Skill Inheritance Discussion.

[ILikeKirbys]

4 hours ago, Ice Dragon said:

PERI

Hey, that's pretty cool! I have a few Peris from my "Come on, give me Bunny Lucina already!" pulls from the other day, so this might be worth considering... Though I can't get Life and Death 3 at the moment (no way I'm getting another Jaffar any time soon, my odds of pulling Minerva are awful, and any Hanas I pull will be merged with my Brave Sword+ Hana until she's +10), so maybe I'll try building a build here (gonna try to keep 5-Star-only skills to a minimum, so no Life and Death... I was gonna try for no 5-Star-only skills, but I don't think I pulled that off)...

So, Peri's stats at 5-Star level 40, assuming no Boon/Bane, is 35 HP | 33 ATK (44 with Killer Lance+) | 33 SPD | 23 DEF | 30 RES, which is respectable (especially on the RES side), but not much really stands out. Like you said, she has the second highest ATK and SPD of the cavaliers, which can certainly be worked with, but I'd like to try a different build. It's in the spoiler, and it's fairly long...

Spoiler

0) Before anything else, I'm assuming that Peri is being run on a Cavalry team, preferably with access to Hone/Fortify Cavalry, with additional calculations for Goad/Ward Cavalry. Hone Cavalry is the easiest to get, since free unit Gunter has it, with Ward and Fortify on the available-as-3-and-4-Star Eliwood and Jagen (respectively: Ward is also available on Olwen, but she's only available as a 5-Star, so you're less likely to have her) so you're more likely to get those relative to Goad Cavalry, which is currently only available on Reinhardt, who only gets it at 5-Stars so you're not as likely to get it (though in the future, Grand Hero Battle free unit Camus will also have Goad Cavalry, though I don't know if it'll be 5-Star-locked on him). As such, I'm building with the assumption that you'll definitely have Hone Cavalry on your team, and are likely to have one of Fortify and Ward too, but probably don't have Goad (but if you do, it's a nice bonus and definitely helps Peri do what Peri wants to do).
1) I think Peri's ideal Boon/Bane for this build is either +SPD/-RES (+SPD gives Peri 36 SPD, which becomes 40 after Hone Cavalry, while -RES is chosen since Peri's RES is pretty alright and can take the hit) or +RES/-HP (+RES is chosen to help Peri tank mages better, while -HP is chosen since I don't want to drop any of her other stats).
2) For her weapon, we're gonna keep the Killer Lance+, for convenience. I'd like to save SP where I can, and Killer Lance is hardly a bad weapon, even if Peri could maybe do better with a different weapon.
2.5) However, if you decide to switch her weapon, I think her best choice is the Brave Lance, from free unit Donnel, since it lets her hit twice or 4 times on Player Phase, which lets you charge up your Special skill faster. Which is nice, but the SPD drop might be problematic for you. Only do this if you're comfortable with 28/31 (neutral/+) SPD, which, hey, you might be.
3) For her Command Skill, you don't really need to give her one, but if you do, free units Stahl and Subaki have Swap, which could perhaps help you with positioning, while free unit Donnel has Reciprocal Aid, which could give Peri the ability to heal herself or an ally.
4) For her Special Skill, you have two options:
4A) Sacred Cowl/Aegis: Peri's here to handle mages and dragons, so I'll give her a skill that lets her take less damage from indirect attackers, which also helps her with archers and daggers when it procs. Using a Killer Lance puts Aegis at 2 cooldown, and Sacred Cowl at 1, so it really comes down to whether you want more frequent damage reduction or greater damage reduction.
4B) Iceberg/Glacies: Take advantage of Peri's high RES to deal:
With +SPD/-RES: 15/24 damage with no buffs | 18/28 (28.8, not sure if I'm supposed to round these up or down so I'm just gonna round them down and leave the whole number in parentheses) with Fortify Cavalry | 17/27 (27.2) with Ward Cavalry | 20/32 with Fortify & Ward Cavalry.
With +RES/-HP: 18/28 (28.8) damage with no buffs | 21/33 (33.6) with Fortify Cavalry | 20/32 with Ward Cavalry | 23/36 (36.8) with Fortify & Ward Cavalry.
This helps Peri deal quite a lot of damage when she procs her skills, which is good since Iceberg ends up at a 2 cooldown and Glacies at 3 with Killer Lance, so they'll happen fairly frequently.
For availability concerns, Glacies is available at 4-Stars on Felicia, who is available for free and as a 3- and 4-Star unit, and Klein, who is available at 4- and 5-Stars, and Iceberg is available at 4-Stars on Shanna and Niles, who are available at 3- and 4-Stars.
All of these skills are available fairly easily, but I would probably put Glacies on this set since it's available on a free unit you can get two of easily... though I would prefer Iceberg since it procs faster.
5) For her A Slot, give Peri either Warding Blow (available on free unit Sophia, though WB3 is only available at 5-Stars, or Niles, who is available at 3- and 4-Stars and gets AB3 at 4-Stars), to power up Iceberg/Glacies and help her fight dragons better, or Fury 3 (available on Hinata, available at 3- and 4-Stars, though Fury 3 is only available at 4-Stars, or Jagen, who only gets Fury 3 at 5-Stars), to give Peri higher overall stats (for +SPD/-RES, 36 ATK | 39 SPD | 26 DEF | 30 RES / for +RES/-HP, 36 ATK | 36 SPD | 26 DEF | 36 RES) at the cost of taking 6 damage after all combats (bring some kind of healing if you're gonna run this, otherwise Peri will run out of HP quickly unless she just takes on mages and dragons). Of these, I would recommend Warding Blow, since you can get it for free (well, 2200/22000 feathers), but I could see the merits of Fury on Peri too.
5.3) Or, you can keep RES +3. It powers up Iceberg/Glacies a bit, and helps her deal with mages/dragons. Which, hey, it's serviceable, and Peri starts with it, so if you don't want to give Peri another A Slot skill, I could understand. I would disagree, but I understand.
5.8) Alternatively, you could try Armored Blow (available on free unit Gunter, though you have to get him to 5-Stars for AB3, or Catria, who is only available at 4- and 5-Stars but always has AB3 to inherit), to help Peri deal with physical attackers (read: Swordies) on Player Phase (would give her 27 DEF with Armored 2, or 29 with Armored 3, which maybe isn't that impressive, but with WTA Peri should be able to survive swordies on PP, especially if you gave her Swordbreaker).
6) For her B Slot, Peri could use Quick Riposte 2 (available on 4-Star Subaki, who can also give Swap, so if you're giving Peri Swap, then give her this too... you could do 3, but that would require a 5-Star unit), to auto-double at high health, which could be helpful against dragons or swordies, or Drag Back (available on free unit Donnel, who can also give Reciprocal Aid, so if you're giving that to Peri, then you can give this to her as well), to pull enemies toward your teammates so you can finish them off.
6.5) If you get lucky and pull a Sully/Abel, then Swordbreaker would also be helpful for Peri, so she can deal with sword users more easily by auto-doubling them at high HP.
7) For her C Slot, Threaten DEF works, no need to replace it.
7.5) However, you could run Ward Cavalry if you want to run a support skill on Peri. I wouldn't, but hey, maybe you want to. Goad is also an option, if you think you have too many 5-Star Reinhardts).

