3 attacks with shield point reduction, regardless of enemy weakness
Has priority attack with swift jab
Decent wind coverage with single target and AoE (can lower shield points as well
Bonus damage against enemies weak to wind or dagger attacks
Self speed up buff
High SP consumption for skill usage
No self sustain
No team utility
Status ailment cure is only 20%
Thief
Wind
Power
1-hit Dagger to Single Foe
2-hit Dagger to Single Foe
Grant Self 20% Speed Up for 3 turns
2-hit Dagger to All Foes
1-hit Wind to Single Foe
3-hit Dagger to Single Foe, lower Shield Point(s)
SP Cost reduced from 46 to 38
2-hit Wind to All Foes, lower Shield Point(s)
SP Cost reduced from 52 to 42
2-hit Dagger to All Foes, lower Shield Point(s)
SP Cost reduced from 52 to 42
Act faster during turn and deal 1-hit Dagger to Single Foe
SP Cost reduced from 52 to 42
At the end of turn: 20% chance to recover from some of own status ailments
Raise damage of Self by 20% when exploiting enemy weakness
Heathcote is a 5 stars Thief character in Octopath Traveler: COTC.
Heathcote is probably one of the top early game thieves for new players. If you have not gotten Viola, you may want to consider him. He will be power crept much later into the game with better thieves, but he will be relevant in the next few months at least.
One of Heathcote's top utility is that he can reduce shield points of any enemy by 2-3 just from his dagger and wind attacks. This will come at the cost of high SP cost, which is a big issue of his. He has access to decent single target and AoE attacks for both his dagger and wind attacks. With his self speed up buff, he is almost always going first in battle.
He also does bonus damage against enemies that are weak against wind or dagger attacks. His best attack, the Swift Jab, will always makes him go first even if the enemy or your ally is faster. This can be good or bad depending on certain situations, such as wanting Heathcote to go later, but he ends up going ahead of your buffer or debuffer, resulting him in doing less damage.
Unfortunately, he doesn't have any team utility buffs or debuffs, which makes him a selfish attacker, but a good one at that. Viola, on the other hand, will be more useful as she provides debuffs that benefits the whole team.
This will be your own call on whether you want to pull him or not. Below is Shizukatz's review and thoughts on him:
It is your choice!