Ishtar

“I am perfect.”

The goddess of Mesopotamia sure does love to attract misfortune and trouble. But once in a while, she does strike gold with certain supports, turning into one of the premiere AoE Buster DPS Archer Servants in the game.

Taken alone, Ishtar is a decent Servant. She deals sizeable amounts of damage on burst thanks to her Manifestation of Beauty B and Mana Burst (Gem) A+ skills stacking for one turn. She also has rather decent critical hits and versatility thanks to the Ignore Invincibility on Shining Majestic Crown A. But what changes her so dramatically is her low cooldowns. Because of these, she is one of the best looping Servants available for the Archer class when supported with Vitch and Oberon, dealing significant damage regardless of enemy node composition.

The unlucky goddess does have some drawbacks, of course. Most notably, she is a chance-based Servant, so 20% of the time her own Invincibility and Ignore Invincibility effects will miss. This leads to her being rather susceptible to damage, as she has no other real ways to mitigate it. She also requires some pre-planning to use to ensure her delayed attack buff hits at the right moment.

Ishtar is a great Servant for farming Saber or Berserker nodes, whether one uses her for looping or not. As long as a Master understands her mechanics, they won’t go wrong!

In order to make full use of the delayed Attack buff from Mana Burst (Gem), Masters will need to predict what Command Cards are going to appear on the next turn. Masters can learn to do so by counting and keeping track of what Command Cards have been drawn already.

Each party of 3 Servants has access to 15 Command Cards (5 for each Servant). Over the course of 3 turns, these 15 Command Cards are drawn randomly, before they are once again reshuffled on turn 4 and the pattern begins anew. What that means is that a Command Card drawn on turn 1 will not be drawn again until turn 4-6 in the next cycle. Using this knowledge we can predict what will be drawn on turn 2, and know exactly what will be drawn on turn 3. 

For example, if none of Ishtar's Command Cards were drawn on turn 1, we know that the next draw has a high chance for Ishtar's Command Cards given we know that 5 out of the 10 remaining Command Cards are from Ishtar. If we then draw 2 of Ishtar's Command Cards on turn 2 (let's say both her Arts cards), we can state with 100% certainty that turn 3 will consist of Ishtar's Quick and 2 Buster cards. Turn 4 is then completely random once more with a full reshuffle. Masters can keep track of Command Cards in 3-turn cycles (helpful mid-fight if one loses count). Even Order Change will not force a reshuffle. What does reshuffle the Command Cards, regardless of how many turns are left in a cycle, are death, and Command Shuffle.

As an additional note, Ishtar’s third skill, Mana Burst (Gem), unfortunately cannot be double-stacked. While it is possible to reduce its cooldown to 0 the same turn it was cast, it will simply have no effect if cast again. It is advised when using her in looping to cast this skill on turn 1 and 2 so it will activated turns 2 and 3 respectively.

Damage

Ishtar has the standard Charisma of many of the older Servants, but also has a one-turn steroid to give a boost of power, also in the Attack Category. This attack spread combined with her Buster up in her Noble Phantasm gives her sizeable damage boosts, and makes any Noble Phantasm damage buffs especially beneficial for her. While she has no specific niche, she is decent at killing most every type of wave.

Critical Damage

Ishtar’s Noble Phantasm provides 20 critical stars every time it is cast. Combined with her critical damage buff from her first skill and any critical bonuses from support Servants, she will easily be able to get massive critical hits against enemies. Not to mention, as an Archer she does have a heavier star weight and has a high innate star absorb chance compared to her supports. 

AoE Buster Looping

Ishtar’s skills are built for looping. Not only does she have the 6-turn cooldown 50% charge required for looping with Koyanskaya, but her other skills can be cast both turns 1 and 2 to continuously boost her damage. While it is better to loop with double Koyanskaya and Oberon, her charge is enough to loop with just a double Koyanskaya at the cost of damage potential. 

