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

[Othin]

24 minutes ago, Hasechi said:

Allies deployed as cohorts using pair up do not count. So can I use Twilit Dorothea ?

"Cohorts" refers specifically to the Pair Up menu available to certain Legendary Heroes. Dorothea is a Harmonized Hero, which is unrelated. She functions like a normal unit for the purposes of whatever quest you're looking at.

[Othin]

What's the multiplier schedule for this FB? Seems to be taking a while to get a x2, at least since I woke up.

[Jotari]

1 hour ago, Othin said:

The new FE4 banner is another guaranteed 5* banner with the same total 6% 5* rate, and it's got better units.

Although I'd say at this point, a bigger priority than either of those should be stocking up orbs for the Hero Rises and regular Legendary banners in a few weeks.

Whoops. I was referring to the new FE4 banner (though the legendary banner is probably  better IMO, if only for Kris fodder). Though my larger point is that even if the banner isn't fantastic, for the short term starting out it's better to summon from something that gives you a guaranteed 5* to build up a larger army early and start to really play the game. Though if one has more patience and a longer term interest in getting a good army, not summoning could be wise too.

[Othin]

14 minutes ago, Jotari said:

Whoops. I was referring to the new FE4 banner (though the legendary banner is probably  better IMO, if only for Kris fodder). Though my larger point is that even if the banner isn't fantastic, for the short term starting out it's better to summon from something that gives you a guaranteed 5* to build up a larger army early and start to really play the game. Though if one has more patience and a longer term interest in getting a good army, not summoning could be wise too.

The legendary banner has no off focus 5*, it replaces them with old legendaries weaker than most of that pool. I don't think it's a good tradeoff. And pulling for fodder is definitely not a good idea at this stage (if ever).

Hasechi has a decent number of powerful 5*s by now, anyway. 

[Jotari]

7 minutes ago, Othin said:

The legendary banner has no off focus 5*, it replaces them with old legendaries weaker than most of that pool. I don't think it's a good tradeoff. And pulling for fodder is definitely not a good idea at this stage (if ever).

Hasechi has a decent number of powerful 5*s by now, anyway. 

I'm not sure why you'd say that. Kris has some really great skills with Spurn and Joint Drive Attack. Very much worth 200 orbs to give that to another unit.

[Hasechi]

@Othin i see thanks. i thought she pair up with the green hair girl

[Hasechi]

I'm wondering. If you want to summon a unit, u would stop at you get a copy of that unit  or you would continue to get more copies to merge. 

[Humanoid]

I like to get two copies personally. The first time you merge a unit you get +5 total stats (sometimes even +6) because it eliminates the unit's flaw. Every subsequent merge is just +2 so not really worth it from a pragmatic viewpoint, especially for new players who still have large gaps in their barracks. Once you have most roles covered you can consider getting a unit to +10 (which for F2P players tends to be reserved for their favourite character), but bear in mind the average cost of doing so would be getting close to 2000 orbs. That's like 2/3rds of a year's worth of orbs.

 

EDIT: To put it in context, I've played since launch (albeit with a few breaks) and my most highly merged 5-star exclusive unit is a +5 Brave Veronica. I did not intentionally pull for her at all...

Edited February 16, 2021 by Humanoid

[Othin]

43 minutes ago, Jotari said:

I'm not sure why you'd say that. Kris has some really great skills with Spurn and Joint Drive Attack. Very much worth 200 orbs to give that to another unit.

No skill is worth 200 orbs.

26 minutes ago, Hasechi said:

I'm wondering. If you want to summon a unit, u would stop at you get a copy of that unit  or you would continue to get more copies to merge. 

One copy. Merges are a luxury for common units or units where I happen to pull an extra copy, but summoning for merges is wasteful, just like summoning for skills. You could use those orbs to get an entire new unit.

[Hasechi]

@Othin i see

Edited February 16, 2021 by Hasechi

[jameslove001]

I am wondering if any of you have time to look over my 5*s and give a quick evaluation. I was going to do one quick section that are my "overused units," based on Hero Merit. I want to start using units I haven't in the past and so am just looking for units that are hidden to me as treasures.

