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Analysis by lordhelpme
Raigh - Dark Child

3-4

Obtainable as a 3 - 4 only

Hero Stats

Max Avg Total Stats at Lvl 40
148
HP 36
ATK 32
SPD 29
DEF 22
RES 29

Stat Variations

Level 1 Stat Variation
5★
4★
3★
HP ATK SPD DEF RES
Low 16 7 6 4 6
Middle 17 8 7 5 7
High 18 9 8 6 8

Level 40 Stat Variations
5★
4★
3★
HP ATK SPD DEF RES
Low 33 29 25 19 25
Middle 36 32 29 22 29
High 40 35 32 25 32

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

Assets

  • +ATK: A +ATK IV is a strong choice of Asset to build upon Raigh’s decent base Attack stat and increase his raw damage output, proving to be useful regardless of his chosen build. 

  • +SPD: Although Raigh’s neutral base Speed stat of 29 is rather unsuited for typical offensive play, a +SPD IV can potentially make for a worthwhile consideration to raise his defensive Speed tier and augment his survivability by allowing him to more reliably deny his opponent’s follow-up attack.

  • +RES: While generally not as useful as a +ATK or +SPD IV, a +RES IV can be taken to reduce the amount of damage the young mage takes from incoming magical foes and allow him to specialize as a decent counter to ranged heroes, a role that he can fulfill adequately thanks to his PRF.

Neutral

  • HP: Raigh’s HP pool is not particularly impressive, however, it is recommended to leave it intact to maintain his respectable magical bulk of 65, though it can make for an acceptable choice of Flaw should a -DEF IV be unavailable.

Flaws

  • -DEF: Raigh’s Defense can be safely dumped as its low base value of 22 already renders it difficult for him to face off against physical damage dealing foes, so lowering it further will hardly impact his overall performance. Furthermore, this also lets him preserve all of his other stats, which he will find himself needing more often. 

Skill Sets

It’s Not a Phase, Mom (Anti-Ranged)

Build by
Recommended
Hermit's Tome (+Eff) A Warding Stance 4
Alternate: Distant Def (3 or 4)
Reposition B Null C-Disrupt 3
Moonbow
Alternate: Iceberg
C Atk Smoke 3
Alternate: Spd Smoke 3
IVsSQuick Riposte 3

Show Explanation/Analysis

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

Thanks to the inherent defensive capabilities of his unique personal weapon, Hermit Tome, Raigh can perform as a surprisingly capable check to ranged foes in the Enemy Phase -- something which this build aims to take full advantage of and capitalize on. Accordingly, in addition to the standard Attack Asset for increased damage output, an Asset to either his Speed or Resistance stat can be considered to heighten his overall survivability. Nonetheless, all three of them are fantastic options. 

Weapon: Hermit’s Tome (+Eff)

  • Hermit’s Tome is a solid personal weapon that lends itself perfectly to a defensively oriented plastyle. In its base form, Hermit’s Tome functions essentially as an improved version of Raigh’s native Rauðrwolf+, boasting higher Might as well as the ability to negate ranged opponents’ bonuses on top of cavalry effectiveness. 

  • Combined with its unique refinement option that enables him to gain a considerable boost to all of his stats depending on the number of adjacent allies he has, this weapon allows Raigh to easily function as a specialist without much investment, granting him a solid niche given the prevalence of both cavalry and ranged heroes across all modes of the game. 

  • However, it should be noted that in order for Raigh to make the greatest use of his PRF’s in-combat boosts to bypass his unimpressive base statline, his allies will constantly have to maintain close levels of proximity to him (which may be highly unfavorable depending on the specific mode in which he is deployed). Furthermore, this also means that he remains quite reliant on team support to function properly -- not unlike his performance prior to receiving access to Hermit’s Tome. 

Assist: Reposition / Flexible

Special: Moonbow / Iceberg / Luna

  • Moonbow’s relatively cooldown makes it a prime choice for Raigh’s Special here, as this allows him to benefit from its solid damage boost frequently; combined with Quick Riposte (either in his B slot or as his chosen seal), Raigh is guaranteed to activate it in it every round of combat on his second counterattack. Keep in mind that though Glimmer may share a similar cooldown, Raigh’s damage output is not high enough to warrant its usage despite his ability to deal magical damage. 

  • In exchange for longer cooldown (and by extension, lesser consistency), Luna and Iceberg may be suitable candidates as well should one favor stronger Special activations. In particular, Iceberg scales nicely with this set’s focus on heightening Raigh’s Resistance stat. 

Passive A: Warding Stance 4 / Distant Def / Atk/Res Bond / Atk/Spd Bond

  • Warding Stance 4 is an exceptional A slot skill that serves to bolster Raigh’s combat potential in the Enemy Phase further. Although its lack of an accompanying Defense boost does leave him rather weak against attacks from incoming archers and dagger users, its stellar +8 Resistance boost upon being attacked on top of its Guard-like effect of Special deceleration allows Raigh to shrug off mages (even those equipped with a Blade tome thanks to his PRF’s built-in Dull Range) with relative ease and minimize the damage he takes from them. 

