Annand

Default
Attack
Special
Injured

Red Sword

Analysis by raelet

Annand - Knight-Defender
5 Obtainable as a 5 only

Hero Stats

Max Avg Total Stats at Lvl 40

172

HP 37

ATK 35

SPD 39

DEF 27

RES 34

Stat Variations

Level 1 Stat Variation

Weapon

5★

	HP	ATK	SPD	DEF	RES
Low	17 17 19 19	8 22 10 24	10 10 12 12	4 4 6 6	7 7 9 9
Middle	18 18 20 20	9 23 11 25	11 11 13 13	5 5 7 7	8 8 10 10
High	19 19 21 21	10 24 12 26	12 12 14 14	6 6 8 8	9 9 11 11

Level 40 Stat Variations

Weapon

5★

	HP	ATK	SPD	DEF	RES
Low	34 34 36 36	32 46 34 48	36 36 38 38	23 23 25 25	31 31 33 33
Middle	37 37 39 39	35 49 37 51	39 39 41 41	27 27 29 29	34 34 36 36
High	41 41 43 43	38 52 40 54	42 42 44 44	30 30 32 32	37 37 39 39

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.

HP	ATK	SPD	DEF	RES
Worst	Best	Best	Average	Average

Skill Sets

Her Legacy Lives On

Build by raelet

	Ninja Katana+ Alternate: Unbound Blade+ (+Spd)	A	Atk/Spd Solo (3 or 4) Alternate: Sturdy Impact
	Positional Assist	B	Guard Bearing 3
	Moonbow Alternate: Galeforce	C	Spd/Def Rein 3 Alternate: Atk/Def Rein 3
IVs	+ATK or +SPD / -HP	S	Atk/Spd Solo 3 Alternate: Quickened Pulse

Show Explanation/Analysis

Weapon: Ninja Katana+ / Brave Sword+ / Unbound Blade+

Assist: Positional Assist

Special: Moonbow / Galeforce

Passive A: Atk/Spd Solo / Sturdy Impact

Passive B: Guard Bearing

Passive C: Spd/Def Rein / Atk/Def Rein

Sacred Seal: Atk/Spd Solo / Quickened Pulse

While quad sets might be a bit of an old hat, Annand comes uniquely suited for a Brave build with her base kit. Keeping Sturdy Impact in her A slot means that she cannot be doubled in retaliation, though Atk/Spd Solo is a better option to increase her chances of quadding her foe.
Ninja Katana is particularly suited for Annand's base kit, as the Defense and Resistance debuffs are heavily mitigated by her Guard Bearing B slot. If you don't have access to Ninja Katana, then Brave Sword still works, though the -9 difference in Speed between the two weapons will need to be resolved via a Spd Rein in her C slot and/or a Speed-boosting A or Seal slot.
Altogether though, if Annand is capable of quad attacking then she can run Galeforce and serve as a fantastic Player Phase unit who can attack multiple opponents in one turn.

She Broke Your Pity, Now What? (Budget)

Build by raelet

	Unbound Blade+ (+Spd)	A	Sturdy Impact
	Positional Assist	B	Guard Bearing 3
	Moonbow	C	Atk Smoke 3 Alternate: Goad Fliers
IVs	+ATK or +SPD / -HP	S	Atk/Spd Solo 3 Alternate: Swift Sparrow 2

Show Explanation/Analysis

Weapon: Unbound Blade (+SPD)

Assist: Positional Assist

Special: Moonbow

Passive A: Sturdy Impact

Passive B: Guard Bearing

Passive C: Atk Smoke / Goad Fliers / Spd Smoke

Sacred Seal: Atk/Spd Solo / Swift Sparrow

The good news is that Annand's base kit is stellar right out of the gate and needs minimal work for her to be a fantastic generic sword unit.
With Sturdy Impact, which increases her Attack and Defense while her Unbound Blade decreases her opponent's Attack and Defense, Annand easily stacks up her stats in relation to her opponent's stats so that she takes minimal damage while dishing out great damage in her own right. Because Sturdy Impact denies enemy followups, Annand can safely attack into enemies who have skills like Quick Riposte, or simply enemies who are faster than her without worrying about being countered.
Guard Bearing furthers her tankiness by mitigating damage of the first hit in either phase, making it very difficult to one-round her.
All Annand really needs for success is a good Assist skill like Reposition and a passable C-slot skill like Atk Smoke or Spd Smoke, both of which will help Annand in the subsequent enemy phase.
For her sacred seal, a Solo skill slots in perfectly since it synergizes with her weapon effect. If your Atk/Spd Solo seal is already in use then consider another Atk/Spd booster like Swift Sparrow.

Strengths

Excellent Base Kit

With both Sturdy Impact and Guard Bearing, Annand comes with a fantastic base kit, which makes her a good unit out-of-the-box, or a great inheritance option for a fellow flier.

