Review: Quetzalcoatl

(AKA: Raepface, Quetza, Sister,  Feathered Serpant)

Class: Rider
Rarity: 5* (Story)

Health: 12,960
Health + GA (100): 14,198

Attack: 12,001
Attack + GA (100): 13,137

Star Generation: 9%
Star Weight: 205
NP Gain: 0.9%
Deck: QAABB
Hits: Q:3 / A:2 / B:3 / E:5
Max Hits: 14

One of my most sought after Servants in recent times, haven’t really been as drawn to any other Heroic Spirit as I have her in a long time. With that being said, her animations are good, and her voice is to die for. Let’s dig in.

Let’s begin with her RAW stats.

Quetzalcoatl’s HP is average for a 5* Rider.
Quetzalcoatl’s ATK is the highest of all 5* Riders.

These stats will begin to place Quetz in a very nice position. With her high ATK stat, she compliments her skill set and deck, both of which are oriented highly towards dealing damage. She is going to be your hard hitter on the front lines, capable of dishing out lots of damage in bursts. She’ll hit hard, and thanks to her average health pool you won’t have to worry about her taking damage.

Her star generation is not stellar due to her average RAW star generation value. Her deck is not built for generating stars either, but it doesn’t stop her from generating them in her standard combo’s. QBB or BBQ are your best ways to get stars, and most of them will come from your QUICK and EXTRA itself, with her hits being the only reliable ways to boost her own critical trinket collection. You’re looking at an average of 10-15. She’s a Rider, so she’ll be taking all the stars you allow to spill on the field unless others have a skill that will deter her, or Craft Essences.

Her NP gain is nearly 1.0%, and thanks to her own hit count and deck which has two ARTS cards in it, you will be able to produce a modest amount of NP gain on her own. This will sky rocket on turns in which you are bursting. Why? Because you will be critically striking on your burst phases. This is where her entire role shines, and it will also allow you to capitalize on NP spamming, which she can do in the rounds of her bursts. She hits like a truck already, and with the aid of critical strikes on ARTS cards gives her the ability to spam her nuke over and over. This will of course, rely on your deck rotation and the ability to utilize her ARTS cards. You’re looking at around 38-48% NP Gain in a standard AQA, ABQ, QAA, etc. Which is further complimented by her own NP fill. With critical strikes, her BRAVE Chain with two ARTS can fill her to about 90%+.

Her deck hit count is above average, as is the norm nowadays.

Skills

Skill 1: Charisma (A+)
Increases ATTACK for the whole team for 3 turns.
Rank 1: 10.5% / Rank 10: 21%
CD Rank 1: 7 / Rank 10: 5

Solid team skill, doesn’t really need that much explaining. Use it as a staple damage booster, or prior to when you are about to hit the peak phase. Useful against high priority targets or for simple sweeping, since it has a decent attack bonus for the whole party and only has a 2 turn downtime.

And that’s about it.

Skill 2: Good God’s Wisdom (A+)
Apply Guts for 3 turns.
Increase Buster Card performance for 3 turns.
Rank 1 (Guts): 1,000 / Rank 10: 1.000
Rank 1 (Buster): 20% / Rank 10: 30%
CD Rank 1: 9 / Rank 10: 7

This skill is targetable, I thought I’d mention that first.

A very strong skill, giving a target of your choice a considerable buff for 3 turns. It increases their total damage output, and also keeps them from falling to potential wipes from an enemy’s NP or critical strikes. One downfall of this skill, is that you’re going to utilize it more often for the damage boost, and less so for the survival. However, I consider this a relatively moot point since it is targetable, making it more versatile then most card type buff skills, with the added bonus of some cushion protection due to the GUTS itself.

Utilize this when you are in a pinch and about to die. Or when you need to unleash the beast. Best used whenever Quetzalcoatl is about to NPBB for ultimate nuke potential.

Skill 3: Lucha Libre (EX)
Increase star absorption rate for 1 turn.
Increase critical damage for 1 turn.
Increase NP gauge.
Rank 1 (NP): 20% / Rank 10: 30%
Rank 1: (Star Weight): 300% / Rank 10: 600%
Rank 1: (Crit Damage+) 30% / Rank 10: 50%
CD Rank 1: 8 / Rank 10: 6

The all in one wombo combo to kick some butt. This ability will be key in maximizing the damage potential of Quetz. Build up some stars prior, activate the skill to ensure she gets every single little bitty star, activate her 2nd and 1st skill, and lean back and watch as her foes are put under heel. Offering a considerable boost, it is extremely useful when you know you’re going to have the stars, cards, and can use it at 70% to ensure you get the NP to 100%.

Best used when all skills are activated, and you have the NPBB-BRAVE CHAIN available to pile drive your enemies into utter oblivion. If push comes to shove, and you don’t have the BUSTER cards, go for NPAA with crits to get another NP rolling the turn after.

