Long Post, important build info is highlighted! ^ ^ Fluffy haired cutie boy Corrin is here
again!This time he’s dressed in traditional
Japanese Hoshidan garb and ready to celebrate the new year! (Every day is a new year from the last time it was that day...don’t think about it too hard.) Corrin even figured out how socks work! I’m so
disappointed. Take those off right now! proud! This time he’s put down his trusty Yato in favor of a bow. Bows happen to be my favorite weapon so I was pretty excited to see he was an archer! (Fun fact, I almost always took an archery talent in Fates, but never did anything with it because Hoshido Noble’s staff utility and Nohrian Trust+Hoshidan Unity builds were too much fun!) The fact M!Corrin’s first alt was an Archer felt like a nod to me even though I know it was just a coincidence. Now this precious boy is here to shoot a message of well wishes straight to you!
I was originally going to make 2 builds but I ended up with 4 somehow. Oops!
General Stuff Blessing is light for AR shenanigans. Originally it was water, and it’s still weird to think of him with anything else, but sometimes practicality is more important than aesthetics. ;-;
Ally support is Byleth. Since the adorable archer Ashe isn’t here, Corrin is helping Byleth cope. This also lets me run two of my favorite swordies (or Corrin+any of my other reds) without color overlap, which is great!
If I identify as both of them, is this narcissism? Accessory is
Festival Mask cause it looks cute on him. I also think it fits his Hoshidan theme pretty well. And let’s not forget that it has AMAZING synergy with the Lilith charm on the arrow in his artwork!
Let’s Enjoy The New Year, Together! - Arena Support Will Corrin ever step out of his role as arena cheerleader? Will he ever stop looking cute in a skirt?
The answer to both those questions is no. Waaaay back when I settled on building regular M!Corrin as an arena support (before I actually started building him) I had the idea of eventually making a full Corrin Arena support core. He’s just so supportive! But alas, being a tempest reward made this but a dream. Enter Heroic Grails! Finally Corrin could get the merges needed to make this dream a reality! All he needed was several hundred cups of...whatever’s in those grails…
Corrin, the holiday isn’t an excuse, drink responsibly! This might be the most expensive and unnecessary arena supporter ever considering just about any 3-4 star archer could run this build cheaper, but eh.
Fiddlestick Bow (Def Refine) My arena team is based around stacking Def/Res boosts on the bonus unit so they can survive long enough to get kills. This helps with that. He can also pick his default Hama Ya for General use. I think for support, Hama Ya is a better all around bow, but in a place like Arena where you know you’ll fight more melee, Fiddelstick is a bit better. It’s Defense refined to give more physical bulk in case any mean old armors sneak around (lol
Clank Clank CLANK so stealthy!) and try and hit him.
Rally Atk/Spd+ Standard Arena fair. Gives him the points he needs to pull his weight, and also grants team support. Since regular Corrin already runs Def/Res, it’s best to diversify with Atk/Spd, even if I find it generally less useful.
Aether Wheee, more Arena points!
Close Counter Sensing a pattern yet? Gives more points. Will be C. Duel Infantry if Loki ever comes back.
Def/Res Ruse I’m one of the like 5 people who actually liked feint skills, and run Atk feint on my regular corrin. But ruses are just better, and it still naturally fits my Arena support setup. While it hits for -5 as opposed to -7 on a feint, it still softens enemies up for the bonus unit,
and lays down a guard effect on enemies, so I can potentially retire Sakura and her witchy wand from my Arena core for someone who scores slightly higher. Further, it affects both Def and Res, so no matter who the bonus unit is, they’ll benefit from the debuff. And unlike Feints which only apply the debuff based on the position of the unit you’re rallying, this hits based off both that unit and Corrin, making it easier to hit. Even if he isn’t always glued next to the bonus unit like his regular form making it a bit harder to rally them and trigger this, there’s no rule that says he can’t rally someone else, since the Atk/Spd buff is less important to my strat than the Def/Res boost! He can even stand behind his regular form and rally to debuff the foe for both 7 Atk
and 5 Def/Res
with guard! Combo Wombo!
Ruses are so much better than feints it’s not funny. Hopefully his default form can swap up to Atk/Spd ruse soon.
