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Analysis by MackerelPye
Mikoto - Caring Mother

5

Obtainable as a 5 only

Hero Stats

Max Avg Total Stats at Lvl 40
151
HP 38
ATK 35
SPD 32
DEF 20
RES 26

Stat Variations

Level 1 Stat Variation
5★
HP ATK SPD DEF RES
Low 15 8 7 4 6
Middle 16 9 8 5 7
High 17 10 9 6 8

Level 40 Stat Variations
5★
HP ATK SPD DEF RES
Low 34 32 29 17 23
Middle 38 35 32 20 26
High 41 38 35 23 30

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

A Spankin' Motherly Time (Offensive Utility)

Build by MackerelPye
Recommended
Doting Staff (+Eff) A Atk/Spd Boosting A Slot
Rescue+
Alternate: Physic+
B Wrathful Staff 3
Earthwater Balm+
Alternate: Miracle
C Time's Pulse 3
Alternate: Savage Blow 3
IVs

+SPD or +ATK / -DEF or -RES

SBlade Session 3
Alternate: Atk/Spd Solo 3

Show Explanation/Analysis

Weapon: Doting Staff (+Eff)

Assist: Rescue+ / Physic+ / Flexible

Special: Any High-Investment Balm+ / Miracle

Passive A: Atk/Spd Push 4 / Atk/Spd Ideal / Atk/Spd Unity / Atk/Spd Solo / AR-D Skills

Passive B: Wrathful Staff

Passive C: Time's Pulse / Joint Drive Spd / Joint Drive Atk / Savage Blow / Various "Within Two Spaces" Skills 

Sacred Seal: Blade Session / Atk/Spd Solo / Atk/Spd Form / Savage Blow

  • This build focuses on Mikoto's ability to contribute offensively along with her allies over utility. This significantly decreases her chances of being a sitting duck while maintaining her prized ability to inflict Canto Control from a fair distance. As such, skills and Assets (Spd or Atk preferred) that develop her offensive talents further are necessary. 
  • The standard fixings for your usual offensive Razzle Dazzle healer, of course, apply to Mikoto's decent offensive statline and the fact that Doting Staff dollops an additional Atk/Spd +4 whenever Mikoto steps in and attacks the enemy. Said fixings include:
    • Wrathful Staff, a significant necessity that allows Mikoto to hit for normalized, increased damage. Lacking this, she suffers the imposed halved damage effect all healers are burdened with otherwise. Fortunately, Doting Staff already provides the "Dazzling" half required for uninterrupted, full-powered attacks. 
    • Most high-grade Atk/Spd skills you can offer in Mikoto's A-slot and Sacred Seal, as they grant better damage and follow-up potential and simply make her more of an actively contributing presence. 
  • Mikoto needn't worry too much about her Assist, Special, and C-slot as long as you have the previously stated areas covered. 
    • That being said, the combination of Time's Pulse and any high-rarity Balm+ you can afford allows Mikoto to have a ready-to-activate stat boost bomb on every turn. Lacking these, you don't have to think further than Miracle and your choice of supportive C-slot.
    • Joint Drive Atk or Spd pushes Mikoto's offense a little more while also benefiting her allies, making them pretty much the best high-investment C-slots you can get.
    • Savage Blow is a more attainable option than most others and can be in the C-slot, Sacred Seal, or both. With it, Mikoto can make safe chip damage runs on surrounding enemies whenever she attacks.
    • While a positional heal like Rescue+ makes Mikoto more proactive in supporting her allies through tactical maneuvering, those are pretty rare to come by. Accordingly, you can run a preferred low-rarity heal, many of which are still pretty useful; Physic+, for instance, helps keep Mikoto from harm's way by healing from a slight distance.

Doting Daphnes (Nearness Utility / Low-Investment)

Build by MackerelPye
Recommended
Doting Staff (+Eff) A Spd/Res Form 3
Alternate: HP/Atk 2
Martyr+
Alternate: Physic+
B Chill Res 3
Alternate: Wings of Mercy 3
Miracle C Distant Guard 3
Alternate: Close Guard 3
IVs

Any

SDistant Guard 3
Alternate: Drive Atk 2

Show Explanation/Analysis

Weapon: Doting Staff (+Eff)

