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

[Sasori]

Some time ago I started working on the former pitybreaker duo of Merric and Seliph. I've invested quite a bit in these units already so I might as well go all the way and try to get some suggestions to fully optimise the duo.

At the moment my +speed Merric looks like this
Stats: 43/46/38/27/22
Weapon: Excalibur (refined)
Assist: Reposition
Special: Luna
A: Fury 3
B: Lancebreaker 3 (Should probably replace that one since its not needed anymore)
C: Panic ploy 3
S: Initiate seal attack +3

I was thinking of replacing Fury with Life or death. It puts his speed at 40/45 and it ups his meh attack as well. His high speed and hp could make up for the loss in defense. I'm not sure about his new B slot just yet. Desperation?

My +attack/-resistance  40+3 Seliph currently looks like this
Stats: 49/54/25/31/23
Weapon: Divine Tyrfing
Assist: Rally speed (Should probably replace that one)
Special: Glimmer
A: Distant counter
B: Quick Riposte 3
C: Infantry Pulse 3
S: Mostly distant defense if that one is free

Seliph is good at taking on a mage with his weapon and distant counter/Qr, but he does less well against more then one mage. It makes him much less effective in GhB's or other challenge maps. I've seen Wrath being recommended on him, but I don't know how well he does with that skill. So i'm wondering if anyone has tested that skill on him or has another build for him.
 

[XRay]

20 minutes ago, Sasori said:

At the moment my +speed Merric looks like this
Stats: 43/46/38/27/22
Weapon: Excalibur (refined)
Assist: Reposition
Special: Luna
A: Fury 3
B: Lancebreaker 3 (Should probably replace that one since its not needed anymore)
C: Panic ploy 3
S: Initiate seal attack +3

I was thinking of replacing Fury with Life or death. It puts his speed at 40/45 and it ups his meh attack as well. His high speed and hp could make up for the loss in defense. I'm not sure about his new B slot just yet. Desperation?

I would replace Luna with Moonbow. Not being able to activate a Special consistently is bad for performance.

Since you already gave him Fury, I would stick with that. In my opinion, I would only give him another A skill if you use him often enough AND you find that his performance is lacking. If both criteria are not met, I do not think giving him Life and Death is worth it since you can give it to someone else that is used more often or a unit that does not have an A skill yet.

Desperation is good.

25 minutes ago, Sasori said:

My +attack/-resistance  40+3 Seliph currently looks like this
Stats: 49/54/25/31/23
Weapon: Divine Tyrfing
Assist: Rally speed (Should probably replace that one)
Special: Glimmer
A: Distant counter
B: Quick Riposte 3
C: Infantry Pulse 3
S: Mostly distant defense if that one is free

Seliph is good at taking on a mage with his weapon and distant counter/Qr, but he does less well against more then one mage. It makes him much less effective in GhB's or other challenge maps. I've seen Wrath being recommended on him, but I don't know how well he does with that skill. So i'm wondering if anyone has tested that skill on him or has another build for him.

Unlike nukes, tanks are not reliable at carrying the team without healers. If you find Seliph is the only one who can take on mages and he is overworked, you either need to get a healer on the team, run another mage tank to take the load off of Seliph, or run a nuke yourself and kill the enemy mage before they attack you.

His current kit is fine in my opinion, but I will try to get him [+Res, -Spd] and switch Glimmer to Moonbow if you can afford it.

As for his teammates, I highly recommend running a Firesweep healer to heal Seliph back up as well as being able to safely poke at enemies if not outright nuking them depending on the healer. Genny, Maribelle, and AOTB!Veronica are the best and cheapest to build since they already come with the appropriate B skill.

[Vaximillian]

2 minutes ago, XRay said:

Since you already gave him Fury, I would stick with that. In my opinion, I would only give him another A skill if you use him often enough AND you find that his performance is lacking. If both criteria are not met, I do not think giving him Life and Death is worth it since you can give it to someone else that is used more often or a unit that does not have an A skill yet.

Desperation is good.

I gave my Atk/Res Merric Brazen Atk/Spd. This skill might be a little too premium for someone like Merric who’s dependent on team support in the shape of a fellow mage or a cleric but he’s done rather well in the content I used him in, which is the tempest and arena assault. Of course I’m not going to the arena with him but arena isn’t everything that is to this game anyway.

I second Desperation if you can provide him with the way to reliably double.

[Sasori]

1 hour ago, XRay said:

I would replace Luna with Moonbow. Not being able to activate a Special consistently is bad for performance.

Since you already gave him Fury, I would stick with that. In my opinion, I would only give him another A skill if you use him often enough AND you find that his performance is lacking. If both criteria are not met, I do not think giving him Life and Death is worth it since you can give it to someone else that is used more often or a unit that does not have an A skill yet.

Desperation is good.

Unlike nukes, tanks are not reliable at carrying the team without healers. If you find Seliph is the only one who can take on mages and he is overworked, you either need to get a healer on the team, run another mage tank to take the load off of Seliph, or run a nuke yourself and kill the enemy mage before they attack you.

His current kit is fine in my opinion, but I will try to get him [+Res, -Spd] and switch Glimmer to Moonbow if you can afford it.

As for his teammates, I highly recommend running a Firesweep healer to heal Seliph back up as well as being able to safely poke at enemies if not outright nuking them depending on the healer. Genny, Maribelle, and AOTB!Veronica are the best and cheapest to build since they already come with the appropriate B skill.

