Which weapons are best suited for different Engravings?

[DefyingFates]

Marth and Sigurd's Engravings are the only ones without any stat reductions, so I thought it'd be nice to pick each other's brains about which Engravings worked best on which types of weapons. Ike's for example, gives a small Mt boost in exchange for a massive weight gain, so stuff like that is hard to find a niche for.

I hope this useful for everyone!

Edit: Here are all the Engravings, not counting DLC. My bad for not including these in the first place!

Spoiler

Icon	Emblem	Engraving	Mt+	Hit+	Crit+	Wt+	Avo+	Ddg+
	Marth	Beginnings	1	10	10	—	5	5
	Sigurd	Holy	1	—	—	-1	20	—
	Celica	Echoes	-1	—	—	-1	—	50
	Micaiah	Dawn	-3	—	—	-1	40	20
	Roy	Binding	2	—	—	8	-30	—
	Leif	Genealogy	1	20	—	1	10	—
	Lucina	Awakening	-1	30	—	-1	30	—
	Lyn	Blazing	-3	40	20	-2	—	—
	Ike	Radiance	3	—	—	15	—	—
	Byleth	Academy	—	30	10	2	10	30
	Corrin	Fates	-2	—	30	—	10	30
	Eirika	Sacred	—	40	20	—	-20	-20

 

Edited January 27, 2023 by DefyingFates

[SeraviSays]

Small weight increases have no downsides on daggers or Libération so something like Edelgard's (+1 Mt, +10 hit/crit/avo, +1 weight) is something I used for Yunaka iron daggers.

Sigurd's is the only one that reduces weight while also increasing Mt (all other weight decreases come with Mt decreases as well) so I liked it on units with around 5-6 build who had slight penalties from 7 weight weapons (Steel bow/sword, Iron lance) in early game.

I think you can make a case for the high weight+ engraves on Smash weapons and/or weapons you might intend only to use for Emblem attacks (IE a Steel Blade with Roy/Ike engrave for Lodestar Rush) but I'm less sure about it for everyday combat use. Perhaps also Thunder tomes since they can't double normally anyways.

This is thinking outside the box a bit but the more defensive engraves like Micaiah and Celica might be preferred on, for example, 2range weapons or Longbows that are being used by Backup units if getting hit enemy phase will be a concern for them.

Edited January 27, 2023 by SeraviSays

[Technoweirdo]

Quite like Lyn's on a Killer Axe. -3 Mt, but the +Hit and +Crit are worth it. Oh, and there's a -Wt too, I guess, not that most axe users need it when Killer Axes aren't that heavy.
Looking at other engraving I don't have yet, Corrin's is similar. Has a smaller Mt penalty and has more Crit. Even has a bit of Avo in exchange for no Hit bonus nor weight reduction.
Meanwhile, Eirika's is...uh, quite the gamble.

30 minutes ago, SeraviSays said:

Small weight increases have no downsides on daggers or Libération so something like Edelgard's (+1 Mt, +10 hit/crit/avo, +1 weight) is something I used for Yunaka iron daggers.

Sigurd's is the only one that reduces weight while also increasing Mt (all other weight decreases come with Mt decreases as well) so I liked it on units with around 5-6 build who had slight penalties from 7 weight weapons (Steel bow/sword, Iron lance) in early game.

I think you can make a case for the high weight+ engraves on Smash weapons and/or weapons you might intend only to use for Emblem attacks (IE a Steel Blade with Roy/Ike engrave for Lodestar Rush) but I'm less sure about it for everyday combat use. Perhaps also Thunder tomes since they can't double normally anyways.

This is thinking outside the box a bit but the more defensive engraves like Micaiah and Celica might be preferred on, for example, 2range weapons or Longbows that are being used by Backup units if getting hit enemy phase will be a concern for them.

For Roy/Ike-compatible weapons, I'd add Brave weapons to the list.

[ZSSenpai]

Is the only use for Roy's engraving a brave weapon on a slow character?  It seems terrible otherwise, unless I'm missing something.

