Saber (セイバー, Seibā?), Knight of the Sword and Heroic Spirit of the Sword, is one of the Three Knight Classes among the seven standard Servant classes summoned for the Holy Grail War. Servants placed within this class are agile and powerful melee warriors adept at swordsmanship, boasting high ratings in all categories, and they are often heroes from the Age of Gods when magecraft was still commonplace. The qualifying conditions require the Heroic Spirits to have legends as knights of the sword, and it is the class that requires the highest levels of attributes in all but the Magic attribute. It is possible for the status qualifications to be bypassed in special circumstances, such as through Nero Claudius Caesar's Imperial Privilege. Toyotomi Hideyoshi's Noble Phantasm Sword Hunt qualifies him as an extremely rare Saber without qualities distinctive of the class. Compatible Heroic Spirits usually excel in delivering powerful burst attacks, and the Class Skills are Magic Resistance and Riding.
The standard opinion is that the Saber Class is the best of the seven classes and the strongest of the Servants, said to have made it to the final battle in the first four Fuyuki wars. They will generally have an overwhelming advantage over Caster-class Servants who uses magecraft as their main offensive ability due to their Magic Resistance Skill. The weakness of the class is its straightforwardness in battle, only able to attack the enemy with their sword while unable to resort to other tactics like the Presence Concealment of the Assassin Class.
Berserker (バーサーカー, Bāsākā?), Mad Warrior and Heroic Spirit of Berserk Rage, is one of the Four Cavalry Classes among the seven standard Servant classes summoned for the Holy Grail War. Servants placed within this Class are always Heroic Spirits who have gone berserk during battle at least once in their lifetime. This trait allows them to use the special ability Mad Enhancement, which trades their consciousness and sanity for a large power boost. This Class is usually for magi who have summoned Heroic Spirits with insufficient abilities and attributes, allowing them to strengthen their Servants to make up for their lower attributes and compete against stronger opponents. While it is ideal for Servants to reach the level of the Heroic Spirit, the Class allows for their attributes to surpass even the original. If used on an already strong Heroic Spirit, such as Heracles, they will become empowered to truly extraordinary levels. The abuse of this to create powerful Servants has made the Class referred to as the strongest of all seven classes.
It is possible to specify in the summoning ritual that the Servant be placed under the Berserker Class for those familiar with the workings of the Grail System. By adding in a specific line, Zouken Matou and the Einzbern family, as members of the Three Founding Families, were able to choose the Class during the Fourth and Fifth Holy Grail Wars respectively. This Class comes at a price, as the Berserker Class is the most difficult to control and a Master must expend a large amount of additional magical energy merely to maintain the Berserker, and the affected Heroic Spirit may lose access to certain abilities or even Noble Phantasms depending on how much sanity it has taken away for power.
Masters are unable to utilize coordination with their Servant unless gifted with superb control over them. The lack of complex rational thinking keeps them from being able to follow more than simple directions, and it may even require Command Spells to keep them from acting on their own. They generally rely on little other than brute strength and overwhelming, uncontrolled strikes to physically beat down their opponents. As a result, in every Holy Grail War before the Fifth, the magical energy consumption and insanity of the Berserker Class has made them incredibly difficult to maintain and control. Kariya Matou is drained of his energy at a high rate and eventually it causes his death, but he could have handled another Class without difficulty. They have generally brought about their own Master's ruin due to their inability to control them, so the Einzbern family developed Ilyasviel's Magic Circuits specifically so that she could handle the strain with ease in the Fifth Holy Grail War.
Lancer (ランサー, Ransā?), Knight of the Lance and Heroic Spirit of the Lance, is one of the Three Knight Classes among the seven standard Servant classes summoned for the Holy Grail War. Servants placed within this class, many of which are Heroic Spirits who were knights, are very agile, display excellent close combat skills, show proficiency in hit-and-run tactics that capitalize on range and speed, and are skilled with long-range melee weapons such as spears and lances. The qualifying conditions to be placed within the class are second only to the Saber class, requiring overall excellent attributes and a high agility attribute. Their only particular class ability is Magic Resistance, and although they "tend to be less flashy than the other classes", they display great reliability.
