GamePress

Summer Edelgard

Analysis by MackerelPye
Summer Edelgard - Sun Empresses

5

Obtainable as a 5 only

Hero Stats

Max Avg Total Stats at Lvl 40
190
HP 46
ATK 45
SPD 17
DEF 43
RES 39

Stat Variations

Level 1 Stat Variation
5★
HP ATK SPD DEF RES
Low 19 11 3 12 8
Middle 20 12 4 13 9
High 21 13 5 14 10

Level 40 Stat Variations
5★
HP ATK SPD DEF RES
Low 43 41 13 40 36
Middle 46 45 17 43 39
High 49 48 20 47 43

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

Skill Sets

🦅: "Okay, so my teacher's in a duo ship with some lizard harpy and I need you to perform Operation: Jealousy with me" (Player Phase / Raging Storm Nuke)

Build by MackerelPye
Recommended
Regal Sunshade A Atk/Def Ideal 4
Positional Assist B Raging Storm
Galeforce
Alternate: Bonfire
C Assault Troop 3
IVs

+ATK / -SPD

SHeavy Blade 3
Alternate: Atk/Def Solo 3

Show Explanation/Analysis

Assets/Flaws: +ATK / -SPD or -HP

Weapon: Regal Sunshade

Assist: Reposition / Pivot

Special: Galeforce / Glimmer / Luna / Bonfire

Passive A: Atk/Def Ideal 4 / Fury 4 / Heavy Blade 4

Passive B: Raging Storm

Passive C: Assault Troop 3 / Armored Stride

Sacred Seal: Heavy Blade / Atk/Def Solo / Death Blow / Fury

  • Edelgard's here yet again in an attempt to make player-phase armors cool again. With her optimized base skills and Altina's brave shenanigans in the form of Regal Sunshade combined, they both actually do the job pretty darn well.
  • Empty slot fill-ins aside, Edelgard/Altina already comes ready for summer carnage with a high-functioning, long-term kit.
    • Atk/Def Ideal 4 provides one of the highest stat bonuses possible (+9 to Atk and Def) out of an A-slot skill when both of its conditions are fulfilled. This is easily doable by carefully avoiding combat prior to initiating a fight, likely leaving Edelgard/Altina at full health. This allows the【Charge】bonus to kick in from Assault Troop 3, thus filling in Ideal's second condition. 
      • You'll find honestly, extremely little reason to replace Ideal with anything other than Heavy Blade, even then assuming you're not up for using that in the Sacred Seal for accelerated Special charging.
      • Alternatively, you can outfit the A and Sacred Seal slot for Fury; the reason you'd want to do this is to make use of Edelgard's (ideally) three combats in one turn to get below 50% HP and allow other units with Wings of Mercy to teleport next to her. This is considerable especially for chain actions involving dancers and accompanying Galeforce users in Aether Raids.
    • Raging Storm, a previous relic from Legendary Edelgard, allows Edelgard/Altina to take another action again upon initiating combat without an ally next to them. This is similar to the extra-turn behavior of Galeforce and even pairs perfectly with it, granting Edelgard/Altina the opportunity to take three actions by themselves in one turn. To top it off, it grants a not-necessarily game-breaking, but nevertheless, handy follow-up hit against dragon and beast enemies, making quick riddance of those who survive Edelgard/Altina's initial double hits. 
    • Assault Troop is a new movement enhancement skill that grants 【Charge】, which gives a staggering total movement of 3 in cross-shaped directions. When its (pretty simple) conditions are fulfilled, Edelgard/Altina enjoys a significantly enhanced — if not still a bit limited — attack range. As mentioned, it also conveniently self-feeds the bonus conditional of Atk/Def Ideal. 
      • You can play it a little more classically with Armored Stride if diagonal flexibility is important, but its Solo conditional means Edelgard/Altina will sometimes have to go out of their own way to make it kick in.
  • Edelgard/Altina's Special choice is fairly important to the other possible skill selections on this build:
    • As mentioned and established by Legendary Edelgard's classic playstyle, Galeforce is a fantastic choice when paired with the extra action from Raging Storm, allowing Edelgard/Altina to perform a total of three actions by herself in one turn. 
      • If you are confident that Edelgard/Altina can hit a total of four times in two actions (the initial action, then Raging Storm) or has Dance support, Heavy Blade isn't terribly necessary to fully charge Galeforce. There may be times when Edelgard/Altina may one-shot or needs to charge past some sort of Guard effect, though, so running that is usually a safe choice regardless.
    • Glimmer comes by default and is a fairly good choice. Assuming Edelgard/Altina fulfills the "attacks twice" effect of Regal Sunshade, it will be able to activate in one Brave hit without any acceleration required, meaning Death Blow or Atk/Def Solo are pretty great Sacred Seal accompaniments with it. 
    • Bonfire and Luna are also great choices with Heavy Blade and Regal Sunshade's CD -1, giving Edelgard/Altina a reliable chunk of burst damage in situations where Glimmer might be underperforming (read: high Def enemies). 