I still have moonbow from when he had dark Excalibur, but I switched it out for Luna since it only has 1 charge thanks to his tome and infantry pulse. Trying an automatic moonbow could be a good idea though.

Keeping Fury would mean I can save up one of my 4 star Sothe's for other units and desperation isn't hard to come by either.

I actually did usually have a backup healing in my team with Seliph. It was usually him, Merric, Genny (soon to be replaced with my free Veronica) and another infantry unit that I still need to decide on.

1 hour ago, Vaximillian said:

I gave my Atk/Res Merric Brazen Atk/Spd. This skill might be a little too premium for someone like Merric who’s dependent on team support in the shape of a fellow mage or a cleric but he’s done rather well in the content I used him in, which is the tempest and arena assault. Of course I’m not going to the arena with him but arena isn’t everything that is to this game anyway.

I second Desperation if you can provide him with the way to reliably double.

Merric is pretty good at doubling with 38 speed and the added +5 bonus from being near a mage so desperation is probably the way to go yeah. I'm probably still saving up my Brazen skill though since those are hard to come by.

[Interdimensional Observer]

Quick little utility question, in my usual habit of logging in and getting out right away after collecting the daily login bonus (up to nearly 600 of these sloth orbs since late January), for once I've been told I have to go to the App Store to get the update. However, I don't see how I update it there. How do I do that?

[Sasori]

11 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Quick little utility question, in my usual habit of logging in and getting out right away after collecting the daily login bonus (up to nearly 600 of these sloth orbs since late January), for once I've been told I have to go to the App Store to get the update. However, I don't see how I update it there. How do I do that?

Have you tried refreshing your Appstore? Updates usually dont show untill I do that.

[XRay]

55 minutes ago, Sasori said:

I still have moonbow from when he had dark Excalibur, but I switched it out for Luna since it only has 1 charge thanks to his tome and infantry pulse. Trying an automatic moonbow could be a good idea though.

Dark Excalibur does not reduce cool down. Luna is fine if Infantry Pulse is on the team so Merric can activate it in his first round after eating a counter, but he will lack consistency in later rounds of combat. Later rounds matter less than the first round in my opinion so I will keep Luna on him in this case.

If you use him often outside the team though, then I do recommend Moonbow.

[Zeo]

It's a simple question, Odin got a refine and I have 2 optimal natures to choose from. +ATK/-HP and +SPD/-HP. @XRay @Ice Dragon @mcsilas @mampfoid others are welcome to answer of course.

I know +SPD is generally the best nature for Blades which Odin basically is but his ATK is still horrible. Then again his prf's additional MT essentially makes him +ATK. A +ATK nature combined with his weapon's MT almost gives him average atk. Still I'm unsure how to proceed.

All I know is that in my head I want to make a mixed team with him and my Bride Sanaki (DEF/RES Link) as a single Reposition gives +6 to all stats for the two of them which is simply nonsense.

Edited September 6, 2018 by Zeo

[mampfoid]

@Zeo I'm currently pondering over the same question. I'd use him for TTs and perhaps a special GHB clear. My seal of choice would be Flashing Blade for him.

Neutral 32 SPD doesn't seem impressing. With LnD and active ATK/SPD link he would reach 43 SPD, which is ok-ish. Leaning towards +SPD currently, but not sure yet. 

[Ice Dragon]

1 hour ago, Zeo said:

It's a simple question, Odin got a refine and I have 2 optimal natures to choose from. +ATK/-HP and +SPD/-HP. @XRay @Ice Dragon @mcsilas @mampfoid others are welcome to answer of course.

I know +SPD is generally the best nature for Blades which Odin basically is but his ATK is still horrible. Then again his prf's additional MT essentially makes him +ATK. A +ATK nature combined with his weapon's MT almost gives him average atk. Still I'm unsure how to proceed.

All I know is that in my head I want to make a mixed team with him and my Bride Sanaki (DEF/RES Link) as a single Reposition gives +6 to all stats for the two of them which is simply nonsense.

The difference is actually so negligible, it really doesn't matter.

For what it's worth, +Atk has a tiny advantage because tome users do like to get their one-hit kills to avoid counterattacks, but it only affects his neutral match-ups since he'll demolish everything red regardless (except for a handful of fast, magically bulky units, like Fir, Caeda, and Tiki).

[NegativeExponents-]

7 hours ago, mampfoid said:

Could make 3 refinements, but can't decide where to start. Cherche doesn't really need her refinement yet, I will decide when she needs a stat boost in ATK or SPD for a clear. 

Celicas refinement is the strongest, I still have two spare Linus copies and she already got Desperation. But I don't use all my strong red mages much. BB!Tharja for example wasn't used once since the days of her TTs. 

Odin on the other hand would be fun, I mean just watch his cool tome animation:

Now only one question remains: +SPD or +ATK? @NegativeExponents- @Zeo @mcsilas

Oh I love that animation! I’ve been using him nonstop just because it’s fun seeing him proc Astra with that new animation of his. Much more fitting than the original animation of that tome in Fates.

Anyway to answer your and @Zeo question, I feel that +atk Owain is best while using his A slot and/or seal slot to increase his spd.

Also regarding his tome, if you have a reliable way of buffing his stats without the need of atk/spd link then I would opt for one of his other refines. The spd refine probably being the best unless you opt to make him tank stuff. Alternatively you could keep the special refine and stack him with spurs/drives at the cost of less potent buffs for the rest of his team.

