LordFrigid Posted January 7, 2018 Share Posted January 7, 2018 (edited) General Base Stats HP: 39 / 42 / 45 Atk: 27 / 30 / 33 Spd: 21 / 25 / 28 Def: 22 / 26 / 29 Res: 28 / 31 / 34 Faye has a balanced defense-oriented stat line, with good HP and Res, middling Def, low Atk, and poor Spd. She is a strong 2-range defender; she has a powerful defensive personal weapon in Bow of Devotion, which boosts her stats when attacked from 2-range, and grants her a guaranteed follow-up when refined. As a colorless bow user, she is unaffected by the weapon triangle except against mages wielding -raven tomes, and will deal effective damage to fliers with all bows currently in the game. She suffers from a low Atk stat, lowering her ability to land ORKOs without a special activation and making it difficult to deal with -raven mage builds. Her middling Def also makes it harder for her to fight physical enemies (bows, particularly, but also melee physicals if she is using Close Counter). Suggested Skill Sets When multiple options are available, my personal recommendations (if any) will be in bold. Budget options will be colored red. Distant Defender Spoiler Usage: Player use, dedicated check for tomes, bows, and daggers. Particularly valuable for Aether Raids offense. Asset/Flaw: +Atk, +Def or +Res/-Spd Weapon: Bow of Devotion Weapon Refinement: Eff Assist: Flexible Special: Iceberg or Bonfire A Passive: Distant Def 3/4, Fortress Def/Res 3, [Tier 4 Stance], Bonus Doubler 3 B Passive: Quick Riposte 3, Cancel Affinity 3, Guard 3, Dull Ranged 3, or Null C-Disrupt 3 C Passive: Atk Smoke 3, Panic Smoke 3, or Flexible Sacred Seal: Distant Def, Atk Ploy, Panic Ploy, Def Ploy, or Quick Riposte Overview This Faye set is a dedicated check for 2-range enemies. Note that when this set is used in the Arena, it will likely not be able to check staff users, who will commonly run a Dazzling weapon refinement or the Dazzling Staff B Passive. Asset/Flaw and Skill Choices Faye can take any of +Atk, +Def, or +Res as assets. +Atk grants her a little bit more KO power, while +Def and +Res give her some additional bulk against the damage type the user is most concerned about. -Spd sacrifices her already low Spd stat, makes her easier to double, and does not affect her own ability to double on the Enemy Phase (since she gets an automatic double when Quick Riposte is active). Faye can viably use both her personal Bow of Devotion, or a Guard Bow. Bow of Devotion’s effect refinement grants her a guaranteed follow-up when attacked, allowing her to stack another combat effect with her B passive slot. A flat stat boosting refinement for the Bow of Devotion is also usable, if the user is comfortable with placing Quick Riposte in her B or Seal slot. The Guard Bow provides greater defensive stat gains, but no special effects or offensive boosts. The Guard Bow’s refinement can be Def or Res, depending on whether the user is more concerned about her matchups against bows/daggers or mages. Her assist is flexible, and depends on the team's needs. Reposition and Draw Back are generally safe picks. Iceberg or Bonfire should be used as Faye's special, depending on which of her defensive stats is higher (likely Res). Faye’s A Passive should increase her defenses. Her preferred choices are: Distant Def 3/4: grants her an additional defenses when attacked by staves, tomes, bows, and daggers, that stacks with her chosen weapon. Distant Def 4, if available, also provides a Dull Ranged effect. Fortress Def/Res 3: provides her static +6/6 defenses at the cost of -2 Atk; it doesn't have any bonus effects, but it will reduce damage taken from AoE specials. [Tier 4 Stance]: skills like Steady Stance 4, Mirror Stance 3, etc. increase Faye’s stats when attacked and inhibits the enemy’s Special charge rate. Bonus Doubler: doubles her active field buffs. Susceptible to buff negation and Panic, but enables Spd stacking to deal with the increasing number of fast tank killers such as Alm: Saint-King and Celica: Queen of Valentia. Quick Riposte is required to be somewhere in the set. If it is being used in her Seal slot, Faye can use Cancel Affinity to allow her to check Raven/Adept mages, Guard to prevent enemies from charging specials when attacking her, or Dull Ranged to help her survive -blade mages. If she is using the Quick Riposte effect from a refined Bow of Devotion, she can also use Null C-Disrupt to enable her to counterattack Dazzling Staff and Firesweep foes. I recommend using Bow of Devotion or the Quick Riposte B passive, so her seal slot can be used to stack defenses. Atk Smoke and Panic Smoke are both powerful options for an Aether Raids offense battle where she is expected to tank multiple ranged units in a single turn. If neither of these are options, she can also use Atk Ploy or Panic Ploy, which effectively contribute to her bulk by weakening enemies (if the Ploy conditions are met). Panic Ploy is especially useful for denying buffs to -blade mages. If Quick Riposte is not used in her B or weapon slot, it should be used here. Otherwise, the slot should be used to increase her defensive capabilities. Distant Def is a good pick, allowing her to further stack her defenses when attacked by staves, tomes, bows, and daggers. [Stance] and [Smoke] skills are also effective. She also has the stat line to use Ploys, if the user prefers that play style. Other Options Faye can use Close Counter in her A Passive slot, and potentially Close Def in her Seal slot, if the user wants to make her more of a mixed tank. However, she has lower Def than Res and doesn't possess the defensive stacking potential that the dedicated 2-range counter build has. Nevertheless, it is a workable set, especially with field and combat buff support. The Slaying Bow (Def or Res refinement) can be used instead of the Guard bow, allowing her to use more powerful specials like Ignis or Glacies at the cost