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Analysis by raelet
Cherche - Wyvern Friend

3-4

Obtainable as a 3 - 4 only

Hero Stats

Max Avg Total Stats at Lvl 40
157
HP 46
ATK 38
SPD 25
DEF 32
RES 16

Stat Variations

Level 1 Stat Variation
5★
4★
3★
HP ATK SPD DEF RES
Low 19 9 5 7 2
Middle 20 10 6 8 3
High 21 11 7 9 4

Level 40 Stat Variations
5★
4★
3★
HP ATK SPD DEF RES
Low 43 35 22 29 12
Middle 46 38 25 32 16
High 49 41 29 35 19

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.
HPATKSPDDEFRES

With a sky-high Attack stat, low Speed and Resistance, and above-average Defense and HP, Cherche is best focused as an attacker first and defender second. This means choosing an IV that works toward her strengths while minmaxing her weaknesses.

Boons

  • +ATK: Self explanatory, and works best with her Cherche's Axe set. Cherche's Attack is monstrously high, and making it higher allows her to utilize Heavy Blade with her prf Axe.
  • +DEF: This works better for her Slaying Axe set and should be considered secondary to her Cherche's Axe set.

Neutral

  • HP: Cherche's HP is naturally pretty high, high enough to be able to be your designated Panic Ployer with her weapon forge. For this reason, her HP should be left alone.

Banes

  • -RES: Her ideal bane, as Cherche's Resistance stat is already rather low and functionally useless to her.
  • -SPD: Cherche's Speed doesn't matter in her Cherche's Axe build, and sacrificing it for her Slaying Axe build may allow you to reliably get more Special activations off and increase her damage.

Skill Sets

Snacktime, Minerva! (Player Phase Offense)

Build by
Recommended
Cherche's Axe (+Eff)
Alternate: Cherche's Axe (+Atk)
A Death Blow 4
Alternate: Heavy Blade 3
Reposition B Chill Def 3
Alternate: Hit and Run
Glimmer
Alternate: Galeforce
C Odd Atk Wave 3
Alternate: Hone Fliers
IVsSHeavy Blade 3

Show Explanation/Analysis
  • Preferred IV: +ATK / -RES or -SPD
  • Weapon: Cherche's Axe (+EFF or +Atk)
  • Assist: Reposition / Flexible
  • Special: Glimmer / Galeforce / Bonfire
  • Passive A: Death Blow / Heavy Blade
  • Passive B: Chill Def / Hit and Run / AxeBreaker
  • Passive C: Odd Atk Wave / Goad Fliers / Hone Fliers
  • Sacred Seal: Heavy Blade / Quickened Pulse / Attack +3

Cherche can pack a significant punch with her Cherche's Axe, a refine which functions like a Brave Axe, but with 3 more Might and refine capabilities. This set works to have her completely demolish opponents by activating Glimmer on every single initiation with a Brave Axe/Heavy Blade combination. This allows for Cherche to do an incredible amount of damage on every turn before the enemy can counterattack. Of course, this only works perfectly when her Attack is higher than her opponents, which shouldn't be too difficult if built optimally- on Odd numbered turns, Cherche will have 66 Attack (67 with an Attack refine).

Alternatively, if you'd like to attempt a 1 turn Galeforce build so that Cherche can kill two opponents in the same turn, you would need to sacrifice an Ike to put Heavy Blade in Cherche's A slot to run Quickened pulse in her seal slot. This way, Cherche will attack and proc Heavy Blade (with an Attack of 58 on odd numbered turns), which will allow her to use Galeforce for a turn reset.

The rest of the set is self explanatory- if you're want to maximize your possible damage, Chill Def turns Cherche into a one woman army, capping this set out with a maximum of 73x2 damage. Chill Def may be needed to secure kills on bulkier armor units, however her B slot is flexible enough to run skills like Hit and Run for a more defensive playstyle, or Axebreaker for handling axe-weilding armors more easily.

Odd Atk Wave is perfect in her C slot as it allows her to function entirely independently, without the need of Hone Fliers or other ally buffs to reach her maximum potential. However, she can still give and receive flier buffs in a flier-oriented team, which can help her function better in even numbered turns.

