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

[XRay]

52 minutes ago, Rinco said:

What build should I go for a +HP/-Atk Duo Ephraim? Got him in this banner randomly. Won't use him on any of the competitive modes, just want to have him built to use here and there eventually

Budget:
Reginleif
Reposition
Galeforce — Luna — Moonbow
Heavy Blade
Lull Atk/Def
Atk Smoke — Odd Atk Wave (with Even Atk Wave Sacred Seal)
Death Blow — Even Atk Wave

If Galeforce is too expensive, I would run Luna or Moonbow instead; between Luna and Moonbow, I lean towards Moonbow so he can still activate a Special against foes who cannot counterattack. Luna is fine too if he mostly just faces melee enemies.

For a more expensive dual phase build:
Reginlief
Reposition
Galeforce — Moonbow
Atk/Def Solo — Atk/Res Solo
Lull Atk/Def
Atk Smoke — Rouse Atk/Def — Rouse Atk/Res
Heavy Blade

49 minutes ago, TheSilentChloey said:

Wouldn't DC be better for dual phase combat? I know I will eventually be pulling more merges for her in the long term.

Distant Counter is fine in lower difficulty PvE modes, but I am not sure it is as effective in PvP modes and harder PvE difficulty.

In Aether Raids, Alm: Saint King and Celica: Queen of Valentia will annihilate her since they come with a tank busting kit in their default builds. While her Def/Res is high, I do not think it is high enough to withstand Blazing nukes without really high investment. A portion of Hardy Bearing Dancers/Singers are Festival in Hoshido Micaiah, and she is red with an Effective Weapon against armors, so she is pretty lethal. For Aether Raids, I think it is best that she focuses on melee enemies and try not to worry too much about the ranged enemies.

For harder PvE difficulty, my main concerns are the ranged bosses' precharged Specials who can one shot her and Rauðrblade mages, so depending on the map, it might be better to just let her focus on melee foes and have someone else deal with the ranged threats instead. If you can get rid of the boss early and you do not see any Rauðrblade mages around, Distant Counter should be okay.

[TheSilentChloey]

1 minute ago, XRay said:

Budget:
Reginleif
Reposition
Galeforce — Luna — Moonbow
Heavy Blade
Lull Atk/Def
Atk Smoke — Odd Atk Wave (with Even Atk Wave Sacred Seal)
Death Blow — Even Atk Wave

If Galeforce is too expensive, I would run Luna or Moonbow instead; between Luna and Moonbow, I lean towards Moonbow so he can still activate a Special against foes who cannot counterattack. Luna is fine too if he mostly just faces melee enemies.

For a more expensive dual phase build:
Reginlief
Reposition
Galeforce — Moonbow
Atk/Def Solo — Atk/Res Solo
Lull Atk/Def
Atk Smoke — Rouse Atk/Def — Rouse Atk/Res
Heavy Blade

Distant Counter is fine in lower difficulty PvE modes, but I am not sure it is as effective in PvP modes and harder PvE difficulty.

In Aether Raids, Alm: Saint King and Celica: Queen of Valentia will annihilate her since they come with a tank busting kit in their default builds. While her Def/Res is high, I do not think it is high enough to withstand Blazing nukes without really high investment. A portion of Hardy Bearing Dancers/Singers are Festival in Hoshido Micaiah, and she is red with an Effective Weapon against armors, so she is pretty lethal. For Aether Raids, I think it is best that she focuses on melee enemies and try not to worry too much about the ranged enemies.

For harder PvE difficulty, my main concerns are the ranged bosses' precharged Specials who can one shot her and Rauðrblade mages, so depending on the map, it might be better to just let her focus on melee foes and have someone else deal with the ranged threats instead. If you can get rid of the boss early and you do not see any Rauðrblade mages around, Distant Counter should be okay.

I don't do Aether raids, so any advice there is pointless.  Most I do is slap together Male Morgan 10+ +Atk and two dancers, the bouns unit and male Grima.  They deal with most bullish teams just fine since I'm not caring about climbing the worthless AR ladder or arena lader.  I'd be more likely to use Empress in PvE because again I dislike PvP crap and don't do it, it sucks and only serves to be more infuriating than the PvE in most cases.  DC would help her with her training, much like Lucy I guess.

[Humanoid]

A couple of the usual boon selection quickies:

Naga +1, Atk or Spd?

Kid Marth +2, Atk or Spd?

Not going to ever intentionally find merges for them beyond what I already have.

[Kaden]

In a fruitless dive for at least two copies of Perceval, I ended up with no Percevals or Yarnes, but a bunch of Mareetas and CYL Hector among other why are you here 5* units.

CYL Hector showed up as +Atk, -Spd and my current one is +Res, -Spd and +1 merged. +Res CYL Hector has a respectable 31 base resistance which makes me hesitant to make +Atk the new base. Maltet, Ostian Counter, and 39/31 base defenses work for what he's mainly used as a DC tank. That said, losing some resistance for even more attack might be worth it and he could make up the damage with Aether for sustain.

As for Mareeta, three of them showed up. Probably should use one of them as a merge for the +Atk, -Res one that showed up on her debut banner considering how much stats are gained from the first merge. The other two I have no idea what I should do with them. It would be nice to grab Atk/Solo 3 or Rouse Atk/Def 3 and Close Call 3 for someone, but there are no 4* units, summonable or grail, with Atk/Solo or Rouse Atk/Def. Close Call itself is kind of an issue where the units who could use it really well either overlap as most of the fast, physical damage melee infantry are sword users or already have it or a version of it (Larcei). I don't have Alm & Celica or Rinkah who I chose Lilith over her. I guess I could give it to Hilda, Linus, or Raven.

[XRay]

2 hours ago, Humanoid said:

Naga +1, Atk or Spd?

+Spd. Good for avoiding doubles as a support unit. If you wish to use her as a Player Phase unit, +Spd is good too to better secure doubles.

