Legendary Marth

Weapon: Exalted Falchion (+Eff)

Assist: Positional Assist

Special: Shining Emblem

A Passive: Atk/Def Unity / Atk/Spd Unity

B Passive: Null Follow-Up / Binding Shield II

C Passive: Joint Drive Atk / Joint Drive Spd / Pulse Smoke

Sacred Seal: Steady Breath / Atk/Def Form

• Legendary Marth’s refine has opened up a new avenue for him. Exalted Falchion not only kept its base Bonus Doubler effect but now has Spectrum Unity, meaning that he’ll always have stat bonuses present. Likewise, the refine also grants upwards of an additional +8 to every stat, pushing Legendary Marth’s decent Def stat to something much more respectable. As such, Legendary Marth now has the opportunity to act as a Melee Specialist with his Exalted Falchion refine.
   
• Shining Emblem scaling additional damage based on Legendary Marth’s Spd stat can allow him to output a significant amount of damage each combat, provided that he is able to trigger it. There isn’t really a decent substitute for his Special since the cooldown count is low and the amount of damage it scales is significantly high.
   
• Two fantastic options for Legendary Marth’s A Passive are Atk/Def Unity and Atk/Spd Unity. Since Unity skills stack, it can significantly increase the amount of stats Legendary Marth gains from a penalty. As such, he can focus on two types of approaches. The first one is survivability where he would run Atk/Def Unity and be able to take on Melee foes while minimizing the damage taken in the enemy phase. The second one is nuking where he would run Atk/Spd Unity and stack his Spd stat into oblivion so that Shining Emblem deals a massive amount of damage. Either approach is fine since Legendary Marth already has Unity in his weapon.
   
• Null Follow-Up is pretty much the bread and butter skill for Aether Raids Offense sets as many foes come with guaranteed follow-up attacks and can run Impact skills to negate follow-ups. Legendary Marth could always opt for Damage Reduction skills, but given that he has Spectrum Unity and Spectrum 8 in his weapon, he’ll more than likely be minimizing the amount of damage he would take from Melee foes as is. As such, it would be best to run Null Follow-Up or, if on budget, his innate Binding Shield II.
   
• Since Legendary Marth will more than likely be near allies, he can either opt for Joint Drive Atk or Joint Drive Spd in his C Passive. Joint Drive Atk is good for overall damage output while Joint Drive Spd is good for securing more doubles. He can also go with Pulse Smoke to negate instant Specials from enemy teams, but given that it isn’t nearly as common as before, he may want to stick with a Joint Drive.
   
• For Legendary Marth’s Sacred Seal, he can either opt for Steady Breath or Atk/Def Form. Steady Breath is good all-around for triggering Shining Emblem since he not only lacks slaying, but if the foe has a Guard effect, Steady Breath can allow him to trigger his Special on the second hit. Meanwhile, if you want to focus on his tanking abilities as a Melee Specialist, he can run Atk/Def Form since it can scale up to an additional +7 to his Atk and Def.

Weapon: Ninja Katana+ / Slaying Edge+ (+SPD) / Brave Sword+

Assist: Positional Assist

Special: Galeforce / Shining Emblem

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

B Passive: Lull Spd/Def / Close Call / Hit and Run / Wings of Mercy

C Passive: Time’s Pulse / Pulse Smoke / Spd Smoke / Def Smoke / Joint Drive ATK / Joint Drive SPD

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

• Ninja Katana is used to not only help proc Flashing Blade checks but allow Marth to charge up his Galeforce before the foe can retaliate and potentially defeat Marth in the process. For budget purposes, you can still run a Brave Sword and be fine as the SPD loss can be made up with passives. However, given how low MT the weapons are, if you are worried about damage output, you can always run a Slaying Edge+ with a SPD refine as that will not only make Galeforce a 4 CD special but also alleviate the need for Time’s Pulse/Quickened Pulse.
   
• The nature of Marth’s statline and class type means he can fully take advantage of Galeforce if he so wishes. For example, he can run Flashing Blade 3 or 4 as his SPD stat is relatively good at a base of 36. Likewise, because he is an infantry unit, he can run Time’s Pulse which will always make Galeforce into a 4 CD special at the beginning of his Player Phase.
   
• Depending on which slot you want Flashing Blade to occupy, you can either run skills that increase his ATK and SPD in his A Passive or as his Sacred Seal. There are pros to either method. Running Flashing Blade as his A Passive allows Marth to run the tier 4 variant which grants true damage as long as he outspeeds his foe. Likewise, if he runs Flashing Blade as his Sacred Seal, he can run skills in his A Passive that increase his ATK and SPD much more significantly such as with Atk/Spd Push 4 and Swift Sparrow.
   
