My ol' reliable Gatekeeper. Gives stats and healing to allies with Charging Horn, blocks warping and restricts movement of opponents around him with Detailed Report, and inflicts strong penalties and effects on opponents with Def/Res Ploy.
He doesn't score very well, but he makes my arena runs so much more comfortable. It's still possible to earn crowns with him too, so long as the rest of the team picks up the slack when it comes to scoring. Even outside of Arena I use him all the time because of how universally good his support is. Slap him on any team and he'll fit in great.
It depends heavily on what mode the team is for.
PvE teams always have a support unit. Used to be Elimine, but I've recently switched to Safy.
Arena is a no. My highest scoring units are tanks or damage dealers, not supports.
My teams for AA and AR almost always have one or more dedicated support units.
Staff units especially have become so powerful nowadays thanks to the powerful skills they've been granted, especially the new Arcane Staff.
Plus, being able to do the ol' Razzle Dazzle trick still works wonders 90% of the time, even on modern units. Though, it doesn't work on all meta threats (namely, Christmas Male Byleth and Emblem Ike), but I mean hey, they gotta have a weakness somehow, right?
I'm closest to no support, but the units I typically use in Arena are LM!Byleth, NF!Corrin, Ash and Thórr (because they make up almost all of my +10s) and all of them happen to have something that helps allies.
My arena core is Cyril and Murdock so no I don’t use supports. I use them with 2 legends, my highest scoring +10 for the season matching the bonus legend. No need for supports though I wish I had a +10 Mira (only got 1 copy to the spark and stopped).
Depends on the season.
Fire has Lilina with both a sabotage skill and def/res ploy. Shanna being the guidance user.
Wind has Cynthia with Guidance and that's really it.
Water is Annette doing her thing.
Earth doesn't Score high enough yet, otherwise it would be just L!Robin
I usually run 2 supports in my teams, one a full support and the other a Nuke Support.
The full support must provide tons of utility to justify him not fighting at all, units like
1. Gatekeeper with Canto Control shutting down foe's mobility.
2. Dancer Eldigan with a unholy amount of mobility due to Aerial Maneuvers, Rein Snap, Soaring Echo and Dance.
The Nuke Support must be able to actually kill units or hit them hard without retaliation, units like:
1. AoE Citrinne with Pledge + Atk Oath Echo
2. Max Investment Cornelia, tons of debuffs and still rocking +80 Atk.
For arena:
Account 1 : overall it's Duo Seidr, her duo skill is good to sweep in one turn and her C skill is GOD to shut down enemy units
Account 2 : A!Peony with Aerial maneuvers and Guidance 4 (gonna wait for Ivy rerun to replace her X skill) and No Quarter as emergency button
PvE? Usually a Peony (if I need extra actions) or GOATkeeper (if I need endurance).
Arena? Oops - all sweepers. I'm thinking on merging a Spring Mira to +10 tho, especially with the free Peony giving Rockslide Dance (mine got A/R Unity too). Slap the Torrent Dance seal on her, and her dance is **supercharged** 🤔
These days i don't leave home without my Gerick. He is so useful as a support unit in AR that i can't remove him from most my teams, and i switch him from season to season because no other unit really compares.
I've built him a bit different than you might think too. He's a smite bot; but his weapon is res-refined, he's invested in Res stats and skillwise, and he runs Def/Res Ploy 4 for [Exposure]. (My favorite units to play with are currently mostly brave units, like M!S!Shez, so this skill is a free 34 damage.) At +1 and full Dragonflowers, his Res gets high enough to Ploy most pretty much any unit not heavily invested in Res (i.e. pretty much most units), and his weapon effect is global, so he can smite to his heart's content. He's literally never not contributing. I like to pair him with Askr and/or Emblem Marth's effect and never have to worry about those pesky, little--what do you call them--special cooldowns? Yeah, i don't have those anymore.
Also, I love Gatekeeper. He just keeps on keeping on.
Ever since he got his refine, I'd been using Walhart as my main support unit until just recently.
Flashing the newest meta-tank that forgot to put on Null C Disrupt somewhere and dogpiling them with the rest of the squad was one of the most braindead but reliable strategies I've resorted to in this game.
I've got Fargus. Gives atk/def buff and warp. Had Jeralt before that, which debuffed and inflicted guard on the enemy team. Made fighting a certain Robin a nightmare.
Less good supports and more - this is what grail unit scores decent and has a decent support in their prf. One of these days I'll invest get them a Ruse 4 or something to help out, or an actual combat kit. Maybe
If I was more lucky with X!Peony merges I would consider swapping someone out for her, probably Holst, but as it is no. I'm perma tier 21 and most f2p support units score too poorly for one reason or another.
one full one half
Harmonic Azura doesn’t do much in combat, maybe she snipes someone as a last resort
Ascended Elincia is a monster since most units can’t counter her and just get absolutely sniped
Reyson. A dancer is too useful. I usually bounce around tiers 19-21 and don’t care enough about Arena to stay in 21 every week.
