DarkAlf

@Necrofantasia That's a fantastic 5* pull rate! Congrats! @SatsumaFSoysoy Too bad about no focus units. Great B!Celica, though! @mcsilas Too bad about the -Spd, but at least you got some nice 5* units. I'd also keep the Eir. As others mentioned, 2 Eirs + 2 light-blessed heroes gives 140/match in light season, but 2 Eirs + 3 light-blessed heroes gives 160/match in light season (you get a light blessing from Aether Raids at least for this week); this assumes that you're using a bonus unit, though. I jumped from Tier 16 to 18 in AR last week thanks to those Eirs. I'll let you decide how to proceed from here as I know it can at times be difficult to run a double Eir team. @Zeo Sorry you didn't get what you wanted. At least your Sanaki will have some niche uses. I know the feeling, except with blue tomes. I promoted a M!Robin in October last year so that I could finally have a 5* blue tome. Suddenly I was drowning in them quickly within a couple of months, from PA!Shigure, Tailtiu, Ursula, Olwen, Mae, Delthea, etc. @Alexmender Good luck in your W!Eirika quest! My final free pull in Hero Fest is a 3* Clarine. Overall, I am honestly really, really pleased with what I got this banner. I got what I wanted - 2 more Eirs (1 on a free ticket) within 119 orbs (and my 3rd Veronica, also on a free ticket), so I'm thrilled.

You're right that that's normally the cutoff, but I don't consider my goal Top 1K. I consider my goal getting as many feathers from HM as I can, which means trying to get at least the bonus units' HM maxed out while not spending more than 35 stamina pots so that I can sustain this long term. The Top 1K is a bonus to me. (I actually still have 333 stamina pots, so if I really wanted to I could try for rank 1, but I'm not that crazy.) Thanks! I have a 90-minute commute to and from work each way via trains, so I spend my time grinding there. That's 3 hours a day alone, so that's about 7-10 runs an hour, or 21-30 runs for 3 hours. I also grind for an hour at home while watching TV, so add another 7-10 runs there. So that's 28-40 runs a day total, usually on the higher end. Plus I don't do all the runs at once so that I can do real-life things. Don't worry - I still get tons of sleep!

Tempest Trials are where I do my HM grinding. (I know some folks like Rival Domains for that, but I personally prefer Tempest Trials.) Keep in mind that I grind on Lunatic 7 manually; I don't like using auto-battle. I usually finish with 270,000-300,000 points when all is said and done; in the last few trials I've spent about 35 stamina potions, but this time I'll use 30 to conserve for the next set of trials. (This is the only time I use stamina potions, and we get about 40/month anyway, so I may as well use them here.) After today, 20 of the next 24 days have TT running - this will test my sanity dedication. It'll be well worth it, though! I've decided on the two teams I'll use for this edition of TT (unless I get lucky with the free pulls): Team 1: Ishtar w/Breath of Life seal 4*+7 Raigh (I know, folks - this is only to grind HM from him); W!Lissa replaces Raigh in triple runs, otherwise W!Lissa will be in second team when I get down to one enemy with minimal health in final map OG Ike Raven (with special Basilikos and Fury) Team 2 (once I hit 15,000 points): OG Myrrh w/Guidance seal OG F!Corrin 4* Garon (when he caps HM, Summer Young Tiki replaces him) W!Cecilia w/Breath of Life seal I'll swap the Breath of Life seal as I alternate teams; I've done that the last few TTs.

@Azuris I'll third the idea of upgrading to the Level 3 Offensive Fortress. That saved my bacon these last two weeks, and had a huge part in my comeback. The bonus structure for the week (catapult this week, infantry school next time) makes it essentially Level 4. If I make Top 3K next week, the comeback will be complete. I've given up on defense for now, although I'll have to get serious about it when I get to Tier 19. As it is, I'm still thrilled to make it to this spot, though! I'm glad I didn't make you too jealous of my Eirs! May you be blessed with many copies of them! @Baldrick As you mentioned, I'll get Fae (plus Gwendolyn) back, and I actually run a second team: Brave Lyn w/Brave Bow+, LA!Lilina, blue Olwen and Magic Eirika, the latter three all with bladetomes, and bonus Laevatein. (My other three teams are a mix of these or other units for special situations.) This will help, especially with no bonus points other than the bonus unit for next week. @Alkaid Thank you! That annoys me as well about having to be forced to pull X copies of mythic hero Y for scoring. I really got lucky this time. In the future, if I pull for more mythic heroes, I'll only pull for at most 2 copies, if that, but my orbs are focused on merging legendary heroes. I don't have any particular unit I'm saving my grails for; I likely won't decide for a few months since there isn't really anyone I need to merge right now. Before I begin invading, I take at least a couple of minutes to examine the map for problematic structures, skills of the enemy, enemy range, etc., and then I come up with a plan to take them out while breaking the aether pots before actually entering the battle. I run a lot of calculations in my head with stat boosts to see if, as an example, a +Def/-HP Eir with Atk/Def link from Laevatein and Iote's Shield can tank and counter a Brave Lyn with Brave Bow+ and stats lowered thanks to Aversa, which actually worked earlier today with a Defensive Fort only at Level 1. Sometimes it's best to go slow and break structures before picking the enemy off. It's worked well so far, and it's going to grow in importance as each mistake is magnified with increasing tiers. Slow and steady wins the race.

