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

[Ice Dragon]

4 hours ago, Flying Shogi said:

The bolded part was going to be my followup question. I've always been wary of builds that recommend ascending Y stat(usually Def/Res) on a fast unit that comes with bonus damage and DR based on said stat. Fast units will always want Spd but when I see recommendations to ascend a stat like Res on Guinevere over Atk, it doesn't sit well with me since it's more straightforward to stack more Atk directly and aim for the KO. I can only speak to non-high level environments though. VoH and Tier 21 arena seems stressful.

The only reason to run Res on Guinevere over Atk (Spd is better than both) is if you're actually failing to survive counterattacks and need the extra Res to keep her alive, but this only applies against opponents that target Res. Against opponents that target Def, the extra 0.2 effective Def per point of Res is still not worth a Res Asset.

It's actually easier to justify running a Res-boosting skill over an Atk-boosting skill than to justify running a Res Asset over an Atk Asset since while skills have a higher up-front cost to inheriting them and result in a larger swing in stats, they have zero cost changing them to suit the situation.

 

4 hours ago, Flying Shogi said:

Interesting. If I'm understanding this correctly then all sources of bonus damage would be calculated in step 3. Then what was the craze about "true damage" in the earlier days of the game? With how much it was thrown around, it gave me the impression that it was handled in step 7 where the flat damage is pitted against the flat damage reduction. 

Percentage damage reduction wasn't as common earlier in the game, and additional damage was unaffected by the opponent's Def/Res, which meant it was guaranteed damage you dealt even to the bulkiest of tanks, even at weapon triangle disadvantage (noting that additional damage is unaffected by the weapon triangle). If the opponent had no way to counterattack you, you were guaranteed to win eventually because you were always guaranteed to deal at least 1 damage each round of combat.

Percentage damage reduction being more common hasn't actually changed this, though, as you still deal at least 1 damage unless the opponent has 100% damage reduction due to the direction of rounding (for percentage damage reduction, the damage reduced is rounded down, so the damage dealt is rounded up; staff damage is calculated the other way with the damage dealt being rounded down).

The difference now is that most offensive units have so much Atk that they don't have to worry about dealing zero damage in the first place, and at the same time, there are more bulky units that have post-combat healing or flat damage reduction that mean you can no longer rely on additional damage granting guaranteed damage.

In the current stat of the metagame, additional damage is mostly indistinguishable from regular damage.

[Fire Emblem Fan]

What are some good B skills for Brave Lyn to inherit? Since she can't use her native one with an Arcane bow.

[Ether]

29 minutes ago, Fire Emblem Fan said:

What are some good B skills for Brave Lyn to inherit? Since she can't use her native one with an Arcane bow.

It sorta depends on which Arcane bow you have on her. If you have Nastrond, you can probably make good use of Brash Assault 4 if you happen to have it available. the GFU is wasted, but between Nastrond's own DR and potentially Remote sparrow, she can survive counters easily and make use of the reflect. Darkbow can't use it because of inbuilt desp though. Conversely, if she has Darkbow she can windsweep to do the same thing as Sacae's Blessing with a speed check. Nastrond can do this, but it cancels the GFU on it, which isn't as good as having offensive NFU like Darkbow. Either of the two would appreciate the stat swing from Lull S/D 4 if you have access to it, S/D Trace is always a viable option, with Escape Route 4 being a more premium canto skill.

[Fire Emblem Fan]

1 hour ago, Ether said:

It sorta depends on which Arcane bow you have on her. If you have Nastrond, you can probably make good use of Brash Assault 4 if you happen to have it available. the GFU is wasted, but between Nastrond's own DR and potentially Remote sparrow, she can survive counters easily and make use of the reflect. Darkbow can't use it because of inbuilt desp though. Conversely, if she has Darkbow she can windsweep to do the same thing as Sacae's Blessing with a speed check. Nastrond can do this, but it cancels the GFU on it, which isn't as good as having offensive NFU like Darkbow. Either of the two would appreciate the stat swing from Lull S/D 4 if you have access to it, S/D Trace is always a viable option, with Escape Route 4 being a more premium canto skill.

I gave her the Darkbow, and she has Remote Sparrow.

[Ether]

3 minutes ago, Fire Emblem Fan said:

I gave her the Darkbow, and she has Remote Sparrow.

In that case I would say that Lull Spd/Def 4 for combat purposes, or SD Far trace for mobility purposes, with Escape Route 4 as a flex mobility option if you have it available. You need to ping her with some damage from a seal or ally to activate it/swing into something she doesn't kill, but it's quite funny to warp around with it active.

[Ice Dragon]

3 hours ago, Fire Emblem Fan said:

I gave her the Darkbow, and she has Remote Sparrow.

If there aren't Spd penalties being thrown around, Seal Spd 4 is the largest possible boost to Spd. Otherwise, it's Lull Spd/Def 4.

S/D Far Trace grants a decent boost to stats with Canto (Rem.), though Canto (Rem.) is often a bit iffy since it has no effect if you use the unit's maximum movement, which is kind of what you're supposed to be doing with cavalry.

Escape Route 4 gives Canto (1), which is arguably a bit better than Canto (Rem.), but it only activates if the unit has taken damage, which is somewhat difficult when running Arcane Darkbow due to its Desperation effect on player phase making it difficult to take damage at all and its complete lack of defensive effects on enemy phase making it difficult to take damage and survive.

Windsweep and Watersweep are options for the Sweep effect while still having Arcane Darkbow's Desperation effect as a fallback against the other weapon types.

Brash Assault 4 is an option when running Hardy Bearing. While it may seem a bit counterintuitive to nullify Arcane Darkbow's Desperation effect, this option makes Deadeye actually viable and hit extremely hard with Brash Assault 4's additional damage effect while also nullifying an opponent's Vantage. But you'll still die to enemy-phase Brave weapons, and it's arguably better to run this with Arcane Nastrond instead of Arcane Darkbow.

[Xenomata]

I'm kind of running into a Free Summon conundrum and would like a little feedback. I'm debating between Rearmed Grima and FemAlear on the Hero Fest banner.

• On the one hand with Grima, she's not in the regular summoning pool, has Arcane Grima for a weapon, and even if I don't use her for it she still has Hardy Fighter and the otherwise exclusive A/S Near Save. As a Rearmed unit, she'd also be contributing a Merge to my main Grima once she's been used as skill fodder.
  On the other, I currently have no dragons who I want to give Arcane Grima to, I'm not working on any Armors who want Hardy Fighter, and ASnear save is a very specific skill that very few armors want, which again I'm not working on any Armor units right now. Basically, I'd be summoning her and having her sit in my coma barracks until I'm ready to use her for... something.
• Alear has three Tier 4 skills perfectly fit for any Phys.Melee Infantry, specifically a Tier 4 Dodge skill. There are many units who would want her skills, none of which are that hard to chain inherit skills to (Chad, Miriel, and Mareeta cover all 3 skills) and honestly the number of my units that I could upgrade right now with her skills are quite high.
  The big stopper here is the fact that unlike Grima, Alear is still in the regular summoning pool, ergo even if she'd technically be a pity breaker she can still be summoned at any time.

