Hero Merit Grinding and Flaunting Mega Thread

[Kuroi Tsubasa Tenshi]

Welp, Lloyd Lunatic is pretty nasty for auto-battling because the filler slots can't provide buffs without putting them in danger and the bow guy's got Swordbreaker. This makes it so Vanguard Ike or Black Knight get super wrecked before the battle even begins. My Draug can just brute solo his way through it, but I doubt that's really going to help many people. I guess I'll throw his stats out on the off-chance someone here does have one to auto-farm with:

• Draug +10 (+Def/-Res) Wo Dao+Def, Pivot, Aether, DC, Vengeful Fighter 3, Spur Def/Res 2, DD3

I think the odds of finding something that uses guaranteed F2P units is pretty unlikely (if for no other reason than that stupid Bow Cav), but I'll see if I can at least find something less obscenely expensive than my Draug (probably gonna have some very narrow criteria, since my Sheena +8 couldn't even tank it out through attrition—dying to a Lloyd Iceberg by something like 3 HP).

EDIT: Well, I've got a duo that works out, though one of the units is a seasonal unit and durability ends up being pretty tight...

• Slot 1: Arden 5* - Brave Sword+, No Assist (important, because he'll use Move Assist on Hector, causing issues! A Rally might be okay, but I haven't tested it.), Follow-Up Ring, Drive Def 2, Def Tactic 3
• Slot 2: LA!Hector (+Def/-Res) - Glimmer, DC, WF 3, DD3
• Slot 3: Non-armour filler
• Slot 4: Non-armour filler

Due to Lloyd getting an Iceberg off on Hector right at the end (for just 20 damage, but it's a problem with the accumulation of other damage), having just 7 remaining HP makes things really tight. Having Rally Res on Arden probably won't make enough of a difference if Hector is neutral Def because he'll take 3 more damage from the Bow Cav's second attack (due to Hone Cav), plus 3 more damage from Lloyd for each of three attacks. That's 12 damage where the rally only gives a margin of 4, leaving Hector at -2 HP. I guess certain combos can still work. +Res/-HP will leave him with 2 HP. +HP with either of -Spd or -Atk would do the same. Granted, I'm not sure how badly -Atk would affect things. Inheriting Threaten Atk to Hector's C could also be an option, I guess, since it'll hit Lloyd for the first two attacks. Oh, and I suspose inheriting Ward Armor to Arden to replace Drive Def would save 7 damage.

Edited April 20, 2018 by Kuroi Tsubasa Tenshi

[mampfoid]

@Kuroi Tsubasa Tenshi I came to a similar conclusion for Lloyd lunatic:

1. BK 5*+0 vanilla + Swap, Vantage 3, Ward Armor, DD3 seal
2. Hector 5*+0 vanilla + Swap, Bonfire, Vantage 3, CD3 seal
3. filler
4. filler

Swap is used to share the damage between those two. I don't think the nature of my Hector (+ATK/-SPD) should matter, other green DC armors like Grima should work too. Perhaps I'll try to minimize the SI later. 

 

 

[Kuroi Tsubasa Tenshi]

Bah, finagled with my no-SI strat to try to fit BK into Hector's place (requiring some SI and supports, unfortunately) and it almost works in that a Vantage BK should be able to get into a position to finish the bow, mage and cav off while just barely not dying. However, after Lloyd dies and the cav Repositions the bow, BK kills the axe flier instead of Arden, leading to Arden then just wandering off to the right—straight into range of both ranged. And then he dies a horrible, screaming death that was entirely unnecessary. Fun with auto-battle AI.

I've also tried messing around with 4* Zephiel in place of Arden and the result is the same. Even if the bow didn't wreck him hard and he could use his WF3 to survive the mage, though, I've come to realize that it wouldn't make a difference. He'd live with barely any HP, BK would Black Luna the cav into paste, then Zephiel would wander up one tile so the mage could attack him again.

EDIT: Well, I feel dumb for trying to lean on BK too much. Reddit has apparently had a zero-SI, F2P solution up for quite some time. I'd done some experimenting with LA!Eliwood, but more as a support than as a frontline fighter because his defenses are low enough that he just normally gets mauled and dies early. Even then, as a support, the axe flier would just obliterate him. NY!Corrin solves both issues beautifully, because he gets an easy kill on the bow knight right at the start (which BK can only do with the QR Seal, which then causes all sorts of other issues), then backs up and offs the flier, giving Eliwood all neutral or advantageous match-ups while boosting his defenses. I've personally tested the strat and can confirm that it works exactly as described.

