Arena Discussion Thread (inc. Assault)

[Zeo]

@mampfoid Yeah so, I guess everyone was really going at it during CYL2 arena week, because my score this week is 3714, a full 12 points less than my record with B!Hector and I'm still well within the crossover to T21 this week so far with just my first run where I wasn't fishing for high scores (fishing for dragons though, heh heh.) I may yet claim a 2nd crown. How're you doing?

[Ice Dragon]

Uh... apparently I can get 1 death and still barely make the cut to stay in Tier 21 at the moment (though I'll likely be pushed out by the end of the season). What is this madness.

3,735 points (1 death, 11 or 12 bonus kills, I think) currently ranks 1,212 out of 1,404 that currently make the cutoff.

 

Now let's try not to die.

[mampfoid]

22 minutes ago, Zeo said:

@mampfoid Yeah so, I guess everyone was really going at it during CYL2 arena week, because my score this week is 3714, a full 12 points less than my record with B!Hector and I'm still well within the crossover to T21 this week so far with just my first run where I wasn't fishing for high scores (fishing for dragons though, heh heh.) I may yet claim a 2nd crown. How're you doing?

I had to fish a lot to arrive to my score of 3,708 (18 Valter-kills), but like you wrote: it seems to be enough for the second crown. Rank 2,230 of 3,159 in the promotion group is lower than I'd like though. 

A score of 5,188 in AA is ok, but fishing is hard here and I won't arrive to top 3k without additional merges anyway. 

 

[Ice Dragon]

53 minutes ago, Ice Dragon said:

Now let's try not to die.

Bleh. It's really hard to do much of anything with Marth. Just trying to get the two obligatory greens is hard enough. I don't know how I'll manage with Fjorm at all. Maybe I'll try harder for Flora or something since my core team is good enough at scoring and literally half of every team is green.

 

Tier 21

Score: 3,797 (750-756, 11 bonus kills)
Rank: 295 (out of 4,684, 1,405 cutoff)
Defense: 628 (×4)

I forgot to switch Marth in on my bonus team until yesterday, so I'm ignoring all of the wins without a bonus unit.

+10 Zelgius [+Atk, -HP] (Alondite, Rally Def/Res, Black Luna, Steady Breath, Warp Powder, Armor March 3, Def Tactic 3) [Fire]
+10 Hardin [+Atk, -Spd] (Gradivus, Rally Def/Res, Aether, Steady Breath, Bold Fighter, Ward Armor, Quick Riposte 3) [Fire]
+10 Legendary Hector [+Atk, -Res] (Thunder Armads, Swap, Bonfire, Distant Counter, Vengeful Fighter 3, Ostia's Pulse, Res Tactic 3)
+10 Legendary Marth [+Spd, -Res] (Exalted Falchion, Reposition, Fire Emblem, Distant Counter, Binding Shield, Infantry Flash 3, Flashing Blade 3)

[RexBolt]

Question: how do i get points for Defence in Arena? Mine is always zero.

[LordFrigid]

40 minutes ago, RexBolt said:

Question: how do i get points for Defence in Arena? Mine is always zero.

First, you’ll need to set a defense team. I believe this is Team Slot 1 by default, but you can change it by using the “Set Defensive Team” button at the bottom of the “Edit Teams” page (ex. I like to have mine on 15 so it’s out of my way). Note that changes to your defense team will not take effect until you have entered any battle.

Then, you sit and wait around until someone loses to your defense team. Maybe read a book, sleep, or twiddle your thumbs. If that doesn’t happen, your defense score will be 0. Your defense score is doubled if your defense team has a bonus unit on it. Like Arena offense, having more than one bonus unit will not further increase your score.

Edited September 15, 2018 by LordFrigid

[RexBolt]

30 minutes ago, LordFrigid said:

First, you’ll need to set a defense team. I believe this is Team Slot 1 by default, but you can change it by using the “Set Defensive Team” button at the bottom of the “Edit Teams” page (ex. I like to have mine on 15 so it’s out of my way). Note that changes to your defense team will not take effect until you have entered any battle.

Then, you sit and wait around until someone loses to your defense team. Maybe read a book, sleep, or twiddle your thumbs. If that doesn’t happen, your defense score will be 0. Your defense score is doubled if your defense team has a bonus unit on it. Like Arena offense, having more than one bonus unit will not further increase your score.

