Arena Discussion Thread (inc. Assault)

[Ice Dragon]

Just now, Molo said:

Same here Tybrosion! Gonna be raising from rank 14 to 17 coming up next, and had a whopping 10 wins defensively, definitely a personal best. I think realistically jumping to tier 17 is getting into the territory of facing off against several merged units and emblem teams. It'll definetly be tougher, but the good thing is that even if you're in the bottom 30% and drop a tier, we're still guaranteed 3 orbs and 1600 feathers. In my opinion the guaranteed rewards takes a lot of pressure off.

Your actual match-ups aren't affected by your tier, as is evidenced by the fact that the game tells you the opponent's tier on the screen where you select your opponent.

What your tier means is who you're going to be comparing your scores against for tier progression. Tier 17 is going to consist of the highest scoring teams out there, which really just ends up meaning, the higher your tier, the harder it is to continue increasing your tier, but I think we all already know that.

[Tybrosion]

7 minutes ago, Molo said:

Same here Tybrosion! Gonna be raising from rank 14 to 17 coming up next, and had a whopping 10 wins defensively, definitely a personal best. I think realistically jumping to tier 17 is getting into the territory of facing off against several merged units and emblem teams. It'll definetly be tougher, but the good thing is that even if you're in the bottom 30% and drop a tier, we're still guaranteed 3 orbs and 1600 feathers. In my opinion the guaranteed rewards takes a lot of pressure off.

Well I can say I've already been seeing plenty of emblem teams of all three types up to this point so I at least know what to expect if their quantity increases even further. With the new system, I do like those orbs and feathers even if we struggle though I'd rather avoid being demoted if I can help it. I suppose it'll all depend on how much more difficult things get or not though.

[Molo]

8 minutes ago, Ice Dragon said:

Your actual match-ups aren't affected by your tier, as is evidenced by the fact that the game tells you the opponent's tier on the screen where you select your opponent.

What your tier means is who you're going to be comparing your scores against for tier progression. Tier 17 is going to consist of the highest scoring teams out there, which really just ends up meaning, the higher your tier, the harder it is to continue increasing your tier, but I think we all already know that.

That's a good point, so the difficulty of a higher tier will come from needing a higher score in order to continue raising rank

[Fei Mao]

https://twitter.com/FE_Heroes_JP/status/864273464160468992

[Rafiel's Aria]

12 minutes ago, Fei Mao said:

https://twitter.com/FE_Heroes_JP/status/864273464160468992

Inserted the image. ...because I'm sure there are other lazy people like me that don't like clicking links.

But heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeckkkssss yeah. Bonus unit Xander will report for duty! (...I may figure out a way to incorporate Celica into next week's team as well simply because green mages tend to be the bane of my existence.) I kind of wish some of these units had been on last week's banner. XD I have a great Subaki and Wrys...

[Kiran]

Of course...the one week I finally pull one of the focus heroes....I already have another 5* unit I can use. Oh well, more choices I suppose. I'll use Roy at least until I level up Genny. Not sure how viable having a healer is though (but wrathful staff might save her from this)

[Taim Meich]

Hmmmm... I wasn't planning on promoting Xander, but he's a good unit and my only interesting choice for this season's bonus. He'll take Ike's place, but if I manage to get a Celica, she'll be substituting Tharja and I'll bench Xander instead. But for now, Xander goes!

[Fei Mao]

15 minutes ago, Rafiel's Aria said:

Inserted the image. ...because I'm sure there are other lazy people like me that don't like clicking links.

But heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeckkkssss yeah. Bonus unit Xander will report for duty! (...I may figure out a way to incorporate Celica into next week's team as well simply because green mages tend to be the bane of my existence.) I kind of wish some of these units had been on last week's banner. XD I have a great Subaki and Wrys...

