Xenomata

Despite my usual "colorless first" stance... I think I have to support Marth on this one. I mean... I +10ed him IMMEDIATELY. Feels like a bit of a betrayal not to be on his team...

That's actually another thing I was thinking about, because when going though HoF she ran with both the Candy Cane and Springy Lance to good effect, and while my goal was always going to be to get the arguably rarer Ninja Yari it did make me think about what other weapons she might like (though to be clear I don't want to overload her with skills, she's not a particularly favorite unit, just a potentially great unit like all my +10's) The lances I have on immediate hand for inheritance are the Flowing Lance, Luncheon Lance, Candy Cane, Shellpoint Lance, and Springy Lance along with every lance available on 3*/4* normal pool units (including Benny's Steadfast Lance). Course there's also her default Flashing Carrot, if I wanted to try winning because the enemy was too busy laughing at the frankly meh weapon she was using... the only problem I have with most of these weapons is that they don't really boost her Spd, just her Atk and defensive abilities (which really aren't that amazing in the first place) ...though to be fair, Ninja Yari still does feel like a directly better weapon than all of the above, so maybe I'm thinking a little too much about this...

I'm looking for some opinion on the Spring Marisa I got from HoF. She has Ninja Yari+, Ruptured Sky (likely to share with Moonbow or Luna), Atk/Spd Catch 4, Spd/Def Near Trace, and Atk/Spd Menace in addition to her original skills, and currently sits at +9 merge. Her current stats at neutral are 47/47 offense's which get boosted to 65/65 when she has all effects triggered. The big question for me: is Menace a good fit for her in this case, or should I spring for giving her a Rein skill? Inflicting penalties and granting her buffs isn't that big a deal under normal circumstances, and to be fair I never got Spd/Def Rein when getting her skills in HoF (Atk/Def Rein also didn't feel like the right fit for her at the time, when she still had a Springy Lance), but Menace itself is a good skill to have as-is, and it works perfectly with Catch 4 and Near Trace. Side question, would using trait fruits on her be a good idea? 65/65 offenses on a Brave unit without a SS is pretty solid imo, and I don't know how much 2 points of Atk/3 points of Spd will change that.

So... I went and +10ed Valentine Alfonse. Then I made him into a second Far Save tank. ...in the process of summoning 7 copies of him (2 of which were 5*), I also 4* special summoned Kaden, Brave Hector, and Tana, all of which became merges (also meaning I +10ed Tana), and also got copies of Valentine Lif and Plegian Tharja with crummy assets, and 3 New Year Velourias one of which had +Spd. Also a 4* Adrift M!Corrin, which means NFU fodder for me. ...sigh... sometimes I wish I got more 4* special summons that actually had meaning like these ones did. Usually its 5* units I already +10ed or that have cruddy SI...

Ninja Yari on the final battle I could have possibly done for this HoF, heck yes! ...I mean, Springy Lance was good too, but I have like 4 spare Spring Minervas, I can just give it to Marisa later. But Ninja Yari? That's a lot rarer. Either way, Marisa is gonna be one heck of a unit. Ninja Yari, Rally Up Spd+, Ruptured Sky, Atk/Spd Catch, Spd/Def Near Trace, and Atk/Spd Menace are what I managed to get her, with at least one appearance from Atk/Def Rein I considered and passed on. ...the other 3 were kinda just meat bags to throw at the enemy throughout. Not like I wasn't looking for a Save skill, but... I mean, I +10ed Myrrh already, and I'm not that invested in Dozla. L'arachel might have been a little more relevant to me if Gunnthra didn't get so immensely stacked with her upgrades, but as-is... yeah...

I... don't understand those numbers. Even in the context of CYL automatically boosting the numbers of units who aren't in the game, I don't get why Priam, a unit who has pretty much no presence even in Awakening (he doesn't appear at all in the Awakening 4koma despite the presence of other Spotpass units in the Shepherds, fun fact), ranks that much higher than Yen'fay, who at least appears and is a known major presence in Valm. To be fair, Cervantes and Excellus are a stretch. They're major members of Walhart's army, but they still only have limited importance compared to Validar, Yen'fay, and Priam. At that point we may as well consider adding every single named boss that has the decency to have a unique portrait, such as Pheros or Musta- oh wait...

Wouldn't Yen'fay make more sense as a grail unit? I guess if they wanted to mix things up they could give us Cervantes (or god forbid we get yet another Red Tome grail unit in Excellus), but Priam feels like one of the most pointless characters that they could possibly give as a unit...

