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

[XRay]

2 hours ago, sirmola said:

I just got pitybroken by a bad sigure. I could always merge him into my existing one, but i was wondering if anyone else wants his skills (namely darting stance or harmonic lance) all of my lance users have good niches except for maybe fin (because Abel dies the brave lance cav thing better). As for darting stance, i was thinking maybe +atk/-def nephnee? otherwise, no real idea.

Harmonic Lance is good for Enemy Phase Spd tanks and first round performance for Player Phase units. I recommend prioritizing this skill for inheritance.

Darting Stance for Spd tanks is similar to Darting Blow for Player Phase nukes. It is better than nothing, but it is out classed by Fury, Kestrel Stance, Atk/Spd Bond, and other skills that boost both Atk and Spd. It is much better than Defiants and A slot Blades, but it is not very good in my opinion when you compare it to Fury.

You may also want to consider Ward Fliers, but if you are not running a lot of flying Raven mages or other flying tanks, I would not worry about it too much.

[RexBolt]

Are Tempest Trials heroes in the regular pool after the event? How about GHB ones?

Basically, can i +10 them?

[Garlyle]

16 minutes ago, RexBolt said:

Are Tempest Trials heroes in the regular pool after the event? How about GHB ones?

Basically, can i +10 them?

They are unfortunately not. This is why none of them can be +10'd yet(although Masked Marth is getting close)

[Flying Shogi]

Can someone tell me where the terms "pity breaker" and "pity percent" came from? Are these terms exclusive to this game or do fans of other gacha games also use these terms? To my knowledge, a "pity breaker" refers to a 5* unit that shows up in place of the one that the player is going for and depending on the person, a banner unit can also qualify as a pity breaker. As for "pity percent," it's simply the appearance rate to me.    

Edited September 19, 2018 by tobuShogi

[Vaximillian]

2 minutes ago, tobuShogi said:

Can someone tell me where the terms "pity breaker" or "pity percent" came from? 

The rate-up is sometimes referred to as pity rate because it builds up when you don’t succeed. It’s like the game shows pity for you by increasing your chance to get 5★s.

When a 5★ appears, they dial your incremented rate back to start. You don’t have that rate anymore, it’s broken. Hence, pity breakers.

[Icelerate]

Why do mounted ranged attackers released after Brave Lyn not have her BST? Is it to make Lyn special? It's not like Brave Ike, Brave Hector and Brave Celica have higher BST than gen 2 units of the same class despite winning first on CYL.  

[XRay]

14 minutes ago, Icelerate said:

Why do mounted ranged attackers released after Brave Lyn not have her BST? Is it to make Lyn special? It's not like Brave Ike, Brave Hector and Brave Celica have higher BST than gen 2 units of the same class despite winning first on CYL.  

Ranged ponies were a huge threat before trenches were released. The BST increase of generation II was more about making other units more resilient than making ponies less powerful. Except for BH!Lyn, all ranged ponies pretty much score the same.

I think Intelligent Systems realized how bonkers BH!Lyn was, so they stopped giving ranged ponies a BST boost.

Part of the reason, in my opinion, is also due to them wanting to baby armor units in Arena and make it less frustrating for whales.

Edited September 17, 2018 by XRay

[Ice Dragon]

1 hour ago, Icelerate said:

Why do mounted ranged attackers released after Brave Lyn not have her BST? Is it to make Lyn special? It's not like Brave Ike, Brave Hector and Brave Celica have higher BST than gen 2 units of the same class despite winning first on CYL.  

@XRay

Brave Heroes is a Gen 1 banner. Ike and Lyn do not have the Gen 2 stat boost. They have a unique boost of +10% to total growth rates (which is what Gen 2 melee fliers ended up getting after the dust settled).

World of Holy War is also a Gen 1 banner. Sigurd has the same boost that Brave Ike and Brave Lyn have (which, again, is the same as Gen 2 melee fliers).

Ayra is the first true Gen 2 character in the game.

Trick or Defeat! is a Gen 1.5 banner. Henry and Jakob are Gen 2 units with Nowi and Sakura as Gen 1 units.

Farfetched Heroes is the first actual Gen 2 banner.

Edited September 17, 2018 by Ice Dragon

[XRay]

1 hour ago, Zihark11 said:

so im looking to go hard core into heroes again. Any suggestions on who i should check out for helpful guides? ive got 2 and half teams of level 40s and about 30 5 star characters. 

For short questions, please use this thread.

If you are talking about Arena, based on my own experience, the best way to get into Arena competitively is to watch some Arena videos to see what kind of team you want to play, build that type of team, and then practice with your team. If you have lots of Dueling Swords saved up, I recommend completing your Arena run on the first day of the season so you can just focus on practicing with your team for the rest of the week without too much pressure. If you just do the minimum of 3 battles a day, you should be able to quickly hone your skills to a reasonable level, make fewer mistakes, and be able to achieve win streaks without any losses 90%+ of the time.

