Athena

Preferred IV: +SPD or +ATK / -HP or -DEF or -RES

• As this is an offensive set, it’s important to maximize Athena’s offensive stats.

Weapon: Concealed Blade (+Eff)

• The addition of Desperation to Athena’s weapon means that she can take advantage of many other B skills to improve her combat performance.

Assist: Reposition

Special: Moonbow

• A low cooldown, consistent Special like Moonbow is important as the majority of Athena’s damage output comes from Special activations. Moonbow’s cooldown of 2 allows for Athena to activate it every combat with Flashing Blade and Desperation active.

Passive A: Swift Sparrow (2 or 3) / Atk/Spd Solo / Flashing Blade 4 / Fury (3 or 4)

• Athena’s A skill should increase her offensive stats as much as possible to maximize her damage output. Swift Sparrow, Atk/Spd Solo, and Fury are all good options (with varying levels of effectiveness) for raw stats, while Flashing Blade 4 is a decent option when paired with the Darting Blow Seal.

Passive B: Null Follow-Up / Wrath / Brash Assault

• One of the biggest issues Athena will face is that some opponents can negate her ability to naturally double, which will completely shut down her damage output. Null Follow-Up handily allows her to completely circumvent this weakness.

• Wrath is another good option for increasing Athena’s raw damage output while within the 75% HP threshold. Wrath also has the additional benefit of allowing Athena to activate her Special even against enemies with skills like Guard or Special Fighter, since reducing Moonbow’s cooldown to 1 will allow Athena to charge it with Flashing Blade.

• Finally, Brash Assault is a budget option that allows Athena to mimic what Lyn can do with her refined Sol Katti. It’s not quite as useful as Null Follow-Up for ensuring doubles due to the HP threshold, however.

Passive C: Odd Spd Wave / Flexible

• Athena’s C skill isn’t particularly important for her build and can be replaced as needed to suit the team.

Sacred Seal: Flashing Blade / Darting Blow

• The Flashing Blade Seal is vitally important to ensure that Athena can consistently activate her Special while in Desperation range. 

• Darting Blow is a strong option if utilizing Flashing Blade 4 as Athena’s A skill in order to help ensure that she has enough Speed to double her opponents.

Preferred IV: +SPD or +ATK / -HP or -DEF or -RES

• As this is an offensive set, it’s important to maximize Athena’s offensive stats.

Weapon: Firesweep Sword+

• While a Firesweep Sword lacks the big damage boost that Athena can get from her Concealed Blade, being able to negate enemy counterattacks makes it much safer for Athena to engage enemies.

Assist: Reposition

Special: Moonbow / Luna

• A low cooldown Special like Moonbow paired with Flashing Blade allows Athena to activate her Special every combat if she can double.

• If not utilizing Flashing Blade, then Luna is a good choice as she won’t be able to activate her Special until her second combat anyway.

Passive A: Swift Sparrow (2 or 3) / Atk/Spd Solo / Flashing Blade 4 / Life and Death

• Athena’s A skill should increase her offensive stats as much as possible to maximize her damage output. Swift Sparrow, Atk/Spd Solo, and Life and Death are all good options (with varying levels of effectiveness) for raw offensive stats, while Flashing Blade 4 is a decent option when paired with the Darting Blow Seal.]

Passive B: Null Follow-Up / Lull Spd/Def / Chill Spd / Hit and Run

• One of the biggest issues Athena will face is that some opponents can negate her ability to naturally double, which will completely shut down her damage output. Null Follow-Up handily allows her to completely circumvent this weakness.

• Lull Spd/Def allows Athena to greatly increase her raw combat prowess, as it simultaneously makes it easy for her to double her opponents as well as increasing her damage output.

• Chill Spd or Chill Def are decent options that can help Athena’s combat performance if they target the right unit as well as provide a bit of support for the team.

• Hit and Run offers Athena some additional safety after attacking by pulling her out and away from danger.

Passive C: Odd Spd Wave / Flexible

• Athena’s C skill isn’t particularly important for her build and can be replaced as needed to suit the team.

Sacred Seal: Flashing Blade / Darting Blow

• The Flashing Blade Seal allows Athena to activate Moonbow every combat that she doubles her opponent.

• Alternatively, Darting Blow significantly increases Athena’s Speed at the cost of only allowing her to activate her Special every other combat.