New banners announced: Alm's Army/Celica's Army

[Vaximillian]

2 minutes ago, shadowofchaos said:

Wait a second... Adept Breaker (Remember, I play JP) REVERSES the advantage for the opponent. So essentially 1.2x on advantage (since the bonus is cancelled or at least according to the wording) with gem weapons turns into 0.8x.

So are both sides going to have 0.8x?

It is thought it works like this: 100% (base) + 20% (TA3 bonus) − 20% (TA3 reversed) = 100%.

[silverserpent]

...totally missed the 4* Reinhardt sitting benched in the barracks. Now I just need 8k more feathers before sacrificing him to the Valkyrie of Victory.. 

[Tenzen12]

Hmm, I was pretty desperate when I learned Delthea and Mathilda are going be released so close to CYL... but these, designs doesn't sit well with me. Leon and Sonya are only one that looks good IMHO. 

I will throw few orbs on green in Celica banner and be done with it. More orbs is left for Lyn the better for me.

[Othin]

28 minutes ago, Xenomata said:

Am I the only disappointed one no one has LnD3 or QR3, meaning no one has the chance to be able to give either skill at 4*?

I'm not any more disappointed by a lack of 4* L&D3/QR3 here than I am on any other banner. They don't seem to be in a rush to make previously-available skills show up at lower rarities rather than adding new skills, so it's hard to keep expecting it. Plus, only half the characters become available at 4* at all and of the ones that do, they typically only have one of their two passives available at top level as a 4*, so even if a character had one of those skills, they'd only have like a 25% chance of causing it to become available at 4*.

Speaking of which, I wonder which characters are going to drop in rarity. I've been saying the ones featured first in trailers are most likely to stay at 5*, but in this case that'd mean Mathilda, Leon, and probably just one of Delthea/Sonya, which seems odd. Despite being first in his trailer, Leon doesn't seem like an especially likely 5*-only candidate, and so far, it's been pretty unusual for characters with ultimate weapons to drop: I think it's only happened on the first two banners, where there were so many that all the ones staying at 5* had ultimate weapons anyway. So it could be that Leon/Saber/Gray drop and Mathilda/Delthea/Sonya stay. One way or another, I think the ones staying at 5* will be Mathilda and two of Leon/Delthea/Sonya, but if Leon stays 5* (assuming Mathilda does as well), I'm taking that as confirmation of the "first in the trailer" rule.

It's possible that they'll handle it on an individual banner basis and have each banner have "half" stay at 5* and round up for each one for a total of four so Methilda/Leon/Delthea/Sonya all stay 5*. That'd be weird, but it could also be more effective at moneygrabbing.

Edited July 12, 2017 by Othin

[Sire]

Right when I thought my orbs were safe and maybe I could just spend more idly on the Summer Banner for the exclusives, this comes along...

While I would love to collect them all, I'm probably going to focus on the Alm's Army banner for Delthea. Getting Gray and Mathilda would be awesome as well due to their skills. (Now, if I ever get a Lukas, I want to put Ridersbane on him to mimic one of my Echoes runs.) Celica's Army is cool as well with three heroes, but I find Alm's Army to have the better artwork overall.

However, I do have two concerns...

1. What the hell are they thinking with Slayer Weapons? They outclass Killer Weapons, period, and both are inheritable! This is an insult to everyone who uses Killer Weapons and to those who inherited Killer Weapons for their effects, because now there is a superior weapon to use that does the same damn thing. Sure, the shiny stuff is on new characters, I get that. But this just pisses me off. I much rather have the Killer Weapons upgraded to match the new numbers instead of having a new weapon outclass it entirely.

Next thing that will happen is that there will be an upgraded form of the Armorslayer and maybe even Gem weapons, since the Horseslayer weapons are 10 MT and 14 MT (compared to 8 MT and 12 MT). Hell, why not invalidate Brave Weapons while we are at it with a new and superior version that does more damage or get rid of the SPD penalty! Won't that be fun?

I am all for Skill Inheritance and making fun and effective builds. But this development does not make me a happy man because I see the path this can go down...

2. I really need to see Cancel Affinity in action. If it just counters Triangle Adept, I will be scratching my head because unit formations and balanced team composition can counter it due to its drawback (just send in the effective color to handle it). If it also affects the Weapon Triangle in general though, I call BS. I don't mind seeing "Reaver" weapons or skills, but typically that reverses the entire triangle (so there is still balance) instead of just negating the poor matchup.

