Michalis, Ambitious King

[Ice Dragon]

Michalis, Ambitious King

Michalis is one of two characters with access to Hauteclere, a more powerful Slaying Axe+ with its unique refine giving it an additional 10 damage when activating an offensive special skill.

Compared to Minerva, Michalis has higher Atk and Def, but lower Spd and Res, giving him a stronger enemy-phase presence. Compared to Beruka, who has a similar stat spread, Michalis has higher Atk and Spd, but lower Def and Res, making him less suitable for using Distant Counter against magic; however, his high single-hit damage output means the majority of blue and green mages will simply die to the first counterattack.

Level 40 stats:

HP: 43
Atk: 34
Spd: 26
Def: 35
Res: 19

Total: 157

Default skills:

Weapon: Hauteclere
Assist: [none]
Special: Blazing Thunder
Passive A: Iote's Shield
Passive B: [none]
Passive C: Threaten Def 3

 

Wall of Fire and Sharp Things: Moonbow Variant (Quick Riposte Moonbow)
General use, Arena offense, Arena defense

Spoiler

Nature: [=]

Hauteclere [unique]
Reposition
Moonbow
Close Def 3 / Distant Counter
Quick Riposte 3
[flexible passive C]
Close Def 3 / Distant Def 3 / Iote's Shield / [flexible Sacred Seal]

This build makes use of both of Hauteclere effects with the unique refine to hit the opponent with a boosted Moonbow on the first counterattack and a second Moonbow if the opponent survives the first and has a follow-up attack. Michalis benefits from both offensive and defensive flier buffs with offensive buffs boosting his ability to one-hit kill opponents and defensive buffs allowing him to take less damage and keep Quick Riposte active.

Close Def 3 with the Close Def 3 Sacred Seal can be used to focus exclusively on melee opponents, giving Michalis impressive 43/47/31 bulk against melee opponents before buffs and 43/59/43 bulk with three stacks of Ward Fliers.

Distant Counter with the Distant Def 3 Sacred Seal gives Michalis the ability to counterattack ranged opponents with 43/41/25 bulk against ranged opponents before buffs and 43/53/37 bulk with three stats of Ward Fliers, though care should be taken when engaging most ranged opponents because they either deal effective damage or target his noticeably weaker Res stat.

Distant Counter can also be used with the Iote's Shield Sacred Seal to bait bow users without taking effective damage, though this leaves him more vulnerable to magic.

Other options:

• Michalis's default Iote's Shield can be used as a cheaper option or when the Iote's Shield Sacred Seal is being used by another unit.

Wall of Fire and Sharp Things: Standard Variant (Quick Riposte Bonfire/Ignis)
General use, Arena offense, Arena defense

Spoiler

Nature: [=]

Hauteclere [Def/Res]
Reposition
Ignis / Bonfire
Close Def 3 / Distant Counter
Quick Riposte 3
[flexible passive C]
Close Def 3 / Distant Def 3 / Iote's Shield / [flexible Sacred Seal]

This is the standard Wall of Fire and Sharp Things build, using Hauteclere as if it were simply a Slaying Axe+ and relying on Bonfire or Ignis on the follow-up attack for the brunt of Michalis's killing potential. Due to the fact that Michalis will often take two hits in a single round of combat, this build is best used with as many stacks of Ward Fliers and Fortify Fliers as possible.

Ignis deals more damage, but only activates if the opponent is capable of performing a follow-up attack. Bonfire deals less damage, but will always activate.

With a Def refine, Close Def 3, the Close Def 3 Sacred Seal, and three stacks of Ward Fliers, Michalis reaches 43/63/43 bulk against melee opponents. A Res refine can also be used if taking hits from dragons is a concern.

With a Res refine, Distant Counter, the Distant Def 3 Sacred Seal, and three stacks of Ward Fliers, Michalis reaches 43/53/41 bulk against ranged opponents.

Distant Counter can also be used with the Iote's Shield Sacred Seal, which decreases his bulk, but allows him to bait bow users without taking effective damage.

Other options:

• Michalis's default Iote's Shield can be used as a cheaper option or when the Iote's Shield Sacred Seal is being used by another unit.
• The Heavy Blade 3 Sacred Seal can be used to guarantee the activation of Ignis on the second counterattack against opponents with a lower Atk stat at the cost of taking more damage.

High Noon (Noontime)
General use, Arena offense, Arena defense

Spoiler

Nature: [=]

Hauteclere [unique]
Reposition
Noontime
Close Def 3 / Distant Counter
Quick Riposte 3
[flexible passive C]
Close Def 3 / Distant Def 3 / Iote's Shield / [flexible Sacred Seal]

Hauteclere's unique combination of reducing the special skill cooldown by 1 and dealing 10 more damage when a special skill activates allows Michalis to activate Noontime on every counterattack, dealing the 10 extra damage and healing 30% of the total damage dealt.

