Caeda: Talys's Heart

[LordFrigid]

General

Base Stats
HP: 33 / 36 / 40
Atk: 22 / 25 / 29
Spd: 34 / 37 / 40
Def: 21 / 24 / 28
Res: 31 / 34 / 37

Caeda is reasonably true to the image of a classic Pegasus Knight, with high Spd and Res and poor to mediocre HP, Atk, and Def. She generally requires heavy inheritance to shine. A flier-based support structure, while immensely helpful, is not strictly necessary.

With a high Spd and Res stat, Caeda excels at doubling enemies and baiting mages. She also possesses a powerful personal weapon in the Wing Sword, which deals effective damage against cavalry and armor units, and can accelerate her Special’s charge rate when refined. With the right sword and a flier-based support structure, she will be able to capably and consistently handle green and many red threats. From a defensive standpoint, her high Res allows her to ploy enemies, bait mages, and take on non-blue dragons.

When used in an offensive role, Caeda's low base Atk requires Atk-boosting support to be effective. She also strongly prefers to have a Special activation to help ensure KOs. When used in a defensive or support-oriented role, Caeda suffers from low base Def, leaving her hard-pressed to deal with multiple Axe wielders in the same match. She also requires a high-cost investment (Distant Counter) to properly deal with mages. As a flier, she is also weak to any flier-effective weapon.

---

Suggested Skills

An in-depth discussion on skill options for various purposes. Note the following:

• When multiple options are available, my personal recommendations (if any) will be in bold.
• Budget options are colored red.

Wing Sword - Offense

Spoiler

Usage: General use. Flier team strongly recommended.

Asset/Flaw: +Atk or +Spd/-Def, -HP, or -Res
Weapon: Wing Sword
    Weapon Refinement: Effect
Assist: Reposition
Special: Glimmer, Moonbow, Ruptured Sky, Luna, Iceberg, Glacies, or Galeforce
A Passive: [Atk and Spd boosting skill]
B Passive: Desperation 3
C Passive: Spd/Def Rein 3, Flier field/combat buff, or [Stat] Ploy
Sacred Seal: Atk and/or Spd boosting seals, Brazen Atk/[Stat], or [Stat] Ploy

Overview

Caeda's personal weapon grants her effective damage against both Armored and Cavalier enemies, making her a powerful anti-meta threat. The Effect refinement additionally grants +1 special cooldown charge on her attacks if her Spd is higher than her opponent's, allowing her to quickly charge up specials to help secure KOs. Caeda can capably go two ways with the Wing Sword: offense-focused, and defense-focused. This write-up describes her offense-focused variant.

Asset/Flaw and Skill Choices

+Atk is a strong choice, as the +4 boost brings her to a more workable 29 base Atk. Offense focused sets can take +Spd to help ensure double attacks (and, consequently, 3-charge special activations). Note, however, that with Flier support, +Spd is only better than +Atk against heavily Spd-stacked foes (also note that green foes generally have more bulk than Spd). It will also reduce her OHKO potential on bulkier cavalry and armored units, even some green armors, depending on their skill set. Overall, I personally recommend +Atk.

-Def will not interfere with her magical bulk, Iceberg and Glacies damage, or her ability to ploy enemies, at the cost of a bit of physical bulk. -HP lowers her one-hit bulk against both damage types, but provides greater bulk against multiple hits, if the user is expecting her to deal with that. -Res will not interfere with her matchups against physical enemies.

Caeda should use the Wing Sword's Effect refinement to more easily charge specials.

Reposition is the standard Flier Team assist. Ardent Sacrifice can also be used to enter Desperation range if you're not comfortable with her bulk.

