Ice Dragon

Resonance 4 is a very niche skill, and I've honestly been having trouble trying to figure out who actually even wants it. Resonance 4 only does 2 things better than Occultist's Strike: (1) Resonance 4 has better performance against opponents with Breath of Life 4 (or support from Breath of Life 4) and (2) Resonance 4 is active on both phases, whereas Occultist's Strike is only active on player phase. However, Resonance 4 has a lot of drawbacks, namely that it requires the unit to have at least 50 max HP to get the full effect from the skill (and game-mode-specific bonus HP like blessing boosts and bonus unit boosts don't count), it has recoil damage, and its availability is worse than Occultist's Strike's. Verge of Death is only worth running on units that need visible Atk and/or Spd and on units that don't receive counterattacks (or have other means of tanking them). Inf. Null Follow isn't usable by fliers. Right now, I think it's better to merge your copies of Celica unless you have a specific use case for Resonance 4 that can't be accomplished with Occultist's Strike. And if you don't need to merge the copies (e.g. to remove a bad Flaw or to get the bonus Dragonflowers from Heroic Ordeals), it might still be fine to just hold onto the copy (or turn it into a manual to save space) since the bonus Engage stats for the first merge will always be to HP and not to a more useful stat.

I wouldn't write off Atk/Def Finish 3 quite yet since Atk/Def Clash 3 was given to Young Frederick in the Grail pool back in April, but was then given to Kyle in the 4-star standard pool only 3 months later. They've generally been less stingy with the Atk/Def skills since the stat spread archetype is usually less popular, yet they continue to release a good number of units with that stat spread (and a lot of them are 4-star units). (That said, Flared Sturdy, A/D Near Trace 4, and Incite Atk/Def still don't even exist and Alarm Atk/Def is still locked to Summer Ephraim for some reason, though that might be related to Atk/Def units ending up as 4-star units more often than Atk/Spd units do.) And yeah, Atk/Spd Finish 3 would also be nice to finally get in the standard pool since we currently only have Young Rebecca and Summer Clanne to get it from.

Speaking of Atk/Spd Clash, we currently have 20 units in the 5-star pool that have Atk/Spd Clash 4 or Atk/Spd Excel, but the only sources of Atk/Spd Clash 3 in a 4-star pool of any kind are both seasonal. (Also, only 3 of those 20 units with the tier-4 skills are in the standard 5-star pool.) Can we please get Atk/Spd Clash 3 in the standard 4-star pool already? I get that this is the new hotness like Swift Sparrow was years ago, but it was really annoying then and it's still really annoying now. Meanwhile, we already got Atk/Def Clash 3 added to the standard 4-star pool with Kyle. (Also Young Frederick before that if you count Grail units.)

This week's free Arena ticket gets me Maribelle: 42 pulls on the Forging Bonds rerun banner: 1 Lucina (+1 spark) 1 pity breaker Ascended Eir Lucina is now +2 with 12 spare copies. Eir is now +10.

