Ice Dragon

To my understanding, it's not clarified in any language. Based on the wording of the Japanese description, it's most likely only in-combat damage, but that's not at all definitive. With Resplendent boosts, Eirika has 43 base Spd with maximum Dragonflowers. It puts her 7 points short of the current lead for her unit class (Fallen Byleth with 49 and a superboon), which isn't amazing, but I think is still borderline usable with Arcane Devourer. The trade-off of running Arcane Devourer, however, is that you need to use a Floret to make up for her awful Atk stat. Lapis can run any Arcane Devourer build. The standard Arcane sword infantry builds look like this: Sword Infantry [+Spd] Arcane Devourer [Spd] [Assist] Vital Astra / No Quarter / Ruptured Sky Atk/Spd Finish 4 / Atk/Spd Prime 4 Spurn 4 / Spd/Def Tempo 4 / Potent 4 Atk/Spd Oath 4 / Incite Atk/Spd / Time's Pulse 4 [any Sacred Seal that boosts Atk/Spd] / Distant Counter (M) Spurn 4 is the preferred B skill for units that aren't as close to the top in Spd so that the Phantom Spd effect can help activate Dodge. Tempo 4 should not be used at the same time as Time's Pulse 4. Time's Pulse 4 should only be used with Vital Astra, and even then, it's probably still worse than the other options due to the lack of an in-combat Spd boost. I wouldn't run Distant Counter (M) unless you're confident you don't need a Spd boost from the Sacred Seal slot. Sword Infantry [+Spd] Arcane Devourer [Spd] [Assist] Godlike Reflexes Atk/Spd Finish 4 / Atk/Spd Prime 4 Spurn 4 / Buffer 4 / Spd/Def Tempo 4 / Potent 4 Atk/Spd Oath 4 / Incite Atk/Spd / Pulse Up: Blades [any Sacred Seal that boosts Atk/Spd] / Distant Counter (M) Oath 4 and Incite are both more optimal than Pulse Up, but Pulse Up is an option as a backup for dealing with opponents with Guard, Tempo, or post-combat Special drain. Same comments as the above build for the other skills, where applicable. Sword Infantry [+Spd] Arcane Devourer [Spd] [Assist] Aether Atk/Spd Finish 4 / Atk/Spd Prime 4 Gambit 4 Atk/Spd Oath 4 / Incite Atk/Spd / Pulse Up: Blades [any Sacred Seal that boosts Atk/Spd] / Distant Counter (M) Same comments as the above builds, where applicable. This can also be run with Arcane Eljudnir [Atk / Def] with Pledge in the C slot and the Spd skills swapped for Def versions were possible. Sword Infantry [+Atk] Arcane Eljudnir [Atk / Def] [Assist] Ruptured Sky / No Quarter Atk/* Finish 4 / Atk/* Prime 4 Null C-Disrupt 4 / */Def Tempo 4 / Phys. Null Follow / Spurn 4 / Potent 4 Atk/* Pledge / Atk/* Oath 4 / Incite Atk/* [any Sacred Seal that boosts Atk/*] / Distant Counter (M) / Null Follow-Up 3 Despite not running Spd, the Spd-based B skills are still usable on Arcane Eljudnir builds because of their secondary effects. And for units with middling Spd, you can still activate the Dodge effect from Spurn 4 against slower units. If you're giving her No Quarter from Dimitri directly instead of through a Rearmed skill duplicator, then you might as well grab Prime 4 at the same time as No Quarter since Dimitri doesn't have anything else worth grabbing. However, unless you actually use her on enemy phase for anything more than clean-up (or baiting enemies with strong enemy phases, but weak player phases), I don't think she actually needs the stat boost from Prime 4 on enemy phase. Her refined weapon already gives her a comically high +15 Spd at minimum, so she can afford to have an ineffective A skill on enemy phase against the things you're probably using her against. If you're grabbing No Quarter off of a Rearmed skill duplicator, then there are better things to prioritize over Prime 4. Flared Sparrow and Surge Sparrow are both significantly better than Prime 4 on player phase, where you're probably using her more.

