Xenomata

And the winner is... Frederick! ...and that's game, g'night see you at the next voting gauntlet.

In order of don't care to really care: Imhullu's base effect was upgraded by a whole extra 2 damage when triggered. Fantastic. When refined, Gharnef gets a total of Atk/Spd +10 through Blow/Solo/Healthy triggers, and against non-magic foes reduces damage taken by 30% and prevents all counterattacks. Given his surprisingly fast nature this does help his direct combat performance, and having an almost full Sweep effect is nice. Just... kind of a shame the original effect's trigger area has not changed at all... and also still doesn't make me want to use him. Eldhrimnir's base effect additionally targets Def and has had its Res comparison made more lenient. She also gets extra stats plus enemy-NFU if foe initiates, and first-hit damage reduction if her Res is higher. Her base Res is... still only 35 neutral... but maybe that's just enough? It's not like many PP units have amazing Res as-is... Weird... I know Ilian Pegasus Knights are mostly mercenaries, but Thea really went all-in on demanding Dragonflowers. 10 uses to get the Atk/Def bonus is 1,200 flowers total... even Farina only asks for 5, and Thea isn't even recruited by gold. ...well anyway, she gets a total of all stat +9, Guard, and Bonus Doubler effect if foe initiates and she is within 3 spaces of an ally. Pretty good as a 4* unit, just kind of a lot of flowers to demand... Kaden gets Atk/Spd +10 if he is within 3 spaces of an ally. I think it's pretty rare for a weapon's base effect and special refine to have exact matching trigger conditions? I don't really feel like double checking to make sure, but that's not the focus here. With Some Jerk's note in mind, Kaden's ally support game has not changed much, only getting a minor upgrade of Def/Res +2 and Guard. That may be enough considering he can act as a Save beacon and provide the Guard effect so many Save units carry in their Stance skills, freeing their A slots for other A passives. Just give two Save armors the Rally+ combination to fully boost Kaden's stats and he's good to go (as long as Panic isn't around) Demonic Breath now also triggers if the foe initiates combat. The Special Refine also calls to the weapons from the To Stay Dreaming dancer banner. 70% damage reduction is rough, but that it's only on their first hit could be troublesome if they trigger their special later on... Ugh... Duma, you had one expectation from me, and you didn't meet it... Well the effect itself is easier to trigger, and the special refine is a slightly stronger Dragon's Wrath in addition to an Atk buff/debuff. I guess Fury 4 helps, but I'd still rather keep Distant Counter on him. When combined with Upheavel+, the effect always triggers regardless of enemy Atk and he ignores enemy bonuses. I wonder if Mila's remix, if it ever comes, will get an effect that lets her heal her allies, to counter Duma...?

Well as long as you don't mind more spoilers,

So... the final battle is Jagen vs Frederick... the original Veteran and his distant successor. ...

Well... I guess that answers how they'd handle an Ascended Fallen Hero: there isn't one. Also Tier 4 Smoke skills... Hoo, they look like something all right. My analysis was a little bigger than I intended to make it: So... it goes without saying that all 4 units are, as always with these Fallen banners, completely and utterly stacked. Muarim is in a good spot to be the most recent "worth using Grails on" grail unit. I'm not super-attached to any one unit in particular, maybe I'll target Ninian since she does have a very strong Dance on her side, though it will be weird for Gustav to have once been an important character in the story just to then appear in a Book VI map... totally normal. Gonna be an awkward Forging Bonds, that's for sure... unless they put Muarim in instead.

To be fair I do kinda get that these days you don't technically need to fully invest in a unit just to clear content, but A. I spoil my favorite units (or in some cases those who just happened to be summoned a bunch), and B. there is no B, that's about it really.

I assume this is in response to my Boey comment, but apparently my words were turned into Ice Dragon's comment directly above it? Very confusing... There's certainly more than a few units in the 3*/4* pool who could handle popular Save teams, especially considering those teams completely fall apart if you just don't attack them on PP. Boey being one example able to tank physical Blue and Colorless threats specifically is worth mentioning (and now that I think about it Brave Hector is still pretty popular), a built Silas could deal effective damage and absorb hits from physical armors, Seliph has access to two different refines to fit the situation, Pain+ staff units... it's not perfect obviously, but it's certainly still possible if it's all you can access. It's hard to say for certain as an outsider, like I said I don't claim to understand those kinda of players. Maybe they think it's worth it to only be summoning on the absolute best banners, and maybe that's just where all their SI resources come from.

