Rulers, the Servants that overlook a Holy Grail War. Well, used to. Grand Order broke away from that, as well as the factor that they need to be tied to Christianity. Or not wanting a wish from the Holy Grail. Oh well.

These are the Top 10 Rulers in Fate: Grand Order, as of April 2024. There’s a new one available in Traum, but I won’t be including him because he’s too new…and not out yet as of writing it. Good thing there’s eleven Rulers…so the one that’s not going to be included is the ruler version of Altria.

10. Amakusa Shirou 

Samurai Shodown fans are a bit confused right now.

• Great NP Building
• Noble Phantasm strips enemies of buffs
• Debuffs enemies

Rulers are defined by their higher HP and their lower Attack. This is true of Amakusa, even though he’s designed at killing things. Even if at first he wasn’t really seen as such. It did take a good amount of upgrades to get him to the point where he could be seen as useful…and he’s still considered low-tier. All of his skills and his Noble Phantasm had to be buffed.

His first skill provides some Critical Stars Regeneration and NP Gain to one ally, while originally only the first effect was applied to himself. Once upgraded, his second skill becomes way better. Decreases Charge for one enemy, decreases Buster Resistance to all enemies, give him a good amount of NP and then add on some small regeneration. It used to only decrease Charge for Demon or Undead enemies, that was way too situational, and give him the NP, which is small potatoes.

The third skill could inflict Stun to one enemy, but it has to be a Servant. It did get an upgrade to buff his Buster Card Effectiveness. That does help him do more damage with his Noble Phantasm. It does Buster AOE damage while stripping buffs off the enemies first, and lowers their ability to land Critical hits. 

His ability to do damage has been improved, and his ability to cleanse buffs off enemies has always been seen as useful during certain challenge quests. It’s just that he needs a lot of improvements and he does have some limited use to him in a lot of situations. But hey, if you got him, use him.

9. Leonardo da Vinci

The best Land Before Time sequel.

• Excellent team support
• Decent damage output
• Roulette wheel provides some good buffs.

Hey, it’s the Rider version of Leonardo, at the beach! And she’s armed with robotic dinosaurs! Summer Events are like this. I could make up something and you’ll believe it. You have to fight against Christopher Colombus as a giant Egg.

Oh right, the Servant. Her role is supporting the team with some good buffs. She can give one teammate a buff to all of their Cards with her first and a good amount of NP while boosting how fast they can build NP with her second. Her third provides for the entire party a boost to NP Damage and Overcharge while decreasing the enemies Critical Hit Rate. And she’s got some generally short cooldowns for someone of her caliber too.

Her Noble Phantasm is the one that has a bit of a tricky effect about it. Da Vinci fires off a bullet, and the color of the bullet determines what effect you get. Green gives Critical Stars, Blue gives the entire party 20% NP, and the Red Bullet gives a good-sized Attack buff. Completely random as to which bullet she fires. They’re all good effects, but it’s hard to really call upon a certain effect that can help in the exact situation.

She was given out during an event that will get a rerun in two years time, and I recommend you pick her up then. The event also gave out some Servant Coins, so she’ll get off to a greater start than other Servants. Until then, see if someone in the Friend List has one, and give her a whirl! 

8. Jeanne d’Arc 

Before she started to toss dolphins.

• Amazing Survivability
• One of the best Defense-oriented Servants in the game
•  Amazing NP

The original Ruler of the Fate series, the first one released in fact. She didn’t get off to the best start, due to her suffering a number of problems that kept her from being useful out of a few key situations. Thankfully, some Buffs helped her get up to a better position.

Her first skill got buffed to include two new effects, but not yet in the NA server. Originally, it just gave her a piddling amount of Critical Stars each turn, and the buffs gave her more Stars, while giving the party a good amount of NP and improving their Arts cards. Same thing for her second skill; it used to only reduce the damage of Servant’s Noble Phantasms, but now it decreases the damage of any enemy’s Noble Phantasm while severally decreases the Defense of a single enemy in the form of two debuffs; one debuff lasts one turn while the other one lasts for three. She also has Amakusa’s Servant-stun, but that hasn’t been changed.

Her Noble Phantasm used to stun her upon activation. That was removed following an upgrade; upon start up, it removes any debuffs from the entire team, while also giving them Invincibility, HP Regen, and increases Defense? Amazing! This put her square into stall-focused teams.

While her design and the intention for the Ruler class has been mostly shifted away, Jeanne is still ideal for any team needing to survive a bit more. Arts-focused teams are always OP after all. Now, if you need someone that can break through defenses…

7. Sherlock Holmes

I’ll let you decide which quote best suits the picture.

• Helps party break through defenses
• Supports party with some high damage
• Incredible resistance

The game is afoot! Sherlock is not only a Ruler, but he’s also one of the main characters of Fate: Grand Order, in particular of the Cosmos in the Lostbelt section. He does have some good tools about him, and I got him…way too many times. I don’t really use him as often as I should.

