Special Heroes - Wyvern Ninja

[Fire Emblem Fan]

As everyone guessed, Cherche is indeed on the banner. We're also getting...another...Camilla. Haar is the TT+ unit, and the duo unit is Laegjarn and Fjorm. Oh, and HEATH! HEATH HEATH! I'm super happy about that.

Edited November 6, 2022 by Fire Emblem Fan

[Sunwoo]

Could we stop giving Laegjarn and Fjorm alts, seriously.

Also, I almost want to summon for Heath, but it's also a shitty time for me to be pulling. At least he's the 4-star demote (not that it matters that much half the time, never did get thief Sothe).

I don't even feel like complaining about all the girls getting prf weapons and Heath getting an inheritable and Haar being relegated to freebie with probably no prf again because what else is fucking new.

Edited November 6, 2022 by Sunwoo

[Sayyyaka]

Couldn't care less about the other three, but Heath being here is so cool.  

[EricaofRenais]

I am happy to see them doing 5 games this banner which is how I like my seasonal banners.  I will be skipping since I want Arval and there is no harmonic unit on this banner.  Now if only they keep going with the more then 2 games on seasonals I will be happy.

[Sunwoo]

By the way I just noticed. What the actual fuck is with the weapon mt for this banner? Why do Camilla and the Duo have 8 mt while Cherche has 11? Why does Heath's bow have only 6 mt when the generic brave bow+ has 7? Are they taking away a point for all the extra shit they added to it?

This is so stupid.

EDIT: Okay, I figured it out. The ranged brave weapons have lower mt than the melee ones and I had too much of a headache to notice it right away.

Still mad at Heath's 6 mt though.

Edited November 6, 2022 by Sunwoo

[Diovani Bressan]

Honestly, in my opinion... This is a very meh banner. I mean, sure. Double phase Brave weapon, but still. The entire banner didn't interest me at all. Which is a good thing, so I can keep summoning on the Arval's banner.

Didn't expect Seal skills to be the next in line to get Tier 4 versions, and it has an interesting effect.

[Tybrosion]

Yeah, I can dig this banner....even with Haar relegated to the grail slot again.

18 minutes ago, Sunwoo said:

Could we stop giving Laegjarn and Fjorm alts, seriously.

IS will stop making them when they both stop scoring well in CYL.

[Sunwoo]

8 minutes ago, Tybrosion said:

Yeah, I can dig this banner....even with Haar relegated to the grail slot again.

IS will stop making them when they both stop scoring well in CYL.

I'm sure there are other characters who score just as well or better than them who aren't getting as many alts as they are

[Othin]

This certainly is a banner. As usual, I'll plan to grab the demote and bounce.

Pulse Smoke on a seasonal demote is nice to see, and the Seal 4 skills are interesting.

[Ice Dragon]

Well, shit, it actually is a wyvern banner.

And this time, it's dual-phase Brave effect and boosted defenses in exchange for even less Spd.

We're also getting tier-4 Seal skills, and they're pretty good. It inflicts -4 to the stat during combat with no condition and, if the opponent doesn't nullify Penalties to that stat, inflicts an additional stat reduction so that the Penalty and the additional stat reduction equal 7.

 

15 minutes ago, Sunwoo said:

Still mad at Heath's 6 mt though.

Ranged weapons with the dual-phase Brave effect have 1 less Mt compared to ranged weapons with a single-phase Brave effect. This used to also be true of melee weapons, but recent melee weapons now get the same Mt.

[UNLEASH IT]

A lot of the more popular characters got alts this year. IntSys must be desperate.

[Sunwoo]

2 minutes ago, Ice Dragon said:

Ranged weapons with the dual-phase Brave effect have 1 less Mt compared to ranged weapons with a single-phase Brave effect. This used to also be true of melee weapons, but recent melee weapons now get the same Mt.

I figured that was the case, but I'm still kinda mad about it. So it's totally okay for Arval to get a prf skill that gives them free atk/res +9 with no stat penalty and WTA on every color except colorless and no color weakness to raven tomes. But Heath having a prf or even one extra mt is just WAY too much! Oh yeah, and we can't give Reinhardt (and Olwen), base Hector, Ophelia, or Surtr weapon refines because they used to be really OP and meta when the game was just starting out, but it's totally fair to give Duo Hector and CYL4 units refines because they weren't technically meta when the game was already too bloated for any one thing to be insane.