So, to summarize, the options for Peri that I've outlined above are:
Boon/Bane: +SPD/-RES or +RES/-HP
Weapon: Killer Lance (default weapon, gives faster skill procs) or Brave Lance (auto-doubles, which is nice, though the SPD drop could suck)
Command Skill: Swap (for positioning) or Reciprocal Aid (for healing)
Special Skill: Sacred Cowl/Aegis (for survival) or Iceberg/Glacies (for damage)
A Slot Skill: Warding Blow (for extra damage and better combat vs dragons) or Fury (for extra overall stats, if you're okay with post-combat damage) or RES +3 (if you don't feel like switching out her A Slot skill) or Armored Blow (to help deal with physical attackers)
B Slot Skill: Quick Riposte 2/3 (for high-HP guaranteed-doubles when attacked) or Drag Back (to pull 2-rangers into range of your other units) or Swordbreaker (to beat up swordies, of which I'm sure you'll run into many)
C Slot Skill: Threaten DEF (to give Peri more damage against enemies who fail to kill Peri) or Goad/Ward Cavalry (to support nearby teammates)

And my preferred build, from the above:
+RES/-HP (Stats are 32 HP/44 ATK/33 SPD/23 DEF/33 RES)
Killer Lance+
Reciprocal Aid
Iceberg
Fury 3 (Stats become 32 HP/47 ATK/36 SPD/26 DEF/36 RES)
Drag Back
Threaten DEF 3

