Arena Discussion Thread (inc. Assault)

[Silverly]

I got an AA score of 5048 which I believe (or at least hope) will keep me above the 5,000 threshold. It requires me to bench to bench my Spring Chrom in favor of a 10+ 4* Donnel of all things, but it somehow brings in the 720+ matchups I crave, or at least enough for a satisfactory score. It can be kinda awkward as it means my team is composed out of three blue units with just one red one, but I somehow get lucky with the initial matchup, where the team gives a rewarding score while not being completely disadvantageous. Boy I can't wait for water week though. :P

[Rafiel's Aria]

14 minutes ago, Rezzy said:

I've got a score of 5066, which is about 300 ranks above the cutoff.

Earlier this week, I had a score of 5068, and I noticed that was starting to get close to the cutoff, so I fished for a higher score. There’s definitely some inflation this week since the upper 5060s has been safe for...months it feels like.

[Rezzy]

1 minute ago, Rafiel's Aria said:

Earlier this week, I had a score of 5068, and I noticed that was starting to get close to the cutoff, so I fished for a higher score. There’s definitely some inflation this week since the upper 5060s has been safe for...months it feels like.

I think 5066 is the highest I've ever gotten, or close to, if it isn't.

For Arena Assault, I got 5072, which just fell out of the Top 3K.  Before upgrading my Rachel, I usually wound up around the 5K mark.

[Rafiel's Aria]

8 minutes ago, Rezzy said:

I think 5066 is the highest I've ever gotten, or close to, if it isn't.

For Arena Assault, I got 5072, which just fell out of the Top 3K.  Before upgrading my Rachel, I usually wound up around the 5K mark.

There was a really weird shift in AA with the changes. At least for me it felt like there was more competition for the top 5k. I had always had a pretty easy time staying there...

[Johann]

7 minutes ago, Rafiel's Aria said:

Earlier this week, I had a score of 5068, and I noticed that was starting to get close to the cutoff, so I fished for a higher score. There’s definitely some inflation this week since the upper 5060s has been safe for...months it feels like.

4 minutes ago, Rezzy said:

I think 5066 is the highest I've ever gotten, or close to, if it isn't.

For Arena Assault, I got 5072, which just fell out of the Top 3K.  Before upgrading my Rachel, I usually wound up around the 5K mark.

Ok then yeah I'd say Robin being added is raising the bar. What are your teams looking like?

For those following along and not aware, using multiple legendaries in one fight (ie: Robin and Ike) will give both of their blessings to the other units (like those two giving +6 HP, +2 Atk, and +3 Spd). Each active blessing is worth about 2 merges worth of bonus points, so people who can field both Robin and Ike alongside two Earth blessed units are scoring about 8 merges worth of score higher (+4 on both of the blessed units).

[Silverly]

2 minutes ago, Rafiel's Aria said:

There was a really weird shift in AA with the changes. At least for me it felt like there was more competition for the top 5k. I had always had a pretty easy time staying there...

So I'm not the only one who's been noticing the inflation. It's really been ominous concerning the future, because I honestly +10ed a Nowi simply to enter the 5k threshold, but then the stupid update happened and that screwed up everything. It looks like +10 is now a necessity rather than a mere flex, which means upgrading 3/4* to 5* to +10 might be route to take as opposed to trying to hunt a 5* locked unit. 

[Rezzy]

11 minutes ago, Johann said:

Ok then yeah I'd say Robin being added is raising the bar. What are your teams looking like?

For those following along and not aware, using multiple legendaries in one fight (ie: Robin and Ike) will give both of their blessings to the other units (like those two giving +6 HP, +2 Atk, and +3 Spd). Each active blessing is worth about 2 merges worth of bonus points, so people who can field both Robin and Ike alongside two Earth blessed units are scoring about 8 merges worth of score higher (+4 on both of the blessed units).

Can you have more than one Blessing on a unit?  I thought they overwrote each other if you tried.

[Johann]

6 minutes ago, Rezzy said:

Can you have more than one Blessing on a unit?  I thought they overwrote each other if you tried.

You can't, they do overwrite, but if you field multiple legendaries on a team, then their blessing stat boosts will stack. Putting two Legendary Ikes on a team in earth season with an earth blessed unit will grant that blessed unit HP+6 and Atk+4. Some people have actually done that for Arena scoring, but now with both Robin and Ike being Earth legendaries, in season, and Robin's a bonus unit, there's strong incentive to use both to get HP+6, Atk+2, and Spd+3 on earth blessed units, and the scoring bonuses that come with it. What's nice about it is that if you had two Ikes in the past, you could now merge them and bring Robin into the fold. You could also utilize these boosts for your AA score.

