Binding Blade Banner Speculation Thread

[Lewyn]

1 hour ago, Rezzy said:

Zelgius alt in the FE6 banner?  And I thought he was out of place on Micaiah's banner.

I really hope we don't get another Liliana alt.  As much as I like her, I'd like to get literally anybody else in the cast more.

Rutger will probably get in, but Sword Infantry is so saturated, that short of powercreep, there's little left to distinguish him.

I wonder who the demote will be.  I'm still waiting for a QR3 4* demote.

Sorry I meant Zephiel.  He'd probably be like a red Surtr, super tank, with a new power creeped skill. 

[Lord-Zero]

Hmm...nothing is truly stopping the developers from making a powercrept Zephiel alt. 

@Lewyn Red Surtr? That would be fun. 

As for units I’d like to see...

- Powercrept Zephiel alt with some cool prf skill that works with dragons and beasts. Scepter version of Excesachs could count as a lance here. 

- Cath getting the Ayra treatment

- Narcian alt with RUNESWORD or something worthy of him. 

- Idunn or Guinivere

Murdock would be nice as a GHB or TT reward. 

That’s it. 

Edited March 4, 2019 by Lord-Zero

[Vince777]

The only Zephiel alt I could tolerate in a New Heroes banner eventually is a Blazing Sword one. 

[Rezzy]

13 minutes ago, Vince777 said:

The only Zephiel alt I could tolerate in a New Heroes banner eventually is a Blazing Sword one. 

Maybe eventually, but only once they've starting exhausting the cast, which still has glaring absences, like Kent, Sain, Pent, and Nergal among others.

[NegativeExponents-]

Assuming 4 person banner with a GHB unit then my wants are:

Niime (Red tome), Lugh (Blue tome), Gonzales (Axe), and Igrene (Red/colorless bow) as banner units.

Brunya (Green tome) or Jahn (Colorless/Green dragon) as GHB.

I imagine that Igrene would be the only 5* exclusive if this banner actually happened because I don’t know how many people would roll for the other units unless they’re given a spectacular kit which IS seems adverse to doing for male characters (although in retrospect we did recently get Keaton and Tibarn so maybe I’m wrong) meanwhile Niime is a̶ ̶g̶m̶i̶l̶f̶ old so she probably won’t get any special treatment either. Not that I would mind since less 5* exclusives is good in my eyes.

As far as alts go, the only one I would like is a Zephiel alt but only if it’s shota Zephiel so that would be better suited to an FE7 banner. I imagine Narcian would just be given a “Runeaxe” as a refinement as opposed to giving him an alt.

[Florete]

10 hours ago, Othin said:

TTs have varied in when they start depending on whether they're tied to the early or late banner in the month.

I do think it would make it the longest gap, but not by much. Suppose we get a Forging Bonds alongside the Binding Blade banner when it launches, on March 8. Two back-to-back Forging Bonds would be a bit strange, but they've done back-to-back TTs before, so I don't think it's unreasonable. And it's their only option for a March Forging Bonds unless they want to make a seasonal one, which they've never done before. Then the TT would probably start either on or close to the end of that Forging Bonds, on March 22, right around when the spring banner should launch. That's 40 days after the start of the Valentine's TT, on February 10.

The biggest previous TT gaps I could find were 37 days from the FE13 TT (March 15) to the FE5 TT (April 21) and 36 days from the Adrift TT (November 12) to the Christmas TT (December 18). 40 days is slightly longer than those, but not by too dramatic of an amount.

I should also mention the possibility that both a GHB and TT will be tied to the banner. It's already happened more than once. But whether it's one or both, I'm holding my guess that the next TT will be tied to this banner. Only time will tell.

3 hours ago, Rezzy said:

With no news of any demotions at the 2nd anniversary, I wonder if they're ever going to do another round of demotions.  It would be nice if it became a regular thing, like the new refines we get periodically.

Well, the first round of demotions didn't happen at the 1st anniversary. It was April, I believe.

[Rezzy]

Just now, Florete said:

I should also mention the possibility that both a GHB and TT will be tied to the banner. It's already happened more than once. But whether it's one or both, I'm holding my guess that the next TT will be tied to this banner. Only time will tell.

Well, the first round of demotions didn't happen at the 1st anniversary. It was April, I believe.

Hopefully we see another round in a month or so.  The second anniversary was pretty lackluster, come to think about it.

[shiningpikablu252]

Just so long as that atrocious name they gave Deke in the poll does not hold, I'll be happy.  ("Dieck" is not a real name apart from a very rare surname; it's clearly along the same lines as "Raian" and "Ruke", and only those elitists who do not easily let badly-translated Japanese names go are hoping it holds; and it's bound to be used very heavy insultively enough to make him a memetic loser if it does hold.)  I'm sure I'll be far from the only one boycotting the banner if he gets into the banner holding on to that atrocious name he had in the poll, pretty much anything's better than "Dieck"--Deke, Dirk, Duke, Vergil, I could go on forever!  ****, if insult potential isn't fazing them, just straight-out Dick would be a far better choice...

