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

[Othin]

3 minutes ago, Karuu30 said:

Is Lewyn still worth building these days? Pulled a +res -hp one in the new heroes banner. I already have a couple of green mages, so could it be better to fodder him off for Special Spiral perhaps? 
Thanks!

I haven't found Lewyn very useful these days, but I always suggest saving a copy of every unit just in case. 

[XRay]

13 hours ago, TheSilentChloey said:

The HP one is -Atk, which is unfortunate and not something I want.  The Res one is -HP.  I'd rather leave his Atk alone if I can.  Or leave it intact.

Once you merge, the Flaw does not matter anymore. Between +HP and +Res, it does not really matter in my opinion. I lean towards +Res to make it easier for him to enter Brazen and Desperation range.

14 hours ago, Othin said:

I got a second Brave Claude from the banner, so now I have a +Def/-HP one in addition to my original neutral one. Which one is generally better, particularly with his base kit?

Whichever one I don't keep, I'm planning on feeding to Aversa for Fury 4 and Atk/Spd Rein. Naesala is also an option, but Aversa seems better to me.

I lean towards Normalized. +Def/-HP is essentially the same physical bulk with less magical bulk.

6 hours ago, Karuu30 said:

Is Lewyn still worth building these days? Pulled a +res -hp one in the new heroes banner. I already have a couple of green mages, so could it be better to fodder him off for Special Spiral perhaps? 
Thanks!

I recommend keeping at least one copy of every unit, especially for Limited Hero Battles and Allegiance Battles.

Lewyn got Desperation on his Weapon. He is not the best Blazing nuke in my opinion, but he does stand out a little bit due to his Weapon. As a Blazing nuke he can get three hits in before the foe can counterattack. The only issue is that Forseti does not work with Wings of Mercy, so that can be a problem for higher difficulty maps.

Blazing Nuke:
+Spd
Forseti
Reposition
Blazing Wind — Blazing Light — Growing Wind
Life and Death
Special Spiral
Savage Blow — Res Smoke — Spd Smoke
Flashing Blade

Standard Player Phase Forseti:
+Spd
Forseti
Reposition
Luna (with Special Spiral) — Ruptured Sky — Moonbow
(Any A that boosts Atk/Spd)
Special Spiral — Lull Spd/Res
(Any C) — Time's Pulse
(Any Sacred Seal that boosts Atk/Spd) — Flashing Blade

[Othin]

Another thing to keep in mind about Lewyn is that he could very well get a refine in the next year or so. Who knows what that might do.

[TheSilentChloey]

7 hours ago, XRay said:

Once you merge, the Flaw does not matter anymore. Between +HP and +Res, it does not really matter in my opinion. I lean towards +Res to make it easier for him to enter Brazen and Desperation range.

I lean towards Normalized. +Def/-HP is essentially the same physical bulk with less magical bulk.

I recommend keeping at least one copy of every unit, especially for Limited Hero Battles and Allegiance Battles.

Lewyn got Desperation on his Weapon. He is not the best Blazing nuke in my opinion, but he does stand out a little bit due to his Weapon. As a Blazing nuke he can get three hits in before the foe can counterattack. The only issue is that Forseti does not work with Wings of Mercy, so that can be a problem for higher difficulty maps.

Blazing Nuke:
+Spd
Forseti
Reposition
Blazing Wind — Blazing Light — Growing Wind
Life and Death
Special Spiral
Savage Blow — Res Smoke — Spd Smoke
Flashing Blade

Standard Player Phase Forseti:
+Spd
Forseti
Reposition
Luna (with Special Spiral) — Ruptured Sky — Moonbow
(Any A that boosts Atk/Spd)
Special Spiral — Lull Spd/Res
(Any C) — Time's Pulse
(Any Sacred Seal that boosts Atk/Spd) — Flashing Blade

He won't be merged.  One is for pure fodder.

[Sunwoo]

I pulled a Silque on the new banner, which I'm totally okay with. I also pulled an extra Takumi quite some time ago on the phalanx banner freebies. I was thinking about saving the close counter for Tormod or some other character I really like in case they want it, but I haven't redeemed my Heroes' Path Xander so I can just save that one instead.

Would Silque be worth giving close counter too, with her ridiculous-for-a-healer defense and pretty good resistance? I'm definitely giving her trait fruit to make her +res -spd, which would put her defenses and resistance at 35 for both, and with def/res bond seal active she gets 40 for both. Is that enough to still tank things nowadays as long as it's not, like ... Larcei or Mareeta or Fallen Julia/Ike or something?

