Hassan of the Cursed Arm

"My wish is for my name to echo throughout the ages."

An assassin in search of his own brand of immortality, Cursed Arm Hassan is the prime example of mastering one thing. He is comfortably one of the best cheap active Critical Star generators in the game and his low cost makes him a very good option for any Critical teams that require a consistent source of Critical Stars.

Due to his heavy Quick deck, 3 hit Quick cards, high Presence Concealment rank and both Throw (Dagger) and Protection Against the Wind to help out his Star Generation, Hassan of the Cursed Arm is remarkably consistent in the amount of stars he typically creates. Post Rank Up, his star generation capabilities are amplified even more, with his upgraded Throw/Recover skill generating stars for 2 turns on a very low base cooldown. He is also quite resilient thanks to his Protection Against the Wind, which is on the same level as Cu Chulainn's Protection from Arrows. Lastly, his NP Generation rate is rather impressive for a release Servant.

Sadly, outside of these particular niches Cursed Arm Hassan does not have much else to offer. Despite his good NP generation rate, his single hit ST NP doesn't actually hit hard. The Assassin class 0.9 modifiers, his bronze Attack stats, and his own lack of any steroids for his NP all inhibit his damage potential even if he can boost his critical damage through Self Modification C. His second main problem is the weakness of active star generation itself, with many support Servants and Craft Essences that grant passive star generation over time making his role often redundant.

Still, Hassan of the Cursed Arm is a great starter Assassin for new Masters who wish to dabble in creating critical-based teams. While his weak stats will eventually see him replaced in most rosters, the solid foundations of his kit will reward any Master who wishes to bestow some Holy Grails upon him.

Cursed Arm Hassan's NP Overcharge has a scaling chance of Instant Death. Due to the mechanics of Instant Death, this effect will generally never occur against more powerful Monsters or enemy Servants. The percentage chance looks far more appealing than the reality portrays, as it is weighed against each enemy's Instant Death Resistance.

Excellent Star Generation

With a heavy Quick card deck, good hit counts, high Presence Concealment rank and both Throw and Protection of the Wind granting critical stars directly and indirectly respectively, Cursed Arm greatly excels at making stars with which others can crit.

Impeccable Survivability

Protection Against the Wind is an incarnation of the fan-favorite hit-based Evasion skill line. It will not expire until all hits are exhausted, and Masters can activate it early so that by the time Cursed Arm is vulnerable again, he can activate it once more.

Good NP Generation

With high base NP Gain per hit, and 3 great Quick Cards, Cursed Arm can charge his NP rather quickly. With such a high base NP Gain, any Arts-led card chain will generate a significant portion of his NP bar, especially if his attacks crit.

Poor Damage Output 

With no steroids other than Critical Damage, low base stats from his rarity, and Assassin class 0.9x modifiers, Cursed Arm Hassan's damage output is generally too poor to keep up with higher rarity options. Since active star generation requires a Servant to attack with Command Cards, this will eventually make him less appealing to alternatives.

Opportunity Cost of Active Star Generation

In time, Masters will level the skills of their supports (or borrow one) and acquire decent Craft Essences with Passive Critical Star Generation. Generally fielding or equipping one of these options grants the benefit of Star Generation without having to deal with the demerits of actively generating critical stars.

Cursed Arm's main role is not that of a damage dealer, but an enabler that aids the team through generating critical stars. Thus, Masters ideally level aspects of his kit that help with this role. Leveling his skills to 6 is highly recommend at least, as the reduced cooldowns greatly benefit his overall usefulness especially after his Rank Up.

• Throw (Dagger) B is Cursed Arm's version of Intuition. While the cooldown is very short, the pre-Rank Up values are not quite good enough to justify leveling it first. After Rank Up though, it becomes a pretty good skill, capable of granting 30 critical stars over 2 turns on a 4 turn cooldown. Level this second.

• Self-Modification C is Cursed Arm's main steroid. While the scaling and values are rather great, Cursed Arm is not built for damage nor will he do much of it even at max rank. Level this last unless Masters grail him and use him for offense, in which case Masters can level it second instead of Throw.

• Protection Against the Wind A is an amazing survival skill with a very low cooldown at max rank. The added bonus to star generation will grant a few more critical stars indirectly, but it's hardly the main draw of the skill. To make Cursed Arm very sturdy indeed, level this first to 6, and perhaps 10.

While Cursed Arm may not be built for damage, his own access to Critical Star Generation and multitude of Quick Cards will greatly reward Masters who equip him with Quick Performance Up effects. For Masters who wish more Critical Stars were available, Passive Critical Star CEs are actually more useful than further boosting his active critical star generation. Lastly, Starting NP Gauge does actually work decently, as Cursed Arm can still do enough damage to kill a strong wave 2 opponent in many cases.

• Imaginary Around / Gandr / The Verdant Black Keys: The basic Quick options will do an admirable job in most situations, but are not as specialized compared to the following options

• The Classic Three Great Heroes / Fortress of the Sun: As Cursed Arm is not as reliant on his NP to do his job, he will generally appreciate stronger permanent effects on his hybrid CEs at the cost of a smaller amount of Starting NP Gauge.

• Knight of Marines / Someday in Summer: The standard Quick hybrid CE options will work pretty well for destroying second wave enemies.

• A Fragment of 2030 / Hot Spring Under the Moon: The constant stars generated passively will be more beneficial than boosting Cursed Arm's star generation directly.