Edited August 10, 2023 by Xenomata

[Humanoid]

30 minutes ago, Xenomata said:

I'm debating between Rearmed Grima and FemAlear on the Hero Fest banner.

Alear is returning in October in the sparkable Engage banner revival if that helps.

[Ice Dragon]

16 hours ago, Xenomata said:

and the otherwise exclusive A/S Near Save

A/S Near Save is also available from Anankos, who is in the standard summoning pool.

 

17 hours ago, Xenomata said:

I'm kind of running into a Free Summon conundrum and would like a little feedback. I'm debating between Rearmed Grima and FemAlear on the Hero Fest banner.

I lean towards Grima, but it really just depends on your priorities and whether or not you're planning on sparking for Alear on the upcoming rerun of her release banner.

The main reasons for picking Grima are her lack of availability and the fact that a single copy can be used for both skill inheritance and a merge instead of having to choose one or the other.

The main reason for picking Alear would be her skills. However, while all of her skills are good, none of them are really best-in-slot anymore outside of specific situations. If you're just looking for skills that are good enough, this isn't going to be an issue, but if you're looking for skills to optimize builds, you're typically not going to be using her skills for that.

The only thing Atk/Spd Ideal 4 does better than its competition is that it grants an additional +2 Spd over everything except Clash, but you need to be able to maintain full HP to do so. We're already starting to get tier-4 versions of Dodge skills with combat effects, so Close Call 4 is going to slowly fall out of favor once we get more availability on Spurn 4 and when Velocity 4 is eventually released. Spd Smoke 4 has the issue of not having an effect on the unit's first round of combat on each turn, unlike Atk/Spd Oath 4 or Time's Pulse, and its secondary effect only benefits the unit with the skill, unlike Def/Res Smoke 3, which is a support effect that helps allies moving afterwards. Additionally, because you want to be in range of the opponent for a second round of combat on each turn, it has potentially negative synergy with Close Call 4, which will typically move you away from other enemy units after combat.

[Xenomata]

On 8/10/2023 at 5:41 AM, Humanoid said:

Alear is returning in October in the sparkable Engage banner revival if that helps.

Nope, that doesn't help at all sorry. I don't tend to go for sparks from revival banners since they don't usually last long enough for me to have the orbs for them, especially if a more ideal banner is going on (which they usually have been what with powercreep being in full effect lately)

On 8/10/2023 at 11:00 PM, Ice Dragon said:

A/S Near Save is also available from Anankos, who is in the standard summoning pool.

You'd think I'd have known this considering I recently summoned Anankos, but that totally slipped my mind...

On 8/10/2023 at 11:00 PM, Ice Dragon said:

I lean towards Grima, but it really just depends on your priorities and whether or not you're planning on sparking for Alear on the upcoming rerun of her release banner.

The main reasons for picking Grima are her lack of availability and the fact that a single copy can be used for both skill inheritance and a merge instead of having to choose one or the other.

The main reason for picking Alear would be her skills. However, while all of her skills are good, none of them are really best-in-slot anymore outside of specific situations. If you're just looking for skills that are good enough, this isn't going to be an issue, but if you're looking for skills to optimize builds, you're typically not going to be using her skills for that.

The only thing Atk/Spd Ideal 4 does better than its competition is that it grants an additional +2 Spd over everything except Clash, but you need to be able to maintain full HP to do so. We're already starting to get tier-4 versions of Dodge skills with combat effects, so Close Call 4 is going to slowly fall out of favor once we get more availability on Spurn 4 and when Velocity 4 is eventually released. Spd Smoke 4 has the issue of not having an effect on the unit's first round of combat on each turn, unlike Atk/Spd Oath 4 or Time's Pulse, and its secondary effect only benefits the unit with the skill, unlike Def/Res Smoke 3, which is a support effect that helps allies moving afterwards. Additionally, because you want to be in range of the opponent for a second round of combat on each turn, it has potentially negative synergy with Close Call 4, which will typically move you away from other enemy units after combat.

Again I don't tend to go for Revival banners since they tend not to last long enough for me to have all the orbs needed for a full spark.

The one thing I can say in regards to your leaning toward Re.Grima is that the note of merging her is kind of moot if I'm not able to actually use her skill fodder beforehand, so in my case I probably wouldn't have that extra merge on her for a while...

I don't imply that Ideal 4 is the best, but I do tend to just use whatever is most easily accessible at the time (I'd gladly give more of my units skills like Flash Sparrow or ASfinish4 if I had more than one copy of the units who have them as fodder...), and in Alear's case it's not that hard to set up the chain inheritance required to have all 3 of her notable skill fodder ready (Mareeta being the hardest, but she's a 4* special pool summon and I have 3 manuals of her)
On the note of Close Call 4, I don't honestly consider the movement effect that notable, as there's often some sort of obstruction that prevents it from triggering anyway (for me at least). And until Velocity 4 exists/Spurn 4 is available on more than Summer Fjorm, I don't mind using the technically "worse" Dodge skills.

I think I will just go for Re.Grima though. Reminding me that Alear has a Revival banner coming just kind of makes me remember that she'll probably be available far more often than Grima, not to mention there's technically two of her in the 5* pool...

Edited August 12, 2023 by Xenomata

[DefyingFates]

Do we still get notifications for when Legendary/ Mythic Heroes are rerun? I wanted to look up some of the Heroes on the current remix banners and couldn't find anything (I'm curious about Triandra specifically). Thanks in advance!

[Humanoid]

13 minutes ago, DefyingFates said:

Do we still get notifications for when Legendary/ Mythic Heroes are rerun?

Whenever a Legendary/Mythic unit is on a banner, the next scheduled appearance of that unit is always stated in the news item that announces that banner.

Of course, it's always easier to wait for someone else to piece the fragments together and come up with the latest chart. It may be worth bookmarking the profile of this user who appears to most reliably produce these charts.

 

EDIT: They maintain this info and a few other useful charts on this site.

Edited August 12, 2023 by Humanoid

[DefyingFates]

38 minutes ago, Humanoid said:

Whenever a Legendary/Mythic unit is on a banner, the next scheduled appearance of that unit is always stated in the news item that announces that banner.

Of course, it's always easier to wait for someone else to piece the fragments together and come up with the latest chart. It may be worth bookmarking the profile of this user who appears to most reliably produce these charts.

Perfect, thank you very much!

[Zeo]

I haven't really been playing this game in a long time, so I'm really outdated, but I got some questions! Lets see if those of you who remember me can help me out! I've got a few questions and I'd like to be brought up to speed by whoever can help me. I'll ping those that come to mind and we'll see who responds, anyone is welcome though. @Alexmender @Xenomata @Ice Dragon @mcsilas @Humanoid @DefyingFates @Sunwoo @Ginko

1. My +10s.

So those of you that remember me would probably know me as the Matthew guy. I put in considerable work as in back in the day but I haven't played in a while.

Spoiler

This guy used to slay armies singlehandedly but the game has changed a lot since then I'm sure and he's become outdated. Idunn was one of the first few characters that completely shut him down but in the wake of all the new damage reduction, unity skills, penalty neutralization and the like I doubt he's much to look at anymore. I know about close reversal from gatekeeper, and maybe Special Spiral 4 from Arcane Ophelia but I don't know too much about all the new things. So, how do I optimize this guy for today's content? Is that even possible anymore?

