Kaden

I forgot to put that back in when I was typing my post. I had something on it, but then forgot about it. It's been six days and summons have occurred, but my plan for feathers was to complete merging Echidna who right now is +8 and probably will be +9 when all the limited Divine Codes are roughly gotten -- I know I can get an Echidna manual now, but if I don't have time to do things, I'd rather get the 5* manuals first even if they're not great like summer Leo -- and in addition to having a backup amount of feathers, reserving around 200k feathers for a 3* to 4* summonable or grail merge project. Right now, I have 500k feathers, so between Echidna and 200k feathers reserved for a merge project, I would have around 258k to 260k feathers depending on what the last copy of Echidna ends up showing as. 260k feathers is all right for me, but I'd rather have closer to 300k to 400k for a backup considering future GHB units that I want as a 5* immediately like Arvis, Ashnard, Aversa, Iago, and Kronya among others and reflecting the current situation like Arvis was my first real offensive red mage since my luck was horrible back then with Tharja and even Lilina not showing up; the first Tempest Trials was not fun. So for me, 20k feathers is a lot and it was still a lot when I had 700k or 800k a while ago. Then again, I'm the type of gamer who is stingy about using resources in general. It's late game and elixirs are easy to come by? Nah, let's either not heal at all or rely on curative magic despite having low magic because I didn't want to use MP potions either. I know and understand why you suggested healers. I just don't really have any healer I would really want to give Atk/Spd Solo to or because their stats aren't that great. Still, as I noted before Atk/Spd Solo is like Swift Sparrow where it's on a lot units, but it's difficult to get it because it's 5* locked and on someone else who has other skills that I don't find as expensive, then sure, I would give it to a healer. With positioning, there are times when you can't make it work, but I feel like at least for beast fliers, well, Naesala since Tibarn has Sturdy Impact which is good enough, and cavalry, it's not as bad since it's easier for them to get away from their allies unlike with the other movement types. Dual phase Galeforce makes me think of Nephenee where someone solo cleared fallen Takumi with that build letting her charge up Galeforce on either phase. That was a while ago and before Solo skills were a thing I believe. To which at the current state of the game, I would agree with you that dual phase Galeforce isn't that great. It can work and it would be cool to watch for solo clears, but I don't think it would be as feasible in other modes including PvE maps like legendary and mythic hero battles considering all the shenanigans that can go on nowadays. I think you would want someone, probably an infantry unit for more flexible movement and access to certain skills like Close Call/Repel, Null C-Disrupt, and Null Follow-Up, with a stat spread like merchant Anna's, but with even more bulk and speed and a weapon like Demonic Breath/Fimbulvetr, something to negate debuffs, thus allowing the unit to retain their speed and bulk, and that would work on either phase which Balmung and the Krises' weapons can also do, but not as flexible as being debuffed or being at less than full health to negate debuffs and get stat boosts too. The Velouria I just summoned has me considering dropping Atk/Spd Solo 3 and Galeforce onto her, but with the whole buddy thing going on for her Wolfpup Fang and if she's running Wings of Mercy to be a Galeforce follow-up unit or whatever, then Atk/Spd Solo 3 isn't that useful. Atk/Spd Bond or Form would or a simple Fury or L&D. A simpler question I think I should move onto being answered is Brunnya. I'm not sure how to proceed with her. Figured I should give her an astra blessing so I could have another ranged unit other than Kronya. She's been helpful, I'm not sure what to give her. I gave her Iceberg for when I need a lower cooldown special or for timing reasons on PvE maps and Atk Smoke 3 as an alternative to her Res Smoke. The things I have seen run on her I don't have access to like for pure ranged tanking Distant Def 3 or 4 or a Lull Atk/X or they're attached to units who I would rather inherit onto someone else like Null C-Disrupt I only have a spare Nailah and it would probably be better given to CYL Ike or someone else if I would rather have a different B passive for CYL Ike or Null Follow-Up 3 from a spare legendary Alm where inheriting it along with Darting Blow 4 probably should go to someone with high speed and a Desperation effect like Athena. Her B passive is the main issue. Perhaps Dull Ranged? I guess I could give her a -breaker, Renewal, Vantage, or even Desperation. A passive Fury should be fine as being targeted by Chills isn't a problem for her much and recoil damage at least after the first round of combat is fine for her to activate Fimbulvetr's effect. I wish Distant Def 3, Warding Stance 3, and Bracing Stance 2, Kestral Stance 2, Mirror Stance 2, and Swift Stance 2 were in the 3* to 4* summoning pool and were inheritable from a 4* unit...

Her unique refinement is simply Lull Atk/Spd. With Lull Def/Res as her B passive, she negates all field buffs on her foe. The base effect of her weapon is just Spectrum Stance with another way to activate it like how Balmung, Crimson Axe's unique refinement, Dark Royal Spear, the Krises' weapons, etc., work. In this case, the other way to activate it is if her foe has no field buffs active, so having Lull Def/Res with the Lull Atk/Spd unique refinement would ensure that. Speaking of, Lull Spd/Res could also benefit Berkut and Hawkeye who have Lull Atk/Def as their unique refinement for their weapons by allowing them to negate all field buffs like F!Kana could with Lull Def/Res, but they don't really benefit from more speed and they won't be able to take advantage of the resistance debuff without someone giving them an adaptive damage effect which at least for Hawkeye he could run Sorcery Blade as his A passive or his seal at the cost of something more practical. There's also Luke who would appreciate the ability to negate his foe's field buffs. Problem is we need a Dull or Lull seal before he can cover everything. Dull Close or Dull Ranged or a Lull that only covers half of all foes stats.