So with something like

+atk/-hp Odin, Odin’s Grimoire (special refine), Fury, 6/6/6/6

Odin is able to reach 48 atk (not accounting for the other buffs) and 41 spd, and still have decent bulk at 40hp + 34 def/res. Replace Fury for Lnd if you want a bit more offense at 50/43 in exchange for 26 def/res. Add in the spd refine if you opt for that instead and it goes to 45 spd. Or keep his special one and throw in a drive spd for 46 spd. This is before even throwing in something in his seal slot which could be used to bring him up to 49 spd but I would honestly rather use it for something else imho because anything that requires more than 46 spd to double is probably getting ohko.

[mcsilas]

@Zeo yeah i was pondering myself

also maybe @NegativeExponents- @Ice Dragon @DehNutCase Can shed some light- is going -Res instead of -HP worth it or is HP the ideal bane?

[NegativeExponents-]

8 minutes ago, mcsilas said:

@Zeo yeah i was pondering myself

also maybe @NegativeExponents- @Ice Dragon @DehNutCase Can shed some light- is going -Res instead of -HP worth it or is HP the ideal bane?

It probably doesn’t make too big a difference but I prefer -hp because he’ll still have lots to spare and keeps him safer from doubles. The only reason to go -res (or -def for that matter) is to specialize him in tanking a certain type of damage.

[DehNutCase]

21 minutes ago, mcsilas said:

@Zeo yeah i was pondering myself

also maybe @NegativeExponents- @Ice Dragon @DehNutCase Can shed some light- is going -Res instead of -HP worth it or is HP the ideal bane?

I'd go -def or -res on Odin, and not -hp unless it's an availability issue. A properly functioning Odin will either take only 1 hit the whole fight or get healed between hits, meaning -hp is strictly worse than the other two options.

 

Choosing between -def or -res is mostly: Do you want to die to brave bows or Dire Thunder. Personally I'd go -res because dragons, which are another thing Odin might be called on to fight, generally suck at OHKOing, but physical units can min-max more.

You can also just go with whatever bane you're mostly likely to have buffs for. I.e. if you're using something like Fort Res Torrent Dance dancer to buff Odin, -res would mean your bulk is pretty consistent whether you're danced or not, since you'd get +4 from Fort without needing the dancer to spend their action-turn.

Edited September 6, 2018 by DehNutCase

[Tree]

The game seems to want to give me Cherches whether I want them or not. I keep using them to give attack +3 to healers or pivot to armor units, and I still have at least a dozen left. She seems like a decent unit especially with the recent refine. I don't have a +10 unit yet (Reinhardt is +8). I'm wondering what iv would work best at +10.

[+atk, -res] looks like a nice choice for lower or higher merges. (I don't have [+atk, -spd])

OR

[+spd, -hp or -res] could be interesting. Speed is a super boon, so that adds +4 spd for a base of 29. Ten merges and a speed refine add 4+3=7 more. Life and death would cancel out the -5 speed from the special brave axe. Final stats should be 58 atk and 36 spd. A speed seal could bring that to 39 and hone, goad, or any other speed buff could extend that further.

Is this a crazy idea? Did I make an arithmetic mistake? She would get 5 hp from the refine also, so I'm not sure if -hp or -res works better for this. (Resistance is a super bane, although I don't think it affects the arena score tier either way.) The life and death skill implies that -res might be better. The speed could work well with the hammer too.

I already have a +4 Michalis, although he really is a different type of unit. I could merge Fae instead (have over 10), but I like Myrrh much better (as a character, and for skills and stats) and I don't really care for Fae more or less than Cherche. I don't have a good +def Fae either.

I have 2 5* Cherches and around 300,000 feathers left.

[XRay]

3 hours ago, Zeo said:

It's a simple question, Odin got a refine and I have 2 optimal natures to choose from. +ATK/-HP and +SPD/-HP. @XRay @Ice Dragon @mcsilas @mampfoid others are welcome to answer of course.

I know +SPD is generally the best nature for Blades which Odin basically is but his ATK is still horrible. Then again his prf's additional MT essentially makes him +ATK. A +ATK nature combined with his weapon's MT almost gives him average atk. Still I'm unsure how to proceed.

All I know is that in my head I want to make a mixed team with him and my Bride Sanaki (DEF/RES Link) as a single Reposition gives +6 to all stats for the two of them which is simply nonsense.

I thought about +Atk at first, but based on results from the calculator, I would go with +Spd. His performance will be bottle necked by Spd more than Atk since his Atk can get pretty high with a Blade tome.

The bane honestly does not matter very much from a practical perspective, but if you want to make his first round performance number go a teensy bit higher, you can go with -Def/Res. I have not checked -Res, but I am pretty sure -Def is better in terms of pure performance numbers, but which bane you choose should depend on the enemies you will have him face rather than pure performance numbers. However, -HP is preferable to -Def/Res if you have trouble getting him into Desperation range; in my opinion, this applies more to flier Blade mages than infantry Blade mages in Infernal/Abyssal battles, where units do not have Distant Counter and archers have super high bulk, so running -HP and Fury will lower HP enough by the time bulky archers show up.

