You want something stabbed? Get a Lancer! Known for their ability to quickly generate Critical Stars and insanely low luck Stat, a good Lancer can be hard to find. In fact, some of the early ones were Limited. Didn’t get a good one? Well, too bad! Wait until the next banner.
Actually, most of the Lancers on this list are Limited. Welcome to FGO, where you have a chance and a small window to get the best characters. These are the Top 10 Lancers Ranked, at least of the USA version as of April 2024. This article is being written in the early days of the Traum chapter, so any characters added from that event will not be included.
10. Scathach
Call her old. It will be funny.
- High ST Damage
- Stun on her NP
- Good survivability
My very first Rank Five Character. Debuting on the first Thanksgiving-esque event in FGO, she was meant to be the game’s Lancer representative. Unlike some of the other representatives, she got to do a lot more. And thank goodness she signed on early for me!
A small downside to her, especially compared to latter members of this list, is that all of her skills last a single turn. Well, save for her first one, but that has a chance of giving you two buffs. A good chance, but I’ve gambled and usually gotten none of them. You did get a single-turn Evade and a chance to improve her Critical game.
Her big boon comes with her second skill. A Quick card buff to any ally, and after a Strengthening, it will grant a good amount of NP and an increased chance of Buff activating. While you can give it to any ally, it works better when given to herself. Even if it only lasts a single turn.
This leads her into her biggest strength; her Noble Phantasm. It’s single-targeted, stuns the enemy, has a sizable chance of insta-killing an enemy, and does a lot of damage to boot. Her third skill grants additional damage towards those that are Undead, which no Servant in the game has, and Divinity, which a lot of Servants do have.
The main reason she’s on this list is her intensely high damage output. Some might put Tamamo-no-Mae’s summer variant in place of her, but she’s more selfish and only has one Arts card. Scathach does have some problems, but I feel like she’s generally more useful in more situations, even when not fighting against what her class is good against.
9. Cu Chulainn
Lancer…hasn’t died?
- Insane survivability
- Low Cost
- Easily capable of soloing or making a last stand
Lancers are usually defined by their low Luck, and Cu is no exception. Usually, he’s just a punching bag for the writers, having a great ton of misfortune heaped on him to the point where he actually serves as Fate’s version of Kenny from South Park. ‘Lancer died!’ is a recurring gag in fact.
But that gag died off in this game for a good reason. He cannot be killed so easily.
All of his skills come together to create what the community calls ‘Cockroach Cu’. He has a special Evade that protects him from multiple attacks instead of a single turn that also comes with a Defense buff, the ability to heal and remove debuffs, and then he has Guts. So you cannot hit him, but if you do, he’s taking less damage, which he can heal off. And if you do kill him, he just came back and oh look his other skills have cooled down.
His Noble Phantasm (Once upgraded) comes with a Defense-down debuff, pierces through Evade, and has a good chance of insta-death to boot. And being a Quick-oriented Servant, he can build his NP fast with Crits. And being a Three Star Servant, he’s not as expensive as other higher-ranked Servants to upgrade or put into parties. Amazingly good for the early game, and if you work with him, he can shine even in late game stuff.
8. Ibaraki-Douji (Lancer)
Gaze and adore her!
- High burst damage
- Better survivability than her original form
- Can generate a ton of Critical Stars
I got mildly depressed when I missed out on getting this version the first time around. Ibaraki-Douji the Berserker is my favorite unit; I love her personality, voice, usefulness, and I plan on taking her to the max level of 120 once she gets a rate-up. When the summer event that had her rolled around, I made sure to get her.
…after getting two other Lancers of a higher rarity first. They just came to me. Felt like a sign.
Ibaraki in this form does have a weird set of skills. Her first skill provides the party with an Attack buff, while giving her increased NP Damage and Gain. Already amazing. Her second skill can give her extra HP to work with for a few more turns while removing Debuffs, the latter part is really important when talking about her Noble Phantasm and her third skill.
Her third skill draws Critical Stars to her cards while also boosting her Critical Damage. But it can either buff OR debuff her Debuff Resistance. Not a big problem if the enemy you’re fighting against doesn’t rely or even have debuffs, but the main issue can come with her Noble Phantasm. It ignores Defense and grants a huge amount of Critical Stars, which is good, but it cuts Ibaraki’s Critical Star Drop Rate in half. That’s when you use her second skill to remove it.
She can be a bit of a risk, but not as risky as when she was a Berserker. Capable of doing some real damage with the capability of farming Critical Stars, she can work in a good amount of parties as either a damage dealer or a critical Star farmer. Or heck, with her Berserker counterpart! Go nuts!
7. Minamoto-no-Raikou (Lancer)
Yes I know
- Great support
- Can remove debuffs
- Overall good damage.
It’s only appropriate that the in-lore slayer of Ibaraki would be higher up than her. Funny how the two of them are both naturally Berserkers and can become Lancers during summer. Raikou is special on this list for being a really good support unit. While not as outstanding as the actual dedicated support, she deserves a spot on this list due to her utility.
