Valentine Faye

Preferred IV: +ATK or +DEF or +RES

• In addition to Attack, Faye also appreciates a boost to her overall bulk in order to reduce damage taken.

Weapon: Short Bow (+Def/Res) / Guard Bow (+Def/Res)

• In addition to increasing her damage output, the +10 damage upon Special activation that Short Bow provides also boosts the amount healed when paired with a Special such as Noontime.

• Guard Bow also makes for a solid defensive option by granting Faye a boost to her defensive stats when attacked at range.

• The most productive boosts to give Faye when refining her weapon are to further boost her overall bulk with +Def or +Res.

Assist: Swap/Pivot

Special: Noontime / Glimmer / Glacies

• Noontime makes for the overall strongest option when it comes to sustainability by allowing Faye to immediately recover lost HP when paired with Special Fighter.

• For a purely offensive choice, Glimmer also has the benefit of activating upon every single counterattack, allowing for quick OHKOs while Glacies trades a shorter cooldown for a lot more raw power on every second attack. 

Passive A: Close Counter / Distant Def 4

• Close Counter is a highly coveted skill for this set, as it grants Faye much greater coverage by allowing her to retaliate against melee opponents.

• At the cost of being able to retaliate against melee opponents, one can also choose to run Distant Defense 4 to greatly reduce damage taken from opponents that attack at range. Not only does this grant Faye a significant boost to her Def and Res when attacked at range, it also nullifies her opponent’s visible buffs. 

Passive B: Special Fighter 

• When Faye is above 50% HP, Special Fighter accelerates the cooldown of Faye’s Special per attack (similar to Breath skill) and prevents her opponent from activating their own Special (similar to Guard). This pairs best with even-numbered Specials such as Noontime, ensuring that Faye is able to activate her Special on each counter-attack.

Passive C: Pulse Smoke / Atk Smoke / Def Smoke / Flexible

• Smoke skills such as Pulse Smoke are very effective when taking on multiple opponents. Pulse Smoke is particularly effective in reducing the damage of opponents around the target after combat by slowing down the activation of their Special. However, a simple stat debuffer such as Atk Smoke also does well to accomplish this while Def Smoke allows Faye to deal additional damage to inflicted opponents. 

Sacred Seal: Fierce Stance / Quick Riposte / Distant/Close Def / Atk Smoke

• Fierce Stance pairs well with healing Specials such as Noontime. By boosting the damage that Faye is able to do, it also allows her to gain more health upon Special activation.

• Quick Riposte is essential in allowing Faye to perform any sort of follow-up attack during the Enemy Phase. However, it is preferable that Faye simply OHKOs opponents that would otherwise pose a problem when doubling her

• Both Distant Defense and Close Defense also make for solid Sacred Seal options by reducing the damage taken from ranged and melee opponents respectively when initiated on.

• If not already being utilized in the C slot, Atk Smoke can also be run in the Sacred Seal slot.

Preferred IV: +ATK 

• Since this build takes a purely offensive approach in dealing as much damage as possible on initiation, an asset in Attack is the most desirable nature that Faye can receive.

Weapon: Brave Bow+ / Budding Bow (+Atk) / Monstrous Bow (+Atk)

• Brave Bow is the premier in pure damage dealing when combined with Bold Fighter by guaranteeing a quadruple attack on initiation as well as rapidly accelerating the cooldown of Faye’s Special. 

• For a safer approach, Faye’s inherent Budding Bow acts as a mini Sturdy Impact skill by granting her a moderate boost to Atk/Def while also preventing her opponent from making a follow-up Attack on retaliation. 

• As if Faye didn’t already kill Halloween Jakob enough with her strictly superior stat spread, she can also do well to take his weapon. Monstrous Bow can be particularly useful on Defense, as it allows Faye to disrupt the opposing team applying the Panic status to her target as well as any other enemies within 2 spaces. 

Assist: Swap/Pivot

Special: Ignis / Bonfire / Moonbow / Ruptured Sky

• The combination of a high base stat and skills that further increase it such as Sturdy Blow make Defense-scaling Specials such as Bonfire and Ignis the perfect choices for Faye. The toss-up between the two lies in whether or not you are using the Brave Bow, as a Special with a cooldown of 4 such as Ignis will activate in a single round of combat with it equipped while any other weapons demands a Special with a cooldown of 3 such as Bonfire. 

• Alternatively, one can choose to combine the Brave Bow with Specials that have a cooldown of 2 such as Moonbow and Ruptured Sky for an activation upon every second strike. This gives Faye the potential to activate her Special twice in a single round of combat. 

Passive A: Death Blow 

• For her A skill, Faye’s native Death Blow gives her all she needs by providing the strongest possible boost to Attack upon initiation.

Passive B: Bold Fighter 

• Bold Fighter is an core aspect of this set, as the guaranteed follow-up attack as well as Special cooldown acceleration when initiating greatly increase Faye’s offensive power. 

Passive C: Armor March / Joint Hone Atk / Panic Smoke / Flexible

• Armor March is incredibly useful in offsetting Faye’s poor movement as an armored unit. This is especially important when utilizing an offensive set.

• Joint skill buffs such as Join Hone Atk greatly benefit both Faye as well as any adjacent allies by granting both a significant stat boost at the start of turn.

• If not already using the Monstrous Bow weapon, Panic Smoke can be used in the C slot to emulate the effect. 

• The C skill can otherwise be replaced as needed to suit the team.

Sacred Seal: Sturdy Blow 

• The Sturdy Blow Sacred Seal makes for a good cherry on top by further boosting Faye’s key stats on initiation.