Matthew: Faithful Spy

[Zeo]

Overview

As one of the launch date units released along with the game, Matthew lacks the benefits of today's power-creeped and boosted BST units, on top of that he suffers from slightly awkward stat distribution, pathetic attack and a weapon that while unique, did little to mitigate his glaring flaws. However, with the release of the refinery as well as plenty of new debuffing skills, new life has been breathed into colorless units and Matt has been transformed from a liability to a unit that is more than capable of pulling his own weight. How much of a presence he is on the battlefield however, depends on how much you are willing to invest in him.

Stats (LVL 40)

HP: 38/41/44
ATK: 22/25/29
SPD: 31/34/37
DEF: 27/30/33
RES: 14/18/21

BST Total: 147 ~ 149

Default Skills

Weapon: Rogue Dagger+
Assist: Reciprocal Aid
Special: N/A
A Skill: N/A
B Skill: Poison Strike 3
C Skill: Hone SPD 3

Strengths:

Spoiler

Matthew boasts the most overall bulk of all Dagger units in the game. A fact that has not changed since launch. Possessing the 2nd highest HP stat of all Dagger units (1 below Gaius) and the 2nd highest defense at a sturdy 30. 3 Points below Saizo, of whom possesses -5 HP and -2 Res. His RES is a below average 18 but his high HP ensures that it is still difficult to ORKO him without doubling, which can be difficult without a speedy mage. This is more apparent with Rogue Dagger+ buffs.

He is one of the biggest beneficiaries of the refinery. As an upgraded Rogue Dagger+ increases MT by an incredible 5 points in addition to +2 HP and +2 SPD or +3 of your choice of defenses, or +1 ATK if you're interested. This boosts a +ATK Matthew's previously unusable 36 ATK to a more respectable 41. Possibly the most useful refine for his dagger is the +SPD variation which takes his speed up to 36 which is key to avoid quite a few doubles from speedy units and especially mages. In the case of a +SPD Matthew it takes him up to 39, effectively negating doubles from all but the fastest units. At that point, no units barring TA Raven mages, buffed Blade mages and extremely boosted Brave users will be ORKO'ing him. In a nutshell he's like a cockroach, extremely hard to kill and can deal a surprising amount of damage after debuffing which is further increased with special procs like Bonfire or Ignis.

Adding that the refinery debuffs enemy units DEF/RES for +6 (an improvement from +5) within two spaces in addition to your target and buffs your allies by that same value, his value as a support unit has increased immensely. His biggest strength is in his versatility, he can play roles as support unit, chip damage dealer or independent tank, all while being reasonably difficult to kill.

Weaknesses:

Spoiler

His ATK stat is pitiful and he will never be a traditional damage dealer or physical nuke. If that is what you are looking for in a colorless unit, you need to build a Kagero, Gaius or Archer for that matter. Additionally he's not quite as simple to use as these other units and while he can act independently, depending on his build his usefulness varies greatly depending on your team composition.

Mages have been his weakness and continue to be. One round of combat from a mage speedy enough to double him or God help him: a Raven tome spells curtains for Matt. Reinhardt also makes quick work of him obviously. Distant Counter Quick Riposte users are also an issue for him as some of the higher damage dealing units like Hector will finish him quickly. You also want to avoid Dragons as they typically will make quick work of him.

Aside from mages, his bulk while respectable, gets no benefit from WTA and without Rogue Dagger+ buffs active 30 defense only goes so far. A Brave weapon user with 51 ATK will ORKO a neutral Matt on initiation or less if he takes a DEF or even a HP bane. He needs to initiate and get those buffs going in order to be a reliable tank which can be difficult depending on enemy composition and placement.

 

Comparison to Saizo:

Spoiler

The general consensus is that Saizo is the superior unit between him and Matthew because of his superior ATK and DEF. a +ATK Saizo boasts 32 ATK which is akin to a real ATK stat and his neutral DEF is 33 or he can take a DEF boon for 36. The issue is that despite what people think, that 5 HP and 2 RES difference between Matt and Saizo matters and if Saizo takes a boon (like ATK or SPD) he has to dump something so he loses one of his advantages. A +ATK/-RES Saizo for one has superior ATK, but has pitiful RES and his low HP makes him extremely easy to kill in a single magic hit, something you can't do to Matt unless you double because of his superior bulk.  For any situation where a magical attack would leave Matthew at 0-7 HP, Saizo dies outright.

As tanks, Saizo and Matt want all their stats, but unlike Saizo, Matthew can safely dump HP and build it back up with the refinery. Saizo wants every point he can get so he can't drop HP, the only stat he can dump safely is DEF, which evens him out with Matt, he has superior offense with 32 ATK or 37 SPD, but now he's inferior to Matt as a tank with less overall bulk, if you're going for a tank, Saizo is an inferior choice objectively. If you are leaning towards damage or support vs general tanking, I would go with Saizo, he will perform better no matter what as an offensive unit being able to take a free +3 ATK or SPD advantage over Matt. But as an overall wall? Matthew is more reliable. 

Basically, if you want an offensive tank, go Saizo, for defensive, go Matthew. 

Builds

Matthew has the 2nd lowest ATK of all dagger units, as such I will be avoiding builds that employ skills such as Poison Dagger+, Swift Sparrow or Life and Death as he will never be able to run builds like these as well as other dagger users and they undermine his impressive bulk. Matthew is a defensive and surgical unit and the presented builds reflect and play on those strengths.

One Man Army (Close Counter) [Optimal]

Spoiler

Nature: [+ATK, -HP] / [+SPD, -HP]

Weapon: Rogue Dagger+ [+SPD]
Assist: Swap / Reposition / Reciprocal Aid
Special: Bonfire / Ignis / Moonbow / Aether
A Skill: Close Counter
B Skill: Seal ATK/SPD 2 / Seal ATK 3 / Seal SPD / Bowbreaker 3 / Vantage 3
C Skill:  SPD Smoke 3 / ATK Smoke 3 / Threaten SPD / Threaten ATK / Threaten DEF
Seal: Distant DEF 3 / ATK Smoke 3 / Close DEF 3 / Deflect Magic 3 / Attack +3 / Speed +3

When the topic of Close Counter comes about it's usually regarded as wholly inferior to Distant Counter and only a few units are generally mentioned when asked who can run this skill. Boey, Merric, Reinhardt, ToD!Henry, ToD!Jakob and now WE!Tharja who comes with the skill. However Matthew (and Saizo) are slept on and are actually fantastic users of this skill as against debuffed opponents they can deal surprising amounts of damage and secure more than a few kills on their own.

The investment cost for this build varies depending on your resources but Close Counter is required so you will have to sacrifice a Takumi.

