Fate/Grand Order has become one of the longest-running gacha games of all time with nearly ten years worth of story and events as well as over 300 servants for players to obtain and use during combat. The game has gone through various meta changes, power creeps, and gameplay changes which have brought to question who the best servants in the game truly are.
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While this question can often be answered on a personal level by asking yourself who your favorite character is, if one were to analyze the various servants based on factors like their role in the story, what skills they have, and if they had any overall effect on the game’s meta then the following list of the best Fate/Grand Order servants can be formed.
10Paul Bunyan
The Quick Killer
Every year, Fate/Grand Order goes all out with its April Fools gags. There is often silly art of every single servant in the game and sometimes an entirely separate April Fools app too. No character represents this comedic holiday better than Paul Bunyan, a complete gag servant created to be as silly as possible. Whenever she appears in an event, you know it’s going to be one to remember.
Paul Bunyan is also known for having the fastest Noble Phantasm animation in the game, lasting barely a second. This has inspired many memes about how Bunyan is a fast killer. Sadly, despite how funny she is and how beloved by the fandom she is, Paul Bunyan must rank at the bottom of this list due to only being a 1-star character and thus having incredibly low stats.
9Jack the Ripper
The Crit-Star Generator
Topping off the list is a servant who debuted very early in Fate/Grand Order’s lifespan: Jack the Ripper from Fate/Apocrypha! This tiny assassin is great for taking down bosses and gaining crit stars with her three Quick cards and her dodge skill that’ll let her avoid anything for an entire turn. When put on the right team, Jack can stack up over a million damage with her super and break any health bar.
Sadly, while Jack the Ripper is an excellent servant for killing bosses, she must rank low on this list due to a combination of factors. The first is that she absolutely needs to be on a team with support servants like Skadi in order to actually achieve her peak damage, which is related to the second reason she ranks low on this list: she has been outclassed. Nowadays there are plenty of servants who can buff themselves for massive damage, so a Year 1 servants like Jack doesn’t stand a chance in comparison. So while she is a great early-game servant, there is no justifying putting her any higher than this.
8Scathach-Skadi
Changed the Meta
Nearly seven years ago on Fate/Grand Order’s 3rd anniversary, a servant was released who changed the game’s meta forever: Skadi. This Lostbelt ruler had a skill that majorly buffed the damage of quick servants as well as one that filled their Noble Phantasm gauge by 50%. This permanently changed the game as from then on the main strategy for nearly all aspects of gameplay to this very day has been finding ways to loop Noble Phantasms repeatedly.
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While Skadi is easily one of the best support units in the game for Quick card-based units, she also has multiple flaws which prevent her from ranking high on this list. The biggest of which is her Noble Phantasm, which is almost universally agreed to be useless as it only allows characters to dodge a single attack. In a world where most support units now have entire kits that support the party in great ways, Skadi can no longer top every top 10 servants list, but she at least deserves a mention for making FGO’s meta one of thebest in gacha history
7Abigail Williams
The First Foreigner
Next up on the list is the focus servant of the game’s Salem story chapter: Abigail Williams. One would think Fate/Grand Order would have gone the easy route and made Abigail Williams an actual witch like she was accused of being in history, but instead, the game goes for a much deeper story that ties her into the works of H.P. Lovecraft and how those tales deal with the same paranoia and segregation that plagued the Salem Witch Trials.
Abigail Williams is very unique in that she introduced an entire new class of servants to FGO: the Foreigner class, and for a long time she was actually the only servant in said class. Being one of the ultimate Berserker-class boss killers for a good chunk of the game’s lifespan and to this day being a great damage dealer is enough of a feat for Abigail to make this list.
6Artoria Pendragon (Caster)
The Series' Roots Reborn
If Skadi changed the meta of the game forever, then the game’s 5th-anniversary servant, Caster Artoria, defined it. Caster Artoria, often referred to as Castoria, has the ability to buff Arts characters, increase their attack, raise their Noble Phantasm gauge, and make everyone invincible for an entire turn. Not only could she do everything Skadi could, she could do it better. To this day the Arts looping-meta is considered the optimal strategy of Fate/Grand Order and Castoria remains the center of it.
Aside from changing the very foundation of the game, Castoria was also the main protagonist in Lostbelt 6, which is commonly considered to be one of, if not the best, story chapters in the game. Her story there and how it serves as a companion piece to Artoria’s arc in Fate/Stay Night has resonated with thousands of fans. Plus she’s cute enough toget her own nendoroidto boot. Putting anywhere lower on this list would not be acceptable.