This Peri is an anti-mage- and anti-dragon RES-tank who deals considerable damage to her targets, especially when Iceberg procs. She gives cavalry teams a physical unit who can tank mages (since most cavs have lower RES or are mages; Peri's niche here is being able to tank mages and then demolish mages on her turn thanks to having a physical weapon, while still having not-completely-awful DEF thanks to Fury so she can maybe handle swordies). +RES/-HP is chosen to give extra RES, and Fury is chosen to further boost RES while pushing DEF into a maybe-usable amount. Reciprocal Aid is primarily here to heal Peri, since between -HP and Fury 3 she's gonna run out of HP fairly quickly. Threaten DEF 3 gives Peri extra damage on enemies who attack Peri and let her live, while Iceberg lets her deal solid damage frequently. Drag Back is here partially because Reciprocal Aid comes from the same unit (Donnel), partially so Peri can either pull enemies toward her teammates so they can finish her target, or pull back after killing an enemy.

This Peri really gets to shine when she gets the Cavalry-only buffs, but then, what cav doesn't? Peri's respectable offenses become the much better 53 ATK and 42 SPD after Hone Cavalry, which is a lot of both of those stats, so you could see her doubling many units and dealing considerable damage even before Iceberg. Adding Goad Cavalry, if you have it, puts Peri at 57 ATK and 46 SPD, which is more damage and more units getting doubled, which is a nice boost but not wholly necessary. As for her defenses, Fortify Cavalry pushes Peri up to 32 DEF and 42 RES, which should make her pretty tough for non-Gronnblade-with-buffs-or-Julia mages to dent while pushing her passable DEF into usable DEF. Adding Ward Cavalry, if you have it, puts Peri at 36 DEF and 46 RES, making her damn near impenetrable magically (except, again, to Gronnblade-with-buffs-or-Julia) while pushing her DEF further into decency. Additionally, the RES buffs also buff Peri's Iceberg damage, giving her (to recap from earlier in the longpost) 21 extra damage with Fortify Cavalry, 20 with Ward Cavalry, and 23 with both Fortify and Ward Cavalry.

Overall, this Peri is meant as a supportive-type unit that you put on a cavalry team that needs help dealing with magic, who can also help deal with sword units thanks to being Blue and having passable DEF (I think 26 is passable, yeah?). So you should put her on a team with low-RES units who have Hone Cavalry (you could use Gunter, but I slapped it onto Stahl because I don't love Gunter), Fortify Cavalry (Jagen is a Lancer, which overlaps with Peri, but you could also put it on a Green unit, like, say, Frederick, like I did), and preferable either Ward or Goad Cavalry (Ward is easier, since Eliwood and Olwen both have it, while Goad is a bit harder to come by since only 5-Star Reinhardt has it at the moment), though only Hone and Fortify really feel necessary (Ward/Goad is nice, but the larger buffs are what Peri wants most).

I think this could work (after how long I spent writing this longpost, I hope it's at least usable).

4 hours ago, Ice Dragon said:

Also, any ideas what to do with Hinoka? She basically looks identical to Cordelia stat-wise except with 3 more Def and 3 less Spd, which basically means anything Hinoka does, Cordelia does better.

At this point, I might as well make this longpost even longer and try coming up with something you can do with Hinoka, since I hope to pull her during the Voting Gauntlet banner (again in spoiler, for length):

Spoiler

0) For her team, I'm thinking Palla (for Goad Fliers and Green counter), Minerva (a formidable Green unit, has Ward Fliers to buff defenses), and Bunny Camilla (only flying mage at the moment, I think this is important for a flyer team). Just letting you know that this is my starting point for this Hinoka build.
1) For the ideal Boon/Bane, I would guess +SPD/-RES. With this and switching her weapon to Killer Lance+, her stats would end up at 41 HP | 46 ATK | 35 SPD | 25 DEF | 21 RES.
2) For her weapon, we're chucking the Brave Lance and giving Hinoka a Killer Lance+, so she can kill things better and get more skill procs.
3) For her Command skill, you can really give her anything, so it comes down to what you need. This team could probably use more DEF, so I would go with Rally Defense, but you could do anything except Rally ATK/SPD (since we're keeping Hone Fliers, so these would only matter for units who don't start a turn next to Hinoka).
4) For her Special skill, I say use Moonbow, so that enemies who attack Hinoka can face a guaranteed Moonbow counterattack, or Hinoka can score extra damage always if she doubles.
4.5) You could also try Luna, since I have a Catria, and she runs Killer Lance + Luna, which seems to work fairly well for her. +SPD Hinoka's a little faster than my neutral-SPD Catria, so you could maybe get more doubles out of her.
5) For the A Slot skill, try Swift Sparrow 2, so you get a little extra power with your extra SPD (pushing your offensive stats to 50 ATK and 39 SPD), or Darting Blow 3, to get 41 SPD and more doubles.
5.5) If you run Darting Blow 3, I would recommend Luna, but if you go Swift Sparrow 2, then I would say to run Moonbow instead since you won't double as many enemies.
6) For the B Slot, consider either Swordbreaker or Quick Riposte, so you can auto-double (thus guaranteeing a hit of Luna or a follow-up hit after Moonbow) at high HP. Swordbreaker is more specialized, but Quick Riposte requires being attacked, so I'm not sure which would be preferable.
7) For the C Slot, we are keeping Hone Fliers, so that Hinoka's flying buddies can have +6 ATK and SPD. This is a great buff, so why get rid of it?