Her special should be the user's choice of:

• Glimmer: This is the special of choice for users who expect her to stick to fighting mostly Cavalry and Armored foes. With effective damage, she may find herself in matchups (particularly against reds) where she can hit hard, but fall a little short. Glimmer will scale off her already-good damage to get her the KO.
• Moonbow/Ruptured Sky: A 2-charge damage option for users who want to be able to activate a special in every round of combat once she enters Desperation range. These options are more general-purpose than Glimmer.
• Luna: Luna should be chosen if the user prefers to deal more damage to higher-Def foes, especially if the user selected -Res for her bane. It can activate in one round of combat if the enemy counterattacks or initiates.
• Iceberg: Iceberg can be used on either an offensive or defensive set (usually the latter), and should be chosen if she has neutral Res, and the user prefers Iceberg's more consistent damage against all enemies. Like Luna, it can activate in one round of combat if the enemy counterattacks or initiates.
• Glacies: After Caeda enters Desperation range, there will be combats where she is unable to activate a 3+ charge special. She can use this combat to fully charge a Glacies, and drop it on another unsuspecting foe later.
• Galeforce: This Special can charge in one round of combat, allowing her to retreat, or attack again. It is especially useful for quickly taking camps in Grand Conquests, hit & run maneuvers against foes she cannot KO in the Arena (weakening them for the bonus unit), and Hero Battle content.

For optimal Player Phase performance, Caeda should use an A Passive that boosts her Atk and Spd. Some notable options include:

• Atk/Spd Solo: Grants a powerful Atk and Spd boost on both phases with a fairly non-strict positioning requirement.
• Swift Sparrow: Provides a good Atk and Spd boost if she initiates, without compromising her defenses.
• Fury: Grants her a decent offensive stat boost, increases her Ploy capabilities, and helps patch up her low physical bulk (which is especially useful at lower merge levels).

Desperation is a standard offense focused choice for performance sustainability, and allows her to get two unpunished attacks off to improve her ability to land KOs, especially against armored and cavalry foes.

Her C Passive is ideally Spd/Def Rein, which will help her perform follow-ups and increase her damage output. If this is not available, she can run a Flier field or combat buff to assist her teammates, or use a Ploy to debuff her enemies.

Caeda benefits a lot from stacking offensive stats, so seals that boost her Attack and/or Speed are solid choices. Using a Brazen Atk/[Stat] seal lowers Caeda’s first-round capabilities, but dramatically increases them afterward. She can also use Stat Ploys to provide debuff support (notably, Atk Ploy boosts her survivability, Spd Ploy helps her double and make the Wing Sword Spd check, and Def Ploy boosts her damage output and the damage of her physical teammates).

Other Options

• She can get away with Life and Death once she is in Desperation range, but it is risky before then, as it reduces her neutral physical bulk to 58 (55 with -Def or -HP).
• Distant Counter actually gives her decent mixed-phase capability, though it is obviously not optimal for KO counts on offense. It plays nicely on a Galeforce set in the Grand Conquests scene, allowing her to leverage her high Res to take a hit from a mage on the EP for special charge (especially since a lot of Green armors get OHKOd, preventing her from activating Galeforce unless it’s already charged a bit).
• Caeda is one of the characters that can viably use Pegasus Flight. This will help secure KOs by reducing enemy Def, but the lack of Desperation lowers her combat sustainability. For an offense-focused set, it would be best used on a team with some form of healing.

Wing Sword - Defense

Spoiler

Usage: General use. Flier team strongly recommended.

Asset/Flaw: +Atk/-HP, -Def, or -Res
Weapon: Wing Sword
    Weapon Refinement: Effect
Assist: Reposition
Special: Luna, Iceberg, Glacies, or Aether
A Passive: Distant Counter or Fury 3
B Passive: Quick Riposte 3, Pegasus Flight 3, or Guard 3
C Passive: Spd/Def Rein 3, [Stat]/[Not Res] Rein 3, Flier field/combat buff, or [Stat] Ploy
Sacred Seal: Atk boosting seal, Brazen Atk/[Stat], [Stat] Ploy, Quick Riposte, or Distant Def

Overview

Caeda's personal weapon grants her effective damage against both Armored and Cavalier enemies, making her a powerful anti-meta threat. The Effect refinement additionally grants +1 special cooldown charge on her attacks if her Spd is higher than her opponent's, allowing her to quickly charge up specials to help secure KOs. Caeda can capably go two ways with the Wing Sword: offense-focused, and defense-focused. This write-up describes her defense-focused variant.