If you want an easy time in Arena, I personally recommend running a Firesweep team with ASS!Takumi (WOF!Hinoka is a decent substitute, but she is a bit weaker) and YT!Olivia (the third unit does not matter, pick whoever you want). If you want to stay in Tier 20 or Tier 21, I recommend investing in a Distant Counter-Ward Dragon/Armor team. These two teams require very high investment so unless you are a dolphin or whale, it will take gradual investments over time.

Listing what you have in your Barracks is also helpful, and ideally note their natures too.

Edited September 18, 2018 by XRay

[Zihark11]

20 hours ago, XRay said:

For short questions, please use this thread.

If you are talking about Arena, based on my own experience, the best way to get into Arena competitively is to watch some Arena videos to see what kind of team you want to play, build that type of team, and then practice with your team. If you have lots of Dueling Swords saved up, I recommend completing your Arena run on the first day of the season so you can just focus on practicing with your team for the rest of the week without too much pressure. If you just do the minimum of 3 battles a day, you should be able to quickly hone your skills to a reasonable level, make fewer mistakes, and be able to achieve win streaks without any losses 90%+ of the time.

If you want an easy time in Arena, I personally recommend running a Firesweep team with ASS!Takumi (WOF!Hinoka is a decent substitute, but she is a bit weaker) and YT!Olivia (the third unit does not matter, pick whoever you want). If you want to stay in Tier 20 or Tier 21, I recommend investing in a Distant Counter-Ward Dragon/Armor team. These two teams require very high investment so unless you are a dolphin or whale, it will take gradual investments over time.

Listing what you have in your Barracks is also helpful, and ideally note their natures too.

i have a lot of stamina potions and dueling swords. 62 stam potions and 44 dueling swords so i could probably play the app for a day or more straight. my best 8 units atm are: Jeorge, Tana, Sanaki, ike (with Urvan), Hardin, Dorcas, Sigurd (seems really good), Faye, Fjorm, and ike (with Ragnell). my biggest questions are what do i do with all my 3 and 4 star characters and what skills should i pass onto the characters above.

[XRay]

2 hours ago, Zihark11 said:

i have a lot of stamina potions and dueling swords. 62 stam potions and 44 dueling swords so i could probably play the app for a day or more straight. my best 8 units atm are: Jeorge, Tana, Sanaki, ike (with Urvan), Hardin, Dorcas, Sigurd (seems really good), Faye, Fjorm, and ike (with Ragnell). my biggest questions are what do i do with all my 3 and 4 star characters and what skills should i pass onto the characters above.

Can you list the rest of your 5* units as well? If you can, list their natures too, so you know which units to prioritize more.

I assume you have Ike: Vanguard Legend. I recommend creating an Arena team with VL!Ike, Fjorm, and Dorcas, and practice with that team for a week or two, and see if you can get 5 wins in a row without any losses. If you like using that team, I recommend investing in Nowi, A!Tiki, and Fae and give them all Lightning Breath and Quick Riposte; alternatively, you can invest in Draug, Effie, and Sheena for a higher scoring armor team, but they are a bit more expensive as they need Distant Counter.

If you do not like the above Enemy Phase team with VL!Ike, Fjorm, and Dorcas, I recommend building a Player Phase team instead. If you have BB!Cordelia, WOF!Hinoka, BH!Lyn, or ASS!Takumi, I recommend giving them Firesweep Bow from Faye. You can also give Firesweep Bow to TOD!Jakob if you can also give him Bold Fighter.

For your 3* and 4* characters, I recommend you check each and every one of their natures. Units with good natures should obviously be favorited. Units with neutral natures should also be saved (preferably favorited with a different color) so you can use them to clear difficult content by copying strategy videos online. Units with bad natures can be used as merge fodder or skill fodder.

Edited September 19, 2018 by XRay

[Baldrick]

2 hours ago, Zihark11 said:

my biggest questions are what do i do with all my 3 and 4 star characters

You can either use them as skill fodder for your 5 star units, or merge/promote them.

In the Arena, you need to use one of the bonus units, so build an "arena core" of your three best units and use the fourth slot for the bonus unit. Ideally, your core should have a red unit, a blue unit and a green unit so you can always get WTA against enemies. For example, you could make two cores, Fjorm, Sigurd and Urvan Ike to use in water season weeks, and Ragnell Ike, Hardin and Dorcas to use in earth season weeks. Edit: XRay's core is good as well.

But if you want to get to the highest tiers, you need to use merged 5 star units. The easiest way to get them is by promoting 3 and 4 star units, though you'll need a lot of feathers. The best units to use for this are those with high BST (like armours) or support units that make your bonus unit stronger (like Marth or Male Corrin).

Quote

and what skills should i pass onto the characters above.

Positional skills like Reposition and Draw Back are always useful for getting units out of danger.