Edited April 20, 2018 by Kuroi Tsubasa Tenshi

[Zeo]

I've just become hip to this HM grinding thing even though it's apparently been a thing for a little while already and it's fantastic. I've gone from 1k feathers to 20k in a single day and that was Askr Trio feathers (that I likely would have waited months for otherwise).

Currently I found a way to do an auto with Camus, but it requires a Hone/Fortify Cav, the Drive Def 2 seal, a specific Camus build and a dancer so yeah, not all that friendly. Once I max HM on the 4 units currently deployed I'm going to switch to the slower but more feather friendly method that @Kuroi Tsubasa Tenshi posted. Assuming all 4 units max HM before the day is over.

[Kuroi Tsubasa Tenshi]

Okay, because building these is entirely too fun, I took a break from Tempest+ to see if I could finagle something F2P-ish for Michalis. This brought me to a strat that I'm not completely satisfied with because of the restrictions placed on one of the fillers, but some really nominal, low-demand SI allows this team to farm Lunatic Michalis.

• Slot 1: Filler 1 - must be sturdy enough to survive two turns of attacks from the lance fighter*
• Slot 2: Arden 5* - base kit plus Pivot, HP +3, Panic Ploy 3 Seal
• Slot 3: Gerome 5* - base kit (including the Hit and Run) plus Moonbow (other specials might work, but this is what I tested with), Quick Riposte 3 Seal
• Slot 4: Filler 2 - Hone Atk 2 Seal

The crux of the strat is that Michalis picks up a ton of flier buffs. Unfortunately for him, with some HP boosting, Arden has higher HP than him, so Panic completely and utterly destroys him. It's enough that all Gerome needs is Moonbow, a small Atk boost and the Quick Riposte Seal to bring him down over two turns. The lance flier will suicide onto Gerome and so will the sword flier after Gerome murders Michalis. Meanwhile, Arden will Pivot over Filler 2, getting into position just in time to intercept and kill the sword cav.

Now, for the * with regards to Filler 1. This is a bit finicky, thanks to the lance fighter being a jerk with Death Blow 3, meaning that the filler needs to survive 49 Atk and 31 Spd twice. I think this will largely end in any reds that are bad enough to qualify as filler being completely ineligible, so I'm going to concentrate on examples for blues/daggers (the lance fighter also brings Bowbreaker and most bows are squishy, plus most staves can find easy HM assisting in other modes). Further complicating this in a good way is that Arden will try to make his way back, applying his Drive Def 2 to Filler 1 for the second hit. It's also worth noting that I initially had Def Tactic 3 on Filler 1, which was just plain overkill on Gerome—he can will all his fights without the +6 Def—which means that the benchmarks can be fudged a bit by the Close Def 3 Seal (the Fortress Def 1 Seal may even be able to provide a budget substitute in some cases) or perhaps a +Spd Seal. Filler that also have native +Def, +Spd or Lancebreaker skills may be at an advantage.

• 4* Lukas: 39 Def (Fort Def 1) and 42 HP takes 2x10 and 2x7 = 34/42
• 4* Oboro: 33 Def and 37 HP takes 16 and 13 = 29/37; Spd +3 Seal required to get her neutral Spd to 27
• 4* Valter: 31 Def and 39 HP takes 18 and 15 = 33/39
• 3* Sharena: 25 Def and 39 HP takes 24 and 21 = 43/39; Fort Def 1 Seal is enough to save her

As seen, things are really precarious while Spd is <= 26 because damage gets crazy. However, anyone with 27+ Spd and Sharena's 3* defensive stats, or higher, should be able to survive the neutral match-up with nominal-to-no seal assistance.

