Winter Nino

Preferred IV: +ATK or +SPD or +DEF or +RES

• In addition to her offensive stats, Nino also appreciates a boost to her overall bulk in order to reduce damage taken. 

Weapon:  Blárserpant+ (+Spd/+Def) / Tannenbit+ (+Spd/+Def)

• Blárserpant+ makes for a strong defensive option by granting Nino a boost to her defensive stats when attacked at range. 

• Nino’s native Tannenbit also makes for a very strong sustain option, as it restores HP upon every hit against her opponent (even if no damage is dealt).

• The most productive boosts to give Nino when refining her weapon are by further boosting her Speed or leveling her defensive stats.

Assist: Swap / Pivot

Special: Noontime / Moonbow / Glacies

• Noontime makes for a particularly effective option in Aether Raids, allowing Nino to immediately recover lost HP when paired with Special Fighter.

• For a purely offensive choice, Moonbow also has the benefit of activating upon every single counterattack while Glacies trades a shorter cooldown for a lot more power. 

Passive A: Close Counter / Distant Def 4 

• Close Counter is a highly coveted skill for this set, as it grants Nino 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 Nino a significant boost to her Def and Res when attacked at range, it also nullifies and field buffs on her opponent. 

Passive B: Special Fighter

• Nino’s exceptional Speed makes her a very effective user of Special Fighter. When above 50% HP, this skill accelerates the cooldown of Nino’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 Nino is able to activate her Special on each counter-attack.

Passive C: Pulse Smoke / Atk Smoke / Res 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 Res Smoke allows Nino to deal additional damage to inflicted opponents. 

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

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

• Quick Riposte secures kills against opponents that cannot be outsped by guaranteeing Nino’s follow-up attack during Enemy Phase. 

• Both Distant Defense and Close Defense also make for great Sacred Seal options as they reduce 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 or +SPD

• Due to the nature of this set being offensive, Nino appreciates an asset in key stats such as Attack and Speed.

Weapon: Swap / Pivot

Assist: Blárblade+

Special: Glimmer

• 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.

Passive A: Swift Sparrow / Atk/Spd Solo 

• At its maximum level, Swift Sparrow grants Nino the strongest overall boost to her offensive stats with a whopping +6 Attack and +7 Speed on initiation.

• Atk/Spd Solo also makes for a great choice of A skill by providing a similarly strong boost to Nino’s offensive stats when not adjacent to any allies.

Passive B: Daring Fighter / Bold Fighter / Desperation

• Not only does Daring Fighter allow Nino to bypass skills such as Wary Fighter that would otherwise prevent her from doubling her opponent, it also acts as a slightly better Desperation once in the HP range by allowing her to safely perform follow-up attacks without the risk of a counterattack.

  • If unavailable, Desperation itself can work as a suitable alternative. 

• Nino’s native Bold Fighter also makes for an effective option. Despite her fantastic Speed, Bold Fighter ensures that Nino is able to double opponents that she would otherwise tie in Speed as well as accelerating the cooldown of her Special. 

Passive C: Armor March / Joint Hone Spd / Flexible

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

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

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

Sacred Seal: Sturdy Blow / Darting Blow / Heavy Blade

• Sturdy Blow and Darting Blow are both excellent choices for Nino, as they grant her boosts to key stats upon initiation. The choice between the two is mostly up to preference. Darting Blow offers a significant Speed boost while Sturdy Blow grants additional damage as well as physical bulk when initiating. 

• If not already using Bold Fighter, Heavy Blade makes another effective Sacred Seal by allowing Nino to consistently accelerate the cooldown of her Specials thanks to the damage scaling property of Blade tomes.

Preferred IV: +ATK

• Another great use of the Blade tome and an effective choice for Aether Raids is the Vantage sweeper setup. With it, an asset in Attack is preferable above all else in order to deal as much damage as possible in a single hit. 

Weapon: Blárblade+

Assist: Swap / Pivot

Special: Glimmer

• The choice of Special is mostly inconsequential but Glimmer will remain the strongest option thanks to the damage scaling property of Blade tomes.

Passive A: Close Counter

Passive B: Vantage

• 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 Nino are forced to take at least one hit before having the chance to counterattack.

• With this combination, Nino can potentially take out multiple opponents in the Enemy Phase completely unscathed. However, the amount of support that Nino 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. Naturally, opponents with high magical bulk are more difficult to face.

Passive C: Res Smoke / Pulse Smoke / Savage Blow 

• Res Smoke is a fantastic choice of C skill with this playstyle. By reducing the magical bulk of opponents around Nino after combat, any affected targets that initiated on her afterward will be hit even harder.

• Savage Blow can make for a suitable alternative. Although it only works during the Player Phase, it can prove to be effective when initiating by dealing 7 damage to all enemies around the target after combat.

• Pulse Smoke is a great choice for stalling the Special activation of enemy teams that heavily utilize Infantry Pulse, making it much easier to take an initial hit. 

Sacred Seal: Brazen Atk/Def / Frierce Stance 

• For Nino’s Sacred Seal, anything that boosts raw damage during the Enemy Phase such as Brazen Atk/Res or Fierce Stance makes for a great 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.