2 hours ago, Humanoid said:

Kid Marth +2, Atk or Spd?

If you plan to take advantage of his Vantage often, then +Atk is better. If you do not plan to take advantage of his Vantage often, then go with +Spd.

1 hour ago, Kaden said:

CYL Hector showed up as +Atk, -Spd and my current one is +Res, -Spd and +1 merged. +Res CYL Hector has a respectable 31 base resistance which makes me hesitant to make +Atk the new base. Maltet, Ostian Counter, and 39/31 base defenses work for what he's mainly used as a DC tank. That said, losing some resistance for even more attack might be worth it and he could make up the damage with Aether for sustain.

As a dual phase unit, either is fine in my opinion. +Atk is better for his Player Phase while +Res is better for Enemy Phase. You can also keep both if you do not want to decide.

1 hour ago, Kaden said:

As for Mareeta, three of them showed up. Probably should use one of them as a merge for the +Atk, -Res one that showed up on her debut banner considering how much stats are gained from the first merge. The other two I have no idea what I should do with them. It would be nice to grab Atk/Solo 3 or Rouse Atk/Def 3 and Close Call 3 for someone, but there are no 4* units, summonable or grail, with Atk/Solo or Rouse Atk/Def. Close Call itself is kind of an issue where the units who could use it really well either overlap as most of the fast, physical damage melee infantry are sword users or already have it or a version of it (Larcei). I don't have Alm & Celica or Rinkah who I chose Lilith over her. I guess I could give it to Hilda, Linus, or Raven.

I would give Close Call along with Distant Counter to BH!Ike. Makes Aether Raids a whole lot easier.

[Zeo]

@XRay @DLNarshen @Alexmender @mampfoid @mcsilas @SatsumaFSoysoy @Hilda @Landmaster @Ice Dragon @Kaden @Tybrosion

I've got more than one question, but I'm going to keep this post brief with just the one.

Ross wants Infantry Breath support badly, and Lute, his best pal would love nothing more than to prove her superiority by boasting just how useless he is without her support. And she wants to rub it in his face even further by giving him instant Sol/Noontime procs. Problem is... I have 2 Nahs... and both natures are great, so I don't know which one to fodder.

(I know units like OG Marth, etc may be better units for Infantry Breath but Lute/Ross is a pair made in heaven so I've 100% decided she's getting it. Still you can give me suggestions if you think there are other Inf. Breath candidates I should look at, my mind's made up though.)

So... my first Nah is +DEF/-HP and my 2nd Nah who I was ready to fodder as soon as I saw her is... +ATK/-RES. Yep, so I'm torn as to which I should part with. On one hand, +ATK is probably one of her best natures if not her best and if I grab a merge for her later on It'll get rid of her -RES bane and she'll probably have the best boon. On the other hand, with +DEF/-HP she trades the 38/29 bulk spread she'd have with the +ATK nature for a much much nicer 41/32 which just looks a lot nicer to my eye.

I know realistically she would like something like Distant Counter or Lightning Breath or... more investment to be a powerhouse and I basically haven't even used either Nah since I got her outside of training to get to level 40, but It's my perpetual indecisiveness that's stopping me from just throwing my hands up and foddering one, so I'd like some help. Though I'm leaning towards +DEF/-HP because I feel like +3 to both DEF/RES may be better than +3 ATK alone.

Thoughts?

[XRay]

13 minutes ago, Zeo said:

@XRay @DLNarshen @Alexmender @mampfoid @mcsilas @SatsumaFSoysoy @Hilda @Landmaster @Ice Dragon @Kaden @Tybrosion

I've got more than one question, but I'm going to keep this post brief with just the one.

Ross wants Infantry Breath support badly, and Lute, his best pal would love nothing more than to prove her superiority by boasting just how useless he is without her support. And she wants to rub it in his face even further by giving him instant Sol/Noontime procs. Problem is... I have 2 Nahs... and both natures are great, so I don't know which one to fodder.

(I know units like OG Marth, etc may be better units for Infantry Breath but Lute/Ross is a pair made in heaven so I've 100% decided she's getting it. Still you can give me suggestions if you think there are other Inf. Breath candidates I should look at, my mind's made up though.)

So... my first Nah is +DEF/-HP and my 2nd Nah who I was ready to fodder as soon as I saw her is... +ATK/-RES. Yep, so I'm torn as to which I should part with. On one hand, +ATK is probably one of her best natures if not her best and if I grab a merge for her later on It'll get rid of her -RES bane and she'll probably have the best boon. On the other hand, with +DEF/-HP she trades the 38/29 bulk spread she'd have with the +ATK nature for a much much nicer 41/32 which just looks a lot nicer to my eye.

I know realistically she would like something like Distant Counter or Lightning Breath or... more investment to be a powerhouse and I basically haven't even used either Nah since I got her outside of training to get to level 40, but It's my perpetual indecisiveness that's stopping me from just throwing my hands up and foddering one, so I'd like some help. Though I'm leaning towards +DEF/-HP because I feel like +3 to both DEF/RES may be better than +3 ATK alone.

Thoughts?

Hm... Normally I would go with +Def, but since Nah got Wary Fighter on her Weapon, I lean a little more towards +Atk. Since she is not too concerned about being doubled, she can afford to invest less in survivability.

BUT!!! And a huge BUT, if the meta shifts to the point where we start seeing a lot of Blazing archers though, then I think +Def would be better. Additionally, her Wary Fighter is conditional on her having bonus buffs, which is not exactly something good to rely on in Aether Raids due to Panic, so you might still want to go with +Def anyways to better survive doubles when she cannot rely on Wary Fighter.

Hm... Yeah, there is a lot to consider and I think this is more subjective than most. I guess if you plan to take her into Aether Raids eventually, I think +Def might be a little a better to future proof against the possibility of Blazing archers being relevant one day, although you can also argue that +Atk is useful for killing SK!Alm in retaliation with a Ruptured Sky trigger, although that is the only scenario that I can think of where +Atk matters more than +Def right now. If she is just mostly for PvE content and easy PvP modes like Arena and Arena Assault, then I lean towards +Atk since things are not as asinine in these modes as in Aether Raids.