Asset/Flaw and Skill Choices

+Atk is the optimal choice, as the +4 boost brings her to a more workable 29 base Atk. As a defense-focused unit, she does not need +Spd, as she can use Quick Riposte to net doubles.

-Def will not interfere with her magical bulk, Iceberg and Glacies damage, or her ability to ploy enemies, at the cost of a bit of physical bulk. -HP lowers her one-hit bulk against both damage types, but provides greater bulk against multiple hits, if the user is expecting her to deal with that. -Res will not interfere with her matchups against physical enemies.

Caeda should use the Wing Sword's Effect refinement to more easily charge specials.

Reposition is the standard Flier Team assist.

Her special should be the user's choice of:

• Luna: Luna should be chosen if the user prefers to deal more damage to higher-Def foes, especially if the user selected -Res for her bane. It can activate in one round of combat when the enemy initiates.
• Iceberg: Iceberg should be chosen if she has neutral Res, and the user prefers Iceberg's more consistent damage against all enemies. Like Luna, it can activate in one round of combat when the enemy initiates.
• Glacies: This special sacrifices the ability to activate in one round of combat in exchange for more damage when her special does activate. It can be handy if the user is mostly expecting her to fight armored units, cavalry units, or non-armored/cavalry greens.
• Aether: A defense set can make good use of Aether, as she can fully charge it in one round of combat and activate it on the next. The sustain she receives from this is valuable if she needs to weather out more than a round or two of combat, especially if Quick Riposte is used. It is particularly valuable in the higher score ranges, where armors and dragons are more common. As a result, she does not usually need a one-round special activation to do her job, and benefits a lot from the healing.

A defense focused Caeda should use Distant Counter, to take advantage of her high Res stat to check mages. With Atk stacking through Flier support, she will still be capable of OHKO-ing Green Armors. Fury can also be used as a budget option to give her a decent offensive stat boost, increase her Ploy capabilities, and help patch up her low physical bulk.

Quick Riposte will help guarantee double attacks against foes in the upper Spd tiers, and will break through enemy skills that inhibit her follow up attacks. Pegasus Flight allows her to use her Res to lower enemy's Atk (reducing their damage) and Def (increasing Caeda's damage). Guard is also a strong defensive option to shut down special-activation-centered sets.

A [Stat]/[Not Res] Rein skill is ideal in her C slot (Note: the first stat in a two-stat Rein cannot be Res), to help her combat performance. Notably:

• Atk/Spd Rein: reduces incoming damage, and helps prevent enemy follow-ups, while helping her get one herself.
• Spd/Def Rein: helps prevent enemy follow-ups, while helping her get one herself. Increases Caeda's damage.
• Atk/Def Rein: reduces incoming damage, and increases Caeda's damage.

I recommend Spd/Def Rein for lower merge Caedas, since she benefits a lot from increased damage output. The viability of Atk/Spd Rein and Atk/Def Rein increase at higher merge levels, though Spd/Def Rein will still give her the best one-round single-combat performance. If a Rein is not available, some sort of Flier field or combat buff will assist her teammates. She can also use a Ploy to debuff her enemies.

Caeda benefits a lot from stacking Atk, so Atk boosting seals are solid choices. Using a Brazen Atk/[Stat] seal lowers Caeda’s first-round capabilities, but dramatically increases them afterward (it should generally not be used with Aether as her Special). She can also use Stat Ploys to provide debuff support. Distant Def increases her ability to take hits from mages. She can also use Quick Riposte if it was not used as her B Passive.