Odin
Odin's Grimoire [special][enabled]
Player Phase [+Spd, -HP] 210:23:55
Player Phase [+Atk, -HP] 174:24:90
Player Phase [+Spd, -Def] 215:13:60
Player Phase [+Atk, -Def] 177:15:96

Odin
Odin's Grimoire [Spd]
6/6/0/0
Player Phase [+Spd, -HP] 228:16:44
Player Phase [+Atk, -HP] 208:16:64
Player Phase [+Spd, -Def] 231:9:48
Player Phase [+Atk, -Def] 211:9:68

Odin
Odin's Grimoire [Spd]
6/6/6/6
Player Phase [+Spd, -HP] 262:6:20
Player Phase [+Atk, -HP] 256:6:26
Player Phase [+Spd, -Def] 263:3:22
Player Phase [+Atk, -Def] 257:3:28

Odin
Odin's Grimoire [Spd]
4/4/0/0
Player Phase [+Spd, -HP] 169:16:103
Player Phase [+Atk, -HP] 130:16:142
Player Phase [+Spd, -Def] 169:9:110
Player Phase [+Atk, -Def] 130:9:149

Calculator and lists:

Spoiler

CHALLENGER LIST  
Odin (5* +spd -hp)  
Weapon: Odin's Grimoire  
Special: Moonbow  
A: Life and Death 3  
B: R Tomebreaker 3  
S: Speed 3  
Upgrade Path: 5  
 
Odin (5* +atk -hp)  
Weapon: Odin's Grimoire  
Special: Moonbow  
A: Life and Death 3  
B: R Tomebreaker 3  
S: Speed 3  
Upgrade Path: 5  
 
Odin (5* +spd -hp)  
Weapon: Odin's Grimoire  
Special: Moonbow  
A: Life and Death 3  
B: R Tomebreaker 3  
S: Speed 3  
Upgrade Path: 2  
 
Odin (5* +atk -hp)  
Weapon: Odin's Grimoire  
Special: Moonbow  
A: Life and Death 3  
B: R Tomebreaker 3  
S: Speed 3  
Upgrade Path: 2  
 
Odin (5* +spd -hp)  
Weapon: Odin's Grimoire  
Special: Moonbow  
A: Life and Death 3  
B: R Tomebreaker 3  
S: Speed 3  
Upgrade Path: 2  
 
Odin (5* +atk -hp)  
Weapon: Odin's Grimoire  
Special: Moonbow  
A: Life and Death 3  
B: R Tomebreaker 3  
S: Speed 3  
Upgrade Path: 2  
 
Odin (5* +spd -hp)  
Weapon: Odin's Grimoire  
Special: Moonbow  
A: Life and Death 3  
B: R Tomebreaker 3  
S: Speed 3  
Upgrade Path: 2  
 
Odin (5* +atk -hp)  
Weapon: Odin's Grimoire  
Special: Moonbow  
A: Life and Death 3  
B: R Tomebreaker 3  
S: Speed 3  
Upgrade Path: 2  
 
Odin (5* +spd -def)  
Weapon: Odin's Grimoire  
Special: Moonbow  
A: Life and Death 3  
B: R Tomebreaker 3  
S: Speed 3  
Upgrade Path: 5  
 
Odin (5* +atk -def)  
Weapon: Odin's Grimoire  
Special: Moonbow  
A: Life and Death 3  
B: R Tomebreaker 3  
S: Speed 3  
Upgrade Path: 5  
 
Odin (5* +spd -def)  
Weapon: Odin's Grimoire  
Special: Moonbow  
A: Life and Death 3  
B: R Tomebreaker 3  
S: Speed 3  
Upgrade Path: 2  
 
Odin (5* +atk -def)  
Weapon: Odin's Grimoire  
Special: Moonbow  
A: Life and Death 3  
B: R Tomebreaker 3  
S: Speed 3  
Upgrade Path: 2  
 
Odin (5* +spd -def)  
Weapon: Odin's Grimoire  
Special: Moonbow  
A: Life and Death 3  
B: R Tomebreaker 3  
S: Speed 3  
Upgrade Path: 2  
 
Odin (5* +atk -def)  
Weapon: Odin's Grimoire  
Special: Moonbow  
A: Life and Death 3  
B: R Tomebreaker 3  
S: Speed 3  
Upgrade Path: 2  
 
Odin (5* +spd -def)  
Weapon: Odin's Grimoire  
Special: Moonbow  
A: Life and Death 3  
B: R Tomebreaker 3  
S: Speed 3  
Upgrade Path: 2  
 
Odin (5* +atk -def)  
Weapon: Odin's Grimoire  
Special: Moonbow  
A: Life and Death 3  
B: R Tomebreaker 3  
S: Speed 3  
Upgrade Path: 2  
 

— — — — — — —

ENEMIES - FILTERED FULL LIST  
Include: melee, ranged, red, blue, green, gray, physical, magical, infantry, cavalry, flying, armored, staff, nonstaff  
Rarity: 5*  
Merge: +5  
Boon: +spd  
Special: Moonbow  
Replace Special: true  
A: Fury 3  
Replace A: true  

 

 

1 hour ago, Tree said:

The game seems to want to give me Cherches whether I want them or not. I keep using them to give attack +3 to healers or pivot to armor units, and I still have at least a dozen left. She seems like a decent unit especially with the recent refine. I don't have a +10 unit yet (Reinhardt is +8). I'm wondering what iv would work best at +10.

[+atk, -res] looks like a nice choice for lower or higher merges. (I don't have [+atk, -spd])

Between -Spd and -Res, if you use Cherche more often in PvE battles, then -Res is preferable over -Spd to allow Cherche to quad attack armor units more easily.

