Ice Dragon

"Prairie wolf" is a historical name for the coyote, and it matches the Japanese epithet, as "草原" (sōgen) literally translates as "grassy plain" and is also used to refer to the prairies of North America and the steppes of central Asia, so "Prairie Wolf" is also a valid translation of Hardin's epithet. The "Coyote" localization is sufficiently accurate and is concise, but it does come at the cost of losing the wolf theme surrounding the Coyote's Men, as their names in Japanese appear to all reference wolves (other than Roshea, though I'm sure there's something obscure there, too). And yes, Wolf's name is "ウルフ" (urufu), which is just English "wolf" transliterated into Japanese. Yes. That's how banners containing special highlighted characters (Mythic Heroes, Ascended Heroes, Rearmed Heroes, etc.) have been named for ages.

And the usual translation notes: The name of the banner, "New Heroes: Rearmed Ganglot & More", is "特別召喚　新英雄＆開花英雄＆ 魔器ガングレト" (tokubetsu shōkan: shin eiyū & kaika eiyū & maki gangureto), "Special Summon: New Heroes & Blooming Hero & Arcane Weapon Ganglot". The "特別召喚" (tokubetsu shōkan), "special summon", label that appeared in the Ascended Eir banner name is back, but only in the Japanese name of the banner. As usual, "開花" (kaika), "blooming", is the name of Ascended Heroes, and "魔器" (maki), "magic weapon", is the name of Rearmed Heroes. Ganglot's epithet, "Death Anew", is "新たな死神" (arata na shinigami), "New God of Death". "死神" (shinigami), literally "god of death", can also be translated as "Grim Reaper". Arcane Downfall is "魔器・絶死ヘル" (maki: zesshi heru), "Arcane Weapon: Absolute Death, Hel". Other than the prefix that is common to all Arcane weapons, Arcane Downfall's name follows the same naming pattern as all of the Heroes Ascended Heroes' weapons. Compare with Nifl's Bite, which is "絶氷ニフル" (zehhyō nifuru), "Absolute Ice, Nifl"; Flame of Muspell, which is "絶炎ムスペル" (zetsuen musuperu), "Absolute Flame, Muspell"; and Ymir, Everliving, which is "永生ユーミル" (eisei yūmiru), "Eternal Life, Ymir". Quick Riposte is "切り返し" (kirikaeshi), "Counterattack". "切り返し" (kirikaeshi) literally translates as "returning a cutting strike", i.e. responding to an attack with an attack of one's own. Hardin's epithet, "The Coyote", is "草原の狼" (sōgen no ōkami), "Wolf of the Plains". Coyote's Lance is "草原の狼の白槍" (sōgen no ōkami no hakusō), "White Lance of the Wolf of the Plains". A/S Near Trace is "攻撃速さの近影" (kōgeki hayasa no kin'ei), "Atk/Spd Close Trace". As usual, "影" (ei), usually "shadow" or "image", here means "trace" as in "indications that someone was here, even though they no longer are", referring to a unit with Canto being able to leave after acting. Nyna's epithet, "The Last Princess", is "ラストプリンセス" (rasuto purinsesu), "The Last Princess". For whatever reason, this is transliterated English. Respite is "サンクチュアリ" (sankuchuari), "Sanctuary". Tiki's epithet, "Awakened Blood", is "ゆらめく神竜の血" (yurameku shinryū no chi), "Flickering Divine Dragon Blood". Awoken Breath is "目覚めし竜のブレス" (mezameshi ryū no buresu), "Awakened Dragon's Breath". Spd/Res Finish is "速さ魔防の秘奥" (hayasa mabō no hiō), "Spd/Res Secret". As usual, "秘奥" (hiō), "secret", is likely a reference to "秘奥義" (hiōgi), literally "secret secret technique", which is commonly used in video games for the strongest special attacks (e.g. Mystic Artes in Tales games). Compare with "奥義" (ōgi), "secret technique", which is the word for Special skills in Heroes, hence why Finish skills have effects relating to Special activation. Spd/Res Bulwark is "速さ魔防の防壁" (hayasa mabō no bōheki), "Spd/Res Bulwark". All Together! is "ずっとみんなと一緒" (zutto minna to issho), "Together With Everyone Forever". Who's going to tell her. Elice's epithet, "Altean Princess", is "アリティアの王女" (aritia no ōjo), "Princess of Altea". Matthis's epithet, "Brother to Lena", is "シスターレナの兄" (shisutā rena no ani), "Older Brother of Sister Lena". "シスター" (shisutā), "sister", refers to the clerical "sister", here used as a title, and is also the name of the Cleric class in the main series. Vulture Lance is "禿鷹の槍" (hagetaka no yari), "Vulture Lance". It still amuses me that the word for "vulture" in Japanese literally translates as "bald hawk". Embla's epithet, "God of Closure", is "閉神" (heishin), "Closing God". Enclosing Claw is "絶闇の翼爪" (zetsuan no yokusō), "Wings and Claws of Absolute Darkness". Compare with Illuminating Horn, "絶光の角" (zekkō no tsuno), "Horns of Absolute Light". Arcane weapons only prevent the use of other exclusive skills if the unit received the weapon through inheritance.

