Fire Emblem Heroes Topic: You knew this was coming!

[Grefter]

Did another crate session for this banner and got Karel, Ninian and another (off banner) Tiki.

Define session here Eph.  Are we talking you threw down $20 and opened up some orbs are we talking this is a night long binge of throwing money after money at the game.

[Dark Holy Elf]

Random thoughts on the new characters now that we're getting more data on their stats:

-Ninian obviously is the third dancer. Like Olivia I'm not super-impressed by her combat (Azura has better pure combat due to what she does to reds) but Fortify Dragons could be neat on some teams for sure. I already have two other dragons on my periodic rotation (and a third sitting at 4* Level 1, granted Fae is likely the worst dragon) so the thought of going for a dragon-themed team is interesting. On most other teams, Hone Atk > Fortify Def, though of course Ninian is a free 5* over Olivia if you get her.

-Priscilla has 3 move and Rehabilitate, so is pretty much the new Best Healer at Actually Healing. Personally I find 3 move healers dramatically more useful than 2 move ones (evading combat is a big deal when you suck at it, and sometimes you really, really need 'em to reach a specific target so having one who can heal for more than 7 HP without having to set up Martyr.

-Karel seems like a crappier version of Lyn (no Spur Spd, lower stats generally) though +10 damage every time he activates his 2-charge limit is neat. He seems like he'll be crowded out by lots of other similar sword types.

-Life and Death means and 7 free damage after combat means Jaffar has better offence than most non-Kagero dagger users, though that's kind of a backhanded compliment.

-Lucius seems... well, set up to use Martyr well I guess (high HP for a healer, but low def), and has Pain to hurt the person you bait to set it up. That's kinda interesting, though I doubt it's actually much good.

-Rebecca is the most boring. Darting Blow makes her super-fast, but she has no limit and an attack stat which is either below average or shit depending on which of the posted numbers so far is her neutral. Not much else to say.

[metroid composite]

Gigantic developer update:

http://imgur.com/a/IONyU

Lots to unpack here, but the important bit that jumped out to me:

Arena scoring is going to be changed.  Now it will be a combination of...

1. Star rating, Level
2. bonuses from merges
3. Total base stats after removing effects from skills (including weapon skills)
4. Equipped skills

This fixes some problems, but leaves a few problems.  The good news: you don't need to equip Fury on literally all your characters if chasing a top score.  Characters with Brave Lances don't just artificially have 13 less BST.  And in fact, most characters that share a type have identical BST when stuff is unequipped; ex almost every 2-move melee unit when unequipped has 157 or 158 BST at 5 star.  This includes fliers, this includes dragons, this includes infantry.

That said, Dancers have like 150 BST with their weapon and skills unequipped.  1 move units have more BST when unequipped.  3 move units have less BST.  So...feeling obligated to use armored units when chasing score is still a thing.

[Shale]

Also there's going to be "defend for X turns" maps, maps with reinforcements and a new event with permadeath for the true FE experience. Unclear exactly how it'll work, but my presumption is that you'll take a team into 1-1 and anybody who dies in the map won't be available for 1-2. Rather than actually losing your 5* units forever because you forgot to check an enemy swordsman for Vantage.

[Meiousei]

I'm actually interested in the grand battles. I want to get them all but Llyod is interesting (aside from the fact an old friend loved the character back in my old EZboard days).

Still...no Ninian. Or any Blazing Sword banner character. How irritating.

[Captain K]

Three pulls on the current banner has yet to give me a banner character.  I did however pull an extra Julia, who promptly got fed to other Julia.  +1 hp and attack on my already best character?  Yes please.  I also taught her Bowbreaker to keep her from getting doubled by the omnipresent Takumis in the arena.

[Meiousei]

So, I stayed up a bit late to try out some of the inherit stuff. From what I undetstand, some characters you can get quick maxed abilities from (4* Lonqu for Vantage for example). I've been using my Corrins and Ursula for some testings so far. Female Corrin mostly due to her +Atk, -Res stats. So if you see some weird abilities on her, it's more so I can check out good combos for her.

Combos I'm starting out with for testing: New Moon / Luna, Vantage, Swordbreaker

[Laggy]

Yeah, so... I went and spent my remaining orbs (and bought some more) to grab some skill inheritance bait, under the rationale that pulling fodder 4* would be fine. I ended up pulling three 5* Catrias during this (in addition to the one I already have). I don't even know. All of them are -spd except for one which is +spd -res (thank god).

