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

[Ice Dragon]

3 hours ago, DefyingFates said:

Which units is SS4 best on, just ones that don't have access to DR negation already?

The best options are units that charge 2 or more points of their Special cooldown before their first round of combat because it lets you make use of Special Spiral immediately. This does include any support effects you can reliably get, like from Velouria, Rafiel, Pent, Legendary Hector, Duo Chrom, etc., so there is quite a bit of leeway if you use said support units.

Whether or not the unit has access to percentage damage reduction negation isn't as important as whether the unit viably uses it. Lethality has a really high cooldown and is really viable on only a few units. Deadeye has a more reasonable cooldown, but has limited viability on units without the Slaying effect.

If you're running Lethality or Deadeye purely for scoring, then it's a more efficient use of resources to leave them on Special Spiral 3 and give Special Spiral 4 to a different unit unless you really, really need the SP boost for scoring purposes noting, as usual, that going up a 100-SP bucket is only worth an average of 0.5 points per match.

 

4 hours ago, DefyingFates said:

Also, I was thinking of rebuilding my og!Nino and I was wondering if this would be a good way to do so (on a budget, so I don't have Ruptured Sky unfortunately):

If you're not running a 2-cooldown Special on Nino, I don't think it's really worth running Special Spiral 4.

Lull Spd/Res is preferable to Lull Atk/Res in the B slot if you have the resources unless you're worried about counterattacks. Otherwise, any Res Lull is fine.

Since you're running a mostly non-functional Special, I think Atk/Res Menace is more useful than Time's Pulse both because it powers up her weapon and because it provides debuff support. For a more selfish build, Atk/Spd Oath 4 is also an option if you have the resources.

[Ether]

Another consideration is whether you're going to miss the other B slot effects that you're giving up. Units that have NFU or similar skills built in will appreciate that their B slot isn't as constrained. Personally, my first Spiral 4 is going on Mia, and while that's in part favouritism, there is some thought behind it. Notably, Spiral 4 ensures consistency with Vital Astra, while Time Pulse is generally good enough, depending on things like guard or OHKOs on EP, you can sometimes leave combat with VA uncharged. Arcane sword gives omnibreaker which acts as a pseudo NFU, VA gives dodge which makes losing spurn not as big a deal, and Spiral itself making special charge consistent means that a skill like tempo isn't really missed as much. Quickened pulse seal ensures the loop is set up from turn 1.

Another consideration is just, units that really want to hammer specials into things. Again, Mia is an example. If I use her PRF instead of arcane, Spiral means VA still fully charges between combat, even though she lacks slaying. Resolute blade has a lot of true damage on specials, and combined with Spiral 4's true damage, as well as that of AS Finish, that version of the build is meant to just stack damage and break walls with VA. Granted, this version really wants a Velouria support to precharge VA t1 since no slaying. I think a unit like Hatari Karla will also be kind of obscene with Spiral 4, but she's already a slept on unit in her own right, and in no way lacks for damage. Units with vantage in weapon can nuke even harder with precharged specials than before, and already liked Spiral 3 for that purpose, so this is just more damage.

One consideration with melees specifically is that DR Pierce is most commonly available on ranged units. Really the only relevant DR piercing Melee is LNanna, so melee tanks might be less prepared than their ranged counterparts for their DR to be negated. This isn't a major point, but it's worth considering.

[Ice Dragon]

5 hours ago, Ether said:

Notably, Spiral 4 ensures consistency with Vital Astra,

I still don't really like the idea of running Special Spiral with Vital Astra with the reasoning of being able to consistently get the damage reduction because you end up having to give up Dodge in the B slot for it, and running Dodge is strictly better defensively and more consistent:

• Vital Astra with Special Spiral gives you 30% damage reduction all the time against an opponent with 10 less Spd (unless the opponent has a drain at the start of combat).
• Vital Astra with a Dodge skill gives you 40% damage reduction against an opponent with 10 less Spd if Vital Astra is not charged and 58% damage reduction if Vital Astra is charged.

The only advantage of running Special Spiral is the extra 5 damage and the ability to nullify the opponent's percentage damage reduction. This is fine if your goal is to make a wall breaker, but that's just the normal usage of Special Spiral 4 and isn't really anything particularly special about Vital Astra in particular. If your goal was specifically to get the consistent damage reduction, Dodge skills are always going to be more consistent.

[Ether]

21 minutes ago, Ice Dragon said:

I still don't really like the idea of running Special Spiral with Vital Astra with the reasoning of being able to consistently get the damage reduction because you end up having to give up Dodge in the B slot for it, and running Dodge is strictly better defensively and more consistent:

• Vital Astra with Special Spiral gives you 30% damage reduction all the time against an opponent with 10 less Spd (unless the opponent has a drain at the start of combat).
• Vital Astra with a Dodge skill gives you 40% damage reduction against an opponent with 10 less Spd if Vital Astra is not charged and 58% damage reduction if Vital Astra is charged.

The only advantage of running Special Spiral is the extra 5 damage and the ability to nullify the opponent's percentage damage reduction. This is fine if your goal is to make a wall breaker, but that's just the normal usage of Special Spiral 4 and isn't really anything particularly special about Vital Astra in particular. If your goal was specifically to get the consistent damage reduction, Dodge skills are always going to be more consistent.

Agreed that in a vacuum, Spurn vs Spiral 4 is a losing trade in terms of raw DR. The main thing in my case is that it allows me to trade out Time Pulse for one of her other C slots without losing consistently on Vital Astra, in this case being the choice of Speed Smoke 4, Atk/Spd Oath 4, or Atk/Spd Menace. As an overall package it's a bit less DR but more Spd and damage, along with warp movement.

[Humanoid]

Looking for ideas of how to best use my pretty meagre fodder for a proper-investment Hans. That is, an eventual +10 (will probably sit on +8 initially), full Dragonflowers, Ascended into both Atk and Spd superboons.

