Lakshmi Bai

“Commence the March!”

One day, Jeanne d’Arc decided to get a tan, and Lakshmi Bai was born. As a powerful Critical support and a Saber-class Quick AoE Noble Phantasm looper, she is an important part to any loop-crazed Master’s core.

What sticks out most about Lakshmi Bai (aside from her obvious similarity to Jeanne appearance-wise) is her Critical support. Charisma of the Rani B+ provides a rather rare 50% Critical up for three turns to the entire party, which can be useful as a support option or to further boost her own Quick Criticals (additionally boosted by Skadi). Her support is even further bolstered by her Luminosite Eternelle Sipahi's Assault B where she can protect and heal her allies. She also is a Quick Looper, and as of the time of this writing the only AoE NP Saber capable of doing so while taking advantage of refund. A special mention should be made that her Noble Phantasm also clears offensive buffs on enemies, but most Masters do not use her for this purpose.

Lakshmi Bai’s biggest weakness has to be her low Noble Phantasm Damage due to not having many offensive buffs of her own. Another particular issue comes from her chance-based skills, but these only come into play in longer fights as Gwalior's Resistance A provides her with enough buff success bonus to guarantee them. She also has a particularly high requirement to work well, needing both a Skadi and a Waver to effectively loop.

Lakshmi Bai is a crit machine and a workable looper in a class severely lacking them. Masters needing help against Lancer waves would do quite well to summon her. Just don’t burn her at the stake!

Critical Everything

Lakshmi Bai has an ability to both boost Critical Star drops and Critical Damage by a whopping 50%. This can serve both to bolster the team’s offense, and more importantly, her own Critical output. Many times Lakshmi Bai will be run in a team of two Skadis, and this skill helps her generate stars for guaranteed Criticals the next turn, and increase its already bolstered damage further.

Support

Invincibility, Healing, Damage Cut - Lakshmi Bai has them all. She’s a huge stalwart against incoming damage and can help her team rise from the ashes like her counterpart. 

Quick Looping

If Lakshmi Bai is able to get at least 1 overkill hit against each Lancer mob (capable at waves of 60k or less HP per mob) she can use a MLB Kaleidoscope, two Skadis, and a Waver to loop. This does require the use of Chaldea Combat Uniform and removes the availability of one Skadi’s Defense down on the third wave, but it is still more than enough to take care of most Lancer waves.

Low Damage

Lakshmi Bai has very few offensive buffs, save for a 20% Charisma, and under 10k base attack. This makes her Noble Phantasm one of the weakest in the game without outside support. 

Chance Based Skills

All of Lakshmi Bai’s skills save for her third skill have a 60% chance of activation. This is offset by her third skill providing a 3-turn 40% buff success up, but in longer fights this means she’s either dealing with only a chance of her skills working, or long cooldowns to get all skills aligned.

High Entrance Cost

Lakshmi Bai can shine best with a MLB Kaleidoscope, Two Skadis, and a Waver. However, getting this requires a MLB Kaleidoscope, Two Skadis, and a Waver. If Masters do not have these high entry requirements, she cannot do either of her two best aspects - Critical Hits and Looping - particularly well.

All of Lakshmi Bai’s skills are chance based, meaning they can fail if a Master is not careful. Because of this, it is crucial to eliminate the element of chance by maxing her third skill, and then worry about what she excels in. Once this element is removed, Masters can choose whether to focus on her offensive or defensive supports.

• Charisma of Rani B+ is a small damage boost in general, but it is more notable for its teamwide Critical bonus. Masters typically use this to work with Lakshmi Bai herself, bolstering her Critical capabilities already boosted by Skadi, and guaranteeing she’ll drop 50 stars. Masters are more likely to use her in this fashion than for defense so it is recommended to level this second, although it could be left at level 9 if Masters are short on materials. 
• Sipahi's Assault B is a great defensive skill providing a targeted invincibility, damage cut, and heal. Combined with her ability to remove offensive buffs on her Noble Phantasm, this can greatly bolster a team’s ability to survive a longer battle. This can be left at level 9 if Masters are short on materials, and generally is leveled last as the Invincibility doesn’t change with levels. 
• Gwalior's Resistance A is practically required to make Lakshmi Bai work. It does provide a 1-time guts to last for 3 turns and a small debuff resistance down demerit, but that is trivial compared to the 40% buff success rate up. This rate will guarantee her skill sticks for the 3-turn setup comp. Masters should level this first and it must be raised to max to guarantee the effects of herother skills.

If a Master is looking to loop, they must have an MLB Kaleidoscope. Lacking that, she can still get fairly good gains with regular Starting NP Gauge CEs and Mixed Starting NP Gauge / Damage CEs. If one wants to use her more for Criticals, a Critical Star Gather Rate CE can guarantee her stars go to her.

• MLB Kaleidoscope: It is highly inconsistent to loop without an MLB Kaleidoscope. This provides the first wave’s Noble Phantasm destruction. 
• Kaleidoscope / The Imaginary Element / Dragon’s Meridian: Masters always benefit from earlier access to Noble Phantasm gauges, even if not looping. 
• Knights of Marines / Holy Night Supper / Golden Sumo: Boulder Tournament: Providing a 50% or more starting gauge and an increase to damage in general can help Lakshmi Bai’s low Noble Phantasm damage. Holy Night Supper gets a special note for also bolstering her Critical performance as well.
• Conversation on the Hot Sands / A Tale of Love and Hope / Seal Designation Enforcer: Much of Lakshmi Bai’s abilities come from Criticals, but if she cannot gather stars unto herself she cannot shine. Conversation on the Hot Sands provides both a Critical strength and a Critical gather boost, while A Tale of Love and Hope provides some starting gauge.