ILikeKirbys

@Interdimensional Observer I quite like that Zelgius! Wasn't sure about the low SPD at first since Black Knight's SPD is actually pretty alright so that just seemed a bit much to me, but he does lose a point of SPD when he becomes Zelgius so I could see the downward trend continuing on future BK/Zelgius alts. General's Sword is pretty neat too, Beastbreaker would probably come in handy against folks like Naesala and the Herons (not so much Tibarn, since he has a double on his weapon and enough SPD to double naturally, or Nailah, who could run Null Follow-Up to get around it 'cause she's an Infantry unit) and the MOV buff seems too good but probably isn't (unless it also applies to Cavalry, in which case it is, because a Reinhardt who can hit people from 6 spaces away is just not right). Overall, I love it. ... I've got beasts bouncing around in my head at the moment, so here are all of the ones I thought of (sorry about the length of this post in advance): Lethe | Red Beast | Infantry Ranulf | Blue Beast | Infantry Lyre | Red Beast | Infantry Skrimir | Red Beast | Infantry Caineghis | Red Beast | Armored Giffca | Green Beast | Infantry Volug | Green Beast | Infantry Mordecai | Green Beast | Infantry Kyza | Red Beast | Infantry Muarim | Blue Beast | Infantry And I know he's not a beast, but: Tormod | Red Tome | Infantry [Tempest Trials+ Reward] Also, Dragon Laguz, who aren't Beasts but could work like them: Dheginsea | Green Dragon | Armored [Grand Hero Battle] Kurthnaga | Green Dragon | Infantry Ena | Red Dragon | Infantry Nasir | Colorless Dragon | Infantry Gareth | Red Dragon | Infantry

Summer Takumi, Myrrh and two Dancers made this GHB easy. Had a bit of a scare on Infernal when everyone charged straight down after Takumi shot Naesala down, but the only enemy left when I was done with the turn was the Brave Lance Cav who couldn’t go over the mountains to reach my Dancers or Takumi and thus suicided into Myrrh. Now I’m looking forward to training up Naesala, he looks like he’ll be rather neat and it’ll be nice to run him with the Leanne I pulled yesterday so he can benefit from Hone Beasts and a Dancer who can keep up with him.

@bottlegnomes Glad Volug works lore-wise (I meant the defensive slant there, and yeah, I only included Special Cooldown -1 for him ‘cause I figure that’ll be the Wolf-Prf stat boost like the Birds’ SPD +3, but I wouldn’t be unhappy if he got DEF +3 or RES +3 or something), and your suggestion of Close Guard 3 makes me think that Drive DEF/RES 2 on the weapon would probably make a better when-transformed effect than -5 damage on defensive Special activations. Also very happy that you like my ideas for what the Laguz weapons could look like! Though regarding the Lions, Giffca might need a different effect than Beast ATK Wave 3 on transformation since he isn’t the king or the prince, but I’m not sure what that could be. Maybe ATK/DEF Ploy 3 if he gets higher RES to differentiate from Skrimir (who I assume would get high ATK/SPD and low defenses) and Caineghis (who I assume would get monstrous ATK, high HP and respectable DEF in exchange for mediocre SPD and crap RES), or Chill DEF 3 if not?

