"Ask Fire Emblem Heroes Questions and Get Them Answered Here" Thread

[Hilda]

@ZeoThe only contestants i see for Close Counter are H!Henry or a Gronnblade Boey with Fortress Seal defense (well he can also run Gronnowl but it i found Gronnblade with tactic buffs amazing on him)

In other words... wait and see what other units are comeing, i really find Close Counter nowadays kinda wasted on most ranged units that cant get at least/close 40 DEF+ pre buffs and even then Dragons can shred them to dust.

[Rafiel's Aria]

@Zeo I'm by no means a professional when it comes to these things, but I can give my two cents based on the little bit of research I've done during my own projects. Though I'd take it with a grain of salt as opposed to those who run more intricate calculations and whatnot. Mine are always fairly basic. 

1. For CC, I've been in the same situation. My first ever CC fodder went to Leon, and he uses it fairly well. I've been wanting to give it to a mage myself, but I've been having trouble figuring out who's best. I was also considering Sothe and M. Morgan since I like both of them quite a bit. When I ran my calcs, I think Sothe ended up out-performing Morgan despite being a little bit flimsier. Now I can't remembering what the match-ups were/what merges/buffs were coming into play...etc. I think overall, Halloween Henry is one of the best units to give it to. That being said, he requires a bit more investment, but he's a really solid unit. I've hesitated giving mine CC because he's not exactly optimal (+HP -ATK), and I rarely actually use armors. Right now, M. Morgan is my first choice, but I'm waiting to see if a bulkier mage gets added or Lyon gets some sort of refine to his weapon that makes running something other than TA3 a better choice. Really hoping to get Canas added into the game too... She's not on your list, but I thought I'd note that I've seen a LOT of CC, Gronnowl+ Ninos in the Arena lately. IDK why though! 

2. For Distant DEF, I'd go with either Faye or Julius but Faye may be the better choice. I haven't touched my Faye since the last time she was a TT bonus unit, and I have no strong desire to use her, but I will say that those Guard Bow, DD builds are PESKY. She can't be merged, but she'll be a pretty formidable EP unit. ForJulius, I think DD is one of the better A skills for him to have. I'd say that if you like him and have a strong desire to give him a more unique build, go for him. But you also sound like you've got a handful of red mages you want to build. Variety is fun, but if you have someone who already does what he does or something similar, it might not be worth the investment. For what it's worth, I gave my last DD fodder to Adult Tiki so she can run that and Close DEF seal. At the time, I didn't have Steady Breath fodder, but I haven't had any complaints about her performance. 

3. I can't say I have a lot of experience with Sonya. Mine's +ATK -SPD, so for the most part, I've only really used her to bait blue mages/green mages since I gave her G. Tomebreaker, but it looks like she can reach a pretty respectable SPD with +SPD. I'll go ahead and say that the Fury/tomebreaker combo is pretty solid. Something I haven't done is test out how something like Iceberg compares to Moonbow. Sorry I can't be of more help here. I haven't experimented with any creative builds for her as of late. She and Delthea are characters I wanna play with but never have.

 

[Ginko]

@Zeo  #1 Generally, Close Counter is good with ranged-armor unit. But if you are looking for +10 unit who are good with Close Counter I think Sophia is one of the better choice and easy to get. Halloween Jacob is decent choice but he is better at Bold Fighter build.

Sothe is decent choice, I plan to build him too but not Close Counter. I think he will shine more as sweeper, not tanker. Tanker, you have Matthew already, right?

#2 I highly not recommend you to fodder Celica, because she is too good to be a fodder. Your another choice is to fodder Rhajat, who need more investment to be good. Who know? one day you might want to +10 Celica and regret this one if you fodder now.

But that's just my opinion. If you are hurry, you can do what you want. I'll give it to Faye and leave Julius alone as ATK ploy fodder.

