Nikola Tesla

[JP]
Tesla is quite a great Archer to have-- he’s able to take good amounts of hits and survive well, hitting for good numbers and spamming his NP while he’s at it. While there are some concerns regarding a few weaknesses he possesses, he still is very effective at being a survivable damager that can dish out good amounts of pain.

[NA]
Tesla’s performance isn’t as reliable or as good as it is in NA as of now. He’s yet to receive any of his upgrades, which are very relevant in boosting the quality and reliability of what he’s able to do.

• High NP damage that has a bonus niche
• 2nd skill gives a plethora of effects, namely ATK up, DEF up, NP damage up, and Guts, all under a cooldown of 5 turns
• Can increase NP gauge and charge rate by 50%
• Can ignore Invincible

• NP has a small HP demerit that may get in the way of NP spam
• NP’s anti-trait bonus’ percentage is rather small
• 2 of 2nd skill’s effects are chance-based

Tesla’s pretty good as a damager in that he’s able to take a good amount of hits without sacrificing survivability. On offense, he mainly relies on his NP and spamming it, which he does quite nicely. With an NP upgrade, an ATK and NP buff, he’s able to hit for numbers comparable to the top AOE NP hitters of his class. This, plus his ability to charge his gauge, boost his NP gain rate produce stars instantly and absorb them as an Archer makes his spam potential considerably good, thus improving his overall potential for damage at the same time. His defensive prowess isn’t too shabby either, as he is able to take a good amount of hits due to a small DEF up and his high HP stats. He also has a 3 turn guts skill that recharges every 5 turns, which is quite a great skill to have, considering that other guts and battle continuation skills take a lot of time to recharge, carry less effects, and revive for less HP most of the time.

Still, it’s not as if Tesla is perfect--- due to the amount of bonuses and effects his kit has, they’re not exactly that potent. 2 of his 2nd skill’s buffs, NP damage up and DEF up have chances to miss, which can make his performance visibly weaker. The amount of stars his 3rd skill gives isn’t exactly a big number, and he doesn’t produce a lot of stars either, which means he has to rely on others to provide him stars if one wants to make him do crits. The Anti-Trait bonus on his NP isn’t that big of a damage boost either, and because the use of his NP also damages him, it can be a problem for clutched situations where one requires both his survival and spam.

That said, Tesla is a great Servant with lots of potential on both offensive and defensive fronts--- it’s just that depending on the situation, there are some issues that may bother his performance at times.

Tesla’s NP strikes at 26141 damage to all enemies, in case his NP damage up does not miss. In case it does miss, his damage sinks to 20107, which is still at a rather decent level of damage. His NP also deals extra damage to Sky and Earth trait Servants, which is a fairly well-sized niche. His damage jumps to somewhere within 26-30k depending on if his NP buff hits or not. His NP also has a 40% chance to stun all enemies as a small bonus. It also takes away 500HP from him with every use, which is small but considering his spam potential it can gradually chip away at him if ignored.

NP damage up CEs scale the highest out of all offensive CEs, allowing Tesla to hit harder on his main offensive tool. Although it’s additive to his own buff, the fact that he can charge his NP quickly and due to the possibility of the buff missing, these kinds of CE can act as safety measures to improve his damage regardless of whether his buff hits or not.

Buster ups are the only buffs Tesla lacks, and so with such a CE his NP damage and Buster cards would increase in power quickly due to its multiplicative nature in regards to other buffs.

Deals damage to all enemies.
30% Chance to stun all enemies for 1 turn.
Deals 500 damage to self.
[Overcharge] Deals extra damage against Earth or Sky Servants.

Deals damage to all enemies.
40% Chance to stun all enemies for 1 turn.
Deals 500 damage to self.
[Overcharge] Deals extra damage against Earth or Sky enemies.

Galvanism A / Cooldown: 7-5
Increase NP Gain rate (3 turns)

A very good skill to improve Tesla’s spam potential. Tesla’s hitcounts, deck and base rate come together to give him an overall average pace in charging his gauge, so with this skill in effect it jumps to very good levels of gain. Overall it’s also very noticeable for him, as he has 2 Arts cards and the skill recharges for only 5 turns, as opposed to regular NP gain skills which recharge for 6.

Natural Intelligence EX / Cooldown: 7-5
80% chance to increase DEF (3 turns)
80% chance to increase NP damage (3 turns)
Increase in ATK (3 turns)
Apply Guts (1 time, 3 turns)

This skill is the crux of Tesla’s quality of performance. The 80% chance is honestly fairly reliable, but the problem is that this small amount of failure may cripple him during times where these buffs are most needed. Still, out of all 4 effects it is most likely that 3 out of 4 will often hit, so it’s not exactly that big of a problem most of the time. The fact that the ATK up and Guts are sure-hit also means well for him, as it can stand as safety nets in case both of the other two buffs misses. The Guts in particular is very noteworthy, as it revives Tesla for 3000HP and lasts for 3 turns with only a 5 turn cooldown.

Pioneer of the Stars EX / Cooldown: 8-6
Charges own NP gauge
Apply Ignore Invincible (3 turns)
Gain Critical Stars

A 50% NP charge allows Tesla to be effective in both clearing waves fast and in using his NP often. His overall gain rate becomes rather quick due to this, when paired with his 1st skill. The Ignore Invincible is situational, but is a great bonus to have for countering certain gimmicks. The stars gained by the skill can be used for crit charging his NP or Buster crits, but it’s honestly a very meager amount so one cannot rely on just this skill to make Tesla crit.

Skill Priority: 2/3/1

Available from the start
Increases own NP generation rate for 3 turns.

Unlocks after 1st Ascension
Grants self guts status for 3 turns.
80% Chance to increase own defense for 3 turns.
80% Chance to increase own NP damage for 1 turn.

Unlocks after 3rd Ascension
Charges own NP gauge.
Own attacks will ignore invincibility for 3 turns.
Gain 10 critical stars.

A QAABB deck is terrific for Tesla, as it allows him to charge his NP at a quick pace without sacrificing too much damage. Having 2 Busters lets him perform NP Buster braves, which can allow him to deal great amounts of damage overall.

Rashoumon event (Ibaraki Douji event)

Murder at the Kogetsukan

Inheritance of Glory