Arena Discussion Thread (inc. Assault)

[Elieson]

Alfredo/Anna/Nowi/Julia

6 Deathless and the final match vs +3 Azura/+10 4* Cecilia and 2 +2 Reinhardts left a sour taste in my mouth, taking down half of my team.

4,674 (which could've been 4,812). I'll outdo it though. I have a plan!

[Luchi]

37 minutes ago, Arcanite said:

I burst out laughing when I saw this

Oh no! I hope everything worked out okay!

No, it worked out fine in the end. Still not happy with my current score though (4692, using Roy as my bonus Hero)

[JSND Alter Dragon Boner]

Manage to get a Deathless run but my Arena Points is still pretty mediocre

 

 

 

 

Edited May 16, 2017 by JSND

[JHufself]

racked up a deathless run with a score of 4782 using my usual squad of Julia/Eldy/Anna, but I swapped Sharena for Shanna for this season's bonus heroes. I had a couple of options regarding the bonus unit including Xander/Alfonso, but Shanna is a cutie and I'd been sitting on her 4* self for much too long now.

I'm a little concerned that I won't be able to go up a tier, however. I'll definitely try to improve and maybe break 4800.

[MrSmokestack]

I just finished training up my 5* Xander, so I did a deathless run. My score is 4,796, the same as last season, which is a bit disappointing since I'm looking to break 4,800. How can one manage that without merges, anyway?

Currently ranked 1,117 in Tier 17; if I don't bottom out, I could promote to Tier 18. No defense wins at the moment.

Highlights include a merged Carrot Lance Effie and a fully-kitted Celica complete with a -Blade tome, Life and Death, and Desperation. Fun.

Units:

Spoiler

Xander (Neu/neu) Siegfried / Swap / Bonfire / Fury 3 / Quick Riposte 2 / Spur Def 3 / HP +3

Nino (+Spd -Def) Gronnblade+ / Draw Back / Moonbow / Fury 3 / Desperation 3 / Hone Atk 3 / Spd +1

Ephraim (+Def -HP) Siegmund / Rally Defense / Moonbow / Atk +3 / Lancebreaker 2 / Hone Spd 3 / Atk +1

Effie (+Def -Spd) Silver Lance+ / Pivot / Bonfire / Death Blow 3 / Wary Fighter 3 / Threaten Def 3

I'd probably switch out Swap for Draw Back since I didn't use the former very much at all during my run. I miss Reposition.

@JHufself, nice to see some Shanna rep! What's her build?

[Elieson]

1 minute ago, MrSmokestack said:

I just finished training up my 5* Xander, so I did a deathless run. My score is 4,796, the same as last season, which is a bit disappointing since I'm looking to break 4,800. How can one manage that without merges, anyway?

 

Don't use horses. Limit the amount of mages you use. Never use healers. I broke 4800 last season with 1 mage and 3 pairs of 1-range feet

For what it's worth, it still kinda bases score on your BST, enough in that Alfonse nets more points than Xander (3 more, totaling avg 21 points more per streak).

[JHufself]

@MrSmokestack, I'm running pretty much her base kit, but with Iote's Shield in the A Slot and Ardent Sacrifice as an Assist. She's +Spd -Def nature, and works as a pretty good answer to Ike which I fought a few of. I dunno if swapping Iote's Shield for another skill would be more worth it tho, my Julia usually eats all the bow users I run into due to Bowbreaker.

[Elieson]

1 minute ago, JHufself said:

@MrSmokestack, I'm running pretty much her base kit, but with Iote's Shield in the A Slot and Ardent Sacrifice as an Assist. She's +Spd -Def nature, and works as a pretty good answer to Ike which I fought a few of. I dunno if swapping Iote's Shield for another skill would be more worth it tho, my Julia usually eats all the bow users I run into due to Bowbreaker.

IMO with a -def nature, either:

Pull Bowbreaker from Julia and replace with GreenTomeBreaker

    or

Pull Iote's Shield from Shanna and replace with something to help her tackle swords a bit easier (I might suggest possibly Armored Blow or standard Death Blow)

[JHufself]

Just now, Elieson said:

IMO with a -def nature, either:

Pull Bowbreaker from Julia and replace with GreenTomeBreaker

    or

Pull Iote's Shield from Shanna and replace with something to help her tackle swords a bit easier (I might suggest possibly Armored Blow or standard Death Blow)

I was thinking about a Blow or perhaps L+D to replace Iote's Shield, it really hasn't been all that useful to me in the arena (although really helpful while grinding her up to Lv40!). A Defiant Skill might work too to synergize with Desperation under 50% health, as after 2x Ardent Sacrifices, Shanna's just below 50% and getting the benefits from both the A and B skills.

