Fire Emblem Heroes General Discussion and Links

[Interdimensional Observer]

57 minutes ago, Ice Dragon said:

You were saying...?

Whoops. I didn't look hard enough. I hate it when I make such a pathetic mistake, hurts the image I try to set of myself . Still, no wings in humanoid form, means no flight in all likelihood (sooner or later they'll invent someone who can float around at will and count it as a flying unit).

 

8 minutes ago, Sylphid said:

Like I said, dragons riding dragons.

Ena and Rajaion might be royalty and thus public figures, but they'd appreciate some bedroom privacy.

Also, Tiki, Nowi and Nah all have Wyvern Rider in their class selection in Awakening. Plausible, but also strange.

 

57 minutes ago, Othin said:

Of the 219 units currently in Heroes, I count 90 that were playable at launch, plus 8 GHB units that could be fought in initial story chapters (Michalis, Camus, Navarre, Zephiel, Narcian, Ursula, Female Robin, and Xander). Of the remaining 121, I count 78 new, distinct characters. (77 if you don't count Rhajat.)

I'd count Rhajat. So 78 characters added in the first year with 90 starting units. That's 168 after year one. So assuming 80 new non-Seasonals a year, it'll take another 6 years before we hit the 650 upper limit (648 to be exact) I said before. Although assuming in 6 years we get two brand new FEs with 50-60 viable characters to add from each, we could be looking at a new upper limit of 770 units. If they toss in a remake or two on top of two brand new games, perhaps 800.

This would tack on another two years perhaps, for a lifespan of almost a decade total for Heroes. Not bad, probably very profitable.

[Ice Dragon]

2 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

(sooner or later they'll invent someone who can float around at will and count it as a flying unit).

If we get a second Fae with her untransformed form based on her FE6 battle sprite instead of her FE6 map sprite, she'd probably be able to fly.

[redlight]

Anyone else think the new legendary hero will be in the datamine?

[Othin]

6 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

I'd count Rhajat. So 78 characters added in the first year with 90 starting units. That's 168 after year one. So assuming 80 new non-Seasonals a year, it'll take another 6 years before we hit the 650 upper limit (648 to be exact) I said before. Although assuming in 6 years we get two brand new FEs with 50-60 viable characters to add from each, we could be looking at a new upper limit of 770 units. If they toss in a remake or two on top of two brand new games, perhaps 800.

This would tack on another two years perhaps, for a lifespan of almost a decade total for Heroes. Not bad, probably very profitable.

It's worth bearing in mind that there are some other ways of counting things. Say we look at the past ~6 months, starting with CYL and going up to the present, as of the Valentine's TT. That gives us 54 new heroes, with only 28 of them being new characters: barely over half. That may be more representative of future trends than the whole first year.

[Tybrosion]

7 minutes ago, silveraura25 said:

Anyone else think the new legendary hero will be in the datamine?

I’d wager no since Vanguard Ike was added in separately from the Sacred Memories heroes.

[redlight]

6 minutes ago, Tybrosion said:

I’d wager no since Vanguard Ike was added in separately from the Sacred Memories heroes.

Just checked the previous event calendar. Very unlikely well get the legendary hero in the datamine, but at least we get another datamine next week

Edited February 21, 2018 by silveraura25

[Interdimensional Observer]

5 minutes ago, Ice Dragon said:

If we get a second Fae with her untransformed form based on her FE6 battle sprite instead of her FE6 map sprite, she'd probably be able to fly.

I wonder why they left her wingless in the FE6 official art and map sprite? Maybe because it was easier to draw? Maybe because they wanted to make her look more like a normal girl?

While looking at FE Wiki to see what you meant, not having played FE6 yet I needed to look up her unshifted battle sprite, and since Gleipnirika partly alludes to a glitch, perhaps they could give us this for a character we can't quite unsee?

 

3 minutes ago, Othin said:

It's worth bearing in mind that there are some other ways of counting things. Say we look at the past ~6 months, starting with CYL and going up to the present, as of the Valentine's TT. That gives us 54 new heroes, with only 28 of them being new characters: barely over half. That may be more representative of future trends than the whole first year.

2 less than 30 in 6 months means ~60 in a year. So to add the same 480 for ~650, we'll need 8 years. Enough time for perhaps 3 new games and 2 remakes? Which would raise the upper limit at 60 per new game and how about 20 per remake by 220 new non-Seasonal-Brave-Gleipnirika units. Meaning 890 units total.

