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Introduction
Owl tomes. 10 Might. Quite accessible, with the exception of Katarina. They grant 2 points to each stat for each ally adjacent to the user. Now, how would one effectively use them? Are they better than the Raven tome? Why would I use this over a Blade tome, which does much more damage?
Welcome to the Owl tome guide.
FAQ, Probably
Why should I use or even try Owl tomes?
The Owl tome and its effect is one of the few weapons in the game to increase the user's speed. Whether that means a stronger speed tier to avoid follow-up attacks or a better Desperation guarantee, the increase in such a stat allows the mid-tier speed units to survive even the heroes at the 40+ speed tiers.
And that's without mentioning the fact that it increases attack, defense, and resistance, too!
Why not just use a Raven Tome?
While Ravens are great for countering the Bow users in the arena, you are only giving the Mage a counter to fight them off, and most of the time, the Raven Tome is run with Triangle Adept to further strengthen the counter against colourless units. The big problem Raven Tomes have compared to Owl Tomes is that they do not help the Mage fight off anything but their colour advantages.
Owl Tomes also increase the user's defense, so some of the units who are known for their Raven builds (Boey, Robin, kinda Reinhardt, Sophia) can use the Owl Tome's effect to gain better defenses not only against colourless units, but all units.
Why would I use Owl Tomes over Blade Tomes?
As mentioned before with why you would even try them out, the Owl Tome increases the user's speed. But that's not the only reason you'd use them over Blade Tomes. They are simply more versatile in which team they can be placed in, due to requiring nothing but the presence of their allies.
What do I mean, Blade Tomes are not that versatile? Well, Blades require a Hone/Fortify buff to work out. Not having any of those skills which increase the unit's stats visibly (numbers turned blue) doesn't make the Blade Tome any more powerful than Bloganone+ or Rexcalibur+. Another small thing, but Blade users are often run with a Dancer to keep their killing streaks going, similar to using Reinhardt.
The point is, while Blade Tomes are indeed incredible, the limitations on team building can be hassle to some people, and forcing all of your units to learn Hone Attack or Hone Speed in favour of using your Blade Tome mage whenever you please may seem unappealing to some.
That, and they delay the Special Skill's cooldown by 1, which is a big deal depending on who you ask.
I hear Owl tomes are difficult to use, though.
While not as 1-2-3 as Blade tomes (Buff, attack, dance), they are not as complicated as you might believe.
They cater heavily towards enemy-phase units, and as such, setting up for the perfect formation is ideal. To do so without incredible movement akin to Cavalry, all one needs is the Assist Skill Swap. Fantastic on the Owl user itself, it also functions as well when present on your team, allowing the Owl user to don other assist skills.
As such, Owl tomes are quite easy to utilize. One adjacent ally will always be available. Two is also easy, since Swap allows for such shenanigans to happen. Three adjacents will always happen during the first few turns of an Arena match, with the exception of maps which divide your team into 2. Once that first turn ends, things can get complicated when you are not only trying to bait the enemy, but also buffing the Owl user at the same time.
To summarize..
One Adjacent Ally- Guaranteed
Two Adjacent Allies- Varies on map's starting position
Three Adjacent Allies- Varies on map's starting position, first few turns only
So what can you learn from this?
It is safe to assume to that Owl users have a permanent 2-stat boost akin to Fury 2 due to the guarantee of an adjacent ally being present. Not to mention Ally Supports, too..
Skill Choices
Weapon
The Owl Tome.
Special Skill
The Mage's chosen special skill is entirely dependent on the player.
Is it preferable to deal with the opponent with guarantee, as an enemy-phase unit? Moonbow should be taken, though Reprisal works nicely, too.
Otherwise, one should utilize their defensive stats and convert it into power via Iceberg or Bonfire. This allows the user to nuke a future enemy, due to their special charge being likely ready after the first skirmish.
If you, Summoner, are confident in your Mage's combative capabilities and do not require a damaging special skill, look no further than Miracle! Because, well.. It's an all-round good skill which will save your rear more often that not.
Support
Owl users require formation, and sticky situations which may seem like a slider puzzle will often be encountered. This results in assist skills Swap and Reposition to work very much in the Owl's favor.
Swap is recommended for Cavalry units due to forests' restriction on them, though they can choose to forgo any positioning skill due to their incredible 3 movement requiring less planning for double adjacency.
Reposition works just as well, allowing the team to retreat while staying adjacent, and works extremely well with Close Counter. Do be wary, as Reposition may prevent a potential second bait to occur, as well as being tougher to reach a desired location when baiting the enemy in an offensive manner. Though, Reposition benefits baiting the enemy while retreating pretty well.
