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Template builds


Ice Dragon
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This is a listing of template builds that work well on a large number of characters with similar characteristics. Unique skills with the same effect as listed skills can obviously be used if the unit has access to them.

Feel free to propose other builds to add to this list.

Standard Brave weapon

Spoiler

Brave Sword+ / Brave Lance+ / Brave Axe+ / Brave Bow+
[flexible assist]
Luna / Bonfire / Iceberg / Escutcheon
Life and Death 3 / Swift Sparrow 2 / Death Blow 3
Desperation 3 / Swordbreaker 3, etc. / [flexible passive B]
[flexible passive C]
[flexible Sacred Seal]
 / Brash Assault 3

Brave weapons work best on characters with high Atk, high Spd, or both. High Atk makes use of the fact that Brave weapons hit twice for every attack, allowing each point of Atk to count twice. High Spd gives units with a Brave weapon the ability to more easily perform a follow-up attack for two more hits, which also allows the unit to always activate a 3-charge special skill on the third or fourth hit if the opponent is still alive.

The preferred nature depends on the stats of the character. +Atk is almost always optimal to capitalize on the fact that the unit will always hit twice. +Spd can be used to increase the number opponents that the unit can perform a follow-up attack against, but is generally less optimal due to the low Mt of Brave weapons. For most character, -Res is preferred, but -Def or -HP is also serviceable. -Spd is preferred for characters that already have very low Spd.

Luna is the preferred special skill for most units due to Brave weapons' inherent low Mt and hits for more damage against opponents with high Def that would normally take less damage from a Brave weapon's normal attacks. Bonfire and Iceberg can be used if the unit has high Def or Res, respectively, for more consistent damage, but Luna is typically preferred.

Escutcheon is a viable special skill for units with high Atk and Spd, but suffer from having very low Def. Because a Brave weapon will always hit twice before the opponent has a chance to counterattack, Escutcheon will always be charged for the opponent's counterattack. This can help convert losses to wins against moderately bulky, hard-hitting opponents.

Life and Death 3 is the preferred passive A skill for most units with high Spd, and Death Blow 3 is the preferred passive A skill for most units with low Spd who aren't attacking twice anyways to squeeze out another 2 damage. Swift Sparrow 2 can be used in place of Life and Death 3 and is occasionally a superior choice, most notably on units with low Def that are killed by the counterattack.

Desperation 3 helps keep the unit alive after taking the first counterattack and synergizes with the Brash Assault 3 Sacred Seal. Weaponbreaker skills allow the unit to always perform a follow-up against opponents with a specific weapon, usually for a guaranteed kill.

Other options:

  • Moonbow and Quickened Pulse can be used to guarantee an activation of Moonbow on the second hit. If the opponent can counterattack and the unit is able to perform a follow-up attack, Moonbow will also activate on the fourth hit. Wrath 3 can also be used to deal 10 additional damage on the second activation of Moonbow.
  • Fury 3 is a cheaper alternative for the passive A slot.
  • Cancel Affinity 3 can be used on units with Brave Bow+ to break through tome users with Rauðrraven+, etc. and Triangle Adept 3.
  • Wary Fighter 3 can be used on slow armored units to prevent the opponent from being able to perform a follow-up attack should they survive.

 

Distant Counter Quick Riposte (Wall of Fire and Sharp Things)

Spoiler

Slaying Edge+ / Slaying Lance+ / Slaying Axe+ / Slaying Bow+
[flexible assist]
Bonfire / Iceberg / Ignis / Glacies
Distant Counter / Close Counter
Quick Riposte 3
[flexible passive C]
Close Def 3 / Distant Def 3 / Deflect Missile 3 / [flexible Sacred Seal]

Distant Counter and Quick Riposte work best together on units with high Def or Res, preferably both, looking to safely bait and kill both melee and ranged threats on enemy phase. Because Quick Riposte 3 has a very restricting HP threshold, it is highly recommended for teammates to provide the unit with bonuses to Def and/or Res. In particular, this build works best with a full team running Ward ArmorWard CavalryWard Fliers, Drive Def 2, or Drive Res 2, possibly with their corresponding Fortify skills mixed in.

In general, units using this build want to have a +Atk nature to maximized damage because they will always attack twice. +Def or +Res can also be used, but are usually less effective. Faster characters typically want -HP to preserve both their Def and Res or one of -Def or -Res depending on the characters the unit is intending to wall. Slower characters prefer -Spd to preserve all three of HP, Def, and Res and allow opponents to perform a follow-up attack in order to use a special skill with a higher cooldown.