Heroes is stupid.

[Medeus]

Happy to see Cherche and I'm pleasantly surprised to get Heath, but outside of a few spare pulls I'll probably skip. Double Legendary/Mythic banner's coming and there's not enough incentive for me here to go in on this banner.

[Ice Dragon]

And the usual translation notes:

 

The name of the banner, "Wyvern Ninja", is "竜騎の忍たち" (ryūki no shinobi-tachi), "Dragon-Knight Ninjas".

Camilla's epithet, "Midnight Bloom", is "暗夜に舞う華" (an'ya ni mau hana), "Flower Dancing in the Dark Night". "暗夜" (an'ya), "dark night", is also the Japanese name of Nohr.

Flowery Scroll is "艶花忍法帳" (enka ninpō-chō), "Bewitching Flower Ninja Arts Scroll".

Seal Res is "魔防封じ" (mabō fūji), "Res Sealing". "封じ" (fūji) is the stem of the verb "封じる" (fūjiru), "to seal". The stem can be used as a noun (gerund), like the present participle in English ("-ing" form). Not to be confused with "魔防の封印" (mabō no fūin), "Res Seal", which is the name of Chill Res, where "封印" (fūin) is naturally a noun meaning "seal".

Cherche's epithet, "Shaded by Wings", is "愛竜と忍ぶ影" (airyū to shinobu kage), "Shadow Hiding With Her Favorite Dragon". "愛竜" (airyū), "favorite dragon", is a play on the word "愛馬" (aiba), "favorite horse".

Wyvern Ono is "愛竜への情の竜斧" (airyū e no jō no ryūfu), "Dragon Axe of the Love for Her Favorite Dragon". "Ono" in the English name is "斧" (ono), "axe".

Atk/Def Hold is "攻撃守備の大牽制" (kōgeki shubi no daikensei), "Atk/Def Great Restraint". As usual, "牽制" (kensei), "restraint", is the name of the Rein skill series, and "大牽制" (daikensei), "great restraint", is the name of the Hold skill series.

Heath's epithet, "Wyvern Ninja", is "竜騎士忍道" (ryūkishi nindō), "Dragon-Knight Way of the Ninja".

Wyvern Yumi is "竜忍の弓" (ryūnin no yumi), "Dragon-Ninja Bow". "Yumi" in the English name is "弓" (yumi), "bow".

Laegjarn's epithet, "Flame and Frost", is "炎氷の忍" (en-hyō no shinobi), "Ninjas of Flame and Ice".

Flamefrost Bow is "炎と氷の王女の輝弓" (honō to kōri no ōjo no kikyū), "Radiant Bow of the Princesses of Flame and Ice".

Seal Def is "守備封じ" (shubi fūji), "Def Sealing".

Haar's epithet, "Tempest Runner", is "疾風の運び屋" (shippū no hakobiya), "Courier of the Gale". Compare with the normal version of Haar's epithet, "黒疾風" (kuro-shippū or koku-shippū), "Black Gale".

Wyvern Katana is "竜忍の剣" (ryūnin no ken), "Dragon-Ninja Sword". The Japanese name of the weapon uses "剣" (ken), "(usually double-edged) sword", instead of "刀" (katana), "(usually single-edged) sword", and notably, the sword is neither a double-edged sword nor a katana (unless you use a very broad definition of the English word).

Ganglot's epithet, "Death Anew", is "新たな死神" (arata na shinigami), "New God of Death". "死神" (shinigami), literally "god of death", can also be translated as "Grim Reaper".

Arcane Downfall is "魔器・絶死ヘル" (maki: zesshi heru), "Arcane Weapon: Unparalleled Death, Hel". Interestingly, this weapon follows the same naming pattern as the other "Ascended champion" weapons, just with "Arcane Weapon" tacked on in front. Compare with Nifl's Bite, "絶氷ニフル" (zehhyō nifuru, "Unparalleled Ice, Nifl"), Flame of Muspell, "絶炎ムスペル" (zetsuen musuperu, "Unparalleled Flame, Muspell"), and Ymir, Everliving, "永生ユーミル" (eisei yūmiru, "Eternal Life, Ymir"), which are all a title attached to the name of god and nation/realm. I'm not saying Ganglot is going to be both a Rearmed and Ascended Hero at the same time, but it's not impossible.

