Brave Alm

Weapon Refine: Dracofalchion (+Eff)
The initial Effect is boosted, Alm now becomes a Calvary Unite that can stand on trees. And Calvary can move 3 whole Spaces! Plus we get easy activations for the 2 effects +5 when fighting Dragons and and other +5 if you fight anything else. A well deserved refinement.
Defense Skill: You could put anything on this slot...
Special: Galeforce | Glimmer | Aether
Galeforce: Nothing beats a "3 movement almost always hits for Super Effective Damage Alm"
Glimmer: A Quick Special that takes 2 turns to charge for 50% damage boost.
Aether: I personally use this in multi-maps with Distant Counter and Quickened Pulse.
A-Skill: Scendscale | Distant Counter
Sendscale: So basically "Fury 3.5" but BETTER! You get 25% of your Attack as damage so if Alm's Attack is 60 your output is 15 added to whatever damage you would have dealt to your unfortunate opponent. (Occasionally you'll hit 99 or more. Did I mentioned I doubled?)
Distant Counter: For those Multi-maps I run this with Aether and Quickened Pulse. Aether deals 50% to your opponents Def/Res stats and heals Alm for 50% of the damage you just dealt! This keeps him in the game for longer, and he tends to stick around for quite a while.
If nobody got you ALM got you!
B-Skill: Lull Spd/Def | Chill Def| Special Spiral
Lull Spd/Def: Alm's Bread and Butter, you stop your opponents Rally effects and you make your opponent "-3" on their Spd and Def stats. So they are basically sitting ducks.
Chill Def: It comes with Alm so its a good to slot in if you don't have a unite to give Lull Spd/Def (Bernadetta/Reigenn)
Special Spiral: This also partners well if you gave Alm Aether.
I've also seen Wrath and its kind of good. If your special Triggers so Aether is 5 it triggers you -1 so its 4... AND you deal +10 when your special triggers... you add in Scendscale and OH BOY! Though I'd stick with Lull Spd/Def... your nerfing your opponent alot more to deal more damage!
C-Skill: Threat Atk/Spd | Rouse Atk/Def | Time's Pulse
Threat Atk/Spd: It comes with Alm and you nerf your opponent for 5 atk and spd and you boost yourself 5 in those stats as well and you could add Distant Counter to this and since most distant attackers have to attack from 2 spaces away Alm basically says that's cute... MY TURN! FYI I didn't need to initiate to get this off B.T.W!
Rouse Atk/Def:
Basically if Alm has no one near him +6 to Attack and Defense WOAH!!! Most likely a flex option...!
I do prefer Threat Atk/Spd as your putting 10 points of distance (in your attack and speed stats) Basically meaning you could potentially attack 4X!! If you manage to outspeed your opponent.
Time's Pulse: So Aether's at 5... yeah this one's good if you combine it with Quickened Pulse and Special Spiral...
Seal: Flashing Blade | Brazen Atk/Spd |Blade Session | Quickened Pulse
Flashing Blade: So if your Faster then your target you Add +1 to your targets Special... Neato! (Aether Raids to keep your opponent from activating there Specials...)
Brazen Atk/Spd: So when Alm reaches 80% of his health he gains +7 Atk and Spd. This is so busted!
Blade Session: So let me get this straight if Alm attacks last he gets +9 Atk and Spd!
Quickened Pulse: -1 to your Special Activation at the start of each turn...
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These should be the sets your running. Just don't go running Special Spiral, Quickened Pulse and Time's Pulse on Glimmer... Glimmer should be used either stand alone or Quickened Pulse...
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You could got Atk/Spd + Nature and - Res or you keep him neutral and if you do go -Res just keep him away from retaliating Blue Mages and Mega Tanks... their probably about the only things that could halt this Speed Demon Nuke.
Alm's the Balm... get it... Bomb...
K. Ciao!

Preferred boon and banes: +Atk -Hp/-Res

This build is for long drawn out battles or chained battles like Tempest Trials+ or Chain Challenge etc. Meant for OHKO sweeping battles and if played well with supports/dancers maps can be solo swept with just B!Alm.(Merges aren't required but are recommended)

Dracofalchion is a 19 Mit. weapon and if the weapon requirements are met it grants Alm 24 might effectively and with merges Alm can reach 73 Attack and boost his true damage dealt buy 15.

Aether is just a staple skill to boost his damage against high defense targets like Spring Iddun or Brave Hector; also the healing to recover the damage B!Alm deals to himself is nice for more sustain instead of either spending a team slot for a healer instead of another dancer.

Wrath is just a damage squeeze and the -1 cooldown every turn can help Alm procc Aether for more HP. The extra true damage doesn't hurt as well. Unless you're the enemy.

