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Analysis by ZeShado
Saber - Driven Mercenary

5 Legacy

Obtainable as a 5 during certain summoning events only.

Hero Stats

Max Avg Total Stats at Lvl 40
158
HP 40
ATK 31
SPD 33
DEF 32
RES 22

Stat Variations

Level 1 Stat Variation
5★
HP ATK SPD DEF RES
Low 17 6 8 7 4
Middle 18 7 9 8 5
High 19 8 10 9 6

Level 40 Stat Variations
5★
HP ATK SPD DEF RES
Low 36 28 30 29 19
Middle 40 31 33 32 22
High 43 34 36 35 25

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

I LOVE DISTANT COUNTER (Spiral Spam)

Build by ZeShado
Recommended
Golden Dagger (+Eff) A Atk/Spd Boosting A Slot
Positional Assist B Special Spiral 3
Luna
Alternate: Sol
C Time's Pulse 3
Alternate: Joint Drive Atk
IVs

+ATK or +SPD / -RES

SQuickened Pulse
Alternate: Atk/Spd Form 3

Show Explanation/Analysis

Weapon: Golden Dagger (+Eff)

Assist: Positional Assist

Special: Luna / Sol / Vital Astra / Aegis

A Passive: Atk/Spd Boosting A Slot 

B Passive: Special Spiral

C Passive: Time’s Pulse / Joint Drive Atk / Joint Drive Spd / Rouse Atk/Spd (3 or 4)

Sacred Seal: Quickened Pulse / Atk/Spd Form / Mystic Boost / Atk/Spd Solo

  • Golden Dagger is an interesting weapon as its reliance on having a Special ready for Distant Counter to be active can be a bit taxing. Thankfully, Saber being an Infantry Sword means that he can access Specials that allow Golden Dagger to be active at all times. This includes skills such as Special Spiral, Time’s Pulse, Quickened Pulse, and Infantry Pulse, not to mention that he can substitute the latter three with someone like Velouria. This set is here to build around the idea of having his weapon active consistently.
     
  • Any Special that has three or fewer cooldown will work for Saber. Golden Dagger has innate Slaying, meaning that Special Spiral is more flexible with Specials. Luna can be good for piercing through bulkier foes while Sol can provide sustainability. You could also run Vital Astra if you want him to have Damage Reduction present or Aegis if you want to simply have him tank Ranged threats.
     
  • Any skill that boosts Saber’s overall Atk and Spd will be desired so that he can take down foes more consistently, and if using Vital Astra as his Special, provide Damage Reduction so that he’s taking less overall damage.
     
  • Special Spiral will be imperative for this set so that he can always have Golden Dagger’s condition active. Simple as that.
     
  • If you want an instant Special ready to go so that Special Spiral can be active Turn 1, he can opt for Time’s Pulse, when paired with Quickened Pulse, so that he can charge his Special. You could always ditch one of them if you decide to run Infantry Pulse support, but if you’d rather charge it without the help of said skills, he can instead run a Joint Drive, whether that’d be Atk or Spd, or a Rouse so that he can have self-sustaining visible buffs.
     
  • If you want an instant Special ready to go so that Special Spiral can be active Turn 1, he can opt for Quickened Pulse, when paired with Time’s Pulse, so that he can charge his Special. If not, taking a Sacred Seal that boosts his overall Atk and Spd will be desired so that he can more reliably take down foes. Of course, there’s also Mystic Boost if you want him to have sustainability, but that can always be substituted with Sol as his Special.

I Quite Enjoy a Bit of Damage Reduction (Spurn Tank)

Build by ZeShado
Golden Dagger (+Eff) A Atk/Spd Boosting A Slot
Positional Assist B Spurn 3
Alternate: Spd-Based DR B Slot
Vital Astra
Alternate: Moonbow
C Time's Pulse 3
IVs

+ATK or +SPD / -RES

SAtk/Spd Form 3
Alternate: Mystic Boost 3

Show Explanation/Analysis

Weapon: Golden Dagger (+Eff)

Assist: Positional Assist

Special: Vital Astra / Ruptured Sky / Moonbow

A Passive: Atk/Spd Boosting A Slot

B Passive: Spurn / Close Call / Repel

C Passive: Time’s Pulse

Sacred Seal: Atk/Spd Form / Mystic Boost

  • Golden Dagger having innate Slaying and a condition that relies on him having his Special ready can be tricky to utilize without Special Spiral. However, given his archetype as a Sword Infantry, he can run Time’s Pulse with a two-cooldown Special and have it ready to go Turn 1. This set is here to highlight that point and build around it so that he can act as a suitable Spurn tank.
     
