Miyamoto Musashi (Berserker)

“What about water battles?! The Niten Ichiryū can fight anywhere!”

Even the renowned Niten-Ichiryu swordsman, Miyamoto Musashi, has fallen to the demon known as the swimsuit— such is the power of summer. The change in appearance, however, hasn’t diminished her explosive offensive power in the least. Musashi holds immense farming potential; all she needs is an opportunity to bring this potential to full bloom.

Musashi’s Berserker class and her AoE Arts NP are the two pillars which cement her place in the farming meta. The former means that her damage will be consistent against almost all enemies, while the latter allows her to benefit from the famous NP refund advantage of Arts compositions. Capitalizing on this Arts leaning is Fifth Zenith, which greatly increases the effectiveness of her normal Arts command cards while also increasing her NP Gain for 3 turns. Meanwhile, Heavenly Demon's Gaze acts as her main source of damage boost, increasing her attack while also reducing the enemies’ defense on top of applying Ignore Invincible and Guts on Musashi herself, all for a ‘paltry’ cost of 5000 HP. Rounding up her skillset is Accel Turn, which provides a 1-hit Evasion and increases Musashi’s Critical Damage for 1 turn.

Even with Evasion and Guts in her repertoire, the Berserker class’s defensive weakness remains a problem for a Musashi, especially when Heavenly Demon's Gaze’s demerit is considered. Her other great weakness is that her main damage boosting skill includes a Defense debuff component, forcing in a dilemma where using it early in the fight means forgoing the Defense debuff for the last enemy wave, while using it in the final wave conversely reduces her damage in the preceding waves.

Musashi does have some glaring weaknesses, which can make her feel rather unremarkable at release. Fortunately, the release of a certain Arts support brings her strengths to the forefront, at which point she becomes one of the most valuable damage dealers available in the game.

AoE Arts Damage Dealer

Arts damage dealers are well-known for their high amount of NP refund, and it is this strength which Musashi taps into with the help of Fifth Zenith’s NP Gain Up (as well as, presumably, that of her supports’ Arts Performance buffs). The skill also massively improves the NP gain of her normal Arts cards thanks to the doubling of their hit counts, allowing Musashi to easily fill up her NP gauge when given the opportunity.

Berserker Offensive Advantage

Musashi’s high ATK stat and 1.1x damage modifier are already great boons, but the 1.5x nearly-universal Berserker offensive advantage is what sets her apart from other Arts competitors. Being able to deal consistently high damage to all sorts of enemies is a very valuable trait for a farming Servant to have, especially as her only weaknesses (namely, Foreigners, and to a lesser extent Shielders) almost never appear in farming stages.

Low Survivability

Despite coming equipped with various survival-oriented tools (from Evasion to Guts and even Critical Rate Down on her NP), Musashi remains a very squishy Servant, courtesy of her low HP stat and the massive HP demerit from her third skill. Fortunately, her tendency to wipe out enemy waves in one fell swoop means that her defensive measures should generally be enough to let her survive through most farming stages.

Tricky Offensive Buff

Musashi’s third skill is the only means with which she is able to buff her NP damage, but the fact that the skill has a Defense debuff component creates a difficult situation. Using it early on means that the final wave of enemies will not be affected by the Defense debuff, but on the other hand, saving the skill for the last wave reduces her NP damage in the first two waves, which can result in reduced Overkill… which in turn creates a potentially loop-breaking decrease in NP refund.

It’s highly recommended to max out Musashi’s second and third skills in order to increase her overall farming coverage and reliability. Her first skill, meanwhile, can be left at a lower level unless she is to be used in more difficult fights.

• Accel Turn applies a 1-hit Evasion on Musashi and increases her Critical Damage for one turn. Unfortunately, she doesn’t generally get much use from the latter due to her low Star Weight, and while the Evasion aspect of the skill benefits greatly from having reduced skill cooldown, it is generally unnecessary in most farming situations. Therefore, this skill should be leveled last.
• As the primary way with which Musashi increases her NP refund, Fifth Zenith is arguably her most important skill, as the difference in NP Gain Up can be the deciding factor in whether she gains enough NP refund to fire off another NP in the following turn. Leveling this skill also increases the damage she deals with her normal Arts cards, helping her finish off higher-health bosses. This skill should be leveled first.
• Musashi’s only direct damage boosting skill, Heavenly Demon's Gaze comes with a total of four beneficial effects in return for a massive 5,000 HP demerit (if used at under 5,000 HP, Musashi will be left with 1 HP instead). While the Ignore Invincibility and Guts effects do not scale with level, the Attack Up and Defense Down do, increasing Musashi’s overall damage and in turn boosting her farming reliability. As such, this skill should be leveled second.

Lacking an NP Charge skill, Kaleidoscope (MLB) is Musashi’s best option at release. Other Starting NP Gauge Craft Essences are naturally her second best, with a preference towards Arts Performance Up, NP Damage Up and Attack Up as secondary offensive effects.

• Kaleidoscope (MLB): Allowing Musashi to perform a first turn NP, an MLB’d Kaleidoscope is her best option bar none in terms of farming, allowing her supports’ NP Charging skills to be saved for later turns. 
• Kaleidoscope / The Imaginary Element (MLB): While the reduced amount of Starting NP is quite noticeable in farming situations, these CEs are still great picks overall, allowing Musashi reliable access to her NP.
• Painting Summer / Dive to Blue / Holy Night Supper / Golden Sumo: Boulder Tournament: These CEs are good picks for more casual farming scenarios, giving Musashi some much-needed offensive edge for later waves.
• Formal Craft / Royal Icing / Mark on a Smiling Face / Emerald Float / Kaleid Sapphire / Projection: These CEs may be used if Starting NP ones aren’t available, and especially if high NP Charge supports are brought along. They increase Musashi’s NP and Arts damage as well as her Arts NP gain in a more pronounced manner compared to other CE categories, letting her gain more NP refund as a result.
• The Black Grail: While the Black Grail is always an option to boost Musashi’s NP damage, her sometimes borderline NP refund means that using the Black Grail can make her refund less reliable, especially when facing Assassins and Berserkers.