Cnoc na Riabh

“Fae obeying humans…it’s rather strange, isn’t it? Usually, it’s the other way around. What’s the point of the stronger one being at the mercy of the weaker one? …Well, weirdly enough, I don’t feel bad about it.”

Not-Medb, the ruler of Edinburgh and a friend-borne-from-rival of Altria Caster's, Cnoc na Riabh is the welfare Servant of the FGO Summer 2025 event. She is an AoE Arts Foreigner with potent party support capabilities that come with a few demerits that can be worked around.

Her Noble Phantasm, Queen’s Melty Heart, clears her own debuffs, heals herself a sizable amount, and deals damage to all enemies. Additionally, enemies will have a 3-turn DEF debuff after damage, so any survivors will take increased damage for a period of time. However, with her relatively low ATK base stat, and no further trait based damage bonuses, and general Class-neutral advantage in most cases, her damage is on the lower end.

Cnoc na Riabh’s skill set is a well-balanced array of effects. The most unique of them are related to her second skill, Queen’s Contract A, which grants all allies except herself the [My Fair Soldier] trait, which functions as a Skill Seal but allows allies to benefit from other effects in her kit. The skill also buffs NP Damage for all allies, and further increases ATK and DEF for any allies affected by the [My Fair Soldier] trait. Additionally, her first skill, Queen's Grave A, increases NP Gauge by up to 30% for all [My Fair Soldier] allies. For herself, her first skill also gives her 1-time Debuff Immunity, up to 1k HP regen per turn, and up to 20% NP regen per turn, all for 3 turns. Her third skill, VVV A, provides herself with an Arts buff, debuffs DEF for all enemies, and has up to a 60% chance of inflicting Stun on all enemies for a turn. It comes with the demerit of inflicting Arts Card Seal on all allies, except herself and any Altria Caster allies.

Overall, Cnoc na Riabh, as a welfare, makes for a powerful easy access 30% NP Gauge support for allies, with the added requirement that Masters remember to use the skills of all other allies first before using her second skill followed by first skill. She also probably does not make for the best support for Arts allies due to her third skill’s Arts Card Seal effect. She does work particularly well with Altria Caster, not only because she is unaffected by her Arts Card Seal, but that she can also cleanse the 3-turn Skill Seal inflicted by her second skill. Her damage is not much to write home about, but she is capable of looping, and can help clear smaller waves or help survive Berserker waves quite comfortably despite the fact that she lacks a hard defensive option, due to the sheer value of her NP’s heal effect. As they may or may not have said, make Chocolate, not war.

Party NP Charge on Welfare

She is the first Servant to provide a whole 30% NP Gauge for the entire party as a freely obtainable Welfare Servant, helping Masters have an easier time farming or reaching thresholds required to fire off their NPs.

Powerful Offensive Buffs

Her second skill provides both NP Damage +20% and ATK +50% (!) buffs to all allies, which makes her a source of some of the highest damage buffs available, especially among Welfare Servants. Additionally, her third skill can inflict a DEF -20% debuff on a wave, making her overall effective modifier NP Damage +20% and ATK +70%, one of the highest in the roster. Masters in need of a large damage boost from an ally can utilize her, so long as the 3-turn Skill Seal effect is not a concern for the damage dealer.

Mediocre Damage

Despite being able to reach NP5 easily due to being a welfare Servant, her overall damage still leaves much to be desired. This is in part due to her low base ATK stat, which is near the lowest for her Class.

No Defensive Options

Cnoc na Riabh does not have any hard defensive options in her arsenal, having only a heal (albeit a very sizable heal of at least 5000 HP minimum value). Large bursts of damage from the enemy can pose a problem for her, and she may need to rely on support (such as from Altria Caster) to survive harder hits from the enemy.

The most important aspect of Cnoc na Riabh’s kit are arguably focused around her first two skills, which provide support for allies. Generally, the recommended leveling order is 1 > 2 > 3.

• Queen's Grave A – This applies Debuff Immune, HP Regen, NP Regen to herself, and NP Gauge for all allies with [My Fair Soldier]. Three effects, including the HP/NP regen and the NP Gauge charge scale with level, making this worth maxing to reach the 30% NP charge when possible.
• Queen’s Contract A – For this skill, three of the NP Damage, ATK, and DEF buffs scale with level. The ATK buff in particular scales extremely well per level, making this also a high priority skill as well. However, this is secondary to her first skill since usually making sure Servants can hit the threshold for unleashing their NP is slightly more important.
• VVV A – For this skill, the three effects of self Arts buff, Stun chance, and DEF debuff scale with level. This still indirectly improves offensive performance of the party via up to a 20% DEF debuff on the enemy, so leveling this skill also is important to maximize her offensive support.

Cnoc na Riabh can be run as an AoE Arts damage dealer. In those cases, she benefits from Starting NP Gauge CEs, as well as Arts Effectiveness, NP Damage, and ATK buffs for her offensive performance. If run as a Support, she can run supportive CEs such as those that provide Crit Star Regen or starting ATK/Buster buffs.

• Kaleidoscope / Winter Crystal / The Imaginary Element – Cnoc na Riabh has no immediate NP charger skill of her own, but her NP regen over time will help top off her gauge on subsequent turns, so having some starting Gauge will help get her engine going.
• Ocean Flier / Cradle Song / Battle Olympia / Mission Start / Grand Puppeteer / Chaldea Anniversary / Dive to Blue / Painting Summer / Star’s Day Off / Golden Sumo: Boulder Tournament / Holy Night Supper – These hybrid NP starter CEs also provide a boost to her offensive performance, in addition to some starting NP Gauge, which work well if additional support is provided to top off her NP Gauge.
• The Black Grail / Heaven's Feel – These are CEs that provide the highest NP Damage boost available. With premiere Arts Support, she is capable of looping with a Black Grail, and these can help greatly with her otherwise low damage.
• A Fragment of 2030 / King of the Seraph / Precise Time Manipulation – These provide Critical Stars each turn that can support other Servants when she is primarily used in the party for her offensive support.
• Ox-Demon King / King of Tsukimihara Academy – These provide either Buster or ATK buffs to all allies at battle start, providing further offensive support.