Thank you.

Will playing the game stop me from defending, i mean, will defence only happen while i'm not playing? Or is it because i keep changing my Team 1 for story content? Winning or losing changes my score?

[LordFrigid]

22 minutes ago, RexBolt said:

Thank you.

Will playing the game stop me from defending, i mean, will defence only happen while i'm not playing? Or is it because i keep changing my Team 1 for story content? Winning or losing changes my score?

No, you can definitely pick up defense wins while playing. I’ve had that happen.

If you still have your defense team set to Team 1 (you can tell by the fact that your Arena defense team will have a little blue shield icon to the left of the team name), I would recommend moving it to its own dedicated slot.

If another player fights your team, only a win will give you defense points. So to get defense points: another player’s team has to get matched up with yours, then they have to choose to fight your team, and then your team must either KO everyone on the other player’s team OR the other player must surrender.

Edited September 15, 2018 by LordFrigid

[Usana]

Well looking at what folks are needing for breaking into 21 seems safe to say I won't make it this week. Looks like ~730 needs be in your range before bonus kills. I saw several 722's after my previous score boosting attempt. So maybe with bat crazy fishing plus some further score optimizations. But I doubt it.  At least Jamke scores kills easily enough. I get the feeling getting all four units every round would be rough with Valter.

[Zeo]

@mampfoid I'm not sure how safe we are. I'm currently 2,275 out of 3,363 with 2 days left. Don't know if I'll stay with this score, I'm not interested in fishing for a higher score though. I'll see how things look on the last day. I'm still not in your league in AA yet either. I imagine with very strict skill and unit choices I could get into the 5140-50 range, but it still wouldn't be able to touch your AA score and as such, I'm no where near the top 3k and haven't even been in the top 5k in quite a long time.

Getting defense wins on the other hand has been smooth. Matthew/Nino/Axura/Bonus Unit has been working well. Nino is ridiculous enough with a dancer to support her, but Matthew is virtually impossible to one round and his influence just... well. Let's just say I'd hate to fight my own defense team. Especially depending on the bonus unit.

@mcsilas @Alexmender @Fei Mao @Johann @LordFrigid @Hilda @SatsumaFSoysoy @Vaximillian @NegativeExponents- @Hawk King @Rafiel's Aria @Infinite Dreams @Usana

Old Run: 

Spoiler

 

Mostly tagging everyone that saw the last one, with a few additions. I felt like I made a pretty big milestone, so I did another recorded run of Arena Assault since I've hit a new record. The recording I ended up using is actually a score of 5124. My record is 5137 which is actually my real record, but during the run I made some really stupid choices and just wasn't happy with the run and in a fit of questionable emotion, I saved my new run over the old one. I still don't know if it was the best choice but I was happy with the run. Taking the time to do this reminds me that AA is actually a fun mode. It forces you to use all those units that would collect dust in your barracks and allows you to use those units you've built from the ground up unlike the new arena. I could probably raise my score even above the record with some careful blessings and unit choices, but it wouldn't be worth the headache it would make of runs and I doubt I'd make the top 5k anyways.

As for the run, I cut off the preparations since they pad the length. 7 minutes shorter than the old run so it's not so intimidating to watch. It's still 18 minutes though so watch when you've gotten the chance to relax. I couldn't do the unit stats on the sides this time as it was too time consuming, but I highlight the units so you can still see what everyone's working with. I plan on doing this one more time when my Matthew and Chrom both reach +10. Who knows what my barracks will be like then. But for now, I hope you enjoy this second peek into my little corner of FEH.

Timestamps for those that care. Though ultimately unnecessary this time around.

• Battle 1 - 0:22
• Battle 2 - 2:51
• Battle 3 - 5:05
• Battle 4 - 7:53
• Battle 5 - 10:21
• Battle 6 -  12:30
• Battle 7 - 15:11

Cheers~

 

[mcsilas]

@Zeo don’t have time to watch the video now but just want to say a late congrats on getting your arena crown!

well deserved and Tier 21 is a big achievement for you :D

[Zeo]

@mcsilas Thanks but don't congratulate me just yet! Need to stay in the ascension area for one more day, but if I do, it's a 2nd crown!

Also @Ginko I've been forgetting to tag you recently, sorry about that. Got a new clear 2 posts up.