⚔️: "But I have a husband and a great great great great grandaughter..." (Near Save Tank)

Build by MackerelPye
Recommended
Regal Sunshade A Close Def (3 or 4)
Alternate: Atk/Def Ideal 4
Swap B Crafty Fighter 3
Alternate: Special Fighter 3
Aether
Alternate: Ignis
C D/R Near Save 3
Alternate: A/D Near Save 3
IVs

+ATK &/OR +DEF / -SPD

SSteady Breath
Alternate: Atk/Def Form 3

Show Explanation/Analysis

Weapon: Regal Sunshade

Assist: Swap

Special: Aether / Ignis  / Bonfire

Passive A: Close Def / Atk/Def Ideal 4 / Sturdy Stance 3 / Atk/Def Unity / Def/Res Unity

Passive B: Crafty Fighter / Special Fighter / Slick Fighter / Wily Fighter / Vengeful Fighter 

Passive C: A/D Near Save / A/R Near Save / D/R Near Save

Sacred Seal: Steady Breath / Mystic Boost / Atk/Def Form / Warding Breath / Close Def

  • Despite the developers very clearly designing Edelgard/Altina to be used a certain way, it is worth considering forking over a few resources to do what armors do best nowadays: Save tanking. In this build, we focus on conventional melee tanking through a Near Save skill, which allows Edelgard/Altina to sub in for other allies against incoming melee fights. Slot in whichever Near Save you can inherit onto Edelgard/Altina as the combat substitution effect is a higher priority than stats gained.
  • Regal Sunshade has a variety of effects that allow Edelgard/Altina to also perform the role of an enemy phase unit quite well. Its cooldown acceleration (CD-1) and Brave effect (which is dual-phase), in particular, lead to deadly Special activation combinations that many competitors would kill to have. Be sure, however, to abide by its enemy positioning conditions for the Brave effect to kick in optimally. 
  • The Special selection is basically a choice between damage, sustain, or both. For quick reference:
    • Aether provides burst damage and healing, the latter of which is necessary for Edelgard/Altina to stay above 25% HP conditional of Regal Sunshade's effects. 
    • Sol similarly does this with shorter charging and no additional damage. 
    • Finally, for purely improved killing potential, Ignis scales extremely well off of Edelgard/Altina's high Defense and makes Bonfire largely redundant due to Regal Sunshade's Brave effect and other acceleration factors (though you can still use that in the rare occasion Edelgard/Altina's Brave effect doesn't come into play). 
  • Some form of Special acceleration is necessary for the previously mentioned Specials to kick in with optimized timing. 
    • This can be easily accessed and done, for example, by simply equipping the Steady or Warding Breath skills in the Sacred Seal.
    • In other cases, Special Fighter combines both Special acceleration and enemy Special denial in one near B slot package.
    • On Ignis builds, Vengeful Fighter is a suitable, more accessible Fighter skill that 1) offers an additional follow-up hit to close kills 2) still charges Ignis fully upon taking an attack and striking back twice. 
    • Running outsourced Breath effects like Brave Lucina's Geirskögul can also make flexible room for better skills on Edelgard/Altina in general. 
  • An A-slot that fortifies Edelgard/Altina's tanking capabilities. Their default Atk/Def Ideal 4, for example, is a good start as it improves their offense and physical tolerance but doesn't come with particularly interesting effects present in Close Def (improves magical resilience and cancels enemy bonuses), Sturdy Stance 3 (enemy Special denial), and Unity skills (reverses existing penalties on Edelgard/Altina into even more additional stats). 
  • Considering all skills mentioned, be sure to keep A-slot effect redundancies in check, like Sturdy Stance 3 + Crafty Fighter, and account for any possible ally / skill substitutions you would like to take. 

