Xenomata

Divine Tyrfing looks like it'll breath some defensive light into Sigurd, but it really doesn't do anything for his magical tanking. It'll at least supplement people who have him but not LegSeliph, who has the arguably better defensive boons. That's about what the refine does though, I can't imagine any Seliph users clamoring for this over near-permanent Miracle... Effie got... pretty alright I guess. I don't really like the idea of skills that only work on the first round of combat a unit is in, and again why would I take this refine over Brave Hectors refine, who while yes is weaker from a pure Atk standpoint has so many more advantages than Effie that it really isn't funny. Rhajat got a good base weapon. Makes me wonder why Ursula got shafted so hard when Raigh and Rhajat get honestly good effects on their Wolftome prfs. Spd/Res Rein is not something to laugh at. The refine itself is good as well, it gives Rhajat a form of support and heavy amounts of AoE damage. But she needs a safe way to inflict that debuff, the only form of which is the Sweep skills, and that will cut out a lot of her potential damage. Which is a shame, cause combining Pain+, Flash+, and Spd/Res Rein 4 into one wolftome sounds so good in concept, but it's just missing good ol reliable counterattack negation. Might work well with Dance though, and here's hoping that we'll get a Windsweep SS at some point so she can run it and Null Follow-up. That'll make things better for Rhajat. Arvis and Saias pretty easily take the best refine reward. The trigger range is far better than even most premium limited-time units who've tiered high above them for ages, and the bonus damage has potential to be deadly. I do kinda wish they had a way to extend that improved range onto their equipped Ploys, cause now they have an awkward scenario where they can potentially lose out on 5 damage because their target wasn't in range of the equipped Ploy... Overall... well they're not gonna beat out CYL anytime soon, but the only refine that really does anything for me is Rhajats, and that's only from a theoretical approach of "if we get a Windsweep Sacred Seal." And while Arvis/Saias got it good, being Grail units means it'll be months before I can get the full range of their Ploy game unlocked (especially considering I apparently did a super dumb and used almost all of their books already >.<). I'll just take the refine for Brave Hector now, give Lyn her refine later, and call it a month there.

I will never understand the decision making of seasonal units... Grima? Seriously? Forget that not making any sense, in what world would the wings of despair want to win in a festival for CANDY? Do fell dragons even like candy? Besides that, Halloween Grima has a completely powercrept version of Dragonskin, meaning that Legendary Grima has officially been powercrept in all but color (which in this case is doubly worse cause there's so many Red dragon killing weapons to pick from). Dragon's Ire I imagine is available to all dragons, which at the very least gives them a little something extra to work with. Call me when the skill becomes easier to obtain though... Xane looks like a monster waiting to happen. Would he even need merges when you could keep him in range of one of the armor Edelgards and a real high-speed unit and give him in-combat stats even higher than any armor? Dheginsea looks pretty good. Slick Fighter... I dunno, penalty neutralization is good and all, but the new Crafty Fighter feels like a better skill all the same when Dheg probably will take Distant Counter anyway... ...nope, I can't think of a single interaction between Tiki and Ninian. WELP SO MUCH FOR HARMONIZED HEROES ACTUALLY MEANING ANYTHING. They're seriously giving THAT Tiki to us? She could easily get +21 Atk from the Def/Res x1.5 boost with help from LegAzura, and that's before any other boosts. I think the highest Atk she can get without utilizing Harsh Command or Goads is... lets see, if she's using her default kit and has a Brazen Atk/XXX, 21+6+7+7... 41 in-combat Atk?????

The thing that's stumping me is that we're very likely getting a Harmonized Hero, but if that's the HarmHero in the silhouette then I just don't know who it could possibly be. HarmHeroes currently have links to each other within the stories of FEH, Mia+Marth was pretty well established and Veronica+Xander was completely well established, but I just can't think of any other pairs... they'd probably have to take from Forging Bonds if there really aren't that many possible pairs, such as Eir+Midori or members of CHOP. I'm also not completely sure the right silhouette is Orochi despite the floating cards. Based on the silhouette of the hairstyle on the small silhouette as well as the overlap of silhouettes, I'd say that the right and middle silhouettes make up the Harmonized hero; Orochi isn't even in Heroes proper yet, so her being half of a Harmonized Hero (who also already has a HarmHero rep in Xander) just doesn't make any sense. If the HarmHero is the left/middle silhouette then it'd be more believable, but all I can guess otherwise is that the left silhouette is in the default artwork pose while the other two are in their Attack artwork pose. There just feels so little to work with this time...

