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Analysis by Adonyx
Athena - Borderland Sword

3-4

Obtainable as a 3 - 4 only

Hero Stats

Max Avg Total Stats at Lvl 40
156
HP 36
ATK 31
SPD 38
DEF 27
RES 24

Stat Variations

Level 1 Stat Variation
5★
4★
3★
HP ATK SPD DEF RES
Low 16 6 9 7 4
Middle 17 7 10 8 5
High 18 8 11 9 6

Level 40 Stat Variations
5★
4★
3★
HP ATK SPD DEF RES
Low 33 28 35 24 21
Middle 36 31 38 27 24
High 40 34 41 31 28

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

Assets

  • +SPD: Increasing Athena’s Speed is vitally important because being able to double her opponents is a huge component for her damage output.

  • +ATK: A +ATK Asset is only worthwhile over +SPD if Athena has access to enough team support that she can reliably double her opponents regardless.

Flaws

  • -HP/-DEF/-RES: Athena’s bulk is fairly average, which means that taking a Flaw in any of her defensive stats will result in her being at risk of getting KO’d in a single hit from a particular damage type. Thankfully, her availability as a 3-4 star summon means that any Flaw can be easily negated with just a single merge.

Skill Sets

The Enemy (Offensive Nuke)

Build by
Recommended
Concealed Blade (+Eff) A Swift Sparrow (2 or 3)
Alternate: Flashing Blade 4
Reposition B Null Follow-Up 3
Alternate: Wrath 3
Moonbow
Alternate: Glimmer
C Odd Spd Wave 3
IVsSFlashing Blade 3
Alternate: Darting Blow 3

Show Explanation/Analysis

Preferred IV: +SPD or +ATK / -HP or -DEF or -RES

  • As this is an offensive set, it’s important to maximize Athena’s offensive stats.

Weapon: Concealed Blade (+Eff)

  • The addition of Desperation to Athena’s weapon means that she can take advantage of many other B skills to improve her combat performance.

Assist: Reposition

Special: Moonbow

  • A low cooldown, consistent Special like Moonbow is important as the majority of Athena’s damage output comes from Special activations. Moonbow’s cooldown of 2 allows for Athena to activate it every combat with Flashing Blade and Desperation active.

Passive A: Swift Sparrow (2 or 3) / Atk/Spd Solo / Flashing Blade 4 / Fury (3 or 4)

  • Athena’s A skill should increase her offensive stats as much as possible to maximize her damage output. Swift Sparrow, Atk/Spd Solo, and Fury are all good options (with varying levels of effectiveness) for raw stats, while Flashing Blade 4 is a decent option when paired with the Darting Blow Seal.

Passive B: Null Follow-Up / Wrath / Brash Assault

  • One of the biggest issues Athena will face is that some opponents can negate her ability to naturally double, which will completely shut down her damage output. Null Follow-Up handily allows her to completely circumvent this weakness.

  • Wrath is another good option for increasing Athena’s raw damage output while within the 75% HP threshold. Wrath also has the additional benefit of allowing Athena to activate her Special even against enemies with skills like Guard or Special Fighter, since reducing Moonbow’s cooldown to 1 will allow Athena to charge it with Flashing Blade.

  • Finally, Brash Assault is a budget option that allows Athena to mimic what Lyn can do with her refined Sol Katti. It’s not quite as useful as Null Follow-Up for ensuring doubles due to the HP threshold, however.

Passive C: Odd Spd Wave / Flexible

  • Athena’s C skill isn’t particularly important for her build and can be replaced as needed to suit the team.

Sacred Seal: Flashing Blade / Darting Blow

  • The Flashing Blade Seal is vitally important to ensure that Athena can consistently activate her Special while in Desperation range. 

  • Darting Blow is a strong option if utilizing Flashing Blade 4 as Athena’s A skill in order to help ensure that she has enough Speed to double her opponents.

Swept Away (Firesweep)

Build by
Firesweep Sword+ A Swift Sparrow (2 or 3)
Alternate: Life and Death 3
Reposition B Null Follow-Up 3
Alternate: Lull Spd/Def 3
Moonbow
Alternate: Luna
C Odd Spd Wave 3
IVsSFlashing Blade 3
Alternate: Darting Blow 3

Show Explanation/Analysis

Preferred IV: +SPD or +ATK / -HP or -DEF or -RES

  • As this is an offensive set, it’s important to maximize Athena’s offensive stats.

Weapon: Firesweep Sword+

  • While a Firesweep Sword lacks the big damage boost that Athena can get from her Concealed Blade, being able to negate enemy counterattacks makes it much safer for Athena to engage enemies.

Assist: Reposition

Special: Moonbow / Luna

  • A low cooldown Special like Moonbow paired with Flashing Blade allows Athena to activate her Special every combat if she can double.

  • If not utilizing Flashing Blade, then Luna is a good choice as she won’t be able to activate her Special until her second combat anyway.