And now you’re making me want Volug to come with a DEF/RES Owl-Drive effect to contrast Nailah’s ATK/SPD one, and a transformation that gives him -5 damage taken on defensive Special activations to contrast Nailah having +10 damage on offensive Special activations, and Special Cooldown -1 since that might just a Wolf Laguz thing. Not sure that can be justified in lore since I never actually played Radiant Dawn, but it’d make him quite different from Nailah. Don’t worry, I forgot too until recently when I reread a Let’s Play and saw Mordecai and Lethe were different classes. It’s possible that the Cat/Tiger/Lion Laguz groups could be more differentiated than the Hawks, Ravens, and Herons were, since IIRC all three of those unit types are fast, high-mobility Flying units, while IIRC Cats are generally weaker but faster, Tigers are sturdier but slower, and Lions are very strong while otherwise being Tiger-y (but for differentiation-in-Heroes purposes, Tigers could get generic weapons more specced toward defending while Lions could get generic weapons more focused on putting out maximum power). It might be possible to see Tigers in general get something like “Grants DEF +3. [Transformation requirement is listed, followed by a prf’s personal effect, if any]. When transformed, grants +2 ATK, and grants DEF/RES +4 when foe initiates combat.” to make them the more defensive Laguz while Cats in general could get “Grants SPD +3. [Transformation requirement is listed, followed by a prf’s personal effect, if any]. When transformed, unit can move one extra space. (That turn only. Does not stack.) When transformed, grants +2 SPD.” to make them the weaker but fastest Laguz, while Lions in general could get something like “Grants ATK +3. [Transformation requirement is listed, followed by a prf’s personal effect, if any]. When transformed, grants ATK +2, and grants ATK +6 to unit and adjacent Beast allies for 1 turn when HP = 100% at start of turn.” to make them the strongest Laguz. And then the Dragon Laguz could get Dragonstones with something like “Grants RES +3. When no human allies are adjacent at start of turn, unit transforms. [Prf effect goes here] When transformed, Damage is calculated using lower of foe’s DEF or RES. When transformed, grants ATK +2.” to make them different from the non-Laguz Dragons.

@bottlegnomes Do you mean Tigers? Because I would agree on Tigers getting more defense-oriented weapons, but Cats should get more glass-cannon/SPD-oriented weapons IMO.

So far I’ve burned through the Orbs I stockpiled for this banner (106 or so) and 1 Ticket And pulled +ATK/-SPD Leanne and +HP/-SPD Nailah. I’d be disappointed, but they already have good SPD so the drop doesn’t seem too bad for them (plus Leanne has a SPD +3 weapon... maybe I’ll set Nailah up with Darting Stance Seal and run them together so Nailah can benefit from Hone Beasts to reach 46 SPD). EDIT: Second ticket down, and I pull +ATK/-SPD Leo. Not sure if this is better or worse than +DEF/-SPD, but I’ll keep both for now.

Oh, right. I forgot about Desperation + Brash Assault. So Tailtiu + Sturdy Impact is workable. Now I just have to hope that I somehow luck into multiple Tibarns when the next banner drops so I can give his A Skill to her while also having a Tibarn to keep... Although it’s not like I especially need Sturdy Impact, Sturdy Blow 2 would probably be sufficient for what I’m thinking of trying here since she only needs to survive getting hit once. Thanks for the response.

Wouldn't that not work though, since enemies get to counterattack in between the first attack and the Brash Assault-provided second attack so Seliph would just die before reaching the second shot Brash Assault gives him? Also, regarding Tailtiu's new Wrath tome: Could Tailtiu run Sturdy Impact to safely initiate against physical DC/Bow/Dagger units to enter Wrath range, or is her HP/DEF too low for that to work?

Darting Blow 3. I'm really happy right now. Tailtiu finally got Wrath, Julia got just what she needed to get back into Dragonmurder plus Bracing Stance 2 to be better as a ranged tank if you still want her to do that, Deirdre got Dull Everything + permanent Null Adaptive Damage and RES-check-based All Stats +3, hell even Seliph got Miracle and ATK/DEF Bond 3 on his sword. Everyone got something that looks pretty cool today.

Dragon Laguz will probably just be regular dragons, since we already have a dragon unit type in-game. Actually, in a couple of months we're getting the first Binding Blade banner. We'll probably see more Tellius after that though. Or maybe in February, I dunno.

Huh, I hadn't noticed. Well, if he's gonna drop to 4-Star after this, I won't try as hard for him then! Thanks! Good news! Leanne is Colorless, so she doesn't share a color with Nailah!

