Special Heroes: Sage of Khadein?

[Magenta Fantasies]

Khadein is a weird choice, but I really like the aesthetic, mage focus and terrain bonuses. IIRC, Khadein didn’t have much plot importance, other than being where a few characters hailed from/studied in. I don’t recall if Marth and co. actually go there, or if they do, it’s only for a chapter or two.

I seem to be the lone person who likes Byleth’s art, even though I don’t like him as a character. Ursula’s art is beautiful.

I’m torn about Soren being on this banner. I’m happy to see him get another alt, and he’s the Tempest Trial unit. I’ve had good luck in the last year with the units I’m most interested in being freebies (Lissa, Rickard, Ricken and Kiragi come to mind.) On the other hand, I really hope it doesn’t hurt his CYL chances, and it also means Legendary Soren probably won’t happen this year.

Edited January 8, 2023 by Magenta Fantasies

[Mercakete]

At first, I was pretty unimpressed. Was mostly looking at their skills for things to give units I'm building after I saw their designs. (Specifically, Elm.) Spd Preepmpt seems nice, but I'd have to give up free-tansform-canto. I already gave him Atk/Spd Solo 4 but he really would appreciate that Remote Sparrow. If I happen to get the duo girls, I'll just fodder that off onto him. Byleth's design is pretty good, and his weapon is really good for mobility (going to be a pain to fight, though.) Was fairly happy he was the demote. If I go for him, it'll make things easier (though my orbs are still recovering from New Years, so... I may or may not pull.) The thing that actually got me excited, though, was seeing Soren as the freebie. He's the one I'd want out of all of them, so that works well for me! 😄

Edit: Ah, I forgot to mention it, but Byleth's voicing here is also quite nice. There's some sort of subtle touch to it that just elevates it, I think.

Edited January 8, 2023 by Mercakete

[Acacia Sgt]

2 hours ago, Magenta Fantasies said:

Khadein is a weird choice, but I really like the aesthetic, mage focus and terrain bonuses. IIRC, Khadein didn’t have much plot importance, other than being where a few characters hailed from/studied in. I don’t recall if Marth and co. actually go there, or if they do, it’s only for a chapter or two.

Khadein's importance is mostly background groundwork stuff to explain magic's existence in Archanea. That said, Gharnef took over it in the first game and Marth goes there to try to recover Falchion from him. In the second game Khadein's involvement is more incidental, but still part of the larger fight against Archanea.

[Sunwoo]

4 hours ago, Kori said:

He got a good alt because it was Tellius's turn on the children banner, yes, and I didn't expect him to get another one in the same year (especially now, sigh), but i think for a lot of people the voting isn't "because they need alts", specifically, but to show popularity and, hopefully, get good treatment for their faves out of it. Getting alts is a sign of good treatment in FEH, yes, but personally, I'm voting less because i want "more alts", but because if he gets alts I don't want him to be saddled with the throwaway art or skills, and because getting the win does mean something (in terms of popularity/"the fanbase is here, we still care about this more than about the latest waifu"), and in hope that he will stay on the radar as a "liked character" and benefit for it (merch if they do merch that include more than the lords like that one tome pouch at that one expo, no less focus than in the original games if they remake Tellius, that kind of thing). CYL may be FEH-focused, but it's still the only popularity contest we have for the franchise. In the same way, I voted for Dorothea last year less to get her an alt, and more in the hope that when her base version would get in, there would be more thought put into it than just "boobs sell, we can draw her like her plegian alt and slap watever on her".

Of course, we've seen with adult Tiki last year, and arguably we're seeing with the current banner that reads like a targeted reaction to two of last year's scores, that ultimately they do whatever they want, so...

(Replying because this was prompted by reading your post, but this isn't me taking offense at it or really disagreeing, and I hope it doesn't come off aggressively; it just made me think "true, but it's not the same" and i felt the need to unpack that reaction a little.)

