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Analysis by raelet
Innes - Regal Strategician

5 Legacy

Obtainable as a 5 during certain summoning events only.

Hero Stats

Max Avg Total Stats at Lvl 40
147
HP 35
ATK 33
SPD 34
DEF 14
RES 31

Stat Variations

Level 1 Stat Variation
5★
HP ATK SPD DEF RES
Low 15 8 7 3 6
Middle 16 9 8 4 7
High 17 10 9 5 8

Level 40 Stat Variations
5★
HP ATK SPD DEF RES
Low 32 30 31 11 28
Middle 35 33 34 14 31
High 39 36 37 18 34

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 Ordinary Archer (Anti-Mage)

Build by raelet
Recommended
Nidhogg (+Eff) A Atk/Res Unity
Alternate: Sturdy Impact
Positional Assist B Null C-Disrupt 3
Alternate: Quick Riposte 3
Iceberg
Alternate: Moonbow
C Pulse Smoke 3
Alternate: Atk Smoke 3
IVs

+SPD / - DEF or -HP

SSwift Stance 2
Alternate: Spd/Res Solo 3

Show Explanation/Analysis

Weapon: Nidhogg (+Eff)

Assist: Positional Assist

Special: Iceberg / Glacies / Moonbow

Passive A: Atk/Res Unity / Sturdy Impact / Mirror Stance

Passive B: Null C-Disrupt / Quick Riposte

Passive C: Pulse Smoke / Atk Smoke

Sacred Seal: Quick Riposte / Swift Stance

  • Innes' refined Nidhogg allows him to play a 'poke' game, moving in to snipe a mage or dragon unit, and then remaining to tank the other mage units who may initiate on him.
  • Although he desperately needs the stat boosts, Solo skills are not synergistic with his prf effects and you can instead run Bond skills or the new Unity skills for better synergy, allowing him to get a few stat boosts by being next to his allies.
  • Null C-Disrupt is his choice in B slots, as it allows him to use his higher Resistance to bait and counterattack healer opponents such as Brave Veronica who can otherwise disable counterattacks.
  • Pulse Smoke and Attack Smoke both help Innes' poke damage, allowing him to debuff his opponents before they can attack him in the Enemy Phase.
  • Innes' below-average Speed means that you shouldn't rely on him doubling his opponent without Speed boosters or Quick Riposte.

Frelia’s Bravest (Brave Bow)

Build by raelet
Recommended
Brave Bow+ A Atk/Spd Boosting A Slot
Alternate: Fury (3 or 4)
Ardent Sacrifice
Alternate: Draw Back
B Desperation 3
Luna
Alternate: Iceberg
C Joint Drive Spd
Alternate: Joint Drive Atk
IVs

+ATK or +SPD / -DEF

SAtk/Spd Solo 3
Alternate: Life and Death 3

Show Explanation/Analysis

Weapon: Brave Bow+  

Assist: Ardent Sacrifice / Draw Back / Player Preference

Special: Luna / Iceberg

Passive A: Atk/Spd Boosting A Slot / Fury

Passive B: Desperation

Passive C: Joint Drive Spd / Joint Drive Atk

Sacred Seal: Atk/Spd Solo / Life and Death

  • This is simply a typical Brave Bow build, geared to make Innes as powerful as possible. This is likely his best offensive build, even though it shoehorns him into an inheritable niche that many other archers can simply do better than him. Still, given the difficulty of building around his mediocre stats and Nidhogg, a Brave Bow build is an easy way to make Innes immediately useful.
  • The concept is simple: boost his Attack and Speed through his A, C, and S slots and give him Desperation to try and quad attack his foes. His lower Attack means that his individual hits won't do too much damage vs tanky foes, but if he can activate a Luna Special against them, he can more easily take them down.

