Arena Discussion Thread (inc. Assault)

[AuraGuardianR]

Would I be able to get some help with my arena team? I've had no trouble getting deathless runs up until now in tier 16. My team is Hector, Xander, Ephraim and Nino.

Xander: Siegfried, Fury 3, QR 3, Swap, Bonfire

Hector: Armads, Distant Counter, Vantage 3, Spur Def 2, Swap, Bonfire

Ephraim: Siegmund, TA3, Lancebreaker 3, Hone Spd 3, Rally Def, Moonbow, Fortify Res 1

Nino: Gronnblade+, LaD 3, Desperation 3, Hone Atk 3, Ardent Sacrifice, Draconic Aura

I keep running into teams of units who are +6 merged despite having no merges myself (I guess this is because I have more expensive skills?). and I can't really compete with them...

The list of available units I have is here.

Any help would be appreciated!

[Jedrus Lilac]

10 minutes ago, Hawk King said:

This might be a stupid question, but can you Smite a unit with pass through an enemy?

 

The stat increases aren't that great, but the higher leveled skills help to make the upgrade worth it. You should definitely consider taking Sharena and Anna to 5*. Sharena almost never leaves my Arena team, and Anna puts in a surprising amount of work when she is on it. My Alphonse however is still at 4*. I have a +def Chrom who just performs better than Alphose would, and I have gotten lucky with bonus units when it's Alphonse's weeks. Eventually, I will probably promote him, but he is a low priority right now.

 

You can always grind for feathers with Hero Merit. The normal difficulty on the new trial maps are great for it since they have LV40 enemies and only cost 5 stamina. Specifically, Trial 2 seems to be the quickest and easiest.

Thats true and it was basically my plan but the idea but recently I pulled an Effie 5* with a pretty bad IV.   The thing is I have got a 4* +Res-Spd Effie which is suppossedly I very good IV and now I am considering to upgrade and merge them, morever there is Zaphiel and Xander... 

I wanted to upgrade Sharena as next Arena Season will be hers probably but I will give LLoyd a try and see how it works out. I should be tier 16 then, my goal will be to just pass the 4000 points line and be downgraded to 15 if necessary - 

[Xaos Steel Wing]

This week has been brutal. These maps just do not work well with me.

Or maybe it's just all the dancers that every enemy I face seems to have. And Tharja, who now seems to be all over the place after the mage gauntlet.

Not a single 7 win streak so far, let alone deathless.

Currently using: Eirika, Hector, Soren, 4* Subaki (bonus unit).

I'm thinking to maybe train up Linde to replace Soren (better versus reds), but I don't think I'll have her skills ready by the end of this season.

[Roflolxp54]

Got a 3rd defense win for 556 (558 is still my best for this week) - defeated a player who owns a neutral Future Witness Lucina with Atk +2, Seal Def 2, and Hone Atk 2.

[Kuroi Tsubasa Tenshi]

4 hours ago, AuraGuardianR said:

Would I be able to get some help with my arena team? I've had no trouble getting deathless runs up until now in tier 16. My team is Hector, Xander, Ephraim and Nino.

Xander: Siegfried, Fury 3, QR 3, Swap, Bonfire

Hector: Armads, Distant Counter, Vantage 3, Spur Def 2, Swap, Bonfire

Ephraim: Siegmund, TA3, Lancebreaker 3, Hone Spd 3, Rally Def, Moonbow, Fortify Res 1

Nino: Gronnblade+, LaD 3, Desperation 3, Hone Atk 3, Ardent Sacrifice, Draconic Aura

I keep running into teams of units who are +6 merged despite having no merges myself (I guess this is because I have more expensive skills?). and I can't really compete with them...

The list of available units I have is here.

Any help would be appreciated!

This already looks like a fairly solid team. What, specifically, is giving you issues?

 

Tier 18 score of 4826 (no surrenders; no deaths; 688, 690, 690, 688, 690, 690, 690; same team as last week, but using Nino +2 from the start):

• May 25 12:30AM PT - #1368 (/1825 for Tier 19)
• May 26 9:30AM PT - #2291 (/1850 for Tier 19)

Forgot to post an update for this yesterday, but I basically fell out of promotion overnight. Current streak is a few points behind, so chances of improving this score are slim. Even if I did, though, another dozen points won't be sufficient to compete. I guess I'll just take this opportunity to conserve crests and farm HM off of the Arena. Up to 8 wins now (best is 580 again), which is pretty good. Oh, and I still haven't gotten the mountain map yet, though every other map (including the boat) has turned up multiple times.