Yep. And she's a Flying unit, just like her daughter. And an Axe unit, just like Surtr. I wonder if she'll be invincible... And she's our second Distant Counter unit that isn't Hector. It's nice that Hector finally learned to share... or that Nailah beat the secret of Distant Counter out of Hrid, either or. What makes you think Reyson will demote, exactly? Asking because I'm curious, and also hoping for this. Compared to Tibarn, yeah, most likely. But he'll probably still end up being, at worst, pretty alright. Hrid is the first non-Hector DC unit, unless I missed one somewhere. Which, admittedly, I probably did.

We've got a new banner! It contains beasts! And new skills that are neat! And a second Distant Counter unit that isn't Hector! It's in the spoiler! I'm sorry to say, I can't see anyone demoting from this banner (maybe Leanne? But probably not), they all look pretty good at worst. Naesala's gonna be the Grand Hero Battle starting on the 12th, so everyone's getting a free bird to play with. Also, Beast units transform based on whether they're next to any non-Beast/Dragon allies or not.

I would guess Naesala for GHB, personally. Although, having never gotten to play Radiant Dawn, is Naesala a boss in RD? Because if not, then yeah, Sephiran would be a good GHB.

I don’t see Ranulf going the way of Canas, though he probably will end up slower than an eventual Lethe. I’m hoping they end up something like this: Ranulf | 43 HP | 35 ATK | 35 SPD | 30 DEF | 20 RES Lethe | 37 HP | 31 ATK | 40 SPD | 25 DEF | 30 RES Where Ranulf ends up with significantly higher ATK, HP and DEF while still having good SPD with RES as his primary weak point, and Lethe gets super speed and okay RES in exchange for all other stats being below average.

@EricaofRenais I wouldn’t mind Ena either (maybe they can Karla her and make her busted even though IIRC she wasn’t in POR/RD), but she wouldn’t be the first non-loli dragon girl, since we have Awakening Tiki and both female Corrins (and Summer Awakening Tiki, if she counts). With you on Naesala though, I want him as a GHB but if he got in some other way I’d be fine with that too. @Anacybele I feel like Lethe will probably show up on a Path of Radiance beast banner though, RD has Ranulf if they want to put a cat on the banner. Speaking of Ranulf, I really opened he’s on this banner so he can possibly get demoted to 4/5-Star once it ends and we can have a beast in the 4-Star pool.

So, by this logic, could Shiro, Seigbert and Green Olwen be eligible for refinements on their weapons? Since their weapons only have one effect (unless two-stat Stance/Blow skills count as two effects? Not 100% sure on this one... also not sure if Odin's Grimoire being basically refineable Thunderhead makes refineable Thunderhead a possibility or not, but since you brought up refined Fensalir in regards to Divine Naga I figure I should ask). As for Tailtiu, she's either gonna get something + Wrath (I can't see her getting Wrath as the base effect for her weapon (though I wouldn't mind being wrong here), personally I'm hoping she gets Berserk Armads: The Tome since it'd probably be super great on her) or Slaying + Wo Dao since we don't have a tome for that yet (and she could probably make it work pretty well, even if it might not be as good as a Wrath weapon). Deirdre and Julia are definitely getting at least the Null Adaptive Damage part of Mystic Boost. They've got to, it's the most obvious buff for ranged units who are supposed to fight Dragons despite having low DEF and thus getting deleted on the counterattack due to adaptive damage.

Got lucky with the 4th New Year ticket, and pulled a +DEF/-SPD Leo. Finally pulled a good one, so I’m gonna keep him, even if I’m not gonna be building him up for a while.

Presumably because beaststone wouldn't work for Laguz units (unless I'm recalling Tellius wrong, they don't actually use a stone to transform, do they?), while beast damage can apply to Laguz and non-Laguz beasts. Not sure why they didn't just say "sword, lance, axe, dragonstone, or beast" though.

Damn Galeforce.

