Support NeoGAF

[Westlo]

Dropped 70 orbs in this banner.. last 5 orbs and I get Nowi... fuck ye oh ffs she's only 4 star

+ attack and - res.... I got the feathers to 5 star her....

Red mages seems the way to go for a lot of teams, I've seen a lot of teams centered around Nino or Hector. I need to level up my 5* Tharja, also have a Lilliana but she's only 4*.

Dropping Lucina for Sanaki really improved my team..... Didn't run into any Ninos surprisingly but Sanaki would've wrecked her anyway.

 

[ggx2ac]

Yes!

I was ranked 730 with 4838 points in arena.

I just got 4864 points in arena, time to see where that places me.

My concern was that I was falling in rank too fast during the week with the earlier score so I was lucky to get a better one by almost 30 points. (Since I've always been trying to aim for the top 1000 since getting there the first time.)

 

[spiritfox]

Can they reset the normal hero battles so it's not sitting there uselessly already.

 

[GoldCrusader]

As long as said debuffs are of a different stat they should. Basically just like hone/fortify skills if I'm not mistaken.

Alright thanks!

 

[_Legacy_]

I lost track of my defense wins. I remember being at 28 wins last time but now there's 10 new wins I don't recognise so it could be at 38 wins or more.

They really need to put a counter to track the amount of wins.

Meanwhile, I'm just sitting on 6 at the moment. Do units get SP after winning, if not that should totally be introduced. I don't think I've noticed that they do though.

 

[Hours Left]

Can they reset the normal hero battles so it's not sitting there uselessly already.

Or better yet, start a rotation of new units.

I want a neutral Saizo.

 

[ggx2ac]

My rank bumped up to 519. Can definitely rest easy now.

Meanwhile, I'm just sitting on 6 at the moment. Do units get SP after winning, if not that should totally be introduced. I don't think I've noticed that they do though.

I don't know. All I know is Defense obviously doesn't reward you much.

All you need is one strong win, that's it. No bonuses from using a bonus hero or getting many wins, etc.

 

[Mupod]

Sometimes I think I've got the AI figured out, then I end up in weird situations like now where the last enemy (Nino) refused to advance and kept taking one step to the left or right. I just killed about 8 turns waiting for Lucina to regenerate, because said Nino was extremely high merged and I wasn't sure if Hector could one shot it. But right as I was going to go in, Nino advanced on its own into Lucina range. Weird.

 

[ggx2ac]

Sometimes I think I've got the AI figured out, then I end up in weird situations like now where the last enemy (Nino) refused to advance and kept taking one step to the left or right. I just killed about 8 turns waiting for Lucina to regenerate, because said Nino was extremely high merged and I wasn't sure if Hector could one shot it. But right as I was going to go in, Nino advanced on its own into Lucina range. Weird.

That's why when making tricky AI for defense you do something like putting a mage with Hector.

The mage has Draw Back while Hector has Swap and Vantage.

If the opponent can't take out Hector, they'll try to take out or lure out the mage but if they can't kill it, Hector will use Swap to prevent you from attacking the mage without getting hit by him.

 

[_Legacy_]

I need Hector in my life, he's the only unit I've pined after but never pulled.

 

[Roman]

So seeing how I had no bonus heroes at 5* this week and not even close to enough feathers, I tried 4* Sharena and she did not work out on my team at all.

Then I figured I'm not going to get any sort of high score anyway so I might as well try something completely different and embark on the path to Pony Emblem. With this post I'm hoping I can give people some new ideas on something long term to build towards that is still undoubtedly competitive.

I think this is the easiest movement buff team by far to build as it requires absolutely no 5* exclusive units.

Hone Cavalry, the arguably best buff, is carried by Gunter. He only needs to be at 4* to transfer it to someone else. I chose Frederick because he is very similar to Gunter but better, and mine was +Atk/-Hp. He is the equivalent of Cherche on this team so you really want him to have a +Atk nature and a Brave Axe.

Goad Cavalry is carried by Reinhardt, which is perfect since you really want him on this team anyway. Reinhardt buffed by Hone Cavalry deletes most of the metagame by himself. If you don't have Reinhardt you can instead use Blarblade Ursula.

Fortify Cavalry is carried by Jagen. Jagen is relatively easy to get but by all means not a good unit. I'm thinking of transferring his skill to (red) Xander once he arrives. Xander will be a frankly astonishing addition to this team, and a primary factor for why it is currently a good time to build towards this kind of team. In the interim you can transfer Fortify to Eliwood, to have a well rounded red cavalry unit.

