Cordelia, Perfect Bride

[XRay]

Cordelia, Perfect Bride

After Chrom initiated divorce, Cordelia is the best bow infantry for Player Phase nuclear warfare as she watches Sumia drown in Breakneck Pass.

Unlike Blade mages, Brave Bow archers can operate more independently from their teammates. Additionally, being colorless means that Brave Bow archers are equally effective against all types units and are not hindered by the Weapon Triangle. BB!Cordelia, when unbuffed, operates at a similar performance level to Blade mages with Attack and Speed buffs. With just Hone Attack and Hone Speed buffs, BB!Cordelia rivals fully buffed Blade cavalry in performance.

While Brave Bow archers are a little more versatile than Blade mages in terms of coverage, they have problems dealing with certain units that Blade mages can easily deal with. Bulky Distant Counter units are quite common in the upper tiers of the Arena and they are dangerous for Brave Bow archers to take down. Raven mages are less frequently encountered, but they still appear often enough that players should be cautious and double check enemies' skills; some mages that usually run Blade builds may occasionally run Raven builds, as the sole purpose of those builds is to make Brave Bow archers disappear under unsuspecting players' fingers. Like all other Player Phase nukes, the greatest threat comes from ranged cavalry who can cover large distances quickly and take advantage of Player Phase nukes' weak Enemy Phase performance.

BB!Cordelia can run Firesweep Bow and Cancel Affinity as an answer to Distant Counter units and Raven mages respectively. In exchange for raw power and requiring Dancer/Singer support to take down bulky units, BB!Cordelia becomes more of a generalist who can cripple a vast majority of units without fear of counter attacks. However, BB!Cordelia is still vulnerable to ranged cavalry.

 

Level 40 stats:

HP: 33/36/40
Atk: 32/35/38
Spd: 32/35/38
Def: 16/19/22
Res: 19/22/25

Total: 147~148

Default skills:

Weapon: Cupid Arrow+
Assist: Rally Atk/Spd
Special: [none]
Passive A: [none]
Passive B: Escape Route
Passive C: Breath of Life

 

Brave Bow:
General use, Arena offense

Spoiler

Nature: [+Atk/Spd, -HP/Def/Res]

Brave Bow+
Reposition
Luna / Moonbow
Life and Death 3 / Swift Sparrow 2 / Fury 3
Desperation 3 / Cancel Affinity 3 / Swordbreaker 3 / Lancebreaker 3 / [flexible passive C]
[flexible passive C] / Savage Blow 3
Attack +3 / Speed +3 / Quickened Pulse / Savage Blow 3

This is her most common skill set, letting her nuke the vast majority of the cast. Unless an enemy is specifically designed to counter archers, few enemies would survive.

Reposition: This is the most useful Assist skill for Player Phase nukes, especially in conjunction with Dancer/Singer support. With Dancer/Singer support, a nuke can attack, be Danced/Sung to, move out of enemy range to behind the Dancer/Singer, and then finally Reposition the Dancer/Singer into the back.

Moonbow-Quickened Pulse: This combination is used to take out bulkier units that might have survived her regular attacks and kill her on the counter. Luna is generally better as she has teammates who can take care of physically bulkier units.

Savage Blow 3 — Savage Blow 3: This can be used during Tempest Trials as units are mostly running their vanilla sets with random skills as filler, so Vantage is not a huge threat. With two Savage Blows equipped, she can quickly take down groups of enemy units.

Firesweep Bow:
General use, Arena offense, Arena defense

Spoiler

Nature: [+Atk/Spd, -HP/Def/Res]

Firesweep Bow+
Reposition
Luna / Moonbow
Life and Death 3
Cancel Affinity 3 / Poison Strike / [flexible passive C]
[flexible passive C] / Savage Blow 3 / Atk Smoke 3 / Spd Smoke 3
[flexible Sacred Seal] / Heavy Blade 3 / Quickened Pulse / Savage Blow 3 / Attack +3 / Speed +3

Firesweep Bow allows BB!Cordelia to attack with impunity. As long as she stays out of enemy range, she is practically invincible.

Reposition: This is the most useful Assist skill for Player Phase nukes, especially in conjunction with Dancer/Singer support. With Dancer/Singer support, a nuke can attack, be Danced/Sung to, move out of enemy range to behind the Dancer/Singer, and then finally Reposition the Dancer/Singer into the back.

Moonbow — Heavy Blade 3/Quickened Pulse: This combination is used to allow her to kill more units in her first round of combat.

Poison Strike 3 — Savage Blow 3 — Savage Blow 3: She can abuse HP reduction skills without fear of Vantage attacks. This allows her and her teammates to take down bulkier units faster.