An obvious thought was to grab the Louise manual to complete his Atk/Spd Ideal, then combo that into M Shez for Bulwark plus Oath 4. But there's the minor matter of not having M Shez that's stopping me.

What I actually can spare:

- Any Divines Code 3 manuals, I haven't redeemed a single one.

- I could also grind my way to around 400 Divine Codes 2 from Summoner Duels and use it to partly fund the Fallen M Corrin manual (and maybe grab the Say'ri manual too). Their skills seem as good as any available from Divine Codes 3 so it wouldn't feel like a waste.

- Distant Counter from a failed Effie experiment back in 2017.

- Ascended Mareeta for Vital Astra plus any one of her A/B/C skills I guess. Shame it only can be one.

- Sothis (various, can perhaps combo Atk/Spd Solo 1 plus any of her other skills into Mareeta for Solo 4)

- NY Lethe (Lull Spd/Def plus Atk/Spd Solo 1 combo as above)

- F Kris (Spurn + Fury 4 as a placeholder until something better comes along)

- Catherine (Swift Sparrow 3 + Lull Spd/Def)

- Dieck (NFU)

 

[Ice Dragon]

On 12/7/2022 at 3:56 AM, Humanoid said:

Looking for ideas of how to best use my pretty meagre fodder for a proper-investment Hans. That is, an eventual +10 (will probably sit on +8 initially), full Dragonflowers, Ascended into both Atk and Spd superboons.

An obvious thought was to grab the Louise manual to complete his Atk/Spd Ideal, then combo that into M Shez for Bulwark plus Oath 4. But there's the minor matter of not having M Shez that's stopping me.

The default optimized setup for fast non-beast physical melee (without Godlike Reflexes) is something like:

[Weapon]
[Assist]
Ruptured Sky / Vital Astra
Atk/Spd Ideal 4 / Surge Sparrow / Atk/Spd Finish 4 / (Atk/Spd Clash 4)
Velocity 3 / Spd/Def Tempo 3 / Spd/Def Bulwark 3 / Spurn 3 / Frenzy 3 / Null Follow-Up 3 / (Special Spiral 4)
Time's Pulse 3 / Atk/Spd Menace / Atk/Spd Oath 4 / (any Tempest) / (Rouse Atk/Spd 4)
[Sacred Seal]

Options in parentheses are more situational. Obviously, don't pick skills that have effects that won't stack with whatever's on the weapon or that have incompatible activation conditions.

 

As far as optimal use of resources goes, assuming you have everything or are willing to wait for anything, I'd grab Ruptured Sky and Atk/Spd Ideal 4 from Legendary Female Byleth and then any B skill from the list from whoever has it, though probably not Frenzy since he lacks the Slaying effect and needs the opponent to counterattack to activate his Special.

Hans's default Rouse Atk/Spd 3 is good enough unless you really need the extra points from a 300-SP skill for scoring (it moves you up a scoring bucket if you're running Reposition with 240-SP skills in the B and Sacred Seal slots, but doesn't move you up if you're running a Rally+) since none of the current units with Rouse Atk/Spd 4 have any other skills worth grabbing at the same time.

 

Aurgelmir has no effect on enemy phase if he's adjacent to an ally, so running Oath means having a non-functional enemy phase. While that isn't really a problem, it does limit what you can do with him in exchange for getting the teleportation effect.

If you don't mind that restriction, grabbing Atk/Spd Ideal 4 and Atk/Spd Oath 3 from Louise and then waiting for Male Shez is fine. You can also just use Rouse Atk/Spd 3 and ignore Atk/Spd Oath 3 until you actually get Atk/Spd Oath 4.

Instead of Male Shez (or while you wait for Male Shez, depending on if you feel like you can afford to spend the extra resources), you can grab Vital Astra and Spurn 3 from Ascended Mareeta, though that means the Atk/Spd Oath from Louise will end up unused (unless you also use Male Shez later on).

[Humanoid]

@Ice Dragon Thanks, look like my path might depend on which unit falls into my lap first, or if the relatively imminent release of Divine Codes 4 presents a new opportunity. If I'm being super optimistic I might even believe in quintuple-inheritance being added around that time, ha.

1) If M Shez turns up then I'll do the combo with Louise, then figure out the Special later, hopefully a random Byleth turns up. I do have a spare Byleth but I think she's destined to feed Rearmed Ophelia.

2) I do have a bad Legendary F Byleth, but I'll wait until I get another before letting her go. If I do get one then I'll just add NFU and Threaten Atk/Def 3 from Dieck I guess, even if it's one of the less sexy tier 4 skills.

3) Actually I forgot I have a spare Legendary M Byleth somewhere. I could therefore actually do Atk/Def Ideal 4 + Time's Pulse from him, and Vital Astra and Spurn from Ascended Mareeta. It means I'm no longer speed stacking of course, but the advantage is that I could actually do this now. While I could do something similar with CYL Eirika in place of LM Byleth, I think any spare Eirika that turns up gets fed to Rearmed Lif first.

4) Probably less efficient since Atk/Spd Solo 4 becoming more and more accessible, but something I can also do right now is Time's Pulse 3 + Atk/Spd Solo 1 from Sothis, Vital Astra plus Atk/Spd Solo 4 from A Mareeta, and probably Spurn from F Kris. In general I feel there's only two possibilities for using this spare Sothis efficiently,  requiring someone with a single-tier headline skill such that they're free to pass Atk/Spd Solo 2-4 alongside it. This is one of them, the other being Ninja Shinon for Deadeye.

Edited December 8, 2022 by Humanoid

[Wyvern Fang]

So, hi, new here and also relatively new to Heroes too (though not to FE in general). I started about...a week or so before the CYL6 units were released. Ans while I have been researching what I can with builds and mechanics and stuff...I still have absolutely no idea how to really make teams...specifically for Aether Raids and especially Defense. I've made it to Tier 20 but I know things are gonna be more serious in terms of builds from here and above. So I thought I'd ask here because as far as I can tell this is where you can ask stuff like this. (I saw the AR general discussion thread and saw no activity since July compared to here where I see AR questions asked and answered so...)

