"Ask Fire Emblem Heroes Questions and Get Them Answered Here" Thread

[DehNutCase]

5 minutes ago, Rafiel's Aria said:

Hana definitely needs protection. Playing with glass canons means having to manipulate your positions with assist skills. But I think it's a lot of fun. Both Nino and Linde are glass canons and they're SUPER powerhouses. But glass canons don't work with everyone's play style. 

A infantry melee glass cannon is a lot harder to use than a mage cannon---even glass cannon mages have the res to take a magical counter, whereas infantry often can't even take a single melee hit (coming from, for example, a killer weapon user with bonfire if you're using a brave weapon---Silver Sword Hana doesn't exist, because Lucina does). This is in addition to the fact melees have less range, and need to move back more (unless you use the B-slot for Hit & Run or Drag Back) to stay safe.

I use Cordelia, but she's flying, so you can maneuver through mountain/river chokes to pick people off.

[Moezao]

10 minutes ago, SatsumaFSoysoy said:

Celica is actually pretty good as a standalone offensive mage. It's just preferable to have two Blues than two Reds, but if you do get her she's better out of the box than Robin without inheritance.

Triangle Adept will fix Robin's performance against Red Mages. Hector should be able to deal with Effie, shouldn't he?

Hector should, but he almost always has taken some damage before facing Effie. The results aren't pretty. Last time around Effie took all 4 down by herself. Traumatizing lol.

I'll snap a WTA 2 on Robin and check how it goes

[Rafiel's Aria]

1 minute ago, DehNutCase said:

A infantry melee glass cannon is a lot harder to use than a mage cannon---even glass cannon mages have the res to take a magical counter, whereas infantry often can't even take a single melee hit (coming from, for example, a killer weapon user with bonfire if you're using a brave weapon---Silver Sword Hana doesn't exist, because Lucina does). This is in addition to the fact melees have less range, and need to move back more (unless you use the B-slot for Hit & Run or Drag Back) to stay safe.

I use Cordelia, but she's flying, so you can maneuver through mountain/river chokes to pick people off.

When I was playing with Hana, I usually had her alongside either a dancer or a tanky character that had Swap. I'd send her into battle to fight off someone (usually a mage), and then Swap Michalis  or M. Robin in to tank some blows. And next round, she'd buff them. With Armorslayer and some buffs, she basically handled Hector for me. I had to be more selective with her match-ups, and while she wasn't as fabulous as a mage canon, she could still take a hit if she needed to. She also served as a buff bot for Nino with Rally ATK and Hone SPD. 

I definitely prefer blade mages to Hana simply because there's less playing with fire, but she definitely has a lot of value, especially with a Brave Sword+. 

[DehNutCase]

Just now, Rafiel's Aria said:

When I was playing with Hana, I usually had her alongside either a dancer or a tanky character that had Swap. I'd send her into battle to fight off someone (usually a mage), and then Swap Michalis  or M. Robin in to tank some blows. And next round, she'd buff them. With Armorslayer and some buffs, she basically handled Hector for me. I had to be more selective with her match-ups, and while she wasn't as fabulous as a mage canon, she could still take a hit if she needed to. She also served as a buff bot for Nino with Rally ATK and Hone SPD. 

I definitely prefer blade mages to Hana simply because there's less playing with fire, but she definitely has a lot of value, especially with a Brave Sword+. 

I don't have tanky characters in my lineup unless it's the bonus unit, so just using swap isn't an option. (My box was heavily favored towards an all out offense lineup.) My team has pretty heavy positioning requirements because of that, since no one can lure, and no one can tank. Klein would be a great mage lure with his decent res... if he wasn't -Spd and therefore doubled to death by everything. Alfonse tries---bonus for the week---but having Selena's defense isn't good enough if you don't have Selena's speed to go with it.

[Rafiel's Aria]

1 minute ago, DehNutCase said:

I don't have tanky characters in my lineup unless it's the bonus unit, so just using swap isn't an option. (My box was heavily favored towards an all out offense lineup.) My team has pretty heavy positioning requirements because of that, since no one can lure, and no one can tank. Klein would be a great mage lure with his decent res... if he wasn't -Spd and therefore doubled to death by everything. Alfonse tries---bonus for the week---but having Selena's defense isn't good enough if you don't have Selena's speed to go with it.