Green has a much easier time here:

• 4* Hawkeye: 26 Def and 42 HP takes 2x14 and 2x11 = 40/42
• 3* Beruka: 33 Def and 42 HP takes 2x7 and 2x4 = 23/42
• 3* Gunter: 29 Def and 39 HP takes 2x11 and 2x8 = 38/39
• 3* Bartre: 29 Def and 45 HP takes 2x11 and 2x8 = 38/45
• 3* Boey: 28 Def and 39 HP takes 2x12 and 2x9 = 42/39; Fort Def 1 Seal is enough to save him
• 3* Barst: 26 Def and 42 HP takes 2x14 and 2x11 = 50/42; Fort Def 1 Seal is enough to save him
• 3* Raven: 22 Def and 37 HP takes 18 and 15 = 33/37

I think I'm going to stop here because this is starting to get overly long, but hopefully that gives people an idea of the benchmarks required to let Filler 1 do its job.

EDIT: Okay, some further testing is proving weird behaviour. My initial run was with a Bartre, who doesn't move at all. However, I just went at it with Beruka and she moved... Going to have to see if this is an infantry versus flier thing (I hope it is, because only a certain stat range working would be awful).

EDIT 2: Quick bit of testing seems to indicate that it's a problem with specific fliers, regardless of stat line, and I don't know why. Fliers in general seem to deviate, moving out of the way, so it's possible that we could even use fliers that don't fit the survival benchmarks as filler. However, there are some, with no rhyme or reason, who seem to change the turn order. For instance, Beruka, Michalis and Clair all body blocked Arden's safe spot, causing him to Pivot face first into a Heavy Spear+. On the other hand, Subaki and Narcian behaved and weren't jerks about it, waiting to move until after Arden had. From the limited testing I did, infantry and cavalry will just sit still, so there's no problems with deviations there. Armours are generally going to be a no go because of Heavy Spear+ (Sheena is the sole exception).

EIDT 3: I think I've solved it. In my haste, I left Swap on Subaki and Narcian with their Swap equipped. That changed the turn order to make it so they go first and don't get Arden killed. When this swings back around, I can test it by giving Clair her Harsh Command back. If this is all it is, things'll be weird for flier fillers because then they'll have to have an assist equipped, but will only have to worry about taking a single round of combat, as opposed to the infantry of cavalry needing to weather two.

Edited April 23, 2018 by Kuroi Tsubasa Tenshi

[Kuroi Tsubasa Tenshi]

Putting this in a new post because new Xander tech. This is yet another duo, since we need to both body block and have enough damage output to not get Ignis bombed to death. Arden needs to inherit Ignis for this to work, but that's it, making the skill and seal demand for this strat surprisingly cheap.

• Slot 1: Filler 1 - non-armour, Def Tactic 3 Seal
• Slot 2: Black Knight 5* - base kit plus Atk +1 Seal
• Slot 3: Arden 5* - base kit plus Ignis, Threaten Spd 1 Seal
• Slot 4: Filler 2 - non-armour

Basically, BK and Arden are just going to keep going up. For whatever reason, the fillers will slip in behind them on the first turn, no matter their movement type, but go no further next turn. This allows BK to pick up the Def Tactic 3 buff. One possible caveat here is that I used a Black Knight +1 for testing. This should not matter for his survival or picking up kills (that's what the Atk +1 seal is for—he doesn't need it if he's merged), but there is that miniscule chance that the 1 HP might throw the AI behaviour off for whatever reason. If anyone could confirm with a +0, I'd appreciate it.

Anyway, the way the sequence is supposed to work, it once BK is in range, with Arden beside him, Xander will move down to engage. Then the green tome cav and the cleric will suicide on him. On PP, Threaten Spd hits Xander, which is important, because now the BK can double through the Hone Cav. Arden will gib the sword fighter, then BK will have just enough punch to kill Xander to the HP. The lance fighter will then engage Arden (he does 0 to BK's massive Def, thanks to stacking Steady Stance 3, Def Tactic 3 and Drive Def 2). On the following PP, Arden and the lance fighter will trade Ignises, but only one man here is strong and tough enough to be left standing.

[SuperTroll Maxim Lapierre]

I cracked the code into making Arvis' map really easy to grind for Hero Merit. You need a Brave Roy with Galeforce or turn another Sword or Axe Calvary unit into his equivalent. Have this unit kill the Axe Calvary unit on the map and then have him follow up and kill Arvis. The Red mage can be taken care of by a variety of units, such as 4* Finn or Gordin with sufficient buffing. The Ridersbane Calvary is best eliminated with a Wolf tome user or just a pumped green user like Valentine Lilina. The blue mage can be eliminated with any unit with sufficient attack, buffing may be needed. 

