Soren: Shrewd Strategist [WIP]

[DarkLordIvy]

Soren: Shrewd Strategist
“An officer in the Greil Mercenaries. A coolheaded realist who has opened up to Ike”

Hp: 33 | 36 | 40
Atk: 30 | 33 | 36
Spd: 30 | 33 | 36
Def: 13 | 17 | 20
Res: 25 | 29 | 32

Weapon: Rexcaliber+
Assist: none
Special: Growing Wind
A: none
B: Watersweep 3
C: Fortify Res 3

My favorite green mage who is as polarizing a character as he is grumpy. Soren is, statwise a slightly slower Nino with bulkier res and a worse starting kit. For several months this was the main argument for why to not bother with him, but in the world of Arena and Squad Assault a second Nino can be pretty useful, and that aside Soren is versatile enough in how he can be built to step completely out of Nino’s even shorter shadow.

Soren’s stats as I said before are very similar to Nino’s with three less spd and three more res at neutral. Soren’s def is abysmal. Unless you are for some reason running him with +def, fury and a def refined weapon, this mage is not tanking any physical hits until he is merged a good deal with Summoner Support. The high res means that Soren is an excellent counter for the long standing horse scourge that is Reinhardt.

Even with weapon refinement making his default Rexcalibur viable to keep and use Soren requires a fair bit of investment to truly shine. Up until weapon refinement Rexcalibur was undeniably worse than almost all other green tomes (with the exception of Gronnwolf with its low low might), and was much better replaced by ether Gronnblade or Gronnraven. With refinement Rexcalibur gives a nice boost to his BST and is best used to give Soren some extra speed.

Growing Wind, as with most AoE specials, is really only useful for specific GHB or BHB strategies. It is much better replaced by a Dragon Gaze line skil, Iceberg, Night Sky, or New Moon skill all of which let Soren kill things dead much more effectively the majority of the time.

Soren wants an A skill that will ether boost him speed and attack or give him more res tanking ability.

With his base Watersweep skill Soren apparently predicted the menace dragons and certain staff users were going to become down the line, but compared to his other B slot options it is less functional than other skills.

Soren’s C slot is easily the most flexible passive slot and can be filled with whatever hone or fortify works best for your team. However, if available a ploy skill makes excellent use of Soren’s naturally high res.

 

Builds:

“Not Nino” [Blade]

Spoiler

Wpn: Gronnblade+
Ast: Flexible
S: Draconic Aura / Iceberg / Luna / Moonbow / Glimmer
A: Fury 3 / Life and Death 3 / Darting Blow 3 / Swift Sparrow 2
B: Desperation 3 / G Tomebreaker 3
C: Flexible 
SS: +Spd 3 / Squad Ace D 3 / Brash Assault 3 / Atk Ploy 3 / Distant Def 3 / Heavy Blade 3
 

“Down With Colorless Hell” [Raven]

Spoiler

Wpn: Gronnraven+
Ast: Flexible
S: Draconic Aura / Iceberg / Luna / Moonbow / Glimmer
A: Fury 3 / Triangle Adept 3
B: Desperation 3 / Vantage 3 / Bowbreaker 3
C: Flexible
SS: +Spd 3 / Squad Ace D 3 / Brash Assault 3 / Atk Ploy 3 / Deflect Missile 3
 

“Death to Horses” [Wolf]

Spoiler

Wpn: Keen Gronnwolf+ [Unique refine]
Ast: Flexible
S: Draconic Aura / Iceberg / Luna / Moonbow / Glimmer
A: Fury 3 / Swift Sparrow 2
B: Desperation 3 / Escape Route 3 / BowBreaker 3 / G Tomebreaker 3
C: Flexible
SS: Deflect Missile 3 / +Spd 3 / Squad Ace D 3 / Brash Assault 3 / Atk Ploy 3 
 

“Speeding Tornado” [Rexc]

Spoiler

Wpn: TornadoRexcalibur+ [Spd refine]
Ast: Flexible
S: Draconic Aura / Iceberg / Luna / Moonbow / Glimmer
A: Fury 3 / Life and Death 3 / Darting Blow 3 / Swift Sparrow 2
B: Desperation 3 / Escape Route 3 / Wings of Mercy 3
C: Flexible / Atk Ploy 3 / Spd Ploy 3 / Res Ploy 3
SS: +Spd 3 / Squad Ace D 3 / Brash Assault 3 / Atk Ploy 3 / Distant Def 3 / Heavy Blade 3
 

