New Heroes: Rearmed Eitr & Rearmed Alcryst

[Fire Emblem Fan]

This month's New Heroes banner is actually an Engage banner, would ya look at that. Rearmed Eitr and Rearmed Alcryst, as well as Diamant, Citrinne, a Zephia GHB, and a free Lapis. And...Male Alear (I think that's him?) is in the trailer, but I see no announcement for how to get him.

[Karuu30]

We can get M!Alear as a free reward as long as we log in during a certain period of time. Nice I guess?

This banner is bait, clearly. CYL is so close and yet I might fall for it and try to go for the spark.

A new speedy arcane bow, and an absolutely not needed arcane beast unit. Diamant looks… interesting, will have to take some time to read all the description of his weapon.

Lapis is shown at the end of the banner, as an immediate demote. Probably no prf an of course it had to be a girl.

Edited July 17, 2023 by Karuu30
Added Lapis.

[Sunwoo]

I didn't expect to see Amber yet because >Amber, but no Jade? That's cold. Also, I'm kinda bugging out with how Engage handles its Rearmed Heroes. I thought (was hoping) that the Rearmed would be the elder royals for at least some consistency's sake, but.

Also, I think male Alear's gonna be a quest reward, maybe.

[Fire Emblem Fan]

Ah, seems you get Male Alear just by logging in between July 18th and October 1st. And, also, this just hit me, but we're getting both of Alcryst's "retainers" and neither of Diamant's, huh? No Jade, or Amber. I wonder how they'll put those two in, since Diamant is here now without either of them.

[Sunwoo]

I'm starting to wonder if my joke theory of "IS hates pink haired sword ladies" wasn't that much of a joke after seeing Lapis be the 3-4 star instant demote.

This one probably could have been Amber just because I don't think most people give a shit about him. (EDIT: Or Jade, but I like Jade and want better for her.) Lapis could've carried a banner, probably.

Edited July 17, 2023 by Sunwoo

[Othin]

According to a second video, male Alear will be a log-in bonus. Seems almost the same as female Alear, but with G Feud rather than Spd Smoke.

Double Rearmed Heroes is certainly weird - I guess I'll focus on just blue and colorless to start in hopes of pulling one before sparking the other. Apparently the GHB is Zephia, I haven't played Engage myself but it sounds like she'll probably be a sword flier?

I'd been hoping for Thracia, but these are admittedly more important.

[Tybrosion]

They really doubled up on Rearmed Heroes here because they knew people would probably not be satisfied with just an Arcane Beast weapon. That's kinda funny.

For those who didn't see the separate video for M!Alear, his base kit is:

Liberation, -, Draconic Aura, Atk/Spd Ideal 4, Repel 4, Green Feud 3

And yes, he will be a freebie for anyone who logs in before Oct 1st. He'll debut as a summonable unit on this month's Mythic Hero banner and will join the regular summoning pool starting with the August Special Heroes banner.

[Lemmy]

If they didn’t show weapon icons, I would have assumed that Gullveig was a beast or dragon, and it will be interesting how they incorporate her for CYH next month.

[Fire Emblem Fan]

This bring's Engage's total number of characters in Heroes up to Male Alear, Female Alear, Lumera, Alfred, Celine, Etie, Chloe, Diamant, Alcryst, Citrinne, Lapis, and Zephia. Plus summer Ivy. It took six whole months to do it, but they finally got Engage's numbers up to a more respectable number.

[Diovani Bressan]

With Diamant, Alear and Lapis, that's 3 Sword units at the same time. With Zethia ends as a Sword fliers, that will be 4.

That's why I wished the insta demote was Amber. Not only having a Diamant's retainer, but also a Engage Lance Cavalry unit for the main pool, since that doesn't exist yet.

Edited July 17, 2023 by Diovani Bressan

[Tybrosion]

7 minutes ago, Othin said:

Apparently the GHB is Zephia, I haven't played Engage myself but it sounds like she'll probably be a sword flier?

Her personal class uses swords and tomes and she pretty much always has either a Levin Sword or a Thoron.

Late game Engage [SPOILERS], just in case:

Spoiler

She also drops both of Engage's S rank swords (in separate maps), so she could get either of those as a Prf weapon.

 

6 minutes ago, Lemmy said:

If they didn’t show weapon icons, I would have assumed that Gullveig was a beast or dragon, and it will be interesting how they incorporate her for CYH next month.

