Sire

Responded to DehNutCase by PM to not clutter up this topic. However, for those curious, the message is below within the spoiler.

TLDR: I'm wondering if I should spend some money on the Sibling Bonds Focus as I have a 3.75% (7.5%) chance at getting a 5* unit. I don't particularly want the "bonus" to be wasted, but I do not have enough "free orbs" to spend before it expires. * * * * * I know the Sibling Bonds focus closes out on March 14, 2:00 AM (US Central Time || Tonight or Early Tomorrow Morning). However, this is also when a "new day" starts, like resetting Dueling Crests, Tower Rewards, and Login-Bonuses. This is due to Daylight Savings Time, because previously it was 1:00 AM for the "reset," at least for me. I was hoping that we would get the "Voting Gauntlet" rewards today so I could spend them on the Sibling Bonds banner since I have a 3.75% chance (7.50%) of obtaining a 5 star unit, and a part of me does not want that bonus to be "wasted" when the focus changes. Everyone in the focus looks interesting, and I'm hoping for Reinhardt, Lachesis, and Klein. Eldigan would be nice for Arena, but I don't remember if the current "Bonus Heroes" stays for another week or rotates to a different pool. Olwen and Sanaki are all right, but I am not looking for them in particular. So, should I take the plunge and try to purchase some Orbs or get my chance at a 5* hero another day?

Welp, looks like a solid cast of characters! I'm looking forward to getting Jaffar, Ninian, and Priscilla on my team. Karel and Rebecca would be nice, while I'll pass on Lucius. Although, if they stick with the "3 Paralogue" system, then that's only gonna be 9 Orbs (+1 from quests if precedent stays on course). I can see Priscilla and Lucius being on the same team. Maybe they will go Ninian/Rebecca and Jaffar/Karel, since FE7 Karel is more bloodthirsty than his FE6 counterpart. ...I need more Orbs.

Honestly, while they say the "Daily Login Bonuses" replace "Weekend Login Bonuses," I personally see it more as a replacement for the "App Release Bonus" for the daily free Orbs. So, instead of the daily reward of 2 orbs a day (with an extra on Sunday), we get Feathers, Stamina Potions, and Dueling Crests. The Feathers are a nice gesture, but losing out on 2 Orbs a day is a big deal. That, and I already have plenty of Stamina Potions and Dueling Crests, almost as much as I do Badges and Great Badges... Now, for Arena Rewards, I believe this for the tweaked Arena Ranking so players have an easier time to get Feathers. The "Arena Daily Quests," the ones with Orb rewards, only lasts until April 11. I just hope the overall flow of Orbs remains the same, even if the acquisition is done about differently. However, I have a feeling Orb Flow will be reduced, which somewhat neuters my enthusiasm for Heroes.

Nah, it's totally Red and Blue. I mean, the enemy forces are always red and the player forces are always blue! Thanks for the correction, it has been fixed.

1. Jeigan - The "starter prepromote" (usually a Paladin), intended to help players out early game. I include all forms of Jegans here, including "Oifeys" like Seth and Titania. 2. Christmas Cavaliers - Can't be Fire Emblem without the Red and Green Cavalier (or Ninjas in the case of Fates). 3. The Trainee - Probably fits more in line of "Est," but is essentially a weak unit with poor starting stats, but becomes amazing if properly trained. Some examples include Ross, Amelia, Donnel, and Mozu. 4. Pegasus Trio - The reason I don't say sisters is because they are not always sisters. Also, true Pegasus Trios know the magnificent "Triangle Attack." 5. Gotoh - I really don't call them Gotohs and instead just call them "Late OP Units." Essentially, they show up at the end to save the iron players who do not reset when a character dies, giving them a chance at beating the game. 6. Bandit Twins - They do exist, even if they are not always discussed. Where is the Heroes version? 7. Camus - I acknowledge the term, but I really don't use it myself.