• It becomes much more interesting when you get to his B Passives as there is a lot more variety with how he can Galeforce. If you want him to secure kills while also securing Flashing Blade checks, you can run Lull Spd/Def as his B Passive. Likewise, you can run a hit-and-run set with either Close Call or Hit and Run. Close Call gives Marth the ability to survive more combats if he misses any kills in the process as damage reduction skills work in both phases. However, Hit and Run can be more than enough in a lot of scenarios and since both move the unit a space back, either option is fine. Finally, there is Wings of Mercy. Wings of Mercy can be used for Galeforce Chaining, similar to how dancers run Wings of Mercy except rather than refreshing, you attack instead. Likewise, you can ditch Galeforce and run Slaying Edge+ with Time’s Pulse so you can trigger Shining Emblem twice in a single combat, assuming the foe attacks back, as Time’s Pulse with Slaying Edge+ will turn Shining Emblem into a 0 CD special.
   
• Time’s Pulse is the recommended C Passive for Galeforce Marth as the brave weapons lack slaying. However, as previously mentioned, if you choose to run a Slaying Edge+ instead, then you won’t need Time’s Pulse and can substitute that skill for Pulse Smoke, Spd Smoke, or Def Smoke as well as Joint Drives if you plan on using Wings of Mercy.
   
• Finally, there’s the sacred seal, which will completely depend on what weapon, A Passive, and C Passive is being used. If you happen to have a free Sacred Seal slot, you can always run more skills that increase ATK and SPD such as Atk/Spd Solo and Swift Sparrow.

Weapon: Exalted Falchion (+Eff)

Assist: Any Rally+

Special: Shining Emblem

A Passive: R Duel Infantry 4 / Atk/Spd Boosting A Slot

B Passive: Binding Shield II

C Passive: Joint Drive Atk / Joint Drive Spd / Atk/Spd Menace

Sacred Seal: Atk/Spd Solo / Flashing Blade

• As a Legendary unit, Legendary Marth by default has a significant presence in Arena game modes. As such, it would only make sense to make a dedicated build for Arena and similar modes. Moreover, Exalted Falchion having Dragon effectiveness and Binding Shield II having the ability to secure doubles and inflict Firesweep against Dragons makes Legendary Marth a fantastic Arena and Arena Assault unit in general. As such, we’ll be focusing on skills that mainly increase his ability to score well.
   
• Legendary Marth can score in the 180 BST bin since he has access to a PRF B Passive. As such, he’ll want to run R Duel Infantry 4 as the base effect puts him at 175 BST, and then the rest of his kit, provided that they all score 300 SP, will push him into the 180 BST bin. That being said, if you mainly want to use him in Arena Assault, post-match one, you can always opt for an Atk/Spd boosting A Passive as those will be his most important stats.
   
• Binding Shield II is essentially irreplaceable since it allows Legendary Marth to reach the 180 BST bin. That being said, there really is no reason to replace it for anything else since the effects that it grants allow him to perform to the best of his abilities in Arena and other similar modes. Even if you just use him as an Arena Assault check, the ability to negate enemy counterattacks, as well as secure doubles, means that you’ll less likely fall in battle. Thus, maximizing your overall score.
   
• Any C Passive that scores 300 SP will be desired for Legendary Marth as it’ll be required for him to reach the 180 BST bin. A few notable options include Joint Drive Atk, Joint Drive Spd, and Atk/Spd Menace. Atk/Spd Menace may seem like a bad choice for his C Passive since Shining Emblem grants +6 to every stat at the start of the turn if near allies, but keep in mind that it also debuffs the foe’s Atk and Spd as well. This can allow Legendary Marth to trigger Binding Shield II more frequently since it requires him to have at least five more Spd than the foe. However, if you don’t want to run that, he can simply take Joint Drive Atk or Joint Drive Spd, depending on preference.
   
• For Legendary Marth’s Sacred Seal, he can either run an Atk/Spd boosting Sacred Seal or Heavy Blade. Anything that increases his Atk and Spd is going to be worthwhile since it’ll help with damage output and Binding Shield II’s Spd check. Meanwhile, Flashing Blade can be helpful for securing Shining Emblem triggers in every combat he enters. Since he won’t be able to run Time’s Pulse, provided that he’ll want to score well, Flashing Blade will be the go-to Sacred Seal for damage output purposes.