Ganesha (Jinako)

“Offer it to me… Offer it to me...”

Wouldn’t it be great if there was a Servant in FGO who could boost all party members’ Noble Phantasm Gauge by 20% and provide an AoE Arts Noble Phantasm themselves? The writers of FGO forgot that one already existed, so they made Jinako.

Despite the overlap between Jinako and Helena, Jinako does have some advantages over the earlier counterpart. For one, she is very durable due to her Invincibility on Vinayaka EX, along with her Noble Phantasm’s Invincibility and a Damage cut on Broken Tusk B. By having the majority of Helena’s skills combined into one - Thriving Business A she also has the same advantages of Helena of support-and-fire Noble Phantasms.

Unfortunately, Jinako has several glaring flaws. For one, she has mediocre damage due to her Moon Cancer classing, low Attack, and lack of a Territory Creation passive. Her NP gain is downright bad, making it hard to charge her fully without support. She also has a rather tricky demerit to get around to use her tanking to full capacity. It should be noted however, that charging her NP Gauge is less difficult against enemies with high hit counts, particularly with her taunt and invincibility, allowing her to turn her tanking into an eventual vengeful unleashing of her NP.

Jinako primarily serves as a tank to absorb big hits, but unfortunately still suffers from competition from easier-to-acquire Servants who do the same thing and cost less. But with Aoi Yuuki as her voice actress, that can all be ignored! Praise the Great Statue God!

Top-Tier Tank

When it comes to absorbing damage, Jinako is practically unmatched. For one, she has the largest natural HP pool in the entire game, and can reduce incoming damage through her Broken Tusk B skill. But what really makes her a tank is how she has both an on-demand invincibility on her third skill as well as gaining an invincibility every time she uses her Noble Phantasm. To make things better, she can also direct attacks to her with Broken Tusk, guaranteeing a turn of zero-damage to the team.

Party NP Gauge Support with Damage AoE NP

Jinako ends a monopoly of Servants capable of charging the party 20% and providing an AoE Noble Phantasm themselves. This is a key for “minimum screen tapping” setups where the party has three kaleidoscopes, or 50% + 30% chargers, where a single 20% party boost allows all three Servants to use their Noble Phantasms to clear each wave. This makes Jinako a desirable farmer in situations where she can clear at least the first wave.

Low Damage

Because Jinako has such high HP, she pays for it with an attack lower than many 4-star Servants. While her first two skills combined give her 50% attack up, it still is not enough to make her attack anywhere near par with other 5-stars. Furthermore, her Moon Cancer classing means she will only have advantage against Avengers: a rather rare class to have available in groups. 

Bad NP Gain

Jinako does have the ability to charge and fire a Noble Phantasm right away with proper CEs or support, but once that is released it is hard to get her gauge back up again. She has one of the lowest gain rates in the game and her cards have mediocre hit counts making it hard to pump her up. She does have an NP gain up skill, but that is commonly not enough to make up for her problems. 

Skill Seal Demerit

Jinako’s third skill is great for a targeted invincibility, but it has a skill seal on it which locks the character down for the rest of the turn. Masters often will use this skill on Jinako herself in tandem with her second skill to redirect all attacks to the invincible Jinako. However, due to this Demerit a Master may sometimes mess up and then have no way of self-targeting Jinako. Masters should keep in mind that they will want to use all other skills they plan to before using Jinako’s third skill, so they won’t be blocked off by the Skill Seal demerit.

Noble Phantasm’s chained effects

While a 1-turn Invincibility is never a bad thing, it proves to be quite useless in the case of Jinako’s Noble Phantasm. In most cases when using the Noble Phantasm it will clear the wave, and then the 1-turn duration ends and the invincibility goes away. In situations where it does not clear the wave, masters would likely be using other Servants instead of Jinako. Without taunt active, enemies may randomly choose not to attack Jinako, making it a less useful effect.

Jinako’s skills can be divided into two parts: the charge and fire first skill, and the tankiness of the second and third skills. Masters typically use the second and third skill together to focus enemy attacks on an immune Jinako, and the first for boosting a team to full Noble Phantasm strength and attacking.

• Thriving Business A is the premiere skill of the charge and fire lineup, providing everyone in the party with a 20% charge to top off Kaleidoscopes or 50% charge CEs with 30% batteries. While it also provides a 5-star per turn gain and a minor attack up, its main selling point is the charge. This should be leveled first to the max as its charge amount increases per level. 
• Broken Tusk B gives Jinako a damage cut and target focus for a turn, turning her into a tank. In farming situations, this is used on the first turn to boost her attack another 30% beyond Thriving Business’s. The ATK boost scales with levels, while invincibility can benefit from the reduced cooldown at Lv6 and Lv10. However, as she can gain invincibility with her Noble Phantasm, Masters may be better served by leveling this second t can be left at level 9 if Masters need materials. 
• Vinayaka EX is a powerful targeted invincibility at the cost of sealing skills for the target that gains the invincibility. Masters generally would want to use this on Jinako herself on the same turn as Broken Tusk in order to deal with the onslaught of an enemy’s Single Target Noble Phantasm. While it does provide a small NP gain boost for a turn, it isn’t notable enough to make a difference. This can safely be left at level 6 and left for last as only NP gain scales.

As much of Jinako’s first skill is about charging and firing a Noble Phantasm, Craft Essences which boost her starting gauge such as Starting Gauge CEs and Mixed Starting Gauge / Damage CEs will prove useful. Masters may also want to use her high durability to have her absorb hits with Taunt CEs during longer fights.

• Kaleidoscope / The Imaginary Element / Dragon’s Meridian: Like most Servants, providing a starting charge is a quick way to fire off a Noble Phantasm. Kaleidoscope is particularly powerful for her as it allows her to reach 100% NP and instantly fire her Noble Phantasm.
• Painting Summer / Golden Sumo Boulder Tournament / Holy Night Supper: While requiring external support to use, nifty boosts to damage can help Jinako go a long way with her lower damage base.
• GUDAGUDA Poster Girl: Jinako is designed to take hits, and this CE can provide a 3-turn taunt combined with a major attack up.