FEH Fire Emblem Heroes

FEH Flier Guide

September 10, 2020

The Giant Flier Guide

The goal of this document is to help others understand fliers- what kinds of teams that they can make, how to make a team, how to build each unit, and where you should generally place your focus. As many builds and whatnot are subject to opinion, this is not an end-all, be-all, and I’m always taking suggestions! Feel free to message me at /u/mindovermacabre on reddit if you’ve got any thoughts on things I could add.

I’d like to start with addressing some concerns and misconceptions about flier emblem, then we’ll go into each unit individually- I’ll give some advice on what they’re capable of and how they can function in a team, as well as what they can do better than any other unit. Lastly, I’ll put together a team building guide, so you can select from your own units which would work best for your own team.

As a quick note before we get into it: I like to run my calculations based on worst-case-scenario. All of the calculations in this document are done with the unit in question at neutral IVs with 0 merges unless otherwise specified, while their opponent has optimal IVs and +10 merges.

A BIG EDIT, DEC 2017: A lot of things have happened since I first published this guide: the 2.0 update, several new gamechanger skills and seals, and now even a flying dancer! I have actually been picked up by Gamepress and hope to move this guide to their site soon. I will continue updating this guide as well as I can, but updates might be a bit delayed as I’m in the process of transferring. My username on gamepress is ‘raelet’, feel free to look me up and check out my flier pages!

Common Misconceptions about Flier Emblem:

I don’t have Hinoka, so I can’t run flier emblem

The most frustrating part of flier emblem is the lack of access to buffs- however, you don’t need them. Fliers operate best in formations where they can quickly swoop in, assassinate a key enemy unit, and then reposition out regardless of terrain. This means that they can be run easily with quad goads. Additionally, most of the ‘nuke’ units on flier emblem are so powerful anyway that they don’t need the Hone. Hones are only necessary if you’re dedicated to running a blade build- which, speaking of…!

I don’t have a mage flier, so I can’t run flier emblem

The good news is, you don’t need them either! As a matter of fact, the only time I ran S!Corrin was when she was a bonus unit. I personally don’t run mages to get a higher score and stay in t20 reliably with units that I have gotten at lower rarities and feather merged (my main flier team is Cherche, Cordelia, Valter, and a bonus unit. I have used Beruka, Caeda, Camilla, and Subaki all in t20). Mages are convenient, but they’re absolutely not necessary. If you effectively utilize assist skills, then you’re able to maneuver yourself to kill ranged units without needing to resort to mages.

My [x/y/z] unit is [x/y/z] IV so I can’t run flier emblem

The best part about flier emblem is that, in my opinion, the best units are available at lower rarities. Cherche, Cordelia, Palla, Est, Catria, Beruka, and Camilla are all available at below 5 stars. Valter and Michalis were both GHB units. You do not have to rely on pulling a five star at a good IV to run fliers when there are a plethora of units in the fodder bin that you will get with better IVs and can all synergize quite well!

Archers are everywhere right now, so I can’t run flier emblem

The two most threatening archers in the arena right now are Lyn and Cordelia. Both of these archers are ‘nukes’ and can hit for over 100 damage on a brave bow initiation, if built properly. I think you’ll find that most units can’t withstand these kinds of numbers anyway, so running fliers really isn’t any more of a detriment than running infantry or cavalry teams with defense stats of below 40. The only thing that (most) fliers had trouble with before December 2017 was baiting and counterkilling archers- but now they can even do that, with DC and the Iote’s shield seal!

Part 1: Mages

Mage fliers are pretty coveted, and for good reason. A well-built mage flier can run blades with mobility and buffs that infantry units can only dream of. However, unlike cavalry, fliers are limited to two ranged units, both of whom are mages, and both of whom are seasonal- you can’t get them anymore!

Green

Spring Camilla

39/35/25/30/19

Spring Camilla was the first mage flier and was a tad underwhelming upon initial release. With 25 speed, doubling is a challenge, and with 19 res, she can’t reliably engage other mages. Still, 35 base attack is rather high and 30 defense puts her firmly in line with other tanky green mages, such as Merric and Boey.

What IVs does she want?

Since she’s a seasonal unit, at this point you take what you’ve got. However, ideally Camilla would love either +atk or +def, and will gladly give up -res or -hp. +spd is also not a terrible option, as Camilla can hit 35 speed with a boon and hone fliers… but that mostly just helps her defensively to prevent doubles.

How should I build her?

Gronnblade+
Reposition
Moonbow | Draconic Aura

Close Counter | Death Blow
Quick Riposte | Wings of Mercy | Vantage

Goad Fliers | Ward Fliers

Seal: Atk +3

The first thing that came to everyone’s mind upon seeing Spring Camilla was Gronnblade+. With +24 flier buffs, she gains +30 damage to her attack and her stats become 39/54/31/36/25. This makes a neutral Camilla hit for 78 raw green magic damage, before any skills or special procs.

Moonbow is standard in blade builds, as the cooldown increase makes specials harder to proc, but it’s possible to run Draconic Aura as well. Fully buffed, Draconic Aura adds 23 points of damage to your total blow.

With a defense of 36 after buffs, Close Counter allows her to be used as a bait unit, before retaliating with a fully charged bladetome blast. For the slightly less investments in your build, Death Blow also works, which adds +6 to her initial attack. With Death Blow, Spring Camilla blasts the enemy with 84 raw green magic damage- if proccing Draconic Aura, she hits for 109 damage.

Quick Riposte is a followup to Close Counter, allowing her to overcome her less-than-ideal speed to strike twice at anyone who might still be standing after the first attack. Wings of Mercy is there to catch enemies off guard when one of your other units is weakened, and Vantage also synergizes with CC, allowing her to strike first when attacked.

Blade Camilla needs all the stat buffs she can get, so for her C slot, she’ll be a spur carrier on your team- this is so that her teammates will have Hone and Fortify fliers to give to her, rather than the other way around. If you’re running multiple Hone/Fortify fliers, then she can equip anything here.

Gronnraven+
Reposition
Moonbow

Triangle Adept
Quick Riposte | Vantage

Goad Fliers | Hone Fliers

Seal: Distant Def | Deflect Missile

The second weapon that comes to mind is Gronnraven+. This is the weapon I see her equipped with most often nowadays. Gronnraven allows for Camilla to use her beefy defense to counter the flier emblem counter: archers. With the right build, Gronnraven can tank through brave bow Bride Cordelia or Brave Bow Lyn and one hit KO them both on counter. Run a raven on this girl and your flier team will never fear archers again. As an added bonus, you’ll be laughing at Reinhardts all the way home.

There’s less variation on this build because it really needs to be run a specific way. TA is necessary to further tank arrows, Quick Riposte is useful in countering any unit she doesn’t immediately kill, but can be replaced for something you might find more useful (fliers cannot inherit bowbreaker). Moonbow means that Camilla strikes back with a charged shot immediately after getting hit by a brave bow. This Camilla doesn’t care as much for atk buffs as she does when she has a bladetome, so she’s free to run Hone Fliers to buff her teammates if necessary.

With this build, she can tank a +10 Brave Lyn with: +atk, Brave Bow+, Life and Death, Hone cavalry, Fortify cavalry, and atk +3 seal. Against Mulagir though, you’re toast.

Note that if this brave Lyn runs Swift Sparrow instead, Camilla will need a +atk nature or attack buff (which can be goad fliers) to kill her on counter.

What can she do better than any other flier?

Well… she deals magic damage. Green is the second most popular color for fliers, but when comparing mages, S!Camilla still has much less competition than S!Corrin for her color slot. Camilla’s defense is also better than S!Corrin, making her the more natural user of Gronnraven+ and allowing her to more easily deal with the brave archer meta.

Blue

Summer Corrin

34/31/34/22/26

Summer Corrin was the second mage flier to be introduced, and with 9 higher speed than Spring Camilla, things immediately got sizzling. Her stats themselves are rather balanced, with low HP and def in exchange for moderate attack and res and high speed.

What IVs does she want?

Since she’s a seasonal unit, at this point you take what you’ve got. But hands down, Summer Corrin thrives with a +spd IV, and won’t say no to +atk either. She can give up any of her defenses as a bane, though -def is ideal.

How should I build her?

Blarblade+
Reposition | Ardent Sacrifice
Moonbow | Draconic Aura

Life and Death | Fury | Swift Sparrow
Desperation | Wings of Mercy

Goad Fliers | Ward Fliers

Seal: Atk +3 | Spd + 3

This build is Corrin’s bread and butter, and it’s difficult to imagine building her another way. With this build and full flier buffs, even an -atk Corrin is viable and oneshots most of the cast. If Corrin is +spd, then Fury is preferable to LnD due to Corrin’s decent defenses- with a Fortify Fliers buff, she’s able to wall off red magic users and can even do a little bit of melee tanking in a pinch. If Corrin is not +spd, then you might want to consider LnD, but her resulting fragility means that it becomes more difficult to attack into an enemy that can retaliate.

Again, due to the cooldown increase of bladetomes then Moonbow becomes preferable, but because of her monstrously high damage after buffs, you likely won’t need a special at all. Like Spring Camilla, Draconic Aura becomes an option, though due to Corrin’s smaller atk stat, it’s not quite as preferable.

Corrin has a few other builds, but they’re not extremely viable- you could consider running her with an Owl tome, or as your own TA/Raven user, but the former pales in comparison to her blarblade stats, and the latter won’t be able to withstand higher tiers of brave bow meta.

What can she do better than any other flier?

Blue magic damage with possible 51 speed (+spd/LnD/Hone Fliers/+3 spd seal) Desperation doubles, letting her hit consecutively for a possible 79×2 damage before enemy retaliation, not counting special proc. She has slightly less single-shot damage potential as Camilla due to her -3 attack, but her potential 37 speed allows her to reach some incredible nuking heights.

Red

Halloween Nowi

34/34/32/20/27

The third and final missing color of the Flier Emblem mages, we have yet another seasonal-only unit. While her stats are basically an inverse of S!Corrin, Nowi boasts the high attack, middling speed, and decent res typical of red mages in the game. She’s not as tanky as Camilla and not as good as getting those doubles as Corrin, but she also has the least amount of competition for her color slot and counters much of the counter meta.

