"Ask Fire Emblem Heroes Questions and Get Them Answered Here" Thread

[Ice Dragon]

1 hour ago, mcsilas said:

Oh okay, I just remember someone mentioned for example, the Ayra TT banner with 2 reds meant it was good for pulling reds but I didn't understand fully the logic.

More focus characters of that color mean you have a higher 5-star rate when pulling only that color. This only really applies to "I want a 5-star character and I don't care who it is", though, and not "I want this particular 5-star character" since the rates for individual focus characters don't change drastically based on color (since they displace 4-stars and 3-stars more than any other category).

(This is obviously an oversimplification.)

[Kaoxt]

Just wondering which IV build should I go for Brake Ike? +Atk/-res, +Atk/-hp, or +Atk/spd.

I was planning Ignis, Steady Breath, QR build.

 

Thanks guys!

Edited November 20, 2017 by Kaoxt

[eclipse]

16 minutes ago, Kaoxt said:

Just wondering which IV build should I go? +Atk/-res or +Atk/-spd.

I was planning Ignis, Steady Breath, QR build.

 

Thanks guys!

Which character?

[Kaoxt]

1 hour ago, eclipse said:

Which character?

That would probably help you wouldn't it? Brake Ike. :)

[mampfoid]

2 hours ago, Kaoxt said:

Just wondering which IV build should I go for Brake Ike? +Atk/-res, +Atk/-hp, or +Atk/spd.

I was planning Ignis, Steady Breath, QR build.

 

Thanks guys!

With SteadyBreath/QR he wants to get doubled, so +ATK/-SPD would be best. Aether would help him to stay in QR range and would proc like Ignis on EP if doubled. 

[DehNutCase]

9 hours ago, mcsilas said:

1. Oh right, I forgot about that. I'll wait then thanks!

2. My Henry is +Def but I guess you have a point since he's geared more towards Res. Quick Riposte it is then for faster mages but eventually I might go Gronnraven+ just for insurance since he's my only 2nd 5 star green mage. (Maybe further down the line if I get Gwendolyns again I'll go Gronnblade+)

3. Oh okay, I just remember someone mentioned for example, the Ayra TT banner with 2 reds meant it was good for pulling reds but I didn't understand fully the logic. I think it was @DehNutCase? 

The Ayra banner was good for 2 reasons:

It was a 3 person banner---you're a lot more likely to get what you want to low number of tries when the base odds are higher. It takes 3 coins flips (50% over 1/[base odds]) to get a 88% chance of getting at least 1 heads, but 11 dice rolls (almost 100% over 1/[base odds]) to get a 87% chance to roll at least one, uh, '1.'*

And, two of the three people were red.

So you got a shitton of red 5* units if you sniped red.

The next bit's the important bit because I'm stupid

Edit: I realized this was probably what you were asking about, actually. You get more 5* units for sniping reds on that banner because units are rolled first, *then* the orbs are placed over them. If all colors are equal, then 5*s would be: 1/8 red random, 1/8 green random, 1/8 blue random, 1/8 gray random, 1/3 red focus, and 1/6 gray focus. But colors aren't equal---red's the biggest color, IRRC, so it's more like 1/7 red random. 1/7 + 1/3 means that, about 50% of all the 5* units you pull would be red units.

What does that mean when your base chance of pulling a 5* is 6%?

Well, let's, for simplification's sake, assume that red is 50% of our 5* but only 25% of our orbs. (The rest are divided 1/8 to green, 1/8 to blue, 1/4 to gray---because gray has a focus).

Right off the bat you can probably tell red has about double gray's 5* odds, and quadruple green and blues. Since green and blue has around 3% odds---we can just take this from the non-focus 5* odds---(slightly less) red has about 12% odds to nab a 5*.

 

 

This is why the incoming 12 unit (or whatever) banner, is actually a pretty hilarious cash grab attempt, except with great PR. (8%/12 is noticably worse than 3%/3 of a 3 person banner and hilariously worse than 5%/4 of a hero fest banner.)

