- Default
- Attack
- Special
- Injured




Shannan - Wielder of Astra |
---|
|
Hero Stats
Stat Variations
HP | ATK | SPD | DEF | RES | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Low | 18 | 7 | 7 | 10 | 4 |
Middle | 19 | 8 | 8 | 11 | 5 |
High | 20 | 9 | 9 | 12 | 6 |
HP | ATK | SPD | DEF | RES | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Low | 40 | 35 | 33 | 34 | 14 |
Middle | 43 | 38 | 36 | 37 | 18 |
High | 46 | 42 | 39 | 40 | 21 |
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. |
HP | ATK | SPD | DEF | RES |
---|---|---|---|---|
Assets
-
+ATK: Shannan benefits immensely from receiving a +ATK IV to further build upon its strong base Attack and enhance his raw damage output; it even comes as a four-point Asset to boot. This pairs particularly well with Vantage setups meant to maximize his OHKO potential in the Enemy Phase.
-
+SPD: Increasing his Speed with a +SPD IV is another valid choice to enhance his ability to consistently perform and deny follow-up attacks; combined with the various boosts Balmung provides, this also serves to directly augment his ability to wield Speed-scaling skills like Imperial Astra, Close Call, and Repel.
Neutral
-
DEF / RES: Preserving Shannan’s defensive stats is recommended to keep him from taking unnecessary amounts of additional damage, with a -RES IV potentially proving particularly debilitating due to its status as a four-point Flaw; however, as his base Resistance is already quite poor, this remains a solid alternative should a -HP IV be unavailable.
Banes
-
-HP: Shannan can safely take a -HP IV without much detriment to his overall performance, making it his ideal choice of Flaw. Furthermore, it pairs quite nicely with skills like Vantage and Wrath that are dependent on maintaining low levels of HP.
Skill Sets
Three Stage Eternity (Defensive Nuke)
![]() |
Balmung | A | Distant Counter |
---|---|---|---|
![]() |
Reposition | B | Vantage 3 |
![]() |
Glimmer Alternate: Imperial Astra |
C | Pulse Smoke 3 Alternate: Def Smoke 3 |
IVs | S | Fierce Stance 3 |
Preferred IVs: +ATK / -HP
This build aims to optimize Shannan’s performance as a defensive nuke -- a role he can carry out incredibly well thanks to his access to a stellar base Attack stat on top of the various boosts Balmung provides in the Enemy Phase. Accordingly, a +ATK IV is his ideal choice to heighten his raw damage output as much as possible.
Weapon: Balmung
-
Balmung benefits this build’s defensive playstyle perfectly, making him entirely impervious to penalties in the Enemy Phase (as well as when his foe is at full health at the start of combat). This makes for an extremely valuable quality given the increasing commonality of debuffs in enemy team compositions, allowing him to consistently remain at peak performance; the extra stats it provides are just a cherry-on-top.
Assist: Reposition / Flexible
Special: Glimmer / Imperial Astra / Moonbow / Miracle
-
Specials with a short cooldown are preferred here to ensure Shannan’s ability to utilize them frequently. Glimmer is ideal as it possesses rather strong synergy with this build’s focus on heightening his firepower, though Imperial Astra is a good alternative should one desire a more consistent damage boost. Moonbow can also be taken to help solidify Shannan’s performance against bulkier opponents.
-
Miracle makes for a worthwhile consideration to make here as well to grant Shannan some much-needed survivability since even with Vantage, taking damage isn’t always avoidable. However, taking Miracle may leave his damage output somewhat lacking if approached without adequate preparation, so providing him with a good amount of team support will prove vital in ensuring his success.
Passive A: Distant Counter
-
Distant Counter is a phenomenal A slot skill that is wholly necessary for this build to function properly, providing Shannan with the coveted ability to counterattack against ranged opponents; while relatively simple, this effect translates into a huge boost to Shannan’s overall versatility and allows him to handle a greater number of threats than otherwise possible.
Passive B: Vantage
-
Vantage is another irreplaceable (but much more readily available) component of this build that allows the young prince to quickly shut down several foes consecutively without incurring further damage, making him incredibly effective at defensive play. That being said, one should still take caution as this skill is not without its flaws; opponents equipped with the Hardy Bearing seal or skills like the Hoshidan Summer weapons can negate the entirety of its potency.