What IVs does she want?

+spd is absolutely ideal, if at all possible. +atk is her second best IV, and she can work with +res. In exchange, she definitely wants to give up her already low -def and would consider -hp if necessary.

How should I build her?

Rauðrblade+

Reposition | Ardent Sacrifice

Moonbow | Draconic Aura

Life and Death | Fury | Swift Sparrow

Desperation

Goad Fliers | Ward Fliers

Seal: Spd +3

Halloween Nowi winds up looking a lot like S!Corrin here, due to their similar stat lines. However, unlike Corrin, Nowi needs to make up for more speed and so, while I prefer Fury for S!Corrin, I think that Life and Death works best for Nowi. Darting blow could work as an alternative, as Nowi has the attack to afford not to take an A Slot atk skill.

If you’re unconcerned about doubling, say if you rolled a -spd, never fear, because Halloween Nowi only has 1 less attack than the nukey Camilla. Her natural A, Atk/Res Bond, or even Death Blow could work well here. Nowi lacks Camilla’s defenses to run Vantage or CC, but she can still hit just as hard. If you’re not going to be doubling, you could try running a Desperation/Brash Assault set or Wings of Mercy in the B slot.

Of course, as the bladetome user, she won’t be buffing your team, so it’s good to give her a spur. I sacrificed a bad-IV Minerva to give her Ward Fliers and LnD at the same time and it’s worked out pretty well.

Rauðrowl+

Reposition

Draconic Aura | Luna

Atk/Res Bond | Fury

Wings of Mercy | Escape Route

Hone Fliers | Fortify Fliers

Seal: Dealer’s Choice

This is an interesting set that Nowi has opened up with her powerful Atk/Res bond A skill. With this, Nowi works best with a support partner, but can easily bait and delete the enemy’s designated Reinhardt Counter with ease. It’s time to get back at all of those Julias who killed manakete Nowi before!

Owl tome adds +2 to all stats, Atk/Res bond adds 5 to atk/res, and a support partner would add a further +2 to all, giving her an impressive 34/43/36/24/36. stat line before weapon damage. If her support partner is carrying a Goad fliers, her stats get even further buffed to give her 47/40 stat line (57/40 once you add in her tome). She only needs one other ally to do this, which makes her a little less team-intensive than a blade Nowi would be. All of this is also in-combat buffs, meaning that she can be further buffed with hone or fortify. You want a mage flier with 63 attack? This is how you get a mage flier with 63 attack.

This is especially a good build for Nowis with boons in their defensive stats, as this is the best way that Nowi can be run defensively. Unfortunately, she still runs into problems with Reinhardt and Bow Lyn, so I wouldn’t advise trying to bait them anytime soon (unless using a deflect magic seal in Reinhardt’s case- it’s possible to survive and counterkill him if Nowi has a Fortify buff/Moonbow and her support partner has Goad Fliers).

Grimoire

Reposition

Moonbow | Luna

Atk/Res Bond | Fury | Life and Death

Escape Route | Wings of Mercy

Hone Fliers | Fortify Fliers | Goad Fliers

Seal: Atk + 3 | Spd + 3 | Guidance

Nowi has a naturally great kit- why let it go to waste? This build is all about mobility and supplemental damage. Nowi can function as a centerpiece to build a teleporting team around, with her ability to move to allies within 2 spaces at above 50% hp. Escape Route opens this up, allowing her to move to any ally at below the HP threshold.

With this, Nowi can zip around the battlefield, or inspire her allies to move around her with a Guidance seal (for mixed unit teams) and apply supplemental damage to any enemy that her opponent is currently dealing with. While she won’t be built specifically for KOs, she can still do a significant chunk of damage, particularly if paired with her Support partner.

This is more of a budget build for her, but one that’s still pretty fun and works quite nicely, especially on mixed-unit teams with another flier for her to support with.

Seriously, don’t forget to support Nowi with someone. Her kit is built around being adjacent to an ally, so why not give it a little extra boost?

What can she do better than any other flier?

As the third mage flier, some thought that Nowi was a little underwhelming when compared to Corrin. However, Corrin struggles a lot with finding a place in a team due to the overwhelming amount of blue options that flier emblem has- conversely, with Nowi it’s an easy choice. Her res is good enough to counterkill green mages, her attack is strong enough to oneshot brave Ike, and her color allows you to run her alongside a blue/green melee core, which vastly expands your options for team building.

Part 2: Melee

Aaand that’s all there is for mage fliers. Someday, we’ll get more, but for now, let’s move onto melee! Fliers have a unique advantage over Cav units in that they all have infantry BST, meaning that their stat totals are higher than cavalry units. For mages, this didn’t matter too much, but for melee units this means that fliers can run a variety of different builds better than cavs can, with a unique mobility that most units can only dream of.

Green

Cherche

46/38/25/32/16

One of the best axe users available, Cherche boasts easy accessibility at 3 stars and the second highest attack in the game behind Effie. Unlike Effie, she has the mobility to fully utilize this attack, turning her into a player phase monster. With the right build, Cherche is capable of nuking every blue unit in the game, the vast majority of green units, and a significant amount of red units. Built another way, she can utilize her decent defenses and HP bulk to wall for your team. Either way, we have to rebuild her from the ground up, which means emptying your feather wallets significantly.

What IVs does she want?

+Atk. That’s it, plain and simple. She can take a hit to Res, Spd, HP, or Def (in that order of preference) but +atk is always at the top of the list. She can run a +def build as well (for which you’d want to trade -spd or -res), but let’s be real, that’s not her genuine meta set.

How should I build her?

Brave Axe+
Reposition
Draconic Aura

Death Blow
Hit and Run | Drag Back
Goad Fliers | Fortify Fliers | Hone Fliers | Panic Ploy

Seal: Atk +3 | Panic Ploy

With 41 base attack at +atk, Brave Axe allows Cherche to hit for 49×2. Add in Death Blow and she hits for 55×2, add in Hone Fliers and she hits for 61×2- it’s really that simple.

Draconic Aura is preferable due to Cherche’s massive attack, beating out even a 32 def Bonfire as an offensive special. Drag Back is a more available option for Hit and Run, but both of them are there for superior positioning. Cherche can use her def+hp to tank with Fortify Fliers, but it’s not her primary function so she can give it to others- she can also utilize Hone Fliers from someone else to expand her ORKO pool, but she hits so hard that she doesn’t really need that either, as long as you have someone else to deal with greens. In addition, her high HP allows her to run Panic Ploy quite well.

This is the meta set for Cherche and the reason she’s always placed so high in tier lists, but it’s not the only set that she can run.

Slaying Axe+
Reposition
Ignis

Close Def | Sturdy Stance
Quick Riposte
Hone Fliers | Goad Fliers | Panic Ploy

Seal: Def + 3

Cherche has an oft-overlooked 32 defense, paired with a pretty low speed and access to a +6 def buff- this makes her a surprising candidate for a QR build. When compared to this build with Beruka and Michalis, Cherche trades a few points of defense for a few points of attack (Cherche: 52atk/32def Michalis: 50atk/35def Beruka 43atk/37def). Unlike Michalis, Cherche can get IVs to further improve this build (for example, an +atk -spd cherche would run 55atk/32def, a +def -spd would hit 52atk/35def.) Cherche is capable of hitting lower speed than Michalis, allowing her to double on ignis retaliation more.

What can she do better than any other flier?

Cherche is the best green nuke in the game, not just for fliers. Her ability to hit for 122 – defx2 green damage is insane and her mobility and bulk allows her to play like an assassin instead of a glass canon like her blue counterpart Cordelia. What this means is that she can dive in over trees or water or lava and secure a kill and back out, but is capable of tanking a physical hit if she can’t quite draw back far enough. The versatility in her stats means that she can be run in several different ways, all which compliment her high atk, high def, high hp, and even low/middling speed and awful res. I’ve seen Cherches in the arena with 40 speed. It was horrifying.

Camilla

37/30/32/28/31

The OG brave axe flier, Camilla has been harshly demoted from her throne by Cherche, who utilizes Brave axe far better than Camilla could with her resoundingly average 30 atk. Like many ‘meh’ units in the game, Camilla suffers from balanced stats syndrome and has nothing that particularly stands out- which actually plays to her advantage in this blue meta. While she doesn’t have the Atk to KO, the Spd to double, or the def to melee tank, Camilla does have one above average stat: her res.

What IVs does she want?

Balanced stats syndrome generally means that she can work with any stat distribution- hell, mine is -atk +def. In general though, Camilla wants +res/+atk/+spd and will give up -hp/-def for them, in order of preference.

How should I build her?

Emerald Axe +
Reposition
Moonbow | Iceberg

Distant Counter
Quick Riposte | GTomeBreaker
Hone Fliers | Goad Fliers | Def Ploy

Seal: Distant Def | Deflect Magic

Ah, the infamous whale set. This build is Flier Emblem’s best non-limited-unit response to Reinhardt and while sacrificing a Hector for DC may seem an extreme to counter just one unit, if you’re devoted to running a 4 unit flier emblem, it’s nice to have an answer for the most common threat in the arena. This build also nicely deals with Linde, Delthea, Olwen, S!Corrin, Nowi, and any other blue magic user you’re having trouble with. To a lesser extent, it provides a decent enough wall for blue melee, but due to her middling atk and spd, she’ll have a hard time killing without a QR proc.

Moonbow secures early KOs, though Iceberg will typically hit for more damage and be ready on a QR proc if Camilla is attacked by a unit who cannot double her (units with under 37 speed). QR is multipurpose and helps her to secure more kills, but GTomeBreaker goes a long way in allowing her to counter Cecilia and Nino, two more of the Arena’s large threats. If allowed to double her, both units are capable of killing Camilla through her 31 res, so look out.

Not much else to be said about this build. See Rein, bait Rein, kill Rein.

Melon Crusher +
Reposition
Iceberg

Fury
Renewal
Goad Fliers | Ward Fliers | Def Ploy

Seal: Dealer’s choice

This is the waifu Summoner Support Camilla build. It allows her to maximize all of her average stats into being an excellent jack of all trades. Melon Crusher + Fury + Summoner Support gives her a +7 to all stats, resulting in 37/37/39/35/38 before buffs. Add in flier buffs and at +0 neutral your Camilla could be weighing in at 37/43/45/41/44, before weapon mt. Of course, she needs to recover the Melon Crusher+Fury damage after every round or risk losing the weapon buff but still, this is a unit capable of doing any task required of her. Handle with care!