[Fire Emblem Fan]

The character I want the most is Thea, but I know her chances are super slim. When you have characters like Perceval, Sue, Lugh, Idunn, Rutger, Echidna, Guinevere, Melady, and a couple others all being consistently more popular...yeah.

[domilea]

@Fire Emblem Fan I think Thea's chances are better than you think, if only because she's the character closest to Klein... and Klein is the only one of the Sibling Bonds characters to not have a banner tied to him.

• Eldigan and Lachesis - The Genealogy banner was very heavily themed off of Chapter 7, but the choice in map theme, Lionheart Eldigan, establishes that Ares is the thematic heart of it.
• Reinhardt and Olwen - Received alts on the World of Thracia banner.
• Sanaki - Very specifically her Radiant Dawn version, too. She talks about her sister in her Castle dialogue... which connects her to the World of Dawn banner.

This leaves Klein hanging. Sure, his sister was in the game at launch... but still.

There's also the matter of map themes. Binding Blade has are 8 player-phase map themes. One of them, Beyond Distant Skies, is in Heroes already. Another one is used only during Trial Maps, and it's a remix of Alm Battle Map 1/March to Deliverance, so it's off the table, too. And two others, Scars of the Scouring and Shadow Approaches, are reused, in a higher-quality format, in FE7 - but since this coming banner is FE6's first-ever dedicated banner, it would be better if it used music that was unique to FE6. 

So that leaves us with four possible choices: For the Commanders, Within a Magnificent Nature, Beneath a New Light, and Path of the Divine Generals. 

Path of the Divine Generals is very approximately equivalent to Id (Purpose) and Twilight of the Gods, so I suspect, if Idunn is going to be a Mythic Hero, that they'll save this theme for her MHB.

And to me, Within a Magnificent Nature is one of the weaker map themes in the franchise. I think it'll be passed over for one of the other two. 

If I'm right, that leaves two possibilities: Beneath a New Light, and For the Commanders.And if they choose For the Commanders, then the banner is likely going to be themed around the Western Isle chapters. Aka, the chapters where Klein and Thea are recruited. So Thea does have a marginal chance of getting in.

That said, yeah, there are loads of other choices that have better odds. At the absolute maximum, we can only reasonably expect 4 banner spots, one TT, and one GHB (L!Roy already fills the optional Legendary/Mythic slot). So 6 new characters, tops, and that's assuming no alts.

If I had to guess:

I'd say Rutger is basically a shoe-in. 2nd most popular Binding Blade character during its official poll. 2nd highest-voted new face during CYL1, which was the CYL least affected by OCs, alt recency, or meta considerations (andhe was only behind Lot because Lot is a meme in Japan in a way similar to how Dorcas is over here). 2nd highest after Idunn in CYLs 2 and 3, and that's after the game went from full to flooded on infantry swords. Yeah, Rutger might not have the most fans, but he does have a significant number of pretty dedicated fans, which is a lot more than many other FE6 characters can claim. Plus, he'll have gen 3 BST... I think he's almost certain to be a banner unit. 

After him, it gets murkier. I'm assuming Idunn is going to be a Mythic down the road somewhere, so she won't show up here. If IntSys has no intentions of following up on this banner, they'll put all their eggs in one basket and put their most in-demand characters, other than Idunn, on this banner and call it a day. That would mean a banner with Rutger, Dieck, Lugh, and probably Sue (who is in a rarer class type than the other option, Perceval). 

But I'm hoping they throw us a couple of curveballs. I've long held the same sentiment expressed here by others, in that Guinivere seems like a good choice. She's plot-relevant and pretty, which makes her easy to market and easy to write/voice dialogue for; but on top of that, she wasn't ordinarily playable, putting her in much the same space as characters like Leila, Rinea, and Lilith. 

TL;DR, my hopes/expectations for the banner: Rutger, Lugh (the demote), Sue, Guinivere. 

[Ice Dragon]

2 hours ago, Florete said:

Well, the first round of demotions didn't happen at the 1st anniversary. It was April, I believe.

@Rezzy April 10, to be exact.

 

2 hours ago, shiningpikablu252 said:

Just so long as that atrocious name they gave Deke in the poll does not hold, I'll be happy.  ("Dieck" is not a real name apart from a very rare surname; it's clearly along the same lines as "Raian" and "Ruke", and only those elitists who do not easily let badly-translated Japanese names go are hoping it holds; and it's bound to be used very heavy insultively enough to make him a memetic loser if it does hold.)  I'm sure I'll be far from the only one boycotting the banner if he gets into the banner holding on to that atrocious name he had in the poll, pretty much anything's better than "Dieck"--Deke, Dirk, Duke, Vergil, I could go on forever!  ****, if insult potential isn't fazing them, just straight-out Dick would be a far better choice...

"Dieck" being a real German surname is enough qualification for being a name.

