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

[XRay]

6 hours ago, TheSilentChloey said:

I just noticed that Emmeryn needs a massive skill overhaul any suggested supporting sets I can make use of to make her the best strictly supporting unit she can be?

A standard budget Pain/Gravity set will work fine.
Pain — Gravity
Dazzling Staff Refinement — Wrathful Staff Refinement (with Dazzling Staff)
Restore — Physic
(Any Special) — Miracle
Attack +3
(Any B) — Wings of Mercy — Dazzling Staff — Wrathful Staff
(Any C) — Savage Blow
Attack +3 — Savage Blow

If you want to spend more, you can go with something like this:
Pain — Gravity
Dazzling Staff Refinement — Wrathful Staff Refinement
Restore — Physic — Martyr
(Any Special) — Miracle
Atk/Spd Solo — Atk/Spd Push (with Martyr or Renewal/Live to Serve)
Dazzling Staff — Wrathful Staff
(Any C) — Savage Blow
Atk/Spd — Savage Blow — Renewal — Live to Serve.

6 hours ago, TheSilentChloey said:

Also are there any suggested builds for Mustafa?  His skills also need an overhaul  as well, desperately.

Slow Brave:
+Atk
Brave Axe
Reposition
Moonbow
Death Blow
Lull Atk/Def — Dull Close
(Any C)
Death Blow

Galeforce:
+Atk
Brave Axe
Reposition
Galeforce
Death Blow
Lull Atk/Def — Dull Close — Wings of Mercy
Time's Pulse
Heavy Blade

Def/Res Tank:
+Def/Res
Barrier Axe — Rearguard — Handbell — Sack o' Gifts — Guard Axe — Hack-o'-Lantern — Slaying Axe — Huge Fan
Def Refinement — Res Refinement
Bonfire — Ignis (with Slaying Axe)
Distant Counter — Mirror Stance — Sturdy Stance
Quick Riposte — Guard — Lull Atk/Def
Atk Smoke — Pulse Smoke — Panic Smoke
Quick Riposte — Sturdy Stance — Mirror Stance
Just make sure you balance out his Def/Res.

53 minutes ago, shadowofchaos said:

Generally my standard before was if the game can still let you beat harder content (like Abyssal) with non-merged 5* units, it still was forgivable. Is that still true today? Or has the stat inflation for enemy units gone to ridiculous levels?

It is technically doable, since there a lot of free-to-play guides out there that tries to help new players who have minimal resources to complete them, but if you want to complete them without guides, it may take a while depending on the strategy you choose.

A Blade mage with 3 Dancers/Singers should have no issue clearing most Abyssals within half an hour, depending on how familiar you are with Player Phase teams, but they may still have trouble with a few specific Abyssal maps. I still recommend giving the nuke merges, Flowers, and/or temporary Summoner Support if possible just to make sure they can kill things more easily. If you are using a nuke from the 3*/4* pool, giving them a merge is not a huge deal in my opinion since a lot of veterans probably have at least one or two units from the 3*/4* pool at 5*+10 by now.

Edited June 5, 2020 by XRay

[shadowofchaos]

3 minutes ago, XRay said:

It is technically doable, since there a lot of free-to-play guides out there that tries to help new players who have minimal resources to complete them, but if you want to complete them without guides, it may take a while depending on the strategy you choose.

A Blade mage with 3 Dancers/Singers should have no issue clearing most Abyssals within half an hour, depending on how familiar you are with Player Phase teams, but they may still have trouble with a few specific Abyssal maps. I still recommend giving the nuke merges, Flowers, and/or temporary Summoner Support if possible just to make sure they can kill things more easily. If you are using a nuke from the 3*/4* pool, giving them a merge is not a huge deal in my opinion since a lot of veterans probably have at least one or two units from the 3*/4* pool at 5*+10 by now.

So my usual shenanigans from 2018 probably isn't viable anymore.
For context my non merge 5*s are of the power level back then illustrated in this video. So I'm guessing the power gap is just too high for my playstyle.