 

On 11/5/2022 at 10:49 PM, UNLEASH IT said:

A lot of the more popular characters got alts this year. IntSys must be desperate.

Or it's just been a long time since their last alt.

There were 22 months between Duo Lyn and Flame Festival Lyn.

Camilla's last alt was 15 months ago if you count Duo Hinoka or 38 months ago if you don't (Brave Camilla).

Edited November 10, 2022 by Ice Dragon

[Magenta Fantasies]

A Camilla seasonal alt with a design I like/idea I’m interested in? And drawn by Sencha? I’ll wait until the next banner to see who’s on it, but if it doesn’t have anyone I’d summon for, I’m summoning for Camilla. It’s funny that she gets to be both a pirate and a ninja. On that note, I’d LOVE to see a Pirates vs. Ninja Voting Gauntlet. 😁

I’m very surprised not to see Beruka on this banner. While I’m indifferent to her as a character, she would be an absolutely perfect fit for the theme.

I was excited to see the ninja banner return (since the pirate banner did not.) Unfortunately this theme guaranteed that the three characters I wanted most on a future ninja banner (Shura, Kellam and Legault in that order) would not be on it.

[Jave]

Good thing I skipped the Arval banner because I kinda want all of these characters.

1 hour ago, Sunwoo said:

I'm sure there are other characters who score just as well or better than them who aren't getting as many alts as they are

Pretty sure Fjorm x Laegjarn was a very highly requested Duo, though. This was definitely not a random choice.

[Humanoid]

Still 90% out of the game so just theoretical takes:

No real opinion on Camilla. Looks fine but not my style. Mixed phase mage, dunno how that goes these days. Letting any unit initiate on me has been too scary to do for a couple of years now.

Cherche is cool, therefore Cherchier Cherche is also cool. Though as usual with kaya8 art, she unfortunately looks about half-a-decade younger than the source material. As a unit, hyper offense and canto is right up my alley, but I can't shake the feeling that a bit of a third wheel feel about her this banner, with no A skill or something like adaptive damage to match the power of Palla.

Heath looks great. But seasonal demotes are irrelevant to me.

Leggy is fine too, but not my favourite rendition of her. No canto makes it a tricky sell, but the self-dance makes up for it somewhat. But the end result feels like, well, Duo Lyn two years later. On a meta note, I am glad that Leggy has consistently shown to be more popular then Levvy though.

[Alexmender]

Á Camilla alt was a matter of when, not if. I like how Ninja Cherche looks but she's the same class as OG!Cherche, and doesn't seem all that better than OG!Haar. 

The theme this time is Wyvern Ninjas, with all of them getting dual phase Brave weapons that lower their Spd by 8 and increases their Def/Res by 5. 

N!Camilla is a red mage flier, her prf has Slaying and a stronger version of Res Preempt on top of the brave weaon stuff. She brings Seal Res 4 which debuff the enemy during combat by 4 minimum and up to 11 if the skill conditons are met (and inflicts Guard as a bonus). She seems to be the strongest unit on the banner but I'd hesitate to call her OP or anything like that. 

N!Cherche's prf has the banner's brave gimmick, and Spring Maria's prf effect of getting 20% def based true dmg/true dmg reduction. She's ok but faces competition from OG!Haar and being an axe flier without adaptive damage makes her really weak against Duo Chrom if one runs a DC+Vantage build on her. 

Heath has Pulse Smoke which is always welcome. His weapon will come in handy for some Far Save archers like P!Rapahel. 

This time we get Duo Laegjarn with Fjorm as cheerleader. Her prf has the banner effect, Slaying and some sort of buff copying as an in-combat bonus. The bonus copying stuff is easy to trigger as it can be taken from an ally rather than being forced to rely on the opponent being buffed. Duo Skill is the same as the previous ninja duos. Stats are: 40/44/19/37/38. Like, Duo Laegjarn is strong for sure but doesn't seem to be as oppresive as the previous two Ninja Duos. She fares pretty badly when compared against Corrin, specially when the latter has 3 mov and that H!Azura synergy to get 4 actions in one turn (my main AR strategy is running Corrin, Azura and 2 WoM dancers to clean up a whole team in one turn).

