GamePress
Analysis by StanTheWoz
Effie - Army of One

3-4

Obtainable as a 3 - 4 only

Hero Stats

Max Avg Total Stats at Lvl 40
168
HP 50
ATK 40
SPD 22
DEF 33
RES 23

Stat Variations

Level 1 Stat Variation
5★
4★
3★
HP ATK SPD DEF RES
Low 21 11 4 10 3
Middle 22 12 5 11 4
High 23 13 6 12 5

Level 40 Stat Variations
5★
4★
3★
HP ATK SPD DEF RES
Low 47 37 19 29 20
Middle 50 40 22 33 23
High 53 43 25 36 27

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

Skill Sets

No More Holding Back (Near Save)

Build by StanTheWoz
Recommended
Courtly Candle+ (+Def)
Alternate: Allied Lance+ (+Def)
A Close Def 4
Alternate: Sturdy Stance 3
Positional Assist B Crafty Fighter 3
Alternate: Slick Fighter 3
Glimmer
Alternate: Ignis
C A/D Near Save 3
Alternate: D/R Near Save 3
IVs

+Atk or +Def / -Spd

SSteady Breath
Alternate: Atk/Def Bond 3

Show Explanation/Analysis

Weapon: Courtly Candle+ (+Def) / Allied Lance+ (+Def) / Bridal Sunflower+ (+Def) / Effie’s Lance (+Eff)

Assist: Positional Assist / Flexible

Special: Glimmer / Ignis / Flexible

IVs: +Atk or +Def / -Spd

Passive A: Close Def 4 / Sturdy Stance 3 / Flexible

Passive B: Crafty Fighter 3 / Slick Fighter 3 / Wily Fighter 3 / Flexible

Passive C: A/D Near Save / Flexible

Sacred Seal: Steady Breath / Atk/Def Bond 3 / Flexible

  • Effie’s high HP, Atk, and Def make her a solid choice for a Near Save. 
  • The choice of weapon is flexible. Courtly Candle+ offers a nice boost of 5 Atk and Def while Effie’s HP is at least 50%, as well as reducing the damage from her foe’s first attack by 50% if they can follow-up attack. This pairs well with Steady Breath seal and Glimmer to potentially allow her to KO her foe before they can follow-up. There are a number of other good choices of weapon as well, including Allied Lance+, Bridal Sunflower+, and Effie’s Lance. 
  • The Special is flexible, with Glimmer being a solid option that Effie can potentially activate on her first counterattack, as above. Ignis is more powerful but generally requires Effie to get hit again and counterattack again to activate. 
  • The A skill and B skill are both flexible. Effie benefits from boosts to Atk and Def, sometimes Res, as well as effects that neutralize her foe’s bonuses, neutralize her penalties, slow her foe’s Special charge, and charge her own Special. Many different combinations can work so long as you are getting different benefits from the A and B skill - for example, it is not as useful to use Close Def 4 with Wily Fighter, since both provide the effect of neutralizing enemy stat bonuses, and it would be better to pair Close Def 4 with Crafty Fighter or Slick Fighter. 
  • The C skill should be some variety of Near Save, the particular stat combination is not very important, with Atk and Def being arguably the best. 
  • The seal is flexible. Steady Breath is a great option that provides Effie an extra +1 Special charge on every attack when her foe initiates combat, allowing her to activate 2-cooldown Specials on her first counterattack or 4-cooldown Specials on her second. Atk/Def Bond or Atk/Def Form are also good options that provide more Atk and Def when Effie is near allies. 

You See Big Girl (Hardy Fighter Far Save)

Build by StanTheWoz
Recommended
Slaying Lance+ (+Res)
Alternate: Courtly Candle+ (+Res)
A Distant Countering A Slot
Alternate: Distant Def 4
Positional Assist B Hardy Fighter 3
Aegis
Alternate: Sacred Cowl
C A/R Far Save 3
Alternate: D/R Far Save 3
IVs

