Raigh, Dark Child

[eclipse]

Raigh is one of the first mages available, and is in the general 3*-4* pool.  His base Atk is on par with several different mages, but of those, he's the second-slowest.  Only Summer Leo is slower.  Since he doesn't have a stat that he particularly shines in, he's not that great a specialized builds.  Instead, his build is dependent on his boon/bane.  +Spd Raigh puts him pretty close to Celica's offensive stat line, except he doesn't have Ragnarok at his disposal.  +Atk bumps him past the likes of Arvis in terms of raw offensive power.  +Def gives him something akin to regular Leo's bulk, while +Res makes him a slightly less magic-resistant Summer Leo.  +HP fixes his lowish HP pool.

Due to the fact that I really don't like dealing with the letters in certain tome names, I'm abbreviating them to -wolf, -blade, -raven, and -owl.  It's not like he can take a tome of another color anyway!  For reference, he starts with -wolf, Henry has -raven, Tharja has -blade, and Katarina has -owl.

HP: 33/36/40
Atk: 29/32/35
Spd: 25/29/32
Def: 19/22/25
Res: 25/29/32

Blue indicates a better boon.  Red indicates a worse bane.

Builds:

The absolute budget build (neutral)

Spoiler

Weapon: -wolf (+Res/Negate cavalry buffs)
Assist: (flexible)
Special: Glacies
A: Warding Blow
B: Escape Route/Quick Riposte/Seal Res
C: (flexible)
S: (whatever you can afford, though Res +3 is probably the cheapest)

What makes this build "absolute budget" is that it can be constructed using units that are obtained off of the Hero Battle maps (Felicia gives Glacies, Sophia gives Warding Blow, Cecilia gives Escape Route, Subaki gives Quick Riposte).  It's hardly ideal, but for those just starting out, it'll turn Raigh into a serviceable anti-mage unit.  His innate Seal Res can be used if you have another source of magic damage on your team.

Keen -wolf's cavalry negation can also be used, but it means that he's locked out of some stats.

My other options were worse (-blade, +Spd/-Def)

Spoiler

Weapon: -blade
Assist (flexible)
Special: Glimmer/Iceberg
A: Darting Blow/Life and Death
B: -breaker/Desperation
C: (flexible)
S: Atk +3

This is what happens when every single Tharja in my inventory is -Spd.  +Spd Raigh will beat -Spd Tharja, so a build that works on her will also work on him.  Stack buffs and have him go to town, the usual -blade strategy.  Siegbert really makes this build shine.

Horse Emblem (-wolf, +Atk or +Spd/-Res)

Spoiler

Weapon: -wolf (negate cavalry buffs)
Assist (flexible, preferably something that repositions)
Special: Glimmer/Iceberg/Luna
A: Fury/Life and Death/Darting Blow
B: -breaker/Desperation (maybe)
C: (flexible)
S: Spd +3/Atk +3

-Res is so that Gunnthra doesn't ruin Raigh's fun.  Fury is for general bulk.  Life and Death is for glass cannon nuking.  Darting Blow is for +Spd Raigh, so he can double neutral Gunnthra on initiation.  Note that Fury and Spd +3 will accomplish the same thing on a +Spd Raigh.  Glimmer should be the most effective, especially for +Atk.  Iceberg works with Fury variants, and Luna is if you forsee a bunch of Res-heavy enemies.  This build really wants to ORKO horses, so Swordbreaker works the best IMO.  Desperation is mostly for +Spd variants.

I didn't need Swift Sparrow anyway (-owl, +Spd/-Def)

Spoiler

Weapon: -owl (+Spd)
Assist: (flexible)
Special: Glimmer/Iceberg
A: Atk/Res Bond 3
B: -breaker/Escape Route/Wings of Mercy
C: (flexible, can use Spurs)
S: Spd +3/Atk +3/Def Ploy 3

Since his stats are so balanced, it means that gaining more of them will just make everything better.  Escape Route/Wings of Mercy guarantee that he's next to someone.  With a single ally next to him, he gains +7 Atk, +2 Spd, +2 Def, and +7 Res, none of which Panic effects can touch.  If said ally has a Spur, it only gets crazier.  Once we get Atk/Spd Bond 3, his offensive numbers will shoot through the roof.  While any mage can run something similar, I think he's one of the better candidates for this sort of thing.

