#changing winds

Lvl 40 Stats (Flaw/Neutral/Asset)

HP: 40/43/46

Atk: 34/37/40

Spd: 34/37/40

Def: 25/28/31

Res: 20/23/27

Neutral BST: 168

Max Dragonflowers: 5

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Skills

Weapon: Freikugel (400 SP)

Grants Spd+3. At start of ally's combat, if unit is within 2 spaces of any allies with Def > unit's Def, grants Atk/Spd+4 to those allies during combat. At start of unit's combat, if unit is not within 2 spaces of any allies with Def > unit's Def, grants Atk/Spd+6 to unit during combat.

Axe. Cannot be inherited. Cannot be refined.

Assist: None

Special: Moonbow (200 SP)

CD: 2. Treats foe's Def/Res as if reduced by 30% during combat.

Can be inherited.Cannot use: Staff.

A: Atk/Spd Solo 3 (240 SP)

If unit is not adjacent to an ally, grants Atk/Spd+6 during combat.

Can be inherited.

B: Null Follow-Up 3 (240 SP)

Disables foe's skills that guarantee foe's follow-up attack and foe's skills that prevent unit's follow-up attack.

Can be inherited. Infantry only.

C: Def Opening 3 (240 SP)

At start of turn, grants Def+6 to ally with the highest Def for 1 turn. (Excludes unit.)

Can be inherited.

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Analysis

Hilda joins the heroes roster as an infantry axe unit, wielding her own Hero’s Relic. With excellent stats almost all across the board, Hilda is extremely versatile unit that can fill various niches with the right skills. With 37/37 offenses and a base kit focused around boosting her attack and speed, she’s already an excellent player phase unit. However, with investment into her less exceptional 28/23 defenses, she can become a formidable enemy phase unit as well.

Hilda’s unique weapon, Freikugel, gives an additional 3 speed, further enforcing her role as a player phase unit. It’s weapon effect gives her allies Atk/Spd +4 during combat if they are within 2 spaces and have more defense than her. When she enters combat, if her defense is lower than her allies within 2 spaces or if there are no allies within 2 spaces, her weapon gives her Atk/Spd +6. This stacks with her A skill, Atk/Spd Solo, which only requires her to have no allies adjacent to her. Her C skill, Def Opening, makes sure her allies have more defense than her by giving an additional 6 to the unit with the highest defense for a single turn. Her B skill is Null Follow-Up, which ensures she doubles units like Surtr, who come with Wary Fighter equipped. Her special, Moonbow, has a short cooldown and will do consistent damage every time it activates, making it an excellent option for Hilda.

Hilda prefers boons in attack and speed. Her preferred banes are in defense and resistance. She has a superboon in resistance and no superbanes.

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Similar Units

Ylgr: Breaking the Ice (42/35/36/30/25)

Hilda: Idle Maiden (+1/+2/+1/-2/-2)

Raven: Peerless Fighter (41/34/35/25/22)

Hilda: Idle Maiden (+2/+3/+2/+3/+1)

Libra: Fetching Friar (40/35/32/28/29)

Hilda: Idle Maiden (+3/+2/+5/+0/-5)

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Builds

Budget

Hilda's first two builds are fairly low investment, but still work well with her stats and her unique weapon.

The build on the left replaces Hilda's default A skill with Life and Death. Since Life and Death lowers the users defense, Hilda will have a higher chance of activating her weapons effect. Since Life and Death boosts her attack to 58 unbuffed, Glimmer will often be doing more damage than if she were to keep her native Moonbow. For her seal, Hilda has Flashing Blade, which helps boost her damage output by proccing Glimmer faster, and with 45 speed, she will be gaining the additional special charge more often than not.

The build on the right replaces Null Follow-Up with Desperation, making her more player phase oriented. With the extra 12 speed from her weapon effect and A skill combined, Flashing Blade will almost always activate, speeding up het special and letting her do more damage. Since both Hilda’s speed and bulk is decently high, she can take a few hits without getting KOd, meaning she’s safely able to reach Desperation range.