A Slaying weapon is used to reduce the cooldown of the special skill to guarantee that the special skill will activate on the follow-up attack.

Bonfire or Iceberg is used on units that cannot guarantee that they are slow enough to rely on the opponent to naturally perform a follow-up attack. This is typically used on units with middling Spd or on units intended to be used against slower opponents, like most armor knights. Ignis or Glacies is used on units that are slow enough to almost always allow the opponent to naturally perform a follow-up attack. Note that while Luna, Draconic Aura, and Dragon Fang have the same cooldowns, because units using this build are going to have high Def or high Res and likely are receiving bonuses to Def or Res from teammates, these skills are typically less powerful than the recommended special skills.

The choice for the Sacred Seal skill depends on the opponents the unit most needs to take minimal damage from, but can also be used to increase the number of different opponents the unit can survive against.

Other options:

  • Killing Edge+Killer Lance+Killer Axe+, and Killer Bow+ are obviously cheaper alternatives for the weapon slot.
  • On sword users, Wo Dao+ can be used instead of a Slaying Edge+ by replacing Bonfire or Iceberg with Moonbow or Ignis or Glacies with Bonfire or Iceberg.
  • Fast units that can perform a follow-up attack naturally can replace Quick Riposte 3 with Vantage 3Guard 3, or Wrath 3.
  • Quickened Pulse can be used to always activate a special skill with a base cooldown of 3 on the initial counterattack.

 

Steady Breath Quick Riposte

Spoiler

[flexible weapon]
[flexible assist]

Bonfire / Ignis / Aether
Steady Breath
Quick Riposte 3 / [flexible passive B]
[flexible passive C]

Close Def 3 / [flexible Sacred Seal]

Steady Breath works best on units that have naturally high Def and focuses on activating extremely powerful special skills to destroy bulky opponents when controlled by the player or prevent the player from attacking altogether when controlled by the AI. This build works best with a weapon that innately has Distant Counter.

(nature under construction)

Bonfire is used with a Slaying weapon to activate Bonfire on every counterattack.

Ignis can be used with any weapon to always activate Ignis on the follow-up attack granted by Quick Riposte 3. When using Lightning Breath+, Bonfire should be used instead to get the same effect.

Aether can be used with a Slaying weapon to activate Aether on the follow-up attack granted by Quick Riposte 3. On slower units where the opponent can be relied on to naturally perform a follow-up attack, Aether can be used with any weapon, including Lightning Breath+, to activate on the follow-up attack granted by Quick Riposte 3.

Other options:

  • Fast units that can perform a follow-up attack naturally can replace Quick Riposte 3 with Guard 3 or Wrath 3.
  • Units with access to a weapon that innately has Distant Counter can also use Distant Def 3, Deflect Missile 3, or Deflect Magic 3 depending on the opponents the unit is intended to target.

 

Bold Fighter, Brave variant

Spoiler

Brave Sword+ / Brave Lance+ / Brave Axe+ / Brave Bow+
[flexible assist]
Moonbow / Aether / Ignis / Glacies
Death Blow 3 / Distant Counter / Close Counter
Bold Fighter 3
[flexible passive C] / Armor March 3
[flexible Sacred Seal]

(under construction)

 

Bold Fighter, Slaying variant

Spoiler

Slaying Sword+ / Slaying Lance+ / Slaying Axe+ / Slaying Bow+
[flexible assist]
Ignis / Glacies
Death Blow 3 / Distant Counter / Close Counter
Bold Fighter 3
[flexible passive C] / Armor March 3
[flexible Sacred Seal]

(under construction)

 

Vengeful Fighter, Slaying variant

Spoiler

Slaying Sword+ / Slaying Lance+ / Slaying Axe+ / Slaying Bow+
[flexible assist]
Ignis / Glacies / Aether
Distant Counter / Close Counter / Fierce Blow 3
Vengeful Fighter 3
[flexible passive C] / Ward Armor
Close Def 3 / Distant Def 3 / [flexible Sacred Seal]

(under construction)

 

Melee Triangle Adept tome counter

Spoiler

Ruby Sword+ / Sapphire Lance+ / Emerald Axe+ / Lightning Breath+
[flexible assist]
Iceberg / [flexible special]
Distant Counter / Triangle Adept 3
Quick Riposte 3 / Guard 3 / [flexible passive B]
[flexible passive C]
Distant Def 3 / [flexible Sacred Seal]

This build is best used by melee units unfortunately blessed with high Res. This build makes use of the fact that melee units have exclusive access to both any-range counterattack and Triangle Adept to not only wall a single color, but also kill them on the counterattack.

