Ephraim: Restoration Lord

[LordFrigid]

General

Base Stats

HP: 42 / 45 / 48
Atk:  32 / 35 / 38
Spd: 22 / 25 / 29
Def: 29 / 32 / 35
Res: 17 / 20 / 23

Ephraim carries the stat line of a strong physical tank, with high HP, Atk, and Def. He also comes with a Legendary weapon, Siegmund, which buffs his allies' Atk at the start of the turn. Siegmund can also be refined, with its Effect refinement providing the ability to perform a guaranteed follow-up attack when at or above 90% HP. This greatly increases Ephraim's versatility, allowing him to act as both buff support and a powerful combatant on either phase.

His greatest weaknesses are his poor Spd and Res stats. He gets doubled easily, and will likely be crippled (if not KO'd) after being attacked by a tome, (well built) staff, or breath user.

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Suggested Skill Sets

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

Defense-oriented Buff-phraim (Steady Breath Tank + Buff Support)

Spoiler

Usage Intention: General Physical Tank and Buff Support, especially for a team focused around a -blade mage.

Nature: +Def or +Atk/-Res
Weapon: Siegmund
    Weapon Refinement: Effect or +Def
Assist: Rally Def/Res, or Rally [Stat]
Special: Ignis
A Passive: Steady Breath or Fierce Breath
B Passive: Quick Riposte 3 or Flexible
C Passive: Hone Spd 3, or other non-Atk field buff
Sacred Seal: Panic Ploy, Quick Riposte, non-Atk Field buff, or Close Def

Overview

With a refined Siegmund, Ephraim is capable of providing powerful buff support to his allies. He also has more than enough HP to viably run Panic Ploy (arguably, any unit that can consistently apply Panic Ploy to ranged units, especially -blade mages, can viably run the skill). Not running a buff in his Seal slot reduces his buff potential, slightly, but the utility gained can offset this cost. On the side, he acts as a physical melee Quick Riposte tank.

Asset/Flaw and Skill Choices

Ephraim can take +Def, +Spd, or +Atk as natures for this set, depending on the user's preference and the upgrade selected for Siegmund. +Def allows for heavy Def stacking to reduce damage taken. +Atk works as a nature as well, but is generally unnecessary with the Ignis proc. +Spd is worth a mention, reducing his likelihood of getting doubled, but since he only reaches 29 Spd with this nature, he is better off (especially with respect to his Sword matchups) stacking Def. -Res is his best nature for a physically tanky set, reducing the defensive stat that should not be hit.

Siegmund is the necessary weapon choice for this set, allowing Ephraim to provide a +4 Atk buff to adjacent allies. The Effect upgrade will allow him to double attack at least one enemy on the Player Phase, slightly expanding his PP utility beyond using his Rally. The +Def upgrade allows him to stack more Def to reduce damage taken.

For his assist, Rally Def/Res should be taken if a buff is not used in his Seal slot, as it is more important to run a +4 Spd buff (through Hone Spd) than a +4 Def or Res buff. If a buff is used in his Seal slot, his assist should be whichever Rally covers the stat he does not buff already.

Without a Slaying weapon, Ignis is used as the Special, and is guaranteed to hit on the second counterattack granted by Quick Riposte. If the user is running the budget Fury option, his default Moonbow can be considered for the Special slot for the low activation time.

Steady Breath is the natural choice, stacking his Def and giving him guaranteed a guaranteed one-round Ignis activation. Fierce Breath lowers his physical bulk slightly, but increases his KO power.

Quick Riposte is the standard EP skill, giving him a guaranteed counterattack. Quick Riposte can also be run in his seal slot, opening up his B passive options. Notably, he can use:

• Wrath: Increased special damage, and bonus cool down charge when at or below 75% HP, which can be nice to keep him relevant after Quick Riposte has been broken.
• Guard: Prevents enemy specials from charging. This is especially powerful against Ayra and Wo Dao/Slaying Weapon users who depend on a special activation for their matchups.
• Renewal: Adds some sustain if nothing else is needed.

Carefully evaluate whether the loss of utility from using Quick Riposte as his Sacred Seal is covered by whatever combat capabilities he gains from running a different B passive. I personally recommend using Quick Riposte in his B slot.

Ephraim's C passive for this set should be a buff of the user's choice. Needless to say, Def or Res Tactic should only be chosen if he is being used on a mixed team.

If Quick Riposte is not used in his B slot, he should use it in his Seal a lot. Otherwise, Panic Ploy works, capitalizing on his high HP to apply the Panic effect to enemies. It complements his support utility, simultaneously applying buffs to his allies and denying them to his enemies. If the user wants to maximize his buff potential, a buff can be used. If the user wants to further strengthen his defenses, Close Def is a good choice.