What can she do better than any other flier?

As the more middle-ground green flier, Camilla is more versatile while also being more limited in her capabilities- nevertheless, she’s the green flier with the highest res, a not-insignificant defense, and an attack stat over 25, so she plays the role of restank/green offtank remarkably well, particularly when paired with an Emerald Axe or TA. As before mentioned, she’s also non-seasonal flier emblem’s best counter to Rein and will do it at a higher arena score tier than Spring Camilla can operate in.

Beruka

46/29/23/37/22

The great wall of green on flier emblem, Beruka’s defense+HP combined is one of the highest in the game. Her tankiness is offest by her low speed, mediocre attack, and low res. She’s often compared unfavorably to Michalis, though she can shine more than him in certain situations. If you think that Camilla’s res is overkill then Beruka can similarly stand up to Reinhardt while giving her more defensive versatility elsewhere. Requires pretty significant investment, as her entire base kit needs to be replaced.

What IVs does she want?

+Def makes her into an incredibly fortress with 40, and is the usual recommendation, as increasing her defense differentiates her further from Michalis. I’m also partial to +atk, as it helps to patch up her rather poor attack, particularly if you don’t have a spare Amelia to burn for slaying axe. She really wants a -spd bane, because 20 speed will allow her to be doubled by even slow units, letting her proc a brutal QR/Ignis combination.

How should I build her?

Slaying Axe +
Reposition
Ignis

Steady Stance | Earth Boost | Close Def
Quick Riposte | Renewal
Hone Fliers | Panic Ploy

Seal: Def +3 | HP + 5

Beruka is one of the top choices for Hone fliers, in that she vastly prefers a fortify fliers buff to do her job well. Her naturally high defense and low speed allows her to run the Ignis Nuking build while risking minimal damage to herself due to fortify fliers buffs. It’s also fairly common to run renewal for added tankiness, particularly in Tempest Trials though it reduces her ability to ORKO units which initiate on her. With Stance/QR/Ignis/Slaying, she can deal 43 damage on the first retaliation, and then 77 damage on the second, provided that her opponent doubles.If fortified, her special damage rises to 82. Not too shabby!

Slaying Axe +
Reposition
Bonfire

Distant Counter
Quick Riposte | Renewal
Hone Fliers | Panic Ploy

Seal: Deflect Missile

This is a very experimental build that the new seals have opened up- I don’t have the resources to try it out yet, but mathematically it checks out. With this build, Beruka sacrifices some of her inherent tankiness and special damage in order to ORKO brave archers and Reinhardt as they initiate onto her. If her (neutral damage) opponent’s combined def+HP is below 64, then she will KO them on counter. With this build, Beruka can tank a brave archer with an attack stat of 53 and proc Bonfire on counter.

Of course, she won’t KO Brave Lyn who runs Sacae’s blessing (though it will work on every other brave archer in the game), so sacrifice Hector at your own risk. This also only works on brave archers- if she counterattacks a non-brave archer, Bonfire and deflect missile will not proc and Beruka takes the full brunt of two archer hits. Not fun.

Slaying Axe +
Reposition
Sacred Cowl

Iote’s Shield
Guard
Hone Fliers | Panic Ploy

Seal: Deflect Missile | Distant Def

The third and final entry into Beruka’s repertoire, this one is more of a cheaper build utilized primarily for manipulating AI instead of nuking. With this build, Beruka can successfully bait any archer in the game, even optimally built +10 hone cav Lyn / +10 hone atk Cordelia, and survive their quads like a champ. Through this, you’re able to manipulate enemy archers and Rein to be right where you want them for your damage dealing fliers to attack next turn. Unfortunately you won’t be able to counter them, but AI manipulation is a vital tool in itself.

What can she do better than any other flier?

As the tankiest green flier in a blue meta, the great wall of Beruka is here to take the hits that your fragile fliers cannot. She’s an excellent candidate to carry hone fliers for your team, and her massive amount of defense allows you to play with fire when it comes to baiting and even countering archers. Keep her away from red mages and she’ll serve you well.

Minerva

40/31/33/32/22

As the only 5 star exclusive green flier, Minerva has pretty big shoes to fill. Looking at her base stats compared to the other green fliers, she weighs in fairly average, clocking in at 1 point higher speed than Camilla, making her the green flier with the highest speed. Everything else about her can be considered fairly decent. She’s also the only non-GHB green to come with a legendary weapon, and is one of the few sources of Life and Death in the game. All of this put together makes Minerva more of a brawler than a nuker or a wall, but she’s very good at what she does and her base kit gives us a lot to play with.

What IVs does she want?

+Spd is probably the ideal boon, but she also enjoys +Atk and can even make use of +Def. She will happily give -Res or -Hp in exchange, maybe -Def if you’re in a pinch. If you’re like me and the only Minerva you’ve pulled is +Res -Spd then that’s kind of a bummer, but honestly, her stat spread is rather forgiving and a bad IV doesn’t hurt her quite as much as it hurts another flier.

How should I build her?

Hauteclere
Reposition
Luna

Life and Death
Hit and Run | Desperation
Ward Fliers

Seal: Spd + 3

This is the vanilla Minerva build that works well with her base kit and brings many enemies to their knees. With Life and Death and speed +3, she hits a 36/41 offensive spread and a single ally with goad fliers will get her to 40/45. Despite LnD, she’s still quite durable on the counterattack, as it leaves her with 27 def and 40 HP, meaning that an enemy has to counter her for 67 damage to KO- not a likely feat. In addition, after her first round of combat, she should be ready to proc desperation, allowing her to serve as a pseudo-brave nuke.

Alternatively, you can go with the safer hit and run, which will allow her to fly in and assassinate enemy units before backing out into safety. No need to ditch ward fliers, as she’s the only unit who gets the skill and it’s remarkably fun to utilize with other tanks on your team, such as Beruka, Subaki, or Caeda.

Hauteclere
Reposition
Bonfire

Fury
Desperation | Renewal | Quick Riposte
Ward Fliers

Seal: Def + 3, Spd +3, Dealer’s choice

Minerva has pretty nice defenses- why waste them? Alternatively, this is the ‘my Minerva has bad IVs’ build. With this build, even a neutral defense will hit 38 after a Defense Seal, making her absurdly tanky without sacrificing much by means of attack power. She winds up with 34/37 offensive spread as well, making her a force to be reckoned with on any kind of team. The B slot skill is there to supplement your IVs- low speed will enjoy QR, Desperation if you have hone fliers or goad fliers handy, and Renewal is a good catch-all for her.

What can she do better than any other flier?

Minerva is an extremely offensive green unit and a great axe user to have on your side. She excels at hitting an enemy hard and tanking through a counterattack to hit them again. Her legendary weapon is absolutely fantastic with 16 mt and a cooldown reduction, further raising her damage potential. Unlike Cherche and Michalis, Minerva has the speed to balance out her tankiness and offensive capabilities and so she can be more properly utilized as a hard hitting brawler.

Michalis

43/34/26/35/19

It’s difficult to discuss Minerva or Beruka without mentioning Michalis. While undervalued when his GHB first debuted, Michalis has since become something of a dark horse in utility, capable of being flexible enough to fill multiple roles as needed. While he’s not as tanky as Beruka, not as fast as Minerva, and doesn’t hit as hard as Cherche, his combination of stats leaves him in a very nice place to be able to fill all three roles in a pinch, and he shares Minerva’s legendary prf, making him a very nice addition to a team.

What IVs does he want?

Well, considering that you can only get him in neutral IVs, you’re kinda stuck with what you’ve got.

How should I build him?

Hauteclere
Reposition
Bonfire | Ignis

Fury | Steady Stance | Distant Counter
Quick Riposte
Hone Fliers | Goad Fliers | Panic Ploy

Seal: Def + 3 | Distant Def

Michalis is capable of running many defensive builds well- due to his middling speed, he’ll have a hard time being doubled by ‘slow’ arena units and proccing Ignis- therefore, I prefer Bonfire. This also means, however, that he won’t take as much damage as Beruka or Cherche might from their Ignis builds- so, pros and cons. Steady Stance lets him be almost as much of a wall as Beruka with far more attack to counter with, although Fury is helpful in further mitigating the doubles he sustains, while increasing his attack and defensive power. Def +3 and HP +5 seals play into his defensiveness.

Distant Counter and Distant Def are utilized along with Ignis in a build popularized by /u/ptolemy77, who has posted their Michalis soloing Robin(f) GHB, as well as countering Reinhardt and Bow Lyn in the same turn in Arena. While Beruka has better defenses for this particular build, Michalis does have the offensive power to strike back hard and kill on counterattack without requiring a Bonfire or Ignis proc- something that Beruka will struggle with without a Slaying Axe.

What can he do better than any other flier?

Though he’s more middle of the road where defensive fliers are concerned- not as tanky as Beruka but stronger than her, not as strong as Cherche but tankier than her- Michalis has the speed which, when coupled with a skill like Fury, prevents him from being doubled and mitigates the damage he takes. He ultimately has excellent defenses, coupled with good attack and a great weapon, and is a bit more versatile at running a defensive/offensive mixture build than his green counterparts.

Narcian

42/29/29/32/26

Ah, the oft-forgotten but always-fabulous Narcian. Our first GHB unit, and a frankly unimpressive one at that, he’s generally treated as prime fodder for both lancebreaker and whitewing memes. While his offensive spread leaves something to be desired and his defenses are only slightly above average, Narcian comes built in with a fantastic anti-blue kit and will have a grand time soloing any all-blue cheese comps you might come across in AA.

What IVs does he want?

+atk or +def and… wait, just kidding, he’s neutral only.

How should I build him?

Emerald Axe +
Reposition
Bonfire

Seal: Distant Def 3 | Dealer’s choice

Don’t fix what ain’t broke. Narcian’s key role in flier emblem is to delete blues, and he does so remarkably well. If you don’t have a 5 star Camilla or don’t want to spend the 20k feathers to give her Emerald Axe, then Narcian can fill her role just fine with his own native Emerald- just add DC. His mixed defenses make him a formidable threat to any blue unit on the field, and you can tack on Axebreaker to help him be a little more versatile. GTomebreaker helps him to counter green tomes, but be careful around high merged Nino and Cecilia, as it’s possible that they can oneshot him without defensive buffs.