I tend to run at least one kind of tanky character just to be safe. I love the all mage team, but I make too many mistakes to make it work. This week, it's Xander who just sits on those defensive tiles. Takumi does nothing to him which gives me time to arrange my units. 

[Zapp Branniglenn]

16 hours ago, DehNutCase said:

You have best Cordelia, and Cordelia also happens to be the best offensive lancer in the game at the moment. Virion suffers from heavy competition from the TKJ trio, all of whom perform better. (He's around Setsuna's level.) Also, even slow units want -hp, -def, or -res over -spd, because not being doubled by literally everything does matter. (And a minus to defense stats is the easiest to patch if necessary, via a hp seal.) Sophia and Wary Fighter users are probably the only units who want -Spd as a bane. (Even Reinhardt has a +Atk/-Res Bladetome, L&D build that murders everyone except T-Adept greens with ~30 res.)

Thanks for the tips, I'll be more wary of SPD banes in the future. Glad to hear about Cordelia. The other 4 star I raised for fun is a -Atk so I never noticed her potential.

9 hours ago, eclipse said:

That Adult Tiki is about as good as she will be - 23 base Speed is one of the lowest in the game, so she doesn't mind the bane.  Quick Riposte will allow her to double anyway.

Yeah see I'm not so sure now. She's like a magic dealing Xander but with less power and more res. There's no manaketes she'll want to fight, or mages she wants to get blasted by, so maybe that Res is more useless than the Spd. I think I should go for a +Def/-Res instead to reduce the damage she takes from bows and swordies. 

[fatboyjam]

I'm considering merging and +1'ing a Spd+/Def Nowi into my Spd+/Res Nowi.

I searched but couldn't find, in what order are stats increased as you +1 a unit? (e.g. the two highest, two lowest)? I'd like to know which two stats will increase to decide if merging is better than giving her Lightning Breath to someone else.

[LordFrigid]

3 minutes ago, fatboyjam said:

I'm considering merging and +1'ing a Spd+/Def Nowi into my Spd+/Res Nowi.

I searched but couldn't find, in what order are stats increased as you +1 a unit? (e.g. the two highest, two lowest)? I'd like to know which two stats will increase to decide if merging is better than giving her Lightning Breath to someone else.

Sounds like you want this.

+Spd/-Res Nowi would get HP and Atk at +1.

[fatboyjam]

3 minutes ago, LordFrigid said:

Sounds like you want this.

+Spd/-Res Nowi would get HP and Atk at +1.

That's exactly what I was searching for, thanks! Tough call, attack would be nice but I may hold off to see if I draw a TikiY or Fae. 

[Ice Dragon]

49 minutes ago, fatboyjam said:

I'm considering merging and +1'ing a Spd+/Def Nowi into my Spd+/Res Nowi.

I searched but couldn't find, in what order are stats increased as you +1 a unit? (e.g. the two highest, two lowest)? I'd like to know which two stats will increase to decide if merging is better than giving her Lightning Breath to someone else.

You can also preview it in-game. On the screen where it shows you how much SP you'll gain, you can tap on the "result" side character icon, and it'll show the final stats in the header bar. You can also tap and hold on the character icon to open up then entire status screen.

[Thienphu]

Hi what is the best boon/bane for brave bow+ takumi and which skill set is the best for it?

[fatboyjam]

16 minutes ago, Ice Dragon said:

You can also preview it in-game. On the screen where it shows you how much SP you'll gain, you can tap on the "result" side character icon, and it'll show the final stats in the header bar. You can also tap and hold on the character icon to open up then entire status screen.

Nice, I figured there might be something like that since you can preview promotions without confirming. I didn't want to assume there would be and get surprised that they just merged.

[Arcanite]

12 minutes ago, Thienphu said:

Hi what is the best boon/bane for brave bow+ takumi and which skill set is the best for it?

