Legendary Ephraim

Weapon: Flame Siegmund (+EFF)

Assist: Positional Assist / Assistless / Flexible

Special: Dragon Fang / Ignis / Glimmer / Ruptured Sky 

Passive A: Atk/Def Catch / Atk/Def Solo / Atk/Def Push / AR-D Atk/Def

Passive B: Solar Brace II

Passive C: Fatal Smoke / Def Smoke / Joint Drive Atk / Flexible

Sacred Seal: Death Blow / Atk/Def Solo / Sturdy Blow / Hardy Bearing

• Legendary Ephraim’s solid base Attack, cavalry movement,  and assortment of goodies from his two PRF skills altogether let him excel at offensive play; this build emphasizes moreso on maximizing his damage ceiling to threaten enemy foes, with some consideration to Aether Raids Defense. 
• His Assist skill choice is inconsequential for general gameplay; simply slot in any movement based option like Reposition based on your preference. However, if using him in Aether Raids Defense, it may be best to simply not equip one at all for a standard movement-based overload outside of attempts to use something like a Rally trap. 
• The pairing of “Breath”-esque Special acceleration from refined Flame Siegmund and Guard nullification from Solar Brace II is exceptionally synergistic, and lends itself well here to enable the use of powerful Specials that would otherwise take too long to charge; among them, Dragon Fang and Ignis scale best with his stat distribution. Glimmer and Ruptured Sky are alternatives to have a Special that charges in one hit.
• For his A skill, Legendary Ephraim realistically works well with anything that boosts his Attack, and secondly his Defense if possible (as that is his next best stat). This includes his base Atk/Def Solo, but also extends to other options like Atk/Def Catch (which currently provides the greatest potential buffs), Atk/Def Push 4, and AR-D Atk/Def depending on context and what works best with your specific playstyle, needs, and skill availability.
• Smoke skills shine amongst Legendary Ephraim’s C skill options thanks to their ability to debilitate enemy groups for smoother subsequent matchups. Def Smoke is the most generally useful of those available, but special consideration should be given to Fatal Smoke (and to a lesser extent, Panic Smoke) for Aether Raids Defense. Joint Drive Atk also works well for mutual boosts to Ephraim’s damage as well as that of any nearby allies. 
• Lastly, any Sacred Seal that augments Legendary Ephraim’s Attack is worth using, including skills like Death Blow and Atk/Def Solo. Specifically for Aether Raids Defense, Hardy Bearing is a potential alternative if Vantage strategies are particularly prevalent among the teams that challenge your map. 

Weapon: Flame Siegmund (+EFF)