[Elieson]

2 minutes ago, JHufself said:

or perhaps L+D

You want to give your anti-sword unit

 

with -Def

 

L&D

 

That 17 Defense will bite you in the butt man. I promise. Stickwith a blow or even Fury

[MrSmokestack]

9 minutes ago, Elieson said:

Don't use horses. Limit the amount of mages you use. Never use healers. I broke 4800 last season with 1 mage and 3 pairs of 1-range feet

For what it's worth, it still kinda bases score on your BST, enough in that Alfonse nets more points than Xander (3 more, totaling avg 21 points more per streak).

Is it really that much of a difference? I used two infantry, one armor, and one mage last season and got the exact same score I have now. Granted, I haven't ever deliberately hunted for high-point rolls so the score being varied is a possibility.

@Othin ran a mount, an armor, and two infantry last season and got a significantly higher score, without merges.

 

[JSND Alter Dragon Boner]

5 minutes ago, MrSmokestack said:

Is it really that much of a difference? I used two infantry, one armor, and one mage last season and got the exact same score I have now. Granted, I haven't ever deliberately hunted for high-point rolls so the score being varied is a possibility.

@Othin ran a mount, an armor, and two infantry last season and got a significantly higher score, without merges.

 

 

Does your squad last week had several Level 2 skills?

Inheritance wise, your current squad had 2 level 2 skills and i kinda wondered if it does all that much. @Elieson set up runs 2 Starter unit so i had a feeling he had quite a stacked max level skills

 

 

At least its not as much of a trainwreck as my current squad lol

 

Edited May 16, 2017 by JSND

[JHufself]

Just now, Elieson said:

You want to give your anti-sword unit

 

with -Def

 

L&D

 

That 17 Defense will bite you in the butt man. I promise. Stickwith a blow or even Fury

17 Def isn't so bad when you've got a large working pool of HP. The Julia build i'm running works as such, anyway. Regardless, I certainly don't have resources to pass L+D at the moment, and a blow is certainly more realizable. The reason I even mentioned L+D is because it can patch up Shanna's meh Atk and provide a solid boost to Spd so she can consistently win initiated attacks with Desperation.

I also want to mention that your post does come off as a little condescending to me. I could do without the first 3 lines of the response, the last one gets your point across just fine. 

[MrSmokestack]

5 minutes ago, JSND said:

Does your squad last week had several Level 2 skills?

Inheritance wise, your current squad had 2 level 2 skills and i kinda wondered if it does all that much. @Elieson set up runs 2 Starter unit so i had a feeling he had quite a stacked max level skills

Last week, I had Lancebreaker 2 on Ephraim and Brave Sword on Hana as the only skills that weren't maxed out, which matches QR 2 and Lancebreaker 2 somewhat for this week. Everything else was maxed though.

When the Narcian GHB comes out, I'm planning on having Ephraim max his Lancebreaker, but regardless it seems strange that it would make such a huge gap between the two scores.

[Elieson]

2 minutes ago, JHufself said:

17 Def isn't so bad when you've got a large working pool of HP. The Julia build i'm running works as such, anyway. Regardless, I certainly don't have resources to pass L+D at the moment, and a blow is certainly more realizable. The reason I even mentioned L+D is because it can patch up Shanna's meh Atk and provide a solid boost to Spd so she can consistently win initiated attacks with Desperation.

I also want to mention that your post does come off as a little condescending to me. I could do without the first 3 lines of the response, the last one gets your point across just fine. 

 

Also, sorry about that. My biggest concern is that when you see units like Ryoma, Ike and Xander easily topping 51 attack with Fury (a common build), then you're seeing units with a calculated 41 attack smashing into her 17 defense for estimated 28 dmg minimum per hit, before procs, other Atk buffs and more). Considering she's your flier and comes with the unique utility on your team of...Flying, plus is your Ardent Sacrifice healer, you're hurting your team's synergy by asking your backup healer to reduce her defenses. Even if it pushes her speeds up to comfortable Desperation thresholds, she's still walled pretty hard by many Blues (common high def units) and even greens that she might need to poke. For reference, even though she can fly, 45 attack from a green would kill her via Def, and 

It's a bit tough, as I see the benefits of running 43 speed versus 38 speed, but what are you encountering that you need 43 speed to handle, at the expense of an additional heal or tank a little extra poke from someone like Ike + Linde or something?