If the problem is specifically Hegemon... I mean, Boey exists. Raventome prf with a melee/physical conditional Close Counter, give him TA3 and QR3 (or even just QR2) and Hegemon can't do a whole lot to him, while he can do a fair bit to her. Merge him up for the best results, dragonflowers optional. I'm sure he could get better results with more expensive skills, Pulse Smoke specifically comes to mind, and some outside team support from units like Picnic Genny, Winter Sephiran, Flayn, or Elimine, but I'm just listing the bare minimum you would need to specifically counter Hegemon using Boey. It's not a perfect end-all counter to everything of course, but he works and he's a 3*/4* unit. If you're just doing regular summoning then yes, and with the 4* special pool existing it's even theoretically possible to eventually get Faye at any time as long as you aren't avoiding Colorless orbs. It may, however, become a problem for players who are literally not spending ANY orbs, which a F2P player is more likely to do in order to be ready for getting the strongest units. I am not F2P at all so I wouldn't know what their mindset is, nor do I claim to try and understand, but I can very easily see that being a big reason as to why so many people do not yet have even Year 1 units still. Those people in New Heroes threads who say "skipping this banner" are legitimately skipping the banner, ergo no summons outside of the max 5 freebies given.

I'd hate to point this out again, but as far as Firesweep weapons go Faye does not have the only one. Both Roderick and Soleil have inheritable Firesweep weapons in the 3*/4* pool, on top of Prf versions of both (with Soleil even having a good refine with Atk/Spd +5 and Special Charge boost), and if the only goal is to have one or two Firesweep chippers you do not need to be using a Firesweep Bow specifically. Yes it is the "better" option if your goal is safely chipping away, but there's still ways to work around it. I understand that not everyone has Faye (or is likely to buy her Resplendent), but the same cannot possibly be said about Roddy or Soleil.

That meaning Firesweep Bow and two stacks of Poison Strike, right? Maybe with Fatal Smoke added in to make sure the health lost can't be recovered? In fairness though, it's not like Firesweep Bow was common like FSlance or FSsword are. It remains locked to Faye, a 5* unit who is now in the 4* special summon pool and, in a weeks time, as a Resplendent freebie. Your best option to get a FSbow, should your luck be that awful to not have seen it for 5 years, would be to get it on a Forma unit (like the currently running Python) if you didn't just say screw it and run with a melee FS weapon instead (which may even be preferred to some as Ascended Fjorm exists) ...I don't like that you're implying people don't use the one unit type that ruins literally anyone not running Null C-Disrupt.

I did forget that she was in the DC2 path, but I also didn't go through her path, and I only have the DC2s to get Lachesis. So if I wanted to go further, I would be dipping into 3.6k DC3s that I do not have yet (only at 762 right now) That seems almost criminal when the manuals available in DC3 are good at every level, compared to the remaining Osian and Fallen Mareeta whose passives I don't really have anyone who wants them right now, plus Ethlyn who is the target. Not to totally disregard the option though... not like I'm gunning for any particular skills in DC3 right now...

I summoned Rennac a while back. +Spd -Atk. Not bad. But... I have two issues. One, I do not really NEED him, he's got an alright kit but his fodder skills are a little too valuable to pass up, and in terms of Sacred Stones units I've got enough good PP ones that I don't think I'd need his specific talents. (Spring Marisa, Young Innes, Asc.Joshua, and Duo Lysithea/Lute specifically, possibly with Anamnesis Eirika if I can be bothered to build her better) And Two, there is a very specific unit from Binding Blade, a game where my currently available PP options are not as numerous as I'd like them to be (currently just LegLilina and Bride Catria/Thea, with an unbuilt Brave Roy and Bride Shanna I don't use very often), who shares Rennac's exact unit type of Infantry Green Dagger, a very similar offensive stat spread down to similar superboons, but is in the 4 star pool and therefore is much much MUCH easier to merge up, and who... also happens to sing the FE theme song but with a few "creative liberties" taken in regards to the lyrics in one of their tap quotes, so... yeah. There's a fair bit to weigh me toward giving Cath Rennac's skills, especially considering I already plan to build her up at some point, but there is one other thing to note: I have a Dancer Ethlyn that I've been keeping in the reserve barracks because I flat out do not use or need her. I have enough Genealogy dancers as-is, her asset/flaw sucks, her gimmick of being a Dancer with a PP presence just doesn't vibe with my playstyle, and she's largely just taking up room. Plus she has Windsweep AND Joint Drive Spd on top of Courtly Fan, giving Cath almost all of the skills she wants in one go (as long as I'm willing to sack a Pirate Lifis for her, which I am more than willing), compared to Rennac having just Vicious Dagger and ASsolo4 (which isn't bad by any means) for a unit I do not intend to take into AR. So... for the sake of giving Cath a weapon with Atk/Spd +5 and playerNFU, who should go: Rennac (who I don't see needing very often especially after Cath is built) or Dancer Ethlyn (who to be fair is a Dancer but I literally never use)?

