Xenomata

...so I may have wrote that decription up there BEFORE clearing this map. Walhart overpowered Dazzling debuff blah blah blah, nothing I haven't shown many times before already. Nina got a new bow! I also decided to Ascend her because frankly I use her so often it seems criminal not to at this point. I can already tell I'm gonna LOVE the Whitecap Bow. Adrift Camilla... to be fair I picked her mostly because I knew I would be needing some serious Red Magic firepower, but it somehow feels wrong to have her specifically be the killer of her own brother... As for Fallen Ninian... to be honest, I mostly picked her because I thought I would be using her alongside Walhart's Galeforce, but all she really did in practice is lay down Cross Spur Atk and mildly modify when Camilla's special triggers were. (note: if you say something nice about my clear, THANK YOU but I also don't know what to say in response, so... I just opt not to say anything. Sorry >.<)

From Fire Emblem Fates, the eldest Nohrian son sports high Atk and Spd, good Def, and quite low Res... which to be fair is pretty accurate, but he packs advantages to make even the toughest foes put in the work to fell him: If he begins his phase near two allies, he gains the effects of [Null Follow-Up] and accelerated special charge. If he initiates combat or is near an ally he gets all stats +5 and post-combat HP recovery. If his opponents HP is over 50% he inflicts Atk/Spd/Def -5 on them. He gains damage reduction based on half the percentage of his foes remaining HP, up to 50% when the enemy is at full health. He gets Canto (Rem +1). So... yeah you'll be putting in some work to put him down. He who has embraced the dark he calls home, he who has gazed upon the empty white throne, who has fought the legacy of lies, against the familiar disguise... that is your foe. [enemy stats here]

Screweth thou rules, I have Chivalry I know it's usually the preferred effect, but I really can't help but feel like the Slaying effect is... almost overused at this point? Xander is getting an effective all stat +10 between his two prf skills, post-combat healing, max 50% damage reduction, plus the NFU bonus effect and accelerated special charge if he is near at least 2 allies at the start of player phase... Having Xander would be good, only thing is... frankly, the double special heroes and summer banners going on right now are pretty good. Not an issue of Xander, an issue of everyone around him... As for the other units: Reginn and LegSigurd are both good units, though two issues with Red: Reginn was free, and Lif is... mmm... not the best in my opinion... Ullr and Nott. Ullr could be frightening ESPECIALLY now that she can use a conditional Brave weapon that doesn't hurt her Atk or Spd in any way. Nott remains annoying to deal with in Aether Raids (or rather the units she enables remain annoying...) Meanwhile, Ascended Ishtar exists... wonder why I haven't seen more of her since her release? ...wait have I seen her after her release? I legit can't remember... With Green being the focus color, I would have expected slightly better... it's honestly just Freya bringing it down for me though. I feel she could just be slightly better than she currently is... Eitri is still good though. Hard to say good about August when some of his effects are locked behind a condition that is actively disabled in specific game modes... Niime is almost purely fodder. Leif remains a pretty good unit, though the fact he might be waiting in line for a remix is... frightening.

Just gonna go through each of them: There's really not much good to say about the Askr trio. Alphonse is slow but physically strong, Anna is weak but fast and resiliant, and Sharena is more balanced, but all 3 are significantly weaker than other units in the same unit categories, even among the 3*/4* summoning pool and grail units. They're who you use as bonus units if you literally can't use any of the other offered bonus units, or you're using them in quests that demand their specific usage. They can't get merges for extra stats or to cover up a stat flaw either. Unfortunately there's really not that many ways you could build them for "support" either, since there's not many Swords, Lances, or Axes that offer purely support effects, and the ones that do exist are seasonal. Anna is the closest you can get to utilizing support, but only because her refined weapon can let her teleport to use an assist skill. Fjorm can at least be used for Ranged tanking, though she is considerably weaker in that regard compared to... basically any Far Save armor, including her own Ascended alt. Eir can be built for support in mind. Give her Res-boosting passives and a Res-refined Temari+ and she can provide Sabotage Atk/Spd coverage on top of her existing start-of-turn heals and Res+5 map-wide boost. Otherwise you are looking at her being primarily a magic tank. Peony is a dancer. Trying to get kills with her would be time better spent dancing someone who is far more likely to get the kill. Reginn comes with most of what she already wants as a player-phase Sword Cav. You'd be weakening her significantly by trying to build her with Support in mind. Ashe already has a great support effect in her prf C passive. A positioning assist on her would really only be for getting an already used unit out of the way. As stated by Xray, if you want to use any of the above in the Arena they really only need a Duel skill just to ensure their score is boosted (Peony already comes with B Duel Flying). Peony, Reginn, and Ashe already come with most all of the skills they could possibly need for their intended uses. Eir's A and B passives could be changed depending on how you want to use her, but otherwise she is solid out of the box as well. Fjorm comes with everything she wants post remix down to having two different A passives... it's really just the Askr trio who are the main issues, but after a point you should wind up only using them for quests, at which point they only need to be built to handle specific enemies.