This also makes it a one turn clear, so you don't have to wait long to start the map up again and you can feel proud that it's a one turn clear. 

I have a video showing it. The AI actually messes up on Lunatic, having Brave Lyn kill the Axe Calvary instead of Brave Roy. 

 

Edited April 22, 2018 by SuperTroll Maxim Lapierre

[Kuroi Tsubasa Tenshi]

So, I didn't think things could get more quirky than the Gerome/Arden duo, but Lunatic Zephiel ended up being just that. Initially, I tried Black Knight plus unequipped Lissa, but not only was his damage output insufficient, but despite a huge amount of Def boosting, his tendency to beeline for the Brave Lance+ made the incoming damage far too high. This made me go back and look at the free unit roster and the best part of the results is probably that there are absolutely no 5* units required for this strat, though it does require the sacrifice of a 3* Odin and 3* Mae/Nino/Sully/Fae. Anyway, down to business:

• Slot 1: Filler 1 - non-cavalry; if this unit is an armour, it must have the Armored Boots Seal
• Slot 2: 4* Gunter - base kit plus Draw Back and the Def Tactic 3 Seal
• Slot 3: 4* Ursula - base kit plus Blarblade in place of Blarwolf and R Tomebreaker 1; if your Gunter is -Res, she should also have the Fortify Res 1 or Spur Res 1 Seal
• Slot 4: Filler 2 - non-cavalry

What ensues is some rather hilarious stupidity when it comes to the interaction of Draw Back and a ranged unit fighting enemy armoured units who didn't bother to bring Armor March. On the first turn, Ursula will injure the lance knight. Gunter draws her back. Filler 1 slides in behind Gunter. On EP, the red mage suicides on Ursula. The enemies then move up, but mostly get stuck on each other. Ursula gibs the lance knight. The enemies advance, with Zephiel wandering into Ursula's Threaten Res range, which is important, because next PP, Ursula kills him exactly between her special and her regular hit. The AoE also injures the blue mage, which is crucial to the next turn. On EP, the blue mage will attack Gunter. On PP, the mage gets Threaten Ressed and then Ursula kills him exactly. Gunter draws her back. The remaining axe knight then spends the next two turns getting kited into Threaten Res range and getting two-rounded for his trouble.

One of the funniest things about this strat is that Filler 1 blocks some inopportune Draw Backs that would otherwise cause Ursula to not land Threaten Res, which, considering she gets a couple exact kills with it, would be very bad.

Gunter can also be swapped out for any other cavalry that knows both Hone Cav and Draw Back (probably not worth building for the sake of farming, but it's probably not unreasonable for someone to end up with that config as a matter of course when targeting other modes), with the caveat that cavalry must take significant damage from the mage—otherwise the mage will target Ursula and while she will then kill him, the axe knight will gib her, ruining the strat. As far as "significant damage" goes, I'm not entirely sure about the threshold, but based on the AI guide, I suspect it's 5+ damage. I know from experience messing around with a merged 4* Cecilia in his place that 2x6 is considered enough, but 2x2 is not.

EDIT: Something else funny that I can't believe I didn't clue into with relation to the Elibe games: Ursula gets to kill Zephiel.

Edited April 23, 2018 by Kuroi Tsubasa Tenshi

[mampfoid]

Does anyone know if it's possible to switch of the quest notifications? After the 24h refresh the daily quests stop my grind machine while I'm not at home. 

[Jingle Jangle]

My strategy for Narican hard (because I couldn't find a good team to take on Zephiel hard) is aTiki,  Ninian, Fae, and VEliwood. ATiki and Ninian are the only ones that do the work. The later maps this week has more opportunities for getting feathers.

[Zeo]

@Kuroi Tsubasa Tenshi Thanks for this. I thought I'd have to skip today but this really helps. Gunter and Ursula will eventually max HM but farming for 2 units beats farming for none. Running Jakob and Lachesis in the other slots, units I'll probably never use.

Only deviations were that I needed to give Gunter the DD3 seal to survive being attacked by the blue mage who otherwise oneshots him and gave "Slot 1 filler" the DEF Tactic 3 seal. Worked just as well. I think I'm going to write these strats down so when the days come I don't have to pop on here/reddit to find what strategies I used.

