Winter Fae

• Preferred IV: +DEF or +ATK / -SPD
• Weapon: Glittering Breath + (+Def) / Lightning Breath + (+Def)
• Assist: Swap / Pivot
• Special: Aether / Glacies / Moonbow / Noontime
• Passive A: Distant Counter / Steady Stance 4
• Passive B: Special Fighter 3 / Vengeful Fighter 3
• Passive C: ATK Smoke 3 / Armor March 3
• Sacred Seal: Quick Riposte / Fierce Stance 3 / ATK/DEF Bond 3

This build takes the main defining feature of Fae (her huge defensive stat distribution) and cranks it to the maximum. Other than users of dragon effective weapons, not many units can leave a huge dent on Fae unless they have their Special ready. Thus, lowering their Special charge rate is extremely helpful for the giant ball of stat.

As an armored unit, Fae has access to a very powerful Special denial skill, Special Fighter. Special Fighter is not only a skill that is able to deny Specials by lowering the opponent’s Special charge rate, but it also increases her own, akin to the Breath skills, on both phases. The quicker Special charge rate allows Fae to consider stronger Special options, most notably Aether to ensure that she remains in the health threshold of Special Fighter. We can further exploit Special Fighter by using Quick Riposte, which further improves her Enemy Phase.

Fae is suitable for the omnipotent Enemy Phase playstyle of parking her into the enemy’s line of fire. Hence, Distant Counter is the go-to A slot for players who wish to use Fae to counter most threats. For players who are less bothered about countering ranged threats, Fortress Def/Res or keeping her Def/Res bond are both great options to further improve her defensive capabilities. 

As the focus of this build is to be a giant ball of stat that refuses to yield, Fae will prefer to take less damage. Atk Smoke naturally fits Fae’s playstyle, as the opponent’s surrounding allies gets debuffed, which effectively increases her bulk. However, it is also plausible for Fae to just stick to Armor March in an Armor Emblem team and rely on Ward Armor stacking instead to exploit Glittering Breath.

For Special skills, Aether, in particular, is a good choice as it grants Fae sustain in addition to dealing damage. Honorable mentions go to 2 cooldown Specials, such as Moonbow and Noontime, as she could activate it in every single attack during the Enemy Phase.

Due to the rarity of Special Fighter, sticking to Vengeful Fighter is also a decent option. For Vengeful Fighter builds, due to it accelerating Specials on a per Fae's attack basis rather than a per action basis, 4 turn specials such as Glacies are preferred. One could then obtain the ability to reduce opponent’s special charge using Steady Stance 4. Quick Riposte will no longer be necessary and could be swapped out for other seal options depending on preference.

• Preferred IV: +ATK / -SPD
• Weapon: Lightning Breath + (+Def)
• Assist: Swap / Pivot
• Special: Aether / Moonbow
• Passive A: Steady Breath / Warding Breath / Fierce Breath / Death Blow 4
• Passive B: Bold Fighter
• Passive C: Armor March
• Sacred Seal: Quick Riposte

This is a tried and tested build that is used by many armored units with access to innate Distant Counter. Fae using a Dragonstone means that she will be able to inherit Lightning Breath to leverage this cookie-cutter build.

For IVs, the ideal set is +ATK/-SPD. Going for the extra Attack is crucial for Fae to boost her offensive presence in the Player Phase. Due to having 2 skills that largely ignore Speed checks (Bold Fighter and Quick Riposte), taking a hit in Speed for more offensive power is a worthwhile trade.

The crux of this build is in Passive B and Sacred Seals; Bold Fighter gives Fae the offensive power in the Player Phase with the guaranteed double, while Quick Riposte does the same in the Enemy Phase provided that she is above the health threshold. Bold Fighter also provides Special acceleration for Fae, allowing her to consider higher cooldown Specials in the Player Phase.

Steady Breath has a slight edge over Warding Breath due to Fae’s slight inclination towards Resistance, which means that going for Steady Breath allows Fae to be a better mixed wall in the Enemy Phase. Another potential candidate that is worth considering is Death Blow, which increases Fae’s offensive power during  Player Phase, which Fae might actually prefer due to her lower Attack compared to her competition like Fallen Robin (M).

The choice of Specials would depend on the focus of the build. For a more Enemy hase-focused build using Steady Breath or Warding Breath, Aether would be the go-to option as she will be able to activate it in a single exchange during the Enemy Phase. For more PlayerPhase-oriented builds with Death Blow, one will be looking at a 3 turn cooldown special to leverage on the cooldown acceleration of Bold Fighter. However, due to Lightning Breath’s cooldown penalty , this pretty much locks her into Moonbow if she is looking into activating it every Player Phase.

Lastly, Armor March is very important to have for this build, as she values the extra mobility that could be used in the Player Phase. Fae does come with this skill by default, which makes running this skill an easy decision.