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

[Ice Dragon]

4 minutes ago, DefyingFates said:

What do you think about the rest of my build, does it (or the alternatives) look good?

Yeah, everything else is good.

I suppose it's also worth noting that Potent 4 and Spurn 4 also have availability as a factor to consider, but their availability is a bit more complicated than usual since, while Spurn is currently stuck on only Special Heroes, it's more likely to be added to the standard summoning pool eventually, whereas Potent is unlikely to be made available on any other unit since it's specifically based off of Emblem Marth's Engage Skill in Engage, but has scheduled reruns.

 

13 minutes ago, DefyingFates said:

That's the one with Canto, isn't it? I'll keep an eye out, thanks again!

Yeah.

[DefyingFates]

7 minutes ago, Ice Dragon said:

I suppose it's also worth noting that Potent 4 and Spurn 4 also have availability as a factor to consider, but their availability is a bit more complicated than usual since, while Spurn is currently stuck on only Special Heroes, it's more likely to be added to the standard summoning pool eventually, whereas Potent is unlikely to be made available on any other unit since it's specifically based off of Emblem Marth's Engage Skill in Engage, but has scheduled reruns.

I don't fancy my chances of getting Emblem Marth outside of AHR so Potent is probably the better option for me here. I suppose a new Marth alt could come with it too, but outside of a potential fallen one I don't see that happening any time soon. Thank you very much for your feedback!

I'll go for the first choices I posted earlier then, though I'll accept Prime 4 over Finish 4 if I get everything else I want. Thanks again!

[kabat]

I am relatively new to the game. I am still trying to understand many mechanics.

For instance, "Still Water 4" gives +7 Atk/Res -Def, making it a permanent buff. On the other hand, there are other skills that also give +7 Atk/Res when in combat. What is the difference in having this bonus to stats visible or only in combat situation? When one is better to another?

Sorry for the noob question.

Thanks in advance.

[XRay]

3 hours ago, kabat said:

I am relatively new to the game. I am still trying to understand many mechanics.

For instance, "Still Water 4" gives +7 Atk/Res -Def, making it a permanent buff. On the other hand, there are other skills that also give +7 Atk/Res when in combat. What is the difference in having this bonus to stats visible or only in combat situation? When one is better to another?

Sorry for the noob question.

Thanks in advance.

There are three types of stat buffs (permanent, in-combat buffs, and visible buffs), and each got their own pros and cons.

— — — — — — —

Permanent stat buffs are, well, permanent, for a lack of a better word. You want to use permanent stat buffs when you need to rely on stat comparisons out-of-combat. The primary drawback of permanent buffs is that certain skills inflict debuffs on units with the highest stats, but this is not really much of an issue in most cases.

Life and Death is for player phase units the specializes in area-of-effect Specials (usually Blazing Wind and Blazing Light; sometimes Growing Wind or whatever their exclusive area-of-effect Special is).

On the other hand, Fort. Def/Res and is for support units that utilizes their Def/Res to debuff enemies. Off the top of my head, I think Mila is the only unit that can utilize both Def/Res to inflict debuffs.

Most support units only use one of their stats for stat comparisons, so while Fort. Def/Res works, it is not the most effective one. Most support units run Still Water since Res is the most frequent stat used for stat comparisons. The next most common stat used is HP, so you will want some kind of Duel skill on the A slot and a modern Squad Ace skill on the Sacred Seal slot (if you are low on resources, HP+5 will work just fine). I cannot think of any support unit that uses Def for support except Mila, so if you are not using her Res, you can slap Solid Earth on her.

Still Water and Solid Earth can also be used on units that does both combat (often, but not always, Blazing nukes) and support. For example, Lilina: Firelight Leader can run Still Water on both her A and S slot to enhance the power of her Gifted Magic II Special, and help her activate whatever Sabotages and Ploys you put on her B and C slot.

Only player phase units use Fury. Fury is desired for its after combat damage that inflicts onto its user, so you can use Dancers/Singers with Wings of Mercy to teleport to them. Fury's permanent stat buff is not its main selling point, since the buffs are low compared to other A skills.

A secondary use of permanent stat buffs is to put them on support units so they will be less likely affected by crippling debuffs from the opponent's support units. The most popular skill for this role would be Fort. Def/Res, Duels, and Squad Ace BX.

