Nursery Rhyme

When it comes to offensive Casters, ingame choices can be quite limited. The Caster class and its multiplier doesn’t really fit well for offense, and as such most of them tend to be unsatisfactory when it comes to damage. Nursery Rhyme isn’t exactly an exception to the unfortunate nature of the Caster class, but she’s one of the better choices among the damagers.

• Deals consistent crits due to crit absorption skill
• Has a great DEF up skill that can go for 60% for a turn
• Can resist and remove debuffs from herself
• Has a decent chance at spamming NP through crit

• Low NP damage, despite having an interlude
• Has no hard counter survival skill
• Class multiplier still hinders overall damage

Nursery Rhyme is a rather interesting damager--- unlike most damagers, Nursery relies less on burst phases and is meant to deal damage as she goes. Her damage is reliant mostly on her Arts crits, and so this allows her to cycle her NP well enough to boost her output even more. Her kit allows her to be able to take hits and absorb stars reliably, which strengthens her performance even more. In a nutshell, Nursery usually goes for a continuous cycle of alternating decently powered Arts crits and her NP. And while both of those don’t hit hard in particular, they support each other in a way that they would enhance the other’s performance as Nursery goes on, like a never-stopping train of pain, except that the train doesn’t hit too hard.

Normally, this isn’t really something worthwhile for damagers, but it’s quite different for Nursery. As an Arts Servant, Nursery fits naturally in Arts compositions, and her awkward nature as a damager only melds with the rest of the team’s NP cycling. Since her main cards are her Arts cards, the way she fits into an Arts team becomes very natural, and the team starts to act similar to a damage-over-time setup.

That said, with this role and as a Caster-class Servant, Nursery’s damage output can be somewhat slow. She can’t generate stars by herself and her deck and her buffs lack the power for her to punch very high numbers out. She’s not particularly bad as her kit still functions rather nicely within her most natural setups, and with the right teammates she can shine very well, even if in a somewhat subtle way. However, her role is also rather unconventional and not exactly easy to use, and her dependence on teammates to provide her stars and aid her cycling can mean she isn’t that splashable outside of facing Assassin enemies as well.

Nursery Rhyme’s NP does 13155 damage on her NP on NP1, which is honestly quite sad. Still, it does give our some good secondary effects that can further strengthen Nursery’s role and performance. One is a 3-turn 20% DEF down which aids Nursery’s damage, and the other is a 60% chance to decrease the enemy’s gauge by 1 tick. The percentages on both are rather low, but taking into consideration that this NP is an Arts card, it can be cycled along with the team’s NPs and Arts cards to be put into continuous use. This allows it to be in constant effect, so even though the damage is low, its effects can be felt.

NP spamming is one thing that is part of Nursery’s damage cycle, and as she is able to access this quite reliably, boosting it can be of great use to her overall performance.

Increasing Nursery’s Arts performance would increase her crit and NP damage, as well as boost her NP gain. This would again allow her to hit for better numbers and with improved reliability.

Deals damage to all enemies.
Decrease defense of all enemies by 20% for 3 turns.
[Overcharge]Chance to reduce enemies' charge gauge by 1.

Deals damage to all enemies.
Decrease defense of all enemies by 20% for 3 turns.
[Overcharge]Chance to reduce enemies' charge gauge by 1.

Self-Modification A / Cooldown: 7-5
Increase in crit damage (3 turns)
Increase star absorption rate (3 turns)

This skill allows Nursery to reliably crit for three turns, with a 50% increase in crit damage as a wonderful bonus. It’s not exactly something that can overpower her class’s multiplier, but it does allow her to hit her Arts crits reliably, as long as one provides her with stars. It helps her deal damage consistently because of it’s short cooldown as well, strengthening her role in dealing damage over time.

Morph A+ / Cooldown: 7-5
Increase own DEF (1 turn)
Increase own DEF (3 turns)
Increase Debuff Resistance (3 turns)

A great skill that can allow Nursery to take hits well and survive for good amounts of time. The increase in debuff resistance is also welcome as a great bonus in preventing her from being crippled in an unfavorable manner. While Nursery’s one weakness is her lack of a hard defensive skill, the DEF up’s special nature in having an extra 30% DEF for a turn can shield her from damage when paired with DEF ups from teammates, allowing it to function similar to a dodge.

Meanwhile A / Cooldown: 8-6
Increase NP gauge
Restore own HP
Remove own Debuffs

Nursery’s 3rd skill further polishes her role, granting her more ways to sustain herself and to allow her to cycle her NP-crit process even faster. The debuff removal is a nice bonus as well, which can come in hand in case the debuff resistance from her 2nd skill isn’t enough.

Skill Priority: 1/2/3 or 1/3/2

Available from the start
Increases own critical damage for 3 turns.
Increases own critical star absorption for 3 turns.

Unlocks after 1st Ascension
Increases own defense for 3 turns.
Further increases own defense by 30% for 1 turn.
Increases own debuff resistance for 3 turns.

Unlocks after 3rd Ascension
Charges own NP gauge.
Recovers own HP.
Removes own debuffs.

Nursery’s deck is perfect for her role, even if it’s damage is limited due to being a QAAAB deck. It allows her to continuously do Arts crits and critcharge her NP gauge as she performs Arts chains with others.

Rashoumon event (Ibaraki Douji event)

Murder at the Kogetsukan

Inheritance of Glory