Special Heroes - Bite of Flame

[Jave]

 

[KMT4ever]

Gotta love how even though the whole banner is based around a festival of Rinkah's tribe, she's the demote because Lyn needed another alt. At least give her an Ascendant version with the Mani Katti, IS. I don't really care much about this banner otherwise, although I'm going to try to get Tana and Peony to maintain my complete Harmonic collection.

[Othin]

Well, Lyn was a particularly dull start to the banner. Her skill set is interesting, but I'd prefer it on anyone else.

No Skrimir, unfortunately. Muspell and Tana look fine, I guess? Colorless dragon cavalry continue to be seasonals.

[Acacia Sgt]

Finally, another new theme.

Edited September 5, 2022 by Acacia Sgt

[Fire Emblem Fan]

Lyn still without her actual signature/personal weapon, the Mani Katti. But, her last alt was the Ninja one two years ago, so...I guess she hasn't had the spotlight in a little while now, by FEH standards. And as a Lyn fan I'm gonna get her anyway, so, I guess I shouldn't complain?

Anyway, very happy to see Mordecai. That's cool. I kinda wish Caineghis or Skrimir was there, but I like Mordecai a lot, I'll take it.

[Tybrosion]

For some reason, I thought Tana was Fir when I first saw the trailer thumbnail.

But oh shit, that's a Harmonic alt for Tana so I'll probably be sparking on this banner. I'd like that Muspell and Lyn as well.

[LoneStar]

I was thinking Lynja came out 2 years ago so another Lyn alt was probably inevitable. It's been really long since Hector got something so maybe an alt for his is around the corner? I kind of like the units on this banner, I'm not sure if I want to pull though, guess I'll wait until Ascended Eir who should come out in a few weeks.

[Florete]

Lmao another Lyn alt and I have sub-100 orbs and still don't have summer Micaiah.

Godlike Reflexes is probably inheritable.

[Alexmender]

I'm going to skip this banner as I'm still trying to get some merges on the CYL banner, but I'll probably try for that Lyn on a DSH banner because I need to keep the collection going. 

Oh yeah, the thumbnail made me think Tana was Ayra for some reason, must be because her hair looks almost black compared to her usual dark blue. 

That aside, let's see what these guys have as units:

• Lyn seems to have 3 prfs, but there's a chance her special might end up like Vital Astra and is inheritable. Her prf has Slaying, Spectrum+5, true dmg based on foe's Atk, Guard if she isn't doubled by her foe and CD-1 after combat for herself and nearby allies. Her exclusive A-skill gives up to +12 to all stats, 5 true dmg and 7 healing per hit if her special is pre-charged or will trigger during combat. Godlike Reflexes gives Spd based true damage if the special is pre-charged or will trigger during combat, and when triggered it gives 40% reduction. So this is a new twist on Dodge tanking, but now based on a special to circumvent Deadeye/Lethality, although it'll still do nothing against L!Nanna. This Lyn is also pretty weak to B!Tiki as she'll deny pre-charged specials with her prf. Outside of that Lyn seems like a fairly good unit, will probably want to be paired with a Far Save armor to deal with ranged foes. The main issue I see with this Lyn is that she wants both Bullwark and Tempo, but can only use one of them. 
• Muspell brings Dragon's Wrath 4 to make dragons score even higher in arena. He still has Domain of Flame for that true damage, and his Prf grants Slaying, +6 Atk for himself and -6 Atk on foe, guaranteed follow-up and ignores 50% of non-special dmg reduction like Duo Lif. I doubt he'll become a common unit, but one shouldn't underestimate Muspell's nuking capabilities. 
• Rinkah gives Odd Tempest for fodder, which is a pretty good skill for AR. Even Tempest feels better on SD. Her weapon is whatever, although it might have some use on Def stacking Save armors. 
• Harmonic Tana (I swear she looks nothing like Tana)'s Prf gives Canto 1 to herself and any allies within 2 spaces at the start of turn, Slaying, +6 Atk/Spd, half of NFU, and increases her damage+debuffs her foe by 20% of her Atk stat as long as she doesn't face a red unit. Harmonic skill is the usual dance for FE8 and Heroes units. Stats are 39/39/42/26/32. Canto 1 is mainly a boon for infantry units and ranged fliers. Cavs tend to run Traces to make the most out of their high mov so they don't get a lot out of this, although this opens up the B-slot to run a Lull. Ranged fliers tend to have issues using Far Trace due to their low mov, so a guaranteed Canto is nice, then again, fliers barely have B slot options outside of traces so it's not like this will have that great of an impact on their performance. I can see H!Tana having a niche on Galeforce teams as she'll allow her teammates to have both WoM and Canto for better positioning, but outside of that I don't see her making much of an impact. 