Offense-oriented Buff-phraim (Physical Offense + Buff Support)

Spoiler

Usage intention: Physical Nuke and Buff Support, especially for a team focused around a -blade mage.

Nature: +Atk/-Res or -Spd
Weapon: Siegmund
    Weapon Refinement: Effect
Assist: Rally Def/Res or Rally [Stat]
Special: Moonbow
A Passive: Sturdy Blow 2, Death Blow 3/4, or Brazen Atk/[Stat] 3
B Passive: Renewal 3, Wrath 3, or Desperation 3 (only for use with the Brash Assault seal)
C Passive: Hone Spd 3, or other non-Atk field buff
Sacred Seal: Panic Ploy, non-Atk field buff, Attack/Def +, Brazen Atk/[Stat], or Brash Assault

Overview

Siegmund's Effect refinement allows Ephraim to automatically double attack an enemy on the Player Phase when he has at least 90% HP. This set allows him to fill a more offensive role on a team, while retaining his buff support capabilities.

Asset/Flaw and Skill Choices

+Atk is the natural choice increase his KO power, as with the automatic double attack, his Spd is relatively inconsequential. -Res has the best compatibility with his other sets, though for this set -Spd could be taken as well. If +Atk is not available, either +Spd (to double Effies or Zephiels) or +Def (reducing damage taken, allowing him to better utilize his weapon's effect) are perfectly usable.

Siegmund, with the Effect refinement, is required for this set to work.

For his assist slot, Ephraim can choose between Rally Def/Res or Rally [Stat] for buff support capability on turns where he does not have to fight.

Moonbow is his strongest Special option for KO optimization no matter which variant of the set is run; its low charge timer allows quick activation that is guaranteed against enemies that can counterattack during rounds of combat where Ephraim doubles.

From here, Ephraim can combine his A and B Passive slots into the core for this set. He has three main options: Sturdy Blow/Renewal, Death Blow/Wrath, or Death Blow/Desperation(/Brash Assault Seal). Brazen Atk/[Stat] can be used instead of Death Blow for the latter two variants to provide a stronger Atk boost than Death Blow when at or below 80% HP. Note the following arguments on each:

• With Sturdy Blow, most sword enemies, bar one-round special ones, will deal low amounts of damage to him. Lance units hurt a little more, but a large number of them with the same +Atk, Fury, unbuffed setup will not deal so much damage that Ephraim will not be returned to 90%+ after one activation of Renewal. This variant allows him to more fully capitalize on Siegmund's effect, but runs the high risk of encountering setups (ex. builds that revolve around fast special activations) that will force him out of fights for more than one Renewal activation.
• With Wrath, Ephraim is virtually guaranteed to be able to enter a fight once every other turn, as his Wrath-boosted Moonbow OHKO potential is quite strong. Death Blow or Brazen Atk/[Stat] is used to improve his OHKO capabilities. This combination forgoes restoring Siegmund's effect for more consistent performance once he hits 75% or less HP.
• Ephraim can also run Brash Assault/Desperation to get automatic double attacks at 90%+, and then again when at or below 50% (albeit only against enemies that can counter). This combination will not consistently activate specials in one round of combat, instead relying on Ephraim's high Atk stat to KO foes. This combination allows Ephraim to fight any turn after he gets to the 50% HP threshold. However, it requires his Seal slot, and suffers from the fact that most physical enemies can't bring him into Brash Assault range in one round of combat due to his high HP and Def.

Note that with Ephraim's second role as a support unit, he doesn't necessarily mind waiting a turn between fights if he has an ally that needs to be Rallied. Overall, I would opt for the Sturdy Blow/Renewal or Death Blow/Wrath variants.

Ephraim's C Passive and Seal slot ideally round out his capabilities as a Buff support unit. I personally prefer the Hone Spd + Panic Ploy setup to give him respectable +4/4/3/3 buff potential and apply Panic to his enemies. Double buffs can also be used if applying Panic is not needed. As noted above, using Desperation in his B slot virtually requires him to run the Brash Assault seal. Attack/Def + and Brazen Atk/[Stat] are also viable options to boost his combat capabilities, with the latter being especially useful for securing OHKOs after he has fallen out of Siegmund’s follow-up threshold.

Other Options

• When running the Sturdy Blow/Renewal variant, Ephraim can use Sol as his special in combination with the Heavy Blade seal to get a heal on his follow-up attack when initiating against enemies that can counter. This sacrifices a little bit of KO power in exchange for helping to keep his HP up.

Credits

• Thank you to @Ice Dragon for the suggestion regarding the addition of a Player Phase oriented Ephraim set, and the note on Heavy Blade/Sol!

Flame Siegmund

Spoiler

Usage Intention: Player phase fighter.

