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Analysis by lordhelpme
Summer Seth - Silver-Sea Knight

Hero Stats

Max Avg Total Stats at Lvl 40
173
HP 40
ATK 40
SPD 38
DEF 31
RES 24

Stat Variations

Level 1 Stat Variation
5★
4★
HP ATK SPD DEF RES
Low 17 9 7 8 4
Middle 18 10 8 9 5
High 19 11 9 10 6

Level 40 Stat Variations
5★
4★
HP ATK SPD DEF RES
Low 36 37 35 27 21
Middle 40 40 38 31 24
High 43 44 42 34 28

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

♫ tell me more, tell me more ♫ (General Offense)

Build by lordhelpme
Recommended
Seahorse Axe+ (+Spd)
Alternate: Ninja Masakari+
A Atk/Spd Catch 4
Alternate: Surge Sparrow
Positional Assist B S/D Near Trace 3
Alternate: Flow Guard 3
Moonbow
Alternate: Bonfire
C Def Smoke 3
Alternate: Atk/Spd Menace
IVs

 +SPD or +ATK / -RES

SSwift Sparrow 2

Show Explanation/Analysis

Weapon: Seahorse Axe+ (+SPD) / Ninja Masakari+ / Shuriken Cleaver+ / Plegian Axe+ (+SPD)

Assist: Positional Assist

Special: Moonbow / Bonfire / Luna

Passive A: Atk/Spd Catch / Surge Sparrow / Swift Sparrow / Atk/Spd Push

Passive B: S/D Near Trace / Flow Guard / Flow Force / Lull Skills

Passive C: Def Smoke / Menace Skills / Drive Skills / Def Tactic / Flexible

Sacred Seal: Swift Sparrow / Heavy Blade / Atk/Spd Solo / Flexible

  • Seth is naturally well-attuned to a Player Phase heavy playstyle given his offensively skewed statline and inherent mobility, making it his default (and best choice) for general purposes. Accordingly, either a +ATK or +SPD IV will prove well worth it if you can cough up the necessary Trait Fruits.
  • For his weapon, he has quite a few choices to pick from:
    • Seth’s native Seahorse Axe comes as a surprisingly powerful weapon despite its freebie status, potentially guaranteeing his follow-up attack in both phases on easy-to-meet conditions while also padding his Atk and Def. 
      • While this guaranteed follow-up effect may seem counterintuitive given his high Spd, this lets him freely break through enemy Impact effects while still having a free B slot (instead of requiring a Flow skill) and also offers coverage against faster foes.
    • One can also consider the free Plegian Axe for the sheer amounts of stats it can provide with relative ease, enhancing his durability and damage considerably. The pure Solo condition can be annoying at times, but it comes with the added benefit of working in both phases like Seahorse Axe for flexibility.
    • For a pure hyper-offense lean, one can also consider either of the axe Ninja weapons (Ninja Masakari, which offers a greater chance of landing quad attacks, and Shuriken Cleaver, which grants a good sum of bonus damage). 
      • This restricts him purely to attacking in the Player Phase as neither weapon offers functionality otherwise, but this isn’t too bad of a detriment considering he shouldn’t really be tanking in most cases anyway.
  • Any A skill that supplements both of his offensive stats works well, with some of his better options including Atk/Spd Catch, Surge Sparrow, Swift Sparrow, and Atk/Spd Push. For his B skill, a Near Trace functions excellently to sharpen Seth’s overall mobility and enable hit-and-run tactics, whereas a Flow skill offers more combat consistency via negation of Impact effects (though this isn’t really necessary if using Seahorse Lance). A Lull can always be considered also for greater stat edges.

the definition of a summer glow-up (Galeforce)

Build by lordhelpme
Recommended
Seahorse Axe+ (+Atk)
Alternate: Seahorse Axe+ (+Spd)
A Atk/Spd Catch 4
Alternate: Heavy Blade 4
Positional Assist B Wings of Mercy 3
Alternate: S/D Near Trace 3
Galeforce C Joint Drive Atk
Alternate: Atk Smoke 3
IVs

+ATK / -RES

SQuickened Pulse

Show Explanation/Analysis

Weapon: Seahorse Axe+ (+SPD/ATK)

Assist: Positional Assist / Flexible

Special:  Galeforce

Passive A: Atk/Spd Catch / Heavy Blade / Atk/Spd Push / Swift Sparrow 

Passive B: Wings of Mercy / S/D Near Trace

Passive C: Joint Drive Atk / Atk/Spd Menace / Atk Smoke / Flexible

Sacred Seal: Quickened Pulse / Heavy Blade

  • Seth retains an offense-focused approach yet again with this build, though this set steers away from general usage recommendations and instead emphasizes the knight’s ability to wield the powerful but finicky Galeforce Special. A +ATK should be prioritized to ensure Heavy Blade activations in Aether Raids Offense compositions. 
  • Galeforce is a powerful Special that immediately enables another action upon activation (acting as a self-refresh), but comes with a steep penalty via its lengthy five-turn cooldown at base. While this is easily remedied by simply slapping on the Heavy Blade Sacred Seal for general gameplay, mitigating this takes a bit more finesse for AR-O.
    • Due to the time crunch of Galeforce AR-O strategies, it’s pivotal that Seth be able to trigger the Special with as seamless of a transition as possible. 
    • For this reason, equipping the Heavy Blade A skill + Quickened Pulse is highly advised: this minimizes the number of hits necessary to activate Galeforce down to two, making it so that Seth can trigger it in one round of combat presuming he passes the Heavy Blade check and no Guard effect is active. 
      • Do note that Heavy Blade can actually be made entirely non-essential during Astra Season if you have access to Thorr’s Worldbreaker, in which case Seth is entirely free to use a standard A skill (he still needs Quickened Pulse, though).
    • The fact that he needs two strikes also makes his default Seahorse Axe+ by far his ideal weapon choice, as its guaranteed follow-up effect makes it so he can bypass enemy Impact effects without needing a Flow skill and can focus entirely on raising Atk without worry.
  • Wings of Mercy is a fantastic AR-O choice for Seth’s B skill as this ensures quick access to the enemy team without sacrificing momentum — all that’s required is someone to act as a low HP beacon like Ninja Lyn or another Galeforcer with multiple chip damage skills, which are already standard for such set-ups. Alternatively, S/D Near Trace may be considered for the added mobility of  【Canto (Rem. +1)】 which comes in handy for both AR-O (as it eases positioning woes), and general use.

