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

[Xenomata]

So I'm planning on getting a month of Feh Pass, mostly because I kinda want Resplendent Cordelia (not really about the stats, mostly the alternate outfit). Can I just subscribe for a single month of Feh Pass and get Cordelia Fehhed up and she'll be like that forever, or is there something else I need to know about the Feh Pass? And if I subscribe for just the one month, does that mean I also get Res.Ike before my sub ends?

And while we're on the subject of Cordelia, I think she might be my next +10 project, so what'd be a good B Passive for her assuming I give her her Special Refine (Atk/Spd +4 if HP is greater than 70%)? Unfortunately I don't really have any strong "premium" B passives for her besides Windsweep (which is questionable quality IMO), so it's kind of limited to whatever B passives are available in the 4* pool... if it helps I have +Atk as my current 5* copy of Cordelia, and +Spd as a 4* backup. I have no plans to train multiple copies of her.

Edited February 26, 2020 by Xenomata

[mcsilas]

@Zeo Looks like an annoyingly fun set. Absorb + Mystic Boost + Pulse Smoke seems good for Abyssal maps in theory.

[XRay]

32 minutes ago, Xenomata said:

So I'm planning on getting a month of Feh Pass, mostly because I kinda want Resplendent Cordelia (not really about the stats, mostly the alternate outfit). Can I just subscribe for a single month of Feh Pass and get Cordelia Fehhed up and she'll be like that forever, or is there something else I need to know about the Feh Pass?

She will have her stats permanently boosted and access to her outfits forever.

32 minutes ago, Xenomata said:

And if I subscribe for just the one month, does that mean I also get Res.Ike before my sub ends?

You will get him and most likely the next Resplendent Hero after him too.

32 minutes ago, Xenomata said:

And while we're on the subject of Cordelia, I think she might be my next +10 project, so what'd be a good B Passive for her assuming I give her her Special Refine (Atk/Spd +4 if HP is greater than 70%)? Unfortunately I don't really have any strong "premium" B passives for her besides Windsweep (which is questionable quality IMO), so it's kind of limited to whatever B passives are available in the 4* pool... if it helps I have +Atk as my current 5* copy of Cordelia, and +Spd as a 4* backup. I have no plans to train multiple copies of her.

I would stick with +Atk and treat her as a blue Cherche. For her B slot, I am running Renewal since it scores well in Arena, and while she is not supposed to take damage since she should be killing anything in two hits, if she does get damaged, Renewal will heal her back up. If you do not care about scoring, Hit and Run is probably a better and more fun option. Windsweep and Watersweep are not bad either if she frequently faces bulky units.
Cordelia's Lance
Reposition
Moonbow — Ruptured Sky
Death Blow — Swift Sparrow
Renewal — Hit and Run — Windsweep — Watersweep — Dull Close — Aerobatics — Flier Formation — Wings of Mercy
(Any C)
(Any Sacred Seal that boosts Atk or Atk/Spd) — Heavy Blade

If you actually want Cordelia to quad, I would go with Spd Refinement since it does not have an HP minimum requirement, so it does not clash with Desperation.
Cordelia's Lance [Spd]
Reposition
Luna
(Any A that boosts Atk/Spd)
Desperation
(Any C)
(Any Sacred Seal that boosts Atk, Spd, or Atk/Spd)

For Aether Raids though, I am sticking with Slaying-Galeforce set up.
Slaying Lance [Spd]
Reposition
Galeforce
(Any A that boosts Atk/Spd)
Desperation
(Any C)
Heavy Blade

Edited February 26, 2020 by XRay

[Xenomata]

@XRay in all honesty I'm not even playing the Coliseum anymore, and my AR Offensive team is already concreted, so my building of Cordelia would mostly be... for my sake I guess? Anyway...

If my math is right, the Eff. Cord.Lance build at +10 Atk Asset should be running with 64 Atk and 50 Spd after FehPass boost, Prf effect, and Swift Sparrow 3 (which is fodder I can afford to give her). She could also run Atk/Spd Push 4 and Mystic Boost for an extra point in Atk without any drawback (both skills I can afford to give her).

Hm... got some things to think about, it looks like. Might have to plan when I get the Feh Pass as well, if I wanna get Cord, Ike, and Resplendent Hero #4 with just one month.

[Karuu30]

Got a Duo Alm recently and I was thinking some builds for him. I’ve a spare Thrasir and I was wondering if he could use Flashing Blade 4 + panic smoke, is it a good idea or are there better skills for him?

Thanks!

[TheSilentChloey]

So with Legendary Chrom's weapon effect will Male Grima be able to tank him counting wta or will legendary Chrom actually do some damage?

[Humanoid]

Cleaning up my barracks so time for boon selection for the following units (I think I've asked about a couple of them before but just ended up sitting on them):

Brave Lucina Atk or Spd (will go to +3)
Legendary Lucina Atk or Spd (will go to +2)
Spring Catria Atk or Spd (will go to +1)
Brave Ike Atk or Def or Res (will go to +2)
Gunnthra Atk or Spd (will go to +1)
Caineghis Def or Res (will go to +1)

In all cases assume no 5-star exclusive skill inheritance, except maybe DC for Ike since my Effie with DC hasn't been used for like two years.

