Lyn

This is a tanky set up for Lyn, because of Sol Katti unique refine giving her Brash assault 4 on top of having built-in Desperation 3, this frees up both her B and S slot and eliminates the need for her speed stat to keep her bulk. In this case in combination of Brazen Atk/Def 3 and Brazen Atk/Res 3 seal, she gets +14 attack below 80% of her HP while having +7 in both defenses, making her exceptionally tankier than expected. Wrath 3 and Odd atk wave 3 are there to boost her damage to even greater heights.

One of my absolute favourite FE characters, this build is the one I use for PvE and occasionally Arena. I personally believe in using units that have been powercrept, just to show that they're still viable. I know that the HP caveat needed is annoying, but its not going to deter me from using her!

Build name: [Brisk Winds of Sacae]

*Note: This is an update to my post back in February since Flashing Blade and Brazen Atk/Res are now available as seals. All evaluations and stat references will be done according to my ideal stat spread of Lyn: Lady of the Plains.

Now then, as everyone and their mother already has a similar concept of what the ideal build(s) for Lyn should be, this explanation will be more of an in-depth analysis on the circumstances in which my best girl will/will not prefer varying IVs/blessings, skills, and provide a team/facilitate ideas for a team built AROUND her. Here is my team as an example (my IGN for FEH is KinoSei): https://imgur.com/gallery/WvbRE3W
I apologize in advance for the wall of text.

[Boons/Banes/Blessings]
My ideal IVs for her are +Atk/-HP. With summoner support (+5 HP and +2 to all other stats), Sol Katti +Eff (+3 HP), and my Legendary Hero/Season of choice (+3 HP and +4 Res), she will reach 49 HP (38 + 5 + 3 + 3 = 49). My Lyn’s stats are as follows: 49 HP / 53 Atk / 43 Spd / 32 Def / 39 Res

HP should always be the dump stat for Lyn since nowadays you will get extra HP from a plethora of sources such as: summoner support, weapon refines, corresponding blessings/seasons, and more situationally, being the bonus unit for Arena/Tempest Trials.

Res and Spd boons are acceptable as well. You should really only go for a Def boon if you plan on running something like Brazen Atk/Def with Bonfire/Ignis or have substantial physical defense support (which I will get to at the end of this section).

A Res boon will help Lyn ploy a slightly wider range of heroes and indirectly allow her to deal more damage if she is running Def Ploy. For example, certain armored heroes like Gwendolyn and the more recent Bector can have enough resistance to avoid being ployed by Lyn. If Lyn runs a Res boon, she will lose out on 3 attack, but will in turn inflict -5 def to the aforementioned heroes and allow her to deal 2 extra damage per hit.
Neutral resistance does still allows Lyn to ploy her fair share of heroes and capitalizes on Iceberg/Glacies, which are the specials that do the greatest amount of damage, taking into account her stats, buffs, and complementary blessing(s).

Ideally, you will want to keep speed as a neutral stat since other sword heroes like Ayra, Mia, and Karla have been given a higher BST, better offensive spread, and more often than not, have blessings that boost their speed. All this does is make Lyn play catchup in terms of stats, not outperform them. Brash Assault takes care of the player phase speed issue for the most part.

To put things into perspective, the most common +10 +Spd/-Res build for Ayra in high end arena, details a speed forged Slaying Edge, Fjorm/Water Blessing, Distant Counter, Wrath, and Quickened Pulse/Infantry Pulse teammate (who has higher HP than her), can reach up to 50 speed neutrally and have instant Regnal Astra ready.

Ayra’s stat line is: 45 HP / 51 Atk / 50 Spd /35 Def / 22 Res, whereas a +Spd Lyn has 46 speed. Lyn can reach 49 with a Spd Blessing and the following A skills give her an additional boost: Fury (Lyn’s 52 speed to Ayra’s 50 speed) as well as LnD (54 Speed to 50 Speed) still do not give Lyn enough speed to double Ayra naturally, unless Lyn runs a Speed+ sacred seal. I didn’t factor in Brazen Atk/Spd because at that point Lyn will more than likely be in Brash Assault range.

