Is it worth rolling for Prototype Arthur? I already have Altria and Mordred so AOA sabers I am checked by. The stats between Altria vs Arthur is Arthur having slightly more attack in the 12,000 while Altria has more HP in 15,000 base. Plus in the future Altria gets a interlude that turns her horrible intuition skill into Radiant Road EX which gives NP and critical stars now. Arthur just has his own NP gain skill that works only on larger enemies for the buff attack so it is more scenario like.
OG Seiba becomes better than Arthur proto once her rank-up gets here. That's not expected to arrive until 2020 though. Arthur isn't useless but he struggles a lot due to a lot of mediocre generations stats and low hit counts. He gets no NP refund, making it harder to spam his NP, and large enemies are few and far between. Servants are the primary thing to be worrying about, against which Arthur simply fails compared to other sabers.
Looking at them on paper (I don't have either), it would seem that Prototype Arthur is just a bit more niche and would only outperform Altria in the case of large mobs while Altria you can use for getting off multiple NPs quick-ish. I would say only roll on him if you like him not for gameplay with your setup.
Maybe Gorgon (is she big enough?) or the new release Kingprotea will consider as "big"? Although that still make Proto Arthur quite niche since that skill is a bit too specific.
No conventional servants possess the "large" trait, sadly.
Source: https://fategrandorder.fandom.com/wiki/Traits
EDIT: Kingprotea and BB summer have the large trait. My apologies.
Gameplay wise, Mordred is one of the strongest AOE Saber for now and she's only behind Altera in terms of performance.
If Arthur Pendragon is not your favorite servant or husbando then skip him. Good AOE saber like Mordred exist and with proper support or team she's enough to help you.
Bonus, some strong AOE Sabers competitor for comparison :
- Altera, Heals and gain Crit stars and Atk Up and NP damage UP and Crit Absorbtion and Def down after NP. High base Atk stat make her even more powerful.
- Mordred, Def Up and intuition and Mana Burst and NP battery plus specific kind of anti-Dragon/Artoria NP.
Honorable mentions :
- Siegfried, highest NP damage vs Artoria/Dragons and Mana Burst and remove debuff and NP gain Up and Special Atk + Defense vs Artoria/Dragons.
I have got tons of Gold AOE Saber on my Chaldea such as Gawain or Salter or Nero and etc, i have Artoria as well and she's one of my favorite but her performance somehow a bit lacking compared to her competitors.
Mordred is better. Artoria will be better once her SQ arrives.
Arthur’s face cards hit really hard and he’s a popular character, but he’s a lot more bursty. Mordred gets better as the fight goes on because of her debuff clear and relative ease of pulling off a second NP...you get 50% free. Artoria has Charisma which stacks multiplicatively with her Mana Burst and is at a higher value than Arthur’s 100% OC NP strength boost. Plus she gets that 20% refund on her NP and that future Instinct strengthing.
Arthur is like Siegfried with Artoria skills. Decent niche let down by an AOE NP and underwhelming launch-era hitcounts. (Nobu and Sanson have this problem too, but at least Nobu’s niche is relevant.) Hopefully he’ll get a large buff this year on JP that we can look forward to.
Top-tier husbando material, though.
