Xenomata

Arcane Qiang (from Alfred in the Engage banner) is a more general-purpose lance, since it has a guaranteed follow-up, follow-up denial, and a Special Charge Up Clash effect. Arcane Luin is made more for Fast units, as it has no guaranteed follow-up and has a Spd-based damage additive.

Well already I like Engage more than Three Houses. It's already being overshadowed by the presence of TH even to the point where the Arcane Weapon it introduced was given competition mere months after being introduced. THIS IS A SARCASTIC STATEMENT (and I haven't even played Engage yet so I'm reserving my opinion for when I eventually do) There's honestly nothing all that interesting for me here outside of the Arcane Weapon which I guess I'll try to get. Felix is pretty basic, Rhea amalgamates aspects from her prior appearances and introduces a new skill series which I'll assume is exclusive to Dragons and maybe Beasts, Sylvain is a demote and has nothing interesting to show for it, and GHB Cornelia is a bitch who's probably going to get a powerful Prf weapon because everybody I hate always gets them. Arcane Luin is the first Arcane Weapon based off an existing weapon, which is nifty. All Stat +5, damage = 20% of Spd, enemy Spd/Def bonus neutralization, and full NFU if the wielder is faster than the enemy. It's explicitly a weapon made for fast units. As for Ingrid, Prf skill that gives Ingrid reason to exist as more than just an Arcane weapon fodder, Guard Bearing 4 makes all those GB3 fodders actually worth something, and then a pointless upgrade to a skill. Slight problem there being that apparently they decided to make this not just a Blue Lion's banner, but one specifically centered on the small friendgroup between Sylvain, Felix, and Ingrid, which as far as I'm aware Annette is not a part of. I've said it before, you gotta give props to their insistence on sticking to a theme...

First off, Threaten Spd/Res was invented alongside Spd/Res Menace. It's not available from anyone else. Second, normally I'd say to skip building Spring Camilla completely, but I'll assume that you're set on building her and point you to another weapon you could give her: Gronndeer from the recently released Bastian, which is a Green Tome copy of Spider Plush (from Halloween Sophia), with Bastian himself being a 3*/4* unit. It's not the same as Vulture yes, but unlike Vulture you're more likely to get multiple copies of it over time. And while I assume you don't have any copies of Bastian yet, you'll probably run into him at some point, and there isn't a rush to build Camilla. I'd say give her Gronndeer, figure out if you like using her, and then make the choice of giving her Gronnvulture from there. Also remember that Plegian Tharja has a Seasonal variant of Gronnvulture in the Plegian Torch. If you don't like using her, you could always go the placeholder build of Gronnraven/TA3 or, as you observed, Gronnblade.

Cecilia's only real niche is that she's the only Green Tome Cav in the 4* pool and therefore is easy to merge up, but Seidhr is completely free and flatout better in everything except taking physical/adaptive damage, and that's at 0 merge. And honestly? Her Resplendent outfit kind of makes her blend in with the other long-green-haired women in the game.

The next Resplendent Hero after Aversa will be Cecilia: Etrurian General, wearing Dökkálfheimr clothing.

Can't say these refines are disappointing, Bantu and Conrad are probably going to shoot up in usage now that they aren't limited to inheritable lances and Arcane weapons, of course Edelgard gets Galeforce that's just her "thing", and I wasn't even expecting Alfonse to get any form of special charging, not after Duo Ephraim's refine needed only one SI or SS to almost completely invalidate his duo skill. Seeing Silque's refine actually reminds me of a minor nitpick I have about the Witchy Wand, Melancholy, and now Staff of Lilies: despite inflicting Guard and even resetting special charge on its targets, they don't actually have the Guard effect in play during combat. It doesn't really matter since as staves the opponent can't counterattack anyway, but it still bothers me a bit. Plus I still think we're overdue for more units getting Null C-Disrupt effects, given how all units remain exceedingly vulnerable to not being allowed to attack, ergo the whole Dazzling effect on staves becoming useless against said units.