Basically, I'd like to optimize them all, if you can help based on current events, fodder and knowledge. Chrom, M!Morgan, Erk.

Spoiler

 

Chrom: I have no idea what to do with this guy anymore. His weapon hasn't aged that well and I gave him a speed based damage reduction skill that's probably pretty useless for him now. His defense is serviceable but I always wanted him to be a dragonslayer. I don't really know where he fits today.

M!Morgan: His refine is pretty decent, albeit hard to get used to. He did a nice job as a mage-matthew but today It doesn't really cut it. I love CC Morgan but how do I improve, or just overhaul him altogether?

Erk: The most modern of the bunch and my 2nd to last +10. I popped in when Arcane Eclipse was on a banner and I lucked out so I built him. I love him but I feel like he's not fully optimal. How do I take him to max level? ATK/SPD Ideal? A different special? Astra perhaps? Ruptured Sky?

Ilyana, Ross, Young Boyd

Spoiler

Ilyana: 2nd favorite character in Tellius behind Edward. When I saw she was in the game and as a forma candidate I didn't hesitate for a second. But it was hard to decide on her kit. I settled on this but as you can see she's not finished. She seems like she will function great as a res tank of sorts but how do I polish her. Speed isn't really her thing so she's not really nuking. I know there's no arcane blue tome yet so how do I go about refining what I have here?

Ross: I didn't hesitate to give him Arcane Downfall when I saw Ganglot, but he's in a tough spot right now. He doesn't pack enough punch to kill things reliably, doesn't heal enough in tough battles even with sol, and doesn't have the speed even at max investment to reliably proc damage reduction skills in today's meta. How do I make him go further beyond? And no, don't talk to me about that disgrace of a refine. One of the biggest disappointments ever in FEH for me.

Young Boyd: There was a time this guy could one shot nearly every enemy he attacked. In today's day of speed based damage reduction, and flat percentage based damage reduction. He rarely gets the job done. He lacks piercing of any kind and if he's attacked he's pretty much dead. How do I salvage him in today's meta?

Serra, Nino, Lukas.

Spoiler

Serra: Very outdated staff unit. Fun and fast for her time but I see 0 damage more often than I'd like and not even Miracle saves her from today's units. I saw an offensive skill in Holy Pressure! and Poetic Justice which is crazy, but overall how should I overhaul her kit today, and what are some of the shiny new inheritable staves I can give her?

Nino: Ancient. My very first +10 and a carrier through a lot of old content. She deserves a revival. There are a lot of crazy offensive new skills that can gloss her up. So what's the best stuff? And inheritable Green Tomes as well because blade tomes probably don't cut it anymore. I'll probably just wait for the Arcane Green tome but I'd still like to know what's new.

Lukas: He used to be impenetrable, now they cut through him like sand paper. I know he has a refine and it's not very good. I also know there are some arcane lances. I don't really know what's good for defensive or EP infantry that isn't speed-based DR though, what can someone like him use today?

2. Building Guy?

The second I saw Guy I knew I was going to make him a +10. Unlike his buddy Matthew, Guy has a modern statline that can benefit greatly from today's speed based skills. But I'd like a bit of advice in how to build him. Is Lif's Arcane Weapon better for him or Chrom's? The devourer? What about skills? Finish skills are pretty strong and I know DC is getting upgraded branches now which is nutty. Even some C skills are getting tier 4s now.

3. B Skill for Cormag.

Cormag's new weapon is disgusting. His attack power and damage reduction is so nonsensical based on his stats and potential skills. But the big question is the B skill. For an A skill it's easily something like ATK/DEF Ideal 4 or something of that nature, but what if I don't have the unbelievably busted Guard Bearing 4? What's an alternative for him? I really want to build him, it's not even a want, he's being built. I know what to know what I can use in the meantime.

4. Inheritable Daggers?

I'm planning on building Colm and Cath. Matthew also needs a bit of refining. I have no idea what daggers are in the game now, what are good options for those 3 today?

5. Hall of Forms units.

Cormag, Colm, Ewan, Guy, Dorothy, Cath

I'm planning on building every character listed above, among them is anyone likely to appear in the next few hall of forms? (I know FE6 is next since we're going in chronological order). If I can save resources I'd rather just wait.

[DefyingFates]

2 minutes ago, Zeo said:

I haven't really been playing this game in a long time, so I'm really outdated, but I got some questions! Lets see if those of you who remember me can help me out! I've got a few questions and I'd like to be brought up to speed by whoever can help me. I'll ping those that come to mind and we'll see who responds, anyone is welcome though. @Alexmender @Xenomata @Ice Dragon @mcsilas @Humanoid @DefyingFates @Sunwoo @Ginko

1. My +10s.

So those of you that remember me would probably know me as the Matthew guy. I put in considerable work as in back in the day but I haven't played in a while.

  Reveal hidden contents

This guy used to slay armies singlehandedly but the game has changed a lot since then I'm sure and he's become outdated. Idunn was one of the first few characters that completely shut him down but in the wake of all the new damage reduction, unity skills, penalty neutralization and the like I doubt he's much to look at anymore. I know about close reversal from gatekeeper, and maybe Special Spiral 4 from Arcane Ophelia but I don't know too much about all the new things. So, how do I optimize this guy for today's content? Is that even possible anymore?

Basically, I'd like to optimize them all, if you can help based on current events, fodder and knowledge. Chrom, M!Morgan, Erk.

  Reveal hidden contents

 

Chrom: I have no idea what to do with this guy anymore. His weapon hasn't aged that well and I gave him a speed based damage reduction skill that's probably pretty useless for him now. His defense is serviceable but I always wanted him to be a dragonslayer. I don't really know where he fits today.

M!Morgan: His refine is pretty decent, albeit hard to get used to. He did a nice job as a mage-matthew but today It doesn't really cut it. I love CC Morgan but how do I improve, or just overhaul him altogether?

Erk: The most modern of the bunch and my 2nd to last +10. I popped in when Arcane Eclipse was on a banner and I lucked out so I built him. I love him but I feel like he's not fully optimal. How do I take him to max level? ATK/SPD Ideal? A different special? Astra perhaps? Ruptured Sky?

Ilyana, Ross, Young Boyd

  Reveal hidden contents

Ilyana: 2nd favorite character in Tellius behind Edward. When I saw she was in the game and as a forma candidate I didn't hesitate for a second. But it was hard to decide on her kit. I settled on this but as you can see she's not finished. She seems like she will function great as a res tank of sorts but how do I polish her. Speed isn't really her thing so she's not really nuking. I know there's no arcane blue tome yet so how do I go about refining what I have here?

Ross: I didn't hesitate to give him Arcane Downfall when I saw Ganglot, but he's in a tough spot right now. He doesn't pack enough punch to kill things reliably, doesn't heal enough in tough battles even with sol, and doesn't have the speed even at max investment to reliably proc damage reduction skills in today's meta. How do I make him go further beyond? And no, don't talk to me about that disgrace of a refine. One of the biggest disappointments ever in FEH for me.

