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Hilda (Three Houses)

Analysis by lordhelpme
Hilda (Three Houses) - Idle Maiden

5

Obtainable as a 5 only

Hero Stats

Max Avg Total Stats at Lvl 40
168
HP 43
ATK 37
SPD 37
DEF 28
RES 23

Stat Variations

Level 1 Stat Variation
5★
HP ATK SPD DEF RES
Low 18 10 10 3 3
Middle 19 11 11 4 4
High 20 12 12 5 5

Level 40 Stat Variations
5★
HP ATK SPD DEF RES
Low 40 34 34 25 20
Middle 43 37 37 28 23
High 46 40 40 31 27

IV Sets

Key stats worth increasing through nature if possible.
Complementary stats that matter, but not to the point of picking them over key stats for nature increase.
Relatively worthless stat that can safely be decreased through nature.
HPATKSPDDEFRES

Skill Sets

Girlboss, Gaslight, Gatekeep (Offensive / Support Hybrid)

Build by lordhelpme
Recommended
Freikugel (+Eff) A Life and Death (3 or 4)
Alternate: G Duel Infantry 4
Positional Assist B Chill Spd 3
Alternate: Even Pulse Tie 3
Moonbow
Alternate: Luna
C Joint Drive Spd
Alternate: Joint Drive Atk
IVs

Any (for pure support) or +SPD or +ATK / -RES

SDrive Atk 2

Show Explanation/Analysis

Weapon: Freikugel (+Eff)

Assist: Positional Assist / Rally Assist / Flexible

Special: Moonbow / Glimmer / Luna

Passive A: Life and Death / G Duel Infantry / Atk/Spd Ideal / Swift Sparrow / Atk/Spd Solo

Passive B: Chill Skills / Even Pulse Tie / Ruse Skills / Link Skills / Sudden Panic

Passive C: Joint Drive Skills / Drive Skills / Tactic Skills / Flexible

Sacred Seal: Drive Skills / Tactic Skills / Chill Skills 

  • This build seeks to fully flesh out Hilda’s versatility in switching between supportive and offensive roles seamlessly, though with bonus considerations for anyone seeking to maximize her support instead (since even though her damage won’t be excellent in such scenarios, it remains respectable enough to act as clean up). Assets in Spd and Atk are highly recommended for her general performance; however, any set of IVs can actually work when using her primarily as a cheerleader.
  • She has a few options for her A skill, the choice of which largely depends on personal preference:
    • Life and Death works as an interesting A skill that essentially brings the best of both worlds for Hilda due to Freikugel’s check relying on visible Def: the deduction to her Def/Res actually works in her favor since it allows allies to more reliably receive her Drive buffs, and the cut to her actual bulk is largely offset by her weapon’s damage reduction. 
      • Meanwhile, the offensive enhancement naturally lends itself to greater damage — in addition to letting her act as a lightning rod for Chill Atk, Chill Spd, and other similar debuffs away from other allies.
    • G Duel Infantry is another strong A skill, though specifically for support strategies centered around using HP-based skills (such as Even Pulse Tie and, less notably, Sudden Panic). These skills can be quite powerful for reasons mentioned below, and G Duel Infantry comes with the main bonus of enhancing her Colosseum scoring substantially.
    • Otherwise, simple Atk/Spd boosting A skills can work perfectly fine to aid Hilda’s combat; these include standard abilities like Swift Sparrow and her default Atk/Spd Solo
      • Note: try to stay away from Fury if possible. While not bad, it makes it a little more difficult for Hilda to maintain lower visible Def than her allies, and she relies on passing this check to maintain her support effect active while still regularly engaging in combat (during which she can trigger her combat bonuses by keeping non-adjacency).
  • Chill skills are decent B slot options that benefit both Hilda and her allies by debilitating opposing foes, though their inability to be targeted may make Ruse skills a better option if you’re okay with relying on her Assist — if visible buffs are preferred, the same goes for Link skills as well. 
    • Given how well Freikugel’s Drive Impact effect works with defensive strategies, it may be worth opting for the powerful Even Pulse Tie skill to further aid ally survivability by delaying enemy Specials; this is particularly appreciated against enemies that fully charge them quickly. 
    • The amount of HP investment required to regularly trigger Even Pulse Tie does mean sacrificing a good portion of Hilda’s combat ability — but for those seeking for maximum support potential, it’s hard to go wrong with it. There’s also Sudden Panic as far as HP-dependent skills go, but it’s not as strong.
  • Joint Drive skills are excellent to build on the offense/support hybrid of this build and are going to be active most of the time anyway since Hilda’s support range is locked to two spaces as well. Otherwise, your choice of standard Drive or Tactic skill will work perfectly fine here; the same applies for her Sacred Seal.