Overview:

This build is more or less the pinnacle of Matthew's potential in the game's current state. The general strategy is to point Matthew at a physical unit, attack and debuff them with Seal ATK(/SPD) while simultaneously debuffing any nearby enemies with ATK/SPD Smoke and buffing Matt and his team's defenses by 6, effectively negating incoming damage by 9-11. On the following enemy phase every unit is dealing reduced damage to Matt and is either being softened up for easy finishes by his teammates or killed outright by Matt himself. With every enemy that attacks Matt, the debuff and smoke effect is reapplied to every enemy in range of him, even if they've already moved/attacked making for easy player phase followups. SPD Smoke 3 is an optional skill that would help in securing Matt more KO's and avoiding more doubles from speedy mages, but ATK Smoke 3 is mandatory in order to secure Matt's survivability for enemy phase tanking. If you lack any B!Lyns or Sigurds you're willing to feed to Matthew, you can go for a cheaper Threaten SPD 3 or threaten skill of your preference in his C slot, or simply a buff if you prefer. Seal ATK/SPD 2 is the optimal combo to secure doubles on Matt's initial foe, but Seal ATK 3 is a budget option that improves his tanking further, you can also run Bowbreaker 3 if you want to be a B!Lyn counter but you sacrifice versatility that way. Vantage 3 is also an alternative, sacrificing a bit of tanking/debuffing for a chance to get the drop on mages or even a few physical units with a KO (presumably with Bonfire).

Mages are still a threat to him but as long as they initiate and cannot double he can safely kill them on player phase counter (barring Vantage!) or outright kill them with a skill proc depending on their bulk and the factor of debuffs. For specials, Bonfire is the most consistent option for damage. Moonbow activates quickly but you will be killing fewer units. Ignis is the most powerful option but will activate the least often. Aether is there as an option but is the least practical and only really there to help your arena score.

For choice of seal, ATK Smoke 3 is mandatory if you are not running it in his C Slot. But if you are, then his options open up a bit. You can run Distant DEF 3 to mitigate his biggest weakness to mages, Close DEF 3 for more frequent 0 values and more powerful skill procs, Deflect Magic 3 if you want to counter Reinhardt, and of course the Attack +3 and Speed +3 seals to prop up Matthew's offensive power.

You have to be smart about how you use him, but as long as you're aware of your surroundings, point Matt at the enemy army and watch him go to work.

Ninja (Close Counter/Watersweep)

Spoiler

Nature: [+ATK, -HP]

Weapon: Smoke Dagger+ [+SPD] [+ATK]
Assist: Swap / Reposition / Reciprocal Aid
Special: Bonfire / Ignis / Moonbow / Aether
A Skill: Close Counter 
B Skill: Watersweep 3
C Skill:  Savage Blow 3 / Panic Ploy / Hone|Drive|Tactic of Choice
Seal: Phantom SPD 3

This build is more or less the reverse of a Close Counter/Windsweep Felicia build. Arguably however he is superior because he makes better use of Close Counter than she does even if she has higher native speed. Even with Felicia's seal slot free (no Distant Counter swords faster than her) she still cannot match his 1-2RKO kill count or survivability.

Overview:

This build turns Matthew's weakness against Mages on it's head with the Watersweep + Phantom SPD seal combo. Matthew has the defense to take hits from DC users and Archers already and with this build he can safely initiate against magic units and kill them on enemy phase with reduced incoming damage. Smoke Dagger+ is preferred here because it reduces ATK and SPD for all opponents, effectively negating doubles from magical and physical units alike on enemy phase.

This build also requires Close Counter but it's a trade off from his CC+Debuff build. He's able to safely initiate against Mages when he couldn't before, but his overall tanking ability has been reduced on the physical side and he can only fight one or two mages depending on their attack power. That and he's still a bad target if he's attacked by mages first. However employment of the Smoke Dagger+ means he can run whatever he wants in the C slot and doesn't necessarily need to run a Threaten skill., so that can be tweaked to your preference.

This build isn't inherently bad in any way, the only thing is that essentially Saizo can run it better due to his superior ATK and DEF. He can score more one hit KO's on mages and takes less damage from physical opponents. That and he's 20k feathers cheaper with no need to kill him for his Smoke Dagger+.

Mosquito (Poison+Savage) [Budget]

Spoiler

Nature: [+SPD, -ATK]

Weapon: Rogue Dagger+ [+SPD] / Smoke Dagger+ [SPD]
Assist: Swap / Reposition / Reciprocal Aid / Rally of Choice
Special: Bonfire / Ignis / Moonbow 
A Skill: Bracing Blow 3 / Earth Boost 3 / Water Boost 3 / Armored Blow 3 / Warding Blow 3 / Fortress DEF 3 / Fortress RES 3 
B Skill: Poison Strike 3
C Skill:  Savage Blow 3
Seal: Savage Blow 3

Overview:

A fairly simple and cheap build aimed at doing what pretty much all Dagger units can do and what Matt could do before refinement buffs. A Chip damage build aimed at annoying and whittling away at the enemy army. Your A Skill of choice should generally be aimed at something that will keep Matt from dying on initiation, he shouldn't be taking hits on enemy phase but he can if he needs to. Nature is less important here since Matt won't be doing very much killing himself and is purely a support unit.

As a chipper, Jaffar and Azama are wholeheartedly superior at this role, but Matthew has the benefit of buffing his Allies with a refined Rogue Dagger+ for additional support. He can run a Smoke Dagger for further debuffing if you wish but ultimately it matters very little. A speed refinement is still preferred to avoid being doubled. A special like Bonfire can be used for occasional damage as well.

The biggest draw of this build is that it's incredibly cheap with almost no real investment cost. That and his ATK does not come into play and you don't have to compromise defenses and safely take a -ATK Bane.

Support Partners

Matthew likes partners that improve his bulk or increase his attack power, but he needs units on his team to help him deal with Reinhardt most importantly. He will never be able to handle Rein no matter how you build him. Due to this his preferred partners are typically green units as both Rein and Brave Lyn are units that range from troublesome to hard counter (unless you run Bowbreaker of course for the latter).

Spoiler

 

PA!Inigo:

Spoiler

Inigo is the perfect partner for Matthew. He effectively acts as a Hone ATK bot for Matt and a dancer to help him finish off opponents and debuff further while doubling as a meta counter against Reinhardt and B!Lyn with a TA Raven build, bolstered further by Rogue Dagger+ and support buffs from Matt. His Gale Dance provides additional Speed for Matthew in order to secure more doubles and avoid them from mages as well. He mitigates Matthew's weaknesses, props up his ATK and SPD by a total of 6 points while getting a massive bulk increase himself thanks to Rogue Dagger+ and, depending on your build, enemy seal debuffs.

If you run these two together, you'll want a strong either blue or red on your team, depending on what level of arena you're on. As neither of them can deal with a powerful red unit such as a TA Raven mage, a bulky DC Red with QR (such as Black Knight) or most notably, a Dragon.

Anna (or Lyn w/Escape Route):

Spoiler

Anna is a good candidate for a partner because once she hits below 50% she can teleport to Matt any time she wants, making for easy finishers after he's softened up an opponent. Other units with Escape Route (notably Lyn)are also good candidates, but Anna is superior because it's built into her weapon which allows for Versatility with a B skill like Vantage and Lyn herself is sacrificing Wrath this way. Escape Route is not the most amazing B skill and it gimps a lot of units that want Vantage/QR/Wrath or a Breaker.