milk truks' third wheel (Far Save Tank)

Build by MackerelPye
Recommended
Regal Sunshade A Distant Countering A Slot
Swap B Hardy Fighter 3
Alternate: Slick Fighter 3
Aegis
Alternate: Aether
C A/R Far Save 3
Alternate: A/D Far Save 3
IVs

+ATK &/OR +RES / -SPD

SDeflect Magic 3
Alternate: Warding Breath

Show Explanation/Analysis

Assets/Flaws: +RES and/or +ATK / -SPD

Weapon: Regal Sunshade

Assist: Swap

Special: Aegis / Aether / Iceberg / Sol

Passive A: Distant Stance / Distant Counter / Distant Storm

Passive B: Hardy Fighter / Special Fighter / Slick Fighter / Wily Fighter / Vengeful Fighter / Vantage

Passive C: A/R Far Save / A/D Far Save / D/R Far Save

Sacred Seal: Deflect Magic / Deflect Missile / Atk/Res Form / Warding Breath / Mystic Boost

  • Edelgard/Altina can also run a Far Save build well to substitute in combat against ranged fighters instead. As usual, Regal Sunshade accounts for much of the build's stability and power by granting more frequent Specials, the ability to hit twice on retaliation, and having fortifying bulk with enemy debuffs and first-hit damage reduction. 
  • Consequently, they will need to build off this with a distant countering A-slot (Distant Stance for maximum stability, Distant Counter as a more accessible alternative, and Distant Storm for more power but a bit of debilitative recoil) to enable counterattacks against the very threats they are supposed to be fighting.
  • The build can be set in a few specific flavors, mainly depending on preference to bulk versus durability:
    • Stall-based Save:
      • Aegis + Hardy Fighter is the breadwinning combination here, granting maximum on-hit survivability by granting significant damage reduction, stacking with reduction effect already existing in Regal Sunshade. Assuming optimized conditions, we are looking at 85% -5 damage reduction on the foe's first hit, then 75% -5 on subsequent Aegis-ready hits.
      • Under regular conditions — that is, Regal Sunshade hitting and fully charging the Special back up in a Brave counterattack—  Aegis also ensures they always have some form of reduction active even after their first-hit effect has been expended.
      • There are situations where Edelgard/Altina will have to take multiple hits in a row, such as Triangle Attack-empowered units, enemies preventing counterattacks (via Flash or Firesweep effects), and conventional Brave weapons. Deflect Magic is therefore a mostly safe choice against such instances, as is Deflect Missile if you're justifiably scared of Legendary or Valentines Chrom. Otherwise, conventionally good tanking Sacred Seals like Mystic Boost or Atk/Res Form will do wonderfully as these are not always present on enemy teams.
    • Retaliation-based Save:
      • Of couse, Edelgard/Altina can go the conventional route and retaliate with a high-damage Special ready to counter-KO after taking a hit. Any Fighter-skill with guaranteed follow-up, along with a Breath seal, will be key in activating their chosen Special reliably while closing kills more often. 
      • Alternatively, Special Fighter provides acceleration and enemy Special denial which leaves room for another effect in the Sacred Seal but doesn't come packaged with a follow-up hit — something that might not be needed with how hard Edelgard/Altina hits anyway. 
      • Because Regal Sunshade can hit twice on counterattack and has a health timer on it (HP ≥ 25%), Aether is the preferred choice for its reasonably-timed, double package deal of healing and decent burst damage. 
      • Alternatively, you can run Aether's essential effects separately at a shorter trigger rate with Sol or Iceberg, if activating immediately after the enemy's first hit is important. For example, Aether may not heal as much as Sol due to activating on Regal Sunshade's second hit (essentially after the enemy has been damaged).
    • Vantage-based Save:
      • Unlike conventional retaliation, Vantage allows Edelgard/Altina to possibly swordfight their way out of unfavorable matchups by striking first rather than taking blunt hits before. As such, Iceberg + Warding Breath + Vantage is the sole and simple combination here for an instantly-charged Special on every counterattack, assuming Regal Sunshade's Brave effect is in play. 