Edited April 9, 2018 by Johann

[Rafiel's Aria]

20 minutes ago, Johann said:

Ok then yeah I'd say Robin being added is raising the bar. What are your teams looking like?

For those following along and not aware, using multiple legendaries in one fight (ie: Robin and Ike) will give both of their blessings to the other units (like those two giving +6 HP, +2 Atk, and +3 Spd). Each active blessing is worth about 2 merges worth of bonus points, so people who can field both Robin and Ike alongside two Earth blessed units are scoring about 8 merges worth of score higher (+4 on both of the blessed units).

In main Arena, my current core is Merric (+10), Raven (+10), and Lucina (+3). And this week I'm running Fjorm as a bonus unit. I could probably run Female Robin and stick a blessing on Lucina, but I haven't finished building Grima yet. For Arena Assault, I'll run my Merric, Raven, and Lucina along with my new +10 Mae. I was able to fish for a higher score without too much trouble, so I'm safe for another week, but I dread the day we get an armored legendary hero. It'll probably be like...tiny armored dragon little girl OC with a crap ton of BST... 

20 minutes ago, SilvertheShadow said:

So I'm not the only one who's been noticing the inflation. It's really been ominous concerning the future, because I honestly +10ed a Nowi simply to enter the 5k threshold, but then the stupid update happened and that screwed up everything. It looks like +10 is now a necessity rather than a mere flex, which means upgrading 3/4* to 5* to +10 might be route to take as opposed to trying to hunt a 5* locked unit. 

Yeah... Building a 5*+10 unit out of 5* exclusive characters takes either a ton of money, a lot of pitybreakers, or infinite luck. My 5* merge projects are always units I can get at lower rarities. It kinda sucks that merges are necessary for players that want bigger rewards, but at the same time, the rewards for the lower tiers aren't that bad. I'm just...kinda' competitive, so I like pushing myself to stay in the higher tiers. 

[Rezzy]

13 minutes ago, Rafiel's Aria said:

In main Arena, my current core is Merric (+10), Raven (+10), and Lucina (+3). And this week I'm running Fjorm as a bonus unit. I could probably run Female Robin and stick a blessing on Lucina, but I haven't finished building Grima yet. For Arena Assault, I'll run my Merric, Raven, and Lucina along with my new +10 Mae. I was able to fish for a higher score without too much trouble, so I'm safe for another week, but I dread the day we get an armored legendary hero. It'll probably be like...tiny armored dragon little girl OC with a crap ton of BST... 

Yeah... Building a 5*+10 unit out of 5* exclusive characters takes either a ton of money, a lot of pitybreakers, or infinite luck. My 5* merge projects are always units I can get at lower rarities. It kinda sucks that merges are necessary for players that want bigger rewards, but at the same time, the rewards for the lower tiers aren't that bad. I'm just...kinda' competitive, so I like pushing myself to stay in the higher tiers. 

My +8 Eldigan is comprised entirely of pity breakers, except one, when he was on I think the Cavalry banner way back when, not his original one.  If he ever shows up in a banner again, I might be tempted to pull just to +10 him.  I also have a +7 Seliph, who is comprised entirely of 5* pity breakers.  My luck with Red focus units is pretty bad, and I still haven't pulled units at all, like Luke.

[Johann]

2 minutes ago, Rafiel's Aria said:

In main Arena, my current core is Merric (+10), Raven (+10), and Lucina (+3). And this week I'm running Fjorm as a bonus unit. I could probably run Female Robin and stick a blessing on Lucina, but I haven't finished building Grima yet. For Arena Assault, I'll run my Merric, Raven, and Lucina along with my new +10 Mae. I was able to fish for a higher score without too much trouble, so I'm safe for another week, but I dread the day we get an armored legendary hero. It'll probably be like...tiny armored dragon little girl OC with a crap ton of BST... 

Yeah... Building a 5*+10 unit out of 5* exclusive characters takes either a ton of money, a lot of pitybreakers, or infinite luck. My 5* merge projects are always units I can get at lower rarities. It kinda sucks that merges are necessary for players that want bigger rewards, but at the same time, the rewards for the lower tiers aren't that bad. I'm just...kinda' competitive, so I like pushing myself to stay in the higher tiers. 

