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Legendary Marth

Analysis by ZeShado
Legendary Marth - Hero-King

5

Obtainable as a 5 only

Hero Stats

Max Avg Total Stats at Lvl 40
163
HP 40
ATK 34
SPD 36
DEF 32
RES 21

Stat Variations

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

Level 40 Stat Variations
5★
HP ATK SPD DEF RES
Low 36 31 33 29 18
Middle 40 34 36 32 21
High 43 37 39 35 24

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

You Give Me Penalty. I Get Bonus. (Aether Raids Offense)

Build by ZeShado
Recommended
Exalted Falchion (+Eff) A Atk/Def Unity
Alternate: Atk/Spd Unity
Positional Assist B Null Follow-Up 3
Alternate: Binding Shield II
Shining Emblem C Joint Drive Atk
Alternate: Joint Drive Spd
IVs

+ATK or +SPD / -RES

SSteady Breath
Alternate: Atk/Def Form 3

Show Explanation/Analysis

Weapon: Exalted Falchion (+Eff)

Assist: Positional Assist

Special: Shining Emblem

A Passive: Atk/Def Unity / Atk/Spd Unity

B Passive: Null Follow-Up / Binding Shield II

C Passive: Joint Drive Atk / Joint Drive Spd / Pulse Smoke

Sacred Seal: Steady Breath / Atk/Def Form

  • Legendary Marth’s refine has opened up a new avenue for him. Exalted Falchion not only kept its base Bonus Doubler effect but now has Spectrum Unity, meaning that he’ll always have stat bonuses present. Likewise, the refine also grants upwards of an additional +8 to every stat, pushing Legendary Marth’s decent Def stat to something much more respectable. As such, Legendary Marth now has the opportunity to act as a Melee Specialist with his Exalted Falchion refine.
     
  • Shining Emblem scaling additional damage based on Legendary Marth’s Spd stat can allow him to output a significant amount of damage each combat, provided that he is able to trigger it. There isn’t really a decent substitute for his Special since the cooldown count is low and the amount of damage it scales is significantly high.
     
  • Two fantastic options for Legendary Marth’s A Passive are Atk/Def Unity and Atk/Spd Unity. Since Unity skills stack, it can significantly increase the amount of stats Legendary Marth gains from a penalty. As such, he can focus on two types of approaches. The first one is survivability where he would run Atk/Def Unity and be able to take on Melee foes while minimizing the damage taken in the enemy phase. The second one is nuking where he would run Atk/Spd Unity and stack his Spd stat into oblivion so that Shining Emblem deals a massive amount of damage. Either approach is fine since Legendary Marth already has Unity in his weapon.
     
  • Null Follow-Up is pretty much the bread and butter skill for Aether Raids Offense sets as many foes come with guaranteed follow-up attacks and can run Impact skills to negate follow-ups. Legendary Marth could always opt for Damage Reduction skills, but given that he has Spectrum Unity and Spectrum 8 in his weapon, he’ll more than likely be minimizing the amount of damage he would take from Melee foes as is. As such, it would be best to run Null Follow-Up or, if on budget, his innate Binding Shield II.
     
  • Since Legendary Marth will more than likely be near allies, he can either opt for Joint Drive Atk or Joint Drive Spd in his C Passive. Joint Drive Atk is good for overall damage output while Joint Drive Spd is good for securing more doubles. He can also go with Pulse Smoke to negate instant Specials from enemy teams, but given that it isn’t nearly as common as before, he may want to stick with a Joint Drive.
     
  • For Legendary Marth’s Sacred Seal, he can either opt for Steady Breath or Atk/Def Form. Steady Breath is good all-around for triggering Shining Emblem since he not only lacks slaying, but if the foe has a Guard effect, Steady Breath can allow him to trigger his Special on the second hit. Meanwhile, if you want to focus on his tanking abilities as a Melee Specialist, he can run Atk/Def Form since it can scale up to an additional +7 to his Atk and Def.

