I’ve seen a few posts like this, where people will make up a hypothetical they’d like to see for refines or future characters, and I wanted to take a crack at one myself. Specifically, for something I am very excited for later this year: CYL3 Brave Refines. CYL3 has my favorite group overall, and is especially important because Micaiah is there. I wanted to come up with something that could realistically happen, based on effects already in the game, but still gives each a tremendous boost to their performance. Feedback and/or discussion is encouraged.
Brave Alm
Effective against Dragon foes. Grants Attack +3. If unit is not adjacent to an ally, grants Atk/Spd/Def/Res +5. If unit initiates combat, negates effects that prevent unit’s follow-up attacks.
If unit is not adjacent to an ally, negates foe’s bonuses and negates unit’s penalties during combat. If unit defeats a foe, grants unit an extra action (once per turn), and grants Atk/Spd/Def/Res +5 to unit through unit’s next action.
I wanted something that worked with Scendscale. Which is an unfortunate A-slot prf, so no DC, meaning he has to go all-in on player phase. The base weapon effect is pretty much identical, but with an addition of the offensive half of NFU. Scendscale does prevent the use of Swift Sparrow 3 or anything to raise his speed, but his default speed tier isn’t bad, and Scendscale is about OHKOing foes anyway.
For the refine, I decided to take a page out of L!Edelgard’s book and give him a free extra action. Instead of the solo condition, he has to KO the opponent, which should be easy with Scendscale. I also had it give him an active buff, +5 to all stats. The negation of buffs on foe and debuffs on self is because Alm won, and the winner of every CYL is loaded with effects, so this seemed a decent addition without being too much.
I debated giving him accelerated cooldown trigger, but decided against. With that and Heavy Blade seal, he’d always have three actions every turn. Even L!Edelgard needs to work for that third action, you know?
Brave Micaiah
Effective against armored and cavalry foes. Neutralizes “Effective against flying” bonuses. Grants Res +3. Grants bonus to Atk/Spd/Def/Res during combat = current penalty on each of target’s stats. Calculates each stat bonus independently.
At start of turn, inflicts Def/Res -6 on foes within 3 rows and columns. If [Penalty] is active on foe, unit makes a guaranteed follow-up attack.
I wanted Micaiah to have a niche no other green tome flier has: defensive ability. We have gotten a ton of green tome fliers, and they’re all offensive. Brave Micaiah doesn’t keep up well, because of her low speed and lack of guaranteed follow-ups under any condition. So, I decided to give her the tools needed to rectify those things. The base effect adds immunity to flying effective damage, while the refine offsets the speed issue by granting guaranteed doubles if the foe has a Penalty. Basically copying Yune, since this Brave alt is very focused on Micaiah channeling her abilities.
The last effect granted is meant to supplement Yune’s Whispers, and I took Arvis’ effect, which is fair because if a free unit can do this, so can a Brave. 3 row and columns, no stat check, -6 to defense and resistance. This means Micaiah will pretty regularly pack +6 to both defenses, and easily sets up the guaranteed follow-up. Also, I’m pretty sure skills activate in order down the list, which means the -6 Res debuff hits first, then Yune’s Whispers hits. So it should help set up her signature skill, which is what I wanted.
This was kind of a lot of effects, but I felt like they were all appropriate. After all, Brave Hector exists.
Brave Eliwood
Accelerates special trigger (cooldown count -1). Effective against dragon and beast foes. Grants Speed +3. If unit initiates combat, grants Atk/Spd/Def/Res +6 and special cooldown charge +1 per attack during combat.
If unit’s HP > 50% and unit initiates combat, unit makes a guaranteed follow-up attack before foe can make a counterattack. Reduces damage from foe’s first attack by 30%.
Brave Eliwood always felt really unfortunate. A player phase lance cav, without special cooldown acceleration? We got better lance cavs than him instantly with Sirius and Perceval. So, my goal here was to lean into that player phase focus. Give him that reduced trigger count, upgrade fro m+4 to +6 to all stats, and copy Blazing Durandal’s effect a bit for +1 cooldown count per attack. No one wants to be outclassed by base Eliwood. Especially not his Brave alt.
The refine focuses on getting Galeforce reliably. Inverse Desperation for 50% HP or more. I did consider lowering the threshold, but decided against because then it gets silly. I did, however, acknowledge Winter Bernadetta’s insistence on free damage reduction, and gave him a 30% reduction on foe’s first hit. This is for a bit of enemy phase protection. Not much with that res stat, but you know.
Also this one I like because it feels more like Ninian is supporting him with the lance. Galeforce focused is like her dancing, and the damage reduction is like Ninis’ Grace is applied, which boosted defenses during combat in the base game. It’s nice and thematic.
Brave Camilla
Foe cannot counterattack. If unit initiates combat, grants Atk/Spd +4 during combat. After combat, if unit attacked, inflicts Gravity on target and foes within 1 space of target.
Inflicts Atk/Spd/Res -4 on foes within 3 spaces during combat. If unit attacks, deals 7 damage to target and foes within 2 spaces of target after combat.
This was pretty basic, but I decided Brave Camilla was already stupid good and didn’t need much. Up the +3 for initiation to a simple Swift Sparrow 2, but otherwise keep the base effect.
The refine is meant to do two things: double up on her optimal C-skills, and mirror Kinshi Hinoka. Kinshi Hinoka has Atk/Spd/Def Rein, while Brave Camilla gets Atk/Spd/Res. This also means Brave Camilla can double up on Spd/Res Rein, which would be both funny and terrifying to me. The second is just Savage Blow for both phases. This is so she can reliably drop it as a C-skill for Double Rein while still having one of the best benefits for a healer, but also because Clarisse is one of my favorite units right now and this seemed like a fun effect for Camilla as well.
