Mythic Hero - Arval: Cycle Keeper

[Fire Emblem Fan]

 

[Tybrosion]

Well since this Mythic pick was completely inevitable after the Three Hopes banner and I also have yet to play Three Hopes (and thus know little about Arval), I'll instead just say: what in the holy hell is that Prf skill?

[Sunwoo]

3H is so spoiled. That is all. I don't even feel like commenting on anything else.

[Xenomata]

One trip to wikipedia later, and I am now ready to see if this... thing is worth giving a damn about.

Just the Guard infliction effect by itself is pretty annoying, good thing it doesn't also have a Pulse Smoke effect... the in-combat effects are pretty standard of a unit with low Spd but high X stat, but having a Spectrum boost probably means they have at least alright Spd. I... can't imagine their Def was left all that intact.
Duality means Arval will always have a WTA over colored enemies, and also disables effects dependent on having a WTA. Also guaranteed follow-up. Also Still Water 5 minus the Def drop. Everything else tells me that they are highly focused on boosting their Res.
...thing is, Arval doesn't have access to two things that would have made them scarier: Close Counter, and Dragon Wall. So... even with SpectrumWTA, their probably low Def is gonna betray them. But otherwise they should be pretty frightening under player control. As forthe banner itself:

• Red looks kinda sad, not gonna lie. Need a Mythic Dancer for Astra/Anima season, cool have one at the risk of getting Lif.
• LegChrom is still pretty strong, but I don't know where Sain and Valentian Est have been ever since their releases... Sain has the potential to launch an ambush, but Est I'm pretty sure is just another pegflier otherwise?
• Green looks pretty nice, all good units for the most part.
• It's like they didn't even bother with the other colors and made this one an all-Colorless-focused banner.

4 minutes ago, Sunwoo said:

3H is so spoiled. That is all. I don't even feel like commenting on anything else.

I could not agree more. Can't wait for Engage to come out and... well, replace TH as the spoiled child...

Edited October 30, 2022 by Xenomata

[Medeus]

Oh hey, it's the better Sothis. 

Glad to get them into the game, but with the Binding Blade rerun next month and likely Elm/Embla/Veronica coming soon I don't have much to spare for them. I'll stick to the freebie and hope for the best. 

Edited October 30, 2022 by Medeus

[Alexmender]

I don't care about 3 Hopes, so this character does nothing for me. That's good because I still need to get some extra F!Grima copies for that juicy Hardy Fighter fodder and also merges. 

Anyways, let's check Arval as a unit:

Prf has Slaying, inflicts Guard on a cross range ala B!Camilla if foes have less Res than Arval, Spectrum+5, Res based true dmg and follow-up denial. Exclusive A-skill grants visible Atk/Res+9, WTA against colored units, disables any kind of Triangle Adept and gives a guaranteed follow-up. I've seen some people freaking out about Arval having WTA over most of the cast but if we're being honest the Weapon Triangle hasn't been a big deal for at least 2 years. The Omnibreaker effect from Arval's prf+A-skill can be a bit annoying but with NFU being so prolific it's just going to be a minor inconvenience. 

In terms of the general banner: Colorless>Green>>>>>>>>>>Blue>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Red. Sure, Red is all Mythics but Plumeria was on a Hero Fest and Líf is pretty horrible as a unit nowadays. Mirabilis is the only unit of value in the color and that's just because melee dancers are great on AR-D as they are harder to bait. In terms of fodder it's the inverse, Líf has DC+Time's Pulse which is a nice combo to get, Plumeria has Atk/Res Push 4 and Atk/Res Rein which is nifty for slower mage fliers, Mira has nothing. 

[Ice Dragon]

Since it's an Anima Mythic, I don't really have much incentive to actually pull for it. I do want more copies of Askr, though, since he evaded me on his original banner, so I'll probably spark for Askr instead and pull until I get Askr up to +10. Though I still might cut it short if I get really unlucky; I'm not really that invested in maxing out Askr, as I already score in the top 3,000 even with his current merge level.

As far as other colors go, red is actually perfect for me. I somehow have none of the three units at max merge.

 

I'm not terribly impressed by its kit.

