XRay

I am finally a First Dragon! Sounds pretty cool. I do not think I can stay in Tier 20 though. I can probably get back in next Arena season once I finish training Camus. I am using Anna right now since she just turned five stars while my Camus is still three stars I think.

If your Lilina cannot handle Hector safely, Olivia is a good Hector check with Ruby Sword and Moonbow/Luna. Giving your team positioning Assists helps a lot. You can try Cordelia with Drag Back, Olivia, Xander/Lyn, and Nino.

I slacked off too. I am ranked 1,293 currently, so I am not in danger of slipping to the next rank, but I am nowhere near going into the next one either. Since I got all the orbs, I am not sure if it is worth it to spend anymore time in the Tempest Trials besides doing a few rounds a day to keep myself in the rank. Spent all my stamina potions leveling Anna to use her in the Arena, so... yeah. I am pretty bad at conserving stamina potions.

I guess I will rephrase my statement. The Askr Trio and most GHB characters can be replaced by someone better.

Besides Xander, Camus, and Ursula, the rest are good, but not great. I like Legion's stat spread a lot, but I think ranged glass cannons are better than melee glass cannons.

Death Blow is the other one that maximizes kills, but that is only applicable to slow Brave users, so you might want to check just to be sure. Tomes, Breath, and Daggers do not have Braves, so they would always use L&D to maximize kills. I have not checked Dire Thunder, but that only applies to two units.

I think having optimized natures makes sense though, because in reality the GHB heroes and especially the Askr Trio do bottom out. Tier lists should accurately reflect that.

Ouch. Yeah. My B!Cordelia is +10 and even she cannot ORKO Leo sometimes, but since I run Azura, I just let her break the rock, tank a hit, and kill him next turn. If it is Cecilia, I let Olivia do the same thing. If it is the Thunder Siblings, I usually have to wait for him or her to come near me.

So, basically, we do not have the manpower nor resources to create a proper tier list. Will we ever have enough though? Would another community, say Reddit or Gamefaqs, have enough manpower and resources to do it?

What about only getting data from First Dragons who survived Tier 20 for at least one week? Additionally, we can place further restrictions such as getting data only from teams that can earn a deathless run by themselves. The sample size is certainly very small right now, but once T20 has more players, our sample size will be more reliable and accurate. Additionally, another benefit is that First Dragons who survive multiple weeks are also more likely to be whales, and whales are less affected by the bias against characters locked at five stars. Flame wars cannot happen if we remove subjectivity. Either your team won a deathless run or it did not. There is no way to check if a player is telling the truth though besides making them record their run, but I think that maybe far more hassle than it is worth and make our already small sample size smaller. We can also do a similar list for defense teams. I think it would be even easier since we only care about the player being a First Dragon since we do not care about what their team is, but what the opponent defense teams are.

My Dr. Lucina uses Reciprocal Aid instead. I have only used her in the Arena once or twice on accident so I cannot really say how good she is there. I just remember being very frustrated with that match, so I probably lost. However, depending on your team, she is very good in the Tempest Trial, or at least in this specific one. She can safely kill Veronica without fear of counter attack so my team does not Panic. Her insane healing pretty much ensures that Bride Cordelia is refreshed at the start of every map, allowing me to run Swordbreaker over Desperation for more coverage. As a bonus, she is also the bonus unit. Another reason why she is good in the Tempest Trial is that enemy units there are poorly optimized, so you only need one (at most two) glass cannon(s), and you can fill the rest of the slots with dancers and a Bonus/support unit.

I wish I can face Reinhardt and Olwen on the same map. My Bride Cordelia will show him magic is not everything! I think someone said that you only get to face someone once per run, so facing both Reinhardt and Olwen at the same time makes it easier on the final map.

I used a few orbs. I figured losing one or two orbs is worth it to get a few more orbs after Quicken Pulse. I need to stop wasting Stamina potions on GHB and monthly quests though, since I should look up strategy videos and be more patient with not completing all the monthly quests within a few days.

It depends on what you have. I would not invest too much into the Askr trio besides filling in their skill slots since there are better units out there. However, Sharena is a decent lance unit since her weapon is useful and she has a nice stat spread. Blárblade+ increases your attack by a few points, whereas the first level of merging gives you one point in HP and one point in one of the other stats depending on the unit. I think the few points increase in attack is generally better than a 1 point increase in HP and another stat. However, if the other stat increase is in speed, it might be worth it, so you have to run the calculator and check. As long as your Reinhardt is not -Atk, I think it is fine to promote him.

