Shez (F)

Weapon: Crimson War-Axe

Assist: Positional Assist / Flexible

Special: Ruptured Sky / Moonbow / Flexible 

IVs: +Atk or +Spd / -Res

Passive A: Atk/Spd Finish 4 / Atk/Spd Ideal / Kestrel Stance 3 / Flexible

Passive B: Null Follow-Up / Spd/Def Bulwark / Velocity / Flexible

Passive C: Joint Drive Atk / Atk/Spd Oath 4 / Flexible

Sacred Seal: Atk/Spd Solo / Mystic Boost / Kestrel Stance / Flexible

• Shez can run a solid mixed phase tank or “melee specialist” build. Crimson War-Axe’s damage reduction and Special charge allow her to tank most hits, hit back with a strong Special, and depending on the choice of skills, heal in the process. 
• The ideal choice of Special is 2 cooldown, so that Shez can be attacked and immediately retaliate with the Special. Ruptured Sky is the strongest option, particularly against beasts and dragons, but Moonbow and Glimmer also work well. 
• The A skill is flexible. Atk/Res Finish 4 is arguably the strongest option. While Shez benefits less from Res than she would from Atk or Spd, as most melee foes target Def, the extra 5 damage on Special activation and the 7 HP healed are both incredibly useful. At the time of writing, Atk/Res Finish is the only Finish skill; if an Atk/Spd Finish 4 is added in the future, it may be better. Otherwise, skills that boost Atk and Spd and work on enemy phase like Atk/Spd Ideal and Kestrel Stance. 
• The B skill is also flexible. Null Follow-Up allows Shez to use her great Spd stat to avoid follow-ups and gain her own follow-up against slower enemies. However, Spd/Def Bulwark provides a different useful effect, limiting the ability of enemies to move through spaces near her, allowing her to better block areas of the map to protect teammates. In addition, it provides a small reduction to the foe’s Spd and Def, and heals 7 HP after combat. Atk/Def Bulwark is about as strong, providing some extra survivability instead of reducing her foe’s Spd. Velocity is another good option that provides more Spd-based damage reduction and prevents Shez’s Special charge from being slowed, guaranteeing that she can activate her Special on her counterattack unless something removes her ability to charge it, which at the time of writing is a very rare effect. However, the added value of additional damage reduction is less since Shez already has 40% in her weapon; even at the full 10 points of Spd difference it only works out to be 64% total. 
• The C skill is highly flexible, with Joint Drive Atk and Atk/Spd Oath 4 providing minor stat boosts to Shez. Many other skills can also work and this slot is not very important for the build in most cases. 
• The seal is flexible. Atk/Spd Solo provides a boost of 6 Atk and Spd in combat as long as Shez is not adjacent to an ally. Kestrel Stance provides a smaller boost of +4 that is exclusive to enemy phase but has no positioning requirements. Mystic Boost provides a few effects, the most important being that it heals 6 HP after combat. It is up to the player and the context of use whether this healing is more valuable than extra stats. 

