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Analysis by Adonyx
Winter Lissa - Pure Joy

5

Obtainable as a 5 only

Related Heroes

Hero Stats

Max Avg Total Stats at Lvl 40
175
HP 43
ATK 33
SPD 30
DEF 35
RES 34

Stat Variations

Level 1 Stat Variation
5★
HP ATK SPD DEF RES
Low 20 8 7 8 7
Middle 21 9 8 9 8
High 22 10 9 10 9

Level 40 Stat Variations
5★
HP ATK SPD DEF RES
Low 39 30 26 32 31
Middle 43 33 30 35 34
High 46 36 33 38 37

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

Boon

  • +ATK: Ideal, as Winter Lissa will almost always be able to land doubles thanks to Bold Fighter and Vengeful Fighter. This helps make up for her relatively middling base Attack.

  • +DEF / +RES: Both are good boons for increasing Winter Lissa’s already significant bulk. A Resistance boon is particularly useful because it also improves her ability to run Ploys if desired.

Bane

  • -SPD: This is a good bane for builds that utilize Winter Lissa’s base Bold Fighter ability, as it eliminates the need for a high Speed stat. Having lower Speed also allows Winter Lissa to get doubled more easily, allowing her to maximize the use of her fantastic bulk and charge her Special faster.

  • -HP: This is also an acceptable bane in order to not damage her high defenses, and is particularly good for dealing with enemies that will almost always double (such as Reinhardt).

    • Keep in mind that both -SPD and -HP banes will result in a superbane (-4 to that stat), which will also result in Lissa's BST dropping from 175 to 174. If trying to optimize for arena score, these banes are best avoided. In this case, either a -RES or -DEF bane is acceptable; Winter Lissa's weapon can be refined to compensate for one of these banes if desired.

Skill Sets

Versatile Adorer (Mixed Phase)

Build by
Recommended
Slaying Axe+ (+Def)
Alternate: Slaying Axe+ (+Res)
A Distant Counter
Swap B Bold Fighter 3
Ignis
Alternate: Glacies
C Armor March 3
IVsSQuick Riposte 3

Show Explanation/Analysis
  • Preferred IV: +ATK / -SPD
  • Weapon: Slaying Axe (+Def/Res)
  • Assist: Swap
  • Special: Ignis or Glacies
  • Passive A: Distant Counter
  • Passive B: Bold Fighter
  • Passive C: Armor March / Flexible
  • Sacred Seal: Quick Riposte

This build takes advantage of the Quick Riposte Seal and Lissa's base Bold Fighter to create a devastating armor-exclusive combo. Regardless of whether it's Player Phase or Enemy Phase, Lissa will always be able to double. Furthermore, she will always activate her Special when initiating combat thanks to the extra Special charge from Bold Fighter, as well as activating her Special on initiated on whenever she gets doubled.

Distant Counter is taken to allow Lissa to counterattack at range, which makes the best use of her excellent bulk. As a result, the choice of weapon refine and Special is based on preference; +Def and Ignis will improve her matchups against physical threats, while +Res and Glacies will improve her matchups against magical threats. Boosting Winter Lissa’s Resistance also allows her to better run Ploys if desired.

Armor March is pretty important to have when utilizing Bold Fighter, as the limited mobility of armors will otherwise be a massive hindrance to closing the gap to initiate. Lissa herself doesn't necessarily need to be running it, however, and can run any C skill as needed.

Let’s Party! (Defensive Tank)

Build by
Slaying Axe+ (+Def)
Alternate: Handbell+ (+Def)
A Distant Counter
Swap B Vengeful Fighter 3
Alternate: Guard 3
Ignis
Alternate: Bonfire
C Atk Ploy 3
Alternate: Ward Armor
IVsSDef Ploy 3

Show Explanation/Analysis
  • Preferred IV: +ATK or +DEF or +RES or +SPD / -SPD or -HP
  • Weapon: Slaying Axe+ (+Spd/Def/Res) / Handbell+ (+Spd/Def/Res)
  • Assist: Swap
  • Special: Ignis / Bonfire / Aether
  • Passive A: Distant Counter
  • Passive B: Vengeful Fighter / Guard / Quick Riposte
  • Passive C: Atk Ploy / Ward Armor / Flexible
  • Sacred Seal: Def Ploy / Quick Riposte

Despite a lackluster base Speed of 30, Lissa can boost her Speed to an impressive 39 before buffs, via a +SPD IV, +Spd refined weapon, and Speed +3 Seal. This can go even higher if running Handbell and receiving buff support from Lissa's team. By stacking Speed, Lissa can comfortably avoid doubles and retaliate hard with an activated Special. However, stacking Speed can be futile at higher tiers of Arena due to the prevalence of skills that bypass Speed (such as Bold Fighter). This means that it can be better to simply dump Winter Lissa's Speed entirely and focus more on her bulk.

Slaying Axe is generally better than Handbell, due to allowing Lissa to run a higher cooldown Special like Ignis. However, due to the entirely Enemy Phase-oriented nature of this build, Handbell is strongly competitive with Slaying Axe depending on the chosen Special. If running Slaying Axe, Vengeful Fighter, and stacking Speed then run Ignis as Lissa’s Special. If running Handbell, Vengeful Fighter, and stacking Speed, then run Bonfire. It’s important to have a 3 charge Special so that it activates every combat as long as Vengeful Fighter is active if stacking Speed. If dumping Speed while using Vengeful Fighter instead, then Aether goes best with Slaying Axe while Ignis goes with Handbell. If Vengeful Fighter is unavailable or wanting to use Guard, then dumping Speed is best so that Lissa can still utilize a 3 charge Special.

