The word Archer might describe a Class in Fate: Grand Order, but not every Archer is an actual Archer. Some of them use guns. One of them uses dolphins. That’s not me being silly, the reason for one of those characters being considered an Archer is because she can command dolphins to jump and kick at enemies.
Yup, FGO is a weird game. But regardless of how or what they use as their ‘bow’, Archers dominate Sabers and these ones do that better than everyone else. This list covers the top ten Archers in the USA FGO as of April 2024. There are some personal opinions mixed with the general meta.
Let’s get started with:
10. Archer of Shinjuku/James Moriarty
- Amazing Single-Target NP
- High critical damage and can ignore resistances
- Interesting support role
I just said there would be some opinions mixed in here. And this is one of them. As someone who gave one of the world’s most iconic fictional villains five Holy Grails, I can tell you that Professor Moriarty is a fantastic single-target slayer. And if I can get some more Servant Coins for him, I’ll give him even more Holy Grails. Grail whom you love after all!
At his release during the Shinjuku chapter, he was considered ‘okay’ but he had a few problems. His second skill can give him a big boost to his NP and boost his Noble Phantasm damage, but it came with a high cost of ten Critical Stars. This wasn’t a thing beforehand, and because Moriarty only had one Quick Card to build stars, it meant he would need help building them up as well as sacrificing any damage you could have done with them. Coupled with his third skill that can add a second layer of Attack buff to other party members if they’re Evil-aligned, and you had to tailor-make a party for him.
But a Strengthening Quest fixed that. Instead of consuming ten Critical Stars, it just needs you to have ten saved up. And it grants a power that became a small meme; it grants the party Evil Alignment! Suddenly he became a more versatile unit that could fit into high damage parties. A later Strengthening improved his first skill to pierce Invincibility, ignore any Defense, draw Critical Stars to his cards and grant him the Critical Stars to use!
His biggest downside is his lack of defenses of his own. Even with other Archers on this list capable of surviving or being able to do even more damage, that does put Moriarty into a comfortable position of the tenth best Archer. At least that’s what I put my faith into.
9. Euryale
- Male Slayer
- Can stall with Charm
- Can spam NP
Get Euryale. That was drilled into me when I started playing FGO. Get Euryale, level her up, and take her to the gates of Camelot to deal with a big dumb gorilla man. One of the most notorious boss fights in the first story arc, and she can easily clear it. Heck, she’s widely considered to be a better version of a Rank 5 character!
Around the launch of FGO, some Servants didn’t have three skills. Euryale was one of them, and later got her third one from a Strengthening. And that one made a character already considered good even better. A straight-up Arts boost allowed her to do even more damage with her Noble Phantasm and help her refund her NP!
Euryale is meant to be fighting Male Servants, and there happens to be plenty of Saber and Berserkers Male Servants. She can Charm and make them skip their turn. She can drain their Charge to fill her own NP. And her Noble Phantasm can output some stupidly high damage against Male Units, while also decreasing their Attack AND Charming them!
Now, her specific niche does mean that she can suffer or at least be less effective against non-male enemies and/or those with Charm/Debuff Immunity. But I’ll say it again. If you want to play FGO, get Euryale. Otherwise?
This guy will stop you dead.
8. Chloe von Einzbern
Wild Kissing Demon
- Good Critical Hit Attacker
- Capable of NP Spam
- Reliable in most situations
Chloe isn’t exactly liked in the fandom. She hails from the magical girl show Fate/kaleid liner Prisma Illya, which isn’t liked that much to begin with. Her event is notorious for being obnoxiously grindy. And she’s not exactly the most pleasant person to be around either.
Unfortunately for her haters, she’s just so dang good.
Being the free Servant you get from the Event, she’s incredibly powerful. Being an Arts-focused character gives her a leg-up in using her Noble Phantasm more often. Event Servants (Also referred to Welfare) do come in five copies, allowing you to max out their Noble Phantasm damage output. Given that Chloe’s Noble Phantasm ignores Evasion and lowers Critical Hit chance on one enemy, this means she can make short work of Sabers and Berserkers. And do it again!
She also holds a niche in the Critical Hit field. Her third skill can grant her a huge amount of NP but also allows her to generate more Critical Stars to work with. Her first skill grants her Evade and Critical Hit Damage, so she can do more damage, refill her NP quickly, all the while she’s immune to damage.
Of course, the downside is that being an Event character, so if you didn’t play during the Event, you’re not going to get her. There might be an opportunity to get her in the future, so if you do it might be worth your time. As long as you don’t have to do the event again. That was a headache.
7. Nikola Tesla
Brilliant Scientist of Alternating Current
- Amazing NP
- Can fill NP up quickly
- Great damage against majority of Servants
When Nikola first debuted, he was good. But not really outstanding. Gilgamesh existed and he was far better in the terms of being the Buster AOE Archer. But after four upgrades, he finally became a really amazing Archer. The only thing he’s missing is his mustache.
