General Tips for Building Units

This is an article of general tips in building your units for Fire Emblem Heroes (FEH). To know the things to consider when building a unit, including role, their IVs, and more, read on!

General Tips for Building Units

Take Into Account the Unit's Role and IVs

Every unit in FEH, regardless of their movement type, has a general role within the game.

They can be a unit that brings a lot of utility, a unit whose role is to deal as much damage as possible, or a mix of the two.

IVs also play an important role, as they give you a general sense of what role the unit will excel in.

Difference Between Utility vs. Damage Units

Superboons and superbanes

Sothis has a Superboon in Spd, making her a very speedy unit when invested in.

Superboons and superbanes are IVs that instead having a stat variation of +3 or -3, are +4 or -4.

That single extra point becomes extremely significant, especially in the Arena where BST calculation matters to increase score.

If you find that your unit is in possession of a Superbane, you may want to consider merging them or using Trait Fruits so that it disappears.

Building By Slot

Here is a build made for a fully invested Hana, with each slot taken up by a skill given through Skill Inheritance.

While there are several units that have their own personal weapons and skills, many have a slot or more free that you can use for Skill Inheritance.

Inheriting skills completes a unit's kit and makes them a formidable unit, depending on what you choose to inherit.

More often than not, premium skills are what you want to go for due to the power they give (and the scores they give in the Arena).

While budget options do exist, there are skills that you should take care not to inherit.

You can find out more about these skills in the link below.

Skills You Shouldn't Inherit

Skills Tier List

Weapon

As previously mentioned, a unit's build is largely influenced by their IVs and their intended role.

However, there are several ways you can build a unit depending on the game mode, and they're not necessarily locked to one role.

A weapon's effect more or less dictates what the rest of a unit's kit will be so inheriting a weapon is something that you should consider first.

For instance, you may want to give Armorsmasher+ to a unit that you are building specifically to take down armored units.

Or you are building a mage to tank magic, so you can give them either Amity Blooms+ for sustain or Gronnserpent+ to be able to just tank more damage.

List of Weapon Skills

Assist

Assist skills differ depending on game mode and some builds actually leave this slot empty, as in the case of units built for Aether Raids.

However, there are two ways to consider giving a unit an Assist skill - mobility or score.

In most PvE game modes, you would want to give your unit a mobility-type Assist skill to help your allies retreat to safety or put themselves in the frontline.

This is the case of the most common Assist skills used - Reposition and Draw Back.

Swap or Pivot, on the other hand, are popular Assist skills for armored units due to their limited mobility.

Assist skills in the Arena, however, are mainly not for any sort of utility, but to maximize scoring.

In this case, dual Rally skills like Rally Atk/Spd+ are extremely coveted because of how high their score is calculated.

List of Assist Skills

Special

Specials are the bread and butter of many units because of the effects they get when it finally triggers.

When choosing a Special, think of how the rest of the kit will play out and their IVs.

For instance, an armored unit like Fallen Edelgard does not need a sustain Special like Sol or Noontime due to the sustain and damage reduction she gets from Armored Wall.

Therefore, you can give her a Special that takes advantage of her hige Def stat like Bonfire or take advantage of the Special acceleration given by her weapon and Armored Wall and give her Galeforce for multiple combats per turn.

List of Specials

A Slot

The A slot along with the weapon, usually tells you what role a unit has within the team.

An example would be that units that run Distant Counter or Close Counter aim to be either an enemy-phase type of unit or a mixed-phase unit.

These skills allow them to be able to take out both melee and ranged units while retaliating with huge amounts of damage through their weapon effects or their Special activation.

On the other hand, pure damage units would want to run skills that aim to boost their offensive stats as much as possible.

For units that boast both high Atk and Spd would want either Swift Sparrow 3 or Atk/Spd Push 4, while those that are a bit on the slower end would thrive with Death Blow 4 or Sturdy Impact.

List of A Skills

B Slot

The B slot is usually reserved for effects for combat or effects that will affect enemy units.

They are also skills used for enhancing movement or have movement-based effects.

For example, Trace skills like A/S Far Trace 3 combine both these traits - not only does it inflict debuffs on an enemy unit during combat, but it also allows the unit holding the skill to move to safety afterwards.

You'd want these on any flying or cavalry units that are on the relatively fragile side, since tanky flying units would usually want to stay in the frontline.

Null Follow-Up 3 is one of the most popular B skills for speedy infantry units to slot due to the amount of units that have guaranteed follow-up attacks and also effects that nullify them.

List of B Skills

C Slot

The C slot skills round out your unit's kit and have the most diverse effects, aside from Sacred Seals.

Usually, they are used for additional combat effects, support skills for your team, or more beneficial effects for your unit.

