Beruka, Quiet Assassin [Complete!]

[MrSmokestack]

Background

Spoiler

In Fire Emblem Fates, Beruka is an assassin of few words who serves as one of Princess Camilla's retainers, the other being Selena. She opposes Corrin's efforts to bring peace between Hoshido and Nohr in the Birthright route, while in Conquest and Revelation she aids them by extension through her service to her liege, Camilla.

Default Beruka

Spoiler

Neutral Stats
46 / 29 / 23 / 37 / 22
Total: 157

Starting Skills
Weapon: Killer Axe+
Assist: None
Special: Glimmer
Passive A: Defiant Def 3
Passive B: Lunge
Passive C: None

Note that Beruka suffers a -4 stat penalty if she takes Atk as her bane, which will reduce her stat total by 1.

Beruka possesses incredible physical bulk, having a high HP base and the highest Def base of all fliers in the game; she is also tied for 4th highest Def overall. Spd is a good dump stat for units that have a similar spread to hers since it allows high CD skills like Ignis--which adds 27 damage at a miminum on a -Def Beruka--to proc quickly from being constantly doubled.

Unfortunately, those are the only positives Beruka has going for her. Her Atk is atrocious and makes her heavily reliant on activating specials to do damage in many cases. While low Res is an expected weak point for a unit that invests heavily in physical bulk like Beruka, it reduces the number of units she can tank even further. Lastly, it goes without saying that her flier attribute also leaves her weak to bows, which are just as common and deadly as magic, if not more.

Beruka's most relevant competition in the bulky axe deparment is Brave Ike, Dorcas, and fellow axe flier Michalis. Michalis trades HP, Def, and Res for a significant +5 Atk lead. He also has access to a legendary weapon that can be further refined to improve his enemy phase combat. Fortunately, Beruka can be merged for arena score while Michalis cannot. Brave Ike has a virtual immunity to Brave weapons through his Urvan while Dorcas as a Distant Counter Axe to free up his A slot. Flier utility sets Beruka apart from these two.

Beruka's kit is mostly unimpressive. The Defiant skills are widely considered among the worst A passives in the game, and Lunge is an awful B skill for moving its user towards the enemy after combat, while having a low SP cost to further discourage its use. Glimmer has no synergy with Beruka's low Atk, either. However, Killer Axe, which can be further forged into a Slaying Axe, is Beruka's preferred weapon on many of her builds, and thankfully she starts with it already.

Overall, Beruka needs heavy skill investment as well as proper team support to get the most out of her physical bulk. Her player phase potential is virtually nonexistent so her builds are centered around improving her enemy phase performance.

Example Sets

Spoiler

Note:
There are numerous Def-boosting A passives that Beruka can utilize to varying degrees; although Close Def is the preferred inheritance, Earth Boost, Steady Stance, Fortress Def, and even Def +3 can all be used as budget alternatives.
You might also see Distant Counter recommended as an A passive and be tempted to close out this tab. In reality, Distant Counter is mainly used so Beruka can counterattack archers, but this is less relevant than you might think because Brave Lyn with Sacae's Blessing, as well as Firesweep archers in general, make DC less attractive than it was in the past, so it isn't a must for the sets it is listed on.

DC Counterkiller

Spoiler

(+Def -Spd)
51 / 43 / 20 / 44 / 22
Weapon: Slaying Axe+ (Def Refinement, adds HP +5 / Def +4)
Assist: Reposition / Dual Rally Skill
Special: Ignis
Passive A: Distant Counter / Close Def 3 / Fortress Def 3
Passive B: Quick Riposte 3 / Guard
Passive C: Panic Ploy 3 / Hone Fliers / Threaten Atk 3
Sacred Seal: Panic Ploy 3 / Close Def 3 / Distant Def 3 / Guidance 3

Basic counterkiller fare, though without the luxury of Steady Breath like with infantry and armored units.

Slaying Axe+ is easy to obtain and props up Beruka's Atk, Def, and HP after being fully upgraded. All three stats contribute to her survivability and damage.

The assist needs no explanation; Reposition for utility and Dual Rally for points.

