Yes still to this day merlin is a busted unit. Despite being released with temple of time in year 2, his influence is still felt everywhere in this game. From the existence of break bars to the durability of the invincible comp, merlin still is buster's go to challenge unit for survival scenarios. Do you think merlin needs a buff and if so what would you like to see him get? Thanks for watching as always and supporting the channel! If you'd like to see more be sure to give this video a like and subscribe for more daily content! 🙏
I hope they buff him solely because I don't want to encourage Castoria jellying for people who have him but not Castoria -although the LostBelts are doing that just fine.- Who says FGO isn't P2W?
Anyone who says Merlin still isn't potent is kidding themselves. He may not see constant use in things like farming but when he does? He's a lynch pin in the team comps.
Except most of the game is farming. I dont see why people keep acting like he shouldn't get buffed in an era where the devs are starting to release Servants that make stalling not as useful. Oberon is a prime example.
Sure his role as Buster support is kinda replaced by Koyan. But for me, his true worth is his ability to be the "engine" for some long fight strats. His NP is a perfect engine. Once it's started and get stacked, everything will be easier (unless the enemy can remove buffs). Your team can spam NP with no problem. My old favorite strats is Parvati, Mash, and a borrowed Merlin. Looks mismatch, but it works really well. As I said before, Merlin is the main engine of this strats. Parvati as a damage dealer, but she also provide AoE NP charge with her NP (her charm is also nice). So the more she spams it, your team will be able to spam more NP. Mash is for the defensive support. And with Merlin's NP engine and Parvati's occasionally AoE charge, Mash's defense buff can be stacked easily.
I got my Merlin to bond 15 the other day after 3 or 4 years of service. Grailed him, maxed out gold fous, two appends, I couldn't be happier with him. He has served me so well.
Powercrept: yes, bad: far from it. He may not allow the tactical nuke loop setups as well as say double koyan/oberon, but double merlin in most cases can make you nigh immortal and constantly firing off NPs. The amount of times I've stall scummed fights because I have like 5 instances of his np healing and just constantly firing off my dps nps.
Arts blows Buster out of the water in long fights... unless you have Merlin. He fixes all of Koyan's shortcomings with party damage and lack of survivability, and also amplifies her powerful damage skills. For the Buster meta, he is the missing piece to round things out -- perhaps even more important than Oberon.
no, you wouldn't use Koyanskaya for longer fights in the first place, rather use Double Merlin, Castoria and Merlin or Mash and Merlin. For the buster meta, you're looking at it the same way you look for the quick meta, end this as fast as possible, if you can't, you lose, that's where Oberon is the GOAT.
23:31 I agree Prisma Cosmos is generally preferable to 2030 on Merlin since he tends not to have trouble with crit stars, but I've found that he also tends to gain NP so well anyway that I'm often not using his NP when charged due to needing to use those slots for damage. As a result, one of my favorite CEs on him over the years for challenge quests has been Iron-Willed Training (or Holy Shroud of Magdalene vs males), which increases DEF and is a permanent 4-star CE. It's a simple effect, but for a CQ that lasts a lot of turns, the damage mitigation adds up and can help him survive enemy crits, which can save runs.
I love my Merlin... Even my Arjuna Alter loves my Merlin... Even my Himiko and Castoria loves my Merlin... He is my very 1st SSR when I started playing last year so he has a special place in my heart...
merlin is still better than lady avalon in my opinion if for no other reason than his np being better (though lady avalon takes that with np levels). you can argue back and forth over which has the better skills. For example: if you look at both's charisma's: yeah proto has an additional effect but the cooldown is also longer. The main draw of the skill is the charge because it fuels the np spam of not only merlin but everyone else on the team including the dps. I think having that one turn shorter cooldown makes it better than the oc by, to be frank: a good chunk (especially if god forbid you aren't using castoria). The main reason he is better imo is, as mentioned earlier: the np. The effects lasting longer really adds up on such a spammable np since it adds up to more charge and healing per turn. To put this difference into perspective: an np1 to np1 comparison of the two has lady avalon generating 15% charge per team member per np wheras merlin generates 25%. That's 10% more per unit and 30% more for the party per np. If you actually look at how this plays out: over 10 turns (which is shorter than most cq runs) that's an extra np per unit....per np. Now consider that you are very likely to have more than one np of either unit up at any given time and think about how that all works out. I've tested the two units in multiple cqs against eachother rather extensively. It adds up in Merlin's favour. To a counterpoint: yes lady avalon gives hp up, not healing which is better. While the effect is better: it is 2k less of the effect per np and unless you're in a fight where the enemy really hits hard: I don't think the added beef really justifies the weaker value, especially considering its less spammable. Also: Yes, lady avalon does have an 80% battery and passively starts with 20%: this is really nice for shorter fghts and in shorter fights, I might agree she is better but shorter fights is also not generally what either unit excells at so I don't think this upside is of that much value. In longer fights: it doesn't make up for Merlin's greater np charge/np as it's on a rather monstrous cooldown. For the skill we haven't discussed as of yet: the card buff skill; it depends on the team but I would like to make a case here for why I think Merlin's is more practical. The only difference between the two is the card up so why is that better? Well simply put: cq buster support is rarer and therefore more valuable. For arts you have castoria filling the role of a survival based arts support perfectly as is: for buster that doesn't exist. It's merlin or go home. Koyanskaya actively hurts your party, oberon is too cq dependent and honestly not even much of a buster support. The closest thing you have is constantine but he's rare, not on many support lists and far weaker than merlin. Merlin is the choice for longer cq runs with buster. Lady avalon simply is not. Thanks for coming to my ted talk
Merlin was the OG king of drawn out buff stacking.. I remember getting 6 charismas, 6 hero creations on any single target or aoe black grail max servants while using Jeanne, Leonidas and Georgios to tank just to see how monstrous one's damage was while waiting for plugsuit cooldowns after the tanking two or three dies..
The answer is still yes, absolutely yes. He isn't for burst power, but he is THE sustain God. You summon him and Castoria, it doesn't matter what else you have summoned as you have already won the game. Also, while they didn't get the damage ceiling buster got, arts got to join in on the bullshit fun too. Pair him with tamamo and a 50 charger to get things started fast, and you get a ridiculous np generation engine that allows you to pop your dps' np every other turn minimum.
I think the fact that his NP lasts 5 turns still makes him more valuable than Lady Avalon; it's really confusing to me that they didn't give her the 5 turn treatment if they were gonna make her a blue copy of Merlin.
@@Astavyastataa....Merlin is also arts though. To answer the question though it's balance. LA gimmick she technically does everything Merlin does and then some, buy with lower cooldowns as a trade off and she has more instant batteries.
@@Adam-yq9xe Merlin's card buff is Buster, though. Everything that Merlin offers is at least as valuable for Arts units as for Buster if not for that; the opportunity cost for a unit that provides further Arts or other offensive buffs is the trade-off built into not only the balance of Merlin but of Buster relative to Arts. Proto Merlin, by giving buffs to Arts cards, would have been a straight upgrade to Merlin and would have made Arts strictly superior to Buster if there had been no tradeoffs for Proto Merlin being able to also provide an Arts buff (which better synergizes with her _own_ kit for offensive purposes than Merlin's Buster buff does as well).
