Xenomata

Here's a possible chain of events to go over. PP1: You attack with Elise, who has Atk/Spd Push and Live to Serve SS, maybe cavalry buffs. Get the kill. Take damage after battle. PP2: You heal an ally to get Elise back to full HP to trigger Atk/Spd Push. PP3: Repeat PP1. Here is the alternative. PP1: You attack with Elise, who has Atk/Spd 2, either Attack +3 or Speed +3 SS, maybe Cavalry buffs. Get the kill. PP2: Repeat PP1 PP3: Repeat PP1

Bleeeeeeeh... I just spent 2 days typing my latest update to the How many 5* Heroes thread... making all those notes is gonna bite me in the wrong places once having 300+ units is considered normal for a veteran...

Guess this is what I do when I'm bored. Seems I forgot to make notes of every single unit last time. Not that anyones reading the notes, but I like making them. Sorting by Pink Heart favorites, with Advanced Sorting Rarity and Type (type viewed) Red Blue Green Colorless Unfavorited Total number of favorited 5* units: 172 (Previous updates total: 150) Total number of 5* units: 196 (Previous updates total: 176) While I was making this list, I actually promoted one other unit... Hana [+Spd -HP] Because I've had good experiences using Soleil, basically the same unit but faster should be just as good an experience! Besides, Hana has been waiting for a promotion for many months now, might even have been a full year by now. It's about time she joined the family.

Apparently Kiran saw they were using those weapons in their artwork and thought "Clearly these are the best weapons for them to wield". Given past performance, this would not surprise me.

Ironically, I hold my Soleil in such high regard, I actively hesitate picking her even when the enemy has 4 armors, including the Armors I specifically had in mind when building her, perfect for reaping kills from... I suppose it isn't a universally true statement, yes. A person could easily have more trouble dealing with Reinhardt, another will need to find ways to counter Zelgius or Black Knight. By the time a single person has a counter to each of them, they may just gain another trouble unit because we get 8 or so new units a month, and they just released a Lance whose gimmick is triggering every one of their attacks from a dual-phase Brave Weapon at once, like having Desperation on both phases. Then again, one could say that Firesweep and Dazzling Staff hard counters everything... maybe that's why we haven't seen much word of a new Firesweep weapon lately...

Not necessarily being Red is the powercreep point, moreso the fact that, at least going by 702-714 AA battles, Green units are generally the most frightening part of a color-balanced team (thanks a lot Lector and Grima), if Reinhardt isn't present anyways. Where PA!Azura is more capable of taking on Blues, YT!Olivia can duel those greens more effectively, at least as long as the comparison is between the wielders of Personal Weapons with the Spectrum Dance effect. I suppose it's more what the player needs more, or even if they're willing to leave their Dancer in range of such frightening targets, because I personally find value in getting a Dancer to do as much as possible besides Dancing. Though in a matter of who does Spectrum Dance PW better, Olivia wins by default.

I can't say for certain the logic behind my reasoning, but... okay that's a lie. @XRay and @mampfoid, I decided to promote Hana [+Spd -HP]. My experiences with Soleil have been nothing but positive, and Hana, while far weaker in comparison, will be much faster and just as potent at killing Armors with the help of Desperation, over Soleil simply nerfing the enemies Speed with Chill Spd and otherwise needing to land perfect One-hit kills. I probably should have done Caeda [+Atk -Res] first, since she'd have the same role but with a better Movement type and weapon, but I'd already spent my Divine Dews on Linde and need to build the number back up, compared to being able to both upgrade Hana's Armor Slayer+ to Armorsmasher AND refine it at the same time. By that time, I expect to be ready to promote Caeda, if it hasn't been done already. I'm a sucker, so I think I might already have my next promotion planned... well, after Walhart anyways, I'll work on Subaki next, then the trio of Sakura and her retainers will be truly united! Also I managed a better Subaki than the +Spd -Res I had before. This one is +Atk -HP, which no matter the simulation I did brought better results overall than +Spd.

