Ice Dragon

Posting the art here since it hasn't been posted yet: The art is very cute. It's a pity her stats are complete garbage. With maximum Dragonflowers and the Resplendent boosts, she has 47/36/36/36/29, and her weapon doesn't do anything for herself other than give her the Litrraven effect. Even if an Arcane green tome is released, there are better options, like Soren (38/38 offenses), Nino (38/41 without Resplendent boosts), Luthier (40/39), Ricken (44/40), and Bastian (45/29), just from the 4-star pool. The only way she'd actually have a niche is if the Arcane green tome does something based on Def, as she has 2 more Atk than Boey at a cost of only 1 less Def, but even then, she'll probably be outclassed by Gatekeeper after he gets his refine.

I don't think a month or two would really make a difference. Every single 4-star unit since Kiragi's release 7 months ago (including himself) have been competitive with premium units with the only real exception of Vanessa. Bastian might not be particularly amazing right now, but he's just waiting for an Arcane weapon. Sylvain would like an Arcane axe with a guaranteed follow-up, but he can at least make do with Seahorse Axe in the meantime. For reference, the 4-star units we've gotten since Kiragi are (stat comparisons done with maximum Dragonflowers): Winter Annette (solid Far Save tank, especially after the release of Arcane Nastrond) New Year Panne (Galeforce cavalry with Freyja's stats) Desert Byleth (Sublime Heaven with Ascended Ishtar's stats) Etie (same Atk as the bow Chroms, but with an actual Spd stat) Valentine Hana (ridiculously fast sword armor and one of the best options for a Savvy Fighter Near Save tank, especially after the release of Arcane Devourer) Bastian (better base stats than Arval, just waiting for an Arcane weapon with a guaranteed follow-up) Spring Ashe (fastest dagger flier, Atk second only to Ninja Igrene) Vanessa (better than the other 4-star lance fliers, but nothing special compared to 5-star units) Young Rebecca (fastest infantry bow; Atk second only to Etie, the bow Chroms, and now Dorothy; busted exclusive weapon) Sylvain (Basilio on a horse, just waiting for an Arcane weapon with a guaranteed follow-up) Bride Flavia (literally just Fallen Chrom without his exclusive Assist) Dorothy (Etie's Atk with Kiragi's Spd) The only thing that really makes Dorothy noticeable at all compared to the other insanely good 4-star units we've gotten is the fact that we've literally gotten 4 4-star bow infantry units since Kiragi (including Kiragi himself), and they've all been attempting to one-up the previous ones in some way, so the progressive increase in stats is actually noticeable.

That's still worse than par, though. Par for an AoE Special is at the start of the first turn. Par for Wings of Mercy is after the first round of combat. Meanwhile, you can activate a 4-cooldown Special and activate Wings of Mercy after the first round of combat by running a normal 4-cooldown Special, which is exactly par for that setup.

Heroes is in the part of its life cycle where it shouldn't require a large number of developers to keep the stream of content running. All of the heavy lifting should have already been done before release and in the year or so after release when all of the foundational mechanics were implemented. I would not be surprised if they only have 2-4 full-time employees' worth of developers working on this game now plus a handful of QA testers that can be shared with other projects, so it's very likely that art and voice work is actually a significant portion of the game's current development and operating costs.

No, because +5 Spd is +1.5 damage on Vital Astra, but -5 Spd to the opponent is +0 damage on Vital Astra. Offensive units prioritize doing more damage over taking less damage, which is why most of them get weapons that boost their own stats. Defensive units prioritize taking less damage over doing more damage, which is why most of them get weapons that reduce their opponent's stats. The inheritable skills in the passive skill slots follow their own conventions. A skills boost stats. B skills reduce the opponent's stats. C skills and exclusive skills do whatever they fuck they want.

Then that person had a bad idea and should feel bad. Not being able to use Blazing Wind on the first round of combat defeats the purpose of running Blazing Wind over a different Special. Her refine is better suited for running Dragon Fang or Astra instead. With the Slaying effect, Tempo effect, and Time's Pulse 3 in her C slot, she's guaranteed to land a 4-cooldown Special on her follow-up attack as long as the opponent can counterattack, and Special Spiral 3 and Time's Pulse 4 will fully charge the skill after combat. Alternatively, you can give up Time's Pulse for Atk/Spd Oath 4 and run Deadeye. And as long as you're being counterattacked, you can even give up Special Spiral for Null Follow-Up (or Phys. Null Follow) and still be able to consistently land Special activations. It's a waste of skill slots to run a bunch of Pulse effects just to make Blazing Wind usable when she has plenty of other options that don't require teammates to give up their skill slots.

This week's free Arena ticket gets me Elise: Other than that, the only notable pull I've gotten since my last post was a copy of Summer Noire from the Tharja-Ninian-Sanaki Bride banner. And I'm still procrastinating on pulling from the current Bride banner because I can.