In general, you should give units skills that make them better at what they're already good at. For example, both Ikes are good tanks so give them Quick Riposte, and Sanaki is a strong nuke so give her Death Blow.

Your arena core want skills that cost a lot of SP, because that increases how much they score. For example, the dual rallies that Oscar/Tiltyu/Roderick have, and Galeforce/Aether.

Edited September 19, 2018 by Baldrick

[Liliesgrace]

I have a couple of questions I'd like some opinions on concerning weapon refinements if anyone is willing to lend their advice.

 

1. My Christmas Chrom sits at 41 DEF and 35 RES with summoner's support and usually also carries the Distant Defense seal. I want to refine his Sack 'o Gifts, but I don't know whether to go with +DEF or +RES.

2. My LA Eliwood has a Slaying Lance+, is used nearly entirely as a player phase unit, and carries the skills Sturdy Blow and Bold Fighter. He has 32 SPD, 29 DEF, and 29 RES, and I don't know which of those three to choose for his bonus with the refinement.

Also, is there any particular reason why some dancers get one point less on their refinement option (PA Olivia, PA Shigure, Bride Ninian) and other don't (NY Azura)?

[Baldrick]

4 minutes ago, Liliesgrace said:

1. My Christmas Chrom sits at 41 DEF and 35 RES with summoner's support and usually also carries the Distant Defense seal. I want to refine his Sack 'o Gifts, but I don't know whether to go with +DEF or +RES.

I would recommend +DEF unless you're worried about mages. It gives him extra protection against armourslaying weapons and increases the damage he does with Bonfire/Ignis.

4 minutes ago, Liliesgrace said:

2. My LA Eliwood has a Slaying Lance+, is used nearly entirely as a player phase unit, and carries the skills Sturdy Blow and Bold Fighter. He has 32 SPD, 29 DEF, and 29 RES, and I don't know which of those three to choose for his bonus with the refinement.

Probably +DEF; most units that can counterattack do physical damage, and +SPD would only be good for preventing doubles (or if he's attacking a unit with Wary Fighter). Because of Bold Fighter, +ATK might also be worth it even though it's a smaller boost.

4 minutes ago, Liliesgrace said:

Also, is there any particular reason why some dancers get one point less on their refinement option (PA Olivia, PA Shigure, Bride Ninian) and other don't (NY Azura)?

Ranged units get less points on their refinements.

[Liliesgrace]

4 minutes ago, Baldrick said:

I would recommend +DEF unless you're worried about mages. It gives him extra protection against armourslaying weapons and increases the damage he does with Bonfire/Ignis.

Probably +DEF; most units that can counterattack do physical damage, and +SPD would only be good for preventing doubles (or if he's attacking a unit with Wary Fighter). Because of Bold Fighter, +ATK might also be worth it even though it's a smaller boost.

Ranged units get less points on their refinements.

Oh in case it changes any recommendations,  Chrom has Distant Counter and Aether. Eliwood has Aether too.

And thank you for the confusion over points in refinement!

[Zihark11]

4 hours ago, Baldrick said:

You can either use them as skill fodder for your 5 star units, or merge/promote them.

In the Arena, you need to use one of the bonus units, so build an "arena core" of your three best units and use the fourth slot for the bonus unit. Ideally, your core should have a red unit, a blue unit and a green unit so you can always get WTA against enemies. For example, you could make two cores, Fjorm, Sigurd and Urvan Ike to use in water season weeks, and Ragnell Ike, Hardin and Dorcas to use in earth season weeks. Edit: XRay's core is good as well.

But if you want to get to the highest tiers, you need to use merged 5 star units. The easiest way to get them is by promoting 3 and 4 star units, though you'll need a lot of feathers. The best units to use for this are those with high BST (like armours) or support units that make your bonus unit stronger (like Marth or Male Corrin).

Positional skills like Reposition and Draw Back are always useful for getting units out of danger.

In general, you should give units skills that make them better at what they're already good at. For example, both Ikes are good tanks so give them Quick Riposte, and Sanaki is a strong nuke so give her Death Blow.

Your arena core want skills that cost a lot of SP, because that increases how much they score. For example, the dual rallies that Oscar/Tiltyu/Roderick have, and Galeforce/Aether.

Thank you for the inputs! This really helps.

4 hours ago, XRay said:

Can you list the rest of your 5* units as well? If you can, list their natures too, so you know which units to prioritize more.

I assume you have Ike: Vanguard Legend. I recommend creating an Arena team with VL!Ike, Fjorm, and Dorcas, and practice with that team for a week or two, and see if you can get 5 wins in a row without any losses. If you like using that team, I recommend investing in Nowi, A!Tiki, and Fae and give them all Lightning Breath and Quick Riposte; alternatively, you can invest in Draug, Effie, and Sheena for a higher scoring armor team, but they are a bit more expensive as they need Distant Counter.