(nature under construction)

Distant Counter or Lightning Breath+ grants the ability to counterattack against tome users, and Ruby Sword+Sapphire Lance+Emerald Axe+, or Triangle Adept 3 significantly reduces the opponent's ability to deal damage and boosts the unit's offensive abilities to kill the opponent on the counterattack.

Iceberg is a natural choice for a special skill because the unit should have high Res, but other special skills, like Moonbow, Glimmer, and Glacies are also usable.

Quick Riposte 3 should be used by slower units to guarantee a follow-up attack. Despite the restrictive HP threshold on Quick Riposte 3, the reduced damage taken due to Triangle Adept 3 allows Quick Riposte 3 to remain active for multiple rounds of combat.

Guard 3 can be used by faster units to prevent the opponent from being able to activate a special skill to deal damage through Triangle Adept 3.

Distant Def 3 is the preferred Sacred Seal to use with this build to further reduce damage taken, but other Sacred Seals are also usable, such as Close Def 3 to patch up a unit's Def if it is too low for comfort or Attack +3.

 

Triangle Adept Litrraven

Spoiler

Rauðrraven+ / Blárraven+ / Gronnraven+
[flexible assist]
[flexible special]

Triangle Adept 3
Quick Riposte 3 / Bowbreaker 3 / Swordbreaker 3, etc. / [flexible passive B]
[flexible passive C]
[flexible Sacred Seal]
/ Deflect Missile 3

Rauðrraven+, Blárraven+, and Gronnraven+ grant the user weapon triangle advantage against colorless units, making them the only units able to use Triangle Adept against two colors and the only units with an advantage over bows. The Triangle Adept Litrraven build is best used by tome users with high Def with bonus points if the unit also has high Res.

(nature under construction)

Quick Riposte 3 gives a guaranteed follow-up attack against both colors that the unit has advantage over, but has a more restrictive HP threshold and doesn't prevent the opponent from performing a follow-up attack of their own.

Bowbreaker 3, in particular when used with Deflect Missile 3, helps mitigate damage taken from enemy bow users using Cancel Affinity 3 to reverse the unit's Triangle Adept 3.

Other Weaponbreaker skills can be used depending on the needs of the team and can be used either offensively to give the unit player-phase presence or defensively to mitigate damage taken from fast Litrblade users.

Other options:

  • Deflect Magic 3 is an option for blue and green tome users to mitigate damage from opponents with Dire Thunder.

 

Standard Litrblade

Spoiler

Rauðrblade+ / Blárblade+ / Gronnblade+
[flexible assist]
Moonbow / Glimmer / Draconic Aura / Dragon Fang
Life and Death 3 / Swift Sparrow 2 / Death Blow 3 / Fury 3
Desperation 3 / Swordbreaker 3, etc.
[flexible passive C]
[flexible Sacred Seal]

(under construction)

 

Standard support staff

Spoiler

[flexible weapon]
Rehabilitate+ / Recover+ / Physic+
[flexible special]
Speed +3 / Fortress Def 3 / Fortress Res 3
Dazzling Staff 3 / Wings of Mercy 3
[flexible passive C]
[flexible Sacred Seal]

(under construction)

 

Standard attack staff (Razzle Dazzle)

Spoiler

Gravity+ [Dazzling Staff] / Candlelight+ [Dazzling Staff] / [flexible weapon]
Rehabilitate+ / Recover+ / Physic+
[flexible special]
Attack +3 / Speed +3 / Atk/Spd 2
Wrathful Staff 3
[flexible passive C]
Attack +3 / Speed +3

(under construction)

 

Pain

Spoiler

Pain+ [Dazzling Staff]
Martyr+ / [flexible assist]
[flexible special]
Close Counter / Fortress Def 3 / Fortress Res 3
Live to Serve 3 / Vantage 3
Savage Blow 3
Savage Blow 3

(under construction)

 

Falchion medic
This is the only build featuring a unique skill that will be included in this thread because multiple characters have access to Falchion.

Spoiler

Falchion
Reciprocal Aid
[flexible special] / Noontime / Sol / Aether
[flexible passive A]
Renewal 3
[flexible passive C] / Breath of Life 3
[flexible Sacred Seal] / Breath of Life 3

This build provides a more offensive alternative to staff users for a healer role in longer game modes, like reinforcement maps, Chain Challenge, and Tempest Trials, and relies on the fact that healing skills stack with each other.

