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Setsuna, Absent Archer


XRay
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Setsuna, Absent Archer

Setsuna is THE Brave Bow Desperation archer. She is not likely to kill everything in four hits, but she (and YS!Gaius) is the most likely out of all the archers to land all four hits.

Unlike Blade mages, Brave Bow archers can operate more independently from their teammates. Additionally, being colorless means that Brave Bow archers are equally effective against all types units and are not hindered by the Weapon Triangle. However, as far as archers go, Setsuna has one of the weakest Attack, beaten only by Niles. Sestuna is pretty reliant on her Special to deal damage.

While Brave Bow archers are a little more versatile than Blade mages in terms of coverage, they have problems dealing with certain units that Blade mages can easily deal with. Bulky Distant Counter units are quite common in the upper tiers of the Arena and they are dangerous for Brave Bow archers to take down, and Setsuna's pitiful Attack and flimsy bulk makes this extremely apparent. Raven mages are less frequently encountered, but they still appear often enough that players should be cautious and double check enemies' skills; some mages that usually run Blade builds may occasionally run Raven builds, as the sole purpose of those builds is to make Brave Bow archers disappear under unsuspecting players' fingers. Like all other Player Phase nukes, the greatest threat comes from ranged cavalry who can cover large distances quickly and take advantage of Player Phase nukes' weak Enemy Phase performance.

As a nuke, Sestuna will do fine against fliers and other flimsy glass cannons. Just make sure she avoids anything bulky that can counter attack.

 

Level 40 stats:

HP: 34/37/41
Atk: 24/28/31
Spd: 34/37/40
Def: 19/22/25
Res: 20/23/26

Total: 146~148

Default skills:

Weapon: Assassin's Bow+
Assist: Reciprocal Aid
Special: [none]
Passive A: HP +5
Passive B: Bowbreaker 3
Passive C: [none]

 

Brave Bow:
General use, Arena Assault

Spoiler

Nature: [+Atk/Spd, -HP/Def/Res]

Brave Bow+
Reposition / Ardent Sacrifice
Luna
Life and Death 3
Desperation 3 / Swordbreaker 3
[flexible passive C] / Savage Blow 3
Attack +3 / Speed +3 / Savage Blow 3

This is the famous Quadsuna skill set.

+Atk: This makes her a more reliable nuke.

+Spd: This is a bit gimmicky; she can make follow up attacks more often, but she would lack the fire power of +Atk. She becomes highly dependent on her Special for damage.

-HP-Ardent Sacrifice: If you are using Ardent Sacrifice, -HP is her best bane if you plan to merge her to 5*+10.

Reposition: This is the most useful Assist skill for Player Phase nukes, especially in conjunction with Dancer/Singer support. With Dancer/Singer support, a nuke can attack, be Danced/Sung to, move out of enemy range to behind the Dancer/Singer, and then finally Reposition the Dancer/Singer into the back.

Life and Death 3: Her Attack is so low, she needs every bit of it she can get, so I would not recommend Swift Sparrow or Fury.

Desperation 3: Desperation is her best B skill, as it allows her to take one counter attack and improve her sustainability by delaying counter attacks from slower units in later battles. Just make sure she can survive the counter attack though.

Swordbreaker 3: This helps her to take down faster sword units.

Savage Blow 3: This can be used during Tempest Trials as units are mostly running their vanilla sets with random skills as filler, so Vantage is not a huge threat. With two Savage Blows equipped, it will help her take down groups of enemy units.

Attack +3 / Speed +3: These Sacred Seals allows her to dish out more damage by increasing her raw power or help her perform follow up attacks.