If you do not like the above Enemy Phase team with VL!Ike, Fjorm, and Dorcas, I recommend building a Player Phase team instead. If you have BB!Cordelia, WOF!Hinoka, BH!Lyn, or ASS!Takumi, I recommend giving them Firesweep Bow from Faye. You can also give Firesweep Bow to TOD!Jakob if you can also give him Bold Fighter.

For your 3* and 4* characters, I recommend you check each and every one of their natures. Units with good natures should obviously be favorited. Units with neutral natures should also be saved (preferably favorited with a different color) so you can use them to clear difficult content by copying strategy videos online. Units with bad natures can be used as merge fodder or skill fodder.

I do have a 5 Star Fae so i could actually make that team. Thanks for the advice.

Edited September 19, 2018 by Zihark11

[Zeo]

@mcsilas @mampfoid @Alexmender @Hawk King @Astellius @LordFrigid @Johann @eclipse @Kaden @Ice Dragon @XRay @NegativeExponents- @SatsumaFSoysoy

Hey, tagging a bunch of people again. Sorry of that's getting annoying, but this time it's not for any video showcase, this time I need some help. I've come to the realization that I have not only a lot of unfinished and outdated units in my barracks, but a lot of unused premium fodder, some I've been sitting on for a long time. Just for clarification... let's see...

Spoiler

 

• 2 Distant Counter
• 2 Swift Sparrow 2
• 1 Distant DEF 3
• 1 Warding Breath
• 1 Flashing Blade 3
• 1 Brazen ATK/SPD
• 1 Bold Fighter 3
• 1 Chill SPD 3
• 1 DEF Smoke 3 (Maybe)
• 1 Infantry Pulse 3
• 1 Firesweep Bow+
• 1 Drive ATK 2

 

Some of this fodder I came into the possession of recently, other fodder I've had for the longest (like those 2 DC's). Unfortunately I've never come into the possession of Wrath fodder, that's something I'll have to specifically snipe for (which I have unsuccessfully) but let's focus on what I do have. This isn't going to be a post asking you to tell me what to do with all this. For one thing, some of this fodder is tied to deeper questions about the units themselves and who to fodder (like +ATK/-SPD or +ATK/-DEF Delthea) and (+SPD/-HP Micaiah or +ATK/-HP Micaiah, etc.) I'm merely highlighting my indecisiveness and desire to spruce up some units so they aren't gold bordered dust collectors. 

To put more emphasis if you even need it. I have 29 sword units, among those, only 20 of them are even usable (most outdated) and among those only 9 are active. We're not going to touch on every unfinished unit in my barracks now, you'd be here forever. Just going to ask for a bit of advice to jumpstart me as I've been finding myself using the same units over and over recently. Alright? Let's go. Spoiler tags cause I don't want my post to be bible size.

1. Eirika (+ATK/-HP)

Spoiler

I've got a lot of sword units on the bench. Joshua, Marisa, Ike, Alfonse, Tobin, Arden, etc, but none of them are as offensive as Eirika and that's because I not only promoted but spent Dew on her. I did it a long time ago, and yet here she is, collecting dust. Part of this is due to indecision. Her mixed bulk and potential for increase (as well as her +ATK/-HP nature) makes her perfect for Distant Counter but the problem is that is colossal investment and with how limited feathers are +10'ing her likely won't happen. On top of that, Fir/Berkut's Lance+ user could be a better, or at the very least more unique choice. Swords are the most common DC units and I only have 2 fodder.

But enough of that, I'm sick of her being inactive. Question is, how do I build a refined +ATK/-HP Eirika with or without DC?

2. Spring Alfonse (+ATK/-DEF)

Spoiler

Yeah so. I pulled this dude while going for Kagero (who I obviously didn't get) and have been sitting on him since his initial banner. It's worth noting that while Frederick serves my Green Axe cav needs he is the only one I have besides TT Marth. This guy has been on the bench for quite some time while I've been thinking about what to do with him, a Wo Dao axe was cool but I couldn't decide who wanted it and now Libra's here. DEF Smoke would be great on a few units (like my Swordhardt, Ephraim or Guard Bow+ Faye) but I'm iffy about foddering off the only copy of seasonals I have.

He's +ATK/-DEF and I have no clue how to build him, so how should I go about that? Frederick is my Brave Axe cav and Marth is my ATK buffer. Or is he better spent as DEF Smoke 3 fodder?

3. Deirdre (+RES/-SPD)

Spoiler

Pulled this pitybreaker going for Ephraim. In the current world of dragons, powerful speedy mages and Close Counter walls of death, there's little use for this woman outside of the occasional Rein explosion. Her SPD is also unfortunate as SPD Ploy is made useless and she usually can't kill even blue dragons in a single hit and gets utterly destroyed on the counter. As you can see she lacks an A skill and SPD Ploy is pretty useless on her outside of occasional support for her team mates. However, she boasts the highest RES of any unit in my entire barracks. So Ploys are definitely something she should be using more of. How do I build a +RES/-SPD Deirdre and what should her A skill be?

