#laevatein; {searing steel}

[feh-alt-battle]

Poll 15 - Laevatein

We are not here to comment on how "good" or "bad" any of the art is. We are here to find which alt is your favorite, be it in outfit, usability, or if it's just your blorbo! Please keep "this art is better than that art" out of the tags.

[feheroesmaxlvl]

Sword wielder Laevatein in FE Heroes

[wielderofbreidablik]

@insinnerate​ 

Continued from [X]

    Kiran hadn’t intended for this to be something for her to become apprehensive over. In fact, it seems odd that she would act so nervous at his request at first. But when he thought about it, what didn’t she have to be nervous about? What could she tell him that wouldn’t come off as shameful or upsetting? -Not that he saw like that it of course, but he was familiar enough with Laevatein’s thought process by now to know that was what she was thinking. From her perspective, the experiences of her life must seem dreadful, or perhaps even pointless. But there was something he wanted to know. Something he felt that he needed to know really, and it was something he’d had trouble bringing up in the past given the nature of the subject. So he supposed that she was right to be worried after all.

     Biting his lip, Kiran permits a brief silence to fill the air as he musters up his courage. His long fingers are drumming on his thighs and his gaze is fixed squarely on the empty space before him. After a short time (or rather he hoped it was short) he finally manages to look her in the eye, speaking his request on a nervous breath.

     “If...you wouldn’t mind...I’d like to hear a bit about Laegjarn actually.”

[bananabraiined]

I now have Legendary Celica in the ranks of the Order of Heroes. Also....

Presenting, the Searing Steel of Múspell. Laevatein!

[tacticsroom]

Tibarn: Lord of the Air (Unit Review)

Available at 5��

Lvl 40 Stats (Flaw/Neutral/Asset)

HP: 37/41/44 Atk: 35/38/41 Spd: 28/31/34 Def: 31/34/37 Res: 15/18/21

Neutral BST: 162

Max Dragonflowers: 5

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Skills

Weapon: Hawk King Claw (400 SP)

Mt: 14. Rng: 1. Grants Atk+3. If foe's HP = 100% and if unit initiates combat, unit makes a guaranteed follow-up attack. At start of turn, if unit is adjacent to only beast or dragon allies or if unit is not adjacent to any ally, unit transforms (otherwise, unit reverts). If unit transforms, unit can move 1 extra space. (That turn only. Does not stack.) If unit transforms, grants Atk+2.

Beast. Cannot be inherited. Cannot be refined.

Assist: None

Special: Draconic Aura (200 SP)

CD: 3. Boosts damage by 30% of unit's Atk.

Can be inherited. Cannot use: Staff.

A: Sturdy Impact (300 SP)

If unit initiates combat, grants Atk+6, Def+10 during combat and foe cannot make a follow-up attack.

Can be inherited. Cannot use: Armored, Cavalry, Staff.

B: Chill Atk 3 (240 SP)

At start of turn, inflicts Atk-7 on foe on the enemy team with the highest Atk through its next action.

Can be inherited.

C: Even Atk Wave 3 (240 SP)

At start of even-numbered turns, grants Atk+6 to unit and adjacent allies for 1 turn. (Bonus granted to unit even if no allies are adjacent.)

Can be inherited.

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Analysis

Being the King of Phoenicis, Tibarn is easily one of if not the most powerful flying unit in terms of raw strengh. With absurdly high Atk, guaranteed doubles with his Hawk King Claw, high mobility, and Sturdy Impact’s bonuses, Tibarn is an incredible player phase threat.

With a whopping 38 neutral Atk, Tibarn reaches 57 Atk while transformed with Hawk King Claw and gains an additional 6 Atk with Sturdy Impact for 63 Atk total in the player phase. This fact alone makes him a fearsome opponent, however Hawk King Claw also provides Tibarn with guaranteed doubles despite his low Spd, assuming his opponents are at full HP. This makes him capable of ORKOing a very large range of units, and because of his superb mobility especially while transformed, it can be difficult to avoid his range. Even if Tibarn fails to ORKO an enemy, Sturdy Impact not only raises his Def on initiation but also prevents him from being doubled, allowing him to easily withstand counterattacks from nearly any non-magic enemy. This skill is not as powerful in the player’s hands as it would generally be reckless to attack with Tibarn if he fails to ORKO since it will likely leave him vulnerable, but can be a significant nuisance in the enemy’s.