Don’t Care. Didn’t Ask. Plus You’re Dead. (Player Phase)

Build by ZeShado
Ninja Katana+
Alternate: Slaying Edge+ (+Spd)
A Atk/Spd Boosting A Slot
Alternate: Flashing Blade (3 or 4)
Positional Assist B Lull Spd/Def 3
Alternate: Close Call 3
Galeforce
Alternate: Shining Emblem
C Time's Pulse 3
Alternate: Pulse Smoke 3
IVs

+ATK or +SPD / -RES

SFlashing Blade 3
Alternate: Quickened Pulse

Show Explanation/Analysis

Weapon: Ninja Katana+ / Slaying Edge+ (+SPD) / Brave Sword+

Assist: Positional Assist

Special: Galeforce / Shining Emblem

A Passive: Atk/Spd Boosting A Slot / Flashing Blade (3 or 4) 

B Passive: Lull Spd/Def / Close Call / Hit and Run / Wings of Mercy

C Passive: Time’s Pulse / Pulse Smoke / Spd Smoke / Def Smoke / Joint Drive ATK / Joint Drive SPD

Sacred Seal: Flashing Blade / Quickened Pulse / Atk/Spd Solo / Swift Sparrow

  • Ninja Katana is used to not only help proc Flashing Blade checks but allow Marth to charge up his Galeforce before the foe can retaliate and potentially defeat Marth in the process. For budget purposes, you can still run a Brave Sword and be fine as the SPD loss can be made up with passives. However, given how low MT the weapons are, if you are worried about damage output, you can always run a Slaying Edge+ with a SPD refine as that will not only make Galeforce a 4 CD special but also alleviate the need for Time’s Pulse/Quickened Pulse.
     
  • The nature of Marth’s statline and class type means he can fully take advantage of Galeforce if he so wishes. For example, he can run Flashing Blade 3 or 4 as his SPD stat is relatively good at a base of 36. Likewise, because he is an infantry unit, he can run Time’s Pulse which will always make Galeforce into a 4 CD special at the beginning of his Player Phase.
     
  • Depending on which slot you want Flashing Blade to occupy, you can either run skills that increase his ATK and SPD in his A Passive or as his Sacred Seal. There are pros to either method. Running Flashing Blade as his A Passive allows Marth to run the tier 4 variant which grants true damage as long as he outspeeds his foe. Likewise, if he runs Flashing Blade as his Sacred Seal, he can run skills in his A Passive that increase his ATK and SPD much more significantly such as with Atk/Spd Push 4 and Swift Sparrow.
     
  • It becomes much more interesting when you get to his B Passives as there is a lot more variety with how he can Galeforce. If you want him to secure kills while also securing Flashing Blade checks, you can run Lull Spd/Def as his B Passive. Likewise, you can run a hit-and-run set with either Close Call or Hit and Run. Close Call gives Marth the ability to survive more combats if he misses any kills in the process as damage reduction skills work in both phases. However, Hit and Run can be more than enough in a lot of scenarios and since both move the unit a space back, either option is fine. Finally, there is Wings of Mercy. Wings of Mercy can be used for Galeforce Chaining, similar to how dancers run Wings of Mercy except rather than refreshing, you attack instead. Likewise, you can ditch Galeforce and run Slaying Edge+ with Time’s Pulse so you can trigger Shining Emblem twice in a single combat, assuming the foe attacks back, as Time’s Pulse with Slaying Edge+ will turn Shining Emblem into a 0 CD special.
     
  • Time’s Pulse is the recommended C Passive for Galeforce Marth as the brave weapons lack slaying. However, as previously mentioned, if you choose to run a Slaying Edge+ instead, then you won’t need Time’s Pulse and can substitute that skill for Pulse Smoke, Spd Smoke, or Def Smoke as well as Joint Drives if you plan on using Wings of Mercy.
     