Assassin (アサシン, Asashin?), Silent Killer and Heroic Spirit of Assassinations, is one of the Four Cavalry Classes among the seven standard Servant classes summoned for the Holy Grail War. Servants of this Class are skilled at operating covertly, stealthy, and silently. Although most Assassins are famous for sneaky killings, Charles-Henri Sanson was a public executioner. This class is one of the weaker classes at fighting; as its members possess low attributes due to not having glorious legends as heroes, it instead specializes in killing Masters rather than Servants. It is an oddity compared to the more formal Knight classes who believe in fair duels and chivalry in combat; they will attack using the most unfair and favorable conditions, and with these conditions, it is possible for an Assassin to match and defeat other Servants. The Assassins' special class ability is ‘‘Presence Concealment”, which allows them to remain undetected when spying or preparing to ambush their targets. Within the Fuyuki Holy Grail War system, it is said only the Hassan-i-Sabbah, summoned with the word "Assassin" as the catalyst, are applicable to be summoned due to them being the only true assassins to actually be recognized as Heroic Spirits. The Assassin in Fate/stay night, summoned by Caster, is an exception. He is an aberration in the system as another Servant summoned him. While he has Presence Concealment, it is his own ability rather than a Class Skill, and he appears listed as "Assassin?" in the Fate/complete material III Servant section. Heracles, even within the Fuyuki system, has qualifications for all classes besides Caster, so it is unknown how he would fit into the role of Assassin. The rule originally remained in the Great Holy Grail War system, but Masters eventually managed to bypass it after the abilities of all nineteen Hassans became known. The Moon Cell Holy Grail War of Fate/Extra does not mention any such rule ever having been in place.
Caster (キャスター, Kyasutā?), Magus and Heroic Spirit of Spells and Sorcery, is one of the Four Cavalry Classes among the seven standard Servant classes summoned for the Holy Grail War. Servants placed within this Class are usually adept in magecraft, and the only qualifying condition is the mastery of sorceries of the highest caliber compared to the specific parameter requirements of the other classes. Due to not requiring any strong statistics, they generally have low combat abilities, and due to the majority of Servants having some form of Magic Resistance, this Class is thought to be the weakest of all seven.[1] They make up for this with other means, using magecraft that no longer exists in the current age and, no matter which Heroic Spirit is of which Class, possessing many possible ploys to be used against enemies. Those of the Saber Class can likely challenge any Caster who uses magecraft as their main offensive ability without needing to plan due to their high Magic Resistance, while those of lesser resistance like the Rider Class may require more strategy.[2][3] Their class abilities are Territory Creation, altering the surrounding lands in favor of their sorcery, and Item Construction, which allows the magus to create magical items and tools.
Archer (アーチャー, Āchā?), Knight of the Bow and Heroic Spirit of the Bow, is one of the Three Knight Classes among the seven standard Servant classes summoned for the Holy Grail War. Servants placed within this Class excel in possessing powerful Noble Phantasms, are able to act as highly effective scouts, and are frequently Heroic Spirits from the Age of Gods when magecraft was still commonplace. The qualifying condition for the Heroic Spirits is not attributes, but instead the possession of powerful projectile weapons or special abilities related to projectile weapons. They possess high Magic Resistance as a Class Skill, so most modern magi are unable to inflict damage to them. They also possess Independent Action, allowing them the ability to act independently for a length of time without an active supply of magical energy from their Master.
Due to excelling in powerful Noble Phantasms, Tokiomi Tohsaka considers it inevitable that Gilgamesh, with his EX ranked Ea, came to be of this class. For Archers with high ranked Independent Action and a disposition opposite to the Master, the only guaranteed way to control them is through the use of Command Spells. Servants will generally assume that the Noble Phantasm of an Archer-class Servant is their bow, but any projectile weapons, even firearms, can be indicative of an Archer.