Tibarn prefers boons/assets in Atk and Def. His preferred banes/flaws are Spd and Res.

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Similar Units

Naesala: Sky’s Shadow (39/32/38/24/29)

Tibarn: Lord of the Air (+2/+6/-7/+10/-11)

Hrid: Icy Blade (41/37/17/36/26)

Tibarn: Lord of the Air (+0/+1/+14/-2/-8)

Hrid: Resolute Prince (42/38/19/36/27)

Tibarn: Lord of the Air (-1/+0/+12/-2/-9)

Cherche: Wyvern Friend (46/38/25/32/16)

Tibarn: Lord of the Air (-5/+0/+6/+2/+2)

Gerome: Masked Rider (45/38/25/34/19)

Tibarn: Lord of the Air (-4/+0/+6/+0/-1)

Laevatein: Searing Steel (39/37/31/34/22)

Tibarn: Lord of the Air (+2/+1/+0/+0/-4)

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Builds

Note: Stats are displayed as if the unit is transformed.

Budget/Low Investment:

Tibarn is very much set with just his default skills, so little investment is necessary to begin with. Draconic Aura scales well with Tibarn’s high Atk, although Bonfire can provide even more damage especially with the +10 Def from Sturdy Impact.

By using Heavy Blade, Tibarn can charge Draconic Aura faster and even activate it every fight if his opponent counterattacks. Chill Atk not only helps weaken opponents but can also help him pass Heavy Blade’s Atk check against other high Atk units.

Alternatively, Tibarn can use Desperation in tandem with Hawk King Claw’s guaranteed follow-up attacks to give his enemies less opportunity to retaliate against him. Using a Brazen Atk skill will boost his damage output considerably when in Desperation’s HP threshold.

Player Phase:

These builds mostly expand on the budget sets explained above.

The first build uses Galeforce instead of a damaging special. Tibarn already deals plenty of damage without one, and Galeforce can allow him to attack even more enemies in each player phase or a chance to retreat, while Heavy Blade makes it much easier to activate. Chill Def and Chill Smoke make it easier for Tibarn to cut through bulkier enemies. Using Lunge as his B Skill can allow him to be even more aggressive once he activates Galeforce.

The second build uses Desperation, Heavy Blade, and Glimmer so that, on every initiation, Tibarn can attack consecutively and activate Glimmer all before his opponent has the chance to counterattack.

Mixed Phase:

Tibarn is certainly designed for the player phase with Hawk King Claw, but if desired he can be used in both phases.

Using Distant Counter and Quick Riposte, Tibarn gains guaranteed doubles against both his player phase targets and his enemy phase aggressors. Iote’s shield allows him to safely retaliate against enemy archers.

He can also focus purely on dealing with melee enemies. Steady Stance 4 heavily increases his ability to tank physical melee enemies with 45 Def in the enemy phase while also preventing them from charging up their special. Dull Close nullifies their buffs, making it even easier for Tibarn to duel them in both phases. Lull Atk/Def functions similarly and is more widely applicable.

[rainbowdonkee]

Searing Steel: Laevatein

Artist: Maeshima Shigeki

Skills | Source

[fehgenerator]

Laevatein: Searing Steel

[heartless1x]

Searing Steel Laevatein level 40 dialogue

[miketendo-64]

[Video] Fire Emblem Heroes: Generals of Múspell (New Heroes Join the Battle!)

[Video] #FireEmblem Heroes: Generals of Múspell (New Heroes Join the Battle!) #NintendoMobile

Calling all summoners, more Heroes have been revealed for Fire Emblem Heroes, and this time they all hail from Fire Emblem Heroes and…debuted as enemies?