I don't really care for any of the characters on this banner. I'll probably end up just pulling for the spark on this banner and saving my orbs for the next Legendary Hero. Ganglot is pretty cool, but it's a bit disappointing she doesn't come with an exclusive passive skill. Even if she's the first unit that can be used to duplicate the new fancy infantry Special skills, her Spd doesn't seem to be good enough to use them herself. I'm also a bit annoyed at her coming with Distant Stance since that's already the easiest Distant Counter+ skill that I have access to (since it comes from Legendary Fae). The fact that she doesn't come with "Domain of Death" perhaps means we'll be getting a new unit in the next Tempest Trials. Ascended Hel? Or Hel will just remain godless. Ascended Tiki feels like a waste of an Ascended alt, though it's not like there are many ways to actually add more dragons into the game other than alts, so it's not a complete waste. I would've preferred to see Jeorge, though, especially as another source of Deadeye. Her skill set is pretty good, but it does feel really weird to have her focused on stacking so much Res when the only effect she has that uses it is the start-of-combat Special drain. Also, you'd think they'd have added a new dragon-usable 500-SP Special by now, but we're still stuck using either Aether or Blue Flame. Hardin is pretty cool. Guaranteed follow-up to all cavalry units that start the turn within 3 spaces of him is an absolute savior for all of the slow cavalry units out there that wish they had player-phase presence. It will also make Harmonized Lysithea and Summer Micaiah terrifying to go up against since it now gives Lysithea a means of breaking follow-up prevention and Micaiah a means to quad. Nyna has Tannenbaton as a 4-star unit. That's neat. Elice doesn't have Aum. That's not neat. But maybe they're saving it for a Legendary Elice since Akaneia doesn't have any remaining obvious picks for Legendary Heroes anymore.

Wily Fighter is a niche skill because it shares its secondary effect with Close/Distant Def 4. Ideally, a slow armor should be running all three of Guard, opponent Bonus nullification, and self Penalty nullification (or reversal), typically in that order of priority. Because Close/Distant Def 4 grants Bonus nullification, which is second in priority, and has the highest consistent stat boost of the A skills that grant these effects (Stance, Def, and Unity, respectively), Wily Fighter ends up being the least used of the B skills that grant these effects (Crafty Fighter, Wily Fighter, and Slick Fighter, respectively). If the unit's weapon has none of the three effects on it, then the unit will almost always run Close/Distant Def 4 + Crafty Fighter because it grants the same skill effects as, but more stats than, Bracing Stance 3 + Wily Fighter. If the unit's weapon has Bonus nullification already, then there's obviously no reason to run Wily Fighter, and if the unit's weapon has one of the other two effects on it, then it will still run Close/Distant Def 4 in the A slot. The only time a unit will actually end up running Wily Fighter is if you're counting on the unit being hit by Dark Shrine and are running Def/Res Unity in the A slot with a weapon that grants Guard. Unlike Far Save units, which have to be able to handle both physical and magical damage and typically have fewer points of stats to attempt to do so, Near Save units really only need to be able to handle physical units. This means that A/D Near Save is generally preferable to D/R Near Save because giving up 4 Res to get 4 Atk is typically worth it. If the unit has Res-based damage reduction, then it can typically afford to give up the Def altogether to run A/R Near Save. D/R Near Save ends up being more situational, namely when you absolutely need the extra defenses on both sides. Personally, I wouldn't bother pulling for Idunn if it's just for skill inheritance. As far as merges go, she'll probably be fine with low merges if you're keeping her on a Near Save build, but she really does want the additional merge stats if she's running a Far Save build.

Given that Inevitable Death is one of the exclusive skills that is a quote, being "死から逃れられぬ" (shi kara nogarerarenu), "You cannot escape Death", in Japanese, it was already extremely unlikely that Ganglot will simply get Hel's exclusive skill. And since all of the other Tempest Trials gods got "Domain" skills, it makes sense for Ganglot to get one since Hel herself is presumably not coming back. She has that skill effect because she was taking it from Eir, and both Eir and Ymir have Miracle effects.

The next Resplendent Hero is Jotunheim Mia: Her art is pretty solid, as is usual for Resplendent outfits, though her hair in the idle and damaged art makes her head look big. Her stats are actually pretty decent, as she has 45-/39/47/35-/32+ with maximum Dragonflowers and the Resplendent boost. Her lack of a superboon in Spd means that she falls one point behind Resplendent Karla and only ties with Mareeta, Duo Eirika, and Fallen Ike. Her Atk is on the low side, though. Mia's biggest problem is that her default weapon is only really good for wall breaking, given that it's basically just a Wo Dao with 26 Mt and no Spd boost, and trying to run her with a more typical build forces her to run something like Rein Sword or a slower build with Arcane Eljudnir. Resplendent Karla is still better by miles, but at least Mia is usable, unlike many of the other recent picks. Nidavellir Nephenee next, please?