For what it's worth, you can give Close Foil to a Raventome unit to help improve their matchups against Bows and Daggers, who the most popular ones tend to be colorless, while also enabling them to defend against the melee weapon they have a color advantage against. Cecilia's special refine would especially love this, as she will then have a heavy advantage against all Blue and Colorless units, even if she can't counter against the Blue Dragons. But as for if you should keep the Julian book for Close Foil over using it for the Lull A/S, it really depends on if you really think you'll need the skill later for any reason. Having valuable fodder doesn't mean a whole lot if you never intend to use it, and if you want to use Lull A/S then there shouldn't be anything stopping you. There are certainly good uses for the skill, but they may not resonate with your preferred playstyle. I'll leave the answer as to who should get Lull A/S to someone else, because TBH it's not a skill I commonly use myself so I can't speak from any prior experience of using it.

Yes. I did used to have plans to strike out on my own one day, but... that was before I became co-owner of the house. I'm currently 22, 23 on December 5th, and because of circumstances with my upbringing (without becoming specific) I was able to come to enough money to help my mother afford to own a house for the family to live in, you know a place we could always rely on being there no matter what happens. We never really "owned" a house until this one, and we've moved a fair number of times in my life, so knowing this house is here means more to me than living by my lonesome. ...it would be nice to own something like an RV or 70's van with a bed in the back, something I could live in on the road...

@XRay Just checking, cause I notice it comes up pretty much any time a bow is brought up. Aside from EP builds, is there any bow unit who doesn't want to use either Brave Bow or Firesweep Bow, aside from some select cases of preferring their Prf?

Not gonna lie, I don't know what to feel about this... I mean, Endermen aren't supposed to be THAT short, right? I don't play Minecraft, but even I know that endermen aren't that short. ...what, Steve? I dunno, that's a neat thing I guess, I dunno about inevitable but I was always worried about what it would mean for the music. Better the generic Minecraft face than one of those characters from Minecraft stories I just know I'm not gonna give two craps about.

It is still locked at 5* though, which doesn't mean much but can alleviate some resource costs. And fortunately the holders of SB2 are the firsts on their paths, so if dayni wanted Null Follow-Up from Corrin they'll wind up with it anyway.

