zoologicwoo

The pirate's theme just isn't compatible with me I guess. Never was able to pull Tibarn, Brigid or even Geese last year, and this time around I dropped about a 100 orbs and was only able to get a 5* Vika, +Spd -Res. I'd really like to get just 1 copy of Surtr or Hinoka (despite my Tellius love, Naesala's art on this banner looks sorta wonky to me). I need to go back to F2P. Buying orbs almost always feels like a waste.

After having such bad luck on Ullr's banner (went back on my word and kept pulling, now at a 10% rate WHYyyy I knew that banner was going to be bad ugh), I'm hoping August has better fortune, and it looks like it just might! With 11 free summons, I pulled a vanilla Edelgard (neutral) and then Dedue twice in a row (+Res -HP and +Def -Res)! Having already put A/D Near Save on Brave Edelgard and Spring Idunn previously, I'm now lacking any clear unit to put the skill on so I guess I'll just be able to keep the Dedues in reserve for now and hope for some awesome new armor units the rest of this year. EDIT: Finally summoned SK!Dimitri at 11% rate. At least he had an Atk asset lol. Merged him to +2 now, which makes him my highest scoring Legendary hero atm I believe.

One thing I don't understand is why IS doesn't release so much more music to the Song shop. At this rate we will never have more than 10-15% at most of all the incredible songs from throughout the series. Surely adding music isn't that significant space/data-wise? It's also kinda dumb that songs cost 180 hearts each. Sometimes I skip out of farming flowers ahead of an update in case there are new Tellius/awesome songs dropping, but it's always annoying to have to do this.

Definitely unsatisfied with the Mythic banner, but that's how it goes sometimes. Was missing both Legendary Sigurd/Seliph, plus trying to +10 SK!Dimitri, so of course most circles had only 1-2 red or blue spots. Ugh. I only spent 94 orbs total, but that's all I'd saved and I'm trying to stop spending $ on this game outside of Feh Pass for now, so that's that for me with this banner. 4th summon: Lute (!) (+Atk -Def) 8th summon: Reginn (+Spd -HP) (merged the free neutral onto this, so now Reginn is at +1 +Spd at least) 21st summon: Ullr (!) (+Atk -Spd)

Never played the Jugdral games but I'm a fan of this choice of Mythic simply on the basis that her design/art looks amazing. On the other hand, her Deadeye/Time's Pulse are tempting for foddering since I've only ever pulled 1 Shinon. Also missing both L!Sigurd and L!Seliph, and I'd also like to further build up Seiros and L!Dimitri, so sounds like I'll be pulling strictly Red and Blue.

The discussion around F!Edelgard reminds me a little of when I used to be active in the Smash Bros. Brawl community way way back in the day haha. In that game, Meta Knight was the undisputed best character, with such an insane arsenal of tools and such few real weaknesses that especially as the meta developed, it was increasingly pointless or absurdly not worth it to try to challenge MK players with any but a small handful of characters from the roster (or just play MK yourself, which was a lot of people's solution). One of the arguments I remember from the years of debate around whether or not to ban MK from competition (which obviously has no relevance for FEH, ik) was that, even though Meta Knight was not unbeatable, he was such a dominant force that the meta was developing entirely around him, rather than MK simply being an (exceptionally potent) aspect of the game. Which is kind of what the main gripe for me is with Fallen Edelgard. There are definitive and accessible ways to combat her, but she seems to demand a very particular awareness or set of precautionary measures that no other unit seems to have quite had to the same degree, at least as long as I’ve played FEH (which goes back I think to the summer leading up to CYL3). You can have a very strong team assembled of units who might even be some of the other prominent units in FEH’s metagame, but if Edel shows up and you are lacking some specific tools for that battle, it feels hopeless and stupid.

@Ice Dragon and @XRay thank you both! I hadn't considered Brazen A/S but it makes a lot of sense now that you mention it. Also helps I've collected about a bazillion copies of Seteth somehow.