I've added Ganglot's epithet and weapon to the translation notes. Interestingly, Arcane Downfall's name in Japanese has elements matching both Arcane weapons and the naming scheme of the weapons of the existing Heroes-original-character Ascended Heroes. At the same time, since she's Hel's successor, it's possible she'll get all the things by also being the one with Hel's "Domain" skill (being the first non-dragon to do so), presumably "Domain of Death" ("絶死結界", zesshi kekkai, "Domain of Unparalleled Death"), given that the weapon name and skill name have so far all matched. I'm expecting it to at least grant the in-combat half of Fatal Smoke. Perhaps it will also nullify Miracle-like effects? Maybe they can make it absolutely broken by making out-of-combat damage capable of killing and have Ophelia delete an entire team without even entering combat. Now that I look at it, "Unparalleled Death" is a bit awkward. Perhaps I should translate it as "Peerless Death" or "Absolute Death" instead?

He's good. Askr has the same gimmick as Spring Maria and Ninja Cherche. Like Cherche, he only needs to invest in Atk and Def instead of needing to give up one of the two stats for Spd. Unlike Cherche, he doesn't have the Brave weapon Mt penalty, which gives him a huge edge in terms of raw damage output, which is further boosted by the beast infantry transformation effect on his weapon. However, of the three units, Askr has the weakest form of double attack. Cherche's Brave effect is the hardest to block followed by Maria's high Spd, whereas Askr has to rely on a guaranteed follow-up. Askr's exclusive skill, Opened Domain, is extremely strong. As long as there is at least one non-Heroes unit within 2 spaces of Askr, he grants both Resonance buffs (+4 to all stats and blocks the opponent's follow-up once per phase) and Time's Pulse to himself and all allies within 2 spaces of him (including other Heroes units).

There was a bit of talk about it in the general discussion thread earlier, but that was mostly in spoiler tags. Arcane Downfall appears to be most suited for units that are already fast, given that it doesn't have a guaranteed follow-up of its own, but grants +5 Spd that can be boosted to +8 Spd with a Spd refine. Lacking a guaranteed follow-up is a pretty big issue for slower units, so while it is probably still the best-in-slot weapon for them (overtaking Seahorse Axe), I don't think it's really worth giving it to them over a fast unit. The most notable feature of the weapon is that it grants the combination of the Slaying effect, +1 Special charge rate, and 7 HP recovery per attack, which makes it extremely well suited for running with Godlike Reflexes. Coincidentally, Ganglot is an infantry axe unit, which gives her the ability to inherit Godlike Reflexes and pass it on at the same time as Arcane Downfall, though it comes at the cost of not being able to also pass on a premium 3-tier skill like Velocity. The best units to inherit Arcane Downfall are Ninja Hana, Pirate Lifis, Ninja Shamir, and Resplendent Raven. Hana, Lifis, and Shamir have identical offensive stat spreads with maximum investment and are the fastest infantry axe units without exclusive weapons of their own (and will likely never receive an exclusive weapon). Raven with his Resplendent boosts and maximum investment has 2 more Atk than the others at the cost of 1 less Spd. His exclusive weapon is outdated, and Arcane Downfall is strictly better. Of the four, Shamir scores the highest in the Arena. Anna is an okay choice if you want to make doing quests with her less of an absolute pain in the ass. The other movement types don't really have particularly good options, as they lack fast units with no exclusive weapon or outdated exclusive weapons. Summer Seth is a decent choice for cavalry, but he's already quite a bit slower than the infantry options. Desert Kris, Groom Marth, Spring Saleh, and Titania are all strictly worse than Seth. Young Minerva is the best choice for fliers, but her default weapon is already almost as strong as Arcane Downfall and she is quite a bit slower than the infantry options, so I don't think it's actually worth it. She's also scheduled to get a refine, though it won't be anytime soon (it's currently 14 months out). Spring Innes, New Year Azura, and Resplendent Minerva are the next best options, but are all quite a bit weaker than Young Minerva. Ascended Fjorm is actually a viable option if you want to switch her over to Near Save for whatever reason, especially now that A/S Near Save exists, though I wouldn't recommend it. Otherwise, Resplendent Amelia is the only other real option for armors, and she's also still slower than the infantry options.

I'm aiming for 1 copy of each unit other than Laegjarn and a +10 Laegjarn on this banner. As of reaching the spark, I have 2 copies of Laegjarn (including the spark) and 2 copies of Heath. But, since I have fewer than 10 open spots in my barracks right now, it's a pain in the ass to keep pulling, so I'll stop here for now and hope to find some time in the next few days to clean my barracks some more so that I can keep pulling without having to be interrupted every dozen pulls. Because you need to pull ~50,000 times (~220,000 orbs) before the increased summon chance dominates over random noise. If you're pulling less than that (and everyone is because that's enough pulls to merge ~170 +10's), pulling her at a rate higher than the average across all colors is more attributable to luck than to the boost in summon chance. EDIT: For context of how big that number is, my career total pulls only recently broke 65,000.

Added Haar's weapon to the translation notes now that I have its English name. It's nice to see more art by Kita Senri.