Nature: +Atk/-Res or -Spd
Weapon: Flame Siegmund
    Weapon Refinement: N/A
Assist: Flexible
Special: Aether, Moonbow, or Galeforce
A Passive: Death Blow 3/4, Sturdy Blow 2, Atk/Def Solo 3, or Brazen Atk/Def 3
B Passive: Wrath 3, Desperation 3, or Renewal 3
C Passive: Flexible
Sacred Seal: Attack +, Attack/Def +, Brazen Atk/[Stat], or Heavy Blade

Overview

This set uses Flame Siegmund's reasonably reliable follow-up guaranteeing effect to provide him with a powerful Player Phase presence. It does, however, sacrifice some of his stellar buff support capabilities, since Flame Siegmund does not provide a buff to adjacent allies' Atk.

Asset/Flaw and Skill Choices

+Atk is the natural choice to increase his KO power. He can take -Res or -Spd effectively.

Flame Siegmund is a staple of the set.

Ephraim's Assist slot is flexible. It's hard to go wrong with a positioning option, though if the user wants to try using Ephraim as buff support on top of his offensive role, they can certainly opt to run a Rally skill (perhaps Atk/Def or Atk/Res).

For Ephraim's Special, he can opt for any one of the following:

• Aether: Ideally used with the Heavy Blade seal, allowing Ephraim to charge it in one round against a foe that can counterattack, then recover the damage he took in the next fight. It can be paired with Wrath for powerful OHKO capability, or Desperation for 2HKO capability (note that Aether will be at 3-charge if the foe is not OHKO'd).
• Moonbow: Can be paired with Heavy Blade and Desperation for one-round activations. It can also be paired with Wrath for Wrath-boosted Moonbow OHKOs every other turn, which is slightly more potent, but makes the Flame Siegmund conditional effect mostly irrelevant.
• Galeforce: Heavy Blade is required for Ephraim to capitalize on this special. It will only activate in one round if the foe can counterattack, so he should use Sturdy Blow or Brazen Atk/Def to help ensure his survival. Renewal can also help here.

Death Blow is the A Passive of choice for Aether and Moonbow. Galeforce can benefit from Sturdy Blow, Atk/Def Solo, or Brazen Atk/Def for the additional bulk, since one-round Galeforce activations require the enemy to counterattack him.

Ephraim makes great use of both Wrath and Desperation. With Wrath, he can turn Aether and Moonbow into powerful OHKO tools. With Desperation, he can leverage Flame Siegmund's guaranteed follow-up attack to net 2HKOs without being counterattacked. Desperation can be used with any special, but using it with Galeforce prevents one-round activations. For Galeforce-carrying Ephraims, Renewal can help keep his HP up throughout a match (if needed).

When he is not being used in a buffing role, his C slot is flexible. A field or combat buff option is still a powerful option, even if he is not a dedicated buffer. He can also opt to carry Panic Ploy.

Ephraim should use Attack +, Attack/Def +, Brazen Atk/[Stat], or Heavy Blade in his seal slot to improve his combat capabilities.

Budget Build

Spoiler

Usage Intention: Budget set, if none of the above are available.

Nature: Flexible
Weapon: Siegmund
    Weapon Refinement: Effect or +Def
Assist: Rally Def/Res, or Rally [Stat]
Special: Moonbow
A Passive: Fury 3, Triangle Adept 3, Earth Boost 3
B Passive: Swordbreaker 3 or Lancebreaker 3
C Passive: Hone Spd 3, or other non-Atk field buff
Sacred Seal: Panic Ploy, non-Atk field buff, or Close Def

Overview

A budget Ephraim set loses the ability to double attack both Swords and Lances on defense (through the use of Quick Riposte), instead focusing on checking one of the two on either phase through the use of a specific -breaker. Fortunately, his buffing capabilities remain intact.

Asset/Flaw and Skill Choices

Siegmund's Effect refinement allows Ephraim to attack and KO 2-range units not carrying Close Counter for free when at or above 90% HP. It also allows him to double attack whichever weapon type he did not take a -breaker for at high HP levels. The +Def refinement reduces the amount of damage he takes, allowing him to check the weapon type he has a -breaker for longer.

Moonbow is used as Ephraim's special, as it is guaranteed to activate on the follow-up attack granted by his -breaker.

His A Passive is flexible between Fury, Triangle Adept, and Earth Boost. Fury increases both his offenses and defenses against both Swords and Lances, at the cost of recoil damage after combat. Triangle Adept allows him to OHKO a lot of Sword users, while still running Lancebreaker to deal with Lances. However, removes his ability to KO most green mages with a double attack from Siegmund's Effect refinement. Earth Boost provides a solid Def boost with no recoil damage, helping to keep his -breaker active for longer.

Both Swordbreaker and Lancebreaker can be taken for Ephraim's B passive, depending on what weapon type the user wants him to check.