Strengths

Good Offensive Statline

Taking his shirt off apparently gave Seth the courage to finally show off some of his strength from the original game, featuring pretty great offensive values at 40 Atk and 38 Spd. This ensures a sturdy foundation for dealing damage and both performing and avoiding follow-up attacks, particularly once aided by appropriate skills.

Cavalry Benefits

Seth can comfortably enjoy the benefits of his offensively-skewed statline by further merit of his cavalry status, inherently granting the extended range and mobility needed to excel at aggressive Player Phase builds.  Additionally, this also provides crucial access to the Trace, Flow, and Lull skill lines to patch up his performance, as well as as class-exclusive buffs for hassle-free team building.

Weaknesses

Heavy Competition

While Seth’s statline and complementary strengths as a cavalry unit certainly prevent him from being outright horrible, he only has these qualities to rely on to distinguish himself from his contemporaries — which… places him in a pretty awkward position given how any meta-relevant unit is defined by their PRF weapon and/or abilities. This makes it tricky to actually justify giving Seth the heavy investment he would naturally want, not to mention the fact that his archetype as a free offensive axe cavalier is pretty much a dime-a-dozen.

Low Resistance 

Seth’s meager 24 Resistance creates difficulty in prolonged engagements against opposing magical damage dealers, as his overall bulk against them is unlikely to withstand successive strikes. Simply put, unless you want deep-fried knight for dinner, it’s best to keep him out of range from such threats

Weapon Skills

Weapons SP Rng. Mt.
Iron Axe
Learns by default at 1 ★
Unlocks at 1 ★
Inheritable by Axe users only.
50 1 6
Steel Axe
Learns by default at 2 ★
Unlocks at 2 ★
Inheritable by Axe users only.
100 1 8
Seahorse Axe

If unit initiates combat or is within 2 spaces of an ally, grants Atk/Def+5 to unit during combat and unit makes a guaranteed follow-up attack.

Learns by default at 4 ★
Unlocks at 3 ★
Inheritable by Axe users only.
200 1 10
Seahorse Axe+

If unit initiates combat or is within 2 spaces of an ally, grants Atk/Def+5 to unit during combat and unit makes a guaranteed follow-up attack.

Learns by default at 5 ★
Unlocks at 5 ★
Inheritable by Axe users only.
300 1 14
Weapon Evolution
Weapon Upgrades
Weapon Upgrades

Support Skills

Support Skills Rng. SP
Rally Speed

Grants Spd+4 to target ally for 1 turn.

Learns by default at 4 ★
1 150
Rally Up Spd+

Grants Spd+6 to target ally and allies within 2 spaces of target (excluding unit) for 1 turn.

1 400

Passive Skills

Passive Skills SP Slot
Spd/Def Catch 1

At start of combat, if foe's HP = 100% or if【Penalty】is active on foe, grants Spd/Def+3 to unit during combat.  【Penalty】 All effects that last "on foe through its next action." Includes penalties inflicted by a skill like Panic or Threaten and negative status effects (preventing counterattacks, restricting movement, or the effects of a skill like Triangle Adept or Guard).

Cavalry & Flying Only
Unlocks at 3 ★
60
A
Spd/Def Catch 2

At start of combat, if foe's HP = 100% or if【Penalty】is active on foe, grants Spd/Def+4 to unit during combat.  【Penalty】 All effects that last "on foe through its next action." Includes penalties inflicted by a skill like Panic or Threaten and negative status effects (preventing counterattacks, restricting movement, or the effects of a skill like Triangle Adept or Guard).

Cavalry & Flying Only
Unlocks at 4 ★
120
A
Spd/Def Catch 3

At start of combat, if foe's HP = 100% or if【Penalty】is active on foe, grants Spd/Def+5 to unit during combat.  【Penalty】 All effects that last "on foe through its next action." Includes penalties inflicted by a skill like Panic or Threaten and negative status effects (preventing counterattacks, restricting movement, or the effects of a skill like Triangle Adept or Guard).

Cavalry & Flying Only
Unlocks at 5 ★
240
A
Def Tactic 1

At start of turn, grants Def+2 to allies within 2 spaces for 1 turn. Granted only if number of that ally's movement type on current team ≤ 2.

Inheritable by all units.
Unlocks at 1 ★
60
C
Def Tactic 2

At start of turn, grants Def+4 to allies within 2 spaces for 1 turn. Granted only if number of that ally's movement type on current team ≤ 2.

Inheritable by all units.
Unlocks at 2 ★
120
C
Def Tactic 3

At start of turn, grants Def+6 to allies within 2 spaces for 1 turn. Granted only if number of that ally's movement type on current team ≤ 2.

Inheritable by all units.
Unlocks at 4 ★
240
C

Other Info

Origin
Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones

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