Young Boyd: There was a time this guy could one shot nearly every enemy he attacked. In today's day of speed based damage reduction, and flat percentage based damage reduction. He rarely gets the job done. He lacks piercing of any kind and if he's attacked he's pretty much dead. How do I salvage him in today's meta?

Serra, Nino, Lukas.

  Reveal hidden contents

Serra: Very outdated staff unit. Fun and fast for her time but I see 0 damage more often than I'd like and not even Miracle saves her from today's units. I saw an offensive skill in Holy Pressure! and Poetic Justice which is crazy, but overall how should I overhaul her kit today, and what are some of the shiny new inheritable staves I can give her?

Nino: Ancient. My very first +10 and a carrier through a lot of old content. She deserves a revival. There are a lot of crazy offensive new skills that can gloss her up. So what's the best stuff? And inheritable Green Tomes as well because blade tomes probably don't cut it anymore. I'll probably just wait for the Arcane Green tome but I'd still like to know what's new.

Lukas: He used to be impenetrable, now they cut through him like sand paper. I know he has a refine and it's not very good. I also know there are some arcane lances. I don't really know what's good for defensive or EP infantry that isn't speed-based DR though, what can someone like him use today?

2. Building Guy?

The second I saw Guy I knew I was going to make him a +10. Unlike his buddy Matthew, Guy has a modern statline that can benefit greatly from today's speed based skills. But I'd like a bit of advice in how to build him. Is Lif's Arcane Weapon better for him or Chrom's? The devourer? What about skills? Finish skills are pretty strong and I know DC is getting upgraded branches now which is nutty. Even some C skills are getting tier 4s now.

3. B Skill for Cormag.

Cormag's new weapon is disgusting. His attack power and damage reduction is so nonsensical based on his stats and potential skills. But the big question is the B skill. For an A skill it's easily something like ATK/DEF Ideal 4 or something of that nature, but what if I don't have the unbelievably busted Guard Bearing 4? What's an alternative for him? I really want to build him, it's not even a want, he's being built. I know what to know what I can use in the meantime.

4. Inheritable Daggers?

I'm planning on building Colm and Cath. Matthew also needs a bit of refining. I have no idea what daggers are in the game now, what are good options for those 3 today?

5. Hall of Forms units.

Cormag, Colm, Ewan, Guy, Dorothy, Cath

I'm planning on building every character listed above, among them is anyone likely to appear in the next few hall of forms? (I know FE6 is next since we're going in chronological order). If I can save resources I'd rather just wait.

Arcane Weapons debuted around this time last year, were you around for that? If not, they're a line of especially good inheritable weapons. There are two swords (one for general use and the second - from Fallen Chrom, funnily enough - for faster units) that you could look at. If you want the dragonslaying though, maybe you could make your Chrom a pseudo healer with Reciprocal Aid and the original Falchion?

Likewise, Lukas may like Arcane Qiang which came with Alfred and is the lance for slower units and Morgan could take Arcane Eclipse from Ophelia. I haven't done this for my Nino yet, but until we get an Arcane Green Tome your best bet may be to give her the Spd refine for her Tome and swap her C Skill for an Menace or Oath skill since you'll get 5/ 6 to two stats that way AND another effect. We've gotten a bunch of new A and B skills over the past year you could look at too; there's even a Desperation 4 now if you want an easy choice (though I don't know if it's the optimal one).

[Othin]

The thing about daggers is, there isn't an Arcane dagger yet, but that also means we might be getting one soon. So that could really affect the builds for dagger units when it does show up.

[Humanoid]

For Matthew, I'd wait for that Arcane Dagger for sure. He got a Resplendent skin around a year ago for +2 to all stats, but it's a lot of money to catch up on old Resplendents unfortunately. Resplendent M Morgan is the next Resplendent hero announced, releasing on the 24th this month.

So yeah, for most units - say the ones with refines older than a year - the only way back is through inheriting Arcane weapons. The main thing to note is what Arcane Weapons fit each role, for swords, lances and bows there are two different ones with different purposes. That is, one for fast units that can rely on their own stats to double, and ones for everyone because the weapon grants an automatic follow-up.

- Arcane Éljúðnir from Rearmed Lif, for any sword user so it's great for Chrom, who can also get Atk/Def Menace from him.

- Arcane Devourer from Fallen Chrom, for fast sword users. You can also get Spd/Def Snag and Inf Spd Tactic easily alongside the sword, though sadly the Snag skill is for mounted units only.

- Arcane Qiang from Alfred, for any lance user so you'd want it for Lukas. Extra value for mounted units though due to Alfred's inheritable B-slot Canto.

- Arcane Lúin from Rearmed Ingrid, good for fast lance users. Getting extra value is awkward though as her Guard Bearing and her Spd/Def Hold are flier only.

- Arcane Downfall from Ganglot, good for fast axe users, but passable synergy for slow ones if you couple it with Ganglot's Quick Riposte 4. It's fairly to get maximum inheritance value from her for Infantry, inheriting all four premium skills she offers. That said, aside from the axe her kit is clearly targeted towards enemy phase.

- Arcane Eclipse from Rearmed Ophelia. Her weapon is good for any red mage, but the extra value from Special Spiral 4 can be argued to be just as important as the weapon when considering her inheritance value.

- Arcane Nastrond from Rearmed Tana. Again her weapon is good for any archer, but Guidance 4 is extraordinarily valuable making fliers the prime target for inheritance.

- Arcane Darkbow from Alcryst is the bow for speedy archers. Alcryst is similar to Ganglot in that it's fairly easy to get full value out of him, getting Deadeye, Flash Sparrow, and Def/Res Smoke very easily on top of the bow.

- Arcane Grima is the only Arcane breath so far. Good weapon, awkward inheritance since her other skills are armour exclusive.

- Arcane Nihility, obviously super niche being for cavalry beasts only.

 

Unfortunately for the most part, we don't have any guarantees to which Arcane weapons are returning soon. In terms of planning though, we do know that Alfred and his Arcane Qiang are returning in October due to having won the re-run vote.

We also have this mystery "New Heroes Return" banner on the 4th of September. This might be a big one for you, as these banners historically are a mix of highly desirable recent New Heroes, and there may be multiple Arcane weapons on offer there. Granted, last time around it was mostly Ascended Heroes (still good though) with Rearmed Lif being the only Rearmed hero old enough to appear. Unfortunately that means you'll likely have to wait for a different to get Chrom a new weapon, but it does also mean all the Rearmed heroes after Lif are eligible to appear.

With that in mind, it means it's most likely you'll be able to address Morgan/Erk, Ross/Boyd and Lukas the soonest out of all the units listed. We're also halfway through the current Divine Codes cycle which means you likely won't be able to complete more than one row

[Xenomata]

19 hours ago, Zeo said:

I'm planning on building Colm and Cath. Matthew also needs a bit of refining. I have no idea what daggers are in the game now, what are good options for those 3 today?