Ephraim's Assist, C Passive, and Sacred Seal should go toward his buffing capabilities. Rally Def/Res, Hone Spd, and Panic Ploy allow him to provide +4/4/3/3 buffs to allies and apply Panic to enemies. Using one buff in each slot allows him to provide +4/4/4/4 buffs to allies, but he will be unable to prevent enemies from receiving buffs of their own.

Credits

• Thanks to @BANRYU and @Glennstavos for all the input that went into the creation of this budget set!

MemEphraim (Speed-stack + Windsweep Novelty)

Spoiler

Usage Intention: Novelty/PvE.

Nature: +Spd/-Res or -Def
Weapon: Siegmund or Flame Siegmund
    Weapon Refinement: Effect (for Siegmund), or N/A (for Flame Siegmund)
Assist: Rally Def/Res or Flexible
Special: Flexible (likely Bonfire or Galeforce)
A Passive: Life and Death 3, Atk/Spd Solo 3, or Darting Blow 3
B Passive: Windsweep 3
C Passive: Hone Spd 3 or Flexible
Sacred Seal: Darting Blow

Overview

Siegmund's Effect refinement (or Flame Siegmund's conditional effect) cancels out Windsweep's prevention of any double attack Ephraim may perform; if he can get 5+ more Spd than a physical foe, he will double attack them without being counterattacked (which will preserve his guaranteed double attack if refined Siegmund is used). Ephraim's Spd only reaches 34 even with +Spd and Life and Death, so additional buff, debuff, and aura support is strongly recommended. Anyone audacious enough to actually use this set would do well to consider additional buff and debuff support, and possibly falchion medic/healer support.

One interesting thing to note is that it's possible to use this novelty build while still retaining his buff support capabilities if Siegmund is used, given the flexibility of his Assist and C Passive slots.

Asset/Flaw and Skill Choices

+Spd is the obvious nature choice. -Res has the best compatibility with his other sets, though for this set specifically -Def could be taken as well.

Siegmund with the Effect refinement or Flame Siegmund, Life and Death 3 or Atk/Spd Solo 3, and Windsweep 3 are all centerpieces of the set. Darting Blow can replace Life and Death as a budget option.

Ephraim's Sacred Seal should be Darting Blow, for more Spd stacking.

The rest of Ephraim's set is entirely flexible. Using Rally Def/Res and Hone Spd 3 in his C Passive slot will preserve his role as a buff support unit. In his Special slot, both Bonfire (increased damage) and Galeforce (an extra action to net another KO or flee) are strong options.

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Change Log

Spoiler

• 16 Dec. 2017: Initial Release (Buff-phraim and MemEphraim sets).
• 16 Dec. 2017: Added Offense-oriented Buff-phraim set (Physical Offense + Buff Support). Renamed Buff-phraim set to "Defense-oriented Buff-phraim". Minor edits and corrections.
• 17 Dec. 2017: Added the Budget Build.
• 19 Dec. 2017: Added the Heavy Blade Build.
• 25 Dec. 2017: Added Brazen Atk/[Stat] as a consideration for the Offense-oriented Buff-phraim set.
• 31 Dec. 2017: Updated the Heavy Blade Build to use the Heavy Blade Sacred Seal and the Death Blow A Passive.
• 1 Jan. 2018: Updated the Offense-oriented Buff-phraim set to include Heavy Blade/Sol option for the Sturdy Blow/Renewal variant, based on this post.
• 16 Jan 2018: Added the Quick Riposte seal to the Defense-oriented Buff-phraim set. It may be added to the Budget set in the future.
• 10 Apr 2018: Added the Flame Siegmund set, merging the Heavy Blade set into it. Added Flame Siegmund as an option for the MemEphraim set.
• 12 Apr 2018: Added Tactic skills to the list of considerations for the buff support sets. Moved the meme set to the lowest slot.
• 16 Jun 2018: Added Attack/Def + to the list of viable seals for both offense sets. Changed all instances where a list of field buffs was provided to a generic "non-Atk field buff".
• 17 Oct 2018: Added mentions of Death Blow 4 and Fierce Breath in the appropriate locations. Added Brazen Atk/[Stat] to the list of seal considerations where applicable.
• 21 Mar 2019: Updated the MemEphraim build to reflect the current optimal options.

 

Edited March 21, 2019 by LordFrigid

[Ice Dragon]

I'd suggest also adding a player-phase-centric build, even if I'm not sure how effective it would be.

I imagine the build of (Siegmund [unique], Moonbow, Death Blow 3 / Fury 3, Desperation 3 / Wrath 3, Brash Assault 3) could be interesting to play around with as a starting point or (Siegmund [unique], Moonbow, Death Blow 3 / Sturdy Blow 2, Renewal 3) for a build more focused on sustain.

[Poimagic]

A meme-ephriam build? Disgusting.

[LordFrigid]

2 hours ago, Ice Dragon said:

I'd suggest also adding a player-phase-centric build, even if I'm not sure how effective it would be.