#3 The first pic is Sonya's general build, you can stick to this build for all-round purpose until she got higher merge. Then if you think she has high SPD enough after some merge you can give her Swift Sparrow and Desperation to set her role to be sweeper. The last pic is least useful, only good for sniping in defensive arena.

Edited May 18, 2018 by Ginko

[XRay]

6 hours ago, Zeo said:

My LA!Roy is -DEF.

In my opinion, Close Counter would be a huge waste on Reinhardt 2.0 LA!Roy even if he got neutral Def. Moonbow-Quickened Pulse is where the fun is at! If you really want Close Counter on a pony, I would go with a pony with high Atk like LA!Lilina and L'Arachel and go with a Blade-Vantage build.

6 hours ago, Zeo said:

Now, the units I'm looking at?

I would go with whoever you use the most, so while TOD!Henry may seem like a no brainer, if you are not going to use him even after you give him Close Counter, then there is no point in giving him the skill. By the same token, if you do not think you are going to use other candidates often enough, it does not hurt to keep Takumi around for a little bit longer and see if any new Heroes pop up that might interest you more.

Also, TOD!Henry also does not need to be in an armor team to be used; I use WE!Tharja as a counter frequently in Arena Assault, although she is a bit of pain in the ass to position sometimes.

I do not have much experience with Close Counter ranged units outside Takumi and WE!Tharja, so I cannot really comment on who to give Close Counter to other than who not to give.

6 hours ago, Zeo said:

2. Who wants Distant DEF? 

I would go with either Faye or Felicia since they can be merged.

6 hours ago, Zeo said:

3. How should I build my Sonya (+SPD/-DEF)?

So, in the scheme of all the pulling I was doing on different banners, Sonya just kind of fell into my lap during my one pull on the banner she was on, and with pretty much the best nature possible. I really have no idea what to do with her. @XRay You're pretty good at units like these, so how should I proceed? I'll throw together a couple of ideas, but I'm not married to anything.

  Reveal hidden contents

With a nature this ideal, an enemy phase build is wasted on her so this is just a few ideas for player phase stuff. Being able to proc Moonbow immediately means she makes great use of Quickened Pulse. G-Tomebreaker is pretty typical on her even if I'm underwhelmed. She makes good use of Fury like most but Mirror Strike is good for magic dueling which it seems like she can do pretty well with her res.

Fury/Desp is a no brainer if you give her the SPD+3 seal. It feels lazy since I already have that with Nino but who says you can't have more than one of a strong nuke?

The third build mostly just seems like a fun "Surprise! You're dead!" build but I doubt it'd see much use outside of something like Arena defense teams, and that's only assuming she's a bonus unit. so there's that.

 

That is a great nature for Sonya, but she is still pretty slow though.

If you do not plan to use her very often, I would go with minimal investment [Fury/Life and Death, Desperation, Speed +3]. While Fury is better for her Res Ploy, Life and Death gives her more Spd at the cost of a lot less bulk, so unless you really need her to Ploy things and tank Reinhardt or something, I would just choose whichever is cheaper.

If you do plan to use her often, things are a little more complicated if you want to milk the most out of her stats. You may want to consider Rexcalibur [Spd] and Gronnblade over Dark Excalibur depending on your play style and how much you want to invest, but I would wait until they release a Refinement for Dark Excalibur and see what it does.

To put it mildly, unlike other offensive tomes, Dark Excalibur is quite underwhelming since it does not boost its user's Spd. Gleipnir, Ivaldi, Mjölnir, and Ragnarok are all on par with or better than Blade tomes because they give their users +3 Spd or more. Currently, Dark Excalibur under performs by a large margin when compared to Gronnblade when both are buffed; Dark Excalibur is still better than Gronnblade when both are unbuffed, but that is not much of an accomplishment when every other tome also perform better by activating a Special and got Refinements.

If you want Sonya to perform her best right away, Rexcalibur [Spd] and Gronnblade are her best options currently. Gronnblade is better if she has constant access to buffs, but Rexcalibur [Spd] is not too far behind either when buffed, and Rexcalibur [Spd] is obviously better if she needs to operate more independently.

