Nino (SF)

• Preferred IV: +SPD or +ATK / -RES

• Weapon: Giga Excalibur

• Assist: Ardent Sacrifice / Reposition

• Special: Moonbow / Luna

• Passive A: Swift Sparrow / Life and Death  / Fury

• Passive B: Desperation

• Passive C: Even Spd Wave / Hone Fliers / Guidance / Flexible

• Sacred Seal: Heavy Blade / Phantom Spd / Guidance / Attack +3 / Speed +3

This build aims to make effective use of Nino's unique weapon, Giga Excalibur. Since the nature of this weapon is purely offensive, Nino appreciates a boon in key stats such as Attack and Speed in order to maximize her damage. Speed makes for an especially strong choice with Giga Excalibur, as it simultaneously boosts Nino’s raw damage and ability to perform follow-up attacks.

For her Assist, Ardent Sacrifice has great synergy with Desperation. Nino’s poor physical bulk of 53 can make her susceptible to getting killed in only one hit; by dropping her HP without the need to engage in combat, Nino can safely get into Desperation’s 75% HP threshold. Otherwise, any choice of movement skill such as Reposition will make for a suitable Assist. For her Special, Moonbow is a strong choice thanks to its frequent activation while Luna can be combined with the Heavy Blade Sacred Seal for a more powerful, albeit less consistent alternative. 

Nino’s native Swift Sparrow is the premium choice of A skill, as it provides a strong boost to her offensive stats on initiation without the need to forego anything else. A higher risk higher reward option is Life and Death, boosting her offensive stats even higher at the cost of severely damaging her overall bulk. This makes her even more susceptible to getting OHKO’d by both physical and magic damage alike. Finally, Fury makes for another solid choice by making it easier to get into Desperation range by increasing her overall bulk at the cost of a marginally weaker offense.

Desperation is the key to any glass cannon mage; once in the HP range, Nino will be able to safely double her opponent without the risk of getting killed on the counterattack. For Nino's C skill, Odd Speed Wave makes for a fantastic choice, as it further boosts her self-sufficiency by granting her a substantial +6 boost to her Speed on even-numbered turns. For a more team-synergetic option, Hone Fliers allows Nino to be a benefactor on a flier-centric team in which she is most effective on. Guidance also makes for a good choice on a mixed team composition by providing movement support to both infantry and armored teammates. 

Last but not least, Nino has several options for Sacred Seals. If she isn’t already utilizing Guidance in her C slot, it can also be run in the Sacred Seal slot. Heavy Blade can also make for an effective option, as it will allow Nino to activate her Special more frequently. It is particularly effective with an Attack boon. Although Phantom Spd does not improve upon Nino’s ability to double her opponent, it does factor into the damage of her weapon, making it a phenomenal choice of Sacred Seal. Finally, both Speed +3 and Attack +3 make for good picks in order to give Nino a solid offensive stat boost.

• Preferred IV: +SPD or +ATK / -RES

• Weapon: Gronnblade+

• Assist: Ardent Sacrifice / Reposition

• Special: Glimmer / Moonbow / Draconic Aura

• Passive A: Swift Sparrow / Life and Death  / Fury

• Passive B: Desperation

• Passive C: Hone Fliers / Guidance / Flexible

• Sacred Seal: Guidance / Heavy Blade / Attack +3 / Speed +3

In addition to her personal tome, Nino can perform extremely well with a standard Blade tome build. As with most Blade tome users, Speed is Nino’s most important stat. This makes a boon in it the choice nature in order to maximize her damage output by securing additional follow-up attacks. A boon in Attack also makes for a suitable choice, as it increases her raw damage output. This makes it a more effective choice against slower bulkier opponents. In particular, this can potentially be the deciding factor in her matchup against Young Tiki.

The rest of this build bears many similarities to the standard Blade tome set-up. One notable difference is Nino’s choice of Special. Glimmer is a great choice of Special on any Blade Tome user, as it scales with the additional damage received from Hone/Fortify buffs and activates within a reasonable timeframe despite the cooldown penalty tied to Blade tomes. Alternatively, Moonbow can be used as a more effective option against opponents with high Resistance such as Sheena and Halloween Henry. For her A slot, Swift Sparrow, Life and Death, and Fury all remain great choices for boosting Nino’s offensive prowess. 

Once again, Desperation is key to Nino’s survivability, as she needs it in order to double her opponent while avoiding lethal counterattacks. As for C skills, both Hone Fliers and Guidance remain great team-synergistic options in their own right. Otherwise, the C slot can be replaced as needed to suit the team. If she isn’t already utilizing Guidance in her C slot, it can also be run in the Sacred Seal slot. Heavy Blade is another option with a consistent activation thanks to the damage scaling property of Blade tomes. This allows Nino to activate her Special more frequently. Finally, both Speed +3 and Attack +3 remain good picks in order to give Nino a solid offensive stat boost.