Heroes you didn’t care for that became MVPs

[Arcphoenix]

I’m curious as to what your stories are. I have quite a couple myself.

In short, maybe you were trying to get a unit off a banner... But you didn’t get what you expected or were hoping for. You had seen the trailer and had written off the character as one you didn’t need. Later down the line, it’s one of your best units.

Share your story here. Who’d you get, who you wanted to get instead, how useful who you got instead was, and whether or not you feel more satisfied with who you got

[eclipse]

You first.

[Anacybele]

I suppose CYL Lyn is an obvious answer. She's very good for FTP strategies, and mine happens to be neutral too despite not being my free CYL choice (that was obviously Ike). I never cared for her as a character and didn't really ever care to have her. And I honestly still only use her if I really need to.

[XRay]

I think Reinhardt is the best example for many people. No body care who Reinhardt was until they saw his power!

After Reinhardt though, I am not sure if there are any other cases for me personally. I write off all melee units unless they are Dancers/Singers or Laevatein. Even though I like Laegjarn as a character and I summoned 3 copies of her, she is still sitting on the bench at level 1.

[SSbardock84]

Tbh I don't think this ever happened with any unit for me.

[Vince777]

I'm more interested in collecting the shiny new characters than being competitive in a game with boring game modes that pander to paying players.

So I use f2p guides for all difficult modes and the fun is mostly to just summon and get something new.

I do invest a little time in trying to make my units at least decent in combat though with whatever builds f2p allows for but I only play the PvP content to collect the rewards, never to jump up a tier or anything.

So yeah, no MVP. Other than the f2p guide regulars, I guess.

Edited February 2, 2019 by Vince777

[Landmaster]

Plenty: Seigbert, Brave Ephraim, Black Knight, Hardin, Elincia, Brave Lyn~ All of them are a few off the top of my head that have become super useful for beating Quests (not Elincia as much as the others, but she did help with Xander's flying quest)~

 

It's not that I disliked them but I wasn't actively aiming for them, but they showed up~

 

Brave Ephraim and Lyn have to be the biggest success stories. If B!Ephraim had not pity broken me, IDK how I would have beat Abyssal Eirika or Abyssal Michalis without Lyn~

[property of nuvelle]

I've never felt strongly about Azura before but I use all three of the versions of her I have a ton (Young, New Year, PA). She's my go-to dancer basically and is S-supported with my three faves. Young is with Sakura, New Year with Catria, PA with Laslow.

[Arcphoenix]

1 hour ago, eclipse said:

You first.

Alright

 

I didn’t think I needed Michaiah

Spoiler

When I first saw her, I thought to myself about how unnecessary she was. I don’t quite remember who my target was around the time, but I didn’t really use effective weapons much. I always dealt with Lyn and Reinhardt using Cecillia. I was really, really disappointed when I pulled her and figured she’d be a redundant unit in my barracks. Nowadays, she has my summoner support and is one of my prime units. Apart from the obvious scoring differences between a mage calv and an infantry mage, she has (with DDx2 and a res boon) about 52 enemy phase resistance and one-shots many calvary and armored units and can bait most of the ranged ones (Thani’s additional reduction of damage from ranged calvs also really helps here). Her allies can handle the close ranged ones she can’t personally handle. She is also, in general, one of the best mage and staff unit counters in the game. I don’t remember who I was trying to get, but Michaiah has been a godsend and I never do PVP without her.

 

I didn’t think Sigurd offered anything worthwhile

Spoiler

Essentially the same story as Michaiah. Not a character I thought I needed, but when you actually use him, it’s amazing how good he is, especially with a summoner support. I don’t run him much anymore (a team’s only got room for one low BST unit after all), but during his time of use, he was great for fighting magic units as well as melee units because of his default skill set, great attack, serviceable speed, and well distributed stats. I don’t use him much anymore and don’t remember who I was trying to get, but I love that I got him. I use him whenever Calv quests come around

 

I felt there were better options than Legendary Ike for A Hero Rises

Spoiler

I never cared for “Gimmick Ike” at first and was hoping for someone a bit more unique and generally good for everyone (especially those without the character) like Hector (distant counter and a great armor pick at the time), Shiro (an amazing dual-phase unit with amazing stats and skills), or Winter Tharja (A rare mage armor that’s difficult to kill without range baiting or staves). Boy was I proven wrong as time went on. I don’t think I need to elaborate on how good he is. Legendary Ike has essentially become the Free-to-play champion as time has gone on. There’s a lot you can do with him. I’m glad Ike won. Hector has been powercreeped several times; I don’t use Shiro as much as I used to; and I got Winter Tharja later (she’s overrated in some regards)

