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Analysis by Chibi_Chu
Young Marth - Legacied Hero

4-5

Obtainable as a 4 - 5 only

Hero Stats

Max Avg Total Stats at Lvl 40
172
HP 41
ATK 36
SPD 37
DEF 32
RES 26

Stat Variations

Level 1 Stat Variation
5★
4★
HP ATK SPD DEF RES
Low 18 7 8 7 6
Middle 19 8 9 8 7
High 20 9 10 9 8

Level 40 Stat Variations
5★
4★
HP ATK SPD DEF RES
Low 37 33 34 29 23
Middle 41 36 37 32 26
High 44 39 40 35 30

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

I want power. (OHKO Nuke)

Build by Chibi_Chu
Recommended
Rapier A Distant Counter
Alternate: Brazen Atk/Spd (3 or 4)
Reposition B Wrath 3
Hero's Blood C Time's Pulse 3
IVs

+ATK / -HP

SBrazen Atk/Spd 3

Show Explanation/Analysis

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.

A Hero's Boldness (Enemy Phase Sweeper/Tank)

Build by Chibi_Chu
Recommended
Rapier A Distant Counter
Reposition B Special Spiral 3
Alternate: Close Call 3
Hero's Blood
Alternate: Noontime
C Pulse Smoke 3
Alternate: Def Smoke 3
IVs

+SPD or +RES or +ATK / -HP

SFierce Stance 3
Alternate: Swift Stance 2

Show Explanation/Analysis

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.

Child at Play (Galeforce)

Build by Chibi_Chu
Rapier
Alternate: Slaying Edge+ (+Spd)
A Flashing Blade 4
Alternate: Atk/Spd Push 4
Reposition B Null Follow-Up 3
Alternate: Wings of Mercy 3
Galeforce C Time's Pulse 3
Alternate: Def Smoke 3
IVs

+SPD or +ATK / -HP

SSwift Sparrow 2
Alternate: Flashing Blade 3

Show Explanation/Analysis

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.

Strengths

Strong offenses

Ironically, Young Marth’s offenses are substantially stronger than base Marth’s offenses, clocking at an impressive 36 Attack and 37 Speed. With a great offensive statline, Marth can consistently deal high amounts of damage and perform follow-up attacks. 

Respectable bulk

41 HP, 31 Defense, and 26 Resistance grants Young Marth a decent 71 physical bulk and 66 magical bulk. While his magical bulk may seem on the low side, Marth also has a Resistance Superasset, meaning an Asset in Resistance will increase his Resistance by 4 (rather than 3) to 30 (rather than 29). Marth’s high Speed also allows him to utilize Repel and Close Call efficiently, which reduces the amount of damage Marth receives by 4% for every point of Speed he has over the enemy, capping at 40% (a gap of 10 Speed).

Rapier

Rapier is a great personal weapon, granting Young Marth +3 Speed, effective damage against Cavalry and Armored units, and Vantage (allowing Marth to counterattack before the enemy can attack if his HP is ≤ 75%). +3 Speed increases Marth’s chances to perform a follow-up attack and slightly increases his damage from Hero’s Blood, effectiveness against Cavalry and Armored enemies allows Marth to consistently OHKO them, and Vantage can potentially allow Marth to sweep an enemy team before they can attack him on Enemy Phase.

Hero’s Blood

Hero’s Blood is a reskinned Fire Emblem; that is, a 2-cooldown Special that grants bonus damage equal to 30% of Young Marth’s Speed and grants +4 to all stats to Marth and all allies after combat. Because of its low 2 cooldown, Marth can use Special Spiral in his B slot to immediately ready Hero’s Blood after it is activated for the first time. With this, Marth can become a fantastic OHKO nuke that can even perform a follow-up attack if he fails to OHKO thanks to his impressive Speed. He can also contribute supportively with his +4 spectrum buff after combat.

Infantry advantages

As an Infantry unit, Young Marth has access to some of the most useful skills in the game, including Special Spiral and Null Follow-Up. Given that Infantry-effective weapons are so rare and niche, Marth rarely needs to worry about being OHKO’d.

Weaknesses

Susceptible to Panic and Chills

Young Marth’s high stats come at the cost of being susceptible to Chill skills, which inflict -7 to a stat to the enemy with the highest value in that stat (for instance, Chill Spd inflicts -7 Speed on the enemy with the highest Speed). Marth’s HP also fails to reach values high enough to consistently avoid Sudden Panic and Panic Manors, which can be detrimental if wanting to use him as a superunit.

OHKO-centric

Some of Young Marth’s strongest sets rely on him OHKOing the enemy. While he can frequently perform a follow-up attack to KO the enemy if his first attack didn’t, he’ll still be taking damage from the enemy’s counterattack.

Weapon Skills

Weapons SP Rng. Mt.
Iron Sword
Learns by default at 1 ★
Unlocks at 1 ★
Only Inheritable by Sword Units.
50 1 6
Steel Sword
Learns by default at 3 ★
Unlocks at 2 ★
Only Inheritable by Sword Units.
100 1 8
Silver Sword
Learns by default at 4 ★
Unlocks at 3 ★
Only Inheritable by Sword Units.
200 1 11
Rapier

Effective against armored and cavalry foes. Grants Spd+3. If unit's HP <= 75% and foe initiates combat, unit can counterattack before foe's first attack.

Learns by default at 5 ★
Unlocks at 5 ★
Non-Inheritable skill.
400 1 16
Weapon Evolution
Weapon Upgrades
Weapon Upgrades

Special Skills

Special Skills SP Turns
Dragon Gaze

Boosts damage by 30% of unit's Atk.

Learns by default at 4 ★
Unlocks at 3 ★
Non-inheritable by Staff-wielding units.
100 4
Draconic Aura

Boosts damage by 30% of unit's Atk.

Unlocks at 4 ★
Non-inheritable by Staff-wielding units.
200 3
Hero's Blood

Boosts damage by 30% of unit's Spd. Grants Atk/Spd/Def/Res+4 to unit and all allies for 1 turn after combat. (Bonus granted to allies even if unit's HP reaches 0.)

Unlocks at 5 ★
Non-Inheritable skill.
500 2

Passive Skills

Passive Skills SP Slot
Chill Def 1

At start of turn, inflicts Def-3 on foe on the enemy team with the highest Def through its next action.

Inheritable by all units.
Unlocks at 1 ★
60
B
Chill Def 2

At start of turn, inflicts Def-5 on foe on the enemy team with the highest Def through its next action.

Inheritable by all units.
Unlocks at 2 ★
120
B
Chill Def 3

At start of turn, inflicts Def-7 on foe on the enemy team with the highest Def through its next action.

Inheritable by all units.
Unlocks at 4 ★
240
B
Spd/Def Oath 1

At start of turn, if unit is adjacent to an ally, grants Spd/Def +3 to unit for 1 turn.

Infantry & Flying Units Only
Unlocks at 3 ★
60
A
Spd/Def Oath 2

At start of turn, if unit is adjacent to an ally, grants Spd/Def +4 to unit for 1 turn.

Infantry & Flying Units Only
Unlocks at 4 ★
120
A
Spd/Def Oath 3

At start of turn, if unit is adjacent to an ally, grants Spd/Def +5 to unit for 1 turn.

Infantry & Flying Units Only
Unlocks at 5 ★
240
A

Other Info

Origin
Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem
Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light

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