Oberon

“Since you summoned me, I'll lend you a hand. Although from the bottom of my heart, it feels like crap.”

Living up to his name's sake, the King of the Fae Oberon ushers power that humans could barely fathom. An ubiquitous AoE Buster Support and Damage Dealer hybrid, Oberon’s arrival onto Fate / Grand Order could only be described as calamitous, as he is widely considered a game-changer that ushers in a new age of NP looping with unprecedented heights. 

Oberon’s main power can be splitted into two parts. The first is his humongous NP Charge Support, coming from his first two skills. Evening Shroud EX is a party wide 20% NP Gauge Charger with a sizable NP Damage buff as well. Morning Lark EX grants a targeted ally an extra 50% NP Charge, with the caveat of draining the target’s NP Gauge by 20% afterward, and a 20 Critical Star bomb as cherry on top. Together, these two skills give the highest amount of NP Gauge Support to one target that a Support Servant can provide in the game, making Oberon extremely valuable right off the bat even if his list of powerful effects stop here. 

But the Fairy King has more than just NP Gauge in his arsenal, as his signature skill Ending of Dreams EX is also one of the most powerful single target buffs imaginable, granting a 50% Buster Performance buff and a NP Boost effect that essentially increases the effectiveness of all NP Damage buffs that a Servant currently possesses significantly, both for one turn. This unique NP Boost multiplier is massive, turning The Black Grail for example into a nuclear level of damage boost. But great power comes at a price, after the turn this skill is used, the beneficiary of this skill will be completely taken out of commission by virtue of a nasty unremovable Sleep and Taunt debuff. Thus, it is a one-time power boost that should mostly be used on the beefy last wave of a farming node or to push for the kill against bosses in challenging battles. 

Unlike other Support Servants, Oberon can also function as a Damage Dealer. His class gives him a wide array of class advantage bonus damage that he can exploit, particularly in mixed class farming nodes that are quite common. His Noble Phantasm - Rye Rhyme Goodfellow E is an AoE Buster Noble Phantasm that deals extra damage to [Lawful] enemies, removes all their offensive buffs and inflict the unique [Sleep] debuff to them. Thanks to his class and teamwide buffs, Oberon is quite sufficient as a sub-DPS in multi-DPS composition that can help ease team building limitations.

It is fairly easy to see where Oberon falls short: his kit simply does not work for longer battles. All the demerits from his skills are negligible in farming context or when one is trying to burst down something within a limited time frame, but in a lengthy battle they are extremely cumbersome to work around. 

Nonetheless, Oberon is an incredibly potent force whose impact on how Master would play the game cannot be understated. For any Master looking to take their account to new levels in terms of farming efficiency and crafting powerful setups that can blast many encounters to smithereens, the Fairy King is THE guy. 

Incredible NP Gauge Support

With essentially 70% NP Charge to one ally and 20% to other allies, Oberon is one of the best NP Gauge Supports in the game and the only one with such a high single target battery. As such, he is invaluable in the majority of the game’s contents. 

Exceptional Damage Boosting Potential

Oberon’s buffs are very potent, as his unique NP Boost buff can drastically raise an ally’s damage output, capable of brute forcing through damage hurdles otherwise seems impossible. While he works best with Buster-centric Servant, this unique buff makes him very useful even for Servants with NP of other card types. 

Good Wave Clearing Potential

Thanks to his rare class and AoE Noble Phantasm with a good anti-trait bonus, Oberon is a competent wave clearer. This is particularly useful in multi-DPS teams with other Servants that can charge each other NP Gauge like Morgan or another copy of Oberon himself. In many circumstances, Oberon can even function as the main Damage Dealer of a team.

Unsuited For Lengthy Battles

Oberon possesses many debilitating demerits that can actively hinder a team in a longer battle. His third skill essentially is a death sentence to his target after a turn. His passive debuff that reduces one of the game’s best sustain support - Merlin’s buff success rate also makes him undesirable for stalling compositions. Last but not least, Oberon’s Sleep debuff on his Noble Phantasm can make him quite clunky as it prevents any further damage on his targets for the rest of the turn if no Ignore Invincibility effects are available.

Oberon is one of the game’s finest Servants, and all of his skills should take high priority for leveling. Ideally, his second skill should be maxed first, followed by his third skill and finally his first skill. If resource constraints are a concern, then having all three at level 6 and then focusing on his second skill first would be recommended. 

• Evening Shroud EX – One of Oberon’s main NP Battery skills and crucial for his functionality. However, the NP Charge value is fixed even at level 1 so this skill can be leveled after his two other skills. 
• Morning Lark EX – This is Oberon’s most important skill to level up as the NP Charge Value scales with skill level. The extra Critical Stars is also quite useful for many setups to supplement first turn burst with Critical Hits or activate certain Servants’ condition (such as Miss Crane).
• Ending of Dreams EX – Both of the buffs value scale with skill level, making this skill a no brainer for leveling. While the value gained from leveling is big, it is not as crucial to his operation as his second skill, and thus it can be leveled after. 

Oberon primarily will be holding Bond/QP/Mystic Code Level CEs and Drop Bonus CEs during events, as he is a very low requirement Support for pretty much any farming composition. In difficult content, Oberon is best used as an one-time-use power boost to the Damage Dealer or as a sub-Damage Dealer. For the first role, CEs that can grant one-time team buff or Starting Critical Stars are valuable, while for the second role, Starting NP Gauge is exceptionally useful to help him access his Noble Phantasm as soon as possible. If used as a main damage dealer, NP Damage is the most powerful stat as his third skill can elevate the buff to obscene value. 

• Bond / QP / Mystic Code Level CE or Drop Bonus CE: Flexible QoL Craft Essence is a natural choice for Support Servant, particularly one that will be used frequently in events such as Oberon. 
• Golden Captures the Carp / Ox-Demon King: Exceptional one-time team buff Craft Essences that synergize well with Oberon, providing even more boost to the teammates he is supporting. 
• The Black Grail / Heaven’s Feel: These Craft Essences have incredible synergy with Oberon’s third skill and is great on him when he is used as the main damage dealer. Generally, the main Damage Dealer of the team would be on these CEs to take advantage of Oberon’s buff. 
• Aerial Drive / Starry Night / Golden Sumo: Boulder Tournament: Any Craft Essences with starting NP Gauge and other beneficial offensive stats like Buster Performance, Attack or NP Damage are more than enough to make Oberon work as a Sub-Damage Dealer.