Emiya's Unlimited Blade Works EXPLAINED: ARCHER'S True Power & Abilities - FATE / STAY NIGHT Lore 

“You can’t throw a sword and call yourself an archer” *Gilgamesh laughing maniacally in the distance*

gilgamesh: you can't win i have new weapon emiya: what is it? gilgamesh: COPYRIGHT!! emiya: NNOOOOOOOOO!!!!

I really like how Emiya's solution to everything is pretty much "SWORD". Need a weapon: sword, Need healing: Sword, Need an arrow: SWORD. Its rare to see such a simultaneously Silly and Badass powerset.

Kinda crazy how Shirou is supposed to be an amazing archer while in high school. Sakura and classmates urge him to rejoin the archery club frequently, but he doesnt use a bow. He chooses to train with the sword the moment he sees Saber wielding one. But as EMIYA, he is summoned as an archer, bringing him back to his roots. Even then he chooses to use his swords more. Reflects who he is, he has his own talents and skills, but hes trying to be someone else he idolizes like Kiritsugu or Saber.

He's the only original Servant in the entire series. At the same time, he's also the least original Servant, as he basically just copies everyone else. That's a damn unique idea.

Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V. Sure, whatever. His greatest ability is being able to make Rin blush at any moment. He's had practice, y'see.

*_"I am a living Printer"_*

I guess Shirou is a one-trick pony in the art of "hippity hoppity, your weapon is now my property"

Ex-Harem Protagonist: A+++ House Husband: A++ Supplementary Attribute - [Queen of England]

It's notable that Archer was powerful without a legend. Normally, Heroic Spirits get their power from how famous, or infamous they are. Berserker's 12 Respawns wasn't an attribute to the Original Herakles but rather a result of the tale of his 12 Labors. However there are ZERO tales about Counter Guardian Emiya. What we're seeing is his true strength and almost nothing more.

"looks at a weapon and its his" Gil: *laughs in Ea*

Emiya to gilgamesh: "there's nothing that says a copy can't be just as strong as the original" AniNews: "Because theyre copies they'll never be as strong as the original" Emiya: Am I a joke to you

Love the video but one minor detail, Archer isn't a version of Shirou from any of the routes. Fate route: doubles down on his philosophy but his love for saber means he keeps his promise to strive for her with his soul eventually resting in Avalon Alongside her's Unlimited blade works:Rin keeps her promise to archer to prevent shirou walking the same path and helps to keep Shirou grounded. Additionally, he accepted the contradiction inherent to his philosophy and wouldn't fall into despair Heaven's Fell: Completely abandoned it for the sake of one person

Archer's magic detection is one of the best ones in the entire series, he can detect traces of magic when people like Rin could not. This is not shown directly to us, but we can see Shirou doing it, and as Shirou is Archer, well... Also, two of his most powerful weapons, Caladbolg and Hrunting are actually different versions than the originals, meaning they are new weapons on their own, both Caladoblog II: Fake spiral sword and Hrunting: Hound of the Red Plains which have different effects than the originals. Same goes for the Rho aias, that is an original shield created by Emiya based on the legend of Ajax. And for last, with reinforsment he can upgrade his NPs to match the power of the original, but there is no need to make it a BP, as the BP its even stronger, not due to making it better but due to the acumulated prana inside of them, that would make an explosion. Emiya is one of the most broken servants that exists, the only down side, is that he doesnt care to win at all, you could say that Archers that shoot swords have the same weakness, themselves. Also his stats are quite poor :P

"I sell swords and sword accessories."

Small complaint about the abilities, you pretty much skimmed over Eye of Mind as if it wasn't that powerfull while it is the very reason he is able to fight Lancer 1 on 1 without dying. Eye of Mind allows him to not just predict the enemy, it allows him to think tens of steps ahead of his opponent, this skill is the sole reason he can fight close quarter experts as a "human" and put up a fight while being physically weaker in both speed and strength

... That’s wrong, all the different routes are the same Emiya, Archer comes from a fourth timeline. The circumstances are simply different, in Fate, Archer is too injured by Saber for most of the route to pull off his plan, in UBW, Archer tries to kill Shirou through the use of Caster to get out of his contract with Rin and in Heaven’s Feel, they have bigger fish to fry thanks to Avenger’s awakening. Shirou is implied not to regret his life in any of the three Main Routes, and his incantation is a result of his experience with Archer. No Shirou in any of the three Routes become Counter Guardian EMIYA. That’s it, sorry.