Arcane Eclipse is really good on infantry since it enables you to run any of Blazing Wind (or any other AoE Special), Astra, or Dragon Fang on any red tome infantry unit, and you don't even need the Quickened Pulse Sacred Seal if you have a teammate with Infantry Pulse. Lilina and Sanaki are currently the two best infantry units for it, even if you don't have their Resplendent outfits. Henriette is also a good pick because even if she doesn't really get that much value out of the Quickened Pulse effect, getting a guaranteed follow-up on her weapon opens up her B slot to run Special Fighter 4, which is a massive upgrade over the other available options. Special Fighter 4's healing effect makes up for losing healing from her default weapon, and combining it with the Slaying effect from Arcane Eclipse, it allows her to land Armored Floe (or Armored Beacon) on every counterattack if the opponent doesn't have Guard or Tempo. Cavalry and fliers don't really have any real synergies with Arcane Eclipse, but the fact that it's the only inheritable red tome with the Slaying effect and that it grants +5 to all stats and a guaranteed follow-up is already more than enough to make it worth running over other inheritable options. Groom Robin is by far the best pick of the cavalry options due to his gigantic Atk stat. There's really no reason to give it to any other cavalry unit right now outside of favoritism (or if you have twice as many copies of Ophelia as units that want her weapon, like me). Fluffy Hat Julia is the best option out of the fliers, but she's probably the least impactful option on this list. The biggest downside of giving Arcane Eclipse to non-infantry units is the fact that you have fewer options for other skills to inherit with it, or at least the good options are harder to get a copy of for duplication. Cavalry and fliers generally want Remote Mirror (possibly Remote Sparrow later if we ever get any faster units without exclusive weapons, but for the time being, all of the options want Remote Mirror) and Def/Res Smoke, which at the very least are possible to get on Ophelia. Armors don't really have any good options that can be put on Ophelia other than Distant Def, which Henriette already has and is low in demand enough and not so rare that it needs duplication, so you're basically using Ophelia for just her weapon.

All inheritable B skills with stat changes are in-combat penalties on the opponent and not in-combat bonuses on the unit. I'm pretty sure the reason they continued making all inheritable B skills inflict penalties instead of bonuses even after the Lull series was to slightly curb the way that stat inflation was slowly making skills like Bonfire more and more powerful without any way to prevent it. It's very much worth noting that every point of stat inflation in Atk can be perfectly countered by a point of stat inflation in Def and Res with the single exception of skills that base their effects on the value of the stat itself instead of on the difference between stats. EDIT: Technically, you balance out those effects with inflation to HP, but HP is the one stat that doesn't get inflated with time in this game. Added Saul's epithet and weapon now that it has been officially announced. Incurable is the non-seasonal version of Desert Cheine's Serpentine Staff.

Tanya: Violdrake Bow Base effect is: Bow common effect If HP is 25% or higher at start of combat: Targets the lower of the opponent's Def or Res +4 to all stats in combat Additional damage equal to 10% of Spd, including AoE Specials Refine effect is: If opponent's HP is 75% or higher at start of combat or opponent has a Penalty: +4 to all stats in combat Penalty Doubler effect As expected, she got the Hexblade effect, +8 to all stats, and additional damage based on a percentage of her Spd. The one other effect ended up being Penalty Doubler. If the opponent has no stat penalties, Tanya falls 2 points of Spd and 8 points of Atk behind Young Rebecca. The additional damage based on her Spd comes out to 7-8 points of damage, but Rebecca has a flat +7 damage on her weapon already. Tanya is still usable, as Hexblade and Penalty Doubler can make up the difference in both Atk and Spd, but also has Time's Pulse 3 and damage reduction on the opponent's first attack that makes her a generally better unit, with the only real catch being that Tanya is much easier to obtain and merge. Igrene: Guardian's Bow Base effect is updated: Bow common effect Slaying effect With a Blow effect (new) or if unit's Spd is higher than the opponent's Spd − 7 at start of combat (previously if unit's Spd is higher than the opponent's Spd at start of combat or during combat): -5 Atk/Spd/Def to opponent in combat Reduces damage from opponent's first attack by 30% (new) Refine effect is: If HP is 25% or higher at start of combat: +4 to all stats in combat Additional damage equal to 10% of Spd, including AoE Specials The offensive half of Tempo Nullifies opponent's Spd/Def bonuses No Quickened Pulse effect effectively buries her already dead-on-arrival AoE Special build, and this is reinforced by the fact that she gets damage reduction on the opponent's first attack, which she isn't really in need of with an AoE Special build. Igrene ends up with the same Atk stat as Young Rebecca and only falls short by 1 point of Spd. Compared to Rebecca, Igrene gets Tempo and nullifies the opponent's Spd/Def bonuses in exchange for not having effective damage against beasts, additional damage reduction against beasts and mounted ranged units, and Time's Pulse 3. I think that's a pretty good trade. Definitely worth using if you're in need of an infantry bow. Valentine Rudolf: Thorn Lance Base effect is updated: Slaying effect If HP is 25% or higher at start of combat (new) or if unit's Atk is higher than opponent's Atk at start of combat: -6 Atk/Def to opponent in combat Follow-up prevention Reduces damage taken in combat by a percentage equal to 2× the difference in unit's Atk and opponent's Atk at start of combat, excluding AoE Specials, maximum 40% (new) Refine effect is: With a Stance condition or if opponent's HP is 75% or higher at start of combat: -5 Atk/Def to opponent in combat Increases Atk and reduces opponent's Atk in combat by 50% of the total stat bonuses on the unit with the highest total stat bonuses among the unit and allies within 2 spaces Recover 7 HP after combat No guaranteed follow-up. This effectively forces him to give up his default Special Fighter and run a skill that grants a guaranteed follow-up unless you're relying on one-hit kills. That said, Rudolf does have some tools for getting one-hit kills, as he gets a gigantic +23 effective Atk if either he or a nearby ally has +6 bonuses to all stats. However, he'll probably still want to swap his B skill for one that grants a guaranteed follow-up. Defensively, he gets the equivalent of +23 effective Def/Res with the same condition, and he also gets a variant of Dodge 1 / Dragon Wall 1 based on Atk at the start of combat (instead of Spd or Res in combat) that caps at 40% (instead of 20% like the tier-1 skills). And on top of that, he recovers 7 HP after combat, which can at least make up for some of the difference of not being able to run Special Fighter 4. He looks terrifying. The only problem is that there aren't really any good skills for him to run in the A slot to boost his visible Atk other than Solid Ground, but at the very least, that only really affects his percentage damage reduction effect. Brunnya: Fimbulvetr Base effect is updated: Permanent +3 Res If unit has a Penalty or if HP is 99% or lower at start of combat or if opponent's HP is 75% or higher at start of combat (last condition is new): Nullifies unit's stat penalties +4 to all stats in combat Refine effect is: If there is an ally within 3 spaces: +4 to all stats in combat Reduces opponent's Atk/Res in combat by 10 minus 2× the opponent's maximum Special cooldown, minimum 2, calculated as 2 if the opponent has no Special If unit's support partner is within 3 spaces: Guaranteed follow-up Needing a support partner on the team in order to activate her guaranteed follow-up is really annoying. The only change to her weapon's base effect is a new alternate condition to activate it. It makes her easier to work with than before, but she also just doesn't get much from her refine outside of just a lot of stats, totaling a maximum of +16/8/16/16 if the opponent has a Special with a maximum cooldown of 1. I'm not sure what to think about this one. On one hand, it's a lot of stats. On the other hand, it's just a lot of stats. Nagi: Ethereal Breath Base effect is updated: Effective damage against dragons Dragonstone common effect Slaying effect Reduces damage from AoE Specials by 80%, excluding Rokkr Specials Grants unit weapon-triangle advantage against colorless If HP is 25% or higher at start of combat: -5 Atk/Res to opponent in combat (new) Recover 7 HP per unit's attack (new) Refine effect is: With a Stance condition or if opponent's HP is 75% or higher at start of combat: -5 Atk/Res to opponent in combat Nullifies unit's Def/Res penalties Dragon Wall 3 Nagi gets Dragon Wall and the healing effect from Finish added to her weapon. For stats, she gets +10 Atk/Def/Res and nullifies penalties to her Def/Res. She doesn't get a guaranteed follow-up and no additional damage effect, so she'll probably want to swap out her default Special Fighter to run Vengeful Fighter 4 instead, which will still let her activate Armored Floe on her first counterattack. This does mean that she'll have to pick between Scowl and Stance, though, and can't have both unless she gets the Guard effect from an ally. Basically, she's an even bulkier version of Harmonized Tiki that can't run both Scowl and Stance (and has weapon-triangle disadvantage against Duo Chrom). Overall thoughts Rudolf looks terrifying, though he can be mostly shut down if you can inflict Panic on everything near him. Igrene looks good and is also worth actually using, though her build will need a full overhaul. Nagi is basically a discount version of Harmonized Tiki, but if you're in a situation where you don't need all of the A skills at the same time (and aren't against Duo Chrom), she'll probably actually do better than Tiki due to her higher stats. Tanya's refine is better than expected for a 4-star unit. As long as you can get the debuffs to keep Penalty Doubler active, she should be able to at least compete with more premium units of her class, especially if you don't have the others merged. If you're free-to-play, this is one is definitely worth consideration. Brunnya's is awkward. Giant stats is nice, but tying her guaranteed follow-up to positioning relative to a support partner is really inconvenient. I'm pretty sure you're not reading it right. Previously, Igrene's Spd needed to be 1 point higher than the opponent's (either at the start of combat or in combat) in order to activate the effect. Now, Igrene's Spd can be as much as 7 points lower than the opponent's Spd and still activate the effect, but it only checks at the start of combat (but also has a more lenient alternate condition).