You're good, and I get that. For the record, I do think the timing sucks for both Soren and m!Byleth fans (as it did for Eirika fans back in CYL2). While I can't say for certain that IS does these things on purpose to screw over certain characters during CYL since banners are planned in advance, they have fan chatter and previous year's rankings to look at. Soren and m!Byleth being competitive is no surprise, so I wouldn't be surprised if it were done on purpose. I'd probably vote more for popularity and give my top seven favorite characters each a vote, if it weren't for the fact that the character I want the most is somehow still literally not in the game so I have to give him the vast majority of my votes if I want him to stay competitive in Tellius.

I think I was mostly replying to the part of your post about a seasonal not replacing a brave alt. Because I do 100% agree with that (especially for characters like Henry, who have had two seasonal alts and they're both prf-less and kinda ass), but even so Soren's still in an objectively better position than the above three male characters I'd listed. I guess I just disagreed with that part.

Also I'm still salty about how Elincia SHOULD have been on the Tellius kids banner as a flying staff user and we could've had all four weapon type colors of small flying princesses but nooooo, we had to get Mia and Ilyana instead.

[Florete]

On 1/8/2023 at 12:23 AM, Kori said:

So do I, and I hope that people realise by now that a seasonal doesn't replace what a brave alt (or, for units that aren't in a position to win, a good CYL score) can do for a character. There is no real reason for this to be an Eirika situation, except for the argument of giving other characters a chance to shine, but with Soren's presumed CYL competition being Byleth and Felix who are from most recent game and extremely popular 3H, well, that'd be a bit dishonest. (Yeah, Felix only exists in FEH as one meh alt, but again, i hope by now we know when they're intentionally sitting on potential banner-sellers... something something Lysithea in 2020 something.)

To be fair, though, I'm not sure it really matters anymore. Eirika happened in year 2, and was the first non-Brave New Heroes alt, so that was kind of a special situation. Meanwhile, Camilla and Byleth have both gotten CYL wins right after getting alts. I suspect most, if not all, of the Soren voters won't be stopped by this.

Edited January 22, 2023 by Florete

[Kori]

38 minutes ago, Sunwoo said:

You're good, and I get that. For the record, I do think the timing sucks for both Soren and m!Byleth fans (as it did for Eirika fans back in CYL2). While I can't say for certain that IS does these things on purpose to screw over certain characters during CYL since banners are planned in advance, they have fan chatter and previous year's rankings to look at. Soren and m!Byleth being competitive is no surprise, so I wouldn't be surprised if it were done on purpose. I'd probably vote more for popularity and give my top seven favorite characters each a vote, if it weren't for the fact that the character I want the most is somehow still literally not in the game so I have to give him the vast majority of my votes if I want him to stay competitive in Tellius.

Tormod still not being in the game is ridiculous. 😔 Even as a seasonal-only, he would have slotted in the Hatari banner easily (and still counted as someone not from there, since it's what they like to go with for these themes - he and Nailah could have compared their respective deserts). I'm still waiting for Nasir to get in (and would give him a vote, and be tempted to give Tormod one too, if not for Soren's last year results showing there was a chance to win and not just to place well), so I feel you here.

52 minutes ago, Sunwoo said:

I think I was mostly replying to the part of your post about a seasonal not replacing a brave alt. Because I do 100% agree with that (especially for characters like Henry, who have had two seasonal alts and they're both prf-less and kinda ass), but even so Soren's still in an objectively better position than the above three male characters I'd listed. I guess I just disagreed with that part.

Gotcha, and you're right about that. Overall, the other three are more popular (for many reasons,  one of which being their games' success), but in the context of FEH, Soren is certainly doing better, and even if I'm very happy with the Valentine banner, we're well overdue for a good M!Robin alt that is Robin. (He, too, could have fit on this banner, or could have been on the plegian one as a chance to get in touch with his country of origin. Missed opportunities, all around.)

