Sheena

• Preferred IV: +RES / -SPD
• Weapon: Slaying Axe (+Res) / Slaying Axe (+Def) / Handbell or Sack O’ Gifts (+Res/Def)
• Assist: Pivot / Swap / Reposition
• Special: Aether
• Passive A: Distant Counter
• Passive B: Vengeful Fighter
• Passive C: Attack Ploy / Ward Armor / Armor March
• Sacred Seal: Defense Ploy / Panic Ploy / Armored Boots

Sheena’s impressive ability to tank through both physical and magical damage makes her a valuable unit to have in your party, particularly if you’re running a team that has a lot of sustain.  This build allows her to counter units from any range and use the opponent’s Speed against them to build cooldowns for her expensive Specials, before hitting them incredibly hard for a KO while she heals herself in the process.

Vengeful Fighter is the key component in this build, working in conjunction with Slaying Axe to help Sheena proc Aether on her second retaliation.  She starts with a cooldown of 4, her opponent attacks and turns it to 3, Sheena attacks and with Vengeful Fighter, turns it to 1- her opponent attacks it again and primes it at 0, before Sheena strikes with her Special.

Distant Counter is an obvious choice due to her massive Resistance Stat, which will be 40 unbuffed, given her axe refine. This makes her the top choice in units when it comes to fighting mages and dragons alike.  Her Resistance also helps her to proc her Ploy skills, allowing her to reduce both her opponent’s Attack and Defense by -5 in order to cripple them as she baits them into her.

If run in an armor team, Sheena may need to sacrifice her C slot for some armor support, such as Armor March or Ward Armor- in that case, Panic Ploy may also be a good option for her, as her HP reaches 50 with her refine and will climb even higher with heavy merging.  Other armor units such as Effie will have higher HP pools than Sheena however, and so consider your team options carefully when deciding where to allocate Panic Ploy.

• Preferred IV: +RES or +DEF / -SPD
• Weapon: Handbell/Sack O’ Gifts (+Res) / Handbell/Sack O’ Gifts (+Def) / Slaying Axe (+Res/Def)
• Assist: Pivot / Swap
• Special: Aether / Bonfire
• Passive A: Steady Breath / Warding Breath
• Passive B: Quick Riposte / Wary Fighter / Vengeful Fighter
• Passive C: Attack Ploy / Ward Armor / Armor March
• Sacred Seal: Defense Ploy / Panic Ploy / Armored Boots

If you don’t have a Distant Counter to invest into Sheena, or if her teammate already covers ranged tanking, she also does well with Steady or Warding Breath and is one of the few units who benefits well from both due to her defensive stats being neck and neck.  If you have a Defense refine on her weapon, then Warding Breath will even the numbers out and vice versa. This is optimal as it gives her a mixed bulk capable of taking on any threat.

Steady Breath mitigates the cooldown for each tick of combat, giving Sheena -2 on her Special every time she or her opponent attacks. This ameliorates the need for an expensive skill like Vengeful Fighter and she can instead use the more-accessible Quick Riposte to ensure that she double attacks during the Enemy Phase, during which she will still activate Aether.  However, if you have a spare Vengeful Fighter, it is still the superior skill due to the fact that it’s HP threshold is 50%, as opposed to Quick Riposte’s 70%.

When using Steady Breath, it’s also possible to run a Bonfire/Wary Fighter build with a Slaying Axe. With this, Sheena can proc Bonfire every time an enemy unit initiates on her while she protects herself from doubles.  If you’re going this route you’ll want to focus on maximizing her Defense with IVs, forges, and Steady Breath, so that she can try to OHKO her opponent and shut down any potential Wings of Mercy support for them.

Attack Ploy and Defense Ploy remain staples of her C and Seal slots due to her ability to proc them with ease by baiting her opponents into attacking her.

• Preferred IV: +RES or +DEF / -SPD
• Weapon: Slaying Axe (+Def) / Slaying Axe (+Res)
• Assist: Pivot / Swap
• Special:  Ignis / Bonfire / Aether
• Passive A: Steady Breath / Distant Counter
• Passive B: Bold Fighter
• Passive C: Def Ploy / Ward Armors / Armor March
• Sacred Seal: Quick Riposte

This set was made popular by Zelgius and other DC weapon users, and while it’s a bit less effective on Sheena due to either not having a range counter or having to sacrifice her A slot to run Distant Counter instead of Steady Breath, it’s still a nightmare to defeat if one isn’t properly equipped.

The theory behind this build is simple: Bold Fighter ensures that Sheena will always attack twice when initiating on an opponent, meaning that baiting out her attack will lead to a world of hurt, particularly if she has Ignis equipped.  Conversely, the Quick Riposte seal means that she will always counter twice when initiated on, guaranteeing her doubles no matter what Phase it is. Steady Breath reduces her Enemy Phase cooldowns further so that Bonfire can instantly proc on her first retaliation, or Ignis can proc on her second.

Unfortunately, there isn’t a Special that integrates perfectly with this build- Aether or Bonfire will not waste any cooldowns in Enemy Phase combat, whereas Ignis doesn’t waste any cooldowns in Player Phase combat. It’s best to decide her Special based on what phase of combat you’re most likely to use her in.