 

[Ice Dragon]

Cute girls in sarashi, and two with nice abs. Very nice.

A bit disappointed Muspell isn't also wearing a sarashi. I think he would've looked good in one. (Men wear sarashi around their waist, e.g. Kamina from TTGL. It's supposed to help support your core during physical exertion.)

Rinkah is the demote? Her inheritable weapon is really good, too.

Sarashi is love. Sarashi is life. I want everyone. Fuck my life. And my wallet.

 

The new skills are pretty cool.

Godlike Reflexes is a new defensive Special that also boosts damage. It looks like they're really leaning into the new condition that Finish introduced.

Dragon's Wrath 4 finally makes Dragon's Wrath actually worth using. That said, it looks like Muspell is mostly just using it for the extra damage. I'm expecting him to be slow just like his base version, which means if he can't kill the opponent in one hit on enemy phase, he's stuck eating the second attack at full damage, which is not a fun time. Works fine on player phase, though.

 

EDIT:

15 minutes ago, Alexmender said:

Lyn seems to have 3 prfs, but there's a chance her special might end up like Vital Astra and is inheritable.

I'm absolutely willing to bet that it's inheritable.

Edited September 5, 2022 by Ice Dragon
I can't spell today.

[Xenomata]

Too... many... words... so many... conditions...

Seriously these goddamn Prf skills are getting too wordy... even the inheritable passives are starting to give words some side-glances...

[Sil/phire]

10/10 on the art. and bro what is up with seasonals this time of the year; last year it was Pirate Sutr, now this year is Muspell. I think Surtr is may be the best design, but this Muspell certainly looks fierce. The Tana harmonic also looks great. Lyn looks good too but I'm tired of Lyn alts, or alts of pretty much any one of the top 50 heroes of the game but I know IS will always try their best to put one on each seasonal. That wouldn't be so bad if those units were not always the best single units of their banners. Still, i'm happy to see them mix things up with different themes. I wouldn't mind it if they rotate themes in this spots.

So, are we getting Tana for free in next year's AHR???

Well, back to farming for the legendary banner, pls wish me luck, i need it lol

[Ice Dragon]

And the usual translation notes:

 

The banner name, "Bite of Flame", is "炎の祭りは甘くない" (honō no matsuri wa amakunai), "The Festival of Flame Is Not Easy". "甘くない" (amakunai) in this context means "is not easy" or "will not go easy on you" with connotations of "should not be underestimated".

Lyn's epithet, "Blazing Whirlwind", is "炎巻く風" (honō maku kaze), "Flame-Wrapped Wind". "巻く" (maku), "to wrap", specifically implies a coiling motion.

Firelight Lance is "炎と風舞う霊槍" (honō to kaze mau reisō), "Spirit Lance of Dancing Flames and Wind".

Godlike Reflexes is "神速回避" (shinsoku kaihi), "God-Speed Evasion". As a bit of trivia, "神速" (shinsoku), "extreme speed" or literally "god-speed", stylized as "しんそく" (shinsoku) because kanji is not used in the names of moves, is the name of the move Extreme Speed in Pokémon.

Verdict of Sacae is "大いなるサカの掟" (ōi-naru saka no okite), "Great Laws of Sacae". For comparison, Laws of Sacae is "サカの掟" (saka no okite).

Muspell's epithet, "Raging Inferno", is "猛る業炎" (takeru gōen), "Raging Hellfire". "猛る" (takeru), "to rage", can refer to any of anger, ferocity, or excitement, and it probably refers to all three here.

Breath of Flame is "炎祭のブレス" (ensai no buresu), "Breath of the Flame Festival".

Dragon's Wrath is "竜の魔鱗" (ryū no marin), "Dragon's Magic Scale".

Rinkah's epithet, "Consuming Flame", is "平らげる猛火" (tairageru mōka), "All-Consuming Raging Flames".

Flame Gunbai is "炎の軍配" (honō no gunbai), "Flame Gunbai". "軍配" (gunbai) is an abbreviation for "軍配団扇" (gunbai uchiwa), literally "fan distributed among the army", a fan typically made of wood originally used in war for signaling and communication. In modern times, it is still in use for signaling by referees in sumo wrestling.