I imagine the build of (Siegmund [unique], Moonbow, Death Blow 3 / Fury 3, Desperation 3 / Wrath 3, Brash Assault 3) could be interesting to play around with as a starting point or (Siegmund [unique], Moonbow, Death Blow 3 / Sturdy Blow 2, Renewal 3) for a build more focused on sustain.

I'll look into that. I've got time to kill today, anyways. Thanks for the input!

~

Edit:

Offense-based Ephraim has been added.

After looking over the numbers, I didn't really see any reason to stray from your initial suggestions. I ended up listing Brash + Desperation as a consideration, but I think it's less viable than the Wrath and Renewal variants because his high HP and Def make it hard for enemies to bring him to (or below) 50% on his first engagement.

2 hours ago, Poimagic said:

A meme-ephriam build? Disgusting.

Darn right!

Edited December 17, 2017 by LordFrigid

[BANRYU]

Couple suggestions... 1) Isn't Darting Blow a good option for the Windsweep build, since IIRC pumping up his speed AMAP is pretty desirable for that, and it hits one more point of speed than LnD so... I'd call that either a superior budget option to Fury or debatably as good as LnD for the set's intended purpose? and 2) Is Triangle Adept + Lancebreaker still considered a good setup for him? It seems decent since he has the Atk to poke huge holes in reds and get good coverage on Lances and squishy blue mages, hitting 3 of the 4 colors pretty good. Honestly that'd be my preferred non-SB setup except that I'm lacking TA fodder too lol.

Also, not sure if it's worth mentioning in any sets, but I thought I'd share the budget A-slot skill I've been using for my Ephraim: Earth Boost. With the HP+5 seal and his special weapon refinement he hits 53 HP which is pretty good at softening blows like a lower-grade Steady Breath/Stance. It's not what I'd call my ideal skill choice, but it HAS been working pretty well for him to tank at full health as well as initiate Siegmund's doubling attack without taking much if any counterattack damage.

Edited December 17, 2017 by BANRYU

[LordFrigid]

29 minutes ago, BANRYU said:

Couple suggestions... 1) Isn't Darting Blow a good option for the Windsweep build, since IIRC pumping up his speed AMAP is pretty desirable for that, and it hits one more point of speed than LnD so... I'd call that either a superior budget option to Fury or debatably as good as LnD for the set's intended purpose?

His ORKO counts suffer from not having that +5 Atk. I can list it as a budget pick superior to Fury, but I won't call it as good as Life and Death.

Edit: The Fury recoil thing didn't occur to me somehow when putting together the MemEphraim set, so I guess Darting is strictly superior. Fury has been removed entirely.

29 minutes ago, BANRYU said:

2) Is Triangle Adept + Lancebreaker still considered a good setup for him?

I can list TA as a budget option. -breaker is already an option. It's strong enough, I guess, and plays nicely with the Effect refinement, against Swords. I lean toward QR over a -breaker though.

Edited December 17, 2017 by LordFrigid

[Zapp Branniglenn]

Lol, all this time I just assumed Ephraim's base speed was 22 since I keep misremembering mine as being neutral when he's +Hp/-Spd. 

So the unique Seigmund effect has a stingy HP threshold at 90% or higher. Fury recoil on its own would shut it off which is a shame since it's a worse version of Arden's incredible follow-up ring skill only it's player phase restricted. The guaranteed double should allow Ephraim the opportunity to at least take out ranged units for free on player phase, most of whom would survive his single attack. Unlike Brash Assault, there is no stipulation that the target must be capable of counterattack. So that's why I don't care much for Fury on him. And between his refinement skill and decent use of breakers or QR, I feel like Healer support is key if you want him to carry.

[LordFrigid]

4 minutes ago, Glennstavos said:

So the unique Seigmund effect has a stingy HP threshold at 90% or higher. Fury recoil on its own would shut it off which is a shame since it's a worse version of Arden's incredible follow-up ring skill only it's player phase restricted. The guaranteed double should allow Ephraim the opportunity to at least take out ranged units for free on player phase, most of whom would survive his single attack. Unlike Brash Assault, there is no stipulation that the target must be capable of counterattack. So that's why I don't care much for Fury on him. And between his refinement skill and decent use of breakers or QR, I feel like Healer support is key if you want him to carry.

Yeah, the Fury recoil thing was a pretty grave oversight on my part. It's now off of the novelty/Windsweep set, but I'm leaving it on as a budget option for the tank/buff set, at least for now. That's due, at least in part, to the fact that he doesn't necessarily need to carry; +4/4/3/3 or +4/4/4/4 buffed -blade mages are pretty good at carrying teams.

[BANRYU]

4 hours ago, LordFrigid said:

His ORKO counts suffer from not having that +5 Atk. I can list it as a budget pick superior to Fury, but I won't call it as good as Life and Death.

