Attila the San(ta)

“That’s right, Attila the San(ta) is, so to speak, a Santa from space. ...Eh? You knew?”

Attila the Santa of sheep and other fluffy things soars in the night sky as a beautiful rainbow, her excitement undiminished even under a slight fever! A Quick-based all-out offensive Archer, Attila boasts a very powerful single-target NP, strong passives, targetable support, as well as various skills boosting her critical side. 

As a welfare Servant, Attila’s easy access to NP5, her 20% NP Charge, her Riding EX, as well as the NP Damage Up provided by Rainbow Candy, all combine to form a powerful and very accessible Noble Phantasm. Her damage output is supplemented by all the Critical buffs possible in the game, having access to Critical Damage in Civilization Encroachment EX and Rainbow Candy, Star Generation in Gift of the Stars, Star Gathering in Crest of the Shiny Star, and even a dash of Instant Critical Star on her NP Candy Star Photon Ray. Both Rainbow Candy and Crest of the Shiny Star are targetable as well, making Attila a great Order Change support Servant for Masters who lack some of the top gacha-locked supports. Furthermore, Attila the San(ta) can ignore Invincibility and Evasion for 3 turns with the help of Crest of the Shiny Star.

Unfortunately, Attila also has a several limiting weaknesses. Her NP gain, even with the help of Gift of the Stars, is fairly mediocre despite the abundance of critical hit opportunities. Offensively, Candy Craft’s damage boosts and Gift of the Stars’s NP Charge also suffer from middling modifiers and short durations, which together with her QQAAB-deck makes it more difficult for her to deal high sustained damage without heavy support. In addition, her limited access to survival skills make her rather fragile for long lasting fights. Lastly, her Crest of the Shiny Star carries a stun demerit that needs to be planned for or otherwise cause her to suffer a delay in skill usage and damage output.

All things considered, Attila the Santa’s powerful, Invincibility Ignoring NP is her main asset, especially as Masters can use the created Critical Stars from her NP the following turn to unleash devastating Critical hits. Her Skadi or Critical Quick compatibility can also shore up her lack of powerful steroids in the long run, while her own support tools are not to be underestimated for farming sessions.

High NP Damage and Invincibility Ignore

At NP5, Attila the Santa’s NP Damage easily outstrips that of most other Archers thanks to her NP’s single-target nature, as well as the buffs provided by Rainbow Candy and her high Riding passive. In fact, Masters may be able to save Rainbow Candy for the next turn, making Attila an excellent ST solution for strong wave 2 mobs. Crest of the Shiny Star’ Invincibility Ignore is the cherry on top, allowing Attila to fire her powerful NP without having to worry about Invincibility or Evasion.

Critical Affinity

As an Archer, Attila gains access to the class’ high natural Star Weight, and she can even improve it through the use of her third skill. She also has a constant Critical Damage Up buff through her passive Civilization Encroachment, and Rainbow Candy is able to further boost her critical damage for one turn. Her NP also typically generates a lot of Critical Stars, not just from her Overcharge, but also its high hit count, making it an ideal NP for wave 2 to set up a critical barrage the next turn.

Targetable NP Charge and Damage Boosts

While Attila is often going to use her first two skills for her own benefit, she is also able to cast them on her allies if needed. As NP Damage Up buffs are distinctly rare and scale very well with other stacked buffs, Attila is an excellent budget Order Change Servant who is able to top up an ally’s NP gauge as well as increase their NP and critical damage. 

Mediocre NP Gain

Despite a QQAAB deck, Attila’s base NP gain is nothing to write home about, and while Gift of the Stars does help her in this regard, its 20% modifier can only go so far. Her Arts cards are pretty decent, but her Extra and Quicks are a bit undertuned. As a result, she relies a lot on the aid of CEs and supports, and even their help, getting a second NP is unlikely for most shorter stages.

Low-Damage Deck

While Attila’s critical affinity helps her deal damage through her normal cards, its potential is limited by her own deck. She rarely enjoys the benefit of a Buster first card bonus, and the occasional critical from her single Buster card is not enough to make up for it. Access to Quick Supports such as Skadi does help mitigate this somewhat.

No Hard Defensive Skill

While Crest of the Shiny Star’ defense buff helps Attila absorb some damage, her lack of a hard defensive skill leaves her vulnerable to enemy NPs and critical hits. While the use of defensive supports can mitigate this problem, it still leaves her less durable than her peers.

Delayed Stun Demerit

Attila’s self-stun’s three-turn delay leaves more room for the team to prepare, but that same delay also makes it more difficult to predict (at the time of casting) the condition under which the stun would fire. This lack of control means that she might fail to exploit a weakness in the enemy’s defenses, or put several of her command cards to waste. It may also indirectly reduce her overall damage and NP gain due to the missing turn, and increases her effective cooldowns by one turn.

It is mandatory to raise Attila’s first skill to max level, and her second, as a damage boost, should also be leveled as much as possible. Her third skill, on the other hand, is not integral to her performance, and can be left at a lower level as the base Star Gathering ought to be plenty.

• Although Gift of the Stars B’s modifier may seem underwhelming at first, it improves her overall NP gain, and having it maxed opens up a lot of flexibility regarding its use, such as allowing her to unleash a first-turn NP more easily. Its targetable nature also makes maxing it desirable, allowing her to be utilized as an Order Change Servant in NP looping teams. This skill should be leveled first to hit a key benchmark.

• Rainbow Candy B provides an NP Damage and Critical Damage buff, and is normally used as Attila’s primary damage steroid, though it can also be used on an ally to boost their damage especially if Altera’s own unbuffed damage is sufficient. While its leveling importance is second to her first skill, it is still recommended to max it as soon as possible.

• The main benefit of leveling Crest of the Shiny Star EX is to reduce its cooldown to a short 5 turns, giving it a very high uptime in theory. While its Star Gather Rate Up and Defense Up buffs benefit from additional levels, both of them are already decent even at base. The skill’s delayed Stun demerit unfortunately causes it to indirectly delay overall skill cooldowns should it activate though. Regardless, this skill may be safely leveled last.

Blessed with a powerful NP but lacking the NP gain to fully make use of it, Attila the San(ta) naturally gravitates towards Starting NP Gauge CEs, as well as its hybrid cousins. Attack Up and Quick Performance Up are her preferred offensive effects, though NP Damage Up is also a viable option when external Quick Performance buffs are involved. Note that CEs that trigger On Entry or Taunts are excellent for her role as an Order Change/buff bot Servant.

• Kaleidoscope / The Imaginary Element / Dragon’s Meridian: Without the help of NP Charging supports, getting Attila’s NP up is of utmost priority, and these CEs provide just that. Notably, Kaleidoscope allows her to fire a first-turn NP with maxed Gift of the Stars.

• Golden Sumo: Boulder Tournament / Holy Night Supper / Knights of Marines / One Summer: These CEs provide less Starting NP Charge compared to the first category, but they make up for it through their offensive buffs, making them excellent for scenarios where Attila is paired with NP Charging supports.

• The Black Grail: Despite stacking additively with Rainbow Candy, The Black Grail’s ridiculously high modifier still makes it the most effective at increasing Candy Star Photon Ray’s damage, sometimes to the point of overkill. It should be used against single high-health bosses, and with extensive NP Charging supports.

• Golden Captures the Carp / Ox-Demon King / GUDAGUDA Poster Girl: These CEs can be used when Attila is employed as an Order Change Servant, providing additional support to her team. Taunts are useful to heartlessly dispose of your Santa to bring in more buffs.