“Hurricane Force Winds” [Rexc]

Spoiler

Wpn: TornadoRexcalibur+ [Atk refine]
Ast: Flexible
S: Draconic Aura / Iceberg / Luna / Moonbow / Glimmer
A: Life and Death 3 / Fury 3 / Death Blow 3
B: Desperation 3 / Escape Route 3 / Wings of Mercy 3
C: Flexible
SS: Atk +3 / Squad Ace E 3 / Heavy Blade 3
 

“Sweeping Strategies” [Rexc]

Spoiler

Wpn: Rexcalibur+ [Spd refine] 
Ast: Flexible
S: Draconic Aura / Iceberg / Luna / Moonbow / Glimmer
A: Fury 3 / Life and Death 3 / Darting Blow 3 / Swift Sparrow 2
B: Windsweep 3 / Watersweep 3
C: Flexible
SS: Phantom Spd 3
 

“Expensively Fast” [My dream build]

Spoiler

Wpn: Gronnblade+ / Rexcalibur+ [Spd refine]
Ast: Flexible
S: Ather
A: Flashing Blade 3
B: Desperation 3
C: Spd Ploy 3
SS: Phantom Spd 3

I'll be back later to add writeups to the builds themselves and to proofread everything but I think its serviceable for the time being.

Edited March 1, 2018 by DarkLordIvy

[BANRYU]

Is there anything that the Rexcalibur builds do better than builds with any other weapon? Otherwise I don't see much point to them, besides a budget Soren build. 

I'm also curious to know if the Flashing Blade build does anything better than the other builds, or if Flashing Blade could simply be slashed onto the Blade build. 

[DarkLordIvy]

50 minutes ago, BANRYU said:

Is there anything that the Rexcalibur builds do better than builds with any other weapon? Otherwise I don't see much point to them, besides a budget Soren build. 

I'm also curious to know if the Flashing Blade build does anything better than the other builds, or if Flashing Blade could simply be slashed onto the Blade build. 

In my experience Rexcalibur mostly just gives a boost to stats which is great for arena scoring but bladetomes and now things like Keen Gronnwolf are still more powerful in general. Rexcalibur is still mainly just budget since the boosts and effects from the other green tomes are in general still better.

The Flashing Blade build is based off of a Soren on my friends list that I've used some in gauntlets, so admittedly I'm not a total expert. I mostly just think its a fun expensively dumb build that I would love should I ever end up pulling Mia. It could be slapped onto the Blade build the main difference is specifically using Aether and a ploy. I need to check but I'm also pretty sure for Flashing Blade to really be effective Soren would have to be +Spd.

Hope that made sense, I just woke up and I'm groggy lol.

[BANRYU]

I get where you're coming from, but I don't think Rexcalibur needs multiple different sets; a single build listing the various budget options for folks who can't be bothered to get another weapon on him (or, as you said, want to get arena bonuses or something) should suffice.

As for the Flashing Blade build, it seems pretty cool, though when you write it up be sure to detail what makes it better than the other ones, or what setting it's more useful in and whatnot. If all things said and done it's just a (for lack of a better word) flashy high-investment favoritism set, I think that's probably fine but make sure to be objective about it lol. 

[DarkLordIvy]

1 minute ago, BANRYU said:

I get where you're coming from, but I don't think Rexcalibur needs multiple different sets; a single build listing the various budget options for folks who can't be bothered to get another weapon on him (or, as you said, want to get arena bonuses or something) should suffice.

As for the Flashing Blade build, it seems pretty cool, though when you write it up be sure to detail what makes it better than the other ones, or what setting it's more useful in and whatnot. If all things said and done it's just a (for lack of a better word) flashy high-investment favoritism set, I think that's probably fine but make sure to be objective about it lol. 

Okay yeah I'll merge the Rexcalibur ones once I get back to this. Flashing blade, again yeah I'll be sure to specify all that. I know I really need to add the main purposes of each build, I'll probably do that before I finish the write ups.