I have a neutral +1 Karla I was thinking of building up, and having Sparked for Charlotte I was wondering if (after getting Charlotte's flowers) Karla would appreciate CHarlotte's Swift Sparrow 3 and Frenzy. Would this work well? I don't think I have any other units that would want this particular combination (or they have something similar already), and while I do have units wanting Time's Pulse, it seems a waste to not take advantage of Frenzy.

THIS. That was my experience this week too, and I notice in general lately that it's the Vault that is actually a lot less stressful since I don't have to really care about wherever I end up between Tiers 30-36, the difference in rewards being pretty negligible for me. I feel like I usually don't end up having to burn through ladders completely in the vault, whereas I'm always doing that in 23-28. Overall AR is just an absolutely unenjoyable nightmare.

Not too shabby of luck. Ended up several non-focus heroes, most of whom I had never summoned before (and 3 Shanna's, who is always great for Desperation and of whom I had just run out of!). 3rd summon: 4* Orochi (!) (+Spd -HP) 8th summon: 5* Adrift M!Corrin (!) (+Res -HP) 9th summon: 4* Benny (!) (+Res -HP) 16th summon: 5* Lugh (!) (+HP -Def) 24th summon: 5* SB!Dimitri (+Res -Atk, probably foddering since I already have a neutral version of SB! and a +1 SK!Dimitri) 25th summon: 5* Nyx (!) (+Spd -Res) 36th summon: 5* Nah (!) (+Def -Atk) Sparked for Charlotte. Got really lucky in that only a couple circles had a colorless spot, so I was able to get to the Spark without even needing to play the new story chapters for orbs. I guess I'll have to hope for Nifl in the future, but she's not particularly interesting to me so no worries.

I'm personally pleased with this banner, esp having coincidentally started my first playthrough of Fates recently (and Conquest at that). I actually didn't, or barely did, use Charlotte, Nyx or Benny so I'm not particularly attached to them. But I'm sorely in need of Fates characters who can stand up to Abyssal content atm, and the skills here are also attractive for foddering potentially. I'm glad tbh that Nifl isn't a Mythic hero, since not only does this raise the chances of having a non-OC and therefore actually interesting new Mythic hero, but I also don't have to have any regrets about just foddering Nifl's A skill if I happen to summon her. Also need only one more Celestial Stone for a Forma Soul, so figure I'll spark here with CYL5 still being a month away or so (right?).

While it didn't present much issue with beating all 25 chambers, something interesting that happened with my run was that *not* once did any Fighter skill show up for any of the 3 armors through to the last chamber or to lv. 40. Seemed to only get Chill or Seal B skills mainly, and mostly only AoE or defensive Specials. Personally I'm not particularly interested in these units even though they worked well enough that I lost maybe 2-3 maps at most. Ursula sorta-kinda could be worth building up with the free Manual and her banner available right now, but she was also the least useful unit here for me. Really hoping the next HoF has something interesting since I've been sitting on an unused Forma soul ever since Fallen Celica's event. Post Ch 25: CBC!Ursula (40+2): Splashy Bucket+ (+Res), Atk/Def Push 4, Spd/Res Ruse 3, Joint Drive Atk WC!Zephiel (40+3): Geishun+ (+Atk), Rally Up Res+, Escutcheon, Atk/Res Ideal 4, Atk/Def Menace, Spur Def/Res 2 FF!Nino (40+1): Spooky Censer+ (+Res), Atk/Def Bond 4, Armor March 3, Brazen Atk/Res 3 AN!Jaffar (40+4): Pumpkin-a-Box+ (+Def), Blue Flame, Shield Session 3, A/R Far Save 3, Mystic Boost 3

I'm so conflicted, since I had about 90 orbs saved and a willingness to expend that much to get Dorothea after trying and trying and failing to summon her in 2020. But I've only had 2 colorless choices show up in the first 5 circles. Taking that as the game's suggestion to not bother and keep saving. 20 orbs to get a F!Byleth (+HP -Atk) isn't bad I guess. Gave her Ruptured Sky to Ninja Lyn (a little weird timing, since I had only just yesterday foddered a F!Byleth for Ruptured Sky to QV!Celica). Also free pulled Julia (neutral) on the Goddess's Servants rerun. I should mention, that was the only green choice that showed up with any of the free/ticket summons. Dang it.