Two greens? Bold. What blessings do you have on your Merric, Raven, Lucina, and Mae? Bear in mind a few things:

• Active blessings are nice since it's effectively giving each blessed unit an extra +2 merges for scoring, but since the secondary blessings change every week, it gets kinda screwy. In theory, you'd want at least 3 different element teams and switch them around, but it'd probably take way too many feathers to happen anytime soon. Also bonus units.
• It's good you're aware that the lower rewards are pretty minimal. After all, staying in T20 vs bouncing between T19 and 20 is a difference of 500 feathers average a week, which averages to 20,000 feathers every 40 weeks. Remembering how little an amount that is can help you rationalize that it's not terribly important to keep T20 all the time. Also bonus units.
• On the flip side, T20 is growing in size (if slowly), and as it does, you're collecting more orbs and feathers, so it'll become easier to stay in T20 over time (just as much as getting into T20 has become easier over time).

In my book, Arena Assault is where it's really at, since the rewards are greater and there aren't bonus units (plus I find it a little more fun all around). I really hope they modify AA tiering though since it's growing harder to maintain rank as other people improve their scores.

[Silverly]

3 minutes ago, Johann said:

In my book, Arena Assault is where it's really at, since the rewards are greater and there aren't bonus units (plus I find it a little more fun all around). I really hope they modify AA tiering though since it's growing harder to maintain rank as other people improve their scores.

My thoughts exactly. At worst when you alternate from tier 19 and 20 it's a mere loss of 500 feathers, whereas a drop of rank in AA it can be the matter of either upgrading a weapon/seal right now or waiting another damn week. Plus coins and stones are much more difficult to accumulate than feathers.

[Rafiel's Aria]

15 minutes ago, Johann said:

Two greens? Bold. What blessings do you have on your Merric, Raven, Lucina, and Mae? Bear in mind a few things:

• Active blessings are nice since it's effectively giving each blessed unit an extra +2 merges for scoring, but since the secondary blessings change every week, it gets kinda screwy. In theory, you'd want at least 3 different element teams and switch them around, but it'd probably take way too many feathers to happen anytime soon. Also bonus units.
• It's good you're aware that the lower rewards are pretty minimal. After all, staying in T20 vs bouncing between T19 and 20 is a difference of 500 feathers average a week, which averages to 20,000 feathers every 40 weeks. Remembering how little an amount that is can help you rationalize that it's not terribly important to keep T20 all the time. Also bonus units.
• On the flip side, T20 is growing in size (if slowly), and as it does, you're collecting more orbs and feathers, so it'll become easier to stay in T20 over time (just as much as getting into T20 has become easier over time).

In my book, Arena Assault is where it's really at, since the rewards are greater and there aren't bonus units (plus I find it a little more fun all around). I really hope they modify AA tiering though since it's growing harder to maintain rank as other people improve their scores.

I've actually never had any trouble running two greens. Raven is fast and strong enough to finish off Ayra. Merric is bulky and fast enough to deal with most mages I might meet like Delthea or Nino. Lucina has been absolutely necessary because of Grima however.

Merric is running Dark Excalibur, Rally SPD/RES, Aether, Fury 3, Bowbreaker 3, Drive SPD 2, Distant Defense with a Fire Blessing. 
Raven is Basilios (Refined), Rally SPD/RES, Galeforce, Fury 3, Desperation 3, Drive SPD 2, Heavy Blade 3 with a Water Blessing
Lucina is Falchion (Refined), Rally SPD/RES, Aether, Fury 3, Swordbreaker 3, Drive SPD 2, Drive DEF 2 with no Blessing
Mae is Blarowl+ (SPD Refine), Draw Back, Iceberg, Fury 3, Desperation 3, Spur ATK 3, SPD+3, with a Wind Blessing. (She's actually part of my Wind Garden team with Arvis, Innes, and Gunnthra. )

The long term project goal is to end up with several highly merged, fully blessed teams, but the likelihood of that actually happening is very slim, especially considering the fact that my merge projects are dedicated more towards my favorites than practical merges.  But I managed to score 5100+ in both Arena and AA this week. As long as a score like that is good enough to satisfy my competitive mind, I'll be happy.

[Johann]

5 minutes ago, Rafiel's Aria said:

I've actually never had any trouble running two greens. Raven is fast and strong enough to finish off Ayra. Merric is bulky and fast enough to deal with most mages I might meet like Delthea or Nino. Lucina has been absolutely necessary because of Grima however.

Merric is running Dark Excalibur, Rally SPD/RES, Aether, Fury 3, Bowbreaker 3, Drive SPD 2, Distant Defense with a Fire Blessing. 
Raven is Basilios (Refined), Rally SPD/RES, Galeforce, Fury 3, Desperation 3, Drive SPD 2, Heavy Blade 3 with a Water Blessing
Lucina is Falchion (Refined), Rally SPD/RES, Aether, Fury 3, Swordbreaker 3, Drive SPD 2, Drive DEF 2 with no Blessing
Mae is Blarowl+ (SPD Refine), Draw Back, Iceberg, Fury 3, Desperation 3, Spur ATK 3, SPD+3, with a Wind Blessing. (She's actually part of my Wind Garden team with Arvis, Innes, and Gunnthra. )

The long term project goal is to end up with several highly merged, fully blessed teams, but the likelihood of that actually happening is very slim, especially considering the fact that my merge projects are dedicated more towards my favorites than practical merges.  But I managed to score 5100+ in both Arena and AA this week. As long as a score like that is good enough to satisfy my competitive mind, I'll be happy.