Other Options

• Vantage works reasonably well if Aether is chosen for her Special, since she can charge it in one round of combat, and potentially strike first and activate it in the next. It’s highly situational, and is only for instances where she’s expected to fight multiple times in a single Enemy Phase.

Wing Sword - Mixed Phase

Spoiler

Usage: General use, for players that intend to invest heavily in Caeda. As such, this skill set assumes a high merge level.

Asset/Flaw: +Atk
Weapon: Wing Sword
    Weapon Refinement: Effect
Assist: Reposition
Special: Galeforce or Luna
A Passive: Distant Counter
B Passive: Pegasus Flight 3 or Quick Riposte 3
C Passive: [Stat]/[Not Res] Rein 3
Sacred Seal: Atk or Atk/Spd boosting seal or Quick Riposte 3

Overview

A highly invested Caeda can capably perform in a mixed phase role. This set is not recommended for low-investment Caedas, as her low base Atk makes it difficult to justify a mixed phase build.

Asset/Flaw and Skill Choices

+Atk is the asset of choice, to bump up her base Atk to a more workable 29. Flaws are irrelevant for a merged Caeda. Even below 10 merges, no flaw will affect the order in which she gains stat points from merges.

Wing Sword with the Effect refinement is a requirement for this set. Reposition is the standard positioning assist option.

Caeda can choose Galeforce or Luna for her special. The former gives her some flexibility after combat, allowing her to execute hit-and-run attacks, or further thin out the enemy team to better weather out the enemy phase. The latter increases her damage output, increasing her ability to land KOs.

Distant Counter is the A Passive of choice for a mixed phase set, allowing her to counterattack tome and dagger foes (and bow foes, as well, if Iote's Shield is used in her seal slot).

Pegasus Flight allows Caeda to capitalize on her good Res stat to reduce the damage she takes, and increase the damage she deals. Quick Riposte can also be used to guarantee a follow-up attack (to cancel with skills that prevent her from performing a follow-up, and foes that are at the higher end of the Spd spectrum), but I personally recommend stacking stats (or in this case, stat penalties).

Her ideal C Passive slot is either Spd/Def Rein, Atk/Spd Rein, or Atk/Def Rein. Spd/Def Rein provides the best one-round combat performance and helps her allies secure 2HKOs on a Galeforce team. However, Atk/Spd Rein and Atk/Def Rein could prove more useful if she is expected to fight multiple rounds of combat in a single Enemy Phase.

Stacking Atk or Atk and Spd in her seal slot will help further push up her combat performance. Quick Riposte is another option, but is only active on the Enemy Phase.

Other Options

• Quickened Pulse will allow her to activate Galeforce after her first round of combat, but does not contribute to her combat performance.
• The Iote's Shield seal allows her to fight bow users, but I recommend sticking with stat-stacking or Quick Riposte, especially if Spd/Def Rein is chosen for her seal slot, as her Def does not lend itself to taking hits from bows.
• Pulse Smoke is a viable Aether Raids option which will help her deal with mage-heavy Infantry Pulse teams.

 

---

Sample Skill Sets

These sets have been used either by me, or those who have posted their preferred sets in this thread.

Mixed Phase
Usage: General Flier team
Weapon: Wing Sword (Eff)
Assist: Reposition
Special: Galeforce
A Passive: Distant Counter
B Passive: Desperation 3
C Passive: Hone Fliers
Sacred Seal: Atk/Spd 2

I prefer this set for general use, and for Grand Conquests.

Player Phase
Usage: General Flier team
Weapon: Wing Sword (Eff)
Assist: Reposition
Special: Luna
A Passive: Swift Sparrow 2 (Swift Sparrow 3 is, obviously, better)
B Passive: Desperation 3
C Passive: Spd/Def Rein 3
Sacred Seal: Atk/Spd 2

A standard performance-optimized Player Phase set.

