#bow unit

Quick overview

While I personally don't like Takumi I can't stress enough how much @eighty-percent-takumi​ does, and her reaction was priceless. So I'm gonna do my best o keep a cheery attitude which is easy when Takumi comes packing 35/35 offences, which is identical to Bridal Cordelia. On top of that he's a flier meaning he gains access to flier buffs and free move. For this reason he's arguably better than his sister. Takumi also comes with a exceptional weapon and in general a very solid archer, except against other archers.

Base kit

Takumi has thrown away the Fujin yumi for it's fishy cousin, the Fishie bow+ which comes with a inbuilt desperation passive which free's up Takumi's B slot, meaning he can abuse this with something like sword breaker, vantage etc Glimmer is a solid option though sometimes other options are better, its a decent budget skill. Fury further pushes his offensive abilities allowing him to hit 38/38 at neutral, finally Odd res wave is a new skill however unlike the other wave skills res wave won't prove to be a must have skill for a lot of units, still being able to give yourself +6 Res is nice enough and may save you in  pinch. Really the question is B skills. The clear choice would be a breaker, ideally, sword breaker to get the double on units like Ayra, Mia and Karla who might otherwise live. Vantage can be used for a mixed phase set though may not be ideal. The other option are chill skills.

Pros + Cons

+ Solid offences among the best for archers

+Amazing budget set

+Comes with a Kinshi to help his move

-Low defences hurt him especially as a flier

-Limited time unit means hard to get set ivs or merge

-Has to fight his sister for a team spot or offers effective damage against armours.

Partners

Takumi mainly struggle with high defence units, most of which are fragile to any magic based unit, meaning in a ideal world any mage is nice, but because of his Res Wave skill 2 types come into mind. One is Blade tome units who can abuse this boost into their damage output. The other is Ishtar who can offer Takumi the odd atk wave boost to give him a nice extra +6 atk. Which he gives her the +6 res which she won't mind. Finally of course fliers are a no brainer giving him flier buffs NY Azura being the obvious pick being a dancer, as would Bridal Ninian.

Suggested set(s)

Fishies in the water, Fishies in the sea

Suggested ivs: +atk/spd -res/hp/def

Fishie Bow+, reposition, Moonbow,/Glimmer,/Luna

Slot A = Fury, life and death, atk/spd bond, swift sparrow, brazen atk/spd

Slot B = Wings of mercy, escape route, Sword breaker, cancel affinity

Slot C = any c slot

Sacred seals: Heavy blade, atk+3, spd+3, guidance

Weapon refinery: Go +spd ideally though if +spd you might find +atk will do more for you.

Takumi thrives with his base bow, while not as safe as firesweep, it's very similar it just allows you to counter back and be countered back. I personally don't think it's worth the switch unless you're fighting DC armours non stop, and evn then you're better abusing colour advantage. Takumi ideally likes Fury but any atk/spd boosting skill is, atk/spd bond especially has a nice niche with Wings of mercy or escape route both of which allow him to be near someone and create surprise attacks. Cancel affinity can be used to destroy raven units, while sword breaker is able to beat out fast sword units. These are the joys of the fishie bow.  As for special take your pick but it's worth noting using Heavy blade allows Takumi to safely fire glimmer or moonbow an awful lot.

Taco rangers unite!

Suggested ivs: +Atk/spd -def/res/hp

Brave bow+,  reposition, Luna

Slot A = life and death, swift sparrow, brazen atk/spd

Slot B = desperation

Slot C = Any C skill

Sacred seals: Atk+3, heavy blade, guidance

Fire Emblem Inktober Day 2: Bow Unit, Takumi

Don't expect anything to get done when they two drowsy dummies are on the case.

Day Two: Bow Unit

Quick overview

So Noire is another unit appearing before she actually does normally, though saying Noire is normal is a tad out there. Infact speaking of weird her outfit is erm, something. Anyway Noire's stats are highly competitive by Archer standards, 32 atk and 26 speed is better than Brave Lyn, though Lyn has horse buffs, and Noire also rocks some nice defence at 27, meaning she's able to take the odd hit. Overall Noire is an exceptional archer, with a personality twist.

Base kit

The Cocobow grants +2 to all stats when iniating on the foe. This is an amazing weapon overall, though the def/res are a lil wasted on offence. Ardent sacrifice is nice when using hp based skills, while atk/spd2 is a very nice budget option for sweeper sets. Finally Infantry Rush 3 is essentially drive heavy blade, granting faster cooldowns to infantry units if they meet the normal heavy blade conditions. Its a team dependant skill really, combine it with drive atk though as the sacred seal to help them proc it though. As for B slots you can give her desperation to make use of her speed stat but oterwise bowbreaker is a really nice option as well.

Pros + Cons

+Solid stat line puts Noire in prime position archer wise +Her c slot is honestly busted +Her base bow is also decent by bow standards -limited edition means she’s only around for a while -To be optimal you  need to replace most of her kit -Archer competition is fierce

Partners

Typically high attack units are gonna benefit the most from her C slot. However outside of skills Noire needs Magic tanks to improve her longevity if anything, infact you really need a counter to raven units as those also pose a threat.

