New Heroes: Princess of Bern

[Baldrick]

25 minutes ago, Sunwoo said:

Yikes, that's right. Halloween Sakura's Kitty Paddle didn't get a refine because apparently it was too strong but Guinevere gets to have a stronger weapon with magic effectiveness and all these other effects tacked on it?

Heroes is so full of shit.

The effects aren’t that great. The extra might is nice, but being a tome rather than an inheritable dagger is a pretty big disadvantage for a mage-killer.

IMO Aureola isn’t even the best blue tome released this month.

[Flying Shogi]

18 minutes ago, Magical Glace said:

No Wolt again huh... At least I have the summer one...

I'd trade you my +5 SR!Wolt if I could. 

Not pulling on this banner but they did Aureola's animation justice.

[Icelerate]

1 minute ago, Baldrick said:

The effects aren’t that great. The extra might is nice, but being a tome rather than an inheritable dagger is a pretty big disadvantage for a mage-killer.

IMO Aureola isn’t even the best blue tome released this month.

What other blue tomes were released this month?

[Florete]

35 minutes ago, Tybrosion said:

Wow, they seriously are going to give three straight Mythic banners to Heroes. And Binding Blade gets to stand on its own while Awakening had its banner overshadowed by a pointless OC.

Awakening still got the usual 5 new characters with 4 of them in the forging bonds. Mirabilis was literally a bonus.

Why do I still see people complaining about this?

[NegativeExponents-]

Ah, I wish I had orbs. Everyone looks so amazing and I'm very glad that Merlinus has actually made it into Heroes with some nice fodder, but I dumped everything for Lyn & Florina and now I'd rather wait and save up for Nils.

[Xenomata]

Just now, XRay said:

Aureola also is not as strong as you make it out to be. Forced healing ruins Desperation and Wings of Mercy, making her unsuitable for regular player phase team composition and tactics; and if you are going player phase, you might as well run Blade tomes for higher damage output. For enemy phase, it is alright, but it is nowhere as powerful as Fimbulvetr or Blood Tome. It has potential as a dual phase Weapon, but Guinivere seems like she is going to be shredded by any physical unit.

Aureola falls into the category of "Weapons meant to be One-Hit Wonders without being Bladetomes" see Lysithea, Legendary Chrom, maybe Surtr if taking the weapon effect into account, Legendary Edelgard, etc. Those kinds of units don't care about being within HP thresholds unless they're carrying a Brazen skill or Vantage.

As more and more units gain effects that disable follow-up attacks or cancel out entire percentages of damage, it becomes more and more important for a unit to be able to deal a ton of damage in one attack, lest they risk leaving a very alive tank who also opens up WoM on the enemy side. And while Aureola might not be THE shift in that direction, it does begin to inch that way in its effects alone, no comment on if Guinevere will also follow suit. Book V may see the release of more units who make all the damage reduction% introduced in the past year meaningless.

[Kaden]

Oh look, a unit with Smoke Dagger+. At least it's not Rogue Dagger+ with its 7 Mt before refinement. I wish they would do an update to increase pre-Weapon Refinery daggers and some weapons like Wo Dao so that their Mt is in line with other weapons. Kind of crappy that for Jaffar to have a 14 Mt prf dagger like everyone else who does not have a prf Brave, he needs to refine his Deathly Dagger. Still better than needing to be a 5* unit or hope you have high attack for dagger units with Rogue or Smoke Dagger.

Anyway, Merlinus was unexpected and he's a dagger cavalry too. Even better, he's the demote. Depending on his stats, he could be a great or pretty much the only easy to merge option for a Broadleaf Fan cavalry.

Melady shares her English voice actress with Altena. Kind of sounds the same too. Instant Lance is neat as a regular pool version of the SoV seasonal weapons that have a weaker Impact effect; less stats, but still had follow-up denial. Still would have preferred if she or hopefully Galle were sword fliers instead of lance fliers. Wyvern Flight being the counterpart to Pegasus Flight is interesting. Probably easier to use since I think there are more fast, high defense melee fliers than their are fast, high resistance ones. Laegjarn comes to mind whose Niu could allow her to swing a lot of stats in her favor. There's also Hel, Jill, Mininerva, Subaki, and Valter. With the weird speed check, I could see a speed stack build for Altena, Ashnard, and Travant if not Cormag who is Valter without a prf lance.

The speed check of Pegasus/Wyvern Flight concerns me a bit. There are fast generic enemies, but Melady not being able to double and also not having a prf lance could cause her to be yet another lance flier and coming from Seteth as the recent demote, not great. She would be in the same situation as regular Fiora.

Dieck looks and sounds spicy. Glad he's an axe infantry since there are a lot of sword infantry units, but among those who are mercenaries and in games where heroes do gain the ability to use axes, it's helpful with adding to unit types that may have more limited options. His axe is something. If he has decent defenses, it also working on enemy phase if he's within two spaces of an ally could allow him to be a good tank. Possibly speedy tank. The guranteed follow-up effect requiring his foe to have full health is weird when recent weapons have a more lenient range like >= -80% for a guaranteed follow-up or other effect.

And Guinevere has the first? tome with effective damage against mages. The after combat healing effect and her being a blue infantry mage makes me think she's a better Linde with unrefined Aura as unrefined Aura has Breath of Life 2. Also, there are a lot of recent units with Atk/Res Push 4.

The Three Houses banner was hard to top considering everyone had a prf weapon. So, this banner feels a bit underwhelming. I feel like I would want to pick Guinevere as my guaranteed summon solely because she is the only mage with effective damage against mages. And if not her, then Dieck because he's an axe infantry and one with a prf axe as well. Melady being a lance flier isn't that great when we need more axe and sword fliers in the regular summoning pool. What doesn't help is her speed might be mediocre at best and that would bury her further in the oversaturated lance flier population. Merlinus is the demote, so there is not much of a need to pick him.

Here's hoping Galle is a sword fliers for whatever reason.

Edited November 16, 2020 by Kaden

[KMT4ever]

On the one hand, I've been waiting for Guinivere for a while and she's exactly as impressive as I'd hoped. On the other hand I really want to get F!Morgan to +10 and her Weekly Revival banner is only three weeks from now. I've got 438 orbs at the time of writing, which doesn't leave me with much wiggle room for Morgan if I go for the spark on this banner. Still, the light of St. Elimine beckons, so I guess I don't have much of a choice. As for the rest of the banner:

• Melady doesn't look that great, especially since her Speed doesn't appear to be high enough for Wyvern Flight to do anything except against slow and tanky units that are probably better handled by other units. Color-sharing with Guinivere is another knock against her. A shame given how beastly she is in FE6, but oh well.
• Dieck looks powerful, but his weapon doesn't really complement Close Def 4. NFU is always good though. His voice does bug me with how cheeky he sounds. I was expecting him to sound more gruff given his supports in FE6.
• Merlinus is a terrible unit only good for SI and I love it. Hopefully he gets Distant Guard as his 4* skill.

[daisy jane]

8 minutes ago, Icelerate said:

What other blue tomes were released this month?

 

thank you i was like.... what blue mage got added this month?

I think Guenievere will be for the Nukes (Ophelia, Maybe Nino, Celica). But for the ladies who have monster res: Julias, Deidres, Kirias and Micaiahs... she's going to have to punch through the res. first. She might be slow (I mean. it can go either way) but i mean. just bait her with a physical unit. she'll crumple. 

and yeah. I mean. Kitty Paddle would be good (if refinable, same as poison dagger) but.. i dunno. we got brave weapons with an upgrade maybe we'll get other effective weapons

 

@XRay - well yes, desperation/quick riposte are really good skills, but if you can have the chance to lull/debuff whatever in the b-slot, imo that's better than desperation (that you have to wait to be under a certain hp to use) or QR (which you have to be over a certain HP to use). the only condition that the fliers need is spd/def (or spd/res). and it gives fliers better options.

[Tybrosion]

7 minutes ago, Florete said:

Awakening still got the usual 5 new characters with 4 of them in the forging bonds. Mirabilis was literally a bonus.

Why do I still see people complaining about this?

Because Mirabilis's presence doomed Emmeryn (both a popular request and a prominent character) to being a generic 3*-4* staff unit when she could've been the main star like Guinivere if Emm actually got to be on the banner.

But nah, they gave that role to Linhardt (but flanderized) the female fairy instead. As someone who generally detests the Heroes OCs and really wanted (and still do want) Severa, that banner will forever have a place on my shit list.

