Review: Joan of Arc (Santa Alter Lily)

(AKA: Jailter, Janta, Loli Joan, Way too many templates)

Class: Lancer
Rarity: 4* (Free Event)

Health: 11,870
Health + GA (100): 15,382

Attack: 9,261
Attack + GA (100): 12,203

Star Generation: 12.1%
Star Weight: 92
NP Gain: 0.72%
Deck: QQABB
Hits: Q:3 / A:3 / B:1 / E:5
Max Hits: 14

Ah yes, Jailter. What a fun Servant, combining certain aspects of both Joan of Arc and Joan (Alter), with just a touch of that Santa flair. We’ll get right into this and save the fluff for the end.

Jailter is a pretty decent all around Servant. With a focus on dealing some damage, sustaining her own status, and providing aid for her allies. She’s very solid as a Lancer and doesn’t take away too much from other Servant’s roles as it currently stands. Team composition with Jailter will likely consist of a damage oriented carry with an attack oriented buffer on the side.

Her Star Generation is perfectly average for a Lancer, giving her a decent amount of stars for the hits and deck she has, providing her 14+ Stars in chain. The Extra hits really top the stars off, allowing her to give yourself about 1 or 2 cards with a solid critical threat ratio. With the Lancer Star Absorption, you’ll face the dilemma of fighting anything other than Casters, Berserkers, and Avengers for stars. [and even then… the Avengers do better with Stars then her].

Her NP Gain is below average for her Lancer status, requiring her to utilize her deck more strategically and her skills more timely in order to get out her Noble Phantasm effectively. While it is about average across the classes, it is still lower then expected. To gain some mana for Jailter, go for a AQQ combo and use her 2nd skill.

The deck she has is basic for an AoE Lancer, making her a Quick-Buster hybrid with a focus on dealing damage and generating some stars while also giving herself a critical strike now and again.

Her ATTACK is average for a 4* Lancer.
Her HP is average for a 4* Lancer.

Not much to say concerning the health and attack, both are completely average across the board, fitting her in a place between the top and bottom of the charts. Which is a relatively good thing, considering you can NP5 her. Now, onto the skills!

Skills

Skill 1: Saint’s Present (C)
Greatly recover target’s HP.
Increase critical star rate by 30% for 3 turns.
Rank 1 (Heal): 1,000 / Rank 10: 3,000
CD Rank 1: 7 / CD Rank 10: 5

Much like the Santa of Christmas Event’s Past, Jailter has her own heal just like it that offers a target some additional healing while also increasing their star generation by a fair margin.Use the skill whenver an ally is low on HP, or when you are about to commence on a chain that will generate you lots of stars on it’s own. With the aid of the heal, you’ll get a few more on top for the road. With a decent heal on an average CD, this is a pretty solid skill in general and works great with Jailter’s NP.

Skill 2: Self Reform (A)
Increase NP gauge by 20%.
Increase debuff resistance for 3 turns.
Rank 1: 20% / Rank 10: 50%
CD Rank 1: 7 / CD Rank 10: 5

A NP fill on a pretty decent CD at that with an added bonus of including debuff resistance. While not a phenomenal secondary buff, the NP acts as the foundation of this skill with the debuff res+ being more like the cherry on top. Utilize this whenever you know you’re up against enemies who have plenty of debuffs to throw at you.

Primarily use it for filling your NP to prepare to unleash the holiday spirit.

Skill 3: Transient Dream (EX)
Increase Buster Card performance for 1 turn.
Invulnerability for 1 turn.
Reduce HP by 1,200 [Demerit].
Rank 1: 35% / Rank 10: 55%
CD Rank 1: 8 / CD Rank 10: 6

The return of the demerit, ah yes, a favorite for awhile now. Atleast it makes sense, considering she is Joan of Arc (Alter… Santa… Lily, god that’s a mouthful) who also has a demerit of her own. The demerit itself isn’t something you have to worry about, due to her Noble Phantasm and 1st skill.

The BUSTER performance is amazing, tied with Artoria (Alter Lancer) for the presently highest BUSTER buff in the game [excluding NP and Overcharge effects]. A superb skill in that it not only gives you the BUSTER buff for 1 turn but also invulnerability for 1 turn. This invulnerability can be used strategically when the enemy is about to unleash their NP’s or simply for when you are about to use yours.

Whatever the case, make sure you are dedicating yourself to the choice because once chosen the CD will likely not return unless you are on long lasting fights such as raids or hard mode quests, such as Camelot or the future of Babylon.

Passive Skills

Magic Resistance (A+): Increases debuff resistance by 21%.

