Arena Discussion Thread (inc. Assault)

[Arcanite]

2 minutes ago, Eridras said:

Rank 9964 with 8 minutes left!  It's going to be close!

*Butt clenches*

 

 

I have 4,677 points at rank 27,219. That was with one death, so I think I'm good for my usual haul of feathers (4,500)

#ChompingForTheFeathers

[Hawk King]

25 minutes ago, ignis_z said:

Plis i need help for Defense in Coliseum, 3 weeks 1 dedend. I have Nino Lilina Camilla clair, Ryoma, Azura Ninian and gordin5 stars, with 3 skills level 2-3 ... And nothing.... I dont know what can i do. Is better.to put 4 Gold team? 4 silver team with only 1 or 2 skills?pasive skils? I dont understand nothing. Im rank 12.

I had some major trouble getting defense wins ever since the update to the arena. 2 weeks I got nothing and the weeks I did get a win, it was just 1 win.

With the hero fest banner though I was able to get 2 Ryomas, a Hector, an Azura, and 2 Takumi's. I haven't used the Takumi's or Azura in the arena yet, but adding the Hector and the +1Ryoma to my defense team has caused me to get like 8+ wins this week. And I'm just using my offense team for my defense team. I'm not even doing a color spam or anything like that. My other 2 units are Anna and Sharena.

Give Ryoma Vantage 3 if you can, Fury 3 is nice too. Azura can be a pain in the ass for people if she has wings of mercy. Ninian with WTA and wings of mercy is tough too. For the last slot, probably bring Nino. Her draw back can make it hard to approach and predict. 2 dancers might seem dumb, but if they are at opposite sides the can each focus on their respective attacker, and they can possibly double refresh the same unit for 3x attacks in one turn. Have Nino between Azura and Ryoma for their buffs.

Remember, your defense team just has to kill one enemy and people will often surrender if they are going for a deathless run. So things like Vantage and Wings of mercy are great because they can catch people off guard.

[Rezzy]

19 minutes ago, Hawk King said:

I had some major trouble getting defense wins ever since the update to the arena. 2 weeks I got nothing and the weeks I did get a win, it was just 1 win.

With the hero fest banner though I was able to get 2 Ryomas, a Hector, an Azura, and 2 Takumi's. I haven't used the Takumi's or Azura in the arena yet, but adding the Hector and the +1Ryoma to my defense team has caused me to get like 8+ wins this week. And I'm just using my offense team for my defense team. I'm not even doing a color spam or anything like that. My other 2 units are Anna and Sharena.

Give Ryoma Vantage 3 if you can, Fury 3 is nice too. Azura can be a pain in the ass for people if she has wings of mercy. Ninian with WTA and wings of mercy is tough too. For the last slot, probably bring Nino. Her draw back can make it hard to approach and predict. 2 dancers might seem dumb, but if they are at opposite sides the can each focus on their respective attacker, and they can possibly double refresh the same unit for 3x attacks in one turn. Have Nino between Azura and Ryoma for their buffs.

Remember, your defense team just has to kill one enemy and people will often surrender if they are going for a deathless run. So things like Vantage and Wings of mercy are great because they can catch people off guard.

To go along with this, if you run Nino, make sure you have Hone and/or Fortify skills on the other units.  With Draw Back, she'll often get glued to one of the other units.  With Hone Attack, she'll get a +8 buff to Attack.

Ryoma, Azura, Nino, and maybe even Ninian would be a nice team to run.

[Eridras]

1 hour ago, Arcanite said:

*Butt clenches*

 

 

I have 4,677 points at rank 27,219. That was with one death, so I think I'm good for my usual haul of feathers (4,500)

#ChompingForTheFeathers

VICTORY!

[Arcanite]

Just now, Eridras said:

VICTORY!

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

*ahem*

Yeah that was pretty awesome!

Glad you got your feathers!

[Eridras]

2 minutes ago, Arcanite said:

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

*ahem*

Yeah that was pretty awesome!

Glad you got your feathers!

I fully admit that this is the stupidest thing to get excited over, but thanks!

[Othin]

13 minutes ago, Eridras said:

VICTORY!

That's pretty wild, congrats!

[Kuroi Tsubasa Tenshi]

21 minutes ago, Eridras said:

I fully admit that this is the stupidest thing to get excited over, but thanks!

Hey, nothing wrong with getting excited over just scooting by on something you were unsure about, especially when you hit the exact right rank.