Sonya +Spd, -Def
Moonbow
Fury, Desperation
Speed +3
Enemies +5, +Spd, Moonbow, Fury
Player Phase [Dark Excalibur] 36:34:179
Player Phase [Gronnblade] 21:34:194
Player Phase [Rexcalibur [Spd]] 43:18:188
Player Phase [Dark Excalibur, 4/4/0/0] 74:27:148
Player Phase [Gronnblade, 4/4/0/0] 106:26:117
Player Phase [Rexcalibur [Spd], 4/4/0/0] 96:17:136

Sonya +Spd, -Def
Moonbow
Life and Death, Desperation
Speed +3
Enemies +5, +Spd, Moonbow, Fury
Player Phase [Dark Excalibur] 51:51:147
Player Phase [Gronnblade] 37:52:160
Player Phase [Rexcalibur [Spd]] 62:39:148
Player Phase [Dark Excalibur, 4/4/0/0] 96:50:103
Player Phase [Gronnblade, 4/4/0/0] 128:48:73
Player Phase [Rexcalibur [Spd], 4/4/0/0] 123:39:87

Sonya +Spd, -Def
Moonbow
Swift Sparrow, Desperation
Speed +3
Enemies +5, +Spd, Moonbow, Fury
Player Phase [Dark Excalibur] 47:35:167
Player Phase [Gronnblade] 28:36:185
Player Phase [Rexcalibur [Spd]] 54:29:166
Player Phase [Dark Excalibur, 4/4/0/0] 85:33:131
Player Phase [Gronnblade, 4/4/0/0] 119:32:98
Player Phase [Rexcalibur [Spd], 4/4/0/0] 115:29:105

Edited May 18, 2018 by XRay

[Hawk King]

9 hours ago, Zeo said:

This one is a bit of an improv. After seeing this on a few healers it would be a neat idea. She's not bulky like Azama but unlike him she can actually do damage without Pain+. These stats are +SPD/-DEF at +10.

That is actually +Spd/-HP you have shown. And Serra is my vote for getting Close Counter. +10 healers are super fun, and I always feel like such premium skill fodder should only go to units with potential to be +10'd. Plus you could give her multiple staff builds as well as Absorb+.

Morgan then Sothe after Serra.

Faye for Distant Defense. I think all of the others would make better use of other A-skills. Faye however is a one-trick-pony. Her sole purpose is to make ranged attackers regret attacking her. It's a shame that she is the only source of Firesweep bow. Honestly though, even after I pulled 3 or 4 spare copies of her on the Legendary banner she was on, I still haven't given anyone a Firesweep bow. Even my +10 Brave Lyn, I prefer to use her Mulagir. I guess I could be "that guy" and stick her on my defense team with the Firesweep bow, but I'm not exactly desperate for defense wins.

For Sonya, I have a wild card suggestion. Fury 3 with Escape Route. Then she can warp to all of her teammates when her health is low. Combine that with Quickened pulse and that build would be really fun for multi-battle modes like TT.

9 hours ago, Zeo said:

That's the thing, labeling him one of the worst in the game at this point is ludicrous. Building a Jakob, Odin or Jagen, those are achievements. But I think Matthew is a decent unit, and one without summoner support or all your best resources.

For all intents and purposes though, he's not a specialist. I'm going to have to agree with you here. Matthew can do it all well enough, but he's not as good as the best in any particular field. And sometimes you need a specialist. 

I just want to make sure that you know that I personally don't consider him one of the worst daggers in the game. I think most popular tier lists have a lot of things wrong and I like when people build the "low tiers" and show off just how good they can be. Hell, I think Lukas should be S-tier, but defensive performance isn't weighted as heavily as offensive performance.

[Vaximillian]

5 minutes ago, Hawk King said:

Faye however is a one-trick-pony. Her sole purpose is to make ranged attackers regret attacking her.

That’s what I’m using her for. Lyn who? You shoot her, you die and charge up her Glacies so that someone else can die next turn.
Granted, I’m not even remotely in the whaleland, but I enjoy using her a whole lot.

[redlight]

Do buffs that say "for 1 turn" means that they wear off at the end of the player phase?

[Humanoid]

Weapon Workout quests for 6 orbs, that's pretty decent considering the last time around they were only worth 2 orbs.

 

EDIT: Blah, meant to post this in the GD thread.

Edited May 18, 2018 by Humanoid

[Hawk King]

2 minutes ago, silveraura25 said:

Do buffs that say "for 1 turn" means that they wear off at the end of the player phase?

1 turn includes both phases. Enemy debuffs wear off after your unit takes an action so you can move and do nothing to remove it and then be danced to take an action without the debuff.

Seriously, this question was beat to hell in like the first month of the games release...

[redlight]

1 minute ago, Hawk King said:

1 turn includes both phases. Enemy debuffs wear off after your unit takes an action so you can move and do nothing to remove it and then be danced to take an action without the debuff.

Seriously, this question was beat to hell in like the first month of the games release...

Thanks. I just got confused recently with all the 'through their next action' and 'for 1 turn" skills being shit out by developers

[mampfoid]

@Zeo 

1. I think you are at a point in the game where being most efficient shouldn't be your top priority. Remember how much fun you had making Matthew work and now think of a unit and/or team you want to make work.
   • Sothe
     Even if he got a different stat distribution and weapon, you might be tempted to play him like Matthew and thus not getting a fully new experience playing him with CC. 
   • Morgan
     My personal favorite in your list. Don't worry if someone else is better with the same set on first glance, you are pretty good in bringing out the strengths of a unit. 
   • Serra
     Probably a good choice if you want to +10 her regardless. Like I wrote before, don't worry about other units in the same spot if you really like her. Not sure if -DEF is ideal with a CC set though. 
   • Henry. The challenge would be to make him work without armor boots and fellow armor team mates. If you don't care about him, don't play him (too much) only because he is a good unit. 
      
2. Why is merging a unit to +10 relevant in your decision whom to give DD3? Choose your next +10 projects and if nobody of them wants DD3, give it to Faye. 

[MonkeyCheez3K]

Hmm, not sure why I just started thinking about it, but would it be smarter to use Glimmer over Moonbow in my TA dragon squad (Nowi, Fae and A!Tiki)?

Basically, all of them are +Att and use Lightning Breath, Moonbow, TA3/QR3. In never bothered changing that since the Glimmer CD change, nor since the Lightning Breath targeting the lower stat on ranged units.

Someone already made the calculations and gathered experience with Glimmer to spare me the time and resources to check it out? I know people tend to use Breath skills on dragons with other specials, but it never really interested me to do so myself, TA and low-CD is my jam.

[Vaximillian]

2 minutes ago, MonkeyCheez3K said:

Someone already made the calculations and gathered experience with Glimmer to spare me the time and resources to check it out?

Something like this?

 

[MonkeyCheez3K]

8 minutes ago, Vaximillian said:

Something like this?

 

Yeah, pretty much something like that. Doesn't seem to be a clear cut though. Glimmer seems to be better when having a colour advantage, but with TA and squishy low-def ranged units would probably be overkill while Moonbow would help more with the armors lurking around in high-score matches. I need to pay closer attention to the units I can't kill while Moonbow is active and see whether Glimmer would have helped.

The stats are helpful, though. I'll bookmark it for the future, thanks.

[XRay]

4 hours ago, MonkeyCheez3K said:

but with TA and squishy low-def ranged units would probably be overkill while Moonbow would help more with the armors lurking around in high-score matches. I need to pay closer attention to the units I can't kill while Moonbow is active and see whether Glimmer would have helped.