@@Adam-yq9xe You can always use LA as an amazing Art DPS with double Castoria or Castoria+Tamamo or you can even go solo. There actually some people who used og Merlin as main DPS.
Merlin has a bit of a crush on me. I pulled a copy on his launch banner, then got another for a GSSR, then got a THIRD copy on another GSSR along with Caster Nero! And he's still fantastic, especially for longer fights! I cheesed a couple challenge quests with double-Merlin Jeanne.
I got my Merlin by pure luck last year and he has carried my sorry butt through so much of the storyline since then. Especially once I got Castoria and Himiko I put him in the Invincible comp every time I have the opportunity and laugh my way to the win screen. I haven't had a chance to do it yet, but I'm curious to see what a longer term Buster team would be like using him and Koyan in a pair supporting a longer lasting Buster unit. Like Tamamo and Castoria I think the two cover each other's weaknesses really well, and I'm eager to see that plan be put into action against the right target.
Just did the CCC interlude. I refused to buy the debuffs for Kiara and instead ran a stall team of double Merlin castoria. Took me 104 turns but managed to beat her.
Merlin is still pretty good ngl. I just used him with Castoria and Himiko for the last boss fight on LB6 and he only died because of bad RNG. His invul helped a lot on awkward turns where I didn't have Castoria buffs or her NP.
Merlin is a staple in my Vangogh+eldritch girls team and any buster crit, he is such a comfort pick, i have him np5 and heals have never been an issue. You could ,if you really want to use him to farm, add him into artoria/ caster cu teams and have the extra dmg through the 3 waves, in cases where thats an issue.
If anything merlin could do with a np buff to make his first heal increase the max hp of himself and his allys similar to how proto merlin just increases the max hp for her party probably not necessary but would be nice
I wouldn't say he's broken anymore. Content has caught up to him, and there's many other Servants that can perform on an equal or even higher level than him. That said, he's still really good, which is saying a lot for a unit released so many years ago with 0 buffs since then.
@@Khadroth I didn't mean in the way to do exactly what he does. More as in how he impacts the game. When he released, nothing came close to the impact he had on the gameplay, easily breaking every challenge quest you could throw at him. Nowadays, there's many other units that make a comparably strong impact (albeit in various different ways) that grant them equal or higher value than Merlin in terms of overall usefulness. I've had a Merlin of my own since he first released, and mine has seen less and less use over the years. He's still a solid unit, but he's not the must-have kind of unit he once was.
@@Milennin He's still quite useful even on a developed NA account like mine he gets use. Sure he's not a farmer, but he never was much of a farmer with 20% gauge. Opted to roll for him on JP with an account that is under a year old and he still helps out with story and CQ's.
Any time double castoria won’t get me through a fight Merlin castoria will… they are like Anakin and obi-wan two parts of the same unit, at least for me. But if they buff his third skill to make it a. Last 3 turns or b. Give 30% np charge I wouldn’t be mad…
Merlin ult is still broken not even proto merlin can replace him. Merlin is still the best healer until they release someone that can do better then him but so far no one has come close.
Honestly, one shouldn't really care about the enemy's NP damage mods, like Morgan hitting Merlin's Round Table Knight trait. Her NP kills him either way.
Decided to roll on the surprise banner despite my better instincts and ended up bringing him home in ONE TICKET! Talk about EX Luck! Anyway, I wanted to add a consideration to Merlin team comps, that being Miss Crane. She is a surprisingly good compliment, with the star gen and absorb skills she puts on a target to set up Merlin's 100% crit. She also has the amazing party-wide invul for her second skill, which could tide you over if you're still waiting on Merlin's second skill to cool down. Just switch her in and she'll give you everything you need, then get that second Buster support back in the next turn.
I once use Jeanne+Merlin+Waver in a long fight, lol I won at turn 100. Shows how this dude could turn a normal Ruler like Jeanne into an absolute Immortal.
Merlin is so busted that they made sure to never make support caster np stack with itself like his the fact they made Oberon specifically not stack him shows how he still lives rent free in the devs head .
I got lucky and started the game around when merlin was releasing and got prisma cosmos soon after as well and used him and my starter heracles to just cheese out all of story as I played the game and punch way above my weight class in events when i was starting off. He's definitely still strong but it gets pretty hard to justify using a healing servant now that so many bosses will just have full team instakill level damage on AoE attacks on current boss fights so I'd rather just crank out as much damage as possible quickly instead of hoping you can stall out with Merlin.
KoyanLight and Oberon will get you more charge and damage, and Castoria has the better invuln, but it's not like what made Merlin good went anywhere. His kit's got a little something for just about everyone between his skills and NP, and when it comes to stall teams I still consider him a premier pick and an essential part of the Castoria immortal engine. Power creep and a greater variety of top-tier supports have simply made it so that Merlin isn't the sole must-have option anymore, and that's probably a healthier place for the game to be in.
Merlin is still a crucial part of the invincible teams. Merlin isn't perfect, but the fact that he covers the weaknesses of Castoria (the argubly best unit) means the two significantly improve each other's ability to protect the party. That alone would argubly make Merlin a 10/10 unit and crucial to the meta.
@@RealLifeIronMan its more that proto merlin exists and its just straight up merlin but better and arts so its less that hes not a part of the invincible comp, more that he got replaced
@@zeph519 I see your points, but the OC units (Himiko & Morgan) are Buster aligned, so OG Merlin works better for those OC units. That being said, I understand the invul comp isn't everything, so yes, more generally, proto Merlin is better, as it fits into arts teams.
@@RealLifeIronMan well to that i would answer that proto merlin is an oc unit too, so she works into the more stallish versions of the team but i guess your point is fair too
The only one that can't be replaced in the invincible comp is Castoria. You can use Reines or Morgan instead of Himiko for spammable Overcharge. You can use any healer for the 3rd slot, the best one being Tamamo since she gives 50% PARTYWIDE charge at max Overcharge (really easy to get on this comp) on top of Skill Cooldown Reduction. Medea Lily (gives Buff Removal Immunity) and Asclepius (more F2P-friendly and gives party Debuff Immunity) are also pretty good. Merlin isn't the best healer for it, he's not even needed for the comp.
@@lu70loon NA Reines has yet to receive that buff on her NP. And besides between the 3 (Morgan/Himiko) Reines if the worst by far to put in that comp for the overcharge role
@@gast321 Himiko makes her own stars with her Skill 1. With the Quick first card buff and Mighty Chain in JP, the stars are less needed too, but NA doesn't have that yet I guess.
Pretty much merlin has still a key role for buster teams. Oberon is the buster support for np damage and charge, koyns for raw damage and skills cd and well merlin is the buster support but with the survivability and star gen a but, so if u have all 3 you are good to go
Is he good? No, he's great. Is he broken or meta defining? No, but he's S tier and a small buff could push him to S+. I did use him today to beat Cernunnos and in an arts team, I tried a lot of things including a buster setup and the truth is, if his S3 crit lasted 3 turns maybe it would have worked better... I feel like he was already power crept enough to justify a small buff but just a small one. (and that buff can't be to his NP, his NP is what makes him a good support and an obvious choice to CQs, if anything it's his buster supporting that needs to be adjusted slightly) (Given his s3 name is Hero Creation, it would be fitting to give it a special mod against evil)
I had a chuckle about this last night when I heard, because the major reason I made this video was to remind people of why he was still good in the new buster systems.
that has always been the point of good old double Merlin, you can easily have 3-4 GoA stacks from each Merlin at the same time, with double it's 8 on each.