Spoiler

 

 

[XRay]

17 minutes ago, shadowofchaos said:

So my usual shenanigans from 2018 probably isn't viable anymore.

I think it should still be okay, but if you are going for no merges nor Flowers, I recommend at least utilizing Summoner Support and Ally Support to provide some additional stats just to make things easier. You may also want to inherit more powerful skills into them as well.

I normally take under 20 minutes to solve most Abyssals using a nuke with 3 Dancers/Singers. If it take me any longer than 30 minutes to an hour, I usually give up and use a guide.

I am not sure how long it usually takes you to solve Abyssal, but I think most players on here are probably more patient than me and are willing to spend up to at least an hour or two. I think @Hilda is able to complete every Abyssal map with just the Askr Trio and AOTB!Veronica, although quite a bit of investment was poured into those units, so what they lack in merges (not like the Askr Trio can be merged anyways) is compensated for by skills.

Edited June 5, 2020 by XRay

[shadowofchaos]

29 minutes ago, XRay said:

so what they lack in merges (not like the Askr Trio can be merged anyways) is compensated for by skills.

That's what I'm afraid of because I don't have access to skill inheritance of the newer skills.

Which means I'm probably already been "punished" for being late to the party. Alas that's what happens with Gacha games.
Well, except Granblue if you're a casual (lol the whales get left behind by other whales every other day)

[Hilda]

4 hours ago, shadowofchaos said:

That's what I'm afraid of because I don't have access to skill inheritance of the newer skills.

Which means I'm probably already been "punished" for being late to the party. Alas that's what happens with Gacha games.
Well, except Granblue if you're a casual (lol the whales get left behind by other whales every other day)

what @XRaysays. Usually you should be fine with old +10 units and old skills to solve abyssal if you have invested into them with Dragonflowers and summoner support. The latest Abyssal stat bump and max BST powercreep makes it near impossible for the Askrtrio to clear Abyssals without any heavy investment. up until Leaf abyssal i was able to clear the stuff without any Dragonflower Summoner Support or a beefed up Veronica (although i used skill inheritance).

Dont neglect old skills. Some old skills are actually still very good. Threaten Skills can change a map quite alot and make it easier although the skill is quite bad for PVP but great in PVE when you take positioning and spawn points into account.

The question is do you want to use new Tier 4 skills on unmerged units or merge up easy old units and give them Dragonflower.

New units should be able to clear Abyssals without neither of those depending on the Team-Comp

please note i am not useing Dancer in my clears, this makes it extra harder. But thats my preference.

In general though if you use the newer F2P units like Eir, Peony etc you should be fine without merges and not much or heavy skill inheritance, if you want to use specific loved units it depends on the Team comp

Edited June 5, 2020 by Hilda

[Karimlan]

With Clarisse's refine dropping, the potential to stack damage post-combat is immense. Would you guys still recommend Wind/Watersweep as a B slot or something else entirely? (I do have a Null Follow-Up that I could use as insurance against stuff like Wary Fighter)

[TheSilentChloey]

So I gave Henry Null Disrupt- was that a good move to let him handle fire sweep units?

[XRay]

3 minutes ago, Karimlan said:

With Clarisse's refine dropping, the potential to stack damage post-combat is immense. Would you guys still recommend Wind/Watersweep as a B slot or something else entirely? (I do have a Null Follow-Up that I could use as insurance against stuff like Wary Fighter)

Windsweep/Watersweep is fine, but keep in mind that a lot of the latest units are pretty fast, so Windsweep/Watersweep might not be consistent. Should be fine against most armor units and slow tanks.

Personally, I would just use a Pain unit or Firesweep archer and not worry about the hassle of enemy selection and stat checks.

1 minute ago, TheSilentChloey said:

So I gave Henry Null Disrupt- was that a good move to let him handle fire sweep units?

His damage output is pretty pathetic, so make sure he runs Moonbow/Glimmer/Ruptured Sky, Triangle Adept, and Quick Riposte Sacred Seal so he can actually kill things.

