XRay

Unless a unit is a dedicated support unit, I would not bother increasing HP or Res at the cost of Atk/Spd just to trigger buffs/debuffs. For Illyana, I would go with +Atk/Spd rather than +Atk/Res if you plan to have her be a combat unit. Even without an Asset in Res, if she got Still Water in both slots, she is going to inflict debuffs on even the bulkiest tanks. Personally, I would just offload support entirely to a dedicated support unit and have her C slot run something like Atk/Spd Oath for more in-combat stats. Combat units need to prioritize in-combat stats over visible stats, since in-combat stats are what really matters for performance. The only exception I can think of are Blazing nukes who rely on the visible Atk stat for the out-of-combat Blazing hit.

Have not posted in a while since I got other stuff going on, but I still watch New Heroes videos and follow the meta a bit. Anyways, the Rearmed Hero is Plumeria: Rapturous Dream! She looks very pretty! Have not tried ecstasy yet, but I have tried dream nectar. Haha. Arcane Euphoria got Slaying, guaranteed follow-up, true damage, and damage reduction. To me, it feels like it is made for a Far Saver. Cloying Dream is pretty busted and packed. The Assistee gets visible buffs, Charge, and Penalty Doubler. Closest foe gets visible debuffs. Tier 4 Ploys are now super Ploys affecting three rows and columns centered on unit! Arvis and Saias got something fun to pair with their exclusive Weapons! Although they probably want to wait for a Spd/Def Ploy 3.

You can stack multiples of the same A skills to save money, and same for many Cs too that have in combat stats (Reins, Saves, Oaths, Alarm, etc.). Bs are a bit less stackable, since their effects do not stack (you do not need multiple Null Follow-Ups or Guards), but you can still stack Dodge skills. Many tier 4 Bs come with in combat stats and/or stackable effects (Null Follow-Up got stats and damage reduction mitigation, and Guard got stats and damage reduction), so while their primary effects do not stack, their secondary effects can still stack.

Or just update the game so every unit have three extra rows of skill slots like in Seer's Snare. Even if an exclusive skill is really good and is the equivalent of 2 inheritable skills, when every unit is a monster with an extra 12 skill slots, a unit with 1 or 2 exclusive skills essentially having 1 or 2 more skill slots is not that big of a deal. Even if they fuck up really badly and made an exclusive skill the equivalent of 3 or 4 skills, that is still kind of peanuts in the grand scheme of things. The most horrifying thing I can think of is Edelgard: Flame Emperor running 4 copies of Raging Storm II for 5 Galeforce triggers, which is not that bad. She is sacrificing three slots for more Galeforces, so that is three slots that does not boost her combat performance as well as other skills that her foes will have.

Lysithea: Tea Sweetner's Baked Treats got Canto, Slaying, inflict Sabotage on nearest foes, offensive Null Follow-Up, and neutralize Spd/Res buffs; and Mastermind got recoil damage and basically 80% Blade tome plus 80% Blizzard as extra damage. Sounds fun. Desperation 4 is cool. In addtion to a super lenient HP condition, there is also a Clash condition. Sigurd: Proper Pourer's Knightly Manner got Slaying, guaranteed follow-up, true damage, and Sweep against melee foes; Chivalric Aura got Time's Pulse 3, and Atk buff and extra movement after combat to unit and all allies. The buffs sound pretty fun. Ayra: Together in Tea's Teatime Edge got fun Canto, Slaying, true damage, and offensive Tempo; Supreme Astra got limited Time's Pulse 4. Harmonized skill buffs movement. Flow Desperation is basically Flow with Desperation 4. Coolio. Bold Fighter lets Edelgard: Adrestian Emperor Galeforce; she still cannot double Galeforce like the rest of her variants, but it is something. Daring Fighter-Bold FIghter combo lets Edelgard: Hedgemon Husk double and more reliably Galeforce, and I guess you can run Beast Follow-Up and Brash Assault too instead of Daring Fighter, but it will be less reliable. Arden and armors with Brave Weapons can be Edelgard: Sun Empresses-lite and Galeforce once, and Slaying and Arcane Weapons work too.

But those cannot pierce Hardy Fighter though, which is 50% or 75% damage reduction depending on the defensive Special, so they need to hit like some insane numbers.

But could not they all be stopped by just copious amounts of damage reduction? Even if they run Null Follow-Up, three stacks of Elimine is still 38% damage reduction on top of whatever the super tank/save tank has.

