Sigurd, Holy Knight

[Ae†her]

Sigurd, Holy Knight

"I swear that I will use every ounce of my strength to protect you."

Sigurd is a pretty well rounded unit, with some of the most superior defensive stats in the game. He's an artificial mage tank thanks to his legendary weapon and his special skill Crusader's Ward. Sigurd can be oriented to either be a very powerful offensive tank in a horse emblem team or he can be built to be an all around tank

Stats:
HP 37/41/44
Atk 32/35/38
Spd 29/32/35
Def 31/34/37
Res 13/17/20
BST: 158~159

Skills:
Divine Tyrfing
Miracle
(-)
Close Defense 3
Crusader's Ward
Spd Smoke 3

Movement: Cavalry - This means Sigurd can run very powerful buffs in cavalry teams such as Hone Cavalry or Fortify Cavalry. He can't run skills like Steady Breath or Wrath though.

Holy Tank

Spoiler

Nature: +Def / -Res

Weapon: Divine Tyring
Assist: Repostion / Swap / Varies on Team
Special: Bonfire / Aether

A: Close Defense 3
B: Crusader's Ward
C: Ward Cavalry / Varies on Team
SS: Distant Defense 3

Note: Although a Res bane drops Sigurd Res to a mere 13, Divine Tyrfing picks up his Res to 16, and Distant Defense 3 gives him up to 22 Res when he's under attack and needs it. What's that you say? It's still pretty low? Well Sigurd doesn't really need a lot of Res to survive mages, just 20+ is enough to let him survive nearly everything (AoE Specials will pierce through him though keep in mind.)

Close Defense 3 - This with a Defense Boon will give him the same level of defensive capabilities as a Close Defense Xander, but in addition to to being incredibly tanky Sigurd will have much better offensive stats than Xander to abuse it.

Bonfire - Use this if looking to sustain Sigurd for just one battle and allow him to put out harsh guaranteed damage.

Ignis - Again this is good for one battle, but Ignis will allow Sigurd to have the ability to one shot so many things.

Aether - Aether sustains Sigurd for many battles, and it is great for things like chain challenges and Tempest Trials. It's also not bad in arena, if your looking for a way to help Sigurd heal from the damage he's taken.

Horse Emblem - Sigurd can take a boost from Fortify Cavalry or better yet avoid Panic Ploys and be surrounded by allies with Ward Cavalry greatly increasing his overall defensive abilities.

Fearless Rider

Spoiler

Nature: +Spd / -Res

Weapon: Divine Tyring
Assist: Repostion / Swap / Varies on Team
Special: Bonfire / Aether

A: Fury 3
B: Crusader's Ward
C: Ward Cavalry / Varies on Team
SS: Spd+3 / Heavy Blade 3

Note: Sigurd is again an incredible tank here, except the focus is now set on making him offensively capable. It makes him hard to kill and also very dangerous of a threat, and to maximize this type of build it's best to run this in a Cavalry team. This type of build is mainly effective in Arena, and maps where Sigurd is not forced to tank more than at least 3 units, unless they're all Axe units with not too high Atks.

Fury 3 - Gives him Atk and Spd while improving all his other stats. He has the bare minimum of 19 Res here, if Sigurd has a Res bane.

Crusader's Ward - You still want Crusader's Ward to make Sigurd annoying in arena, and still survivable when he's under attack by really high spd mages. They'll weaken him severely, but they'll be ready to face buffed up madness the next turn.

Spd+3 + Bonfire / Ignis - Spd+3 and Bonfire is overall better if Sigurd is not being run in a team with Horse Emblem buffs, as he'll reach a decent 41 Spd if he has a Spd Boon, Fury 3 and Spd+3 Seal. Bonfire will be ready after one round of retaliated-against combat. Ignis would also be good if looking for ways to one shot some highly defensive blue units, and not relying too much on Specials for most battles. 

Heavy Blade 3 + Bonfire / Ignis / Aether - Heavy Blade 3 works perfectly as a Sacred Seal if running Sigurd with this kind of build in a all Cavalry team. Sigurd after receiving Atk/Spd+6 from a Hone Cavalry buffs reaches some insane numbers. (If +Spd/-Res, and running Fury 3 Sigurd will reach 60 Atk and 44 Spd) Bonfire is good here because Sigurd will proc it in one round of combat if the foe can retaliate. Aether is another good option as it lets Sigurd heal back the damage he's taken thus far. (He'll still be usable at this point though not as bulky as Fury 3 will leave Sigurd at most -6 from his total HP stat, if Sigurd has entered combat at least once.)

Mage Hunter

Spoiler

Nature: +Atk/+Spd / -Def

Weapon: Divine Tyring
Assist: Repostion / Swap / Varies on Team
Special: Bonfire / Draconic Aura

A: Distant Counter
B: Quick Riposte 3 / Crusader's Ward
C: Ward Cavalry / Varies on Team
SS: Distant Defense 3 / Quick Riposte 3

Note: This build lets Sigurd retaliate against the mages that decide to attack him. For this build Sigurd needs some Spd to ensure he doesn't get doubled by the foe since he isn't running Crusader's Ward here as there is no point unless the foe is Reinhardt or is somehow in the Desperation range. Distant Defense 3 and a lack of Res bane keeps Sigurd's Res high enough to mitigate a lot of damage. Quick Riposte 3 is used here to ensure Sigurd doubles his foe (and usually mages have low Def) and kills him/her. Again this set works great in a Horse Emblem team.

Distant Counter - It's how he's going to attack the mages that try and hit him.

Quick Riposte 3 + Distant Defense 3 - He needs ensured doubles since even after a Spd boon and even a Hone Cavalry buff his speed is not too high that he can ensure doubles against speedy mages. Distant Defense 3 is great for letting Sigurd mitigate as much damage as possible from the first he takes from mages.

Bonfire - This Special is preferred because if Sigurd does manage to get doubled by the foe and survives he can kill them on the round with a a Bonfire. Hopefully he doesn't get doubled, and if the foe somehow survives he has a Bonfire charged up and ready to kill them during the next turn.

Crusader's Ward + Quick Riposte 3 Seal - Helps Sigurd tank Reinhardts, Olwens, Desperation mages, and any consecutive attacking ranged unit as well. 

Horse Emblem - He prefers Hone Cavalry buff so that he doesn't get doubled, but Fortify or Ward Cavalry is nice too as it helps him take less damage.

Edit Log:

1/15/18 - Added Deflect Magic 3 seal in Mage Hunter.

1/17/18 - Removed Deflect Magic 3, and added Quick Riposte 3 Seal with Crusader's Ward instead for Mage Hunter build.

Edited January 18, 2018 by Ae†her
Done. I think.