It’s that time of year again and this one is a big one. We have a Guaranteed SSR campaign that is half the cost of the usual fare, almost everything about it is as good as you could hope, but that leaves a question? There are eight and which do you roll on?
Naturally, step one is to aim for what you like! Of course, sometimes there are many things you want or you have the things you currently desire and are wondering what’s mechanically good. With the GSSR split by classes, some are pretty clear winners, others have high risk, high reward groups to choose from.
Please note that all SSR servants except Scathach-Skadi are available, including Limited servants! Extra is probably the banner with the safest rolls, but Caster and Assassin feature some of the most useful servants in the game (Jack, Merlin, Waver) alongside some very risky rolls on the low end (Osakabehime, Scheherezade).
GSSR Specifics
Moving forward, GSSRs cost 15 quartz instead of 30! This change is, as you may have noticed if you caught the newsposts, permanent for Guaranteed SSR campaigns. They are still paid quartz only, but it’s a pretty small price to guarantee a 5★ Roll. Suffice it to say the math on the savings here makes it look pretty good!
The anniversary set-up includes limited and story-locked SSRs in the banners and divides all options by class. Note that the class division is for the entire banner, not just your Guaranteed SSR. If you roll on the Saber Banner, all your servant rolls will be Sabers, even R and SR rolls. The divisions are normal for the seven base classes, but the extra classes share one banner; ALL R servant rolls on the Extra Banner will be Salieri.
When rolling for GSSR, you select a single banner and perform a 10 roll. You still seem to receive the guaranteed SR CE or better but in addition, one of your rolls will always be an SSR servant. The other 8 rolls are as normal, but are available at half price, you can get multiple SSRs from a single GSSR roll but the chances on the second are the same as any other roll, only the first has any boost at all. Remember that bonus quartz counts as free if you decide to participate in the GSSR; anything after the + on the purchase screen can’t be used for it.
F/GO Saber Banner
Saber’s overall a pretty mediocre banner to roll on, mechanically speaking. There are some clear standouts like Musashi, Nero Bride, and Okita, but most are pretty standard options. Altera, in particular, is a pretty rough roll as she takes tons of investment to get all of her buffs unlocked before she starts to be desirable. The best-case scenarios on the Saber banner are good but not real game-changers with the possible exception of Nero if you have other pieces of Arts Loop teams. However, the worst-case scenario isn’t particularly bad which can make the Saber banner better if you just don’t want to get something that’s going to sit unused.
F/GO Archer Banner
Among the knight classes, Archer is probably the best banner to roll. It features a large number of very good characters like Ishtar, Gilgamesh, and Summer Artoria. Better yet, the worst examples here are still perfectly serviceable, with Arjuna and Orion still being fairly solid. A special note for Napoleon, who is pending a buff for his NP to bring him more in line with the crowd; he’s a bit soft until then. Still, like Saber, it’s hard to go wrong here, except the best rolls are very good as a bonus.
F/GO Lancer Banner
The Lancers pull up the pack as the weakest option from the knight classes, but not by much. The biggest issue here is that only Scatchach is particularly exceptional. Mixed in with her as a good pull, you have inarguably mediocre rolls like Ereshkigal and Enkidu, both of whom are fairly subpar as they currently stand. It’s worth noting the ‘bad’ rolls here can still be good, the clay is a bit mixed up about role and deck composition and requires a mix of card counting and luck to shine.
Ereshkigal is particularly notable for repeat NP usage and goes from having lower NP damage than most friend point characters to among the best in class if she’s spamming but that makes her narrow. Of course, if you’re familiar with our guide to NP generation, you’ll probably recall her arts card is insane, so at least she has the tools to support that niche. Other rolls are pretty medium, though Lancer Artoria is a good general-purpose AoE NP farmer and it can never hurt to have one of those in each class.
F/GO Rider Banner
Here’s where it starts to get really spicy. I would hesitate just short of calling Rider the best GSSR banner. The worst character here is probably Medb, and she’s no slouch. You’re also treated to the highest neutral AoE NP damage in the game in Iskandar, and Ozymandias’s extremely potent and rather unique kit. His buff success upgrade is a huge game changer for Imperial Privilege users like himself, and it’s currently only available in much smaller magnitudes on some frankly terrible CEs. This should definitely be your number two banner if Extra doesn’t work for you and you want a consistent option.
F/GO Caster Banner
Caster is tied with Assassin for the biggest risk/reward ratio. It really can’t be overstated how insanely powerful the best rolls are here. Tamamo, Merlin, and Waver weren’t called the Big 3 prior Skadi joining them for nothing, unfortunately, Scheherezade and Illya are extremely bad (though Illya does at least burst extremely hard, her burst just comes with debuffs that stack every time you use her NP…on a character who has NP generation bonuses).
To a lesser extent, Da Vinci also constitutes a landmine, as she’s pretty much a walking NP with nothing else going for her. It is at least a good NP but consider heavily whether Caster is worth the gamble. It could be the best, or it could give you a character in contention for the worst SSR in the game.
F/GO Assassin Banner
Assassin is risky as well. On the upper end, you have King Hassan and Jack who are potent boss-killers with Jack producing hilarious amounts of stars besides. Cleopatra is also quite notable with extremely solid skills for a variety of roles. From there, things start to go downhill. Semiramis is quite good but has very little to do with the general role of an assassin and she overlaps a lot with the caster crowd right down to having a skill to essentially be a caster and assassin simultaneously.
MHX and Osakabehime are just plain bad at this stage of the game. The former comes with a silver lining that much of her kit has been buffed so you at least get a bit of a quartz refund on her after all the strengthening quests. Shuten is serviceable, but not great leaving the banner half great nearly half terrible with an appearance from a character who is more like a caster for good measure. Mechanically, this banner can go very wrong even if Jack and Hassan are worthwhile prizes.
F/GO Berserker Banner
Berserker doesn’t really encourage much in the way of discussion. They’re all strong, though not amazingly so. Hijikata and MHX Alter have some neat tricks thanks to infrequently used mechanics. Kintoki is an insanely strong NP on demand, Raikou exemplifies the NP into crit switch-hitting playstyle, and Cu Alter is an insanely survivable monster who is among the best final slot panic buttons you could ask for. Couldn’t fault anyone for rolling here, it’s extremely stable. The ceiling isn’t particularly high but the worst among these characters is probably Vlad, and like the Rider banner, when the worst you can do is someone that good, it’s a solid option.
EXTRA
Here’s the crown jewel, and the banner that I would personally recommend anyone at an impasse roll on. Extra is extremely potent here with several characters who are among the best options in their role on display, like Dantes and Jeanne. Not to mention just solid powerhouses or powerful, unique gimmicks like Holmes, Hokusai, Jeanne Alter, and Amakusa.
Melt and Kiara are a bit strange, but they’re strong when called for. Worst case scenario here is easily Abby but the pool is really wide so you’re less likely to get her here than some of the narrower pools with a noticeably lower value roll. As an added bonus, your chances are extremely solid to walk away with an NP 3-5 Salieri, who exemplifies the fact that low-rarity characters can be very good in GO.
There is one special note that you should consider though; Jeanne and Holmes are much worse in duplicates. If you already have either of those two, you should heavily lower their positioning in the earlier discussion. Holmes dupes aren’t amazing and Jeanne’s are among the worst in the game, so I’d recommend treating Holmes around Okita Alter’s level if you already have one and have Jeanne take Abby’s position as the worst. Her dupes really are in fact just that bad; the first Jeanne is amazing, any thereafter are just not worth an SSR.