Strengths

Regal Sunshade

So imagine Arden but with generally more exciting Special options (CD -1), roughly the same physical bulk (considering first-hit damage reduction), significantly improved magical resilience, and generally all usual extraneousness you can expect from a unit released in 2022+. Oh, and it's two empresses expressively lacking in armored garb and proper weaponry. 

Indeed, much like their esteemed strong-and-tough predecessor, much of the charm of utilizing Edelgard/Altina is their strength to hit twice in both phases. This is something that not only grants them significant power when initiating and awaiting combat, but also feeds into other benefits such as charging Specials quicker thanks to double hits. The extra attack also means the duo is relatively uncaring of anti-follow-up effects that plague other armored units as they will likely confirm a kill upon double-attacking.

It's worth noting that this Brave effect is locked behind a couple of conditions that are fairly easy to check off in real gameplay:

  1. Edelgard/Atina must keep themselves above 25% HP (applicable to other effects on the weapon as well)
  2. They require roughly half the enemies on the map to be within a three-column / three-row mapwide cross centered on her current position. More specifically:
    • This is basically free if there are two or less enemy units present
    • At least one other enemy unit within the cross when there are 3-5 foes, which is basically your average Arena or Summoner Duels team.
    • Two other enemies within the cross when there are ≥ 6 foes, which is the standard for Aether Raids Offense/Defense and some PVE maps. Since enemies may scatter themselves, this specific condition might be hectic but is otherwise manageable with a bit of good positioning, AI manipulation, or both.

Impressive Statline

As expected of a recently-released armored unit, Edelgard/Altina brings on an extra helping of pain and bulkiness with high stats in every category except Spd. 45 Atk, in particular, hurts healthily hard with the Brave effects of their weapon and makes them a force to be reckoned with whether used offensively or defensively. Their tanking capabilities are also nothing short of splendid with a statline of 46 HP / 43 Def / 39 Res, which only improves with Regal Sunshine's defensive effects and other forms of investment.

Skill Access / Extremely Versatile

The fact that Regal Sunshade's effects don't gravitate to a particular phase allows Edelgard/Altina to crack some Brave-powered hurt whether initiating or awaiting combat. She has a ridiculous variety of tools available by default and thanks to her armored class whenever you decide on her focus and purpose from there:

  • Raging StormAs we've seen on Edelgard's Legendary version, this can be the disaster-stirrer in Player Phase, yet again capable of granting her another action after initiating combat without other allies nearby. Like — and even more potently WITH — the extra actions granted by Galeforce and Dance, Raging Storm can turn the tide of battle by giving Edelgard/Altina more chances to attack again or retreat to safer territories.
  • Alternative Fighter skills: Of course, if the conventional tanking path seems a better path for the empress duo to take for you, they can fall back on any honest-to-Sothis Fighter skill in the game and own it hard. In particular, the guaranteed follow-up Fighters (Wily, Slick, Crafty, Vengeful) grant Edelgard/Altina a grand total of four counterattacks, and Hardy Fighter takes full advantage of their weapon's slaying effect for extremely frequent and effective damage reduction triggers. 
  • Near and Far Save: We can't mention the armored class of units in Heroes without shilling their game-defining access to Save skills, both types of which Edelgard/Altina can use to sub in for allies and deliver deadly execution in turn. 
  • Assault Troop: A new tool for melee armors and default on Edelgard/Altina, Assault Troop avoids many of the pitfalls associated with Armored Stride, Armor March, and Armored Boots by granting significant additional movement without sweating ally type, ally nearness levels, or HP remaining too significantly. It grants an additional three spaces in cardinal directions, which can lead to possible chain kills (especially with Raging Storm) depending on how dispersed the opposing team is.