Narcian ideally wants a Fortify buff, so he’s comfortable giving Hone, though hone would help to patch up his lackluster attack and speed. Def ploy is another option that works off of his moderately high res, though other fliers can run it better.

Distant Def 3 is ideal for a DC Narcian, otherwise you can give him what you like. Deflect Magic neuters Reinhardt in his tracks, Deflect Missile allows him to survive a vanilla Brave Lyn attack, and of course stat boosts and spurs are always helpful as well.

Legion’s Axe +
Reposition
Bonfire

Legion’s Axe is another interesting option available to him that enables Narcian to act as a debuffer, desperation breaker, and passive damage dealer. With this, Narcian can bait units like Reinhardt and Linde and generally kill them on counter- but if he can’t, then they’re debuffed enough to completely remove their threat for the rest of the turn.

Poison Strike/Savage Blow is a dangerous combination that can soften up tougher enemies, but you definitely don’t want to use it if the enemy has a WoM dancer on their team.

Distant Counter synergizes with Hardy Bearing to stop common desperation units like Linde and S!Corrin in their tracks. It also serves to give Hector’s Ignis Vantage a giant middle finger.

With the new Phantom Spd skill going up to +10, units with mid tier speed like Narcian become very intriguing options for Windsweep builds as well. Essentially, Windsweep will allow Narcian to apply his debuffs and bonus damage for free if the enemy has below 39 spd (or 44 spd if he has a goad active, or 46 spd if he has a hone active). This is particularly useful if you’re concerned about armor emblem, Vantage, or if you’re just trying to whittle down an enemy without dying horribly to them.

What can he do better than any other flier?

His base kit is a fantastic anti-blue setup, and in a predominately blue meta that’s definitely helpful right now. He can play a similar role to Camilla with more HP and Defense to tank with, but still enough res to reliably counter Reinhardt and many other magic blue threats at every turn. He’s capable of being a great debuffer without really wasting any of his stats. Narcian fits more into a utility role than his fellow green fliers, but that doesn’t mean that he should be ignored.

Blue

Cordelia

40/35/35/22/25

Let’s get right to it with arguably one of the highest rated fliers of the bunch, and for good reason- Cordelia’s offensive stat spread is insane and considering that she has access to flier buffs, she can reach ridiculous levels of speed and attack. Being available at 4 star rarity means that with a small amount of luck, you can generally nab a decently-IV’d Cordy and go to town. Her defenses are poor and her base kit needs a bit of retooling, but Cordelia doesn’t really require heavy investment to be good, This means that she has a good balance of accessibility and incredible power for the blue slot on your flier emblem team.

What IVs does she want?

+atk or +spd, and she will give up any of her defensive stats, with a slight preference toward -res/-hp/-def in that order, if you’re getting really picky.

How should I build her?

Brave Lance +
Reposition
Galeforce

Seal: Atk + 3 | Speed + 3 | Quickened Pulse

This is a lower investment Cordelia that still hits like a truck. For Brave Lance, you generally want to run +atk on the IV to have that extra 6 damage of wrecking power. Death Blow supplements this with an extra 12 damage upfront. If you’re really into quadding (which you should be if you like Cordelia) you can use +spd / LnD / Swift Sparrow / Darting Blow (with the latter being a bit of a budget option) to pump up her speed to incredible heights.

Be warned though, that Quadelia will have to sustain a counterattack, and so LnD isn’t entirely advised due to it reducing her to 17 defense. I generally prefer to focus on raw power with her brave build and then worry about her speed with the next build.

Firesweep Lance +
Reposition
Galeforce

Life and Death | Heavy Blade
Hit and Run | Drag Back
Fortify Fliers | Ward Fliers

Seal: Speed + 3 | Quickened Pulse

This is the set that really put Cordelia on the map, and this is what you’d want to run if you have a +spd Cordy. With +spd, she will reach 43 base speed with Life and Death, allowing her to double most of the game without a single buff. 46 speed with the speed seal feels almost like overkill, but this way you get to double even the fastest of units without concern, and you’re doubling them with that sweet 55 atk.

Of course, you could sacrifice 8 spd and 5 atk for turn 1 Galeforce with Heavy Blade + Quickened Pulse. This requires you to double with a higher attack than your opponent, and without LnD, unbuffed Cordelia reaches 50 atk and 38 speed. Generally, I’d only advise this if you have hone fliers or are capable of maneuvering her around goads, as things can get pretty dicey unless you’re attacking into a low atk/low spd tank.

Cordelia is also one of the best carriers of Fortify Fliers, as her defenses are pitiful anyway and she doesn’t want to stay in a red zone for any longer than it takes to kill her opponent, hence Hit and Run.

What can she do better than any other flier?

She has some of the best offensive stats in blue fliers, which can be minmaxed to the breaking point with Life and Death, making her the glassiest canon that flier emblem can provide. This enables a naturally fast-paced playstyle that fits perfectly into OHKO meta, not to mention her potential for turn 1 Galeforce.

There’s a lot of comparison between Cordelia and Tana, but Tana cannot run a Heavy Blade set as well as Cordelia, nor can she run a typical (non-quad) Brave Lance set as well as Cordelia. Cordelia is also found at 4 stars, making her better for merges, as well as IV hunting.

Tana

36/34/36/25/25

With 1 less atk and 1 more speed than Cordelia and a prf weapon, Tana is often favorably compared to the other blue nuke of flier emblem, and for good reason. Her offensive stats are ridiculously good, and her weapon grants her +7 defense when attacked by a melee unit, meaning that her defenses are nothing to sneeze at either. Tana is capable of nuking, baiting, and overall functioning as one of flier emblem’s most versatile blue units.

What IVs does she want?

Tana’s versatility means that she can make almost any IV work for her. +spd is likely her most ideal, but +atk and +def are also standout options for her. She’ll give up -res more readily than any other stat, but if pressed she can also let go of -hp, or even -atk. Ultimately, she’s a 5 star only unit so you take what you can get, but thankfully she’s flexible enough to work around a bad IV.

How should I build her?

Vidofnir
Reposition
Moonbow | Bonfire | Ignis

Seal: Speed + 3 | Def + 3 | Quickened Pulse

This is Tana’s main set- a versatile unit that can dominate on both player and enemy phase. With Steady Stance + Vidofnir + Fortify Fliers, Tana hits an effective defense of 44, all without sacrificing a single point of her 50 atk or 36 speed. If Bonfire or Ignis is procced on Enemy Phase, a defensively buffed Tana will hit for a massive 72/85 neutral damage.

-spd or +def Tanas will definitely want to grab QR and Bonfire or Ignis, +spd can operate with Moonbow, provided she prioritizes speed over defense (Ideally, you either want the enemy to attack and double with -spd and QR, or for the enemy to attack and Tana doubles on the rebound with +spd). At the end of the day, Bonfire/Ignis is more nuking, Moonbow is more consistent.

Renewal is for recovering hp between baiting other units, Vantage for turning her lack of HP into a win for her, if she’s waiting with a primed Ignis. She wants Fortify Flier buffs, so she can freely give out Goad fliers, though she might also benefit from the speed upgrade of a hone fliers.

She does all of this without sacrificing a healthy player phase. Tana’s attack power and speed means that she’s capable of diving in to get KOs on the player phase and her defense means that she’s tough enough to stay in the enemy’s line of fire for enemy phase.

Firesweep Lance +
Reposition
Galeforce | Luna | Draconic Aura

Life and Death | Heavy Blade
Hit and Run | Drag Back
Fortify Fliers | Ward Fliers

Seal: Speed + 3

And this is her ‘other’ meta set, which I personally think is a bit boring, as it’s basically a copy/paste of Cordelia’s FSL set and ignores what makes Tana really unique as a flier. This set is also less effective at proccing Heavy Blade (49 atk vs 50 atk) and so it runs the HB/Galeforce set just a little worse.

Nevertheless! This set is most effective if you can get a +spd boon, upping Tana’s speed to a healthy 39. LnD turns that into 44, which is enough to naturally double most enemies. A quick goad fliers will help you get the rest of them. Tana is slightly more effective at pulling off FSL doubles than Cordelia if you have a +spd Tana, so there is that! Nuke with Luna or Draconic Aura and your work here is done.

What can she do better than any other flier?

Tana can be run as an offensive and defensive flier at the same time. She can dive in to secure a KO and doesn’t mind parking in the enemy’s line of fire for the enemy phase. This makes her insanely versatile as a unit and allows her to be played like a true brawler. The only thing a properly built Tana is afraid of are green mages.

Alternatively, she can be a strictly player phase unit that rivals Cordelia in offensive power, allowing her to be just a little bit better at securing FSL doubles/KOs and just a little bit worse at securing HB/Galeforce procs. Building her this way destroys her Enemy Phase utility, but it’s an entirely valid way to play if you have a +spd Tana.

Hinoka

41/35/32/25/24

Rounding out our trio of hyper-offensive fliers is the queen of flier emblem herself, the unattainable, the gorgeous, the bane of wannabe flier emblems everywhere, the one and only Hinoka. Despite Cordelia and Tana both edging her out in offensive stats, Hinoka still has a deadly nuking utility that would allow her to muscle her way onto a flier emblem team even if it weren’t for hone fliers. However, as the only unit with hone fliers to be found in the game, Hinoka is desired for reasons that far eclipse her beautiful HAKKAN artwork or her solid 35/32 stats.

What IVs does she want?

As a Brave Lance user first and foremost, Hinoka wants +atk and will sacrifice literally any other stat to get it. Ideally, she’ll give up -res. If you’re devoted enough, she can be run with a quad set with +spd.

How should I build her?

Brave Lance +
Reposition
Luna

Seal: Atk +3

Basic, straightforward, and relatively cheap. Because Hinoka doesn’t have the speed to rival Cordelia, she wants to really focus on just out-damaging her redheaded counterpart, and she does so with Death Blow and stacking attack buffs.