Shigure Rating: 7.5/10 Shigure has speed pulsating from each hoof of his pegasus, and a weapon that can take full advantage of such. While he faces many common problems as a Lance Flier, he can also bring them down if they fail to get the kill on him, which is a very real possibility given how fast he is with decent mixed bulk. Kana Rating: 7.5/10 Kana comes with the tools that make her a potent Enemy Phase threat, and a statline that lets her take advantage of said defenses. She does get compared to other Green Manaketes though, but that doesn't necessarily mean she is the worse of them.

Can I quickly bring up Urðr vs Skuld again? Urðr was put on an Infantry Dancer unit, who at the time was the only known kind of dancer. Skuld is on a Flier Dancer, so it's ability to trigger the +3 to all stat is less restricted by the terrain. Skuld is also a Sword, who these days a number of growing threats can be countered with Triangle Adept on a Red unit.. In that sense, Skuld is better than Urðr. Sorry I have nothing else to say, I kinda quickly skimmed the posts so far, carry on while I catch up.

Can anyone confirm if there's a difference between the original accessory rewards and the EX variants? It might be just me, but they only look a little brighter in their accessory window.

Let's find out! What order did you get yours in? My order, from right (first) to left (last), is Flower Fortune Pin, Damsel's Ribbon, Priest's Miter, and Dancer's Mask.

Low tier...? I guess I have a few of those. The letter rating is from Gamepedia, number rating from Gamepress. Setsuna (Bow B- or 5) She is a Firesweep Bow user. Pretty decent, to. Better than a Brave Bow, anyway. Selena (Sword B or 6) I originally summoned Selena as a 5* from Battling Michalis, along with my Eliwood, and she sucked for a long time. Then I finally got a good nature for her (+Spd -HP), and now she is... well maybe not my best, but she is certainly good now. She better be anyways, I gave her a perfectly good Wo Dao+ and Wrath 3... Female Robin (G.Tome B+ or 6) She's a Ravenadept, and one of the few I believe pulls it off half well.

I forgot to mention it, but if I could rate units by appearance, I'd give Reinhardt and Olwen a -1/10 for not even looking like an alt. The untrained eye could easily mistake Rein and Olwen for their normal counterparts, they just look like their normal forms got hand crap while waking through a breeze. Righteous Olwen Rating: 7/10 Olwen has a better Gronnblade at her disposal called Thunderhead, and with it she can get specials more often than other Bladetomes. Her statspread fortunately works well for a Bladetome user, though her defensive ability is lacking. Nanna Rating: 7.5/10 Nanna comes with the offensive spread necessary to nuke most enemies. While she starts with none of the tools to become a nuke, once she has them, watch out world. She also comes with Restore+, which itself is enough reason to have Nanna around, for it gets rid of pesky debuffs like Panic and Gravity. Lacking in the defensive department may not even matter when you can't be counterattacked in the first place, so just take care to not leave Nanna near the enemy by the time it's their turn to attack.

Bridelia, Micaiah, Bridian, and Skylivia. I took Micaiah because she could have the power to murder some horsies, I took Bridelia because fliers, I took the flying dancers because they could inflict some good buffs on the team. Turns out, Micaiah does have the power to OHKO even the bulkiest of horses. She couldn't OHKO Leo because of refined Brynhildr, but she also didn't take damage from him, so it somewhat balances out.

Ugh... I never look forward to talking about Reinhardt... at least a unit is coming up who I have plenty to say about... Leif Rating: 7.5/10 Leif overall doesn't really stand out among Sword Infantry, but he does have the unique effects of S Drink and Light Brand to back his game up. Doing +7 damage to someone who has foregone their Resistance can really hurt. Meister Reinhardt Rating: 8/10 Reinhardt has deadly mixed phase potential, all because Meistershwert can trigger the Brave effect on either phase. Boost his Attack a little and you will be good to go. But his speed being as horrid as it is means his good defensive spread won't last long with the wrong matchup.