What no I didn't, I would think you'd have quoted me if you were referring to me specifically. I honestly think the OP means any unit who can't be considered at "the top of the meta", which in most cases automatically disqualifies anyone who doesn't have a Prf weapon, and almost every early seasonal unit is at the bottom of the barrel in that regard. In my case, Summer Linde would not be anywhere near the top of the meta compared to Summer Mia, but even after summoning Mia I still prefer to use Linde. Among the regular 3/4* pool there are a number of amazing units with their own uses and strategies, Nino being a fine example of a well-aged unit, and OP does mention Camilla and Effie, both of whom are considerably weaker than other options available even from the same release time. Keep in mind as well, most 5* units are considered meh at best these days (mentioning no Olwens) In the end I think it has to come down to player opinion as to who is considered a "meh" unit. In most cases it's a pretty easy decision, Young Tiki is not at all considered a fantastic unit by any regard these days, but in some cases like @XRay mentioned it comes down to how a unit is built for use. __________ ...looking through my units again though, I forgot I do sometimes still use my Spring Palla. She isn't at all fantastic by any means, but the Pegasus Carrot she carries does help to shut down the number of Green Armors running around these days. Same with Fates!Selena, though she's using Triangle Adept.

I beg to differ. Even the earliest seasonal heroes can be considered "sub-par" these days (does anyone remember that Chrom, Lucina, and Xander all have a Spring Alt?), and keep in mind the regular pool has such gems as Nino, Sothe, and Ares in the 3/4 star pool.

Forget sub- par, by all means Summer Linde shouldn't even be on most tier lists thanks to Summer Mia. Thanks to the Courtly Fan though, Linde has something of a new lease on life, which I'm not sure many other units doomed to never receive a refine can try to claim.

Marisa seriously carried this entire thing for me, man I'm glad I'm invested in her. Atk/Spd Menace? Seriously overpowered, that thing just brings so many units down to earth for Marisa to come in and end their lives. Combined with Atk/Spd Catch 4, she was so fast as well, and for the longest time the Candy Cane was her weapon of choice (I've since replaced it with a Springy Lance because I don't think the Candy Cane will do her specifically much good in the real FEH-world, still holding out for the Nanja Yari tho) I don't even really wanna replace Menace with a Rein skill, even though it would make sense to give one to her. I'm just having too much fun with Menace.

I've been wondering... which is overall "better" when considering a units in-combat bonuses, buffing the units down stats or debuffing the foes own stats?

Can Sing/Dance be used on herself though? I think that'd be the place she shines best, letting a true refresher support her and give her 3 total attacks. Since the affected will have Gravity inflicted on them, the only unit they'd be able to support outside of WoM is Marianne anyway, and she is one of the few offensive units truly capable of preventing a KO on herself (outside of Firesweep effects) with 70% damage reduction. (most others only have 30%, which can still be broken through due to lack of follow-up prevention on strong units) This also means she can become a WoM beacon real fast if fighting enough physical ranged/DC units. ...I think maybe her best A passive would be an Impact skill? 70% damage reduction on one attack, and the enemy won't get any others without having NFU and either two sources of auto follow-up or a really high Spd stat to compete with Marianne...

In terms of bought orbs, I bought a total of 1,116 from regular Orb purchases, plus all the orbs from the orb packs (minus the one that was like $8usd and could be bought twice) and Forma Soul pack. Plus like 12 orbs from the story missions and Forging Bonds. Hm... A lot of those orbs were spent during a Marth dryspell, so theoretically I could have used far less... eh, theoretics and luck hardly ever go together that well anyway. You better believe it'll be more than dragons who'll be wrecked, but the green dragons? EXTINCT

@Ice Dragon Oof... and I thought I was unlucky getting nothing but bad assets on all the brave units I summoned, plus summoning Bravelgard twice. At least you got an ideal asset for Eirika, I didn't manage to get one for her or Gatekeeper. Marianne I compromised with +Spd -Atk covered up with a merge, and out of 9 summoned Marths 3 of them were +Spd. ...oh yeah I maaaaaay have went ahead and +10ed Marth. Totally unplanned, but it happened.