Like any brave flier, Hinoka suffers on enemy phase and should be kept far away from the enemy team’s range during their turn, hence Hit and Run. Of course, as she’s the only unit who has Hone fliers, you’d have to be crazy not to run her with it… if not for the fact that, as a brave lance user, she has no use for defensive buffs and can freely give those out. The true tragedy of Hinoka as a unit isn’t her scarcity: it’s that what she wants most is the buff that only she can give.

Deft Harpoon +
Reposition
Luna

Fury
Renewal
Hone Fliers | Fortify Fliers | Ward Fliers

Seal: Dealer’s Choice

Really, this set can be run on any blue flier with moderately balanced stats, but I’m putting it in the Hinoka section because I like Hinoka. This is essentially a blue version of Camilla’s waifu set, and with SS/Fury/Deft Harpoon, Hinoka grabs a total of +7 to all stats, giving her 41/42/39/32/31. Add in flier buffs (if you’re blessed enough to pull two Hinoka, that is) and you’re looking at 41/48/45/38/37 at neutral, before weapon mt.

What can she do better than any other flier?

SHE BUFFS.

Okay, but Hinoka is mostly widely desired because of hone fliers. While her statline is good, it’s just a little underwhelming when compared to Cordelia or Tana. Hinoka also has a few more points in speed than Est, which could make some difference on enemy phase if you misplay and find your Brave Lance user stranded out in enemy territory. She can take advantage of this and run an LnD build that brings her speed a little more up to par, allowing a +spd Hinoka to rival Cordelia in a way that Est simply cannot. Hinoka is definitely a good unit in her own right and is capable of doing a lot of work in player phase.

Catria

39/31/34/29/25

While initially she was a stellar unit before the introduction of SI due to her decent natural brawling kit, Catria’s usage has gone down in the months since as the meta has shifted more to OHKOs and Slaying weapons have been introduced. She hits a little less hard than the blue all-stars, but is almost as fast and has more defense. This allows her to stay in her position as a good brawler, and can hold her ground remarkably well. She also, y’know, has a nice voice.

What IVs does she want?

With her stat spread almost any IV will work for her, though she’d appreciate +atk/+spd or +def. She’ll gladly give up -res, or more reluctantly, -hp.

How should I build her?

Slaying Lance +
Reposition
Luna

Seal: Spd +3 | Atk +3

An update of her default kit. Ideally, Catria wants to double her opponent for a one round Luna. If she cannot, then she wants to be tanky enough for her opponent to not kill her on the counter. You can put QR on her if you’re worried about leaving her in enemy territory, but otherwise Catria is one of the few fliers where I enjoy Drag Back on her over Hit and Run- she’s fully capable of softening up her prey, not taking a ton of damage in the counter, and then pulling them back for your other fliers to finish up.

Sapphire Lance +
Reposition
Luna

Fury

Lancebreaker
Hone Fliers | Fortify Fliers | Goad Fliers

Seal: Spd +3 | Atk +3

As one of the more straightforward blue units with decent atk/spd/def and no prf, Catria is capable of running what I like to call the Two Color Counter set (you’ll find similar sets in the Palla and Narcian section). This is what I currently run on my Catria and it gets the job done: she counters red units, checks lance units, and is all-in-all, a reliable, if somewhat straightforward member of the flier emblem family.

What can she do better than any other flier?

“Reliable and Straightforward” is basically Catria’s calling card. She’s not a nuke, she’s not an enemy phase unit, but she brawls with the best of them and is respectable just about everywhere it counts: aka her atk, spd, and def. She’s better than Tana at Player Phase defense, better than Hinoka at Enemy Phase offense, and will ultimately just do what you need her to do. Her stats are capable of being minmaxed, but why would you? Cordelia or Tana will run FSL better and Cordelia, Hinoka, or Est will run Brave Lance better. Let Catria be a vanguard- you won’t regret it.

Est

36/35/30/24/32

The meme girl herself, Est has shown up to help her big sister and… y’know, kill lots of stuff. Est is the F2P flier dream in that she’s commonly found at 3 and 4 star, carries a big attack stat, and can be merged to 4+10 over the course of a few pulling sessions, depending on how hard you’re going for blue. She’ll serve you well and look like a moeblob doing it.

What IVs does she want?

+atk is pretty much the name of the game here, Est can pretty readily give up -spd for brave builds, or -hp. You want to keep her res neutral for Iceberg and d-d-d-defense ploy procs though.

How should I build her?

Brave Lance +
Reposition
Iceberg

Seal: Atk +3 | D-D-D-Defense Ploy

Like Hinoka, Est is focused on one thing only: gettin’ those K:Ds for her sick call of duty score. She does this by completely maximizing her attack or utilizing her res, at the behest of her speed, hp, and defense stats. An +atk/DB/atk+3 Est will have the exact same attack stat as a similarly built Hinoka or Cordelia, but her advantage here is twofold: she can get off a guaranteed +16 damage iceberg proc (unlike Hinoka who depends on Luna/Moonbow, or Cordelia who typically runs Galeforce), and she can generally hit the baddies with that twisted Defense Ploy.

Est is actually capable of running multiple ploys at once thanks to the new seals, which makes her a surprising debuffer on top of a player-phase nuke. Don’t let her get caught anywhere near the enemy range, unless you’re facing off against Tiki.

What else can you do with her? There’s a DC build of course (see Florina’s build), but other blue fliers are gonna outclass her there, and it’s completely useless against physical ranged units so I wouldn’t recommend it unless you really think that Est is Best (and why wouldn’t you? Look at that face!).

What can she do better than any other flier?

Est has a unique utility in that she trades off the last scrap of a brave lance user’s enemy phase for the ability to debuff the opponent. If someone catches her in their range, her 24 def/36 hp/25 speed means she is as dead as a doornail, but if you’re good at predicting AI and clever with your positioning, you can use her to debuff key units so that her, or the rest of your team can swoop in for the KO. Of course, this only works if their res is below hers, so for units with res stats higher than 32, you’re out of luck.

Florina

42/29/27/25/34

Alright, let’s sit down and talk about Florina. Widely regarded as one of the most stat-screwed characters in the game, it’s difficult to approach her with any kind of optimism, as she boasts atk/spd/def stats all under 30, and makes up for it with an admittedly fantastic res stat and surprisingly high hp. Florina fans never fear, she’s perfectly capable of using this to her advantage, you just have to replace her entire kit and invest a ton of resources into her. Nbd, right?

What IVs does she want?

Florina desperately needs +atk to round up her attack stat into something more manageable. She’s not going to be doubling her targets or even protecting herself against doubles with +spd (though it is a +4 boon), and unless you want to boost her res even further (which isn’t a bad idea), stick with +atk. She will give up -spd, def, and (reluctantly) -hp to do so. Leave her res alone.

How should I build her?

Berkut’s Lance +
Reposition
Iceberg

Water Boost | Fortress Res
Renewal | B Tomebreaker
Hone Fliers | Goad Fliers

Seal: HP + 5 | Distant Def | Deflect Magic

This is the ‘cheaper’ option, though it still asks for two Berkut sacrifices (you weren’t using him anyway, right?). To put it bluntly, Florina’s only saving grace is her res and HP, which, when stacked, allow her to tank ridiculous amounts of magic damage, including +10 +atk QP/MB Rein, which leaves her at 12 HP (if she has the HP+5 seal, which allows Water Boost to proc. If running DD, she has 8hp). An +HP Florina won’t have this issue at all and can proc Water Boost and run DD/DM for bonus protection, which ultimately allows her to survive Lancebreaker Reins without needing B!Tomebreaker.

This allows her to recover the damage away with Renewal and then approach Rein for a charged Iceberg/Glacies. Note that if Rein is running Lancebreaker, she will fail to kill him with Iceberg, unless she has B!Tomebreaker. If she does, Florina’s higher spd (provided she’s not -spd) will cancel out Lancebreaker and allow her to double, securing an Iceberg proc.

So then, what do you do about the Cecilia right behind Rein? Glad you asked. A +10 TA/Gronnraven Cecilia (50 atk) will do 32 damage to damaged Florina. If she previously took damage from Reinhardt, that’s a KO… but if not, Waterboost kicks in and full HP Florina only takes 26 damage. Unfortunately, she’s completely SOL when it comes to killing Cecilia, so I hope you’ve got a red unit handy… Whew! What a nightmare.

Needless to say, this Florina destroys Leos, Celicas, Tharjas, Tikis, and Katarinas, so at least you don’t have to run crazy calculations for that.

Slaying Lance +
Reposition
Glacies | Iceberg

Distant Counter
BTomebreaker | Quick Riposte
Hone Fliers | Goad Fliers

Seal: Distant Def | Deflect Magic

And welcome to Flier Emblem’s blue “Ruck Feinhardt” unit. This is a higher investment build, though you can still run Berkut’s Lance + (you’ll need Iceberg, in that case) to soften the SI blow. BTomebreaker exists solely to reverse-screw Lancebreaker Reinhardts and the occasional Delthea/Linde/Olwen you see running around the Arena. Again, if you’re not afraid of Lancebreaker Reinhardt, you can run QR; otherwise you want to run BTomebreaker.

This build sacrifices some of Florina’s survivability for the opportunity to counter-KO ranged units. Slaying Lance + Glacies kills the aforementioned optimal Reinhardt on counter, leaving Florina with 2 HP if she has DD seal (DM mitigates more damage vs Reinhardt at the cost of not doing anything for her vs other ranged units). Iceberg can also kill, but Florina still needs to double anyway for the extra damage on the KO, so why not hit higher numbers?

All of these calculations, of course, can be made to much more generously favor Florina if she’s given flier buffs and whatnot. I’m just a masochist who likes testing units at 0 merges, 0 buffs, and neutral IVs.

What can she do better than any other flier?

Florina’s main competition for her niche in flier emblem is with Clair, who has less atk and res than she does, but far more speed. This means that Florina is strictly better at baiting and counterkilling units like Reinhardt or red mages. Her res is among the highest in the game, and with the ability to equip Berkut’s Lance and the HP to run Water Boost, Florina becomes an extremely sturdy blue magical tank. The drawback is that she’ll typically need to survive two magical blasts instead of one (which is not generally a tall order, given her 44 res before buffs) unless she’s running the relevant breaker skill, and she needs to perfectly time her special procs so that she can kill stuff.