The preferred nature depends on if the unit is intended to primarily focus on an offensive role, which will then depend on the character, or a supporting role. When focusing on a supporting role, +Spd is safest to avoid letting opponents perform follow-up attacks. If purely supporting, -Atk preserves all of the unit's defensive stats.

FalchionRenewal 3, and Reciprocal Aid form the core of this build. Falchion and Renewal 3 together grant 20 HP on the first turn of each new map and an additional 10 HP on the third, fourth, and fifth turns, with the cycle restarting on turn 7 with another 20 HP. Reciprocal Aid allows the unit to pass all of their HP to an ally in a single turn, making it a superior choice over Ardent Sacrifice.

NoontimeSol, or Aether can be used as the special skill to give additional channels of healing off damage incurred through Reciprocal Aid, but this slot is flexible depending on the needs of the team.

Breath of Life 3 in the passive C slot stacks with the Sacred Seal for a total of 14 HP of healing to adjacent allies when this unit initiates combat.

 

Edited by Ice Dragon
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9 hours ago, Von Ithipathachai said:

How good do you think any sort of Fury/Renewal build would be?

I find Renewal rather lackluster with Fury. Either you are fighting too many rounds of combat for Renewal to keep up or you fight one round of combat and don't need that unit for the rest of the map.

In general, it's more effective to use the B slot for a combat or mobility skill.

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For the Brave builds, I'd add that Hit & Run/Drag Back are pretty standard options for the B-passive. They're great for positioning, and make it much easier to snipe off the enemies while remaining out of danger. Those are my go-to skills for Brave builds, I definitely prefer them to -breaker skills.

I also think one could mention that the standard Brave section is also pretty standard for Firesweep weapons too, since the weapons are used pretty similarly.

For the DC/QR builds, gem weapons are a pretty common sight.

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Desperation + Brash Assault seal might also be worth a mention on Brave builds for slower, bulky units, since that gets pretty brutal results when the user is in BA range. 

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13 hours ago, BANRYU said:

Desperation + Brash Assault seal might also be worth a mention on Brave builds for slower, bulky units, since that gets pretty brutal results when the user is in BA range. 

I could have sworn I had that somewhere already, but I guess not. I'll write one up (and get the things that are under construction to no longer be under construction) sometime soon, then.

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8 hours ago, Ice Dragon said:

I could have sworn I had that somewhere already, but I guess not. I'll write one up (and get the things that are under construction to no longer be under construction) sometime soon, then.

Oops no yeah, it's mentioned on the Brave build template... nevermind, this idiot doesn't know how to read. 

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Only issue I see here is with the standard brave build you have up. Speaking from experience, there are (IMO, lmk if you got anything else) 2 completely different ways to build around a brave weapon, which I'll call the "Reinhardt" and the "Olwen"

 

"Reinhardt" builds consist of shoving as much Attack on your initiation as physically possible, meaning the best A slot is always going to be death blow, followed by either a hit and run, a breaker, or possibly wary fighter if you need the extra survivability. Speed means nothing (if you're doing it right, you should kill most units after the first two attacks), so desperation is going to be useless here, as well as Swift Sparrow/LoD (they're effectively inferior Death blows for this build). 

Example: Brave Weapon+ || positioning skill || [2 charge special] || Death blow || Breaker / Wary Fighter / [flexible] || [flexible] || Atk +3

 

"Olwen" builds rely on quadding the opponent, which will almost always kill. However, this actually requires speed if you aren't just going to counter a particular unit type. Most units that can build this kind of build (namely Elincia, Olwen, Bridelia, etc.) tend to be super squishy, so being hit more than once from any arena-tier unit usually ends in death. Exactly what to put on depends on the unit in question (this is just a template after all :P:)

Example: Brave Weapon+ || Ardent Sacrifice/positioning skill || [3 charge special] || Swift Sparrow/LoD/Fury || Desperation || [flexible] || Atk\Spd +3

 

Reminder, there are plenty of other ways to build around a brave weapon, but these are the two most common from what I've seen, with the first one being the most cost-effective to build by far.

I have a Soliel in the works right now, perfect example for a more unique brave build using heavy blade: (link to build on kagerochart for ez calculations)

From what I'm seeing here, you're using the latter example for the standard brave build. Would you mind making a seperate template for "Reinhardt" builds? It really bothers me seeing both kinds merged into one >.<

 

Otherwise, everything looks pretty good to me, hope you get back to work soon!