There's... a lot here for me to process, and like half of it all happened in one day. Brave Marth is... literally the first time I ever +10ed a unit directly from their debut banner. Not like I tried to or anything, but I went for all 4 sparks on the Brave banner and he was summoned like 6 times by the 160th summon. At that point... I just went with it, what the hell I was all-in anyway. Fallen Celica and Helpful Chrom were both Forma units, as can be seen. Celica has a Ninja Katana from her HoF, but I intent to forge her weapon some day... when I can afford to anyway. Chrom... I dunno, maybe I'll refine his weapon too. Brave Lyn was a random 4* Special summon, as were the two above. All while trying to summon more Marths. Do I wanna refine Mulagir... eh. Probably not anytime soon... Fallen Celica is also my first +10 Fallen unit. I woulda thought Halloween Grima would be first, but her banner won't return for a few more months, so... As for the three remaining units... well, Tharja I figured I could make deceptively bulky, which I went ahead and did, Sothe I had plans to +10 ever since his refine, and Boey... well, you know the world we live in right now. I had Tharja and Boey +10ed for a while now, but was holding off "revealing" them until I finished Sothe... and then Marth happened. In my defense, I've always been a Brave Marth supporter since the beginning of FEH, even after it became clear he probably wouldn't be getting the Brave Celica/Alm treatment. It probably would have happened one way or another anyway... just didn't think it'd happen on day 1 of his release. ...this is the 3rd Celica I've +10ed now, what exactly am I doing with my army...

Okay last post, and I think I'm done for now cause this is the first time I ever +10ed a unit fresh from their debut banner. Got Brave Alm and Fallen M!Corrin first, then the last Brave Marth needed to +10 him. ...yeah I know I probably should have focused on one of the "better" units, Gatekeeper comes to mind immediately, but honestly? Eh, I can deal with it.

This has been bothering me for too long now. Does Brave Edelgard get more benefit from +Atk or +Def? I mean she does also have Cav/Armor effectiveness off what becomes base 54 Atk as long as her relatively simple condition is met. It's just so tame compared to the tools that other Lance fliers have to work with, and 54 Atk with effective damage but no guaranteed follow-up or NFU effect means she's one of the weaker ways to off bulky Armors.

The biggest problem with Distant Pressure is that it chips away at HP, so for a supertank it would quickly weaken them down more than the foe ever could, especially in an AR environment where up to 7 units can all be attacking the supertank at once. If the unit has a way of offsetting all that additional damage, healing specials or passive effects that enable healing during or after combat, then it should be a much safer skill to use. Though again in an AR environment, enemy units are very likely to carry the Fatal Smoke skill (and they all suck, yes I say that despite also running Fatal Smoke on my units), so if healing gets disabled, there gonna be some problems... ...I may be biased against Distant Pressure though, cause I just summoned 9 Marths and I DO NOT intend to actually fodder any of them for the skill... soooooo yeah.

I have SLEPT and am ready to finish my fate! First and foremost, my freebie is Marth, I'm dedicated now. I'm done summoning from Blue and Colorless orbs, just Red and Green for me. ...alright that's now Fallen Celica +10ed, aka my first Fallen unit at +10... mhm +Spd -Atk Brave Marianne, that is somehow the best Marianne summoned... yep that's +Atk normal Lysithea... Annette and Hubert, what a kick in the privates with those two... wow, multiple 4* special summons of units I've had +10 for years, that's just rude... AHA and that makes +9 merge Marth! Hm... my luck seems to have turned into a burning trash heap in the 8 hours of sleep I had... Aaaaaand this is the point where my card began getting declined, so... yeah. But hey, I'm fully dedicated now, so I just need 1 more Marth, and then I guess I'll be done with this banner! Weird to think that I'd be +10ing someone when previously I didn't even think I cared, but apparently I care a lot...