of defensive bulk. Sample Skill Sets These sets have been used either by me, or those who have posted their preferred sets in this thread. Mixed Tank Usage: Aether Raids offense Weapon: Bow of Devotion (Eff) Assist: Reposition Special: Iceberg A Passive: Steady Stance 4 B Passive: Null C-Disrupt 3 C Passive: Atk Smoke 3 Sacred Seal: Distant Def 3 A mixed tank setup for Aether Raids offense. This set was used in Light season with 2 Eirs to maximize her bulk. It will falter against repeated assaults from melee foes. It will also have trouble with tank killers like Alm: Saint-King (she may be able to handle 3 individual hits, KO-ing on her 2nd counterattack, depending on the situation, but it’s inconsistent, and she will be severely weakened afterward). Speed Demon - WARNING: VERY HIGH INVESTMENT Usage: Aether Raids offense Weapon: Bow of Devotion (Eff) Assist: Reposition Special: Iceberg A Passive: Bonus Doubler 3 B Passive: Null C-Disrupt 3 C Passive: Atk Smoke 3 Sacred Seal: Swift Stance 2 This setup is not viable for an unmerged Faye with no Dragonflower investment due to her low base Spd. A 2-range tank setup for Aether Raids offense. Ideally paired with Kaden on the backline. This setup uses field buffs to increase her Spd to levels where she can compete with the increasing cast of high-Spd tank killers. Susceptible to buff negation and Panic. Change Log Spoiler 6 Jan 2018: Initial Release (Distant Defender and Budget sets) 8 Jan 2018: Added Brash Assault/Desperation as an "Other Option" to the Brave Bow variant of the Budget set. 16 Jan 2018: Added Quick Riposte and Def Ploy seals to the write-ups. 18 Jan 2018: Added Cancel Affinity to the B Passive options for the Distant Defender. 4 Apr 2018: Added Dull Ranged as a consideration for the Distant Defender set. 23 Jun 2018: Corrections & review for relevance. 21 Mar 2019: Added Steady Stance 4 to the Distant Defender set. 21 Apr 2019: Added Fortress Def/Res 3, Distant Def 4, and Atk Smoke to the Distant Defender set. 8 May 2019: Updated the set with her new personal weapon, Bow of Devotion. Removed the “Budget set”, since it’s not really relevant anymore. 1 Jan 2020: Updated the Distant Defender set to include the latest options, and added the Sample Skill Sets section. Edited January 1, 2020 by LordFrigid Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BANRYU Posted January 8, 2018 Share Posted January 8, 2018 Looks pretty good overall, it's hard to think what else she'd do well besides maybe Slaying bow? (though that'd be for a QR set and I think Guard Bow is probably strictly superior there...) I'm not sure if it'd be desirable as a slash on the second build or better off as its own separate one, but as a relatively tanky archer with pretty low speed, she seems like she could pull off the ol' Brash Desperation schtick pretty well alongside Brave/Death Blow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LordFrigid Posted January 8, 2018 Author Share Posted January 8, 2018 18 minutes ago, BANRYU said: Looks pretty good overall, it's hard to think what else she'd do well besides maybe Slaying bow? (though that'd be for a QR set and I think Guard Bow is probably strictly superior there...) Yeah, I’ve got Slaying Bow mentioned in the “Other Options” section for exactly the reason you mentioned in parentheses. 20 minutes ago, BANRYU said: I’m not sure if it'd be desirable as a slash on the second build or better off as its own separate one, but as a relatively tanky archer with pretty low speed, she seems like she could pull off the ol' Brash Desperation schtick pretty well alongside Brave/Death Blow. I’ll look into that in a few hours. I’d imagine it’s workable, what with 4 hits + Iceberg. It would likely be a separate build, or an “Other Options” note in the current one, since it strays a bit from the set’s main intention. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BANRYU Posted January 8, 2018 Share Posted January 8, 2018 Ah gotcha I think I missed the extended options section :o And now that I think about it, even though Brave + Brash Desp might be her best general offensive option it also sacks her pretty good HP for using things like Panic Ploy/Infantry Pulse so perhaps that's not as ideal as I thought. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LordFrigid Posted January 9, 2018 Author Share Posted January 9, 2018 (edited) On 1/8/2018 at 3:00 PM, BANRYU said: And now that I think about it, even though Brave + Brash Desp might be her best general offensive option it also sacks her pretty good HP for using things like Panic Ploy/Infantry Pulse so perhaps that's not as ideal as I thought. Infantry Pulse is only active at the start of the first turn, so Brash/Desperation doesn't affect it at all. Panic Ploy is also generally something of a "planned obsolescence" skill, imo...unless your plan is actually to keep her at the back of the back of the back-line to apply it, for whatever reason. Sure, it's better on high-HP support units than combat units, but if you can get it off on the most important enemy/enemies to get it off on, there's no problem with losing it afterward. I can't see her running a "Boost" ever, and if she's using Brash/Desperation she's not using any other HP-related B Passives. Long story short, I don't think HP-related skills (besides Brash Assault and Desperation, obviously) really factor into the usability of the Brave/Brash/Desperation set. ~ Edit: After doing some AA play testing for the Distant Defender set with my current +Atk/-HP Faye, I will probably be changing my nature suggestion to give equal weight to the currently listed options. She receives enough defenses from skill-based stacking that she doesn’t really require the extra bump (though it is nice). Edit 2: Added the QR and Def Ploy seals to the analysis. Edited January 16, 2018 by LordFrigid Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts