One of Alcryst’s retainers, Lapis joins along with the second prince of Brodia at the start of Chapter 7’s story battle. Despite her lowly origins and penchant for eating grass, Lapis is one of the game’s premier sword fighters, who even serves to introduce you to the concept of Smash Weapons. This page will discuss Lapis’s strengths and weaknesses, including her starting stats, stat maximums and stat growths, and suggest the best classes and Emblem Rings for Lapis.

Lapis’s Stats and Stat Growths¶

Although she starts out with an Iron Blade, this is a poor way for Lapis to fight, as she’s one of the fastest characters in the game. With a SPD growth rate of 55% and a +3 cap to her max SPD, Lapis is tied with Chloé and Fogado for fastest character in the game, and it would be a shame not to take advantage of that. This makes a class with a high SPD cap ideal, and with a decent HP and DEX growth rate to go along with her high SPD growth, Lapis seems like a surefire frontliner. Unfortunately things aren’t quite so clear-cut, as her STR growth is a fairly mediocre 25%, and she actually suffers a STR cap penalty of -2. While she’ll have a high AVO score and will almost always strike twice due to her SPD, she does need some help, offensively. Whether this comes in the form of a high Might (MT) weapon, some Energy Drops, or by taking the time to level her as an advanced class with a higher STR growth rate, even a few points of STR goes a long way.

Best Classes for Lapis¶

As a high SPD character, Lapis is another prime candidate for an AVO tank, and this will narrow down class options significantly. Not really much sense in squandering that SPD growth, after all - Lapis can easily hit 30+ SPD by Lvl 40 if she promotes to an advanced class with high SPD growth, and if you don’t mind grinding another 20 levels, she can easily cap out in the 40s. If we also factor in her proficiency with swords, the options narrow themselves down even further.

Swordmaster¶

The ideal class for Lapis, in our opinion, the Swordmaster plays to all her strengths, giving her an S grade proficiency in swords, a SPD cap of 49 (52 with Lapis’s stat cap bonus), decent HP, STR and DEX. The only downside is that it only boosts her poor native STR growth by +10%, which will barely see her into the 20s, with average luck (assuming you don’t have Starsphere providing an additional boost). With an upgrade Steel Sword, Killing Edge and/or Armorslayer, her PHY ATK should reach the 30s, which is fine, but she’ll never be a bruiser like Diamant without some help. On the other hand, her high SPD will make it very difficult for enemies to hit her, and her decent HP, DEF and RES will allow her to tank the few odd hits that land.

Hero¶

While not as fast as Swordmaster, the Hero gives Lapis more potential HP, STR and DEF to compensate, although the STR growth is 15% - only 5% higher than Swordmaster. Lapis won’t gain access to S grade swords as a Hero, but she will be able to use axes or lances (your choice) at grade C proficiency, allowing her to use, say, a Hand Axe or a Javelin for some ranged options.

Griffin Knight¶

The Griffin Knight goes all in on SPD matching the Swordmaster’s +20% growth in SPD and 49 stat cap, while retaining the Swordmaster’s STR growth (+10%) and cap (40). Functionally the classes are very similar in utility, even enabling Lapis to attain an S grade in swords. The two major differences are the Griffin Knight is a flying class, making it susceptible to bows and incapable of benefitting from some forms of cover, but gaining the ability to use staves, something that’s useful, but not really something that suits Lapis, lore-wise, the way it does Chloé and Framme. The higher MAG cap and growth rates also allows Lapis to better use Levin Swords as a ranged option and workaround for high DEF enemies. It’s a fully viable option for Lapis, and a role she’ll excel at, even if we’re more sentimentally disposed towards Swordmaster.

Wolf Knight¶

Wolf Knight is another viable option that keeps Lapis on the ground while giving her a ranged option in the form of daggers and the higher movement speed of a mount. Sadly, there are some downsides - the Wolf Knight has a STR growth rate of +5%, which won’t help an already struggling Lapis. Still, the SPD growth is fine (+20%) and the caps for STR and SPD are both good, even if there’s little chance Lapis will reach the former without a good bit of grinding.

Best Emblem Rings for Lapis¶

Like most potential AVO tanks, Lapis wants the same handful of Emblem Rings - Sigurd, Lyn and Corrin, for various reasons which will be discussed below. If an enemy can’t hit you, they can’t hurt you, after all, and while STR is a liability for Lapis, it shouldn’t be a great enough of a weakness that you need to compensate with Emblem Rings.

Sigurd¶

A good go-to option for most potential AVO tanks, Sigurd gives its bearer a boost to MOV - +1 MOV when not engaged, and +5 MOV when engaged. This makes it easier for the character to headhunt vulnerable enemies and hop between cover. As a Swordmaster, Lapis might not be the best choice, as mounted units will benefit from a higher base MOV. A good choice for Lapis, arguably a better choice for Yunaka, Chloé or Framme.

Lyn¶

Lyn’s “Speedtaker’’ ability will give Lapis more SPD the more times she initiates combat and kills enemies, and if Lapis’s SPD ends up 9+ points higher than the enemy’s - something fairly likely given her amazing SPD growth - she’ll be able to follow-up before an enemy can attack. Finally, Lyn’s Astra Storm allows Lapis to pick off troublesome opponents from afar, an always welcome prospect. Since Yunaka is arguably a better fit for Corrin and any Griffin Knights are good pairings with Sigurd, Lyn is a fine choice for Lapis, as she can charge into battle in relative safety due to her AVO and use “Call Doubles” to block enemies and score Chain Attacks. The clones themselves are even decent AVO tanks who will counterattack, which gives Lapis the ability to clog up entire sections of the battlefield by using Lyn. An unlikely frontliner, but it works.

Lucina¶

Like all AVO tanks, Lapis wants to be in the vanguard, provoking enemies to attack her instead of other, easier-to-hit targets. That being the case, she’ll ideally be in the thick of combat most of the time, and since most of her preferred classes are Backup classes she’ll be keen to jump in and land Chain Attacks. Lucina will enhance this tendency via “Dual Assist” which allows Lapis to make chain attacks even when out of range, “Bonded Shield”, which blocks attacks directed at adjacent allies, and “All for One”, which provokes nearby allies to perform chain attacks against an adjacent foe you strike.

Best Skills for Lapis¶

As for skills, Lapis should learn and inherit the standard leveling skills: Lineage from Edelgard (substitute with Mentorship from Byleth if you don’t have access to it) and Starsphere from Tiki. These will both make an already strong character even stronger, which is always welcome. Other than that, Marth’s AVO+ skills are obviously desirable for an aspiring AVO tank, even though most enemies will struggle to hit Lapis when she’s in cover due to her natural AVO. Tiki’s Lifesphere is also wonderful for a passive AVO tank, as it’ll heal Lapis for up to 40HP (and remove status effects!) while she waits. You could also go out of your way to learn Lyn’s Alacrity and Speedtaker abilities if you wanted to benefit from those without having Lyn equipped.