1 hour ago, Tree said:

[+spd, -hp or -res] could be interesting. Speed is a super boon, so that adds +4 spd for a base of 29. Ten merges and a speed refine add 4+3=7 more. Life and death would cancel out the -5 speed from the special brave axe. Final stats should be 58 atk and 36 spd. A speed seal could bring that to 39 and hone, goad, or any other speed buff could extend that further.

Is this a crazy idea? Did I make an arithmetic mistake? She would get 5 hp from the refine also, so I'm not sure if -hp or -res works better for this. (Resistance is a super bane, although I don't think it affects the arena score tier either way.) The life and death skill implies that -res might be better. The speed could work well with the hammer too.

In my opinion, the amount of effort to make Cherche +Spd viable would give you far higher returns if you spent that effort on a naturally fast unit. 39 Spd at +10 is pretty slow against other +10 units.

 

[Zeo]

@DehNutCase @mampfoid @NegativeExponents- @mcsilas @XRay @Ice Dragon

Well as it turns out I thought I had a +ATK/+SPD / -HP Odin but all of my Odin's were -SPD and I thought the one that wasn't was +SPD when it was =SPD. Also my +ATK/-HP Odin is actually -DEF so I'm left without a choice really. I decided on +SPD though so I'm waiting on a copy to +1 him, but I've already promoted him.

So, more questions for you guys. 

1. How would you build him? Close Counter isn't an option but even if it was I've got units with dibs on that A skill so Fury and Life and Death are his options. Swift Sparrow fodder I also have. What about his B skill? Standard Desperation? Even SPD Wave would probably be his best C skill but obviously I have 0 Karlas.
2. What about a refine and his partner? The SPD refine looks really nice, but ATK/SPD Link is amazing and if mixed teams are involved then I can run something like Titania+Odin where she can double up on tactics skills and buff all 4 stats for him or B!Sanaki with her DEF/RES link and a simple swap can turn the both of them into nukes (especially if I give her a Blade tome as well.)

[XRay]

22 minutes ago, Zeo said:

So, more questions for you guys. 

1. How would you build him? Close Counter isn't an option but even if it was I've got units with dibs on that A skill so Fury and Life and Death are his options. Swift Sparrow fodder I also have. What about his B skill? Standard Desperation? Even SPD Wave would probably be his best C skill but obviously I have 0 Karlas.
2. What about a refine and his partner? The SPD refine looks really nice, but ATK/SPD Link is amazing and if mixed teams are involved then I can run something like Titania+Odin where she can double up on tactics skills and buff all 4 stats for him or B!Sanaki with her DEF/RES link and a simple swap can turn the both of them into nukes (especially if I give her a Blade tome as well.)

1 and 2 are kind of linked and how you build him depends to your play style and what you have.

Personally for me, I lean more towards the special Refinement since I do not run a Tactics team and I do not feel like making one, but if I do have a Tactics team though, then Spd Refinement would be more attractive.

I am not a huge fan of Waves since they are unreliable and they do not work half the time. I prefer regular Hones and Drives instead, or Tactics if he is in a Tactics team.

I think BB!Sanaki is fine, but I would also run a red Dancer/Singer too since I like the old DanSing-Repo trick.

This is how I would build mine with a Tactics team:
+Spd -Def
Odin's Grimoire [Spd], Reposition, Moonbow
Life and Death/Fury, Desperation, Def Tactic/Res Tactic
Speed +3/Heavy Blade/Def Tactic/Res Tactic

Without Tactics team:
+Spd -Def
Odin's Grimoire [special], Reposition, Moonbow
Life and Death/Fury, Desperation, Hone Atk/Hone Spd/Drive Atk/Drive Spd
Speed +3/Heavy Blade

Edited September 7, 2018 by XRay

[DehNutCase]

5 minutes ago, Zeo said:

1. How would you build him? Close Counter isn't an option but even if it was I've got units with dibs on that A skill so Fury and Life and Death are his options. Swift Sparrow fodder I also have. What about his B skill? Standard Desperation? Even SPD Wave would probably be his best C skill but obviously I have 0 Karlas.
2. What about a refine and his partner? The SPD refine looks really nice, but ATK/SPD Link is amazing and if mixed teams are involved then I can run something like Titania+Odin where she can double up on tactics skills and buff all 4 stats for him or B!Sanaki with her DEF/RES link and a simple swap can turn the both of them into nukes (especially if I give her a Blade tome as well.)

1, My Odin set would be absurdly expensive---there's not much reason to choose Odin in particular if you wanted a cheap set, just use Reinhardt or something. He'd have something like CC Prf Refine Def/Res link. (The def/res Link doesn't have to be on Odin himself, his partner can have it.) Mind, part of this is because I have Bow!Lucina, who is a lot better at buffing people with a link skill while also having better unbuffed combat when the team can't afford to spend unit-turns for buffs.

B-slot depends on which phase is more important. His Atk isn't great, but Vantage is still Vantage if he has CC, particularly if his partner is a staff user who can spread some prior damage, and desperation means he keeps basically his entire player phase regardless of hp. Link skill is also possible if his support abilities are more important.

 

If you're looking for a budget set L&D 3, Desperation, Double Tactic in C and S would be alright, I think. Making him a very good tactics team buffer (+6 all stats available) while being alright combat wise. He won't be anything special, though, and I can't really see myself running him over Reinhardt in a set like that (since Rein has Type buff access and better player phase).