As far as her refine goes, Panic Ploy is a bit of a niche skill, but can be extremely helpful in certain situations, such as against blade mages or when baiting certain units. Whether or not that benefit outweighs an extra 1 Attack (2 damage per initiation) is up to you.

How Adorable! (Mixed Phase Cherche's Axe)

Build by
Cherche's Axe (+Def) A Death Blow 4
Alternate: Atk/Def Bond 3
Reposition B Quick Riposte 3
Aether
Alternate: Bonfire
C Odd Atk Wave 3
Alternate: Panic Ploy 3
IVsSHeavy Blade 3

Show Explanation/Analysis
  • Preferred IV: +ATK or +DEF / -RES
  • Weapon: Cherche's Axe (+Def)
  • Assist: Reposition / Flexible
  • Special: Aether / Bonfire
  • Passive A: Death Blow / Atk/Def Bond / Fury
  • Passive B: Quick Riposte
  • Passive C: Odd Atk Wave / Panic Ploy / Fortify Fliers
  • Sacred Seal: Heavy Blade / Atk/Def / Panic Ploy

Cherche's offensive prowess with her new prf axe is not to be underestimated, but her above average defensive bulk shouldn't be forgotten either. While she's obviously stronger during Player Phase, this is a set which sacrifices a little bit of her minmaxed Player Phase build for a more sturdy Enemy Phase, meaning that you don't necessarily have to worry about leaving her in enemy range after a Cherche's Axe initiation in Player Phase.

Through this set, Cherche is meant to attack an opponent and use her high Attack and Heavy Blade seal to prime up an Aether proc during Player Phase. In the Enemy Phase, her opponent will attack into her 36 Defense bulk and be immediately rewarded with an Aether to the face, effectively making up for her lower attack power in Enemy Phase and healing any damage she may receive. If her opponent somehow survives that, then Quick Riposte is there to ensure that she attacks twice in order to secure her kill.

Due to the dual phase nature of this set, Atk/Def Bond also functions very well as an A skill, though it would be more difficult to line up the buff during Player Phase when considering her flier mobility. Fury could work as well as a budget version of Atk/Def Bond, but the recoil damage may hinder her bulk in longer engagements.

The Heavy Blade seal is vital to being able to charge her Aether- if unavailable, you'll want to go with Bonfire instead for her Special for the same effect.

High Flying Slayer (Slaying Axe)

Build by
Slaying Axe+ (+Spd)
Alternate: Slaying Axe+ (+Def)
A Atk/Def Bond 3
Alternate: Fury 3
Reposition B Quick Riposte 3
Aether
Alternate: Bonfire
C Panic Ploy 3
Alternate: Goad Fliers
IVsSHeavy Blade 3

Show Explanation/Analysis
  • Preferred IV: +DEF or +SPD / -RES
  • Weapon: Slaying Axe+ (+Spd/Def)
  • Assist: Reposition / Flexible
  • Special: Aether / Bonfire
  • Passive A: Atk Def Bond / Fury / Heavy Blade
  • Passive B: Quick Riposte
  • Passive C: Panic Ploy / Goad Fliers / Fortify Fliers
  • Sacred Seal: Heavy Blade / Close Def / Panic Ploy

Defensive Cherche is a bit of an anomaly in that she can be very versatile depending on how you'd like to use her. Due to her +4 Speed superboon, she hits a Speed of 29- add in a Speed refine to her Slaying Axe for 32 base Speed, which is definitely workable, particularly with merges. With buffs and A-Slot, Cherche can actually find herself resting comfortably at above 40 Speed. This doesn't necessarily mean that she should be considered a Player Phase unit; however, this Speed stat allows her to avoid doubles from the enemy, which is a great boon to her survivability.

Alternatively, you can increase her already-formidable Defense instead- a Defense boon to her IV brings her to 35, and a Slaying Axe refine can pull it up to 39. Furthering her defenses can help you easily get it to over 40 for great tanking capabilities, though you'll be far more likely to be doubled.