  • Finally, there’s the sacred seal, which will completely depend on what weapon, A Passive, and C Passive is being used. If you happen to have a free Sacred Seal slot, you can always run more skills that increase ATK and SPD such as Atk/Spd Solo and Swift Sparrow.

The Dragon Menace (Arena)

Build by ZeShado
Exalted Falchion (+Eff) A R Duel Infantry 4
Alternate: Atk/Spd Boosting A Slot
Rally Atk/Spd+ B Binding Shield II
Shining Emblem C Joint Drive Atk
Alternate: Joint Drive Spd
IVs

+ATK or +SPD / -RES

SAtk/Spd Solo 3
Alternate: Flashing Blade 3

Show Explanation/Analysis

Weapon: Exalted Falchion (+Eff)

Assist: Any Rally+

Special: Shining Emblem

A Passive: R Duel Infantry 4 / Atk/Spd Boosting A Slot

B Passive: Binding Shield II

C Passive: Joint Drive Atk / Joint Drive Spd / Atk/Spd Menace

Sacred Seal: Atk/Spd Solo / Flashing Blade

  • As a Legendary unit, Legendary Marth by default has a significant presence in Arena game modes. As such, it would only make sense to make a dedicated build for Arena and similar modes. Moreover, Exalted Falchion having Dragon effectiveness and Binding Shield II having the ability to secure doubles and inflict Firesweep against Dragons makes Legendary Marth a fantastic Arena and Arena Assault unit in general. As such, we’ll be focusing on skills that mainly increase his ability to score well.
     
  • Legendary Marth can score in the 180 BST bin since he has access to a PRF B Passive. As such, he’ll want to run R Duel Infantry 4 as the base effect puts him at 175 BST, and then the rest of his kit, provided that they all score 300 SP, will push him into the 180 BST bin. That being said, if you mainly want to use him in Arena Assault, post-match one, you can always opt for an Atk/Spd boosting A Passive as those will be his most important stats.
     
  • Binding Shield II is essentially irreplaceable since it allows Legendary Marth to reach the 180 BST bin. That being said, there really is no reason to replace it for anything else since the effects that it grants allow him to perform to the best of his abilities in Arena and other similar modes. Even if you just use him as an Arena Assault check, the ability to negate enemy counterattacks, as well as secure doubles, means that you’ll less likely fall in battle. Thus, maximizing your overall score.
     
  • Any C Passive that scores 300 SP will be desired for Legendary Marth as it’ll be required for him to reach the 180 BST bin. A few notable options include Joint Drive Atk, Joint Drive Spd, and Atk/Spd Menace. Atk/Spd Menace may seem like a bad choice for his C Passive since Shining Emblem grants +6 to every stat at the start of the turn if near allies, but keep in mind that it also debuffs the foe’s Atk and Spd as well. This can allow Legendary Marth to trigger Binding Shield II more frequently since it requires him to have at least five more Spd than the foe. However, if you don’t want to run that, he can simply take Joint Drive Atk or Joint Drive Spd, depending on preference.
     
  • For Legendary Marth’s Sacred Seal, he can either run an Atk/Spd boosting Sacred Seal or Heavy Blade. Anything that increases his Atk and Spd is going to be worthwhile since it’ll help with damage output and Binding Shield II’s Spd check. Meanwhile, Flashing Blade can be helpful for securing Shining Emblem triggers in every combat he enters. Since he won’t be able to run Time’s Pulse, provided that he’ll want to score well, Flashing Blade will be the go-to Sacred Seal for damage output purposes.

Strengths

Good Statline

Legendary Marth’s statline is rather decent all things considered. With an offensive statline of 34/36 Atk/Spd, as well as 32 base Def, Legendary Marth can still perform fairly well by today’s standards. It’s also helpful that his new refine can grant an additional +8 to every stat, meaning that he can catch up to modern units in terms of overall stats.