Clair

37/26/36/24/33

Clair has the unfortunate task of being a blue Caeda in an oversaturated color, surrounded by other units who can arguably utilize her strengths better. She has good speed and good res, which is offset by her poor atk, mediocre hp, and moderate/low defenses. Like Beruka and Florina, building Clair generally requires replacing the majority of her kit, but she’s still capable of counterkilling some meta units, as well as running a good player phase ‘fragile speedster’ type set.

What IVs does she want?

Like Florina, Clair needs +atk to allow herself to do any sort of significant damage. +spd or +res might also do well in a pinch, and you can sacrifice…. Well, -hp, maybe -def if you’re planning on using her solely as a mage counter.

How should I build her?

Slaying Lance +
Reposition
Glacies

Distant Counter
BTomebreaker
Goad Fliers

Seal: Deflect Magic

Look familiar? This build is a mirror of Florina’s, but it works slightly differently. Whereas Florina had the HP to play around with, Clair needs Deflect Magic’s damage mitigation to survive and needs a Glacies proc to counterkill.

With this exact build, facing an optimal Reinhardt, a Neutral IV Clair with 0 buffs survives with 10 HP and kills Reinhardt on counter. If your Clair is +atk, she can also kill Reinhardt with Berkut’s Lance + and Iceberg, for a lower investment cost. That is an exact kill though, so if Rein has Lancebreaker or an HP seal or something wild equipped, then you’re out of luck.

Slaying Lance +
Reposition
Iceberg | Luna

Fury | Life and Death
Desperation
Fortify Fliers | Goad Fliers

Seal: Speed +3 | Atk +3

Let’s focus on Clair’s positives. She has good speed and good res, making her a decent candidate for a Slaying Lance/Iceberg build. If Clair is able to use her speed to ensure doubles, then her KO rating goes way up, given that she’s adding 16-18 damage every Iceberg proc. Adding in attack damage similarly does work here, though her atk is ultimately too low to run Brave Lance. This means that she is forced to take damage every encounter, unless running Desperation, which is why she wants to take that over her native Hit and Run.

If you’re feeling particularly fancy, you can run Life and Death/Luna. This makes her res worse, so you lose out on guaranteed Iceberg damage, but it makes her own damage and doubling potential more consistent. A somewhat budget version of this would be Silver Lance | Moonbow | Life and Death, which coincidentally is what I have on my +atk Clair, and it allows her to be quite lethal.

In general, you want to avoid her getting hit more than planned, but she’s definitely capable of running a fragile speedster/Desperation build.

It’s also possible to run a Firesweep Lance build, but in my opinion, Cordelia runs that type of build better. Furthermore, limiting combat tics makes Clair’s special not proc, impacting her damage potential and wasting her res.

What can she do better than any other flier?

Clair is tied for the highest speed of blue fliers with Tana, but trades off her attack for a significant res stat. While Tana wants to focus on her enemy phase defenses to make the most of her prf, Clair can focus on her speed in player phase, allowing her to get near-guaranteed doubles on a majority of units before even looking at buffs. Her solid res stat allows her doubles to turn into guaranteed 16-18 damage, offering her a good player-phase KO potential.

Shanna

39/30/35/25/29

One of the routinely dismissed/Skill Foddered flier units in the game, Shanna boasts high speed and moderate attack and HP in exchange for mediocre defenses and decent res. Shanna is generally middle of the pack where blue fliers are concerned, existing on a very similar stat line to Catria, but with res and def inverted. This means that, while she may not be as much of a brawler as Catria, she’s better at tanking ranged threats- er, mages that is.

What IVs does she want?

Might as well maximize her speed with a +spd IV, as her desperation proc will rely on it. She can also welcome +atk, but it’s not quite as effective. She’ll take the hit to -hp, -def, -res depending on what kind of build you want to put on her.

How should I build her?

Brave Lance +
Reposition
Iceberg | Luna

Swift Sparrow | Life and Death
Desperation
Fortify fliers | Goad Fliers

Seal: Spd + 3

Shanna is arguably one of the best blue fliers when it comes to building specifically for quads. Sure, Cordelia has better atk and Clair has better speed, but Shanna has better defenses than all of them (assuming Brave Lance equipped), which allows Shanna to get into desperation mode slightly safer. You could make a case for Tana having 4 more atk and 1 more speed, at the expense of some HP, but for that to work you’d need to pull a +spd Tana and elect to give up her prf, which isn’t something I’d want to go to waste.

This also works with Firesweep Lance, as Shanna has the same spd as Cordelia, allowing her to run a similar build. Again though, Cordelia is strictly better at the build due to having more atk. What Shanna has over Cordy is more bulk- why let it go to waste?

Slaying Lance +
Reposition
Iceberg

Fury | Distant Counter
Desperation | Swordbreaker | BTomebreaker
Goad Fliers

Seal: Spd + 3 | Atk + 3 | QP

Due to her statline similarities with Catria, Shanna winds up sporting a similar build, with the exception of DC and Iceberg. At 29 res, Shanna is just on the borderline of units who would benefit from either of those skills, but with her speed tier, she’s very obviously not going to get doubled without an enemy Lancebreaker. This means that she’d need to take 68 neutral magic damage to oneshot her before she attacks back with an Iceberg. While it’s possible to hit these numbers with a Reinhardt or supercharged blade tome, in general, particularly in PvE, Shanna will be surviving and striking back.

BTomebreaker because blue tomes are generally pretty speedy and we want to make sure Shanna outspeeds them. Swordbreaker for the same reason, Desperation to help turn her into a versatile player phase unit after a baiting enemy phase.

Of course, Fury makes everything about her even better, turning a +spd Shanna into a unit with 41 speed unbuffed, with the added bonus of helping her trigger desperation and making her Iceberg proc hit just a little big harder. It’s an all-around great skill for her.

What can she do better than any other flier?

It’s difficult to find a niche for Shanna- Cordelia, Tana, Catria, and Hinoka are offensively stronger than her, Florina, Clair and Subaki are defensively stronger… but what Shanna does have is a mix of offense and defense that makes her more versatile in her potential speedy/restanky playstyle. She can run a mixture of good builds, can be found easily with good IVs, and her spread allows you to focus on her speed as her most important stat. If you’ve got a good IV Shanna, she’s definitely worth the investment.

Subaki

40/25/35/35/22

The lone dude amongst a sea of ladies, Subaki has one of the most interesting stat spreads in the game, in my opinion. He trades a laughably low atk and fairly low res for an amazing defense and speed stats, which ensure three things: he will never get doubled, he will never get OHKO by physical, and he will never kill anything without a special proc.

What IVs does he want?

Subaki is in a tricky situation in that he wants basically everything, particularly +atk (don’t say no to a +4 boon in atk, am I right?), +spd, and +def. He’ll trade off -res ideally, as he doesn’t particularly want to lose any of his other stats.

How should I build him?

Sapphire Lance + | Slaying Lance +
Reposition
Bonfire | Ignis | Aether

Steady Stance | Fortress Def
Quick Riposte | Renewal
Hone Fliers | Goad Fliers

Seal: Def +3

Again: don’t fix what ain’t broke. Subaki’s base kit is hilariously anti-red, so much so that he’ll basically completely wall off all red physicals in the game for however long you need him to. This is more of a defensive build that prioritizes great defense and his ability to double an enemy on counterattack. It’s unlikely he’s getting doubled by an opponent, so if you’re running Slaying and expecting a 1 turn proc, you might want to go with Bonfire over Ignis.

Otherwise, just let him does what he does best: look at all the cocksure +10 Ryomas, Athenas, Ayras, and Lucinas running around and just kind of shrug in their general direction. Sapphire Lance helps him increase his pitiful damage vs reds, so you might want to think twice before replacing it, though it also makes him less effective at killing blues and definitely wary of greens.

Slaying Lance +
Reposition
Bonfire

Seal: Spd + 3

This is a uniquely fun build that turns Subaki into a player phase panzer tank. While he functions somewhat similarly to Tana, Subaki has the boon of being able to utilize his defense on player phase, and so he wants to focus on building his speed up to the point where he can reliably double his opponents and trigger Bonfire on player phase initiation.

Speed is the most important thing here, followed by defense. Any attack points that can be thrown his way are of course, excellent, but he needs those doubles or he won’t do any damage.

His A slot is very variable for this reason, as you want to be able to combine atk/spd/def buffs in a way that doesn’t screw you on player phase, nor leave you stranded on enemy phase (if you plan on utilizing him on enemy phase, that is). I run Fortress Def on mine so that I can throw him into enemy territory for a Bonfire KO and then leave him there to get dogpiled on (Fortress Def on a +spd/spd seal Subaki turns him into a 40 def/41 speed abomination).

Bonfire is the most important part of the build and the only time he’s going to do significant damage, and he should add 19-20 flat damage on each proc. Even if he can’t kill his opponent here, his opponent sure as hell isn’t going to kill him back, and they eventually just suicide into his Bonfires. I would unfortunately highly recommend a Slaying Lance on this one, or an +atk Subaki, or an A skill that buffs attack- you don’t want to run a +Spd/Killer/Fortress Def Baki or your atk will reach truly unsalvageable levels. As I said before, mine is +spd and so I think +atk/Killer Lance would work as a cheaper alternative, particularly if you can give him speed buffs.

What can he do better than any other flier?

Unlike Tana, Subaki’s blue walling capabilities happen both on player phase and enemy phase, making him ideal for player phase special procs. While he lacks the atk to be effective without either a special proc or a significant investment, his defense and speed is a unique combination- not just in flier emblem, but throughout the rest of the game. This allows him to actively seek out fights when he’s not saving your butt from reds, and he can be safely deployed against a myriad of physical units.

Valter

42/32/31/34/19

Did I save the best for last? Of course I did. Valter was IS’s gift to f2p flier emblem, with a beautiful spread, amazing prf, and access to a mightily destructive kit with cheap investment cost. The only drawback to Valter is that we don’t have more of him- if I could, I’d +10 his creepy ass right now.

What IVs does he want?

He’s perfect just the way he is.

How should I build him?