+Atk -Res is THE BEST

Skill set wise, you'd want Death Blow or if you have +Spd you can also use Life and Death. The special trigger seems like it'd appreciate Luna the most too, since Takumi's defenses aren't that high for Bonfire or iceberg. Assist likes reposition or draw back (those are good on anyone really), or maybe even pivot to help him escape. B skill could be a breaker. C would like a hone skill, or savage blow as well.

[That_Tj]

Without paying any real world money, how long are the chapters of the main story?  

[Zapp Branniglenn]

47 minutes ago, That_Tj said:

Without paying any real world money, how long are the chapters of the main story?  

5 maps each, with slightly increasing stamina cost as you progress. You can restore stamina over time or with potions which are one of the items you'll get as daily login bonuses throughout the week. You can use an orb in place of a potion too, and playing the story chapters awards you one for each map. Even if you speed ran the game, you wouldn't have to pay money to see all the story maps.

[StarBit8]

Is it worth sacrificing a +Def -Spd 5* Cordelia for Brave Lance+ on 5* Effie? I don't ever use Cordelia, and Effie is on my main team, but kind've unsure because Cordelia was my first 5* and maybe she still has some use with that IV.

[Ice Dragon]

4 minutes ago, StarBit8 said:

Is it worth sacrificing a +Def -Spd 5* Cordelia for Brave Lance+ on 5* Effie? I don't ever use Cordelia, and Effie is on my main team, but kind've unsure because Cordelia was my first 5* and maybe she still has some use with that IV.

[+Def, -Spd] Cordelia has almost identical stats as neutral Hinoka. Take that as you will.

For Effie, if you find you're using her to initiate attack against new opponents on player phase a lot, she will benefit from Brave Lance+. If you're relying on her to counterattack (and using player phase to finish off a wounded enemy), her default Silver Lance+ is better for that.

[bethany81707]

3 hours ago, Ice Dragon said:

[+Def, -Spd] Cordelia has almost identical stats as neutral Hinoka. Take that as you will.

For Effie, if you find you're using her to initiate attack against new opponents on player phase a lot, she will benefit from Brave Lance+. If you're relying on her to counterattack (and using player phase to finish off a wounded enemy), her default Silver Lance+ is better for that.

To simplify: if you're using her as the slowest offensive unit ever, Brave Lance. If you're letting the enemy come to you, Silver Lance.

Also: if you're using Armour Emblem in some form, I'd lean towards Brave Lance because all of your units are now being approached.

[Zeo]

Ok, Let's get started here... It's only 2 questions but quite a bit of text so answer if you can.

1. I'm about to come into 22k feathers, which means one 4* and one *5. Who Should I 4 and 5 star? I'm going to make 3 sections for those who care to see what my primary candidates are for each.

Primary Candidates (4* to 5*)

Spoiler

1. Marth: I have 3 of him (+ATK/-DEF | +SPD/-RES | +DEF - SPD). Lucina is superior, Ike is superior, Ryoma is superior and I prefer Lyn, however I have none of those and currently my only 5* Swordie is Cain. I don't know when I'll come into possession of a good *5 sword unit and currently there's one of various natures sitting here waiting to be *5'ed if I wish it. He's a good unit, I know that, I just don't want to upgrade him only for him to be make COMPLETELY obsolete when any of the above units pop up or Lyn pops into my hands and I likely never use him again. Plus there's the possibility of getting MORE *4 Marths and then I'll just make him +3 or something like that.

2. Chrom: (+SPD/-DEF) Same as Marth. I actually like Chrom more personally, but he's an inferior unit overall.

3. Tharja: (+SPD/-ATK) She's a great red mage. She has a terrible bane but arguably the best boon for her. I don't have Lilina or Sanaki and I like the former but don't care enough when Tharja is a superior unit to begin with. Only thing is I'm not really using her very much right now. Plus I don't know if I should commit to -ATK.

4. Xander: Obviously he has distant counter. I don't have any distant counter users so this is huge. But I don't really use horse emblem and my only 5* Cavalry is Cain and a -ATK Frederick. Gunter, Eliwood and Jagen are around, but only as *4's. No Olwen or Rein, only Ursula and Neutral Cecilia. I don't know if I'll be able to utilize him to his full potential. I know it's a good investment, but is it worth it for me right now?