 

2, Odin's ideal partner is Bow!Lucina because Future Visions triggers link without costing her whole turn, his Tome coming with a link skill saves a B-slot. I very much would need him with CC if I'm doing this, though---the reason the Reinhardt Cordelia combo works is because the most common check to player phase units, dragons, get dumpstered by people with an enemy phase, which is why Cordelia is running Slaying Lance rather than Brave. It's also a bit more vulnerable to Dull effects since Dull Range neuters both their buffs, unlike with Cordelia & Rein.

For his budget set though I'd say healers are better (which could also let you skip desperation, depending on how much you need your healer to do turn-control duties---if they need to gravity every turn just so you don't die obviously you can't use them to heal), dazzling gravity makes player phase units a lot better and also covers the typical player phase unit checks like dragons because you just dazzling them into OHKO range.

Mind, staff users combo well with every player phase unit, there's nothing in particular that makes Odin as a standout partner for them.

 

If, however, Odin isn't the main unit in a partnership---that is, he's the designated buffbot running Prf, def/res link, and a pair of drives/spurs in the C and S---he combos extremely well with anyone that uses buffs well. This is Legendary Marth, all -blade tome users, and anybody in the future that gets stat boosts from being buffed.

Personally I'd say he'd want to partner with legendary Marth the most, because this way Dull Ranged misses Marth, and Dull Melee misses Odin. His A-slot would be whatever is needed to cover the people that threaten legendary Marth, which would also depend on what the rest of the team is, but a combat A-slot would probably be best, something like L&D or Fury 3, depending on how much bulk he needs.

[Tree]

1 hour ago, XRay said:

Between -Spd and -Res, if you use Cherche more often in PvE battles, then -Res is preferable over -Spd to allow Cherche to quad attack armor units more easily.

She would probably be used in PvE more. My Frederick has the same iv and he works quite well with his hammer.

1 hour ago, XRay said:

In my opinion, the amount of effort to make Cherche +Spd viable would give you far higher returns if you spent that effort on a naturally fast unit. 39 Spd at +10 is pretty slow against other +10 units.

Yeah, you're probably right. It seemed like a fun idea. I calculated it with Frederick also, but without a speed refine on a brave axe, it really doesn't work.

 

I'm not sure who to invest in. With the new arena rules, I've kind of lost interest in trying for tier 20 anyway. I think 18.5 is the best rewards for the effort. (I mixed up my week alternation this last season and ended up in tier 17... oops.) I've spent about 140,000 feathers recently. Seems they have been handing more out lately. (I don't do HM farming as I like to see how much I've used a unit, so only around 10 units have max HM.)

I like many of the GHB and TT units, but they are very limited when it comes to merges. Here are the units I have the most copies of. Anyone have suggestions? (Currently have around ~300,000 feathers, but don't have to spend all of them now.)

In no particular order:

Marth: 9 copies (I have a good iv legendary Marth, and no shortage of infantry swords)

Caeda: 5* +1 merge, 7 copies [no +atk iv] (plus one extra neutral one that I should probably keep for guides)

Sheena: 8 copies (Have five other green armor units and that doesn't include LA Hector or Ephraim)

Lukas: 10 copies

Fae: 5*, 10  copies (Don''t have a good +def iv yet, but I do have Myrrh, Ninian, and Green Grima  as far as dragons go)

L'Arachel: 5*, 6 copies [+spd, -hp] (I like L'Arachel, but I have a +8 Reinhardt, a +2 Olwen, and an Ursula so another blue cavalry mage is not a priority)

Frederick: 5*, 4 copies [+atk, -res] (plus one extra neutral one that I should probably keep for guides)

Cherche: 2 5*, 10 copies [+atk, -res]

Tailtiu: 11 copies

Zephiel: 5 copies

Valter: 5 copies

Arvis: 5*, 4 copies

Berkut: 5*, 4 copies

 

[edit] found some more copies

I have some other units with a decent amount of duplicates, but I don't think they would be good candidates.

 

Edited September 7, 2018 by Tree

[Kaden]

2 hours ago, mcsilas said:

@Zeo yeah i was pondering myself

also maybe @NegativeExponents- @Ice Dragon @DehNutCase Can shed some light- is going -Res instead of -HP worth it or is HP the ideal bane?

-HP would allow him to keep his defenses which you can further boost with buffs and should considering what kind of mage Odin is, but you do weaken his ability to use Panic Ploy if that's your thing. =HP Odin has 43 HP unmerged and 47 HP at +10 to -HP Odin's 40 HP unmerged and 44 at +10. For other ranged units with 43 or more HP, it's only Virion (46), Henry (45), and Azama, Boey, Merric, and winter Tharja (43). If you drop down to 42, then you'd add in Faye, Gaius, ToD! Jakob, Oliver, and Wrys; 41 would add in Jaffar, Lyon, and Matthew where Matthew would actually want -HP if you're building him as tank with Rogue Dagger since -Res is a superbane on him.

Personally, I agree with DehNutCase on not taking -HP as his bane and choosing -Def or -Res instead to which I lean towards -Res on him since there aren't many mages with average to high defense. Specifically with blues, you're only looking at him (25), Valentine's Lyn and Reinhardt (27), and M!Robin (29). Everyone else leans towards resistance like Lute, Mae, and F!Morgan or are glass cannons like summer Camilla, summer F!Corrin, and kind of Linde and Tailtiu who have decent resistance. Tailtiu is also kind of like +Atk, -Def Odin which would also include Ishtar since she's Tailtiu, but with more attack except for the whole not having Blarblade as a default weapon. Oliver could have had 2 less speed and he'd have the same defense as =Def Odin. If you add in other ranged blues, well, Lucina, then she'd have the same defense as =Def Odin.

