- Default
- Attack
- Special
- Injured




Gharnef - Dark Pontifex |
---|
|
Hero Stats
Stat Variations
HP | ATK | SPD | DEF | RES | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Low | 15 | 7 | 9 | 4 | 5 |
Middle | 16 | 8 | 10 | 5 | 6 |
High | 17 | 9 | 11 | 6 | 7 |
HP | ATK | SPD | DEF | RES | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Low | 34 | 26 | 31 | 23 | 20 |
Middle | 38 | 30 | 34 | 27 | 23 |
High | 41 | 33 | 37 | 30 | 26 |
IV Sets
Key stats worth increasing through nature if possible. | |
Complementary stats that matter, but not to the point of picking them over key stats for nature increase. | |
Relatively worthless stat that can safely be decreased through nature. |
HP | ATK | SPD | DEF | RES |
---|---|---|---|---|
Skill Sets
You can’t win against Gharnef. (Offense)
![]() |
Imhullu (+Eff) | A | Sturdy Impact Alternate: Mirror Impact |
---|---|---|---|
![]() |
Positional Assist | B | Null Follow-Up 3 Alternate: Lull Atk/Res 3 |
![]() |
Moonbow Alternate: Glimmer |
C | Fatal Smoke 3 Alternate: Pulse Smoke 3 |
IVs | +Atk or +Spd / -Def or -Res | S | Blade Session 3 Alternate: Sturdy Blow 2 |
Weapon: Imhullu (+Eff)
Assist: Positional Assist / Fflexible
Special: Moonbow / Glimmer
IVs: +Atk or +Spd / -Def or -Res
Passive A: Sturdy Impact / Mirror Impact / Flexible
Passive B: Null Follow-Up / Lull Atk/Res / Flexible
Passive C: Fatal Smoke / Pulse Smoke / Flexible
Sacred Seal: Blade Session / Flexible
- Imhullu’s ability to deny counterattacks, both as a status applied at the start of turn 3 and in any combat against foes that do not wield tomes, can make Gharnef a threatening unit. The 30% damage reduction also allows him to survive a counterattack somewhat more reliably. The other skills here are chosen to improve his ability to survive combat with various units, as well as apply annoying status effects such as Fatal Smoke to prevent tanks from healing or Pulse Smoke to slow their Specials.
- The choice of boon is flexible, with +Atk being useful to improve Gharnef’s damage and +Spd for improving his ability to follow-up and deny follow-ups.
- The A skill is flexible, with Sturdy Impact and Mirror Impact being solid choices. Sturdy Impact is best against foes like Ascended Fjorm or other physical units using Null C-Disrupt. Mirror Impact is better against tomes. In both cases, denying an enemy follow-up can allow Gharnef to survive the combat much more reliably. Other skills like any Atk/Spd Boosting A Slot can also work.
- Null Follow-Up is a great B skill that disables any effects that prevent Gharnef’s follow-up attack or guarantee his foe a follow-up attack. This can allow him to both get an extra attack and deny one of his foe’s attacks. Lull Atk/Res is also a good choice to decrease his foe’s Atk and Res, allowing him to deal more damage and take less.
- The seal is flexible. Blade Session provides a large potential power boost, up to +9 Atk and Spd if two allies have ended their turns before Gharnef. Other options like Swift Sparrow and Sturdy Blow are also good choices.
Your Life Ends 3 Turns From Now (Support/Arena)
![]() |
Imhullu (+Eff) | A | R Duel Infantry 4 Alternate: HP +5 |
---|---|---|---|
![]() |
Positional Assist Alternate: Rally Atk/Spd+ |
B | Sudden Panic 3 Alternate: Sabotage Atk 3 |
![]() |
Glimmer Alternate: Luna |
C | Infantry Pulse 3 Alternate: Inf. Hexblade 3 |
IVs | +Atk or +HP or +Res / -Def | S | HP +5 Alternate: Distant Guard 3 |
Weapon: Imhullu (+Eff)
Assist: Positional Assist / flexible
Special: Flexible
IVs: +Atk or +HP or +Res / -Def
Passive A: R Duel Infantry 4 / HP +5 / Fortress Res / Flexible
Passive B: Sudden Panic / Sabotage Atk / Flexible
Passive C: Infantry Pulse / Inf. Hexblade / Flexible
Sacred Seal: HP +5 / Distant Guard / Drive Atk / Flexible
- Imhullu’s turn 3 Flash and out-of-combat damage can also be a valuable support effect in some modes like Arena. This build aims to capitalize on that by including other useful support effects.
