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Table of Contents
Tier Rating
- Default
- Attack
- Special
- Injured
| Tharja - Dark Shadow |
|---|
|
Related Heroes
Hero Stats
Stat Variations
| HP | ATK | SPD | DEF | RES | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Low | 16 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 4 |
| Middle | 17 | 8 | 8 | 6 | 5 |
| High | 18 | 9 | 9 | 7 | 6 |
| HP | ATK | SPD | DEF | RES | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Low | 35 | 29 | 31 | 20 | 17 |
| Middle | 39 | 32 | 34 | 23 | 20 |
| High | 42 | 35 | 37 | 26 | 23 |
IV Sets
| Key stats worth increasing through nature if possible. | |
| Complementary stats that matter, but not to the point of picking them over key stats for nature increase. | |
| Relatively worthless stat that can safely be decreased through nature. |
| HP | ATK | SPD | DEF | RES |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Boons
-
+SPD: As is typical for Blade tome mages, Speed is Tharja’s most important stat; securing doubles will maximize her offensive potential.
-
+ATK: If +SPD is unavailable, then +ATK is the next best option. It can potentially be optimal for a high investment one-shot build, to circumvent enemies from whom Tharja cannot survive a counterattack.
Neutral
-
HP: Tharja can afford to take a bane in any of her three defensive stats, but a -HP bane is best avoided due to it being a superbane (-4 to the stat).
Banes
-
-RES: This is slightly preferable to -DEF due to Tharja having enough physical bulk to withstand a single hit from most non-blue physical threats.
- -DEF: At higher arena tiers, Enemy Phase builds that can instantly activate Specials become much more prevalent (such as Steady Breath/Quickened Pulse Zelgius), resulting in Tharja being unable to survive a counterattack regardless. This makes a -DEF bane ultimately not make much of a difference in her matchups.
Skill Sets
Swift Shadow (Offensive Nuke)
 |
Rauðrblade+ | A | Fury 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
 |
Reposition | B | Desperation 3 |
 |
Glimmer | C | Odd Atk Wave 3 |
| SP | 1,485 | S | Speed +3 |
- Preferred IV: +SPD or +ATK / -RES or -DEF or -HP
- Weapon: Rauðrblade+
- Assist: Reposition / Ardent Sacrifice
- Special: Glimmer / Draconic Aura
- Passive A: Fury / Swift Sparrow / Life and Death / Brazen Atk/Spd
- Passive B: Desperation / Swordbreaker
- Passive C: Odd Atk Wave / Flexible
- Sacred Seal: Speed +3 / Heavy Blade
Standard Blade tome set for Tharja; this set can be considered budget thanks to Tharja coming with a Blade tome in her base kit. While she needs a total overhaul for the rest of her kit, most of the options are fairly budget (with the exception of Odd Atk Wave).
Aside from running a movement assist like Reposition, Tharja can make good use of Ardent Sacrifice to drop herself into Desperation range to avoid the risk of getting KO’d in a single hit from strong enemies. If running Tharja with merges and/or Summoner Support, then she will need a -HP bane in order to be able to drop into the 75% HP threshold from Ardent Sacrifice. Running Ardent Sacrifice allows Tharja to consider the more powerful A skill options of Life and Death or Brazen Atk/Spd, which allow her to maximize her offensive power. Otherwise, Fury is generally the best option due to the extra bulk. Swift Sparrow is better with merges and/or support to give her a little bit more defensive cushion, but can work well regardless.
Desperation is the clear choice for any Speed-oriented Blade tome setup, due to allowing for doubles without getting counterattacked. Swordbreaker is a decent option to allow Tharja to double super speedy sword users, but keep in mind that some of the biggest threats to Tharja’s survival are sword users; properly built units like Ayra or Zelgius can completely obliterate Tharja in a single counterattack, making Swordbreaker a potentially dangerous option in higher tiers of arena.
Odd Atk Wave is exceptionally powerful on Blade tome mages, as self-buffing with +6 to Attack grants a massive boost to their offensive power, in addition to freeing up allies from needing to run an Attack buff. It is very high investment though, so any other C skill can work just fine.