5 of the participants are Grail units. That is... frankly quite a few more than some other gauntlets. ...can't say I'm particularly aiming to side with any one unit. Maybe I'll just roll a dice on this one...

I know Eldigan would be worse with it than Ares, but between refined Dark Mystletainn and refined Mystletainn, is there any reason to go for the latter? All it is is Slaying and Fury 3, which yes can lead to severely inflated-looking stats with a total Fury 10, but that'd be all it does otherwise (and the post-combat damage... yeesh...), meanwhile with the former Eldigan would just be a worse Ares (which in this case is a moot point because I already +10ed Eldigan) Thoughts?

I wonder why none of the Resplendent Hel units show their bones like Lif, Thrasir , and Hel do...? Karla looks good (I'm with @Fire Emblem Fan though Karla's face looks off... maybe cuz she's smiling?) and her weapon is good post-refine... no reason not to sub for her, methinks.

@jameslove001 Muspell is a good unit to have for support, as his prf C passive adds 30% of the difference between players Atk and foes Res. He himself can also be good for offense, but I primaril use him for the Domain of Fire. LegIke is capable of being good after his refine and remix, but I cannot comment otherwise. Speaking from experience, Keaton is able to be a strong EP Brave unit, but he doesn't have much else to his name. He should be among the next units to receive a refine unless they decide to skip him for some stupid reason. Elincia isn't exactly the greatest speedy-Brave unit, especially considering she came long before speed-boosting Brave weapons came after her time, but she can still be made good. I personally use Reginn as a one-time nuker. She's mostly only used in Aether Raids. Olivia is a dancer. Not much to say there, as she is unlikely to ever receive a refine. I don't think there's that many "supportive" swords aside from Geishun+ either...? Xander isn't exactly the most amazing defensive DC unit, but being a grail unit with a pretty good refine does have its appeal. Cannot comment on Palla. Having a TA prf weapon might have merit somewhere, but I wouldn't know otherwise. Anamnesis Eirika doesn't really have much going in her favor. The statups she gets from her refined Prf weapon are certainly higher in total than what inheritable Red tomes can offer her, but she still gets higher offenses from running a Bladetome... Siegbert may not be the strongest Sword Cav in the game, but he is still pretty good with what he does have. Cannot comment on Brave Dimitri. It is possible to make him into a high Spd/Def unit nigh on impossible to kill, but that's only from what I've seen others doing. What's to say about Reinhardt, he's still able to be good. Unlikely to ever get a refine unfortunately. Olwen is just a worse Reinhardt. Peony is a dancer. The refine given to Flame Siegmund gives Ephraim the ability to be a worse Infantry version of his Brave form, which may be worth looking into. Ninian is a dancer. Summer Elincia was just released, so as of typing her potential is limited until she can be added to the grail shop. She has a good inheritable weapon though. Fjorm I cannot comment on. Ishtar is able to run Windsweep or Watersweep with her refined Mjolnir, which may be worth taking a look at. I think she is worth looking at thanks to her refine. Dagr's Pathfinder effect might be hard to take advantage of in some cases, but damn if it doesn't work well when it works. Dagr herself is good as well, though I'm not personally a fan of penalty-reversing effects (not always guaranteed to be in effect) Astrid is purely a support unit with an alright offensive statline when called for. Granting [Bonus Doubler] and +1 movement is great. Kana isn't exactly the most amazing Green Dragon anymore, but she's not bad per-say. She's just outclassed. There is nothing to say about Summer Dimitri. There is no reason not to use him, he has so many advantages. I assume you mean Brave Marianne? She has a good Prf assist, I find it has its best use when targeting a unit who is able to Teleport, especially if they're a proper dancer. Joshua is a good unit, very fast and can choose between Firesweep or extra damage. Just be sure you know what you're doing when choosing between the two, since it's reliant on Joshua's position in relation to the enemy. Yuri is Yuri. If you aren't using him, USE HIM. ...I hate saying this because I do like her, but Bride Cordelia doesn't seem easy to build up to be good these days. She has the advantage of being an infantry v1 unit, meaning she can get +20 dragonflower levels, but being a seasonal unit means you can't summon more of her whenever you want, so no access to other asset/flaw combos without using trait fruits and no extra merges to patch her stats up. She also has direct competition with the easier to obtain and build Young Innes, who also gets a powerful Prf weapon. Summer Micaiah relies on her Res being higher than the enemies, which should hopefully not be a problem in most cases, ergo she is powerful and you have no reason not to use her. It is also worth noting that Micaiah is only good at receiving magical attacks, her Def is garbage, and generally you'd much rather be attacking with her on player phase anyway.

