Halloween Corrin (M)

Weapon: Starlight Stone

Assist: Positional Assist / Flexible

Special: Glimmer / Moonbow / Noontime / Bonfire / Iceberg

Passive A: Close Def / Atk/Res Finish / Atk/Def Unity / Atk/Res Unity / Distant Def

Passive B: Dragon’s Ire / Dragon Wall / Mystic Boost 4

Passive C: Joint Drive Skills / Smoke Skills / Menace Skills / Flexible

Sacred Seal:  Form Skills / Steady Breath / Distant Counter (D.) / Mystic Boost / Quick Riposte / Solo Skills

• This is a traditional defensive build that emphasizes stacking raw durability with a helping of healing to maximize Halloween Corrin’s Enemy Phase performance. Whether to utilize him as a melee generalist or all-purpose tank lies entirely in personal preference, with the latter actually not coming at too much of an opportunity cost (for once) due to the dragon Distant Counter Sacred Seal.
  • That said, it needs to be considered that what ultimately separates him from other infantry tanks is his readily accessible 75% damage reduction. Because of this, it’s typically ideal to have Halloween Corrin act as a melee specialist and have a Far Save ally cover his ranged matchups, which is where he would otherwise frequently face effects that negate damage reduction.
• Specials with low cooldowns like Glimmer, Moonbow, and Noontime work well with his PRF’s Slaying effect for immediate activations on each counterattack without any extra frills, though those with three-turn cooldowns should be highly considered if some form of accelerated cooldown effect is available (either through Corrin’s Sacred Seal or allies).
• Since Starlight Stone already inflicts Guard through its inherent effects, Halloween Corrin can ignore the usual Stance skills for a potential A slot, though he still has a few other options:
  • Atk/Res Finish is excellent in for its hefty stat enhancement to his Atk/Res and bonus healing and true damage effects under (essentially) perpetual conditions; in addition to being more than solid for taking down does, it entirely removes the need for healing Specials through 14 points of healing with each attack combined with Starlight Stone.
  • Unity skills offer fantastic scaling through their effective penalty ‘reversal’ effect and help ease the burden of dealing with debuffs, with either Atk/Def Unity or Atk/Res Unity offering great benefits. 
  • The choice of Close Def or Distant Def come at the cost of not doing much to enhance Corrin’s damage output, but instead offers a substantial increase to his bulk and offers the otherwise limited effect of neutralizing enemy bonuses.
    • However, given their limitation to melee and ranged foes specifically, they require that Corrin specialize in those specific matchups for maximum usage, ideally meaning getting the aid of a complementary Save ally (and the use of the Distant Counter Sacred Seal in the case of Distant Def).
• Dragon’s Ire 4 is by far Corrin’s optimal B skill; it immediately mitigates his weakness of being unable to perform follow-up attacks with a lenient HP threshold, enhances both his bulk and damage, and carries the benefit of neutralizing guaranteed doubles from his foe. While it may seem counterintuitive given the requirement for Starlight Stone’s damage reduction, he ultimately takes less damage overall by bypassing such effects. 
  • Other B skill candidates include Dragon Wall (to gain supplemental damage reduction for any strikes beyond the first) and Mystic Boost (for specialized anti-ranged builds), though the Quick Riposte Sacred Seal becomes necessary if doubles are desired.
• His C slot is largely flexible and open to skills like those that directly pad Halloween Corrin’s stats for enhanced performance, including Joint Drives, Menaces, and Smoke skills. For his Sacred Seal, besides those that enhance stats or the Distant Counter Sacred Seal (as mentioned previously), one can consider the Quick Riposte seal if not using Dragon’s Ire, a Breath option for stronger Special choices, or Mystic Boost for even more passive healing (though this happens post-combat!).

Weapon: Starlight Stone

Assist: Positional Assist / Flexible

Special: Bonfire / Iceberg / Ignis / Glacies

Passive A: Atk/Res Finish / Atk/Def Unity / Atk/Res Unity 

Passive B: Dragon’s Wrath

Passive C: Joint Drive Skills / Time’s Pulse / Smoke Skills / Menace Skills / Flexible 

Sacred Seal: Breath Skill /  Distant Counter (D.) / Form Skills / Solo Skills

• While this build retains Halloween Corrin’s inherent defensive playstyle, it moreso emphasizes Corrin’s ability to consistently (and ideally) KO incoming foes in one strike; this playstyle, in a way, helps retain his bulk as against foes who can perform follow-up attacks, he’ll be defeating them while only taking 25% of their total damage. A +ATK Asset is highly recommended, if possible, to accumulate as much firepower as possible.
• For maximum potency, a three-turn Special is typically ideal as they offer a respectable amount of burst potential while needing minimal setup to access consistently; all that’s needed is either a Breath Sacred Seal or one of the many Special acceleration supports available, such as Summer Hilda, Brave Lucina, and Thorr. The choice between Bonfire and Iceberg is flexible given both stats are fairly high, and his skills and support available can easily swing one more in favor than the other.
  • Ignis and Glacies, while not as easily accessible for immediate activations on each counterattack, are extremely powerful and can be leveraged for such purposes through one external Special charge. This can be self-enabled by himself via the Time’s Pulse C skill, though allies can provide this also (most notably, with Askr).
• Atk/Res Finish grants an effective +11 enhancement to each of Halloween Corrin’s attacks while doubling as a supplemental tanking aid with its healing bonus, making it the most consistent option available (especially with Glacies or Iceberg). However, Atk/Def Unity and Atk/Res Unity may be considered for the ‘immunity’ they grant to Atk debuffs, in addition to carrying a high stat enhancement ceiling.
• For his B skill, Dragon’s Wrath is phenomenal for Corrin’s intended purposes here. The damage reduction aspect is nothing great as the multiplicative nature of these effects create diminishing returns when paired with Starlight Stone, but the real draw is the true damage it grants based on the difference between his Atk and his foe’s Res — a la miniature Glimmer. The fourth-tier version offers some flexibility in being able to clean up enemies on the Player Phase, but otherwise the third-tier version is fine.