Nephenee

- hp to get in Wrath range quicker, threaten skills to make securing kos easier, distant counter to deal with most red and some blue mages. Keep away from green dragons and green tome users.

Merged +1 (+1 HP +1 Spd)
Bond Rank: S

I should start off by saying Nephenee is definitely my favorite unit of all time and I am heavily biased when it comes to her. With that said, it is sorta disheartening that there are indeed better units use since one of her biggest flaws is she doesn't excel in anything. With the exception of Res, all of her other stats are just okay which in turn would easily have a person turn their head away from her when choosing units. However, with some tinkering and a S Rank Bond with the Summoner, she can become one hell of a beast. For this build, I decided to keep her as a jack of all trades but to give her my Summoner's Blessing and sprinkled some spice to her lacking Res. I should also warn you, this is going to be an expensive build, but totally worth it in the end. Let's begin with the boons and banes.

While an Atk Boon would be great to help her Atk stat since it's the 2nd lowest, personally I believe a Spd Boon is much more important. The only other units who can double her are units who can already specialize in speed to begin with (or Brave users), so there isn't much we can do there without giving up on the A skill I've chosen. I'd rather get doubled less than get that extra attack boost. Besides, we have a way to remedy that, but I'll get to that later. As for a Bane, it's honestly a toss up between Res and HP. While this build would benefit with a HP Bane, a Res Bane doesn't hinder this build too much either. I haven't gotten an HP Bane so I'll be sticking with Res Bane in the meantime. Now for her weapon and what will be the most expensive part of this build.

The fact that this weapon passive exclusively exists for lances is funny, the fact that it is not an exclusive weapon to the unit is even funnier. Berkut's Lance+ is a blessing to Lance users who lack the Res and the Weapon Refinery is an even bigger blessing. With the Weapon Refinery, you want to go with Res+. With it, you automatically go from 19 to 23 Res. Then thanks to the Weapon Refinery, you go from getting +4 Res when attacked to +7 Res when attacked. So by holding this lance, Nephenee essentially gets +11 Res, going from a pitiful 19 Res to a decent 30 Res. 30 Res isn't gonna make her all of a sudden ward off magic attacks like nothing, but it will make units like QP Reinhardt or Nino reconsider whether or not to attack you. Do be careful however, though this is a nice Res boost, it's only nice if you are getting attacked. Attacking however does not grant you that beautiful +7 Res in battle. Just be cautious when attacking Dragons or CC Mages because they can still make a huge dent to your HP... or just outright kill you. Onward to Assist skills.

Honestly speaking here, it's really personal preference when it comes to Assist skills. I went with Reposition simply because she can save a unit from death and will more than likely take the hit and possibly will kill the assailant. Also you can't go wrong with movement assists. You can also do Reciprocal Aid if you need HP for longevity. Alrighty, now what special will fit with her kit?

When it comes to specials, you can do many things. However, her base special Moonbow is actually the best you can go with in this build. Not only can it do a decent chunk of damage, but it will compliment perfectly with the B skill and S skill. Not to mention doing a solid 30% Def/Res damage to anyone is always nice. Now onward to the skills here.

While it is a shame we can't buff Nephenee with this slot, giving her the ability to attack at any range isn't such a bad trade off. Distant Counter is that big middle finger to ranged units. Especially since more than likely she will kill them in retaliation. It's just a really good skill all around. Wrath is such an amazing skill to have and it's a part of her base kit. Not only can you get a special point per turn just for being under the HP threshold needed but it also powers up every attacking special by 10. This makes specials like Moonbow and Glimmer go from mosquito bites to punches that can actually hurt. For the C skill... this is where it's really up to you. Threaten Def is a nice basic way to cripple defenses since she's gonna be in the frontlines if she isn't baiting. I use Atk Smoke because -7 Atk is quite a deadly debuff, which can potentially save you or any other unit who could potentially die. Just don't forget it won't affect your target. It's really all on preference when it comes to the C Skill. Finally your S Skill is going to be 100% Quickened Pulse. This combined with Moonbow and Wrath makes Nephenee an amazing first turn bait. You will always activate Moonbow in retaliation and majority of the time you will kill your opponent or at the very least leave them at Death's Door. Should you not have it or someone else is in use of it, Close Def or Distant Def is another good alternative. Close Def if you want to give yourself a safety net with CC Mages and Dragons or Distant Def if you want to give an even bigger middle finger to Reinhardt and big hitting mages.

