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Analysis by ZeShado
Karla - Sword Vassal

5

Obtainable as a 5 only

Hero Stats

Max Avg Total Stats at Lvl 40
162
HP 42
ATK 35
SPD 40
DEF 23
RES 22

Stat Variations

Level 1 Stat Variation
5★
HP ATK SPD DEF RES
Low 17 6 9 5 6
Middle 18 7 10 6 7
High 19 8 11 7 8

Level 40 Stat Variations
5★
HP ATK SPD DEF RES
Low 39 32 37 20 19
Middle 42 35 40 23 22
High 45 38 44 26 25

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

Karla’s the Name! Speed is My Game! (Dodge Tank)

Build by ZeShado
Recommended
Vassal's Blade (+Eff) A Distant Dart
Alternate: Distant Stance
Positional Assist B Spurn 3
Alternate: Special Spiral 3
Vital Astra
Alternate: Noontime
C Time's Pulse 3
Alternate: Joint Drive Atk
IVs

+ATK or +SPD / -RES

SMystic Boost 3
Alternate: Atk/Spd Solo 3

Show Explanation/Analysis

Weapon: Vassal's Blade (+Eff)

Assist: Positional Assist

Special: Vital Astra / Noontime / Sol

A Passive: Distant Dart / Distant Stance / Distant Counter

B Passive: Spurn / Special Spiral

C Passive: Time’s Pulse / Joint Drive Atk / Atk/Spd Oath 4

Sacred Seal: Mystic Boost / Atk/Spd Solo / Darting Breath

  • Vassal’s Blade’s ability to not only act as a conditional Null Follow-Up weapon as well as Karla having access to the likes of Vital Astra and Spurn means that she can act as a fantastic Damage Reduction tank. It’s worth noting that it is notably harder to perform nowadays what with the likes of Deadeye, Lethality, and other similar effects that cut down on Damage Reduction plaguing the meta. As such, only consider it knowing the risks involved.
     
  • Due to the Slaying effect in Vassal’s Blade, Karla is able to run a variety of two-cooldown and three-cooldown Specials of her choice. You can double down on her Damage Reduction by giving her Vital Astra as that can reduce the amount of damage she takes, and even when the effect isn’t active, it still provides damage based on her Spd stat meaning that for damage output purposes, it’s still one of the better Specials for her. She can also opt for sustainability with Specials such as Noontime and Sol, depending on what the rest of the kit entails.
     
  • Having the ability to counter-attack regardless of the foe’s range will be much appreciated. Distant Dart provides additional Spd which can be beneficial for her Spurn-tanking capabilities but given that she’s one of, if not the fastest units in the game, she can instead opt for Distant Stance and bolster her Res so that she’s taking a bit less damage from magical threats. Otherwise, Distant Counter works fine enough.
  • Spurn is going to be the best option of the three Damage Reduction skills as it can grant additional True Damage if the threshold is met. This means Karla could potentially secure kills that she otherwise would’ve missed, albeit anywhere between 1-5 points. That being said, you can’t go wrong with any of the three options. You could also opt for Special Spiral if you want to securely loop Vital Astra, but given that it provides less Damage Reduction than Spurn, the tradeoff may not be worth it.
     
  • If running Vital Astra, Time’s Pulse will do wonders for her as she can have her Special active immediately. Of course, this can be replicated to an extent by external support such as Infantry Pulse, Grandscratcher, Velouria, or Groom Rafiel. Karla can also opt for Joint Drive Atk for more damage output or Atk/Spd Oath 4 which not only grants visible buffs to her Atk and Spd but also acts as a combination of Joint Drive Atk and Joint Drive Spd.
     
  • The Sacred Seal is flexible depending on what you want to prioritize. Mystic Boost is a solid option for sustainability purposes if she isn’t running any healing Specials. Otherwise, Sacred Seals that boost her overall Atk and Spd such as Atk/Spd Solo are good options for her. She can also run Darting Breath if running Sol so she can retaliate with an instant Special.

The Level 5 Warrior Mindset (Galeforce)

Build by ZeShado
Vassal's Blade (+Eff) A Flashing Blade (3 or 4)
Alternate: Fury (3 or 4)
Positional Assist B Wings of Mercy 3
Alternate: Windsweep 3
Galeforce C Time's Pulse 3
Alternate: Def Smoke 3
IVs

+ATK or +SPD / -HP or -RES

SQuickened Pulse
Alternate: Heavy Blade 3 / Flashing Blade 3

Show Explanation/Analysis

Weapon: Vassal's Blade (+Eff)

Assist: Positional Assist

Special: Galeforce

A Passive: Flashing Blade (3 or 4) / Fury (3 or 4)

B Passive: Wings of Mercy / Windsweep

C Passive: Time’s Pulse / Def Smoke / Savage Blow

Sacred Seal: Quickened Pulse / Fury / Atk/Spd Bond / Flashing Blade / Savage Blow

  • The innate Slaying and Null Follow-Up in Vassal’s Blade means there’s not much stopping her from running a competent Galeforce set beyond Guard skills. And even then, given that Guard skills are rare, you’ll find that in most cases Karla will be able to get her Galeforce off with relative ease. This is especially true if you run skills that accelerate her cooldown such as Quickened Pulse and Flashing Blade.
     
