Steady Breath

This skill is designed for units who excel in enemy phases, giving them an additional four defense and an extra special charge on each hit traded in combat. Steady Breath opens up many new possibilities for characters, allowing them to charge and fire off powerful specials with previously unheard of speed. It can be used in combination with special chargers such as Quickened Pulse and Killer/Slaying weapons for even faster charges. Steady Breath can only be inherited onto infantry and armor units, and has one restriction: It requires the opponent to initiate attack.

When using Steady Breath, there are many things to consider. Generally, builds with Steady Breath strive for one of two things: to activate a powerful special very quickly, or many times over a battle. Builds that aim to launch one special quickly synergize well with Quickened Pulse and skills such as Infantry Pulse, that only work once. Bonfire/Iceberg is the most common skill for this purpose, as it can be fired after receiving just one hit with a Killer/Slaying weapon. With the help of a Quickened Pulse seal, Ignis can be fired in the same way. Builds that aim to activate specials many times favor skills like Aether and Sol, the healing combined with the +4 defense bonus lets a unit survive for an extended period of time. Quick Riposte and Renewal are more good choices, but be careful when using the former: It can be hard to keep above the health threshold, especially if you only have access to Quick Riposte 2. Weapons with Distant Counter are a great partner to Steady Breath, as it lets them retaliate against ranged attackers as well. Finally, it is a great partner to Falchion healer builds, allowing them to self-heal quickly through the use of specials as well as their normal methods.

Steady Breath’s primary weakness is that it requires the unit to receive attacks from an opponent. In order to make good use of this ability, you’ll have to throw the unit in question into danger. Steady Breath’s defense bonus helps against physical units, but offers no protection against magic damage, making them a potential threat. There are two ways to handle a unit with Steady Breath. Firstly is with a strong offensive unit with a skill such as Desperation or a Firesweep weapon that prevents counter attacks. Secondly, you can simply lure them in to your own team, completely negating the effects of the skill.