I imagine Mirror stance would be a pretty good A skill for her... if I could get my hands on it. That requires however, foddering off my F!Morgan (not happening) or Sylvia demoting, which is currently up in the air. Not to mention the fact that she could pull a LA'Rachel and simply never show up ever. Distant DEF's not worth it because it's wasted on a unit that's only tanking magic, Fury takes away from QR and Warding Stance is lollockedonaseasonal. So yeah, hands are up in the air.

3. Lon'Qu (*4 +10) (+ATK/-HP)

Spoiler

His potential is capped, but otherwise the only way to get a stronger version of him would be to spend 120,000 feathers which frankly speaking, would never happen. As it stands he has a superb offensive spread of 34/41. That's nearly identical to neutral Karla with superior overall bulk on top of it. It's criminal that he sees no use. The world is his oyster, so how do I build him? Before you answer that, let me run down my infantry sword game.

• Standard Desperation, Main Killer: Ayra
• Desperation + Chill DEF: Lyn
• DC Tank: L!Ike, OG Ike
• LnD3 + Swordbreaker, Wo Dao+: Ogma
• Swordbreaker Wo Dao+: Athena
• EP Physical + Dragon Tank: Chrom
• Green Armor Killer: Tobin
• Benchwarmers/Unbuilt units: F!Celica, Mia (+RES/-ATK), Fir (+ATK/-RES), Joshua, Marisa.

Clearly I'm good on Desperation swordies, I've got plenty of Wo Dao+ swords already and I've got both EP tanks and an armor slayer. I'm trying to figure out whats worth putting on Lon'Qu. He could run a standard LnD3 + Desperation build which no one in my roster actually has but it would do nothing to separate him from other units. I also refuse to give him a Firesweep Sword as he will never be able to use that as well as Soleil. (I'm actually waiting on a good natured Soleil so I can build her.) Should I even bother building him now that I think about it or just wait for his inevitable refine instead of wasting 20k feathers on a weapon that could be retired in a few months?

4. Serra (+5) (+SPD/-HP)

Spoiler

So I was sitting there feeding my niece while funneling through my nephew's phone waiting for her to chew and I had a brief moment of weakness. I was looking at the pile of Serras in my barracks and came to the realization that I have more copies of her than anyone else in my entire roster. Remembering that I wanted to +10 her I had a brief lapse in judgement and wound up +5'ing her. Sadly what you see here is her build which is... pretty pitiful I have to say. She's my +10 healer of choice but at this point she needs some work. I need to decide on a build for her however, even if I don't have all the fodder I need yet. Will she follow in Genny's footsteps and be a razzle dazzle Gravity healer? Or will she be a Pain+/Savage Blow bot since I don't actually have one of those?

Or she could go the Close Counter Absorb route and get Close DEF + ATK Ploy (I even have a +DEF/-HP copy of her if I want to go that route.). The thing about Serra is that she's entirely middle of the road. She has just enough of every stat to fill any role, but lacks enough of any stat to excel in that field enough to make a build choice obvious. The only thing I know is I've never pulled a +ATK Serra and I don't need one as +SPD/-HP has always been my nature of choice and would only change if I wanted +DEF for a CC build as she's rather frail no matter what you do. Suggestions are welcome.

5. Ephraim (+ATK/-SPD)

Spoiler

I finally pulled him. He's my most recent *5 and he's the perfect nature. The problem is I have no idea which route to go with him. He can be a buffbot with his normal Siegmund refine and Deathblow/QR with a hone/tactic skill and buff 3-4 stats. Or he can forgo such a build in favor of Flame Siegmund which completely frees up his B slot from QR in favor of something like Renewal, Wrath, Guard or even Vantage to ensure he only takes a single hit (which has great synergy with nonsense like DEF Smoke). Of course, this is at the cost of all potential to buff allies as well as lacking the advantage L!Ephraim has to grab horse buffs and race off to a fight/+self sustain through healing/+3 movement.

In today's age, the buffs Ephraim provides are becoming more and more outdated. Despite that, his cheaper alternative (Dew wise) turns him into a potential one-and-done combat unit depending on his build and investment. He'll never be able to tank like my Lukas can, so I don't really want that specific build for him, still I'm left unsure of which route to take. Either one will take significant resources. So what's the best route to go with an optimal nature Ephraim?

6. WE!Lissa (+HP/-ATK)

Spoiler

 

So I pulled 2 WE!Lissas. One of them was foddered to ToD!Jakob for Bold Fighter 3 (a decision I'm rather proud of) but I'm left with this. +HP/-ATK is probably the worst nature she could possibly get (even +SPD could be built upon for defensive purposes). Still, she's a green armor with Bold Fighter, so she's got to have value. I don't see her being used over Amelia or my Two Hectors, but it's a complete and utter waste to let a Bold Fighter armor of all things collect dust. So let me have it, how do I build a -ATK Lissa of all things, or is she better off as a 2nd Bold Fighter fodder to another unit?