[Hilda]

Meh, this banner would have beenninteresting if there was an inheritable Brave Tome to shake things up.

[Sil/phire]

Well, they finally gave us a Cherche alt and I'm.....disappointed. It's sad that's how their banners make me feel most of the time. IDK what it is about her weapon, but it feels weak for some reason. It feels too simple, too plain, like not what a 5* pref weapon should be. May be i don't know enough about the game to see how good basic brave weapons like these are (I'm super casual on my gameplay). Can some one help me get an idea of how good these are? Mainly referring to Cherche and Heath. I have not read and don't know what Camilla or Laegjarn weapon's do but they are good of course. I was immediately disappointed when i saw Camilla as the first unit. That meant Cherche was getting the throw-in/fodder spot, generally simple weapons and basic skills. My first reaction to her weapon was "what can i replace that with?" sadly i'll have to wait until we get an arcane axe, assuming I can get her.

I'm also a little disappointed on her design. Like, she barely has any detailing on her outfit. Camilla's is more elaborate with the coloring and the pieces, and duo Laegjarn/Fjrom have very nice, colorful designs. But Cherche's is just shades of grey and very basic, plain. Well, I do in the end like her design, in my head i seem to remember her being the sort that keeps things simple so the outfit may be a reflection of that. May be. hope i get lucky on those pulls.

don't have much thoughts on the rest of the banner. Camilla this time, next time, let's see, Hector is due for alt now right? We don't have winter Hector iirc. Alm also has not gotten an alt this year. Duo Laegjarn /Fjorm actually have really good art imo, i think this is my favorite art for them in the game so far.

Edited November 6, 2022 by Sil/phire

[Ice Dragon]

24 minutes ago, Sil/phire said:

Can some one help me get an idea of how good these are? Mainly referring to Cherche and Heath.

Wyvern Ono looks quite good on paper.

Its secondary effect is pretty notable, as it's the same effect that Spring Maria has. Flat damage reduction is calculated after percentage damage calculation, making it insanely powerful when simultaneously running percentage damage reduction. Cherche is also dumping Spd, which means that she can focus her passive skills on boosting Atk and Def instead of having to pick only two of Atk, Spd, and Def, which is what Maria has to do. (Now, Maria does get 10 more points of Atk from her weapon, but Cherche can get up to 17 more points of Atk from her passive skills if Maria focuses on Spd and Def instead of Spd and Atk.) Furthermore, Cherche has the Brave effect on both phases, which is harder to counter compared to Maria's standard follow-ups.

Cherche's weaknesses compared to Maria are the fact that she's vulnerable to Spd-based effects, like Dodge, and the fact that she doesn't have Iote's Shield built into her weapon.

 

Wyvern Yumi is maybe okay. The issue is that it competes with Brave Bow and Firesweep Bow on player phase, Courtly Bow on enemy phase, and Spendthrift Bow on both phases. Its low Mt means that it can't really function as a wall breaker, and you're better off just using Firesweep Bow with Poison Strike (or a fast unit with Ninja Yumi) instead, and its defensive boosts aren't as good as Courtly Bow's or Spendthrift Bow's. However, it can potentially see use on armored units due to the fact that it can very easily charge Specials when used with a guaranteed follow-up.

 

24 minutes ago, Sil/phire said:

I have not read and don't know what Camilla or Laegjarn weapon's do but they are good of course.

Camilla's weapon has the same common effect as the inheritable weapons (Brave effect on both phases, -8 Spd, +5 Def/Res) and adds the Slaying effect and the Vantage effect if her Res is higher than the opponent's (basically Res Preempt, but works against both melee and ranged units).

The weapon itself is actually weaker than the current top ranged Brave units (Duo Corrin and Harmonized Lysithea), though Camilla makes up for it with the new Seal Res 4, which is probably the new best-in-slot B skill for wall breakers that target Res and don't have a better exclusive B skill. She has to give up Trace for it, though, but it's probably worth it since she gets less value out of Trace due to being a ranged flier instead of ranged cavalry.