I guess that's a bit of a broad question though. So I'll just put up the defense teams I made thus far. (also sorry they're not in "reveal hidden contents", for some reason using the spoiler code isn't working and makes it look like a quote and still figuring out what I'm doing wrong)

---

Astra/Anima Defense
from left to right slot:
Legendary Ninian [Atk+ / HP-]
Faithful Breath
Dragon's Dance
Moonbow
Atk/Spd Catch 4
S/R Near Trace 3
Blue Feud 3
SS: Atk/Spd Solo 3

Ascended Eir [Atk+]
Ymir, Everliving
Moonbow
Atk/Spd Catch 4
Mystic Boost 4
Sparkling Boost
Atk/Res Form 3

Arval [Atk+ / Res+ / Def-]
Rite of Souls
Glacies
Duality
Wings of Mercy 3
Atk/Res Oath 4
Heavy Blade 3

Summer Claude [HP+ / Def-]
Frozen Delight
Moonbow
Swift Sparrow 3
Fallen Star
Spd/Def Rein 3
Blade Session 3

Legendary Eliwood [Neutral]
Ardent Durandal (Refined)
Moonbow
Death Blow 4
Hit and Ryn
Vision of Arcadia II
Drive Atk 2

Bridal Catria [Atk+ / Res-]
Wedding-Bell Axe
Moonbow
Atk/Spd Push 4
Lancebreaker 3
Spd/Def Rein 3
Quickened Pulse

Fallen Rhea [Atk+ / Def-]
Ruinous Frost
Pivot
Glimmer
Bracing Stance 3
True Dragon Wall
D/R Near Save 3
Distant Counter (D)

---

Light/Dark Defense

Team 1 (before I got Embla)
from left to right slot:
Legendary Ninian [Atk+ / HP-]
Faithful Breath
Dragon's Dance
Moonbow
Atk/Spd Catch 4
S/R Near Trace 3
Blue Feud 3
Quickened Pulse

Black Knight +2
Alondite (Refined)
Pivot
Black Luna
Atk/Spd Bond 3
Vengeful Fighter
A/D Near Save 3
Steady Breath

Brave Chrom +1
Geirdriful
A Fate Changed!
Luna
Surge Sparrow
Lul Atk/Spd 3
Inf. Spd Tactic
Blade Session 3

Brave Byleth +1 [HP+]
Inner Wellspring
Divine Pulse
Atk/Spd Catch 4
Spd Preempt 3
Spd/Res Hold
Atk/Spd Solo 3

Brave Claude +1 [Spd+ / Res+]
Wind Parthia (refined)
Moonbow
Atk/Def Catch 4
S/D Far Trace 3
Spd Smoke 3
Iote's Shield

Nótt [HP+ / Spd-]
Hrímfaxi
Dragon Fang
Distant Counter
Moon-Twin Wing
Atk/Spd Menace
Null Follow-Up 3

Valentine's Robin +1 [Res+]
Archiemenes Furl
Pivot
Iceberg
Mirror Stance 3
Crafty Fighter 3
A/D Far Save
Atk/Res Form 3

Team 2 (after I got Embla) (if it helps I basically switched out Black Knight with Embla and changed L!Ninian's Sacred Seal to Dist. Counter (D) to give Embla Quickened Pulse)
From left to right slot:
Legendary Ninian [Atk+ / HP-]
Faithful Breath
Dragon's Dance
Moonbow
Atk/Spd Catch 4
S/R Near Trace 3
Blue Feud 3
Distant Counter (D)

Embla [HP+ / Atk-]
Enclosing Claw
Luna
Surge Sparrow
Beast Agility
Severance
Quickened Pulse

Brave Chrom +1
Geirdriful
A Fate Changed!
Luna
Surge Sparrow
Lul Atk/Spd 3
Inf. Spd Tactic
Blade Session 3

Brave Byleth +1 [HP+]
Inner Wellspring
Divine Pulse
Atk/Spd Catch 4
Spd Preempt 3
Spd/Res Hold
Atk/Spd Solo 3

Brave Claude +1 [Spd+ / Res+]
Wind Parthia (refined)
Moonbow
Atk/Def Catch 4
S/D Far Trace 3
Spd Smoke 3
Iote's Shield

Nótt [HP+ / Spd-]
Hrímfaxi
Dragon Fang
Distant Counter
Moon-Twin Wing
Atk/Spd Menace
Spd/Def Form 1

Valentine's Robin +1 [Res+]
Archiemenes Furl
Pivot
Iceberg
Mirror Stance 3
Crafty Fighter 3
A/D Far Save
Atk/Res Form 3

---

Chaos Team
From left to right slot:
Legendary Ninian [Atk+ / HP-]
Faithful Breath
Dragon's Dance
Moonbow
Atk/Spd Catch 4
S/R Near Trace 3
Blue Feud 3
Distant Counter (D)

Legendary Eliwood [Neutral]
Ardent Durandal (Refined)
Moonbow
Death Blow 4
Hit and Ryn
Vision of Arcadia II
Drive Atk 2

Arval [Atk+ / Res+ / Def-]
Rite of Souls
Glacies
Duality
Wings of Mercy 3
Atk/Res Oath 4
Atk/Res Form 3

Ascended Eir [Atk+]
Ymir, Everliving
Moonbow
Atk/Spd Catch 4
Mystic Boost 4
Sparkling Boost
Atk/Spd Solo 3

Legendary Veronica [Def+ / Res-[/b]
Enclosing Dark
Enclosiure
Atk/Spd Catch 4
S/R Far Trace 3
Panic Smoke 4
Blade Session 4

Bridal Catria [Atk+ / Res-]
Wedding-Bell Axe
Moonbow
Atk/Spd Push 4
Lancebreaker 3
Spd/Def Rein 3
Quickened Pulse

---

Apologies if the team compositions look atrocious or something. I meant what I said when I don't really know team making. I only know that the order affects AI priority and the only thought I put into teams were:

Astra/Anima Team: Arval strong plus Anima mythic, L!Eliwood for support to Arval, Ascended Eir for getting rid of F!Edelgard (along with Arval) and possible B!Hectors, B!Catria also for B!Hectors and also just in general her support effects, and F!Rhea as a "spare" Save Tank I had that was at least okay.