Battle deployment (non -raven/-blade, +Res/-Def)

Spoiler

Weapon: Anything that can be upgraded, though -owl is the most fitting (+Res)
Assist: (flexible)
Special: Iceberg/Glacies
A: Atk/Res Bond 3/Fury 3
B: Escape Route/Wings of Mercy
C: Atk/Spd/Res Ploy 3
S: Def Ploy 3

The difference between Raigh and Arvis is that the former can get merge levels.  This build will have 38 Res at minimum (before merges), which means the double ploys will go off on everything that isn't an anti-mage bait unit.  Since positioning is what makes Ploy skills shine, this particular Raigh appreciates a unit with the Guidance seal, and a dancer.  Or both, if you were lucky enough to get Flying Azura.

Mixed Messages (-owl, +Def/-Res)

Spoiler

Weapon: -owl (+Spd)
Assist: (flexible)
Special: Glimmer
A: Fury 3/Distant Def 3
B: Guard/Vantage/Escape Route/Quick Ripotse
C: (flexible)
S: Distant Def 3

+Def/-Res gives him 25/25 defenses - not great, but thanks to Distant Def seals, it's workable.  With both defensive seals active, he turns into a 36/37/37 unit, which is something that most people don't expect out of his smug face.  Fury 3 is a cheaper option that also ups his Speed, but his bulk turns into 36/34/34, which isn't quite as impressive.  -owl is used for additional stats when he's next to an ally.  +Spd is to cut down on the number of things that double him.

Since this is a defensive Raigh, he can get away with Guard to mess up proc timings and Quick Ripotse for enemy-phase doubling.  Vantage is still cheesy and effective, and Escape Route allows him to stand next to someone for a stat boost.

+Res/-Def can work for an absolute mage tank.  He'll have 36/34/43 bulk numbers with Distant Def 3 in two slots, which should be more than enough to catch people off-guard.

Absolute poke (non -blade, +Atk or +Spd/-Def)

Spoiler

Weapon: Anything but -blade (+Atk or +Spd), -wolf (negate cavalry buffs)
Assist: (flexible)
Special: Glimmer
A: Life and Death 3
B: Watersweep/Windsweep
C: (flexible)
S: Phantom Speed 3

-blade tomes want to kill on contact and don't mind doubling, so this build doesn't work on them.  With +Spd, Life and Death 3, and Phantom Speed 3, Raigh will hit 42 speed (non-merge, and before +Spd weapon enhancement) for Watersweep purposes.  This will allow him to deliver one counter-free hit to someone.  -wolf is if horses are giving you grief, -owl is for MOAR STATS, and -raven can be used to put a dent into colorless.  If you're in a spot where you see a lot of Distant Def units, Windsweep can also be used.  Brave Lucina/Tiltiu give him even more Speed for sweeping!

The moral of this story is that -owl needs to be available more easily, since I feel that he makes the best use of that tome.

"What about Close Counter?"

I feel that Raigh needs the stats from his A slot more than the ability to tank melee.  They tend to be physical attacks anyway, and he doesn't like those, so he shouldn't be used to bait them.

"What about -raven?"

A +Atk Raigh has as much punch as neutral Spring Camilla.  However, he doesn't have her insane bulk, as most colorless are physical units.  I'd go with Sophia for this kind of build.

EDIT: Found a use for -raven.  Very niche, though.  I still think Sophia does it better.

TODO: Input from other people.  I can definitely get more creative with the B slot!

Revision history:

1/17/18: Initial release, added -sweep build

Edited January 17, 2018 by eclipse
I hate the captcha

[Shoblongoo]

With quick riposte 3 tragically only being available as inheritance from 5 star units (generally requiring a 20,000-22,000 feather investment into the common Tsubaki), it is sadly oftentimes not the most budget-friendly addition to a F2P set.

