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Many powerful units will be relatively unchanged, but many mediocre units that were bad because their stats were "too balanced" will get a small boost. They don't want to lower any existing unit's stats, so this is a way of "averaging" the units to make some of the weaker ones a little bit more usable. (Units like Hardin that have multiple super banes will also like the change.)

It was written in a less than ideal way in the notification. All this change means is that every unit gets three (or four) more points to replace the flaw. The additional stats referenced are the regular two stat points obtained from the first merge for a total of five points (on the first merge). For units already beyond the first merge, only the flaw is set to neutral, they do not get additional stats (unless they have a neutral nature). For units that have neutral IVs, on the first merge they get the standard two points added to the highest stats. Since they don't have a flawed stat, they get three additional stat points to compensate and these are distributed rather than placed in a single stat. They didn't say exactly how they would be distributed, but based on the example, it looks like an extra point to the top three stats. So this likely means that neutral units get +2 points to the two highest stats, and +1 to the third highest stat. It's actually a really nice change because it means that "perfect" natures will be much more obtainable. You only have to get the asset (boon) stat you want because +1 units will not have any flawed (bane) stat. Characters that have one or two really low stats don't get much of a boost. My best units won't benefit at all from this change - my Lance Hector, Dorcas, and Myrrh are all [-spd]. Fortunately, extra speed won't benefit Surtr so he won't get more powerful. Others like Bow Lyn benefit a little, but not much. Any [+atk] Reinhardt is ideal now because there is no need to find a [-spd] nature, but a bane never really hurt Reinhardt anyway. Units that have relatively even stats across the board benefit the most. However, the more powerful the unit, the smaller the percent increase will be. Weaker units with well-rounded stats will appreciate the lack of a flawed stat the most. This makes them more viable. Your Frederick doesn't benefit a lot, but speed isn't worthless on him like many of my super low speed units. With neutral speed and Hone Cavalry he won't get doubled as often.

Definitely take XRay's advice and keep the neutral one unmerged. I merged my neutral Bow Lyn and Ike, and it has made common guides much more difficult. OK, that sounds pretty good. Now I just need to get a Firesweep Bow. Thanks for the help.

@XRay I spent my last orbs and just got a [+spd,-def] Bow Lyn. Is that better than [-hp] because of the high speed? If I merge, she will be +4 which is 49 attack, while the [+atk] version has 50 attack. Only one additional point of attack makes it hard to justify spending 20,000 feathers for a second Brave Bow Lyn. It's going to be a long time before I can get much use out of the [+atk] copy over my main one.

That's what I originally thought, although I got confused when I saw some of the comments. I just realised that Bow Lyn only has 35 neutral speed (+4 from Swift Sparrow). That's not as much as I thought, so I can see why a Firesweep Bow could really use the +speed IV. Of course, Hone Cavalry contributes a lot on cavalry teams.

Correct, I wasn't talking about Aether blessings. I have no idea where I'll use those, if ever... Then again, if I keep two Bow Lyns... Sadly, I merged my neutral Bow Lyn and Ike awhile back. Has caused some pain for sure. I would definitely keep any neutral ones if I manage to get another. (I sort neutrals differently, so they wouldn't get in the way.) I guess I'll keep both copies for now. You seem to really think there is special value in those particular natures, so I think I'll give each a chance separately. I'll need to spend 20,000 feathers for another Brave Bow to use on the +attack version (which will be wasted if I merge them later), and I'll need a copy of Firesweep Bow to really see the advantage of the +speed. Lyn would be the main one to get it. I guess I just don't seem to have many units that can reliably handle dragons. I have a Legendary Marth, but he's too hard to merge. I usually try to get a charged Luna, have full health, and hope for the best. [edit] "If foe's Range = 2, calculates damage using the lower of foe's Def or Res." "Boosting your Res by 5 points just increases the difference to 15, and dragons still target her Def, which didn't change." Wait, so the distance counter effect won't count as 2 range? Oh no, then it really won't help at all. [edit2] Actually, I'm not sure I understand this at all. Perhaps someone can explain if this skill will work for dragon protection or not.