Edited April 23, 2018 by Zeo

[Kuroi Tsubasa Tenshi]

Hey, no problem. These have been really fun to find and I'm glad people have been benefiting from them.

Farming two units on Lunatic is still even a slightly better rate than doing three on Hard (10 vs 9.3). It's part of the reason I've been willing to go from solo-unit runs to duo-unit runs as necessary in these strats.

[Javi Blizz]

Hey guys, does Black Knight require Vantage 3 for auto Navarre’s or does Vantage 2 works? I don’t have any 4* Lon’zu 

[Tybrosion]

29 minutes ago, Javi Blizz said:

Hey guys, does Black Knight require Vantage 3 for auto Navarre’s or does Vantage 2 works? I don’t have any 4* Lon’zu 

I tested it and he can do it with Vantage 2.

[mampfoid]

Before his map vanishes in ~1 hour, I wanted to say thanks to Saias for letting himself kill so many times by Nowi for this: 

 

[Ninferno]

Yeah, Saias will be dearly missed for sure; I also have him to thank for the more than a page of 5000s I have right now.lol

Fortunately T & H BHB rerun comes right when Saias fades away so we are clear for another week without worrying about inefficient Robin and tricky Michalis. Woohoo.

Again, my F!Corrin is doing wonders in auto soloing this BHB. I put her at slot 2 and she will take the left route down, killing Pineapple and the blue mage cav on the 1st turn in retaliation. On the 2nd turn, she gets lunged by the axe cav (who F!Corrin can't ORKO) which enables her to be reached by Hinoka and the red sword pegasus, both of which vanquish to Aether. F!Corrin then finishes off the axe cav in turn 3 player phase. The run takes slightly longer than Saias due to taking half a turn more, at around 24 seconds, which is still pretty good.

My F!Corn is now +10 (via feathers farmed recently of course) so I can't say with confidence like before that "any good DC blue will work", but I think it's at least worth trying for you guys who have a good Nowi or Fae or something. I would recommend putting a red filler in the 1st slot so that even if your solo unit cannot kill the axe cav in time, this red filler can still tank a turn; in addition, a red at slot 1 also encourages the axe cav to take the passage on the right (because it thinks it can do more damage to your units at slot 3 and 4), resulting in your solo unit not engaging it on turn 2 player phase so that your solo unit can get lunged by it on enemy phase and attacked by Hinoka and red pegasus. Yes, the movement of axe cav is pretty crucial in this strat, because you really need to kill the fliers in time to prevent them from reaching your unarmed fillers.

In summary:

Slot 1: Unarmed filler, red recommended. (Currently farming with Eirika)

Slot 2: F!Corrin + 10 with Lightning+/Aether/Steady/QR.

Slot 3: Unarmed filler. (Currently farming with Frederick)

Slot 4: Unarmed filler. (Currently farming with Gerome)

Edited April 25, 2018 by Ninferno

[Kuroi Tsubasa Tenshi]

One thing I want to mention for Navarre is that the auto-Ike clear can be done without any SI, though it does involve having an upgrade Hone and/or Spur Spd Seal (requires a certain amount of extra Spd on Ike). The guy who found it lays it out in this GameFAQ thread.

[mampfoid]

Couldn't find a unit (in my roster) that solos lunatic Takumi & Hinoka, but this works: 

1. BK 5*+0 + Vantage + ATK+3 seal
2. non-armor filler + Hone ATK 3 seal
3. non-armor filler + DEF Tactic 3 seal
4. Hector 5*+0 (+ATK/-SPD) + Vantage + Bonfire + Close Defense 3 seal

 

[Zeo]

@mampfoid Dang it.. I need to get on your level.

Unfortunately I had to do things the hard way because my Nowi was unable to farm Saias. Tried as I could I could not get it to work. As for this BHB though, your BK + Hector strat works nicely. I didn't need to do any SI though. I just used my basic QR set on BK and Vantage set on Hector and it worked fine. I needed the CD3 seal on Hector but not the ATK+3 seal on BK so that's good. I hate shuffling things around. I'll run this strat for most of the week, but Clarisse and Navarre are the best farming days for the normal rotation.

[mampfoid]

@Zeo I don't think I'm doing this even the most effective way. Max 10 hours a day, I'm not at my computer most of the day and the daily refresh is shortly after I leave the house. 

