Rabbit’s Reviews #450: Azrael (5* Assassin)

22whiterabbit22
The Anniversary Servant this year is Grand Assassin stand-in and new Chaldea staff member Azrael. He’s pretty neat! He’s probably now the best ST Assassin (although Gensai’s pretty good, too). He also has some fun multicore potential and solid utility for CQs. Unless you specifically need more help for the Assassin Grand farming node, I don’t think most players will have a need for Azrael, but if you’re lacking a strong ST Assassin, he’s a great pickup, and he’s pretty fun to use besides. Solid place for a new Servant to land.
Also, this anniversary introduces a new mechanic that has an impact on overall Servant balance: a new tier of Fous. Historically, silver Fous raised attack and HP by 1000, and gold Fous raised attack and HP by another 1000 (to +2000 total). We now have a new, special type of gold Fou that can boost stats by another 1000 (to +3000). Currently, they’re in very short supply, unlocked only by raising a Servant to bond 16 (which is also possible now) or by completing special challenge quest missions and exchanging a new resource for the new Fous. Their shop appears to refresh every three months, which means it will take a very long time to fully max out a Servant.
That said, I personally doubt the new Fous will continue to be scarce on the order of “takes multiple years to max a single Servant,” so I’d expect to see these as event and/or story rewards and the like. As such, from now on, when I refer to a Servant as “fully maxed-out,” I’m now also assuming 3k Fous. I acknowledge that this isn’t actually possible at this moment, but preemptively factoring these in should make the relevant reviews a bit more future-proof. I’ll still generally do what I have been doing and mention if there are notable thresholds below that point – if an AoE Servant only needs to be level 100 and 2k/2k to omnifarm, for instance – but my “default” damage calculations will be at level 90, NP2, 1k/1k and level 120, NP5, 3k/3k (with the best available CE and full Class Score in either case).
...And now that that’s out of the way, on with the review! 
Azrael
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SSR Assassins’ stats mostly fall in a pretty narrow window, and Azrael is no exception. His attack stat is tied with King Hassan and is very slightly below Shuten, who has the highest attack of the SSR Assassins. His HP, meanwhile, is slightly lower than King Hassan’s, making him relatively strong and relatively fragile as SSR Assassins go. Now, SSR Assassins have weak stats on average, so having good DPS stats for an Assassin is faint praise—but it’s the best he could realistically hope for, so I can’t really complain.
Azrael’s internals, meanwhile, are very good, with above-average Arts card NP gain and a decent Quick. He’s an Assassin with solid hit-counts, so his active star gen is also decent despite only having one Quick card. It’s also worth noting that Azrael’s traits and (more interestingly) mechanical gender change with ascension, with stage 1 and 2 being humanoid and male, and stage 3 being not humanoid, immune to pigify, and genderless. This might occasionally prompt you to choose to set him to human form or angel form depending on other relevant traits, letting Azrael get around anti-Male damage or benefit from gender-specific buffs as needed.
Azrael has a very good set of passives. He starts with the standard Presence Concealment, Magic Resistance, and Independent Action passives, all of which have low values but which are still alright for improving overall performance. More interestingly, he gets Protection of the Faith as a passive skill, permanently boosting his debuff resistance by another 30%—giving Azrael a nearly 50-50 shot in total at ignoring standard debuffs—as well as giving passive HP regen and a permanent 10% defense and attack buff. This is a fantastic passive overall that functionally lets Azrael outperform his stated statline. His last passive is a unique one that makes him immune to instant death and functionally immune to non-guaranteed charm effects, both of which are niche but very nice when relevant. The skill also causes Azrael’s Arts cards to inflict instant death resistance down—one of many ways he boosts his own chances of instakilling things—which won’t typically matter for CQs but might be helpful for some oddball multicore farming setups.
Mana Loading is usually Azrael’s most impactful append—he has an 80% battery in his own kit, so starting with 20% charge lets him immediately NP no matter what. Skill Reload is usually Azrael’s second-most-important append, as it enables some burst shenanigans with Urdr’s help—but there are also setups where Azrael does need Skill Reload and does not need Mana Loading. Don’t forget that you can freely switch which appends you’ve unlocked!
Azrael’s other appends are less relevant. He has fairly easy crit access and not all Arts teams will provide crit buffs, so the crit damage append isn’t terrible. Anti-Beast damage up, meanwhile, is intriguing just because it’s very rare. This probably isn’t an append you want to prioritize, but it’s worth remembering that it exists, as when you happen to be fighting a Beast-class story boss, you can swap one of Azrael’s unlocked appends to this one for a bit of extra damage. The Extra Attack buff has marginal benefit, but I wouldn’t bother with it unless you’re flush with coins.
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Azrael’s mat asks are of middling difficulty. He needs a fair number of bones, but not the maximum possible, and he takes two different Ordeal Call gold mats, which might still be in short supply at this stage. Still, he doesn’t take 72 of any bronze mat, so it could be worse.
Azrael’s skillset is full of effects, and unlike most Servants with very busy kits, almost all of those effects are actually useful to him—though in exchange, he has very long cooldowns. Recommended skill order is 1>2>3.
