Next grand hero battle: Zephiel

[Ledrert]

The banner with Hana. They tempting me. But... I've already done the Grand Battle. Here's what I've done :

Team : M!Robin 40 5* (Swap,TA3,QR2), Michalis 40 5* (Bonfire,Reposition,QR2, HP+3), F!Robin 38 4* and Lissa 40 4*

Spoiler

First, let M!Robin in the range of the red mage. F!Robin at his left, Michalis behind.

Turn of the opponent : the red mage kill himself against Robin. Robin has his special charged.

Your turn : swap M!Robin with Michalis. Heal M!Robin.

Turn opponent : The blue knight battle against Michalis. He's low HP.

Your turn : let F!Robin at the range of the blue mage. Retreat all other units. Michalis must be at the right of F!Robin.

Turn opponent : the blue mage hit F!Robin.

Your turn : Michalis finish the blue mage. Lissa finish the blue knight. Then M!Robin swap with him.

Opponent turn : Zephiel hit M!Robin.

Your turn : M!Robin hit Zephiel. Let Michalis behind him. Heal M!Robin.

Opponent turn : Zephiel hit M!Robin with his special. The green knight swap with him.

Your turn : let Michalis at the range of the green knight.

Opponent turn : Green knight fight Michalis. He's low HP.

 

Now, you can finish the two opponents with the two Robins. And done.

 

[Silith13]

Nice one. I expected Est to use Shove more to allow Cecila more attacks. There were a few points it could've sped up the battle.

[red-and-soulless]

 

After a stamina potion and a few different team builds, I managed to beat this with:

• 5* Lvl 40 Priscilla (+Def, -Res)
• 4* Lvl 35 Olivia (+HP, -Atk)
• 5* Lvl 40 Nowi (+HP, -Res)
• 4* Lvl 40 Nino (+Atk, -Res)

Turn 1: Olivia/Nowi/Nino positioned themselves in a line directly below the danger area.  Priscilla moved below Olivia.

Spoiler

c

Turn 2: Nino attacked the armor for 39 damage.  Olivia danced Nino, and Nino used Drag Back to maneuver both of them out of range.  Nowi moved into the red mages range.  During the enemy phase, Nowi was doubled for 26 damage, and dealt 25 damage back.  The other enemies engaged in some Swapping shenanigans, resulting in the following positioning:

Turn 3: Olivia moved to the back row, Nowi shifted to the rightmost alcove, and Prisicilla slid in next to Nowi to deliver some much needed healing.  Nino stayed put in her location.  On enemy phase, the movement shenanigans continued, ending up like so:

Spoiler

 

Turn 4: Nowi took out the weakened red mage, and after being danced by Olivia, retreated to the back row.  Priscilla moved up to the top of the right alcove, and Nino dragged back Olivia horizontally to safety.  Come enemy phase, they were up to their usual theatrics, and rearranged themselves as follows:

Spoiler

 

Turn 5: Nino moved up and finished off the Blue armor.  Everyone else moved out of danger, leaving a nice little diamond pattern.  The blue mage moved forward to attack Nino, dealing 12 damage and receiving 30 in return.  Zephiel moved behind the blue mage, and the green armor swapped with him, leaving them situated thusly on the battlefield:

Spoiler

 

Turn 6: MVP Nino added the badly hurt blue mage to her list of victims.  Olivia moved right below Nino, Nowi moved over to Olivia's old spot, and Priscilla moved to the back row and gave Nowi another 10 hp heal.  The green armor and Zephiel advanced toward Nowi:

Spoiler

 

Note: This picture reflects a curious multiverse where Priscilla healed Nowi to full at least 1 turn early.  This doesn't make too much of a difference either, as Nowi was at full before she engaged in combat anyway, but it should be noted regardless.