Edit: The Fury recoil thing didn't occur to me somehow when putting together the MemEphraim set, so I guess Darting is strictly superior. Fury has been removed entirely.

I can list TA as a budget option. -breaker is already an option. It's strong enough, I guess, and plays nicely with the Effect refinement, against Swords. I lean toward QR over a -breaker though.

Ah, fair enough about Darting Blow. Just a budget alternative, then. 

TBH though I don't see the reason for generic '-breaker' being listed as a slot; R Tomebreaker seems generally unnecessary since pretty much all (relevant) red mages are squishy (or uncommon) as hell, B Tomebreaker is limited and seems similarly niche (most of them will kill him anyway so he won't exactly get to use it often), Swordbreaker is mostly unnecessary; it can work if Ephraim wants to be a dedicated redslayer, but generally Lancebreaker helps him out the most against Lancinas and Nephenees and the like.

I think it would be more practical to simply list the most effective skills available for the set, which (off the top of my head without checking sims admittedly) I believe is Lancebreaker. Swordbreaker / BTB might be worth a mention but probably not a slot IMO. 

4 hours ago, Glennstavos said:

Lol, all this time I just assumed Ephraim's base speed was 22 since I keep misremembering mine as being neutral when he's +Hp/-Spd. 

So the unique Seigmund effect has a stingy HP threshold at 90% or higher. Fury recoil on its own would shut it off which is a shame since it's a worse version of Arden's incredible follow-up ring skill only it's player phase restricted. The guaranteed double should allow Ephraim the opportunity to at least take out ranged units for free on player phase, most of whom would survive his single attack. Unlike Brash Assault, there is no stipulation that the target must be capable of counterattack. So that's why I don't care much for Fury on him. And between his refinement skill and decent use of breakers or QR, I feel like Healer support is key if you want him to carry.

Yeah TBH this is why I think I wound up liking Earth Boost as an option; Triangle Adept kinda hurts kills his tankability against axes (not that he should be fighting them at all really, but sometimes tanking them can be useful-- mine survived tanking the emerald axe flier in the Tanamelia BHB pretty well thanks to this), and Fury ofc has the recoil that makes it counterintuitive to Siegmund's effect. It's definitely not as good as Steady Breath, but does have an edge over Stance in that it works on enemy phase (synergizing well with the weapon as well as his pretty good HP). I kinda feel like it's the best budget option honestly? Though I might be biased from experience, if that's possible. Shrug.

tl;dr Earth Boost is underrated

[Zapp Branniglenn]

14 minutes ago, BANRYU said:

Yeah TBH this is why I think I wound up liking Earth Boost as an option; Triangle Adept kinda hurts kills his tankability against axes (not that he should be fighting them at all really, but sometimes tanking them can be useful-- mine survived tanking the emerald axe flier in the Tanamelia BHB pretty well thanks to this), and Fury ofc has the recoil that makes it counterintuitive to Siegmund's effect. It's definitely not as good as Steady Breath, but does have an edge over Stance in that it works on enemy phase (synergizing well with the weapon as well as his pretty good HP). I kinda feel like it's the best budget option honestly? Though I might be biased from experience, if that's possible. Shrug.

tl;dr Earth Boost is underrated

The appeal of TA is to take less chip damage from swordies, but it will take away your ability to kill green mages that aren't physically defensive, Nino, Deirdre, etc, you'd normally kill them thanks to the weapon refinement double. So in a post-weapon refinery world, TA seems to be an iffier choice than it used to be. Earth Boost sounds like a good compromise for staying healthy dueling reds. And is the only boost available from a 4 star unit so it's a good budget option to boot. I think I'll put it on mine since my guy is +HP.

[LordFrigid]

3 hours ago, BANRYU said:

TBH though I don't see the reason for generic '-breaker' being listed as a slot; R Tomebreaker seems generally unnecessary since pretty much all (relevant) red mages are squishy (or uncommon) as hell, B Tomebreaker is limited and seems similarly niche (most of them will kill him anyway so he won't exactly get to use it often), Swordbreaker is mostly unnecessary; it can work if Ephraim wants to be a dedicated redslayer, but generally Lancebreaker helps him out the most against Lancinas and Nephenees and the like.

I think it would be more practical to simply list the most effective skills available for the set, which (off the top of my head without checking sims admittedly) I believe is Lancebreaker. Swordbreaker / BTB might be worth a mention but probably not a slot IMO. 

I'm just going to move all of this stuff (-breakers with specific Sword- and Lance- listings, Earth Boost, etc.) into its own separate "Budget Build" section.

Swordbreaker is more effective unless he's a) running Triangle Adept or b) doesn't care about his Sword KO counts. He loses a lot of his Sword OHKOs without TA, and can't double that many of them without Swordbreaker.