Same here! It's so much easier to pull on 2-character banners than 3- or 4-character ones. If I had 1000 orbs, I would have tried for a +10 Surtr, but as it was, I did the free pull only on the Fire and Ice banner and got a free Ishtar. Thank you! Have fun with your new units! I'll let you know how it goes!

@Baldrick Thank you! I got a rank of 3,460 with my score of 7,240. What was your rank with your score of 7,380? @Azuris and @Maaka Congrats on reaching Tier 19 to both of you! That's seriously impressive! I hope you both make it to Tier 20! @Alkaid I feel really horribly for you that you didn't get more Eirs. It's a crying shame that it'll be much harder to pull for her in future banners. I sincerely hope to see you move up to Tiers 19+! That I rallied from a bad second week where I didn't even place top 10000 and wasn't taking the mode seriously enough to get to where I am now is honestly one of my proudest achievements in FEH. (It also helps to have pulled 2 Eirs yesterday.) Perhaps if I pulled earlier I could've made Top 3000, but I'm really thrilled to leap from Tier 16 to Tier 18 in this short 6-day season. This next week will be interesting to see if I can reach Tier 19 and break into Top 3000 with much nastier teams looming.

@mampfoid Check your inbox. I'm continuing this conversation through PM there so that we don't derail this topic further.

I understand it's better to use blessed units with legendary heroes. My goal is to have three +10 teams for Arena Assault, with a legendary hero in each with the respective blessing on the other 3 units so that I can score high on the first match regardless of the current season rotation; as an example, one goal is to have a +10 L!Hector with Fae, A!Tiki and Gwendolyn, all fire-blessed. I have 4 +10 heroes as it is: A!Tiki, Fae, Nino, and Gwendolyn. The other five likely will be Draug, Sheena (when I get enough copies), Effie, and two others I'll decide on within the next few months (Cordelia? Nowi? Cherche? Olivia if Red Infantry Duel is released?). You're right that there are better legendaries for the other modes; I'm just talking about Arena (Assault) and Aether Raids. For Aether Raids, I have 3 Eirs, two of whom I use in my main team along with a light-blessed PA!Azura and Aversa, plus the bonus unit. I'll have to come up with a way to make 3 different reliable offensive teams that cover three (or maybe all four) of the four mythic elements - there's plenty of time to decide how to handle that. My priority is low for Aether Raids after pulling those two Eirs; I'd rather focus on building more high-scoring teams for Arena Assault.

I happened to have gotten a Fjorm with minimal orbs last time she appeared, and she popped up in March/April (whenever she appeared at that time). At the time I saved for other banners, so I didn't go hard the last few times she appeared. I figured that as a F2P, I may as well try to focus on merging legendary (and eventually mythic) heroes as much as I can to cover at least 3 of the seasons, and while there could always be an armored water legendary unit in the future, I'd have Fjorm to cover for water season for Arena Assault, and she's a bonus unit in Arena - hopefully she stays in the rotation even with the introduction of Book III so that I can stay T20.5 or even stay T21 if the seasons line up right. L!Hector would cover fire, and likely L!Tiki for earth (I don't have her, so I might try to get her in January, although I'll be rebuilding my orb stash at that point, so I might wait a bit).

Thank you! I couldn't believe I pulled it off! Those 119 orbs were well spent. It wasn't as painful as I feared when I switched to 2 Eirs; I could live without Gwendolyn, but not using my Fae was a bit of a challenge. I shudder to have to use this team whenever I get to Tier 19, but at least next week I can probably coast as long as I stay focused. (It also helps that it'll be a regular 7-day season instead of 6 days like this one.) I can see the 6-hero defense teams in Tier 19 now....

Thank you! I'm saving for Fjorm and L!Hector merges, currently at +2 and +0, respectively. I'll spend at least 500 orbs on this banner alone sniping blue and green. (I'm currently at nearly 500, and should be over 650 before the month ends if I don't spend any more, and there's a ton coming when the new year starts.) Hopefully Summer Camilla is also on there because I need more units with Hone Fliers, and a bladetome would be great on her if I get NY!Azura. I've eyed this banner since late September. The plan is to try for NY!Azura first, and if I get her within 200 orbs, I will take the remaining orbs budgeted for NY!Azura and spend those on the December legendary banner in addition to the 500 already earmarked. (The legendary banner lasts 11 days, the longest span of all the legendary banners; that's a ton of time.) I'm glad you're enjoying Owain!