If your Triangle Adept units need to face same color or colorless units often enough, I think Moonbow is a safer bet. As you said, Glimmer is overkill on matchups you are strong against, but it does not do as well against neutral matchups when the enemy got wallish levels of Def and Res.

[Astellius]

17 hours ago, Zeo said:

-snip-

The most obvious choice there for Close Counter, in terms of efficacy, is Henry. The ranged armors definitely appreciate CC. That said, CC is premium fodder, so I think you should use it on a character you really like and want to use. So I wouldn't give it to Henry if you don't care for him.

My vote would be for Serra, since that would an interesting and different setup, and you intend to put a lot of work into her. She might not be the most effective character at running the suggested build, but she's your favorite of that lot, right? (Otherwise you'd be suggesting Azama or whatever.) The same argument applies to Morgan.

I wouldn't go with Sothe, since you already have Matthew. Variety is good!

As for DD, Faye would really like it, it's pretty much her ideal A-passive. Meanwhile, Kaze and Felicia are fast enough that they would appreciate something like Fury more than DD. I'm sure you'll get more Subakis down the line.

Now, for Sonya, I like the Fury/Desperation/Spd+3 build. Even if you have Nino, it's a strong build, and, besides, Nino can only be used for one AA battle anyway.

That's my input at any rate! Hope it helps!

Edited May 18, 2018 by Astellius

[D4rthNoctis]

I've got two Ares (One almost optimal & one meh).

Trying to decide whether it's worth foddering off one of them to my Sword Reinhardt (+Atk/-Res) and give him Brazen Atk/Def 3 for his A slot (Don't have DC fodder)

Worth doing? Seems like a good ability to give him.

[redlight]

22 minutes ago, D4RTH said:

I've got two Ares (One almost optimal & one meh).

Trying to decide whether it's worth foddering off one of them to my Sword Reinhardt (+Atk/-Res) and give him Brazen Atk/Def 3 for his A slot (Don't have DC fodder)

Worth doing? Seems like a good ability to give him.

To be honest, I find premium skills to be more useful on easily available units. You could give him that brazen, but if you're keen on trying for tier 20, I'd save it for a easily obtainable and mergable unit.

[XRay]

2 hours ago, D4RTH said:

I've got two Ares (One almost optimal & one meh).

Trying to decide whether it's worth foddering off one of them to my Sword Reinhardt (+Atk/-Res) and give him Brazen Atk/Def 3 for his A slot (Don't have DC fodder)

Worth doing? Seems like a good ability to give him.

Sounds fine. Brazens work well with both Desperation-Brash Assault and Vantage sets. However, do note that Reinhardt's first round performance would be utter crap, and depending on your team and how you play, having crap first round performance might not be viable.

[Nanima]

So it looks like the Brides are going to be bonus units in the next tempest trials. I'm going to be pulling for new Brides, but in case I don't get them I'll be forced to train up the Bride!Cordelia I got from a Legendary banner last year. The reason I didn't train her until now is that she has a horrible +Def -Spd IV, which makes her inferior to the other archers I am using. But since she might actually get some use here, I would like some advice on a cheap build for her.

I think LnD would make for a good A slot, and it's the only good A skill I wouldn't have to spend 20k feathers on currently, so that's probably a lock. As for B skills, a lot of sites I looked at recommended Desperation or Swordbreaker, but I don't have any 4* fodder for that. Any cheap alternatives for this and the rest of her skills? I don't want to spend so many feathers on a non-fave with horrible IVs

Edited May 19, 2018 by Nanima

[Humanoid]

@Nanima

Depends if you're going to pull for a better one in future perhaps. If you're not, then perhaps it's better to accept that she'll just be a standard Brave Bow+ archer and build her like a +atk Takumi, Klein or Jeorge with the assumption of not quadding (and therefore no Desperation). If you have a Spare Klein you can even do the fabled triple-inheritance thing of passing BB+, DB3 and QR3 at the same time. LnD3 feels a little wasteful unless you want to go deeper and build a Firesweep one down the line (or a quad build with more speed I guess).