For seals, Speed +3 pairs very well with the Speed-focused nature of this build. The Heavy Blade seal is a good option if wanting to run a higher power Special like Draconic Aura, in addition to being worth more for arena scoring. Otherwise, it’s best to run a low cooldown Special like Glimmer if not running Heavy Blade. Both Glimmer and Draconic Aura pair well with Blade tomes due to their damage getting additional scaling from the bonus damage granted by Blade tomes from buffs.
Shadow Blade (Offensive Nuke)
|
Rauðrblade+ | A | Death Blow 4 Alternate: Death Blow 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Reposition | B | Def/Res Link 3 Alternate: Vantage 3 |
|
Glimmer | C | Odd Atk Wave 3 |
| SP | 1,695 | S | Attack +3 |
- Preferred IV: +ATK / -DEF or -RES or -HP
- Weapon: Rauðrblade+
- Assist: Reposition
- Special: Glimmer / Draconic Aura
- Passive A: Death Blow / Fury
- Passive B: Def/Res Link / Chill Res / Vantage
- Passive C: Odd Atk Wave / Flexible
- Sacred Seal: Attack +3 / Heavy Blade
Despite Tharja being an infantry mage with only 32 base Attack, she can still make effective use of a one-shot build thanks to the strength of a Blade tome fueled by powerful +6 buffs. The recommended optimal set for this build assumes a minimal amount of team support, but many skills can be swapped out if +6 buffs are available from the team (such as from the Tactics skills).
The basis of this set is pumping Attack whenever possible. This means a +ATK IV, Death Blow, Odd Atk Wave, and the Attack +3 seal. Stacking all these sources of Attack will allow Tharja to one-hit KO the vast majority of non-blue threats, including major threats like Ayra and Zelgius. This also means that Specials like Glimmer and Draconic Aura work exceptionally well due to their scaling off the bonus damage from Blade tomes. Glimmer is generally better due to the lower cooldown, but Draconic Aura is acceptable if opting to replace the Attack +3 seal with Heavy Blade.
Death Blow is the most consistent source of a high boost to Attack, but can be replaced with Fury for budget purposes if running Vantage.
Def/Res Link is an incredibly high-investment skill that gives Tharja a massive +6 to Defense and Resistance when targeted by or using a movement Assist skill. However, it can be difficult to utilize properly unless also running a Refresher unit on the team. Chill Res is another incredibly high-investment skill that allows Tharja to inflict a heavy -7 Resistance debuff to the enemy, allowing her to break through enemies with high Resistance. On a budget, pretty much any other B skill can work; Vantage is a good choice for a one-shot build (run Fury over Death Blow in this case), while Wings of Mercy or Escape Route can drastically increase Tharja’s mobility to help get her into the right position.
Odd Atk Wave grants Tharja a powerful +6 Attack buff that is vitally important to her one-shot capabilities. This can easily be replaced if an ally is running it or Atk Tactic.
Introduction
Tharja is a decent red Blade tome user that has unfortunately been almost completely overshadowed by her Bride counterpart, adding yet another to the ranks of units that have managed to powercreep themselves. Thankfully, Tharja still has perks of her own, including good availability (3-4 star summon) and having a Blade tome as part of her base kit.
Tharja’s decent offensive stats and base Blade tome suggest that she play a heavily offensive role. As per the nature of Blade tomes, she needs some support from her team to maximize her power, though powerful skills like Odd Atk Wave can help alleviate her need for support. Thanks to her decent HP, Tharja has enough bulk to survive a single attack from most enemies, but she struggles in her matchups against the strongest threats like Ayra and Zelgius, whose potentially instant Special activations can make it nearly impossible to survive.
When properly built and supported, Tharja can become an offensive powerhouse potent enough to take out entire teams.
Strengths
Decent Offenses
32/34 Attack and Speed allow Tharja to function as a strong offensive unit, particularly when given the proper support needed to utilize her base Rauðrblade tome.
Just Enough Bulk
While Tharja’s Defense and Resistance aren’t particularly impressive, her decent HP increases her mixed bulk enough that she can typically survive a single hit from non-blue threats, barring enemy Specials.