Not thrilled about my luck the last couple weeks. With the first summer banner I had picked up a copy each of Ashe and Caspar early on (and foddered skills from them to Jill and Sothe, respectively), but I ended up working up to a 5.50% rate before Hilda+Marianne showed up (+Atk -Res). Unfortunately nothing else of interest showed up in that time iirc. On the legendary banner I managed to grab a second Dagr (merged onto my +Def -Spd copy) within 5 or 6 pulls thankfully. Also free-summoned an extra Apotheosis Anna from some banner, can't remember; ended up foddering her Rally skills and Joint Drive Spd to my Duo Byleth. And I did manage to pull the last needed copy of Tethys to put her at +10. On the bright side, this new summer banner is a super easy skip for me between not overly liking Book IV's OCs or most of the art styles, and yet I got lucky and summoned Freyja (+Atk -Spd) on my second pull. Little conflicted since she does look like a super overpowered unit, but I'm also just not attached to her at all and she has both Atk/Spd Solo 4 and Fatal Smoke that I was planning to give to Leonie at some point. But either way, concludes my business pulling on any banners for now, time to save for CYL5 (not really tempted if the new TT+ boss ends up being the next Mythic tbh).

So I know that two Notts is better than one +1 Nott, but is there a similar logic to Dagr or should I merge her and fix a flaw (one is +Def -Spd and the one I just pulled is +Res -Def)?

Gamble would definitely make sense! Surprisingly enough it turns out he didn't inherit it, so I'm guessing I've just had some bad RNG with him combined with the innate inaccuracy of axes, although he's improved upon promotion and especially makes for a good defensive tank, particularly given the skill I did have him inherit from his dad; I have to admit semi-shamefacedly that that was Renewal. In retrospect I would probably try to do a stricter/more natural run next time; so that's a goal for a Revelations run once I beat COnquest's story. The breadth of customization offered by MyCastle skills was immediately exciting and I got a little carried away with it before considering how it breaks the spirit of the challenge intended in Conquest. Casual/Battle Saves too obviously, although I'm skeptical that I would enjoy this game as much without those since the difficulty, especially of certain chapters, is so much more than I'm used to in the other FE games I've played (Tellius1&2, Echoes, Awakening, 3H). @Shadow Mir I'm at Ch 19 now; I didn't notice before that the shop has more seals, so that's definitely good. @starburst That makes sense. I kept trying to just storm the island ahead of the villagers but at that point in the game I just couldn't figure out how to whittle down the Generals and Paladins' defenses quickly enough. When I went back a few chapters later I ended up diverting the villagers around the lake sort-of inadvertently, but either way it was definitely easier the second time. Although I take back what I said about Sophie's paralogue being the worst chapter so far. That new honor goes to Ch 17. Holy cow have I never had to restart so many times in a chapter. The endless ninjas, none of my usual tanks could stand up to anything for very long. I have no idea how people manage to keep Saizo alive the whole time, I could get about 70% of the way through the map before he inevitably got surrounded or picked off. Funnily enough Chapter 10 ended up being way more manageable than I expected it to be, especially thanks to keeping in mind your note about treating it as a routing chapter. I managed to beat it without having to restart more than maybe once or twice or having anyone die/retreat, although I did miss the bottom-right house, and if the conditions had called for defending for 1-2 more turns I for sure would have had several losses, everyone was on the brink of death by the end. Anyway, the last children I have left to unlock still are Azura!Velouria, Keaton!Shigure, and Nyx!Forrest. Decided for sure to ignore Soleil, Ignatius and Siegbert, so maybe I'll recruit them on a Revelations playtrhough.

