Mori Nagayoshi

“I’m Mori Nagayoshi, the one and only Demon Musashi!”

Loyal to the point of madness, Mori Nagayoshi is the Berserker from Strange Tales of the Imperial Holy Grail, where he made a name for himself by severing his Master’s arm to prevent his Master from fleeing a battle that could still be won. In his debut work, Nagayoshi also uses the regenerative power of his signature armor to become nigh-unkillable. As a playable Servant, Nagayoshi emphasizes his bloodlust over his survivability, trading all defense for raw, unstoppable offense.

Nagayoshi is most notable for his first skill, Mental Corruption (Wicked), which provides Nagayoshi with a whopping 100% Critical Strength Up buff in exchange for rendering him immune to buffs for 3 turns. This means a properly-supported Nagayoshi can deal very high sustained damage. Nagayoshi also has Ningen Mukotsu, a rare NP that comes with both Ignore Defense and Ignore Invincible, which lets Nagayoshi completely ignore most defensive tools. Furthermore, Nagayoshi is, at the time of writing, the only single-target Buster Berserker with more than one Arts card, which means he has more consistent NP access than is typical of Servants in his role.

Unfortunately, Nagayoshi’s strengths aren’t without significant trade-offs. Losing access to buffs for three whole turns places Nagayoshi in the unfortunate position of requiring specific and generally expensive support setups in order to fully leverage his critical damage potential. Furthermore, this same demerit means defensive buffs will not land on Nagayoshi once he uses his first skill, so Nagayoshi will typically die quickly unless protected via Servants with Target Focus skill. Additionally, Nagayoshi’s only skill that boosts his NP damage requires him to use normal attacks to trigger the damage buffs, which means Nagayoshi’s NP damage starts out low and requires some planning in order to boost.

Nagayoshi is a highly unique Servant. There are plenty of other strong single-target Berserkers who function more traditionally, so Masters just looking for a strong general-purpose Buster option can safely ignore Nagayoshi. Masters who like unusual playstyles, however, will find in Nagayoshi a Servant who rewards investment and strategy with high damage output and reliable performance.

High Persistent Critical Attack Damage

Nagayoshi’s first skill gives him 100% Critical Strength Up, which, combined with Nagayoshi’s Berserker class, means Nagayoshi can potentially output very high levels of critical attack damage over three turns.

Defense-Piercing NP

Nagayoshi’s NP ignores defense buffs and grants Nagayoshi Ignore Invincible for a turn, which means Nagayoshi can deal high damage even to enemies who might slow other damage-dealers down. That said, Nagayoshi’s first skill does prevent the Ignore Invincible buff from activating, so Masters should keep that in mind when deciding when to use Nagayoshi’s skills.

Atypical Berserker Deck

Single-target Buster Berserkers typically have three Buster cards in their deck. Nagayoshi has two Buster cards and two Arts cards instead, which makes it easier for him to form Arts chains with his supports and to charge his NP gauge than is typical for the class. This can be helpful to Masters who want to use Nagayoshi for his defense-piercing properties.

Difficult to Enable

Nagayoshi’s first skill makes him immune to buffs, which means he needs long-lasting buffs that can be applied before he uses the skill. Furthermore, Nagayoshi wants persistent critical attack access, but his Star Gather skill only lasts one turn, which means his team needs to generate close to 50 stars in order for him to reliably use his critical damage buffs. Together, these make Nagayoshi uniquely difficult to support, and he needs specialized teams and powerful supports in order to shine.

Low Survivability

Not only does Nagayoshi have no survival tools, but two of his skills make it harder for him to stay alive. Nagayoshi’s first skill prevents him from receiving standard defensive buffs while it is active, and his second skill reduces his defense when he attacks. This means Nagayoshi is unlikely to survive beyond a few turns without the help of Servants with Target Focus skills.

Low Base NP Damage

Nagayoshi’s stacking attack buffs activate when he uses normal attacks, which means Nagayoshi’s NP damage will be low until he has attacked a few times. This can make timing Nagayoshi’s NP challenging, as Nagayoshi may not have many debuffs active when he would otherwise want to use his NP.