Tagging @mampfoid and @Zeo since you two were asking as well about +Atk and +Spd Odin.

With +Atk, Odin doesn't jump from low to average like Merric, 26 to 30 as opposed to Odin's 22 to 25, does nor does he have effective damage against a movement type if Merric chooses to keep Excalibur. Odin's base defenses aren't high either unlike Henry or Felicia, Matthew, and Niles, so he can't rely on exploding people with Bonfire/Ignis or Iceberg/Glacies. =Def Merric has 28 defense, so Fury or a defense buff would put him around the 30 defensive stat range for Bonfire and refined Excalibur has -1 special cooldown count as well. That doesn't mean Odin can't run those specials, especially with Odin's Grimoire not having a special cooldown penalty like a regular -blade tome. Neutral Odin with Fury has 28/28 defenses, merging him to +10 brings that up to 32/32, and he's likely to get defensive buffs as a -blade mage. And as Ice Dragon noted, +Atk still helps in allowing him to secure a one-shot and it's more damage per hit and with Glimmer, Draconic Aura, and Dragon Fang in general.

+Spd brings Odin up from 32 speed to 35 speed and that helps him offensively and defensively. Odin is able to double more and avoid more doubles. Defensively is where I feel like Odin stands out since he dumped attack for everything else, mainly HP, and Blarblade, well, -blade tomes being stupid, is what made up for his low base attack. It's not as great as actually having high offenses like Nino, Tailtiu, or Tharja, but it does give Odin something unique in having good bulk while also being decently good offensively provided he gets support. Odin's Grimoire just makes it easier for him to be offensive as he can have normal special cooldown and with its unique refine, he just needs to move or be moved to get and give +6 Atk/Spd.

9 minutes ago, Zeo said:

How would you build him? Close Counter isn't an option but even if it was I've got units with dibs on that A skill so Fury and Life and Death are his options. Swift Sparrow fodder I also have. What about his B skill? Standard Desperation? Even SPD Wave would probably be his best C skill but obviously I have 0 Karlas.

Fury for bulk and mixed phase and L&D3 for pure offense. Swift Sparrow or Death Blow or Darting Blow I'd rather give to someone else. Odin's player phase is good, but others have better player phases. It also hurts his enemy phase and assuming Odin doesn't get doubled or blitzed to death by something, he can probably take a hit with either Fury or L&D3 where Fury would be -1 Atk/Spd and +3 Def/Res and L&D3 would be +1 Atk/Spd for -5 Def/Res on both phases. Both would also make it easy for him to get into Desperation range.

For B passive, Def/Res link would be the holy grail since he'd be able to give +6/+6/+6/+6 just by moving or being moved by someone with unique refined Odin's Grimoire. But you'd be burning a flying Sanaki. Unless you really, really, really like Odin, you have a +10 Sanaki with the perfect boon/bane, or something, I'd rather wait until Def/Res link becomes more common or is at least in the regular summoning pool like some other skills. *cough*Atk/Spd Bond*cough* Otherwise, you could go for a Fury, Renewal build to abuse his bulk, the usual Desperation, a -breaker, maybe a Chill, or whatever you find helpful for him and his allies.

If you aren't going for -HP, Panic Ploy would work well as his C passive or seal.

For special, at this point with how -blade tomes add damage using buffs and Odin's Grimoire not having a special cooldown penalty, Glimmer would be good on him along with Draconic Aura and Dragon Fang. Glimmer/Moonbow would activate more frequently and that's totally Odin. Otherwise, he could probably run a defense stat special depending on what's his bane, maybe an AoE, or Miracle if you want to do something stupid with his bulk.

20 minutes ago, Zeo said:

What about a refine and his partner? The SPD refine looks really nice, but ATK/SPD Link is amazing and if mixed teams are involved then I can run something like Titania+Odin where she can double up on tactics skills and buff all 4 stats for him or B!Sanaki with her DEF/RES link and a simple swap can turn the both of them into nukes (especially if I give her a Blade tome as well.)

I'd go with the unique refine, but that's just me preferring to use them since they give units something unique to work with unless it's really specific in some way like Alfonse's Folkvangr gaining T-Adept which works well if you want him to destroy greens and run Swordbreaker, but a Def or Res refine would be more flexible. Or something like Nephenee's Dauntless Lance being a personal Slaying Lance that is effective against armors, so using it like a regular Slaying Lance is fine and if you have the dew to spare, then there's no reason to use her Slaying Lance. Anyway, back to Odin, it makes it easy for him to get +6/+6 and he also gives it to whoever he moves or gets moved by.

For other partner suggestions, Eirika comes to mind as a "cheap" option since you can get her as a 3* and 4* and she'd benefit from Atk/Spd link being used on her with unique refined Sieglinde. If she is running her usual buff bot build, then she can let Odin do his -blade mage thing and Odin can use Draw Back, Reposition, Swap, or whatever to buff her probably for enemy phase unless you have a dancer to give Eirika another turn. If Eirika isn't running a rally, but a position skill, then she and Odin could do some stupid link stuff. Whatever the case, they could be work well as a mixed phase team. They also complement each other as a red sword and blue mage team. Ephraim would work too, but he'd overlap colors with Odin which could be a problem depending on enemies you're dealing with.