All this talk of merlin reminds me that Miyu gets her buff in a few months. While I still think she's pretty niche it'll be a huge glow up for arguably one of the worst 4 stars in the game right now
The buff to Skadi was: here, new Skadi. OG Skadi could certainly use love though her skills are dated. It's strange to think about but the only 50% charger I can think of that has gotten skill buffs is Reines if we disregard buffs to day 1 Waver who was just so bad because they had no idea what they were doing so they went and made him a lot better.
Agree on the Merlin + 2030 combination, even with single Merlin I find 2030 overkill and would rather have Prisma Cosmos. Though that might be due to me frequently running Merlin in teams with Jeanne and her having her own passive star gen skill albeit a rather lackluster one (buff the rest of her skills already!) I have a level 100 Prisma Cosmos since it's my go to CE for Jeanne but sometimes I think about leveling my second oen to 100 just since I tend to throw it on Merlin when using him a Jeanne together. Gotta say I want to kick myself since I have never considered using The One Who Desires Salvation on Caster Artoria before, probably because I don't pay much attention to overcharge boosting CEs outside of one and done cases like Arash. I might have to put that one on my list of potential CEs to level to 100 when I'm burning out my FP on the Guda Rerun later this year. Now it has me wondering about other CEs I might have laying around that I'm overlooking. Have you ever considered doing a video on underappreciated CEs?
Only in certain fights. The 3-million-HP Salter memorial quest, for example. She wouldn’t attack anyone but Merlin while he was on the field. It’s very obvious when that kind of AI is in use.
I like to give him crit star generation codes, as well as the party wide crit damage buff on his buster card. He can also make good use of debuff/enemy buff removal codes, since he is usually used in CQs and longer fights where enemies stacking Atk/Crit damage buffs can be very dangerous.
Merlin when he came out was literally game breaking. I do believe he has fallen by the wayside a bit. I also believe Proto-Merlin or Miss Avalon is flat out better. I think he could use a buff to distinguish himself and at least reach parity. I think he really shines as a support when fighting bosses in harder content. That role I think is a bit overlooked. I also think he is out shined by servants like Castoria who can be useful supports both in farming and in boss fighting. I think because he is so important for who he is that Merlin belongs in the top tier of supports and he currently isn't there in my opinion. I believe he could use a buff.
Any community recommendations for lady avalon vs og merlin? My 2024 NA priorities are 1.rulerskadi 2. Some merlin. help me pick the #2 slot (gssr spender only)
if you have either himiko or morgan as well as castoria, merlin would be good. To keep it a buck, what merlin shines in best is stall comps, proto merlin kinda outshines him when you want to do normal clears (assuming your doing an arts team). But merlin really shines hard on hard stall, if you have morgan (or himiko), him, and castoria you can form the immortal team. Proto merlin is also pretty decent on stall teams as well, but shes slightly worse because her healing is worse, and she synergizes less well with morgan (a buster unit). Thats like the only scenario where i would really say you would "need" merlin over proto merlin, is if your interested in the invincible team and you already have morgan or himiko. in summary, if your box is generally more arts focused, proto merlin is better almost 100% of the time. Merlin is good if you dont have koyanskaya for buster setups, but if you do have koyanskaya its hard to justify him. Merlin is best on stall teams, but proto merlin can kind of do it too. Generally id recommend proto merlin. Merlins on the new years gssr that has caster skadi (who is good for quick teams), merlin, super orion, himiko, and holmes (unfortunately), so you can try that gssr unless youve already picked a gssr for yourself
@@lordradiance2530 mostly interested in faster clears, i have all major supports, no morgan, but himiko. Seems like a coin toss. Maybe I’ll roll gssr on merlin and see from there. Timing suggests getting ruler skadi then spending leftover on lady a rather than summon in march for merlin
@@StoryModeGamer alright, yeah i definitely wouldnt recommend merlin. Proto merlin is definitely better for faster clears, hell even plushie uses her in some min turns.
I just feel like most people saying he doesn't need a buff are holding on to some ridiculous rose tinted goggles. Does he need a huge buff? No, and I think when people hear buffs they think the world's biggest buffs that make them ultra broken so I have to have them level. He's been here in the game for years without any changes and it's about time they expand him a bit beyond the extreme stalling niche he holds. Because for me it only takes one servant to potential just downgrade him out of that niche (we're 8 years into the game now, it wouldn't be surprising) and when that happens he will be someone who's considered a "if I can't use x other chars I use him" card. And it's not like you can't emulate a similar stall situation already with double castoria tamamo anyways. He needs something on his kit that makes him generally a good slot in for all modes but not the extreme dominant one and 20% np battery ain't it in an era where players have access to so many 50% chargers.
Other than the Immortal Comp, I'd say Merlin is only slightly above Tamamo's level. His Hero Creation is usually wasted for me because there aren't enough stars to guarantee a crit, and the RNG crit never hits. I think he needs some star absorption on Hero Creation to help guarantee crits, but I also kind of want to add a 30% battery to it. Merlin would be an interesting substitution for Oberon in some Buster Looping comps if you needed consistent damage over the first 3 turns instead of a massive spike on turn 3, but it would depend on the battery cooldowns on the loopers. He definitely wouldn't be better than Oberon, but Double Koyan+Merlin would be kind of like Triple Skadi.
The 2 buster servants that can farm with merlin to spread the dmg through the 3t are Artoria saber(kaleido) and Caster Cu, i ve been using it and its pretty nice, but yes i like to use him more in teams for longer fights.
I don´t think he is broken in fact his kit is good but outside of challengequests not really usable. If they were to give him an upgrade to include him in the current buster Meta then he would probably be the best support in the game
I'm going to say it... I'm a day 1 player... I literally CAN'T understand the love/hype for Merlin (outside of very early FGO stall teams). I listen to the explanations but something just doesn't click for me. To me he always felt like a waste of a slot when we have Waver in a game that is "mostly" about farming team builds.
Say what you want, nowadays - Merlin definitely need a buff to be fairly usable. And a strong buff at that, not like that Skadi NP joke P.S To be fair with "need a buff" - i will add an actual suggestion. I would like to see Merlin's s1 buffed. NP charge must be upped to 50% AoE, and maybe up attack to 30%-40% too, but the charge is a must. THEN he will actually be really good, as good as Castoria at least. And since the devs added her - they clearly okay with this lvl of usefullness in the game.