Her first skill doesn’t really apply much to her; just a way of giving her better Critical performance. Raikou realistically has no little reason to use it and should let the party play around with the stars, unless she’s the main damage dealer. Raikou’s real use comes from her second and third skills. The second one in particular. A deployable Buster Card buff that removes debuffs? Extremely handy! If a raid boss that likes to spam debuffs comes out, then expect to see a lot of Lancer Raikou’s in the friend list.
Her third skill buffs the party’s damage thanks to being a combo Attack and Critical Star Drop Rate buff. While I discourage the use of Raikou’s first skill, it does give her some great damage output when presented. And better yet? Her Noble Phantasm is straight up the same as Ibaraki Lancer’s, minus the debuff and getting slightly less Critical Stars.
In many ways, she’s a better version of Ibaraki Lancer…despite Ibaraki coming later. The two are opposites in strategy; while Ibaraki plays on her own, Raikou works with the team. This will generally take her a lot further, despite her lack of survivability. While she is outpaced by the likes of Merlin and Koyanskaya in terms of Buster support, Raikou still has her uses!
6. Vritra
She likes to watch you suffer.
- Arts AOE NP
- Can build her NP quickly
- Anti-Divine
The moment I laid eyes on her, I knew I needed to have her. I got lucky, and thank goodness, because Vritra has served me incredibly well. And yes, this is another opinion of mine after I just talked about a counterpart of my favorite unit. I did warn you that this is a mix of professional and personal.
Being an Arts-focused character will put you on a higher tier than other characters. With her first skill not only giving her a buff to her Arts Cards but also drawing Critical Stars to her Arts Cards, she can loop her Noble Phantasm. In fact, her other skills help her build NP!
Second grants her a good amount of NP while also granting the party a damage buff towards Divinity, while the third? That’s a loaded potato! Guts, a one-time-use NP Damage buff, and gives her a little bit of NP each turn. For five turns! Most skills last three turns, and she has a skill that can help her build up that little bit that she could be missing.
And this brings us to her Noble Phantasm. Arts AOE, seals their Skills for a single turn, and decreases their chance to Crit and resistance to Arts cards. This makes her not only handy for farming, but also in certain challenge quests. While her damage is on the smaller side of things, she does shine well in a lot of situations! If you get your hands on her, of course.
The best part of her is really her smile. That damn smile.
5. Romulus=Quirinus
Yes, even this article is Roma!
- Unique mechanic that can make him do some real high damage
- Strong damage output in both AOE and ST
- Excellent damage support
Originally, Romulus debuted as a Rank Three Lancer in the Septum Singularity, the second chapter of the first part. And he was…not good. And so was the chapter itself. Smash cut to years later, where the player base had to do battle with the gods of Olympus on their home-turf. And look who came back, way stronger than before!
He has a unique mechanic involving turning the enemies into Romans. His first skill immediately does so while his third skill allows his Critical Hits to apply additional layers. The more stacks of the Roman trait will improve the damage of his Noble Phantasm, which hits all enemies, buffs the party’s attack, adds another layer of Roman trait to the enemies, and grants the party a layer of the Roman trait that can be used to give them a Critical Damage buff when he uses first skill.
He’s got some great damage even without needing this Roman trait advantage. His first skill provides a party-wide Attack and Critical Damage buff, with those are Roman getting a second layer of Critical Damage. His third skill gives that previously mentioned application of the Roman trait on a critical hit, but also grants him a Buster Card buff along with drawing Critical Stars to his cards.
Not enough good stuff? Well, his second skill has quite the combo: a two attack invincibility, ten Critical Stars, and a good amount of NP to boot! While he does have a slow start to battle, well? Rome wasn’t built in a day, but they were laying bricks every hour. And that is true for him as well.
4. Ereshkigal
She used to have a webshow. She got banned.
- Can charge her NP quickly
- Invincibility on demand
- Has unique support role
Rin Tohsaka is one of the main ladies of the original visual novel that started the Fate franchise, and it’s no surprise that she not only got one Pseudo-Servant, but she got two! Ishtar came first and while Ereshkigal debuted in the same story event, it took her an extra year to come out. Well worth the wait honestly. Even if I didn’t get her.
Ereshkigal, Eresh for short, only has two real weaknesses: only one Arts Card to call upon to build NP and generally small damage output when compared to the other characters. Her damage is smaller than our previous entry, but the reason she’s higher up is because of greater skills. In particular, her third skill:
Her third skill activates the Blessing of Kur on all allies, which activates some extra effects from her Noble Phantasm. But it also grants the party a buff towards Defense and Max HP, and makes it easier to build NP. And she can build her NP up by halfway with her second skill, which also grants a buff for Buster Cards!
Eresh’s Noble Phantasm got a buff that makes it even better, so let’s cover that. AOE Buster, a buff towards Buster Cards BEFORE the attack, does extra damage against Earth attribute enemies, and then we need to cover all of the buffs that those with the Blessing gets. Increased Attack, decreased damage against Critical Hits, and make them immune to Insta-Death! Amazing!