Thanks

Nice, looks like I'm leveling up Xander or maybe Roy. (They're both 4* atm)

[Rafiel's Aria]

5 minutes ago, Fei Mao said:

Thanks

Nice, looks like I'm leveling up Xander or maybe Roy. (They're both 4* atm)

Xander is a pretty great unit. Getting the Distant Counter weapon at 5* really helps. I decided to give mine a Fury + Quick Riposte build, but even without SI, he's still pretty good. I have some Roys as well, but I just haven't paid attention to them. XD Poor guy.

[Othin]

It's nice when the next bonus lineup includes someone you're already using.

Current team is Xander/Reinhardt/Hector/Anna. Might take out Anna for Sharena, but Anna has been performing well and my team has been very successful anyway, so I'm leaning towards trying both and seeing which seems to give higher-point battles. Both of them fill roles my team doesn't quite have covered with the other three: Reinhardt is blue but has no enemy phase, while Hector is green but even with Pivot, his mobility isn't as good as infantry, and he often loses a lot of HP from fighting bows and blue mages so having a backup green often comes in handy.

[DehNutCase]

36 minutes ago, Taim Meich said:

Hmmmm... I wasn't planning on promoting Xander, but he's a good unit and my only interesting choice for this season's bonus. He'll take Ike's place, but if I manage to get a Celica, she'll be substituting Tharja and I'll bench Xander instead. But for now, Xander goes!

Alfonse is pretty decent with minimal inheritance. Brave Sword+ & damage skill is probably his best set, but I'm planning a Brash Assault set since I want to keep all the skills he always has.

[Fei Mao]

39 minutes ago, Rafiel's Aria said:

Xander is a pretty great unit. Getting the Distant Counter weapon at 5* really helps. I decided to give mine a Fury + Quick Riposte build, but even without SI, he's still pretty good. I have some Roys as well, but I just haven't paid attention to them. XD Poor guy.

Thanks for the insight, I'll probably go with Xander since I'm making a cav team for fun later on, poor guy indeed.

[DLNarshen]

Season 15 (1st since 1.3.0) Results:

Score: 4,820 (New Record!)
Defense: 576 (New Record!)
Rank: Tier 15 --> 17 3,5xx?

If running two greens seems like a bad idea, that's probably because it is.  The only significant change I made this week was replacing Reinhardt to try out my new Hector, and I found this made my arena runs noticeably harder.  Putting Hector on my team matched me with more super merges and DC Vantage users than I could shake an Armads at.  My 4,820 score did not come easy, and I could not get a second deathless run while going through crests to fulfill gauntlet challenges.  Part of the difficulty came from the new defense tiles.  While easy to take advantage of on offense, Wings of Mercy gets a significant buff from their inclusion, forcing one to be even more precise with their positioning and calculations.  Ephraim's A and B skills are filler right now, but eventually he's going to get Triangle Adept and Lancebreaker.  

One worrisome trend I'm noticing is on-color G Tomebreaker.  Before I had Ike, baiting out with Nino was my most reliable way of dealing with enemy green mages.  G Tomebreaker throws that possibility out the window, meaning that Ike will probably be a regular on my team for the foreseeable future.

Season 15 Hall of Fame:

Spoiler

Posting this because it makes me jealous.  I want DC on my Eirika. :(

Almost had Nino die to this guy because I wasn't paying attention, and wasn't expecting DC on a Seliph of all things.  I wasn't really expecting a Seliph at all.

Because why the hell not.  She barely scratched Ephraim, but kudos to this guy anyway.

i

Continuing the trend of DC on everything, here's an Anna.  Cool build that synergies well with her weapon.

First time I've ever seen an Azura without Sapphire Lance.  Not so sure about this one, but 38 Spd with a Brave Weapon is admittedly pretty bonkers.

Not as good as the +10 Matthew that was posted on this board and Reddit a while back, but is still admirable.  34 Atk at 5*+5 is lol

An interesting way to bop red swords once in Vantage range.  Even so, it doesn't seem worth the Takumi to me.  