A team-wide 50% battery sounds too ridiculous lol. Enabling him to support Buster “reloading” without needing Oberon in certain challenge quests (90++ is a different topic though). Instead of a team-wide 50% battery why not just give him a 30% in his hero creation instead? Its targetable for one ally. Adding his first skill, he becomes a 50% mixed charger like Castoria, and Waver without breaking the game again XD. Imo the only suggested buff that he really needs is an increase of the amount of turns of his 100% crit. 100% crit is one hell of a drug for a lot of crit oriented servants and having only 1 turn of it is a big downside. The best part about it is that its not tied to a card-type, the 100% crit buff in his hero creation is universal meaning he can be used as a general crit support outside of Buster comps. This buff alone should still bring him back into relevancy considering you can min turn bosses consistently in terms of crit dmg. Buster is going to get even stronger with this regard also. Buster is already the strongest card type in terms of crits and Merlin getting a 3 turn 100% crit buff is only going to make things even funnier in the long run. Like as mentioned before, this crit buff is universal which allows him to be placed in other card types for crit supporting.
@@Mitsuru-Miki I literally just want him to have a 50% total battery and he could never be touched ever again and I'd be happy. As it is now, outside of himiko teams I generally don't use Merlin.
@@SoccYT even if he does get a 50% battery by buffing his hero creation, giving him a targetable 30%. I doubt it would enable him buster farm. At best he would a plugsuited support, in which would make Merlin the strongest buster reloading support except Oberon who generally allows for more units to 3 turn farm. His best role in the game is for stalling and Bossfights. I don’t really have a problem if he doesn’t have a 50% battery. Its nice to have and is appreciated but I don’t think he needs it. At this point we would be wishing every God tier support in the game to have a 50% targetable battery to make them usable. Yes the game is mainly farming, and merlin doesn’t have a role in it, but for CQs and bosses, he still has a very dominant role. We no longer use him as much but what he does is still very strong. Even outside of Invincible team comps composed of Merlin + Castoria + Morgan/Himiko, he is still in my backline to support my main DPS’ crits in a bossfight for 1 turn and obliterate 1 bar with it. For min turning he is essential for me to be at least the final supprt unit to have in the back when everyone else is dead so that he can provide maximum burst dmg plus an jnvul to my DPS just in case things go south.
@@Mitsuru-Miki The problem with Merlin in a whole is - the servants power bar raised so high nowdays, you do not need ever to use a stall or something slow in cq. Why bother when u can use one omniteam to farm everything - free quests, story quests, cq, lottos. There's like 1% content in the game left, that you cannon romp-stomp with onmnifarming team. And thou Merlin is still very good in this scenario - i'd say beind good in 1% of the content is equal to being bad. Sad truth of the powercreep.
@@glebscheglov9291 I don’t have or see a problem in that case scenario. Its a viable “option” to be used when such cases are too expensive or costly for one’s chaldea. It’s not a matter of Merlin supposedly fitting in *EVERY* form of team composition to make him viable, but instead making his strengths even more apparent in this day and age. He is not as dominant as he was before the concept of looping, but his role (albeit very niche and optional) is still quite strong when you need it. He is far from being a “bad” unit despite the many different options and alternatives that we have now today especially buster with existences such as Koyan and Oberon. Like I said, he has almost, if not zero roles in farming which at this point dictates the entire game. The options you could use him in is very minuscule in today’s content. As optional as his roles are, its still quite strong and we should be aiming it to be stronger. I’m not denying that he needs a buff to be at least relevant in the modern content of FGO. But the expectations of him or any supports in that matter needing to get a 50% battery to be at least edging out from being called bad (especially teamwide) is delusional. Currently till this day his skills are still basic but strong. And not only that he belongs to the strongest card type for Crits. Him getting a buff in his hero creation by giving him a 3 turn 100% crit is only going to make certain crit units even more stronger like Super Orion, Arjuna, Ibuki, etc. Not every unit in the game have their NPs to rely for sources of damage. You know who is one of the most prime option for that is to get consistent stars, survivability, and 1 crit nuking. Yep you guessed correctly, Merlin. I don’t know if I already explained in my original comment, him getting a 50% battery wouldn’t change a damn thing. Sure it would make certain team compositions better and enable buster looping for some units to be faster and efficient. But his role would still be overlapped with the people who have Oberon. At best he would be a plug-in supporter for Koyan 3 turn farming for those who lacks the moth. Although he would be the best secondary option in comparable to other mixed 50% batteries like Castoria, Waver, Reines etc. Make his role dominant instead.
Yes still to this day merlin is a busted unit. Despite being released with temple of time in year 2, his influence is still felt everywhere in this game. From the existence of break bars to the durability of the invincible comp, merlin still is buster's go to challenge unit for survival scenarios. Do you think merlin needs a buff and if so what would you like to see him get? Thanks for watching as always and supporting the channel! If you'd like to see more be sure to give this video a like and subscribe for more daily content! 🙏
Just to piss people off? yes..🤭
Buff his skill 3, give it a 30% NP charge🤣
@@Triumphal4894Make it 50%
The beautiful timing of this video. lol
@@Triumphal4894 Lmao merlin with 50% battery would be one of the dumbest things (in the good sense) this game has evern seen yet... AND I'M ALL FOR IT
I hope they buff him solely because I don't want to encourage Castoria jellying for people who have him but not Castoria -although the LostBelts are doing that just fine.-
Who says FGO isn't P2W?
Anyone who says Merlin still isn't potent is kidding themselves. He may not see constant use in things like farming but when he does? He's a lynch pin in the team comps.
heres he thing merlin isnt a farmer, thats the mix up in my mind, merlin is for challenge quests and survival.
I mostly use him for farming with either cu caster or saber artoria paired with friend support Koyanskaya. Very doable I would say.
Except most of the game is farming. I dont see why people keep acting like he shouldn't get buffed in an era where the devs are starting to release Servants that make stalling not as useful. Oberon is a prime example.
@@SoccYTDamn, fuck every single target unit then
Bro has carried my team since a lucky bag 2 months after I started
Still lovin merlin. That man is the only reason I didn’t wipe to Goetia in my first time fighting him.
Merlin is the definition of an evergreen unit. Got him during Las Vegas, he definitely is the goat.
I am very thankful to all my veteran friends with the support Merlins I borrowed when I was still new.
Me too Merlin was extremely handy.
Very relatable, especially when your team is lacking survivability for the earlier phase of the game up to goetia
Support Merlin carried me through the 7 singularities
The fact people think this unit is in need of a buff is crazy, the man who made the devs come up with break bars
Yeah how many years ago? Considering we're in an age where units literally solo entire triple break bar fights I don't see this as a point.
nah, the one who made DW develop Break Bars was Robin Hood. He could one shot most content even before Merlin came out.
It's all just blatantly clear attempts to get people to spend -more-
Sure his role as Buster support is kinda replaced by Koyan. But for me, his true worth is his ability to be the "engine" for some long fight strats. His NP is a perfect engine. Once it's started and get stacked, everything will be easier (unless the enemy can remove buffs). Your team can spam NP with no problem. My old favorite strats is Parvati, Mash, and a borrowed Merlin. Looks mismatch, but it works really well. As I said before, Merlin is the main engine of this strats. Parvati as a damage dealer, but she also provide AoE NP charge with her NP (her charm is also nice). So the more she spams it, your team will be able to spam more NP. Mash is for the defensive support. And with Merlin's NP engine and Parvati's occasionally AoE charge, Mash's defense buff can be stacked easily.