Unlike many previous Summoning Banners, these heroes do not tie in with a new Story or Paralogue chapter at all. The new Heroes are consist of:

Helbindi: Savage Scourge

Laevatein: Searing Steel

Laegjarn: Sheathed Steel

[wielderofbreidablik]

@laevetain

     It had been over a month since Surtr’s defeat. One month since the king of Muspel had been felled, Peace had returned to Nifl. Askr returned to its conflicts with Emblia. Even Muspel had been gaining a semblance of normalcy since the fall of its previous monarch. All in all, it was a far cry from what anyone could call a “happy ending”, but in retrospect, it was easy to see how much worse things could have gone

     So much had been lost, so many people killed - and all of it for nothing more than the sake of Surtr’s madness. Civilians, homes, soldiers, livelihoods...Gunthra. Kiran even found himself mourning the loss of Laegjarn, Muspel’s eldest princess. They had never been anything more than enemies in the time that they’d known each other, but in spite of that, the young woman had not once treated him, Nifl, or the Order with anything other than respect and even something that had borderlined on being kindness. In fact, if she hadn’t been forced to sacrifice herself for the sake of her sister, he felt sure that they could have come to terms with each other somehow.

     And there was another thing for him to be remorseful for. The fate of Princess Laevatein.

     In the aftermath of that war, she had been crowned Muspel’s Queen, being the only remaining successor to the throne. And though she had been doing well thus far in rebuilding her kingdom, the summoner could not banish his concerns about her well being. Part of it was his guilt about Laegjarn, another part genuine concern, and yet another still was regret. After all, her father had clearly stunted her growth both mentally and emotionally. The one and only time she had shown signs of independent expression was when she mourned the loss of the one person who had truly loved her.

     How could someone like that be expected to rule alone in a kingdom built upon a war economy? How many people try to hurt her? Take advantage of her? In his mind's eye, all he could picture was her sitting on a lonely throne with a handful of individuals at her side, all with hidden blades or sinister smiles. All the while, she stared ahead with those sad, painful expression she’d worn in their last encounter.

     Such were the thoughts that consumed him in his most private moments. The people he could not save. The carnage he’d seen. And the things he’d left behind after going. In that current moment, it was his thoughts about the new Muspelian Queen that haunted him. He tried to bring his mind elsewhere by reading one of the books that Sharena had pressed upon him, but the words just seemed to float away from him, no matter how hard he focused.

     Eventually, he looses a frustrated sigh and snaps the text shut, resting his forehead against its lips as he stares at his shadow being cast from the grass in the courtyard. I hope she’s doing okay, he thinks to himself dejectedly. Maybe I should speak to Anna about making a “diplomatic venture” into Muspel to observe its political situation. I doubt she’d let me go by myself, but at least it would get me there. As he continues to contemplate a visit into the Kingdom of Fire, a very familiar splash of reddish hues enters into the furthest reaches of his peripheral vision, very quickly returning his attention back to reality. 

     Standing across the yard, looking out at the rolling hills of Askr stood Laevatein herself with her back turned towards him. He did not know how or why she was here (though some distant part of his mind questioned if he had somehow summoned her here without intending to), but in that moment neither of those things were important. Almost without thinking, he finds himself jumping up to his feet and calling out to her with a voice that was both apprehensive and excited.

     “Laevatein!”

[tacticsroom]

Catria: Mild Middle Sister (Unit Review)

Available at 5★

Lvl 40 Stats (Flaw/Neutral/Asset)

HP: 38/41/44 Atk: 35/38/42 Spd: 33/36/39 Def: 24/27/31 Res: 21/24/27

Neutral BST: 166

Max Dragonflowers: 5

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Skills

Weapon: Astra Blade (400 SP)

Mt: 16. Rng: 1. Grants Atk+3. If unit's Atk > foe's Def, boosts damage by 50% of unit's Atk minus foe's Def.

Sword. Cannot be inherited. Cannot be refined.