Passive C: Pulse Smoke / Def Smoke / Savage Blow / Flexible
-
Smoke skills complement this defensive nature and bolster Shannan’s performance notably when attempting to engage multiple opponents in a single Enemy Phase. Pulse Smoke is particularly strong when utilizing him in Aether Raids Offense as this quickly neuters the effectiveness of teams centered around quick or instant Special activations, such as Infantry Pulse set-ups.
-
Def Smoke is another good option for directly increased damage output. On a budget, Savage Blow may be taken to serve a similar purpose and directly diminish his opponents’ health, though its effectiveness compared to Def Smoke is generally inferior.
Sacred Seal: Fierce Stance / Brazen Atk/Res / Brazen Atk/Def / Brazen Atk/Spd
-
The Fierce Stance seal is a simple, but powerful choice that further supplements Shannan’s Attack stat with no other prerequisite conditions other than simply being attacked.
-
In exchange for losing out on Fierce Stance’s consistency, any of the Brazen seals that boost Attack currently available may be taken to enhance his combat prowess at lower levels of HP.
Boundlessness (Defensive Tank)
![]() |
Balmung | A | Distant Counter Alternate: Steady Posture 3 |
---|---|---|---|
![]() |
Reposition | B | Repel 3 Alternate: Close Call 3 |
![]() |
Noontime Alternate: Sol |
C | Pulse Smoke 3 Alternate: Spd Smoke 3 |
IVs | S | Swift Stance 2 |
Preferred IVs: +SPD / -HP
While this build once again places an emphasis on Shannan’s performance in the Enemy Phase (similarly to the first), it focuses more on his ability to directly take on sustained offensive pressure through Speed-stacking to fully exploit the effects of skills like Repel and Close Call, as well as consistently avoid enemy follow-up attacks. Thus, a +SPD IV is Shannan’s optimal choice for the purposes of this build.
Weapon: Balmung
Assist: Reposition / Flexible
Special: Noontime / Sol
-
A healing Special is highly recommended to further build upon Shannan’s survivability, though Balmung’s lack of a built-in Slaying effect does hinder their effectiveness somewhat. If providing some form of accelerated cooldown support (namely via Brave Lucina’s refined Geirskögul or Infantry Breath), Noontime is ideal as it will then activate on every counterattack -- otherwise, Sol should be taken to not waste Special charges.
Passive A: Distant Counter / Steady Posture
-
Distant Counter is recommended once more to boost Shannan’s versatility and widen the breadth of threats he can take on in the Enemy Phase. If unavailable, his native Steady Posture makes a decent alternative for its built-in Guard effect and simultaneous boost to his Speed and Defense upon being attacked, though this will limit his overall applicability immensely.
Passive B: Repel / Close Call
-
Repel and Close Call are the centerpiece of this build, and for good reason. Aside from their minor movement-based effects (which will typically be a nonfactor given this build’s defensive playstyle), these skills also grant Shannan a substantial enemy damage reduction (including damage incurred from AoE Specials) based on the difference between his Speed stat and his opponent’s.
-
At maximum potency (which requires that he have a ten-point Speed advantage), Shannan can reduce incoming damage by a significant 40% and easily take the brunt of most sources of sustained offensive pressure; this allows him to shine as a defensive tank.
Passive C: Pulse Smoke / Atk Smoke / Spd Smoke / Flexible
Sacred Seal: Swift Stance / Darting Stance
-
In accordance with this build’s intended playstyle, seals that increase his Speed in the Enemy Phase are ideal. Swift Stance is arguably his best option due to its concurrent boost to his Resistance (another key stat), but Darting Stance is a strong contender as well.
Strengths
Balmung
Shannan’s defining feature is undoubtedly his exclusive weapon, Balmung. In addition to providing an excellent +5 overall stat boost when his foe has full HP at the start of combat or in the Enemy Phase, Balmung possesses the rare ability to negate any penalties affecting Shannan upon fulfilling its conditions -- an effect that proves extremely useful given the increasing commonality of debuffs in enemy team compositions.
Great Stat Spread
Fortunately enough, Shannan can make great use of Balmung’s various effects thanks to his overall solid statline. His offensive stats are quite good (and he even boasts access to a four-point +ATK IV), his physical bulk is phenomenal, and his magical bulk (albeit rather low in comparison to other new entries) is generally sufficient to survive an attack from most green mages.
Fantastic Defensive Capabilities
While he may not necessarily boast as much of the flexibility in playstyle as some of his contemporaries (such as Mareeta and both versions of Byleth), Shannan’s defensive capabilities are some of the strongest around thanks to the combined power of Balmung and his inherently good statline; this allows him to shine when built with such a purpose in mind.