 

7. Who gets Bold Fighter?

Spoiler

I pulled a 2nd B!Hector, which means I have some of the most premium fodder known to man. Bold Fighter fodder. That's no small inherit though, so i'm considering my options carefully. I already have color coverage with this skill considering WE!Lissa, B!Hector, ToD!Jakob and Arden, who trades the Cooldown charge acceleration and lack of HP limit for the ability to proc in both phases. Pulling Zelgius would make BK getting the skill a complete waste, I'm not really interested in building a Draug and both Amelia and Sheena would prefer Vengeful Fighter in my opinion (I'm actually really happy with WoM3 on my Amelia and would prefer a premium A skill on her even if she could run a mixed phase set with Bold Fighter and the QR seal).

So I'm left with these two as my primary choices up-top. Henry has superior ATK and has the perfect nature for a mixed phase build (+DEF/-RES) but he's currently lacking Close Counter fodder and isn't even first in line to get it should I pull a Takumi. LA!Lyn on the other hand is a perfect recipent of the skill due to being +RES/-SPD which means Bold Fighter completely negates the speed deficit and turns it into an advantage. She also has the merit of being my favorite character. Despite things lining up nicely with her, I lack a real plan of what to do with her after giving her Bold Fighter and she's a touch squishy on the physical side to be running CC. Not to mention... I don't use Armor Emblem outside of stratum quests. If I'm running her she's part of a mixed team with likely only one armor ally if any.

So you've heard my story, who gets Bold Fighter? Or should I just wait?

8. +DEF/-ATK FH!Celica or +ATK/-SPD Celica?

No pictures this time as the question is simple. I've got Chill SPD fodder on my hands. Problem is I don't know where from. She can either take a paltry 32/35 offensive statline boosted by 4 in the first round of combat with the added bonus of being deceptively tanky with 37 DEF during the first round of combat. Or she can take a massive ATK boost up to 38... at the cost of 3 speed which is huge. There's no winning here really. I just want to know which route I'm losing less taking.

Been busy, but I did want to write this post. It's been days in the making. There's still at least a dozen units I have questions about, but for now we're just going to tackle these eight.

[SatsumaFSoysoy]

For Eirika, you can either go Tactic or go Wave I guess. I like to keep her visible buff buffbot capabilities intact. Spd Tactic is gud shit. Her B is pretty much free. Chill, WoM, Escape Route, Renewal, whatever you want. For the seal, just slap on another Tactic (or just a Fortify).

V!Lyn's best B is Special Fighter now, but you kinda want a +Spd V!Lyn to do that... I'd rather save the Bold Fighter to be used on an armor that you can merge more easily like Effie.

I'd rather take the +Atk -Spd Celica. She can Chill Spd, get some Speed buffs, etc. It's fine.

[Xenomata]

@Zeo You didn't @ me, but I can help to!

Spoiler

 

Eirika: +Atk -HP is her best nature for landing kills since she is plenty fast even before Sieglinde borrows a Speed boost from an allies Field Buffs so doesn't necessarily need the extra Spd anymore, at least compared to pre-Sieglinde refine. Distant Counter would let her have a dangerous Enemy-phase, and one skill that'd help with that could be Vantage, assuming you have Atk Tactic somewhere on the team to not only provide Eirika with a buff, but also an ally, which becomes a buff for Eirika, giving her massive power. Without DC though, you can give her a deadly Player Phase with Brazen Atk/Spd or Swift Sparrow in tandem with Sieglinde and Desperation.

Frederick: If it were me, I'd take a page from @Anacybele's book and make Freddy into a mobile fortress. That way, you can then take the time to turn Spring Alfonse into a Brave Axe user. Or just have two Cavalry Brave Axe users. TBH, I don't find as much value in Def Smoke as the other Smokes, since Daggers inflict Defense debuffs by default, and Dragons can take advantage of Res Smoke with Dark Breath if they wanted to. Meanwhile, the only weapon I can think of with a debuffing effect on a non-Dagger physical damaging unit is Clarisse's Bow, and it's be better to leave the debuffing game to Daggers.

Deirdre: It's not a good idea, but I gave my Deirdre Attack +3 just to help her Dragon-killing abilities in Arena Assault. She's +HP -Spd, so I understand the uselessness of Spd Ploy on a turtle to. If I had better fodder options at the time though, Fury 3 would let her ploy just about anything, even some units meant to be ploy users themselves. At that point, she can take the Res Ploy SS (or the skill, whichever is most convenient) and act as a ploy user who doesn't get as many stats down, but has a massive Res stat to target anyone.