[TheSilentChloey]

2 minutes ago, XRay said:

Windsweep/Watersweep is fine, but keep in mind that a lot of the latest units are pretty fast, so Windsweep/Watersweep might not be consistent. Should be fine against most armor units and slow tanks.

Personally, I would just use a Pain unit or Firesweep archer and not worry about the hassle of enemy selection and stat checks.

His damage output is pretty pathetic, so make sure he runs Moonbow/Glimmer/Ruptured Sky, Triangle Adept, and Quick Riposte Sacred Seal so he can actually kill things.

He actually does killer Ignus activation with fort def/res that's the whole point of his build...

[XRay]

Just now, TheSilentChloey said:

He actually does killer Ignus activation with fort def/res that's the whole point of his build...

Ignis is too slow. You want to activate a Special during every round of combat to kill things immediately. It is generally not a good idea to leave things alive after a round of combat due to reinforcements and Wings of Mercy, and leaving foes alive just opens up a lot of problems.

[shadowofchaos]

4 hours ago, Hilda said:

what @XRaysays. Usually you should be fine with old +10 units and old skills to solve abyssal if you have invested into them with Dragonflowers and summoner support. The latest Abyssal stat bump and max BST powercreep makes it near impossible for the Askrtrio to clear Abyssals without any heavy investment. up until Leaf abyssal i was able to clear the stuff without any Dragonflower Summoner Support or a beefed up Veronica (although i used skill inheritance).

Dont neglect old skills. Some old skills are actually still very good. Threaten Skills can change a map quite alot and make it easier although the skill is quite bad for PVP but great in PVE when you take positioning and spawn points into account.

The question is do you want to use new Tier 4 skills on unmerged units or merge up easy old units and give them Dragonflower.

New units should be able to clear Abyssals without neither of those depending on the Team-Comp

please note i am not useing Dancer in my clears, this makes it extra harder. But thats my preference.

In general though if you use the newer F2P units like Eir, Peony etc you should be fine without merges and not much or heavy skill inheritance, if you want to use specific loved units it depends on the Team comp

You assume I merged. I actively avoided merging as that was my measure for quitting the game (I played a lot of predatory JP only gachas a lot before Heroes) before it got too ridiculous.

[Sias]

I'm once again clearing up my barracks and therefore returning for some more questions, and even though I know that it's a lot again, I'll at least try to keep it somewhat short:

1. I have a +Def Fae and a +Res Nowi with a Steady Breath/Res-refined Lightning Breath combo each. Am I right in my assumption that it's better to keep them the way they are atm than to switch them out for the +Spd versions I pulled recently? If it matters, I don't use them as AR supertanks, so they usually don't get massive stat buffs either (unless L!Azura is also around or something like that).

2. Would Mordecai appreciate a +Def or a +Atk nature more? I suppose it's not all that important since he is first and foremost a support unit, but I have the choice on which one to keep, so... And additionally: What are some good C slot options? I've considered giving him an Opening skill, which would enable him to support his teammates even after he already used Smite to push them wherever.

3. Any good (but nevertheless somehat budgety) A slot skills for Hardin ? Should I go for Death Blow to strengthen the Bold Fighter stuff he can do or instead try to improve his enemy phase?

4. I still have a spare NY!Corrin sitting around, and... Is there any way to make him useful? He's okay as a Brave Bow archer or physical tank, but outclassed by Klein and Gordin/Faye and Norne respectively, so I'm not sure what to do with him...

5. For people that have good Def or Res, but no way to accelerate their special charge (I dunno, like Eir, NY!Laegjarn. Iago, Rafiel or the aforementioned Mordecai maybe): Is it worth it to bank on their high defenses in order to get hefty Bonfire/Iceberg activations or would it be better to let them use a faster special skill (probably Moonbow)? Or does it make a difference whether the character in question is player phase focused, an enemy phase tank or more of a support unit?

6. If I want to replace Adrift male Corrin's native Atk/Def Bond due to its somewhat unreliable positioning requirement and don't have a Breath skill available, should I just go for the standard Fury? I'm kinda unsure as he's pretty balanced statwise and therefore able to do a lot of things.

