Siegfried

“The evil dragon shall fall, and the world will reach its sunset. I will bring you down--Balmung!”

Siegfried is a German hero famed for his slaying of the monstrous dragon Fafnir, and his dragonslaying legend is the centerpiece of his kit, alongside his good NP gain and decent survivability. While the Nibelungenlied’s hero was plagued with several major issues at the release of the game, his access to two Rank Up Quests brings him to a point where he performs decently even against normal enemies as an AoE Buster Saber, while his capabilities rise to an exceptional level when fighting dragons.

A large part of Siegfried’s might is owed to Dragon Slayer, which greatly improves his damage and defense against dragons on a fairly low cooldown. In addition, the skill also acts as a universal damage boosting tool after its Rank Up, granting a buff to Siegfried’s Buster performance for one turn. Amazingly, both of these damage buffs stack multiplicatively with his NP Balmung’s anti-Dragon supereffective damage, further cementing Siegfried’s standing as a dragon-killing machine. After Balmung’s Rank Up, it not only gains a higher damage modifier but also applies an additional NP Gain buff on Siegfried for 3 turns, working alongside Golden Rule to increase the frequency with which he is able to unleash his NP.

On the flip side of his wealthy coin, Siegfried loses a lot of his prowess when facing non-dragon enemies. While Siegfried’s high HP and Disengage’s healing and debuff clear make him pretty durable, lacking Dragon Slayer’s defense buff weakens his claim to having high survivability, especially as he has no hard defensive skills to fall back on either. Similarly, his low base ATK means that Siegfried is hard pressed to match other Sabers in terms of damage without his anti-dragon attack buff, despite his Rank Ups.

All in all, once Masters complete his Rank Up quests, Siegfried becomes a serviceable Saber for most fights. However, he is one of the most frightening damage dealers in the entire game when unleashed against Dragon foes, who happen to be surprisingly common bosses in events, Challenge Quests and tough story fights. Indeed, if used wisely, Siegfried will leave his arch-enemies scrambling to apologize.

Dragon Servants are fairly plentiful, featuring all variants of these Servants: Altria, Mordred, Elisabeth Bathory, Kiyohime, Siegfried-related, and Shuten. Click here for a full list of all Dragon Servants. In addition, the Lancer Mušḫuššu enemies appearing in Babylonia (and its pallete swaps) are excellent fodder for Siegfried to test his mettle on.

Great Anti-Dragon Capability

The combination of Dragon Slayer and Balmung’s supereffective bonus turns Siegfried into one of the most effective anti-dragon units, allowing his damage output against any dragons to rival even Servants with class advantage. The scaling on his anti-traits are incredibly potent and with proper (Buster) support is even capable of outperforming Sigurd’s Anti-Dragon damage eventually. While normal dragons typically belong to the Rider class, some Lancer Servants also possess the Dragon trait, allowing Siegfried to best them with incredible ease.

Good NP Gain

While Siegfried’s Golden Rule is of a relatively low rank, it is made up for by Balmung’s additional NP Gain buff, gained after its Rank Up. Combined with his two Arts cards, he can be expected to use his NP fairly often.

Decent Durability

Siegfried is fairly resilient to normal hits thanks to his high base HP and Disengage's heal. This defensive side is greatly improved on when fighting dragons thanks to Dragon Slayer's 30% defense buff.

Low Attack Stat

While Siegfried’s anti-dragon tools makes this weakness irrelevant against the scaled beasts, his low attack stat proves to be a relatively major hindrance when fighting against other enemy types. Despite having access to a Buster buff and upgraded NP modifier, he is hard-pressed to compete against the damage potential of other, less conditional Sabers.

No Hard Defensive Skill

Despite Siegfried’s reputation for near-invincibility in his myth, he lacks any sort of hard defensive skill. While his decent health and healing allows him to survive normal attacks without many qualms, enemy NPs would likely obliterate him without the aid of defensive supports.

No Team Support/Low Utility

Siegfried’s kit is entirely selfish, containing no way to to aid his teammates, nor to debuff enemies. While Disengage’s debuff removal provides some degree of flexibility, Siegfried is generally ill-suited for more gimmicky stages.

Of all Siegfried’s skills, Dragon Slayer is the most important, and should be maxed to gain the most out of his potential. Comparatively, Golden Rule and Disengage are relatively weaker skills, and can be left at level 4 or 6 - though maxing them is recommended if Siegfried is to be used intensively.

• Golden Rule C-: Despite its relatively low rank and magnitude, Golden Rule is a central part of Siegfried’s NP Gain-emphasizing kit when he is used for longer fights. The cooldown reduction gained from leveling this skill also increases its uptime, and it should ideally be leveled after Dragon Slayer.
• Disengage A: Disengage’s benefits form Siegfried’s defensive-utility side. However, while debuff removal is certainly a valuable asset, due to its situational nature it benefits less from cooldown reduction. While the healing scales with level, the benefits gained from leveling this skill do not justify leveling it over Siegfried’s other skills.
• Dragon Slayer A++: The crux of Siegfried’s kit, not only is Dragon Slayer valuable for its anti-dragon buffs, but also for the Buster Performance buff it gains post Rank Up. While its defense buff does not increase with additional levels, this skill should definitely be leveled up first and foremost, both for the strengthened effects and increased uptime.

Which CEs scale best with Siegfried changes heavily depending on whether he is facing Dragon enemies or not. Regardless Starting NP Gauge is always a strong and safe bet, as are any Attack Up effects. Buster Performance Up is a great choice as well, especially once his own Buster steroid is not active. NP Damage Up meanwhile only really stacks well against non-Dragon enemies, but it can still be a decent choice for NP turns depending on the strength of the CE. 

• Kaleidoscope / The Imaginary Element / Dragon's Meridian: Aside from having access to early AoE damage, Starting NP Gauge CEs also help Siegfried tap into his NP gain buff cycle earlier, making it far easier for him to potentially unleash Balmung twice in one stage.

• Golden Sumo: Boulder Tournament / Aerial Drive / Partake with the King / First Sunrise: Aside from ensuring that Siegfried will be able to use his NP relatively soon, these CEs also come with long-term offensive benefits, ideal for stages where a very early NP is not necessary. Golden Sumo in particular is utterly amazing against Dragons.

• Limited/Zero Over / Verdant Sound of Destruction / Kaleid Ruby: These CEs provide pure Buster Performance boosts for Siegfried, and can be used if NP-charging supports are brought along.

• The Black Grail: Black Grail remains a top pick due to its high modifier and stronger base attack bonus. Siegfried’s good sustainability also means that he would barely feel the Black Grail’s demerit. However, note that NP Damage buffs scale additively with the anti-trait modifier on Dragon Slayer.