5000-6000 Hero Merit Units - Brave Dimitri, Eir, Brave Edgelgard

2000 - 4000 Hero Merit Units - Brave Claude, Plumeria (Bow), Flying Micaiah, Peony, Flying Dorothea, Legendary Dimitri, Reginn, Reyson

Other Red 5* units - Alfonse, Alm, Grey, Roy (Blazing Lion), Mia, Vangaurd Ike, Fallen Ike, Christmas Altina, Black Knight, Roy (Brave Lion), Xavier, Siegbert, Caeda, Christmas Kaden, Tiki, Sothis, Anna (Bow), Fallen Julia, Iago, Lysethia, Henriette, Liliana (Firelight Leader), Horsie Eirika, Leo, Plumeria, Aversa

Other Blue 5* units - Sharena, Fjorm, Gatrie, Ferdinand, Horsie Dimitri, Seteth, Mordecai, Ninian, Fallen Corrin (M), Sothis, Lilith, Ronan, Felix, Duo Alfonse, Legendary Julia, Ilyana, Ophelia, Veronica (Festival of Devotion), Reimhardt

Other Green 5* units - Anna, Osian, Dieck, Ike (BM), Anette, Hilda, Surtr, Kris, Hel, Baby Minerva, Jill, Christmas Kaden, Christmas Lethe, Shamir, Thrasir, Soren, Christmas Bernadetta, Flying Nino, Flying Tharja

Other Colorless 5* units - Christmas Selkie, Legendary Alm, Shinnon, Raphael, Leif, Horsie Lyn, Bernadetta, Julian, Sother, Bramimond, Duo Micaiah, Sara, Sephiran, Flayn

If you made it this far thanks!

[Othin]

1 hour ago, Hasechi said:

@Othin i see

I should clarify that this is an area where my opinion is very much in the minority. Probably like 99% of Heroes players sometimes spend orbs to try for skills or merges to upgrade their favorite units. However, I firmly believe they're all wasting their resources in doing so.

I assume you're still at the point where you've got orbs left over from before you started playing, from stuff like story maps. But once those dry up, average orb income for a free player is about 80 per week. So 200 orbs is two and a half weeks' worth. That's a big price for a small upgrade on a unit who might become obsolete in a few months.

[Humanoid]

32 minutes ago, jameslove001 said:

Other Red 5* units - Alfonse, Alm, Grey, Roy (Blazing Lion), Mia, Vangaurd Ike, Fallen Ike, Christmas Altina, Black Knight, Roy (Brave Lion), Xavier, Siegbert, Caeda, Christmas Kaden, Tiki, Sothis, Anna (Bow), Fallen Julia, Iago, Lysethia, Henriette, Liliana (Firelight Leader), Horsie Eirika, Leo, Plumeria, Aversa

Other Blue 5* units - Sharena, Fjorm, Gatrie, Ferdinand, Horsie Dimitri, Seteth, Mordecai, Ninian, Fallen Corrin (M), Sothis, Lilith, Ronan, Felix, Duo Alfonse, Legendary Julia, Ilyana, Ophelia, Veronica (Festival of Devotion), Reimhardt

Other Green 5* units - Anna, Osian, Dieck, Ike (BM), Anette, Hilda, Surtr, Kris, Hel, Baby Minerva, Jill, Christmas Kaden, Christmas Lethe, Shamir, Thrasir, Soren, Christmas Bernadetta, Flying Nino, Flying Tharja

Other Colorless 5* units - Christmas Selkie, Legendary Alm, Shinnon, Raphael, Leif, Horsie Lyn, Bernadetta, Julian, Sother, Bramimond, Duo Micaiah, Sara, Sephiran, Flayn

Legendary Leif is my number one carry in the entire game. He clears out modes that are otherwise super frustrating all by himself. Well, by himself with dancer support.

Bolded other units who I feel offer something relatively unique and who I would use personally. It's not exhaustive though as there are many units who are great but who I'm not actually familiar with.

Italicised some units who are powerhouses but who I find somewhat less interesting, or conversely units with interesting mechanics but which I personally haven't really explored too well.

Edited February 16, 2021 by Humanoid

[jameslove001]

8 minutes ago, Humanoid said:

Legendary Leif is my number one carry in the entire game. He clears out modes that are otherwise super frustrating all by himself. Well, by himself with dancer support.

Bolded other units who I feel offer something relatively unique and who I would use personally. It's not exhaustive though as there are many units who are great but who I'm not actually familiar with.

