Arena Discussion Thread (inc. Assault)

[Korath88]

33 minutes ago, Vaximillian said:

Oh, the next arena season is the CYL four and Olivia. Goodness gracious.

BRAVE

NEW

META

[Junkhead]

12 hours ago, DehNutCase said:

I mean, if all you care about is the 4k break point, there's no reason not to level the Askr Trio to 4* Level 40, since one of them will always be a bonus unit. (For the 4.7-4.8k breakpoint, where T20 becomes possible, you'll want a 5* Askr, but even that's not too hard considering how much feathers FEH is tossing at us these days.)

I don't, but I want to see what T20 is like.

[Ledrert]

Well... After a ragequit yesterday (too many Horse/Flier Emblem), I've tried again today for the flags for the gauntlet.

Three great plays, then an red/grey team as enemies. Robin should  handle it... But I failed to see that Kagero's B-TomeBreaker. She killed my Robin with Olivia's Dance. The rest didn't last long. Says long about my Ace... But why B-TomeBreaker ?!? T_T

So, new series... and a one death run (Linde with L&D and Blade Tome... Seriously ?  I didn't have the choice, I sacrificed Eliwood). 4707 points... Not sufficient for rank 20. Well, doesn't matter.

Team :

  Hide contents

• M!Robin+1 (+Spd -Res) | (Blarraven+, Swap, Bonfire) | (TA3, QR2, Fortify Def 3, Fortify Res 1)
• Katarina (+Atk -HP) | (Rauorblade+, /, Glacies) | (Swift Sparrow 2, Desperation 3, Atk Ploy 1, Hone Def 1)
• Eliwood (+HP -Res) | (Durandal, /, Noontime) | (Defiant Atk 1, Axebreaker 2, Spur Res 2, /)
• Michalis (Neutral) | (Hauteclere, Reposition, Bonfire) | (Fury 3, QR2, Threaten Def 3, HP+3)

[DehNutCase]

Spoiler

This was probably one of the easiest runs of my life, which is funny, since I fought fully decked out horse emblems at least 50% of the matches. (Gods Ike is so fun to play with. ORKOs everyone with Aether up, and never gets ORKOd himself as long as he Aethers a scrub in between enemy phases.) The only real threat to Ike would be a decked out Leo, with either Axebreaker or TA, but Lyn would counter that because Leo really need his -blade buffs to function, and her bow takes those away.

(Lyn was... alright---she's a bit worse than Reinhardt on player phase with her default bow, and a bit better versus mages on EP, but nothing glorious like the murder machine called Ike.)

[Birdy]

1 hour ago, DehNutCase said:

  Reveal hidden contents

This was probably one of the easiest runs of my life, which is funny, since I fought fully decked out horse emblems at least 50% of the matches. (Gods Ike is so fun to play with. ORKOs everyone with Aether up, and never gets ORKOd himself as long as he Aethers a scrub in between enemy phases.) The only real threat to Ike would be a decked out Leo, with either Axebreaker or TA, but Lyn would counter that because Leo really need his -blade buffs to function, and her bow takes those away.

(Lyn was... alright---she's a bit worse than Reinhardt on player phase with her default bow, and a bit better versus mages on EP, but nothing glorious like the murder machine called Ike.)

Ike is amazing and hands down the tankiest unit in the game right now. I personally run him with Aegis and Quickened Pulse paired up with an infantry user. Those consecutive 50% and 80% damage reductions are amazing. Let's see how it goes next week on a defense team paired up with a bunch of WoM users.

[mcsilas]

@LordFrigid I met your Arena Defense team o___o

In that damned bridge map, too. And I didn't have any ranged units (unless Hector counts) because I wanted to up my score. That was one of my nerve-wrecking arena sessions I had- managed to get your mages out of the defense tile.

Pretty cool to see someone in the forum though, might as well just send a request

and yay I have Defense wins again, thank you Voting gauntlet.

[MonkeyCheez3K]

5 hours ago, DehNutCase said:

This was probably one of the easiest runs of my life, which is funny, since I fought fully decked out horse emblems at least 50% of the matches. (Gods Ike is so fun to play with. ORKOs everyone with Aether up, and never gets ORKOd himself as long as he Aethers a scrub in between enemy phases.) The only real threat to Ike would be a decked out Leo, with either Axebreaker or TA, but Lyn would counter that because Leo really need his -blade buffs to function, and her bow takes those away.

Did you leave your Ike with his standard kit? I find it hard to believe he'll be that great, or I'm just doubtful my freshly pulled -Spd/+Res Ike is worth much, but who knows, I'll definitely level him up either way.

[LordFrigid]

1 hour ago, mcsilas said:

@LordFrigid I met your Arena Defense team o___o

In that damned bridge map, too. And I didn't have any ranged units (unless Hector counts) because I wanted to up my score. That was one of my nerve-wrecking arena sessions I had- managed to get your mages out of the defense tile.

Pretty cool to see someone in the forum though, might as well just send a request

and yay I have Defense wins again, thank you Voting gauntlet.