Watching all of the wyverns on the bonus hero screen beat their wings in almost unison is very satisfying. I'm surprised Spd/Def Catch is the Sacred Seal that is unlocked at a lower score. Chill Def/Res is an amazing skill at tier 4, but not so much at tier 3. I'm also a bit surprised that our showdown with Ganglot is not the series finale, granted I also haven't really been paying attention to the story, so I'm not really sure what I'm supposed to be expecting. (Reading Japanese is tiresome.)

New unit types that start with Heroes characters historically don't stay that way very long. We got 2 Heroes Legendary Heroes followed by 10 characters from the main series, and we got 1 Heroes Mythic Hero followed by 4 characters from the main series (even if 55% of our current Mythic Heroes are Heroes characters). Because the localization team doesn't think that far in advance, hence why "Swift Sparrow" and "Steady Posture" are a thing and why the Distant/Close Counter + Push/Stance skill names are such a mess. For context, Arcane weapons and Rearmed Heroes are referred to by the same terminology in Japanese ("魔器" (maki), "magic weapon", and "魔器英雄" (maki eiyū), "magic weapon hero"), whereas Arcane Inheritance is the one that is different (特殊継承, tokushu keishō, "special inheritance").

@Humanoid Ninja Hana, Pirate Lifis, Ninja Shamir, Resplendent Raven, and Summer Seth. Hana, Lifis, and Shamir have identical offenses, but with Shamir scoring higher than the other two in the Arena. Raven trades 2 more Atk for 1 less Spd, but scores much lower than the others. Seth is the best fast F2P cavalry axe, but even then, his stats at +10 are only slightly better than a premium unit at +0, so he'll end up still losing overall due to premium units generally having better exclusive weapons and exclusive skills. Anna is also an okay choice if you want an easier time doing quests with her, just like how Alfonse is an okay choice for Arcane Eljudnir. Young Minerva is the only fast F2P axe flier in the game and is a potential choice if you can't wait for her refine 14 months from now, but her default weapon is already almost as good, so I don't think it's worth giving it to her. The only reasons to give it to anyone else are favoritism or if you absolutely don't have any of the faster premium units of the unit's class.

There's absolutely no reason they'd do so. The only times they've changed an enemy unit's weapon when the unit was released for players, they replaced the weapon outright with a prefixed version of the weapon. The probability that they'd give the enemy unit an Arcane weapon and then switch it out for a different Arcane weapon with the same name is literally zero. There would've been no reason to make the enemy-only weapon Arcane.

It's good when there are no surprises. Everything looks basically as expected. It's quite a waste to do so since all of them get -8 Spd from their weapons. I mean, if you were in charge of stat spreads, you'd also be giving every unit ~30 HP to pump their Atk stats into the 60+ range. For the sake of having units that are actually reasonable to play against and for the sake of actually having some diversity so that units aren't just interchangeable clones of each other, it's better for units to not be min-maxed as much as possible. We already get enough complaints every time they release yet another fast lance flier with no exclusive weapon.

