Groom Marth

Groom Marth has a pretty OK statline, and his original skills and weapon make him an incredible Buff Bot with a budget build.

Weapon: Ardent Service+ (+Defense).
Assist: Rally Spd/Def.
Special: Bonfire.
A skill: Armored Blow. To make his Bonfire hit hard!
B skill: Wings of Mercy. In his base kit, to warp around and buff his friends.
C skill: Drive Atk. More buffs!
Seal: Spur Atk. Even more buffs!

A Bladetome-oriented support build for mixed teams. Ardent Service+ is refined for Spd in this case.

While this build can be run by any axe unit due to Ardent Service being inheritable, Groom Marth's nature as a fast Axe Cavalier means he is potentially the best man (pardon the pun) for the job. Ardent Service+ (+Spd) and Fury give him 42 natural Spd, which is unheard of among Cavalry, and with 52 Atk after Ardent Service's Atk buff, he will cut through most Blue and some Green units as easily as he cuts the wedding cake.

While this is good on its own, the main draw of the build is the quadruple-helping of buff skills. If he starts the turn beside a unit, they gain a respectable +16 spread among their stats, +20 if he decides to use Rally Speed. This is incredible on defensive units and amazing on Bladetome-users, and a rare case of enabling a Bladetome-user without needing to run movement-based buffs (Fortify/Hone Armor, etc.).

The B Skill is variable. Chill Atk 3 is an expensive-but-cool option if you have a Bridal Ninian to sacrifice for it, as it further helps the units buffed with the Tactic skills to shrug off damage. Desperation 3 is also great for a more offensive approach, and is helped by Fury 3 getting him into the proper HP range. His inherent Wings of Mercy 3 isn't as impressive as the other two options, but has its uses in maps where Cavalry have trouble getting around.

Since Groom Marth will be doubling a lot, it's feasible to replace Bonfire with Ignis if you're so inclined. Res Tactic 3 and Def Tactic 3 can also be swapped now that both skills exist as Sacred Seals, depending on who you're willing to sacrifice for Skill Inheritance (Shiro or Legendary Ike for Def Tactic; L'Arachel, Spring Sharena or Canas for Res Tactic).

Build name: Panic Attack

Set skills:
•Legions axe+ (spd)
•Watersweep 3/Windsweep 3

Flexible skills:
•Assist
•Special
•A skill (needs to boost speed)
•C skill
•S seal (preferably close defense 3)

Team comp priority: Full Horse Emblem>Horse/flier Emblem>Horse Infantry

My (current) team and their key skills:
•Brave Lyn (Brave bow+/Heavy Blade 3/Moonbow. Main damage dealer)
•Ursula (Hone cavalry. Extra anti-horse support, as well as magic wall)
•Cain (just being used as filler)

Role: This is a support build for Marth, focused primarily to counter enemy buffs. Killing should be left to the other teammates, unless baiting blues.
When fighting buffed enemies, Marth should only initiate on enemy dragons and mages if using watersweep (If you want to focus on melee debuffing entirely, switch to windsweep, though this makes dragon emblem hard to counter without Falchion/Naga users) while defending against melee threats (to preform his doubles).

If You’re Happy, I’m Happy (Speedy BuffBot)
Tempest: No IVs
Weapon: Ardent Service+ (+Spd)
Support: Reposition / Swap
Special: Luna / Draconic Aura
A: Swift Sparrow 2 / Life and Death 3
B: Guard 3 / Desperation 3 / Cancel Affinity 3
C: Fortify Calvary / Fortify Def 3 / Fortify Res 3
S: Hone Spd 3

The new, first Marth alt is looking dashing as ever in his white suit and groomed appearance (pun entirely intended). This particular build focuses on Marth’s default weapon and how it can be used both supportively and offensively.

Tempest Trial units have the blessing of being free to obtain units, but also have the curse of not having IVs and having limited merges. So there aren’t any boons or banes to talk about with this Marth.

Since this build is focused on the Groom’s default weapon, refining his Ardent Service+ would do wonders for his in combat abilities. Also, because the new Groom has the highest speed of all the Calvary users currently in the game, having a +Spd refined Ardent Service+ brings his base Spd up to 39, which would allow him to double most units in the game even without any hone, spur, or drive buffs. With using Ardent Service+, if Marth is next to an ally at the start of the player phase, both units get a Hone Atk 3 effect until the start of the next turn, which gives Marth a pretty decent boost to his Atk in battle for the duration of both phases.