1 hour ago, Sunwoo said:

Also I'm still salty about how Elincia SHOULD have been on the Tellius kids banner as a flying staff user and we could've had all four weapon type colors of small flying princesses but nooooo, we had to get Mia and Ilyana instead.

She SHOULD, and I wish she'd have been. Plus a tiny Jill, if relevant laguz would have been too old and Sanaki/Tormod/Sothe too young.

[Sunwoo]

37 minutes ago, Kori said:

Tormod still not being in the game is ridiculous. 😔 Even as a seasonal-only, he would have slotted in the Hatari banner easily (and still counted as someone not from there, since it's what they like to go with for these themes - he and Nailah could have compared their respective deserts). I'm still waiting for Nasir to get in (and would give him a vote, and be tempted to give Tormod one too, if not for Soren's last year results showing there was a chance to win and not just to place well), so I feel you here.

On the one hand, I'd prefer Tormod get in as his regular version and not have his CYL ranking be potentially sabotaged by an alt. But on the other hand, I am kinda salty that THIS particular theme is stealing his gimmick. Mage in a desert with extra move as his innate skill? IS, pls. Do you literally hate Tormod or something?

37 minutes ago, Kori said:

Gotcha, and you're right about that. Overall, the other three are more popular (for many reasons,  one of which being their games' success), but in the context of FEH, Soren is certainly doing better, and even if I'm very happy with the Valentine banner, we're well overdue for a good M!Robin alt that is Robin. (He, too, could have fit on this banner, or could have been on the plegian one as a chance to get in touch with his country of origin. Missed opportunities, all around.)

Man, I feel like m!Robin would've been in a better spot had 2022 been kinder to him. But any love given to "male Robin" is either Grima, or as a backpack to Chrom. Female Robin getting taken over by Grima isn't great either, but she at least got a stand-alone alt for Valentine's. I also kinda suspect that Heroes is trying to subtly push f!Robin as the "main" Robin or something, what with the latest Awakening Lost Lore using female Robin's portrait explicitly for Grima and with Rearmed Grima being female despite the female Robin body getting something that year. Which is a bit weird because I swear m!Robin was always more popular in CYL.

Felix's situation is just bizarre though. Are they purposely avoiding him to get him to win CYL, in a similar manner to Lysithea and Marianne except way more deliberate?

[Diovani Bressan]

It's been some time that IS uses Male Robin as the protagonist and Female Robin has the Grima one, mostly since 2017. Female Robin being the GHB and Female Robin representing Grima in Warriors in the Awakening Map are some examples.

[Ice Dragon]

6 hours ago, Mercakete said:

At first, I was pretty unimpressed. Was mostly looking at their skills for things to give units I'm building after I saw their designs. (Specifically, Elm.) Spd Preepmpt seems nice, but I'd have to give up free-tansform-canto. I already gave him Atk/Spd Solo 4 but he really would appreciate that Remote Sparrow. If I happen to get the duo girls, I'll just fodder that off onto him.

Preempt skills are exclusive to ranged units.

Based on its name, Remote Sparrow also appears to be exclusive to ranged units.

 

3 hours ago, Sunwoo said:

On the one hand, I'd prefer Tormod get in as his regular version and not have his CYL ranking be potentially sabotaged by an alt. But on the other hand, I am kinda salty that THIS particular theme is stealing his gimmick. Mage in a desert with extra move as his innate skill? IS, pls. Do you literally hate Tormod or something?

Given that that's already Tormod's gimmick normally, he's probably going to get it on his normal version anyways. It seems like a waste to put him on a banner with the same gimmick.

[Sunwoo]

8 minutes ago, Ice Dragon said:

Given that that's already Tormod's gimmick normally, he's probably going to get it on his normal version anyways. It seems like a waste to put him on a banner with the same gimmick.

