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Young Minerva

Analysis by raelet
Young Minerva - Princess-Knight

Hero Stats

Max Avg Total Stats at Lvl 40
167
HP 40
ATK 36
SPD 37
DEF 35
RES 19

Stat Variations

Level 1 Stat Variation
5★
4★
HP ATK SPD DEF RES
Low 17 7 8 10 3
Middle 18 8 9 11 4
High 19 9 10 12 5

Level 40 Stat Variations
5★
4★
HP ATK SPD DEF RES
Low 36 33 34 32 16
Middle 40 36 37 35 19
High 43 39 40 38 22

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

This unit requires use of Trait Fruits to get access to IVs

Skill Sets

The Little Dragon (Player Phase)

Build by raelet
Recommended
Dragoon Axe A Mirror Impact
Alternate: Sturdy Impact
Reposition B Desperation 3
Alternate: Flier Formation 3
Luna
Alternate: Bonfire
C Def Smoke 3
Alternate: Atk Smoke 3
IVs

+SPD or +ATK / -RES

SSwift Sparrow 2
Alternate: Darting Blow 3

Show Explanation/Analysis

Weapon: Dragoon Axe

Assist: Reposition

Special: Luna / Draconic Aura

Passive A: Mirror Impact / Sturdy Impact / Swift Sparrow

Passive B: Desperation / Flier Formation / Mystic Boost

Passive C: Def Smoke / Joint Drive Atk / Flier Guidance

Passive S: Swift Sparrow / Darting Blow / Atk/Spd Bond

  • Because Young Minerva cannot use Dragoon Shield to retaliate against archer opponents, she can drop it for an A slot which helps her more in direct combat. Mirror or Sturdy Impact will both help her when she initiates on a foe - something that will be easy to do with her flier mobility, particularly if Flier Formation is kept in her B slot.
  • Mirror Impact significantly increases her Resistance against dragon units and mages with Close Counter, and with her Dragoon Axe Minerva will initiate with 33 Resistance against them, in addition to denying their followup attacks and Special cooldown. This makes the skill ideal for use in high tier Arena, where dragon units, particularly armored dragons with skills like Vengeful Fighter or Quick Riposte, are extremely common.
  • Otherwise, Sturdy Impact can be taken to make Minerva more of a physical melee specialist by granting her 49 Defense to tank any retaliations. Through this, she can even wall off powerful sword users.
  • Her B and C slots are more flexible: Desperation is an option if you want to ensure that Minerva can still initiate safely after she's taken an attack, or her native Flier Formation can help her maneuverability in flier teams and synergizes with a potential Flier Guidance in her C slot to make her the centerpiece to a flier team.
  • Likewise, she can take a Smoke skill to help her allies or increase her Enemy Phase potential against her nearby foes.
  • Swift Sparrow is her best seal slot, as it helps her to secure more doubles. If you're concerned about her neutral 41 Speed (45 with Swift Sparrow), you can choose to run Darting Blow instead for 47 Speed to help her secure doubles against faster opponents. If utilizing her with Flier Formation, Atk/Spd Bond can be a safe option between the two, as she can teleport next to her allies and utilize the +5 to Attack and Speed.

And Again (Galeforce)

Build by raelet
Dragoon Axe A Swift Sparrow (2 or 3)
Alternate: Heavy Blade 3
Reposition B Dull Close 3
Alternate: Wings of Mercy 3
Galeforce C Def Smoke 3
Alternate: Even Spd Wave 3
IVs

+SPD or +ATK / -RES

SHeavy Blade 3
Alternate: Swift Sparrow 2

Show Explanation/Analysis

Weapon: Dragoon Axe

Assist: Reposition

Special: Galeforce

Passive A: Swift Sparrow / Heavy Blade / Life and Death

Passive B: Dull Close / Wings of Mercy / Desperation

Passive C: Def Smoke / Even Spd Wave

Seal: Heavy Blade / Swift Sparrow / Darting Blow

  • Minerva is one of the rare green units who has a viable Galeforce build, which utilizes her Dragoon Axe's slaying effect in addition to her high Attack and Speed to activate Galeforce after a single combat.
  • In order to do this, Minerva needs to naturally double her opponent with a higher Attack stat than them, which is why she wants to both focus on Speed (with Darting Blow) and Attack (with Swift Sparrow or Life and Death).
  • Note that this build is ineffective against opponents who inflict Guard (such as Perceval, Special Fighter users, etc) and opponents who deny followup attacks (such as through Wary Fighter and Axebreaker skills).
  • Be careful if inheriting Heavy Blade 4 that Minerva does not oneshot her opponents with additional damage - she needs to double in order to activate Galeforce.
  • Dull Close is her B skill of choice, as it will nullify any buffs to Speed or Defense that her melee opponents may have. However, if Minerva is a followup Galeforcer (such as a support to other Galeforce units) then she needs Wings of Mercy in order to successfully teleport to her weakened ally and engage in order to continue the Galeforce chain. Desperation is also viable, as Minerva may have low HP after her initial combat.
  • Def Smoke is the C skill of choice. Since Minerva cannot Galeforce more than once in the same turn, she does not have to worry about oneshotting her second opponent and so she wants to focus on debuffing them as much as possible. In addition, Even Spd Wave can be used to further compliment her Speed and ensure doubles.