Now it isn't as if speed is completely useless, as it does allow her to avoid doubles from ranged attackers so long as they aren't running Swordbreaker. The padded speed from Brazen Atk/Spd also allows Lyn to double ranged units; if you do find her speed lacking, a slight bump from the team should suffice as she will have already reached 50 speed at 80% HP.

Now going back to my example of Ayra, her instant Wrath infused Regnal Astra will deal exactly 49 damage in one attack against Lyn (51 atk + 40% of 50 spd + 10 extra damage from Wrath - 32 def > 51+20+10 - 32 > 81 - 32 = 49). It would be incredibly inefficient to pour resources into a stat just to survive a few matchups for a playstyle that doesn’t suit their kit.
Bold Fighter Armors are the prime example of why you won't want to run anything that suggests that Lyn should be taking multiple hits.

Based on my previous points, her go to Blessings should be Attack and/or Resistance, depending on your team. I advise against placing heroes with the same weapon on the same team due to poor team composition, so in regards to Lyn, don’t give her an Earth Blessing on L!Ike's team or Fire Blessing on L!Marth's team.

Wind Legendary Heroes: Gunnthra and L!Lyn are good choices as they provide extra resistance and attack respectively. You can even consider putting them on the same team; not to mention that giving Lyn a Wind Blessing makes a neat reference to her alignment in FE7. A Fire Blessing from L!Hector is also acceptable as he provides extra Attack and has Ostian Pulse if you choose to run a Tactics/mixed movement or FE7 theme team. Any other heroes that I didn't mention aren't horrible but simply don't synergize with Lyn's strengths in particular.

[A Skills to consider running]
Brazen Atk/Spd allows Lyn to bolster her wet noodle stat, since Brash Assault will allow her to double against most opponents who can counter; the added speed will aid in preventing naturally faster units from doubling, and help her score doubles against ranged attackers who fall out of Lyn’s speed tier once reaching the 75% HP threshold. Fury is a nice budget option to easily activate her skills and plays nice with the Ploy C skills, but packs less of a punch. Since Lyn should be built (ideally) as a player phase unit, I will give a honorable mention to Swift Sparrow and DB4; however, if you know what you’re doing, dropping 25% of her HP should be a cinch as +7 atk/spd in both phases is much better than +4 atk/spd and +8 atk during the player phase respectively.

[A skills that aren’t as ideal OR are IV/support dependent]
Life and Death just makes it plain difficult to safely drop below 75% HP without utilizing an assist slot (Ardent Sacrifice/Reciprocal Aid), that will only likely be used once per match. Brazen Atk/Def WILL NOT help Lyn out. Going back to my example about Ayra in the previous section, Ayra will only deal 7 less damage (49 - 7 = 42) with Brazen Atk/Def active (39 HP or less), so Ayra will still KO Lyn; once again, she really shouldn’t be tanking multiple hits regardless of whether or not she is fighting mainly melee/physical units. By this logic, please don’t give her Brazen Def/Res. If your argument is that Brazen Atk/Def allows you to do more damage with Bonfire or Ignis, then you’ll come to the realization that Brazen Atk/Res with Iceberg/Glacies will allow you to do more damage thanks to Lyn’s naturally higher resistance. You can even run double Brazen Atk/Res thanks to the sacred seal version, or Brazen Atk/Spd and the Brazen Atk/Res seal.

[B skills and Specials]
Wrath and Special Spiral should be your two main options for maximum damage output. Wrath allows you to capitalize on 3-cooldown specials, while Special Spiral allows you to do so with 4-cooldown specials, including AoEs. Assuming you have reached the 75% HP threshold, Wrath will allow you to charge your special outside of battle in case you need to fight against enemies that have Guard effects in their weapons/skills. Special Spiral will in general net you slightly more damage with 4-cooldown specials even taking into account the extra 10 damage from 3-cooldown Wrath specials as you’ll see shortly. Special Spiral, however, has a more difficult startup since it only triggers after your first special activation; it’ll require some babying and/or Pulse support to pull off. These two B skills in tandem with Heavy/Flashing Blade or Infantry Rush/Flash allows Lyn to pop a special at least once every player phase.
Vantage is now an acceptable option thanks to the new capability of running double Brazen’s.