14 minutes ago, Icelerate said:

What other blue tomes were released this month?

I assume they mean refined Thani.

[Baldrick]

36 minutes ago, Icelerate said:

What other blue tomes were released this month?

You’ll be happy when you hear the news.

22 minutes ago, daisy jane said:

thank you i was like.... what blue mage got added this month?

The question is, what blue tomes have been added this month?

Quote

I think Guenievere will be for the Nukes (Ophelia, Maybe Nino, Celica).

Those units all stack a ridiculous amount of offense through their other effects Aureola only has a stat boost that stacks Guinevere’s offense. 
 

Emmeryn got a better deal than Guinevere. Being easily mergable is much more useful than being a mediocre flavor-of-the-month exclusive unit.

Edited November 16, 2020 by Baldrick

[Icelerate]

14 minutes ago, Tybrosion said:

I assume they mean refined Thani.

I thought so too and that tome is probably better anyway. Effective damage against armour/cavs is better than against mages. Furthermore, while Aureola gets +5 spd compared to Thani, Thani gets guaranteed follow up attacks. But Guinevere's mystic boost + granting healing to allies within two spaces is better than 30% DR against only ranged units IMO. 

[Baldrick]

3 minutes ago, Icelerate said:

 But Guinevere's mystic boost + granting healing to allies within two spaces is better than 30% DR against only ranged units IMO. 

Mystic boost is only useful against adaptive damage, which no mages have afaik. Breath of life is decent but not that great. DR against ranged units is great against lots of meta threats like Reinhardt, BLyn, staff cavs etc.

[daisy jane]

26 minutes ago, Tybrosion said:

Because Mirabilis's presence doomed Emmeryn (both a popular request and a prominent character) to being a generic 3*-4* staff unit when she could've been the main star like Guinivere if Emm actually got to be on the banner.

But nah, they gave that role to Linhardt (but flanderized) the female fairy instead. As someone who generally detests the Heroes OCs and really wanted (and still do want) Severa, that banner will forever have a place on my shit list.

I assume they mean refined Thani.

Isn't that assuming that Emmeryn would have been a main star? Like if you took out Mirabilis. you still have a crap tonne of other units they could have added instead of Emmeryn.  Heck. they could have just flipped flopped the Def Tactic guy and made Emmeryn Summonable. (with the exact same kit).  And quite honestly. if someone liked Emmeryn - I would rather her be a demote so she's easily buildable (and you JUST need healer food) vs being 5* locked  and hoping for banners that she'd be on.  

 I'm just wishing a lot more of my favourite units were actually demoted and not treated like the star.

[Icelerate]

13 minutes ago, Baldrick said:

The question is, what blue tomes have been added this month?

 

None because Thani wasn't added to the game, just updated. 

[Book Bro]

Yes! I just saw this, perfect banner, I'm a fan of all 4 characters. I'll be focusing on Guinevere and Dieck. That art for the latter is everything!

[Tybrosion]

45 minutes ago, daisy jane said:

I'm just wishing a lot more of my favourite units were actually demoted and not treated like the star.

On the one hand, that does make them more easily merged theoretically at least, as I only just got Forrest to +7.

On the other hand, what good is that if they're near unusable without high level investment and still subpar even with high level investment?

[Jotari]

Dieck going aces huh? Well I must confess it seems far more natural on him than Raven was, even though they're in identical situations. Good choice though, to limit the overwhelming flood of sword infantry this series has. They were forward thinking with Raven (though I still wish Narcian had used swords). Knives also seem like a decent choice for Merlinus. We now have a non seasonal knife cavalry, though I  wouldn't say it's a canon knife cavalry just yet (Yukimura will give us that some day I hope, not that I expect anyone but me cares).

Is anyone else bizarrely and greatly disappointed Merlinus's sprite doesn't come with a carriage?

[daisy jane]

27 minutes ago, Tybrosion said:

On the one hand, that does make them more easily merged theoretically at least, as I only just got Forrest to +7.

On the other hand, what good is that if they're near unusable without high level investment and still subpar even with high level investment?

well for me.. i guess i don't see them as "subpar". yeah they could be posh and 5* locked and bonkers. but truthfully i don't (and never have) thought about things like that. the way is see it is"They are my favourite. they can do the job i need them to do. they might need some upgrading from time to time - which is what you'd have to do regardless if they were 5* locked or not) Yeah there are probably some demotes that are nearly unsuable without high investment. but then it's like. you can get them to +10 relatively quickly and spend the orbs to get the investment. OR you have to spend GOBS of orbs to get them to +10 (and for some units STILL need to get other skills to make them pop). 