Anna is also superior to Lyn because of her color and she can tank Reinhardt or kill him with Distant Counter, covering one of Matthew's biggest weaknesses.

Erika/Ephraim:

Spoiler

The Renais Twins are great because they are capable of supplying Matt with the highest ATK boost in the game with their innate Hone ATK 2/3 + Drive ATK 2 + S Support for a full 9 ATK boost in combat. Ephraim is arguably a better choice due to his color but either way you will want to compensate for the weaknesses of your pair with one of your other two units.

Brave Ike:

Spoiler

Brave Ike is already astoundingly difficult to kill and is immune to Brave weapons, amplify that further with Rogue Dagger+ and support buffs and you have two cockroaches waiting to use their massively powerful special skills. A team wide buff (and possible debuff) from Matthew followed by a Reposition/Swap from Brave Ike can be one of the most potentially irritating and surprisingly potent combinations you can have.

Hector is another candidate with Distant Counter + Distant DEF seal but at 1 Mov it can be difficult to keep up and likely a hassle so Brave Ike is the superior choice here.

Hector:

Spoiler

It would make sense for Matthew's lord to make a good partner. Hector's gameplan has always been a simple one: let everything suicide on him. Matthew bulking him up even further with Rogue Dagger+ buffs means negligible damage turns into tinks. With that in mind you could run things like Renewal in Hector's B slot or Wrath+Sol to make him really, really hard to kill.

1 Mov keeps this pairing from being among the best, but this partnership benefits Hector himself. But the vassal should compliment the liege, so it's appropriate.

Gunnthra:

Spoiler

Gunnthra is the perfect partner for Matthew along with Inigo. Not only does she benefit from his debuffing with Blade Tome offense and mobility, but she debuffs ATK/SPD to an enemy unit on the field no matter what. This effectively negates the need to run a seal skill in Matthew's B slot in most cases (if he's running One Man Army). Now he can run just about anything he wants. Vantage, Renewal, Wrath, Bowbreaker for dealing with Lyn, even Poison Strike if you're lazy.

Any Smoke Dagger+ unit has perfect synergy with Gunnthra, but Matthew has a particular Synergy with her that helps with his already impressive bulk and her as his partner allows him to expand his options for more versatile builds allowing for more counters to things he otherwise struggles with (IE. Brave Lyn).

NY!Azura:

Spoiler

A lazy choice, but NY!Azura does have the bonus of her Hagoita+ boosting Matt's bulk a bit while providing dance support and acting as a potential counter for Reinhardt depending on how you build her.

Brave Lucina:

Spoiler

BH!Lucina is an easy choice I somehow overlooked. Her Prf weapon + Drive SPD gives Matt +3 ATK and +6 SPD to his already respectable speed. This boost helps his bulk and prevents doubles and with this, you can safely forgo the usually mandatory SPD refinement on his dagger in favor of increasing his bulk how you see fit. Rogue Dagger+ is also mutually beneficial as Lucina is plenty bulky and enjoys the defensive increase.

Dragons (R/G/B):

Spoiler

Dragons dominate the current meta. They are wholly versatile units that are currently a menace and extremely difficult to deal with if you aren't prepared for them. Any method that increases the bulk of these units is invaluable. If they are running Steady Breath + Aether + Quick Riposte you are going to have a hard time. Debuffing the opponent and buffing defenses further make these fortresses even more impenetrable. Most of the support partners listed are here to complement Matthew. This contract is entirely about supporting and propping up already powerful dragons to help them do their jobs. 

Your color choice is entirely up to what you are looking to counter. 

 

 

Edited January 8, 2018 by Zeo

[Johann]

Have you considered Vantage or Desperation over Watersweep for that ninja build of yours?

Also in regards to Matthew vs Saizo, I figure they're close enough to filling similar roles that you can just use whichever one you happen to like more, build depending.

[Zeo]

@Johann Watersweep is key to the build. Without it it completely falls apart. 36 Speed isn't enough to take advantage of Desperation, even with the Smoke Dagger+ debuffing enemy SPD, he still has to initiate which can be tricky on a debuffed enemy without a dancer or without already taking damage from enemies (buffed or unbuffed) on enemy phase.

He also lacks the ATK stat to take advantage of Vantage. Without a Bonfire proc even after debuffing he's likely not killing anything that isn't a mage. Vantage is better suited for higher damage units like Kagero or Gaius.

[Johann]

Ah, I guess I was considering it in relation to your main build, which shifts more of the KO responsibility onto him.

[Zeo]

@Johann For the main build you could use Vantage in the B slot. After debuffs his damage is reasonable and he could catch a few unsuspecting mages off guard with an OHKO, but it also undermines his tanking against his initial opponent. Attacking first doesn't really matter if you are taking 0 damage to begin with. Still it's a viable option for the first build, so I'll add it in the list of options.

Desperation is simply not an option for a unit with 34-36 speed. It just doesn't work. The only combination it could work with is Desp+Threaten SPD which you're only using if you don't have ATK/SPD Smoke and still it's somewhat it inferior to a seal skill.

Edited December 24, 2017 by Zeo

[Johann]

Yeah, was thinking with some form of Spd debuff like Smoke Dagger. Can you post your Matthew here?

[Fei Mao]

I just noticed that Matthew has pretty good HP, how do you feel about Earth Boost for his A skill in the budget build? I'd like to give him Armored Blow or Fortress DEF but I don't have a spare Catria and Seth.

[Zeo]

5 hours ago, Fei Mao said:

I just noticed that Matthew has pretty good HP, how do you feel about Earth Boost for his A skill in the budget build? I'd like to give him Armored Blow or Fortress DEF but I don't have a spare Catria and Seth.

The defensive boosts are actually decent for him, especially if he's not taking an HP bane. The Water Boost ultimately could do a surprising amount of work as well with the Rogue Dagger+ buffs and he's got more HP than most mages, so I'll put them both there as options.

6 hours ago, Johann said:

Yeah, was thinking with some form of Spd debuff like Smoke Dagger. 

42 Speed (after enemy debuffs) is a lot more reasonable, but a bit too situational and he can't use it as easily as other, naturally fast units.

6 hours ago, Johann said:

Can you post your Matthew here?

He's hardly optimal, but I work with what I have on hand. 

Spoiler

He's a "One Man Army" variant. Neutral Nature, no Smoke Dagger+. 

Edited December 24, 2017 by Zeo

[Kaden]

@Zeo, is there a reason why you're recommending -HP over -Res for Matthew? -Res drops Matthew down to 147 if he's not +Atk, but unless you're really stingy about BST and/or arena scoring, I feel like it shouldn't really matter. Two reasons being that Matthew's resistance wasn't that great to begin with and -HP lowers his overall bulk. With =HP, Matthew has 71 total or 51x2 physical and 59 total or 39x2 magical bulk. With -HP, he drops to 68 total or 49x2 physical and 56 total or 37x2 magical bulk. -Res would just drop his magical bulk to 55 total or 35x2 while keeping his physical bulk.

