Legendary Shez (F)

Weapon: Asura Blades

Assist: Positional Assist / Assistless / Flexible

Special: Lethality / Glimmer 

Passive A: Swift Slice

Passive B: Spd/Def Tempo / Seal Spd 4 

Passive C: Atk/Spd Oath 4 / Spd Smoke 4 / Time’s Pulse / Flexible

Sacred Seal: Blade Session / Null Follow-Up / Atk/Spd Form / Quickened Pulse 

• For better or worse, Shez’s optimal playstyle is exceptionally simple: stock up on boosts to her Atk and Spd, have her initiate, and watch her enemies go poof. Although her Asura Blades do carry dual phase Brave, she remains at her best during the Player Phase as she can then leverage Swift Slice’s devastating effectiveness effect. The sheer damage potential she can obtain through this focus can render her a valued asset among most competitive formats (including Aether Raids Defense and Arena), as her tankbusting ability is among the best around.  
• This build naturally seeks to maximize the deadliness of Shez’s initiations, though it thankfully doesn’t really change much regardless of setting. A  +SPD IV is highly advised to maximize her ability to trigger all of her PRF skills’ moving parts, most significant of which being Swift Slice’s Spd conditional as this is the backbone of her damage output.
• Shez’s default kit is, unsurprisingly, jam-packed with premium skills that synergize well with this intended playstyle: Glimmer scales nicely with the effective damage granted by Swift Slice while featuring frequent trigger rates thanks to Asura Blades, Seal Spd offers Shez the most stat potential though an 11 Spd advantage for essentially free, and Atk/Spd Oath brings the best of both offensive and mobility benefits. Honestly, for most players, her base build works perfectly well — just a simple positional Assist would be needed.
• Still, some potential alternatives can always be considered: 
  • One of the most worthwhile considerations here lies in Shez’s Special of choice. While Glimmer works perfectly fine in most contexts, Lethality offers a key advantage through its ability to pierce through (most) damage reduction effects that may otherwise hinder a kill and ignore a staggering 80% of her foe’s Def. Considering the Breath effect built into Asura Blades, she can easily bypass its four-turn cooldown to trigger it in a single round of combat — the main thing to consider is your personal availability of Lethality itself.
  • Her default Seal Spd is genuinely pretty hard to substitute, especially against most infantry units where she requires a 20 Spd advantage to trigger Swift Slice. Still, there is a pretty strong argument in favor of Spd/Def Tempo to ensure Shez can break through Guard effects and guarantee her Special activations, as her triggers are a safe source of damage regardless of her Spd. Tempo may prove especially valuable in the context of Aether Raids Defense, as challenging teams have such an easy time in gaining buffs that accessing Swift Slice against fast infantry units may be exceedingly difficult even with Seal Spd.
  • Lastly, her default Atk/Spd Oath is a great and simple source of visible Atk/Spd buffs, while carrying some appreciated utility with the Orders effect it grants. However, if these buffs are already accessible through her team, it may be worth considering other skills like Spd Smoke 4 (to access some damage reduction on top of debuffing enemy Spd) or Time’s Pulse (which works great with Lethality + the Quickened Pulse seal to trigger the Special in her first two strikes).

Weapon: Asura Blades

Assist: Positional Assist / Flexible

Special: Glimmer / Lethality 

Passive A: Swift Slice

Passive B: Spd Preempt 

Passive C: Atk/Spd Oath 4 / Spd Smoke 4 / Joint Drives / Pulse Smoke / Time’s Pulse / Flexible

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

• While Shez’s dual-phase Brave effect in Asura Blades is typically more of an accessory benefit (since she benefits insanely well from a pure Player Phase focus), it can be emphasized to adopt a mixed phase approach for some added flexibility — and fun! A +SPD IV remains ideal, though, to ensure the activation of Asura Blades’ Breath effect and Swift Slice during the Player Phase.
• The key to Shez’s playstyle here lies in her choice of B skill: Spd Preempt. On top of a complementary -4 Spd debuff to her foe, it grants a powerful Vantage effect against all ranged opponents — all that’s required is that she has more Spd than them. Assuming she does, this allows Shez to have some Enemy Phase capabilities against such enemy types and cleanly sweep against them with the brunt of two strikes before they can react. 
  • However, as Spd Preempt only affects ranged units, it's crucial to either ensure there are no present melee threats that could initiate against her or simply pair her up with a Near Save armored ally to cover those matchups in her stead. Vantage would normally be an option to extend the interrupting counterattack effect to such threats, but that would mean unequipping Swift Slice — and this should never be done, honestly.
  • Also, it’s vital to consider that while Swift Slice’s Spectrum +8 buff remains present during the Enemy Phase, her weapon effectiveness is exclusive to the Player Phase. Thus, using Glimmer as her Special is typically preferred over Lethality as it can somewhat make up the loss in damage output and trigger in her first two attacks, as opposed to Lethality who requires more strikes. Any buffs to her Atk and Spd will also remain highly useful. 
• Lastly, beyond the standard Atk/Spd enhancing Sacred Seal options, Mystic Boost is an interesting option to have Shez have some longevity in the inevitable instances she takes damage, with each unmitigated instance making it riskier to lean into her Enemy Phase capacity.