Thank you by the way I have no idea what I'm doing heh

[BANRYU]

9 minutes ago, DarkLordIvy said:

Okay yeah I'll merge the Rexcalibur ones once I get back to this. Flashing blade, again yeah I'll be sure to specify all that. I know I really need to add the main purposes of each build, I'll probably do that before I finish the write ups.

Thank you by the way I have no idea what I'm doing heh

So long as you're using the Battle Sim to determine what works, how well they work, etc. you should be fine! Just remember to explore specific matchups that Soren wants to be able to win (IE, if a base requirement for the player who uses him is that he wants to survive and beat Reinhardt, then make sure that he can do that tested against Reinhardt's common skills like Death Blow + QP Moonbow, etc.), and test against multiple different skill setups to see what performs the best across all of them; what I usually do is test against Fury and then various boons, like Spd and the corresponding defensive stat if the unit I'm testing is offensive, Atk and the defense in question if my tested unit is defensive, etc. etc.

It's a lot of experimentation, but you get the best results by being thorough! And remember that a higher K/D ratio doesn't always necessarily matter; maybe you have a defensive unit who you want to be able to survive as much as possible, in which case kills are less important than deaths (and ofc the opposite is true for an offensive unit that uses something like LnD). In the case of Soren: can his Raven build beat all the reds/colorless units reliably? If so, what else can he potentially check if he has skill slots to spare? Can his Wolf build beat prominent horses like Rein and Lyn on defense? Can it possibly check or even beat red horse units (probably gotta rule out Sigurd, but it's worth a shot lol)? If it can, what else can it manage to check? etc. etc. 

That's the process I generally use. And then the best results are the main options on the set, as well as other slashes for budget purposes / if they accomplish something different (and then you describe what they accomplish in the analysis. I know this is pretty wordy, but I hope it helps! x3x

[DarkLordIvy]

39 minutes ago, BANRYU said:

So long as you're using the Battle Sim to determine what works, how well they work, etc. you should be fine! Just remember to explore specific matchups that Soren wants to be able to win (IE, if a base requirement for the player who uses him is that he wants to survive and beat Reinhardt, then make sure that he can do that tested against Reinhardt's common skills like Death Blow + QP Moonbow, etc.), and test against multiple different skill setups to see what performs the best across all of them; what I usually do is test against Fury and then various boons, like Spd and the corresponding defensive stat if the unit I'm testing is offensive, Atk and the defense in question if my tested unit is defensive, etc. etc.

It's a lot of experimentation, but you get the best results by being thorough! And remember that a higher K/D ratio doesn't always necessarily matter; maybe you have a defensive unit who you want to be able to survive as much as possible, in which case kills are less important than deaths (and ofc the opposite is true for an offensive unit that uses something like LnD). In the case of Soren: can his Raven build beat all the reds/colorless units reliably? If so, what else can he potentially check if he has skill slots to spare? Can his Wolf build beat prominent horses like Rein and Lyn on defense? Can it possibly check or even beat red horse units (probably gotta rule out Sigurd, but it's worth a shot lol)? If it can, what else can it manage to check? etc. etc. 

That's the process I generally use. And then the best results are the main options on the set, as well as other slashes for budget purposes / if they accomplish something different (and then you describe what they accomplish in the analysis. I know this is pretty wordy, but I hope it helps! x3x

Ooo I've been looking for that battle sim! Hadn't looked very hard granted but. I have actually run all but two of of these builds in at least some capacity on my own Soren, (Roy is a cryptid and Triangle Adept fodder does not exist) so I've got a lot of trial and error under my belt with him but having the numbers will be good.

I don't want to end up too long winded in the descriptions but I"ll do my best to cover all the bases. (Since you mentioned it that Wolf build at least with Summoner support has made Sigurd the only horse he can't outright kill on on player phase it is fuuuuun)

This a big help, thank you again!

[Shiki]

Gronnblade:
Due to the added cooldown on Specials you either want to use the 2-turn ones like Moonbow or Glimmer or commit entirely for Arena points and run Aether. If Aether is not available his default Growing Wind is an option since it is a bit more expensive than a regular special.
The other Specials aren't really useful especially after the buff on Glimmer, only adding ~3-5 points more than it in most cases.
Heavy Blade Seal is kinda pointless for him since his Atk isn't that high.