I meant to post this earlier, but I fell asleep in the middle of writing this because of how long it was. Cynthia: Lance of Heroics Base effect is: Unit can move to any space adjacent to an ally with 80% HP or lower If HP is 25% or higher: +4 to all stats in combat +2 to all stats in combat for each space between attacker's starting space and current space (maximum +8) Refine effect is: If there is at least one ally within 3 spaces: +4 to all stats in combat Unity effect for all stats As expected, Lance of Heroics gets Flower Lance's improved Wings of Mercy effect. In addition, it gets +8 to all stats, a Clash-like effect for all stats, and the Unity effect for all stats. It's a bit unfortunate it doesn't keep a Sweep effect of some sort, but the gigantic boost to all stats is probably enough to make up for it. The teleportation effect makes it relatively easy to set up the maximum boost for Clash, which allows Cynthia to get +16 to all stats. With maximum Dragonflowers, Cynthia now has 45-/68/57/47-/49 with only her weapon equipped and the maximum Clash boost from her weapon. For comparison, Legendary Caeda has 41-/64/50+/34-/38 if the opponent doesn't have any Bonuses and 41-/76/57+/41-/45 if the opponent has +6 to all stats. The Unity effect is somewhat unfortunate since it gets in the way of running Atk/Spd Clash in the A slot due to the fact that Clash nullifies a unit's penalties when moving 2 spaces or more. In game modes where Penalties are less common, this is not an issue, but in game modes where Penalties are commonly used, it's probably best to run Atk/Spd Catch instead. I'm not sure why people expect Grail units to not get good refines. As best as I can tell, the developers appear to have settled on Grail units being between 4-star units and 5-star units in regards to how strong their weapons and refines will be. Python: Snide Bow Base effect is: Bow common effect If HP is 25% or higher at start of combat: +5 Atk/Spd in combat +7 damage Refine effect is: With Blow-or-Unity condition: -5 Spd/Def to opponent in combat In-combat Panic effect to Spd/Def Short Bow's additional damage when a Special activates is converted to +7 damage all the time, which is a pretty typical substitution. Otherwise, Snide Bow just gets +10 Atk/Spd and the in-combat Panic effect to the opponent's Spd/Def. Getting no defensive effects is pretty rough, and Python is probably going to have to rely on surviving one round of combat and activating Desperation for any kind of sustain. Snide Bow's boosts bring Python up to 42+/67/49/35/24 with maximum Dragonflowers, only his weapon equipped, and no Bonuses on the opponent and 42+/79/61/35/24 if the opponent has +6 to Spd/Def. For comparison, Sue has 40+/60/52/27+/24 with about +10-11 damage based on her Spd, 7 damage after combat, and Sweep as a defensive effect. Python is a bit of a mixed bag. On the one hand, he hits really hard in game modes where Bonuses are common, but on the other hand, he probably won't be surviving counterattacks in those same game modes. Duo Hector: Conjurer Curios Base effect is updated: Effective damage against armor Permanent +3 Atk If it is an odd-numbered turn or opponent's HP is 99% or lower at start of combat: +4 to all stats in combat If opponent can make a follow-up attack (new): Reduces damage from opponent's first attack by 60% If opponent cannot make a follow-up attack (new): Reduces damage from opponent's first attack by 30% Refine effect is: If HP is 25% or higher at start of combat: +4 to all stats in combat Reduces opponent's Atk/Def in combat by 10% of unit's Atk at start of combat Recover 7 HP after combat Hector gets more stats, damage reduction on the opponent's first attack, and passive HP regeneration. As expected, his turn number condition is unchanged since it already had an alternate condition. The alternate condition, however, makes him ill-suited for Aether Raids offense since Duo's Hindrance is still a staple defense structure, and even if he could activate his Duo skill, Healing Tower is also a staple defense structure. Hector can viably get 72+6 visible Atk without game-mode-specific stat boosts, which amounts to an effective boost of +7 Atk/Def/Res, bringing his total effective in-combat stat boosts to +15/8/15/15 if his weapon's base effect is active. Personally, I think Hector's turn number condition makes his performance a bit too inconsistent to use over any of the other premier armors, and his color is inconvenient in the current meta where he is weak to Brave Eirika and Brave Chrom. For Far Save, the existing premier options are still better. Legendary Eliwood: Ardent Durandal Base effect is updated: Permanent +3 Atk At start of turn, grants Bonus Doubler to unit and ally with highest Atk (previously only ally) If HP is 25% or higher at start of combat (new): +4 to all stats in combat Refine effect is: With Blow-or-Unity condition: +4 to all stats in combat Additional damage equal to 15% of opponent's Def (includes AoE Specials) Dull Spectrum Eliwood is now a proper combat unit. Ardent Durandal now grants +8 to all stats, half of a Moonbow on every attack, Dull Spectrum, and most importantly, now applies Bonus Doubler to Eliwood himself. Additionally, Vision of Arcadia II has been upgraded to grant Spd on top of its original Atk/Def, grant Canto (1), and apply those effects to Eliwood himself. Unfortunately, Ardent Durandal doesn't grant the Guard effect, so Eliwood will still want to switch out his new Flow Refresh for Flow Guard. Surge Sparrow can be used if he still needs passive healing. If Eliwood's Bonuses aren't nullified, he now has 44+/79+/58/57/28- with maximum Dragonflowers, only his weapon equipped, and no Bonuses from other sources plus half of a Moonbow on every attack (7 damage if the opponent has 50 Def) and Dull Spectrum. For comparison, Brave Seliph has 41-/71-/53+/43+/24- plus a maximum of four thirds of a Moonbow on every attack (20 damage if the opponent has 50 Def), again assuming if his Bonuses aren't nullified and he has no Bonuses from sources other than his C skill. Eliwood continues to be a top-tier support unit and is now extremely competent in combat performance, but both his support effects and his combat performance can be gutted with Dull effects. This interestingly makes him better against fast Near Save units, as they typically don't run Close Def, whereas slow Near Save units do. Dull Spectrum is obviously a good effect to have in the Arena, which is his home game mode. Petra: Hunting Blade Base effect is updated: Effective damage against beasts Slaying effect If there is at least one ally within 3 spaces (new), +4 to all stats in combat At start of combat, for each of Atk/Spd/Def/Res, if there is at least one ally with that stat equal to [unit's stat - 4] or higher within 3 spaces, +6 to that stat in combat (previously equal to