Oda Nobunaga

"Behold, the Demon King's Three Line Formation! All who stand before me shall be destroyed!"

Although known as the Fool of Owari in childhood, Oda Nobunaga became an excellent tactician who arguably unified Japan. In-game, Nobunaga fights as an AoE Buster Archer who focuses on heavy crits and effective damage against enemies with the Riding and Divine traits.

As a welfare Servant, Nobu's NP benefits from ready access to NP5 for better offense. Combined with her effective damage against Riding from her NP Three Line Formation, and her single turn anti-Divinity skill, Nobu can make short work of Servants who possess either or especially both traits. Additionally, The Demonic King's complementary Star Absorption and Critical Damage buffs enable hard crits with even a modest amount of stars. Lastly, while Nobunaga's Strategy skill is weaker than most individual NP gain buffs, it benefits the whole team in return.

However, there are times when Nobu's foolishness shows. Her hit counts are okay on her Buster/Arts cards but atrocious for her Quick card, making her dependent on external help to gain stars for her crit potential. Similarly, her NP gain rate is about average (with a similarly bad Quick card). Thus she is reliant on supports, CE's, crits, and her Strategy skill to ready her NP efficiently. In addition, despite strong effective damage buffs, Nobu's lack of general offensive buffs (like Attack Up) means her damage against non-trait bearing enemies will be usually be lower than her peers.

Overall, Nobu is a Servant who can really shine against the correct enemies, and perform decently in other situations. Although she relies on supports that can provide her with either more offensive buffs, critical stars or NP charging to cover her weaknesses, in the right circumstances she will be able to conquer the enemy without a problem.

Strong Critical Potential

The Demonic King sports similar values and effects as combined star absorption / critical damage skills like Self Modification, but Nobu can take advantage of having high base Archer star weight for even greater critical consistency. The three turn duration and 5 turn cooldown means Nobu has good uptime on melting the enemy if she is provided with stars. 

Anti-Divine and Anti-Riding Niche

Since many Servants have Riding or Divinity as passives, Nobu’s damage increases significantly against them with her AoE NP, especially against Sabers or Berserkers. The anti-Divine skill buffs normal Command Cards as well, potentially stacking with crits to obliterate Divine enemies even more. Furthermore, the anti-Riding and anti-Divine buffs apply multiplicatively, resulting in extremely high damage versus Servants who have both traits, such as Rama, Raikou, or Caesar. Note that providing Nobu with Attack/Buster buffs will stack with the anti-traits multiplicatively.

Team NP Support

The uncommon teamwide NP Generation buff of Strategy helps the entire team gain NP even faster. Although it has a slightly above average cooldown for its buff type, the correspondingly higher buff value allows Servants to reach full NP even quicker.  

Poor Generation Stats

Nobunaga's hit counts are poorly distributed, with 4 hits on her Buster/Arts cards and only 2 hits on her Quick. Factoring in her generation stats, her NP gain on her Arts Cards is average, while she has very poor generation on her Quick card. Her Buster has sufficient hits to benefit from star generation buffs, but usually Nobu will require aid in gaining stars outside of her 10-hit AoE NP. Likewise, she is reliant on Strategy, Arts card Crits, and support to charge her NP gauge quickly.

Lack of Standard Damage Buffs

Although Nobu has strong steroids versus Riding and Divinity, her lack of more standard buffs such as Buster Up, Attack Up, or NP damage means that her damage against enemies without these passives takes a sharp nosedive. Even with support, her performance ceiling versus average enemies will be less than her peers with “normal” self-buffs even after factoring in for NP5. This makes her a less effective choice against non-Riding/Divine enemies.  

Lack of Defensive Options

Although killing enemies quickly means less chances for them to retaliate, Nobu does not have any skills that contribute directly to her survival, making her reliant on her teammates to cover her in this regard. This puts her at a disadvantage in situations like Challenge Quests where she cannot burst down the enemy, potentially taking more damage as a result.

All of Nobu's skills provide benefits to her offense if leveled, but only Unifying the Nation by Force and The Demonic King directly contribute to her damage. Leveling The Demonic King first offers the best increase in general damage for Masters using Nobu as a primary damage dealer. If intending to use Nobu as a specific counter versus Divine enemies, then raising Unifying the Nation by Force is a better first investment. Otherwise level it second.

• Strategy is a valuable skill for more drawn out fights and helpful for charging Nobu's NP gauge with Arts cards, but in most farming cases it won't be very useful due to the card-independent consistency of NP charging skills. The values are decent for the effect but not particularly noticeable unless Nobu lands a crit. Typically, max this last.

• Unifying the Nation by Force is a strong yet niche steroid versus divine enemies, and functions similarly to Orion's anti-male skill. The buff lasts for one turn and affects all her attacks. This skill really pushes her damage against divine Servants, allowing her to clean up easily. Level this skill second for a major increase in performance against divine enemies.  

• The Demonic King is Nobu's strongest all-purpose skill. The increase in star weight will help with critting consistency, but the real winner is the increase in critical damage and cooldown. Max it first for the greatest increase in sustained damage versus all enemies.

As the primary damage dealer, Nobu seeks Craft Essences that will either help her deal Critical Damage, unleash her NP, or boost the general performance of her Buster cards.  Thus, she will benefit from Buster Performance Up, Critical Damage, and Starting NP Gauge CE's.  

• Limited/Zero Over / Verdant Sound of Destruction / Kaleid Ruby:  Due to her Buster NP and two Buster cards, Buster Performance up will benefit Nobu on both her crits and NP.  Additionally, it provides consistent damage increases to shore up her lack of native general offense buffs.

• Joint Recital / Victor of the Moon / Holy Night Supper: Critical Damage stacking on Nobu gives even more mileage from The Demonic King.  Having a useful secondary effect like Buster Up or Starting NP will provide benefits even on turns without stars. Note that the crit stacks additively with her anti-Divine buff though.

• Kaleidoscope / The Imaginary Element / Partake with the King / Golden Sumo: Due to Nobu's average NP gain, starting NP is fantastic for consistent farming.  Kaleidoscope and Max Limit Broken Imaginary Element allow Nobu to NP quickly with most common NP charging supports, while Partake with the King allows for extra damage on Buster cards, including her NP.

• Black Grail: Noble Phantasm Damage up is great in that it stacks multiplicatively with Nobu's anti-riding bonus on her NP.  Do keep in mind that it is additive with her Anti-Divine bonus, though this is only relevant for NPs. Black Grail offers the highest NP bonus, and when combined with quick NP charging support, Nobu can take advantage of her NP5 status and melt enemies.