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Fire Emblem Heroes |OT|Natural Selection Simulator

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ggx2ac

Member
Just hit 20 defense wins, latest person: knight.

In case anyone is wondering, my highest score is 292. So it's probably an average score and not that high.

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Sushen

Member
I'm happy that I got a perfect arena run. I'm not so thrilled that my score was only 4708. Running all 5* team and hearing people with 4* team getting higher scores. Faye can't be this bad of drag. My team has a decent amount of SI applied.

I've got Ephraim, Reinhardt, Azura, and Faye.

Faye worked really well against Hector where she lowered Hector's health low enough for Reinhardt to one hit kill him.
 

NSESN

Member
Will be my swordbreaker Nowi be enough to beat the Zephiel map? I have Julia to kill the Blue mage and the Axe knight.
 

kewlmyc

Member
Got by best Arena score yet with Nino/Azura/Sharena/Sanaki. :D

Been sleeping on Sanaki, but she's a pretty good alternative Eirika that melts greens.
 

Sushen

Member
What's the optimal Azura setup who sings mostly but help out when needed? I've got WoM and hone attack determined.
 

Roman

Member
Red mage value has gone up a lot with all the Nino's and Julia's running around.

I've been saying that for at least the last two pages. There are a lot of units further down the tier list that should be re-evaluated. I've run calculations with Raudrraven builds of Sophia, Raigh and even Henry and if you're looking for low budget checks to common threats they are not bad at all. Robin on the other hand is rated way too high. There is a heavy perception issue with units that you get for free when you start, and whose starting skills are awful.
 

Mupod

Member
Sanaki would be a great fit for my team. Maybe even better than Ryoma, although it'd be fun to put TA3 on him as the ultimate 'FUCK OFF NINO'. I'm hoarding orbs to blow them all on a good red banner so we'll see if I get anything.

As good as Lucina is, between the huge damage numbers and prevalence of ranged units, I honestly only want to run melee with distant counter. At the very least we've got Xander incoming, so I've only gotta wait two weeks.

Celica could be a wild card too. I don't know much about Gaiden/Echoes but from what I understand she's some kind of sword-based magic user. Maybe she'll have a distant counter or ranged shenanigans.
 

Mupod

Member
If your 5* don't work out for the Grand Hero Battles, there's always that one dude who clears them with 3*. I used his strategy with a team of 4* for Michalis and cleared it with 0 damage taken on any of my units.

I wonder if Subaki will be his MVP again. Map doesn't seem like it will be great for him, but he might be able to wear down Zephiel.
 
I bet if I put a Blarblade on Linde I could one shot him. Still hesitating on that though.

I held off until I realized that my core arena team couldn't 1-shot Takumi anymore. She was always 1-3 damage short even with Erika's buffs up. My Linde (+Attack/-Defense) would always get 1-shot too, and her S-Seal was filled with Attack + 1 for that sweet, sweet damage. I don't regret it though. since now she one-shots almost every unit I run into. Still need to get Lancebreaker and get Hone Attack on her she can ORKO Effie from full and so Erika can kill more while guarding her.

You can't really go wrong with giving Linde Barblade+. The simulator says mine will kill 100 units when she attacks, and only dies to Hector because he 1-shots her. She'd win with Desperation, but since I'mm running a good red (well, 2) already, no point in going for that counter. Also, screw Effie.
 

Mupod

Member
I held off until I realized that my core arena team couldn't 1-shot Takumi anymore. She was always 1-3 damage short even with Erika's buffs up. My Linde (+Attack/-Defense) would always get 1-shot too, and her S-Seal was filled with Attack + 1 for that sweet, sweet damage. I don't regret it though. since now she one-shots almost every unit I run into. Still need to get Lancebreaker and get Hone Attack on her she can ORKO Effie from full and so Erika can kill more while guarding her.

You can't really go wrong with giving Linde Barblade+. The simulator says mine will kill 100 units when she attacks, and only dies to Hector because he 1-shots her. She'd win with Desperation, but since I'mm running a good red (well, 2) already, no point in going for that counter. Also, screw Effie.

does lancebreaker override wary fighter?

I never have trouble with Effie, I can't run a dancer but I do bring units with reposition/drag back/smite etc. So even if Hector got fucked up in an earlier engagement I can still get a safe hit in with Linde and take down wary fighter.

I have the feathers and SP for the weapon, but I'm having so much trouble with green mages right now I want to secure a counter for those ASAP.
 

