Ereshkigal

"I really don't like it when too many people flock to the underworld all at once. Making cages to trap souls is a pain...and I'm not sure if I can make this place comfortable for everyone..."

Regal yet innocent, fearsome yet gentle, this Ruler of the Underworld is a great combination of grace, beauty, and might. A versatile Buster Lancer with a well-balanced, multi-purpose and synergistic skill set, Ereshkigal assists Chaldea Masters effectively as both a farming specialist and a durable support/DPS hybrid for other content.

To start with, Ereshkigal is excellent at wave-clearing thanks to her second skill - Mana Burst (Cage). Acting as both a massive NP Battery and Buster Steroid at the same time, this skill allows her to be used independently in day-to-day and event farming to great effect. Within a team-setting, Ereshkigal offers a generous teamwide NP Gain buff, Max HP buff and Defense buff for 3 turns with her third skill - Blessing of Kur. This skill also grants a unique status that ties into her Noble Phantasm - Kur Ki Gal Irkalla.

Her NP is special as, aside from dealing AoE Damage and further buffing her Buster Performance, Kur Ki Gal Irkalla also grants all the holders of the Blessing of Kur status a 20% Attack boost for 3 turns. At first glance, this may not seem like much, but with Ereshkigal’s staggeringly high NP gain from her Arts card and her NP Battery from Mana Burst (Cage), Ereshkigal can use her Noble Phantasm more than once within that 3-turn period. On her own, Ereshkigal also has amazing durability thanks to her massive HP pool, high debuff resistance and her third skill - The Secret Great Crown. It grants her strong hard-survivability in the form of Invincibility as well as a chance to gain Instant Death Immunity, Debuff Immunity and Buff Removal Resistance for one turn. 

Despite all her great qualities and the sheer number of effects in her kit, Ereshkigal suffers from a common issue plaguing many Servants: her wide coverage in roles makes her less powerful than a specialist. In addition, despite that amazing Arts card, her NP Gain is rather irregular in practice as she needs to draw that single Arts card and position it right to charge her NP quickly in lengthy battles. Furthermore, Ereshkigal’s attack stat is downright low, and it is a testament to her offensive steroids that her damage output is still decent, if weaker than her main competition.

Overall, while she may not be as good at sheer face-melting as her she is at melting our cold and frigid hearts, Ereshkigal’s versatility and supportive toolbox ensures she can practically fit into almost any Master’s roster. 

Gameplay Tip

Ereshkigal presents an NP Gain dynamic that is a bit different than the “normal” Servant NP Gain distribution. With one of the best Arts in the game, and multiplicative stacking on Blessing of Kur and Territory Creation A+, positioning and abusing that Arts card is essential to a great performance. 

Masters can boost her effective NP Gain by sticking to the following:

1. Focus on placing her Arts card last in the chain to profit from Overkill/Overgauge and better NP Gain values.

2. Triggering Overkill is essential as it vastly improves her NP Gain and synergizes especially well with Critical Hits for a back-to-back NP while Blessing of Kur is active.

3. “Count” Command Cards to predict when her Arts card appear and prepare Critical Stars/skills for that window. See Ishtar writeup’s Gameplay Tip for advice on how card counting works.

4. Masters can draw 2 Arts cards in a 3-turn period if the Command Cards are set to be shuffled. This occurs every 3-turns, via (Mystic Code) skills, or if a Servant dies.

5. AQQ can work well, but often misses out on Overkill. weirdly, QQA can work on low HP enemies.

Strong Farming Servant

Mana Burst (Cage) combines the best of both worlds with a Buster Steroid and 50% NP Battery, granting Ereshkigal an incredible advantage as a farming Servant, especially when combined with 50% Starting NP Gauge CE and/or powerful supports. Kur Ki Gal Irkalla also has an Overcharge Effect that raises her Buster Performance before dealing damage, allowing Ereshkigal to reach a sufficient level of damage on her NP. 

Good Team Support

Blessing of Kur is the crux of her support potential, granting several useful effects. The Defense Buff and Max HP Buff make her team highly durable, while the 30% increase in NP Gain and the potential Attack buff when combined with her Noble Phantasm are useful regardless of team composition. With a reasonable 6 turn cooldown, Ereshkigal can keep her support up reliably as well.