[Baldrick]

32 minutes ago, Humanoid said:

Cleaning up my barracks so time for boon selection for the following units (I think I've asked about a couple of them before but just ended up sitting on them):

Brave Lucina Atk or Spd (will go to +3)
Legendary Lucina Atk or Spd (will go to +2)
Spring Catria Atk or Spd (will go to +1)
Brave Ike Atk or Def or Res (will go to +2)
Gunnthra Atk or Spd (will go to +1)
Caineghis Def or Res (will go to +1)

In all cases assume no 5-star exclusive skill inheritance, except maybe DC for Ike since my Effie with DC hasn't been used for like two years.

Atk

Spd

Spd

Do any have -spd?

Atk

Res

[XRay]

6 hours ago, TheSilentChloey said:

So with Legendary Chrom's weapon effect will Male Grima be able to tank him counting wta or will legendary Chrom actually do some damage?

Chrom: Crowned Exalt will deal significant damage to Robin: Fell Vessel, or outright killing him if he does not have enough merges nor Flowers, due to Randgriðr being effective against fliers and armors. Effectiveness's Atk boost (50% increase in Atk) is much stronger than weapon-triangle disadvantage's Atk handicap (20% decrease in Atk).

Challenger

Spoiler

CHALLENGER LIST  
Robin(M) (FH) (5*+10 +def -spd)  
Weapon: Expiration  
Special: Aether  
A: Steady Breath  
B: Vengeful Fighter 3  
😄 Ward Dragons  
S: Distant Def 3  

Enemy

Spoiler

ENEMIES - CUSTOM LIST  
Chrom (CE) (5*+10 +res -spd)  
Weapon: Randgridr  
A: Close Counter  
B: Lull Atk Def 3  
😄 Rouse Def Res 3  
S: Quick Riposte 3  
  
Chrom (CE) (5*+10 +atk -spd)  
Weapon: Randgridr  
Special: Ruptured Sky  
A: Mirror Impact  
B: Lull Atk Def 3  
😄 Rouse Def Res 3  
S: Sturdy Blow 2  

— — — — — — —

58 minutes ago, Humanoid said:

Brave Lucina Atk or Spd (will go to +3)

I would go with +Spd, so in case you want to use her with Eliwood: Blazing Knight, she is less likely to take the buff meant for a combat unit.

59 minutes ago, Humanoid said:

Legendary Lucina Atk or Spd (will go to +2)

+Atk if you are going with Brave Bow set up.

+Spd if you want to stick with Thögn.

Either is fine for Firesweep.

1 hour ago, Humanoid said:

Spring Catria Atk or Spd (will go to +1)

+Atk if you want to turn her into a Counter-Vantage unit.

+Spd for everything else. For standard Player Phase units, having more Spd is generally more important.

1 hour ago, Humanoid said:

Brave Ike Atk or Def or Res (will go to +2)

He will work with any nature. Due to how bulky he is already, I lean towards +Atk. +Res is also an option if you want him to tank Blazing mages as a super tank in Aether Raids.

+HP, +Spd, +Def are all good too. +HP gives him the most bulk. +Spd makes him more difficult to double, which can be useful to further limit damage. +Def is also an option for tanking Blazing archers and daggers, although these are not as common yet.

1 hour ago, Humanoid said:

Gunnthra Atk or Spd (will go to +1)

+Atk if you want her to be a one shot nuke or to turn her into a Counter-Vantage unit.

+Spd if she is running a more standard Player Phase build.

1 hour ago, Humanoid said:

Caineghis Def or Res (will go to +1)

.Either is fine. I personally lean towards +Res for a more balanced bulk.

 

[Ice Dragon]

20 hours ago, TheSilentChloey said:

So with Legendary Chrom's weapon effect will Male Grima be able to tank him counting wta or will legendary Chrom actually do some damage?

Effective damage at weapon triangle disadvantage (1.5 × 0.8 = 1.2) does the same damage as non-effective damage with weapon triangle advantage (1.2). If red units are normally hitting Grima for damage, then Chrom will, too.

 

15 hours ago, Humanoid said:

Brave Lucina Atk or Spd (will go to +3)

Spd.

 

15 hours ago, Humanoid said:

Legendary Lucina Atk or Spd (will go to +2)

Either one is fine if you're sticking with Thogn. I'd lean towards Spd since red units have gotten ridiculously fast recently.

 

15 hours ago, Humanoid said:

Spring Catria Atk or Spd (will go to +1)

Spd.

 

15 hours ago, Humanoid said:

Brave Ike Atk or Def or Res (will go to +2)

Atk. His percentage damage reduction means Def or Res are less useful when compared to other tanks.

 

15 hours ago, Humanoid said:

Gunnthra Atk or Spd (will go to +1)

I personally lean towards Spd since her one-hit kill potential is inconsistent.

 

15 hours ago, Humanoid said:

Caineghis Def or Res (will go to +1)

Either one is fine, but I agree with XRay that Res is probably slightly better.

[Humanoid]

Seems pretty open and shut for all of them then, cheers guys.