As for Reinhardt, I tend use Fury Nino (+SPD, -RES) to handle him. She can't handle +ATK, Deathblow 3, and Honed Cavalry Reinhardt without a +4 RES Buff (lives with 1 HP), and if the Reinhardt is merged, Nino dies. Actually, I may want to give Nino that +3 HP seal instead of the +1 ATK one now...

[Lushen]

I think the slayer skills are weapon exclusives.  I know they don't have unique names, but higher MT killer weapons suggests they are exclusive.

Dark Aura looks pretty OP.  Probably outclasses Eirka's weapon.  Ephraim still has utillity because he is not just a support unit.

Dark Excalibur is likely worse than blade tomes

Leon is the most interesting.  All archers fall into one build category - Brave Bow+.  I know there are other units that can't use Brave Bows effectively, but they're actually pretty terrible units.  Klein, Summer!Gaius, Jeorge, and Bride!Cordelia are really the only archers being used.  There's also Firesweep Bow, but it pales compared to Brave Bow.   Now, we finally have an archer that looks like he falls in an entirely different category.  It's clear Leon will have high defense from his special that scales off defense.  Additionally, his bow is a better version of a killer bow.  This suggests he will be a bit of a tankier unit who builds up his charge and does heavy damage with specials that scale off defense. Good combo, I'm guessing his stats will also be good.  He might even benefit off a low speed to get that charge to go up (if his defense is like 35+, infantry won't do enough damage to him anyways because there's no weapon triangle advantage excluding raven tomes).  I think he will outclass Takumi as a CC user, finally.  Likely only good at arena or with a healer.

Edited July 12, 2017 by Lushen

[Vaximillian]

18 minutes ago, Lushen said:

Dark Aura looks pretty OP.  Probably outclasses Eirka's weapon.

Dark Aura only buffs melee units. Eirika’s place as Nino’s best friend is safe.

[Kiran]

Looking at the trailers again...I SEE YOU CLIVE. Why aren't you in the banners too???

[MonkeyCheez3K]

Probably gonna pull for Delthea, Mathilda and Sonya if their stat spreads are awesome, otherwise I'll pass (who needs swordies anymore, or low-attack archers?). None of the skills really matter to me, though I will dread the upcoming future of several AI units with Adept Cancel added.... ugh; Panic-Ploy wasn't enough I guess. As for Arena.... won't change much, it's already painful, how much worse can it really get, when most of the teams already feature Reinfart, B!Cordelia and dancers. Though, those melee Anti-Horsies will really put a damper on the broken nonsense, ey? Sigh...

Edited July 12, 2017 by MonkeyCheez3K

[TheTuckingFypo]

I want all of them.

especially saber. I want mah right hand man.

clive, you ain't fooling no one... get in the banner.

darn, both Tobin and grey are swords... guess that means kill off will be too? I definitely hope that isn't the case. Faye was an archer when she probably should've been a healer.... so there's hope?

i was actually expecting Conrad rather than Leon, tbh...  not for preference but rather that I thought Leon valbar and Kamui would be released together.

[MrSmokestack]

3 minutes ago, TheTuckingFypo said:

I want all of them.

especially saber. I want mah right hand man.

darn, both Tobin and grey are swords... guess that means kill off will be too? I definitely hope that isn't the case. Faye was an archer when she probably should've been a healer.... so there's hope?

This better be a typo, Fypo. Nobody riffs on my boy Kliff like that.

I want everyone in this banner too, save maybe Leon. Mathilda is a bit redundant on my end but I want Saber, Gray, and Delthea the most. I just pulled Genny yesterday, here's hoping...!

[TheTuckingFypo]

Just now, MrSmokestack said:

This better be a typo, Fypo. Nobody riffs on my boy Kliff like that.

I want everyone in this banner too, save maybe Leon. Mathilda is a bit redundant on my end but I want Saber, Gray, and Delthea the most. I just pulled Genny yesterday, here's hoping...!

Holy fuck. Autocorrect. 

Congrats on Genny though! 

Spoiler

Thank god I caught that autocorrect. Genny almost was granny....

autocorrect is a piece of shot.

 

[XRay]

40 minutes ago, Sire said:

Next thing that will happen is that there will be an upgraded form of the Armorslayer and maybe even Gem weapons, since the Horseslayer weapons are 10 MT and 14 MT (compared to 8 MT and 12 MT). Hell, why not invalidate Brave Weapons while we are at it with a new and superior version that does more damage or get rid of the SPD penalty! Won't that be fun?