So, to recap the options I've laid out for Hinoka:
Boon/Bane: +SPD/-RES (Stats are 41 HP | 46 ATK | 35 SPD | 25 DEF | 21 RES)
Weapon: Killer Lance+
Command Skill: Flexible
Special Skill: Moonbow or Luna (for extra damage via ignoring defense: which one you want depends on whether you want more extra damage or more frequent extra damage)
A Slot: Darting Blow 3 (for higher SPD and more doubles on Player Phase) or Swift Sparrow 2 (for higher ATK with your higher SPD on Player Phase)
B Slot: Swordbreaker or Quick Riposte
C Slot: Hone Fliers

And the choices I would pick:
+SPD/-RES (Stats are 41 HP | 46 ATK | 35 SPD | 25 DEF | 21 RES)
Killer Lance+
Rally Defense
Luna
Darting Blow 3
Quick Riposte
Hone Fliers

This Hinoka seems a bit like More Expensive Catria, but she has more ATK and a tiny bit of SPD over Catria, which I think sets her apart a bit. +SPD/-RES is my personal preference, since I feel that Hinoka wants the extra SPD and would probably be better losing RES than DEF. Killer Lance+ and Luna are picked to let Hinoka deal more damage, with Darting Blow 3 and Quick Riposte helping her to double-attack on both Player and Enemy Phase to get more Lunas. Hone Fliers is here because you want to use Hinoka on a flier team, which would benefit from her +6 ATK and SPD buff.

Hinoka doesn't mind receiving buffs, but she can't get the big one (since it's only found on her at the moment), so she'll have to do with Goad and Ward Fliers. With Goad, Hinoka's offensive stats go up to 50 ATK and 39 SPD (on Player Phase, that's 54 ATK and 43 SPD with Swift Sparrow 2, or 50 ATK and 45 SPD with Darting Blow 3), while with Ward, her defensive stats go up to 29 DEF and 25 RES, which isn't amazing but is probably passable, or at least the DEF is.

Overall, Hinoka's an offensively-tilted Catria, trying to double as many units as possible as often as possible so that she can proc Luna on every attack for bigger damage, and buffing her teammates with Hone Fliers when not attacking.

I hope this helps! And sorry about the length.

Edited April 4, 2017 by ILikeKirbys

[fatboyjam]

I have my finger on the 'trigger' to promote Nino to 5*. She's a Spd+/Def-.

I know it's a very good boon/bane but I'm curious, is it the best? (not to be overly picky but as a F2P, I want to build the best 5* group I can, especially when sacrificing multiple characters to build up her skills).

I've read conflicting opinions on this and other boards whether the better bane is Def- or Res-. What do you think? How might I play a Def- Nino differently than a Res-? Any tweaks I should make to my supporting team to make best use of this Nino? Thanks in advance! 

 

[DehNutCase]

5 minutes ago, fatboyjam said:

I have my finger on the 'trigger' to promote Nino to 5*. She's a Spd+/Def-.

I know it's a very good boon/bane but I'm curious, is it the best? (not to be overly picky but as a F2P, I want to build the best 5* group I can, especially when sacrificing multiple characters to build up her skills).

I've read conflicting opinions on this and other boards whether the better bane is Def- or Res-. What do you think? How might I play a Def- Nino differently than a Res-? Any tweaks I should make to my supporting team to make best use of this Nino? Thanks in advance! 