Stackable Slaying effect is pretty fancy. I am super sleepy right now, so I'll just do translation notes now and maybe take a closer look at everything going on tomorrow morning: Lumera's epithet, "In Distant Skies", is "遥空の神竜" (yōkū no shinryū), "Divine Dragon of the Distant Skies". Monarch's Stone is "白き神竜王のブレス" (shiroki shinryū-ō no buresu), "Breath of the White Divine Dragon King". Atk/Spd Scowl is "攻撃速さの竜眼" (kōgeki hayasa no ryūgan), "Atk/Spd Dragon Eye". Atk/Spd Ruse is "攻撃速さの大共謀" (kōgeki hayasa no dai-kyōbō), "Atk/Spd Great Conspiracy". "共謀" (kyōbō), "conspiracy", is the name of the Feint skill series. Dragon Monarch is "リトスの神竜王" (ritosu no shinryū-ō), "Lythos's Divine Dragon King". Marth's epithet, "Of Beginnings", is "始まりの紋章士" (hajimari no monshō-shi), "The First Emblem". "紋章士" (monshō-shi), literally "emblem warrior", is the term used for Engage's Emblems. Hero-King Sword is "英雄王の剣" (eiyū-ō no ken), "Sword of the Hero King". Lodestar Rush is "スターラッシュ" (sutā rasshu), "Star Rush". The name of this skill in both languages is a reference to Marth's promoted class name, "スターロード" (sutā rōdo), "Star Lord", in Japanese and "Lodestar" in English. Potent is "神速" (shinsoku), "Extreme Speed". "神速" (shinsoku) literally translates as "divine speed". It's also the Japanese name of the move Extreme Speed from Pokémon, and I'm using it here over alternative options because the translation is more than accurate. Potent Follow X% is "神速追撃：ダメージ〇％" (shinsoku tsuigeki: damēji 〇%), "Extreme Speed Follow-Up Attack: X% Damage". Emblem Effect is "紋章士効果" (monshō-shi kōka), "Emblem Effect". And since I forgot about Hraesvelgr in the previous New Heroes banner, I'll put her here: Hraesvelgr's epithet, "Quieting Blade", is "刃の葬り手" (yaiba no hōmuri-te), "The Burying Hand, the Blade". I'm interpreting "刃の" (yaiba no), "(of) the blade", to be the appositive use of "の" (no) instead of the usual "of". Including omitted words that can be inferred from context, this interpretation would read as "The 'Burying Hand', the 'Blade' of the Healing Hands". "葬る" (hōmuru) more specifically means "to bury the dead" (the character itself is an ideogram of burying a dead person (死) in grass (茻)) and can be used figuratively to mean "to cover something up" or "to hush someone up". Quieting Claw is "刃の葬り手の爪" (yaiba no hōmuri-te no tsume), "Claws of the Burying Hand, the Blade".

Hel Soren is next: Nifl Ilyana Askr Brave Veronica Hel Soren Prior to this outfit, Hel was the theme to least recently get a new outfit, with the last unit being Female Robin in June. Radiance now ties with Dawn for the origin mark with the highest percentage of units with Resplendent outfits. Hel now ties Muspell for the second highest number of outfits.

Last week's free Arena ticket got me Lene. This week's gets me Elincia: 158 pulls on the New Year banner: 0 Seidr (+1 spark) 2 Nerthuz 1 Kvasir 0 5-star Kana 1 4-star Kana 2 pity breakers: Fallen Edelgard Fallen Gustav This is probably the worst luck I've ever had on a banner in this game. No 5-stars at all until I was pity-broken by Fallen Edelgard on pull 56 with a 5.5% pity rate. Then pity-broken by Fallen Gustav on pull 75 with a 5.5% pity rate again. And then finally got Nerthuz as my first focus unit on pull 110 with a 6.25% pity rate. Kvasir finally came home on pull 155 with a 5.0% pity rate, but was immediately followed by another Nerthuz in the came session. None of them have an Asset better than neutral. 1.9% focus rate. 3.2% total 5-star rate. In other words, half of the expected value for both, and that's despite getting a second Nerthuz while cleaning out Kvasir's session. 49 pulls on the Reinhardt banner: 1 Reinhardt (+1 spark) 1 Tina 1 pity breaker: Mycen Both Reinhardt and Tina are [+Spd, -Atk] for some reason, though I'm not complaining. Mycen also seems to be showing up a lot recently for some reason. He would be +2 now, but I'm keeping the extra copies as manuals for now. Again, not complaining. 40 pulls on the Ascended / Rearmed banner: 1 Lif 2 Mareeta 0 Ingrid (+1 spark) This copy of Lif would get him to +10 if it weren't for the fact that I can't merge him without spending his skill fodder first. These copies of Mareeta also get her to +10 if it weren't for the fact that I'm keeping a few copies as manuals in case I need Vital Astra for something. I decided to spark for Ingrid since I need more copies of her than of Lif, but she was sharing a color with Idunn, who I don't need more copies of. 41 pulls on the first New Year rerun: 2 Ash (+1 spark) 1 Reginn 1 pity breaker: Ingrid Ash is now +7. Reginn would be +12 now if that were possible. Ingrid would be +6 if I had a better merge base. 51 pulls on the second New Year rerun: 2 Plumeria (+1 spark) 0 Selkie 1 Velouria Plumeria is now +3. Velouria is now +1. I was originally going to pull for the spark on the Akaneia Hall of Forms banner, but after the New Year banner turned into a budget sink, I just pulled the free pull and called it a day. The Remix banners I was already only going to stop with the free pull since none of the colors on either banner were such that I wanted copies of both units. Didn't end up getting anything of note from those pulls.