It surprisingly hasn't been a huge issue so far, I even got through the chapter today that only allows Avatar/Azura/Gunter with a mainly minimal use of Gunter and the Avatar still un-promoted. She only has 30HP atm, but that's more than almost all the other units I'm using at this point strangely. Update for fun: Enjoying this game so far! Having just finished Ch 16, my core roster at this point includes only Avatar, Azura, Elise, Mozu and Effie as the remaining 1st gen units I'm still using. As far as children, I've unlocked Effie!Dwyer, Avatar!Percy, Elise!Ophelia, Camilla!Nina and Mozu!Sophie. Somewhat surprisingly, Percy really struggles most of the time, even though his skill is perfectly adequate compared to everyone else. He just can't hit anything. Ophelia and Nina are fragile but monsters. Dwyer and Sophie are great mobile tanks. I've unlocked the paralogues for Arthur!Kana and Selena!Midori but thinking about letting those wait 'til Chapter 19? Seals seem pretty hard to come by in this game, I've only promoted Effie and Ophelia so far, but several others are around lv. 19 and will likely need Seals purchased after one more chapter. Gold is also kinda tight too though, especially since I discovered the whole thing with buying skills from people's castles. It feels like cheating a little bit, but it's so hard to pass up the chance to inherit things like Aptitude and Trample on everyone. With so many characters to juggle and grind support, probably skipping out on Ignatius and Siegbert and maybe Forrest too. Working on unlocking the paralogues for Peri!Velouria and Azura!Soleil/Laslow!Shigure, but it's pretty tricky trying to grind support for Laslow when he's so bad, at least in my experience so far. Sophie's paralogue was by far the most annoying part of the game up to now. I tried to do it around Ch 11 and it was just impossible haha. Had to quit and go back to it after I had move fliers/cavaliers.

With ~95 orbs, so far I've only got Ashe and a first ever copy of WF Hinoka, both +Spd -Res. Along with a free summoned neutral (first ever) Ced from yesterday, I'm a little annoyed but I think I've gotten too used to the good luck I've had the last couple months. I'd like to ideally only keep pulling until I get either one of Mercedes or Hilda+Marianne, maybe with Caspar along the way so I can give Bonus Doubler to Sothe. So many fantastic skills in this banner tho..

In all the 24-hour banners I managed to free pull my first Say'ri (+Atk -Spd) and a spare vanilla Alm (merged to +3). On the TT+ banner, free summoned my first copy of Marianne! +Atk -Def !

Free Leonie is the highlight for me! One of my 3-4 favorite characters from 3H (along with Dorothea and Shamir, both of whom I still haven't been able to get lol), and plus I have approaching 900-1000 Grails saved up so I really hope she's decent! Otherwise everyone here looks awesome, but with only 60 orbs and having absolutely no need for anymore 3H units from a gameplay perspective, I may try to not spend too much on this banner and just hope I get lucky and pull Hilda+Marianne in a couple circles.

Thank y'all for the replies/advice! It looks like I'll go with trying to recruit the children as early as possible. I beat Chapter 9 recently and managed to Capture then persuade Haitaka over to my team and use my first Heart Seal on Mozu to get her to the archer class, in preparation for Chapter 10, which I hear is one of the hardest maps in the game. Team right now is Viona lv 11 (+Str -HP, she's turning out strong but frail so far with 22HP, 17 str, 12 spd, 8 def and 5 res), Jakob lv 12, Silas lv 9, Effie lv 11, Mozu lv 7, Elise lv 10, Odin lv 7, Niles lv 10, Azura lv 3, Nyx lv 10, and Arthur lv 9. So far Effie and Jakob and Silas and Elise are consistently getting great level-ups, the others struggle a lot. Especially Odin, who's borderline useless and will certainly be replaced by Ophelia as soon as he marries Elise (which is disappointing since he's one of my best/favorite units in Awakening as Owain). @Shadow Mir Selena being a subpar mother seemed to be a consensus I saw from Googling around, but maybe that's not the case? @Sasori lol maybe Felicia!Siegbert instead? His design is just so meh to me no matter who his parents are. @starburst thanks for the links! And yes, trying to recruit all the children is more of a personal choice than from a gameplay perspective, since apparently the children aren't nearly as broken as they were in Awakening? I might still retain some 1st gen units by the endgame in place of child units whose design is sort of uninteresting to me. Atm just grinding support before Chapter 10. I have Jakob and Effie at A, so I'm wondering is it possible to recruit Sophie and other child units before starting Chapter 10?

