Norne

Preferred IV: +ATK or +SPD / -HP or -DEF or -RES

As Norne wants to maximize her offensive capabilities, she will appreciate an Asset in either Attack or Speed. Any of the defensive stats can work perfectly fine as the Flaw.

Weapon: Firesweep Bow+ / Brave Bow+ 

• Firesweep Bow is a powerful offensive weapon that negates counterattacks from any foe not using a skill such as Null C-Disrupt. Do note that this comes at the cost of Norne being unable to counterattack either.

• Brave Bow is another strong offensive weapon. While it has a relatively low might, it allows Norne to make a second attack when initiating combat. It can also allow her to perform four attacks if she naturally performs a follow-up attack.

Assist: Reposition / Draw Back / Ardent Sacrifice / Player Preference

• If Norne happens to be at 40 HP or below while using Brave Bow and Desperation. Then Ardent Sacrifice can be a useful option. As long as she has 40 HP max, using Ardent Sacrifice will put her into the activation range for Desperation.

• Outside of this specific scenario, the Assist slot is open to whatever one’s own preference is.

Special: Moonbow / Luna  

• Thanks to its low cooldown and ease of access, Moonbow is a strong choice of Special for this set. Of note is that Norne can charge Moonbow in a single attack if she activates Flashing Blade or Heavy Blade.

• Luna is a great alternative to Moonbow that has a longer cooldown but stronger effect. This Special is better suited to Brave Bow than Firesweep Bow due to Norne being able to potentially perform four attacks.

Passive A: Swift Sparrow 3 / Life and Death / Fury (3 or 4) / Flashing Blade 4

• Swift Sparrow 3 is an excellent A slot choice, granting six Attack and seven Speed when initiating combat. While Swift Sparrow 2 is still a strong skill, there are cheaper options available that can be superior, such as Life and Death.

• Speaking of, Life and Death is a cheap but powerful skill that grants five Attack and Speed. This is at the cost of some of Norne’s defenses, though this is not a major issue with Firesweep in particular.

• Fury is another cheap skill that grants an overall boost to Norne’s combat effectiveness. This can combo great with Desperation as the recoil damage can help knock Norne’s HP below the threshold needed.

• Flashing Blade 4 grants extra Special cooldown on her attacks when Norne outspeeds her foe, as well as five points of true damage. This can help greatly with activating Specials and dealing damage, though the lack of a Speed boost means she’ll want Darting Blow or other support.

Passive B: Lull Spd/Def / Null Follow-up / Chill Def / Desperation

• Lull Spd/Def is an amazing B slot choice for both Firesweep Bow and Brave Bow. Preventing the enemy from buffing their Speed and Defense will greatly help Norne’s ability to deal damage and secure follow-up attacks. It even debuffs these stats on top of negating buffs for even more offensive power.

• Null Follow-up can be a great choice which helps Norne to knock through foes which negate follow-up attacks, such as Wary Fighter units.

• Chill Def is relatively accessible and will help not only Norne but any other physical allies to handle any foes affected by this skill.

• Desperation permits Norne to make any follow-up attack immediately after her first when she’s below 75% HP. While this offers next to nothing with Firesweep Bow, this can be an excellent choice for Brave Bow.

Passive C: Joint Hone Spd / Joint Hone Atk / Player Preference

• Joint Hone Atk and Joint Hone Spd are both strong C slot skills as they offers buffs to both the user and adjacent allies. So long as Norne starts her turn adjacent to an ally, both herself and all adjacent allies will receive a five point boost in either Attack or Speed.

• Outside of this, the C slot is open to one’s own preference and what their team needs. Many strong and cheap C slot skills are available, such as Drive and Tactic skills.

Sacred Seal: Flashing Blade / Heavy Blade / Darting Blow

• Flashing Blade and Heavy Blade are strong Sacred Seals that both accomplish the same thing: They both boost Norne’s Special charge acquisition on her attacks when she has one of her offensive stats higher than her opponent. Heavy Blade activates based off Attack while Flashing Blade activates based off Speed. Both are interchangeable with one another.

• Darting Blow is an alternative strong Sacred Seal which grants Norne with a large six Speed when she initiates combat.

Preferred IV: +ATK or +SPD or +DEF or +RES / -HP

Choosing an optimal IV for a defensively-built Norne can be difficult as she has no clear dump stat. Of all her stats, however, HP is arguably the least useful due to the HP boost she’ll receive from a refined bow. As for an Asset, any other stat will be useful to boost. A Neutral Norne is also a viable option.

