Ike, Brave Mercenary-- Fire Emblem Heroes

Brave Ike

Neutral IVs                                                   Weapon:  Urvan

Hp:43                                                            Assist:                                                                                  

Attack:36                                                      Special:  Aether

Speed:28                                                       A Slot:  Steady Breath

Defense:35                                                    B Slot:  Beorc’s Blessing

Resistance:20                                                C Slot:  Threaten Defense

Brave Ike is a solid green infantry unit.  His native kit lends itself well to an enemy phase orientated build, which is supported by his strong defenses.  These defenses rise on the enemy phase due to Steady Breath.  Ike also enjoys a cooldown reduction from this skill which makes Aether a viable option.  Aether fits Ike’s tank build perfectly, giving him a lot of sustain.  He brings two unique things to the game that only he can use:  His prf weapon Urvan, and the B slot skill Beorc’s Blessing.  Urvan offers a lot of survivability, lowering a second attack by 80%.  This radically improves Ike’s matchups against brave weapons as well as bows and mages.  Urvan even gives Ike protection on the player phase when Ike initiates into a double.  This goes a long way to balancing out Ike’s resistance and rounds out his tanking game.  Beorc’s blessing also contributes to an enemy phase build, striping cavalry and flyer team bonuses.  This skill is somewhat narrow focused, and less relevant in the current meta that is dominated by dragons and armor units. 

Team Comp Needs:  Ike completely fills a team’s need for a defensive tank.  Brave Ike’s biggest fears are red units with a high attack and units that run guard that shut down his special that he deeply relies on.  He needs strong player phase units that are red and blue.  Reinhardt would give Ike lots of proactive protection.  Brave Lucina has great utility as well as player phase attack power.  Arvis also offers a lot to Ike as a partner.  He can give small scale healing in a pinch as well as a large variety of debuffs on top of being able to get magic kills and tank physical damage. 

Ideal Build:  Immortal Ike

Weapon:  Urvan

Assist:  Swap

Special:  Aether

A Slot:  Steady Breath

B Slot:  Quick Riposte

C Slot:  Odd Defense Wave

Seal:  Attack Smoke/Threaten Attack/Close Defense/Defense +3

Explanation

This build focuses on turning Ike into a sustain tank that kills on the enemy phase with an Aether trigger.  Quick Riposte is an essential element to making this build work.  This ensures that on Ike’s first enemy phase combat he is able to trigger aether, hopefully restoring his health and killing his target.   If successful, Ike will be able to defeat a second target similarly.  Oddly enough this plan can be somewhat hampered if Ike’s first counterattack deals too much damage—not leaving enough health on his target to fill his health with his second strike.  For this reason, we are avoiding attack raising and defense lowering C-Slots.  Ike certainly wants the buff to land on himself, making a wave skill an excellent choice.  Keeping in line with this thought the attack smoke seal provides a debuff that adds to Ike’s survivability. 

Budget Build:  The Immortal Ike, Lite

Weapon:  Urvan

Assist:  Swap

Special:   Aether

A Slot:  Steady Breath

B Slot:  Quick Riposte

C Slot:  Attack Smoke

Seal:  Close Def/Attack-Def Bond/Threaten Attack/Defense 3

This build is nearly identical to the last.  The C slot changes to Attack smoke and the seal changes to Close Defense.  This build functions nearly as well as the ideal build.  Ike gains resistance in dragon fights and trades the buff that he gives to his allies.