Either way, I think both are good Assets.

[Alexmender]

2 hours ago, Zeo said:

@XRay @DLNarshen @Alexmender @mampfoid @mcsilas @SatsumaFSoysoy @Hilda @Landmaster @Ice Dragon @Kaden @Tybrosion

I've got more than one question, but I'm going to keep this post brief with just the one.

Ross wants Infantry Breath support badly, and Lute, his best pal would love nothing more than to prove her superiority by boasting just how useless he is without her support. And she wants to rub it in his face even further by giving him instant Sol/Noontime procs. Problem is... I have 2 Nahs... and both natures are great, so I don't know which one to fodder.

(I know units like OG Marth, etc may be better units for Infantry Breath but Lute/Ross is a pair made in heaven so I've 100% decided she's getting it. Still you can give me suggestions if you think there are other Inf. Breath candidates I should look at, my mind's made up though.)

So... my first Nah is +DEF/-HP and my 2nd Nah who I was ready to fodder as soon as I saw her is... +ATK/-RES. Yep, so I'm torn as to which I should part with. On one hand, +ATK is probably one of her best natures if not her best and if I grab a merge for her later on It'll get rid of her -RES bane and she'll probably have the best boon. On the other hand, with +DEF/-HP she trades the 38/29 bulk spread she'd have with the +ATK nature for a much much nicer 41/32 which just looks a lot nicer to my eye.

I know realistically she would like something like Distant Counter or Lightning Breath or... more investment to be a powerhouse and I basically haven't even used either Nah since I got her outside of training to get to level 40, but It's my perpetual indecisiveness that's stopping me from just throwing my hands up and foddering one, so I'd like some help. Though I'm leaning towards +DEF/-HP because I feel like +3 to both DEF/RES may be better than +3 ATK alone.

Thoughts?

Hmm...it's a tough one but I lean towards +Def/-Hp. Nah's playstyle is going full tank which is shown by her base kit and the Wary Fighter effect of her Prf. Atk is always nice, but unless you want to run a Noontime/Sol build I think the extra Def coupled with Bonfire/Ignis is a little better than +6 dmg from the Atk boon. The extra bulk also comes in handy in case you want to auto battle a TT+ and the like.

But the main reason I lean towards +Def/-Hp is that the Res bane from the +Atk copy is too steep of a price to pay for some extra dmg. 29 base Res is a tad too low for my liking even when accounting for stuff like Res Tactic and Bonus Doubler. You could argue that -Hp makes her too suceptible to Panic and you'd be right, but that's more of an AR thing and Nah is not suited to fight in that mode so I find that a little irrelevant.

[SatsumaFSoysoy]

2 hours ago, Zeo said:

@XRay @DLNarshen @Alexmender @mampfoid @mcsilas @SatsumaFSoysoy @Hilda @Landmaster @Ice Dragon @Kaden @Tybrosion

I've got more than one question, but I'm going to keep this post brief with just the one.

Ross wants Infantry Breath support badly, and Lute, his best pal would love nothing more than to prove her superiority by boasting just how useless he is without her support. And she wants to rub it in his face even further by giving him instant Sol/Noontime procs. Problem is... I have 2 Nahs... and both natures are great, so I don't know which one to fodder.

(I know units like OG Marth, etc may be better units for Infantry Breath but Lute/Ross is a pair made in heaven so I've 100% decided she's getting it. Still you can give me suggestions if you think there are other Inf. Breath candidates I should look at, my mind's made up though.)

So... my first Nah is +DEF/-HP and my 2nd Nah who I was ready to fodder as soon as I saw her is... +ATK/-RES. Yep, so I'm torn as to which I should part with. On one hand, +ATK is probably one of her best natures if not her best and if I grab a merge for her later on It'll get rid of her -RES bane and she'll probably have the best boon. On the other hand, with +DEF/-HP she trades the 38/29 bulk spread she'd have with the +ATK nature for a much much nicer 41/32 which just looks a lot nicer to my eye.

I know realistically she would like something like Distant Counter or Lightning Breath or... more investment to be a powerhouse and I basically haven't even used either Nah since I got her outside of training to get to level 40, but It's my perpetual indecisiveness that's stopping me from just throwing my hands up and foddering one, so I'd like some help. Though I'm leaning towards +DEF/-HP because I feel like +3 to both DEF/RES may be better than +3 ATK alone.

Thoughts?

+Atk all the way. As X-Ray said, when you're actively using her yourself she is probably not going to be doubled much due to her Prf. +Def is good when you're taking multiple hits, but if you're not then I'd rather not miss kills. Or when you're fighting something that can disable her follow-up prevention, one-shotting them is useful to just avoid taking the second hit altogether. Either way, you're not going to be tackling Abyssals with a +0 Nah anyway, I think, so I'm assuming at most you'd be using her in something like TT or AA at most. I'd say the +Def is mostly irrelevant.

[DLNarshen]

@Zeo As someone with zero experience using Nah and after briefly reviewing her stats, weapon, and kit, my gut tells me to stick with +Atk.  Unless you are really invested in her character and intend to pull for merge copies later (which is not the impression I'm getting), she will not likely see use in any competitive mode that depends on high scoring potential, nor will she be a worthwhile AR unit.  That leaves PvE content and Arena Assault.  Both boon/bane combos will work just fine for the overwhelming majority of PvE content, and frankly I don't see a base kit Nah being used for much of that outside a novelty/themed map clear every now and then.  As a potential Arena Assault counter unit however, you can't go wrong with +Atk.  Her base kit is well suited for the mode, and since she will only be expected to handle matchups she has the advantage, the -Res isn't going to matter much especially since most of her opponents won't be able to override her weapon effect.  With how bulky units can get nowadays, you need every point of Atk you can get.  