As for the Mage's teammates, Swap is not restricted to the Owl user. The Owl user's allies can use it to help the Mage reach its desired position without missing a potential adjacent unit.
Passive A
The Owl user's A passive of choice depends entirely on its nature (literal nature, not the IVs).
Close Counter works extremely well with Mages donning good amounts of physical defense or physical soak. Given that this passive activates only in the enemy-phase, its synergy with the nature of Owl tomes and constant adjacency is sure to pack a punch on any melee unit who dares attack the Mage.
As for most other units, an obvious skill choice to synergize with the Owl's Fury-like effect is, well, Fury. Granting a guaranteed +5 stats to the Mage's stats (Fury+ 1 Owl Adjacent), it is a very good skill to utilize and can allow for guaranteed kills on ranged units, as well as increasing bulk when facing the pesky Brave Lyn.
Passive B
The Owl user's B slot is extremely flexible, and is not at all something to worry too much about. However, while there are some skills which have synergy with the Owl tomes' nature, they are not required to perform efficiently.
Escape Route and Desperation are such examples of having synergy with an Owl user. The former works in tandem with both Fury and the requirement for adjacency, allowing for offense via teleport and guaranteed adjacency. Desperation takes advantage of the speed increase of the Owl tome. It is not too much of a surprise for a unit such Linde or Bridal Caeda to reach a speed stat over 45, and thus, Desperation will activate very often if you manage to perform the required formation.
Another interesting skill to use on an Owl user is Quick Riposte, though only for the Mages with 30 or less speed. As mentioned before with Desperation, speed is easily achievable, and for those with speed around 30 points, they can gain enough speed to prevent almost all follow-ups. Thus, with the enemy-phase nature, follow-up denial, and formation required to utilize Owl tomes, Quick Riposte works very well.
Passive C and Sacred Seal (Allies)
This guide won't recommend any C slot for your Mage. But their ally? Yes.
Adjacency is a word that has been repeated countless times already. And it shall be repeated again. All because of Spur Buffs! In order for Spurs to function, they require a unit right beside the wielder. They also stack, allowing for ridiculous numbers to be granted to a unit, such as +12 Defense, +12 Attack, and so on so forth. Compliments Owl tomes quite well, eh?
But is there any spur in particular which would benefit the Owl users? Spur Speed and its variants.
As previously mentioned, Owl tomes are one of the few weapons in the game to increase the wielder's speed. Now, it may be overkill for the faster mages (Bridal Caeda, Linde, Nino), but for those with 27-30 speed? Fantastic! Their speed goes from below average to amazing, allowing even Boey to deny a Brave Lyn's Mulagir follow-up.
Ideally however, the dual Spurs including speed such as Oscar's Spur Speed/Defense allows for even more shenanigans to happen, allowing units as physically frail as Ursula to take a neutral physical hit.
Of course, Spur Speed and its variants are quite rare, though the defensive spurs Defense and Resistance are great alternatives.
Keep in mind that utilizing two Spurs via C slot and Sacred Seal stacks, allowing the Mage's ally to grant them +10 to one stat due to their presence.
Owl Users
Okay, so who can use the Owl tomes the best?
Everyone can use an Owl tome. Does that sounds insane? Let's explore the different speed tiers of Mages using the Owl tome. The following categories are split in such a way to determine which of these characters can wield the Close Counter Passive without too much trouble, and which B slot they should use.
Mid-Tier Speed Mages
Mages: Odin, Performing Shigure, Cecilia, Summer Leo, Raigh, Sonya, Ursula, Mae, Julia, Sanaki, Lilina, Merric, Boey, Spring Camilla, Robin (F), Robin (M)
These units possess a speed stat of 25-32 and either good defense, resistance, or attack. The units from the 25 speed tier are considered because a +Speed IV increases the stat by 4 points, not 3.
These units are possibly the best users of the Owl tome. In these heroes' case, you will utilize the Owl effect to increase these heroes' speed high enough to prevent follow-ups from the 40+ speed tier. This causes them to be great candidates for the B slot skill Quick Riposte.
Most of the mages will typically want the +Speed IV, though the faster ones Merric and Odin can opt for a +Attack IV.
Mid-Tier Speed: Resistance
Mages: Cecilia, Summer Leo, Raigh, Sonya, Ursula, Mae, Julia, Sanaki, Lilina, Performing Shigure
These mages all possess a good amount of resistance with their okay amount of speed. They are very suited to fighting other magical users, though are usually too weak to withstand a single physical hit, even with the Owl tome's effect (Sanaki, Mae).