Mooncell : That servant look cool! let add him into the servant pool! what's his name again? Screw it, let name him "Nameless"

Emiya Archer is quite badass!

When you're so badass that you heal with swords

Emiya had his memories from the start in every route, he just acted as though he didn’t. I have played the VN

Archer is completely broken, not only has he an almost infinite arsenal of A+ waepons with his broken phantasms he is also skilled enough to fight lancer, saber and assasin and even berserker in single combat. It´s kind of sad we have never seen him play to win as he never really fought in his preferred terretory as an archer from distance, but i think if the grail war would be fought like in zero he would be the most likely to win.

Woah hold on. Fate Shirou is NOT UBW Archer. That has already been confirmed in the VN and by Nasu. In ALL the routes, they are all the same Shirou from a different timeline. While its true that his journey was similar to Fate Shirou's, Nasu said that something major was missing and he never managed to save Saber from her fate. In fact, you could say Archer is the Shirou that never got any development from any of the routes and never came in terms with himself. So he carried on Kerry's empty ideals till the end of his days. All three shirou's had resolutions in their respective routes, allowing them to move on with their lives. Fate Shirou finally came in terms with his own past, after realizing that he too always desired to go back and redo his past like Saber, but tried to ignore that feeling by trying to run away from the memories of the past. He finally decided deep down that it would be wrong to try to redo his past because that would be ignoring/disrespecting all the suffering that happened already. After his time with Saber, Fate Shirou's empty ideals were enriched and strengthened to the point that he made it his own. UBW Shirou came in terms with his future and his ideals, realizing that he'll never accomplish his dreams, but saving the world was never the most important thing for him, but rather the beauty of the path. He changed kerry's empty ideal with his own hands and made it his own. HF Shirou threw away the ideal and decided to live in the present with Sakura. He came to the realization that its okay to priotize his and Sakura's happiness over others. While he threw away an important thing to him, he found an equally important person in his life. Anyway, just wanted to clear that up.

I feel like his abilities and power is underplayed if you logically analyze their core nature. I think they just put limitations on him just so that he won't be overpowered or overshadow the other servants. His battle experience should far exceed the other servants due to his time as a counter guardian. Ubw should be completely overwhelming because it's literally throwing noble phantasms at you. So what if they are one rank lower than the original, they are thousands of noble phantasms flying at you. Bar complete immunity, each weapon will deal lethal damage. This is not even an even comparison but can you imagine get hit by a thousand bb pellets at high speed. Noble phantasms copied still retain their unique abilities as shown with rule breaker. Possibly downgraded but the effects are still there. On top of the fact that the mastery skills and history associated to the weapon is also copied as shown with the use of nine lives. The extent of possibilities should be quite extensive going off of what it has been shown to be capable of but it got downplayed so badly. Even directly by nasu even though his work contradict what he says. Imagine if emiya took the time to collect all of the noble phantasms in the world.

I have to say this... Even though some things that you said were wrong as pointed out by others in the comments wee deeply enjoyed this video on GARcher and truly appreciate it!

You know, this video makes me want you to cover of topics in the Fate series. Particularly magic, like the different types and how they work, or maybe explaining how mages work as well. All of it is just so interesting to learn. And thank again for this video.

FAR AND AWAY my favorite magic/ability in anime/gaming/visual novels, etc. Idk, but UBW just works for me on every level. The chant, the Reality Marble, the fighting style that involves weapons crumbling away after a few strikes. It, along with Shirou's mentality, Archer's backstory and design, and their interactions with each other and other characters make him(them) my favorite characters in all of fantasy. Second is Guts. A close second.