Which one are you? I've got 7 requests sitting around right now =P .

Any suggestions on how to increase the evil factor? I've been considering swapping out Linde for Nowi, Ninian, or someone that can buff Katarina...but I kinda like the 3x ranged initiation thing. I guess I could put more seals on them; I just realized that my main arena team no longer uses QP. Oh well, at the end of the day, it nets enough victories as it is.

[DehNutCase]

3 hours ago, MonkeyCheez3K said:

Did you leave your Ike with his standard kit? I find it hard to believe he'll be that great, or I'm just doubtful my freshly pulled -Spd/+Res Ike is worth much, but who knows, I'll definitely level him up either way.

His kit was standard, and he was also -Spd/+Res. Bear in mind that, thanks to Urvan and Steady Breath, Ike values speed quite a bit less than other heroes. He OHKOs with Aether most of the time, and Urvan means that getting doubled doesn't actually make him take double damage, so speed isn't nearly as valuable as an offensive or defensive stat. (It does gimp him versus physical units, though, so he needs the rest of the team to deal with the very best greens or the typical red---blues do 0 damage so he doesn't care.)

Edited September 1, 2017 by DehNutCase

[MonkeyCheez3K]

10 minutes ago, DehNutCase said:

His kit was standard, and he was also -Spd/+Res. Bear in mind that, thanks to Urvan and Steady Breath, Ike values speed quite a bit less than other heroes. He OHKOs with Aether most of the time, and Urvan means that getting doubled doesn't actually make him take double damage, so speed isn't nearly as valuable as an offensive or defensive stat. (It does gimp him versus physical units, though, so he needs the rest of the team to deal with the very best greens or the typical red---blues do 0 damage so he doesn't care.)

Guess that's my standard mentality of trash Spd? => trash unit, which is true for most units, but I'm glad to hear he might be quite helpful and fun to use. Time to level him up after finishing my Lyn for boring Horse Emblem.

[Ice Dragon]

I really want to run a CYL-only team next week when they become bonus units. They look like they would be amazing with each other since they form a good 2-2 hybrid team with a lot of synergy between the pairs.

Ike is basically an unkillable monster. I'm considering using (Urvan, Reposition, Aether, Steady Breath, Beorc's Blessing, Hone Spd 3), but I'd really like to get Drive Spd instead if it weren't currently only available from CYL Lucina.

Lucina is literally the best buffer in the game for physical units (and all of the CYL characters are physical units), being able to give any physical unit within two squares +3/6 in-combat buffs with her default kit. She also has amazing offensive presence due to having the same offenses as standard Lucina, and her bulk is good due to Geirskogul and Sturdy Blow. I might actually be willing to give up a Delthea to use Drive Atk instead since it has more synergy with Ike and Lyn. I'm currently looking at (Geirskogul, Reposition, Aether, Sturdy Blow 2, Desperation 3, Drive Atk 2)

Lyn would switch out Atk Smoke with Hone Cavalry to support Roy, but otherwise her set is good as it is. I'll probably use (Mulagir, Reposition, Draconic Aura, Swift Sparrow 2, Sacae's Blessing, Hone Cavalry). I'll probably keep Atk Smoke for a bit, though, just to see how often CYL Ike comes up to rain on Roy's party.

Roy's base set is pretty good as it is, so I'll probably end up only filling in the blanks with (Blazing Durandal, Reposition, Galeforce, Steady Blow 2, Desperation 3, Hone Cavalry).

Let the death ball commence.

[mcsilas]

7 hours ago, LordFrigid said:

Which one are you? I've got 7 requests sitting around right now =P .

Any suggestions on how to increase the evil factor? I've been considering swapping out Linde for Nowi, Ninian, or someone that can buff Katarina...but I kinda like the 3x ranged initiation thing. I guess I could put more seals on them; I just realized that my main arena team no longer uses QP. Oh well, at the end of the day, it nets enough victories as it is.

It's Kensei :)

yeah Ninian would be quite evil actually, since I barely managed to scrape by in that horrid bridge map. 

If you had ploy skills like Panic Ploy or the Atk Ploy sacred seal it would have made it even more annoying, since I relied on Sharena's buffs for maximum survival on my Hector.

to be honest i don't quite remember what skills that team had since i was more focused on baiting the mages out of the tiles carefully haha

[LordFrigid]

1 hour ago, mcsilas said:

It's Kensei :)

yeah Ninian would be quite evil actually, since I barely managed to scrape by in that horrid bridge map. 

If you had ploy skills like Panic Ploy or the Atk Ploy sacred seal it would have made it even more annoying, since I relied on Sharena's buffs for maximum survival on my Hector.

to be honest i don't quite remember what skills that team had since i was more focused on baiting the mages out of the tiles carefully haha

Got you!

