Ptolemaios

“What do I like? I would say the spear and the books. Books can open you to unknown worlds, while the spear gives you the power to seize them with your own hands.”

Ptolemy is the founder of the Ptolemaic Dynasty in Egypt, and one of the major reasons for the existence of the fabled Library of Alexandria. In life, this hero has two major peaks of his life in different roles - a Warrior / General vs a King / Builder. Hence, his kit in Fate Grand Order attempts to portray the multifaceted life of this great king by giving him two completely different Noble Phantasms, with the ability to switch between his ascension mid-battle to adjust to the situations.

In his first and second Ascensions, Ptolemy’s Noble Phantasm is Pharos Tis Alexandreias - a single-target Buster attack. Before dealing damage, this Noble Phantasm will grant a Sure Hit buff for 1 turn and an NP Damage buff for 1 turn to Ptolemy, and then reduce the enemy’s Defense by 20% for 3 turns. When Ptolemy is in his third Ascension, his Noble Phantasm becomes Bibliotheca Basileus - referring to his legendary library. This is an Arts AoE Noble Phantasm that, similar to his other Noble Phantasm, grants a Defense Ignore buff for 1 turn and an NP Damage buff for 1 turn to Ptolemy before dealing damage, and reduces the Defense of all enemies by 20% for 3 turns after.

To leverage his two Noble Phantasms, Ptolemy relies on his third skill - Attainment of Wisdom EX. When used, this Skill will switch the current Ascension of Ptolemy, essentially switching his Noble Phantasm. When used in his first or second Ascension, this skill will grant him a 30% NP Damage buff for 3 turns and increase his NP Gauge by 30%. While in his third Ascension, this Skill will immediately grant a 30% NP Generation buff, 50% Crit Damage buff, 500% Critical Star Gather buff, all for 3 turns, and 20 Critical Stars. There is no limit to using this Skill ability to swap between Ascension beyond Cooldown, unlike another unit with similar mechanics - Melusine, so Masters can customize their setup depending on the enemy's composition to take the best advantage of Ptolemy’s two Noble Phantasms. Ptolemy’s other skills are also quite strong. Charisma of Salvation A is a teamwide Attack and HP Regeneration buff for 3 turns and gives 15 Critical Stars every turn. Memory Partition (King) A is Ptolemy’s main NP Battery. It increases his NP Gauge by 50%, and increases all allies' Buster and Arts cards’ effectiveness, as well as their Critical Rate Resist for 3 turns.

Ptolemy is a powerful and versatile farmer. Thanks to effectively having 80% NP Gauge, the ability to switch between Buster and Arts, Single Target and AoE, Ptolemy is made for high-level farming nodes with non-standard enemy layouts. He is one of the rare units in the game that can farm with a Black Grail, giving him much-needed firepower to handle tougher encounters. Furthermore, Ptolemy has quite powerful teamwide offensive buffs, allowing him to function very well in multi-core setups.

Ptolemy does have certain problems that need addressing. His defensive capacity is essentially non-existent, completely lacking any form of survivability, which makes sense as he is often used in min-turns farming rather than in Challenge Quests. The other problem that Ptolemy has is the lack of anti-trait damage, which means there are encounters where an NP 1 Ptolemy with Black Grail will not be enough, and he will be a secondary choice compared to someone with strong anti-trait damage bonuses.

All in all, Ptolemy is easily among the best the Archer class has to offer. His incredible versatility allows him to always provide value in any roster, especially ones that are lacking a solid Damage Dealer that can function everywhere.

NP Swapping Mechanics

The ability to swap between two different types of Noble Phantasm during the battle is one of Ptolemy’s biggest strengths. This allows the Masters to customize around any encounters, and Ptolemy will be useful in at least one or two waves, and generally all 3 with proper cooldown reduction and NP Gauge supports.

High NP Battery

With 80% NP Gauge Charge from his base kit, Ptolemy is one of the rare Servants that can easily run Black Grail without charging problems. His ability to combine with both Arts and Buster Support units further empowers this mechanism, as he can rely on raw NP Gauge charge via Cooldown Reduction from Koyanskaya of Light or NP Refund that the Arts Supports provide.

Good Team-wide Buffs

With a slew of teamwide Attack, Buster, Arts, Critical Damage, and Critical Star Support effects, Ptolemy makes a fantastic option for multi-core teams that often rely on all units buffing each other.

Lack of Defensive Effects

Ptolemy has almost zero defensive mechanisms in his Skill set. While in farming, this will not be a problem, but this can be quite troublesome when used in a Challenge Quest setting. Thus, it is best to bring some form of defensive utility when fielding Ptolemy for tough battles.

Lack of Anti-Trait Bonus

Despite his good general damage, Ptolemy lacks an anti-trait bonus, which most recent Damage Dealers have in one way or another. If Masters are looking to make Ptolemy an omni-farmer, an investment into his NP Level might be required to keep up with some high HP farming nodes.

All of Ptolemy’s Skills are quite strong and worth leveling. Of these, his second and third skills are non-negotiable as they are core aspects of his kits and need the maximum investment for him to be effective.

• Charisma of Salvation A - This skill is the least impactful of all Ptolemy’s Skills, as Masters will mostly need to care about the Attack buff and the Critical Stars per turn. It is advised to max this last as the scaling is not particularly high with each Skill Level.

• Memory Partition (King) A – All effects of this skill, particularly the NP Charge, scale with level. Thus, this Skill should be maxed as soon as possible for all normal farming setups to function properly.

• Attainment of Wisdom EX – All effects of this skill also scale with level, and the cooldown reduction from leveling it is particularly impactful in nodes where Ptolemy needs to switch his Noble Phantasm multiple times.

Ptolemy has all three types of buffs in his kit, so he does not have a preference for different types of damage boost, only how much. NP Damage / Attack and Special Damage are stats one should look for when choosing Craft Essence for Ptolemy. Since his Noble Phantasms are of different card types, Craft Essence with a singular Buster / Arts card effectiveness boost will not be as useful if he needs to switch his Noble Phantasm type often. Starting NP Gauge can be considered when lacking certain Support units.

• The Black Grail / Inverted Rain of Mud / Heaven’s Feel: Ptolemy is one of those Servants that can run no Starting NP Gauge for his farming setup, meaning raw damage Craft Essences with high base Attack are perfect for him.

• Versus / Desert Maiden / Winner’s Eye / The Cutie Who Sits Behind Me: Craft Essence with Anti-trait bonuses that target a common trait, which would help in specific encounters.