  • Any two-cooldown Special will be desired for Saber in this build since the idea is to loop the activation process of Golden Dagger without the help of Special Spiral. Vital Astra can provide additional Damage Reduction, making it the most ideal skill of the three listed, but it isn’t the only one you can run. Ruptured Sky, while also expensive, is another option as well as Moonbow on budget. As long as it’s a two-cooldown, it doesn’t matter what Special he runs all too much.
     
  • Any skill that increases Saber’s overall Atk and Spd will be desired since the build relies on Saber having a significant amount of Spd. Extra Atk is also never a bad thing, especially since he’ll be able to secure kills with it.
     
  • Any sort of Damage Reduction skill will work well for Saber since the idea is to stack it with Vital Astra and reduce a great amount of damage from incoming attacks. Spurn will provide the best benefits since it grants true damage but the other ones work well too since the only difference between them will be true damage and movement shenanigans.
     
  • Time’s Pulse will be necessary so that he can have Vital Astra or any other two-cooldown Special ready to go, which will allow him to reduce incoming damage, provided that he’s faster than the foe, and have his PRF active meaning he can take on Ranged threats.
     
  • Saber can either opt for more Atk and Spd in his Sacred Seal so that he can more securely reduce damage from foes with Spurn and Vital Astra or he can opt for Mystic Boost so that he can maintain his survivability. Either option works well since there are always means of providing each with external support.

Strengths

Golden Dagger

    Golden Dagger is a relatively decent weapon that grants Slaying and Distant Counter with Spectrum 3 if his Special is ready at the start of combat. It’s rather comparable to Ragnell and Alondite only instead it’s unconditional Distant Counter and grants Spectrum 4 instead. Even so, for an early day refine, it’s rather interesting how comparable they are.

Infantry

    Being Infantry means that Saber has access to a plethora of skills that allow him to perform quite well, even to this day. This includes, but is not limited to, Spurn, Null Follow-Up, Time’s Pulse, and Vital Astra.

Weaknesses

Middling Resistance

    Saber only having 24 base Res, or 22 base Res without the Resplendent, means that he’ll have a harder time taking on units that target said stat. He can stack up Damage Reduction skills with skills such as Vital Astra and Spurn, but it won’t protect him from threats that reduce its potency or outright disables it with skills such as Lethality and Deadeye or units such as Young Innes, Tine, and Duo Lif.

Golden Dagger's Conditional

    While having the innate Distant Counter and extra stats is quite nice, it heavily relies on Saber having an active Special ready so that he can utilize the effects. This means that he either has to run Special Spiral for consistent Special charges or he has to gamble it with each combat and hope that it’s active in the next combat, assuming that he enters more than one combat, which can be an issue depending on the foe he goes up against.

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
Slaying Edge

Accelerates Special trigger (cooldown count-1).

Only Inheritable by Sword Units.
200 1 10
Slaying Edge+

Accelerates Special trigger (cooldown count -1).

Learns by default at 5 ★
Only Inheritable by Sword Units.
300 1 14
Golden Dagger

Accelerates Special trigger (cooldown count-1).

Non-Inheritable skill.
400 1 16
Weapon Evolution
Weapon Upgrades
Weapon Upgrades

Special Skills

Special Skills SP Turns
Holy Vestments

Reduces damage inflicted by attacks from foes 2 spaces away by 30%.

Restricted to melee units.
100 3
Aegis

Reduces damage inflicted by attacks from foes 2 spaces away by 50%.

Learns by default at 5 ★
Restricted to melee units.
200 3

Passive Skills

Passive Skills SP Slot
HP +3

Grants +3 to max HP.

Inheritable by all units.
40
A
HP/Spd 1

Grants HP+3, Spd+1.

Inheritable by all units.
100
A
HP/Spd 2

Grants HP+4, Spd +2.

Inheritable by all units.
Unlocks at 5 ★
200
A
Shield Pulse 1

At the start of turn 1, if foe's attack can trigger unit's Special, grants Special cooldown count-1.

Melee, Infantry, and Armored Only
60
B
Shield Pulse 2

At the start of turn 1, if foe's attack can trigger unit's Special, grants Special cooldown count-1. Reduces damage dealt to unit by 5 when Special triggers.

Melee, Infantry, and Armored Only
120
B
Shield Pulse 3

At the start of turn 1, if foe's attack can trigger unit's Special, grants Special cooldown count-2. Reduces damage dealt to unit by 5 when Special triggers.

Melee, Infantry, and Armored Only
Unlocks at 5 ★
240
B

Other Info

Origin
Fire Emblem Echoes

Banners Featured In

Official Hero Artwork