[Kaden]

So, two legendary Alms showed up, one +Def, -Spd and the other +Res, -Def. I figure if I were to make one into combat manual, then I would use the one who isn't -Spd. For merges, either way, but +Res seems like a good idea to even out his defenses. That would probably mainly help with fighting dragons since he probably could one shot most of the squishier mages. More defense, however, would help against the bulkier physical damage units. Or it doesn't matter with slapping Desperation on him and having him blitz everyone when he's in Desperation range.

Anyway, who would really want Null Follow-Up? Additionally, Darting Blow 4 and Null Follow-Up 3? I don't have anyone to get Odd Attack Wave 2 from. Other than anti-armor units like Bartre, Hana, Micaiah, Nephenee, Oboro, Selena, Tobin, or any infantry using an anti-armor weapon considering armors usually have some kind of follow-up attack related ability, the only unit that comes to mind for me is Athena given she can run Desperation and Null Follow-Up through her personal sword's unique refinement being Desperation. She would also benefit from having more speed through Darting Blow 4 to ensure she can make a follow-up attack on as many people as possible, therefore, ensuring she can Desperation blitz as many people as possible. That said, Atk/Spd Push 4, Fury, L&D, Swift Sparrow, and other passives that boost attack and speed or Flashing Blade 3/4 might be more worthwhile on her. Main point is being able to combine Desperation + Null Follow-Up.

At the moment, Athena's not a high priority unit I want to build. She would probably perform well, but I feel like I have a lot of reds and fast sword infantry. Another thing is that I already do have a Null Follow-Up sword unit through regular Mareeta. Her Null Follow-Up is position-based and she isn't running a Wo Dao, Desperation, Null Follow-Up build like Athena would, but with her, a random Adrift M!Corrin, Hilda, and legendary Alm now, all the colors are covered, but they're mainly melee units. Legendary Alm is the exception and by default is the only ranged unit with Null Follow-Up. More Null Follow-Up units can't hurt and that said, if a ranged unit can somehow ignore Distant Counter melee units with a follow-up attack related ability, then having Null Follow-Up might not be as helpful as another B passive.

Merging him definitely seems less troublesome. If I were to dump Null Follow-Up on someone who isn't Athena, then maybe I should dump it on Echidna. I don't really know what to do for her B passive. Right now she has Axebreaker and Lancebreaker. The thing I have been seeing given her mixed defenses and similarly with Hawkeye, F!Kana, Libra, and summer Ylgr and CYL Ike who can greatly reduce damage through unique refined Urvan, is to have her run DC and Null C-Disrupt. I don't have a spare Nailah to do that. In terms of favoritism, Echidna's at the top, but in terms of performance, it's probably CYL Ike, Hawkeye, and F!Kana. Problem is CYL Ike and F!Kana are 5*-only summons where with F!Kana, running Lull Def/Res in the future so she can have Lull All would be amusing. I have enough copies to +10 Hawkeye or Libra -- I could even +10 Hawkeye twice if I wanted. Although with Libra, I'd have to sacrifice two reserve copies with assets I was considering for switching, so at most without using those copies, he could hit +8. She's recent, but I've also been not so lucky with getting her or other recent units like Thea. Two copies, base being +Spd, -HP and the second one was neutral and became a merge, and five Dragonflowers because why not. So, at +10, Hawkeye who I went with +Def, -Spd to even out his defenses is going to have higher bulk, slightly higher base attack, and his wicked Guardian's Axe. Speed doesn't matter to him, so whatever on that. For Libra, +8 and being +Atk gives him the advantage in higher base attack and higher base resistance. Otherwise, he will match her in defense and have lower speed and slightly lower HP. I could switch to +Spd to lower the difference or go with +Res. In the long run with +10 merges, all the Dragonflowers they can have, whatever else to boost their stats, though, the main differences will be what weapon they have and between her and Libra, a few points here and there.

Anyway, DC and Null C-Disrupt is a different build. Returning to Null Follow-Up on Echidna, not sure if I should. She can probably run it well. There's also the concern of another Boey incident where she somehow ends up with a Null Follow-Up effect for her personal axe. That is to say, she ends up with an effect on her weapon that could have been inherited on her and was or is kind of rare or expensive to get. Granted, weapon updates are monthly, we have a ton of gen 2 and gen 3 units to go through before we get to gen 4, and her hypothetically having Null Follow-Up as a passive and on her weapon means she can run something else for a different build. For example Boey with his unique refined personal tome would have -raven and almost all Close Counter and since his previous default tome is an -owl tome, then he can run -owl and Close Counter. So, more flexibility, but still with a little feeling of maybe that passive could have gone to someone else for more varied, built units.

[XRay]

4 hours ago, Kaden said:

Anyway, who would really want Null Follow-Up?

It is more for the AI in Aether Raids defense or for an Enemy Phase unit in the player's hand in my opinion.

