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Theorycraft by Bravart : Hawkeye, the turtle general

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Very interesting, enjoyed the write up!!

This is the second write-up (right after Ryu's) I've seen of Hawkeye, so far. He was the very first character I started heavily investing in, and easily one of (if not the most) I've invested on. I've tried a ton of skills on him, and ultimately landed on Brave being a must, with everything else being mostly interchangable.

I also like that the write-up is mostly feasible (if we're talking about Shield Pulse, which I never thought of). I'm not sure if he even needs the +Atk. Mine is neutral Atk, and he hardly ever misses out on raw 2HKO's (exceptions are like stronger Nowis, Effie and maybe a super-buffed Camus?). Mine is +Def/-Res, and it takes him a step further at being able to tank both ends decently. He's been my response to Reinhardt and Camus for a while now, but I'm also including my new Julia (since she doesn't have to commit on exposing herself).

You, sir, are a gentleman and a scholar. I look forward to testing this build with some small modifications. (I lack shield pulse and I have limited panic ploy fodder)

*Ok, I've been at this for awhile and I have no idea how to word my thoughts or summarise properly, so bear with me.*

I actually had a thought about Shield Pulse the other day. That it would be best to run a 2 turn CD special associated with the main attack range of the unit, and a 3 turn CD for the range the unit cannot attack at (with a Killer Effect).

This means, in Hawkeye's case, he can run Escutcheon in order to deal with close range damage when trading attacks, and Aegis with QP in order to block ranged damage instead of Sacred Cowl.
The main reasoning is that with QP, he can block the very first ranged attack in a fight, most likely gets doubled since he's slow, adding another charge, and then go fight melee ranged with Brave Axe to have Aegis charged again without wasting a charge. If he in the odd chance doesn't get doubled it will mean he might not get the second Aegis off in an Arena situation, but he's already blocked a vital hit and still has the option to kill a second unit and take a hit from anyone lagging in the back if worst comes to worst.

This does work better on a Killer/Slaying Weapon, but it should still be affective here.

What do you think?

Nothing less to expect from you InFinite. It's a very nice recommendation.

Myself, I've been thinking a lot about Shield Pulse as well. I think it can have 3 effective uses :

1) With a 2-charge special, a CD-reduction weapon (ie. Killer wps, Slaying wps, Hauteclere) and the ability to counter at the range affected by the Special (i.e. Minerva with Distant Counter and Sacred Cowl). This way, the unit can activate her Special EVERYTIME she takes a hit by the affected type of damage (except in brave wps attacks case).
Of course, there is some substitute to this combination (like Heavy Blade and Steady Breath, instead of a CD-reducing weapon).

2) With a 3-charge special on a slow and tanky unit, like Hawkeye with Aegis. Assuming he will always get doubled, his Aegis will still proc in the same fight, providing him an extra 20% damage reduction. However, it may get countered by Guard 3 since Aegis won't activate, and some brave wp users which will prefer 1 Aegis activation rather than 2 Sacred Cowl activation (with -5dmg from Shield Pulse twice).
As you stated, it can be fixed with the Quickened Pulse seal, but it may have had a better use on someone else in the team.

3) With Miracle and the Quickened Pulse seal, on a very fragile but fast unit that can either tank 1-hit or hit twice before getting hit (i.e. Brave sword+ Lon'zu). This way, he is sure to survive at least 1 hit, not getting doubled, or if he does get doubled, hopefully he surviving the 1st hit without using Miracle.

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In conclusion, I would recommend Sacred Cowl, to prevent Hawkeye to suffer from Guard 3 or additional brave wp users. While Aegis doesn't change any of his match-ups (he survives the same with Sacred Cowl, with less HP left tho).
Although, the meta allows him to run both Sacred Cowl and Aegis without any remarkable difference, Sacred Cowl doesn't require him to equip the precious Quickened Pulse seal, and even with Aegis activation in the 1st engagement, he is unlikely to survive another engagement once injured (as I said, he is more like a single-use swiss army knife).
But if the team has a healer then Aegis will be just as good, and even better (in some rare situation where he can't get healed back to full life).