@XRay Alternates of the same character are a little strange to me, but it's even weirder to have to choose between multiple copies of the exact same unit. It makes sense from a raw strategy perspective, but it just looks really odd in my barracks. I merge units I like (sorted to the top) and save others for skills. I haven't maintained multiple builds of the same unit before. Also, I'd like a +10 Bow Lyn eventually, and the +atk version seems like a slightly better option. I don't think I'll ever get 22 copies to merge both. (I've already merged my neutral one which has made some guides difficult...) Still, it really does seem a shame to waste a [+spd, -hp] Bow Lyn... (I wish they would let us swap between all of the IVs we merged.) I never thought Bow Lyn merges would be this hard of a decision. As for Mystic Boost, Reinhardt's bulk will be really close if I can get a -spd version, so he might not benefit much. Bow Lyn could benefit (10 bulk difference between def and res), but she does have the firesweep bow option. However, I haven't managed to get a firesweep bow yet. If the first Faye I get has good IVs, that will make it harder too. Maybe she will be demoted on the anniversary? (The Mystic Boost healing would also be nice for endurance modes where they might take a rare hit occasionally, but that really only matters for Chain Challenges.)

I've been using a [+spd,-hp] +3 Bow Lyn with a brave bow which has been working great. (With swift sparrow, it's a 40 speed brave weapon.) I just got a [+atk,-hp] copy though. I think the increased attack is probably better, but quad attacks are fun. Some of the new enemies are getting so fast, that even the +3 speed from her regular bow is needed just for doubling. I'm also thinking about trying to get some extra copies of Mystic Boost to put on Bow Lyn and Reinhardt since dragons are what usually does them in. These two have allowed me to get so many rewards I would have missed out on, so fixing an annoying weakness seems worth it.

That's a good point, and he already has the prerequisite for that one too, so inheritance would be easier.

Oh, too bad... My Ike hasn't been performing all that well and this just looked really fun: https://www.reddit.com/r/FireEmblemHeroes/comments/9gyvgt/legendary_ike_becomes_thanos_upon_obtaining/ Would Steady Stance 4 (with Guard) and the Quick Reposte seal make it worthwhile?

Is it worth getting Lewyn just to give Special Spiral to Legendary Ike?

That sounds a lot like Grambi and Queen Jaydes from Super Paper Mario. I'm disappointed with the direction overall. I guess I'm still hoping for something more like a traditional Fire Emblem game.

It was really frustrating at first, and then I realized it wasn't worth playing if it wasn't fun. So I took the casual approach and bought the fifth unit which sometimes gets sacrificed to get the enemy moving so I can set things up better. (This makes it much more likely that I'll at least get 80 lift to compensate for losses. Going for full wins on hard maps often results in no lift at all.) I've seen some say that the lift is reset to the bottom of your current tier for each season, but that doesn't seem to happen. Maybe that only occurs in upper tiers? Eventually I'll reach the point where the teams are too hard and I lose more points than I gain in a season. At that point, I'll just stay below that tier and collect the rewards.

Yeah, currently at tier 13. I just have a nice winter holiday scene with easy access to the aether, and Lyn holding a pretty present with a bow (not the dangerous kind). I hope it makes someone happy.

OK, seems that tactics skills are much more valuable than I thought. Thanks for the explanation. I was thinking that it might cap at 50, but it does not. That's possibly the reason for the daily free run, but I don't feel that the free run is a good solution.