[XRay]

5 hours ago, Sunwoo said:

I pulled a Silque on the new banner, which I'm totally okay with. I also pulled an extra Takumi quite some time ago on the phalanx banner freebies. I was thinking about saving the close counter for Tormod or some other character I really like in case they want it, but I haven't redeemed my Heroes' Path Xander so I can just save that one instead.

Would Silque be worth giving close counter too, with her ridiculous-for-a-healer defense and pretty good resistance? I'm definitely giving her trait fruit to make her +res -spd, which would put her defenses and resistance at 35 for both, and with def/res bond seal active she gets 40 for both. Is that enough to still tank things nowadays as long as it's not, like ... Larcei or Mareeta or Fallen Julia/Ike or something?

Silque's Atk is not horrible, but it is not amazing either. You can turn her into a combat unit, but I think she is better off just being a support unit due to her decent Res stat.

For support, her best A skill would be Fort. Def/Res in my opinion to soak Chills, and if you got the Orbs to spend, she can also inflict Sabotages and Ploys.

If you want to turn her into a combat unit, you can try Counter-Vantage with Pain if you want something gimmicky and fun, but you will need a +Atk Asset. For regular Enemy Phase, I recommend Melancholy, but there is also Palm Staff and Fear if you want something more affordable. If you want to seriously use her as a combat unit though, that is pretty iffy since her damage output is pretty bad without a damage Special. Leaving foes alive is generally a bad idea, as damaged foes can trigger Desperation, Vantage, Wings of Mercy, and all kinds of unpleasant effects. For modes like Tempest Trials and Røkkr Sieges, using her as a combat unit is fine since foes there hit like a wet noodle and generally do not have asinine skill kits.

Enemy Phase:
+Def/Res
Melancholy [Wrathful Staff]
(Any Assist)
Miracle
Close Counter
Lull Atk/Res
(Any C) — Threaten Atk/Res
Quick Riposte
If you got the resources to pimp her out, this skill set got Special denial/interruption, buff nullification, Quick Riposte, and counter at any range, just like most general purpose tanks. The only thing she is missing as a tank is a damage Special, but there is not really anything we can do about that.

Røkkr Sieges:
+Def/Res
Melancholy [Wrathful Staff]
Physic
Heavenly Light
Close Counter
Mystic Boost
(Any Tactic) — (Any Drive) — (Any Threaten)
(Any Tactic) — (Any Drive) — (Any Threaten)
The basic idea is to shove her into a melee Røkkrs face and hope it targets Silque instead of Galeforce teammates. If the Røkkr target Silque, that means Silque can just concentrate on healing allied Galeforcers instead of applying Guard debuff on the Røkkr, so the Galeforcers can run something other than Guard on their B slot.

Edited October 21, 2020 by XRay

[steil]

kronya with hardy bearing. Does it cancel Athame?

[XRay]

1 minute ago, steil said:

kronya with hardy bearing. Does it cancel Athame?

Yes. Hardy Bearing cancels out all Vantage and Desperation effects.

[steil]

 

Just now, XRay said:

Yes. Hardy Bearing cancels out all Vantage and Desperation effects.

what are other ways to counter Vantage & desperation effects ?

[Xenomata]

1 hour ago, steil said:

 

what are other ways to counter Vantage & desperation effects ?

Hardy Bearing and similar skill effects, such as Summer Micaiah's Dawn Suzu or the Caltrap Dagger found on Julius, are the only direct ways to counter Vantage and Desperation.
Vantage can be "countered" by using a Firesweep weapon or other skills that disable enemy counterattacks.
Desperation has no direct counter when you are being attacked by the Desperation holder aside from simply using a unit of the advantageous color.
Vantage units are typically built with being purely enemy-phase in mind, so simply letting them attack you on EP removes any of their enemy-phase effects such as from Stance skills, making them easier to deal with. Same is true with Desperation, they typically don't do that well when being attacked.

[Othin]

5 hours ago, steil said:

 

what are other ways to counter Vantage & desperation effects ?

For any effect that requires the unit to start combat below a certain HP threshold, one way to counter it is to avoid dealing any damage to them until you're prepared to kill them in one round.

[XRay]

16 minutes ago, steil said:

what are other ways to counter Vantage & desperation effects ?