Zanbato+ and Ridersbane+ are both 14 MT. Better anti-armor Weapons in the future are possible since the new anti-cavalry Weapons are of a higher MT. Not sure about Gem Weapons.

In general, power creep is bad, but making lesser things more viable by raising them closer to the ceiling gives the game a little more variety. Making more powerful Killer Weapons does not cause a power creep in the game. Killer weapons are primarily for Enemy Phase builds, and Enemy Phase builds in general are worse than Player Phase builds. As long as the ceiling (Player Phase builds) does not increase in power, there is no power creep. On the other hand, making better Brave Weapons by removing the Speed penalty will cause a power creep, since that affects the strongest units, which are Player Phase builds.

Is it a dick move that they outclassed Killer Weapons entirely? I will agree with you on that. However, this game is ultimately a business; I assume Nintendo is smart enough to make the right choice, and they decided that the profits from making Slayer Weapons would outweigh the benefit of goodwill generated from buffing Killer Weapons.

27 minutes ago, Lushen said:

I think the slayer skills are weapon exclusives.  I know they don't have unique names, but higher MT killer weapons suggests they are exclusive.

I am not so sure about that. If they wanted to make it exclusive they could have went with Silver Weapon to exclusive Weapon upgrade route; the "+" indicates that it is going through Weapon to Weapon+ route. Making third tier Weapons exclusive is unlikely in my opinion.

3 minutes ago, MonkeyCheez3K said:

Though, those melee Anti-Horsies will really put a damper on the broken nonsense, ey?

No, it will not. Blade ponies are the cream of the cavalry, and they kill things from range 2. Anti-cavalry melee weapons attack from range 1.

[shadowofchaos]

13 minutes ago, MrSmokestack said:

This better be a typo, Fypo. Nobody riffs on my boy Kliff like that.

I want everyone in this banner too, save maybe Leon. Mathilda is a bit redundant on my end but I want Saber, Gray, and Delthea the most. I just pulled Genny yesterday, here's hoping...!

 

11 minutes ago, TheTuckingFypo said:

Holy fuck. Autocorrect. 

Congrats on Genny though! 

  Hide contents

Thank god I caught that autocorrect. Genny almost was granny....

autocorrect is a piece of shot.

 

At least that is tame autocorrect.

My phone tries to correct it as "Fire Emblem Herpes"

Edited July 12, 2017 by shadowofchaos

[Robert Stewart]

Just now, shadowofchaos said:

My phone tries to correct it as "Fire Emblem Herpes"

Sounds right to me, I don't see what the problem is.

:p

[MonkeyCheez3K]

12 minutes ago, XRay said:

No, it will not. Blade ponies are the cream of the cavalry, and they kill things from range 2. Anti-cavalry melee weapons attack from range 1.

I know, my sarcasm wasn't obvious enough from me mentioning how all those other skills don't matter and me sighing, I guess. Sorry about that.

[XRay]

2 minutes ago, shadowofchaos said:

My phone tries to correct it as "Fire Emblem Herpes"

With so many waifus and husbandos, I bet many players would gladly play a Fire Emblem game that gives them herpes.

4 minutes ago, MonkeyCheez3K said:

I know, my sarcasm wasn't obvious enough from me mentioning how all those other skills don't matter and me sighing, I guess. Sorry about that.

There is no need to apologize. I find it difficult sometimes to pick out sarcasm if I am not paying attention.

[Lushen]

26 minutes ago, XRay said:

I am not so sure about that. If they wanted to make it exclusive they could have went with Silver Weapon to exclusive Weapon upgrade route; the "+" indicates that it is going through Weapon to Weapon+ route. Making third tier Weapons exclusive is unlikely in my opinion.

Silver weapons aren't exclusive because there's nothing special about them, they just have high MT.

You're right about the '+', I didn't catch that.  That pretty much confirms it won't be exclusive because I can't think of any '+' weapon that is exclusive.  

[pumpkinspice48]

Banners looking pretty good!  I don't think we've gotten six new units at once since the Fe7 banner. I'm glad the swimsuit banner isn't the only one for this month.  I'll probably go or Delthea or Leon since I'm good on reds and greens.  I kind of want Sonya but I already have a 5* Nino, Soren, and Cecilia so unless she has great stats it's hard to justify pulling for her.   