Sölf

Member
If your 5* don't work out for the Grand Hero Battles, there's always that one dude who clears them with 3*. I used his strategy with a team of 4* for Michalis and cleared it with 0 damage taken on any of my units.

I wonder if Subaki will be his MVP again. Map doesn't seem like it will be great for him, but he might be able to wear down Zephiel.

3* Subaki + Healer vs Lunatic Zephiel. I wouldn't be suprised if Subaki would win that easily. xD
 
does lancebreaker override wary fighter?

I never have trouble with Effie, I can't run a dancer but I do bring units with reposition/drag back/smite etc. So even if Hector got fucked up in an earlier engagement I can still get a safe hit in with Linde and take down wary fighter.

I have the feathers and SP for the weapon, but I'm having so much trouble with green mages right now I want to secure a counter for those ASAP.

Lancerbreaker and Wary Fighter cancel out, so it follows normal rules for doubling. Effie doesn't cause me problems so much as it is annoying that she needs an extra turn when I can clearly nuke her. Also, Linde doesn't have anything else of value to put in her B-slot. She doesn't need Desperation, considering mine will 1-shot 51 units, and most of the remaining ones couldn't attack back anyway, so she is safe to double them. Vantage isn't too helpful, since the only mages who survive her are Julia and F-Robin. She can bait Julia in, take one hit then fill on the follow-up, and F-Robin is a hard counter (she ORKOs), but not a real threat as long as you have a red. Same with Hector. Everything above also invalidates seal stat skills and QR, so we only have Windsweep (not even remotely a good idea) and Breakers. Of all of the breakers, Lance breaker is the only one to give her an extra kill (Effie), and non of them save her from her two death (Hector, F-Robin). She is kind of left with it by elimination, unless I want to leave the spot blank.

I also mentioned this earlier in the thread but I'm still running Speed+3 on her. The only better skills are Fury (Stops F-robin from 1-rounding her), Life and Death (Mixed, since she now dies to Julia in 1 round and only kills Hawkeye and Fae) and Swift Sparrow (no extra deaths, kills Hawkeye and Fae). Still can't get over how impressive this is. She is basically a kill button.

As for Green mages, I usually use Erika as bait. She is running Fury 2, so with 30 res and 35 speed (speed + 1 s seal), she can easily bait Nino and Julia in. On her turn, even if she doesn't kill, Linde will (or one of my other units). One thing I can recommend is if you pulled Faye (or if you do in the future) consider making a Firesweeper to handle weaknesses. Being able to attack for free and drop seal attack on a target is really huge - enough that you don't have to worry about most units in the game.
 

kewlmyc

Member
I've been saying that for at least the last two pages. There are a lot of units further down the tier list that should be re-evaluated. I've run calculations with Raudrraven builds of Sophia, Raigh and even Henry and if you're looking for low budget checks to common threats they are not bad at all. Robin on the other hand is rated way too high. There is a heavy perception issue with units that you get for free when you start, and whose starting skills are awful.

The problem is that the tier lists are based on the skills that the unit gains naturally as well as their stats. Sophia and Henry are good with the right skills, but you need to give them a bunch of skills to be viable compared to the units on the A+/S tier that are good out the gate. Robin's weapon alone is why he's so high and his A skill is pretty good as well.

A tier list based solely on stats would look pretty different.
 

scy

Member
Got by best Arena score yet with Nino/Azura/Sharena/Sanaki. :D

Been sleeping on Sanaki, but she's a pretty good alternative Eirika that melts greens.

I think everyone just "lol why?" to Sanaki's skill loadout being the wasted Hone ATK + Spur ATK buffing but she's a ridiculous anti-mage slotted in red. With native TA. She's up there with the highest base RES units in the game (Wrys has +2, Felicia/Lucius have +1 over her neutral and I think that's it?).

She has like 17 DEF (mine's 13, because +ATK/-DEF but means she's a hone ATK away from one-shotting neutral Takumi) but she'll tank the mage meta fairly well. Except for Reinhardt. He's a bag of dicks. But hey, she can one-shot Hectors!

A tier list based solely on stats would look pretty different.

This is how we get QuadSuna
 

kewlmyc

Member
What's the optimal Azura setup who sings mostly but help out when needed? I've got WoM and hone attack determined.

I have New Moon and wing of Mercy 2 (need a Cain so I can get 3 on her). Everything else is the same as her default kit. I use mine mostly to backup Nino, so she's not really offensive. The /r/fireemblemheroes skill inheritance thread has tips based on specific units.