Tana's epithet, "Soothing Warmth", is "温かなる絆" (atataka-naru kizuna), "Warm Bonds".

Kindling Taiko is "原初の炎の太鼓" (gensho no honō no taiko), "Taiko of the Origin Flame". The word "太鼓" (taiko) in Japanese simply means "drum" and can refer to any drum of any design. The English word "taiko" specifically refers traditional Japanese drums, some of which are closely associated with traditional Japanese festivals.

Spd/Def Hold is "速さ守備の大牽制" (hayasa shubi no daikensei), "Spd/Def Great Restraint". For comparison, Spd/Def Rein is "速さ守備の牽制" (hayasa shubi no kensei), "Spd/Def Restraint".

Mordecai's epithet, "Gentle Firetender", is "優しき篝火" (yasashiki kagaribi), "Gentle Bonfire".

Fiery Fang is "炎虎の爪牙" (enko no sōga), "Flame Tiger's Claws and Fangs".

Edited September 6, 2022 by Ice Dragon

[Some Jerk]

Lyn is... um, okay, I don't know why she's here other than for shill purposes. Godlike Reflexes looks to be inheritable though, which sounds like a sick combo with Spd Smoke 4. (I mean, the alternative is that a non-spotlight unit for the banner has three fucking PRF skills.) Looks like she's another unit where you want to take out all of her buddies first, because Verdict of Sacae sounds horrible to fight against.

Muspell really did go full Bakugo, holy shit. His kit is what vanilla Muspell should've been, much like Winter Nifl for Vanilla Nifl, but Dragon's Wrath 4 feels like a whole lot of nothing for a T4 skill.

Rinkah is the demote in her own theme banner, effing ouch. And there's going to be so, so many people saccing her for Flame Gunbai+ and/or Odd Tempest.

Tana and Peony are quite a left-field choice for this theme, and also quite a scary one as they grant Canto (1) to themselves and all nearby allies at the start of the turn. Canto Control stocks continue to rise...

 

My sole interest in this banner is probably Lyn, depending on the restrictions of Godlike Reflexes -- I could do some serious shit with Fallen Ninian if dragons are allowed to inherit it. Otherwise this is a hard skip for me since Phina is rolling back around next week.

[GrandeRampel]

Happy to see that Lyn alt because I wanted the precedent of having 8 different versions to be set and they might as well use Lyn to set it.

Now if they weren't cowards they would make a Voting Gauntlet of only Lyns.

[Lemmy]

I will feel trolled if Ranulf doesn't get an alt by New Years, not that I mind Mordecai 

I am a bit curious of an Ice tribe festival, particularly what clothing they'd give Felica / Flora instead of maid uniforms

 

[Ice Dragon]

11 minutes ago, Some Jerk said:

but Dragon's Wrath 4 feels like a whole lot of nothing for a T4 skill.

A 5% boost over the tier-3 skill might not seem like much, but it's still almost always at least a 1-point boost to both damage dealt and damage mitigated (guaranteed 1-point boost at a base value of 16 or higher, and almost guaranteed at a base value of 12 or higher with only a base value of 15 not getting a boost). But notably, dragons uniquely have access to a 300-SP Sacred Seal, which means a 300-SP passive B skill allows them to get a 1-scoring-bucket boost in Arena scoring regardless of their Assist skill.

If it weren't on a seasonal unit (noting that even the tier-3 version is only available from seasonal units), I'd probably give it to Legendary Myrrh over her default Dragon Wall. The damage boost is pretty nice to have, especially in the Arena where you're fucking stuck with Aether as your only viable Special, and Myrrh already gets damage reduction from her weapon.

[XRay]

Lyn: Blazing Whirlwind feels kind of meh. I guess she is more of an enemy phase unit, considering the effects and positioning requirements. While she got true damage, she is not going to cut it as a nuke without Tempo and Null Follow-Up.

Múspell: Raging Inferno feels a quite a bit better. He can fight and support at the same time.

Tana: Soothing Warmth basically got Triangle Adept against everything that is not red. Seems like she can also stack that with a real Triangle Adept effect if you really hate blue foes.

[Ice Dragon]

7 minutes ago, XRay said:

Lyn: Blazing Whirlwind feels kind of meh. I guess she is more of an enemy phase unit, considering the effects and positioning requirements. While she got true damage, she is not going to cut it as a nuke without Tempo and Null Follow-Up.

Sounds like a job for Inf. Spd Tactic.