Another Day, Another SLAY (Offensive Nuke)

Build by lordhelpme
Recommended
Freikugel (+Eff) A Swift Sparrow 3
Alternate: Atk/Spd Solo 3
Positional Assist B Null Follow-Up 3
Alternate: Wings of Mercy 3
Galeforce
Alternate: Luna
C Time's Pulse 3
Alternate: Joint Drive Spd
IVs

+SPD or +ATK / -RES

SFlashing Blade 3

Show Explanation/Analysis

Weapon: Freikugel (+Eff)

Assist: Positional Assist / Flexible

Special: Galeforce / Luna / Draconic Aura / Glimmer

Passive A: Swift Sparrow / Life and Death / Atk/Spd Solo / Flashing Blade

Passive B: Null Follow-Up / Wings of Mercy / Spd/Def Tempo

Passive C: Time’s Pulse / Tempest Skills / Joint Drive Skills / Smoke Skills / Flexible 

Sacred Seal: Flashing Blade / Quickened Pulse / Swift Sparrow / Atk/Spd Solo / Atk/Spd Form / Life and Death

  • Unsurprisingly enough, Hilda can also perform exceptionally well when equipped with a purely selfish build geared towards use in the Player Phase; in addition to providing her with accompanying support to her offensive stats, being able to consistently maintain Freikugel’s in-combat bonuses on her will be vitally important given this set’s focus on damage output. Improving either one of her offensive stats with an Asset should be prioritized to maximize her potential. 
  • A skills and Sacred Seals that boost Atk and Spd are Hilda’s bread-and-butter here for general usage, assisting her in pushing damage further; among standard options like Swift Sparrow and Atk/Spd Solo, Life and Death is once again a uniquely powerful choice for Hilda due to its synergy with her Def check. 
  • For her B slot, Null Follow-Up assists in making Hilda’s performance more consistent, negating skills that would otherwise impede her follow-up attack. in ensuring her follow-up attack, negating skills that would otherwise prevent it. Mobility-based options like Wings of Mercy also complement this build’s intended playstyle (especially for Aether Raids Offense), as does Spd/Def Tempo to ensure Special triggers.
  • Specials with low cooldowns such as Glimmer and Ruptured Sky are preferred for their rapid activation rate (without having to rely on accelerated cooldown effects), though options like Draconic Aura and Luna may be considered nonetheless if stronger burst is preferred at the cost of consistency. Galeforce is also an option for a more mobility based approach, chaining consecutive actions to defeat consecutive foes or retreat.
    • For general gameplay, using Galeforce can be as simple as equipping the Flashing Blade Sacred Seal and calling it a day — however, for usage within the context of Aether Raids Galeforce compositions, it becomes a little more complicated.
      • This is due to the turn restraints and inevitable pressure that opposing teams place when units are left in their range, making it vital that Hilda (alongside her fellow allies) are able to quickly trigger the Special in one turn to sweep as many of the opposing forces as possible.
      • In Hilda’s case, this makes it highly recommended to consider using one of the following combinations: the Flashing Blade A skill + Quickened Pulse or the Flashing Blade Seal + the Time’s Pulse C skill. 
      • This minimizes the number of hits necessary to activate Galeforce down to two; she can then trigger it in one round of combat presuming she passes the Flashing Blade check and no Guard effect is active.
        • Anyone with the resources available can also consider further reducing Galeforce’s cooldown so that Hilda can activate it in just one strike to avoid any further risk. 
        • This can be achieved almost entirely by herself through the Flashing Blade skill, Time’s Pulse, and Quickened Pulse — she then would require just one outside charge, such as from specific allies like Valentine’s Chrom or Groom Rafiel or skills like Infantry Pulse.

Unbothered. Moisturized. Happy. In My Lane. Focused. Flourishing. (Defensive / Melee Generalist)

Build by lordhelpme
Freikugel (+Eff) A Atk/Spd Unity
Alternate: Kestrel Stance 3
Positional Assist B Null Follow-Up 3
Moonbow
Alternate: Sol
C Joint Drive Spd
Alternate: Atk Smoke 3
IVs

+SPD or +ATK / -RES

SMystic Boost 3
Alternate: Atk/Spd Form 3

Show Explanation/Analysis

Weapon: Freikugel (+Eff)