I’d rather tamamo for long fights, cooldown reduction is way better for me
I got my Merlin to bond 15 the other day after 3 or 4 years of service. Grailed him, maxed out gold fous, two appends, I couldn't be happier with him. He has served me so well.
Everybody talks about Oberon, but in a challenge quest who you gonna call?
Powercrept: yes, bad: far from it. He may not allow the tactical nuke loop setups as well as say double koyan/oberon, but double merlin in most cases can make you nigh immortal and constantly firing off NPs. The amount of times I've stall scummed fights because I have like 5 instances of his np healing and just constantly firing off my dps nps.
Arts blows Buster out of the water in long fights... unless you have Merlin. He fixes all of Koyan's shortcomings with party damage and lack of survivability, and also amplifies her powerful damage skills. For the Buster meta, he is the missing piece to round things out -- perhaps even more important than Oberon.
no, you wouldn't use Koyanskaya for longer fights in the first place, rather use Double Merlin, Castoria and Merlin or Mash and Merlin.
For the buster meta, you're looking at it the same way you look for the quick meta, end this as fast as possible, if you can't, you lose, that's where Oberon is the GOAT.
23:31 I agree Prisma Cosmos is generally preferable to 2030 on Merlin since he tends not to have trouble with crit stars, but I've found that he also tends to gain NP so well anyway that I'm often not using his NP when charged due to needing to use those slots for damage. As a result, one of my favorite CEs on him over the years for challenge quests has been Iron-Willed Training (or Holy Shroud of Magdalene vs males), which increases DEF and is a permanent 4-star CE. It's a simple effect, but for a CQ that lasts a lot of turns, the damage mitigation adds up and can help him survive enemy crits, which can save runs.
I love my Merlin... Even my Arjuna Alter loves my Merlin... Even my Himiko and Castoria loves my Merlin... He is my very 1st SSR when I started playing last year so he has a special place in my heart...
Woah, that's so lucky! I've wanted him for so long, and I'm still looking for my 1st copy here's to hoping I get him
merlin is still better than lady avalon in my opinion if for no other reason than his np being better (though lady avalon takes that with np levels).
you can argue back and forth over which has the better skills. For example: if you look at both's charisma's: yeah proto has an additional effect but the cooldown is also longer. The main draw of the skill is the charge because it fuels the np spam of not only merlin but everyone else on the team including the dps. I think having that one turn shorter cooldown makes it better than the oc by, to be frank: a good chunk (especially if god forbid you aren't using castoria).
The main reason he is better imo is, as mentioned earlier: the np. The effects lasting longer really adds up on such a spammable np since it adds up to more charge and healing per turn. To put this difference into perspective: an np1 to np1 comparison of the two has lady avalon generating 15% charge per team member per np wheras merlin generates 25%. That's 10% more per unit and 30% more for the party per np. If you actually look at how this plays out: over 10 turns (which is shorter than most cq runs) that's an extra np per unit....per np. Now consider that you are very likely to have more than one np of either unit up at any given time and think about how that all works out. I've tested the two units in multiple cqs against eachother rather extensively. It adds up in Merlin's favour.
To a counterpoint: yes lady avalon gives hp up, not healing which is better. While the effect is better: it is 2k less of the effect per np and unless you're in a fight where the enemy really hits hard: I don't think the added beef really justifies the weaker value, especially considering its less spammable. Also: Yes, lady avalon does have an 80% battery and passively starts with 20%: this is really nice for shorter fghts and in shorter fights, I might agree she is better but shorter fights is also not generally what either unit excells at so I don't think this upside is of that much value. In longer fights: it doesn't make up for Merlin's greater np charge/np as it's on a rather monstrous cooldown.
For the skill we haven't discussed as of yet: the card buff skill; it depends on the team but I would like to make a case here for why I think Merlin's is more practical. The only difference between the two is the card up so why is that better? Well simply put: cq buster support is rarer and therefore more valuable. For arts you have castoria filling the role of a survival based arts support perfectly as is: for buster that doesn't exist. It's merlin or go home. Koyanskaya actively hurts your party, oberon is too cq dependent and honestly not even much of a buster support. The closest thing you have is constantine but he's rare, not on many support lists and far weaker than merlin. Merlin is the choice for longer cq runs with buster. Lady avalon simply is not.
Thanks for coming to my ted talk
Merlin was the OG king of drawn out buff stacking.. I remember getting 6 charismas, 6 hero creations on any single target or aoe black grail max servants while using Jeanne, Leonidas and Georgios to tank just to see how monstrous one's damage was while waiting for plugsuit cooldowns after the tanking two or three dies..
The answer is still yes, absolutely yes. He isn't for burst power, but he is THE sustain God. You summon him and Castoria, it doesn't matter what else you have summoned as you have already won the game. Also, while they didn't get the damage ceiling buster got, arts got to join in on the bullshit fun too. Pair him with tamamo and a 50 charger to get things started fast, and you get a ridiculous np generation engine that allows you to pop your dps' np every other turn minimum.
From how many people use my support Merlin after lb6 dropped, I can say he still still highly used and desired.
Merlin was the first unit I ever saved for way back in the day when he came out. Haven't stopped using him since.
I think the fact that his NP lasts 5 turns still makes him more valuable than Lady Avalon; it's really confusing to me that they didn't give her the 5 turn treatment if they were gonna make her a blue copy of Merlin.
I think the fact that she's arts would have made 5T too OP given how much they should be able to loop.
@@Astavyastataa....Merlin is also arts though.
To answer the question though it's balance. LA gimmick she technically does everything Merlin does and then some, buy with lower cooldowns as a trade off and she has more instant batteries.
@@Adam-yq9xe Merlin's card buff is Buster, though. Everything that Merlin offers is at least as valuable for Arts units as for Buster if not for that; the opportunity cost for a unit that provides further Arts or other offensive buffs is the trade-off built into not only the balance of Merlin but of Buster relative to Arts. Proto Merlin, by giving buffs to Arts cards, would have been a straight upgrade to Merlin and would have made Arts strictly superior to Buster if there had been no tradeoffs for Proto Merlin being able to also provide an Arts buff (which better synergizes with her _own_ kit for offensive purposes than Merlin's Buster buff does as well).
@@nevisysbryd7450 Merlin is an Arts unite bit a Buster Support. Also if your using LA arts Support on herself you are using her wrong.
@@Adam-yq9xe You can always use LA as an amazing Art DPS with double Castoria or Castoria+Tamamo or you can even go solo. There actually some people who used og Merlin as main DPS.
Merlin is insane and a main member of immortal comps. His NP is my favourite to provide healing constantly. Him and Jeanne go hand in hand.
I still use him quite a bit. I think his kit is just fine
Merlin has a bit of a crush on me. I pulled a copy on his launch banner, then got another for a GSSR, then got a THIRD copy on another GSSR along with Caster Nero!
And he's still fantastic, especially for longer fights! I cheesed a couple challenge quests with double-Merlin Jeanne.
Let me just say that Merlin + Tamamo is a really fun combo to run in long fights.