 

-Def Nino gets 1 shotted a lot by people who can counter, -Res by slightly less. +Atk 1 rounds slightly more before buffs, +Spd slightly less. At +4 atk buff, both boons 1 round the same amount. (Gronnblade OP). However, +Spd boon once again falls behind if both of them get +4 to Spd buff. That said, the coverage is so absurd that it doesn't even matter at that point: Erika or Ephraim with Hone speed push both Nino variants to the 97 or 100 units 1RKO'd range.

[BANRYU]

21 minutes ago, fatboyjam said:

I have my finger on the 'trigger' to promote Nino to 5*. She's a Spd+/Def-.

I know it's a very good boon/bane but I'm curious, is it the best? (not to be overly picky but as a F2P, I want to build the best 5* group I can, especially when sacrificing multiple characters to build up her skills).

I've read conflicting opinions on this and other boards whether the better bane is Def- or Res-. What do you think? How might I play a Def- Nino differently than a Res-? Any tweaks I should make to my supporting team to make best use of this Nino? Thanks in advance! 

 

I would argue this is her best nature. If you're doing LaD + Desperation build then Nino basically doesn't care about either of her defenses, and if not, then there's not much point in investing in her Def anyway since it's already so low before boon even. neutral Res lets her fight more things at range (easier to get into Desperation range that way), and pretty much all physical greys die to her in Desperation range anyway. +Spd also lets her double more things (and thus get more kills IIRC) than +Str; LaD 3 lets her double Linde and there's not a whole lot that's faster than her that isn't 1-shot esp with blade boosts.

tl;dr yeah I think that's probably Nino's optimal nature IMHO. Her attack strength can be improved a ton with buffs (Eirika alone can give her Hone Spd, Sieg hone, + a Rally for 11 points to Gronnblade), so IMO the speed is what I would go for improving. Although as denutcase says it doesn't matter too much after buffs. 

Edited April 4, 2017 by BANRYU

[fatboyjam]

23 minutes ago, BANRYU said:

I would argue this is her best nature. If you're doing LaD + Desperation build then Nino basically doesn't care about either of her defenses, and if not, then there's not much point in investing in her Def anyway since it's already so low before boon even. neutral Res lets her fight more things at range (easier to get into Desperation range that way), and pretty much all physical greys die to her in Desperation range anyway. +Spd also lets her double more things (and thus get more kills IIRC) than +Str; LaD 3 lets her double Linde and there's not a whole lot that's faster than her that isn't 1-shot esp with blade boosts.

tl;dr yeah I think that's probably Nino's optimal nature IMHO. Her attack strength can be improved a ton with buffs (Eirika alone can give her Hone Spd, Sieg hone, + a Rally for 11 points to Gronnblade), so IMO the speed is what I would go for improving. Although as denutcase says it doesn't matter too much after buffs. 

Love to hear that! That's exactly the combo of skills I was thinking (LaD2+Deperation3 given who I have to sacrifice) with Draconic Aura as a special and Ardent Sacrifice as the support to get her safely into Desperation range.  

At the end of the day, I agree with you -- it's about the 1RKO and keeping her far out of harms way and, after buffs, it doesn't seem to matter much whether it's a Res or Def bane. 

DehNutCase, you feel Atk is the stronger boon? Is that how it works out in simulations?

Edited April 4, 2017 by fatboyjam

[Kaden]

Quick-ish question: would it be worth it to give Eirika Iceberg or Glacies even with a neutral res? With res boon, she caps as 31 as a 5* which is pretty nice. Caeda would make better use of those skills, but I don't have her. The other thing is that the Eirika I have has def boon giving her 30 def, so Bonfire would be better on her, but I only have 2 spare Tikis and Bonfire would be better on Oboro, Selena, and Subaki who have higher neutral def or a def boon in my Selena's case.

Otherwise, what other specials would be better on Eirika?

Edit: Main reason is that I'm asking is a friend wanted to know since he has a +Res Eirika -- I don't know the bane, but I doubt it's Atk or Spd -- and was wondering if he should give her Iceberg or Glacies to make use of her res boon or Moonbow. Same question as me, incidentally.

Edited April 4, 2017 by Kaden

[BANRYU]

2 hours ago, Kaden said:

Quick-ish question: would it be worth it to give Eirika Iceberg or Glacies even with a neutral res? With res boon, she caps as 31 as a 5* which is pretty nice. Caeda would make better use of those skills, but I don't have her. The other thing is that the Eirika I have has def boon giving her 30 def, so Bonfire would be better on her, but I only have 2 spare Tikis and Bonfire would be better on Oboro, Selena, and Subaki who have higher neutral def or a def boon in my Selena's case.