Mixed Phase
Usage: Aether Raids Offense
Weapon: Wing Sword (Eff)
Assist: Reposition
Special: Galeforce
A Passive: Distant Counter
B Passive: Pegasus Flight 3
C Passive: Atk/Spd Rein 3
Sacred Seal: Quickened Pulse

I use this set for Aether Raids offense, on a Galeforce team.

---

Change Log

Spoiler

• 9 Dec 2017: Initial Release and minor edits (mostly for wording).
• 11 Dec 2017: Added the Change Log.
• 12 Dec 2017: Added the Firesweep set. Easiest write-up ever.
• 24 Dec 2017: Added the Def refinement to the list of options for the Wo Dao set. Added justifications for the Wo Dao refinement options.
• 8 Jan 2018: Modified the Brave Sword set to reflect my updated opinion of Luna vs Iceberg.
• 16 Jan 2018: Added Def Ploy to the necessary write-ups.
• 17 Jan 2018: Added the Mage Fighter set.
• 7 Feb 2018: Added the Wing Sword set.
• 8 Feb 2018: Minor edits to the Wing Sword set.
• 11 Feb 2018: Improvements to the Wing Sword set, adding Aether as a defense set consideration, and providing more detail on some skill choice explanations.
• 21 Feb 2018: Added notes on Fury to the Wing Sword set. Removed, or at least de-emphasized, Life and Death in all applicable write-ups. Added notes on +Spd for the Wing Sword set.
• 23 Feb 2018: Added more notes on +Atk vs. +Spd in the Wing Sword set, split the boon & bane discussion in two.
• 4 Apr 2018: Restructured the order of the sets to highlight my personal opinions regarding their effectiveness. Added more B Passive considerations to the Mage Fighter set.
• 20 Apr 2018: Added -HP as a consideration for the Wing Sword set.
• 21 May 2018: Moved the “Other Options” line just below the Wing Sword set, which is realistically what most Caedas will use.
• 23 Jun 2018: Minor edits to the Wing Sword set to be more relevant to the current meta. Removed the Slaying Edge and Ruby Sword sets. Jury is still out on the Brave, Firesweep, and Wo Dao sets.
• 17 Jul 2018: Added more notes to the +Atk vs +Spd argument for the Wing Sword set. Changed Def Ploy references to generic [Stat] Ploy references.
• 14 Oct 2018: Removed the Wo Dao set. Updated the Wing Sword set with Guard and Quick Riposte seal options.
• 20 Oct 2018: Minor edits to the Wing Sword set. Added Brazen Atk/[Stat] to the list of seal considerations where appropriate.
• 29 Oct 2018: Added Atk/Spd Solo to the list of A Passive considerations for all sets.
• 16 Nov 2018: Split the Wing Sword set into offense-focused and defense-focused variants to reduce clutter.
• 29 Dec 2018: Terminology updates. Added Galeforce to the Wing Sword - Offense set.
• 2 Nov 2019: Fully retired the Brave Sword and Firesweep Sets. Tuned up the Wing Sword - Offense set to be more concise at the A Passive level, and trimmed the Special suggestions. Added the Sample Skill Sets section.
• 8 Nov 2019: Minor update, adding descriptions for sample sets.
• 28 Mar 2020: Added Pegasus Flight to the "Other Options" sections of both sets.
• 18 Sep 2020: Added Rein skills to the list of considerations, where appropriate. Added the Wing Sword - Mixed Phase set. Updated the Aether Raids sample skill set.

 

Edited September 19, 2020 by LordFrigid

[Eridras]

How worthwhile would a +Spd -Hp Caeda be?  I assume it’d work quite well with her special refinement, but it’d leave her Attack quite low. Would Aether be enough to make up for it?

[LordFrigid]

5 hours ago, Eridras said:

How worthwhile would a +Spd -Hp Caeda be?  I assume it’d work quite well with her special refinement, but it’d leave her Attack quite low. Would Aether be enough to make up for it?