Assist: Harsh Command+ (400 SP)

Neutralizes target ally's penalties (from skills like Panic, Threaten, etc.) and negative status effects (preventing counterattacks, restricting movement, etc.) that last through ally's next action. Converts any penalties on target ally into bonuses.

Can be inherited. Cannot use: Staff.

Special: None

A: Atk/Spd Bond 4 (300 SP)

If unit is adjacent to an ally, grants Atk/Spd+7 to unit and neutralizes unit's penalties to Atk/Spd during combat.

Can be inherited.

B: Aerobatics 3 (240 SP)

Unit can move to a space adjacent to any infantry, armored, or cavalry ally within 2 spaces.

Can be inherited. Flying only.

C: Spd Tactic 3 (240 SP)

At start of turn, grants Spd+6 to allies within 2 spaces for 1 turn. Granted only if number of that ally's movement type on current team ≤ 2.

Can be inherited.

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Analysis

With Zofia’s Call, Catria makes a return as a unit in FEH, this time with Astra Blade in hand. Her high Atk and unique weapon combined with her lack of competition as a sword flier makes her a stand-out offensive unit, possessing incredibly high damage potential.

At 38 neutral Atk and a superboon to boot, ZC!Catria ties for the highest base Atk among melee fliers along the likes of Cherche: Wyvern Friend and Tibarn: Lord of the Air. On top of this, her weapon, Astra Blade, is a 19 Mt weapon that essentially grants her a Glimmer-like damage boost on every single attack. These two points make ZC!Catria an absolute powerhouse, able to ORKO if not OHKO nearly any unit with the proper investment and support. In this respect, ZC!Catria is fairly comparable in niche to Brave!Alm with Scendscale. ZC!Catria mainly has the benefit of her damage boost being built into her 19 Mt weapon and thus being able to freely use whatever A Skill desired, while B!Alm is able to combine Scendscale with dragon-effectiveness or other swords like Armorsmasher+ or Firesweep Sword+; of the two, ZC!Catria is arguably more powerful, as Astra Blade permits for a far higher Atk ceiling, although ZC!Catria does lack the defensive capabilities of B!Alm.

While Astra Blade is certainly the prize of ZC!Catria’s base kit, Atk/Spd Bond 4 is great for boosting her offenses and securing even more kills while also being much easier to apply with skills like Flier Formation or her default Aerobatics. Atk/Spd Bond also neutralizes Atk and Spd debuffs on her, preventing enemies from heavily crippling her damage output.

Because ZC!Catria lacks access to Special Spiral as a flier, AoE Specials aren’t incorporated into the example builds below, however it should be noted that Astra Blade’s damage boost does apply to the damage dealt by AoE Specials. This means that Growing AoE Specials deal 1.5x the difference between her Atk and her opponents’ Def (equal to the usual damage of Blazing Specials), while Blazing ones will deal 2x the difference. This fact may be quite useful for clearing in-game content with inflated enemy stats, especially HP.

ZC!Catria prefers boons/assets in Atk (superboon) and Spd. Her preferred banes/flaws are HP, Res, and Def.

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Similar Units

Elincia: Lost Princess (35/34/36/24/27)

Catria: Mild Middle Sister (+6/+4/+0/+3/-3)

Gunnthrá: Year’s First Dream (38/34/37/27/26)

Catria: Mild Middle Sister (+3/+4/-1/+0/-2)

Ryoma: Supreme Samurai (41/34/39/28/20)

Catria: Mild Middle Sister (+0/+4/-3/-1/+4)

Camilla: Holiday Traveler (40/33/35/31/23)

Catria: Mild Middle Sister (+1/+5/+1/-4/+1)

Soleil: Adorable Adorer (37/38/35/28/24)

Catria: Mild Middle Sister (+4/+0/+1/-1/+0)

Laevatein: Searing Steel (39/37/31/34/22)

Catria: Mild Middle Sister (+2/+1/+5/-7/-+2)

Alm: Imperial Ascent (42/38/35/37/20)

Catria: Mild Middle Sister (-1/+0/+1/-13/+4)

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Builds

Budget/Low Investment:

As explained in the Analysis section, Catria can dish out immense damage with Astra Blade. Because this damage only gets better as her Atk increases, Catria users should seek to boost her Atk as much as possible. Her default Atk/Spd Bond 4 helps her do just that, although other, easier-to-use A Skills are fine as well. Since Astra Blade already heavily boosts Catria’s damage, high-end damaging Specials are hardly necessary. Because Glimmer also applies to Astra Blade’s damage boost, activating Glimmer essentially lets her deal 2.25x damage instead of just 1.5x, however in many cases this will be overkill. Meanwhile, using Moonbow can help punch through high-Def units that would otherwise minimize Astra Blade’s damage.

Stacking Atk/Spd Bond 4 and 3 provides a bonus of +12 Atk and Spd, for 69 Atk total at neutral. To put this into perspective, if Catria were to attack a unit with 40 Def without a weapon triangle advantage in either direction, she would normally deal 29 damage, but Astra Blade amplifies this to 43. Alternatively, with such high Atk, Catria can also make great use of Heavy Blade, especially paired with Desperation. This allows her to safely activate a 2-CD Special on every initiation assuming she has the Spd to perform a follow-up attack.

Offensive (Astra Blade):

The first three builds all focus on OHKO/ORKOing enemies, with most of the skills being fairly interchangeable. The main point is to widen the difference between Catria’s Atk and her opponents’ Def as much as possible. Notably, as used in the first build, Galeforce is one of Catria’s best Special options as she doesn’t need extra burst damage hardly as much as most units thanks to Astra Blade. Heavy Blade helps charge Galeforce much faster, and Def Smoke allows her to hit potential second targets with a Def debuff. Also be aware that Def debuffs and Panic-reversed buffs stack together - applying both Def debuffs and Panic effects in addition to Atk buffs will help Catria immensely in OHKOing enemies.

The fourth build somewhat strays from the aggressive playstyle of the other build, combining Distant Counter and Vantage to let Catria sweep large groups of enemies in the enemy phase with Astra Blade’s incredible damage. Once within Vantage’s HP threshold, Catria can strike without giving her opponents’ the chance to attack first, even from a distance. Brazen Atk Sacred Seals help her secure more kills once that point is reached.

As an additional note, without being able to swap out her weapon without losing her main niche, ZC!Catria lacks the option to utilize Astra Blade with effective damage. Deploying her alongside Naga: Dragon Divinity, however, makes for a unique exception with Divine Fang and can help her break through the incomparable defenses of most dragon units, a common threat in today’s meta.

Offensive (w/o Astra Blade):

With great Atk and solid Spd, Catria can of course make use of typical offensive melee units as well, although arguably not to the same effect as Astra Blade.

The first build uses Brave Sword+ to let Catria quad enemies in the player phase. Atk/Spd Push 4 boosts her Atk and Spd by +7 while also providing some recoil damage to help activate Desperation and Brazen Atk/Spd, the latter of which will grant an additional +7 to her offenses for 60 Atk and 48 Spd total.

The second build uses Firesweep Sword+ to let Catria attack with little risk. Swift Sparrow puts her at 63 Atk and 43 Spd unbuffed to make quick work of most enemies, after which she can safely activate double-Savage Blow for 14 AoE damage, setting up for more kills.

[tacticsroom]

Alm: Imperial Ascent (Unit Review)

Available at 5★

Lvl 40 Stats (Flaw/Neutral/Asset)

HP: 39/42/45 Atk: 35/38/42 Spd: 32/35/38 Def: 34/37/40 Res: 17/20/23

Neutral BST: 172

Max Dragonflowers: 5

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Skills

Weapon: Dracofalchion (400 SP)

Mt: 16. Rng: 1. Effective against dragon foes. Grants Atk+3. If the number of foes within 2 spaces (excluding target) ≥ the number of allies within 2 spaces (excluding unit), grants Atk/Spd/Def/Res+5 during combat.

Sword. Cannot be inherited. Cannot be refined.