Otherwise, what other specials would be better on Eirika?

IMO Bonfire/Glacies are best if you have at least 32 in the respective stat; 30-31 will suffice if you can't spare others, but otherwise I think Moonbow and Draconic Aura are probably better. Another option is to give her a defensive one like Escutcheon or something. 

[Thor Odinson]

As a Nino main  (+spd -def) myself +Atk can OHKO Hector, which is notable, but with desperation up then it doesn't really matter. Just Ardent Sacrifice to your tank or something and get your doubles in.

The differences are honestly pretty minimal otherwise. Both of them can't handle sanaki ever. And Henry, technically, but nobody runs him. Ryoma and Tharja (any other red tome, really) can be rough if you don't have desperation up, but can be defeated with desperation. 

Like the differences at max buff (assuming LoD2, not 3, though, unless you whaling) is something like 70 atk 47spd v 73 atk 44spd. Either way a lot of things die. Just don't let her take a hit unless it's from Robin or something.

Edited April 4, 2017 by Thor Odinson

[Kaden]

27 minutes ago, BANRYU said:

IMO Bonfire/Glacies are best if you have at least 32 in the respective stat; 30-31 will suffice if you can't spare others, but otherwise I think Moonbow and Draconic Aura are probably better. Another option is to give her a defensive one like Escutcheon or something. 

Ah, so I should save Glacies/Iceberg for someone else then and I wasn't planning on using Bonfire with my Eirika considering Oboro, Selena, and Subaki's higher defense, but my friend might be able to make use of Glacies or Iceberg with a +Res Eirika. Iceberg would be a quicker charge, though. Dragonic Fang and Luna also work, right? Just a matter of personal preference on charge times, I guess?

Y'know, now I'm wondering why Dragonic Gaze and Night Sky exist together. If I'm understanding them correctly, Dragonic Gaze is kind of better in that it takes a percentage of your attack stat and adds onto your attack while Night Sky only multiplies it by a percentage which if you're doing 0 or very low damage to begin with for whatever reason, isn't that great. It might just be me being traumatized from a Henry showing up in training and neither Anna nor Hawkeye could kill him because Astra does nothing to him, Hawkeye's attack wasn't even enough to do 1 damage on him, Wrys was useless, and someone else died so it was impossible to win.

Edited April 4, 2017 by Kaden

[mcsilas]

8 hours ago, fatboyjam said:

I have my finger on the 'trigger' to promote Nino to 5*. She's a Spd+/Def-.

I know it's a very good boon/bane but I'm curious, is it the best? (not to be overly picky but as a F2P, I want to build the best 5* group I can, especially when sacrificing multiple characters to build up her skills).

I've read conflicting opinions on this and other boards whether the better bane is Def- or Res-. What do you think? How might I play a Def- Nino differently than a Res-? Any tweaks I should make to my supporting team to make best use of this Nino? Thanks in advance! 

 

I'm in a similar situation- actually have 2 -Def Ninos that I'm itching to promote. i guess not having +Atk means I'll have to rely on Life or Death more?

i mean i have a spare Minerva now but I'm tempted to use that for limit break instead, although a lot of units like Life or Death..

Speaking of Eirika, is a -Def/+Spd worth it? If so, any suggestions for skills? She's 4 star so she's not full potential yet without her signature weapon. just wondering if it's worth the feathers to make a blade team with Tharja.

[Birdy]

18 hours ago, Arcanite said:

My favorite Fae build is the sacrifice build, where you give away her renewal to another one of your units. I find it very effective in the skill inheritance mode. It goes really well with Fury Lucina, I find. 

Probably a stupid question, but does Renewal even stack with Lucina's Falchion build in Renewal?

[MrSmokestack]

35 minutes ago, Birdy said:

Probably a stupid question, but does Renewal even stack with Lucina's Falchion build in Renewal?

Yes, yes it does. They proc on separate turns so it wouldn't conflict.

[pianime94]

16 hours ago, MrSmokestack said:

@pianime94, I present to you my dissertation.

Fae is easily the most unique breath unit available in Heroes. Her stat total is rather middle-of-the road, having 1 less BST than Nowi / Tiki (Young) but having 5 more BST over Corrin (F) and Tiki (Adult). She is the only green breath user, as well as having the highest resistance and the second-highest speed among them, after Corrin.