Caution (do not let foes get within HP range, i.e. kill foes in one round of combat) and workarounds (Firesweep for Vantage) have already been mentioned, but you can also use brute force against Counter-Vantage, although it is a less common strategy. On player phase, you can use a super bulky unit to just eat the Counter-Vantage unit's attack; DM!Ephraim, ANF!Edelgard, etc. can usually eat the counter attack just fine as long as they are at full HP or near it. For enemy phase, a properly built tank usually does not care about Desperation since they got enough stats and skill effects to tank the hit.

A common workaround against Desperation is to simply use a Spd tank and prevent the foe from doubling.

[SoulWeaver]

Would Loki run better with +SPD or +RES? Apparently I have two of her sitting around and I really don’t plan on ever sacking any Unit for their Duel Skill so that leaves merging since the ATK Wave is available through Grails now.

Also I seem to have a spare Brave Ephraim and Fallen Lyon. Is there a recommendation for which Skills to give up from them? Special Fighter and Armor March are both nice, and Lyon’s kind of almost too loaded Fodder-wise.

Edited October 21, 2020 by SoulWeaver

[Xenomata]

19 minutes ago, SoulWeaver said:

Would Loki run better with +SPD or +RES? Apparently I have two of her sitting around and I really don’t plan on ever sacking any Unit for their Duel Skill so that leaves merging since the ATK Wave is available through Grails now.

Also I seem to have a spare Brave Ephraim and Fallen Lyon. Is there a recommendation for which Skills to give up from them? Special Fighter and Armor March are both nice, and Lyon’s kind of almost too loaded Fodder-wise.

Loki doesn't really have the Res to be doing any serious tanking or debuffing, so for offensive purposes +Spd is her best option.
If you ever manage +HP though, take that instead. It'll help her get off her weapons effect better, and she makes for a pretty good Panic inflictor as an aside.

Brave Ephraim's best fodder option is Special Fighter. Armor March would be a close second, but since it's now a Sacred Seal (and also available pretty easily via Divine Codes) I hesitate to say that Bephraim is worth sacrificing for that alone.
As for Lyon, Bonus Doubler is probably the most diverse fodder option for him, as Null C-Disrupt relies on the scenario that the enemy has a -sweep skill or effect in the first place. Rouse AR can be simulated in many ways, but can still be considered if you happen to have a unit who you think will be too far away from any allies to get the same buff. Bonus Doubler meanwhile... I mean, it can get pretty crazy if you can stack it with LegEphraim's Bonus Doubler status (LegMarth can QUADRUPLE his Field Buffs this way too), and is just a good option overall for a PP Bladetome user.

Edited October 21, 2020 by Xenomata

[SoulWeaver]

11 minutes ago, Xenomata said:

Brave Ephraim's best fodder option is Special Fighter. Armor March would be a close second, but since it's now a Sacred Seal (and also available pretty easily via Divine Codes) I hesitate to say that Bephraim is worth sacrificing for that alone.
As for Lyon, Bonus Doubler is probably the most diverse fodder option for him, as Null C-Disrupt relies on the scenario that the enemy has a -sweep skill or effect in the first place. Rouse AR can be simulated in many ways, but can still be considered if you happen to have a unit who you think will be too far away from any allies to get the same buff. Bonus Doubler meanwhile... I mean, it can get pretty crazy if you can stack it with LegEphraim's Bonus Doubler status (LegMarth can QUADRUPLE his Field Buffs this way too), and is just a good option overall for a PP Bladetome user.

Yeah, I did use the Divine Code Amelia Manual on my Wendy already, if that changes anything.
I also technically have Nah and probably won't be using her, is she better Doubler Fodder or should I be using her for Infantry Breath when I'm done with her?

[Xenomata]

2 minutes ago, SoulWeaver said:

Yeah, I did use the Divine Code Amelia Manual on my Wendy already, if that changes anything.
I also technically have Nah and probably won't be using her, is she better Doubler Fodder or should I be using her for Infantry Breath when I'm done with her?

Not really. Armor March isn't exactly a skill you need on EVERY armor, just enough that you can get them all moving to where you need them. Even the Sacred Seal alone should serve that purpose nicely. I would say armors who have more player-phase skills and ranged armors are the best carriers of it in the C slot, while an armor who doesn't have a good SS choice otherwise would appreciate it in the SS slot.
As for Nah, Infantry Breath is a great skill, but it does run the risk of becoming vulnerable to Sabotage skills, Sudden Panic, and Aversa's Night. It depends fully on if you actually use defensive Infantry who wish they had both Distant Counter and a Breath skill, Brave Ike coming to mind immediately, but if you do then it makes for a good support skill. I don't know if it necessitates sacking Nah though, because she can still carry it even if you stop using her.