The only units who are able to use the A Passive Close Counter are Raigh, Julia, and Cecilia. Though whether it is better than simply using Fury is up to you, Summoner!
Wait, so why are these units in this category if they have enough physical bulk to use Close Counter?
Because their resistance stat are higher than their defense stat, and their physical soak is high enough to withstand a clean 55 neutral attack.
These units are recommended to be used with a +Speed IV, mainly to avoid being followed-up by extremely fast and merged mages. Be wary with these units, as they will still be picked off by Bow units.
Mid-Tier Speed: Physical Bulk
Mages: Merric, Boey, Spring Camilla, Robin (F), Robin (M), Odin
Defense-focused mages, these units possess the capability to take a hit from powerful melee units, as well as baiting the popular Brave Lyn.
These usually have trouble facing other magical units, and a -Resistance IV can toughen the match-up even with the colour advantage at their side, such Merric/Boey vs Reinhardt or Spring Corrin. In the case that a -Resistance bane is indeed present, it is recommended to utilize resistance-boosting spurs or even the Distant Defence Sacred Seal to avoid failing the match-up.
Odin here is a special cas. It is highly probable that, as of this guide's making, an Owl tome build is his best chance at being usable due to it increasing all stats, making his jack-of-all-trades stat line much better, especially when combined with Fury. Odin is quite flexible with what kind of Spurs or support he receives, and he can ignore a +Speed IV for a +Attack one, since he wields one of the lowest attack stats in the game.
As such, all of these units are recommended with a +Speed IV, with the exception of Merric and Odin, who performs quite well even without it, allowing him to choose a +Attack IV instead.
High-Tier Speed Mages
Mages: Celica, Performing Inigo, Tharja, Spring Lucina, Soren, Delthea, Katarina, Olwen, Summer Corrin, Summer Elise, Linde, Nino, Bridal Caeda, Innes
Possessing a speed stat of 33 and higher, these units can easily achieve a speed stat of 41 with nothing but double adjacency and a single Hone/Spur Speed. Utilizing a +Speed IV is completely up to the player, due to being completely overkill.
These heroes are some of the more fun Owl users to utilize due to their incredible speed. As such, to avoid being overkill with their speed stat, focusing on attack-boosting traits is something that can be done with these characters.
However, if using speed-boosting traits, the B slot skill Desperation is a good choice for these units, as their speed will more often than not be enough to perform follow-ups on even a Life & Death Tana. Maybe.
High-Tier Speed: Resistance feat. Innes
Mages: Soren, Delthea, Katarina, Olwen, Summer Elise, Linde, Nino, Bridal Caeda, Innes
Traditional mages, the units of this category all share the trait of being fast and magical resistant, and the Owl Tome will aid them very nicely when baiting their kin.
Due to most of these units wielding a low amount of defense, it is advised that Fury be used on them to null any need of using a +Speed IV, as well as increasing their physical defense even a bit.
Innes is an odd one, due to his Legendary Bow essentially being an Owl Bow. What's unique about him, however, is that he is able to be buffed to tremendous heights thanks to Brave Lucina's weapon Geirskogul because of Innes being a physical unit! That, and he isn't affected by the magic-specific counters Mages need to pay attention to, such as Magic Deflect.
However, like most units in this category, Innes cannot afford to take a hit from physical units despite his neutrality, possessing a base soak of only 49.
On a side note, it is entirely possible for some units of this category to utilize the Close Counter passive with the use of the HP+5 Sacred Seal (Olwen, Soren, barely Nino and Bridal Caeda), though whether or not that is better than using the other Seals available to use is debatable.
High-Tier Speed: Physical Soak
Mages: Celica, Performing Inigo, Tharja, Spring Lucina, Summer Corrin
Because high-speed Mages don't possess a great amount of physical bulk, this category includes heroes who, despite having higher resistance than defense, can perform quite well with the Close Counter passive without the use of Sacred Seals, namely HP +5.
Tharja and Celica are quite alike, and are both great users of the Owl Tome and Close Counter with both of their physical and magical soak at 58.
Hold on a second. Why would I ever take away Celica's Ragnarok Tome?
Owl Tomes are fun, and this is an evaluation of the Mages' synergy with them.
Moving on, Performing Inigo, while commonly used with the Raven Tome and Triangle Adept to counter both Brave Lyn and Reinhardt at the same time, can choose the nocturnal bird Tome to become more of a generalist. Do be wary however, as his Resistance is already on the lower end of things, and he won't be able to survive the usual unbuffed and unmerged Reinhardt once he possesses a -Resistance IV without the use of buffs and/or the Distant Defense Sacred Seal.