Her default kit suggests that she functions as more of a support unit who can off-tank in emergency situations, in a similar vein to Ninian. However, while Ninian's niche is being a blue who can refresh her allies, Fae's is improving the overall bulk of her team while beating opposing blue units, who are increasingly becoming preferred over red.

Fae is not a "true tank" like Tiki (Young) and Nowi, and shouldn't compete with them in that department, as Tiki can effortlessly delete opposing Hectors while taking single-digit damage, while Nowi sports a superior color. Also, two of the most popular red units in arena, Marth and Lucina, render her a non-threat due to their Falchions, which OHKO her no matter what she does. And being a green unit, she cannot inherit Swordbreaker to improve her matchups, which serves as a huge detriment to her gameplay considering the most popular reds are sword users.

While the meta post-skill inheritance has imposed a number of complications that prevent Fae from being an easy fit on most team compositions, it does offer a few solutions. For one, she can replace her Light Breath, arguably the least useful out of all the other breath weapons, and become the best user of Dark Breath, sporting a higher stat total over Corrin (F) while possessing comparable defensive stats and a much higher attack. She can also swap out her suboptimal Threaten Atk for a Hone or Spur that better supports her team, allowing her to specialize as a support unit to a much greater degree than before Skill Inheritance.

To Review:
+High BST
+Offers specialized support
+Relatively cheap to build
+Hard counters popular arena picks

-Hard countered by Falchions
-Lacks raw tanking utility
-Vulnerable to ranged
-Requires set-up to maximize gains in a match

Default Stats:
46 / 33 / 28 / 25 / 30

+Spd -HP
43 / 33 / 31 / 25 / 30

Sets:

  Hide contents

General
Fae @ Lightning Breath+ (+Spd -HP)
Fury 3
Quick Riposte 3
Threaten Skill / Hone Skill / Spur Skill
Draw Back
Moonbow

Easy to understand and use, as well as flexible to your team's needs. Easily beats opposing blues and frail greens, with the added defenses and speed offsetting the HP loss. Works well as an offtank a la Ryoma who can counter at range. Default Draw Back to ease inheritance requirements, but is mostly flexible. Special doesn't matter, but might as well take Moonbow for the low CD despite Lightning Breath's +1 to special trigger.

One-Turn Combo / Tank
Fae @ Dark Breath+ (+Spd -HP)
Fury 3
Renewal 3
Hone Atk 3
Draw Back / Ardent Sacrifice
Moonbow / Iceberg

Fae's best set, which she can use much better than Corrin (F), the native Dark Breath user, due to possessing a superior stat spread in exchange for having a negligible -3 Spd. It is also relatively cheap to build, considering Renewal and Draw Back are part of Fae's default set and she only truly needs Dark Breath+ to function. Fury 3 has excellent synergy with Renewal, as Fae suffers only a net -4 HP, which makes Ardent Sacrifice an option to provide healing utility.

Dark Breath serves as the centerpiece, as it provides powerful dual offensive and defensive utility with its AOE stat manipulation, dropping foes below Spd thresholds and enabling your units to double for a net +8 bonus damage from Hone Atk. It also prevents Fae from being doubled and reduces the damage she takes, which makes her incredibly bulky when combined with Renewal.

While Fae does possess some glaring weaknesses by virtue of being a niche counterpick that specializes in support, like any other unit she works well when played to her strengths and surrounded by a team that can take full advantage of her unique combination of buff / debuff, positioning, and potentially healing utility.

I don't have a comprehensive list of maths yet, but at a glance the Lightning Breath + Quick Riposte set nets some more ORKOs compared to the Dark Breath set, which is designed to more fully flesh out her role as a support unit.

Thanks for the awesome report! I think I'm gonna go with the Tank build since I eventually want to make a Dragon team at some point.

But first, I need a good nature Fae to work with.

16 hours ago, TheNiddo said:

Saw one posted on GameFAQs, not sure the calculator is working right for its numbers so I'm not confident in it's win ratio but:

Take a +Def -Speed Seliph, put on Defiant Def, Threaten Attack, and Bonfire. Seliph's sword and Defiant Def stack, and they stack on Bonfire as well. According to him most swords without a Falchion were dealing 0 damage once he was below 50% HP, Falchions were only dealing single digit damage, Bonfire was deleting things. I think he might have kept Brash Assault on with the theory that once below 50% you can manage it very well.

I can understand why swords barely scratch him when he's at 50% HP. He'd be rocking 49 Def during that.