On an Enemy Phase unit under your control, you want to put it on a super tank or some kind of Spd tank, and make sure they can at least survive a round against Alm: Saint King and Celica: Queen of Valentia too. If you are going to build a Spd tank with premium skills, you might as well go the full mile and put in the extra effort to make sure the Spd tank cannot be easily doubled by a simple Spd check either. Null Follow-Up is not really necessary on a Player Phase nuke on offense when dealing with Wary Fighter units, since it is probably just easier to use a super tank team to deal with them instead. You can put it on an armor counter and bring the armor counter with you, but I personally have not found bringing a dedicated armor counter super necessary. You also have to factor in that units with Desperation on their Weapon does not have armor effectiveness either, so going past the foe's Wary Fighter might not be good enough since they might retaliate with a Special and blow your nuke up; on the other hand, putting it on an armor counter means the unit does not have access to Desperation, so they can only counter a limited number of armor units before they get worn out.

For Aether Raids defense, you can use it on a Player Phase unit your defense team since the AI does not know how to use Desperation.

For Arena, I think it is good if the player is in very high scoring Arena where they see a ton of armor units, but other than that, I think its use is rather limited. For Arena Assault, I do not think Null Follow-Up is even necessary at all since the player has access to their entire Barracks and can just one shot anyone troublesome with a Blade mage or Firesweep problematic enemies to death.

Edited February 28, 2020 by XRay

[Ice Dragon]

8 hours ago, Kaden said:

Anyway, who would really want Null Follow-Up?

It's not all that useful on player-controlled units, but the best options if you really want to use it are ranged infantry units with a Desperation-like effect on their weapon (since melee infantry units have the option to run Wrath instead).

In general, it's more useful on AI-controlled units since they typically don't need to run Desperation since their goal does not necessitate survival.

[Sias]

Last month has gifted me with even more duplicate heroes, so it's once more time to clear some space by doing a few merges, which is why I'm here again.
I have the choice between +Atk and +Spd each for Summer Laegjarn, Brave Roy, M!Robin, Eirika, Felicia and Matthew. So far I'm leaning towards +Atk for Eirika and Matthew (since even though they'd like more Spd, they can somewhat patch up their awfully low base Atk with a superboon in combination with their legendary refines) and +Spd for Felicia (as her Atk is so terrible that she probably won't kill without a special proc anyways, which is why she needs Spd to double enemy mages), but i'm honestly not all that sure about the other three (Laegjarn and Roy get pretty absurdly fast on player phase with +Spd, but the number of speedy foes steadily rises as well, while Robin would really love more Atk, even though some Spd could also be useful to ensure that he doesn't implode quite as quickly when encountering a blue enemy...)

Besides all that; I've also finally gotten both Julia (+Res) and Deirdre (+Spd -Def) and wanted to use the opportunity to finally give them complete builds, so... Any suggestions? I assume QR is just about ideal for both of them, though what about good A slot skills? Would it be recommended to just take the standard pick Fury or maybe something like Mirror Stance for Julia, who is more enemy phase oriented?
And in a similar vein: I assume that the best budget option for Nephenee and Hostile Springs Hinoka is Fury as well?

[Othin]

What are the best ways to use flags strategically in gauntlets?

[Johann]

3 minutes ago, Othin said:

What are the best ways to use flags strategically in gauntlets?

• Checking a score predictor and determining if your play schedule can line up with possible multipliers, and then skewing flag use for later hours if possible
• If your schedule doesn't line up with those hours, spend those flags when you can. It's also wise to not put too much stock in the predictors since they're often wrong, and early spending of flags helps avoid missing out on Same scoring rounds (particularly in evenly matched teams or the final round where that happens the most)
• Since the last round has more, some people save some extra flags til then, especially since the first round teams are smaller, making it easier to get a higher rank
• Alternatively, you might find it all more relaxing to just dump your flags whenever multipliers come and be rid of having to worry about any of it. Might be worth more than whatever joy you get from earning a few more feathers, I guess!
• As far as your team winning goes, the odds of a result hinging on a single person is so crazy small that there's not much point in stressing over it, I'd say. Still, if you're worried, you can save flags and ballots for the final hours, as to be one of the many that can help push your team when they need it most

Barring all that, try hacking the servers or getting a genie, preferably the one from Aladdin since he's the least likely to screw you over

[Kaden]

15 hours ago, XRay said:

It is more for the AI in Aether Raids defense or for an Enemy Phase unit in the player's hand in my opinion.

11 hours ago, Ice Dragon said:

It's not all that useful on player-controlled units, but the best options if you really want to use it are ranged infantry units with a Desperation-like effect on their weapon (since melee infantry units have the option to run Wrath instead).

So, like Cancel Affinity for the developers to prevent people from cheesing colorless units with -raven, T-Adept mages or to have specific enemies they have in mind not get hard countered by T-Adept unit.

Regarding ranged infantry units with Desperation or Desperation-like effects on their weapons, that's only Lewyn or an infantry who is an archer with Fishie Bow, a blue mage with Juicy Wave, or a dagger unit with Starfish. Except for Lewyn, I never summoned anyone with those weapons. Lewyn has Special Spiral by default -- he introduced it -- and special spamming would reduce the need to make a follow-up attack if he's doing enough damage to one-shot someone or cherry tap them after an AoE. Doesn't mean he can't run or would not want to swap out Special Spiral for Null Follow-Up at times.

There's also legendary Celica and Thrasir, where both have Desperation and Null Follow-Up in some form. For Celica, Soul of Zofia simply has Desperation 3 and Null Follow-Up 3 for its effects. For Thrasir, her tome's Null Follow-Up is ally and position-based and her Desperation-like effect through Killing Intent depends on her foe's HP not being full or if they have a penalty.