Assist: Positional Assist / Flexible

Special: Galeforce 

Passive A: Atk/Def Catch / Atk/Def Solo / Death Blow / Atk/Def Push

Passive B: Solar Brace II

Passive C: Joint Drive Atk / Savage Blow / Smoke Skills / Flexible

Sacred Seal: Quickened Pulse

• This is yet another offensively-tuned setup, but alternatively highlights Legendary Ephraim’s impressive maneuverability by merit of his three-space movement, facility in activating Galeforce, and【Canto (２)】access for use in Aether Raids Offense. Since the focus is on offensive play, however, a +ATK IV is once again the prime choice.
• The key to Legendary Ephraim’s success here, as briefly mentioned, remains in the combination of the Galeforce Special (whose self-refreshing quality allows him and his team to chain multiple initiations in quick succession) and his PRF skills: Siegmund + his Guard negation circumvents its otherwise long cooldown without fear of being slowed, and Canto provides welcome breathing room for any potential complications that may occur in a given Offense run. 
  • Something to consider when including Legendary Ephraim in a composition for Offense purposes, though, is Solar Brace II’s post-combat healing, as this is directly anti-synergistic with the common Wings of Mercy strategy used in many traditional Galeforce compositions. 
  • This essentially means that Legendary Ephraim should typically not be depended on as a low HP beacon for such compositions, in addition to meaning that he will generally need outside assistance from refreshers or allies equipped with Assists such as Smite to obtain close proximity to the enemy team.
  • With this in mind, it may be simpler to use Legendary Ephraim with a more hit-and-run inclined strategy in mind, employing both Galeforce and Canto effect as methods of escape. This would ideally work as follows: Ephraim initiates against an opponent and gains enough charges to trigger Galeforce, moves back up to three spaces and uses either an Assist or attacks a structure, and then uses Solar Brace II’s Canto to retreat another two spaces. 
    • The advent of the Safety Fence does make this quite potent to essentially snipe a free kill from the enemy team, provided no traps impede Legendary Ephraim’s initial assault. 
• Joint Drive Atk is an exceptional C skill to use here if using Ephraim in a standard Galeforce chain alongside his team, as this then essentially provides stats for free since everyone should be close to each other regardless. Smoke skills also work excellently to aid subsequent matchups, with those that apply stat debuffs being useful if paired with allies who rely on Heavy or Flashing Blade to activate Galeforce. 
• The Quickened Pulse Sacred Seal is ideal to reduce the amount of hits necessary to activate Galeforce down to two. This means that any foe who can counterattack will immediately let Legendary Ephraim activate his Special, though it may be preferable to provide additional cooldown reduction (via support like Velouria’s Wolfpup Fang) to potentially let him charge it with just his attack for maximum safety.

Weapon: Flame Siegmund (+EFF)

Assist: Positional Assist / Flexible

Special: Glimmer / Noontime / Moonbow

Passive A: Sturdy Stance 3 / Close Def 4 / Atk/Def Solo

Passive B: Solar Brace II

Passive C: Atk Smoke / Def Smoke / Joint Drive Skills / Flexible

Sacred Seal: Atk/Def Solo / Mystic Boost / Close Def / Sturdy Stance

• Since virtually all of his PRF’s effects can remain active during the Enemy Phase (except Canto), one also has the option of capitalizing on Legendary Ephraim’s respectable Defense to specialize the lord as a dedicated physical tank. His Resistance is far too low to ever consider magical tanking — especially with how offensively overloaded relevant magic nukes are nowadays — so pairing him with a Far Save ally will assist greatly in alleviating this weakness. 
• Specials with two-turn cooldowns are Legendary Ephraim’s ideal choice since refined Flame Siegmund and Solar Brace II ensure that they will activate on every counterattack, maximizing the advantages of his innate Breath access. Glimmer scales well with his naturally high damage output, but Noontime works well to further supplement the healing provided by his B skill. Moonbow is usually unnecessary, but may be worth it if you commonly run into high Defense foes. 
• Sturdy Stance 3 is a stellar A skill choice for its permanent Guard effect in the Enemy Phase; since his Speed is not fast enough to reliably avoid enemy doubles and he lacks access to any form of follow-up negation, this helps him avoid an untimely death from a foe gathering enough Special charges to burst through his defenses. Close Def 4 is also an option to deny enemy buffs, though this sacrifices his damage output considerably. Otherwise, simply use Atk/Def Solo 4 — it provides strong values, packs dual phase functionality, and already comes in his kit anyway. 
• While it may seem strange to retain Solar Brace II despite Canto’s inability to activate in the Enemy Phase, its Guard nullification is always useful and the constant 10 HP heal it applies does come in handy for supplementing his longevity. Plus… he really doesn’t have any other B skill option to use since cavalry units are a little lacking in defensive B slots, and his PRFs already pack everything he would otherwise want from what is available.
• Smoke skills complement defensive styles quite well when attempting to bait multiple foes at once. Atk Smoke is great to add on to Ephraim’s overall durability, though Def Smoke is better if damage is preferred. Joint Drives also work well. For his Sacred Seal, either a standard stat-boosting skill or Mystic Boost (for bonus healing) should be equipped; he has no need for anything else like Quick Riposte.