Welp, never got Remote Sparrow for Valentine Veronica in the HoF. The kit I got her was Magical Lantern, Rally Atk/Spd+, Ruptured Sky, Atk/Spd Catch 4, Guard 4, and Def/Res Smoke. Nice to have SOME damage reduction for her, but woulda been nice to have it in the A slot... Ninja Laev kept her Prf axe plus Draw Back, Ruptured Sky, Atk/Def Unity, Mystic Boost 4, and Atk/Def Menace. I needed someone to act as defense this HoF, and the two armored lovebirds I decided I couldn't count on them to get the desired skills fast enough. Not sure if I'm gonna forma Laev. Veronica obviously I will.

I'm not sure that's entirely true. Older units maybe, but newer units are far more likely to be loaded with stats by default and just wanting skills to make getting kills easier, especially if they're a unit with the Brave effect or guaranteed follow-ups. Not to mention the B slot doesn't just grant stats, but also effects, for a lot of units including their personal B passives. And now that B passives are getting Tier 4's that grant powerful effects, I feel like it's more and more okay for the SS slot to be used for skills like Desperation. The game is getting more and more about stacking effects onto one another to overwhelm stats.

MAYDAY MAYDAY, DESPERATION IS BEING ADDED AS A SACRED SEAL. ...also Threaten Spd/Res. Lucius: Calming Light is a Staff Infantry unit. Lucius's Staff, the Mystic War Staff, boosts his Atk by 3 and has the Wrathful effect by default. And no, he doesn't come with Dazzling Staff, you'll have to provide that yourself. He has a supportive effect in giving himself and allies within 2 spaces Def/Res +6 and the Foe Follow-Up Denial effect. And if he is within 3 spaces of an ally, he gets Atk/Res +6 and a guaranteed follow-up attack. His other skills are Martyr+, Heavenly Light, Atk/Res Ideal 3, and Distant Guard.

Sigh... the weapons they give Armor units get more and more predictable... Looks like Armored units will be getting a new Special as well. Slightly weaker than a Bonfire trigger, but comes with the benefit of lowering the damage taken by Ranged enemies. Hector's new Prf also looks pretty annoying to deal with. Eliwood invokes his adult legendary alt slightly, missing the Canto bonus. Should still be a good support unit, though I have to wonder why he still cares about there being a demihuman on the team when that aspect of his character shouldn't even have been established yet...? Rebecca seems like a random option. They could have gone with Raven/Raymond to justify Lucius being the TT unit, but... whatever. And here we have the first Duo Hero to be half mute. Strikes me as odd that they gave Mark/Lyn two ways to inflict penalties onto the enemy. The Sabotage effect seems like the existing [Foe Penalty Doubler] but a penalty that is inflicted onto the target (and also tracks for penalties on nearby allies). Otherwise statbuffs and guaranteed follow-up. Sabotage A/R 3 is neat. Lucius the TT unit... seriously what are Rebecca and him doing on this banner? Foe Penalty Doubler is a Bonus effect that is granted to allies. Sabotage is a Penalty that is inflicted on enemies. One could theoretically stack the two together and inflict a massive in-combat debuff on the enemy.

These april fools videos truly have a way of making me wonder if someone's snuck shrooms in my dinner.

And THAT is what happens to pretty-boys who try to out-Player Phase me! Give her a chance, and Selkie will rip out your lungs and crush them with your also-ripped-out ribcage to make funny squeaky noises. How she came out the other side barely any worse for wear... you'd think her Def didn't suck! Nina couldn't get the kill with Whitecap Bow, so she switched back to her good ol Ninja Yumi. I didn't even plan the Deadeye kill, but it's great that that's how it worked out! Walhart is Walhart. I don't think I even needed his Threaten Counterattacks effect, but it sure was fun to have anyway! Spring Triandra probably could have been any other dancer, but once I realized none of my units were even going below 90% HP let alone 50%, I took Firestorm Dance instead. Was this supereasy because my units were superstacked, or does it turn out the best way to counter an uber-offensive threat is with another uber-offensive threat? I'll think about that later...

