Vlad III (EXTRA)

"With each victory, one's armor grows heavier with glory and sin.” 

Hero and tyrant, man of faith and Lord Impaler. Vlad III (EXTRA) embodies the warrior side of the Prince of Wallachia, the one who resolutely dyed himself in blood and brought terror to Mehmed the Conqueror’s mighty Turkish army. As a versatile single-target Buster offensive Servant, Vlad’s combination of utility and damage makes him a reliable addition to Buster-oriented teams.

Vlad’s most notable strength is his versatility, in that he has the tools to handle a wide variety of situations due to his diverse skill set. His ability to draw enemy attacks for a turn with Innocent Monster is especially valuable, as it allows him to protect vulnerable support Servants. His NP damage is also quite high, particularly against Evil enemies. When Kazikli Bey’s anti-Evil bonus damage is combined with the offensive boosts from Protection of the Faith and Tactics, Vlad’s damage becomes quite impressive. Additionally, Vlad’s ability to both keep himself alive and sustain his damage output over multiple turns makes him a strong offensive Servant in longer fights.

In exchange for his significant versatility and utility, however, Vlad has lower overall damage output than most comparable offensive Servants, especially when he is unable to take advantage of his anti-Evil bonus damage. With relatively weak innate damage boosts and a strong-but-short-lived defensive boost, Vlad has a good base skillset but is lacking the pieces he needs to truly shine offensively or defensively. While he has a wide range of tools, his lack of focus leaves him dependent on support Servants in order to function at maximum effectiveness.

All in all, Vlad excels as a general-purpose damage-dealer, particularly against Evil enemies or in fights where additional team survivability is necessary. He is neither the best offensive Servant nor the best at protecting the team, but his ability to draw fire from support Servants while still providing respectable damage is often highly valuable.

Utility and Versatility

While Vlad is primarily an offensive Servant, he also has a wide range of utility options. The Ignore Invincibility effect built into his NP, the high debuff resistance from Protection of the Faith, and the star generation and one-turn Taunt from Innocent Monster give him the capability to adapt to various situations and needs. His kit enables him to simultaneously deal damage and defend his teammates, all while keeping himself alive and providing a fair number of critical stars.

Good Anti-Evil NP Damage

Vlad’s Noble Phantasm deals exceptionally high damage to enemies with the Evil trait. Even without the benefit of that bonus, however, it still deals a fair amount of damage thanks to his two offensive buffs.

Sustain Potential

Vlad is particularly well-suited for longer fights. The defensive boost, healing, and long-lasting Attack buff from Protection of Faith enable Vlad to stay alive and deal consistent damage over multiple turns. Additionally, he has good base NP gain and a favorable hit-count spread, allowing him to access his NP consistently. He can also leverage his taunt for significant defensive NP gain against enemies with high hit-counts, further improving his sustained damage output.

Low Normal Attack Damage

While Vlad can deal good NP damage (especially against Evil enemies), he has low Attack for his class and rarity and his innate Attack buff is fairly weak. This leaves him struggling to compete with other Servants in terms of pure damage output. He also lacks star gathering and critical damage skills, so his critical hits will be neither reliable nor particularly damaging.

Need for Support

Vlad’s kit (outside of his NP damage) needs to be supplemented by other Servants in order to shine. Additional defensive buffs or one-turn Invincibility buffs let Vlad defend against enemy attacks more effectively. Similarly, an ally’s star gathering or critical damage skill would allow Vlad to take better advantage of the critical stars he generates. While Vlad thus lacks the innate tools to function fully as a damage dealer against non-Evil enemies, his skills provide a wide variety of baseline utility, so with the help of proper support Vlad can fill a variety of niches.

Protection of the Faith is easily Vlad’s best skill, giving him a constant performance boost with a relatively low cooldown, and as such it should be taken to max level as soon as possible. Innocent Monster is also a valuable skill; at higher levels it provides more stars and lets Vlad protect the team more often, so it should ideally be leveled evenly with Protection of the Faith. Military Tactics provides a nice NP damage boost, but it is ultimately less important to Vlad’s functioning than the other two skills and can safely be saved for last.

• Protection of the Faith A+++ grants Vlad a significant degree of additional bulk, and in conjunction with Innocent Monster and outside defensive buffs it can drastically reduce incoming damage for a turn. Additionally, the debuff resistance buff renders Vlad effectively immune to most debuffs. The skill also increases Vlad’s attack and is his only innate offensive boost that applies to his normal attacks. As Protection of the Faith is an all-around performance boost, it should be leveled first.
• Military Tactics B represents a marginal increase to Vlad’s overall damage output and can also boost allied damage-dealers. This skill will be most useful when Vlad is paired with other Servants who also have offensive NPs, but Vlad is usually best-off paired with two supports, which means this usually only benefits Vlad himself. The boost itself is relatively weak (yet stacks very well with common Buster supports) and scales poorly with levels, so this should be leveled last.
• Innocent Monster A allows Vlad to protect his supports while also generating critical stars. With Protection of the Faith and an outside Defense buff or two, Vlad can negate all or nearly all incoming damage for a turn, which is hugely valuable. This skill is on the same cooldown cycle as Protection of the Faith and benefits from the skill’s one-turn defense buff, so it should be leveled second in order to maximize its synergy with the aforementioned skill.

As a damage dealer, Vlad wants CEs that can prop up his damage output. Buster Up CEs stack multiplicatively with the buffs in Vlad’s kit, helping to alleviate his low card damage while also boosting his NP damage. Alternatively, NP Damage Up CEs allow Vlad to lean into his already-strong NP damage for powerful burst damage turns. Starting NP Gauge CEs can help Vlad to reach a high-damage turn faster, and NP Gain Up CEs help him access those high-damage turns more frequently. While they are somewhat more situational, Taunt CEs allow Vlad to draw enemy attacks for multiple turns at the start of battle.

• Limited/Zero Over / Joint Recital / Verdant Sound of Destruction: These CEs increase Vlad’s overall damage output, strengthening both his NP and his Buster cards. They also stack multiplicatively with his innate buffs for maximum impact.
• The Black Grail / Heaven’s Feel: These CEs change Kazikli Bey from a cannon into a nuclear warhead, especially in situations where Vlad gets his anti-Evil bonus damage. This can be a powerful option for single-target boss fights in particular.
• Golden Sumo: Boulder Tournament / Partake With the King / First Sunrise: These CEs can help Vlad gain access to his NP earlier in a fight while still providing some longer-term benefits as well.
• Conquering the Great Sea of Stars / Cute Orangette: These CEs take Vlad’s innate NP gain from good to great while also boosting the defensive NP gain he gets from taunting. The NP Gain Up effect helps him to use his NP more often, and the offensive boosts these CEs provide make those NP turns more powerful.
• Grand New Year / Halloween Arrangement: These CEs both allow Vlad to draw enemy attacks for two full turns at the beginning of battle (with the help of Innocent Monster) while also protecting him enough to let him live through the initial barrage.