Lucius

• Preferred IV: +SPD or +RES / -HP or -DEF
• Weapon: Dazzling Gravity+ / Dazzling Slow+
• Assist: Recover / Physic
• Special: Miracle / Imbue
• Passive A: Atk/Spd Bond / Atk/Spd 2 / Speed +3
• Passive B: Wrathful Staff
• Passive C: Spd Ploy / Res Ploy / Odd Atk Wave
• Sacred Seal: Res Ploy / Speed +3 / Distant Def

Lucius is one of the more flexible healers, thanks to his decent Attack and Speed stats, offset by his impressive Resistance. He is capable of hitting his opponent with massive debuffs via Ploy skills and then baiting or attacking them into an advantageous situation. This Lucius should never be attacked, and so his HP and Defense are negligible; his Resistance however, is focused on slightly to improve his chances at landing his important Ploy skills. Speed is generally preferable in the long run, unless you anticipate running up against many opponents with a Res stat higher than 35.

The idea here is to increase Lucius’ Speed and Attack to give him more opportunity to double and do as much damage possible. He won’t be counterattacked due to the Dazzling effect on his staff and if he’s Repositioned away by an ally, he cannot be pursued due to the Gravity debuff on all of his opponents. This utility alone makes him incredible at crowd controlling the enemy team, particularly if up against a highly mobile cavalry team or a team of armor units with Armor March.

Atk/Spd Bond is both a rare skill and difficult to set up properly, but due to healer inheritance limitations, it’s the only significant stat boosting A slot that Lucius can equip. Due to this, he needs an ally near him at all times in order to give him a nice +5/+5 to Attack/Speed, which helps his middling stats very well.

Be careful of using this Lucius against an opponent with Wings of Mercy, of course: if he can’t finish the kill then there’s a chance that his Gravity will be negated due to a dancer with the skill. Otherwise, he’s fantastic at offering your team the space to breathe when confronted by a highly mobile team, and he pairs very well with Player Phase units.

• Preferred IV: +ATK or +RES / -HP or -DEF
• Weapon: Wrathful Fear+ / Wrathful Slow+
• Assist: Recover / Physic
• Special: Miracle
• Passive A: Atk/Res Bond / Brazen Def/Res / Atk/Res 2
• Passive B: Quick Riposte
• Passive C: Res Ploy / Atk Ploy / Odd Atk Wave
• Sacred Seal: Distant Def / Atk Ploy / Fortress Res

This Lucius disregards his Player Phase utility entirely to work properly in the Enemy Phase, foregoing the Dazzling effect in favor of picking up Quick Riposte. He is lethal to cocky mages who think that healers are easy targets, as this set boasts a Resistance of 46 at neutral- 49 with a boon. Coincidentally enough, his Attack also hits 49, with the added benefit of an Atk Smoke debuff to his attacker and surrounding enemies.

The concept here is simple: debuff your opponent through Res Ploy and then bait out any magical target while counterattacking twice. Lucius will often win duels against the mages due to his sheer hardiness and massive debuff potential.

Like his first set, his Enemy Phase set revolves around having a nearby ally for Atk/Res bond to activate, however this is much easier to set up for an Enemy Phase unit. Brazen Def/Res is his secondary option, which requires him to be damaged before it activates, but offers him a very nice Resistance buff that makes it nearly impossible to drain the rest of his HP through magic-based attacks.

Because many mages are competing in the 40-45 tier of Speed, it’s better to just give up on his Speed entirely in order to pick up Quick Riposte, a skill which will ensure that Lucius hits twice with his impressive damage, vastly increasing his odds of a KO.

When selecting weapons, Slow over Fear is a personal choice: Slow will not benefit Lucius himself much, but is a massive help for his Player Phase teammates. Conversely, Fear will help Lucius himself to tank even further (but will not stack with Atk Ploy if you choose to run that) Fear also may not be as useful for his teammates if they have Player Phase builds. Both of these have higher damage than other staves, such as Gravity or Panic, and can kill, unlike Pain, and so they’re both recommended for a build in which you intend for Lucius to get a KO.