Inflicting Guard with super-Ploy range is a bit annoying, and having high Res is also a bit annoying since it'll be difficult for Henriette or Valentine Robin to break through, especially since they won't have their Specials available and won't be able to land a follow-up.

Weapon triangle advantage against everything other than colorless would have been terrifying three years ago, but we have nukes and tanks these days that don't care about the weapon triangle. It's also less impressive than Harmonized Tana, who gets her "weapon triangle" effects as additional damage and flat damage reduction instead of as a weapon triangle boost.

I assume if it goes up against Litrraven, the two effects will just cancel out and both will be neutral to each other.

Its exclusive skill also looks like it has Cancel Affinity 1, though the wording is slightly different.

Atk/Res Tempo is somewhat niche as a fodder skill since there aren't that many units that want it over a different Tempo skill (including versions that aren't yet released). Atk/Res Oath 4 seems decently useful, though. The tier-4 Oath skills are pretty good on defense teams.

I'm confused why this thing comes with Glacies when it clearly should be running Iceberg.

Edited October 30, 2022 by Ice Dragon

[Ice Dragon]

And the usual translation notes:

Arval's epithet, "Cycle Keeper", is "循環を見守るもの" (junkan o mimamoru mono), "The One Who Keeps Watch Over the Cycle".

Rite of Souls is "魂の秘儀" (tamashii no higi), "Ritual of Souls".

Duality is "陰陽の法則" (inyō no hōsoku), "Law of Duality". "陰陽" (inyō) is the Taoist yin (陰, in) and yang (陽, yō). It could also possibly be pronounced onmyō, as in "陰陽の理" (onmyō no ri), "principle of duality".

Atk/Spd Oath is "攻撃魔防の信義" (kōgeki mabō no shingi), "Atk/Res Loyalty".

[Aedan7479]

Is anyone else hoping he'll say something important to his origins?

[Jotari]

Wonder what the Rite of Souls is? I don't think that term ever came up in Three Hopes. Slightly surprised they didn't just use Hrotti, Arval's actual weapon in Three Houses. The animation even looks a bit like Dark Spikes, which is the spell Hrotti gives you. Maybe they'll use it on Epimenidies? Course it's weird Arval even used Hrotti in Three Hopes when it's meant to be the weapon of Hapi's bloodline (I doubt we'll ever get a Hapi alt that uses it).

30 minutes ago, Aedan7479 said:

Is anyone else hoping he'll say something important to his origins?

Hoping, yes. Expecting, no.

[DefyingFates]

5 hours ago, Ice Dragon said:

I'm not terribly impressed by its kit.

Arval uses they/ them.

3 hours ago, Jotari said:

Slightly surprised they didn't just use Hrotti, Arval's actual weapon in Three Houses.

Same here, but as you said it's probably being reserved for a Fallen alt (or maybe CYL, who knows). I think Hapi's Crest was slapped on it just so she had something to her name/ Crest (neither she nor Coco had a relic in 3H).

As for the banner, I'm just going to paraphrase what I said on Reddit for the most part:

First off: I think this is the first time since L!Marth coming with CYL 2 (or maybe L!Tiki) that the Legendary/ Mythic of the month paired with a recent NH Banner. It's nice to see that system return, if only as a one-off.

Re. Arval:

The flat +9 Atk/Res is just a consequence of skills like Finish, Clash and Ideal being so easy to max out I think, so I'm not surprised that IS would just give the max stats for free to someone in a Prf skill. The guaranteed follow-up & follow-up denial are neat combined with the true damage, but the reverse raventome is fascinating. I always wondered what a colorless raventome (read: Legendary or Brave Lyon) would be like and I guess this is the answer! The full kit is synergistic with the Res-focused weapon already, which is also nice.

 

I'm indifferent to Arval alone, but when they're paired with Askr (who I like) AND Elimine (who everyone else is crazy about), I think I'll probably end up pulling. Pulling on these banners is always a pain, and pulling for a colorless unit on top of that is just going to be abject suffering...

 

4 hours ago, Aedan7479 said:

Is anyone else hoping he'll say something important to his origins?