+Atk or +Res / -Spd

SDeflect Magic 3
Alternate: Atk/Res Bond 3

Show Explanation/Analysis

Weapon: Slaying Lance+ (+Res) / Courtly Candle+ (+Res) / Flexible

Assist: Positional Assist / Flexible

Special: Aegis / Sacred Cowl

IVs: +Atk or +Res / -Spd

Passive A: Distant Countering A Slot

Passive B: Hardy Fighter

Passive C: A/R Far Save / Flexible

Sacred Seal: Deflect Magic / Flexible

  • Effie can also use a build with Hardy Fighter and a defensive Special to heavily reduce damage from ranged attacks while protecting her allies. This allows her to take heavily reduced damage from ranged foes and KO many of them with a counterattack due to her high Atk. 
  • The choice of Special depends on the choice of weapon; Slaying Lance is best used with Aegis, as it reduces the cooldown to 2, allowing Hardy Fighter to charge it fully at the start of turn 1. This provides 75% damage reduction plus an additional 5 flat damage reduction against the first ranged attack made against Effie. Alternatively, she can use Courtly Candle with Sacred Cowl for approximately the same damage reduction, but only if the foe can follow-up attack. This also boosts her Atk and Def by 5, slightly improving damage and bulk. Skills like Deadeye and Lethality negate the damage reduction from Courtly Candle but not from Aegis or Escutcheon, so the Aegis build is safer against those foes. 
  • The A slot is flexible, with Distant Counter or some variant of it being the optimal choice, with Distant Stance and Distant Storm providing useful stat boosts to Res and Atk, respectively. 
  • The C slot is flexible so long as it is some variety of Far Save. 
  • The seal is also flexible, but Deflect Magic is a great option that provides 80% damage reduction against any consecutive hit taken after the first from any enemy wielding a tome. This is a great check to foes like Ninja Corrin and Ascended Ishtar that could otherwise hit Effie for full damage on their second Brave hit and potentially KO her before she can counter. Deflect Missile provides the same effect against bows and daggers, but brave effects on those are somewhat less common, they often use skills like Deadeye or Lethality which ignore Deflect Missile, and Effie’s Def is much higher than her Res. 

Strengths

Effie’s Lance

While Effie’s unique weapon is rather whelming, it does still have some effects that can be useful in the right mode. It boosts her Atk by 6 during combat so long as she starts with over 50% HP, and also debuffs her foe’s Atk and Def by 5 during her first combat in player phase or enemy phase, as well as neutralizing any bonuses they have to those stats. This is a decent effect in modes such as Arena where you can afford to engage a single enemy unit per turn. It is outclassed by inheritable lances in some other modes. 

Lance Armor

Effie’s status as a lance armor allows her to use great skills like A/D Near Save and Wily Fighter

Great Atk

Effie’s base 40 Atk was incredibly high when she was first released, and is still quite high at the time of writing in 2022. This allows her to deal solid damage. 

Great HP, Solid Def

Effie’s base 50 HP and 33 Def allow her to take physical hits well. Her base 23 Res is lower, but still often enough to take a single magical hit and KO on the counterattack. 

Weaknesses

Low Spd and Res

Effie’s base 22 Spd and 23 Res are low. Her HP is high enough to allow her to survive one normal hit from most magical units, and potentially KO on the counterattack. Her Spd makes it very difficult for her to follow-up attack or avoid follow-up attacks without the use of skills like Wary Fighter or Vengeful Fighter. Additionally, these skills are all disabled by Null Follow-Up and similar effects, rendering her more vulnerable to units that use it. 

Armor-Effective Damage

Effie’s status as an armored unit means that units wielding certain weapons gain an extra 50% Atk against her, rendering her vulnerable to being KO’d in a single hit. 

Mobility

Under normal circumstances, Effie can only move 1 space per turn and attack foes adjacent to her. While the movement can be somewhat remedied by effects like Armor March or Ground Orders, her mobility is still not great. 

Arena BST Creep

Earlier in the life of Heroes, Effie was a popular unit to use in Arena, since her high Base Stat Total meant that she boosted team score more than other units. However, this is no longer the case; her merged Base Stat Total of 170 is easily beaten by many more modern units and units using skills like C Duel Inf 4. To make matters worse, armors are the only movement type with no access to Duel Skills whatsoever, so Effie’s scoring potential is actually worse than most other units. 

Competition

There are many other armored units with much better unique weapons than Effie and similarly good or better statlines, such as Brave Hector, Ascended Idunn, Valentine’s Gustav, and many more. While Effie can perform well with the right skills, she lacks powerful unique effects that set these units apart and may struggle in matchups they do not. 

Weapon Skills

Weapons SP Rng. Mt.
Iron Lance
Learns by default at 1 ★
Unlocks at 1 ★
Lance Users Only
50 1 6
Steel Lance
Learns by default at 3 ★
Lance Users Only
100 1 8
Silver Lance
Learns by default at 4 ★
Unlocks at 3 ★
Lance Users Only
200 1 11
Silver Lance+
Learns by default at 5 ★
Unlocks at 5 ★
Lance Users Only
300 1 15
Effie's Lance

At start of combat, if unit's HP ≥ 50%, grants Atk+6 during combat.

Learns by default at 5 ★
Unlocks at 5 ★
Non-Inheritable skill.
400 1 16
Weapon Evolution
Weapon Upgrades
Weapon Upgrades

Support Skills

Support Skills Rng. SP
Smite

Push adjacent ally 2 spaces farther away.

Learns by default at 4 ★
1 150

Passive Skills

Passive Skills SP Slot
Death Blow 1

If unit initiates combat, grants Atk+2 during combat.

Non-inheritable by Staff-wielding units.
Unlocks at 3 ★
50
A
Death Blow 2

If unit initiates combat, grants Atk+4 during combat.

Non-inheritable by Staff-wielding units.
Unlocks at 4 ★
100
A
Death Blow 3

If unit initiates combat, grants Atk+6 during combat.

Non-inheritable by Staff-wielding units.
Unlocks at 5 ★
200
A
Wary Fighter 1

If unit's HP ≥ 90%, unit and foe cannot make a follow-up attack.

Only inheritable by armor units.
60
B
Wary Fighter 2

If unit's HP ≥ 70%, unit and foe cannot make a follow-up attack.

Only inheritable by armor units.
Unlocks at 3 ★
120
B
Wary Fighter 3

If unit's HP ≥ 50%, unit and foe cannot make a follow-up attack.

Only inheritable by armor units.
Unlocks at 4 ★
240
B

Other Info

Origin
Fire Emblem Fates

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