The next Resplendent Hero is Hel Soren: This brings him up to 41/41 offenses with maximum Dragonflowers, which isn't amazing, but at least brings his stats barely above Luthier's. That said, Nino has always had base stats higher than his, so he's still behind Resplendent Nino, and he's also beaten among free-to-play units by Bastian for Atk/Res builds and Tea Party Tailtiu for Atk/Spd builds.

If you're keeping his Golden Dagger, then there are a few options, but all of the better ones require a complete rework of his build. Note that even with a premium build, an unmerged Saber is still outclassed by pretty much every modern unit that can fill the same role, even if you're running them with Distant Counter (M) instead of Distant A/S Solo to get the Distant Counter effect. If you can spare an Arcane Devourer, you're better of giving the exact same skills to Lapis or Inigo instead of Saber. If you're still intent on building Saber, his Spd stat isn't amazing, so I would only go with the Spd-based options if you have a Spd Asset, his Resplendent outfit, can give him maximum Dragonflower boosts, and have some team support to help boost his Spd a bit on top. Otherwise, you're probably better off with the slower options. Vital Astra: Saber [+Spd] Golden Dagger [unique] [Assist] Vital Astra Atk/Spd Finish 4 Spurn 4 / Phys. Null Follow / Spd/Def Bulwark 3 Time's Pulse 4 [any Sacred Seal that boosts Atk/Spd] Spurn 4 is the B skill I'd most recommend due to the fact that it grants Phantom Spd to help with his Spd stat just a bit. Godlike Reflexes: Saber [+Spd] Golden Dagger [unique] [Assist] Godlike Reflexes Atk/Spd Finish 4 [Velocity 4] / Spurn 4 / Buffer 4 / Phys. Null Follow / Spd/Def Tempo 4 / Spd/Def Bulwark 3 Atk/Spd Pledge / Atk/Spd Oath 4 / Incite Atk/Spd [any Sacred Seal that boosts Atk/Spd] / Darting Breath Saber needs some source of +1 Special charge rate to run Godlike Reflexes, so you're looking at one of Pledge, Breath, or team support. Velocity 4 would be the best B skill on this build, but it doesn't exist yet. As with the Vital Astra build, I recommend a Dodge 4 skill over the other options due to the Phantom Spd effect. Ruptured Sky / Moonbow: Saber [+Atk / +Def] Golden Dagger [unique] [Assist] Ruptured Sky / Moonbow Atk/Def Finish 4 / Atk/Spd Finish 4 Quick Riposte 4 / Null C-Disrupt 4 Time's Pulse 4 [any Sacred Seal that boosts Atk/Spd, Atk/Def, or Spd/Def] / Null Follow-Up 3 / Quick Riposte 3 No Quarter / Luna / Bonfire: Saber [+Atk / +Def] Golden Dagger [unique] [Assist] No Quarter / Luna / Bonfire Atk/Def Finish 4 / Atk/Spd Finish 4 Special Spiral 3 / Special Spiral 4 Atk/Spd Pledge / Atk/Def Oath 4 / Atk/Spd Oath 4 [any Sacred Seal that boosts Atk/Spd, Atk/Def, or Spd/Def] / Null Follow-Up 3 / Quick Riposte 3 / Steady Breath Aegis: Saber [+Atk / +Def] Golden Dagger [unique] [Assist] Aegis Atk/Spd Finish 4 / Atk/Def Finish 4 Shield Pulse 3 / Buffer 4 Atk/Spd Pledge / Atk/Def Oath 4 / Atk/Spd Oath 4 Quick Riposte 3 / Steady Breath / [any Sacred Seal that boosts Atk/Spd, Atk/Def, or Spd/Def] / Null Follow-Up 3

Added Hawkeye's weapon to the translation notes.