From the Fire Emblem: Three Houses DLC story Cindered Shadows comes the head of the Ashen Wolves Yuri himself. Abyssal Blade's conditions of initiating combat or being within 2 spaces of another ally grant Yuri an All Stat +5 boost, permits his follow-up attacks regardless of enemy follow-up denial effects, adds on 20% of his Spd as extra damage, and tops it off with 30% damage reduction on the enemies first hit on him. The legendary Fetters of Dromi in his C slot permit Yuri the [Canto 2] effect and gives him Movement +1 at the start of every turn. The [Stall] debuff only has a partial effect on him, removing the Movement bonus if Stall is applied to him and thus limiting him to the normal 2 move. Also an All Stat -4 debuff on all enemies within 2 spaces of him, in case you forgot who's realm you've stepped into. Foul Play, his special Prf Assist, is a version of Swap that works on allies who are 3 spaces away. Atk/Spd Hexblade grants the Hexblade bonus, permitting Yuri's attacks to target the lower of his targets defensive stats, and then an additional bonus of Atk/Spd +7 if he has a bonus on him, which he usually will. Seal Spd 4 renders outspeeding him impossible, with a base -4 debuff and 7 minus any Spd debuffs on his target plus Guard if a Spd debuff exists. His Special of choice is Blazing Wind, already charged for his convenience. There will be no Vantage or Desperation play against him with the Hardy Bearing Sacred Seal. In the shadow house that is Abyss, there is little else left to run once you've fallen into Yuri's sight. Give the Abyssians something to fear belowground as well...

You aren't wrong about the missing Special, but it's the overwhelming presence of the Slaying effect that I'm not a fan of. It's supposed to have been an effect that emulated the Critical Hits that Killing weapons were known for within the confines of FEH mechanics (heck the name Slaying effect is technically wrong because the Killing/Killer weapons are all in the game), then it became the more desired "stat boost" effect that a Prf weapon could get. At this point it's just another aspect of the powercreep this game has gone through, now that it's on almost every Prf weapon released (which at this point is given to every unit except demotes and most grail units outside of refinery updates) I'm not saying it's a bad effect, but it's so common that it's boring. tvtropes has an entire page dedicated to the idea of "Boring, but Practical", and the slaying effect definitely applies.

Fetters of Dromi in the C slot kind of sucks since that means Yuri can't equip Time's Pulse for some classic special-spam goodies (which by the way just wanna point out they gave yet another unit the slaying effect without actually giving them a special, I'm seriously sick of seeing this effect on every new unit with a Prf...), but it also means that any and all Yuri alts in the future will have this skill, which... sigh... There's otherwise not a whole lot of note to say about Yuri. Every effect on Abyssal Blade is pretty standard fare for offensive units these days, and the only noteworthy effect on him otherwise is that he cancels out the Stall effect at the cost of his extra movement. A/S Hexblade is neat. Honestly even his outfit is kind of plain. I know it's his Trickster outfit in 3H, but for someone as pretty-boy as Yuri it just doesn't feel like it's doing him justice...

That is just... how Galeforce is supposed to work in the main games.

Why do you think we haven't seen certain heroes in a while? The Coma Ward! Also more officially known as the Reserve Barracks.

The same reason they were able to have an entire Wrys army many many maaaany comics ago, back when this still had to be fan translated. It's Manga Kiran.

Ugh, not looking forward to Edelgard getting something that puts her on equal grounds with her armored alts... I'm most interested in seeing Duo Alfonse, mainly in if they give him effects that clash with Special Spiral 4's ignorance of non-special damage reduction. Just as reminders: Bantu had Dark Breath, nflicting Atk/Spd -5 on foes within 2 spaces of target after combat, with the refine upgrading this to Atk/Spd -7 on target and foes within 2 spaces of target after combat. Conrad had the Barrier Lance (Res +7 if foe initiates combat) Duo Alfonse's Imbued Koma granted All Stat +5 and denied enemy follow-ups if his special was ready when combat began, along with the Slaying effect. Edelgard's Victorious Axe guaranteed a follow-up attack if the number of foes within 2 spaces was higher than the number of allies within 2 spaces (excluding Edelgard and her target), along with the Slaying effect Silque had the Melancholy staff, resetting the special charge of her target and foes within 2 spaces of target as well as inflicting [Guard] on said enemies. The only thing we can confirm for sure about her refine is that it will most definitely have the Wrathful Staff effect built in, since she comes with Dazzling Staff by default.