OK, so I tried it again on the first map (normal difficultly) and lined things up differently than last time. It "worked" this time but not in the way I expected. Veronica is in the top right corner, right below her is an empty space, below that is the archer, and below that is Celica (four squares down). On turn two (player phase) both the archer and Veronica have the +2 attack effect even though Veronica is now three spaces away and "should" not get the attack increase. I originally thought it was based on the global turns consisting of both a player and an enemy phase, but it appears to be pairs of player phases and separate pairs of enemy phases. So this means that it should be possible for a unit to be in range for tactics skills at the start of an enemy phase, have the tactics skill wielder move out of range on the same phase, and preserve the effect through the next player phase even though the unit is out of range for the tactic skill. The effect would last even though the requirements are no longer met and the phase has changed. When the next enemy phase arrives, the distance check would be evaluated again. I hope that's correct, but I'm still not entirely sure. I was trying to use some of this on my Aether Raids defense team, but it's really hard to test this.

For tactics skills, I thought "at start of turn" meant the actual turn, not the phase. That's a bit annoying. I just tested the first brave heroes map (paralogue 24) in the story mode (since Celica has Attack Tactic) and I didn't see the values applied at all even several turns later. I thought that I had seen the tactic boost effect on enemy units before. Is it not possible to see the effect on enemy units? If it is, am I doing something wrong to test it on that map? (There are two each of cavalry and infantry and I made sure Celica was within two spaces of one when I checked the enemy stats.)

I guess that's possible, but I thought I had seen tactic effects applied to enemy units. I'm having the same issue with cooldown skills such as Ostia's Pulse and Infantry Pulse. I created a team with both skills and the raiding party had both applied (stacked), while the identical defense team had neither. @Ice Dragon Do you know if effects from tactics skills, cooldown skills, etc. on a defense team should be visible to the raiding party team in player phase? I'm not seeing them applied when I test my defense team.

You can, but if you want to try something different, you have to remake your map and defense team afterwards (and relock to save all of the skills). Has anyone noticed that most effects don't seem to work for the defense team in the Test Defense mode? I configured teams with special cooldowns, tactics skills, etc. The attacking team (raiding party) had the effects properly applied but the identical defense team did not.

I started at 3900 and went to 4000 today. I didn't lose any lift even with a loss later in the day either. If the loss resets are 20 hours apart, they are not technically daily (like the 50 aether). I guess they would cycle to occur at all times of day. Perhaps the loss occurred after the loss reset timeframe? I wonder if having five units on defense causes 100 lift to be lost rather than 80 lift? Having fewer than four defense units doesn't lower the lift lost though. Yeah, I don't care for that aspect either. I'm guessing that at higher tiers 50 daily aether might not be enough for a single match, so the daily free run is supposed to counter that. Still, I kind of wish they'd get rid of the free run and just give out more aether to compensate.

Ah, OK. Don't have the legendary one yet. I think she is just about the most powerful unit in the game currently.

wow. does she really? Regular adult Tiki does have Lighting Breath with built-in distance counter. However, she has the much superior Breath of Fog available that does not have built-in distance counter, so the Distance Counter skill works well with it. Compared to Lighting Breath, it has much more attack, no cooldown penalty, built-in renewal, and an additional upgrade option for dragon teams. If you are pursuing +10, the Distance Counter skill can be a good investment. I think it would work well with [+res, -spd] nature. However, Lighting Breath is still good at +10. If you find it adequate, you could save Distance Counter for someone else.

I don't have an immediate use for him, but fury comes in handy eventually. (He has a good IV though...) I did get my first Silas, but he has a really bad IV.

Yeah, 10.5% for me and a 4* Hinata was about the best thing I got too. Still, better than some past legendary ones where I got one 5* that I didn't care for after 200+ orbs (around 12% rate).

Shards/crystals are only used for levels, not seal upgrades. Badges are used for seal upgrades and also unlocking potential (rarity), but not for levels. I generally use the weekly training maps for all training unless I'm working on quest completion because it's almost always much faster than the Training Tower. This is especially true for the last few levels as a unit approaches level 40. The weekly training maps (or rather daily training maps that cycle weekly) are almost as good as the Warriors maps last year. I wish those had been permanent. I haven't found anything that beat their efficiency. Have you upgraded your castle? The double experience was worth it to me (although I use the default basic design because I like it best).