GamePress
Analysis by lordhelpme
Saizo - Angry Ninja

3-4

Obtainable as a 3 - 4 only

Hero Stats

Max Avg Total Stats at Lvl 40
148
HP 36
ATK 29
SPD 34
DEF 33
RES 16

Stat Variations

Level 1 Stat Variation
5★
4★
3★
HP ATK SPD DEF RES
Low 16 6 7 8 2
Middle 17 7 8 9 3
High 18 8 9 10 4

Level 40 Stat Variations
5★
4★
3★
HP ATK SPD DEF RES
Low 33 25 31 30 12
Middle 36 29 34 33 16
High 40 32 37 36 19

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: Saizo’s base Attack stat of 29 is simply unimpressive at best and renders his damage output to be sorely lacking in comparison to some of his direct competition. Although the introduction of his PRF has done much to remedy this, an Attack Asset remains a fantastic option to bolster his damage output to even further extents.

  • +DEF: A Defense Asset is also a formidable choice when utilizing a set aiming to capitalize on his effectiveness as a defensive tank, directly diminishing the amount of damage he takes from incoming physical threats; this also serves to increase the potency of Defense-scaling Specials like Bonfire.

  • +SPD: Saizo can also benefit quite a bit from improving his solid base Speed stat of 34 with an Asset to strengthen his ability to both perform and deny follow-up attacks, simultaneously improving his offensive and defensive combat prowess.

Neutral

  • HP: Despite its middling base value, Saizo’s HP should be preserved as to not detract from his surprisingly good physical bulk of 69 (which is only elevated further from the effects of his PRF).

Flaws

  • -RES: Saizo’s Resistance stat is amongst one of the lowest in the entire game, making for his ideal choice of Flaw as it is already functionally useless to him and allows him to retain the rest of his stats (which he will commonly find himself needing).

Skill Sets

Momentous Shinobi (Defensive Tank)

Build by
Recommended
Saizo's Star (+Eff) A Close Counter
Reposition B Null Follow-Up 3
Alternate: Guard 3
Bonfire
Alternate: Moonbow
C Pulse Smoke 3
Alternate: Savage Blow 3
IVsSQuick Riposte 3

Show Explanation/Analysis

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

Saizo’s mix of good Speed and respectable physical combined with the potentially debilitating effects of his unique personal weapon, Saizo’s Star, enables him to take on the mantle of a defensive tank quite effectively, capable of tanking physical hits with relative ease. A +ATK IV is highly recommended to increase his damage output (as well as the amount of damage he can heal if using Aether as his chosen Special), though a  +DEF or +SPD IV may be worth considering as well to bolster his raw survivability.

Weapon: Saizo’s Star (+Eff)

  • Saizo’s Star is a potent personal weapon that suits this build’s intended purpose perfectly. In its base form, Saizo’s Star functions essentially as a Smoke Dagger with improved Might, however, its unique refinement options heightens its potential massively, translating all debuffs on his respective opponents into an equivalent in-combat boost for himself.

  • In practice, this amalgam of effects results in Saizo gaining a tremendous +12 stat advantage against any opponent — provided that they are afflicted by the debuffing qualities of his PRF. This allows him to function an extremely versatile hero with the capacity to neutralize a wide breadth of foes with proper usage.

  • However, it is crucial to understand that Saizo cannot directly benefit from this aforementioned boost to his performance until AFTER he concludes his first round of combat, as only then will the -6 ATK/DEF/SPD/RES debuff from Saizo’s Star be applied to his opponents. This contingency makes it highly beneficial to slot in another debuffer into Saizo’s specific team composition if possible to ensure that his effectiveness remains constant throughout the course of a battle.

Assist: Reposition / Flexible

Special: Bonfire / Moonbow / Aether

  • Bonfire can prove to be a strong choice for his Special, scaling well with his Defense stat to grant him a considerable damage boost upon activations. In exchange for some damage, Moonbow may considered instead as its lower cooldown allows him to activate it in every round of combat without necessitating the use of the Heavy Blade or Flashing Blade seals.

  • Aether’s ability to grant him a reasonable increase to his damage output and sustain concurrently makes it a fantastic Special choice as well. However, equipping it will also require that Saizo use the Heavy Blade seal to circumvent its otherwise long cooldown, which may be undesirable depending on who his allies are.

Passive A: Close Counter

  • Saizo can make fantastic use of Close Counter to build upon his exceptional amount of overall versatility as well as enable him to leverage his combat prowess against both melee and ranged threats effectively in the Enemy Phase. Combined with Saizo’s Star and status as a colorless hero, this allows his defensive capabilities to be quite applicable in nature.

Passive B: Null Follow-Up / Guard / Quick Riposte

  • Null Follow-Up is an exceptional choice of B slot skill that serves to shut down opposing foes who are reliant on skills like Bold Fighter and Gjöll to function properly, negating the effects of such skills entirely in addition to those that may prevent Saizo’s own follow-up attack like Sturdy Impact.