Summer Corrin with an Owl Tome is arguably the "cheapest" Flier Mage build to use, benefitting off of Goad and Ward Fliers quite well, and has potential to achieve very high stats without worrying about bulk.
Finally, Spring Lucina, a unit deemed not so great on release, is likely the absolute best user of the Owl Tome, with her high 36 speed stat, 57 base effective physical HP, and decent attack. She is able to not only go above 42 speed with ease, but has enough bulk on both sides to withstand most attacks which come her way.
Low-Tier Speed Mages
Mages: Sophia, Henry, Leo, Reinhardt
Two of these mages are considered good; The other two are considered bad. Close Counter works very well with all of these units, seeing how their low speed usually translates to either more defence or more HP. Quick Riposte is also recommended for these units, similar to the usual builds you would see them use (excluding Reinhardt, no one uses Quick Riposte on Dire Thunder Reinhardt).
Sophia and Henry, known for wrecking havoc with their Triangle Adept Raven build, have high equal defenses, allowing them to act as a sort of Red Tome Sheena.
With an easy-to-acquire set up of Spur Def and Spur Res on both the C slot and as a Sacred Seal, a single adjacent ally grants them a fantastic 6/6 bonus to defenses, and these two can take a hit from many, many units. Whether they need Fury to increase their defenses even higher, or you think they're good enough for Close Counter is up to you, Summoner.
Do keep in mind that with Henry, his attack stat is still horrendously low, and he will deal close to no damage against Green Mages with decent resistance.
Next up in the list are Leo and Reinhardt. They're quite similar (not really), though Leo has 5 more points in resistance than Reinhardt, allowing him to fight advantage match-ups against Mages much easier than, say, Reinhardt versus Tharja or Celica.
Being on a horse, these units can choose both a defensive approach or an offensive one, using either Ward Cavalry or the rare Goad Cavalry. In fact, it isn't crazy to use these units with a +Speed IV, as they are able to achieve a speed stat of 35+ (and even 40+) with the use of Goad Cavalry.
Taking Advantage of One Adjacent
With all this talk of adjacency and Owl buffs, can these same tactics not be used for enemy-phase units in general? You don't need an Owl Tome for this at all.
Absolutely! It's just that their conditions for activation so happen to overlap, making them work very well together. This will be a bit of a retelling of the previous page's section on C Slot skills, but what is there to note when wanting this playstyle, or rather, these ridiculous buffs?
Ally Support
Ally Support, of course! While this does mean you will lock your Mage and another unit to be played together at all times, the additional 2 points granted to each stat can mean that a single adjacent ally kind of counts as two units for the Owl effect. More stats, galore!
Spur Skills Level 6
The main advantage of Spur Skills is that they can be neatly stacked, forever and ever, as opposed to multiples of the same Hone or Fortify skill. As such, if you would like to add an extra 8 points to a specific stat, you can do so with the help of two of the same Spur Skills in the C slot and Sacred Seal slot.
For instance, if I gave Marth his default Spur Speed 3 and the Spur Speed 3 Sacred Seal, he will grant 8 total points in said stat to anyone adjacent to him. Thus, Spur Speed 6! Of course, you can always go for two different spurs, such as Spur Defense and Spur Resistance, though where's the fun in that?
Do remember that this all applies to movement-type Goads and Wards as well, so do not worry.
Rally Skills
Are you completely set on giving all of your units Spur Skills (or other C slots), and are confident that you could do well without positioning assists to support others? In that case, Rallies! Those 8 points that were mentioned earlier from a Spur Level 6? Well, make that 12 points, because you can add a Rally of the same type as it. In fact, using a Rally Skill is recommended for the Arena because the dual Rallies such as Oscar's Rally Speed/Defense are among the highest costing SP assists, allowing you to score a wee bit more points.
So, what's the total? How high can you go?
Let's consider a unit duo with Ally Support, such as Boey and Mae. If they're adjacent (which should be incredibly easy to pull off), a specific stat of theirs will get a bonus of:
- Owl Tome effect, 1 Adjacent (2 Points)
- Ally Support (2 Points)
- Spur Skill Lv6 (8 Points)
- Rally Skill (4 Points)
And the grand total is 16 extra points in a single stat, and 4 for the others. As such, even units as slow as Boey can reach a speed stat over 40!
Conclusion
In the end, anyone can utilize spurs and ally support, especially enemy-phase units. Owl Tomes' greatness simply comes from the requirement overlap with other things that power up a character.
So in the end, why would you really use Owl Tomes?
While the bulk may be quite minimal, giving a 2 point boost in physical defense and magical defense at minimum, the 2 speed increase is quite important, and is what sets this Tome apart from others.
Gotta go fast!
IV Calc
Heroes