NekoKnight

Maybe not bump down ALL 3-4* and 4-5* but I'd definitely appreciate a portion of the cast being demoted. I think they should take a number of factors into consideration when choosing which bracket each character falls into. Characters with strong starting kits or stat distributions should keep their higher rarity (can't argue with Kagero and Effie being 4-5*) but others should be marked down. I'd also factor in what skills are available at 4*, so most skills (barring some really good ones like Close Counter and Distant Counter) are available at lower tiers. The following are held by multiple characters but locked to 5* characters. Life and Death (demote Jaffar or Minerva) Live to Serve (demote Elise) Quick Riposte (demote Leo) For the other skills only held by one character, they should either be demoted or given to new characters. At the very least, I'd like the following added to the 4* character pool. Goad Armor, Hone Fliers, Ward Fliers and Goad Cavalry.

It's not like dark magic is explicitly hard to learn, just that it's far riskier to use than other schools of magic. It's not like one is guaranteed to be warped by using dark magic but evidence suggests that the MASTERY of dark magic does cause a loss of self (Nergal and Bramimond). This is of course a principle of Elibe dark magic so it might be different for other settings.

I appreciate a variety of personalities, especially if they can include several in a team dynamic (like Blazing Sword) but if you asked me about my favorite type, I would say I like a character who has competence but also flaws that keep their story interesting. Micaiah for example is a competent and charismatic leader but her dedication to her people and respect Pelleas' legitimacy makes her do some morally ambiguous things. Ike is another example in that he has a good heart but his blunt indignation nearly screwed him over when they're trying to get support from Begnion. I'd really like to see lord who starts off humble before their successes lead to pride and ambition. Eventually the plot would punish their hubris and result in character development.

Hm, you're probably right. Killer weapons seem more enemy phase oriented and Death Blow is for the player phase. Minerva and Michalis have better weapons already which leaves pretty much just Frederick or Cherche for Quick Riposte + Bonfire. Would Raven be able to use a killer axe? He has 35 base speed but he's pretty fragile too so maybe he would prefer his brave axe.

I pulled a 5* star Hawkeye that I don't really want. I was going to sacrifice him for Death Blow 3 but then I thought it might be a waste of a 5* not to gift his weapon to someone. So the question is, is there any character that would appreciate Killer Axe+ and Deathblow? (I also have a spare Effie for the first two ranks of Death Blow)

Weapon skills are certainly an option but considering that they are locked to 5* characters, you have to REALLY want that weapon to spend 20,000+ feathers upgrading your skill fodder, I did this to put Blarblade on Ursula, but 9 times out of 10, I wouldn't consider that a reasonable investment.

My teams usually have 1 range unit, 2 melee and a dancer (swapping one out for a bonus unit as need be). My strategy is to bait and kill the enemy ranged fighters with my own (Jaffar is my go-to guy on my infantry team, Ursula for horses) and then let the enemies fall on my melee characters and let the weapon triangle do the work. Horse Emblem is more offensively based with using a fulling buffed Ursula kill everything and use repositioning skills to keep her alive. The armor team is more defensive, letting Hector do the ranged baiting and the others to buff each other and tank enemies. In the Arena, Hectors are a common sight so I'm pretty much required to run a hard counter for him every time (Marth is the best for this). Effie and Hector and also extremely valuable against not only reds and blues, respectively, but their own color as well, so Marth/Hector or Effie/Ranged attacker/Dancer or Bonus Unit is pretty versatile.

Can 4* characters inherit and learn weapon skills that are normally locked to 5 stars? Like, could a 4* Laslow learn Brave Sword+?

I sent back units before SI came along (rip Gunter and Lisa, your skills will be missed) but I probably won't do it now unless I run out of barracks space (and I'll always keep at least 1 of every character for collection purposes). As for characters that I have but don't really need for SI or units: Clarine (already have 5* Elise and Swift-Winds balm isn't as useful as Kindled-Fire Balm) Gordin (Attack +3 isn't as useful as Death Blow, Life or Death, or Fury) Virion (Speed Seal and Astra are pretty meh) Beruka (Glimmer, Defiant Def and Lunge are pretty meh) Barte (Does anyone run Brash Assault on anything?) Raven (Defiant Speed and Sol, pass) Est (Defiant skill again) Edit: Don't have these characters but I wouldn't need them. Maria (Miracle is meh) Chrom (Aether takes too long to charge, already have Marth for Falcion) Ogma (Defiant skill again)

I have Ward on Zephiel, Goad on Hector and I'm considering putting Hone on Effie. Hector is useful for killing ranged enemies on the enemy phase so perhaps Fortify would be better on Effie or Zephiel (although Ninian has Fortify Defense 2). Zephiel has Wary Fighter and I took off Life or Death to improve his bulk (Death Blow would be preferable if I get a character with it). Another build I mused with was Brave Sword+ Zephiel/Brave Lance+ Effie with Wings of Mercy, but that's really more of a Arena defense team idea. I've never seen Threaten Attack on a Hector. They usually have Distant Counter, Vantage and a buff skill.

