Soren

• Preferred IV: +SPD / -HP
• Weapon: Wind’s Brand (+Eff)
• Assist: Swap
• Special: Moonbow / Iceberg / Glacies
• Passive A: Atk/Spd Bond / Fury / Distant Def
• Passive B: Chill Spd / Chill Def / Vantage / Quick Riposte
• Passive C: Res Ploy / Spd Ploy / Varies on Team
• Sacred Seal: Distant Def / Speed +3 / Heavy Blade

Soren’s new unique tome, Wind’s Brand, offers him exceptional utility to his team in the form of a devastating, unavoidable Attack debuff. With its refine, he can also function as a defensive mage counter, thanks to the big boost in stats from the refine’s Owl tome effect.

The primary function of this build is to utilize the powerful debuffing capabilities of Wind’s Brand. Combining the Chill Atk effect with the Chill Spd B skill results in Soren completely crippling what are likely the two biggest threats on a given enemy team, which would be the units with the highest Attack and Speed - this may even be a single unit running something like Life and Death. Chill Def can work in place of Chill Spd, particularly if he plans on supporting a powerhouse physical attacker like a Brave Bow archer. For budget, Vantage doesn’t help Soren’s ability to debuff, but it does work well in improving his Enemy Phase fighting ability with the Owl effect refine. Without a refined Wind’s Brand, Quick Riposte is useful to secure doubles against speedier mages that Soren may otherwise be unable to double due to lacking the bonus stats from his refined tome.

The choice of Special is entirely up to preference and level of support that Soren has. The main thing to consider is the desired timing of Special activation: a lower cooldown will result in being able to fire off the special during each combat, while higher cooldown can allow Soren to save his special after one combat to wipe out the next enemy. However, if running Heavy Blade, then Iceberg is the best choice.

Due to the Owl effect of the refined tome, Bond skills like Atk/Spd Bond work fantastically. Alternatively, Distant Def can be taken to maximize Soren’s defensive capabilities versus ranged enemies. Fury is a good budget option that can allow Soren to shine on both phases, though the Owl effect can be difficult to utilize on Player Phase.

C slot is mostly personal preference, but running a Ploy skill like Res Ploy works great with the debuffing nature of this build. Ploys are an even better option if running Fury due to the extra Resistance resulting in increased chance of landing them. Otherwise, any skill can be used as needed to suit the team; Spur or Drive skills work great in Owl tome-centric team compositions.

For seals, Distant Def boosts Soren’s defensive capabilities further. Combining this with the Owl tome effect of Wind’s Brand and any of the recommended A slots will result in Soren becoming quite powerful on Enemy Phase. Alternatively, Speed +3 is a good option all-around. Finally, Heavy Blade can be worth considering as despite Soren’s relatively unimpressive Attack stat, all of the Attack boosting from the build combined with the -7 debuff from Wind’s Brand can actually make it quite easy for Soren to activate it.

• Preferred IV: +SPD / -DEF
• Weapon: Gronnblade+ / Gronnblade
• Assist: Reposition / Ardent Sacrifice
• Special: Glimmer / Draconic Aura
• Passive A: Fury / Swift Sparrow / Life and Death
• Passive B: Desperation / G Tomebreaker
• Passive C: Spd Ploy / Res Ploy / Varies on Team
• Sacred Seal: Speed +3 / Heavy Blade

Standard Blade tome setup for Soren. Nino runs this blade better in terms of raw offensive power, but Soren has the advantage of having a higher Resistance stat, allowing him to run a Ploy skill to bolster not only his own capabilities, but also provide a bit of team support.

The choice between Glimmer and Draconic Aura is mostly up to preference. Both scale exceptionally well with the boosted damage from a Blade tome. If running the Heavy Blade seal, then Draconic Aura is the better option with Desperation, while Glimmer will work well without Desperation.

Fury is easily the best choice for the A skill, as while it gives less offensive stats than Life and Death or Swift Sparrow, it also provides additional Resistance which allows Soren to be more effective with Ploys. If not running Ploys, then Swift Sparrow and Life and Death are both viable options. Soren’s bulk will drop so low with Life and Death that it’s worth considering running Ardent Sacrifice to give him a safe way to enter the Desperation HP threshold without risking his survival.

For the B slot, Desperation is generally the best option to allow Soren the ability to take out entire teams with proper team support. However, G Tomebreaker is a viable option to secure his matchups against other green mages if that is a concern, such as if the team lacks an answer to them (usually if the red is a melee without Distant Counter).

Landing Spd Ploy maximizes the chance that Soren will be able to double enemies, but Res Ploy is also a good option to simply increase his damage. Being able to run Ploys is the primary advantage that Soren has over Nino, so it’s best to run them if at all possible.

For seals, Speed +3 is always a good option to help Soren land more doubles. Alternatively, the Heavy Blade seal can help him activate his Specials faster; this is useful due to the slowed activation rate as a result of wielding a Blade tome. Activating a strong special like Draconic Aura can allow Soren to win matchups he otherwise wouldn’t be able to.