Hyper Offensive

With both exceptional attack and speed, Hilda has plenty of options for hyper offensive builds. The following two builds will showcase her in this role. Her C skill in both builds is empty, as virtually any skill will work here.

Hilda's first build replaces her axe with Brave Axe, turning her into a purely player phase unit. Instead of Atk/Spd solo, she is given Swift Sparrow, getting rid of her movement requirement and making it easier to receive buffs from her allies while also losing an additional 2 points of speed and attack. She is again given Desperation, which lends itself to her purely player phase build. With 39 speed due to Swift Sparrow, and with her sacred seal, Chill Speed, active on her foe, she should easily be able to quad a majority of units.

Hilda's second build focuses on her utility as a Galeforce user. Her weapon, Slaying Axe, speeds up her special. The attack refine boosts her attack back up to what she would have if she was equipped with her unique weapon. It also gives her more attack to activate her A skill, Heavy Blade. With Heavy Blade, Galeforce will speed up considerably, giving Hilda the opportunity to KO two units in one player phase. With Desperation, Hilda can KO two units back to back without ever taking damage if she is within the HP range, making her a force to be reckoned with in the player phase.

High Investment

Despite Hilda’s focus being on her offensive stat spread, with high investment, as seen above, she can become a formidable enemy phase unit as well.

In the first build, Hilda becomes an Ignis nuke by stacking her defense. Steady Breath gives her an additional 4 defense, and also speeds up her special charge by 1 every for every attack during enemy phase, both by herself and her foe. Her B skill, Wrath, also speeds up her special cooldown by 1 at the start of each turn as long as her HP is at 75% or below. Her C skill and sacred seal combine to give her a visible buff during every turn, which then activates her weapon, Shoreline Rake. Shoreline Rake gives her an additional 4 attack and defense, meaning Hilda reaches 47 defense without any buffs. With her wave skill, this becomes 53 defense, meaning Ignis does 42 damage. With the additional 10 damage from Wrath, letting Ignis do a grand total of 52 damage. If you prefer, you can absolutely swap Odd Speed Wave for another Odd Wave skill.

Lvl 40 Stats (Flaw/Neutral/Asset)

HP:  35/39/42

Atk: 30/33/36

Spd: 27/30/33

Def: 19/22/25

Res: 30/33/36

Neutral BST: 156

Max Dragonflowers: 5

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Skills

Weapon: Gravity+ (300 SP)

Mt: 10. Rng: 2. After combat, if unit attacked, inflicts status on target and foes within 1 space of target restricting movement to 1 space through their next actions.

Staff. Can be inherited. Can be refined.

Assist: Martyr+ (300 SP)

Rng: 1. Restores HP = damage dealt to unit +50% of Atk. (Minimum of 7 HP.) Restores HP to unit = half damage dealt to unit. 

Can be inherited.

Special: Miracle (200 SP)

CD: 5. If unit's HP > 1 and foe would reduce unit's HP to 0, unit survives with 1 HP.

Can be inherited.

A: AR-D Spd/Res 3 (240 SP)

If defending in Aether Raids, grants Spd/Res+X during combat. (Calculates X based on number of your defensive structures: ≥5 structures grants +10; 4 grants +7; 3 grants +4; ≤2 grants +1. Destroyed defensive structures are not counted.) 

Can be inherited.

B: None.

C: Odd Res Wave 3 (240 SP)

At start of odd-numbered turns, grants Res+6 to unit and adjacent allies for 1 turn. (Bonus granted to unit even if no allies are adjacent.) 

Can be inherited. 

