Spring Veronica

• Preferred IV: +SPD or +ATK / -RES

• Weapon: Gronnblade+

• Assist: Ardent Sacrifice / Reposition

• Special: Glimmer / Moonbow

• Passive A: Atk/Spd Solo / Swift Sparrow / Life and Death / Fury

• Passive B: Desperation

• Passive C: Odd Atk Wave / Hone Fliers / Guidance / Flexible

• Sacred Seal: Heavy Blade / Darting Blow / Guidance

Thanks to her exceptional offensive statline, Veronica is a choice candidate for a Blade tome build. As with most Blade tome users, Speed and Attack are Veronica’s most important stats. As such, an asset in either of these stats compliments the purely offensive playstyle by maximizing the damage that Veronica can do in a single round of combat. For her assist, Ardent Sacrifice has great synergy with Desperation. Veronica’s lacking overall bulk makes her susceptible to getting killed in only one hit by both physical and magical damage. By dropping her HP without the need to engage in combat, she can safely get into Desperation’s 75% HP threshold. Otherwise, any choice of movement skill such as Reposition will make for a suitable Assist.

Glimmer is a great choice of Special on any Blade tome user, as it scales with the additional damage received from Hone/Fortify buffs and activities within a reasonable timeframe despite the cooldown penalty tied to Blade tomes. Moonbow also makes for a suitable alternative, particularly against opponents with high Resistance such as Surtr and Halloween Henry.

Moving on to main skills, Atk/Spd Solo makes for the premium choice of A skill by providing a significant boost to Veronica’s offensive stats when not adjacent to any allies. Similarly, Swift Sparrow provides a slightly weaker boost to Attack/Speed on initiation without losing anything else. Life and Death is another great option; while it does grant Veronica a strong offensive boost, it comes at the cost of severely damaging her overall bulk. This makes her even more susceptible to getting OHKO’d by physical and magical damage alike. Finally, Fury makes for yet another solid alternative by making it easier to get into Desperation range as well as increasing her overall bulk at the cost of a marginally weaker offense.

Desperation is the cornerstone of any offensive glass cannon mage build. One in the HP range, Veronica will be able to safely double her opponents without the risk of getting killed on the counterattack. For Veronica’s C skill, Wave skills such as Odd Atk Wave make for a great option, as they boost her self-sufficiency by giving her an automatic stat buff at the start of every other turn. For a more team-synergetic option, Hone Fliers allows Veronica to be a benefactor on a flier-centric team in which she is most effective. Guidance also makes for a good choice on a mixed team composition by providing movement support to both infantry and armored teammates. Otherwise, the C slot can be replaced as needed to suit the team.

Last but not least, Veronica has several options for Sacred Seals. Heavy Blade makes for a very effective option by allowing her to consistently accelerate the cooldown of her Specials thanks to the damage scaling property of Blade tomes. Darting Blow also makes for a very effective choice and suits the purely offense playstyle perfectly by granting Veronica a significant boost to her Speed on initiation. Finally, If she isn’t already utilizing Guidance in her C slot, it can also be run in the Sacred Seal slot.

• Preferred IV: +ATK / -RES or -DEF or -HP

• Weapon: Gronnblade+

• Assist: Reposition

• Special: Glimmer

• Passive A:  Close Counter

• Passive B: Vantage

• Passive C: Res Smoke / Savage Blow

• Sacred Seal: Brazen Atk/Res / Fierce Stance

Another great way for Veronica to make use a Blade tome and a particularly effective choice for Aether Raids is the Vantage sweeper setup. Since this build is heavily reliant on taking out opponents in only one hit, an asset in Attack is the most desirable nature that Veronica can receive. The choice of Special is mostly inconsequential but Glimmer will remain the strongest option thanks to the damage scaling property of Blade tomes.

The main focus of this set is running Close Counter with Vantage. Upon hitting the HP threshold for Vantage, any subsequent opponents that initiate on Veronica are forced to take the at least one hit from Gronnblade before having the chance to counterattack. With this combination, Veronica can potentially take out multiple opponents in the Enemy Phase completely unscathed. However, the amount of support that Veronica needs in order to take out her opponent in only one hit can vary greatly depending on who she is left in the range of. Bulky ranged units such as Winter Tharja can difficult opponents to face.

Res Smoke is a fantastic choice of C skill with this playstyle. By reducing the magical bulk of opponents around her after combat, any affected targets that initiated on her afterward will be hit even harder. If unavailable, Savage Blow can make for a suitable alternative. Although it only works during the Player Phase, it can prove to be effective when initiating to put Veronica into Vantage range and dealing 7 damage to all enemies around the target after combat. For the Sacred Seal, anything that boosts raw damage during the Enemy Phase such as Brazen Atk/Res or Fierce Stance makes for a stellar choice.

The most notable weakness of this build are opponents that prevent counterattacks or disable skills that change attack priority. As such, be wary of any Dazzling Staff healers, Firesweep users, or any unit equipped with the skill Hardy Breaking.

• Preferred IV: +SPD or +ATK / -RES

• Weapon: Veðrfölnir's Egg

• Assist: Reposition

• Special: Moonbow / Luna

• Passive A:  Sturdy Impact / Atk/Spd Solo / Swift Sparrow

• Passive B: Mystic Boost / Chill Res

• Passive C: Odd Atk Wave / Hone Fliers / Guidance / Flexible

• Sacred Seal: Darting Blow / Heavy Blade / Guidance

This build focuses on making effective use of Veronica’s personal weapon, Veðrfölnir's Egg, by keeping her above the required HP threshold. Similar to the previous set, Speed and Attack the choice assets in order to maximize Veronica’s offensive potential. For her Special, Moonbow remains a strong choice thanks to its frequent activation while Luna can be combined with the Heavy Blade Sacred Seal for a more powerful, albeit less consistent alternative.

Sturdy Impact is a highly coveted A skill and a phenomenal choice for this playstyle. In addition to the significant Attack boost, Sturdy Impact great increases survivability when initiating with a colossal +10 boost to Attack as well as preventing the opponent from making follow-up attacks. This plus the effect of Veronica’s weapon brings her base Defense all the way up to 30, making it much easier to stay within the HP threshold for the weapon itself. If unavailable, Atk/Spd Solo and Swift Sparrow remain suitable alternatives to boost Veronica’s power during Player Phase.

Mystic Boost can be used as further assurance for her weapon’s activation. On top of restoring 6 HP after combat to help keep her above the threshold, it also disables the adaptive damage effect of Breath weapons as well as the effects of the skill Wrathful Staff, allowing Veronica to combat dragons and healers without the need to take too much damage. Once again, Veronica’s native Chill Res is a suitable alternative for increasing the damage dealt by both her and her team to the affected target if the aforementioned skill is unavailable.

As for C skills, Wave skills such as Odd Atk Wave remains a great choice for boosting Veronica’s self-sufficiency through an automatic buff at the start of every other turn while Hone Fliers and Guidance are still great team-synergistic options in their own right. Otherwise, the C slot can be replaced as needed to suit the team.

The Darting Blow Sacred Seal blends well with Sturdy Impact by balancing out Veronica’s offensive stat gain on initiation with a significant boost to her Speed. Heavy Blade also remains a good choice by allowing Veronica to activate her Special more frequently. Last but not least, skills such as Guidance not used in the C slot make for suitable Sacred Seal alternatives.