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Angel’s Flesh is a bundle of useful stuff. It’s a 30%, 3-turn attack buff, a one-time debuff immunity, a 3-turn guts, a 2-hit dodge, and a whopping 80% battery. This is a fantastic offense, survival, and consistency tool all in one place, making it super easy for Azrael to loop while also nearly guaranteeing he survives for his whole buff window and also increasing his damage. In exchange, it’s on a very long cooldown—but honestly the cooldown is fully justified, and Azrael’s second skill mitigates the impact of the cooldown anyway.
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Thirty Birds has another mix of useful stuff. Most importantly, though, it starts with a selfish 2-turn cooldown reduction, which means Azrael’s very long stated cooldowns are in practice much more reasonable, so long as you use this skill after the others (which shouldn’t be a problem in most cases). Note that although this skill is targeted, the cooldown reduction is unfortunately always selfish—if the CDR was targeted, Azrael would be an interesting Koyan alternative for Arts and especially Quick teams—but sadly this is not the case. The skill also gives a selfish 30% Arts buff, which again is unaffected by the skill’s targeting. The remaining effects vary depending on whether Azrael targets an ally or himself. If this skill targets Azrael, Azrael generates 50 critical stars and gets 50% crit damage up for 3 turns, guaranteeing all his cards crit for a turn and letting those crits hit reasonably hard—decent for CQs, but not usually a priority for Arts teams. If this skill targets an ally, though, it gives that ally a one-time, 3-turn guts, a 30% 3-turn attack buff, and a 30% battery. The ally target effects are mostly better than the self-target ones and can be helpful both for multicore farming and for CQs—being able to splash battery, protection, and damage to an ally is great in pretty much all cases.
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The Zaqqum Tree is Azrael’s most unusual skill. It inflicts a special debuff called Thirst for Death, which essentially functions like the Doom status that pops up periodically in the Final Fantasy series: it gives a three-turn timer, and when the timer runs out, it inflicts instant death. The IK effect is still chance-based, so for it to matter, you not only need an enemy to survive for three turns, but you also need the IK to then successfully proc—which is to say, this won’t usually be more than flavor. Fortunately, Thirst for Death also triggers Azrael’s supereffective modifier, which means this skill is functionally a massive boost to Azrael’s damage even when the more mechanically interesting effect doesn’t matter. Furthermore, if the IK fails to proc, it inflicts a 50% defense down debuff to the target for a turn. The skill also inflicts a debuff that drops the afflicted enemies’ defense by 20% for 3 turns per turn, so at the end of three turns, you have a ton of defense down on the target, even if the IK doesn’t work. In practice, this skill gives Azrael very high and ramping damage against his targets for multiple turns, and it means a looping Azrael can still do solid damage on turn four, where most Servants have massive damage falloff at that point. On top of all that, the skill ramps instant death resistance debuffs, making Azrael more likely to land instant-kills with every turn that goes by, and it inflicts Terror for good measure, providing a bit of added survivability for the team. The fact that this skill is debuff-based means it’s less useful for farming, but even there it lets you force Azrael’s supereffective damage wherever you need it—and for CQs, this is a truly fantastic damage amp.
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Azrael’s NP is fully damage-focused. It gives a ramping NP damage buff before damage—always fantastic, even if the values here aren’t as high as they might be—and it deals supereffective damage against foes with Thirst for Death, which Azrael himself can inflict. Between the SE modifier and Azrael’s high in-kit steroids, this NP will deal a ton of damage, especially over the course of three turns in a CQ context. Aside from damage, the NP has a high chance of inflicting instant-death, which is usually just for flavor… but in this case, the NP also refunds 50% of Azrael’s NP gauge if the IK succeeds. This still won’t usually matter for CQs, but Azrael’s high IK success rate and significant on-IK refund means he can be an interesting option for multicore farming setups where IK is possible—if Azrael can instant-kill a single target, not only does he clear that target off the field, but he also gets most of the way back to a second NP, basically for free.
While he has some interesting stuff going on, at the end of the day, Azrael is mostly a typical ST Arts DPS. You can pair him with your preferred Arts supports and let him loop things until they’re dead—Castoria, Urdr, and Tiamat all work about evenly well for this (albeit in different ways), and Ascalaphus and Oberon can flex in to provide additional flat NP charge and/or burst damage (though both of them cut against Azrael’s post-turn-3 damage potential and sustain tools).
Double Castoria is the most straightforward approach, of course, giving strong buffs and plenty of charge, with further damage amp from her NPs. Castoria is often the best option if you’re going to use the Castorias’ NPs to boost damage and you’re not relying on cards, or if you want to use Castoria’s defensive tools to survive to a second buff cycle.
Double Tiamat, meanwhile, lets you set up damage buffs on Azrael and then hit hard with both his NP and with crits. For this setup, you actually want your third support in the front line to start the fight. Castoria, Urdr, and Ascalaphus all work about as well here, with Ascalaphus getting a small shout-out for making Azrael more likely to land instant-kills when relevant. Whoever you pick uses their skills and battery on Azrael before plugging out for the second Tiamat. Both Tiamats use all their skills, and then you do a Tiamat/Tiamat/Azrael NP chain. Azrael can then use his battery on turn 2 to guarantee he can NP, and you can (with good card draws) use Azrael brave chains to loop and deal damage on the next two turns.