 

I wanted Winter Tharja and Winter Robin, not Winter Chrom and Winter Lissa

Spoiler

I wanted Winter Robin and Winter Tharja. The former has armored march, and the latter is an amazing armored mage with close counter who had given me plenty of trouble in PVP. I got literally everyone else. It didn’t help that the two had the exact same typing. That said, both have an amazing stat distribution and default skills. Lissa has really high BST and can be worked into several builds. She fell out of use, but Chrom remains as one of the best armors in the game in my opinion. He has absurdly high attack and really amazing defense and resistance. His speed isn’t as great, but Wary Fighter and a Deflect magic seal make that a non-issue. Couple that with his Brazen Atk/Def. I use him in my Arena offense team to this day. I did get Winter Tharja later and Winter Robin. I’m definitely grateful for getting Winter Chrom. He’s more widely usable than Tharja (who’s only useful in enemy phase) by far. Seeing as I got all 4, I have no regrets anyway

 

I wanted Nailah, not Tibarn

Spoiler

Nailah has an amazing skillset, and her stat allocation isn’t that bad. If I was getting anyone off the beast banner, I wanted it to be her. I didn’t care for Tibarn’s powercreeping skills and OP gimmicks. I did pull him however, and he’s become terrifying with a heavy blade Galeforce build (although his tendency to one-shot some foes makes this ironically difficult sometimes). If he initiates combat with someone, they’re usually as good as dead if your foes are at full health, and he may just get a chance to take someone else out in the same turn or retreat as needed. This isn’t even considering his potential with teleporting dancers. I later pulled Leanne, and with the free Naesala, I’m now able to run a 3/4 beast 4/4 flier team. I wanted Nailah, and I still wish I’d gotten her (and had the hotsprings and legendary banner not come out, I’d still be trying for her), but Tibarn stands as a very solid unit in his own right. He’s satisfied my desire for a beast unit for now. If Nailah returns however, I’m going to summon until I get her.

 

I wanted Fortress Def/Res 3 fodder, not Legendary Tiki

Spoiler

I didn’t care for her when she first became a Legendary hero, and I didn’t care when she was on this Mythic banner. On the former, I only cared about getting Legendary Marth merges, and right now I only care about getting Fortress Def/Res fodder. Then she came along to break my pity rate. In terms of arena scoring, she’s the highest bst unit (iirc), and she’s a powerful unit regardless. She also fills the void I’ve had for a long time of a DC blue armor (I had been hoping I’d get a Brave Hector or Hardin some day or planned on just giving Effie DC) so thanks I guess?

I’m glad I got her, but I’ll definitely be disappointed in the orbs spent on this banner if I don’t pull one or more Kliffs or at least a few other units I can be satisfied with.

 

Edited February 2, 2019 by Arcphoenix

[Othin]

I've tended to latch onto whatever characters seem like they might have power, so I don't have many examples. But the character I did really underestimate was Cecilia.

I was initially really put off by her, thinking her stats looked bad. Then, when I was putting together my first cavalry team, I upgraded Xander, Camus, and Reinhardt as my first non-Askr upgrades, and begrudgingly upgraded Cecilia to round out the team with a green member. I quickly discovered how much of a monster she could be with TA, and she became one of my most-used units.

Throughout most of Book 2, I dialed back on cavalry as my armor and flier teams turned really strong. But I've returned to them with Aether Raids, and she's become one of my stars. To further improve her tanking, I switched my summoner support to her earlier today, and I plan on prioritizing her for dragonflowers. Also, she's my first planned non-arena merging project.

Palla had a similar story on my first flying team, I guess. But she didn't end up with that kind of staying power. Moral of the story is that Triangle Adept is a good skill? I should refine her weapon sometime.

[Emerson]

I'm not super big on Silas, but he became a big part of my Arena core (as much as a Cav could be, anyways) once I got a +9 one during my long pull session in an attempt to get as many Ophelias as I could (I got 6). He's super tanky, hits hard back, and his default weapons is amazing or Arena. He'll get +10 once I get a +Def one since that's my ideal.

Due to his nature as a Cav with Cav BST and no prfs, he'll definitely be phased out for me sooner or later, but for now, he's a real treat to have and will definitely still be used.

[Zeo]

I've got a few units like that. But the most prominent ones are probably.