What nature is your Nowi? I think my +RES payed of here. Good to hear that at least Hector & BK's strat works for you in Hoshido. 

[Zeo]

2 minutes ago, mampfoid said:

@Zeo I don't think I'm doing this even the most effective way. Max 10 hours a day, I'm not at my computer most of the day and the daily refresh is shortly after I leave the house. 

What nature is your Nowi? I think my +RES payed of here. Good to hear that at least Hector & BK's strat works for you in Hoshido. 

My Nowi was +DEF/-SPD. That's probably why she couldn't survive Saias. Didn't think to do Fortify RES and I don't have RES Tactic. And thanks again! Grinding 2 units for 5.00 HM beats grinding 3 for 2.25 HM each.

Edited April 25, 2018 by Zeo

[mampfoid]

11 minutes ago, Zeo said:

My Nowi was +DEF/-SPD. That's probably why she couldn't survive Saias. Didn't think to do Fortify RES and I don't have RES Tactic. And thanks again! Grinding 2 units for 5.00 HM beats grinding 3 for 2.25 HM each.

You are welcome!

It was perhaps both SPD and RES, my Nowi already needed additional 4 SPD (through SPD+3 on A and a Hone SPD). That's missing 8 SPD for your Nowi, since SPD is her superbane. 

[ZeBlueSlip]

3 hours ago, Ninferno said:

Yeah, Saias will be dearly missed for sure; I also have him to thank for the more than a page of 5000s I have right now.lol

Fortunately T & H BHB rerun comes right when Saias fades away so we are clear for another week without worrying about inefficient Robin and tricky Michalis. Woohoo.

Again, my F!Corrin is doing wonders in auto soloing this BHB. I put her at slot 2 and she will take the left route down, killing Pineapple and the blue mage cav on the 1st turn in retaliation. On the 2nd turn, she gets lunged by the axe cav (who F!Corrin can't ORKO) which enables her to be reached by Hinoka and the red sword pegasus, both of which vanquish to Aether. F!Corrin then finishes off the axe cav in turn 3 player phase. The run takes slightly longer than Saias due to taking half a turn more, at around 24 seconds, which is still pretty good.

My F!Corn is now +10 (via feathers farmed recently of course) so I can't say with confidence like before that "any good DC blue will work", but I think it's at least worth trying for you guys who have a good Nowi or Fae or something. I would recommend putting a red filler in the 1st slot so that even if your solo unit cannot kill the axe cav in time, this red filler can still tank a turn; a blue filler at slot 3 or 4 so that the axe cav takes the right route, resulting in your solo unit not engaging it on turn 2 player phase so that your solo unit can get lunged by the axe cav on enemy phase and reached by Hinoka and red pegasus. Yes, the movement of axe cav is pretty crucial in this strat, because you really need to kill the fliers in time to prevent them from reaching your unarmed fillers.

In summary:

Slot 1: Unarmed filler. (Currently farming with Eirika)

Slot 2: F!Corrin + 10 with Lightning+/Aether/Steady/QR.

Slot 3: Unarmed filler. (Currently farming with Linde)

Slot 4: Unarmed filler. (Currently farming with Frederick)

It's working with my Nowi+7 (+Res -Hp) with the classic build: Lightning+ (Def refine)/Steady Breath/QR3/Aether/Close Def Seal.

Exactly as described !  Just had to give Slot1 or Slot3 Def Tactic Seal. Thanks for the strategy !

Unfortunately my other account's Nowi+3 with Warding breath couldn't do it . So I think Steady breath is mandatory here.

I have 110+ maxed HM units now

Edited April 25, 2018 by ZeBlueSlip

[mampfoid]

1 hour ago, ZeBlueSlip said:

I have 110+ maxed HM units now

Wow, that's  ~3 pages? 

I bet you started grinding before GHBs got their stamina cost removed. 

[ZeBlueSlip]

14 minutes ago, mampfoid said:

Wow, that's  ~3 pages? 

I bet you started grinding before GHBs got their stamina cost removed. 

No I started right after it I already had some units at 4.000 HM before that. I did used Chain Challenge 1&2 when there was nothing to do with stamina. But it was nowhere as efficient as now with the GHB/BHB.

Edited April 25, 2018 by ZeBlueSlip