Robin (M)

Prefered Nature: +Spd/-Res, +Atk/-Res, +HP/-Spd
Weapon: Bláraven+
Support: Reposition, Swap, Draw Back (Flexible)
Special: Bonfire, Moonbow

A Slot: Triangle Adept 3
B Slot: Poison Strike 3
C Slot: Spur Def 3, Spur/Hone Atk 3, Savage Blow 3 (Flexible)
Seal: Brash Assault 3

TL;DR: Robin is a tactician, and tacticians will look for ways to have every advantage possible. When this Robin attacks, he trades favorably with all but 7 units in the game. Under perfectly ideal situations, he only dies to 3 units, and trades favorably with the rest. In short, he finds every advantage he can and does everything he can to cover his own weaknesses.

Below is the long winded explanation of my thought processes around this build. Feel free to read them if you'd like.

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Before we start, please note this is my personal Robin build. It's not perfect, it's very odd, and I'm no expert in the little intricacies of the game... However, this build has worked exceptionally well for me so far. I also think it feeds into his character and theme perfectly. As I mentioned before, tacticians will look to grab every advantage they can get their hands on. Robin is no exception, and this build is built to both find those advantages for him to use and mask Robin's own weaknesses.

First off; TA3 + Raven Tome is pretty typical on Robin, as it gives him the advantage vs colorless as well as bonus Atk with advantage. It's great to run on any mage, and highly recommended. That's 2 advantages, 1 even, and 1 loss in the color triangle, which is a great start for this build's goal.

In terms of Support sills Reposition can also be Swap, Draw Back, or something else. It's mostly up to personal preference. I use Robin as more of a support and off-tank on my team, so Reposition is my go-to. It allows my team of BK, Brave Lyn, and Preforming Inigo to use Robin as a sort of anchor, crossing terrain, blocking off paths, and generally working the map in many great ways. Again, however, this skill can be whatever you choose.

Spur Def 3 and Bonfire are there because they come on him, and are passable. You may put a Hone onto his C slot, or a Spur, or something of that sort. Savage Blow 3 is listed above because it has some great synergies with the rest of the build, and may be worth considering. Even with a Def bane, my Robin preforms quite well with Bonfire. I'm also considering giving him Galeforce or Moonbow as well. Bonfire is the easiest to get on him, however, and it functions perfectly well.

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Now, here's the odd stuff. Poison Strike and Brash Assault. Why them? And why on Earth am I considering Galeforce and Savage Blow on Robin of all units?

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Let's start with the BA3 seal, since it's the easiest to explain. Robin is slow. Really slow. He's incredibly slow. That's just a sad truth. Even with multiple merges and a Spd boon, my Robin is only 33 Spd. That makes him average at best. Plenty of others won't have a Spd boon and merges to make up for the low stat. That's where the BA3 seal comes in. When he attacks a unit that can counter while low on health, he now gets a second strike. This is incredibly valuable, especially against other tomes, colorless foes, and even against Distant Counter enemies. Black Knight and other such Distant Counter swords melt against Robin, and he takes hardly any damage from them thanks to his naturally high Def stat. Getting a second strike on them is a great way to make things work out in your favor. This all is especially good at winning fights against other blue tomes.

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Next up, Poison Strike 3. This has a lot of logic behind it. I've ran RTomebreaker, Bowbreaker, and even Swordbreaker on him, and yet here I am, still using Poison Strike. Why? Here's the deal. Robin with the TA3/Raven build has advantage against everything except green units. Green tomes are his bane, and Axes are a fright. A Hector is especially scary, and he often can't put damage onto a green unit of any kind. I'm not going to say Hector isn't scary with this build, he can still oneshot a Robin... But green units as a whole become far less frightening when you're guaranteed 10 more damage on them at the end of a battle. This narrows the pool of things Robin trades poorly with to Green tomes, and Distant Counter Axes. That's all of Red, Blue, Colorless, and average Axes that he's advantaged against or can deal decent damage to. That's most of the units in the game.

To get some numbers and prove how useful this actually is, I ran this build through the Kagerochart damage calculator against all green units. Without Poison Strike, there are 1 favorable, 31 unfavorable, and 7 other. Robin preforms very poorly overall, and dies to 7 units; Deirdre, Dorcas, Summer Elise, Hector, Julia, FRobin, and Sonya. With the Poison Strike applied, however, the numbers level out to 6 favorable, 14 unfavorable, and 19 other, with the same deaths. Adding in Bonfire damage, he goes from 9-18-12 to an even 18-11-10, both with the same deaths. That's a huge difference in what he can and can't trade with. Being able to trade with all but 7 green units is amazing for a blue tome. (It's worth noted that the PS3/Bonfire only loses to 8 units overall, with Linde being the only other unit Robin cannot trade with with this build.)