Oh, her first skill? Kinda mediocre. Self-application of Invincibility, Debuff Immunity, be immune to having your Buffs removed, and a high chance of being immune to Insta-Death. It’s getting buffed in two years to make the Insta-Death immunity be more potent, as well as the much more important skill cooldown. Wait for that, but she’s already powerful as it is.
3. Sakamoto Ryouma (Lancer)
He’s got a dragon wife. What’s your excuse?
- Arts AOE
- Can double his Arts card performance
- High damage
Time for a reminder of how weird FGO can get. A yearly event is the GudaGuda Events, based around the antics of Oda Nobunaga and Okita Souji, with their friends and other related Japanese history Servants. These are usually comedic events, with the usual enemies being chibified clones of Nobunaga that only say “Nobu!”
One of the many characters is the (in)famous Sakamoto Ryouma and his dragon partner Oryou. They were originally a welfare Rider Servant that did well, but it’s their Lancer version that really shined. Effectively, he’s a stronger version of Vritra. Stronger in terms of damage output mind you.
Ryouma has not one, but TWO Arts Card buffs to his name, featured in his first and third skills. His first skill gives the Art Card buff to all allies, along with a Critical Damage buff and provide an Overcharge for their Noble Phantasm. And his third skill also grants him a Buster buff with some Critical Stars generations. Every little bit helps!
Having access to an ability that fills up his NP halfway already puts him high up, along with bringing up Eresh’s thing of making him immune to Debuffs and preventing his buffs from being stripped off him. While Ryouma lacks the same invincibility she has, he does get a high Defense buff when he does his Noble Phantasm while also increasing his NP Damage. And being an Arts Noble Phantasm, he gets a refund on it while also being capable of potentially looping it.
Eresh does have him beat in the buff department, mostly due to her third skill working with her Noble Phantasm. But when it comes down to Damage, he has her beat down. It’s much easier to loop Arts Noble Phantasms than a Buster one. If I had to pick between the two, I would like to have Ryouma. He’s got a dragon wife. That’s hot!
2. Enkidu
I made him out of clay!
- High ST Damage
- Excellent Solo Capability
- Best Healing Ability in the game
I’ve talked about Enkidu before, placing them on the Top 15 list. A lot of this is going to be repeated here as well, just rephrased. Enkidu is a fantastic Servant, capable of fighting on their own or working alongside a team. And maybe this time I’ll learn to properly spell their name correctly. It’s En-Kidu, not En-Diku. They don’t have a dick.
I think.
A big part of Enkidu’s kit is that he’s all about killing one target. His Noble Phantasm does a high amount of Buster damage, AFTER it lowers the target’s Defense. It can also Stun those with Divinity, and an upgrade does more damage to those who are considered to be ‘Threat to Humanity’. Coupled with his first skill that will give him a Buster buff, he can do some stupid-high damage when properly buffed.
The other part of Enkidu’s kit is being able to keep on hitting. He can strip the enemy’s Evade, make them do less Critical Damage, with a latter buff that grants him Evade as well. And the big thing is his ability to heal almost all of his HP. A whopping 10,000 HP, in a game where most healing skills heal for 3,000! It also removes any debuffs and a latter buff will give him half meter for his NP! Not bad for a skill with a long cooldown to it.
While his damage is on the low side when compared to the others on the list, his ability to survive and destroy bosses is unparalleled to most of the other people on this list. Enkidu can work on his own and work just as well if not more amazing with proper support. And with Divine opponents being a recurring element for a lot of bosses, he will be your boss slayer.
1. Melusine
Small, But Insanely Deadly
- Can swap out ST for AOE NP
- Critical Damage Machine
- Insane NP Building
I’ve talked about her before, and the same remains true here. She’s just that good. It’s going to take someone really busted to top her. For now, the knight shall remain as the queen of the lancers.
A big part of why she’s so top-tier is her unique ability to swap to a different Noble Phantasm. In her first two forms, she uses an Arts ST that grants some Critical Stars and boosts her NP Gain so she could potentially loop it. In her third form, the one that she goes into if she uses her third skill in the first two forms, it becomes a Buster AOE that Ignores Invincibility and boosts Melusine’s Buster Cards.
And the big part of why this is so good is her skills allow her to build NP insanely quickly. In fact, her third skill can give her a full 100% NP if you use it in her first two forms! Combined with her high damage and ability to do Crits, she lacks a lot of weaknesses. Really, her big problem is that she has to work with both Arts and Buster, making it a bit harder to build a party, and her lack of some defensive options.
But she is the best Lancer for a good reason. High damage and the capability to do EVEN MORE. And I got two of her, so I’m going to be doing a lot more damage with her.
All images taken from the Fate/Grand Order Wiki (https://fategrandorder.fandom.com/wiki/Fate/Grand_Order_Wikia)