Only two Ward Armors and no (lv 3) Quick Riposte or Bonfire to spare, unfortunately.

Right? Fuck that valkyrie. It also has stupidly high HP/Res so I couldn't kill it with Blade Ursula even if I got the first hit. I didn't have a strong red mage or Ryoma so my options were "use blue and gibbed by valkyrie or use green and get ganked by sword". What I ended up using was my +Def/-HP Hector buffed by Fortify Armor to tank the Sword guy and have enough HP left over for a Quick Riposte and kill the mage... And then I had an angry Ignis charged Sword guy chasing down my armors while Effie and Ninian were struggling to kill the Lancer and Xander (who was also gunning for Hector). I ended up winning by having Fury Ninian tanking the Ignis hit but it was really close.

It's a semi popular build from what I've seen. No shame there.

Thanks you two. Although Effie naturally has Silver Lance + as her weapon.

A few questions: Is it true that any skills known by a character will be inherited to the next if they are merged? Would a brave lance known by a 4* Effie automatically be learned if she is merged into a 5* Effie? Is there a program people use to see which characters a certain character can defeat? Like, "if my character does 61 damage, it can defeat all characters except for _________" I've been looking at the wiki to manually check the stats for common threats but I'm wondering if there is a more convenient way of quickly checking and comparing the enemy stats. Team building question. I'm building an armor team that currently has Hector/Effie/Zephiel/Ninian. Who would be the best recipients for Hone/Fortify/Ward/Goad armor? Hector is the only one who can do Goad Armor but I could also give him a different skill. The 3 armor + dancer set up is working well so far but it does require skipping out on one of the armor buffs. Which buff is the least important for this team?

We can agree on that much. Anyone who can hard-counter One Round Man Reinhardt has value on a competitive team.

I'm more inclined to think that player choices are representative of flexible gameplay rather than legitimate story decisions. Could Xander make a Hoshidan peasant (Mozu) the next queen of Nohr? Yes, by gameplay and multiverse logic, you could say that's as equally canon as any other pairing, but I find it unlikely. I'm aware that Heirs of Fate and other Outrealms nonsense opens the door to "choose whatever canon you like" but I think it's more harmful to good storytelling. I don't find that to be "primo material" for discussion. I'd rather bring up evidence for certain pairings (such as Sumia vs Olivia for Chrom or Hector vs Rath for Lyn) rather than default to "everything the game lets you do is canon lel"

What I find strange about this Cecilia hype is that while she can do the things people are saying, like countering blues and colorless with Gronnraven + TA3, this isn't unique to Cecilia. Cecilia is the slowest Green Mage tied with Spring Camilla, and her attack is only higher than F!Robin and Merric. Why not use another green mage with those skills? Her unique quality is being the only green horse mage, which is certainly noteworthy (although if we're just discussing horses in general, there are other people who can run Raven tome + TA3) but not enough to say that Cecilia is a good unit. Ninja'ed by @Mortarion, I'll acknowledge that she has a place in the current meta but I still think a Horse emblem team can handle blue threats just as easily with a blue horse mage. Looking at the stats, she does has a leg up on Leo and Ursula in that she 1 shots neutral Takumi and Kagero, but with Horse Emblem buffs applied, she's outmatched by other horses.

I don't care for the multiverse shenanigans because something becomes a possible canon as soon as anyone writes it. Scarlet x Ryoma is 100% non-canon... or is it? Who's to say that they don't hook up in an alternate continuity of Fates? If Heirs of Fates can insert a brand new alternate canon, really anything else can be canon too. Which completely devalues the meaning of the word and the basis of the discussion.

I'm not talking about OP's original question, I'm talking about the current discussion going on concerning canon love interests. If all possibilities are deemed equal, then nothing and everything is canon.

>Faye and Clair >Compelling, well written characters REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE Is there a reason why Sothe is uninteresting compared to the other characters you mentioned? Do you realize how pointless it is to add "Technically everything is canon in a multiverse of infinite possibilities" to the discussion? We can't even have a discussion if all possible realities are treated as equal. Imagine if someone said "I hate how people always say Alm x Celica is canon. There is probably a parallel world to SoV where he decides to go back to Ram village and marry Faye. That's just as canon." Wouldn't that be silly?

I know, but it's not like they can't break away from series conventions from time to time. "An evil dragon is behind it" is about as generic a plot as I can imagine.

"Get your kids hooked on Heroes, they'll never have money for smokes."

It's not my decision. I think the choice of Male Robin and Male Corrin for Smash is pretty telling for what is considered their default gender, even if you can change it in game.

Or it could mean M!Corrin is canon.