 

Edit: Unfortunately, we're probably going to move to the 'loads and loads of heros' style of banners because the tiny---but good---banners get bad PR. Tiny banners are well liked by precisely the kind of people who don't really get sucked into gachas in the first place.

 

*Double Edit for Equations:

Odds = 1 - (1 - base odds)^x, where x is the number of attempts, and base odds the chance of getting the thing you want in one attempt, and odds is your chance of getting your thing in x attempts.

1/[base odds] = the average number of attempts before getting one of what you want, let's call this y. Usually your odds at x = y is actually pretty shit, but, honestly, your odds at x = anything is pretty shit as long as the base odds are low enough. (And this base odds is exactly what a 12 person banner utterly dumpsters, lul.)

Edited November 20, 2017 by DehNutCase

[mampfoid]

23 minutes ago, DehNutCase said:

[...]

This is why the incoming 12 unit (or whatever) banner, is actually a pretty hilarious cash grab attempt, except with great PR. (8%/12 is noticably worse than 3%/3 of a 3 person banner and hilariously worse than 5%/4 of a hero fest banner.)

[...]

True if you want to snipe for a specific unit. Reruns for seasonal units on a crowded banner is pretty obvious cash grabbing. I will pull red and colorless and won't snipe for a specific unit, therefore this banner is perfect to get more decent units with the few orbs I got. 

 

[DehNutCase]

19 minutes ago, mampfoid said:

True if you want to snipe for a specific unit. Reruns for seasonal units on a crowded banner is pretty obvious cash grabbing. I will pull red and colorless and won't snipe for a specific unit, therefore this banner is perfect to get more decent units with the few orbs I got. 

It's pretty decent for generic pulling, where you like a lot of what's on the banner, but it suffers from the fact that 8% isn't much higher than 6%, and that no color is 'unbalanced.' 

This means that 5* odds are actually worse than 6% banners you can snipe in, while also being less, well, focused than those banners you're sniping in. Which is kind of an uncomfortable combo. (Like, Klein and Takumi in a 3 person banner, with, say, regular Henry would be one hell of a banner despite Henry---colorless 5* odds should be pushing 11%, and it's also focused enough that you can pretty much guarantee having enough extra copies to fodderize/merge.)

 

The fact that the average quality is quite a bit higher might make up for it, though. (My main problem is that I have the best units on the banner already, lul, so I'm actually a bit biased---this is one of those banners where the value of pulling drops drastically as you pull the focus units, or just flat out have them already.)

[mampfoid]

16 minutes ago, DehNutCase said:

It's pretty decent for generic pulling, where you like a lot of what's on the banner, but it suffers from the fact that 8% isn't much higher than 6%, and that no color is 'unbalanced.' 

[...]

8% isn't much higher than 6%, but 8% for good units without off-focus pity breakers like Merric and Seliph makes it appealing enough to me. 

17 minutes ago, DehNutCase said:

[...]

This means that 5* odds are actually worse than 6% banners you can snipe in, while also being less, well, focused than those banners you're sniping in. Which is kind of an uncomfortable combo. (Like, Klein and Takumi in a 3 person banner, with, say, regular Henry would be one hell of a banner despite Henry---colorless 5* odds should be pushing 11%, and it's also focused enough that you can pretty much guarantee having enough extra copies to fodderize/merge.)

[...] 

If I was just sniping for Caeda for example, that would make me feel a little miked, yes. 

21 minutes ago, DehNutCase said:

[...]

The fact that the average quality is quite a bit higher might make up for it, though. (My main problem is that I have the best units on the banner already, lul, so I'm actually a bit biased---this is one of those banners where the value of pulling drops drastically as you pull the focus units, or just flat out have them already.)

I need blue 3*/4* fodder, but I don't need the blue units from that banner. I will give the banner a try, but I hope this won't stay the only way to give seasonal units a rerun. 

[DehNutCase]

19 minutes ago, mampfoid said:

8% isn't much higher than 6%, but 8% for good units without off-focus pity breakers like Merric and Seliph makes it appealing enough to me. 