Passive A: Swift Sparrow (2 or 3) / Atk/Spd Solo / Flashing Blade 4 / Life and Death

  • Athena’s A skill should increase her offensive stats as much as possible to maximize her damage output. Swift Sparrow, Atk/Spd Solo, and Life and Death are all good options (with varying levels of effectiveness) for raw offensive stats, while Flashing Blade 4 is a decent option when paired with the Darting Blow Seal.]

Passive B: Null Follow-Up / Lull Spd/Def / Chill Spd / Hit and Run

  • One of the biggest issues Athena will face is that some opponents can negate her ability to naturally double, which will completely shut down her damage output. Null Follow-Up handily allows her to completely circumvent this weakness.

  • Lull Spd/Def allows Athena to greatly increase her raw combat prowess, as it simultaneously makes it easy for her to double her opponents as well as increasing her damage output.

  • Chill Spd or Chill Def are decent options that can help Athena’s combat performance if they target the right unit as well as provide a bit of support for the team.

  • Hit and Run offers Athena some additional safety after attacking by pulling her out and away from danger.

Passive C: Odd Spd Wave / Flexible

  • Athena’s C skill isn’t particularly important for her build and can be replaced as needed to suit the team.

Sacred Seal: Flashing Blade / Darting Blow

  • The Flashing Blade Seal allows Athena to activate Moonbow every combat that she doubles her opponent.

  • Alternatively, Darting Blow significantly increases Athena’s Speed at the cost of only allowing her to activate her Special every other combat.

Introduction

Athena was one of many units who suffered from newer unit releases due to her outdated statline quickly becoming heavily outclassed. Fortunately, with her new weapon and refine she can keep up a bit better than before. Athena’s Concealed Blade is functionally very similar to her base Wo Dao, but can be refined to gain the effects of Desperation. This functionality allows her to run other powerful B skills like Null Follow-Up, Wrath, or Lull Spd/Def to greatly improve her combat prowess. 

While Concealed Blade improves Athena’s offensive power, it doesn’t help her at all defensively. She still lacks versatility and is notably outclassed in roles other than an offensive nuke. This limits her overall prospects as a strong unit and makes her difficult to justify using over other units.

Strengths

Concealed Blade

Combining the effects of a Wo Dao and Desperation give Athena a slight edge in skill options, allowing her to squeeze out a bit more effectiveness from her offensive power.

Decent Offenses

31 Attack is rather unimpressive, but 38 base Speed is pretty good and enables Athena to have a fairly strong offensive presence.

Weaknesses

Outclassed

While Athena’s ability to pair Desperation with any other B skill is only matched by Lyn, her overall offensive potential is heavily outclassed by a large number of other infantry sword units.

Lacks Versatility

While Concealed Blade improves upon Athena’s offensive power, it does nothing for her defenses. As a result, Athena’s outdated statline makes it rather difficult to keep up with newer units who simply have more raw stats to work with.

Weapon Skills

Weapons SP Rng. Mt.
Iron Sword
Learns by default at 1 ★
Unlocks at 1 ★
Only Inheritable by Sword Units.
50 1 6
Steel Sword
Learns by default at 3 ★
Unlocks at 2 ★
Only Inheritable by Sword Units.
100 1 8
Wo Dao

Grants +10 to damage when Special triggers.

Learns by default at 4 ★
Unlocks at 3 ★
Only Inheritable by Sword Units.
200 1 9
Wo Dao+

Grants +10 to damage when Special triggers.

Learns by default at 5 ★
Unlocks at 5 ★
Only Inheritable by Sword Units.
300 1 13
Concealed Blade

Deals +10 damage when Special triggers.

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
Armored Blow 1

If unit initiates combat, grants Def+2 during combat.

Non-inheritable by Staff-wielding units.
Unlocks at 3 ★
50
A
Sturdy Blow 1

If unit initiates combat, unit granted Atk/Def+2 during battle.

Non-inheritable by Staff-wielding units.
120
A
Sturdy Blow 2

If unit initiates combat, unit granted Atk/Def+4 during battle.

Non-inheritable by Staff-wielding units.
Unlocks at 5 ★
240
A
Sword Experience 1

If unit survives, unit gets 1.5x EXP.
(If similar skill effects also used, only highest multiplier applied.)

Only Inheritable by Sword Units.
30
C
Sword Experience 2

If unit survives, all sword users on team get 1.5x EXP.
(If similar skill effects also used, only highest multiplier applied.)

Only Inheritable by Sword Units.
Unlocks at 3 ★
60
C
Sword Experience 3

If unit survives, all sword users on team get 2x EXP.
(If similar skill effects also used, only highest multiplier applied.)

Only Inheritable by Sword Units.
Unlocks at 4 ★
120
C

Other Info

Origin
Fire Emblem: New Mystery of the Emblem
Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon

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Official Hero Artwork