Rauðrblade in Base Kit
While Tharja requires nearly a full overhaul of her base kit for an optimal build, she does come with the most expensive portion right out of the box. Everything else can be obtained from 3-4 star summonable units, excluding Odd Atk Wave which can be easily replaced by any other C skill.
Great Availability
Thanks to her demotion into the 3-4 star summoning pool, Tharja is easier than ever to obtain. This means that not only is it easy to pull multiple copies for merges, but it is also easy to fish for optimal IVs.
Weaknesses
Outclassed
Tharja joins the ranks of units that have been powercrept by themselves - her Bridal version’s 35/35 offenses outshine her 32/34 offenses from her regular version, and even comes with a unique tome for alternative playstyles to boot.
Infantry
While being infantry isn’t as much of a problem as it used to (thanks to skills like Tactics buffs and Odd Atk Wave), it is still harder to gain access to the powerful buffs simply due to availability. Buffs like Hone Cavalry will always outshine the likes of skills like Atk Tactic due to buffing multiple stats. Furthermore, infantry lack the superior mobility of fliers and cavalry.
Team Options
Counters
-
Strong Blues: Despite Tharja’s offensive potential, strong blues like Nowi, Fallen Hardin, Micaiah, and Delthea can stop her in her tracks.
-
Exceptional Reds: One issue Tharja has to contend with is that some red units are so powerful that she can struggle to deal with them; this includes Sigurd (Divine Tyrfing and Crusader’s Ward make him decisively difficult to take out with magic), Ayra, and Zelgius (both of whom tend to run instant Special activations builds).
-
Debuffers: Tharja’s low defenses leave her vulnerable to all types of debuffs; units like Gunnthrá, Spring Sharena, Spring Catria, Arvis, and Lute can heavily debilitate Tharja’s ability to output damage.
-
Negating Buffs: A huge portion of Tharja’s power comes from her allies’ buffs powering her Blade tome; units that can negate those buffs like Brave Lyn and anyone running Dull Ranged remove Tharja’s advantage and can wipe her out.
-
Panic Ploy: In a similar vein, units with Panic Ploy can not only negate Tharja’s buffs, but also turn them into debuffs. Some common users include Zelgius, Effie, and Nowi.
-
- Offense: Due to the nature of her Blade tome setup being a glass cannon-type build, Tharja is very frail and cannot withstand sustained offensive pressure. Units with overpowering offenses (such as with Brave weapons or Bold Fighter) like Tana, Effie, Cordelia, Ephraim, and Reinhardt can easily take out Tharja if allowed to engage properly.
|
Rauðrblade+ | A | Fury 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Ardent Sacrifice | B | Desperation 3 |
|
Moonbow | C | Fortify Def 3 |
Ok. A +Spd or +Atk Tharja will do nicely. Give her an offensive spread of 35/34 or 32/37 is fantastic. Add Fury and make that a 38/37 or 35/40 and you have a monster in your hands.You can also run Life and Death 2 or 3 if you wan to build her into a bigger magic nuke.
Due to her poor defense and resistance, Desperation is a nice skill to have because she won't die easily to enemy mages or bow users if she is in range of it. Two ways of helping her get there are Fury and Ardent Sacrifice. One Ardent Sacrifice gets her into Desperation range and 2 uses of Fury gets her in there as well. With Desperation, she can knock out many units and only really lose to top tier blue units.
The C skill doesn't usually matter that much. Fortify Defense 3 is good, but you can run other things such as Spur Speed, Hone Attack, Threaten Res, etc. I put in Moonbow mainly because of the +1 special trigger that the blade tomes give out.
That's mainly it for the Dark Shadow, Tharja. She is a great asset to nearly every team, and can do you well if you put in the time.
|
Rauðrblade+ | A | Fury 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Reposition | B | Swordbreaker 3 |
|
Draconic Aura | C | Fortify Res 3 |
My Tharja +1 a pretty standard build, +Atk -def. Strong enough to kill most low res sword units i.e. Chrom, ryoma and the like. Fury to boost all of her stats, life and death 2/3 works well if you have it; however this would make her a glass cannon. C slot for any buff your team needs. Reposition to move someone in front of her to take hit or reciprocal aid to heal up. If you want to run vengeance is fine but I find Dragon fang or aura works more efficiently.
|
Rauðrblade+ | A | Life and Death 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Ardent Sacrifice | B | Desperation 3 |
|
Moonbow | C | Threaten Res 3 |
The tier list says that tharja relies on desperation set to be good, but there's not a single desperation set, so I thought I'd upload one
Source: https://feheroes.gamepedia.com/Tharja/Builds
Tharja is essentially a Red Nino with 1 less Atk and 2 less Spd, thus it only follows that her build mirrors the standard -blade tome build that Nino typically uses.