Light/Dark Team: Just gonna put my favorites (that being Chrom, Robin, Claude, Byleth) plus extra, that being L!Ninian as a Dancer that can also hold her own as well as surprise killer of B!Hectors if things go her way, Embla because her skills and Black Knight because I wanna build him up so he was the next best Save Tank I had that was at least okay too, and then Nòtt because Pathfinder for L!Ninian as well as originally being my first Dark mythic in general.

Chaos Team: logic used for A!Eir, L!Eliwood, Arval, L!Ninian, and B!Catria the same. L!Veronica because excuse to use her and also was basically making a (if I understood that right) "sort of" Cav line. As in I was in the middle of making one by swapping L!Eliwood and Arval out for L!Nanna and Embla (especially former because want excuse to use her) once I got them to make a proper Cav line, but I also just wanted to use Arval and by extension L!Eliwood for him so kept them and made a sorta Cav line (all the cavs are out front while Arval and B!Catria are in the back).

Soooo...yeah. Probably not very good. Any feedback would be appreciated. Though note I don't have too much premium/good fodder to work with so it'd be nice to know budget equivalents too, though not necessary. Just thought that might be a detail you should know.

I'd ask about making some good AR-O teams but I don't even really know where to start. I kinda sorta slapped together what felt like it worked together. Maybe a Galeforce team I guess? Since I got 3 Galeforce fodder to give (a Lyn and B!Roy I got recently and a Cordelia manual I had made into 5 star not-so-recently), but again, don't really know where to start in making a good team even if I picked one or more units to be Galeforce users.

Edited December 11, 2022 by Wyvern Fang

[Lemmy]

anyone know the holiday equivalent for the otherworld bond forma item?

i've been leading valentine chrom for a while, but i'd like to change if he's not valid.

[Wyvern Fang]

It said on the info for it during FEH channel that heroes released from Ver 1.0 to 4.11 are eligible to use the otherworld bond item on, so it's any heroes released from the beginning up to right before book 5 (with reginn) was released (in other words, during book 4). So since V!Chrom was released this year, during book 6, he's not valid.

[Sil/phire]

On 12/10/2022 at 10:13 PM, Wyvern Fang said:

So, hi, new here and also relatively new to Heroes too (though not to FE in general)

I'd ask about making some good AR-O teams but I don't even really know where to start. I kinda sorta slapped together what felt like it worked together. Maybe a Galeforce team I guess? Since I got 3 Galeforce fodder to give (a Lyn and B!Roy I got recently and a Cordelia manual I had made into 5 star not-so-recently), but again, don't really know where to start in making a good team even if I picked one or more units to be Galeforce users.

Welcome! Always cool to see new fans around. Sadly, i dont know anything about aether raids myself so i cant help there (im just a casual and cant keep up with meta). BUT I would advise not to use 5* heroes as fodder for skills you can find in the 3*/4* pool unless you really don't care about them. If anything, those heroes can be helpful in Limited-Hero battles (although OG Lyn is probably beyond saving). If you want to get a good galeforce unit, and you have the orbs to do so, I would actually suggest you go for the Harmonic Winter Cordelia we just saw today in the Special Heroes trailer. She's galeforcer with a lot of what you'll already want in such a unit, special accelaration, a heavy blade effect, half null follow up on her B slot, and can potentially quad hit. I think may be the only thing you might want to do is give her the Fury seal to help her get into Wings of Mercy range for your refreshers and she'll be good to go. Assuming you don't hate the character or something, lol.

 

So, I just got fallen Lilith on the skills banner and have 2 extras. Would Speed Smoke 4 be a good fit for Halloween F!Corrin? is there a skill that would be a better fit? like, may be Atk/Spd Oath 4?

Edited December 15, 2022 by Sil/phire

[Ice Dragon]

On 12/11/2022 at 12:13 AM, Wyvern Fang said:

Apologies if the team compositions look atrocious or something. I meant what I said when I don't really know team making. I only know that the order affects AI priority and the only thought I put into teams were:

Honestly, Aether Raids defense isn't a very high priority unless you really, really need to squeeze out some extra points. Offense is the primary source of points and should be your first priority.

If you don't want to spend too much effort on your defense teams, it's actually quite efficient to just make a half-decent team with one or two Mythic Heroes, bless the rest of the team, and use nothing but the loss reduction for points.

Watch your replays (both wins and losses) and see what can be improved from them. Are your units unable to reach the opponent? Are your units leaving buff ranges? Is your dancer moving too early? Is it worth rearranging your team to handle a specific counter, or do you just let yourself take those losses and focus your efforts on getting wins elsewhere?

Oh, and use Embla as much as possible. She's even worth using on her off season. Embla is a deceptively difficult unit to deal with because even if the opponent gets around her Severance debuffs, they still have to deal with the fact that she's stupidly fast and difficult to take out in one round of combat.

 

1 hour ago, Sil/phire said:

So, I just got fallen Lilith on the skills banner and have 2 extras. Would Speed Smoke 4 be a good fit for Halloween F!Corrin? is there a skill that would be a better fit? like, may be Atk/Spd Oath 4?

Spd Smoke 4 is more defensive, whereas Atk/Spd Oath 4 is more offensive. Use whichever one fits your playstyle better. Both are good options for her.

[Wyvern Fang]

6 hours ago, Sil/phire said:

Welcome! Always cool to see new fans around. Sadly, i dont know anything about aether raids myself so i cant help there (im just a casual and cant keep up with meta). BUT I would advise not to use 5* heroes as fodder for skills you can find in the 3*/4* pool unless you really don't care about them. If anything, those heroes can be helpful in Limited-Hero battles (although OG Lyn is probably beyond saving).

