jaffar Jaffar, Angel of Death

[Lushen]

Jaffar has been a somewhat controversial unit since weapon refinery.  Some have argued that he is a god while others have argued he is still garbage or LND fodder.  I will say he is most certainty not LND fodder, but his uses are highly dependent on what it is you are using him for.  I'm going to explain why I built him the way I did and how he is much more useful than he seems on paper.  However, you may want to avoid using him if you're pursuing T20 arena because Jaffar counters are unintentionally flooding the meta right now.

Level 40 Stats

HP:   38/41/44
Atk:  23/26/30
Spd: 30/33/36
Def:  22/25/29
Res: 19/22/25

Total : 147~148

Default Skills:

Weapon    :  Deathly Dagger
Special      :  Night Sky - Glimmer
Passive A :  Life and Death 3
Passive C :  Threaten Spd 3

 

No one can deny that he has one of the worst stat spreads in the entire game.  With 25/22 def/res and only 33 spd, he is incapable of tanking more than one shot even if you build his speed way up (which I highly recommend).  He also suffers from an extremely low atk stat.  His only redeeming quality is his high(ish) HP.  On the bright side, Jaffar can receive a super boon for atk which I recommend no matter what Jaffar you're building.  For his (-) stat, you could go -hp, -def, or -res.  Preferably, -def or -res because your goal is for him to never get doubled and in that scenario -hp is usually not great.  

In summary:
+atk is preferable, +spd is acceptable
-def/res is preferable, -hp is acceptable

 

"Chipping" Build
General Use, Arena Assault, Arena Offense*

Spoiler

Nature: +atk/-hp

Deathly Dagger+ (Purple Upgrade)
Draw Back/Reciprocal Aid/Rally Skill
Luna / Moonbow / Aether (max-SP arena)
Life and Death 3 / Close Counter
Vantage
Savage Blow 3
Speed+3

This is my Jaffar.  With this set he will recieve 49 attack and 41 spd.  Defense and resistance is completely negligible.  You might think that Life and Death makes it impossible to tank things, but the only things that ORKO him are brave units and Reinhardt/Olwen.  That's because it requires 46 spd to double him assuming he has no spd buffs. Speaking of which, I highly recommend you combine him with drive spd, hone spd, rally spd, spd tactic, etc....  At 49 atk, you'd be suprised who he can kill if he manages to double.

Still, 49 atk/41 spd is not that great for a physical 2rng attacker.  So why do I run this build?  Well, with this build I really need to show you.  To highlight how devastating Jaffar can be, here's him in Berkut's map.  Note that he can only kill a few of Berkut's minions through a ORKO, but by dancing around the map (literally) and strategically placing attacks, he is able to secure kills from all of the units on the map.  And yes, I've done this to armor emblems (just need one non-DC armor unit).

https://streamable.com/x56pm

I'm going to talk about some of the specific techniques I used during this map.

1.  Ranged units will attack after melee units - unless the mage can already ORKO him which you need to watch out for.  This is huge for Jaffar.   In this particular scenario, the AI could have used the green or red mage to weaken Jaffar and then allow the melee unit to go in for the kill.  But the AI doesn't seem to understand how vantage works and doesn't see the difference.  Not only does the melee unit move Jaffar into Vantage range, but he proc'd Jaffar's Luna and gave the mage a nice -17 hp & -7def debuff which allows Jaffar to completely destroy both the mages when they move in.  The melee unit also weakened himself which made him an easy kill next playerphase. 

If IS ever updates the AI to remove this kind of abuse, Jaffar will become considerably weaker.  In fact, if IS updates this mechanic, I'd probably be forced to throw this build out the window...

2.  I used the map to my advantage.  You will find yourself doing this a ton with Jaffar and while this can technically be done with any ranged unit, Jaffar has the added bonus of damaging nearby enemies while he does it.  

3.  Jaffar can tank one hit from pretty much anything (in this case, a horse unit).  Life and Death is surprisingly one of the best skills when it comes to helping your unit survive an encounter. Sure, he can't do it twice, but Life and Death gives units with mild spd enough to prevent getting doubled which is far more important than all the res/def in the world.

4.  Chip, chip, chip.  There were only 3 units I could ORKO.  The horse archer and the two mages (thanks to his dagger).  But, you can manipulate Jaffar's attacks to weaken units around him and go in for the kill after he gets danced (or you can use a nearby unit to finish him off).  In some cases, this is more important than killing the initial unit.  Say you have an Odin sitting within 2 spaces of Beruka.  No one on your team can kill Beruka and Odin isn't really a threat to anyone. Jaffar can attack and kill Odin (which is a nice bonus) and weaken Beruka to the point where everyone can kill her with ease.  Even Jaffar can kill her if he gets danced (which might chip a few more units within 2 spaces of Beruka.  

