Next grand hero battle: Zephiel

[ruruo]

1 minute ago, Ice Dragon said:

Wiki lists Life and Death 3 as unlocked at 5-star rarity, but they don't have any other data that isn't obvious (like weapon and special skill unlocks), so there's no guarantee they're accurate.

If they are, then Wary Fighter 3 would be unlocked at 4-star rarity, presumably, though I'm not sure why you'd ever want to put Wary Fighter on a character that doesn't already have it.

.... Thanks for popping the bubble haha... x'D

I was so hoping that LoD would be unlocked at 4* as something special for Zephy since he's a GHB hero. Guess that's not the case. Ahhh there goes the dreams of saving feathers ~

 

23 minutes ago, Arcanite said:

*grabs napkin and wipes komasa's mouth*

 lol thanks mate.

 

2 minutes ago, Vince777 said:

I feel Zephiel looks slightly too old on his Heroes art.

I find him looking very regal and kingly enough x'D. I'm just biased towards Yamada Akihiro's art. He did a great job for  Gunter, Jagen and Omega. The style reminds me a little of Yoshitaka Amano's art in how ornamented it is, and they also have a really nice old school anime feel to them. So um yeah... no LoD? No problem, he can at least look pretty. 

[Zero1k]

I'll probably run another buff on my Olivia, since Ursula is going to be buffed by Gunter's Hone cavalry, though I'm also bringing Roy. Though I only have Spur attack/defense and Fortify resistance with 4* units. Or should I still use Hone attack for Roy?

[Anacybele]

26 minutes ago, komasa said:

I find him looking very regal and kingly enough x'D. I'm just biased towards Yamada Akihiro's art. He did a great job for  Gunter, Jagen and Omega. The style reminds me a little of Yoshitaka Amano's art in how ornamented it is, and they also have a really nice old school anime feel to them. So um yeah... no LoD? No problem, he can at least look pretty. 

What the? Who the heck is Omega?

[Zero1k]

8 minutes ago, Anacybele said:

What the? Who the heck is Omega?

I think he meant Ogma.

[ILikeKirbys]

@Arcanite Bet?

@MaskedAmpharos After thinking about it, and spending about an hour or so trying to make Takumi work here... you're right. I can't make Takumi succeed in this situation. Felicia is much better here. Nice catch.

@TheTuckingFypo Always glad to help!

But I'd like to update my strategy, since I wrote that before I saw the map, enemies and enemy placements:

Spoiler

Use Reinhardt/Nino/Olivia (the 4-Star one, like before)/Felicia.

Pre-Battle: Place Felicia next to Olivia, with Olivia in the spot below the Blue Armor.

1st Player Phase: Felicia moves into the edge of the enemy range to bait the Red Mage (make sure nothing else can hit her!). Reinhardt stands next to her, Olivia stands below Reinhardt, Nino stands below Olivia.
1st Enemy Phase: Red Mage attacks Felicia, Blue Armor can't move, Zephiel moves down toward Reinhardt/Olivia/Nino, Blue Mage moves next to Green Armor.

2nd Player Phase: Felicia retreats down-and-right, Reinhardt nukes the Red Mage, Olivia Dances for Reinhardt, Reinhardt nukes most of Zephiel's HP off, Nino Draw Backs Reinhardt to safety.
2nd Enemy Phase: Zephiel moves right to not move toward Reinhardt, Blue Armor still can't move, Green Armor occupies Zephiel's position, Blue Mage moves next to Green Armor.

3rd Player Phase: Reinhardt finishes off Zephiel, Olivia Dances Reinhardt, Reinhardt retreats, Nino moves to bait Blue Mage (make sure the Green Armor can't hit her!), Felicia hangs back.
3rd Enemy Phase: Blue Mage attacks Nino, who should survive thanks to WTA, Green Armor moves right since he can't move down OR Blue Armor moves left, the other Armor can't move.

From here, I dunno if the Blue Armor or the Green Armor will be in Zephiel's former position, but it doesn't change too much, I don't think.

4th Player Phase: Nino finishes the Blue Mage, Reinhardt retreats, Olivia Dances Nino, Nino retreats, Felicia hangs back.
4th Enemy Phase: Armors move down.

5th Player Phase: Nino nukes the Blue Armor with Olivia support. Reinhardt and Felicia hang back.
5th Enemy Phase: Green Armor moves down.