Italicised some units who are powerhouses but who I find somewhat less interesting

Wow. Thank you so much. Some of those characters are ones I have been curious about and I just got Henriette, Shinnon, Duo Micaiah, Flayn and Shamir in the last two weeks so they are very new to me. I will toy around with those on some of my squad assaults I am trying to finish.

[Hasechi]

2 hours ago, Othin said:

I should clarify that this is an area where my opinion is very much in the minority. Probably like 99% of Heroes players sometimes spend orbs to try for skills or merges to upgrade their favorite units. However, I firmly believe they're all wasting their resources in doing so.

I assume you're still at the point where you've got orbs left over from before you started playing, from stuff like story maps. But once those dry up, average orb income for a free player is about 80 per week. So 200 orbs is two and a half weeks' worth. That's a big price for a small upgrade on a unit who might become obsolete in a few months.

I'm very careful to spend anything. So I tend to ask alot before spending. Cause I don't want to waste & regret. Thank othin for reminding me. You mention Heroes Rises & Legendaries come in a couple week , right ?

thank @Jotari . actually My current units are not weak. I can clear out most challenge in the game thank to other members recommendation. Beside upgrade my current team, I still need more strong units to work on many different cases.

 

Edited February 16, 2021 by Hasechi

[Othin]

33 minutes ago, Hasechi said:

I'm very careful to spend anything. So I tend to ask alot before spending. Cause I don't want to waste & regret. Thank othin for reminding me. You mention Heroes Rises & Legendaries come in a couple week , right ?

Yes. You can see the timing of the legendary banner on the current event calendar, posted on the ingame notification board and in this thread: 

 

[XRay]

4 hours ago, Othin said:

No skill is worth 200 orbs.

5 hours ago, Othin said:

One copy. Merges are a luxury for common units or units where I happen to pull an extra copy, but summoning for merges is wasteful, just like summoning for skills. You could use those orbs to get an entire new unit.

I think that depends on a lot of factors, such as units and strategies the player favors, where they want to rank, what amount of rewards they are expecting, how much effort they are willing to exert, etc. Every player has different priorities.

For player phase stuff, I agree spending Orbs on skills are not really necessary, and many nukes do not need merges to do well either. Blade mages, fast Brave archers, and Galeforcers are all really cheap to build and are very effective for their cost. Even Firesweepers are more affordable now since Faye, Genny, and Maribelle are all in the 4* pool. There is also an extremely strong case for keeping certain units at +0+0 to make entering Wings of Mercy range really easy, although you will probably need Trait Fruits to adjust those Assets and Flaws to [+Atk/Spd, -HP] unless you are super lucky.

However, for meta enemy phase stuff, a decent super tank is going to cost some Orbs to build if you want the convenience of ranking high with little effort. You can cheap out on a super tank and just play better, but being able to just throw BH!Ike against most teams and come out on top with little to no effort is very appealing. Null Follow-Up, Spurn, and Pulse Smoke are all skills that should be considered if the player wants an easier time, and aiming for one merge to get rid of a problematic Flaw is pretty justifiable too. For standard tanks, I agree spending Orbs is no longer necessary, as Distant Counter and Close Counter are in the 4* pool now, and Quick Riposte on B is fine too.

For Arena and scoring modes, if they just want to rank well around Tier 19.5, spending is not necessary. However, the jump in effort between 19.5 and 20.5 is pretty massive in my opinion, and spending Orbs on Duel skills will at least make both fishing and game play a lot less frustrating. Tharja and Cordelia as a pair of teammates is a lot more palatable to use compared to running a pair of armor units like AFM!Hilda and AFM!Felix, and the amount of frustration the player can avoid seems worth it in my opinion.

I also think it is a pretty good idea to spend Orbs on convenience and quality of life features, like expanding your Barracks and getting Valor skills so SP grinding is a bit easier. They do not technically do anything for battles, but it makes the overall gameplay experience better.

— — — — — — —

@Hasechi, once you have more experience with the game, you will be able to better determine whether spending Orbs for certain things is worth it.