Edited January 27, 2023 by ZSSenpai

[Fabulously Olivier]

A few suggestions:

 

Eirika's blessing is a great way to fix Louis and Jade's hit rates at endgame, and they don't care much about the downsides.

 

Corrin's blessing on a maxed Steel Dagger turns Zelkov/Yunaka into a Dynasty Warriors character.

 

Edelgard's blessing is great for Diamante. Ideally on a Killer Sword, Killer Axe, or Caladbolg.

 

Byleth's blessing fixes Boucheron, and he doesn't care about the added weight.

[DefyingFates]

3 minutes ago, Fabulously Olivier said:

Eirika's blessing is a great way to fix Louis and Jade's hit rates at endgame, and they don't care much about the downsides.

Corrin's blessing on a maxed Steel Dagger turns Zelkov/Yunaka into a Dynasty Warriors character.

Byleth's blessing fixes Boucheron, and he doesn't care about the added weight.

How do you mean, if you don't mind explaining these in more detail?

[Fabulously Olivier]

4 minutes ago, DefyingFates said:

How do you mean, if you don't mind explaining these in more detail?

Eirika's blessing is a bonus to hit and crit in exchange for reduced Avoid and Dodge. Reduced dodge could potentially hurt your tanks, but it's a minimal risk for bringing up their accuracy. You can use this to one shot foes with a smash weapon, or use it with a Killer weapon to double up on the crit rate bonhs.

 

Boucheron's main weakness is his Arthur-level luck. Byleth's blessing grants 30 dodge, as well as small bonuses to hit, crit, and avoid. Using this with a Killer or Brave weapon will make Boucheron a beast. The downside is the +2 weight, but Boucheron mitigates this entirely with his insane Build.

 

Corrin reduces might, in exchange for large Crit and Dodge bonuses and a small Avoid bonus. Micaiah's works similarly, with less damage and more evasion.

 

Edelgard's blessing gives well rounded buffs in exchange for one more weight. Diamante's got the build and he wants the stats.

[LoneRecon400]

Asides from the obvious like putting Lyn, Corrin, and Eirika on killer weapons or wrath user:

Michiah is best used on a Smash weapon on a dodgetank so that unit combat doesn't have to eat a counter when initiating and has a good weapon for enemy phase.

Roy should go on to a hammer. Enemy generals get exponential bulkier to the point where most physical weapons weapons will deal 0 damage, so having a good weapon for them is quite useful.

Ike should go on to a brave bow to help shore up their might since they're very weak otherwise and it's pretty hard to double fliers. Going from 12 to 21 effective might is a pretty big difference.

Edited January 27, 2023 by LoneRecon400

[Scaramuccia]

4 hours ago, SeraviSays said:

 

I think you can make a case for the high weight+ engraves on Smash weapons and/or weapons you might intend only to use for Emblem attacks (IE a Steel Blade with Roy/Ike engrave for Lodestar Rush) but I'm less sure about it for everyday combat use. Perhaps also Thunder tomes since they can't double normally anyway

Heavy weapons badly needs hit rate. And in some cases (player phase dodge tanking) avoidance. Maybe brave weapons on a slow and precise character? Otherwise I don't see good targets for heavy emblems.

[DefyingFates]

These are all great suggestions, thank you very much! Thank you for explaining your thought processes too!

I have Bow Focus 5 on Fogado at the moment (+Hit, -Avo). Would Roy or Ike's engraving be better on a Brave Bow for him?

Edit: Added the Engraving stats to the OP. Sorry for the delay!

Edited January 27, 2023 by DefyingFates

[Shoblongoo]

A little bit late to the party here, but what I've found is.

Priority #1:

Get the one's with big avoid bonuses on the main enemy phase weapon of units that make good dodge tanks. 

Tomes and Daggers are ideal for the 1-2 range on their counterattacks; a fast mage or thief with a basic weapon that carries no speed penalty and a +avoid engrave can inherit +avoid skills. sit on defensive terrain. 

Pull aggro.

And put damage on everything that attacks into them + never die. 

(I did this with Yunaka and she quickly became the best unit on my team)

__

Priority #2

Anything that reduces avoid or adds weight as a penalty to offset its bonus goes on weapons that you want to give to slow, tanky units that aren't relying on doubling or dodging to do their job.