 

Score of 4822:

• May 3 9PM PT - #1276
• May 4 3PM PT - #1799
• May 5 3PM PT - #2232
• May 6 3PM PT - #2645
• May 7 3PM PT - #3081
• Final Rank - #3090

[LordFrigid]

26 minutes ago, Eridras said:

VICTORY!

Congratulations!

~

4968 points finishes at Rank 463, and the feather gains put me right at 20k...I think I'll just save them for now, and see what happens.

[DLNarshen]

Season 14 Results:

Score: 4,794 (New Record!)
Defense: 289
Rank: 6,331 (New Record!)

This season marked the first week since launch that I've been able to field a full team of 5* units, and boy what a difference it makes Rank-wise.  The 10-30K bracket was the best I could do before, and even that was a struggle on a few occasions.  A 13,000+ jump in rank from last week is enough to place me comfortably in the 5-10K bracket, and I'll be shooting for top 5K next season. 

The team itself proved effective, only incurring two deaths over the course of 25+ games.  With Ephraim back in the fray, Nino can truly shine again.  She is capable to soloing entire teams herself once in Desperation range, and is my best counter for enemy Reinhardts, Lindes, and S!Lucinas.  Most of the fighting was done by Nino and Reinhardt, with Ephraim playing his usual buff-bot role, and Ike was surprisingly more of a support unit than a front-line fighter.  With Reposition, a Dancer isn't necessary for getting my Mage-nukes to safety.  Most of Ike's combat came from luring enemy Ninos -- He's doubled, but that doesn't matter when he one-shots them on the counter.  I was lazy with Reinhardt's skills...I gave him Death Blow 2, but I'm uncertain what to put in his B slot.  He'll need an Assist as well, but I may wait until I can build a proper horse team.

Season 14 Hall of Fame:

Spoiler

Perhaps due to my full 5* team, I encountered many more oddities than usual this week.

What struck me about this unit is that no less than three unique 5*s went into its build.  That is some intense dedication, and this guy has impeccable taste.  Still, I die a little inside when I see the proof of a sacrificed Hinoka. :(

This and the above Caeda were on the same team.  This man taunts me with not one, but two sacrificed Hinokas?  Some day I'll get one of my one...

It's not often you find an Oboro in the arena!  There's something quaint about an unusual 5* unit that hasn't benefited from a great deal of SI yet.

A collection of cool DC/CC units.  I initially thought the Hero Quest banner would bring about an influx of Takumis and Hectors, but my experiences indicated that more people were interested in their skills.  CC almost seems like a waste on a unit with 36/19 physical defenses... 

Some good 'ol GHB character appreciation is always nice to see.

Previous Season Results:

Spoiler

Season 12: 4,678 | 284 | 25,513
Season 13: 4,740 | 0 | 19,082

 

Edited May 8, 2017 by DLNarshen

[Roflolxp54]

2500 (offense) + 500 (defense) + 1500 (rank) = 4500 (total)

A good chunk done. I wonder when's Camus's GHB map is going to come around.

[Eridras]

@Othin @Kuroi Tsubasa Tenshi  @LordFrigid

Thanks for the kind words!  Next week I'll be more selective with my swords to settle more comfortably in the top 10k. Though it would be neat to hit exactly rank 10,000 again  

[Beddlam]

I've been playing for a while and now am thinking about the Arena team I want to build toward. I'm building around Nino with Eirika and Azura. Most seasons I'll be Filling the 4th spot with a featured hero, but I'm not sure what to plug in for the 4th spot in weeks where one of those are featured. I think my best options are Ninan (+Res/-Atk) or Reinhardt (+Atk/-HP), but a more stand alone hero, especially with distance counter (I have Ike and and Ryoma, though both with bad IVs and a few versions of Nowi and Adult Tika) seems appealing, as does a bulky mounted unit with reposition or switch to keep Nino out of trouble. Any advice?

Edited May 8, 2017 by Beddlam

[Rafiel's Aria]

5 minutes ago, Beddlam said:

I've been playing for a while and now am thinking about the Arena team I want to build toward. I'm building around Nino with Eirika and Azura. Most seasons I'll be Filling the 4th spot with a featured hero, but I'm not sure what to plug in for the 4th spot in weeks where one of those are featured. I think my best options are Ninan (+Res/-Atk) or Reinhardt (+Atk/-HP), but a more stand alone hero, especially with distance counter (I have Ike and and Ryoma, though both with bad IVs) seems appealing, as does a bulky mounted unit with reposition or switch to keep Nino out of trouble. Any advice?

