Altria Caster (Berserker)

“My house gets really, really cold. It even freezes over in the winter. I actually lost two toes last year ‘cause of that…”

Sometimes FGO makes sense as a game. Other times it does not, such as deciding to make Caster Altria Berserker, a Servant with so many classes it boggles the mind. While she is a sturdy crit-dealing Single Target Arts boss-slayer, she also is a contradiction to herself as a person. And totally subverts her own canon, seeing how she has all ten of her toes despite what Lostbelt 6 may say.

Caster Altria Berserker could easily take her place as one of the top boss slayers in the game. For one, she has amazing NP gain functionality thanks to Holy Sword Operation A and Summer Fae B’s Arts and NP gain rates, as well as a massive 70% charge combined on Pulse of Summer EX and Summer Fae. In addition, she’s a heavy critical damage dealer, with not only 3 turn star absorb and crit damage up on Pulse of Summer but also generating her own stars. Add in her invincibility skill and her anti-enforcement defense on her noble phantasm, and she’s a surprisingly bulky character to take down. She also has some niche uses which boost her damage incredibly high.

That said, she is a bit lacking overall, and not just in the toe department. For one, her damage is lacking on her Noble Phantasm due to only having a single Arts up boost. Her defenses also are much weaker than her Caster version, so she is more likely to die in extended fights.

Caster Altria Berserker is a great Servant to have around for both her charge and her Critical damage. She’d serve well to fight against break-bar bosses and 90++ nodes. In other words, despite her flaws, she is toe-tally worth it, even if Lasengle didn’t remember that she lost two of her toes in a cold winter!

NP Gain

Every element of Caster Altria Berserker’s kit is centered around charging NP gauges. Combined she has a 70% natural charge at max, a 50% Arts up on herself, and a 20% party NP gain rate up. While some of these skills are targetable, they are more meant for her to use on herself to refund huge amounts of gauge with her Noble Phantasm and her two Arts cards. On boss fights, she could likely take down three break bars on her own with the proper supports.

Critical Potential

One of the biggest flaws of the original Caster Altria was her lack of critical support. Caster Altria Berserker fixes this by generating stars, collecting them, and boosting her critical damage. Even better, all her critical skills boost her damage for 3 turns, allowing for her to benefit from their damage for a longer duration of many fights.

Hard Defense

With both an invincibility on her third skill and a 1-time anti-enforcement defense on her Noble Phantasm, Caster Altria Berserker can tank some major hits if necessary. 

Anti-Trait Bonuses

Caster Altria Berserker’s Noble Phantasm’s overcharge gives bonuses against both Chaotic and Divine enemies separately. Unlike most Servants with multiple niches of bonus damage, her niches commonly overlap, allowing for certain situations where she can provide massive extra damage. To add fuel to the fire, her second skill boosts overcharge, allowing her to delete bosses that fit both niches.

Lower Damage

Caster Altria Berserker is by no means a bad Servant in terms of damage, but she is lacking in the passives and multiple bonuses which would make her hit harder. 

Soft Defense

In practicality, Caster Altria Berserker’s defenses can have issues. Her invincibility is only for one turn and tied to her Arts up, so will likely be cast on the first turn and end up useless in damage avoidance. In addition, her anti-enforcement defense is fixed at only a single hit for one turn, and most all enemies attack more than once in a turn. With no other ways of damage mitigation and taking double damage as a Berserker, she may take a bad critical hit and die at an inopportune time during a boss fight.

Altria Caster Berserker’s kit, despite having some targetable effects and party boosts, is really meant for her benefit. All her skills are meant to increase her own NP gain, repeating Noble Phantasms until the boss enemy dies. Masters may wish to use all her skills on herself the very first turn to boost her gauge to 90% (if including Append Skills) and give her all her buffs for the entire 3-turn fight. Alternatively, if late-encounter survivability is an issue, they may wish to hold off on using her third skill until later, although that will lead to a severe damage reduction. All skills should be leveled to max, but typically skill 1 is better than 2 is better than 3.

• Pulse of Summer EX is Altria Caster Berserker’s primary charge and Critical skill. Masters will use this situationally, typically on the first turn, to get her an initial charge and begin her barrage of Noble Phantasms. It also is her primary Critical boost, giving a damage gain and a huge absorb boost that negates her Berserker class’s low natural absorb. As this skill has more NP gain per level, it should be leveled first and to max. 
• Summer Fae B is her secondary charge and NP gain rate boost. This skill is targetable, allowing her to give any Servant in the party the 20% gauge, but it is almost always best used on herself. More critically, this provides an overcharge boost of 2. When used on herself it effectively gives 50% more damage against Chaotic Divine enemies. This should be leveled second and to max. 
• Holy Sword Operation A acts as her damage boost, giving Caster Altria Berserker an Arts buff. It also serves to provide stars and acts as a 1-turn buffer of invincibility. However, this skill has the least to gain from maxing and may effectively be left at level 9 if a Master is lacking materials. As there is no charge carried with it, it can be leveled last.

Caster Altria Berserker is a primary damage dealer, so her CEs should center around her damage. One may be able to use NP Damage Up CEs to boost her overall damage. Alternatively, one may wish to give her a Starting NP Gauge CE to guarantee three Noble Phantasms at the cost of damage. She may also benefit from Mixed Starting NP Gauge / Damage CEs to get the best of both worlds.

• The Black Grail / Phantasmal Princess / Corrupting Mud Rain: As Caster Altria Berserker has so much charge, she can easily cast multiple Noble Phantasms with the right supports. The Black Grail provides her a great damage boost. As a Berserker class, she can also gain most of the same effect with Phantasmal Princess at the cost of 400 ATK. A Master may want to consider using Corrupting Mud Rain instead when facing one of her niches, as this will boost her damage further than just using a Black Grail or the like.
• Kaleidoscope / Great Marshal of Magic: Getting Caster Altria Berserker to do 3 Noble Phantasms can be tight, but providing her with a large starting gauge gets around that. 
• Golden Sumo: Boulder Tournament / Holy Night Supper / Ocean Flyer / Dragon’s Meridian: Giving Caster Altria Berserker a bit of a starting gauge and a damage boost will both increase her damage potential and the odds that she can cast all three Noble Phantasms.