And the usual translation notes: The banner name, "New Heroes & Mythic Heiðr", is "新英雄＆開花英雄＆ヘイズ" (shin eiyū & kaika eiyū & heizu), "New Heroes & Blooming Hero & Heiðr". As usual, the term for Ascended Heroes is "開花" (kaika), "blooming". Fir's epithet, "Swordmaiden", is "剣に生きる乙女" (ken ni ikiru otome), "Maiden Who Lives by the Sword". Vassal-Saint Steel is "剣姫と剣聖の秘刀" (kenki to kensei no hitō), "Secret Sword of the Sword Princess and Sword Saint". They'll literally call it anything other than a "sword". Phys. Null Follow is "理の見切り・追撃" (ri no mikiri: tsuigeki), "Physical Awareness: Follow-Up Attack". "理" (ri) means "reason" or "logic", but it's likely intended to be an abbreviation for "物理" (butsuri), "physical". "見切り・追撃" (mikiri: tsuigeki) is the name of the Null Follow-Up skill. Noah's epithet, "Mercenary Errant", is "流浪の傭兵騎士" (rurō no yōhei kishi), "Wandering Mercenary Knight". Ilian Merc Lance is "イリア傭兵騎士の槍" (iria yōhei kishi no yari), "Ilian Mercenary Knight's Lance". Spd/Def Alarm is "速さ守備の奮進" (hayasa shubi no funshin), "Spd/Def Rousing Advance". Dorothy's epithet, "Devoted Archer", is "心美しき弓使い" (kokoro-utsukushiki yumi tsukai), "Archer With a Beautiful Heart". Defier's Bow is "守備逆用の弓" (shubi gyakuyō no yumi), "Def-Exploit Bow". Heiðr's epithet, "Innocent Goddess", is "無垢の女神" (muku no megami), "Innocent Goddess". Heiðr is "ヘイズ" (heizu), "Heiðr". Gold Serpent is "黄金の蛇" (ōgon no hebi), "Golden Serpent". Mag. Null Follow is "魔の見切り・追撃" (ma no mikiri: tsuigeki), "Magical Awareness: Follow-Up Attack". Saul's epithet, "Loving Shepherd", is "野にある聖者" (no ni aru seija), "Saint in the Wild". Incurable is "インキュアブル" (inkyuaburu), "Incurable". This is a transcription of the English word into Japanese, but is done a bit inaccurately as "in-" + "cure" + "-ble" instead of "-able". The transcription continues to render the "r" in "cure" as if it were a syllable-final consonant when it should actually be a syllable-initial consonant after affixing "-able". Murdock's epithet, "Loyal General", is "ベルン三竜将筆頭" (berun sanryūshō hittō), "Leader of Bern's Three Dragon Generals". Wyvern Hatchet is "竜将トマホーク" (ryūshō tomahōku), "Dragon General Tomahawk". Kvasir's epithet, "Seer of the Past", is "過去の魔女" (kako no majo), "Witch in the Past". "過去の" (kako no), "of the past" or "in the past", is used in common speech to refer to how someone or something was in the past, but could be more literal in a fantasy setting. However, In this case, it would just mean "the past form of the witch". As a reminder, Gullveig's epithet is "黄金の魔女" (ōgon no majo), "Golden Witch". Kvasir is "クワシル" (kuwashiru), "Kvasir".