6 of one, 1/2 a dozen of the other they say. 

I don't want to make it sound like i don't understand/get your point. I do. (and Iknow you also hate the original characters. which  that's fair.) - but i truthfully don't think anyone got hosed, and it's just assumptions that they'd be better than they are. maybe they would have. or they could have been like Fiora, Ewan, and many others that are 5* Locked for literally zero reason other than Intsys deciding that we can only have one demote per new banner. i'd 100 percent take the demotion/not being the star, being slightly "subpar" (relative) to being exactly what she'd be w/a skill intsys overvalues to justify being 5* locked (See Mikoto who comes STRAIGHT to mind) no prf, no wrath/dazzle. and only brazen atk/res. (okay and Flash but still). 

[Interdimensional Observer]

37 minutes ago, Jotari said:

Is anyone else bizarrely and greatly disappointed Merlinus's sprite doesn't come with a carriage?

People have already expressed disappointment in this matter, you aren't alone. I'd add to the sentiment as well.

But think on the bright side, FE7 Merlinus alt as an Armor unit that consists of a moving big blue tent. How would that be as an idea? Weapon would be Staff, because Merlinus serves baked puddings (so British-styled I assume, not the chocolate/vanilla/tapioca stuff Americans assume pudding to be) to Marcus, is caught eating something unnamed by Nino, and he gives Vaida roasted dumplings. This merchant is a chef too, and food heals the soul.

Edited November 16, 2020 by Interdimensional Observer

[Humanoid]

I would have preferred zero-move tent Merlinus - like an extreme version of Mila with map-wide support and extreme tankiness - but I'll take what I can get I suppose. And by that I mean I'll take him as a 3-star after the banner is done. There's really nothing else there for me, Ginny is nice and all but is a trap since my need for Melady is zero. Dieck is just there.

[XRay]

2 hours ago, Xenomata said:

Aureola falls into the category of "Weapons meant to be One-Hit Wonders without being Bladetomes" see Lysithea, Legendary Chrom, maybe Surtr if taking the weapon effect into account, Legendary Edelgard, etc. Those kinds of units don't care about being within HP thresholds unless they're carrying a Brazen skill or Vantage.

I do not think any of those Weapons are one hit wonders outside of Lysithea. Lysithea can either stick with her default skill set or go ham with a Blazing build, and Lysithea is the only one who can rival Blade mages in damage output with either builds.

CE!Chrom does not actually hit that hard in my opinion. He only seems to hit hard because he is unpredictable and goes after vulnerable units. Against a regular green tank, he falls apart pretty easily. Similarly, FE!Edelgard is unpredictable if you accidentally let her activate Raging Storm on you, as she can flank the front tank a bit and go after back line units; against a normal red tank with proper positioning for back line units, she is not killing anybody. A red unit or a strong green tank can also still kill vanilla Surtr while taking Surtr's Menace to the face.

On defense under AI control, units generally do not care about HP thresholds; the AI does not know how to use Desperation, and Vantage is not very good against experienced and cautious players. Under player control, all those units care about maintaining a certain level of HP. Lysithea still wants to be at 50% HP or less, even if she is running her vanilla skills, because Wings of Mercy Dancers/Singers needs her to be at that range. For enemy phase units and most dual phase units, they want HP to be as high as possible, even if none of their skills require an HP threshold.

2 hours ago, Xenomata said:

As more and more units gain effects that disable follow-up attacks or cancel out entire percentages of damage, it becomes more and more important for a unit to be able to deal a ton of damage in one attack, lest they risk leaving a very alive tank who also opens up WoM on the enemy side. And while Aureola might not be THE shift in that direction, it does begin to inch that way in its effects alone, no comment on if Guinevere will also follow suit. Book V may see the release of more units who make all the damage reduction% introduced in the past year meaningless.

Dealing a ton of damage in one hit is not the answer to either of those effects. Having high Spd also matters. Non-armor units have very limited access to Wary Fighter type skills so all you need to worry about is just winning the Spd check in most cases and that also makes enemies' Null Follow-Up meaningless. And winning the Spd check also negates Spurn in most cases.