But adding them into the picture would require another 3-4 years, in which time another 1-2 new games could release and or 1-2 remakes could be released (no more than 3 games total though). This would add another 1 to 2 and 1/2 years. Enough for one more new game and one more year of additions. 

So the 1 year that is past, plus 8 more, plus 3-4 more, plus 1-2 more, plus 1 more, gives us a theoretical lifespan of upwards of ~15 years. Heroes could end just in time for my midlife crisis!  (I'm enjoying my unending quarterlife crisis as is.)

 

And if this seems odd to type all this speculation out. I plan to keep these numbers on record offline, just for my sake.

 

And long story short- FEH at the current rate runs no risk of running out of new characters. The bigger question is will you run out of the stamina we call "a life"?

[Hilda]

1 hour ago, Ice Dragon said:

As @mampfoid said, other unique weapons do exactly that. All post-refinery unique weapons (either created after the refinery went live or had a refinement added) have superior stats compared to their inheritable counterparts.

Hauteclere has 2 Atk over Slaying Axe+ with the same refinement. Hauteclere [unique] loses 2 HP compared to Slaying Axe+ [Atk], but gains +10 damage to special skill activations.

Basilikos has 2 Atk over Slaying Axe+ with the same refinement. Basilikos [unique] loses 2 HP compared to Slaying Axe+ [Atk], but gains Life and Death 3.

Mystletainn has 2 Atk over Slaying Edge+ with the same refinement. Mystletainn [unique] loses 2 HP compared to Slaying Edge+ [Atk], but gains Fury 3.

Dark Greatsword loses 5 HP and 2 Atk compared to Silver Sword+ [Atk], but gains +4 Atk and +4 Spd when initiating combat.

Resolute Blade loses 5 HP compared to Wo Dao+ [Atk], but gains 3 Atk.

Amiti gains 3 Atk and 3 Spd compared to Brave Sword+.

Great Flame loses 5 HP compared to Flametongue+ [Atk], but gains 1 Atk and the ability to shut down follow-up attacks from opponents with much lower Def.

 

You were saying...?

  Reveal hidden contents

 

This is by no means exactly the same as other weapons. We are talking here about a Distant counter weapon. Last i checked Zelgius and Vike just got a regular DC weapon. So why make an ecxeption for Robin? Same with Hardin, his DC weapon doesnt have anything added. Please take of the Lolidragon-Tinted glasses. Everyone can see how opressiv and OP robins weapon is. Couple that with the skills of his class and you get the Idea

[Othin]

6 minutes ago, Hilda said:

This is by no means exactly the same as other weapons. We are talking here about a Distant counter weapon. Last i checked Zelgius and Vike just got a regular DC weapon. So why make an ecxeption for Robin? Same with Hardin, his DC weapon doesnt have anything added. Please take of the Lolidragon-Tinted glasses. Everyone can see how opressiv and OP robins weapon is. Couple that with the skills of his class and you get the Idea

Robin has a regular DC weapon. For a legendary breath, the baseline is 16 Mt and hitting the weaker defensive stat against ranged enemies.

[Ice Dragon]

28 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

perhaps they could give us this for a character we can't quite unsee?

Staff Nergal first.

“Be prepared. You are to be witness to a power that overwhelms all!”

 

18 minutes ago, Hilda said:

This is by no means exactly the same as other weapons. We are talking here about a Distant counter weapon. Last i checked Zelgius and Vike just got a regular DC weapon. So why make an ecxeption for Robin? Same with Hardin, his DC weapon doesnt have anything added. Please take of the Lolidragon-Tinted glasses. Everyone can see how opressiv and OP robins weapon is. Couple that with the skills of his class and you get the Idea

What makes Distant Counter any different than any other skill you can attach to a weapon?

Why should Expiration be compared directly to weapons of other weapon types?

No character with access to Alondite, Ragnell, Raijinto, Siegfried, Gradivus, or Stout Tomahawk also has access to Lightning Breath+, the only inheritable weapon in the game with Distant Counter. However, Expiration competes directly with Lightning Breath+ for a weapon slot and therefore needs to be compared directly to it.

