4* units that aren't worth the promotion

[Zapp Branniglenn]

There's a lot of threads about which units are the most worthy of 20000 feathers, but none discussing the inverse. Which units on your roster are you most content with leaving at 4 star and why?

My first is Clarine. From what I hear, there's already a greater argument that healers aren't worth deployment much less promotion, but Clarine gets only one skill and that's Resistance +3. All of her other skills are available as a 4*. Lame.

Second is Draug. All he gets is Brave Sword+. Like many of you I've been raising the 2* version from the march quest so that Ward Armor creates a solid foundation for an all armor team. And I plan to keep him at 4 using a steel sword. I just don't want to sacrifice 20000 feathers and 5 SPD for better player phase when armored units are designed to be enemy phase heroes thanks to their one movement and aptitude for tanking. Plus I notice several axe wielders he can natively double only with a steel sword such as Camilla, Barst, and Hawkeye. I'm sure he's great with the brave sword and wary fighter combo, but that's too much investment for an aura unit I plan to have two spaces behind that Hector I hope to one day pull.

[Eleanore]

Olivia for me. All she gets is a better weapon and her stats honestly doesn't matter when all she needs to do is hone attack and dance. 

[Korath88]

Draug may actually be worth promoting now with skill inheritance, as taking away his brave sword gives him 32 speed at neutral. Not sure why you would even consider wary fighter on him.

If anything, the only heroes not worth promoting to 5* are healers. And maybe Hinata. With everyone using him as fury fodder, I doubt I'll ever see a 5* Hinata in the arena.

[The Geek]

5 minutes ago, Eleanore said:

Olivia for me. All she gets is a better weapon and her stats honestly doesn't matter when all she needs to do is hone attack and dance. 

Seconding this one.  Olivia isn't that great at combat even at 5 stars, so the rise in attack power from her Silver Sword+ (which is all she really gets from promotion to 5 stars) isn't worth much.

Only raise her up if you don't have anyone else to raise and you just want to show off your entire roster of maxed out 5 stars of every character to your friends.

[Ice Dragon]

4 minutes ago, Gustavos said:

Second is Draug. All he gets is Brave Sword+. Like many of you I've been raising the 2* version from the march quest so that Ward Armor creates a solid foundation for an all armor team. And I plan to keep him at 4 using a steel sword. I just don't want to sacrifice 20000 feathers and 5 SPD for better player phase when armored units are designed to be enemy phase heroes thanks to their one movement and aptitude for tanking. Plus I notice several axe wielders he can natively double only with a steel sword such as Camilla, Barst, and Hawkeye. I'm sure he's great with the brave sword and wary fighter combo, but that's too much investment for an aura unit I plan to have two spaces behind that Hector I hope to one day pull.

No, he's pretty terrible even with a Brave Sword+ because neutral 38 Atk with a weapon equipped is kind of abysmal. Even a million hits of that won't get through Stratum 10's Eldigan's Def. The Brave Sword+ should be replaced as soon as possible, preferably with a Silver Sword+, Killing Edge+, or Wo Dao+ depending on what you have access to and how you want to build him.

The main reason for promoting Draug is not his Brave Sword+, but his incredible 32 Spd and 39 Def, the highest Spd of all the armors and the highest Def of any unit in the game. He can take a lot of weapon-triangle-neutral physical hits and still have Quick Riposte unbroken, allowing him to constantly churn out Wo Dao-boosted Moonbows or charge up any of the AoE special skills.

 

As for the actual question, there's no one that I'm not considering promoting to 5-star at some point in the future. I do play favorites, either because I like the character or their stats are intriguing, so it might be a long while before some characters get promoted (I'm looking at Hinata right about now where neither his face nor his stats interest me).

[bethany81707]

My Lissa. Not only is she tanking just fine without promotion, but I've already replaced the skill in her B slot, making Renewal 3 basically useless.

[SatsumaFSoysoy]

Promoting Olivia to 5* is actually bad, not because it's a waste of feathers, but because 4* +10 Olivia is much easier to obtain than a Limit Broken 5* Olivia, and it doesn't take all of those +10 levels to actually beat base 5* Olivia. The same goes for Lissa and Wrys (and healers in general if they have a 4* version), as they usually gain nothing particularly important. This was important because you wanted to raise your units stat totals as high as possible for the Arena, but may become less important when the new update comes around and stat total becomes less critical in determining score. Still I wouldn't promote these dudes, as now I could just slap Fury on them too if I wanted the extra stats and nothing else.

But now with skill inheritance, the pool of Heroes you shouldn't promote is shrinking greatly, even if sometimes you just want to pass a 5* weapon to someone else (5* Donnel MVP for the Brave Lance+).

[GespenstMK2S]

Healers are definitely not worth bumping up to 5 stars. They only get a stat +3 skill when they hit 5 stars, which doesn't justify the 20000 feathers you feed the unit.

[eclipse]

Unless you have another weapon waiting for Donnel/Barst, I'd hold on to your feathers.

[Anacybele]

3 hours ago, Ice Dragon said:

 the highest Def of any unit in the game.

Ahem, +def Freddy also has 39 def. At 5 star lv 40. Believe me, I know. ;)

Anyway, yeah, healers and dancers don't need promoted. They do their job well enough at 4 star if you level them up and a lot of times you probably don't even want to deploy a healer.