Both have a gap of 2-3 years, but Akaneia has basically only one character that changes their appearance between its two games (Hardin), whereas Tellius has enough characters where you can tell which of the two games the character's design is from.

I'm never going to get used to Igrene having Hara Yumi as her voice actor. And the usual translation notes: The banner name, "Nabata's Shield", is "理想郷の守護者" (risōkyō no shugosha), "Guardians of Utopia". Altina's epithet, "Unrivaled Dawn", is "無双なる暁光" (musō-naru gyōkō), "Peerless Light of Dawn". Arcadian Axes is "永遠の理想郷の双斧" (eien no risōkyō no sōfu), "Dual Axes of the Eternal Utopia". Arms of the Three is "三雄の双刃" (san'yū no sōjin), "Dual Blades of the Three Heroes". Atk/Def Bulwark is "攻撃守備の防壁" (kōgeki shubi no bōheki), "Atk/Def Bulwark". Juno's epithet, "Nimble Grace", is "優美なる天馬騎士" (yūmi-naru tenba kishi), "Graceful Pegasus Knight". Blade of Sands is "砂漠の天馬騎士の剣" (sabaku no tenba kishi no ken), "Sword of the Desert's Pegasus Knight". Anything but a "sword". Atk/Def Oath is "攻撃守備の信義" (kōgeki shubi no shingi), "Atk/Def Faith". Tormod's epithet, "Indomitable Will", is "不屈なる壮志" (fukutsu-naru sōshi), "Indomitable Ambition". Nabata Beacon is "ナバタの燭台" (nabata no shokudai), "Nabatan Candle Holder". Igrene's epithet, "Sworn Protectors", is "愛と護りの神射手" (ai to mamori no shin-shashu), "Sagittaries of Love and Protection". "神射手" (unsure if pronounced "shin-shashu" or "kami-ite"), literally "divine archer", is the name of the Sagittary class from Radiant Dawn, localized as "Marksman". Sandglass Bow is "悠久の黄砂の絆弓" (yūkyū no kōsa no hankyū), "Linking Bow of the Eternal Yellow Sands". Pulse Up: Blades is "鍛錬の鼓動・刃" (tanren no kodō: jin), "Pulse of Training: Blade". Hawkeye's epithet, "Taciturn Guardian", is "寡黙なる守護戦士" (kamoku-naru shugo senshi), "Taciturn Guardian Warrior". Nabata Lance is "ナバタの槍" (nabata no yari), "Lance of Nabata".

The only thing edgier than dual wielding is dual wielding katanas.

Danger noodles are very cute. Very deserving of headpats.

Incite Atk/Spd is currently the best C skill for fast ranged cavalry. Def/Res Smoke 3 is a more supportive alternative. Sacred Seals can be switched around for free, so don't worry too much about the slot. Blade Session gives you the largest boost to stats, but depends on your movement order (and therefore doesn't play well with Def/Res Smoke 3). Otherwise, Atk/Spd Solo and Atk/Spd Catch are the go-to options depending on if you expect to be able to use the Solo condition reliably.

I forgot we got a new version of Canto to translate.

Limstella and Arval both exist in Heroes. Lack of a gender isn't going to stop them.

I guess I'm just going to just throw in my usual 4 votes for Ninian and 3 votes for Dheginhansea.