5. Camilla (+ATK/-RES) Brave Axe flier. Nuff said.

6. Cherche: She's +ATK which is amazing, I want to 5 star her but she needs a Brave Axe+ which I only get from 5 starring Camilla and I don't have 40K feathers.

7. Olivia: (+SPD/-RES) She's part of my current main team so 5 starring is natural. But she wants a Ruby Sword and Triangle adept, neither of which I have.

8. Braug: Brave Sword+ fodder, but no one wants that right now.

9. Hana: (+ATK/-SPD) Great boon but the bane is crippling for someone who wants and NEEDs to double everything, and with a Brave Sword+ build out of the question for her without 40+ SPD, she's Life and Death 3 fodder which someone definitely wants. Like my Kagero.

10. Klein: This man is utter Gold. Right now he has a free Death Blow 3 I can give, but 5 starring him allows me to give my Lukas Quick Riposte 3, then he'll be literally finished, my first complete unit.

11. Lukas (+DEF/-RES): I already have a Lukas yes, but he's +SPD/-ATK, and while I've gotten used to his speed (Not getting doubled by Julia!) +DEF is the more optimal Boon and the -ATK sucks. By 5+Starring this other Lukas I can make him my new Lukas and merge my old Lukas making him +1!

12. Wrys: His boon and bane matter not. He's a healer and my main one. I use him quite a bit and 5 starring him is something that will eventually happen.

13. A!Tiki: Lightning Breath for my *5 Y!Tiki. However my only A!Tiki's are *3 meaning I'm blowing ALL my feathers to give this to her... probably not... but possible.

14. Save the feathers. I'm indecisive.

Primary Candidates (3* to 4*)

Spoiler

1. Anna: I like her, I've liked her since the beginning, she's a solid, speedy unit and she's in rotation every once in a while for Arena. I'll eventually 5 star all 3 of the trio but she's my favorite of the bunch. Thing is I have a Camilla or Cherche to potentially 5-star and Hector popping up completely invalidates her existence.

2. Shanna: Free desperation 3 on the table for whoever wants it.

3. Hinata: Free Fury 3, incredibly popular skill that nearly everyone wants.

4. Zephiel: Word on the street's he's pretty nice as a 5 star, this is one step closer to that.

5. Alfonse/Sharena: For the sake of boosting one of them. I care much less about these units but Sharena is a pretty great unit and one step closer to *5 is always nice.

6. Cecilia: Free Escape Route for whoever wants it.

7. Nino: She's the best green mage, period. Doesn't matter that she's probably one of my favorite mages in the FE series. Problem is all of my natures for her suck (I have 3). The best one is +DEF and -RES. However, I don't know when or if a good one is going to come along and I already have a +ATK Soren that's *5 so I don't know if it's even worth investing in her now.

Here are all my 4 and 5 stars if you think there are better options for me.

My *4's

Spoiler

Chrom (+SPD, -HP)
Jagen (+ATK, -RES)
Fir (Neutral)
Marth (x3) (+ATK, -DEF) (+SPD, -RES) (+DEF, -SPD)
Ogma
Navarre
Lloyd
Lon'Qu (x2)
Olivia
Hana
Selena
Braug
Eliwood
Xander
Caeda
Palla (Neutral)
Raigh
Sofia 
Tharja (+SPD, -ATK)
Lukas (x2) (One is +DEF, -RES)
Oboro
Abel
Sully (x2)
Peri
Catria 
Clair
(M)Robin (+HP/-ATK)
Ursula
Batre
Hawkeye
Arthur
Gunter
Cherche
Camilla (x2)
Beruka
Cecilia
Jeorge
Klein
Virion
Saizo
Maria
Wrys
Sakura

