Legendary Eliwood

Weapon: Ardent Durandal (+Eff)

Assist: Positional Assist / Flexible

Special:  Moonbow / Luna / Bonfire

Passive A: Atk/Spd Catch  / Swift Sparrow / Surge Sparrow / Death Blow

Passive B: Flow Guard / Flow Refresh / Ruse Skills / Feint Skills / Chill Def/Res

Passive C: Vision of Arcadia II

Sacred Seal: Drive Skills / Chill Skills / Swift Sparrow / Atk/Spd Solo 

• This is a pretty straightforward set that builds on Legendary Eliwood’s ability to serve as a commendable source of damage output and stellar stat buffer, with his PRF conditions allowing him to fulfill both roles freely — and without sacrificing potency in either role. In the context of competitive modes, this often translates to Eliwood acting as clean-up (which can be pretty nice to have when under a time crunch and/or limited attackers are available, such as in Aether Raids Offense where supporters who bundle around the main carries don’t always have the strongest damage). 
• Any A skill that supplements both of his offensive stats works well, with some of his better options including Atk/Spd Catch, Surge Sparrow, Swift Sparrow, and Atk/Spd Push — the choice largely lies in which condition or secondary effects you prefer. Of those mentioned, Atk/Spd Catch is most notable for providing the most consistently high stat enhancements available, while Surge Sparrow grants nifty healing on Special triggers.
• Legendary Eliwood comes with Flow Refresh by default following his Remix, and this skill works perfectly fine on a budget — the healing is more of an added bonus rather than a central component, but the main draw lies in the partial Null Follow-Up effect it grants to freely break through enemy mechanics that otherwise would impede his damage output. If available, though, Flow Guard is generally stronger as the Guard effect it applies upon initiations helps make his initiations much, much safer.
  • Near Trace skills are traditionally strong candidates for melee cavaliers like him, but they prove pretty redundant in Eliwood’s case as Vision of Arcadia II provides 【Canto (１)】by default. They are still an option if you prefer the flexibility of 【Canto (Rem. +1)】but… honestly, the resources are better spent elsewhere.
  • Those seeking a more supportive lean, though, can consider traditional supportive B skills like Ruses, Feints, and the burgeoning line of fourth-tier Chill skills that have a “spreading effect” to supplement his buffing prowess with debuffing utility. The choice largely relies on personal preference.
• Similarly, Eliwood’s Sacred Seal choices are flexible between more selfish or more supportive options: those that boost his own stats like Atk/Spd Solo and Swift Sparrow are excellent to push his damage a little bit further, while others that enhance that of his allies like Drive Atk and Distant Guard work well to help build his team’s stats further. As always, use your discretion here.

Weapon: Ardent Durandal (+Eff)

Assist: Positional Assist / Flexible

Special: Galeforce

Passive A: Heavy Blade / Atk/Spd Catch / Swift Sparrow / Death Blow

Passive B: Wings of Mercy

Passive C: Vision of Arcadia II

Sacred Seal: Quickened Pulse / Heavy Blade

• Although Legendary Eliwood retains his signature mix of offensive and supportive utility, this build shifts from general usage recommendations to instead emphasize his ability to wield the powerful but finicky Galeforce Special. A +ATK should be prioritized to ensure Heavy Blade activations in Aether Raids Offense compositions. 
• Galeforce is a powerful Special that immediately enables another action upon activation (acting as a self-refresh), but comes with a steep penalty via its lengthy five-turn cooldown at base. While this is easily remedied by simply slapping on the Heavy Blade Sacred Seal for general gameplay, mitigating this takes a bit more finesse for Aether Raids Offense.
  • This is primarily owed to the innate time crunch of such strategies: it becomes crucial that Legendary Eliwood be able to trigger the Special with as seamless of a transition as possible, and in as little hits as possible to avoid complications.
  • For this reason, equipping the Heavy Blade A skill + Quickened Pulse is highly advised. Effectively minimizing the number of hits necessary to activate Galeforce down to two, this ensures Eliwood can trigger the Special in one round of combat if he passes the Heavy Blade check and no Guard effect is active. 
    • Do note that if it's Astra Season and you have access to Thorr’s Worldbreaker, Heavy Blade can actually be made entirely non-essential to instead make room for traditional Atk/Spd boosting A skills. He still needs Quickened Pulse, though, unless you’re also able to supply an additional Special charge from someone like Valentine’s Chrom.
• While similar cavalry units often have to pick and choose between Wings of Mercy and a Trace skill for Galeforce builds, Eliwood’s Vision of Arcadia II rectifies this by consistently providing access to 【Canto (１)】at the start of every turn! Thus, he is able to equip Wings of Mercy worry-free and leverage the quick access it provides to the enemy team without sacrificing momentum — all that’s required is someone to act as a low HP beacon, which are already standard for such set-ups.