  • Distant Def (3 or 4) is another strong option that similarly enhances Raigh’s performance in the Enemy Phase through its massive in-combat boosts to both of his defensive stats upon being attacked by a ranged opponent, building upon his physical and magical resilience simultaneously. Keep in mind, however, that Distant Def 4 presents only a marginal improvement to his performance in comparison to its lesser version, as Hermit’s Tome already nullifies enemy bonuses. 

  • Atk/Res Bond and Atk/Spd Bond are solid choices as well to capitalize on Raigh’s key stats. Their respective positioning requirements are also negligible since his PRF’s unique refinement option already necessitates that his allies remain adjacent to him most of the time. 

Passive B: Null C-Disrupt / Guard / Quick Riposte

  • Null C-Disrupt is a particularly effective skill to allow Raigh to leverage his anti-ranged capabilities against healers and archers with greater consistency, canceling out the counterattack-negating property of Dazzling Staff, Firesweep, and other similar skills entirely. This effect is especially useful in modes such as Aether Raids due to commonality of such weapons and skills in enemy team compositions.

  • If not using Warding Stance 4 as his chosen A slot skill (which is understandable given its scarce availability), Guard can be taken to circumvent the loss the loss of the skill’s effect of Special deceleration and augment his performance against opponents who rely on frequent Special activations for their damage output. 

  • Using Quick Riposte in his B slot is a valid alternative should the Quick Riposte seal already be taken by one of his allies, or to grant him the flexibility of taking a regular stat boosting seal for further specialization. 

Passive C: Atk Smoke / Spd Smoke / Res Smoke / Pulse Smoke / Flexible

  • Smoke skills fit this build’s defensively oriented playstyle perfectly, strengthening his ability to combat multiple foes consecutively in the Enemy Phase to a considerable extent. Of those available to him, Atk Smoke and Spd Smoke are ideal to heighten his survivability, whereas Res Smoke serves to enhance his raw damage output. Pulse Smoke is also a powerful skill that is exceedingly powerful when facing off against enemy team compositions that are centered around the use of fast or instant Special activations, greatly reducing their potential through its unique debuff.

Sacred Seal: Quick Riposte / Distant Def / Warding Stance / Atk/Spd Bond 

  • Quick Riposte is a pivotal component of this build as any kind of Speed-stacking here is meant purely for the purpose of developing his ability to deny his opponent’s follow-up attacks. Utilizing it as his chosen seal is recommended to leave his B slot open for other alternatives, most notable of which being Null C-Disrupt (which is currently not available as a seal at the time of writing). 

  • Otherwise, the Distant Def, Warding Stance, Atk/Spd Bond, and Atk/Res Bond are all  wonderful options that help improve Raigh’s prowess in the Enemy Phase further through their respective combat boosts. 

Angst Personified (Budget Anti-Cavalry)

Build by
Hermit's Tome (+Eff) A Fury 3
Alternate: Attack +3
Reposition B Swordbreaker 3
Alternate: Vantage 3
Glimmer
Alternate: Iceberg
C Drive Spd 2
IVsSAttack +3

Show Explanation/Analysis

Preferred IV: +ATK / -DEF

A budget-friendly set that revolves around making the most use out of the cavalry effectiveness aspect of his PRF, which grants him a significant damage boost against such opponents and allows him to easily take them down with just one of his strikes. An Attack Asset is ideal here to maximize his damage output and strengthen his ability to OHKO opposing cavalry foes.  

Weapon: Hermit Tome+ (+Eff)

Assist: Reposition / Flexible

Special: Glimmer / Iceberg

  • Glimmer is Raigh’s ideal Special as it scales quite well with the effective damage boost from Hermit’s Tome; it does, however, perform substantially worse against opponents whom he does not deal effective damage to. For greater coverage across all his match-ups, Iceberg can also be taken as his chosen Special for a more consistent increase to his damage output. 

Passive A: Fury / Attack +3

  • Fury is a relatively cheap choice of A slot skill that gives him a much-needed boost to all of his stats, increasing both his overall survivability as well as his damage output simultaneously; it also has the advantage of functioning in both phases, which allows  Raigh to be an overall more versatile unit. That being said, however, should one wish to invest very little in the dark mage, then Attack +3 can work just fine in a pinch. 

Passive B: Swordbreaker / Vantage

  • Breaker skills such as Swordbreaker are suitable options here, as Raigh’s base Speed stat is far too low to let him reliably perform follow-up attacks against opposing foes and would require a substantial amount of team support in order for this to be possible. Vantage is also a strong option to consider if utilizing Fury due to their good synergy and allows him to potentially take down multiple ranged cavalry foes in one sitting. 

Passive C: Drive Spd / Flexible

  • Raigh’s C slot is entirely flexible and is open to any skill that best compliments his chosen team composition. Skills such as Drive Spd are always good choices to increase his raw damage output. 