Bridelia: I pulled on the original brides banner for Lyn, got Cordelia instead. Was so disappointed, then I pulled her a 2nd time and got really low since I didn't have any form of Lyn yet. Turns out both Cordelias were +ATK/-HP and she wound up being my most consistent heavy hitter and content clearer. To this day I bust her out when the content seems unbeatable. She never lets me down, truly a blessing in disguise.

PA!Inigo: He cockblocked me when I wanted PA!Azura who everyone seemed to be pulling. Never would I expect him to be my Matthew's #2. Those two are the most potent pair of units in my game to this day. Wouldn't trade in my PA!Inigo for a second. Especially since I got PA!Azura later on.

 

[Mackc2]

Helpful!Chrom pity broke me twice on his banner and both were +res -atk so I initially thought nothing of him, but I started using him more and more and he became my go to dragon counter, and cav for tactic teams 

Edited February 2, 2019 by Mackc2

[Stroud]

Est is a good example for me, I like Palla and Catria more. But after Est got a refine I saw one with perfect IV in my barracks. Since then I use her frequently for Flier emblem and her refine is just awesome. 

Elise is another case, while others have been in Veronica hype I still use Elise and have no Veronica. She is not my favorite character out of the Royals, but she has a solid position in my barracks and I spend one Genny on her.

Third one, ok its a character I still like, but I would not have pulled so much if it was the only one in the banner. Sonya.
She shared color with Deirdre and I had no Sonya, at the end Sonya had more merges than Deirdre. And I also got Lewyn on that banner, which was a sign for me.
Dark Excalibur itself is a mediocre tome, but with some support it is actually quite good. Still needs a good refine though.
And now she cleans Abyssal LHB,s. 

[bottlegnomes]

3 hours ago, XRay said:

I think Reinhardt is the best example for many people. No body care who Reinhardt was until they saw his power!

Yeah, that did him good. Personally, I was so happy when I found out he was in the game (still like his FE5 art a bit better), and even more happy when I saw how busted he was.

I have a ton actually.

Camilla: She's fine, but I never really had a huge urge to build her until I was putting together a flier team and wanted a decent mixed bulk unit. Needing a green, Cherche was out, so I went with Camilla. Her bulk surprised me and between QR and her axe, she's can handle herself quite well. Currently, she's at +8 waiting for two more to show up. Still wish I had a better A slot for her than Fury, but alas.

Laev: I wanted Hrid, I still want Hrid, heck I'd probably trade most of my Laevs for a Hrid, but I also wanted Ryoma more than her (got him). But I find myself using Laev way more. She's a surprisingly fun unit and can handle herself quite well. Makes quick work of Surtr too.

Fjorm: She didn't seem especially impress when she debuted, but between the nuisance that mages can be in AA, her B slot, and the QR seal, she's one of my go-to mage counters.

Christmas Chrom: I wanted Lissa and Tharja, sure Robin too, but ended up with only Chrom. But when I started to take AA more seriously, I realized how great mixed bulk WF units are. Just plop 'em and tank. Plus I got Lissa and Tharja and B!Hector fills all my blue armor needs, so it all worked out :D

Shigure: Wanted Brave Lucina and Simmer Corrin. Got Shigure and Corrin. Gave him QR and Bonfire and he's far and awaymy best blue physical tank.

Priscilla: Ended up with a 5* +spd Priscilla. Was never huge on her and wasn't looking for a healer!since my 4* Clarine worked just fine. For a while is still prioritized my Clarine since she didn't die to a stiff breeze, but when the refinery came out and staffs got their upgrade, I decided to give Pris a try again. She could heal real well and with the wrathful staff refinement, she was a surprisingly competent combatant.

@Arcphoenix Kinda interesting you came around on Ike. I actually feel the opposite. I'd already managed to get an Ike, so I didn't really care, but he seemed like a decent enough choice, but I swear I haven't touched him in like 6 months and haven't used him regularly in like 10. All the other candidates seem like they would've had more staying power, at least to me.

[DLNarshen]

Had to think about this one for a while.  Most of my pity breakers just wind up as fodder, or are built with mostly default kits + whatever common skills I have laying around to maybe see action every now and then in AA.  I suppose my best example would be my failure to get Lewyn on the recent Hero Fest banner. Instead I pulled a Hector, and for a while was at a loss of what to do with him. 

Enter Ares.  I had promoted a +Atk one a while back, but he had been sort of sitting on the backburner.  I liked him well enough and I knew he could be really strong, so no "surprises" there.  I decided to bite the bullet and give him the spare DC from Hector, and now he's skyrocketed to being one of my strongest units.  I had also decided he was going to be a new merge project.  I might have built him up eventually, but that Hector pity breaker really speed things along.  Lewyn will show up eventually, but in the meantime, I'm enjoying Ares.    