Also of note is that, at least as far as I can recall, characters who tend to be more cartoony in appearance tend to be more commonly depicted with small things like nipples, freckles, zits, even body hair like on the arms or legs, yet the more realistic someone gets, the less and less those features become, until eventually all you get is a body whose only features are how normal it is. To be honest though, I keep thinking back to a scene in Daily Lives of High School Boys, where one of the main characters recalls that he used a razor to try and shave what I assume was nipple hair, and... let's just say he shaved off the nipple hair really well...

Cause if ya got nipples, you're in a hentai. Or females are the ones commonly associated with nips, and breasts are to risque for young Timmy to handle if they even show a little bit of areola, ergo men can't have nipples...? It's weird. Always kinda feels like cartoon dudes are missing nips for an unexplained reason...

Long response is long, please forgive this poor soul who can't keep his mouth shut once he does start talking. Oh, I meant the units who would be receiving the listed skills, not the skill fodder. At least, I assume that's where a miscommunication error occured, because I otherwise don't know why you'd care about the nature of fodder (god that sounds horrible in context). Tharja, Nino, and Cecilia are already 5* with either decent or their best natures. Though when I looked again, I did notice a [+Spd -Res] Soleil. My current Soleil, who's been serving my needs exceptionally (she kills armors with 62 Atk and Swift Sparrow), is [+Atk -Res]. Otherwise, as a general response to your comments on units who would prefer a different nature... while I can certainly act on such one day, I also usually like to ensure that, if a mistake such as the nature of a unit is made, said unit would one day be able to receive merge levels as a sort of compensation for being crummy. One example would be my Lilina, who used to be no more than a 5* pity breaker with a bad nature until I gave her the [+Atk -Spd] she has now (it was the best Lilina I had managed in a while at the time). So while I might be able to act on those comments one day, it'll be a little far off into the future before I do. I really need to go back to many of my earlier sessions of doing this actually, I may gleam a bit of hidden knowledge I didn't notice at the time... Right now that isn't an option for me (no Distant Counter fodder), but also of note is that I haven't given any of my major Armor units Ward Armor yet. It's not like I can't, I have like 5 or 6 fodderable Draug, but as of now I've yet to really field more than one Armor per AA battle. I honestly don't see it as overkill though, since neutral Res Gwendy with Berkut's Lance triggered is only 35 Res, which doesn't really soak up that much magic. My own opinion though. I will not argue this point. Process of elimination, Kagero feels lowest priority since Poison Dagger on top of Kagero's Attack is still only like 40 Attack before A Passives are applied, which... isn't bad but also units these days REALLY like both Speed stacking, Defense stacking, and Distant Counter, so... Caeda and Clair, while I don't dispute their effective damage, they're both also a little Attack impaired (though I do also have this Hinoka lying around who exists solely to make sure any fliers who need a Hone Fliers boost can get a Hone Fliers boost). Of the two, Clair feels lower priority due to the abundance of Green Armors per AA team compared to Red Armors. Titania and Subaki would both serve well making sure I have a form of defense against their respective color advantages, while Hana would be a very raw power Armor killer... and Tobin to I guess... As for other units with effective weapons or Triangle Adept... well, I do have this [+Spd -Def] Sully who I didn't mention because I otherwise don't hold too high opinions of her. I also have Narcian, [+Atk -Def] Raigh, and [+Spd -Def] Mathilda, but none of them feel amazing enough to warrant giving a promotion to. I could give a list of competition each unit would have (L'arachel would be my only Blarblade user among my Blue Mage Cavs, but I still have Blarblade on F!Morgan and BB!Caeda, also Reinhardt) (Abel doesn't necessarily fill an empty niche. I do have Brave Lancers, he'd just be one of my better Lance Cavs), but none of the units I listed have much competition in the roles they would serve, besides the two you mentioned. At least, no competition that feels necessary to dispute. It's an issue of my own morals. Not having the max level skill, even if the 2nd level of the skill is technically better or more reasonable, bothers me a lot. I only have QR2 on one unit, my Adult Tiki, and seeing QR2 on her, then QR3 on the Young Tiki right next to her, really bugs me... I certainly do not doubt this, but... let's just say my Bridelia has a firm hold on the Brash Assault seal right now, which is to say she has NEVER unequipped or replaced that seal since she got it. It probably smells of blood by now...