[mcsilas]

@Zeo Personally i'm leaning more towards +Atk, though it's a tough choice. Can be a little bit annoying to be off by a few Hit Points during EP, and while tanking with 41 Def is nice, denying doubles is also a good effect that I rather just do more damage. Either way you can make up for it with Bonus Doubler if you keep that (though she's not suited for AR). Def may be useful for maps with many enemies like LHBs but if you're gonna use her for something like AA, faster kills are better. As for -Res, you can always just choose your battles wisely in AA.

So uhh, this might be a stupid question but is it worth giving Edelgard DC if I'm going Galeforce for her? I think she could be a missing green link for my arena team so the score part makes sense, but i'm not sure if I'd rather use my only spare Lector (DC + VF) or just regular Hector (DC + Goad) if I'm barely going to use VF/Goad. Although I guess I have more normal Hectors so that might be a better option. Or would Heavy Blade from Jamke be better for pure GF (no I don't have spare orbs to try for HB4). She's +Def/-Res so not the best for DC tanking against mages.

 Also +Spd on G!Frima or +Res superboon? +Atk or +Spd Rath? +Atk Altena or +Def superasset?

 

Edited May 2, 2020 by mcsilas

[XRay]

1 hour ago, mcsilas said:

So uhh, this might be a stupid question but is it worth giving Edelgard DC if I'm going Galeforce for her? I think she could be a missing green link for my arena team so the score part makes sense, but i'm not sure if I'd rather use my only spare Lector (DC + VF) or just regular Hector (DC + Goad) if I'm barely going to use VF/Goad. Although I guess I have more normal Hectors so that might be a better option. Or would Heavy Blade from Jamke be better for pure GF (no I don't have spare orbs to try for HB4). She's +Def/-Res so not the best for DC tanking against mages.

If it is for Arena scoring, then Distant Counter is good for scoring for sure, although I am not certain whether it is good for performance. As long as the enemy is not SK!Alm, QOV!Celica, or some other top tier nuke, FE!Edelgard should be fine with Distant Counter handling ranged threats. For Aether Raids though, I think she should stick with Atk/Res Solo as the ranged nukes in that mode hits too hard for Edelgard to reliably handle in my opinion.

I personally lean towards using regular Hector since you want to keep Raging Storm for scoring purposes.

I do not recommend Heavy Blade on the A slot since you can just run that on the Sacred Seal slot.

Galeforce:
Aymr
(Any 400 SP Assist) — Reposition — Swap
Galeforce
Death Blow — Swift Sparrow — Atk/Res Solo
Raging Storm
(Any 300 SP C) — Armor Stride
Heavy Blade
Death Blow and Swift Sparrow are both 300 SP. Death Blow is better in my opinion, but Edelgard can reach 31 Spd at max investment with Swift Sparrow, so that might be worth considering to help her double slower armor units.

Dual Phase:
Aymr
(Any 400 SP Assist) — Reposition — Swap
Ruptured Sky
Distant Counter
Raging Storm
(Any 300 SP C) — Armor Stride
Quick Riposte
Her Enemy Phase combat is a regular Enemy Phase combat. She is running Ruptured Sky since the opponent cannot double, so that rules out Bonfire. Since Edelgard always "double" via Galeforce from Raging Storm, Edelgard can rely on triggering Ruptured Sky against melee enemies, although she cannot rely on Ruptured Sky triggers against ranged enemies though since they cannot counter attack.

1 hour ago, mcsilas said:

 Also +Spd on G!Frima or +Res superboon? +Atk or +Spd Rath? +Atk Altena or +Def superasset?

For FV!F!Robin, I lean towards +Spd to help her avoid doubles, but +Res is fine too if you stack enough Spd on her via Drives or other supports.

For Rath, I lean towards +Atk if you go Brave Bow. If you go Firesweep, either nature works.

For Altena, I lean towards +Def.

Edited May 2, 2020 by XRay

[Alexmender]

So I started building Norne by making use of the 5X SP bonus week. She's going to be +10 eventually.

Spoiler

That's the build I've got so far. I plan on giving her a Lull on her B-slot, but I can't decide between Lull Atk/Def for max tankiness or Lull Spd/Def to try and screw over speed demons. That also leads to another question, is it better to stick with +Atk all the way or change to +Spd when she reaches +10?

And a last question, is there any advantage of running a build like the one below or would it be a waste of SP/SI? 

Spoiler

 

[D4rthNoctis]

I have a few units currently stuck on +9 (Even though I have the final merge), as I can't decide between the final base asset. The same goes for a couple other lower merged units as well.

I've gone through a few dual simulator runs (Optimal builds) and it's generally always pretty even.

---

These are the heroes that I'm still trying to decide on (In no particular order) -

1. Legendary Marth (+10)(+ATK or +SPD) - Leaning towards +SPD.
2. Yough Marth (+10)(+ATK or +SPD) - Leaning towards +ATK (Effective D / 1 Shot)
3. Valentine Alm (+1)(+ATK or +SPD) - Leaning towards +SPD.
4. Legendary Celica (+4)(+ATK or +SPD)  - Leaning towards +SPD.
5. Nagi (+4 / Fodder)(+ATK or +DEF or +RES)  - ???
6. Tsubasa (+1)(+ATK or +SPD)  - Leaning towards +ATK.
7. New Years Azura (+1)(+ATK or +SPD)  - Leaning towards +SPD.
8. Female Morgan (+2)(+ATK or +SPD or +RES) - Leaning towards +ATK.
9. Tethys (+8)(+ATK or +SPD or +RES)  - Leaning towards +SPD.
10. Original Leif (+4)(+ATK or +SPD) - Leaning towards +SPD.
11. Brave Ephraim (+1)(+ATK or +DEF or +RES) - ???
12. Winter Sothis (+1)(+ATK or +SPD) - Leaning towards +SPD.
13. Legendary Eliwood (+2)(+ATK or +SPD) - Leaning towards +ATK.
14. Mage Cavalry Eirika (+7)(+ATK or +SPD) - Leaning towards +ATK.
15. Ranulf (+1)(+ATK or +SPD) - Leaning towards +SPD.
16. Original Laegjarn (+3)(+ATK or +SPD) - Leaning towards +ATK.
17. Mae (+1)(+ATK or +SPD) - Leaning towards +ATK.