[indigoasis]

When I initially got my Ike, I was super stoked. He was +Atk -Spd, which I was absolutely fine with. I got another Ike a while after, so I went ahead and merged. I ended up giving him a brave sword kit, but then I kind of dropped him after a while, and he ended up sitting in my barracks until I needed him to just fill a team slot. I eventually pulled a New Years Hrid with bad IVs, so I was debating on who I should give his skills to. I thought that a Geishun+ kit paired with Heavy Blade would work really well on Ike, and it's been a ton of fun so far. The way Ike holds the Geishun+ also looks really cool. I gave him Atk Tactic, and now he's an Atk Buffer/Debuffer.

I initially summoned an Ephraim with bad IVs, so I didn't care too much about him. Then I pulled another one that was +Spd -Res, so I merged and gave him the Windsweep build that he was able to pull off when he got his weapon refine. I dropped him for a while after that, but then I was able to get Res Tactic 3 on him, so I paired that up with the Def Tactic seal. The I dropped him for a while again, but then I gave him the Wagasa+ and Chill Res 3, so now he's a Def/Res Buffer/Debuffer. I hope that I can get Odd Spd Wave on him so I can try the Windsweep build again....

Quick Spoiler for the next TT+, I think.

Spoiler

There's apparently going to be a Darting Blow 3 sacred seal, so if I can get double Darting Blow on Ephraim... 

I didn't care too much for Alfonse since I had better sword units, but now that he can wield the true power of Brazen Atk/Def 9, he shall become the strongest sword wielder in the game.

I liked Kliff, but didn't know what to do with him, so he was just kinda there. He had perfect IVs, but, again, I didn't know what to do with him. Then I got a New Years Fjorm with bad IVs, so she was just there in my barracks. Then the Even Def Wave 3 seal came out, and it just so happened that Fjorm has Even Res Wave 3, so now my Kliff has double Even Waves, which works extremely well with his defensive stats.

[Tree]

@indigocean

Spoiler

46 minutes ago, indigocean said:

There's apparently going to be a Darting Blow 3 sacred seal, so if I can get double Darting Blow on Ephraim... 

Does that do what I think it does?

[indigoasis]

26 minutes ago, Tree said:

Does that do what I think it does?

Spoiler

In the Windsweep build, the Pursuit skill built into Ephraim's refine cancels out Windsweep's effect that disables a unit's follow-up attacks, but still retains the main effect of Windsweep, which prevents the enemy from attacking. As long as Ephraim is able win the speed check, he more or less wins the round (unless he can't secure the kill).

That was probably an unnecessary explanation, but in short, yeah. It does what you think it does. It's fun as hell to pull off, too.

 

[Tree]

@indigocean I had two Alms and merged them because of the update... Well, I know where my next two copies of Alm could be going.

[Anacybele]

4 hours ago, Mackc2 said:

Helpful!Chrom pity broke me twice on his banner and both were +res -atk so I initially thought nothing of him, but I started using him more and more and he became my go to dragon counter, and cav for tactic teams 

Oh yeah, I forgot about him. I pulled him three times trying for male Morgan on their debut banner. I dislike Chrom, so I didn't like having him clogging my barracks when all I wanted was one freaking male Morgan. I did finally get him after that and with perfect IVs to boot (+Spd, -Def). But I thought Chrom might be useful on horse teams where I needed a dragon killer and he's been...well, helpful. lol

I still hate his cheesy ass "I'm being helpful!" line though. Like wtf is that and who thought it was a good idea. It just makes Chrom sound like a complete idiot. Or maybe a five year old being happy that he helped his mommy with a chore for the first time.

Edited February 3, 2019 by Anacybele

[Eden Agleam]

Not a 5 star pull, but normal Eirika. She was one of the first units I pulled at the beginning of the game, and I wasn't a big fan of her in SS. However, I had a Nino I really liked, so I reluctantly used Eirika alongside her as a really good buffer for her. Over time, she became really solid for me, and then her refine shot her up to A+ in my books. Furthermore, her art is stunning, her voice acting is nice, and overtime, I became to appreciate her story in SS. Now, she's my main girl, my main merge project (+9! Why won't you come home?), and has a boatload of premium skills in her kit. 