When it comes to choosing the ideal special however, we’ll need to crunch some numbers to see what will give us the most damage. Anything that isn't a 3 or 4-cooldown offensive special is simply inefficient for Lyn; same should be said for healing specials like Sol and Aether as they will bring her out of her 75% HP and below range. I will only be taking into account the passive stat increase provided from the A slot; while I acknowledge that there are skills like Odd Atk Wave and the like, it counts as a field buff and can be provided elsewhere.

1.Draconic Aura and Dragon Fang - Lyn will have 60 Atk (53 attack with +Atk ivs) after her Brazen Skill comes into play, which will give her 28 damage with Draconic Aura (30% of 60 = 18 > 18 + 10 extra Wrath damage = 28) and 30 damage with Dragon Fang (50% of 60 = 30).
2.Bonfire and Ignis - Taking into account Brazen Atk/Def, Lyn will have 39 Def (32 neutral defense), which will give her 29 damage with Bonfire (50% of 39 = 19.5 > game rounds down to 19 > 19 + 10 extra Wrath damage = 29) and 31 damage with Ignis (80% of 39 = 31.2 > game rounds down to 31).
3.Iceberg and Glacies - Taking into account Brazen Atk/Res, Lyn will have 42 Res (35 neutral resistance), which will give her 31 damage with Iceberg (50% of 42 = 21 > 21 + 10 extra Wrath damage = 31) and 33 damage with Glacies (80% of 42 = 33.6 > game rounds down to 33).
4.Luna and Astra - These two skills are less consistent cause they take another variable into account aside from your Hero’s stats: the enemy!
In order for Luna to outperform Iceberg, your enemy would have to have at least 44 defense (50% of 44 = 22 > 22 + 10 extra Wrath damage = 32), not to mention that it does not synergize well with defense debuffs on your opponent.
Astra on the other hand is dependent on the damage dealt, which means that WTA is a factor, meaning it is more effective against green enemies and less effective against blue enemies in Lyn’s case; Astra requires a measly damage output of 14 (250% of 14 = 35) to outdo the other specials. Now this may sound impressive, but if you’re only dealing 14 damage per hit to a green, red, or colorless unit, you might need to re-evaluate the circumstance in which you are making your Lyn attack. If you feel like you’re doing a substantial amount of damage outside of Astra, then the extra damage you get from it and the amount of effort it takes to setup Special Spiral Astra may not be worthwhile, hence why it’s inconsistent and hard to find a sweet spot/balance for this particular special.

I feel that, with what IS has provided with us so far, the Wind Blessing is Lyn’s best option for dealing extra special damage due to a bonus in attack and resistance. A standard Brazen Atk/Spd with a resistance blessing allows Lyn to do 19 damage off of a 39 resistance Iceberg, which edges out an attack blessing for 18 damage off of a 62 attack Draconic Aura.

[C skills/Team Synergy]
This skill slot is heavily dependant on what Lyn’s teammates bring to the table.

For example, my Lyn utilizes Def Ploy because I can capitalize on the extra resistance during Wind Season. A Def debuff on the opponent allows Lyn to maximize her damage output without affecting her special. Def Ploy provides Gunnthra the opportunity to do more damage thanks to her Blizzard tome; it can also allow Lyn to change the Chilling Seal target on the enemy team based on whether she has enough Res to ploy and whether the target she wants to ploy will have less Def than the current target after the ploy takes place. My Fae’s Panic Ploy can perform a similar role. The debuffs on the enemy’s attack and speed also let Lyn prevent and double ranged units and use Heavy/Flashing Blade or Infantry Rush/Flash effectively.

