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

[Ice Dragon]

1 hour ago, XRay said:

I would go with -Spd so she has an easier time getting doubled and take out green mages with an Iceberg if she uses Quick Riposte or when back to Player Phase.

I suppose another Gunnthra counter doesn't hurt, either, though I'm going to have to find someone with lower Def than hers to be on her team.

 

49 minutes ago, Xenomata said:

On a defensive team, I'm not sure I could depend on the AI to keep Sanaki next to anyone... if you even have spare Atk/Res Bond 3 to spare, if not already on Sanaki.

Distant Def 3 does the same thing. Sanaki survives with 6 HP and kills Reinhardt back. There's also Guidance involved on my defense team.

 

49 minutes ago, Xenomata said:

This is kind of a longshot, and I'm not advocating for Speedy Sanaki, but what about Life and Death 3? She retains the heavy damage output of, for instance, Death Blow 3, hits 39 speed with raw stats alone, and she still has the Res boost from Unique Cymbeline keeping her Res patched up, not counting spurs and ally supports. She shouldn't be outsped by anything and still avoids the death by Reinhardt even with Cav buffs, and all I gave her for bonus stats were the Atk/Res from Unique Cymbeline.

LnD3 is of course not as expensive as Atk/Res bond 3, but if it's for Arena Defense exclusively then I don't see a problem.

I had considered Life and Death 3, but the boost to Spd just didn't seem all that useful. 35 Spd at +0 is really only impressive because you can use Life and Death to boost that up to 40 Spd, but if 35 Spd is already includes Life and Death 3, then that's just in the range where you neither double attack nor get double attacked.

Edited January 16, 2018 by Ice Dragon

[sirmola]

I just got 20k feathers. I was torn which of three things to do with it.

1. merge my +1 Olivia to +2 (she is part of my main team, and i don't have 4* or 3* versions of any of my other main team members right now).

2. Build A blade mage (there are several ways I could do this. Expect another question if so).

3. Promote Alphonse, for the TT. (note that I already have a New Year Azura and Takume.) I have promoted sharena to 5*, but not alphonse or anna (who are both at 4*).

I could also do something compleatly different, (such as promote another flyer, cav, or armor, to fill those teams out).

[LordFrigid]

2 hours ago, Ice Dragon said:

So for another installment of Ice Dragon is Indecisive, I have a +9 Sanaki [+Atk, -HP] sitting around that I can't decide on a merge base for. My options are to keep the [+Atk, -HP] or switch to either [+Atk, -Spd] or [+Spd, -Def].

Now, with +Spd and a +10 merge, 34 Spd is still pretty pathetic, so I'm pretty sure I'm not going to bother with that one as a merge base, but that leaves [+Atk, -HP] and [+Atk, -Spd].

[+Atk, -HP] gives her 34/63/30/21/43 with Cymbeline [unique]. [+Atk, -Spd] gives her 37/63/27/21/43. I have no idea which one I want to use.

For my own use, I was planning on running Triangle Adept 3 to simply one-hit kill green armors, but for Arena defense these next two weeks, I was planning on using Death Blow 3.

My observations on the red & green matchups for the TA setup, with a focus on high-scoring Arena foes:

• Some Res-stacked variants of Sheena, Lissa, Chrom, and Hawkeye (I'm not sure how much you care about Hawkeye) survive her OHKO. Depending on how Res-stacked they are, Sanaki could require up to +19 Atk stack to OHKO them all (idk if you've firmed up the team she's on, but judging by the post a few pages back, she'd be on the receiving end of up to +14).
  • Chrom is the only one of the bunch that neutral Spd Sanaki would feasibly be doubling (-Spd and a +3 buff with the Sack o' Gifts puts him at 25 when attacked), and that's only if he swaps out his default Wary Fighter for something else. Even then, neutral Spd and (probably more importantly) Water Blessing+Fjorm exist, so I'd consider it shaky at best. After looking at all that, my conclusion is that she needs Axebreaker for KOs against those 4, so +Atk/-HP and +Atk/-Spd are functionally identical.
  • Potentially of interest outside of the nature question:
    • With Vengeful Fighter or Quick Riposte, Chrom can KO -HP Sanaki on the counterattack without a special activation (he needs +Atk and a +3 buff to KO -Spd Sanaki). The other three require a special activation, which may not be a concern depending on where you're running her (read: it probably wouldn't happen in top tier AA).
• Both natures are functionally identical against Green Tomes, since she OHKOs all of them. She requires minimal Atk-stacking for anything not involving insane enemy Res-stacking.
• She survives most red tomes not named Rauðrblade+, even with -HP. With -Spd she survives +Atk, +3 buffed Celica (with no Atk-boosting A Passive or Seal) where -HP would not, for whatever that's worth.
• Without Swordbreaker, both natures are functionally identical against common Swords with DC (natural or otherwise), where she will either OHKO or get KOd (usually the latter). With Swordbreaker, -Spd is a little bit safer against OHKOs.
  • -Spd's most notable one-hit survival is against neutral Atk, +3 buffed Ayra. Assuming Regnal Astra does not proc (due to Slaying Edge, Pulse skills, etc.), Sanaki survives with 2 HP.

