Henry

With Henry's already High defense, He can utilize Ignis to deal a surprising amount of Damage. A Defense or Res boon is basically needed, seeing this Henry is meant to take blows and return high damage. Fort Def/Res also helps with getting his defenses up, although if you're not willing to run a Fort Skill consider Steady Breath for it's accelerated cooldown, although you'd be risking some total Ignis damage. Although it is expensive, Special Spiral greatly reduces the time between your Ignises (Ignisi?), and since Henry has mediocre speed, a double from the enemy is all you need to have a new Ignis ready to go. Atk Smoke should be a self explanatory choice, seeing how it further increases Henry's tankiness from all sources. Atk Ploy could also work in this situation, but the fact that it won't activate after your combat and your Res needs to be higher make it less than optimal. Lastly for S seals I simply go with another Fort. Def/Res, but Fortress Def and Fortress Res also work if you want to decrease your damage from specific sources, I personally like having a bit of both, but the choice is yours.

In the time since my initial build, skills and tools have come out to make Henry a lot easier to build and be made viable. However, the typical Corvus Tome +Eff build relies on keeping Henry's attack low, which means merging him and using dragonflowers is counter intuitive. Since my Henry was already +Atk +10 when the Corvus tome released, this is a build focusing on making Henry a mixed tank on both phases while increasing his attack output to be as high as possible.

For reference, my Henry is Summoner Support S-rank and Dragonflower +15 at the time of writing. This is Henry at his current Maximum Potential in terms of stats. If you're like me and Henry is your favorite character in all of Fire Emblem, expect similar results. If not, expect less effectiveness. This build is at minimum expecting a +10 Henry with at least a few Dragonflower levels.

For Boon, go with either Attack, Defense, or Resistance. Defense is his best stat, so increasing it more will definitely make him more effective against physical units. Since this is a mixed-tank build, Resistance is also a good choice. Attack, however, is probably the most useful, as Henry's attack stat is infamously low.

Henry's weapon ideally wants to give him an advantage over a type of unit. Naturally, you will want to use the Corvus Tome, as it is his most powerful weapon available. It is a stronger version of Raudrraven, so Henry will gain significant advantage against most Bow, Dagger, and Staff users, and a couple of powerful Tome users as well. However, if the raven effect is unappealing I highly suggest Keen Raudrwolf, which gives Henry advantage over all cavalry units. It was the primary weapon I used for him up until Corvus Tome released and it still works remarkably well, I just prefer the extra attack. Raudrowl is also a good option if you are good at ensuring adjacent allies, but I find it more situational than practical. In all cases I would advise getting a +Res refine. His defense is high enough where it'll be fine on its own, and his res could use the boost. If you want the +Eff on Corvus, this is not the build for you.

Assist skill is whatever you desire, but Reposition is the gold standard for a reason. It gets allies out of danger while either putting Henry in to tank, or for both to avoid it altogether. Swap is a decent alternative.

Special is easily Bonfire or Ignis. His defense stat is very high and activating these specials allows him to deal a boatload of damage. Bonfire is recommended for the shorter cooldown, as the added damage is usually enough to kill most units anyway, though Ignis is certainly not a bad option.

Close Counter is the best A skill available for Henry as it allows him to capitalize on his excellent defense stat, making him very dangerous on Enemy Phase. It's a tough skill to get your hands on, however (I got mine through an extra Takumi I summoned very early on), so if you desire a substitute I recommend Fury 3 or 4, Earth Boost 3, or any of the Stances that deal with Defense, Resistance, and/or Attack. If you're willing to sacrifice Attack, Fortress Defense or Resistance is an option, and if you're willing to make Henry more of a specialist triangle adept can increase his effectiveness against Grey and Green units.

The B skill is actually very cheap to acquire: Swordbreaker 3. Henry has a natural advantage over greens (and greys if using the Corvus tome), and Swordbreaker gives him an additional edge over the most bloated weapon category in the game. Swordbreaker ensures Henry doubles these units that often have high speed and low resistance, and usually cannot counter. It helps him tank the speedblitz sword units while making him much more effective on playerphase. If you want to focus purely on enemy phase, Quick Riposte is your better pick. Green or Red Tomebreaker are also good options but far less effective.

C skill is very flexible. Tailor it to your needs. I went with Even Attack Wave for another boost to his attack power, though ideally I would like to nab Joint Hone Attack at some point in the future.

