Special Heroes: A Special Gift

[Fire Emblem Fan]

We knew this was coming since it was announced on the Anniversary Feh Channel, but here's the trailer for this year's Valentine banner.

[Diovani Bressan]

Elise will be annoying AR Cav Lines. Being able to inflict both flash and gravity.

[Tybrosion]

I'll never understand why, anytime they announce a banner lineup in a FEH Channel, they don't just release the trailer for that banner like an hour after the FEH Channel.

With that out of the way, I like what I see with Duo Elise & Sakura and Leo's new alt. Him and Takumi finally get good alts after all this time.

[Lemmy]

Elise is better than I hoped she be, Leo's bow seems like it will be fun to play with, and A/S Far save interests me too.

All my orbs are going into this banner.

[Othin]

On top of the first offensive special for staves, she also gets an upgraded Wrathful staff, and is the first unit to ever show up with all six skill slots filled.

I'm a bit confused by how her special works - the first fight it shows her in, it reaches max cooldown during combat rather than triggering on an attack, but the Gravity effect happens anyway? Also I'm still not sure if we have confirmation about whether or not it's inheritable.

25 minutes ago, Tybrosion said:

I'll never understand why, anytime they announce a banner lineup in a FEH Channel, they don't just release the trailer for that banner like an hour after the FEH Channel.

With that out of the way, I like what I see with Duo Elise & Sakura and Leo's new alt. Him and Takumi finally get good alts after all this time.

They've done it a few times, which kind of makes it even weirder that they often don't.

[Diovani Bressan]

Leo sounds fun. He inflict Gravity in both phases, so you can inflict gravity in a column at start of player phase, move h to a different column and, at start of enemy phase he will inflict gravity again.

7 minutes ago, Othin said:

I'm a bit confused by how her special works - the first fight it shows her in, it reaches max cooldown during combat rather than triggering on an attack, but the Gravity effect happens anyway? Also I'm still not sure if we have confirmation about whether or not it's inheritable.

The Gravity only applies if the special triggered during combat, and only on the target (if survived) and foes adjacent to the target. In the first combat of the trailer, she doesn't inflict Gravity... She inflicted the flash status from her weapon on the remaining foe.

Edited February 5, 2023 by Diovani Bressan

[Xenomata]

Oh boy, quite a few new toys... as well as some very important new skills for Staff units.

• Takumi checking for the number of allies whose Atk is higher than his is... interesting. Otherwise I think he has all of the effects that Valentine FemRobin grants to her teammates.
  Also finally bringing us A/S Far Trace.
• Leo gets the simplest kit, but it does serve to make this his strongest showing... at all really.
  Remote Mirror continuing the new line of Remote skills that Khadein Linde/Sara began.
• Petalfall Blade looks pretty good. Atk/Spd +5 and the Null Follow-Up bonus (albeit on the weapon itself rather than as a bonus effect) plus 5 true damage.
  Hana herself is... well, a fast Sword Armor. The second coming of Manuela. What else to say?
• We've had offensive staves in the past, but... yeesh, Elise/Sakura truly bringing new levels of offense to the table.
  Holy Pressure seems most likely to be a Prf skill to me, since the Gravity effect can potentially overlap with other units Staff weapons. If not though, it can be an effective additive of damage for any Staff user... especially considering right now it'd be the only other damage additive they get...
  Poetic Justice, if one were to use Elise/Sakura as skill fodder, gives a bit of an unfair advantage to Staff users who either have no Prf to speak of or have the Dazzling effect on their Prf weapon.

...neat.

[Ice Dragon]

Elise looks annoying as all fuck to deal with. Flash is a pain in the ass, and she has a million skill effects that boost her damage.

Takumi has a Special charge drain at start of combat that specifically targets Duo Chrom to prevent immediately dying to Deadeye. That's nice. And also pretty funny.