Suggested set(s)

Coconut coconut crack

Suggested ivs: +atk/spd -res/hp

Cocobow+, reposition, luna/bonfire

Slot A = atk/spd 2, fury, swift sparrow

Slot B = desperation

Slot C = infantry rush, any c slot

Sacred seals: atk+3,spd+3, drive attack

Weapon refinery: +spd is ideal to secure doubles.

Going budget here with noire, This set aims to deal as much damage in your two hits as possible. The cocobow is a great budget bow and with the right A skill lets her hit some scary offence numbers. Desperation is a no brainer here thanks to her speed which is only furthered by the bow. As for the A slot her base A slot is a fine budget option but swift sparrow is optimal asis fury, as fury can push her defence high enough for bonfire use, as would a +def Noire. Finally if using infantry rush she really wants the drive attack seal to help give allies a leway of +3 atk to work with.

LA Noire

Suggested ivs: +atk/def -hp/res

Brave bow+, Reposition, Bonfire

Slot A = Swift sparrow, Death blow

Slot B = bow breaker

Slot C = any c skill

Sacred seals: atk+3, def+3, distant defence

Quick overview

So I didn’t plan to redo the Halloween Armours so soon but I feel I have too since their recent revival. However it’s more so Jakob as I used to feel he lacked the mobility to make him a true archer threat. Well that’s changed. Theres one skill which made Jakob one of the best archers in the game. Bold fighter. If you can get this skill onto Jakob,most things will not survive. However he also has fantastic enemy phase sets to boot as well making him unpredictable and worth building regardless of your ivs.

Base kit

Monstrous bow is kinda useless, only inflicting a panic ploy status after attacking, which mind you, Jakob should be killing foes before they touch him. Good on paper, bad in theory. Wary fighter makes Jakob able to survive a lot more than he normally would due to his speed, and his fantastic bulk supports this. Ignis will hit like a truck, his defence is huge and will cause most units to fall from its activation. Finally bracing blow is erm, it helps ignis damage? yeah there’s better skills for him.

As for the C slot any armour skill will do, or even ploys. Pivot should be considered as your assist so you can move a lot easier or swap.

Pros + Cons

+Amazing attack means he hits like a truck

+Able to withstand a lot of hits.

+Fighter skills make him a monster to deal with

-His speed hurts him and running bold fighter leaves you open

-One movement hurts a lot

-Limited units means hard to get and limited merges

Partners

Literally the biggest thing Jakob needs is armour march. This allows Jakob to fix his biggest weakness, his move. Amelia and Halloween have this naturally and should be considered both being deadly units themselves. However Jakob honestly can solo maps by himself.

Suggested set(s)

Deadly devotion - bold edition

Suggested ivs: +atk -spd

Brave bow +, Pivot, glimmer/ignis/glacies/galeforce/aether

Slot A = Death blow

Slot B = bold fighter, wary fighter

Slot C = any c slot

Sacred seals: Atk+3, armoured boots, quickened pulse

So brave bow lets Jakob hit twice, pretty hard too. Like incredibly hard. Now take into account bold fighter. Bold fighter lets him double, thats 4 hits from brave bow. Now take into account it accelerates his special too and you see how broken this is. For example if using glimmer, every other hit procs glimmer. If using ignis, you will proc ignis on the third hit.Aether and galeforce both proc after that too. If you really want to be cheeky you can run this with firesweep and  quickened pulse with galeforce to do something like the tier 20 effies but  ranged but generally brave bow is better.

Wary fighter can be used though as it protects you on the defence.

A man walks into a arrow

Suggested ivs: +Atk/def/res -spd

Slaying bow/Guard+,  reposition, bonfire/iceberg/ignis/glacies

Slot A =  Close counter

Slot B = wary fighter, vengeful fighter

Slot C = Any C skill

Sacred seals: quickened pulse, close/distant defence

Weapon refinery = +def is typically always best due to close counter

Quick overview

While Lyn is lovely and all, this is probably gonna be more on a analysis of coloured bows and if they are worth it. So being green this means Lyn becomes a archer capable of destroying blue mages, however will fall a lot easier to red mages. It’s also physical ranged damage meaning she’s got a good niche for herself. Green bows in my opinion are probably in the middle of the coloured bow grounds. Green is great to tank blue mages like Reinhardt but can’t use swordbreaker, which was one of the best skills for any bow unit. Do you need a green archer, ehhhhh thats arguable but Lyn as a unit is great, budget friendly and overall one of the better legendary heroes.

Oh and a side note -  bowbreaker doesn’t affect Lyn meaning you need the relevant coloured bow breaker.. don’t expect it too soon.