Honestly, her kit is pretty good to start off with so any special and Wings of Mercy should be good enough for her to take on any reds that show up. Go for swordbreaker if you're completely fed up with Lucinas and Ryomas.

I think everyone just "lol why?" to Sanaki's skill loadout being the wasted Hone ATK + Spur ATK buffing but she's a ridiculous anti-mage slotted in red. With native TA. She's up there with the highest base RES units in the game (Wrys has +2, Felicia/Lucius have +1 over her neutral and I think that's it?).

She has like 17 DEF (mine's 13, because +ATK/-DEF but means she's a hone ATK away from one-shotting neutral Takumi) but she'll tank the mage meta fairly well. Except for Reinhardt. He's a bag of dicks. But hey, she can one-shot Hectors!

I still keep Hone ATK on her since I don't want to have to force her to attack in order to buff my Nino. Might try giving her Rauorblade+ or Rauorraven+ for maximum fuckery though if I get a 5* Tharja, Henry, or another MRobin. Swordbreaker sounds fun too if I can get an Abel.


This is how we get QuadSuna

PK was telling me about how busted this is. Setsuna was one of my favorites in Fates, so doing this might be a long term project of mine once I level up Alphonse and Anna to 5*s.
 

Roman

Member
The problem is that the tier lists are based on the skills that the unit gains naturally as well as their stats. Sophia and Henry are good with the right skills, but you need to give them a bunch of skills to be viable compared to the units on the A+/S tier that are good out the gate. Robin's weapon alone is why he's so high and his A skill is pretty good as well.

A tier list based solely on stats would look pretty different.

This is simply not true because of units like the mentioned Setsuna. I would add Draug, Cherche, Raven, Cecilia, Rebecca, Jeorge, Ogma, female Corrin and many others. Robin does not fare well in the current metagame, whether it's with his starting skills or with inheritance. I see no reason whatsoever why he is A tier while Sophia is C.
 

scy

Member
I still keep Hone ATK on her since I don't want to have to force her to attack in order to buff my Nino. Might try giving her Rauorblade+ for maximum fuckery though if I get a 5* Tharja.

I run Linde + Nowi so Sanaki was a pretty easy option when I lucked into her. I pulled heavily for a Lucina to replace her but ... Sanaki's basically a big one-shot nuke for me with some doubling opportunities. She shuts down anything green and even the blue tanks get popped.

I have a Tharja (4*) and a surplus of Odins along with around 70k in feathers. It might be time to go for the Red and Blue -blade comp. It's not like my 120+ Orbs dumped into Nino chasing has done any good.

PK was telling me about how busted this is. Setsuna was one of my favorites in Fates, so doing this might be a long term project of mine once I level up Alphonse and Anna to 5*s.

When I saw she was this set of Arena bonus, I was ready to complete the Quadsuna project. And then realized I have zero Setsuna on one account and three -ATK on the other and cried softly in the corner. I even decided to try and pull for a Faye just to force some colorless pulls and I just got a lot of Niles.

This is simply not true because of units like the mentioned Setsuna. I would add Draug, Cherche, Raven, Cecilia, Rebecca, Jeorge, Ogma, female Corrin and many others. Robin does not fare well in the current metagame, whether it's with his starting skills or with inheritance. I see no reason whatsoever why he is A tier while Sophia is C.

The mention of Cherche is kind of funny since I think people are currently looking at the free Est as another "We can rebuild her" project into a better Cordelia ala the Cherche situation.

That said, I think the tier lists in general are pretty weird now. They're either evaluating pure vanilla units, ignore the current meta game (updates seem more in relation to other units that exist rather than what's being fielded), or awkwardly allow for some SI to fix obvious shortcomings / take advantage of an existing OP trait. Very little room for full blown rekitting. Which is probably fair, not everyone is down to drop 40-60k Feathers into a single unit.

Now, all that aside, there is the post-SI Tier List.
 

Mupod

Member
I have a +spd -def Setsuna that I'd love to turn into something real dumb. I'd need a Brave Bow+ first, though. Also appropriate that she's an arena bonus unit on 4/20.
 

Roman

Member
The mention of Cherche is kind of funny since I think people are currently looking at the free Est as another "We can rebuild her" project into a better Cordelia ala the Cherche situation.