-HP Matthew is kind of like a +Res, -Atk and -Def Saizo, -HP Matthew's 38/30/18 bulk to Saizo. -HP Matthew having 38/25/34/30/18 to neutral Saizo's 36/29/34/33/16. Neutral Saizo's bulk is 69 total or 51x2 physical and 52 total or 34x2 magical. Saizo has higher raw defense, but Matthew's higher HP can even things out.

Another thing is that while Matthew's HP isn't as high as someone like Virion's (extreme case) or Gordin's (no so extreme), =HP Matthew could use Infantry Pulse or Panic Ploy decently depending on his teammates, enemies, and what modes you're tackling. Forges will help by increasing his HP, but that assumes no else is using or has access to forges e.g. Innes at the moment not being able to forge his Nidhogg, so if he's your enemy, then Matthew can easily Panic Ploy him and if he's your ally, then Matthew can speed up his special charge at the beginning of the map. Even then, there are some units who have such low HP that +2 to +5 HP from a forge might not help them. Some forged weapons don't even gain HP like Jaffar's unique forged Deathly Dagger, Takumi's unique forged Fujin Yumi, and the unique forged Keen -wolf tomes don't give HP in return for a special effect.

-Atk isn't something Matthew should have in my opinion. Yes, Matthew only goes from low attack (25) to low(er) attack (22), but Matthew doesn't have the explosive power that Felicia has when she procs Glacies since his defense (30) in comparison to her resistance (35) is lower and Matthew probably will be fighting a more varied cast of units even if he's mainly avoiding magic damage units. That being said, because of Matthew's defense and bulk in relation to his low attack, I feel like Matthew using Ignis might be better than using Bonfire. The big boost of damage Matthew can get from Ignis would be helpful even if it takes longer, but if Matthew's capable of grinding away charges with his high speed, takings hits to charge his specials with his bulk, and in the cases of having lower HP to gain a special charge from an ally running Infantry Pulse, it might not be all that bad. In a way, it's kind of like what Selena does, but if she dumped her resistance for HP and was a ranged unit instead of a melee unit.

Going with grindy Selena, I could see a +Spd, -Res Matthew running Fury 3 and Renewal 3 being a pretty bulky pest. One of things I remember about fighting AI Matthews in TTs, especially the first one was how damn bulky he was since he was difficult to double, difficult to kill physically, and even difficult to kill magically, especially after Rogue Dagger takes effect. Granted, I didn't have a -raven mage built at the time, but still, Matthew's bulk is pretty damn good. Saizo at least had low HP making it easier to kill him magically, but Matthew and Virion were annoying with their HP pools. Anyway, this comes at the cost of having low attack and resistance, but if he wasn't a ranged unit, I could see him having decent resistance.

+Spd, -Res Matthew with Fury 3 has 41 HP, 28 Atk, 40 Spd, 33 Def, and 17 Res. With a forged Rogue Dagger+, Matthew will have 43 HP and 40 Atk. Mt forge probably isn't worth it since it doesn't give as much stat increases compared to speed, defense, and resistance where between his two strengths of speed and defense, I'd rather go with defense since it increases his defense by 3. So, with a defense forged Rogue Dagger+, Matthew's final stats would be 43 HP, 40 Atk, 40 Spd, 36 Def, and 17 Res. That's 79 total or 58x2 physical bulk and 60 total or 39x2 magical bulk. Matthew can double anyone with <= 35 speed and he can only be doubled by units with >= 45 speed or who have Daggerbreaker, Bold Fighter if they attack him, or Quick Riposte and Vengeful Fighter if he attacks them. Bonfire would get 18 damage from his defense and Ignis would get 28. I'd go with Ignis to just grind charges with him and have him explode them. And then you have to add that if Matthew attacks, then he and his allies within 2 spaces of him get +6 Def/Res along with whatever other (in-combat) buffs he can get.

Renewal would help with sustain, especially if there isn't a healer on board, but Matthew could probably make use of other skills like Desperation, a -breaker, his default Poison Strike, Water or Windsweep, or even niche skills like Obstruct. Guard can work so he can charge his special without charging his opponent's, but Fury's going to rapidly drain his HP if you're not careful and don't have a healer. Now, if only some of those skills were Sacred Seals.

His other skills other than having Draw Back and Reposition would be up to the player since his default Hone Spd 3 is fine and his default Poison Strike and Reciprocal Aid can be other options in his skill list for when they're needed.

Suggestions:

Spoiler

 

I think this, from the One Man Army build, should be worded differently: "Aether is an option but without Steady Breath it is not the greatest of options as you cannot run Steady Breath and Close Counter at the same time." Ranged units along with cavalry and fliers can't use Steady Breath, so it could be worded in a way that says Matthew can't use it as well as armor and infantry units because he cannot have Steady Breath let alone not being able to have both Close Counter and Steady Breath at the same time. It's a little nitpick.

Continuing off that, Matthew and all ranged units can't have the Buckler, Escutcheon, and Pavise or Holy Vestment, Sacred Cowl, and Aegis skills. I don't know why, but they just can't. So, those should be removed in the Mosquito build. It would have made sense for ranged units to have the Holy Vestment skills at the very least, but nope.

One more thing for a suggestion, BH Lucina would be a great support buddy for Matthew since her Geirskogul specifically buffs physical damage units, so units using axes, lances, swords, bows, and daggers, as a Drive Atk/Spd 2 hybrid: +3 Atk/Spd within two spaces, and she comes with Drive Spd 3 by default. Being near BH Lucina means Matthew and anyone else applicable, get +3 Atk and +6 Spd within 2 spaces of her. And being the tanky lady she is, BH Lucina would benefit from a forged Rogue Dagger+ giving her +6 Def/Res when Matthew attacks as long as she's within 2 spaces of him. Oh, and if both of them are =HP, then Matthew with a forged Rogue Dagger+ can give her an Infantry Pulse buff since both of them share the same HP and forging Rogue Dagger gives Matthew +2 HP putting BH Lucina in range of having 1 or less HP than Matthew. She probably doesn't really need it since I feel like she's more of a supportive unit, but still.

In a similar vein, anyone using the Nohrian Summer weapons, so summer F!Corrin, Elise, Leo, and Xander's weapons, can help too since they give +1 Atk/Spd, but to everyone within 2 spaces. Any of the manaketes using forged Light Breath+ could help too, but if Matthew has a (forged) Rogue Dagger+, then either they override his Def/Res buffs or they only add +5 Atk/Spd buffs.

Maybe an anti-mage, anti-raven mage buddy suggestion should be there for Matthew as well...

 

 

[Johann]

On 12/24/2017 at 4:57 PM, Kaden said:

-Res drops Matthew down to 147 if he's not +Atk, but unless you're really stingy about BST and/or arena scoring, I feel like it shouldn't really matter.

Can't tell if you know this based on your post, but BSTs in Arena score are rounded down to the nearest 5, so Matthew's BST value will always be calculated as 145 for scoring purposes. Stat variations only affect score for characters on the threshold (ie: 154 up to 155 with a +4 stat, or 155 down to 154 with a -4 stat).