All that orb dumping to get guaranteed infantry lance units. Back to back forging bonds are awful. On the bright side, the Heroes, Light and Shadows banner was nice in giving me another Echidna merge, two Mustafa copies (+Atk, -Res and +Def, -Spd), and a surprise: my first Velouria. Also, I believe it has broken the record for the most amount of already a 4* unit in a new heroes banner with three Lenas. I don't know how to feel about that when Julian didn't show up. Well, eventually he will like Phina did for Navarre.

They couldn't even be fucking bothered to give Eremiya Flash or Trilemma to have them locked as 5* or grails only or even a unique stat spread other than she has high HP. Gravity or Pain with Dazzling/Wrathful Staff are powerful, but with their plan to have Eremiya be the high HP healer, then they could have copy-pasted Aversa's, Iago's, or Virion's weapon onto her or even give a staff with Panic and Panic Ploy because why the hell not. Third tier Push skills are like a bad joke now. If there was an update like with what happened early on with the cooldown reduction of Daylight, Night Sky, and the AoE specials where, say, third tier Push skills work at >= 50% HP, then sure, but that's probably never going to happen. Atk/Res 2, Warding Stance, Infantry Flash to go with Brady having Infantry Rush, a Chill, or unlikely to ever happen, Dazzling/Wrathful Staff would be more "premium" than a third tier Push. At least Distant Guard is good. It feels like if a healer isn't 5* locked or at least special like a CYL unit, then they're probably going to be treated as if they're a third-class citizen. At least they're not launch or early healers. Could we get an update that lets them have access to their single passive at 4* or if they summoned as a 5* that they have their + heal or whatever like recent healers?

Well, we know that she has Physic since that's the healing staff her sprite has. This is the Physic staff if I am not mistaken. Her attacking staff, no idea. It would be nice if she has a prf staff. Y'know, so we could have a healer with a prf staff that is not a 5*-only summon. That reminds me, we don't have a healer with a personal heal assist.

That makes her the first staff GHB unit, right?

Eremiya's artist. Is that who I think it is? The same person also did Palla's Awakening artwork in the past as well? Eremiya's page: https://guide.fire-emblem-heroes.com/en-US/01029001000546-2/.

That was surprising. I did not expect an Archanea banner and one with Kris on the banner. Kris introduces Spurn which has the Close Call/Repel speed check for damage reduction, but instead of having a movement effect after combat, has a Wrath-like effect instead where if the unit is at <= 75% HP, they will deal 5 damage. That was unexpected as well. I figured we would get a Drag Back or Lunge version of the Close Call/Repel skills. As units, their ___ of Shadow weapons are Balmung, but they trade Spd+3 for a Killer effect and instead of granting Atk/Spd/Def/Res+5, their weapons inflict Atk/Spd/Def-5 which effectively does mean Atk/Spd/Def/Res+5 to them, though, stat-based specials won't result in more damage since the stat would not be increased. So, M!Kris makes me think of Shannan. He doesn't have Imperial Astra and his default A passive being HP/Spd 2 is suspiciously underwhelming, but Blade of Shadow and Spurn is like Balmung and Wrath. Difference is that M!Kris always gets cooldown count-1 for his special at all times and can reduce damage if his speed is much higher at the cost of actual speed from Balmung's Spd+3 and his own stats being boosted and lower damage dealt with Spurn's Wrath-like effect. M!Kris's actual stats would be different as well from Shannan. The funny thing is that Close Call/Repel Shannan is a thing, but with Spurn, it might be better so that Shannan can keep a similar effect to his default Wrath while also having damage reduction by having higher speed than his opponent. Osian might appreciate Spurn as well. Spurn on Larcei would be interesting as well too considering Larcei's Edge has a Killer effect and Regnal Astra is a 2 cooldown special, so after being hit once, she will activate Regnal Astra and if her HP is <= 75%, then she would deal 5 damage. Problem is that it would be a side-grade from her default Repel, a similar problem berserk Ike and Say'ri would face. Witch Celica could have trouble staying in specific HP ranges outside of combat, but I could see her dipping to <= 75% HP in combat allowing her to make use of Spurn and also heal during combat as well. Moving on, F!Kris being a lance infantry was another unexpected surprise. I thought she would be yet another lance flier or lance cavalier when I saw her wielding a lance in her art, but nope, she's a lance infantry and right after merchant Anna was introduced. I'm definitely picking her as a my guaranteed summon if she doesn't show up or shows up with a cruddy asset and flaw. A lance infantry who is likely to be fast, she'd be the first and only lance infantry with damage reduction effect for me, and she could be a good speed tank with her Spear of Shadow's effects. Julian is the second unit with Close Foil and he puts Dusk Uchiwa into the regular summoning pool with Caltrop Dagger. Inheriting Close Foil and Lull Atk/Spd 3 together is nice which Julia could do well with. Perhaps the speed boost might not be all that helpful for Julia, though. Kronya probably doesn't want Lull Atk/Spd 3 for most cases. Lena's the demote which is unsurprising with what the Kris and Julian have. I do agree that maybe she should have had a different staff. I would prefer it if Atk Ploy 3 was the 4* inheritable skill, but Def/Res 2 is fine I guess. Man, these back to back forging bonds are killer. Depends on what you want: do you want a lance infantry with effective damage against armor and cavalry and who also happens to be a duo hero or do you want someone who is likely to be a fast lance infantry which is not that common since we don't have a lot of lance infantry units to begin with. The current fastest is merchant Anna at 40 base neutral followed by CYL Lucina at 36, Nephenee at 35, and summer F!Robin at 34. The fastest 3* to 4* lance infantry are Sharena and +Spd Donnel at 32. Not that great compared to axe infantry much less sword infantry. At least axe infantry had Anna, Legion, and Raven and even Barst as launch or book 1 units, Libra, Linus, and summer Ylgr in book 2 and book 3, and then Echidna in book 4 before speed demons Alm & Celica, Hilda, and Rinkah were introduced alongside Annette, Gerik, and Osian for more fast axe infantry.

