Dual Dragons

What the two above said. The higher rarity would unlock other skills and weapons. Stats-wise, though, it would probably be similar/better. In this case, I think it's best to think on a unit-by-unit basis. Ex. My 4* Olivia is probably fine staying at 4* because she only unlocks Silver Sword+ at 5* and has been playing more of a hard support role. Still have to weigh if more stats > Silver Sword+.

I haven't merged for stats but I would assume no. Incentivize you to get 5* for stats and all.

They lose the stats when you unlock potential. Unless you never plan to go for 4*/5*, then it's better at the lower rarities, yeah. At least, I assume you mean that you get a lot of stats and easily acquire copies at the lower rarities so it's best to merge them there, yeah?

5* Robin - +Atk/-Spd. Say goodbye, Takumi. Hone Attack 3 + Bonfire = Armageddon. Tanky enough but Speed bane drops his offense and takes double hits often. I wouldn't know what his optimal Bane would be. Perhaps -Res since he's already poor against magic anyways? Don't want to lower Def because Bonfire. Camilla - +Spd/-HP. Best on initiation. Brushes off magic attacks but makes it hard to rely on her as an all-around tank. Would take another Boon since she has Darting Blow and Brave Axe access. Marth - +Spd/-Def. Not many can outspeed him so he's at least on equal ground. Decent Attack to put to good use. His -Def is still higher than his neutral Res. Similar to Robin in tankiness except won't be taking double hits often. 4* currently Olivia - +Res/-Atk. Makes it hard to raise her, considering Dance doesn't give EXP. At least it makes her a mage-killer. If she's a hard support, Boon/Bane won't matter as much. Abel - +HP/-Res. -Res isn't a huge problem with Aegis access. +HP works with Swordbreaker 3 but +Atk would also be great. As a hard Sword counter, Speed doesn't matter as much. Fae - +Def/-HP. As long as she can take hits, HP doesn't matter as much with Renewal access. Would rather take a different Boon, though. Adult Tiki - +Def/-Res. Well... she's not getting damage from WTD Armors. Dragons are already not great against magic so -Res is eh. Could be worse. Shanna - +Def/-Atk. Didn't learn about Boon/Banes until after the upgrade. I'll probably raise another Shanna. -Atk really hurts her except against magic-users not Dragons and fliers not Subaki. Chrom - +Atk/-HP. Strike first. That natural 56 Attack with Falchion, phew. He needs support from someone who buffs Speed because his medium 25 Speed is the same as -Spd Robin's.

4* Olivia and 5* Marth, road to Level 40, let's go. Then it's time to raise Cecilia and Raigh and all the other units I didn't care about originally.

The amount discounted is the same amount you would have received sending them home, it would seem. My strategy would be to only merge lesser rarity to higher rarity until you have 5*s and like the Boon/Bane of the unit. That or already have four of the unit since you can only use four on a team (so far). I don't worry about stats until 5* or I know the Boon/Bane of my unit. Wait, where are you getting the 10,000 feathers? It's 20,000 to upgrade to 5*s.

Oh, dude! I get random people asking to be my friend and greeting me so we can all get that 5 feather loving, haha! If you're F2P/casual, then you probably aren't sending units right away. It's more for those whaling hard. Sending the 1* and 2* isn't really worth it, but merging units gives the unit a discount on their upgrade (so I've heard). Sending the 3*s you know you won't merge/use would be worth it since it's 150 feathers a piece. I wouldn't know about averages but I'd rather think of the worst possible scenario. Let's say you pull five 3*s in a session (since you can't get lower than a 3* in a summon). That's 750 feathers. If you send 14 3*s, that's enough for the 4* upgrade. If it were me, I would give Orb rewards in conjunction with feather rewards at the higher ranks. The issue I see for such a system is that the ranking is based on an ever-fluctuating score as opposed to concrete floors, so I can see why only feathers are being offered (it would certainly piss me off getting Orbs snatched away at the last second). Also, I wouldn't say leveling the 4*s past Level 20 is bad. Who you're going to face against is dependent on the stats of your Arena team, meaning more levels. More stats = more Arena points. My score was hindered a lot since I thought having Sharena would make up my score, but her low level/stats meant I lost about 100 points each match on Advanced. I agree that a new player's priority should be making a well-rounded roster by evolving and making the best out of what they have. And no, you have the right idea. If you have 5*s, then use them. If I were to give advice to a new player, I would tell them to at least get the 1600 feathers and think of the ranking/defense feathers as "bonus." Don't make them fret about getting a higher rank until they feel comfortable with their team. I would want both, to be honest

