Brave Dimitri

"The Crazed King Build"

(Seal is actually Atk/Defense Solo 2, it's not on the seal list yet ;-;. Also he is S-Supported)

Have y'all ever wanted to play as Savage Dimitri? Y'know, the one that shouted the amazing "KILL EVERY LAST ONE OF THEM!!!!" line? The Blue Lion Berserker, who rushes off to deal massive damage to his enemies, while partially neglecting his allies and his own health? While we may not have that Dimitri just yet (praying we get his angy version later owo), this build aims to emulate what it would be like to use him in that mental state (even if he sounds calm in his lines).

The Crazed King Build as like to call it, is focused on making Brave Dimitri deal as much damage as possible while partially stumping his survivability. With a massive 64 ATK and a decently high speed of 43, this Dimitri is at liberty to absolutely destroy every enemy in his path while avoiding double attacks. Savage Blow 3 adds to the damage, he'll end up dealing to anyone else that attacks him. Blue Lion Rule (his main B skill), and ATK/DEF SOLO 2 (one of the new Seals that came from the recent Tempest Trials), give him a decent amount of survivability, albeit not as much as Brave Dimitri usually has.

Moon Gradivus' Defensive Special Cooldown charge, alongside it's Distant Counter effect, allow Dimitri to constantly use Glimmer and hit his foes for big damage numbers (PS: Glimmer could also be replaced by any of the Dragon specials (Gaze, Draconic Aura, etc.), since they add a percentage boost to Attack. I use Glimmer because of it's short cooldown).

Now of course, the damage this build of Brave Dimitri deals might be amazing. But the main catch is his reduced survivability.

Brave Dimitri is well known for his amazing survivability. With a high 42 Defense and mediocre 21 Resistance, he can very well act as a hard hitting wall that can keep pushing forward. However, with Life and Death 3 active, he pushes his Defense down to 37 (which is not too bad), and his Resistance to a thin 16. This further accentuates his weakness to magic enemies (especially those of the lime variety), which can lead to him dying before he can even do anything. Add to that his reduced defense, and he'll be taking potshots from enemies, that he would normally scoff at without Life and Death.

Overall, the Crazed King Build is meant to emulate Dimitri when he was a raving murderer. With this build, he is capable of dealing massive damage to his enemies, but has reduced defensive capabilities as a result. He may survive longer than most other people with Life and Death, however that doesn't mean he will survive.

With a Res refined Courtly Candle+ alongside deflect magic, a maxed out (flower/merges) Brave Dimitri can now tank even follow up green mage nukes like Thrasir which were previously his worst enemy. This setup stacks the 40% damage reduction from Blue Lion Rule alongside the 50% reduction from Courtly Candle+ for 60% total damage reduction (the game does math for these multiplicatively) from the first hit of any attacking opponent that doubles, and the 80% magic reduction from Deflect Magic alongside the 40% reduction from Blue Lion Rule on the 2nd hit. Essentislly this build gives up Cooldown reduction and atk/def debuff reversal for incredibly strong tanking capabilities; Even against mages. It is still ironically vulnerable to one shot green mages as they don't trigger the candle's additional damage reduction, however you would be in the exact same scenario in the standard build while gaining an essentially guaranteed survival against speed mages while smacking them back with 70 attack. You can also run standard DC instead of Distant Ward to hit daggers and bows, but most of the time they will plink off of him due to Blue Lion Rule (plus Courtly Candle if they double him). If you value this over 5 Atk/Res, it still works for this build, as it's high damage mitigation doesn't necessarily need the extra 5 resistance but it does help out with his worst match ups. You can try to run Bonfire to hit like a truck (61 defense with the candle and rouse active), or stick with Noontime/Sol for sustain to keep within the candle's HP trigger threshold. Pair him with a Brave Lucina for some special breath support to watch him fire off instant noontime retaliations just like with Moon Gradivus. With his whole kit active, he reaches 52/70/42/61/40 alongside 60%/40%(or 0.8+(0.4×0.8) for magic) damage reduction values. For those looking to max out his omnitanking potential to be up there around beastly Brave Ike levels, this is the build for you.

An Aether proposition for Brave Dimitri: higher damage output in exchange of a little
HP regeneration, but this build give more armor to make blue lion Rule more effective with some Speed buff and Res buff to avoid being doubled and being bursted by mages.

This build is probably one of if not the best build for Dimitri, and here's why.
His A skill is flexible, he just need a boost to spd and def, spd so he doesn't get doubled too much and ignore some if not all of the close call users.
Blue Lion Rule is basically close call but it compares def instead. It also gives him a free follow up attack on the enemy phase.
C slot is Pulse smoke so he doesn't get killed by a Luna, Aether or Regnal Astra. This can be substituted for any other C skill, like Threat. Atk/def 3 to give himself a stat boost while also debuffing the enemies around him.
His seal is Steady Posture 2, to increase his speed and defense on the enemy phase

Okay before I start, I'd like to notify that, for some reason, the builder for non-members hasn't be updated since 2019, hence why I'll explain the seal down here rather than add it since it's not in the pool. Please someone update it, now onto the build

The King of Lions has finally arrived to Heroes with a massive 176 BST and an amazing starting kit. Although with this large BST, his resistance is really bad at 18 and even with Blue Lion's Call, he'll face a tough challenge when it comes to the strong one-KOing mages in AR and strong armor dragons in Arena.

Suggested to be +Atk or +Res, although +Def and +Spd is also very good options

Weapon: Moon Gradivus
-An easy choice as it already offers so much to Dimitri with built in Distant Counter and a Breath effect for easier special procs when foes hit him.

Assist: Flexible
-This one can be anything your team might need, although in my case I went with Reposition since it's my go-to assist skill for most of my melee units

Special: Noontime/Bonfire
-This one depends on your team composition. Noontime offers consistent healing for Dimitri due to the Breath effect, although if you do have a healer at your disposal, you're free to try Bonfire as it'll offer a consistent added damage due to his high defense and, as said before, the fast procs with the Breath effect.

A skill: Fort. Def-Res 3/Bracing Stance 3
-As stated before, this build is to ensure Dimitri gets a boost to his resistance and these two skills not only offer that, but also offer a boost to his already high defense. Fort. Def/Res 3 is my go to due to offering the stats on both phases. Bracing Stance 3 is also another choice if you'd prefer to have the guard effect. Both skills are expensive but work wonders on him.

B Skill: Blue Lion's Call
-His exclusive B skill already offers so much into his kit that, honestly, changing it just seems very unnecessary, since it both offers the Close Call/Repel damage reduction effect and Quick Riposte for those match ups where he can't out speed his opponent (Except Null-Follow Up users)

C: Pulse Smoke/Atk Smoke/Def Smoke
-Pulse Smoke helps Dimitri be able to ensure that his opponent won't get those nasty special procs against him, ensuring him easier fights against groups of enemies. If you're unable to acquire the skill, Atk or Def Smoke works as alternative as the former will increase his chances to take less damage against hordes of enemies while the latter will ensure he can take out squishier ranged targets.

S: Spd-Res Solo/Deflect Magic/Mirror Stance 2
-I went with Spd-Res Solo to increase his already good speed to ranges where he can tango against the faster meta units, or at least prevent follow ups at an easier pace, and to also increase his defensive capabilities against strong mages and dragons. Deflect Magic is a good alternative if you'd prefer to bolster his chances against naturally fast magic users. Mirror Stance is if you'd prefer to play a more enemy-phase orientated Dimitri (It can combo with Bracing Stance to get all the way up to +8 resistance)