Double Urdr is perhaps the most interesting setup, as it lets Azrael double-stack all of his skills by turn 3, despite his long cooldowns. For this to work, Azrael needs Skill Reload, though he actually does not need Mana Loading. On turn 1, he uses his first and third skills, and then his second. Both Urdrs then use all of their skills, even though this “wastes” their batteries—if Azrael has Mana Loading, this gets him to 200% charge for a bit of extra damage from Overcharge, but even if not, it gives Azrael all available buffs from turn 1. Azrael NPs and refunds 20% off his NP, plus another 20% in flat charge from the Urdrs.
On turn 2, Azrael’s third skill is also back off cooldown, so you can reuse it to double the rate of defense-down scaling on the enemies. You then plug in your third support. Ascalaphus is the most reliable pick for this, as he has enough battery that he doesn’t require Azrael to draw any cards turn 1, but Oberon is also an option for amping turn 3 damage, and Castoria or Tiamat can also be good sustain-oriented picks if you’re willing to reset until you get a Quick, an Arts, or two Busters for Azrael on turn 1 to cover the extra 10% NP gauge those two need. Your plug support uses all their skills on Azrael, bringing him back to 100% charge, and he NPs again.
On turn 3, Azrael’s second skill comes back off cooldown, which he can reuse, either on himself to facilitate crits or on a support to potentially enable an NP. Reusing skill 2 in turn brings skill 1 off cooldown. Azrael can then reuse it, stacking its attack buff and (more importantly) getting its 80% battery again, guaranteeing him the loop regardless of prior card draws.
This setup gets Azrael an extra 30% Arts up, 30% Attack up, and 20% defense down on turn 3, which approximately matches the benefits of getting two Castoria NPs, without preventing you from using Azrael cards on any specific turn and while still letting you insert a Castoria NP if you really want to. On top of all that, this leaves Azrael with quite high buff value on turn 4: 110% defense down, 30% Arts up, 30% attack up, plus all the buffs from your plug support. Unfortunately, Thirst for Death doesn’t stack with itself, so it will have expired and Azrael won’t get his supereffective multiplier on turn 4… but still! That’s better post-buff-window damage than most Servants get.
As I’ve alluded to above, Azrael also has strong multicore potential. His ability to reach an NP without anyone’s help and his good in-kit steroids mean your supports can focus their attention on an AoE damage dealer, and Azrael himself has a 30% battery and 30% attack buff to offer, further mitigating the loss of a full support. Azrael will be most notable for multicore farming when an early wave has a high-HP enemy that’s susceptible to instant death: Azrael can give himself an NP to finish the enemy with an instant-kill—without needing any buffs from your main supports—and then get himself most of the way to a second NP from his own NP’s refund effect. With nearly any splashable charge—Castoria’s Charisma, for instance—Azrael can get to a second NP for turn 3, amplifying your damage against a single target while your primary AoE DPS clears the lower-health enemies.
Outside of optimized setups, Azrael works with really any Arts setup you can dream up. He’s extremely self-sufficient, bringing charge, damage, survival, and utility all on his own. Unlike many other high-battery Servants, he doesn’t even have bad cards, which means he’s not necessarily reliant on having more batteries around to NP reliably. For CQs in general, you can pair him with whatever Arts supports you happen to have handy, and he’ll do just fine. The usual Castoria stall setups are great as always—Thirty Birds in particular lets Azrael bring even more consistency and speed to a Castoria/Lady Avalon team, for example. Azrael even synergizes with Mozart’s new buff—in addition to boosting Azrael’s damage, Mozart lets Azrael NP even without Mana Loading, and his debuff success rate buff makes Azrael’s third skill much more reliable.
The Black Grail will essentially always be Azrael’s best CE, unless you’re running a drop CE for farming purposes. He his passive healing even offsets the demerit!
Azrael doesn’t necessarily need anything specific that CCs can provide. Crit damage CCs are a generically solid pick, and star gen CCs can be alright, too… but nothing CCs give will matter all that much.
Assassins aren’t the best grail targets, but Azrael is such a strong Servant that he’s a good pick for grails regardless. There aren’t specific damage thresholds he needs to hit, so there’s not a particular level breakpoint at which he gets the most value—but especially if you have him NP2 or higher, taking him to level 100 is a solid investment, and if you decide to make him your go-to ST Assassin you might consider taking him even higher.
Azrael’s a really neat Servant, with good steroids, a controllable niche, good survival, and some nice utility. He works very well as a primary DPS and has multicore value as well. He doesn’t really fill a niche that couldn’t already be covered by someone else, but as ST units go, he’s both interesting and powerful, so it’s hard to complain. This is a pretty good place for a new unit to fall—distinct enough and powerful enough to be fun to use, but not so unique as to raise the power ceiling or otherwise feel like a must-pull.
Hard to believe it’s been eleven years already! Happy anniversary!