Nagakura Shinpachi

“I may look like this, but my sword isn’t rusty. So don’t worry. Hey, I’m not kidding. Back in the day, I was a skilled swordsman who competed with my own comrades for the top spot.”

Nagakura Shinpachi, a proficient swordsman and captain of the second troop of the Shinsengumi, joins the roster in Fate/GO during the GUDAGUDA Super Goryoukaku event. He is a single target Buster Berserker with strong Buster Crit capabilities and multiple hard defensive options in his arsenal.

His first skill, Gamushin A, functions as his primary damage buff, giving him a 3-turn Buster buff. Additionally, for 3 turns, he will also gain 10 Stars whenever attacked, and gets a minor 1-time Guts. His second skill, Mind’s Eye (True) B, is his hard defensive skill, giving him a turn of Evasion and 3 turns of a very minor defensive buff. Note that even if he does not take damage, such as from Evasion, the when-attacked effect from his first skill will still activate, which allows him to gain Critical Stars to help fuel his Buster Crit engine more safely. Finally, his third skill, Wrathful Swordfell C, provides the bulk of his Buster Crit capabilities, giving him extremely high Buster Card Star Gather Rate and Crit Damage for a single turn, along with a small sum of up to 10 Critical Stars on use. The amount of Stars generated is on the smaller side, unfortunately, and with multiple Buster Cards in his deck that Stars may be split between, Masters may wish to supplement this with Critical Stars from other Supports or CEs.

His Noble Phantasm, Ryuuhiken, first removes Evasion buffs from the enemy, and increases his own Buster damage before dealing heavy damage. Additionally, he gets a hefty but short-lived Critical Damage buff for a single turn, which can further increase the potency of any Buster Crits he deals to enemies that survive his NP. Taken together with his skill set, he is a primarily offensively focused Buster Crit damage dealer, with a bit more survivability than average for a Berserker given both Guts and Evade skills. However, in exchange, he has rather middling damage, and his Critical damage buffs are also short-lived, lending him to strong bursts of damage but poor sustained damage over time.

Overall, Nagakura Shinpachi is a solid Buster Crit entry to the ST Berserker niche. Even if there is nothing particularly standout about his kit, he hits hard on his Crit turns and does his job well, and only further improves with any Buster Crit support in the party. Masters in need of a general-purpose Crit damage dealer, or looking to complete the Shinsengumi collection will be happy to have him in the roster. Even in old age, he’s still got it.

Strong Crit Performance

Nagakura Shinpachi can reach a total of +200% Crit Damage buffs when combining his third skill and NP buff, making his Crits a menacing force. Both buffs also apply to all Card types, meaning even if he doesn’t land a Buster Card on his NP turn, he still can benefit from the damage buffs. The main issue is that he only gets a Star Gather buff on his Buster Cards and not his other Cards, so a larger number of Stars will be needed to ensure his Crits are consistent on non-Buster Cards.

Multiple Hard Defense Options

Rather atypically for a Berserker Servant, Nagakura Shinpachi has both a 1-turn Evade skill, as well as a 1-time, 3-turn Guts skill. This gives Shinpachi some extra staying power that is not typically seen from Berserker Servants. When combined with the fact that he can gain Crit Stars whenever being attacked, this can help further his role as a Crit damage dealer.

Short Crit Buff Duration

Nearly all of Nagakura Shinpachi’s critical-related buffs only last for a single turn. This means that Masters will want to make sure his Cards and Crit Stars are available on the turn when his buffs become active, since otherwise they will be waiting a little bit before the skill comes back off cooldown.

Inconsistent Star Generation

Nagakura Shinpachi’s third skill is the most reliable Crit Star source, giving up to 10 Critical Stars on use. However, 10 Stars is only really enough for a single card to reach a reliably guaranteed Crit rate, which means either he needs to take a hit for 10 Stars from his first skill’s effect, or get Stars from another source (such as a Support or CE). Despite being a powerful crit damage dealer, he may need a bit of support in making sure the Crits land consistently.

The most important skills for Nagakura Shinpachi are his first and third skill, which improve his overall offensive performance. His second skill is entirely defense-focused, and is of less importance to level since most of its beneficial effects are available even at level 1. The recommended leveling order is 1 >= 3 >> 2.

• Gamushin A – Given that this skill has more long-lasting effects (3 turns of Buster buffs, Stars when attacked, and Guts), this skill is the best to invest in for Masters who wish to help improve the consistency of his damage across turns. Both the Buster buff and Guts HP revival improve with levels. This can be leveled first if consistency is prioritized, although if burst damage is desired instead, the third skill should be prioritized.

• Mind’s Eye (True) B – This is a purely defensive skill, with only the DEF buff scaling somewhat below-average with levels, while the Evade effect remains unchanged. Leveling this skill can still be useful to improve the cooldown, but this can be left for last.

• Wrathful Swordfell C – This skill scales the best with level, with the Crit Damage buff in particular scaling from 50% at level 1 to 100% at level 10. Additionally, the Star Gather buff and Crit Stars generated by this skill also improve with level. For Masters wishing to focus on Shinpachi’s single-turn Crit burst damage, this should be prioritized first, then followed by the first skill.

Shinpachi only has Buster buffs in his own skill set, so any ATK or NP Damage buffs are multiplicatively beneficial to his damage output. He also lacks any NP charge skill of his own, so Starting NP Gauge effects are helpful. Otherwise, Starting Crit Stars, Buster, and Crit Damage effects on any Craft Essences are also welcome.

• Kaleidoscope / Winter Crystal / The Imaginary Element – These CEs provide a large NP Gauge boost to help Nagakura Shinpachi unleash his NP more quickly. Since he does not have his own NP charge skill, he will need an MLB Kaleidoscope or a maxed 2nd Append Skill and a nonMLB Kaleidoscope to instantly NP.

• Golden Sumo: Boulder Tournament / Aerial Drive / Remnants on the Sand Board / Empty Garden / Mystery Treasure / Summer Anniversary / Round and Round / Holy Night Supper / Partake with the King / Starry Nights / Gemstone Shots – These are hybrid NP starter CE options that also provide a boost to offensive performance, and make for well-rounded options.

• Golden Captures the Carp / First Drawing / Respecting Snow Where Flowers Bloom – These CEs give both starting NP charge and starting Crit Stars, to ensure that Shinpachi can take advantage of the Crit Damage buff provided by his NP.

• The Black Grail / Inverted Rain of Mud / Heaven's Feel – These are CEs that provide the highest NP Damage boost available for Shinpachi. Without an NP charge skill of his own, though, he will need external support to fill his NP gauge.