The piece that brings this set together is Heavy Blade. A neutral IV Cherche with no A slot or buffs reaches 52 Attack with Slaying Axe.  Her A slot can be utilized to further increase her Attack or can be run with Heavy Blade if you want to run Panic Ploy in her Seal Slot- though if you run Heavy Blade in her A slot, you might want to consider giving her a teammate who can buff her Attack, just to be sure. Heavy Blade's activation means that Cherche can proc Aether either in the same turn combat or during her first action in the following Player Phase- the difference here boils down to whether or not the enemy doubles her.

If she's doubled by her opponent (more likely with her defensive-oriented build) then she will respond with an Aether proc on the second attack, likely killing her opponent and healing herself. If she is not doubled (more likely with her Speed-oriented build) she will hold the Aether until the player phase next turn, allowing for her to attack a new opponent for potentially more healing.

In this way, Cherche's Speed-oriented build offers her more survivability and more healing potential, but slightly less 'finishing' potential in the Enemy Phase.

The last piece to this build is Panic Ploy. After forging her Slaying weapon, Cherche sits at 51 HP which allows her to apply a panic debuff to many enemies that she baits. This works out particularly nicely with a Summoner Support, which helps round out her stats as well as padding her HP up to 56, opening up her opportunity to Panic many more opponents. Even without Summoner Support though, she has the best Panic Ploying potential among flier units.

Hammer Time (Anti Armor)

Build by
Slaying Hammer+ (+Spd) A Death Blow 4
Alternate: Fury 3
Reposition B Quick Riposte 3
Alternate: Vantage 3
Aether
Alternate: Bonfire
C Odd Atk Wave 3
Alternate: Even Spd Wave 3
IVsSClose Def 3

Show Explanation/Analysis
  • Preferred IV: +ATK or +SPD / -RES
  • Weapon: Slaying Hammer (+Spd/Def)
  • Assist: Reposition / Flexible
  • Special: Aether / Bonfire
  • Passive A: Death Blow / Fury / Atk/Def Bond
  • Passive B: Quick Riposte / Vantage
  • Passive C: Odd Atk Wave / Even Spd Wave / Buff of choice
  • Sacred Seal: Close Def / Atk +3 / Panic Ploy

Cherche's natural Hammer allows her to be quite skilled at dispatching armor units, even without her prf. On a budget, Cherche makes for a fantastic armorslaying unit, with a massive Attack stat to abuse the 1.5x effective multiplier and a good amount of bulk for tanking counterattacks.

Increasing her Speed through a boon may seem like an odd choice, but with this it allows Cherche to double slow armor units, such as Legendary Hector and Brave Hector on Player Phase, which almost always results in a KO. Against speedier armors, she will have difficulty doubling on Player Phase, but during Enemy Phase she can utilize Quick Riposte in order to attack twice, as long as she can endure two attacks from her opponent. With Close Defense in her Seal slot, this helps her to control which phase she engages her opponent with.

As far as her C slot goes, Odd Atk Wave is useful in helping her to gain the Attack necessary to 2HKO certain armors and Even Spd Wave will help her to get 2 hits in on the first place for speedier armors, but her C slot in general is flexible enough to run other ally buffs if needed.

Introduction

Generally considered to be one of the better F2P units, Cherche is commonly found at 3 and 4 star availability but boasts minmaxed stats that a 5 star unit would be proud of. Her Attack is one of the highest in the game (behind armored units like Effie and Winter Chrom) and her mobility allows her to take full advantage of it. Being a flier allows her to navigate over rough terrain and receive big +6/+6 stat buffs if she has flying teammates- all of this put together makes Cherche one of the best Brave weapon users in the game, remaining dominant despite the meta shift away from Brave attackers. Adding to this is of course, her refine, which is essentially a prf Brave Axe with 3 additional damage per hit and the ability to be refined.

Her defensive bulk is also significant. With a Defense of 32 and HP stat of 46, Cherche can run similar builds to Michalis and Beruka, but is played in a different way: she does more damage while having slightly less bulk. Michalis offers up a 34 Attack/35 Defense, while Beruka offers 29/37. Cherche, conversely, has 38/32, making her the other side of the 'tank vs damage' spectrum.

Cherche is a fantastic unit to invest in, though some sacrifices are needed for her to reach her full potential. Still, her incredible availability makes her easy to find and merge up, and her minmaxed stats allows her to be consistently best-in-class when it comes to raw damage nuking.