You'll notice that all of my comparisons in the post you quoted are for direct competitors to the weapons' skill slots. It's pointless to directly compare two weapons that don't compete for a slot.

(This is the exact same argument I use when people compare Yato with Dark Greatsword. No character in the game has access to both, and thus they are incomparable on a weapon-to-weapon basis. Gradivus will never compete directly with Lightning Breath+ or Expiration, and therefore any direct comparison is considered taken out of context.)

Edited February 21, 2018 by Ice Dragon

[ILikeKirbys]

@Hilda Grima's Robin Suit gets an exception because Breath units already have an inheritable Distant Counter weapon (Lightning Breath+) that can be refined to gain the target-lower-of-DEF/RES effect vs ranged units (like all Breath weapons), which is already on Expiration.

To compare the two:

Expiration: MT 16 | If attacked, unit can counterattack regardless of distance. If foe's Range = 2, damage calculated based on lower of foe's DEF or RES.

Lightning Breath+ [Refined]: MT 12 | HP +5 | One of the following: ATK +2 / SPD +3 / DEF +4 / RES +4 | If attacked, unit can counterattack regardless of distance. If foe's Range = 2, damage calculated based on lower of foe's DEF or RES.

Really the only thing Expiration has going for it over a refined Lightning Breath+ is 2-4 extra MT (depending on whether or not you went for the ATK-boosting refinement), not needing to be refined (so you can put those Refining Stones toward someone else), and already being on Grima instead of needing to be inherited (so you don't have to kill a Nowi/Adult Tiki to give Grima some Distant Counter Breath). It's honestly not that great for a legendary weapon (which isn't to say that it's bad, any weapon with Distant Counter is at least pretty good, I just feel like refined Lightning Breath+'s HP + other stat boost would be a bit more valuable than having slightly higher ATK in most situations), and I wouldn't be surprised if I started to run into glowing Grimas in the Arena in the next week or two.

Edited February 21, 2018 by ILikeKirbys

[Hilda]

11 minutes ago, Ice Dragon said:

Staff Nergal first.

“Be prepared. You are to be witness to a power that overwhelms all!”

 

What makes Distant Counter any different than any other skill you can attach to a weapon?

Why should Expiration be compared directly to weapons of other weapon types?

No character with access to Alondite, Ragnell, Raijinto, Siegfried, Gradivus, or Stout Tomahawk also has access to Lightning Breath+, the only inheritable weapon in the game with Distant Counter. However, Expiration competes directly with Lightning Breath+ for a weapon slot and therefore needs to be compared directly to it.

You'll notice that all of my comparisons in the post you quoted are for direct competitors to the weapons' skill slots. It's pointless to directly compare two weapons that don't compete for a slot.

(This is the exact same argument I use when people compare Yato with Dark Greatsword. No character in the game has access to both, and thus they are incomparable on a weapon-to-weapon basis. Gradivus will never compete directly with Lightning Breath+ or Expiration, and therefore any direct comparison is considered taken out of context.)

imho they should be compared directly because they run DC in the weapon. As I allready said weeks ago, The refinement to Lightning brath was allready beyond broken. They should have never let that unique effect on a DC weapon, However i could live with that because of the lower might and +1 charge on specials(still doesnt make it fine). Robins weapon is beyond broken tough. Breath or Weapon, they are operating on the same base skill and yes i do believe DC weapons are inferior to refined Lightning breath

[Interdimensional Observer]

2 minutes ago, ILikeKirbys said:

@Interdimensional Observer Grima's Robin Suit gets an exception because Breath units already have an inheritable Distant Counter weapon (Lightning Breath+) that can be refined to gain the target-lower-of-DEF/RES effect vs ranged units (like all Breath weapons), which is already on Expiration.

I think you meant Hilda, I didn't discuss Lighting Breath or Expiration at all.

 

14 minutes ago, Ice Dragon said:

Staff Nergal first.

“Be prepared. You are to be witness to a power that overwhelms all!”

 

Clever use of the Mine Trick? Dark Druids can use Staffs, and I do recall Nergal having a few Staff Morphs next to him. I had to redo that chapter once long ago because Priscilla got Berserked by one of them, I didn't want her to suicide on anyone and she had my only Restore.

I don't recall any of them being able to heal though. If one did have a Heal or Fortify for Nergal to borrow, that would be fun to watch. But Merlinus can't be fielded for that fight, and I don't believe Mine Tricked foes can trade with non-Merlinus allies.