The best skills that are currently available should look something like this: Young Merric [+Spd] Winds of Change [unique] / Teatime Set+ [Spd] [Assist] Flare / Ruptured Sky Remote Sparrow / Atk/Spd Finish 4 Occultist's Strike / Desperation 4 / Brash Assault 4 Incite Atk/Spd / Atk/Spd Oath 4 / Atk/Spd Pledge / Time's Pulse 4 / Infantry Pulse 4 Winds of Change can be gotten if you haven't already refined his weapon and want to save some dew. Teatime Set+ [Spd] is the best inheritable option. Winds of Change already has Lull, Tempo, Null Follow-Up, and percentage damage reduction nullification on it, so there aren't that many options left for the B slot. Occultist's Strike is the most offensive option, but because Winds of Change has no defensive effects, you'll want a defensive effect on a different slot for harder content. Desperation 4 is the best defensive option and is a good replacement for his default Windsweep, and it also provides a Spd boost. Brash Assault 4 has a mix of offensive and defensive options, but doesn't have a Spd boost. If you're running Righteous Wind or Ruptured Sky, you should run any of the skills in the C slot other than Pledge. Pledge is only better than the other options if you're running Flare, and even then, only if the opponent can't counterattack or if you're running Desperation 4. If the opponent can counterattack or you're running a different Special, then the other options are better. Of the other options, Incite hits the hardest, but has no non-stat effect. Oath 4 is slightly weaker than Incite, but grants teleportation. Time's Pulse 4 and Infantry Pulse 4 let you land Righteous Wind on the first attack, so you're guaranteed to get the healing effect from it if the opponent doesn't have the Scowl effect. Time's Pulse 4 is better if you're expecting to be using a dancer to move more than once per turn. Infantry Pulse 4 is better otherwise. Sorry if this makes it even harder to decide.

Last week's free Arena ticket got me Ryoma. This week's gets me Lethe: Since the Winter banner was ending today, I couldn't procrastinate any longer on cleaning out my barracks and finally cleared some space. 303 pulls on the Winter banner: 7 Edelgard (+1 spark) 3 Byleth (+1 spark) 1 Dimitri (+1 spark) 2 Yunaka (+1 spark) 9 pity breakers: Fallen Dimitri Mycen Isadora Hardin Tinny Noah Anankos Ascended Elincia Marianne Edelgard really didn't want to come home. Despite the fact that I was sniping blue, by the time I got my last spark, I had pulled only 1 copy of Edelgard, but 3 copies of Byleth and 1 copy each of Dimitri and Yunaka. Part of this was caused by the first pity charge, which got me Yunaka and 2 copies of Byleth on the same circle. 4.3% focus rate is pretty good, about 3 pulls above average. 7.3% 5-star rate is also pretty good, about 2 pulls above average. Managed to get a perfect Byleth ([+Res, -Spd]), a perfect Dimitri ([+Spd, Res]), and eventually a perfect Edelgard ([+Atk, -Spd]) on the last one. No copy of Yunaka was better than neutral. Isadora was my first copy of her, and is also perfect ([+Spd, -Res]). Hardin was my second copy and is close enough ([+Spd, -HP]). Noah and Anankos are also my second copies of them, but neither have a good Asset. Mycen was my second copy, but my first was already close enough to perfect that this one wasn't better. Overall a pretty good haul. Now to wait until tomorrow to level them all up with the melee training maps.

Added Pirn's weapon to the translation notes. The weapon in Heroes is pretty true-to-form to the original King Sword, which is a Brave Sword with a high critical hit rate that also has the Charisma skill on it.

Petalfall Blade is currently the best inheritable sword that's available in Hall of Forms, but it's not a particularly high priority to get because Inigo has the identical Null Blade in the 3- and 4-star pool. Distant A/S Solo and Atk/Spd Prime 4 are alternative options for the A slot. Prime is currently extremely easy to activate on flier ball teams because we have units like Legendary Hinoka, Harmonized Catria, and Harmonized Cordelia that can each grant 2 non-stat Bonuses to surrounding flier allies. Aerial Maneuvers is probably Caeda's best option for the B slot, and even more so if she gets Null Follow-Up on her refine. If you're worried she won't get Null Follow-Up on her refine, there's also Flow Desperation. Gambit 4 is the best option for enemy phase. S/D Rein Snap and Atk/Spd Oath 4 are the best options for the C slot, with S/D Rein Snap being significantly harder to get. I don't recommend Guidance 4 or Soaring Guidance on offensive units because they don't provide in-combat stats to the unit with the skill itself, and it's generally better to put those skills on a support unit. Soaring Guidance is still an okay pick if you don't have access to it normally, though.

Brave Veronica is next in an Askr outfit, which was last seen exactly a year ago on Innes: Nifl Ilyana Askr Brave Veronica This is the second CYL 2 unit to get a Resplendent outfit. I am leaving the list of units known to be eligible as it is, including only units through Surtr's banner. Ilyana falls so far outside of the known range that it's somewhat pointless to list all of the units between her and Surtr, and we also don't have a pulse yet on why they decided to give her an outfit despite being significantly more recent. Logically speaking, Ilyana fits the functional purpose of the Resplendent Hero mechanic, which is to grant stat boosts to units that have outdated stats and don't have any other way of making up for them. Ilyana can only use inheritable weapons and is too recent to be on the radar for a refine, but has had her stats outclassed by another 4-star unit (Hestia). As such, the choice makes complete sense, and I don't think her getting a Resplendent outfit means that the floodgates are open in any way.

