Special Heroes: Winds Offered

[Fire Emblem Fan]

In this month's Special Heroes banner, we're getting Claude (Three Houses), Dagr, Catria, a Duo unit with Kagero and Orochi, and Fuga as the TT+ unit.

 

[GuiltyLove]

I don't have that many orbs.... but I will have to pull for Catria...........

[Fire Emblem Fan]

Catria is honestly the only one I'm interested in getting here. I like Claude and all, but I'm exhausted by Three Houses. And Kagero is once again part of a Duo that seems like she was just kinda put there because the devs seem to like her a lot. Which, to be fair, she is one of the Fates characters I'd rank somewhat highly, but she doesn't look like a unit that's one I really gotta go for right now.

[Tybrosion]

Wow, they really couldn't come up with a Fates Duo Hero that didn't include Kagero again? Even without accounting for her Duo Hero backpack role from last year, Kagero now has as many alts as Ryoma. You know, her liege lord who hasn't gotten a new alt himself since January 2019.

Yeah besides Catria being the 4* Focus, this banner has nothing of interest to me. Which is good, since I want to keep saving for Winter Cordelia & Selena's re-run in December.

[Karuu30]

Girl what even is this banner💀.

Claude and Fuga are good representation for the whole wind theme, but Dagr? Catria who already has three alts? And Kagero being the lead in the duo when she was with Nina just a year ago, and she seems to be better than the thief’s duo? 

Easy skip, but the new skills look interesting, especially the new inheritable bow. I wonder if L!Claude will get Deep Star as part of his remix? 

[Magenta Fantasies]

I like the Wind Tribe, so I’m happy with the theme of this banner. In general I like the banners that focus on different cultures in the Fire Emblem world. However, I’m not sure whether I’m happy or disappointed that Fuga is on this banner and Hayato isn’t. Hayato is one of my favorite Hoshidan characters and I’m about as indifferent as possible about Fuga, but this could hint that Hayato will be on the next Fates New Heroes banner, whereas I highly doubt Fuga will appear on a Fates New Heroes banner anytime soon.

[Florete]

The positive side to gay pairs not being allowed in older games is that we sometimes get duo units like this.

But why does Dagr look, like, small? She looks like a muscular kid.

[Diovani Bressan]

Honestly... Not even Claude saves this banner to me. This looks pretty boring. The easiest skip I had this year.

Honestly, they should have saved this banner for January of next year, because the Wind Tribe works better as a desert theme banner.

[Sunwoo]

This banner sure is a banner.

We have Claude, who apparently needed to be on this so he could catch up with Edelgard and Dimitri.

We have Dagr, who already led an alt. If this was going to be a FEH OC, it should've been Nott. I don't think there's that much of a difference in popularity between the sisters to justify Dagr having 2 and Nott having none.

We have Fuuga, who isn't really a bad choice since he's unlikely to get in the game in another way, but kinda baffled they picked him over Hayato. Who is also not in the game.

And finally, we have Kagero with, what, her third alt? Not including that time she was a backpack? Seriously, who on the development team has a boner for her? It's ridiculous that she has three alts including a duo, a backpack, and a resplendent when Saizo has absolutely nothing. Seriously.

I can't believe they demoted Catria.

Edited September 5, 2023 by Sunwoo

[Lemmy]

They were stingy with new skills this time around. I like Claude the most, but I think I’ll skip.

[Tybrosion]

5 minutes ago, Sunwoo said:

We have Dagr, who already led an alt. If this was going to be a FEH OC, it should've been Nott. I don't think there's that much of a difference in popularity between the sisters to justify Dagr having 2 and Nott having none.

Dagr (199th) is almost 100 whole places higher than Nott (297th) in CYL7, so there actually is a bit of gap between them.

Also, Catria got the demote slot because she doesn't a Prf skill (unlike Claude and Dagr). IS probably really didn't want to give us another Summer Claude.

[Ice Dragon]

I like Kagero's outfit and Orochi's hair. They're very pretty.

Claude's skill kit looks amazing, as he can activate Prime's Distant/Close Counter effect with just the skills he has in his base kit. His Special battery effect is utterly broken, too, and not in a way that I like. There's a reason Lethality has a cooldown of 4, and letting him charge it up fully literally for free is stupid. If they're going to do shit like this, Ophelia deserves a refine.

Catria has a really good inheritable weapon. It just gives +9 Atk/Spd for free.

 

1 minute ago, Florete said:

But why does Dagr look, like, small? She looks like a muscular kid.

Her head is bigger than usual.

[Sunwoo]

2 minutes ago, Tybrosion said:

Dagr (199th) is almost 100 whole places higher than Nott (297th) in CYL7, so there actually is a bit of gap between them.

Also, Catria got the demote slot because she doesn't a Prf skill (unlike Claude and Dagr). IS probably really didn't want to give us another Summer Claude.

Oh. That is quite a gap. Still probably doesn't justify Nott having nothing, but still bigger than I thought.