The Princely Assassin (Pseudo-Sweep)

Build by raelet
Nidhogg (+Eff) A Life and Death (3 or 4)
Alternate: C Duel Infantry 3
Positional Assist
Alternate: Rally Spd/Def+
B Windsweep 3
Moonbow
Alternate: Ruptured Sky
C Savage Blow 3
Alternate: Atk Smoke 3
IVs

+SPD or +ATK / -DEF

SPoison Strike 3

Show Explanation/Analysis

Weapon: Nidhogg (+EFF)

Assist: Positional Assist / Rally+ Skill

Special: Moonbow / Ruptured Sky

Passive A: Life and Death / Darting Blow / C Duel Infantry

Passive B: Windsweep

Passive C: Savage Blow / Atk Smoke / Spd Smoke

Sacred Seal: Poison Strike

  • Innes' statline won't get him very far, but his prf can be combined with the B slot Windsweep to effectively give him a pseudo-Firesweep effect, which can be useful in modes like Arena where running a Firesweep weapon will reduce your overall score.
  • This allows him to utilize skills like Savage Blow and Poison strike to get free chip damage on an opponent and either 'feed' KOs to a bonus unit, or simply to whittle down a fearsome enemy until they're low enough to finish off.
  • Note that Nidhogg doesn't have a Speed check vs mages and dragons, but Windsweep does have a Speed check vs physical units. For this reason, Innes' Speed needs to be buffed via skills like Life and Death or Darting Blow.

Strengths

Nidhogg

The personal weapon of Innes, Nidhogg is identical in functionality to an Owl tome, giving him a boost in all stats except HP by the amount of adjacent allies times two. When refined, Nidhogg allows Innes to prevent counterattacks from mages and dragons. While this runs somewhat counterintuitive to Innes' high Resistance stat, it is nevertheless useful as it helps him to safely attack into meta threats.

Infantry

Innes' status as an infantry unit allows him a wide range of inheritable skills which can help to prop up his somewhat-outdated statline.

Weaknesses

Outclassed Statline

Innes' stats weren't that competitive at his release, and he's only gotten more outdated as time goes on. An Atk/Spd statline of 33/34 is just barely workable these days, while his abysmally low Defense of 14 and HP of 35 aren't doing him any favors when it comes to getting hit by physical damage. His only stat that manages to hold up is his Resistance stat of 31, which is - these days - just 'okay'.

Supbar Refine

There are certainly niches where Nidhogg can shine, but overall it's just... okay. Confusingly, it blocks counterattacks from mages instead of other archers or dagger units who would cut through Innes' poor Defense stat like tissue paper, which dramatically hurts Innes' abilities as a generalist. It's also limited to Player Phase only, making it difficult for Innes to position himself where he can attack an enemy while still being protected in the corresponding Enemy Phase.

Weapon Skills

Weapons SP Rng. Mt.
Iron Bow

Effective against flying units.

Only Inheritable by Bow users.
50 2 4
Steel Bow

Effective against flying units.

Only Inheritable by Bow users.
100 2 6
Silver Bow

Effective against flying units.

Only Inheritable by Bow users.
200 2 9
Nidhogg

Effective against flying units.
During combat, unit's Atk/Spd/Def/Res boosted by number of adjacent allies x 2.

Learns by default at 5 ★
Non-Inheritable skill.
400 2 14
Weapon Evolution
Weapon Upgrades
Weapon Upgrades

Special Skills

Special Skills SP Turns
Chilling Wind

Boosts damage dealt by 50% of unit's Res.

Learns by default at 5 ★
Non-inheritable by Staff-wielding units.
100 4
Iceberg

Boosts damage dealt by 50% of unit's Res.

Unlocks at 5 ★
Non-inheritable by Staff-wielding units.
200 3

Passive Skills

Passive Skills SP Slot
Fortress Res 1

Grants Res+3. Inflicts Atk-3.

Inheritable by all units.
40
A
Fortress Res 2

Grants Res+4. Inflicts Atk-3.

Inheritable by all units.
80
A
Fortress Res 3

Grants Res+5. Inflicts Atk-3.

Inheritable by all units.
Unlocks at 5 ★
160
A
Cancel Affinity 1

Any weapon triangle affinity granted by unit's skills is negated. Also negates any weapon triangle affinity granted by foe's skills.

Excludes Tome and Staff Users
50
B
Cancel Affinity 2

Any weapon triangle affinity granted by unit's skills is negated. If affinity disadvantage exists, weapon triangle affinity granted by foe's skills is negated.

Excludes Tome and Staff Users
100
B
Cancel Affinity 3

Any weapon triangle affinity granted by unit's skills is negated. If affinity disadvantage exists, weapon triangle affinity granted by foe's skills is reversed.

Excludes Tome and Staff Users
Unlocks at 5 ★
200
B

Other Info

Origin
Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones

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