Thanks for the welcome! Glad to join in. Have been enjoying myself so far. Ah okay. Oh yeah I generally don't do that, generally. In those case I saw B!Roy and OG Lyn don't have too much going for them, so that's why I mentioned them as fodder. Though admittedly I did end up foddering off B!Roy to the Finn I'm building up when I realized I had all I need for this Galeforce build I saw. XD

6 hours ago, Sil/phire said:

 If you want to get a good galeforce unit, and you have the orbs to do so, I would actually suggest you go for the Harmonic Winter Cordelia we just saw today in the Special Heroes trailer. She's galeforcer with a lot of what you'll already want in such a unit, special accelaration, a heavy blade effect, half null follow up on her B slot, and can potentially quad hit. I think may be the only thing you might want to do is give her the Fury seal to help her get into Wings of Mercy range for your refreshers and she'll be good to go. Assuming you don't hate the character or something, lol.

Hmm, no, I don't hate Cordelia, but I'm not too interested in getting her when I saw that L!Claude is probably coming up in a later banner and I had used pretty much all my orbs previously getting L!Veronica, L!Nanna and Embla (actually accidentally ended up getting two...both with bad IVs, HP+ / Atk- and Atk+ / Spd-), so I'm pretty much starting from "0" (not literally 0 right now) and gonna save it all for L!Claude. Maybe if I have some spare orbs after trying to get L!Claude (if I get him) since W!Cordelia and especially W!Black Knight were tempting.

4 hours ago, Ice Dragon said:

Honestly, Aether Raids defense isn't a very high priority unless you really, really need to squeeze out some extra points. Offense is the primary source of points and should be your first priority.

Oh. I see. (That might explain the lack of guides...) I just asked because I like making AR-D teams. Idk. I just find it fun mixijg and matching and arranging the layout. But thanks for the advice nonetheless! I'll keep it in mind. Especially Embla. half tempted to go double embla even if they both got suck-y ivs...

 

Though since AR-O is priority in AR, what can I do? Like...I guess, how to build a team? Like...what are some basic team compositions? I hear some terms, like Galeforce, Hit and Run, and Vantage teams, but I don't know how to build those, or a good one.

Edited December 15, 2022 by Wyvern Fang

[Ice Dragon]

1 minute ago, Wyvern Fang said:

Oh. I see. (That might explain the lack of guides...) I just asked because I like making AR-D teams. Idk. I just find it fun mixijg and matching and arranging the layout. But thanks for the advice nonetheless! I'll keep it in mind. Especially Embla. half tempted to go double embla even if they both got suck-y ivs...

One of the other possible reasons for the lack of guides is that the meta is constantly changing due to the introduction of new units, which makes it difficult to make a general guide that doesn't need to be constantly updated. Instead, you're more likely to find guides for building specific map archetypes like Harmonized Catria maps or Save ball maps.

As for Embla, I honestly recommend running double Embla on both seasons. Embla is that good.

 

4 minutes ago, Wyvern Fang said:

Though since AR-O is priority in AR, what can I do? Like...I guess, how to build a team? Like...what are some basic team compositions? I hear some terms, like Galeforce, Hit and Run, and Vantage teams, but I don't know how to build those, or a good one.

Most importantly, it's always worth remembering that you don't need a set of teams that beats everything. Assuming you have your ladder upgraded to max level, you can have up to 15 matches each week and only need to win 8.

 

As far as offense team archetypes:

• A standard Save team runs 1 Near Save unit and 1 Far Save unit and ideally has Flayn and/or Elimine to grant additional damage reduction and Def/Res. The goal of this team is to simply sit in place and let the opponent kill themselves on you. You typically want at least one unit that has good movement so that you can snipe the opponent's Aether structures before their last unit dies, but if you have good enough bulky units, you can try to leave a weak enemy unit alive and have a bulky unit move outside of Save range to draw attacks until your other units can break the structures.
• An infantry tank team runs 1 infantry tank with Distant Counter and has as many units behind them as possible for support. Ideally, you run Bulwark on the infantry tank to prevent the units behind them from being targeted, but that's not always necessary. The best tanks for this archetype are Brave Tiki, Ascended Tiki, and Halloween Female Corrin.
• A Vantage team is a variation on the infantry tank archetype that uses Vantage-like effects instead of bulk in order to tank. This team archetype largely fell out of favor due to rising unit bulk making it difficult to one-hit kill opponents reliably, but is making a comeback with some newly released units like Ninja Camilla.
• Galeforce teams are intended to kill all of the opponent's units, preferably minus one unit that can be rendered non-threatening, in a single turn. This team composition uses several units with Galeforce (or a similar effect) and Wings of Mercy to allow units to teleport into the enemy formation. You want to use units that can activate Galeforce in a single round of combat (usually a weapon with the Slaying effect and some source of +1 Special charge rate) so that they do not need to be danced to actually activate Galeforce. Units like Duo Chrom and Brave Chrom, who get a Galeforce-like effect from using their Assist skill, are also decent support units. Legendary Ninian, who gets a Galeforce-like effect from using her dance skill, is amazing since she can dance and attack in a single turn. Thorr's Worldbreaker can also be used to provide +1 Special charge rate to other units.

If you need pointers, I believe it shouldn't be too hard to find guides for specific offense team archetypes on YouTube, much like for defense teams.

Also make sure to check your defense replays to see what other players are using against you, especially if they win. You can also get ideas for defense maps based on maps that you see in your own matches.

[Ice Dragon]

So now that Harmonized Cordelia is a thing, I'm revisiting my indecisiveness for the Assets for Harmonized Catria and Harmonized Cordelia.

Both have Brave effects that are conditional based on position, and the positioning requirements are pretty hard to consistently fulfill in Resonant Battles. In other game modes, Cordelia's is probably pretty easy to work with since it only has a Bond condition and she also has Formation on her weapon, but Catria's is a lot less reliable.