As much as she's buffed with this build and can take on mages a lot easier now, she still holds her biggest weakness, which would be beefy, hard hitting, physical green units. Units like Brave Ike and Amelia will hit Nephenee hard while scoffing at her damage. Like mentioned before, Dragons will still mess you up if you attack them since the lance sadly gives you the buff if you're attacked. Always use caution when dealing with these units.

Normal Neph Builld, I went for a Spd forge to kill most Sigurds, since they always give me a hard time, and I do think her atk stat is good regardless of what most people say.
I run her with Summoner Support S so I think that helps a lot.
She can also use Quickened Pulse, but that one is on my Reinhardt most of the time...

After weapon forging Nephenee gained access to shore up the one defensive stat holding her back from being a truly versatile wall. Berkut's Lance forged for resistance gives Nephenne an effective 35/34/31 neutral defensive stat spread on being attacked. This allows her to shine as a tank due to her unique nature of being inherently difficult to double and having enough def/res to protect her from being one shot. This build allows her to tank an incoming Julia and kill her in return. Distant counter is the pick for A slot for obvious reason, allowing her to bait mages. QR is used on B to double anything fast enough to not naturally be doubled, allowing her to punish glass cannons. Threaten defense on C helps her finish off the attacker if they survive their assault next turn given Nephenne doesn't have the highest attack. Moonbow is used to compensate for Nephenee's unextrodinary attack to dent tankier targets, bonfire can be used as well to highlight her great defense or ignis for stronger dueling. Assist as always depends on your team and the seal really comes down to what you find yourself dealing with at the time, DC3 for mages, CC3 for melee, or HP5 for general tankiness.

IVs: +Spd -Res

This build has Nephenee take a page from the likes of Summer Robin and pulls it off even better due to higher HP, Speed and Defense in exchange for 1 atk and some Resistance. Deft Harpoon and Fury make Nephenee a Celica-esque character, providing an immediate +5 boost to all of her stats during her first round of combat. Attaining a solid 50 Atk (with Deft Harpoon) and 43 Spd unbuffed with Fury and Deft Harpoon's effect, she can be used defensively or offensively to great extents during the start of battle.

Due to the amount of HP that is taken as recoil in exchange for this, Nephenee can trigger skills such as Desperation and Vantage with relative safety. In this set's case, assuming Nephenee doubles against a melee opponent, she can have a Quickened Pulse charged Ignis (which given her neutral Fury-boosted 37 defense, inflicts 29 damage) ready for when she activates Vantage, allowing her to deal heavy damage to two units. Given her bulk allowing her to take little damage from melee units, especially swords, she can also run Renewal to sustain her bulk and potentially reactivate her Deft Harpoon buffs.

As a bulky lance she can still run options such as Drag Back and Lancebreaker with great efficiency, should she built for a more specialized role. Her other options include her default Moonbow as a consistent, budget options. As for seals, she can run the aforementioned Quickened Pulse, opt for HP +5 to boost her bulk or Attack +3 or Spd +3 to boost her offense.

With regards to weapon refinery, Nephenee will greatly appreciate more speed to guarantee doubles against her opponents, as she can reach a total of 46 effective speed when defending at full HP. However, opting for a MT or defense boost will help her outside of the initial encounter, either increasing her bulk of increase her counterattack damage damage, giving her numerous options depending on player preference.