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Analysis

Despite being a unit released in 2019 and receiving extra BST, Mercedes is a very underwhelming healer with an awkward statline and lack of a PRF staff, making several other infantry healers outclass her right from her introduction. Her offenses leave a lot to be desired, 33 Atk and 30 Spd is awful in today’s standards, even for healers. Being an infantry unit also means she lacks the mobility of a flying or cavalry healer, but it also means she gets access to infantry exclusive support skills like Infantry Pulse or Infantry Rush.

Mercedes’ skill set doesn’t help her case either: she does not bring any new or rare staff like Flash+; her A skill is useless on literally any mode that isn’t Aether Raids, and even there she is far from the best hero to use in defense, and while Odd Res Wave helps her boost her decent Res, she prefers other support C skills or even other Wave skills.

Despite all of this, Mercedes can still find herself useful thanks to the powerful combination of Wrathful Pain and Dazzling Staff, a set that is impossible for a healer to be bad at. Mercedes also has a decent Res stat sitting at 33, which with enough investment, can allow Mercedes to use Ploys or serve as a Res tank, but its better for her to stay true to her title and stay devoted to supporting others.

Mercedes prefers an asset/boon in Atk and Res, while she prefers a flaw/bane in HP and Def (keep in mind that HP is a superflaw/bane, meaning she will lose 4 points of HP rather than 3).

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Similar Units

Brady: Daunting Priest (41/33/32/23/28)

Mercedes: Kindly Devotee (-2/+0/-2/-1/+5)

Lucius: The Light (37/32/30/13/35)

Mercedes: Kindly Devotee (+2/+1/+0/+9/-2)

Mikoto: Caring Mother (38/35/32/20/26)

Mercedes: Kindly Devotee (+1/-2/-2/+2/+7)

Sakura: Loving Priestess (36/28/30/24/30)

Mercedes: Kindly Devotee (+3/+2/+0/-2/+3)

Serra: Outspoken Cleric (33/31/30/21/33)

Mercedes: Kindly Devotee (+6/+2/+0/-2/+0)

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Builds

Budget

While Mercedes comes with a very lacking skill set, due to nature of being a healer she doesn’t need much inheritance to fill her role. It is prefered to refine Gravity with Dazzling Staff rather than Wrathful since Mercedes’ Atk is nothing to write home about, so it’s better for her to support her team via inflicting negative status on her foes while not fearing enemy counterattacks. 

Replacing AR-D Spd/Res is extremely recommended, since she won’t  benefit from it at all outside of Aether Raids. Due to healer’s limited A skill options, even moreso in a budget set, she is better off with a simple stat boosting skill like Atk +3 or Res +3. Her B slot can vary, it can be Wings of Mercy on a tight budget, or maybe a Chill skill or Live to Serve. Since its a low investment set. Odd Res Wave can be kept because it boosts Mercedes’ decent Res a bit, and with a seal like Even Def Wave, she can also support her allies when alternating turns.

Mercedes’ sacred seals options are: Atk +3, Atk/Res 2, Atk/Res Bond, Renewal, Live to Serve, Chill Atk and Chill Spd.

Savage Blow Pain+

Even with all of her downsides, Mercedes does have a saving grace: the Savage Blow Pain Build, that is impossible for any healer to be bad at since having an Atk or a Spd stat doesn’t matter for this build to work. With Pain and double Savage Blow, Mercedes deals 10 true damage to her foe and 24 to any foes around them. Add the infamous Dazzling Staff to be extra annoying.

With some investment, Mercedes can actually become a powerful offensive staff unit, but it requires an asset/boon in either Atk or Spd, and another A skill like Atk/Spd Bond or Atk/Spd Solo; the former was given for free on Tempest Trial unit Louise: Eternal Devotion, while the later is still locked to 5 star exclusive units.

Ranged Tank

Mercedes does have a decent Atk and Res stats, and with some investment and an asset/flaw on either of them, she can fill the role of a Magic tank or even a general Ranged tank.