[Othin]

53 minutes ago, SoulWeaver said:

Would Loki run better with +SPD or +RES? Apparently I have two of her sitting around and I really don’t plan on ever sacking any Unit for their Duel Skill so that leaves merging since the ATK Wave is available through Grails now.

Also I seem to have a spare Brave Ephraim and Fallen Lyon. Is there a recommendation for which Skills to give up from them? Special Fighter and Armor March are both nice, and Lyon’s kind of almost too loaded Fodder-wise.

You could use her for Earthwater Balm fodder, if you think that might ever be useful. 

[TheSilentChloey]

I have a Flayn manual, who wants her skills?

[Othin]

37 minutes ago, TheSilentChloey said:

I have a Flayn manual, who wants her skills?

Flayn has four rare skills, so it depends on which of those you value most.

They're also pretty support-oriented, and largely staff-exclusive. You could use her as Ground Orders fodder for some flier you frequently use on teams where it would be relevant, but otherwise it'd have to be a healer. Dazzling Staff is a very powerful skill lots of healers want, but it's also available on a lot of other units. Personally I'd probably go for Rescue and Deluge Balm, they're a bit narrow but they're also rare and you can inherit both of them from a single Flayn, and Rescue has a pretty novel effect. I don't think there's a specific unit that wants them, but any healer could use them sometimes, so that would really come down to finding some healer you use frequently enough to be worth investing in and adding options to, particularly one you use in situations where you can actually see yourself using those skills. For me, that could mean saving it for some healer I'm merging to +10 and investing in, or just giving it to Bride Fjorm, since I use her a lot in AR and she'd appreciate having a movement assist and a top-level Balm skill.

Edited October 22, 2020 by Othin

[steil]

is there any way to cancel Altina's Ragnell·Alondite second attack. Null Follow up/null C disrupt?. 

[Baldrick]

4 hours ago, TheSilentChloey said:

I have a Flayn manual, who wants her skills?

Most staff units would want her Rescue assist.

For the other skill, I think Dazzling Staff 2 would give you the most bang for your buck. The HP condition is lenient enough, and Balms aren’t very useful IMO.

[Vicious Sal]

41 minutes ago, steil said:

is there any way to cancel Altina's Ragnell·Alondite second attack. Null Follow up/null C disrupt?. 

No

[Xenomata]

4 hours ago, steil said:

is there any way to cancel Altina's Ragnell·Alondite second attack. Null Follow up/null C disrupt?. 

The second attack of weapons like Ragnell/Alondite cannot be disabled in anyway. No skill exists that lets one do that.
The best you can do is send out a unit with good Defense, a color advantage, and if she has her special, pray.

[Othin]

6 hours ago, steil said:

is there any way to cancel Altina's Ragnell·Alondite second attack. Null Follow up/null C disrupt?. 

The closest thing you can do is use Urvan or Deflect Melee to reduce the damage of the second hit by 80%.

[XRay]

18 hours ago, SoulWeaver said:

Also I seem to have a spare Brave Ephraim and Fallen Lyon. Is there a recommendation for which Skills to give up from them? Special Fighter and Armor March are both nice, and Lyon’s kind of almost too loaded Fodder-wise.

18 hours ago, Xenomata said:

Bonus Doubler meanwhile... I mean, it can get pretty crazy if you can stack it with LegEphraim's Bonus Doubler status (LegMarth can QUADRUPLE his Field Buffs this way too), and is just a good option overall for a PP Bladetome user.

If you are foddering Bonus Doubler, I would prioritize it for dual phase units rather than player phase units.

The vast majority of player phase units do not care about Def/Res, so you are not using the full stat potential of Bonus Doubler. Additionally, running Bonus Doubler makes the player phase unit extremely dependent on buffs for combat performance, and I do not think that is a good idea. If you got the dough to spend on player phase units, other premium A skills are better since they provide consistent and high stats. For example, Life and Death provides a constant Atk/Spd+7 no matter what buffs you have; Bonus Doubler can only provide Atk/Spd+7 if you are running Tier 4 Hone skills.

Edited October 22, 2020 by XRay