That said, I think the tier lists in general are pretty weird now. They're either evaluating pure vanilla units, ignore the current meta game (updates seem more in relation to other units that exist rather than what's being fielded), or awkwardly allow for some SI to fix obvious shortcomings / take advantage of an existing OP trait. Very little room for full blown rekitting. Which is probably fair, not everyone is down to drop 40-60k Feathers into a single unit.

Now, all that aside, there is the post-SI Tier List.

For the record this is the only tier list I'm referring to in my posts - the pre-inheritance list is irrelevant to me at this point.

I have also been mentioning that Est is underrated for the same reason. Yes, she has 5 less Spd than Cordelia, but much higher Res and is tied with her and Hinoka for highest Atk Pegasus. She is the best flier to tank dragons and non-green mages if that is the niche you are looking for.

I do agree with you that the tier list should be maintained more actively. Preferably every week with the arena bonus changes.

The point of me evaluating underrated lower tier units is to help players who feel they hadn't been as lucky with their rolls and are looking for alternatives. If you don't have Sanaki, Sophia is definitely an option. If you don't have Hector or Minerva, you can absolutely consider Cherche. If you don't have Cordelia and are looking for a good blue flier, you can without a doubt make Est work.
 
When I saw she was this set of Arena bonus, I was ready to complete the Quadsuna project. And then realized I have zero Setsuna on one account and three -ATK on the other and cried softly in the corner. I even decided to try and pull for a Faye just to force some colorless pulls and I just got a lot of Niles.

I mean, if we ignore that Setsuna is awesome, giving Virion a similar build is actually a really good alternative.

Neutral Virion:
Brave Bow +
Life and Death 3
Seal Attack 3
HP + 3 seal

53/12/43 after attacking and defending.

Neutral Setsuna: (same as above)
53/18/37

I know the original Quadsuna runs desperation, but I honestly feel that skill is over-rated. I prefer seal attack, since it means very few things will kill you next turn, so you can get kills on most of the cast.

+speed/-hp:
Virion: 60/12/36
Setsuna: 65/17/26

+attack/-hp:
Virion: 70/9/29
Setsuna: 68/16/24

So really, not too different, and from those results are after the enemy attacks, so you can go for the follow up now (pack Galeforce for an extra turn afterwords). Honestly, Virion may be a bit better then Setsuna just because he'll be able to pick up a third round more often.

Also, for desperation:

+attack/-hp:
Virion: 68/26/14
Setsuna: 69/28/11

+speed/-hp:
Virion: 59/29/20
Setsuna: 64/36/8

Take is as you will. Note that I didn't use buffs, and used neutral enemies. Giving everyone defending Fury 3 tanks both of their results.
 

kewlmyc

Member
This is simply not true because of units like the mentioned Setsuna. I would add Draug, Cherche, Raven, Cecilia, Rebecca, Jeorge, Ogma, female Corrin and many others. Robin does not fare well in the current metagame, whether it's with his starting skills or with inheritance. I see no reason whatsoever why he is A tier while Sophia is C.

Turns out we were referencing different tier lists. My main argument was for the placements on this list, which are based on individual value and don't take skill inheritance into account.: https://feheroes.wiki/Tier_List

I assume you're referencing this one: https://feheroes.wiki/Inheritance_Tier_List Didn't even know this one existed yet until I checked today.

My guess would be that no one has bothered with proving that Sophia is viable yet while more people have access to MRobin to experiment with him more.
 
The mention of Cherche is kind of funny since I think people are currently looking at the free Est as another "We can rebuild her" project into a better Cordelia ala the Cherche situation.

That said, I think the tier lists in general are pretty weird now. They're either evaluating pure vanilla units, ignore the current meta game (updates seem more in relation to other units that exist rather than what's being fielded), or awkwardly allow for some SI to fix obvious shortcomings / take advantage of an existing OP trait. Very little room for full blown rekitting. Which is probably fair, not everyone is down to drop 40-60k Feathers into a single unit.

Now, all that aside, there is the post-SI Tier List.

"better Cordelia" lol she sacrifices 5 speed for resistance basically....which is totally not worth it
 
"better Cordelia" lol she sacrifices 5 speed for resistance basically....which is totally not worth it

I actually have to agree. That 5 speed is pretty huge. Consider that Neutral Cordelia has the same speed with her Brave Lance as Est does with a Heavy Lance. Its pretty significant. Mind you, I believe Est will have a niche. She has an awesome attack stat and res, even if her speed holds her back. She'll never replace Cordelia, but she could compete with as a special tank as previously mentioned. Though that relies on enough people looking away from the 1-shot "meta".
 

