Saias

As Saias has quite poor speed compared to most units in the modern meta, I like to run the Desperation & Brash Assault combo, with Ardent Sacrifice (or Reciprocal Aid) as an enabler. Almost every unit that can counter-attack is totally melted. Iceberg or Glacies can be used for the special, but I've gone with Glacies in order to occasionally kill some res tank green mages.

Here's a simple budget offensive Saias build for those people who already have Arvis, see Saias and his chubby little ringless fingers and go "Pfft, what do I need this sh*t for?" Hopefully should be good enough for both phases should you keep him by teammates to take advantage of Blarowl and Atk/Spd Bond. Saias is sick and tired of Kiran's bullsh*t sending him out to debuff people while he's over there in the corner doin' whatever, so he's f*ckin' pissed. He's got Fury 3, but not Fury 4, 'cuz who the bloody hell's got Angry Dad sitting around that they can just fodder for a build like this? You also got Lancebreaker for those pesky little Donnels, Abels, Subakis runnin' around eatin' all your corn. Just give 'em the ol' budget Saias and then send him home, because this build is garbage anyway.

(Stats are shown with a Spd Refined Juicy Wave+ at +2 merge.)

Saias' stats aren't usually seen by many as very impressive; his speed is quite low even for a mage who relies on his ploys, and his lack of IVs don't exactly help matters either. So, what's a man to do?

Well, with a mixed drink from a certain wyvern riding beach goer, this. This is what he can do.

This is a pretty basic Fury/Desperation set that can also debuff exceedingly well. Juicy Wave frees up his B slot and is refineable so he can run Chill Atk to help disable a particularly nasty enemy, and Fury/Squad Ace D in junction with that bring his sad 31 speed up to an impressive 39. If he gets speed ploy off on an enemy, they need to be at an effective 49 speed in order to get a double on him, and as he gets knocked into lower HP brackets, he'll be able to start firing off Icebergs left and right.

Another idea for the set is Chill Spd, ensuring that the foe needs an effective 51 speed to continue to get a double on him after the chill.

This may seem pretty week on defense, but it really isn't and I'll explain.

With Wargods tome and with Spd Ploy activating, he has atk/res ploy 2 with spd ploy 3 active, totalling his stats at:

Hp/Atk/Spd/Def/Res
36/53/35/24/38

This is when the ploys activate, which is easy to setup with some well placed bait. This is further supported by his allies, one of which I mention being Katarina on all accounts, as she covers his weakness and works best with some support as well. She gives him def/res rally skills, ally support, and Chill spd on other enemies, further debuffing his enemies. As such, lets replace the Spd Ploy debuff with Chill Spd, and lets add the rally skill, and ally support:

Hp/Atk/Spd/Def/Res
36/55/37/29/43

In short, he becomes much harder to kill, and can in turn retaliate. Also keep in mind that this is without taking more support from other units, including more drives or spurs. And this solidifies the whole unique build thing for him. As I'm sure no one has built him.

Okay I know it looks like it won't work (and you're probably right) but I just wanted to be more creative. BEFORE EVERYTHING, KNOW THAT SAIAS SHOULD PROBABLY HAVE A FIRE BLESSING.
Anyway, this is supposed to be a defensive, anti-Manakete build. The strategy behind it is that Saias would initiate combat (he should probably be on a defensive tile when performing this action) with a Manakete without it counterattacking. You see, this is when Watersweep 3 and Phantom Speed 3 come into play (if Saias has enough speed of course). After combat Atk Smoke 3 will activate, inflicting the enemy (and other enemies within two spaces) with -7 attack. The Blessed Bouquet's effect will activate after that, giving Saias 5 points of Defense and Resistance. Enemy Phase! Manakete will attack Saias. Blessed Bouquet's effect will kind of sheild Saias and Atk Smoke 3 should soften the blow. Defensive tile helps too.