In my opinion, for player phase nukes at least, I agree with @Othin and I would not bother with spending Orbs on skills and merges for them; and the same applies to Dancers/Singers too since all their cheap skills are better than their premium skills. If you really want to spend Orbs in this area of the game, then save your Orbs and grab one or two VS!Azuras. For nukes, Lyn: Ninja-Friend Duo (really good in Aether Raids and Abyssal Maps) and Palla: Sisterly Trio (just okay in Aether Raids, but is extremely strong with an all flier team in Abyssal Maps) would be two that I personally recommend, and I would also recommend keeping them at +0+0 to make reaching HP thresholds easier; if you are willing to use Trait Fruits on these units, then I highly recommend giving them both [+Atk, -HP] for their Traits.

For enemy phase super tanks like BH!Ike and ANF!Dimitri, I think spending Orbs to get them certain skills and the first merge are definitely worth it, although that is something to think about later since you do not need that level of performance right now. For normal tanks, I would just use units from the 4* pool and I would not bother with using 5* exclusive tanks.

5 hours ago, jameslove001 said:

Other Red 5* units - Alfonse, Alm, Grey, Roy (Blazing Lion), Mia, Vangaurd Ike, Fallen Ike, Christmas Altina, Black Knight, Roy (Brave Lion), Xavier, Siegbert, Caeda, Christmas Kaden, Tiki, Sothis, Anna (Bow), Fallen Julia, Iago, Lysethia, Henriette, Liliana (Firelight Leader), Horsie Eirika, Leo, Plumeria, Aversa

AFM!Altina is a really strong Counter-Vantage unit, although she is quite a bit different from regular Counter-Vantage units, so she can be a bit a more challenging to use due to her Vantage being active for only a limited amount of turns.

BH!Roy is really good in my opinion because he comes with Heavy Blade on his Weapon and he frees up Heavy Blade Sacred Seal for others, so it makes assembling Galeforcers easier for modes like Aether Raids and Arena Assault.

Lysithea and FL!Lilina are really good as Blazing nukes, and FL!Lilina in particular also frees up Hardy Bearing for other Blazing nukes, so she is doubly more valuable.

Plumeria is easily as good as Plumeria in my opinion, as her Sabotage Spd is as good as Peony's Atk/Spd+3.

RS!Anna and LOAK!Henriette deserve a special mentions. They are not particularly amazing as units themselves, but they do have really good skills. Fortune Bow is amazing when given to NHSH!Plumeria. LOAK!Henriette's Save skill is also really nice, and I think it has the potential to change the meta.

6 hours ago, jameslove001 said:

Other Blue 5* units - Sharena, Fjorm, Gatrie, Ferdinand, Horsie Dimitri, Seteth, Mordecai, Ninian, Fallen Corrin (M), Sothis, Lilith, Ronan, Felix, Duo Alfonse, Legendary Julia, Ilyana, Ophelia, Veronica (Festival of Devotion), Reimhardt

Ophelia is the original super powered Blazing nuke, and she is still quite good in that role. RS!Alfonse is also a really strong Blazing nuke.

Mordecai is a also a really good Smiter, although his utility is mostly limited to just Aether Raids.

Reinhardt deserves a special mention. He is strong, but to me based on my experiences, slow Brave nukes seems to have fallen a bit in the meta. Against really bulky units, hitting twice just does not seem to be enough in my opinion, especially when fast Brave nukes can hit nearly as hard as slow Brave nukes on each hit.

Sharena and Fjorm also deserve special mentions as cheap super tanks for Aether Raids. Sharena was able to carry me into Tier 21 from Tier 20 when I started Aether Raids, although she does need bonus stats to work optimally, so do not expect her to take on anything too crazy. If Sharena can be a cheap super tank, then Fjorm should also be able to do it too, and she is mergable and comes with damage reductions in her Special.

6 hours ago, jameslove001 said:

Other Green 5* units - Anna, Osian, Dieck, Ike (BM), Anette, Hilda, Surtr, Kris, Hel, Baby Minerva, Jill, Christmas Kaden, Christmas Lethe, Shamir, Thrasir, Soren, Christmas Bernadetta, Flying Nino, Flying Tharja

BH!Ike is extremely strong as a super tank. And with Resplendent stats and extra Flowers being a thing, merges are not super crucial either, although it is much appreciated. And with him being in the 4* pool now, you do not have to snipe for him anymore either and you can just merge him up slowly over time.

Shamir is a relatively unique Blazing nuke, in that she has Firesweep against high health enemies so she can safely charge her Special. You can also just user her as a regular Firesweeper as long as her enemies have high health. Being colorless would make her a lot better, but she is still pretty decent.