Edited May 26, 2017 by Kuroi Tsubasa Tenshi

[Taim Meich]

Just fought a team with a Chrom with Desperation 3 (and 22 speed), and a Lucina with Brash assault 3 (and 39 speed).

 

WHY.

[wizzard of soz]

for some reason at the start of this season i just faced fully decked out SI and merges, and then a Horse Emblem which i was too excited about to be tilted off the face of the planet. i don't have any merges, and lugged around a 4* Xander with no SI and i didn't even buy all his vanilla skills, so big shrug...

looks like i'll probably be going to tier 17 now but i kinda doubt i can get to 18. 

Spoiler

 

[AuraGuardianR]

1 hour ago, Kuroi Tsubasa Tenshi said:

This already looks like a fairly solid team. What, specifically, is giving you issues?

Mages specifically I guess? Tharja/Celica/Sanaki/Julia all hurt my team badly, and I've been facing 2 per team or one paired with 1/2 dancers, with them both being merged to like +6. These maps also haven't been very friendly to my team, I can't move my team around very effectively (though that is 100% my fault).I kinda feel like I need a higher Res unit that can carry R Tomebreaker but I don't really know who would work if it even would.

[Okigen]

1 hour ago, AuraGuardianR said:

Mages specifically I guess? Tharja/Celica/Sanaki/Julia all hurt my team badly, and I've been facing 2 per team or one paired with 1/2 dancers, with them both being merged to like +6. These maps also haven't been very friendly to my team, I can't move my team around very effectively (though that is 100% my fault).I kinda feel like I need a higher Res unit that can carry R Tomebreaker but I don't really know who would work if it even would.

The best unit in your team to stick R Tomebreaker on is Xander because of distant counter. He should be able to deal with green mage too. As an extra measure over highly merged team, you can have someone to buff his atk and res, both Ephraim and Hector can somewhat fill in the role. Reposition/Drawback will help a lot because your Hector will need to be very flexible when facing mages. 

[Roflolxp54]

53 minutes ago, Okigen said:

The best unit in your team to stick R Tomebreaker on is Xander because of distant counter. He should be able to deal with green mage too.

Xander does fine against MOST green mages but is only a soft counter at best due to his low Res (he still takes quite a bit of damage from high Atk green mages); he can get OHKO'd by Gronnblade Cecilia that's backed by a Horse Emblem team even while Xander is buffed by Fortify Res 1 and Spur Res 3 and has WTA over Cecilia.

Edited May 26, 2017 by Roflolxp54

[Clogon]

2 hours ago, AuraGuardianR said:

Mages specifically I guess? Tharja/Celica/Sanaki/Julia all hurt my team badly, and I've been facing 2 per team or one paired with 1/2 dancers, with them both being merged to like +6. These maps also haven't been very friendly to my team, I can't move my team around very effectively (though that is 100% my fault).I kinda feel like I need a higher Res unit that can carry R Tomebreaker but I don't really know who would work if it even would.

Why do you have Lance Breaker on Ephiraim when Hector kills and tanks all lances? With TA3, Ephiraim can easily tank any red. Give him RTBreaker and he will tank any Red Mage too.

Why are you using Swap instead of Reposition/Pivot?

I also don't understand why you are using Spur Def. You want to tank Mages.

Does your Nino really need AS+Desperation? I mean you need to wait 2 turns before you can even use it. 1 turn to set up a bait, 1 turn to use AS and, then finally on the 3rd turn, you will be able to use it. Dragon Aura? You need to wait another 2 turns to even use that! Over kill is nice and all... Give her Fury and GTBreaker and you get a really good G mage counter that can be used immediately. You can also replace Hector with Olivia (I recommend Ruby Sword Distant Counter to take care of G mages) if you wanna keep the AS+Desperation build. But definitely replace Draconic Aura with Moonbow.

 

The biggest problem your team has is that your units are trying to do too many things at once. A good team has its members cover their weaknesses so they can concentrate on excelling in their specific role. Your team has no niche units. Everyone is running around doing their own thing. They are very good units individually. But they are not a team. The best synergy you have is Ephraim being able to power up a Nino that takes at least 2 turns to get online. Congrates, now you are playing 2v4.

Edited May 26, 2017 by Clogon

[salinea]

8 hours ago, Xaos Steel Wing said:

This week has been brutal. These maps just do not work well with me.