Going to follow up on melee infantry units with Desperation-like effects or something related with this as well.

16 hours ago, XRay said:

You also have to factor in that units with Desperation on their Weapon does not have armor effectiveness either, so going past the foe's Wary Fighter might not be good enough since they might retaliate with a Special and blow your nuke up; on the other hand, putting it on an armor counter means the unit does not have access to Desperation, so they can only counter a limited number of armor units before they get worn out.

Athena is a special case for this with how she can stack true damage. Unique refined Concealed Blade's Wo Dao and Desperation effects combined with Flashing Blade 4 which should be fine for most armors means she will deal 5 damage per hit if she is faster than her foe and she will deal 10 damage when she activates a special. She would be guaranteed 20 damage if she meets both conditions and that's about 40% to 50%, give or take, of most units' HP. With Null Follow-Up, she would be able to negate Wary Fighter or prevent guaranteed follow-up attacks which could save her provided she doesn't die from the first counterattack. That said, while she can be guaranteed to deal up to 20 damage, if somehow that's all she deals, then she might not be doing enough damage compared to someone with effective damage or being able to damage normally. The other thing is she is melee infantry unit where she can do well, but a ranged infantry might be easier to work with or safer.

Incidentally, a source of Flashing Blade 4 Athena could get from is Shadow Sword Mareeta who has a Killer effect and reverse Desperation on her Shadow Sword and who also has Null Follow-Up. She won't be able to stack as much true damage as Athena, but she can activate higher cooldown specials more frequently.

The remaining unit with a Desperation effect on their weapon is Lyn who has Desperation 3 and Brash Assault 4 with unique refined Sol Katti. I guess Null Follow-Up could work, but I'm not sure how useful that would be for her over Wrath, Vantage, or a different B passive instead.

I'm beginning to feel like Null Follow-Up is like Flashing/Heavy Blade where it would be a great seal. Its effects are good, but pairing it up with something else would make it even better. Alternatively, a Desperation seal would complement Null Follow-Up as a passive. The other units who can run Null Follow-Up with something else are Byleth and regular Mareeta who I mentioned before. Byleth's Creator Sword has a Killer effect, Null Follow-Up, and negates skills that increase the user's special cooldown charge or decrease their special charge. Slapping Desperation would be fine on Byleth, but they're also able to run Watersweep or Windsweep and not have their follow-up attack prevented which I'm at a point where I could see a Fortress Def/Res version of Water-Windsweep happening and that would be nutty on Byleth.

Merging legendary Alm seems like a better idea now considering Adrift M!Corrin was shown to be part of the divine codes thingie unless I'm remembering wrong. That still leaves the question for what B passive to give Echidna unanswered.

[XRay]

6 hours ago, Sias said:

Last month has gifted me with even more duplicate heroes, so it's once more time to clear some space by doing a few merges, which is why I'm here again.
I have the choice between +Atk and +Spd each for Summer Laegjarn, Brave Roy, M!Robin, Eirika, Felicia and Matthew. So far I'm leaning towards +Atk for Eirika and Matthew (since even though they'd like more Spd, they can somewhat patch up their awfully low base Atk with a superboon in combination with their legendary refines) and +Spd for Felicia (as her Atk is so terrible that she probably won't kill without a special proc anyways, which is why she needs Spd to double enemy mages), but i'm honestly not all that sure about the other three (Laegjarn and Roy get pretty absurdly fast on player phase with +Spd, but the number of speedy foes steadily rises as well, while Robin would really love more Atk, even though some Spd could also be useful to ensure that he doesn't implode quite as quickly when encountering a blue enemy...)

I generally go +Spd on most Player Phase units. It scales better against higher merged or more buffed enemies. SR!Laegjarn would appreciate the Spd boost against really fast sword units, and BH!Roy does not want too much Atk or else it risks him one shotting enemies which prevents his Galeforce from activating.

However, for units with really low Atk like Matthew and Eirika, I would go with +Atk. I would go +Atk with Felicia as well since it would net her 6 extra damage if she doubles, which should not be too difficult on Player Phase; on Enemy Phase, I think +Spd is better if she does not have stat support, but if she has a buffer, then I lean towards +Atk.

For M!Robin, I lean towards +Atk to make sure he kills something via Quick Riposte, but +Def/Res are fine too. He should not be facing green and blue enemies, so I would not worry about his performance against that much.

6 hours ago, Sias said:

Besides all that; I've also finally gotten both Julia (+Res) and Deirdre (+Spd -Def) and wanted to use the opportunity to finally give them complete builds, so... Any suggestions? I assume QR is just about ideal for both of them, though what about good A slot skills? Would it be recommended to just take the standard pick Fury or maybe something like Mirror Stance for Julia, who is more enemy phase oriented?

I do not recommend Fury. Fury is at best a temporary dual phase skill, but it is generally considered a Player Phase skill, not Enemy Phase. I strongly discourage mixing Player Phase and Enemy Phase skills together in most cases as it just makes the unit weak and unreliable in both phases. Fury and Quick Riposte also do not mix well, since Fury reduces HP after every round of combat and Quick Riposte needs a unit to maintain at least 70% HP to work.

