Arena Discussion Thread (inc. Assault)

[Alexmender]

Back to tier 19 with a 4792 offense score (one death). I'm glad my recent team of Bike, Reinhardt, Tana and bonus unit (Elincia this week) grants me above 3 defense wins. I don't like using Horse Emblem or dancers for cheap wins, but I still use Reinhardt to not make it too easy.

[mampfoid]

Up in Tier 20 again, but not getting full defense feathers (just 500). My Hector 2x/Olivia/Amelia combo didn't give me any wins for 2 weeks. Therefore I sacrificed 1 Hector to Titania and went along with the mainstream making BH!Lyn, Ursula, Reinhardt & Azura my defense team. 

7 hours ago, LordFrigid said:

[...] Next week I'll probably be running Anna or Valter as my bonus unit, depending on how I'm feeling. I do need to get accustomed to the tighter positioning constraints of 1 Spur (Atk) and 3 Goads, but on the other hand, Valter actually surprised me as I was building him up in the Tempest Trials, and I may just end up using him at least a little bit for the fun of it.

How did you build your Valter? I'm thinking of a promotion for him, but he suffers strong competition by other lancers in general (Cordelia, Firesweep Tana, Hinoka) and other units in the promotion queue (dragons, Roderick, brave+ for Cherche, Alfonse, Cecilia). If there was a strong budget build for him, he could be pushed to 1st in that queue. 

[Zelgius]

I'm enjoying having F Robin as a bonus unit, I've given her a Gronnblade+ build which lets her deal with opposing Reinhardts and Brave Lyns. She'll probably stay on my arena team even after this week, although if BK is a bonus unit next week I might use an armour team.

[Korath88]

4,834 deathless arena score with Hector, B!Lyn, Ninian and Valter. (Who needs reds lol) 

Won't be enough to stay in tier 20, but at least I know that I can consistently make it back in again.

 

Surprisingly enough, didn't see a single B!Lyn during the run, which made it rather easy.

[mampfoid]

23 minutes ago, Zelgius said:

I'm enjoying having F Robin as a bonus unit, I've given her a Gronnblade+ build which lets her deal with opposing Reinhardts and Brave Lyns. She'll probably stay on my arena team even after this week, although if BK is a bonus unit next week I might use an armour team.

TT reward units (MB!Marth, Tobin, Clive) haven't been arena bonus units in the past. 

[Zelgius]

7 minutes ago, mampfoid said:

TT reward units (MB!Marth, Tobin, Clive) haven't been arena bonus units in the past. 

Ah, that's a shame. I never knew.

[mampfoid]

I can't reach a score of 4900 which seems to be necessary to stay in Tier 20, therefore i'm trying to make a fun streak with a team of Elincia, Cherche, Tana & Cordelia to just reach a score of 4000. 

[JSND Alter Dragon Boner]

1 hour ago, mampfoid said:

I can't reach a score of 4900 which seems to be necessary to stay in Tier 20, therefore i'm trying to make a fun streak with a team of Elincia, Cherche, Tana & Cordelia to just reach a score of 4000. 

4900 is not enough during CYL rotation

its closer to 4920+ atm

[mampfoid]

1 minute ago, JSND Alter Dragon Boner said:

4900 is not enough during CYL rotation

its closer to 4920+ atm

With very much effort I could try to reach 4920, but since there is no guarantee even this would suffice, I'll pass this season. 

[DehNutCase]

I still don't like using armor units---1 move, which is total shit, or 2 move if you're willing to make positioning even harder and sacrifice a C-slot is just too much of a disadvantage for me---but I'll admit BK is rather nice for Arena Assault. Not because he does much---the fact that he has to pay skill slots or unit-turns, one way or another, to get to his fights means that his matchups ends up about the same as other, lower BST units that can afford to run things like breakers, buff skills, or rallies (I hate rallies too, for much the same reasons that I hate armors, but it's still a way to trade mobility\unit-turns for better matchups)---but because his base set gives a damn ton of arena score.