Radiant Dawn Tormod, who does have a better Defense growth than his Path of Radiance version (35 in RD vs 25 in POR), but I'm not sure if that makes it notably high (possibly among mages? Probably not when compared to all units though). Either way, it still looks like it'd be one of his weaker stats (along with HP), though I could be wrong.

I checked on the main site, and Tormod's growths actually have Luck and Defense as his lowest growths, with meh HP growth like you said. Still, I could see swapping Canas's SPD and RES, then siphoning a few points from both defenses to boost his SPD and ATK to make Tormod (so, Tormod could end up with something like 36 HP | 33 ATK | 37 SPD | 16 DEF | 28 RES). Could make a pretty alright unit with a good weapon and the right skills. And yeah, Legendary Azura is gonna be super annoying to deal with in the future. @DehNutCase Ah, I see your point (on everything except Special Spiral, that skill probably is good enough to justify running some Infantry units). Reinhardt+Hone Cavalry Cav+2 Dancers and Brave Bow Summer Takumi+Myrrh+2 Flying Dancers are my go-to solutions for most situations for a reason, after all, and that's at least somewhat due to the ease with which I can give buffs to the important units in these setups.

@DehNutCase Well, +1 MOV would effectively make Tormod a Cavalry mage with higher BST that can move through forests and ignores trenches and benefit from Infantry-exclusive (like Infantry Pulse/Rush/Flash and Null Follow-Up) and locked-away-from-Cavalry skills (like Flashing Blade and Special Spiral). Not sure if that would make him too good or not though, I suppose that would come down to his stats and whatever else his weapon comes with. And yeah, I'd love Celerity as a passive Skill (maybe C Slot, considering that's where Armor March is, though B could work too, really as long as it isn't A I'd be okay with it), though the fact that I don't want it on just anyone is why I wanted it on Tormod's weapon (though I wouldn't object if it were only available to, say, non-Cavalry Bow/Dagger units). I was gonna say it couldn't be a Prf skill, but we have Zelgius with his Warp Powder in the general pool and Arvis & Arden with their exclusive skills so Tormod could do that, and I wouldn't complain if he did (though I would like to get it as a non-Prf skill, but maybe Tormod can get a better version, like maybe the regular skill can \be Movement Boost 1/2/3 that just grants +1 MOV at turn start when at or above 100%/50%/greater-than-0 HP but Tormod gets Movement Boost 1/Movement Boost 2/Celerity and Celerity gives +1 MOV at turn start and also lets him move through forests for 1 MOV or prevents him from being affected by Gravity or something).

You've got Zihark's basic character more or less right (at least, I think so, haven't played Path of Radiance in a long time so I could be wrong). Though I feel like he would probably get a sword that buffs Beasts rather than a sword that debuffs non-Beasts, either would fit his character. This would be a good time to introduce Tormod too, since fighting for Laguz freedom was his thing in the Tellius games. Maybe he could come with a personal tome that gives him a movement-range buff under certain conditions to reference his Celerity skill?

Alright, I'll switch my lead to Legendary Ryoma! If you ever manage to pull him, Legendary Ryoma's default kit is very different from what mine runs, and IMO isn't that great (he has enough SPD to avoid getting doubled, but his RES is low and his DEF is decent but won't help when he's being arrowed so it's only really alright against Daggers). IMO Legendary Ryoma is better as a Player Phase unit than as whatever his default set wants him to be (though you only really need to throw him a new sword [Firesweep and Brave are both good options, Brave moreso if he's +SPD since he should be able to quad reliably after Hone Fliers; I gave mine Wo Dao 'cause it's red, but +20 damage on Special activations is pretty nice] and A Skill [Fury and Swift Sparrow would be my recommendations, the former if you want to do Wings of Mercy Dancerspam and the latter if you just want more Player Phase power/doubling]) and maybe the Special [I feel like Ryoma could run Galeforce pretty well, though I wouldn't know from experience or anything] and B Skill [I could see running Desperation over Bushido, but Bushido's extra damage can be nice too]). As for what you're giving, any of those would be fine, so go with whoever you wish.