Lancelot

“Arrrthurrr!”

Known as the knight whose adulterous affair with Queen Guinever brought the ruin of Camelot, Sir Lancelot’s guilt eventually drove him into madness, resulting in his appearance as a Berserker. Ingame, Lancelot (Berserker) is a glass cannon most well-known for his AoE Quick Noble Phantasm, as well as the critical-oriented playstyle he sports.

After a certain Quick support’s release, Lancelot’s greatest asset proves to be Knight of Owner’s 10 hit count. With a Starting NP Gauge CE, sufficient Quick Performance and/or NP Gain buffs (including his own third skill Mana Reversal), the NP’s massive hit count and AoE nature allows the Knight of the Lake to overcome his awful base NP Gain, granting him enough NP refund to perform NP looping. Furthermore, Knight of Owner applies a 3-turn Attack buff with every use, and Lancelot complements his NP damage with solid single-target damage through his critical hits, which can be guaranteed through Eternal Arms Mastery and Protection of the Spirits. To top it all off, Lancelot’s Berserker class means that he performs effectively against enemies of most classes.

On the flip side of the coin, Lancelot’s greatest weakness is that his primary playstyle requires specific supports and CEs to be effective. Without access to these things, Lancelot’s horrible base NP gain means that he will likely be unable to fire more than a single NP for the whole stage, which in turn cripples his damage and critical capabilities (as his NP also acts as a primary source for critical stars). This problem is exacerbated by Lancelot’s nonexistent survivability, which leaves him vulnerable towards stray critical hits even in well-supported teams.

Overall, Lancelot is the type of Servant who can be summed as ‘go big or go home’. With proper supports and CE, he would be an unstoppable farming machine, but otherwise, Masters can only sigh whenever they see him, imagining what could have been.

For specifics regarding Quick NP looping requirements, please check out our Skadi looping tier list: https://gamepress.gg/grandorder/skadi-looping-tier-list

Quick NP Looping 

Knight of Owner’s incredible hit count means that any NP Gain or Quick Performance buff will greatly increase its NP refund. The use of Scathach-Skadi setups allow Lancelot to perform his NP every turn for three turns with ever-increasing damage (due to the NP’s attack buff), turning him into a very effective farming machine. 

High Single-Target Critical Damage

In addition to his NP damage, Lancelot’s critical affinity provides him with a way to deal with higher-health bosses. Boasting three Buster cards as well as buffs from Knight of Owner and Mana Reversal, his Critical Brave chains are capable of depleting the health bars of most stages’ bosses.

(Almost) Universal Damage Dealing Capability

In terms of farming, Lancelot’s Berserker class provides a unique advantage in that he can be brought to more stages overall than most of his competitors, minimizing the need of switching teams and therefore greatly increasing the value of investing into him.

Reliant on External Support

Much of what Lancelot brings to the table requires rather specific compositions in order to even work, which means that his value decreases massively without access to said compositions. This reliance is caused by very fundamental problems in Lancelot’s kit, which will be explained in the following points.

Poor base NP Gain and Star Generation

Lancelot’s poor base NP Gain is something that is widely known, and while this is a bad enough problem on its own, it also affects his star generation capability, which is tied to Knight of Owner. In turn, this also cripples Lancelot’s critical damage aspect, leaving him with little more than his hard-hitting Buster cards to rely on.

No Survivability

Lancelot has zero ways to protect or sustain himself, which leaves him as one of the squishiest Servants in the game. In fact, his lack of survival is such that he sometimes struggles to survive even in the most well-supported of teams. In short, it’s very much a ‘kill or be killed’ scenario with Lancelot, and the best way to avoid him dying to a stray critical or another is to end the stage as early as possible.

As a farming-oriented Servant focused on quickly finishing the stage, Lancelot rarely uses his skills more than once a fight, which means that his skill leveling priority focuses more on getting as much immediate advantage as possible. In general, it is recommended to have his third skill maxed, and his first skill at relatively high levels (6-10). His second skill, on the other hand, can be left at a lower level for the most part.

• More than merely overcoming the Berserker class’ low base Star Absorption, higher levels on Eternal Arms Mastery A+ allows Lancelot to secure critical stars from even Servants of the Rider and Archer classes. At the very least, it should be raised to 6, though level 9 is more than sufficient (if Lores are in shortage) as the additional cooldown reduction is most of the time unnecessary. In terms of priority, this skill should be leveled second after Mana Reversal. 
• Protection of the Spirits A provides a minor buff to Lancelot’s critical star generation. However, because it has poor scaling and base values, it largely serves to improve the amount of critical stars generated from Lancelot’s NP. This skill should be leveled last.
• Mana Reversal A provides major increases to Lancelot’s critical damage and NP gain for one turn. Having this skill at max level helps guarantee that he will get the necessary amount of NP refund to fire his NP the following turn, and it should be leveled immediately if a Master plans to use Lancelot for looping.

Due to Lancelot’s NP Gain problem and farming role, Starting NP Gauge is his best choice. In fact, it is not recommended to give him anything else (save for perhaps hybrid CEs with, of course, Starting NP Gauge).

• Kaleidoscope (MLB): The prime choice for a 3-turn looping Lancelot. Without an MLB Kaleidoscope, it becomes significantly harder (if still doable) to perform stable NP looping.
• Kaleidoscope / The Imaginary Element / Dragon’s Meridian: In general the safest picks for Lancelot, Kaleidoscope in particular is one of the best CEs to use for NP-looping strategies, relaxing other requirements in the process.
• Holy Night Supper (MLB) / Little Halloween Devil / Magical Girl of Sapphire (MLB) / Distant Pilgrimage (MLB): These CEs can be used as an alternative to the above category, enabling 3-turn looping with certain compositions (though with more restrictions).
• Golden Sumo: Boulder Tournament / Magical Girl of Sapphire : While not as helpful in terms of looping, these hybrid CEs are decent options allowing Lancelot to get some mileage from his NP.