Special Heroes (Gifts of Winter)

[Zeo]

Aaaaaaaaand more Chrismas armors. Well let's at least see here.

- Fae is adorable, but not particularly a must have, cute factor aside. Her kit screams "hey I have more bulk than Surtr and I'll kill you if you attack me!" but while unique, neither her weapon or her skills particularly scream in value. Everyone and their mother comes with fighter skills now so they don't really count. She also probably wants DC.

- Ephraim's kit is weird. He'll get +10 ATK/DEF if he's by himself, but unlike Fae who wants to be with her allies, he doesn't have Armor March, which makes running him alone a precarious task. Something like Shove or Smite would be good for him but otherwise you'd need SI for him to shine and even then his kit is... awkward. 

- Eirika sets a dangerous precedent. I knew this was coming, but wasn't expecting it with this banner. On top of that her kit is nasty. Buffing the strongest unit by 3 separate stats is bad enough, but what makes it worse is, being an armored healer, she effectively means you don't have to run armor march at all and she'll keep all those pesky armors healthy. I'm really not looking forward to dealing with her.

All in all, I don't really need Fae or Ephraim though I like them. Eirika is definitely worth pulling for but shade of Witch Mia give me dread. I don't know if it's worth putting myself in a potential hole. We'll see what happens. Pretty skippable banner though, Eirika aside.

[Cute Chao]

2 minutes ago, silveraura25 said:

Not really. It's all about nostalgia. L!Marth beats Adrift so easily, but Adrift had rather meh performance despite having good artwork of popular females

Like I say, it's just what people tell me when I complain about there being only one guy on the seasonal banner again. Or yet another alt of the same character. 

I've stopped hoping they'll change things up. I stopped putting money into the game a while back. 

[Magical Glace]

Man I feel so conflicted...

On one hand:

• FE6!
• Eirika!
• Another FE13/14 free seasonal baner!

On the other:

• THEY'RE ALL ARMORED BLEH.  LAST YEAR'S CHRISTMAS WAS ALSO ALL ARMORED CAN WE PLEASE HAVE VARIETY.
• I need to save for VRoy rerun soon...

 

I'm... probably going to take my free Cecilia and skip this, sadly.  I need the orbs for VRoy after he refused me twice...

[NoirCore]

10 minutes ago, Baldrick said:

Why is it worth noting? There have only been three New Heroes banners outside of those restrictions, and two of those were OC villain banners which aren't new by default.

Note we are talking about the period just after CYL2. The first four New Heroes banners, all main story banners, added nine alts, which is pretty disgusting.

 

1) What are you talking about? Most if not all of Book II's main story banners was after the Sigurd paralogue banner and most of those had at least two if not more new characters that had not been in Heroes yet. That's why I found it worth noting compared to the paralogues and xenologues which mostly consisted of alts of characters already in the game.

2) Well, you were, but I was talking about after the Sigurd banner which was all the way back in 2017 before the Halloween banner. I'm not sure how we got to talking about CYL2 (and I can't look up banner release dates on the wiki because it's slowing my phone browser down like hell), but even then, all story banners from Chapter 6 onwards had at least two new units. Sounds like there's some miscommunication going on between us.

[Alkaid]

Well, nobody here that I'm interested in, plus it's armors again which I'm not into. If there was a flier I might be tempted despite not being a fan of the characters. Eirika being an armored healer is neat, but I don't think I need her. I guess I'm free to dump my orbs for Ophelia after all.

Edited December 16, 2018 by Alkaid

[SoulWeaver]

3 minutes ago, Glaceon Mage said:

• THEY'RE ALL ARMORED BLEH.  LAST YEAR'S CHRISTMAS WAS ALSO ALL ARMORED CAN WE PLEASE HAVE VARIETY.
• I need to save for VRoy rerun soon...

 

I'm... probably going to take my free Cecilia and skip this, sadly.  I need the orbs for VRoy after he refused me twice...

Same, I'll take the free pull as always, but honestly Cecilia's the character I like most here, plus Bow Roy...PLUS new FE6 Units coming in March, a(probable, we'll see who we actually get IDUNN PLEASE) win for me at least as I'm not a Tellius fan.

Also silly Ana, IS obviously realizes it, they just don't care.

[redlight]

I'm not sure about this, but @Ice Dragon being an armor unit as a healer is bad, right? B skill conflict

[Dandy Druid]

Well... Ephraim and Eirika don't have a "goofy" alt yet. However, I was never a huge fan of them. I'll pull, but I won't be spending too many orbs. I'm saving up for Tibarn. I have around 70 orbs now... so I should probably save for Tibarn. So I'll take my golden tickets and stop there.

[Diovani Bressan]

A easy skip for me, because I don't care for Armored uits, but hey... I am happy for the whales... The only one that interested me was Eirika, but no thanks. I will only take the free one from the TT.

Also... 4th Eirika and Ephraim... I couldn't be more happier... sarcasm

Edited December 16, 2018 by Diovani Bressan

[Sentinel07]

Well, I can't be unhappy with more Sacred Stones representation, and seeing Fae again isn't bad.