If anyone has any opinions/suggestions, feel free to let me know 👍

[Vicious Sal]

On 4/30/2020 at 5:59 AM, XRay said:

 

The only anti-Desperation units are Hardy Bearing users and tanks with extreme bulk like BH!Ike. Hardy Bearing users are squishy, and I have not seen anyone use it defensively. BH!Ike is more tricky, but he can be killed on Enemy Phase with a Counter-Vantage Rauðrblade mage or just be Firesweeped to death if time is not a concern. Other tanks with extreme bulk can just be weakened with Firesweep or out right Firesweeped to death.

Most teams in higher tiers on AR-O bring Hardy bearing since vantage is becoming an increasingly used strategy on AR-D. Weapons carry vantage now, and many of these units are viable as defensive units. There were already units being used before these weapons, since the increase of Bolt tower O has made vantage thresholds easier and easier to meet. Many Sothis' are used as vantage miracle frontliners, of a tome of Thoron Tailtiu standing in the back with a +60 dmg Glacies precharged after bolt tower. One Eir with HB is useful enough to warrant a Seal slot.

On 4/30/2020 at 5:59 AM, XRay said:

The value of Close Call on a Player Phase unit is minimal. It makes Dance/Sing Reposition easier, but it does not provide the nuke with infinite sustainability. And because its purpose to is to keep the unit's HP as high as possible, it does not work well Wings of Mercy.

It's not that Close call is bad on PP units, Close call turns PP units into mixed phase tanks. At least if they are sufficiently speed stacked. This is why B!ike is rather bad with Close Call, his speed is way to low. units that have blisteringly high speed negate a lot of damage on EP, and then still have amazing Player phase because of their speed. They only need to worry about follow up negation, which is why Mareeta is one of the best users of Close Call. She has NFU in her weapon. Mareeta is one of the best sword units in the game right now. Larcei is great since she does what Sharena does, but better, with merges as an option. Byleth and Mareeta are amazing because of tankines, follow up safety and mixed phase utility.

On 4/30/2020 at 5:59 AM, XRay said:

Any enemy that a Desperation nuke cannot kill can be dealt with using a Firesweep nuke.

Aw too bad that ranges overlap on any decent map. 

On 4/30/2020 at 5:59 AM, XRay said:

The problem with Null Follow-Up is that it is only relevant against Wary Fighter tanks, which can already be handled by a Firesweep nuke, so the main nuke can stick with Desperation for infinite sustainability. Not being hard countered is not a really good benefit if it is not even relevant against the vast majority of matchups. Tanks with Wary Fighter are few and far between, and most of them are armor units who pose little to no threat.

if you really think Wary fighter countr is the best use of NFU, you have some serious lack of insight regarding this game. NFU is so valuable because it forces a speed check and guarantees your own double attacks. Everything and it's mother has follow ups or negation thereof nowadays, and we will get more since statspreads are getting more minmaxed so the low speed units need a way to be able to double. 

On AR-D, look no further than: Any Impact skill, including Eliwood. Bramimond, Armour balls, beast cavs, Yune, Duma, Tibarn, Thrasir, NY Alfonse, Lif, the list goes on. And yeah, pretty much all defense mythics are affected by NFU. So if you want to say wary fighter is what NFU is useful for, be my guest, but I can't see anywone taking that seriously, ever.

On 4/30/2020 at 5:59 AM, XRay said:

A Firesweep archer "hits really hard" with double Poison Strike, allowing any other nuke on the team to finish a tank off. 20+ HP is a pretty big deal, and a tank with 20+ HP gone becomes very vulnerable.

VS!Azura makes bonus buffs super easy to set up. Only Dulls hard counters it, and I do not see a lot of Dulls. Lulls are a little more common, but that is what you have other nukes for. Panic can be easily avoided or simply be Danced/Sung off.

Firesweep is not the bow you should be worried about, the most frightening bows on AR-D are Brave bow (bold fighter Faye excl) and most of all, budding bow. With AR-SPD/Res or SPD/DEF the cav archers deny follow ups, meaning they most likely survive and become a WoM beacon. That's what makes dark season Cav lines so dangerous. NFUcounters that as well, what do you know.

 

And good luck with your buffs when Panic Manors go to Lvl 8, Spectral tome/Legion's axe etc is everywhere, Panic smoke exists, Cav lines carry panic staves all around. Sure, one buff, that requires a pre-emptive dance and you might have your buffs. They don't work vs most maps.

[Poco Lypso]

On 4/23/2020 at 3:11 AM, Ice Dragon said:

Brave Lucina is typically considered to be a support unit due to refined Geirskogul's effect, and if you're using her for support, her Asset and Flaw don't really matter.

For combat purposes, her lower defenses make her more inclined for player-phase use.

As for her default skills, you generally want to replace Aether and Sturdy Blow. Aether is too slow to be useful, though it does help for scoring in any mode that uses Arena scoring and is cheaper than other options since she already has it, but should otherwise be replaced with a 2-cooldown Special (though Galeforce is a niche option). Sturdy Blow should be replaced with a skill that boosts Atk and Spd instead.

Her default C skill, Drive Spd, is fine to keep since it pairs well with her weapon's effect, but you can replace it with any other Drive or Drive-like skill that makes sense for your team composition. Fill in her B slot with either a Chill skill (for pure support) or Desperation (for hybrid support-combat).

 

She would be common if she weren't relatively new. But, yes, she is good for Infantry Pulse teams.