It’s a workable nature, but if you’re looking to patch up her damage output, Iceberg or Luna would be better than Aether for more consistent one-round activations. I guess if you’re confident that you can have her OHKO something (i.e. if you tend to encounter a lot of Cavs or Armors, usually of the green or, occasionally, red variety) to bring Aether’s charge to 3 for the combat where she actually needs it, it could be considered roughly equivalent to Luna.

+Spd actually has some pretty good matchups with an offense focused set running Iceberg/Luna, since the Spd bump helps her land doubles on faster/Spd-stacked foes. However, she might need a bit more flier support to net OHKOs on the more Def-heavy green armors, depending on their skill setup (for OHKO purposes, +Atk is equivalent to one Goad stack).

Edited February 21, 2018 by LordFrigid

[Eridras]

15 hours ago, LordFrigid said:

It’s a workable nature, but if you’re looking to patch up her damage output, Iceberg or Luna would be better than Aether for more consistent one-round activations. I guess if you’re confident that you can have her OHKO something (i.e. if you tend to encounter a lot of Cavs or Armors, usually of the green or, occasionally, red variety) to bring Aether’s charge to 3 for the combat where she actually needs it, it could be considered roughly equivalent to Luna.

+Spd actually has some pretty good matchups with an offense focused set running Iceberg/Luna, since the Spd bump helps her land doubles on faster/Spd-stacked foes. However, she might need a bit more flier support to net OHKOs on the more Def-heavy green armors, depending on their skill setup (for OHKO purposes, +Atk is equivalent to one Goad stack).

Thanks for the detailed answer. I ended up pulling an optimal +Atk -Def Caeda today, so I’ve got some thinking to do. My Arena Assault runs these days have been plagued by armors, so I think Caeda May be my next investment, even if she’d be my millionth sword unit. 

[bottlegnomes]

I have one Caeda that's +spd/-res and one that's +atk/-HP. Either would be WS builds since that gives her a niche that my Palla doesn't do. I was leaning toward the +atk one since 41 prior to buffs is pretty unimpressive and the units I'd mostly be using it against are generally in doubling range of 37/38 with a merge, but was wondering if you had any recommendations.

[LordFrigid]

25 minutes ago, bottlegnomes said:

I have one Caeda that's +spd/-res and one that's +atk/-HP. Either would be WS builds since that gives her a niche that my Palla doesn't do. I was leaning toward the +atk one since 41 prior to buffs is pretty unimpressive and the units I'd mostly be using it against are generally in doubling range of 37/38 with a merge, but was wondering if you had any recommendations.

My condensed stance on +Spd is:

• You need the Effect refinement for +Spd to be worth it.
• It’s far more useful for a Player Phase focused set than an Enemy Phase focused set; her base Spd is usually high enough to guarantee the Wing Sword Effect (especially with Flier support), so +Spd really just helps her net doubles against the really fast/Spd-stacked enemies. An EP set can get doubles with Quick Riposte.
• It should definitely be paired with Luna or Iceberg, which help make up for her low Atk with one-round activations against foes who initiate or counterattack.
• +Spd can make it harder for her to net OHKOs on bulkier Armor and Cavalry units, depending on their build (she’s missing out on 6 effective Atk before Triangle modifiers without +Atk).

I personally recommend +Atk over +Spd, especially if you’re confident that she will double the enemies she fights, or if you’re fielding her to OHKO cavs/armors in Arena Assault.

[bottlegnomes]

4 minutes ago, LordFrigid said:

I personally recommend +Atk over +Spd, especially if you’re confident that she will double the enemies she fights, or if you’re fielding her to OHKO cavs/armors in Arena Assault.

Yeah, this is what I was kind of thinking of; that or things like flier quests. She'd definitely be a PP build. L&D isn't ideal on either, but I figure either that or Fury on her, since I don't see myself with SS2 fodder, plus the speed seal would give her 43/45 speed anyway, which should be plenty to handle doubling, but I hadn't really done much in depth research on it so I was still up in the air.

Thanks for the input!