dazzlingdark

I am currently in the 18-19 arena loop and the highest merged unit I have is +6, the rest mostly unmerged or +1~2. Between getting more different characters and more +10s I will definitely choose the former, unless you really want to get to arena rank 20 or just enjoy building up "heroes". For me I mostly focus on tackling aspects that I notice are giving me troubles. For example, I was once screwed over by horse emblem, and so I got myself a Rhajat with Fury/Vantage/Atk Smoke/Distant Defense, and now I am really looking forward to seeing horses in Aether Raids, especially B!Lyn, Reinhart and Bladetome users. Am considering getting a TA green raven user for more utility though. Also have a counter for fliers, a magic tank, an unit that can handle dragons well, a team of fliers, a mixed team with command skills and bladetome, and so far in Aether Raids I haven't encountered a team that cannot be countered(even took down a team of +10 dragons buffed by seasonal character bonus), and I have cleared every Abyssal maps in GHB and LHB. I guess my point is that you don't necessarily need +10 units in this game to be successful(except reaching arena rank 20), FE is a strategy game after all, but I also can understand the feel of wanting a +10 character, it's pretty cool after all.

I would like to suggest a player phase abyssal-oriented build which utilizes Dark Mysteltainn and AoE specials: Recommended IVs: +Atk / -HP Weapon: Dark Mystletainn Assist: Reposition / Flexible Special: Blazing Flame/Thunder/Wind Passive A: Fury/L&D Passive B: Sword breaker/Desparation*/Flexible Passive C: Hone Cavalry / Flexible Sacred Seal: Quickened Pulse / Atk 3 /Brash Assault*/Flexible *Paired together for use Example videos: Lucina Abyssal Hrid Abyssal Ryoma Abyssal Robin Abyssal

Nice to see different clears here which involve tanky ninja, getting rounded into the corner, and dragons being dragons. I've got a player-phase heavy clear which involves Eldigan(+2), B!Tharja(+4), Veronica and a WoM dancer. It is potentially replicable: B!Tharja can probably be replaced by an unmerged TA raven user with bowbreaker and quick risposte seal, and Eldigan can be replaced by unmerged Ares. Don't have enough resources to try though :p

Eldigan(+2 merges) turning the battleground into his playground :)

Since not many people seem to know about this, I would like to share a build of Eldigan which performs really well for me in LHB Abyssal maps. Eldigan is not my favorite character, but he can surely be fun to use! Here is my build: Eldigan +Atk -Res Weapon: Dark Mystletainn Support: Reposition Special: Blazing Flame/Wind/Thunder A: Fury/L&D B: Swordbreaker/Desperation*/depends on situations C: Free/depends on situations Seal: Quickened Pulse/Atk 3/Brash Assault*/depends on situations *Paired for use together Explanation of the build: Dark Mystletainn has a Killer weapon effect which accelerates special trigger(-1 cooldown), and additionally provides -2 cooldown after battle if a special has triggered. With an AOE special like rising flame, which has CD4 and triggers before battle, once it has triggered for the first time, it will remain trigger-ready forever(-1 CD from Killer weapon effect, -1 CD from the first(and probably also the last) hit in battle, -2 CD after battle). This gives Eldigan the ability to fire AOE special every time he attacks! To make things more fun, the damage calculation of AOE specials ignores the weapon triangle effect, allowing Eldigan to attack into blue enemies, destroying them in one shot if their Def is low. This build is a obviously player phase attacker/monster and so will benefit a lot if paired with a dancer. The difference between Eldigan and other player phase attackers is that he is not a glass canon, and his high Def and HP allow him to tank a hit or two if necessary. The weakness of this build is Eldigan cannot do much against enemies with very high def. Therefore he will appreciate support from a mage/Atk buffer/Def debuffer. Since Eldigan is quite slow, he is reliant on high Atk to kill his opponents in one go, and Breaker skills to double specific targets. As others have mentioned, this build can also be used on Eldigan's son, Ares, who has higher attack and slightly less physical bulk. Seeing as Atk is the key for this build, Ares may be an alternative, if not better, candidate if available. Oh well. Below are some videos showing this Eldigan build in action in Abyssal maps, hope you enjoy the savage of the Lion King! :) Hrid Abyssal: Lucina Abyssal: Ryoma Abyssal: Edit #1: It appears that I have reached my posting limit after 2 posts, so I will reply here for the time being. @bottlegnomes Didn't realize there is an analysis section here, will post there once I am able to post again! I checked Ares' topic and couldn't find this build so may comment there as well. I chose Fury over L&D as it could make better use of Eldigan's physical bulk to take some hits if necessary, and that the hp reduction from Fury sometimes allows Eldigan to drop below 50% quicker for Wing of Mercy dancer to do their magic. But L&D definitely useful in situations where the enemy is just several points of damage away from getting ORKOed. @XRay Thanks for the suggestions of Fury/Desperation/Brash assault and Hardy bearing, will borrow them here :) Personally I find fire area special more useful in practice, but will try out others like the wind one for comparison. Here is Robin Abyssal completed by Eldigan, Tiamat, Bride Tharja and Silvia: Eldigan was on fire on this map, although Tharja ended up clearing half of it. Enemies too hard here :/