Sacred Seal: Attack +3 / Distant Def / Fierce Stance

  • The Attack +3 seal is an excellent option to increase his damage output, though the Distant Def and Fierce Stance seals can be taken if using Vantage to make him more suited at battling opponents in the Enemy Phase. 

Introduction

The perfect foil to his overly kind twin brother Lugh, Raigh: Dark Child has been a part of the game since its launch and is actually one of the very first mages a player receives when starting off — but even so, he is often brushed aside very quickly, though for good reason. Statwise, his most notable attribute is his decent base Attack stat of 32 which, while not necessarily exceptional, provides him with a good foundation for dealing damage. The introduction of his own personal weapon, Hermit’s Tome, has also served to grant him a decent boost in performance, allowing him to specialize as an adequate check to cavalry units as well as ranged foes when capitalized on with the proper set-up. 

Unfortunately for the dark mage, that’s about as far as the extent of his redeeming qualities go. With an overall underwhelming statline, Raigh is almost entirely reliant on team support to perform up to par with the majority of his direct competition and remains thoroughly unimpressive outside of his niche. This is only accentuated further by the fact that his PRF’s unique refinement option (while complementary to his intended playstyle) requires that his allies constantly maintain close levels of proximity for optimal performance; this means that in scenarios where one is unable to consistently maintain ideal conditions, Raigh’s performance will undoubtedly suffer. That being said, his great availability does allow him to circumvent his weaknesses to an extent by making merges and perfect IVs something readily available to him, both of which can come an exceedingly long way in patching up his otherwise mediocre stat spread and improve his overall performance. 

Overall, Raigh can definitely be a serviceable unit when properly invested in but ultimately, it is difficult to recommend actually doing so given that many other units can take that same investment and achieve far more favorable (and impressive) results. 

Strengths

Hermit’s Tome

Raigh’s unique personal weapon, Hermit’s Tome, is solid and can essentially be considered a directly improved version of his base improved Rauðrwolf. On top of carrying cavalry effectiveness and built-in Dull Ranged, it can be refined further for its Owl effect, increasing his combat potential sizably with the more adjacent allies he has.

Decent Attack 

Raigh’s Attack is one of his few redeeming qualities -- at a solid base value of 32, Raigh can generally deal a reasonable amount of damage to  his opponent. 

Great Availability 

Raigh is commonly found in the 3-4* red pool, making him one of the more common units around and allows one to easily gather merges and ideal IVs for him.

Weaknesses

Unfortunate Stat Distribution

Aside from his Attack stat, none of his other stats are particularly impressive and are rather underwhelming. This leaves him struggling to perform up to par as either an offensive and defensive mage without sufficient investment. 

Overly Reliant on Team Support

Although Hermit’s Tome does allow Raigh to carve a niche for himself as a dedicated check to specific units when built properly, his unimpressive base statline means that he will still be dependent on receiving a considerable amount of support from his allies in order to function properly, even with the boost from his PRF.

Outclassed

While slightly improved due to gaining access to his own PRF, Raigh’s capabilities are still quite limited in comparison to the majority of his direct competition and render him sorely outclassed in situations where one cannot make use of his strengths to their fullest extent. 

Weapon Skills

Weapons SP Rng. Mt.
Flux
Learns by default at 2 ★
Red Tome Users Only
50 2 4
Ruin
Learns by default at 3 ★
Unlocks at 2 ★
Red Tome Users Only
100 2 6
Rauðrwolf

Effective against cavalry units.

Learns by default at 4 ★
Unlocks at 3 ★
Red Tome Users Only
200 2 6
Rauðrwolf+

Effective against cavalry units.

Unlocks at 5 ★
Red Tome Users Only
300 2 10
Hermit's Tome

Effective against cavalry foes. If foe uses bow, dagger, magic, or staff, neutralizes foe's bonuses (from skills like Fortify, Rally, etc.) during combat.

Unlocks at 5 ★
Non-Inheritable skill.
400 2 14
Weapon Evolution
Weapon Upgrades
Weapon Upgrades

Support Skills

Support Skills Rng. SP
Rally Attack

Grants Atk+4 to an adjacent ally until the end of the turn.

Learns by default at 4 ★
1 150

Passive Skills

Passive Skills SP Slot
HP +3

Grants +3 to max HP.

Inheritable by all units.
Unlocks at 3 ★
40
A
HP +4

Grants +4 to max HP.

Inheritable by all units.
Unlocks at 4 ★
80
A
HP +5

Grants +5 to max HP.

Inheritable by all units.
Unlocks at 5 ★
160
A
Seal Res 1

Inflicts Res-3 on foe through its next action after combat.

Non-inheritable by Staff-wielding units.
40
B
Seal Res 2

Inflicts Res-5 on foe through its next action after combat.

Non-inheritable by Staff-wielding units.
Unlocks at 2 ★
80
B
Seal Res 3

Inflicts Res-7 on foe through its next action after combat.

Non-inheritable by Staff-wielding units.
Unlocks at 4 ★
160
B

Other Info

Origin
Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade

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Official Hero Artwork