Her main draw is the fact that she's red, which allows her to more easily counter the green tanks that are used to counter the more common Ophelia.

 

AoE Special builds are typically considered to be the strongest in the game due AoE Specials having the same damage as Astra and ignoring in-combat stat boosts.

However, they are soft-countered by units running Guard, Special Fighter, tier 4 Stances, etc. due to the fact that they will prevent the Special from activating on the next round of combat. (They are also hard-countered by Nagi's weapon.)

Slaying Time's Pulse builds like Lysithea's base kit are worse at dealing with in-combat stat boosts, but don't care about Guard-like skills.

@XRay

 

Heya!

My aoe built will have to wait until I pull an Irene I guess.

But it just so happened that I pulled two Celicas.

A swift sparrow 3-atk/spd oath 3 combo inheritance would make sense (I have a couple of Naesalas).

Is this a good idea on Lysithea (sacrificing times pulse)) What about Claude?

 

[XRay]

10 hours ago, Alexmender said:

That's the build I've got so far. I plan on giving her a Lull on her B-slot, but I can't decide between Lull Atk/Def for max tankiness or Lull Spd/Def to try and screw over speed demons. That also leads to another question, is it better to stick with +Atk all the way or change to +Spd when she reaches +10?

Lull Atk/Spd is the one for max tankiness. It dampens their damage per hit and makes Norne less likely to be doubled. I recommend Lull Atk/Spd on most tanks. I would only go Lull Atk/Def or Lull Atk/Res if the tank is really slow.

8 hours ago, Alexmender said:

And a last question, is there any advantage of running a build like the one below or would it be a waste of SP/SI? 

It is a waste of resources in my opinion. Spendthrift Bow is basically an upgraded Guard Bow. I also do not recommend Bonfire as Norne is not slow enough to activate it consistently. You always want to trigger a Special during every round of combat unless there is a really good reason not to. The only reason that I can think of to go for a higher cool down Special is during Infernal or Abyssal content and you need to time your Special in order to kill the boss.

7 hours ago, D4rthNoctis said:

I have a few units currently stuck on +9 (Even though I have the final merge), as I can't decide between the final base asset. The same goes for a couple other lower merged units as well.

For Desperation Player Phase units and Spd tanks, go +Spd. Spd is more important than Atk as having enough Spd basically allows the unit double their damage output by winning the Spd check and attacking twice. For Spd tanks, they want to prevent doubles.

Brave nukes, Blazing nukes, one shot nukes, and extremely bulky Enemy Phase units want +Atk. Brave nukes, both the slow and fast versions, want +Atk. Blazing mages and one shot nukes only care about their Atk stat. Extremely bulky Enemy Phase units are units with exceptional bulk, usually has some form of Wary Fighter on their build (Myrrh, Nah, Leo, Hector with Omnibreaker, etc.) or got really strong damage mitigation (Seliph's Miracle build, BH!Ike with Close Call).

For regular slow Def/Res tanks, they want to +Def/Res to help them survive doubles.

8 hours ago, D4rthNoctis said:

• Legendary Marth (+10)(+ATK or +SPD) - Leaning towards +SPD.

+Spd. Ensuring doubles is better in most cases.

8 hours ago, D4rthNoctis said:

• Yough Marth (+10)(+ATK or +SPD) - Leaning towards +ATK (Effective D / 1 Shot)

+Atk if you plan to utilize his Vantage frequently.

+Spd if you only plan to use Effective damage but not Vantage, as +Spd allows him to double more often, effectively doubling his damage output.

8 hours ago, D4rthNoctis said:

• Valentine Alm (+1)(+ATK or +SPD) - Leaning towards +SPD.

+Spd. Doubles are important.

9 hours ago, D4rthNoctis said:

• Legendary Celica (+4)(+ATK or +SPD)  - Leaning towards +SPD.

+Spd. Doubles are important.

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

8 hours ago, D4rthNoctis said:

• Nagi (+4 / Fodder)(+ATK or +DEF or +RES)  - ???

I lean towards +Def to balance out her bulk.

If you plan to use her with two Nagas, then I would go with +Res to balance out her bulk. +Res is also good if you want her to handle Ophelia.

8 hours ago, D4rthNoctis said:

• Tsubasa (+1)(+ATK or +SPD)  - Leaning towards +ATK.

+Spd. She is fast, but I think it is best to also factor in the stat spread of future units in mind, and +Spd is generally a better option for future proofing.

9 hours ago, D4rthNoctis said:

• New Years Azura (+1)(+ATK or +SPD)  - Leaning towards +SPD.

+Spd. Doubles are important. Additionally, she can run Slaying-Galeforce supporting Caeda and Clair.

9 hours ago, D4rthNoctis said:

• Female Morgan (+2)(+ATK or +SPD or +RES) - Leaning towards +ATK.

+Spd. She is too fast to be considered a slow Res tank, so it is best to patch her Spd in my opinion to help her avoid doubles. +Spd is also good if you want to use her as a Player Phase unit.

I would only go +Atk if you plan to turn her into a Counter-Vantage unit with Blárblade.

9 hours ago, D4rthNoctis said:

• Tethys (+8)(+ATK or +SPD or +RES)  - Leaning towards +SPD.
• Original Leif (+4)(+ATK or +SPD) - Leaning towards +SPD.

+Spd. Doubles and avoiding doubles are important.

9 hours ago, D4rthNoctis said:

• Brave Ephraim (+1)(+ATK or +DEF or +RES) - ???

As a dual phase unit, +Atk is better if you wish to have him focus on Player Phase more, +Def/Res is better if you wish him to focus on Enemy Phase more.

Between +Def/Res, +Res if better if you need him to fight dragons and maybe handle mages, if you only need him to handle physical melee units, then +Def is better; I personally lean towards +Res a little more than +Def since it is more flexible.

I would pick either +Atk or +Res depending on which phase you want him to use him more. As a Player Phase player, I personally lean towards +Atk more since I prefer that play style more.