I'd lean toward -Spd here; she's not going to be netting or avoiding meaningful doubles with her Spd stat, and -Spd gives her slightly better survivability in some edge cases.

[XRay]

2 hours ago, Ice Dragon said:

I suppose another Gunnthra counter doesn't hurt, either, though I'm going to have to find someone with lower Def than hers to be on her team.

With Cymbeline's special refinement, a flying ally will almost offset the the Attack debuff as well as buffing her Resistance to handle Blizzard's damage boost, so I do not think it is always necessary to find someone with a lower Defense.

2 hours ago, sirmola said:

I just got 20k feathers. I was torn which of three things to do with it.

1. merge my +1 Olivia to +2 (she is part of my main team, and i don't have 4* or 3* versions of any of my other main team members right now).

2. Build A blade mage (there are several ways I could do this. Expect another question if so).

3. Promote Alphonse, for the TT. (note that I already have a New Year Azura and Takume.) I have promoted sharena to 5*, but not alphonse or anna (who are both at 4*).

I could also do something compleatly different, (such as promote another flyer, cav, or armor, to fill those teams out).

I would go with option 1 or 2. I personally lean towards Option 1. Option 1 immediately starts paying you back with a better Arena score. Option 2 may or may not pay you any returns, depending on if it is for your Arena Assault Team 1 or on how many nukes and counters you already have for Team 2 to 7 if it is not for Team 1; if you are not using it on Team 1, the returns also might not be as noticeable.

I would not go for option 3 until you have done option 1. For regular Arena, Olivia will always be there while Alfonse is only going to be there a third of the time. I do not think you need to promote Alfonse for Tempest Trials if you already have HNY!Azura. Just run your strongest nukes and you will be fine on Lunatic 7 Battles.

Edited January 16, 2018 by XRay

[Thienphu]

Hey,

i got Micaiah +atk/-spd. Should i build her enemy or player phase? And what should i build on her?

[Time the Crestfallen]

1 hour ago, Thienphu said:

Hey,

i got Micaiah +atk/-spd. Should i build her enemy or player phase? And what should i build on her?

Micaiah attack builds run Desperation with Brash Assault seal from what I see, so I don't think Spd would matter that much.

Personally speaking, I'd say it depends on how much you plan on putting into her. If you want to run her with minimal investment, all you really need to do is slap on the new Quick Riposte seal and you're good to go. It also depends on what you think you'll be using her for the most; if you think you'll have her initiate combat more than tanking blows, than build offense.

Edited January 16, 2018 by Phillius the Crestfallen

[Thienphu]

Hey,

i got a +hp/-res Mia. Is it worth building her with life and death, aether, desperation and heavy blade (S seal) or with distant counter, vantage, aether, heavy blade (S seal). Since i have already have a +spd/-def Ayra.

Edited January 16, 2018 by Thienphu

[XRay]

3 hours ago, Thienphu said:

Hey,

i got a +hp/-res Mia. Is it worth building her with life and death, aether, desperation and heavy blade (S seal) or with distant counter, vantage, aether, heavy blade (S seal). Since i have already have a +spd/-def Ayra.

It depends on how many sword units you need. I already got three Falchion Medics (Alm, Lucina, Lucina!Marth), Eldigan, and Xander and they work fine in Arena Assault, so I have not found having any more sword units necessary. I would say having four or five of any weapon type to be sufficient.

Edited January 16, 2018 by XRay

[Tragonight]

What color badge do we need to upgrade the QR seal?

[Jingle Jangle]

4 minutes ago, Tragonight said:

What color badge do we need to upgrade the QR seal?

Red badges.