Cursed Lance
Reposition
Ignis

Fury
Vantage | Desperation
Hone Fliers | Goad Fliers | Panic Ploy

Seal: Def +3 | Hardy Bearing | Brash Assault (!!!)

Valter’s Cursed Lance naturally gives him atk/spd +2 and reduces his cooldown by 1, at the “cost” of giving him 4 after-combat damage. This turns his atk/spd/def into 34/33/34 without any sort of investment whatsoever- add in fury and it becomes 37/36/37, at the “cost” of upping his self damage to 10.

When paired with an HP threshold skill like Vantage or Desperation, this means that Valter’s self-damage becomes his boon and his playstyle becomes berserker-esque. While he’s not going to have any sort of sustain in long-term fights, doing 10 damage to himself after his first combat is frankly, incredible. This, when coupled with his cooldown reduction, means that as long as somebody doubles in his first combat, he will have Vantage Ignis primed for 83 total blue damage the moment someone else thinks about touching him.

I’ve used this build on Valter many times to immediately get two KOs on the enemy team in the first EP. It’s remarkably effective in short skirmishes, such as arena or a round in the training tower, while it’s also rather terrible in TT or CC fights.

Alternatively, he can run Desperation… but I don’t find it quite as reliable, as I feel like his speed stat is a little too low for it. Still, with the new Brash Assault seal, I can envision Fury/Desperation/BA Valter being the stuff of nightmares.

It’s difficult to imagine running Valter a different way, though he does have the potential stats to run more sustaining builds, such as coupling Cursed Lance with skills like Quick Riposte/Ignis or Bonfire, or trying to force him into something a little more long-term with Renewal.

What can he do better than any other flier?

Valter runs a berserker set like no other unit can due to his self damage and incredible around-the-board stats. He starts every skirmish off by being remarkably tanky with 34 spd/34 defense (similar to Subaki, remember), and then quickly nosedives into maximizing his attack and trapping the enemy into eating a Vantage Ignis if they can’t manage to kill him on the first encounter. He’s one of the most effective units at clearing half of the enemy team in the first enemy phase, though he pales at the thought of facing off against stacked mages. I’ve even had him tank a couple of archers in my time.

Red

Palla

42/31/31/28/26

The ‘balanced stats syndrome’ of the red squad, Palla brings a very respectable Ruby sword into the fray and is capable of using her spread to hard check any magnitude of green units. She was frequently used as the red component to flier emblem for some time before a certain someone showed up, and though some might say otherwise, investing in Palla is still worthwhile as her stat spread allows her to be a hard green counter in whatever way you need her to be.

What IVs does she want?

The thing that hurts palla most is her lack of speed, and so a +spd IV is ideal, for which she’ll trade -hp or -res. She also functions well with +atk, but in my opinion you really want to focus on bringing her up to 34 speed.

How should I build her?

Ruby Sword +
Reposition
Moonbow | Luna

Fury | Distant Counter
Swordbreaker | Quick Riposte
Hone Fliers | Fortify Fliers

Seal: Dealer’s Choice

Palla’s Ruby Sword does what she needs to do: counters greens. When you consider that as her primary role, she becomes remarkably solid, outperforming Elincia vs B!Ike and Hector, and outperforming Caeda against any melee greens.

Gem weapon/Fury/same color breaker is again, the typical Two Color Counter set, though Palla will have a little more trouble with swords, even if she ensures her doubles.

Distant Counter is an interesting option as it allows Palla to play against the enemy’s designated Reinhardt Counter (Cecilia, Julia, Nino, etc). With this, Palla can respectably stand up against even the likes of Merric, who is otherwise a bane to flier emblem’s existence.

Hone vs Fortify and SB vs QR depends on what role you want her to play. Palla can be offensive or defensive given her stats, and can buff her team with whatever buffs she doesn’t want.

What can she do better than any other flier?

Palla is the ‘keep it simple, stupid’ of red fliers. You want to run 2 blues? Let her crush the greens who threaten them. You want to get rid of the Cecilia who’s taking out your Rein counter? Let her laugh off the damage and then oneshot her. She kills greens- that’s her specialty, that’s what her stats are built for, and that’s what she’ll do for you, if you let her.

Caeda

36/25/36/24/34

Caeda is my first thought in response to all of the “what’s the most underrated unit?” posts. While she sports a damningly similar stat spread to Fir and mirrors Clair, her movement type and color allow her to function in ways that the former two simply cannot. Unfortunately, you have to replace her entire kit with some high-value stuff to start letting her shine.

What IVs does she want?

Caeda’s spd and res are both stellar, and what she’s lacking hard in is atk. With a +4 boon, she desperately wants that +atk, though she can settle for +spd or +res if necessary. -atk leaves her dead in the water, but she’ll trade off -def or -hp if need be.

How should I build her?

Slaying Sword +

Reposition

Iceberg | Glacies

Distant Counter

Desperation | Quick Riposte | Vantage | Swordbreaker

Hone Fliers | Goad Fliers

Seal: Distant Defense | Deflect Magic

This is the high-investment set, and the place where Caeda can solidify herself as a strong unit in your corner. As an example: at +res with Deflect Magic, neutral unbuffed Caeda survives +atk/+10/DB/QP+MB Reinhardt with 2 HP and kills him with a Glacies proc in return. I’ve never seen a Reinhardt run swordbreaker, but if he does then you probably don’t want to throw Caeda at him…

Regardless, Caeda is far better at checking this pesky green mage meta than Palla, though at the cost of being strictly worse at dealing with units like B!Ike and Hector- she may even lose fights against them, if you’re not careful.

It doesn’t matter though, because Caeda is your one-stop shop for everything magically tanky. If you have a single DC to give away, I’d argue that Caeda is a strong contender for it, provided that you can also offer her a Fortify Fliers buff separate from herself.

Her B skill is variable- it doesn’t really affect her kit much at all. If you don’t have a hone fliers or goad fliers buffs to give her, I might recommend QR, otherwise it’s entirely up to you!

Wo Dao +

Reposition

Iceberg

Fury | Triangle Adept

Desperation | Quick Riposte

Hone Fliers | Goad Fliers

Seal: Distant Defense | Quickened Pulse | Spur Buff

Much lower investment cost, though you still want to replace her sword- Caeda’s native Armorslayer is basically the worst. Luckily, you’ve got a few decent options for her, not the least of which being the Wo Dao which now thankfully found on a 4 star unit.

As melee-only, Caeda functions as a strictly-worse green check than Palla, but she can still carry her weight by bootstrapping with Fury/Desperation or miming Palla and incorporating TA. Quick Riposte/QP means Iceberg + 10 damage procs against fast units that initiate onto her, though it’s unlikely that she’d get doubled- you mostly just want to double in return.

What can she do better than any other flier?

Caeda is, imo, the best mage counter that flier emblem has to offer. Despite her red typing, she can still stand up to even Reinhardt, and as he’s going to be the most commonly found blue mage in the arena, it basically means that Caeda has very little to fear from magic as a whole. She’s capable of checking green, red, and even blue mages, before blasting them away with a +28 damage Glacies proc.

Elincia

35/34/36/24/27

Our lady of heated discussion, Elincia is Flier emblem’s first offensively-oriented red unit, and with a prf to match. Amiti is essentially an 11 mt brave sword, subtracting only -2 from her speed when attacking: essentially, this gives her +3atk/+3spd over any other brave sword user in the game. Her stats match this spread, with offensive stats matching Tana and poor defense/adequate res that is customary for the majority of fliers. You want a red unit to ORKO? Elincia will ORKO. Oh, except for against Brave Ike, who is half of the green axe units you see in the Arena these days. That’s fine though, right?

What IVs does she want?

Elincia can be built in two different ways: one which proritizes KO on initiation, and one which prioritizes quads. You don’t necessarily have to give up one to indulge the other, but generally if you have +spd you want to quad and +atk you’d rather be building up as much frontloaded damage as possible. She’ll give up any of her defensive stats, though -res is ideal. As always with 5 star exclusives, take what you can get: Elincia is an incredible unit and will serve you well regardless of her IVs.

How should I build her?

Amiti
Reposition

Moonbow | Galeforce

Death Blow | Heavy Blade

Hit and Run

Fortify Fliers | Goad Fliers

Seal: Quickened Pulse | Atk + 3

This is Elincia’s +atk set, allowing her to hit 56×2 attack on initiation, with a bonus QP + Moonbow meme. This is still unfortunately not enough to kill B!Ike, who will spring back with an Aether proc. Luckily, even if B!Ike is +atk and Elincia is -def, Aether won’t kill her, allowing her to quad for the kill. Of course, Elincia can sacrifice Death Blow to try and run Heavy Blade + QP for a turn 1 Galeforce proc- this leaves her attack at 50, so I’d only recommend it if you have flier buffs to back her up.

This is all fairly straightforward. Frontload as much damage as possible into the first two hits, then pull back if it’s not enough. Unfortunately for Elincia, green in general is an extremely tanky color, and things that Cherche or Cordelia could get away with vs Blues and Reds are a bit harder for her to pull off here.

Amiti
Reposition

Luna | Galeforce

Fury | Swift Sparrow | Life and Death

Hit and Run | Desperation | Windsweep

Fortify Fliers | Goad Fliers

Seal: Spd + 3 | Atk + 3 | Phantom Spd

This is more of a build for +spd Elincia, as it focuses on either quadding or Windsweeping the enemy for a pseudo Firesweep Lance build. If you’re looking at quads and if you have flier buffs, Elincia can try to run Galeforce like Cordelia, though it depends on getting all four hits on an enemy and being counterattacked by them in the middle. Hilariously enough, Brave Ike allows Elincia to do just that, though you want to be careful as she generally fails to kill him without a special proc.

Alternatively, you can go a little crazy and run a Windsweep build. This doesn’t necessarily need to be a +spd Elincia, thanks to Phantom Speed’s new pseudo-speed cap, and it allows Elincia to be perfectly safe when initiating on player phase, at the expense of potential quads.

I’d be wary of putting LnD on Elincia, as it makes her remarkably fragile and will make it difficult for her to safely get into Desperation range. Swift Sparrow or even Fury would be ideal, as two tics of Fury will allow her to start quadding things without counterattack.

What can she do better than any other flier?