 

Also poor Kliff is now the only member of Alm's og crew not in the game.  

[Alexmender]

There goes that +10 Sophia I was looking foward to make. Cancel Affinity is a straight buff for Firesweep Bow users and a huge nerf for TA+Raven tomes, it also buffs Reinhardt a little bit making him able to counter Titania, Cecilia and some Fae builds who include TA. I can safely say I'm not looking foward to this skill.

On the other hand, everything else looks awesome and I really want Mathilda, Delthea, Sonya, Gray and Saber (Leon not so much). I'm thankfull I haven't done any of the Chain Challenge chapters so I have all the orbs from that + 18 left from TT so I'll give it my best to get these units!

 

[XRay]

Just now, Lushen said:

Silver weapons aren't exclusive because there's nothing special about them, they just have high MT.

You're right about the '+', I didn't catch that.  That pretty much confirms it won't be exclusive because I can't think of any '+' weapon that is exclusive.  

Silver Weapons are not exclusives, but they are a requirement to get exclusive Weapons.

[shadowofchaos]

13 minutes ago, XRay said:

With so many waifus and husbandos, I bet many players would gladly play a Fire Emblem game that gives them herpes.

There is no need to apologize. I find it difficult sometimes to pick out sarcasm if I am not paying attention.

Haha.

Also sarcasm is hard to detect in general over the internet and especially text.

[Sire]

8 minutes ago, XRay said:

Zanbato+ and Ridersbane+ are both 14 MT. Better anti-armor Weapons in the future are possible since the new anti-cavalry Weapons are of a higher MT. Not sure about Gem Weapons.

In general, power creep is bad, but making lesser things more viable by raising them closer to the ceiling gives the game a little more variety. Making more powerful Killer Weapons does not cause a power creep in the game. Killer weapons are primarily for Enemy Phase builds, and Enemy Phase builds in general are worse than Player Phase builds. As long as the ceiling (Player Phase builds) does not increase in power, there is no power creep. On the other hand, making better Brave Weapons by removing the Speed penalty will cause a power creep, since that affects the strongest units, which are Player Phase builds.

Is it a dick move that they outclassed Killer Weapons entirely? I will agree with you on that. However, this game is ultimately a business; I assume Nintendo is smart enough to make the right choice, and they decided that the profits from making Slayer Weapons would outweigh the benefit of goodwill generated from buffing Killer Weapons.

Slayer Weapons are a straight upgrade to Killer Weapons, period. Both are inheritable, and Slayer Weapons are introduced on a new character. At least the Wo Dao had different functionality, even if it was "better" than vanilla Killer Weapons. From my perspective, this is outright power creep.

The increase to 14 MT also calls for viability for Silver Weapons. Their main point was being 15 MT with no modifiers. With "Horseslayers" and "Slayer (Killer ++++)" being 14 MT with effects, there is no reason to run vanilla Silver Weapons any more because the loss of 1 MT is nothing compared to the effects gained. I guess there will be "Gold" weapons next that have 18 MT, making Silver Weapons pointless.

I don't mind narrowing the gap between inheritable weapons and exclusive weapons. I don't mind that exclusives are slightly better than their counterparts. My main problem is that this sets a precedent and it ticks me off to no end. Why even build something if something better will come down the line and just replace it?

I don't mind the game being balanced over time, but doing so with a brand new item that completely invalidates the previous one is BS. Maybe I have my expectations in the wrong place, I came into FE: Heroes to have fun with my favorite Fire Emblem characters and create fun builds. If I wanted to run a "gear treadmill," I'll play an MMO or something.

As far as I am concerned, this is one of the worst developments to Fire Emblem Heroes. If this is the road the game wishes to follow, then I'm likely done. I can not support this method of balancing by introducing something new that invalidates the old. From a balancing perspective, they could have just changed the values in-game (update Killer Weapons with the new Slayer values) with patch notes and the like, but what do I know about Gacha games. Perhaps this is just the norm and I am a madman spouting nonsense that has no business playing these types of titles. /rant

[Lemmy]

annoying this was announced the day after I decided to go for another firesweep bow, i'll pass

[GuiltyLove]

34 minutes ago, Robert of Normandy said:

Sounds right to me, I don't see what the problem is.

:p

I agree. After all, Reinhardt gives you that and many more other diseases for free! You can get more if you are a whale!