And last but by all means not least, Cecilia. Gronnblade Cecilia is the main reason to run Fortify Cavalry in the first place. With Hone, Fortify and Goad you add 34 extra damage to your attack. A +Atk nature Cecilia already comes with 35 Atk. You might also want to run +Spd so that she reaches 39 with Hone and Goad. If you are finished with all the other builds on the team you can give Cecilia a second Goad Cavalry to really go into overdrive.

This is what a 4* level 40 Cecilia does to an arena Takumi with all buffs applied:

I'm not even remotely close to finishing this team, a six digit amount of feathers is probably still needed to get it truly done, but even before you fully promote anyone it is already a lot of fun. If anyone has any questions on what to put on specific builds I can gladly go into more detail.

 

[Akuun]

Sometimes I think I've got the AI figured out, then I end up in weird situations like now where the last enemy (Nino) refused to advance and kept taking one step to the left or right. I just killed about 8 turns waiting for Lucina to regenerate, because said Nino was extremely high merged and I wasn't sure if Hector could one shot it. But right as I was going to go in, Nino advanced on its own into Lucina range. Weird.

Sometimes the AI is awful and sometimes it plays surprisingly well. That's why dancers are so dangerous on defending teams.

Sometimes I see Azura rush ahead of everyone and get murdered, and sometimes she hangs back and exclusively dances Hector so that he keeps up with the rest of the team.

I've been slowly planning on a Brave Hana build while working on a 3* neutral, but I got lucky and pulled a +spd at 5* in the banner last night. I love how merging carries over learned abilities now, saved a ton of SP and feathers on this. I'll probably change the assist skill to Ardent or a movement type next.

Oh, I pulled a +spd Hana yesterday too! I was thinking about QuadHana too, since it seems like a very natural choice for her atk and speed stats.

I ran her through the mass duel calculator and surprisingly, it looks like +spd Hana out-duels a lot of characters already, even with her default sword. I'm not sure if I'm using the mass calculator wrong, but giving her a Brave Sword+ doesn't change the win numbers much when compared to her Armorslayer, which sounds extremely weird to me. Good to hear that she's still decent with her default sword though, since I'm hoping to use her during the next set of bonus arena units without much SI investment.

It seems that Moonbow gives her a dozen or so more wins in the calculator (takes her to around 90ish). Her B slot doesn't seem to matter that much since she seems to win most duels thanks to her doubling + Moonbow. I was thinking about keeping Life and Death on her, and then putting Drag Back in her B slot so that she has a bit more safety after going in for a hit.

 

[Roman]

Sometimes the AI is awful and sometimes it plays surprisingly well. That's why dancers are so dangerous on defending teams.

Sometimes I see Azura rush ahead of everyone and get murdered, and sometimes she hangs back and exclusively dances Hector so that he keeps up with the rest of the team.

There is a long range AI in place that makes enemy units naturally drawn towards targets they deal the most damage to, which most often is their triangle advantage color. Try it out by putting a red unit in the opposite corner of the map to enemy Azura (or green for Olivia) and she will separate from green units like Hector every time. This is also a very good tactic against Eirikas/Ephraims to separate them from Nino and similar threats.

 

[Akuun]

There is a long range AI in place that makes enemy units naturally drawn towards targets they deal the most damage to, which most often is their triangle advantage color. Try it out by putting a red unit in the opposite corner of the map to enemy Azura (or green for Olivia) and she will separate from green units like Hector every time. This is also a very good tactic against Eirikas/Ephraims to separate them from Nino and similar threats.

Yup, I'm aware of this but sometimes it's hard to manipulate in your favor in certain maps. It's also why that having a flyer as your fourth 4* arena bonus/throwaway character can still be useful.

You're right though, I should try to exploit this more when dealing with dancers.

I also ran into an interesting team once that took advantage of this by putting two Ephriams next to Linde. Being all blue, there was no way I could separate that and actually reach Linde without losing something.

 

[Mupod]

I'm really curious how it calculates the value of SI for matchmaking. I've spent thousands of SP over the last week and my score is still 686 every round. So it must just look at what slots you have filled out. Since I don't think I'll be topping my score this week, maybe I should use my remaining swords to test it out. When I have time I'll try unequipping skills and see if that changes my score.

 

[Man-is-Obsolete]

I'm really curious how it calculates the value of SI for matchmaking. I've spent thousands of SP over the last week and my score is still 686 every round. So it must just look at what slots you have filled out. Since I don't think I'll be topping my score this week, maybe I should use my remaining swords to test it out. When I have time I'll try unequipping skills and see if that changes my score.

