Awesome sauce, thanks guys. Good to know about being behind and being able to plan what to aim for - Caster Artoria definitely sounds like one to get (even if on paper she just sounds wrong for the caster class heh); will be checking out some videos as recommended. That anniversary event sounds pretty good so I'm glad that I haven't used my SQs yet - thanks for the top tip!
I got Emiya 4* to start by luck, which was handy as he ticks the favourite and my preferred offence-type-character box. Was finding overpowered support servants with AoE NPs quite useful to progress so chose to get Atoria Pendragon as the free 5*, and she also ticks a favourites box (I'm clearly a fan of stay/night heh; there has to be Dark Sakura lurking in here somewhere, though I have seen one that looks like a kiddie version of her). Trying to get Hokusai in the current event who should be useful as I'm finding I need a single-target-focused NP, especially after getting my a**e handed back to me by the Okeanos boss until I changed support-selection strategy heh.
Yes please! Others' experience is invaluable to save the limited time available to me for the grinding. I'd read that Waver & Merlin are the best down to their support features, whom I hadn't even considered as was focusing on offence only previously. But now going to definitely wait for the Caster Artoria and in the meantime stick to the current event and main story whilst gradually levelling up current characters.
So the Dark Sakura you are thinking of here is Kama. I think her rerun is coming as the next event, so that's not too long away but then you may also not have much SQ yet and may want to pass and try for Caster Artoria instead. It depends on what you want, since the latter is more for making your team good while the former is good as a single unit. Though for the details on Kama here, she has a different form in each ascension. That's her first ascension form.
With Saber Hokusai right now, you're doing the right thing. She's arguably one of the best welfare servants out there, and as a new player you'll want to get her and as many copies of her as you can to max out her NP along with her ascension items when the events offer them. It may take a bit to get her to her full potential but she is a hell of a unit, and whether you got Kama or Caster Artoria she'd honestly work with each since one gives stars, the other buffs arts.
With Emiya right now anyway, you've got a good 4 star there. He takes a bit of investment to truly shine, as you want to upgrade his skills with their appropriate quests when available, but once that happens he's pretty strong.
Artoria too is a decent 5 star to have. She hasn't got it yet but in a few months at the latest she'll get a skill upgrade that turns all her cards to buster along with a damage boost for them. She'll be hitting very hard at that point.
For servants like Merlin and Waver, particularly the latter, even if you lack them I can assure you that people you start to get on your friends' lists won't. Most people will put support servants over damage dealing servants for casters in their supports as when it comes to casters, damage isn't really what they excel in and those that do aren't as useful as a powerful support, especially ones like Waver for farming. There will be another chance for a 5 star later on, so if you want him you can always go for him later depending on what you are after.
You mentioned wanting Lancer Scathach? Good news, if you do get her when she does have a banner you'll find she is a very strong unit. Especially against servants like Gilgamesh.
Servants I would recommend would be of the following, and note that this is just my recommendations. Everyone will have their own ideas of good servants, but this is from my own experience.
Mashu - Level her up. Early on you may not get much use of her from the level cap, but when you do unlock her full potential later she's invaluable, whether from the zero unit cost or due to her strong defensive skills when you're in a longer battle.
Cu - Some people see him as like a roach. He just won't die very easily. 3 evades, and a guts. He's a good starting lancer, since he's a 3 star you'll get him easily, and he saved my team countless times early on when he was the last man standing.
Caster Gil - An AOE Caster, he's got decent NP generation and and decent damage. There may be better AOE casters out there but he's a solid choice that I use.
Herc - He may be squishy but he hits hard. If you get him, best to give him something that starts him off with as much NP charge as possible so he can take down a strong enemy quickly before something kills him but burning through his guts and evades.
Tomoe Gozen - A strong single target Archer. I'm not sure what her rate up status is though so she may take a while to show up. She's a decent Archer though, and an easier alternative to some 5 stars.
Space Ishtar - I'm trying to avoid mentioning many 5 stars, outside of those mentioned prior, but she's worth mentioning purely because she'll fit in any team for farming. She can change her NP to any type you want, with a battery for NP charge too. She doesn't get class advantage but she'll do her job well regardless.
Finally, my personal favourite, Okita. One of the earliest limited servants, and still holds out strong today. She's yet to get any skill upgrades (they are coming though) because skill upgrades were for servants with issues or who were now lacking. That tells you how strong she was, and still is. Brilliant star generation, along with good NP generation, and a single target NP that ignores defence, she's been the centre of my teams for a long time, only stopping for a while when her bond maxed out and I was trying to max out others. Since her new limit is 15 for bond, she's back into teams full time. Since she's limited her rate ups are rare but I couldn't resist mentioning her here.
As for the guaranteed 5 star banner when it does arrive, it'll be split up by the year servants were released. The first banner has a lot of strong servants, like Scathach, Gilgamesh, Okita, Raiko, Jeanne Alter, Nero Bride, and Kintoki. But there is a lot of servants, 14 in total, so if you only want 1, it's a 1/14 chance and with these banners you want to know how many you would be happy getting against how many are available.
The second banner, has Musashi, Archer Artoria (one of the best single target archers in the game for NP looping), Ishtar, Merlin, First Hassan, and Melt. But there are 15 in total here, so similar situation again.
The third only has 11, with the ones I'd say are great there being Ereshkigal (sometimes debatable), Skadi, and Hokusai.
Fourth has 10, with Kama, Arjuna Alter, and Summer BB being the best there I'd say.
Finally the fifth also has 10, with Super Orion, Romulus, Summer Musashi, Summer Ruler Artoria, Space Ishtar, and two possible foreigners.
Honestly here, the best thing to do will be to look at the lists when they do become available and decide, based on those available, which you want, which you don't, and see which banner has the best chance at getting you a useful servant that you like or at least one you'd be happy with. You can still simply go for the banner that has the servant you want the most too, since you never know, but you want to be prepared for it to not be them most of the time.
. Just don't get hooked on it's gacha element though, that is never a good idea.