The first set is more on the budget side and focuses on Mercedes’ Atk and Res, boosting them with a double Atk/Res Bond so she can get +10 Atk/Res when adjacent to an ally, but Atk/Res Solo can work as well. Dull Ranged is there so Mercedes won’t have to fear Bladetome mages who would ORKO her otherwise. Odd Res Wave can be kept to further boost her Res, but it can be replaced by an Atk Wave skill.

The second set is a rather expensive one, requiring 2 5 star exclusive units and probably a preferable asset/boon. This build also turns Mercedes in a mixed ranged tank, being able to tank mages easily and also withstand attacks from daggers and bows, though far less reliable. With Distant Defense 4 and the Distant Defense sacred seal, Mercedes gets +14 Def/Res when in combat agains a ranged unit on top of neutralizing enemy buffs, meaning she can be a little though for them to kill even if they double her. Null-C Disrupt is for her to be able to retaliate against other healers, who will most likely deal no damage against her at all. 

Arena Support

Thanks to Colorless Duel Infantry, infantry healers can now be used in the higher tiers of Arena. Mercedes’ low Atk actually benefits her a lot here since she will likely deal very little damage to her foes and thus is not prone to stealing kills from the bonus unit. And for all of the Mercedes fans out there who wish to use her as a support unit, she has a wide range of staves to choose from, but most of them come from seasonal units, so these builds are rather expensive.

The first one makes use of the Ovoid Staff to passively heal her allies every turn, and even she can heal the non-bonus unit that was damaged tanking something so they don’t die. Dual Savage Blow is used as chip damage to help the bonus unit secure kills, and Chill Atk is there for general support.

Lvl 40 Stats (Flaw/Neutral/Asset)

Note: As a Grand Hero Battle reward, Death Knight does not have access to boons/assets and banes/flaws.

HP: 36/40/43 

Atk: 32/35/38

Spd: 23/25/29

Def: 26/30/33 

Res: 23/27/30 

Neutral BST: 157

Max Dragonflowers: 5

Skills

Weapon: Scythe of Sariel (400 SP)

Mt: 16. Rng: 1. Accelerates Special Cooldown Count by -1. If bonus granted from buff (ex. Rally, Hone) or if movement buff is present (ex. Armored March, Armored Boots), grants Atk/Spd/Def/Res +4 to unit during combat and foe cannot make a follow-up attack.

Lance. Cannot be inherited. Cannot be refined.

Assist: None

Special: Blazing Flame (300 SP)

Before combat, target and foes within area near target take damage equal to 1.5 x (unit’s Atk minus foe’s Def or Res)

Can be inherited. Cannot use: Staff.

A: None

B: Escape Route 3 (240 SP)

If unit’s HP ≤  50%, unit can warp to any space next to an ally.

Can be inherited.

C: Close Guard 3  (240 SP)

Allies within 2 spaces gain following effect: “If unit is attacked by foe who uses sword, lance, dagger, or dragonstone, grants Def/Res +4 during combat.”

Can be inherited.

Analysis

Following the recent Three Houses cast added into FEH is the Death Knight, a powerful lance unit in his own right. While his statline leaves much to be desired, Death Knight brings with him a new playstyle meant to punish the current in-game meta. 

His statline aims to focus on his high Atk and mixed defenses. This however leaves him with low Spd making any combat outside of enemy phase difficult to achieve. His weapon however seems to counteract what worries he would normally have from faster opponents. The Scythe of Sariel will, if a foe has a visible buff whether on their stats or a movement buff, not only deny the foe any follow-up attack they would normally have but will also grant Atk/Spd/Def/Res+4 to Death Knight during combat. This means that a ranged armor opponent with Bold Fighter and Armored Boots equipped will effectively have their Bold Fighter skill nullified due to their movement buff from Armored Boots. The same will apply if instead of Armored Boots the ranged armor has a +6 visible buff in Atk from Odd Atk Wave. 

