Arena Discussion Thread (inc. Assault)

[Astellius]

With 4 hours left, I still have about a 1000 point buffer--Tier 20, here I come! I have no illusions of staying there, but hey, it's my first time visiting!

Now I'm setting up Horse Emblem for defense. 4* Gunter, 4*+3 Cecilia, Reinhardt, and Camus. Maybe I should do some SI for Gunter. Meh. Might swap out Cecilia for Xander.

17 hours ago, Rafiel's Aria said:

This Arena season has been insane. Like...yesterday I had 18 defense wins. Now I've lost count. I'm around 25 or 26, I believe. I'm certain I'll never be able to replicate this moment in history, so I'll relish in my wins for now. (And probably cry when I don't have a good bonus unit for next season. lol)

And then, after this week, you'll never get a defense win again.

2 hours ago, Locke087 said:

I appreciate that they're free, I just think it's odd that IS which usually good at featuring units that come free in the arena would suddenly be stingy and not include these.

Also on a different note I think they would've been especially cool in the arena because they would all have very different skill sets due to not coming with any skills. 

Alfonse is free, Sophia is free, Legion is free, and didn't we get a free Gunter from quests awhile back? The bonus hero rotation follows this pattern:  the four new heroes from the banner, the GHB character, four older characters, and one of the Askr trio (Sharena, Alfonse, then Anna). Wouldn't expect to see her as a bonus hero.

[Zapp Branniglenn]

Looks like I'm moving up to Tier 18. 4 orbs is nice, but I can't grind hero merit, you guys are too hard to beat. So I started spending my extra Arena tries just surrendering to teams. I hope to give some players that defense win they need ~

I know I still need mine...

Edited July 3, 2017 by Gustavos

[Kuroi Tsubasa Tenshi]

Tier 19 score of 4864 (no deaths; 1 surrender; 690, 702, 692, 696, 690, 696, 698; Nowi +2, Athena, Eirika 5*, Nino +4):

• Jul 3, 1:15PM PT - #1520 (/4136 to Tier 20)

I wasn't gonna complete this streak, but by the end of the sixth match, there was a very real chance of getting a PB and since I'm suddenly swimming in crests again, I figured, "Eh, why not?" Tossed out a 692 for a 698. Last match was actually kind of scary despite being mostly melee and me counter-one-shotting their Nino on the first turn. They had Ryoma, Eirika and Azura all merged up to 40 Spd and then decked out with Hone Spd to make give them 44, undouble-able by my 48-Spd-post-Hone Nino. Made things a little dicier since Ryoma could bring Nowi out of Quick Riposte with Moonbow, even though TA3. In the end, it wasn't a huge deal, but I was playing fairly carefully just in case this setup made it so Nowi had to wall Azura at some point (and their Eirika had Swordbreaker, so there wasn't a possibility of walling her instead with my Athena).

Defense gains have slowed down. Just picked up 1 more for a total of 25.

[Rezzy]

I got a new score of 4836 now, which is good for exactly Rank 2800/4136 to go to Tier 20.  Looks like it might happen this week.

[Kuroi Tsubasa Tenshi]

You're guaranteed at this point. Losing 1350 ranks in the last 90 mins is historically a thing that just doesn't happen (at least, it doesn't at higher scores like that).

[MonkeyCheez3K]

2 hours ago, Gustavos said:

Looks like I'm moving up to Tier 18. 4 orbs is nice, but I can't grind hero merit, you guys are too hard to beat. So I started spending my extra Arena tries just surrendering to teams. I hope to give some players that defense win they need ~

I know I still need mine...

I will honor your deed by surrendering to your name if it ever pops up (and if that's your player's name, of course).

[Astellius]

I got a new score of 4,854. Wow! Outdoing myself quite a bit! And here I thought that 4,830 had been a huge step up for me. Now I'm ranked 1,878. I don't think I'll be able to match that anytime soon!