7. How do you feel about Desperation on characters with Spd values that aren't really bad, but not exactly great either (something around 35 maybe). Similarly, when choosing between Life and Death or Fury: What's the least amount of bulk you try to keep on glass cannon characters?

8. When picking C slot skills for members of Flier/Cavalry Emblem teams: How do you spread the Hone and Fortify skills around? In theory things would work out nicely if offensive units would supply defensive buffs and vice versa, but in practice it's not quite that simple - Hone Fliers is still a somewhat rare skill and tanky units often prefer to use Atk Smoke instead of a  supportive ability, so...

Anyways, huge thanks to anyone who actually bothered to read through all of this, haha.

[XRay]

7 minutes ago, Sias said:

1. I have a +Def Fae and a +Res Nowi with a Steady Breath/Res-refined Lightning Breath combo each. Am I right in my assumption that it's better to keep them the way they are atm than to switch them out for the +Spd versions I pulled recently? If it matters, I don't use them as AR supertanks, so they usually don't get massive stat buffs either (unless L!Azura is also around or something like that).

If you are not bringing them to Aether Raids, you do not need to give them +Spd. They will work fine as slow Def/Res tanks in PvE content.

9 minutes ago, Sias said:

2. Would Mordecai appreciate a +Def or a +Atk nature more? I suppose it's not all that important since he is first and foremost a support unit, but I have the choice on which one to keep, so... And additionally: What are some good C slot options? I've considered giving him an Opening skill, which would enable him to support his teammates even after he already used Smite to push them wherever.

Since Mila is a thing now, I would go with +Def in case he lands in the same column as her.

10 minutes ago, Sias said:

3. Any good (but nevertheless somehat budgety) A slot skills for Hardin ? Should I go for Death Blow to strengthen the Bold Fighter stuff he can do or instead try to improve his enemy phase?

For a cheap dual phase build:
Gradivus
Reposition — Swap
Moonbow
Mirror Stance
Bold Fighter
(Any C)
Quick Riposte

14 minutes ago, Sias said:

4. I still have a spare NY!Corrin sitting around, and... Is there any way to make him useful? He's okay as a Brave Bow archer or physical tank, but outclassed by Klein and Gordin/Faye and Norne respectively, so I'm not sure what to do with him...

Slow Brave is fine for Arena Assault.

15 minutes ago, Sias said:

5. For people that have good Def or Res, but no way to accelerate their special charge (I dunno, like Eir, NY!Laegjarn. Iago, Rafiel or the aforementioned Mordecai maybe): Is it worth it to bank on their high defenses in order to get hefty Bonfire/Iceberg activations or would it be better to let them use a faster special skill (probably Moonbow)? Or does it make a difference whether the character in question is player phase focused, an enemy phase tank or more of a support unit?

You almost always want to activate a Special during every single round of combat to kill things. If it is impossible to activate it during every round of combat, then you want to activate it as often as possible.

Player Phase units generally want to run Moonbow or Ruptured Sky. Anything else is more for niche applications and specialized builds.

If an Enemy Phase unit is sufficiently slow (less than 30 Spd), you can use Bonfire/Iceberg. If the tank is not slow enough (30 Spd or more), then you want to use Moonbow or Ruptured Sky. If your slow tank is often facing other slow foes who cannot double the tank, then you want also want to run Moonbow and Ruptured Sky on your slow tank.

Support units should stick with Moonbow. If they face enough combat to fully charge Moonbow, they should use Moonbow to quickly annihilate the threat. Just like regular combat units, I do not think it makes sense to kill a foe with Ignis later when the unit can kill a foe with Moonbow sooner.

33 minutes ago, Sias said:

6. If I want to replace Adrift male Corrin's native Atk/Def Bond due to its somewhat unreliable positioning requirement and don't have a Breath skill available, should I just go for the standard Fury? I'm kinda unsure as he's pretty balanced statwise and therefore able to do a lot of things.