  • Karla’s high Spd stat, combined with Vassal Blade’s True Damage, means she’d make perfect use of Flashing Blade 4. Flashing Blade 4 being able to grant an additional five True Damage means that her damage output can still be relatively high, even without a damaging Special. For budget purposes, you can also run Fury, which can make Flashing Blade checks easier and can help her fall into the Wings of Mercy range, especially when paired with the Fury Sacred Seal.
     
  • Karla having innate Null Follow-Up means she can run Windsweep without the follow-up negation penalty. This, on top of the additional 10 Spd she can gain from her weapon, means most melee units are going to struggle to beat the Windsweep effect. Likewise, if you want to run her in Aether Raids, you can run her with Wings of Mercy and act as part of a chain in a Galeforce comp.
     
  • Karla’s C Passive is relatively flexible for the most part. If you want to lower her cooldown as much as possible to make Galeforce easier to trigger, you can give her Time’s Pulse. Time’s Pulse, combined with Quickened Pulse as her Sacred Seal, puts Galeforce at two cooldown, and so long as there aren’t any Guard effects and she can make her Flashing Blade check, which shouldn’t be an issue whatsoever, she’ll be able to trigger Galeforce on the first hit. However, if Time’s Pulse is not an option, she can run Def Smoke, so her next combat allows her to deal with foes more easily, or Savage Blow to make it easier for incoming allies to take out foes. Keep in mind that if she does run double Savage Blow, both in her C Passive and Sacred Seal, there’s a possibility that she may lose her Null Follow-Up effect.
     
  • The Sacred Seal of choice will completely depend on what Karla is already running in her kit. Flashing Blade will be the most desired choice if she isn’t running it as her A Passive. If she is, then you can either increase her damage output with Atk/Spd Bond or Atk/Spd Solo depending on her B Passive. Karla can run Fury as well if you want her to fall into the Wings of Mercy range reliably. If she’s running Time’s Pulse as her C Passive, she can run Quickened Pulse to accelerate her Galeforce even more. Karla can also opt for Savage Blow to make adjacent foes easier to deal with.

If It Ain’t Broke, Don’t Fix It (General Use)

Build by ZeShado
Vassal's Blade (+Eff) A Flashing Blade (3 or 4)
Alternate: Fury (3 or 4)
Positional Assist B Frenzy 3
Alternate: Close Call 3
Luna
Alternate: Galeforce
C Def Smoke 3
Alternate: Odd Tempest 3
IVs

+ATK or +SPD / -HP or -RES

SAtk/Spd Solo 3
Alternate: Flashing Blade 3

Show Explanation/Analysis

Weapon: Vassal's Blade (+Eff)

Assist: Positional Assist

Special: Luna / Galeforce / Vital Astra / Moonbow / Glimmer

A Passive: Flashing Blade (3 or 4) / Fury (3 or 4) / Atk/Spd Boosting A Slot

B Passive: Frenzy / Close Call / Desperation / Hit and Run

C Passive: Def Smoke / Odd Tempest / Time’s Pulse / Even Tempest

Sacred Seal: Atk/Spd Solo / Flashing Blade / Quickened Pulse

  • There are a lot of Specials at her disposal that she can make great use of. If she wants to prioritize damage output, she can run all sorts of damaging Specials such as Luna, Vital Astra, Moonbow, and Glimmer. Likewise, because her weapon has innate Slaying, she can run Galeforce. It’s rather flexible at the end of the day, so it’ll all come down to preference.
     
  • There are a lot of skills you can give Karla depending on what you have available. Anything that raises Atk and Spd should realistically be fine in the grand scheme of things. Fury is a notable outlier as it can allow allies to run Wings of Mercy and provide additional support. Likewise, you can give her Flashing Blade for the cooldown acceleration.
     
  • Karla can run quite a bit of B Passives, but depending on the one you choose will more than likely influence the rest of her kit. Frenzy or Desperation can work for getting Specials off quickly and consistently, whether that’d be damaging or Galeforce. The latter has a bit more flexibility as that can also be paired with the likes of Close Call and Hit and Run.
     