2 hours ago, daisy jane said:

@XRay - well yes, desperation/quick riposte are really good skills, but if you can have the chance to lull/debuff whatever in the b-slot, imo that's better than desperation (that you have to wait to be under a certain hp to use) or QR (which you have to be over a certain HP to use). the only condition that the fliers need is spd/def (or spd/res). and it gives fliers better options.

For player phase, Desperation is way better in my opinion for most nukes. There is no reason to focus on one shots if you can go for two shots, and Desperation allows the nuke to go for two shots indefinitely. Reaching Desperation is not that difficult either. Aether Raids have Bolt Traps, Abyssal often have enemies just weak enough that your nuke survives with low HP, and Fury is always an option if you want a surefire way to land in Desperation range.

For enemy phase, fliers do not get access to Lulls, Null Follow-Up, nor Spurn. They have Dulls and Guard, and neither are particularly great on the B slot. Guard can be offloaded to the Weapon or A slot and it does not have an HP threshold requirement in those slots. Dulls kind of suck unless the player only needs the tank to focus on one range of combat.

1 hour ago, Tybrosion said:

On the one hand, that does make them more easily merged theoretically at least, as I only just got Forrest to +7.

On the other hand, what good is that if they're near unusable without high level investment and still subpar even with high level investment?

Forrest can Sabotage, heal, have a massive movement range, and if you are old school, he can Ploy too. No other cavalry healer can do what he does as well as he can. AOTB!Veronica sucks at Sabotage and cannot Ploy either. Elise is more of a nuke. Every other staff cavalry is in a worse position than those three as they cannot support as well as Forrest and AOTB!Veronica can, nor can they nuke as well as Elise can.

Emmeryn is top tier for Sudden Panic/Panic Ploy and Infantry Pulse, only beaten out by Azama, Eremiya, and SP!Rhys by just 1 HP. They do not have cavalry's movement range, but if you need a staff unit that specializes in Panic or quickly charging Specials, infantry staff units are the way to go.

36 minutes ago, Humanoid said:

I would have preferred zero-move tent Merlinus - like an extreme version of Mila with map-wide support and extreme tankiness - but I'll take what I can get I suppose. And by that I mean I'll take him as a 3-star after the banner is done. There's really nothing else there for me, Ginny is nice and all but is a trap since my need for Melady is zero. Dieck is just there.

If he has zero movement, he better come with Embla's Ward or something.

Edited November 16, 2020 by XRay

[daisy jane]

32 minutes ago, XRay said:

For player phase, Desperation is way better in my opinion for most nukes. There is no reason to focus on one shots if you can go for two shots, and Desperation allows the nuke to go for two shots indefinitely. Reaching Desperation is not that difficult either. Aether Raids have Bolt Traps, Abyssal often have enemies just weak enough that your nuke survives with low HP, and Fury is always an option if you want a surefire way to land in Desperation range.

i suppose so. if that's the only way you want to play. and it can really go either way (to be fair). Not being snarky or anything like that. i think any skill that doesn't lock a unit into one role is a great one. 

[Baldrick]

5 hours ago, Xenomata said:

Aureola falls into the category of "Weapons meant to be One-Hit Wonders without being Bladetomes" see Lysithea, 

?

Guinevere has five effects on her weapon. Three are purely defensive, one gives only 5 attack out of 15 stat points, the other is effective damage against mages only. Compared to Hades, that’s hardly a weapon designed to compete with Bladetomes for raw damage.

Quote

And while Aureola might not be THE shift in that direction, it does begin to inch that way in its effects alone,

Auréola doesn’t even have any effects, such as Deadeye, that counter DR. I’m not sure how it has any relevance to the arms race between DR and DR negation.

Edited November 16, 2020 by Baldrick

[XRay]

54 minutes ago, daisy jane said:

i suppose so. if that's the only way you want to play. and it can really go either way (to be fair). Not being snarky or anything like that. i think any skill that doesn't lock a unit into one role is a great one. 

That one role does a lot though. A nuke with triple Dancers/Singers is still one of the best and easiest way to solve most Abyssal content, and that nuke needs Desperation to work unless it is a Blazing nuke or something.

Players can make Flight skills work, but a skill that is just workable is not on the same level as a skill that trivializes modes.