He's an Armor in disguise. The bad thing is Moonbow and Luna is his anti-thesis.

Edited April 4, 2017 by pianime94

[Birdy]

2 hours ago, MrSmokestack said:

Yes, yes it does. They proc on separate turns so it wouldn't conflict.

What about the procs on turn 6? They should both activate at that point. 

 

P.s. thanks for the answer :)

Edited April 4, 2017 by Birdy

[MrSmokestack]

Just now, Birdy said:

What about the procs on turn 6? They should both activate at that point.

Should've paid more attention, my bad. I think they would stack, if Deathly Dagger stacks with Poison Strike. Don't hold me to that though, just inferring from how certain A and C skills can also stack, aside from Hone / Defiant.

[Ice Dragon]

3 hours ago, Birdy said:

Probably a stupid question, but does Renewal even stack with Lucina's Falchion build in Renewal?

 

3 hours ago, MrSmokestack said:

Yes, yes it does. They proc on separate turns so it wouldn't conflict.

It's been shown that they stack. There was a screenshot from shortly after skill inheritance went live of a Lucina healing 20 HP at the start of a turn.

[Vaximillian]

There might have been a post or dozen in the thread but nevertheless:

how do I improve Navarre? His vanilla Desperation and Threaten Spd already look nice (not groundbreaking, but nice). Should I aspire to giving him Life and Death in his A slot?
As for the special, do I keep the AoE or should I go for Draconic Aura or something like that?

[TheNiddo]

9 minutes ago, Vaximillian said:

There might have been a post or dozen in the thread but nevertheless:

how do I improve Navarre? His vanilla Desperation and Threaten Spd already look nice (not groundbreaking, but nice). Should I aspire to giving him Life and Death in his A slot?
As for the special, do I keep the AoE or should I go for Draconic Aura or something like that?

LaD is the only decent skill I can think of for his A slot. Unfortunately he's basically a slightly inferior Lon'qu and/or Karel. Who are in turn slightly inferior Lyns basically. And he can't get boon/banes to try to help him out. The one thing he might have over those two is a tad more survivability while using LaD, and then naturally the +5 Speed helps him use Desperation more on top of his Threaten Speed for another potential speed difference of 5, for a total of +10 speed difference compared to vanilla.

I'd go with Moonbow for his special if you're keeping his Killing Edge+ on. Turns it into a 1 charge special and his attack power is iffy. He wants more activations than he does raw power (Draconic Aura would be particularly not as great on him because said attack power is iffy). 

Think about it this way, if he attacks somebody with Moonbow active and can double them, it will activate for both hits provided he's eating a counter attack. Suddenly his attack power isn't so bad. 

[Vaximillian]

@TheNiddo, I've a spare Palla for Moonbow. L&D3 is 5⋆ only… ouch, that hurts! I can bump a Hana up to 4⋆, but 5⋆ must wait.

[pianime94]

If you want him ORKing stuffs more you might want to consider Luna instead of Moonbow, Though Moonbow is the real deal if he falls into Desperation range.

Edited April 4, 2017 by pianime94

[Vaximillian]

28 minutes ago, pianime94 said:

If you want him ORKing stuffs more you might want to consider Luna instead of Moonbow, Though Moonbow is the real deal if he falls into Desperation range.

This means pulling a Frederick, because the hell will freeze over before I get rid of my queen of the skies. Okay, I can wait.

[Arcanite]

Assist/defensive skill on Lyn. Any ideas? I only have access to:

Reposition 

Swap

Rally speed

Rally resistance.

What ya guys think? 

[TheNiddo]

13 minutes ago, Arcanite said:

Assist/defensive skill on Lyn. Any ideas? I only have access to:

Reposition 

Swap

Rally speed

Rally resistance.

What ya guys think? 

A rally wouldn't be worthwhile on her. Go with a movement option.

[Arcanite]

12 minutes ago, TheNiddo said:

A rally wouldn't be worthwhile on her. Go with a movement option.

Yeah but Rally speed+Spur speed = 8 speed

On a vanilla 4 star Nino she would get 42 speed which is nuts, but one vote for Movement. Anyone else?

[MaskedAmpharos]

1 hour ago, Arcanite said:

Yeah but Rally speed+Spur speed = 8 speed

On a vanilla 4 star Nino she would get 42 speed which is nuts, but one vote for Movement. Anyone else?

I, too, favor movement.

As for what movement skill, that's largely preference. I personally favor Swap, but Reposition is good as well.