I guess I'm surprised that they decided to demote Catria instead of finding some less popular character to take up that slot as a demote. This has to be one of the handful of times a character who's usually 5-star locked is the obligatory demote.

[Acacia Sgt]

I guess Ice Tribe banner is practically a given for next year...?

[Jotari]

Kageronis really giving me Lulu from Final Fantasy X vibes in that art.

[Xenomata]

Welp, may as well see what's on the bulletin board before leaving the house...

...no.

Kinda feel like they're overusing the "damage reduction on foe's first attack" effect at this point... Dagr's not technically removing enemy bonuses, she's just... neutering them? Technically they're neutralized, but only by inflicting an equal-value penalty?
Also she grants Pathfinder to a support ally. Shame Citrinne can't give the effect to her allies.

Bow units get another interesting toy to play with. Shame it's not in the grail shop, guess they learned their lesson after Whitecap Bow. NFU and Null Panic, plus a big Atk/Spd bonus equal to the number of bonuses the unit currently has... between AShexblade, A/Soath4, and support from someone like LegEliwood, that could very quickly get absurd.
Catria... hm, guess the Whitewings are moving on from the Easter banners?

I think Kagero's breasts somehow got even bigger...
WHAT. Would have BEEN. The ISSUE. With making OROCHI. The LEAD?!
Am I MISSING SOMETHING about Kagero? Was she an interesting character in Fates? I played Fates, and I do NOT remember her being a character that stood out that much. She was LITERALLY a Damsel in distress. ON ALL 3 ROUTES. Kaze and Saizo stood out way more, and they doesn't even have one alt!
Well anyway, she has plenty of damage reduction and the Vengeance-like effect. Disarm Trap is pretty lacking for anything other than Aether Raids, I think Brash Assault 4 would be better just because it does basically the same job but with extra damage reduction and an extra layer of that Vengeance-like effect, assuming it stacks with itself (which it definitely doesn't, but a person can dream)

And Fuga is the Grail demote. Between him and Rinkah last time being the 4* demote, I fully expect Flora to be the duo/harmonic backpack for the Ice Tribe festival at best. Felicia will be lucky to even get a Paralogue/Tempest Trials story cameo.

...well that's all fine and good, but you can't interest me anymore. I'm done.

Edited September 5, 2023 by Xenomata

[Etrurian emperor]

Wow poor Hayato. Outclassed by his elderly Corrinsexual dad.

[Sunwoo]

@XenomataThey couldn't make Orochi the lead because they already used Kagero as a backpack, so they couldn't make her the back unit again. However, this still brings up the question of "why Kagero again" and "why not just make Orochi a stand-alone alt/pair her with someone else". Kinda makes me wonder if IS regrets making Hinoka the princess of Hoshido instead of Kagero.

[Xenomata]

2 minutes ago, Sunwoo said:

However, this still brings up the question of "why Kagero again" and "why not just make Orochi a stand-alone alt/pair her with someone else".

This definitely. Orochi could have been with Mikoto or even Reina if you wanna reach for straws. She's been seen with Saizo on more than one occasion. Probably not shy around the Hoshidan royals.

[Humanoid]

Haven't really looked at the skills, but this banner is not for me, and not just because I can't spark it.

- Don't like Claude's closed eye
- Dagr looks off, as already pointed out
- Not a fan of Catria's look here either
- The Duo is fine but leaving it for a double special or somesuch

That said, a new Catria means a new Palla is surely around the corner, right? Right?

[Sunwoo]

Just now, Xenomata said:

This definitely. Orochi could have been with Mikoto or even Reina if you wanna reach for straws. She's been seen with Saizo on more than one occasion. Probably not shy around the Hoshidan royals.

I feel like Kagero and Saizo duo was never going to be an option because of how weird Heroes has been about male/female Duos and Harmonics who aren't siblings, love interests, or have some other strong non-romantic bond. They're canonically co-workers and ex-lovers, but if you stick them together in a Duo alt there will probably be someone shrieking about how IS is "making this pairing canon".

But then again, Heroes wasn't shy about all but outright saying that Eliwood/Ninian is canon for some versions of Ninian, Nils, and Roy. So ...

[Ice Dragon]

And the usual translation notes:

 

The name of the banner, "Winds Offered", is "女王に捧ぐ風" (joō ni sasagu kaze), "Winds Offered to the Queen".

Claude's epithet, "Golden Breeze", is "金色の風" (kin-iro no kaze), "Gold-Colored Wind".

Playful Pinwheel is "風車" (fūsha), "Pinwheel".

Atk/Spd Prime is "攻撃速さの備え" (kōgeki hayasa no sonae), "Atk/Spd Preparation".

Deep Star is "真落星" (shin rakusei), "True Fallen Star". The associated status effect has the same name in both languages.

Dagr's epithet, "Bluster Princess", is "暴風王女" (bōfū ōjo), "Windstorm Princess". "暴風" (bōfū), "windstorm" or "gale", literally translates as "violent winds".

Fujin Uchiwa is "風神の団扇" (fūjin no uchiwa), "Fujin's Uchiwa".