Elincia is the fragile red nuke of flier emblem. While many claimed that she was powercreeping Palla, I don’t think that was the case- she merely filled a niche that others were trying to force Palla into, despite her inoptimal stats for it. Elincia is strictly better at player phase ORKOs than Palla or Caeda, though, so if you need a red nuke, you might want to see if you can grab one.

Team Building

Well, 34 pages later- are you still with me?

Team building for Flier emblem is remarkably versatile, considering all of the units you have at your disposal. In general, you want to avoid too many units of one color (I say, having had run 3 blue units in the Arena for almost all of July), and too many units of one type (I say, running 3 ORKO nukes on my current team).

As this demonstrates, there are exceptions. These rules are not set in stone and before anyone pipes up with ‘I didn’t do this and I’m fine!’, I am absolutely aware that you don’t have to follow these- they’re just guidelines to help streamline the process.

Buffs:

I’ve said this before, you you do not need Hone Fliers to run a flier team. While it helps, sometimes running Goads is more preferable due to flier range and versatility. Here are a few buff combinations that I’ve really liked (for a 3 man core, generally subtract 1 goad):

3 Goads, 1 Fortify
2 Goads, 1 Fortify, 1 Hone
4 Goads
2 Goads, 1 Fortify, 1 Panic Ploy
2 Goads, 1 Fortify, 1 Ward

Composition:

I don’t like running a team full of ORKO nukes. When you have to tank a hit (you accidentally knocked Hector down to Bonfire-Vantage range, you only have 3 empty spaces where cavalry can’t get to you, you’re in the stupid interlocking fort/wall map, etc), you’re screwed. I’m also not a fan of running a defensive-only team.

In my experience, the best teams/arena cores are teams that have at least one ORKO unit (generally two, in different colors) and at least one defensive unit, sometimes with a versatile offense/defense unit sandwiched in there. This way, your ORKO unit can carry fortify for your defensive unit and your defensive unit can carry Hone/Goad for your offensive unit. Your versatile unit can then cover their own color expertise without much trouble.

Your defensive unit wants to be very conscientious of current meta- as it’s blue/green oriented at the moment, you want to focus your defenses on green/red units. You want to keep plugging away at damage calculators to see if optimal Reinhardts, B!Ikes, B!Lucinas, B!Lyns, etc- can kill your defensive unit, and you want to give them a lot of attention and love to ensure that they will continue to survive and cover for your nukes.

Your offensive unit/s want to be similarly focused on eliminating other units, but their job is a little easier in ORKO meta. These units want skills that will let them get out of enemy range quickly, like hit and run or drag back. Try to ensure that your offensive unit can kill each optimally built unit in their advantaged color, and at least most of the optimally built units on their own color. Try to pick offensive units who complement one another.

For example, if your nuke is blue, like Cordelia, then you want a unit who can reliably clean up the greens that she can’t kill, like Palla. Then you want a unit who can handle the strength of the blues that Cordelia can’t kill, like Beruka. Cordelia fortifies, Palla goads, Beruka hones: bam, three man team.

Mages:

As far as mage fliers go, you have three options: a counter-meta tank, a giant magic bomb, or a highly mobile nuke. You generally only want to run one of these, and you want to keep in mind several things when doing so:

If you want to run a blade tome, you need a Hone Fliers and optimally Fortify Fliers on your team. Support your blade tome user to your Hone Fliers buffer and you won’t regret it.
If you want to run a Raven tome, you need a Fortify fliers and optimally a Goad fliers on your team.
Running S!Corrin will undoubtedly make your team heavy on blue units, so you want a good red unit to counter greens.
If you want to run an Owl tome, you’ll need to support your owl tome user with someone else, and ideally run both goad and hone.
Running a mage will lower your arena score

Melee:

In theory, throwing together a melee core for arena is as simple as picking one unit of each color and tossing them into the fray. In practice, it’s a bit more complicated than that, as you need to predict your opponent’s units and build around them, as well as building your team to supplement one another- increasing their strengths and mitigating their weaknesses.

Green:

In our current blue-heavy meta, you want to run a green unit, hands down. This unit has the responsibility of eliminating enemies such as Nowi, B!Lucina, Azura, and Oscar, and generally wants to be able to survive Reinhardt, counterkilling him if at all possible. Greens in flier emblem are generally stacked defensively and are lacking in speed, meaning that they’re more likely to be doubled and miss doubles on their opponent. As a whole, greens want Fortify Fliers buffs and can give Hone fliers or Goad fliers freely..

Cherche is your highest possible green damage dealer, but lacks res and speed and has a painful enemy phase. She wants a Hone Fliers and can do some work against blues and greens with a Fortify Fliers. She has good HP to run Panic Ploy.
Minerva is the only carrier of Ward Fliers, unless you want to sacrifice her for it, which makes her a fantastic unit for a defensive/enemy phase-oriented team. She’s versatile and can survive in enemy phase, but will lack the player phase carrying power of Cherche.
Beruka is one of the best carriers of Hone Fliers and wants someone to give her a Fortify Fliers buff. She has a far better enemy phase than Cherche or Minerva. She can utilize Iotes to survive archers and can survive Reinhardt with a buff.
Michalis functions as a more versatile Beruka, but cannot get merges so you won’t be able to build him in a merge-heavy arena core. He can survive archers with Iotes.
Camilla is what you use when you want to counter blues and Reinhardt without sacrificing arena score, though she requires heavy investment to do so. She wants a Fortify Fliers buff and can hand out Hone or Goad fliers
Narcian cannot get merges but he can effectively wall blues, counter Reinhardt, and be fabulous.

Blues:

In the blue-heavy meta with an extremely stacked unit pool, it’s difficult to decide on who to run, especially if you don’t have Hinoka or are willing to sacrifice her for hone fliers. As a whole, blues are generally faster, less capable defensively, and have more res than their green counterparts. Blues are finding it difficult to get a good foothold right now, as the majority of teams are primarily blue or green to counter blue- it is very rare that you will see more than one red on the enemy team, and that red is generally Olivia.

For this reason, you want your blues to be capable of fighting current reds (such as Ayra, Arden, Black Knight, Tiki, Eirika, Olivia), but also other, more fragile blues (Sharena, Roderick, other flier teams). In general, blue units will want to be given a Hone Fliers buff and will be pleased to give away Fortify Fliers to their teammates.

Hinoka is the flier everyone wants- if you only have one Hinoka who you are unwilling to sacrifice for her Hone Fliers buff, then she will almost be guaranteed to hold the blue spot in your team.
Tana is a player phase offensive/enemy phase defensive unit. She wants a Fortify Fliers buff and can give out goads, Hone Fliers if pressed. She does not have player phase ORKO utility, so she would appreciate a partner with nuking potential.
Cordelia is ideal-ia (haha) for giving Fortify Fliers, as her enemy phase is nonexistant. She wants Hone very badly, and is capable of nuking hard and nuking often with Galeforce. In my experience, she pairs extremely well with Beruka or another defensively-oriented unit.
Catria is a good all-around unit who can handle reds and other lances. She’s sturdy and dependable, but lacks OHKO power. She’s best giving out a goad, as she’ll prefer Fortify/Hone. She’s flexible and can fit easily in with another pair for a 3 unit core.
Est is easily merged and can be 4+10 with much less investment, while packing the power of a five star brave lance build, making her a great budget nuke. She wants Hone Fliers buff and can give out Fortify Fliers, but can also debuff the enemy.
Florina is our first strictly enemy phase unit. She requires high investment to work, but she’s capable of countering mages like a pro. Unfortunately, blue isn’t a great color for ranged counters, particularly because Florina is in competition with units more versatile and with better player phases than her.
Clair is a decent fragile speedster and appreciates a Hone if offensive and Fortify if defensive. She’s generally going to be outclassed in ORKO power by Est or the Brave Lance girls, but can distract mage AI if necessary.
Shanna can focus on quad brave builds, but she wants Hones/Goads from her teammates to do it and functions best with a tankier partner who can reposition her back to safety and handle an enemy blow. Shanna can give out Fortify, but she can also utilize it for a harder Iceberg proc.
Subaki is the odd man out, and is incredibly tanky and fast. He can give out Hone (though he wouldn’t mind using it for the speed boost), and appreciates someone who can fortify him. He works very well with Elincia or Cherche.
Valter can go with whoever, but ideally he wants to be Fortified. He makes for a good same-color partner as Cordelia and can really benefit from a Ward fliers from Minerva. As a bonus, he protects Minerva from red units.

Reds:

Greens are finally picking up traction to counter blue meta, meaning that reds are on the rise. While greens are primarily focused in mage units (such as Cecilia, Soren, Julia, Boey), melee units are starting to come into the fold as well (Such as B!Ike and PA!Azura). Your red unit ideally wants to counter all of these to make it easier for your blue unit to do their job. There are only three red units and so there’s more of a limited pool. If you want to skip out on any color in flier emblem, skip reds and use Cherche to kill greens.

Palla is an all-around anti-green who can cover your blue’s butt and distract the enemy Nino, Hector, or B!Ike. She comes with Goad, but can give either buff depending on how offensively or defensively you run her.
Caeda is an anti-mage red, which given the mage-heavy green meta, is pretty good. She’s defensive and wants a Fortify buff and can give out Hone, however, she pales in use without DC.
Elincia is the red nuke, somewhat less useful than her blue and green counterparts, but nevertheless lethal in her own right. She can give out Fortify and wants a Hone. She can tank greens in a pinch if you don’t run her with LnD, and generally works well with a defensive green to cover her from blues, particularly Reinhardt.

In Conclusion/About me:

I am a small whale who focuses solely on fliers. I’ve raised almost all of my flier units to 5 stars and have built the vast majority of them. I use about 5 different flier-only teams in Arena Assault and I’d be happy to go through them all if anyone was actually curious about them.

My SS unit is Cherche, my first (and only) +10 unit. I have a special fondness for her and she’s carried me through a lot. My main arena flier team consists of Cherche (who is capable of acting as a tank and nuke with her +6 all stats), Cordelia, and Elincia (though I sub Valter in at times).

This document took me about two months total, with frequent edits as the meta changes. I plan on keeping up with the meta/any new fliers that come along, and I hope that you’ll keep checking back for updates!

Thank you!

FEH Flier Guide

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