FGO Hot Takes : "Is Proto Merlin just better Merlin ?"

[@BlackieHunter]

Ironically if she came out during year 3 or 4 of FGO it would have blown a lot of minds in my opinion, but we reached a point where they can release a Merlin level servant and it's no longer that big of a deal, not to say she's not great but I think most players are looking for new ways to farm or CQ rather than have a variation of good old Merlin

[@foualter102]

I agree with this statement, thats why when i have read the skills, and need NP2 above, i just feel that Castoria is still way better, and Proto Merlin is a good option to have or a variety to castoria if you like... but well she is still a good servant to have if you are still lacking some arts support

[@PlushieMistress]

@@foualter102 you dont need np2 or above tho

[@brucewayne8550]

@@PlushieMistress Definitely not necessary, but you can't deny that the jump from 5% to 10% and 5K Max HP isn't a big deal for her playstyle.

[@amari7782]

@@addievargas1590 but castoria and xu fu are still better at farming than her

[@Cav829]

The annoying thing about Lady Avalon is if she were Quick, it would have been so much more useful. Arts farming is beyond solved. By getting your own Castoria, you take care of the big piece of the puzzle, and you can even take Tammy for free now. And now Xu Fu exists as the off support in arts plug farm teams. Quick on the other hand ends up having to take a Buster support (Merlin) and an Arts support (Castoria) if they want to stall in CQs and thus it ends up an inefficient mess (or you just use say Gogh who has enough team-wide protection to cover for Skadi's infrequent evade help).

[@MrFish-sm4ks]

Tldr: sussy imposter Merlin is really just Merlin with arts, you pull her if you enjoy arts starts or lack regular Merlin

[@addievargas1590]

uring y youtubecommm.com/watch?v=hiBEdHk59sK Merlin is really just Merlin with arts, you pull her

[@kristianschuff1723]

Or if you don't have Morgan and want to run your own zero damage team with a generic arts dps

[@lolmasters8595]

I don't have Merlin but has Miss Crane😆

[@trianglepapaya3654]

Personally, I feel like people sometimes forget to mention that Merlin has shorter cooldowns and a longer lasting and therefore more easily stackable NP, which in certain situations can be better than Proto Merlin. I think they're on equal playing field and you should just take one over the other depending on the situation.

[@kristianschuff1723]

Well yes and no she's on arts teams which just spam their nps anyway So even though the overall charge is lower( gap shrinks with np levels) overall your gonna fire her np more often The o.c increase is more than worth extra turn of couldown cause castoria And the invincibilities are more less gonna block the same numbers of nps Since she delays their np by a turn

[@abrawolf]

The cooldown is kind of mitigated by tomamo though

[@PlushieMistress]

"Stall is dead" as in there is no longer any variation regarding different strats because one of them is so dominant that all other stall teams are made irrelevant.

[@wingi91]

I dunno.... depends if you actually got the most dominant comp or not. don't think many ftps will have most of the best possible comps. so I wouldn't call it irrelevant if it's possibly the only other comp that some ppl may have.

[@PlushieMistress]

@@wingi91 true, but most other stall comps are also really SSR heavy, things like QSH and jeanne are both teams that also have merlin in them.

[@elontusk9167]

@@wingi91 I mean compared to things like buster looping with Oberon + Double Koyan + AOE 5 star with 30% battery, I'd say Himiko + Castoria + Friend Support Merlin is more accessible since there's one less SSR needed

[@wingi91]

@@elontusk9167 oh definitley. why i said what I said is that I just hope this fact doesn't discourage ppl from finding out other means of playing the game because sometimes suboptimal is the only option you got. esp for newer players and the e- luck crowd without deep pockets.

[@lunatickoala]

@@wingi91 It's not that hard even as a F2P so long as one focuses on power, and the supports used in the dominant stall team are still power picks in arts DPS teams so it doesn't really take much sacrifice either.

[@thatoneguy2242]

Can’t wait for the Proto Merlin Fuuma Solo :D

[@Endymion1007]

Merlin is so broken that breakbars exist because of him, on the other hand he's old as fuck and yet he's still broken to this day, so yes Merlin is better

[@lu70lo]

13:53 Castoria+Tamamo+Overcharger(Reines/Himiko/Morgan) is better. Nothing compares to her overcharged NP, 50% partywide NP charge AND skill cooldown reduction.