There was a topic similar to this a month ago, and I imagine most of those opinions are still valid. Then, if we go way back, there was the JPN release discussion which was revived when it was released in NA. I do not know if the European release started another surge of discussions as I was not active at that time. One of the most commonly agreed points was that Fates story sucked. Other elements (such as Conquest's gameplay) were praised, but Fate's "Wasted Potential" definitely left its mark on some of us who expected (and wanted) Fates to be so much more than it actually was. As for me, I'll simply quote myself on what I said over there, but I'll also have a short version. Long story short... - Fates had a brilliant story concept, but it was wasted. This is the biggest complaint about Fates. - Conquest has some of the best gameplay, rivaling Radiant Dawn. // Birthright is a weaker Awakening, and Revelations is too gimmicky. - Fate's music is still fairly good overall. - Characters were somewhat okay, but my favorites are far fewer in Fates compared to any other Fire Emblem game (coming from a guy that practically likes almost every Fire Emblem character).

Looks that that user also has a Deviant Art page, for easier English viewing. The artist does have some mature content (auto blocked by Deviant Art if a guest), as well as some "risque" stuff, so be mindful when viewing. For reference, this is the artist that did the "Chrom versus Ephraim" comic, while Lucina bullies Erika at the end. Link: http://lewd-dodo.deviantart.com/gallery/

Good to know that Triangle Adept and Gem Weapons actually affect the Atk of both characters. I always thought it only modified the user's Atk (up 20% or down 20% respectively). I was wondering why I was not doing as much damage using Ryoma (Red Sword) against Azura (Blue Lance // Sapphire Weapon). Although, on the flipside, if I end up sending an axe user at Azura (or a lance user at Roy), then the Triangle Adept character will deal less damage and receive more in return, right? May sound obvious, but I just want to make sure. Also, a part of me hopes the "Triangle Adept" skill and "Triangle Adept" weapon stack, because I had one Selena build revolve around that. If not, then I'll need to reconsider her loadout. * * * * * Anyways, thanks for your time and research! I look forward to future developments.

Two people have Martyr, Clarine and Azama. Within the spoiler is a max stats chart using the average stats. If you can remedy Azama's speed problem, he will be the best candidate for Martyr due to his high health and decent DEF & RES. The next best up is Lissa, but she also has SPD issues. On par with Lissa is Sakura, exchanging some DEF and HP for precious SPD. If you plan on using healers to tank magic attacks to trigger Martyr, then the selection is a bit more open. However, I would recommend either Sakura or Maria due to their HP, SPD, and RES. Personally though, I just prefer using Rehabilitate at endgame. While using healers as bait and "off-tanks" to proc Martyr can be interesting, I prefer using combat units that can retaliate and defeat opponents and patch up their wounds afterwards.

Copy & Pasted from the General Thread.

It depends on what you want to use the healer for. If you want to use the healer for actual healing, then a healer with Recover (Serra, Elise) or Rehabilitate (Lissa, Wyrs) is wanted. I personally prefer Rehabilitate since it can heal a wounded unit back up to full. // If you are using the healer for combat debuffs (Fear, Slow), you are likely better off finding a combat unit with a Seal skill instead. // If you are using the healer for buffing your team (Hone ATT, SPD Balms), it is likely better finding combat units that synergies together with buffs. Long story short, the meta currently seems to revolve around "kill the enemy first before they kill you" while fielding a Dancer instead of "outlast the enemy through toughness and heals." Defensive builds are viable, but do not seem that popular around here. * * * * * Now, with the Skill Inherit system on the horizon, I personally would say Clarine would be the best healer due to her total stats (162, the highest of current healers) and being mounted. All one needs to do then is outfit her with the desired skills. If all of these skills are valid, then I personally would run... Character: Clarine Weapon: Fear (Increases Survivability) Special: ATT Balm (Allows for Burst Damage) Assist: Rehabilitate (Excellent healing potential for wounded units) Passive A: Fury (+12 Total Stats, Increases Arena Rating) Passive B: Live to Serve (Heals Self, Offsets Fury Self Damage) Passive C: Hone DEF (Increases Survivability)

Since Chrom is slow, DEF(and RES) matters much more than HP since he is normally doubled. So, that Boon & Bane is extremely valuable and is the best choice for a "Physical Tank Chrom". I know everyone loves to run glass cannons with either a +SPD or +ATT Boon, but sometimes having a solid tank is nice too. Also, it may mess up people's calculations when running with a more defensive character. I personally prefer the +ATT, -HP Robin, but keep in mind that Robin suffers -4 HP instead of the usual -3. My personal "min-max" Robin would be either +ATT, -RES or +SPD, -RES. The reason I say +SPD is due to M!Robin's Defiant SPD. When active, it will transform a +SPD Robin into a character with from 32 SPD to 39 SPD, on par with a Neutral Linde or Fir.