This unique effect, however, will not apply if an enemy team fails to use visible buffs such as Ward Armor teams. His base kit outside of his lance will have to be completely revamped to compete with other lance units. He may act as a supporting unit with Close Guard but his B skill, Escape Route, will be tricky to use as it requires him to fall below 50% of his HP. The lance cavalry pool is also a vastly overpopulated pool and with limited copies of him available at this time Death Knight leaves much to be desired outside a niche effect. 

On his first merge, Death Knight will gain +2 HP/Atk and +1 Def.

Reasons to Invest in Death Knight

You like Death Knight and intend to use him in a core team, whether it be for Arena, Aether Raids, or a Cavalry team

You’re interested in building Death Knight due his powerful enemy phase and his ability to ignore follow-up attacks

You have obtained all or most previous copies made available and do not mind the grail cost

Reasons NOT to Invest in Death Knight

You don’t intend on using him as a core on any team or in any PVE game modes such as Rival Domains or Grand Conquest

You don’t play Aether Raids and have no interest in obtaining grails

You consider Death Knight’s playstyle and base kit uninteresting and would rather fodder his skills off to other heroes you use

You already have an invested lance unit that you already use on your core Arena & or Aether Raids team

Similar Units

Note: As a Grand Hero Battle Reward Death Knight does not have access to boons/assets or banes/flaws and therefore is not directly comparable to any summonable units. 

Berkut: Prideful Prince (43/34/22/31/24)

Death Knight: The Reaper (-3/+1/+3/-1/+1)

Note: Death Knight has access to uninheritable skills and is thus not directly comparable. 

Fallen Berkut: Purgatorial Prince (40/35/17/35/30)

Death Knight: The Reaper (+0/+0/+8/-5/-3)

Note: Both Fallen Berkut and Death Knight have access to uninheritable skills and are thus not directly comparable.

Builds

Budget/Low Investment:

Death Knight will for the most part require an overhaul of his base kit. Even in terms of budget sets this will be necessary. 

The build on the left focuses on boosting his stats both with the help of Fury and his seal, Brazen Atk/Def 3. Fury will provide +3 to all of his raw stats at the cost of -6 HP after each round of combat. We can use this recoil to our advantage by giving him Brazen Atk/Def, effectively boosting his Atk/Def by +7 while in combat. Once at or below 50% HP he will then be able to move next to an adjacent ally with Escape Route. He can then freely teleport to safety, teleport next to an ally and escort them to safety or surprise his foes by appearing in front of them. Ignis is taken due to his relatively high defense and for its cooldown which becomes 3 if the Scythe of Sariel is equipped.

The build on the right focuses on the same concept of lowering his HP to effectively boost his stats. Here we use double brazens (in this instance Brazen Atk/Def and Brazen Atk/Res) to boost his Def/Res by +7 and his Atk by +14. On top of his potential +4 to all his stats if his opponent has a visible buff applied to them, Death Knight can reach a total of +18 Atk, +4 Spd, and +11 Def/Res. Vantage is taken to allow him to have the first hit once at or below 75% of his HP and, keeping in mind how high his Atk can reach, will allow him to do a massive amount of damage if not outright take out his opponent.

Death Knight’s seal options include but aren’t limited to: Atk+3, Def+3, Res+3, Atk/Res 2, Atk/Def 2, Close Def, Stance skills, and Brazen skills.

Physical Tank:

Death Knight is arguably one of the most powerful enemy phase cavalry units in game. One of his strongest attributes, he can go far with the right investment.

The first set aims to bulk up his defenses while protecting him from enemy specials while in combat. Close Def will grant +6 Def/Res to Death Knight when attacked by a physical unit. On top of +4 from his lance this becomes an easy +10 Def/Res before any further ally buffs. Guard is taken to protect him from enemy specials from activating while in combat while Quick Riposte is taken to guarantee Death Knight multiple counterattacks. Ignis is taken for its cooldown decrease and higher damage output but can be swapped for Bonfire if desired.