I still enjoyed the game mode when I quit. I can imagine Light being more difficult, but I do not think Astra was that bad, and I do not think they released anything since I quit that could make Astra a pain. On Astra Season, at least half the time, I brought a Save tank team and spammed Elimines, mostly for the damage reduction rather than False Start, and it was pretty easy. I would not have liked Embla if I continued playing, but she is a Dark Mythic, so Astra Season would have still been fine.

Freyr's Dream Horn got Slaying, guaranteed follow-up, and damage reduction; C skill Dream Deliverer neutralizes penalties on itself and allies at start of either phase, grants Resonance: Shields to unit and ally at start of turn, and has Guard in combat if allies are near. He is not bad and his effects suit defense teams well, but he is kind of bland. He is also an anima Mythic. Is he trying to run away from his sister or something? It should be able to counter False Start, at least on for Freyr's allies and assuming Freyr himself is not hit by it. I am not super sure it will counter False Start if it is inflicted on Freyr himself though, but I lean towards it can counter False Start.

Diamant's Fair-Fight Blade got Slaying, true damage, flat damage reduction, null damage reduction (on both sides), Null Follow-Up (on both sides), increases natural follow-up threshold by 20, cool down count -1 before combat on player phase, offensive tempo on enemy phase, and healing on Special trigger on enemy phase. I am not sure if excluding area-of-effect Specials applies to true damage and flat damage reduction, or just to flat damage reduction. He seems pretty unique, but does not seem great though. Citrinne's Tome of Luxuries got Slaying, double Quickened Pulse, guaranteed follow-up as status, grants unit's bonus statuses to allies (excluding movement+1 and Pathfinder), and true damage. Her most relevant effect would be passing on her bonuses to her allies. Alcryst's Arcane Darkbow got Slaying, neutralize penalties, Null Follow-Up, and Desperation, and his Get Behind Me! got Tempo. Seems like your typical nuke. Flash Sparrow looks nice. Eitr's Arcane Nihility got true damage and Null Follow-Up, and her Power of Nihility got charge +1 and healing on Special trigger. Seems like a Galeforcer. Beast Sense is cool.

Distant A/S Solo generally is not great on him, but it is nice to have in Pawns of Loki to deal more damage in case you have trouble getting a Far Saver. If you have no shortage of Player Phase A skills, might as well give him something a bit more rare. I would go for whichever skill is harder to get, so I lean towards Beast N Trace. Seems more likely Escape Route 4 will have better availability over time since any unit can have it. I cannot really imagine Beast N Trace being very common even in the future unless they decide to release a lot more beast units. I would go for S/D Rein Snap. It is harder to get, Say'ri: Righteous Bride does not come with anything else particularly valuable (Life and Death is pretty common and there is less demand for it compared to other A skills), and melee Galeforcers are like a dime a dozen. Unless you really need S/D Rein Snap or you are a big fan of Say'ri: Righteous Bride, I cannot imagine people pulling for her. Leila: Keen Lookout does not have much else either, but at least she is interesting and unique. Bernadetta: Late Hibernator got Remote Sparrow and Escape Route. Linde: Bound by Fate got Remote Sparrow, S/R Far Trace, and is a Harmonized Hero. So besides for Def/Res Smoke, these units got a lot more going for them in my opinion.

Maybe they have been feeding her Tharja's and/or others' boingy bits. Haha. That Atk/Spd Finish 4, Frostbite Mirror working against melee foes, and moving Distant Counter out of the A slot are probably from Corrin: Starry Seer. Spurn and thick thighs are from Malice. Time's Pulse 4, tier-4-ness in Spurn, and being a god sword are from Byleth: Vengeance Vessel. All those boingy Manuals let Fjorm inherit more than just skills I suppose.

Ivy: Tidal Breeze got Slaying, warping around a local Support Partner, Meister, and true damage on Divine Draught. True damage is only possible on player phase and is not particularly reliable due to the amount of conditions required. Meister effect got less requirements, but for practical purposes, is very positioning and team composition dependent, so not really usable either. She is not as bad as Nina, but she is still pretty bad. I do not think she is all that viable outside of Save tank and super tank teams. She will also work in a Galeforce team for Aether Raids following the lead who is also the Support Partner, but no point in running her when better nukes and Galeforcers exist. Fjorm: Seaside Thaw got Slaying, Null C-Disrupt against ranged foes, Guard, and flat damage reduction on Ice-Bound Brand. Frostbite Mirror is basically Ice Mirror with Distant Counter built in, as well as working against melee foes (albeit with less effectiveness). Ymir: Seasons of Life got Slaying, guaranteed follow-up, damage reduction, and after combat healing on Sparking Sun. She also got Miracle on Everliving Domain. Duo Skill is basically Odd Recovery. Soaring Guidance got local warping for allies and offensive half of Null Follow-Up, if they are infantry and fliers. Spurn 4 now also works with defensive Specials.