Now if only they'd release all of the good armor skills into the standard summoning pool already. It's taken them a full year just to give a second unit Savvy Fighter, and it's literally on the exact same banner. And we still only have three of the eight Save skills in the standard summoning pool.

Hana's weapon looks really good. +10/+8 offenses and Null Follow-Up is solid. This is probably now strictly the best inheritable weapon for non-infantry swords (sword infantry probably still want Arcane Eljudnir if running Vital Astra to get the Slaying effect). Effie's weapon is presumably identical, but Arcane Downfall is a much more competitive weapon for fast axe units. However, granting Null Follow-Up without needing to use a Flow skill is a huge advantage over Arcane Downfall for cavalry and fliers.

Leo exists and doesn't suck for once. But did they have to make him yet another green bow cavalry? He's the seventh green bow cavalry in the game when we still don't have a single red or blue bow cavalry unit.

 

As much as I want to pull for more copies of Takumi and Elise, I think I'll go for only one copy each of Leo and Elise, two copies of Takumi to give A/S Far Save to Rearmed Grima for duplication, and only go for a +10 on Hana. I'll probably spark Elise so that I have one fewer color I need to pull while getting a guaranteed neutral Elise.

Edited February 5, 2023 by Ice Dragon

[Ice Dragon]

And the usual translation notes:

 

The banner name, "A Special Gift", is "特別な贈り物" (tokubetsu na okurimono), "A Special Gift".

Takumi's epithet, "Troubled Heart", is "不和葛藤の親愛" (fuwa kattō no shin'ai), "Troubled and Conflicted Deep Affection".

Dawnsweet Box is "白夜の王子の菓子箱" (byakuya no ōji no kashi-bako), "Hoshido's Prince's Confectionary Box".

A/S Far Save is "刃の護り手・遠間" (yaiba no mamorite: tōma), "Guardian of the Blade: Distant". As usual, the Japanese names of the Save skills use pieces of equipment to represent each combination of stats and shown in the skill icon, with "刃" (yaiba), "blade", used for Atk/Spd.

Leo's epithet, "Shrouded Heart", is "闇の奥に潜みし愛" (yami no oku ni hisomishi ai), "Love Hidden Within the Darkness".

Duskbloom Bow is "暗夜の王子の花弓" (an'ya no ōji no kakyū), "Nohr's Prince's Flower Bow".

Remote Mirror is "鬼神明鏡の離撃" (kishin meikyō no rigeki), "Distant Attack of Fierce Deity and Clear Mirror". As usual for Blow- and Stance-based skills, "鬼神" (kishin), "fierce deity", is used for Atk-boosting skills and "明鏡" (meikyō), "clear mirror", is used for Res-boosting skills.

Hana's epithet, "Striving Heart", is "全力で駆ける愛" (zenryoku de kakeru ai), "Love Dashing at Full Strength".

Petalfall Blade is "桜と薔薇の刀" (sakura to bara no katana), "Katana of Cherry Blossoms and Roses".

Elise's epithet, "Sweetheart Royals", is "純真なる双姫の愛" (junshin naru sōki no ai), "Pure-Hearted Paired Princesses' Love".

Dusk-Dawn Staff is "白夜暗夜の姫の花杖" (byakuya an'ya no hime no kajō), "Hoshido and Nohr's Princesses' Flower Staff"

Holy Pressure is "重圧の聖光" (jūatsu no seikō), "Holy Light of Heavy Pressure".

Poetic Justice is "神罰・因果応報" (shinbatsu: inga ōhō), "Divine Punishment: Poetic Justice". "神罰" (shinbatsu), "divine punishment", comes from Wrathful Staff's name, "神罰の杖" (shinbatsu no tsue), "Staff of Divine Punishment". It's likely we'll get a corresponding skill for Dazzling Staff, likely "幻惑・因果応報" (genwaku: inga ōhō), "Dazzlement: Poetic Justice". Sounds like they're going to have to come up with a brand new name for it.