Julia:
Naga [special]
Reposition — Swap
Ruptured Sky — Iceberg
Mirror Stance
Lull Atk/Res — Quick Riposte
(Any C)
Quick Riposte — Mirror Stance

Deirdre (Julia can also run this skill set):
Divine Naga [special]
Reposition — Swap
Ruptured Sky — Iceberg
Mirror Stance — Close Counter (if you want to counter dragons)
Guard — Quick Riposte
(Any C)
Quick Riposte — Mirror Stance

6 hours ago, Sias said:

And in a similar vein: I assume that the best budget option for Nephenee and Hostile Springs Hinoka is Fury as well?

Fury and Life and Death are both decent budget options for Player Phase units.

Nephenee Player Phase:
Dauntless Lance [Spd]
Reposition
Moonbow
(Any A that boosts Atk/Spd)
Desperation
(Any C)
(Any Sacred Seal that boosts Atk, Spd, or Atk/Spd)

Nephenee Player Phase Blazing Nuke:
Dauntless Lance [Atk]
Reposition
(Any Blazing Special)
Life and Death
Special Spiral
(Any C)
Atk+3

Nephenee Player Phase One Shot:
Dauntless Lance [Atk]
Reposition
Luna
Brazen Atk/Spd
Wrath
Time's Pulse
(Any Brazen Atk/Stat)

Nephenee Enemy Phase Spd Tank:
Dauntless Lance [special]
Reposition
Moonbow — Ignis (with A slot Breath)
Steady Stance — Swift Stance (tier 4 not out yet) — Steady Breath — Warding Breath — Darting Breath (not out yet)
Lull Atk/Spd — Null Follow-Up — Quick Riposte
(Any C)
Quick Riposte — (Any Sacred Seal that boosts Spd, Def, Res, Spd/Def, Spd/Res, or Def/Res)
I recommend stacking her Spd as high as possible, as there are quite a few really fast armors these days. Her Res is also kind of crap, so I do not recommend having her tank dragon armors unless you are willing invest significantly in her Res.

HS!Hinoka Player Phase:
Barbed Shuriken — Broadleaf Fan — Pumpkin-a-Box — Cleaner — Starfish
Spd Refinement
Reposition
Moonbow
(Any A that boosts Atk/Spd)
Desperation — Chill Def (with Starfish) — Chill Spd (with Starfish)
(Any C)Us
(Any Sacred Seal that boosts Atk, Spd, or Atk/Spd)

6 hours ago, Othin said:

What are the best ways to use flags strategically in gauntlets?

Use up all your flags each round, and use them 3 times each round during a multiplier.
Ideally, you want to delay using your flags as much as possible to take advantage of the higher multipliers later in the round.
At the same time, you also do not want to risk not being able to take advantage of multipliers, so if you are supporting a significantly more popular side, you may want to consider using them early if there is decently high multiplier since you might not know if you can get a high multiplier again later.
Use 8 Stamina and 400 Flags when a round has about 20-24 hours left.
Use 8 Stamina and 800 Flags when a round has about 12-16 hours left.
Use 8 Stamina and 800 Flags when a round has about 0-8 hours left.

5 hours ago, Kaden said:

Doesn't mean he can't run or would not want to swap out Special Spiral for Null Follow-Up at times.

The situation of that happening is extremely rare though. Special Spiral is a pretty simple skill applicable to a wide range of units, it is essentially an Atk boost. Null Follow-Up only matters against Wary Fighter foes and if the unit has enough power to actually kill the armor unit in 1 or 2 hits.

5 hours ago, Kaden said:

I'm beginning to feel like Null Follow-Up is like Flashing/Heavy Blade where it would be a great seal. Its effects are good, but pairing it up with something else would make it even better.

Yeah. Null Follow-Up is situational. In general, the more directly a skill affects stats and the less conditions it has, the better a skill is or more applicable it is to a wider range of scenarios.

For example, Sturdy Blow is slightly better than Heavy Blade for Reinhardt in my opinion. Sturdy Blow is guaranteed 8 damage. Heavy Blade's damage boost is conditional on Moonbow activating and bulky tanks often got Guard effect.

5 hours ago, Kaden said:

That still leaves the question for what B passive to give Echidna unanswered.

Lull Atk/Spd. It is a straight up Spd/Def/Res+3 with buff nullification on the stats that matter. Quick Riposte is also good on her B slot if you are not running it on her Sacred Seal slot. I am assuming she is being used as an Enemy Phase unit.

Skills like Repel and Dull Close just is not good enough since they are dependent on the enemy to fulfill a certain criteria to have any effect at all. Repel and Close Call is pretty much useless against foes with similar or higher Spd compared to the unit. Dull Close does absolutely nothing if the enemy is not using bonus buffs.

[TheSilentChloey]

How should I build up my newly summoned Exalt Chrom?

 

I know he's not great in the Speed department but until I get better IVs this is what I have to work with.  I'm also thinking Moonbow for his special or Glimmer.  Maybe even having him get an Atk boosting A Skill while I'm at it.  But for now it's me focusing on getting him maxed level with some HM grinding on the side.