Base kit

Swift Mulagir is a very interesting weapon, granting +5atk/spd if Lyn has more allies than foes in two spaces. Not only should we be fearing brave Lyns eventual refine for this but it’s very strong. It puts Lyns great stat spread even higher at 36/41 when proccing. I can’t say the same about Laws of Sacae though. It grants +4 to all stats when attacked and theres more allies in your 2 space radius than the foe, but one her bulk isin’t the best, two she can’t abuse this with close counter and three she has to be attacked. Overall it’s mediocre and something like Fury is far more consistent. Desperation is an amazing skill considering her speed, and mostly a must keep. Speed tactic is a broken skill for a lot of players waiting to be able to give +6 to speed on mixed teams. This skill makes mixed bladetome teams incredibly potent and arguably one of the best C skills out there. Finally rally def/res is a solid rally skill but normally outclassed in use by movement skills.

Pros + Cons

+Amazing offence spread

+Own niche as the only archer so far with colour advantage

+Incredibly good bow which is slightly better than brave bow.

-Poor Physical Bulk

-Her A slot, is generally outclassed by budget skills like Fury.

-Limited to legendary banners meaning it’s hard to focus on her without spending a lot

Partners

Lyn needs red counters on the team. Units like Lukas, Tana, Cordelia, Shigure, Reinhardt, Effie etc all make great units to pair with for this reason. Lyn also works best with guidance users as not only does spd tactic help her lean to mixed teams but makes for a dead easy way to proc her weapon.

Suggested set(s)

Sacae’s Breeze

Suggested ivs: +atk/spd -hp/def

Swift Mulagir+, reposition, Luna/iceberg

Slot A = Swift sparrow, Fury

Slot B = Desperation

Slot C = spd tactic or any other c skill

Sacred seals: Atk+3, spd+3,

Really you just have to add a special too her, the best being Luna/iceberg. Iceberg should only be used with neutral or better res, as her weapon lets her hit a nice 30 in the stat.  As long as you have the bow somewhere, then typically she’s going to be outclassing brave bow most of the time these days, due to the ability of using another A slot like fury or swift sparrow. Fury increases her magic bulk too but swift sparrow is better for offence and lets her hit +9 to atk/spd in the right situation. You can also use a fire sweep with this set, just replace desperation with green tome breaker or poison strike even a chill skill

Green is not creative

Suggested ivs: +spd/res -hp/def

Swift Mulagir+, reposition, luna/iceberg

Slot A = Triangle adept

Slot B = Green tome/Axe  breaker

Slot C = spd tactic or any other c skill

Quick overview

Faye lives up to her name as a controversial character by also being a controversial archer in heroes. Well its been in recent game updates where she finally found were she belongs as she’s basically been a bulky archer who can’t do much offensively due to poor speed and mediocre attack stat, especially compared to other archers, which went completely against her base kit. Don’t misunderstand though, her bulk is her strongest asset these days and she can be a powerful defensive archer when played right.

Base kit

Firesweep bow is one of the best bows in the game, the ability not to be hit back is amazing, but unfortunately for Faye she’s well erm. She struggles to do what it wants to do, still she can use it effectively to bypass units like Hector. Noontime is relatively useless especially with firesweep weapons where you don’t care about defences. Wings of mercy is her best base skill and lets her fly to allies to snipe a weakened foe, while finally bow exp is nice to well get to level 40 faster.

Really if using firesweep bow, you need to focus on attack and speed, so life and death, brazen atk/spd, death blow, fury, darting blow etc help her considerably. Savage blow and poison strike should also be considered. 

Pros + Cons

+Monster defences make her nice wall

+Comes with a firesweep bow which is nice for a true damage set

+Makes a nice horse emblem counter against Reinhardt and Lyn

-Mediocre attack is never nice

-Awful speed

-She’d be the perfect choice for the breath skills if she could get them

Partners

Infantry pulse support is one of the biggest boons you can provide Faye, with it she can safely dispose of a unit like Brave Lyn without the need of bowbreaker. Otherwise anyone who can raise her defences, units like Shiro and Legendary Ike can provide defence tactic support, though now being a seal means anyone can, but the former too also provide melee wall support. Healers are also enjoyed to keep Faye in tip top condition.

Suggested set(s)

Alm’s Armour slayer

Suggested ivs: +atk/spd -res/def/hp

Firesweep bow+, reposition, Luna/iceberg

Slot A = Life and death, death blow, fury 

Slot B = Poison strike

Slot C = Savage blow

Sacred seals: Savage blow or poison strike

This is basically her budget set. The idea is not to do damage during combat but rather after and it makes her into a nice anti armour unit. Firesweep lets you bypass things like distant counter, or weapons like Lighting breath and even if you do 0 damage, the foe will be hit by poison strike ruining skills like vengeful fighter, quick riposte and breaker skills, but on top of that savage blow then deals splash damage to nearby units, which most armour and dragon teams stay packed together. Luna is taken as the best special over things like iceberg as you want to bypass almost any defence but iceberg is valid if not using life and death. With the sacred seal, it’s your choice more splash damage or more damage on the target, both are viable.

The Slayde Slayer

Suggested ivs: +Atk/res/def -hp/spd

Guard bow+,  reposition, iceberg

Slot A = Distant defence, close counter, stance skills, or anything to increase bulk

Slot B = quick riposte, bow breaker

Slot C = Any C skill

Sacred seals: Distant defence

Weapon refinery = +def or +res are the best options in general but +res in my opinion is slightly better.

It’s October and that means Inktober!