[Kaden]

18 minutes ago, Johann said:

Can't tell if you know this based on your post, but BSTs in Arena score are rounded down to the nearest 5, so Matthew's BST value will always be calculated as 145 for scoring purposes. Stat variations only affect score for characters on the threshold (ie: 154 up to 155 with a +4 stat, or 155 down to 154 with a -4 stat).

I have no idea how arena scoring works, so thanks for informing me.

In that case, then I can't see -HP being something you would want on Matthew unless you're doing something really specific using Infantry Pulse with him. His overall bulks drops with -HP instead of just dropping his magical bulk with -Res which isn't good to begin with.

Edit: Now I'm questioning on what actually increases arena scoring since if Aether doesn't...

Quick Edit 2: Okay, why can I edit this post, but not my other, giant post?

Edited December 27, 2017 by Kaden

[Johann]

48 minutes ago, Kaden said:

I have no idea how arena scoring works, so thanks for informing me.

In that case, then I can't see -HP being something you would want on Matthew unless you're doing something really specific using Infantry Pulse with him. His overall bulks drops with -HP instead of just dropping his magical bulk with -Res which isn't good to begin with.

Edit: Now I'm questioning on what actually increases arena scoring since if Aether doesn't...

Quick Edit 2: Okay, why can I edit this post, but not my other, giant post?

We do have a big thread for calculating Arena score as best we understand it, but basically the short answer for an individuals value, the following things are included:

• Level (like 2.25 points per level)
• Rarity (like 5 points per star)
• Merges (each merge is worth 2 points)
• BST, not counting support, blessings, merges, or skills (rounded down to the nearest 5, the value is then divided by 5 for the point value)
• Combined SP value of all skills + seals on the unit (rounded down to the nearest 100, the value is then divided by 100 for the point value)
• Active blessing (ie: Water Blessing, Water Season, and Fjorm on the team) grants 2 points per unit, though I haven't seen what happens to score if you use, say, 2 Fjorms (which does grant double the blessing stat bonus)

So based on the above, skills like Aether, Galeforce, etc with a much higher value are better if you simply want to raise your Arena score. Only Aether is available as an inheritable 500 SP special for ranged units (Galeforce is melee only), so you can imagine how it might interfere with your strategy. This is something to think about with any unit/team, since the highest scoring skills aren't always flexible (for example, Rally Def/Res scores higher than Reposition, Draw Back, etc).

Edited December 27, 2017 by Johann

[Zeo]

I'm going to respond to this in portions.

On 12/24/2017 at 4:57 PM, Kaden said:

@Zeo, is there a reason why you're recommending -HP over -Res for Matthew? -Res drops Matthew down to 147 if he's not +Atk, but unless you're really stingy about BST and/or arena scoring, I feel like it shouldn't really matter. Two reasons being that Matthew's resistance wasn't that great to begin with and -HP lowers his overall bulk. With =HP, Matthew has 71 total or 51x2 physical and 59 total or 39x2 magical bulk. With -HP, he drops to 68 total or 49x2 physical and 56 total or 37x2 magical bulk. -Res would just drop his magical bulk to 55 total or 35x2 while keeping his physical bulk.

-HP Matthew is kind of like a +Res, -Atk and -Def Saizo, -HP Matthew's 38/30/18 bulk to Saizo. -HP Matthew having 38/25/34/30/18 to neutral Saizo's 36/29/34/33/16. Neutral Saizo's bulk is 69 total or 51x2 physical and 52 total or 34x2 magical. Saizo has higher raw defense, but Matthew's higher HP can even things out.

Another thing is that while Matthew's HP isn't as high as someone like Virion's (extreme case) or Gordin's (no so extreme), =HP Matthew could use Infantry Pulse or Panic Ploy decently depending on his teammates, enemies, and what modes you're tackling. Forges will help by increasing his HP, but that assumes no else is using or has access to forges e.g. Innes at the moment not being able to forge his Nidhogg, so if he's your enemy, then Matthew can easily Panic Ploy him and if he's your ally, then Matthew can speed up his special charge at the beginning of the map. Even then, there are some units who have such low HP that +2 to +5 HP from a forge might not help them. Some forged weapons don't even gain HP like Jaffar's unique forged Deathly Dagger, Takumi's unique forged Fujin Yumi, and the unique forged Keen -wolf tomes don't give HP in return for a special effect.

In a nutshell, -HP reduces his health by 3 points, 2 of which are patched up easily with a refinement nearly negating the bulk loss from -HP. On the other hand -RES cripples his already below average resistance and puts him in supreme danger around mages. Here's the thing about the -RES bane with most units. Most units are offensive nukes (at least on the physical side) that want their DEF and don't care much about their RES, even the archers. But Matthew is a bit of a different animal, especially with a build like One Man Army.

One Man Army Matt's gameplan is to hit a physical unit, debuff the enemy team and let everyone dogpile on him doing negligible damage due to seals and smokes. This includes mages and is actually very important. His RES is bumped up to a respectable 24 as a result of the buffs and the mage's ATK stat is dropped by 5-7 depending on the seal. Most mages are doing 15-24 damage as a result (not factoring support or spurs) of this which is still respectable but we compare that to damage in the upper 20s to 30s and even low 40s without said buffs or more importantly with a -RES bane. That bane in particular can be the difference between a mage outright killing him or leaving him with enough HP to continue tanking.

Most units that favor -RES don't want or care about being hit by mages but Matt in particular can deal with mages as long as he's attacked by them first and kills them on enemy phase (he cannot deal with Vantage, but it's a rare skill on ranged units). Where he benefits is that in most cases he can debuff a mage passively with a smoke skill and then tank both them and the physical unit he attacked directly. -RES undermines what is legitimately half of his gameplan while -HP reduces a bit of bulk, most of which is patched from refinement.

That's not to say you should always take a -HP bane no matter the build. If you plan on running things like Panic Ploy or Infantry Pulse, he wants his HP and -RES will remain his best nature option. But for a build that centers on him tanking literally everything, or simply a build where he wants to be annoying as long as possible before he's killed, he wants his RES.

On 12/24/2017 at 4:57 PM, Kaden said:

-Atk isn't something Matthew should have in my opinion. Yes, Matthew only goes from low attack (25) to low(er) attack (22), but Matthew doesn't have the explosive power that Felicia has when she procs Glacies since his defense (30) in comparison to her resistance (35) is lower and Matthew probably will be fighting a more varied cast of units even if he's mainly avoiding magic damage units. That being said, because of Matthew's defense and bulk in relation to his low attack, I feel like Matthew using Ignis might be better than using Bonfire. The big boost of damage Matthew can get from Ignis would be helpful even if it takes longer, but if Matthew's capable of grinding away charges with his high speed, takings hits to charge his specials with his bulk, and in the cases of having lower HP to gain a special charge from an ally running Infantry Pulse, it might not be all that bad. In a way, it's kind of like what Selena does, but if she dumped her resistance for HP and was a ranged unit instead of a melee unit.