Aw, I wanted Book IV: Peony and More to win as I would have liked more copies of Mareeta, Osian, or Peony or at least a guaranteed copy of them by picking one of them. Mareeta would be for Close Call stockpiling or merges, Osian would probably be for a merge, but +Spd, -Def isn't bad since his defense is still fine, and it would be nice to have a Peony that I can do whatever with instead of keeping her with her default skills and unmerged as she is a free unit and used for F2P strategies. Eyvel would be cool too for unit collection and she could be built as a speedy tank. Heirs of Light I'm not sure who I would want as my guaranteed summon. Altena is off the table as she is in the 3* to 4* summoning pool. Larcei is the only one who I do not have from the banner, so picking her for unit completion would not be a bad idea considering she is a good unit. Also, I find it amusing that she looks pretty adorable, but one of her English attack voice lines is an intense "HIYAH!" that would not be surprising from Ayra or an older Larcei. Ced's Pulse Smoke would be good on CYL Ike, the sweaty Corrins, Brunnya, Hilda, and pretty much anyone really, but the priority probably should go to CYL Ike. Problem is needing to get more skills for CYL Ike and from units who don't show up unexpectedly with decent assets and flaws making me wonder what I should do. My second Nailah showed up as +Atk, -HP, but considering the speed creep, probably should just keep using the original +Spd, -Def Nailah. Shannan I could merge to either fix the -Atk of the +Res, -Atk that he initially was summoned as or have neutral be his base or inherit his skills onto someone. -Atk isn't that bad on him and +Res has helped with dealing with dragons or having him tank a mage if needed. His skills on the other hand, probably would be Steady Posture 3 and either Wrath 3 or Even Spd Wave 3; get Steady Posture 2 from a 4* Reyson or 4* Thea and inherit the rest. I'm not too keen on the Wave skills, but it would make it more flexible on who I could inherit Steady Posture 3 and Even Spd Wave 3 with. Steady Posture 3 and Wrath 3 would be nice, but who is the question. Someone with Distant Counter on their weapon would be ideal, but some of them already have Wrath like Osian and Sothis or berserk Ike and Say'ri who I don't where they have Close Call/Repel and Say'ri's Kestral Stance 3 is pretty good. In Say'ri's case, like Osian, she could use Wrath with Noontime or Sol with some sort of Breath support to heal the damage she takes. Fjorm and vanguard Ike would be off the table as they're used for F2P and I do kind of regret making that +Spd, -Res? Fjorm way back then into a manual, but I do have a +Spd, -Res vanguard Ike who exists at level 1. Regular Ike and Saber I'm not too keen on investing when it's difficult to get merges for early 5*-only units. Same deal with Ryoma who I don't have. Then there's Dorcas who does not really have the speed to make use of Steady Posture 3. For other units, except for Barst who I would rather get Blue Flame and Wrath 3 from the Owain combat manual since that's not as "costly" as Steady Posture 3 and Wrath 3 on him and Barst probably would want Kestral Stance 3 or Sturdy Stance 3 if you were to make him into an enemy phase Wrath unit, no idea. Some of them already have Wrath like Astram, F!Byleth, Nephenee, and Owain or they're more player phase focused like Athena, Hilda, and Leif. Additionally, Sharena is kept as 4* unit for F2P strategies. There's also the issue of units not taking enough damage to get into Wrath which I remember a friend having an issue with Selena. Perhaps Echidna and Itsuki would run into that problem. If none of them show up, I'm leaning towards Larcei for unit completion, her own merits, and I don't have anyone with Panic Smoke besides Legion, so that could be helpful or add to the who pick a unit who does or offers things I do not have a lot of or at all. For skills, though, Ced I have a clearer idea who to give Pulse Smoke to or maybe Shannan if I end up figuring out who I would like his skills on.