  • Because Karla is an Infantry unit, she is able to access the Tempest line of skills. This can be nice for Hit and Run strategies with skills such as Galeforce and Close Call or Hit and Run. The reason Close Call is an option over the other Damage Reduction skills is because of the movement that applies after combat, and since Karla has a fantastic Spd stat, she can live more combat and avoid enemy phase damage if her Galeforce triggers. Time’s Pulse is a good option as well if paired with the Quickened Pulse Sacred Seal and Galeforce, as that’ll turn it into a two-cooldown Special. For budget purposes, she can run Def Smoke which will help with her overall damage output.
     
  • Karla’s Sacred Seal can be interchanged depending on what the rest of her kit entails. If she’s running Flashing Blade as her A Passive, she can run Atk/Spd Solo and vice versa if the opposite applies. Quickened Pulse is also an option if the goal is to have a quick Galeforce trigger.

Strengths

Vassal’s Blade

    Slaying, Null Follow-Up, 5/10 additional Atk/Spd, and True Damage based on 15% of her Spd stat. Vassal’s Blade has quite a bit going for it to the point where Karla’s viability goes from passable to one of the better options in her respective class.

Incredibly Offensive

    Assuming that every condition is met on Vassal’s Blade, Karla’s offensive stat spread goes from 35/40 Atk/Spd at base to 40/50 Atk/Spd before any skills, blessings, buffs, merges, and so on. Assuming you take the Resplendent stats into account as well, that’s an additional two points to her Atk and Spd, turning her into an offensive powerhouse.

Flexible Playstyle

    Since the first half of Vassal’s Blade’s effects are locked behind either initiating combat or being within two spaces of an ally, and the other half is locked behind the foe’s HP being equal to or above 75% HP, Karla is able to take on a role for either phase.

Weaknesses

Competition

    It goes without saying that there are a lot of swords in the game, and Karla being one means she has to compete with the likes of Mareeta, Young Mia, and so on. This isn’t to say she’s bad by any means, but with more available options at your disposal, you may find that she’s not the desired option of choice.

The 75% HP Threshold

    If Karla were to miss out on a kill, whether that’d be due to Damage Reduction or from a weapon triangle disadvantage, she will lose her Null Follow-Up effect. This may not be the worst thing to lose depending on how much HP the foe has left, but it will hinder skills such as Windsweep and Watersweep as she’ll no longer be able to double through the follow-up prevention.

Weapon Skills

Weapons SP Rng. Mt.
Iron Sword
Only Inheritable by Sword Units.
50 1 6
Steel Sword
Only Inheritable by Sword Units.
100 1 8
Wo Dao

Grants +10 to damage when Special triggers.

Only Inheritable by Sword Units.
200 1 9
Vassal's Blade

Accelerates Special trigger (cooldown count-1). If unit's Spd > foe's Spd, boosts damage dealt by 70% of difference between stats. (Maximum bonus of +7 damage. Combos with Phantom Spd.)

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

Special Skills

Special Skills SP Turns
Dragon Gaze

Boosts damage by 30% of unit's Atk.

Non-inheritable by Staff-wielding units.
100 4
Draconic Aura

Boosts damage by 30% of unit's Atk.

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

Passive Skills

Passive Skills SP Slot
Wrath 1

At start of turn, if unit's HP ≤ 25% and unit's attack can trigger their Special, grants Special cooldown count-1, and deals +10 damage when Special triggers.

Melee, Infantry, and Armored Only
60
B
Wrath 2

At start of turn, if unit's HP ≤ 50% and unit's attack can trigger their Special, grants Special cooldown count-1, and deals +10 damage when Special triggers.

Melee, Infantry, and Armored Only
120
B
Wrath 3

At start of turn, if unit's HP ≤ 75% and unit's attack can trigger their Special, grants Special cooldown count-1, and deals +10 damage when Special triggers.

Melee, Infantry, and Armored Only
Unlocks at 5 ★
240
B
Even Spd Wave 1

At start of even-numbered turns, grants Spd+2 to unit and adjacent allies for 1 turn.
(Bonus granted to unit even if no allies are adjacent.)

Inheritable by all units.
60
C
Even Spd Wave 2

At start of even-numbered turns, grants Spd+4 to unit and adjacent allies for 1 turn.
(Bonus granted to unit even if no allies are adjacent.)

Inheritable by all units.
120
C
Even Spd Wave 3

At start of even-numbered turns, grants Spd+6 to unit and adjacent allies for 1 turn. (Bonus granted to unit even if no allies are adjacent.)

Inheritable by all units.
Unlocks at 5 ★
240
C

Other Info

Origin
Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade

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