6th Player Phase: Reinhardt and Nino nuke the Green Armor, with Olivia support if needed.

Post-Battle: Claim your Zephiel.

Now watch the Armors have Wings of Mercy to completely blow up this strategy.
Dunno if that'll actually work even without Wings of Mercy Armors to screw it up tho.
Hope that helps, mate!

[Anacybele]

1 minute ago, Zero1000 said:

I think he meant Ogma.

I thought he might, but wasn't sure at all.

[ruruo]

2 minutes ago, Zero1000 said:

I think he meant Ogma.

 

1 minute ago, Anacybele said:

I thought he might, but wasn't sure at all.

Absolutely. I did mean Ogma, sorry about that. The typos that happen when the fingers aren't synced with the brain... 

 

[MaskedAmpharos]

@ILikeKirbys I'm going to wait until I know for sure what the enemy stats and skills are before coming up with any concrete strategies, but what you have seems reasonably solid. 

The only problem is that there are too many unknowns. 

I won't bother going through all of them, but your strategy has a lot of assumptions about how the enemies will move (though I don't claim to be an expert at AI manipulation, so if you're reasonably sure you know more about it and that you're right, I have nothing to counter with at the moment). 

Also, there are some other assumptions at play, such as Nino surviving the blue armor. Fypo's Nino is a 4* -HP Nino, who at level 40 would have 28 HP and 17 Def. The armored unit has a Brave Lance, so he'd hit twice. He would only need to deal 31 x 2 damage to OHKO Nino, which he can achieve with 38 attack, which is not unreasonable at all. And this is before knowing any other skills he may or may not have, such as Death Blow. 

That said, your strategy is overall detailed and well thought-out, and I'm open to talking it over in more detail once the map actually comes out. 

[Arcanite]

1 hour ago, komasa said:

So um yeah... no LoD? No problem, he can at least look pretty. 

Hmm well that's unfortunate 

Excuse me as I go bang my head into the wall

[MrSmokestack]

Hopefully this helps people with planning their teams for tomorrow's Grand Hero Battle! Listed stats save for Zephiel's aren't final, but can be guessed based on these same units having been used in previous Grand Hero Battles.

  Reveal hidden contents

Unit Breakdown:

Zephiel

HP: 78

Atk: 57 (36+16+5)

Spd: 21 (16+5)

Def: 34

Res: 20

Skills: Eckesachs (Threaten Def 2), Reprisal (1), Life and Death 3, Wary Fighter 3.

If you're going the skill inheritance route, the quickest way is a -Blade user with Swordbreaker and at least 26 Spd (30 Spd for 1 Goad Armor, 34 for 2 Goads). Without weapon advantage, your mage needs to hit 59 Atk to ORKO, 50 with weapon advantage (63 for 1 Ward, 67 for 2 Wards). Neutral Lucina-Spring does this pretty easily with a Hone Atk buff as well as her innate Swift Sparrow for +12 Atk. Robin with Triangle Adept 3 and Swordbreaker does this with either a +Atk roll or an Atk buff, as he will hit either 43 or 44 Atk, respectively.

Blue Mage / Red Mage

HP: 45

Atk: ~45 (32+13)

Spd: ~37

Def: ~26

Res: ~32

Skills: Thoron+ / Bolganone+, Moonbow (2)

Mage stats besides HP are unknown, but for the curious I guessed them by assuming the mages from Robin (F)'s Grand Hero Battle received 5 perfect level-ups, as well as accounting for the Mt from their upgraded weapons for an additional +4 Atk. Both of the mages from their previous hero battle appearance did have Bonfire, so its CD may be reduced for this map instead of having Moonbow. Once again, without weapon advantage, a physical unit with 49 Atk will be able to ORKO both; 42 Spd is too fast for most units to reach so a Brave Bow will work here instead. (What are the Lunatic stat bonuses again?)

Axe Armor / Lance Armor (stats taken from GHB Ursula)

HP: 67

Atk: 47 (39+8)

Spd: 11 (16-5)

Def: 41

Res: 19

Skills: Brave Lance+ / Brave Axe+, rest unknown (2)

Guessing skills, one or both will have Goad Armor / Ward Armor, due to not being adjacent to Zephiel. Though Wary Fighter is a possibility due to their Brave weapons, Wings of Mercy on one or both is more likely since the red mage to the right is oddly out of position compared to the one on the left; the intention may be to bait and ORKO him, else one of the Generals grows Wings and finishes off your unit. As for KO'ing them, once again a mage will have to suffice; without weapon advantage, they would need 53 Atk (57 with one Ward, 61 with two Wards). 

