Savage Blow 3

Savage Blow is in a few ways, the opposite of Breath of Life. Savage Blow can grant units a lot of free damage with little opportunity cost, and occupies one of the least contested skill slots. The seven damage it inflicts is unblockable, and is a great way to reduce the HP of high defense or resistance enemies. For the skill to activate the user must initiate combat, and the target of the attack does not have their HP reduced. At two spaces, the range is quite large, and is likely to hit multiple foes, especially on maps with choke points.

Savage Blow is most commonly paired with Poison Strike, as they both do similar things. This is a good application of the skill, granting a team a lot of free damage from initiations. However, the best friend of Savage Blow is team-mates who can benefit from having the foes’ HP reduced. Many powerful attackers miss out on KO’s only by a few points of damage, and Savage Blow can allow them to punch through targets. When using Savage Blow, make sure you are aware of which units on your team can exploit the free damage for an unexpected KO. Savage Blow is a great skill for bulky Brave Weapon users such as Cherche, Effie and Frederick, as they have the defensive stats to initiate attacks and can exploit weakened foes themselves.

Savage Blow’s primary weakness is that it requires the user to initiate attacks. This cannot always happen reliably, and exposes the user of the skill to danger. The fact it does not affect the target of the attack also means that it requires enemies to be grouped up. This is not always the case, especially if the enemy has a mix of armor, cavalry and fliers. Lastly, Savage Blow’s damage works the same way as Poison Strike’s and Fury’s: It cannot reduce HP below one. A direct attack is still required to finish the job, which can expose friendlies to skills such as Vantage and Brash Assault. It is relatively easy to handle enemies with this skill, but care must be taken as to not suffer an unexpected KO from an attack you would normally survive.