Kana (M)

• Weapon: Lightning Breath (+Def) / Lightning Breath (+Spd) / Water Breath (+Def)
• Assist: Reposition / Swap / Flexible
• Special: Aether / Bonfire / Luna
• Passive A: Steady Breath
• Passive B: Quick Riposte / Renewal / Vantage
• Passive C: Fortify Dragons / Def Wave / Atk Wave / Drive Skill
• Sacred Seal: Close Def / Distant Def / Quick Riposte

As a dragon unit with passable Defense and Attack, it logically follows that Kana would be able to run the typical Steady Breath Enemy Phase build.

Kana doesn’t currently have access to IVs, so that makes for an easy choice of neutral. This does, however, make his weapon refine a bit more pivotal, as it will primarily inform what purpose Kana will serve in a team composition. In arena tiers that primarily see highly merged armors carrying Bold Fighter, Ayra, and Karla, foregoing Kana’s good Speed to instead increase his Defense helps him perform better in these matchups -- denying these doubles is difficult anyways. In lower arena tiers, though, it may be worthwhile to bring Kana’s Speed to 36 to prevent follow-ups from decently fast threats like Marth. Lightning Breath allows Kana to counterattack from any distance, and the adaptive damage effect that its refine grants allows him to be a serious threat even to Resistance-heavy archers, mages, and daggers. Alternatively, in higher Arena tiers where mages, archers, and daggers are rare, his native Water Breath is an option that grants him some extra Defense and Resistance at the cost of forgoing the ability to counterattack at-range.

Assists can vary. Reposition allows Kana to provide ferry a teammate to safety while getting into position to tank, while Swap serves a similar function. For arena score purposes and additional buff flexibility, a Dual Rally+ can be used here.

As for Specials, odd-numbered cooldowns should be  selected because of Steady Breath’s cooldown acceleration. Since Lightning Breath adds one cooldown to any Special, odd-numbered Specials will become even-numbered and vice-versa. Selecting an odd-numbered Special, then, prevents cooldowns from being wasted and grants maximum effectiveness. Aether is preferred because of its potent offensive and healing effects, but Bonfire or Luna can be used (at the cost of sacrificing sustain) if it is unavailable.

Quick Riposte is Kana’s ideal B skill, as it grants him guaranteed follow-ups during Enemy Phase provided he is within its HP threshold. When used with the Distant or Close Def Seal, Kana becomes a potent tank against either ranged or melee foes. If used in conjunction with the Quick Riposte Seal, Renewal is a high-scoring option that grants Kana some extra sustain, while Vantage is an alternative that may allow Kana to unexpectedly take down an enemy.

Fortify Dragons is Kana’s native C-slot, and can be an incredibly useful tool in teams composed of two or more dragon units. For self-sufficiency, Even or Odd Def or Atk Wave are great options. If Kana is deployed without dragon allies, a Drive skill of one’s choice provides adequate team support.

•  Weapon: Dark Breath (+Def) / Water Breath (+Def)
• Assist: Reposition / Swap / Flexible
• Special: Noontime / Moonbow / Glimmer
• Passive A: Fury
• Passive B: Windsweep
• Passive C: Res Smoke / Threaten Res / Def Smoke / Threaten Def
• Sacred Seal: Phantom Spd

This build seeks to turn Kana into a deceptively annoying threat to melee units.

Dark Breath with a Defense refine used in conjunction with Res Smoke / Threaten Res / Def Smoke / Threaten Def gives Kana incredible utility, allowing him to heavily debuff 3 stats at once. Water Breath is a serviceable alternative, offering Kana a further boost to his defenses on Enemy Phase, though it offers no debuffing utility. Fury gives his stats a flat, permanent +3 boost, but perhaps most importantly brings his Speed to 36. This, along with the Phantom Speed seal, gives him 46 effective Speed in regards to Windsweep’s activation condition, which is more than enough to activate Windsweep against a vast majority of units.

Noontime is the Special of choice. Although it often does not see a lot of use in the current meta, the self-sustain it grants Kana makes him surprisingly bulky. If the thought of using a healing Special fills one with revulsion, Moonbow and Glimmer are effective choices that simply boost Kana’s damage output.

Windsweep allows Kana to safely initiate on any unit with less than 46 Speed without worry of being counterattacked. When combined with Dark Breath’s debuffs and a Resistance or Defense debuff in his C-slot, Kana can enable his allies to perform a clean sweep of the enemy team or can easily survive an onslaught from his foes on Enemy Phase.

• Weapon: Water Breath (+Def)
• Assist: Reciprocal Aid / Ardent Sacrifice
• Special: Bonfire
• Passive A: Brazen Def/Res / Triangle Adept
• Passive B: Vantage
• Passive C: Fortify Dragons / Threaten Res / Threaten Atk / Drive Skill
• Sacred Seal: Quick Riposte

Although slightly gimmicky, this set seeks to use the tools Kana has at his disposal -- those being his native skills and balanced stats -- to create an effective but low-investment build.

Water Breath (along with a Defense Refine) help Kana take advantage of his natural bulk on Enemy Phase. Along with the Quick Riposte seal, this weapon allows Kana to bait red units fairly easily, dealing heavy damage to them in return if not KOing them outright. Bonfire is easily accessible and performs reasonably well given the boost to Kana’s Defense refinement grants -- not to mention that its damage dealt is less variable than Dragon Fang.

Brazen Def / Res is an interesting tool, giving Kana a hefty Defense/Resistance buff once he’s below 80% HP, making him incredibly hard to KO. Combined with Quick Riposte (which grants him guaranteed follow-ups when he is initiated on and he has more than 70% HP) and Vantage, (which allows him to attack first when initiated on with less than 75% HP) Kana becomes incredibly dangerous to attack on Enemy Phase whether he has been damaged or not. Triangle Adept is an option that allows Kana to easily check most physical reds, even those which deal effective damage to him.

Reciprocal Aid synergizes with Kana’s A Slot, B Slot, and Seal, allowing him to either use an ally as an HP infusion to re-activate Quick Riposte or swap HP with a damaged ally to activate Brazen Def/Res and/or Vantage. Ardent Sacrifice also will activate Brazen Def/Res, though it is slightly less flexible as it cannot heal Kana as well.

Fortify Dragons is an excellent C skill if Kana is being used in a team with one or more other dragons, but Threaten Res, Threaten Atk, or any Drive skill can provide adequate support if that is not the case.