Sonya

• Preferred IV: +ATK or +SPD / -HP or -DEF
• Weapon: Dark Excalibur 
• Assist: Reposition / Flexible
• Special: Moonbow / Glimmer 
• Passive A: Death Blow 4 / Death Blow 3 / Mirror Strike
• Passive B: Special Spiral
• Passive C: Res Ploy / Spd Ploy / Flexible
• Sacred Seal: Quickened Pulse / Attack +3

This set aims to make the most of Sonya’s legendary tome, Dark Excalibur, a powerful personal weapon that boasts an effect similar to that of a Wo Dao and grants her a flat +10 damage increase whenever her Special activates. This effect allows her to be rather self-sufficient in comparison to some of her other fellow green infantry images such as Nino, being much less reliant on receiving team support in order to function properly. An Attack boon is a fantastic choice of IVs to increase her raw damage output, although a Speed boon is also a good option to boost her ability to perform and deny follow-up attacks. 

Specials like Glimmer and Sonya’s native Moonbow have great synergy with Dark Excalibur’s effect, as their low cooldown let Sonya make use of the +10 damage increase frequently. Additionally, when paired with Special Spiral, both Specials will be fully charged at the beginning of every round of combat after their initial activation, allowing her to effectively bypass her middling Speed and take on a more OHKO-dependent playstyle. It is recommended to utilize such Specials alongside skills like Quickened Pulse and Infantry Pulse to improve the quality of Sonya’s first battle greatly and enable her to have Special Spiral active from the get-go. 

Moving on to her main skills, Death Blow 4 is Sonya’s ideal A slot as it grants her the greatest boost to her Attack stat possible, allowing her to push her raw damage output to exceptionally high extents. However, should Death Blow 4 be unavailable, Death Blow 3 or her native Mirror Strike can make for acceptable budgetary alternatives. Special Spiral composes the crux of this build and is necessary in order for Sonya to consistently make use of Dark Excalibur’s effect without being reliant on her ability to reliably perform follow-up attacks. 

With a fantastic base Resistance of 32, Sonya’s C slot should typically be occupied with a Ploy skill. For the purposes of this build, her native Res Ploy is her preferred option to further enhance her damage output, though Spd Ploy can also be taken if working with a Speed boon to improve her chances of doubling her opponent. Her C slot can also be filled with any buff/Spur/Drive of one’s choice if aiming for a more cohesive team composition rather than attempt to make Sonya a better standalone unit. 

Lastly, Quickened Pulse is a strong choice of seal on Sonya and lets her require for only one ally to have Infantry Pulse in order for her to have her Special fully charged at the start of the battle. However, should one already be providing her with the prerequisite support or if the Quickened Pulse seal is simply unavailable, then the Attack +3 seal also works and offers her a solid boost to her offensive potential. 

• Preferred IV: +SPD or +ATK or +RES / -HP or -DEF
• Weapon: Dark Excalibur 
• Assist: Reposition 
• Special: Moonbow 
• Passive A: Fury / Mirror Strike 
• Passive B: Chill Atk / Chill Spd / Flexible
• Passive C: Spd Ploy / Res Ploy / Atk Ploy / Def Ploy 
• Sacred Seal: Res Ploy /  Spd Ploy / Def Ploy / Atk Ploy 

This build aims to capitalize on Sonya’s great Resistance stat, which allows her to take the roles of both a debuffer and a capable duelist through the combined use of Ploys and Chills. A boon in either her Attack or Speed is again recommended to augment her offensive capabilities, although a Resistance boon may prove to be as equally useful to increase her chances of activating her Ploys. Any movement Assist works here, and Moonbow’s low cooldown synergizes well with Dark Excalibur, making it Sonya’s Special of choice once more. 

Fury is ideal here and taking it as her A slot serves two purposes: to enhance her offenses and to give her better odds at being able to activate Ploys against her opponent. Sonya’s native Mirror Strike is also an acceptable alternative but is the less desirable of the two options as it only buffs two of her stats as opposed to Fury’s overall stat increase; it also has no bearing on her ability to activate Ploys. As for which Ploys to run is entirely up to personal preference; a combination of Spd and Res Ploy is the most beneficial to Sonya’s overall performance, but depending on her teammates, Atk or Def Ploy may be more ideal. 

Aside from the aforementioned Ploys, Chills are another effective component of this build, with Chill Atk being an incredibly potent option. Arguably the best Chill, Chill Atk can make dealing with sustained pressure a much more tolerable task and will prove to be useful at all times in the battle, regardless of who it targets. However, like the choice of Ploys, depending on her team composition, something like Chill Spd may be preferred and as such, the Chill that takes up her B slot is up to personal preference as well. 

• Preferred IV: +ATK / -HP or -DEF
• Weapon: Dark Excalibur 
• Assist: Reposition / Flexible
• Special: Blazing Wind / Growing Wind / Flexible
• Passive A: Death Blow
• Passive B: Special Spiral
• Passive C: Atk Ploy / Res Ploy / Flexible
• Sacred Seal: Heavy Blade

This build takes a slightly more unconventional approach to Sonya’s personal weapon and is very potent when used correctly, making use of AoE Specials to enable her to effectively nuke her opponent into oblivion and unleash hell. However, this build requires the use of two specific skills to function properly: Special Spiral and the Heavy Blade seal. Following their initial activation, such Specials will only have a 2-turn cooldown thanks to Special Spiral’s effect, which in combination with the Heavy Blade seal, allow for them to consistently activate in every round of combat. Making use of allies who have Infantry Pulse can again prove to be beneficial with this build, as they can allow her to initially activate her AoE Special much more easily. An Attack boon is ideal for this build to maximize her damage output. 

Death Blow is Sonya’s ideal A slot yet again, offering her a substantial boost to her raw damage output as well as her ability to OHKO a weakened opponent; it also allows her to activate Heavy Blade seal much more reliably. Although Sonya should rarely (if ever) be taking damage with this build, Atk Ploy can still be a suitable choice for her C slot skill as it strengthens her ability to consistently activate Heavy Blade. Her native Res Ploy is also a great option to enhance her raw damage output. Otherwise, any skill that complements her teammates can be used here.

As for her choice of AoE Special, Blazing Wind is her overall best choice due to its wide radius giving her the greatest chance of inflicting damage to more foes with one hit. In exchange for losing out on some of Blazing Wind’s damage, Growing Wind can also be considered should one wish to inflict AoE damage upon as wide a group of opponents as possible. However, depending on personal preference, Blazing Light or Blazing Flame may be preferred, thus allowing her choice of Special to be flexible.