What do you want him to do? Player Phase? Enemy Phase? Dual phase?

34 minutes ago, Sias said:

7. How do you feel about Desperation on characters with Spd values that aren't really bad, but not exactly great either (something around 35 maybe). Similarly, when choosing between Life and Death or Fury: What's the least amount of bulk you try to keep on glass cannon characters?

You boost that Spd up with the A slot, Sacred Seal, and buffs.

The standard Player Phase build is:
+Spd
Blade tomes — Brave Weapons (with Luna) — Barb Shuriken — Melee Slaying Weapons
Spd Refinement
Reposition
Moonbow — Ruptured Sky — Luna (with Brave Weapons)
(Any A that boosts Atk/Spd)
Desperation
(Any C)
(Any Sacred Seal that boosts Atk/Spd)
At the bare minimum, Player Phase unit with the standard build should reach 45 Spd factoring skills and buffs, which should not be difficult to achieve. If they cannot reach 45 Spd with skills and buffs, then they should run other types of build.

Between Life and Death and Fury, ideally you want to have both on the unit. Whenever possible, you want to use Life and Death. However, if you need to reach Desperation or Wings of Mercy range quickly and reliably, you switch to Fury.

The vast majority of Player Phase units need just enough bulk to take a hit or eat a counter attack to get into Desperation and/or Wings of Mercy range. Other than that, Plaer Phase units want bulk to be as low as possible to reach Desperation and Wings of Mercy range quickly.

56 minutes ago, Sias said:

8. When picking C slot skills for members of Flier/Cavalry Emblem teams: How do you spread the Hone and Fortify skills around? In theory things would work out nicely if offensive units would supply defensive buffs and vice versa, but in practice it's not quite that simple - Hone Fliers is still a somewhat rare skill and tanky units often prefer to use Atk Smoke instead of a  supportive ability, so...

Depends on your Barracks. For me, the vast majority of my of cavalry and fliers are Player Phase units.

For cavalry, with few exceptions, I run Hone Cavalry for almost all of them. I only switch some of them out for Fortify Cavalry if I am making a temporary full cavalry team to clear quests. For a full cavalry team to clear quests, you need to look at the map and think about how you want to tackle the map to determine which cavalry unit carries a Hone and which carries a Fortify. I normally only run one Enemy Phase cavalry at most in a full cavalry team, so I only bring one Fortify Cavalry.

Since Hone Fliers is rare and expensive, I leave it on fliers if it is their default C skill. With few exceptions, all other fliers run Fortify Fliers.

I do not use Enemy Phase cavalry and fliers often, and when I do, I only use them against colors they are strong against, so they generally do not need buffs to do well in those scenarios.

[Ice Dragon]

5 hours ago, shadowofchaos said:

You assume I merged. I actively avoided merging as that was my measure for quitting the game (I played a lot of predatory JP only gachas a lot before Heroes) before it got too ridiculous.

It's normal to assume that players will merge units that they have merge fodder for and that a player who has been playing for a while will have at least a few moderately well merged common units.

It is not the norm to avoid merging units even when you have the resources to do so, and players will not assume that that's what you're doing unless you say so.

Edited June 6, 2020 by Ice Dragon

[TheSilentChloey]

This is Emm's current build, I have yet to figure out if she wants Atk/Def gap or not.  I totally intend to 10+ her at some point like Lissa.  I don't want her seeing any combat, so a purely support build was my goal, since Emm is more of a support type of person anyway and it'd keep her in character (sorry I just can't turn her into a combat unit, so pls no combat skills thanks).

[XRay]

57 minutes ago, TheSilentChloey said:

This is Emm's current build, I have yet to figure out if she wants Atk/Def gap or not.  I totally intend to 10+ her at some point like Lissa.  I don't want her seeing any combat, so a purely support build was my goal, since Emm is more of a support type of person anyway and it'd keep her in character (sorry I just can't turn her into a combat unit, so pls no combat skills thanks).