The next Resplendent Hero is Askr Brave Veronica: The art is very pretty, but I already had a hard time identifying Brave Veronica as Veronica due to her different hairstyle (this is the only version of her where the hair on the sides of her face are pulled back instead of falling in front), and this art makes it even harder for me to recognize her.

Ferdinand: Stoutheart Lance Base effect is: If HP is 25% or higher at start of combat: +4 to all stats in combat Grand Strategy effect for all stats in combat If HP is 50% or higher at start of combat: Guaranteed follow-up If HP is 75% or higher at start of combat: +7 additional damage, excludes AoE Specials Refine effect is: With a Blow-or-Unity condition: +4 to all stats in combat 40% damage reduction on opponent's first attack Follow-up prevention 7 HP recovery after combat As expected, he got a guaranteed follow-up. In addition, he gets the kitchen sink. Yeah, no complaints. Legendary Lilina: Studied Forblaze Base effect is updated: Slaying effect Time's Pulse 3 (previously Quickened Pulse) If HP is 25% or higher at start of combat: +6 Atk/Res in combat Hardy Bearing effect Refine effect is: With a Blow-or-Unity condition: +5 Atk/Res in combat Guaranteed follow-up Additional damage equal to 15% of Res, includes AoE Specials 30% damage reduction on opponent's first attack For reference, her remix gives her and allies within Ploy 4 range Canto (1) as a status effect after combat. The damage dealt by Gifted Magic is also boosted to match that of the Growing series of Special skills. Her new skill is Sabotage A/R 3, which is an upgrade of her existing Sabotage Res 3. As I hoped, her Quickened Pulse was upgraded to Time's Pulse 3, which prevents enemies with Guard or post-combat Special drain from blocking her Special on the next turn. Otherwise, she got more damage, a guaranteed follow-up, and first-attack damage reduction, which are all par for the course. That's not much, but AoE Special builds don't need much to begin with, so this is all just icing on the cake. Kiria: Mirage Rod Base effect is updated: Permanent +3 Atk -6 Atk/Res in combat to opponents within 2 spaces If HP is 25% or higher at start of combat: Guaranteed follow-up (new) 75% damage reduction on opponent's follow-up attacks (new) Refine effect is: At start of turn, applies the following status effects on enemies in Ploy 4 range: -6 Atk/Res Sabotage With a Stance condition or if opponent's HP is 75% or higher at start of combat: -5 Atk/Res to opponent in combat Additional damage equal to 15% of Atk, excludes AoE Specials 7 HP recovery after combat Guaranteed follow-up it is. Also stat penalties and Sabotage with no condition. It looks like they really want you to run something other than Sabotage A/R 3 in her B slot. I was not expecting damage reduction on follow-up attacks, as there are very few units with that effect, but now that we have Remote skills, it's probably a decently valuable effect, considering how well Brave Edelgard makes use of it. Other than that, more stats, more damage, and post-combat HP recovery. Given the crazy counterattacks that I've seen Bride Cecilia tank with a Sabotage-Ploy build, Kiria is probably going to be pretty tanky, especially since she doesn't need a stat comparison to land the Sabotage effect on enemies. Young Minerva: Dragoon Axe Base effect is updated: Slaying effect With a Stance condition (new) or if opponent's HP is 75% or higher at start of combat (previously 100%): +4 to all stats in combat Guard effect 7 HP recovery after combat (new) Refine effect is: At start of turn, with a Unity condition, grants the following status effects to unit and allies within 2 spaces: +6 Atk/Spd +1 Special charge rate With a Finish condition: +4 to all stats in combat Null Follow-Up effect That is most definitely not enough extra stats. Her base Spd with maximum Dragonflowers is already 7 points behind the current leader among axe fliers, and that's before accounting for the fact that Duo Anna gains an insane amount of Spd from her weapon. 