You should however keep an eye out for enemies that receive field buffs specifically towards resistance, as that will contribute to whether or not you can ploy them; receiving a field buff yourself does not affect this process, as the ploy lasts until the beginning of your next turn (more specifically before you receive field buffs). You will also want to avoid enemies with Panic Ploy as they utilize the same cardinal direction trigger and will likely have more HP than Lyn.

There are plenty of other viable options however, Odd/Even Atk Wave, Atk Ploy, Atk or Def Smoke being the most prominent. You may want to run Odd/Even Atk Wave if your team isn’t suited for Tactics skills for example, and you have other heroes capable of debuffing the opponents with say Chill skills or Panic Ploy. You may want to run the Smoke skills if you utilize an AoE theme skillset/Special Spiral build on Lyn; spread the love :). Smoke skills are particularly effective against enemies who clump together, like non-Armor March Armor emblem for example.

Team Options for Lyn include green heroes who can tank strong physical blues, blue and colorless bows and daggers. In my case, Fae is a great choice as she is considered an Infantry hero and can utilize Infantry Support skills. Heroes like Hector who come with or utilize Distant Counter and aren't weak to bows, are also quite effective.

I will also recommend WoM Dancers for their mobility. A flying dancer such as NY!Azura or Bridal Ninian are good choices, but Infantry dancers with Infantry Rush are particularly effective if Lyn opts to run a double Brazen Special Spiral build, as it can allow her to trigger her special twice in one player phase as long as the opponent isn't running Guard; in which case simply waiting a couple of turns before nuking with Wrath is a better option.

You will obviously want to have attack buffs, but if you utilize a special other than Draconic Aura, Luna, or Astra, you'll want to provide alternative buffs to the respective defensive stat. Options include field buffs such as rally assist skills, wave and tactic skills, as well as in-combat buffs from a teammate's ally support, weapon, or drive/spur skills.

[Sacred Seals]
Heavy Blade or Flashing Blade 3 , no contest, further questions, comments, or concerns. As I mentioned before, these two seals are what enables such fast acting nuke potential from the Lady of the Plains. Use whichever is at your disposal; buff Lyn’s Atk/Spd while debuffing the opponent’s Atk/Spd respective to the seal used. I will also suggest the new Brazen Atk/Res seal since +14 atk from a double Brazen build is simply too good to pass up. In this case I will suggest using an infantry ally’s C skill for Infantry Rush due to the padded attack.

Thanks for reading!

Neutral Lyn

Brazen attack and def is not that hard to get and i think she doesnt need a boost on speed (unless she's -speed to avoid doubles) without buff and all stuff she can reach 35 def (summoner support) once she reach her deadly range

u might think "iceber or Glacies is better" yeah it's but tbh why would you boost her res when she already have amazing base res without buffs and you gonna be figthing melee units and most of the time those are physical dmg units and ignis + Brazen Atk/Def 3 is an insane combo i have hit 70+ on lance units with the right positioning.

Wrath is a premium skill but SHE's in my opinion the best Wrath user in the entire game Desesperation+Brash Assault at 75% hp range is unique to her no other hero can run that combo and with her bulk isn't even hard to get her to Brazen/Wrath/desperation/brash assault Range (yeah 4 amazing skills activate and trust me there's no unit in the game she can't kill) also speed ploy would help her to survive a lot of matchs before she reach brazen range avoiding doubles.

Def Ploy most of time u gonna ploy ur targets and if you cant ploy them trust me u most likely gonna one shoot them...

Flashing Blade this could be change to your preference maybe another ploy or tactic but tbh no need for atk +3 or an stat boost just run something to boost ur team or help her activate specials faster or debuff.

In Conclusion Ideals Iv's for her might be +Atk -Hp or +Def -Hp but don't touch her Speed because u need it for survival but speed boon isn't necesary 37 base speed is more than enought.

Finally got a Lyn! She is +Res -HP. The goal with this mainly player phase build is to take 1 magical hit, then get into Brazen range so she can hopefully sweep. Wrath would be better for player phase, but I do not have any more fodder for that. She could actually run Def Ploy with her Res boon, but I am also out of fodder for that.