\*“You may wonder what I am doing, standing here right now. I am waiting for time to pass— peacefully.”\* -Zephiel, my former MVP Unit until he was disgracefully punted to my reserves to make room in my main barracks.

Time has indeed passed. Many moons have come and gone, and in its wake it has radically damaged a meta to the point where former combat royalty are now mere shells of their former selves, only in a matter of months does a new titan emerge to deftly swipe a crown as leader of a new archetype, while legends of old welcome the  disgraced and fallen into their comfortable yet solemn status as benchwarmer.

This, too, came after my Zephiel. I am no binding blade fan, haven’t engaged with it much besides watching the occasional Ironman. But there’s always been a few things that has made me interested in characters, especially when it comes to FEH. Unique animations, and Sky-High HP stats.

Who doesn’t love the feeling of playing as a final boss? As you may remember from my \[Somewhat outdated Fallen Male Robin Build\](https://www.reddit.com/r/FireEmblemHeroes/s/RjZtnAZzMk) (still at +9 by the way :\^) ), this is something I’ve reveled in doing for quite a while now. This all started with Zephiel, who was my debut armor since Book 1, with a core of Him, Tana, Klein and Lucius. God, those were the times.

Actually for the fun of it, here is my (first)\[https://www.reddit.com/r/FireEmblemHeroes/s/Y3sXDDnO6E\] and (second)\[https://www.reddit.com/r/FireEmblemHeroes/s/lqQdBeOTxc\] Zephiel builds. Oh my god, the nostalgia of it all! Who doesn’t love when Fire Boost 3 was the way to be a quirky little blorbo in this game? Or how about racking up a whopping total of EIGHTEEN defense and res on enemy phase? How did the game even survive such astronomical numbers???

Well, let’s jump back ahead into our present day. The last I left the King, he was rocking a nasty Arcane Éljúðnir build with Distant Counter, Hardy Fighter and A/R Near Save. 

Be still my beating heart.

This means that he wasn’t really updated past Book 6, meaning he’s been collecting dust for the better half of 3.5 years. 

And today. Today, that all changes. I was looking deep into my barracks, searching further and further for answers on how to give my old friend the facelift he deserves.

And finally, it all clicked into place. E!Byleth was in the finals of AHR, and I already sparked one for his ring. And, with the thrilling conclusion of the Voting Gauntlet, I am so pleased to announce to everyone that I pulled a spare Emblem Byleth on the banner and we are all receiving getting an infantry tank that was just shown to auto lose to a lance flier they just released instead!

…it’s funny how fate works out sometimes.

With the final piece of my puzzle assembled, I got to work.

Here is Zephiel’s Grand Return: Bern’s Infuriated Instructor!

\*\*Weapon: Serving Knife+ (Res EFF)\*\*

No renegades here. Zephiel has studied many blades in his past, ranging from Barriers to the mighty Ecksachs, but none have proven to be more damaging to his opponents nor his ego than the cake knife that came flying into our barracks last teatime. This is one of the better pairings to any byleth ring user worth their salt, since you are granting an additional action not only to yourself but to any ally that has already moved, passing along two bonuses for your troubles. More bonuses means more true damage, and considering he will be paired with other bountiful bonus allies like H!CYL!Ike for Radiant Hero in AR and my BW Myrrh with Strat Assault 4 in Arena, he will start dealing some hefty hits if need be. 

This will likely be temporary or on reserve for certain teams once a new arcane sword releases, but for now I think this does the job great. Res Refine to just even the odds on his overall bulk.

\*\*Assist: Swap\*\*

will be swap gait when I get the chance please don’t laugh at me I will start crying and throwing up and screaming and 

\*\*Special: Armored Flare\*\*

Oh now we are getting to my favorite part. The part where I talk about my complete and utter disregard for a collection and “meta” units. 

Randomly pulled a Harmonic Hector when I was bored and had nothing to spend orbs on. I was not too impressed by his gimmick and decided that instead of just letting him sit around and collect dust, I’d throw that juicy special onto one of my armors.

Both my grimas are rocking the Dragon Fire and Ice skills, which are technically worse than these but I still prefer to have the backup healing. So this is where I looked into Zephiel, and how this entire process began.