Alright alright alright... all the anticipation, all the promise of potential, and a number of eh units have been moved to the 4* special pool... let's see what happens. Got the 4 free summon tickets, time to get some legends. Brave Marth +HP -Spd: 2nd session. Damn, that came a lot faster than expected. Also worth mentioning, Distant Pressure requires DC be learned already. It's literally a Tier 4 of a passive that didn't even have tiers, wow. Brave Marianne +HP -Atk: 4 sessions in. Hm... not liking the +HP on these two, but at least I can fodder AtkSpd Unity, knowing at least there's a freebie Marianne... at some point. Brave Marth +HP -Def: ...really now? I really don't think these guys need +HP... Gatekeeper +Spd -Atk: 5 sessions. Brave Gatekeeper? Nah, just keep it Gatekeeper. Ugh... I'm getting these guys easy, but with plain bad assets and flaws... ~4* Micaiah: 7 sessions. First 4* special summon, and a welcome merge. First Spark: Brave Eirika. I don't have her yet, so she's the first freebie. Charlotte +Spd -Res: 10th session. So this is where the best assets and flaws have been hiding... hm, guess I'm training Charlotte again. This isn't really notable, but Raven appeared and I forgot he had a Resplendent, so seeing him appear in Helian armor was... kinda surprising, not gonna lie. Brave Marth +HP -Spd: 12th session. Well at least I have some Distant Pressure fodder, that or a good leadup to +10ing Brave Marth. God the idea is frightening as I type it... ~4* Leanne: 16th session. Oh right, she was put in the 4* special pool as well... dangit... Midori: 16th session. Dangit, there goes some pity rate... Second Spark: Brave Marianne. Brave Marth +Spd -Res: 17th session. FINALLY a good asset on one of these guys! Brave Marth +Res -Spd: 17th session. This was really in the same session as the last guy? I can't decide if that's ironic or plain funny. Wait, how many Marths does this make again? ...5??? ~4* Helpful Chrom: 18th session. That is indeed a summon, yes sir it is. Brave Eirika +Def -Res: 20th session. Finally summoned her naturally. Brave Eirika +Res -HP: 21st session. Reverse of the old usual nature I guess. ~4* Tibarn: 23rd session. Yay. Osian +Spd -HP: 24th session. Wait this guy wasn't- ugh... fine I guess... Third Spark: Gatekeeper. Where have you been man, you're only the most loved hero in all the lands. This was also the point that I bought the last of the special orb packs, so it's all normal orb purchases from here. Brave Eirika +HP -Atk: 25th session. Yes. ~4* Brave Lyn: 27th session. Oh shit... I just +10ed Brave Lyn... guess I gotta +10 Brave Roy now. Brave Edelgard: 29th session. Shit go back in the orb I need- gah, wrong green Fodlan brave unit... Brave Marianne +HP -Spd: 31st session. Yay another one. Brave Edelgard: 32nd session. What the... WHY. Brave Marth +Def -Res: And to cap off the 160 sessions needed to cover all 4 sparkings, the focus unit who was summoned the most, once more. Fourth Sparking: Brave Marth At this point, I'm not keeping track of sessions. It's all freestyle from here, cause apparently I'm +10 merging Marth. Forsyth +Res -HP: I do like Forsyth, just a shame I never got that great an asset... til now. ~4* Karla: woot Brave Marianne +Def -Spd: and the bad natures continue. Ingrid +Spd -Res: ...seriously if that was on Marianne... ~4* Owain: hmm Brave Marth +Spd -HP: yep this is happening... ~4* Helpful Chrom: Wait wasn't my Chro- shit that's 2 5*+10s now. Think I'll put the summoning on pause for the time being, cause sleep is something I want right now. 21 5* units summoned, most of them Marth, a sizable number of 4* Special summons, two of them becoming a 5* +10 unit, and some thinking to do about my freebie that I still haven't claimed... quite the night of summons. Kinda wish the assets were better... by a ton...

I will be very disappointed if Gatekeeper does not get acquainted with Arden. Castle-guarding bros.

Hm... there's one opinion that I really need to see, and that's @XRay's. We have one unit who can dance through her Special, letting her maintain an offensive presence while still refreshing her allies, and a unit who blocks attempts to warp to anywhere in a 4-tile area around him. And then of course we have the other two... but all in all, we got some brand new toys to work with, and I do not claim to have any understanding of the meta and how it is affected.

I actually thought the banner dropped on the 18th, so I thought there was time if it went as I said it could go (also oops)

I did consider a more defensive build for him at one point in time, but then it was pointed out how surprisingly fast BK (and Zelgius) is and the idea of a faster Save tank appealed to me. I'm at a point now where I can comfortably counter Hegemon as well, so I don't think I'll miss out on an extra counter to her too much. Normally I would also not be summoning units just for their skills, but I'm fully dipping into this banner, so I fully expect to have fodder copies of all 4 units at some point on top of the free summon copies, so the idea is... less bothersome to me for this banner specifically. That guy was plain not being assigned the right units to draw. He got it right on one occasion (Rinkah), and that's about it. ...also Mustafa looks both too big AND too short. He is mostly muscle, I don't think even the original Awakening model was that bulky (short I'll grant)