Assist: Martyr+ / Physic+ / Restore+

Special: Miracle

Passive A: Spd/Res Form / Spd/Def Form / Spd/Res Bond / HP Skills

Passive B: Various Chill Skills / Wings of Mercy 

Passive C: Various "Within Two Spaces" Skills

Sacred Seal: Various "Within Two Spaces" Skills

  • You definitely don't need to go to town to make use of the main thing Mikoto offers. All that is necessary is simply refining Doting Staff so that it gains its【Canto Control】effect. From there, the rest comes down to your chosen support skills in Mikoto's B, C, and Sacred Seal slots.
  • There's not much to be considered in the B-slot due to healer limitations.
    • A good choice here is any Chill skill that you can offer while suiting the needs of your team; it gives Mikoto a more proactive role by debuffing an enemy with a highest specified stat every turn.
    • Alternatively, Wings of Mercy gives Mikoto increased mobility by enabling her to teleport next to severely damaged allies. This gives Mikoto a chance to offer healing and support regardless of teammate distance in dire situations. 
  • Mikoto's C and Sacred Seal is pretty much a mix-and-match between any and all "within two spaces" skills you want. As an example, considering the spacing requirements of Doting Staff, Mikoto tends to work swimmingly well with Savior skill allies. Thus, it'd be a perfectly rational idea to accommodate them further with Close or Distant Guard, making them even more difficult to take down, especially in Aether Raids Defense setups. 
  • The rest of Mikoto's default skills — EXCEPT for Brazen Atk/Res in the A-slot as it requires setup and Mikoto plays absolutely no offensive role here — can be kept or swapped out for preferred choices. At any rate, these slots don't play particularly important roles on the build overall.
  • It is preferable to run something more immediate-acting in the A-slot:
    • Spd-based Form or Bond, for example, improves Mikoto's defensive Speed and thus her chances at avoiding follow-up hits. Spd/Res Bond and Form and Spd/Def Form are notable choices that are available from low-rarity pool units. 
    • For slightly improved heals and bulk at the same time, HP/Atk 2 is also a cheap item on the table. 

Forgotten Instincts (High HP Utility)

Build by MackerelPye
Doting Staff (+Eff) A HP +5
Restore+
Alternate: Rescue+
B Sudden Panic 3
Alternate: Even Pulse Tie 3
Earthwater Balm+
Alternate: Miracle
C Infantry Pulse 3
Alternate: Panic Ploy 3
IVs

+HP / -Anything Else

SHP +5

Show Explanation/Analysis

Weapon: Doting Staff (+Eff)

Assist: Restore+ / Rescue+ / Physic+ / Return+ 

Special: Any High-Investment Balm+ / Miracle

Passive A: HP Skills

Passive B: Sudden Panic / Even Pulse Tie / Odd Pulse Tie / Chill Skills

Passive C: Infantry Pulse / Panic Ploy 

Sacred Seal: HP Skills

  • This build shifts focus to support and utility. As such, Mikoto prefers supportive skills above anything else and greatly appreciates all forms of HP investment to maximize the potency of HP-conditional skills used here. 
  • The main objective remains the same: use Doting Staff to apply Flash and 【Canto Control】on enemy units when necessary.
  • Although Mikoto's HP isn't much to write home about at a base value of 38, it becomes much more serviceable after taking a +HP Asset and using HP +5 (or expensive Duel equivalents) in the A-slot and Sacred Seal, among other forms of investment like merges and Dragonflowers. After such, Mikoto can realistically utilize the listed HP skills on targets that aren't particularly invested in their own HP — this constitutes the majority of newer unrefined PRF-wielding units, for example.
  • As far as B-slot support skills are concerned:
    • Several relevant threats such as Ascended Fjorm and Legendary Fae rely on a fully precharged Special to overcome otherwise difficult opposition. Running a Pulse Tie (Even being preferred as it undoes all Turn 1 Pulse effects like Infantry Pulse, Life Unending, and Hardy Fighter) makes these threats easier to manage.
    • Alternatively, Sudden Panic inflicts its namesake status on a mapwide scale, assuming enemy units have lower HP than Mikoto and are clustered with other enemies. 
    • On the budget side of things, running a simple Chill skill allows Mikoto to target enemies strongest in a specific stat and apply a heavy debuff from anywhere on the map. 
  • To top off and leverage all the HP investment on the build, Mikoto should run either Infantry Pulse to quicken her allies' Specials without requiring any combat, or Panic Ploy to apply Panic to units in the same row/column as her — and at times hitting units that Sudden Panic fails to affect.

Strengths

Doting Staff

Doting Staff is a natural upgrade from Mikoto's previous signature Flash staff. In addition to retaining Flash's anti-counterattacking properties — already a dangerous tool in many situations —  it also grants a much-appreciated combat boost of Atk/Spd +4 whenever she initiates combat. 

Much more importantly, however, is the fact that the refined staff introduces a whole new effect for Fire Emblem Heroes (at this time of writing). That is, whenever a unit with Canto finishes their action within four spaces of Mikoto, she automatically inflicts【Canto Control】. In short, this minimizes the amount of post-combat movement that enemies can escape with: specifically, melee enemies to one space and completely shuts it down to zero for ranged. Considering that many outstanding competitive units like Reginn, Yuri, and Eitri rely on their Canto mechanics to make a safe and complete hit-and-run, this is not something to be overlooked. 