The team was Hector, Reinhardt, Ike, and Camus. They did quite well together. And, for the first (and probably only time ever), Reinhardt's Vantage skill saved me. There was an enemy Reinhardt that was closing in on us, and I needed to prevent him from getting to Ike. Normally, Reinhardt can ORKO himself, but mine was hit with a -Atk debuff, and couldn't. But Reinhardt could kill him with 3 hits. So I initiated the attack, and the enemy Reinhardt retaliated back, knocking mine into the Vantage zone. Hector blocked the way around, and so I had a Vantage wall that the enemy Reinhardt suicided upon. Yay!

Edited July 3, 2017 by Astellius

[Rafiel's Aria]

3 hours ago, Astellius said:

And then, after this week, you'll never get a defense win again.

To be fair, I went almost a month without a defense win. But yeah...that's probably what's going to happen. lol However...I even took Reinhardt off of my defense team, and I got two more wins with Lucius as a replacement. There must be something in the water this week...

[jameslove001]

So, uh, the Arena is closed, but I didn't get any feathers. Is there some sort of error?

[Othin]

2 minutes ago, jameslove001 said:

So, uh, the Arena is closed, but I didn't get any feathers. Is there some sort of error?

It sometimes takes time to release rewards, although nowhere near as long as it used to.

Just checked and got mine.

[Roflolxp54]

3 minutes ago, jameslove001 said:

So, uh, the Arena is closed, but I didn't get any feathers. Is there some sort of error?

Dunno about you but I already got my feathers (granted I didn't just open the Arena interface as soon as the clock hit Arena closing time).

Somehow got into tier 19 though it was very close.

(2500 + 900 + 2000) feathers + 4 orbs get!

 

[DLNarshen]

Season 22 (1.3.0 S8) Results:

Score: 4,792
Defense: 560
Rank: Tier 19 --> 18

Despite promoting Eirika well over a month ago, this is the first time I've incorporated her into an arena team.  The build is pretty standard, and I shouldn't have to elaborate on what her and Nino do.  Azura replaces Olivia as my go-to refresher, with mostly vanilla skills.  I want to give her WoM so she can be annoying on defense as well, but I've yet to pull a Cain despite playing since release.  I was fortunate enough to pull Katarina from her banner early on, so I wanted to build a team with her.  It's worth noting that +Hp Katarina can just barely get into Desperation range after one use of Ardent Sacrifice.  38 Hp and it wouldn't be possible.   

Overall the team wasn't as effective, or reliable, as the horse emblem team I ran last week, but I was surprised to see that it couldn't even match last week's score.  Two mages and a refresher probably bring down the score a bit, but I figured that could at least be off-set by the fact they were all infantry... No Tier 20 for me this week, maybe next cycle.

Season 22 Hall of Fame:

Spoiler

All three of these were on the same team.  Needless to say, I sent the guy a friend request, and I got to use that monstrous Genny a bunch in the voting gauntlet.

I've seen a bunch of Bridellia and Setsuna built like this, but it's rare to see someone break apart Takumi's standard kit.  Speaking of Setsuna...

You think that's enough passive damage?

Not particularly unique, but I still dig it.

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
Season 15: 4,820 | 576 | 15 --> 17
Season 16: 4,788 | 568 | 17 --> 16
Season 17: 4,719 | 568 | 16 --> 17
Season 18: 4,776 | 0 | 17 --> 18
Season 19: 4,780 | 0 | 18 --> 17
Season 20: 4,796 | 578 | 17 --> 18
Season 21: 4,806 | 594 | 18 --> 19

 

[LordFrigid]

5066 offense and 588 defense (T20) nets 6400 feathers and 4 orbs, as usual; at this point I should just say "remains in T20".

Also, who the heck is this Sophia chick and why didn't anyone force me to use her sooner? I'm strongly considering promoting a Henry right now and giving her Rauðrraven+, and halfway considering building her up to eventually replace Eirika. That's how good of an impression I'm getting from training her...I should maybe wait to see how she performs in the actual arena though =P .