Roman

Member
Turns out we were referencing different tier lists. My main argument was for the placements on this list, which are based on individual value and don't take skill inheritance into account.: https://feheroes.wiki/Tier_List

I assume you're referencing this one: https://feheroes.wiki/Inheritance_Tier_List Didn't even know this one existed yet until I checked today.

My guess would be that no one has bothered with proving that Sophia is viable yet while more people have access to MRobin to experiment with him more.

This is exactly what I have been referring to earlier today. There is a perception gap between units that have competent starting skill kits (like Klein) and units that are completely awful without inheritance (like Draug, Est or more or less Cherche).

The solution to this is to simply let more time pass in order to get a deeper appreciation of the metagame and discover the "diamonds in the rough" lingering in the lower tier echelons.
 

scy

Member
The point of me evaluating underrated lower tier units is to help players who feel they hadn't been as lucky with their rolls and are looking for alternatives. If you don't have Sanaki, Sophia is definitely an option. If you don't have Hector or Minerva, you can absolutely consider Cherche. If you don't have Cordelia and are looking for a good blue flier, you can without a doubt make Est work.

I'd argue that Sophia is not an option to replace Sanaki here entirely but I'd have to sim it out some. Sophia will be flat out worse at nuking basically anything out but will be a bulkier unit than Sanaki (plus, assuming base tome, she has her Colorless advantage going for her). I think M. Robin's main benefit had been his color being 'okay' for his lower damage potential where Red/Green will tend to hit higher HP units but that's something I'm not sure without checking.

I do agree she's not absolutely terrible, just she's got a lot of work ahead of her. If nothing else, you can budget build a 4*+10 instead of dedicating feathers into her and still come out ahead on Arena scoring.

That said, most of this may just come down to nobody has really looked into units that have nothing salvageable besides their stat line. I think Quadsuna happened mostly because it was Setsuna and someone wanted to use her and then figured out "oh shit, we can just do this."

I mean, if we ignore that Setsuna is awesome, giving Virion a similar build is actually a really good alternative.

While I want to respect all of the numbers work here, I'm going to frown at the idea of using Virion. Frowning.

That aside, that's actually a lot closer than I would have figured them. I'm not sure I'm sold on Seal Attack but I have what feels like an infinite supply of Shannas for Desperation while Seal Attack is a lot more limited for me. I ended up with a Kagero on the zero Setsuna account so I'll probably focus on using her as my neutral option instead of an archer but if I keep failing at Setsunas, I may have to use one of these seemingly infinite Virions.

"better Cordelia" lol she sacrifices 5 speed for resistance basically....which is totally not worth it

Like I said, in the same vein as the Cherche reasoning behind her over Camilla as the flying Brave Axe user. I don't think I agree either, and probably think she competes more with Catria than Cordelia if there's ever a sudden rise of melee targeting RES stats, but more pointing out that the topic about Est's potential value had literally just come up recently.
 

Spoit

Member
Well, re:robin vs sophia, tanking with TA vs reds is a hell of a lot more likely of a usecase than trying to survive green. Which is mostly just hector and nino right now? Maybe a random Julia.
 

Roman

Member
Well, re:robin vs sophia, tanking with TA vs reds is a hell of a lot more likely of a usecase than trying to survive green. Which is mostly just hector and nino right now? Maybe a random Julia.

Nino and Julia are the most common mages encountered in the arena from most players that comment on the topic, while red mages amount to Sanaki and maybe Tharja. I have personally not seen Tharja in a long time and one Sanaki a week at most. Thus extrapolating from anecdotal evidence I have to disagree.

I have run a lot of calculations with the Raudrraven TA3 QR3 (or 2 versions of those) Sophia build and if you want to invest very little to tank and embarrass Nino, Julia, Kagero and archers, she is a very solid choice.
 

Mupod

Member
Not only do I see Julia everywhere, for some reason it's always crazy speedster merged fury Julias. I almost forgot she's not supposed to have 36 speed.
 

McNum

Member
I've been running the numbers, too. I have Kagero trouble with my team and really needs someone to counter that. If said someone could counter archers and green mages, like Ninos and Julias for me, too, since Ninian really does not like those, and that Raurraven Sophia build there... it looks legit.