[@shaunaburst5638]

I still believe that Pmerlin is good as she is Watched Touhousniper's thoughts on her and one common issue that peeps sees is they aren't satisfied with her NP being tied to NP level and it makes them think that she is a P2W servant to get to use her at full potential...TBH she is already good enough being at NP 1...others think that OG Merlin is a better than PMerlin cuz having that HP heal per turn which is a huge thing rather than PMerlin giving a HP buff... Imo it's not necessary to have more NP levels if you are just for NP spamming...main purpose of the Arts system is to spam NP as soon as possible and repeat the cycle again and again...

[@PlushieMistress]

Yes i do not believe she is pay to win, if anything OG merlin only having the heal scale with his NP is too little of an incentive and does not reward people who roll high NP in any way. Normal DPS servants gets a base damage boost every NP level and nobody cries about it but god forbid the support gets 2.5 extra NP gauge on their NP. even if we count 3 turns its a net gain of 7.5 NP

[@shaunaburst5638]

@Plushie Mistress also if you take back years ago when OG Merlin was released on Solomon... I don't recall not even a single one that complain that OG Merlin is good the more NP levels and it's required on getting more copies so this brings me the question "Why do they need to single out Pmerlin now and didn't did the same thing a few years back when OG Merlin was released?"

[@angellisanguyen9426]

@@shaunaburst5638 Merlin was released during a time where looping wasn't a thing and enemies weren't as strong. He was also released over five years ago, meaning it is very likely that people who wanted a merlin already had a merlin as he had at least 5 banners. If you didn't have merlin, Miyu also got a banner and buff almost a year ago, who gives 10% NP per turn at all NP levels for 3 turns alongside 1k heal as well, with the same crit star generation. The only thing that set Miyu and Merlin apart was the active skills and the fact that Merlin was over 5 turns instead of 3. Now we see P.Merlin with Merlin's 5% gain and Miyu's 3 turns and we think to ourselves, "wow this Merlin's NP is really bad compared to the servants released 3-5 years ago", and then we see the potential 10% locked behind NP levels, which means we have to get more copies of a servant for them to be on par for something we might have already had, so it's not unreasonable to think it's very scummy. Now I'm not saying P.Merlin is comparable to Miyu in terms of value or is worse than OG Merlin, no one wants higher NP levels on supports since DPS benefits the most from the extra coins and the extra damage, and that's why everyone was happy with NP1 merlin having all he needs. Yet LS wants to encourage more copies of supports to maximize efficiency, which feeds on people's FOMO. While other supports also get scaling through NP levels, Skadi and castoria are more notorious for looping, meaning their NP is not the main concern of their kit, while Merlin prefers longer battles where his NP can be used a lot. Merlin does gets more heal, but 1k heal a turn is already huge. When you tie NP gain to levels however, regardless of whether you're looping or stalling, NP gain is always valuable, and locking that behind more copies is extremely noticeable. So, why are people picking on P.Merlin? She's a year 7 servant with a kit of a year 2 servant mixed with a year 4 servant that takes the worst parts of those servant's NPs and locks the better part of one of their NPs behind not just extra levels, but straight up NP5. At this point, it's a waste of SQ to get P.Merlin for gameplay unless you are a whale, are bored, or you lack a miyu/merlin or tamamo/castoria (even then, Hans and Xu Fu are good f2p alternatives), and it's natural for people to voice that, especially when Ibuki and Skadi are released at the same time as her.

[@TheOnePieceFanZ]

@@PlushieMistress Why do we need an incentive to roll for more NP's though? The more the game leans to making NP levels just prestige the better imo.

[@kristianschuff1723]

Even at np 1 you will generally fire her np at least once every 3 turns People forget she's on arts teams Which spam arts chains Which means more nps So her buffs stacks easily

[@Sasori2105]

Considering she was the only SSR I managed to get this summer, I was hoping I would have more use for her. Like regular Memelin, she's aesthetically pleasing but not really necessary in most comps. I feel she's really gonna shine during the next Nero/Gil Fest where we cant take double servants. But if you already have all the big supports then there's no reason to roll for her outside of preference/love (which is all that matters at the end of the day).