Prf, Eclipse, and WoM being 240 rather than 200 gives him 2 merges and some change when it comes to arena score, add that to his armor BST and it means slapping him in the first team for AA gives a comfortable amount of points---the fact that the first fight in AA basically doesn't matter means I can get away with janky team comps like BK, 'Marth,' Lucina, and Hector, who are all low priority picks when it comes to matches. (I actually have Selena on a higher pick priority than Lucina or 'Marth' simply because she has reposition, a similar matchup spread, and ridiculously reliable bulk. Being able to facetank B!Lyn because you have the speed to avoid doubles makes setting up the player phase so much easier. She plays pretty similar to B!Ike, which is interesting considering how different their spreads are.)

[Ice Dragon]

3 minutes ago, DehNutCase said:

2 move if you're willing to make positioning even harder and sacrifice a C-slot is just too much of a disadvantage for me

If you look at it the other way, armors with Armor March are just infantry units with a permanent +10-12 worth of stat buffs (albeit all in defensive stats).

[DehNutCase]

12 minutes ago, Ice Dragon said:

If you look at it the other way, armors with Armor March are just infantry units with a permanent +10-12 worth of stat buffs (albeit all in defensive stats).

Nowhere near permanent, Infantry don't need to stand next to each other to get the extra move over armors. (You can't have 2 armors in an diagonal to be as close to the 'danger line' as possible, for example.)

Fliers and Infantry can do that, but at least one armor will be forced to stand in the sadness zone of being 1 square away from the 'danger line' rather than directly next to it. Cavalry don't even mind being in the sadness zone because they have +1 move, but that's because they're better than everyone at everything.

: /

That's what I meant by making positioning even harder, since you need to juggle extra hoops to setup the next player phase. Yeah, an infantry will lose some stats if your buffs were hones or forts from standing in the diagonal, but at least they don't lose another 1 move on top of it.

Edit: Mind, the problem with armors is mostly the fact that the game simply isn't built in a way that allows them to leverage their advantage or erase their disadvantage---kind of the exact opposite of horse mages, the game is built so that they can leverage the crap out of their +1 move and erase their lesser stats with -blade and class buffs. It takes a lot of defense stats to go 'Doga will choke this point' as an armor, +10ish stats is a start, but usually you'd need to commit multiple C-slots for it.

Edited September 26, 2017 by DehNutCase

[LordFrigid]

6 hours ago, mampfoid said:

How did you build your Valter? I'm thinking of a promotion for him, but he suffers strong competition by other lancers in general (Cordelia, Firesweep Tana, Hinoka) and other units in the promotion queue (dragons, Roderick, brave+ for Cherche, Alfonse, Cecilia). If there was a strong budget build for him, he could be pushed to 1st in that queue. 

I actually just gave him Reposition, Escape Route, and Goad Fliers. Idk if I’d prioritize him over the rest of your queue tbh, unless you’ve got a Goad team ready to shove him on. He worked well in the tempest partially because I had Elincia, SP Camilla, and Maria to support him and cover his weaknesses...though he was a surprisingly solid physical red/blue tank, and secured a lot of doubles with 2 Goad stacks. He’s probably going back on that team once Tana hits 3k HM.

He does decently enough for himself in the Arena, though he’s hampered a bit by the fact that I don’t really face any unmerged enemies with the team I run.

Edited September 26, 2017 by LordFrigid

[mampfoid]

12 minutes ago, LordFrigid said:

I actually just gave him Reposition, Escape Route, and Goad Fliers. Idk if I’d prioritize him over the rest of your queue tbh, unless you’ve got a Goad team ready to shove him on. He worked well in the tempest partially because I had Elincia, SP Camilla, and Maria to support him and cover his weaknesses...though he was a surprisingly solid physical red/blue tank, and secured a lot of doubles with 2 Goad stacks. He’s probably going back on that team once Tana hits 3k HM.