Imperial Astra
Shannan’s exclusive Special, Imperial Astra, is a formidable offensive Special that allows him to convert his high base Speed into offensive might and comes with a short two-turn Special to boot. While not quite as useful as it once may have been, it remains a noteworthy tool at his disposal nonetheless.
Infantry
As an infantry unit, Shannan benefits from access to powerful exclusive skills like Repel and Close Call, which he can utilize quite effectively to augment his combat prowess considerably.
Weaknesses
Low Resistance
Shannan’s base Resistance stat of 18 is absolutely horrendous and causes him to take notable amounts of damage from incoming magical threats, rendering him incapable of handling them should he not be properly equipped to do so.
![]() |
Balmung | A | Steady Posture 3 |
---|---|---|---|
![]() |
Pivot | B | Wrath 3 |
![]() |
Imperial Astra | C | Joint Drive Atk |
S | Steady Stance 2 |
I wouldn't call this a good build as much as it is a great occasion to use the Steady Posture seal, but you will likely need to inherit a more useful B skill, such as Spurn. It's for this reason I've also opted for Joint Drive Atk.
With such a powerful core unit boasting "immune to penalties," it's more important to consider support options. I've basically reserved Brave Lucina for Brave Ike, so my preference is to use Corrin (M) with double Drive Spd.
"At this point you'll have so many [speed], that the enemy might as well surrender."
The role of distant counter user is better fulfilled by Altina, so I'm not keen on turning Shannan into a generalist. The only reason to do so is to go toe-to-toe with a hardy bearing user, but that tends to unilaterally be Ophelia anyhow!
Here are some new notes regarding builds: We now have access to the broken-ass Kestrel Stance as a seal! Incidentally, you may consider using Kestrel Stance as an A skill, as using a damage reduction skill (Spurn) will cause you to have diminishing returns when using skills that increase defense (Steady Posture). I would only recommend this if you have support that can compensate for the loss of defense.
![]() |
Balmung | A | Distant Counter |
---|---|---|---|
![]() |
Harsh Command+ | B | Repel 3 |
![]() |
Imperial Astra | C | Infantry Pulse 3 |
S | Spd Smoke 3 |
Preferred IVs: +ATK,+SPD/ -HP
This build aims to make Shannan optimize as a Brave Dimitri esk Character in which he is designed to be a wall on AR-D. You want him to take as much damage as possible only for him to absolutely nuke with Imperial Astra. For this, his best IVs are either +Atk or +Spd. +Atk being the more optimal as Shannan has a superboon in it whereas +Spd makes getting Spurn more consistent.
Weapon: Balmung
Balmung is arguably one of the best enemy phase weapons in the entire game and that is for a very good reason. It makes activating penalties onto him extremely hard and it increases his stats by +5. While not as potent as Mareeta's or his cousin's swords, it's still ridiculously broken as it makes Shannan one of the hardest units to KO in the entire game.
Assist: Harsh Command +
Really, you shouldn't use an assist on Shannan, but if you have to use one. Then I guess use Harsh Command + since he doesn't get de-buffed.
Special: Imperial Astra
Since this set is exclusive for AR-D, you should focus on having a consistent damaging special that has low cooldown. And thankfully, Shannan has just that in his base kit. Shannan is one of the few units in the game with a skill that calculates damage off of a unit's speed. And with Shannan's above-average speed stat that becomes even better with his weapon, that just makes it the perfect choice for him.
Passive A: Distant Counter
Steady Posture 3 is by no means a bad skill as it would be perfect for Shannan if his weapon had built in DC. But alas, it doesn't. So the most optimal choice is to swap it out for the classic DC. Since Shannan is an enemy phase unit with this build, he's gonna need to counterattack vs some of those pesky ranged units that aren't able to one-shot him.
Passive B: Spurn 3/Repel 3/Close Call 3
I'm honestly surprised that they didn't give Shannan this off the bat. His kit is basically asking for it, yet all he gets is Wrath 3? Weird. But yeah, Shannan's best B slot is easily one of these 3 skills with Spurn 3 being the most optimal. Not only does Spurn make it so Shannan takes less damage, but it also increases Imperial Astras's damage output by 5 once he gets into that range as well as making it so he gets a lower cooldown with it. Yeah, that's a lot of damage
Passive C Slot: Infantry Pulse 3/Pulse Smoke
Even with -hp, Shannan is still able to reach 50 HP with 2 Mythic Units. So, Shannan should be focusing on helping pulse down his fellow allies as he himself doesn't require Regnal Astra at the start of the game (As long as he gets pulsed down by 1 unit, he's fine). If you don't need him to pulse anyone down, however, then Pulse Smoke or any other Smoke skill will suffice for his C slot.