One reason I want to inherit Galeforce with Atk/Spd Solo is the cost of Galeforce. It's 20k to 22k feathers from a Cordelia or inheriting it from a 5*-only unit. Atk/Spd Solo is the main priority and Galeforce is bonus for someone who can use it well. If we had a 3* to 4* summonable unit with Odd Spd Wave, then that would be a more flexible, but not as potent bonus. So, that is a reason why I did not mention a healer or even a ranged unit. For healers, CYL Camilla and CYL Veronica are my only high offenses healers where CYL Camilla is the one that introduced Atk/Spd Push 4 and CYL Veronica is used for F2P strategies, so I don't want to mess with her a lot. Veronica's +Atk, -Def, so running Fortress Def 1 in her empty A passive gives her her neutral stat spread. I could swap it out when I need to, but I'm waiting on for the CYL3 free pick's expiry notice to come up to decide if I should pick her for a neutral copy and allow this one to be free and merged or just keep her with this role as a substitute, pick someone else for skills, and hope that a miraculous neutral one will appear. Barracks space issues... My CYL Camilla is +Atk, -Spd? and +1 merged. I never summoned Loki, bride Fjorm, Maribelle, or Elise. Although it would be overkill, bride Fjorm I think I would rather stick with her HP/Atk 2 or inherit HP/Spd 2 and run HP/Spd 2 as her seal. The next best thing I have would be Wah!Mia who is +Atk and +1 merged so she has 33/35 offenses, Lucius, Mercedes, Serra, hot springs Sakura who is +Atk, -Spd so she has 38/29 offenses, and the free Emmeryns if I were to make one a 5* and where Emmeryn's 32/34 neutral offenses is the best I think for a 3* to 4* summonable healer. Lucius, Mercedes, and Serra I can choose from +Atk or +Spd and there's also a Brady (+Atk, -Spd) if I were to 5* him and give him a merge to fix the -Spd flaw. Regardless, I'm not to keen on giving any of them Atk/Spd Solo and from a unit who has Galeforce. Atk/Spd Solo is the new Swift Sparrow where many of the new, shiny high offenses units have it, but of those units, the ones without that great of other skills to inherit from would be legendary Eirika, spring Fir, kind of sweaty F!Corrin, and then Yarne. Although, legendary Eirika has Lunar Brace shenanigans and spring Fir is one of the few, well, two high offenses axe fliers. Sweaty M!Corrin and Hilda on their own have high offenses and have Null Follow-Up, Larcei and Mareeta have Close Call/Repel, New Year's Lethe and Sirius have a Lull, and Sothis is a mythic and has Time's Pulse. If I had a ton of copies of Wah!Mia or hot springs Sakura, then maybe them because they're fliers. Otherwise, Emmeryn for her offenses or Nanna because she's a cavalry healer and easier to merge than Veronica, but 27/34 neutral offenses to Veronica's 32/36 and access to Hlidskjalf isn't that great. And with healers being ignored in weapon updates and for good reason because Gravity/Pain and Dazzling/Wrathful Staff are that powerful. Still, it shouldn't stop them from giving, say, Azama Pain+ and Dazzling Staff for the base effects of his staff and something stupid like: "At start of combat, if foe's Atk ≥ unit's Atk+3, grants Def/Res+4 during combat and unit can counterattack regardless of foe's range", for its unique refinement. As if everything else isn't hellishly chaotic. The other healers who have high attack, but low speed like Genny, I'd rather have them run Atk/Def or Atk/Res Solo depending on whatever their higher defensive stat is, but considering how special Solo skills are treated, that's likely to not happen in the near future. We got Spd/Res Solo as a seal recently, but it would be nice to have a Solo in the 3* to 4* summoning pool. Or Swift Sparrow 2 at this point. I know I type a lot and perhaps too much, but I did mention Raven, witch Celica, Lon'qu, and Peri for that matter as units who would be fine with a "cheaper" Fury 3 or L&D3 and Galeforce. Cheap in this case means that they work just fine with either A passive or something else that is not as expensive as Atk/Spd Solo. Or that they want to retain their bulk for whatever reason which could include Karla, Linus, Lon'qu, and Raven. An example being PvE challenge maps and for whatever reason wanting very exact HP control where double L&D3 Raven doesn't work, but L&D3 and Atk/Spd Solo 3 Raven does. I already have Linus and Raven running L&D3, but Raven has yet to inherit Galeforce since I am still holding onto to feathers for the last remaining Echidna copies to show up and figuring out who or if I want to invest in a grail hero that isn't Aversa or Kronya or some other 3* to 4* summonable unit.

So, a surprise, second Yarne showed up while dumping orbs for a free pick of Ephraim & Lyon and Yarne is +Spd, -Res. My first Yarne was +Atk, -Def. Considering he has Galeforce by default where +Atk and effective damage could cause a problem of one-shotting cavalry and low defense enemies he could have doubled to charge Galeforce, his base neutral speed of 33 isn't that great, and his Bunny Fang doesn't have a Killer effect but instead Spd+3 which probably could have allowed him to spam Bonfire like Ares, he would probably want +Spd over +Atk, right? Also, 35/36 offenses seem more useful than 38/33. The third question I have not related to Yarne is witch Celica. Just go with +Spd and don't overthink about +Atk for her, right? I have two copies from a while back. One is +Atk, -Spd and the other is +Spd, -Def.

All right, Hel is on the table now. M!Robin's headpiece reminds me of Berkut's. For an unexpected surprise for fairies, ljósálfr Hawkeye. Give us fairy nipples. 😛

Emblian Seth could work considering that paralogue from way back. Speaking of which, that plot point about Naglfar was never addressed was it? And to think that what was needed so much was simply and only a prf -raven tome. Or we could pretend the Naglfar that the Lyon we have in our barrack has is a fake and somehow Lyon does not realize this or does not care. Emblian Reinhardt is the guess I want to happen for immediate chaos. Eventually it will happen. Eventually he will get a resplendent unless the developers straight up list units that will not receive a resplendent for some reason. I hope they add in Hel and fairy as outfit themes. The Black Knight/Zelgius and the Death Knight being Hel Knights would be fun.

That changes things. Because before, it was like two and half of characters got a weapon like Balmung. Berkut and Sheena don't get speed which isn't as important to them while with the translation error, witch Celica's other condition was for her to not be at full health instead of the foe having full health. Both regular and witch Celica's weapons makes me wonder if +Spd might be preferred over +Atk considering the speed creep. That said, regular Celica does get more attack and speed than witch Celica desire having slightly lower base offenses and witch Celica being able to run Galeforce means for a Galeforce build that she might now want too much attack that she could accidentally one shot someone when could have gotten a Galeforce proc off. And regarding the translation error which I don't know or remember if it was asked before, but does the Japanese description for Gaius's Candied Dagger say it deals damage or boosts damage? I think I remember people testing it and it deals damage despite it saying it boosts damage. An aside: that 10% is so bad compared to legendary Alm and legendary Celica's initiate and deal 25% of their foe's defense for Alm and resistance for Celica and Gangrel dealing 20% of his resistance on either phase of his foe is debuffed. Gaius can stack it with more dealt damage, but he needs his foe to be at full health.

