Taigong Wang

“I am quite capable. Had I been summoned in a Caster Saint Graph, I would have been a Grand Caster”

One of the most famous and influential tacticians in Chinese history, Taigong Wang, or Jiang Jiya, manifests in Fate Grand Order as a capable and versatile Damage Dealer / Support hybrid. Despite being a Quick-centric Rider, Jiang Jiya can find a good place in many different teams with his team wide buffs and is easily amongst the best anti-Divine units in the game. 

Taigong Wang has a relatively straightforward but extremely potent skill set. All of his skills pack powerful and universal effects that make him quite versatile as well as splashable. Primitive Tactics A+ increases the entire team’s Quick Card effectiveness, Attack, and NP damage for 3 turns, effectively covering the 3 general types of damage buffs right off the bat. Fengshen Zhixing is Taigong Wang’s main utility tool in the form of Skill Seal, but also grants him anti-trait bonus damage against two highly common enemy traits in [Demonic] and [Divine], both for 3 turns as well. Last but not least, Thought Keys EX is a highly coveted personal and team-wide NP charger, increasing his own NP Gauge by 50% and his teammates by 20%. Taigong Wang’s Noble Phantasm - Dǎ Shén Biān EX further cements his anti-Divinity role as it deals significant AoE damage to enemies with Divine trait, and further decreases their Quick Resistance for 3 turns. 

With his heavy AoE-centric and damage boosting focus kit, Taigong Wang naturally works best as a farming Servant. While he is capable of farming in the Double Skadi system, he shines best in multi-core farming as he offers competitive team wide buffs and NP Gauge charging, a luxury that many AoE farmers lack. Furthermore, Taigong Wang has one of the strongest anti-Divinity modifiers in the game, getting both bonus from his skill and Noble Phantasm. Divinity is quite common as a trait in both farming and challenge quests, giving Taigong Wang fantastic coverage and can deal mind-blowing damage even when he does not have Class Advantage. 

However, Taigong Wang has some notable flaws that hold him back from entering the top DPS echelons. First of all, he has very little utility as well as defensive effects in his kit. A single Skill Seal in his second skill will rarely if ever matter in any tough situation. Furthermore, Taigong Wang’s innate refund is not particularly amazing. For many farming setups, he may struggle to get enough refund, especially against enemies with low refund rate like against Berserkers or in irregular enemy compositions. Last but not least, against enemies with no Divine or Demonic trait, Taigong Wang’s damage may lag behind other Riders as his low base modifier as well as lack of Critical performance buffs are quite notable.

As far as Riders go, any Master could do far worse than Taigong Wang, especially for any Masters looking to build up a multiple-Damage Dealers team that can support each other. Anti-Divinity and Demonic also rarely if ever goes out of favor due to the sheer amount of enemies with those traits, giving Taigong Wang a lot of value even with his other limitations. 

Strong Anti-Divine and Anti-Demonic Trait

Against Demonic and especially Divine enemies, there are few Servants with a better kit to handle them than Taigong Wang thanks to his second skill and Noble Phantasm. His NP damage spike against most Divine enemies can even approach Single-Target level despite being an AoE Noble Phantasm. 

Strong Team Wide Buffing Effects

Taigong Wang has several strong team wide buffs that make him valuable in multi-DPS teams. In particular, he grants all three of the holy trinity of Damage boosts (Attack, Quick Card effectiveness, NP Damage) and an extremely useful teamwide NP Battery.

No Defensive Utility

Taigong Wang has practically zero survivability in his skillset, either for him or his allies. His sole utility effect is a Skill Seal tied to his second skill, which has very few applications in practical situations. 

Lackluster Damage Output Against Non-Divine and Non-Demonic Enemies

Against enemies without relevant traits, Taigong Wang’s damage drops significantly due to his lack of Critical niche and rather unimpressive NP modifier. This is also partly because of his rather mediocre NP refund, meaning his Craft Essence options usually have to have Starting NP Gauge as one of the main stats, reducing the opportunities to run hyper-offensive Craft Essences.

Taigong Wang is one of those Servants whose three skills all significantly affect his damage output. Of the three, his 3rd skill is the most important and should be maxed as soon as possible, while his two other skills can stay at Level 6 if resource constraints are a problem. 

• Primitive Tactics A+ – Taigong Wang’s main offensive skill  and one of the very rare skills that grant three different buff modifiers. In Multi-DPS setups, this skill’s value rises significantly.
• Fengshen Zhixing B – This skill gives Taigong Wang two very powerful anti-trait modifiers, letting him cover a wide array of enemies and stay relevant in many events and challenge quests. Both effect multipliers increase with skill level, so it should be raised in tandem with Skill 1 after maxing Skill 3 to improve his overall damage output. 
• Thought Keys EX – Very simple but powerful skill. The NP Gauge effect is incredibly valuable not just for other Damage Dealers, but can also help Support Servants get to their NPs even in farming setups, thus is of the highest priority of leveling.

Starting NP Gauge should be the main stat that Masters look out for when choosing a CE for Taigong Wang, as his refund may struggle a bit in mixed-class farming nodes or enemies with low base refund rate. Quick Card Effectiveness, NP Damage, Attack and NP Generation Rate are all decent secondary stats to pick 

• Traces of Christmas / Imaginary Number Attribute / Cherry Icicle / One Summer / Golden Sumo: Easy to obtain Craft Essences (either through event or from the standard summoning pool) with Starting NP Gauge and good secondary stats that benefit Taigong Wang in most situations.
• The Black Grail / Heaven’s Feel: Grants the biggest damage buff out of all Craft Essences for farming, but may require Masters to compensate in terms of NP Gauge through other means such as plug-suit and/or NP Battery Support.