...nope, not taking her bait. She could be the best unit in the game, and I still wouldn't bite. I don't like Aversa, but that does at least give me some hope that other Grail units can be given a chance...

Among those you mentioned, the only ones I outright don't have are LegM!Robin and regular Askr. I'm not confident that the need of raw stats is quite there anymore, though I have already given regular Fae G Duel Infantry 4 (mainly so she can maximize my Arena Assault score) I will say I'm leaning more toward Hubert or Spring Triandra, knowing that choosing when to inflict debuffs would be ideal... but then I also have LegLucina to guarantee follow-ups... but I need to keep Leonie around to forcibly remove HP... But Walhart can just delete all counterattacks... ugh, only having 3 open teamslots makes this hard...

Since Spring Inigo is in the limited Manual Exchange this month, and his only really "good" fodder is G Duel Flying 4, it got me thinking. Would Yune make a good Arena support? Mine is +10 so with GDF4 I'm pretty sure she'd be scoring pretty high, and her supportive ability of inflicting penalties on the enemy en masse PLUS Panic in a game mode where the enemy tends to pack Rallys because they score higher would theoretically make killing them a lot easier with any bonus unit. The problem I'm thinking of is how many units have the Neutralize Penalties on Unit effect, if not the effects of Unity (ESPECIALLY with LegM!Robin in play) reversing all Penalties into bonuses. Currently my Arena team is LegAzura (Dancer who also grants Move +1), Summer Leonie (Firesweep + double Poison Strike + Fatal Smoke), and Brave Lucina (Drive all stats). All are +10 and have their respective Duel 4 skills, but the one I'm considering replacing is Lucina because her support just... isn't that amazing anymore if I'm honest. Helpful sometimes, but not doing enough. I also have R Duel Infantry 4, G Duel Infantry 4, and C Duel Flying 4 on units I've been keeping in my barracks, plus the B Duel Infantry 4 in the normal 4 exchange, if making Arena Supports with them would be a better idea. among the units I have, the following seem like good Arena supports: Nah can grant Def/Res +6 and a Special Charge +1 effect at the start of turn, while using any Assist with Hubert triggers a Ruse that inflicts Atk/Def/Res -7, Guard, and Exposure on the enemies hit. Technically Rafiel is just a regular dancer, but as long as I remember to utilize the Ally Support function he'll be the Quickened Pulse seal for the bonus unit of the week. Spring Triandra grants the currently rare [Foe Penalty Doubler] effect, can inflict some penalties when she dances, and having Firestorm Dance 3 by default means she can grant the Desperation effect to any unit she wants. Heck, she'd technically make an awesome duo with Yune if only I had one more team slot to work with...

I've grown to outright hate Three Houses characters in Heroes, but that doesn't stop me from recognizing what good units they tend to be. Similarly, one of my favorite units is Nowi, but I'd be kneecapping myself if I tried to wait for a HoF where she was featured. I just don't think it's worth it to hold out for a unit you care about when only 4 units appear per HoF and color sharing only happens sometimes. Especially in a case where you'd be relying on a revival happening, because those are decided by votes, and if I may be honest, the FEH voting community is fucking stupid.

Fjorm is a treat. I kind of wish there were more opportunities for her to fight compared to Laegjarn, but then she did compensate for what Laeg wasn't able to do by herself so it's all good.

Consider that it's not just your "highest priority" units that may be run, but also that stronger and stronger units will be featured in future HoF runs. Take the recent Three Houses HoF: all 4 of Brave Edelgard, Brave Dimitri, Brave Claude, and Brave Lysithea had all gotten great refines very recently before it, and the skills being put into the HoF skill pool gets better every month. I'm fairly certain this coming HoF will even allow the ability to put Special Spiral 4 and Time's Pulse 4 on the same unit, making it possible to fully charge a special like Dragon Fang or Lethality after every combat (with a Slaying weapon which almost every Prf these days is) and get the benefits granted by SS4. Dare I hope it, if a HoF features Yuri we're all gonna be in hell. If the two may overlap, that's great, but just keep an open mind as we get more and more HoF's.