Oh hey, another lance flier and regular, pre- or post-timeskip, Ingrid whenever she is added would likely be a lance flier or maybe a lance cavalier if the other was introduced as a lance flier. Lance infantry wouldn't have been that bad or maybe they could have had her overlap and had her be a sword or axe flier. PenekoR's art style makes Lorenz resemble Tokyo Ghoul's Tsukiyama Shuu to me.

Greil perhaps in his prime would be interesting. No idea how people would react to Gustav being a legendary. It just occurred to me that F!Grima is still the only pure antagonist legendary hero. So, not like Edelgard or Ryoma who can be enemies depending on which route you picked in their games. Considering what Grima is, though, perhaps F!Grima was introduced too early and should have been a mythic. Besides that, another legendary who is an antagonist would be neat. So would a neutral or NPC character from the main games. While we still haven't gotten Corrin, Seliph, Sigurd, not possessed Robin, or even Xander as legendary heroes yet, an antagonist as the next legendary might be a fun shock. Question is who?

I forgot to talk about that more when I posted. It was late at night, so it skipped my mind. Astra/Anima season I generally have better defense results than Light/Dark. The primary reason being I put thought into the Anima defense team while the Dark team I tried to do a weird chapter 11 Black Knight reference and the Black Knight protects Micaiah with Yune and the Dark Blessed heroes there to provide lift loss reduction. It's not really meant to win, but to be this cheesy thing. Part of it is that the Dark Blessed heroes I have who are primarily those with a Dark affinity in the main games I could not think of something they could do well together at the time. With Anima, I already had Eliwood built and +10 merged -- this was before the CYL1 weapon update if I recall correctly -- and as I went off of the international version of Blazing Blade's birth month and affinity thing, Saizo's birth month was Anima and he recently gained his Star. Selkie's birth month is also Anima, so I just threw her in. It was also a Wind season, so that made me think Duma, Eliwood, Gunnthra, legendary Lucina, Saizo, and Selkie. Duma is self-explanatory due to him being an Anima mythic, but he also provided Upheaval support and at the time, the attack boost helped with Eliwood to pass Blazing Durandal's attack check. Later on, I gave him Distant Counter and Vengeful Fighter so he could do a bit better on enemy phase which seems easier for him than player phase with his default Bold Fighter being AI controlled, but he's kind of been like Selkie where they're just there for lift loss reduction, support, and clutch things occasionally. Given Selkie's resistance, she is useful for dealing with dragons and Close Counter mages and healers I guess. Eliwood is a Galeforce, Lunge unit with unique refined Blazing Durandal making him even better at being disruptive, Gunnthra I felt like worked well with Saizo given their debuff-centric weapons, and legendary Lucina's Future Vision and default Wings of Mercy added to the annoyance while also being an archer who can help out with fliers. To elaborate on Gunnthra and Saizo, Saizo's unique refined Star can allow him to be deceptively bulky or do more damage than expected. As his Star's base effect is Smoke Dagger, he debuffs Atk/Spd/Def/Res-6 which greatly helps Gunnthra in being able to deal damage with Blizzard along with the other team members. His Harsh Command has been helpful at times too for Eliwood. None of them run field buffs. They're reliant on debuffs, in-combat buffs, or their raw stats with the reliance on debuffs going to be a problem if units like berserk Ike become more common. Not just themselves being more common, but more units like them being introduced who negate and/or reverse debuffs. Anyway, Mirabilis would help with lift loss, but I don't know who I would swap out. Duma's armor movement is hindrance, but swapping him out doesn't change the lift loss and Upheaval when it works is helpful. Selkie's in the worst position as I wanted her to start out transformed which puts her far away from the team and mainly tagging along with Duma, but once again, when she's helpful, she is. How helpful compared to a refresh unit or compared to Lif or Thrasir who I don't have I am not sure. Making a different defense team for non-Wind seasons is an option. Although, I feel like I would forget to switch. Something else is that while during Astra/Anima season I generally get better defense results, offensively, it's not as well as Light/Dark. I feel like I should discuss that in the Aether Raids thread, though. Yes, I feel like if I were to pick her, it would be for Anna being Anna, her being a rare lance infantry at the moment, and so I can hear her read a disclaimer whenever I want through the game.

I thought about and I think the problem is that I don't really have a preference when it comes to a unit role, tactics, or team composition. Dual phase units are probably the closest I have to a preference, but I know that a unit can't do everything. Armors are my least favorite due to their movement, especially during Rival Domains or Grand Conquests. Same deal with modes. I don't really care for them much. With regards to PvP modes, Aether Raids annoys me at times, Arena Assault is tedious and counter-picking, and Arena I just end up using a team made up of the bonus units of the season. Of the units I find the most interesting recently, it's regular Mareeta. It's mainly through her Close Call allowing her to be deceptively bulky against units she significantly out-speed while also being a good player phase unit. For character favoritism, Echidna. I really like her art and English voice. For performance, I feel like Eleonora stands out for being really helpful in Aether Raids; she's Light Blessed. Osian too, but that's probably because he's an axe infantry with DC and good resistance who I gave a Light Blessing to. Anyway, I ultimately chose F!Byleth for the guaranteed 5*. I gave it some thought and the past choices of Lilith and Formortiis Lyon were units who either offered something I did not have or was lacking in. Between Rinkah and Lilith, Lilith was more unique. Formortiis Lyon was my second Null C-Disrupt unit and first ranged Null C-Disrupt unit. With Claude and F!Byleth, Claude was for skills while F!Byleth can have selective Firesweep with Watersweep or Windsweep, is another Null Follow-Up unit, and from a collector's standpoint, she was the remaining Three Houses lord I did not have. That leads to the Book IV Mid: Mirabilis and More banner. Only Mustafa showed up out of the 40 summons and he's the demote, so whatever. Right now, I'm not sure if I should pick Mirabilis or merchant Anna. Mirabilis seems like or arguably is the obvious choice as picking her means a guaranteed Mythic and a flying refresh unit. Being an Anima Mythic, though, she's helpful for reducing lift loss and scoring in Mjolnir's Strike, but I would have preferred Astra or even Light for increased lift gain. Merchant Anna is the first regular summoning pool lance infantry since Shiro if I recall correctly. In terms of stats, she's the high offenses lance infantry with her 35/40 base neutral offenses. Following her are CYL Lucina's 34/36, Nephenee's 31/35, and summer F!Robin's 32/34. She also has good mixed defenses; she's pretty much Annette with flipped attack and speed stats. Apotheosis Spear is good in that it lets her be really fast and she can teleport to units within 2 spaces of her, but it and the rest of her default skills don't really give her something very unique. Both offer things I would want, but there's something going against them. My only Anima mythic is Duma and more refresh units is never a bad thing, but lowering lift loss isn't that great as increased lift gain. Merchant Anna would be riding on her stats and lance infantry not having a lot of units, especially those with high offenses.