Gronnraven:
You want to highlight TA over Fury. Considering that Soren has poor physical bulk he needs TA to tank the likes of Brave Lyn or even regular Brave Bow users like B!Cordelia. On that note Bowbreaker is mandatory in that regard and highlight Deflect Missile.

Rexcalibur:
1 build is enough for that. It's pretty niche in the first place since it trades 3 Spd or 4 Res for a tome effect which isn't a good trade at all. It makes sense for a budget build but not really in another case.

In general you recommend Fury + Desperation in every single set which is not a good recommendation at all. It is only good in -blade builds otherwise he wants to run other passive combos like TA + Bowbreaker in -raven and DD on -wolf.
You're missing recommendation on boon/banes. -blade wants +Spd, -raven probably wants to avoid -Def to tank Bows better.

[Ice Dragon]

50 minutes ago, Zeratul said:

Heavy Blade Seal is kinda pointless for him since his Atk isn't that high.

Heavy Blade's effect includes all in-combat buffs to both units, and Gronnblade's effect is considered an in-combat buff. Because of this, Litrblade users easily have some of the highest Atk values in the game.

[BANRYU]

17 hours ago, Zeratul said:

Gronnblade:
Due to the added cooldown on Specials you either want to use the 2-turn ones like Moonbow or Glimmer or commit entirely for Arena points and run Aether. If Aether is not available his default Growing Wind is an option since it is a bit more expensive than a regular special.
The other Specials aren't really useful especially after the buff on Glimmer, only adding ~3-5 points more than it in most cases.
Heavy Blade Seal is kinda pointless for him since his Atk isn't that high.

Gotta respectfully disagree; Draconic Aura is a perfectly acceptable higher-CD option (4 IIRC) for Blade mages since their Atk gets pumped up so high from the blade boosts and makes for a good nuke against stuff they wouldn't normally kill (IE reds with high HP/Res, res-tanky greens, etc). This is the special I use on my Soren and I can attest to its use; it's especially worth a mention given what Ice Dragon added about Heavy Blade, I think. 

Even that aside, I don't agree with the notion that a Special has to be proc'd in every round of combat in order to be considered worthwhile. 

[Shiki]

7 minutes ago, BANRYU said:

Gotta respectfully disagree; Draconic Aura is a perfectly acceptable higher-CD option (4 IIRC) for Blade mages since their Atk gets pumped up so high from the blade boosts and makes for a good nuke against stuff they wouldn't normally kill (IE reds with high HP/Res, res-tanky greens, etc). This is the special I use on my Soren and I can attest to its use; it's especially worth a mention given what Ice Dragon added about Heavy Blade, I think. 

Even that aside, I don't agree with the notion that a Special has to be proc'd in every round of combat in order to be considered worthwhile. 

Consistency over power; that is always the notion one should go for.
In most battles higher cooldown becomes a liability as you are able to trigger a Special only once or not even at all. You either go faster or just use the spot for Arena scoring (which is legimate since -blade never really need a Special unlike most units).

Draconic Aura also adds around ~20 damage at most if we factor in all buffs. That's what 4 points more than Iceberg? That's not enough to kill the likes of Young Tiki or Horse Buff Leo who fit your description of high HP/RES units in the red department. It won't save you against Julia or Deirdre since they have Divine Naga.
In most other cases Glimmer gives you the same result with a lower cooldown which is more preferable.

[DarkLordIvy]

@ZeratulYo! I'm sorry I never responded to your stuff. I have notifications on for this but they never showed up for some reason, and I haven't had a good chance to sit down and revise/finish my analysis stuff since I originally posted. :/

Once I'm done with class I'm going to come back and edit this with specific replies to your criticisms, and thank you for that by the way.

[Ice Dragon]

On 1/18/2018 at 10:52 AM, Zeratul said:

Consistency over power; that is always the notion one should go for.
In most battles higher cooldown becomes a liability as you are able to trigger a Special only once or not even at all. You either go faster or just use the spot for Arena scoring (which is legimate since -blade never really need a Special unlike most units).

Draconic Aura also adds around ~20 damage at most if we factor in all buffs. That's what 4 points more than Iceberg? That's not enough to kill the likes of Young Tiki or Horse Buff Leo who fit your description of high HP/RES units in the red department. It won't save you against Julia or Deirdre since they have Divine Naga.
In most other cases Glimmer gives you the same result with a lower cooldown which is more preferable.