I'm just gonna give my thoughts on each path's available fodder. Awakening/Fates: Summer Cordelia's Shell Lance is beaten out by the Lofty Blossoms available on the Radiance path IMO, but having a source of Sturdy Blow can help if you ever need to inherit Sturdy Impact onto someone, since that means extra skills. Vengeful Fighter remains a solid skill. Owain offering Blue Flame and Wrath is solid. Close Counter is, imo, a situational skill where the units who benefit from it are not exactly the same as the units who would benefit from Distant Counter; Quick Riposte is always a useful skill to have, though being available in the 4* pool diminishes the value of it a little for how much you'd have to spend for it, and Dusk Uchiwa is... honestly, I don't see people talking about Cav-effective weaponry, so eh. As for Corrin... Null Follow-up is certainly a useful skill, but I don't know about spending 6k divine codes for it... Radiance: Leanne offering Hone Beasts is useful if you have a beast unit who can benefit from it, and Flier Formation is solid for fliers who have the offensive might but lack a useful B slot (Jill comes to mind). Cloud Maiougi is probably the most useful skill on Elincia, but Atk/Spd Push 3 can be useful as well since the units who pack A/S Push 4 have other useful fodder skills. Lethe... she also packs Hone Beasts, and I can't think of many units who want Spd/Def Solo, so kind of a letdown if you don't need another Hone Beasts. Tanith has a pretty good PP Lance, Swift Sparrow 2, and Harsh Command+, so she's a solid book. Greil has Fury 4 and Aether, and Fury 4 is a solid skill to have. Blades/Sacred Stones: Lilina sucks, everything she has is worthless. Amelia coming with Armor March is solid enough. Nino has Swift Sparrow and Aerobatics, the latter of which can be used for some tricky setups for fliers. Ephraim with Atk/Def Solo is okay, but Bold Fighter is a skill to target if you need it for your offensive needs. And who can forget Distant Counter? Overall a solid path to target for player-phase Armors, but with a very bad first book. Holy War: Leif has Blazing Light, which surprisingly is not that common a skill, so he's worth a look for that alone. Quick Riposte is much more reasonable to target here than it was on Awakening/Fates, and Spd Ploy is solid enough for your Res-based sabotaging needs. Close Def I feel is outclassed by many other EP A passives, but for no better option it is here (now if only Close Def 4 would be released already). Lewyn and Ishtar are the ones to gun for on this path though, because Special Spiral is just that great a skill, and Air Orders enables some good flier trickery movements to go down, though Swift Sparrow 3 is a good target as well. But Special Spiral is the one to target, if you ask me. Mystery/Shadows: Caeda is useless. Celica... again with Blazing Light, and Distant Def is a solid pickup if you need to inherit DD4 to someone. Genny has Wrathful Staff of course, but Toasty Skewer is also a solid skill to pickup for supportive reasons; I don't much care for Opening skills, so no opinion there. Spring Palla has Pegasus Carrot, which I think is a good skill to have on an offensive Red dagger, what with all the frightening Green Armors we have to worry about now, or even pack it for a Green Dagger now that Brave Hector disables follow-ups. I don't use Disarm Trap, so I dunno if that's a good skill to pack for AR, while Swift Sparrow remains Swift Sparrow. Fortress Def/Res 3 is good to pick up for res-based sabotage units, and Mila can appreciate it as well. Heroes: Honestly I think it's a somewhat weak path. Alfonse offers an easy Def Smoke and Sturdy Blow. Ylgr has Spd Tactics, still the rarest Tactics, and Chill Spd; no one seems to care about Sorcery Blade. Dazzling Staff is something I guess, and Ovoid Staff could be a solid pickup as well if you need that extra healing. Atk/Spd Link just feels useless now that Ruse skills are becoming more and more common, but it's still good for Smiting someone, while I don't have any opinions on A/S Bond; Kabura Ya could be good for a supportive Bow you don't want to be seeing combat. As for Laev... I don't think Buoyboard is strong enough to take over other possible green tomes, Def/Res Link kind of suffers the same problems as A/S Link (though it's worth getting if you wanna build a Spectrum Link Odin), and Mirror Impact... I dunno, it feels kinda underwhelming as a final reward for 6k codes. I know you wanted an opinion for which path to pick, but really all I can say is just take the path that matches your needs most. I personally don't even look at skills, cause a lot of these units I could use merges for instead. In fact I'm gonna start on the Radiance path next to get myself an extra merge on Lethe... but between Radiance and Mystery/Shadows, I think you should take Mystery/Shadows if you want to build a res-based Sabotage unit or Mila, because Fortress Def/Res 3 is vital for such a unit to work. Technically Fortress Res or Fortress Def are the only skills required, but the additional layer of bulk is always appreciated in an emergency. Following up on some of @XRay's responses...

I... actually thought she had Atk +3, not Death Blow. Oops. I'm still not sure if she'll get a pure PP Brave weapon, but dual-phase is certainly more expected if they're willing to begin doing that. A conditional Brave weapon feels likely too, since Effie still has the freedom of having a Silver Lance starting weapon to account for, and they've been very generous to units who began with such in the past (not naming any skirtchasers I mean names)

That only seems to hold true for the Mythic heroes who come from other games. Look at every other non-HeroesOC Mythic and the pattern holds true. ...though I will admit I'm getting kind of tired of Heroes OCs being Mythics when we've barely scratched the surface of mythical beings who could be Mythic heroes from other games...

Sigh... I'd say I'm not interested, but I also know my luck with these banners means I'll wind up getting her real easily... although by acknowledging my luck, perhaps I sway the tide of luck into a more unfavorable result? Though by acknowledging the change of luck's tide perhaps it sways back into a favorable result? Though by acknowledging the acknowledgement of the change of- AAAANYWAY unless anyone would like to tell me otherwise, I'm not sure I have a good reason to care about having an Astra dancer when just running my Bike Light team off-season works perfectly fine for me as-is. Not like I particularly care about getting into the highest tiers when I can already make Tier 24+ perfectly fine...