Weapon: Crimson War-Axe

Assist: Positional Assist / Flexible

Special: Dragon Fang / Ruptured Sky / Glimmer / Flexible 

IVs: +Atk or +Spd / -Res

Passive A: Surge Sparrow / Atk/Spd Ideal / Flexible

Passive B: Null Follow-Up / Velocity / Spd/Def Tempo / Flexible

Passive C: Odd Tempest / Even Tempest / Flexible

Sacred Seal: Blade Session / Flexible

• The Special charge and damage reduction in Crimson War-Axe allow Shez to run a strong player phase build where she can attack, get countered, and then follow-up with a powerful hit. 
• The Special is flexible. Against foes that do not slow her Special, she gains 2 charge per attack, so she can activate a 4-cooldown Special after being countered. Dragon Fang is generally the strongest option as Shez does not have extreme amounts of Def for Ignis or Res for Glacies. Alternatively, she can opt for a 2-charge Special, which is weaker but guarantees she can activate it even against foes with skills like Guard or Mirror Stance 3 which slow her Special charge. Ruptured Sky is generally the strongest option but Moonbow and Glimmer are also reliable choices. 
• Null Follow-Up is generally the strongest B skill, to allow Shez to take advantage of her good Spd to follow-up attack and avoid follow-up attacks. Other options like Velocity and Spd/Def Tempo provide great effects like nullifying any skill that slows her Special charge gain, but are generally weaker options due to the prevalence of units with skills that guarantee a follow-up, deny a follow-up, or both. 
• The A skill is flexible. Surge Sparrow and Sturdy Surge boost Shez’s stats when initiating combat and also heal her when she activates a Special, allowing her to stay healthy even after taking strong counterattacks. Surge Sparrow boosts Atk and Spd, while Sturdy Surge boosts Atk and Def. The Spd boost is desirable so Sparrow is generally the better option but both are great. Other skills like Swift Sparrow 3 or Atk/Spd Ideal also provide great stat boosts when initiating, but without the healing effect. The healing from a Surge skill is 50% of her HP when using a 2 cooldown Special, or 90% when using a 4-cooldown Special, so it’s quite valuable. 
• The C skill is flexible, with Odd Tempest and Even Tempest providing the March status, boosting her Mov, on odd-numbered turns and even-numbered turns respectively. Other options like Time’s Pulse can also be useful if you want to run a longer-cooldown Special like Luna or Aether, but only reliably activate it once per turn. 
• +Spd and +Atk are both excellent choices of boon. Shez relies on her Spd to follow-up, but many foes are much slower than her and very bulky so +Atk is also fantastic for improving damage against them. -Res is generally the ideal bane, as few melee foes target Res when counterattacking. 
• The seal is flexible, with Blade Session providing the largest potential boost to Atk and Spd when initiating, up to +9 if two allied units have ended their turn before Shez. Other options like Atk/Spd Solo also provide boosts to these stats under different conditions. 

Weapon: Crimson War-Axe

Assist: Positional Assist / Flexible

Special: Galeforce 

IVs: +Atk or +Spd / -Res

Passive A: Atk/Spd Ideal 4 / Surge Sparrow / Swift Sparrow 3 / Fury / Flexible

Passive B: Null Follow-Up / Velocity / Spd/Def Tempo / Wings of Mercy / Flexible

Passive C: Time’s Pulse / Odd Tempest / Even Tempest / Flexible

Sacred Seal: Blade Session / Fury / Quickened Pulse / Flexible

• The Special charge and damage reduction in Crimson War-Axe make Shez a decent choice for galeforce, particularly as an initiator, since she can charge the Special without needing Heavy or Flashing Blade, and can generally survive a counterattack from most units with the 40% damage reduction. 
• The skills are flexible, with multiple good options. Boosting Atk and Spd is important for the A skill and seal, but it can also be advantageous to use skills like Fury if Shez needs to drop below 50% HP to allow her teammates to teleport with Wings of Mercy. A skills like Atk/Spd Ideal, Swift Sparrow 3, and Surge Sparrow offer large boosts to Atk and Spd, while the Blade Session seal offers the largest potential boost in a seal, up to +9. 
• The B skill is flexible. Null Follow-Up ensures that Shez can follow-up attack against slower units, and is generally the best option if Shez is being used as initiator. Wings of Mercy can be useful on teams where another unit initiates and drops below 50% HP. Other options like Velocity and Spd/Def Tempo provide immunity to the Special-charge slowing effects of skills like Guard and Special Fighter, but these are less necessary than Null Follow-Up if Shez receives adequate Special charge from other sources, as detailed below. 
• Shez can charge her Galeforce by 1 by using Quickened Pulse in the C skill. This brings it to 4 cooldown. If she receives another Pulse from another source such as a teammate with Infantry Pulse, To Change Fate! from Valentine’s Chrom, or Askr’s Opened Domain, she can charge it to 3 cooldown. Since her axe grants Special cooldown on every attack, this allows her to activate Galeforce even if her foe has some kind of Guard effect: she gains 1 charge on her first attack, 1 charge when counterattacked, and 1 charge on her second hit for 3 charge total over the combat. Velouria can provide the full 2 charges if she is supported with Shez. 

+Spd is generally the best boon, since gaining a follow-up is very important for activating galeforce. +Atk is also a solid option for more damage. -Res is generally the best bane, since more melee enemies that can counterattack target Def, and Shez’s Res is higher than her Def to begin with.