- Gharnef has many options available for support skills. Sudden Panic or Panic Ploy can be used to Panic enemies. Infantry Pulse or Inf. Hexblade can grant valuable effects to Infantry allies. Or, more generic stat boosts like Drive Atk or Distant Guard can be used to support teammates of any type.
- The choice of boon largely depends on the skills used. +HP is a great choice if using HP-reliant skills like Infantry Pulse and Sudden Panic. +Res can be used with skills like Sabotage Atk. +Atk is a good option if Gharnef does not need more HP or Res for other skills, as it improves his combat slightly. -Def is generally a safe choice of bane.
- R Duel Infantry 4 is the ideal A skill for use in Arena, or any mode with similar BST-based scoring. Otherwise the optimal choice depends on the other skills used.
Strengths
Imhullu
The refined version of Imhullu has a number of useful effects, including out-of-combat damage to nearby foes on turn 3 and applying a Flash effect on those foes, preventing counterattacks. It also provides some useful effects in combat, including up to +10 Atk and Spd for Gharnef, as well as 30% damage reduction and denying counterattacks against foes that do not use tomes.
Tome Infantry
Gharnef’s status as a tome infantry allows him to use good skills like Lull Atk/Res and Infantry Pulse.
Decent Spd and HP
Gharnef’s base 34 Spd is decent, especially when boosted by Imhullu and other passive skills. His base 38 HP is also decent and allows him to use HP-based effects like Sudden Panic well in some modes.
Availability
Gharnef is available as a Grand Hero Battle unit, and purchasable in the Heroic Grail shop, allowing him to be obtained and merged more easily than many other Heroes without spending any Orbs.
Weaknesses
Mediocre Atk, Def, and Res
Gharnef’s base 30 Atk is mediocre, even when boosted by Imhullu, and means he cannot always deal enough damage to KO many foes. His base 27 Def and 23 Res are also mediocre, with the low Res in particular meaning that he may struggle to use Res-based support effects like Sabotage Atk.
Null C-Disrupt
Much of Imhullu’s utility is based on denying counterattacks, but these effects do not work in combat against a foe with Null C-Disrupt or a similar effect like Nifl’s Bite, so Gharnef is much less useful against those foes.
Competition
While Imhullu’s ability to apply damage and Flash over a large area is relatively unique, he still competes for a slot on a team with many other units. Outside of Imhullu, he is a generally mediocre unit with few strengths.
![]() |
Imhullu | A | Close Counter |
---|---|---|---|
![]() |
Reciprocal Aid | B | Special Spiral 3 |
![]() |
Growing Wind | C | Savage Blow 3 |
S | Darting Blow 3 |
"Castles broken, entire armies torn asunder, such is the power of the Dark Pontifex. Every knee shall bend, every tongue be still, for no shield can be raised against the mighty Imhullu. No land shall be spared from the wrath of Gharnef"
A more aggressive take on the support role with team-wide damage potential worthy of the Dark Pontifex himself. Special Spiral 3 makes Growing Wind (or any aoe special of your choice, though I do recommend either Growing Wind or Growing Light to synergize better with Imhullu) a reliable source of damage that, when combined with Savage Blow 3, can significantly soften up the enemy team for your other units, and Close Counter and Darting Blow 3 seal help charge his special faster. I recommend either Reciprocal Aid or Ardent Sacrifice for some nice healing, but any assist skill will do. And of course Imhullu needs no explaination, and when paired with Savage Blow and an aoe special you can deal some serious unblockable damage to the entire enemy team.
![]() |
Imhullu | A | Close Counter |
---|---|---|---|
![]() |
Draw Back | B | Vantage 3 |
![]() |
Luna | C | Atk Smoke 3 |
S | Close Def 3 |
Close Counter Build
Weapon: Imhullu. Because if you aren't using this, you aren't using Gharnef.
Special: flexible. Moonbow or Luna preferred to punch through higher RES enemies. Bonfire/Iceburg work too
A: CC, because CC set
B: Vantage, QR or native Chill ATK. QR might not be needed to double
C: ATK Smoke. standard Tank C slot
S: Close Defense or Brazen ATK/DEF for more stats.