As a TT specialist where you frequently run heals, Swordbreaker 2 works just as well as rank 3, so a 4* Sully if you have one can do that (and also give Draw Back). Luna or Draconic Aura for the Special, again for budget reasons you can get good value by passing Hone Atk 2 from Serra or Gwendolyn (or Gunter or Nino) then giving Hone Atk 3 and DA from F Corrin.

[Nanima]

15 minutes ago, Humanoid said:

@Nanima

Depends if you're going to pull for a better one in future perhaps. If you're not, then perhaps it's better to accept that she'll just be a standard Brave Bow+ archer and build her like a +atk Takumi, Klein or Jeorge with the assumption of not quadding (and therefore no Desperation). If you have a Spare Klein you can even do the fabled triple-inheritance thing of passing BB+, DB3 and QR3 at the same time. LnD3 feels a little wasteful unless you want to go deeper and build a Firesweep one down the line (or a quad build with more speed I guess).

As a TT specialist where you frequently run heals, Swordbreaker 2 works just as well as rank 3, so a 4* Sully if you have one can do that (and also give Draw Back). Luna or Draconic Aura for the Special, again for budget reasons you can get good value by passing Hone Atk 2 from Serra or Gwendolyn (or Gunter or Nino) then giving Hone Atk 3 and DA from F Corrin.

Don't really plan on pulling another and will only use her in the Tempest/VG.

Brave Bow+ would require me to raise someone to 5* though. A Gordin, because I haven't seen a Klein in months despite pulling colourless all the time. With Cupid Bow, Cordelia will need the extra speed to double. It really is the only good A skill I can cheaply pass down right now (Yes, no 4* DB or Fury atm). I have two Sothes and a Jaffar, so I don't feel too bad "wasting" it.

I guess Swordbreaker 2 is the way to go then. I'll probably go Draconic Aura since I have more fodder for that. And Hone Attack. Thanks for the help.

Edited May 19, 2018 by Nanima

[Humanoid]

8 minutes ago, Nanima said:

Don't really plan on pulling another and will only use her in the Tempest/VG.

Brave Bow+ would require me to raise someone to 5* though. A Gordin, because I haven't seen a Klein in months despite pulling colourless all the time. With Cupid Bow, Cordelia will need the extra speed to double. It really is the only good A skill I can cheaply pass down right now (Yes, no 4* DB or Fury atm). I have two Sothes and a Jaffar, so I don't feel too bad "wasting" it.

I guess Swordbreaker 2 is the way to go then. I'll probably go Draconic Aura since I have more fodder for that. And Hone Attack. Thanks for the help.

If you're good on archers and have no plan to use her after the TT, I'd almost be tempted to just run regular Brave Bow and DB2 from Hawkeye or Effie since LnD3 is very valuable.

Bear in mind there's no guarantee she'll be a TT bonus unit so I'd definitely wait for confirmation before using expensive fodder. The cheap stuff is fine for setting her up as an AA unit.

[Nanima]

4 minutes ago, Humanoid said:

If you're good on archers and have no plan to use her after the TT, I'd almost be tempted to just run regular Brave Bow and DB2 from Hawkeye or Effie since LnD3 is very valuable.

Bear in mind there's no guarantee she'll be a TT bonus unit so I'd definitely wait for confirmation before using expensive fodder. The cheap stuff is fine for setting her up as an AA unit.

Yeah that does sound like a good alternative, since TT bonuses are going to take her a long way anyway.

And yeah, I'll wait. Just wanted to give it some thought since it seems increasingly likely.

[Ae†her]

I got the same bullshit I had with my first two Siegberts, now with my Ares. One is +Res/-Atk and the other is +Res/-Spd. I want to use him, and merge him, and I would've loved to use DC + Vantage with him, but this could easily be a waste of my last LA!Hector. 

I don't know which one is better overall even if I'm not using DC+Vantage yet. Which one should I go with with the merge?