Ice Dragon

Added Murdock's weapon to the translation notes. It's a Tomahawk, and I'm annoyed that they didn't localize it as a Tomahawk because that's what it is. It's not Ross's Hatchet. It's also just a bit weird that we now have 2 prefixed Tomahawks with no unprefixed Tomahawk. Murdock would've been the most suitable unit to release it on since he was the first character in the main series to have one, but he still gets a prefixed one.

And now we get a third Hel outfit in 2 months, which catches them up to Embla and Muspell for the most outfits: Embla Gordin Dokkalfheimr Female Corrin Muspell Brave Roy Askr Innes Muspell Brave Lyn Ljosalfheimr Palla Ljosalfheimr Aversa Dokkalfheimr Cecilia Hel Surtr Nifl Ninian Hel Sigurd Hel Female Robin Still no Nidavellir or Jotunheimr outfits this year, and we're already halfway through. Vanaheimr outfits are also late. While it took 8 months after the start of the following book for the first Hel outfit to be released (due to Resplendent Heroes only being released at the end of Book III), it was only 9 months after the start of its own book for the first Ljosalfheimr outfit and only 2 months after the start of its own book for the first Nidavellir outfit. We're now 7 months into Vanaheim's book (counting from the next not-yet-announced outfit) with no outfits. (We're also now 12 months after Ymir's release, but I'm not actually expecting any outfits for Ymir.)

Posting the art here since it hasn't been posted yet: The art is very cute. It's a pity her stats are complete garbage. With maximum Dragonflowers and the Resplendent boosts, she has 47/36/36/36/29, and her weapon doesn't do anything for herself other than give her the Litrraven effect. Even if an Arcane green tome is released, there are better options, like Soren (38/38 offenses), Nino (38/41 without Resplendent boosts), Luthier (40/39), Ricken (44/40), and Bastian (45/29), just from the 4-star pool. The only way she'd actually have a niche is if the Arcane green tome does something based on Def, as she has 2 more Atk than Boey at a cost of only 1 less Def, but even then, she'll probably be outclassed by Gatekeeper after he gets his refine.

I don't think a month or two would really make a difference. Every single 4-star unit since Kiragi's release 7 months ago (including himself) have been competitive with premium units with the only real exception of Vanessa. Bastian might not be particularly amazing right now, but he's just waiting for an Arcane weapon. Sylvain would like an Arcane axe with a guaranteed follow-up, but he can at least make do with Seahorse Axe in the meantime. For reference, the 4-star units we've gotten since Kiragi are (stat comparisons done with maximum Dragonflowers): Winter Annette (solid Far Save tank, especially after the release of Arcane Nastrond) New Year Panne (Galeforce cavalry with Freyja's stats) Desert Byleth (Sublime Heaven with Ascended Ishtar's stats) Etie (same Atk as the bow Chroms, but with an actual Spd stat) Valentine Hana (ridiculously fast sword armor and one of the best options for a Savvy Fighter Near Save tank, especially after the release of Arcane Devourer) Bastian (better base stats than Arval, just waiting for an Arcane weapon with a guaranteed follow-up) Spring Ashe (fastest dagger flier, Atk second only to Ninja Igrene) Vanessa (better than the other 4-star lance fliers, but nothing special compared to 5-star units) Young Rebecca (fastest infantry bow; Atk second only to Etie, the bow Chroms, and now Dorothy; busted exclusive weapon) Sylvain (Basilio on a horse, just waiting for an Arcane weapon with a guaranteed follow-up) Bride Flavia (literally just Fallen Chrom without his exclusive Assist) Dorothy (Etie's Atk with Kiragi's Spd) The only thing that really makes Dorothy noticeable at all compared to the other insanely good 4-star units we've gotten is the fact that we've literally gotten 4 4-star bow infantry units since Kiragi (including Kiragi himself), and they've all been attempting to one-up the previous ones in some way, so the progressive increase in stats is actually noticeable.

That's still worse than par, though. Par for an AoE Special is at the start of the first turn. Par for Wings of Mercy is after the first round of combat. Meanwhile, you can activate a 4-cooldown Special and activate Wings of Mercy after the first round of combat by running a normal 4-cooldown Special, which is exactly par for that setup.