I wanna be optimistic and say that's obviously why they didn't put him on this banner, but with the current state of NH banners he's either going to be a shitty demote with a lame new inheritable tome or the fodder 5-star without a prf weapon. Or be directly injected into the 3-4 star pool with an even worse weapon and skills than the shitty demote.

[Mercakete]

20 minutes ago, Ice Dragon said:

Preempt skills are exclusive to ranged units.

Based on its name, Remote Sparrow also appears to be exclusive to ranged units.

Ah, ok. Thanks. It would be nice to know for sure about Remote Sparrow, though. Do dataminers check for that sort of thing, or do people just test it out and post results?

[Xenomata]

1 minute ago, Mercakete said:

Ah, ok. Thanks. It would be nice to know for sure about Remote Sparrow, though. Do dataminers check for that sort of thing, or do people just test it out and post results?

It's usually also visible in a skills inheritance restrictions.

[Ice Dragon]

1 minute ago, Mercakete said:

Ah, ok. Thanks. It would be nice to know for sure about Remote Sparrow, though. Do dataminers check for that sort of thing, or do people just test it out and post results?

The dataminers usually post the inheritance restrictions at around the same time they post the units' stats.

That said, the Remote skills follow the exact same naming pattern as the Surge skills in Japanese, but with "close" replaced with "distant". Surge Sparrow is "鬼神飛燕の迫撃" (kishin hien no hakugeki), "Fierce Deity and Flying Swallow's Close Strike", whereas Remote Sparrow is "鬼神飛燕の離撃" (kishi hien no rigeki), "Fierce Deity and Flying Swallow's Distant Strike", so it's almost certain that the Remote skills will just be the ranged analogue for the Surge skills.

[Mercakete]

9 minutes ago, Xenomata said:

It's usually also visible in a skills inheritance restrictions.

4 minutes ago, Ice Dragon said:

The dataminers usually post the inheritance restrictions at around the same time they post the units' stats.

That said, the Remote skills follow the exact same naming pattern as the Surge skills in Japanese, but with "close" replaced with "distant". Surge Sparrow is "鬼神飛燕の迫撃" (kishin hien no hakugeki), "Fierce Deity and Flying Swallow's Close Strike", whereas Remote Sparrow is "鬼神飛燕の離撃" (kishi hien no rigeki), "Fierce Deity and Flying Swallow's Distant Strike", so it's almost certain that the Remote skills will just be the ranged analogue for the Surge skills.

Thanks guys. I just needed to know if I should free pull to fodder the skill off or if I should free pull for Byleth. Looks like I'll be free pulling for Byleth. Thanks. 🙂 (I'm a little sad that I can't use that skill on Elm, though. Oh well; at least this means I didn't waste that Desert Katarena manual I used to give Elm his Atk/Spd Solo 4 skill.)

[Ice Dragon]

On 1/7/2023 at 10:53 PM, Ice Dragon said:

Magical Lantern is "魔道のランタン" (madō no rantan), "Lantern of Magic".

Added Soren's weapon to the translation notes. This version of Soren counts as Radiant Dawn instead of Path of Radiance.

It grants +5 Atk/Res in combat and grants terrain movement penalty nullification and +1 Special charge rate in combat as Bonuses at the start of the turn. Pretty decent as long as you're not dealing with opponents with Tempo since it lets you activate any 2-cooldown Special on the follow-up if the opponent cannot counterattack and any 4-cooldown Special if they can.

 

The Sacred Seals from the Tempest Trials are Fortify Dragons and Rouse Atk/Def, both of which are disappointing.

[Xenomata]

3 hours ago, Ice Dragon said:

The Sacred Seals from the Tempest Trials are Fortify Dragons and Rouse Atk/Def, both of which are disappointing.

Fortify Dragons can at least be given to Halloween Nils in the same vein that Hone Dragons SS could be given to regular Ninian. +6 all stat to dragons.
...no I'm not saying it's good, it's just SOMETHING. Nils at least doesn't need to be randomly summoned.
Rouse actually got me wondering if they're gonna prepare to give us the ability to upgrade Sacred Seals to their Tier 4 variants. We've certainly got enough meh sacred seals with much better Tier 4 variants to justify such.