 

EDIT: Being a rare, but real, surname is still better qualification for being the name of a person compared to, say, the name of a place (Ulster) or not being a real name at all (Ashunera).

Edited March 4, 2019 by Ice Dragon

[Etrurian emperor]

I give Lugh a very solid chance. He's a popular character from a very popular family. Adding him makes sense. 

Rutger is probably locked in place due to being popular and broken. 

Echidna maybe? She does stand out quite a bit compared to other characters. Heroes doesn't have enough buffed ladies. 

[Fabulously Olivier]

Who I want:

Red - Rutger

Blue - Percival

Blue/Green - Elphin

Colorless - Wolt

 

Who I expect:

Red - Rutger

Blue - Guinivere

Green - Echidna or Gonzales

Colorless - Sue

[Othin]

10 hours ago, Florete said:

I should also mention the possibility that both a GHB and TT will be tied to the banner. It's already happened more than once. But whether it's one or both, I'm holding my guess that the next TT will be tied to this banner. Only time will tell.

Well, the first round of demotions didn't happen at the 1st anniversary. It was April, I believe.

It's happened, but not recently. In the earlier parts of 2018, the number of free units per banner varied more from 0 to 2, but for the past few months it's been consistently at 1. So it certainly could happen, I just don't think it's especially likely.

If we do get both a GHB and TT tied to the banner, that suggests the spring banner will get a Forging Bonds as its event. They've never yet done a seasonal FB, but I suppose there's no reason it's something they couldn't do. And the Nifl one was also unprecedented.

[Garlyle]

Give me Rutger, Gonzales, Igrene, Melady and Galle, Sue or Shin. If they want to bring us alts, Beard Hector or Sage Lilina are justifiable. 

Idunn as I predicted before, has to be Mythic.

[Gregster101]

8 hours ago, domilea said:

And to me, Within a Magnificent Nature is one of the weaker map themes in the franchise. I think it'll be passed over for one of the other two. 

You itching for a fight? Cuz that's my favorite map theme in FE6

[bottlegnomes]

@domilea That explains about Lot. I was wondering why he placed so high given I've never heard anyone talk about him. If you don't mind me asking, what is the meme?

[Florete]

So someone on Reddit was apparently testing URLs on the Meet the Heroes page and happened upon the sprite of a new unit. Since this is a leak, it's under the spoiler:

Spoiler

 

And right before I posted this, someone else found another:

Spoiler

 

[Jingle Jangle]

Spoiler

Idunn, Rutger, Lugh, and Sue. Nice choices. I"m going to skip the banner thought. Sue isn't that worth it for me.

 

[Ice Dragon]

Spoiler

That edgy reverse grip.

It looks like Sue is getting an exclusive, or at least new, weapon (Longbow?), whereas Lugh gets Gronnserpent and Rutger gets Slaying Edge.

I hope Idenn isn't on the banner. I really don't want to spend too much more money this month. Unfortunately, if this is the full roster, I'm expecting Sue (colorless), Lugh (green), and Idenn (red) on the banner with Lugh as the demote and Rutger as a Grand Hero Battle.

 

Edited March 4, 2019 by Ice Dragon

[Othin]

13 minutes ago, Florete said:

So someone on Reddit was apparently testing URLs on the Meet the Heroes page and happened upon the sprite of a new unit. Since this is a leak, it's under the spoiler:

  Reveal hidden contents

 

And right before I posted this, someone else found another:

  Reveal hidden contents

 

Looks like they've got the full banner now, or at least close to it.

I was right about Idunn! Lugh and Sue are also nice, and Rutger was of course a given.

I wonder if there's also a GHB or something, or if this includes any free units. Or if there's anything else that hasn't been found yet.

[Lightchao42]

Spoiler

Rutger, Lugh, Sue, and Idunn seem like a pretty good lineup to me. Now we just have to see Idunn's color and find out if they're all summonable or if there are any free GHB/TT units.

And at last, all the time I spent saving orbs for Idunn will finally pay off! And if she's free, at least I have more than enough feathers to five star her.

 

[Zapp Branniglenn]

Mmm, gotta say I was expecting something more interesting but

Spoiler

At least Sue got in. It's dumb that we're only just now getting a canonical nomad. Certainly feels a year or two too late now that horses are so rough to use in PvP.

I'm gonna miss having all the FE6/FE7 cast barring alts. But it feels a long time coming actually getting more Elibe units.

Edited March 4, 2019 by Glennstavos

[Florete]

Spoiler

I posted that when it was just Lugh, come back 20 minutes later to see four have been found, lol.

 

[Othin]

The Meet the Heroes page does feature Panne and Titania alongside their respective banners, so any free units should be there alongside the rest, unless they won't be added until later. But there is the possibility that these four aren't the full lineup, just the only ones that have been found.

The ones that have been found seem to be based on their ending titles. I didn't have any luck with trying Melady that way, unfortunately. Or Echidna, but "Goddess of the West" seems unlikely to be the actual title she'd use anyway. Same issue with Perceval and "Knight Among Knights".