As Mental Corruption (Wicked) scales well with levels and is key to Nagayoshi’s gameplay appeal, it should be leveled first. Blood-Soaked Brute also contributes to Nagayoshi’s damage output and should be leveled second. Oni Musashi's Will and Testament is effective even at lower levels and Nagayoshi is unlikely to use it more than once in a fight, so it can be left at lower levels if need be.

• Mental Corruption (Wicked) is Nagayoshi’s most important skill. 100% Critical Strength Up is significant even when it has a shorter duration. The fact that this skill lasts three turns and is on a Buster Berserker makes it remarkably powerful. Nagayoshi pays for this via the demerit, though, as it renders him unable to receive buffs for the duration. As such, this skill should be the last skill Masters press on a turn so that Nagayoshi can receive other buffs before the skill activates. While the skill is active, Masters can protect Nagayoshi by having other Servants use target focus skills, or Nagayoshi can be allowed to die to make way for another damage-dealer.
• Blood-Soaked Brute is Nagayoshi’s general-purpose attack-boosting skill. Rather than providing a flat damage boost, the skill gives Nagayoshi an attack buff and a defense debuff each time he attacks, up to three times. Nagayoshi can either stack all three at once for a powerful 3-turn attack buff, or stagger them for a smaller but longer-lasting set of attack buffs. The defense debuffs also make Nagayoshi more likely to die without protection. It is also important to note that, while the initial skill effect will not apply if Mental Corruption (Wicked) is active, the on-hit attack buffs ignore Mental Corruption (Wicked)’s demerit and will activate regardless.
• Oni Musashi's Will and Testament makes it easier for Nagayoshi to land critical attacks for a turn. Once again, it is important that Nagayoshi uses this skill before Mental Corruption (Wicked), as it will fail otherwise. The skill also provides 20 critical stars if Nagayoshi dies within 3 turns of its activation, which can jump-start a subsequent damage-dealer.

As Nagayoshi typically prefers to move as fast as possible, Starting NP Gauge Craft Essences are particularly valuable. Buster Performance Up Craft Essences are also valuable, as Nagayoshi has very little of this type of buff innately, and it stacks multiplicatively with his other buffs. Starting Critical Stars Craft Essences are also very helpful to Nagayoshi, as they can let him take advantage of his Critical Damage buffs starting on the very first turn. Finally, Guts and Invulnerability Craft Essences can help Nagayoshi stay alive throughout his damage window even without the specific support Servants who can protect him.

• Kaleidoscope / The Imaginary Element: These starting NP CEs make it relatively easy to have Nagayoshi use his NP within the first turn or two of battle, which can be central to strategies that involve winning quickly.
• Aerial Drive / Golden Sumo: Boulder Tournament / Holy Night Supper: These CEs provide less starting NP than Kaleidoscope or The Imaginary Element, but in exchange they also boost Nagayoshi’s damage output, making them better options for Masters who have access to more support Servants with NP charge skills.
• Limited/Zero Over / Victor of the Moon / Mystic Eyes of Distortion / Verdant Sound of Destruction: These CEs boost Nagayoshi’s Buster Card Performance, which increases his damage with both his critical attack and with his NP. For critical-damage-centric strategies especially, these CEs may be preferable to starting NP gauge CEs. Mystic Eyes of Distortion, in particular, also reduces Nagayoshi’s defense and may help him die faster in strategies that call for his death.
• Golden Captures the Carp / Holy Maiden’s Teachings / Scenic Beauty: These CEs provide 20 critical stars at the start of battle, in conjunction with various other benefits. These CEs can potentially let Nagayoshi start using his powerful critical attacks on the first turn of battle.
• Wearing Our Hearts On Our Sleeves / Divine Three-Legged Race / Volumen Hydrargyrum: These CEs can let Nagayoshi survive for an extra turn even without careful defensive support. The Guts CEs provide additional benefits and do not conflict with other Invincibility buffs from supports, while Volumen Hydrargyrum can potentially amount to more than one extra turn of survival depending on which Servants then enemies choose to target.