Joshua

• Weapon: Audhulma

• Assist: Reposition 

• Special: Glimmer / Moonbow / Blue Flame

• Passive A: Distant Counter

• Passive B: Quick Riposte / Wrath / Vantage

• Passive C: Def Ploy / Spd Ploy / Atk Ploy

• Sacred Seal: Distant Def / Quick Riposte / Def Ploy / Atk Ploy

With his naturally high defensive stats combined with his personal weapon, Joshua can make for a great user of Distant Counter.

Distant Counter will allow Joshua to retaliate against any foe who attacks him at range, skills like Sacae’s Blessing permitting. Joshua’s solid 33 Resistance with Audhulma plus the Distant Def Sacred Seal will allow him to reach 39 Resistance when attacked by mages, allowing him to easily defend against green mages while also resisting red mages fairly well. He will also have 36 Defense against any archer or ninja who attacks him too. Quick Riposte in turn will allow Joshua to obtain a guaranteed follow-up attack against anyone who attacks him.

Given Joshua’s great Resistance, he can also make good use of the ploy skills. Def Ploy will let him deal more damage against anyone affected, Spd Ploy will reduce the enemies chances of doubling Joshua and Atk Ploy will reduce the damage any affected unit deals. Which one you want is mostly up to player preference.

For his Special, Glimmer works great against mages as it will in general help more than Moonbow would due to mages usually having low Defense with some exceptions. This being said, Moonbow is still a great choice thanks to its low cooldown. While it wouldn't be activating as consistently as Moonbow or Glimmer, Blue Flame is a very strong Special that gives a huge power boost when Joshua is adjacent to an ally, making it another solid choice. The Assist slot is fairly open to player preference, though Reposition is a nice general choice.

If you want, you can replace the Distant Def Sacred Seal with the Quick Riposte, Def Ploy, or Atk Ploy Sacred Seal. While this comes at the cost of losing the benefits of Distant Def, this will free up one of Joshua's skill slots depending on which Sacred Seal you use. You can run double ploys if you use either the Atk or Def Ploy Sacred Seal or you can run Quick Riposte with another B slot such as Wrath or Vantage. It is still recommended to use Distant Def as the Sacred Seal, but these alternative Sacred Seal options are there as options for a more creative take on this build.

• Weapon: Slaying Edge (+Spd) / Slaying Edge (+Def) / Audhulma

• Assist: Reposition

• Special: Blue Flame / Aether

• A Slot: Steady Breath / Close Def

• B Slot: Quick Riposte / Guard / Renewal

• C Slot: Even Def Wave / Player Preference

• Sacred Seal: Close Def / Quick Riposte

Thanks to his good defensive capabilities, Joshua can work very well in a defensive setup.

While Audhulma is perfectly viable here, running a Slaying Edge will give free choice in what stat you want Joshua’s weapon to boost, as well as some extra HP. Either a Speed or Defense refine works nicely. Audhulma will be your best bet for Arena scoring or for using Ploy skills though. The Assist slot is completely open, with any option being viable. Reposition is a nice general choice for most units. For Special, both Blue Flame and Aether make fantastic choices. Blue Flame is an immensely powerful Special when adjacent to an ally while Aether is great for dealing damage and helping Joshua to sustain himself. Aether is only advised with Steady Breath however due to the lengthy cooldown.

Speaking of, Steady Breath is a fantastic A slot choice. Steady Breath gives Joshua a Defense boost whenever attacked but more importantly, makes each action give two Special charge instead of one when attacked, allowing him to consistently activate Blue Flame or Aether. Joshua’s default A slot, Close Def, is also a solid option. While Joshua is fast, he’s not fast enough to always guarantee a follow-up attack, so Quick Riposte is extremely useful. Guard is also a strong choice, preventing the enemy from quickly charging their Special which helps against opponents with skills such as Bold Fighter. Renewal is a cheaper but still strong B slot which grants Joshua with some healing every other turn for good self sustainability. The C slot is completely open. A Wave Skill such as Even Def Wave will be a strong choice so Joshua can boost his own Defense, but if buffs can be provided, this is unnecessary. As he’ll likely always be close to teammates, skills such as Drives and Tactics are strong options. With the Audhulma, Joshua can also run Ploy skills.