Her sword is an inheritable version of Deck Swabber in the permanent pool, which is a great tool for inheritance, particularly on merged sword units for Arena purposes. This is also one of the better generic weapon effects, particularly for fliers who cannot otherwise inherit Lull skills.

Good Statline

With an Atk of 35 and Spd of 39, Annand doesn't exactly have a unique or revolutionary statline, but for a sword flier, she only loses out to Young Caeda in terms of Atk+Spd. While this statline would be only average in terms of lance fliers, Annand has much less competition due to the fact that she has a sword.

Still, when comparing her to sword units of other move types, she fares worse, with over a dozen units in the game with a higher base Speed than her.

Weaknesses

Average Flier

Annand is just kind of average for her weapon type, and because she's a flier, that's a big issue. Due to her inheritance restrictions and lack of a good prf weapon, Annand is releases with little reason to pull for her other than character favoritism or inheritance purposes.

Even though her base stats are good for a flying sword, most players have the option to merge characters like Summer Fiora for a similar statline and are free to skip out on Annand

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
Unbound Blade If unit is not adjacent to an ally, inflicts Atk/Def-5 on foe during combat and neutralizes foe's bonuses to Atk/Def (from skills like Fortify, Rally, etc.) during combat. Learns by default at 4 ★ Unlocks at 3 ★ Only Inheritable by Sword Units.	200	1	10
Unbound Blade+ If unit is not adjacent to an ally, inflicts Atk/Def-5 on foe during combat and neutralizes foe's bonuses to Atk/Def (from skills like Fortify, Rally, etc.) during combat. Learns by default at 5 ★ Unlocks at 5 ★ Only Inheritable by Sword Units.	300	1	14

Available Rearmed Weapons
Arcane Devourer (+Def)
Arcane Devourer (+Res)
Arcane Devourer (+Atk)
Arcane Devourer (+Spd)
Arcane Devourer
Arcane Éljúðnir (+Res)
Arcane Éljúðnir (+Def)
Arcane Éljúðnir (+Spd)
Arcane Éljúðnir (+Atk)
Arcane Éljúðnir

Weapon Evolution

Weapon Upgrades

Weapons	HP	SP	Rng.	Mt.
Unbound Blade+ (+Atk) If unit is not adjacent to an ally, inflicts Atk/Def-5 on foe during combat and neutralizes foe's bonuses to Atk/Def (from skills like Fortify, Rally, etc.) during combat.	+5	350	1	16
Unbound Blade+ (+Spd) +3If unit is not adjacent to an ally, inflicts Atk/Def-5 on foe during combat and neutralizes foe's bonuses to Atk/Def (from skills like Fortify, Rally, etc.) during combat.	+5	350	1	14
Unbound Blade+ (+Def) +4 If unit is not adjacent to an ally, inflicts Atk/Def-5 on foe during combat and neutralizes foe's bonuses to Atk/Def (from skills like Fortify, Rally, etc.) during combat.	+5	350	1	14
Unbound Blade+ (+Res) +4 If unit is not adjacent to an ally, inflicts Atk/Def-5 on foe during combat and neutralizes foe's bonuses to Atk/Def (from skills like Fortify, Rally, etc.) during combat.	+5	350	1	14

Special Skills

Special Skills	SP	Turns
New Moon Resolve combat as if foe suffered Def/Res-30% Learns by default at 4 ★ Unlocks at 3 ★ Non-inheritable by Staff-wielding units.	100	3
Moonbow Resolve combat as if foe suffered Def/Res-30%. Unlocks at 4 ★ Non-inheritable by Staff-wielding units.	200	2

Passive Skills

Passive Skills	SP	Slot
Death Blow 1 If unit initiates combat, grants Atk+2 during combat. Non-inheritable by Staff-wielding units. Unlocks at 2 ★	50	A
Sturdy Blow 1 If unit initiates combat, unit granted Atk/Def+2 during battle. Non-inheritable by Staff-wielding units. Unlocks at 3 ★	120	A
Sturdy Blow 2 If unit initiates combat, unit granted Atk/Def+4 during battle. Non-inheritable by Staff-wielding units. Unlocks at 4 ★	240	A
Sturdy Impact If unit initiates combat, grants Atk+6, Def+10 during combat and foe cannot make a follow-up attack. Excludes Armor, Cavalry, and Staff Units Unlocks at 5 ★	300	A
Guard Bearing 1 During unit's first combat in enemy phase, if foe initiates combat, reduces damage from foe's first attack by 30%. Flying Sword, Lance & Axe Only Unlocks at 1 ★	60	B
Guard Bearing 2 During unit's first combat in enemy phase, if foe initiates combat, reduces damage from foe's first attack by 40%. Flying Sword, Lance & Axe Only Unlocks at 2 ★	120	B
Guard Bearing 3 During unit's first combat in enemy phase, if foe initiates combat, reduces damage from foe's first attack by 50%. Flying Sword, Lance & Axe Only Unlocks at 4 ★	240	B