Breaker skills--while more situational and not available through the basic units recruited from recurring special maps--can still offer slow units like Raigh quite a bit in the way of improved match-ups against otherwise unbeatable opponents, and can be inherited at a much more affordable 4 stars (bowbreaker coming off of 4 star setsuna gets an honorable mention for the match-up vs brave lyn, with wolf dealing effective damage. R/G tomebreakers coming off of Odin or Henry are equally budget-friendly and can occasionally clutch out the win against a buffed Nino or  something. Swordbreaker can work just off of the sheer volume of high speed / low res sword users that go from heroes to zeroes when they can't use their speed to double or avoid getting doubled by magic...Arya and Mia come to mind)

Worth noting that if a player has a unit with a 4-star inheritable breaker skill in their pool and is short on feathers--and theres enough of them that a new player is likely to have one lying around--these are skills that can give Raigh a good bang for the buck.

Edited January 17, 2018 by Shoblongoo

[Ice Dragon]

11 minutes ago, Shoblongoo said:

With quick riposte 3 tragically only being available as inheritance from 5 star units (generally requiring a 20,000-22,000 feather investment into the common Tsubaki), it is sadly oftentimes not the most budget-friendly addition to a F2P set.

That's what Quick Riposte 2 is for. It does pretty much the same thing without the need for 20,000 feathers and only costs you a little bit of Arena score.

[eclipse]

18 minutes ago, Shoblongoo said:

With quick riposte 3 tragically only being available as inheritance from 5 star units (generally requiring a 20,000-22,000 feather investment into the common Tsubaki), it is sadly oftentimes not the most budget-friendly addition to a F2P set.

Breaker skills--while more situational and not available through the basic units recruited from recurring special maps--can still offer slow units like Raigh quite a bit in the way of improved match-ups against otherwise unbeatable opponents, and can be inherited at a much more affordable 4 stars (bowbreaker coming off of 4 star setsuna gets an honorable mention for the match-up vs brave lyn, with wolf dealing effective damage. R/G tomebreakers coming off of Odin or Henry are equally budget-friendly and can occasionally clutch out the win against a buffed Nino or  something. Swordbreaker can work just off of the sheer volume of high speed / low res sword users that go from heroes to zeroes when they can't use their speed to double or avoid getting doubled by magic...Arya and Mia come to mind)

Worth noting that if a player has a unit with a 4-star inheritable breaker skill in their pool and is short on feathers--and theres enough of them that a new player is likely to have one lying around--these are skills that can give Raigh a good bang for the buck.

The Absolute Budget is literally "I just started the game, what do."  You're still at the mercy of gacha for -breakers.  Swordbreaker is probably the best IMO, with Sully being the best fodder, as she gives Draw Back.  I usually don't need -breaker 3 on my units.  QR2 should serve Raigh just fine, though why he's baiting fast things is a question for another day.

 

[Zapp Branniglenn]

Raigh's in an unfortunate spot. His stats are pretty balanced which is a problem for mages given their lower stat totals. His weapon is anti-cav but he'll never survive an incoming Reinhardt, one of two dominating horse units. He can one shot a neutral Brave Lyn, but if she has a single merge level or is +Res or +HP, she'll actually survive that hit if Raigh hasn't upgraded to the Keen -wolf tome. An anti cav unit just doesn't seem worth the deployment if he struggles against these two.

Like any mage, you've got to consider the blade tome for his most optimal set. Even if he can't run it quite as well as others like Katarina and Tharja who have him beat by a crucial 5 points of speed. A speed boon and Darting Blow will bring Raigh up to a respectable 38. And buff support from allies can skyrocket his attack to a point where he probably won't need the double. Plus Raigh comes with the Flux and Ruin pre-requisite skills, so you won't need another dark mage to prep him for rauorblade. 