[ILikeKirbys]

16 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

I think you meant Hilda, I didn't discuss Lighting Breath or Expiration at all.

Ah, must've gotten those mixed up. Whoops. Edited now.

20 minutes ago, Hilda said:

imho they should be compared directly because they run DC in the weapon. As I allready said weeks ago, The refinement to Lightning brath was allready beyond broken. They should have never let that unique effect on a DC weapon, However i could live with that because of the lower might and +1 charge on specials(still doesnt make it fine). Robins weapon is beyond broken tough. Breath or Weapon, they are operating on the same base skill and yes i do believe DC weapons are inferior to refined Lightning breath

I completely forgot about this in my post above on why Expiration isn't as good as refined Lightning Breath+.

S'pose that means Expiration does have something besides +2-4 MT over Lightning Breath+. That's actually pretty neat, it's like a Killer DC Breath (which now makes it sound a little better than it is, actually).

Still wouldn't surprise me to see a Lightning Breath+ Grima!Robin at some point (the additional HP on refinement seems like it would go well with Vengeful Fighter, and maybe some extra DEF/RES would go well with Grima!Robin's base stats to make him a better Enemy Phase unit), but I can see why Expiration is a good exclusive weapon now.

Thanks for that, mate.

[Hawk King]

Wtf, Hardin is most likely going to be better than Zelgius at running Steady Breath, Bold fighter, and Quick Riposte due to being blue. I might want to start running a Green unit on my Arena team.

Grima is going to be stupid. Even if he doesn't get the same BST inflation as the Lolis, he will have armor BST.  After Myrrh and now him, Falchion users will be popping back up into the meta. Especially with the already common Dragon Emblem teams. Oh, and he can double up on armor teams as well.

Beloved Zophia is busted AF. If Celica has boosted BST, she will become the new #1 sword user. I really hope that this opens the door for Ragnarok to get a weapon refinement with a similar effect. B!Celica is almost certainly going to be colorless now. Boosted BST with a super OP Staff would be very much welcomed. @Ice Dragon the English implies that the HP loss for Beloved Zophia only happens when she initiates the attack. What does the Japanese say?

The chances of any of them falling to 4* is probably 0%.

 

And Leif continues to wait patiently. At least by the time he gets added, he will have maximum powercreep on his side.

[Othin]

1 minute ago, Hawk King said:

Wtf, Hardin is most likely going to be better than Zelgius at running Steady Breath, Bold fighter, and Quick Riposte due to being blue. I might want to start running a Green unit on my Arena team.

Grima is going to be stupid. Even if he doesn't get the same BST inflation as the Lolis, he will have armor BST.  After Myrrh and now him, Falchion users will be popping back up into the meta. Especially with the already common Dragon Emblem teams. Oh, and he can double up on armor teams as well.

Beloved Zophia is busted AF. If Celica has boosted BST, she will become the new #1 sword user. I really hope that this opens the door for Ragnarok to get a weapon refinement with a similar effect. B!Celica is almost certainly going to be colorless now. Boosted BST with a super OP Staff would be very much welcomed. @Ice Dragon the English implies that the HP loss for Beloved Zophia only happens when she initiates the attack. What does the Japanese say?

The chances of any of them falling to 4* is probably 0%.

 

And Leif continues to wait patiently. At least by the time he gets added, he will have maximum powercreep on his side.

My money is on Grima having the trainee bonus and ending up with the new highest BST in the game, but we'll have to see.

Beloved Zofia is like Ragnarok: it matches the wording for skills that still activate on enemy phase as long as the user launched a counterattack.

After Sothe and L'Arachel dropping to 4*, I think Celica has a decent chance, especially since she's also like them in having passive skills that could be compatible with it. But we'll have to see: this banner could be different.

I'm sure Leif will be added in March or April. This month would have been a bit soon after Micaiah, since they seem to be spacing out each game's first full banners.

[Ice Dragon]

1 hour ago, Hilda said:

imho they should be compared directly because they run DC in the weapon.

Why does having one shared skill effect justify direct comparison? What is special about Distant Counter that makes it so that weapons that cannot be substituted for another should be compared to each other on the grounds that they share that skill effect?