As such, I'm leaning towards Spd for both of them, but I'd like to get other opinions. (This will probably be a moot point once I get off my lazy ass and start using florets since fast Brave units are first on my priority list, but it'll still be relevant in the meantime while I continue to be lazy.)

 

I'm similarly still indecisive on Brave Dimitri's Asset.

While Blue Lion Rule functions based on a Def comparison, I'm not sure he really benefits that much from a Def Asset compared to Atk (or Spd). His refined weapon already boosts his Def relative to his opponent's by 10 points, which makes it less likely for him to fail getting the full 10-point difference for maximum effect. The additional 4 Def from an Asset would really only add 0.8 damage and reduce incoming damage by 0.8 points after percentage damage reduction, which isn't particularly significant, though the 4 Def itself is still somewhat useful, but only against physical opponents.

An Atk Asset is just +4 damage. It might be better than the Def Asset, but I'm not sure.

A Spd Asset is iffy. His Spd isn't amazing, but it's workable. However, he's unable to viably run Godlike Reflexes because his weapon lacks the Slaying effect, and the Special charge rate boost is on the wrong attacks (enemy instead of his own). Vital Astra is okay, though he probably gets more out of Ruptured Sky because, due to his Special charge rate boost being on his opponent's attacks, he'll almost never have a fully charged Vital Astra at the start of combat.

[XRay]

2 hours ago, Ice Dragon said:

Both have Brave effects that are conditional based on position, and the positioning requirements are pretty hard to consistently fulfill in Resonant Battles. In other game modes, Cordelia's is probably pretty easy to work with since it only has a Bond condition and she also has Formation on her weapon, but Catria's is a lot less reliable.

As such, I'm leaning towards Spd for both of them, but I'd like to get other opinions. (This will probably be a moot point once I get off my lazy ass and start using florets since fast Brave units are first on my priority list, but it'll still be relevant in the meantime while I continue to be lazy.)

If you are using them mostly in PvE modes, I lean towards +Atk, since there is less Spd creep in PvE outside the occaisional super fast Bats. Catria: Azure Wing Pair also has guaranteed follow-up in her Harmonized skill, so I do not really think the Spd asset is all that necessary.

If you are using them in PvP modes, then I would switch to +Spd for Cordelia: Unyielding Snow, but I would still stick with +Atk for Catria: Azure Wing Pair.

If I was still playing, I personally do not see myself using them much outside of Resonant Battles and Røkkr Sieges, or maybe flier ball on Aether Raids defense if I have extra cash to spend. In Resonant Battles and Røkkr Sieges, I do not see +Spd being all that necessary since PvE enemies generally are not super fast. In Aether Raids defense, I think it is pointless to try to win the Spd check against the offense team when they can stack more Mythic stats and supports.

2 hours ago, Ice Dragon said:

I'm similarly still indecisive on Brave Dimitri's Asset.

While Blue Lion Rule functions based on a Def comparison, I'm not sure he really benefits that much from a Def Asset compared to Atk (or Spd). His refined weapon already boosts his Def relative to his opponent's by 10 points, which makes it less likely for him to fail getting the full 10-point difference for maximum effect. The additional 4 Def from an Asset would really only add 0.8 damage and reduce incoming damage by 0.8 points after percentage damage reduction, which isn't particularly significant, though the 4 Def itself is still somewhat useful, but only against physical opponents.

An Atk Asset is just +4 damage. It might be better than the Def Asset, but I'm not sure.

A Spd Asset is iffy. His Spd isn't amazing, but it's workable. However, he's unable to viably run Godlike Reflexes because his weapon lacks the Slaying effect, and the Special charge rate boost is on the wrong attacks (enemy instead of his own). Vital Astra is okay, though he probably gets more out of Ruptured Sky because, due to his Special charge rate boost being on his opponent's attacks, he'll almost never have a fully charged Vital Astra at the start of combat.

I lean towards +Def, just to make sure he wins the Def check so his gimmick works. While not super common, there are more units that plays around with Def comparisons these days. If you are using him, I assume you need his Def based damage reduction, so best make sure that part of him works.

For his second Asset, if you plan to give him one, between Atk and Spd, I lean towards +Spd. While he does have guaranteed follow-up, having the Spd also helps to make sure he doubles. I think +Atk is fine too if you can consistently support him with Spd buffs.

You can also support him with Hilda: Deer's Two Piece to get the full Breath effect.

Edited December 17, 2022 by XRay

[Ice Dragon]

2 hours ago, XRay said:

since there is less Spd creep in PvE outside the occaisional super fast Bats.

This week's Resonant Battle's fastest unit is Malice with 62 Spd including skills, and that's on a unit with no Spd boost from her weapon.

Harmonized Catria hits 71 Spd at max merges and Dragonflowers with her base kit and a Sacred Seal that grants +6 Spd, which only puts her 5 Spd away from missing a follow-up against the above Malice, which is an uncomfortably small margin given that Malice is nowhere near the fastest unit the mode throws at you.

While Catria can get a guaranteed follow-up and +4 Spd from her Harmonized skill, she can only do so once per map (and I have Vietnam flashbacks of Asvel, who has both Bonus nullification and Null Follow-Up).

If we replace Malice's kit with a functional weapon (i.e. +6 Spd) and Null Follow-Up, even with Catria's Harmonized skill active, she's only 3 Spd away from losing her follow-up.

 

3 hours ago, XRay said:

While not super common, there are more units that plays around with Def comparisons these days.

I'm drawing a blank on examples.

The only unit I remember off the top of my head that plays with Def comparisons is Dancer Eldigan, which is intended to block Mila's Turnwheel, but Eldigan is not an offensive threat. Mila herself is a permanent fixture of my Light Aether Raids team, so Dimitri will also always at least get +5 Def from her blessing bonus.

 

2 hours ago, XRay said:

You can also support him with Hilda: Deer's Two Piece to get the full Breath effect.