Ah I see, I didn't check match-ups at all. You're also right about him taking up arguably the best Seal in the game, it is quite punishing. I don't think Guard is too popular, but it definitely does add to the argument of using Sacred Cowl instead.

Although, assuming a more exaggerated blue mage (no blade, no Rein) has 55 attack, they do 14 * 2 = 28, 28 * 0.75 = 21 damage to Hawkeye with Aegis, this means he will have 24 health left, allowing him to survive a single hit of 64 and two hits of 48 from a lancer, and with Aegis active again, he can tank a single hit of 132 and two hits 56 from a blue mage.

You're right he is a single use Army Knife since this won't matter against greens and colourless, but he will still be able to take a reasonable hit or hits from a blue (mage especially if he gets Aegis again). The downside is popular Blade Tome, Reinhardt and QP will render my maths useless. But assuming you remove their buff and both units don't have their special within two attacks you can potentially tank 2 blue units, and I know this is too situational, but I want my maths to matter lol. Perhaps if he has Fortify Def or Res haha?

Haha, I think you went a bit overboard with the maths.

To make it simple, Sacred Cowl enables him to tank any blue mage, up to 74atk (he will always get doubled). 74atk is about the max that Olwen will get in most cases. While with Aegis, he can tank up to 78atk (which is feasible by S!Corrin with atk boon and buffs+goad). But instead of Aegis, all you need to tank a fully buffed bladetome is a Panic Ploy activation or a Res buff.

As you can see, the difference between the 2 special isn't big, while 2CD is more reliable than 3CD. Even tho you might lose a special charge in some situation, a 20% extra damage reduction isn't worth the risk to not activate your Special at all ^^

PS. In your maths, you forgot to add the 5 dmg reduction from Shield Pulse 3.

Haha yeah, just a tad :P
But yeah you're right, didn't add the 5 damage (pretty disappointed in myself lol).

I actually realised that Sacred Cowl and Aegis does pretty much the same thing when I was doing the maths, I was so sure the extra 20% would help against doubles though. Anyways, I knew it was pretty situational from the beginning, I just assumed there might be a decent gap at least.

I really like this set but Shield Pulse is pretty hard to get for F2P players as only Saber has this skill and he is a 5 star.
Prehaps replacing it with Renewal for a budget build until you are able to get shield pulse.
I would have said the same about panic Ploy but Valter covers that now.

Shield Pulse is indeed the hardest skill to obtain in order to use this build. But the shield pulse is key in this build (it's the shell of Blastoise!), otherwise he won't survive any magic nuke because he will have to charge his Special first (it's achievable but lot less reliable).

If you don't have access to Shield Pulse, then try Quick Ripost as his B-skill and Iceberg as his Special. It won't survive the toptier meta anymore but he will still have some use in midtier meta.

Bowbreaker isn't exactly a bad option, assuming the possible rise in Lyn and Bridelia. A +Def Fury Hawkeye can tank a +10 Death Blow +Atk and Seal Bridelia, for example.

I'm almost there! Just need Panic Ploy in the C slot... Though I might deviate from the build now that upgraded seals are a thing.

So nice to see him in use!
In fact, I was wondering if the release of the seals could open new possibilities for Hawkeye, since he could benefit importantly from the Deflect Magic/Missiles seals or the Distant Def seal.

But the truth is : not really. Sacred Cowl + Shieldpulse already ensure his survival against both archers (even B!Lyn variants) and mages (except red).
The use of a Deflect seal could improve one of those 2 match-ups to the point of total immunity in some case. Especially the Deflect Magic to vanish the need of Panic prock on some Bladetome users and even survive some red mages.
The Distant Def seals can work as a hybrid option but it's generally inferior since it will save 12hp in most cases while Deflect seals will save a lot more Hp (arguably twice as much).

What can be use for sure is the Panic Ploy seal as an alternative to inherance, so this way you can also unlock his C-slot and use it for either Infantry Pulse or Def Ploy which are both very effective on Hawkeye.