Time's Pulse is just to help Alm trigger Aether more often, other skills like Rouse Atk/Def 3 or Threat. Atk/Spd 3 can replace it for more damage.

Brazen Atk/Spd 3 is just a flat damage boost that works with Scendscale and Wrath but it can be replaced by other seals like heavy blade to procc more Aether heals or death blow for straight damage boosts.

If you manage to grab the other brave heroes (Eliwood, Micaiah, and Camilla), then this build is certainly for you. With the defaulted skillsets of each hero, Alm's role is a high powered attacker with a surprisingly decent to high amount of defense and speed, leaving resistance left. The fury give Alm a boost in stats, resulting in a VERY high set of stats like you saw above without blessings over unit merging. Since you'll take damage from Scendscale anyway, fury will help in terms of overall stat line up. Chill def makes things a hassle for your opponent, and the threat atk/SPDR synergizes your teammates. Then comes the Astra and heavy blade, which can sweep your opponents in the most satisfying way possible.

Optimal IVs: +ATK is already what makes Brave Alm great but with this build is what really helps make it so powerful. A -HP is the best that synergizes with this build to bring him down to Brash Assualt and Desperation range, but -SPD is also not the worst option. But the HP you want to be at is still low.

This is clearly just standard Desperation and Brash Assault build so let's quickly get out why Brave Sword. We don't care about the speed in this build but will get more damage if we are in our HP range. I can still see why you would keep his Dracofalchion, but then I would argue going with a more standard build.

The B skill Desperation is needed for this build, or it wouldn't be a Desperation and Brash Assault build. Making sure you make all your attacks before your foe can even touch is just strong to begin with.

For the seal there's not much more to say about Brash Assault, making sure we can attack twice, or in this builds case, attack four times.

His A skill is the reason I believe Brave Alm is the absolute best with this build. You deal 25% of you ATK as guaranteed damage. That is what makes this crazy with what damage you can do, even if you can't do any other damage. If you nothing in ATK it should be 46. 25% of that is 11.5, but rounds down always and would give 11 damage. Once Alm is in his optimal HP range then you will always do 44 damage. This kills even the strongest of blue units, or just under, but if you do at least do 1 damage, Winter Ephraim, Brave Hector and Legendary Tiki (Young) will all die. It's also not that hard to buff Alm, especially with his C skill.

His C skill makes him stronger when you make others weaker. It gives you +5 to your ATK if it triggers also adding more confirmed damage.

His special Luna will always go off if you quad attack so adding more damage to what you already can to help make sure you can kill more.

The assist skill can always be what you want it to be but Reposition is always a good pick. Help move unit further or get them out of the way. Something like Ardent Sacrifice to get rid of more of his HP works well too.

So in conclusion with even a zero merge standard brave weapon, desperation, and brash assault build on Brave Alm turns him into a player turn god killer. What Alm does better than anyone else with this build is thanks to his exclusive A skill. And with Alm's lower HP, it shouldn't be out of reach to get.

Optimal IVs: +Atk as a superboon is the optimal choice for an IV, as his damage increases even more with his A slot skill, +Def is also workable, giving him one of the higher defence stats in the game/ -Res is optimal due to his atrocious magic bulk, -HP can be either helpful or harmful as it lowers the amount of damage needed to reach his desperation threshold.

is A slot, Scendscale causes Brave Alms damage to scale with his Atk stat twice centring it as the main focus of this build. This ability also acts like wrath in that it lowers the HP of the user after combat, with Alm taking a considerable 7 non lethal damage after combat should he attack.

Brave Alms B slot of choice becomes Vantage, as He quickly loses enough hp to enter vantage range and with his incredibly strong attack he should be quite capable of OHKO'ing almost anything that tries to attack him in this state. Desperation can also be slotted to synergise with his Sacred Seal.

His native C slot skill, Threaten Atk/Spd 3 allows for Alm to weaken foes nearby considerably, likely to greatly reduce any damage dealt to him.

Brash Assault is his S slot of choice to guarantee follow-up attacks and synergize with his quickly lowered health bar and to guarantee follow up attacks with his middling speed. If paired with Desperation, almost nothing should live through his assault, although this does greatly weaken his enemy phase potential.

His optimal Support choice for this build will be Ardent Sacrifice, in order to help him reach his desired threshold of 50% HP, should he need assistance with such a task

The Special this build runs is Reprisal, as his kit is centred around taking damage and this will allow him to quickly build up his damage potential.

This build has the distinct flaw of relying on a good amount of support, as once he has reached his 50% threshold it is fairly easy for him to die when lacking healing from another character. Due to his unique weapon, Alm will likely be fairly isolated in order to capitalise on his strengths so support will need to be flexible. Like all forms of Alm he cannot take magic damage and should be wary of even ranged physical units as he cannot counter-attack them.