8 points of in-combat Spd is not enough if they're giving her Null Follow-Up instead of a guaranteed follow-up. The effects themselves would actually be decent if Minerva's base stats were more comparable to more recent units, but the effects are only decent, and her stats are not comparable to recent units. Young Merric: Winds of Change Base effect is updated: Effective damage against fliers Slaying effect If unit has a Bonus (previously stat bonus) or HP is 50% or higher at start of combat: +5 Atk/Spd in combat Null Follow-Up effect Additional damage equal to 15% of Spd, excludes AoE Specials (new) Refine effect is: With a Blow-or-Unity condition: +5 Atk/Spd in combat Offensive Tempo effect Nullifies opponent's stat bonuses to Spd/Res Nullifies opponent's non-Special percentage damage reduction when unit's Special activates, excludes AoE Specials No Phantom Spd is a bit of a bummer since that leaves him vulnerable to opponents with Dodge 4 skills and other units that have Phantom Spd on a non-Sacred-Seal skill slot. Also no Time's Pulse 4, which is also a bummer. Sure, Tempo does almost the same thing, but the difference is that if he kills the opponent on the first hit, his Special doesn't activate and doesn't heal the entire team. The refine itself is really good, but my problem with it is that Merric has the tools to play an interesting role that other units can't do, and his refine just makes him generally better without having any effects that specifically make him better at that role. Leila: Constant Dagger Base effect is updated: Permanent +3 Spd With a Blow-or-Unity condition (previously Blow condition): +5 Atk/Spd in combat Additional damage equal to 10% of Spd, excludes AoE Specials (new) If unit's Spd is higher than opponent's Spd (new) or if unit's support partner is within 2 spaces (existing): Sweep effect With a Blow condition and if unit's support partner is within 2 spaces: Swaps positions with support partner after combat Dagger common effect Refine effect is: At start of turn, inflicts the following status effects on closest enemies within 5 spaces and enemies within 2 spaces of those enemies: -6 Spd/Def Discord If HP is 25% or higher at start of combat: +5 Atk/Spd +1 Special charge rate With a Blow condition and if unit attacked in combat: Deals 7 damage to opponent and enemies within 2 spaces of opponent after combat I'm a bit disappointed that she doesn't get the ability to teleport to her support partner and/or vice versa. Otherwise, she gets a new condition on her Sweep effect that allows it to be used without the need for a support partner, Pain+, and a bunch of unconditional Penalties. Also +1 Special charge rate to make it a bit easier to charge a Special with her Sweep effect. She can now run Lethality with Special Spiral if she wants to, though I'm not sure I'd actually recommend that. Legendary Female Corrin: Base effect is updated: Slaying effect Dragonstone common effect With a Stance condition or if opponent's HP is 75% or higher at start of combat (previously 100%): +5 to all stats in combat +1 Special charge rate 7 flat damage reduction on opponent's non-follow-up attacks (new) Refine effect is: If unit is equipped with a Special that activates on the opponent's attack: -2 Special cooldown at start of turn 1 If HP is 25% or higher at start of combat: +4 to all stats in combat Offensive Tempo effect 30% damage reduction on opponent's AoE Specials and opponent's attacks 7 HP recovery after combat For reference, her remix fully charges her Special immediately after activation if the opponent has the Brave effect and slightly boosts its damage and damage reduction effects. Her new skill is Guard 4, replacing Shield Pulse. As expected, Shield Pulse is moved to her weapon. She also straight-up steals the flat damage reduction from Brave Corrin's Realms United, 30% damage reduction on all attacks from Vallastone, and 7 HP recovery after combat from Counter Roar 4. In addition, she also gets Tempo to make it harder for the opponent to stop her from charging Negating Fang and 30% damage reduction against AoE Specials. The one thing that's notably missing from her kit, though, is Null Follow-Up, which is a bit awkward. She would certainly prefer to run Counter Roar 4 over her new Guard 4, but she'll probably end up having to run Mag. Null Follow instead. That's not a bad thing since half percentage damage reduction nullification is a good effect to have, but Counter Roar 4 is just a really good skill that she'll have to pass up on. Overall thoughts Lilina's and Ferdinand's are solid. Corrin's is good, if a bit awkward in terms of how to build her now. No real complaints about Leila's. Kiria's also looks good, though I'll probably want to test her bulk. Merric's is good, but I wish it catered more to his exclusive Special's healing effect. Minerva's is disappointing. Her base stats simply aren't good enough to run Null Follow-Up without additional Spd support.

