GamePress

Legendary Ryoma

Analysis by MackerelPye
Legendary Ryoma - Supreme Samurai

5

Obtainable as a 5 only

Hero Stats

Max Avg Total Stats at Lvl 40
162
HP 41
ATK 34
SPD 39
DEF 28
RES 20

Stat Variations

Level 1 Stat Variation
5★
HP ATK SPD DEF RES
Low 16 7 10 5 4
Middle 17 8 11 6 5
High 18 9 12 7 6

Level 40 Stat Variations
5★
HP ATK SPD DEF RES
Low 38 31 36 24 17
Middle 41 34 39 28 20
High 44 37 42 31 23

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

25ターン経過。あなたが死ぬ時が来たのです。 (Mixed-Phase Tank)

Build by MackerelPye
Recommended
Raijinto (+Eff) A Atk/Spd Boosting A Slot
Alternate: Atk/Res Unity
Positional Assist B Bushido II
Noontime
Alternate: Moonbow
C Atk/Spd Rein 3
IVs

+SPD or +ATK / -HP or -RES

SAtk/Spd Solo 3
Alternate: Mystic Boost 3

Show Explanation/Analysis

Weapon: Raijinto (+Eff)

Assist: Reposition

Special: Noontime / Moonbow

Passive A: Atk/Spd Catch / Kestrel Stance 3 / Steady Posture 3 / Solo skills / Unity skills

Passive B: Bushido II

Passive C: Atk/Spd Rein 

Sacred Seal: Atk/Spd Solo / Mystic Boost / Spd/Res Solo / Equivalent Stances

  • Ryoma's remixed base kit pushes him into the tried-and-true godsword build that's sort of become an overnight hit on other fast melee infantry units. Though much of listed skill combinations are rather standard, Ryoma has a couple of obvious and very significant differentiating factors.
    • Bushido II adds +7 damage for free on every hit, which tends to add up quickly especially in longer-winded matchups and helps him pick up the slack against more physically abled enemies. More importantly, however, it contributes significantly to this build's purpose by granting Dodge — that is, reducing damage by a maximum of 40% the faster Ryoma versus his current enemy — as well as nullifying his bow weakness (amongst other weapons) entirely. 
    • Raijinto provides distant countering, spectrum stats, and, most importantly of all, a compressed form of Null Follow-Up built into his weapon, giving him more ease against enemies with artificial follow-up skills. The last two effects require Ryoma to initiate or be nearby allies, the latter of which is a very common scenario when setting up carry unit positioning in Aether Raids anyway.
    • Ryoma's flier status affords him access to the Rein skill line — especially his new default Atk/Spd Rein which you'll find difficult to replace on a bulky offense hybrid build such as this one. Additionally, he has objectively superior movement options, allowing him to initiate and plonk in flier-traversable areas whereas infantry units are a little pickier with where they fight. 
  • To improve longevity, Noontime allows Ryoma to heal on counterattacks at almost any moment's notice, and Mystic Boost in the Sacred Seal can also be taken regardless of Special as a reliable form of after-combat sustain. 
  • The A-slot is pretty much free for any stat swing skills of your choice thanks to Raijinto's innate Distant Counter. 
    • Atk/Spd Catch is a bit rare at the moment, but if you can acquire it and abide by its conditions (preferably both), it provides a great dual-phase Atk/Spd swing with no positioning requirements like Atk/Spd Solo
    • High-tier Stance skills are also considerable given they provide Guard, another useful defensive tool this build can have in its arsenal. 
    • Finally, a Unity skill of your choice can act as a form of penalty reversion/negation, something that Ryoma unfortunately lacks in his high list of defensive effects. 
    • On a budget, you may stick with Ryoma's base Kestrel Stance 2 or inherit Spd/Res Solo or Spd/Res Form to increase his overall magic bulk instead.
  • Much of what has been said for A-slots also applies to Sacred Seals, though Mystic Boost has already been discussed if you want Ryoma to heal more reliably in multiple tight fights.

それとも760日だったかな?誰も知らない。(Hyper Offense / Alt Weapon)

Build by MackerelPye
Recommended
Firesweep Sword+
Alternate: Ninja Katana+
A Life and Death (3 or 4)
Alternate: Atk/Spd Boosting A Slot
Positional Assist B Bushido II
Moonbow
Alternate: Luna
C Spd/Def Rein 3
Alternate: Atk/Spd Rein 3
IVs