If you are going with Toasty Skewer, then I do not recommend running most bonus buffs. It is best for her to double down on Drives and Guards for her C Slot and Sacred Seal so the unit she is supporting is not vulnerable to Panic. Toasty Skewer with Close Guard and Distant Guard will give the unit she is supporting Def/Res+7; if running a Guard on the C slot is too expensive, Drive Def and Drive Res combo will still give a respectable Def/Res+6; Drive Atk and Drive Spd combo will give all stats +3, similar to her niece's Geirskögul.

Gaps and Openings will target the unit with the highest total of certain stats, which may or may not be the current unit she is supporting with Toasty Skewer. Gaps and Openings will require a lot of fine tuning in team composition and unit builds, and in my opinion, it works best on a team composition that has one combat unit since it is easy to adjust stats of one unit. Gaps and Openings are not really worth it in my opinion unless the support unit has a whole kit dedicated to it. Hones and Fortifies do not mesh with Toasty Skewer due to adjacency requirements. Tactics are fine though if you got the right team composition since it works within Drive range, but I would still stick with Drives and Guards as her default build and only switch to Tactics on a map by map basis if you do not see a lot of Panic on a map.

If she is going for a support build, I do not recommend Attack +3. Attack +3 will give her slightly more healing, but the tiny boost in healing is not worth it in my opinion compared to other options. I would run Fort Def/Res or HP+5 depending on what you are running on the B slot. Even if you are running Chills, I would still go with Fort. Def/Res to have better survivability.

Drive Support:
Toasty Skewer
Dazzling Staff Refinement
Physic — Restore
(Any Special)
Fort. Def/Res (Sabotage) — HP+5 (Sudden Panic, Pulse Ties)
(Any Sabotage) — (Any Pulse Ties) — (Any Chill)
(Any Drive) — (Any Guard) — (Any Tactic)
(Any Drive) — (Any Guard) — (Any Tactic)
If you want Fort. Def/Res but cannot afford it, then just go with Fortress Res until you can afford Fort. Def/Res. I would stick with Physic for most situations, but I also recommend giving her Restore as well in case you encounter a map where you need to relieve a lot of status debuffs.

Edited June 6, 2020 by XRay

[shadowofchaos]

8 hours ago, Ice Dragon said:

It's normal to assume that players will merge units that they have merge fodder for and that a player who has been playing for a while will have at least a few moderately well merged common units.

It is not the norm to avoid merging units even when you have the resources to do so, and players will not assume that that's what you're doing unless you say so.

That's a valid criticism of my playstyle.

I apologize for my tone earlier.

Though I do believe that assuming having older 5*+10s seems a bit much for an assumption. Unless those 5*s are units that get upgraded with feathers and not 5* exclusive.

[Sunwoo]

@shadowofchaos 'Tis totally possible to play through the game without merging anything, even the book 1 launch units. I haven't merged a single 5-star at all 😛

Admittedly, some of those are a bit more difficult to use and/or may need specific support. But they're still usable. Worst case scenario, you have people like PheonixMaster1 who manage to figure out abyssal using unmerged f2p units if you're struggling with the much harder content.

Also hello haven't seen you in a while

Edited June 7, 2020 by Sunwoo

[TheSilentChloey]

I can't believe my luck right now.

 

I just pulled a completely neutral Say'ri sparing me from having to choose between her and Anna as well as a -HP/+Def fallen Ike.  Sooo...

 

Who would want his skills- knowing that it'll take a while for me to build them up to level 40 convo and I won't be foddering them until at least that.  I'm not foddering Say'ri lol, at least not until I find out what her english voice sounds like and if I can stand them.

Edited June 7, 2020 by TheSilentChloey
IV mix up lol

[XRay]

41 minutes ago, TheSilentChloey said:

Who would want his skills- knowing that it'll take a while for me to build them up to level 40 convo and I won't be foddering them until at least that.  I'm not foddering Say'ri lol, at least not until I find out what her english voice sounds like and if I can stand them.

