Family Bonds Character Discussions

[Stopwatch]

So the first day of a new summoning focus has arrived. Up to this point my luck has been fair- 5 star Minerva and Lucina and numerous 4 stars.

Today I was lucky enough to pull 5 star Ephraim, and so far I'm very pleased with his stats and abilities. Presently, at level 24, he has:

HP: 34  ATK: 41  SPD: 16 DEF: 25 RES: 15

His speed and resistance are nothing special, but at this mid-level he seems to have 'above average' (comparable to some of my units nearing level 40) attack and HP. 25 Defense isn't to shabby either.

Siegmund has an impressive 16 mt and confers +3 attack to adjacent allies at the start of your phase. I'd probably rank it just above the Pheraean's Durandal and Binding Blade. 

New Moon/Moonbow works well for him, but they work well for basically anyone. 

He has Seal Defense AND Threaten Defense up to the third rank, rounding out his skill set as a front line fighter that can put some hurt on red foes and make things very dangerous for anyone who survives combat with him.

 

Anyway, I'm curious to hear about the other new units (Seliph, Julia, and Eirika). I sprung for another summon to see if I could get another, but unfortunately I got Gacha'd.

(Also, first post. Hi, I'm Stopwatch.)

[Jaoenkatsu]

I just got 5* Erika myself. Sieglinde also has +3 attack boost to adjacent allies,  She has Drag back B and all 3 levels of Hone speed. 

She is similar to Lyn with a focus on Attack and speed so I wouldn't recommend her for pvp defense. She has pivot like Marth, so her movement is flexible.

Also got 5* Julia but haven't used her yet. 

[eclipse]

From my hazy memory - Juila's a dragon-killer with Breath of Life, and Seliph gibs things at half health.  Assuming I got any of them, I'd probably have the easiest time with Ephraim.  He really wants a dancer to go with him, so he can drop nearby enemy's defenses, then run up to someone else and make them suffer.  Probably run a team of Tiki/Sakura, Ephraim, Olivia, and Virion, if I ever pull him.

[ZXApocrypha]

Eirika's surprisingly probably the most useful of this bunch given her double buff to adjacent units (+3 atk, +4 spd) and drag back being a good way to position clumped enemy units places where you can kill them without getting swarmed and dying. She has solid speed and defensive stats and a positioning assist ability in pivot to make her a solid support character; low atk makes it so having her as your lone red unit might not be optimal.

Ephraim's OK, but his skills are somewhat redundant given his -def aura and -def on attack don't stack =/ If they did though, he'd be a god =P He suffers from his spd which is mediocre at best, and his special, though solid, feels somewhat redundant given he already has 2 skills which already reduce defense.

Julia's about as good as Ephraim imo due to being a high atk/high res magic user, providing a counter to popular blue tome users e.g. Robin as well as dragons given her Naga tome; like Ephraim, she suffers from mediocre speed, as well as low def and health, meaning if she can't kill a physical damage dealer in one engagement and has no one to block for her, she will probably die.

Seliph is imo the worst of the bunch; his one redeeming quality is his rally speed assist, and outta everyone who has this he's probably the best. However, he has low speed and a passive that requires him attacking someone who CAN counter him at half health in order to get a followup attack that many other red units w/ decent speed can get without having to risk themselves in that manner (and his passive +def at <50% health just doesn't feel like enough in these situations). He's still OK vs. physical based green units given high attack/defense/HP, but I feel like there are a lotta other better choices for your red squad unit than this guy =/

Edited February 15, 2017 by ZXApocrypha

[Dual Dragons]

I probably won't have the luck or the Orbs to invest in this banner but if I did I would really want Julia. Dragons are already shaky with Resistance and her tome being effective to them might as well spell death to them. She would also be a counter to Robin as I assume she's got high Attack/Res while he tends to focus on balanced defensive stats but definitely weaker in Resistance.

Seliph looks the weakest since he's independent. He doesn't help his team with other skills except Rally Speed, and he has to give up his turn for that. If he wanted to be a come-back character, I think it should be Def/Res+ and not Def/Spd+.

It's hard for me to say for Ephraim or Eirika. They look good but I'll let time tell if they really are.

[Stopwatch]

4 hours ago, ZXApocrypha said:

Ephraim's OK, but his skills are somewhat redundant given his -def aura and -def on attack don't stack =/ If they did though, he'd be a god =P He suffers from his spd which is mediocre at best, and his special, though solid, feels somewhat redundant given he already has 2 skills which already reduce defense.

for real on that not stacking thing? that freaking sucks m8. 

Oh well. In that case, i'd be looking for hitting multiple enemies with the Threaten and then getting one (or maybe two if you go with the dancer that eclipse recommended) with the Seal.

I gotta disagree on the Moonbow thing about redundancy. Especially since when it activates, the seal hasn't gone into play yet. The threaten and seal make him a good team player, the special makes him a terror even to high defense units. 

[ZXApocrypha]

32 minutes ago, Stopwatch said:

for real on that not stacking thing? that freaking sucks m8. 

Oh well. In that case, i'd be looking for hitting multiple enemies with the Threaten and then getting one (or maybe two if you go with the dancer that eclipse recommended) with the Seal.