5Leonardo Da Vinci (Rider)
Survived the Lostbelts
One of the very first servants introduced in Fate/Grand Order was Leonardo Da Vinci, who broke what was at that point series tradition by being a woman not because of a “history remembered wrong” story but rather actively changed genders when given the chance. While the original Da Vinci players sadly met a gruesome end by the game’s third year, there was hope as a copy of Da Vinci was made in the form of Leonardo Da Vinci (Rider).
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Being great representation isn’t the only thing Leonardo Da Vinci brings to the table though, as she is also a fantastic Arts AoE unit for looping nodes over and over again. As long as you have a unit that can support her, Da Vinci (Rider) can destroy entire waves of enemies. Sadly she isn’t the very best looper though, so she’ll rank right below the one who is better than her at that function.
Fairy Knight Lancelot
When Lostbelt 6 was first revealed, it was up in the air if any of the characters in it would be fondly remembered by the ambassador or quickly forgotten like those in Lostbelt 3. Years later though, it’s hard to imagine a version of FGO and its fandom that isn’t constantly talking about the Fae Knights. The best character in this group is easily Melusine, also known as Fairy Knight Lancelot. Her story arc in the Lostbelt as well as future event interactions with the player are some of the best in the game.
What makes Melusine truly special though isn’t just her great ability to loop nodes with her AoE Noble Phantasm, as she is also one of very few (and was in fact the first) servant capable of changing their Noble Phantasm mid-combat, allowing her to transform into a single-target boss destroying enemy for whenever a node is composed of two normal waves and then a single boss wave. For being the queen of both looping and this specific niche, Melusine ranks very high on this list.
3Illyasviel von Einzbern
The First Magical Girl
While Illya wasn’t lucky enough to be featured as one of the main heroines ofType-Moon’s famous VNFate/Stay Night, she was granted her very own magical girl spinoff in the form of Fate/Kaleid Liner Prisma Illya. This manga has been one of the longest-running Fate spinoffs of all time as it is ongoing to this very day. With longevity like that, it should come as no surprise that she was added to Fate/Grand Order as a 5-star caster servant.
When it comes to gameplay, Illya is all about spamming her Noble Phantasm. She might now have three buster cards for extra damage, but she does have three arts cards to fill that meter up over and over again, blasting enemies in the face with her giant blast of energy. While there are characters who outclass her, Illya is more than capable of winning a battle of both brawn and cuteness.
Fate/Kalied Liner Prisma Illya is currently the longest running Fate/ spinoff, so it’s entirely likely that more characters from it will be added to FGO in the future.
2Chloe von Einzbern
Reformed the Meta
Placing next on this list is Chloe von Einzbern, the sister of Illya. Chloe debuted very early on in Fate/Grand Order’s lifespan but unlike most other early-game servants she was able to hold her own in the meta for years, having a special place among other early event servants like Kintoki (Rider). When she was finally given away for free again in 2024, many fans rejoiced.
For years Chloe was one of the best welfare servants in the game due to her great single-target Noble Phantasm, but the version of her making this list is actually her Summer version which was released in Japan in 2023 and will be hitting America in 2025. This version of Chloe is an excellent support unit for those who want to loop using buster-card servants as when paired with the right units anyone who can charge 30% of their NP gauge on their own can loop. Because buster-looping has begun to be a huge part of the FGO meta, it’s only appropriate that Chloe places above Skadi and Castoria on this list.
1Miyu Edelfelt
The Holy Grail
Placing first on the list is Miyu Edelfelt (also known as Miyu Emiya), a 4-star support Caster who actually used to be a very rare unit, at one point in time she hadn’t had a banner in three years. Unlike other support units in the game, Miyu doesn’t have the ability to boost the damage of others (only boosting her own), but she does have the expected support skill of being able to raise the NP gauge of any ally she chooses.
While Miyu struggles in being an active support for looping nodes, she does have her niche in terms of turtle strategies. As her Noble Phantasm repeatedly heals and increases the NP gauges of all allies for multiple turns AND can stack upon itself. Meaning a double Miyu team has the potential to keep allies alive infinitely. With the game heading toward some dangerous boss battles as the finale comes closer and closer by the day, now may be the perfect time to pull for and raise Miyu into an effective unit!