  • Guard is also a noteworthy candidate to conversely strengthen Saizo’s resilience against opponents who rely on rapid Special activations to deal the majority of their damage. One also has the option of keeping Quick Riposte in his B slot to leave his seal slot open for another skill such as Atk/Def Bond for further stat specialization

Passive C: Pulse Smoke / Savage Blow / Flexible

  • Since Saizo can inherently apply a devastating debuff to all stats on his opponent with his PRF, Pulse Smoke makes for an exceedingly worthwhile consideration to make to maximize his ability to debilitate incoming foes. This is a particularly powerful skill when facing off against enemy team compositions that are centered around the use of fast or instant Special activations, greatly reducing their effectiveness.

  • Alternatively, Savage Blow may be taken to stack chip damage on top of his debuffs and directly diminish his opponents’ health to improve his chances of killing them in subsequent rounds of combat; this can be built upon even further by using it in his seal slot as well.

Sacred Seal: Quick Riposte / Atk/Def Bond / Atk/Spd Bond / Savage Blow

  • Quick Riposte is a necessary aspect of this build as any sort of Speed stacking with this set-up is meant primarily to deny follow-up attacks (as opposed to ensuring them). Utilizing it as his chosen seal has the advantage of freeing up his B slot skills for other options like Null Follow-Up and Guard.

  • Otherwise, if Quick Riposte is being used in the B slot instead, the Atk/Def Bond, Atk/Spd Bond, Close Def, and Savage Blow seals are excellent options that lend themselves well to this build’s intended playstyle, offering his performance in the Enemy Phase a worthwhile upgrade through their various boosts.

Honorbound Vassal (Defensive Nuke)

Build by
Saizo's Star (+Eff) A Close Counter
Reposition B Vantage 3
Glimmer
Alternate: Moonbow
C Pulse Smoke 3
Alternate: Savage Blow 3
IVsSBrazen Atk/Def 3

Show Explanation/Analysis

Preferred IV: +ATK / -RES

Saizo’s ability to elevate his stats (particularly his Attack) to high extents with relative ease also enables him to make pretty good use of a Vantage sweeper set-up, particularly for use in Aether Raids. Since he will be reliant upon his ability to consistently fell incoming foes with a single hit, an Attack Asset is his ideal choice of IVs to maximize his raw damage output.

Weapon: Saizo’s Star (+Eff)

Assist: Reposition / Flexible

Special: Glimmer / Moonbow

  • His choice of Special is not especially significant here, but those with short cooldowns like Glimmer and Moonbow can nonetheless be considered due to their frequent activation rate. Glimmer pairs excellently with this build’s emphasis on maximizing his damage output, however, Moonbow may preferred should one wish to help Saizo face off against bulky foes whom he would have otherwise struggled against.

Passive A: Close Counter

  • Close Counter is his ideal choice of A slot skill once again to guarantee Saizo’s ability to deal with a wide variety of threat, offering him a good deal of additional versatility.

Passive B: Vantage

  • Vantage is a crucial component of this build to ensure that Saizo can properly fulfill his role as a defensive nuke. Upon reaching its HP threshold, Vantage enables the angry ninja to potentially take down multiple foes in one fell swoop — all the while remaining entirely unscathed.

Passive C: Pulse Smoke / Savage Blow

Sacred Seal: Brazen Atk/Def / Brazen Atk/Spd / Brazen Atk/Res / Fierce Stance

  • Brazen skills synergize perfectly with this set’s emphasis on maximizing Saizo’s potency at low HP, sharing a similar HP threshold to that of Vantage. Should one favor consistency over raw power and wish to improve his damage output regardless of how much health he has, however, the Fierce Stance seal can be considered instead, granting him a considerable +6 Attack boost in the Enemy Phase.

Introduction

Loyal retainer to the prince of lobsters, Saizo: Angry Ninja was previously considered one of the more underwhelming dagger units in the game. Although he possessed a good amount of physical bulk and Speed, his unimpressive base Attack stat combined with his exceptionally poor magical bulk rendered his overall performance severely lacking. While not necessarily outright horrible, Saizo struggled to deal significant amounts of damage without being overly reliant on Special activations in order to do so and was ultimately left without any discernible niche where he was not already sorely outclassed by another unit.

However, the introduction of his own personal weapon, the aptly named Saizo’s Star, has done much to change this. In addition to retaining the devastating debuffing qualities of his native Smoke Dagger, Saizo’s Star boasts a unique refinement option with tremendous potential, translating all debuffs on his respective opponents into an equivalent in-combat boost for himself. This essentially allows him to gain a massive +12 stat advantage against any opponent afflicted by his weapon’s debuffs — and when taken into consideration alongside the fact that this could be bolstered further with field buffs AND in-combat buffs, Saizo can perform as a truly powerful threat in one’s control under the proper circumstances. All in all, this weapon enables the angry-faced shinobi to be quite suited towards use in the Enemy Phase — a feat not typically not expected of ranged units — and even lends itself perfectly for modes such as Aether Raids Offense, specifically with the commonly utilized “supertank” and Vantage sweeper set-ups where support is typically given to and centered around a singular unit.