So I currently have a +3 Catria with the following decked out:

Weapon: Killer Lance+ (default)
Assist: Rally Attack
Special: Moonbow (4* Palla or Odin)
A: Speed +3 (4* Fir)
B: Vantage 3 (4* Lon'qu)
C: Hone Speed 3 (4* Eirika)

Once at 40 she'll be 41/43/41/30/23 with the merge bonuses (all +1 except HP is +2). Moonbow is on 1 charge. This is very fair.

Ironically her main job will be to orbit my Nino, whom I intend to slap Life & Death 3 on (thanks Jaffar!), Desperation 3, and Ardent Sacrifice so she can activate her own Desperation on turn 1. Linde can do the same thing with slightly better stats and blue instead of green but I don't have Linde. She literally will die if anyone looks funny at her but that's okay, most things will be eating 66x2 damage before they can counter (as long as they are below 41 speed), and any red WTD matchups will have to get past Catria. My main handicap is SP right now! I suppose this system certainly accomplishes making that a desirable resource.

Rounding this out is Olivia, whom I do not have a 5* version of but it doesn't really matter; all I am doing is tossing Wings of Mercy on her so that she can teleport to Nino at her convenience. Ideally I'd have a better IV version of her than neutral and give her a Ruby Sword(+) so she can bait and kill green units (between the three of them they have excellent color coverage) but that will have to wait. 4th slot is reserved for the bonus hero for the arena season.

This skill inheritance system is crazy by the way. I was convinced it was going to ruin all meta forever but I'm not quite so doom and gloom on it now, for all that it certainly feels like arena will be the quick and the dead (if you don't oneshot, Vantage is going to ruin your day, and Vantage+Close/Distant Counter combos are as obnoxious as they sound.) Fortunately Counter inheritance is limited by the Hector/Takumi supply. Vantage comes right off of 4* Lon'qu though so be prepared for that.

[Meiousei]

from what I'm seeing, Fury or Vantage is pretty much a given for some of the higher ups. I'm going to work on more defensive sets, so Vantage will only be if I'm offensive, and Swordbreaker for when I'm leaving up defensive. My theory is if I can have Swordbreaker up on a dragon, it won't save them but MAYBE might be more useful. Thinking of picking up Fury or something else since my A slot is empty atm.

[Shale]

I've got two 3* Lon'Qus lying around, so that's going to make for fun times. One will donate Vantage to Takumi, and the other probably to Minerva - she doesn't have a conflicting B skill and could be an even cannon-ier glass cannon with Glimmer.

[Lord Ephraim]

Catria is the single unit I have not pulled out of the 4* pool. At all.  It's a shame because I have Hinoka, Caeda and Cherche so I need one more good flexible flyer.

Putting Renewal (thanks sis!) on Chrom with Fury, he'll be a pretty huge tank.  Any strong slow unit will also prefer -breaker that matches their typing.  That useless Hawkeye is going straight into Kagero for Death Blow 3  OHKOing Tacomeme.

Odin and Hinata suddenly are strong 4* pulls.  Odin gives moonblow which probably the most flexible offensive skill due to its low cooldown.  Hinata has Fury of course.  4* Hana can give out Life and Death 2 don't have Jaffars.

[Grefter]

I was confused about Odin being a good pull for a second with how much others complained about him being frail as hell, but if you are in it to eat his soul that makes sense.

[Captain K]

I'd love to transfer the Close Counter from my attack-screwed Takumi... but all my other ranged characters are stat screwed also.  Except Julia and she doesn't really need it.  I went through my whole collection and man I have a lot of bad nature characters.

[Dark Holy Elf]

The next set of bonus heroes for the arena is gonna be the current FE7 banner's focus heroes + Ursula + Anna/Azama/Fir, so get one of those ready if you haven't yet. Next banner is gonna be Eliwood/Minerva/Selena/Gordin (unless they surprise us like they did with the princes/princesses banners), I'm leaning towards that one over the current one because no healers, I like Eliwood/Selena (and Eliwood is good for cavalry teams), and Minerva just looks plain cool.