The build on the right follows the same logic albeit with different skills. While Brazen Def/Res will require him to first fall at or below 80% of his HP, it will grant a constant +7 to his Def/Res while in combat. Quick Riposte and Bonfire are taken for their synergy together as explained in the prior build. To better bolster his defenses, we alternate Wave skills using Odd Def Wave on odd numbered turns and Even Res Wave on even turns. Alternatively, Even Res Wave can be swapped to Even Def Wave. The same goes for Odd Def Wave being swapped out for Odd Res Wave.

High Investment:

It’s needless to say that Death Knight functions best as an enemy phase unit. With a wide variety of enemy phase skills available to him he can become a formidable force. The following sets are best intended for players who plan on fully merging Death Knight.

The first set fully focuses on his ability to act as a tank against both ranged and melee foes. Distant Counter will allow Death Knight to counterattack regardless of distance. Because his Scythe’s effect requires a visible buff to be on his opponent and can, at times, be fairly inconsistent we use Berkut’s Lance instead which will grant him an additional +7 Res when attacked. Steady Stance is used as his seal to grant him +6 Def when attacked pairing well with his lance. Quick Riposte will allow him to make multiple follow-up attacks while Atk Smoke is taken to help survive multiple encounters on the same turn, ploying foes within 2 spaces of the attacking foe for -7 Atk.

Lvl 40 Stats (Flaw/Neutral/Asset)

HP: 38/41/44 Atk: 36/39/42 Spd: 29/32/35 Def: 16/19/22 Res: 22/25/29

Neutral BST: 156

Max Dragonflowers: 5

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Skills

Weapon: Rauðrfox+ (300 SP)

Mt: 12. Rng: 2. If unit initiates combat, inflicts Atk/Spd/Def/Res-4 on foe during combat.

Red Tome. Can be inherited. Can be refined.

Assist: None

Special: Draconic Aura (200 SP)

CD: 4. Before combat this unit initiates, foes in a wide area around target take damage equal to (unit's Atk minus foe's Def or Res).

Can be inherited. Cannot use: Staff.

A: None

B: Chill Res 3 (240 SP)

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

Can be inherited.

C: Inf. Hexblade 3 (240 SP)

If adjacent infantry allies use sword, lance, axe, bow, or dagger, grants Atk/Spd+2 to those allies and calculates their damage using the lower of foe's Def or Res during combat. (Does not affect damage dealt by Specials that trigger before combat.)

Can be inherited. Infantry Tome only.

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Analysis

Hubert’s intimidating disposition is certainly in line with his strength in combat. With 39 base Atk at neutral, Hubert boasts the highest base Atk of all available mages. Although he may lack a personal weapon, he can most certainly make do without one. Through a variety of different builds, Hubert is capable of using his sky-high Atk to blast through his opponents.

With Hubert’s addition to the game also comes a new tome, Rauðrfox+, which applies in-combat debuffs to the opponent in the player phase. Essentially an all-around Blow effect, the fox tome stands as a great, reliable weapon choice for player phase mages as few others exist. Blade tomes are undeniably powerful, but require either proper support or filling the user’s skill slots with Wave skills. With most of Hubert’s BST being concentrated on his Atk much more than on his other stats, he does not particularly make the most of Rauðrfox’s effect, however an effective +4 to all stats is still valuable in its own right, at the very least effectively increasing Hubert’s base Atk in the player phase to 43.

Hubert also introduces the Inf. Hexblade skill, providing adjacent physical infantry units with adaptive damage as well as a minor offensive stat boost. This can help your physical units melt through enemies with high Def, however because of its limited AoE, trying to put it to use may not be worth the effort.

Hubert prefers boons/assets in Atk and Spd. His preferred banes/flaws are Def, HP, and Res.