@Garlyle Sorry you didn't get a better present - maybe tomorrow.... Happy birthday! @Alkaid Welcome to the Sumia club! I got her off focus in the CYL2 banner. While the bane is unfortunate, Lute with +Res can ploy lots of heroes. That's unfortunate that you spent all your orbs for Ophelia, but at least you got her and another copy to boot. @mampfoid That's not bad for 60 orbs and the tickets! Congrats! I'm sure you can find a way to make Owain useful unless you wish to fodder him off. @Maaka Hopefully you'll get Fae quickly if you pull for her! Please let me know how it goes! My free ticket gave me a Shigure. I'm leaning against pulling on the Winter Heroes banner, as much as I like seeing Binding Blade and Sacred Stones get some seasonal love. I have to save for the December legendary and the New Year's 2018 (NY!Azura) rerun banners; normally I spend orbs (75 max) for bonus units for Tempest Trials, but I likely won't here.

@Maaka When I didn't get a failed defense before the final 20 hours of the season, I decided to pull on Hero Fest a couple of days earlier than planned to try to get more Eirs, and I luckily got 2 more copies in 119 orbs plus the free summon tickets. Goal: try to get into Tier 18 in this shortened season all the way from Tier 16. New team: Eir with Reposition and Distant Defense as a seal Eir with Draw Back and Iote's Shield (seal) to counter bows Laevatein (bonus unit) Aversa (light blessed - how ironic) PA!Azura (light blessed) With 140 points/match, I wasn't sure if this team could handle all the possible threats one would expect. It helps to have a Level 3 Offensive Fortress plus the catapult to bring the fort up to level 4. With two matches yesterday and three today, I made it to 7,240! (I didn't even need the Escape Ladder this week, and I lost a total of 2 units this entire week while breaking nearly all the aether pots through yesterday.) I got a failed defense while I was asleep, so I can't drop down before the season ends. It feels great to break through after falling just short last week!

This. Even if you don't have a bonus unit, if you play Lunatic 7 for the very first run, you'll get 1000 points unless you either: Don't clear all 7 maps with your four teams Get a rank of E/D for using all four teams and taking 40 or more turns - you'd get 970 points in that scenario In retrospect, when I first saw the bonus units, I was seething a little bit, but after a good night's sleep and some thought, it's not as bad as it really appears for F2P folks. Once you get Cecilia, you can use her 4* version temporarily until you get her 5* version. It might be painful, but with Armored Boots (I saw what you did there) and a healer, it's workable.

That's actually my plan if I don't pull another bonus unit or I pass on the banners altogether other than the free pulls. It would be 705 for A/A (2116 with a triple run) vs. 676 (2028 with a triple run) for A/B, so a 29 (88)-point difference is really not going to kill me since I usually grind to at least 270,000-280,000 anyway. (Yes, you read that right - 270,000 to 280,000.) I don't mind grinding to get Cecilia. I'd rather use the 5* version than the 4* version if I can help it. It would be a bit painful in Lunatic 7 to use 4* Cecilia (even with the bonus stats) since I do all my grinding manually. So what I'll likely do is follow @Baldrick's suggestion and knock everyone out with my own units until one remains on the last map, then switch to my second team and use W!Lissa there until I get the 5* Cecilia. I was prepared for that possibility before they announced those units, so it's really not a big deal if I have to endure one painful day with a 4* Cecilia before 9 more enjoyable ones with 5* Cecilia.

The bonus units are all this year's AND last year's winter heroes. This is NOT a F2P friendly set of bonus heroes. Luckily I have W!Lissa, but her HM is capped.... Do I pull for another bonus unit or not? We get Fierce Stance 1 and (finally!) Drive Res 1 as seals, plus one more unannounced seal.

@daisy jane: I live on the West Coast, so whatever time works for you works for me! Just send me a PM before you start or when you have the video/screen captures ready! For TT, yes I could just grin and bear it through the first day if necessary until I get to 15000, then go from there; I usually get 30,000+ on day 1 alone, so I guess that wouldn't be a problem. I usually use two teams for HM grinding and alternate - one with the TT bonus unit and the other with a new bonus unit (usually, or it's an old unit who happens to be a bonus). There's still two more free summon tickets left, so who knows what we'll all get? Even if I don't get any more Eirs or other 5* heroes from them, I'm really happy with what I got!