I haven't even started putting together builds for skill inheritance; currently just working on raising four-person teams of each movement type so I can complete the high-end training tower quests.

[Hunter Sopko]

Threw Lon Qu's Vantage onto Sharena. Went fishing for some skill fodder in a banner pull, ended up drawing 5* Eldigan and 4* Henry, Bartre, and Setsuna. Not sure what to do.

Still need to consider the right Special for Sharena. Was actually considering Glacies, since my Fir is expendible and 80% of Sharena's RES > 30% of her ATK, but it does take an extra turn to proc.

[Laggy]

Moonbow for life. 2 charge is too good. Unless you have something very specific in mind that tends to trump everything else.

[Lord Ephraim]

Donnel has the highest BST for a normal infantry unit ignoring weapons and passive abilities.  True to himself he might be the ultimate project character.  He's just stuck with a Brave Lance with shitty speed and terrible skills.  We have the technology (and the orbs/feathers)!

+spd/-res
Silver Lance+
whatever assist
Moonblow

A: Fury 3
B: Lancebreaker 3
C: Threaten Def 3

43 HP
53 ATK
35 SPD
35 DEF
20 RES

You can substitute Silver Lance+ for Killer Lance+ for one charge moonblow.  I dunno, I like the Silver Lance+ because I wouldn't feel bad melting a Jagen for one.

[Shale]

On further reflection, I'm thinking Vantage on Lucina, and Minerva gets Wings of Mercy. That way she can hang back, away from death-by-Takumi, and then teleport into the fray when it's murder time.

[metroid composite]

Next banner is gonna be Eliwood/Minerva/Selena/Gordin (unless they surprise us like they did with the princes/princesses banners), I'm leaning towards that one over the current one because no healers, I like Eliwood/Selena (and Eliwood is good for cavalry teams), and Minerva just looks plain cool.

Minerva is probably the best pull on that banner (solid unit on her own.  Also for feeding a source of Life And Death 3, which I believe only exists on 5 star units).

Gordin is a potential project character; can put like Death Blow on him to go with the brave bow.  Can give him like...swordbreaker or something silly to guarantee 4x attacks.

Eliwood, sure, Cavalry bait.  He's a rare cavalry unit that's not like 23 speed natively, so that's nice.

Selena...mmm...haven't heard anyone talking about her.  She looks like an all-out tank, though (35 def 28 res 35 speed).  Bad damage, though, like 6 less attack than Ovelia--those stats need to come from somewhere.  Inheritance probably makes her viable when she wasn't before.  (Triangle Adept is not what you want on a tank unless the tank is named Robin--replace that obviously; could replace her armorslayer too potentially)

[Dark Holy Elf]

I already have Klein so Gordin doesn't really offer much; they have the same stats except that Klein has +8 speed in exchange for durability which is an obvious win (since 32 def doesn't stop Gordin being wrecked by literally everything doubling him), but yeah he's fine on paper. At worst he'd be a source of Vantage 3.

Donnel has the highest BST for a normal infantry unit ignoring weapons and passive abilities.  True to himself he might be the ultimate project character.  He's just stuck with a Brave Lance with shitty speed and terrible skills.  We have the technology (and the orbs/feathers)!

+spd/-res
Silver Lance+
whatever assist
Moonblow

A: Fury 3
B: Lancebreaker 3
C: Threaten Def 3

43 HP
53 ATK
35 SPD
35 DEF
20 RES

You can substitute Silver Lance+ for Killer Lance+ for one charge moonblow.  I dunno, I like the Silver Lance+ because I wouldn't feel bad melting a Jagen for one.

Those stats for Donnel don't look right. With +Spd/-Res and Silver+, he should have 50 ATK, 32 SPD, and 32 DEF (source: FEH Wiki, but Gamepress agrees too). His BST is high, but not THAT high. EDIT: Whoops, missed Fury, I r dum.

Also surely you can do better than Threaten Def for a C skill, unless you're supporting (or are) a brave user. I'm not terribly impressed by Threatens though, they only activate once someone has successfully baited one or more enemies and that's not always practical. Hone/Spur/Fortify feel more proactive/flexible to me.