Assuming nothing dies in one hit and Soren is fast enough to make a follow-up attack against everyone.

Glimmer with Heavy Blade:

• If the first opponent can counterattack, Glimmer activates on the first and third rounds of combat.
• If the first opponent cannot counterattack, Glimmer activates on the second round of combat.

Glimmer without Heavy Blade:

• Glimmer activates on the second round of combat.

Dragon Fang with Heavy Blade:

• Dragon Fang activates on the second round of combat.

Draconic Aura without Heavy Blade:

• Draconic Aura activates on the second round of combat.

I'm not seeing enough of a difference to say that Glimmer is that much better than Draconic Aura or Dragon Fang based on activation timing alone.

[DarkLordIvy]

On 1/17/2018 at 3:35 PM, Zeratul said:

Gronnblade:
Due to the added cooldown on Specials you either want to use the 2-turn ones like Moonbow or Glimmer or commit entirely for Arena points and run Aether. If Aether is not available his default Growing Wind is an option since it is a bit more expensive than a regular special.
The other Specials aren't really useful especially after the buff on Glimmer, only adding ~3-5 points more than it in most cases.
Heavy Blade Seal is kinda pointless for him since his Atk isn't that high.

I'll be honest, I hesitate to recommend Moonbow over other skills because I've always felt like it just doesn't deal enough damage, I consider it to probably be the most overrated of the specials you regularly see on builds because low cooldown or not, it just doesn't kill things well as pretty much all the other options. Glimmer I do need to move up on the list but I would not necessarily recommend it over Draconic Aura or Iceberg simply because of the killing potential and personal experience. Draconic Aura is what I ran on my Soren until I gave him Aether a couple months back and he was able to KO pretty much everything that wasn't a super bulky red unit, which isn't something he should be fighting anyway. Growing Wind is a good budget option but I don't think its very well suited to the blade build.

Like @Ice Dragon said Heavy Blade works quiet well on the blade blade build, but as long as Soren isn't -Atk he can pretty easily get over 50 atk and with the blade buffs added onto that he has no trouble activating Heavy Blade.

On 1/17/2018 at 3:35 PM, Zeratul said:

Gronnraven:
You want to highlight TA over Fury. Considering that Soren has poor physical bulk he needs TA to tank the likes of Brave Lyn or even regular Brave Bow users like B!Cordelia. On that note Bowbreaker is mandatory in that regard and highlight Deflect Missile.

He doesn't technically need TA or Bowbreaker to tank Brave Lyn or most of your average Brave Bow units if he has Fury and Deflect Missile. Bowbreaker is a good addition don't get me wrong, but Soren's spd is high enough that even without Bowbreaker he isn't going to get doubled. Of course this gets complicated when you factor in buffs and merges but looking just at unmerged, Brave Bow/LaD/Moodbow/QP builds on the most common units you see with the build vs. unmerged Raven/Fury/DefMis Soren he can tank a round. Don't worry I will be highlighting that Deflect Missile it is the only way to feasibly pull off getting Mr. 17 neutral Def to come even close to tanking most Bow units. I've also never actually used TA on Soren for any build personally due to Roy being a cryptid, so I think I put Fury first on the build out of habit even though TA is for sure the safer option for the build after looking again at the battle simulators. 

On 1/17/2018 at 3:35 PM, Zeratul said:

Rexcalibur:
1 build is enough for that. It's pretty niche in the first place since it trades 3 Spd or 4 Res for a tome effect which isn't a good trade at all. It makes sense for a budget build but not really in another case.

Yeah I'll be condensing the Rexcalibur builds when I finish cleaning this up. The main point of the Rexcalibur builds is for them to be budget options, but I know there are quite a few people, myself included who have run refined Rexcalibur over other weapons specifically for the stat boost.

On 1/17/2018 at 3:35 PM, Zeratul said:

In general you recommend Fury + Desperation in every single set which is not a good recommendation at all. It is only good in -blade builds otherwise he wants to run other passive combos like TA + Bowbreaker in -raven and DD on -wolf.
You're missing recommendation on boon/banes. -blade wants +Spd, -raven probably wants to avoid -Def to tank Bows better.

