Hector

• Preferred IV: +ATK or +DEF / -SPD
• Weapon: Berserk Armads / Armads
• Assist: Swap
• Special: Ignis / Bonfire
• Passive A: Distant Counter
• Passive B: Bold Fighter
• Passive C: Armor March / Panic Ploy / Varies with Team
• Sacred Seal: Quick Riposte / Armored Boots / Distant Def / Close Def

The introduction of the armor-exclusive skill Bold Fighter turned all armor units into monsters; Hector is particularly strong with it. Both his original Armads and the upgraded Berserk Armads can work well with this setup, though with fairly significant differences.

The choice of Special is entirely dependent on weapon choice: choose Ignis if running Berserk Armads and Bonfire if running regular Armads. It’s important to maintain a 3 cooldown on Hector’s Special so that he can always activate it when attacking an enemy that can counter with Bold Fighter, or when doubled with Quick Riposte (or regular Armads).

Berserk Armads has a significant damage advantage over regular Armads, but there is a good reason to consider running regular Armads with this setup: it frees up Hector’s Sacred Seal to run something other than Quick Riposte. Hector with Armads is unique among armors in that he can maintain the ability to double on both phases while also running Armored Boots; this makes him the only armored unit that can be easily run outside of armor teams and with little support. Alternatively, he can opt to run Distant Def or Close Def to increase his tankiness against the respective enemies.

• Preferred IV: +ATK or +DEF / -SPD
• Weapon: Berserk Armads / Armads
• Assist: Swap
• Special: Bonfire / Ignis / Moonbow
• Passive A: Distant Counter
• Passive B: Special Fighter / Guard / Wary Fighter
• Passive C: Ward Armor / Flexible
• Sacred Seal: Quick Riposte / Quickened Pulse / Distant Def / Close Def

One of the biggest consequences of the Special Fighter skill is that now any armor can mimic one of the greatest strengths of the Steady Breath/Distant Counter combo, which is to be able to maintain a 1-2 range for counterattacks combined with an accelerated Special charge rate. Hector is exceptional at this; while he is surpassed by his seasonal variant (Hector (LA)) in terms of utilizing Berserk Armads, he can also utilize his base, unrefined Armads; demonstrating once again that he is immune to powercreep, Hector’s regular Armads is fantastic with Special Fighter due to the built-in Quick Riposte 2 effect allowing him to utilize something else for his Sacred Seal.

That being said, it’s hard to get away from the raw effectiveness of Berserk Armads. Due to the ever-increasing offensive potential of newer units, it’s surprisingly easy for Hector to drop into the 75% HP threshold to activate the Wrath effect of Berserk Armads, resulting in a big damage boost. Furthermore, the -1 Special cooldown allows him to repeatedly activate Bonfire on every counterattack (or Ignis once with the Quickened Pulse Seal), while he’ll need to utilize Moonbow to mimic the same effect (or Bonfire with the Quickened Pulse Seal), with the option of simply utilizing Ignis and waiting for his second attack to activate it.

Without Special Fighter, Hector’s options for this build diminish quite a bit. Guard is more readily available than Special Fighter, but it is a significant drop in performance in comparison due to a stricter HP threshold as well as lacking the accelerated Special charge rate. If using Guard, then Hector can run Ignis with Berserk Armads or Bonfire with Armads to activate his Special on his second counterattack. Moonbow is a decent alternative option with Berserk Armads to allow Hector to activate his Special on every counterattack. Wary Fighter is also a decent alternative B skill, though it can be a bit risky since there are numerous ways for enemies to bypass it (such as Bold Fighter). If using Wary Fighter, then Moonbow is Hector’s best bet with Berserk Armads. If wanting to combine Wary Fighter with regular Armads, then there is a potential unique synergy that is detailed below for the Omnibreaker build.

For Seals, Quick Riposte is a must if utilizing Berserk Armads to ensure that Hector can make follow-up attacks. Alternatively, Quickened Pulse is a good option to give Hector a big burst of damage by accelerating his first Special activation. If utilizing Special Fighter with regular Armads, then Distant Def or Close Def are also decent options to increase Hector’s overall bulk.

• Preferred IV: +ATK / -HP or -SPD
• Weapon: Berserk Armads
• Assist: Swap
• Special: Bonfire / Ignis
• Passive A: Distant Counter / Steady Breath / Warding Breath
• Passive B: Wrath
• Passive C: Threaten Def / Ward Armor / Varies
• Sacred Seal: Quickened Pulse

This build focuses entirely on the fact that Hector has Wrath built into Berserk Armads, and that it stacks with the B skill version as well. In other words, once Hector reaches the 75% HP threshold, he will be getting -2 Special cooldown at the start of each turn, as well as a whopping +20 damage to his Specials. This build’s reliance on reaching the 75% HP threshold means that a -HP bane is optimal. This is an identical build to the one also recommended on Hector (LA)’s page; the only difference is that Hector (LA) has better stats than regular Hector, but both can perform spectacularly with this setup.

Thanks to the -1 Special cooldown on Berserk Armads, Hector can reduce Bonfire's cooldown to 2. With the Quickened Pulse Seal, it will be have 1 cooldown at the start of a map, meaning that Hector only needs to get hit once to activate his Special. When within the 75% HP threshold, he will have Bonfire active at the start of each turn.

An alternative is replacing Distant Counter with either Steady Breath or Warding Breath, and running Ignis instead. With the Quickened Pulse Seal, Ignis will have a 2 cooldown and will activate after Hector is hit once thanks to Steady Breath or Warding Breath. This setup loses the ability to have the Special charged at the start of every turn (it will be every other turn instead), but the trade-off is that Ignis with +20 damage will KO basically everything in the game.

• Preferred IV: +ATK or +DEF / -SPD
• Weapon: Armads
• Assist: Swap
• Special: Bonfire / Moonbow
• Passive A: Distant Counter
• Passive B: Wary Fighter
• Passive C: Threaten Def / Flexible
• Sacred Seal: Quick Riposte

One thing completely unique to Hector is his ability to run multiple instances of Quick Riposte without taking up his B slot thanks to Armads and the Quick Riposte Seal. This allows him to run Wary Fighter; this particular interaction means that Hector is guaranteed to double on Enemy Phase while his opponent cannot, with the exception of opponents that have skills that allow them to double regardless such as Axebreaker or Bold Fighter. In these situations, the opponent can double if they outspeed Hector, but Hector will still be able to double unless they prevent him from doing so (such as with Axebreaker).

One of the downsides of this setup is that while Hector minimizes incoming damage by preventing enemies from doubling, he does have difficulty charging his Special: Bonfire will not activate until Hector’s second combat. If one wants Hector to activate his Special every combat for the damage boost, then Moonbow is a good option.