That's the abomination Heidr turned into in the midpoint movie. I'm pretty sure that ain't Gullveig.

[Medeus]

Good to finally get Engage, it was really weird how long they held off on it and MAlear in particular. 

As for the banner itself, I'll stick to Blue and Colorless. I like Alcryst so I don't want to miss him, and Eitr's weapon and Beast Sense will be great fodder for my cats. 

[Xenomata]

Does anyone else find it ironic that Alcryst is the Rearmed Hero, he specifically tells you to get rid of him, yet he is a unit type who literally can't be gotten rid of without purposefully getting rid of him? As in, you'd have to SPECIFICALLY DECIDE TO GET RID OF HIM VIA GRINDING HIM INTO FEATHERS/BOOKS. Even merging him up would still leave you with another Alcryst. I find that kind of funny, not gonna lie.

Otherwise everything looks good. Diamant is gonna be a pain to battle, Citrinne might just be the best support unit if given the right support herself, everything about Alcryst looks good, Eitr has some fun-looking toys in her arsenal (including a way for cav beasts to get damage reduction!), I'm looking forward to having a second unit who can give the Charge effect to a support ally, and damnit I don't care if this is pre-CYL bait I'm summoning.

...now to pray Engage doesn't become the new Fodlan. It's already not looking good with Ivy being more or less shoehorned into a summer banner she didn't have any solid reason to be a part of...

[Lemmy]

39 minutes ago, Tybrosion said:

That's the abomination Heidr turned into in the midpoint movie. I'm pretty sure that ain't Gullveig.

what is and isn't Gullveig confuses me, with the snake headed minions everywhere, I'm assuming Gullveig is the snake and wants to spread everywhere and infect everyone, and who we are calling Gullveig is more of a puppet.

[Humanoid]

Much better than expected due to the double Rearmed, which offsets the awkward timing of the banner just before the generational BST boost. I'm very lukewarm on Engage, but if Engage means we get non-awful New Heroes banners then sign me up for Engage every single month. Three sword infantry at the same time is moronic, but at least there's only one on the banner proper, and no demote to dilute the premium units here.

As for the specific units.

- No idea about Diamant, my eyes glazed over as soon as I saw the two columns of text. The only thing I really checked is whether he has DC, which he doesn't. I'm good for godswords anyway, since this generation alone I'll have both Alears, Fallen Byleth and maaaaybe Summer Fjorm (though I'm leaning against). However if I'm going to go for the spark I may just open reds anyway to get there in as few orbs as possible.

- I like Citrinne in Engage, but not so much here. Decidedly the least premium unit of the lot with a truncated kit (no A-skill and no decent special), and I'm not feeling the art. But most of all, I was disappointed to see that the Pathfinder text I saw when I scanned her skills is actually "no Pathfinder lol" instead of her having or granting it. Talk about a letdown. Thus, just like Diamant, I don't really care enough to get her specifically. Probably especially true since I lucked out with Legendary M Robin earlier this year, if I didn't, then she'd be my best infantry mage.

- I never used Alcryst in Engage and don't like how he looks here, but his kit seems excellent, both for his personal use, and for being pretty versatile in terms of inheritance. Unlike many Rearmed heroes lately, his skills seem unlikely to be restricted to a specific move type? Assuming that's true, that's the kind of Rearmed hero I like.

- Bedhair Ninian Eitr is appealing mostly by virtue of not having any actual Beast restrictions. I can therefore treat her as a slightly unusual lance cavalry who just happens to also have beast inheritance value. However, until Beast Sense 3 is released as bridging fodder somewhere (if ever), it'll be a struggle to use her fodder effectively.

- M Alear and Lapis - whatever.

Y'know, after typing all that up, the banner suddenly seems less appealing than it did at first glance. Will probably still spark, but I'm not super excited about any specific unit.

[Xenomata]

5 minutes ago, Humanoid said:

I was disappointed to see that the Pathfinder text I saw when I scanned her skills is actually "no Pathfinder lol" instead of her having or granting it. Talk about a letdown.

In fairness, there's really no way to even give her the Pathfinder effect at the start of the turn. I also can't think of any way a Ranged Infantry unit could have gotten the Move +1 effect at the start of turn (if she were melee she could have packed both Tempest skills).
The fact that they specify such skills despite, again, no real way for either effect to be given at the start of turn (to Citrinne at least) makes me wonder why they'd specifically deny such now...