Effie's epithet, "Dedicated Heart", is "心友として示す愛" (shin'yū to shite shimesu ai), "Love Demonstrated as a Close Friend". You've been friendzoned.

Petalfall Vase is "桜と薔薇の花瓶" (sakura to bara no kabin), "Flower Vase of Cherry Blossoms and Roses".

Edited February 6, 2023 by Ice Dragon

[Fire Emblem Fan]

Part of me kinda thinks that Hana's slot and Effie's slot should have gone to Mikoto and Garon. It would keep with the "dead parent" theme and also still allow Takumi, Leo, Elise and Sakura to be present.

[Xenomata]

1 hour ago, Fire Emblem Fan said:

Part of me kinda thinks that Hana's slot and Effie's slot should have gone to Mikoto and Garon. It would keep with the "dead parent" theme and also still allow Takumi, Leo, Elise and Sakura to be present.

Mikoto yes, Garon... hm... I mean it's not uncommon for younger versions of characters to appear, but can you really imagine the Garon we got in Fates wanting anything to do with a festival like this one?

[XRay]

Oh damn! I have not commented on Foci in a while, but a DAMAGE SPECIAL for staff units!

And A/S Far Save is in! I think we have all the major Save skills now.

[Fire Emblem Fan]

1 hour ago, Xenomata said:

Mikoto yes, Garon... hm... I mean it's not uncommon for younger versions of characters to appear, but can you really imagine the Garon we got in Fates wanting anything to do with a festival like this one?

About as much as I can imagine Lif, Thrasir, or Rudolph. It could also very easily be pre-corrupted Garon, we don't know what he looked like then so he could easily still look the same.

[Xenomata]

1 hour ago, Fire Emblem Fan said:

About as much as I can imagine Lif, Thrasir, or Rudolph. It could also very easily be pre-corrupted Garon, we don't know what he looked like then so he could easily still look the same.

Difference between them and Garon is that the three aren't as evil as originally presented. Garon literally wants to destroy everything because ??? I'm not even sure it's all necessarily Anankos pulling the strings there.

We also have very little reference as to what kind of person pre-corruption Garon was like, let alone what he looked like (in fairness, probably not the clearly-a-corpse we have now.) Leo and Elise's support conversations had some talk about such, but I don't think it's necessarily enough to make a full seasonal alt out of.

Edited February 5, 2023 by Xenomata

[ARMADS!!!]

Wow, Elise is even better than I thought, she's got the first offensive special for healers (that will very likely be inheritable) and Poetic Justice is also better than I imagined it'd be, I guess that this really means that IS is starting to buff healers by giving them lots of fancy skills like they did with dragons last year and have been doing with beasts since last year's end, huh? Finally, the beggining of a new era for healers. Also... I might be wrong but isn't she the first unit that comes with a weapon + assist + special + A, B and C skills in a very long time (or maybe ever)? I don't remember any other unit that comes with a complete kit, even the "best" units (like Legendaries, Mythics, Braves,...) don't have either a special or an assist skill. Anyway, her stats are, as shown in the video: 37/43/46/16/27 (without the weapon) for anyone who's lazy of checking it.

 Leo, is of course.... green, I haven't noticed this during the FEH channel but now that I did, it's ridiculous... He could really have been any other color since he's a bow cav, colored Bow cav units being ALWAYS green and almost never other color at this point must be a meme, I can't think of any other reason. Btw, his stats, as shown in the video are: 37/45/31/16/45 without his weapon (just for anyone who's lazy of checking), I've been noticing that there's been a scary rise in Res lately on these Res focused units, if this Leo was blue (or maybe any color but green) he could've been a great unit to take Ninja Camilla down for I'm almost sure that he can beat her Res check if they're both using their base kit (I'm not gonna do the calculations to confirm it now) or even if not, he could most certainly survive her blows anyway and then take her down.

