Sothe

• Preferred IV: +SPD or +ATK / -DEF or -RES
• Weapon: Peshkatz
• Assist: Reposition
• Special: Draconic Aura
• Passive A: Swift Sparrow / Fury / Life and Death
• Passive B: Desperation / Vantage
• Passive C: Spur Atk/Spd / Flexible
• Sacred Seal: Speed +3 / Attack +3

Sothe’s Prf dagger Peshkatz has an interesting effect - it’s a combination of refined Smoke Dagger and refined Light Breath. It also shares the downside of Light Breath, which is that the buff only lasts a turn, meaning that if applied during Player Phase, it will last through both the rest of Player Phase and the following Enemy Phase. If applied during Enemy Phase, however, it will only last for the rest of Enemy Phase and be gone at the start of the following Player Phase. The dagger can still have interesting applications in certain scenarios, with very high potential - particularly when supported by dancers.

This build is called the Gambling Berserker because it relies on a number of factors to fall into place in order for maximum potential. First, Sothe needs to be able to engage onto an enemy that either cannot counterattack or fails to kill him in a single hit. This action is what activates Peshkatz and primes Sothe to go on a rampage. Second, Sothe should kill this enemy in the single round of combat. Third, the dead enemy should have nearby allies that then get struck by the debuff from Peshkatz. If all three of these conditions are met, Sothe and his allies (assuming they were within range) will be capable of murdering pretty much everyone with his massive +8 to all stats as a result of the comparative differential produced by the combination of Peshkatz’s debuff and buff. Every condition that is not met results in Sothe being less effective. Fortunately, even in the worst case scenario, Sothe can still be very effective.

Swift Sparrow is chosen over Life and Death because the loss in bulk from Life and Death makes a very big difference in whether Sothe dies or not from a single counterattack. He goes from 61/60 physical/magical bulk to 56/55 physical/magical, which is now in the range that a lot of typical Distant Counter units and mages are able to hit. Fury is an acceptable alternative, as the added bulk can help particularly in scenarios where Sothe has no choice but to take a hit. Life and Death should be used only on a budget, as it hinders Sothe’s choices of targets.

Desperation pairs well for an offensive build, as Sothe will often need two hits to kill units with reasonable physical bulk, even when in full berserker mode - 62 effective attack with both of Peshkatz’s effects active and Swift Sparrow. Vantage is also an acceptable choice, as Sothe’s potentially sky high attack power enables him to one hit kill most squishier ranged units, such as mages and archers.

Speed is boosted at every possible point, including IVs and Seal, to maximize the chance that Sothe can both double enemies and avoid being doubled himself, which would be a death sentence.

• Preferred IV: +SPD or +ATK / -DEF or -RES
• Weapon: Peshkatz
• Assist: Reposition
• Special: Draconic Aura / Glimmer
• Passive A: Life and Death
• Passive B: Windsweep / Watersweep
• Passive C: Spur Atk/Spd / Drive Spd / Savage Blow / Flexible
• Sacred Seal: Phantom Spd / Spur Atk / Savage Blow

This build focuses on Peshkatz’s buffing and debuffing ability to enable support for Sothe’s teammates. The centerpiece of this build is Windsweep/Watersweep - by disabling enemies’ ability to counterattack, Sothe can stay safe while simultaneously mass buffing and debuffing to enable another ally to become supercharged and clean up.

Sothe has 33 speed at neutral, 38 with his base Life and Death, and 41 with a +Speed IV. Phantom Spd seal can be added on top of this to deny counterattacks from anyone with less than 51 speed. If 41 is considered sufficient, you can instead run another seal as desired. Both Windsweep and Watersweep are equally viable - Sothe will struggle equally versus either unit type, as with Life and Death he will be too frail to safely take a hit from them, so the decision is up to preference.

Peshkatz’s buff synergizes incredibly well with Blade tome units, due to providing a massive +4 buff to Attack/Speed/Defense/Resistance for 1 turn. If running Sothe alongside a blade tome unit, his C slot (and possibly seal) are best relegated to support skills such as his native Spur Atk/Spd or Drive Spd, based on preference. Savage Blow is an option for Sothe’s C slot (and possibly seal) if he is being run alongside a Firesweep unit, who appreciates the extra bit of damage to secure kills. Because a Firesweep unit cannot be counterattacked, they don’t have to worry about any units getting Vantage activated due to Savage Blow’s chip damage.

• Preferred IV: +SPD / -DEF or -RES or -HP
• Weapon: Lethal Carrot+ (+Spd) / Barb Shuriken (+Spd) / Kagami Mochi+ (+Spd)
• Assist: Reposition / Ardent Sacrifice
• Special: Moonbow / Draconic Aura
• Passive A: Fury / Swift Sparrow / Life and Death / Brazen Atk/Spd
• Passive B: Desperation
• Passive C: Spur Atk/Spd / Flexible
• Sacred Seal: Heavy Blade / Speed +3

While Sothe has multiple good weapon choices for this offensive set, every single option is unfortunately only available on limited units. Lethal Carrot’s +10 damage on Special activations gives Sothe a significant damage boost, which allows him to make up for the lack of color advantage. Barb Shuriken and Kagami Mochi both grant -1 Special cooldown, which can grant a similar damage boost as Lethal Carrot by allowing for either a more powerful (and higher cooldown) Special or allowing Sothe to not rely on Heavy Blade.

Aside from a movement Assist, Sothe can potentially run Ardent Sacrifice in order to safely drop him into Desperation range, removing the potential danger of getting KO’d in a single enemy counterattack. -HP is the ideal bane in this scenario, as having neutral HP with a refined weapon will put Sothe at over 40 HP. Running Ardent Sacrifice also allows Sothe to run Life and Death or Brazen Atk/Spd, as entering Desperation range outside of combat allows him to almost entirely mitigate the pitfalls of those skills. Otherwise, Fury is generally the best option due to the increased bulk giving a bit more safety, or Swift Sparrow if Sothe has access to merges and/or team support (such as buffs).

The Heavy Blade seal allows Sothe to consistently activate his Special every combat even when running Lethal Carrot. It’s vitally important for Sothe to be able to activate his Special constantly due to them being the source of most of his damage. It is also worth using even if running Barb Shuriken or Kagami Mochi, as it then allows him to run a higher damage Special like Draconic Aura. Otherwise, a Speed +3 seal works just fine with Moonbow.