[Rafiel's Aria]

Oooooh! Raigh! Very nice. I love to see the little guy getting some love. I run a -blade!Raigh with Darting Blow. For B Slot, while it's not terribly creative, I've found that Swordbreaker is incredibly useful, especially with speedier and speedier swords coming into the meta, but you seem to have that covered.

It'd be REALLY niche, but you MIGHT be able to run a Watersweep + Phantom SPD build with Life and Death. I haven't tested it out myself. But I've found that running builds like this can be kind of useful in certain score ranges of AA when you start seeing some DC+Vantage Ayras.

[eclipse]

2 minutes ago, Rafiel's Aria said:

It'd be REALLY niche, but you MIGHT be able to run a Watersweep + Phantom SPD build with Life and Death. I haven't tested it out myself. But I've found that running builds like this can be kind of useful in certain score ranges of AA when you start seeing some DC+Vantage Ayras.

Oh, THIS is something I haven't considered!  Hmmm.  -blade should be ORKOing anyway.  -wolf can work as heavy poke, I guess?  -owl thinks this build is hilarious.  This might make -raven somewhat viable, though.  I'll make a note of this!

[Shoblongoo]

Oh wow...I just noticed quick riposte is available as an S-slot Seal through the new Tempest Trials.

Okay. Thats a game changer.  

[BANRYU]

Couple things real quick...

For one, (and believe me I really hate to be contradicting/backsassing/whatever you want to call it @ a mod .-.) I strongly believe you should be using the full names of the tomes IN the sets (IE Weapon: Raudrblade /instead of/ Weapon: -blade). Everywhere else I think is fine to use your preference (tbh just calling them Wolf / Blade / etc seems easier but that's your call), but on the sets themselves I think it'd be better to have the actual name .-. (IDK if we care about competing with the likes of Gamepedia and such in terms of people seeing our strategies VS theirs, but some semblance of consistency/professionalism would help with that I think theoretically...?? assuming we even care about that which I don't know if we do)

And secondly, more practically...

Have we considered a Raudrwolf set that stacks Distant Defense? +Res Sophia (same Res as Raigh) is capable of surviving +Atk Deathblow QP-Moonbow Rein with that setup IIRC, so a more enemy-phase oriented Wolf (or potentially other tomes) might be worth considering since his Res is pretty decent. IDK if it would let him survive Lyn but that's probably something you can calc for. 

[eclipse]

On 1/18/2018 at 6:22 AM, BANRYU said:

Couple things real quick...

For one, (and believe me I really hate to be contradicting/backsassing/whatever you want to call it @ a mod .-.) I strongly believe you should be using the full names of the tomes IN the sets (IE Weapon: Raudrblade /instead of/ Weapon: -blade). Everywhere else I think is fine to use your preference (tbh just calling them Wolf / Blade / etc seems easier but that's your call), but on the sets themselves I think it'd be better to have the actual name .-. (IDK if we care about competing with the likes of Gamepedia and such in terms of people seeing our strategies VS theirs, but some semblance of consistency/professionalism would help with that I think theoretically...?? assuming we even care about that which I don't know if we do)

And secondly, more practically...

Have we considered a Raudrwolf set that stacks Distant Defense? +Res Sophia (same Res as Raigh) is capable of surviving +Atk Deathblow QP-Moonbow Rein with that setup IIRC, so a more enemy-phase oriented Wolf (or potentially other tomes) might be worth considering since his Res is pretty decent. IDK if it would let him survive Lyn but that's probably something you can calc for. 

I'd rather abbreviate their names as opposed to outright misspell them.

It depends on how much Sophia survives by.  Raigh's biggest tank issue is his low HP pool.

[BANRYU]

On 1/20/2018 at 5:27 PM, eclipse said:

I'd rather abbreviate their names as opposed to outright misspell them.

It depends on how much Sophia survives by.  Raigh's biggest tank issue is his low HP pool.

Ahh... hmm... I see your point... Well, Sophia needed +Res or +HP to survive Rein there, and considering Raigh needs an HP boon just to meet Sophia's defensive statline, it's probably safe to say he can't tank Rein.