Just to clarify: I'm not justifying the system, but do want to bring up some points. There's 15 feathers a day by: 1) having >= five friends, 2) greeting a friend and, 3) talking to a unit with hearts. Basically a log-in bonus, which is something for those that don't have the time to dedicate more time to the game a day. You do "sell" by sending units home--which means buying more characters. That's probably what the logic is there. If you buy more characters and get more of the ones you don't want, you convert into feathers. So you do technically "buy" them--just indirectly. It's not necessarily late game for Arena. Beginner and Intermediate should be doable for people. It's really Advanced where it might not be doable. And all that means is saving up your feathers to get even the 4*s for Advanced. People have already developed a strategy for a "safe run" to get those 1600 feathers by doing mostly Beginner and occasional Intermediate/Advanced. If you hit the minimum of 3001+ offense and are unranked/have no defense points, that's 1600 feathers, just shy of upgrading to a 4*. Or upgrading 2*s to 3*s eight times. And for those that are F2P/casual, that can already round out your roster by leveling the special map units to 3*s. Granted, it takes effort, but it's something. -- Do I want more feather quests like I want more (conditional) Orb quests? Absolutely. But striking the balance is where it's going to be tricky since they're a company trying to get a profit. The game is still in its first month so changes might come soon if enough complaints come in.

Robin Camilla Abel Olivia Weakness is that if I'm too cramped or my team gets separated, I can get messed up hard. It's not the greatest at dealing with Hector's while he's at >80% HP. I haven't broken an Advanced streak in a while as my team is based around killing the meta units. Still kind of sucks my Arena score can't go that much higher from not using more bonus characters and Olivia and Abel being 4*. Question for anyone that knows: do the Spur skills become penalties by Fear? They aren't bonuses on the actual stats like Hone skills are.

4,090 Offense with a rank of 28,369. 4* Level 34 Olivia and 4* Level 39 Abel are pulling the scores down despite doing all Advanced. Thinking of switching one of them for 5* Marth I've been training up. He's four levels away from being Level 40. Though, admittedly, with how my team is (overall middling Speed but high offensive power), it'll be hard to justify Marth over Olivia.

I probably won't have the luck or the Orbs to invest in this banner but if I did I would really want Julia. Dragons are already shaky with Resistance and her tome being effective to them might as well spell death to them. She would also be a counter to Robin as I assume she's got high Attack/Res while he tends to focus on balanced defensive stats but definitely weaker in Resistance. Seliph looks the weakest since he's independent. He doesn't help his team with other skills except Rally Speed, and he has to give up his turn for that. If he wanted to be a come-back character, I think it should be Def/Res+ and not Def/Spd+. It's hard for me to say for Ephraim or Eirika. They look good but I'll let time tell if they really are.

Camilla, Marth, and Robin. I haven't used Marth much but I plan to. I'd like to have a dedicated dragon-killer. It's just hard to justify him over Olivia, who has better synergy with my team. I guess if I raised him enough he could help with my Arena score. Maxed out Camilla and Robin. If the IV calculator is correct, Camilla's -HP/+SPD and Robin's +ATK/-SPD... which explains a lot, not gonna lie.

Whaaaaaat? ... I just saw it. Wow! And new additions too. That's great! Thanks for letting me know!