Anyways, here are the usual translation notes: The banner name, "Festival Guide", is "収穫祭の楽しみ方" (shūkaku-sai no tanoshimi kata), "How To Enjoy a Harvest Festival". Askr's epithet, "Open Harvest", is "開かれし収穫祭" (hirakareshi shūkaku-sai), "Opened Harvest Festival". Horn of Harvest is "開かれし祭の角" (hirakareshi matsuri no tsuno), "Horns of the Opened Festival". Sturdy Beast is "堅固なる獣" (kengo-naru kemono), "Sturdy Beast". Connected World is "人と神が繋がる世界" (hito to kami ga tsunagaru sekai), "A World [Where] People and Gods are Connected". Lethe's epithet, "Cat Attack", is "戦士を支える実り" (senshi o sasaeru minori), "Warrior-Sustaining Harvest". Hungry Cat Fang is "感謝の戦猫の爪牙" (kansha no senbyō no sōga), "Claws and Fangs of the Thankful War Cat". Nah's epithet, "Grateful One", is "実りに感謝の心を" (minori ni kansha no kokoro o), "[Having a] Heart That Is Thankful of the Harvest". Stone of Delights is "収穫の喜びの竜石" (shūkaku no yorokobi no ryūseki), "Dragonstone of the Harvest's Rejoicing". Dragon's Scales is "竜の堅鱗" (ryū no kenrin), "Dragon's Tough Scales". D/R Twin N Save is "盾の護り手・近・双" (tate no mamori-te: kin: sō), "Shield Guardian: Close / Dual". As with the other Save skills and some other skill series (like Session), "盾" (tate), "shield", is used for the Def/Res stat combination. Nagi's epithet, "Hopeful Eternity", is "悠久の収穫祭" (yūkyū no shūkaku-sai), "Everlasting Harvest Festival". Opposing Stones is "神魔の双竜の竜石" (shinma no sōryū no ryūseki), "Dragonstone of the Divine/Demon Dual Dragons". A/R Twin F Save is "兜の護り手・遠・双" (kabuto no mamori-te: en: sō), "Helmet Guardian: Far / Dual". As with the other Save skills, "兜" (kabuto), "helmet", is used for the Atk/Res stat combination. Yarne's epithet, "Trick or Taguel", is "タグエルの収穫祭" (tagueru no shūkaku-sai), "Taguel's Harvest Festival". The point is that a viable solution (honestly, "viable" is an understatement) now exists that didn't exist when Harmonized Awakening Tiki was released. It goes without saying that you need to actually have the solution available, but the fact that there is a solution now when there wasn't one before makes the mobility issue not a big issue anymore. It also helps that (1) the current solution gets frequent and scheduled reruns and (2) there are enough alternative Harmonized Heroes for both games they are representing that you likely won't have to resort to using this particular unit if you don't have said solution.