unit's stat or higher with 2 spaces and +5 to that stat) Dagger common effect Refine effect is: If unit's HP is 25% or higher at start of combat: +4 to all stats in combat The offensive half of Null Follow-Up If opponent's HP is 100% at start of combat and with Blow condition: The offensive half of Tempo Reduces damage from opponent's first attack by 60% As expected, they did end up giving Hunting Blade +8 to all stats so that the effect with the more awkward condition is more of a bonus rather than something that needs to be relied upon. The original base effect has been boosted to +6 instead of +5, and the stat comparison now only requires an ally's stat to be within 4 points of Petra's stat or higher and only requires the ally to be within 3 spaces instead of 2. Additionally, the refine gives Petra the offensive halves of Null Follow-Up and Tempo as well as damage reduction on the opponent's first attack. Null Follow-Up and Tempo allow Petra to guarantee activating her default Luna if the opponent can counterattack. Alternatively, she can run Windsweep or Watersweep with Ruptured Sky if the damage reduction isn't sufficiently reliable (such as against Deadeye or bows in general). With Pulse support (Ostia's Pulse, Duo Chrom, etc.) or a source of +1 Special charge rate, Petra is also capable of viably running Lethality. The changes to Hunting Blade's original base effect should make it significantly easier to activate its stat boosts. In particular, increasing the search range to 3 spaces means that Petra should always have at least one ally in range as long as she started her action adjacent to an ally, even if she isn't teleporting. The stat comparison was already not terribly difficult to pass simply because dagger fliers don't have that high of total stats, but the additional fudge range still helps. As a benchmark, this does put Petra quite a bit ahead of Legault as long as Petra is consistently getting the full bonus to her Atk/Spd, and she's still slightly ahead even if she is at +0 merge and Legault is at +10 due to having more Spd and better additional effects. Yune: Chaos Manifest Base effect is updated: Permanent +3 Res If opponent's HP is 75% or higher or opponent has a Penalty (previously only if opponent has a Penalty): +6 Atk and +5 Res in combat (previously only Atk) Guaranteed follow-up With Blow condition (new): Reduces damage from opponent's first attack by [total Penalties on enemy within 2 spaces of opponent, including opponent, with highest total Penalties] × 2% Refine effect is: With Blow-or-Unity condition: +5 Atk/Res in combat Additional damage equal to the total Penalties on enemy within 2 spaces of opponent, including opponent, with highest total Penalties (excludes AoE Specials) There is no cap on the damage reduction. Wow. As long as there is a unit within the search range that was hit with all of Chaos Named+'s stat Penalties, Yune has 56% damage reduction. If there is a unit within the search range that got hit with all of Chaos Named+'s stat Penalties and got hit with Panic with +6 to all stats, Yune has 100% damage reduction. This is kind of silly. That's also 28 extra damage for the former case and 52 extra damage for the latter, which is just as absurd. Additionally, both the damage reduction and additional damage are almost immune to Penalty nullification since they can use a different unit's Penalties instead of the current opponent's, which is great when going up against Brave Hector. The guaranteed follow-up also had its condition made easier to activate, even if it mostly only matters for Brave Hector and a few less common units. The +11 Atk and +10 Res almost feel like an afterthought. Fallen Female Corrin: Savage Breath Base effect is updated: Permanent +3 Atk Dragonstone common effect If there are no more than 3 allies within 2 spaces of unit (new): +1 to all stats in combat If there are no more than 2 allies within 2 spaces of unit: +2 to all stats in combat If there is no more than 1 ally within 2 spaces of unit: +2 to all stats in combat Nullifies stat Penalties on unit (new) If there are no allies within 2 spaces of unit: +2 to all stats in combat Refine effect is: If HP is 25% or higher at start of combat: +4 to all stats Reduces damage from opponent's first attack by [X]% If unit's Atk is greater than opponent's Res Additional damage on unit's first attack equal to [unit's Atk - opponent's Res] × [X]% [X] = 10 × [3 - number of allies within 2 spaces] (minimum 0) Savage Breath gains an additional +5 to all stats (+1 from the base effect and +4 from the refine effect). It also nullifies Corrin's Penalties and grants Dragon's Wrath with the numbers on Dragon's Wrath dependent on the number of allies within 2 spaces, maxing out at 30% with no allies and having no effect with 3 allies. With maximum Dragonflowers, Corrin now has 50/69/52+/46/42- with only her weapon equipped and the maximum stat boost. For comparison, Halloween Female Corrin has 41/64+/51-/42-/36 and Guard. Fallen Corrin has higher stats across the board, but sacrifices stats in order to gain support effects from party members. Fallen Corrin is not vulnerable to False Start and, if the opponent can make a follow-up attack, Guard and Tempo, but is vulnerable to follow-up attacks as a whole and to skills that nullify percentage damage reduction. Fallen Corrin unfortunately has no synergy with Finish and also doesn't have the Slaying effect, which would have been useful for activating her Special on her first counterattack to fish for a one-hit kill. Her one-hit kill build is therefore a bit awkward because it requires her to run a Breath skill (unless she has team support that provides the effect), which also means that if she wants to run Distant Counter, she does so in her A slot because a boosted Distant Counter + Fierce Breath is stronger than Fierce Breath + Distant Counter (D). Overall, this puts Fallen Corrin a bit behind Halloween Corrin, but that's not unexpected. Fallen Corrin's main weakness is the fact that she is unable to receive most team support effects. If your team isn't stacking support effects, Fallen Corrin is now better than Legendary Corrin, but with support effects, I think Legendary Corrin still comes out on top. Overall thoughts Yune's is insane. Eliwood's is really good as long as you don't run up against units with Dull. Cynthia's, Petra's, and Corrin's are all pretty good and are worth using, though Cynthia is brought down by an oversaturated unit class. Hector's is good, but "good" isn't quite good enough when compared to other units that do the same things he does and are significantly easier to obtain. Python's isn't necessarily bad, considering he's a 4-star unit, but makes him a glass cannon, which can make it difficult to actually use him successfully with his new weapon compared to the much safer Firesweep Bow.