Didn't bother to try abyssal, but I did clear infernal without a guide. Used a team of 5* legendary Azura (+Def, -HP) with Wings of Mercy 3 and a Spd Tactics 3 seal, 5*, +10, +5 DF Clair (+Atk, -HP) with unique refined Rhomphaia, Reposition, Galeforce, Darting Blow 3, Desperation 3, Atk Smoke 3, and a Swift Sparrow 2 seal and S-rank Summoner Support, Formotiis Lyon (neutral) with Draw Back and a Quick Riposte 3 seal 5*, and +1, +5 DF regular Mareeta (+Atk, -Res) with Reposition, Sol, and a Phantom Spd 3 seal. Not sure how much Phantom Spd really helped here. Giving Galeforce to Clair a while back was a fantastic idea. A lot of trial and error with the first thing being figured out was that I could get Formotiis Lyon up into the right corner in range of the Firesweep flying archer and the Dazzling Staff healer. That takes them out on turn one of enemy phase and having remembered some of the reinforcements, I knew there would be an axe cavalry that spawns after, so it was also set up that Mareeta would be able to get Formortiis Lyon out and deal with the axe cavalry on enemy phase. The things I had to figure out was who to prioritize and positioning and remembering to keep track of where Mila was. Initial positioning in particular having everyone near the right on turn one set up the enemies in a way I could safely deal with them and have them follow certain units or only have certain units in range of them. Eventually, it boiled down to Clair covering the center and getting the others out of enemy range, Formortiis Lyon dealing with colorless and blue, mainly ranged enemies, softening up enemies for the others to deal with, and being the main damage dealer to Mila, and Mareeta covering the right side. The eureka moment was having Formortiis Lyon drop the Brave Lance infantry to near death allowing Clair to finishing the Brave Lance infantry off, get a Galeforce proc off the red thief or red flying manakete and use that to finish off the other. That left her in range against Mila who she didn't do much damage to. After that, it was kiting the remaining enemies where at one point, I had everyone in the right corner and then had Clair Reposition Formortiis Lyon and Mareeta out. One miscalculation that would have ruined everything was being able to damage Mila. Clair's low base attack and reliance on effective damage really showed and while Sol helps keep Mareeta alive, she had trouble dealing significant damage to Mila. I'm wondering if I should give Aether to Mareeta now. Formortiis Lyon doesn't have WTA against melee colorless units, but his high base attack and Bonus Doubler definitely helped in being able to damage Mila. Anyway, abyssal I followed yorotsruuu yorotsruuu's guide which uses in team order: 5* Peony (neutral), 5* Altina (neutral) with a Brazen Atk/Res 3 seal, 5* Mininerva with a Speed +2 seal, and 5* Eir without Mystic Boost equipped. A Speed +3 seal works for Mininerva. @Hilda, @GuiltyLove, and @XRay, if you're curious about another abyssal F2P guide. Well, sort of considering Altina was available only for a short time because they couldn't make a xenologue for her like they did with vanguard Ike. She's a mythic to his legendary and was the only free Astra mythic, but still.

