Saika Magoichi

“Follow not rewards and military merit, but your beliefs and one’s own heart. That’s the answer I found…although formality still matters. A lifetime employment contract. Here is my stamp. Yeah, I’ll be by your side until I die.”

The welfare Servant of the GUDAGUDA Super Goryoukaku event, Saika Magoichi is famous for having led 3,000 gunmen in the Hongan-ji War during the Sengoku period of Japan. She joins the roster armed to the teeth with a variety of firearms, and is a potent ST Quick Archer capable of dealing devastating Critical hits.

Her kit is primarily offensive, with a focus on buffing her own damage output. Eye of the Yatagarasu B gives her 3 turns of Sure Hit for herself, and a party-wide Crit damage buff, along with a generous sum of up to 30 Critical Stars. Her second skill, Saika-style Iai Technique A, also gives herself an additional Crit damage buff, along with both Quick and Buster buffs for 3 turns each. Finally, Hotaru B is primarily her defensive skill, giving her a rather handy combination of 1-turn Taunt, increased NP Gain when taking damage, and Evade. Each of these effects synergize with each other, allowing her to draw fire away from allies, nullifying damage to herself, while also increasing how much NP Gauge she gets from getting attacked. In addition, the skill also acts as an NP battery, increasing her NP Gauge by 20%. Across her skill kit, she has multiple bases covered, from the ability to generate Stars to deal Crits, multiple sources of enhancing her Crit damage, and great utility with Sure Hit and the coveted Evade + Taunt combination.

The bulk of her burst damage comes from her Noble Phantasm, Juushin Yatagarasu. This will buff both her Quick and Buster Card performance before dealing damage to a single enemy, and subsequently debuffs their Critical Rate for 3 turns. Given her status as a welfare Servant, her NP does very respectable damage. In addition, being a Quick NP with a whole 10 Hit Counts, she generates a healthy sum of Stars that can further supplement her party’s Critical damage output on subsequent turns. Her performance only further improves in the presence of Quick Supports in the party. She can also technically loop her NP, although she is highly reliant on Crits from her own Cards after using her NP to fill her gauge.

Overall, Saika Magochi is a powerful ST Quick Archer option that is a useful free-to-play option for Masters lacking a Servant in their own roster to cover the niche. Most other ST Quick Archers are either limited or story-locked, making her niche somewhat sparse and increasing her value. Her high damage output and relative self-sufficiency in her role make her a welcome addition to the roster, and if Masters have any of the premiere Quick supports such as Skadi, her potency only further increases. Masters will not want to miss out on the opportunity to add Saika Magoichi and her arsenal of firearms to their Chaldea.

High Single Target Damage

In part due to Saika Magoichi’s status as a welfare Servant, Masters can more easily reach NP5 with her, allowing her NP to reach its maximum potential. In addition, due to her high hit counts as well as the ability to generate up to 30 Stars on demand, she can easily ensure Critical hits are available. She also has two sources of Crit damage buffs available, which further bolsters the damage from her Crits.

Evade + Taunt Combo

When coming up against powerful bosses with single-target NP or charge attacks, Saika Magoichi can come to the rescue with her third skill’s ability to both give her taunt as well as a turn of Evade. Even more, her third skill also increases how much NP she gains when attacked, and against enemies with high hit counts, this can quickly fill her NP gauge so that Saika Magoichi can launch a retaliatory NP the next turn.

Lack of Trait Niche

For lack of other glaring weaknesses in Saika Magoichi’s kit, her NP does not have any special damage bonuses for traits or attributes, which can potentially push other damage dealer options up in comparison to her. However, this is not particularly a huge weakness given her high NP5 damage as a welfare; her kit is relatively well-rounded and supports her damage dealing role very well.

The first two skills in Saika Magoichi’s kit are the most important for supporting her offensive performance. Her last skill’s most important effects are not changed with level, so it is lower priority. The general recommended level order is 2 > 1 > 3.

• Eye of the Yatagarasu B – Levels in this skill improve the party Crit damage buff and the number of Crit Stars gained when using the skill. Both effects are very useful to Saika Magoichi’s Crit damage dealing role, making this useful to level. This skill can be leveled after her second skill.

• Saika-style Iai Technique A – All three effects from this skill, including the Quick, Buster, and Crit damage buffs improve with levels. Since this skill improves both her NP damage output and her Crit performance, this is the most important skill for her offense, and should be leveled first.

• Hotaru B – Although this skill provides very useful effects, including Evade, Taunt, and 20% NP Gauge, the only effect that changes with levels (aside from cooldown) is the amount of NP gain after attacked. Unfortunately, the NP Gauge charge stays static at 20% regardless of level. As a result, this skill can be left safely for last.

Saika Magoichi’s primary role is as a Quick damage dealer, with only Quick buffs in her own kit. This means that she multiplicatively benefits from ATK and NP Damage buffs, although she still will find additional Quick buffs useful. Also, she has a small 20% NP Gauge charger, so additional Starting NP Gauge effects are also useful. To support her Crit damage dealer role, Crit Damage buffs are also useful.

• Kaleidoscope / Winter Crystal / The Imaginary Element – These CEs are pure NP Gauge charge CEs that help Saika Magoichi ready her NP more quickly. With a 20% charger of her own, she can NP immediately out the gate with a non-MLB Kaleidoscope. She can also NP immediately with a non-MLB Winter Crystal or Imaginary Element if she also has her 2nd Append Skill maxed.

• Golden Sumo: Boulder Tournament / Holy Night Supper / Knights of Marines / Cherry Icicle / Star’s Day Off / How To Life / One Summer / Imaginary Number Attribute – These are hybrid NP starter CE options that also provide a boost to offensive performance, and make for well-rounded options.

• The Black Grail / Inverted Rain of Mud / Heaven's Feel – These are CEs that provide the highest NP Damage boost available for Saika Magoichi. However, she likely will need NP Gauge support to fill her NP Gauge when using these CEs.