Zhang Jue

 “Ho, ho, ho. Caster, great sage and doctor, I'm Zhang Jue. Don't worry. Now that I'm here, we'll surely show the world great fortune.”

The military general rebel from China, Zhang Jue (aka Zhang Jiao), arrives as a silver rarity Servant during the second half of Traum. Zhang Jue is a rare AoE Quick Caster Servant with a bit of party offensive support and a field-type based kit.

Zhang Jue’s NP has the rather unique effect of being able to inflict up to four debuffs including Quick, Arts, and Buster Resist Down, and Critical Rate down, so long as the required field types are present. It also buffs his own NP Damage before dealing damage. He also can generate a respectable number of Stars with his NP, especially if he can get off an NPQQ chain, which will almost always give at least 50 Stars for the party to use. He or allies can then capitalize on these next turn, with the help of his supportive skills. Additionally, he is capable of looping with premiere Quick Support in the right setups.

His second skill, Great Teacher A, provides a Critical Damage buff to an ally of choice, along with Star Gather buffs and a debuff cleanse. Using this on a turn following his NP nearly guarantees a turn of highly damaging Critical Hits. Additionally, he can provide Quick and Arts buffs to all allies using General of Heaven B-. His most unique skill is his third, Taipingjing EX, which not only increases his own NP Gauge by up to 50%, but also has a high chance of applying up to four Field type effects, which include Forest, Near Water, Sunlight, and Burning, each of which can be taken advantage of using his NP. Some other Servants also have field type bonus effects, which can make Zhang Jue a unique low rarity supportive options for those Servants.

Overall, Zhang Jue is an excellent addition to the roster of Casters, filling in the sparse AoE Quick Caster niche. He provides a nice assortment of party supportive skills, unique field change abilities, and a fast 50% NP charger for himself, all at the low cost of a silver rarity Servant. Since he is available in the general Servant pool, Masters have the opportunity to NP5 him relatively easily as well. He makes for a solid addition to teams and a low budget Caster farming option for Masters who have premiere Quick Support such as Skadi available. Masters can look to the might of the military general and his ability to take advantage of terrain and bring them to victory!

Self 50% NP Charge

Zhang Jue is a budget option with a 50% NP charge skill, which gives him an easier time to fire off an NP on his own with the right Craft Essence or support. Combined with the fact that his NP hits AoE, he can be a low cost option for clearing a weaker Assassin wave while providing some support on the side.

Access to Four Field Types

Although it is chance-based, Zhang Jue can apply all of Forest, Near Water, Sunlight, and Burning, all of which are involved in field bonus effects for at least one other Servant. Each field type is rolled individually, with an 80% chance of success, and is affected by buff success rate. This makes Zhang Jue an interesting choice to bring in the party when running another Servant that can utilize field bonuses, especially if they are Quick or Arts, since Zhang Jue can also provide buffs in that department.

Debuff Clear Support

A decently useful effect that often comes in handy in challenging quests, the ability to clear debuffs on an ally of choice using a low cost Servant is always worth keeping in mind. His debuff clear effect also comes with a Critical performance boost, which can provide some bonus damage if there are any Stars handy.

Low Damage

Zhang Jue’s damage isn’t particularly impressive, even if all of his field-based debuffs hit, although he does barely reach benchmarks required for farming when he has Class advantage. His low ATK stat and 0.9x Caster Class damage modifier don’t do much to help either, even including him at NP5. His damage output is helped greatly by having Quick Supports around.

The general leveling recommendation is to max his third skill, which allows him to charge his NP more effectively. Between his other two skills, his first skill has longer lasting buffs and also support his looping capability, making it also an important skill to level. However, his second skill is still extremely helpful to level and gives good return, so if materials can be spared, Masters can level it too. The general order is 3 > 1 > 2.

• General of Heaven B- – This is a party-wide Quick and Arts buff, both of which scale with level. Since this helps his looping performance while also providing decent three turn buffs to the party, this is worth prioritizing second right under his NP charge skill.
• Great Teacher A – This skill is a 1-turn targetable buff for Star Gather Rate and Crit Damage, along with a debuff cleanse. Both Star Gather and Crit Damage scale with level, and Crit Damage scales particularly impressively from 50% at base to 100% at max level. For Masters who wish to maximize Zhang Jue’s supportive capacity, they’ll want to max this skill. However, this is lower priority than the other skills in most cases.
• Taipingjing – This is his NP charge skill, with the charge value scaling well with levels. At max level, it reaches 50% NP charge, making it a powerful gauge charger and improves his setup flexibility. This skill is worth prioritizing first.

Zhang Jue has an innate 50% NP charge skill, so any 50% Starting NP Gauge Craft Essence does wonders for him. Aside from that, he also benefits from Quick Performance, NP Damage, and ATK buffs.

• Holy Night Supper / Golden Sumo: Boulder Tournament / Knights of Marines / Crimson Teacher’s Pointer / Warlords’ Rivalry / Traces of Christmases Past / Mission Start / Empty Garden / Imaginary Number Attribute - These are hybrid Craft Essences that provide a form of damage buff in addition to at least 50% starting NP Gauge. These should provide enough starting NP for Zhang Jue to NP right off the bat when combined with his third skill. 
• Kaleidoscope / The Imaginary Element / Winter Crystal – These are Starting NP Gauge CEs without additional effects. With a maxed second Append Skill, Zhang Jue can NP immediately with a non-MLB Kaleidoscope, which makes his looping much more stable and easier to do.
• The Black Grail / Heaven's Feel – For Masters who wish to deal the most damage possible, these CEs provide a huge boost to Zhang Jue’s damage.