I super jelly. I'd love an Eirika to slap on my Arena team to help out Nino, but I've found out that Hana and Sharena make pretty good replacements as well. I don't have much experience using two dancers on an offensive team. (I've done it for training units however.) Letting Nino have 3 moves could be interesting, but you could always run trouble if you lose Nino. I'd say go with either Ike or Reinhardt. Rein kind of wrecks a lot, and the extra movement may help you out. (Last season, I found that adding a flying unit to my infantry team really helped move things along.) He'd be able to handle the reds Nino might not be able to get. However, your team is rather fragile, so Ike would help add some bulk. He could easily bait certain units and once again handle the reds that Nino can't.

[LordFrigid]

@Beddlam I'll second the Reinhardt suggestion. He strikes me as a pretty solid standalone hero tbh, as long as you're careful about where you're putting him. He'll also take pressure off of Azura, who is otherwise the only hard red counter on the team. That's especially important for red mages, who Azura can't counterattack (unless you've given her Distant Counter), and Nino hates with a passion (especially the Rauðrraven + Triangle Adept variety...or heck, even just Triangle Adept).

[ignis_z]

5 hours ago, Hawk King said:

I had some major trouble getting defense wins ever since the update to the arena. 2 weeks I got nothing and the weeks I did get a win, it was just 1 win.

With the hero fest banner though I was able to get 2 Ryomas, a Hector, an Azura, and 2 Takumi's. I haven't used the Takumi's or Azura in the arena yet, but adding the Hector and the +1Ryoma to my defense team has caused me to get like 8+ wins this week. And I'm just using my offense team for my defense team. I'm not even doing a color spam or anything like that. My other 2 units are Anna and Sharena.

Give Ryoma Vantage 3 if you can, Fury 3 is nice too. Azura can be a pain in the ass for people if she has wings of mercy. Ninian with WTA and wings of mercy is tough too. For the last slot, probably bring Nino. Her draw back can make it hard to approach and predict. 2 dancers might seem dumb, but if they are at opposite sides the can each focus on their respective attacker, and they can possibly double refresh the same unit for 3x attacks in one turn. Have Nino between Azura and Ryoma for their buffs.

Remember, your defense team just has to kill one enemy and people will often surrender if they are going for a deathless run. So things like Vantage and Wings of mercy are great because they can catch people off guard.

Yeah, i tried double dancer and nothing with Ryoma, all 3 skills and seals. But ill try to put the units in this order that u said with, double dancer, last spot probable Lilina with moonbow or Gordin with vantage 2?. I never defend since 2 weeks ago Too since the patch.

 

Edited May 8, 2017 by ignis_z

[Tybrosion]

I was able to just barely place in the top 4K (#3,969) with my score of 4,812. I haven't exactly been keeping track, but that might be a new personal best for me. For defense, I managed to scrounge up two wins.

[Exoplayer]

With the new arena reward system, players, who already played at the begenning, got now advantage with their Tiers ranking. Now defense teams need bonus heroes too, which seems fine to me because my Ike is on defense and on offense. Its gonna interesting guys.

Edited May 8, 2017 by Exoplayer

[Punished Dayni]

Oh yeah, tried to get into arena to pick up feathers, but of course it's closed.

Have I lost those feathers when it updates?

[Silith13]

I assume we'll get the feathers. Otherwise all of Europe gets screwed over.

[Terrador]

I did some tinkering with the new arena reward system tonight, because I evidently can't be trusted with math or reefer. Here's some notes on what I found out.

The distribution of players between ranks will quickly normalize; even after a handful of seasons the distribution should look like how I've described it, even with the huge cluster at Tier 15 right now. Playerbase growth and retention matter, but the top three groups barely change size at any reasonable values (if you're reading this, odds are that's where you're ending up!) If we take the assumption that there are at least 100,000 teams participating at T7 or higher, we can peg rank the original arena ranks roughly to what we can expect moving forward. Here's the breakdown!

Tier 20: ~top 5% (~top 2% to remain)
Surprisingly attainable. If you were getting 5~10k rank you've got a shot of getting in now and again, and any higher and you should be in T20 more often than not. If you're one of the lunatics holding down the top thousand, you'll be here.

Tiers 19 and 18: ~35%
The four-orb tiers punt down more players than they pull up, but they're still entirely possible. If you get ranked in the 30~50k group, you might visit Tier 18 sometimes; if you're consistently above 30k, expect to live here. Congrats! You've won arena if you don't care much about the extra thousand feathers.