Yeah, I'm having a hard time as well... no deathless run yet (at least 3 deaths?) I'm starting to get gunshy *sighs*

[Arcanite]

5 minutes ago, salinea said:

Yeah, I'm having a hard time as well... no deathless run yet (at least 3 deaths?) I'm starting to get gunshy *sighs*

Wow that's unfortunate :(

Is it because you aren't paying attention to skills and get Wings of Mercy'd out of nowhere or are you just struggling with your team?

 

Hey @Vaximillian

Guess how many defense wins I have :^)

[salinea]

1 minute ago, Arcanite said:

Wow that's unfortunate :(

Is it because you aren't paying attention to skills and get Wings of Mercy'd out of nowhere or are you just struggling with your team?

 

Mostly it's the new maps. They make anticipating the action of the enemy pretty hard. I might get a bit more used to them eventually (like the new lava map, I managed to trap myself in a pretty stupid way once, so now I know how to better anticipate that it can really cut your options if you're not careful) but some are just... difficult the way they are (the boat to boat map? ouch. Not the one that made me lose the most but it's a really tough one). Not that much issues with WoM & the like, actually. Just basic positioning on the map. My team could be stronger I guess (Did my best for Roy, but as a replacement for Ike he's pretty mediocre) but that didn't prevent me from getting deathless last week... so i think it's the maps.

[Okigen]

45 minutes ago, Roflolxp54 said:

Xander does fine against MOST green mages but is only a soft counter at best due to his low Res (he still takes quite a bit of damage from high Atk green mages); he can get OHKO'd by Gronnblade Cecilia that's backed by a Horse Emblem team even while Xander is buffed by Fortify Res 1 and Spur Res 3 and has WTA over Cecilia.

Yes, but that is a bit an extreme case. Gronblade Cecilia with buffs is a force to reckon with to everyone, and in that case I still don't see any member in TC's team being in a better position than Xander in dealing with her given the others don't even have WTA and distant counter. If they meet horse emblem the best solution really will be to run and bait.

[Arcanite]

1 minute ago, salinea said:

Mostly it's the new maps. They make anticipating the action of the enemy pretty hard. I might get a bit more used to them eventually (like the new lava map, I managed to trap myself in a pretty stupid way once, so now I know how to better anticipate that it can really cut your options if you're not careful) but some are just... difficult the way they are (the boat to boat map? ouch. Not the one that made me lose the most but it's a really tough one). Not that much issues with WoM & the like, actually. Just basic positioning on the map. My team could be stronger I guess (Did my best for Roy, but as a replacement for Ike he's pretty mediocre) but that didn't prevent me from getting deathless last week... so i think it's the maps.

Ahhh the maps

Everyone says that they're tough but I was able to luck out this season and roll with an all tome team. 

Its literally the funniest thing you can see

Especially since all three of the mages I'm using have draw back LOL. I can see how some people could have issues if your team isn't centered around range + Dancer support because you won't always be able to get in and get out as easily. The defense tiles make it hard to kill things that would ordinarily die (Julia's high res + Tome team = Not good). Not to mention how mediocre Roy is in this game :/ I'm sure your luck will turn, since we have quite a few days left anyway!

[salinea]

9 minutes ago, Arcanite said:

Ahhh the maps

Everyone says that they're tough but I was able to luck out this season and roll with an all tome team. 

Its literally the funniest thing you can see

Especially since all three of the mages I'm using have draw back LOL. I can see how some people could have issues if your team isn't centered around range + Dancer support because you won't always be able to get in and get out as easily. The defense tiles make it hard to kill things that would ordinarily die (Julia's high res + Tome team = Not good). Not to mention how mediocre Roy is in this game :/ I'm sure your luck will turn, since we have quite a few days left anyway!

I don't have a hard time with defense tiles, actually. Loved the defensive maps that were rolled up earlier. I have a harder time with the maps with a lot of blocks though x_x I suspect I play a little bit defensively and that's why it's more of an issue for me (even though I do have two ranged units, Nino and Klein, I often rely on setting a unit to take a blow on ennemy phase to control the flow of the fight...) no Dancer cuz I'd need to promote Olivia to 5* in order to make an equivalent team.

Maybe I should replace Sharena with Linde already, more range might be useful... And Sharena often fails to kill in one round because I didn't give her QR or SB , which does set her up vulnerable to WoM and the like which can be annoying. Could be giving Nino more support in general, too.

Tometeam sounds fun.

 

[LordFrigid]

Update for 5090 (T18)

6am PDT 5/23: 29

4:45pm PDT 5/24: 48

4:45pm PDT 5/25: 70

4:45pm PDT 5/26: 77

Teams faced detailed in the previous post. Defense score is still 574.