Play style is something I should think about as I don't know exactly what my play style is. I don't see any of them being merge projects, so picking anyone, but F!Byleth would be for skills. The Byleths being tank busters are fine, but they are also capable of being selective Firesweep melee infantry with Watersweep or Windsweep. That's something unique and helpful even if it's not as potent as a ranged Firesweep unit that is cheaper to do with a healer. The collector in me also wants to pick F!Byleth to add a new unit. Death Blow 4 and Lull Atk/Def 3 are good and a simple combo, but in spite of that, I don't have anyone in mind that I really want to give them to; invest into. The units I listed are just candidates and in the case of Meisterhardt, sticking with his default Vantage and giving him Distant Counter would be "cheaper". Now, if we had a Vantage seal, then sure, Distant Counter, Lull Atk/Def, Vantage Meisterhardt or a similar unit would be pretty amusing. If fliers were not restricted from using Lull passives, then I would consider giving Death Blow 4 and Lull Atk/Def to Cherche or maybe Elincia. Atk/Def Solo or any inherited Solo skill would be fun to play with. I think I'm at a point where I have a love-hate relationship with Solo passives. I get why Atk/Spd Solo and kind of Swift Sparrow 2 are still 5* locked, but it would be nice if Def/Res Solo were 4* available or even Atk/Def, Atk/Res, Spd/Def, and Spd/Res Solo. Anyway, I digress. Off the top of my head for units that I have, Atk/Def Solo could go to Dimitri as ironic as that may be, regular, legendary, or CYL Ephraim, Laslow, and Meisterhardt. There's also Yune, but she probably would prefer Atk/Res Solo instead or Sturdy Impact for a slightly stronger defensive boost and follow-up prevention at the cost of it only working on player phase. Additionally, CYL Hector, but that means not using Ostian Counter. I may have forgotten someone who I have that is a dual phase unit with a guaranteed follow-up effect. Agreed with Rouse Atk/Def and also with it being a 5* locked skill. If it were on a 4* unit like how Ferdinand has Rouse Spd/Def 2 as a 4*, then sure, I could inherit Rouse Atk/Def 2 and nab Atk/Def Solo 3 from Edelgard or Close Call 3 from Mareeta and Rouse Atk/Def 3. The only unit who would really want Dull Close is Luke and even then, it and Dull Ranged would probably be better off as seals. The day will (hopefully) come for Luke when either of them becomes a seal and he can run Dull Close and Dull Ranged together. The Legend of Luke will become slightly less lackluster. I gave my reasons for not wanting to pick a unit I don't have and using them for skills, but I do agree with your thoughts on F!Byleth's skills. They're nice, but they're not that in demand for me. The only unit I would really want to give Fury 4 to would be Celica just for the extra point of attack and speed and making it easier for her to get into Brazen range if Ragnarok's recoil damage and Fury 3 were not enough. Puppet Delthea would come as a close second since Death has recoil damage, but she's not as fast as Celica. Wrath is good, but to me, only seven units come to mind as really wanting it: Athena, Barst, Fir, regular or LA Hector, Karel, and Mia. Also, any infantry beast unit. All seven and any infantry beast unit have a Wo Dao or Wrath effect on their weapon, so they can stack Wrath for more damage in addition to whatever other effect they have on their weapon. I guess any melee infantry or armor with a prf Killer weapon would work too, but being able to deal 20 damage is a nutty thing. Using Barst as an example, I'd rather compile the Owain manual and dump Blue Flame and Wrath 3 on him or hope that Wrath somehow in the near future ends up on a 4* demote because I would rather not have to use an Astram or any grail unit for skills. Claude I blame two copies being +Spd, -Atk and +Atk, -Def. The speed ceiling is ever-growing and while 30 base attack isn't that bad with his default Lull Spd/Def and if he meets Cunning Bow's conditions, -Atk is still meh even though 30/40 base offenses is all right. +Atk is nice and opens up to him being able to use Brave Bow better, but the speed creep. Picking Claude feels like I can burn him and not have to worry about if I should go for +Spd or +Atk. That said, I thought about it and the only unit that I mentioned who is seeing frequent use is Eleonora since I gave her a Light Blessing. The others I gave my reasons like Eliwood mainly existing for Anima defense and how Desperation is cheaper and safer for Linus and Raven. Legendary Alm is used during Earth season and while he would benefit from Lull Spd/Def, he's not in Eleonora's situation where she needs to pass a speed check for her Mirage Longbow to be more than a prf bow with Spd+3. All legendary Alm needs to do is initiate and he'll deal damage equal to his 25% of his foe's defense. In contrast, Eleonora needs to initiate and pass a speed check for the Firesweep effect. Still, it's not the end of everything as I discussed before. Something that might be a little weird is that in trying to get as much skills out of Claude and someone as possible Lull Spd/Def and Def Smoke might not benefit Eleonora as much as it would for someone else. Savage Blow which she has is cheaper and works for Firesweep, splash damage shenanigans. Still useful since she can deal more damage against defense debuffed unit, but Lull Spd/Def and something like Ruptured Sky, L&D4 or Swift Sparrow 3 so she won't need to worry about her HP at the cost of defenses or only working on player phase, or Distant Guard, Joint Drive Atk, Panic Smoke, Pulse Smoke, or Time's Pulse would be nicer and asking for more.

If you don't have more harder to get skills, you could just give Ephraim Death Blow 3 and a damage special like Moonbow or Bonfire and he should be okay for player phase. Enemy phase is kind of all right, but mainly against physical damage units. Galeforce is the thing he can abuse with Flame Siegmund's guaranteed follow-up effect. In that case, Smite might be good on him to keep allies away from him and he would want to run Heavy Blade to charge Galeforce. Considering Heavy Blade 4, maybe that could work as his A passive while he Death Blow 3 as his seal, but that's expensive and requires sacrificing Ephraim & Lyon as they are the only unit with Heavy Blade 4. Otherwise, any attack boosting A passive would be fine like Atk/Def Solo, Fury, etc., and his B passive can be anything really that you would find useful for him including Desperation due Flame Siegmund's guaranteed follow-up effect. Same deal with his C passive e.g. a Smoke or Savage Blow. CYL Eliwood, Perceval, and Sirius are fast compared to legendary Ephraim, so I don't feel like they're as comparable to him. CYL Eliwood has 35 base Spd and Perceval and Sirius have 37 base Spd to legendary Ephraim's 27. Dimitri would probably be the most comparable to legendary Ephraim as both share a conditional guaranteed follow-up effect. Dimitri needs his and his foe's HP to be full or he and his foe to not be at full health while legendary Ephraim needs to be outnumbered. In terms of stats, Dimitri has 40 HP, 36 Atk, 29 Spd, 34 Def, and 18 Res to legendary Ephraim's 43 HP, 36 Atk, 27 Spd, 33 Def, and 18 Res. Basically, Dimitri's like a +Spd, -HP legendary Ephraim and legendary Ephraim is a +HP, -Spd Dimitri. Dimitri can run the same builds as legendary Ephraim with the advantage of having Death Blow 4 and Lull Atk/Def 3 as his default passives. In other words, replace his special with something like Moonbow, Bonfire, or Galeforce, change his B passive to something else if you don't want him to run Lull Atk/Def and slap whatever C passive you want on him.