Tiers 17 through 12: ~55%
These tiers are the highest that buoy players upward (that is, 50th percentile performance still eventually moves you up). If you're seeing good scores, but not getting ranked yet (or only seeing the bottom half of the rankings), odds are you'll live here for awhile. Around half this group settles at Tier 17, so most players in this group will still be getting decent feather rewards alongside the three orbs.

Tiers 11 through 7: It's complicated. ~5%
Here's where things depend greatly on playerbase growth. In a stagnant base, about half a percent of players are in this group. Obviously, the share of players here will balloon when tons of players are joining at once, but... you shouldn't care too much. I can't accurately describe the strength of the players here, but it's well below that of a decently mature account. Keep playing and you'll catapult out of here.

Tiers 6 through 1: NOOB TUBE
No joke, that's what these are. These tiers squeeze players up and don't receive demotions, and will dry up completely without new players joining on. The rewards are crap, but... at this point, you have story maps to do. Go do those!

 

I am not a mathematician, just some chump dumping rank criteria into gdocs and eyeballing the results. Note that these are conservative estimates: if the Arena playerbase is already significantly larger than 100,000, getting into the highest tiers could be a breeze!

Edited May 8, 2017 by Terrador

[wizzard of soz]

how are people getting their feathers? the arena is just greyed out for me. can't even enter and get the message that it's closed, i guess that's just a new thing?

[Xaos Steel Wing]

Anyone else hyped for new map with the new defensive terrain?

Was getting rather bored of facing the same enemies on the same maps over and over.

Also totally looking forward to my new Hector being pretty much invincible on defensive terrain.

[Katrisa]

10 hours ago, ignis_z said:

Plis i need help for Defense in Coliseum, 3 weeks 1 dedend. I have Nino Lilina Camilla clair, Ryoma, Azura Ninian and gordin5 stars, with 3 skills level 2-3 ... And nothing.... I dont know what can i do. Is better.to put 4 Gold team? 4 silver team with only 1 or 2 skills?pasive skils? I dont understand nothing. Im rank 12.

You want a few things when building a good defense team.
  1) Characters that are difficult to kill safely: Melee with ranged counter or Ranged with close counter are great.  Brave and Dire weapons are scary and can score kills. Dance is unpredictable and often results in killing someone.  High mobility (horse units) are great at causing problems.  And finally having at least two high damage ranged units significantly threatens melee/tank compositions.
  2) Teams with good synergy: All of one color is often easy to kill unless those units are back breakers (4 Hectors for instance is really painful for most people to clear safely), instead having a good mix of colors is good.  Having a good assortment of buffs (attack and speed) helps generate kills.  Likewise having a good assortment of movement/speed/attack assists helps generate unpredictably and causes your team to stay clumped together more (rather than running off doing their own job). 
  3) Reducing your overall team points means you will fight people who are less generally less skilled at the game: Reducing team points is simple, using 4 star characters that are well designed, mixing 4 star with key 5 star threats, or equipping skills they don't need.  Alternatively you can use the lower level version of the skill (Swordbreaker 1 is nearly as useful as swordbreaker 3 for instance).  Quite a few mages don't need B slots to still tear faces off.

Looking at your units I can roughly see the problem you're facing.  Nino can be unreliable in the arena (due to buff spreading).  Likewise Gordin is highly reliant on attack power (if your Gordin is +Atk then he may be worth having on defense otherwise I would skip him.  This puts your highest threats as Ryoma and Lilina.  Ninian having dance is fantastic and potentially worth a slot.  The question for me would be should you run Camilla or Nino.  Glancing at buff coverage With Ryoma, Lilina and Ninian, Nino would get buffs from anyone in which case I would give this a try. Camilla with her brave weapon can be highly dangerous, but I find fliers to be very predictable and easy to bait (making them generally bad for defense unless you have a full flier team transferring buffs).  

So I would try Ninian as your lead, Ryoma in the middle, Nino third, and Lilina last.  In theory this will result in Ninian throwing Ryoma out front frequently with two ranged off to his side tailing him.  This should generate a moderately threatening composition capable of pulling in some kills.

In terms of skills you would want to disable in theory.  Lilina's special won't be very good on defense.  Nino's A slot resistance (he should have some kind of fury/attack/deathblow there instead).  Ninian's escape route while unpredictable probably will not activate often... none the less I would keep the skill just in hope of a few random screw ups which mess with the other team.
 

[Silith13]

I figure with my current scores I'll be rank 16-18. I'll have to live with missing 1 orbs a week.