Chance Based Skills

Ishtar’s second skill, Shining Majestic Crown, gives her a chance to gain Invincibility and a chance to gain Ignore Invincibility. The invincibility is rather useless (fitting for a useless goddess) as NP charges are typically done when planning to clear waves. But the Ignore Invincibility’s chance to miss means she is not a reliable Servant to bring when the mechanics require it. As none of her typical supports boost buff success rate, Masters will have to risk it. 

Low Durability

Ishtar’s only defensive maneuver is tied to her charge and lasts for 1 turn. It is unlikely she will be hit by the enemy on this specific turn, meaning most of the time she is fully exposed to damage. To make matters worse, most of her statline is in Attack, giving her lower HP than comparable 5-stars. 

Planning

Ishtar’s third skill is her largest steroid, and activates on a 1-turn delay. Masters planning to use her will need to look ahead in nodes to ensure they are popping this at the right turn, or it will be painfully wasted and placed on a cooldown. 

Ishtar’s kit primarily revolves around damage, aiming to charge her Noble Phantasm and then fire it in a burst. With the addition of Koyanskaya and Oberon, this burst has spread out over all turns, adding extra emphasis to her charge skill. Masters looking to loop will want to max all skills as soon as possible to make the most out of her.

• Manifestation of Beauty B is a typical Charisma type skill, giving attack bonus to the party with a bonus of Critical Damage. At max this skill is on a 5-turn cooldown, so in double Koyanskaya setups it can be used on both turns one and two to stack the damage bonuses. Masters looking to loop with Ishtar should max this skill, but last as it has the least gains per level. Masters looking to just use Ishtar can leave this safely at level 9 if lacking in materials. 
• Shining Majestic Crown A is Ishtar’s charge, a massive 50% gain on-demand on a short cooldown. This skill also gives her the chance-based pierce invulnerable which may be useful on certain boss fights, and chance-based invulnerable which rarely sees practical usage. Masters want to use this to fill her to max gauge. Level this to max and first in all situations to take full advantage of the gauge. 
• Mana Burst (Gem) A is a one turn buff, giving Ishtar a large increase to her attack for a turn. However, this is on a 1-turn delay, so Masters need to cast this knowing what the next turn will bring. This can be leveled second. While all Masters will benefit from damage bonuses, it is on such a low cooldown that it can always be cast twice in a double Koyanskaya setup. It is advised to level it to max but not mandatory. 

Ishtar is a damage dealer, so she benefits the most from damage dealing Craft Essences. Mixed Starting NP Gauge / NP Damage Up CEs serve her the best for looping with double Koyanskaya and Oberon, while Starting NP Gauge CEs serve best if looping with only double Koyanskaya. There are always also NP Damage Up CEs for if she is not being used for 3 Noble Phantasms in a row and needs a boost to damage. In non-looping situations, or if Masters are looping but do not have any of the above, Mixed Starting NP Gauge / Damage CEs serve her well.

• Holy Night Supper / Aerial Drive: Ishtar is primarily missing NP Damage in her kit, and these provide it while still allowing her to loop. 
• Kaleidoscope: With a MLB Kaleidoscope or a non-MLB with a maxed append 2 skill, Ishtar can fire a Noble Phantasm on turn one and still have her charges available for turn 2. In a double-Vitch setup without Oberon, this is a requirement, along with the Atlas Mystic Code. But even without it, it can help fire more Noble Phantasms quicker. 
• The Black Grail: While it is not possible for Ishtar to get 3 Noble Phantasms off in 3 turns with this CE, she can get off 2. It is the biggest damage increase available for her.
• Partake with the King / Starry Nights / Golden Sumo: Boulder Tournament / Dragon’s Meridian: Ishtar has a 50% charge, which means any CE with a 50% charge will give her immediate access to her Noble Phantasm. It’s best to select 50% starter CEs that also boost her damage if possible, with Buster bonuses being better than Attack in most cases.