For the Mosquito build in particular, Ignis may be the superior option. And no, -ATK may not be a nature that you want on a unit that already does such terrible damage, but also factor in that his A skill will typically want to be something that boosts defense in combat, essentially boosting Bonfire/Ignis. In this case we would want him to keep his HP, which is why ATK is a safer bane to take because it doesn't matter what his damage is unless he's proc-ing a special because of Poison+Savage. He's chipping away with his B+C+S skills and occasionally doing respectable damage with a skill proc boosted by his A skill. Taking a -RES bane makes him easier to do away with by mages and -HP undermines potentially using skills like Earth Boost. Killing is a bonus and not a necessity. Because of that more than anything, I feel -ATK is a safe option on this particular variant of Matthew.

On 12/24/2017 at 4:57 PM, Kaden said:

Going with grindy Selena, I could see a +Spd, -Res Matthew running Fury 3 and Renewal 3 being a pretty bulky pest. One of things I remember about fighting AI Matthews in TTs, especially the first one was how damn bulky he was since he was difficult to double, difficult to kill physically, and even difficult to kill magically, especially after Rogue Dagger takes effect. Granted, I didn't have a -raven mage built at the time, but still, Matthew's bulk is pretty damn good. Saizo at least had low HP making it easier to kill him magically, but Matthew and Virion were annoying with their HP pools. Anyway, this comes at the cost of having low attack and resistance, but if he wasn't a ranged unit, I could see him having decent resistance.

+Spd, -Res Matthew with Fury 3 has 41 HP, 28 Atk, 40 Spd, 33 Def, and 17 Res. With a forged Rogue Dagger+, Matthew will have 43 HP and 40 Atk. Mt forge probably isn't worth it since it doesn't give as much stat increases compared to speed, defense, and resistance where between his two strengths of speed and defense, I'd rather go with defense since it increases his defense by 3. So, with a defense forged Rogue Dagger+, Matthew's final stats would be 43 HP, 40 Atk, 40 Spd, 36 Def, and 17 Res. That's 79 total or 58x2 physical bulk and 60 total or 39x2 magical bulk. Matthew can double anyone with <= 35 speed and he can only be doubled by units with >= 45 speed or who have Daggerbreaker, Bold Fighter if they attack him, or Quick Riposte and Vengeful Fighter if he attacks them. Bonfire would get 18 damage from his defense and Ignis would get 28. I'd go with Ignis to just grind charges with him and have him explode them. And then you have to add that if Matthew attacks, then he and his allies within 2 spaces of him get +6 Def/Res along with whatever other (in-combat) buffs he can get.

Renewal would help with sustain, especially if there isn't a healer on board, but Matthew could probably make use of other skills like Desperation, a -breaker, his default Poison Strike, Water or Windsweep, or even niche skills like Obstruct. Guard can work so he can charge his special without charging his opponent's, but Fury's going to rapidly drain his HP if you're not careful and don't have a healer. Now, if only some of those skills were Sacred Seals.

His other skills other than having Draw Back and Reposition would be up to the player since his default Hone Spd 3 is fine and his default Poison Strike and Reciprocal Aid can be other options in his skill list for when they're needed.

What you just described is a cockroach. That particular build of Matthew would have his RES bane all but patched with Fury, Renewal would help sustain and with a DEF refinement and something like ATK Smoke in either fashion, we're talking 42 Defense against an opponent with -7 ATK. That makes for supreme tanking and potentially I'll do a writeup of a build like this. Without Close Counter he's less of a combat unit and more of a literal wall, but you can play with that and it has it's potential uses. I don't know how much use he'll get out of something like a breaker, but his B Skill is one you can play around with for the most part. 

On 12/24/2017 at 4:57 PM, Kaden said:

Suggestions:

I think this, from the One Man Army build, should be worded differently: "Aether is an option but without Steady Breath it is not the greatest of options as you cannot run Steady Breath and Close Counter at the same time." Ranged units along with cavalry and fliers can't use Steady Breath, so it could be worded in a way that says Matthew can't use it as well as armor and infantry units because he cannot have Steady Breath let alone not being able to have both Close Counter and Steady Breath at the same time. It's a little nitpick.

Continuing off that, Matthew and all ranged units can't have the Buckler, Escutcheon, and Pavise or Holy Vestment, Sacred Cowl, and Aegis skills. I don't know why, but they just can't. So, those should be removed in the Mosquito build. It would have made sense for ranged units to have the Holy Vestment skills at the very least, but nope.

This was an oversight on my part, and one that's happened more than once. You'll have to excuse me. Fixed.

On 12/24/2017 at 4:57 PM, Kaden said:

 

One more thing for a suggestion, BH Lucina would be a great support buddy for Matthew since her Geirskogul specifically buffs physical damage units, so units using axes, lances, swords, bows, and daggers, as a Drive Atk/Spd 2 hybrid: +3 Atk/Spd within two spaces, and she comes with Drive Spd 3 by default. Being near BH Lucina means Matthew and anyone else applicable, get +3 Atk and +6 Spd within 2 spaces of her. And being the tanky lady she is, BH Lucina would benefit from a forged Rogue Dagger+ giving her +6 Def/Res when Matthew attacks as long as she's within 2 spaces of him. Oh, and if both of them are =HP, then Matthew with a forged Rogue Dagger+ can give her an Infantry Pulse buff since both of them share the same HP and forging Rogue Dagger gives Matthew +2 HP putting BH Lucina in range of having 1 or less HP than Matthew. She probably doesn't really need it since I feel like she's more of a supportive unit, but still.

In a similar vein, anyone using the Nohrian Summer weapons, so summer F!Corrin, Elise, Leo, and Xander's weapons, can help too since they give +1 Atk/Spd, but to everyone within 2 spaces. Any of the manaketes using forged Light Breath+ could help too, but if Matthew has a (forged) Rogue Dagger+, then either they override his Def/Res buffs or they only add +5 Atk/Spd buffs.

Maybe an anti-mage, anti-raven mage buddy suggestion should be there for Matthew as well...

I don't have BH!Lucina so she didn't immediately come to mind but she's actually a great candidate. I knew there was a unit that buffed Dagger units in combat but I couldn't remember who it was. Lucina actually has the highest potential ceiling for Matthew. If a Hone ATK seal is released she can run her Prf/Drive ATK/Hone ATK/Ally Support for a massive 12 ATK boost to Matt which is pretty ridiculous. I will add her to the list of supports when I get the chance. This Lucina could also benefit from Distant Counter as well.

The summer units are potential candidates as well because their boosts stack with Matt's buffs/debuffs, I'm seeing less synergy there though. As Leo and Xander aren't the greatest of units, Corrin wants easy flier buffs to use a Blade tome which Matt is only getting if he attacks before her and Elise is in a similar boat, though she's likely the best candidate to be his partner. I don't think Ninian/Light Breath+ dragons are very good partners for Matthew, at least not One Man Army Matthew. Ninian, particularly with Light Breath+ should never be getting attacked when she has Matthew of all people as her partner. She would only be getting attacked to give the team ATK and SPD buffs, which isn't necessary when Matthew can debuff defenses + potentially speed on his own. She'd be taking a round of combat to boost Matt's attack power when there are other units who can do it easier and in a lot of cases Matt probably could have dealt with the enemy himself.

