Summer Dimitri

Weapon: Unyielding Oar

Assist: Ardent Sacrifice / Positional Assist

• Dimitri uses Ardent Sacrifice if he has Winter Bernadetta as a teammate and 61 HP or less, which allows him to become a Wings of Mercy beacon after Turn 1, giving allies with Wings of Mercy the ability to teleport to him.
  • Winter Bernie chips everyone around her for 1 HP. Summer Dimitri then uses Ardent Sacrifice on 3 teammates on Turn 1 (with Dance/Sing support), reducing his overall HP by 30.
  • Dimitri then initiates on Turn 2, triggers Galeforce, and allows his entire team to warp to him.
• If not using this strategy, a Positional Assist is fine.

Special: Galeforce

Passive A: Atk/Spd Catch / Heavy Blade / Atk/Spd boosting A slot

• There's little reason not to use Atk/Spd Catch on Dimitri, as both his Menace skill and Atrocity debuffs foes around him, which fulfills one of the requirements and grants him an automatic +7 Attack.
• However, if you really need to use the Heavy Blade seal elsewhere, and you don't have enough passive cooldown reduction on your team, you can use Heavy Blade in his A slot - just be warned that this hamstrings his overall combat potential by significantly reducing his effective Attack and Speed

Passive B: Atrocity / Flow Force / Windsweep

• Generally, there's little reason to give up Atrocity, due to the stacked additional damage it grants Dimitri - however, if Dimitri is being inflicted with Follow-Up Denial which prevents him from getting in an additional 2 hits, a Flow skill may give him greater damage potential.
• Flow Force in particular neutralizes his Atk/Spd debuffs, which are key stats for Dimitri - and considering he'll want to stack these stats as much as possible, he may be getting hit by the Bright Shrine.
• Windsweep is a tech option that allows him to safely attack into supertanks like Fallen Edelgard or Gustav. This gives him some safety if he cannot kill in 2 hits, and his Oar's brave effect still works with it, ensuring he doesn't lose damage.

Passive C: Atk/Spd Menace / Spd/Def Menace

• Atk/Spd Menace not only grants Dimitri a self-buff to his Attack (furthering his Atrocity damage), but it also significantly helps him make Heavy Blade stat checks.
• While the damage between Atk/Spd Menace and Spd/Def Menace would be identical on most units, Summer Dimitri's Atrocity buff means he gains additional damage from buffing his own Attack. This would be evened out if he was running a Special like Moonbow - but for the Galeforce build, Atk/Spd Menace is the superior choice
• If you don't have the fodder though, be reassured that the difference is only a couple points of damage and a more difficult Heavy Blade check, unless you also have Atk buffers and debuffers supporting Summer Dimitri.

Seal: Heavy Blade / Blade Session

• Dimitri wants Heavy Blade in order to activate Galeforce in two hits - ideally his brave attacks from Unyielding Oar. However, this alone may not be enough - vs an enemy with a Guard skill, or if he kills an enemy with his first hit (which is entirely possible, given his insane offensive potential), he won't trigger Galeforce in a single combat.
• This can be mitigated with external Special Reduction - such as equipping Quickened Pulse in his Seal slot instead and using Heavy Blade in his A, or partnering him with units like Velouria or Rafiel, or supporting him with units like Legendary Hector or Grandscratcher-wielding healers.
• If you can stack enough of that to where Dimitri doesn't need a Heavy Blade seal, then Blade Session is a great option for him, as it grants him up to +9/+9 Atk/Spd and doesn't have a Solo requirement, which can be difficult to fulfill in a Wings of Mercy Galeforce team.

Weapon: Unyielding Oar

Assist: None / Buff Assist

• It's generally only worth running Assists on Defense units if they are involved in Buff traps - traps where a unit will move forward to buff another unit, then get Danced, then can attack the enemy from an unexpected position
• For general use, Dimitri can take a Positional Assist and call it a day.

Special: Moonbow / Glimmer

• Moonbow is preferable here as it helps Dimitri more vs Def-stacking Close Save tanks
• Against a foe with Guard, he will need Special Acceleration (such as Heavy Blade) to activate a Special
• For general use, Glimmer will net him more damage vs non-tank enemies, but at that point it ventures into overkill territory

Passive A: Atk/Spd Catch / Heavy Blade / Atk/Spd boosting A slot

• Unfortunately, cavaliers can't inherit Sturdy Impact, which makes Dimitri somewhat vulnerable to follow-up attacks. However, if attacking into a physical foe, his Defense is generally high enough to sustain a hit or two.
• You can run Heavy Blade to try and force a Moonbow to hit through enemy Guard - but giving up universal damage in the event of a Guard is only viable if you anticipate running into lots of Guard tanks.

Passive B: Atrocity / Windsweep / Flow Force

• Similar to the Galeforce build, Windsweep can be an interesting option for Dimitri to attack into tanks, as it will generally leave him unscathed after a battle while still getting both hits in.
• However, giving up Atrocity for this is a pretty significant tradeoff, as Dimitri loses a lot of damage by surrendering his prf skill, which could be the difference between getting a kill on Defense or not.

Passive C: Spd/Def Menace / Atk/Spd Menace

• Spd/Def Menace helps Dimitri to activate the conditions of his prf brave attack, by swinging the Speed differential between him and his closest foe/s by 12. When not trying to make a Heavy Blade check, this works just fine and is helpful in keeping him tanky to survive any potential physical counterattack.
• Atk/Spd Menace is very similar to Spd/Def Menace but with the added benefit of adding Atrocity damage and helping Dimitri make Heavy Blade checks.

Seal: Atk/Spd Solo / Quickened Pulse / Death Blow / Heavy Blade

• With Quickened Pulse, Dimitri fully charges his Moonbow Special on Turn 1, meaning that he cannot be countered by Special Deceleration. This is only worthwhile if Moonbow increases his damage by more than 12, as that's the damage you give up by not running Death Blow or an Atk Solo in the first 2 brave hits.
• This is... not difficult to achieve, but it's important to remember that this also only works for Dimitri's first attack in any given map - Quickened Pulse is useless after the first engagement.
• Alternatively, you can run Heavy Blade, but then Dimitri must make the Attack check, which may be difficult without an additional seal slot. However, this is probably his best option in PvE - again, if encountering foes with over 36 Defense.
• Blade Session can also be considered here, particularly if using Dimitri on a team with dancers where he will be attacking after the dancers have already exhausted their turn.