Young Marth

Weapon: Rapier

Assist: Reposition 

Special: Hero’s Blood 

Passive A: Distant Counter / Brazen Atk/Spd (3 or 4)

Passive B: Wrath 

Passive C: Time’s Pulse 

Sacred Seal: Brazen Atk/Spd 

• The combination of 36 Attack, 37 Speed, and Hero’s Blood gives Youth Marth the opportunity to become a nuke that focuses on OHKOing with his Special activations.
• Rapier is a fantastic weapon for this, granting Cavalry and Armor effectiveness (to secure OHKOs) and Vantage. Vantage allows Marth to potentially OHKO even on Enemy Phase, as he will be able to counterattack before the enemy attacks if his HP is ≤ 75%.
• Marth’s personal Special, Hero’s Blood, is a fantastic 2-cooldown Special that increases his damage by 30% of his Speed and grants +4 to all stats to himself and his allies after combat. In combination with Wrath and Time’s Pulse, Marth can charge Hero’s Blood to 0 cooldown every turn when his HP is ≤ 75%. Wrath also increases the damage dealt by Hero’s Blood by 10 if that same HP requirement is met. Thanks to all of these, Marth can become a fantastic unit capable of OHKOing most enemies.
• Distant Counter is vital because it grants Marth the opportunity to OHKO not only on Player Phase, but on Enemy Phase and against all weapon types. However, for a strictly Player Phase focus, Brazen Atk/Spd can be used instead, as it increases Marth’s Atk/Spd when his HP is ≤ 80%. It also has great synergy with Wrath and Vantage thanks to its similar HP requirement.
• It should be noted that on Enemy Phase, Marth will only be able to activate Hero’s Blood against one enemy, as it will go back to 2 cooldown after it is activated until Player Phase begins.

Weapon: Rapier

Assist: Reposition

Special: Hero’s Blood / Noontime 

Passive A: Distant Counter 

Passive B: Special Spiral / Close Call / Null C-Disrupt

Passive C: Pulse Smoke / Atk Smoke 

Sacred Seal: Fierce Stance / Swift Stance / Atk Smoke 

• Young Marth’s balanced statline allows him to become a great Enemy Phase unit. Marth could go 1 of 2 ways with an Enemy Phase set: he could either focus on nuking with Special Spiral and Hero’s Blood or focus on survival with Close Call and Noontime.
• Regardless of what set is run, Rapier is a great weapon for Marth, granting +3 Speed (for Close Call and performing follow-up attacks), Cavalry and Armor effectiveness (for securing OHKOs), and Vantage (for allowing Marth to OHKO with Hero’s Blood or heal with Noontime before the enemy counterattacks).
• Special Spiral Nuking- One Enemy Phase option for Marth is to focus on OHKOing enemies with Hero’s Blood and Special Spiral. Hero’s Blood is a 2-cooldown Special that increases Marth’s damage by 30% of his Speed, making it a strong nuking option. Its 2 cooldown is essential for this set, as Special Spiral reduces Marth’s Special cooldown by 2 after every combat the Special is activated; as such, after Hero’s Blood is activated for the first time, it will always be ready next combat. Rapier’s Vantage comes into play with this as well, allowing Marth to counterattack with a Hero’s Blood boosted attack that can OHKO the enemy before they can attack.
• Given that this set focuses on OHKOing, Marth wants to increase his Attack with Fierce Stance or Brazen Atk/Spd in his Sacred Seal. Although Pulse Smoke doesn’t grant Marth any additional damage, it helps ensure he isn’t OHKO’d before he reaches Vantage range by enemies with strong Specials such as Legendary Alm and Lysithea. Infantry Pulse teams in Aether Raids are extremely common, so Pulse Smoke helps to shut those teams down.
• Close Call Tanking- The other Enemy Phase option for Marth is to focus on tanking with Close Call. Close Call reduces the amount of damage Marth takes by 4% for every point of Speed he has over the enemy (capping at 40%, so a gap of 10 Speed). Distant Counter plays a key role with this set, as there’s little point to surviving several attacks if Marth cannot counterattack to damage and potentially KO his initiators. Noontime is used for this set to give Marth sustainability and healing through Special activation; it also synergizes with Rapier’s Vantage, as Marth may need healing to survive a counterattack.
• For this set, Pulse Smoke and Swift Stance are strong C and S slots respectively, both of which increase Marth’s survivability in different ways. Pulse Smoke shuts down units that could OHKO Marth with strong Specials, while Swift Stance increases his magical bulk and reduced damage from Close Call.
• Alternatively, Young Marth could also use Null C-Disrupt to counter against all enemies regardless of Firesweep weapons or Dazzling Staff.

Weapon: Rapier / Slaying Edge+ (+SPD) 

Assist: Reposition 

Special: Galeforce 

Passive A: Flashing Blade 4 / Atk/Spd Push 4 / Swift Sparrow (2 or 3) 

Passive B: Null Follow-Up / Wings of Mercy / Chill Def

Passive C: Time’s Pulse / Def Smoke 

Sacred Seal: Swift Sparrow / Flashing Blade

• Thanks to Young Marth’s strong 36/37 offenses, he can become an effective Galeforce unit. His already great offenses can be bolstered with a +ATK or +SPD IV and Rapier’s +3 Speed or a Speed-refined Slaying Edge+, which also grants +3 Speed (along with +5 HP).
• Because Rapier does not grant -1 Special cooldown, Marth will need to either swap Rapier for a Slaying Edge or use Time’s Pulse. This ensures that Galeforce’s cooldown is at 4, allowing Marth to activate it after 2 attacks (assuming Flashing Blade activates and no Guard effect is active) even if the enemy does not counterattack.
• In order to activate Flashing Blade as consistently as possible, Marth greatly appreciates skills that increase his Speed, making Atk/Spd Push 4 and Swift Sparrow particularly great choices. Atk/Spd Push 4 grants Marth +7 Atk/Spd if his HP is ≥ 25% and inflicts 5 recoil damage after combat, making it easier for other Galeforce allies with Wings of Mercy to assist Marth in sweeping the enemy team. Swift Sparrow grants +4/6 Attack and +4/7 Speed when Marth initiates combat, which he will be doing most of the time given the Player Phase playstyle of this set.
• Null Follow-Up is an excellent B slot for this set, ensuring Marth’s follow-up attack will not be prevented by skills such as Wary Fighter. If Marth’s follow-up attack was prevented, he likely would not be able to activate Galeforce or KO the enemy. Wings of Mercy is also a strong alternative if one of Marth’s allies begin the Galeforce chain instead of him, as he’ll be able to warp far distances to a space adjacent to a low-HP ally.