To make Sophia an utter shutdown of any and all colorless or green, I need to spend the following:

- 3* Henry for Raurraven
- 4* Roy for Triangle Adept 3
- 4* Subaki for Quick Reposte 2
- 4* Odin or 4* Palla for Moonbow
- (Optional) Seliph or Caeda for Rally Speed. Nino team. Needs buffs.

That's 2000 feathers to upgrade a Palla or Odin. 20,000 more if I want to 5* Sophia. But she doesn't need it, she hard counters Kagero, Takumi, Julia and all but the most extreme Nino already. I'll probably do it anyway. Got nothing better to spend feathers on.

Of course TA3 does come with a weakness to blue, and in this case, a rather severe one. But as I said... Nino team. And Ninian. Blue is... less of a concern as is. So I'll probably be making one. To replace Lucina on my team. Because she's not pulling her weight. Red damage is nice, but if that's all you can do... Why are you taking up space that someone with more purposes could use? If you're only a threat to one color, move over for someone who threatens two. Ninian got the reds.
 
Collected my first 500 HM Feathers from Julia, and I'm very close to collecting 500 from Linde, Nowi, Sanaki, and Sharena.

I decided to try for a perfect streak after some crushing defeats, and I got it. My score is 4740, which is slightly higher than last season. The bad news is that I'm really low on swords (5 remaining).

So, I will just replenish them. Also up to 39 Orbs, but I still won't summon from the current banner.
 
Ha, I had a 4* +Atk Est I have been leveling for the quests that I was thinking was actually pretty decent and then the conversation on this page happened.
 

Akuun

Looking for meaning in GAF
I understand wanting a green mage/grey counter, but I disagree that Lucina is only useful against one color. She's strong against reds, greens, and greys, especially if you give her Swordbreaker. It's just that her stat spread favors aggressive play since she's not tanky enough to be good at bait-and-counter.

A red Raven tome user would indeed be good against greys and green casters, but I don't know how well that would work against tougher units because of how weak a 4* Raven tome is in terms of damage. You're basically relying on the double hit from Quick Riposte to kill, right? Wouldn't a lot of greens and greys survive a single hit if you needed to initiate an attack? Would your Sophia still work against stronger greys like merged/Fury boosted units?
 

McNum

Member
I understand wanting a green mage/grey counter, but I disagree that Lucina is only useful against one color. She's strong against reds, greens, and greys, especially if you give her Swordbreaker. It's just that her stat spread favors aggressive play since she's not tanky enough to be good at bait-and-counter.

A red Raven tome user would indeed be good against greys and green casters, but I don't know how well that would work against tougher units because of how weak a 4* Raven tome is in terms of damage. You're basically relying on the double hit from Quick Riposte to kill, right? Wouldn't a lot of greens and greys survive a single hit if you needed to initiate an attack? Would your Sophia still work against stronger greys like merged/Fury boosted units?
Ah, but Ninian is my Swordbreaker. Doesn't matter if your fancy sword says Falchion or not. She doesn't care. She also runs Triangle Adept 3. Because, well, she's not going to lose to Julia more after OHKO has already been established. I expect her to eat Zephiel in the coming fight. Can't see him do much damage to her. I mean, no one else red can.

I will admit that my need is very, very specific, but... of the entire green and colorless game cast, only Kagero can hit Sophia from max HP to less than 50%. And yes that's well under QR2 and I will have to look into a solution to getting her HP back up from that, but having a unit that I can put in range of any green or colorless unit and expect her to be in great condition afterwards is something I can't say for Lucina. She dies to Kagero. Nino can put the hurt on her. Takumi is always an irritant to a threat. Sophia will ORKO all of those.

I ran the numbers for the extreme worst case green that I expect to encounter. Nino. +4 to all stats. +Atk nature. Fury. Desperation. Sophia eats it and lives. Then kills Nino. And how often do you see a +20 Atk boosted Nino anywhere? No Takumi exists that can hurt her. As in 0 damage. Klein can, because his skill does a lot, but he can't kill her. Of course, if it's blue, it kills her. No exceptions. At all. But the biggest blue threat to me is Reinhardt and Nino can squeak out a victory on defense there. Not a pretty one, but a win. So if Nino kills blue, Ninian is invincible to red, and Sophia is invincible to green and colorless... I should be good. Would be nice to have someone invincible to blue, but I'll live with blowing them up.

My team composition has a problem, in short. I lose to Kagero, and get bullied by green mages and archers. Sophia solves all of that with one unit. Also she comes with Hone Res which Nino will appreciate.