Boring, staple, extra debuff res on top of the 2nd skill means no debuff is gonna get through unless it’s got an insanely high debuff rate.

Noble Phantasm

La Grace Fille Noel
Sing Elegantly, About Said Holy Birth

Rank: A+
Type: Anti-Army / All Enemies + Allies
Card: BUSTER

Powerful attack to all enemies.
Reduce debuff resistance of all enemies for 1 turn.
Increase attack of all allies for 1 turn.
Increase HP recovery of all allies for 1 turn.

Damage: 300-500%
Charge: 100-500%
Overcharge (Attack): 10-30%
Overcharge (Heal): 20-60%

Not many Noble Phantasms that damage allies and heal your own while buffing them with a pretty decent buff at that. With the aid of her own BUSTER buff, you can accelerate the damage further. And if you got her to NP5, you’ll be dishing out a heaping help of pain to your enemies, clearing away the wave and allowing your team to continue onto the next phase.

The nifty bonus of this Noble Phantasm is that it increases HP Recovery and doesn’t directly provide healing or regen to your party, meaning that Jailter can utilize the effects of her 1st skill in order to boost her heal from a 3,000 [Rank 10] to a 3,600 at minimum and a 4,800 at maximum to a single target. On top of this, your allies will receive a 10-30% increase in their total ATTACK stat, providing more damage to remove any potential remaining threats. As an added note, if you do use your heal on an ally, they’ll have 30% Star Gen+, 10-30% Attack+, and a majority of their health back.

To quickly get this NP, use your 2nd skill and then use your 3rd to effectively clear waves.

Chain it with your other two BUSTER cards to perform maximum damage with the 3rd skill buff.

You can also use the HP Recovery bonus in conjunction with other healers, such as Medea Lily, Saint Martha, and Irisviel to further spike the healing potential.

Skills and Ascension Routes + Route

Ascension Path: Gilles de Rais Doll (4)
[The materials required to fully ascend a Servant]

You need to complete the event to get them. If you can’t get them, you’re fucked boiiiiii. Fuuuuuuuckkeeeeeedddddd. Fucked. Fuuucked. Fuckedddddddddd. Ffffffffffffffffucked.

Skill Path: Seashell of Recollection (12) / Yggdrasil Seed (15) / Warhorse’s Small Horn (12) / Spirit Root (8)
[The materials required to fully level a skill from 1-1o] 

Seashells are ez. Seeds are hard. Horns are locked by America, though frequently drop in events, and Spirit Roots are annoying to farm.

Hard difficulty.

Skill Route: Transient 1-2-3-4-5-6 –> Saint’s 1-2-3-4-5-6 –> Transient 7-8-9-10 –> Self 1-2-3-4-5-6 –> Saint’s 7-8-9-10 –> Self 7-8-9-10
[The skills you should level and in which order]

The damage bonus to the BUSTER is too good to ignore, plus the bonus from the invulnerability allows you to potentially use this as a save. The healing takes the backseat, unless you want her to take a healing focus. Dip into Self after getting Transient to 10 to reduce the CD.

Craft Essence Recommendations

Priority: King’s Companion / Heroine Eli-Chan’s Adventure / Limited Zero Over.
Secondary: Holy Maiden Leading Chaldea / Halloween Princess / School of Chaldea.
Teritary: Golden Sumo Wrestling / Gentle Affection / Joint Recital
Healer Comp: Maid in Halloween
Wave Clear: Kaleidoscope
Other: 2030

Jailter has a pretty decent pick choice when it comes to Craft Essences, but falters when it comes close to the decision making due to her relatively below average NP Gain and lack luster Star Absoprtion. For this reason, focus purely on the BUSTER damage aspect and the Noble Phantasm damage output or NP Fills. King’s Companion works great in conjunction with her 2nd skill, allowing her to reach up to 80% [if LB, 70% if not] mana while also still getting a damage boost. Aside from this, you can attempt to place her in a more supportive role by giving her increased healing, increased healing (received) if in a heal comp, or with Holy Maiden Leading Chaldea to allow her to passively generate some extra stars + some from her attacks, while gaining the benefit of some added damage.

If all else fails and you’re scared nothing will work, just go with Limited Zero Over or Heroine’s Eli-Chan’s Adventure for top damage performance.

