Clive

Weapon: Lordly Lance (+Eff)

• Lordly Lance enables Clive to perform quite well as a support unit, granting his support partner with a solid +3 in-combat boost to all their stats when within two spaces of one another. When paired with skills that provide further in-combat boosts (such as Drive Atk), this allows him to quickly enhance a desired ally’s stats to an impressive extent. 

• Furthermore, since Lordly Lance also grants him armor effectiveness and simultaneously boosts Clive’s stats upon satisfying its activation requirement, he can perform competently in battle as well if necessary. However, this should be viewed as more of an added bonus rather than something that his kit centers around. 

Assist: Reposition / Flexible

Special: Moonbow / Luna / Bonfire 

• Clive’s Special is not particularly important for the purposes of this build as combat is of a much lesser concern for him, but Moonbow nonetheless stands out as a strong option for its low cooldown. For higher damage, Luna or Bonfire can be taken. 

Passive A: Fury / Triangle Adept 

• Fury is an excellent skill that serves to enhance all of Clive’s stats by a sizable amount and allow him to engage in a round of combat or two if necessary. Additionally, since this skill boosts his visible stats, this allows him to potentially act as a lightning rod for opposing Chill skills (most commonly Chill Atk or Chill Def), preventing his allies from becoming negatively impacted by such skills. 

• While much more inflexible than Fury (as it completely eliminates any chance he had of surviving against a green foe), Triangle Adept may still be considered to specialize Clive as a dedicated check against red opponents. 

Passive B: Chill Atk / Chill Skills

• Chill skills work fantastically here to expand on Clive’s supportive capabilities and allow him to provide valuable buffing and debuffing support concurrently. While the choice of which to equip will depend primarily on his specific team composition, Chill Atk is arguably the most consistent of them all and can always prove quite useful. 

Passive C: Ward Cavalry / Drive Skills / Tactic Skills / Flexible

• Any buffing skills can be used here, making Clive’s C slot quite flexible. However, that being said, those that provide in-combat boosts such as Ward Cavalry and Drive skills are especially strong as they stack with the boosts provided with Lordly Lance; they also come with the benefit of being able to bypass the detriments of the common [Panic] debuff. 

Sacred Seal: Drive Res / Drive Skills / Tactic Skills / Flexible. 

• Similar to his C slot, any available buffing seal can be equipped here to increase his potency as a support unit. Drive and Tactic skills are particularly effective in this regard.

Weapon: Lordly Lance (+Eff)

Assist: Reposition / Flexible

Special: Bonfire / Ignis 

• Thanks to Clive’s good Defense stat, Defense-scaling Specials are especially powerful and are the preferred option here. When used alongside Quick Riposte, Bonfire will be able to activate in any combat where Clive is doubled — and since his Speed is already quite low, this will prove to be quite frequent. At the cost of losing out on Bonfire’s consistency, Ignis can be taken for higher damage. 

Passive A: Steady Stance 4 / Sturdy Stance / Atk/Def Solo / Steady Stance 3 / Atk/Def Bond

• Steady Stance 4 is Clive's ideal choice for his A slot skill as it provides him with the greatest possible boost to his physical bulk but more importantly, it comes with a Guard-like effect of Special deceleration with no accompanying HP threshold; this is especially beneficial when facing off against foes who rely on fast Special activations to deal significant amounts of damage

• If unavailable, any A slot skill that boosts his Attack and/or Defense will be preferred, with Sturdy Stance, Atk/Def Solo, and Steady Stance 3 being amongst the best options available. Atk/Def Bond can be considered as well, though it’s not quite as consistent as other options due to it leaving Clive much more susceptible to skills such as Sudden Panic (which are becoming increasingly more common) that punish mechanics that rely on adjacency. 

Passive B: Chill Atk / Chill Def / Lull Atk/Def / Guard / Quick Riposte

• Chill skills remain great choices to keep some of his supportive utility while still improving his combat potential, with those that directly benefit him (namely Chill Atk and Chill Def) thusly being his best options. 

• If aiming to focus more on optimizing his performance as a defensive tank, Lull Atk/Def makes for a worthwhile consideration to let him pierce through opponents regardless of how much support they may have received and improve both his survivability and damage output simultaneously. Guard is notable as well if not using Steady Stance 4 in his A slot to replicate its effect of Special deceleration. 

• Quick Riposte should be equipped here if the seal is unavailable, as he is too slow to perform follow-up attacks naturally; this helps him maintain a respectable offensive presence in the Enemy Phase. 

Passive C: Atk Smoke / Def Smoke / Hone Cavalry / Flexible

• Smoke skills are standard options for most defensively oriented builds and Clive is no exception to that. Atk Smoke and Def Smoke are especially strong here, with the choice between which boiling down to whether one prefers improved survivability or damage output. Otherwise, cavalry-exclusive buffs like Hone Cavalry are always a strong choice here 

Sacred Seal: Quick Riposte / Chill Skills / Close Def / Atk/Def Bond 

• Quick Riposte is an essential component of this build and is necessary for it to function to its fullest capacity, as Clive’s Speed is far too low for him to be able to consistently perform follow-up attacks on his opponents; using it as a seal is quite advantageous as it allows him to equip other powerful B slot skills like Lull Atk/Def instead. 

• Chill skills can be considered here to further heighten his supportive capabilities, and seals such as Close Def and Atk/Def Bond are also good choices to directly build upon his key stats and combat potential.