I think outside of merging 680-690 is the highest you can get. In my experience the 690 matches are always against a lot of merged units.

 

[Akuun]

I'm hovering between 678 and 682 each match. I don't know how to get higher than that. Maybe if my bonus unit was a 5* SI boosted unit instead of a 4* level 40 throwaway?

I think my highest rated match since the changes was at 682, and that team had three units that were merged to +3 or so.

 

[Scum]

I could only afford Quick Riposte 2 and Triangle Adept 2 for Nowi. Not fussed. ¯\_(&#12484_/¯

 

[GuardianE]

And last but by all means not least, Cecilia. Gronnblade Cecilia is the main reason to run Fortify Cavalry in the first place. With Hone, Fortify and Goad you add 22 extra damage to your attack. A +Atk nature Cecilia already comes with 35 Atk. You might also want to run +Spd so that she reaches 39 with Hone and Goad. If you are finished with all the other builds on the team you can give Cecilia a second Goad Cavalry to really go into overdrive.

With Hone, Fortify, and Goad you should be getting 28 extra damage, not counting the initial +6 from Hone. So in reality, it's +34.

I run a hybrid Flier Emblem, and frankly just the duo of Gronnblade Camilla and Hinoka with a dancer and dragback tends to wipe everything. Hinoka alone adds +18 damage to Camilla.

 

[kewlmyc]

Loving this banner so far. Gotten 5* Lucina, 2 5* Nowis, 5* Hana (sacrificed to Quadsuna), 5* Hawkeye (comes with Death Blow 3, not sure who to give it to) and 5* Fredrick (sacrificed to Azura). This is the best grand battle banner we've ever gotten so far.

 

[Roman]

With Hone, Fortify, and Goad you should be getting 28 extra damage, not counting the initial +6 from Hone. So in reality, it's +34.

I run a hybrid Flier Emblem, and frankly just the duo of Gronnblade Camilla and Hinoka with a dancer and dragback tends to wipe everything. Hinoka alone adds +18 damage to Camilla.

Can you break down these numbers please?

 

[ggx2ac]

Can you break down these numbers please?

I'm not following the conversation but the buffs he said are Hone Fliers which is +6 Atk/Spd and Fortify Fliers which is +6 Def/Res which are buffs.

While Goad Fliers is a combat only buff adding +4 Atk/Spd.

With a -blade tome, you would get +24 attack damage from the Hone and Fortify buffs, plus another +6 for the attack stat buff.

Goad Fliers doesn't affect -blade weapons so you'll only get +4 Atk.

That would be +34 damage total.

 

[Sushen]

20 orbs got me Nowi and Kagero. Of course, from my luck, Kagero is atk- and spd+. Nowi is atk+ and spd-.

Would either be viable?

 

[Roman]

Nevermind, sorry I completely forgot to account for both stat increases on Fortify adding 6 to the blade.

 

[ggx2ac]

20 orbs got me Nowi and Kagero. Of course, from my luck, Kagero is atk- and spd+. Nowi is atk+ and spd-.

Would either be viable?

You could give Nowi a weapon breaker, otherwise some suggest Quick Riposte.

 

[Man-is-Obsolete]

Need more time with Nowi but so far not overly impresssed. Initially I was excited at the prospect of having her counter ranged users but for the most part she melts to any mage. Almost better to have Effie tank a mage and go in for the kill.

Has anyone tried Blue Tome Breaker on her? Starting to think TA and Blue Tome Breaker may be a good route for her as there is a lot of blue mages out there. I have answers to green mages but blue ones are a pain.

 

[Akuun]

I have B Tomebreaker on MRobin but not Nowi. B Tomebreaker might be good for Nowi too, since it prevents the double. Not sure if Nowi can kill all blue mages on counterattack though, since some have high res.

You have Bunncina right? Maybe blue tomebreaker would be better on her?

 

[Sushen]

If I merge 4* to 5*, do I also get the stats increase or only SP?

 

[Linkstrikesback]

If I merge 4* to 5*, do I also get the stats increase or only SP?

Only SP, unfortunately.

 

[Man-is-Obsolete]

I have B Tomebreaker on MRobin but not Nowi. B Tomebreaker might be good for Nowi too, since it prevents the double. Not sure if Nowi can kill all blue mages on counterattack though, since some have high res.

You have Bunncina right? Maybe blue tomebreaker would be better on her?

Yeah I have her but desperation is too good on her. guess I will limit her to physical attackers only. Frustrating because she has such an awesome weapon to counter mages and even with Fortify dragons she will get torched by blue mages.