Well, even for something like Ayra's banner the off-focus pity breakers actually doesn't happen much, at least according to my napkin math.

 

Assuming:

[1/8 red random + 1/8 green random + 1/8 blue random + 1/8 gray random = 1/2 randoms]

[1/3 red focus + 1/6 gray focus = 1/2 focus]

 

I fudged a bit and gave 1/7 to red randoms to account for the fact that red has more 5* units relative to other colors (every character has the same odds of being rolled, so a color with more 5*s will end up giving more 5*s).

1/7 + 1/3 = 47.6%, that is, about 48% of all 5*s will be red. Napkin math that to 50%, and napkin math orb colors to be evenly split, and we have 3%, 3%, 6%, 12% for 5* odds.

And, of red's 12% odds to pull a 5*, 1/7:1/3 is the ratio of non-focus to focus, or 30:70.

 

.7 * 12% = 8.4%, miraculously giving better focus unit odds than the 8% banner.

 

(Math is spooky.)

 

Edit: Don't take this too seriously, though, 5* odds is overvalued for my napkin math, so this banner would be better for focus units. Just not by a lot.

Double Edit: Part of why I liked Ayra's banner was also because I'm fine with Eldigan, though, so both focus units were decent pulls for me. (Yeah, Eldigan isn't great or anything, but he needs basically nothing to get going thanks to having Fury in the A slot and special, assist, and C-slot options being fairly plentiful all around. He wouldn't make an main team, but then, neither would Ayra.)

Edited November 20, 2017 by DehNutCase

[mampfoid]

31 minutes ago, DehNutCase said:

Well, even for something like Ayra's banner the off-focus pity breakers actually doesn't happen much, at least according to my napkin math.

[...]

I don't mind napkin math, as long as I can comprehend the important parts. So, well done.

33 minutes ago, DehNutCase said:

[...]

And, of red's 12% odds to pull a 5*, 1/7:1/3 is the ratio of non-focus to focus, or 30:70.

[...]

While not being Seliph, Eldigan was considered to be more or less off-focus for most people who pulled on Ayras banner, thus reversing that ratio. 

37 minutes ago, DehNutCase said:

[...]

.7 * 12% = 8.4%, miraculously giving better focus unit odds than the 8% banner.

 

(Math is spooky.)

Edit: Don't take this too seriously, though, 5* odds is overvalued for my napkin math, so this banner would be better for focus units.

Few people would aim to just pull as many red 5* as possible, since that pool is full of mediocre units. The odds of pulling a red S-tier unit (whatever that means) will be higher on the 8% banner. 

Not too seriously taken. Its useful to check from time to time what those ratios mean from a practical point of view. 

[Kaoxt]

9 hours ago, mampfoid said:

With SteadyBreath/QR he wants to get doubled, so +ATK/-SPD would be best. Aether would help him to stay in QR range and would proc like Ignis on EP if doubled. 

What if I wanted to go DC as well and switch it up? Would neutral be better?

[XRay]

56 minutes ago, Kaoxt said:

What if I wanted to go DC as well and switch it up? Would neutral be better?

In my opinion, [+Atk, -Res] is currently the best with both Steady Breath and Distant Counter. I would keep -Spd around since which nature is best can change depending on the release of future characters, although with -Res having a significant lead over -Spd, I do not think -Spd is the best outside of specific niche builds.

