment you double merlin it just seems so much worse than any tamamo based arts team/crit arts team. where the arts cards will be doing significant damage all the time minus any tamamo NPs or any other support NP you bring along if you want a second support.

double merlin just seems to ruin every possible reason for using merlin in the first place.

The purpose of Merlin on a double Merlin team isn't to do damage, but to supercharge up your buster servant for a massively damaging attack, then if that isn't enough to end the fight outright stacking up on merlin np buffs for maximum survivability and to get that buster servant's np charges and crit stars full for the next one.

It's about doing high damage output in one blow, then surviving to the next blow rather than whittling an opponent down over time.

[NeoPhoenix0]

i failed to get a single CE drop. the CE gods have left me.

on another note, i don't really have any holes in my party. So i am debating what to use the ticket on. i already have gorgan and lobo. the main ones i am debating between are atalanta cause she is never on rate up and i like her and i have awesome quick team ideas for her to be in. or lancer artoria alter cause she is awesome, i like her better than spam santa and bathory as a general use aoe lancer, also she will complete my saber alter collection...
realizing that last bit might tip the scales in lalter's favor even though atalanta is like NEVER on rate-up.

[nightwyrm]

Good luck to everyone rolling. I'll be waiting for Lartoria solo day.

[Hunter Noventa]

Well I tossed the tickets I had into the abyss and came back with nothing, while a friend of mine tossed out SQ and got Double Salter and OG Saber.

I can't feel too salty (ha) after getting Double Bryn in 4 tickets during Nerofest though.

[nightwyrm]

PSA: The SR ticket can't be used till the 15th. So don't panic when you can't find the exchange in the shop.

[Leecros]

First roll of the day. Got spooked by Caster Gilgamesh


Good news: I needed caster gil. He was what I was going to spend my fancy SR Ticket on

Bad News: It's not NP2 Merlin and after spending $40 on SQ, he has since eluded me...along with every Alter...


I did get x2 Origin Bullets and 1x Kaleidoscope so there's that...

[Velaryon]

PSA: The SR ticket can't be used till the 15th. So don't panic when you can't find the exchange in the shop.

Thank you, I was coming to ask this very question.

I threw all my tickets and SQ at the Merlin gacha, but no luck. I did pull an Origin Bullet CE though. Am I right in thinking this looks very useful in the right situation?

[Resileaf]

Thank you, I was coming to ask this very question.

I threw all my tickets and SQ at the Merlin gacha, but no luck. I did pull an Origin Bullet CE though. Am I right in thinking this looks very useful in the right situation?

It's very niche, but niche can be very useful. At the very least, the invuln pierce will make any annoying invincible enemy be much simpler to deal with.