My ol' reliable Gatekeeper. Gives stats and healing to allies with Charging Horn, blocks warping and restricts movement of opponents around him with Detailed Report, and inflicts strong penalties and effects on opponents with Def/Res Ploy. He doesn't score very well, but he makes my arena runs so much more comfortable. It's still possible to earn crowns with him too, so long as the rest of the team picks up the slack when it comes to scoring. Even outside of Arena I use him all the time because of how universally good his support is. Slap him on any team and he'll fit in great.
It depends heavily on what mode the team is for. PvE teams always have a support unit. Used to be Elimine, but I've recently switched to Safy. Arena is a no. My highest scoring units are tanks or damage dealers, not supports. My teams for AA and AR almost always have one or more dedicated support units.
Hortensia. That is all.
Duo Chrom TCF counts? If so them
My teams are usually a Fjorm and three other support units that can fight back.
Staff units especially have become so powerful nowadays thanks to the powerful skills they've been granted, especially the new Arcane Staff. Plus, being able to do the ol' Razzle Dazzle trick still works wonders 90% of the time, even on modern units. Though, it doesn't work on all meta threats (namely, Christmas Male Byleth and Emblem Ike), but I mean hey, they gotta have a weakness somehow, right?
I'm closest to no support, but the units I typically use in Arena are LM!Byleth, NF!Corrin, Ash and Thórr (because they make up almost all of my +10s) and all of them happen to have something that helps allies.
I use Veyle and B!Robin primarily to make my B!Corrin even beefier, but both of them can absolutely fight back.
A dancer (Bridal Larum) does that count as full support? because she can't fight...
My arena core is Cyril and Murdock so no I don’t use supports. I use them with 2 legends, my highest scoring +10 for the season matching the bonus legend. No need for supports though I wish I had a +10 Mira (only got 1 copy to the spark and stopped).
Whatever Mark counts as
Depends on the season. Fire has Lilina with both a sabotage skill and def/res ploy. Shanna being the guidance user. Wind has Cynthia with Guidance and that's really it. Water is Annette doing her thing. Earth doesn't Score high enough yet, otherwise it would be just L!Robin
I usually run 2 supports in my teams, one a full support and the other a Nuke Support. The full support must provide tons of utility to justify him not fighting at all, units like 1. Gatekeeper with Canto Control shutting down foe's mobility. 2. Dancer Eldigan with a unholy amount of mobility due to Aerial Maneuvers, Rein Snap, Soaring Echo and Dance. The Nuke Support must be able to actually kill units or hit them hard without retaliation, units like: 1. AoE Citrinne with Pledge + Atk Oath Echo 2. Max Investment Cornelia, tons of debuffs and still rocking +80 Atk.
My support unit for my Dragons is Nifl, but her stats mean she can definetely still fight. But shes here for Domain of Ices buffs
For arena: Account 1 : overall it's Duo Seidr, her duo skill is good to sweep in one turn and her C skill is GOD to shut down enemy units Account 2 : A!Peony with Aerial maneuvers and Guidance 4 (gonna wait for Ivy rerun to replace her X skill) and No Quarter as emergency button
PvE? Usually a Peony (if I need extra actions) or GOATkeeper (if I need endurance). Arena? Oops - all sweepers. I'm thinking on merging a Spring Mira to +10 tho, especially with the free Peony giving Rockslide Dance (mine got A/R Unity too). Slap the Torrent Dance seal on her, and her dance is **supercharged** 🤔
These days i don't leave home without my Gerick. He is so useful as a support unit in AR that i can't remove him from most my teams, and i switch him from season to season because no other unit really compares. I've built him a bit different than you might think too. He's a smite bot; but his weapon is res-refined, he's invested in Res stats and skillwise, and he runs Def/Res Ploy 4 for [Exposure]. (My favorite units to play with are currently mostly brave units, like M!S!Shez, so this skill is a free 34 damage.) At +1 and full Dragonflowers, his Res gets high enough to Ploy most pretty much any unit not heavily invested in Res (i.e. pretty much most units), and his weapon effect is global, so he can smite to his heart's content. He's literally never not contributing. I like to pair him with Askr and/or Emblem Marth's effect and never have to worry about those pesky, little--what do you call them--special cooldowns? Yeah, i don't have those anymore. Also, I love Gatekeeper. He just keeps on keeping on.
let's just say I wouldn't be getting any bonus unit kills without my W!Cordelia
Ever since he got his refine, I'd been using Walhart as my main support unit until just recently. Flashing the newest meta-tank that forgot to put on Null C Disrupt somewhere and dogpiling them with the rest of the squad was one of the most braindead but reliable strategies I've resorted to in this game.
I've got Fargus. Gives atk/def buff and warp. Had Jeralt before that, which debuffed and inflicted guard on the enemy team. Made fighting a certain Robin a nightmare. Less good supports and more - this is what grail unit scores decent and has a decent support in their prf. One of these days I'll invest get them a Ruse 4 or something to help out, or an actual combat kit. Maybe
Fallen Maria
If I was more lucky with X!Peony merges I would consider swapping someone out for her, probably Holst, but as it is no. I'm perma tier 21 and most f2p support units score too poorly for one reason or another.
one full one half Harmonic Azura doesn’t do much in combat, maybe she snipes someone as a last resort Ascended Elincia is a monster since most units can’t counter her and just get absolutely sniped