If Olivia ever gets an exclusive Weapon, I guess they can slap Hone Spd 4 on there and call it a day. If you upgrade her default Hone Atk 3 to 4, that is Atk/Spd+7, which is not bad, but not meta defining. I guess the Refine can be Sword Valor, so while it is useful, it does not really affect the competitive meta. Hell, if Hone Spd 4 is too much, I guess there is always Sword Exp, although it is a real shitty effect.

I have used Olivia in Arena since near the beginning all the way until I quit. It would definitely be nice if she can get some fun stuff, but I do not think she needs it. I also used a lot of Dancers/Singers in Arena Assault, but even when I tried to collect every single one of them, it took a really long time for me to have enough for that mode due to how slowly the game releases them. But yeah, I also think Dancers/Singers do not need Refines. Dance/Sing by itself is more than powerful enough as is. As far as premium Dancers/Singers go, the most important ones would be: 1. Dorothea: Twilit Harmony and Azura: Hatari Duet since they can Dance/Sing twice in one turn. 2. Ninian: Ice Dragon Oracle since she got Galeforce Dance. If we want to be generous: 3. Peony, Plumeria, Mirabilis, Triandra, and Azura: Vallite Songstress for scoring. Any future Harmonized Dancers/Singers. 4. Pseudo Dancers/Singers (Lucina: Glorious Archer, Tiki: Harmonized Hope, Marianne: Serene Adherent, etc.) to get around Dance/Sing restrictions. If a Dancer/Singer actually wants to be a cut above the rest mechanically, they need to provide more actions than a regular Dancer/Singer (ideally Dance/Sing a second time; Galeforce out of the way works too, just less ideal). Failing that, they need to be critical to a mode for one reason or another (usually via scoring purposes; alternatively, be bad enough at Dance/Sing because they are not actually Dancers/Singers, but can provide a similar function to get around restrictions).

I wonder what platform they will move to next if Twitter keeps falling apart to the point people stop using it. I think Heroes have a Facebook page, but I do not think it is as big as their Twitter one. I guess there is always YouTube if they ever decide to let viewers post comments.

Oh shoot! Completely forgot about them. I have not gotten very far in Blazing Blade, but I do not think they were playable until Heroes? I would say Naga, Ashunera (and her aspects), Anankos, and Sothis are divine, and like half the cast of Heroes belong in this category too. If I remember correctly, Fomortis can still be theoretically resurrected at the end of Sacred Stones since he is just trapped in a stone, not dead, so I would say he is divine too. I want to say Mila and Duma are divine too, but I cannot say for certain, since they died but do not seem to linger around like Sothis does, so I am leaning towards they might not be divine. Grima is on the way to divinity, but he died, so at best, he was on the level of Mila and Duma; he got worshippers, but I would not say he achieved godhood yet. On the other hand, I think Hel died, but she did not seem to linger around in any way, shape, or form either, and she is definitely a god, so I am not sure how to explain that; kind of ironic too that the goddess of death can die like a mortal. Tiki and Nagi feel like Seiros, Seteth, and Flayn. They do not seem powerful enough and they are pretty mortal. If I remember correctly though, I think in one of the Awakening DLCs Tiki did achieve godhood in order to defeat Grima? I have not played the new game yet, so I am not sure where Alear belongs. It is probably not the right term, but in my head cannon it is, and my head cannon will shoot anyone else's head canon that says otherwise. Ha! Oh yeah! Well, I guess that means Sacred Stones is technically the first one to introduce Laguz! They just were not playable yet until the next game. And Heroes is still the first game to have playable snake girls. Still waiting on playable horse girls. That is true in the real world. But in a fantasy world like Fire Emblem, true love exists and only lovers marry. Hardin and Nyna were just incompatible. Arvis and Deirdre got mental issues. Garon is a pervert. But outside of those exceptions, relationship equals marriage. Marriage is not exactly the right term, but when they play wedding music for Summoner Support reaching S, it is kind of what they are implying.

She got Slaying, effective damage against mages, true damage, flat damage reduction, Guard, and Null-Hexblade on Radiant Aureola. She also got after combat healing for her and her allies, and charge+1 on her exclusive C slot Bern's New Way. Null C-Disrupt 4 is not the most amazing thing, but it is pretty solid since it comes with damage reduction. I guess the time they allow us to refine Kitty Paddle will also be the time when they allow us to refine Poison Dagger and Brave Weapons. Arcane Weapons are nice, but it would also be nice if they let us do something with inheritable Weapons and old Refines. Being able to combine multiple inheritable Weapon effects with each other would be nice; I think four is a good number considering Arcane Weapons have the same amount, and they get all stat+5 on top. Staff unit with effective damage against mages sounds like an interesting idea. And more access to Holy Pressure would be nice if she comes with it.