Heroes is in the part of its life cycle where it shouldn't require a large number of developers to keep the stream of content running. All of the heavy lifting should have already been done before release and in the year or so after release when all of the foundational mechanics were implemented. I would not be surprised if they only have 2-4 full-time employees' worth of developers working on this game now plus a handful of QA testers that can be shared with other projects, so it's very likely that art and voice work is actually a significant portion of the game's current development and operating costs.

No, because +5 Spd is +1.5 damage on Vital Astra, but -5 Spd to the opponent is +0 damage on Vital Astra. Offensive units prioritize doing more damage over taking less damage, which is why most of them get weapons that boost their own stats. Defensive units prioritize taking less damage over doing more damage, which is why most of them get weapons that reduce their opponent's stats. The inheritable skills in the passive skill slots follow their own conventions. A skills boost stats. B skills reduce the opponent's stats. C skills and exclusive skills do whatever they fuck they want.

Then that person had a bad idea and should feel bad. Not being able to use Blazing Wind on the first round of combat defeats the purpose of running Blazing Wind over a different Special. Her refine is better suited for running Dragon Fang or Astra instead. With the Slaying effect, Tempo effect, and Time's Pulse 3 in her C slot, she's guaranteed to land a 4-cooldown Special on her follow-up attack as long as the opponent can counterattack, and Special Spiral 3 and Time's Pulse 4 will fully charge the skill after combat. Alternatively, you can give up Time's Pulse for Atk/Spd Oath 4 and run Deadeye. And as long as you're being counterattacked, you can even give up Special Spiral for Null Follow-Up (or Phys. Null Follow) and still be able to consistently land Special activations. It's a waste of skill slots to run a bunch of Pulse effects just to make Blazing Wind usable when she has plenty of other options that don't require teammates to give up their skill slots.

This week's free Arena ticket gets me Elise: Other than that, the only notable pull I've gotten since my last post was a copy of Summer Noire from the Tharja-Ninian-Sanaki Bride banner. And I'm still procrastinating on pulling from the current Bride banner because I can.

Arcane Eclipse is really good on infantry since it enables you to run any of Blazing Wind (or any other AoE Special), Astra, or Dragon Fang on any red tome infantry unit, and you don't even need the Quickened Pulse Sacred Seal if you have a teammate with Infantry Pulse. Lilina and Sanaki are currently the two best infantry units for it, even if you don't have their Resplendent outfits. Henriette is also a good pick because even if she doesn't really get that much value out of the Quickened Pulse effect, getting a guaranteed follow-up on her weapon opens up her B slot to run Special Fighter 4, which is a massive upgrade over the other available options. Special Fighter 4's healing effect makes up for losing healing from her default weapon, and combining it with the Slaying effect from Arcane Eclipse, it allows her to land Armored Floe (or Armored Beacon) on every counterattack if the opponent doesn't have Guard or Tempo. Cavalry and fliers don't really have any real synergies with Arcane Eclipse, but the fact that it's the only inheritable red tome with the Slaying effect and that it grants +5 to all stats and a guaranteed follow-up is already more than enough to make it worth running over other inheritable options. Groom Robin is by far the best pick of the cavalry options due to his gigantic Atk stat. There's really no reason to give it to any other cavalry unit right now outside of favoritism (or if you have twice as many copies of Ophelia as units that want her weapon, like me). Fluffy Hat Julia is the best option out of the fliers, but she's probably the least impactful option on this list. The biggest downside of giving Arcane Eclipse to non-infantry units is the fact that you have fewer options for other skills to inherit with it, or at least the good options are harder to get a copy of for duplication. Cavalry and fliers generally want Remote Mirror (possibly Remote Sparrow later if we ever get any faster units without exclusive weapons, but for the time being, all of the options want Remote Mirror) and Def/Res Smoke, which at the very least are possible to get on Ophelia. Armors don't really have any good options that can be put on Ophelia other than Distant Def, which Henriette already has and is low in demand enough and not so rare that it needs duplication, so you're basically using Ophelia for just her weapon.

All inheritable B skills with stat changes are in-combat penalties on the opponent and not in-combat bonuses on the unit. I'm pretty sure the reason they continued making all inheritable B skills inflict penalties instead of bonuses even after the Lull series was to slightly curb the way that stat inflation was slowly making skills like Bonfire more and more powerful without any way to prevent it. It's very much worth noting that every point of stat inflation in Atk can be perfectly countered by a point of stat inflation in Def and Res with the single exception of skills that base their effects on the value of the stat itself instead of on the difference between stats. EDIT: Technically, you balance out those effects with inflation to HP, but HP is the one stat that doesn't get inflated with time in this game. Added Saul's epithet and weapon now that it has been officially announced. Incurable is the non-seasonal version of Desert Cheine's Serpentine Staff.