BUT! Doesn't mean he can't still run the set to counter other cavs...?? I suppose I would have to run calcs for details though.

And I assume you're referring to the fact that the names use norse letters that most keyboards don't have....?? :o There should be a way to copypasta the correct character though maybe right......? -.o hmm....

[Elieson]

Quick Riposte seal gives Raigh a lot more flexibility, since he can run Swordbreaker + QuickRiposte for some added durability + firepower when dealing with stuff like Xander, Ryoma and stock Ike.

 

If you're running Raigh, you're probably running other infantry, such as Nowi (who does fine with QR3 as her B and a Deflect Magic seal to give her some added bulk), literally any Axe or Green Mage (who run Deflect Missile, Iote's Shield, Heavy Blade or Distant Def with much more success as a whole, and probably also QR or some other kind of breaker like Bowbreaker) and probably a DC sword (which prefers the DD seal in most cases combined with Vantage as a B) or at least a high power squish sword like Ayra, Mia, Soleil, Lucina, etc (all who do well with some kind of Spd seal or a CD seal even, and often Desperation).

 

Just a guestimate for your team if you're running +A/+S Raigh but when working with the above, you get some flexibility with overall bulk vs common greens running meh-ish, grays and swords via TA Raven or +S Keen Redwolf. I still wouldn't suggest Redblade, but I might still suggest Triangle Adept in tandem with +S Keen Redwolf. Blues are already decimating him because they either OHKO him or double him, so it's not like any A skill other than maybe a [X] Defense skill will really help his bulk v blues. TA gives him the bulk he desperately craves to be able to do things like sponge a counter hit from Hectors/Amelias/WE!Lissas 

If you're running TA+Raven+QR Seal, Swordbreaker helps him out a lot with his bulk problems via lower defense, especially vs the likes of Ayra, who he just barely survives a hit from anyway.

[eclipse]

On 1/22/2018 at 6:31 AM, BANRYU said:

Ahh... hmm... I see your point... Well, Sophia needed +Res or +HP to survive Rein there, and considering Raigh needs an HP boon just to meet Sophia's defensive statline, it's probably safe to say he can't tank Rein.

BUT! Doesn't mean he can't still run the set to counter other cavs...?? I suppose I would have to run calcs for details though.

And I assume you're referring to the fact that the names use norse letters that most keyboards don't have....?? :o There should be a way to copypasta the correct character though maybe right......? -.o hmm....

I run Night Forest.  Careless copy/pasting makes things unreadable.  Abbreviation is a lot faster, and IMO cleaner than either intentionally misspelling or getting those few characters in.  If it bugs you THAT MUCH, please find another guide.

I'm not too fond of having him as a dedicated cavalier counter, since Lyn ruins his day, and I have my doubts regarding Reinhardt.  If I had to use anyone, it would either be Rhajat, or someone holding her tome.

On 1/22/2018 at 7:43 AM, Elieson said:

Quick Riposte seal gives Raigh a lot more flexibility, since he can run Swordbreaker + QuickRiposte for some added durability + firepower when dealing with stuff like Xander, Ryoma and stock Ike.

 

If you're running Raigh, you're probably running other infantry, such as Nowi (who does fine with QR3 as her B and a Deflect Magic seal to give her some added bulk), literally any Axe or Green Mage (who run Deflect Missile, Iote's Shield, Heavy Blade or Distant Def with much more success as a whole, and probably also QR or some other kind of breaker like Bowbreaker) and probably a DC sword (which prefers the DD seal in most cases combined with Vantage as a B) or at least a high power squish sword like Ayra, Mia, Soleil, Lucina, etc (all who do well with some kind of Spd seal or a CD seal even, and often Desperation).

