Oliver

• Weapon: Blárserpent+ (+Def) / Blárraven+

• Assist: Reposition / Flexible

• Special: Iceberg / Glacies

• Passive A: Distant Def / Fury

• Passive B: Quick Riposte 3 / Quick Riposte 2

• Passive C: Atk Ploy

• Sacred Seal: Distant Def

This set allows Oliver to function very well as a general counter to ranged units.

With the Blárserpent tome refined for Defense, the Distant Def A slot skill, and the Distant Def Sacred Seal, Oliver can reach a staggering 44 Defense and 52 Resistance whenever he is attacked at range. Even green mages like Nino will have trouble obtaining a ORKO on him while he’ll easily resist red and blue mages without problem. Meanwhile, thanks to his impressive Defense, Oliver will be able to tank against colorless threats such as Life and Death Brave Bow Cordelia and Brave Lyn. The Blárraven tome is also an option which grants slightly better matchups against colorless foes (usually only saving him a couple of HP), though at the cost of some of his magical tanking capabilities.

His B slot of choice, Quick Riposte, allows him to perform a guaranteed follow-up attack when he is attacked and also above 70% of his total HP. Quick Riposte 2, while only working at 80% HP or above, is acceptable if you are unable to give Quick Riposte 3. This’ll allow him to KO Brave Lyn and Bride Cordelia on his second attack. Meanwhile, his Special Iceberg will allow him to gain KO’s against Nino, Reinhardt and Linde thanks to the Iceberg proc giving him a massive 22 point damage boost on his second attack.

For the C slot, Atk Ploy is his default skill and it will work well for him as it can proc with good consistency thanks to his high base Resistance. The assist slot is open to player preference. As for alternatives, Fury can be an acceptable substitute for Distant Def as it still gives him a good boost to his defenses and Glacies can also be used as opposed to Iceberg, though the higher cooldown means Oliver will no longer reliably KO units like Nino as his Special will now not always activate on his second attack.

• Weapon: Blárserpent+ (+Res) / Blárowl+ (+Res) / Shine+ (+Res)

• Assist: Reposition / Flexible

• Special: Iceberg / Glacies

• Passive A: Fury / Resistance +3

• Passive B: Quick Riposte 3 / Quick Riposte 2

• Passive C: Atk Ploy

• Sacred Seal: Distant Def

A relatively cheap set for Oliver, this set focuses fully on Oliver’s magical tanking capabilities.

With Fury, a Resistance forged tome and the Distant Def Sacred Seal, Oliver reaches an impressive 46 Resistance, not to mention Fury giving him an all round boost to his other stats as well. With this Resistance, Oliver can easily resist red and blue mages and even green mages fairly well. He’ll also have 32 Defense when attacked at range, which gives him a good amount of tankiness against archers and dagger units. You could also use a simple Resistance boost if you do not want the HP chip damage from Fury.

For weaponry, his default Shine tome works fine if you're not willing to invest in a new weapon, but the Serpent and Owl tomes work even better. Blárserpent will give Oliver a nice boost to Defense and Resistance while Blárowl will give a boost to all stats equivalent to double the number of adjacent allies. Blárserpent will be superior to Blárowl in general due to the much more forgiving activation requirement, but both will be strong options. For the B slot, Quick Riposte allows him to perform a guaranteed follow-up attack when above 70% HP, greatly improving his damage output whereas Iceberg as the Special will allow him to deal a great amount of damage thanks to his extremely high Resistance and given that he will most likely be doubled, he should usually proc Iceberg on his second attack, allowing him to reliably KO Nino, Reinhardt and Linde.

For the C slot, his default Atk Ploy works fine given his Resistance allows him to activate it reliably. The assist is up to player preference. Glacies can again be used as an alternative to Iceberg, but note that the increased cooldown timer makes it less reliable to proc than Iceberg.