[Laggy]

Things I would suggest you look at immediately for inheritance for any generic build (i.e. not Horse Emblem or whatever):


Assist: mobility (Swap/Reposition/Draw Back, possibly Pivot/Smite) or Rally Speed/Attack (+others if running a *blade mage). Swap feels easiest to use as default, off-hand (does not necessitate any terrain around the units involved to work.)

Special: Moonbow. Really hard to justify anything else as better due to 2 charge. Reprisal as another 2 charge option on a build you expect to build limit damage on, but only learnable from 4* Kagero or 5* Karel at the moment (and if you pull the latter, you better be transferring Wo Dao+ or you're crazy). Moonbow is even better if you're running a Killer weapon since 2->1 is huge and better than 3->2. If you want upfront damage, with the meta trending towards glass cannon units, one of the 3 charge supers that uses your own stat as a damage base is worth considering as well.

Luna and Vengeance, the 3 charge versions of these specials, are still perfectly respectable if the unit already has them of course (probably don't need to teach Moonbow to Lucina).

A: Probably the most flexible slot. Speed + as a generic option, preferably on chars with high speed already to solidify them. Darting Blow, Death Blow, Life & Death are all offense oriented options. Fury is interesting; even with it not factoring into BST it could work on some units, especially those with sustain (Falchion/Renewal). Distant/Close Counter are also here.
B: Vantage of course, to the dismay of many Lon'qus who have lost their souls since Thursday. But also some other interesting stuff worth taking a look: Wings of Mercy (armored and dancer units especially), *breaker skills, Desperation for more frue glass (stir with Ardent Sacrifice as a reliable way to activate it). The Seal series also lives here and while I don't respect stuff that activates out of combat that much, if you've got a unit with a lot of bulk Seal Spd is worth looking into.
C: Echoing NEB that Threaten isn't especially good, although it's fine on armored units by the nature of how they work. Hone/Spur are the usual suspects, but a surprise filler slot that can work is Renewal, especially with Fury as mentioned above (only 4* source right now is Fae, though).

[Dark Holy Elf]

I think Galeforce and the AoE moves, while slow, can be decisive if you have a unit you expect to get in a lot of hits. Too bad you can't have Brave effect and Killer effect on the same PC otherwise you could activate Galeforce in one turn (though if you take a counter and use all four hits that works). Moonbow is better as a general thing, agreed. And broadly speaking, specials which multiply damage (Glimmer/Astra) are worse that those which add damage (Moonbow/Luna/Draconic Aura/etc.), since the former doesn't help you much against the targets which you'll need the most help against.

Defiant Atk/Spd have their place in the A slot on characters with -blade tomes and/or Desperation to make their limits scarier.

[Pyro]

I have had tremendous success with an Atk+ Cordelia and Galeforce. With Olivia backing her up she'll have 50 buffed Atk with her Brave Lance. Let her bait an enemy she can survive, and you follow it up with 3 actions of 50 Atk Brave Lances to the face. The other two PCs can help too. I imagine Lyn below half HP is similarly monstrous.

I am trying to plan for some Inheritance. I want to give Wings of Mercy to Olivia. Life&Death (Although I don't like what that would do to her ability to tank a single hit from stuff) or Death Blow (which fits NICELY) for Cordelia along with some other stuff... was  thinking about AxeBreaker and Renewal. I have a 4* Reinhart I'd love to promote to 5* but his nature is Atk-, which sucks for Brave users.

Just got a 5* Karel who is -HP, +Spd. So yay for that. Followed it up with a 5* Peri, who is another cavalier at least.

Trying to firm up potential skill users but I also don't want to cut into my supply of 4 decent each of Swords/Lances/Axes and Cavs/Infantry/Flying. Difficult balance to worry about.

[Shale]

Rolled the dice on the Blazing Blade banner, no featured heroes but 5* Nowi (neutral nature) and 4* Raven (hello, Brave Axe fodder!). Not bad.

[Captain K]

What a difference one skill makes.  Bowbreaker on Julia let me pull off my first 0-death arena run.  4504 points.  Not sure if I'll crack top 10000 or not but it'll be close.  I'm getting at least 4500 feathers today.

Did my fourth pull on Blazing Banner, still zero banner units.  But I got a unit I wanted for my horsey project (Clarine) and also a 5-star Seliph.  Who apparently is some kind of limit fighter.  Guess he would be decent with Vantage and Defiant Attack, but that's a lot of skills to burn on something that might not work.