Ignis is guaranteed a proc while Quick Riposte is active, adding 35 damage to Beruka's second counterattack. Bonfire and Quickened Pulse in the S slot can be used to proc a special against ranged enemies on the first counterattack, though this isn't recommended. Running a Def-boosting passive increases her Ignis damage even further.

Distant Counter expands Beruka's enemy phase matchups, though a Def-boosting passive can be run instead if ranged threats aren't her intended targets.

Panic Ploy 3 works well with Beruka's massive 51 HP, capable of debuffing any vanilla unit except armors. Unfortunately, the inflated HP of enemies in Chain Challenges and Tempest Trials limits its use in those modes, so Spur Atk 3, Drive Atk 2, or Drive Spd 2 can be used instead. Hone Fliers is the premiere buff for flier teams.

Finally, Panic Ploy 3 can be chosen as the sacred seal to free up Beruka's C slot, though either of the Def skills can stack with a Def skill in the A slot for even more bulk. Guidance is a niche skill to expand movement on hybrid teams.

Armorslayer

Spoiler

(+Def -Spd)
49 / 43 / 20 / 40 / 22
Weapon: Slaying Hammer+ (Special Skill Refinement, adds HP +3)
Assist: Reposition / Dual Rally Skill
Special: Bonfire
Passive A: Distant Counter / Close Def 3
Passive B: Quick Riposte 3
Passive C: Panic Ploy 3 / Hone Fliers
Sacred Seal: Panic Ploy 3 / Close Def 3 / Distant Def 3 / Guidance 3

This build is doubly niche for being made for a niche unit, but it is mainly used to handle armor teams in high-point Arena matches. Slaying Hammer's unique refine leaves Ward Armor as the only line of defense against Beruka and her effective 64 Atk. Bonfire is chosen for its faster proc time over Ignis. Every other slot is unchanged.

Stall

Spoiler

(+Def -Spd)
51 / 43 / 20 / 44 / 22
Weapon: Legion's Axe+ (Def Refinement, adds HP +5 / Def +4)
Assist: Reposition
Special: Bonfire / Ignis
Passive A: Close Def 3 / Distant Def 3
Passive B: Guard 3
Passive C: Panic Ploy 3 / Hone Fliers
Sacred Seal: Panic Ploy 3 / Deflect Missile 3 / Close Def 3 / Distant Def 3 / Guidance 3

This build is similar to the first, though it uses Legion's Axe to spread Panic status over a wide area and Guard to freeze enemy specials that would otherwise put down Beruka with ease. With flier buffs, this setup lets her do silly things like eating arrows from +Atk +10 Brave Bow archers, getting hit four times to charge up her special with little to no risk, especially on a defense tile. Its slower playstyle lends it more to usage in PvE modes like Tempest Trials more than Arena, however.

 

As of this edit made on 23 December at 9:18 PM, this analysis is now complete. Feel free to post suggestions and criticisms below.

Sorry not sorry @Alkaid

EDIT 25 December @ 12:38 PM: Added slashes to DC Counterkiller Set.

Edited December 25, 2017 by MrSmokestack

[Ae†her]

I think more Res is better for the DC set because more Res lets her survive Blue Mages with DD 3 Seal, and it lets her battle Blue dragons as well (the color most dragons are).

[Tre Masters]

!

Edited December 24, 2017 by Tre Masters

[SoulWeaver]

Ah, that stat spread explains why my Beruka always sucked compared to half the other Axes I used(…so Camilla). While that's kind of sad, a Fire Emblem wouldn't be so without at least one niche/meh Unit.

[Alkaid]

On 12/24/2017 at 10:36 AM, MrSmokestack said:

Sorry not sorry @Alkaid

Cute thread about a cute assassin.

As somebody who's really been putting her to work since building her recently, I'd like to add some comments on her:

I like your analysis and listed sets, however I think it's worth highlighting a basic melee defense set, like you partly mention before the listed examples(about the same as the DC yet but with Close Def/Etc in the A slot, and Close Def preferable for the Seal)

Spoiler

Weapon: Slaying Axe+ (Def Refinement, HP +5 / Def +4)
Assist: Reposition / Flexible
Special: Ignis
Passive A: Close Def 3 / Steady Stance 3 / Fortress Def 3
Passive B: Quick Riposte 3 / Guard 3
Passive C: Threaten Atk 3 / Panic Ploy 3 / Hone Fliers / Goad Fliers / Flexible
Sacred Seal: Close Def 3 / Panic Ploy 3 / Guidance 3

This is meant to be something you can drop into almost any team and still get solid performance of her main role: tanking and destroying most melee units.

