Altria Pendragon (Alter)

"I'm seething with power... There's no need to hold back anymore."

Drenched in All Evils of the World from the cursed Holy Grail, Altria Pendragon (Alter), the corrupted version of the King of Knights, is a straightforward but effective offensive powerhouse. As a Buster-based damage dealer, she specializes in obliterating a single wave of enemies with her unusually strong AoE Noble Phantasm.

Altria Alter’s focus on offense is exemplified by her sky-high ATK, one of the highest of any 4* Servant. The foundation of her kit is Excalibur Morgan, one of the strongest AoE NPs in the game. Its unique strength is a much higher base NP damage modifier than usual, allowing it to outdamage similar NPs by far. To further bolster her damage, she brings two handy steroids: the Altria signature Mana Burst for selfish Buster Performance, and the reliable team ATK Up of Charisma, albeit at a low rank. Between her multiplicative buffs and her high damage modifier, Altria Alter is one of the best 4-Star AoE burst damage dealers out there.

However, Alter suffers from both a relatively low health pool and average generation stats. As such, she needs help from allies who can cover these weaknesses. Additionally, despite her high NP multiplier, she lacks any other effective damage modifiers, so she isn't optimal for battles with a single high-HP boss. Altria Alter also brings absolutely minimal team support to the table; outside of the small buff from Charisma and a small amount of critical stars from Instinct, she is an entirely selfish Servant.

All in all, with her powerful Noble Phantasm and steroids, Altria Alter’s Excalibur Morgan is an invaluable part of one’s Chaldea. When properly supported, the Dark King of Knights can freely blow through waves of even the toughest enemies.

Extremely Powerful AoE Noble Phantasm

Altria Alter boasts one of the most powerful AoE damage NPs among all Servants, and thus her playstyle revolves around firing that NP. With its high modifier, she wants to buff herself up and then wipe out a single wave of enemies in one go. As such she is useful for both general farming (with help charging her NP gauge) as well as harder content that requires high AoE damage.

Good Offensive Skills

Altria Alter's skills synergize well with her kit, and are centered around dealing burst damage. Her Charisma (though weak) can also help in increasing the attack of fellow party members, which is useful for longer fights and during farming sessions. Meanwhile, Mana Burst is a fantastic damage amplifier for her NP, and it sets her up for potentially devastating NP Buster Brave Chain turns if card draws work in her favor.

Low Overall Durability

With her lower HP pool and lack of defensive skills, Altria Alter will tend to be defeated more easily compared to other Servants, a trade-off for her offensive potential. As such she isn't that suitable for more long-winded battles, or battles where more than just raw one-shot damage is needed.

Need For Support Servants

With average generation stats and no other other tools to charge her NP quickly, Altria Alter can't fire off her NP as fast as she would want to without supporting Servants and CEs to charge it up. Her minor NP refund is useful, but she has to use her NP to benefit from it in the first place. Additionally, with her low HP, Altria Alter may find herself in situations where she is picked off early, sometimes even before she gets to fire off her NP. Thus, she benefits immensely from being paired with Servants who can charge her NP, or provide the defensive support she needs.

Altria Alter's identity as a walking nuclear strike makes the choice of what skills to level fairly straightforward. The higher level her steroids get, the more enemies she can wipe out. Therefore, prioritizing Mana Burst and Charisma in that order gets the maximum returns for her burst turns. Instinct can safely be ignored if Masters lack resources, as it is underwhelming in effect even when maxed out.

• Mana Burst is a simple but strong Buster buff that serves as Altria Alter's main NP steroid. Max it first to emphasize her burst damage.
• Charisma provides a modicum of team support, as well as adding another multiplicatively stacking buff on Altria Alter's NP turns. Max it second for the secondary damage buff and slight team support.
• Intuition is one of those skills which gives a low return on investment. Although the total performance improvement from 4 to 14 stars seems great, a maximum of 14 stars at level 10 cannot reliably guarantee crits on its own. It can be safely ignored, or leveled last if Masters really want to fully level Altria Alter.

Altria Alter's main goal is to blow up a wave of enemies as hard as possible. This makes Starting NP Gauge, NP Damage Up, and Buster Up Craft Essences ideal. Starting NP Gauge helps overcome her middling natural NP gain, which is especially helpful for farming. NP Damage Up scales very well with her in-built steroids and allows her to wipe even stronger waves. Buster Up Craft Essences eschew finishing the trinity of damage buffs and instead strengthen her NP slightly and her basic Buster cards significantly.

• Kaleidoscope / Imaginary Element: As Altria Alter's main objective is to get her NP up as fast as possible for that burst damage, these CEs will help her a lot in that regard. Especially when farming, these are her premium choices of CE.
• The Black Grail / Heaven's Feel: Although with these CEs Altria Alter has to build NP on her own (or with the help of support Servants), the damage from her NP while equipping NP Damage CEs is ludicrously high. Black Grail is a riskier option given her natural squishiness, but gives far greater returns, whereas Heaven's Feel offers a safer boost.
• Aerial Drive / Holy Night Supper / Golden Sumo: Boulder Tournament: These CEs offer a great balance between letting Altria Alter start with her NP gauge partly filled and increasing her overall damage. Aerial Drive and Holy Night Supper add an NP Damage buff that stacks multiplicatively with Mana Burst and Charisma, whereas Golden Sumo adds a universal ATK buff to all her cards.
• Hero Elly's Adventure / Limited/ Zero Over / Verdant Sound of Destruction: Since Excalibur Morgan is a Buster NP, these CEs will push that damage even higher. However, the damage increase from pure Buster Up CEs will not match NP Damage CEs; instead, her basic Buster cards will benefit. Hero Elly's Adventure is a hybrid option which adds both Buster Up and NP Damage.