 

Team Building

The ORKO thresholds on the armors and Zephiel are incredibly high, so a Dancer may need to be fielded on this map. 3 slots remain.

A mage is practically a given due to the titanic defense of the armors, making physical weapons with weapon advantage or even effective impractical; the question lies in what colors and how many should be fielded. Blue and Green seem to be the best mix to bring along, seeing as you have weapon advantage over Zephiel and have coverage for the armor that gives you more trouble. 1 slot remains.

The last should be filled with either a high Res or ranged physical unit that can KO the mages in one round. Dancer shenanigans combined with Draw Back can also force Zephiel's units to move forward without getting your units attacked.

For this example, a team of Lucina (Spring Festival) / Nino / Klein / Olivia will be used.

Nino (+Spd -Def) Spd +1 Seal

Lucina (+Def -Res) Swordbreaker

Klein (+Res -HP) Atk +1 Seal

Olivia

 

Play-By-Play

1. Begin with Lucina-Spring in slot 1, Klein in slot 2, Nino in slot 3, and Olivia in slot 4.
2. Nino moves one tile up. Olivia moves behind Nino while Klein moves adjacent to Olivia. End turn.
3. Nino receives +4 Atk from Olivia, giving her 55 Atk. Klein receives +4 Atk from Olivia, giving him 43 Atk.
4. Nino attacks the Lance Armor for 47x2, ORKO (still dies even with 2 Ward Armors in effect). Olivia dances Nino. Nino moves behind Olivia and uses Draw Back to move the pair out of range of the red mage. Klein moves up 1, adjacent to Olivia. End turn.
5. Red Mage moves two tiles to the left, Zephiel moves right 1, the Axe Armor moves right 1, and the Blue Mage moves up 1 and right 1, behind the Axe Armor.
6. Nino receives +4 Atk from Olivia, giving her 55 Atk. Klein receives a +4 Atk from Olivia, giving him 43 Atk.
7. With Death Blow 3 in effect, Klein attacks the red mage for 23x2, ORKO. Olivia Dances for Klein to move him out of the Blue Mage's range. Nino moves up 1 and left 1 into the Blue Mage's range. Lucina moves to Nino's original tile, out of range of the Blue Mage. End turn.
8. Blue Mage attacks Nino, who counters for 34x2, ORKO. Axe Armor and Zephiel move down 1 each.
9. Lucina-Spring receives +4 Atk from Olivia, getting 42 Atk.
10. Lucina-Spring attacks Zephiel for 40x2, Swordbreaker making a ORKO possible. If he has a Ward buff, a Dance from Olivia will allow her to either retreat or finish him off. Don't forget to account for the additional movement the Axe Armor may have from Wings of Mercy.
11. The Axe Armor, the last unit on the map, is a non-issue. Enjoy your 4* Zephiel.

Edited April 19, 2017 by MrSmokestack

[bethany81707]

I'm expecting I'll be coming in with both Robins, Olivia and Lissa. The green armour will be a bit of a problem, but armours only have the one movement.

At least I have a Tharja if a red tome is really that necessary. I doubt it, though, because of the mages.

[r_n]

I'm probably going to bring Sanaki & Nino. Lucina-S is still getting caught up, Celica I don't have the feathers to make good. Azura as the dancer since she'll probably be able to handle Zephial & the red mage if it comes down to it.

I might even bring Olivia along too, just to help break through everything, but maybe a healer...decisions, decisions.

[DraceEmpressa]

I might try to sweep the knights with Tharja and the mages with Felicia, and it will needs a lo of kiting... I have both Oliviia and Lissa 4* lv 40 anyway... Sounds like good idea?

[ILikeKirbys]

@MaskedAmpharos Whoa whoa whoa
Where is Nino getting hit by the Blue Armor? I'm pretty sure she's never in a position to get hit by him, in fact she only enters his range to kill him in my strategy up there.
Did you mean the Blue Mage? Because... yeah, that actually might be a problem, I forgot that Fypo's Nino was -HP, so it's possible that even with WTA and RES +3 she might not survive.