Firesweep Bow:
Arena Assault

Spoiler

Nature: [+Atk/Spd, -HP/Def/Res]

Firesweep Bow+
Reposition
Luna / Moonbow
Life and Death 3
Cancel Affinity 3 / Poison Strike 3 / Seal Spd 3 / Seal Def 3 / Seal Res 3 / [flexible passive C]
[flexible passive C] / Savage Blow 3 / Atk Smoke 3 / Spd Smoke 3
Attack +3 / Speed +3 / Quickened Pulse / Savage Blow 3 / Atk Smoke 3 / [flexible Sacred Seal]

Firesweep Bow allows Setsuna to attack with impunity. As long as she stays out of enemy range, she is practically invincible. However, Setsuna has a pretty low

Reposition: This is the most useful Assist skill for Player Phase nukes, especially in conjunction with Dancer/Singer support. With Dancer/Singer support, a nuke can attack, be Danced/Sung to, move out of enemy range to behind the Dancer/Singer, and then finally Reposition the Dancer/Singer into the back.

Moonbow-Quickened Pulse: This combination is used to allow her to kill more units in her first round of combat.

Life and Death 3: This is her best A slot. Since she cannot receive counter attacks, she can maximize her Attack and Speed as much as possible and dump her Defense and Resistance.

Cancel Affinity 3: This allows her to take on Raven mages. If you do not see them as often in your Arena run, it is usually better to run something else.

Poison Strike 3 / Savage Blow 3: She can abuse HP reduction skills without fear of Vantage attacks. This allows her and her teammates to take down bulkier units faster.

Seal Spd 3 / Seal Def 3 / Seal Res 3: These allow her teammates to deal more damage against enemy units. If she has a Dancer/Singer teammate, she can attack again to take advantage of her own Seal Def.

Atk Smoke 3 / Spd Smoke 3: These skills make it easier for her teammates deal with other enemies.

Attack +3 / Speed +3: These Sacred Seals allows her to dish out more damage by increasing her raw power or help her perform follow up attacks.

Edited by XRay
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^ Yeah, Setsuna works very well with a Firesweep Bow:

d01ec5J.png

A good trick for protracted PvE content like Tempest Trials or Chain Challenges is to give her Seal Defence 3 and pair her with a dancer. Helps her finish off high-defence foes.

Edited by Wanda
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50 minutes ago, JSND Alter Dragon Boner said:

your not putting Firesweep set on her? does it have some questionable offensive spread?

I took it out while I was copying-and-pasting from BB!Cordelia. Setsuna's Attack is really, really low. Personally, I do not think it is worth it. I guess I will add it in if people really want to build her that way, but that is a huge waste of a Firesweep Bow in my opinion. Brave Bow is pretty cheap in comparison.

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On 18/12/2017 at 6:01 PM, XRay said:

I took it out while I was copying-and-pasting from BB!Cordelia. Setsuna's Attack is really, really low. Personally, I do not think it is worth it. I guess I will add it in if people really want to build her that way, but that is a huge waste of a Firesweep Bow in my opinion. Brave Bow is pretty cheap in comparison.

For the record,  I agree that Brave Bow+ is pretty much the best weapon for any archer in most cases, Setsuna included. My Setsuna has a Brave Bow+/Desperation set as well.

However, regarding Firesweep set, I... couldn't disagree with you more. The absolute key to doing good damage with the Firesweep Bow is speed. This is why all the Bridelia Firesweep sets you see out there recommend a +spd IV. This is why Setsuna, provided that she is +atk, is actually an excellent Firesweep user.

Assuming the same build of Lnd3 & Atk+3 seal, +spd Bridelia ends up with 54/43 in atk/spd, which isn't much better than +atk Setsuna's 50/42.

Certainly not a big deal for Setsuna, a unit you can easily cherry-pick (in terms of IVs) and merge, vs a limited-run unit.

Edited by Wanda
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Setsuna can be handy during an AA run. As a +Atk 4 star with her natural skills, she can bait and kill neutral Brave Lyn unless Lyn is equipped with a Brave Bow. To defeat Brave Bow Lyn, Setsuna must be wearing either the Deflect Missile or Distant Def seals. A 5 star version with Guard Bow (made from Assassin's Bow+) also works. It's just handy to have that minimum investment Brave Lyn counter if you're not sold on Setsuna's potential like I am.

