Himiko

“T-Thus the queen of Yamataikoku suddenly disappeared from history’s front stage… Thud..”

After a dry summer, Himiko has decided to come around to bring the rain for us: something which always seems to happen whenever she steps outside. As a Servant, she is a Buster Critical Support Stalling servant meant to whittle down an enemy’s HP while keeping herself alive.

Himiko’s main attribute comes from her ability to stall. Kidou gives her an invincibility to help with this, along with having a high HP value combined with her Ruler typing. Her Overcharge skill, however, makes her a must have in stall compositions: more on that later. She’s also a pretty significant support, providing Buster up for the party on her Noble Phantasm and an attack up for the party on Shrine Maiden’s Charisma. Her Criticals on Buster cards also pack quite the punch with help from Oracle of Light and its star gather and damage burst. We also shouldn’t fail to mention that she has easy access to her Noble Phantasm with Oracle of Light’s 50% charge!

On the flip side, Himiko really has to stall. Her kit is primarily oriented around stalling and requires NP charge to truly support others. Without access to a damaging Noble Phantasm, she’ll never quite have the burst of some other Servants. Additionally, her NP gain outside of her self charge can be a bit lacking.

Himiko is for Masters undergoing a challenging quest who need a way to win by survival, and is top-notch in the role. But the real reason Master’s should roll for her: She’s voiced by Tamura Yukari.

Stalling

Himiko at first glance is a decent staller, capable of invincibility one turn out of six with a beefy HP pool and Ruler typing. But her hidden power comes from her Overcharge effect on her Noble Phantasm. If grouped with a Castoria, this changes Anti-Enforcement Defense from a 1-hit defense to a 3-hit one. Paired with Castoria’s invincibility skills and Himiko’s own invincibility, this leads to a true stall possibility. Add in another Castoria (for more invincibility), or Merlin (to give a team-wide invincibility as well as HP recovery) and the team becomes extremely difficult to take down.

Decent Support

Himiko is oriented to support the party, giving them all extended uses of Buster Up and Critical Up on her Noble Phantasm, as well as her skills offering Attack Up. As a beefy character, she can also take hits quite well for the rest of the team.

Burst (Critical) Damage

Himiko has many things going for her in terms of support, but she also enjoys a healthy burst of Crits when needed. Thanks to Oracle of Light, her Buster cards enjoy both star absorption and critical damage for a turn, and if running with a certain wizard they could gain even more massive hits even despite her Ruler Classing.

Tamura Yukari

Nipaa~

Hard Support Use

Most of Himiko’s support potential comes from her Noble Phantasm. It should be not questioned, but this Noble Phantasm is mainly meant to help Buster oriented Servants. As Buster setups often do not have much in the way of Noble Phantasm gauge charging, she might have a hard time slotting in to do her support role.

Burst (Non-Critical) Damage

Without Critical hits, Himiko will not be able to do relevant damage. Her Noble Phantasm is entirely support based, so it’ll be hard to get that one big hit in.

Mediocre Natural NP Gain

Despite having a nice 50% charge skill, Himiko’s NP gain is mediocre with only a 4-hit Quick and 5-hit extra card. Not a great attribute to have when you Noble Phantasm is your big attractor.

There are three potential uses for Himiko: Stalling, Crit bursts with Himiko, and Support. Her first skill is mainly used in support setups to help the party’s attack, while her second is more used in Crit Bursts. Her third is used in all for its gauge charge. All setups should level the third skill first, and those preferring her for support should go 1->2 while all others should go 2->1.

• Shrine Maiden's Charisma B is a simple party steroid for 3 turns while also providing 8 stars per turn. This is her only support skill, and the one which helps her in crit setups. Raise this second in support setups, and last for all others. This can be left at level 9.
• Kidou A is a small 3-turn Buster steroid with bonus damage against Demons. This alone would be decent, but it is also tied to an invincibility on a relatively short cooldown. The invincibility should be popped early and often in long-haul stalling compositions, immediately off of cooldown in most situations. All but those leveling her for support should raise this second. If raising her for stalling this has to be max to take advantage of its 6-turn cooldown, otherwise it can be left at 9 for material purposes. 
• Oracle of Light A is Himiko’s self-charge which also gives her a turn of Critical burst, doubling her Buster cards’ Crits and gathering all stars to them. Masters looking to stall or support should use this skill as soon as they have less than 50% charge, while those looking to use her crits should wait until they need the Crits and her Buster cards are available. Level this 1st to max to take advantage of the full 50% charge.

Himiko is a diverse character; so many possible CEs could help her based on what role she is meant to take. Starting NP Gauge CEs help with getting her support out as quickly as possible, while NP Gauge Per Turn CEs ensure it is available frequently in stall setups. She also could benefit from a Stars Per Turn setup to increase the likelihood of her critical hits. Her Max Bond CE also benefits her support capacity.

• Kaleidoscope / The Imaginary Element / Dragon’s Meridian: The earlier Himiko can access her Noble Phantasm, the quicker she can use it.
• Prisma Cosmos: Himiko needs charge continuously in stalling setups to get Castoria’s overcharge up. Ideally MLB, 8-10% each turn works wonderfully. 
• A Fragment of 2030: Himiko provides 8 stars per turn (24 if three allies have the buff), so increasing this could better guarantee her Buster cards chance of getting Critical hits. This also helps with supports as her Noble Phantasm increases all allies’ Critical chances.
• My Favorite Sheet: If using Himiko as a support, this further increases the bonuses her allies receive just for being on the field. Note that this has no starting gauge so she’ll have to get her gauge up on her own or with support before she can take full advantage of this.