[@amari7782]

Probably is they also might just not do any new Gil/Nero fest and just replace them with grail front lottos

[@starethequiet8633]

Since I don't have Castoria I found out she can make a Castoria + ProtoMerlin + Arts Looper team loop. I use this team with Summer Ibuki all the time for farming, but i'm assuming any Arts looper can work. Not sure if it can work without a Kscope on the Arts Looper though.

[@amari7782]

@@starethequiet8633 honestly you can swap proto Merlin out for xu fu or Paracelsus

[@PGRubA]

I've been really enjoying your new narrated videos. Kinda reminds me of Touhousniper's, just as insightful but without the condescending tone. Keep up the good work!

[@rejoicingfakepriest201]

One reason to roll for ProtoMerlin: *She's cute.*

[@liawct1867]

Based

[@rejoicingfakepriest201]

@@liawct1867 if you like 'em, roll for 'em. That's my principle.

[@liawct1867]

@@rejoicingfakepriest201 thanks for enlightened me Mr Priest 🙏

[@Thanawat_CH]

Another one is She can be a good step sister material

[@rejoicingfakepriest201]

@@Thanawat_CH Does she tend to stuck in different places tho? 😏

[@gummiemonkey2022]

They have similar kits but the main difference is the np. Merlin has a heal that can repeatedly occur while lady has the flat heal that occurs everytime u heal. For stalling sometimes Merlin is better if u need continuous healing as opposed to lady’s heal. This is even more so if ur up against an aoe dmging boss since u cant just perm invul with castoria on those fights

[@TheLonelyMoon]

xu is surprisingly good, heal, np charge, those massive pp crit stars is insane

[@randomperson2499]

Been using her a lot in JP alongside xu fu and man the stars per turn are just insane and they're both able to stack their Nps easily. Overall I think people have gotten too spoiled, trying to say she's bad when she's not, but I guess most people nowadays want someone they can farm with and she's not meant to be a farmer.

[@lu70lo]

Arts crit comps can just equip two 2030s. With Proto Merlin's overcharged NP it becomes 26 stars total. That's just the guaranteed stars, not taking star gen from attacks into account. Also Summer BB (for locking base Arts cards) gives an extra guaranteed 12 stars.

[@Zeke1460]

I still prefer regular merlin bc he’s buster. The inherent card damage is better for buster. Also healing per turn lasting longer is better than a 1 time max hp increase. The only thing I prefer on her is the np overcharge on her charisma.

[@chazz30000]

IMHO they missed an opportuinty but not making her a quick support servant. First off quick servants need any support they can get. Second there would be nice symmetry set up Merlin is boosters, Castoria is arts and Prot-Merlin is quick support.

[@frostedsouls]

I've waited since the reveal of her in the animated fate prototype to get her in fgo. Just like Morgan I NP5d her day one and I don't regret it. Worth every penny. Now I just need enough grails to lvl 120 her

[@monte8901]

Arts Merlin, Buster Merlin, when Quick Merlin?

[@justtosmash9551]

Someone made a theory that if it does happen It might be Abe no siemi and a merlin face on top of that

[@watashielshaeddo5454]

I feel like if lasagna gave her another party evade or CD reduction for 1 turn, she would become the art support to pick for CQs alongside castoria. Overall not a bad servant, doesn't fit in most art teams due to her long CD. It's as if they knew ibuki's weakness and decided to pair ibuki up with proto merlin. They are like tailored made for each other. If you dont want to get 1 shot, ibuki lowers crit rate for the enemy while pMerlin gives ibuki HP up which is beneficial for her passive. We also have to consider the star generations from both p merlin and ibuki and the -1 CD from Ibuki's skill that you can use on P merlin to lower her CD

[@yopoxikeweapescai9066]

Ah yes, the perfect support for percival

[@thenewworldorder655]

Honestly, I still prefer OG Merlin, for the simple fact that he's much better at soloing aoe bosses, especially assassins like Aphrodite.