Harmonic Unit / Game Associations

If Edelgard/Altina finds opportunities to use their Harmonic skill and triggers it at the right moment, the anti-follow-up effect and handy stat doubler bonuses can blindside the enemy in just a single turn. This is, fortunately, an unimpeded scenario in Summoner Duels, whereas in Aether Raids, they will often have to deal with Duo's Hinderace as an annoyingly common but surpassable obstacle by breaking it or strategically defeating all opposing Duo/Harmonic enemies.

Miscellaneously, the fact that the Harmonic duo is associated with Three Houses means that Edelgard/Altina can splash in with Dorothea/Lene's own Harmonic effect: also an additional action on top of their Dance. Combined with Raging Storm and Galeforce, this gives them a grand total of five extra actions whenever a single turn calls for it. 

Weaknesses

Positioning Dependent

Regal Sunshade's Brave effect (and Assault Troop's additional movement to a lesser extent) is dependent on the number of enemies positioned within 3 columns or rows centered on Edelgard/Altina. Unfortunately, like most things enemy-dependent in this game, ideal situations are not always guaranteed and can significantly mess up Edelgard/Altina's summer groove if you're always banking on the Brave effect being active, or whether the enemy team is optimally laid out for your convenience. 

Low HP / Weapon's HP Conditional

Every effect on Regal Sunshade, except for the weapon's innate Special cooldown -1, is locked behind Edelgard/Altina keeping themselves above 25% HP. This is pretty much a given at the start of battle and it's easy to write it off as "if unit exists, beachtime magic happens". 

However, considering some builds and important matchups expect them to take on a large amount of punishment in single sittings, being careless with this eventually results in a far, FAR less effective unit at low health. 

Conventional Countermeasures

As usual, armor-effective weapons like Thani, Moonlight Drop, Destiny's Bow, and the generic armorslaying series will quickly do the empress duo in, though in their favor, they put up a fairly good fight against those with the defensive benefits of Regal Sunshade as well as some nasty two-hit retaliation whenever they (likely) survive. Don't expect the summer empresses to somehow turn heads against high-Def blue enemies or those that can somehow survive and counter kill back, like Ascended Idunn, either. 

Harmonized Skill

Grants Atk+6,【Resonance: Shields】, and 【Bonus Doubler】to unit and allies from the same titles as unit for 1 turn.  【Resonance: Shields】 Grants Def/Res+4 during combat and the following effect for 1 turn: "During unit's first combat in player phase or enemy phase, foe cannot make a follow-up attack."  【Bonus Doubler】 Grants bonus to Atk/Spd/Def/Res during combat = current bonus on each of unit's stats for 1 turn. Calculates each stat bonus independently.

Weapon Skills

Weapons SP Rng. Mt.
Iron Sword
Learns by default at 1 ★
Unlocks at 1 ★
Only Inheritable by Sword Units.
50 1 6
Steel Sword
Learns by default at 2 ★
Unlocks at 2 ★
Only Inheritable by Sword Units.
100 1 8
Silver Sword
Learns by default at 4 ★
Unlocks at 3 ★
Only Inheritable by Sword Units.
200 1 11
Regal Sunshade

Accelerates Special trigger (cooldown count-1). At start of combat, if unit's HP ≥ 25%, grants Atk+6 to unit and inflicts Atk-6 on foe during combat, reduces damage from foe's first attack during combat by 40%, and also, if there are X or more foes within 3 columns or 3 rows centered on unit, unit attacks twice. (X = 1 when there are ≤ 2 foes on the enemy team, X = 2 when there are 3-5 foes, and X = 3 when there are ≥ 6 foes.)