I was almost considering changing out Eirika for Celica as a mainstay on the 3-unit core for my arena team...but idk. It doesn't really seem like a worthwhile trade-off (buff utility vs being able to fight at 2 range & magical dmg). I'll see how it goes, I guess. If I don't start running into loads of green mages I'll probably keep it as is.

Edited May 27, 2017 by LordFrigid

[Vaximillian]

5 hours ago, Arcanite said:

Guess how many defense wins I have :^)

I have no idea why you think I’d care.

[Arcanite]

4 minutes ago, Vaximillian said:

I have no idea why you think I’d care.

Oh........

WELP! I have 3 defense wins. 2 are 572, and one is 576. It seems I'll be able to get 900 feathers again! We both got defense wins this season! Yay us!

[Rafiel's Aria]

Phew... Finally did it. IDK what it is about these past few seasons, but I haven't been a very good tactician. These maps require a lot of patience, and I am not a patient person. XD That and everyone and their mother has a dancer + Reinhardt. >.>

Well after a few days of labor, I finally got the makings of a Horse Emblem team. I decided to throw away a few dueling crests to test it out, and I'm pretty satisfied. One death got me a score of 4,683 and a rank of 6,680 in tier 16.. I've got enough time to shoot for a deathless run. But I've also got some work to do though mostly SP grinding (and then working on other cavs so I can rotate them in and out). Despite really wanting to promote another Nino next I'll probably go with Cecilia. If she's anything like Ursula, I'll probably cry tears of joy. It was super satisfying seeing Ursula do 70 damage to Ike was incredibly satisfying. 

Current Team plus notes in spoilers:

Spoiler

5* Peri (+SPD -RES) - Killer Lance+, No Assist, Glimmer, RES+3, Swordbreaker 2, Hone Cavalry, Fortify RES 1
She's kind of a filler character for now. She's pretty good against mages. I'd ideally like to get her a better special and maybe trade RES+3 for ATK+3. Naturally she needs an assist as well but...SP. 

5* Xander (Neutral) - Siegfriend, Swap, Bonfire, Fury 2, Quick Riposte 2, Fortify Cavalry, HP +3
He needs SP for Fury 3. I spent about an hour getting 300 for Fortify Cavalry. I actually think I'd like to switch out Quick Riposte for Vantage eventually, but QR has been nice to him. 

5* Titania (+ATK -DEF) - Emerald Axe+, Reciprocal Aid, Iceberg, Fury 3, Guard 1, No C Passive, ATK +1
She's brand new and probably requires the most work as far as skills go. I think I'll keep Guard on her for the time being because I don't have anyone else to give her desperation. And eventually she'll get a cavalry buff as well. I have an extra Eliwood for Ward Cavalry, but more than likely, she'll end up getting Hone as well. I like using her to bait Reinhardt. :3

5* Ursula - Barblade+, No Assist, New Moon, Death Blow 3, Desperation 3, Threaten RES 1, SPD +1
OMG. I'm in love with her. She needs more SP for an assist, Moonbow, and a C skill. I may keep Threaten RES on her just because it's cheaper and kind of useful. Maybe not as useful as threaten ATK...but we'll see. ^^

 

Edited May 27, 2017 by Rafiel's Aria

[Luchi]

Should be safe for now. Low enough not to get me promoted to Tier 17, but high enough to keep me from getting demoted. Score of 4567 (this is the 2nd time I've received this score) and managed two Defence wins ( one at 580 against Azura, another at 574 against Lyn ).

[SatsumaFSoysoy]

Ayyy finally got my deathless run. 4854 in Tier 18 is Rank 1659, which is ~200 places away from demotion to Tier 17 (there's no "stay in Tier 18" section). Maybe I'll make it to Tier 19, maybe I won't.

[Vaximillian]

4,497 this time, with four total deaths. One yesterday, two came toady on the fucking boat map (I miscalculated and let an enemy Reinhardt OHKO mine, and then I was helpless to prevent Klein delete anyone he wanted), and one more on a sharp-shaped map because of a fucking flying Azura. Who had fucking Distant Counter. Like seriously, Distant Counter on Azura.

Not going to rank up but at least not going to drop down, anyway. Two days left, six natural swords to complete a streak. Wonder whether I can make it.

Two defence wins, both worth 287 because of no bonus units.

[Rafiel's Aria]

Eyyyyyyyy! I managed my first deathless run in like...a month! (Totally used 2 more dueling crests...but I'm fine with that. :3) Ended up with a score of 4,760 and a rank of 2,346 in tier 16. I think that should be enough to keep me moving up to tier 17 where I will more than likely get murdered.