Darting Breath overall is basically just a weaker version of Kestrel Stance. Kestrel Stance gives higher Spd and Guard effect, and Darting Breath's cooldown charge increase is basically just a more variable Atk boost that is more or less comparable to Kestrel Stance's Atk boost.

A slot Breaths' small advantage over Stances are their ability to activate Aether more consistently for autobattling lower difficulty but more grindy modes like Tempest Trials. For high difficulty content, Stances are generally better than Breaths in my opinion.

I would give Darting Breath to Y!Tiki or any fast Lightning Breath dragons. Fast dual phase armors with Bold Fighter-Quick Riposte like Darkness Within Y!Tiki or Tiki: Legendary Dragon are also good candidates.

Edited June 7, 2020 by XRay

[Lycan]

If anyone can think of a better build for this man, let me know.  I've been away from the game for a while and am not sure how I feel about his build.  It's really useful sometimes and useless others....

I went w/ sturdy impact over firesweep b/c A) firesweep wasnt a thing yet and B) I wanted to make use of his def somehow since he has it.

https://imgur.com/GYLMoKv

Edited June 7, 2020 by Lycan

[XRay]

12 minutes ago, Lycan said:

If anyone can think of a better build for this man, let me know.  I've been away from the game for a while and am not sure how I feel about his build.  It's really useful sometimes and useless others....

I went w/ sturdy impact over firesweep b/c A) firesweep wasnt a thing yet and B) I wanted to make use of his def somehow since he has it.

https://imgur.com/GYLMoKv

Just because a unit has a high stat does not mean you want to use it.

Player Phase units in general do not want bulk. If anything, they want bulk to be as low as possible to get into Desperation range easier. Once you get into Desperation range, bulk becomes irrelevant, hence you want to pump Atk/Spd as high as possible and dump HP/Def/Res whenever possible. Without Desperation, a Player Phase unit's combat performance drops overtime and bringing a healer is just a waste of a slot that could go towards another nuke or Dancer/Singer.

If you are going with Galeforce, I would run Life and Death or Swift Sparrow to patch his Spd and run Desperation on the B slot. I would get rid of Def Smoke and run Atk Smoke or Spd Smoke instead, both to reduce the chances of killing things in one shot (which would cause Galeforce to fail to activate) and to increase his chances of activating Heavy Blade or to double.

The build will look something like this:
+Spd
Slaying Axe [Spd]
Reposition
Galeforce
Life and Death — Swift Sparrow
Desperation
Atk Smoke — Spd Smoke
Heavy Blade
Personally, I prefer Life and Death for bulk reduction, making it easier to get into Desperation range and ideally Wings of Mercy range.

[Alexmender]

 

I'd like to know ways to improve this AR-D team. The gist is that it is an Infantry Pulse Rally trap team, it's still a WIP so some units will look a little odd right now:

First is the map. 

Spoiler

It is a little cookie-cutter and I'm not too fond of having the Panic Manor overlap with Seliph's range. 

The units:

Spoiler

Standard Thrasir with basically base kit. I plan to change Moonbow for a stronger Special because she'll recieve IP bonuses. Should I go for Luna or for Astra?

 

Spoiler

I think she's set outside of fixing the -Def. I'm open to skill change suggestions, though. 

 

Spoiler

The C and S slots are open, I just put these to avoid Panic but I'd appreciate ideas for those two skills. Tactics aren't an option because IP team means they won't proc. I'll change her down the line with Sylvia to ensure the use of higher CD specials for the team. 

On that note, if I use Sylvia should I go for a full HP Sudden Panic build or something like Slaying Edge+GF build?

 

Spoiler

I'll change his C slot for Infantry Pulse as soon as I get enough grails for an extra Marisa copy. 

 

Spoiler

This is filler. I don't know what kind of unit I should use to replace her. Should I use an archer like Virion or a mage like F!Julia?

 

Spoiler

The main unit, I think. The idea is that she and Mirabilis will debuff the opposing team if they're close to each other thanks to the huge amounts of Res these two have and Lute will have Iceberg (Glacies when I get Sylvia up and running) pre-charged from her IP teammates. I don't mind suggestions of units that work better than her at being the main damage dealer, just don't suggest Broadleaf Fan+ users because I don't have that fodder.