It's 3* for Dance and 4* for Rehabilitate. Eh, like, I think getting the 4*s is better than getting the one 5* at this point. We're at the beginning of the game's life span so we're all trying to get our feathers. I haven't spent many feathers myself (~2400) but I know I'll one day have my 5* and I'll know who to use it on. I thought it was going to be Olivia but I've changed my mind then. I mean, you do you, but just a recommendation: make a well-rounded roster first. It'll make trips to the Arena better and training easier. It's a heck of a lot cheaper. You can get 10 4*s at the same cost of one 5*. You'll also get access to the skills that I'm talking about (Rehabilitate, Dance, etc.) and better stats. For now, try two healers or one healer/one support dedicated to training Robin. Take one of your higher leveled units to act as a "Jeigan." Their goal is only to soften and potentially die as they won't get EXP if they're too high. If they have to take a kill, that's fine as long as it keeps Robin alive. Starting out, securing the few wins and keeping Robin alive is top priority. He may die along the way one in every two battles but as long as you get those wins in, he's progressing. And you definitely want to take advantage of the last hours of 1/2 stamina training tower.

The variance would make sense. So would you say you have a problem with the manaketes the most? It would make sense if you still haven't got yourself a decent magic user and your team is generally low in Resistance. The healers won't be an issue unless they're the ones that want to lower your stats. Staves do half Damage after normal calculations. I'm not big on healers in Arena since you're against AI than real players. AI's just gonna aggro you. It's a matter of baiting them with the right units. Make a well-rounded team. I've been doing okay with 3 physical and 1 magic. I'd recommend Cecilia/Robin if you don't have other magic units. If you raise Cecilia to 3*, she has access to the green version of Robin's tome. Her flaws seem to be she's a glass cannon and situational passives (+Attack and Escape Route), but she has access to Rally Resistance. Robin is still the best choice but you'll need to work with him. If Robin is low enough, he can be with the Anna and Alphonse team. If your Olivia has Dance/Hone Attacks, she's probably good enough to be the fourth slot. You're short a lance but that's what Robin's there for. By the way, Lissa is actually decent for a healer. She's a strange one, being tanky, but she has Rehabilitate, which is a guaranteed full heal if the unit falls to <7 HP. I find her perfect for raising people down at the lower stratums. Not giving her a staff means she won't accidentally kill people. Her being tanky means she won't die (bonus if she has Renewal). Rehabilitate means nobody's dying.

How low are they? You can try just a three bonus character run instead. The main idea is that you face units that are low enough that they haven't diversified hard in their stats and don't have their later skills. Actually, the last time I saw Beginner, it was still the original character teams. Don't know how much it has changed since then. Well anyways, if you need help with that, put a list of your roster (in a spoiler if it's lengthy) and say what you see often in the Arena. At the Advanced, it's mostly reds and Takumi; I don't remember what's at the Beginner and Intermediate.

@Anacybele I don't know about Robin's Boon/Bane but he does have a rocky start, as someone who has been raising a 5*. I'd say keep at it if you can. It's still miles better than raising Sophia and you know you're getting a Takumi-killer or just a general advantage-against-two-colors person, unlike the previously mentioned. But as talked about before, these games require patience. I understand you're getting frustrated but just keep at it. You'll get there eventually. Arena is in spoilers because it's lengthy. As for being a better tactician, it's a skill that sharpens over time. That's why we can tell you how to make your team better but it's still up to you to get the best out of them. Just keep practicing. I'm sure you'll get the hang of this game soon enough. @LordFrigid No worries :)

I lucked out on getting a lance and cavalry in one package (Abel). But since my main team featured two mounts, I had been raising Adult Tiki and Fae, thinking they would be good for Lunatic 6-5. Just got done with the quest. Overall, the grind was worth it. Adult Tiki and Fae have their uses and now I'm familiar with their shortcomings. I'm glad to have raised basically a good Hector counter. Wouldn't be surprised if either of these became my first upgrade 5* or replace Abel for Arena/main team (if only because Robin fills in the role of slaying Swords and colorless so Abel just doubles the Sword-slaying). Only need to work on the armor quest now--and surprisingly haven't seen many of them fighting at higher stratums. Perhaps I need to do the Zephiel Lunatic chapter to complete it if I get unlucky.