Learns by default at 5 ★
Unlocks at 5 ★
Non-Inheritable skill.
400 1 16
Weapon Evolution
Weapon Upgrades
Weapon Upgrades

Special Skills

Special Skills SP Turns
Night Sky

Boosts damage dealt by 50%.

Learns by default at 4 ★
Unlocks at 3 ★
Non-inheritable by Staff-wielding units.
100 3
Glimmer

Boosts damage dealt by 50%.

Unlocks at 4 ★
Non-inheritable by Staff-wielding units.
200 2

Passive Skills

Passive Skills SP Slot
Atk/Def Ideal 1

At start of combat, if unit's HP = 100% or if【Bonus】is active on unit, grants Atk/Def+3 to unit during combat. 

【Bonus】

All effects that last "for 1 turn" or "that turn only." Includes bonuses granted by a skill like Rally or Hone and positive status effects (extra movement or effects like Dominance).

Excludes Flying and Cavalry Units
Unlocks at 2 ★
60
A
Atk/Def Ideal 2

At start of combat, if unit's HP = 100% or if【Bonus】is active on unit, grants Atk/Def+4 to unit during combat. 

【Bonus】

All effects that last "for 1 turn" or "that turn only." Includes bonuses granted by a skill like Rally or Hone and positive status effects (extra movement or effects like Dominance).

Excludes Flying and Cavalry Units
Unlocks at 3 ★
120
A
Atk/Def Ideal 3

At start of combat, if unit's HP = 100% or if【Bonus】is active on unit, grants Atk/Def+5 to unit during combat. 

【Bonus】

All effects that last "for 1 turn" or "that turn only." Includes bonuses granted by a skill like Rally or Hone and positive status effects (extra movement or effects like Dominance).

Excludes Flying and Cavalry Units
Unlocks at 4 ★
240
A
Atk/Def Ideal 4

At start of combat, if unit's HP = 100% or if【Bonus】is active on unit, grants Atk/Def+7 to unit during combat. At start of combat, if unit's HP = 100% and【Bonus】is active on unit, grants an additional Atk/Def+2 to unit during combat. 

【Bonus】

All effects that last "for 1 turn" or "that turn only." Includes bonuses granted by a skill like Rally or Hone and positive status effects (extra movement or effects like Dominance).

Excludes Flying and Cavalry Units
Unlocks at 5 ★
300
A
Raging Storm

If unit initiates combat, grants another action to unit if unit is not adjacent to an ally after combat. (Once per turn. If a skill that moves unit after combat is used, references unit's position after that movement occurs.)

If foe uses dragonstone or beast damage and unit is not adjacent to an ally, unit makes a guaranteed follow-up attack during combat.

Non-Inheritable skill.
Unlocks at 5 ★
300
B
Assault Troop 1

At start of turn, if any foe is in cardinal directions of unit, grants【Charge】to unit for 1 turn. 

【Charge】

Unit can move up to 3 spaces in any cardinal direction. (Cannot move through foes, terrain that blocks movement, or effects of skills like Obstruct. Granted movement treated as Warp movement.)

Inheritable by Sword, Lance, and Axe users only.
Unlocks at 1 ★
60
C
Assault Troop 2

At start of turn, if any foe is within 3 columns or 3 rows centered on unit, grants【Charge】to unit for 1 turn. 

【Charge】

Unit can move up to 3 spaces in any cardinal direction. (Cannot move through foes, terrain that blocks movement, or effects of skills like Obstruct. Granted movement treated as Warp movement.)

Inheritable by Sword, Lance, and Axe users only.
Unlocks at 2 ★
120
C
Assault Troop 3

At start of turn, if unit's HP = 100% or any foe is within 3 columns or 3 rows centered on unit, grants【Charge】to unit for 1 turn. 

【Charge】

Unit can move up to 3 spaces in any cardinal direction. (Cannot move through foes, terrain that blocks movement, or effects of skills like Obstruct. Granted movement treated as Warp movement.)

Inheritable by Sword, Lance, and Axe users only.
Unlocks at 4 ★
240
C

Other Info

Origin
Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn
Fire Emblem: Three Houses

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