Archer's Independent Action is especially interesting if you look at the rules for that ability and then look at what actually happened. The authors created a bunch of rules for the skill & then had him break every single possible rule they created, with him fighting substantially without a master, breaking the time limit, etc... As for his UBW, another interesting thing about his reality marble is the world does not attempt to destroy it, unlike with every other reality marble. This is thanks to him having a degraded version of the First Magic. This ultimately allows him to do a LOT more than most people realize. He doesn't only create swords and such. He creates reality - something which Shirou never grasped despite Archer revealing why Shirou has 100% accuracy with a bow. Anything he believes can be brought into reality. Even concepts... but this ability works a lot like Aureolus Izzard's reality control from A Certain Magical Index, wherein even the bad things he imagines can become reality, so if he can't imagine a reality wherein he can win, then he can't win.

I now understand the true meaning to "I am the bone of my sword".

EMIYA= Jack Of All Trades, Master Of All.

He's my favorite hero in all of the series. For me his story was even more compelling due to his sense of morality being similar to mine. And the ending song always got me in the feels

My favorite anime character of all time! There are some details in this video I didn't even know. Great job!

“Looks at stuff, it’s mine now.”

Seeing Archer turn into Shirou when he had his goodbye with Rin always gives me goosebumps. I just started following the Fate series again, last time I did was when it was on Animax.

Just wanted to say, I'm new to your videos and love them! No shitty intro, straight into business, awesome info. Thank you!

"It's not a 'jack of all trades, master of none' situation"? It is exactly a jack of all trades, master of none situation. It is canonically a jack of all trades, master of none situation.

he protecc he attacc but most importantly *he can cook snacc*

I seriusly love his character he is the reason why i love the fate series so much.

Couple of additions. 1. Armor and Shields can be replicated, but it's 2-3 times the energy (meaning 15 units of magical energy). For reference, Shirou has 20-30, Rin has 400-500, and Saber (under Shirou) has 1200 and uses up 200 after fighting Lancer and then Berserker. Later source books claim that he can only use them for an instant, which is debatable a retcon, but this doesn't apply to Rho Aius(since it's the only one he's stated to be proficient at). However, Rho Aius is stated to be the strongest shield against projectiles (and blasts and beams are a subset given strike air is a "projectile"). The light novel of Fate/Apocrypha calls it the strongest shield. Achilles Cosmos is also said to rival it, which basically means EMIYA got stealth-buffed in the story. Against Lancer, he just let its natural durability tank Gae Bolg, but he underestimated it, and only put magical energy(one of the prerequisites to fully utilize one) into it after Gae Bolg was hitting the last layer. So contrary to what many assume, Lancer's spear is not the limit of Rho Aius if used properly. In the original VN, Gilgamesh actively uses Ea against Shirou, and it's reduced below a killing blow because of EMIYA's Rho Aius. It's unknown how much of Ea's power was used. It's price is that it'll damage him as it's destroyed. It varies. 2. Reinforcement being used on his swords is never stated although what you said lore-wise makes sense and is likely. It's transformation(a subset of reinforcement like projection) that turns his swords into arrows. 3. Avalon can't be projected/used as a noble phantasm because of it's connection to Saber's magical energy. 4. Broken phantasm can theoretically(my headcannon) be used without putting energy into them, and simply detonated regardless. I say this because the definition of broken phantasm is to detonate the magical energy within a NP. Noble phantasms contain magical energy by default, which is part of why it's hard to recreate them. Caliburn, for instance, has 100x Shirou's energy. So, 3000, or almost 3 times EMIYA's total energy (same rank as Saber and Gilgamesh). By definition, even without packing in ME, he can just project sword, shoot them, and detonate them for the equivalent to detonating his entire ME supply or far greater. For reference, Caster and Rin's spells have 90 ME. There's the chance he can just detonate his sword rains like he does in games such as Fate/Extra's universe (it's not a contradiction lore-wise). 5. His stats may be low due to being a heroic spirit that no one knows (he's in his own past). Heroes are "man-made gods" that would weaken with no knowledge or faith in them. A hero that was strong in life may keep some of his strength. Cu Chulainn has 0 geographical boost from Japan, and is "degraded somewhat." Imagine what it does to EMIYA, where he not only has no geographical boost, but no knowledge of his existence. In fate/stay night, he's effectively in a nerfed state. 6. In Extra, he has C+ clairvoyance and (false) mind's eye. He has the modifier because he can use reinforcement magic on the clairvoyance skill. For reference, he has the same rank as Arjuna. This rank includes seeing invisible objects, through walls, and literal future sight. Arjuna's stated to have the equivalent accuracy of homing shots due to this, so the same applies to EMIYA. It's possible that EMIYA in FSN can do this as well with his magic, and this is only elaborated in Extra. Same thing happened with Alexander. In FZ, he has B rank military tactics, and is stated to have modifiers against anti-army and anti-fortress attacks. In F/GO, he has B+ military tactics. Also, while the descirption between the Extra "nameless" and EMIYA's mind eye's are the same, the false version contains a precognitive 6th sense that lets one avoid danger. He probably got this skill upgrade due to his legend being known (but his name is forgotten). 7. For whatever reason, there's been a source that mentions a hypothetical battle between him and Rider(FSN), that he can't maximize his fake Excalibur and therefore, can't shoot Rider down easily (referred to as a Saber-class holy sword). This is odd though, because his magical energy is literally in the same tier as Saber and Gilgamesh, who can spam those attacks. Same source says he'd beat False-Assasin in a normal fight, but the temple forced CQB, in which he''s stated that he might lose. Victory between him or Saber really depends on how good their respective masters are (so he's on the same tier as a properly summoned Artoria without Avalon at the least). 8. EMIYA also has the feat of outright beating Berserker 6 times in CQB in the Fate Route before being killed himself. We know it was CQB because his technique was specifically cited, and Hercules wished that he were summoned as something other than a Berserker so they could match each other in sword technique. Let that sink in, a servant whose technique is a noble phantasm felt that he was a worthy match in CQB. He directly refereed to him as a "rare and worthy enemy." 9. UBW requires energy to be spent for recreating weapons after they're destroyed. The amount is unspecified, though it's labeled as "significant." However, it's doubtful that it's more than the activation cost of UBW. On that note, his NPs are labeled as "beyond thousands." For reference, Gilgamesh's NPs are consistently labeled in the thousands. So, no matter what, EMIYA (not even scaling him to UBW Shirou) has a comparable arsenal to Gilgamesh in scale. The fact that he can make variations of existing NPs as an original design might explain why he specifically is said to have more than thousands.