2 minutes ago, JSND said:

Inheritance wise, your current squad had 2 level 2 skills and i kinda wondered if it does all that much. @Elieson set up runs 2 Starter unit so i had a feeling he had quite a stacked max level skills

 

Anna: Fury3/Hone Spd3/Swap/Moonbow (so 9 custom skills here though not hard to find)

Halfpint: Swordbreaker2/Swap/Draconic Aura (5 custom skills, even less creative)

Sharena: Fury3/Wings of Mercy2/Draconic Aura/Hone Atk3 (9 custom skills, though again, not that hard to come across)

(fwiw my Nowi runs Luna and Vantage 3, while my Julia runs Recipricol Aid, Bowbreaker2 and Darting Blow 3, so I can't really say that they're super tricked out considering how it's not too hard to roll the units with those skills...just 4* inheritance for literally my entire squad)

 

That's my team, (they have their stock stuff in other slots if I didn't mention it).

[JHufself]

2 minutes ago, Elieson said:

 

Also, sorry about that. My biggest concern is that when you see units like Ryoma, Ike and Xander easily topping 51 attack with Fury (a common build), then you're seeing units with a calculated 41 attack smashing into her 17 defense for estimated 28 dmg minimum per hit, before procs, other Atk buffs and more). Considering she's your flier and comes with the unique utility on your team of...Flying, plus is your Ardent Sacrifice healer, you're hurting your team's synergy by asking your backup healer to reduce her defenses. Even if it pushes her speeds up to comfortable Desperation thresholds, she's still walled pretty hard by many Blues (common high def units) and even greens that she might need to poke. For reference, even though she can fly, 45 attack from a green would kill her via Def, and 

It's a bit tough, as I see the benefits of running 43 speed versus 38 speed, but what are you encountering that you need 43 speed to handle, at the expense of an additional heal or tank a little extra poke from someone like Ike + Linde or something?

I actually remembered after I replied that L+D also reduces her Iceberg bonus damage, so L+D is definitely out the window now lol. I've basically got it down to Darting Blow or Death Blow, but with Threaten Speed already I'm leaning pretty heavily towards Death Blow. I definitely see your points about her being pretty strapped defensively, but to me as long as I don't die, then that's defensive enough for me. And yeah, high def Blues can get pretty annoying, but that's what Julia + Anna are for!

[Chromatone]

Yea Im wondering how to improve my score too.   How heavily does it weigh merging vs expensive skills, vs BST ?  I tried running two Hectors one maxed one only distant counter +Xander Rein and was basically the same as my all horse team just sometimes 2-4 points more.  I currently get around 4776.  Should i just burn swords on fishing or Slap on more expensive skills?    I can +1 a couple heroes but if it only adds 2 to my score not really worth it.  I can +1 Titania and give her wings of mercy 3, (very expensive ) as she doesn't yet have a B would this add a few points?

Edited May 16, 2017 by Chromatone

[JSND Alter Dragon Boner]

7 minutes ago, Elieson said:

 

Also, sorry about that. My biggest concern is that when you see units like Ryoma, Ike and Xander easily topping 51 attack with Fury (a common build), then you're seeing units with a calculated 41 attack smashing into her 17 defense for estimated 28 dmg minimum per hit, before procs, other Atk buffs and more). Considering she's your flier and comes with the unique utility on your team of...Flying, plus is your Ardent Sacrifice healer, you're hurting your team's synergy by asking your backup healer to reduce her defenses. Even if it pushes her speeds up to comfortable Desperation thresholds, she's still walled pretty hard by many Blues (common high def units) and even greens that she might need to poke. For reference, even though she can fly, 45 attack from a green would kill her via Def, and 

It's a bit tough, as I see the benefits of running 43 speed versus 38 speed, but what are you encountering that you need 43 speed to handle, at the expense of an additional heal or tank a little extra poke from someone like Ike + Linde or something?

