Azuni

Feels pretty underwhelming to me personally, although maybe that's because in pvp modes I don't use bladetomes as much as I used to. Since it's on a 4 unit banner it's a very expensive fodder to pull for, so it won't become a common sight for quite some time. I can envision that it's main purpose will be to make some Abyssal pve units more obnoxious to kill, in the same manner as the random Dull Range/Close units, except neutering both bladetomes and Laev strategies due to their high bulk.

If this is the case I think it is, then falling below the tier which unlocks the 6th defense unit (t19? I forgot), then any player that challenges you until you exceed the threshold again will only see the first 5 units. So say on Day1, someone -80s you, and you fall back into 't18' then any following players that day will see 5 units. If it's something else and you're not in t19, that sounds more like a bug.

Not surprising, the majority of the T21 population are lazy/weak, it's no longer considered a tryhard tier like it was when there were less than 3k of us in there.

Pretty underwhelming set to me as well; Rodericks is simple but effective-looking, but I'd prefer Peri over him still, favoring the slaying effect so she can be hit back to become a WoM beacon. Raighs looks pretty good but he doesn't have the bst/spread to back it up. Funny how Matthew's prf refine got copied immediately by an inheritable dagger on this new summer banner, which means any dagger unit with a better spread can use the Blizzard effect more effectively.

Interesting that they extended the theme from possibly being FE7-only characters (due to Eliwood being the most recent Legend/Mythic banner hero) to all of Elibe. I'm honestly pretty surprised they kept up the pattern they've had since Yune, with the next big banner being associated to the last Legend/Mythic, since this was a seasonal and not a New Heroes banner. Ursula looks gorgeous, never thought I'd like a bikini art more than Camilla and Tanas. Unfortunately I gotta keep saving and not pull beyond the first circle, since nothing is overpowered enough to warrant pulling (Lyn is nice, but I rarely use fliers and I'm extremely wary of 4 unit banners after the narrow fiasco with Bride Fjorm).

Not sure about the threshold, but ~243k was around rank 300s. I presume the cutoff would be at least 220k if not into the 230k range. This was the first TT in a year or more that I bothered grabbing top1k, and I can also say its not worth it (about 200 more Lunatic5 autobattle runs than a safe top5k score would be).

It's a combination of the two, most of the time the underdog loses anyways, so it requires the favorites bonus hour to be at the correct time, with the correct hourly gain on both units for a miracle like this to occur. And of course, enough feather mercs to push the underdog hard on the hours that count. That said, it's always a pleasant surprise when the chosen underdog gains those victory feathers when waking up in the morning (even if they're negligible on the whole).

Yeah it's sad to see fewer joke teams, even though it's easier than ever now to switch to one (a few clicks to choose it in the Edit menus). I still do it on most days after I'm in immunity since it gives multiple benefits: -reduces stress for other people since losses don't hurt you in immunity -baits people into rematching you while you're in immunity, so they can't hit you when you're vulnerable -lets you potentially bank more early-season rematches to springboard off of on the final days

At least the rewards (the ones mentioned so far) are only extra Dragonflowers, so being punished for not pulling Yunes/a second Duma isn't a big deal.

Pretty rough looking LHB, took quite a few tries to get it down. That armorsmasher guy was obnoxious, so I ended up winning by putting Svalinn Shield A on Surtr and choking the left side of the map. Nanna's Physic+ healing and Panic+ to negate the bonus doubler effect on enemies were clutch.

^ Since this one has a Durandal, that makes me think his Brave version is even more likely to use a lance (Rex Hasta maybe?) since he can use lances when promoted. Or they just troll us and pull a Hector, giving him yet again a Armads Durandal, which I actually wouldn't mind if they finally make a damn version that has anti-dragon on it.

Spur/self-spur effects always stack, since they're in combat. (LMarth can already stack bonus doublers if he has his weapon+BD in his A slot). Super happy he finally gets his deserved Legendary alt, and with gorgeous art to boost. Sad that he still can't get anti-dragon without Naga support, but I love the opposite theme they gave his prf C compared to LRoys. Only worry is that they already used up Wada for this alt, so that means the CYL version might have inferior art. I'll pull all not-colorless orbs on first circle and get out, since Legendary banners are almost always unlucky for me. I need to learn restraint after plowing 2 months of orbs into narrowly pulling Bride Fjorm on her last day. edit: Eliwood is one of those weird cases where they could have put him in probably any element, since his affinity is Anima (nature, so wind/water/maybe even earth would work), while his sword is usually associated with Fire.

Super easy week (3802) with 4*+10 Draug, I guess he's not very popular compared to the other f2p armors for early point sticks, so his threshold-pushing power is quite weak. Apparently mid 3770s was safe, so that's a lot of breathing room compared to the Aversa weeks.