With scores like that, yeah you're fine. And even if you make all your merge projects dedicated to favorites, you'll still be fine. I think that's one of the important takeaways that some people miss; you really can use any units you want and still get a strong score.

[mampfoid]

5 hours ago, SilvertheShadow said:

I got an AA score of 5048 which I believe (or at least hope) will keep me above the 5,000 threshold. It 

In the last three weeks at least, you would have succeed. My scores 5,036, 5,036 and 5,046 were enough. 

 

Edited April 9, 2018 by mampfoid

[Rafiel's Aria]

This was a REALLY good Arena week for me. I got to run both my fully built Raven and Merric as well as Fjorm once more. At first, I got a normal score of 5068 which I thought would be good enough, but it started to get dangerously close to the cut-off, so I decided to be picky and only choose battles worth 726 and higher. For the first time in the regular Arena, I hit 5100 points! I didn't think I'd be able to do that this soon... I've also got 4 defense wins which feels pretty good. 

For AA, I had one bad run followed by a one REALLY good run. I got really lucky and all of my matches ended up being around 730 or higher so my final score ended up being 5118. Having a +9 Mae probably helped things...and now she's +10, so things can only get better from here! Right now, I think I'm pretty safe to stay in the top 3k which feels super sweet.

[mcsilas]

Fjorm boosting everyone's scores means even with a high score of 4,922, I'm still dangerously close to dropping to Tier 18 :(

Currently around 12,000 rank and the cut off is at 13,000. Oh well, still a personal best after giving VA!Lyn a Water blessing to go with Fjorm

[Vaximillian]

29 minutes ago, mcsilas said:

Fjorm boosting everyone's scores means even with a high score of 4,922, I'm still dangerously close to dropping to Tier 18 :(

I’m right behind you with 4,920. #12,984/13,265 right now. Oh well. It’s been a fine run of bouncing between 19 and 20 while it lasted.

Edited April 9, 2018 by Vaximillian

[Humanoid]

Huh, 4918 was enough for me last week so that's a bit concerning, though the inflation is somewhat expected due to Buff Ike (it's not Fjorm week, but functionally its the same deal). It may well be that the only weeks I can go up to T20 now are Wind+Fire weeks where most people don't have a Legendary boost (but where I do). I could do better with some minimal merges (say +2-3 instead of the +0-1 that I am now) and optimising for points, but it's not something I'm prepared to do, both from a feather investment viewpoint, and also because doing so would make the actual fights harder as I wouldn't be able to field dancers, ranged units, etc.

Still, 1900 feathers a week for T18.5 vs 2500 for T19.5, it's not as big a deal as it was in the past.

Edited April 9, 2018 by Humanoid

[mcsilas]

@Vaximillian Ironically I just started trying to get to Tier 20 again in the last month a bit. I have too many arena quests anyway.

@Humanoid Oh yeah I forgot it's not exactly Water season yet.

@mampfoid Sigh, my AA run ended with a Galeforce Sigurd. He is too darn bulky.

[mampfoid]

4 minutes ago, mcsilas said:

Sigh, my AA run ended with a Galeforce Sigurd. He is too darn bulky.

But he melts from blue magic. 

[mcsilas]

1 minute ago, mampfoid said:

But he melts from blue magic. 

I had no blue mages left.

Also my attention was elsewhere trying to survive a female Robin and dancing Inigo combo :(

[Vaximillian]

7 minutes ago, mcsilas said:

@Vaximillian Ironically I just started trying to get to Tier 20 again in the last month a bit.

I haven’t dropped to 18 since September when I first got into 20. Welp.

[mampfoid]

10 minutes ago, mcsilas said:

I had no blue mages left.

Also my attention was elsewhere trying to survive a female Robin and dancing Inigo combo :(

Ouch, good luck getting a deathless streak until tomorrow then. 

[mcsilas]

1 minute ago, mampfoid said:

Ouch, good luck getting a deathless streak until tomorrow then. 

Yeah trying again right now since I would only have about 1 hr left before arena ends after I wake up.

It's a bit annoying when VG is on since I have a 30 minute time limit in between battles

AA is just too time-consuming when I actually try and get max points