Close Guard Stacking close guard with his bow’s effect, he can give a nice +8 Def and Res to everyone just for hanging out, provided the enemy is attacking at melee range. Not bad! Combine this with the +18 Def/Res my unit will usually get from regular Corrin, and the -7 Atk from Atk Feint and you’ve got a beefy bonus unit!
Drive Def Let’s add 3 more Def to the stat pile just because we can. This means against a physical melee foe he provides 11 Def. Also he gives +3 Def for daggers and archers on the rare occasion they pop up, so he’s not totally deadweight against them.
I’ll Protect You, So Try And Stay Healthy! - Mixed Tank Corrin wants you to stay healthy this year, so he’ll defend you from injury! Then he’ll teach those bullies a lesson! A fairly standard mixed tank build that serves as his default setup.
Guard Bow (Res Refine) Corrin already has great physical defense, but his res leaves something to be desired. This helps fix that. Distant Def is great, further improving his matchup against daggers and archers, but also giving him a fighting chance against magical ranged threats. Combined with max merges and dragon flowers, his res suddenly doesn’t look so bad!
Reposition Normally I prefer draw back on ranged units, but Corrin is an exception. He actually has a defense stat (a good one at that) so he's fine to take a few hits.
Bonfire What would a new year's celebration be without some fireworks? Hits enemies with his mighty defense stat to make up for his average attack.
Close Counter "what? you think i'm just gonna stand there and take it?" Despite how stupid everyone thinks he is, Corrin still knows not to just stand there and let people hit him without doing something about it. Thanks to his younger brother, he's learned how to punch people in the face! Makes him a great facetank, especially against fliers.
Guard His defenses are good, but he can still get beat up by specials, so let’s disable those. This slot is pretty flexible though. Some other options I’ve considered for this slot are QR for doubles and Dull ranged which prevents units from powering through his defenses by cheating with bladetomes. Cancel Affinity is also an option he has to keep his neutral matchup no matter what, but triangle adept raven tomes aren’t the most common thing in the world.
Atk Smoke Using ancient Hoshidan ninja techniques (which he learned from Kaze), Corrin lays down some smoke to weaken the enemy attack, helping him survive hits even better. If someone else is debuffing Atk, he has other options like Def Smoke, or Close Guard.
Swift Stance This gives him a decent bump to his res which synergizes with his guard bow, and means he doesn’t crumple quite as hard against dragons which is important for Close Counter, though he shouldn’t be trying to tank those anyway. It also bumps his speed up to a respectable level to deny enemy follow ups. Warding Stance is another option he can take for a slightly bigger res boost, and to even out his defenses a bit more. If we ever get a barrier lance for bows, I’d probably swap to that and warding for more even tanking against dragons.
Let’s Send Our Wishes to the Heavens! - Aether Raids This set looks somewhat similar to his Guard bow set. Whereas that set wants to fight the long fight, this one wants to OHKO Fliers. Flier balls mess me up a lot in AR and I usually just accept them as a loss. But no more! Corrin is here to shoot down the mean old fliers. It also means he can help earn back some of the many, many, grails I had to spend to build him. How helpful!
Candlewax Bow (+Res) I was originally unsure what bow to run on this set, but then this bow was revealed. Candlewax Bow is incredible and has so many positives to it! It lets Corrin run fury and CC at the same time to improve his stats across the board. Most importantly, the 3 extra Atk helps with this OHKO build. The fury damage also helps put him into vantage range against smart people who had the foresight to not over level their lightning traps. Even if he can’t get to vantage range because of trap placement, with Eir boosts and his naturally good defense, the extra defensive stats from this may let him take a hit to put himself in vantage range.
Even when not fighting flierballs, he’ll soak some chills for his other teammates with the extra stats it provides. Probably not ideal, but eh. I figure he’s overkilling most non iote’s shield Fliers even if he eats all the debuffs, (which will be mostly evened out by buffs.) Atk refine is actually somewhat tempting since he mostly just wants attack for one hit kills, but I doubt the +1 Atk will make a huge difference. Res at least means he might survive a hit in a pinch when combined with Eir buffs and brazen.
(Also a candle is the perfect thing to model a fury weapon after. Just as it burns itself down, fury burns up your HP. With that said, I have no clue what’s going on with the other fury weapons.)
