Kingprotea

“Gao!”

Many Masters who see Kingprotea simply gawk at her mammoth size, but very few recognize her for what she is: quite possibly the fluffiest Servant around! Using her fluffiness (and a tiny bit of her size) she smashes enemies with an AoE Buster Noble Phantasm and becomes larger and fluffier by the turn!

Using Kingprotea’s strengths is simply a matter of choosing between her size and her fluffiness. Each turn, she becomes more and more durable thanks to a giant max HP gain from Huge Scale C which, combined with her inherent neutral incoming damage from almost all classes, turns her into a giant tank. Alternatively, Masters can exchange this size for a very fluffy NP charge in Infantile Regression C, potentially giving her a complete refill from 0 (although this will also take away a bonus 20% Buster damage effect on her Noble Plantasm). Surprisingly for Alter Egos, she also has great damage thanks to Monstrous Strength EX and Madness Enhancement EX, comparable to almost any Cavalry class’s in AoE fashion.

While Gao likes to gao, sometimes her gao is too gao gao. She is lacking in hard survivability, with her entire defensive plan based on stacking her Huge Scale buff. It’s also hard to find a particular place to field her to truly take advantage of her strengths. And, as usual, Alter Ego classing sometimes makes it hard to find a good opponent.

Kingprotea is a Master’s one-stop smash everything button for Wave 3’s. But a more diligent Master knows she really just wants to snuggle. And who wouldn’t want to become a part of her fluffiness? Gao!

Hugely Durable

Kingprotea’s durability cannot be matched by almost any Servant in the game. Her max HP pool with Huge Scale’s full stacks is more than double the next highest Servant’s. As she does not take supereffective damage from any class (aside from Berserkers), she’s going to last a long time on the field in extended quests.

Fluffy Charges

For every stack of Huge Scale’s buff (Growth) Kingprotea has, she will gain 20% Noble Phantasm gauge when she uses Infantile Regression. This, in conjunction with certain CEs or supports, could allow her to use stronger CEs for quick deployment of her Noble Phantasm. However, this will cost her all stacks of HP she’s gained as well as a 20% Buster bonus on her Noble Phantasm, making this only worthwhile for using CEs which provide more than that. 

Powerful Damage

Kingprotea’s Noble Phantasm is powerful. In fact, outside of a couple of exceptions, it does more damage than any Cavalry class’s against their type advantage. Not only does Kingprotea have an extremely powerful Noble Phantasm, but she has decent sustain too. Her Monstrous Strength buff has a huge multiplier, to the point where she’ll be dealing double damage against Cavalry classes when it is active. Moreso, it lasts for a full 3 turns as opposed to the traditional 1 or 2 on a short cooldown, which can be reduced again via her Infantile Strength. This overall can give her 40% attack up for 6 out of the first 7 turns. 

Of note: It is not worthwhile to equip a Mage’s Association Mystic Code to reduce this cooldown for continual usage. A Chaldea Standard Uniform’s attack up would fill in the gap turn with a higher attack up if this was desired. 

Lacks Hard Survivability

While durable, Kingprotea’s fluffiness does sometimes make her squishy. Without a hard survival skill, she may still be taken out with a single Noble Phantasm from a high level single target enemy. Supports may be required.

Hard to Field

Kingprotea’s primary gimmick has two uses: Creating a giant HP pool for challenge quests, or creating HP stacks to convert into NP charge for farming. In challenge quests this pool takes 10 turns to build, and oftentimes if one does not kill in ten turns in a challenge quest, one dies. Alternatively, if a Master uses her for farming, she will only have two stacks turn 3 to convert for 40% total refund. While this isn’t anything to scoff at, it may make forming a team around her harder. 

Alter Ego Classing

With Alter Ego classing, Kingprotea has almost no resistances, and deals resistible damage against all three Knight classes. This can come as a double edged sword when dealing with scarier (and less fluffy) enemies.

The first two of Gao’s skills work in tandem, boosting her HP and then taking that HP away in the form of a charge. Masters will need to decide if they want to use her as more of a tank or a powerhouse in determining which to level first. Once they’ve decided that, they can boost her damage.

• Huge Scale C is Kingprotea’s unique skill, causing her to gain extra HP each turn. This can serve as a quasi-heal, but is effectively better because if a Servant on the field has healing, any damage she takes can be healed again. Within a few turns she becomes bulky and tanky. Masters wanting to use her for tanking purposes should level this first. Those wanting to use her for farming should level this last.
• Infantile Regression C converts all gained HP stacks from Huge Scale into 20% NP charges. Most of the time, this converts to a 40% charge gain in a typical 3-turn setup, which combined with a 50% mixed damage CE and a support could put her over the edge. It also provides a nice 1-turn skill cooldown reduction, which can help her sustain with her 3rd skill (her 1st skill has such a long cooldown that this will never be effective with it). Masters looking to use her for farming purposes should level this first. Those wanting to use her for tanking purposes should level this last. 
• Monstrous Strength EX is an incredibly powerful self buff which makes Kingprotea such a strong Servant. While it is simply an attack up, its modifier and its short cooldown make it dangerously powerful. Masters will want to level this second regardless of usage.

Like everything else about Kingprotea, Craft Essences depend on how a Master wishes to use her. Those wishing to use her in a farming setup will generally want the traditional Starting Gauge CEs or Mixed Starting Gauge/Damage CEs. In a longer quest where she’s being used for her damage, a Master may want a NP Damage Up CE. But if Masters are using her for tanking purposes, she often benefits from healing her already high HP via Heal Per Turn or Healing Received CEs.

• Kaleidoscope / The Imaginary Element / Dragon’s Meridian: The standard starting gauge CEs can help Kingprotea use her Noble Phantasm earlier, and perhaps not have to burn her stacks of HP up to keep her 20% Buster bonus.
• Aerial Drive / Partake with the King / Holy Night Supper / Starry Nights: When using a mixed CE, a Master is planning to use her Infantile Regression on turn three. Outside of Aerial Drive, all CEs will cause her to lose approximately 5% damage due to her Noble Phantasm’s bonus disappearing through the use of Infantile Regression. Masters should consider carefully whether this is worth using instead of a starting gauge CE.
• The Black Grail: With either supports or during longer fights, Kingprotea has the ability to charge her entire gauge by herself. In this case, using a Black Grail can give her massive power increases.
• Moon Goddess’s Bath / March of the Saint / Girl Amidst the Flowers: Kingprotea will gain HP per turn with her Huge Scale, but she still will take damage due from enemy attacks. If she has a heal per turn on top of that, she can increase her effective HP gain per turn and quicken her bulking up.
• Maid in Halloween: Most Servant heal spells are designed to heal a Servant with a standard HP pool. Kingprotea has over double that pool, so a non-trivial gain of Healing Received can support other Servants trying to keep up with her fluffiness.