Murasaki Shikibu (Rider)

“That's right, this is a literary girl's appearance. ...Why the crutch and eyepatch, you ask?”

Never underestimate the power of a girl on crutches, so says Murasaki Shikibu. And we certainly won’t, with her Single Target Arts Noble Phantasm destined to wreak havoc to her enemies. Masters will surely want her as a top-flight boss killer.

Murasaki is made to destroy bosses. By using her Summer Night Black Widow EX and Bizarre Hobby (Summer) C++ she has the full kit to debilitate a boss with NP seals, Skill seals, and Debuff resistance downs. She also is great in getting her Noble Phantasm up thanks to Literary Maiden (Summer) A’s charges and her Arts-based Noble Phantasm. In fact, she’s capable of doing two Noble Phantasms in a row with the right setup. Even without the double Noble Phantasm, she does have decent damage.

While she is a good burst boss killer, that comes at the cost of her other capabilities. Her sustained damage is quite poor. She also has poor survivability in a longer battle. Her Critical abilities are also close to nil despite having a heavy Rider star weight.

Murasaki should be used against Caster bosses, especially those with break bars, to take advantage of her spread NP gain and stacking Arts Resist debuffs. She also should be used because a girl on crutches shouldn’t be left alone!

Boss Debilitator

Murasaki’s utility is through the roof. She comes loaded with a skill seal, a Noble Phantasm seal skill, a Debuff Resistance down skill, and her Noble Phantasm reduces the enemy gauge by one (60% chance). Murasaki offers solutions for a multitude of situations!

Decent NP Charge

Thanks to her third skill, Murasaki charges 20% per turn. This would enable her to have a 40% gauge on turn 3 (or 60% with an append skill) and with supports or CEs, could easily hit the full gauge amount. 

Good Burst Damage

Murasaki is capable of decreasing an enemy’s Arts Resist and Defense, which acts the same way as a multiplicative Arts up and Attack up but just against that one enemy. Her overcharge also decreases Arts Resist, making it possible to do more damage each turn against an enemy if she can get her Noble Phantasm off multiple times.

Terrible Criticals

Mursaki has no skills to boost her Critical hits, and her preferred supports do not have them either. Despite this, she hogs all the stars, using them suboptimally. A team constructed around Murasaki will have to be Noble Phantasm or bust.

Poor Sustain

After getting off her Noble Phantasm bursts, Murasaki has little left in the tank. Without Criticals, and with her Arts Down on her second skill only lasting one turn, she’s not going to consistently perform afterwards. 

Low Durability

Similar to most summer servants of 2022, Murasaki has no way of defending herself. With middling HP levels, a lack of hard counters, and no defense up boosts, she’s going to take whatever hits the enemy throws at her. She may not last too long without support.

Muraski’s first two skills are her utility skills, meant primarily to debilitate a boss and boost up damage against them. Her third skill is her charge, and what primarily makes her work as a boss looper. Masters looking to loop with her will want to raise her second and third skills to max right away. Masters looking for just damage should still raise her third skill to max. Her first skill could be left at level 9.

• Summer Night Black Widow EX is Murasaki’s NP seal and provides an extended defense down reduction. Masters either use this just as an enemy is about to unleash a Noble Phantasm, or before Murasaki is. Scaling increases the Defense down amount, so this could safely be left at level 9 and left for last.
• Bizarre Hobby (Summer) C++ is Murasaki’s Skill Seal and Debuff Resistance down for enemies. This is sometimes useful for Servants with 50% HP triggered skills with devastating effects. More frequently it is used offensively for its Arts Down capability, increasing damage and refund for loopers. This should be leveled to either level 9 for non-loopers, or 10 for loopers.
• Literary Maiden (Summer) A is Murasaki’s charge, giving 20% a turn. While it does give a collection of stars the first turn, these rarely see use as Murasaki will hog them all with no Critical capacity. As charge increases by level this should always be leveled first and to max.

At the heart of it, Murasaki is still a damage dealer, making her Noble Phantasm selection the standard of NP Damage Up for the most damage, Mixed Starting Gauge / Damage for easier accessible to Noble Phantasms, or Starting Gauge for immediate access. She also benefits damage-wise from her Noble Phantasm’s overcharge, so a Overcharge Boost CE could also come in handy.

• The Black Grail: As with most Servants, a Black Grail provides the largest increase to NP damage. 
• Battle Olympia / Painting Summer / Mission Start / Holy Night Supper / Golden Sumo: Boulder Tournament: For any Master who still has it, Battle Olympia not only provides damage increases and Arts increases, but also a 60% starting gauge. With Murasaki’s 20% per turn charge, this guarantees a full gauge turn 3 without supports. The other CEs are also great for increases damage and providing some gauge but will require support or card luck.
• Kaleidoscope / The Imaginary Element / Dragon’s Meridian: All Servants benefit from a high starting gauge and Murasaki is no exception.
• One Who Wishes for Salvation / Devilish Bodhisattva: Murasaki’s Overcharge will provide extra Arts Resistance down for the enemy of her choosing. By boosting this up, it will increase her damage over time. Devilish Bodhisattva one offers this one time, but comes with a 60% charge with the same effect of Battle Olympia.