[@kristianschuff1723]

How do you figure that he solo's better? Not that u should ever have to solo anything with her since just bring a friends castoria or your own doesn't matter and any dps you want and you just win( most easy access zero damage set up)

[@mochii813]

​@@kristianschuff1723 I think they're just coping that Merlin isn't the top dog anymore and never was lmao

[@TheOnePieceFanZ]

I think they should have tied only max hp or np charge to np level not both. It feels more p2w for me than usual, since the most rolled servants are supports and they usually worked much better on low np levels compared to dps servants.

[@PlushieMistress]

She still works amazing at np1 tho, they are not crippling this servant and then coming back to require higher NP level for decent performance, they are further boosting the servant for people who do go for higher NP levels.

[@TheOnePieceFanZ]

@@PlushieMistress I agree that she is already very solid on np 1. For me it's just the fact that you do actually miss out on much better results on lower np levels, compared to other support servants where the difference is negligible.

[@Kuroyuqiqi]

For a person that doesn't have a Castoria, I believe getting her is better for your Arts-centric CQ comp. The reason is that, while Xu Fu is great alternative to her, she suffers from lack of survivability due to 3 stars stat. Also, she is basically a sittting duck after all of her buffs wear off in 3 turns, making her kind of a dead weight when her buffs are down as she doesn't have any way to drive her own NP without sacrificing others in the long run, while proto Merlin can give basically a permanent NP charge per turn to your team with her NP Tl;dr: while Xu Fu is great in terms of buffing an Arts-centric DPS, proto Merlin gives a better balance on party survivability and utility while providing a great amount of DPS buffing for the team Disclaimer: this is strictly my opinion, and by all means NOT a way to put a bad light on any side as both of them is still a very good characters to invest into, so having both of them is prolly the best case scenario for u guys

[@luthfimisbah5103]

Ah yes, my Special Gong Bullet #3 (Overcharge is good for my Chen Gong)

[@JaimeNyx15]

I don't have my own Castoria in JP (just made a new account recently), but I did manage to snag Proto-Merlin. I'm happy to have her.

[@MaouNobunaga]

Bonkers in CQs and Buff stacking, just like Merlin.

[@id10terror15]

I wonder how she holds up now that Johanna is out?

[@kanon3452]

I got her because she is f-ing adorable, and I'm happy she's an art support so I can team her with my lv120 Lanling. I joke that fgo needs instant $ so Pmerlin NP5 gives 10NP gain but then she is already very strong with NP1, and nobody's gonna stay there wait for 3 turns just to get that 30NP.

[@sayu3555]

Hi I know this comment is a year old but I’ll try my luck anyway HAHAH. How do you use her with Lanling?

[@supershadow1376]

Merlin=buster Proto merlin=arts

[@ShiraFuyu2022]

I honestly can deal with the Longer Cool down on her S2-3. If it's longer for no reason then she's worse but given that she provides a lot more with added benefit she can Turn 1 NP or NP faster so i'd say it balances it out. Merlin won in NP Buff duration but sometimes Enemies will most likely killed your team way before the heal even took its full benefit. The Max HP has less duration but at least it's an on demand full benefit

[@shaunaburst5638]

I mean the long cooldown is not of a much issue when we have our Waifu Fox's NP also the HP buff is more like a heal that you need in case you are close to dying...also Merlin's NP heal can sometimes can't sustain enough when being hit pretty hard on cases like CQ or some gimmick that reduce HP healing capacity

[@2ungfung]

also she is a bit more fightable than the traditional caster supporter, her append skill 3 is extra damage on saber so she is basically an archer/a weaker saber or lancer with support np my imaginary team is double proto merlin with castoria, just keep looping the np to ensure defense and star generate i didn't really test it coz i have neither of them, but i assume the damage would be pretty good

[@Seelenverheizer]

on the NP issue she really seems to be one of those servants where you definitly want NP2 not just NP1

[@PlushieMistress]

from my experience NP2 doesnt make much difference, its 2.5 extra NP per turn which to be fair does slowly stack up but in most stall teams (which is where you use her NP) you overflow with NP after you get your whole engine running. I very often have her as 200% NP bc i want to save her NP for overcharging castoria and its just so often a waste imo

[@Seelenverheizer]

@@PlushieMistress in play it might not make too much of a difference but its a +50% power gain on the NP regen. Thats a lot on a mathematical basis for an NP.

