MaskedAmpharos

...I'm a complete fool. Yes, you're exactly right. Takumi does still make a better Brave Bow unit under optimal conditions than Klein, but it's not because of any kind of speed difference. I'm not entirely sure how I got the impression that Klein is slower, but you're absolutely correct in that they have the same base speed. With that team, I would probably give Julia Spur Atk as that benefits Hana (especially if you're going Brave Sword Hana) and Robin the most, but at the end of the day it's situational.

I feel dirty every time I OHKO Hector (or any green unit) with Reinhardt tbh

I don't dislike him or anything, but I don't feel comfortable promoting him when I already have two other Distant Counter red swords.

To be quite honest I'm not super fond of Xander (and I also don't have any Quick Riposte or Bonfire fodder for him), so I really want to hold out until I know the other bonus units first. Hell I may even use my 20k feathers to promote another of the bonus heroes instead since if I'm not using Xander I can have Ryoma back on my team >:D

Honestly the main thing holding me back from building that Takumi (besides resources and the fact that I don't love Takumi quite enough to spend 40k feathers on him) is that he wouldn't do anything I'm not already doing with Reinhardt. There are a few greens that Rein can't kill, like Julia, but I have Ryoma for that. Still, for other people who aren't in the same boat as us, Brave Bow Takumi could be a really great offensive unit :D

I'd feel the same way except I'm primed to promote Xander if I don't have any other bonus heroes next season, which would mean no Ryoma for another 2 weeks </3 (and Xander would have the same struggles against S!Camilla that Ike currently has).

Tfw I have no good red mages Ryoma's been my main counter to green mages for the past several seasons, but I swapped him out for Ike this season, who has significantly lower res and speed and thus deals with the likes of S!Camilla far worse. EDIT: Maybe I should invest in a T-Adept/G Tomebreaker Sophia a la @Ice Dragon

Close Counter is really mostly good for being on a defense team, and even then it's overrated. You get far more mileage out of improving Takumi's killing power on player phase during Arena offense battles. I'll concede that it does require more investment, which is why you should really only go this route if you really like Takumi. But since I'm giving advice, I feel like I owe it to you to at least tell you your options from a long-term optimization standpoint.

A neutral Takumi with Brave Bow+ and Life and Death (better matchup spread than if he runs Death Blow) still has a better matchup spread than a +Atk Klein with Brave Bow+ and Death Blow (Klein's too slow to run Life and Death), especially with Luna as his special instead of Vengeance.

I've forfeited many a streak because Wings of Mercy Brave Axe Cherche would teleport in and murder someone. Actually just in general Flier Emblem teams seem to give me the most trouble. My main answers to green mages are Ike and Julia (w/ G Tomebreaker), but a S!Camilla with enough buffs is capable of OHKOing Ike on the spot (and even if she can't OHKO, she can ORKO since the defense tiles make it a lot more difficult for Ike to one-shot her on the counter, so she just doubles and kills him with the second hit). Many S!Camillas also run G Tomebreaker, which would cancel out my Julia's and let them ORKO her as well. It's just not a good time :/

Oh wait it's a 5* Klein? In that case feeding him for his Brave Bow+ might be more valuable than feeding him for his Death Blow. Off the top of my head, Takumi and Setsuna both make better Brave archers than Klein (though both require skill inheritance in addition to the bow to shine).

That's fair. Color-stacking, 1-2 range units, and dancers are all great for defense, and you have all of that :D

All I heard just now is that Reinhardt + 3 dancers completely runs through your team :P

Easily +Atk +Res adds far less to his damage output (even taking Glacies into account) than +Atk does, and the nature of the first one is hurt even more by the fact that he's -Atk. I also think that Glacies is best replaced with Luna or another 3-cd special (Luna gives him the best matchup spread, with Draconic Aura coming in second) because since he's a Brave Bow unit, he'd be able to proc those skills every other round of combat, which adds a lot to his overall damage output. And yes, I would use the extra Klein for Death Blow fodder since he's the only unit that gets DB3 at 4*, which is invaluable.