Turn 7: Nino (with some dancing assistance) brought the green armor down to 7 hp.  After a good luck heal from Priscilla, Nowi moved past Nino and finished off the green armor.  During enemy phase, Zephiel attack Nowi, dealing 17 damage and receiving 37 for his troubles:

Spoiler

 

Turn 8: From here, it was just a matter of chipping Zephiel with Nino before sealing the deal with Nowi, and voila!  Zephiel was mine (again).

 

I actually found this Grand Hero Battle to be significantly more difficult than Navarre's and Michalis', mostly due to the surprising tankiness of every unit involved (particularly the mages and their damned specials) and the very limited movement options.  It took me another hour and two additional stamina potions to recreate my steps again, though this might also be because it is 5 in the morning here .

Anyway, good luck to those who are yet to complete it, congrats to those who already have, and I'll get caught up on developments sometime this afternoon... Cheers 

Edited May 28, 2017 by red-and-soulless
Due to running out of Attachment space, all the relevant Grand Hero Battle pictures live here: http://imgur.com/a/oClwW

[SatsumaFSoysoy]

I managed to beat Lunatic with the team I posted earlier, but I had to take out Windsweep for Quick Riposte on Alm. Otherwise, everyone else can be vanilla skills.

5* +1 Alm with Quick Riposte (or similar unit, the +1 doesn't really matter, but the QR probably is key)
4* F!Robin
4* Olivia
5* Kagerou (similar unit that can ORKO the red mage is fine)

Turn 1:

Spoiler

Kagerou should go bait the Red Mage to take him out first. I had Life and Death 3 on, but it makes no difference, really.

Turn 2:

Spoiler

The Red Mage killed himself on Kagerou, and the Knights begin to move. Kagerou can retreat for now, and F!Robin should take her place to fire off a shot at the Lance Knight.

After that, Dance F!Robin away to safety, like this:

Turn 3:

Spoiler

The Axe Knight will move down, but since Alm is behind F!Robin, the Lance Knight will choose to Swap with the Axe Knight:

With a hit from F!Robin, then another via dancing, the Lance Knight will fall. At this point, notice that the Blue Mage can attack F!Robin, but Zephiel and the Axe Knight cannot.

Turn 4:

Spoiler

The Blue Mage will attack F!Robin. Normally, she wouldn't be able to kill, but Ignis will activate during her counterattack, which gives her enough damage. Now onto Zephiel...

Turn 5:

Spoiler

Zephiel's Threaten Def goes off, and he attacks Alm for 37 damage (that shit hurts), but Quick Riposte breaks Wary Fighter, allowing Alm to double attack. This is important, because it charges Draconic Aura, which allows him to one-shot Zephiel on Player Phase.

Only the Axe Knight is left, but it's important to note that at this point, Alm can't tank the Axe Knight's attack anymore. Dance Alm away, and then just have Olivia tank the Axe Knight's attack while F!Robin and Kagerou chip away at him. He does have Sol, but should not heal enough to actually cause you to lose. Then you're done.

 

Edited April 20, 2017 by SatsumaFSoysoy

[eclipse]

In what has got to be one of the most bizarre clears ever, just did Lunatic map with the following:

- 5* Spring Camilla (-raven)
- 4* M!Robin
- 4* Virion
- 4* Olivia

Virion was needed to finish off one the red mage (since Robin didn't do enough damage).  Camilla/Robin chipped everyone down, and Olivia tanked a hit from the axe knight.

Was definitely an interesting match, to say the least!

[Cute Chao]

Hard mode defeated easily with Lilina, Reinhardt, Azura and Julia. However, this team failed on Lunatic.

I swapped Lilina with Kagero and was laughing all the way home. Man, Reinhardt, even vanilla, smashes everything :D

Edited April 20, 2017 by Cute Chao

[Sunwoo]

I beat Zephiel's lunatic map on my first try using my own strategy. This is a first, so I'm really happy about it.