Because this event is bullshit and predicting who will win is stupid, but it's also like 12 free orbs and some limited time Divine Codes so may as well just pick the one who you like and just do what's required of you so you can go back to bed?

...maybe I'll bring the old Freddy out of the reserve barracks for the first time in a while and support him against my better judgement...

I don't remember if I said this before or I just thought it, but I feel like Surtr is more likely to get the Legendary/Remix treatment than a regular Refine, given that he: Has an outdated Prf weapon (Threaten Health was a lot scarier when... actually nevermind I don't ever remember being scared by it, not when Reposition has always existed, and even now Canto seems to be on every other unit who is already more than able to surpass Surtr's defenses. Like Ice Dragon said, better under Player control) Has an outdated Prf C Passive (see above, though then again Surtr's Portent feels just as lacking when taking the current meta into account) Outdated skill set (having one of the first Tier 4 passives is... showing its age, and Wary Fighter could stand to be something else. Bonfire is what it is) Though there is also the factor that Surtr is... not a young cute/hot chick... or cute loli... or milf-y woman... THAT IS TO SAY HE PROBABLY DOESN'T HAVE MUCH OF A FANBASE THAT WOULD CARE ENOUGH TO WANT TO SUMMON HIM.

The refines I care about this time... Idunn, Kaden, and Duma. Thea sort of as well, but only because I somehow have her merged up to +5 off just 5* summons so it wouldn't be too hard to get her to the max if I really wanted to. Kaden I wonder if he'll get a way to grant himself and allies Null Panic. Spectrum Link would be nice, he'll probably get some in-combat boost from having a bonus. I hope Duma switches the +himself to a -foe and that'll already be a great upgrade. Maybe a version of Dragon Wall that compares current HP totals...? I don't wanna guess Idunn, I just hope she compares favorably to her other alts. Built in Save would be the dream though... Icy Maltet will probably be boosting all of Thea's stats if foe initiates or someone has a certain HP threshold.

Personally I keep at least one of every Mythic hero regardless of how good they are or how much I like them (and I barely care about half of them) if only so I always have a bonus unit for each week without losing out on the mythic stat bonuses. Hel herself really only has pseudo-Miracle and Spectrum Rein to her name. Defensively that could be enough, but compared to many other defensive units she does not have enough to her game to really be used outside of AR, especially when better defensive units can be found in the 4* pool alone. ]I also wouldn't use her as SI fodder regardless. Distant Counter is certainly still valued but there are other units you could use to get it that aren't as rare as Hel (Hector immediately comes to mind), and Guard Bearing I feel isn't valuable enough to most defensive fliers either.

Roy's our boy. I was just doing some summoning and... kinda impulsively decided to get the last two copies of Brave Roy needed to +10 him. I'll refine his weapon at some later point. As for Roy... I kinda talked about it when showing Cain, but it's also worth noting that Roy was my first 5* unit... at all. So he has a sort of special place in the barracks in that regard, which is also partly why I prefer his normal outfit over the Resplendent alt: it's just what I'm used to seeing on him. Kinda felt like he waited long enough to get the same treatment many of my older units have received so far. I intend to inherit Distant Stance to him hopefully the next time Legendary Fae is available. ...why yes I did mass release a ton of manuals and spent almost all my celestial stones on Dragonflowers for Roy. I'LL GO FURTHER, WHICH STAT DO YOU WANT ASCENDED MAH BOI???