My *3's

Spoiler

Alfonse
Sharena
Anna
Navarre
Lloyd
Fir
Lon'Qu
Olivia
Hinata
Hana
Selena (x2)
Braug (x3)
Beruka
Zephiel
Eliwood
Stahl (x2)
Xander
Palla (x3)
A!Tiki (x2)
Raigh (Neutral)
Sophia
Donnel
Jagen
Catria (Neutral)
Est (Neutral, +1)
Subaki (Neutral
Cherche
Frederick
Ursula (x2)
Barst (x2)
Narcian
Shanna
(F)Robin
Niles
Matthew (Neutral)
Gordin
Gaius
Serra
Nino (x3) (All crappy natures, best is +RES, -DEF)
Cecilia (x2)
Beruka (x3)
Wrys
Lissa (x2)
Felicia (x2)
Azama (x2)
Setsuna

 

2. As much as it annoys me, Gaius is superior to Matthew, actually... all the dagger users are statwise. Even if I were to give Matthew Kagero's Poison Dagger, Gaius would make better use of it. Saizo is better in every area except res and barely HP, Felicia is faster with a better dagger, Jakob has better damage output and Kagero blows him out of the water. I really wonder what they were thinking when they made this guy. I really want to make him good but he's horrible.

Well, my question is... how do I make Matthew shine? I was thinking of giving him Poison Dagger from Kagero because with his superior speed +Life and Death and maybe life and Death he could be a contender, but I don't see how even with the speed he ISN'T just a worse Kagero. On the other hand I could give him Fortress DEF or Close Counter/Renewal or Lunge and Threaten Atk. Effectively making him a debuff/meatshield bot With 43 DEF and 26 RES (assuming he's +DEF) while also being hard to double. Then give him Ignis for easy kills or Escutheon/Sacred Cowl/Pavise/Aegis effectively making him a pest.

Problem with this build though is that Saizo or Felicia make better use of this build with Saizo having better ATK, equal SPD and even superior DEF while Felicia is faster and has more RES which is arguably more important as Mages are more likely to double.

But anyways, he's the worst Dagger unit, period. But he's also one of my favorite characters so I'm committed to making him shine. How do I go about doing that? What are good ideas for builds? What should his boon be? +ATK/+SPD/+DEF? I currently only have Neutral Matt.

Edited May 28, 2017 by Zeo

[Ice Dragon]

27 minutes ago, Zeo said:

On the other hand I could give him Fortress DEF or Close Counter/Renewal or Lunge and Threaten Atk. Effectively making him a debuff/meatshield bot With 43 DEF and 26 RES (assuming he's +DEF) while also being hard to double. Then give him Ignis for easy kills or Escutheon/Sacred Cowl/Pavise/Aegis effectively making him a pest.

Units with ranged weapons cannot learn positioning passive skills (like Lunge) or defensive special skills.

[Zeo]

3 minutes ago, Ice Dragon said:

Units with ranged weapons cannot learn positioning passive skills (like Lunge) or defensive special skills.

Lack of paying attention. Sorry I've been playing for a little over a month I think. Still a defensive build is possible.

[Ice Dragon]

3 minutes ago, Zeo said:

Lack of paying attention. Sorry I've been playing for a little over a month I think. Still a defensive build is possible.

Just giving you a heads up that those weren't going to be possible builds before you learn the hard way.

[Rafiel's Aria]

43 minutes ago, Zeo said:

Ok, Let's get started here... It's only 2 questions but quite a bit of text so answer if you can.

1. I'm about to come into 22k feathers, which means one 4* and one *5. Who Should I 4 and 5 star? I'm going to make 3 sections for those who care to see what my primary candidates are for each.

2. Well, my question is... how do I make Matthew shine? 

1.) I upgraded Xander because I would be able to use him in the Arena. He proved to be an excellent investment even when I wasn't using Horse Emblem. I'll probably continue to use him even though he won't continue to be a bonus unit.  I don't know what units you have at 5 stars already, but of the ones you have listed, I think my favorite one is Cherche, especially with +ATK. She just destroys with Brave Axe. If you wanted, you could 5 star Camilla and pass on her Brave Axe+ to Cherche. If she gets enough SP, she can use Brave Axe+ even at 4 stars if its an inherited skill. I tend to avoid 5 starring characters that can be pulled at 5 stars because there's always a chance I might pull one anyway. 