The team was:

Spoiler

• Alfonse: Fólkvangr, Reciprocal Aid, Dragon Fang, Death Blow 3, Wings of Mercy 3, Spur Atk 3, Spur Def 1 seal
• Katarina (+Spd/-Def) +5: Rauðrblade+, Reposition, Glacies, Swift Sparrow 2, Desperation 3, Atk Ploy 3, no seal
• Reinhardt (+Atk/-Spd) +5: Dire Thunder, Reposition, Draconic Aura, Death Blow 3, Lancebreaker 2, Fortify Cavalry, no seal
• Linde (+Spd/-Res) +2: Aura, Reposition, Moonbow, Life and Death 3, Desperation3, Hone Atk 3, no seal

Ninian might be able to take the Askr unit's place after netting the first win ...Julia has a monopoly on Atk Ploy 1 though (I changed out Nino for her on the offense team in anticipation of meeting CYL heroes in the arena). Ninian definitely has the HP to run Panic Ploy, actually, since she's +HP/-Def...I'd just have to find someone to give it to her. And then I'd have to either unequip the other units' assists or actually run some melee units, because otherwise she's going to move before everyone lol.

I guess I could give Reinhardt a buff skill (I have a couple spare Matthews for Hone Spd now, I think), and maybe even change him to the infamous QP/Moonbow set.

I'll think it over.

 

[mcsilas]

@LordFrigid Neat!

Sacrifice Valter for Panic Ploy

My team was Sharena (with Fortify Res and Rally Speed), Hector, Ike and Alfonse (with Hone Attack). I was trying to get as much points as I could so they're al melee units. So yeah, would have been in trouble if my buffs turned into debuffs. 

Yeah Linde didn't have time to get Desperation up and was one-shotted by my Vantage Hector (who was in Vantage mode thanks to successfully baiting Reinhardt- thank you +HP boon). Yeah if you had more buffers for Katarina, I would have been in more trouble - thank goodness your Reinhardt had Fortify Cavalry that did nothing :P

They were neatly arranged so red was one side and blue on the other- if it was more mixed I would have struggled even more. That said, I was slowly being backed into a corner- thank goodness I gave my Ike Reposition to move my units out of the way when needed.

Also yay, I'm at 4834 at the moment with 1 defense win- my highest it has been in a while. So far looking to go to Tier 20 for the first time at rank 1,745 and the cut off is rank 8,590. Hopefully that should be enough.

[Vaximillian]

9 hours ago, Ice Dragon said:

I really want to run a CYL-only team next week when they become bonus units. They look like they would be amazing with each other since they form a good 2-2 hybrid team with a lot of synergy between the pairs.

So, Senri Kita’s team? (she got Roy soon afterwards)

[Ice Dragon]

3 minutes ago, Vaximillian said:

So, Senri Kita’s team? (she got Roy soon afterwards)

That's adorable.

[Vaximillian]

9 hours ago, Ice Dragon said:

That's adorable.

Speaking of which:

[Namarid]

And so it begins

[Stroud]

Yeah, I did my personal milestone today.
4,900 points.
Adult Tiki +3,Sheena +1, Tana and Brave Lyn.

If I knew earlier that I would be so proud of Adult Tiki, I wouldn't have used them for Bonfire.
What a shame =/. 

 

 

[Eleanore]

I had been running a Magvel team these two weeks (Ephraim, Eirika, Tana, Innes) though I'll try out CYL-emblem next week. Tana's guidance is also so good I think she'll permanently replace Linde on my main team (Hector, Soren, Sanaki, Linde/Tana) even if that does ruin the theme of Hector and a gaggle of squishy mages.

I also just learned how utterly terrifying horse emblem is with blade tomes. I encountered a team with Olwen on it and didn't think of it too much thinking she had dire thunder and just put Innes in her path. ...She had blarblade an killed him in one hit. My Innes would have effectively had 47 res during combat, but the buffs made Olwen's attack be 85. Plus it was on that annoying lava map so I had to break formation to kill her but that just caused me to lose anyway.

[Kuroi Tsubasa Tenshi]

Was on vacation, so kinda fell off the wagon for close score keeping, though, I do have some quick notes I jotted down, in case it helps anyone.

Last week, 4952 was worth roughly #1200 in Tier 20 before season cut-off. 4960 was worth #842 in Arena Assault.

This week, only got 4928 so far without any good chances to improve it (I keep getting 700-702 for whatever reason), though #1853/3619 a day before season end is still pretty much guaranteed to stay. Arena Assault I've got at 4958, which is currently #919. I'm a little concerned that I might get pushed out, but I think it's reasonably safe. I should really be used to it by now, but man, that rank gap for a 2-point difference.

[bethany81707]

And before you ask, no, I am not using Florina. Having too much fun with Tana.

[Korath88]

I now have 200+ duelling crests and no idea what to do with them now that I've realised that Arena Assault also happens to be an excellent testing ground for hypothetical arena teams.

[Roflolxp54]

Got 7 defense wins this week, 2 of which came from today.

Also defeated an Arena team that scores for 700 points (Amelia, Olivia, Reinhardt, and Cecilia).

Oh boy, that bonus heroes selection's going to be fun. Brave Roy, Olivia, and Brave Lyn are on there.

Edited September 4, 2017 by Roflolxp54

[mampfoid]

Is there any benefit in using more than one bonus hero?