I got my Merlin by pure luck last year and he has carried my sorry butt through so much of the storyline since then. Especially once I got Castoria and Himiko I put him in the Invincible comp every time I have the opportunity and laugh my way to the win screen. I haven't had a chance to do it yet, but I'm curious to see what a longer term Buster team would be like using him and Koyan in a pair supporting a longer lasting Buster unit. Like Tamamo and Castoria I think the two cover each other's weaknesses really well, and I'm eager to see that plan be put into action against the right target.
Just did the CCC interlude. I refused to buy the debuffs for Kiara and instead ran a stall team of double Merlin castoria. Took me 104 turns but managed to beat her.
If you don't get a buff in 7 years after your release you know you are doing something right
Merlin is still pretty good ngl. I just used him with Castoria and Himiko for the last boss fight on LB6 and he only died because of bad RNG. His invul helped a lot on awkward turns where I didn't have Castoria buffs or her NP.
Merlin is a staple in my Vangogh+eldritch girls team and any buster crit, he is such a comfort pick, i have him np5 and heals have never been an issue.
You could ,if you really want to use him to farm, add him into artoria/ caster cu teams and have the extra dmg through the 3 waves, in cases where thats an issue.
One CE I can recommend for Merlin is Meeting of the Heirs if you find 2030 to be too slow.
If anything merlin could do with a np buff to make his first heal increase the max hp of himself and his allys similar to how proto merlin just increases the max hp for her party probably not necessary but would be nice
Merlin + Tamamo just wrecks some challenge quests. That’s why I’m looking forward to proto Merlin.
Merlin's perfectly fine, he's just not a farming unit. Usually.
My first bond 10 unit and I still use him in both CQ and Story Quests. He's still good! (Even at NP2)
I wouldn't say he's broken anymore. Content has caught up to him, and there's many other Servants that can perform on an equal or even higher level than him. That said, he's still really good, which is saying a lot for a unit released so many years ago with 0 buffs since then.
I'd say there's only one other unit that can do what he does, and it also happens to be a merlin...
@@Khadroth I didn't mean in the way to do exactly what he does. More as in how he impacts the game. When he released, nothing came close to the impact he had on the gameplay, easily breaking every challenge quest you could throw at him. Nowadays, there's many other units that make a comparably strong impact (albeit in various different ways) that grant them equal or higher value than Merlin in terms of overall usefulness.
I've had a Merlin of my own since he first released, and mine has seen less and less use over the years. He's still a solid unit, but he's not the must-have kind of unit he once was.
@@Milennin He's still quite useful even on a developed NA account like mine he gets use. Sure he's not a farmer, but he never was much of a farmer with 20% gauge. Opted to roll for him on JP with an account that is under a year old and he still helps out with story and CQ's.
Any time double castoria won’t get me through a fight Merlin castoria will… they are like Anakin and obi-wan two parts of the same unit, at least for me. But if they buff his third skill to make it a. Last 3 turns or b. Give 30% np charge I wouldn’t be mad…
Merlin ult is still broken not even proto merlin can replace him. Merlin is still the best healer until they release someone that can do better then him but so far no one has come close.
I got him from my gssr, had no hopes but my friend told me to do it and I got him, he is amazing :D
Hmm....you put the Habenyan video *between* Oberon and Merlin.
Lore accurate, nice.
Honestly, one shouldn't really care about the enemy's NP damage mods, like Morgan hitting Merlin's Round Table Knight trait. Her NP kills him either way.
He might not be the best for farming anymore but, for sure, this guy is cracked and needs zero buffs lol
Those heels in the artwork behind the chat... damn
He's great for Immortal team. Morgan, Castoria, and Merin tho it's not a great setup for lostbelt bosses
That double merlin comp where you just never die.... amazing
Merlin's still good, but he's been shuffled off into the CQ support sunset with Tamamo Caster and Jeanne Ruler.
Decided to roll on the surprise banner despite my better instincts and ended up bringing him home in ONE TICKET! Talk about EX Luck!
Anyway, I wanted to add a consideration to Merlin team comps, that being Miss Crane. She is a surprisingly good compliment, with the star gen and absorb skills she puts on a target to set up Merlin's 100% crit. She also has the amazing party-wide invul for her second skill, which could tide you over if you're still waiting on Merlin's second skill to cool down. Just switch her in and she'll give you everything you need, then get that second Buster support back in the next turn.
I once use Jeanne+Merlin+Waver in a long fight, lol I won at turn 100. Shows how this dude could turn a normal Ruler like Jeanne into an absolute Immortal.
My second SSR, would recommend 😊
Merlin is so busted that they made sure to never make support caster np stack with itself like his the fact they made Oberon specifically not stack him shows how he still lives rent free in the devs head .
I got lucky and started the game around when merlin was releasing and got prisma cosmos soon after as well and used him and my starter heracles to just cheese out all of story as I played the game and punch way above my weight class in events when i was starting off.
He's definitely still strong but it gets pretty hard to justify using a healing servant now that so many bosses will just have full team instakill level damage on AoE attacks on current boss fights so I'd rather just crank out as much damage as possible quickly instead of hoping you can stall out with Merlin.
KoyanLight and Oberon will get you more charge and damage, and Castoria has the better invuln, but it's not like what made Merlin good went anywhere. His kit's got a little something for just about everyone between his skills and NP, and when it comes to stall teams I still consider him a premier pick and an essential part of the Castoria immortal engine. Power creep and a greater variety of top-tier supports have simply made it so that Merlin isn't the sole must-have option anymore, and that's probably a healthier place for the game to be in.
is this guy can see the future lmao a merlin banner is comming
Well, not 'broken' broken, but he's still useful.
Merlin is still a crucial part of the invincible teams. Merlin isn't perfect, but the fact that he covers the weaknesses of Castoria (the argubly best unit) means the two significantly improve each other's ability to protect the party. That alone would argubly make Merlin a 10/10 unit and crucial to the meta.
@@RealLifeIronMan Crucial part is OCs not Merlin yes he is great for invul comp but arguably the least important one
@@RealLifeIronMan its more that proto merlin exists and its just straight up merlin but better and arts so its less that hes not a part of the invincible comp, more that he got replaced
@@zeph519 I see your points, but the OC units (Himiko & Morgan) are Buster aligned, so OG Merlin works better for those OC units. That being said, I understand the invul comp isn't everything, so yes, more generally, proto Merlin is better, as it fits into arts teams.
@@RealLifeIronMan well to that i would answer that proto merlin is an oc unit too, so she works into the more stallish versions of the team but i guess your point is fair too
LB6 made me wish I had Merlin, I could have gotten away with the Himiko invincibility comp
The only one that can't be replaced in the invincible comp is Castoria. You can use Reines or Morgan instead of Himiko for spammable Overcharge. You can use any healer for the 3rd slot, the best one being Tamamo since she gives 50% PARTYWIDE charge at max Overcharge (really easy to get on this comp) on top of Skill Cooldown Reduction. Medea Lily (gives Buff Removal Immunity) and Asclepius (more F2P-friendly and gives party Debuff Immunity) are also pretty good. Merlin isn't the best healer for it, he's not even needed for the comp.
