Talk:Battle in New York 2018/@comment-31392049-20180922151633/@comment-36470477-20180923014648

I recall saying a long time ago on this wiki that the Tama Merlin team is really solid.

Especially, of course, with Arts crit servants like Emiya, Lancelot, Rhyme, BB, Shiki, etc.

NP spammers also go without saying: Kuro, Mordred Rider, Ryouma, Jeanne Archer (kinda, seems like DW realized what happened with Mordred and toned it down somewhat for Jeanne), etc.

But even without factoring in the offense servant affinities, the Tama Merlin engine by itself is really solid for having a high NP spam rate. Tama and Merlin both have NPs that want to be used often, and since they help each other do it so well, they naturally work quite well together.

And of course, plenty of servants also naturally slip comfortably into NP spamming territory with Tamamo and Merlin beside them, notably Suzuka, Euryale, Tama Lancer, the Arts crit servants, and so on. Servants that are already NP spammers go to even more ridiculous levels, often having occasions of being able to fire back-to-back NPs. (I actually recall an incident of being able to fire off Euryale's NP 3 turns in a row; the cards aligned perfectly to give me two NP-A-A Brave chains with Euryale two turns in a row. Tamamo gave the Arts buff, Merlin gave the stars to make those Arts cards crit - you get the idea.)

Stiill, ultimately, the offense servant could be even Quick-based. Tama's active skill charge and Merlin's ridiculous regeneration effects off of their NPs keep a strong pace in battles; they're really so much more than their Arts/Buster performance buffs. (Well, you probably may get better results subbing one out for Skadi or Osakabe, but Tama or Merlin cooperating with one of the Quick supports is still notable for providing more consistent NP charge for the party, as both Skadi and Osakabe can only charge one party member at a time with an active skill. There is also the benefit of healing as Osakabe and Skadi focus more on damage mitigation/avoidance.)

In particular, something nice from Tamamo I prefer over Waver is that her Witchcraft skill's NP drain is single target, as this can allow you to properly sync up multiple enemy NPs so that Merlin can block all of them in one go.

And, of course, there is the option of simply using a third defensive servant with them. Occasionally, when I want to just lame game some challenge quests like the summer ones where you have to face a variety of servants of different classes, running Mashu or Jeanne renders you near invincible, so even when that one Rider pops up, it can be survived.

That being said, I've also used servants like Shuten with them to good effect, notably as the team I used to take down Goetia (and also that one fight with Avenger Amakusa in Shimosa; coming in with some LBed "Holy Shroud of Magdalene"s, they were able to tank that annoying NP that goes through defense buffs and invincibility). The debuffs she inflicts through her NP, as well as her Charm skill are very decent supportive effects in their own right, and had me realize utility type servants with NPs that still do damage are another solid category of servant to have alongside Tama and Merlin. I've had fun with Abigail's active skill providing even more rapid party NP charge, as well as having a second active skill alongside Tama's Witchcraft to manipulate enemy NP gauges. Although I've yet to level them up to 80 yet, I also believe running Yagyu or Marie should also yield some pretty nice results. And though they're still on the wishlist, I'm fairly certain Ereshkigal and Hokusai would also be quite effective.