I'm going to respectfully disagree for the most part on your first point. Fury/Desperation might not be the most optimal in every set but it will work for almost all of these builds in some capacity. I'm going to pull the "my own experience" card again here to say that Fury/Desp is what I ran on my Soren in the arena from about August until December with a mix of Blade tome, Spd refine Rexcalibur, and special refine Keen Gronnwolf. What I'm going to do I think is mark Fury/Desp as a budget option for the builds I have it down for other than Blade.

I am missing boon/banes! I uh actually managed to completely forget to add them when I was working on this before. Oops.

[Poimagic]

I wonder what the Wind Brand’s effect will be? It could probably help him out depending on the effect. I’m hoping Wind Brand has a effective against Flier/Dragon effect and ignores something about those two types for a refinement. I would assume the WIP is for when the Wind’s Brand comes out?

[DarkLordIvy]

3 minutes ago, Poimagic said:

I wonder what the Wind Brand’s effect will be? It could probably help him out depending on the effect. I’m hoping Wind Brand has a effective against Flier/Dragon effect and ignores something about those two types for a refinement. I would assume the WIP is for when the Wind’s Brand comes out?

I actually never finished this in the first place, I would have sworn that I had WIP in the title originally but apparently not... So I fixed that today, and I want to finish the write ups I had started for the builds I have here and generally clean up my whole mess of a first post before Wind's Brand gets released. I am super excited for it though. My personal hope is for a brave effect, but that's probably a pipe dream. Effective against flyers and dragons would be a really awesome effect! I had not thought of that :0

[Shiki]

13 hours ago, Ice Dragon said:

I'm not seeing enough of a difference to say that Glimmer is that much better than Draconic Aura or Dragon Fang based on activation timing alone.

In that small window of application, yes, but then there are cases where Soren doesn't necessarily double.

Without Heavy Blade:
- Glimmer (3 -> 2 -> 1)
- Draconic Aura (4 -> 3 -> 2)
- Dragon Fang (5 -> 4 -> 3)

With Heavy Blade:
- Glimmer (3 -> 1 -> 0)
- Draconic Aura (4 -> 2 -> 1)
- Dragon Fang (5 -> 3 -> 2)

Assuming he survives 2 hits.
While none of them trigger in the same round Soren will be able to counter with Glimmer regardless of having the Seal or not. Considering that HB Seal Soren will be able to trigger Glimmer in the same round he initates that's a big enough difference since it gives the potential of more kills.

Not to mention Glimmer and Draconic Aura are very close in application for -blade users so the faster charge is imo the more meaningful advantage for them. Both are pretty terrible Specials once WTDA is in play. The only difference is that Draconic Aura never scales with your opponent's stats but -blade tomes usually hit hard enough anyway that Glimmer only loses some points of damage compared to it. Even back then with Moonbow -blade mages usually need a small boost to achieve kills they would otherwise miss.

8 hours ago, DarkLordIvy said:

He doesn't technically need TA or Bowbreaker to tank Brave Lyn or most of your average Brave Bow units if he has Fury and Deflect Missile.

That's a blatant lie.
The free Brave Lyn (so neutral and default set) with Hone Cavalry buffs one-shots Fury!Soren without a Def bane and Fortify Def buff. She even manages double this Soren if he has +10 merges.
The Standard Brave Bow+ build for Lyn with buffs will also ORKO this Soren, even if he has the Deflect Missile Seal and buffs on him. She doesn't even need QP+Moonbow (though most of the times she utilizes Luna instead, so a moot point).

I don't think you realize how much of a threat Brave Lyn poses. There is a reason why people use TA+Bowbreaker on mages that have some physical bulk on them.
Not to mention using Deflect Missile Seal as justification is poor since it can be applied to every unit in the game and I showcased above that he is not necessarily surviving against Brave Bow Lyn.

8 hours ago, DarkLordIvy said:

Fury/Desperation might not be the most optimal in every set but it will work for almost all of these builds in some capacity. I'm going to pull the "my own experience" card again here to say that Fury/Desp is what I ran on my Soren in the arena from about August until December with a mix of Blade tome, Spd refine Rexcalibur, and special refine Keen Gronnwolf.

And yet it's not optimal for these roles. Fury + Desperation is good on him but that doesn't mean it should be used for every single variation of his. What's the point of making him a general use unit if he either fails or just barely manages to fulfill his role?