Run this build with SPD buffers.  If he has high enough spd, he can usually ORKO mages and low-def non-DC melee units.  Jaffar can benefit largely from a dancer.  I've noticed this kind of turns him into bridelia who can't secure as many ORKOs but can kill anything after he chips them down quite a bit.  If he doesn't have a dancer, run him with high reach units like 2rng attackers, WoM (he will go down to WoM range, trust me), and horse units.  This way he can do his debuffs and other units can come in for the kill.

Close Counter is something I've been wanting to try out.  It will allow him to vantage kill some infantry which would have made Berkut's map in particular a lot easier.  However, giving up LND subtracts 5spd/atk which makes him considerably weaker so whether or not he will actually vantage kill these units is questionable.  He's also giving up the ability to kill ORKO mages.  I think LND will be better overall but CC could be nice to swap in if you need it for a specific map.  In this build, I would give up Speed+3 seal for Savage Blow 6 and secure the extra spd back with more buffs.  

Fury 3 could work but due to taking -6 hp after combat it's actually  not going to help him survive more than one encounter which he can do with LND anyways.  So I'd rather have 2 more atk/spd.  If someone outspeeds your Jaffar its game over.

* I do NOT recommend Jaffar for T20 arena at this time.  While I think he has the potential to do really well in arena, there are A LOT of Jaffar counters in T20.

DC Units (especially with vantage or QR) and Brave weapon units will destroy Jaffar.  Brave units will bypass his spd to secure ORKOs against him.  And if you see a team in AA running 4x DC/Lightning Breath users, DO NOT deploy Jaffar.  Sure he can attack them once but he's not going to ORKO any of them and then he's worthless for the rest of the map because a lot of them have vantage.  

But if you happen to find a team that doesnt follow the current meta (or the meta changes), you can do this: (Jaffar is amazing on the lava map)
https://streamable.com/8qkda

If I deploy him into ~712 arena he will get destroyed because all four units have some version of DC 90% of the time.  But he can be good in AA since you can see who you're facing first.

 

What about Windsweep?
I've seen a lot of people saying that windsweep Jaffar is the ultimate chipper build.  While he may be better at actually chipping I think Vantage is much more efficient.  Why?  Because with windsweep you are taking your Jaffar  and sending him into a cluster of units (at least 2).  Not only is he not going to kill the unit he's attacking (he can't double), but he's probably going to have to tank several hits from ranged units and whoever you just attacked.  Vantage + LND gives him a surprisingly high chance to survive said cluster as long as at least two infantry cannot attack him during the same turn (which is unlikely).  Also, windsweep is going to prevent you from securing any ORKOs and he will have the same problem he did before the update of only being capable of chipping and never kill anything.  I think Windsweep is a terrible idea to be quite honest.

Do not run this build in Arena Defense.  Jaffar is only good when you successfully manipulate the AI.  Players aren't that dumb (well, most of them).

Edited December 11, 2017 by Lushen

[Tsak]

This is my personal jaffar build, I disagree on the applications of windsweep, If you're going to use him as a chipper. You might as well make it so he can chip Distant Counter units without instantly dying. 99% of DC units run Quick Riposte so speed does nothing. When I'm able to get the Savage blow seal ranked up and a little more SP i can upgrade his Deathly Dagger to it's Mage killer upgrade where they can't counter attack. This will give my jaffar free reign to chip everyone and anyone without really having any trouble. Usually i bring Fjorm as well to get that extra +3 speed so i can put him at speed levels that he will be able to windsweep the majority of the cast without using phantom speed.
The upgrade to his weapon also improves his savage blow capabilities to where he will hit for 24 damage to every enemy within 2 spaces of the target. This is perfect for taking Quick Riposte off common DC units.

[BANRYU]

I'm inclined to agree on the subject of Windsweep. CC/Vantage is cool, but LnD/Windsweep is a totally different strategy that seems like it has merit. Seems like a little more objectivity is needed on the part of the OP; I hope we can see a Windsweep build at some point in this analysis. 

EDIT: I'd like to add that yeah, Jaffar definitely IS LnD fodder if you don't want to use him :0 that's kind of a moot point in the OP and basically irrelevant to actually building him; you can just say that he was considered bad before and weapon refinery has helped his performance a lot, and focus on what he himself can actually do. 

Edited February 10, 2018 by BANRYU

[Okigen]

I disagree with the windsweep comment. He won't be able to kill anyone but his teammates can easily finish the job after he chips 24 hp out of everyone. You only need to make sure he's danced or reposition out of enemy range. Mine looks like this.

Spoiler