Ascended Fir looks to basically be a better version of Ascended Mareeta and is probably intended to actually stand a chance at having enough Spd to block Fallen Byleth's Vantage effect. Noah exists. He gets one of the Alarm skills that no one will ever use, but needs to exist just to complete all of the stat combinations. Flow Guard is nice to finally have in the standard pool, though it doesn't matter to me since I have way too many copies of Thorr. Dorothy also exists. On top of not getting an exclusive weapon due to being the demote, she's unfortunately also likely to not get stats that can match Young Rebecca's. Heidr adds Remote Sparrow to the Legendary/Mythic pool, which is nice. Not quite a good as adding it to the standard pool, but having predictable reruns is still a good thing. She also has Galeforce on her exclusive Rally skill and is basically a Rally version of Legendary Eliwood. Seems interesting, even if she doesn't really fit my play style for Aether Raids. The new tier-4 Null Follow-Up skills are interesting, but not exactly game-changing. Null Follow-Up is significantly more common than Tempo on weapons, so they probably won't be in too high of demand. Saul exists. I sure as hell hope that Murdock actually has his signature Tomahawk.

Yeah, weapon name literally (as literally as possible) translates as "White-Silver Sword", but the word here that means "white silver" is one that can be used poetically to refer to snow. The coincidence is a bit too uncanny to ignore. If you aren't restricted by resources, you want something like this: Lumera [+Spd] Monarch Blade [Assist] Ruptured Sky / Vital Astra Atk/Spd Finish 4 / Surge Sparrow / Distant A/S Solo / Atk/Spd Hexblade [Tier-4 Dodge skill] / Velocity 3 / Spd/Def Tempo 3 Atk/Spd Oath 4 [Any Sacred Seal that boosts Atk/Spd] If you're prioritizing score, you should run a tier-4 Dodge skill in the B slot. If you're running Reposition instead of a 400-SP Assist skill, you can run a 240-SP B skill without any additional penalty to your score if you can afford losing the Phantom Spd effect to match opponents with the tier-4 Dodge skills. Alear's Spd Smoke 4 is okay for the C slot for general use, but because it doesn't affect the first round of combat on each turn, it's generally less useful in the Arena where usually either you're baiting out one unit at a time or the AI will Rally up one unit and send them at you solo. Atk Smoke and Spd Smoke are more useful in game modes where you can park your unit in front of the opponent and tank multiple rounds of combat in a single turn. On the other hand, Def/Res Smoke is potentially optimal in the Arena if you're running a hyper-offensive team since Pathfinder benefits your teammates' mobility. Not being Resplendent won't change the build at all. Eirika didn't really have the option of cutting corners on Spd with her Resplendent boost, so she's still in the same boat without them. Arcane Devourer + 300-SP B skill is 10 more SP than Sieglinde + 240-SP B skill, which won't make a difference if you're already running 300-SP skills in the A and C slots. Running Sieglinde + 300-SP B skill is one bucket higher than either of the above options if you're running a 400-SP Assist skill, but is in the same bucket if you're running Reposition.

The only cavalry worth giving Arcane Devourer to is Valentine Flavia because her stats are just so much better than all of the other options. The best option from the standard pool is Kent, but his stats at +10 are worse than Flavia's at +0. Infantry have a few more options, with Resplendent Mia, Guy, regular Mia, and Ninja Zihark (assuming you're using Dragonflowers to keep up, so maximum minus 10, then enough to get the next point of Spd). Echoes Kamui and Resplendent Leaf are okay. Lon'qu (both regular and Resplendent) and Athena have the Spd stat to work with, but have low Atk. Fliers have Thief Rickard as the only real option. Armors have Valentine Hana as an overwhelming favorite, followed by Winter Manuela. There aren't really any good cavalry options for Arcane Eljudnir. Valentine Flavia is the best by a huge margin, but she's better off with Arcane Devourer. The only other realistic option is Legendary Seliph if you're really impatient about him getting his remix. The best infantry options are Galzus, Skasaher, Summer Lyon, Spring Bartre, and Resplendent Chrom. Fliers have Ninja Haar as their best option. The best option for armors is Winter Zephiel, but his Atk is lower than Haar's. If you're running a Duel skill, she might have trouble actually matching Spd with many of the more recent units since you're giving up a minimum of 3 points of Spd from the A slot (compared to the Spd-boosting Distant Counter variants, which grant the lowest Spd boost of the typical A skills) in exchange for 3 more points of Spd from the weapon slot, but even Resplendent Eirika is already more than a full Spd tier below the current leaders. If you're still going for a Spd build with Duel that's actually viable against the newer fast units, you're looking at Eirika [+Spd] Arcane Devourer [Spd] [Assist] Godlike Reflexes R Duel Infantry 4 [Tier-4 Dodge skill] Atk/Spd Oath 4 [Any Sacred Seal that boosts Atk/Spd] Godlike Reflexes is better than Vital Astra because it has a more lenient activation condition for its damage reduction and allows you to run Atk/Spd Oath 4 for the extra stats instead of being forced to run Time's Pulse 4. A tier-4 Dodge skill is also required for its Phantom Spd effect. It depends. If you aren't giving Arcane Devourer to Lumera, she's only able to run Ruptured Sky as a viable Special (Vital Astra is also fine if you're using it for damage and not for its Dodge effect), but she'll have the highest score among free-to-play red infantry (tied with Holst). If you're willing to give up one and a half score buckets, Guy with Arcane Devourer has the same Spd as Lumera, but less Atk, but he can run Godlike Reflexes. If you also include 4-star Special Heroes and non-infantry units, Valentine Flavia is two and a half score buckets lower than Lumera, but has higher Atk and higher Spd, and Valentine Hana is half a score bucket higher than Lumera with higher Spd (or one and a half score buckets higher if you run a Def Asset with a Spd Ascended Asset due to her Def superboon bumping her up past another score threshold). Yes.

