Celeste is a promoted Gryphon Master, a fast, evasive flier who slices up cavalry lines and turbocharges your squad’s turn order. She brings elite mobility (Flight), top-tier Evasion, strong Phys ATK, and excellent Mag DEF, letting her dive priority targets and shrug off spells better than most melee fliers.
How to Recruit Celeste
Complete the Elheim story mission “A Shifting Tide.” After the clear, Celeste joins your army (and if you previously spared Gammel and Mandrin, they join here as well).
Class Overview: Gryphon Master (Flying)
Gryphon Masters are high-initiative skirmishers built to ignore terrain, pick angles, and punish cavalry.
Celeste’s Leader Effect: Flight lets her unit bypass traps and rough ground on the overworld, making her a premium map piece and a flexible engage/disengage threat in battles.
Stats and Growth
- AP / PP: 2 / 2 – flexible for chaining actives with key passives
- HP: C – average for a flier; rely on dodging and smart targets
- Physical ATK: B – reliable damage into most frontlines
- Physical DEF: C – fine, but don’t face-tank long
- Magical ATK: E – not a caster
- Magical DEF: A – excellent vs. enemy mages
- Accuracy: D – consider accuracy help if whiffs hurt you
- Evasion: S – cornerstone of her survivability
- Crit Rate: D – not crit-focused
- Guard Rate: F – dodging > blocking
- Initiative: C – respectable; she also buffs team initiative
- Leader Effect: Flight
- Growth Type: Defensive / Hardy – sturdier scaling for a flier.
Skills and Abilities
Celeste’s kit mixes anti-cavalry pressure, mobility economy, and team tempo.
Core actives
- High Swing (1 AP): Row attack; cavalry cannot guard; +50 potency vs. cavalry. Bread-and-butter opener into knight lines.
- Fatal Dive (2 AP): Piercing column strike that deals damage equal to 50% of Celeste’s current HP (cannot crit). Great finisher when she’s healthy.
- Aerial Smite (1 AP): Row attack; cavalry cannot guard. −1 AP refund if any target is at 100% HP, use it to start chains.
Key passives
- Feathering (PP): Allies in Celeste’s row gain +15 Initiative, fantastic tempo buff for slow bruisers.
- Gryphon Glide (PP): Evade one ranged hit and gain +1 AP, turns an enemy arrow into fuel for your combo.
- Wing Rest (PP): Recover 25% HP (healing doubles if afflicted). Simple sustain lever.
Valor (VP)
- Hastened Call II: +100% Mobility to allied units in range for a short duration, excellent for map rotations and objective races.
Best Equipment and Accessories
Celeste scales with uptime, accuracy, and AP/PP economy.
Weapon: Prioritize Accuracy or flat Phys ATK so High Swing/Aerial Smite connect; Fatal Dive can’t crit, so consistent hits > crit gear.
Armor: Light/medium pieces that don’t tank Initiative; consider Mag-resist only if you’re not already comfortable into casters (she’s A-rank Mag DEF).
Accessories:
- Carnelian Pendant (+1 AP): Enables Aerial Smite (AP refund) into High Swing or Fatal Dive chains.
- Lapis Pendant (+1 PP): Keeps Feathering and Gryphon Glide online across multiple engagements.
- Accuracy trinket if you fight high-evasion scouts/fliers.
(Use the strongest options you’ve unlocked; names vary by progress.)
Ideal Unit Placement & Team Synergy
Park Celeste front-or mid-row on a flank, where she can pick cavalry or soft backlines and still retreat. She excels when paired with allies who exploit her Feathering initiative aura:
- Slow bruisers (Ramona, Morard, Bruno): act earlier thanks to +Initiative, converting setups into kills.
- DEF-breakers (Aubin, Knights): strip protections so High Swing/Aerial Smite punch through.
- Healers/cleanse (Scarlett, Sharon): keep her HP high to maximize Fatal Dive damage.
Her Flight leader effect also makes her squad ideal for terrain-heavy routes, chest runs, or trap-laden maps.
Tips and Strategy
Tactic template (priority order):
- Aerial Smite (1 AP) → Condition: “Start of battle / Any enemy at 100% HP” (fish for the −1 AP refund to extend your turn).
- High Swing (1 AP) → Condition: “Cavalry present” (unguardable row hit vs. knights).
- Fatal Dive (2 AP) → Condition: “Self HP ≥ 75%” (capitalize on high current HP for big column damage).
- Gryphon Glide (PP) → leave active (convert a ranged hit into +1 AP).
- Feathering (PP) → leave active (global tempo for your row).
- Wing Rest (PP) → Condition: “Self afflicted OR HP ≤ 50%” (durable sustain loop).
Play notes
Open with Aerial Smite to snag the AP refund, then High Swing for cavalry pressure or Fatal Dive if her HP is high and the column is juicy.
Row building: Put slow, hard-hitting allies in Celeste’s row so Feathering lifts their turn order.
Arrow alchemy: Don’t fear archers, Gryphon Glide can turn the first shot into more AP for you.
Final Thoughts
Celeste is a premier flying skirmisher: she controls terrain, accelerates your team’s tempo, and reliably dismantles cavalry cores. Feed her AP/PP economy and accuracy, keep her HP healthy for Fatal Dive, and she’ll dominate flanks while enabling your slower carries to act first instead of last.
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Featured image is from this YouTube video by SALLE1900 and used under Fair Use.