Refines are now out: Melady: Crimson Lance Base effect is: If HP is 25% or higher at start of combat: +5 to all stats in combat Flat damage reduction on opponent's non-follow-up attacks equal to 20% of Def Follow-up prevention If unit's Def is higher than opponent's Def: Increases opponent's follow-up Spd threshold by 2 times the difference in Def 7 HP recovery after combat Refine effect is: Inflicts the following effects on enemies within Ploy 4 range: -4 Atk/Spd/Def in combat Guard effect With a Stance condition or if opponent's HP is 75% or higher at start of combat: +5 to all stats in combat Additional damage equal to 20% of Def, excludes AoE Specials Guaranteed follow-up Unfortunately, she doesn't get percentage damage reduction for synergy with Wyvern Rift, but instead gets most of the important effects from Wyvern Rift, namely flat damage reduction, a guaranteed follow-up, follow-up prevention, and an increase to the opponent's follow-up Spd threshold. She also gets +10 to all stats, additional damage based on Def, post-combat healing, and a Crux-like effect that inflicts -4 Atk/Spd/Def and the Guard effect. Getting most of the effects of Wyvern Rift means that she can opt for the more easily accessible Guard Bearing 4. While she does gain a huge +14 Spd to help out a base stat that otherwise sits on the higher end of the middling range, not needing to run Wyvern Rift means she has the option to not run any additional Spd on her A and C skills and can focus entirely on Atk/Def instead, though Atk/Spd and Spd/Def options are not completely off the table, as such a huge boost to Spd actually puts her on the lower end of the competitive range. No Slaying effect or other source of Special acceleration can be a bit troublesome, though, as she'll be locked to Ruptured Sky as her best option if you don't want to be dependent on Emblem Marth or Special acceleration support like Legendary Hinoka. If you don't mind forgoing the defensive boost from Guard Bearing 4, she can run Momentum 4 to fix this issue. Ilyana: Craver's Tome Base effect is: If HP is 25% or higher at start of combat: +5 to all stats in combat Guaranteed follow-up If there is an ally within 2 spaces and unit's Res is higher than opponent's Res: Flat damage reduction equal to difference in Res, maximum 20, excludes AoE Specials 7 HP recovery after combat Refine effect is: If HP is 25% or higher at start of combat: +5 to all stats in combat Stat penalty nullification to Res Stat bonus nullification to opponent's Res Additional damage equal to 20% of Res, excludes AoE Specials Pledge effect Interestingly, Ilyana's weapon focuses entirely on combat performance, granting +10 to all stats, a guaranteed follow-up, the Pledge effect, additional damage, flat damage reduction based on a Res comparison, post-combat healing, and nullification of her own Res penalties and the opponent's Res bonuses. It's hard for me to decide whether it's better for her to run Sabotage + Ploy or if she should just go all in on combat. While Sabotage + Ploy builds aren't made any worse by her weapon, Crystalline Water does overlap with her weapon's Res penalty nullification and lowers her already non-existent physical bulk. Meanwhile, Remote Mirror can potentially patch up her physical bulk to more usable levels and opens up her B and C skills for stronger options for combat performance. In particular, if you have her Resplendent outfit, she caps out Resonance 4's effect at +10+21 and has post-combat healing to counteract the recoil damage. Alternatively, her high Res stat lets her run Laguz Friend 4 to further boost her defenses and grants her full percentage damage reduction nullification on her follow-up attack on player phase while also providing a countermeasure against Guard or Tempo as long as the opponent doesn't have both. Veld: Petrify Base effect is updated: Permanent +3 Res At the start of turns 1-5, inflicts the following status effects on the enemies with the lowest value of a given stat: Gravity At the start of turns 1-5, inflicts the following status effects on the enemies with the lowest value of a given stat (existing) and enemies within 2 spaces of them (new): -7 Atk/Spd Sabotage (new) Stat for the above effects is: Turn 1: HP Turn 2: Atk Turn 3: Spd Turn 4: Def Turn 5: Res With a Blow-or-Alarm condition: +5 to all stats in combat (new) Guaranteed follow-up (new) Refine effect is: If HP is 25% or higher at start of combat: +5 to all stats in combat Stat bonus nullification to opponent's Atk/Res Additional damage equal to the highest value of the total stat penalties on opponent or enemies within 2 spaces of opponent, excludes AoE Specials 30% damage reduction, excludes AoE Specials Unfortunately, the only new status effect he gets is Sabotage, which is somewhat disappointing since the status effect has decent distribution already, so the only upgrades to his debuffing capabilities are the fact that the stat penalties now splash and the addition of Sabotage, which splashes. Everything else added are combat effects, giving him +10 to all stats, a guaranteed follow-up, 30% damage reduction on all attacks, nullification of the opponent's Atk/Res bonuses, and a Dominance effect that can use a nearby enemy's penalties if they're higher. His refine is honestly kind of underwhelming, considering he's competing directly with Validar, who can run a Sabotage + Ploy build better