[Ice Dragon]

Diamant has a new skill effect that increases the Spd comparison requirement for a natural follow-up. If we ever get tier-4 Weaponbreaker skills, I would be surprised if they don't get this effect.

Citrinne splashes all of her Bonuses other than stat Bonuses, +1 movement, and Pathfinder to nearby allies after the start-of-turn effects activate. Basically just making another reason for the status effect versions of skills to exist.

Flash Sparrow presumably can only be equipped on units that can already equip Flashing Blade. This is probably going to be the best-in-slot A skill for infantry Galeforcers since they can't make use of Surge Sparrow's secondary effect. Other infantry are probably going to stick to Surge Sparrow, Remote Sparrow, or Atk/Spd Finish 4 unless they have a skill effect that allows them to avoid counterattacks.

Arcane Darkbow doesn't play nice with Grand Strategy.

Alcryst is basically Ulir with the weapon and exclusive skill effects swapped and a permanent Moonbow.

As predicted, Eitr comes with a "Beast Dodge" skill, which basically just makes her an upgraded version of Summer Freyja. I'm curious what the inheritance restrictions are on her weapon and Beast Sense. Beast Sense is almost certainly going to be usable by both infantry and cavalry and might also be usable by fliers. There's still a decent chance that there are no movement-type restrictions on Arcane Nihility.

Lapis and Alear exist.

 

2 minutes ago, Xenomata said:

The fact that they specify such skills despite, again, no real way for either effect to be given at the start of turn (to Citrinne at least) makes me wonder why they'd specifically deny such now...

Probably because (1) it's already programmed like that preemptively and (2) they don't want to update the skill description later if it ever becomes possible.

[Xenomata]

12 minutes ago, Ice Dragon said:

Citrinne splashes all of her Bonuses other than stat Bonuses, +1 movement, and Pathfinder to nearby allies after the start-of-turn effects activate. Basically just making another reason for the status effect versions of skills to exist.

It actually specifically says including stat bonuses in the trailer.
With her base kit alone, she'd be giving Guaranteed Follow-Up Blow, the aerobatics effect, and Atk/Res +6 to any allies after these effects trigger on herself.

Edited July 17, 2023 by Xenomata

[Tybrosion]

Apparently as another bonus with this banner / update, all of the Cav Beasts who have gotten refines will now use the new Cav Beast effect on Eitr’s weapon on their respective weapon refine.

[Ice Dragon]

And the usual translation notes:

 

The banner name, "Rearmed Eitr & Rearmed Alcryst", is "魔器アイト＆魔器スタルーク" (maki aito & maki sutarūku), "Arcane Weapon Eitr & Arcane Weapon Alcryst". As usual, "魔器" (maki), "magic weapon", is used for both Arcane weapons and Rearmed Heroes.

Diamant's epithet, "Rising Power", is "立ち向かう黒鉄" (tachi-mukau kurogane), "Iron Standing in Opposition".

Fair-Fight Blade is "真っ向勝負の剛剣" (makkō shōbu no gōken), "Sturdy Sword For Face-to-Face Confrontation". Anything but "sword".

Atk/Def Finish is "攻撃守備の秘奥" (kōgeki shubi no hiō), "Atk/Def Special". As usual, "秘奥" (hiō) literally means "hidden secret", but in context almost certainly refers to "秘奥義" (hiōgi), "hidden secret technique", which is video-game terminology for what is typically the highest tier of "super" moves, like Mystic Artes in the Tales of series. "奥義" (ōgi) is the word for Special skills in Heroes, and is video-game terminology for "normal" super moves.

Citrinne's epithet, "Caring Noble", is "富める友愛" (tomeru yūai), "Wealthy Friendship".

Tome of Luxuries is "豪奢な富書" (gōsha na fusho), "Luxurious Tome of Wealth".

Alcryst's epithet, "Tender Archer", is "繊細なる射手" (sensai-naru ite), "Delicate Archer".

Arcane Darkbow is "魔器・優しさの影弓" (maki: yasashisa no eikyū), "Arcane Weapon: Shadow Bow of Kindness".