This build benefits most from stacking Goad Fliers and Hone Fliers in an attempt to kill the opponent in a single hit because a second counterattack will typically deal less damage than the first (because the attack will overkill), resulting in less healing after the opponent's second attack. In cases where damage from the opponent is negligible, such as against most lance users, this is less of an issue.

Again, Close Def 3 is paired with the Close Def 3 Sacred Seal to focus on melee opponents, and Distant Counter is paired with the Distant Def 3 Sacred Seal to also counterattack against ranged opponents.

Distant Counter can also be used with the Iote's Shield Sacred Seal to bait bow users without taking effective damage.

Other options:

• Fierce Stance 3 can be used to deal more damage on the counterattack at the cost of also taking more damage.

Brash Desperation
General use, Arena offense

Spoiler

Nature: [=]

Hauteclere [unique]
Reposition
Moonbow
Death Blow 3 / Fury 3
Desperation 3
[flexible passive C]
Brash Assault 3

Hauteclere's unique refine allowing Michalis to land boosted Moonbows every other hit allows him to use the combination of the Brash Assault 3 Sacred Seal and Desperation 3 to hit opponents with a boosted Moonbow on every round of combat without fear of retaliation when he drops below 50% HP. Excluding Minerva, who also has access to Hauteclere, other units are unable to run this combination of skills because Wrath 3 prevents the use of Desperation 3 to avoid taking a counterattack, and Wo Dao+ increases Moonbow's cooldown back to its default of 2, preventing it from activating on every round of combat.

Death Blow 3 maximizes the damage Michalis deals with each attack, whereas Fury 3 helps Michalis activate Brash Assault 3 more quickly.

Other options:

• Life and Death 3 gives Michalis more Spd to attempt to break through Wary Fighter 3 and reduces his Def, allowing him to activate Brash Assault 3 more quickly, but with greater risk than with Fury 3.

 

Edited December 29, 2017 by Ice Dragon

[Ae†her]

Does Michi heal +3 with Noontime and Hatueclere's +10 damage effect? Or does he heal from his base damage only, and Hauteclere's +10 is counted separately?

Edit: Also could Sol + Steady Breath work instead for High Noon or rather be another viable option?

Edited December 17, 2017 by Logos

[Ice Dragon]

16 minutes ago, Logos said:

Does Michi heal +3 with Noontime and Hatueclere's +10 damage effect? Or does he heal from his base damage only, and Hauteclere's +10 is counted separately?

Healing from Daylight, Noontime, Sol, and Aether is always counted using actual damage dealt, the difference between the target's HP before and after the attack.

[Ae†her]

39 minutes ago, Ice Dragon said:

Healing from Daylight, Noontime, Sol, and Aether is always counted using actual damage dealt, the difference between the target's HP before and after the attack.

Oh that's good to know then, thank you for clarifying. Btw I noticed you haven't mentioned Aether/Steady Breath in any of his builds. Do you think it's not a good option for him or is it something else?

[Ice Dragon]

4 minutes ago, Logos said:

Oh that's good to know then, thank you for clarifying. Btw I noticed you haven't mentioned Aether/Steady Breath in any of his builds. Do you think it's not a good option for him or is it something else?

Steady Breath cannot be taught to flying units.

[Ae†her]

Just now, Ice Dragon said:

Steady Breath cannot be taught to flying units.

Oh lol. I was using the Unit Builder so much I forgot that you can't actually give SB to Flying Units, my bad.

[BANRYU]

Aether could be a decent option for him actually, though it seems like kind of a mixed bag; with QR against someone who doubles him, it's fully charged for the next round and primed to nuke anyone else he needs out of the way, and the +10 to damage means he gets more healing in the process (I think, right?)...

...but on the other hand, it might just be more practical to do something faster-charging to proc more often, which might be better for his overall damage output. I think the Noontime build is pretty good with regards to healing enough that it makes Aether kind of impractical unless you really want to give him the husbando bias. 

[Ice Dragon]

Updated with the addition of the Iote's Shield and Heavy Blade Sacred Seals.

Iote's Shield can be used on any of the enemy-phase builds, preferably when using Distant Counter, instead of Distant Def to remove his weakness to bows at the cost of taking more damage from magic.

Heavy Blade is useful with Ignis on the standard version of the Wall of Fire and Sharp Things build to make it more likely for him to land Ignis on the second counterattack on slower opponents, especially if he is buffed by Hone Fliers or Goad Fliers, which make it harder for him to be double attacked (and also make Heavy Blade more likely to activate). This doesn't work on the Moonbow or Noontime builds because they rely on him fully charging the skill on the enemy's attack, meaning charging 2 points of Special gauge on his own attacks doesn't help him. It also obviously doesn't work with the Brash Desperation build because it's mutually exclusive with the necessary Brash Assault Sacred Seal.

[Kaden]

Okay, I gotta say the High Noon build is pretty fun.

Anyway, @Ice Dragon, what do you think of that unique refined Hauteclere, Ignis, Vantage, and Deflect Melee build that was posted by Omni H a while back? This build: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcTSLyqPX0M.