And yeah, there are a lot of assumptions about how enemies will move. I'm not an expert AI manipulator, I was just going off of personal experience and hazy recollections of past Grand Hero Battles (primarily on the assumption that Zephiel will move first if nobody can attack), so I dunno for sure if things will happen as I expect.

And yeah, I should wait until we know what weapons/skills we're up against before making strategies. In particular, I need to know how strong the Mages are (the Armors are irrelevant, I intend to have them killed before they get in range of anyone) and if -raven or -wolf tomes are around (-raven tomes could make having Felicia tank a less-than-stellar idea, while if the -wolf tomes aren't around then Reinhardt might be able to tank the Red mage in Felicia's place (I had this plan initially, back when I still had Takumi in that strategy, but the possibility of Raudhrwolf+ made me put Takumi in that spot, then Felicia when I had concerns about Takumi's ability to survive that hit)), whether the Red/Blue mages have Triangle Adept (if the Blue does, then Nino can certainly tank him, while if the Red does then Reinhardt becomes the superior choice to tank unless Raudhrwolf+ is involved too), whether the Armors have Wings of No Mercy (I even mentioned that my previous strategy wouldn't work if the Blue/Green Armors can just teleport up and attack Fypo's units)... I kinda jumped the gun here, haha.

Still, I like to theorize early, it helps me get past problems that I would've run into  (I got past Reinhardt-should-be-able-to-tank-the-Red-Mage-because-WTA and Takumi-can-totally-tank-one-mage-and-then-somehow-contribute-despite-the-map-being-high-DEF-Armors-and-mages-who-will-two-shot-him, and now I'm stuck on what-is-Fypo-gonna-do-about-Wings-of-Mercy-Armors, which is probably a much better place to be from a strategy standpoint... and for my personal run, now I've gone from Reinhardt-and-Cecilia-should-be-able-to-handle-this to oh-damnit-Horse-Emblem-might-die-to-wolfheads-or-Wings-of-Mercy-Armors-I-need-a-backup-plan), and I'm glad you think it's reasonably solid for an early strategy with far too many unknowns.
Guess it's back to waiting for tomorrow, haha, unless we find out the Battling Zephiel banner tonight.

@Arcanite Don't despair yet, mate!

Spoiler

Wait until tomorrow.

Spoiler

Then we can despair together with everyone else who wanted Life and Death 3 on 4-Star Zephiel.

 

@MrSmokestack That's really helpful! Thanks, mate! But if those units are correct, then I think my Cavalry team might not be able to handle Zephiel.

Instead, I'm thinking I might try Reinhardt (+ATK/-SPD, can nuke the Armors and possibly also the mages, but I dunno if he'll be able to survive being attacked by mages since they'll double him), Julia (+HP/-DEF, has Draw Back, can help deal with Armors with her high ATK and pull Reinhardt to safety), Klein (Neutral w/ ATK +1 Seal, has Brave Bow+ so should be able to deal with the mages, and could maybe help chip the Armors with Glacies), Ninian (+ATK/-HP w/ HP +3 Seal, has Fortify RES 2 which might help deal with the mages, here primarily to Dance but could maybe help finish an Armor or Zephiel if needed). Not sure how this'll work, but I'll test it tomorrow and hope for the best.

[Sayyyaka]

God I can't wait.  The one character I've been waiting for.

[MaskedAmpharos]

@ILikeKirbys Oh whoops, I misread and thought you said Nino would tank the blue armor, not the blue mage. That's my bad. Yeah, she should be fine.

Also, I typed up a tentative strategy for my own team using the numbers @MrSmokestack posted for the enemies.

Spoiler

The team I used is (in this order): Reinhardt, Olivia, Julia, Ninian

Turn 1:

Spoiler

This turn is mostly just for set-up. 

• Olivia moves up two spaces
• Reinhardt moves directly behind Olivia
• Julia moves up one space
• Ninian moves directly behind Julia
• End turn

You should still be just barely out of range of all of the enemies.