Characters look pretty good. Not quite sure if I'll draw. 

[XRay]

13 minutes ago, silveraura25 said:

I'm not sure about this, but @Ice Dragon being an armor unit as a healer is bad, right? B skill conflict

You can now get Dazzling Staff and Wrathful Staff Sacred Seals as part of a starter pack!

Edited December 16, 2018 by XRay

[ILikeKirbys]

Fae sounds a little older, or maybe it's just me. Still super cute, and I wouldn't mind pulling her (partially for the not-a-prf weapon, which looks super good and could be fun on Ninian). DEF/RES Bond is something I never expected to see, but that's okay.

Ephraim... Well he would get Omni Solo 2 and ATK/DEF Solo for maximum running-off-on-his-own buffs, wouldn't he? Now he just needs X/Y Solo as a Sacred Seal... And we have a TT+ coming up, so maybe? Not seriously getting my hopes up to be honest...
Still, maybe we'll get Festive Seigmund on regular Ephraim? They did it with Flame Seigmund and Berserk Armads, so why not?

@Zeo It's just if Ephraim doesn't have adjacent allies, so moving him at all away from his Armor buddies would get him +10 ATK/DEF & +4 SPD/RES. It's not that bad for him, really, since he only needs to move 1 space to get far enough out for the buffs to activate.

Eirika looks good. I wouldn't mind getting her, partially so I can run her on an Aether Raids team with 4 allies who have the same ATK stat and thus all get the +6/+0/+5/+5. It's not gonna happen, but I can dream.

@silveraura25 I dunno, if she has the ATK and HP for it then I could see Eirika possibly running something like Wrathful Absorb+ | Recover+ | Miracle | Close Counter | Wary Fighter 3 [or Special Fighter 3 if she's fast enough to not get doubled naturally] | ATK Opening 3 [or ATK Ploy 3, if Eirika has the RES for Ploys] | ATK/DEF Bond 3 Seal [or Close DEF 3 Seal, if you don't think you'll be able to keep her close to your allies] to work as a tank. Probably not super effective, but it could possibly work.

I have no idea what Cecilia's gonna have... to be honest I wasn't expecting Cecilia at all, much less as a Dagger Armor. Looks like she's the freebie for the TT+ though, so I'll definitely get to try her out. Kinda hoping she'll get Glittering Breath's Nifl Frostflowers/Muspell Fireposy-but-for-DEF/RES thing.

Probably not gonna pull beyond the freebie on this one though. Much as I would like Fae and Eirika (primarily Eirika), I don't like them enough to endanger the Beast stockpile. Hopefully Cecilia's got a decent kit.

@XRay Well, we do have a Tempest Trials+ coming up, it could happen! And I have a Genny who would really like it if it did!

Edited December 16, 2018 by ILikeKirbys

[Magical Glace]

8 minutes ago, SoulWeaver said:

Same, I'll take the free pull as always, but honestly Cecilia's the character I like most here, plus Bow Roy...PLUS new FE6 Units coming in March, a(probable, we'll see who we actually get IDUNN PLEASE) win for me at least as I'm not a Tellius fan.

Also silly Ana, IS obviously realizes it, they just don't care.

My favorite of these is actually Eirika, but LEirika drained my orb Stash recently and I really don’t want Roy turning me down a third time.  Time one and two were depressing.  I also want to pull on the FE6 banner, but my most wanted FE6 unit (Wolt) is likely TT or obvious demote, if they include him at all.

I’ll probably pull a few colorless, but not a lot.  I’d pull more if Eirika was literally any other move type though.  Preferably flyer.

[Baldrick]

Free session only, colourless > green

The number of colourless armours in the game is about to triple. I'd really like an armoured staff, but a free armoured dagger is fine. Fae would be useful, but I already have some good green armours.

[XRay]

5 minutes ago, ILikeKirbys said:

Well, we do have a Tempest Trials+ coming up, it could happen!

Oh yeah, we do! Maybe they will be generous and offer Dazzling Staff and Wrathful Staff for free.

5 minutes ago, ILikeKirbys said:

And I have a Genny who would really like it if it did!

I guess we might have to cross off lamb for Christmas dinner.

Edited December 16, 2018 by XRay

[Anacybele]

Oh yeah, I can see why people think Ephraim's kit is odd. It kind of is. I mean, it's not easy to get an armor by their lonesome when their move is so bad. I guess with armored boots or someone with Armor March could help him a bit, but an armor is still not the best choice for solo skills. And too bad too, because that's a lot of buffing to his defenses, holy crap.