Edited March 27, 2017 by Anacybele

[Troykv]

6 minutes ago, Anacybele said:

Ahem, +def Freddy also has 39 def. At 5 star lv 40. Believe me, I know. ;)

Anyway, yeah, healers and dancers don't need promoted. They do their job well enough at 4 star if you level them up and a lot of times you probably don't even want to deploy a healer.

Yes, but that is +Def Frederick

Neutral Draug has that 39 Defense.

[Anacybele]

2 minutes ago, Troykv said:

Yes, but that is +Def Frederick

Neutral Draug has that 39 Defense.

So? A Freddy with +def is still an existing unit in the game and Ice Dragon said "highest def of any unit in the game." Not "highest neutral def." I can't say my Freddy has one of the highest possible def stats in the game? That makes zero sense and is not very fair.

Edited March 27, 2017 by Anacybele

[Troykv]

4 minutes ago, Anacybele said:

So? A Freddy with +def is still an existing unit in the game. I can't say my Freddy has one of the highest possible def stats in the game? Not really fair.

Oh, of course you can.

I just think you wanted to invalidate Draug's existence.

[Anacybele]

Just now, Troykv said:

Oh, of course you can.

I just think you wanted to invalidate Draug's existence.

??? Except I said nothing about Draug's existence? I have no idea what you're talking about, because all I said was that he's not the only unit in the game that can have 39 def because a +def Frederick gets that too.

[De Geso]

Just now, Anacybele said:

??? Except I said nothing about Draug's existence? I have no idea what you're talking about, because all I said was that he's not the only unit in the game that can have 39 def because a +def Frederick gets that too.

I think the implication was that Draug as a unit has the highest potential for defense, which is true because at +def he is unmatched. 

[Anacybele]

Just now, YouSquiddinMe said:

I think the implication was that Draug as a unit has the highest potential for defense, which is true because at +def he is unmatched. 

Then that's what Ice Dragon should've said instead of saying that 39 def was the highest. I would've been less confused then.

[Silith13]

+Defence Draug has 42.

Hell if we are going to be nitpicky.

Defiant Defence, Fortify Armour, 2x Ward Armour and harsh Command reversing Seal Defence are all free play too then. You'll have a 70 armour Draug. If those buffs all stack somehow.

I feel like I'm bitching now.

[bethany81707]

6 minutes ago, Silith13 said:

+Defence Draug has 42.

Hell if we are going to be nitpicky.

Defiant Defence, Fortify Armour, 2x Ward Armour and harsh Command reversing Seal Defence are all free play too then. You'll have a 70 armour Draug. If those buffs all stack somehow.

I feel like I'm bitching now.

I don't think they stack, but I'd like to hear who can pierce that.

[Silith13]

4 minutes ago, phineas81707 said:

I don't think they stack, but I'd like to hear who can pierce that.

Triangle Adept Heavy Spear+ Effie.

[TheTuckingFypo]

I have yet to promote anyone to 5*..... But I get the feeling that I shouldnt promote my healers, or any characters that have a 5* version as well :/

If I had to promote anyone, I'd probably do so for inheritance purposes.

[Katrisa]

My stupid Catria with +Def and -Atk... Loves her cuteness but having to wait a turn for something to die makes me /cry though she might be a good.  Every time I think of something she might do well... my +Atk Cordelia does it x2 better.

Edited March 27, 2017 by Katrisa

[Elieson]

A fantastic unit never worth bumping up to 5* from 4*?

 

Alfonse arguably, only Healers and Olivia truly fit the bill, since most other Alfonse units can be built into some sort of team based on Alfonse whatever synergy they have with Alfonse each other. I think Caeda would be best chilling on the bench. Fortify Fliers and Armorslayer+ on top of mediocre stats in everything sans speed makes her a better donation bot or emergency sword-flier filler material. Fliers want balls out offense, since they have a huge lack of 2-range support, and Fortify is the opposite of offense. Give her Rally Speed and Darting Blows away

[Ice Dragon]

1 hour ago, Anacybele said:

Ahem, +def Freddy also has 39 def. At 5 star lv 40. Believe me, I know. ;)

=Def Frederick has 36 Def compared to =Def Draug's 39. +Def Frederick has 39 Def compared to +Def Draug's 42.

Draug still has "the highest Def of any unit in the game", which is the exact wording I used.

[Roflolxp54]

1 hour ago, Anacybele said:

So? A Freddy with +def is still an existing unit in the game and Ice Dragon said "highest def of any unit in the game." Not "highest neutral def." I can't say my Freddy has one of the highest possible def stats in the game? That makes zero sense and is not very fair.

Unless specified otherwise, due to the randomness of Boon/Bane combinations, gacha units are assumed to have neutral (average) stats. Frederick has a neutral Def cap of 36 while Draug has a neutral Def cap of 39. Draug (39), Hector (37), Gwendolyn (38), and Beruka (37) all have higher neutral Def caps than neutral Def Frederick does.

[Anacybele]

2 minutes ago, Ice Dragon said:

=Def Frederick has 36 Def compared to =Def Draug's 39. +Def Frederick has 39 Def compared to +Def Draug's 42.

Draug still has "the highest Def of any unit in the game", which is the exact wording I used.

No, you worded it as 39 was the highest def stat in the game which is not true. This is how I see it, anyway. But I see that I misinterpreted you regardless, so my bad on that one.

Edited March 27, 2017 by Anacybele