@Ice Dragon I know Vantage is situational and is not an amazing skill for pure offensive teams, especially for Arena play. However, I plan on using Vantage for... 1. Arena Defense (+SPD, -ATT Ryoma || +DEF, -ATT Takumi || +HP, -DEF Azura || +ATT -RES M!Robin // Provided I ever get all of these guys...) 2. Characters that can counter at melee and range (Ryoma, Takumi, Hector, Nowi, A!Tiki, etc.) 3. Defiant ATT + Vantage Combo (because it mimics Wrath + Vantage of the Tellius games and it looks cool.) * * * * * I still plan on running Ryoma with Vantage offensively, even with Desperation as an alternative option. I just feel Vantage suits my style of defensive play more. Also, with proper setup, players can proc their special skill during the vantage attack. (Wounded Takumi + Moonbow, Charge 2 || Two shots on enemy, enemy attacks and is finished off due to Vantage + Moonbow. // A 3 charge skill can be used if attacking ranged units.) Granted, Vantage for some of my other characters (Adult Tiki, Hector) relies more on them inflicting massive damage to the enemy. In Hector's case, it is because he can be hard to kill and when he has Vantage, he will do massive damage against mages trying to finish him off due to Distant Counter (like the common M!Robin or Linde). A!Tiki may want Quick Riposte instead and change out her Defiant ATT to something else, say Death Blow. This does fall under the category of "the unit will likely die anyways," but I find Vantage to be more of a cool skill to use here instead of the most efficient one. The greatest weakness of Vantage is that particular character being one-shot, or not being able to counter at both melee and range (which the AI and players will take advantage of if possible). Then, of course, the character needs to be below 75% HP and be able to kill in that one hit otherwise the combat is "normal," save for the fact the Vantage character attacked first (and may mess up special skill proc calculations). Still, I find it a fun skill, even if it is situational.

Isn't the theme going to still be something about (x) Bonds? We had Family Bonds and Sibling Bonds, so it makes sense to close them out with a third Focus. As for some ideas... - Micaiah (due to Sanaki's inclusion and the hint) - Kaze (Saizo is already in) - Flora (Felicia is already in) - Priscilla (Raven is already in) - Rebecca & Dart (Blazing Sword, Dart is totally Dan) - Innes & Tana (Sacred Stones) - Geoffrey & Lucia (Tellius) - Ike & Mist (Tellius, but unlikely. I think they will be in a Tellius focus.)

And the amazing fan art continues! Alas, if only that was the actual case. (Unless Team Lucina is full of hackers and Nintendo shadowbans them and wipes off their scores!) I jest, of course. Lucina simply has far more popularity than Ephraim does. I agree with Eleison that Ephraim vs Chrom will be remembered for a while, especially with all the fan works (art and stories) that sprung out of it during that 45 hour period. I also wonder if the demand and sales of Sacred Stones went up due to the matchup.

Quality. Just pure Quality. I got plenty of characters sitting around wanting to be merged 5* rank at some point, and I mostly only use characters that have "perfect IVs." If I get a 5* character with a usable IV, I'll level them up if they can be of use in the Arena, otherwise I leave them to be merging fodder. Got a favorite character but does not have a good nature? Level them up to 20 and wait for the feather supply for the eventual merging. I'm thinking ultra long-term here, so I do not want to be "wasting feathers" and "wasting time" training units that will not be that good. I also just have one account instead of multiple, which further raises the stakes. The downside with going pure Quality is being thrown into situations where party composition matters far more than character quality (see Ursula's Hero Battle for example). However, as I tend to keep my units nowadays since Skill Inheritance is on the horizon, I have a fair amount of choices with my roster of 72 heroes.

I already covered this elsewhere, but here is my master list of custom skills with no restrictions. Unlike last time, I also have explanations, while some existing stuff was changed around. The first spoiler is the master list of just the skills and characters. Characters before Gunter and Olivia are "somewhat optimized" and cater to my character's Boons and Banes as well as my particular playstyle (defensive). The Awakening Trio and everyone below them I still need to look at again. // The second spoiler lists the character, skills, and some explanations on why I chose them (up to Cherche). It also sorts the characters into teams, but some are just grouped together.