I have no idea what you mean by positioning requirements. It's nearly impossible to move more than 4 spaces away from an ally during normal gameplay, and even having only 1 ally within 4 spaces is still a ridiculous +8 to all stats.

As for Tempo, Verdict of Sacae is strong enough that you can afford to give up a stat-boosting Sacred Seal to run Flashing Blade in the case that you need her to function as a wall breaker. But I think it's better to just let a teammate take the role of wallbreaker instead.

[Ice Dragon]

It looks like Mordecai's weapon is an upgraded version of Rinkah's weapon.

In addition to Flame Gunbai's effects, it also grants an additional +1 Atk/Def (total +6), prevents the opponent's follow-up effects (same condition as the other effects), and has a permanent +3 Def on top of also having the standard infantry beast transformation effects.

Not bad at all. The only issue is that, unlike Rinkah, he's probably not fast and is therefore stuck just being an enemy-phase unit running Quick Riposte.

 

Also, he's a sumo wrestler.

[XRay]

1 minute ago, Ice Dragon said:

I have no idea what you mean by positioning requirements. It's nearly impossible to move more than 4 spaces away from an ally during normal gameplay, and even having only 1 ally within 4 spaces is still a ridiculous +8 to all stats.

Those are extremely lenient positioning requirements, but I guess I am just wary of positioning requirements on any unit that I want to use as a player phase unit. Galeforce is the most common reason to be really far from allies. I do not use Smite much if at all, but I imagine that would be another common reason for being far away, especially when Smiting Galeforcers.

[Kori]

Finally, Rinka with good art.

And Mordecai is free! looks like I'll escape the frustration of reaching sparking level but being unable to buy the sparking pass this time.

1 hour ago, Lemmy said:

I am a bit curious of an Ice tribe festival, particularly what clothing they'd give Felica / Flora instead of maid uniforms

Now I'd like to see it too, just for that.

[Ice Dragon]

1 minute ago, XRay said:

Galeforce is the most common reason to be really far from allies. I do not use Smite much if at all, but I imagine that would be another common reason for being far away, especially when Smiting Galeforcers.

This Lyn is clearly not designed to be running Galeforce.

[Etria]

Oh~ Tana. I've got to try to get her. I love Tana. Hopefully I'll have as much luck with this banner as with the current legendary. In under ten pulls I've got two Faas.

[Mercakete]

Dang, I feel kind of accomplished! I called the Flame Tribe theme, that sumo would be referenced, that the left figure was Mordecai, and the rope belt thingity! Very glad that Muspell showed up for this one! I definately want to summon him! (Too bad I have so few orbs, haaaaa....) Just got his base version during hero fest, too. It's nice that we get Mordecai for free, but I feel bad for how the guys always seem more like add-ons. At least the male represented on the banner isn't the 4* with low-tier skills.

The problem, though, is that Rinkah, who really should be the star of the banner (if ever there was a time for her to shine, this would be it) is the demote. It's really too bad. Plus, all the girls' outfits are so similar, it's disappointing. I do love that taiko gets represented here, though. Love that weapon, too -- it even matches how taiko drums were used in wartime historically! (Minus the throwing part, of course.) I imagine the Japanese line for "Ready... BOOM!" was "Se no DON!" which I kind of wish they'd kept for the English line. Oh well. The feeling isn't the same, but at least the literal translation is pretty much on point, if I'm right about that line. I don't have anything against Tana or Peony (well, maybe Peony a little bit) but I'm just really tired of the same sort of thing over and over again. I doubt their weapon will ever become inheritable, that this theme will ever rerun, and that we'll ever get a taiko weapon again, but I'll pass on them. Also, Lyn again, huh? The theme fits well enough for her, but dang her kit is loaded (wish Rinkah had that treatment instead. It makes more sense from a marketing point of view, too, since you have the harmonic for people who specialize in Heroes and Sacred Stones characters, collect harmonics, or just like the two of them, you'd have Lyn for the Lyn fans/collectors, and you'd have Rinkah (and Muspell) for the ones who care more about performance. Muspell is also good for people who collect dragons. Then there wouldn't really be a :bad: unit on the banner, and it'd appeal to many kinds of players.)

If I'm lucky, I'll get Muspell quickly and be done with the banner. Seriously glad he's here; I feel like he'd be really curious about a group called the Flame Tribe and would explore this. (Kind of like how Gaius/Asugi going so long without showing up on a Halloween banner feels like a gross misrepresentation of his character but eh.)

I like the summer festival vibes this banner has. ^_^