Six wins and zero losses today puts me at 4,314 points, which is currently rank 899 and promotes me up from one point below Platinum C to Platinum A. The captain skill that gives Distant Counter worked great on Mediuth, even if I ended up using him a lot as bait to take out an opposing Brave Seliph. Today's funny story was my last match, which was against someone in Gold C. They were up by 1 point until turn 3, when it was just my Legendary Ninian and Duo Nina against their Duo Peony and Brave Eirika, and then I managed to push them out of the capture zone to secure the lead and then kill Eirika on turn 4. The player then rage quit and timed out their next turn and then disconnected. As if spending 90+ seconds waiting for them to leave was in any way an inconvenience for me since that was already the last match I was planning on doing (since it promoted me to Platinum A), though I guess they wouldn't have known that. My other interesting story was that I got a surrender out of my second-to-last opponent at the start of turn 4 despite me being down by 5 points. My team this time was Mediuth, Duo Nina, Duo Chrom, Harmonized Edelgard, and Legendary Ninian. I might actually stop swapping out units for bonus units based on how good the performance of this team was.

Honestly, the pop-culture ninja is already a funny concept in itself. Historical ninja were used for espionage and reconnaissance. The entire point is that they aren't noticed even if they are seen, and wearing outfits that give them away as ninja kind of sort of defeats the purpose. Coincidentally, Spd/Def Catch is the exact Sacred Seal that Spring Maria wants when used as a dual-phase unit (in case I needed more justification to disregard Cherche on this banner).

Wyvern Ono looks quite good on paper. Its secondary effect is pretty notable, as it's the same effect that Spring Maria has. Flat damage reduction is calculated after percentage damage calculation, making it insanely powerful when simultaneously running percentage damage reduction. Cherche is also dumping Spd, which means that she can focus her passive skills on boosting Atk and Def instead of having to pick only two of Atk, Spd, and Def, which is what Maria has to do. (Now, Maria does get 10 more points of Atk from her weapon, but Cherche can get up to 17 more points of Atk from her passive skills if Maria focuses on Spd and Def instead of Spd and Atk.) Furthermore, Cherche has the Brave effect on both phases, which is harder to counter compared to Maria's standard follow-ups. Cherche's weaknesses compared to Maria are the fact that she's vulnerable to Spd-based effects, like Dodge, and the fact that she doesn't have Iote's Shield built into her weapon. Wyvern Yumi is maybe okay. The issue is that it competes with Brave Bow and Firesweep Bow on player phase, Courtly Bow on enemy phase, and Spendthrift Bow on both phases. Its low Mt means that it can't really function as a wall breaker, and you're better off just using Firesweep Bow with Poison Strike (or a fast unit with Ninja Yumi) instead, and its defensive boosts aren't as good as Courtly Bow's or Spendthrift Bow's. However, it can potentially see use on armored units due to the fact that it can very easily charge Specials when used with a guaranteed follow-up. Camilla's weapon has the same common effect as the inheritable weapons (Brave effect on both phases, -8 Spd, +5 Def/Res) and adds the Slaying effect and the Vantage effect if her Res is higher than the opponent's (basically Res Preempt, but works against both melee and ranged units). The weapon itself is actually weaker than the current top ranged Brave units (Duo Corrin and Harmonized Lysithea), though Camilla makes up for it with the new Seal Res 4, which is probably the new best-in-slot B skill for wall breakers that target Res and don't have a better exclusive B skill. She has to give up Trace for it, though, but it's probably worth it since she gets less value out of Trace due to being a ranged flier instead of ranged cavalry. If you're just comparing weapons (and not also the unit's default passive skills), I think Cherche might actually be better than Camilla. The improved Res Preempt effect looks to be a decent counter to Duo Chrom and makes her less vulnerable to melee units initiating against her, which is one of Brave Byleth's biggest weaknesses. Laegjarn's weapon has the same common effect as the inheritable weapons and adds the Slaying effect and a boost to Atk/Def/Res. The stat boost is 70% of the sum of the total stat bonuses on the unit with the highest sum compared across the current opponent and allies within 2 spaces (e.g. +16 Atk/Def/Res if at least one of those units has +6 to all stats). Laegjarn actually just looks completely broken, especially in Arena offense.