Teammate Recommendations

Saber: Artoria Pendragon / Artoria (Alter) / Atilla / Gilles de Rais / D’eon / Mordred / Rama / Bedivere / Elizabeth (Brave)

Archer: Gilgamesh / Arash / David / Oda Nobunaga / Tesla / Young Gil / Billy the Kid / Tristan / Anne Bonny and Mary Read / Artoria / Ishtar

Lancer: Elizabeth Bathory / Leonidas / Romulus / Hector / Artoria (Alter) / Artoria / Karna / Brynhildr / Kiyohime / Vlad III

Rider: Edward Teach / Marie Antoinette / Saint Martha / Francis Drake / Anne Bonny and Mary Read / Artoria (Santa) / Medb / Iskandar / Ramesses II

Caster: Medea / Hans / Shakespeare / Mozart / Elizabeth Bathory (Halloween) / Tamamo no Mae / Medea Lily / Charles Babbage / Helena / Thomas Edison / Geronimo / Da Vinci

Assassin: Cursed Arm Hassan / Sanson / Carmilla / Jekyl / Fuma / Scathath / Cleopatra

Berserker: Heracles / Lu Bu / Spartacus / Kintoki / Caligula / Eric / Tamacat / Hyde / Nightingale / Cu (Alter)

Other: Joan of Arc (Alter) / Dantes / Joan of Arc / Saint Martha

Teammate Synergy

Damage Carry w/ High Carry Weight + Offensive Support
EX: Gilgamesh + Shakespeare

Star Generator + Star Generator Caster
EX: Sanson + Helena

BUSTER Buddies
EX: Leonidas + Shakespeare

Wave Clear
EX: Spartacus + Elizabeth (Halloween)

Santa Friend… and almost Santa Friend
EX: Artoria (Santa) + Artoria (Alter)

Friendship
EX: Amakusa + Gilles de Rais

Healing Comp
EX: Saint Martha + Romulus

Pros and Cons + Role

Pros: Solid Pick / NP5 / Free / Decent BUSTER Damage choice / Invuln + NP Fill / Lancer damage modifier / Tied for highest BUSTER buff w/ Artoria (Alter-Lancer) / Works well with healers and her wave clear is superb w/ ally benefits

Cons: Lancer Star Weight is awkward as fuck and requires team building / NP Gain is average -slightly below average and her deck doesn’t help it / 3rd skill damages herself

Role: Supportive Damage Dealer / Wave Clear

Overview

Jailter is a very solid Servant all around. She’s a decent pick for wave clear, dealing consistent damage with her Lancer damage modifier on top of the Buster focus that she has. Alongside this, she gives herself plenty of damage buffs from her 3rd skill to her Attack bonus, meaning that her NPBB chains are effectively brutal, dealing superb levels of damage.

Her overall stats are, well, perfectly average. Star Gen? Average, which makes it super awkward for everyone. Not great to mention at parties. Remedy this through team building and craft essence choices. NP Gain is average. Health and Attack, also average.

So with that being said, you have a ton of splashability, minus an ARTS focus, which she does not have. If you want her to be more supportive, she allows it through her stats. If you want her to be more of a damage focus, you still can because of her BUSTER and damage buffs. If you want her to aid your heals and be a demi-healer with wave clear, like a lite-version of Saint Martha and so on, you can. She has a very good degree of versatility that lets her into nearly all team compositions and still be very effective.

With a NP fill and Invuln, you automatically got a Servant capable of being thrown into raid scenarios and hard level content.

Her demerit, like most recent demerits on Servants, is not even mentionable because she has her own built in mechanic to counter it fully. This is how it works with most and likely all future Servants. Providing ‘balance’ to the current gameplay and team building.

With all that being said, how does she currently stand against the other AoE Lancers we currently have?

If you want a heavier damage focus, go for Artoria (Lancer-Alter).
If you want a heavier spamming focus, go for Artoria (Lancer) and Elizabeth Bathory.
If you want a more critical damage focused servant,  go Artoria (Lancer-Alter).
If you want an Arts-Tank focus, go with Fionn.

All that being said, as it presently stands, due to her NP5 she outclasses most of the above listed due to the NP levels alone combined with her damage buffs. If you were to put her in a damage contest, she’ll likely still come out on top. Against a pick like Elizabeth Bathory, unless you’re picking Bathory for her Guts [why tho] or her Charisma x2 on Females, I’d still go with Jailter because she simply does more damage and has a higher RAW Attack stat. In most regards, I’d actually place Jailter over Elizabeth, which will eventually change if and when Elizabeth Bathory ever gets her interlude [of if both are NP5, there is an actual contest at this point].

If you were to make this a contest of NP spamming or Critical strike damage however, she does not win in either regard due to both Artoria’s surpassing her and Elizabeth having an insane NP gain value due to her Territory Creation.

My end thoughts: Solid choice, not as power creepy as Kintoki (Rider) or Kuro, but very good none the less. Have a great day!