Is it bad I completely blanked on who all the HoF units are? Even within the context of Heroes, I completely forgot who they were.

A +1m +Spd Claude hits 53spd with just his weapon alone, and thanks to Falling Star he doesn't need to worry about counterattacks unless the enemy is using an effect to disable that damage reduction. As a result, Spd building him may be ideal. On the other hand, he's still quite fast at +1m +Atk, hitting 49 Spd with his weapon alone (48 if the base asset/flaw is +Atk -Spd) and he can still be built up with Atk/Spd stacking to remain faster than a good majority of units. He fortunately also doesn't need his Spd to grant his conditional Brave effect, and Atk tends to be more valuable to Brave units than Spd... I personally will be running with +Spd just to be sure he gets follow-ups.

Interesting that Assault Troop is only locked to Sword/Lance/Axe units... especially considering that Armor units are really the only ones who see any actual benefit from it. Infantry and Fliers both already have 2 move and have other movement-increasing options available, and Cav units just HAVE 3 move. I... honestly can't think of any good reason why Assault Troop belongs on a non-Armor unit...

Personally I use the dark skinned ambiguously gendered person on the left. Looks juuuust enough like me. ...we need more Smash Bros references in Heroes. MY KOKOROOOOO-ghk *thud*

It's +4 true damage per hit. If a follow-up is allowed (which in most cases is a pretty big IF), that's only 12 damage total, assuming the enemy is so bulky that the Ninja Yumi user can't deal any damage otherwise.

Conditional Brave effect, Atk/Spd +5 if unit is healthy, same weapon might as regular bows, no negative side effects otherwise, and it's inheritable from a grail unit... Welp. friendship with Ninja Yumi has ended, new best friend is Whitecap Bow. Hope Elincia doesn't mind me not +10ing her.

That's the same as the Gambit from Three Houses, as far as I can tell. Huh... wonder how other Gambits would get adapted to Heroes...

So every summonable unit here was a Legendary unit in the past, and they each come with their Prf B passives as well as a Prf weapon that has an effect that triggers a Brave effect (with Micaiah also getting her Prf Assist) Dimitri's Brave effect is triggered if his Spd is at least 10 higher than the enemy, or if the enemy has a Bonus active. His Spd being higher shouldn't be an issue, given he can be 26 points above his enemy if he targets the victim of his Menace skill. He's also doing a LOT of damage per hit thanks to Atrocity's bonus damage effect... If Micaiah's Res minus her foes Res is between 5 and 14, she makes a guaranteed follow-up attack. Higher than 15, it becomes a Brave effect instead. (see Harmonic Lysithea) By default she gains an effective +20 Res in combat if all effects are triggered, so she shouldn't have any problems at least getting the guaranteed follow-up. If Claude initiates and the total bonuses on himself + total penalties on the enemy is at least 12, that becomes his Brave effect. That, plus [Canto Rem.], slaying effect, and Atk/Spd +6, AND Fallen Star... he is a dangerous unit to leave as the demote... Edelgard is an Armor unit, but she also has the new Charge effect to let her move up to 3 spaces in cardinal directions... and her Brave effect is triggered by the number of enemies within 3 columns or 3 rows of herself, dependent on the number of enemies remaining. She is... frankly dangerous. Hm... Elincia is the odd one out right now, never having a Legendary alt yet, ergo no Prf passive to call her own... she might not even have a Prf weapon, but then what would the effect of that weapon be...? ...well this banner is utter bullshit. I'm getting sick of how spoiled Three Houses has become...

...what the... Claude is the demote, but his default skills are still good? I mean yes he has very few fodder skills, but Spd/Def Rein on a demote unit? But also let me emphasize, CLAUDE is the demote? CLAUDE???

Can't say I'm surprised... like, at all. Wow, Rhea came close. Probably would have had a few more votes if I... ahem... remembered to vote... Ashe wouldn't have been a bad freebie. ...okay Yuri's inevitable appearance in the rerun banner aside... BoyByleth was literally given out to people FOR FREE if they owned and registered FE Three Houses to their Nintendo account for a whole year after his release. How did he still get 4th place...? Christmas Bernie wouldn't have been bad. She does have a unique start-of-turn effect, if nothing else. Hapi wouldn't have been a bad freebie. FemByleth would have been... about the same as BoyByleth I guess, but not free and with slightly different skill fodder. Marianne would not have been that bad. Gatekeeper at this point only has fodder to his name, now that Limstella is basically a better and, more importantly, free and easy to merge Gatekeeper (hell the one drawback to them is moot if you benefit from taking all that damage in) ...Summer Mercedes? She wouldn't have been that great if she were somehow the freebie, so I guess this was more a favoritism pick...? Welp, any freebie is a good freebie, so no complaints here.