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Similar Units

Lilina: Delightful Noble (35/37/25/19/31)

Hubert: Sinister Servant (+6/+2/+7/+0/-6)

Tharja: Obsessive Bride (39/35/35/21/21)

Hubert: Sinister Servant (+2/+4/-3/-2/+4)

Sanaki: Begnion’s Apostle (33/37/26/17/34)

Hubert: Sinister Servant (+8/+2/+6/+2/-9)

Morgan: Lad from Afar (37/33/34/20/26)

Hubert: Sinister Servant (+4/+6/-2/-1/-1)

Tharja: Dark Shadow (39/32/34/23/20)

Hubert: Sinister Servant (+2/+7/-2/-4/+5)

Camilla: Flower of Fantasy (36/37/30/17/30)

Hubert: Sinister Servant (+5/+2/+2/+2/-5)

Ophelia: Dramatic Heroine (38/37/33/20/23)

Hubert: Sinister Servant (+3/+2/-1/-1/+2)

Delthea: Tatarrah’s Puppet (41/36/33/19/28)

Hubert: Sinister Servant (+0/+3/-1/+0/-3)

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Builds

Budget/Low Investment:

Rauðrfox’s effect significantly improves his player phase, so combining it with similar/complementary effects can make Hubert’s offensive power that much more of a threat.

The first build combines Rauðrfox with Death Blow and Darting Blow, effectively granting him +10 Atk and Spd in the player phase for a formidable total of 61 Atk and 44 Spd. His default Chill Res helps him and/or his allies to take down high Res enemies. Growing Thunder can very much turn the tide of a battle but it bears a long cooldown as well as the reliance on visible Atk, whereas this build focuses on Hubert’s in-combat offenses. Specials like Glimmer, Draconic Aura, and Moonbow can easily replace it.

The second build uses Fury which, combined with Rauðrfox, provides Hubert an effective statline of 58/41/26/32 in the player phase, with 47 Spd total if using Darting Blow.

Fox Tome:

For his high Atk, Hubert’s Spd is surprisingly not too lacking at a respectable base 32 Spd. This allows him to make fairly good use of a basic player phase build. On initiation, with Rauðrfox, Swift Sparrow 3, and Darting Blow, Hubert gains an effective +10 Atk and +17 Spd for 64 Atk and 51 Spd total.

Rauðrfox can also be useful for its defensive bonus. Because Sturdy Impact makes it much safer for the user to initiate, it can be great for safely applying after-combat effects and debuffs like Pulse Smoke, other Smoke skills, Savage Blow, and Poison Strike. With this build, Hubert gains an effective +20 Def on initiation as well as enemy follow-up denial and a respectable +10 Atk.

Blade Tome:

With Hubert’s superb Atk, he makes excellent use of Rauðrblade+ and stack up his in-combat Atk much, much higher.

The first build pairs Rauðrblade with Close Counter and Vantage for enemy phase use in addition to player phase use. Assuming Hubert attains +6 buffs to all stats, Rauðrblade provides 24 bonus Atk, so on top of Fierce Stance, he reaches a whopping total of 91 Atk in the enemy phase. This means that once Hubert falls within Vantage’s HP threshold, enemies hoping to attack Hubert must either tank his 91 Atk, which few units will be capable at all of doing, or avoid his counterattack through the means of skills like Dazzling Staff, Sweep skills, and Hardy Bearing.

The second build adopts a traditional player phase application of Rauðrblade with Fury and Desperation. With full +6 buffs, Hubert not only boasts 86/51 offenses, but also respectable defenses of 26/35.

Misc:

Hubert’s high Atk also allows him to make great use of both AoE and raven tome builds.

Because AoE special damage is calculated from the user’s visible Atk, Hubert can make excellent use of AoE specials. Bolganone+/Fenrir+ and Life and Death are used to push his visible Atk as high as possible. Heavy Blade allows Hubert to charge his special much faster than usual and, when paired with Special Spiral, also lets him instantly fully charge it right after using it.