[Landmaster]

I'm also in the confused boat on how Eirika made it on this banner when she just appeared as a Legendary a couple months ago and Ephraim not too long got his Brave~ There's 4 of both now, I think we're good for a break from them both now~

It's good that it's not Fates or Awakening but why units that just got Alts?~ I don't dislike Eirika or Ephraim but it's like Kagero but worse~ Is it really that hard to space the alts out more?~ 

I hope the NY Banner gives us at least some units we haven't had in a while or even some new ones~

[Anacybele]

4 minutes ago, Landmaster said:

I'm also in the confused boat on how Eirika made it on this banner when she just appeared as a Legendary a couple months ago and Ephraim not too long got his Brave~ There's 4 of both now, I think we're good for a break from them both now~

Agreed and this is coming from an Ephraim fangirl.

And if there MUST be one more Ephraim at any point in the future, put him on a wyvern or Pegasus! Plz!

Oh, one more plus for this banner though, at least there are no Fates/Awakening characters!

Edited December 16, 2018 by Anacybele

[Ice Dragon]

I wish they'd stop making so many armors all at once, especially ones of characters I like. I don't have enough money to pull for all of them.

At least Cecilia is free.

 

34 minutes ago, silveraura25 said:

I'm not sure about this, but @Ice Dragon being an armor unit as a healer is bad, right? B skill conflict

Firesweep as a B skill is way better than Bold Fighter. Maybe not for killing things, but certainly for dealing free damage. This just means we have a more durable staffie.

 

11 minutes ago, Anacybele said:

Oh yeah, I can see why people think Ephraim's kit is odd. It kind of is. I mean, it's not easy to get an armor by their lonesome when their move is so bad. I guess with armored boots or someone with Armor March could help him a bit, but an armor is still not the best choice for solo skills. And too bad too, because that's a lot of buffing to his defenses, holy crap.

Not necessarily. On enemy phase, Solo skills are complete trash, but on player phase, an armor simply has to walk one step forward to activate the effect.

Edited December 16, 2018 by Ice Dragon

[Anacybele]

2 minutes ago, Ice Dragon said:

Not necessarily. On enemy phase, Solo skills are complete trash, but on player phase, an armor simply has to walk one step forward to activate the effect.

True, yeah. But don't armors generally want to be more enemy phase oriented due to their low move?

[DarthR0xas]

I'd say out of all these units, Ephraim has the most potential, but will also be the most reliant upon his teammates. A team built solely around him might end up doing pretty well. He'll need either armored boots, armor march, or guidance on a flier with shove/smite to really take advantage of his skills, but I kinda like it. Make it a challenge to get the conditions to activate, and when they do you get a pretty good payoff, as opposed to some of the other skills where it's basically move to win.

1 minute ago, Anacybele said:

True, yeah. But don't armors generally want to be more enemy phase oriented due to their low move?

Generally, yes, but that doesn't mean player phase/dual phase armors can't exist. It's harder to use them, but they can still be used to great effect.

[Some Jerk]

Oof. The majority of this banner does not impress me.

C!Fae: Had we not already had M!Grima for ages and Surtr recently, I imagine she'd be a lot more impressive, but as it stands both of them do her designated walling job way better. If you have either of them, C!Fae is just SI fodder unless you're playing favorites.

C!Ephraim: +10 Atk/Def on command looks threatening on paper, until you realize that it's only active if he's not beside an ally, which runs contradictory to everything you'd want to do with armors. Armor March and Guidance do C!Ephraim no favors because they disable his main gimmick, but leaving him with 1 MOV means he will get clowned on by every hit-and-run tactic ever. If you're not running him alongside an ally with Shove or Smite, he's just a festive sandbag.

C!Eirika: The only cool thing to come out of this banner. Aside from being our first ever armored staff unit (which means full armor teams finally have a healer), she also gets base skills that buff your strongest unit, and unlike Tactics buffbots she doesn't need to worry about positioning unless she needs to pop Restore+. This is very powerful for teams that are built around a single strong unit.

[Anacybele]

2 minutes ago, DarthR0xas said:

Generally, yes, but that doesn't mean player phase/dual phase armors can't exist. It's harder to use them, but they can still be used to great effect.

Oh, okay! Good to know.

I still don't want more armors, but...I love Ephraim and I don't know if I really can say no to him despite my dislike for armors. xP But I guess I can put two Ephraims on an armor team if I get the Christmas one! lol I will definitely go blue on the free pull.

Edited December 16, 2018 by Anacybele

[Zangetsu]

 

47 minutes ago, Zeo said:

Fae is adorable, but not particularly a must have, cute factor aside. Her kit screams "hey I have more bulk than Surtr and I'll kill you if you attack me!" but while unique, neither her weapon or her skills particularly scream in value. Everyone and their mother comes with fighter skills now so they don't really count. She also probably wants DC.

As long she's power creeping Surtr, then I don't care that she doesn't power creep M!Grima

[Ice Dragon]

5 minutes ago, Anacybele said:

True, yeah. But don't armors generally want to be more enemy phase oriented due to their low move?

It's easier to use enemy-phase armors, but with Armor March, armors have better mobility than infantry. It takes some getting used to since it requires playing around Armor March's buff, but once you get used to it, it's pretty doable.

It helps that a lot of the recent armors have come with Armor March, too.

Edited December 16, 2018 by Ice Dragon