A big reason is because most of the skills last for one turn. Sherlock’s first skill seals the targeted enemy’s NP while gaining some Critical Stars, a latter upgrade adding in an Arts Resistance debuff to all enemies that lasts longer than one turn. Which is ideal for his other skills; his second skill that draws Critical Stars to him while making him immune to Debuffs and his third skill buffs his own Arts Cards while also granting him Evade.

Because of his Arts-focused performance, he can build his NP up quickly and use his best features. His Noble Phantasm decreases the defenses of all enemies while granting the party the ability to ignore any and all defenses buffs while also buffing their Critical Damage. And because he can build quickly, he could…say, buff that Critical Damage to insane levels.

Sherlock can be a bit awkward to fit into a party, but place him with a Critical Star Generator and someone who’s built for dealing Critical Damage and you got an insane high damage team. Remember, Sherlock is a CONSULTANT Detective. He’s not there to make the arrests.

6. Saint Martha

You’re going to need a prayer, alright.

• Ideal for fighting Moon Cancers
• High durability, even for a Ruler.
• Great offense-based kit

Saint Martha is a famous saint that once pacified the dragon Tarasque with prayer. In Fate’s version, she brought it down with her fists. This is the version where she goes to battle by throwing hands. Literally a fantasy RPG Monk.

As mentioned before, most Rulers are built to be tanky or focused on support. Martha doesn’t do that, she goes for damage. She’s got a skill that gives her a good amount of NP while buffing her Attack if the stage is ‘Near Water’. A bit hard to work with, yes. Her second skill gives her some good amount of HP back while making her immune to debuffs, and her third grants her additional damage against Demon, Divine and Undead enemies.

Now, that last skill doesn’t last long, just one turn. Which is why you use it with her Noble Phantasm, that first lowers the targeted enemy’s Defense before doing a lot of damage. Some good amount of damage too!

Rulers take half-damage from most things, and they’re good against those of the Moon Cancer class. There’s not that many of that class, but the most prominent member (The one that the class is ‘supposed’ to be for) is someone that this version of Martha counters. Counters so badly that there’s a small meme of Martha bullying her. 

5. Quetzalcoatl/Santa Samba

Brings a whole new meaning to the title of ‘El Santo’.

• Good team support
• Critical Damage dealer
• Great AOE Damage

You read that right. Santa. Samba. Quetzalcoatl. The Christmas event she came in was a tag-team wrestling event. You can even get outfits of this version that comes with a face or a heel wrestling mask.

Let’s get ready to rumble with her first skill! It gives the party an Attack buff while regenerating some Critical Stars each turn. Which is good, given that her second skill can grant one ally not only the benefit of dropping more Critical Stars, but also attracting Critical Stars to their cards. Critical Hits don’t just boost damage, they boost all card types effects. They can build even more Critical Stars!

Quetz’s third skill is personal, giving her not just a boost to her Buster cards but also attracting Stars to her Buster cards. While Noble Phantasm cards cannot Crit under any circumstance, using her Noble Phantasm does help her and the entire party by boosting their Critical Damage, after hitting all enemies and boosting Quetz’s ability to drop more Critical Stars. So you could use her Crits to either do some insane damage, generate her NP, or build even more Critical Stars.

That being said, she’s not the biggest Crit dealer in the Ruler class. That would be:

4. Astraea 

Judgment…hurts a lot!

• Critical Damage machine
• Can loop Noble Phantasm
• Can generate Critical Stars

We went from one wrestler, to a lady well-known for wrestling in the Fate world. Well, the body that the goddess is currently inhabiting anyway. She does a big suplex in her Noble Phantasm…which they removed in the arcade version. Hmmph.

All of her skills are really meant to be used on herself. Her first skill can be given to one ally, and it grants a combo platter. A boost to Attack, Defense, and NP Gain. Good to have, this allows Astrea to build her NP up quickly while shrugging off even more damage. And speaking of damage?

Her second skill boosts her Arts Cards while also granting her Critical Stars…a LOT of Critical Stars. 30 at max level! And! If you spend five of those to use her third skill, you get a decent amount of NP while boosting Critical Damage and attracting Critical Stars to her cards. Remember, Arts Cards grant NP and critical hits boost that.

Which leads to her Noble Phantasm. The one with the backdrop. After upgrading it, it will Ignore Invincibility, deal high damage to enemies (Even more so against those that are Evil) and gain even more Critical Stars. More Critical Stars to fuel the ability to loop her Noble Phantasm or do even more damage!