Linde, Lloyd, and Merric with their unique refined weapons also come to mind as they all need a mage or infantry mage in Lloyd's case for their weapon's version of Atk/Spd Bond to work. Linde would overlap colors with Odin, but she'd be able to give him +6 if she's standing next to him at the start of the turn. Lloyd and Merric would complement Odin better; Lloyd would cover greens for Odin and Odin would cover reds for Merric.

Also, there's Bartre or anyone running Smite. :p

 

[XRay]

8 minutes ago, Tree said:

I'm not sure who to invest in. With the new arena rules, I've kind of lost interest in trying for tier 20 anyway. I think 18.5 is the best rewards for the effort.

If getting into Tier 19.5 takes too much effort or if it is not possible right now, you can prioritize investing in Arena Assault for now instead. I usually switch back and forth between investing in Arena and investing in Arena Assault depending on available resources. Since I have been kicked out of Tier 20 into Tier 19.5, and I cannot stay in Tier 20 without a huge amount of investment and probably some real life cash, I am working on preparing more units for Arena Assault to make that mode easier and score higher instead.

15 minutes ago, Tree said:

I like many of the GHB and TT units, but they are very limited when it comes to merges. Here are the units I have the most copies of. Anyone have suggestions? (Currently have around ~300,000 feathers, but don't have to spend all of them now.)

In no particular order:

Marth: 9 copies (I have a good iv legendary Marth, and no shortage of infantry swords)

Caeda: 5* +1 merge, 7 copies [no +atk iv] (plus one extra neutral one that I should probably keep for guides)

Sheena: 8 copies (Have six other green armor units and that doesn't include LA Hector or Ephraim)

Lukas: 7 copies

Fae: 5*, 10  copies (Don''t have a good +def iv yet, but I do have Myrrh, Ninian, and Green Grima  as far as dragons go)

L'Arachel: 5*, 6 copies [+spd, -hp] (I like L'Arachel, but I have a +8 Reinhardt, a +2 Olwen, and an Ursula so another blue cavalry mage is not a priority)

Frederick: 5*, 4 copies [+atk, -res]

Cherche: 2 5*, 9 copies [+atk, -res]

For some units, you do not have to get them to 5*+10 to make them viable. 4*+10 in many cases will be fine. For limited units from GHBs and TTs, I do prefer to get them to 5*+# though since using them as 4*+# severely limits their potential since they already have a lack of merges.

All those units you listed are fine in my opinion, but unless they are limited units or have a good exclusive Weapon, I would just get them to 4*+10 instead.

Some players do not like to leave their units at 4*+10 though, so if you are one of those players, getting them to 5*+# is fine too, but it will just be very expensive.

For Fae specifically, she has a lot of builds that requires different natures, so you do not have to stick with just +Def.

[Tree]

1 hour ago, XRay said:

For Fae specifically, she has a lot of builds that requires different natures, so you do not have to stick with just +Def.

That is true, but I think I like the +def one the most.

 

1 hour ago, XRay said:

4*+10 in many cases will be fine.

I do have a few 4* merged units, but I only do that for units I don't care much about. (Boey likes to visit, so he's 4* +8 now.) A 4* +10 is similar to a 5* +5, right? I could just make a couple of those and save some feathers for now. I guess the extra merges on the 4* would score higher, but that probably doesn't matter. 5* +4 seems to be the best compromise since the 5th merge usually adds the least desired stats.

I used to auto battle area assault with the Askr units as the starting team (they are 5* with refines). That scores around 4000. If I play through manually on the easy difficulty, I usually get around 4300. If I really work at it and play medium and use blessing units, I can get around 4700. I tried it with my best team for the start, and couldn't consistently beat hard difficulty. (edit: Only had difficulty with the later teams; the first team had no trouble.) The difference between autobattling and attempting manual play of hard difficulties was only a few extra coins and stones per week. I've settled for a quick manual play through for around 4300 points. If I could get in top 20,000, it might be worth the effort, but the lower tiers have only a single coin between them unlike the higher tiers which have 2 between.

I haven't been able to get to tier 20, so 19.5 isn't really an option. I don't know if it is even worth trying unless I can get there without many bonus unit KOs.

I did put blessings on many units so I have around 16-17 units of each (reasonably color balanced) with 5+ of each in inventory available. They seem to only add a single point per instance in AA. I think I have to include a legendary unit on my team for the blessings to count towards the score in regular arena, right?

I guess I don't really know where to go with the game. I seem to be at a plateau where advancing is a disproportionate amount of work for the rewards. Perhaps I just need some key units or skills, but I'm not really sure.

Edited September 7, 2018 by Tree

[mampfoid]

Thanks everybody for their input to Odin (tagging back @Zeo @NegativeExponents- @Kaden). I'll go with +SPD, special refinement and LnD3. The +SPD refinement seems more effective, but I'm bringing him only to places where I like to try out gimmicky things. 

Flashing Blade plus Astra will bring the unnecessary (but fun) overkill. 

@Tree I'm using a +ATK/-RES Cherche since a long time now and she arrived to +10 recently. In my opinion it's her ideal nature. You can still stack her speed for some fun in pve modes, I gave her LnD and a SPD refined Slaying Axe for that.

She can run heavy blade on her A slot and is still killing what there is to kill for her in arena. It's fun to instantly proc Galeforce with her Heavy Blade + QP set and one brave attack. 

Edited September 7, 2018 by mampfoid

[Kubson]

I just got a -Atk/+Def Sigurd, is this really bad and is there a way to make him work?