Lethe - A Cat and her Canto

(Warning: Too much text since I don't know when to quit but includes a tl;dr and a friend list ID at the end.)

Greetings again,

today I'll introduce Lethe: Gallia's Valkyrie, a unit who faces stiff competition in a world where units like Legendary Sigurd, Kempf, just normal Eliwood or even more similar rivals like New Year Kaden exist. On a positive note she's undisputed number one in the FEH cat girl power ranking for now, leaving other participants such as

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Halloween Sakura in the dust. Man, I really hope any version of you gets a strong refine at some point.

In any case that's more than enough reason for me to give her a go. Together with Nailah and Tibarn she was my most wanted unit since release and I consider myself lucky that I even got two versions of each! That also means Duo Naesala+Leanne sure must be the next in line but for now we keep our eyes on Lethe. Just better make sure she doesn't notice...

Weapon - Brazen Cat Fang

^(Old skills and alternatives: None)

It got more or less outclassed on a couple occasions but it still is a good offensive weapon. Short summary: +3 Spd, Atk/Ges Solo 3, +2 atk transformed and -4 Atk/Def with follow up attack cancel on enemy when attacking transformed.

Due to the nature of this weapon you better want to go with additional solo effects for stat boosting since she wants to forfill the solo requirement anyway unlike NY!Lethe. While most people like to simply stack attack and speed on offensive units I prefer adding more defense + attack decrease on enemies instead of raising speed to even higher levels. Adding all the following skills you end up with a 47/76/59/38/25 during battle without any help. Now add +5 true damage and -13 atk/def for the enemy to this in the best case scenario and you have a hard hitting and physically tanky three movement machine. And she looks great while doing it. Not so bad for an early Gen 3 unit.

I can't wait for Laguz refines in about one and half years. Enjoy your time in the limelight while you can, Kaden 2.

Assist - Reposition

^(Old skills and alternatives: None)

I finally pulled Reposition and it went straight to Lethe. It's Reposition. Maybe Draw Back is better on some Abyssal Maps. Let's leave it at that.

Special - Galeforce

^(Old skills and alternatives: Bonfire, Glimmer, Sol, Noontime)

The usefulness of Galeforce is undisputed. Unfortunately, Lethe doesn't have a slaying effect so adding that to her tendency to just one-shot things decreases the chance to trigger it after battle. That really doesn't stop me from running it, however, since having Galeforce up or not is more of a bonus instead of a necessity to survive thanks to her team and the Canto effect. Now there's no 'too much attack for Galeforce' either, just more relentless crushing. My overall build also has certain enemy phase capabilities which can make it easier to charge Galeforce on the following fight.

There's another thing though: Lethe goes for the kill in almost always every fight so damaging specials only turn fights against really tanky blue units into a winning match up. Instead, I just park Myrrh in their face and call it a day. Kiran truly is a canon mastermind. Noontime and Sol see some use from time to time.

A skill - Heavy Blade 4

^(Old skills and alternatives: Atk/Def Solo 4)

Back then I ran Atk/Def Solo 3 in the slot while having Heavy Blade as the seal. With the release of Heavy Blade 4 I pretty much waited for the Solo seals to release which fortunately happened fairly soon after.

HB4 is such a good skill. +5 true damage is really nice to have together with the special cooldown charge. That makes it easy to pick it over another stat booster since you're not really losing attack power, the most important thing to have for inner forfillment.

B skill - A/D Near Trace

^(Old skills and alternatives: Lull Atk/Def, Wings of Mercy)

I love the Tellius saga. Therefore I love Canto. Therefore I love this skill. Replacing Lull Atk/Def for this skill was an relatively easy thing to do. Even though I was getting used to not always triggering Galeforce and making sure that Lethe still always stays save after attacking... having this just feels right.

While losing the effect to ignore atk and especially def buffs can make a difference in hard fought battles it's really nice to have the extra movement after battle no matter if Galeforce is up or not. A/D Near Trace keeps the way to add more destructive force and tankiness to her fangs while also making it much easier for my enemy phase tanks to pick her up afterwards if necessary. You can even move a couple steps more towards the enemy after destroying that wall that keeps you from smacking someone in the face immediately. That's just a small bonus but it sounds tempting, right?

Overall it makes you less reliant on Galeforce procs after certain match ups and gives you an easier time to position yourself depending on the team.

C Skill - Atk/Def Menace

^(Old skills and alternatives: Some Rouse skills, Atk Smoke)

Despite her B Skill contributing to the name of this showcase it was actually this skill that made me think that Lethe got a huge upgrade now. I was in dire need of something good in here and with the release of the latest fallen banner (which was still a huge mistake all things considered) I was blessed with this.

There already have been many discussions about the power of Menace skills right now and in the future (Def/Spd or Atk/Spd version). Most people agree that lots of units have very good use for this but to actually make the most out of the debuffs you definitely want a player phase attacker. Something like a Galeforcer with high movement maybe? Should be hitting like a truck already and won't care too much about a counter attack either way? The unit in question should also be a slightly grumpy cat girl who would look great in a future duo so that I can finally say "Maybe duo units aren't such a stupid idea after all..." to truly unlock all the potential. Luckily I only have to look at all the cat and bird laguz I built since their release to make sure that all future Morgans and Def/Spd Menace holders won't even get to sit down before being sent to hell or wherever Edelgards like to spend their free time.

What can I say, it truly is a powerful skill which make Hit and Run (or Hit, Hit and Run) sets even more powerful. Any hard hitting unit with three movement or units with even more movement (Arvis was right all along) will love Menace. This skill is so strong that even mixed and enemy phase units get so much out of it.

Seal - Atk/Spd Solo

^(Old skills and alternatives: Atk/Def Solo)

I recently switched to the spd version of this and sacrificed some def for it. Lethe now gets 59 speed unbuffed or 65 buffed and that will be more than enough for me. If anything still wants the speed battle it usually can't survive one hit.

Weaknesses?

Fallen Edelgard. Cool unit. Sorry Lethe, I request that you need to get along with Petrine now. Good thing you are more or less sharing builds already, you guys have so much in common.

Also other units that can take a hit and deny your follow up attack, blue dragons if they are strong enough to one-hit-knock you out and most mages if you don't slap their bum first (so mages actually stand no chance against you, let's gooo^oo^^oo^^^oo )

Well, that's it. If you're still with me then thanks for reading!

Due to the recent friend list limit increase I have some free slots to offer if interested. ID: 7035665710

If I don't already have your main unit like three times already I probably won't refuse any invite until I'm full so go ahead! I'd appreciate some cavalry, armor or any laguz units in general but I will accept the invites all the same.

Huge shout-out to kaya8, the artist. Personally I'm absolutely sure couldn't have asked for better art for the first Lethe, I love it.

tl;dr: Hit hard and keep running.

Pspsps

That's a great build!

I want to do the same on my Lethe ( I have the skills) but I am waiting for the FE9 HoF in case Lethe being in this one.

Wow! She looks amazing.

Lethe is one of the cutest fe characters ever there I said it