Anna: Fury3/Hone Spd3/Swap/Moonbow (so 9 custom skills here though not hard to find)

Halfpint: Swordbreaker2/Swap/Draconic Aura (5 custom skills, even less creative)

Sharena: Fury3/Wings of Mercy2/Draconic Aura/Hone Atk3 (9 custom skills, though again, not that hard to come across)

(fwiw my Nowi runs Luna and Vantage 3, while my Julia runs Recipricol Aid, Bowbreaker2 and Darting Blow 3, so I can't really say that they're super tricked out considering how it's not too hard to roll the units with those skills...just 4* inheritance for literally my entire squad)

 

That's my team, (they have their stock stuff in other slots if I didn't mention it).

 

I mainly wondered about how many V2 skills you run though lol. Honestly outside of a few skills and DC, getting SI fodder doesn't seem to be all that hard in this game

 

Looking at that unless i miscalculaed, thats 2 with your current squad at an average score of 687 i guess?

Edited May 16, 2017 by JSND

[Jedrus Lilac]

In order to fulfill that gauntlet quest I had to resort to exchanging mynintendo points for a duelling crest. I forgot to check back with the owl though and yes, that moment happened when you accidentally spend an orb for a crest ?

I was quite lucky though as I managed a deathless run with 4728points - doesnt happen to me often. My team consists if roy, linde, nino and azura.

I think its the first time they had  5* as bonus hero that is not in the banner. I was already planning with my 4*xander... hopefully they will continue that trend.

 

[Elieson]

Just now, JSND said:

Looking at that unless i miscalculaed, thats 2 with your current squad at an average score of 687 i guess?

Yep,

Best arena avg score I've had is 4,812. Divide that by 7, and you have 687.4, so good mathers there.

If it helps, I don't run any brave weapons, as I'm still under the impression that the stat total after weapons matters in just as many ways (so running an 8Mt wpn over a 16Mt wpn amounts to 50 points potentially, something I don't care to test...nor have much access to anyway!)

[Whistle]

5124  with my +2 roy this morning :D. He curry me hard , tank quite well. 

[Chromatone]

@Whistle  wow congrats, looks like triple armor is really the way to go!  Can we see the rest of your team?  Maybe ill promote an Effie now to go with my 2 hectors...  Kinda lame that u have to use one type of unit to get on top...

 Again how much does merging help vs max lvl skills? 

[Whistle]

@Chromatone Sure i dont mind. I invest once and the good thing is u can just use the bonus unit as is and still score very high, i rarely see the ranges but i see flying emblem sometime (very rarely).

I have different build on hector and effie and draug. This is my def set up. There are little point of putting distance counter if u rank up high. U still might encounter 1-2 range top in ur run streak, not more. but for sake keeping i put 1 distance counter there anyway. On deference team i run ward just to piss ppl off trying to one shot my guys.

 

Hope it helps. 

[JSND Alter Dragon Boner]

1 minute ago, Elieson said:

Yep,

Best arena avg score I've had is 4,812. Divide that by 7, and you have 687.4, so good mathers there.

If it helps, I don't run any brave weapons, as I'm still under the impression that the stat total after weapons matters in just as many ways (so running an 8Mt wpn over a 16Mt wpn amounts to 50 points potentially, something I don't care to test...nor have much access to anyway!)

 

Weapon wise i currently run Blarblade so that explains a lot

 

 

Also goddamnit a day or two earlier and i can make mathers day joke

[DehNutCase]

30 minutes ago, Elieson said:

Yep,

Best arena avg score I've had is 4,812. Divide that by 7, and you have 687.4, so good mathers there.

If it helps, I don't run any brave weapons, as I'm still under the impression that the stat total after weapons matters in just as many ways (so running an 8Mt wpn over a 16Mt wpn amounts to 50 points potentially, something I don't care to test...nor have much access to anyway!)

Weapons are still skills:

If score is based on skill rank, then Brave+ is equivalent to other max rank weapons. If score is based on SP spent, legendary weapons > all others. (Since they cost 100 more).

SP and skill rank are heavily correlated, however, so it's difficult to test whether it's SP based or rank based, and doesn't matter much anyway, since, again, heavily correlated, so the differences would be minor.

I'm assuming they just calculate BST after removing all skills and weapons, and then each skill adds a certain amount of arena score individually.