+ATK or +SPD / -HP or -DEF or -RES

SLife and Death 3
Alternate: Heavy Blade 3

Show Explanation/Analysis

Weapon: Firesweep S+ / Ninja Katana+ / Brave Sword+

Assist: Positional Assist

Special: Moonbow / Luna / Glimmer

Passive A: Life and Death / Swift Sparrow / Other Atk/Spd skills

Passive B: Bushido II

Passive C: Spd/Def Rein / Atk/Spd Rein

Sacred Seal: Life and Death / Heavy Blade / Other Atk/Spd Seals

  • Already inherited the Firesweep Sword on Ryoma years before he finally decided to get good? No fret! You're pretty much in the same boat as a lot of other legendary Ryoma users, and fortunately enough, the weapon's aged well on him due to the great new offensive effect that Bushido II provides: dealing +7 damage on every hit. Taking into account that Firesweep Sword essentially deals free damage (as it prevents counterattacks), Ryoma can become a deadly player phase unit that is guaranteed to do at least 7-14 (if he doubles) damage per initiation. 
  • Ninja Katana or its more accessible counterpart Brave Sword turns Ryoma into a pretty competitive Elincia substitution. They both massively benefit from the additional damage per hit from Bushido II, as they hit twice per strike and basically guarantees that at least 14 damage will be dealt, and even upwards of a deadly 28 if Ryoma follows up and makes a quadruple attack.
  • The choice between the Brave weapons and Firesweep Sword ultimately depend on whether you prefer larger damage output in a single strike versus safely in attacking. 
  • As this build basically operates in player phase exclusively, the purpose behind other skill slots are quite obvious: build up Ryoma's offensive potential as highly as possible.
    • Life and Death, in particular, make a great A-slot and Sacred Seal choice. As the weapons mentioned in this build offer some form of safety in attack — such as preventing counterattacks or simply dealing huge blitz damage to the enemy before they can do anything — the defense drops from Life and Death simply don't matter most of the time. If Ryoma absolutely must take a hit with his reduced defenses, Bushido II's damage reduction effect also typically serves as an emergency button in such situations. Else, you can run other skills of the Atk/Spd-boosting variety, with Swift Sparrow being a somewhat more common option than others. 
    • Spd/Def Rein hits all the right spots as far as improving Ryoma's damage and follow-ups are concerned. However, Atk/Spd Rein is a fine C-slot default despite not impacting Ryoma's damage directly — it's preferred when using Heavy Blade, which will be required to activate Moonbow or Glimmer in one sitting but requires Ryoma's Attack to be comparatively higher than his enemy's. 
    • Lacking the cooldown acceleration of Heavy Blade or simply preferring a higher damage Special, Luna is a valid Special choice over a 2 CD Special.

Strengths

Bushido II

Legendary Ryoma debuted as an alright Legendary unit with an alright unique B slot in Bushido, which originally provided a flat +10 damage whenever Ryoma activated his Special. While powerful, it was underwhelmingly so, compared to the plethora of gamebreaking options that other Legendary and Mythic heroes received. 

Bushido's creatively-named successor skill now provides a fun bundle of great effects that directly addresses many of the samurai prince's flaws:

  • Ryoma now deals +7 damage on every hit, allowing him to deal much more consistent additional damage across a variety of matchups and situations, rather than simply waiting for his Special. This effect is simply useful no matter the build—mixed phase builds appreciate the extra damage dealt during defensive endturns, while the guaranteed damage per strike works extremely well with inheritable weapons catered towards hyper offense — especially Ninja Katana and Firesweep Sword
  • It neutralizes flier effective damage bonuses, which allows Ryoma to skip out on equipping Iote's Shield entirely while going toe-to-toe against weapon users such as bows and Grafcalibur with upmost confidence. 
  • It grants a word-for-word, undefective form of Dodge (or the Spurn / Close Call / Repel skill line if you prefer to call it that), which massively improves his survivability against foes that can't hope to match his Speed. It's simply another B slot skill that other fliers would kill for and would normally be forced to resort to Wyvern or Pegasus Flight to achieve not-very-optimal results — something that Ryoma is relieved to avoid with his average defenses. 

Refined Raijinto

In the same update as Ryoma's legendary remix, his weapon, Raijinto, also got refined with suspiciously perfect timing. It used to be just a sufficient weapon, originally granting only an innate form of Distant Counter. This, granted, was good but clashed with Ryoma's traits, those being generally bad skill access (typical for fliers) and an offensively specialized stat line. 

Come its refinery update along with Bushido II's incredible bundle of improvements, refined Raijinto definitely picks up more than enough slack in the stacked effects department. In addition to Distant Counter, it comes with: 

  • Easily-acquired spectrum stats of +4 to all, which is an always welcome effect on a tank that uses all of his stats like Ryoma. 
  • Additionally and definitely more importantly, it provides a built-in form of Null Follow-Up, a powerful skill that most fliers would kill to have. In a nutshell, it crushes any chance of defeating Ryoma with guaranteed follow-up mechanics (especially those from Bramimond's Void Tome and Valentines Líf/Thrasir's Þjálfi) while pairing very well with the Dodge effect of Bushido II for enhanced defensive matchups and essentially TWO infantry-exclusive B slot skills on Ryoma. 