~

29 minutes ago, DLNarshen said:

It's worth noting that +Hp Katarina can just barely get into Desperation range after one use of Ardent Sacrifice.  38 Hp and it wouldn't be possible.   

28/38 is ~73%, which is still Desperation territory.

[DLNarshen]

1 hour ago, LordFrigid said:

28/38 is ~73%, which is still Desperation territory.

Whoops, you're right.  Math fail.

[Vaximillian]

2,500 feathers for offence score 4,790;
   900 feathers for defence score 576;
1,800 feathers and 4 orbs for demoting from tier 19 to tier 18.

5,200 feathers and 4 orbs overall. L&D3 for Navarre is ever closer!

[Kiran]

Woot! First time in tier 20. I have enough feathers to promote someone but with so many new game modes coming out and Tempest around the corner, I'm going to wait a couple days to see where they are most needed. I really hope I don't have to promote Mae ...since she's -atk

[ExKalibur]

Score: 4800 (lazy week, Rank: ~3500/4500)

Defense: 568 (4 successful defenses)

Tier: 20 --> 19

Total Earnings: 5400 Feathers + 4 Orbs

Hmm... with Peri in the next season's line up, I will probably run my incomplete Horse Emblem team consisting of Eldigan, Peri, Ursula and Fae.

[MrSmokestack]

1 hour ago, DLNarshen said:

Whoops, you're right.  Math fail.

The Desperation cutoff for Ardent Sacrifice or ~10 HP is 40 HP. 30/40 is 75%.

[XRay]

Got back into Tier 20. I am still not sure if I am able to stay. Some Tier 20 teams are crazy. Flip flopping between 19 and 20 is the least stressful for me. Staying may take too much effort.

[Locke087]

9 hours ago, Astellius said:

Alfonse is free, Sophia is free, Legion is free, and didn't we get a free Gunter from quests awhile back? The bonus hero rotation follows this pattern:  the four new heroes from the banner, the GHB character, four older characters, and one of the Askr trio (Sharena, Alfonse, then Anna). Wouldn't expect to see her as a bonus hero.

Gunter is part of the general rotation along with Sophia. They offer 4 "free units" in general 2 from the rotation, 1 GHB, and one of the Askr trio.  Though only two of those are seemingly predictable as I have yet to notice a pattern for the rotation units. So I thought I'd be nice to have an alternative predictable bonus unit that's all, perhaps having them replace one of the rotation units. With the tempest being a new mode I don't feel was entirely impractical of me just to hope they would include them as bonus units, as up until this point all new units added to the game after launch have had some time in the arena. 

Edited July 4, 2017 by Locke087

[Alkaid]

I hope I can make tier 20 this week. I came close before but with the bonus units the past few weeks I haven't been able to score high enough. (Running Camus with Fury 2 and Xander with Fury 2 and QR 2 kept me from even breaking 4,800 the last 2 weeks) But I have a fully SI'd Peri that I can use this week, so maybe she'll help me pull it off. I can't run her with other horses though or I'll just end up like the last couple weeks since I'd still need to use at least Xander with her. Since like 11,000 people moved up from tier 18 to 19 maybe I'll have enough wiggle room.

[JSND Alter Dragon Boner]

Score: 4862

Tier: 20 -> 20

 

19k feather is a go

[LuxSpes]

Got back into Tier 20. I might actually have a chance to stay now since there's probably more players in the tier and I'll be able to use units with much higher merge levels and access to legendary weapons.

[Roflolxp54]

Hmm... it looks like Alfonse doesn't seem to mesh well with my team; even while standing on a fort, he gets 2RKO'd by Nino (a problem since Azura is almost always seen with Nino).

[Korath88]

4,756 deathless because the only level 40 bonus unit I have is a 4* Legion with no SI.