Advanced Quest Part 11/Quest 3

AP Cost
 5

 Notable Drops

* At the start of the battle: Fergus: **Would You Like Me to Remove the Rust?**
	+ Increase NP charge by 2 ticks every turn
	+ Increases own mental debuff resistance by 50%
	+ Decreases own NP Damage by 20% **x4**

**Rotation of the Sword Increases**: Activates when Fergus Noble Phantasm is used. Removes 1  NP Damage Down.

"**You've learnt your Celts!"**: A skill that activates once Fergus is below certain health thresholds (70%, 50% and 30% of max health). Removes 1  NP Damage Debuff.

**Terrain Has Changed**: Activates when Fergus Noble Phantasm is used. Changes the Battlefield type while giving effects to both parties on the field. Starts battle in the Prairie terrain, then runs through the loop everytime Fergus uses his NP. **Wilderness -> Seabed-> Lava -> Heaven -> Prairie -> Wilderness-> etc,**

 Attack power up by 30%
 Seabed
 Evasion (30% probability)
 Lava
 Gives burn (5T/500) during normal attack.
 Heaven
 HP recovery every turn (100,000 HP)
 *Prairie* | Nothing

: **Hahaha, Time for Some Adjustments!**

Used if NP Damage debuffs are still present upon break:

* Charges NP to Max
* Instantly removes all  NP Damage.
* Ignore Invincibility (1 turn)
* NP power increase by 20% (1 turn)
* Damage Cut (1,000,000 HP, 7 times)

 **Witness the true worth of the Rainbow Sword!**

Used if NP Damage debuffs aren't present upon break:

* Charges NP to Max
* NP Power increase by 20% (1 turn)

## Skills & Noble Phantasm

(10% of being used every
action)
 Brave Warrior's Pride A
(20% of activating every
action while not already
active)
Increases own critical damage of Buster Cards for 3 turns.
Increases own defense for 3 turns.

**The Rainbow Sword**
Deals damage to all enemies.
Reduces their defense by 20% for 3 turns.
 Reduces their debuff resistance for 3 turns.

There are two different strategies that can be used to beat Fergus, one being hyper-offensive and the other being more stall-oriented.

### Quick Clear Strategy

If going for quick clears, there are two main problems that the player will encounter:

1. The instant NP charge and invul pierce after break
2. The giant Damage Cut that comes with the upgraded version of the break effect

The first problem can be worked around by having Artoria Caster cast her NP before break for the Solemn Defense buff it gives, or by using units that have Guts support in their kit in some way, like Asclepius or Paracelsus. Ignore Invincibility can't get past these survival methods, but in both cases there's a chance Fergus can muck things up with follow-up attacks, so it's useful to have another defensive measure up your sleeve.

The second problem is actually pretty straight-forward; Since Damage Cut can only protect Fergus from so much damage, simply do so much damage it doesn't matter. There are a few Archers that can pump up some good damage, but standouts are Orion and Euryale, who both have huge anti-Male damage mods and have a single target Arts NP, which syncs extremely well with Caster Artoria. With The Black Grail and Oberon this damage becomes absolutely massive, making the Damage Cut a slight setback at best. Unfortunately for F2P players, the universal options won't be enough to do this particular strat, which is when the next method comes in:

### Stall/Offensive Clear Strategy

While Fergus gets massive buffs if his bar is broken, it gets substantially less powerful if his NP Damage debuffs have all been removed before Break, which means that stalling through the quest until he removes all of them through NP uses or the Skill that removes a stack is a valid tactic. However, this strat comes with it's own set of problems; Field-specific effects.

1. The Wilderness field gives Fergus a large attack buff while also passively decreasing the NP Gauges of all player Servants by 30% each turn, making it harder to use NPs while making Fergus hit much harder.
2. The Seabed gives Fergus a chance to evade attacks but also prevents all offensive buffs on the player's side from being applied, making dealing good damage to Fergus during this phase difficult.
3. The Lava field decreases survivability for player Servants by dealing DoT damage every turn, and Fergus gets a buff that applies Burn every time he attacks.
4. Finally, the Heaven field gives Fergus a giant heal per turn while straight-up disabling NP usage for the player team, making it impossible to deal damage with anything but crits while Fergus gains most of his health back.

These unremovable gimmicks make it pressing that the player puts Fergus down before these effects get too much to handle, while still being able to handle his frequent Caladbolg usage. Because of this, a mix between stall and offense is suggested.

Euryale is a good DPS option here since she gets her anti-Male damage off in every field but Heaven, and she has stall options in a random NP Drain, a three turn Attack debuff on NP and two sources of Charm. Orion has a similar gameplan, trading Charms for a large Defense up for one turn, an additional Crit Rate down and guaranteed NP Drain upon NP usage and an Evade skill. Orion doesn't get anti-Male damage built into her NP unlike Euryale, but her better stats and guaranteed survival options make up for it. Neither of them have Sure Hit or Ignore Invincibility to deal with Evades that come up during the fight, but that can be worked around with certain CEs or supports, all of the latter category having at least defensive class advantage.

For supports the player is recommended to look for Servants that give survival buffs to their teammates. It's also good if they can increase offensive output at the same time. Merlin and Lady Avalon give both of these, making them prime options. For more F2P options there are Hans, David and Irisviel, to name a few. David has the extra benefits of being able to protect teammates with a Skill rather than a NP, making him useful during Heaven phases, and being able to do damage himself with his Sure Hit single-target NP and full class advantage.