For her IVs, Tharja wants that additional Spd to allow her to double as many units as possible with her -blade buffs. -Def is selected as her bane of choice since she has a few points to spare there compared to her Res, and because most physical-based units will typically make short work of Tharja regardless.
Since this is a standard -blade build, of course her weapon of choice will be Raudrblade+. Due to the increased special charge cooldown, a low charge cooldown such as Moonbow is typically best and preferred over Reprisal due to is consistent damage vs. Reprisal depending on how much HP a unit is missing.
The rest of the build concentrates on boosting Tharja's attacking prowess. For her A-slot, Life and Death is selected to boost both her Atk and Spd. Her default Darting Blow can also be considered to maximize the amount of speed she can gain when initiating.
For her B-slot passive, Desperation is chosen to allow her to outspeed the enemy and nuke most enemies out of the picture where she otherwise would've died thanks to her weakened defenses from Life and Death. Ardent Sacrifice can be used to get her into Desperation range after one use.
Her C-passive is left as flexible depending on what is required on a player's team.
|
Rauðrblade+ | A | Life and Death 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Reposition | B | Vantage 3 |
|
Moonbow | C | Threaten Res 3 |
[5* +HP/-Res]
Recommended Sacred Seal: HP +3/Squad Ace A1/Quickened Pulse/Speed +1
Teams with fully equipped Eirika/Ephraim or a blade tome team that buffs each other is ideal for this Tharja
Weapon Skills
| Weapons | SP | Rng. | Mt. |
|---|---|---|---|
FluxRed Tome Users Only
|
50 | 2 | 4 |
|
Ruin Learns by default at 3 ★ Red Tome Users Only
|
100 | 2 | 6 |
|
RauðrbladeSlows Special Trigger (cooldown count +1). Adds total bonuses on unit to damage dealt.
Learns by default at 4 ★ Unlocks at 3 ★ Red Tome Users Only
|
200 | 2 | 9 |
|
Rauðrblade+Slows Special Trigger (cooldown count +1). Adds total bonuses on unit to damage dealt.
Learns by default at 5 ★ Unlocks at 5 ★ Red Tome Users Only
|
300 | 2 | 13 |
Special Skills
| Special Skills | SP | Turns |
|---|---|---|
| RetributionBoosts damage dealt to foe by 30% of damage dealt to unit.
Learns by default at 4 ★ Unlocks at 3 ★ Non-inheritable by Staff-wielding units.
|
100 | 3 |
| VengeanceBoosts damage dealt to foe by 50% of damage dealt to unit.
Unlocks at 4 ★ Non-inheritable by Staff-wielding units.
|
200 | 3 |
Passive Skills
| Passive Skills | SP | Slot |
|---|---|---|
Darting Blow 1Grants Spd+2 during combat if unit initiates the attack.
Non-inheritable by Staff-wielding units.
|
50 | A |
Darting Blow 2Grants Spd+4 during combat if unit initiates the attack.
Unlocks at 3 ★ Non-inheritable by Staff-wielding units.
|
100 | A |
Darting Blow 3Grants Spd+6 during combat if unit initiates the attack.
Unlocks at 4 ★ Non-inheritable by Staff-wielding units.
|
200 | A |
Spur Res 1Grants adjacent allies Res+2 during combatUnlocks at 3 ★ Inheritable by all units.
|
50 | C |
Spur Res 2Grants adjacent allies Res+3 during combatUnlocks at 4 ★ Inheritable by all units.
|
100 | C |
Spur Res 3Grants adjacent allies Res+4 during combatUnlocks at 5 ★ Inheritable by all units.
|
200 | C |
Other Info
| Origin |
Fire Emblem: Awakening
|
|---|
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