And the usual translation notes: The name of the banner, "New Heroes & Rearmed Reinhardt", is "新英雄＆魔器ラインハルト" (shin eiyū & maki rainharuto), "New Heroes & Arcane Reinhardt". As usual, "魔器" (maki), "magic weapon", is the term used for both Arcane weapons and Rearmed Heroes. Tina's epithet, "Playful Scamp", is "おちゃめな妹" (ochame na imōto), "Mischievous Younger Sister". Thief is "シーフ" (shīfu), "Thief". Wrathful Tempo is "神罰・拍節" (shinbatsu: hakusetsu), "Divine Punishment: Tempo". "神罰" (shinbatsu), "divine punishment", is an abbreviation of "神罰の杖" (shinbatsu no tsue), "staff of divine punishment", which is the name of the Wrathful Staff skill. Safy's epithet, "Font of Piety", is "敬虔なる者" (keiken-naru mono), "Pious One". Repair is "リペア" (ripea), "Repair". Atk/Spd Ploy is "攻撃速さの謀策" (kōgeki hayasa no bōsaku), "Atk/Spd Conspiracy". Lara's epithet, "Step Lively", is "可憐なステップ" (karen na suteppu), "Endearing Step". Clever Dagger is "攻防の暗器" (kōbō no anki), "Dagger of Offense and Defense". As usual "暗器" (anki), "hidden weapon", is the name of the dagger weapon type. Reinhardt's epithet, "Thrud Reborn", is "トードの再来" (tōdo no sairai), "The Second Coming of Tordo". Arcane Thunder is "魔器・雷公の書" (maki: raikō no sho), "Arcane Weapon: Tome of the Duke of Thunder". Thunder's Fist is "雷神の右腕" (raijin no migiude), "Right Hand of the God of Thunder". This is his original version's epithet in both English and Japanese. As before, "雷神" (raijin), "god of thunder", is Ishtar's epithet. S/R Far Trace is "速さ魔防の遠影" (hayasa mabō no en'ei), "Spd/Res Distant Trace". As usual, "影" (ei) more commonly means "shadow" or "image", but here means "trace" as in "something that is left behind (that isn't the thing itself)". Canto (Rem.; Min 1) is "再移動（残り、最低１）" (sai-idō (nokori, saitei 1)), "Move Again (Remaining, Minimum 1)". Pirn's epithet, "Dacian Scoundrel", is "ダキアの盗賊" (dakia no tōzoku), "Thief of Dacia". Blade Royale is "王者の刃" (ōja no yaiba), "King's Blade". This is a reference to the King's Sword, "王者の剣" (ōja no ken, "King's Sword"), from Thracia, which is the weapon Pirn is initially equipped with his source game. The weapon name in Heroes is changed to reflect the change in weapon type from sword to dagger.

Oh, cool. We got our fast Arcane blue tome, and S/R Far Trace 4 is really good. It's a pity he doesn't have Incite to make his fodder even better. Arcane Thunder is a really underwhelming weapon name, though. I get that space restrictions are a thing, but it's still underwhelming, especially since we've seen them abbreviate "Arcane" to "Arc." before. Also a new 4-star dancer. It looks like they noticed there isn't an easy source for Rockslide Dance 2 to chain Attuned Peony's Rockslide Dance 3 with, as Bon Elincia is the only other source of the skill.

Of the options you have, Escape Route 4 is the best one since it grants additional Spd and Canto. Null C-Disrupt 4 is also decent since you get Spd and percentage damage reduction on the opponent's first attack, though the actual Null C-Disrupt effect is mostly useless for him (though you might occasionally make use of it). If you don't mind waiting for a better skill, Desperation 4 and the not-yet-released Spd/Res Tempo 4 would be better options. Desperation 4 lets him run Atk/Spd Ideal 4 instead of Remote Sparrow in the A slot, and Spd/Res Tempo 4 lets him run Atk/Spd Oath 4 instead of Time's Pulse in the C slot. "Penalty" refers only to status effects visible on the map. Golden Yule Bow works fine on any unit that wants to run Deadeye and doesn't have easy access to Special acceleration or wants to move Special acceleration onto their weapon to open up a skill slot. You do lose out on effects that give you a more reliable follow-up, though, so keep that in mind. I assume you meant Hardy Fighter. Nope. The damage reduction on the armor-exclusive Specials is a passive effect that isn't tied to the Special being triggered and is therefore not affected by Hardy Fighter. Queensblade prevents Specials from triggering, but does not prevent their passive effects that aren't tied to the Special being triggered. Vital Astra's Dodge effect and Godlike Reflexes' additional damage are both passive effects and won't be blocked by Queensblade.