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Fate/Stay Night: All Servants, Ranked

Published

1 month ago

October 13, 2024

Christoph Rediske

fate stay night all servants ranked caster medea saber gilgamesh rider

Key Takeaways

Table of Contents

Assassin is weaker due to stronger rivals & controlled by Caster.
Rider is strong but held back by a weak master in the Holy Grail War.
Lancer is hindered by philosophy, still skilled but weak compared to others.

Fate/Stay Night is one of the most beloved battle royale anime shows of all time. The story pits seven mages and their servants against one another in a battle for the Holy Grail, with only one winner able to emerge from among them. Each servant belongs to a different class of warrior, and as a result, they have varied fighting techniques, weapons, and special abilities known as Noble Phantasms.

Each servant is summoned from the spirit of a powerful mythical figure, such as King Arthur or Hercules. The strength of each hero is a result of many factors, including the magical prowess of their master, the proficiency of their summoning ritual, and the availability of mana as a life force. The following rankings are based upon the performance of the servants in the original Fate/Stay Night, rather than Unlimited Blade Works or any other alternate timeline.

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8 Assassin

A Good Swordsman But Inferior To Other Classes

The Assassin class is often one of the weaker classes to be summoned during any Holy Grail War, though only due to the sheer strength of their rival heroes. Sasaki Kojiro,the legendary samurai, takes the form of this swordsman, who prides himself on being both honorable and technically skilled in swordsmanship.

Though he faces off against Saber, she is in a weakened state and still manages to defeat him. On top of this, Assassin is essentially a backup servant controlled by Caster. The fact that he can be manipulated by a fellow servant in this way also speaks to his inferiority.

7 Rider

A Strong Servant When Conditions Are Favorable

Fate Stay Night Rider Belerophon Pegasus Anime Servant

Rider is a formidable servant who features most prominently in the first half of the series as she tries to hunt down Emiya. She is somewhat unfortunate to be summoned by a weak master like Shinji, who, despite his lineage, is still inferior to many of his rivals.

Official art of Archer Emiya and Rin Tohsaka from Fate Stay/Night. Art is from the original visual novel, not the anime adaptation of Unlimited Blade Works

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Rider uses chains and spiked weaponry to paralyze opponents, and appears to gain a sadistic pleasure from inflicting pain upon them. Her Noble Phantasm, Pegasus, is among the more powerful in the series. With some better luck, Rider might have gone further in the Holy Grail War.

6 Lancer

A Fast, Skilled Fighter Hindered By Philosophy

Fate Stay Night Lancer Servant Anime Hero

Lancer is a skillful servant who shows off his abilities in the very first battle of the series against Archer. Though the fight is inconclusive, Lancer shows that he can go toe-to-toe with most other servants.

Though he survives longer than most servants, Lancer is ultimately quite weak in comparison to a lot of others. Much like Assassin, he serves in a secondary role beneath Gilgamesh for Kotomine Kirei. Despite his obvious talent, Lancer offers very little resistance when he eventually squares off with The Golden King.

5 Caster

The Magic-Class Servant Has A Variety Of Powerful Tricks

Caster is a magic-based combatant with a range of abilities, including summoning skeletons to fight for her and creating illusions which she can manipulate. Though she is a powerful and superior servant, viewers never get to see the full extent of her abilities due to the weakness of her master.

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Caster’s story and her relationship with her master, Kuzuki, is one of the most tragic in the series. As a non-mage with virtually no means of helping Caster, Kuzuki took her in out of the kindness of his heart, though it ends up being to the detriment of the pair of them.

4 Archer

A Skilled Servant In Several Disciplines With A Strong Noble Phantasm

Fate Stay Night Archer Servant Anime Epic Hero

Archer is the coolest and most nonchalant of the servants, but he shows his skills in a variety of ways throughout the show. Despite being a member of the Archer class, he primarily fights using two swords, which he can replenish if they become damaged or lost.

His Noble Phantasm, Unlimited Blade Works, is extremely powerful, and would ordinarily be enough to overcome most other servants. Unfortunately for Archer, he has a distant connection with his master, Tohsaka, and has to face off against Berserker and Illya without any help from her.

3 Berserker

The Monstrous Servant Bludgeons His Way Through His Opponents

Fate Stay Night Berserker Hercules Servant Anime Hero

The terrifying and speechless brute, Berserker, establishes himself as one of the most powerful servants from his first appearance in the show. Combined with the powers of his master, Illya, Berserker is one of the most intimidating characters among all possible servants.

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As an incarnation of the Greek demigod Hercules, Berserker possesses superhuman strength and fighting abilities. In addition to this, his Noble Phantasm, The God Hand, grants him twelve lives, making him virtually indestructible for his first few battles.

2 Saber

The Ideal Servant’s Powers Grow Throughout The Series

Though most masters consider the Saber class to be the most powerful and desirable class to summon, the fact that her master is the inexperienced Emiya Shirou puts Saber at a considerable disadvantage for most of the show. Depleted of mana, Saber loses to both Berserker and Gilgamesh at first, before later gaining her full strength.

Given her true identity as an Epic Hero is that of King Arthur, much of Saber’s power is derived from her artifacts: Excalibur, Caliburn, and Avalon. Without these, and a substantial mana supply, she becomes quite weak. But even in a weakened state, she is capable of beating other servants.

1 Gilgamesh

The King of Kings Is Worthy of His Self-Proclaimed Title

Fate Stay Night Gilgamesh The Golden King Babylon Gate

It’s hardly fair to call Gilgamesh a servant, since he essentially only serves himself. Nonetheless, he is the most powerful of Epic Heroes and possesses the most overpowered weapons and Noble Phantasm. As the winner of the previous Holy Grail War, Gilgamesh had already defeated servants from almost every other class before joining the fray a second time.

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Capable of summoning any weapon throughout history via his Gates of Babylon portals, Gilgamesh barely has to lift a finger while hundreds of swords and spears rain down upon his enemies. The only other servant capable of giving Gilgamesh any sort of contest is Saber, but even she has to deflect Gilgamesh’s own Enuma Elish back against him in order to defeat him.