[@belleboni2016]

Can you make reviews for older servants that strived in modern gameplay/meta? Or whether they are still relevant nowadays? I only play NA and want to know if those servants is worth of investment or will plan to roll on them when they releases. Thank you and have a nice.

[@NRalter]

Here's my hottake, why is your aspect ratio janked

[@PlushieMistress]

bc i use widescreen iphone on some clips and normal aspect ratio on ipad for others, I kinda just didnt like how the skill detail overlayed on top of videos with black bars on top and bottom. normally i will have the clips with the black bars.

[@mitsussybaka7768]

I use her in stall teams with my Tamamo. Ngl she isn't that broken but still a good unit specially her 2nd skill for the overcharge. Really useful.

[@邱閔郁-m9d]

In a forum that I saw, people refer her as a good choice in longer fight.

[@ivanbluecool]

honestly I feel the people who think proto Merlin is not special are just spoiled on castoria. proto Merlin has her own role to play and arts plays if best by always being able to work together for any situation. that's literally the point of why arts is so good. buster can't do that without heavy sacrifices to the team while quick with ruler skadi might as well just use her as she is in every way better than normal skadi as thier np are non existent thanks to quick being made strange. lots of the summer units this year are either super overblown ignoring the downsides or just thrown away due to not being the "top" unit which is also crazy to think.the units should be seen in the good and bad and then make a case for how good they are compared to thier competition but most make thier decision the exact moment they see a kit

[@PlushieMistress]

Arts falls off in CQ TAs very often from my experience due to the lack of crits, proto merlin doesnt really fix that either. "Noting special" doesnt mean bad, and she is quite literally nothing special because her kit is 90% identical to OG merlin. Also i dont know what you mean by buster having to make heavy sacrifces to the team, can you elaborate? Lastly normal skadi still has a place, she provides quick crits for quick deck heavy servants and her NP while memed on endlessly enables a lot of TAs to be pulled off and is in no way a non-existent NP, unless you are only talking about farming.

[@ivanbluecool]

@@PlushieMistress I honestly like the overcharge system more on proto Merlin as that gives her something else to not just arts Merlin. She's kinda more balanced that way but still strong for card damage Buster has Merlin Oberon vitch. You really can't use them well together as they step on each other's toes due to the Merlin Oberon thing and then vitch having no survival so stall is not as good. They don't combo as well is what I'm saying and I don't bring up plugsuit as a fix because that just makes arts sky rocket in comparison for whatever is happening Quick crit Is good but I still find ruler skadi has more benefits overall and while they play well together you kinda want one or the other more which is either crit vs damage or half half.

[@ShiraFuyu2022]

@@PlushieMistress Arts doesn't really need Critting since their Survivabilities are more or less guaranteed to be full proof, unless againts Buff Removal.at least that's how i've been doing it, that Card is the only type where 2 different Supports there complimented and cover for each other.

[@PlushieMistress]

@@ivanbluecool Ah i see what you mean with buster now, because it lacks a stall support outside of merlin, I agree, however for slower teams I just bring castoria for buster anw since her NP also provides good damage boost, you don't always have to bunch all the buster buff servants together, skadi is testament to that by having a whopping 3 turns of 100% buster crit up as a quick support Ruler skadi is strong yeah, I will be making a hottake video on her next, she is also a rlly decent dps imo as she has a niche and also just can use her strong skills on herself like koyan light Once again I don't mean proto merlin is bad by saying she isn't special, I am just saying the roles she play is really similar to merlin no matter in stall or burst. In burst, she is arts merlin ; in stall, she is faster merlin (which i really prefer with her self charge as well I almost want to say a straight upgrade but its my preference)

[@PlushieMistress]

@@ShiraFuyu2022 Yeah I am talking more about TAs/min turns ig its just me bc its not a common thing

[@AlterAce]

"arts has notoriously been weak for crits" thank god I still spam Lanling and Hans in like every comp lol