 About Takumi and Hana, I don't know why but was kinda surprised that they're armoured (I know I shouldn't be since that's how it is in Valentines banners), also Takumi looks really good, he certainly is an unit with good stats all around as you can tell by his kit (he's obviously speedy and must have both good Def and Res as well since he has savior), kinda like V!Lucina but with a blue tome. Hana looks good too, it's just that I have nothing to say about her.

 

[ARMADS!!!]

Sorry for double posting it'd just that since you can't quote people on edits that's the only option, I know I should've read the other replies before posting mine but alas...

 

15 hours ago, Othin said:

On top of the first offensive special for staves, she also gets an upgraded Wrathful staff, and is the first unit to ever show up with all six skill slots filled.

I'm a bit confused by how her special works - the first fight it shows her in, it reaches max cooldown during combat rather than triggering on an attack, but the Gravity effect happens anyway? Also I'm still not sure if we have confirmation about whether or not it's inheritable.

 Oh so she really is the first, alright ,I was also thinking about this, glad to have the confirmation. About the special being inheritable, it probably is, on top of being a very good unit it seems like V!Elise's point is to be a great fodder to other healers as well having this juicy special, Poetic Justice and a bunch of good skills, so you'll keep pulling for her to use as fodder even after you get the amount of copies you want to actually use, kinda like Volke except that he didn't need an assist because he wasn't a healer so that might be why she had every slot filled, maybe?

 

@Fire Emblem Fanand @Xenomata about Garon, yeah I don't think that he really fits too tbh, it'd be like putting Surtr on a future Valentines banner with Laevatein and Laegjarn, while only putting the two sisters would be heartwarming, if you add Surtr it gets.... eh, you know. Or like adding Hel with Eir. Ultimately thinking about Garon here sounds funny as hell but if it wasn't for comedic purposes it'd be kinda strange, it'd be better if they tried to turn it into something funny (like Halloween Grima, etc) than something heartwarming, sure there has been way more random and worse picks to put on thematic banners than V!Garon could ever be so I wouldn't even complain much if it had really happened, but I don't think that picking him would be better than the retainers we got (except that I think that it could've been someone else instead of Hana, like Subaki). Mikoto, on the other hand, really could've been here (but not putting her won't ever be as bad as THE SHARENA BURN in 2021), perhaps they found it'd be strange if there was only one retainer instead of one Sakura's and one of Elise's/one retainer of each country, maybe if there was only one on the banner it'd look that they added either Effie or Hana because there was no one else to add and not because they wanted one retainer from each country, idk that's my guess but only one would look out of place.

[Sunwoo]

Garon = a fucking waste of potential, imo, in all ways. Honestly, I agree with FEF on this one. I would've been totally fine with getting Garon here, as long as he was non-corrupted. It wouldn't even have to be "younger" Garon or anything like that, just one that's in his sane mind and is the decent father that Xander keeps on hyping him up to be. One who has enough of a mind to wonder if maybe if he'd taken a different path and not killed Sumeragi maybe Nohr and Hoshido could have built a better future together.

But nope, gotta shoehorn in that Hana and give her a second alt instead of giving Tsubaki anything. I'm not upset about Effie because Effie needed something modern, but >Hana

[ARMADS!!!]

7 minutes ago, Sunwoo said:

Garon = a fucking waste of potential, imo, in all ways. Honestly, I agree with FEF on this one. I would've been totally fine with getting Garon here, as long as he was non-corrupted. It wouldn't even have to be "younger" Garon or anything like that, just one that's in his sane mind and is the decent father that Xander keeps on hyping him up to be. One who has enough of a mind to wonder if maybe if he'd taken a different path and not killed Sumeragi maybe Nohr and Hoshido could have built a better future together.