Exalted Falchion

Exalted Falchion goes from being a mediocre Bonus Double PRF to what’s essentially Chaos Ragnell combined with Exalted Falchion. The Bonus Doubler effect is still intact, but now it comes pre-built with Spectrum Unity. This means that no matter what if Legendary Marth has a visible buff or penalty, he will always get bonuses to his stats. This can turn Legendary Marth into a massive stat stick. Moreover, Exalted Falchion can grant up to an additional +8 to every single stat if both conditions are met. So, essentially, Legendary Marth is stats the unit.

Shining Emblem

Shining Emblem is a direct upgrade to Fire Emblem as it now deals 35% of the unit’s Spd as damage instead of the initial 30%. Moreover, it also grants Spectrum 6 to both himself and his allies, allowing him to be much more self-sufficient with his PRF.

Binding Shield II

Binding Shield getting upgraded from a dedicated Dragon check to a complete Firesweep effect, as long as Legendary Marth can successfully make a Spd check, allows him to deal with many more foes that would’ve normally been unapproachable. Moreover, the guaranteed follow-up attack and the Impact effect that he gains from Binding Shield II works in both phases. This can allow Legendary Marth to function in both phases fairly well as he’ll be minimizing the amount of damage he takes to a significant degree.

Weaknesses

Legendary Hero

Due to his status as a Legendary Hero, Marth will not be able to receive blessing buffs as consistently as his contemporaries, so he can’t be relied upon as much during each relative season unless it happens to be Fire that week.

Weapon Skills

Weapons SP Rng. Mt.
Iron Sword
Only Inheritable by Sword Units.
50 1 6
Steel Sword
Only Inheritable by Sword Units.
100 1 8
Silver Sword
Only Inheritable by Sword Units.
200 1 11
Exalted Falchion

Effective against dragon foes. Grants Spd+3. Grants bonus to Atk/Spd/Def/Res during combat = current bonus on each of unit's stats. Calculates each stat bonus independently.

Learns by default 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 5 ★
Non-inheritable by Staff-wielding units.
100 4
Draconic Aura

Boosts damage by 30% of unit's Atk.

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

Boosts damage by 30% of unit's Spd.

Grants Atk/Spd/Def/Res+4 to unit and all allies for 1 turn after combat. (Bonus granted to allies even if unit's HP reaches 0.)

Unlocks at 5 ★
Non-Inheritable skill.
500 2
Shining Emblem

At start of turn, if unit is within 2 spaces of an ally, grants unit Atk/Spd/Def/Res+6 for 1 turn and grants allies within 2 spaces of unit Atk+6 for 1 turn.

Boosts Special damage by 35% of unit's Spd. After combat, if unit's Special triggered, grants Atk/Spd/Def/Res+6 to unit and all allies for 1 turn. (Bonus granted to allies even if unit's HP reaches 0.)

Unlocks at 5 ★
Non-Inheritable skill.
500 2

Passive Skills

Passive Skills SP Slot
Atk/Spd Bond 1

If unit is adjacent to an ally, grants Atk/Spd+3 during combat.

Inheritable by all units.
60
A
Atk/Spd Bond 2

If unit is adjacent to an ally, grants Atk/Spd+4 during combat.

Inheritable by all units.
120
A
Atk/Spd Bond 3

If unit is adjacent to an ally, grants Atk/Spd+5 during combat.

Inheritable by all units.
Unlocks at 5 ★
240
A
Binding Shield

In combat against a dragon foe, unit makes a guaranteed follow-up attack and foe cannot counterattack or make a follow-up attack.

Non-Inheritable skill.
300
B
Binding Shield II

If unit's Spd ≥ foe's Spd+5 or if unit is in combat against a dragon foe, unit makes a guaranteed follow-up attack and foe cannot counterattack or make a follow-up attack.

Non-Inheritable skill.
Unlocks at 5 ★
300
B
Infantry Flash 1

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

Infantry Units Only
60
C
Infantry Flash 2

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

Infantry Units Only
120
C
Infantry Flash 3

Infantry allies within 2 spaces gain: "If unit's Spd > foe's Spd, grants Special cooldown charge +1 per unit's 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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