Edited by Glennstavos
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It’s a better idea to give Setsuna’s Bowbreaker to a bulkier archer like Gordin or Leon if you want a Brave Lyn check in arena assault with minimal investment.

+Atk Setsuna nets a near-exact KO against neutral Brave Lyn on enemy phase, so with a Fortify buff Lyn can avoid the KO. While Fury isn’t as common on Lyn as Life and Death or Swift Sparrow, it’s sometimes used as a tech on defense teams to make Lyn harder to KO. Mulagir Brave Lyn, especially with a Hone buff, straight up oneshots a 4* Setsuna so that isn’t helping matters either.

Even with Guard Bow+, Brave Bow Lyn with horse buffs or Quick Pulse Moonbow blows up Setsuna if she doesn’t have Deflect Missile.

So I’m not convinced. If you want to invest in Setsuna, a Firesweep build is better for shutting down DC units that would hammer her on the counter, while also taking advantage of her high Spd stat and propping up her abysmal Atk.

Edited by MrSmokestack
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On 12/21/2017 at 10:18 AM, MrSmokestack said:

It’s a better idea to give Setsuna’s Bowbreaker to a bulkier archer like Gordin or Leon if you want a Brave Lyn check in arena assault with minimal investment.

+Atk Setsuna nets a near-exact KO against neutral Brave Lyn on enemy phase, so with a Fortify buff Lyn can avoid the KO. While Fury isn’t as common on Lyn as Life and Death or Swift Sparrow, it’s sometimes used as a tech on defense teams to make Lyn harder to KO. Mulagir Brave Lyn, especially with a Hone buff, straight up oneshots a 4* Setsuna so that isn’t helping matters either.

Even with Guard Bow+, Brave Bow Lyn with horse buffs or Quick Pulse Moonbow blows up Setsuna if she doesn’t have Deflect Missile.

So I’m not convinced. If you want to invest in Setsuna, a Firesweep build is better for shutting down DC units that would hammer her on the counter, while also taking advantage of her high Spd stat and propping up her abysmal Atk.

I dont think bulk is THAT needed for the bowbreak build budgetset. I'd trust you on the damage marks but its really the 1st hit marks that is important which Setsuna should be able to get the job done well enough unless your enemy BLyn went next meta Deflect Missile on you 

The point of these budget build like Bowbreaker Virion 5* Fury and Tobin is just to do 1 thing and that thing only as a throwaway save your OP unit for later deal

Arena Assault having information alvailable 24/7 really allows you to do all sort of janky stuff

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1 hour ago, JSND Alter Dragon Boner said:

I dont think bulk is THAT needed for the bowbreak build budgetset. I'd trust you on the damage marks but its really the 1st hit marks that is important which Setsuna should be able to get the job done well enough unless your enemy BLyn went next meta Deflect Missile on you 

Oops I should have been more clear:

I wasn’t talking about running Firesweep Setsuna with Bowbreaker for AA. Those are completely separate things my bad.

I have two separate conclusions, one at the beginning and one at the end: 1) There are better users of Bowbreaker than Setsuna for cheap Brave Lyn countering since Gordin and Leon have higher Atk and Def and 2) Setsuna’s preferred investment, if any, is Firesweep instead of Brave Bow, for the reasons I mentioned (DC destroys her and her base Atk is awful).

The first is specific to arena assault while the second is a more general statement.

1 hour ago, JSND Alter Dragon Boner said:

The point of these budget build like Bowbreaker Virion 5* Fury and Tobin is just to do 1 thing and that thing only as a throwaway save your OP unit for later deal

Arena Assault having information alvailable 24/7 really allows you to do all sort of janky stuff

The real problem I have with low-investment AA counters is that a lot of their KO’s are exact and against +0 enemies. The theoretical +Atk 4* Setsuna commits both of these sins.

Realistically if you want high-scoring runs in AA you will be facing high-merged teams, and short of Raven Weaponbreaker units that can delete any variant of an enemy up to +10, missing KOs is pretty easy and can be fatal.

Really, my point is just give Setsuna’s Bowbreaker to an archer that has better Atk and bulk for it.

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