Eliwood (LA)

• Weapon: Slaying Lance+ (+Def/Res)

• Assist: Swap / Pivot

• Special: Ignis or Glacies / Bonfire or Iceberg

• Passive A: Distant Counter / Breath Skills

• Passive B: Bold Fighter

• Passive C: Armor March / Panic Ploy / Goad Armor / Flexible

• Sacred Seal: Quickened Pulse / Quick Riposte

This build aims to take advantage of Eliwood’s status as an armored unit in order to make him a powerful combatant during both Player and Enemy Phase. Slaying Lance pairs well with this playstyle, as its cooldown acceleration will allow Eliwood to activate powerful Specials more frequently as well as adding to his overall bulk. Thanks to his perfectly balanced defensive stats, Eliwood can choose whether he wants to invest into his physical or magical bulk, making both Defense and Resistance suitable refinement options for his weapon. With this, both Ignis and Glacies make for strong choices of Special thanks to their consistent damage and activation rate.

The focal point of this build is the choice between Distant Counter or a Breath skill. Distant Counter grants Eliwood massive coverage by allowing him to retaliate against ranged opponents while any choice of Breath skill make him much stronger in handling melee threats thanks to the increased Special cooldown charge as well as the stat boost that they proice. In this case, Bonfire/Iceberg become the Special of choice, as Eliwood will be able to activate them on every single counterattack.

Bold Fighter is essential in giving Eliwood a powerful Player Phase presence. Not only does it guarantee his follow-up attack on initiation, the Special cooldown acceleration it provides allows Eliwood to potentially activate Ignis/Glacies every single round of combat. Eliwood’s exceptional Attack coupled with the sheer power of Ignis/Glacies allows him to blast through just about any opponent he initiates on.

Since armored units are naturally restricted to one-movement, it can sometimes be difficult to get Eliwood into a position in which he can initiate on his opponent. It is highly recommended that he or a teammate run the skill Armor March so that he has the movement to effectively utilize the Player Phase potential of Bold Fighter. Thanks to his high HP, Panic Ploy also makes for a great choice of C skill by providing a massive advantage over teams that like to use Hone/Fortify buffs. Otherwise, the C slot can be replaced as needed to suit the team.

Finally, both the Quick Riposte and Quickened Pulse Sacred Seals are key in maximizing Eliwood’s Enemy Phase potential. Quick Riposte is a strong choice that guarantees Eliwood’s follow-up attack as well as his Special activation when initiated on at the cost of being more susceptible to follow-up attacks. Meanwhile, Quickened Pulse lowers the initial cooldown of Ignis/Glacies to 2. When combined with Steady/Warding Breath, Eliwood can activate these two Specials on his very first counterattack, allowing him to take out opponents in a single hit before they have the chance to double him. In particular, this can be the deciding factor in his matchups against Fallen Hardin and Ephraim.

• Weapon: Slaying Lance+ (+Def/Res) / Berkut’s Lance+ (+Res)

• Assist: Swap / Pivot

• Special: Glimmer / Ignis or Glacies

• Passive A: Distant Counter

• Passive B: Wrath / Vengeful Fighter

• Passive C: Panic Ploy / Atk Smoke / Def Smoke / Goad Armor / Flexible

• Sacred Seal: Distant Def / Close Def

This build focuses solely on Eliwood’s combat in the Enemy Phase, particularly against ranged units. In addition to Slaying Lance, one can choose to have Eliwood prioritize on tanking magical damage by running a Resistance-refined Berkut’s Lance instead. While this does come at the expense of a higher Special cooldown, it grants him a whopping +11 Resistance when initiated on.  

Thanks to the Special acceleration granted by Slaying Lance, Eliwood can bring the cooldown of Glimmer only 1. This allows him to activate his Special on his counterattack every single time, making it incredibly effective in combating ranged units. In practice, this allows Eliwood to kill tome users such as Nino, Rhajat, and Halloween Henry who may otherwise survive with a sliver of health and potentially take out Eliwood on their follow-up attack. Wrath makes for a fantastic choice of B skill with this playstyle. By gaining an additional +10 damage upon Special activation, Eliwood will be able to swing even more matchups in his favor.

Alternatively, one can choose to run Vengeful Fighter in order to more effectively combat melee opponents. Not only does Vengeful Fighter guarantee Eliwood’s follow-up attack in the Enemy Phase, it also has the additional benefit of Special cooldown acceleration, allowing him to potentially activate Ignis/Glacies every single round of combat.

Once again, Panic Ploy makes for a fantastic choice of C skills due to the massive advantage it provides against opponents that use Hone/Fortify buffs. Smoke kills such as Atk Smoke and Def Smoke are also great choices. Atk Smoke makes Eliwood a better overall tank by reducing the damage of opponents around him after combat while Def Smoke boosts own damage against the affected targets. A good team-synergistic option is Goad Armor, as it allows Eliwood to be a benefactor on an armor-centric team.

Last but not least, both the Close Def and Distant Def Sacred Seals complement this Enemy Phase-oriented playstyle perfectly by reducing damage taken from physical and ranged opponents respectively when initiated on.

• Weapon: Brave Lance+

• Assist: Swap / Pivot

• Special: Draconic Aura / Luna

• Passive A: Death Blow / Fire Boost

• Passive B: Lancebreaker

• Passive C: Goad Armor / Flexible

• Sacred Seal: Attack +3 / Armored Boots

For those that aren’t looking to heavily invest, this cheap skill-set aims to make Eliwood a formidable Player Phase unit.

Brave Lance combined with Death Blow or Eliwood’s native Fire Boost grants him a significant boost to the power behind his initiation and allows him to ORKO his opponent much more reliably. For his Special, Draconic Aura makes for a very effective option, as it scales off of Eliwood’s high Attack stat. Luna also makes for a great choice of Special, particularly against bulkier enemies. Since the aforementioned Specials have a cooldown of 3, they synergize extremely well with Brave Lance and will almost always be ready to activate on his second initiation. For his B skill, Lancebreaker grants Eliwood longevity against lance units in both Player and Enemy Phase as well as allowing him to bust through particularly bulky users such as Fallen Hardin and Gwendolyn who Eliwood may have trouble taking out in a single round of combat otherwise.

The C skill can be anything that suits Eliwood’s team, though Armor Buffs such as Goad Armor is preferred if Eliwood is being run on a team alongside other armored units. Moving on to Sacred Seals, Attack +3 is a good choice in order to maximize Eliwood’s damage output with the Brave Lance. Armored Boots also makes for a solid option, as a Brave Lance set requires him to initiate on his opponent which can be tricky due to the low movement of armored units.