[Diovani Bressan]

1 hour ago, TheSilentChloey said:

How should I build up my newly summoned Exalt Chrom?

 

I know he's not great in the Speed department but until I get better IVs this is what I have to work with.  I'm also thinking Moonbow for his special or Glimmer.  Maybe even having him get an Atk boosting A Skill while I'm at it.  But for now it's me focusing on getting him maxed level with some HM grinding on the side.

His base skills set is good enough.

Maybe if you don't like Rouse, change it to Atk Smoke.

You can change his B skill to a Link skill, so he can buff himself with 3 stats after the reposition. You can run Def/Res Link, or Spd/Def Link to use his Spd Super Boon in a better way.

I wouldn't change his Close Counter to a different skill. Use the Seal to boost his Atk If you want to, with Sturdy Blow or Fierce/Mirror Stance. If you use the Spd/Def Link idea, Swift Sparrow will make him reach 40 Spd.

[Kaden]

21 hours ago, XRay said:

Lull Atk/Spd. It is a straight up Spd/Def/Res+3 with buff nullification on the stats that matter. Quick Riposte is also good on her B slot if you are not running it on her Sacred Seal slot. I am assuming she is being used as an Enemy Phase unit.

Skills like Repel and Dull Close just is not good enough since they are dependent on the enemy to fulfill a certain criteria to have any effect at all. Repel and Close Call is pretty much useless against foes with similar or higher Spd compared to the unit. Dull Close does absolutely nothing if the enemy is not using bonus buffs.

I forgot to give context for why I was having trouble with figuring out what to give her for a B passive. I don't have spare copies for skills like Lull Atk/Spd, Close Call, or Repel. If I had two copies of Sirius, it would have been likely that one of them mysteriously disappeared and Echidna suddenly gained a fancy new skill. Perceval's stat spread and him having three passives makes me inclined to keep him or even merge him while Alm & Celica seem like a stupid unit to keep around let alone they would have been my second duo hero. The only unit I have with a Lull passive and not a Lull effect on their weapon is Claude and you can't have enough bow cavalry or ranged cavalry.

I doubt they would immediately have a Lull passive available when compiling combat manuals becomes live. It could happen and if it was either Lull Atk/Spd or Lull Spd/Def was available, then that would be fantastic. Anyway, the stuff I have for her is the same stuff everyone has had available to them from 4* and below units since the game launched. They help, they work, but it would be nice to have had more interesting things and not have to depend on hoping for a spare copy of a 5* when it comes to building units. Stuff like Wrath is available through using grails, but the arbitrary 20 copies cap and how long it takes to build up a stockpile of grails makes it not worth it to spend grails to sack a limited unit like that.

Dull Close and Dull Ranged being specific is their weak point, but if you want the unit to specifically focus on them, then they do their job well. Would be good seals so that people can run them with another B passive. At the very least, Luke could run Dull Close and Dull Ranged together so he can finally... still not be a legend.

[DraceEmpressa]

Will 3670 arena score be enough to get into tier 20? I don't have maximized bonus unit for next season.

[Alexmender]

I got a spare copy of Summer Lyn from the duo seasonal banner and after some thought I decided that Sturdy Impact is more valuable than a +1 merge, so I'd like to ask what 3*~4* Blue/Green mages get the most out of it. I want to focus on those two colors because I already have more than enough reds and I don't feel like Sturdy Impact will be all that great on Archers/Daggers. 

[XRay]

9 hours ago, TheSilentChloey said:

I know he's not great in the Speed department but until I get better IVs this is what I have to work with.  I'm also thinking Moonbow for his special or Glimmer.  Maybe even having him get an Atk boosting A Skill while I'm at it.  But for now it's me focusing on getting him maxed level with some HM grinding on the side.

If you are using him for Enemy Phase, there is not much reason to adjust his base kit, since that is about as ideal as you can get for an Enemy Phase base kit. Just give him Bonfire and put Quick Riposte on his Sacred Seal slot, and he is good to go. I do not recommend changing his base kit much unless you want to use him as a super tank in Aether Raids or use him as an Player Phase unit.

Spoiler

Def/Res Tank:
+Def/Res
Randgriðr
To Change Fate! — Reposition — Swap
Bonfire
Close Counter
Lull Atk/Def
Rouse Def/Res — Atk Smoke
Quick Riposte

If you want to use him as a supertank, I recommend running Reposition and swap his Rouse Def/Res out for Atk Smoke. If you want to turn him into a Spd super tank, then you will want to run Moonbow/Ruptured Sky, but if you are planning to keep him as a slow super tank, then just stick with Bonfire.

Spoiler

Fast Super Tank:
+Spd
Randgriðr
Reposition — Swap
Moonbow — Ruptured Sky
Close Counter
Lull Atk/Spd
Atk Smoke
Swift Stance — Distant Def

Slow Super Tank:
+Def/Res
Randgriðr
Reposition — Swap
Bonfire
Close Counter
Lull Atk/Def
Atk Smoke
Quick Riposte

For Player Phase, since yours is also +Spd, you have additional options available to you other than the classic slow Brave build.