And just appreciate having harder hitting, more accurate attacks.

These will typically be whatever weapons you plan on giving to your armor knights.

___

Priority #3

Weapons that have very high might but bad accuracy are good candidates for engraves that increase accuracy but reduce might. 

(i.e. I put Lyn's engrave on the Tomahawk. And its turns it into a much more functional throwing axe that doesn't weigh you down or miss all the time, but still packs a ton of power at 1-2 range) 



 

[DefyingFates]

3 hours ago, Shoblongoo said:

A little bit late to the party here, but what I've found is.

Priority #1:

Get the one's with big avoid bonuses on the main enemy phase weapon of units that make good dodge tanks. 

Tomes and Daggers are ideal for the 1-2 range on their counterattacks; a fast mage or thief with a basic weapon that carries no speed penalty and a +avoid engrave can inherit +avoid skills. sit on defensive terrain. 

Pull aggro.

And put damage on everything that attacks into them + never die. 

(I did this with Yunaka and she quickly became the best unit on my team)

__

Priority #2

Anything that reduces avoid or adds weight as a penalty to offset its bonus goes on weapons that you want to give to slow, tanky units that aren't relying on doubling or dodging to do their job.

And just appreciate having harder hitting, more accurate attacks.

These will typically be whatever weapons you plan on giving to your armor knights.

___

Priority #3

Weapons that have very high might but bad accuracy are good candidates for engraves that increase accuracy but reduce might. 

(i.e. I put Lyn's engrave on the Tomahawk. And its turns it into a much more functional throwing axe that doesn't weigh you down or miss all the time, but still packs a ton of power at 1-2 range) 



 

Better late than never! This kind of heuristic take on Engravings is perfect too, thank you very much! I put Micaiah's on Rosado's Hurricane Axe, but I'll probably move Corrin's to one of Yunaka's weapons... once I decide which ones to keep on her.

[hdawgsizzle]

I've liked Eirika's engraving on 3-range weapons (I have it on a Thunder for Dire Thunder right now) - you don't really care about the -avo and -dodge if you're out of the enemy's range, and the hit rate boost helps the 3-range hit rate reduction. The Crit is a nice cherry on top

[DefyingFates]

2 hours ago, hdawgsizzle said:

I've liked Eirika's engraving on 3-range weapons (I have it on a Thunder for Dire Thunder right now) - you don't really care about the -avo and -dodge if you're out of the enemy's range, and the hit rate boost helps the 3-range hit rate reduction. The Crit is a nice cherry on top

That makes sense, thanks!

Also, I really want to get that Bond Ring...

[joevar]

i think i'll just share my chosen weapon that i think already work well for me:

 

Marth: fit into anything since it increase all weap stat except WT, i choose for Alear Prf weapon since it has some Crit already and needed a bit more oomph

Celica: - (dont know, didnt use since it doesnt benefit weapon that much)

Holy: i put it into tome; because Mage usually has lower build, and need extra Avo since its better to avoid than tank phys. damage

Roy, Ike: Smash weapon, for the added MT but increased WT. since smash wont follow up the penalty wont bother that much. also it help Skill such as Roy's Blazing Lion that only hit once so need highest MT as possible for that one hit.

Lyn: Any higher tier weapon that already has good MT, but needed Crit and needs its WT reduced a bit. Using it on Killer could work only if the user already has high STR since reduce MT quite a lot.

Eirika: Weapon for Armor type class, since it reduced Avoid and Dodge so anyone who use it need to be able to tank Dmg. i used it on Greataxe, because Axe has very low Hit. Also with added Crit it will surely help OHKO anyone who dares to attack your armor.

Micaiah: I put it on Axe. because Axe has high MT usually so the penalty wont bother that much. I used it on weapon thats being used by Glass canon type character such Panette to benefit from very high Avo but still can kill with less MT

Lucina: pretty much almost everything could fit. since the only penalty is measly one MT. I put it on Spear whose user prefer to dodgetank

Fates: weapon thats used by medium - high Str + high Dex class. either sword or spear

Byleth: Axe weapon. to benefit from high Hit, and not affected by the small added WT

 

also spoiler endgame

Spoiler

Alear: pretty much better Marth with slight reduced MT. so anything goes.