than him due to his higher base Res and has more reliable debuff targeting. Sure, Veld is actually capable of competing with Validar now and is probably slightly stronger in combat, but his support effects just seem somewhat lackluster in a unit class that is already saturated with debuffers. Harmonized Veronica: Gate-Anchor Axe Base effect is updated: Canto (Dist. +1; Max 4) (new) Slaying effect With a Blow-or-Alarm condition (previously Solo condition): +5 Def/Res in combat -5 Def/Res to opponent in combat Guaranteed follow-up Charges Special before unit's first attack by Clash distance, maximum 3 (new) Refine effect is: At start of turn, if HP is 25% or higher, inflicts the following status effects on closest enemies and enemies within 2 spaces of them: -7 Atk/Def Feud If HP is 25% or higher at start of combat: +5 Def/Res in combat -5 Def/Res to opponent in combat Additional damage equal to 20% of Def, excludes AoE Specials Percentage damage reduction nullification when Special activates For reference, her Harmonized Skill grants Resonance: Shields to herself and allies from Heroes or Fates, and the skill refreshes every third turn. I didn't think Canto (Dist. +1; Max 4) was likely. And she got it. That's huge. In addition, she gets a pre-combat Pulse effect that is even stronger than Momentum 4's (in exchange for not working on AoE Specials), charging her Special by an amount equal to the number of spaces moved by the attacking unit on either phase, up to a maximum of 3. On top of that, she gets +5/0/5/5 on top of her existing +5/0/5/5, which now has a more lenient condition, additional damage based on her Def, nullifies percentage damage reduction when her Special activates, and inflicts -7 Atk/Def and Feud on the closest enemies to her and splashes at the start of the turn. Nullifying percentage damage reduction when her Special activates means she doesn't need to run No Quarter to get the effect and can instead run something else, like Ignis or Astra that has a cooldown of 3 after the Slaying effect. However, given that she needs to move 3 spaces in order to do so, this isn't particularly reliable outside of Resonant Battles. In Resonant Battles, however, enemies don't move if they can't attack, so she can easily use her Canto effect to make sure she'll always be positioned correctly to get the full effect. That said, if you don't mind activating her Special on her follow-up attack instead, you don't have to worry as much. Or you can run Momentum 4 to get even more cooldown reduction, allowing her to charge 2/3/5 points of cooldown based on distance moved. So she can viably run Aether if you need her to, but given that her stat boosts are specifically a boost to her own Def/Res and a reduction to the opponent's Def/Res, Bonfire and Ignis are probably the Specials she's intended to be running. Flayn: Caduceus Staff Base effect is updated: Wrathful Staff effect Grants the following effects to allies within 2 spaces: +4 Atk/Res in combat (new) 30% damage reduction, excludes AoE Specials (previously only on opponent's first attack) Guard effect (new) If there is an ally within 3 spaces: +5 to all stats in combat (new) 30% damage reduction, excludes AoE Specials (new) Guard effect (new) Refine effect is: Allies within 2 spaces of unit can move to any space within 2 spaces of unit At start of turn, if there is an ally within 2 spaces, grants the following status effects to unit and allies within 2 spaces: +6 Atk/Res Pledge With a Blow-or-Unity condition: +5 to all stats in combat Guaranteed follow-up Flayn gets her 30% damage reduction support effect upgraded to apply to all attacks instead of just the first. In addition, she gets a handful of additional support effects in +4 Atk/Res in combat, +6 Atk/Res as stat bonuses, the Guard effect, Pledge as a status effect, and Guidance 4 with no movement type restrictions. Additionally, she gives herself +10 to all stats in combat, +6 Atk/Res as stat bonuses, 30% damage reduction, the Guard effect, and a guaranteed follow-up. Ultimately, I find it a bit disappointing that she didn't get any stronger defensive effects, like Divine Vein (Stone), AoE Special damage reduction, En Garde, or Breath of Life 4, considering that she was at her release the best defensive support unit in the game. Boosting her own combat performance makes enough sense since she has Wrathful Staff on her weapon, and she amusingly gives herself the 30% damage reduction effect, which gives her to option to forgo Dazzling Staff, though I wouldn't actually recommend doing so, given her unimpressive defenses and the fact that Dazzling Staff has good enough secondary effects on its tier-4 options to compete with conventional B skills. Overall thoughts: Veronica's refine is solid, as expected of a Special Hero. Melady's refine not having any form of Special acceleration is the only real issue I have with it, but there are still plenty of viable solutions to address that even if it just means running a weaker Special. Ilyana's refine came out of left field for me, and I'm still not sure what to think about it. It's certainly a good refine, though, but I just don't quite know how to build around it. Not really sold on Flayn's or Veld's refines. Flayn's neither feels offensive enough nor supportive enough and kind of just waffles somewhere in between. Veld's is just underwhelming in light of his competition.