I think one of the better inheritable non-Arcane daggers is the Bunny's Egg, released on Spring Ashe this year. It grants Atk/Spd +5 and reduces damage from the enemies first attack by 30%, basically Remote Sparrow-lite.
There was also Florid Knife from last years Thief banner, held by Thief Sothe, which granted Atk/Spd +5 and triggered a Canto 1 effect.
And you can never go wrong with Vicious Dagger/Courtly Fan, which both grant Atk/Spd +5 and Null Follow-up.

19 hours ago, Zeo said:

Nino: Ancient. My very first +10 and a carrier through a lot of old content. She deserves a revival. There are a lot of crazy offensive new skills that can gloss her up. So what's the best stuff? And inheritable Green Tomes as well because blade tomes probably don't cut it anymore. I'll probably just wait for the Arcane Green tome but I'd still like to know what's new.

There's actually a very interesting Green Tome in the current Teatime banner that you can get from 4* demote Teatime Ferdinand called Teatime Set, which grants Atk/Spd +5, enables a Canto 1 effect, and enables offensive-NFU if the wielders Spd is higher than the foes. Nino can technically get NFU normally, but besides the semi-recent Escape Route 4 she can't normally get a Canto effect without support. And having all 3 at once is pretty neat.
Besides that though, I still personally use Nino's bladetome on occasion. Paired with Bonus Doubler and LegEliwood's support, she can actually be pretty strong.

19 hours ago, Zeo said:

2. Building Guy?

The second I saw Guy I knew I was going to make him a +10. Unlike his buddy Matthew, Guy has a modern statline that can benefit greatly from today's speed based skills. But I'd like a bit of advice in how to build him. Is Lif's Arcane Weapon better for him or Chrom's? The devourer? What about skills? Finish skills are pretty strong and I know DC is getting upgraded branches now which is nutty. Even some C skills are getting tier 4s now.

Arcane Devourer is the better of the two, since Lif's sword was more built for slower units in mind.
Arcane Devourer, Vital Astra, ASfinish 4 or DistantASsolo, a Dodge 4 skill (you probably missed the window to get Spurn 4 from Summer Fjorm), and either Spd Smoke 4 or Time's Pulse 4 I think is what you need to make an incredibly fast/bulky Guy. TP4 technically makes Vital Astra permanent, while Spd Smoke 4 enables a 4th layer of damage reduction.

...that's about all I can help with. Not even sure how much of the above you can use, since a lot of it depends on the presence of limited-time units.

Edited August 15, 2023 by Xenomata

[Ice Dragon]

@Zeo

I'll be making recommendations assuming you have access to every skill or are willing to pull for any skill, including some that are very hard to get.

Matthew

If you're attempting to use Matthew seriously, he really wants the stat boosts from his Resplendent outfit. With the Resplendent boosts and with maximum Dragonflowers, he has 48/32/41/37/25, which gives him an okay Spd stat to work with. Unfortunately, his Atk is still really low, and while his bulk is okay, he doesn't have access to any weapons that really make him viable as a tank with how stupidly powerful offensive units are nowadays. For the same reason, I'd recommend against running Close Counter skills on him in the current metagame.

Currently, Matthew's biggest issue isn't his stats, but the fact that an Arcane dagger hasn't been released yet, which means he's stuck using weaker non-Arcane weapons. Thankfully, daggers have some of the better non-Arcane inheritable weapons, so the options aren't too bad, but it is probably better to wait for an Arcane weapon to come around and build around it.

If you don't want to wait here's the best of what's currently available:

Spoiler

Vicious Dagger + Sweep

Matthew [+Spd]
Vicious Dagger [Spd]
[Assist]
Ruptured Sky / Lethality
Flash Sparrow
Windsweep 3 / Watersweep 3
Def/Res Smoke 3 / Atk/Spd Oath 4 / Atk/Spd Menace
[any Sacred Seal that boosts Atk/Spd] / Phantom Spd 3

Flash Sparrow is more efficient than running Time's Pulse in the C slot, but if you don't have Flash Sparrow, you can also use Atk/Spd Ideal 4 + Time's Pulse or Atk/Spd Finish 4 + Time's Pulse. Time's Pulse 4 is not necessary unless you're using dancers.

Def/Res Smoke 3 overlaps with the dagger general effect, but Pathfinder is valuable enough that the overlap is worth it.

General build

Matthew [+Spd]
[Weapon]
[Assist]
Ruptured Sky
Remote Sparrow
Phys. Null Follow / Brash Assault 4 / Escape Route 4 / Spd/Def Tempo 3 / Lull Spd/Def 4
Def/Res Smoke 3 / Atk/Spd Oath 4 / Atk/Spd Menace
[any Sacred Seal that boosts Atk/Spd]

This build can be done with pretty much any dagger. Windex and Spy's Dagger are options for direct damage output. Bone Carver, Bunny's Egg, and Florid Knife all have Atk/Spd boosts and a secondary effect.

Remote Sparrow is currently the best player-phase A skill for fast units that have no way of avoiding a counterattack.

In maps or game modes where stat bonus usage is common on the opponent's side, Spy's Dagger + Panic Smoke 4 with dancer support is a viable option if the opponent doesn't have a means of nullifying Panic and stat penalties.

Quick Dagger + Special Spiral

Matthew [+Atk]
Quick Dagger [Atk]
[Assist]
Luna / Bonfire
Atk/Spd Finish 4 / Atk/Def Finish 4
Special Spiral 4
Time's Pulse 4
[any Sacred Seal that boosts Atk/Spd or Atk/Def]

I don't really recommend this build because Matthew's base Atk is so low, but it's technically doable. The issue is that tanks these days are bulky enough to survive, so you're going to be limited to just taking out less bulky units.

 

The other units in your list have more normal-looking builds and are all infantry, so I'll cover general skills first and then go into character-specific notes afterward.

Passive A skills

• Remote skills (Remote Sparrow, Remote Sturdy, Remote Mirror)
  • Ranged units only. Only active on player phase.
  • This is the default optimal A skill for player-phase ranged units that have no means of avoiding a counterattack and don't have the bulk to reliably tank a counterattack.
• Finish 4
  • This is the default optimal A skill for everything else. As long as the unit can activate their Special at least once per round of combat, Finish skills always deal more damage than Ideal skills and also grant passive healing.
• Distant A/S Solo
  • This is the best Distant Counter skill currently available.
• Ideal 4
  • This is only worth running if you can keep both of its conditions active for the additional 2 points in each stat and if you absolutely need the extra points in those stats (most notable for Spd). If you can't reliably keep both conditions active or don't absolutely need the extra 2 points, it's better to run something else.
• Surge skills (Surge Sparrow, Sturdy Surge)
  • Melee units only. Only active on player phase.
  • This is a viable alternative to Finish 4 for player-phase melee units if you want more healing in exchange for a bit less damage. Not compatible with defensive Specials, AoE Specials, or Galeforce.
• Flash Sparrow
  • Only active on player phase.
  • This is best used with Special skills like Deadeye, Lethality, and Galeforce that have high cooldowns and is also useful when the unit has a Sweep or Desperation effect that prevents the opponent's counterattack from helping charge the Special.
• Atk/Spd Hexblade
  • Physical units only.
  • This is a niche option that deals more damage if the opponent's Res is lower than their Def, but requires there to be a tome unit on the team. It's never going to be best-in-slot for general use, but is stronger against enough units that it's always worth considering as an option if you have it.
• Fireflood Boost 3
  • The tier-4 Boost skills grant the Guard effect like the tier-4 Stance skills, but are active on both phases and grant an additional 5 HP. Once the versions for other stats are released, these will be better than tier-4 Stance skills when the unit wants the Guard effect on the A slot and can pass up on the passive healing from Finish 4.
• Unity skills
  • Unity skills grant a smaller base stat boost than the other options, so they're only worth running if you can consistently activate their secondary effect to get its massive boost in stats.