[Poimagic]

So, I’ve just figured out that I want to build a Boey, partially because Echoes is my favorite game character wise, and also because he could be a better arena scorer than S!Camilla due to merges. Out of the Boey’s I have, which ones should I use? One of the two +atk/-res ones or the +hp/-def one?

[Time the Crestfallen]

38 minutes ago, Poimagic said:

So, I’ve just figured out that I want to build a Boey, partially because Echoes is my favorite game character wise, and also because he could be a better arena scorer than S!Camilla due to merges. Out of the Boey’s I have, which ones should I use? One of the two +atk/-res ones or the +hp/-def one?

+Atk/-Res easily. His base Atk really needs the boost and while -HP would be better, -Res can be rather safely dumped as long as you're careful about putting him near mages.

[Poimagic]

3 minutes ago, Phillius the Crestfallen said:

+Atk/-Res easily. His base Atk really needs the boost and while -HP would be better, -Res can be rather safely dumped as long as you're careful about putting him near mages.

I guess your right. I’m just worried as I want to give him a Gronnraven build to be my main Brave!Lyn/Rien Counter. I’m just worried that losing res will hurt him. But, if Eclipse’s -res Gronnraven Camilla can do it, then so can a -res Boey

[Xenomata]

1 hour ago, Poimagic said:

I guess your right. I’m just worried as I want to give him a Gronnraven build to be my main Brave!Lyn/Rien Counter. I’m just worried that losing res will hurt him. But, if Eclipse’s -res Gronnraven Camilla can do it, then so can a -res Boey

Damage taken from Reinhardt can be somewhat offset by Deflect Magic, and generally speaking Boey does have the HP to take at least one solid hit from any other Blue Mage. This is from my experiences using a +Spd -Def Boey anyways.

I'm curious, are your Boeys 4* or unwanted 5* pitybreakers (maybe not so much unwanted in your case, and I do agree I like the characters of Echoes quite a bit)

[Poimagic]

32 minutes ago, Xenomata said:

Damage taken from Reinhardt can be somewhat offset by Deflect Magic, and generally speaking Boey does have the HP to take at least one solid hit from any other Blue Mage. This is from my experiences using a +Spd -Def Boey anyways.

I'm curious, are your Boeys 4* or unwanted 5* pitybreakers (maybe not so much unwanted in your case, and I do agree I like the characters of Echoes quite a bit)

My Boey’s are all 4 stars, it’s just that I want to build him. And also, magic deflect sounds like a good idea for a seal for him. That way, I could equip qr onto Fjorm, another staple on my main team

[Astellius]

19 hours ago, Thienphu said:

Hey,

i got Micaiah +atk/-spd. Should i build her enemy or player phase? And what should i build on her?

Micaiah has strong options for either player or enemy phase builds, so it's going to depend more on what you need and how much you want to invest. Neither depends on speed, and speed is a fine bane for her to have. Mine is also +Atk/-Spd!

Her player phase build would essentially be something like Death Blow 3 + Desperation + Brash Assault Sacred Seal, with the main idea being that you'll be using Sacrifice to get her down into the Brash Assault HP range. Just a typical Desperation + Brash Assault setup, but somewhat easier to use with her Sacrifice Assist.

Her enemy phase build would be Distant Def 3 + Quick Riposte (or Guard). Personally, I prefer her enemy phase build. It's both easier to use and cheaper to build (since it uses the skills in her native kit). I gave mine QR for the B-passive, but you could have her use the QR seal if you wanted to keep her Guard or give her something like Vantage (which would pair well with Sacrifice). She also would enjoy the Distant Def seal, for +12 Def/Res when attacked from afar. Since she effectively has the highest Res stat in the game, enemy mages will do little damage unless they activate specials.

For the C-passive, her native Drive Atk is great, but she can also run one of the stat ploy skills quite well, if you had the fodder and preferred that.

[mampfoid]

Any idea why my Hinoka is giving Oscar a quad? 

Spoiler

Both have Lancebreaker (Hinoka Level 2, Oscar Level 3) equipped at full HP, but Oscar is even a little faster. Hinoka is not getting any SPD Spurs, she is too far away from everyone anyway. 

[Vaximillian]

1 minute ago, mampfoid said:

Any idea why my Hinoka is giving Oscar a quad? 

After her AoE goes off, Oscar’s Lancebreaker is broken, and Hinoka’s Lancebreaker kicks in.

[mampfoid]

1 minute ago, Vaximillian said:

After her AoE goes off, Oscar’s Lancebreaker is broken, and Hinoka’s Lancebreaker kicks in.

