"Beyond Darkness" - Banner Review + Unit Builds

Edit: Goodness me, already featured? Thanks, guys!

Hello, fellow Summoners! It's time for another Banner Review courtesy of me. This time we get 5 new heroes from the Binding Blade game, which despite being the origin of my favorite character I have still yet to play the game.

"Beyond Darkness"

Lugh - "Anima Child"

Only took this man 2 years to his brother and mother. His art style definitely reminds me of Raigh's, which I already don't like, so you can imagine he's not my favorite. Still, when compared to his twin brother, he's much better, so there's that.

Took them almost a year to bring another Serpent tome into the game. We haven't seen any ever since F Morgan! Anyhow, other than that, there's nothing worthy of discussion here. He simply seems to be a magic tank focused on making other characters powerful against magic threats as well.

Possible builds

Budget Magic Tank

Lugh is meant to be a magic tank, just like Morgan. He still will have a bit of difficulty against dragons, of course, but there's not much there can be done with budget skills other than simply emphasize on what he does best: tank mages/healers and the occasional bow/dagger .

Mixed Tank

There seems to be a trend with me and making units mixed tanks for some odd reason. It's simply funny for me to see them take little to no damage from units that are supposed to one-shot them. Anyhow, this build not only ensures that he has little to no problem against dragons, but also against lance/axe/bow/dagger s. I mean, you can give him Fortress Def 3 as a seal, but I think his Atk already suffers a bunch from changing Mirror Stance to Fort. Def/Res 3 anyway you could also switch the seal to Atk Ploy, which is only 2 Atk worse than Atk Feint, in exchange for +6 HP per battle survived and the ability to survive enemies that would use his Def instead of Res, which for me is a good trade.

Sue - "Doe of the Plains"

Unlike Lugh, I have absolutely no idea who Sue is. But from the little bit I've seen of her, I have an alright opinion on her. Certainly not a favorite either, but neither is she the worst.

As someone already said and beat me to it, Sue comes with "Bow Dao", giving her +10 damage when her Special triggers. What's also notable is she also comes with Hone Spd 4. Being a green archer on a horse, I believe she'll be quite powerful with her entire kit. She somewhat reminds me of Clarisse, but easier to set up kills with.

Possible builds

Budget Build

This is pretty simple, adding Darting Blow as a seal to pretty much ensure that she'll double up and changing Moonbow to Glimmer because Moonbow doesn't synergize well with Chill Def. Otherwise, you can keep Moonbow but use Desperation instead.

Firesweep Build

Sue is a perfect candidate for Firesweep, being a cavalry unit, thus being able to make use of Hone Cavalry/Goad Cavalry, which combined with Death Blow 4 and Chill Def 3 + Odd Atk Wave/Hone Cavalry/Hone Atk 4(if you have that many NY! Hrids hanging around), would give her a devastating + 21/22 Atk. With Darting Blow, she gains 44 Spd, which is already pretty good, but with Hone Cavalry, she gains 50 Spd, so it's even better that way. If you make sure she's always buffed by Hone Cavalry, you can safely change Odd Atk Wave to a Smoke skill or even a stat buffing skill.

Thea - "Stormy Flier"

Finally, we get another one of the three sister pegasus knights every FE game seems to have (or had). Thea is the bigger sister of Shanna, that one 4 star you keep killing for Desperation 3. We'll have to see whether Thea will share the same fate with her sister or not thanks to her lance.

Her whole kit reminds me of Tana. That's the best way I can describe it, except she gets +7 Def whenever the opponent initiates attack. With her A Slot, that's 11 Def! Not bad, if I do say so myself.

Possible builds

Budget Physical Tank

Building upon her already powerful stats for a physical tank, I felt like adding more kill potential by giving her Darting Stance (although Fierce Stance is also a valid option if you have any Spd boosting skill on your team. Otherwise, Iote's Shield is also a good choice for more defense.) and Atk Smoke, so the idea is to look for someone who wouldn't deal a bunch of damage to her anyway and then debuff the whole enemy team, making it easier for her to tank and her allies to finish everyone off. You can consider putting Bonfire if you want a bit more control over your Player Phase. With Ignis, the turns would usually end up favorable if she gets attacked by two units, attacking back each time and having at least one unit (Thea or either of the enemies) double up. You can activate Bonfire only after one battle where both units attacked.