‘’I am not bound to win, but I am bound to be true. I am not bound to succeed, but I am bound to live by the light that I have. I must stand with anybody that stands right, stand with him while he is right, and part with him when he goes wrong.’’ - Abraham Lincoln, Team Ephraim Supporter * * * * * While in earlier rounds Ephraim may of had a chance of beating Lucina, the epic battle with Chrom left him exhausted and had many players use up their flags in order to win. It was always expected that Lucina would likely win by a landslide ever since the start, but the dream was to have someone actually topple Lucina. I don't blame players for wanting easy feathers or finding Lucina more likable than Ephraim. I like Lucina myself and may have even joined her cause. However, Sacred Stones was my first Fire Emblem game and I had Ephraim, so I had to support him. I am content with Ephraim being second, but this sudden "feather increase" for rewards for the final round is a low blow. Everyone who was fighting to win the current rounds and carry the team to the final is getting screwed over by those who waited. My original plan was to spread out my flag distribution to get decent team rankings, but with Chrom and Ephraim being neck and neck last round, I decided to burn all of my remaining flags so Ephraim can stay in the lead. If I knew the finals would have greater rewards, I would have conserved some flags to maintain a decent ranking. As it stands, I'll still fight for Team Ephraim, if just to maintain my cumulative score (since that will remain fairly competitive since I used up all my flags, now it will be solely battle based). That will also help out my measly Team Ranking, and if I'm lucky I can make it within the top 70k by just using daily flags and fighting as much as possible. That's an extra 400 feathers on top of the usual 1000 for just participating! Some Ephraim supporters may be tired out, but if they will sit out the final round, then there is more of a chance for me to get some sort of rank. But yeah, as for future events, a part of me would really like to see the number of players supporting each army. Then, maybe even a system that adjusts scores based on the number of players (so the less players, the more score per battle they obtain). This should make future Battle Gauntlets more balanced and competitive, like the epic Ephraim vs Chrom match, and less like Lucina facerolling over everybody. Where's the fun if you can not lose or fail (or have a chance at winning)?

Well, I'm glad to see Ephraim won over Chrom. However, in the process I did say "screw it" and burnt my entire flag supply, so now I have nothing against Lucina. Then, given how staunch the Chrom supporters are elsewhere (I think Reddit), I don't think many of them may join Team Ephraim at the chance of overthrowing Lucina's Legion. The promise of a "free victory" is too much to pass up I suppose. Then there is the matter of Chrom supporters moving over to support Lucina since she is his daughter. Either way, the match against Ephraim and Chrom really was a spectacle and I was glad to be a part of it. Now, eyes are focused on taking on the juggernaut Lucina. I wonder if Ephraim will still put on a show, or if he will be a gentleman and let the Lucina win.

Thanks for catching that! I'm a little sleep deprived at the moment and also trying to somewhat celebrate Ephraim's victory over Chrom.

Completed Lunatic with a variant of @Korath88's build. I used... Physical Tank: 5* Cain (+DEF, -HP) Magical DPS: 4* Robin (Balanced) Non-Infantry Decoy: Lvl 26, 4* Beruka (+DEF, -HP) Dancer: Lvl 34, 4* Olivia (Balanced) Specifically, the two units of note are Robin and Cain. Olivia is a dancer to move things around, and Beruka (with 29 DEF) was only a decoy target. With this in mind, one only needs two real combat ready units. So, the team composition should be 1. Mage || 2. Tank & Physical DPS || 3. Dancer || 4. Non-Infantry Decoy. Since Olivia is free and F!Robin was obtainable from the previous Hero Battle, all that is required is a decoy and physical tank (and training up Robin). Benchmarks: - Mage: F!Robin needs to have 31 ATT (25 Damage) to Ursula to kill her in one round (using Blue Tomebreaker). If using another mage, make sure you can one-round Ursula if using this strategy. - Decoy: The Decoy should have lots of DEF. The Thief deals 33 damage (my Beruka had 29 DEF). The Decoy needs to live for 2 rounds of combat. // An alternative to using a Decoy is to field a ranged unit that can retaliate and kill the Top Thief, making the map go by slightly faster. Strategy 1. Maneuver your units into position using the safe zones. Robin and Cain should be up front, Olivia in the middle, and Beruka in the very back (on the 1st tile from the top left). 2. Send Robin out to bait Ursula. Ursula will die during the enemy phase. (Other enemies cannot reach Robin.) 3. Retreat Robin and dance her to safety. Robin should end up in the 2nd tile from the top left. Move Cain to the 4th tile from the top left. (Olivia should be on the 3rd tile and Beruka is on the 1st tile.) || On the enemy phase, the Sword Cavalier will attack Cain and the top Thief will attack Beruka. 4. Retaliate with Cain. Kill the Sword Cavalier, support Cain with Olivia's Dance, and have him also kill the Thief. || On the enemy phase the top thief will attack Beruka and the Axe Knight attacks Cain. 5. Kill the Axe Knight with F!Robin. After that, finish off the Thief at your leisure. * * * * * Hope this helps anyone wanting to beat Lunatic!