It's like they aren't even trying anymore... sure, take one of the more recognizable boys from the latest and apparently super popular FE game, and also the like one girl who almost always has a bird in her artworks, and make them the silhouette characters. If I were to guess, Sothe might also make an appearance. Lysithea is the only Golden Deer girl not on a Summer banner yet, so maybe they'd want her on as well?

...who was it that always used Matthew? Are they still playing? I'd want to see their opinion on Matthew's art and small boost in stats. Anyway glad I have nothing huge to miss out on for at least one Resplendent Hero cycle. I don't use Matthew and don't really think I could make him work effectively.

That is... really not my playstyle at all. I'm generally performing my team-building in the moment, and in those moments I tend to prefer heavy PP with Save backup as needed. Hell my Astra AR-O team is literally the two Ninja Duo units and Duo Azura going full nuke on the enemy team. And in that regard, there's really not that many universally applicable PP units that I can have that many teams locked in... In that regard I would have much preferred a PP Flora refine, but as it stands Naesala winds up being the one I'm most inclined to go after (which honestly there's no reason not to, he may as well have a Silver Weapon+ for all the good his base weapon does...)

Thoughts from don't care to care a lot: Saehrimnir: Well... can't say I wasn't expecting defensive effects. I'm not even that disappointed, I just wish they remembered the days of Player Phase armor units... when was the last time Bold Fighter was even on a unit where it wasn't immediately replaced? Covert Cat Fang: Uh... couldn't help but notice they totally ignored the support effects. Oh wait nevermind, they increased the bonuses given and the range by +1. Anyway, he gets all stat +8, unitNFU, and true damage based on the number of allies nearby (up to +15), which is overall good. Kriemhild: The base effect is just straightup Distant Counter if near an ally, and the refine is stupidly simple... but then it still does the job it needs to do. Plus this frees up the B/SS slots for other skills. It's just a simple refine all things considered Wolfpup Fang: Atk/Spd +10 when all conditions are met. That's cool and all, but the thing I was hoping for was Velouria providing more support to her ally, and... well, they delivered. Atk/Spd buffs, Enemy buff ignoring, and the continued existence of the Special Charge Count at the start of battle makes Veloria solid as a support ally. Raven King Beak: So @Diovani Bressan was right about it only being 15% Spd, but when Naesala can go well over 60 Spd if invested in, that's not the biggest deal out there. He also gets playerNFU and Flashing Blade effects if his Spd is higher, which is great. Might not have amazing synergy with Galeforce considering he's still a bit of a noodle when taking hits and no Slaying effect on his base weapon, but it's certainly easier to do than before. Ugh... all these great refines for speedy units, but I've long ago run out of sacred seals with Spd-boosting effects for the purpose of Arena Assault... it's pretty much just the small stat boosters left.

@Humanoid If you have Fallen Lilith, she wouldn't be a bad option at all: they both provide effects to their support partners (adding up to Special Charge Count -2 at turn 1, Atk/Spd +6 field buff, ignoring enemy bonuses, and the NFU bonus effect) and Lilith can even teleport near Velouria.

... ... ... ... ...sigh...

Weird, they started with the Ascended Hero this time... even if it's Letizia & More, I feel like Florina should have at least been 3rd... ah whatever. I'm... trying to understand Florina's Guidance effect... if her HP is less than 60%, allies can move to a space adjacent to her, but separate from that, allies can move to any space within 2 spaces of her...? So if her HP is low then she has a WoM effect that lets everyone teleport near her, but otherwise she has the same Guidance effect as Summer Tana and Ashe's Prf skill? ...it'll probably make more sense to me in practice than in words. A shame the rest of her kit is SO UTTERLY BORING AND LAME. If you're going to make her a unit who actually wants her HP to drop, give her Fury 4 you cowards ASpush4 is just boring at this point! Yes Spd/Def Far Trace is new, but that's still just a variant of an existing skill effect... Hmm... Jolly Jade Lance actually looks pretty good, at least as far as unique effects go (relying on a Rally means he doesn't compromise unit placement for the sake of getting an additional action, unlike Future Vision and To Change Fate.) SDcatch4 could maybe be slotted in for Heavy Blade on a Galeforce build. Flow Refresh is now entering the normal summoning pool as well. Ah good, glad I won't have to keep using 5* units just to put ASbond3 on units for the sake of learning ASunity! ...ASbond is the demote skill, right...? Letizia isn't anything we haven't seen before, Rouse Atk/Res is new I guess. ...hold up, why she got a red glow in her eyes...