...New Years was only 9 days ago? Man, what a way to make Odd Tempest look good in comparison.

Edited January 9, 2023 by Xenomata

[Ice Dragon]

37 minutes ago, Xenomata said:

Rouse actually got me wondering if they're gonna prepare to give us the ability to upgrade Sacred Seals to their Tier 4 variants. We've certainly got enough meh sacred seals with much better Tier 4 variants to justify such.

I don't see it happening anytime in the foreseeable future, but if it does happen, it'll either (1) be A skills only or (2) be available on a skill-by-skill basis.

The reason why A skills could get a pass as a whole is because having access to the tier-4 versions of A skills in the Sacred Seal slot generally doesn't affect the value of the same skill in the A slot. For example, having Atk/Spd Catch 4 in the Sacred Seal slot doesn't make Atk/Spd Catch 4 in the A slot any less valuable since you still want the extra stats. Also, the A slot often gets brand new single-tier skills (Impact, Surge, Unity, etc.) that would remain inaccessible with upgrades, preserving the value of the new skills even if the base skill can be upgraded.

B and C skills, on the other hand, usually don't stack with themselves, which means that being able to run the skill in the Sacred Seal slot decreases the value of the same skill in the B slot. Additionally, several tier-4 C skills have only negligible stat boost compared to their tier-3 versions or none at all, which renders the tier-4 version in the C slot nearly worthless. For example, access to Def/Res Oath 4 in the Sacred Seal slot would mean you could run Atk/Spd Oath 3 in the C slot and have +5/5/6/6 and the Formation status effect, which is only 1 point of Atk and Def less than running Atk/Spd Oath 4 in the C slot, which significantly decreases the value of Atk/Spd Oath 4.

[Xenomata]

24 minutes ago, Ice Dragon said:

I don't see it happening anytime in the foreseeable future, but if it does happen, it'll either (1) be A skills only or (2) be available on a skill-by-skill basis.

I think it'd be more along the lines of how Weapon refines have been going. Start with the earliest (and by association weakest) Tier 4 passives and slowly progress. Probably a very slow progression in this case though, since we're looking at the "weakest" Tier 4's being the likes of Death/Darting Blow 4, Swift Sparrow 3, Brazen Atk/Spd 4, and the Solos (all of which are only slightly better than their Tier 3 predecessors without offering any additional effects.)

A passives are, in fairness, probably the only ones that can be safely "upgraded" even if they were to do it on a skill-by-skill basis. When all you can offer is stats compared to, for sake of example and nothing more, a post-combat stat debuff on enemies, a stat buff for yourself, and a bonus effect like [Dodge] or [Follow-up Denial], it might get out of hand exceedingly fast...

Edited January 9, 2023 by Xenomata

[Othin]

9 hours ago, Ice Dragon said:

This version of Soren counts as Radiant Dawn instead of Path of Radiance.

That's neat, at least. I hope we get some sort of RD Mist sometime.

[Tybrosion]

Stats n' other stuff [SPOILERS]:

Spoiler

Linde & Sara
Super Asset(s): Atk
Super Flaw(s): HP, Spd, Def
*Remote Sparrow cannot be inherited by any melee units.....and staff units because they were never allowed to get Swift Sparrow.

Nino
Super Asset(s): Atk
Super Flaw(s): HP, Spd

Ursula
Super Asset(s): Atk, Res
Super Flaw(s): HP

M!Byleth
Super Asset(s): Atk, Spd
Super Flaw(s): HP, Def, Res
*Spd/Res Finish 3 is the 4* unlock.

Soren
Super Asset(s): none
Super Flaw(s): HP, Atk, Def, Res
*Atk/Res Form 3 is the 4* unlock.

