Bradamante

“It’s all right, the parts without armor are covered with magical power!”

At the bottom of the legends of Charlemagne is the story of Bradamante, a girl who wielded a magical lance and loved a man Ruggiero, butt needed him to convert from Islam to marry him. In FGO, she brings up the rear of a cast of AoE Quick Lancers capable of looping with double Skadi, even if she might need some more support from behind.

The seat of Bradamante’s powers comes from her Noble Phantasm. Thanks to her Clermont's Merit B’s quick bonus and Magecraft Removal A’s natural charge, if one were to ass ume a double Skadi and a Mage’s Association Mystic Code, she can loop against all classes with minimal overkill requirements. She isn’t a bum when it comes to defense either, having a rather nice Guts and defense up on White Feathered Knight B+ to pick her up off her tush should she fall. Not only that, but she provides utility via Magecraft Removal’s debuff removal to help an ally come from behind, and a stun on her NP to make the enemy collapse on their fanny.

While some may go over the moon for Bradamante, she struggles to pick up the rear. Her damage can be a bit below the belt due to a lack of passives. Further, without looping she doesn’t have much of a crack of getting her gauge up with her lower end hit counts. She also tails her Lancer looping competition as she requires a specific Mystic code or a Waver support as a cushion to effectively loop.

Despite having a cheeky voice, Bradamante really can help bring up the rear on any team needing an NP looper. Masters will really enjoy the repetitive views of her tush all the while!

NP Looping

Bradamante’s third skill provides her with a 20% charge, and she is capable of refunding 30% Noble Phantasm gauge against any wave of enemies with double-Skadi support. This makes it possible for her to fully charge her Noble Phantasm three times if she starts with a MLB Kaleidoscope and uses a Mage’s Association Mystic Code.

Strong Defenses

While lacking a hard evasive skill, Bradamante has a decent Guts skill, high HP values, and a 3-turn defense up buff. Masters looking to use her for an extended period of time could effectively support her to become a tank.

Decent Utility

When not used for looping, Bradamante’s third skill is targetable, meaning she can charge up an ally’s gauge and clear their debuffs. This could be very helpful to help a bound ally recover and fire their Noble Phantasm to seal the deal.

Low Damage

Bradamante’s only passive comes in the form of debuff resistance, meaning the only tools she has to increase her damage are a moderately-powered Quick up, and her Noble Phantasm’s overcharge effect. Without Critical Damage bonuses, her sustained damage isn’t that wonderful either. 

Poor Natural NP Gain

While she is a looper, she suffers from low hit counts all around on her cards making her natural charge outside of her NP a problem. She can partially recover this by using her NP charge skill, but 20% is rarely enough to compensate for poor natural gain.

High Competition

Bradamante’s main issue comes from the fact that she does similar damage via her Noble Phantasm when compared to her 4-star AoE Quick counterparts, Valkyrie and Parvati. However, she has a higher team cost than either of them, and a harder time looping. This leaves her with less CE options and she is often stuck with lower damaging Mystic Codes.

Bradamante’s skills revolve around her ability to loop, and should be leveled as such. She requires a full investment to use, so Masters planning to work with her should be prepared to level at least first first and third skills to max.

• Clermont's Merit B provides Bradamante with a three-turn Quick and Arts up skill. The Arts is fairly useless as it only provides a moderate gain to her already weak Arts cards, but the Quick is crucial for her Noble Phantasm’s damage and looping potential. This must be leveled to max if a Master is looking to use her to loop, but can be leveled second as it is more selfish than her third skill.
• White Feathered Knight B+ is useful for Masters looking to use her as a tank. Her guts does provide a semi-decent amount of HP upon revival, and 30% defense is nothing to scoff at. That said, she is not commonly used as a tank so this skill can be left for last, if it is leveled at all.
• Magecraft Removal A provides her charge, which has two benefits. It could provide her a charge required for looping, or it could be used in a supportive role on another ally while also clearing their debuffs. This should be leveled first and to max as it gains NP charge per level, up to 20%.

Bradamante is a looper, making the standard looping CEs involving Starting NP Gauge or Hybrid Starting Gauge / NP Gain CEs her top choices. Lacking those she will not be able to loop, so Masters would likely want to boost her NP Damage.

• MLB Kaleidoscope – A MLB Kaleidoscope is Bradamante’s #1 CE as it allows her to loop without a Chaldea Combat Uniform. By using this and a double-Skadi, she can Noble Phantasm on her first turn, use her charge skill on the second, and a Mage’s Association 20% charge on herself the third against almost all 3-enemy waves.
• Kaleidoscope – Kaleidoscope setups require more resources as she will need to swap in a Waver. By starting with an 80% gauge she can use her self-charge turn 1, swap in the wave turn 2 to make up the 20%, and then use him for the 30% in turn 3. This could harm her overall damage in certain scenarios.
• Magical Girl of Sapphire / Little Halloween Devil / Distant Pilgrimage – Using a hybrid charge / NP gain CE can enable her to loop with a Waver and Chaldea Combat Uniform, but it limits her to only clearing Caster waves. 
• The Black Grail – Without looping, Masters would look to get her damage up in her strength, the Noble Phantasm. And what else better to do it than the mother of them all?