Just saying but in general you need to focus more on his respective roles and not just say "he can be fine as everything with that one set". That's definetly not the case with Soren who already faces stiff competition from Nino and his weak physical bulk makes him unsuited for -raven build.
imo his only real niche right now is that he can reasonably tank Reinhardt (which Nino can't in some sitautions) and his higher magical bulk translates well as a dedicated Cavalier counter with a -wolf tome and Distant Defense.

But I would generally wait to do anything with this until he gets his unique weapon. Depending on what it does it is there may no reason to consider other sets for him (especially Rexcalibur since Legendary weapons scale higher anyway).

[BANRYU]

So we've got Wind's Brand with a Chill Atk effect, as well as an Owl tome refinement. Pretty interesting; seems like he could make a great debuff bot with Wind's Brand, Chill Speed, Res Ploy and Def Ploy. Mine is a speed stacker (hits 42 Spd with +Spd, Fury, and Spd+3 seal) so I might slap Speed Smoke on him, or else Res Ploy if I can ever pull a spare Duma!Celica. Pretty cool. 

Edited March 8, 2018 by BANRYU

[Corrobin]

Or get even more stat boosts with a Bond skill.

[Shiki]

Well, rip, the Rexcalibur write-ups are now completely obselete.

That being said, I don't think that Wind's Brand unique refine is worth it. -owl tome effects aren't bad necessarily but in case of Soren it only helps in terms of magical bulk. Not to mention they require tight formations which makes them quite unflexible.
This might be one of the few cases where a stat refine could just be the better option bar specific builds which fully utilize the -owl effect with Bond skills. Soren with his unique refinement, Atk Res Bond, some kind of Chill passive and Ploys might be a pretty effective debuffer + mage counter.

[DarkLordIvy]

Hooo boy I said I was going to try to finish this before Wind’s brand was released and that’s clearly out the window. I’ve been stupid busy and exausted the past almost two weeks now. @Zeratul I have had a reply started to you for a week and no chance to finish sorry about that. 

With Wind’s Brand finally here I am going to try to take a day this weekend to completely scrap and redo all I had started for build writeups. 

Owl effect is interesting. It is kind of situational but if you want to build around it I can see it being a really nice addition. The debuff shinanigins that he can potentially pull are going to be interesting too. I’m thinking possible doubling up with Chill Spd (maaaaybe upcoming Chill Def for helping others) and then doubling up with ploy C skill and ploy seal, Spd Smoke with Atk Smoke, or some combination. 

[BANRYU]

Wowzers seems like this boi may be due for a bit of an update. 

@DarkLordIvy If you can't spare the time, any objections if I write up some stuff relating to his signature weapon and its refinements? 

[DarkLordIvy]

13 hours ago, BANRYU said:

Wowzers seems like this boi may be due for a bit of an update. 

@DarkLordIvy If you can't spare the time, any objections if I write up some stuff relating to his signature weapon and its refinements? 

Oof yeah I have really let this go. I feel bad about that. :(

I actually have completely redrafted the analysis and builds. Would you maybe be okay with me sending you the link to the doc I have going?

[BANRYU]

On 7/5/2018 at 9:49 AM, DarkLordIvy said:

Oof yeah I have really let this go. I feel bad about that. :(

I actually have completely redrafted the analysis and builds. Would you maybe be okay with me sending you the link to the doc I have going?

.....me? 

I mean, if you have new stuff for the thread, I'd think you can just edit it in right? or else post it in the thread? 

Edited July 12, 2018 by BANRYU

[BANRYU]

If it helps at all, here's a Soren I'm pretty proud of. Debuff boi, AKA Gunnthra lite (no wheels)

Res refine + Def Ploy gives him great support utility, but I like the improved combat that the unique refine and Spd+3 seal give him. All he needs is 2 adjacent allies or one (1) Ike (or any other S-supported ally, but who else is there) to exceed the Res refine's boost in that and every other stat, making it kinda superior for general combat outside of ploy activation. 

Besides those, I think Draconic Aura is the only less-than-perfect option on him, and admittedly I only run it because of the flavor implications (IIRC Glimmer is probably best for him)

Edited July 20, 2018 by BANRYU