 

[XRay]

2 hours ago, Alexmender said:

I'll change his C slot for Infantry Pulse as soon as I get enough grails for an extra Marisa copy. 

I would replace his Sacred Seal with Brazen Atk/Res, Fierce Stance, or HP/Atk to improve his combat performance. Panic Ploy is too easy to avoid and he is too snipable without enough protection from Traps.

2 hours ago, Alexmender said:

This is filler. I don't know what kind of unit I should use to replace her. Should I use an archer like Virion or a mage like F!Julia?

I lean towards DB!Julia. Virion is better on offense in my opinion because the AI does not know how to avoid being Panicked. On defense, Virion does not really do anything since super tank teams are already using an open formation and running Drives, and Player Phase teams can just Dance/Sing the debuff off or use Tactics to avoid adjacency requirements.

[Kaden]

On 5/29/2020 at 9:41 AM, XRay said:

Do you have a preference between Player Phase, Enemy Phase, dual phase, or find a particular tactic or team composition interesting? If you completely have no preference for play style, is there a mode that you prioritize or that it is your favorite? And what play style do you use the most often for that mode?

I thought about and I think the problem is that I don't really have a preference when it comes to a unit role, tactics, or team composition. Dual phase units are probably the closest I have to a preference, but I know that a unit can't do everything. Armors are my least favorite due to their movement, especially during Rival Domains or Grand Conquests. Same deal with modes. I don't really care for them much. With regards to PvP modes, Aether Raids annoys me at times, Arena Assault is tedious and counter-picking, and Arena I just end up using a team made up of the bonus units of the season.

Of the units I find the most interesting recently, it's regular Mareeta. It's mainly through her Close Call allowing her to be deceptively bulky against units she significantly out-speed while also being a good player phase unit. For character favoritism, Echidna. I really like her art and English voice. For performance, I feel like Eleonora stands out for being really helpful in Aether Raids; she's Light Blessed. Osian too, but that's probably because he's an axe infantry with DC and good resistance who I gave a Light Blessing to.

Anyway, I ultimately chose F!Byleth for the guaranteed 5*. I gave it some thought and the past choices of Lilith and Formortiis Lyon were units who either offered something I did not have or was lacking in. Between Rinkah and Lilith, Lilith was more unique. Formortiis Lyon was my second Null C-Disrupt unit and first ranged Null C-Disrupt unit. With Claude and F!Byleth, Claude was for skills while F!Byleth can have selective Firesweep with Watersweep or Windsweep, is another Null Follow-Up unit, and from a collector's standpoint, she was the remaining Three Houses lord I did not have.

That leads to the Book IV Mid: Mirabilis and More banner. Only Mustafa showed up out of the 40 summons and he's the demote, so whatever. Right now, I'm not sure if I should pick Mirabilis or merchant Anna. Mirabilis seems like or arguably is the obvious choice as picking her means a guaranteed Mythic and a flying refresh unit. Being an Anima Mythic, though, she's helpful for reducing lift loss and scoring in Mjolnir's Strike, but I would have preferred Astra or even Light for increased lift gain.

Merchant Anna is the first regular summoning pool lance infantry since Shiro if I recall correctly. In terms of stats, she's the high offenses lance infantry with her 35/40 base neutral offenses. Following her are CYL Lucina's 34/36, Nephenee's 31/35, and summer F!Robin's 32/34. She also has good mixed defenses; she's pretty much Annette with flipped attack and speed stats. Apotheosis Spear is good in that it lets her be really fast and she can teleport to units within 2 spaces of her, but it and the rest of her default skills don't really give her something very unique.

Both offer things I would want, but there's something going against them. My only Anima mythic is Duma and more refresh units is never a bad thing, but lowering lift loss isn't that great as increased lift gain. Merchant Anna would be riding on her stats and lance infantry not having a lot of units, especially those with high offenses.