Oh boy... Ephraim vs Chrom at the time of this post (3:30 US Central Time). * * * * * * * * * * Not looking good for Ephraim who is now about 5 million behind Chrom. I suppose the western fanbase definitely supports Chrom over Ephraim. Guess I gotta spend up my flag reserves and settle for second place, any tactical superiority in saving flags is practically lost at this rate. All the contender against Lucina (Chrom or Ephraim) can do is hope to match her numbers and hope there are still some flag reserves left, but I doubt that. Lucina's Legion has the numbers and can easily stockpile flags while Ephraim and Chrom are using up flags left and right. Leo's team likely used up flags and Erika supporters likely used flags during rounds 1 & 2. I suppose my enthusiasm and morale just faded away and want the Gauntlet to be over with. The match against Chrom is fun and I intend to support Ephraim to my fullest extent, but I suppose I was hyping myself too much for the "hypothetical finals." If Lucina does somehow lose, then maybe I'll go skydiving or something.

Gameplay wise, I play defensively. I let the enemy come to me first, and then I start my counterattack. Overall for Heroes, I am a bit of a collector, completionist, and min-maxer. Eventually I want to have every hero (favorites come first of course), and fully outfit them for crazy synergies. I also have plenty of crazy team compositions I would love to use, but that involved getting the characters I want first and making sure they have the right natures and custom skills for the task. I am also semi-competitive as my goal for the Arena is to make it within the top 10k per season. This may not always happen, but it is a goal to strive towards. Two main things hold me back from enjoying this game even more though: 1. Lack of Feathers (Promoting a unit to 5* status sucks.) 2. Lack of Orbs (Since I am min-maxing, my "usable hero pool" is smaller than most. While I have like 70 characters or so in my roster [not counting heroes I previously retired], only about 20 of them are actually optimized in terms of natures. Then out of that, only 4 of those are 5* units.) I am thinking about the ultra long term, so I want to focus more on 5-starring heroes (with merges) than having a 4* army. This "optimization" and "efficiency," while somewhat effective, definitely does put a damper on my overall enjoyment of the game. Sometimes I just want to mess around with whatever, but then my min-maxing self kicks in and tells me not to.

Round 18 [Sibling Bonds]: 3* Lissa (+DEF, -SPD) || 3* Oboro (+HP, -SPD) || 3* Viron (+SPD, -RES) || 4* Clarine (+HP, -SPD) || 4* Hawkeye (+DEF, -SPD) Tried for Sibling Bonds since my 5* rate was 3.50% (total of 7%). So much for the "increased chances" eh? I wonder if I'll be able to get one more pull in before it expires due to the Gauntlet bonus rewards... Initially, I had high hopes for this pull. I needed another Lissa and Clarine as the ones I have could be improved in terms of their natures (Lissa wants +SPD, -ATT while Clarine wants +HP, -ATT). However, both ended up having -SPD, which is a bane I refuse to have unless the unit is very slow in the first place. Viron makes his grand return, and I think his Boon & Bane are all right (unless -RES turns out to be a -4 in terms of stats). At the very least, I'm happy I got Viron again because I don't remember what happened to my previous one. (I dismissed the starter.) Hawkeye is new and looks cool, but he has the same problems as Alfonse in being too slow and being unable to take hits. For Hawkeye, his dilemma is made worse due to the prevalence of Sword users. I guess he may be entertaining to use in the Training Tower though. Man, I still really want an Azura (+HP, -DEF) or a Takumi (+ATT, -DEF or +DEF, -ATT). Then I could use some good 5* Greens and 5* Blues. At least I got Erika last pull...