Illyasviel von Einzbern

Illya is a heavy damage dealer capable of Buster looping, so Masters are going to want to get the most out of her damage with her skills. Typically, her second skill is used turns 1 and 3 in a looping setup to boost her charges, and her Buster boost on skill one can also be used turn 1 and 3 for damage boosts. Her third skill is entirely chance based, but when it hits she can avoid one of her Noble Phantasm’s debuffs. While her first and second should be maxed early to take advantage of their cooldowns, the third can be left mostly alone due to its longer cooldown and weak usage.

• Cheerful Model Mystic Code A is Illya’s steroid, providing her with a 1-turn Buster buff. Its 5-turn cooldown allows it to be used multiple times in a fight with a double Koyanskaya setup, typically best used on turns 1 and 3. It should be leveled second to max to get the steroid on the low cooldown.

• Shining into the Future A is Illya’s self-charge and what allows her to loop with Buster Noble Phantasms. By having a 6-turn Cooldown, this can be cast twice in a node. It also serves as a decent survivability tool with its invincibility, and can help with downtime NP gain with its NP gain boost. This should be maxed first in order to enable Buster looping.

• Suspicious Medicine A is Illya’s main support. She can choose to heal any member of the party she wishes, and she has a chance to give them debuff immunity and guts. Many Masters choose to use this on Illya herself during her Noble Phantasm turn to avoid its demerits, but its usage as a supportive tool is often left understated. Level this second at the same time as Child of Nature.

I worked pretty hard. Aren’t you going to say anything nice?

Contracted by an evil magical wand to unleash explosion magic Germanic named magic, Illya has decided to take a break from hunting Class cards and rescuing Miyu to save masters in distress! Utilizing a high damage single-target Buster NP, Illya will blast away anyone who would threaten her darling onii-chan.

Illya’s main strength lies in her powerful Noble Phantasm. Quintett Feurer is one of the hardest hitting Noble Phantasms in the game, dishing out raw damage which not only is boosted by Cheerful Model Mystic Code’s 50% Buster up, but also by its overcharge’s additional Buster up. In addition she is rather hard to bring down with her naturally high HP pool, her 1-turn Invincibility on Shining into the Future, and her healing, Debuff Immunity, and Guts on Suspicious Medicine. Suspicious Medicine also is targetable, giving Illya a good chance to support her allies. Thanks to a 48% effective NP gain up along with 3 Arts cards, Illya also can fill her gauge in a hurry when her skills are up. Furthermore, Illya’s rank up on her 2nd skill gives her a 30% charge on a 6-turn cooldown. This allows her to participate in the Buster Looping Meta with Double Koyanskaya and Oberon against Single Target enemies such as break bar bosses.

Becoming a magical girl may sound like it’s all fun and games, but it does come with a cost. While her NP packs quite the punch, it also inflicts demerits to Illya’s attack and defense lasting for three turns, affecting her sustained damage, which is exacerbated by her 0.9x Caster modifier and single Buster card. In looping situations, this harms her even further, as this debuff will stack twice by the time she can attack on the third turn. She also has to deal with chance-based buffs on Suspicious Medicine, meaning her crucial survival tools and ability to circumvent her demerit may fail at any time.

Illya is a strong nuke option against many types of enemies, but unfortunately her status as a top-tier Caster damage dealer has taken a major hit. Masters can still effectively use her, but there are oftentimes cheaper options who can do what she does and better. But why would that matter? Illya is cute, so everyone should get one!

High Burst Damage

With a burst turn minimum of 70% total Buster buff, which can scale up to 150% with overcharge, Illya hits like a truck against a single enemy. Her interlude only makes this damage even higher, catapulting her to one of the hardest hitting Servants in the game.

Great Survivability

With Invincibility on Child of Nature and Guts on Suspicious Medicine, Illya has the potential to tank two otherwise-fatal Noble Phantasms and survive. Her healing and her high HP pool also allow her to take on even more hits and still survive.

ST Buster Looping

Illya’s 2nd skill rank up will allow her to cast 3 Noble Phantasms in 3 turns when supported with two Koyanskaya of Lights and an Oberon, using a 50% Starting NP charge, as well as her own 50% charge. This could help against bosses with multiple break bars, granting Illya repeated usage without downtime.

Decent Buffed NP Gain

While Illya has a low NP gain rate in general, she has a multitude of skills to boost it. In addition to the decent NP Gain on her Arts cards, she has buffs both on her NP and on Child of Nature to boost her NP gain in total by up to 48%. Furthermore, she can draw on her three Arts cards to make easy Arts chains, while her Infinite Magical Energy provides a passive 3% extra NP Charge per turn to compensate for her weak bases.

Crippling Self Debuffs

Illya’s Noble Phantasm gives a 10% attack down and a 10% defense down for three turns. While in single usage cases this does not apply much, it hurts beyond measure when dealing with a Buster Loop setup, stacking on top of each other. Even if Illya’s chance based skill hits, she will still be stuck with at least one 10% attack down stack on her final turn. To make matters worse, Illya looping setups are all based on Buster buffs with a slight bonus to NP damage from Oberon, meaning she will feel the full multiplicative brunt of this 10% attack down.

Chance Based Skills

Illya’s Suspicious Medicine only has a 70% chance of providing Guts and Debuff Immunity, meaning Masters may not get the on-demand survival or NP demerit circumvention they need in a tight place. 

Low NP Gain Bases

Illya has a lot of difficulty generating her NP gauge without her Child of Nature skill or NP buff. Contrary to other casters, she has no Territory Creation, as well as a rather poor 3-hit Quick card and 5-hit Extra card on a paltry 0.32% NP gain rate. 

Illya is a damage dealer, and a potential Buster looper, so her Craft Essences should enable her to maximize her damage output. She should prioritize Mixed Starting NP Gauge / NP Damage for looping setups with Oberon for 3-turns. If not using her for a looping setup, getting her a max gauge will help, using a Starting NP Gauge CE. If planning to use her for less than 3 turns, she could benefit from a NP Strength Up or Attack Damage Up CE.

• Holy Night Supper / Halloween Princess / Aerial Drive: Illya has so much Buster bonus that the Buster bonuses of Aerial Drive are nearly trivial in terms of gain. She would much more benefit from an NP Strength boost from Holy Night Supper or Halloween Princess which can be doubled by Oberon. 
• Kaleidoscope / The Imaginary Element / Dragon’s Meridian: With a starting NP charge, Illya is able to be much more self-sufficient in firing off her Noble Phantasms. 
• The Black Grail / Gudaguda Poster Girl: Depending on setups, if Illya is only needed for 2 turns of looping, Gudaguda Poster Girl is able to not only provide a sizeable boost to damage but also counteract some of her demerits from casting her Noble Phantasm. Without an Oberon while using a Fragment of 2004 mystic code, this can be a powerful option. The Black Grail is always a go-to CE, with high NP damage boost gains, which can then be doubled by an Oberon on turn 2 otherwise.