Fate Grand Order: Getting Started (Tips, Tricks, & Strategies)
Getting started in Fate Grand Order seems simple, but there are a few tips & tricks that can set players up for a long time if they're followed.
Getting started in Fate Grand Order is pretty simple at first glance, but there are some key FGO tips and tricks that many new players aren't aware of that prevent them from having their dream roster of Servants as quickly as possible. Fate Grand Order, also known as FGO among fans, is the popular mobile game title from Delightworks that has consistently ranked among the highest-played iOS and Android games each year.
While Fate Grand Order is free-to-play, it does implement a pretty unforgiving gacha system into its core gameplay model. While players who never want to spend a dime on the title will still be able to accrue rare Servants and Craft Essences at a slow rate - and, crucially, free-to-play team compositions are viable throughout the game - many fan-favorite characters are locked behind the highest rarity possible. Fans looking to acquire Artoria Pendragon, for instance, will struggle to acquire the obscenely powerful King of Britain without either saving and hoping for a favorable gacha roll or sinking some real money into the title.
For that reason, getting started in Fate Grand Order can sometimes feel like players need to make a decision immediately: are they playing for free, or are they willing to sink in money semi-frequently for the chance at the best Servants (and, more importantly, their favorites)? Luckily, those two roles don't need to be mutually exclusive, and some FGO beginner tips and tricks can help players set themselves up for success regardless of what type of player they are - though, sadly, we can only give fans a better chance at rolling their favorites, not a sure thing.
How To Get Started In Fate Grand Order
Obviously, the first step in getting started in Fate Grand Order is to actually download the game. FGO is available on mobile for both iOS and Android devices. One important thing to note is that for Western fans, the English version of the game is actually several years behind the Japanese version of the game. This means that it can be very easy to plot out how a player wants to go about their next two years of English FGO, which will be important later in this guide when it's time to discuss how to maximize the free premium currency players get each year.
After downloading and installing the game, FGO will put players through a brief tutorial that ends with their first 10-pack gacha roll, which will feature a guaranteed 4-Star Servant from a limited pool of beginner options. As is often the case in games that have so many different branching paths in terms of how a starter Servant influences team compositions, there is an FGO tier list for which starters are the best. As new players can wipe their app data or cache to start the game over fresh, it's worth spending the extra time "re-rolling" until they get a good starter, since the difference between the best options and the mid-tier ones are pretty pronounced. For that reason, it's recommended to only move past the tutorial gacha roll with the following Servants:
Heracles: By far the best option for new players, Heracles is a Berserker class servant with rare survivability in his toolkit and the option to output some serious damage thanks to having advantage on almost all other classes. He's also a bit trickier to use since Berserkers also have disadvantage in terms of defense against most classes, but the payoff is two-fold in that regard - new players will have a Servant who is viable throughout pretty much all FGO content, and they'll learn some of the game's systems quicker.
Emiya: Emiya is a very powerful Archer class Servant with a strong kit that's well-rounded. He's easy to use, outputs decent damage even as content gets tougher, and is an extremely popular character from the anime series he stars in, Fate/stay night: Unlimited Bladeworks.
Carmilla: A strong Assassins class Servant with a single-target Noble Phantasm and the ability to charge her Noble Phantasm gauge, Carmilla's damage output is impressive. Assassins can be hit-or-miss in terms of effectiveness, so having a strong Assassin early that scales well is a boon.
Players who don't want to min-max don't necessarily need to reroll if they don't get one of these three options, but these FGO Servants will absolutely make new players' lives easier. Truly ambitious players can try to reroll their first 10-pack to get a powerful Craft Essence like Kaleidoscope, for instance, but this is not recommended - the amount of time it would take to pull off given the abysmal odds simply isn't going to be worth it most of the time.
Once players have a new account they're ready to progress with, there are a few different FGO tips & tricks that will make their lives easier for the months and years ahead if they enjoy the gameplay. First, players should check the many available schedules on the internet that detail exactly what will be coming to the Western FGO server over the year. This will allow players to plan for when they should be playing more - during events that have many valuable rewards, like level-up materials for both Servants and Craft Essences - and when they can just log-in to collect their daily rewards and grind a little wherever they like.
FGO players will want to focus on leveling a small number of Servants when they are first getting started. There are two reasons for this: one, leveling Servants is expensive in terms of materials, and high-level Servants matter a lot when pushing through tough quests or event grinds; and two, materials for Servant skills are even more expensive and often cost millions of QP as well, which will quickly tax a new player's funds. Some skills are extremely potent only when they're at Rank 10, and the difference between a few percentage points can be dramatic. Having one good Servant at max level with max skills is often better than having two half-leveled servants with mid-tier leveling on their skills.
How To Play FGO Free-To-Play
Event planning & Servant leveling go hand-in-hand with this last FGO tip: pick one or two Servants that are must-haves each year, and save all Saint Quartz and Summon Tickets acquired to roll for only them. Saint Quartz is the premium currency of Fate Grand Order and is hard to come by for free players, but the game is also pretty liberal with how many rolls players get with the Saint Quartz they use. 30 Saint Quartz equates to ten rolls at once, and guarantees a 4-Star or better Servant or Craft Essence. That, combined with rate-ups that raise the frequency with which specific Servants appear during rolls, can be used to maximize the chance that a player acquires their desired Servant. Do not, under any circumstance, use Saint Quartz to revive during a fight, or do single rolls when Saint Quartz totals are under 30. If money is no concern, of course, players can simply do whatever they wish - but those looking to save money and go free-to-play will need to be cautious with what they use.
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