Annette deserves a Special mention because she can make your defense in Aether Raids a bit less predictable since most units she Rallies will get increased movement.

AFM!Bernadetta also deserves a special mention since she works really well with her normal self and ANF!Lysithea to trigger their Desperation effects. Combat wise though, she is not particularly amazing in my opinion.

7 hours ago, jameslove001 said:

Other Colorless 5* units - Christmas Selkie, Legendary Alm, Shinnon, Raphael, Leif, Horsie Lyn, Bernadetta, Julian, Sother, Bramimond, Duo Micaiah, Sara, Sephiran, Flayn

SK!Alm deals true damage based on the foe's Def, so that is really amazing. This mean that SK!Alm will age much better compared to other raw damage nukes since his damage output scales with power creep.

Shinon is can be a good Blazing nuke, and he works really well as a traditional Desperation nuke too as his bow rivals Brave Bow in power in Desperation builds. Similarly for Bernadetta, she is also pretty strong as a her bow rivals Brave Bow in power.

UOT!Leif is a ranged Galeforcer, so that is unique and really powerful. He can also function as a Counter-Vantage unit or a straight up regular slow Brave nuke. He is very versatile.

BB!Miciah is a really good Counter-Vantage unit, and she comes with her own support in the form of her Duo skill, which can also help her teammates. I have not tested this in Aether Raids, but if you also have LOAK!Líf with a Counter-Vantage skill set, they seem to synergize really well with each other with their Duo skills.

Flayn is amazing as a super tank support unit. M!Corrin and BH!Lucina are her only rivals.

DDR!Raphael as a unit is not anything unique, but he can work really well with Firesweep Bow-Bold Fighter-Armored Boots. Unlike many other Firesweepers, armor archers have access to Bold Fighter, so they can function as raw damage nukes on top of being Firesweepers. Their primary drawback is their lack of synergy with Wings of Mercy due Armored Boots' strict HP requirement. Firesweep Bow and Bold Fighter are a bit more premium, but they are in the 4* pool now, although Bold Fighter is only available around this time of year for now when Love of a King Focus is active. In my opinion, I think Firesweep Bow-Bold Fighter is easier to use than Brave Bow-Bold Fighter since you do not have to worry about counter attacks.

Sara and Sephiran deserve special mention for the skills they provide. Sara has Return which is basically Reposition for staff units, so this is a pretty big deal for staff units who can function as Firesweepers. Sephrian's Tannenbaton and Odd Recovery are great for supporting supertanks; compared to Yato, Geirskögul, and Caduceus Staff, while Tannenbaton does not quite rank up there with those three, it is just shy of being top tier.

[TheSilentChloey]

So I got a spare Liam (Valentine's Líf) manual and two Valenriette (Henriette) manuals and I'm debating on what to give my max investment male Grima, Slick Fighter + Far Save or just Slick Fighter, saving far save for Alfie (Valentine's Alfonse)?

I know I don't intend to merge Liam yet (waiting for +Atk IV and might not merge even to remove the flaw depending on what said flaw is) so would it be better to save the manual for now or inherit that juicy c skill to Brave Veronica for some really annoying AR shenanigans?

[Jotari]

10 hours ago, Othin said:

No skill is worth 200 orbs.

I think Spurn on B!ke definitely is (people still get a very B!ke from those alternate quest like things from the home menu right?). Spurn B!ke no sells a crazy amount of the game.

[Othin]

3 minutes ago, Jotari said:

I think Spurn on B!ke definitely is (people still get a very B!ke from those alternate quest like things from the home menu right?). Spurn B!ke no sells a crazy amount of the game.

Hmm. With the 5* pool now having 6 units with evasion skills, I think odds are decent of getting one eventually without having to go out of your way, but it's true that Brave Ike is unusually powerful and has been staying that way, so the benefit is a lot higher than with making that kind of investment in pretty much any other unit. If you really want to build him up in a short timeframe, I can see an argument for it, but it's not how I prefer to play, and I wouldn't recommend it to a new player.

[Jotari]

3 minutes ago, Othin said:

Hmm. With the 5* pool now having 6 units with evasion skills, I think odds are decent of getting one eventually without having to go out of your way, but it's true that Brave Ike is unusually powerful and has been staying that way, so the benefit is a lot higher than with making that kind of investment in pretty much any other unit. If you really want to build him up in a short timeframe, I can see an argument for it, but it's not how I prefer to play, and I wouldn't recommend it to a new player.