Many units who were given a normal Brave weapon previously were given them somewhat haphazardly, such as almost every Archanean unit who did not have a Prf or specific weapon like Navarre having a Killing Edge. Unlike Cherche, Effie is a melee armor, and pretty much every melee armor released or given a refine in the last few years has been outfitted with a primarily enemy-phase or mixed phase kit regardless of how well they would do with a Brave set, and even the melee armors who do come with player-phase skills would much rather take an enemy-phase kit. Edelgard is the only exception I can think of, since her personal skill has Galeforce built into it, but imagine if she didn't have that. Besides that though, Effie has always had a pretty good amount of freedom of weapon choice, and having a Silver Lance makes thing even more complicated given the history of Prfs given to units starting with a Silver weapon. I'm not saying she can't get a conditional Brave weapon, but I don't think she'll get a TRUE Brave weapon, that is a weapon that has lower Might and comes with a Spd penalty, but strikes twice per attack (dual phase optional).

I'm not sure a Brave Lance is possible myself... they've only given Brave weapons to two armor units, and both are mostly throwaway weapons in the end anyway. ...then again, they've been loading armors up with enemy-phase kits for months now, so... maybe we'll see the first true Brave weapon that only activates on enemy phase?

... touche.

Perhaps. For what it's worth I always envisioned a -3 Foxtome refine for the two of them to share, maybe with a unit penalty neutralizing effect, that they can both benefit from equally without being an overwhelmingly powerful refine for either. And honestly? The fact they target Res doesn't feel like enough of a reason to not give them a refine. Maybe back in the day when units mostly had 20 Res on average, but between all the Res-boosting effects we have now, along with numerous sources of Damage reduction% and general Atk penalties, I feel like the stat you target these days matters less and less. I almost feel like they screwed themselves over by delaying the Dire Thunder refine to post-CYL2 refines. These days refines are powerful and important parts of a units kit unlike the things they were giving the earliest refines (gee thanks Takumi, you can move around a bit better), and you can't argue that the last batch of refines we got (before the CYL refines) certainly put a spring back into the steps of those selected units (did anyone use Legion before he got his refine?)

I think the only possibility they could use to give Rein and Olwen different refines unique to their uses would be to give Dire Thunder two different unique refines in which one is clearly meant for each sibling. Something like excessive power for Rein, and a mix of power and speed for Olwen. Outside of specialized builds, no one has any reason to give Rein Spd after all. At this point, the only thing Reinhardt has going for him as a Brave unit is the fact that he is an easy to afford 2 range Cav unit with a Prf Brave Weapon (available for free from that Heroes Path thing). Even if they gave Dire Thunder a Death Blow refine, he is still only barely matching LegLeif in raw Atk per hit with similar builds, and Leif has the advantage of a 3 cooldown Galeforce. Not to mention other units with similar Atk and Brave weapon builds have more Spd, better defenses, better access to skills, etc etc.

Wahoo, got Duo Sigurd! +HP -Atk... but who cares, -Res woulda been a lot worse IMO. I'm not really the type to leave a dancer in range of attack if I can help it, so the extra bulk is more appreciated than extra offensive power. Also another merge for Lethe, who is now +7. I don't even use her that much, what gives...

...muh? Sorry I spent all of last night playing Dragalia Lost, whad I- heh? That's a lot of refines... Arvis and Saias I have to assume will get refines somewhat in line with what Lute got a lot earlier, turning the Ploy effect into a Sabotage effect and then getting bonus stats in-combat against penaltied foes. Divine Tyrfing is kind of hard to predict. It's current effect only neutralizes damage from magic foes, so they could boost it to neutralize all ranged attacks. Personally, I hope they give it the Urvan treatment and make Sigurd into a mobile Bike, and Seliph into a budget Bike. That would just be so many layers of bullcrap. Rhajat started with Keen Gronnwolf, so she has to be getting that as at least one effect. But after that... who knows? Raigh got additional effects with his Wolftome refine, maybe Rhajat will take some inspiration from her future reincarnation and get a Rein effect? Effie is... completely in the air. She is one of the last Silver weapon users to get a refine though, aside from Dancer Olivia. I think they'll give her an effect to reference her Prf, though we'll just have to wait and see I guess. I have to assume, however, that nothing they could give her will make her better than Brave Hector, who has set a new standard for Lance Armors...