Should I be screaming in indignant rage that Kagami Mochi+ [*] loses 3 HP and 3 Mt compared to Slaying Edge+ [*] to gain ranged initiation (which is ridiculously powerful in this game), Seal Def 3, Seal Res 3, Def Smoke 3, and Res Smoke 3 (all of which activate as long as the user attacks regardless of survival) or that Kagami Mochi+ [*] loses nothing compared to Slaying Bow+ [*] to gain Seal Def 3, Seal Res 3, Def Smoke 3, and Res Smoke 3?

If I had a sword with 16 Mt, +10 HP, +10 Atk, +10 Spd, +10 Def, +10 Res, and Distant Counter, but it is locked to a character with 10/10/10/10/10 level-40 stats, that makes the weapon worse than Raijinto (loosely speaking), not better. This is because you're forced to compare this character with Ryoma and not this sword with Raijinto (hence the "loosely speaking" because you can't actually fairly compare the weapons side by side).

 

Relative to Lightning Breath+ [Atk], Expiration loses 5 HP to gain 2 Atk and the Killer effect.

As previously mentioned, this is on par with Great Flame, relative to Flametongue+ [Atk], losing 5 HP to gain 1 Mt and its special effect. It's also much less of a boost than Thani, relative to Keen Blarwolf+ [Atk], losing 2 HP to gain 1 Atk, 3 Res, effective damage against armor, and 30% damage reduction from the first hit from ranged cavalry and armors. And, less of a boost than Wing Sword, relative to Armorsmasher+ [Atk], losing 2 HP to gain effective damage against cavalry and Flashing Blade 3.

Nothing about Expiration makes it an outlier relative to current standards.

 

1 hour ago, Hilda said:

As I allready said weeks ago, The refinement to Lightning brath was allready beyond broken.

I argue that the refinement for Lightning Breath was necessary for game balance.

The effect specifically targets ranged units, which prior to the implementation of the weapon refinery were broken by a huge margin. Only recently, with the implementation of refined breath weapons and better magic tanks (and trenches to limit the map control of cavalry units) do we finally have tome users relatively balanced. The top-tier bow users are still relatively broken.

 

1 hour ago, Hilda said:

Breath or Weapon, they are operating on the same base skill

The baseline skill for Raijinto, etc., is Silver Sword+ [*], not Distant Counter. The baseline skill for Expiration is Lightning Breath [Atk], not Distant Counter.

 

40 minutes ago, Hawk King said:

the English implies that the HP loss for Beloved Zophia only happens when she initiates the attack. What does the Japanese say?

It behaves just like Ragnarok and the Ylissean Summer weapons.

Edited February 21, 2018 by Ice Dragon

[Hilda]

1 hour ago, Ice Dragon said:

Why does having one shared skill effect justify direct comparison? What is special about Distant Counter that makes it so that weapons that cannot be substituted for another should be compared to each other on the grounds that they share that skill effect?

Should I be screaming in indignant rage that Kagami Mochi+ [*] loses 3 HP and 3 Mt compared to Slaying Edge+ [*] to gain ranged initiation (which is ridiculously powerful in this game), Seal Def 3, Seal Res 3, Def Smoke 3, and Res Smoke 3 (all of which activate as long as the user attacks regardless of survival) or that Kagami Mochi+ [*] loses nothing compared to Slaying Bow+ [*] to gain Seal Def 3, Seal Res 3, Def Smoke 3, and Res Smoke 3?

If I had a sword with 16 Mt, +10 HP, +10 Atk, +10 Spd, +10 Def, +10 Res, and Distant Counter, but it is locked to a character with 10/10/10/10/10 level-40 stats, that makes the weapon worse than Raijinto (loosely speaking), not better. This is because you're forced to compare this character with Ryoma and not this sword with Raijinto (hence the "loosely speaking" because you can't actually fairly compare the weapons side by side).

 

Relative to Lightning Breath+ [Atk], Expiration loses 5 HP to gain 2 Atk and the Killer effect.

As previously mentioned, this is on par with Great Flame, relative to Flametongue+ [Atk], losing 5 HP to gain 1 Mt and its special effect. It's also much less of a boost than Thani, relative to Keen Blarwolf+ [Atk], losing 2 HP to gain 1 Atk, 3 Res, effective damage against armor, and 30% damage reduction from the first hit from ranged cavalry and armors. And, less of a boost than Wing Sword, relative to Armorsmasher+ [Atk], losing 2 HP to gain effective damage against cavalry and Flashing Blade 3.