You could split WLD ratio into more components if you want. For example, perfect win (100%HP), win (100%-75%HP), Desperation win (75%-50%HP), bad win (50%-25%HP), Pyrrhic win (25%-1HP). I think WLD is sufficient in that it nicely sums up a character's performance without it being overly complicated. How common is multiple rounds of combat though? Top tier characters usually aim for ORKO, and then have another character Assist them out of enemy range. Outside of armors and a few other tanks, I do not think multiple rounds is important enough to warrant too much attention. Multiple rounds maybe more applicable for Enemy Phase characters, but combat at most usually lasts two rounds (enemy phase initiation then player phase counter attack or retreat) and I assume people usually do not make their tanks agro more than one or two units at once. Even when I used to play Hector in the beginning, I always aim to place him against one unit at a time to prevent him from being overwhelmed, unless they were daggers and lances where he will obviously kill them quicker if he agros more. I think that is more on the player's skill and tactics. I am guilty of not checking my opponents skills sometimes due to laziness and get myself killed from Vantage, but usually, players make sure they kill a Vantage unit before it activates, or make sure their own characters can take the hit if Vantage is active.

@Ice Dragon WLD ratio does not tell us every thing, but we can use more numbers and ratios. By how much does the unit survive each encounter? Units with Desperation, for example, only need to survive one encounter, and can then go virtually forever without taking any more damage. Sophia and Nowi on the opposite end of the spectrum get by simply by taking no damage to begin with How important are the match-ups that aren't won? Losing to Harold or Merric, for example, should be weighted less than losing to Hector or Spring Camilla. Are the match-ups that aren't won match-ups that can be covered by a likely teammate? A red unit that fails to kill Hector, for example, is less likely to have a teammate that can cover Hector than a green unit that fails to kill Hector. Maybe we should revise the benchmark and judge characters on how they perform against neutral (or another nature), Counter/Fury, QR units? Most units will not have that build, but it does give us an idea on how a character performs against the worst case scenario. If you fail to kill an opponent in one round of combat, what are the repercussions? Wings of Mercy is a notable threat for failed kills on enemy phase. Vantage is a notable threat for failed kills in general. I think this might be outside the scope of a tier list and more about tactics and maneuvering. What support options does the unit have? Celica commonly runs Renewal and can therefore be used for healing. Nowi and Fae typically take zero damage from combat and have massive HP pools that can also be given to other teammates with Reciprocal Aid. Eirika and Ephraim have uninheritable weapons that give Hone Atk 2 without taking up their passive C slot, allowing them to provide buff combinations that others cannot. Characters with utility builds not based purely on combat are hard to quantify. They should be judged on a case by case basis, and debated on how they contribute to a team. For example, dancers/singer have some of the worst combat potential, but their ability to renew allies more than makes up for their lackluster strength. Can the unit get to where they need to be? Hector and Effie do a lot of damage, but that doesn't mean anything if they can't reach what they want to reach. Unlike utility builds, I think movement is pretty clear on how they impact a character's performance and tier. I do not think this is quantifiable, but I do not think we need to. How easy is it to build a team using the character? Reinhardt needs no team support. Olwen needs easy-to-get team support since cavalry teams typically already have the buff she wants. Infantry Litrblade+ users need more team support unless they don't need the added coverage. Sophia really needs a dancer to actually get kills on axe users. Sheena and Gwendolyn really want to be on a team with at least three armors to stack buffs. Yeah, I am not sure how to quantify this either.

Is it possible to reduce the number of required people? If we can automate the build process, we would eliminate the biggest time sink trying to figure out the most optimal skill set for every character. I am no programmer, but I imagine it should be possible to let the computer figure out the best nature and skill combination that can kill the most neutral, non-S.I. units for every character on player phase. I do understand that it will take a lot of time and effort though. Once we have everyone's Win:Loss:Draw ratio, it would be very easy to move units up and down the tier list. We can also do one for most kills on enemy phase, since quite a few characters perform better on enemy phase than player phase.

Yay! Reached 99,999!

