Spring Xander

Love the design, hate the stats. Lets have some fun.

The boon can be any that increases defenses (DEF, RES) while the recommended bane is HP. This SP!Xander is +RES/-SPD.
Support can vary, but should be something that buffs allies or moves them. Bonfire or Ignis, but Bonfire is faster to charge.
Steady Breath OR Close Def 3 for tankiness, alternatively Fortress Def if you're wiling to risk his already low attack.
Renewal for survivability, Guard to block off specials.
Threaten Atk for more bulk, or if you're doing Horse Emblem, then anything that buffs your horse guys.
Deflect Magic is what I chose to help his survivability, but Distant Defence OR Quicken Pulse are appreciated just as much.

SP!Xander shines in horse emblem, so pair him and my Jagen in a team and constantly take 0 damage ;)

This build uses Xander's monstrous Defense to turn him into a Ignis nuke, similar to Niles or Felicia. Slaying Lance+ is used for the decreased cool down on Ignis. Fortress Defense 3 boosts his base 35 Defense to up to 40, and a Defense +3 Sacred Seal increases his defense further to 43. Alternatively, you could use Quickened Pulse to drop the cooldown of Ignis to 2 turns, allowing him to charge it faster.

Spring Xander, although he has quite worthless attack, can be a formidable tank with wonderful sustaining abilites. With just fury and a +def boon, he reaches 41 defense and 29 resistance, enough to take enough hits to survive for a decent amount of time. Horse Emblem teams with Fortify and Ward buffs can further boost his defensive stats to 51 defense and 39 resistance, which will make him even better at taking hits from really any unit. Renewal and Carrot Lance are used to maximize his sustainability, as he can gain 14 health every other turn through Renewal and initiating against the enemy. Ignis is naturally a great choice for his special, allowing him to add an extra 32 damage onto his otherwise pathetic hit. Assist and the C skill dont really matter, and it is up to the player to decide on those. Overall, Spring Xander is really only useful for one purpose: tanking, and that should be prioritized in his build.

Please Note: The stats listed are including Fury buffs, without Fury he would have stats of 40/35/28/38/26

A full defendsive and support set. Due to his great def and res, he can run Berkut's Lance+ and Distant Def to minimum the damage taken from ranger units. Renewal and Ardent Sacrifice help him to support teammates as much as possible. The C slot will depend on your team.

Pseudo Healing Tank
This set is all about tanking hits, and keeping yourself, and your team alive.
It's all about making sure you stray away from Axe units or Green mages unless you know you can tank at least one hit from them. It might be useful to have +Spd in this case, just to be sure some units can't double you, but +Def is a bit more preferred.

The Carrot Lance+ significantly reduces Fury's 6 damage penalty ONLY when you attack, and Renewal 3 further keeps you even more healthy, almost like it's overkill. This allows Spring Xanders stats to be a lot better, and makes him tankier in general, thus allowing a ton of IVs (That isn't a Defense Bane) to be good (Resistance Banes are the best option however).

If he's the last unit you have alive in the Arena, he can outrun most units quickly and heal back all the damage to get a cheap win! ...Assuming he can 1v1 the unit, such as a red unit, or a blue unit with semi low Attack.
-------------
IV Spread:
+Def - Res, +Spd -Res.
-------------
Alternative skills:
Swap - This might go against the whole "Keeping your team alive" strat earlier, however since you're so damn bulky, and hit surprisingly hard, you can take on anyone and barely take damage, even with Fury's 6 damage, so being attacked first isn't that much of a penalty anyway. I'd recommend this over any healing skill if you have either a healer, have a Falcion user, or a unit who relies on Desperation 3 or Vantage.

Any Stat Boosting Skill - He comes with Fortify Def 3 as is, so keeping this is fine to keep your other units alive for longer, but this is all depending on your team.
-------------
Supporting Skills:
Any Stat Boosting Skills (Especially Fortify Cavalry) - Need I say more? This will allow his great tanking nature to skyrocket!

Threaten Att/Threaten Def - An ally with this, can make Spring Xander that much bulkier, and/or that much stronger.
-------------
Counters:
Green Mages - Nino especially gives him a hard time. With his lower Res, sure he might be able to live at least one hit from a unit who isn't boosted, but most of the time, if a mage can double Xander that isn't a weak Red Mage, he'll barely live or just downright die.

Tanky Green Units - Spring Xander can only last at most 2 turns fighting a green Axe unit, if they both have the same speed. Keep Xander away from them at all costs. Red Mages/Young Tiki with a +Spd IV is a good countermeasure against these kinds of units, so keep that in mind.

Hector - Hector will ALWAYS give Spring Xander a tough time. Firstly, you cannot attack him without dying to his built in Quick Riposte. And even when you do attack him, you're more than likely not gonna do any damage. He sponges your hits, and dishes them back harder. There's no way Spring Xander is able to kill him without properly damaging him beforehand, but by then, it's not worth his time.
-------------
Strengths:
Superior Defense
Almost Criminal Levels of Healing
A Nightmare to Take Down
Good for Stalling Other Blue Melee Units
Relatively Cheap to Make!

Weaknesses:
Green Units can Downright Shut Him Down
HECTOR
Fast mages (Especially with Wolf Tomes like Ursula)
Only Really Good at Damaging Red Units