Alongside the Saber class, Lancer-class is one of the strongest of the seven original classes. Generally, the role goes to Servants who were once incredible knights in combat and typically used spears or lances over swords. To make it in, one must have incredible speed and the ability to fight in close-combat with weapons that keep their enemy at a distance.
Lancer in Fate/Stay Night is a particularly great Lancer Servant. He's likable and noble, but he's firmly and unfortunately in the role of villain thanks to his owner. However, this doesn't stop him from playing a role in literally every version of the original Fate/Stay Night storyline, while also appearing in other series.
10 He Fought Gilgamesh For Twelve Hours Before Eventually Losing
Above all else, Lancer is known for his endurance in combat. When Kirei revealed that he had not one but multiple servants thanks to having participated in the previous Grail War, this knowledge resulted in combat between Lancer and his other servant, Gilgamesh.
Gilgamesh is able to defeat Berserker with ease, but when he goes up against Lancer it's much more of a challenge. In the Fate storyline, Lancer battles Gilgamesh for half a day (though the anime doesn't make this as obvious) until he finally loses to Gilgamesh's incredible powers.
9 The Voice Actor For Lancer Is Also Known For His Work As Kabuto
Lancer's Japanese voice actor is Nobutoshi Canna, someone with decades of experience working in the voice actor industry. He's best known for his work as Kabuto, one of the earliest villains in Naruto, and Lancer, but those aren't his only roles.
He's also been in shows like Bleach, the Dynasty Warriors games, and Macross 7 playing the lead character. Lancer's English voice actor is Tony Oliver, who's also voiced Rick Hunter from Robotech,Lupin the III, and many more.
8 At The Beginning, He Belonged To A Completely Different Master
The Servant/Master combination is important, and Lancer was summoned by someone completely different for Fate/Stay Night. He was originally meant to be Servant to a Master named Bazett Fraga McRemitz, who was assigned by the Mage's Association. But Kirei Kotomine killed her after spending time gaining her trust and getting to know her. He stole her command spells and it left him in control of Lancer.
In some of the alternate storylines, Bazett has survived the storyline and gets saved by a different servant. And in Fate/Unlimited Codes, Lancer takes this personally and is responsible for taking Kirei out at the end of it all.
7 His Origin Story Is That He Is Cu Culainn
All servants start out as either a legend or myth or a real person whose life became famous over time. Lancer's true identity was Cu Culainn, also known as the Child of Light. He was the son of a human woman and Lugh, a god that governed over the sun.
Cu Culainn was eventually killed as a result of a trap set on him.
6 Lancer Is Known For Being A Bit Of A Flirt
Lancer is already a fairly attractive person, and that's actually supposedly true even in history, where he was described as beautiful in some of the stories about him. He takes advantage of this a lot in Unlimited Blade Works, hitting on Tohsaka Rin constantly to tease her.
In other series like Fate/hollow ataraxia, he's known to hit on all of the women in the series. This series allows him to be more flirtatious in general, and he's friendly with everyone.
5 His Special Abilities Are Magic Resistance And Battle Continuation
All Lancers are expected to have some form of Magic Resistance, and Lancer has a Magic Resistance at level C. More impressive however is that he has high-level agility, which means it's hard to hit him with higher-leveled spells as well.
Lancer's other special ability is Battle Continuation, which is a reference to his own personal legend. When he's in battle, the more dangerous the fight becomes, the harder it is to finally finish him off. Even when he's close to fading away, he'll find ways to continue fighting, making him dangerous even if his master is gone.
4 His Noble Phantasm Is The Gae Bolg
Lancer's Noble Phantasm is the Gae Bolg. This is a weapon that can reverse causality itself, which is pretty absurd. Whatever Gae Bolg hits literally cannot recover as long as the spear itself continues to exist in the world. This means there's no way for the person who got hit to recover, whether through magic or through time.
The main Noble Phantasm ability Gae Bolg has is it will always strike at the heart, bending causality itself to do so. The second is that the curse becomes more powerful by hurling it full-on.
3 Lancer Can Also Be A Caster And Berserker
This character can be more than just a Lancer as a Servant. Because of his well-known history of going wild in battle, he can also become a Berserker, but this isn't something that he's ever done before.
In Fate/Grand Order he's also been summoned as a Caster because he has knowledge about Runes. In Grand Order, he's known instead under the name of Setanta, and his ability to become a Caster is something he takes pride in even though he's best as a Lancer.
2 His Other Name Is The Hound Of Culann
Originally, Cu Chulainn's real name was Setanta. He changed it when he was working under King Conchobar, and wound up having to kill a guard dog to protect a master blacksmith, named Culann's home. The guard dog was known for its strength, and was supposedly stronger than ten men, but that didn't stop Cu from ending it.
The master blacksmith was down by having lost his guard dog, and Setanta pledged his life to work under Culann, promising to be his guard dog. Instead, they pledged him to protect the country of Ulster itself, beginning his legend.
1 Lancer Would Be Much Stronger Somewhere Else
Interestingly, Lancer's power is limited because of the battle of the Holy Grail War's location. As it turns out, each hero has greater power when in a country where everyone knows their legend.
In Japan, some heroes are better known than others, and since Chu Chulainn's legend isn't really known that well, he's weaker than he otherwise would be. In his home country, he would have access to a completely different Noble Phantasm as well.