Minamoto-no-Raikou (Lancer)

“Such, such, such shameful…..That won't do, that won't do! Do you understand? Y-you must be more modest! Forbidden, forbidden, it's forbidden!”

Heian’s Strongest Demon Killer has returned, this time with a killer swimsuit to match her killer appeal. A self-sufficient and powerful Buster-centric ST damage dealer, Minamoto no Raikou (Lancer) brings with her a synergistic and devastating skill set that can overwhelm any enemies standing in her way. 

Raikou is a Servant built for offense, with a set of strong passives, impressive base generation stats with good hit counts, high stats, long-lasting steroids and an extremely synergistic kit. Her critical potential is excellent with The Shadow Prefect granting a massive Star Gathering and Critical Damage buff for one turn. In addition, the Overcharge of her Defense-Piercing NP Vajra of Indra grants an Instant source of Critical Stars for her to critical with.

Furthermore, Her NP and overall base damage itself are excellent as well, as Cast Iron Yo-Yo grants her a powerful targetable Buster buff for 3 turns with a built-in debuff removal while Summer Catastrophe combines a standard team Charisma Attack buff with a small Star Generation buff. With her main direct steroids being teamwide or targetable and featuring a rare cleansing effect, Raikou can even moonlight as a powerful Buster support should the need arise. Lastly, Raikou’s NP Generation is great, with her Quick Cards being good, but her single Arts card featuring some of the highest NP Generation in the game for an Arts card. 

This lovely thunder goddess is not without flaws, albeit they can be fairly easily compensated for with the right supports. For one, her survivability is very sub-par as Raikou has no means to avoid or mitigate powerful hits from enemies when she needs to. Furthermore, she is more reliant than most Servants on getting the right card draws at the right time. Masters will want to either exploit her single Arts card for massive NP generation with a Critical Hit, or unleash massive damage with a full Buster chain. 

All in all, Minamoto no Raikou (Lancer) can definitely contend with most high profile Lancers with her self-sufficient offense, Buster support potential, high ceiling, and general versatility. Masters who have her can rest assured that she is more than capable of shining brightly even in some of the most star-studded line-ups.

Strong Critical Potential

Raikou’s The Shadow Prefect grants her a significant Critical Damage and Star Gathering buff for one turn, which when combined with Critical Stars generated from her Noble Phantasm/Summer Catastrophe and her Buster and Attack buffs can make for monstrous (multiplicative stacking!) Critical Hits. While the duration of the buff is short, its cooldown is fairly reasonable and in the right setup, Raikou can do devastating damage with just her Critical Hits alone.

High Sustained Offensive Power

Raikou has a high base Attack compared to most 4 Stars Lancers, which is further boosted by a plethora of strong passives in Riding A+, Madness Enhancement C and Divinity C. Furthermore, both Cast Iron Yo-Yo and Summer Catastrophe offer strong steroids of different types that last for 3 turns. Hence, her sustained damage output is strong in most situations.

Offensive Support Potential

Raikou can act as a semi-offensive support, thanks to Cast Iron Yo-Yo being a targetable Buster buff and Debuff Cleanse while Summer Catastrophe buffs the entire part’sy Attack and Star Generation. She can even use her NP to supply others with Critical Stars as her Lancer Star Weight isn’t a large deterrent. Her effective Buster support value (40% + 20% = 68%), ranks among the highest in the game, and is especially useful during Raid events where one-shotting is crucial.

Strong Base NP Generation

With a 0.75% NP Generation per hit with a 4 hits Arts card, any card chain with her Arts card being last will generate a large amount of NP gauge, which together with Overkill and Critical Hits can often charge most of her NP bar. Her 3 hits Quick cards and 5 hits Extra card are also not bad either, especially considering the boost from her Riding passive for the former. 

No Survivability

Raikou has no survival skills whatsoever to avoid boss attacks, high sustained damage or Noble Phantasms, which can pose a problem in difficult quests. It is best to pair her with support Servants that can offer some form of survivability to Raikou should Masters choose to bring her to any challenging content.

Highly Reliant on Card Draw

Raikou is heavily reliant on her card draws, as all of her cards are strong and serve clear purposes. While a Critical Brave Chain after her Noble Phantasm or a Buster Brave Chain is fantastic to pull off, Raikou will not be able to pull those off as often as she likes. Furthermore, she is also fairly reliant on her Arts card to come up at the right time to charge her NP gauge quickly, especially if Masters wish to time it with any generated Critical Stars. Last but not least, Raikou’s Noble Phantasm usage is also dependent on her card draw to maximize its effect. Ideally, Raikou (or her allies) can use the generated Critical Stars next turn to unleash more devastating damage or NP Generation. 

Raikou skills are powerful, and all play a central part in her explosive playstyle. Leveling all of them concurrently at least to level 6 is highly recommended to both reduce their downtime and improve their values, especially for Masters wanting to use her as the main offensive Lancer. Both Cast Iron Yo-Yo and Summer Catastrophe effects last for 3 turns and are universally useful, so it is better to prioritize them over The Shadow Prefect. Nonetheless, maxing all three skills of Raikou will yield a fantastic return on investment.

• The Shadow Prefect A serves two purposes, as it is not only a powerful skill for one turn burst and comboing with her Noble Phantasm, but also acts as her most effective way to generate NP gauge when her Art card is up. However, it is already quite effective at lower levels and only lasts for one turn, thus it is of generally lower priority.

• Cast Iron Yo-Yo C is Raikou’s most superb skill, as it is both targetable and last for 3 turns. Its value scales well with level and as her main steroid, it is recommended to max this skill as soon as possible.

• Summer Catastrophe EX offers a simple, but fantastic teamwide Attack and Star Generation buff, both scaling with levels. This skill can be activated as soon as it comes off cooldown and has a good 3 / 5 uptime at maxed level, so it is a fantastic investment over the long run. Level this second.

In general, Raikou works best with Craft Essences granting offensive stats due to her massive damage potential and full Attack Stats on her CEs is essential. Starting NP Gauge is a universally great for her, as her Noble Phantasm does not just hit hard, but also returns a good amount of Critical Stars for her to utilize. Critical Damage Up and Buster Performance Up are also strong options to raise her damage output further, especially while her Crit steroid is on cooldown. Lastly, NP Damage Up offers a notable damage spike on her Noble Phantasm with it stacking multiplicatively with her own Buster and Attack buff. 

• Holy Night Supper / Golden Sumo / Partake with the King / First Sunrise: Hybrid Craft Essences that grant not only high Attack stats, but also provide enough Starting NP Gauge to launch an NP after one well timed Arts card.

• Joint Recital / Victor of the Moon : The combination of high base Attack, Buster Performance, and Critical Damage make these Craft Essences stellar choices for Masters wanting to play around Raikou’s strong Critical potential.

• Black Grail / Cute Orangette / Heaven’s Feel: These Craft Essences grant a massive boost to Raikou’s Noble Phantasm power, on top of a high Attack bonus. Boosting her NP Gain further is also a decent alternative.

• Kaleidoscope / The Imaginary Element: Standard Craft Essences with full Starting NP Gauge are ideal for shorter quests where relying on Raikou’s Arts draw slows down the clearing speed.

• Hero Elly's Adventure / Limited/Zero Over / Verdant Sound of Destruction: Good basic Craft Essences to boost Raikou’s overall damage, thanks to her Buster-centric card layout.