Miss Crane

“Ehh, the specifications have been altered?! Then I shall do it to return the favor! ...Finished! Now, let the cast party all night long!.”

Elusive, elegant and highly specialized, the tailor of Chaldea - Miss Crane is one of the most unique Servants to have graced the game. A powerful Support, Miss Crane’s ceiling is as high as her Master’s imagination and roster’s diversity. When fully utilized to the best of her ability, she is capable of breaching absurd damage limits for her teammates, and enables some team composition that no other Servants in the game is capable of.

To first understand exactly how Miss Crane works, one must first understand her Noble Phantasm. Tenimuhou - Tsurunoenishi Namida no Wakare is a support Noble Phantasm that cannot be used unless there are 20 Critical Stars, which upon use increases the leftmost ally’s Attack, NP Damage and NP Gauge, and swap Miss Crane out to the last position of the party with the ally in the 4th position taking her place. While her buffs are fantastic, this last effect is what truly defines her, making Miss Crane basically a living Order Change effect from the amazingly versatile Chaldea Combat Uniform. 

Fitting the theme of unique effects, Miss Crane skillset is also filled with great supportive effects, albeit with some caveats. Lady's Affection for Garments EX grants her two teammates Invincibility for one turn, increases their Critical Star Generation for three turns and grants Critical Stars per the amount of allies that has a costume (does not need to wear them to trigger this effect). Overnight Haori B is an incredibly powerful 100% NP Gauge Charger at max level, while also inflicting Target Focus on both of her allies for 3 turns. This skill allows Miss Crane to get off her Noble Phantasm immediately, which is crucial for most optimal setups involving her. Finally, Thousand-Year Gratitude A grants an ally hefty Critical Star Gather Rate, Critical Damage and Instant Death Immunity all for three turns. 

Miss Crane’s purpose is straightforward. She’s a pure support that frontloads the main damage dealer with all her buffs, then lets another take the center-stage while she watches from behind. Her buffs are powerful but her conditions may be tricky, as most of the time the Master needs to build a team around how to let her use her NP as soon as possible, while also having a good Servant in the 4th slot to come in. When combined with Chaldea Combat Uniform and some help with charging her NP Gauge, it is not abnormal for her to get two of her Noble Phantasm, effectively enabling two other heroes to come in at the same time while granting massive benefit to the one at the left-most position. 

While the benefit that she brings can be enormous, Miss Crane is a very high investment unit. Not just her own skills will need a high level to function well, she also requires a plethora of good supportive units that can be used in tandem with her main gimmick, as well as a powerful enough damage dealer that can take advantage of her buffs. Furthermore, many of her setups will require flexible Craft Essences, as she needs a hefty amount of Critical Stars to use her Noble Phantasm, and without further NP Battery from any source other than her own skill, she’ll most likely only be able to use it once per battle. Last but not least, Miss Crane has almost nonexistent damage output, even for a Support. As such, she is a highly recommended pickup for experienced and long-time players who already have a diverse roster at end game, but a very poor fit for any players who are still in the early and middle part of the game.

Exceptionally Powerful Gimmick

With essentially an Order Change effect from her Noble Phantasm, Miss Crane can create some very unique and powerful combos, especially for any Master looking for low-turn Challenge Quest clears. The more powerful Support and Damage Dealing Servants a Master has, the more versatile and powerful her gimmick becomes. 

Strong General Support

Even if she can just use her Noble Phantasm once, Miss Crane’s buffs all have amazing value. While any Damage Dealer provided with her plethora of buffs will have their power increased significantly, her defensive buffs are also not to be underestimated, as teamwide Invulnerability and Instant Kill Immunity can both be very high impact in the right circumstances.

Very High Investment Barrier

Miss Crane is definitely not someone any Master should pick up. She needs a lot of facilitation to be effective in terms of teammates, Skill Levels, Craft Essences, Mystic Code and even the right battle sometimes. As such, she only shines in late game accounts that can give her as much flexibility as possible, ideally with at least 3-4 primary Support Servants maxed out already such as Zhuge Liang, Altria (Caster), Reines, Merlin, Nero Claudius (Bride) or Scathach-Skadi, among others. 

Nonexistent Damage Output

Even for a Support, Miss Crane hits like an extra wet noodle. She shines best in low-turn clears where her teammates do all the damage for her, as her face cards will do practically nothing, essentially playing with a Servant down after she already uses all her skills.

The ideal order to max Miss Crane’s Skills should be 2 > 3 > 1. Her skills are practically designed to be used all at once before she swaps herself out with her Noble Phantasm. 

• Lady's Affection for Garments EX – The main value of leveling this skill is the Critical Stars gained per ally with costume, as the Invincibility effect does not change with Skill Level. At max level with 2 allies that have costumes, the skill will provide enough Critical Stars for a turn 1 Noble Phantasm. In reality, many top tier Damage Dealers and Supports don’t have costumes, so it is hardly relevant. As such, this skill may be left at low level without hampering Miss Crane’s performance at all. 
• Overnight Haori B – This skill is her best and most important skill and is almost required for her to be functional. Without any starting NP Gauge Craft Essences, this skill can let her immediately fire off her Noble Phantasm. It is possible for her to even use two Noble Phantasm when combined with other sources of NP Battery and the Chaldea Combat Uniform Mystic Code. All in all, this skill should be maxed as soon as possible if the Master is looking to use her. 
• Thousand-Year Gratitude A – This is a powerful Critical Support skill. The Critical Star Gather Rate is not enough to guarantee that Berserker or Avengers will absorb Critical Stars, but for any other classes, it is more than enough. In practice, many team compositions with Miss Crane will be more focused on using Noble Phantasms repeatedly, but having the option of powerful face cards is not a bad alternative, especially if the Critical Stars effect of her first skill comes up.

Miss Crane has some interesting Craft Essence choices compared to the standard Servants, even when compared to her Support peers. Starting Critical Stars is one of her most desired effects from a Craft Essence, as this allows her to use her Noble Phantasm immediately, and improves the flexibility of her teammates’ CE options as otherwise someone will have to provide Critical Stars for her. Starting NP Gauge is also a highly valuable effect, as several strong Supports have teamwide NP charge skills that when combined with these Craft Essences can facilitate Miss Crane’s Noble Phantasm more than once per battle. Last but not least, any team-wide buffs that can be triggered either when she enters the battlefield or stays in the back would be valuable.

• Golden Captures the Carp: Possibly one of her best and most versatile Craft Essence options. Granting both Starting NP Gauge and Starting Critical Stars make it extremely versatile on her in any setup.
• Kaleidoscope / The Imaginary Element: The two best Starting NP Gauge Craft Essence can work wonders in facilitating her Noble Phantasm, provided her teammates can supply the Critical Stars.  
• Ox-Demon King: The best currently available Craft Essence that grants a teamwide buff when Miss Crane enters the field. It has amazing synergy with Chaldea Combat Uniform and Buster-centric Servants in general. 
• Ideal Holy King / Golden Millenium Tree: Very powerful passive support Craft Essence that allows her to grant a hefty amount of HP to the entire team even when she is not present on the field.