 

Just a guestimate for your team if you're running +A/+S Raigh but when working with the above, you get some flexibility with overall bulk vs common greens running meh-ish, grays and swords via TA Raven or +S Keen Redwolf. I still wouldn't suggest Redblade, but I might still suggest Triangle Adept in tandem with +S Keen Redwolf. Blues are already decimating him because they either OHKO him or double him, so it's not like any A skill other than maybe a [X] Defense skill will really help his bulk v blues. TA gives him the bulk he desperately craves to be able to do things like sponge a counter hit from Hectors/Amelias/WE!Lissas 

If you're running TA+Raven+QR Seal, Swordbreaker helps him out a lot with his bulk problems via lower defense, especially vs the likes of Ayra, who he just barely survives a hit from anyway.

Raigh shouldn't be taking physical hits if he can help it.  QR is more for units who want to take hits when it's not their turn.  It also won't prevent the enemy from doubling.  For those things with DC, he's better off running the appropriate -breaker.

I don't create character guides with the assumption that someone has a particular unit on their team.  My ideal team comp for him would be Ninian, Hector, and Lucius.  However, other people will have different strategies.  Thus, I prefer to highlight a character's strengths and weaknesses, and let people decide who they want to run alongside him.

-blade is for those people who really like him, or who otherwise got screwed over because Tharja's being stupid.  The only other foot mages who I'd consider for -blade is Lilina and maybe Katarina - everyone else has better options.  TA -raven has no business being on him.

[Ice Dragon]

4 hours ago, eclipse said:

Careless copy/pasting makes things unreadable.

The nice little "remove formatting" thing that pops up when you paste something fixes that.

I, too, personally prefer the use of the full name, even if you have to leave out the diacritics (i.e. Raudhr- or Raudr- instead of Rauðr- still looks fine). "-Blade", etc. just looks a bit lazy.

(Giving people a reason to think you've been lazy isn't leaving a good impression, and attention to detail and not taking shortcuts gives off a sense of professionalism and credibility. At least, that's my take on creating content on the interwebs.)

 

 

One thing since I'm reading this again with all of the new things:

I'm currently torn on whether or not Raudhrblade+ does work with the Windsweep set because once you get to the point where literally everything runs Distant Counter, the extra damage from Raudhrblade+ and the ability to avoid counterattacks are both helpful. On the other hand, (1) I'm not sure why you'd use Raigh of all people for that job at that level in the Arena and (2) literally everyone with half-decent Spd and access to Litrblade can do the exact same thing anyways.

[eclipse]

1 minute ago, Ice Dragon said:

The nice little "remove formatting" thing that pops up when you paste something fixes that.

I, too, personally prefer the use of the full name, even if you have to leave out the diacritics (i.e. Raudhr- or Raudr- instead of Rauðr- still looks fine). "-Blade", etc. just looks a bit lazy.

(Giving people a reason to think you've been lazy isn't leaving a good impression, and attention to detail and not taking shortcuts gives off a sense of professionalism and credibility. At least, that's my take on creating content on the interwebs.)

 

 

One thing since I'm reading this again with all of the new things:

I'm currently torn on whether or not Raudhrblade+ does work with the Windsweep set because once you get to the point where literally everything runs Distant Counter, the extra damage from Raudhrblade+ and the ability to avoid counterattacks are both helpful. On the other hand, (1) I'm not sure why you'd use Raigh of all people for that job at that level in the Arena and (2) literally everyone with half-decent Spd and access to Litrblade can do the exact same thing anyways.

This is a fan guide, not my living.  I will care about being professional when the people who read this pay for my groceries.  My goal is to get my point across.

What bothers me about this is that I specified why you'd use -blade that in the build itself.  If all you're interested in is min-maxing, then Raigh, and a lot of other characters, aren't worth your time.

[XRay]

On 1/17/2018 at 2:25 PM, eclipse said:

"What about -raven?"

A +Atk Raigh has as much punch as neutral Spring Camilla.  However, he doesn't have her insane bulk, as most colorless are physical units.  I'd go with Sophia for this kind of build.

EDIT: Found a use for -raven.  Very niche, though.  I still think Sophia does it better.

The beauty of Raven builds is that units do not actually need that much punch to do their job, except maybe units like Odin, Henry, or something where they might really need +Atk.