Yeah. Atk/Spd Solo is mostly only useful as a cheaper alternative to the above skills because it's pretty much always outperformed by a different skill due to it having no effect other than its stat boost. Finish is strictly better on infantry, and Catch is almost strictly better on cavalry and fliers. Atk/Spd Bond has too strict of a condition unless you're using it on a unit that moves exclusively by teleporting, and it doesn't play nice with Grand Strategy. Brazen Atk/Spd granted huge stat boosts when it was released, but Ideal and Catch have since caught up. The most obvious issue with Brazen was the fact that it loses its entire effect when the unit is above the HP threshold, which required setup if you wanted it to be active on the first round of combat, whereas Ideal and Catch have two stages to its stat boost, so it isn't all or nothing. As far as taking skills out of Hall of Forms, if the unit doesn't have a skill that specifically synergizes with their weapon, melee units will typically prefer Atk/Spd Finish or Distant A/S Solo over Atk/Spd Hexblade, and ranged units will typically prefer Remote Sparrow as long as they are vulnerable to counterattacks. Ranged units that aren't vulnerable to counterattacks can actually take Atk/Spd Hexblade over Atk/Spd Ideal if you so choose. (For example, I have an okay-sized stock of Ideal fodder, so I'm probably more likely to pick Hexblade instead since I don't have the fodder.) Hexblade is the one weird skill where it's (almost) never going to be the best option for general use, but will always be able to compete with other skills as a viable option. The other weird part of the skill is that it's the only one that's necessarily reliant on your team composition. The "(almost)" is there because there are two situations where it could be an (almost strictly) best option. The first is if the unit requires a Bonus to be active for another effect and you really can't risk losing the effect due to your stat bonuses being nullified. The second is that it's a viable alternative to Life and Death on units using AoE Specials since there are enough units with high Def and low Res (I'm still looking at you, Brave Dimitri) that it can be worth running over Life and Death.