Reposition Standard movement assist. Puts himself in the enemy line to use CC, also helps move allies towards Aether pots.
Glimmer Low cooldown and helps with the effective damage he’s doing to fliers to further cement kills. Moonbow or Iceberg may be a better choice for handling Iote’s shield fliers, but I’m not sure.
Close Counter Let’s him counterattack the pesky Est that seems to lead the charge on every flier team.
Vantage Once he’s in vantage range, Corrin can laugh as all the enemy fliers throw themselves against them and he strikes them down with more hatred than Takumi on the Great Wall of Suzanoh
I’m so sick of flierballs He still has to watch out for hardy bearing and dazzling staff effects, but with his ability to attack at range he can usually snipe those units. Unfortunately he might kill everyone before the Aether pots can be taken out if they’re tucked away, but not having an auto loss against flier teams is well worth the extra aether.
Def Smoke Another devastating Hoshidan ninja technique, this time taught to him by Panne
who apparently trained as a ninja at some point This lets him debuff enemies to further secure kills with vantage. Especially helpful for cracking ward fliers and enemies packing Iote’s shield.
Brazen Atk/Res Gives a nice boost to Atk which combos with Vantage. The extra res also further improves survivability against magic, which may just save him from a Brave Camilla or Iote’s shield Myrrh
but probably not since his health will be low. funnily enough, with this and
Eir boosts, he’d deal more damage with Iceberg than bonfire. At least, until we get another light mythic to replace the second Eir.
This Year, I Resolve to Grow Ever Stronger! - Offensive As weird as it is for a “slow, bulky, archer with middling attack,” max investment Corrin can hit some great offensive numbers! My +10 Klein will do offensive sets better with his pref, but at least Corrin won’t die if someone looks at him, so that’s kinda nice. If I ever need to run two offensive archers it’s nice to have a backup, but mostly this set is just leftovers from inheriting other skills from units. No point in wasting that Swift Sparrow from SM!Eirika after all! Naturally this set will probably see the least use as a result, but you never know what weird strategy will be just what you need to clear an abyssal map.
Candlewax Bow (+Spd) Slapping a Brave bow on him would be easier, (and he does have it inherited as an option) but he likes having more attack from using a different weapon. This is a standard Fury + Desperation setup, except the fury is in the bow, leaving his A slot open for Swift sparrow to pump his offenses even further, all while maintaining respectable defenses!
Draw Back For a squishier offensive build, I'd prefer him not to put himself in harm’s way if possible.
Bonfire A nice boost to his Atk using his still solid defense.
Swift Sparrow With his A slot open from the bow, he can take Swift Sparrow to pump his offenses even further. Mostly a leftover from foddering other stuff, but I prefer this over life and death to leave his defenses intact, since that’s the main draw of this build over using Klein.
Desperation While Corrin can take a hit, once he gets rolling he won’t want to since he’ll be losing HP from fury.
Atk smoke This one is taken to further leave him less susceptible on EP, but if used with dancers Def smoke would be used instead. As always a team buff could also be taken.
Brazen Atk/Spd After a few hits, his brazen kicks in for even more power! It’s probably overkill but eh. He can also take a different brazen to further improve his bulk to lessen the chances of him dying on EP since he’s burning himself out with the bow, but I think stacking offenses is funnier if I’m going with a meme offense build. It also helps cement his speed superiority over even super fast units.
Closing Thoughts Like his original form, New Year’s Corrin isn’t the most amazing unit in the game, but that doesn’t stop him from joining in on the fun! Whether it be celebrating New Years, cheerleading, or just a standard fight, it’s sure to be a good time when this cutie is around!
Now, the burning question: will I ever complete the full Corrin arena core dream? Probably not. Adrift Corrin is too rare for me to scrounge up 10 more copies unfortunately. Unless we get another easily accessible Corrin the dream probably ends here
And F!Corrin doesn't count! >:T My dream final team member would be Legendary Water Hoshido Noble Healer M!Corrin but who knows if that would even happen, and if I’d be able to get the +10 to make it worthwhile. Also I hate legendary banners and they’d probably just give him blazing Yato or something.
Bonus I can be your Angel or your Devil >:3c 