I just checked, and the only part of their animations that looked any similar is when they are firing their breaths, though only the actual firing of it not even preparing to. https://imgur.com/m3YedR9

I feel like any run that didn't involve Marth and Tiki would have been meaningless, so how to build the rest of the team... I feel like it's kind of obvious what everyone was doing. Marth was the driving force of everything, Tiki took hits from the Clerics to absorb their effects without Marth getting inflicted at unideal times (especially where the Flash cleric was involved), and Walhart inflicted his own Flash on the enemies to let Marth safely initiate on the ones he couldn't take out in a single hit, especially Medeus himself. I don't know if Azura specifically needed to be used, but I'm sure as heck not going back in to find out.

Please tell me what parts of the left are supposed to be similar to the right, because me and Ice Dragon do not see it.

The original Final Boss of all of the Archanea games, Medeus the Shadow Dragon renders any attempts at using skills like Poison Strike and Savage Blow meaningless, makes it very hard for enemies to damage him, and Assured Rebirth greatly reduces incoming damage with two different conditions added together (one with a Dragon Wall effect and another by checking for nearby Dragon or Staff allies) and guarantees him a follow-up attack if his Res is higher, which you are very unlikely to match. Watch out when attacking him with allies with the Canto effect, as Canto Control is also in effect around him. This is a map where magic is king and you are the dirt: pretty much every enemy is either a Manakete, Fafnir, or Cleric. There is no need to save the maidens on this map, so go all out and bring down Dohlr once and for all! Abyssal Map [abyssal unit stats go here]

The original Final Boss is here, eh...? Atk/Res -6 and Follow-Up Denial on the foe for his weapons in-combat effects isn't the most new thing. En Garde is certainly new however... that could make dealing with numerous threats even harder now that that effect exists to make chipping them down impossible. Seriously, where is the effect that removes all bonuses currently granted to the enemy... Assured Rebirth coming with an automatic follow-up and two different forms of damage reduction, one in Dragon Wall the other dependent on nearby Staff and Dragon allies, all based on a Res comparison will certainly make taking him down even harder than ever... Guess this is why the Falchion exists, eh? Elimine can also stop En Garde from being triggered if her Res is stacked high enough, but her element does not align with Medeus so it'd come at a score cost. Also Mikoto's Prf Refine has been given form in Canto Control. The rest of the banner: Altina, Mirabilis, and Flavia on red. One Mythic who is somewhat outdated by now, one who is a dancer and has value in that alone, and one... whatever Flavia is. I honestly forgot and can't be asked to look it up, I just remember she has Red Feud. Legendary Julia, Legendary Dimitri, and Ascended Idunn from blue. LegJulia might be able to take down Medeus in one hit if her Atk and Res together can break through all of his effects, LegDimitri is generally just a good unit, and Idunn is a good Near Save unit who can still give a Floret if not gotten yet. Not really anything for me here personally... Hel, Thorr, and Otter make up green. Hel is... what is Hel? I don't really think about her anymore... Thorr is strong and has a solid Prf passive, and Otter... I dunno, but unlike Hel I generally just don't think about him much. Can't really speak about the quality of Green on this banner. Anything I have to say about Colorless is null by the fact that Medeus is colorless. LegMicaiah is good, Elimine is solid support. So... Medeus is dark? Looks like having Brave Marth on my Light team will pay off...

This ultimately depends on the banner. As of late, I've not even been reaching the spark on regular banners where the spark is available to all units (this months NH&Aishtar I've only got 15/40 summons), but seasonal banners I tend to go beyond the summons needed to get the spark. Legendary/Mythic banners it tends to be a tossup of not needing the spark and badly needing it for the unit I want. As is though, I only sub to Feh Pass for the Resplendent Heroes regardless of the banners I could spark from. Generally it's when a unit that I have +10ed is featured (as will be the case with Faye) or units whose merge counts are high enough that I could use the extra merge on them (as was the case with Resplendent Ishtar some months back), and I would not even be considering the option of sparking Ilyana if the Resp unit coming up was someone like... I dunno, Fates Arthur.

I don't care about feather usage though, I'm asking if it would be worth using the spark to get a copy of Ilyana AT ALL. I'd have to wait on feathers for the 7 copies of her at 4* anyway. As stated, I do not care about the skill fodder offered by the other 3 units. I don't have any strong need for SDtempo or Distant Dart right now, and Soren doesn't offer anything that isn't available elsewhere already (and I already have one of each from stray summons) It's a matter of weighing the worth of continuing to use normal summons to try and get her or just using the Feh Pass spark to not leave it up to chance.