He does decently enough for himself in the Arena, though he’s hampered a bit by the fact that I don’t really face any unmerged enemies with the team I run.

Thanks, that's about what I was thinking. Arena bonus unit is Elincia and he'd compete with Firesweep Tana and Cordelia for a slot in my melee flier team. There are still some days to decide (some TT rewards missing until 20k). Perhaps I'll save those feathers for the next GHB (possibly a mage?). 

Edited September 26, 2017 by mampfoid
copy and paste error

[Hilda]

Managed to get a new highscore of 5006 for this week. So Arena fights done. I can now guess from the rewarding points if there is a Dancer involved in the oposing Team or not. Anything below 714 (708ish points) uses a Dancer in 90% of the cases, anything above or at 714+ almost never has a Dancer in the PT. This was very helpfull for deciding which battles to take on :D

[Hawk King]

2 hours ago, DehNutCase said:

Nowhere near permanent, Infantry don't need to stand next to each other to get the extra move over armors. (You can't have 2 armors in an diagonal to be as close to the 'danger line' as possible, for example.)

Fliers and Infantry can do that, but at least one armor will be forced to stand in the sadness zone of being 1 square away from the 'danger line' rather than directly next to it. Cavalry don't even mind being in the sadness zone because they have +1 move, but that's because they're better than everyone at everything.

: /

That's what I meant by making positioning even harder, since you need to juggle extra hoops to setup the next player phase. Yeah, an infantry will lose some stats if your buffs were hones or forts from standing in the diagonal, but at least they don't lose another 1 move on top of it.

Edit: Mind, the problem with armors is mostly the fact that the game simply isn't built in a way that allows them to leverage their advantage or erase their disadvantage---kind of the exact opposite of horse mages, the game is built so that they can leverage the crap out of their +1 move and erase their lesser stats with -blade and class buffs. It takes a lot of defense stats to go 'Doga will choke this point' as an armor, +10ish stats is a start, but usually you'd need to commit multiple C-slots for it.

You're going about it all wrong. I have found that Armor March is most effective with just two armors. They can S-Support with each other and the non-Armor March unit can run Hone or Fortify Armor.

I've been running BK with Amelia and I am loving them.

[mampfoid]

2 minutes ago, Hawk King said:

You're going about it all wrong. I have found that Armor March is most effective with just two armors. They can S-Support with each other and the non-Armor March unit can run Hone or Fortify Armor.

I've been running BK with Amelia and I am loving them.

I also like that armor march is not hindered by trees. 

[Hawk King]

3 minutes ago, mampfoid said:

I also like that armor march is not hindered by trees. 

Oh God yes. This too.

[Stroud]

I had 4914 Points this week and remained in Tier 20.
Thanks to my Tiki/Sheena core I get more points.
The other 2 units were Lyn(Brave) and Oscar.

And yes, finally I have Panic Ploy Seal, which will make Arena Offense much easier for me.

This week I try Black Knight,Tiki,Sheena and Oscar. It will be more difficult, but I already did 2 rounds with them successfully. And I rather bet on skill and luck than using countless duel crests.
 

Edited September 26, 2017 by Stroud

[Hilda]

58 minutes ago, Stroud said:

I had 4914 Points this week and remained in Tier 20.
Thanks to my Tiki/Sheena core I get more points.
The other 2 units were Lyn(Brave) and Oscar.

And yes, finally I have Panic Ploy Seal, which will make Arena Offense much easier for me.

This week I try Black Knight,Tiki,Sheena and Oscar. It will be more difficult, but I already did 2 rounds with them successfully. And I rather bet on skill and luck than using countless duel crests.
 

Black knight isnt very strong in the 710+ tier. He suffers from haveing no merges and getting one shot by Lyn and Reinhardt, which are still prominent. Heck he got one shot by a +10 Gronnblade Soren in Arena Assault. Dont get me wrong he is a good unit, he just suffers bad match up against some of the most meta defining units in the Arena coupled with no source ot merge him higher then +1

[Alexmender]

Not even 1 day and I already got a defense win (yay blue spam). Now I need to do my deathless run for the week and be done with arena for now.