Rider (ライダー, Raidā?), Mounted Knight and Heroic Spirit of the Mount, is one of the Four Cavalry Classes among the seven standard Servant classes summoned for the Holy Grail War. Servants placed within this Class are those known for riding mounts, whether living beasts or human constructs, during their lives. They generally have lower attributes compared to the Three Knight Classes, but the abilities of the mounts described in their legends compensate by granting them powerful Noble Phantasms or abilities. They have the class abilities of Magic Resistance and a high rank in Riding, allowing them to fully utilize the abilities of their mounts. Depending on the rank, they can take full control of everything from simple horses, modern machinery like motorcycles and planes, and even Divine Beasts. Dragons are the only exception as the ability to ride them falls under a different Skill; however, rare exceptions do occur.
The standard opinion is that the Saber Class is the best of the seven classes and the strongest of the Servants, said to have made it to the final battle in the first four Fuyuki wars. They will generally have an overwhelming advantage over Caster-class Servants who uses magecraft as their main offensive ability due to their Magic Resistance Skill. The weakness of the class is its straightforwardness in battle, only able to attack the enemy with their sword while unable to resort to other tactics like the Presence Concealment of the Assassin Class.
Berserker (バーサーカー, Bāsākā?), Mad Warrior and Heroic Spirit of Berserk Rage, is one of the Four Cavalry Classes among the seven standard Servant classes summoned for the Holy Grail War. Servants placed within this Class are always Heroic Spirits who have gone berserk during battle at least once in their lifetime. This trait allows them to use the special ability Mad Enhancement, which trades their consciousness and sanity for a large power boost. This Class is usually for magi who have summoned Heroic Spirits with insufficient abilities and attributes, allowing them to strengthen their Servants to make up for their lower attributes and compete against stronger opponents. While it is ideal for Servants to reach the level of the Heroic Spirit, the Class allows for their attributes to surpass even the original. If used on an already strong Heroic Spirit, such as Heracles, they will become empowered to truly extraordinary levels. The abuse of this to create powerful Servants has made the Class referred to as the strongest of all seven classes.
It is possible to specify in the summoning ritual that the Servant be placed under the Berserker Class for those familiar with the workings of the Grail System. By adding in a specific line, Zouken Matou and the Einzbern family, as members of the Three Founding Families, were able to choose the Class during the Fourth and Fifth Holy Grail Wars respectively. This Class comes at a price, as the Berserker Class is the most difficult to control and a Master must expend a large amount of additional magical energy merely to maintain the Berserker, and the affected Heroic Spirit may lose access to certain abilities or even Noble Phantasms depending on how much sanity it has taken away for power.
Masters are unable to utilize coordination with their Servant unless gifted with superb control over them. The lack of complex rational thinking keeps them from being able to follow more than simple directions, and it may even require Command Spells to keep them from acting on their own. They generally rely on little other than brute strength and overwhelming, uncontrolled strikes to physically beat down their opponents. As a result, in every Holy Grail War before the Fifth, the magical energy consumption and insanity of the Berserker Class has made them incredibly difficult to maintain and control. Kariya Matou is drained of his energy at a high rate and eventually it causes his death, but he could have handled another Class without difficulty. They have generally brought about their own Master's ruin due to their inability to control them, so the Einzbern family developed Ilyasviel's Magic Circuits specifically so that she could handle the strain with ease in the Fifth Holy Grail War.
Lancer (ランサー, Ransā?), Knight of the Lance and Heroic Spirit of the Lance, is one of the Three Knight Classes among the seven standard Servant classes summoned for the Holy Grail War. Servants placed within this class, many of which are Heroic Spirits who were knights, are very agile, display excellent close combat skills, show proficiency in hit-and-run tactics that capitalize on range and speed, and are skilled with long-range melee weapons such as spears and lances. The qualifying conditions to be placed within the class are second only to the Saber class, requiring overall excellent attributes and a high agility attribute. Their only particular class ability is Magic Resistance, and although they "tend to be less flashy than the other classes", they display great reliability.
Assassin (アサシン, Asashin?), Silent Killer and Heroic Spirit of Assassinations, is one of the Four Cavalry Classes among the seven standard Servant classes summoned for the Holy Grail War. Servants of this Class are skilled at operating covertly, stealthy, and silently. Although most Assassins are famous for sneaky killings, Charles-Henri Sanson was a public executioner. This class is one of the weaker classes at fighting; as its members possess low attributes due to not having glorious legends as heroes, it instead specializes in killing Masters rather than Servants. It is an oddity compared to the more formal Knight classes who believe in fair duels and chivalry in combat; they will attack using the most unfair and favorable conditions, and with these conditions, it is possible for an Assassin to match and defeat other Servants. The Assassins' special class ability is ‘‘Presence Concealment”, which allows them to remain undetected when spying or preparing to ambush their targets.