Because we will have each of the four stats, Atk, Spd, Def, and Res, covered by his other skills, Groom Marth’s support action isn’t bound to any Rally skill to fill any gaps in his buffing; it’s free to be whatever it needs to be, whether it be movement skills or healing/health-transfer skills.

To complement Groom Marth’s stellar speed, Swift Sparrow 2 gives him an even higher speed when he initiates combat, which he always should do anyways because his enemy phase presence isn’t quite outstanding. If Marth started the player phase next to an ally, that in combination with Swift Sparrow raises Marth’s stats to an amazing total bonus of Atk +8 and Spd +4 during player phase combat. Using Ardent Service+ (+Spd) and Swift Sparrow together, raises Marth’s Atk and Spd to awesome and deadly heights of 53 and 43, respectively.

For Marth’s B skill, he can do things a couple different ways. If we’re continuing on the path of “hit everything as hard as possible until it dies”, we can give him Desperation 3 to let him attack twice, one attack immediately after the other, if he doubles, which he most often will. Letting Marth attack without retaliation let’s him double and kill while low on health, making it so that other units can come to aid him with less danger of nearby enemies. Alternatively, he can also run Guard 3 quite well. Guard helps Marth to survive some encounters he wouldn’t live through otherwise so that he can continue to provide buffs to his teammates, but in doing so, it would be at the cost of the offensive presence that Desperation gives him. If you need him to counter more types than just Blue, you could also give him Cancel Affinity 3 so he could feasibly handle Red as well as Blue, but that’s not the best option in most situations, it’d practically only be for specific instances.

If Marth is using Ardent Service+ in a Calvary team, his C skill of choice should be Fortify Calvary, no questions asked. Giving Marth Fortify Calvary lets him give +6 to both defenses when he gives Atk +4 to himself and his Calvary ally. If he’s using Ardent Service+ outside of a Calvary team, Fortify Res 3 or Fortify Def 3 still work and cooperate very well with his weapon and it’s evolved version of Hone Atk 3.

For the final touch, the cherry on top, the dolls to top off the wedding cake, I gave him the Hone Spd 3 seal. This, combined with Ardent Service+ and Fortify Calvary, allows him to buff adjacent allied Calvary units by Atk/Spd +4 and Def/Res +6, possibly the highest field buff that a single unit can dish out in the game. Otherwise, the only other seals that really fit this build would be standard stat increasing seals, preferably Spd+3 or Atk+3.

If this Build is utilized correctly, then if the Calvary unit that Marth is paired with also has Fortify Calvary, the pair would be practically unstoppable. They’d both have Atk +4, Def/Res +6, Marth would have his already insane speed of 39, and the other half of the pair would have Spd +4; their stats would be so high, they’d be able to go toe-to-toe with some of the more powerful armored and dragon units in the game.

Many people discounted Groom Marth, and his weapon that seems underwhelming at a glance, but give him some attention, and he’ll show you all the loyalty, affection, and success you could ask for.

P.S. Watch out for practically every red unit out there, he really doesn’t like them...
P.S.S. Unless you decided to give him Cancel Affinity, then he should be fine dealing with reds

This build is primarily centred around a support role, in particular for buffing a cavalry Blade tome mage. With Ardent Service, Hone Spd seal and Fortify Cavalry he can provide +4/+4/+6/+6., giving a total of 20 points to when adjacent to a cavalry ally. This goes well with offensive blade cavalry such as Eirika (SM) and Olwen (WT), making Marth the "perfect partner" in every sense of the phrase. Requiring only one unit for these buffs lends this set to a mixed team.

Fury is used as the A slot to compliment his balanced statline, giving a much appreciated boost in all of his stats.

For the B slot, there are a few options. Renewal is chosen to provide some sustainability and negate the HP reduction of Fury. However this can be changed to Quick Riposte to help Marth on enemy phase as he is not offensively inclined enough to excel on player phase, or Chill Spd/Chill Atk for an easily accessible debuff. Wings of Mercy can also pair well with Desperation Blade mages as he can keep next to them to provide buffs.

Fortify Cavalry is required in the C slot for this set to provide the majority of the buffs.

The assist is flexible and dependent on preference and the needs of your team. Reposition is universally useful, although you can opt for Reciprocal Aid or Ardent Sacrifice for some healing utility.

Finally, the special chosen is Bonfire, as it provides reliable damage off of his 33 Defence after Fury.