What else is there to say? A whopping 100% damage add on from defense to any special proc, great talent support and unconditional damage reduction. Perfect for a beast of an armor like him. 

\*\*A Slot: Strat Flame 4\*\*

I remember talking about in a comment how I foddered my only emblem Corrin for Pair Up 4 because I valued the skill more than I valued her ring and her as a unit, and it wasn’t even the first time since I foddered my only Emblem Lyn at the time for Speedtaker 4. I got downvoted for this, actually.

Anyways, so I sacked my only Emblem Edelgard for my 10 year old unit. 

I had no tricolor boost skills to hand out, and honestly I feel like people are too afraid to give up what they perceive as useful. Edelgard’s fodder economy is generationally bad, since both her A and C slots are their own skill line. At least you can nab patience too (which I didn’t need, thanks Hector!). But I digress— Strat Flame 4 gives Zephiel the extra damage and bulk he needs to make up for some of the true damage difference between Serving Knife and any modern weapon release nowadays. Armor A slots are somewhat limited, so I feel like this was a rather appropriate decision to make considering my only use for E!Edelgard was her ring and dragonflowers, and my Elincia was doing just fine with Sigurd Ring.

\*\*B Slot: Patience\*\* 

lmao get it. it’s like. it’s like what he says on the Home Screen

Anyways. My super-duper-max-investment-resource-sink-complete-with-the-sprinkles-and-cherry-on-top-Aide-Essence Zephiel just BARELY reaches 30 speed, and you know what THAT means! 

I don’t need to explain why this is a good choice here— potent follow and damage reduction based on his high defense is more than enough to elaborate. Plus it was already there on 2/4 main fodder sinks here, it was pretty much a given at this rate. I’m not sure if another armor skill would’ve been more useful here, but I think the overall value of this skill is at minimum equivalent to something like Counter or Assault Fighter.

\*\*C Slot: Instruct 4\*\*

This is where things get fun.

Zephiel has stats. A lot of them, even.

So what if I have a tank that bolsters the bulk and offense of any of my frontliners while being able to shrug off any hits coming his way? Enter the Instructor. 

It’s just probably one of the more fun support skills on the market right now, it does a great job of bringing some units up to speed almost instantly. It pairs nicely with Serving Knife and even Byleth Ring (gee, I wonder why), it just gives this armor a different, more unique use than just being a generic savior unit. 

In my headcanon, Zephiel was brought back from the bench on the condition he would teach some shit like precalc. He begrudgingly does so because of the Hero Contract Or Whatever Anna drafted up.

\*\*Seal: Bold Fighter 3\*\*

Just there to activate some more x3 attacks— the -1 special cooldown bonus on player phase per hit also helps him reach the special procs more often.

X skill: uhhhhhhhhhhhh

Well enough chit chat. Now here comes the moment you all wait for when I ramble on and on about another dumbass unit nobody has thought about in the last 3 years— 

\*The Meta Check, with Tim!\*

As always, these units are supported by what I consider to be their most optimized support partners. In this case, it is the aforementioned Harmonic Ike and Strat Assault Myrrh, with some Arcane Latona/Preempt Amplify support from my Ascended Elincia.

Against the BRAND NEW Mythic Tiki on her Abyssal Map, Zephiel goes against his unwavering support for the Dragons and CRUSHES her defenses. 

Zephiel then decides to reenact the events of Binding Blade and showcases the dramatic irony of taking most of Harmonic Hector’s kit away by winning against the weapon triangle, DESTROYING the Ostian Obstinance.

Feeling more powerful than ever, he decides to venture into Asgard to try and take down the chucking chief herself, NY!Baldr, where he— oh god oh fuck no wait go back go back

Finally, in an ultimate move of showing how much he truly can wait peacefully— we go to Ryoma, who agreed very nicely to wait 25 turns before beginning his assault. And as it turns out, Zephiel is the true waiter of them all, as he serves a cold plate of damage to the incoming lobster.

This is where I’d list all the fodder I gave him and from where, but honestly y’all his skill list is so bloated and he’s so old i don’t remember most of these 😭 

Thank you all, as always, for reading. AndI hope to see you all next time with another over the top unit analysis. 

Bern’s Infuriated Instructor: A +10 Zephiel Build