[mampfoid]

13 hours ago, Zeo said:

mampfoid I'm not sure how safe we are. I'm currently 2,275 out of 3,363 with 2 days left. Don't know if I'll stay with this score, I'm not interested in fishing for a higher score though. I'll see how things look on the last day. I'm still not in your league in AA yet either. I imagine with very strict skill and unit choices I could get into the 5140-50 range, but it still wouldn't be able to touch your AA score and as such, I'm no where near the top 3k and haven't even been in the top 5k in quite a long time.

Yeah, I'm too close to the cutoff for my liking (2,811th of 3,392 currently), but I couldn't do much to improve that score even with fishing. 

With my optimized AA starter team my max range is 744, so you shouldn't have trouble to arrive there if 750 is possible for you. To get a good blessing bonus (24 + the blessings you have in the starter team) you just need to distribute blessings for teams 2-7. 

I'll check your AA run and Morgans newest clear this evening or tomorrow morning. 

/Edit: @Zeo Chrom one-shotting legendary Marth was impressive. But why don't you even fish on fight #1? It's free. 

We've build our Sharena the same way. Since mine didn't get a blessing, I'm not using her in AA though. 

Team #3 is interesting where you've replaced Matthew with Delthea in your main.

Also surprising how you gave a unit like Summer Leo TA3, while Inigo on your main team had to wait long for the final level of that skill. 

Bector and even more Jakob are monsters, sometimes I regret to skip most armor banners. 

Seeing your DD9 Faye in action was cool, I want to finally build one as well. Perhaps when I get a better nature. 

You gave Odin his refinement plus he found a great partner in Sanaki! I wonder if Nino will get the same or a similar refinement/prf. 

Nice streak, congrats! I like that you don't use only hard counters but value also team composition. 

Meanwhile the cutoff comes nearer and nearer ... 3,020th of 3,449 currently. Will become a close call. 

 

Edited September 16, 2018 by mampfoid

[Rezzy]

I figured I had no real hope of staying in Tier 21 this week, so I didn't really try.  Currently at rank 2984 with the cutoff being 1474.

I finally did my AA deathless streak for a score of 5182, which is good for rank 3015.  Shame that falls outside of the 3K mark, but hopefully it should be good for top 5K, at least.

[Zeo]

11 hours ago, mampfoid said:

/Edit: @Zeo Chrom one-shotting legendary Marth was impressive. But why don't you even fish on fight #1? It's free. 

I fished on my 5137 run. This one was of less consequence. I just wanted to get a good recorded run.

11 hours ago, mampfoid said:

We've build our Sharena the same way. Since mine didn't get a blessing, I'm not using her in AA though. 

She really should get a blessing. She's a mini-Lukas with those buffs. I haven't blessed mine either as you can see.

11 hours ago, mampfoid said:

Team #3 is interesting where you've replaced Matthew with Delthea in your main.

Team #3 is generally a staple in my AA runs. The Matthew team without Matt and usually whoever's best to go in his spot.

11 hours ago, mampfoid said:

Also surprising how you gave a unit like Summer Leo TA3, while Inigo on your main team had to wait long for the final level of that skill. 

It wasn't anything so convoluted. I simply ran out of Roys. He's always been a somewhat rare pull for me (unlike Seliph who floods my barracks on a regular basis.). I'll admit I didn't give Inigo TA3 as soon as I pulled one, but the time he spent without it for the majority was due to my lack of resources. After the fact I just realized he didn't really need it unless I wanted him to tank Rein or something like that.

11 hours ago, mampfoid said:

Bector and even more Jakob are monsters, sometimes I regret to skip most armor banners. 

Hector is one of my favorites, hence pulling for him whenever he's around. Generally I don't pull for armors unless I think they're cool or want their skills for SI though. I got Jakob as a pitybreaker while summoning for Genny to give Wrathful Staff to Serra.

11 hours ago, mampfoid said:

Seeing your DD9 Faye in action was cool, I want to finally build one as well. Perhaps when I get a better nature. 

In my opinion, while -SPD is the best you can get, all you need is either that or -HP. Even -ATK is doable as long as you get +DEF or +RES. Her damage is all in her specials. Not to mention you can use ploys for DEF debuffs if you want to make up the difference. She's fun, I just rarely find a spot to use her, even in AA. I've long since left the score pool that flooded me with Lyns and Reins.