For 3 to 4 stars, I'd say Nino is an excellent choice. As long as she doesn't have -atk or -spd, she really shines. Mine is +HP -DEF, and she wrecks everything. She's absolutely worth getting to 5 stars eventually. And you also can't go wrong with the Askr trio. They'll always be needed for quests and whatnot. I wouldn't say that Hector makes Anna obsolete though. They just play different roles. Anna's got great RES as well as awesome speed. Hector has neither of those things. XD 

2.) For Matthew, I've been playing around with builds for him myself, but I just don't use daggers all that much. But the Rogue Dagger is a pretty great weapon if you want to really want to make Matthew hard to kill in melee combat. So just for fun, I gave Matthew an HP boon and ATK bane, Fury 3, and the HP+3 seal. When he's attacked, he'll only win 10 match-ups, but he only loses to one unit: Kagero. He has 47 HP and 38 DEF. If he was parked on top of a defense tile, a lot of characters would have trouble chipping away at him. In fact, Kagero can't kill him if he's on a defensive tile.

I think his niche is supposed to be the fact that he has a nice HP pool so he can debuff enemies while keeping himself safe. I haven't put too much thought into him, but he's a favorite character of mine as well, and he definitely deserves more love! 

[Zeo]

36 minutes ago, Rafiel's Aria said:

1.) I upgraded Xander because I would be able to use him in the Arena. He proved to be an excellent investment even when I wasn't using Horse Emblem. I'll probably continue to use him even though he won't continue to be a bonus unit.  I don't know what units you have at 5 stars already, but of the ones you have listed, I think my favorite one is Cherche, especially with +ATK. She just destroys with Brave Axe. If you wanted, you could 5 star Camilla and pass on her Brave Axe+ to Cherche. If she gets enough SP, she can use Brave Axe+ even at 4 stars if its an inherited skill. I tend to avoid 5 starring characters that can be pulled at 5 stars because there's always a chance I might pull one anyway. 

For 3 to 4 stars, I'd say Nino is an excellent choice. As long as she doesn't have -atk or -spd, she really shines. Mine is +HP -DEF, and she wrecks everything. She's absolutely worth getting to 5 stars eventually. And you also can't go wrong with the Askr trio. They'll always be needed for quests and whatnot. I wouldn't say that Hector makes Anna obsolete though. They just play different roles. Anna's got great RES as well as awesome speed. Hector has neither of those things. XD 

2.) For Matthew, I've been playing around with builds for him myself, but I just don't use daggers all that much. But the Rogue Dagger is a pretty great weapon if you want to really want to make Matthew hard to kill in melee combat. So just for fun, I gave Matthew an HP boon and ATK bane, Fury 3, and the HP+3 seal. When he's attacked, he'll only win 10 match-ups, but he only loses to one unit: Kagero. He has 47 HP and 38 DEF. If he was parked on top of a defense tile, a lot of characters would have trouble chipping away at him. In fact, Kagero can't kill him if he's on a defensive tile.

I think his niche is supposed to be the fact that he has a nice HP pool so he can debuff enemies while keeping himself safe. I haven't put too much thought into him, but he's a favorite character of mine as well, and he definitely deserves more love! 

For my 5*s I have Lukas (+SPD,-ATK), Young Tiki, +1 Soren (+ATK, -RES) +1 Frederick (+HP, -ATK), Cain, Takumi (+HP, -DEF) / (+SPD, - DEF) Faye (+DEF, -SPD), Kagero (+DEF, -RES) and Hinoka (+SPD, -ATK). 

Currently I'm lacking a decent Blue Mage (-ATK *4 Robin and an ODIN) and a powerful Red Sword.

I love Nino, but the game has thrown her at me thus far and nothing will irritate me more than to upgrade my current Nino only to get a +ATK or +SPD one. And with Soren as a +1 I'm not really NEEDING a Green Tome user right now so I kinda want to wait.

I'll figure Matthew out, but he's either a Debuff Tank/Pest or Worse Kagero. Considering I have Kagero herself and they'll never be on the same team, the latter seems pointless.

Edited May 28, 2017 by Zeo

[DraceEmpressa]

what is the maximum amount of SP you can pile on one unit? Also, if they already inherited and learn some other skills from other units then merged to the same unit with same rarity, will the merge receiver also learned the skills the merged unit have learned through SI?