From 【Canto Control】alone, Mikoto sees potential utility in modes such as Aether Raids Defense and Summoner Duels as a method of inhibiting hyper offensive units and tactics. 

Serviceable Stats 

With all due tough love, Mikoto's stats certainly aren't up-to-par in a 2022+ environment. Given the right item and skill investments, though, her perfectly buildable 35 Atk and 32 Spd help her get through a fair amount of combat situations, and her 38 HP reaches a "good enough" point for builds involving HP-based support skills like Infantry Pulse and Sudden Panic.

Weaknesses

Lacks Notable Movement and Terrain Advantages

Though Mikoto being infantry offers advantages such as access to some nice Pulse skills and standard two-space map movement, her maneuvering options aren't particularly notable compared to healers in other movement classes. Notably, Mikoto can't cross otherwise difficult terrain to reach her targets like fliers can, while cavalry healers completely eclipse her attack and movement range save for forests and cavalry tiles. 

Takes Up a Team Slot

While Mikoto's unique ability to inhibit Canto users makes her seem like a prime picking, she faces the same problem that other utility units (i.e. Loki, Riev, Iago) in Summoner Duels and Aether Raids have: players must forfeit a team slot to fit her in. Several opportunity costs arise from this: Mikoto may potentially push other carry units, nukes, dancers, and any other otherwise useful allies out of the running. 

Non-offensive builds, in particular, also pose the occasional annoyance of making Mikoto a potential sitting duck; the statuses Mikoto can inflict are avoidable, and may not matter at all in certain situations.

Frail + Null C-Disrupt

Mikoto's very average Spd in combination with her pretty bad defensive statline makes her overall easy pickings for many foes that get a clear shot at her. 

Additionally, Null C-Disrupt (and other skills that come with it built-in) completely bypass the Flash and Dazzling effects of Doting Staff. Thus, its users gain an opportunity to return some due motherly punishment back to the sender and her potential incoming cronies.

Weapon Skills

Weapons SP Rng. Mt.
Assault
Restricted to units that use a Staff.
50 2 10
Flash

After combat, if unit attacked, inflicts status on foe preventing counterattacks through its next action.

Restricted to units that use a Staff.
150 2 7
Flash+

After combat, if unit attacked, inflicts status on target and foes within 2 spaces of target preventing counterattacks through their next actions.

Learns by default at 5 ★
Restricted to units that use a Staff.
300 2 11
Doting Staff

Foe cannot counterattack. If unit initiates combat, grants Atk/Spd+4 to unit during combat. After combat, if unit attacked, inflicts status on target and foes within 2 spaces of target preventing counterattacks through their next actions.

Unlocks at 5 ★
Non-Inheritable skill.
400 2 14
Weapon Evolution
Weapon Upgrades
Weapon Upgrades

Support Skills

Support Skills Rng. SP
Martyr

Restores HP=7+this unit's suffered damage. Unit heals HP=half suffered damage. Slows Special trigger (cooldown count+1).

Learns by default at 5 ★
1 150
Martyr+

Restores HP = this unit's suffered damage +50% of Atk. (Minimum of 7 HP.)
Also restores HP to unit = half suffered damage.

1 300

Special Skills

Special Skills SP Turns
Imbue

When healing an ally with a staff, restores an additional 10 HP to target ally.

Learns by default at 5 ★
Restricted to units that use a Staff.
50 1
Miracle

If unit's HP > 1 and foe would reduce unit's HP to 0, unit survives with 1 HP.

Unlocks at 5 ★
Inheritable by all units.
200 5

Passive Skills

Passive Skills SP Slot
Brazen Atk/Res 1

At start of combat, if unit's HP ≤ 80%, grants Atk/Res+3 during combat.

Inheritable by all units.
60
A
Brazen Atk/Res 2

At start of combat, if unit's HP ≤ 80%, grants Atk/Res+5 during combat.

Inheritable by all units.
120
A
Brazen Atk/Res 3

At start of combat, if unit's HP ≤ 80%, grants Atk/Res +7 during combat.

Inheritable by all units.
Unlocks at 5 ★
240
A
Infantry Rush 1

Infantry allies within 2 spaces gain: "If unit's Atk ≥ foe's Atk+5, grants Special cooldown charge +1 per attack. (Only highest value applied. Does not stack.)"

Infantry Units Only
60
C
Infantry Rush 2

Infantry allies within 2 spaces gain: "If unit's Atk ≥ foe's Atk+3, grants Special cooldown charge +1 per attack. (Only highest value applied. Does not stack.)"

Infantry Units Only
120
C
Infantry Rush 3

Infantry allies within 2 spaces gain: "if unit's Atk ≥ foe's Atk +1, grants Special cooldown charge +1 per attack. (only highest value applied. Does not stack.)"

Infantry Units Only
Unlocks at 5 ★
240
C

Other Info

Origin
Fire Emblem Heroes

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