Just had a thought. Manaketes have been with us since the start of the series, and Laguz has been with us since Path of Radiance. - I think Heroes is the first game to introduce elves/fairies, dwarves, and giants? - I think we are also the first game to have playable divinity? - I think we are the second game to have playable undead? I believe Cipher got Risen before we got Líf and Thrasir? - While not the first to introduce furries as a whole, I think we are the first to specifically introduce goat, cow, bat, and snake girls? - We are also the first game to introduce "divorce" and "remarriage" via Summoner Support? - I think we are the second game to have gay marriage? With Fates first and Three Houses third? - I think we are the first game to have "polyarmorous marriage" with different people at the same time (married in lore, Summoner Support, Ally Support)? Am I right on those assumptions?

Lunge Flow should also have Pass as an additional Tier 4 effect instead of the stat boost. So even if you cannot swap with a Save tank, there is a chance to hit their backline if it is not protected.

Outside of Save teams, is her Weapon's condition even tolerable anywhere else? Maybe super tank teams where she sits right behind the supertank? But that is only if there is no Lunger or something, and I remember them being common on Aether Raids defense.

Shez: Mercenary Shine got Canto, Meister, and true damage on Surfer's Spire, and basically effective damage against all units slower than her on Swift Slice. With Flow Guard and Sweep Sacred Seal (whenever that gets released), she can shut down slow bulky tanks pretty effectively. For now, maybe Sweep on B and Guard on Sacred Seal would be best. Shez: Mercenary Shade got Canto, Meister, and true damage on Surfer's Spade as above. With an open A slot, he can be a Counter-Vantage unit with Ruptured Sky, Distant A/S Solo, Vantage, and S/D Rein Snap, and Sacred Seal can be Atk/Spd Solo, Brazen Atk/Spd, or Fierce Breath. He can also be a regular nuke with Desperation and Dive Bomb. He is not as effective against bulky tanks without Swift Slice, so maybe Sturdy Impact, Flow Flight, and Guard Sacred Seal, although that is really reliant on the Def check. Alternatively, he can try to Sweep like Shez: Mercenary Shine above, but have Atk/Spd Clash on A. Ephraim: Sunshine Valiant got Slaying, extra movement, charge+1, and damage reduction on Seafoam Splitter, and Sunlight Bangle got Meister, in combat healing, and reverse Vantage. He is basically always an "enemy phase" unit, like how Counter-Vantage units are always "player phase" units. As an "enemy phase" unit, he can trigger stronger Specials more reliably due to being hit; on the other hand, I am not sure that is enough of a strength to offset the weakness of always getting hit. Shamir: Heartbeats United got Slaying, inflicts and splashes Panic and Discord on closest foes, offensive Tempo, and offensive Null Follow-Up. Duo inflicts Gravity in cardinal, and Feud in 5 by 5 cardinal. Tier 4 Lulls are alright, wish it was a bit stronger though. Instead of just plain inflicts, I think nullifying bonus effects would be better. If they must keep the plain inflicts, then I would remove the cap and double the infliction: 1/1 stat debuff per bonus effect is too weak, I think 3/3 per bonus effect would be better to actually make it feel punishing. Brash Assault 4 seems pretty good with two conditions to trigger: either at not full health, or if enemy is at fully health. Also got damage reduction and true damage based on damage reduced. Seems to go really well with Remote Sparrow; Surge Sparrow also works, but is a bit more difficult, but can help with sustain. We finally got Earthwind Balm.` Seaside Parasol inflicts Guard on closest foes and splashes Guard on Saviors; it also got relevant stat boosts and inflicts for a nuke.

Wait, if the point is to reduce the efficacy of Bonfire and Iceberg, would not it make more sense for nukes to debuff foes rather than buff themselves? And 1.5 damage feels negligible in my opinion. And we might as well slow the rise in power level of other Specials too, and tame Spd creep before it gets further out of hand. Vital Astra is as much about defense as well as offense, so losing a few points of damage in exchange for bulk makes it better balanced against stuff like Bonfire and Iceberg where it is all about damage. Conventions are meant to be broken! It is only a matter of time before they release an Edelgard with Galeforce on all her skill slots.

Yeah, but requiring one round of combat to set up Blazing Specials AND Wings of Mercy at the same time is not that bad.

Units with the lowest Atk! Definitely a pain in the ass during the actual event, but should not be too much of a problem if you have a level 1 lying around and just use your friends units to kill things.