My team was Sanaki (with red tomebreaker), Alfonse (don't think he fought), Nino, and Olivia. I had Sanaki bait out the red mage and she 1RKO'd it. I'm also pretty sure she had Alfonse and a hone attack on her, but don't quote me on it. She and Nino took shots at the blue armor knight while Olivia danced them out of the way of the blue mage and Alfonse gave them spur attack. Eventually, when I took out the axe armor I put Nino in range of the blue mage so she could finish it off on the EP. Olivia danced for Sanaki while she threw fireballs at Zephiel and finished him off.

Long story short: any dancer, someone with spur attack, someone else with hone attack, a green mage, and a non-green mage with red tomebreaker (or high enough magic and speed) will do the trick.

Edited April 20, 2017 by Sunwoo

[Magical Glace]

Got the 4* Zephiel with no damage taken

Team (in starting position order, leftmost first):

4* Cecilia, +Atk -Res, Draw Back, Chilling Wind, Breath of Life 2 inherited

5* Klein, +Atk -Res, Draw Back, Hone Attack 2 inherited

5* Roy, +HP -Def, Dragon Fang, Defiant Speed 3, Hone Speed 2 Inherited

5* Leo, +Spd - Res, Rally Attack, New Moon inherited.

Turn 1: 

Roy shoves Klein up one square, Leo rallies Klein, Klein goes and kills the blue mage.  Cecilia uses Draw back to get Klein out of Zephiel's range.

Turn 2:

The Red mage moved before the lance armor, cutting him off, so Klein kills the red mage.  

Turn 3+:

The rest of the map basically consists of Leo/Cecilia/Klein chipping and getting pulled out of danger, and the kiting was honestly so easy that I don't fully remember exactly what happened.

Edited April 20, 2017 by Glaceon Mage

[Vaximillian]

Beat the Lunatic map in two attempts with a team of 5⋆ Sharena, Eirika, and Ninian, and 4⋆ Nino.

Nino obviously was my damage dealer here. First thing was to remove the blue mage. Then she got danced and dragged Ninian back along. Then she hit and ran shooting at other knights while Sharena poked the red mage when he showed his silly head. Then Nino finished both him and the blue knight, and Ninian tanked one ht from Zephiel. Nino finished him the next turn, stage clear.

EDIT: they gave him custom animations! So cute and so cool!

Edited April 20, 2017 by Vaximillian

[SatsumaFSoysoy]

Lol, could Zephiel's lines be any edgier? "Everything is meaningless" *grunts*

[Cute Chao]

3 minutes ago, SatsumaFSoysoy said:

Lol, could Zephiel's lines be any edgier? "Everything is meaningless" *grunts*

He can team up with Navarre and Michalis to make Team Edge xD

[Ice Dragon]

2 minutes ago, Cute Chao said:

He can team up with Navarre and Michalis to make Team Edge xD

Bah. No one's got edges sharper than Jaffar.

[Vaximillian]

7 minutes ago, SatsumaFSoysoy said:

Lol, could Zephiel's lines be any edgier? "Everything is meaningless" *grunts*

Humanity is grotesque!

@Ice Dragon Zephiel, Michalis, Navarre, and Jaffar then? Raven can also sub for any of those when needed. Lon'qu can also fill in for Navarre.

Edited April 20, 2017 by Vaximillian

[MrSmokestack]

Beat Lunatic on my first go with the example team and strat I posted earlier, without getting hit: Lucina-Spring / Klein / Nino / Olivia

Although the armors had Wary Fighter rather than Wings of Mercy, they were still really easy to deal with because Draw Back takes that scenario into account. Kited everything and KO'd the mages as they let themselves get exposed, though there wasn't any hurry or danger in doing so.

Lowkey sad that Zephiel doesn't have LaD 3 at 4* though.

2 minutes ago, Ice Dragon said:

Bah. No one's got edges sharper than Jaffar.

Ow the edge.

