Yamato Takeru

“Do not worry. As we have formed a contract, I shall be your sword. I’ve told you, you should wield me to your heart’s content.”

Yamato Takeru is the legendary prince of ancient Japan, wielding a divine sword that vanquished mythical beings and foreign invaders. With a focus on dealing AoE Arts Damage and a very high NP Refund Rate, this Saber Servant works best as an NP Looper / Farmer in an Arts-centric team.

Yamato Takeru’s skills are designed with a central purpose - spamming his Noble Phantasm - Zetsugi - Hakki Dotō. Before dealing damage, this Noble Phantasm applies a very strong 50% Arts Resist Down debuff onto one enemy, and then, after dealing damage, it decreases all enemies’ Defense by 30% for 3 turns. The first effect is helpful in both farming and against a single enemy, while the secondary effect rarely, if ever, comes up in a farming situation. In either case, it’s a relatively straightforward Noble Phantasm, with exceptional NP Refund rate, courtesy of its high hit counts.

Bloodstained Prince EX, Yamato Takeru’s first skill and his ominous title, is a combination of survivability and NP Battery. This skill gives him a 1-time Guts for 3 turns, charges his NP Gauge by 30%, and also gives him a delayed buff that charges his NP Gauge by another 25% when an ally is defeated. Extermination of Gods and Demons A is Yamato Takeru’s primary damage buff, giving him a large special modifier damage boost against Divine and Demonic enemies, as well as moderately increasing his Crit Damage. Last but not least, Mana Burst (Water) B+ is another potent skill, combining Arts cards’ effectiveness for 3 turns, NP Damage for 1 turn, and another NP Gauge Charger into one button.

With his superb NP Refund and high NP Gauge charging capacity, Yamato Takeru has all it takes to be an effective farmer and AoE Damage Dealer in general. Demonic and Divine are very common traits that come up in farming, and Yamato can genuinely hit the Single-Target levels of damage when he gets to hit enemies with these traits, which can be important in high-level farming nodes and Challenge Quests. The high NP Refund also allows Yamato Takeru to use Craft Essences that offer high firepower and no Starting NP Gauge like Black Grail, without any operational issues, a perk not many Arts loopers can enjoy.

However, that is where good things end for the legendary prince. Despite being a relatively modern Servant, Yamato Takeru is sorely lacking uniqueness compared to his peers. His neutral damage when not hitting [Demonic] and [Divine] enemies is quite lacking. Furthermore, Yamato Takeru does not have any noteworthy utility, a factor that has become very defining of a Servant’s kit for a while. With how competitive the AoE Arts looper niche is, he unfortunately loses points for his lack of team support or tools to handle different scenarios that can distinguish him from the rest.

Overall, “solid” is a good word to describe Yamato Takeru, despite him being a pretty big shot from mythology. While he is by no means a bad Servant, in fact, most players will find him a lot more capable than the initial impression, he does not give an awe-inspiring performance over the numerous loopers that already exist in the game, nor does he provide any unique utility that makes him stand out.

Strong NP Refund and Generation

Thanks to his various NP Gauge Charging and a whopping 8-hit Noble Phantasm, Yamato Takeru has some of the best NP refund in the game. This gives him a lot of ease when picking Support Servants, as well as Craft Essences, and generally, he should not have much problem looping standard 3-3-x farming nodes, and can even farm more difficult ones with a low number of enemies.

Great Damage Output Against Divine and Demonic Enemies

Yamato Takeru’s second skill grants him a very serious 3-turn damage boost against enemies with Divine and Demonic traits, two of the most common enemy traits that Masters will frequently encounter both in farming and challenge quests. This gives Yamato Takeru ample opportunity to shine in these scenarios.

Low Damage Floor When Not Hitting The Right Traits

When not fighting Demonic or Divine enemies, Yamato Takeru’s damage can feel quite lackluster. This is mainly because he does not have a lot of strong self-buffs in terms of damage; his NP pre-damage debuff only applies to one enemy, while the Defense debuff is post-damage. As such, Masters should avoid using him when he does not have the advantage.

Lack of Utility And Team Support

Yamato Takeru has a very minimal amount of team Support and utility within his kit, which limits his application a lot, especially when his competition is numerous and has ways to differentiate themselves. The lack of team Support also means he is not particularly well-suited to multi-core farming.

Yamato Takeru is one of the few Servants for whom one should equally level all of their skills to get the most out of their performance. This is because all of his looping powers are spread out to all of his skills equally.

• Bloodstained Prince EX - This skill offers more NP Gauge Charger than his third skill, but does not provide any damage boost. Overall, this skill is most likely his weakest skill since half of its power budget is spent on the defensive aspect.

• Extermination of Gods and Demons A – Despite not providing any NP Gauge charge, this skill is extremely important for Yamato Takeru’s overall performance, as it makes up the bulk of his damage.

• Mana Burst (Water) B+ – In general, this can be considered his most fundamental skill, giving NP Gauge, NP Damage, and Arts cards’ effectiveness, but by a very small margin.

Unlike most Arts loopers, Yamato Takeru does not absolutely need Starting NP Gauge from his Craft Essence, since his refund is so high, although he still appreciates it if possible. Masters should focus on offensive stats such as Arts Cards’ Performance, Attack, and NP Damage to further empower his damage output.

• The Black Grail / Inverted Rain of Mud / Heaven’s Feel: With exceptional refund and NP Gauge charging capacity, it is very easy for Yamato Takeru to abuse these powerful damage boosting Craft Essence with no repercussions to his teambuilding flexibility.

• Ocean Flier / Golden Sumo: Boulder Tournament: 50% Starting NP Gauge Craft Essences with generic offensive buffs and readily available from event/shop. In general, any Craft Essences with the combination of Starting NP Gauge, Arts Cards’ Performance, Attack, and NP Damage should be good options for Yamato Takeru.