Spoiler

Slow Brave:
+Atk
Brave Bow
Reposition
Moonbow — Ruptured Sky
Death Blow
Lull Atk/Def
(Any C)
Sturdy Blow — Heavy Blade

Fast Brave/Quad:
+Spd
Brave Bow
Reposition
Luna
Brazen Atk/Spd 4 — (Any A that boosts Atk/Spd)
Desperation
(Any C)
Brazen Atk/Spd
Since Chrom is toeing the line of being a slow poke, I strongly recommend Brazen Atk/Spd 4 over other A skills to make sure he has enough Spd to quad.

Firesweep:
+Spd
Firesweep Bow
Reposition
Moonbow — Ruptured Sky — Luna
Life and Death
Lull Spd/Def
(Any C) — Savage Blow
Swift Sparrow

 

7 hours ago, Kaden said:

I forgot to give context for why I was having trouble with figuring out what to give her for a B passive. I don't have spare copies for skills like Lull Atk/Spd, Close Call, or Repel. If I had two copies of Sirius, it would have been likely that one of them mysteriously disappeared and Echidna suddenly gained a fancy new skill. Perceval's stat spread and him having three passives makes me inclined to keep him or even merge him while Alm & Celica seem like a stupid unit to keep around let alone they would have been my second duo hero. The only unit I have with a Lull passive and not a Lull effect on their weapon is Claude and you can't have enough bow cavalry or ranged cavalry.

I guess it depends on how much you are willing to spend on Echidna. If you are willing to spend on her, then just wait for Lull Atk/Spd to appear in a Focus. If you are not willing to spend on Echidna, I guess you can just throw whatever other 5* premium B skill you get on that slot, but it is less ideal in my opinion, and other builds would appreciate those skills more. If you are in a rush to use her right now, then just put Guard or Dull Range on the B slot; if you are not in a rush to use her though, then I would just wait for Lull Atk/Spd to pity break you or something.

4 hours ago, DraceEmpressa said:

Will 3670 arena score be enough to get into tier 20? I don't have maximized bonus unit for next season.

I am not sure too sure about 3,670, but when I scored just barely at 3,700s, I was bouncing between Tier 19 and Tier 20. I score around 3740s now, and I still bounce between Tier 19 and Tier 20.

1 hour ago, Alexmender said:

I got a spare copy of Summer Lyn from the duo seasonal banner and after some thought I decided that Sturdy Impact is more valuable than a +1 merge, so I'd like to ask what 3*~4* Blue/Green mages get the most out of it. I want to focus on those two colors because I already have more than enough reds and I don't feel like Sturdy Impact will be all that great on Archers/Daggers. 

Sturdy Impact is generally better on melee units than range units, since they have more members with access to guaranteed follow-up Weapons. And between ranged units, it is honestly better on archers and daggers than mages, but we will start with mages first before going to archers and daggers.

Sturdy Impact is better on a unit that can do guaranteed follow-ups since that is where the Def+10 would come in most handy. I do not recall any ranged units capable of doing that except Yune, but she is 5* exclusive, and even then, it is not the best setup in my opinion.

Spoiler

+Atk/Def
Chaos Manifest
Reposition
Moonbow
Sturdy Impact
Mythic Boost — Dull Range — Renewal
Chaos Manifest
Sturdy Blow — Iote's Shield

A better set up for Yune would be running Desperation, and if she is running Desperation, then there is not much point in running Sturdy Impact in my opinion:

Spoiler

+Atk
Chaos Manifest
Reposition
Moonbow
(Any Sacred Seal that boosts Atk or Atk/Spd)
Desperation
Chaos Manifest
(Any Sacred Seal that boosts Atk or Atk/Spd)
Boosting her Spd is not necessary, but it is helpful to win the Spd check against Wary Fighter units.

The other way to use Sturdy Impact is to combo it with Special Spiral to smack foes with Bonfire as a one a shot nuke, so the unit will also need a Slaying Tome. The only mages with higher Def than Res and comes with Slaying Weapons that comes to mind are just Merric and Renewed Spirit Alfonse, and RS!Alfonse is also 5* exclusive.

Spoiler

+Atk
Imbued Koma — Excalibur [Atk] — Excalibur [special]
Reposition
Bonfire — Open the Future (if you are using Wings of Mercy Dancers, use Bonfire instead) — Ignis (only works for one turn)
Sturdy Impact
Special Spiral
Time's Pulse
Sturdy Blow — Hardy Bearing
If you are using Ignis you will need Time's Pulse or Infantry Pulse support. Due to how Special Spiral works, it clashes with Time's Pulse so you will not be able to spam Ignis bombs for every round of combat, and not at the start of every turn beyond the first turn either.

And that brings us to archers and daggers where Slaying Bow and Barbed Shuriken are more readily available. It is basically the same setup as above, but you have more options available on who to choose from since Slaying Weapons are inheritable for this class of units.

Spoiler

+Atk
Slaying Bow — Barbed Shuriken
Atk Refinement
Reposition
Bonfire — Ignis
Sturdy Impact
Special Spiral
Time's Pulse
Sturdy Blow — Hardy Bearing

If you need a 300 SP skill on the A slot for a one shot mage, then I recommend waiting for Death Blow 4 rather than wasting Sturdy Impact on a unit that does not need the Def boost.

Edited March 1, 2020 by XRay