Passive B skills

Passive B skills are pretty distinct from each other, so which one suits a unit is generally pretty easy to figure out based on the role you want it to play, its Spd stat, and what effects it already has on its weapon.

• Escape Route 4
  • This is a good all-round skill focused on mobility, as it grants a good teleportation effect and Canto (1). It also inflicts -3 Atk/Spd on the opponent in combat.
• Desperation 4
  • Only active on player phase.
  • Now has a significantly more lenient activation condition that allows it to ignore the HP check altogether simply by having the unit move 2 spaces to attack on top of loosening the HP check to 99% or lower. It also inflicts -4 Spd on the opponent in combat.
• Brash Assault 4
  • Only active on player phase.
  • This is a must-have for slow player-phase units that don't have a guaranteed follow-up on their weapon and either don't have access to or would rather not run an Arcane weapon with a guaranteed follow-up. It has 30% damage reduction on the opponent's first attack and also grants an Ice-Mirror-like effect on that damage reduction (unlike Ice Mirror, it doesn't include damage reduction from other skills). It also inflicts -4 Def/Res on the opponent in combat.
• Quick Riposte 4
  • Only active on enemy phase.
  • This is just Quick Riposte with 25% damage reduction on the opponent's first attack and a more lenient condition. However, it's still a must-have on slow enemy-phase units if the unit doesn't have a guaranteed follow-up on their weapon.
• Guard 4, Null C-Disrupt 4
  • Now also grants 30% damage reduction on the opponent's first attack. Useful as a source of damage reduction if the unit doesn't have anything better to put in this slot. Guard 4 also inflicts -4 Atk on the opponent in combat; Null C-Disrupt 4 also inflicts -4 Atk/Spd on the opponent in combat.
• Special Spiral 3/4
  • Special Spiral 4 also grants an additional 5 damage and nullifies non-Special percentage damage reduction when the unit activates an offensive Special. Otherwise, it does the same thing as Special Spiral 3 and is used on the same kind of builds as Special Spiral 3.
• Phys. Null Follow, Mag. Null Follow
  • Now nullifies half of the opponent's non-Special percentage damage reduction. The physical version inflicts -4 Spd/Def on the opponent in combat, and the magical version inflicts -4 Spd/Res.
• Lull 4 skills
  • Now reduces the opponent's stats by 4 points instead of 3 and reduces them by an additional point for each non-stat Bonus they have on them up to a maximum of 4 (total 8 points). Despite the boost in stats, these are still rather niche skills largely due to their lack of other skill effects and are mostly useful on bulky units that can't make use of the Spd-based skills and aren't in desperate need of damage reduction.
• Dodge 4 skills
  • Sword, lance, and axe units only.
  • The tier-4 Dodge skills all inflict -4 Spd/Def on the opponent in combat and have a 7-point Phantom Spd effect. The primary damage reduction effect is also boosted to a maximum of 50%.
• Tempo skills
  • These have fallen off a bit on some unit types due to tier-4 skills now granting effective stat boosts, but are still viable on bulkier units that don't need to rely on the damage reduction that other skills in the B slot grant.
• Bulwark skills
  • Melee units only.
  • These have been overshadowed by the new Dodge skills, but are still viable on bulkier units that don't need to rely on damage reduction and can benefit from the additional passive healing effect.

Passive C skills

• Oath 4 skills
  • These are the go-to skills for most infantry units, as they grant +6 to two stats in self-buffs, +3 to the same two stats in combat, and Formation-style teleportation.
• Menace skills
  • These have fallen off a bit due to the introduction of Oath 4 skills, but are still good for general use.
• Time's Pulse 3/4
  • Time's Pulse 4 also grants the same effect after each round of combat. If the unit is only going to be fighting one round of combat per turn, there's no need to upgrade to the tier-4 skill, but enemy-phase units and units being run with dancer support will want the extra boost.
• Def/Res Smoke 3
  • This is specifically used for the Pathfinder effect that it grants after combat. Because of this, this is only useful on player-phase units, and it's more useful on units with more mobility and have an easier time attacking first each turn so that more allies will be able to make use of the Pathfinder effect.
• Spd Smoke 4
  • This is a niche option that grants a Dodge effect for a maximum of 40% damage reduction, but only after the first round of combat on each turn. This is best used on a dual-phase unit that can initiate combat on player phase and then have the Dodge effect active for the entire enemy phase.

Special skills

Only covering the fancy 500-SP skills:

• Ruptured Sky (2 cooldown)
  • Human classes only.
  • This is still the standard optimal 2-cooldown Special. As always, Moonbow and Glimmer are usable as cheaper alternatives with Moonbow being better for general use and Glimmer being better in game modes with inflated HP.
• Vital Astra (2 cooldown)
  • Sword, lance, and axe only.
  • This is the inheritable Spd-based Special we've been waiting for since launch. In addition to dealing damage based on Spd, it also grants a Dodge effect for a maximum of 30% damage reduction, but only if the Special was fully charged at the start of combat. If you want to keep the Dodge effect active reliably, it's best to run Time's Pulse 4 with a weapon that has the Slaying effect.
• Godlike Reflexes (3 cooldown)
  • Sword, lance, and axe only.
  • This is a defensive Special that works against both melee and ranged attacks, but only grants 40% damage reduction and requires a Spd check to activate. Additionally, as long as the skill is fully charged or has already been used in combat, the unit deals additional damage for the remainder of the round of combat. However, because it has a cooldown of 3, it can only be reliably used if the unit has both +1 Special charge rate and a weapon that has the Slaying effect.
• Deadeye (3 cooldown)
  • Bows only.
  • Ignores non-Special percentage damage reduction, but has a longer cooldown. If you can't make it activate in every round of combat, use something with a shorter cooldown.
• Lethality (4 cooldown)
  • Daggers only.
  • Ignores non-Special percentage damage reduction, but has a really long cooldown. It's rare for this to actually be a viable option.

Chrom

The two best weapons for Chrom are Sealed Falchion and Arcane Eljudnir. Sealed Falchion has higher stats compared to Arcane Eljudnir, but misses out on a guaranteed follow-up, the Guard effect, and the Slaying effect.

If you run Sealed Falchion, you'll want to give him either Brash Assault 4 or Quick Riposte 4 to make up for not having a guaranteed follow-up.

Male Morgan

The two best options for Male Morgan are Grima's Truth and Arcane Eclipse. Grima's Truth grants more stats in the form of a Menace effect and Foe Penalty Doubler, whereas Arcane Eclipse has the Slaying effect, a guaranteed follow-up, and Quickened Pulse.