Let me know if I messed up any of the asset(s) / flaw(s) because I kinda have a headache right now.

[Diovani Bressan]

This is a very fast banner... With the exception of Soren. I expected him to have more Spd than that. I honestly would trade some Res and Def for more Spd, to at least put him at 39 or 40. 

[Sunwoo]

I really hate just how obvious it is that free TT+ units often get screwed over.

In 2023, 34 speed neutral is pretty much a big nothing. Too slow to do anything with (especially considering the rest of the banner), but more than enough to take away from other stats that could be properly invested in. And no prf designed for his stats and skills. It sucks because with the rest of the banner being so stupid fast it's pretty clear that Soren got fucked over in the speed department for no reason.

At least his attack is good.

[Ice Dragon]

Soren's Spd is really depressing because Marianne has literally the exact same offensive stat spread (before accounting for superboons). His only real saving grace is the fact that he's slightly better than Ilyana as a free-to-play unit.

With max Dragonflowers, Soren has +0/+0/+0/-1/+4 over Marianne and -3/+3/+0/-1/+3 over Ilyana. Are they trying to turn blue infantry tomes into the new lance fliers?

While we're at it, Byleth also has the same offensive stat spread as Ascended Ishtar and really only differs by having even defenses instead of being extremely lopsided towards Res.

 

On the other hand, I'm amused that Spd growths are now high enough to jump the threshold that 3 of the 4 fast units on the banner have a superbane instead of a superboon in it.

 

All that said, Soren having depressing Spd is nothing new. Both of his other alts also have similar stat spreads, with Valentine Soren having 41/39/37/18/29 with max Dragonflowers and Young Soren having 38/44/36/18/45, which is nearly identical to this Soren's 39/44/35/19/46. The problem is that this Soren doesn't get a guaranteed follow-up

 

 

In other news, the discussion in the refinery thread reminded me that Time's Pulse 4 is the last piece of the puzzle to make regular Sothis actually good despite her weapon refine being underwhelming on release. She can now run Time's Pulse 4 to get Sirius+ to reliably activate Finish 4's full effects.

Now if only they'd actually put these skills in the standard summoning pool.

 

3 hours ago, Tybrosion said:

*Remote Sparrow cannot be inherited by any melee units.....and staff units because they were never allowed to get Swift Sparrow.

To be entirely fair, staff units don't need the damage reduction from Remote Sparrow when they have access to Ideal/Catch + Dazzling Staff.

 

On 1/8/2023 at 3:59 AM, DefyingFates said:

So it's possibly pairing the two abilities could let you instantly recharge a 3CD special?

A bit late on the reply, but yes. There is definitely a possibility that it would let you instantly recharge a 3-cooldown Special.

 

On 1/8/2023 at 3:59 AM, DefyingFates said:

I'm shocked Byleth is the insta-demote given he comes with Sublime Heaven, but Ursula's a woman and wearing a glorified bikini so I guess she takes precedence.

I think the fact that Byleth has Sublime Heaven made it easier to make the decision to make him the demote. Unlike Ruptured Sky, Sublime Heaven is not inheritable, so it lets them add a character that players with tighter wallets could want to merge to +10 without devaluing a premium skill.

(The fact that Legendary Male Byleth has Sublime Heaven instead of Ruptured Sky means that extra copies of him are of pretty much zero value. Meanwhile, even if Legendary Female Byleth didn't have Atk/Spd Ideal and only had Ruptured Sky, extra copies of her are always worth something because there's always someone that can make use of Ruptured Sky.)

Kind of like how they could get away with giving Fallen Star to Summer Claude.

Edited January 10, 2023 by Ice Dragon

[ARMADS!!!]

I liked this banner idea a lot (cuz I'm a sucker for mages). I loved that they gave the units the "cannot be slowed down by terrain" effect since it's a desert banner with mages and on most (or all, I'm not sure) Fire Emblem entries, the mages are not slowed down on desert maps (or are barely slowed), it was a pretty smart idea to include this here, well taken opportunity.