We get news on new weapon refines when we get news about the next version update, which usually drops about a day after the Legendary/Mythic Hero announcement if not the same day.

Honestly? I feel a bit of shame that I don't really delve much outside of "anime music," but can you blame me? Stuff was pretty much made to hook you into a show. Can never go wrong with Gintama. So many good OPs and EDs, Samurai Heart comes to mind immediately, but the ones I like most came from CHiCO with Honeyworks. Through Gintama came my liking of CHiCO with Honeyworks actually. My favorite OP from them is Otome-domo Yo from O Maidens in Your Savage Season. Unironically? I like the music from the Pokemon anime, especially the Japanese OPs and EDs. Maybe it's cause I'm so familiar with so many of the tracks already (thanks to the video games), but the OPs and EDs I can't explain. I'm more familiar with the Sun and Moon opening Your Adventure than I am with the original american opening at this point. My most played song below a song from an endless runner about cookies is Shokugeki no Somas Crossing Road. For good reason, I hope it's understood.

Anyone remember when that one guy with the bib was our first summon? What was his name, vanity...? Eh whatever. Takumi looks neat.

I'm kinda neutral with the Heroes OCs. They aren't the best characters around, but they certainly aren't the worst. But I do think they've kind of taken the story spotlight away from the original concept of "a world where all Fire Emblem worlds converge into one place." I mean, they aren't even trying to explain why the forces of Hel and the Nightmare fairies (forget trying to even spell that name with an English keyboard, let alone remember what they're called) have access to heroes from other worlds. Veronica was never even on their side like she was with Muspell for a while. It's not like I personally care. I began the FE series with Awakening and never had a chance to go back to older titles, so already I have no attachment to half the units in this game. But at least explain why Shinon, Gatrie, Jill, and Ilyana are perfectly alright with fighting for the forces of eternal nightmares?

Thinking about a weapon that Caspar and Raphael could have if they don't intend to do anything about the fact that there's not really any slots for Colorless melee units. Black Brawler Axe (Prf for Caspar) 10 Might. Inflicts Spd -2 on unit. If unit initiates combat, unit attacks twice. Unit is not affected by weapon triangle or skills that affect weapon triangle. Inflicts Spd/Def -3 on foes within 2 spaces during combat and if unit initiates combat, reduces damage from foes first attack by 20%. Golden Brawler Axe (Prf for Raphael) 11 Might. Inflicts Spd -5 on unit. If unit initiates combat, unit attacks twice. Unit is not affected by weapon triangle or skills that affect weapon triangle. If units attack triggers special, deals +10 damage and unit recovers 20% of damage dealt as HP when special triggers There was no weapon triangle in Three Houses, though skills like Swordbreaker did exist to emulate a weapon triangle and Grapplers do learn Tomebreaker, but I'm not sure there's a safe way to implement a triangle advantage on Tome units... Caspar had a good mix of Speed and Strength to back up his Brawling prowess, and his Personal Skill lowered enemy Avoid, which in this game just means altering Attack even further. Raphael is more strength-based, and his Personal skill could randomly recover HP at the beginning of each turn. I imagine Raph would have a 2 cooldown special and Heavy Blade 4 in his kit, so his Prf would emulate this. I imagine these Prfs would have gauntlets on in addition to an axe, maybe something club-shaped like what Rinkah has since Gauntlets aren't supposed to be that big like axes are. ...oh, I guess Balthus's Vajra-Mushti needs translating to, but what's there to translate? 11 might and adeptive damage, maybe ways to increase Atk further, boom you got a monster.

Thrasir's final appearance as a "living boss" was in August 2019, whereas her appearance as a Mythic was Setember 2019. Keep in mind at the time, Mythic units weren't yet including prominent villains in their lineups. Although my bad, I was thinking of Surtr and Ylgr's debut banner in my original comment. THAT took like a month.