Edited December 17, 2017 by LordFrigid

[Ae†her]

Wow didn't know it could cancel out Windsweep's follow-up prevention, and still allow him to double. That's a pretty damn good thing to know, even if Ephraim is still pretty slow after L&D3.

[BANRYU]

15 hours ago, LordFrigid said:

I'm just going to move all of this stuff (-breakers with specific Sword- and Lance- listings, Earth Boost, etc.) into its own separate "Budget Build" section.

Swordbreaker is more effective unless he's a) running Triangle Adept or b) doesn't care about his Sword KO counts. He loses a lot of his Sword OHKOs without TA, and can't double that many of them without Swordbreaker.

Oh I should have been clearer or more focused about what I was trying to say then m'bad; yeah I was saying Lancebreaker is the best option WITH TriAdept and probably should have said something like Swordbreaker is better without TA (but if he's not running TA then he'll probably appreciate QR more).

That's basically what I was trying to get at sorry if I got my message muddled e__e

Edited December 17, 2017 by BANRYU

[Ice Dragon]

1 hour ago, Logos said:

Wow didn't know it could cancel out Windsweep's follow-up prevention, and still allow him to double. That's a pretty damn good thing to know, even if Ephraim is still pretty slow after L&D3.

Every effect that guarantees a follow-up attack cancels an effect that prevents a follow-up attack.

Halloween Jakob with Wary Fighter and Assassin's Bow performs a follow-up attack against an opposing dagger user if he has 5 Spd over his opponent. On the other hand, an opposing dagger user needs two effects that guarantee a follow-up attack (not currently possible) to cancel both Wary Fighter and Assassin's Bow in order to perform a follow-up attack when it has 5 Spd over Jakob.

[BANRYU]

oh. I almost forgot, but I remember hearing that Heavy Blade could be good on Ephraim, and especially now with Siegmund's extra refinery effect, that seems like a pretty decent alternative to the Windsweep set for a player phase Ephraim (if not just better). What are y'all's thoughts on Heavy Blade for him?

Edited December 19, 2017 by BANRYU

[LordFrigid]

5 hours ago, BANRYU said:

oh. I almost forgot, but I remember hearing that Heavy Blade could be good on Ephraim, and especially now with Siegmund's extra refinery effect, that seems like a pretty decent alternative to the Windsweep set for a player phase Ephraim (if not just better). What are y'all's thoughts on Heavy Blade for him?

I can have a look if I have time later, but my recollection is that Heavy Blade is usually not the strongest option. Maybe for a PvE set? We'll see...I'll probably start off by looking at Bonfire and Galeforce.

Edit: Bonfire doesn't look too bad...a weaker performance than Death Blow, to be sure, but it's definitely not bad.

Edit 2: I flicked through a few different other options, like using Aether and tossing in Wrath. Overall, I feel that the HB sets have weaker Arena performances than the current options for the offense build, particularly the Moonbow/Death Blow/Wrath variant. As a result, I think I'll leave his Offense-oriented sets as they are, and maybe put a separate Heavy Blade build in.

Edited December 19, 2017 by LordFrigid

[GinRei]

10 hours ago, LordFrigid said:

I flicked through a few different other options, like using Aether and tossing in Wrath. Overall, I feel that the HB sets have weaker Arena performances than the current options for the offense build, particularly the Moonbow/Death Blow/Wrath variant. As a result, I think I'll leave his Offense-oriented sets as they are, and maybe put a separate Heavy Blade build in.

I've seen people using Aether/HB/QR and it seems like it would work well.  But I won't be able to test it myself for at least another month due to lack of Dew.

[BANRYU]

@LordFrigid Oh yeah don't get me wrong, I wasn't intending for Heavy Blade to replace any of the current options haha; yeah, a separate set sounds just fine if you think it's worth looking at. 

[LordFrigid]

13 hours ago, GinRei said:

I've seen people using Aether/HB/QR and it seems like it would work well.  But I won't be able to test it myself for at least another month due to lack of Dew.

I guess if you wanted a hybrid offense/defense set it might work. I’d have to look at numbers to see, actually...I’m particularly interested to see what breaks his QR threshold when he initiates, and/or what he’s netting OHKOs on with Aether (on the subsequent defense). I’m basically curious about how sustainable the build is.

9 hours ago, BANRYU said:

@LordFrigid Oh yeah don't get me wrong, I wasn't intending for Heavy Blade to replace any of the current options haha; yeah, a separate set sounds just fine if you think it's worth looking at. 

Yeah, it looks interesting enough for its own separate set. I’ll have to run some more numbers (esp. related to the above) and see what I can do with it (I’d also welcome any other analysis if someone gets to it before me).

~

Edit: The deed is done. Let me know if you have any further suggestions.