With very few exceptions, speed bane is the worst. Atk bane primarily just reduces a unit's ability to kill things, but Spd bane will stunt a unit's offensive potential and decrease survival. Spd bane would allow a lot of enemies to survive, since your unit could have attacked it twice to kill it but it did not. It also jeopardizes their survival on enemy phase since enemies have an easier time to double attack your units and activate a skill to overwhelm them. Hinoka should be usable on player phase since she uses Brave Lance+, but she would be pretty vulnerable on enemy phase. If the others are not using Braves, the Spd bane is crippling. In her default kit, neutral Palla gets 18 wins and 14 losses, while yours get 8 wins and 23 losses. Neutral Catria gets 27 wins and 3 losses, while yours get 16 wins and 5 losses. Giving them Braves will help patch their weak offense, but make them extra vulnerable on enemy phase.

I agree. I do not think anyone would object.

But tier lists are fun though. I agree that new players should try to figure things out for themselves first, but I do not think that is worth it for players who already understand the basics, are midway in the story mode, and need some guidance on what to do next. Stamina and time are precious resources. The beauty of a tier list is that a player can quickly glance at it and know who in their barracks they should prioritize.

Why is Nowi on the bottom? I am not a big fan of enemy phase units, but Nowi is just as good as Hector on enemy phase, and better than Hector on player phase since she has better movement and attacks with magic.

It is very cluttered, but the only thing I am going to change in her skill set is S.breaker for Desp. if I need to. I did not need to do that yet, so the clutter is not a big deal. I send home all 3* healers now since I nearly maxed them all out in skills and got most of their ideal natures. I also send home all 3* archers and dagger users for the same reason. However, I try to keep everyone else unless I need to send some home to make space for GHB or quest heroes.

Impressive. That is a lot of dedication. How many tries did it take?

Did not notice your post until today. Before you do anything else, train your Olivia to 4* level 40 as soon as possible, and finish training Ninian too. Dancers makes Grand Hero Battles easier, and a lot of strategies on YouTube need Oliva. Getting a single 3* version of the GHB hero is fine, but it is much better to get the 4* copy as well, since you can use the extra copy for merging at 5* or devour it for skill fodder. You should also give Olivia Ruby Sword and Axebreaker. Ninian should also get Hone Speed 3. — — — — — — After that, I would work on your pony team. Finish leveling Xander and Cecilia and work on Camus and Ursula. Camus and Xander should have their exclusive weapons, Moonbow, Fury 3, and Quick Riposte 2. Give Fortify Cavalry to either Camus or Xander, and give Hone Cavalry to the other one. Camus and Xander should also get Swap or Reposition. I would not bother with getting their native skill set besides their weapons, unless you have spare SP. Cecilia and Ursula should get Gronnblade/Blárblade, Moonbow, and Life and Death 2. For their B Passives, you can either go with Desperation 3, Axebreaker 3 for Cecilia, or Lancerbreaker 2 for Ursula. I personally prefer Breakers, but you might like Desperation more. If you summon more Jagen and Gunter later, then give one of them F. Cav. and the other H. Cav. Cecilia and Ursula should also get Draw Back. If you can, Cecilia should get her Gronnraven as well and inherit Triangle Adept 3 from Roy. However, like Camus and Xander, do not bother with their native skills unless you have spare SP. If you do not have all the skills, it is fine. They should still be usable and give you a decent amount of Feathers every week from the Arena. Camus and Xander should have dibs on Fury, Quick Riposte, F. Cav., and H. Cav. Cecilia and Ursula should have dibs on Blade tomes and L&D2. Those are their most important skills. However, do NOT sacrifice your only Nino to Cecilia. Wait for a spare with a bad stat spread. — — — — — — Next I would focus on your infantry glass cannons. Nino should have the next dibs on L&D2, then Tharja, then Bride Caeda. B!Caeda should get her Blárblade too after Ursula gets hers. They should also get Desp. or Breakers (Tharja > S.breaker, B!Caeda > L.breaker); Nino should stick with Desp. unless you have trouble with Axe units. If your Julia has a Spd boon and HP, Def, or Res bane, I would give her Gronnblade and L&D2 as well, but she should not be your priority. You should also figure out which of your archers (Jeorge, Setsuna, Takumi) has the best nature, and give that one Brave Bow from Gordin. If your best archer is Klein, then you just need to train him since he already comes with Brave Bow. You can also give your best archer L&D2 as well, but like Julia, the archer should not be your priority. — — — — — — Once you have done all of that, you should have a nice selection of dancers, cavalry, and infantry to choose from for story mode, Arena, and events. You can then start working on units like the Askr trio, Stahl, Felicia, and Virion (the neutral ones you get from Special Maps) since they are Bonus characters in the Arena and many GHB strategy videos use them.