Sacred Seal is whatever you want. I went with Attack +3 to ensure a base of 52 attack, but there are other (and better) options to increase his defensive capabilities.

In short, this build makes Henry a very good counter against most green and grey units, as well as most sword units. Building his res makes him good against red mages and dragons, as well as help him survive against blue mages and dragons, which he should generally avoid combating. Lance units depend on stats. Henry can beat some, but loses to others.

Thia build enables henry to act as a wall against most physical and magical units. Although his tome requires you to have less attack than the enemy for its debuffs it only requires a difference of 3 to activate. Even with threat. Atk/Res activating on an opponent the enemy only needs 54 attack (including visible buffs) for corvus tome to proc and combo with lull atk/res 3. And thats with a plus 10 henry! This build is obviously very high investment but I think it may also be the optimal set for this bird loving fellow.

Fun fact: according to AR replays, my Henry has now survived Tiny Hands McGee making a beeline for him multiple times.

Preferred IVs: +Atk, +def/ -spd
Weapon: Loyal Wreath (+def)
Assist: Reposition/ literally anything but Reciprocal Aid
Special: Sol/Bonfire/Ignis
Passive A: Brazen Atk/Def OR Brazen Def/Res
Passive B: Seal Atk/ Chill Atk/ Guard
Passive C: Threaten Atk
Sacred Seal: Brazen Atk/Res OR Brazen Atk/Def

Stats with all buffs activated, summoner support and attack boon/speed bane (if I calculated it right):
52/54/24/48/37

Who likes Henry? I like Henry. FEH made him terrible. Now, after about half a year of experimenting with whatever came to mind, this is what I have to show for it. I have absolutely no regrets.

One thing to note: my Henry is +1 merged and summoner supported because I am a crazy person. Results may vary due to this. Stats are stated as if unmerged but summoner supported (but please do excuse anything I might’ve calculated wrong due to the one merge, too). Let’s do this.

Anyways. Henry has absolutely ridiculous defence, so we’re going to jack that up as far as we can. Speed is unsalvageable here, but we can, at least, push his attack over 50. This set is basically designed for Henry to sit in front of your team and face-tank whatever comes his way while Repositioning allies out of harm, as well as deal more than 0 damage when he hits something.

Boon and bane are chosen because of two factors: I was lucky enough to get a +Atk, and because I want a more offensive role. Defense boon is great, too, for maximum wall. HP bane is acceptable, but cuts into tankiness.

You’ll need double Brazen for this, though which ones run up to personal preference. I use Atk/Def in A slot and Atk/Res for Sacred Seal, but you could also run Brazen Atk/Def to further bolster that ridiculous defense stat. I use Atk/Res to allow Henry to survive one or two magical hits.

B and C slots both debuff the enemy’s attack to heighten Henry’s effective bulk. I’m not sure which skill would work better in B slot, but I’m currently using the Seal skill so. Um. Take of that what you will.

Sol as a special may seem counterintuitive to the whole point of the Brazens, but I’ve found it increases survivability by quite a lot in case of lance users. Daylight doesn’t heal enough in my experience, though it might work for someone else. I don’t know. Bonfire or Ignis totally works, though, if one is looking for sheer damage output, because Henry’s defense is effectively 45 (48 with Loyal Wreath) with one active brazen def and 52 (55) with two. Personally, I’ve switched between Sol and Ignis depending on situation.

Weapon can also be owltome for even more buffs if set up correctly, but owltome has less base might and requires more positioning. Since the rest of my team is usually super squishy and either yeeting across the map with dancers or hiding far out of range, I find Loyal Wreath and Reposition in tandem tend to be more reliable.

But. Well. There you have it, my (hopefully not super confusing) explanation. Enjoy the murderous crow boi.

Henry's +iv for defense gives him 35 without any buffs which is high for a mage and the - iv for speed doesn't change affect Henry very much.

Reposition is a good assist but can be subsitiuted for whatever the player wants.

Ignis is used to make Henry get some wins that may be more difficult but Bonfire could work, however due to Henry's low attack this could be problematic.

A-skill is obviously Triangle Adapt, to insure Henry can deal damage while also tanking green mages and bow units pretty well.

B-skill as Quick Riposte aids Henry as a defensive mage, allowing for doubles and earlier use of Ignis.

C-skill being Threaten Atk is mainly to aid Henry in surviving while also helping his allies. However this is very flexible depending on the team.

As for seal, Distant Defense works wonderfully with Henry, giving him 41 Defense and 31 Resistance, further making Henry a decent mage.