Tanya: Violdrake Bow Base effect is: Bow common effect If HP is 25% or higher at start of combat: Targets the lower of the opponent's Def or Res +4 to all stats in combat Additional damage equal to 10% of Spd, including AoE Specials Refine effect is: If opponent's HP is 75% or higher at start of combat or opponent has a Penalty: +4 to all stats in combat Penalty Doubler effect As expected, she got the Hexblade effect, +8 to all stats, and additional damage based on a percentage of her Spd. The one other effect ended up being Penalty Doubler. If the opponent has no stat penalties, Tanya falls 2 points of Spd and 8 points of Atk behind Young Rebecca. The additional damage based on her Spd comes out to 7-8 points of damage, but Rebecca has a flat +7 damage on her weapon already. Tanya is still usable, as Hexblade and Penalty Doubler can make up the difference in both Atk and Spd, but also has Time's Pulse 3 and damage reduction on the opponent's first attack that makes her a generally better unit, with the only real catch being that Tanya is much easier to obtain and merge. Igrene: Guardian's Bow Base effect is updated: Bow common effect Slaying effect With a Blow effect (new) or if unit's Spd is higher than the opponent's Spd − 7 at start of combat (previously if unit's Spd is higher than the opponent's Spd at start of combat or during combat): -5 Atk/Spd/Def to opponent in combat Reduces damage from opponent's first attack by 30% (new) Refine effect is: If HP is 25% or higher at start of combat: +4 to all stats in combat Additional damage equal to 10% of Spd, including AoE Specials The offensive half of Tempo Nullifies opponent's Spd/Def bonuses No Quickened Pulse effect effectively buries her already dead-on-arrival AoE Special build, and this is reinforced by the fact that she gets damage reduction on the opponent's first attack, which she isn't really in need of with an AoE Special build. Igrene ends up with the same Atk stat as Young Rebecca and only falls short by 1 point of Spd. Compared to Rebecca, Igrene gets Tempo and nullifies the opponent's Spd/Def bonuses in exchange for not having effective damage against beasts, additional damage reduction against beasts and mounted ranged units, and Time's Pulse 3. I think that's a pretty good trade. Definitely worth using if you're in need of an infantry bow. Valentine Rudolf: Thorn Lance Base effect is updated: Slaying effect If HP is 25% or higher at start of combat (new) or if unit's Atk is higher than opponent's Atk at start of combat: -6 Atk/Def to opponent in combat Follow-up prevention Reduces damage taken in combat by a percentage equal to 2× the difference in unit's Atk and opponent's Atk at start of combat, excluding AoE Specials, maximum 40% (new) Refine effect is: With a Stance condition or if opponent's HP is 75% or higher at start of combat: -5 Atk/Def to opponent in combat Increases Atk and reduces opponent's Atk in combat by 50% of the total stat bonuses on the unit with the highest total stat bonuses among the unit and allies within 2 spaces Recover 7 HP after combat No guaranteed follow-up. This effectively forces him to give up his default Special Fighter and run a skill that grants a guaranteed follow-up unless you're relying on one-hit kills. That said, Rudolf does have some tools for getting one-hit kills, as he gets a gigantic +23 effective Atk if either he or a nearby ally has +6 bonuses to all stats. However, he'll probably still want to swap his B skill for one that grants a guaranteed follow-up. Defensively, he gets the equivalent of +23 effective Def/Res with the same condition, and he also gets a variant of Dodge 1 / Dragon Wall 1 based on Atk at the start of combat (instead of Spd or Res in combat) that caps at 40% (instead of 20% like the tier-1 skills). And on top of that, he recovers 7 HP after combat, which can at least make up for some of the difference of not being able to run Special Fighter 4. He looks terrifying. The only problem is that there aren't really any good skills for him to run in the A slot to boost his visible Atk other than Solid Ground, but at the very least, that only really affects his percentage damage reduction effect. Brunnya: Fimbulvetr Base effect is updated: Permanent +3 Res If unit has a Penalty or if HP is 99% or lower at start of combat or if opponent's HP is 75% or higher at start of combat (last condition is new): Nullifies unit's stat penalties +4 to all stats in combat Refine effect is: If there is an ally within 3 spaces: +4 to all stats in combat Reduces opponent's Atk/Res in combat by 10 minus 2× the opponent's maximum Special cooldown, minimum 2, calculated as 2 if the opponent has no Special If unit's support partner is within 3 spaces: Guaranteed follow-up Needing a support partner on the team in order to activate her guaranteed follow-up is really annoying. The only change to her weapon's base effect is a new alternate condition to activate it. It makes her easier to work with than before, but she also just doesn't get much from her refine outside of just a lot of stats, totaling a maximum of +16/8/16/16 if the opponent has a Special with a maximum cooldown of 1. I'm not sure what to think about this one. On one hand, it's a lot of stats. On the other hand, it's just a lot of stats. Nagi: Ethereal Breath Base effect is updated: Effective damage against dragons Dragonstone common effect Slaying effect Reduces damage from AoE Specials by 80%, excluding Rokkr Specials Grants unit weapon-triangle advantage against colorless If HP is 25% or higher at start of combat: -5 Atk/Res to opponent in combat (new) Recover 7 HP per unit's attack (new) Refine effect is: With a Stance condition or if opponent's HP is 75% or higher at start of combat: -5 Atk/Res to opponent in combat Nullifies unit's Def/Res penalties Dragon Wall 3 Nagi gets Dragon Wall and the healing effect from Finish added to her weapon. For stats, she gets +10 Atk/Def/Res and nullifies penalties to her Def/Res. She doesn't get a guaranteed follow-up and no additional damage effect, so she'll probably want to swap out her default Special Fighter to run Vengeful Fighter 4 instead, which will still let her activate Armored Floe on her first counterattack. This does mean that she'll have to pick between Scowl and Stance, though, and can't have both unless she gets the Guard effect from an ally. Basically, she's an even bulkier version of Harmonized Tiki that can't run both Scowl and Stance (and has weapon-triangle disadvantage against Duo Chrom). Overall thoughts Rudolf looks terrifying, though he can be mostly shut down if you can inflict Panic on everything near him. Igrene looks good and is also worth actually using, though her build will need a full overhaul. Nagi is basically a discount version of Harmonized Tiki, but if you're in a situation where you don't need all of the A skills at the same time (and aren't against Duo Chrom), she'll probably actually do better than Tiki due to her higher stats. Tanya's refine is better than expected for a 4-star unit. As long as you can get the debuffs to keep Penalty Doubler active, she should be able to at least compete with more premium units of her class, especially if you don't have the others merged. If you're free-to-play, this is one is definitely worth consideration. Brunnya's is awkward. Giant stats is nice, but tying her guaranteed follow-up to positioning relative to a support partner is really inconvenient. I'm pretty sure you're not reading it right. Previously, Igrene's Spd needed to be 1 point higher than the opponent's (either at the start of combat or in combat) in order to activate the effect. Now, Igrene's Spd can be as much as 7 points lower than the opponent's Spd and still activate the effect, but it only checks at the start of combat (but also has a more lenient alternate condition).