As much as I love the Fodlan duology, it managed to drop the ball twice with regards to explaining TWSITD (or seven/ eight times if you count each route and Cindered Shadows separately). I doubt that's going to change here unfortunately. That said, I think Sothis and her alts dropped some lore crumbs about her here and there, so there's hope, right?

Edited October 30, 2022 by DefyingFates

[Mercakete]

I could tell by the markings on the face that this person was from 3 Hopes. It feels super spoilersy, so this is the first mythic banner promo I won't be watching. All I know is that Askr is supposed to be on this banner, so I'll see if I can get Halloween Duma by then, and if not, I'll just wait until whenever it is he shows up again.

[DefyingFates]

7 minutes ago, Mercakete said:

I could tell by the markings on the face that this person was from 3 Hopes. It feels super spoilersy, so this is the first mythic banner promo I won't be watching. All I know is that Askr is supposed to be on this banner, so I'll see if I can get Halloween Duma by then, and if not, I'll just wait until whenever it is he shows up again.

Nothing in this trailer is a spoiler, don't worry. You learn who Arval is (and hear the basis for their epithet) right after the tutorial 🙂

You may want to check with someone before doing their Mythic Hero Battle though; I wouldn't be surprised if that dialogue is more revealing.

[Jotari]

2 hours ago, DefyingFates said:

Arval uses they/ them.

Arval never really specifies. As far as the game goes for gendering them it's = whatever you picked for Shez, though it's not like Arval changes in any way depending on Shez's gender.

2 hours ago, DefyingFates said:

Same here, but as you said it's probably being reserved for a Fallen alt (or maybe CYL, who knows). I think Hapi's Crest was slapped on it just so she had something to her name/ Crest (neither she nor Coco had a relic in 3H).

Ah, a Fallen Alt.  I was wondering how Epimenidies would get in, as I was assuming they'd need to be mythic, but mythics are always characters that haven't been in the game yet. And in general, the list of good, canon fallen heroes is getting a bit thin. Yeah, I'd say you're right. 

 

[Diovani Bressan]

2 hours ago, DefyingFates said:

Same here, but as you said it's probably being reserved for a Fallen alt (or maybe CYL, who knows). I think Hapi's Crest was slapped on it just so she had something to her name/ Crest (neither she nor Coco had a relic in 3H).

 

1 minute ago, Jotari said:

Ah, a Fallen Alt.  I was wondering how Epimenidies would get in, as I was assuming they'd need to be mythic, but mythics are always characters that haven't been in the game yet. And in general, the list of good, canon fallen heroes is getting a bit thin. Yeah, I'd say you're right. 

 

I feel like that if we get a Fallen Alt, it would be Shez possessed by Arval, and not Arval or Epimenidies. It could still be a Tome unit though.

[DefyingFates]

3 minutes ago, Diovani Bressan said:

I feel like that if we get a Fallen Alt, it would be Shez possessed by Arval, and not Arval or Epimenidies. It could still be a Tome unit though.

Maybe as the accompanying GHB then?

I do think

Spoiler

Shez and Byleth

are both candidates for Fallen Heroes post-Hopes though, ever since my first two playthroughs.

[Diovani Bressan]

6 minutes ago, DefyingFates said:

Maybe as the accompanying GHB then?

I do think

  Hide contents

Shez and Byleth

are both candidates for Fallen Heroes post-Hopes though, ever since my first two playthroughs.

Oh for sure. They would be a good pick for Fallen Banner.

Spoiler

Byleth could be a Fallen Version of Brave Byleth, which is scary already.

 

[Jotari]

1 hour ago, Diovani Bressan said:

 

I feel like that if we get a Fallen Alt, it would be Shez possessed by Arval, and not Arval or Epimenidies. It could still be a Tome unit though.

Why not both? Two versions of Shez and Epimendies could secure spots in Fallen Banners for three years running. They're all good candidates for such a banner. The other potential characters we have for Fallen Heroes now consist of the Archanea Clerics, the Thracia Dead Lords, Morva, Gunther, Dedue, Miklan and Aelfric. All of which I'd be glad to see, but I'd be kind of surprised if they dipped into the Thracia Dead Lords (though I called Muraim before it happened and was very surprised I was right there too, so who knows, Thracia might get some love).