Turn 2:

Spoiler

Player Phase:

Spoiler

• Reinhardt moves up two spaces and OHKOs Zephiel
• Julia moves up two spaces and ORKOs the lance armor
• Ninian dances Julia
• Julia retreats down two spaces, behind Ninian
• Olivia dances Reinhardt
• Reinhardt retreats down two spaces, behind Olivia
• End turn

Enemy Phase:

Spoiler

• Axe armor moves right one
• Blue mage moves behind the axe armor
• Red mage moves left two and attacks Ninian
• Turn ends

 

Turn 3:

Spoiler

• Reinhardt moves up two and OHKOs the red mage
• Julia moves up two and ORKOs the axe armor
• Ninian dances Julia
• Julia moves up one and attacks the blue mage
• Olivia dances Reinhardt
• Reinhardt finishes off the blue mage
• Victory!

 

Any thoughts or advice would be appreciated. 

Obviously this is a WIP and may not work out depending on enemy skills and stats (however, I did calcs using the stats Smoke posted, and my Reinhardt is capable of OHKOing Zephiel, just as my Julia is capable of ORKOing the axe armor). 

Edited April 20, 2017 by MaskedAmpharos

[Arcanite]

Heh, I feel like a square

Everyone is out here posting strategies, and I have nothing. I̶ ̶f̶e̶e̶l̶ ̶n̶a̶k̶e̶d̶. 

I don't think Smoke is a moron or anything, I just want to be 100% certain, even though the units are the same throughout all the Hero Battles.

It's the paranoia in me lel.

[bethany81707]

3 minutes ago, Arcanite said:

Heh, I feel like a square

Everyone is out here posting strategies, and I have nothing. I̶ ̶f̶e̶e̶l̶ ̶n̶a̶k̶e̶d̶. 

I don't think Smoke is a moron or anything, I just want to be 100% certain, even though the units are the same throughout all the Hero Battles.

It's the paranoia in me lel.

So far, my 'strategy' is 'peck at them with ravens until they die'.

I am fully expecting a skill that'll be a pain in the rear to deal with. Otherwise, the armours are too easy to stay away from.

[Lyrai]

In my personal team, I would bring at least Michalis, Reindhart, Cecilia, and the last spot, I'm still thinking about the best choices.

There's a lot of strategy in the battle later on, but I think the map can be reposition abused to hit and run with ease.

[Thany]

Boy.... i cant help but feel that dancers just make every single GHB trivial just because of free extra movement... Im curious how many people will be able to do the lunatic difficulty without a dancer to assist.

[Kiran]

Wait...where did we get the info that these will be the units in the GHB tomorrow? Did I miss a datamine or something? 

[MrSmokestack]

2 minutes ago, Kiran said:

Wait...where did we get the info that these will be the units in the GHB tomorrow? Did I miss a datamine or something? 

There's a tweet from way back in this thread with a screenshot, including Zephiel's stats.

 

EDIT: Here

16 hours ago, Vaximillian said:

Also, here are the enemies on the map, along with the man himself and his stats:

78 HP, 57 Atk, 34 Def, 21 Spd, 20 Res, Eckesachs (16 Mt, 1 Rng, built-in Threaten Def 2), Reprisal, Life and Death 3, Wary Fighter 3.

 

Edited April 20, 2017 by MrSmokestack

[DraceEmpressa]

1 minute ago, Thany said:

Boy.... i cant help but feel that dancers just make every single GHB trivial just because of free extra movement... Im curious how many people will be able to do the lunatic difficulty without a dancer to assist.

People who does definitely are whales with tons of +10 5* units twerked with Skill Inheritance anyway. 

[ILikeKirbys]

@MaskedAmpharos Ah, good to see that was just a misreading. I actually thought I missed that Nino was left in range of a Blue Armor somewhere.

As for your team strategy... I never would've considered using two dancers, but I could maybe make this strategy work for my team. I just might steal this if my own strategy fails.

So, are we gonna find out the Banner characters tonight, or is that gonna have to wait until tomorrow?

@Kiran It's on the FEHeroes News twitter. Just released this afternoon, I believe.
Here's a link.

Edited April 20, 2017 by ILikeKirbys

[Ice Dragon]

6 minutes ago, DraceEmpressa said:

People who does definitely are whales with tons of +10 5* units twerked with Skill Inheritance anyway. 

Ahem.

On 4/18/2017 at 1:45 PM, Ice Dragon said:

In other news, just like last time, the Japanese Twitter has a team introduction for a low-rarity team that succeeded the previous Grand Hero Battle without Skill Inheritance (and this time also without a dancer):

• 3-star Donnel
• 3-star Sophia
• 2-star Wrys
• 3-star Michalis