9 hours ago, D4rthNoctis said:

• Winter Sothis (+1)(+ATK or +SPD) - Leaning towards +SPD.

+Spd. Doubles and avoiding doubles are important.

9 hours ago, D4rthNoctis said:

• Legendary Eliwood (+2)(+ATK or +SPD) - Leaning towards +ATK.

Since he cannot buff himself, I would go with +Atk since you can buff his Atk as high as possible so he can draw Chill Atk away from his allies.

However, if you plan to use him with GOW!Eirika though, then I lean towards +Spd.

9 hours ago, D4rthNoctis said:

• Mage Cavalry Eirika (+7)(+ATK or +SPD) - Leaning towards +ATK.

+Spd. Doubles are important.

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

9 hours ago, D4rthNoctis said:

• Ranulf (+1)(+ATK or +SPD) - Leaning towards +SPD.

+Spd. Doubles are important.

9 hours ago, D4rthNoctis said:

• Original Laegjarn (+3)(+ATK or +SPD) - Leaning towards +ATK.

+Spd. Doubles are important.

9 hours ago, D4rthNoctis said:

1. Mae (+1)(+ATK or +SPD) - Leaning towards +ATK.

+Spd. Doubles are important.

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

57 minutes ago, Vicious Sal said:

Most teams in higher tiers on AR-O bring Hardy bearing since vantage is becoming an increasingly used strategy on AR-D. Weapons carry vantage now, and many of these units are viable as defensive units. There were already units being used before these weapons, since the increase of Bolt tower O has made vantage thresholds easier and easier to meet. Many Sothis' are used as vantage miracle frontliners, of a tome of Thoron Tailtiu standing in the back with a +60 dmg Glacies precharged after bolt tower. One Eir with HB is useful enough to warrant a Seal slot.

Then run Firesweep or a Blazing nuke. Hardy Bearing on a regular Desperation Player Phase unit is waste of a Sacred Seal slot and their Spd.

1 hour ago, Vicious Sal said:

It's not that Close call is bad on PP units, Close call turns PP units into mixed phase tanks. At least if they are sufficiently speed stacked. This is why B!ike is rather bad with Close Call, his speed is way to low. units that have blisteringly high speed negate a lot of damage on EP, and then still have amazing Player phase because of their speed. They only need to worry about follow up negation, which is why Mareeta is one of the best users of Close Call. She has NFU in her weapon. Mareeta is one of the best sword units in the game right now. Larcei is great since she does what Sharena does, but better, with merges as an option. Byleth and Mareeta are amazing because of tankines, follow up safety and mixed phase utility.

The discussion was strictly on pure Player Phase units. On a dual phase unit, it is not bad, but I would not consider Mareeta nor Larcei really good dual phase units.

58 minutes ago, Vicious Sal said:

This is why B!ike is rather bad with Close Call, his speed is way to low.

You just need to bring two Peonys and line them up.

59 minutes ago, Vicious Sal said:

Aw too bad that ranges overlap on any decent map. 

Then handle those other threats first.

1 hour ago, Vicious Sal said:

Aw too bad that ranges overlap on any decent map. 

Again, the discussion is just about pure Player Phase. I have no issue with players using Null Follow-up defensively.

1 hour ago, Vicious Sal said:

Firesweep is not the bow you should be worried about, the most frightening bows on AR-D are Brave bow (bold fighter Faye excl) and most of all, budding bow. With AR-SPD/Res or SPD/DEF the cav archers deny follow ups, meaning they most likely survive and become a WoM beacon. That's what makes dark season Cav lines so dangerous. NFUcounters that as well, what do you know.

Brave units are the least of a super tank's concern. A super tank got enough Def/Res to handle Brave Weapons and a properly build super tank should have Guard somewhere on their build to disable enemy Specials.

Again, I am not opposed to Null Follow-Up for defensive use. I am opposed it being used on a strictly Player Phase unit.

1 hour ago, Vicious Sal said:

And good luck with your buffs when Panic Manors go to Lvl 8, Spectral tome/Legion's axe etc is everywhere, Panic smoke exists, Cav lines carry panic staves all around. Sure, one buff, that requires a pre-emptive dance and you might have your buffs. They don't work vs most maps.

Blade mages are not the only nukes a player should run. That is like arguing Counter-Vantage is crap because anti Counter-Vantage measures are everywhere. Counter-Vantage is not crap because there are ways to disable those anti Counter-Vantage measures, just as there are ways to disable anti-buffing measures. A player should still run Counter-Vantage somewhere on one of their team slots because not all maps have appropriate anti Counter-Vantage measures in place. The most effective anti bonus buff measures against a Player Phase team are Dulls and Lulls, as Player Phase teams can afford to give up a Dance/Sing to shrug off Panic since the run two Dancers/Singers.

[Landmaster]

16 hours ago, Zeo said:

 

I've got more than one question, but I'm going to keep this post brief with just the one.

Ross wants Infantry Breath support badly, and Lute, his best pal would love nothing more than to prove her superiority by boasting just how useless he is without her support. And she wants to rub it in his face even further by giving him instant Sol/Noontime procs. Problem is... I have 2 Nahs... and both natures are great, so I don't know which one to fodder.

(I know units like OG Marth, etc may be better units for Infantry Breath but Lute/Ross is a pair made in heaven so I've 100% decided she's getting it. Still you can give me suggestions if you think there are other Inf. Breath candidates I should look at, my mind's made up though.)

So... my first Nah is +DEF/-HP and my 2nd Nah who I was ready to fodder as soon as I saw her is... +ATK/-RES. Yep, so I'm torn as to which I should part with. On one hand, +ATK is probably one of her best natures if not her best and if I grab a merge for her later on It'll get rid of her -RES bane and she'll probably have the best boon. On the other hand, with +DEF/-HP she trades the 38/29 bulk spread she'd have with the +ATK nature for a much much nicer 41/32 which just looks a lot nicer to my eye.