Passive Skills

Magic Resistance (A): Debuff Res+ by 20%.
Riding (EX): 12% increased QUICK performance.
Divine Goddess Core (EX): Increases flat damage by 300. Increases Debuff Res by 30%.

So a solid 50% Debuff Res means good luck applying debuffs. Staple, but stacking staple debuff res ain’t bad. 12% increased QUICK damage and star generation isn’t that bad either, though the stars are not noticeable, forewarning. Flat damage is nice due to being 300 compared to most Divinity offering much lower amounts relatively. blahbvlah

Noble Phantasm

Xiuhcoatl
Flame, Burn Even God to Ashes

Rank: A
Type: Anti-Unit / Anti-Fortress / Single Target
Card: BUSTER

Extremely powerful attack to a single enemy.
Inflict NP seal for 1 turn.
Inflict burn for 5 turns.

Damage: 600-1000%
Charge: 100-500%
Overcharge: 1000-3000

Hits harder then a freight train, use it on high priority targets to treat them to a heaping helping of pain. A pretty straight forward NP, use it when you want someone to die, a nuke plain and simple. Comes with the added bonus of NP sealing an enemy unit for 1 turn, which can be beneficial if you time it on the turn of the enemy’s NP, giving you better stall power. [a rarity for BUSTER oriented Servant’s.]

To add on top of this, your enemy will take 5,000-15,000 for 5 turns from burn, which doesn’t seem like much but hey, an extra free 1,000 damage is an extra free 1,000 damage. Due to it’s low benefit from overcharge, you can opt to chain other NP’s after it.

Skills and Ascension Routes + Route

Ascension Path: Dragon Fangs (18) / Snake Jewel (8) / Reverse Dragon Scale (6) / Phoenix Plume (10)
[The materials required to fully ascend a Servant]

Plumes are not the funnest, dragon fangs are common, snake jewels are a pain to grind, and reverse dragon scales are fairly common event rewards. [if we ever get one that isn’t a fecking re-run again].

Above average difficulty.

Skill Path: Snake Jewel (12) / Dragon Fang (36) / Chain of Fools (72) / Cursed Beast Gallstone (10)
[The materials required to fully level a skill from 1-10] 

Everything but the dragon fangs… and even the dragon fangs in that quantity will drain you dry super fast. Chain of Fools is locked in Camelot, and Cursed Beast Gallstones are limited to Babylon.

Events tend to be rather giving with Chains, Gallstones… no clue yet.

In total:
* Snake Jewels: 44
* Dragon Fang: 116.
* Chain of Fools: 216.

Yeah, good luck with that. Extra hard difficulty.

Skill Route: 3-2-1 / Lucha 1-2-3-4-5-6 –> Good 1-2-3-4-5-6 –> Charisma 1-2-3-4-5-6 –> Lucha 7-8-9-10 –> Good 7-8-9-10 –> Charisma 7-8-9-10
[The skills you should level and in which order]

Lucha is too good a skill to pass up, due to it’s NP Fill and critical damage booster. Charisma is the last to be leveled up, because let’s be real here, you want Quetz for her damage potential, not for her ability to support your team.

Craft Essence Recommendations

Priority: Joint Recital
Secondary: Heroine Chan’s Brave Adventure / First Sunrise / Limited – Zero Over / Golden Sumo.
Tertiary: Victor from the Moon / King’s Companion / Praise Me! / Holy Night Dinner
NP Damage: Black Grail / Halloween Princess
Criticals: Hot Spring of the Moon / Knight’s Pride / Summertime Mistress
Other: Holy Maiden Leading Chaldea / Firing the First Arrow / Gem Magecraft

Joint Recital I don’t think can be topped for usefulness, though you can swap it with Victor of the Moon [if LB].

Teammate Recommendations

Saber: Artoria / Atilla / Artoria (Alter) / Artoria (Lily) / Gilles de Rais / Fergus / Nero (Bride) / Rama / Gawain / Bedivere / Elizabeth (Brave) / Musashi

Archer: EMIYA / Gilgamesh / Arash / David / Oda Nobunaga / Tesla / Ko Gil / Tawara / Anne and Mary / Ishtar

Lancer: Elizabeth Bathory / Benkei / Leonidas / Romulus / Hector / Artoria (Alter) / Goddess Artoria / Karna / Brynhildr / Kiyohime / Vlad III / Jaguar Man / Joan of Arc

Rider: Edward Teach / Saint Martha / Francis Drake / Anne and Mary / Santa Artoria / Medb / Iskandar / Ramesses II / Mordred

Caster: Hans / Gilles de Rais / Mephistopheles / Waver / Merlin / Elizabeth Bathory / Medea (Lily) / Babbage / Helena / Edison / Xuanzang / Marie Antoinette / Illya