[@amari7782]

Honestly you could swap out hand for xu fu who now

[@civicrider5556]

I’ve used my NP3 proto merlin for quite some time now (not flexing, I’ve never got multiple SSR this way) She is fine, her kit is kind of a mix of her arcade and OG merlin, same with her NP Except there is difference in her last skill when compared to the arcade version

[@uncultured_sen]

Everyone little (Sus) sister

[@kristianschuff1723]

I have her at np 2 I never thought I'd see the day where my arts team have over 50 stars to work while every turn while having my np 1 castoria at o.c 5 Is she as good as castoria individually, no Does she help fill the gapps in the arts meta yes She also gives arts teams their own zero damage set up

[@briannguyen6248]

I literally take Merlin 95% of the time with me to challenge quests lol I’m pulling for her too!

[@zevvvyy]

I jus wanna get her for my draco

[@tsumukarimuramasa]

My only problem is why her 2nd skill is a self NP gain rather than party/targetable battery

[@starethequiet8633]

It does though The second skill: Increases party's attack for 3 turns. Charges party's NP gauge by 20%. Overcharges party's NP by 1 stages for 1 time, 3 turns.

[@tsumukarimuramasa]

@@starethequiet8633 maybe I'm mentioning the wrong skill no, try to understand I'm talking about that skill where she herself gets battery depending upon the no of enemies , as a support servant i still don't understand the purpose of self battery rather than targetable NP

[@Zapatote]

First servant where I see a self battery be an issue If you want a targetable 50%....Castoria

[@Rosemaryalter2711]

better than Male Merlin on one 1 time art crit ,really

[@koyoyoyo1170]

I dont have og merlin so i use her in Merlin Castoria Morgan/reines/himiko teams so i no longer need to fish support lists for Merlin with MLB Prisma Cosmos. The problem is Arts needs an arts DPS coz og merlin is still better in the Morgan or Himiko setups for buster damage reasons. In looping, since castoria is now retired(bond 15) she is a decent support (interchangeable with xu fu) with support castoria and plug oberon.

[@koyoyoyo1170]

and in buff removal on break cqs, merlin is the easiest to replace with Murasaki

[@scarlettryuken4320]

shes better in tama merlin teams than original merlin since most of the servants ull use that comp in are arts anyways' speaking of you can go to the ooku page on fandom and see a guy completely trashing merlin by saying hans is better kek

[@rejoicingfakepriest201]

Thrashing Merlin? Must be pretty salty 💀

[@liawct1867]

She's cute

[@leafsnek]

proto merlin is like what some people used to say about miyu s1s being targetable would make her way way better before her np lude lol she's good but not really exciting gameplay wise cause arts has the most supports

[@seph4707]

Alternatively use her with merlin to buff 4/5 cards in a deck.

[@foualter102]

TO be honest she is a nice servant if you are still lacking some great arts caster support... I maybe expected more, as she isnt as same as Merlin when released years ago... when Merlin comes in FGO, it started the Buster Meta, and well when Castoria came it started the Arts Meta... Well she is good in CQ, but in terms of farming, i would rather go still with Castoria...

[@sweetpotato2726]

I just finished wodime boss fight in jp, I see a few video of mashu solo him, but I'm afraid I can't do that because my mashu skill is at 1/1/1, so I bring PMerlin. The max hp really help me ( np3 ), Finished the fight in 53 turn with more than 20k hp on my servant🗿

[@gabrielneves2204]

Faster merlin with longer cooldowns LMAO

[@katsuutheunker]

Text: Avalon Plushie pronounce: Abalone Yummy

[@PlushieMistress]

I have a runny nose

[@Nearnface]

wowowowow

[@lucas2070]

eyy

[@KnightsGone]

why aren't you talking in Brythonic

[@bayumahendra1797]

Fun fact getting her is way more easier than getting the OG merlin i spent only 200SQ and get her 2coppies, meanwhile i spent almost thousand SQ and yet merlin middle fingger me

[@ltraltier6009]

I just want to know if she is available in the global version. I dont care about all of this other shit.

[@PlushieMistress]

Next year

[@touma7760]

didn't use a british accent unsubbing💀