Finally, Close Def makes for a solid Sacred Seal choice as to help increase Joshua’s defenses even further when attacked in close quarters. If Quick Riposte is not being used in the B slot, it also makes for a strong choice in the Sacred Seal slot.

• Weapon: Slaying Edge (+Spd) / Audhulma

• Assist: Reposition

• Special: Moonbow / Glimmer / Blue Flame

• Passive A: Fury / Close Def

• Passive B: Wrath / Quick Riposte / Desperation

• Passive C: Def Ploy / Spd Ploy / Atk Ploy

• Sacred Seal: Speed +3 / Quick Riposte / Atk Ploy / Def Ploy

Joshua’s overall balanced stats lend well to running a frontline fighter build, designed to be versatile and effective in most scenarios.

While Audhulma is effective with this set, opting for a Slaying Edge instead will allow Joshua to refine it in order to boost a stat that will help him more with this set. Fury boosts Joshua’s already good overall stats further, making him more effective across the board in terms of offense and defense. He can also make use of his default Close Def thanks to his good defensive stats. Wrath allows Joshua to proc his Special faster and deal extra damage when it activates, making it a great choice for him. Quick Riposte is another good option, particularly if paired with Close Def for that guaranteed follow-up while Desperation is a good option for a more aggressive focus. As for Sacred Seal, boosting his Speed with the Speed Sacred Seal is an effective option, but you can also run the Quick Riposte Sacred Seal in combination with Wrath as while the HP range in which both skills are active is extremely limited, having both on the same character allows for Joshua to make use of Quick Riposte while on high HP then utilize Wrath as his HP gets lower.

With Wrath, a good Special is also needed with it. Thanks to their cooldown of one with a Slaying Edge or Audhulma, both Moonbow and Glimmer make for strong choices. Blue Flame is another solid option, given that Wrath will help Joshua to charge it very consistently, particularly on Enemy Phase. The Assist slot is open to player preference, with Reposition being a safe choice for most units.

Finish off this build with a Ploy of your choice with Def Ploy, Spd Ploy, or Atk Ploy all being viable options and you’ll have a nice package that can attack, defend and support all in one. You can also opt to use either Def or Atk Ploy as Joshua's Sacred Seal as opposed to Speed +3 or Quick Riposte, allowing Joshua to run double ploy skills.

• Weapon: Slaying Edge (+Spd) / Audhulma

• Assist: Reposition

• Special: Moonbow / Luna

• Passive A: Life and Death / Swift Sparrow / Fury

• Passive B: Desperation / Wrath

• Passive C: Threaten Def

• Sacred Seal: Speed +3

With good Attack and Speed, Joshua can go for full offense if you so desire.

With Life and Death 3, Joshua is boosted to 52 Attack and 40 Speed. While Audhulma may be a 16 might weapon, opting instead for a Slaying Edge will allow Joshua to take a Speed refine, placing him up to 43 Speed. However, Audhulma is still more than viable for this build. Meanwhile, he still has decent defenses with 25 Defense and 23 Resistance (28 with Audhulma). If you don’t want to suffer a defensive penalty, Swift Sparrow is also a great option. Desperation allows Joshua to make any follow-up attacks immediately, so long as he’s below 75% HP and does actually double in the first place. Wrath is another good option to get more power out of your Special. Since he’ll most likely be in the middle of battle, Threaten Def makes for a good C slot to lower the Defense of any enemy within 2 spaces of him without having to rely on having more Resistance than them.

Both Moonbow and Luna are strong Specials for an offensive playstyle, Moonbow in particular thanks to the one charge cooldown it’ll have with a Slaying Edge or Audhulma. The Assist is open to player preference. Reposition is a fine general choice that’ll allow Joshua to help with unit positioning.

While other sword units such as Ayra are better suited for aggressive setups like this, Joshua can still run this set well and enjoy strong offensive power while still maintaining respectable defenses.