Assist: None

Special: Draconic Aura (200 SP)

CD: 3. Boosts damage by 30% of unit's Atk.

Can be inherited. Cannot use: Staff.

A: Scendscale (300 SP)

Deals damage = 25% of unit's Atk, but after combat, if unit attacked, deals 7 damage to unit.

Cannot be inherited.

B: Chill Def (240 SP)

At start of turn, inflicts Def-7 on foe on the enemy team with the highest Def through its next action.

Can be inherited.

C: Threat. Atk/Spd 3 (300 SP)

At start of turn, if unit is within 2 spaces of a foe, grants Atk/Spd+5 to unit for 1 turn and inflicts Atk/Spd-5 on foes within 2 spaces through their next actions.

Can be inherited.

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Analysis

With the Dracofalchion in hand, Alm is able to cleave through his enemies in single hits with immense raw damage and has staying power with his solid base stats. Like his Legendary iteration, Brave!Alm is capable of tearing straight through enemy defenses with exclusive skills, in Brave!Alm’s case being Scendscale.

B!Alm’s immense Atk combined with Scendscale’s extra damage per hit provides him with incredibly high-damage hits in both phases. For instance, with neutral Atk and Dracofalchion equipped, B!Alm possesses 57 Atk for 11 bonus true damage per hit with Scendscale. With an Atk superboon and Dracofalchion’s passive on top, B!Alm reaches 66 Atk and gains 14 bonus damage instead for an effective 80 Atk - in other words, B!Alm’s opponents will require physical bulk of at least 81 to survive even one hit from B!Alm, and dragon units will have next to no chance of surviving Dracofalchion’s effective damage. Even with such an emphasis on his damage output, B!Alm still boasts workable Spd and surprisingly high Def and is certainly no slouch even when not focused on kills. Soleil, for instance, is an infantry sword unit that can utilize a wide array of different builds playstyles - with such a similar and almost outright superior statline, any such build can also suit B!Alm just as well, although replacing Scendscale is arguably an unworthy tradeoff in value.

B!Alm prefers boons/assets in Atk (superboon), Spd, and Def. His preferred banes/flaws are Res and HP.

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Similar Units

Soleil: Adorable Adorer (37/38/35/28/24)

Alm: Imperial Ascent (+5/+0/+0/+9/-4)

Laevatein: Searing Steel (39/37/31/34/22)

Alm: Imperial Ascent (+3/+1/+4/+3/-2)

Ike: Young Mercenary (42/35/31/32/18)

Alm: Imperial Ascent (+0/+3/+4/+5/+2)

Ike: Vanguard Legend (41/36/30/35/21)

Alm: Imperial Ascent (+1/+2/+5/+2/-1)

Gray: Wry Comrade (43/35/32/30/22)

Alm: Imperial Ascent (-1/+3/+3/+7/-2)

Chrom: Knight Exalt (41/37/28/34/17)

Alm: Imperial Ascent (+1/+1/+7/+3/+3)

Ares: Black Knight (40/36/30/33/18)

Alm: Imperial Ascent (+2/+2/+5/+4/+2)

Zelgius: Jet-Black General (46/36/33/38/21)

Alm: Imperial Ascent (-4/+2/+2/-1/-1)

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Builds

Note: At the time of writing, fehstuff.com’s unit builder does not have Scendscale registered as a skill for Alm: Imperial Ascent. Please treat all of the following builds as though they have Scendscale equipped rather than an empty A Slot.

Budget/Low Investment:

As described in the Analysis section, Scendscale is an incredibly powerful skill and grants Alm his niche as a OHKO/ORKO powerhouse.

Chill Def and Threat. Atk/Spd from Alm’s base kit serve him perfectly well, with the former helping him cut through bulkier enemies and the latter allowing him to effectively create a stat gap of +5/+10/+5/+5 against melee opponents as they enter into range. Sturdy Blow is mostly used for the extra Atk in the player phase, although the extra Def certainly doesn’t hurt.