I'm glad we're getting more skills for dragons and armors to use, but I wish they'd speed up the rate that they get added to the standard (or LME) summoning pool. Also, it's a bit annoying that Rearmed Grima is still the only armored skill duplicator. Also, it's a bit annoying that we're getting the Def/Res version of Twin Near Save and the Atk/Res version of Twin Far Save, as those are less generally useful stat combinations at those ranges. Def/Res is generally less useful than Atk/Def against melee units except on dragons, who want to activate Scowl, and Atk/Res is generally less useful than Def/Res against ranged units because there is more damage-type diversity among ranged attackers. I'm not that concerned since it stopped being a big issue after Emblem Celica was released.

The A slot for fast ranged infantry is usually going to optimally be one of Atk/Spd Finish 4 or Remote Sparrow depending on whether you need the damage reduction from Remote. Atk/Spd Hexblade is a more niche option that allows targeting of Res on units with lower Res, allowing you to get through lopsided Def tanks. Normally, Verge of Death is also a more niche option that gives stat penalty nullification in exchange for reduced defenses, but Blade Royale already nullifies stat penalties, so it's not worth it here. Atk/Spd Prime 4 is also technically an option, as he can get 1 Bonus from his weapon and 2 Bonuses from Inf. Null Follow 4, making it extremely easy to get the last Bonus for the Close Counter effect, and his Def is actually pretty decent, but he doesn't have his Brave effect on enemy phase, which lowers the value of building towards any enemy-phase performance to begin with. On the other hand, it does grant him the highest raw stats of any of the options for the A slot. Blade Royale already grants +6 Atk/Spd stat bonuses and the Pledge effect, which lowers the value of running the usual tier-4 Oath and Rouse skills. As such, I think the most efficient use of the B and C slots to get skill effects is Spd/Def Tempo 4 in the B slot for the Tempo effect and partial damage reduction nullification and Inf. Null Follow 4 in the C slot for the Null Follow-Up and Formation teleportation effects. If you don't need the Tempo effect, you have the options of either Phys. Null Follow or Disarm Trap 4 to get the Null Follow-Up effect in the B slot. Creation Pulse can be used to bypass the need for Tempo and help charge Lethality, but you'll need debuff support on the team to activate it. Another build that gives up the Tempo effect is Desperation 4 in the B slot and Inf. Null Follow 4 in the C slot, which allows you to forgo other defensive skill effects.

Starting on Fjorm's team. Will go to Nils's team if Fjorm's team loses and Nils is still in the running. Then Ylgr.

153 pulls on the Ice Tribe banner: 1 Fjorm (+1 spark) 1 Thea 1 Felicia 3 5-star Flora 8 4-star Flora 5 pity breakers Fallen Ninian Safy Brave Chrom Fallen Maria Nidavellir 3.9% focus rate is about 1 pull above average. 7.2% overall 5-star rate is also about 1 pull above average. I would've liked to have pulled for some more copies of Fjorm, but after yesterday's disaster and my wallet recovering from summer, I don't really have the budget to do so. I'm not sure what's up with Flora because 7 of the 11 copies of her had Def Assets, but that ultimately isn't an issue since I still got copies with both Atk and Res Assets. Fjorm and Thea are both [+Atk, -Spd], and Felicia is neutral. Also managed to get the last copy I needed to get Ascended Joshua to +10. It feels super weird to see him in the 4-star SR pool. 80 pulls on the Reginn/Timerra banner: 4 Reginn (+1 spark) 0 Timerra (+1 spark) 3 pity breakers Mycen Ascended Amelia Chloe 5.0% focus rate is about 1 pull below average for 2 units sharing the color. 8.8% overall 5-star rate is roughly average. A bit annoyed that I got a bunch of Reginn and no Timerra since Timerra is significantly more useful to me as a skill duplicator. My best copy of Reginn has an Atk Asset. Ascended Amelia is nice, though, as this is my second copy, so I can give this one to Rearmed Grima for skill duplication. 40 pulls on Emblem Sigurd's banner: 2 Sigurd 3 Celica 0 Lumera 1 Yuri (+1 spark) The first copy of Sigurd was [+Atk, -Spd], and I managed to get a second copy to duplicate Excel and Momentum, so I figured I didn't need to use my spark on him. I ended up using the spark on Yuri since the copy I pulled got him to +9, so the spark would get him to +10, which will be nice for scoring in game modes that use Arena scoring since he has an exclusive skill in his Assist slot. Sigurd is +0 with an extra copy to give to a skill duplicator (probably Lif). Celica is now +6 with an extra copy that I haven't yet given to a skill duplicator because I haven't found an actual use for Resonance 4 yet. Yuri is now +10. 52 pulls on the Hall of Forms banner: 1 Reinhardt (+1 spark) 2 pity breakers Anankos Ascended Ishtar Had to go to 52 pulls to get a copy of Reinhardt other than the spark. Bleh. Reinhardt is now +1 with 3 extra copies. The copy of Anankos has a Spd Asset, which finally lets me replace my old neutral merge base. The copy of Ishtar gets her to +9.