Red: actually a good lot. Olivia, Adult Tiki, Chrom, Marth Green: Camilla, Fae (haven't raised the 2* Cecilia but I might to have a Green Tome and basically Robin's tome) Blue: Robin, Abel (sometimes Shanna) Grey: Lissa, Felicia (raised her from 2*)

Hana's skill set is certainly unique to what I'm used to. Can't say it's optimal but: - Rehabilitate healer. It's a full heal if the target unit has <7 HP. There's two in the game so far: Lissa and Wrys. Depends if she can take a hit, though. - De/buffer. Hana seems to be the type to want kill first before taking hits. Any that raise Attack, Speed, or defense stats or debuff enemy stats would be helpful. Olivia is best suited since she can buff Hana's Attack and then Dance to have her move out of the way. Fae can debuff the enemy so Hana may be able to take a hit. If Hana's Obstruct is anywhere useful, it would be to protect the healer or support from a cavalry. Unfortunately, Hana doesn't get Brave Sword, so she has to rely on either a one-shot or tanking a hard hit. Rallies work as well if you're willing to sacrifice that unit's turn. - Escape Route. It allows units to spread out but still come back to Hana's aid. Sort of niche but it can allow for quick travel and finishing a map quicker. Again, it's reliant on her surviving. - Reciprocal Aid person. It's niche but can be used if a healer can't get in range of Hana. These are Donnel, Matthew, and Setsuna. Wouldn't really recommend. Can also be used in conjunction with a Martyr healer. All I can think of so far.

I'd also guess on PvP, but Co-op would be super cool. Submit any number (though likely would be two-and-two) of units to take on a boss map. Though that would require some kind of chat feature, I'd assume.

It's usually better to hit Armors in their Resistance, even if you have WTA in physical. Even if you have a tome that has WTD, they'll still do damage and won't get hit back in retaliation. I'd only give her a pass if she can kill the Armor in a round--but she still has the other foes to contend with (she'll be hit even harder by Masked Man, by this same logic). Though I don't have Palla so this is me thinking that she's not suited due to the other enemies and not the Armor alone.

I bait one of the two-range units through the top or bottom walls (as in, don't go in the corridor yet). It may not kill anyone but it distracts between one-three units (if the healer decides they want to heal). And yes, with how the AI sometimes works, I try to account for if the other unit is going to attack instead. Here's how AI works from experience: it will always prioritize attack if they can (regardless if they have WTD or can be one-shotted). If no one's in range, they'll head towards what's closest--but seem to also give more priority if something they have WTA over is close enough. Sometimes the AI will move a unit out of the way in order to deal more damage. With units distracted, Masked Man and Axe Armor should be coming through the corridor. I believe the Axe Armor has Drag Back, so it may take a while just from him pulling Masked Man back. Once Masked Man can fully move and not get repositioned by Axe Armor is best to bait him and take him out. I don't think Palla would be great for this map due to having WTD/neutral to the threats, probably not denting the Axe Armor, and the bow. Do you have anything else to replace her?

Patience. It's Normal, right? What do you have in your roster? If I recall correctly, he's not particularly high in Defense so if you got a strong Axe (Fred?), you could potentially one-shot him. Olivia could help Fred kill him off if he can't. Refresh my memory: what's the Axe in the map? Axe Cavalry?

$0 and I've gotten 5* Robin, 5* Camilla, 5* Marth, and good 4*s. I wouldn't mind dropping a few bucks here or there if the Orbs were cheaper. The smallest package isn't even enough to afford a summon. I purchased the EXP bonuses and haven't spent many of my other resources. Literally have 21 Orbs sitting there deciding either to try for Takumi/my favorite character or wait for another banner.