Shuten-Douji (Caster)

“That's right, the current ‘me’ is a Dharmapala Girl. Since I'm an oni who protects other oni, being an ally of humans is out of the question…… Fufu.”

An Oni of Dharmapala — in other words, a protector of the oni race —  is the disguise picked up by Shuten Douji, changing her Saint Graph into that of a Caster in the process. Despite her new class, Shuten still displays the characteristic oni physical brutality, as evidenced by her highly offensive skillset and explosive single-target Buster NP.

Shuten’s primary value comes from her burst damage potential. Being a welfare Servant, her easy NP5 means that she already has an edge over her competitors, but Shuten amplifies this with considerable personal buffs, and even an anti-Demon supereffective bonus from Demonic Nature of Oni (Protect). She also has a one-turn Star Gather Rate Up from Break Rod as well as a Sure-Hit from her NP, providing some extent of flexibility in terms of damage dealing. Rounding up her kit are more defensive tools in the form of Heartbreak’s NP Seal and 3-turn Critical Chance Down, the latter of which is powerful enough to prevent most enemies from ever landing a critical hit.

However, Shuten’s Buster NP means that her NP gain will feel comparatively slow compared to other Casters, especially as she has no other way to amp said gain. In actuality, her three Arts deck still gives her a decent amount of NP gain, though she won’t be spamming her NP any time soon. Shuten’s second major weakness is her lack of hard defensive skills, which makes her susceptible to NPs (although Heart Ripper’s Critical Chance Down largely protects her from critical hits while it’s up).

With relatively minor shortcomings and a valuable niche in the form of a Buster oriented Caster damage-dealer, Shuten is definitely an important asset especially for Masters who lack more expensive options such as Xuanzang Sanzang and Illyasviel von Einzbern.

High Burst Damage

With various damage buffs at her disposal, high base NP damage as well as critical capabilities, Shuten’s burst damage potential is very notable, competing even with her higher-rarity rivals with the help of her criticals. That said, Caster damage is not particularly impressive overall, and while Shuten’s buffed NP deals a lot of damage, her damage falls off quite a bit outside of those turns.

Decent Support

Aside from raw damage, Shuten provides both offensive and defensive support through her skills. The former comes from the Charisma-like ATK Up from her third skill. Defensively, her first skill’s NP Seal is excellent at delaying enemy NPs, particularly as it can be used effectively in the very first turn (unlike NP Drain effects). The Critical Chance Down it applies is also very powerful, essentially locking the target’s criticals with 50% uptime at max level. 

Anti-Demon Supereffective

Shuten’s anti-Demon buff lasts for 3 turns, and while it is still very situational overall, against the right enemies it gives her a lot of sustained damage on top of the aforementioned high burst damage. Notably, this makes her very effective against her original Assassin self.

Mediocre NP Gain

Despite having a 3-Arts deck, Shuten Douji’s NP gain is comparatively slow compared to most other Casters due to her lack of NP refund and any sort of multiple-turn NP Gain Up or NP Charge skill. Still, she can get a considerable amount of NP during her burst turns (with the help of criticals on her buffed Arts cards), though she shouldn’t be expected to spam her NP any time soon.

Rather Fragile

While Shuten’s first skill provides an extent of protection against critical hits and NPs, it only affects a single enemy, which means that she is left vulnerable when facing multiple enemies. In these situations, her lack of defensive skills become an issue, and so it is advisable to bring along supports with access to party-wide defensive tools.

Thanks to her NP5 access, Shuten works well even at lower skill levels, as few enemies are capable of withstanding her burst damage. Against more powerful bosses, however, it is recommended to have her second and third skills at higher levels to increase their effectiveness and uptime. Her first skill can generally be left at level 4, unless the reduced cooldown at higher levels is desired.

• As Shuten’s defensive support skill, Heartbreak A+ is quite powerful in single boss scenarios, especially against more critical-oriented ones. However, the only part of the skill that scales with level is its Critical Chance Down, which is already effective even at base. While the NP Seal benefits considerably from the cooldown reductions at level 6 and 10, the difference only comes into play in rare situations, making this skill more of a resource sink. As such, it should be leveled last. 
• Break Rod B is Shuten’s primary damage buff; not only does it provide performance bonuses to her Buster and Arts cards, it also significantly boosts her Star Gather Rate, allowing her to perform powerful critical Brave chains. However, the Performance Ups are weaker compared to other similar skills, and the buffs’ 1-turn durations coupled with the skill’s longer cooldown make it less impactful in practice. It’s recommended to level this skill second, though it can contend for first place when Shuten is used with a critical-oriented comp.
• Demonic Nature of Oni (Protect) A is essentially a Charisma skill which also happens to pack an anti-Demon supereffective buff as the cherry on top. While less flashy compared to Shuten’s second skill, its party-wide effect, 3-turn duration and high uptime make it her most beneficial skill to level first most of the time.

Shuten works well with Starting NP Gauge CEs or hybrid variants thereof. In terms of offensive effects, NP Damage Up and Attack Up are her preferred ones, followed by Buster Performance Up and to an extent even Arts Performance Up (provided it’s bundled with another offensive effect). NP Gain Up is also beneficial for her, but shouldn’t be actively sought after.

• Kaleidoscope / The Imaginary Element: These CEs are excellent for boss stages, allowing Shuten a very early NP with minimal aid from supports. They also let Shuten perform her second NP much earlier, which indirectly translates to even more additional damage and gives her more damage dealing flexibility.
• Aerial Drive / Holy Night Supper / Golden Sumo: Boulder Tournament / Dive to Blue / Battle Olympia / First Sunrise / Partake with the King: These options perform well with NP Charge supports, letting Shuten perform a very early NP while still giving her considerable offensive benefits.
• The Black Grail / Heaven’s Feel: NP Damage Up CEs are Shuten’s primary options when it comes to burst damage, giving her by far the largest damage increase out of all CE types. However, this in turn means that using them may be overkill against lower-health enemies.
• Hero Elly’s Adventure / Demon King of the Sixth Heaven / Limited/Zero Over / Royal Icing / Kaleid Ruby / Kaleid Sapphire: Less extreme compared to the above category, these CEs combine multiple offensive effects, though lacking Starting NP, they are best used either in very well-supported teams or when no other option is available.