 

 About the characters, gotta admit that I got pissed that putting Soren here probably sabotaged him on the CYL as lots of people already mentioned but since I got a good Soren alt for free I'm not gonna complain much since it really could've been worse (yeah, it's not like a stellar alt but it's far from bad so I'm more than happy to have it, even if I still ressent the decision of releasing him on the middle of the voting time, that was a dirty move...), it seems that i've been lucky with these free units lately: Haar, Seidr(cuz I'm a sucker for units like her, not the character but thats not the thread to talk about this), Bruno (I'd rather if he had gotten a NY alt, both him and Veronica tbh but it's better to get a christmas alt than nothing, also Muspell should've gotten a christmas alt but I won't complain too since I loved his Fire tribe alt), Yarne (with Galeforce even) and now Soren! I'm sure as fuck eating well lately. Also, I liked that Soren's weapon is a lantern with blue fire since FE PoR's name in japanese is "Path of the blue flame", I'm pretty sure that the reference was on purpouse.

 Now about the others, I love Ursula so I was EXTREMELY happy when I saw her here, her art is great and she seems to be a pretty good unit too (I just love weapons with desperation!). I still want Nino since I like her as a character and as a unit here, and I accidentaly got Linde even if I wasn't going for her and she sure is very good too (not that didn't WANTED her it's just that with so many good banners around I wasn't aiming at her) but I have to agree with Sunwoo that there were probably better options to put on the banner such as Kliff, Mae, Boey, Erk, Canas (gee, I'd kill for a Canas alt), Azelle, Lindhardt, Hubert (I can even almost hear his voice saying "I want to learn Khadein magic to help lady Edelgard" or something), etc... instead of another Nino alt (I guet that the other ones are old though), Ursula and two popular characters that were obviously going to lose votes on the CYL because of this (can't say much about Linde and Sarah since I don't know much about them, but from what I know they looked like a good decision to put on the banner, and a good choice for a duo as well). But even thinking that there were better options I'm still happy with what we got because personally I like most of those characters a lot (wouldn't have complained if we got Kliff, Erk or Canas instead of Byleth though...).

 I also liked that Byleth is a good demote (or rather, excellent on this case), I hate when they put a very popular male character on a banner and not only make him a demote because male, but a shitty demote just because "if it's a demote then it can be bad, fuck it" (I'm still irrationally salty about Thief Sothe, look what they did to him! He was on the level of Rickard that was the free unit!! I'm sure that if Thief Sothe had been a better unit, a least good enough to not be obviously the underwhelming demote, then the banner would have profited even more, I wanted him just because it was Sothe but after I got short on orbs I thought "Nah, it's not worth it if he was better I'd try more but it's not worth it, I better use the rest of my orbs to try to get Leila, since she's so much better" and ended up not even getting Sothe)

 

 Also, not about the characters anymore, I really got the impression that Nino's weapon, that compass, is the pendand that she gives Jaffar on their B support. But maybe that's too much of a stretch, probably it's more because I happened to picture the pendant in my head as being kinda similar to the compass that she got here (except that being only a normal pendant, not a compass, and stained with blood of course), maybe I'm looking way it way too much but yeah, the first thing that popped on my mind when I was watching the trailer and saw her weapon was that bloody pendant (pun intended)

 

 Anyway, I liked this banner a lot. Liked the characters, the units are good, liked the art, the animations of the weapons are sick and the weapons all look sick as well, there are some smart references thrown there (the main effect of the weapons that make the units not be slowed down by terrain, Soren's weapon being a lantern of blue flames, and Nino's weapon even if that one is probably only just fruit of my imagination). I think that this banner was handled very well. Let's wait for next year, I bet that the 2024 desert banner will be Nabata and it'll be another all dragons banner, I'm happy that it wasn't like this this year.