There's no real anti-mage option to be a partner for Matt due to WTA/WTD. Any specific mage counter of a certain color will be countered by a mage of that color's counter. The only true mage checks are high res Cancel Affinity colorless checks like Innes and Felicia which aren't ideal because now you're running two colorless units and neither of them are a healer. You can only really compensate for the weaknesses of your pair with one of your other two units. I don't think there's an ideal anti mage counter for Matthew. Maybe Sigurd, but he's kind of a grey area.

[Kaden]

@Zeo,

The thing with -HP and the One Man Army build is that it seems like Matthew is having to do too much. Yes, Matthew can gain +6 resistance from a forged Rogue Dagger+ after he attacked and =Res can save him in certain situations, but 24 resistance after buffs isn't that great in my opinion when he's starting from a base of 18. There's also the issue of -blade and -raven mages not to mention Reinhardt and even Deirdre whose Divine Naga negates field buffs regardless of who the unit is. Deirdre will probably die if she attacks and fails to kill him, but when she can negate his +6 resistance from a forged Rogue Dagger+, then she will either negate her own debuff or only suffer -1 to her attack. If someone else chips down Matthew, then she can easily close out the kill or vice versa where she takes out a chunk of Matthew's health and someone else can finish him off.

I don't know, but while Matthew can handle mages at times, I feel like his strengths lie elsewhere and he has allies to cover for his weaknesses, so having him do too many things doesn't sit right. If I wanted someone to deal with mages, I'd rather use Felicia, ToD Sakura, or Jaffar with a unique forged Deathly Dagger and maybe a Hoshidan brother who was datamined recently. If I wanted to do overall tanking, Jaffar and Jakob work too, but that comes at the cost of physical bulk and in Jakob's case, the ability to avoid doubles when Jakob has 31 base speed. Summer Frederick, Matthew, and Saizo have high physical bulk and I feel like playing to their strengths would work better than having them try to do things they're not particularly geared for. That's just how I feel about things and to use an example, why I went with a -Res M!Robin instead of a -HP M!Robin since M!Robin running T-Adept would take less damage with -HP than with -Res, but M!Robin doesn't seem like someone I'd use for red mage let alone mage fighting in general. I have Linde, Mae, Olwen, and Ursula for that along with kind of Odin, Reinhardt, and Tailtiu.

This is goes with the cockroach, Fury + Renewal build. As you said, Close Counter would let him be more of an active combatant, but sometimes you just need a wall and Matthew seems like a pretty good wall. It's a reason why I like Lukas and similar units to him where I can just set him up or bait a physical unit, especially ranged ones like archers and thieves, and just have him sit there to occupy their attention while I have the rest of my team deal with other units.

Although she was just released, I wonder if Gunnthra might be a good partner for Matthew or any debuffing unit. This relies on Gunnthra using her personal tome, Blizzard, which adds debuffs to her attack like a sort of reverse -blade tome. One issue is that Gunnthra's special skill, Chilling Seal, inflicts -6 Atk/Spd on the enemy with the lowest base defense which could overlap with Matthew depending on what dagger or skills you're using. That said, with him debuffing units and Gunnthra having decent resistance after Blizzard's +3 resistance and her default Fortress Res 3 or whatever A-slot you want her to have, she could thrive from all the debuffed units making her stronger and help him deal with mages except for ones with -wolf tomes, red mages, and possibly Reinhardt since her base resistance isn't actually high and Reinhardt's defense is pretty good for what it is, so if anyone has lower than 27 defense, then he's out of the clear unless they're dead leaving him as the lowest defense enemy.

On the subject of anti-mage partner for Matthew, I meant more as a general section. So, if you feel like you're going to facing a lot of blue mages or they're the ones that concern you the most, then maybe Matthew should be partnered up with a green unit who can counter them or on a PvE map where there's red mages Matthew can't handle all on his own, then maybe freebie Fjorm or some other blue, red, or colorless should be his buddy.

Also, with the New Year's units being datamined, except for the unique weapon belonging to a prickly someone, the New Year's weapons function as defensive versions of the Nohrian Summer weapons where they're like a Drive Def/Res 1: +2 Def/Res to units within 2 spaces during combat. Considering Matthew can be a good tank, having more defense and resistance might be better than having +1 Atk/Spd. I was also referring to the weapons themselves since some people inherit those weapons to others and in some cases, they're good weapons in general like the Winter's Envoy weapons granting +2 Atk/Spd/Def/Res when attacked is pretty awesome and forged Carrot Lance can make some units very difficult to kill when they're gradually healing 4 HP after every round of combat so long as the user attacked.

 

[Zeo]

On 12/28/2017 at 4:30 PM, Kaden said:

@Zeo,

The thing with -HP and the One Man Army build is that it seems like Matthew is having to do too much. Yes, Matthew can gain +6 resistance from a forged Rogue Dagger+ after he attacked and =Res can save him in certain situations, but 24 resistance after buffs isn't that great in my opinion when he's starting from a base of 18. There's also the issue of -blade and -raven mages not to mention Reinhardt and even Deirdre whose Divine Naga negates field buffs regardless of who the unit is. Deirdre will probably die if she attacks and fails to kill him, but when she can negate his +6 resistance from a forged Rogue Dagger+, then she will either negate her own debuff or only suffer -1 to her attack. If someone else chips down Matthew, then she can easily close out the kill or vice versa where she takes out a chunk of Matthew's health and someone else can finish him off.

I don't know, but while Matthew can handle mages at times, I feel like his strengths lie elsewhere and he has allies to cover for his weaknesses, so having him do too many things doesn't sit right. If I wanted someone to deal with mages, I'd rather use Felicia, ToD Sakura, or Jaffar with a unique forged Deathly Dagger and maybe a Hoshidan brother who was datamined recently. If I wanted to do overall tanking, Jaffar and Jakob work too, but that comes at the cost of physical bulk and in Jakob's case, the ability to avoid doubles when Jakob has 31 base speed. Summer Frederick, Matthew, and Saizo have high physical bulk and I feel like playing to their strengths would work better than having them try to do things they're not particularly geared for. That's just how I feel about things and to use an example, why I went with a -Res M!Robin instead of a -HP M!Robin since M!Robin running T-Adept would take less damage with -HP than with -Res, but M!Robin doesn't seem like someone I'd use for red mage let alone mage fighting in general. I have Linde, Mae, Olwen, and Ursula for that along with kind of Odin, Reinhardt, and Tailtiu.

I can't believe I'm saying this but I think you're underplaying Matthew actually. The beauty in One-Man-Army and Matthew's stat spread and new Rogue Dagger effects is that he actually can do everything the build wants him to do. Matthew can deal with anything that's not a raven mage, blade mage (w/buffs), dragon, QR armor or Reinhardt.