BH!Ike
Urvan, Ignis
Steady Breath, Quick Riposte
Enemy Phase [Kagero Chart, +Atk, -Res] 88:13:89
Enemy Phase [Kagero Chart, +Atk, -Spd] 83:18:89
Enemy Phase [Arctic Silver Fox, +Atk, -Res] 91:12:87
Enemy Phase [Arctic Silver Fox, +Atk, -Spd] 86:16:88

BH!Ike
Urvan, Bonfire
Distant Counter, Quick Riposte
Enemy Phase [Kagero Chart, +Atk, -Res] 138:22:30
Enemy Phase [Kagero Chart, +Atk, -Spd] 133:31:26
Enemy Phase [Arctic Silver Fox, +Atk, -Res] 137:23:30
Enemy Phase [Arctic Silver Fox, +Atk, -Spd] 133:31:26

[Kaoxt]

1 hour ago, XRay said:

In my opinion, [+Atk, -Res] is currently the best with both Steady Breath and Distant Counter. I would keep -Spd around since which nature is best can change depending on the release of future characters, although with -Res having a significant lead over -Spd, I do not think -Spd is the best outside of specific niche builds.

BH!Ike
Urvan, Ignis
Steady Breath, Quick Riposte
Enemy Phase [Kagero Chart, +Atk, -Res] 88:13:89
Enemy Phase [Kagero Chart, +Atk, -Spd] 83:18:89
Enemy Phase [Arctic Silver Fox, +Atk, -Res] 91:12:87
Enemy Phase [Arctic Silver Fox, +Atk, -Spd] 86:16:88

BH!Ike
Urvan, Bonfire
Distant Counter, Quick Riposte
Enemy Phase [Kagero Chart, +Atk, -Res] 138:22:30
Enemy Phase [Kagero Chart, +Atk, -Spd] 133:31:26
Enemy Phase [Arctic Silver Fox, +Atk, -Res] 137:23:30
Enemy Phase [Arctic Silver Fox, +Atk, -Spd] 133:31:26

Would you recommend a bane atk for sure, or what about a possible neutral Brave Ike?

[XRay]

2 hours ago, Kaoxt said:

Would you recommend a bane atk for sure, or what about a possible neutral Brave Ike?

I do not recommend combat units to run -Atk. In my opinion, builds that focus on killing enemies should always be prioritized over stalling or walling enemies; dead enemies cannot threaten you.

Neutral BH!Ike is okay, but if you already have +Atk, -Res, I would not use neutral BH!Ike. I would still keep neutral BH!Ike for Grand Hero Battles and look for strategy videos using free units.

Edited November 20, 2017 by XRay

[Kaoxt]

37 minutes ago, XRay said:

I do not recommend combat units to run -Atk. In my opinion, builds that focus on killing enemies should always be prioritized over stalling or walling up; dead enemies cannot threaten you.

Neutral BH!Ike is okay, but if you already have +Atk, -Res, I would not use neutral BH!Ike. I would still keep neutral BH!Ike for Grand Hero Battles and look for strategy videos using free units.

So -Res for sure over -spd?

[XRay]

Just now, Kaoxt said:

So -Res for sure over -spd?

Yes.

[DefaultBeep]

So, I ended up getting a 5-star Abel last night (who thankfully brought Dorcas with him as well). He's +Res/-Spd, which isn't really great, though not terrible either I suppose. Anyway, what kind of lance units might want his Brave Lance+? Here's a small list of potential options, although if there are any good Brave users that I don't list, feel free to let me know:

• 5-star +Atk/-Spd Lukas
• 5-star +Atk/-Def Est
• 4-star +Atk/-HP Oboro
• 3-star +Atk/-HP Sully

[Roflolxp54]

4 minutes ago, DefaultBeep said:

So, I ended up getting a 5-star Abel last night (who thankfully brought Dorcas with him as well). He's +Res/-Spd, which isn't really great, though not terrible either I suppose. Anyway, what kind of lance units might want his Brave Lance+? Here's a small list of potential options, although if there are any good Brave users that I don't list, feel free to let me know:

• 5-star +Atk/-Spd Lukas
• 5-star +Atk/-Def Est
• 4-star +Atk/-HP Oboro
• 3-star +Atk/-HP Sully

I'd say that Est and Sully would want the Brave Lance; Est moreso than Sully though Est's IVs are great for a Firesweep build and if you want to meme with Def Ploy.

I have a question of my own: which seal should I prioritize upgrading now? I already have Atk +3, Spd +3 (and its Squad Ace version), and Distant Def 3 seals and now I have the coins needed to bring a tier 1 seal all the way to tier 3 and I do intend to collect the newly released seals from Tempest Trials.