 

[Speedy]

Any tips for the DLC engravings?

The ones I found that work well for me:

Rivals - daggers, I prefer it over the Corrin engrave

Camilla - Arts, not sure I would recomend it, but it worked really well ony my MM Chloé

Hector - Thunder->Thoron, you dont really care about weight, since these tomes dont double unless you have Dire Thunder and even then you dont care

For the rest I really dont know, especially with Veronica's. I guess it would be good just for defensive purpose, considering how much it nerfs your hit rate.

Edited March 28, 2023 by Speedy

[BloodRonin]

24 minutes ago, Speedy said:

Any tips for the DLC engravings?

Veronica is weird to me since it gives negative hit and crit, BUT, gives +1 damage, 20 avoid and 40 ddg. You have 2 options imo, A, put it on Elsurge so you have a melee tome that can't miss, but turns one of your magic users into a pseudo dodge unit. Or a unit that legit just needs a weapon to dodge with for a turn. 

Chrom is Sigurd, but also adds ddge, so it works with literally anything imo. Whatever you would normally use Sigurd's for, now you just have 2.

Rivals, I agree I like this for daggers as well since their weight is already so low, so the extra weight isn't a big deal for doubling, and adds damage instead of taking away. I also liked it on the Wo Dao since that thing is so light anyway, and the extra damage/crit chance just makes it better.

Camillla, I like using this on Killer sword/Lance with Sword Power/lance Power units. They already give up avoid for extra damage, adding the crit is nice to make them basically 100%. (though, I did also use this with A Tomahawk and Diamont later on with Hector equipped specifically for using his engage attack.)

Hector's I used on brave weapons. I found this to be really useful for someone with low build or speed. (Pincer attack Halberdier with this will quad and add a ton of extra damage). 

 

*edit forgot Soren. Soren I didn't get til late game, but used his on Nova. 

Edited March 28, 2023 by BloodRonin

[Alastor15243]

I always give Byleth's engrave to Merrin's silver dagger, since I give her Ike and not worrying about crits is a huge worry off my mind. Eirika's I put on a thoron, Corrin's on Etie's killer bow in my latest run, Roy's on Louis's smashing lance to help out with overrides early game, and Ike's on a silver bow for devastating astra storms, helping reach benchmarks for one-rounding distant thieves and, say, the chapter 20 Entrap staff guy.

[Speedy]

3 hours ago, BloodRonin said:

Chrom is Sigurd, but also adds ddge, so it works with literally anything imo. Whatever you would normally use Sigurd's for, now you just have 2.

I actually switched from Marth's engravings on Alear to Chrom's engraving 😄

I think its overall better.

I struggled with where to put Tiki and Soren's engraving especially. In the end I think I put them on longbows.

Edited March 28, 2023 by Speedy

[Barren]

I know for Veronica’s engraving you attach that to an Elsurge tome. It doesn’t affect the accuracy at all because the weapon itself will always have perfect accuracy.

[asm335]

So many are so dependent on the overall build of your units. Here’s a quick rundown of some of my next run plans for them.

Sigurd - Levin Sword on Mage Knight Chloe

Marth - Killer Bow on Sniper Yunaka

Corrin - Radiant Bow on Sniper Yunaka

Ike - Brave Lance for Halberdier Amber equipped with the Ike Emblem 

Roy - Armorslayer for Wyvern Kagetsu w/ the Lyn Emblem. That -8 isn’t going to stop him from doubling armored units

Eirika - Killer Axe for Vantage/Warth Warrior Panette equipped with the Roy Emblem. Hold Out will be insurance against any stray crits that somehow get through her vantage/wrath combo

Lyn - Steel Greataxe on Great Knight Goldmary equipped with Wrath.

Byleth - Wyvern Kagetsu’s Killer Axe until the spoiler emblem replaces it there. Then will probably move it to Ivy for the hit and dodge that she needs late game