11 hours ago, mampfoid said:

You gave Odin his refinement plus he found a great partner in Sanaki! I wonder if Nino will get the same or a similar refinement/prf. 

Dual Blade tome partners are nasty. Giving DEF/RES Link to Odin is a great idea, but why make that sacrifice when I can just slap Sanaki herself on him and get a really strong pair out of the two. I wish I was one of those people Takumi flocked too. I could really use 3-5 Close Counters. Nino... doesn't really need a refinement. She'd be busted with Odin's, but she probably will get Flying Nino's Giga Excalibur. That's more than enough to make her ridiculous without an Owl Tome.

11 hours ago, mampfoid said:

Nice streak, congrats! I like that you don't use only hard counters but value also team composition. 

Meanwhile the cutoff comes nearer and nearer ... 3,020th of 3,449 currently. Will become a close call. 

I got so used to saving my best units for last in AA I found myself not using most of them at all. In most runs these days I don't even use Reinhardt, Ishtar, Flying mages, Frederick, my raven tomes, etc. A lot of users I used to rely heavily upon. On the other hand I always use almost all of my Falchion users and I slowly find myself wanting more slaying weapons for armors.

I'm at 2,530 myself. It's 26 hours until arena closing though, so it's gonna be close for me as well. I shudder at the thought of trying to get kills with Fjorm next week. But at least for one of those weeks I'll just be dropping out of T21 assuming all goes well tomorrow.

 

[mampfoid]

On 16.9.2018 at 10:28 PM, Zeo said:

She really should get a blessing. She's a mini-Lukas with those buffs. I haven't blessed mine either as you can see.

She is good and I like her, but I will give my remaining blessings (requirement to see AA) to new units that need SP and to units with armor effective weapons. Also I have some good blue tanks (+SPD Tana with Close Def 9, +ATK Shiro, +DEF Ephraim, +SPD Donnel, +SPD BH!Lucina) and didn't even promote Lukas yet. 

On 16.9.2018 at 10:28 PM, Zeo said:

It wasn't anything so convoluted. I simply ran out of Roys. He's always been a somewhat rare pull for me (unlike Seliph who floods my barracks on a regular basis.). I'll admit I didn't give Inigo TA3 as soon as I pulled one, but the time he spent without it for the majority was due to my lack of resources. After the fact I just realized he didn't really need it unless I wanted him to tank Rein or something like that.

On 16.9.2018 at 10:34 AM, mampfoid said:

Sorry I keep asking about Inigos TA2/3, it just differed from the way I distribute high-demand skills (my way isn't necessarily better). I bet Leo is a great green tome counter with his high RES and the kit you gave him, never got him myself.

On 16.9.2018 at 10:28 PM, Zeo said:

In my opinion, while -SPD is the best you can get, all you need is either that or -HP. Even -ATK is doable as long as you get +DEF or +RES. Her damage is all in her specials. Not to mention you can use ploys for DEF debuffs if you want to make up the difference. She's fun, I just rarely find a spot to use her, even in AA. I've long since left the score pool that flooded me with Lyns and Reins.

On 16.9.2018 at 10:34 AM, mampfoid said:

She is +RES (and -ATK), but like you wrote: It's a big investment for a kit with a small niche. Perhaps for TTs ... or FS fodder once HM capped. 

On 16.9.2018 at 10:28 PM, Zeo said:

On the other hand I always use almost all of my Falchion users and I slowly find myself wanting more slaying weapons for armors.

I almost regret to have merged my Alms instead of keeping two Alms with different blessings for AA. Time to promote Marth and to build Lucina and Chrom already. 

On 16.9.2018 at 10:28 PM, Zeo said:

I'm at 2,530 myself. It's 26 hours until arena closing though, so it's gonna be close for me as well

I'm only ~300 ranks away from the cutoff now (3,190th of 3,518) and lost more than 100 ranks this night, chances are low that I will make it into tier 21 this time. 

On 16.9.2018 at 10:28 PM, Zeo said:

I shudder at the thought of trying to get kills with Fjorm next week.

Don't remind me of that ... she has got even lower ATK than Valter and I can't pull off the Desperation + Brash Assault trick with her. Perhaps I'll promote Garon, but he is not much of an offensive unit either ... not pulling for Ophelia suddenly becomes harder and harder. 