Good Stats

A Speed stat of 39 has aged pretty well three years after Ryoma's debut, and with further enhancements from Raijinto and other skills, helps the flying samurai to win out a lot of Speed comparisons naturally. 34 Attack is still pretty good, and Bushido II helps fill in damage gaps if there are any. The same can be said of his mostly survivable defensive stats, assuming Bushido II's Dodge effect is active. 

Flier Perks

Bushido II and Raijinto neutralize a lot of flier class weaknesses and inheritance issues, which basically leaves only the pretty big perks of being one. Specifically, Ryoma has relatively superior movement choices compared to other movement types, and he gains access to the Rein skill line — of which he already eats well for free with his default Atk/Spd Rein. Additionally, he benefits from class-specific buffs; it's recommended, in particular, to stack skills like Ward Fliers and Goad Fliers on support allies (especially Mythics like Peony, Altina, and Plumeria) in serious competitive settings.

Weaknesses

Sword Competition

Ryoma's main great selling point is that he can basically be run as a sword infantry unit with arguably more perks built-in. There's a problem with that though: he has to get in line with multitudes of other sword units with very similar statlines and playstyles before being considered worth playing with. Notably, his base stats fall slightly below modern-day choices such as Fallen Ike, Mareeta, and Kris, all of whom also have other differentiating perks of their own such as penalty reversion, cooldown reduction, and penalty negation, respectively. 

Okay Base Defenses

As is the case with most units using Dodge skills, Ryoma's damage reduction coming from Bushido II can only cushion so much damage, especially considering his base defenses aren't the best. Just about any speedy unit that somehow wins the Speed comparison will also be hitting Ryoma for full damage, and with defenses of 28/20, he is most certainly not going to like that one bit. 

Generally speaking, it is therefore not advised to play it carelessly against strong blue enemies or units with effectively high Speed in combat unless you're sure Ryoma comes out of it with certain health. 

Legendary Unit Blues

Ryoma's usage can be somewhat constrained as he's basically soft-locked to Water season. If it's not Water season, he stops benefitting from Mythic blessings in Aether Raids and can't improve Arena scoring with other Water-blessed heroes. 

Flier Weakn-

Haha, good one.

(Well, actually, he'd appreciate stuff like Time's Pulse and Flashing Blade sometimes, but that's mostly neither here nor there with what he already has)

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
Silver Sword
Only Inheritable by Sword Units.
200 1 11
Raijinto

Enables counterattack regardless of distance if this unit is attacked.

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

Special Skills

Special Skills SP Turns
Night Sky

Boosts damage dealt by 50%.

Learns by default at 5 ★
Non-inheritable by Staff-wielding units.
100 3
Glimmer

Boosts damage dealt by 50%.

Unlocks at 5 ★
Non-inheritable by Staff-wielding units.
200 2

Passive Skills

Passive Skills SP Slot
Fierce Stance 1

If foe initiates combat, grants Atk+2 during combat.

Non-inheritable by Staff-wielding units.
50
A
Kestrel Stance 1

If foe initiates combat, grants Atk/Spd+2 during combat.

Non-inheritable by Staff-wielding units.
120
A
Kestrel Stance 2

If foe initiates combat, grants Atk/Spd+4 during combat.

Non-inheritable by Staff-wielding units.
Unlocks at 5 ★
240
A
Bushido

Deals +10 damage when Special triggers.

Non-Inheritable skill.
Unlocks at 5 ★
300
B
Bushido II

Neutralizes "effective against flying" bonuses. Deals +7 damage. If unit's Spd > foe's Spd, reduces damage from attacks during combat and from area-of-effect Specials (excluding Røkkr area-of-effect Specials) by percentage = difference between stats × 4 (max 40%).

Non-Inheritable skill.
Unlocks at 5 ★
300
B
Guidance 1

If unit's HP = 100%, infantry and armored allies within 2 spaces can move to a space adjacent to unit.

Only inheritable by flier units.
60
C
Guidance 2

If unit's HP ≥ 50%, infantry and armored allies within 2 spaces can move to a space adjacent to unit.

Only inheritable by flier units.
120
C
Guidance 3

Infantry and armored allies within 2 spaces can move to a space adjacent to unit.

Only inheritable by flier units.
Unlocks at 5 ★
240
C
Atk/Spd Rein 1

Inflicts Atk/Spd-2 on foes within 2 spaces during combat.

Flying Only
60
C
Atk/Spd Rein 2

Inflicts Atk/Spd-3 on foes within 2 spaces during combat.

Flying Only
120
C
Atk/Spd Rein 3

Inflicts Atk/Spd-4 on foes within 2 spaces during combat.

Flying Only
Unlocks at 5 ★
240
C

Other Info

Origin
Fire Emblem Fates

Banners Featured In