So basically Counter Hero Emiya is that player in a game with broken stats. Depending on how he is thinking determines how painful your fight against him will be. Excaliber on its own is simply deadly. Its noble fantasm would be deadly even by Emiya. Not to mention he could fire off Gai Bal Spears instead of swords which its ability is simply broken as well. Emiya on a bad day would make the terminator cry.

Kanshou and Bakuya are a linked pair from creation, that is their one true love power. A human sacrifice gives them their power.

Shirou: I WANT THAT

Note: All the extraverse weapons are only known by nameless. EMIYA only has the weapons he encountered while alive.

Couldn't be more happy and thrilled with this explanation. Thank you.

I’ve been waiting for this 👍

So basically Gilgamesh vs Shirou is the Blue print vs the 3d printer, I love it

one of the most servants i love, i love his NP theme

Great video!

9:34 I always wondered why there is a chess piece there but I kinda understand now. It's actually symbolic and an ingenious one at that. It actually represents how Counter Guardian Shirou started out as a weak mage just like how you would see a pawn in a game of chess. Everytime a pawn moves, it gets closer to the end, but that end cannot be reached without fighting and struggling against stronger and, in every aspect, superior enemies just like how CG Shirou constantly fought for his life just to get to the end result that he *wanted* And when a pawn reaches the end, it can become virtually anything it wants, just like how CG Shirou got Unlimited Blade Works from Alaya as a reward for his efforts and struggles. The only difference is that Unlimited Blade Works wasn't the reward CG Shirou *wanted*

Hey my man!! While I'm this early figured I'd just say I hope your doing well. 🙂

Great video man!!

Nice!!!great vid!!!