…like seriously, Tesla had a real good mustache in real life. Why isn’t that recreated here?
Anyway, Tesla is heavily reliant on using his Noble Phantasm, and he’s got two ways of rebuilding it. His first skill, after being upgraded twice, allows him and the party to build NP up faster, while also buffing his chances to debuff and increase the party’s chance to buff. The last two effects can be niche, but they come in handy when using his second skill and his Noble Phantasm.
His second skill, after getting upgraded, gives him a guaranteed Attack buff and a layer of Guts, with a good chance of him getting a NP Damage and a Defense buff. At the max level of his first skill, that good chance becomes a guarantee. And this skill (The only one that didn’t get an upgrade!) gives him a great amount of NP, allows him to Ignore Invincibility, and some Critical Stars to work with. This one skill just worked from the beginning.
And then comes his big claim to fame. His Noble Phantasm is a Buster AOE that does more damage to Servants with the Sky and Earth Attribute, which means he does more damage to two-thirds of the cast! He does have a small chance of stunning, which does increase with his first skill.
His Noble Phantasm does hurt him for 500 HP, but if you run him with Merlin, it should be fine. While some people might say Ishtar is better, I think that Tesla edges her out due to having guaranteed buffs and not being limited; you just need to clear the London Singularity to get him in any pool. Believe in the power of alternating current and not in the cruddy car company that uses his name.
6. Nightingale Santa
The Christmas Miracle Nurse
- Amazing support
- Ideal for challenges
- Good reliable damage
Yes, Florence Nightingale is Santa. She took over from Quetzcoatal, who was Santa Samba. And why yes, I do know that the actual descendant of Florence Nightingale is fully aware of this version of his ancestor’s existence. FGO is hella weird.
But what is not weird is that the Santa version of the Angel of Crimea is a real solid support unit. So good that she can be brought along to challenges, provided that she’s not facing a Lancer. She’s a mainstay of my Archer party, along with Moriarty.
Facing off an enemy who likes spamming buffs and debuffs? Nightingale’s first skill removes a buff from all enemies, one debuff from all allies, and heals allies. Need some more damage? Her third skill provides a party-wide Attack and Critical Damage buff, while her amazing second skill buffs NP Damage while providing Guts and the rare Buff Removal Resist.
Her Noble Phantasm is pretty great as well. AOE, strips enemies of their Offensive Buffs and lowers their Defense. It does come with a demerit of also curing enemies of Burn/Poison/Curse, but that’s small potatoes…unless you’re running Nightingale with characters like Yang Guifei. But as long as you avoid that, Nightingale will serve as an amazing support to a good majority of parties!
5. Gilgamesh
The First, The King of Heroes
- Insanely powerful AOE NP
- Ideal for both farming and boss slaying
- Critical Hit Killer
One of the oldest heroes in recorded history. And in Fate’s world, that makes him incredibly powerful. Despite being a character released early in the game’s history, he’s still insanely powerful and will get a great buff later this year.
That buff improves his first skill, which only provided an Attack buff at first, and the buff will grant some Critical Stars and buff those in the Sky Attribute. Critical Stars help fill his next two skills, which allow him to build his NP faster and start Criting more often. And this third skill can give him a good amount of NP to work with!
And his Noble Phantasm has a special trait about it. It deals more damage to a majority of Servants, save for a select few. There’s not that many, so he generally fits well into killing anything that’s not a Lancer. And given that he has a skill that gives him NP charge and his ability to Crit…he can refuel his NP!
Like Moriarty, he lacks defensive options. But unlike Moriarty, Gilgamesh can wipe out entire teams on his own and can build more Critical Stars on his own. While both are limited, Gilgamesh sees more use in farming and even boss fights, while Moriarty is designed more for the latter.
4. Jeanne d’Arc Summer
Airheaded Dolphin Shooter
- Amazing Arts AOE NP
- Can charge and refill her NP quickly
- Can output some good damage
…hey, uh, you remember that Servant I mentioned that uses dolphins? Yup, this is her. And she’s also the famous French saint Jeanne d’Arc. She also has an Alter version that’s the biggest edgelord of all time who does manga. We call her Jalter.
The old Jeanne d’Arc was a quasi-tank. This one is a NP Spammer. All thanks to her first and second skill; the first gives her an Arts buff and the second one just gives her a great amount of NP. And having an Arts Noble Phantasm giving you some NP and having two Arts cards to her name, playing all three Arts cards can allow her to potentially use her Noble Phantasm twice. More so if you get her support.
Her first and second skills give her some more to work with as well. Her first one gives her two layers of Invincibility, while her second skill gives a NP Damage buff and a Critical Damage buff…but the latter only triggers if she’s on a stage that’s ‘Near Water’. Battlefield-type skills are rare and often not-so-useful skills unless you play with a character that can transform the stage, but the rest of the skill is perfectly amazing on its own.