Twin-Sky Wing is "双姫の天翼" (sōki no ten'yoku), "Sky Wing of the Twin Princess". Compare with Sun-Twin Wing, "双姫の陽翼" (sōki no yōyoku, "Sun Wing of the Twin Princess"), and Moon-Twin Wing, "双姫の月翼" (sōki no getsuyoku, "Moon Wing of the Twin Princess").

Catria's epithet, "Windswept Knight", is "風舞う天馬騎士" (kaze-mau tenba kishi), "Pegasus Knight Dancing in the Wind". "風舞う" (kaze-mau), literally "to dance in the wind", refers to something that is blown in the wind in a whirling motion. "舞う" (mau) means "to dance" and originally referred to dances that use spinning motions.

Whitewind Bow is "白き風の弓" (shiroki kaze no yumi), "Bow of White Wind".

Kagero's epithet, "Bond Unwavering", is "揺るぎない絆" (yuruginai kizuna), "Unwavering Bond".

Brightwind Fans is "風舞う白夜の呪扇" (kaze-mau byakuya no jusen), "Sorcery Fans of Hoshido that Dance in the Wind". Unlike all other magic in the series, which is called "魔道" (madō), which is more commonly used for fantasy magic in a Western setting, whereas the magic of Hoshido is called "呪" (ju), which refers to traditional Japanese magic.

Disarm Trap is "罠解除" (wana kaijo), "Disarm Trap".

Fuga's epithet, "Force of Gales", is "力試す烈風" (chikara-damesu reppū), "Gale Testing Its Strength".

Wind Tribe Club is "風の部族の金棒" (kaze no buzoku no kanabō), "Wind Tribe's Kanabo".

Plumeria's epithet, "Rapturous Dream", is "恍惚の夢" (kōkotsu no yume), "Dream of Ecstasy".

Arcane Euphoria is "魔器・恍惚の花" (maki: kōkotsu no hana), "Arcane Weapon: Flower of Ecstasy".

 

On 9/4/2023 at 10:33 PM, Sunwoo said:

I guess I'm surprised that they decided to demote Catria instead of finding some less popular character to take up that slot as a demote. This has to be one of the handful of times a character who's usually 5-star locked is the obligatory demote.

I think they've been giving us popular characters as 4-star demotes on this banners more often because it sells orbs. It's pretty easy to merge them to +10 and/or get decent skill fodder for chaining off of them, but it still costs a decent number of orbs to do so. Especially now that paying players can viably skip banners entirely due to the fact that using the Legendary Arena bonus unit is better than using any of the other bonus units by a decent margin, there's less of a reason to actually aim for a +10 5-star unit from every banner.

 

On 9/4/2023 at 11:09 PM, Xenomata said:

Am I MISSING SOMETHING about Kagero?

Boobs sell orbs.

Edited September 7, 2023 by Ice Dragon

[Tybrosion]

41 minutes ago, Ice Dragon said:

Boobs sell orbs.

Kagero comes from the same game that has characters such as Camilla and Charlotte. They don't need to keep using Kagero specifically when Charlotte only has her musty bride alt from 2017.

Rhajat (who is just alt Tharja) was also a perfectly valid option, with the bonus of her actually being from the Wind Tribe.

[Aedan7479]

Frankly, I'm glad Catria got another alt, Catria is one of my favourites and I'm always happy to see more of her. Why yes, I am part of the problem. Regarding those actually in the wind tribe, isn’t that just their normal attire? Of course, there are still better choices than Kangero and yes, Catria yet again, but wind tribe characters are, bluntly spraking, boring choices.

Also, how did it take this long to see Claude in another culture's attire? Embracing other cultures is his whole motivation!

Edited September 5, 2023 by Aedan7479
Grammar

[Mercakete]

Okay so Rinkah was the demote last time and now Fuga (the actual chief of the wind tribe) is the freebie. ... Uhh why are the hosts not the stars? Well, anyway, yep, that was Claude. He seems fun. There's something neat about his design here. Also, kind of glad Fuga's the freebie just because that means I can for sure get him. That said, I kind of want Dagr. She's so fun.

Also, Catria again. And Kagero again. I don't get these choices. Ricken would've been fun, continuously being mistaken for Hayato or something.

ALL THAT SAID I'll probably skip this banner. We'll see, though.

After reading:

So, alternative on-theme Fates characters we could have had instead of Kagero:

- Mikoto (Orochi's former boss and clearly the one she's the most devoted to)

- Hayato (wind tribe rep)

- Takumi (actually the wielder of the Fujin Yumi)

- Kiragi (the heir to the Fujin Yumi)

- Kaze (his name means "wind")

- Midori (Kaze's daughter)

Alts Kagero could totally have that would be WAY more interesting than any of the ones she's had so far:

- an alt focusing on her horrific/amazing painting skills

- an alt focusing on her brother somehow (I think he's alive. What if he showed up for a duo with his sister? He'd have to backpack since he's too weak to really fight and would need to be protected by his sister.)

Edited September 5, 2023 by Mercakete