Actually, the thing with Fate Emiya being UBW Archer and UBW Emiya being HF Archer is incorrect. It's true that Emiya is from an alternate Fate Route though and the Archer we see in Fate, UBW and HF is that alternate fate route Shirou. In none of these routes Shirou becomes Archer.

3:45 Shiro flat out says in UBW “there’s nothing that says a copy cannot surpass the original”

Great Video and analysis Wow :)

this is a great video

I am sword man! But your an archer. I shoot swords with my bow! Wouldn’t it be better to shoot arrows? I have infinite swords! How does that help you you can’t hold infinte swords? I heal with swords too! Just be a Saber already

2:31 they aren't loops, they are possibilities. And Shirou never becomes Archer in UBW at least, For the anime version of it Nasu even gave a written story script including scenes that made clear this Shirou wouldn't become Archer (and surpasses him).

New to Fateverse! Big Fan so channels like this r very helpful! ThnkU! Can u do a vid of Hercules Archer class plz? Thnks Again! & Keep'em Comin!!!

Thank you for being one of the few YT to not under power Emiya.

I personally think that Emiya (Archer) is probably in the top 3 most powerful servants/ hero's that exist.

1:51 I remember when I used to get excited and fangirling over Archer saying the incantation.... I was a weird child

Love the video and how detailed it is wish you could cover saber from fate stay night like to know exactly what she is capable of

Underrated channel

I really hope Type/MOON adds Counter Guardian Emiya as a costume dress for Grand Order. The white cloak and fingerless gloves is just such a badass look, if I could dress Emiya in that look I'd use him more often.

Damn that's by far the strongest and most OP copying machine I have ever seen.

Awesome thanks for the info

I knew this stuff, but I didn't mind hearing you explain it all.

I would love for you to make a video about Miyuverse Shirou because he's entire different from the other Shirou and Emiya. He did not possess Avalon. Kiritsugu did not forsaken humanity yet this Shirou is the closest to become Fate Kiritsugu. The only Emiya who gained Affection of the Grail EX and used his soul as a catalyst to summon Archer Emiya inside his body instead of the pendant. More well-trained than any other Shirou. A way more believable HF Shirou compare to the original (not more complex but believable). He could do Divine Construct (not inferior but Divine Construct nonetheless but not with Ea) thanks to his Affection of the Grail. Edit: Also, you kinda glossed Miyuverse Shirou because it's not simply just saving only one person. He also had his own UBW chant describing his life was entire fake, he lost everything and an oath to save Miyu and avenge Sakura under the snow. This also reflected the world that Miyuverse Shirou lived in, a dying world with no hope.

Medea next? Uwu she’s my fave character and i’d love to know more about her

I know I’m late but u missed out his shield rho aias, u made me look it up but dw thnx for the vid RU-vid recommended back at it again

Love it. You may not want to but can you talk about castor's master. I like how he fights.

Quoting Shiro: Who said that a fake can't face the original?

Imagin they made a new route where eimya becomes the counter Guardian archer

Still, his most famous ability is the mithical power of "high jump" which has a beguiling influence on all girls in the area.

Awesome . Thank you

You forgot to mention it's unlimited potential. In the future, we might have Caladbolg over edge, Kanshou and Bakuya XI. Hell he might stumble uppon the jewel sword and make it into Zeretch sword mk XX over edge.

Some Shirou's can make divine constructs. Only Ea is truly impossible to replicate

This was great information

THANK YOU I've been so confused on how strong archer/emia is thanks!!

He also might be (suggested in FGO but never confirmed) a descendant of the legendary blacksmith Muramasa. As his origin was destroyed in the fire, I doubt it means much, but it might be cool to consider if that's why he has a knack for strengthening (tempering) items, which isn't directly linked to swords.

What I find most interesting about emiya is even though his stats aren't anything special (besides his unlimited blade works) he actually is way more powerful as a counter guardian, he was never really supposed to be summoned as a heroic spirit but because he did save the world in the future he gained attributes to become one, now I'm not saying he’ll win against EA for gil but holy crap the man is a powerhouse ONTOP of that he still has all his abilities that was pointed out here so in short terms, go underdog!

