Ibuki-Douji (Berserker)

“Masterrrr. Are you truly doing anything summer-like? You can’t do that if you are already thinking about autumn already, let alone winter.”

Summer Ibuki Douji is the best representation of a summer storm. Chaotic, powerful and unstoppable, the ultimate goddess of summer is one of, if not the strongest AoE Arts Damage Dealers in the game, while packing ridiculous versatility and utility that put most AoE Servants to shame. 

True to her nature, all of Summer Ibuki's skills are exceptionally offensive. Midsummer Goddess B provides a teamwide Attack Buff, a team wide Critical Damage Buff, and a NP Generation buff that only applies to all allies with [Summer Form]. Summer Cheerleader C is another triple buff skill but only on a targetable Servant. It grants a Buster and Arts buff, and reduces the target’s cooldown by one. Beach Apocalypse B+ is aptly named, as it is an extremely coveted 50% NP Gauge Skill, with the cherry on top providing Critical Stars each turn and a Critical Star Gather Rate buff to ensure she can deal some Critical Hits immediately.

Summer Ibuki’s Noble Phantasm Ibuki no Mitama - Eight Surging Waves B+ is a multi-hit Arts Noble Phantasm with several perks. It has a super effective bonus modifier against the very common [Earth] attribute, removing all their Defensive Buffs before dealing damage and reducing their Critical Rate for 3 turns. With 5 hits on it, this Noble Phantasm has an absolutely bonkers refund rate when paired with the standard double Caster Altria setup, making 3 turn looping a trivia for Summer Ibuki with a lot of leeway for further customizations.

Ibuki is an absolute powerhouse of Arts looper, and is easily the strongest released thus far by virtue of her class, damage output and refund rate alone. But Ibuki takes it a notch higher by also providing several rare perks that would be considered premium on other Servants’ skillset. Her teamwide dual-colored buff and Cooldown Reduction make her amazing as a Plugsuit Support for some Servants such as Archetype Earth and make her a fantastic multi-core farming option instead of being locked into the classic Arts team. She has good sustained damage beyond just NP looping as well, courtesy of her Critical Damage, Critical Star Gathering and Critical Star Regen buff. Last but not least, removing Defensive Buffs before dealing damage is an extremely rare utility that ensures not just her but her teammates’ damage to go through unmitigated in Challenging Content, while enemies Critical Rate Reduction does improve the team survivability, albeit less noticeable.

It is hard to nitpick the downsides of Summer Ibuki as she is extremely well-rounded and all her flaws are easily patchable by her teammates. Her lack of hard defensive options is naturally covered by the incredible protection that many Arts Supports provide. Her low base NP Generation Rate on her face cards are largely irrelevant for farming, and in Challenge Quests is mitigated by her Critical Arts Hits. Her flexibility and base performance are so great that even if Masters are already covered in terms of Arts AoE looper, Ibuki will still bring so much to the table over all the other options. All in all, Summer Ibuki arrives like a hurricane, but her staying is as cemented as a rumbling mountain. All hail the new queen of omni farmers, and long live her reign.

Fantastic Looping Performance

Summer Ibuki Douji has the total package of a top tier looper: amazing damage, fantastic trait coverage, great refund. She excels as either the focal point of Double Altria Caster setup with the standard 50% Charge Craft Essence, as a Black Grail farmer with Plugsuit Charge support, and even in Multi-core farming alongside other Damage Dealers by virtue of her self-sufficient skills and teamwide buffs. 

Incredible Challenge Quest Capacity

By virtue of her class, consistent damage output and main card type, Ibuki already gains a natural advantage over most Servants in the game in tougher content. But she does not just stop there and supplements the team further with her incredible base with fantastic versatility. Defensive Buff Removal, Critical Rate Debuff and Targetable Cooldown Reduction are all extremely rare utilities that many Damage Dealers would crave. Furthermore, she can pack a punch with her face cards via her Critical buffs as well.

Lacks A True Defensive Tool

Ibuki has relatively trivial flaws, one of which is her lack of a true defense buff to bail her out in critical situations. This usually isn’t a big problem as she is usually used either for 3 turn loop farming or with Supports like Altria Caster or Lady Avalon, who can provide defensive coverage. But once in a while, it definitely can ruin a run due to her natural frailty as a Berserker.

Summer Ibuki’s third skill is the most essential to her looping potential and in general usage, but her other two skills are fantastic as well and very well worth the materials spent.

• Midsummer Goddess B - This serves as her main steroid, but also becomes increasingly relevant in any multi-core setup. Even in a traditional Arts team, raising her Supports such as Caster Altria’s Arts card effectiveness is never a bad thing. 
• Summer Cheerleader C – A very versatile skill as it can be casted onto another ally. In normal looping setups, a Master will most likely use it on Summer Ibuki Douji but in other setups its usage can be more creative thanks to its fantastic Skill Cooldown Reduction effect.
• Beach Apocalypse B+ – Easily the most important skill amongst the three, as Moriarty really needs the raw NP Gauge to kick start his looping and compensate for poor refund.

Ibuki is one of those loopers that can work in various setups and investment levels. For ease of use, Starting NP Gauge, Arts Cards Effectiveness and NP Damage are the stats to aim for. Critical Damage and Attack can be decent secondary stats 

Starting NP Gauge is the de facto comfort stat for any and all loopers. For more firepower, Attack, NP Damage and Arts Card Effectiveness are the secondary stats to look for. Ibuki Douji can somewhat dive into the Critical niche by looking for Critical Damage or Arts Card Critical Damage which can be quite handy in Challenge Quests to bolster her sustained damage.

• Ocean Flier / Golden Sumo: Boulder Tournament / Thank You For Your Hard Work!: These are farmable Craft Essence with 50% NP Gauge in conjunction with one or more of Attack, NP Damage and Arts Cards Effectiveness that can be decent generic options for Summer Ibuki.
• The Black Grail / Heaven’s Feel / Corrupting Mud Rain: Ibuki’s damage reaches stratospheric levels with these Craft Essences, and she can easily abuse them with Plugsuit setup. This is extremely relevant for any Level 90++ node farming which often requires a significant level of damage investment to overcome.
• Demonic Sun-Princess / Another Ending / Cosmo Chaldea Academy: Good Arts-Centric Critical Craft Essence that can improve her performance as a Critical Damage Dealer.