Hi everyone! So for the longest time the only Fire Emblem games I had played were PoR/RD and 3H since I had mostly skipped on the DS era of games. But I played Awakening for the first time last month and found myself enjoying the characters and the children system much more than I thought I would. On one hand the level of customization is tons of fun if honestly overwhelming, but the amount of grinding required for optimization eventually dulled my enjoyment a little bit. The last couple days I've started playing Fates for the first time, specifically Conquest first since I had read that there are a lot fewer opportunities for grinding combined with interesting gameplay for a good challenge. Have to say, this game is effing hard! I'm on Chapter 9 atm, and I've been doing Hard/Casual -- I've never had to do casual mode before in Fire Emblem, but I'm glad I did because this game is punishing. Similarly to Awakening, the level of customization and variability available for my units is overwhelming. For my first time playing Conquest I'm wanting to do a run that has me mainly using the children by the end (with little or no DLC). I did correct a mistake I had made in Awakening though, and researched/planned who to pair for all the children before starting the story. I was hoping for some input on whether these are all good pairs: Arthur!(M)Kana, (F)Corrin!Percy, Laslow!Shigure, Azura!Soleil, Effie!Dwyer, Mozu!Sophie, Beruka!Midori, Selena!Siegbert, Nyx!Forrest, Elise!Ophelia, Camilla!Nina, Charlotte!Ignatius, and Peri!Velouria I'd read that Selena is apparently the worst mother in general, so relegating her to Siegbert mainly has to do with the fact that I don't really like Siegbert's design or plan to use him. Additionally I'm pairing Arthur with the avatar so far mainly out of my general ambivalence towards avatar characters; I hardly ever used Robin or Morgan in Awakening either. Otherwise, I really haven't that too much about classes or skill inheritance--so many options to consider. I'm wondering, is it easier to pass down desirable skills in Fates? One of my problems with Awakening is how slow it is to grind parents to Lv 15 in Advanced classes for things like Galeforce; in a lot of cases on my first run in Awakening I ended up passing down subpar skills to the children because I was impatient. Another question I have is: in Conquest, is it better to try to get the children as early as possible or wait until a certain time?

My ninth +10 hero (after DS!Tharja, Sothe, Altena, Ena, JW!Est, Mordecai, TH!Reinhardt, and Kronya)!

I don't know why it's so fun to make these up haha. I wonder what are the odds that IS would drop a banner with four harmonic heroes... Recently started playing Awakening for the first time ever, so these are a little inspired by that. Kjelle & Cecil: Fearless Fighters Skrimir & Basilio: The Might to Rule Stefan & Kamui: Builders of Freedom Miriel & Hanneman: Ardent Researchers

Not a very attractive New Heroes banner for me personally, but I managed to pull Nott (+Atk -Def) on my 4th summon, then yet another Brave Celica (+HP -Spd) on my 12th summon and then just now Minerva (+HP -Def) as my 15th summon and as the only summon that wasn't on a blue or red circle. Definitely only going to keep summoning until I get one more (blue/red) focus hero, then quit. Maybe I should have committed to building up Brave Celica lol. This is I think almost certainly the third time I've pulled her in less than a month--and possibly like the eighth or ninth time since I started playing FEH--and every time I've always foddered her immediately. Oh well... EDIT: And that's that! 17th summon: Valentina Palla (+Spd -Def, not great but I'll take it!). Time to save for summer banners.