The second build uses Vantage to allow Alm to safely utilize his OHKO potential in the enemy phase as well, especially with Scendscale’s recoil damage. Once in Vantage’s HP threshold, Alm can strike down melee aggressors before they can even attack. Fierce Stance provides a considerable Atk boost in the enemy phase to complement this. Notably, because Alm needs his A Slot for Scendscale to reliably OHKO in the first place and the B Slot for Vantage, this build cannot be used with Distant Counter and/or Null C-Disrupt without losing its main strength.

Misc (1):

All of the following described builds are compiled in one section, as they all revolve around Scendscale as the main source of their effectiveness. Dracofalchion is also used in all builds as his default weapon but can be replaced with inheritable sword options like Slaying Edge+ or Armorsmasher+ for general use, Firesweep Sword+ or Cake Cutter+ for player phase builds, and others as specified per build. Glimmer is generally the go-to Special for its low cooldown and the fact that it scales with Scendscale’s bonus damage.

The first build capitalizes on Alm’s Spd paired with Desperation as he can become unexpectedly fast with enough effects. In this case, with Dracofalchion and Darting Blow, he can reach 49 Spd unsupported in the player phase. By attacking twice in a row with Scendscale, Alm is thus able to unleash incredible amounts of damage in quick succession with this build. Alternatively, Alm can instead focus on stacking up his attack and using the Brash Assault Sacred Seal to score follow-up attacks, although doing so can be more risky due to Brash Assault’s narrower HP threshold. This can be notably powerful with Brave Sword+, as once Alm falls into Brash Assault’s HP threshold, his player phase targets must withstand four consecutive attacks and thus four applications of Scendscale’s true damage, which can be nearly impossible especially if Alm has support (for context, an Alm with an Atk boon and equipped with Brave Sword+ has 50 Atk unsupported, gaining 12 true damage per attack from Scendscale and thus 48 total true damage on a quad).

The second build is a continuation of the second budget build described above, optimized with an Atk boon, Glimmer, and Def Smoke. Def Smoke allows Alm to more easily take on multiple enemies at once in tandem with Dracofalchion’s effect. Again, it should be noted that without Distant Counter, this build does not allow Alm to simply be thrown in front of any combination of enemies.

Misc (2):

Drag Back/Hit and Run is a solid option for Alm as it allows for him to stray further from his team and gain Dracofalchion’s stat boost with much less risk attached by retreating 1 space afterwards.

As a OHKO-based unit, Alm also excels with an AoE special spam build and is also another method of dealing two consecutive instances of Scendscale’s true damage (if desired, this can be combined with Brave Sword+ and Brash Assault for five consecutive applications). Using Special Spiral and Heavy Blade, Alm can fully recharge his AoE special immediately after each activation, which will often be a guaranteed kill between the AoE special and his actual attack. Using a Blazing AoE rather than Growing can be overkill with Scendscale but can be taken to guarantee kills against more enemies. Wo Dao+ can most certainly be used instead of Dracofalchion to further boost the AoE special’s damage.

Misc (3):

Alm is also a good candidate for Galeforce as Scendscale already provides him with plenty of extra damage output in place of a damaging special. Aside from Heavy Blade, the rest of the build is fairly flexible. Lull Atk/Def secures his ability to ORKO and pass Heavy Blade’s Atk check and ignore enemy Def buffs. Alternatively, with Escape Route, Alm can use his extra action from Galeforce to retreat. Using Slaying Edge+ and Desperation while stacking up Alm’s Spd instead of his Atk can allow him to avoid relying on enemy counterattacks to fully charge and activate Galeforce every fight.

The sixth and final example centers on sustain with Noontime, scaling with Scendscale, Wrath, and potentially Wo Dao+’s bonus damage to offset Scendscale’s recoil damage. Combining Wrath and Time’s Pulse ensures that Noontime will always be at a cooldown of at most 1 at the start of every player phase, otherwise fully charging it while within Wrath’s HP threshold so that Alm can activate it right away and heal back up. As a somewhat mixed phase build, the Sacred Seal is flexible, however Sturdy Blow helps with initiating.