Morgan is fast enough that he doesn't really need a guaranteed follow-up; however, Grima's Truth is vulnerable to penalty nullification. See Erk's section for more notes on Arcane Eclipse.

Erk

Arcane Eclipse is easily Erk's best weapon.

Arcane Eclipse is commonly run with the same build as Rearmed Ophelia's base kit since you can get Special Spiral 4 off of her at the same time. With a 3-cooldown Special, Arcane Eclipse only needs Special Spiral 3 and either Time's Pulse 3 or Quickened Pulse (or the same effect from team support) to function. With a 4-cooldown Special, Arcane Eclipse needs Special Spiral 3, Time's Pulse 4, and Quickened Pulse (or the same effect from team support) to function.

However, Arcane Eclipse doesn't need to be run with Special Spiral and can simply be run like any other tome weapon.

Ilyana

There isn't an Arcane blue tome yet, so Ilyana is stuck with Seashell Bowl (from Summer Tharja) or Magical Lantern (from Desert Soren in the Grail shop) as her best weapon.

Ross

Ross's refine was extremely recent, so his default weapon, Father's-Son Axe, is arguably better than the only Arcane axe currently available, as neither weapon has a guaranteed follow-up.

Father's-Son Axe deals additional damage based on Ross's HP at the start of combat, so he should ideally be running a Finish or Surge skill for healing. Having the Meister effect on his weapon means that he can viably pass up on a guaranteed follow-up and instead run a 30% damage reduction skill in his B slot like Guard 4 or Null C-Disrupt 4 since he doesn't have the Spd to run Dodge, though the guaranteed follow-up skills are still good options. He can also run Mystic Boost 4 or Bulwark for additional healing if needed.

Young Boyd

Boyd's default Large War Axe is significantly stronger than Arcane Downfall, but only on odd-numbered turns.

With Large War Axe, Odd Tempest is a viable option for his C slot or Sacred Seal slot to improve his mobility on odd-numbered turns.

Arcane Downfall, on the other hand, is one of a few weapons that can viably be run with Godlike Reflexes. Shield Pulse is an option with Godlike Reflexes, but it isn't strictly necessary, as simply fighting your first round of combat on player phase will charge up Godlike Reflexes for the first counterattack.

Serra

Staves have a lot of new premium options now, including new offensive Special skills and tier-4 versions of Dazzling Staff and Wrathful Staff. While they don't have access to any of the Blow or Smoke skills, they do have access to the new Finish and Ideal series as well as Oath and Menace.

Seaside Parasol (from Summer Larchel) is currently the best offensive inheritable staff. Incurable (from Saul in the standard pool) is an upgraded version of Pain that deals less damage, but inflicts the Deep Wounds status effect.

Serra's (and any other fast staff infantry without an exclusive weapon) best setup right now looks something like this:

Serra [+Spd]
Seaside Parasol+ [*] / Incurable+ [*]
Return+ / Recover+
Holy Pressure / Light's Restraint / Holy Panic
Atk/Spd Ideal 4 / Atk/Spd Finish 4
Poetic Justice / Dazzling Shift
Atk/Spd Oath 4 / Atk/Spd Menace / Time's Pulse 4
[any Sacred Seal that boosts Atk/Spd] / Live to Serve 3

Obviously, run the refine that is the opposite of the B skill.

Because there are no inheritable staves with the Slaying effect, it's not currently possible to reliably activate an offensive Special in every round of combat without some form of Special acceleration, which means Atk/Spd Ideal 4 is slightly better than Atk/Spd Finish 4 if you don't have Special acceleration since you can run Oath or Menace for more stats instead of Time's Pulse. However, if you don't have access to the offensive Specials or choose not to run one and run an on-heal Special instead, Finish can still activate its secondary effects off of a fully charged on-heal Special even though it can't be used in combat, making Finish the better skill if you don't need the additional 2 Spd from Ideal and are running an on-heal Special.

Nino

There isn't an Arcane green tome yet, so the best inheritable weapon is Teatime Set (from Tea Party Ferdinand), though her default Iris's Tome is still perfectly usable as long as the opponent can't nullify her stat bonuses, especially now that it's easier to self-buff.

Lukas

Lukas's default weapon is too old to be of much use, so his best weapon is Arcane Qiang. While Arcane Qiang is compatible with Godlike Reflexes, Lukas's Spd is nowhere near high enough to viably run the skill, so he'll be running a less interesting Special. Pavise is an option, though, if he wants to focus on bulk, but he probably still wants to run Bonfire for more damage.

Guy

Guy doesn't have an exclusive weapon, so his best option is Arcane Devourer. Arcane Devourer is compatible with Godlike Reflexes, so you can run him with something like this:

Guy [+Spd]
Arcane Devourer [Spd]
[Assist]
Godlike Reflexes
Atk/Spd Finish 4 / Distant A/S Solo
Spurn 4 / Shield Pulse 3 / Atk/Spd Bulwark 3 / Velocity 3
Atk/Spd Oath 4 / Spd Smoke 4
[any Sacred Seal that boosts Atk/Spd]

Alternatively, he can run a Vital Astra build with Time's Pulse 4 and whichever B skill fits the role you want him to play.

Cormag

If you don't have Guard Bearing 4, the next best skill is Guard 4, followed by anything else that grants percentage damage reduction. If you don't have any of those, the next skills in line are A/D Near Trace for Canto or Seal Atk 4 for bulk.

For his A skill, he doesn't have access to Ideal skills (they're exclusive to infantry and armors), so he'll want either Atk/Def Catch 4 or Atk/Def Clash 4. Once it's released, you'll probably want to run Earthfire Boost 3 instead, as it grants the valuable Guard effect.

Daggers

As mentioned earlier in my recommendations for Matthew, there isn't an Arcane dagger yet, and it's probably best to wait for one to be released because it will be much better than the current options.

However, the current best offensive inheritable options are:

• Vicious Dagger: +5 Atk/Spd and offensive Null Follow-Up
• Windex: Adds opponent's stat bonuses to Atk
• Broadleaf Fan: Adds opponent's stat penalties to Atk
• Bone Carver: +5 Atk/Spd and 7-damage Pain+ effect
• Bunny's Egg: +5 Atk/Spd and 30% damage reduction on opponent's first attack
• Florid Knife: +5 Atk/Spd and Canto (1)
• Quick Dagger: 2 stacks of Quickened Pulse

 

Arcane weapons

And a quick rundown of all of the Arcane weapons for reference, including skill duplication recommendations:

• Arcane Eljudnir (sword)
  • Good for any sword unit that needs a guaranteed follow-up. It notably doesn't grant a boost to Spd, unlike other Arcane weapons. This makes it a bit awkward with units that are close to the top in terms of Spd, but not quite there, as they do want the guaranteed follow-up just in case it matters, but getting only 3 Spd instead of 8 Spd from their weapon slot is a pretty big hit to Spd checks.
  • Rearmed Lif is a cavalry unit, which is decent for skill duplication, as most of the infantry-only skills are for fast units, so there isn't too much he can't get that will actually be relevant to units that want his weapon.
• Arcane Devourer (sword)
  • Good for fast sword units. It has +1 Special charge rate, which makes it compatible with Godlike Reflexes, Galeforce, and Hardy Fighter, as well as a hefty 40% damage reduction on the opponent's first attack.
  • Rearmed Chrom is a cavalry unit, which is troublesome for skill duplication, as he can't get Godlike Reflexes, Finish, Dodge, Oath, or Time's Pulse.
• Arcane Qiang (lance)
  • Good for most lance units. It has +1 Special charge rate, which makes it compatible with Godlike Reflexes, Galeforce, and Hardy Fighter.
  • Alfred is a cavalry unit. See the above cavalry units.
• Arcane Luin (lance)
  • Good for fast lance units. It only has Null Follow-Up and extra damage based on the unit's Spd. For infantry, it's better than Arcane Qiang for Vital Astra builds, but can't run Godlike Reflexes. Cavalry and fliers benefit from getting Null Follow-Up, which they can normally only get from Flow skills, and opens up their B slot for other skills.
  • Rearmed Ingrid is a flier, which is fine for the gigantic pile of fast lance fliers in this game and is also okay for cavalry since they have decent overlap in skill availability. She can't get any of the infantry-exclusive skills, though.
• Arcane Downfall (axe)
  • Good for fast axe units. It has +1 Special charge rate, which makes it compatible with Godlike Reflexes, Galeforce, and Hardy Fighter, and also has passive healing, making it really good for Spd tanks.
  • Ganglot is an infantry unit, which means she can duplicate all of the good infantry skills. However, she can't really use them herself because she doesn't have the Spd stat for it.
• Arcane Nastrond (bow)
  • Good for most bow units. It notably has 30% damage reduction on the opponent's first attack and a gigantic Atk boost, making it good for both making glass cannons less glass and more cannon as well as being very good on tanks.
  • Rearmed Tana is a flier, which isn't too bad here since you'll probably be wanting to duplicate Deadeye and Remote Sparrow with her, which only leaves 1 extra skill to pass on, and she has access to Escape Route 4, Def/Res Smoke 3, and Atk/Spd Oath 4.
• Arcane Darkbow (bow)
  • Good for fast bow units that have access to Special acceleration from another skill slot or from team support. The weapon comes with the Desperation effect, which can be tricky to work with because it means you need another source of Special acceleration to activate Deadeye in every round of combat. Infantry have access to Flash Sparrow or Time's Pulse to solve that issue, and armors have access to Fighter skills, but other cavalry and fliers need to come up with another way, which is particularly troublesome due to the inability to run exclusive skills with Arcane weapons.
  • Alcryst is an infantry unit, and this weapon is most suitable for infantry units to begin with due to cavalry and fliers having less access to Special acceleration. Infantry will likely want to grab at least Deadeye and Flash Sparrow, which leaves space for only 1 other skill. Armors can at least grab Assault Troop off of him, though they'll have to drop Deadeye to do so.
• Arcane Eclipse (red tome)
  • Good for most tome units. Its only additional effects are a guaranteed follow-up, penalty nullification for Atk, and Quickened Pulse. It's an inheritable Slaying tome, and that's really all that matters. The weapon itself is clearly designed with Special Spiral builds in mind, but it can be run with other builds just fine.
  • Rearmed Ophelia is an infantry unit, which gives her access to pretty much everything that matters for skill duplication. She'll miss out on a few things like Trace and Hold, but it's not hard to find 3 tier-4 skills to pass down with her for any movement type other than armor.
• Arcane Grima (dragonstone)
  • Good for most dragon units. The weapon is clearly intended to be used on bulkier units, given that it has passive healing, and most dragons fit that bill. The extra damage based on Atk is also clearly there to make up for damage lost from running a defensive Special, but for the most part, it's just free damage.
  • Rearmed Grima is a bit troublesome for skill inheritance not because of her armor movement type, but because all of the good dragon skills are stupidly hard to chain because their tier-3 skills are often still locked behind hard-to-get units (or just don't exist outside of the same unit that has the tier-4 skill).
• Arcane Nihility (beast cavalry)
  • Good for fast beast cavalry. The weapon has Binding Necklace built in, and Binding Necklace is insanely powerful in game modes where stat bonuses are commonly used. Even with how strong refines have been for beast units, Arcane Nihility beats most of them as long as the opponent has stat bonuses (but loses otherwise). Freyja, Freyr, and Nerthuz are probably the only ones that never want this weapon, partially owing to how strong their exclusive skills are.
  • Eitr has the same issue as Rearmed Grima in that units really want to grab Beast Perception 4 and Alarm Atk/Spd off of her, but she's the only unit with Beast Perception 3.

Edited August 15, 2023 by Ice Dragon

[Humanoid]

On 8/14/2023 at 9:39 PM, Zeo said:

I'm planning on building every character listed above, among them is anyone likely to appear in the next few hall of forms?

Cath has just been confirmed for the new HoF, alongside Legendary Roy, Bride Lilina and Ninja Igrene.

[Rinco]

In which month do we usually have the ninja banners? 

[Xenomata]

12 minutes ago, Rinco said:

In which month do we usually have the ninja banners? 

Historically each Ninja banner has been hosted in the month of November.

[Rinco]

40 minutes ago, Xenomata said:

Historically each Ninja banner has been hosted in the month of November.

Thanks! I always mix theese things.
For some reason I was thinking it would be this months seasonal and it got replaced by the teatime theme lol

[Sil/phire]

Alright, can some one convince me that goofy (Brave) Corrin is good?

perhaps i should elaborate. i read her weapon and skills, and all i got was "inflict -x/-x/-x/-x on foe" and DR x%. That's it. She does nothing else. like, i compare that to what Edelgard typically gets, and she's a unit that is always trying to do something. It doesn't have to be groundbreaking, but enough to catch the eye a bit. Her brave had all that crazy mobility like an infantry unit, her fallen was like an unstoppable zombie hulk, and her beach alt was just an assault tank on steroids. Corrin? "inflict -x/-x/-x/-x on foe" and DR x%, and in a few words, "use L!M!Robin and L!Nana to face me", if i understand those units effects correctly. But that's just like the blandest thing to ever write on a character's kit. I do like the vein stuff she's got going. It means we may see more interesting effects finally show up on the game but that's not quite so impressive imo, it just doesn't fulfill my expectations as fan, as something that makes her different.

So please some one who understands this game better than me tell me there's actually something to see here, because i just don't see anything special. May be at the end of the day IS has no ideas left but to mixed existing effects in different amounts to create new units, but i still had just a bit of an expectation and perhaps even that was too much.

[DefyingFates]

9 hours ago, Sil/phire said:

So please some one who understands this game better than me tell me there's actually something to see here, because i just don't see anything special. May be at the end of the day IS has no ideas left but to mixed existing effects in different amounts to create new units, but i still had just a bit of an expectation and perhaps even that was too much.

I think Corrin fits the same niche as Brave Eirika: she doesn't reinvent the wheel, she just does an existing role really well. For Eirika that was being a PP nuke, for Corrin that's being an infuriating tank to deal with if you don't have modern units (such as L!M!Robin or L!Hinoka).

Speaking of CYL 7, which unit do you think has the best fodder? Soren is definitely the easiest to get skills from but I still wanted to ask everyone for their opinions. Thanks in advance!