Clarisse

• Weapon: Brave Bow+ / Firesweep Bow+
• Support: Ardent Sacrifice / Reposition
• Special: Luna
• A Slot: Swift Sparrow / Life and Death / Death Blow
• B Slot: Desperation / Swordbreaker / Cancel Affinity
• C Slot: Threaten Def / Varies
• Seal: Speed+3 / Attack+3

Standard maximum offense set for archers. Clarisse’s biggest weakness is her lack of ability to have IVs; as a result, her offensive firepower will be lower comparatively to other archers that normally run this set. However, the set alone is very powerful, and Clarisse is no exception. It just means that Clarisse very much wants support in the form of attack and speed buffs to reach full potential.

A single use of Ardent Sacrifice will drop Clarisse into Desperation range, allowing her to then start unleashing quad strikes. However, a movement assist like Reposition can be used instead, as Clarisse generally has enough bulk to withstand a single hit. Ardent Sacrifice is a near necessity if running Life and Death, as her bulk will drop to very dangerously low levels - 57 physical, and 52 magical, both of which will cause Clarisse to be liable to die in a single hit. Ardent Sacrifice removes the need for Clarisse to ever be hit entirely.

Swift Sparrow is ideal since it avoids damaging her bulk, but Life and Death can be used if paired with Ardent Sacrifice. Death Blow is a budget option, but only if running Brave Bow. With Swift Sparrow, Clarisse can land a quad on units with up to 28 speed, or 32 if Clarisse has a Hone Speed buff. Life and Death increases this to 29 and 33 respectively. Running Death Blow means Clarisse will only quad units with up to 24 speed, so quads should not be particularly expected to happen.

The key difference between Firesweep Bow+ and Brave Bow+ is that Brave Bow+ has more damage potential due to quad strikes, while Firesweep Bow+ is a much safer option due to negating the possibility of being counterattacked. In either case, Clarisse will want support in the form of speed and attack buffs to maximize her potential.

Swordbreaker improves Clarisse’s matchups against the very speedy and fairly tanky swords, such as Mia and Ayra. Cancel Affinity can be taken to give her the ability to take out Triangle Adept/Raven tome mages, and pairs very nicely with Firesweep Bow.

• Weapon: Clarisse’s Bow+ (+Spd)
• Support: Reposition
• Special: Moonbow
• A Slot: Swift Sparrow / Life and Death / Fury
• B Slot: Watersweep / Windsweep / Poison Strike
• C Slot: Savage Blow
• Seal: Savage Blow / Phantom Spd

With her native Clarisse’s Bow, Clarisse can run an excellent debuffing set. After refining, her bow will debuff both the target and any enemies within 2 spaces of the target with a hefty -5 Attack / -5 Speed debuff. Enemies within 2 spaces of the target also suffer an additional 7 or 14 points of damage from Savage Blow.

This build works well when paired with Watersweep or Windsweep, as either of these serve to keep Clarisse safe while applying her debuff. I recommend Watersweep to be able to safely target the highly dangerous dragons, as the combination of the debuff and chip damage from Savage Blow can both neuter their power and potentially knock them out of Quick Riposte range. Windsweep will keep Clarisse safe from Distant Counter units such as Ike and Hector.

With Swift Sparrow, Life and Death, or Fury in her A slot, Clarisse should have enough speed to activate either sweep skill on her opponent without Phantom Spd seal. However, it can still be used to practically guarantee a sweep activation, at the cost of losing 7 chip damage.

This build is best paired with a unit with a Firesweep weapon, as applying mass amounts of chip damage makes you vulnerable to activating Vantage for enemy units.