A tertiary use of permanent stat buffs is to put them on support units so they will draw debuff to themselves rather than have it inflicted on the rest of your team.

— — — — — — —

Skills with in combat stat buffs are the most common, varied, and (usually) reliable. With the exception of Blazing nukes mentioned above, most combat units want to utilize skills with in combat buffs, such as Flash Sparrow, Atk/Spd Prime, and Bracing Stance, since those skills often come with secondary effects on top of regular stat boosts. Flash Sparrow makes it easier to activate Specials, Atk/Spd Prime allows the unit to counter attack from any distance during enemy phase, and Bracing Stance makes it mroe difficult for the foe to activate their Specials. There are many, many, many more skills with in combat stat buffs, so which ones you use depends a lot on how you plan to use a unit.

In combat stat buffs cannot be affected by the enemy in most cases, hence their reliablity. At the same time, however, the combat unit will be more vulnerable to debuffs from enemy support units, but in most cases, this is not a huge deal. And depending on your team composition and play style, you want to have as much debuffs on your team as possible, since certain Heroes and team compositions get stronger the more stat debuffs they have.

— — — — — — —

Skills that provide visible stat buffs are good, but only if they are not in the A slot. As far as I am aware, the only A skills that provide visible stat buffs are Defiant skills, and they suck. Visible stat buffs also do not stack, so generally speaking, you want to offload skills that provide visible stat buffs to support units, since they can often buff the whole team at once with one of their skill slots, so you can run more skills with in combat stat buffs on your combat units.

Visible stat buffs are good in that they help with stat comparisons outside of combat. However, these buffs are also the most easily affected by enemy skill effects, which either renders them useless at best or detrimental at worst. In most cases though, you want to use visible stat buffs; it is pretty rare for visible stat buffs to be detrimental to you, and it is pretty easy to disable those stat buffs when you do encounter a situation where it is detrimental.

Edited April 6 by XRay

[kabat]

33 minutes ago, XRay said:

There are three types of stat buffs (permanent, in-combat buffs, and visible buffs), and each got their own pros and cons.

— — — — — — —

Permanent stat buffs are, well, permanent, for a lack of a better word. You want to use permanent stat buffs when you need to rely on stat comparisons out-of-combat. The primary drawback of permanent buffs is that certain skills inflict debuffs on units with the highest stats, but this is not really much of an issue in most cases.

Life and Death is for player phase units the specializes in area-of-effect Specials (usually Blazing Wind and Blazing Light; sometimes Growing Wind or whatever their exclusive area-of-effect Special is).

On the other hand, Fort. Def/Res and is for support units that utilizes their Def/Res to debuff enemies. Off the top of my head, I think Mila is the only unit that can utilize both Def/Res to inflict debuffs.

Most support units only use one of their stats for stat comparisons, so while Fort. Def/Res works, it is not the most effective one. Most support units run Still Water since Res is the most frequent stat used for stat comparisons. The next most common stat used is HP, so you will want some kind of Duel skill on the A slot and a modern Squad Ace skill on the Sacred Seal slot (if you are low on resources, HP+5 will work just fine). I cannot think of any support unit that uses Def for support except Mila, so if you are not using her Res, you can slap Solid Earth on her.

Still Water and Solid Earth can also be used on units that does both combat (often, but not always, Blazing nukes) and support. For example, Lilina: Firelight Leader can run Still Water on both her A and S slot to enhance the power of her Gifted Magic II Special, and help her activate whatever Sabotages and Ploys you put on her B and C slot.

Only player phase units use Fury. Fury is desired for its after combat damage that inflicts onto its user, so you can use Dancers/Singers with Wings of Mercy to teleport to them. Fury's permanent stat buff is not its main selling point, since the buffs are low compared to other A skills.

A secondary use of permanent stat buffs is to put them on support units so they will be less likely affected by crippling debuffs from the opponent's support units. The most popular skill for this role would be Fort. Def/Res, Duels, and Squad Ace BX.

A tertiary use of permanent stat buffs is to put them on support units so they will draw debuff to themselves rather than have it inflicted on the rest of your team.