I will not say that Sophia is generally a better unit than Lucina, good heavens no. But for the specific need I have, she is better. She has an edge case where a specific build will handle a specific job. And that job is exactly what I need handled.
 

Akuun

Looking for meaning in GAF
Ah, okay. It does sound like in your case, having a character to tank and counterattack would fit better than Lucina. Would you have trouble against Hector or red mages?

For getting Quick Riposte units back up into QR range, you might want to consider Reciprocal Aid. I have that on some of my units because I work around QR units as well, and it helps a lot. It lets you move around HP bars to the units that will have to do more work against a given composition.
 

fek

Member
Got the SP I needed to get all the skills I wanted for my base arena team (Ryoma, Nowi, Nino). 4th character is always a bonus one so that will change from season to season.
Now I think I'm going to work on Kagero for my defense team.
 

Scum

Junior Member
This is exactly what I have been referring to earlier today. There is a perception gap between units that have competent starting skill kits (like Klein) and units that are completely awful without inheritance (like Draug, Est or more or less Cherche).

The solution to this is to simply let more time pass in order to get a deeper appreciation of the metagame and discover the "diamonds in the rough" lingering in the lower tier echelons.
Faye, Arthur and Odin. Your time to shine will soon come!
 

Xetherion

Member
Lancerbreaker and Wary Fighter cancel out, so it follows normal rules for doubling. Effie doesn't cause me problems so much as it is annoying that she needs an extra turn when I can clearly nuke her. Also, Linde doesn't have anything else of value to put in her B-slot. She doesn't need Desperation, considering mine will 1-shot 51 units, and most of the remaining ones couldn't attack back anyway, so she is safe to double them. Vantage isn't too helpful, since the only mages who survive her are Julia and F-Robin. She can bait Julia in, take one hit then fill on the follow-up, and F-Robin is a hard counter (she ORKOs), but not a real threat as long as you have a red. Same with Hector. Everything above also invalidates seal stat skills and QR, so we only have Windsweep (not even remotely a good idea) and Breakers. Of all of the breakers, Lance breaker is the only one to give her an extra kill (Effie), and non of them save her from her two death (Hector, F-Robin). She is kind of left with it by elimination, unless I want to leave the spot blank.

I also mentioned this earlier in the thread but I'm still running Speed+3 on her. The only better skills are Fury (Stops F-robin from 1-rounding her), Life and Death (Mixed, since she now dies to Julia in 1 round and only kills Hawkeye and Fae) and Swift Sparrow (no extra deaths, kills Hawkeye and Fae). Still can't get over how impressive this is. She is basically a kill button.

As for Green mages, I usually use Erika as bait. She is running Fury 2, so with 30 res and 35 speed (speed + 1 s seal), she can easily bait Nino and Julia in. On her turn, even if she doesn't kill, Linde will (or one of my other units). One thing I can recommend is if you pulled Faye (or if you do in the future) consider making a Firesweeper to handle weaknesses. Being able to attack for free and drop seal attack on a target is really huge - enough that you don't have to worry about most units in the game.

Did you give Linde Blarblade+? I've been running my +SPD/-DEF Linde with Aura (don't have the feathers to promote Odin to 5* and don't want to run regular Blarblade with its low Might) and not been impressed by the results. It seems like all i see in Arena these days are teams with at least 2 of the following:

Hector
Nino
Julia

Lucina w/ 40+ SPD (+SPD IV with Fury or Life and Death)
Ryoma w/ same as above
Eirika w/ same as above

Takumi

and Linde either dies to or fails to ORKO all of them. Hector, Nino, and Julia are obvious counters, but the fact that Linde can't even ORKO reds (her one job) due to their high SPD rankles. Also she's so squishy that neutral Takumi one-shots her, so i have to have Desperation up in order for her to kill him.

I've gone back to running Kagero until I can get around to getting Blarblade+ on Linde, but i've invested a lot of time into Linde grinding SP, so if there's a build without -blade to make her viable i'd love to hear it.
 
While I want to respect all of the numbers work here, I'm going to frown at the idea of using Virion. Frowning.

That aside, that's actually a lot closer than I would have figured them. I'm not sure I'm sold on Seal Attack but I have what feels like an infinite supply of Shannas for Desperation while Seal Attack is a lot more limited for me. I ended up with a Kagero on the zero Setsuna account so I'll probably focus on using her as my neutral option instead of an archer but if I keep failing at Setsunas, I may have to use one of these seemingly infinite Virions.