[XRay]

5 minutes ago, DefaultBeep said:

So, I ended up getting a 5-star Abel last night (who thankfully brought Dorcas with him as well). He's +Res/-Spd, which isn't really great, though not terrible either I suppose. Anyway, what kind of lance units might want his Brave Lance+? Here's a small list of potential options, although if there are any good Brave users that I don't list, feel free to let me know:

• 5-star +Atk/-Spd Lukas
• 5-star +Atk/-Def Est
• 4-star +Atk/-HP Oboro
• 3-star +Atk/-HP Sully

I would go with Lukas or Est. The best Brave users are units with good Attack and Speed, so BB!Charlotte, Oscar, YS!F!Robin would be better candidates in my opinion. Basically, I would prioritize anyone with 32+ Attack and Speed. The next best users are units with high Attack, so Lukas and Est are both decent.

[DefaultBeep]

12 minutes ago, Roflolxp54 said:

I'd say that Est and Sully would want the Brave Lance; Est moreso than Sully though Est's IVs are great for a Firesweep build and if you want to meme with Def Ploy.

 

5 minutes ago, XRay said:

I would go with Lukas or Est. The best Brave users are units with good Attack and Speed, so BB!Charlotte, Oscar, YS!F!Robin would be better candidates in my opinion. Basically, I would prioritize anyone with 32+ Attack and Speed. The next best users are units with high Attack, so Lukas and Est are both decent.

Alright, so it looks like Est might be the best option out of them. Although, there were a few things I forgot to mention: I have a 4-star +Atk/-Res Effie as well, and a +Atk/-Spd Gwendolyn, although I think the latter normally prefers a Slaying Lance?

Oh, would a +Def/-Res +1 Summer Robin be a good user for Brave Lance+? Probably not the best boon/bane, but she did get an extra point in Atk with the +1 merge at least.

20 minutes ago, Roflolxp54 said:

I have a question of my own: which seal should I prioritize upgrading now? I already have Atk +3, Spd +3 (and its Squad Ace version), and Distant Def 3 seals and now I have the coins needed to bring a tier 1 seal all the way to tier 3 and I do intend to collect the newly released seals from Tempest Trials.

I went for the exact same Seals, although I also fully upgraded Fortify Res as well. Close Defense is my next target, personally, since it seems very useful in general, but if you use -blade mages, Fortify Res would be very helpful for them in particular.

[XRay]

1 minute ago, DefaultBeep said:

Oh, would a +Def/-Res +1 Summer Robin be a good user for Brave Lance+? Probably not the best boon/bane, but she did get an extra point in Atk with the +1 merge at least.

I think she is pretty good. She might not have the best boon, but she got the best bane.

[DefaultBeep]

37 minutes ago, XRay said:

I think she is pretty good. She might not have the best boon, but she got the best bane.

Alright, that's good to know then! If I give her the Brave Lance+, what would she want for the rest of her kit?

[shadowofchaos]

Is Roy's Blazing Durandal skill charge different from Ike's Heavy Blade?

From what I recall, Roy gets +1 to his charge when he does an attack *AND* when he gets hit so long as his ATK is higher.

Or am I just crazy and misremembering that?

Possibly due to Galeforce activating after battle instead on his second hit getting an activation.

Edit: Never mind... it's probably the last sentence there.

Edited November 22, 2017 by shadowofchaos

[XRay]

Just now, DefaultBeep said:

Alright, that's good to know then! If I give her the Brave Lance+, what would she want for the rest of her kit?

Brave Weapons should generally run 3 cooldown Specials. Luna or Bonfire should be used depending on her A slot.

I personally prefer Life and Death, but Fury and Death Blow are both good options if you want to preserve her bulk. Swift Sparrow is also really good, but it is pretty expensive.

Breakers are good on YS!F!Robin since I do not think she is fast enough to utilize Desperation effectively.