Chacha

“Nyah!? Ouchie ouch ouch~...”

Chachahime is not an unfamiliar name to many fans of the Sengoku period, but most of them would probably not expect her to manifest as a tiny Berserker in Fate/Grand Order. With her AoE Buster Noble Phantasm and Berserker Class, Chacha is a good addition to the farming squad for many Masters.

Similar to most welfare Servants, Chacha’s main draw is her easily obtained high Noble Phantasm level, provided Masters finish her event. As an AoE Noble Phantasm from a Berserker, it will hit decently hard against the majority of enemies in the game, making Chacha a good choice for general farming. In addition, she gains NP well, with decent NP generation on her Buster cards and her Golden Rule (Evil) being a great NP battery skill that synergizes well with her farming role. Furthermore, she is capable of providing some measure of team support. Her signature skill Consort of the Sun provides a single target Defense debuff that scales over time, while Innocent Monster (Flame) provides a decent 10 Critical Stars per turn, even though it also decreases the Star Weight of the entire team.

On the other hand, Chacha has some jarring flaws that hold her back significantly. As a Berserker, she is inherently frail, which is further aggravated by having no survivability options. Additionally, Chacha’s damage is on the lower side compared to other Berserkers, due to her lack of strong self-buffs, low Madness Enhancement rank, and lower base Attack. Even fully upgraded, her NP can be out-damaged by lower rarity AoE options. Last but not least, her skills all share a similar theme of gaining effects over time, which not only clashes with her identity as a wave clearer for short battles, but also makes them prone to debuff/buff clearance.

In the end Chacha is a relatively lackluster Servant with a mismatched focus on long term potential, though her base farming capacity still means she can be quite useful. Yet the competition for the role of AoE Berserker is especially fierce, and so Chacha often ends up being a weaker pick despite having a welfare NP.

Gameplay Tip

Chacha is one of the few Servants with high hit counts on her Buster and high NP generation per hit. Thus, much like Scathach and Kiyohime (Lancer), she can generate NP pretty well via her Buster cards.

Masters can force normal Buster cards to generate NP by starting an attack chain with an Arts card. In addition, any Arts-led Extra chain will generate a significant sum of NP Gauge for Chacha.

Good AoE Damage

Thanks to being a welfare Servant with access to a high Noble Phantasm level, Chacha’s Berserker-class AoE Buster NP will hit hard against most enemies. Even so, despite easy access to NP5, her lack of steroids will result in her NP damage being lower or on par with Servants such as Eric Bloodaxe or Darius.

Good NP Generation

Unlike many of her counterparts, Chacha does have surprisingly good NP generation. Her Golden Rule (Evil) provides a decent charge of up to 10% NP Gauge per turn over three turns at max level, and boosts her already formidable Defensive NP Gain, which is quite handy against enemies with high hit counts. Her base NP generation per hit and high hit counts are also respectable, and an ABB chain generates a moderately high sum of NP Gauge unboosted.

Decent Team Support

Despite her spoiled-princess image, Chacha does offer some form of team support. Consort of the Sun is a long-lasting Defense debuff that rises every turn to a whopping 50% after 5 turns at max rank, at which point it provides a significant attack boost to her entire team against the afflicted enemy. Her generally high hit counts and her Innocent Monster (Flame) also provide a good amount of Critical Stars if Masters can play around the star weight demerit.

Inherent Frailty

A combination of comparatively low base HP compared to her peers and the Berserker class’s inherent frailty results in Chacha being exceptionally squishy. To add further insult to injury, she completely lacks any form of defensive tools whatsoever. Consequently, she is particularly prone to be one-shot by stray Critical Hits and will definitely not live through any damaging Noble Phantasm unbuffed.

Mediocre General Damage

Outside of her Noble Phantasm, Chacha’s offensive capacity is quite weak. Her Attack stat is on the lower side amongst her Berserker peers, and she does not have any immediate offensive self-buffs to bring her up to par either. As a result, in most circumstances, her normal cards will likely be outperformed by other Berserkers who have the better offensive capacity.

Chacha’s Skills aren’t particularly powerful, but since she is one of the more accessible farming Servants that will perform well in most situations and an event Servant in all Gudaguda events, there are merits to raising her skills. Unless Masters use her more outside of her farming niche, raising her skills will not boost her damage much during farming. Improving her NP charging is valuable to reach specific benchmarks though.

• Golden Rule (Evil): Being her main NP battery skill, this is undoubtedly her most useful and relevant skill for her role. The increase in NP generation from being attacked should not be overlooked either, as it is highly effective against enemies with high hit counts. It is highly recommended that this should be invested in first.
• Innocent Monster (Flame): This skill is essentially Chacha’s weakest. Passive Stars per Turn is useful, but its demerit may cause more harm than good as it dilutes the team Star Weight, resulting in less consistent Star distribution if there are not enough Critical Stars. It might be worth putting a few levels in it if Chacha is used in a set up that can generate a moderate sum of Critical Stars regularly, otherwise, it is safe to leave this skill at rank 4.
• Consort of the Sun: At max level, this skill can be constantly inflicted on one enemy. The debuff value scales harder per turn, and its permanent uptime at max level is a good perk. A good skill to max after Golden Rule (Evil), but if one is only to use her as a farmer, leaving it at rank 4 to 6 is enough to save resources since the initial defense down stays the same.

For most Masters, Chacha’s main niche first and foremost is for general farming. To this end, there are no stats that help her more than Starting NP Gauge. Outside of this, Masters can also pick Craft Essences that provide Buster Performance Up, Attack Up, or NP Damage Up to help improve her general offensive capacity. Craft Essences that provide survivability are also a decent option to keep her on the battlefield, but in general, Chacha is more well-suited to shorter battles.

• Kaleidoscope / The Imaginary Element: The bread and butter Craft Essences for any farming specialist, granting a significant sum of NP Gauge at the start of the battle.
• Holy Night Supper / Golden Sumo / Partake with the King / First Sunrise: Hybrid Craft Essences are an excellent choice to shore up her offensive potential for farming as Chacha can charge her NP herself to make up for the lower Starting NP Gauge.
• Black Grail / Heaven’s Feel / Hero Elly's Adventure: If the team can help with filling Chacha’s NP gauge quickly, these Craft Essences will be well worth it for the incredible damage boost they offer to her Noble Phantasm.
• Limited/Zero Over / Verdant Sound of Destruction: Simple but efficient Craft Essences to improve Chacha’s overall effectiveness, as her deck is heavily Buster-centric.
• Volumen Hydragyrum: One of, if not the strongest option that provides survivability for lengthier battles. For Berserkers, avoiding being hit is more effective than being hit.