Nothing about Expiration makes it an outlier relative to current standards.

 

I argue that the refinement for Lightning Breath was necessary for game balance.

The effect specifically targets ranged units, which prior to the implementation of the weapon refinery were broken by a huge margin. Only recently, with the implementation of refined breath weapons and better magic tanks (and trenches to limit the map control of cavalry units) do we finally have tome users relatively balanced. The top-tier bow users are still relatively broken.

 

The baseline skill for Raijinto, etc., is Silver Sword+ [*], not Distant Counter. The baseline skill for Expiration is Lightning Breath [Atk], not Distant Counter.

 

It behaves just like Ragnarok and the Ylissean Summer weapons.

shutting down 80% of the ranged units with a weapon upgrade isnt balancing its just bullshit imho. I do agree that ranged units were out of line, but this was the wrong way to go at it. When Units like Deirdra and Julia have difficulty killing non blue Dragon units, which they should excell at, you know something went borderline wrong. I do get that they shouldnt be oneshotting Tiki but when Faye or Myrrh one shots Deirdra and Julia on the counterattack something terribly went wrong in the Lightning Breath update (ok Myrrh was running Distant Counter and her original breath so i can live with that).
The fixing to ranged units being opressiv should have been via Team-Synergy, skills inherited and map layout. We are at the point where its not feasable to run ranged units anymore unless they run a Firesweep bow, Dazzling/wrath staff combo, Watersweep or have the stat spread to run a desperation litrblade built or desperation + brash assault built. This hurts the game because its not feasable to go anymore for interesting skill combos, because your units are guaranteed to underperform otherwise.
The time has come that IS introduces a Dragonstone breaker skill imho.

[Lord-Zero]

2 hours ago, Hawk King said:

The chances of any of them falling to 4* is probably 0%.

Celica Alter has the least desirable skills so if anyone’s getting demoted to 4*, it’ll be her. The other 2 have DC weapons and the highly desired Vengeful Fighter and Bold Fighter skills. Beloved Zofia is just a powercrept Summer weapon. 

 

Edited February 22, 2018 by Lord-Zero

[mampfoid]

3 minutes ago, Lord-Zero said:

Celica Alter has the least desirable skills so if anyone’s getting demoted to 4*, it’ll be her. The other 2 have DC weapons and the highly desired Vengeful Fighter and Bold Fighter skills. 

But she has a unique weapon and an unique skill (most likely). 

Edited February 22, 2018 by mampfoid

[YotsuMaboroshi]

1 minute ago, mampfoid said:

But she has a unique weapon and an unique skill (most likely). 

Chill Spd 3's probably inheritable.  Non-inheritable skills so far don't have skill ranks.

[Lord-Zero]

Just now, mampfoid said:

But she has a unique weapon and a unique skill (most likely). 

- She’s a red infantry unit in a vast sea of red infantry sword units

- Beloved Zofia is just a powercrept Summer weapon

- Her kit isn’t really great especially when the other 2 have way more desirable skills

- Troll Speed is not exclusive to her so you can sac her for it

Just like L ‘Arachel and Sothe before her, she’s the most likely unit to be demoted. 

 

[mampfoid]

2 minutes ago, YotsuMaboroshi said:

Chill Spd 3's probably inheritable.  Non-inheritable skills so far don't have skill ranks.

That would be ... a pain in arena for my Roy. 

@Lord-Zero I wouldn't mind her getting demoted. They should do that with more units. 

Edited February 22, 2018 by mampfoid

[Lord-Zero]

3 minutes ago, mampfoid said:

That would be ... a pain in arena for my Roy. 

@Lord-Zero I wouldn't mind her getting demoted. They should do that with more units. 

Not only Roy but also the likes of Ayra and Mia who rely on their speed. 

Well, Celica Alter getting demoted just means that it’ll be easier to get more copies of her as well as hunting for the proper set of IVs. The fact that she’s not limited means that she’ll spook you eventually. 

[Zapp Branniglenn]

Yeah, Celica really jumps out at you for being the demotion. Plus the last two demotions - L'Arachel and Sothe both have personal weapons.

You just have to have a personal weapon if you're gonna survive in this meta.