— — — — — — —

Skills with in combat stat buffs are the most common, varied, and (usually) reliable. With the exception of Blazing nukes mentioned above, most combat units want to utilize skills with in combat buffs, such as Flash Sparrow, Atk/Spd Prime, and Bracing Stance, since those skills often come with secondary effects on top of regular stat boosts. Flash Sparrow makes it easier to activate Specials, Atk/Spd Prime allows the unit to counter attack from any distance during enemy phase, and Bracing Stance makes it mroe difficult for the foe to activate their Specials. There are many, many, many more skills with in combat stat buffs, so which ones you use depends a lot on how you plan to use a unit.

In combat stat buffs cannot be affected by the enemy in most cases, hence their reliablity. At the same time, however, the combat unit will be more vulnerable to debuffs from enemy support units, but in most cases, this is not a huge deal. And depending on your team composition and play style, you want to have as much debuffs on your team as possible, since certain Heroes and team compositions get stronger the more stat debuffs they have.

— — — — — — —

Skills that provide visible stat buffs are good, but only if they are not in the A slot. As far as I am aware, the only A skills that provide visible stat buffs are Defiant skills, and they suck. Visible stat buffs also do not stack, so generally speaking, you want to offload skills that provide visible stat buffs to support units, since they can often buff the whole team at once with one of their skill slots, so you can run more skills with in combat stat buffs on your combat units.

Visible stat buffs are good in that they help with stat comparisons outside of combat. However, these buffs are also the most easily affected by enemy skill effects, which either renders them useless at best or detrimental at worst. In most cases though, you want to use visible stat buffs; it is pretty rare for visible stat buffs to be detrimental to you, and it is pretty easy to disable those stat buffs when you do encounter a situation where it is detrimental.

Thank you very much!

It helped a lot.

[DefyingFates]

I have a question about Eitr: Hand of Nothing: how valuable are her skills beyond Alarm Atk/Spd? I have a copy and I'd like to know if I should inherit Alarm Atk/Spd onto my L!Eirika (who has Alarm Spd/Def at the moment) or hold onto Arcane Nihility and Beast Sense 4. I only have her at +0 but remember seeing S!Freyja uses them well for example.

Thanks in advance, everyone!

P.S. I don't think Eitr can inherit any useful "general purpose" skills either because she's a Beast, can she? No Quarter is off the table, for instance.

[Ice Dragon]

1 hour ago, DefyingFates said:

I have a question about Eitr: Hand of Nothing: how valuable are her skills beyond Alarm Atk/Spd? I have a copy and I'd like to know if I should inherit Alarm Atk/Spd onto my L!Eirika (who has Alarm Spd/Def at the moment) or hold onto Arcane Nihility and Beast Sense 4. I only have her at +0 but remember seeing S!Freyja uses them well for example.

Thanks in advance, everyone!

P.S. I don't think Eitr can inherit any useful "general purpose" skills either because she's a Beast, can she? No Quarter is off the table, for instance.

Arcane Nihility is stronger than almost all other beast cavalry weapons as long as the opponent has stat bonuses. The combination of Arcane Nihility and Beast Sense 4 functions almost identically to Summer Freyja's weapon and B skill, but slightly better, so it functionally just turns any other fast beast cavalry into a copy of Summer Freyja.

Beast Sense 4 is at least notable for functionally being a Dodge skill that's also accessible to cavalry and fliers. Its only real competitor for percentage damage reduction is Counter Roar 4.

 

For non-beasts, everything Eitr can duplicate can already be supplied by any of the other melee cavalry, namely Flared Sparrow, Near Trace 3, Assassin's Strike, Alarm, and Incite. If you're already using one of them to duplicate those, there's probably no need to also have Eitr do the same.

The most notable skills that Eitr is the only unit that can duplicate are Atk/Spd Wild, Beast Sense 4, and Beast Agility 4. (The other Beast skills don't have tier-4 versions yet.) Counter Roar 4 is also notable for there being only 2 units that can duplicate it right now.

Since we don't have any easy sources of any of the tier-3 Beast skills right now, you're currently stuck picking only 2 of Arcane Nihility, Atk/Spd Wild, or a tier-4 Beast skill when inheriting from Eitr if you want to be efficient.

[DefyingFates]

15 minutes ago, Ice Dragon said:

Arcane Nihility is stronger than almost all other beast cavalry weapons as long as the opponent has stat bonuses. The combination of Arcane Nihility and Beast Sense 4 functions almost identically to Summer Freyja's weapon and B skill, but slightly better, so it functionally just turns any other fast beast cavalry into a copy of Summer Freyja.