Sacred Seal: Speed Smoke/Kestral Stance 2
Assuming that you have given Shannan Infantry Pulse, then you should give him a smoke skill for his SS slot. The most optimal being Speed Smoke as it lowers all nearby enemies by 7 making it even harder for them to deal with Shannan. However, with the recent Tempest Trials, Shannan can now learn Kestral Stance 2 for his SS slot which boosts his Atk and Speed by 4. So instead of him getting +5 speed and attack on enemy phase, he gets +9 to those stats
![]() |
Balmung | A | Brazen Atk/Spd 4 |
---|---|---|---|
![]() |
Reposition | B | Wrath 3 |
![]() |
Imperial Astra | C | Time's Pulse 3 |
S | Brazen Atk/Spd 3 |
(Not tried yet, don't spend your resources without knowing what you're doing)
Expensive offensive build.
Shannan's bonuses applies also when the enemy has full hp, so it should be possible for him to 1-shot enemies with full hp.
Brazen Atk/Spd 4 will give him +13 extra damage (better than the 2 of his default A skill), if you don't have it, the level 3 of this skill should work as well (and gives him +9 damage)
Time's Pulse is the key skill to make this build work: when he will be al lowish hp, he will start every turn with Imperial Astra ready; it can also help him to 1-shot an enemy in EP at the beginning (and taking a hit will help him to activate wrath and the brazen skills)
![]() |
Balmung | A | Steady Posture 3 |
---|---|---|---|
![]() |
Reposition | B | Wrath 3 |
![]() |
Imperial Astra | C | Even Spd Wave 3 |
S | Brazen Atk/Spd 3 |
Physical tank (budget) low-hp build.
When Shannan's hp drops below, 75% he will trigger the activation of both Brazen and Wrath, so Imperial Astra's damage will increase by 19 (Wrath (10) + brazen atk (7) + brazen speed (2) )
The wrost part of this build is that he will be able to retaliate immediatly with the special only at the first fight per tourn, and he needs to double to activate the special in other fights (risking of being defeated if the enemy has Bold Fighter or other skills which grants follow-up attacks) unless you have an infaintry pulse or BLucina near him
Weapon Skills
Weapons | SP | Rng. | Mt. |
---|---|---|---|
![]() Learns by default at 1 ★ Unlocks at 1 ★ Only Inheritable by Sword Units.
|
50 | 1 | 6 |
![]() Learns by default at 3 ★ Unlocks at 2 ★ Only Inheritable by Sword Units.
|
100 | 1 | 8 |
![]() Learns by default at 4 ★ Unlocks at 3 ★ Only Inheritable by Sword Units.
|
200 | 1 | 11 |
![]() Learns by default at 5 ★ Unlocks at 5 ★ Non-Inheritable skill.
|
400 | 1 | 16 |
Special Skills
Special Skills | SP | Turns |
---|---|---|
![]() Learns by default at 4 ★ Unlocks at 3 ★ Non-inheritable by Staff-wielding units.
|
100 | 3 |
![]() Unlocks at 4 ★ Non-inheritable by Staff-wielding units.
|
200 | 4 |
![]() Unlocks at 5 ★ |
500 | 2 |
Passive Skills
Passive Skills | SP | Slot |
---|---|---|
![]() Non-inheritable by Staff-wielding units.
Unlocks at 2 ★ |
50 | A |
![]() Inheritable by all units.
Unlocks at 3 ★ |
120 | A |
![]() Inheritable by all units.
Unlocks at 4 ★ |
240 | A |
![]() Inheritable by all units.
Unlocks at 5 ★ |
300 | A |
![]() Melee, Infantry, and Armored Only
Unlocks at 3 ★ |
60 | B |
![]() Melee, Infantry, and Armored Only
Unlocks at 4 ★ |
120 | B |
![]() Melee, Infantry, and Armored Only
Unlocks at 5 ★ |
240 | B |
![]() Inheritable by all units.
Unlocks at 1 ★ |
60 | C |
![]() Inheritable by all units.
Unlocks at 2 ★ |
120 | C |
![]() Inheritable by all units.
Unlocks at 4 ★ |
240 | C |
Other Info
Origin |
Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War
|
---|