Strengths

Massive Attack

Enough cannot be said about Cherche's Attack stat- this is the stat that allows a 3-4 star rarity unit from launch to compete with the best units in the game.

Her Attack lends itself extremely well to her native Cherche's Axe, but she can use it to supplement other builds and playstyles as well. She can use this to kill all blues in the game, most greens, and some reds.

This is also particularly useful with Heavy Blade builds- Cherche is almost guaranteed to proc Heavy Blade for even further damage or healing potential.

Good Defenses

Cherche doesn't have the best bulk in the game, but she's got it where it counts: her HP and Defense both allow her to take a little punishment if she needs to.

Her HP stat is also rather high, which opens her up for the option to Panic Ploy, particularly if she has a refinement.

Flier Synergy

The ability to give a Brave weapon wielder a +6 buff shouldn't be undersold: this is essentially +12 damage to the enemy every turn she has a buff. In addition, you can stack on Goad Fliers with her, allowing for a possibility of a flat +14 buff- +28 extra damage in all.

Her flier status also allows her the mobility to pull off quick 'assassinations' on the enemy team. Cherche can be Repositioned, fly in over mountains or forests, ORKO an enemy unit, and pull away with Hit and Run or Drag Back. There's very little counterplay to this sort of strategy and it works very well.

Weaknesses

Poor Speed

Cherche's Speed is not her strong suit- at 25 (though with a +4 superboon), she's not likely to be outspeeding much at all, and will easily be doubled by any enemy unit who remotely invests in Speed.

This can make her deceptively fragile, particularly when running a Cherche's Axe build. Her Enemy Phase capabilities are very low and she must rely on her HP and Defense to allow her to survive two hits.

Bad Res

Being a minmaxed unit means that Cherche's Resistance is also rather poor. At 16, this ensures that Cherche will crumble to any magical attack, and red mages are liable to oneshot her before she can close the gap between them.

High Investment

Any practical build with Cherche means replacing most of her default kit.

While Hammer is actually becoming more of an attractive option due to the rising armor meta, running her with Slaying Axe will require her to replace her weapon, and reaching her maximum potential with Cherche's Axe means giving her some very rare skills.

Still, if you're looking for a cheap and easy build, then Cherche's stats are forgiving enough to make decent use of budget skills, such as her native Atk +3, and Drag Back coupled with her signature axe.

Weapon Skills

Weapons SP Rng. Mt.
Iron Axe
Inheritable by Axe users only.
50 1 6
Steel Axe
Learns by default at 3 ★
Inheritable by Axe users only.
100 1 8
Hammer

Effective against armored units.

Learns by default at 4 ★
Unlocks at 3 ★
Inheritable by Axe users only.
200 1 8
Hammer+

Effective against armored units.

Learns by default at 5 ★
Unlocks at 5 ★
Inheritable by Axe users only.
300 1 12
Cherche's Axe

Inflicts Spd-5. If unit initiates combat, unit attacks twice.

Unlocks at 5 ★
Non-Inheritable skill.
400 1 11
Weapon Evolution
Weapon Upgrades
Weapon Upgrades

Support Skills

Support Skills Rng. SP
Pivot

Unit moves to opposite side of adjacent ally.

Learns by default at 4 ★
1 150

Passive Skills

Passive Skills SP Slot
Attack +1

Grants Atk+1.

Inheritable by all units.
30
A
Attack +2

Grants Atk+2.

Inheritable by all units.
Unlocks at 3 ★
60
A
Attack +3

Grants Atk+3.

Inheritable by all units.
Unlocks at 4 ★
120
A
Fortify Def 1

Grants adjacent allies Def+2 through their next actions at the start of each turn.

Inheritable by all units.
Unlocks at 3 ★
50
C
Fortify Def 2

Grants adjacent allies Def+3 through their next actions at the start of each turn.

Inheritable by all units.
Unlocks at 4 ★
100
C
Fortify Def 3

Grants adjacent allies Def+4 through their next actions at the start of each turn.

Inheritable by all units.
Unlocks at 5 ★
200
C

Other Info

Origin
Fire Emblem: Awakening

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