I am closing in on the legendary "20k feathers for a 5* promotion", and to be honest I thought I knew what I was gonna use it on, but... I kinda hit a standstill... Here's the dilemma: My goal in the game is to have a large Quantity of 5* units. I don't worry so much over the units Quality, because I have enough units with enough quality to achieve everything I need to do (some healer nukes, some flying bladetomes, Reinhardt, a bunch of dancers, etc). I don't strive to stay in Tier 20, I'm perfectly okay hovering even in Tier 18. I don't care that much about the loss of 1.2k feathers, it's the Orbs I care more about maintaining. However, I do also have a sense of keeping up unit Quality, and a number of the units I have for promotion either have great potential, or they have a better nature than the 5* version I have of them. Some of them I even already have at 5*, albeit with a bad nature. There's also the issue of Skill Inheritance, because a lot of my units do need some skills, notably Quick Riposte. Hence why I'm here and about to wall of text this thread yet again. Man I'm glad there's a spoiler function... Please note, I don't have the feathers needed now. I would anticipate getting them once this Arena week ends, maybe sooner if I get impatient and clear a bunch of Chain Challenges. As such, there is plenty of time to convince me, stop me from doing something stupid, etc etc.

Probably? I don't really know, there's also the issue of certain Stance skills not sharing the same name as their Blow counterpart (Kestrel, Steady, and Death are the ones I can remember immediately). Heh heh shackled to Jakob Well of course, for Olivia is free to dance in the skies from Nifl to Muspell, while Jakob is still trying to leave the castle doorsteps. It only makes sense for the passive skills they introduce to match

Now that I've looked again, it took a whole year and a half for us to finally get a name for the effect of "Def/Res +2 when being attacked" that's been in the game since launch. It's called Bracing Stance, and of course it was put on a unit who barely has any bulk to take advantage of it.

And I got Sky-High Dancer Olivia. The one time I don't want a Flying Dancer all that badly, AND I GET A FREAKING FLYING DANCER. She, like my other Flying Dancers actually, is +Atk -Def... interesting how all my Flying Dancers are +Atk -Def... I'm gonna have to call it on this banner. Not because I'm satisfied, far from it I want Maribelle so badly, but I've only pulled from this banner three times, and they've all been 3 Red, 1 Colorless, and one Blue. Even if I don't really need Libra that badly, I'd at least like to see that small sense of "oh god I might get broken by Libra this time". I don't wanna always be thinking "Welp, guess I have a chance of getting Olivia this time", especially now that... well, now that I have Olivia.

I dunno about that... even if Reprisal Lance +Def provides mixed phase Defense, it remains slightly weaker on player phase, plus Shiro is already bulky enough to not care about an extra 5 hp. I guess it's all in the eyes of the beholder though...

Male Morgan Rating: 7/10 With access to a good buffing weapon and a good offensive spread, Morgan has the tools one would ask for out of an offensive mage. Lacking in the defensive department though, so it goes without saying that Morgan needs to be worked around a little bit. Female Morgan Rating: 7.5/10 Morgan has potential as a magical tank, and can run with Blarblade should the need arise. While she isn't able to do anything about her horrid Defense, she can still keep a number of mages in check with just her base kit alone.

Hm... Well, guess my question is invalid now. Now I have to wonder something else... maybe if the extra character gifts will be taking up the SS slots, or if we're gonna start getting Accessories as TT rewards...