For most Raven mages, Glimmer, Triangle Adept, and Bowbreaker usually are enough to shut down even the most aggressive BH!Lyn +10. All the skills are relatively common and Triangle Adept 3 is not always necessary especially for merged 4* units.

Triangle Adept allows you to deal massive damage, and Glimmer magnifies that to the point that one hit knocks outs are possible. Breakers are not always necessary with Gem Weapons and Triangle Adept, but they are there for insurance if you are worried about facing highly merged units running quad builds and/or if the mage in question has a rather low bulk.

Sophia does do it better, but having more BH!Lyn counters cannot hurt either.

[eclipse]

9 minutes ago, XRay said:

The beauty of Raven builds is that units do not actually need that much punch to do their job, except maybe units like Odin, Henry, or something where they might really need +Atk.

For most Raven mages, Glimmer, Triangle Adept, and Bowbreaker usually are enough to shut down even the most aggressive BH!Lyn +10. All the skills are relatively common and Triangle Adept 3 is not always necessary especially for merged 4* units.

Triangle Adept allows you to deal massive damage, and Glimmer magnifies that to the point that one hit knocks outs are possible. Breakers are not always necessary with Gem Weapons and Triangle Adept, but they are there for insurance if you are worried about facing highly merged units running quad builds and/or if the mage in question has a rather low bulk.

Sophia does do it better, but having more BH!Lyn counters cannot hurt either.

I guess?  I still think it's not the best use of -raven or Raigh.  I'll make a not about this once I feel like dealing with the captcha.

[Ice Dragon]

2 hours ago, eclipse said:

This is a fan guide, not my living.  I will care about being professional when the people who read this pay for my groceries.  My goal is to get my point across.

This happens to be a venue where looking credible kind of matters. Either way, that's my preference, and I'm not here to impose that on you if you don't want to do anything about it, so I'll drop the subject.

 

2 hours ago, eclipse said:

What bothers me about this is that I specified why you'd use -blade that in the build itself.  If all you're interested in is min-maxing, then Raigh, and a lot of other characters, aren't worth your time.

You specified why you wouldn't want to use Raudhrblade+ but no reason why you would. Due to the fact that a Windsweep build really wants to either deal as much damage as possible or safely apply a debuff, Raudhrblade+ would be the most optimal weapon to use for that build unless your team composition or enemy counter priorities need something particularly specific.

One can be interested in min-maxing a single character due to favoritism, boredom, or whatnot. In that case, it doesn't matter if some other character does the same thing better. It just matters that this character can do the job the build is meant to do with sufficient success. (Also, the existence of Arena Assault means it's valuable to have multiple units with the same role, even if some of them are outclassed.)

For example, Soren's most generally effective build is the standard Gronnblade+ build. It doesn't matter that Nino does the build better than him, just that Soren can pull off that build plenty well enough himself.

Edited January 24, 2018 by Ice Dragon

[eclipse]

40 minutes ago, Ice Dragon said:

You specified why you wouldn't want to use Raudhrblade+ but no reason why you would. Due to the fact that a Windsweep build really wants to either deal as much damage as possible or safely apply a debuff, Raudhrblade+ would be the most optimal weapon to use for that build unless your team composition or enemy counter priorities are particularly specific.

One can be interested in min-maxing a single character due to favoritism, boredom, or whatnot. In that case, it doesn't matter if some other character does the same thing better. It just matters that this character can do the job the build is meant to do with sufficient success. (Also, the existence of Arena Assault means it's valuable to have multiple units with the same role, even if some of them are outclassed.)

For example, Soren's most generally effective build is the standard Gronnblade+ build. It doesn't matter that Nino does the build better than him, just that Soren can pull off that build plenty well enough himself.

The reason why I'd give Raigh -blade would be in the hopes that he doubled.  If he's carrying that many buffs, he should be able to take the ensuing attack, or double and murder the opponent.  If I felt like getting around the likes of DC/Vantage, maybe, but they're not particularly common in my slice of the arena (16-19, depending on how lazy I am).