Assassin: Hassan / Hundred Faced Hassan / Sanson / Carmilla / Cleopatra / Kiritsugu / Shuten Douji / Mata Hari

Berserker: Heracles / Lu Bu / Spartacus / Erik Bloodaxe / Asterios / Caligula / Kintoki / Beowulf / Ibaraki / Nightingale / Minamoto

Other: Joan of Arc (Alter)

Teammate Synergy

Let’s just get this cancerous piece of shit out of the way
EX: Waver + Merlin / Merlin + Merlin / Waver + Waver

Critical Star Generator + Support
EX: Hundred Faces Hassan + Marie (Beach)

Wave Clear
EX: Shakespeare + Ko Gil

Triangle
EX: Musashi + Vlad III (Lancer)

Triple Rider
EX: Iskandar + Francis Drake

Buffs all Around
EX: Merlin + Hans

Buffs all Around
EX: Leonidas + Shakespeare / Nightingale

Team Native Americans
EX: Geronimo + Taiga-Jaguar Man

Lots of Stars
EX: Helena + Hans

BUSTER Assassin + High Damage, low Carry Weight
EX: Cleopatra + Hector

Pros and Cons + Role

Pros: Superb damage / godly crits / amazing BUSTER damage / targetable Guts + mini-Prana Burst for 3 turns / 2nd highest ATK of all Riders / works great in current BUSTER meta / Merlin + Her = Gold / NP Fill / Team oriented and self-reliant / Story GACHA

Cons: Draws in all stars / expensive AF materials, like uber ultra difficulty / 2 skills have 1 turn higher difficulty / Good God’s skill has dual power, but due to high CD can’t have it’s GUTS utilized in vital moments

Role: Nuker / Critical Striker / Damage Dealer

Overview

So let’s start this off with a brief wrap up, then I’ll go to a popular topic of late.

Okay so, Quetzalcoatl is very very strong, by all definitions of the word. She hits like a truck, she crits like a truck, she generates modest NP, critical hits sky rocket it, she has great deck synergy, great NP damage, high ATTACK, targetable Guts and Prana burst, good hit count, and even charisma to further her team play.

I can not truly mention many negatives, aside from ‘star weight’, which is a strategic advantage for her due to her skill set. If I were to list any other demerit, it’d be her Guts + Prana Burst being on one skill, but even then they  both last 3 turns. Last notable thing is two skills have a 6 turn CD at max, which, again, is not that bad all things said and done.

She’s a wrecking ball that cleaves through enemies like butter. I wish I had her. [RIP].

Her best teams are obviously those that can provide her stars, done and done. BUSTER buffers go along with this greatly, and compliment her kit and further her ability to generate NP [cause two BUSTER Buffers being casters, one of which is…]. Merlin is also shaping the meta more and more towards BUSTER and Critical Strikers, making her even more powerful and a far greater choice to add into your roster then other Servants may have had. Merlin and Waver make her all but unkillable and a nuclear explosion on your frontlines.

SO, with that being said… let’s get to that topic.
Ozy vs Quetz

  • Damage: Quetzalcoatl.
  • Critical Striking: Quetzalcoatl.
  • Survival: Tie.
  • Teamplay: Tie, varies on play style, leaning towards Ramesses II.
  • NP Damage: Quetzalcoatl.
  • Debuffing: Ramesses II
  • Self Reliance: Tie.
  • Ease of Play: Ramesses II
  • Splashability: Ramesses II

Damage is the way to win the game, with very few mechanics impeding your path, and those that do are usually invulnerability, dodge, NP locks, stuns, and charms. Quetzalcoatl is a destroyer of enemies, dishing out untold damage to her foes. Ozymandias plays a greater role as a team support, while also dishing out great damage due to his own Charisma and Imperial-Priv. But if you’re equating the two to go toe-to-toe, you’re basically looking at a tie overall.

Both of these characters have team play viability, with Quetzalcoatl having a targetable buff and charisma of her own. Ozy has NP fill for the team, charisma, and buff chance success, whiiiich is very niche, but hey it’s worth noting because he fits in very well with those teams he gives buff success rates to.

Ozy has splash, where as Quetz has damage. This is what it will come down to when picking between the two. Do you want that NP Fill? Or do you want better damage? This is literally all there is to the choice, because if Ozy didn’t have the NP fill, he wouldn’t really be brought into this debate now would he? It’s where a lot of people get caught up on and go about in circles for days over, when all that really matters is whether he can fill your team’s NP or not.

I’m not devaluing Ozy when I say that Quetzalcoatl has a greater damage output and damage potential, that’s the way she’s designed. She doesn’t help her team as much as Ozy does, but she does supply more damage in return.

So who would I pick?
Quetzalcoatl. But that’s just who I prefer.

With that being said, I think that is all for the overview. She’s super solid, super cute, has an amazing yandere rape face, and rocks the damage charts.

Have a great day!