So, I decided to dump my orbs into the Three Houses revival banner to pick a 5* after 40 summons and figured I wouldn't end up getting any of the focus units. Welp, I have a neutral Dimitri and +HP, -Spd Edelgard as my first copies of both. I'm not that inclined to pick either to fix their flaw, but since I have them, especially Dimitri being neutral, I could pick one for skills. Anyway, my original plan was to dump orbs and pick Claude or F!Byleth. Mainly because of Dimitri, I'm not sure who I should pick, so I would like some second opinions. Claude I have two copies: +Spd, -Atk and +Atk, -Def, where those two copies is another question. I figured picking him would make it easy to make him into a combat manual or if I really wanted to, fix the flaw on whichever Claude I choose to stick with. Lull Spd/Def 3 and also Def Smoke 3 by inheriting Def Smoke 2 from someone else are the main reasons I want him. Off the top of my head, legendary Alm, Eleonora, Eliwood, Hilda, and Linus/Raven would be appreciate Lull Spd/Def. Eleonora would like Lull Spd/Def to pass Mirage Longbow's speed check more easily and deal more damage making her stronger as a player phase unit, but for more supportive role her default Spd/Def Ruse is fine and she has Poison Strike for Firesweep chip damage shenanigans. My Eliwood is +Spd and +10, but he's mainly used on Anima season defense with Lunge to mess with people and I don't really use him much elsewhere nowadays. Being +Spd, -Atk, Hilda would be able to patch up the -Atk and be even faster. Linus/Raven might be safer running Desperation over Lull Spd/Def and Lull Atk/Def might be a bit better to help with surviving against foes they might have been a few points off of. F!Byleth is the only one who I don't have and would be for Creator Sword and Windsweep shenanigans. I do have a M!Byleth, but he's -Spd, so it would be harder for him to pull this build off. And considering what happened, picking her would also complete my Three Houses lords collection. Since they showed up and I like keeping a copy of unit, I can pick either Dimitri or Edelgard for skills. With Dimitri, I could give Death Blow 4 and Lull Atk/Def 3 to someone. Those could go to legendary Ephraim, Frederick for armor smushing, Gordin, Klein, Meisterhardt who's +Atk and +7 because of poor decisions in the past, or Luke because why not. It'd be great, but I don't feel like I really want to give someone Death Blow 4 and Lull Atk/Def 3 at the moment. Edelgard is in a worse spot for me where her skills that she has are good aren't that compelling over the Lulls from Claude and Dimitri or having a new unit through F!Byleth. If anything, I'd make the summoned one into a manual and use the guaranteed one since I figure 30 neutral base speed might be better than 26 with -Spd for breaking speed checks against units with Wary Fighter. I'm still leaning towards either Claude or F!Byleth, but if someone can convince me that Dimitri or Edelgard would be better, then sure.

I want Annette for merges because Annette, although I like her timeskip design more, Mila for her art and for another light mythic, I don't have legendary Julia, Larcei, legendary Leif aka Meisterbogenhardt, or Lif, and more copies of legendary Alm, Distant Counter + Vengeful Fighter, and Osian along with legendary Eliwood and legendary Lucina would be nice. But the Three Houses banner revival with its tickets and a guaranteed 5* after 40 summons makes me want to dump orbs into that and at least choose Claude for Lull Spd/Def or F!Byleth for Windsweep shenanigans. Assuming they do not show up during the orb dump, Dimitri and Edelgard would be all right for Galeforce, but I have Claude already, so having a source of Lull Spd/Def would be nice as I would like to keep one copy of any unit and Creator's Sword and Windsweep is a unique and potent combo where F!Byleth being neutral works better than my only copy of M!Byleth who is -Spd. Choices...

This one? If so, then using Duma's dragon sprite works since her artbook design is like a skinnier version of her brother's form. I was pleasantly surprised to see that Yamada Akihiro was chosen to do Mila's art for Heroes. I absolutely love it. It reminds me of old RPG games or old games, films, and books in general. Does anyone remember or has seen the art of things like the first or early entries of Castlevania, Final Fantasy, Grandia, Lufia, Ninja Gaiden, Phantasy Star, the SaGa series, and Shining Force? If not Fire Emblem? Perhaps the Star Wars poster by Tom Jung could count too among other movie posters that I can't think of or know about. There's this charm to it that I'm not sure how to describe. Old world? And this might sound like I'm bashing the artists and their art, but sometimes the art doesn't look as impressive in terms of technical skill compared to more recent art and yet it's that quality that gives this "old world" or whatever might be more appropriate to describe it feel. I feel like the developers picked Yamada Akihiro with the intention of having Mila give off this feeling. We have gotten a similar feel with his other works for Bantu, Gunter, Jagen, Ogma, and Zephiel, but we didn't have a feeling of a goddess from bygone days until now. Maybe it's not the best art, but for what it stands, I adore his art of Mila. @XRay, I guess Julia got her wish for a defense boosting light mythic and then some since she'll also get Atk/Spd/Def/Res+2 if she's within Mila's buff range. Now Boey just needs to have someone show up with Close Ward.

This is just me, but Draug's Stalwart Sword having effective damage against armors and greenbreaker, -breaker effect against all green units, that cannot be negated by Null Follow-Up or like effects would be nice. Slap on Guard, Svalinn's Shield, or a Killer effect as bonuses.