Oda Nobukatsu

“I leave the rest to you, Sister--. Hah, hahahahahaha--!!…”

The younger sibling of Oda Nobunaga (at least in FGO lore), Oda Nobukatsu is a special limited-time Servant available only in the Friend Summon pool. As a 1-star Archer with a supportive NP, he joins the roster as yet another bronze Archer capable of self sacrifice, with the ability to buff Nobunaga allies.

Oda Nobukatsu’s kit provides many utility effects, with Immature Scheme inflicting the Confusion debuff (which can Skill Seal every turn) and decreasing Buster Resist of a single target. He also has the ability to draw enemy attacks for a turn using Adabana of War, which also applies an on-death party heal effect and increased NP Gain when taking damage during that turn. His second skill, I Shall Die for the Heavens provides a small Crit Damage buff and stars per turn, while also notably providing additional buffs to Nobunaga allies, giving substantially increased Crit Damage and Star Gather Rate. His NP also provides Buster buffs to allies (further increased for Nobunaga allies), and charges NP Gauge for allies by 20%. Last but not least, he disappears himself after his NP.

Nobukatsu’s NP can essentially be treated as an Order Change with the next Servant in line, which comes with the bonus of NP Gauge and Buster buffs for allies. His NP unfortunately does no damage, however, making it purely supportive. His own Card damage output overall is not very notable, partially due to his lower bronze Servant base stats, although even then he ranks nearly the lowest in base ATK among all Servants, further making him suited only for support. It should be noted that he has no innate NP Charge skill, which can make it difficult to prepare his NP without the help of CEs or support that charge his NP for him. It is worth noting he can enable particularly interesting setups via the Order Change effect of his NP.

Overall, Oda Nobukatsu is a support Servant that synergizes particularly well with other Buster Servants (especially Nobunaga Servants). His ability to offer an Order Change via self sacrifice opens up new opportunities in various team compositions, and is a worthwhile Servant to have in the roster. Most importantly, if a Nobunaga’s around the Master’s Chaldea, make sure to roll for him so he can be reunited with his beloved sister.

Buster/Crit Support

Nobukatsu can provide 20% Crit Damage and 10% Buster Damage buffs to general allies, and for Nobunaga allies, this becomes a whopping +100% Crit Damage and +30% Buster Damage buff. He also provides a small amount of stars each turn, and for Nobunaga allies, can further buff their Star Gather rate substantially. He additionally can decrease Buster Resist for a single enemy, further boosting damage for one target.

Party NP Charge

His NP notably charges all allies’ Gauges by 20%, which is a remarkable amount for a Bronze Servant. Although there are demerits to this being tied to his NP (since it requires a turn), it is a useful supportive effect that any party member can benefit from.

Order Change

His NP also acts as an Order Change effect, bringing in allies from the back line once he sacrifices himself. This can enable further buff stacking on a damage dealer of choice, or bring in additional NP Gauge support, which tend to be of great use for Buster Servants, who otherwise generally have little NP refund from their Noble Phantasms.

Low Cost

He provides all this at 3 cost, being a 1 star Bronze Servant.

Low Damage

Oda Nobukatsu ranks among the lowest in base ATK, so he should not be expected to be dealing much damage on his own using his Cards. His NP also does not deal damage, so he ends up being most effective by removing himself from the field after providing his various buffs to allies.

No NP Charge Skills

His NP is arguably the centerpiece of his kit, but he has no innate way to charge his NP Gauge (since his NP Gauge effect is tied to his NP itself, and does not give himself NP Gauge since he dies). As a result, he is best utilized with CEs or support that can provide the NP gauge he needs.

Some Support is Trait-Locked

If an ally is not his big sister Nobunaga, they only get a small fraction of what he is capable of providing. He also generally favors Buster teams, and would find less use in any other lineup that features a Quick or Arts damage dealer.

Since Nobunaga’s primary usage is as a support, focusing on skills that maximize what he provides to the party would be ideal. None of his skills must be maxed for him to function, although leveling his first and second skills in particular do help improve the offensive support he provides. 

• Immature Scheme D – This skill inflicts Confusion (which does not scale with level) and decreased Buster Resist (which does scale with level). Although not first priority, leveling this skill does technically increase the damage output of any Buster allies against a single enemy, so this skill may be worth leveling. Leveling this skill to decrease its cooldown is not particularly helpful, however, as oftentimes Nobukatsu will be gone by the time the cooldown is recovered.
• I Shall Die for the Heavens B – Leveling this skill gives the best return, since it improves the amount of stars per turn he generates, as well as substantially boosting the Crit Damage / Star Gather bonus provided to Nobunaga allies (Crit damage in particular, increases from 30% to 80% at max level!). If planning to utilize Nobukatsu with a Nobunaga ally, this skill should be prioritized.
• War-torn Flower C – This skill is likely the lowest priority; this is Nobukatsu’s Taunt skill, and the NP Gain when taking damage effect and HP restoration on death are what scales with level. These don’t affect his offensive support, and due to his low HP pool, he may actually be liable to die in a single turn if he has Taunt active (especially if Crits are involved), making this skill not as useful for him.

Nobukatsu needs help filling his NP Gauge, so Starting NP Gauge CEs are particularly helpful for him. Aside from that, to help boost his supportive capacity, various supportive CEs that provide Buster Buffs to Allies, or On-Death effects work well on him.

• Kaleidoscope / The Imaginary Element: These provide pure starting NP Gauge for Oda Nobukatsu, which helps him get his NP up as quickly as possible.
• Ox-Demon King: This CE provides a small Buster buff to all allies when he enters the field, which further helps improve ally damage output.
• The Merciless One / Battle of Camlann: These CEs will increase all allies’ NP Gauge when Nobukatsu is defeated, which includes when he sacrifices himself with his NP, and stacks on top of the 20% NP Gauge he provides.
• 500-Year Obsession: This is an On-Death CE that instead inflicts a debuff (NP Seal and Curse) on the enemy, which is situational, but if applicable, would be a good idea to place on Nobukatsu so it can be activated at will via his NP.