Watanabe-no-Tsuna

“If you’re in need of someone to slay demons and oni, then you’re looking at the right person. I’m not very good at cutting down people though, so forgive me on that front.”

Watanabe no Tsuna is a samurai who was known to accompany Minamoto-no-Raikou in many exploits in slaying demons, and is most notable for defeating Ibaraki-Douji in legend. In Fate, Watanabe no Tsuna is a single target Buster Saber, who deals bonus damage in particular to demonic and oni enemies.

Watanabe no Tsuna’s skill set is relatively straightforward in its focus on his own offensive performance. Eternal Arms Mastery (Anti-Demonic) increases his Buster Star Gather Rate as well as his Critical Strength, Severed Arm at Ichijou Modori-bashi enhances his Buster performance, and Suiten's Disciple provides an Arts Star Gather Rate buff. These in combination give him very solid Crit performance within his own kit, provided he has a source of Stars to work with. He also has a 3-turn Sure Hit effect on his third skill, which can periodically come in handy for enemies that utilize Evasion. Defensively, he has a 1-turn Evade, as well as a minor debuff to enemy Critical Rate. He also has a 1-turn NP Gain buff that comes with the Arts Star Gather buff, greatly enhancing any NP Gain from Arts Crits for a single turn. If he manages to Crit with both of his Arts Cards, he can nearly fill his NP Gauge from 0% even without any external Arts or NP Gain buffs.

His single target Buster Noble Phantasm, Ooeiyama Bodaikisatsu, encapsulates his legend as an Oni-slaying Samurai, dealing both supereffective damage against Oni trait enemies, and special attack damage against Demonic trait enemies. In most cases, enemies that this is applicable to will have both traits, making these trait-based bonuses stack multiplicatively to further enhance his damage. The special attack multiplier is unfortunately relatively low in comparison to the supereffective multiplier, however, and ends up being a tad bit of extra damage in practice. His Buster Card typing on his NP also means he will not be generating any NP refund on his own without additional Card hits or support, and his lack of an NP charge skill makes his NP gain very dependent on Card luck and support from allies.

Overall, Watanabe no Tsuna is a relatively straight forward, offense-focused single target Buster damage dealer. For Masters in need of a single target Saber, he satisfies the role adequately, and although there are a good number of other ST Buster Sabers around, he’s particularly helpful for dispatching Lancer-Class enemies of the oni or demonic variety.

Strong Buster Critical Damage

Using his first and third skills provide his Buster Cards with buffs for Star Gather Rate, Critical Damage, and their raw damage as well. With a few Stars on the field, if his Buster Cards are available, he can quickly convert those stars into a painful flurry of slashes for the enemy.

Anti-Demonic Niche

Watanabe no Tsuna’s multipliers against Oni and Demonic enemies compounds to approximately 2.4x damage at 100% overcharge, which makes it among one of the higher multipliers (compared to other ST Buster Sabers with anti-Demonic damage such as Rama, who sits at 1.5x at 100% Overcharge), making him a particularly good option for Lancer or Berserker bosses who have both traits.

Card-Dependent NP Gain

Having no NP charge of his own, and wielding a Buster NP, Watanabe no Tsuna relies on drawing his own Arts Cards and utilizing his second skill to land Arts Crits to fill his NP Gauge, which can be unreliable. Otherwise, he is dependent on having NP Gauge supports and/or Craft Essences to ensure he can unleash his NP in a timely manner. 

Low Innate Star Gain

Despite having a slew of strong Critical performance-enhancing skills, Watanabe no Tsuna does not have a reliable way to gain stars on his own. He only has a single Quick Card in his deck, and no Star generation skills or effects, so he will need support or a CE that can produce Stars to fuel his Critical performance capabilities.

Watanabe no Tsuna’s primary focus is damage, and his third skill improves both his NP and Card performance so it is generally first priority for leveling. His first skill supports his Critical performance capacity, making it also helpful to level, although not as widely applicable as his third skill. Finally, his second skill functions as both a defensive skill as well as a 1-turn Arts Star Gather / NP Gain buff. Leveling this for reduced cooldown and better NP Gauge return for his Arts crits is helpful, but not necessary to his primary role.

• Eternal Arms Mastery (Anti-Demonic) A- – Leveling this skill increases both the Star Gather and Critical Strength buff values at decent rates, making this worth leveling. However, this skill does not affect his NP performance at all, so it is less of a priority if he is being used for his NP against Oni/Demonic enemies.
• Suiten's Disciple B – This skill’s Arts Star Gather and NP Gain effects scale with level, while the Evade effect remains unchanged aside from the cooldown reduction. Levels in this skill are helpful in situations where external NP Gauge support or CEs are unavailable, and his Card NP Gain is more crucial to filling his NP Gauge, but is otherwise lower priority.
• Severed Arm at Ichijou Modori-bashi EX – This skill’s Buster Card effectiveness buff scales relatively generously, from 20% to 40% at max level, which is greater than the usual scaling of +10% at max level. The Critical Rate debuff also scales with level, although this effect is less important to the primary function of this skill. Since this skill affects both his NP and Card performance, it is worth leveling first.

Watanabe no Tsuna, being a ST Buster Saber with no innate NP Charge, benefits greatly from Starting NP Gauge. Additionally, since he only has Buster buffs in his kit, he also benefits more greatly from Attack or NP Damage buffs, although Buster Performance is still welcome.

• Kaleidoscope / The Imaginary Element: These all provide starting NP Gauge for Watanabe no Tsuna, and with minimal support or Append Skill usage, enable him to unleash his NP from battle start.
• The Black Grail / Heaven’s Feel: These CEs provide the largest raw boost to Watanabe no Tsuna’s NP damage output, at the cost of requiring NP Gauge support to fill his gauge all the way from 0%.
• Golden Sumo: Boulder Tournament / Holy Night Supper / A Walk in the Park / Halloween Princess / Demonic Sun-Princess / Aerial Drive: These Craft Essences provide a mixture of starting NP Gauge and Attack or NP Damage buffs, enhancing both his performance while easing access to his NP. Note he will still need NP Gauge support when using these CEs if he is meant to NP at battle start.