Nephenee

• Preferred IV: +ATK / -HP or -RES
• Weapon: Dauntless Lance (+Atk/Eff)
• Assist: Reposition
• Special: Bonfire / Ignis / Moonbow
• Passive A: Steady Breath / Close Def / Sturdy Stance
• Passive B: Wrath / Guard / Quick Riposte
• Passive C: Odd Atk Wave / Threaten Def / Flexible
• Sacred Seal: Close Def / Quickened Pulse / Flashing Blade / Quick Riposte

Nephenee’s unique Dauntless Lance turns her into a spectacular defensive unit - in addition to functioning as a Slaying Lance with additional Attack, she also gets effective damage against armored units and +4 Spd/Def when initiated on (with the refine). Thanks to her good Defense, this allows Nephenee to function as an excellent physical tank similar to Lukas and Shiro, except she has spectacular Speed to easily avoid a large number of doubles. Alternatively, taking a +Atk refine on Dauntless Lance allows Nephenee to retaliate with massively damaging Special attacks; every point of Attack is particularly efficient when engaging armored units due to effective damage.

The choice of Special is mostly dependent on the rest of Nephenee’s skill choices. Bonfire works very well with Steady Breath for a Special activation on every counterattack, while Moonbow can accomplish the same thing if Steady Breath is unavailable. Ignis is a very high damage option that can be run under two circumstances. The first is if running Steady Breath, and will require Nephenee to either run the Quickened Pulse Seal or receive at least one ally’s worth of Infantry Pulse support. The other is if not running Steady Breath, then she can run the Flashing Blade seal to expedite the charge rate enough to be able to activate Ignis every combat (assuming she can double).

This build is mostly defined by the chosen A skill. Steady Breath is ideal for a physical tanking setup, as it allows Nephenee to instantly activate Bonfire on every counterattack in addition to the +4 Defense it grants. If Steady Breath is unavailable, then any of the myriad of stat-boosting skills can work. Close Def and Sturdy Stance are both great choices due to the large amount of stats they can provide. There are many other viable choices that can be utilized based on availability and preference, such as Fury, Atk/Def Bond, Kestrel Stance, and Spd/Def Bond.

Nephenee’s base Wrath skill works great for an aggressive take on the physical tank build. It is unlikely that she will stack enough Defense to entirely avoid damage from the strongest damage threats, so her low HP pool will allow her to enter Wrath range even if not taking very much damage, resulting in very high-powered Special activations. For a safer option, Guard will help keep Nephenee safe from getting nuked by high-powered Special activations from enemies. Both Wrath and Guard work best with the Quick Riposte Seal to ensure that Nephenee can double (this may be unnecessary if she can stack enough Speed, particularly with team support). Otherwise, Quick Riposte is always a good option for a B skill.

• Preferred IV: +ATK or +SPD / -RES or -HP
• Weapon: Dauntless Lance (+Spd)
• Assist: Reposition
• Special: Moonbow
• Passive A: Fury / Atk/Spd 2
• Passive B: Wrath
• Passive C: Odd Atk Wave / Threaten Def / Flexible
• Sacred Seal: Quickened Pulse / Attack +3 / Speed +3

Thanks to Nephenee's fantastic stat spread, she can easily handle a mixed phase build. This build utilizes most of her base kit to maximize the power of her specials, as her high speed allows her to activate them frequently. With a +Spd refine, +SPD IV, and Fury, Nephenee has a blazing 44 unbuffed speed.

Moonbow is a great choice of Special because the -1 Special cooldown effect of Dauntless Lance allows her to have an instant Moonbow activation when combined with Quickened Pulse (or Infantry Pulse support). Furthermore, Nephenee will also be able to activate Moonbow twice in that same combat assuming the enemy can counter and she doubles. When Nephenee enters Wrath’s HP threshold, she will have Moonbow active at the start of each of her turns, allowing her to repeat the process.

Fury is ideal because not only does it provide an excellent boost to all of Nephenee's stats (all of which are important for a mixed phase build), it also deals recoil damage. This recoil damage is actually a benefit, as it allows Nephenee to reach the 75% HP threshold for Wrath much more consistently. It can be a mixed blessing, however, as this build does lack sustain; eventually, Nephenee will run out of HP and be unable to participate in combats where she can't one shot enemies with her active Special. This generally isn't an issue in Arena, but is worth consideration for longer modes such as Chain Challenge or Tempest Trials (bring a healer).

Quickened Pulse is a fantastic choice for Nephenee’s Sacred Seal, as it allows her to instantly have Moonbow active for her first combat. However, her status as Infantry means that she can benefit from Infantry Pulse support. If this is available, then Attack +3 and Speed +3 Seals are both great choices.