Like the -raven build, that would be filed under "I guess this can work, but I'm not fond of this".  And like the -raven build, that will be noted later.  I just saw the new banner, and that thread is only adding to my disappointment.

[Elieson]

21 hours ago, eclipse said:

Raigh shouldn't be taking physical hits if he can help it.  QR is more for units who want to take hits when it's not their turn.  It also won't prevent the enemy from doubling.  For those things with DC, he's better off running the appropriate -breaker.

I don't create character guides with the assumption that someone has a particular unit on their team.  My ideal team comp for him would be Ninian, Hector, and Lucius.  However, other people will have different strategies.  Thus, I prefer to highlight a character's strengths and weaknesses, and let people decide who they want to run alongside him.

-blade is for those people who really like him, or who otherwise got screwed over because Tharja's being stupid.  The only other foot mages who I'd consider for -blade is Lilina and maybe Katarina - everyone else has better options.  TA -raven has no business being on him.

Raigh's 29 base Res is decent though (tied with Sophia and Cecilia, both units that are capable of sponging a hit from their same color's magic users). 65 magical bulk v. Red and 29 speed (all at base) is fine.

 

Breaking down some core numbers with a +Spd/-Atk TA RaudrRaven:

 

It gives him more bulk vs Greens that he doesn't outright KO (of note, Gronnblade users like Nino and the like still push Raigh around, but TA gives him added bulk to comfortably absorb a hit from Nino), not to mention higher res units like Halloween!Henry, Julia, Diedre, Sonya and buffed Gunnthra, which live by slivers if he isn't running +atk while they have -res (ignoring buffs of course).

This doesn't even cover the idea of counterkilling nearly every variant of Brave Lyn and Halloween!Jakob (common threats) with TA, which is something that without TA, he's not really able to do all that easily. With guardbow shenanigans and Close/Distant Def seals on armor-heavy teams, making H!Jakob way tanker than he needs to be, this Raigh can stomach and counterkill it.

Let's put it in perspective. Unbuffed +Spd/-Atk TA Raven +0 Raigh w/ QR seal and Glimmer counterkills Hone'd&2xGoad'd +Atk/-Def BraveBow +6 Lyn. Let's go one step further. After counterkilling the aforementioned Brave Lyn, he will also survive+counterkill an unbuffed +Atk/-Def Gronnblade Cecilia running TA/SwiftSparrow/Life&Death (+Spd wouldn't allow Cecilia to double him unless she's +Spd and +7 and/or ponybuffed so figured I'd just mention that). These are things that get fielded. These are things that Raigh can do. This unbuffed raigh just counterkilled two relevant units. This is a good thing.  Considering that the seal is free and Raudrraven + Triangle Adept + Glimmer are all available on units that hit the barracks at 3*, this isn't an unreasonable build if you're desperate for a red mage that can hold out vs the still-rampant pony teams). 

It's by far not the most optimal build for him, but the aforementioned units are quite common in the arena and if you're incapable of running any other red mages (like I was for a while), TA!Raven Raigh does ok as a less-efficient-yet-gets-the-job-done allrounder. The fact that none of his defensive stats are under 20 means that he can do things.

 

Did you run numbers with his TA!Raven build vs common heavily SI'd threats that outline why he isn't desirable or really struggling to function to the point of "has no business being on him"?

 

**Edit**

 

I didn't even consider scenarios of him attempting to run ResPloy or AtkPloy. I can't say it's ultra optimal but as far as C skills go, his unbuffed 29 res does give him some interesting debuff scenarios to add to his bulk or killing power, notably, Brave Lyn who has 28 res, gets Ploy'd by Raigh unless she's fortified, (as well as a lot of relevant bow users sans Innes/H!Jakob), plus common daggers like NY!Takumi, PA!Olivia and Sothe all in the colorless pool. Of the greens, he ploys all Azuras, Nino, and many more. It's interesting to see what his 29 res can do.

Edited January 24, 2018 by Elieson