[KMT4ever]

1. Julia: Absolutely unquestionable. When I pulled her +Spd/-HP self from the first paralogue banner back in the bad old days of no free summon I was very much unimpressed, hunting for Eirika as I was. I actually figured I should compare her to Merric for the green-mage position. Completely pointless, as in the end Julia became my most-used, most reliable unit. Solid Res and Attack, dragon effectiveness, even competent Speed, she could handle just about anything not red. While everyone else was whinging about Quickened Pulse Reinhardt Julia was tanking Moonbows for breakfast. Divine Naga made her better, and now its refine has turned her into a monster. If Hero Merit wasn't capped she'd probably have ~8-9,000 by now.
2. Fjorm: She's been talked about before, but her all-around excellent skillset really did make her into an incredibly useful unit.
3. L!Ike: He was obviously a good unit when he came out, but when I combined him with B!Lucina he became an Aether-machine that has carried me through so many GHBs and BHBs. Regular Ike simply cannot compare.

[NSSKG151]

Elincia for me I guess. Never played the game she was from so I didn't really think much about her until she pitybroke me towards the end of 2017 when I was going for someone (though I don't remember exactly who I think it was H!Nowi maybe?) I decided to try and use her since her prf weapon was basically a better brave sword, she had the perfect nature (+Atk/-Def) and the only other sword fliers were Palla and Caeda and both of them were not really good at the time since neither of them had prf weapons yet. I am glad I have her now since even though Wing Sword Caeda is also fun to use I find myself still using Elincia more since I use a team of her, Cherche, Cordelia and NY!Azura to clear the majority of the game's challenges.

A!Tiki (another green haired lady) is another unit I didn't think much of until I decided to try build one myself since I heard from several people that she was an easy to build and merge tank. Though what's funny is that A!Tiki replaced her younger self in my core team (Y!Tiki was the first 5 star unit I got on day one and was used to clear early game content). She was the first unit I fully merged to +10 after IS made changes to breath weapons with refines and to this day she is probably still my favorite unit to use in Heroes. She is used in my Arena team plus I use her in dragon teams when my flier team can't clear certain challenges. She also help me take down L!Ryoma's Abyssal challenge which was the only Abyssal challenge I managed to beat so far without FTP guides.

And finally L'Arachel (yet another green haired lady) who I also didn't know because I haven't played the game she came from. Although unlike Elincia I was interested in L'Arachel since she seemed to have a personality similar to Owain (plus being voiced by Carrie Keranen is another plus) though I didn't try pulling for her in her debut banner because she was the obvious demote and I got her naturally later on as a 4 star unit. She is the star of my Cavalry Team B (which is usually her plus the rest of the cavalry units I have that are not Xander, Reinhardt, Cecilia and B!Lyn since they are Cavalry Team A) when I don't feel like using Reinhardt (I handed her a Blarblade and just watch her annihilate everything) though I mostly use her when grinding things like Forging Bonds and Tempest Trials.

[Mercakete]

6 hours ago, Anacybele said:

I still hate his cheesy ass "I'm being helpful!" line though. Like wtf is that and who thought it was a good idea. It just makes Chrom sound like a complete idiot. Or maybe a five year old being happy that he helped his mommy with a chore for the first time.

That line is the sole reason I want helpful Chrom. Sadly, I still don't have him. This is similar to the whole reason I wanted Summer Xander when he came out being his "I cannot swim!" line (though I didn't get him until L!Ike's debut banner and I wound up not really enjoying using him because I'm an EP player and Xander usually has low res.) I love collecting characters with silly lines. Chrom just sounds so annoyed and determined when he says it. XD Like, you could reasonably add a "darnit" at the end of it, or precede it with someone telling/asking him "You're not helpful at all. What are you even doing here?" Or, it could be a sort of on-the-fly pep talk he's giving himself, sort of like when you're working out and you say to yourself "come on, self; you can do it." What's less funny and more just kind of silly is one of his standard attack grunts, which sounds like it starts off as a normal battlefield shout, but then gets kind of wobbly, like he nearly falls off his horse. In some ways, I kind of like it since it could be that this Chrom is recently-promoted and still hasn't quite gotten his mounted combat skills down yet. Gives that little acclimation bit between base class and promoted class that we never get to see when a unit suddenly gets a mount/new mount (i.e., Griffon!Cherche or Wyvern!Tana.)

As for the topic... Hmm... I basically use one or two teams for everything... I guess, at the time, I wasn't expecting to use my Ninian as much as I do. I'm usually pretty intentional about who I use, though, and don't typically pull for strength so much as making characters I already like work. And, even then, most characters just get put on the bench since I tend to focus on only building a few at a time.