@@lu70lotried that with Tamamo, not as good in the Himiko one. She wants Crit stars, and Merlin is who provides them constantly
@@lu70loon NA Reines has yet to receive that buff on her NP. And besides between the 3 (Morgan/Himiko) Reines if the worst by far to put in that comp for the overcharge role
@@gast321 Himiko makes her own stars with her Skill 1. With the Quick first card buff and Mighty Chain in JP, the stars are less needed too, but NA doesn't have that yet I guess.
@@alexanderlevi9558 Agreed.
Im just glad to have pulled two copies of him on this GSSR
Pretty much merlin has still a key role for buster teams. Oberon is the buster support for np damage and charge, koyns for raw damage and skills cd and well merlin is the buster support but with the survivability and star gen a but, so if u have all 3 you are good to go
Is he good? No, he's great.
Is he broken or meta defining? No, but he's S tier and a small buff could push him to S+.
I did use him today to beat Cernunnos and in an arts team, I tried a lot of things including a buster setup and the truth is, if his S3 crit lasted 3 turns maybe it would have worked better...
I feel like he was already power crept enough to justify a small buff but just a small one. (and that buff can't be to his NP, his NP is what makes him a good support and an obvious choice to CQs, if anything it's his buster supporting that needs to be adjusted slightly)
(Given his s3 name is Hero Creation, it would be fitting to give it a special mod against evil)
Would you look at that, surprise Merlin banner. Can you predict the future?
I had a chuckle about this last night when I heard, because the major reason I made this video was to remind people of why he was still good in the new buster systems.
merlin needs something like a 30% charge on his S3. That's it, he doesn't get to Oberon number of damage but he's far better as a boss fight support
Not broken but still a Goat
Still vital to any stall team, and is better in that regard compared to Lady Avalon.
When I’m lazy to strategize I always slap Merlin into my team lol
Casgil, waver, and Merlin is a stall comp I use sometimes
Does Merlin’s NP stack on itself? Like if I had only one Merlin but used the NP around 2-3 times before the original effects wear out?
Yes his np stacks
that has always been the point of good old double Merlin, you can easily have 3-4 GoA stacks from each Merlin at the same time, with double it's 8 on each.
Still great. I'd be lying if I said I used him often though. I only ever use him for immortal setup.
People that say Merlin could use a buff just mean they wish he was a 50% charger.
If only my Merlin wasn't bond 13, i would still use him regularly
i just wish he would get like a banner or something, i only started the game last year 😭
My second choice in CQ's after you know who
MLB Prisma cosmos CE really broken on him, even more on nigh immortality comp with Castoria and Morgan. Even better on long run on turns or CQ.
he’s still good, but he does need something to make him more relevant
After the Oberon banner ends Merlin will be my next goal, i wanted him ever since i first saw him
Not at all but still pretty useful
All this talk of merlin reminds me that Miyu gets her buff in a few months. While I still think she's pretty niche it'll be a huge glow up for arguably one of the worst 4 stars in the game right now
He just needs 30% more battery to make him top tier
Caster Skadi does need a buff, her kit is way to simple, and that would give some spice to quick again
The buff to Skadi was: here, new Skadi. OG Skadi could certainly use love though her skills are dated. It's strange to think about but the only 50% charger I can think of that has gotten skill buffs is Reines if we disregard buffs to day 1 Waver who was just so bad because they had no idea what they were doing so they went and made him a lot better.
Agree on the Merlin + 2030 combination, even with single Merlin I find 2030 overkill and would rather have Prisma Cosmos. Though that might be due to me frequently running Merlin in teams with Jeanne and her having her own passive star gen skill albeit a rather lackluster one (buff the rest of her skills already!)
I have a level 100 Prisma Cosmos since it's my go to CE for Jeanne but sometimes I think about leveling my second oen to 100 just since I tend to throw it on Merlin when using him a Jeanne together.
Gotta say I want to kick myself since I have never considered using The One Who Desires Salvation on Caster Artoria before, probably because I don't pay much attention to overcharge boosting CEs outside of one and done cases like Arash. I might have to put that one on my list of potential CEs to level to 100 when I'm burning out my FP on the Guda Rerun later this year.
Now it has me wondering about other CEs I might have laying around that I'm overlooking. Have you ever considered doing a video on underappreciated CEs?
Is it true that the AI target support casters the most? Very interesting, I wonder what other behaviors do the AI has...
Only in certain fights. The 3-million-HP Salter memorial quest, for example. She wouldn’t attack anyone but Merlin while he was on the field. It’s very obvious when that kind of AI is in use.
3 merlin using lady avalon 😂
Any suggestion's for Command Codes or append skill for Merlin?
I like to give him crit star generation codes, as well as the party wide crit damage buff on his buster card. He can also make good use of debuff/enemy buff removal codes, since he is usually used in CQs and longer fights where enemies stacking Atk/Crit damage buffs can be very dangerous.
Merlin when he came out was literally game breaking. I do believe he has fallen by the wayside a bit. I also believe Proto-Merlin or Miss Avalon is flat out better. I think he could use a buff to distinguish himself and at least reach parity. I think he really shines as a support when fighting bosses in harder content. That role I think is a bit overlooked. I also think he is out shined by servants like Castoria who can be useful supports both in farming and in boss fighting. I think because he is so important for who he is that Merlin belongs in the top tier of supports and he currently isn't there in my opinion. I believe he could use a buff.
Any community recommendations for lady avalon vs og merlin? My 2024 NA priorities are 1.rulerskadi 2. Some merlin. help me pick the #2 slot (gssr spender only)
if you have either himiko or morgan as well as castoria, merlin would be good. To keep it a buck, what merlin shines in best is stall comps, proto merlin kinda outshines him when you want to do normal clears (assuming your doing an arts team). But merlin really shines hard on hard stall, if you have morgan (or himiko), him, and castoria you can form the immortal team. Proto merlin is also pretty decent on stall teams as well, but shes slightly worse because her healing is worse, and she synergizes less well with morgan (a buster unit). Thats like the only scenario where i would really say you would "need" merlin over proto merlin, is if your interested in the invincible team and you already have morgan or himiko.
in summary, if your box is generally more arts focused, proto merlin is better almost 100% of the time. Merlin is good if you dont have koyanskaya for buster setups, but if you do have koyanskaya its hard to justify him. Merlin is best on stall teams, but proto merlin can kind of do it too. Generally id recommend proto merlin.
Merlins on the new years gssr that has caster skadi (who is good for quick teams), merlin, super orion, himiko, and holmes (unfortunately), so you can try that gssr unless youve already picked a gssr for yourself
@@lordradiance2530 mostly interested in faster clears, i have all major supports, no morgan, but himiko. Seems like a coin toss. Maybe I’ll roll gssr on merlin and see from there. Timing suggests getting ruler skadi then spending leftover on lady a rather than summon in march for merlin
@@StoryModeGamer alright, yeah i definitely wouldnt recommend merlin. Proto merlin is definitely better for faster clears, hell even plushie uses her in some min turns.
@@lordradiance2530 Thanks, Got Oberon BTW! EX Luck this anni. Hope the same to you if you play NA.
@@StoryModeGamer i got c- luck, used 660 on vitch, and now i used 500+ on oberon, didnt get him, but this is the one time ill be willing to whale
Is nightingale a good substitute?