Close Def maximizes her melee defense, including res for dealing with dragons better. Steady Stance can let her survive some archers with support/a defense tile, but isn't consistent against the top archer threats. Fortress Def is more of a budget option, but is always active boosting her def at the cost of lowering her already low atk. (Since she relies on Ignis for most of her damage, it's not as bad of a negative as it could be)

Guard's mainly an option to help block some units like Mia or Ayra who rely on their quick specials to one round her, but without QR she lacks the same round return kills on many units, which may be undesirable for general use.

Threaten Atk or Panic Ploy both help enhance her bulk. Threaten At is likely going to be more consistent, especially against PvE enemies with HP too high for Panic Ploy to reliably affect, if buffs are involved at all. Panic Ploy may see more use in arena, though, where horse buffs and whatnot are more common. And of course a choice for buffs, either flier or generic for mixed teams she may work in.

Close Def Seal helps further boost her bulk. Just how far can we go? It may not be necessary against some enemies, but it helps allow her to deal with higher offense greens, dragons, and reds more safely, and/or reduce damage in cases with multiple opponents. Other options are fine if you don't feel the need.

A build doubling down on her melee defenses makes her a very formidable melee bully. She can stand up to, and often beat, most melee units in the enemy phase, minus red dragons and some especially strong swords like Arden, Mia or Ayra that get through her insane defense. And that's without any buffs. With flier buffs and/or a defensive tile you'll get used to the sound of *ting ting* as she shrugs off most things while nuking them in return with Ignis bombs.

She may not be the best for regular arena chock full of ranged units (or in very high end arena with all the armors, the Armorslayer set may be preferable), yet she remains extremely valuable in AA and more difficult PvE content like Chain Challenges or event maps. Her over the top bulk can help check many melee enemies even with their inflated stats.

She's really a pretty underrated unit, and usually seems to be in the shadow of armors or units like Brave Ike for defensive play. I think it's worthwhile she can be dropped into almost any team with little support and can still do her job very well, while also having flier movement and utility. It should be noted that Michalis can boast this too, plus with a higher attack stat in exchange for some defenses. I'd say it's up to personal preference which is better. Michalis, especially with his unique Hauteclere refinement, can offer a better player phase when needed and higher kill potential, while Beruka's superior defenses lets her more reliably tank stronger enemies, or multiple enemies at a time.

Edited December 25, 2017 by Alkaid

[MrSmokestack]

@Alkaid Thanks, I appreciate the feedback! Looking at your set, it seems similar enough to my first set that I can put in Close Def, Fortress Def, and Guard in as slashes instead of making a new build; I actually had Guard on that set to begin with but later decided against it because I thought it wasn’t comparable to Quick Riposte and warranted its own set. You’ve convinced me otherwise.

I also like your evaluation of Beruka towards the end. I might want to add a section under Default Beruka comparing her to the other axe users just to flesh that part out a bit more. It might take a while for that edit to come around though since I want to be on a desktop instead of a phone when I do it.

Thanks again!

On 12/23/2017 at 10:09 PM, Logos said:

I think more Res is better for the DC set because more Res lets her survive Blue Mages with DD 3 Seal, and it lets her battle Blue dragons as well (the color most dragons are).

Beruka’s Res is still really average without heavy buff stacking, though I’ll look into this later. My guess is that it wouldn’t be worthwhile because she’ll still take serious counterdamage from mages. I’m more interested in how well she can handle breath users though.

EDIT: Beruka with two stacks of Close Def already handles Breath users pretty well if she lets them initiate on her, losing only to both Tiki forms at +10 merge. I don't think Res stacking is needed in this situation so Beruka can focus solely on her physical bulk.

I have edited the OP.

Edited December 25, 2017 by MrSmokestack