But what exactly is your argument there though? Because it's always going to take orbs to get any unit, and to get a dodge skill on B!ke (or any unit that isn't in that small bunch that gain them inherently) you will always need to fodder another unit. So just pulling randomly hoping to eventually get a Kris some day (because Spurn is the best dodge skill for B!ke for Aether or Sol recovery) isn't exactly making life easier, and would probably cost far more than 200 orbs in the long run. The thing about the 40 orbs guaranteed pull is that it guarantees you a specific unit. Where's pulling randomly never does. Your chance of getting a Kris from pulling randomly is tiny. You will eventually if you keep pulling (and we're lucky enough there's two Krises in the two most popular colours), but you'll probably end up getting a bunch of other units who are way less useful first. ANd pulling for a Kris now on the Legendary Banner gives you a very high statistical likelihood of getting another unit or two along with him (maybe even two Krises). Really it's the difference between spending a full 20 orbs on something and sniping for a specific unit. Pulling for everything will eventually get you everything, but if you want the untis you actually want, you're better off conserving orbs by sniping. And in a case such as this, spending 200 orbs for a guaranteed unit in a 40 pull banner is sniping.

[Roflolxp54]

29 minutes ago, Jotari said:

I think Spurn on B!ke definitely is (people still get a very B!ke from those alternate quest like things from the home menu right?). Spurn B!ke no sells a crazy amount of the game.

There's kind of a problem with that -- players paying attention to the official Twitter accounts for FEH would know that a certain FE12 banner will get a rerun next month (the one in which Spurn made its debut). So Spurn would actually cost 135 orbs assuming the player only pulls to spark and doesn't get either Kris until spark.

Also, diminishing returns are a big thing with percentage-based skills so CYL Ike may opt to run Null Follow-Up instead of an Evasion B-skill -- he is one of the very few units (and currently the sole green unit) who can do this in the current game, the others being MByleth, FByleth, and Mareeta, who are all red units.

Edited February 17, 2021 by Roflolxp54

[Othin]

3 minutes ago, Jotari said:

But what exactly is your argument there though? Because it's always going to take orbs to get any unit, and to get a dodge skill on B!ke (or any unit that isn't in that small bunch that gain them inherently) you will always need to fodder another unit. So just pulling randomly hoping to eventually get a Kris some day (because Spurn is the best dodge skill for B!ke for Aether or Sol recovery) isn't exactly making life easier, and would probably cost far more than 200 orbs in the long run. The thing about the 40 orbs guaranteed pull is that it guarantees you a specific unit. Where's pulling randomly never does. Your chance of getting a Kris from pulling randomly is tiny. You will eventually if you keep pulling (and we're lucky enough there's two Krises in the two most popular colours), but you'll probably end up getting a bunch of other units who are way less useful first. ANd pulling for a Kris now on the Legendary Banner gives you a very high statistical likelihood of getting another unit or two along with him (maybe even two Krises). Really it's the difference between spending a full 20 orbs on something and sniping for a specific unit. Pulling for everything will eventually get you everything, but if you want the untis you actually want, you're better off conserving orbs by sniping. And in a case such as this, spending 200 orbs for a guaranteed unit in a 40 pull banner is sniping.

I'm not saying to devote orbs to searching for them through the pity rate, I'm saying don't bother actively searching for them at all and wait for one to turn up on its own, from either free summons or trying for some other unit. That way you're spending 0 orbs. I've gotten plenty of premium fodder that way over the years.

2 minutes ago, Roflolxp54 said:

There's kind of a problem with that -- players paying attention to the official Twitter accounts for FEH would know that a certain FE12 banner will get a rerun next month (the one in which Spurn made its debut). So Spurn would actually cost 135 orbs assuming the player only pulls to spark and doesn't get either Kris until spark.

Also, diminishing returns are a big thing with percentage-based skills so CYL Ike may opt to run Null Follow-Up instead of an Evasion B-skill -- he is one of the very few units (and currently the sole green unit) who can do this in the current game, the others being MByleth, FByleth, and Mareeta, who are all red units.

That's a good point about the FE12 rerun - 135 orbs is cheaper than 155.