If you're just comparing weapons (and not also the unit's default passive skills), I think Cherche might actually be better than Camilla.

The improved Res Preempt effect looks to be a decent counter to Duo Chrom and makes her less vulnerable to melee units initiating against her, which is one of Brave Byleth's biggest weaknesses.

 

Laegjarn's weapon has the same common effect as the inheritable weapons and adds the Slaying effect and a boost to Atk/Def/Res. The stat boost is 70% of the sum of the total stat bonuses on the unit with the highest sum compared across the current opponent and allies within 2 spaces (e.g. +16 Atk/Def/Res if at least one of those units has +6 to all stats).

Laegjarn actually just looks completely broken, especially in Arena offense.

[Xenomata]

Well... they picked a theme, and they sure as hell did run with it. ALL beefy units with meister weapons to match, which grant Def/Res +5 and Spd -8. ALL Wyvern Knights, both on-banner and in their original games/alts. And of course who can forget the Duo unit having the self-refresh Duo skill?
...I mean hell, at least last time Laevatein was the only slow hard-hitter.

• Camilla getting built-in Vantage is nice, especially as it isn't tied to any condition outside of Res comparisons (a stat which many units outside of the bulkiest fail)
  Seal skills are getting their Tier 4 variants (least they will be easy as hell to chain-SI), inflicting at minimum -4 of the designated stat, a further -7 if the enemy is unable to neutralize penalties to said stat (though losing effectiveness if the foe already has a visible stat penalty inflicted on them),  inflicting Guard if a stat penalty IS inflicted, and then retaining the old Seal stat effect. Overall could be nasty if given the right circumstances.
• Weird that Cherche doesn't get any stat effects like Camilla and Laegjarn got the Slaying effect. Instead she just has the 20% of Def effect on her weapon.
  Her kit is also... very plain.
• Heath the demote's inheritable bow gives a little something to the slowest Archers to play around with. While technically weaker than the Ninja Yumi, the meister-nature of it does mean that Bow Armors can attack four times when being initiated on (in combination with Vengeful or Crafty Fighter), giving them more of a raw power effect over damage.
  ...Heath also exists.
• Laegjarn and Fjorm was always expected to appear as a Duo hero, let's not even bother trying to lie about that, it was just a matter of when.
  The effect of Flamefrost Bow adapts Laeg's usual bonus-based effect for the occasion, and that's about it for that. Rest of her kit exists, kind of feel like Atk Smoke isn't a great fit on her and was only done to prevent skill overlap with Cherche.
• Huh, would you look at that the TT unit will be a Sword-wielding Haar. Guess we can't have Team Axe Ninja Freebies come true after all.

While they all look good... not excited, not gonna lie.

[GrandeRampel]

Wow, Haar really is the first unit in the Grail Shop twice. NGL I don't like it. It was nice for variety that we didn't get any character twice in the shop. Also Grail units tend to be worse than summonable units and it was nice that the same character couldn't get screwed twice (screwed the same way twice, I mean. You could still get screwed twice with a base version that is a 5* that has no business being 5* and then a shitty grail version). I don't even like Haar and I feel bad for him.

I like the rest of the banner well enough (8th Camilla is finally here... THE PROPHECY) and Laegjarn + Fjorm is a cute concept for a Duo, but man... it really sucks that Laegjarn gets more whitewashed every time she appears. Come on IS, that is NOT COOL!

[Etrurian emperor]

Cool Cherche finally got an alt. I actually assumed Jerome would join her since he's basically batman. 

I don't mind the Camilla alt. Center of attention Camilla being unsuited for playing Ninja is a funny concept, and her little sisters already preceded her. 

Edited November 6, 2022 by Etrurian emperor

[Othin]

1 hour ago, Etrurian emperor said:

Cool Cherche finally got an alt. I actually assumed Jerome would join her since he's basically batman. 

I don't mind the Camilla alt. Center of attention Camilla being unsuited for playing Ninja is a funny concept, and her little sisters already preceded her. 

Jerome will be next year, with a brave weapon that reduces Spd but increases Atk based on Def.

Edited November 6, 2022 by Othin