Fallen Robin (M)

• Preferred IV: +ATK or +SPD / -SPD or -HP
• Weapon: Expiration
• Assist: Swap
• Special: Aether / Bonfire
• Passive A: Steady Breath / Warding Breath / Atk/Def Bond / Fury
• Passive B: Bold Fighter
• Passive C: Armor March / Panic Ploy / Flxible
• Sacred Seal: Quick Riposte / Quickened Pulse

As both an armor unit and a dragon, Fallen Robin (M) is capable of utilizing the greatest strengths of both archetypes: adaptive damage from dragon breath weapons (targeting the lower of a ranged foe’s Defense or Resistance), built-in Distant Counter, and Bold Fighter. Add in his ability to receive synergistic buffs from both dragon and armor allies; the result is a unit with incredible power and versatility.

For IVs, the ideal sets are +ATK/-SPD or +SPD/-HP. The former will work in nearly any team composition, while the latter is entirely reliant on receiving powerful Speed buffs like Hone Armor, Hone Dragons, and Goad Armor. The goal is to stack enough Speed to avoid doubles; this is actually feasible despite Fallen Robin’s low base Speed thanks to the power of team buffs.

The choice between Aether and Bonfire depends on the rest of the build. Aether works best when combined with Steady Breath or Warding Breath to minimize the charge time. Bonfire works best with Steady Breath or Warding Breath in a Speed stacking setup, but is otherwise only a better option than Aether if not running Steady Breath or Warding Breath.

Steady Breath or Warding Breath are roughly equal in terms of effectiveness. Steady Breath maximizes Fallen Robin’s excellent physical tankiness, while Warding Breath turns him into a strong mixed tank. Atk/Def Bond and Fury are both options that can boost Fallen Robin’s stats on both Player Phase and Enemy Phase; Atk/Def Bond is preferred due to Fury’s 6 post-combat damage negatively impacting Fallen Robin’s bulk. Keep in mind that Atk/Def Bond can be hard to utilize on Player Phase when attacking with Bold Fighter, which may be a good enough to use Fury regardless.

Bold Fighter is key to this build; combining it with the Quick Riposte seal allows Fallen Robin to have guaranteed doubles on both phases, regardless of Speed. Add in Steady Breath or Warding Breath, and now Robin is able to not only always double, but also enjoy a significant increase in special charge rate (on both phases!). Alternatively, the Quickened Pulse seal allows Fallen Robin to instantly kill a huge number of enemies after getting hit by them once, assuming that he is running Steady Breath or Warding Breath. This allows him to bypass an enemy's Bold Fighter, or almost completely reduce damage from a unit like Ayra or Mia.

Armor March is very important to have for this build. Fallen Robin doesn’t necessarily need to run the skill himself, but having the extra movement is vital to allow him to consistently close gaps in order to engage enemies on Player Phase. Fallen Robin is a decent user of Panic Ploy (but only if he doesn’t have a -HP bane); while he will struggle to land it on the high HP dragon and armor units, he can reliably have more HP than the a lot of most important targets: cavalry, Blade tome mages, and fliers.

• Preferred IV: +ATK or +SPD or +DEF / -SPD or -HP
• Weapon: Expiration
• Assist: Swap
• Special: Aether / Ignis
• Passive A: Atk/Def Bond / Close Def / Distant Def / Fury
• Passive B: Vengeful Fighter
• Passive C: Ward Dragons / Flexible
• Sacred Seal: Distant Def / Close Def / Atk Smoke / Panic Ploy

Another huge benefit that Fallen Robin gains from his status as an armored dragon is access to Vengeful Fighter - in his base kit! This alone gives him an edge over other dragons, as they are forced to rely on the strictly weaker Quick Riposte skill.

For IVs, the main consideration is either to dump Speed with a -SPD bane, or to maximize it with a +SPD boon along with a lot of buff support from the team. For a Speed stacking build, it is best to run Fallen Robin in a team with other dragon or armor units for their powerful buffs (such as Hone Dragons, Hone Armor, and Goad Armor).

Aether works quite well with a Speed stacking build; with Vengeful Fighter, Fallen Robin will get exactly 5 charges in combat where he only gets attacked once, and is able to counterattack twice (assuming the enemy initiated). This allows him to have Aether prepared for immediate activation on his next initiation, maximizing the healing and potentially allowing him to kill the second enemy in a single hit. Ignis is otherwise ideal for a non-Speed stacking build, as getting doubled will allow Fallen Robin to activate it when he is initiated on.

Atk/Def Bond is an excellent skill as it gives a large +5 boost to Fallen Robin’s two most important stats (Attack and Defense). It is also very easy to utilize on an Enemy Phase oriented build like this one, due to more flexibility in positioning. Close Def and Distant Def are both strong options for maximizing Fallen Robin’s tankiness; the choice between the two is mostly up to preference. Finally, Fury is a budget option that will provide a great boost to all of Fallen Robin’s stats; the recoil damage is detrimental, but it is someone mitigated by the fact that Vengeful Fighter has a rather generous HP threshold of 50% compared to the 70% for Quick Riposte.

For seals, Distant Def and Close Def both increase Fallen Robin’s tankiness further; again, the choice between the two is preference (though having at least one Distant Def in the build is very handy to enable Fallen Robin to easily handle both Brave Lyn and Reinhardt while minimizing damage sustained). Atk Smoke is great on Distant Counter units as the debuff can allow them to take on multiple enemies at a time. Finally, Panic Ploy is a decent option to help shut down buffs such as those from cavalry and flier teams or Blade tome mages.