/Edit: Wow, thrilling until the end. 3 hours to go and only 125 ranks left between me and the cutoff.

/Edit 2: 100 ranks and two hours to go ...

  @Zeo

Edited September 17, 2018 by mampfoid

[Kuroi Tsubasa Tenshi]

• T20 score of 3722 - #2124(/3683)
• AA score of 5264 - #1011

Bah, not getting more Fjorms on the legendary banner screwed me out of top 1000 AA. Still miffed that, if I count the one months back that had her, yet gave me no copies of her, I've spent over 750 orbs to get 5 merges.

Anna's low Atk prompted me to give Sheena Ardent Service+ in order to make budget Armour Emblem more bearable. It was also definitely worth keeping over Slaying Axe+ in AA, too. Also gave Gwendolyn Slaying Spear+ to make up for her not having Vengeful Fighter (thus, making her Aether really slow and her damage output pretty bad with Slaying Lance+).

[Alexmender]

Time to report:

I didn't manage to promote to tier 21 (not a big surprise considering I only had Tailtiu as my bonus unit and her low BST really costed me a lot of points), but I managed to mantain tier 20 which is good enough for now. Let's see if I'll get back into tier 21 when the next rotation arrives.

For AA I managed to stay in the top 5k which is more than good enough for me. I really need to get a 4th +10 unit in order to be more consistent outside of Water weeks. Maybe someone like Soleil would work fine, after all I have like 7 copies of her right now.

Edited September 18, 2018 by Alexmender

[LordFrigid]

Offense score of 3795 (T21) remains in T21, combining with a defense score of 626 for max rewards.

Saber picked up the vast majority of the KOs with a supporting Water team and a pretty basic Slaying Edge/Luna/Flashing Blade seal set. He missed a few Hector (Brave Warrior)s that Myrrh managed to one-round, but the ones that she didn’t immediately take out went down to a one-round Luna activation. I guess I’ve got another week of that coming.

[mampfoid]

@Zeo Yeah, we did it! I didn't check in the last hour, but I must have hit pretty much the minimal score to promote to tier 21! 

[Vaximillian]

How high was the threshold to stay in T20 this week? 3690? 3700?

[Zeo]

@mampfoid That's awesome! I dropped quite a few hundred ranks before the final hours, so I was wondering if you were going to make it in! Good to hear you just managed to squeeze in! Now I've got my 2nd crown (and I'm pretty sure you've got your 3rd?). I didn't think this was going to ever happen again. With the powercreeped rally skills making their way in, this will probably only get harder, but I'll gladly take that extra orb.

I cringe at the thought of what I'm going to do next week with Fjorm if I don't pull any of the other units, but at the very least, for this week we'll be coasting.

[Johann]

5 minutes ago, Zeo said:

I cringe at the thought of what I'm going to do next week with Fjorm if I don't pull any of the other units, but at the very least, for this week we'll be coasting.

When in doubt, stack that Def!

If you run into stuff like Bold Fighter greens, let a hardy red unit take the hits and hopefully weaken them to a point where Fjorm can finish them off. I leave Renewal on Cain just so he can do that multiple times per match if necessary.

[mampfoid]

1 hour ago, Zeo said:

@mampfoid That's awesome! I dropped quite a few hundred ranks before the final hours, so I was wondering if you were going to make it in! Good to hear you just managed to squeeze in! Now I've got my 2nd crown (and I'm pretty sure you've got your 3rd?). I didn't think this was going to ever happen again. With the powercreeped rally skills making their way in, this will probably only get harder, but I'll gladly take that extra orb.

I cringe at the thought of what I'm going to do next week with Fjorm if I don't pull any of the other units, but at the very least, for this week we'll be coasting.

Yep, score inflation is still alive. Even without CYL2 bonus units the scores where high. 

No, like you I promoted for the first time in week 3 and this week (5) for the second time. Makes 2 crowns. 

Fjorm week will be hard, I won't pull for Ophelia until I got what I wanted from the legendary banner. 

@Johann I'll try that with M!Marth, Falchion and Renewal will keep her alive. But she'll kill some greens accidentally, sometimes Cherche can tank greens good as well. 

[redlight]

Yeah, this week sucked. I should give Sheena DC, as Fae no longer scores as well due to merges.