Assist: Positional Assist

Special: Moonbow / Ruptured Sky / Glimmer / Sol / Noontime

Passive A: Atk/Spd Unity / Kestrel Stance / Atk/Spd Ideal / Atk/Spd Solo

Passive B: Null Follow-Up / Spd/Def Tempo / Lull Atk/Spd / Lull Spd/Def 

Passive C: Joint Drive Skills / Smoke Skills / Flexible

Sacred Seal: Mystic Boost / Atk/Spd Form / Atk/Spd Solo / Atk/Spd Bond

  • More than anything, this is a purely “for fun” build for anyone seeking an alternative to Hilda’s more obvious playstyle by opting for a defensive lean — which, despite her mediocre defenses, she can perform decently at by merit of Freikugel’s 40% damage reduction and ability to pad it with further support and/or skills. 
    • Note: this build assumes access to a Far Save ally as her abysmal Res value is compounded by how overwhelming modern magical threats are, making her quite weak to them even with Distant Counter. Accordingly, it’s best to focus on her melee match-ups instead (where reduction-piercing effects are also less common) and rely on said Far Save ally to make up the difference.
  • Atk/Spd Unity is a neat A skill candidate for its effective reversal of any penalties affecting said stats, carrying the greatest ceiling in the sheer amount of stat enhancements it can provide. For a more defensive lean, Kestrel Stance may be considered to prevent foes from accessing their Special through permanent Enemy Phase Guard (and should receive much more priority if you’re not keeping Null Follow-Up as her B skill). If neither are available, something like Atk/Spd Solo is perfectly usable.
  • Her default Null Follow-Up once again merits mention, though this should come at little surprise given how useful the skill is for consistency and survival with the amount of follow-up mechanics that exist in the meta. It’s particularly significant in Hilda’s case, though, since Freikguel’s damage reduction only applies on her foe’s first hit, so this skill minimizes the risk of second strike landing (with the exception of Brave effects).
    • If deemed unnecessary (such as if gaining a Null Follow-Up effect externally from skills like Inf. Null Follow or Inf. Spd Tactic), Spd/Def Tempo or a Lull of your choice are simple slot-ins that bring useful QoL upgrades for her playstyle. 
      • Spd/Def Tempo becomes much more important if relying on healing Specials for her sustain, as this ensures enemy Guard effects will not keep her from maintaining high HP — at which point, you just have to look out for Fatal Smoke effects.
    • Generally speaking, it’s best to avoid trying to stack further damage reduction effects beyond Freikugel’s effect. It’s a high investment for diminishing returns since such effects stack multiplicatively — not additively — and she gets better use out of other skills anyway.

Strengths

Freikugel

Although fairly interesting as a concept, the base capabilities of Hilda’s Freikugel were sorely lacking compared to modern additions — with even inheritable weapons, such as Plegian Axe and Love Candelabra, out-performing her on both offensive and supportive fronts. Thankfully, though, its refinement did quite a bit to improve Hilda’s overall standing.

  • As a standalone unit, refined Freikugel helps Hilda achieve a far more impactful combat presence through an effective +11/14 Atk/Spd enhancement under much easier conditions (which we’ll get to in a bit), in addition to supplemental true damage scaling on her Spd; it’s only 10% of her Spd, but every bit of damage helps nowadays. 
    • It also grants 40% damage reduction from her foe’s first attack for pretty much free, making it much easier to continuously engage in combat without worrying about her paltry defenses keeping her back. 
    • This is doubly true once you consider that her access to Null Follow-Up and high amount of Spd makes it pretty easy to ensure she only ever gets hit once. 
  • Her refinement solidly elevates her utility as well by not only expanding the values of the in-combat buffs to nearby allies, but also carrying a unique form of support: Drive Impact, shielding those same allies from enemy follow-up attacks. This alone may not be enough to catapult her to the ranks of premium support units, but it makes her a surprisingly effective addition in defensive strategies all the same. 

Arguably most importantly, however, are the QoL improvements Freikugel’s refinement brings to Hilda’s unique (but honestly kinda weird) Defense-comparing mechanic for triggering the weapon’s selfish and supportive benefits: now, she can reap her offensive strengths by maintaining a simple Solo condition, and her ally bonuses remain permanently active as long as she has not entered combat during the current phase. 

These new conditions are likely much easier for players to manage and maneuver around in gameplay, but the fact that she also retains her Defense-comparing mechanic makes it possible to actually exploit both aspects of her weapon simultaneously. Again, this isn’t enough to necessarily elevate her to premium status, but it does carve a unique niche for Hilda as one of the few units capable of flipping between offensive and supportive roles in the middle of battles and with the same build.

Strong Offensive Statline

Contrary to her carefree personality, the Goneril noble packs quite a punch with her Atk/Spd combination of 37/37 — a rather potent baseline that actually remains pretty competitive despite her age and becomes further highlighted by her access to the maximum amount 20 Dragonflowers. This ensures she can deal relatively consistent damage through raw numbers and follow-up attacks, in addition to making her deceptively bulky when paired with Freikugel’s damage reduction and her Null Follow-Up access to deny a good portion of enemy damage.