Here's the fun part. Giving him all the advantages we can; An S rank ally and summoner support, a Hone Atk 3, a Hone Spd 3, and defensive terrain bonus... without PS3 and Bonfire, he goes 7-19-13 vs green units. With them, however, he gets an incredible 26-4-9 record against the greens... still dying to Deirdre, Dorcas, and Hector, but killing Summer Xander and Axe Frederick, and leaving most of the rest of the units at around 10 hp. Even giving the enemies all distant counter AND a resistance boon, the ideal fight we have in this example still trades favorably with 11 enemies, and only goes unfavorable against 5, with draws for the remaining 23. Pretty good for a TA3 running blue tome against a bunch of greens that can hit back. (Going along with the pattern from before, against all units in the game, he only dies to three units with this 'ideal fight' scenario... those being Deirdre, Hector, and Dorcas, as suspected. Even with the enemies all having distant counter and a Res boon.)

Taking all of that and adding in more damage from Savage Blow 3 will allow him to not only hit in an AoE, but will even out those draws that leave enemies at 15-10 hp, bringing them even farther down. Overall, that makes his trades even better than they were before, especially against those axes he would normally go even with. This isn't required, as it won't spin any of the 1 hp remaining fights in his favor, but it is worth noting.

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If you're paying attention, you may have caught the pattern here. When my Robin attacks, he does work. So, why not let him attack even more? That's where Galeforce could come in. I have not, admittedly, given him Galeforce yet, but I'll be back to explain how it ends up working when I do. For now, Moonbow and Bonfire are likely the best options, as the added damages are immeasurably helpful in most cases. Galeforce is mostly for the memes and to annoy my friends, but it may be a valid option, if you so felt like it, though it would remove the bonfire advantages found in the data before. To make up for that, however, whenever the skill triggers, you get a third attack on any of those greens that can counter. One from the initial attack, one from Brash Assault, and one more from Galeforce. This is all theoretical, however, and will likely be less optimal than the original Bonfire/Moonbow build. It's just an idea.

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To sum this all up, this build is focused on dealing damage to as many units as possible, in order to back up the rest of the team he's on. He will not, by any means, be the key player on an arena team, nor will he be winning maps alone all the time. Instead, this Robin build focuses on getting rid of his weaknesses... to make him lose as few battles as possible, and isn't that the goal here? Not losing, in most cases, is just as good as winning. Especially when there's a team there to back him up. Robin may never be a top tier pick, but he can certainly make himself do as well as possible so his team can claim victory. That's just how a tactician works, isn't it?

Thanks for reading my long winded explanations. If you really did find this build and chose to use it... Thank you! It means a lot! Spread the word, if you enjoy the build! I think Robin has some untapped potential in some arena teams, and I think it would be great to see him get a bit more popular.

Until next time, just remember... You don't have to win the battle to win the war... but winning it certainly does help. ;3

Grandmaster Robin build, this set's focus is to be the ultimate support for Greens and Fliers.

Boon: +Spd or +Atk
Bane: -Res or -HP
Weapon: Blárraven+
Support: Rally Def/Res, any rally or movement support is ok.
Special: Bonfire, Moonbow, or any high SP special
Passive A: Triangle Adept 3, or any high SP skill
Passive B: Quick Riposte 3, Bowbreaker (budget), or any B skill that meets your needs
Passive C: Atk Tactic 3, or any buff/spur skill of your choice
Seal: Hone Spd 3 or any buff/spur seal of your choice.

This build is intend for those that support Robin, otherwise, subtract 2 points in every status 5 HP.
This build was craft to make more versátil and take down not only colorless units and works against mages like Celica and Katarina and some anti-mage units like Halloween Sakura creating consistent doubles and even Fjorm.

With this build Robin functions like a magic Jaffar. He does 14 damage to surrounding units with 2x Savage Blows. With +DEF, Triangle Adept, and Blackraven he is able to tank colorless and most red units and charge his Bonfire special. This is a very niche build that is great for damaging the enemy army at the beginning of battle and retreating.

With this build, it seeks to capitalize on Robin's defensive abilities, being able to bait both red and colorless and possibly kill them on the counterattack. Quick Riposte is taken over a breaker skill because this applies to more than one type of unit, and counterattacking against a hero that double Robin guarantees his special to proc that engagement. Spur Def 3 is taken in combination with the Spur Def Seal to provide 6 defense to adjacent allies, making him a great support as well.