Flare is currently the best Special for any infantry tome unit that can reliably activate it on their follow-up. Typically, these are units that have the Slaying effect and are expecting a counterattack or have the Slaying and Pledge effects and are not expecting a counterattack. Creation Pulse is a relatively niche skill since infantry typically don't have much trouble activating their preferred offensive Specials due to the sheer number of options they have. Even if they do need help, Pledge is typically a better option due to the more lenient conditions and the higher stat boost, and Pledge will eventually have more stat combination options instead of being locked to Creation Pulse's Atk/Spd. I think the best use of Creation Pulse is on ranged units that want to run a 3-cooldown Special (Flare or Deadeye without the Slaying effect or Lethality with the Slaying effect) and don't want to be reliant on Emblem Marth. The unit doesn't have to inflict Penalties on their own, as those can easily be offloaded to a support unit, but it obviously doesn't hurt if they can.

The next set of refines has been announced, being Harmonized Veronica, Flayn, and Veld, with new weapons for Melady and Ilyana. New weapons means translation notes: Crimson Lance is "紅蓮の竜槍" (guren no ryūsō), "Crimson Dragon Lance". Craver's Tome is "空腹の魔道士の書" (kūfuku no madōshi no sho), "Tome of the Hungry Mage". Or more literally, "Tome of the Mage With an Empty Stomach". And the usual hopes and predictions: Melady: Crimson Lance Currently has Instant Lance, which grants +4 Atk/Def and follow-up prevention on player phase. Melady has a pretty typical dragon knight stat spread with high Atk and Def, middling Spd, and low Res and therefore ends up competing with a lot of other units with similar stat spread. In particular, she's almost strictly worse than Arione, who has slightly more Atk, Def, and Res in exchange for lightly less HP. Her high Def means that she has no trouble meeting the visible Def condition to get the maximum effect from Wyvern Rift, but her middling Spd can cause her issues when attempting to activate it against some modern fast tanks that have better Spd and competitive Def. Ideally, her new weapon grants her a boost to Spd instead of just Atk/Def/Res in order to help out. Other than that, she'd prefer to have percentage damage reduction on her weapon in order to pair with Wyvern Rift's flat damage reduction. Ilyana: Craver's Tome Currently has Blarfox, which inflicts -4 to all stats on the opponent in combat on player phase. Ilyana's biggest competitor is Hestia, who is also in the standard 4-star summoning pool with her and has higher Atk than her with equal Res. With Resplendent boosts, Ilyana pulls ahead in Res, but is still behind Hestia in Atk. A Sabotage + Ploy build is clearly what her stats are most suited for, and her weapon should ideally lean into that role. Phantom Res would be nice to have to make it easier to land debuffs, and it would be nice to also apply some of the rarer debuffs, like Discord or Schism. A means of countering Freyr, like applying debuffs after her action instead of or in addition to at the start of the turn would be cool and extremely useful. For combat, all she really wants is a guaranteed follow-up and damage reduction. Veld: Petrify Current effect is: Permanent +3 Res At the start of turn 1, inflicts the following status effects on the enemies with the lowest HP: -7 Atk/Spd Gravity At the start of turn 2, inflicts the following status effects on the enemies with the lowest Atk: -7 Atk/Spd Gravity At the start of turn 3, inflicts the following status effects on the enemies with the lowest Spd: -7 Atk/Spd Gravity At the start of turn 4, inflicts the following status effects on the enemies with the lowest Def: -7 Atk/Spd Gravity At the start of turn 5, inflicts the following status effects on the enemies with the lowest Res: -7 Atk/Spd Gravity Upgrading the targeting to splash is almost a given at this point. I think it's also fairly likely that the central target will also be inflicted with Sleep. Flash probably also makes sense since petrified enemies can't counterattack. Other than that, I'm not sure what else is likely. Veld is a pretty typical Atk/Res red tome unit, but he wastes too many of his stats on HP and Def and therefore falls quite a bit behind newer units like Marla and Validar, both in terms of combat performance and Sabotage/Ploy support. It's notable that his weapon doesn't even use a Res comparison and instead uses Chill-like targeting instead. For combat performance, I'd like to see him inflict Sleep and Flash on the target after combat and have follow-up prevention and the Sweep effect in order to simulate the petrification effect. Harmonized Veronica: Gate-Anchor Axe Current effect is: Slaying effect With a Solo condition: +5 Def/Res in combat -5 Def/Res to opponent in combat Guaranteed follow-up For reference, her Harmonized Skill grants Resonance: Shields to herself and allies from Heroes or Fates, and the skill refreshes every third turn. Veronica's stats are pretty unremarkable, being almost identical to Fallen Gustav with maximum Dragonflowers on both units and being generally outclassed by both Sylvain and Young Frederick. Mobility is important for Resonance Battles, and she notably lacks any form of Canto on her base kit. With how crazy some of the newer units are, I wouldn't at all be surprised if they gave her Canto (3) or Canto (Dist. +1; Max 4), even if I don't think they're all that likely. She's almost certainly going to have the Solo condition upgraded to Alarm. It's also pretty likely she might get some skill effects from Legendary Veronica or Legendary Xander, like Tempo, Sweep, and/or damage reduction nullification. Flayn: Caduceus Staff Current effect is: Wrathful Staff effect Grants the following effects to allies within 2 spaces: 30% damage reduction on the opponent's first attack I want Flayn to be able to set Divine Vein (Stone). The status effect that Gotoh grants that reduces AoE Special damage would also be extremely nice to have, given how hard it is to get significant damage reduction against AoE Specials in general. Caduceus Staff's effect in Heroes is based on Flayn's Lily's Poise personal skill instead of Caduceus Staff's effect from Three Houses, so it seems reasonable to give it Even Recovery and Odd Recovery in order to reference the original weapon. Breath of Life 4 would also be nice to have along with partial or full nullification of Deep Wounds. Ideally, she'd at least be competitive with Heidrun, at least in terms of defensive support effects.