And the usual translation notes: The name of the banner, "Wyvern Ninja", is "竜騎の忍たち" (ryūki no shinobi-tachi), "Dragon-Knight Ninjas". Camilla's epithet, "Midnight Bloom", is "暗夜に舞う華" (an'ya ni mau hana), "Flower Dancing in the Dark Night". "暗夜" (an'ya), "dark night", is also the Japanese name of Nohr. Flowery Scroll is "艶花忍法帳" (enka ninpō-chō), "Bewitching Flower Ninja Arts Scroll". Seal Res is "魔防封じ" (mabō fūji), "Res Sealing". "封じ" (fūji) is the stem of the verb "封じる" (fūjiru), "to seal". The stem can be used as a noun (gerund), like the present participle in English ("-ing" form). Not to be confused with "魔防の封印" (mabō no fūin), "Res Seal", which is the name of Chill Res, where "封印" (fūin) is naturally a noun meaning "seal". Cherche's epithet, "Shaded by Wings", is "愛竜と忍ぶ影" (airyū to shinobu kage), "Shadow Hiding With Her Favorite Dragon". "愛竜" (airyū), "favorite dragon", is a play on the word "愛馬" (aiba), "favorite horse". Wyvern Ono is "愛竜への情の竜斧" (airyū e no jō no ryūfu), "Dragon Axe of the Love for Her Favorite Dragon". "Ono" in the English name is "斧" (ono), "axe". Atk/Def Hold is "攻撃守備の大牽制" (kōgeki shubi no daikensei), "Atk/Def Great Restraint". As usual, "牽制" (kensei), "restraint", is the name of the Rein skill series, and "大牽制" (daikensei), "great restraint", is the name of the Hold skill series. Heath's epithet, "Wyvern Ninja", is "竜騎士忍道" (ryūkishi nindō), "Dragon-Knight Way of the Ninja". Wyvern Yumi is "竜忍の弓" (ryūnin no yumi), "Dragon-Ninja Bow". "Yumi" in the English name is "弓" (yumi), "bow". Laegjarn's epithet, "Flame and Frost", is "炎氷の忍" (en-hyō no shinobi), "Ninjas of Flame and Ice". Flamefrost Bow is "炎と氷の王女の輝弓" (honō to kōri no ōjo no kikyū), "Radiant Bow of the Princesses of Flame and Ice". Seal Def is "守備封じ" (shubi fūji), "Def Sealing". Haar's epithet, "Tempest Runner", is "疾風の運び屋" (shippū no hakobiya), "Courier of the Gale". Compare with the normal version of Haar's epithet, "黒疾風" (kuro-shippū or koku-shippū), "Black Gale". Wyvern Katana is "竜忍の剣" (ryūnin no ken), "Dragon-Ninja Sword". The Japanese name of the weapon uses "剣" (ken), "(usually double-edged) sword", instead of "刀" (katana), "(usually single-edged) sword", and notably, the sword is neither a double-edged sword nor a katana (unless you use a very broad definition of the English word). Ganglot's epithet, "Death Anew", is "新たな死神" (arata na shinigami), "New God of Death". "死神" (shinigami), literally "god of death", can also be translated as "Grim Reaper". Arcane Downfall is "魔器・絶死ヘル" (maki: zesshi heru), "Arcane Weapon: Unparalleled Death, Hel". Interestingly, this weapon follows the same naming pattern as the other "Ascended champion" weapons, just with "Arcane Weapon" tacked on in front. Compare with Nifl's Bite, "絶氷ニフル" (zehhyō nifuru, "Unparalleled Ice, Nifl"), Flame of Muspell, "絶炎ムスペル" (zetsuen musuperu, "Unparalleled Flame, Muspell"), and Ymir, Everliving, "永生ユーミル" (eisei yūmiru, "Eternal Life, Ymir"), which are all a title attached to the name of god and nation/realm. I'm not saying Ganglot is going to be both a Rearmed and Ascended Hero at the same time, but it's not impossible. Or it's just been a long time since their last alt. There were 22 months between Duo Lyn and Flame Festival Lyn. Camilla's last alt was 15 months ago if you count Duo Hinoka or 38 months ago if you don't (Brave Camilla).

Well, shit, it actually is a wyvern banner. And this time, it's dual-phase Brave effect and boosted defenses in exchange for even less Spd. We're also getting tier-4 Seal skills, and they're pretty good. It inflicts -4 to the stat during combat with no condition and, if the opponent doesn't nullify Penalties to that stat, inflicts an additional stat reduction so that the Penalty and the additional stat reduction equal 7. Ranged weapons with the dual-phase Brave effect have 1 less Mt compared to ranged weapons with a single-phase Brave effect. This used to also be true of melee weapons, but recent melee weapons now get the same Mt.

So the first ninja banner had weapons with the Brave effect with a boost in Spd in exchange for reduced defenses, and the second ninja banner had weapons with the Brave effect with a boost in damage based on Spd in exchange for reduced defenses. I wonder what they'll do with this year's inheritable weapons. The Brave effect is almost a given, and they'll likely still have reduced defenses. Perhaps Canto (1) as their other effect, like Ricard's weapon? Since when has this banner had any sub-theme beyond the vague "most of these characters are fast"?

The first ninja banner had all 5 units come from different games, and the second ninja banner had 4 games represented over 5 units with the two Corrins being the only units that shared a game. I wouldn't count any game out based only on the two units shown in the silhouettes.

I don't remember Reposition ever being considered inferior to Draw Back, but I do remember that Draw Back was preferred on infantry ranged units since it allows you to keep the targeted unit, which was presumably more capable of tanking, in front. After all, Reposition and Draw Back result in the two units ending up in the same two squares, just with their positions switched. I believe Reposition gained popularity because it was stronger offensively, and the positioning of the two units when used defensively mattered less after we figured out how broken Reinhardt was, as it no longer mattered which unit was in front because being in range at all meant death.