But evasion skills don't give diminishing returns - quite the opposite. One 40% evasion skill effectively multiplies the unit's HP by 1.67, while two of them means doing that twice, for a total of 2.78. To pick a number that makes the math easy - if you've got a Brave Ike with 54 HP, the first evasion skill effectively increases it to 90 while the second one increases it to 150. So the first one is basically giving him +36 HP and the second one is giving him +60, so each successive one is more significant.

[XRay]

1 hour ago, TheSilentChloey said:

So I got a spare Liam (Valentine's Líf) manual and two Valenriette (Henriette) manuals and I'm debating on what to give my max investment male Grima, Slick Fighter + Far Save or just Slick Fighter, saving far save for Alfie (Valentine's Alfonse)?

Far Save is far better on an enemy phase armor unit. I do not see any point in giving it to a player phase armor unit since they will just die attempting to Save an ally. If you are turning LOAK!Alfonse into an enemy phase unit though, then giving him Far Save is fine.

Slick Fighter is definitely good, but Save skills have the potential to be far more valuable.

Personally, I would just hold onto the Save manuals for now for at least the next three months to half a year. You want to know how common they will be so you are not wasting valuable Orbs just to give away the cheaper of the two premium skills. If Save skills are really common, then I would pass on Slick Fighter since you can always get another copy of Save skills later. If Save skills turn out to be rare, then I would pass on Save skills instead.

1 hour ago, TheSilentChloey said:

I know I don't intend to merge Liam yet (waiting for +Atk IV and might not merge even to remove the flaw depending on what said flaw is) so would it be better to save the manual for now or inherit that juicy c skill to Brave Veronica for some really annoying AR shenanigans?

I would save it for now until you get a +Atk Trait. You can decide then whether you want to merge or fodder. As for AOTB!Veronica, staff units cannot inherit Fatal Smoke (or any kind of Smoke for that matter), which is unfortunate. The best candidates for Fatal Smoke would be Blazing nukes or Firesweep nukes in my opinion, but honestly any nuke can use it.

Fatal Smoke is a bit better on defense than offense in my opinion, but unless you are playing Aether Raids really competitively, I would not bother too much with Aether Raids defense. Your offensive performance contributes to your score far more than your defensive performance.

Fatal Smoke is especially good on offense when used by Kronya, but she gets harder to use in higher tiers due to better defense teams. Other Counter-Vantage units can use Fatal Smoke as well, but they do not need it and can stick with Savage Blow, Def Smoke, and Res Smoke; and similar to issues faced by Kronya, higher tier defense teams are much more resilient against Counter-Vantage strategies. As noted above, any player phase nuke can use Fatal Smoke as well, but if you are using it to replace Savage Blow, Def Smoke, or Res Smoke on an existing nuke, it might not make much of a noticeable difference.

Edited February 17, 2021 by XRay

[Jotari]

4 hours ago, Othin said:

I'm not saying to devote orbs to searching for them through the pity rate, I'm saying don't bother actively searching for them at all and wait for one to turn up on its own, from either free summons or trying for some other unit. That way you're spending 0 orbs. I've gotten plenty of premium fodder that way over the years.

That's not 0 orbs though. It's, the orbs you otherwise spend only the chances of you ever getting the unit with the skill you might want is far lower. Why even pull for some other unit you might want when you could just never spend any orbs and only ever pull free summons? Sounds, silly, but it's the natural extension of your logic. If you want good units, you're going to have to pull for them, likewise, if you want good skills on your good units, you're going to have to pull for them. You can happen to pick up some good units when pulling for good skills and vice versa, but the end result is that you will need to pull, and if a banner is guaranteeing you a unit, well then that's a pretty great way to get the thing you want. In other words, if you want Spurn on your B!ke (a really good combination), it's best to pull for it now while it's guaranteed you can get it. Aside from the downside of just plain not having it now to play around with, it might not even be all that good a skill any more by the time you do manage to get it through happenstance. Your logic of "Well I'll probably get it some day anyway" even applies here, because in pulling forty times for that guaranteed Kris, you have a better than average chance of picking up a second Kris (and thus a second Spurn) along the way (or potentially a Spurn by luck and then the liberty to choose some other unit that looks appealing). I've happened to pick up plenty of premium fodder via luck over the years, but the best skills on my best units are there because I intentionally sniped units I knew would leave a good inheritance.

Edited February 17, 2021 by Jotari