Arden

Weapon: Arden’s Blade (+Eff)

Assist: Positional Assist

Special: Ignis

A Passive: Atk/Def Unity / Atk/Def Form

B Passive: Follow-Up Ring

C Passive: A/D Near Save

Sacred Seal: Steady Breath

• With the addition of Save skills and the Steady Breath Sacred Seal, one of the few units that came out on top of these additions was Arden. Arden initially got a solid refine, but struggled to make the most of it since it was during the omni-tanking era full of Hardy Bearing. However, with recent meta shifts, Arden was able to adapt to a significant degree. Thanks to his Dual-Phase Brave weapon, as well as Near Save and the Steady Breath Sacred Seal, Arden was able to carve out his niche as an Ignis spammer since he can trigger Ignis on every second hit in the enemy phase, provided that there aren’t any Guard effects present. Moreover, he is able to do so without having to go up against every kind of foe. He can simply prioritize foes that he mostly triumphs against. And this set is here to highlight that role specifically.
   
• Any A Passive that increases Arden’s overall Atk and Def will be the go-to option for him. One notable option is Atk/Def Unity since it can reverse any penalties that he gets to those specific stats and, in turn, can allow him to deal even more damage and tank more physical hits. Of course, given that it is rather expensive, he can also opt for Atk/Def Form since it synergizes fairly well with Near Save as the skill benefits from being near several allies.
   
• His PRF B, Follow-Up Ring, allows Arden to make a guaranteed follow-up attack in both phases. That, combined with Arden’s Blade, will allow him to quad in both phases fairly consistently so long as he doesn’t fall below 50% HP. This can allow him to deal with tougher foes that survive a BIGNIS (strong-hitting Ignis) in the enemy phase with Steady Breath support and if there happens to be Guard present, he’ll still be able to trigger Ignis once since he’ll be able to quad and charge up his Special. There are other Fighter skills that he could use, but given that his PRF has innate Guard and one of the recommended skills is Atk/Def Unity, there aren’t really any other notable Fighter skills that he can run in place of it.
   
• Near Save is very important to this set since it’ll allow Arden to prioritize matchups against one-ranged foes. And given that most one-ranged foes target Def, Arden can prioritize his best stats and still come out on top in most cases. As such, he’ll want to run Near Save, and preferably the A/D variant for this set specifically.
   
• The Steady Breath Sacred Seal is going to be Arden’s best option since it allows him to trigger Ignis on every second hit if there aren’t any Guard effects present, which is vital for taking out his foes and minimizing the amount of damage he takes in. That being said, since he’s going to be stacking his Atk and Def quite significantly, the only types of foes that can really make a dent in him are Dragons. Even so, Ignis should take care of them :)

Weapon: Arden’s Blade (+Eff)

Assist: Positional Assist

Special: Ignis

A Passive: Close Def (3 or 4)

B Passive: Slick Fighter

C Passive: D/R Near Save / A/D Near Save

Sacred Seal: Steady Breath

• This set is essentially an alternative to the previously mentioned one. Despite having a Dual-Phase Brave weapon, Arden is limited to a specific niche due to his status as an Armor, which isn’t exactly the worst given that he is one of the best Near Save armor units in the game. The idea with this set is to help remedy his low Res stat so that he can go up against more Dragon foes. The skills recommended will also increase his performance against foes that target his Def, so there’s no real opportunity cost. In any case, most of what you’ll see in this set is essentially the same, but with a few modifications.
   
• As we’ll be attempting to patch up Arden’s Res stat, the only notable A Passive option for him would be Close Def. Close Def is able to grant 6-8 Def/Res, depending on the variant, as well as remove any visible buffs on the foe, if it’s Close Def 4. This, in turn, can inflate Arden’s overall defensive prowess and can allow him to take on many more foes in the process. The only potential concern may be losing out on Atk, but if he’s able to trigger Ignis on his second hit, then chances are he won’t struggle to take out his foes.
   
• Since Arden will be functioning in the enemy phase for most, if not all, of his combats, he can swap out his Follow-Up Ring for Slick Fighter as not only does he still get the guaranteed follow-up attack, but, unlike Follow-Up Ring, can ignore any penalties to himself. This can increase Arden’s longevity in general.
   
• Near Save is essentially Arden’s only C Passive option as it is the skill that allows him to perform to the best of his abilities, despite being rather expensive. Even so, having the ability to step in for an ally’s combat against a one-ranged foe is extremely strong since it can allow Arden to prioritize his best matchups. You can go with either D/R Near Save or A/D Near Save since they both do the same thing, but since we want to patch up Arden’s Res stat as much as possible, D/R Near Save is the priority.
   
• Steady Breath is the only Sacred Seal I can recommend to him as it allows Arden to trigger Ignis on every second attack in the enemy phase, provided that there aren’t any Guard effects present. You could swap it out with a Sacred Seal that increases his overall Atk, Def, or Res if you would rather run a support unit such as Brave Lucina or Thorr in Astra. However, that comes with a bit of an opportunity cost, but it’s an option nonetheless.