Relm
Infographic (October 2023)
Summon Effects triggered by Sketch Summon
Character Notes & Recommendations
Have updates or suggestions? Contact us via Reddit or Discord, find our info Behind the Scenes!Summon Board Passive selections:
We recommend to avoid choosing element DMG up passives as only 1 hit of her Sketch Summon has an elemental hit post rework
Odin choose 4 / 6 / 7
Bahamut choose 3 / 4 / 6
Usuals:
Ifrit, Shiva, Ramuh, Brothers 4 / 5 / 7
Leviathan, Pandemonium, Alexander, Diabolos 4 / 5 / 6
For more details and help with summons, check Summon Hub!
Sphere Recommendations
NOTE: The sphere letters below are hyperlinked to our Sphere Hub which lists all available spheres sorted by effect!C Sphere - Avoid spheres that trigger after self healing
Ceodore/Minwu/Braska spheres can let Relm handle some healing with how often she'll act
Rosa/Porom will give her some party HP regen, but it's a small effect. Nine's will let her heal herself, but Nine is just for niche soloing cases
Alphinaud sphere can be good for her if you use her skills often however there's less reason to with her Tentacles attack
E Spheres - If taking to DET9 Reckoning, see: Tier 9
Focus on ATK (and mBRV boosts if possible)
Paine's sphere is wonderful for her, as she frequently hits for weakness. Quistis' is also nice, and both of these boost key stats for the party
Kefka, Seymour, Yuffie, Emperor are all good ATK spheres for her
How-To-Play Notes
Relm gets a lot of free turns when enemies act and instead of being an interesting, beneficial playstyle where she can maintain FR Time turns she actively works against Force Time. She can still play for FR retain, but so can the rest of the cast making her stand out much less.
Sketch Summon (S1) will somewhat mimic a summon which can be used to counter Lufenia/Reshinryu orbs. If an orb check isn't there, then bring whatever summon you would've brought anyway
Odin when instant break is needed (50% to break)
Pandemonium when launch is needed (deals 9 CU, 50 are needed for a launch)
Else an elemental summon when that element is needed
Note that while this move can be used to prevent her Sketch debuff from reapplying, it wills till grant her SPD up and make her faster anyway.
Sketch (S2) lets her reapply her Sketch debuff to a target. After using it, the skill will upgrade into Sketch+.
Sketch+ (S2) will also inflict a blind and move her turn forward (before the target) if her next turn was after the target.
Star Prism (EX) will recharge in 2 skill uses and 2 Tentacles after her first EX use. It's her hardest hitting move and reapplies her Sketch debuff to continue her warping.
Ulty Sketch (LD) refreshes her LD buff which contains party auras and also reapplies her Sketch debuff. Her LD buff also unlocks:
Tentacle (HP after a warp) which is a free button to use upon warping as it's the same damage as LD itself while maintaining her current buffs and only available after she warps.
Promised Painting (BT) grants the usual BT aura and her unique gimmick is she will provide anyone below her in the party some extra HP DMG Limit but allies above her will join her when she warps.
Her BT duration will not lower when she warps however those who warp with her will still lose a turn of BT effect and any buffs they don't refresh/maintain themselves and all warped allies will eat a turn of FR time.
Portrait Mirage Attack (FR) lets you see Kelger's BT animation if you didn't pull it, reapplies her sketch debuff (you can't escape it) and asks for:
Magic ability on turn: +40%
Attacking an enemy with Sketch on turn: +40%
No special auras included.
What were they cooking?
As mentioned earlier, Relm isn't meant to shine in FR time: low damage on everything except EX, her warps still consume a turn of FR time, her FR is still restricted to magic users for full boost to Retain later. So what DOES she do well that stands out?
Her turn warping can be seen as clunky turn hogging so link attackers can help supplement her damage. Cissnei, Kadaj, Leo, Noctis, etc are all solid link attackers however some link attackers are a little more preferable like Kain and Cor who do their off-turn attacks on both allied and enemy turns.
You can extend the turn hogging to another ally if you place them above Relm in the party so bring your Astos, Yda, Reks, Snow, Balthier, Strago, Enna, etc.
If timed properly, Relm and allies can warp forward and use their Echoes quickly to set up a BT phase this way as well, just ensure the party can survive any potential enemy attacks with a Freeze/Raijin call
If Relm's warps aren't the focus of your team, place her on the top of the party and enjoy her BT auras as you would with any other support that can offer better auras, follow ups or utility
She lacks defensive utility besides a single target 50% blind which means you would want a counter tank right? That counter tank was already doing well surviving and punishing enemy turns and Relm will reduce their effectiveness.
Some very niche use cases Relm has are that she can extend a friend unit's stay by 1 turn if the friend is called on a turn where Relm warped. In a similar fashion, she can extend summon phase by 1-3 turns depending on how many units warp with her thanks to her BT effect; this can be used for some extra HP DMG Limit and safety from most threshold attacks.
Restating what is said on the infographic with more detail:
She doesn't really do anything to excel her allies.
She can bring up strong nukes: they were nuking already just fine in 0 boss turn strategies.
She can keep her BT up and turn hog for follow up units: other units have better utility and follow up units are universal with rush down.
She can help trap units reapply traps: she's taking up FR turns fast with her SPD up already her warps make it worse and counter/trap units were just fine without her. Breaks from traps are enough to let said trap unit reapply without worry and counter units want as many things in their way.
She wants enemies to act: she offers no defensive utility and the team can get squashed. Most defensive utility units thrive in other non-Relm teams. Snow is a possible exception but he's his own can of worms.
If you want to slow her down, you can't. You would need full framed buffs on Relm and debuffs on the enemy to prevent her Sketch and SPD up to have her play a normal Aurabot role.
Personal note from Cel: As a huge FF6 and Relm fan, this era has not been kind to characters that want to act a lot whether it was Lufenia orbs, Shinryu fights gaining quick charging and healing FR times along with running down FR time where they had to sell us the solution of FE 50 and FR retain. Relm's notes are not all jokes, they're not fully dismissing the character as she can still see use but her interesting niches she could offer were mostly ignored or made detrimental to endgame systems. I will still pull and green her as I did in JP and bless you all who also decide to do so. Thank you for taking the time to read this~
Removable Passives (remove if you run out of CP space):
Tachygrapher Lore is a 10% party SPD up, which you may not want if your EX's are just short of being charged
Break Speed Up is a 1 turn speed boost, and Relm often breaks the enemy, so having her take less turns may be good for the Lufenia orb, but it really depends on your team comp
DEF passives
Bonus Up All is a small break bonus for the party that can be removed if you need to...