Distant Counter is taken to allow Lissa to counterattack ranged units, particularly ranged blue mages like Reinhardt and Linde. This allows her to make excellent use of her incredible mixed bulk.

Vengeful Fighter is exclusive to armors and completely outclasses Quick Riposte. It has a much more generous HP threshold to stay active, and even grants an additional Special charge when Lissa attacks, similar to how Heavy Blade works. The extra Special charge allows Winter Lissa to utilize higher cooldown Specials. If Vengeful Fighter is unavailable, then Quick Riposte is still a decent option. However, if not using Vengeful Fighter, it's likely better to run Guard with the Quick Riposte Seal to prevent Winter Lissa from getting hit by enemy Specials.

Winter Lissa's excellent Resistance allows her to be a great user of Ploys; running Ploys as her C skill and Seal allow her to support both her team and herself. The choice of Ploys is entirely up to preference, but Atk Ploy and Def Ploy are great choices to simultaneously increase Winter Lissa's tankiness as well as her damage output. These can be replaced as needed to suit the team, however. Also, the Quick Riposte Seal may be necessary if running Guard in order to ensure that Winter Lissa can double.

Introduction

Winter Lissa is an armored unit that clocks in at a massive 175 BST, setting a new record at the time of her release. With 35/34 Defense and Resistance, she has incredible mixed bulk, rivaling that of Sheena. However, her boosted BST gives her a huge leg up over Sheena, as Lissa’s 33/30 Attack and Speed heavily outclass Sheena.

Lissa’s base 30 Speed is in a very awkward spot: not quite enough to avoid doubles, but not enough to really be doubling either (though this is a non-issue thanks to her base Bold Fighter). She requires heavy investment into Speed in order to get up enough to avoid doubles, but can safely dump Speed to focus on her offenses.

Her base kit doesn’t particularly synergize with itself - Handbell functions only on Enemy Phase, while Bold Fighter functions only on Player Phase. However, simply adding the Quick Riposte Seal is an easy way to make Winter Lissa a powerful mixed phase unit capable of doubling in every combat. Overall, Winter Lissa's excellent bulk and access to armored skills like Bold Fighter ensure that she will always be a serious powerhouse.

Strengths

Powerful Mixed Defenses

With 35/34 Defense/Resistance, Winter Lissa has no real weaknesses, defensively speaking, making her one of the best mixed tanks in the game.

Armor Unit

Winter Lissa enjoys all the benefits of being an armored unit: very high BST (175, the highest in the game), Bold Fighter and Vengeful Fighter, and access to armor buffs like Ward Armor.

No Weak Stats

Winter Lissa's stats are well-rounded, with no clear weak stats. Her stats are all high enough that she doesn't even suffer from being too well-rounded, like other units with similar spreads do as a result of their lower BST.

Weaknesses

Middling Speed

30 Speed is in a very awkward spot; not quite enough to avoid doubles, but not enough to really be doubling either (though this is a non-issue thanks to Bold Fighter). This can be fixed either by ignoring it entirely (-SPD IV) or with heavy investment.

Limited Mobility

As an armored unit, Lissa suffers from a very limited movement range of 1. This can be mitigated with movement assists like Pivot or Swap, as well as Armor March.

Anti-Armor Weapons

As an armor unit, Lissa shares a weakness to anti-armor weapons such as Armorslayer. She can potentially afford to run Svalinn Shield to mitigate this, but it will still heavily gimp her build to do so due to preventing her from running a much stronger skill such as Distant Counter.

Weapon Skills

Weapons SP Rng. Mt.
Iron Axe
Inheritable by Axe users only.
50 1 6
Steel Axe
Inheritable by Axe users only.
100 1 8
Handbell

Grants Atk/Spd/Def/Res+2 during combat if foe initiates combat.

Inheritable by Axe users only.
200 1 10
Handbell+

Grants Atk/Spd/Def/Res+2 during combat if foe initiates combat.

Learns by default at 5 ★
Inheritable by Axe users only.
300 1 14
Weapon Evolution
Weapon Upgrades
Weapon Upgrades

Special Skills

Special Skills SP Turns
Glowing Ember

Boosts damage dealt by 50% of unit's Def.

Learns by default at 5 ★
Non-inheritable by Staff-wielding units.
100 4
Bonfire

Boosts damage dealt by 50% of unit's Def.

Unlocks at 5 ★
Non-inheritable by Staff-wielding units.
200 3

Passive Skills

Passive Skills SP Slot
Bold Fighter 1

If unit's HP = 100% and unit initiates combat, grants Special cooldown charge +1 per unit's attack, and unit makes a guaranteed follow-up attack. (Does not stack.)

Only inheritable by armor units.
60
B
Bold Fighter 2

If unit's HP ≥ 50% and unit initiates combat, grants Special cooldown charge +1 per unit's attack, and unit makes a guaranteed follow-up attack. (Does not stack.)

Only inheritable by armor units.
120
B
Bold Fighter 3

If unit initiates combat, grants Special cooldown charge +1 per unit's attack, and unit makes a guaranteed follow-up attack. (Does not stack.)

Only inheritable by armor units.
Unlocks at 5 ★
240
B
Fortify Def 1

Grants adjacent allies Def+2 through their next actions at the start of each turn.

Inheritable by all units.
50
C
Fortify Def 2

Grants adjacent allies Def+3 through their next actions at the start of each turn.

Inheritable by all units.
100
C
Fortify Armor

Grants adjacent armored allies Def/Res+6 through their next actions at the start of each turn.

  • Requires Fortify Def 2 or Fortify Res 2.
Only inheritable by armor units.
Unlocks at 5 ★
200
C

Other Info

Origin
Fire Emblem: Awakening

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