“Luke, Banga of Parallel World who was born as a Banga and became a General of Saint West. He is made of loyalty as people say his loyalty is greater than his stature. He takes pride in being the top 5 generals of Saint West but he has abandoned his title and became the Captain of Deserter Army for loyalty.”

As one of the few black fatecores to receive the Core Reverse treatment, Most Reliable Luke is one of the latest to get an upgrade to his already decent Banga fatecore. As a defense type legendary hero, FC Luke has the ability to stand as a solo tank in your team’s composition for both PVP and PVE content. His strength lies in his high base defense when compared to other defense types.

Although not as high as fated level heroes, his base stats can match or even exceed his fated counterparts through enhancement by Unleash Potential and fatecore enhancements. In addition, being part of the Banga family of fatecores, FC Luke has the strong Heartstrike ability added to his passive which provides mana generation, a speed/defense debuff, and an AOE nuke/DOT/blind all in one. It is a very strong passive skill, that is also a strong counter to First Guardian fatecores, and makes any of the Banga fatecores highly valued for any player. Now add the Core Reverse upgrade in with the new passive skill Ultimate Sacrifice, and FC Luke becomes one of the best defense tanks in the game. 

Fatecore base stat bonus

As you can see above, the defense and HP stat bonus he receives from his fatecore at max enhancement level is significant. The increase to his defense and HP provided by fatecore enhancement will improve his active skill 2 as those scale off his HP and defense stats. It is definitely worthwhile to spend the Mu to enhance this fatecore, especially if FC Luke is your only tank.

As mentioned earlier, since Luke is a legendary-grade hero, you can increase his base stats further via Unleash Potential in the Hero Journal.  In addition, his fatecore is currently available via the FC Tantalo String of Creation banner. Any free to play player should invest in this banner when they have Xes to spare given his relevance in the current meta. While stats alone do not make FC Luke great, it’s his new passive skill that can help shift the outcome in a battle. Let’s review “Most Reliable” Luke’s unique skillset provided by his new Core Reverse fatecore upgrade...

New upgraded passive skill “Ultimate Sacrifice” from Core Reverse 

Passive - Block 2 (Added effect Ultimate Sacrifice)

Afflicts all enemies with Provoke if an ally takes damage and its Health drops to 30% or less (10 turns) and grants Heal Over Time to yourself that heals 20% of current Attack every turn for 5 turns.

Gain Mana (1 mana) if your Health is 20% or less when triggered.

Heart Strike

• Afflicts Heart Strike Lv. 1 to 1 enemy with the highest Health when the battle starts.
• Increase level of mark when a target with the mark is damaged by an ally with the Heart Strike skill.
• Obtain 1 mana per enemy mark level at beginning of turn.
• The effect of the mark increases as the level increases and it stacks (All effects can't be removed).
• Afflicts Heart Strike Lv.l to 1 enemy with the highest Health upon marked target’s death.

Heart Strike Lv. 1

• [Debuff] Decreases 20 Attack Speed of the target.

Heart Strike Lv. 2

• [Debuff] Decreases 1,000 Defense of the target.

Heart Strike Lv. 3

• Deals 200% damage to all enemies upon activation.
• [Status Effect] Afflicts target with Blind.
• [Over Time] Afflicts 2,000 damage to target every turn.

Ultimate Sacrifice

• If the caster has a removable Buff/Recovery/positive effect applied, receives Ultimate Sacrifice effect
• [Special] Increase own Defense and Health Regenerating effect by 200%
• [Special] Transfers all damage received by allies with own Share Health effect to self

Active 1 - Burning Hammer

• [Single] Deals 187% damage to 1 enemy.
• [Status Effect] Afflicts target with Provoke for 4 turn(s).

Active 2 - Shield of Loyalty (slightly increased multipliers)

• [Self] Increases own maximum health by 57% for 9 turn(s).
• [All] Share Health with all allies for 18 turn(s).
• [Buff] Increases Defense of all allies by 26% of own Defense for 9 turn(s).

FC Luke’s new passive skill Ultimate Sacrifice definitely has a benefit in today’s meta. Having the ability to absorb your entire party's damage can add a lot of sustainability. Although it does require a setup with Shield of Loyalty to apply share health, having the ability to keep your damage dealers alive for the second round is a huge benefit. This works well against teams utilizing burst AOE damage with Signature Force enhancements as the additional damage can be absorbed by Luke allowing your team to counter with a second-round burst. If you are lucky enough to have other Banga fatecores on your team as well, you would be able to activate the maximum level of heart strike to potentially take out the enemy with the highest HP. It is definitely a great passive skill that can benefit any player in PVP content. 

Synergy with Banga Family and Summer Festa fatecores 

Like most fatecores, FC Luke will synergize better with specific units or fatecores. Given the requirement for a removable buff to activate Ultimate Sacrifice, pairing him with any of the Summer Festa units can be a good option due to their passive providing an attack buff when hit with a water element attack. Given the current meta with Bathory and Rera leading Green Land heavy national teams, FC Luke can become a defensive threat by activating his new passive skill immediately in the first round. I recommend pairing him with FC Iris if you were able to recruit her through her Summer Festa banner or the String of Creation.

Similarly, the Banga Family of fatecores inherently all synergize well with each other given the conditions required for the Heartstrike skill activation. That said, there are heroes that will activate Heartstrike sooner than others which will have an impact on which Banga fatecores you should pair with FC Luke. In the event that you have multiple Banga fatecores, I recommend utilizing those with the counter passive such as Adams or Morris as their counter hits will trigger Heartstrike. In addition, they are much easier to obtain than the gold Jinn or Tantalo fatecores. If you were going for FC Tantalo in the String of Creation, then odds are you will likely pull FC Morris and FC Luke before you land FC Tantalo. If that is the case, utilizing those 3 together can be a very deadly team in both PVP and PVE content.  

The verdict

Given the updates to his passive, there are very few defense types that can surpass FC Luke in the current meta. He provides insane sustainability with Ultimate Sacrifice combined with his share health ability. He also provides unmatched synergy with Summer Festa and all of his Banga Family fatecores Those having difficulty climbing the PVP ladder with no answer to the Green Land nation teams or other Signature Force heavy teams will now have a strong tank to survive the first round nuke while also increasing your entire party’s survivability. Although he was already strong with the Heartstrike skill, he has become an even better unit to own after his Core Reverse upgrade!

• Strong defense tank to utilize in all content, both PVP and PVE. Free to play players with smaller hero collections can prioritize FC Luke as their main tank. 

• Still retains strong Heartstrike passive skill to synergize with other Banga Family fatecores. 

• New passive skill Ultimate Sacrifice provides unmatched sustainability to your entire team. Synergizes with Summer Festa fatecores as a solid soft counter to the Green Land national teams.

• Can be obtained through the String of Creation, an option for free to play players and high spenders. Easier to build and transcend given his grade as a legendary hero.