Thank you! That makes two of us getting free Eirs from the tickets! I'll initially keep her unmerged and use two copies with two heroes (or 3 if I want to replace a blessing on one of my units in my AR teams) blessed for 140 (160) points/battle. Eventually I'll merge her, but I'll wait until more mythic heroes come out before I do that. Do you want me to "at" you when I pull again? I'm really sorry I didn't in my post.... What time of the day (please mention time zone) do you normally pull? If you do release a video where you summon, I could track those stats for you if you want. I will make a spreadsheet template where I can keep track of pulls on the fly in a couple of weeks. I have been planning to 4*+10 Saizo for a while, but I'm waiting until he has his own Prf weapon before I proceed. The Jakobs - well I don't know what to do with him. Now I might be forced to pull in the Winter Heroes banner for a bonus unit, but I sincerely hope I won't need to (hopefully I can use OG Eirika as a bonus unit since her HM is not capped), or I get someone quickly.... (Don't worry, I have a strict 75-orb limit here if I do pull; I will not exceed it here under any circumstances this time.)

If so, I'm all right since I have OG Eirika who is nowhere near maxed out in HM (OG Ephraim, B!Ephraim, OG Cecilia, and Fae are all maxed out, and I don't have L!Ephraim). If it's Mage Eirika or the other bonus heroes are last year's winter units, I'm screwed for a non-HM-capped unit because I'd likely be forced to spend orbs to hopefully get a bonus unit until I get Cecilia or grin and bear it without a good bonus unit until Cecilia joins. I hate that they're starting the banner and TT at the same time; I'd like a little time to level up units before leaping into TT because I'll start grinding for a bit the moment the event starts.

@daisy jane @Maaka I decided to pull on Hero Fest a couple of days earlier than planned so that I can hopefully take advantage of the increased points one can get from using Eir and blessed heroes because I did NOT get a defense loss today. How did it go? Here are the results after spend 119 orbs (slightly more than the 100 planned): I got 2 Eirs (+Def/-Res and +Def/-HP) and my 3rd Brave Veronica (+HP/-Spd) with the 5 free tickets (2 of them netted me an Eir and the Brave Veronica) and 119 orbs spent. Only 1 Klein and 0 Sothes, Legaults and Kazes, so not much useful fodder. As a whole, I'm pretty happy with what I got - those Eirs will come in handy in Aether Raids!

Wow... that is insane. I'm absolutely stunned that it's been that long without exclusive banners from those games. No wonder IS announced their plans for Radiant Dawn and Binding Blade banners so early. Seriously - where's the love for the original games, Gaiden/SoV and PoR? At least beast units are coming, but my goodness....

@daisy jane Lucky you! That's a mighty nice Ophelia you just got! Congrats! I just hope I have a modicum of luck in a couple of days when I pull!

Arena: I just got my serious run out of the way. I went from 3,707 to 3,746, using 18 crests while picking only 738+ battles (740/742/740/738/738+9/9/9/12/9). It's 911/3,062/15,313, so I'm safely going back to Tier 21. Now I can relax until after Surtr is gone as a bonus unit. AA: I got really lucky today. I just turned in a personal high of 5,217. That's going to be close for Top 3,000, but I think it'll fall out (currently rank 1,658). Too many Surtrs and L!Lucinas for my taste....

No problem foddering Fjorm off! I'm also F2P, and I am very reluctant to fodder a 5* exclusive unless a unit desperately needs those skills. The only times I've ever done that is to give my Gwendolyn DC from OG Hector and Vengeful Fighter 3 from Male Grima, and I still have copies of Hector and Male Grima sitting around as Combat Manuals. I hope I don't provide false hope here, but I believe you could still clear the Fjorm quests without your own Fjorm - assuming that comes up in the Three Princesses quests - if you have a friend whose lead is Fjorm. Note that this only works if the quests don't involve the Training Tower, Story/Paralogue maps, Arena (Assault) or Aether Raids. You could use a friend's Fjorm in Rival Domains/Grand Conquests to defeat foes, assuming the quests are just that. If you want, you can PM me and add me as a friend, and I could lead with a Fjorm+2 to help you clear those quests.

Best: Combat Manuals - cleared my barracks significantly Free Summon Tickets - better chance for F2Ps to summon a 5* hero Clearing of 5* pool - hopefully they'll reorganize the pool again next year Tempest Trials changes - shortened from 14 days to 10, and points needed halved Tactics Drills - the Grandmaster ones are fun challenges, even if I can't always figure them out myself Aether Raids initially - before the addition of Mythic Heroes Worst: Relay Defense - especially the first week, when it cost stamina; I hope they execute it better whenever it returns - if at all Aether Raids bonus points - for mythic heroes and merges Blessed Gardens expansion to 3+ teams - I didn't mind the change to 2 when they did, but I felt they went to 3 teams too quickly; I'd have waited until 2-year anniversary to go to 3 teams