Flash Sparrow is "鬼神飛燕の柔撃" (kishin hien no jūgeki), "Soft Strike of Fierce Deity/Flying Swallow". Compare with Flashing Blade, "柔剣" (jūken), "soft sword", and contrast with Heavy Blade, "剛剣" (gōken), "sturdy sword". For additional context, "柔" (jū), "soft" or "weak", is the same character used in "柔道" (jūdō), "judo".

Get Behind Me! is "僕が守ります！" (boku ga mamorimasu!), "I'll Protect [You]!".

Eitr's epithet, "Hand of Nothing", is "虚無のしもべ" (kyomu no shimobe), "Servant of Nihility".

Arcane Nihility is "魔器・虚無の角" (maki: kyomu no tsuno), "Arcane Weapon: Horns of Nihility".

Power of Nihility is "虚無の力" (kyomu no chikara), "Power of Nihility".

Beast Sense is "絶対化身・察知" (zettai keshin: sacchi), "Guaranteed Transformation: Perception".

Lapis's epithet, "Mighty Flower", is "屈強な野花" (kukkyō na nobana), "Brawny Wildflower".

Defier's Sword is "守備逆用の剣" (shubi gyakuyō no ken), "Def-Exploit Sword". It's an actual sword this time.

Zephia's epithet, "Scheming Dragon", is "蠱惑の魔竜" (kowaku no maryū), "Magic Dragon of Seduction". "魔竜" (maryū), "magic dragon", is localized as "Mage Dragon" or "Demon Dragon" depending on the game.

Packleader Tome is "四狗頭領の魔書" (shiku tōryō no masho), "Magic Tome of the Leader of the Four Hounds".

Alear's epithet, "Dragon Youth", is "神竜の王子" (shinryū no ōji), "Divine Dragon Prince".

Heidr's epithet, "Cursed Goddess", is "呪われし女神" (norowareshi megami), "Cursed Goddess".

Golden Curse is "黄金の蛇の呪い" (ōgon no hebi no noroi), "Curse of the Gold Serpent".

 

On 7/17/2023 at 12:46 AM, Xenomata said:

It actually specifically says including stat bonuses in the trailer.

I don't actually remember "including" and "excluding" in Japanese off the top of my head and rely on the particle instead when skimming skill descriptions. This one used the particle normally used for "excluding". ("Including" typically uses the particle for "also" (も, mo), whereas "excluding" typically uses the generic direct object marker (を, o). This one used the generic direct object marker.)

I also don't read the skill descriptions in English because they're formatted like someone's child vomited their alphabet soup all over my screen, which is both annoying to read and just plain rude.

Edited July 19, 2023 by Ice Dragon

[Mercakete]

Yay, a Brodian banner! Dang, is Diamant the first unit where we actually needed to scroll to see all his skills? Dang, I want almost everyone on this banner. I'm okay with not getting Citrine. Really happy that Lapis is in, too! Man, I usually have a single aim on these banners, but I want to aim for Diamant, Alcryst, and Eitr. (The reason I want Eitr is partly because MAN her skills could help out my New Year's Elm! ...providing her skills aren't cav-only. Oh well. Still nice to get the Rearmed Beast, and I like collecting Heroes characters if I can.)

I feel a bit bad for Ivy not having her fellow Elusians around, though, what with the Brodians and the Firenians having their own people around. 'Course, she's probably mostly okay with it. And hey, looks like M!Alear is in now, too! He's a sword unit like his fem version. I wonder if he'll be comparable at all (probably not.)

Anyway, as much as I want Diamant (he's cool) he's going in the the regular pool, so I'll need to prioritize Eitr and Alcryst before going after him. I hope they join the barracks soon! (Man, I don't usually focus on new heroes banners this much -- I usually save for seasonal banners.)

It'd be nice if we get a fall foliage banner sometime featuring the Brodians. They had such nice autumn leaves around there.

[DefyingFates]

32 minutes ago, Mercakete said:

is Diamant the first unit where we actually needed to scroll to see all his skills?

F!Maria and FF!Byleth were the first, IIRC.

And also yeah, it's great to finally get a second Engage NH Banner! But it's coming right before CYL, which is pretty unfortunate. We get three guys though (counting M!Alear), that's cool! See you all in January/ February 2024 when we get an Elusia banner feat. Yunaka right after people vote them into CYL 8!

34 minutes ago, Mercakete said:

I wonder if he'll be comparable at all (probably not.)