Joint Drive skills like Joint Drive Atk is a good premium skill that can be used by anyone as the buffs go both ways.

Smoke skills like Pulse Smoke 3 or Atk Smoke 3 are also a good general use skill that can be used by any unit for teams that are more damage-oriented.

On the other hand, supportive skills for more specific teams can also be used.

For instance, Distant Guard 3 is a good skill to give to units Ally Supported with a tanky unit, while there skills that are for specific types of unit movement such as Hone Cavalry or Goad Fliers.

List of C Skills

Sacred Seal

Sacred Seals are very similar to C skills in that they have diverse effects.

They are essentially copies of existing A, B, or C slot skills that you can give a unit.

This frees up a slot for a more useful skill in the main kit, while a Sacred Seal acts as a way it all out even further.

Tanky or slow units, for instance, don't have to put Quick Riposte 3 on their B slot and can just use the Sacred Seal.

Damage units can furher up their firepower by using any of the damage-oriented Sacred Seals such as Death Blow 3, Atk/Spd Solo 3, or Blade Session 3.

List of Sacred Seals

Example Builds

Here are some example builds using the tips that have been shared thus far:

Brave Hector

Brave Hector

： Maltet (Refined) ： Swap ： Bonfire

： Ostian Counter ： Special Fighter 3 ： A/R Far Save 3 ： Mystic Boost 3

Weapon

Brave Hector's Maltet refine is loaded with effects - so we are free to supplement his kit with skills that will take advantage of his tankiness and high firepower.

Assist

Swap as an assist skill helps him stay in the frontline, though we can also make use of Pivot.

Special

Using Bonfire makes him deal large amounts of damage when he's attacked due to the Special Acceleration on his weapon and his B skill, which we'll get to later.

You can also opt to use Sol or Noontime to keep him healthy, but we already have something that gives him sustain, and using these instead of Bonfire lowers his damage output.

A Slot

He already comes with Ostian Counter to allow him to counterattack regardless of range and also adds additional firepower and tankiness, so we'll let him keep it.

B Slot

Since his weapon already gives him a guaranteed follow-up attack, he can go with Special Fighter 3 to guarantee his Special triggers every combat while slowing down the Special of enemy units who attack him.

C Slot

This slot is more flexible, but A/R Far Save 3 buffs his Atk and Res and allows him to tank damage for his allies.

You can also use Atk Smoke 3 as a budget option, or even Joint Drive Atk or Joint Drive Res.

Sacred Seal

Mystic Boost 3 is a powerful Sacred Seal because it not only gives Bector sustain, it also disables skills with adaptive damage and Staff units using Wrathful Staff 3.

This makes him an even more effective and formidable tank.

Ninja Hana

Ninja Hana

： Deck Swabber+ ： Reposition ： Galeforce

： Distant Counter ： Close Call 3 ： Atk/Spd Menace ： Atk/Spd Solo 3

Weapon

Now let's look at a unit that has no Prf weapon.

Ninja Hana's stats are one of the best among free units, and she can easily double many enemy units when she initiates combat.

This build aims to make her a pseudo-tank by using her high Spd.

Deck Swabber+ helps her deal more damage by debuffing an enemy unit's Atk and Def and disabling any bonuses they may have to those stats.

You can keep her Ninja Masakari+ for more offensive power, as another option.

Assist

As mentioned in the section above, Reposition is one of the most popular assist skills to inherit on units and will do just nicely.

Special

Despite the lack of Special acceleration, Galeforce allows her to potentially take out several units in a turn when triggered.

Other Specials like Luna or Ruptured Sky can also work, it all depends on what role she'll fulfill within the team.

A Slot

Distant Counter is a powerful A Slot and will allow Hana to counterattack regardless of distance.

Any firepower will be left to her C and Sacred Seal slots, though if you want to make her a more offensive unit, you can also give her Atk/Spd Solo 4 or a similar skill.

B Slot

This is the key to Ninja Hana's tankiness.

Close Call 3 gives her damage reduction, getting stronger the more Spd she has.

If she initiates combat, she will also retreat 1 space after, giving her a way to retreat to safety.

You can also use Spurn 3 if she's built to be more offensive.

C Slot

This is a flexible slot, but a skill like Atk/Spd Menace is very powerful.

Not only does it debuff enemy units, it also gives her Atk/Spd+6.

Spd Smoke 3 is a budget option you can opt for, as well as Joint Drive Spd.

Sacred Seal

This is where you can give Ninja Hana her firepower.

Atk/Spd Solo 3 is a great option as it goes with the effects of her weapon.

You can also use Blade Session 3, but it will require you to use her allies first to get the full buffs.

Related Links

Useful Links

Useful Information and Guides

Building Units

Building Specific Roles

Beginner Guides

Arena

Aether Raids

Summoner Duels