Thanks, that's it! 

AoE specials are rarely used by my units. 

[Hilda]

ok quick question. Steady Breath reduces special cooldown charge by 2 of the unit when getting attacked and hit.

my new +10 Lukas runs Charlottes Weapon, Ignis, Steady Breath, Guard + Quick Riposte Seal...

So when he gets attacked it should usualy

Ignis 4
enemy hits - Ignis 2
Lukas hits - Ignis 1
Enemy hits (or not) - Ignis 0
Lukas hits and procs Ignis

what i get tough is:
Ignis 4
enemy hits - Ignis 2
Lukas hitts - Ignis 0
enemy hits (or not) - Ignis 0
Lukas hits and procs Ignis

I am quite sure this is not how Steady Breath works unless I am mistaken?!?!

[Ice Dragon]

19 minutes ago, Hilda said:

I am quite sure this is not how Steady Breath works unless I am mistaken?!?!

This is exactly how Steady Breath works. On enemy phase, you have +1 special cooldown charge rate all the time.

Steady Breath is the only skill that boosts the charge rate on both your own attacks and your opponent's attacks. All other skills boost the charge rate only on your own attacks.

[May]

How would I salvage a +Spd/-Atk Zelgius? 

I wanted to initially run a Fury + Desperation combination with Heavy Blade. This goes in part with his Black Luna with Slaying Edge+. However, his Attack only reaches a mere 50, possibly rendering Heavy Blade useless. I can use Hone Armor with him and Armor March in a pairing. Maybe I should include Attack Ploy in my team? 

What are some other alternatives? My other idea was a Kadomatsu+ and Ward Armor for funsies. 

[mcsilas]

Looking for suggestions on +Def/-HP Gray?

I think I'm sort of leaning to Slaying Edge (maybe Spd refine? Or Def?) but I'm not exactly sure how to build him. He already has Bonfire though. I don't have Steady Breath/Stance fodder so it's not like he'll be the enemy phase QR build.

Options include Fury and Swordbreaker (maybe Renewal).

Otherwise maybe Wo Dao+ and Sturdy Blow as A skill? (Lack DB3 and might as well get Sturdy Blow if I'm going to 5 star an Athena)

Also just checking, I have a +Atk/-Spd Elincia, but that's a better base compared to +Res/-HP right, despite the lower Speed? I guess I just need to be super player-phase orientated now, although is worth dropping Death Blow for Life and Death to make up for -Spd?

[Ginko]

3 hours ago, mcsilas said:

Looking for suggestions on +Def/-HP Gray?

I think I'm sort of leaning to Slaying Edge (maybe Spd refine? Or Def?) but I'm not exactly sure how to build him. He already has Bonfire though. I don't have Steady Breath/Stance fodder so it's not like he'll be the enemy phase QR build.

Options include Fury and Swordbreaker (maybe Renewal).

Otherwise maybe Wo Dao+ and Sturdy Blow as A skill? (Lack DB3 and might as well get Sturdy Blow if I'm going to 5 star an Athena)

Also just checking, I have a +Atk/-Spd Elincia, but that's a better base compared to +Res/-HP right, despite the lower Speed? I guess I just need to be super player-phase orientated now, although is worth dropping Death Blow for Life and Death to make up for -Spd?

 Hi there! @mcsilas Enermy phase or tank build will suit Gray the best because he has stat spread identical to Sword Ike. Or else you can pass that Zanbato+ to anyone you like better.

Ellincia with +atk -spd will doing fine with first 2HKO. So it would be a waste to slap Life and Death to her now. Her res is quite high, I suggest you may give her DEF ploy on C slot, otherwise Goad or Threaten DEF is fine too.

[XRay]

9 hours ago, Aera said:

How would I salvage a +Spd/-Atk Zelgius? 

I wanted to initially run a Fury + Desperation combination with Heavy Blade. This goes in part with his Black Luna with Slaying Edge+. However, his Attack only reaches a mere 50, possibly rendering Heavy Blade useless. I can use Hone Armor with him and Armor March in a pairing. Maybe I should include Attack Ploy in my team? 

What are some other alternatives? My other idea was a Kadomatsu+ and Ward Armor for funsies. 

If he is going to have a Hone Armor partner stuck to him, then Heavy Blade should be fine. If he cannot buff his Attack consistently, then I would go with Attack +3 Sacred Seal for more damage.

Kadomatsu with Ward Armor is also good in a more traditional Distant Counter armor team.