Given that Dimitri would be intended to be used against Embla, that won't work. I think Fallen Ninian is the only unit that can provide that support against Embla.

Even then, I'm not entirely convinced it's worth running Vital Astra over Ruptured Sky due to the increasing prevalence of Guard and Tempo (noting that Embla herself has Guard on her weapon). Godlike Reflexes is still out of the question due to the lack of the Slaying effect.

 

Speaking of Fallen Ninian, that reminds me that I still haven't decided on an Asset for her, either, and she'd probably be a decent support unit for Brave Dimitri.

An HP Asset would help with HP-based support effects, but I'm not sure she'll even be running any since I'm considering replacing her default Pulse Tie with either a Cantrip (probably Def Cantrip) or tier-4 Chill (probably Chill Def/Res).

While she has no ability to deal damage whatsoever, a Spd Asset would help her function as a tank for the purpose of stalling the last opposing unit while the rest of the team cleans up Aether structures, in which case I would probably run a Bulwark in the B slot (though I'd probably have to wait for Atk/Spd Bulwark to be released).

[Xenomata]

Out of both curiosity and need of ideas, how do you guys use your trait fruits these days?

There's plenty of newer units these days who don't need to have their traits be a specific way, but at the same time it seems like any time I summon one of these newer units they're almost always of specifically the asset/flaw combo that helps the least (my recent pulling of +Res -Spd Winter Cordelia/Selena pops to mind immediately), but then there's also the Grail units who I like and want to use, but who don't have any possibility of being able to get any asset/flaw other than neutral. There are also Forma units who not only come Neutral by default, but who also completely overwrite an existing units asset/flaw if one existed.

As of typing I have close to 500 trait fruits out of just not knowing how I should be using them, so maybe a little bit of advise can go some ways in figuring out how to use them...

[Ice Dragon]

4 minutes ago, Xenomata said:

Out of both curiosity and need of ideas, how do you guys use your trait fruits these days?

Forma units are my first priority for obvious reasons.

I haven't used them on anything else yet, but I'm extremely likely to end up using them on Special Heroes that I already have at +10, don't have the correct Asset for (e.g. the unit got a refine and now wants a different stat or I just never got the right Asset to begin with), and don't plan on ever pulling for ever again. Right now, Summer Mystery Tiki and Summer Lyn are likely to get this treatment since they are both +Atk and want to switch to +Spd.

[XRay]

20 minutes ago, Ice Dragon said:

This week's Resonant Battle's fastest unit is Malice with 62 Spd including skills, and that's on a unit with no Spd boost from her weapon.

Harmonized Catria hits 71 Spd at max merges and Dragonflowers with her base kit and a Sacred Seal that grants +6 Spd, which only puts her 5 Spd away from missing a follow-up against the above Malice, which is an uncomfortably small margin given that Malice is nowhere near the fastest unit the mode throws at you.

While Catria can get a guaranteed follow-up and +4 Spd from her Harmonized skill, she can only do so once per map (and I have Vietnam flashbacks of Asvel, who has both Bonus nullification and Null Follow-Up).

If we replace Malice's kit with a functional weapon (i.e. +6 Spd) and Null Follow-Up, even with Catria's Harmonized skill active, she's only 3 Spd away from losing her follow-up.

Hm... I guess +Spd is okay since there a lot more Heroes in Resonant Battles compared to other PvE modes where you are mostly just fighting generic units, and there is a bit of extra stat inflation in Resonant Battles too. I still do not think +Spd is super necessary since you can often avoid the guards, or at least get enough items and buffs that makes dispatching them easier.

1 hour ago, Ice Dragon said:

I'm drawing a blank on examples.

The only unit I remember off the top of my head that plays with Def comparisons is Dancer Eldigan, which is intended to block Mila's Turnwheel, but Eldigan is not an offensive threat. Mila herself is a permanent fixture of my Light Aether Raids team, so Dimitri will also always at least get +5 Def from her blessing bonus.

For those who keep Maria: Sunny Smile as a player phase unit, she has Flow Guard that works off of Def comparison for dealing extra damage and damage reduction.

Myrrh: Spooky Monster has an alternate HP condition to trigger her guarantee follow-up attack, but I think players would still like to maximize her Def too to make to make the guarantee follow-up attack more likely to go through.

Kyza: Tiger of Fortune uses Def comparison for Special charge increase and true damage.

Keaton: Resolved Wolf uses Def comparison for true damage. I do not remember facing him often though.

Myrrh is pretty old, but she uses Def comparison to deny follow-ups.

And slow tanks and dual phase units in general want to stack their Def as high as possible.

2 hours ago, Ice Dragon said:

Given that Dimitri would be intended to be used against Embla, that won't work. I think Fallen Ninian is the only unit that can provide that support against Embla.

Even then, I'm not entirely convinced it's worth running Vital Astra over Ruptured Sky due to the increasing prevalence of Guard and Tempo (noting that Embla herself has Guard on her weapon). Godlike Reflexes is still out of the question due to the lack of the Slaying effect.

Hm... What about using the goddess of reflexes herself, Lyn: Blazing Whirlwind? Even if she loses Verdict of Sacae and runs Distant Counter, I think she still has an edge when it comes to Spd.

2 hours ago, Ice Dragon said:

Speaking of Fallen Ninian, that reminds me that I still haven't decided on an Asset for her, either, and she'd probably be a decent support unit for Brave Dimitri.

An HP Asset would help with HP-based support effects, but I'm not sure she'll even be running any since I'm considering replacing her default Pulse Tie with either a Cantrip (probably Def Cantrip) or tier-4 Chill (probably Chill Def/Res).

While she has no ability to deal damage whatsoever, a Spd Asset would help her function as a tank for the purpose of stalling the last opposing unit while the rest of the team cleans up Aether structures, in which case I would probably run a Bulwark in the B slot (though I'd probably have to wait for Atk/Spd Bulwark to be released).