Roasting pineapples is one of my favorite hobbies. I'm actually a little sad that there's been a pineapple shortage recently :/ EDIT: I can't believe I glossed over the first half, but my Lyn was also my first 5* :DDD (+Def/-HP)

I feel like red is where I've had the worst luck lol I haven't pulled in red any less than the other colors, but I've yet to get a single Lilina/Sanaki or Falchion unit. Heck, I spent nearly 200 orbs during Hero Fest and didn't get even one single Hinata for Fury fodder :/

I'm glad you found my advice useful! I'd offer more specific advice regarding the C-slot, but that's more team specific (and is also largely personal preference). I've actually dabbled in Awakening postgame optimization quite a bit myself, though it's been years, so I've forgotten most of it. If you really want to thank me you should join Team Julia :P

I don't actually either. Congrats on the defense btw :D

Oh that's great! +Spd/-HP is actually her best nature for a Horse Emblem Gronnblade set. +Spd with LD (even LD 2) and Desperation nets her more ORKOs than +Atk, and the -HP helps her get into Desperation range more easily!

It depends on how many buffs you're able to stack on her. Assuming both Hone/Fortify Cavalry, neutral Cecilia with the Spd +1 seal (since I don't know the nature of yours) has a matchup spread of 112/2/11 with Gronnblade+ and 107/3/15 with Gronnblade. Assuming just Hone, she has 97/6/22 with Gronnblade+ and 92/6/27 with Gronnblade. Life and Death 3 is obviously optimal, but you should be fine if you only have 2. Olwen still kills all reds (and most if not all blue and colorless), Xander and Eliwood still kill all greens (and a good chunk of red and colorless), and Cecilia still kills all blues (and a good chunk of green and colorless). Even when not 100% optimal, Horse Emblem is still terrifying. EDIT: If you don't have enough LD fodder, Eliwood is fine with Fury.

Alright, I will grant that Olwen is squishy. This is still largely irrelevant since you shouldn't be letting either of them tank hits, and I don't think it makes sense to assume a player is going to mess up when giving them advice. In any case, it seems like Sleypnyr has decided on Olwen, so I think we're done here. My $0.02 on what sets of skills to run: Olwen Xander Eliwood Cecilia Assists are largely dependent on personal preference, but Draw Back and Reposition are generally what I consider the best of the positioning assists (though Swap is quite useful on a tanky Distant Counter unit like Xander). Ardent Sacrifice is optional to get Olwen/Cecilia into Desperation range without them needing to enter combat first. The C auras are flexible and can be switched around at will. As long as Olwen is getting a Hone Cavalry buff, Xander is getting a Fortify Cavalry buff, and Cecilia is getting both (though preferably at least Hone), then everyone's pretty happy. Eliwood also benefits a little more from Hone than Fortify, but he appreciates both. Likewise Xander benefits a little more from Fortify than Hone, but he would also be happy with both. Olwen doesn't really benefit from Fortify, and Cecilia is a blade-tome unit and so wants as many buffs on her as possible. The Atk +1 seal was given to Olwen because as a Brave unit (especially one that will often be quad-attacking), she benefits the most from it. HP +3 was given to Xander to help him keep QR up. Cecilia was given Spd +1 because as a Desperation unit she appreciates the speed more than Eliwood.

Ngl I feel dirty every time I use Reinhardt to sweep an enemy team. Reinhardt + 3 dancers makes short work of every Lunatic GHB too. Xander's and Zephiel's Lunatic GHB took about two turns, without Rein soloing everyone :P

Funny you should say that. I was just about to say the same about Julia.

Using your numbers, if I have a 5* unit that kills 100% of units on player phase but gets killed by 50% on enemy phase vs a 4* unit that would kill 90% on player phase but killed by 20% on enemy phase if he were 5* then I would go for the 5* without hesitation because the second scenario isn't worth 20k feathers, especially since you shouldn't have a Brave unit taking hits on enemy phase either way. Not to mention you're grossly overestimating Reinhardt's bulk compared to Olwen's. Speed is arguably a more important defensive stat than defense or resistance. Olwen gets doubled by virtually nothing, which drastically inflates her bulk whereas Reinhardt is one of the slowest units in the game and gets doubled by a fair amount of units, which makes him easier to kill than his defensive stats would suggest. I think that's the right decision. Either way Olwen and Reinhardt are both solid units though, so though I've been debating with Nutcase over finer details and optimization, I think you'll do great with either of them on your team!

I'm not entirely sure what your first sentence is supposed to mean. For the paragraph though: the key point is that, as you say, "best case scenarios are similar for both". If they're similar, does it not make sense for him to go with the unit that's already at 5* rather than spending 20k feathers to promote the other one?