Here is me overanalyzing the Atk/Spd A skills (stats in the pro/con section are relative to the basic +7 Atk/Spd): Atk/Spd Ideal grants a reliable +7 Atk/Spd, which is boosted to +9 Atk/Spd if the unit can keep its HP topped off. The main benefit to this skill is the fact that it grants +2 Spd over all of the other options other than Clash; however, unless the unit has a means of avoiding counterattacks or healing itself, you only reliably get this boost for the first round of combat. Pros: +2 Atk/Spd when at full HP Active on both phases Cons: No additional effect after taking damage Vulnerable to bonus nullification after taking damage Usable by: All infantry and armors Atk/Spd Catch grants a mostly reliable +7 Atk/Spd, which is boosted to +9 Atk/Spd if the opponent has a Penalty. Similar to Ideal, the main benefit to this skill is the fact that it grants +2 Spd over all of the other options other than Clash. The downside is that it requires you to have at least one debuffer on the team to get the bonus stats and it requires you to always one-round kill opposing units (or use a different unit to finish off weakened opponents), as you lose one stack of the stat bonus if the opponent has already taken damage. Pros: +2 Atk/Spd when the opponent is at full HP and has a Penalty Combos well with Smoke skills on Galeforce units or when using dancers Active on both phases Cons: -7 Atk/Spd when the opponent is not at full HP and has no Penalty Vulnerable to penalty nullification when opponent is not at full HP Usable by: All cavalry and fliers Atk/Spd Clash grants +7 Atk/Spd if the unit initiating combat moved in order to attack plus an additional +1 Atk/Spd for each space moved after the first and nullifies the unit's Atk/Spd penalties if the unit initiating combat moved at least 2 spaces. The obvious downside to this skill is that it grants absolutely nothing if the unit initiating combat didn't move at all. Additionally, if the unit doesn't have a penalty on it to nullify, this skill only breaks even with the maximum boost from Ideal or Catch if the unit initiating combat moved 3 spaces. This skill is best used on cavalry in game modes where penalties are common or on units that can teleport and only if you're confident enough in your skills that you won't accidentally be in a position where the unit initiating combat doesn't move to attack. Pros: +1 Atk/Spd and nullifies stat penalties to Atk/Spd when the unit initiating combat moves 2 spaces Maximum total +3 Atk/Spd when the unit initiating combat moves 4 spaces Combos well with teleportation skills Active on both phases Cons: Does not play nice with Unity effects, like Grand Strategy -7 Atk/Spd when the unit initiating combat doesn't move to attack Very dependent on positioning Usable by: Melee infantry, cavalry, and fliers Atk/Spd Hexblade grants a reliable +7 Atk/Spd and functionally deals additional damage if the opponent's Res is lower than their Def (never the other way around because the only units that can learn this skill target Def by default). Having low Res with very lopsided defenses is still rather common on physical infantry and cavalry units with high or middling Spd (I'm looking at you, Brave Dimitri), so you're going to get mileage out of this skill often enough to matter; however, the bonus damage isn't quite as consistent as Ideal, Catch, or Finish. Pros: Targets the opponent's Res if it is lower than its Def Hexblade effect affects AoE Specials Hexblade effect cannot be nullified by bonus nullification Hexblade effect can be copied by Brave Chrom Active on both phases Cons: Relies on having at least one ally with a tome to gain the Hexblade effect (staves don't count) Vulnerable to False Start, which will prevent the Hexblade status effect from being applied Vulnerable to bonus nullification when the Hexblade status effect is not active Hexblade effect has no effect on units with lower Def than Res Usable by: Infantry swords, lances, axes, bows, and daggers (i.e. human physical infantry) Atk/Spd Finish grants a reliable +7 Atk/Spd plus an additional functional +5 Atk and 7 HP regeneration on all attacks until the end of combat after the unit fully charges its Special (regardless of if it is subsequently used). If the unit fully charges its Special before its first attack, the unit effectively receives +12 Atk and +7 Spd and heals up to 14 HP. If the unit charges its Special before its follow-up attack, the unit effectively receives +9.5 Atk and +7 Spd and heals 7 HP. As long as the unit fully charges its Special at some point during or before the round of combat, this skill is better than Ideal as long as the unit is expected to be unable to maintain full HP, as it grants damage and sustain at the cost of 2 Spd that would only be active during the first round of combat. Pros: +5 damage on all attacks until the end of combat after the unit fully charges its Special 7 HP regeneration on all unit's attacks until the end of combat after the unit fully charges its Special, granting a sustain effect Does not require unit's Special to activate to gain the bonus and is therefore compatible with Galeforce (to an extent) and defensive Specials Active on both phases Cons: Vulnerable to Guard, but only for the additional effects (and not the base stats) Usable by: All infantry Surge Sparrow grants a reliable +7 Atk/Spd plus heals the unit a reliable amount (usually 30% of max HP) if it activates an offensive Special during combat, but the skill is only active on player phase. This is currently the best sustain option for units that are exclusively used on player phase and aren't running Galeforce, an AoE Special (e.g. Blazing Wind), or a defensive Special (e.g. Godlike Reflexes). Its obvious disadvantages are the fact that it isn't active on enemy phase and doesn't grant any additional offensive effects beyond the base +7 Atk/Spd. Pros: Adds healing effect to Special activations (sizable 30% of max HP when Special has 2 cooldown), granting a sustain effect Cons: Only active on player phase Vulnerable to Guard, but only for the additional effect (and not the base stats) Not compatible with AoE Specials, Galeforce, or defensive Specials Usable by: All melee units Remote Sparrow grants a reliable +7 Atk/Spd plus reduces the damage from the opponent's first attack, but the skill is only active on player phase. This is currently the best option for frail ranged units that don't have a means of avoiding the opponent's counterattack. Pros: Grants 30% damage reduction against the opponent's first attack, which gains value the lower a unit's Def/Res is Cons: Only active on player phase Vulnerable to percentage damage reduction nullification Additional effect does nothing if the opponent cannot counterattack Usable by: All ranged units except staves Life and Death grants a visible +7 Atk/Spd at the cost of a visible -5 Def/Res. This is only worth using with an AoE Special or if the unit needs to win a start-of-combat stat comparison. Pros: Visible stats affect AoE Special damage and grant the largest boost to AoE Special damage (outside of Hexblade when the opponent's Def is more than 7 higher than its Res) Visible stats affect start-of-combat stat comparisons Active on both phases Cons: Significant penalty to defensive stats, which is also active on both phases No additional effects Usable by: All units except staves Atk/Spd Unity only grants +5 Atk/Spd and only when remaining within 2 spaces of an ally, but reverses penalties to Atk/Spd. This is typically only used on enemy-phase units due to its positioning requirement and only in game modes where penalties are common due to its lower stat boost when the unit is not afflicted with penalties. Pros: +5 Atk/Spd when afflicted with -7 Atk/Spd Penalties Combos extremely well with Grand Strategy (and other stacks of Unity effects) Active on both phases Cons: -2 Atk/Spd when not afflicted with Penalties, making this skill less effective than any other skill when the unit cannot be reliably afflicted with stat penalties Penalties are cleared after the unit's action (unless Grand Strategy is active), making it not play well with Galeforce and dancers The entire skill has no effect if the unit is not within 2 spaces of an ally, making it difficult to use on player phase Usable by: All units Kestrel Stance grants +6 Atk/Spd and the Guard effect, but only on enemy phase. The only time you'd use this skill is on a strictly enemy-phase unit that absolutely needs to get Guard from its A slot. Pros: Guard effect on enemy phase Cons: -1 Atk/Spd compared to other skills Only active on enemy phase Usable by: All units except staves Distant A/S Solo grants +5 Atk/Spd and only when there are no adjacent allies, but grants Distant Counter with no condition. This is currently the best Distant Counter skill as long as you can keep the Solo condition active. If you cannot keep the Solo condition active, the next best options are Distant Pressure on dual-phase units and Distant Dart on purely enemy-phase units (as long as Spd is more important to the unit than Atk). Pros: Distant Counter effect Cons: -2 Atk/Spd compared to other skills Stats depend on a Solo condition Usable by: All melee units

I ended up joining Team Chrom for round 1 to take revenge on Legendary Robin for his terrible pull rate on his release banner.