This week's free Arena ticket gets me Hubert: I managed to pick up Dancer Cuan from my usual full-session pull on his rerun banner, but he has a Spd Asset, which is the same as what I already have. Did only the free pull on Eitri's remix banner since I have everyone on the banner except Merric at +10. 68 pulls on Byleth's remix banner: 2 Caeda (+1 spark) 0 Byleth Absolute garbage luck on this banner with the first Caeda at a 9.0% pity rate and the second at a 9.5% pity rate. And once again, neither copy has a Spd Asset. 90 pulls on the Special Heroes celebration banner: 1 Sanaki 0 Byleth 1 Tiki (+1 spark) 0 Ymir 2 pity breakers Ellerean Tinny The only unit on this banner that I had already at +10 was Karla, and Sanaki was 1 copy away from +10, so I decided to pull red and colorless to begin with since all 4 of the red and colorless units were useful to me. But I ended up pulling Sanaki in the first circle, so I dropped red and pulled just colorless after that. And then proceeded to get nothing until my first copy of Ellerean broke my 8.6%/2.9% pity on pull 38. And then by Tinny at 7.9%/2.6%. And finally got Tiki at 9.0%/3.0%. The only silver lining to this is that the new copy of Tiki has a Res Asset. Overall, I had a 2.5% focus rate across 2 banners that both had a 6% base focus rate, putting me 6 pulls below average. What the fuck. I'm done for today and will pull on the other banners tomorrow. Some gacha god somewhere is clearly upset with me over something.

I'm a tad bit surprised they gave Momentum the exact same inheritance restrictions as Clash, i.e. non-armored melee units. It's a bit amusing that it's still usable by dragons despite only lowering the opponent's Def and not their Res, as I feel like they normally just prevent dragons from inheriting the skill for cases like these. Seems like it should still be best-in-slot for most player-phase cavalry dragons and teleporting dragons if they have the Slaying effect (and a good Res stat) since it lets them fully charge Dragon's Roar, which lets them forgo damage reduction in their B slot. Teleporting human melee infantry can also do this with Gust. And non-teleporting 2-movement units can still do this if they have the Slaying effect and Emblem Marth (or a Pulse effect) equipped.

The weapon design is Engage's Brave Lance, which is one of Emblem Sigurd's Engage Weapons.