Edit: Deathless 4856 score, more than enough to go back to tier 20 and 4756 on Arena Assault (not deathless). and now I'm done with arena until next week.

Edited September 26, 2017 by Alexmender

[Infinite Dreams]

I struggled to get a deathless run this week.  I went from 114 crests to 99 (and I don't fish anymore).  Yikes.  I almost wanted to throw my phone off the bus on the way to work today, eheh. 

Anyway, I completed my Arena and AA runs for the week.

@LuxSpes: I think I may have fought your team in Arena Assault.  The name was the same as your SF username.  It was a 702-point team with Lucina, Sanaki, Nino, and Nowi?  

---

Arena: 4950 - Currently rank 684 in Tier 20

Team: Anna, Brave Ike +2, Olivia +2, and Reinhardt +5.

Arena Assault: 4910 - Currently rank 792

Defense: 590

[LuxSpes]

1 minute ago, Infinite Dreams said:

I struggled to get a deathless run this week.  I went from 114 crests to 99 (and I don't fish anymore).  Yikes.  I almost wanted to throw my phone off the bus on the way to work today, eheh. 

Anyway, I completed my Arena and AA runs for the week.

@LuxSpes: I think I may have fought your team in Arena Assault.  The name was the same as your SF username.  It was a 702-point team with Lucina, Sanaki, Nino, and Nowi?  

---

Arena: 4950 - Currently rank 684 in Tier 20

Team: Anna, Brave Ike +2, Olivia +2, and Reinhardt +5.

Arena Assault: 4910 - Currently rank 792

Defense: 590

It is indeed my team. Which reminds me I need to switch back to my 'get a defense win' team of Reinhardt/Bridelia/Azura+bonus as the bait.

I used to leave that 'standard' team at all times, but after getting tired of always encountering the same defense teams and seeing a thread on reddit encouraging people to switch up their team after getting a defense win, I decided to switch it to the team you faced, which is comprised of units that are specials for one reasons or another (Lucina is my highest merged 5* exclusive at +6, Nino is my first and only 5*+10, Sanaki is the first unit I planned out a build for after SI came out and Nowi was my first 5*).

Hopefully it didn't ruin your streak since its goal is not to score me defense wins. And it's interesting to know in what score ranges my team places on defense.

[Rafiel's Aria]

18 minutes ago, LuxSpes said:

It is indeed my team. Which reminds me I need to switch back to my 'get a defense win' team of Reinhardt/Bridelia/Azura+bonus as the bait.

I used to leave that 'standard' team at all times, but after getting tired of always encountering the same defense teams and seeing a thread on reddit encouraging people to switch up their team after getting a defense win, I decided to switch it to the team you faced, which is comprised of units that are specials for one reasons or another (Lucina is my highest merged 5* exclusive at +6, Nino is my first and only 5*+10, Sanaki is the first unit I planned out a build for after SI came out and Nowi was my first 5*).

Hopefully it didn't ruin your streak since its goal is not to score me defense wins. And it's interesting to know in what score ranges my team places on defense.

It's kind of nice knowing I'm not the only person who does this! I got so tired of facing cancerous teams in the Arena that I decided I didn't want to contribute any longer than I had to. I usually start off the week with a Bait Bonus Unit, Brave Roy, Reinhardt, and Brave Lyn. Most of the time I get a win within a few hours. Then I switch over to a fun team, usually with a few unlikely characters just for funsies. I had Matthew as my lead for a while. And I've had Raigh for the past few weeks. I think I'm probably going to see how a Raigh, Nino, Ephraim, and Jaffar team works out.

[Ice Dragon]

It hasn't even been a full day and I already have six Arena defense wins. Wow.