Translation note for the one new weapon: Violdrake Bow is "紫竜山の荒弓" (shiryūzan no kōkyū), "Wild Bow of Violet Dragon Mountain". And the usual analysis and hopes: Tanya: Violdrake Bow Currently has Shining Bow, which deals +7 additional damage when the opponent's Def is at least 5 higher than their Res. Tanya has a good Spd stat, matching units like Young Innes and Legendary Alm in base Spd with maximum Dragonflowers, but an underwhelming Atk stat compared to them and no other notable stats. Previous units with low Atk have gotten some means of making up for it, such as getting additional damage based on a percentage of a different stat or some other source. Shining Bow was basically a conservative implementation of a weapon that targets the lower defensive stat, but we now have the inheritable Atk/Spd Hexblade that can grant that effect to any human physical infantry unit, which includes Tanya. If they want to keep a reference to her original Shining Bow, they could probably just give it the ability to grant herself the Hexblade status effect or have the effect built in. Other than that, she's a 4-star unit, so I don't expect too much else other than the obligatory +8 to all stats and maybe one other effect, but there's always the chance they'll give her a more interesting gimmick. Igrene: Guardian's Bow Current effect is: Bow common effect Slaying effect If Spd is higher than opponent's Spd at start of combat or during combat (effect activates first for attacking unit before condition is checked for targeted unit): -5 Atk/Spd/Def to opponent in combat Igrene's default kit was intended to mimic Ophelia's, but because she didn't get a double Quickened Pulse effect, it fell flat because she couldn't have Blazing Wind fully charged on the first turn without support. If they want to have her able to perform the role she was originally designed to do, she needs two stacks of Quickened Pulse. The other effects that this build really wants are Hardy Bearing to stop Vantage units and the ability to ignore percentage damage reduction because a lot of units now have percentage damage reduction on the opponent's first attack. Hardy Bearing is technically optional since it's still worthwhile to run it as a Sacred Seal, but it would still be nice to have to open the slot up for Life and Death. While I don't really expect her to get it, it's entirely possible that they give her her ninja version's teleportation effect, which would make her a lot more frightening. Valentine Rudolf: Thorn Lance Current effect is: Slaying effect If Atk is higher than opponent's Atk at start of combat: -6 Atk/Def to opponent in combat Follow-up prevention Rudolf already has Special Fighter as his default B skill, so he's unlikely to get either of its effects on his weapon. However, this means he's unable to equip a guaranteed follow-up skill in that slot, so he's almost certainly getting that effect on his weapon's refine. Otherwise, Rudolf is basically middle ground between Vigarde's higher Spd and lower bulk and Pirate Surtr's higher bulk and lower Spd. As a Special Hero, he'll probably get the entire kitchen sink of good armor skill effects thrown at him, and I don't think there's really much of a point in guessing which ones he'll get. Brunnya: Fimbulvetr Current effect is: Permanent +3 Res If unit has a Penalty or if HP is 99% or lower at start of combat: Nullifies unit's stat penalties in combat +4 to all stats in combat Brunnya really wants to deal 1 damage to herself at the start of the first turn. Even better if she deals 1 damage to herself at the start of every turn just to make sure. Brunnya's stats are basically just a slightly less optimized version of Ilyana's and Marianne's stats, having the same middling Spd, but lower Atk and Res in exchange for higher HP and Def. She has Glacies by default, but no real way to reliably activate it, as she has no guaranteed follow-up, no Slaying effect, and no other form of Special acceleration. Ideally, she gets a guaranteed follow-up, +1 Special charge rate, and damage reduction on the opponent's first attack. It's worth noting that there are two other versions of Fimbulvetr in the game, one owned by Marianne and the other by Limstella. Marianne's version grants HP regeneration per attack and a guaranteed follow-up. Limstella's version grants a Litrblade-like effect based on the bonuses of nearby allies and then deals recoil damage to the closest allies. HP regeneration is obviously detrimental to the weapon's base effect, but could be offset by having the weapon deal 1 damage after combat. I don't really expect her to get a Litrblade-like effect, but it's not off the table. Nagi: Ethereal Breath Current effect is: Effective damage against dragons Reduces damage from AoE Specials by 80%, excluding Rokkr Specials Grants unit weapon-triangle advantage against colorless Slaying effect Dragonstone common effect There are a lot of fancy new things for dragons that have been introduced since Nagi was released, and she wants all of them. Thematically, it would make the most sense to have her copy some effects from Tiki, Naga, and Gotoh (mostly Tiki since Naga and Gotoh kind of overlap with her existing kit), which puts Scowl, Finish, and Dragon Wall as possible effects to give her weapon's refine (and is basically the "all of them" from above). Nagi comes with Special Fighter in her B slot, and it would make sense to let her keep it there and optimally run Armored Floe + Special Fighter 4. Scowl would be nice to have on her weapon, but it's not a necessity as she has the space to put it in her A slot and move Distant Counter into her Sacred Seal slot, which is what the developers have been expecting of players to do with pretty much every dragon ever since the Distant Counter (D) Sacred Seal was released. She probably doesn't even need a guaranteed follow-up if they give her the tools to run a one-hit kill build like Fallen Rhea. Sure, she'd absolutely be stepping on the toes of the brand new Harmonized Awakening Tiki, but I'm sure that'll be fine.

Meanwhile, Hinoka comes home exactly on my third pull. 66 pulls from Hinoka's banner because that's how many pulls it took to clear my pity rate after the spark: 2 Hinoka (+1 spark) 3 Nanna 2 Ophelia 1 Robin At the very least, the session that cleared my pity rate gave me Nanna, Ophelia, and Robin in a single session, though I obviously would have preferred one of those to have been another Hinoka instead. Too few pulls to be good for statistics, but a 12.1% focus rate so far is quite good. Even if I had only gotten 1 focus unit on the last session, I still would've been at an above-average 9.1% focus rate, so I can't really complain too much. My best copy of Hinoka so far has an Atk Asset, which is decent. Robin is now +3. I'll probably decide what I want to do with this banner over the weekend. I'm quite a bit below budget this month, but I'd also like to stay quite a bit below budget. It's a nice place to be. Chances are I'll start pulling on the Bride banner first and see how that goes before returning to this banner. At most, I think I might try for 1 more copy of Hinoka, but it's just really depressing getting more copies of Nanna and Ophelia that I can't really do anything with. I now have 20 copies of Ophelia, which is honestly absurd. I wish those were Rearmed Grima instead. I could actually use copies of her. Also, this week's free Arena ticket gets me another Luke:

How a character will eventually be implemented in a different game should have zero bearing on how a character is implemented in the game they're in. Characters in a game should be designed for that game. How a character is implemented in Heroes should be an afterthought at best. Swords are the easiest weapon to use at the start of the game due to having high accuracy and low weight. They also have weapon-triangle advantage over axes, which typically make up a larger proportion of early-game enemies. Furthermore, swords are culturally seen as "heroic" weapons. Historically, this was due to the fact that swords are typically among the most expensive weapons to produce and were therefore as much symbols of status as they were weapons.