Edited April 20, 2017 by MrSmokestack

[Sunwoo]

11 minutes ago, SatsumaFSoysoy said:

Lol, could Zephiel's lines be any edgier? "Everything is meaningless" *grunts*

"I hate everyone equally" sounds like something I'd totally expect to hear from him.

[GespenstMK2S]

Easiest GHB for me so far, thanks to 5* Sanaki and Linde.

Cleared it with 5*Linde, Sanaki, Ninian and Sharena.

[ruruo]

At this rate, we need some happy chirpy grand heroes to balance all that edge x'DDDDD

Shamelessly sharing a vid of the fastest I could do this map. 

 

 

[Eridras]

Easiest GHB by far for me. First Lunatic attempt with my arena team of Lucina, Sharena, Julia, and Azura had no trouble at all. Sharena might as well have not even been there. 

[Dylan Corona]

1 hour ago, Roflolxp54 said:

Mkv got the free units strats up. You take 0 damage using it.

Since I don't have Raigh (was stupid to send the free one home), I substituted him with 4-star Sophia.

Awesome, this one will go well for me, as I only need to level up Raigh to get it done. But if Sophia works, then maybe I don't need to lol. Thanks for sharing.

[NekoKnight]

So...does anyone find it odd that Zephiel has Life and Death? He's literally the slowest character in the game which means the speed boost is wasted and he suffers -5 def/res for it. His second skill is Wary Fighter which explicitly prevents anyone from doubling...so why does he have a skill that boosts his speed?

[Ice Dragon]

31 minutes ago, Vaximillian said:

Zephiel, Michalis, Navarre, and Jaffar then? Raven can also sub for any of those when needed. Lon'qu can also fill in for Navarre.

I still like my Team Edgelord:

• Jaffar (Deathly Dagger, Smite, Vengeance, Life and Death 3, Poison Strike 3, Savage Blow 3)
• Jaffar (Deathly Dagger, Smite, Ignis, Life and Death 3, Poison Strike 3, Savage Blow 3)
• Jaffar (Deathly Dagger, Smite, Glacies, Life and Death 3, Poison Strike 3, Savage Blow 3)
• Jaffar (Deathly Dagger, Smite, Dragon Fang, Life and Death 3, Poison Strike 3, Savage Blow 3)

Nothing edgier.

 

1 minute ago, NekoKnight said:

So...does anyone find it odd that Zephiel has Life and Death? He's literally the slowest character in the game which means the speed boost is wasted and he suffers -5 def/res for it. His second skill is Wary Fighter which explicitly prevents anyone from doubling...so why does he have a skill that boosts his speed?

It's there for the Atk boost. Probably.

Also prevents extremely slow Swordbreakers (25 Spd and lower) from double attacking.

Edited April 20, 2017 by Ice Dragon

[NekoKnight]

5 minutes ago, Ice Dragon said:

It's there for the Atk boost. Probably.

Also prevents extremely slow Swordbreakers (25 Spd and lower) from double attacking.

Maybe it's so he's not just Effie with a better stat spread. Give me more Death Blow characters, game.

Edited April 20, 2017 by NekoKnight

[MrSmokestack]

10 hours ago, MrSmokestack said:

Hopefully this helps people with planning their teams for the new Grand Hero Battle! 

  Hide contents

Unit Breakdown:

Zephiel

HP: 78

Atk: 57 (36+16+5)

Spd: 21 (16+5)

Def: 34

Res: 20

Skills: Eckesachs (Threaten Def 2), Reprisal (1), Life and Death 3, Wary Fighter 3.

If you're going the skill inheritance route, the quickest way is a -Blade user with Swordbreaker and at least 26 Spd (30 Spd for 1 Goad Armor, 34 for 2 Goads). Without weapon advantage, your mage needs to hit 59 Atk to ORKO, 50 with weapon advantage (63 for 1 Ward, 67 for 2 Wards). Neutral Lucina-Spring does this pretty easily with a Hone Atk buff as well as her innate Swift Sparrow for +12 Atk. Robin with Triangle Adept 3 and Swordbreaker does this with either a +Atk roll or an Atk buff, as he will hit either 43 or 44 Atk, respectively.