Lon'qu: Replace his nature. I'm not saying +Atk is bad, but Lon'qu has great HP for a speedy Sword unit, which only gets better with a refine. In fact, I honestly think his Panic Ploy potential is up there with most Armors and Karel, who isn't as fast as Lon'qu is. I'd give him Infantry Pulse and Panic Ploy once you secure a forged weapon for him. As for what build to give him... that's about where I'm gonna bow out on this Ladyrunner...

Serra: Razzle them with that Gravity Dazzle. She will become a weaker but much faster Genny with such a build, and will even be able to take on mages with how much Speed she could have to keep out of doubling range.

Ephraim: I'd honestly go with the Special Refine on Siegmund rather than the Flame Siegmund. Remember, Ephraim is not a Cavalry unit, so getting him alone won't be as easy as it is on Legendary Ephraim, especially since so many maps are heavily against Cavalry units nowadays.

WE!Lissa: You are actually in possession of a faster but slightly less bulky Sheena with that Lissa. Yep, Sheena with default Atk is as powerful as -Atk WE!Lissa. Lissa does have the advantage of Handbell being a good defensive weapon though, so however you can think to make Sheena a good unit should also apply to Lissa.

Bold Fighter: I'd wait and see, if it were me. It'd be one thing if only one of them had Armor March, but they both do. It'd be another if one of them had more obvious advantages than the other, but I don't really see any. I can think of one unique scenario though: If you could give Lyn the Juicy Wave+ from Summer Camilla, then I'd immediately give Bold Fighter to her, because she can trigger Desperation and Bold Fighter at the same time that way. Same if you had ToD!Jakob and gave him the Fishie Bow.

FH!Celica: She has Chill Spd and Beloved Zofia by default, so she already patches up most of her shortcomings by default. I'd go with +Atk -Spd.

 

 

Edited September 21, 2018 by Xenomata

[LordFrigid]

@Zeo

Eirika

I will vouch for both Fury and DC as solid picks for her. I use a DC/QR EP variant on a Sacred Stones themed tactics team (with L'Arachel & Myrrh), but depending on where you plan on using her you probably won't want/need QR (or if you do, you could probably just use the seal version). If you don't need QR, then you can run just about anything else like Def/Res Link.

Deirdre

Both her roles are pretty niche, but from my experience with Julia, I personally consider her dragon-checking niche to be more useful than her mage-checking niche. I would just build her to check dragons, and I honestly find it a little odd that she's having trouble dealing with blue ones. The Res Ploy seal and some flavor of Atk-boosting A passive (Death Blow or Fury) should do the trick.

If you're dead set on having her be a mage check, you might consider using the Atk Ploy seal instead. With Distant Def off the table, Mirror Stance or Atk/Res Bond (which has the same seasonal-only issue as Warding Stance) would be the best A passives for the job, though you could probably work with a basic Attack +3 or Resistance +3 in the meantime.

Ephraim

It's been a while since I last updated my analysis thread, but that might help get you started. I personally run Siegmund (Eff)/Moonbow/Death Blow/Wrath.

~

Passing on the rest, at least for now, due to time and low experience levels with the characters.

[mampfoid]

@Zeo I can totally relate to your problem of unused premium fodder, my barracks look similar. I would keep -DEF Delthea (obviously) and +ATK Micaiah. I wouldn't fodder Micaiah for DD3 but for Drive ATK instead, since we just got 2 spare Garons. 

For the units you are asking advice for, I'm not suggesting complete builds as I'm not having much experience with them myself. It would help if you knew already how their teams would look like and what purpose you have in mind for them (themed team or only AA, potential future merge project etc). I hope my thoughts will help you regardless, trying to highlight things you might not thought of (perhaps):  

1. Eirika
   
   +ATK and DC would be perfect for a +10 merge project. Since you are not merging her, I would consider switching to +SPD and Fury (general purpose, she want's to tank, buff and kill). Generally she likes to be on a tactics team to use the full potential of her refinement, perhaps together with BB!Marth? 
    
2. Deidre
   
   I don't think -SPD is a bad bane for her, she'll be able to tank blue and green mages even without A-skill and dealing Icebergs in return thanks to QR and her low SPD. If you want to kill dragons, give her Death Blow. That's what I did with my Micaiah for AA.
   
   (Watersweep plus Phantom SPD could work too, but that's situational and expensive).
   
   I'm not using ploys much, but of course her RES would be ideal for that. SPD ploy could help her teammates as another ploy on the seal slot would. 
    
3. Lon'qu
   
   No idea yet, have to think about that. 
    
4. Serra
   
   Of course all the sets you've suggested are very good, CC + absorb stands out and would be pretty awesome. I think it depends on her team, no need to build an expensive CC healer if you have other units to cover that role. 
    
5. Ephraim
   
   I'm not using mine, since it's easy to get a lot of good buffs these days. If you like him and want to make him stand out in your barracks you'll have to invest dew at least. 
    