Probably because they were designed for their own respective games and not specifically to cater to Heroes.

The last time we got a human melee infantry Legendary/Mythic Hero was Nott in June 2021, and there are a ton of new skills that have been added and skills waiting for tier-4 upgrades for human melee infantry since then. I absolutely wouldn't mind getting a sword infantry at this point if it means we get a unit with predictable reruns with good premium infantry skills.

41 pulls from the Forging Bonds rerun banner: 1 Lif (+1 spark) 1 Shez 2 pity breakers Felix Brave Marth First copy of Felix. He's also [+Spd, -Res], which is literally perfect. Lif has an Atk Asset, which means he'll replace my existing neutral copy as a merge base... once I find a unit to give Arcane Eljudnir to. Also got a copy of Male Byleth, which is another copy of Ruptured Sky that I can hand out. 88 pulls from the Fallen Heroes banner: 3 Chrom (+1 spark) 3 Byleth 0 Maria (+1 spark) 1 pity breaker Azel The previous banner clearly took all of my luck with Assets because the best Chrom I got was neutral, and the best Byleth I got was [+Atk, -Spd], which means I need to use a second copy of her to get rid of the Flaw and only end up with one copy available as skill fodder instead of two. But I got yet another copy of Male Byleth. I'll pull on the Bride banner after I pull on Legendary Hinoka's banner.

It bugs me a bit that Hinoka is coming with Atk/Spd Catch. I understand that she doesn't have a better option for the A slot since the Sweep effect makes Remote Sparrow unnecessary and that there are no other skills she has access to that grant the same amount of stats, but she's now the eighteenth unit with Atk/Spd Catch 4 and the fifth unit in the Legendary/Mythic Heroes pool with the skill. For comparison, we also currently have eighteen units in the game with Swift Sparrow 3. To be fair, though, this isn't really a critique of Hinoka as much as it's a critique of A skill inheritance restrictions. Ranged fliers and cavalry currently only have access to Catch and Remote for general-use A skills that boost Atk/Spd, so it's not like there are actually any real options if the unit can't use Remote's secondary effect. Ranged infantry at least have access to Finish as an alternative, and infantry bows and daggers also have access to Hexblade. Melee fliers and cavalry have access to Catch, Surge, Clash, and Distant Solo. Melee infantry additionally have Finish, and human melee infantry also get Hexblade. Yes, Push exists, but the only time it's actually a viable alternative is when you need to take damage to activate another skill's effect, like Wings of Mercy or Escape Route, and the unit's weapon doesn't already do that for you. In most cases, it's just an outdated relic of a time before Ideal/Catch existed. Yes, Solo exists, but it's never strictly better than Ideal/Catch, so there's never a reason to use it over Ideal/Catch. (And even more so on a unit that teleports.) Unity actually has an argument to use it because it can be much better than Ideal/Catch in very specific situations, but it's noticeably worse in all other situations, so it's not exactly good for a general-use skill. It's also possible to release a tier-4 version of Form, though that would probably be better on someone that isn't Hinoka. Impact is also missing a hypothetical Atk/Spd version, though it probably wouldn't be better than Surge/Remote. Scowl could potentially get an Atk/Spd version if they change the stat comparison for the secondary effect to Spd instead of Res, but that's obviously irrelevant to Hinoka (I would imagine that Scowl would change the stat comparison to always be the second stat for other stat combinations).

Uweh. I actually want to pull for Hinoka, but this banner's value is brought down heavily for me by the fact that the other two units sharing her color are completely useless for me. Nanna is already +10, and I don't need any of her skills (since I have a ton of copies of Brave Eirika, who is just strictly better as skill fodder), and I already have twice as many copies of Ophelia (18) as there are red tome Special Heroes in this game that don't have an exclusive weapon (9) because the AHR banner gave me nothing but her. I'll probably just pull until the spark. I might go for some additional pulls after that, but I don't expect to spend much on this banner. Hopefully, her rerun will have a better lineup because I do want to merge her up. She looks like a ton of fun to use. I also totally didn't realize that the weapons of the Hoshido royals were a Fujin and Raijin pair until I saw the name of Hinoka's weapon, probably because I don't remember Fujin Yumi's existence due to it having never been relevant in this game. Hinoka looks like she'll be an absolute pain in the ass to go up against in Aether Raids. At the very least, she likely won't be too common since a lot of players don't put Legendary Heroes on their defense teams. Super stoked at Kita Senri doing her art, though. Anyways, the usual translation notes: Hinoka's epithet, "Thundering Wings", is "風と雷の双翼" (kaze to kaminari no sōyoku), "Wings of Wind and Thunder". "双翼" (sōyoku) literally translates as "a pair of wings", and is used specifically for animals with two wings to mean "both wings". Fujin-Raijin Yumi is "風神雷神弓" (fūjin raijin yumi), "Fujin-Raijin Yumi". This weapon's name obviously comes from the combination of the Fujin Yumi (風神弓, fūjin yumi), literally "Fujin Bow", and the Raijinto (雷神刀, raijintō), literally "Raijin Sword". Fujin (風神, fūjin), literally "wind god", and his brother Raijin (雷神, raijin), literally "thunder god", are Shinto storm gods associated with their corresponding meteorological phenomena. Wings of Mercy is "救援の行路" (kyūen no kōro), "Rescue Route". Compare with Escape Route, "離脱の行路" (ridatsu no kōro), "Withdrawal Route". Rallying Cry is "叱咤激励" (shitta gekirei), "Loud Rally".