Consistently hitting the score caps on Barst and YTiki now that I figured out a decent comp yesterday. Gist of it is a Galeforce/TA3/Guard melee (Eliwood for Barst, Effie for YTiki), a Gravity+ troubadour with BoL, and 2 dancers. Still just dodging Kagero since colorless bosses take a lot more investment to hit the cap.

True, I guess I didn't think about it that way. Personally I view that kind of thin bikini with exposed butt as more revealing/lewd than a minor buttcrack (Tiki's was still wider at the bottom before the censor, so covered more butt overall), but I suppose the developers may not share that opinion.

That was my thought too, after seeing that leaked attacking art, holy moly that is well beyond what they had to cover up for Adult Tiki.

Surtr and Gunnthra would be my guess, although that sounds too comical to be true

Personally I'm ok with most of the current AR mechanics. 5v6 feels fair since the AI is predictable if you bother to learn it at all. It only noticeably increases the difficulty if your chosen team doesn't have the firepower/bulk/support skills required to breeze through the defense, and in that case AI manipulation becomes vital. Limiting the team variety of higher scoring players via forcing 1-2+ Mythics fielded is nice since otherwise most players would be able to fill those slots with unit combinations that can clear more defenses. Defense Wins would be much harder to come by unless you invested heavily into it with premium skills/units (especially if your attacker has Bride Fjorm). My main gripe lies with the Offense buildings. Most become useless if they're not in a cardinal direction from important enemy units, so I would prefer the ability to (before Turn1) either remove some entirely from the map for more back-line Smiting space (except the ladder/fort/bonus building), and/or allow their positions to be shuffled around like unit positions can be swapped. Other than that the only problem off the top of my head is having to do 15-16 matches per week feels a bit much, but that's more of a personal stress issue than a game-play issue.

Fallen Tiki spawning as one of the initial units spelled doom to my first try this week. Second try was a smooth perfect run though, no Tiki in sight. Another 4 weeks to go until I reach the 950 score mark (excluding Earth seasons in which case I can reach it already).

Upgraded D Fort to lv5 last night, so now I'm sitting at 5/5 while I wait for them to introduce lv6 Forts. Good start to the week, a defense Success despite the Abandoned Castle nerf, and 2 simple offense games for the day.

Below average batch I guess to me. Elincia (don't have her)- not a bad effect, but not meta-shakingly strong either Oscar- unfortunate that he lost the gem effect, but the interesting drive effects are appreciated (like Camilla's axe) Saizo- no real comment, doesn't look that great, would've been interesting if all the debuffs got added to his atk like Gunnthra's tome did. Kagero- underwhelming base effect, decent special refine to be annoying on defense only (like Seliph). Extremely disappointing that she lost anti-infantry effect. Won't be building her after all.

As expected, an Awakening banner to follow Naga's mythic banner. I like that they've started this trend of the Mythic/Legend hinting at the game/theme for the next New Heroes banners. Probably just going to free pull Reds with my tickets, since I still have to dump all orbs into trying for a Bride Fjorm.

An example is with the Dumas in the front, a Mage behind one of them, and a Rally Up Mage off to the side who can guidance in and nuke thanks to the 2 refreshers back there. Ophelia works best of course since she charges herself, and has high enough hp to IP the other mage on the team. Sure you could snipe a Duma (a good one of these defenses has the Dumas stacked with some drives to make this more difficult) and maybe things would fall apart. The more likely alternative is other things moving forward afterwards and then someone would fall to the rally up-dance due to extended range (with L!Azura as at least one of the refreshers). Keep in mind most high rankers don't or can't snipe things, as the main mode of winning is baiting with a mega tank backed by 2-3 Eirs/Nagas. I've seen a few variations of: Fell Breath/Luna/Svalinn/Bold or Wary/March or Upheaval/Filler seal

Even some of the other top rankers I hang out with use double Yune/Duma setups, so it's not limited to casual players (although most of them didn't invest more than a few merges in either). You'd be surprised how well Duma works, he gels perfectly with small-scale IP/pseudo-IP units that benefit from boosting attack (Ophelia, Lilina, etc). Outside of Witchy Wand/Pulse Smoke/Bride Fjorm support or specific strats like Galeforce, this kind of setup usually generates some kills. The aforementioned top rankers I know typically pick up 1-2 kills or better, which is a -20 def loss at worst. A full success is actually unfavorable since then you don't get a free rematch against a weaker opponent.

On the upside, the wall nerfs means it's more difficult for IP teams to safely hide their squishy units in the back. On the downside, it affects everyone else too, besides flier balls which didn't really care about walling off a section. But yeah it does feels like a subtle message 'go burn orbs for 2 Dumas/2 Yunes if you don't have incredibly deep pockets to invest the highest power skills on defense.