Fire Emblem Heroes Wiki:Build Center/Setsuna: Absent Archer

Quick Hero Info

Type
Stats
37 / 28 / 37 / 22 / 23
Exclusive skills
Setsuna's Yumi

Optimal All-purpose High investment Brave

Brave Bow+  Draw Back / Reposition  Luna Traits: +Atk/-Res  Life and Death 3  Flexible  Flexible  Flexible

Click to show/hide build description  Setsuna lacks the Atk to normally use a Brave weapon the way they're normally used where a unit throws out Spd in favor of raw Atk. However, Setsuna makes up for this with her notably high Spd stat. Brave users don't usually care for Spd, but in Setsuna's case, she's capable of easily quadruple hitting a large number of heroes. Brave Bow+ provides the most damage out of any bow on average due to the frequency she can quad (vs. just doubling with other bows). Relying on the quads though makes her susceptible to unreliable performance due to inconsistent Spd (eg. Speed IVs, Speed Buffs, Speed Debuffs, etc). On top of that, investing everything into her ability to quad not only makes her prone to being worthless against enemies she can't quad (eg. Fast Red Sword lords) but also makes her unable to dent high Def units. The +Atk IV aids in giving her an additional 6 damage on normal Brave Bow+ doubles and 12 damage on quads. Speed IV is less efficient because most of the enemeies she's unable to quad without +Spd IV will typically have lower defenses. This means she will usually kill these units with just the double hit of the Brave Bow+ (eg. Linde). Not only that, but a +Spd IV and less damage will make her match ups worse for her when she fails to double. With the +Atk IV instead of +Spd IV, she's still capable of quadding most high Def units and now packs more punch. Life and Death is selected as her A-skill as it gives her the highest Atk for an A-slot passive (except against Death Blow), but also gives +5 Spd to negate the -5 Spd from the Brave weapon. This keeps her speed high enough to allow her to quad a majority of units. In the B-slot, since one goal of this build is to not overly rely on quad-hitting, Swordbreaker is chosen instead of the usual Desperation seen in other common Quadsuna builds. This allows her to quad the units she had the most trouble quadding before such as Lucina and Ryoma. In this build, she nets wins on both of these match ups. Note that with a +Spd IV, Setsuna kills Lucina but fails to kill Ryoma, exemplifying the need for +Atk IV. Finally, we run Luna because while she doesn't have trouble killing most units, when she does, it's usually against units with very high Def. The lower cooldown Moonbow may seem attractive but does not provide enough of a defense reduction to kill these high Def units compared to Luna. C-slot passive and Assists skills are flexible and dependent on what a player's team requires. For this setup though, Hones on the C-skill and positioning skills for the assists are highly suggested.

Creative High investment Undying Dakka Spam

Brave Bow+  Reposition  Aether / Miracle Traits: Anything but -Atk  Life and Death 3  Desperation 3  Flexible  Heavy Blade 3 / Brash Assault 3

Click to show/hide build description  The goal of this build is to meme harder when you have a spare 5* Setsunas and alot of time to waste. Even if you don't have Units for Aether, Miracle does fine in chain challenges, Heavy Blade is only best reccomended when her atk can reach above 52 with the possible buffs you can get with combination of Aether. However Brash Assault works like a charm as they will gurantee follow up and quads against Bow Breakers. Her only weakness is High def targets, ie LA! Hector, Zelgius, etc that can survive her quad or her initial attack. Normally it's best to keep Luna as the first inherit skill if you wanna Brave Bow build

Alternative All-purpose Very high investment Flashsuna

Firesweep Bow+  Draw Back / Reposition  Luna / Dragon Fang Traits: +Atk/-Def,-Res  Flashing Blade 3  Swordbreaker 3 / Bowbreaker 3  Flexible  Speed +3 / Phantom Spd 3

A description has not been written for this build yet.

Creative All-purpose High investment Infantry Guarding Archer

Guard Bow+  Reposition / Swap  Iceberg / Glacies Traits: +Atk/-Hp  Distant Def 3  Bowbreaker 3 / Cancel Affinity 3  Flexible  Distant Def 3

Click to show/hide build description  This build has the sole purpose of taking advantage of the new Guard Bow+. With her new Bow, she can have high defensive stats when attacked during the enemy phase. With Guard Bow+ and Distant Def, in the A slot and as a seal, Setsuna can reach 40 defense and 41 resistance when attacked by a foe using bow, dagger, magic, or staff. This makes Setsuna a powerful enemy phase tank, especially with possible buffs from teammates. An issue with this build is Setsuna's naturally low attack, even with +Atk/-Hp ivs. Yet, with her high defensive stats she can deal massive damage with Iceberg as her special. If you have access to a unit with Infantry Pulse, then Glacies would be a better choice to increase her damage output. Any assist skill can work, with Reposition and Swap being most useful for movement. This build is centered around her A Skill being Distant Def. While this is a rare skill, I feel it is the best one for her with this weapon. For a B Skill, there are a few options. Bowbreaker is an option that allows for less SP grinding, but other breaker skills could be useful as well. However with the restrictions of this build, breaker skills used should only be those that counter ranged foes. Another option for a B Skill is Cancel Affinity. This skill makes Setsuna a very powerful counter to raventome mages, especially with her high resistance. Any C Skill that assists those on Setsuna's team can work. Hone skills are most likely the optimal choice for this build seeing as it is heavily reliant on the combat occurring during the enemy phase, so skills like Threaten Def won't have much of an affect. This build fills a very niche role: allowing Setsuna to become a ranged tank, while sacrificing the damage output of Quadsuna builds and forcing all of her battles to occur during the enemy phase. With the new weapon refinery feature Guard Bow+ can gain more attack, speed, or resistance, which are the upgrades I would recommend. The Guard Bow+ with this build allows Setsuna to lure her foes into a trap, instead of falling into one herself.

Creative High investment Defense into Offense

Guard Bow+ (Res)  Ardent Sacrifice / Reciprocal Aid  Moonbow Traits: +Speed/-Res  Brazen Atk/Spd 3  Desperation 3  Flexible  Flashing Blade 3 / Attack +3

Click to show/hide build description  The goal of this build is to activate Brazen atk/spd and desperation by taking a hit or using reciprocal aid. After taking a hit Setsuna will have 47 atk and speed, thanks to Flashing blade moonbow will activated everytimes Setsuna doubles.