I gotta disagree on the Moonbow thing about redundancy. Especially since when it activates, the seal hasn't gone into play yet. The threaten and seal make him a good team player, the special makes him a terror even to high defense units. 

I see what you're saying about moonbow + def seal, but moonbow would still be redundant w/ the -def aura, since they both provide -def on the turn of attack [assuming he's spaced properly]; and defense seal w/ these two things seems entirely unnecessary since if you're not killing a unit w/ moonbow AND the -def aura in play, this character is doing something wrong....

Plus, I'm trying to think of a unit that has enough def/hp to merit the use of this guy, when there exists so many other ways to deal w/ such units, e.g. mages, dragons, armorslayer, that wouldn't require either stacking a -def aura and moonbow, or attacking that unit more than once and making use of that defense seal skill; it feels like he's trying to fill a niche that never needed filling in the first place.

Edited February 16, 2017 by ZXApocrypha

[MaskedAmpharos]

Before I knew anything about stats/skills of the new characters, I was super hyped for pulling Eirika and Ephraim because I love Sacred Stones. I never did end up getting either of them, but I did manage to pull Julia, which I'm considerably happier about after realizing her usefulness in killing dragons and blue mages (both of which are the main weakpoints of my current team of Robin/Ryoma/Takumi/Olivia).

[eclipse]

15 minutes ago, ZXApocrypha said:

I see what you're saying about moonbow + def seal, but moonbow would still be redundant w/ the -def aura, since they both provide -def on the turn of attack [assuming he's spaced properly]; and defense seal w/ these two things seems entirely unnecessary since if you're not killing a unit w/ moonbow AND the -def aura in play, this character is doing something wrong....

Plus, I'm trying to think of a unit that has enough def/hp to merit the use of this guy, when there exists so many other ways to deal w/ such units, e.g. mages, dragons, armorslayer, that wouldn't require either stacking a -def aura and moonbow, or attacking that unit more than once and making use of that defense seal skill; it feels like he's trying to fill a niche that never needed filling in the first place.

My wild guess is that all that defense-dropping helps (somewhat) against bulkier green users.  He's not going to one-shot Hector, but I think he'd make someone like Arthur hesitate.

[ZXApocrypha]

14 minutes ago, eclipse said:

My wild guess is that all that defense-dropping helps (somewhat) against bulkier green users.  He's not going to one-shot Hector, but I think he'd make someone like Arthur hesitate.

Doesn't Arthur have emerald axe+? That's suicide =_=' I can see him attacking a green mage or low-attack/speed axe user in a pinch and softening em up for another green unit to kill, but why go through all that when you can properly position a red unit? xD Maybe in a pinch where someone ACTUALLY puts a unit w/ reposition on their team and you accidentally misspace your red unit and get it killed not speaking from personal experience i swear....

Edited February 16, 2017 by ZXApocrypha

[eclipse]

1 minute ago, ZXApocrypha said:

Doesn't Arthur have emerald axe+? That's suicide =_=' I can see him attacking a green mage or low-attack/speed axe user in a pinch and softening em up for another green unit to kill, but why go through all that when you can properly position a red unit? xD Maybe in a pinch where someone ACTUALLY puts a unit w/ reposition on their team and you accidentally misspace your red unit and get it killed not speaking from personal experience i swear....

This is exactly the kinds of crazy things I'd do to clear a map.  I don't bring all three primary colors, due to my amazing pull luck.

I also bait archers with Subaki, so take that as you will.

[ZXApocrypha]

26 minutes ago, eclipse said:

This is exactly the kinds of crazy things I'd do to clear a map.  I don't bring all three primary colors, due to my amazing pull luck.

I also bait archers with Subaki, so take that as you will.

RIP Subaki your flowing red hair that you passed down to cordelia's clone will be missed

[Suichimo]

Outside of Naga being BS, they're pretty good. Haven't tried out my Seliph that I pulled, yet. Was hoping for Ephraim as my only good blue unit is my, recently promoted, Robin. That and Ephraim was one of the shining beacons in the otherwise drab FE8.

[Kiran]

Got Ephraim. Not really a fan of his speed. Though at least his attack is high. Only got him to lv29 so far but he seems to be above average so far, however I'm not sure if he has much use in the arena. Sadly I don't really need another blue unit with 3 Robins (admittedly 2 of them are 4*) and a Nowi that I plan to promote to 5*.  

[Omegaprism]

Whoops, wrong thread! That's what happens when you have two tabs open to the same forum at the same time late at night.

Edited February 16, 2017 by Omegaprism
Wrong thread

[Gee]

I got Eirika and Ephraim and they both suck in my opinion, Ephraim's speed is terrible and Eirika gets out classed by a lot of other reds 

[Korath88]

I've only pulled Ephraim thus far, and I honestly don't think he's as bad as everyone else makes him out to be. Granted, mine is +spd -res, so he caps out at 29 spd, enough to avoid getting doubled by neutral speed Takumi. Gameplay wise, he OHKOs or 2HKOs any sword lord without taking much damage, and cripples red manaketes and other lancers. AOE def drop and ally Attack boost helps teammates like Lyn sweep.

Optimally, I'd say he works best with Dancer support to help with positioning or finishing off weakened enemies.