Infantry Benefits

Refined Freikugel already renders Hilda quite versatile, and this is underscored further through the impressive skill availability allotted by her infantry status: with access to crucial abilities in Null Follow-Up, Time’s Pulse, Flashing Blade, and Even Pulse Tie, the Idle Maiden becomes quite flexible in her potential applications and features a good deal of malleability for various roles.

Weaknesses

Unimpressive Defensive Statline

Hilda primarily relies on her high Spd and Freikugel’s 40% damage reduction from her foe’s first strike for her survivability. While this works fine for the most part, instances where enemies can bypass these mechanics (such as those wielding reduction-nullification effects like Nanna’s Lands Sword and/or Brave effects, or anyone who can simply outspeed her) throws a heavy wrench in her plans due to how low her actual defenses are. 

Having a mere 28/23 Def/Res spread to rely on for emergencies makes it highly advisable to remain cautious of when using her defensively — especially since her weapon actually doesn’t provide any boosts to those stats either

Offense / Support Split Trade-Off

There’s no denying that Freikugel’s ability to easily switch between offensive and supportive effects is certainly an interesting concept, but this flexibility comes at the cost of Hilda being far from the best in either of those roles. She can certainly push her own damage or safeguard allies much better than a respectable portion of the cast, and there is value in the flexibility of having both simultaneously — but she’s never going to compare to top-end damage dealers or support units since Freikugel’s overall resources are cut down in both respects to account for the fact that it can do both.

Weapon Skills

Weapons SP Rng. Mt.
Iron Axe
Learns by default at 1 ★
Unlocks at 1 ★
Inheritable by Axe users only.
50 1 6
Steel Axe
Learns by default at 3 ★
Unlocks at 2 ★
Inheritable by Axe users only.
100 1 8
Silver Axe
Learns by default at 4 ★
Unlocks at 3 ★
Inheritable by Axe users only.
200 1 11
Freikugel

Grants Spd+3. At start of ally's combat, if unit is within 2 spaces of any allies with Def > unit's Def, grants Atk/Spd+4 to those allies during combat. At start of unit's combat, if unit is not within 2 spaces of any allies with Def > unit's Def, grants Atk/Spd+6 to unit during combat.

Learns by default at 5 ★
Unlocks at 5 ★
Non-Inheritable skill.
400 1 16
Weapon Evolution
Weapon Upgrades
Weapon Upgrades

Special Skills

Special Skills SP Turns
New Moon

Treats foe's Def/Res as if reduced by 30% during combat.

Learns by default at 4 ★
Unlocks at 3 ★
Non-inheritable by Staff-wielding units.
100 3
Moonbow

Treats foe's Def/Res as if reduced by 30% during combat.

Unlocks at 4 ★
Non-inheritable by Staff-wielding units.
200 2

Passive Skills

Passive Skills SP Slot
Atk/Spd Solo 1

If unit is not adjacent to an ally, grants Atk/Spd+2 during combat.

Unlocks at 3 ★
60
A
Atk/Spd Solo 2

If unit is not adjacent to an ally, grants Atk/Spd+4 during combat.

Unlocks at 4 ★
120
A
Atk/Spd Solo 3

If unit is not adjacent to an ally, grants Atk/Spd+6 during combat.

Inheritable by all units.
Unlocks at 5 ★
240
A
Null Follow-Up 1

At start of combat, if unit's HP = 100%, neutralizes effects that guarantee foe's follow-up attacks and effects that prevent unit's follow-up attacks during combat.

Infantry Units Only
Unlocks at 3 ★
60
B
Null Follow-Up 2

At start of combat, if unit's HP ≥ 50%, neutralizes effects that guarantee foe's follow-up attacks and effects that prevent unit's follow-up attacks during combat.

Infantry Units Only
Unlocks at 4 ★
120
B
Null Follow-Up 3

Neutralizes effects that guarantee foe's follow-up attacks and effects that prevent unit's follow-up attacks during combat.

Infantry Units Only
Unlocks at 5 ★
240
B
Def Opening 1

At start of turn, grants Def+2 to ally with the highest Def for 1 turn. (Excludes unit.)

Inheritable by all units.
Unlocks at 1 ★
60
C
Def Opening 2

At start of turn, grants Def+4 to ally with the highest Def for 1 turn. (Excludes unit.)

Inheritable by all units.
Unlocks at 2 ★
120
C
Def Opening 3

At start of turn, grants Def+6 to ally with the highest Def for 1 turn. (Excludes unit.)

Inheritable by all units.
Unlocks at 4 ★
240
C

Other Info

Origin
Fire Emblem: Three Houses

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