I lean towards +HP or +Res. I do not think +Spd is necessary since any foe that is left that she needs to tank probably is not super fast anyways, especially in Aether Raids offense where you can stack more Mythic stats than defense can.

2 hours ago, Xenomata said:

Out of both curiosity and need of ideas, how do you guys use your trait fruits these days?

There's plenty of newer units these days who don't need to have their traits be a specific way, but at the same time it seems like any time I summon one of these newer units they're almost always of specifically the asset/flaw combo that helps the least (my recent pulling of +Res -Spd Winter Cordelia/Selena pops to mind immediately), but then there's also the Grail units who I like and want to use, but who don't have any possibility of being able to get any asset/flaw other than neutral. There are also Forma units who not only come Neutral by default, but who also completely overwrite an existing units asset/flaw if one existed.

As of typing I have close to 500 trait fruits out of just not knowing how I should be using them, so maybe a little bit of advise can go some ways in figuring out how to use them...

When I was playing, I generally spend Fruits on certain nukes that I plan to keep at +0 (or at least one copy of them). I like the -HP to easily get them into Wings of Mercy range. I also spent a lot of them on a few Plumerias, Flayns, and Elimines to change them to +Res.

[Humanoid]

3 hours ago, Xenomata said:

Out of both curiosity and need of ideas, how do you guys use your trait fruits these days?

I'm sitting on 750 so I'm even worse at it. Even for units where it'd help a ton I'm paranoid about using them because what if I pull a better copy of them randomly? It's particularly stupid in the case of something like my -Atk Summer Edelgard, since I don't generally invest any orbs into seasonal re-runs, and I'm not about to pull red on my annual seasonal freebie. But she'll most likely appear on the AHR banner too, arrgh!

But yes, grail and forma units are the easiest to justify using them on, but then I also have to consider how often I use those units as well. Yen'fay is fully merged but I don't generally use infantry so he's missed out so far. Aversa might gain a tiny bit by switching off neutral but she's a support unit anyway. Similar with Walhart, where I'm so lazy that his A-skill is still Darting Blow 3. Naesala's gameplay is right up my alley but I've been too lazy to build my birb team properly just yet. Summer Laegjarn I'm sad about because I have a Forma version but previously had a plain +Spd version and I'm losing the asset just to fruit it back.

Units I've actually used it on:
Valentine's Titania
Kronya

Units I'm planning on using it on:
Hans
Summer Edelgard if I don't get another by the time the anniversary event is done
Naesala once I also finish building Tibarn and Leanne
Forma Young L'Arachel?

[Ice Dragon]

27 minutes ago, XRay said:

For those who keep Maria: Sunny Smile as a player phase unit, she has Flow Guard that works off of Def comparison for dealing extra damage and damage reduction.

Myrrh: Spooky Monster has an alternate HP condition to trigger her guarantee follow-up attack, but I think players would still like to maximize her Def too to make to make the guarantee follow-up attack more likely to go through.

Kyza: Tiger of Fortune uses Def comparison for Special charge increase and true damage.

Keaton: Resolved Wolf uses Def comparison for true damage. I do not remember facing him often though.

Myrrh is pretty old, but she uses Def comparison to deny follow-ups.

I've never seen any of those units in Aether Raids.

 

28 minutes ago, XRay said:

And slow tanks and dual phase units in general want to stack their Def as high as possible.

Other than a few slow units that run Atk/Def Catch, there isn't really anything that actually stacks Def on player phase, and the most commonly seen unit that does this is Legendary Sigurd, who Dimitri doesn't care about anyways.

Muspell running his default AR-D Def/Res is an actual threat to Dimitri despite being at weapon triangle disadvantage, but he's extremely rare.

 

33 minutes ago, XRay said:

Hm... What about using the goddess of reflexes herself, Lyn: Blazing Whirlwind? Even if she loses Verdict of Sacae and runs Distant Counter, I think she still has an edge when it comes to Spd.

Maybe when I get another copy of Velocity. Festival Lyn absolutely needs to be able to counter Guard in order to be reliable enough with Godlike Reflexes since there are so many units that get the effect now. It's also going to be difficult to fit in two stacks of Infantry Pulse to make up for losing Shield Pulse if I want Legendary Eliwood to be a support unit when it's his season. I hope we get a Sacred Seal so that I can put both stacks on the same unit.

Also, Distant Dart is a pain to get right now since it's only available from two seasonals, neither of which I have at +10 yet.

But in the meantime, I have enough copies of Brave Dimitri to get him to +10, and he seems like he'd be suitable for the role, so I'll be using him first.

 

48 minutes ago, XRay said:

I lean towards +HP or +Res. I do not think +Spd is necessary since any foe that is left that she needs to tank probably is not super fast anyways, especially in Aether Raids offense where you can stack more Mythic stats than defense can.

Triandra is the most likely unit left over, and I don't reliably have Spd or Res boosts from Mythic blessing bonuses since Spd and Res only come from units that are in my rotating slot.

I also just don't have a +Res copy at all.

[Xenomata]

Not quite sure if the Binding Realms forma soul thing is worth it... I can afford it, but I just don't know if it's worth actually getting.
Here's the units that seem most "worth it" that I managed to roll while the event was active.

Spoiler

All of them I have at least one copy of with at least a few merges. It'd mostly be the skills, merge levels, and free Dragonflowers I'd be going after.

[Othin]

26 minutes ago, Xenomata said:

Not quite sure if the Binding Realms forma soul thing is worth it... I can afford it, but I just don't know if it's worth actually getting.
Here's the units that seem most "worth it" that I managed to roll while the event was active.

  Hide contents

All of them I have at least one copy of with at least a few merges. It'd mostly be the skills, merge levels, and free Dragonflowers I'd be going after.

I feel like if you have to ask, the answer is no.

[Ice Dragon]

30 minutes ago, Xenomata said:

Not quite sure if the Binding Realms forma soul thing is worth it... I can afford it, but I just don't know if it's worth actually getting.

Do you see yourself actually using the unit (and with some of the new skills) if you did?