I know realistically she would like something like Distant Counter or Lightning Breath or... more investment to be a powerhouse and I basically haven't even used either Nah since I got her outside of training to get to level 40, but It's my perpetual indecisiveness that's stopping me from just throwing my hands up and foddering one, so I'd like some help. Though I'm leaning towards +DEF/-HP because I feel like +3 to both DEF/RES may be better than +3 ATK alone.

Thoughts?

As a resident Nah user, her best boon is +Res, IMO, and since the +Atk one is -Res, I'd lean towards foddering that one and waiting for a +Res copy. 

But since you don't really use her and she doesn't have DC (don't give her Lightning Breath, for the love of Sothis) and I don't see you giving it to her, I'd keep the +Atk copy because for a one off unit you're never gonna use, why not just stick with the +Atk. I imagine she'll see some use in AA and want to be dealing the most damage she can. So, I'd go with that.

[XRay]

26 minutes ago, Poco Lypso said:

Heya!

My aoe built will have to wait until I pull an Irene I guess.

But it just so happened that I pulled two Celicas.

A swift sparrow 3-atk/spd oath 3 combo inheritance would make sense (I have a couple of Naesalas).

Is this a good idea on Lysithea (sacrificing times pulse)) What about Claude?

It is not worth it to sacrifice Time's Pulse, as Lysithea needs it to keep Moonbow charged. Hades Ω needs the Special to be ready at the start of combat to provide stat boosts.

Atk/Spd Oath also is not necessary for most Player Phase units since a Dancer/Singer can easily provide those buffs.

Both Lysithea and Claude can use Swift Sparrow. If you give Lysithea Swift Sparrow, then I recommend changing her B skill to Desperation to better take advantage of her increase in Spd.

[Poco Lypso]

25 minutes ago, XRay said:

It is not worth it to sacrifice Time's Pulse, as Lysithea needs it to keep Moonbow charged. Hades Ω needs the Special to be ready at the start of combat to provide stat boosts.

Atk/Spd Oath also is not necessary for most Player Phase units since a Dancer/Singer can easily provide those buffs.

Both Lysithea and Claude can use Swift Sparrow. If you give Lysithea Swift Sparrow, then I recommend changing her B skill to Desperation to better take advantage of her increase in Spd.

Are there any units that would benefit from a ss3 atk/spd oath 3 combo or atk/spd oath 3 with a different a-skill?

[XRay]

3 minutes ago, Poco Lypso said:

Are there any units that would benefit from a ss3 atk/spd oath 3 combo or atk/spd oath 3 with a different a-skill?

I do not see a lot of value in Atk/Spd Oath since most Dancers/Singers can already provide Hone Atk/Hone Spd buffs or stronger versions of those buffs, and Atk/Spd Oath's Atk/Spd+1 over Hone Atk/Hone Spd is not really worth it to take up the whole C slot in my opinion. I would run Savage Blow, Def Smoke, or Res Smoke to help the nuke kill things, or run Hone Def or Hone Res to help buff a Blade mage ally.

I recommend basing your decision on who can make the best use of Swift Sparrow 3 rather than who can make the best use of Atk/Spd Oath. I would treat Atk/Spd Oath as the cherry on top or as a side grade option, since it is not nowhere near as crucial as the A skill.

[Xenomata]

Hey @XRay remember this long post you made in response to my latest +10ing desires?

I been thinking, because despite the recommendations you made I still didn't really have that concrete of an answer, but recently I realized that I'm sitting on a unit who could literally enable a units whole build: Velouria (she grants -2 special cooldown to her support partner at the start of a battle)

I know I can switch her support partner whenever needed, but with her and your above response in mind, who do you think would be best suited not just for being built, but also receiving Velouria's boon?

[SockPuppet]

I want to make my boy Odin the best possible offensive unit he can be. Aside from there being MANY different options for him, would Mirror Impact do him good? 

[TheSilentChloey]

I have a +Atk/-Res Bowcina and gave her SS3 and Atk/Spd Oath 3, do those synergise with her build (note she's 41 spd, so no difficulties in doubling at base, she has 0 dragonflowers)?  Are there other skills she might like (SS2 S seal or keeping her current spd boosting S Seal for example)?

[XRay]

3 hours ago, Xenomata said:

I been thinking, because despite the recommendations you made I still didn't really have that concrete of an answer, but recently I realized that I'm sitting on a unit who could literally enable a units whole build: Velouria (she grants -2 special cooldown to her support partner at the start of a battle)

I know I can switch her support partner whenever needed, but with her and your above response in mind, who do you think would be best suited not just for being built, but also receiving Velouria's boon?

Definitely Peri, since she seems to be the best option out of that list who can Galeforce.

1 hour ago, SockPuppet said:

I want to make my boy Odin the best possible offensive unit he can be. Aside from there being MANY different options for him, would Mirror Impact do him good? 

Swift Sparrow or any other A skill that boosts Atk/Spd are better in my opinion. I would go Impact only if you plan to use him on your defense team. For the A slot, as a Desperation nuke, they want to have an A skill that gives Atk/Spd, not Atk/Res or any other combination.

28 minutes ago, TheSilentChloey said:

I have a +Atk/-Res Bowcina and gave her SS3 and Atk/Spd Oath 3, do those synergise with her build (note she's 41 spd, so no difficulties in doubling at base, she has 0 dragonflowers)?  Are there other skills she might like (SS2 S seal or keeping her current spd boosting S Seal for example)?

Swift Sparrow is good, and yeah, you want Swift Sparrow on the Sacred Seal slot too.

Atk/Spd Oath not so much. It is not a horrible C skill, it just does not really do anything compared to other options since the Dancer/Singer should already be providing those buffs to the team. For the C slot, I would go with Savage Blow or Def Smoke if you want her to nuke harder. Alternatively, I would use any skill that can that can buff her allies Def or Res so allied Blade mages can hit harder.

Edited May 3, 2020 by XRay