"Cute is the New Hot" -- Fiora: Defrosted Illian Analysis

#FEHAprompt12

Wassup, dudes and dudettes? Kima here, and we're gonna ride the waves and find ourselves a cute new unit to analyze.

She can ride my wave..

I mean what?

Okay, crudeness aside, Fiora is a unit I instantly fell in love with (reasons still virtually nonexistent), but is overall very capable of holding her own, especially for a F2P unit. However, how good is she, and what kind of investment should you make?

Let's find out.

Fiora is the unit of choice for the Summer Refreshes Tempest Trial, but is unique being the only one of three non-five star units that are sword fliers, one of four if you include all F2P red fliers (which means add Aversa). By default, this means she doesn't have much competition for the red flier slot if you're entirely F2P, but the competition is steep, especially facing units like Caeda with her Flashing Blade refine and dual effectiveness and Aversa's tome of choice. Even Palla can be debatably better with being an excellent green check and the Triangle Attack refine being infinitely useful.

What does she have going for her?

Fiora has pretty good stats all around, having no one stat that's terrible, but can be considered mildly underwhelming for players who can simply use a Caeda who has more specialized stats and IVs. Fiora has 40 HP, 32 Atk, 37 Spd, 26 Def, and 28 Res. As you can see, her Atk, HP, and Def out class Caeda, with having equal Spd and inferior Res. As far as raw stats are considered, she isn't lacking. Her bulk is decent enough to survive at least one strong hit, and her offensive spread is by no means awful.

Her skills help out with this, sporting the Petal Parasol+, allowing her to gain five additional Atk and Spd if the foe is suffering from a penalty of some sort, be it Gravity, Panic, or a Smoke skill. This immediately patches up her offensive stats. Swap and Spd/Res Link also help out, especially if you don't merge her, and her magic bulk will go up as well. Being a melee unit, this isn't ideal for a Link skill, but still useful. And finally, Atk Smoke makes her bulkier, especially one Enemy Phase, as well as triggering the Petal Parasol effect, making her stronger.

Overall, she has a strong base kit, with all around solid stats, but lacks the unique weapon in the Wing Sword and access to IVs like Caeda has. Palla and Aversa also have unique weapons to their name that also make them stand out. So what can Fiora do?

Be fucking cute, that's what.

Furious

Pretty standard kit all things considered, but you can note that her stats stand out quite a bit with Fury, now having about 30 or more in each. The Slaying Edge grants her that faster cooldown, and once entering Desperation range, she can become quite powerful, and can now reliably activate Moonbow every single round before the foe can strike, barring units using Hardy Bearing, not that I really see it.

Standard, but fairly reliable.

Ironclad Bikini

Her HP and over all solid defensive stats make it possible to use the Safeguard line of weapons on this beautiful flower, as well as Distant Counter if you're ballsy enough (I certainly was). Once again, pretty predictable, but the combined effects of Safeguard and Atk/def Bond make up her Def stat, and mildly patches up her Atk stat. Quick Riposte makes sure she can always strike twice early on, and Atk Smoke helps her bulk further. Luna is highly adjustable here. Although I prefer Aether, the Luna cooldown is lower, and better suited for her lower Atk stat vs. Sol.

Parasols Fucking Hurt, Bitch

This build is extremely focused on making her weapon trigger as much as possible, as well as constantly outspeed opponents, by essentially gaining 12 Spd fighting someone debuffer by Chill Spd, the seal given to the player for reaching 20k points in the same TT+ you get Fiora herself. However, this method can still be a little unreliable since it is just Chill Spd here. Make sure other allies have alternate methods of debuffing such as Soren's Chill Atk in his Wind's Brand. Once Desperation and Brazen Atk/Spd activate, there's no holding her back anymore, especially against debuffed enemies. Having Chill Def can also be extremely good since she has okay at best Atk, so you can sacrifice Desperation if you feel it necessary.

Can't Touch This

Galeforce/Firesweep combinations are as old as the Firesweep weapons themselves, but it's always fun to see how far you can go. Thankfully, Fiora has some bulk she can use to reliably tank at least one hit, enter Brazen range, instantly gain 14 to both offensive stats, and suddenly she's a nightmare. Chill Def and Even Atk Wave are just ways to add insult to injury, making sure anyone she hits, she hits HARD. And of course, no one can counterattack (without Null C-Disrupt) and she can potentially proc Galeforce, meaning someone else is royally fucked, or she can escape.

Fiora is incredibly interesting for a F2P flier, but is surprisingly malleable. With enough work, she can take on just about an enemy she comes across. She gets better with merging too, gaining extra Atk, Spd, and HP for her first merge. However, if you don't plan on fully merging her, Caeda may, by all technicalities, be the better unit, even if by a small margin. Still, in my personal experience with her, she's still worth investing, even if the investment starts small like with Fury and shit.