She would kill all blue mages with B Tome Breaker though.

 

[Akuun]

Yeah I have her but desperation is too good on her. guess I will limit her to physical attackers only. Frustrating because she has such an awesome weapon to counter mages and even with Fortify dragons she will get torched by blue mages.

She would kill all blue mages with B Tome Breaker though.

Maybe B Tomebreaker on Nowi is worth a try, then. Are there any units that have it besides FRobin?

 

[Sushen]

I have decided my new 5* Nowi with atk+/spd-. I'm thinking moonbow for her special. I can't have enough moonbows because I'm also thinking either moonbow or noontime for Zephiel. Haha.

 

[Roman]

I have decided my new 5* Nowi with atk+/spd-. I'm thinking moonbow for her special. I can't have enough moonbows because I'm also thinking either moonbow or noontime for Zephiel. Haha.

You just got a free one with Palla!

 

[Firemind]

You just got a free one with Palla!

Still costs 2000 feathers.

 

[Sushen]

Still costs 2000 feathers.

Yeah, I've been using feathers mostly to promote fodders to 4*. Not sure if that's a good use of feathers and I won't be able to promote Zephiel until after this season.

 

[Man-is-Obsolete]

Maybe B Tomebreaker on Nowi is worth a try, then. Are there any units that have it besides FRobin?

I may just stick with a strictly physical defense build. There's a lot of red and blue melee out there and a lot of colorless she can handle with ease. I was just really hoping she could take on mages but getting doubled by everyone not named Robin is tough.

 

[Juni_]

Robin is the only unit with b tomebreaker, so not really an option unless you have a spare or you don't mind using her up

 

[kewlmyc]

Robin is the only unit with b tomebreaker, so not really an option unless you have a spare or you don't mind using her up

You aren't really losing much since you get two of them (3* and 2*).

 

[Man-is-Obsolete]

You aren't really losing much since you get two of them (3* and 2*).

Exactly. I keep going back and forth on the idea. it would be pretty sweet to just stop all blue and red and colorless with a TA and BT build. A suped up Reinhardt would be the biggest threat at that point aside from greens which I have covered.

 

[Meier]

Anyone know what the numbers are at the end of the map? Where it will flash 2.5 or various other things in grey text over the remaining characters?

 

[Juni_]

Anyone know what the numbers are at the end of the map? Where it will flash 2.5 or various other things in grey text over the remaining characters?

That's hero merit, earn 500 and you get 500 feathers from the home screen you can see how much hm a unit earned in misc. You can get up to 2000 feathers per unique hero

 

[SenorArdilla]

You aren't really losing much since you get two of them (3* and 2*).

Sure. But there's only two of them.

 

[Meier]

That's hero merit, earn 500 and you get 500 feathers from the home screen you can see how much hm a unit earned in misc. You can get up to 2000 feathers per unique hero

Cheers, thanks. I know they sometimes have heart icons and if I click them I get feathers but I've never really paid much attention.

 

[MANUELF]

My defense team is working surprisingly well

 

[Sushen]

Since all units bound to take hit, Vantage is better than Quick Reposte, right? I'm thinking even with QR3, units won't stay above 70% for long? Debating on which one to put on my spd-/atk+ Nowi.

 

[Roman]

Since all units bound to take hit, Vantage is better than Quick Reposte, right? I'm thinking even with QR3, units won't stay above 70% for long? Debating on which one to put on my spd-/atk+ Nowi.

Actually I find Quick Riposte to be the better option on most units, namely the ones that need more than one attack to inflict lethal damage. Otherwise Vantage doesn't really help that much. The best kinds of units for Vantage either hit very hard (Blade mages), or at 1-2 range (Takumi, Hector). Hector gets QR for free anyway, so Vantage is an excellent fit.

Vantage on Nowi is not as optimal as QR in most situations since she is not very strong.

 

[SenorArdilla]

I'm getting 3001 errors...

 

[Okamid3n]

Haven't played in a while, just getting back. 80 orbs, no 5 stars. I'm not mad at all, though.

How does the new arena ranking system work? I got Kagero four stars and a ton of feathers, my Kagero is also +atk -def so she'd be good to upgrade to 5 stars, but...does she still tank the arena score as much as before?

 

[toastyToast]

I got a +Atk/-HP Nowi. That's good right? What role does she serve?

Also, what do I do about the shame?

 

[StrikeNinja24]

So I got a 5* Raven and Merric. Are they any good? I'm still fishing for Hector at this point.