 

BAD NATURES

Speed Bane:

Spoiler

Nature: [-Spd]

Brave Bow+
Reposition / Ardent Sacrifice
Luna
Life and Death 3 / Death Blow 3
Desperation 3
[flexible passive C]
Brash Assault 3

If your BB!Cordelia is a bit sluggish, you can still work around it and emulate the Brave Bow build.

Ardent Sacrifice: It allows her to drop safely into Brash Assault range, although it will take a couple of tries. It might not be necessary if you feel she can safely take most counters.

Desperation 3-Brash Assault 3: If she manages to get below 50% health, Brash Assault activates by allowing her to make a follow up attack against any unit who can counter attack, and Desperation moves her follow up attack forward to land four hits consecutively.

Attack Bane:
BB!Cordelia can still run a regular Brave Bow build, but she will not be able to hit as hard.

Edited January 7, 2018 by XRay
Formating; added additional stats; grammar.

[Xenomata]

Note from personal experience, but if Cordelia is forced to run lower Speed thanks to a -Spd nature, then she can also make a good user of the Desperatio/Brash Assault combo. It will however require support, as it calls for her to get below 50% health with her shoddy defenses, and may even force her to be Summoner Supported.

But when she does get below that threshold, she dominates pretty much every ranged unit* and DC user. A WoM3 dancer may be necessary to get the best results.

 

*not tested on Distant Defense 9 TOD!Jakob

Edited December 10, 2017 by Xenomata

[XRay]

15 hours ago, Xenomata said:

Note from personal experience, but if Cordelia is forced to run lower Speed thanks to a -Spd nature, then she can also make a good user of the Desperatio/Brash Assault combo. It will however require support, as it calls for her to get below 50% health with her shoddy defenses, and may even force her to be Summoner Supported.

But when she does get below that threshold, she dominates pretty much every ranged unit* and DC user. A WoM3 dancer may be necessary to get the best results.

 

*not tested on Distant Defense 9 TOD!Jakob

Cool. Do you think a -Spd deserves its own section or do you think it falls under the Brave Bow section?

I will just put it under the Brave Bow section for now and then I can just copy and paste it into a new section later.

[MrSmokestack]

I have a -Spd Bride Cordelia myself and I don’t think it does. Desperation + Brash Assault is not only a niche setup to begin with, but any unit with a brave weapon can utilize it regardless of Spd. Having 32 Spd after LaD is definitely better than most, and you would be better off patching it up with a stat boost seal or another skill that actually supports the team. It might deserve a mention in passing, but it’s not good enough to deserve its own build in my opinion.

Edited December 10, 2017 by MrSmokestack

[Xenomata]

2 hours ago, XRay said:

Cool. Do you think a -Spd deserves its own section or do you think it falls under the Brave Bow section?

I will just put it under the Brave Bow section for now and then I can just copy and paste it into a new section later.

I agree with @MrSmokestack, -Spd probably isn't deserving of it's own build, just a mention under Brave Bow. I bring it up because I was an unfortunate who has to run Brash Desperation due to the unfortunate nature and have managed to get good results from it, but I've also summoner supported my Bridelia so even after LnD3 mine has more bulk than other Bridelias. Enough speed to leave her in range of an enemy and take one solid hit before flooring everything.

I feel like Cordelia IS a good runner of the combo compared to other Brave users, but it's still a rather risky combo to run. It's great for Tempest Trials/Chain Challenge though since there really aren't any 2 range/DC units with the natural skillset bulk to resist 3 normal bow hits and 1 Luna.

Edited December 10, 2017 by Xenomata

[Ice Dragon]

4 hours ago, XRay said:

Cool. Do you think a -Spd deserves its own section or do you think it falls under the Brave Bow section?

I will just put it under the Brave Bow section for now and then I can just copy and paste it into a new section later.

For 5-star exclusive characters, I think a section for "How do I make do with a crappy nature?" makes sense to have.

[XRay]

13 minutes ago, Ice Dragon said:

For 5-star exclusive characters, I think a section for "How do I make do with a crappy nature?" makes sense to have.

Alright. Makes sense.

[Ae†her]

10 minutes ago, Ice Dragon said:

For 5-star exclusive characters, I think a section for "How do I make do with a crappy nature?" makes sense to have.

Are we doing that now?

[Ice Dragon]

9 minutes ago, Logos said:

Are we doing that now?

If you want to and you think it is helpful. I don't have any strict guidelines on the format or content of an analysis as long as it works. (We aren't Smogon.)

[Ae†her]

Do you think Heavy Blade 3 + Moonbow/Glimmer with her Firesweep set could work?

[XRay]

7 hours ago, Logos said:

Do you think Heavy Blade 3 + Moonbow/Glimmer with her Firesweep set could work?

I think it is fine, but I would get her some additional buffs just to be safe.

I will add that in as well.

[gralbeord]

shame theres so many chars now where if their nature is bad, they are legitimately better as skill fodder