(I'm new to the forums! don't kill me please :):)

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4 minutes ago, Dizii said:

Only issue I see here is with the standard brave build you have up. Speaking from experience, there are (IMO, lmk if you got anything else) 2 completely different ways to build around a brave weapon, which I'll call the "Reinhardt" and the "Olwen"

There are actually three standard Brave weapon builds:

  • Death Blow + Weaponbreaker + Attack +3, designed to squeeze as much damage out as possible in two hits with the Weaponbreaker to guarantee a kill on that weapon type
  • Life and Death / Swift Sparrow + Desperation / Weaponbreaker + Attack +3 / Speed +3, meant for fast units to land four hits
  • Death Blow / Life and Death + Desperation + Brash Assault, designed to drop below 50% HP after one round of combat and then guarantee a follow-up attack against everything

plus the armor-specific variant:

  • Death Blow + Bold Fighter

I lumped all of the non-armor-specific ones into one section because there was so much skill overlap between them, but they are all represented there.

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12 hours ago, Ice Dragon said:

There are actually three standard Brave weapon builds:

  • Death Blow + Weaponbreaker + Attack +3, designed to squeeze as much damage out as possible in two hits with the Weaponbreaker to guarantee a kill on that weapon type
  • Life and Death / Swift Sparrow + Desperation / Weaponbreaker + Attack +3 / Speed +3, meant for fast units to land four hits
  • Death Blow / Life and Death + Desperation + Brash Assault, designed to drop below 50% HP after one round of combat and then guarantee a follow-up attack against everything

 

I completely forgot bold fighter & brash assault seal existed. My bad. :>_<:

With the other two, I can kinda see the similarities. Wrote that while moderately sleep-deprived, so assumed you were saying Desperation/LoD/SwiftSparrow were totally OK skills to run with someone that didn't have any speed. What still bothers me is the only overlap I see between the first two types is the breaker (which should really just be desperation for quad builds, since breakers don't help super-fast units, except for maaaybe swordbreaker for the Ayras and Mias out there, but even then it's a bit redundant), and the Atk+3 seal.Those two builds are trying to achieve death in 2 different ways, so I still think you should split the two, with the brash assault variant tagged along with the death blow variant.

It's your list, so do what you think's best. IMO, I think It'd be useful for others who are looking at this list for reference to know that those builds are different and should be treated as such.

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57 minutes ago, Dizii said:

What still bothers me is the only overlap I see between the first two types is the breaker (which should really just be desperation for quad builds, since breakers don't help super-fast units, except for maaaybe swordbreaker for the Ayras and Mias out there, but even then it's a bit redundant), and the Atk+3 seal.Those two builds are trying to achieve death in 2 different ways, so I still think you should split the two, with the brash assault variant tagged along with the death blow variant.

-5 Spd due to the weapon is a huge hit (that's one full Spd tier), and without movement-type-specific buffs to make up for it (and even with them sometimes), many units will have trouble landing a follow-up to secure the kill at neutral weapon triangle due to the addition of refinements boosting the Spd, Def, and Res of many units as well as the addition of new units that are both bulky and fast.

For shorter game modes and Arena Assault, a Weaponbreaker skill is still helpful because Desperation requires setup. Attack +3 also pushes up your ability to not need to depend on the follow-up for the kill. If you run the simulators with different combinations of skills and enemy stats, you'll find that whether your performance is best by stacking Atk, stacking Spd, or going for some of both depends greatly on what buffs you have available (+2 Atk from Atk Tactic 3 over Hone Atk 3 makes a huge difference) and what enemies you expect to be facing (Fury 3, Distant Counter, and Steady Breath result in very different match-up profiles, as do buffs on opponents, such as the fact that Rally Spd/Def is extremely common at the top of the Arena). Elincia, for example, due to her high Atk and Spd, superlative weapon, and access to +6/6 buffs can actually run Death Blow 3 + Luna, Life and Death 3 + Escutcheon, and Swift Sparrow 2 + Luna with almost the exact same performance.

I think we're at a point where the lines between the Brave weapon builds have blurred enough to the point where they all just boil down to

  1. Stack a lot of Atk,
  2. Find a way to land a follow-up attack on things that don't die in two hits, and
  3. Don't die to the counterattack if the enemy isn't dead after two hits.
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Hmm. I think it's safe to say that DC Weapon + Fury + Vantage/QR is a pretty common build. The kind that you can find on pretty much every DC Weapon unit. E.g. Nowi, Ryoma, Xander, Ike...etc.. Should that be added as a template build?

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