But nope, gotta shoehorn in that Hana and give her a second alt instead of giving Tsubaki anything. I'm not upset about Effie because Effie needed something modern, but >Hana

Yeah Subaki would've been better. Hana's "thing" is just "I have to be a better samuai" again just like on the ninja banner, except that now she transformed it into being a gift, which wasn't a terrible idea, but I still think that the theme could have fitted Subaki better, this was a good banner to implement his perfectionism (I mean, his "thing" could've been "I want to buy the perfect gift, it has to be absolutely perfect and no less", it could generate some good lines from him and it'd be way less repetitive than Hana wanting to be a better ninja and hone her skills...again).

[Fire Emblem Fan]

And to be honest, any "Garon doesn't fit on this banner" argument is kinda moot when we have Grima (not Robin, 100% GRIMA) being silly in Halloween banners. In Feh, both of these holidays revolve around spending time with others and giving out gifts and/or candy, while also getting gifts and/or candy. Garon would fit completely fine.

Subaki would have been preferred over Hana, too, for me. I hate that he's been completely and totally ignored for Feh's entire lifespan so far.

[Humanoid]

Hmm, with my being committed to building Hans as a player phase powerhouse who's happy with his Prf, it's tempting to give Effie the full quad-inheritance from Ganglot. I'd been considering giving it to Atlas previously since my other candidate in the form of Summer Seth only really wants the weapon a different axe cavalry Galeforce option will present itself in time. That, plus I don't like how this Seth looks, unlike both Effie and Atlas who look excellent.

It'd be a little poetic too, in that about 5 years ago, I gave OG Effie DC from a spare Hector I had. I then proceeded to never use her, because let's face it, even back then a Res boon, Silver Lance+, DC and Wary Fighter wasn't much to sing about. So the source of DC for new Effie would be old Effie.

[Lemmy]

Meet the heroes has the official artwork, is anyone familiar with the items in Effie's axe, I can't tell if they are meats or not, if so it makes Faye's mildly less strange.

[Xenomata]

Our Tempest Trials sacred seals are Atk/Res Catch and Fierce Breath. Not bad.

5 hours ago, Fire Emblem Fan said:

And to be honest, any "Garon doesn't fit on this banner" argument is kinda moot when we have Grima (not Robin, 100% GRIMA) being silly in Halloween banners. In Feh, both of these holidays revolve around spending time with others and giving out gifts and/or candy, while also getting gifts and/or candy. Garon would fit completely fine.

Not entirely true. From the third map in Halloween FemGrima's paralogues: "I will show the fools at this festival a harvest of despair."
And from Halloween MaleGrima's paralogues: "What do you worms want? I've just about had enough of this whole festival charade..."

Combine the above with their many quotes as summoned units, it's very clear that they are NOT treating this Harvest Festival as a silly little candy-grabber time. They have just as many quotes threatening death on the world as they have wondering why they're even tolerating the whole business.

I don't argue against a pre-death Garon, but I'm still not sure we know enough about Garon's true personality to be able to construct an entire unit out of him.

Edited February 6, 2023 by Xenomata

[Diovani Bressan]

Honestly, if we would get a dead dad in this Valentines banner based on Fates... it should be Sumeragi, in my opinion.

[Othin]

49 minutes ago, Diovani Bressan said:

Honestly, if we would get a dead dad in this Valentines banner based on Fates... it should be Sumeragi, in my opinion.

Good point.

[Ice Dragon]

On 2/4/2023 at 11:56 PM, Ice Dragon said:

Petalfall Vase is "桜と薔薇の花瓶" (sakura to bara no kabin), "Flower Vase of Cherry Blossoms and Roses".

Added Effie's weapon to the translation notes.

 

11 hours ago, Xenomata said:

Our Tempest Trials sacred seals are Atk/Res Catch and Fierce Breath. Not bad.

Atk/Res Catch is pretty nice. Altina wants it for sure, and Eitri and Legendary Leaf can certainly make use of it.

Fierce Breath is okay. Breath skills have fallen off somewhat, and Fierce Breath is probably the least useful of them for general use, but it's good for when you need to manipulate your stats for specific maps or for Hardy Fighter builds where defensive stats are less important.