Saito Hajime

“Put some affection in it and call me Hajime-chan.”

For the longest time, Waver has held the distinction as the only Servant dressed in a suit. Hajime decided he didn’t like that, so he came along stealing Waver’s signature wardrobe. To really make his mark, he also became a top tier Single Target Arts Damage Dealer with critical capacity, hoping to supplant Waver as the ultimate suit-wearer.

Hajime’s biggest strength comes from his damage. With both an Arts up from Freely Drawn Sword and an attack up from Invincible Sword, his raw damage from his Noble Phantasm is top notch. Not only that, but thanks to his 7-hit Noble Phantasm, Formless, and high innate NP gain, he has the potential to refund well over 50% of his gauge every time he uses it, especially if paired with premiere Arts Support such as Altria Caster. He also has quite the critical capacity with a full 100% up from Invincible Sword. He’s also pretty beefy thanks to Mind's Eye (True)’s evasion.

Unfortunately, Hajime is a bit of a challenge to use. His attack up only will last for 3 hits, meaning a Master fighting a boss wanting to use his Noble Phantasm multiple times will have to burn hits with support Servants. He’s also quite selfish, making it hard to use him in anything other than a team designed around him.

Hajime is a well rounded Servant who would serve as a primary damage dealer against Lancer or Berserker bosses, especially if one owns Altria Caster. Or a Master could just marvel at how sharp he looks in a suit.

High Damage

Thanks to having both an Attack up and an Arts up, combined with an Arts resist down on his Noble Phantasm which activates before damage, Hajime can pack a major punch against single targets. Even better, if it is a boss who will not go down in one Noble Phantasm, the Arts resist stacks mean his next hit will be even harder. Given the likelihood of one having multiple Noble Phantasms with him, this is quite applicable.

High Refund

Hajime has a Noble Phantasm with a whopping 7 hits. When combined with double Castoria, this will easily refund 50% of a charge. With the right CEs and turn usage, he will be able to use 3 straight Noble Phantasms which, given the break bar nature of bosses, may be enough to destroy them. 

Critical Damage

When the meta changed from Quick to Arts, one thing lost was the massive criticals of Quicks Skadi would provide. Hajime avoids that with a 100% Critical damage up of his own, which combined with Arts buffs, will do high damage.

Durable

Thanks to his second skill, Hajime is great at staying on the field with a hard evasion and extra beefiness to his Defense.

Tricky Usage

When a Master uses Hajime, they will likely want to use him on a break bar Servant requiring multiple Noble Phantasms to clear. As his attack up (30%) only lasts for 3 hits, Masters would want all 3 to be his Noble Phantasm in loop. So Masters need to be careful not to select one of his cards every turn, and pray a situation does not arise where 4 or 5 of his face cards are available at once to force a wasted hit from him.

Selfish

Every skill Hajime has is about Hajime. Masters should not expect to use him in a party of multiple damage-focused Sabers. The most efficient way to use him is to clear the node with Hajime or bust.

Hajime’s first and third skill are all about increasing his damage potential. Freely Drawn Sword is only recommended first because of its potential to help him loop. Mind's Eye (True) is a nice evasion, but can be left for last.

• Freely Drawn Sword B provides both a Buster and Arts up and gives a stash of Critical Stars. Typically the Buster up does not matter, although if a Master is using him for Criticals the stars are quite welcome. Masters would still wish to use this the first turn they’re using Hajime to damage. Level this first, and if trying to loop, to max.
• Mind's Eye (True) B is Hajime’s primary survival mechanism. Masters would wish to pop this if an enemy is about to use a Noble Phantasm as a hard out. It comes with an added small defense boost to make it harder to kill him. This should be leveled last and can be left at level 6 as the Evasion does not change.
• Invincible Sword A is Hajime’s primary steroid for both Attack and Critical damage. While powerful, it only lasts for 3 hits, meaning Masters need to be careful with card selection the following 3 turns. This should be leveled second and could be left at 9 if Masters are short of Crystallized Lores.

Hajime has two distinct uses: Looping and Criticals. If a Master wishes to loop, they will need a Craft Essence enabling it, a Starting NP Gauge CE. If a Master wishes to take advantage of his Criticals, the best way is to get him stars with a Stars per Turn CE. Alternatively, a Master may wish to simply take advantage of his damage with a NP Damage up CE

• Kaleidoscope / The Imaginary Element: With a starting gauge, Hajime can get off the first Noble Phantasm without needing charging support from other Servants. He needs at least 80% starting gauge against a Lancer boss to loop with 2 Castorias, so with his Append skill any 60% Starting gauge CE will also work. Note that if using something under 100% starting Wave 1 gauge, he will need to take Castoria’s NP gain up wave 1, attack up wave 2, and remaining charges wave 3. 
• A Fragment of 2030: Hajime only has 1 skill to generate stars and does not innately produce a bunch of stars himself. This will help him generate on his own.
• The Black Grail: Like all damage dealers, one can boost damage up immensely with a Black Grail.