And the usual translation notes: The banner name, "New Heroes & Mythic Heiðr", is "新英雄＆開花英雄＆ヘイズ" (shin eiyū & kaika eiyū & heizu), "New Heroes & Blooming Hero & Heiðr". As usual, the term for Ascended Heroes is "開花" (kaika), "blooming". Fir's epithet, "Swordmaiden", is "剣に生きる乙女" (ken ni ikiru otome), "Maiden Who Lives by the Sword". Vassal-Saint Steel is "剣姫と剣聖の秘刀" (kenki to kensei no hitō), "Secret Sword of the Sword Princess and Sword Saint". They'll literally call it anything other than a "sword". Phys. Null Follow is "理の見切り・追撃" (ri no mikiri: tsuigeki), "Physical Awareness: Follow-Up Attack". "理" (ri) means "reason" or "logic", but it's likely intended to be an abbreviation for "物理" (butsuri), "physical". "見切り・追撃" (mikiri: tsuigeki) is the name of the Null Follow-Up skill. Noah's epithet, "Mercenary Errant", is "流浪の傭兵騎士" (rurō no yōhei kishi), "Wandering Mercenary Knight". Ilian Merc Lance is "イリア傭兵騎士の槍" (iria yōhei kishi no yari), "Ilian Mercenary Knight's Lance". Spd/Def Alarm is "速さ守備の奮進" (hayasa shubi no funshin), "Spd/Def Rousing Advance". Dorothy's epithet, "Devoted Archer", is "心美しき弓使い" (kokoro-utsukushiki yumi tsukai), "Archer With a Beautiful Heart". Defier's Bow is "守備逆用の弓" (shubi gyakuyō no yumi), "Def-Exploit Bow". Heiðr's epithet, "Innocent Goddess", is "無垢の女神" (muku no megami), "Innocent Goddess". Heiðr is "ヘイズ" (heizu), "Heiðr". Gold Serpent is "黄金の蛇" (ōgon no hebi), "Golden Serpent". Mag. Null Follow is "魔の見切り・追撃" (ma no mikiri: tsuigeki), "Magical Awareness: Follow-Up Attack". Saul's epithet, "Loving Shepherd", is "野にある聖者" (no ni aru seija), "Saint in the Wild". Incurable is "インキュアブル" (inkyuaburu), "Incurable". This is a transcription of the English word into Japanese, but is done a bit inaccurately as "in-" + "cure" + "-ble" instead of "-able". The transcription continues to render the "r" in "cure" as if it were a syllable-final consonant when it should actually be a syllable-initial consonant after affixing "-able". Murdock's epithet, "Loyal General", is "ベルン三竜将筆頭" (berun sanryūshō hittō), "Leader of Bern's Three Dragon Generals". Wyvern Hatchet is "竜将トマホーク" (ryūshō tomahōku), "Dragon General Tomahawk".