Beast Sense 4 is at least notable for functionally being a Dodge skill that's also accessible to cavalry and fliers. Its only real competitor for percentage damage reduction is Counter Roar 4.

 

For non-beasts, everything Eitr can duplicate can already be supplied by any of the other melee cavalry, namely Flared Sparrow, Near Trace 3, Assassin's Strike, Alarm, and Incite. If you're already using one of them to duplicate those, there's probably no need to also have Eitr do the same.

The most notable skills that Eitr is the only unit that can duplicate are Atk/Spd Wild, Beast Sense 4, and Beast Agility 4. (The other Beast skills don't have tier-4 versions yet.) Counter Roar 4 is also notable for there being only 2 units that can duplicate it right now.

Since we don't have any easy sources of any of the tier-3 Beast skills right now, you're currently stuck picking only 2 of Arcane Nihility, Atk/Spd Wild, or a tier-4 Beast skill when inheriting from Eitr if you want to be efficient.

Thank you so much for this! So if I don't have any other beast units I'm building, it's okay to just put her Alarm Atk/Spd on Eirika? Or should I hold onto her regardless and let the latter keep Alarm Def/Res? Thanks again!

[XRay]

2 hours ago, DefyingFates said:

P.S. I don't think Eitr can inherit any useful "general purpose" skills either because she's a Beast, can she? No Quarter is off the table, for instance.

Do not forget Potent! That skill seems pretty rare right now.

For Specials and Assists, there is not any, but there are a decent chunk of B and C skills worth duplicating. Most units come with decent A skills for combat performance already, so I would not use her to inherit A skills for that purpose, but Duel skills are a consideration if you change your Arena core from time to time, and you do not want to spend Orbs specifically for scoring every time you do so. If the target unit for inheritance is a nuke and you want to change them to be more dual phase-ish, you can consider giving them Primes or any other Counters as well; and vice versa for dual phase units with Counters that you want to change to be more nuke-ish with Clashes or Flares.

I would focus on B and C skills more, since the inheriting unit is less likely to have the desired skill you want, and B skills in particular affect game play a lot. For B skills of note, besides what @Ice Dragon already mentioned, there is also Spd/Def Snag if you utilize debuffs a lot, although their holders are Rearmed Heroes who can pass them down as well. Atk/Spd Link also seems pretty good with lots of extra damage, although its tier 4 version is relatively new so it might or might not be rare later, so I would hold off on that; worst case scenario, you can just wait and plan for its annual Special Heroes Focus rerun. For C skills, Fatal Smoke is relatively rare and only guaranteed available around Christmas so far, but it has a decent niche in preventing or significantly mitigate foe's healing. Def/Res Smoke is also pretty fun, but it is available through out the year on Special Heroes Foci.

If you plan to inherit to a support unit, there are Still Water, Dances, Ruses, Links, and Ploys. Rafiel: Blessed Wings, Leanne, Vika, Freyr, Kaden, and Ranulf got at least decent Res and/or movement type to inherit a lot of those skills, in addition to whatever beast skills you want on them.

[DefyingFates]

6 minutes ago, XRay said:

Do not forget Potent! That skill seems pretty rare right now.

I don't even have E!Marth, so that's not a problem for me at the moment 😛

But thank you for the assessment! My L!Eirika already has good skills right now (Ruptured Sky, Flared Sparrow + Gambit 4) and I only have the one copy of Eitr so I don't want to put too many good skills on her at the moment. Are there any relatively cheap skills I could put on her? Snags and Ruses could be fun for general content for example, since both she and Eirika would have that one space of Canto to play around with. Thank you again!

[Ice Dragon]

5 hours ago, DefyingFates said:

Thank you so much for this! So if I don't have any other beast units I'm building, it's okay to just put her Alarm Atk/Spd on Eirika? Or should I hold onto her regardless and let the latter keep Alarm Def/Res? Thanks again!

If you're planning on using Lunar Brace II most of the time, it might be better to wait to get a copy of Incite Atk/Spd instead, depending on how likely you think you'll be able to get your hands on one. If you're running Gambit 4 most of the time, then getting Alarm Atk/Spd can be prioritized a bit higher.

Either way, if you're not planning on building any beasts for the foreseeable future, then using Eitr for Alarm is okay. It's more of a matter of whether it's more efficient for it to go to Eirika or a different unit since your Eirika already has the Canto effect, albeit from a less optimal skill.