I just feel like most people saying he doesn't need a buff are holding on to some ridiculous rose tinted goggles. Does he need a huge buff? No, and I think when people hear buffs they think the world's biggest buffs that make them ultra broken so I have to have them level. He's been here in the game for years without any changes and it's about time they expand him a bit beyond the extreme stalling niche he holds. Because for me it only takes one servant to potential just downgrade him out of that niche (we're 8 years into the game now, it wouldn't be surprising) and when that happens he will be someone who's considered a "if I can't use x other chars I use him" card. And it's not like you can't emulate a similar stall situation already with double castoria tamamo anyways.
He needs something on his kit that makes him generally a good slot in for all modes but not the extreme dominant one and 20% np battery ain't it in an era where players have access to so many 50% chargers.
I mean... if people wanna buff Merlin, i'm not gonna say no
Bothisvata, such a strange pronounce lol.
i don’t have merlin so he’s mid
I dont got castoria so she's mid
As a non Merlin master, I can confirm🗿
Other than the Immortal Comp, I'd say Merlin is only slightly above Tamamo's level. His Hero Creation is usually wasted for me because there aren't enough stars to guarantee a crit, and the RNG crit never hits. I think he needs some star absorption on Hero Creation to help guarantee crits, but I also kind of want to add a 30% battery to it. Merlin would be an interesting substitution for Oberon in some Buster Looping comps if you needed consistent damage over the first 3 turns instead of a massive spike on turn 3, but it would depend on the battery cooldowns on the loopers. He definitely wouldn't be better than Oberon, but Double Koyan+Merlin would be kind of like Triple Skadi.
The 2 buster servants that can farm with merlin to spread the dmg through the 3t are Artoria saber(kaleido) and Caster Cu, i ve been using it and its pretty nice, but yes i like to use him more in teams for longer fights.
Hey guys do you this he will get buff and if so what kind of buff could it be ?
I don´t think he is broken in fact his kit is good but outside of challengequests not really usable. If they were to give him an upgrade to include him in the current buster Meta then he would probably be the best support in the game
I'm going to say it... I'm a day 1 player... I literally CAN'T understand the love/hype for Merlin (outside of very early FGO stall teams). I listen to the explanations but something just doesn't click for me. To me he always felt like a waste of a slot when we have Waver in a game that is "mostly" about farming team builds.
Say what you want, nowadays - Merlin definitely need a buff to be fairly usable. And a strong buff at that, not like that Skadi NP joke
P.S To be fair with "need a buff" - i will add an actual suggestion. I would like to see Merlin's s1 buffed. NP charge must be upped to 50% AoE, and maybe up attack to 30%-40% too, but the charge is a must. THEN he will actually be really good, as good as Castoria at least. And since the devs added her - they clearly okay with this lvl of usefullness in the game.
A team-wide 50% battery sounds too ridiculous lol. Enabling him to support Buster “reloading” without needing Oberon in certain challenge quests (90++ is a different topic though). Instead of a team-wide 50% battery why not just give him a 30% in his hero creation instead? Its targetable for one ally. Adding his first skill, he becomes a 50% mixed charger like Castoria, and Waver without breaking the game again XD.
Imo the only suggested buff that he really needs is an increase of the amount of turns of his 100% crit. 100% crit is one hell of a drug for a lot of crit oriented servants and having only 1 turn of it is a big downside. The best part about it is that its not tied to a card-type, the 100% crit buff in his hero creation is universal meaning he can be used as a general crit support outside of Buster comps. This buff alone should still bring him back into relevancy considering you can min turn bosses consistently in terms of crit dmg. Buster is going to get even stronger with this regard also. Buster is already the strongest card type in terms of crits and Merlin getting a 3 turn 100% crit buff is only going to make things even funnier in the long run. Like as mentioned before, this crit buff is universal which allows him to be placed in other card types for crit supporting.
@@Mitsuru-Miki I literally just want him to have a 50% total battery and he could never be touched ever again and I'd be happy. As it is now, outside of himiko teams I generally don't use Merlin.
@@SoccYT even if he does get a 50% battery by buffing his hero creation, giving him a targetable 30%. I doubt it would enable him buster farm. At best he would a plugsuited support, in which would make Merlin the strongest buster reloading support except Oberon who generally allows for more units to 3 turn farm. His best role in the game is for stalling and Bossfights. I don’t really have a problem if he doesn’t have a 50% battery. Its nice to have and is appreciated but I don’t think he needs it. At this point we would be wishing every God tier support in the game to have a 50% targetable battery to make them usable. Yes the game is mainly farming, and merlin doesn’t have a role in it, but for CQs and bosses, he still has a very dominant role. We no longer use him as much but what he does is still very strong. Even outside of Invincible team comps composed of Merlin + Castoria + Morgan/Himiko, he is still in my backline to support my main DPS’ crits in a bossfight for 1 turn and obliterate 1 bar with it. For min turning he is essential for me to be at least the final supprt unit to have in the back when everyone else is dead so that he can provide maximum burst dmg plus an jnvul to my DPS just in case things go south.
@@Mitsuru-Miki The problem with Merlin in a whole is - the servants power bar raised so high nowdays, you do not need ever to use a stall or something slow in cq. Why bother when u can use one omniteam to farm everything - free quests, story quests, cq, lottos. There's like 1% content in the game left, that you cannon romp-stomp with onmnifarming team. And thou Merlin is still very good in this scenario - i'd say beind good in 1% of the content is equal to being bad. Sad truth of the powercreep.
@@glebscheglov9291 I don’t have or see a problem in that case scenario. Its a viable “option” to be used when such cases are too expensive or costly for one’s chaldea. It’s not a matter of Merlin supposedly fitting in *EVERY* form of team composition to make him viable, but instead making his strengths even more apparent in this day and age. He is not as dominant as he was before the concept of looping, but his role (albeit very niche and optional) is still quite strong when you need it. He is far from being a “bad” unit despite the many different options and alternatives that we have now today especially buster with existences such as Koyan and Oberon. Like I said, he has almost, if not zero roles in farming which at this point dictates the entire game. The options you could use him in is very minuscule in today’s content. As optional as his roles are, its still quite strong and we should be aiming it to be stronger. I’m not denying that he needs a buff to be at least relevant in the modern content of FGO. But the expectations of him or any supports in that matter needing to get a 50% battery to be at least edging out from being called bad (especially teamwide) is delusional. Currently till this day his skills are still basic but strong. And not only that he belongs to the strongest card type for Crits. Him getting a buff in his hero creation by giving him a 3 turn 100% crit is only going to make certain crit units even more stronger like Super Orion, Arjuna, Ibuki, etc. Not every unit in the game have their NPs to rely for sources of damage. You know who is one of the most prime option for that is to get consistent stars, survivability, and 1 crit nuking. Yep you guessed correctly, Merlin. I don’t know if I already explained in my original comment, him getting a 50% battery wouldn’t change a damn thing. Sure it would make certain team compositions better and enable buster looping for some units to be faster and efficient. But his role would still be overlapped with the people who have Oberon. At best he would be a plug-in supporter for Koyan 3 turn farming for those who lacks the moth. Although he would be the best secondary option in comparable to other mixed 50% batteries like Castoria, Waver, Reines etc. Make his role dominant instead.