Within the Fuyuki Holy Grail War system, it is said only the Hassan-i-Sabbah, summoned with the word "Assassin" as the catalyst, are applicable to be summoned due to them being the only true assassins to actually be recognized as Heroic Spirits. The Assassin in Fate/stay night, summoned by Caster, is an exception. He is an aberration in the system as another Servant summoned him. While he has Presence Concealment, it is his own ability rather than a Class Skill, and he appears listed as "Assassin?" in the Fate/complete material III Servant section. Heracles, even within the Fuyuki system, has qualifications for all classes besides Caster, so it is unknown how he would fit into the role of Assassin. The rule originally remained in the Great Holy Grail War system, but Masters eventually managed to bypass it after the abilities of all nineteen Hassans became known. The Moon Cell Holy Grail War of Fate/Extra does not mention any such rule ever having been in place.
Caster (キャスター, Kyasutā?), Magus and Heroic Spirit of Spells and Sorcery, is one of the Four Cavalry Classes among the seven standard Servant classes summoned for the Holy Grail War. Servants placed within this Class are usually adept in magecraft, and the only qualifying condition is the mastery of sorceries of the highest caliber compared to the specific parameter requirements of the other classes. Due to not requiring any strong statistics, they generally have low combat abilities, and due to the majority of Servants having some form of Magic Resistance, this Class is thought to be the weakest of all seven.[1] They make up for this with other means, using magecraft that no longer exists in the current age and, no matter which Heroic Spirit is of which Class, possessing many possible ploys to be used against enemies. Those of the Saber Class can likely challenge any Caster who uses magecraft as their main offensive ability without needing to plan due to their high Magic Resistance, while those of lesser resistance like the Rider Class may require more strategy.[2][3] Their class abilities are Territory Creation, altering the surrounding lands in favor of their sorcery, and Item Construction, which allows the magus to create magical items and tools.
Archer (アーチャー, Āchā?), Knight of the Bow and Heroic Spirit of the Bow, is one of the Three Knight Classes among the seven standard Servant classes summoned for the Holy Grail War. Servants placed within this Class excel in possessing powerful Noble Phantasms, are able to act as highly effective scouts, and are frequently Heroic Spirits from the Age of Gods when magecraft was still commonplace. The qualifying condition for the Heroic Spirits is not attributes, but instead the possession of powerful projectile weapons or special abilities related to projectile weapons. They possess high Magic Resistance as a Class Skill, so most modern magi are unable to inflict damage to them. They also possess Independent Action, allowing them the ability to act independently for a length of time without an active supply of magical energy from their Master.
Due to excelling in powerful Noble Phantasms, Tokiomi Tohsaka considers it inevitable that Gilgamesh, with his EX ranked Ea, came to be of this class. For Archers with high ranked Independent Action and a disposition opposite to the Master, the only guaranteed way to control them is through the use of Command Spells. Servants will generally assume that the Noble Phantasm of an Archer-class Servant is their bow, but any projectile weapons, even firearms, can be indicative of an Archer.
Rider (ライダー, Raidā?), Mounted Knight and Heroic Spirit of the Mount, is one of the Four Cavalry Classes among the seven standard Servant classes summoned for the Holy Grail War. Servants placed within this Class are those known for riding mounts, whether living beasts or human constructs, during their lives. They generally have lower attributes compared to the Three Knight Classes, but the abilities of the mounts described in their legends compensate by granting them powerful Noble Phantasms or abilities. They have the class abilities of Magic Resistance and a high rank in Riding, allowing them to fully utilize the abilities of their mounts. Depending on the rank, they can take full control of everything from simple horses, modern machinery like motorcycles and planes, and even Divine Beasts. Dragons are the only exception as the ability to ride them falls under a different Skill; however, rare exceptions do occur.