Weapon: Guard Bow+ (+Res or +Spd) / Devilish Bow+ (+Res or +Spd) / Gratia+ (+Res or +Spd)

• Guard Bow is Norne’s default weapon and is a strong fit for a defensive build. This helps her to survive attacks from ranged foes with greater ease.

• Devilish Bow is another strong fit as it grants Guard without any HP requirement. This keeps Norne more safe from enemy Specials and helps to negate the Special charge effects of skills such as Heavy Blade.

• Gratia negates visible bonuses from ranged foes during combat. This can help Norne majorly against buffed ranged opponents, especially those wielding Blade tomes.

• +Spd, +Def, and +Res are all solid choices for the weapon refine and which one to take will largely depend on what one wants Norne to excel at more.

Assist: Reposition / Draw Back / Player Preference  

Special: Bonfire / Iceberg / Moonbow / Noontime

• With Norne’s good defenses and their reasonable cooldowns, Bonfire and Iceberg will both be strong Special choices for her. Which one is chosen will depend on whether Norne has higher Defense or Resistance. This will typically be Defense, but her Resistance can be higher with a Resistance Asset and +Res refine on her weapon.

• Moonbow and Noontime are also good Special choices thanks to their low cooldown. Moonbow will aid Norne against high Defense opponents while Noontime can help Norne’s sustainability.

Passive A: Distant Def (3 or 4) / Steady Stance 4 / Warding Stance 4 / Close Counter  

• Distant Def 4 fits perfectly with Norne if one is building her to solely fight ranged units. This skill grants her a staggering eight points to both defenses while also negating buffs on ranged foes. Distant Def 3 is a good budget option, though it boosts Norne’s defenses slightly less and lacks the buff negation of Distant Def 4. Gratia should not be used with Distant Def 4, but can be used with Distant Def 3.

• Steady Stance 4 and Warding Stance 4 both boost one of the defensive stats by eight while also adding a guard effect when foe initiates combat. Both can be very strong choices with a Guard Bow or Gratia.

• Norne’s good defensive stats makes her a great candidate for Close Counter. Being able to counterattack against melee foes is a definite boon that can increase her versatility.

Passive B: Null C-Disrupt / Special Spiral / Mystic Boost / Renewal

• With Null C-Disrupt, Norne will be able to counter against prominent skills that block counterattacks such as Firesweep Bow and Dazzling Staff.

• Special Spiral will be another strong option, especially if Norne has Pulse support to initially charge her Special. After any combat where she activates her Special, she will gain two free points of Special charge. This goes great with three charge Specials such as Bonfire, Iceberg, and Sol as this will allow her to activate these Specials on her first counterattack, assuming nothing is stopping Special charge.

• Mystic Boost will provide Norne with some healing after every combat and will negate the effects of adaptive damage and Wrathful Staff. This can help her greatly with her sustainability.

• Renewal is a cheap but effective option, helping her to stay healthy and above the threshold needed for skills such as Quick Riposte.

Passive C: Atk Smoke / Pulse Smoke

• Atk Smoke is cheap and will be of great help to Norne. When a foe attacks her, the enemies nearby will suffer a large Attack debuff, thus helping Norne to defend herself better.

• Pulse Smoke is far more expensive but very strong too. This will help Norne to keep even more safe from enemy Specials. It can also be utilized to offset the effects of skills such as Infantry Pulse if the enemy team is using them. 

Sacred Seal: Quick Riposte / Darting Stance / Distant Def / Close Def

• While Norne has good Speed, she can still struggle to secure follow-up attacks, particularly with none of the skills in this set helping her Speed. This makes Quick Riposte the best Sacred Seal choice as it ensures that she will perform a follow-up attack on enemy phase, so long as she’s above 70% HP.

• As a possible substitute for Quick Riposte if it’s being used elsewhere, Darting Stance will grant Norne with six Speed when she’s attacked. While this won’t guarantee that she performs a follow-up attack, it does help ensure that the enemies do not perform a follow-up attack on her

• Both Distant Def and Close Def will be great Sacred Seal choices too. Both give a considerable boost to Norne’s defenses when she’s attacked up close (with Close Def) or at a distance (with Distant Def). Close Def should only be considered with Close Counter in the A slot, otherwise Distant Def will prove more useful.