Nice analysis, although you forgot to mention Rhoa Aias x

Man, I was hoping I would get an explanation on that Mystic Code of Wrought Iron. Good video anyway.

The Crane technique doesn't work with other Phantasms, though. It's based around the fact that Kanshou and Bakuya are always attracted to each other, essentially like magnets, and then uses that magnetic myth to create a chokepoint with his enemy in the middle. Unless other Phantasms have that ability (and no other we have seen so far have that ability), then the Three-Winged Crane technique is completely impossible to pull off without multiple copies of Kanshou and Bakuya.

Now I'm curious how strong he would be when not constrained by the class?

You should do one on Kerry (Kiritsugu). His life, his time magic, his accomplishments... You could even sneak in something about Emiya (Assassin) amd his Chronos Rose. Damn I love that character and think that they don't really speak about him that much.

Remember how Kitsurugi's Origin (the concept Origin first appeared in the parallel work Kara no Kyoukai) was severing and binding, Shirou's Origin is sword. Also, Archer's Red mantle was given to him by Ciel from Tsukihime.

"Who said the fake can't rival the real thing?" - Shirou

please do Gilgamesh next. He has to be one of the most infamous character of the franchise.

One note, Emiya does have a noble phantasm of his own, because UBW is a noble phantasm. It's been shown many times over the verious Fate series/timelines a Servant can have multiple noble phantasms, Fate/Zero shows this with rider both having his charriot and his Marble that are specificly to him, Fate/Apocrypha shows Lancer of Black(Vlad) with a phantasm related to both his human side and his mythical side and Ruler of "black"(I'm being metaphorical) has her flag and sword, and Lancer of Red, has his spear and a Shield(both have something like a reality marble to their effects)

You know. The only mana cost is maintaining and summoning UBW. In UBW there is no "Projection" as the object is already made. This is Overpowered because all he has to do is spam weapons against his opponents. As i said earlier there would be no mana cost since the blades were already made. So something like Gae Bolg, Caldabolg, and other weapons that don't end with -bolg could be spammed or summoned. Not Only does he have his UBW but his existence as a counter guardian also gives him an advantage. Not only is he unknown to most people and heroic spirits, he will always get "Stronger" do to him existing and always battling against others (Hench the Eye of the mind). This allows him to further develop new techniques with weapons in his already Infinite arsenal. (I haven't dived to deep into the nasuverse personally, but I like to think of Emiya and how UBW works like this)

Even the gears are gone when EMIYA is in there without Shirou. The closing credits of UBW show when it's like when he's the sole wielder in there. "They are beginning to mesh..."--Saber, seeing the battle of Shirou and Archer. The reason Shirou's borrowed ideal and drive so infuriates Archer is that, even without conscious memory, Archer feels less than real. When Kiritsugu implanted Avalon into Shirou's spiritually wrecked and very young body, its nature left a lasting impression on his soul, one that makes the reality marble far more ominous. Avalon; the unreachable salvation for all, the ultimate defense, the ultimate destination of the King, embodied in a fae-wrought scabbard for Excalibur. Sheathes hold swords. The hill of blades became both the seat of his power and his expression of frustration and failure... "Shirou, you're... you're my sheath, aren't you?"--Saber, realizing Avalon was available to her just in time to tank Enuma Elish in her confrontation with Gilgamesh in the Stay Night route.

It would be cool if they had archer appear in a later story with his own noble phantasm. The explanation they could use is the fact that the other shirou’s could have become well known hero’s in there timelines. I don’t know if this is possible but it would be a cool if they add it.

Thanks so much for explaining the Emiya time loop paradox thing. It always bothered me to think he just failed to kill himself an infinite amount of times even though he had already lived through it and should know how to do it by now. This was truly enlightening

"Especially from Gilgamesh's collections "..... Shirou really has a grudge on Gil

May not be the most powerful character, but definitely an awesome one.

INCREDIBLE

I know your in overlord right now but it would be really cool if you did Lancelot video !!

Imagine shirou having enough time to study noble phantasms to perfectly copy them(or just be allowed by gilgamesh to analyse all noble phantasams to perfection ) then he would be truly op