[DefyingFates]

3 minutes ago, Ice Dragon said:

If you're planning on using Lunar Brace II most of the time, it might be better to wait to get a copy of Incite Atk/Spd instead, depending on how likely you think you'll be able to get your hands on one. If you're running Gambit 4 most of the time, then getting Alarm Atk/Spd can be prioritized a bit higher.

Apparently Gambit is better for her, so I figured I'd rely on Alarm for the Canto (she has Alarm Spd/Def, not Def/Res, my bad!)

And as you say, I'm not planning on building any beasts anytime soon, so that makes it okay to spend her on Eirika? I hope?

[Ice Dragon]

19 minutes ago, DefyingFates said:

And as you say, I'm not planning on building any beasts anytime soon, so that makes it okay to spend her on Eirika? I hope?

If you have no one else in line for Alarm Atk/Spd, sure.

EDIT: It's worth noting that I used my first copy of Eitr to give Alarm Atk/Spd to Rearmed Chrom to duplicate, in case that's also an option for you.

Edited April 9 by Ice Dragon

[XRay]

3 hours ago, DefyingFates said:

I don't even have E!Marth, so that's not a problem for me at the moment 😛

But thank you for the assessment! My L!Eirika already has good skills right now (Ruptured Sky, Flared Sparrow + Gambit 4) and I only have the one copy of Eitr so I don't want to put too many good skills on her at the moment. Are there any relatively cheap skills I could put on her? Snags and Ruses could be fun for general content for example, since both she and Eirika would have that one space of Canto to play around with. Thank you again!

I guess for somewhat cheaper and universal skills in general, there are modern updates of old classic skills. You can wait for Brash Assault to pity break you. Desperation 4 (Special Hero) and Quick Riposte 4 (Rearmed Hero) are not cheap, but its lower tiers are.

Desperation is nice if you like to use Wings of Mercy Dancers/Singers. Brash Assault and Quick Riposte helps you bypass Spd checks depending on the phase. 

6 minutes ago, DefyingFates said:

And as you say, I'm not planning on building any beasts anytime soon, so that makes it okay to spend her on Eirika? I hope?

If you plan to get Alfred or Ingrid: Beacon of Hope, they would be better candidates to pass off skills since they can pass the Rearmed Weapon too.

If you do not really use beasts, then you can give Eitr now for Alarm Atk/Spd. You are not losing Eitr either since she is Rearmed, so you can still use her later. It is just that Alarm Atk/Spd is not as rare as her Arcane Weapon, so you can always rely on Special Hero Focus to get it again, whereas who knows when we will get Eitr again. But if you do not use beasts that much, then her Arcane Weapon does not really matter. If she was not Rearmed or Attuned, then yeah, I will be a bit more hesitant to use her since you will lose the unit.

[DefyingFates]

18 hours ago, Ice Dragon said:

EDIT: It's worth noting that I used my first copy of Eitr to give Alarm Atk/Spd to Rearmed Chrom to duplicate, in case that's also an option for you.

Thanks! I only have 2 Chroms IIRC, so I need to be careful about how I use him as well. I'll think it over some more. And thank you for your recommendations too @XRay!

[kabat]

Hi all. Another question:

I have 1 rearmed Ivy and I would like to pass on her Soaring Echo to other units. I am considering inheriting Soaring Echo to Rearmed Peony and then passing it on, as I have multiple copies of Peony. Will this work in the case of Atunned skills?

Ty in advance

 

[Ice Dragon]

1 hour ago, kabat said:

Hi all. Another question:

I have 1 rearmed Ivy and I would like to pass on her Soaring Echo to other units. I am considering inheriting Soaring Echo to Rearmed Peony and then passing it on, as I have multiple copies of Peony. Will this work in the case of Atunned skills?

Ty in advance

No. Arcane weapons and Echo skills can only be inherited from the original owner of the skill. This is specifically to prevent them from being duplicated using a different unit.

Edited April 13 by Ice Dragon

[kabat]

22 hours ago, Ice Dragon said:

No. Arcane weapons and Echo skills can only be inherited from the original owner of the skill. This is specifically to prevent them from being duplicated using a different unit.

Soaring echo would be useful in other units. Sadly, I can't copy it.

Thank you!