Blue Mage / Red Mage

HP: 45

Atk:

Red Mage / Blue Mage

HP: 45

Atk: 44

Spd: 32

Def: 20

Res: 28

Skills: Thoron+ / Bolganone+, Armored Blow, Seal Atk, Breath of Life, Blazing Thunder (2)

Now that we know the stats and skills of the mages, compared to the estimated stats from before they are much more frail physically and defensively, and can be doubled by units with 37 Spd, a more forgiving speed tier than 42. A physical unit without weapon advantage only needs to hit 43 Atk to ORKO (36 Atk with it) while a mage without weapon advantage would need 51 Atk to ORKO (43 Atk with it). Baiting them is not recommended as they carry Armored Blow to reduce the damage they take, as well as Seal Atk to offset the buffs from your Dancer through your next actions.

Axe Armor / Lance Armor (stats same as from GHB Ursula)

HP: 67

Atk: 47 (39+8)

Spd: 11 (16-5)

Def: 41

Res: 19

Skills: Wary Fighter, Fortify Res 3, Swap, Sol (2)

This skillset is also much less threatening than was theorized, given the lack of Wings of Mercy and Armor-Buffing Skills. Even so, Wary Fighter poses an issue for units that cannot 2HKO without buffs, though the actual combat hasn't changed so the numbers remain the same; without weapon advantage, your mage would need 54 Atk (and 45 Atk with it).

 

Team Building

There is no reason to not run a full mage composition along with a Dancer. Carrying one of each color will work for our purposes here, though our blue mage should remain uninjured if they are carrying Swordbreaker for Zephiel; though this isn't necessary in the slightest. Carrying Weaponbreakers for the other two only helps the map go by faster and aren't need if you're just looking to finish it. Draw Back is necessary on your Green Mage for this strategy to work though, if you want to ensure no one is in enemy range at the end of each of your turns.

In this example, we will use one mage of each color and a dancer. Assume the Green Mage is Nino and the Dancer is Olivia.

 

Play-By-Play

1. Begin with your units in this order: Blue Mage / Red Mage / Green Mage / Olivia.
2. Move your Green Mage 1 up, and have the Dancer move behind the Green Mage. Have the Red Mage move 1 right, leaving them adjacent to Olivia. End turn. No one should be in enemy range yet.
3. After buffs, your Green Mage should have at least 45 Atk. Move your Green Mage to attack the Lance Armor, then Dance for them and Draw Back the pair out the enemy Red Mage's range.
4. The opposing units will begin to move. The Lance Armor may likely switch places with the Axe Armor with the use of Swap. Once again, use your mage in tandem with Dance and Draw Back to chip the armors and set them up for KO's next turn.
5. Once the armors are defeated, use weapon advantage to KO the mages, dancing units out of range as needed.
6. Zephiel will end up being the last unit on the map. Use your Blue Mage to 2HKO him. Enjoy your shiny new 4*.

Updated! Hope this helps!

[Dylan Corona]

Got him! Didn't use a total freebie team, but it worked. I used all level 40; Ceclia, EggLucy, Azura and Sophia haha. I almost thought it wasn't going to work, but Azura lived with 5 hp against Zephiel, which allowed Lucy to take him out. 

[Ice Dragon]

@Arcanite @MaskedAmpharos @MrSmokestack

I'd like to issue a challenge to The Strategists Three, should you choose to accept:

Most of the team compositions so far contain a strong mage and a dancer, for obvious reasons. But that's hardly a challenge.

No units tiered A+ or higher on wiki's vanilla tier list (to exclude Reinhardt and the dancers; why Reinhardt is only A+ I will never know). No skill inheritance. No merges. No items. Fox only. Final Destination.

 

I'll be seeing if I can improve on my own time. Currently at 7 turns.