There are so many iconic characters that come out of the Fate/Stay Night series. Be it the beautiful King of Knights, Artoria Pendragon, or the prideful King of Heroes, Gilgamesh, every single Servant in this series is iconic and memorable in their own way. And needless to say, all of them are extremely powerful.
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The main source of a Servant’s power is without a doubt their unique fighting style. However, every single one of them has a trump card that allows them to showcase an ungodly amount of offensive power. It’s called the Noble Phantasm. And just like how every Servant has their own distinct fighting style, the Noble Phantasm is also unique from one Servant to the next. The one that we’ll talk about in this article is by far the most peculiar one. This is everything that you need to know about Archer’s Unlimited Blade Works.
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Archer’s Combat Style
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Before we discuss Archer’s Noble Phantasm, let’s briefly talk about his combat style first. Because this is actually one of the things that makes Archer such a unique character. Every servant in Fate/Stay Night is usually a master at their particular class, such as saber being a master swordsman or caster as a master in magic. However, that is not the case at all with Archer.
It’s true that just like his class, Archer is incredibly lethal when he has a bow and arrow on his hands. But for the most part, he is a melee fighter that fights with twin swords. What’s even more impressive is the fact that these swords, along with the other weapon in his arsenal, was made by Archer himself through his magecraft.
Combine that with the fact that he has a calm and collected personality that can always analyze every situation from different angles in order to come up with the best strategy in any given situation or against any opponents, and you get one of the most, if not the most, versatile and dangerous servants in the series.
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Projection Magecraft
Archer is specialized in Projection Magecraft. This brand of magic allows him to replicate, construct, and enforce almost every inanimate object. Archer usually uses this ability to create his own weapons. As a matter of fact, the twin blades and the large bow that he used in the series is actually an original weapon created by his Projection Magecraft.
When compared to the other mages in the series, especially Caster, then Archer’s Projection Magecraft might seem like a simple spell with limited application. However, Archer has honed this ability to the point that he can even duplicate otherworldly weapons like the Noble Phantasm. That being said, since it is still a replica, the overall quality is still a level below the real one.
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Whenever a noble phantasm breaks, it will unleash a massive amount of mana that is stored inside of it in the form of a massive explosion. Since Archer has the ability to construct countless noble phantasm, he can use these phenomena as a weapon called Broken Phantasm. By using the noble phantasm that he created as a bow for his arrow, he managed to create something akin to exploding magical arrows.
Unlimited Blade Works
A servant is usually the manifestation of a heroic spirit of the past, but that is not the case with the Archer from Fate/Stay Night. On the contrary, he is actually a soldier from the future who is chosen to be a heroic spirit after his death. That’s why unlike the other servants, Archer doesn’t actually have a noble phantasm. What he has is something called the Reality Marble called the Unlimited Blade Works.
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In the simplest term, a reality marble is a custom pocket dimension that enhances the user’s innate ability to its fullest. Once Archer activates his Unlimited Blade Works, him and his target will be transported into another dimension that looks like a barren wasteland with countless swords, spears, and other kind of bladed weapons stuck on the ground for as far as the eyes can see, and many others are being produced in real time.
These blades are every weapon that Archer has ever encountered throughout his life, including Noble Phantasm. As a matter of fact, as long as the noble phantasm is not in use by its original owner, Archer can perfectly replicate it within the Unlimited Blade Works. He can use these weapons one by one, or he can also control lots of them at the same time and launch them towards the enemy, sort of like Gilgamesh’s Gate of Babylon.
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Needless to say, the aforementioned Broken Phantasm effect also appears in this reality marble. Despite the fact that Unlimited Blade Works is actually a reality marble, its powerful nature makes lots of people consider it as Archer’s Noble Phantasm. After all, there’s not many people who can live to tell the tale once they are stuck within Archer’s Unlimited Blade works.
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