   

And finally, something that would be more suitable for a Hall of Shame than among the titans and oddities normally on display here.  Either it's a troll, or we're three months into this game's life and people still aren't reading weapon descriptions. 

Previous Season Results:

Spoiler

Season 12: 4,678 | 284 | 25,513
Season 13: 4,740 | 0 | 19,082
Season 14: 4,794 | 289 | 6,331

 

[Vaximillian]

2,500 feathers for 4,770 points on offence, 900 feathers for 566 points on defence, 1,600 points for rising from tier 15 to tier 16 (and 3 orbs too).

5,000 feathers total. Nice!

[a bear]

1 hour ago, DLNarshen said:

If running two greens seems like a bad idea, that's probably because it is.

I had Cherche and Julia during the weeks Cherche was a bonus unit and it worked out perfectly. Were there any Reds or Greens that gave you trouble in particular?

[Rezzy]

Oh, I guess Gaiden is the bonus heroes now.  Good thing Xander is there, so I can keep running Horse Emblem, though it doesn't give people much time to Pull the new Banner, since it just started today.

[Kuroi Tsubasa Tenshi]

1 hour ago, DLNarshen said:

Season 15 (1st since 1.3.0) Results:

Score: 4,820 (New Record!)
Defense: 576 (New Record!)
Rank: Tier 15 --> 17 3,5xx?

If running two greens seems like a bad idea, that's probably because it is.  The only significant change I made this week was replacing Reinhardt to try out my new Hector, and I found this made my arena runs noticeably harder.  Putting Hector on my team matched me with more super merges and DC Vantage users than I could shake an Armads at.  My 4,820 score did not come easy, and I could not get a second deathless run while going through crests to fulfill gauntlet challenges.  Part of the difficulty came from the new defense tiles.  While easy to take advantage of on offense, Wings of Mercy gets a significant buff from their inclusion, forcing one to be even more precise with their positioning and calculations.  Ephraim's A and B skills are filler right now, but eventually he's going to get Triangle Adept and Lancebreaker.  

One worrisome trend I'm noticing is on-color G Tomebreaker.  Before I had Ike, baiting out with Nino was my most reliable way of dealing with enemy green mages.  G Tomebreaker throws that possibility out the window, meaning that Ike will probably be a regular on my team for the foreseeable future.

Season 15 Hall of Fame:

  Reveal hidden contents

Posting this because it makes me jealous.  I want DC on my Eirika. :(

Almost had Nino die to this guy because I wasn't paying attention, and wasn't expecting DC on a Seliph of all things.  I wasn't really expecting a Seliph at all.

Because why the hell not.  She barely scratched Ephraim, but kudos to this guy anyway.

i

Continuing the trend of DC on everything, here's an Anna.  Cool build that synergies well with her weapon.

First time I've ever seen an Azura without Sapphire Lance.  Not so sure about this one, but 38 Spd with a Brave Weapon is admittedly pretty bonkers.

Not as good as the +10 Matthew that was posted on this board and Reddit a while back, but is still admirable.  34 Atk at 5*+5 is lol

An interesting way to bop red swords once in Vantage range.  Even so, it doesn't seem worth the Takumi to me.  

   

And finally, something that would be more suitable for a Hall of Shame than among the titans and oddities normally on display here.  Either it's a troll, or we're three months into this game's life and people still aren't reading weapon descriptions. 

Previous Season Results:

  Reveal hidden contents

Season 12: 4,678 | 284 | 25,513
Season 13: 4,740 | 0 | 19,082
Season 14: 4,794 | 289 | 6,331

 

I find G Tomebreaker to be neutered by defense tiles unless the enemy has significant WoM investment. My Fury 3 Nino with a Fort Res on her took a whopping 2x 8 from a G Tomebreaker Julia while sitting on a defense tile. It used to scare me in the old maps (to the point where I ran both Fort Res and Spur Res), but in the new maps it feels like much less of a threat.

