Hildr (Assassin)

“Yes, it seems that the personalities of us sisters are different after all.”

In the deep cold north, there live three Valkyrie sisters who take some fallen warriors to the afterlife. And we all know that of them, Ortlinde is the cutest! Serving as an AoE Arts Assassin with insane levels of refund, the summer version of the Valks fill a long missing niche of an Arts Assassin Looper.

The Valks ultimately succeed in their ability to generate a Noble Phantasm gauge and fire it off repeatedly. Between Battle Maidens' Vow EX granting a flat charge, Valkyrie-Style Group Combat B+ boosting NP Generation, SMG/SAM66 granting Arts boosts, and their Noble Phantasm Full-Gear Valkyrie having a massive 10 hits, every single thing they do will boost their gauge in some way. And unlike many other Servants who have good refund but poor damage, the Valks are quite capable of dishing out damage, especially against Earth enemies. On a smaller note, they are also pretty good at Critical hits.

Valk’s biggest weakness comes from their defenses. With only a one-hit hard evasion, they will struggle to mitigate most types of damage. They also tend to perform best as a selfish Servant, making them somewhat less useful for nodes which may require multiple damaging Servants.

Overall, Valk is a lovely addition to any roster, even if the roster is missing a support or two. All three versions of Valk are identical in terms of skills and requirements. That said, Masters can only choose one in the event, so make sure to pick the one you love best! Just know that whoever you pick, Ortlinde is still the best.

AoE Arts Looping

The Valks are the first Arts Assassin in the game capable of looping, and they certainly make it count. In an optimal setup with 2 Caster Altrias supporting them, they can generate close to 125% Noble Phantasm gauge against a wave of 3 Knights enemies. Even if a Master is missing a Caster Altria, by using a support they can still come pretty close to looping. Their regeneration is insane, and even better, all their skills are on relatively short cooldowns with long durations. 

Damage

At a first glance, Valk’s skills appear to be small steroids instead of large boosts. But when one considers how much boost they receive from supports and a Black Grail craft essence, they all complement each other. As a welfare Servant, Valk will be available easily at NP5, giving quick access to higher damage tiers. In addition, she gains bonus damage against Earth type enemies, further carving out a niche.

Critical Damage

As an Assassin, the Valks are capable of generating plenty of Critical Stars through Presence Concealment B as well as an up to 20 star bomb on Battle Maidens' Vow EX. But more importantly, they can use these stars with SMG/SAM66 B which gives a whopping 100% Critical Damage boost. Please note that this only lasts for 3 attacks, so the Valks would need to make sure it counts.

Low Defenses

The Valks do possess a decent sized heal and an evasion, but neither of them are quite what they seem. Valk’s heal is tied in with her charge and her star bomb, making it rather inopportune to use it during a low-health turn. Her evasion only lasts for a single hit, making it only useful as a bailout card against a Noble Phantasm. They will take almost all damage directed at them as a result.

Selfish

While Valk’s kit consists of an ability to support any ally with heals and NP charges, as well as little tricks like AoE Evasion, she is in the end best as the star of the show. In compositions with multiple DPS Servants she really needs to use the 20% gauge on herself, meaning the only support she’ll give anyone else is a tiny 20% attack boost. 

Hard to Access Crits

While Valk has decent Critical Damage capacity, this may be difficult to access in practice. Her crit skills are tied to refund based skills, such as having her star bomb on her NP charge, and her Crit Damage up on her Arts boost which a Master would want to use turn 1 in the first place. As many times she won’t be able to use Quick cards to generate stars, and many waves will die with just her Noble Phantasm, she may have a hard time getting Critical Hits in the third wave if her Noble Phantasm isn’t enough.

All of Valk’s skills are about increasing her NP gauge in some way, leading to her being one of the best loopers in the game, wanting to use skills 1 and 2 immediately to start looping, and 3 if she’s short of gauge. Masters can also pair skills 3 and 1 together to give her decent Critical hits, but this is typically not done in favor of NP refund. SMG/SAM 66 and Valkyrie-Style Group Combat both give about the same amount of NP Refund and Damage so skill order really doesn’t matter there, but Warmaiden’s Troth should always be leveled last due to its flat charge.

• SMG/SAM66 B provides Valk small boosts to her Quick, Arts, and a large boost to her Crit Damage. The Arts boost is a necessary component if a Master plans to loop with her, while the Crit Damage is sizeable although only lasting for 3 hits. This skill could be leveled first or second with very little difference. A Master with their own Caster Altria could in theory leave this at level 9 since Valk over-refunds when looping, but it’d be better at level 10. 
• Valkyrie-Style Group Combat B+ gives the entire party an attack boost and a hit of Evasion, and increases the NP Gain rate of any Valkyrie allies on the field. This is a powerful skill which can be used to mitigate an AoE Noble Phantasm from the enemy with its Evasion, but it rarely receives that boost as many Masters burn it on turn 1 to increase NP generation rate throughout the battle. It can be leveled first or second with very little difference, but should be leveled to 10 to reduce the cooldown on its evasion.
• Battle Maidens' Vow has a flat 20% charge, which is somewhat useful but not as much as a Master might think if they are paired together with 2 Caster Altrias against a wave of 3 enemies. It also has a small heal, but as a farming Servant the Valks likely will not need it. Of interest is its ability to generate up to 20 stars, which can give Valk the needed push to overcome an enemy she can’t quite finish off with her Noble Phantasm. As this only scales Healing and Stars created, it can be leveled last, and only needs to be leveled to about level 6 to be effective. 

The Valks live for Noble Phantasm damage, meaning a Noble Phantasm Damage Up CE would be best for them. Lacking that, they do have a powerful overcharge effect, so against Earth Enemies a Overcharge Up CE would fit quite well. Like most Servants, Mixed Starting Gauge / Damage CEs are also quite effective, especially if one only has access to a support Caster Altria.

• The Black Grail: The Valks easily refund enough to use a Black Grail, maximizing their damage. Most all team comps involving them will use this.
• Corrupting Mud Rain / Treasure of the Caribbean / Love’s Curse: In some situations, it may be beneficial to give Valk a higher overcharge in order to better take advantage of her Supereffective Earth Damage trait. Corrupting Mud Rain comes with the most damage and is advised if possible.
• Ocean Flier / Demonic Sun-Princess / Painting Summer / Holy Night Supper: If one lacks the best CEs for Valk, any starting gauge CE would fit quite well to give her both a starting charge and a boost to her damage. These are especially effective if a Master only has a support Caster Altria.