Edited December 20, 2017 by LordFrigid

[LordFrigid]

Added a dedicated Flame Siegmund set. Let me know if I missed anything, I don't have spare dew to give this to him, so I couldn't play-test. And I'm a little burned out after looking through all the game's weapons for updated descriptions.

[BANRYU]

Looks pretty good from what I can tell. I will say that I think the existence of Flame Siegmund means that the memey Windsweep set is all but obsolete now; as it stands, the main draw of reg Siegmund over Flame Sieg seems to be the utility it affords him. Dedicated offense is cool and all, but Regmund still allows him to have a doubling player phase presence while providing buff support and allowing him to run good enemy phase skills. Role compression and being a jack of all trades is definitely not a bad thing with team sizes as small as they are... Though it's hard to deny the offensive appeal of the other one, too...

....so needless to say I'm pretty torn on which build to go with for mine. haha ;;

[Lushen]

I have a -def/+hp one sadly.  I personally think Siegmund is going to be the better of the two by far since he's an infantry unit and you won't be that far from your other units often.  That being said, remember we have a CYL Ephraim coming up.  Most likely it will be an axe unit but if its a lance unit that means he could very well get a third prf.

I would say the offensive build is the most useful.  The problem with the steady breath build is lukas does it waaaay better.  And I still think windsweep is only good on Alm.

[LordFrigid]

Bit of a late reply, sorry about that. I've been busy...dealing with...the latest update's changes. Yeah, that's the right phrase for it.

Anyway.

On 4/10/2018 at 8:50 PM, BANRYU said:

I will say that I think the existence of Flame Siegmund means that the memey Windsweep set is all but obsolete now.

But...memes! The allure of running Windsweep to keep up the Siegmund refinement's HP requirement has certainly vanished. I'll at least bump it down below the budget set. I still think it carries at least some entertainment value for allowing him to double through Windsweep (it's always fun to watch that happen to an unsuspecting Ayra or Zelgius), so I doubt I'll remove it entirely.

On 4/10/2018 at 8:50 PM, BANRYU said:

the main draw of reg Siegmund over Flame Sieg seems to be the utility it affords him. Dedicated offense is cool and all, but Regmund still allows him to have a doubling player phase presence while providing buff support and allowing him to run good enemy phase skills. Role compression and being a jack of all trades is definitely not a bad thing with team sizes as small as they are... Though it's hard to deny the offensive appeal of the other one, too...

My thoughts exactly. When I first read that he would be able to get Flame Siegmund, I was a little put out since I had already refined regular Siegmund. Then I remembered that regular Siegmund still fills the buffing niche, so it's at least not completely obsolete. That's why Flame Siegmund gets its own write-up, actually. 

On 4/10/2018 at 8:50 PM, BANRYU said:

....so needless to say I'm pretty torn on which build to go with for mine. haha ;;

Get both Flame Siegmund and refined Siegmund and switch it around depending on your mood. I think it depends on the team he's being used for, really.

On 4/10/2018 at 8:56 PM, Lushen said:

I personally think Siegmund is going to be the better of the two by far since he's an infantry unit and you won't be that far from your other units often.

It's harder to pull off than it is with Legendary Ephraim, to be sure. I don't think it's prohibitively hard, though, it just requires more positioning and AI awareness. I would consider the main factor in the choice to be the buff potential of regular Siegmund vs the raw offensive power of Flame Siegmund.

On 4/10/2018 at 8:56 PM, Lushen said:

The problem with the steady breath build is lukas does it waaaay better.

I won't deny that Lukas is better at pure Steady Breath tanking. However, Ephraim is better equipped to fill the buff support role and has a limited, but powerful player phase. The fact that Lukas is better at Steady Breath tanking is moot if he's not on the team to begin with, which is certainly possible given Ephraim's other capabilities.

On 4/10/2018 at 8:56 PM, Lushen said:

And I still think windsweep is only good on Alm.

That set is more novelty than anything, really.

~

Thanks for the feedback!

[BANRYU]

On 4/12/2018 at 8:03 PM, LordFrigid said:

Get both Flame Siegmund and refined Siegmund and switch it around depending on your mood. I think it depends on the team he's being used for, really.

Oh man I would LOVE to do that but I think I forgot to preface my indecisiveness with the fact that I have two different Ephraims-- a built +Def/-Spd one with Earth boost, and an unbuild +Atk/-HP one-- the +Atk is obviously perfect for any offensive builds, but the -HP means that Earth Boost is gonna be much worse on him, and thus his utility in the tanking role is gonna... well, tank x3x I WAS planning to give Tankphraim Sturdy Blow for the sake of abusing Regmund's effect but I don't have a lot of faith in his tankability with neutral Def AND -HP.

So basically, I don't know who to merge onto Dx Jack-of-all trades tank or full-blown offense.

and I mean... I could build them separately I guess, but dose merge points... >3>