Good NP Gain and Consecutive NP Potential

Between her (at max) 30% NP Gain buff and her 50% NP Charge, Ereshkigal has incredible NP Gain potential if Masters draw her single Arts card at the right moment. Between its sheer hit count, Territory Creation A+, the NP Gain buff, overkill and Ereshkigal’s base NP Gain, it’s very possible to (re-)charge her NP within a 3-turn time span or even back-to-back, especially if Masters land that coveted critical hit.

Strong Survivability

The underworld’s protection must be incredible, as between her very large base HP, her 20% Defense buff and her 3000 Max HP buff from Protection from the Underworld, Ereshkigal can shrug off basic attacks from enemy bosses rather easily. In addition, she still has access to The Secret Great Crown, which grants Invincibility for one turn. This skill also has an 80% chance per effect individually to grant her three uncommon defensive effects in Debuff Immunity, Instant Death Immunity, and Buff Removal Resistance. Ideal for pesky bosses that bypass the standard hard survival skills.

Mediocre Damage Output

Compared to many of her SSR Lancer peers, Ereshkigal has a very low Attack stat. Furthermore, her minor sustained steroid is locked behind pulling off her Noble Phantasm when her Blessing of Kur status is up. . Even with all her buffs active, including the 50% Buster Performance from Mana Burst (Cage) and her Noble Phantasm, her overall damage will be rather lackluster compared to more offensively-oriented Lancers.

Over-reliant on Arts card for NP Gain

Despite Ereshkigal’s high NP gain rate, her NP gain on cards other than her Arts card are notably lackluster with her Quick and Extra card suffering from her low base NP Gain per hit. As she only has one Arts card, this means her active NP Gain is inconsistent and highly dependent on drawing the right card at the right time when her Mana Burst (Cage) is on cooldown. 

Given her versatility, Ereshkigal’s skill leveling priority will depend on her Masters’ focus on where and when they want to use her. In practice, Ereshkigal functions best with at least both Mana Burst (Cage) and Blessing of Kur maxed, while The Secret Great Crown can be leveled at a slower pace (although ideally it ought to be maxed eventually).

• The Secret Great Crown A is her chief survivability tool, hopefully granting her a wide variety of defensive guarantees for one turn. As the main appeal of this skill is in the guaranteed Invincibility, which does not scale with levels like the additional secondary benefits do, it is of lower priority than the other two skills. It is still worth raising this skill to at least level 6 for the reduced cooldown. Level this last.

• Mana Burst (Cage) A+ is her main wave-clearing tool which is crucial for Masters wanting to use her frequently for farming. As both the NP battery effect and Buster Performance buff increase according to skill level, it is highly recommended to raise this skill as soon as possible. Most of the content in the game revolve around farming, so this skill is arguably her most important skill.

• Blessing of Kur EX brings the majority of Ereshkigal’s team presence and is the centerpiece of her skill set in lengthier fights. Masters who have an abundance of farming options and lean toward using Ereshkigal for her DPS/Support hybrid potential should consider raising this skill over Mana Burst (Cage) for better uptime and value on all of its effects. Level this second.

Thanks to her stacked skill set, Ereshkigal can function in most teams independently, giving her plenty of usable Craft Essence choices. Masters wanting to take advantage of her waveclear potential should consider Starting NP Gauge as it allows her to immediately access her Noble Phantasm, both for farming and to quickly stack Attack buffs from Blessing of Kur. Both NP Damage Up and Attack Up scale multiplicatively with her Buster Performance buffs and should ideally be prioritized. Though less effective, Buster Performance Up is still a decent option to improve her overall performance as she has a Buster-centric deck.

• Golden Sumo / Aerial Drive / Holy Night Supper / Starry Nights / The Classic Three Great Heroes: Hybrid Craft Essences that grant two or three beneficial stats for Ereshkigal, with the main purpose of boosting her NP performance and granting an easier time to kickstart her teamwide Attack boost at the same time.

• Kaleidoscope / The Imaginary Element / Dragon’s Meridian: Pure Starting NP Gauge CEs are a great option, and if Masters need two back-to-back NPs, Saving her Mana Burst (cage) is ideal.

• Black Grail / Heaven’s Feel: These Craft Essences grant the largest boost to Ereshkigal’s Noble Phantasm damage, allowing her to overcome her lower damage ceiling compared to other Lancers, especially when combined with NP Battery Supports like Zhuge Liang or Merlin.