Yuri

Weapon: Honorable Blade

Assist: Foul Play

Special: Glimmer / Moonbow / Ruptured Sky

Passive A: Atk/Spd Ideal / Fury / Atk/Spd Push / Atk/Spd Solo / Swift Sparrow

Passive B: Disarm Trap / Null Follow-Up / Windsweep / Lull Skills

Passive C: Time’s Pulse / Pulse Smoke / Savage Blow / Joint Drive Skills / Flexible

Sacred Seal: Swift Sparrow / Atk/Spd Solo / Death Blow 

• This build focuses on Yuri’s stellar Player Phase capabilities, though with special consideration to the various options available that lend themselves well to hit-and-run strategies (particularly in Aether Raids Offense). Increasing either of his offensive stats with an IV is recommended to cement his damage output.
• Specials with two-turn cooldowns naturally pair well with the innate Slaying effect of his Honorable Blade and Time’s Pulse; this ensures an instant Special activation at the start of each turn, helping bypass any potential Guard effects lingering in an enemy’s kits. Glimmer scales nicely with Yuri’s typically high (and consistent) damage output, though Ruptured Sky and Moonbow may be worthwhile to pack more of a punch against certain archetypes  one may have trouble dealing with. 
• Yuri generally benefits from anything that enhances his Attack and Speed but given the variety of A skills available, it's worth highlighting a few standouts. Most notably, Atk/Spd Ideal will permanently give Yuri +7/+7 Atk/Spd thanks to Honorable Blade’s +1 movement buff (which satisfies one of its conditions), and may grant an additional +2 in rounds where he starts at full health. Other, more available comparables include Atk/Spd Push, Atk/Spd Solo, and Swift Sparrow.
  • Although it does not feature as staggering of a boost to Yuri’s offensive statline, Fury also has its uses due to its self-inflicted chip damage. When paired with refreshers to chain multiple actions, this quality can be leveraged to let Yuri potentially reach sufficiently low HP to act as a Wings of Mercy beacon for certain strategies like Galeforce in Aether Raids Offense. 
  • The advent of the Safety Fence structure also makes the required amount of combats necessary for Yuri to fall below 50% HP much less complicated to achieve; his five-tile range, access to Foul Play, and innate 【Canto (２)】mean that he can pretty easily get a free engagement on the first turn to get the ball rolling, especially when equipped with Disarm Trap. 
• As for his B skill, well, he certainly has an immense array to choose from, all with their respective benefits:
  • Disarm Trap is exceptional for the purposes of Aether Raids Offense gameplay, as it ensures that Yuri can initiate combat without ever having to worry about something stopping his onslaught. It’s very nifty for a plug-and-play approach and does pack some supportive utility as he can be Smited to safely test traps and then trade places with a distant ally through Foul Play. 
  • Null Follow-Up ensures Yuri’s consistency as a damage dealer, ensuring that he can always perform follow-up attacks as long as he can outpace his foe; this is useful for general gameplay, as well as to break through walls like Seiros who rely on follow-up negation that may appear on opposing Defense teams.
  • Windsweep steers away from Yuri’s damage potential and is more for those who want to use him as setup for other allies; he can safely poke an enemy, debilitate them with his dagger’s innate debuffs plus anything else equipped in his C and/or Sacred Seal slots, and then run away. 
  • A Lull skill may not be that exciting compared to the aforementioned options since they mostly reap benefits from a stat viewpoint, but buff nullification nonetheless remains a valuable advantage – especially if you commonly run into units like New Year Peony who apply visible buffs quite generously. 
• Aside from Time’s Pulse, Pulse Smoke, Savage Blow, or one’s choice of Atk Smoke or Spd Smoke (since daggers have Def/Res Smoke inherently built-in) are other C skills to consider for those who wish to accentuate Yuri’s debuffing capabilities. A Joint Drive skill may also be worthwhile if Yuri is expected to retain close proximity to his allies (such as if he actively contributes to a Galeforce chain) to grant everybody free stats. 

Weapon: Honorable Blade

Assist: Foul Play

Special: Blazing Special / Luna / Draconic Aura

Passive A: Life and Death / Atk/Spd Ideal / Death Blow / Sturdy Impact 

Passive B: Special Spiral

Passive C: Time’s Pulse / Joint Drive Atk / Odd Atk Wave / Savage Blow / Flexible

Sacred Seal: Life and Death / Hardy Bearing / Quickened Pulse / Flashing Blade / Heavy Blade

• Honorable Blade’s accelerated cooldown also gives one the option of focusing purely on Yuri’s ability to constantly loop his Special each combat to maximize the strength of his first hit. Since the emphasis here is on raw damage potential, taking a +ATK IV is the preferred option to frontload as much force as possible. 
• The crux of this build (besides the assortment of goodies brought by his two PRF skills) lies in Yuri’s choice of B skill: Special Spiral. Following their initial activation, Specials with three-turn cooldowns are guaranteed to be active for each round of combat thanks to the immediate two charges provided by Special Spiral. 
  • Luna will usually be Yuri’s best bet for normal Specials, as it helps him break through the defenses of invested physical tanks while granting an overall solid level of additional burst. For those who prefer consistency in numbers, Draconic Aura is an option given that it scales off his Attack, meaning that it will always increase his damage by the same amount each combat. 
  • AoE Specials are also alternatives that one may consider since they can actually be looped as well, despite having a base four-turn cooldown. This combination works as follows: 
    • Honorable Blade’s Slaying effect sets such Specials to an initial three-turn cooldown to start with. Then, after activating the first time, Special Spiral will persistently trigger and render it so that AoE Specials have an effective one-turn cooldown –  and since they activate before combat, Yuri’s in-combat attack lets him make up the difference to loop them. 
    • Blazing AoE Specials like Blazing Wind are recommended for their higher damage modifier; this helps boost Yuri’s chances of landing OHKOs while still featuring a respectable radius for applying damage to nearby enemies. 
    • He normally does not need the assistance of Heavy Blade or Flashing Blade to spam these Specials, but using it as his A skill or Sacred Seal is an option nonetheless should Stance 4 skills be a particular concern; this helps him activate AoE Specials even in the face of Guard. 
• Life and Death is Yuri’s preferred A skill when exploiting AoE Specials since their damage scales off the difference between visible stats; otherwise, anything that builds on his raw Attack like Atk/Spd Ideal and Death Blow is recommended. Sturdy Impact is an interesting choice that loses out on some damage in comparison to the fourth-tier versions of the aforementioned skills, but comes with the added benefit of granting some additional safety should he fail to OHKO. 
• His base Time’s Pulse helps minimize the amount of setup he needs to get his Special Spiral chains started. This can be fielded in conjunction with outside cooldown reduction (e.g. Legendary Hector’s Ostian Pulse II, Infantry Pulse, etc.) to potentially have Yuri’s Special charged immediately – no prior combat necessary. He can also benefit from virtually anything that improves his proficiency at securing consecutive kills, such as Joint Drive Atk, Savage Blow, and Odd Atk Wave.
• Lastly, Yuri’s Sacred Seal should consist of something that either aids his performance from a stat perspective – Life and Death for AoE Sets, and skills that provide visible boosts like Death Blow for anything else – or that aids his looping consistency, like Quickened Pulse or Flashing/Heavy Blade when equipped with an AoE Special. Speaking of, AoE Specials do come with the drawback of enabling Vantage effects on foes, so using the Hardy Bearing Seal is another option to circumvent this.