Gharnef has an odd statline to work with and a LOT of competition both from Red Mages in general, and Grail units.
so what does Gharnef have going for him? What makes him stand out?
Dat Art mostly.
Statwise? high SPD and passable Defenses. his Mixed bulk is surprisingly good. Unlike Sophia, this comes primarily from denying doubles.
Epic Voicework
and of course, Imhullu.
Imhullu is an amazing tome, but it's purely a teamfight weapon and doesn't do much for Gharnef himself. So my first thoughts for remaining slots are Chills, Sabotages and Smokes. Good thing he comes with Chill ATK already. He can shut down entire teams once Spoopy Turn starts so supporting the team by crippling them further is an easy choice.
Having said that, he is far from useless on his own, Merges and flowers can have him starting at 40+ SPD before buffs.
![]() |
Rauðrblade+ | A | Brazen Def/Res 3 |
---|---|---|---|
![]() |
Ardent Sacrifice | B | Vantage 3 |
![]() |
Glimmer | C | Odd Def Wave 3 |
S | Defense +3 |
Relatively new player here, this build that i thought up of is mainly meant for gharnef to survive enemy his enemy phase while using vantage as a mean for him to nuke his opponents considering he has an "ok" bulk for a tome unit.
Ardent sacrifice is used to proc him into vantage and brazen range.
Brazen def/res will further boost his survivability while at the same time providing a +12 Atk thanks to the blade tome, alternatively brazen spd/res could also work if you want him to counterattack in enemy phases.
Vantage is there to make sure he lands at least a hit when attacked.
Odd def wave further boosts his defense by 6 as well as another 6 attack thanks to his blade tem once again. Alternatively Odd Res wave can be substituted.
Then finally, we have a resistance/defense seal once again for added tankiness and the free 3 atk boost that comes from the tome.
![]() |
Imhullu | A | Darting Stance 3 |
---|---|---|---|
![]() |
Swap | B | Chill Atk 3 |
![]() |
Growing Flame | C | Spd Smoke 3 |
S | Distant Def 3 |
I enjoy building strange builds so here's another one.
With it Gharneif can become nice mixed tank thanks to his prf tome and stat line he can become nice supporting and cheerleading unit for AA. With this skill set he can reach 40/33/32 spd/def/res wich is nice stat line considering that he will debuff enemy's atk and spd stat, in that case he can reach 38/44/47/40/39 hp/atk/spd/def/res. (note that chill atk debuffs emeny units who has highest atk stat)
As for special i chose Aoe special to get more splash damage wich will make him a better supporting unit and will work nicely with his tome's effect.
Weapon Skills
Weapons | SP | Rng. | Mt. |
---|---|---|---|
![]() Red Tome Users Only
|
50 | 2 | 4 |
![]() Learns by default at 3 ★ Unlocks at 2 ★ Red Tome Users Only
|
100 | 2 | 6 |
![]() Learns by default at 4 ★ Unlocks at 3 ★ Red Tome Users Only
|
200 | 2 | 9 |
![]() Learns by default at 5 ★ Unlocks at 5 ★ Non-Inheritable skill.
|
400 | 2 | 14 |
Special Skills
Special Skills | SP | Turns |
---|---|---|
![]() Learns by default at 4 ★ Unlocks at 3 ★ Non-inheritable by Staff-wielding units.
|
100 | 4 |
![]() Unlocks at 4 ★ Non-inheritable by Staff-wielding units.
|
200 | 4 |
Passive Skills
Passive Skills | SP | Slot |
---|---|---|
![]() Non-inheritable by Staff-wielding units.
|
50 | A |
![]() Non-inheritable by Staff-wielding units.
|
120 | A |
![]() Non-inheritable by Staff-wielding units.
Unlocks at 4 ★ |
240 | A |
![]() Inheritable by all units.
Unlocks at 3 ★ |
60 | B |
![]() Inheritable by all units.
Unlocks at 4 ★ |
120 | B |
![]() Inheritable by all units.
Unlocks at 5 ★ |
240 | B |
Other Info
Origin |
Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon
Fire Emblem Heroes
|
---|
Banners Featured In
None