[DLNarshen]

50 minutes ago, a bear said:

I had Cherche and Julia during the weeks Cherche was a bonus unit and it worked out perfectly. Were there any Reds or Greens that gave you trouble in particular?

No one unit was particularly troublesome (with exception to a horse comp -Blade Leo I encountered who absolutely man-handled me), but I found there was a lot less room for error in my actions.  People are getting wise to the fact that powerful green mages are a centralizing component of the current meta, and so are responding with team comps with more than one red.  Ike can deal with the one Ryoma, but throw in a G Tomebreaker S!Camilla and a merged enemy Ike, and the solution is not as clear.  This would work much better if I had TA on my Ephraim, but I must do without for now (or just put Reinhardt back on the team lol).

2 minutes ago, Kuroi Tsubasa Tenshi said:

I find G Tomebreaker to be neutered by defense tiles unless the enemy has significant WoM investment. My Fury 3 Nino with a Fort Res on her took a whopping 2x 8 from a G Tomebreaker Julia while sitting on a defense tile. It used to scare me in the old maps (to the point where I ran both Fort Res and Spur Res), but in the new maps it feels like much less of a threat.

Even on a defense tile, my own Fury Nino usually took around 20-24 damage from -Blade S!Camilla.  If Camilla also had Fury or some kind of buff on her Res, the usual passive buffs are not enough to one-shot in return (a third buff could secure it in most cases).  Enemy Ninos usually do slightly less, but enough to 2HKO my own.  I still think it's worth fearing, but it's definitely a more case-by-case threat now.  Julia probably doesn't need to worry about it as much.  

[MaskedAmpharos]

@DLNarshen Running double green is actually a lot more viable now than it used to be since the meta has basically shifted to blue-dominant over red-dominant, as far as I've seen. I personally run double green as well (Julia and Hector) to great success. 

It does help that I have Ike/Ryoma for G Tomebreaker green mages and Reinhardt for reds though. 

[Vaximillian]

Did anybody say “boats?” Because I'm pretty sure somebody said “boats.”

 

This appears to be one of the maps in the next arena rotations. Where be fort tiles at?

Ah yeah, and the rest of the rotation:

Edited May 16, 2017 by Vaximillian

[MaskedAmpharos]

10 minutes ago, Vaximillian said:

Did anybody say “boats?” Because I'm pretty sure somebody said “boats.”

  Hide contents

This appears to be one of the maps in the next arena rotations. Where be fort tiles at?

Ah yeah, and the rest of the rotation:

  Hide contents

 

 

 

That lava map looks horrendous. 

[Vaximillian]

5 minutes ago, MaskedAmpharos said:

That lava map looks horrendous. 

Don't they all?

[MaskedAmpharos]

Just now, Vaximillian said:

Don't they all?

I'm personally not a huge fan of the forts in general, so...

Yeah.

[DehNutCase]

1 minute ago, MaskedAmpharos said:

I'm personally not a huge fan of the forts in general, so...

Yeah.

Forts simply change 'good' characters from high spd/atk to high def/res, just a meta-shift.

I have a very offense favored box, though, so I'm probably going to stick with Dancer + glass-cannons for now. (I do have a Hector for 1-2 range shenanigans, but his niche has heavy overlap with Alfonse, who's a bonus 1/3 of the time.)

[MaskedAmpharos]

2 minutes ago, DehNutCase said:

Forts simply change 'good' characters from high spd/atk to high def/res, just a meta-shift.

I have a very offense favored box, though, so I'm probably going to stick with Dancer + glass-cannons for now. (I do have a Hector for 1-2 range shenanigans, but his niche has heavy overlap with Alfonse, who's a bonus 1/3 of the time.)

That's precisely why I don't like them. My main team is very offensive and relies on scoring ORKOs and getting out via dancers/positioning skills before enemies can properly retaliate. Forts make that more difficult. 

I'm not saying I think they're a poor design choice in general, just that I'm personally not a fan because they clash with my preferred team comp and playstyle.