I can understand not being sold on seal attack. It all depends on how you are going to use them. If you know there are threats that your team can't 1-round, having someone who can go in, get some damage and drop their attack so no one will die that turn means a lot for arena. I only really started looking at Seal Attack when I was looking at how best to use the Firesweep Bow. To give an example, my +speed/-hp Rebecca with the Firesweep Bow+, Death Blow, Seal Attack and Hp + 3 will only die to Ogma on the enemy turn. To me, that is huge since it means she can take a pot-shot, then survive the next hit. It both weakens the enemy, and gives me time to move units around if need be.

Similarly, if you run a Brave Bow+ on the same set, Seal Attack lets you survive 12 more units than without it. (48/18/42 Vs 45/30/33). I'll concede that this set-up is best with the FireSweep Bow though, since you end up avoiding a lot of specials that would kill you thanks to how it blocking counters.

Actually, on Kagero, I've found she does pretty well with Seal Attack and Life and Death.

Kagero (+Attack/-Speed) - no buffs
Poison Dagger +
Life or Death 3
Seal Attack 3
HP + 3 seal

On Initiation: 73/1/34 (only loss is to Hector on counter)
Enemy Turn: 74/7/27

Without Seal Attack:
On Initiation: 73/1/34
Enemy Turn: 73/17/18

Seal Attack with Erika (+3 Attack, + 4 Speed)
On Initiation: 87/1/20
Enemy Turn: 87/2/19

Without Seal Attack, with Erika Buffs
On Initiation: 87/1/20
Enemy Turn: 87/9/12

Now for the magic -> Second attack turn
Seal Attack 3/No buffs: 94/7/7
Without Seal Attack 3/No buffs: 87/17/4
Seal Attack 3 / Erika buffs: 102/2/4 <- Effie and Hector kill on their attacks
Without Seal Attack 3/ Erika buffs: 97/9/2

As you can see, while in one round it isn't too big, it let Kagero basically 2 round everyone. Oddly, +Attack/-Speed is the best for this set-up, since losing anything on her defences or attack hurts a lot. Also, since you know Kagero will basically always get to round 2, you can take a 4 turn special and nuke some random unit with it. Or even take Galeforce, since if you know you will double, you can get an extra turn. Being able to tank hits opens up a lot of extra breathing room.

Just a few examples of some units who benefit from Seal Attack 3. It is hard to get though, which makes these builds hard, but you also only ever need 1 for the team. With movement skills, you can tap them, move the sealer out of the way and put someone with decent bulk there and they basically get a free +7 defense/resistance.

It is something insteresting to take a look into, especially if you don't focus on the 1-hit KO, or don't run a dancer, since those extra turns can really make or break you. Also, running something like Reciprocal Aid or a movement skill for better team support.

Did you give Linde Blarblade+? I've been running my +SPD/-DEF Linde with Aura (don't have the feathers to promote Odin to 5* and don't want to run regular Blarblade with its low Might) and not been impressed by the results. It seems like all i see in Arena these days are teams with at least 2 of the following:

Hector
Nino
Julia

Lucina w/ 40+ SPD (+SPD IV with Fury or Life and Death)
Ryoma w/ same as above
Eirika w/ same as above

Takumi

and Linde either dies to or fails to ORKO all of them. Hector, Nino, and Julia are obvious counters, but the fact that Linde can't even ORKO reds (her one job) due to their high SPD rankles. Also she's so squishy that neutral Takumi one-shots her, so i have to have Desperation up in order for her to kill him.

I've gone back to running Kagero until I can get around to getting Blarblade+ on Linde, but i've invested a lot of time into Linde grinding SP, so if there's a build without -blade to make her viable i'd love to hear it.

I did put Barblade + on her for much the same reasons. As in my post, she 1 shots most people, can survive Neutral Julia (and if you run desperation, kill the next turn) and will kill unbuffed Nino in one round (though she'll probably die to a buffed one). Hector is still an issue though. It is pretty night and day how much the barblade helps, since it pushes my +Attack Linde from 52 (Attack + 1 seal) to 62 damage when buffed by Erika, alone with 43 speed.
 

Sushen

Member
Raising 3* palla and est is pretty painful for a couple orbs. Got them to near 30 but it gets worse as the level goes up. I don't intend to SI these, and not sure if it is worth my time. Palla after this will be let go for moonbow.
 
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