Her third skill does give the party an attack buff, with a second layer given to ‘Good’ allies. Like Moriarty’s, situational but still good to have. And her Noble Phantasm does good damage, and gains some Critical Stars to boot. Even with her at NP1, it’s still 10 stars to spend next turn to help her refund her Noble Phantasm.
I’m glad I did get her. I have used her so much to farm with Archers, even if I feel like her damage output is on the small side. Still, Arts AOE NPs are all amazing…but if you want someone who works with Arts Cards AND deal damage, well:
3. Altria Pendragon Summer
True King of the England…On Vacation
- Insanely high Arts-based damage
- Capable of refunding her ST NP
- Great support
Hey, a Saberface! There tends to be at least one on the top ten lists, and this Servant was doing Arts Looping before her Caster version came around and made it possible. Hailing from the first Summer event, I did get her…but I never cared for her. I wanted to use my shifty old man.
The one big downside to her is her second skill. It heals her for a good amount, but consumes 10% NP to use. Unless you had someone to fill her back up or have gotten her twice (As Servants at NP2 and higher can overcharge their NP past 100%), she can lose access to her Noble Phantasm. Or not just use it, as her other skills are that amazing.
The first one is an Arts self buff while adding a party-wide defense buff. The third one provided a party-wide attack buff, while giving Male Servants an increase to their Critical Star Generation. A bit weird to have a gender-specific thing, but when paired with some great Male support, it will allow her to hit even harder.
Her Noble Phantasm provides an immediate recharge of her NP as the Overcharge effect. Combined with an Arts Chain and buffs, she can potentially loop her NP. It also has a chance to decrease the target’s Charge, but it cannot be increased past a 70% chance.
Thanks to her skill set and when teamed up with the Caster version of Altria, she can output some stupid high damage. I feel bad about not using her now. And she’s going to get an upgrade to her first skill in a year’s time; it’s going to get an NP boost and add Sure Hit, allowing her to use her Noble Phantasm more often and bypass Evade! Cannot wait!
2. Arash
- One of the best AOE NPs in the game
- Low cost, ideal for challenges and farming
- Guts-based build allows for multiple use of his NP
I mentioned him before, and it remains true here. Despite his lost cost, low stats and his Noble Phantasm murdering him, Arash remains as one of the game’s best units over-all. I’ll quickly go over what makes him amazing. It works out for lazy old me while avoiding copy-n-pasting my section from last time.
Arash’s Noble Phantasm does massive damage to all enemies in exchange for killing him. This gives him some great utility in challenge quests; get him to deal with the fodder, and allow your main boss slayer to remain healthy. And with certain ways of applying Guts to him, he can keep on bombing enemies. Coupled with his low cost, he could make some amazing parties that can clear out challenge quests
So why is he not Top One in the Archers? Well, he is great overall. But he’s not the Greatest Archer. That would go to…
1. Super Orion
Fierce Hunter, Love of the Moon
- Insanely high attack power
- Critical Hit Master
- Arts NP buffs him even higher
Wait, there’s someone better than Arash? The reason as to why Super Orion wasn’t on the Top 15 list is because Arash fulfills a useful niche in the overall meta FGO while Super Orion is just simply the strongest Archer. If that list was bigger, then he would end up on that list, but lower than Arash.
So why is Super Orion the better Archer? Real simple. Stupidly high damage output. Top five highest in the game.
The first version of Orion wasn’t a great unit. Came in after Gilgasmesh, and was widely considered to be a worse and more expensive version of Euryale. But the Super version lives up to the name by being a Critical Hit machine. And a big part of that revolves around his Noble Phantasm.
It’s an Art one, but instead of dealing damage, it’s a series of buffs. Attack, Ignore Invincibility, Debuff Immunity, grants ten Critical Stars each turn for the next three turns, while also giving a Critical Damage buff. All that in an Arts NP. While Super Orion has only one Arts card normally, with proper support, he can spam his NP.
His other skills also build his damage up even higher. First grants a Buster buff, second gives him Critical Stars and Increased Attack, and his third grants him higher Critical Damage on his Buster cards while drawing Critical Stars to his cards. His first also buffs damage against Demonic and Beast enemies and his second grants a Guts, but those are minor compared to Super Orion’s raw high damage.
He’s all about damage. While he lacks AOE damage output, he can still easily kill anything save for Lancers…and that’s a big maybe. He’s the strongest Archer for that reason. He kills with little issue. You get him, buff him even further and you shall see why he’s the best Archer.
If you liked this article, please check out the others I've done:
- [Top 15] Fate: Grand Order Best Servants
- [Top 10] Fate: Grand Order Best Berserkers (Ranked)
- [Top 10] Fate: Grand Order Best Assassins (Ranked)
All images sourced from Fate/Grand Order Wiki (https://fategrandorder.fandom.com/wiki/Fate/Grand_Order_Wikia)