Mixed Tank

I know, I know, another Mixed Tank build? Well, I thought that Beruka needed a rival in of flying tanks, and Thea seems to be a perfect candidate for this! She suffers greatly in her offensive department, but if you are willing to give that up, you'll have a monster tank! There might be a green unit here and there that will take her down, but generally, if you take Atk Smoke and her weapon into consideration, she reaches 51 Def and 41 Res. Keep in mind this is without any buffing skills like Fortify or Ward Fliers taken into consideration, without IVs, merges or weapon refinements. Taking any of these into consideration will buff her defensive skills even more and certainly put Beruka to shame. (Sorry for any Beruka fans reading this, I just don't any other outstanding flying tank. I mean, Tana is pretty eh and all and she's the second that comes to mind.)

Idunn - "Dark Priestess"

First there was Grima, then Duma, now Idunn. (In FEH, I mean.) Makes you wonder if IS has an obsession with making final bosses dragons or something. Really helps the whole "humans and dragons coexisting", guys. Anyhow, Idunn! I really like her since I have an unhealthy obsession with different-colored eyes. Her voice is pretty soothing, too.

What's not soothing is her kit. She comes with an amazing weapon which would pretty much make you scream "PLEASE GIVE ME DEBUFFS" which is not something you'd wish for unless you're running Harsh Command, and who does that when you have Restore+? Anyhow, she comes with Fortress Def/Res 3 too, which makes more sense than on a mage (even though it somehow surprisingly works with Kliff's premise in FEH) and Vengeful Fighter. Thankfully she doesn't have Distant Counter, because otherwise we would've had the definition of powercreep in a single unit.

Possible Builds

Budget Enemy Phase Build

Not much to say here, it's her own build with a seal and an assist skill. There's a bunch of alternatives to the seal, however. I chose Distant Def because I figured mages would be her biggest problem. If you fear Falchion s will take her down, use Close Def. Even Def doesn't make a lot of sense since little archers will be able to make a dent in her defenses (maybe Hinoka but even then she'd probably die in an attack from Idunn anyway). If you want something more offensive, than Fierce Stance is also a good choice.

Player Phase Build

Sacrificing quite a bit of her defensive capabilities in favor of offensive ones might be your cup of tea, and this build certainly delivers! Per battle, she has +10 Atk from Death Blow 4 (because of Fortress Res, which you can change for anything more offensive, from Brazen Atk/Def or Atk/Res to Atk +3 or such. I chose Fortress Res so she won't lose too much of her defenses while still gaining a bunch of offense.). That Atk is raised to 18 if her weapon kicks in. Combined with Aether, which means she'll be healing herself a bunch, she doesn't seem like a bad choice for being a player phase powerhouse! (Better than Hardin at any rate.)

Grand Hero Battle Reward

Rutger - "Lone Swordsman"

Sadly, I know nothing of Rutger other than the fact that he looks pretty damn hot. I don't think I'd be wrong to assume that he's the Navarre/Joshua/Dorcas/Mia of Binding Blade, by which I mean he's a lonely mercenary until you recruit him.

This is what he comes with, alongside his stats. As some have already said, using a Bond skill on a "LONE" swordsman definitely sounds weird, but I guess they thought Atk/Def Solo should still be somewhat of a skill or something.

Possible Builds

Budget Mixed Phase Build

OwO Sonic changed a skill from the unit's base kit for a budget build?! Yes, because Brazen > Bond. So then, why would you choose Bond in the first place? Well, if you don't want your character to take damage/generally know they'll have an ally around. But Rutger can take care of himself, and besides, it synergizes well with his Vantage and Vengeance! Of course, for even better synergy, I included Brazen Atk/Def, and Atk Smoke is simply personal preference. It simply gives him more defensive capabilities, which are important in a build with Brazen in it.

Actually a Lone Swordsman Build

With each skill that grants him Atk activated, he gains an amazing +19 to his Atk stat! The Spd on Solo is simply for better double potential. I chose Brazen Atk/Def since the only other Brazen seal, Brazen Atk/Res, doesn't really benefit him in any way. I also chose Draconic Aura so he doesn't have to take any damage that would make his HP go lower than Desperation range to deal a bunch of damage with his special.

Who should you summon for?

1. Idunn;

2. Thea;

3. Lugh;

4. Sue.

Clearly, Idunn is the strongest unit out of the whole banner. Then, Thea and Lugh might as well be the same place, because they fill several roles, but Thea can pull the Mixed Tank build better, also having Flier buffs as a bonus. Sue feels the weakest in my opinion. She's the unit you'll meet every now and then and most likely one-shot with any character.

Ending thoughts

Overall, definitely not a bad banner. The emphasis is definitely on tanks, and as such, it might be boring for some who are looking for Player Phase oriented units. Although I find the units to be pretty powerful overall, I'm most likely not going to summon and rather try to gather some orbs for Spring or the Bridal banner (fingers crossed for Bridal Rinea).

Wish you all a great day!