Saizo is not without weaknesses, though. Most notably, although Saizo’s Star does possess excellent potential, initially obtaining this potential can prove to be quite troublesome due to the fact that the weapon does not apply its debuffs until after combat is resolved; this means that for his first round of combat, Saizo will have to rely entirely on his unimpressive base stats to carry him through, which may sometimes result in him being killed before his true potential is unlocked. Furthermore, his magical bulk is exceedingly poor and renders him virtually incapable of handling most magical threats, even with the boosts from his PRF.

Overall, Saizo is a decent unit whose latent combat prowess lets him serve as a fantastic addition to most team compositions, and can shine when utilized alongside units who can help him maintain his PRF’s combat boosts with greater consistency — just be sure to keep him out of harm’s way from any opposing mages or dragons.

Strengths

Saizo’s Star

Saizo’s unique personal weapon, Saizo’s Star, allows him to bypass his initially mediocre statline and benefit from a tremendous boost to his overall potential under the proper circumstances.

Decent Speed

While not necessarily exceptional, Saizo’s base Speed stat of 34 is respectable and provides him with a good foundation for denying his opponent’s follow-up attack, with this being especially useful if equipped with Null Follow-Up; this is only heightened further by the potential in-combat boosts he can receive from Saizo’s Star.

Decent Physical Bulk

Saizo’s surprisingly sturdy physical bulk of 69 allows him to be quite proficient at trading blows with opposing physical threats, in addition to letting him make fantastic use of his PRF to function as a formidable threat in the Enemy Phase when capitalized on with the proper combination of skills and support.

Infantry

As an infantry unit, Saizo benefits from access to powerful exclusive skills like Null Follow-Up which he can utilize to notable effect and augment his combat prowess sizably.

Great Availability

Saizo is currently available in the 3-4* pool, making the task of acquiring merges and the perfect IVs for him a relatively pain-free and easy task — especially in comparison to some of his direct competition.

Weaknesses

Poor First Round of Combat

Despite its immense potential, the fact that Saizo cannot benefit from the aforementioned performance boost that his PRF provides until after he concludes his first round of combat means that he will be reliant solely on his inherent statline to carry him through, which may have debilitating consequences depending on his target choice.

Horrible Magical Bulk

Saizo’s poor base magical bulk of 52 hinders his ability to deal with incoming magical threats dramatically, often receiving heavy damage from such opponents if not outright KO’ed.

Weapon Skills

Weapons SP Rng. Mt.
Iron Dagger

After combat, inflicts Def/Res-3 on foe through its next action.

Dagger users only.
50 2 3
Steel Dagger

After combat, inflicts Def/Res-3 on foe through its next action.

Learns by default at 3 ★
Dagger users only.
100 2 5
Smoke Dagger

After combat, inflicts Def/Res-4 on foes within 2 spaces of target through their next actions.

Learns by default at 4 ★
Unlocks at 3 ★
Dagger users only.
200 2 6
Smoke Dagger+

After combat, if unit attacked, inflicts Def/Res-6 on foes within 2 spaces of target through their next actions.

Unlocks at 5 ★
Dagger users only.
300 2 9
Saizo's Star

After combat, if unit attacked, inflicts Atk/Spd/Def/Res-6 on target and foes within 2 spaces of target through their next actions.

Unlocks at 5 ★
Non-Inheritable skill.
400 2 14
Available Rearmed Weapons
Arcane Void
Weapon Evolution
Weapon Upgrades
Weapon Upgrades

Support Skills

Support Skills Rng. SP
Harsh Command

Converts penalties on target into bonuses.

Learns by default at 4 ★
1 150

Passive Skills

Passive Skills SP Slot
Poison Strike 1

If unit initiates combat, deals 4 damage to foe after combat.

Non-inheritable by Staff-wielding units.
Unlocks at 3 ★
60
B
Poison Strike 2

If unit initiates combat, deals 7 damage to foe after combat.

Non-inheritable by Staff-wielding units.
Unlocks at 3 ★
120
B
Poison Strike 3

If unit initiates combat, deals 10 damage to foe after combat.

Non-inheritable by Staff-wielding units.
Unlocks at 4 ★
240
B
Spur Spd 1

Grants Spd+2 to adjacent allies during combat.

Inheritable by all units.
Unlocks at 3 ★
50
C
Spur Spd 2

Grants Spd+3 to adjacent allies during combat.

Inheritable by all units.
Unlocks at 4 ★
100
C
Spur Spd 3

Grants Spd+4 to adjacent allies during combat.

Inheritable by all units.
Unlocks at 5 ★
200
C

Other Info

Origin
Fire Emblem Fates

Banners Featured In

Official Hero Artwork