Kiichi Hogen

“Wanna join me for a little drink? What? You’re a minor? Why does that matter? Everything that lives will die one day. Live while you’re alive. Laugh, cry, eat, drink! Hahah, ahahahahaha!”

The unwilling mentor of Ushiwakamaru, and founder of the oldest school of swordsmanship in West Japan, Kiichi Hogen joins the roster as the Welfare Servant of the Little Big Tengu event. They are the second Quick AoE Assassin welfare to grace the cast, complete with a balanced offensive and supportive kit, and the ability to loop their NP.

Kiichi Hogen’s kit also has a multitude of offensive and supportive effects. Famed Blade is their primary Card steroid and defensive option, giving them a 3-turn Quick buff and a 2-time, 3-turn Evade. The rest of their skills have the ability to support allies, with Onmyoudou (Buddhism) providing an ally of choice with up to 20% NP Gauge and a boost to their Star Gather Rate (which can come in handy with their ability to generate an ample number of stars via their Quick Cards and NP). Their third skill, Strategies of the Six Secret Teachings, provides the entire party with 3 turns of modest ATK and NP Gain buffs, making them a welcome addition to most any party.

Their NP, Secrets and Strategies, Great Demon's War Fan, buffs their own Quick performance before dealing damage to all enemies, and then removes defensive buffs after damage, which can come in handy for certain encounters. Due to the NP’s high hit counts, it also generates a plethora of stars that can be used on the subsequent turn to deal devastating Critical Hits. Their NP’s performance only further increases in the presence of Quick Support, although even without support, their NP damage among AoE Quick Assassins is on the higher end thanks to their Welfare status and ease of reaching NP5. They are capable of looping their NP with Skadi, albeit with slight difficulty (although more easily than the prior AoE Quick Assassin Welfare, Scathach (Assassin)), partially thanks to their kit’s NP Gain buff along with having an NP charge skill.

Overall, Kiichi Hogen is an excellent Quick AoE Assassin option for dispatching Rider waves, and true to their nature of taking on disciples to teach the way of the sword, they provide a helpful boost to any party member’s offensive performance. Masters in need of filling the relatively rare AoE Assassin niche won’t want to miss out on recruiting Kiichi Hogen to Chaldea for both for her wave clearing capacity and her excellent supportive abilities.

Welfare Status

Kiichi Hogen can be obtained for free and can easily reach NP5 by completing their event. This allows them to reach higher damage thresholds more easily, and makes them among an excellent AoE Assassin option.

NP Looping Capability

Due to their kit’s 20% NP charge and NP gain buffs, Kiichi Hogen is capable of looping with a double Skadi setup, although they do so with slight difficulty and are only consistent with a plugsuit setup and a third NP charge support such as Altria Caster, Waver, etc. However, they NP loop with more ease than other existing AoE Quick Assassins.

Offensive Support

Kiichi Hogen can charge an ally’s gauge by up to 20%, to help either top off the NP gauge of an ally, or their own. This enables immediate access to an NP in combination with a non-MLB Kaleidoscope. The charge also comes with a small Star Gather buff for the ally, which can support critical damage output. Their third skill also provides up to 20% ATK and NP Gain buffs, which help both their own damage output as well as allies’.

Defensive Buff Removal on NP

Their NP removes defensive buffs after damage, which includes normal Defense Up buffs, Evade, Invincibility, Damage Cut, or any death resist buffs. Although it would be nicer if this effect happened before damage, having the ability to remove these effects on a freely available Welfare Servant is still invaluable for encounters where these buffs come into play.

Low Class Damage Multiplier

The Assassin damage multiplier of x0.8 doesn’t do Kiichi Hogen any favors, and although this affects all Assassins across the board, the demerit is notable enough to likely pigeonhole Kiichi Hogen into the role of a Rider (or Berserker) wave farmer, where they can benefit fully from Class advantage. This damage multiplier makes Kiichi Hogen’s damage sometimes not quite reach the threshold required for farming waves without support, despite their NP5 welfare status.

Mediocre Card NP Gain

Kiichi Hogen’s NP Gain outside of looping setups is somewhat mediocre, being a little below average for her class. In most cases, it can be tough to charge her NP gauge quickly if her own charge skill is on cooldown, at least without support or crits in play. She is somewhat reliant on the presence of her single Arts Card for high Card NP gain turns.

Every one of Kiichi Hogen’s skills gain relevant benefits when leveled. If wishing to utilize Kiichi Hogen NP right off the bat (such as if only non-MLB copies of Kaleidoscope are available), it is worth leveling Skill 2 first for the 20% NP charge. Otherwise, their offensive capacity is boosted by the remaining two skills and are worth leveling, with the third skill also having party support effects.

• Famed Blade A+ – This skill functions as both Kiichi Hogen’s primary Quick steroid, as well as their defensive skill (Evade). Only the Quick performance buff scales with level, and the effective change per level is relatively low, so this can probably be left for last. However, if wishing to maximize their performance (which includes maximizing the ease with which they can NP loop), this is worth eventually leveling to max.
• Onmyoudou (Buddhism) A – This is Kiichi Hogen’s NP charge skill, and the values for the charge scale from 10% at minimum to 20% at max level. Since 20% is a common NP charge threshold required (such as in combination with Kaleidoscope), this is worth prioritizing and maxing as soon as possible if planning to use them.
• Strategies of the Six Secret Teachings EX – This skill provides party offensive and NP Gain support, both of which scale with level. The ATK buff stacks multiplicatively with their NP’s built-in Quick Buff, so levels in this skill are generally more effective for Kiichi Hogen’s offense performance (compared to leveling the first skill). This skill can be leveled second, and can be leveled to max for those who wish to get the most out of their performance.

With farming as their primary usage case, Kiichi Hogen’s CE selection benefits most fromStarting NP Gauge effects. They also benefit from NP Damage buffs, which stack multiplicatively with the Card + ATK buffs from their skills, although ATK and Quick Performance also works well.

• Kaleidoscope / The Imaginary Element: With a non-MLB Kaleidoscope, and their second skill maxed, Kiichi Hogen can NP immediately from battle start. This also enables her to NP loop comfortably in farming scenarios.
• The Black Grail / Heaven’s Feel: As is usual, The Black Grail provides the largest boost to Kiichi Hogen’s NP damage output, while Heaven’s Feel is a decent alternative if The Black Grail is unavailable.
• Holy Night Supper / Knights of Marines / Crimson Teacher’s Pointer / Traces of Christmases Past / Golden Sumo: Boulder Tournament: These Craft Essences provide a mixture of starting NP Gauge and Attack, Quick, or NP Damage buffs. Note that Holy Night Supper gives an NP damage boost, which has the highest effective damage buff for Kiichi Hogen. However, Quick performance also helps slightly boost both NP Gain and Star drop rate for her cards, which make them a decent option as well.