6. Lissa
   
   Hard to tell what to do, it depends how much you like her. I've considered Brave+/Death Blow for mine, until I saw how much better my +ATK/-SPD Amelia would be with that set. In the end I did nothing because I'm not using my armors much anyway. 
    
7. Bold Fighter
   
   Both Henry and Lyn are of the faster armors and don't need Bold Fighter to work well. -SPD on Lyn would speak for her and it's never wrong to give premium fodder to favs. I don't think Zeglius would make Bold Fighter on BK a waste though, first he would need the same investment and second you couldn't use his personal B-skill anymore. 
    
8. FH!Celica
   
   Hard decision. How would you ideally use her? Would any of both versions get much use? It seems both niches are filled in your rooster (see your own Lon'qu chapter) and from what I understood you are not a big fan of her design. Fodder both. 

[Kaden]

So, yet another +Atk or +Spd question and for Karel and L'Arachel.

Karel decided to suddenly show up while summoning from the Muspell banner -- talk about getting the wrong blade. He's +Spd, -HP whereas my first one is +Atk, -Def. He wants to double and we've been increasingly getting units who are very fast, but he has 30/35 neutral offenses where 33/35 might be stronger than 30/38 offenses after buffs. Considering how rare he is and that he is a sword infantry where I have a ton of 5* reds in general, I'm probably not going to heavily invest into him any time soon, so this is just to keep in mind.

As as for L'Arachel, I intend to keep her Ivaldi mainly because I prefer using legendary/personal weapons and also with the blind hope that she might get a refined Ivaldi that does make the defense boost meaningful like 30% damage reduction on the first hit or +20 Def if she initiates on physical damage units. I also intend to +10 her eventually. Anyway, between +Atk and +Spd, with buffs, they're pretty close, but +Atk pulls ahead on matchups that she has WTD where I would rather use a red buddy to deal with them for her. +Spd is also more flexible in that her performance with Blarblade+ is better than with +Atk.

On a side note, I have no idea why the current builds on Gamepedia recommend -Def over -HP for her. I get that her defense isn't high, but for arena scoring, -Def being a superbane drops her down to 144 BST. Well, whatever.

Edited September 21, 2018 by Kaden

[redlight]

2 hours ago, Kaden said:

So, yet another +Atk or +Spd question and for Karel and L'Arachel.

Karel decided to suddenly show up while summoning from the Muspell banner -- talk about getting the wrong blade. He's +Spd, -HP whereas my first one is +Atk, -Def. He wants to double and we've been increasingly getting units who are very fast, but he has 30/35 neutral offenses where 33/35 might be stronger than 30/38 offenses after buffs. Considering how rare he is and that he is a sword infantry where I have a ton of 5* reds in general, I'm probably not going to heavily invest into him any time soon, so this is just to keep in mind.

As as for L'Arachel, I intend to keep her Ivaldi mainly because I prefer using legendary/personal weapons and also with the blind hope that she might get a refined Ivaldi that does make the defense boost meaningful like 30% damage reduction on the first hit or +20 Def if she initiates on physical damage units. I also intend to +10 her eventually. Anyway, between +Atk and +Spd, with buffs, they're pretty close, but +Atk pulls ahead on matchups that she has WTD where I would rather use a red buddy to deal with them for her. +Spd is also more flexible in that her performance with Blarblade+ is better than with +Atk.

On a side note, I have no idea why the current builds on Gamepedia recommend -Def over -HP for her. I get that her defense isn't high, but for arena scoring, -Def being a superbane drops her down to 144 BST. Well, whatever.

What you were looking at was a curated build, AKA user-submitted that were reviewed. There's also bold text saying to use your own judgement for them

I found the build they used for simulation on their tier list update post on reddit. +atk -res with blarblade. Other skills are DB4, lancebreaker, res ploy and atk+3 seal

Edited September 21, 2018 by silveraura25

[Yukiko]

I recently got another WoF!Hinoka. Should I merge her into the copy I already have, or should I fodder her off? Are there units who would make a very good use of atk/spd bond or flier formation? 

I can't also decide wheter to merge an extra Fjorm into the neutral one or fodder her for one of her skills? 

Can someone give me some advice?

Edited September 21, 2018 by Yukiko
I mispelled a word

[mampfoid]

@Zeo I totally forgot about Alfonse which messed up the numbers of my list. Ouch. 

I'm very envious of your Alfonse, he would have been my green Cav Galeforce unit if I ever got him. Personally I wouldn't fodder him off

Frederick and Marth can join mixed teams. Marth because of his weapon and Frederick because he only needs DEF and ATK buffed, which is easily done with Tactic skills. 

Alfonse could become your green to-go Cav. With Hone Cav, a refined Lance and Fury he reaches 45 SPD without giving up any bulk. He could run Slaying plus heavy blade to proc a 4- or 5-count special.