Now, this does put her higher up on the list than other Rulers, but I do put more utilitarian Servants higher on my lists. Keep in mind, Rulers are mostly defensive, and are only good at fighting one specific class. They are Servants that are also Critical killers and can fight against other classes. Astrea is awesome…but I think the next one is a bit better: 

3. Himiko 

Those robes of hers are going to be red after she’s done with your enemies.

• Buster support
• High Burst damage
• Great Support Noble Phantasm

I wish I had her. I love her design, I think I would enjoy her, and I think she’s amazing. But I missed out, so I have to wait…wait and hope.

…that’s the Avenger Servant I don’t have. Moving on…

Himiko is all about damage, or rather, helping the party deal some higher damage with Buster. Her first skill grants a simple Attack buff along with a small amount of Critical Stars each turn. Good, but her better skills support herself.

Her second skill improves her Buster cards, grants her higher damage against Demonic enemies, and a single-turn Invincibility. And to really help her damage, her third skill gives her a huge amount of NP while improving the Criticals and Gathering of Critical Stars to her Buster Cards. Only to her Buster cards mind you.

Her Noble Phantasm gives the entire party a lot of boons. Buster Card buff, NP Overcharge by two levels, and higher Critical Damage. This does forcibly put her square into the Buster meta, where she does have to compete against the likes of Merlin, the Koyanskayas and Oberon. Which is an insanely high bar to hurdle over.

But she’s still amazing when it comes down to supporting Buster parties. She can do more damage than Merlin, nor as risky as using Oberon or Koyanskaya of Light. Plus, she only has to worry about Avengers, and you can…just not bring her to those fights. That being said, there is someone that can compete against the Ruler’s natural enemy: 

2. Qin Shi Huang

Behold, the man that crashed Chinese Twitter.

• Good overall damage
• Indomitable survival 
• One of the best Noble Phantasms in the game

I wish I did get him. It seems like all of the Lostbelt’s Kings are pretty busted. And no, I wasn’t kidding. When Mothman got revealed, Chinese Twitter went nuts to try and find as much of the ‘good stuff’ on him.

He can be seen as the best tank in the game. This is all due to his Noble Phantasm making him Invincibile and drawing Fire to himself. Given his Arts-focused loadout, he can use his Noble Phantasm way more often. But it also boosts his Attack, Critical Damage, and draws Critical Stars to his cards, leading to his other big thing; damage.

Surprisingly, he can become a good fighter. His first skill takes a tick off the enemies’ Charge while decreasing their Defense, his second has a great chance to stun all enemies while buffing his Attack, and his third skill recovers his own HP, removes debuffs, and grants him a lot of NP. It’s worth noting that his boss fight in his Lostbelt is notoriously difficult, and you can see why.

He can work on his own, but he can also work immensely well with a team. Provided that you don’t take him up against enemies with AOE attacks (As Taunt is ignored by those) or enemies with the ability to pierce, he should survive anything and return fire with some great damage! Spam that Noble Phantasm for greater effect!

1. Amor/Caren 

The Devil really does wear Prada!

• A ton of useful effects on her skills
• Incredible looping 
• Tanky

This can be a tricky character to talk about. Regarding her backstory, her personality, and her playstyle. But she is the best Ruler by far for a good amount of reasons. And let’s start with her skills…and each one reads like a chapter from War & Peace. Ooh boy.

Her first skill grants a special Invincibility to her that lasts upon three hits instead of one turn. She gives an one-attack Invincibility to everyone else in the party and boosts their NP Gain. Sounds good, right? Well, Caren takes 10% of their NP each turn in exchange. They can build it faster, but there’s a good chance that without a skill to raise NP or having the ability to overcharge past 100%, they won’t be able to use their Noble Phantasm.

Caren isn’t totally selfish. (Actually, she is) Her second skill draws fire to herself while increasing her own NP by a good amount. It also decreases the enemies’ Charge, Attack and Defense. Meaning that they will be dealing less damage to her while taking more, and it keeps them from using their big attacks. Plus, taking damage boosts her NP.

Her third skill helps her with her low damage by buffing all of her card types while also giving her some NP and decreasing one enemy’s Charge. Caren is all about her Noble Phantasm, and because it’s AOE, she’s good for farming. It’s Quick, buffs NP Damage before it starts, lowers their Quick resistance, nullify any buffs they might want to try to put on, and an upgrade grants higher damage against Chaotic-aligned Servants.

Caren’s biggest weakness is her low damage…which is easily fixed. Heck, one of her passives gives her an Attack buff when she’s debuffed, so as long as the debuff isn’t Attack-orientated, she gets stronger! With other supports that can build NP quickly, Caren can spam her Noble Phantasm way more often!

If you liked this article, please check out the others I've done: 

• [Top 10] Fate: Grand Order Best 5 Star Servants (Ranked)
• [Top 15] Fate: Grand Order Best Servants
• [Top 10] Fate: Grand Order Best Archers (Ranked)