Mininerva (Generalist)

Build by raelet
Dragoon Axe A Dragoon Shield
Alternate: Distant Foil
Reposition B Quick Riposte 3
Alternate: Desperation 3
Draconic Aura
Alternate: Luna
C Atk Smoke 3
Alternate: Joint Drive Atk
IVs

+SPD - RES

SClose Def 3
Alternate: Iote's Shield

Show Explanation/Analysis

Weapon: Dragoon Axe

Assist: Reposition

Special: Draconic Aura / Luna

Passive A: Dragoon Shield / Distant Foil

Passive B: Quick Riposte / Desperation / Flier Formation

Passive C: Atk Smoke / Flier Guidance

Seal: Close Def / Iote's Shield

  • Very little about Young Minerva's kit needs to be changed if you want her to be effective on a budget. For generalist purposes, something as simple as Reposition and Atk Smoke can be cheap options to fill her available skill slots and let her put in work.
  • For her seal, Close Def helps to flesh out her bulk and make her even more of a close combat specialist.
  • If you have the fodder, Quick Riposte works better than her native Flier Formation in direct combat, since it grants her a follow-up attack on foes with high Speed. Desperation is also an option, particularly if you're keeping Dragoon Shield, since her neutral Speed will be 44 against full health opponents.
  • However, by changing out her Dragoon Shield A slot, Minerva can instead run Distant Foil, which allows her to retaliate against non-magical opponents with +2 Attack / -3 Speed / +2 Defense relative to her native Dragoon Shield. While it seems counterproductive to drop Dragoon Shield in her A slot to run Iote's Shield in her Seal slot, Minerva's inability to counter against ranged threats makes Dragoon's Shield functionally little more than a meager stat boost.

Strengths

Excellent Stats and Prfs

Young Minerva's stats and her stat-stacking prfs enable her to be flexible and powerful on any team, and offers her mastery over physical engagements.

Not only does she have Dragoon Axe, which has built-in Slaying, Guard and an all-stat buff (if her opponent's HP is at 100%), but she also comes with Dragoon Shield, which is an improved version of Iote's Shield, nullifying her weakness to bows while also giving her additional stat buffs to her Attack, Speed, and Defense.

Dragoon Shield is also a 300 SP A slot, making it easier for her to score higher in modes like Arena with less investment.

Free

Young Minerva could have easily been a 5 star focus, but instead she is given to us for free.

Her accessibility makes her easier accumulate merges for, after she is added to the grail shop.

Weaknesses

Opportunity Cost

Because Dragoon Shield is an A slot skill, Minerva loses out on a lot of utility if she chooses to run it. Namely, if she keeps Dragoon Shield, she cannot learn Distant Counter, which makes the utility of her being able to nullify her flier weakness a lot less impressive.

In addition to this, A slots are where Fliers generally have their most powerful skills: keeping Dragoon shield also means that Minerva cannot run skills such as Swift Sparrow or Sturdy Impact.

Because of this, some of Minerva's alternative builds recommend unequipping Dragoon Shield so that she can be more flexible on the battlefield.

Low Resistance

Minerva's Resistance stat is criminally low, as is the case for most wyvern riders. At 19, she will fold very easily to enemy dragons or mages and so she will have a difficult time maneuvering around the battlefield, despite Dragoon Shield nullifying her bow weakness.

She also cannot get IVs, which means that her low Resistance is very difficult to patch up, even with investment.

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
Dragoon Axe

Accelerates Special trigger (cooldown count-1). At start of combat, if foe's HP = 100%, grants Atk/Spd/Def/Res+4 during combat and inflicts Special cooldown charge -1 on foe per attack. (Only highest value applied. Does not stack.)

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
Dragon Gaze

Boosts damage by 30% of unit's Atk.

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

Boosts damage by 30% of unit's Atk.

Unlocks at 4 ★
Non-inheritable by Staff-wielding units.
200 3

Passive Skills

Passive Skills SP Slot
Dragoon Shield

Neutralizes "effective against flying" bonuses.

Grants Atk/Spd/Def+3.

Non-Inheritable skill.
Unlocks at 5 ★
300
A
Flier Formation 1

If unit has 100% HP, unit can move to a space adjacent to a flier ally within 2 spaces.

Only inheritable by flier units.
Unlocks at 1 ★
60
B
Flier Formation 2

If unit has ≥ 50% HP, unit can move to a space adjacent to a flier ally within 2 spaces.

Only inheritable by flier units.
Unlocks at 2 ★
120
B
Flier Formation 3

Unit can move to a space adjacent to a flier ally within 2 spaces

Only inheritable by flier units.
Unlocks at 4 ★
240
B

Other Info

Origin
Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem

Banners Featured In

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