It looks like IS is going for a Byleth situation, where both had near identical stats (F!Byleth had +2 speed in exchange for -2 Atk, I think) and the same weapons. So this is the last chance they had to release M!Alear before the BST bump next month.

[Diovani Bressan]

Citrinne is quite annoying, because she can be used alongside Bride Catria and Winter Cordelia, and give those effects to even the units those two can't reach depending on their position. Or she can splash the effects Askr givesas well.

But she also looks fun to use. Like... If you ally support her with Fallen Lilith, she will provide NFU status to everyone. If with Noah, she will provide Dodge to everyone. With Alear, Charge to everyone. Looks fun to custom the team around her.

Edited July 17, 2023 by Diovani Bressan

[Ice Dragon]

1 hour ago, Mercakete said:

Dang, is Diamant the first unit where we actually needed to scroll to see all his skills?

1 hour ago, DefyingFates said:

F!Maria and FF!Byleth were the first, IIRC.

Spring Delthea was the first unit to have all of their skills not fit on one screen, though the UI didn't use the scroll down effect back then.

[Mercakete]

5 hours ago, Xenomata said:

Does anyone else find it ironic that Alcryst is the Rearmed Hero, he specifically tells you to get rid of him, yet he is a unit type who literally can't be gotten rid of without purposefully getting rid of him? As in, you'd have to SPECIFICALLY DECIDE TO GET RID OF HIM VIA GRINDING HIM INTO FEATHERS/BOOKS. Even merging him up would still leave you with another Alcryst. I find that kind of funny, not gonna lie.

I had the same thought! XD (I just posted before reading things and didn't want to double post.)

@DefyingFates

Nice! I'm glad the guys aren't getting the short end of the stick. That wouldn't make any sense with canon at all, since they're supposed to be the same person and equal in everything (except for fashion sense and hair length, I guess.)

 

I'm beginning to expect fem retainers will always show up first in Heroes (since Heroes favors females.) Engage was very, very gender-balanced, to the point where it's actually notable (which I found surprising. Not good or bad, just surprising.)

Examples

Spoiler

Human Rulers: King Morion (Brodia), King Hyacinth (Elusia), Queen Eve (Firene), Queen (I forgot her name and couldn't find it) (Solm) - 2 male, 2 female

Dragon Rulers: Queen (Lythos), King (Fell Dragon) - 1 male, 1 female

Heirs: Prince Diamant (Brodia), Prince Alfred (Firene), Princess Ivy (Elusia), Princess Timerra (Solm) - 2 male, 2 female

Spares: Prince Alcryst (Brodia), Princess Celene (Firene), Princess Hortensia (Elusia), Prince Fogato (Solm) - 2 male, 2 female

Retainers (by human country): Brodia has 3 female (Lapis, Jade, Citrine), 1 male (Amber), Firene has 2 female (Etie, Chloe), 2 male (Louis, Boucheron), Elusia has 1 female (Goldmary), 3 male (Rosado, Kagetsu, Zelkov), and Solm has 2 female (Panette, Merrin), 2 male (Pandreo, Bunet). - for a total of 8 male and 8 female.

Children fighters: Anna, Jean - 1 male, 1 female

"Younger sibling" figures: Clanne, Framme - 1 male, 1 female

Veteran fighters: Vander, Saphir, Lindon - 2 male, 1 female (The FIRST with more of one than the other.)

Fell Dragon Retainers: (I won't bother listing them by name) 2 male, 2 female

Dragon heirs: 1 female, 1 either male or female (Alear.) (So it's either 1 male, 1 female, or 0 male, 2 female.)

Not including randos like Yunaka who don't fit into a role, unless we put them in "misc. units" I guess. Then that would be, I think, 1 male (Dancer), 1 female (Yunaka.)

(Please forgive any name misspellings or whatever -- I'm going by memory for most of this.)

 

So, dragons wind up leaning female (since you can have Fem Alear, but none of the other ones shift) to the point of it being possible to have only 1 male dragon at all. Also, veterans lean male, since there's only 1 female veteran in the group of 3. Personally, I'd rather these leanings have been flipped (or make fem Vander and male (spoilers) exist when Alear is female and have it be as it is when Alear is male), but that's just my personal preference. (Also, there are 0 guaranteed male good dragons...as per usual (but not always) for FE.)

I'm also a bit surprised that we got Brodia this early. I thought for sure that we'd get the other human countries before them (especially Solm since Timerra showed up in the April Fools vid.)