Lets look at Matthew vs Deidre. Neutral Deidre does 29 damage to =RES Matt. Scary, but he can kill her on enemy phase. Now let's look at a different but still entirely possible and reasonable scenario. Matthew attacked another unit and smoked Deidre, but instead of the budget Close Counter/Seal ATK/Threaten SPD/ATK Smoke build, You're running one of the two optimal builds, namely Close Counter/Seal ATK (or /SPD)/ATK Smoke 3/Distant DEF 3. Now a debuffed Deidre will be doing 16 damage to Matthew on enemy phase and that's after negating his Rogue Dagger+ buffs, something only she and Julia can do. (I tested and her -7 debuff sticks, her tome negates Rogue Dagger+ buffs, but not Seal ATK/Smoke debuffs.

Putting that seal on him gives him a ceiling damage reduction of 11 vs melee units and 17 vs ranged ones. A good example is Lillina, who has the highest ATK stat of any mage in the game, who is only doing 16 damage to Matthew after debuffs on EP (without factoring in Supports or other spurs). That's neutral yes, but most +ATK mages hit that mark or just fall short of it or can reach it with Fury/LnD, so it's a good standard. For mages with less raw power we're talking numbers like 15, 12 or even 9 in some cases. Olwen for one thing has a pitiful ATK stat and deals dual 0s to Matthew after Rogue Dagger+. We're also going to ignore the fact that he's probably getting flat 0s from just about any Bow or Dagger units as well.

Matthew can typically deal with just about any infantry and cavalry melee, normal mage and colorless unit with some variant or another of One Man Army. But like I said before he still needs someone to deal with Dragons who are becoming increasingly common, QR Armors who he has to let attack him unbuffed in order to even have a chance to do damage (and will probably still die.), Raven mages and of course, Reinhardt himself. He could even have trouble with the occasional Distant Counter QR physical unit depending on the circumstances. Those are quite a few empty spots to still be filled by your team mates. That's why Inigo in particular is a good partner because he deletes Reinhardt, Blue blade/raven mages, Brave Lyn (who can still give Matthew trouble) and possibly Nowi. That still leaves quite a few units to deal with regardless. I don't think this build overextends Matthew, I think you can tailor it to whatever you want him to do as long as you stay in a very specific field of operation, but that field shouldn't negate one of the most prominent types of unit in the game, especially when he can reasonably deal with quite a few of them. But once again, his ability to do so will nosedive with a -RES bane, so my position stands.

You can use a separate colorless unit for mages specifically, but the difference between those units and Matthew is that none of them can deal with physical units as well as he can while still filling in as a soft magic counter if need be.

On 12/28/2017 at 4:30 PM, Kaden said:

This is goes with the cockroach, Fury + Renewal build. As you said, Close Counter would let him be more of an active combatant, but sometimes you just need a wall and Matthew seems like a pretty good wall. It's a reason why I like Lukas and similar units to him where I can just set him up or bait a physical unit, especially ranged ones like archers and thieves, and just have him sit there to occupy their attention while I have the rest of my team deal with other units.

Although she was just released, I wonder if Gunnthra might be a good partner for Matthew or any debuffing unit. This relies on Gunnthra using her personal tome, Blizzard, which adds debuffs to her attack like a sort of reverse -blade tome. One issue is that Gunnthra's special skill, Chilling Seal, inflicts -6 Atk/Spd on the enemy with the lowest base defense which could overlap with Matthew depending on what dagger or skills you're using. That said, with him debuffing units and Gunnthra having decent resistance after Blizzard's +3 resistance and her default Fortress Res 3 or whatever A-slot you want her to have, she could thrive from all the debuffed units making her stronger and help him deal with mages except for ones with -wolf tomes, red mages, and possibly Reinhardt since her base resistance isn't actually high and Reinhardt's defense is pretty good for what it is, so if anyone has lower than 27 defense, then he's out of the clear unless they're dead leaving him as the lowest defense enemy.

On the subject of anti-mage partner for Matthew, I meant more as a general section. So, if you feel like you're going to facing a lot of blue mages or they're the ones that concern you the most, then maybe Matthew should be partnered up with a green unit who can counter them or on a PvE map where there's red mages Matthew can't handle all on his own, then maybe freebie Fjorm or some other blue, red, or colorless should be his buddy.

Also, with the New Year's units being datamined, except for the unique weapon belonging to a prickly someone, the New Year's weapons function as defensive versions of the Nohrian Summer weapons where they're like a Drive Def/Res 1: +2 Def/Res to units within 2 spaces during combat. Considering Matthew can be a good tank, having more defense and resistance might be better than having +1 Atk/Spd. I was also referring to the weapons themselves since some people inherit those weapons to others and in some cases, they're good weapons in general like the Winter's Envoy weapons granting +2 Atk/Spd/Def/Res when attacked is pretty awesome and forged Carrot Lance can make some units very difficult to kill when they're gradually healing 4 HP after every round of combat so long as the user attacked.

Cockroach essentially can act as a wall and double as potential bait that way, which I'm not against if that's something you want to do. It's not what I would do with my Matthew but like I said, it's legit and I'll get around to making a build of it.

You have me thinking that Gunthra as well as Arvis and Lute make potentially good partners for him. Particularly Gunnthra not only because she can nuke units debuffed by Matthew, but because Matthew can attack units even more safely as they'll already debuffed by her tome. More often than not this will be mages in particular as they tend to be the more squishy units on an enemy team. Additionally you can bless him if you plan on running them which takes him up to 18/21 - 24/27 which allows him to soak up magic even better (still not counting support bonuses). I would definitely consider her if I had her. Though If I do somehow get her, I may still hold out for the earth or fire Legendary as ATK and DEF are both stats Matt would love. Never the less I'll get around to updating the OP and when I do I'll be adding to just about every area.

Don't really feel like the New Year units are good partners for Matthew. 2 daggers is a no-no and both Camilla and Azura are better suited to flyer teams. That being said, they could potentially run as bulk bots (+Dance with Azura) thanks to their drive skills which could stack with Drive Def or Res depending on whatever you want to bulk him up with. Actually I take it back, they could make for good partners. But I don't feel like they cover his weaknesses rather than just propping up his already respectable defenses. Never the less they may be added as well. The beauty in the versatility of Matthew and his spread is that there are plenty of ways to compliment him without having to build your entire team around him. 

Edited January 1, 2018 by Zeo

[Fei Mao]

Built up a budget Matthew (neutral IV) been having a lot fun using him. Though I might change his A to Fortress DEF 2 (no 3 fodder) just to have a consistent DEF boost and maybe switch bonfire to ignis to make up for the -3 ATK.

Spoiler

 

Edited January 4, 2018 by Fei Mao

[Zeo]

Updated the OP with new support partners BH!Lucina, Hector, Gunnthra, Hector, NY!Azura and Dragons.

Will update again at a later date with a new build or two.

[Poimagic]

I'm a little curious why you haven't suggested a build for the kogami mochi, NY!Takumi's weapon. I wonder how that build would look.