Ascended Fir looks to basically be a better version of Ascended Mareeta and is probably intended to actually stand a chance at having enough Spd to block Fallen Byleth's Vantage effect. Noah exists. He gets one of the Alarm skills that no one will ever use, but needs to exist just to complete all of the stat combinations. Flow Guard is nice to finally have in the standard pool, though it doesn't matter to me since I have way too many copies of Thorr. Dorothy also exists. On top of not getting an exclusive weapon due to being the demote, she's unfortunately also likely to not get stats that can match Young Rebecca's. Heidr adds Remote Sparrow to the Legendary/Mythic pool, which is nice. Not quite a good as adding it to the standard pool, but having predictable reruns is still a good thing. She also has Galeforce on her exclusive Rally skill and is basically a Rally version of Legendary Eliwood. Seems interesting, even if she doesn't really fit my play style for Aether Raids. The new tier-4 Null Follow-Up skills are interesting, but not exactly game-changing. Null Follow-Up is significantly more common than Tempo on weapons, so they probably won't be in too high of demand. Saul exists. I sure as hell hope that Murdock actually has his signature Tomahawk.

Yeah, weapon name literally (as literally as possible) translates as "White-Silver Sword", but the word here that means "white silver" is one that can be used poetically to refer to snow. The coincidence is a bit too uncanny to ignore. If you aren't restricted by resources, you want something like this: Lumera [+Spd] Monarch Blade [Assist] Ruptured Sky / Vital Astra Atk/Spd Finish 4 / Surge Sparrow / Distant A/S Solo / Atk/Spd Hexblade [Tier-4 Dodge skill] / Velocity 3 / Spd/Def Tempo 3 Atk/Spd Oath 4 [Any Sacred Seal that boosts Atk/Spd] If you're prioritizing score, you should run a tier-4 Dodge skill in the B slot. If you're running Reposition instead of a 400-SP Assist skill, you can run a 240-SP B skill without any additional penalty to your score if you can afford losing the Phantom Spd effect to match opponents with the tier-4 Dodge skills. Alear's Spd Smoke 4 is okay for the C slot for general use, but because it doesn't affect the first round of combat on each turn, it's generally less useful in the Arena where usually either you're baiting out one unit at a time or the AI will Rally up one unit and send them at you solo. Atk Smoke and Spd Smoke are more useful in game modes where you can park your unit in front of the opponent and tank multiple rounds of combat in a single turn. On the other hand, Def/Res Smoke is potentially optimal in the Arena if you're running a hyper-offensive team since Pathfinder benefits your teammates' mobility. Not being Resplendent won't change the build at all. Eirika didn't really have the option of cutting corners on Spd with her Resplendent boost, so she's still in the same boat without them. Arcane Devourer + 300-SP B skill is 10 more SP than Sieglinde + 240-SP B skill, which won't make a difference if you're already running 300-SP skills in the A and C slots. Running Sieglinde + 300-SP B skill is one bucket higher than either of the above options if you're running a 400-SP Assist skill, but is in the same bucket if you're running Reposition.