Anyway, my overall point is that, while there are enough Fallen Heroes candidates to keep the banner going, I don't think there are a whole lot of really solid popular candidates. Not a lot of people will be pulling the likes of Anthony and Goo Garon unless they're unreasonably good (so probably would be shipped off the GHB). Dedue and Miklan would probably be banner sellers, maybe a Feral Rajion too because dragons are cool. I think Three Hopes has proven popular enough that Shez and Epimenidies could perform well. They could also bait actually learning something about Epimenidies too.

1 hour ago, DefyingFates said:

Maybe as the accompanying GHB then?

I do think

  Hide contents

Shez and Byleth

are both candidates for Fallen Heroes post-Hopes though, ever since my first two playthroughs.

I hope Epimendies isn't a GHB. Feels more significant than that as a unit to be tossed into the underwhelming GHB pile. But they did do that to Nemesis, so not impossible T.T

Edited October 30, 2022 by Jotari

[Othin]

1 hour ago, Jotari said:

Why not both? Two versions of Shez and Epimendies could secure spots in Fallen Banners for three years running. They're all good candidates for such a banner. The other potential characters we have for Fallen Heroes now consist of the Archanea Clerics, the Thracia Dead Lords, Morva, Gunther, Dedue, Miklan and Aelfric. All of which I'd be glad to see, but I'd be kind of surprised if they dipped into the Thracia Dead Lords (though I called Muraim before it happened and was very surprised I was right there too, so who knows, Thracia might get some love).

Anyway, my overall point is that, while there are enough Fallen Heroes candidates to keep the banner going, I don't think there are a whole lot of really solid popular candidates. Not a lot of people will be pulling the likes of Anthony and Goo Garon unless they're unreasonably good (so probably would be shipped off the GHB). Dedue and Miklan would probably be banner sellers, maybe a Feral Rajion too because dragons are cool. I think Three Hopes has proven popular enough that Shez and Epimenidies could perform well. They could also bait actually learning something about Epimenidies too.

I hope Epimendies isn't a GHB. Feels more significant than that as a unit to be tossed into the underwhelming GHB pile. But they did do that to Nemesis, so not impossible T.T

There's also good odds of more Heroes units, like Fafnir, although most of the slots will probably still go to other games.

[Ice Dragon]

8 hours ago, DefyingFates said:

Arval uses they/ them.

Its name in Japanese is "Larva", and after having to deal with moth and beetle infestations, larvae are most definitely "it/eww".

[Jotari]

3 hours ago, Othin said:

There's also good odds of more Heroes units, like Fafnir, although most of the slots will probably still go to other games.

There's also the non canon route they set precedent with Ike.

7 minutes ago, Ice Dragon said:

Its name in Japanese is "Larva", and after having to deal with moth and beetle infestations, larvae are most definitely "it/eww".

Arval's name is Larva in Japanese. huh that explains...well not a lot, but a little of what's going on with Epimenidies.

[Sunwoo]

The best way to beat Arval is with another Arval, apparently.

Okay, that's not completely true. But Arval is certainly useful at clearing the rest of their own map with that busted as fuck kit. Man, this powercreep is insane.

[Ice Dragon]

What the flying fuck. We live in a world where a generic bat naturally doubles a +10+10 +Spd Valentine Lucina. I guess I should hurry up and get on with giving Lucina her A/S Near Save already.

Arval's crap Def made it pretty easy pickings for Summer Nifl, though.

 

Anyways, since they haven't been posted yet, Arval's stats are 40-/44-/27-/23+/43+. Pretty much as expected.

For comparison with the other slow colorless tome infantry, Legendary Micaiah has 39-/43+/32/20/42+ and Bramimond has 42-/43+/30-/24/38, both with max-minus-5 Dragonflowers.

[DefyingFates]

4 hours ago, Ice Dragon said:

We live in a world where a generic bat naturally doubles a +10+10 +Spd Valentine Lucina.

Does she still win the fight though?

[Ice Dragon]

Just now, DefyingFates said:

Does she still win the fight though?

Nope. Lucina straight-up dies.