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[Mupod]

yeah I'm probably gonna run this -atk +spd Roy I just found as my arena bonus. I'll leave Seal Def and TA3 on him, and just use him to bait green mages then hopefully one shot them on player phase. Seal def and hone attack should be plenty, even though his attack is going to be a miserable 42. So bad. Can run the +1 attack seal on him as well.

he'll work well enough as my anti-Hector, of course. But man I'm gonna miss distant counter. Where are you Celica, I don't need any more Laslows.

I'm happy Roy is a bonus char because both of my accounts have him at 5*,holding off sacrificing him for TA3 has paid off, good thing he gets TA3 at 4* so you feel that it would be really wasteful if you sacrifice a 5* but what's more intriguing is that he seems to be the first to return as a bonus char (after the very first season) if I'm not wrong.

There are still tons of units that haven't become arena bonus chars yet but at the same time someone is already becoming one for the second time. You've got to wonder what's in IS's mind; are those two slots really random?

The arena bonus char composition has always been (besides the very first season when we have 2 prevailing mainline banners, and a few season before the OG lord rotation became a thing):
4 or 6 newly introduced banner character + 2 "random" existing non-daily HB characters + 1 GHB character + 1 FE:H original character + 0 or 2 daily HB characters. When the new mainline banner has 6 characters, they take up the 2 slots that are normally meant for daily HB characters, e.g. the blazing blade banner season bonus char set consists of the 6 banner characters (Ninian, Karel, Priscilla, Jaffar, Rebecca, Lucius), 2 non-daily HB characters (Azama, Fir), 1 GHB character (Ursula), and 1 FE:H original character (Anna). No daily HB characters in this case.

The 2 non-daily HB slots have always been a thing, but Roy among all these potential characters in a big pool getting a slot this time is still pretty weird.

there's an upcoming datamined banner just called 'weapon triangle'. It's not a stretch to think that he'd be in it, maybe this is a hint?

 

[MANUELF]

Easiest Arena so far, Just did a 4766 deathless run, thanks the heaven Roy is a bonus character

 

[fek]

Considering making Xander+1, he's making my arena runs way easier this season. Even got 4 defense wins already with him on the team.

 

[Man-is-Obsolete]

Made a couple of runs at the arena. On my main account I am getting really high scores because I am going all melee. Got close to 7 twice. Just need to read the opponents better, got burned by wings of Mercy Ephraim on one and Azura choosing not to dance on kagero for whatever reason.

The other account is going to be lower score but waaaaay easier. Also I OHKOd a full health neutral Atk Hector with Elise. Lol

 

[ggx2ac]

I noticed the final round of the voting gauntlet has a bigger reward than usual and I am not talking about the cumulative rank.

 

[SolarKnight]

I noticed the final round of the voting gauntlet has a bigger reward than usual and I am not talking about the cumulative rank.

As in bigger than the last gauntlet or just bigger than round 1 and 2? Because the latter was introduced in the previous one iirc.

 

[ggx2ac]

As in bigger than the last gauntlet or just bigger than round 1 and 2? Because the latter was introduced in the previous one iirc.

Then I must have not noticed last Voting Gauntlet.

 

[SliceSabre]

Man I'm tempted to burn some resources to level Boey to 20 so its worth actually taking him to the arena so I can get that sweet bonus.

 

[spiritfox]

Man I'm tempted to burn some resources to level Boey to 20 so its worth actually taking him to the arena so I can get that sweet bonus.

Xander's a better option for that.

 

[SliceSabre]

Xander's a better option for that.

I don't have Xander. Boey and Alfonse are the only ones I have and I'll be damned if I give Alfonse any of my resources.

 

[Sushen]

I was looking at hana for no apparent reason, and thinking I can turn her into Roy. Her stats are similar to him if I don't equip her LaD. The usual brave sword glass canon route sounds interesting too. Yeah, since I'm f2p now, trying to find something to work on among what I have...

 

[spiritfox]

I don't have Xander. Boey and Alfonse are the only ones I have and I'll be damned if I give Alfonse any of my resources.

You didn't do his GHB? rip.

 

[Mupod]

all of the voting gauntlets so far have had bigger payouts in the final round. It was annoying in the first one because there was no way to tell. I think they even said they reduced the final round increase in the second gauntlet, but I can't remember how much it actually was.

assuming Robin can stop tipping the scales a few more times I should be able to unload the rest of my flags at 3x without difficulty. I'll be comfortably above 40k feathers after the event.

No idea who to promote next, though. Maybe start work on a cavalry team, but that'd be pretty much from scratch and would need a ton of feathers. All of my 5* are infantry except Eldigan and Hector. Anna and Tharja are other options, but not essential.

 

[Akuun]

Glad to see that I have another 5* bonus character this time around. Time to see what I can do with Roy.

I was looking at hana for no apparent reason, and thinking I can turn her into Roy. Her stats are similar to him if I don't equip her LaD. The usual brave sword glass canon route sounds interesting too. Yeah, since I'm f2p now, trying to find something to work on among what I have...

If you're looking for a budget build, Hana is actually quite good mostly out of the box as long as you ignore Obstruct. With her default Armorslayer, she oneshots Hector with an attack buff, which makes her one of the few characters who kills him while taking zero damage in return. She also does pretty respectable damage to Effie, which makes her good for going in for the finishing blow if Effie's been softened up by someone else.

I slapped Drag Back on her B slot so that she could back off after going in for a kill, but there are plenty of other viable options.

 

[Bacon_Boss]

Where are people going to look for builds? I have a +sp - res Eirkia i'm thinking of upgrading to 5 star since I hear she's the bees knees.

 

[Drkirby]

Aww yeah, look at that, Robin is tipping the scales. This one may be close.

 

[theprodigy]

oh boy Robin better not pull a Sanaki this match and get like only 5 hours of 3x multipliers

 

[Akuun]

I'm surprised that Robin isn't getting destroyed. Maybe Team Tharja blew a lot of flags going through her previous matches?

Come on Robin, get destroyed at least some of the time. I have flags to spend.

Where are people going to look for builds? I have a +sp - res Eirkia i'm thinking of upgrading to 5 star since I hear she's the bees knees.

I'm not sure. Eirika is a very good support unit but not super powerful on her own. It's more like she's great at making someone else super powerful while being pretty decent in certain fights herself.

Something like Triangle Adept (2 is fine if you don't want to kill Roy) and Swordbreaker would make her good at dealing with red swords while also being able to take on Hector. Honestly, any red sword becomes good at that with TA and Swordbreaker (that's similar to what you can do with Olivia), but Eirika has a good defensive stat spread that makes her surprisingly hard to kill on top of filling those roles.

 

[spiritfox]

I'm surprised that Robin isn't getting destroyed. Maybe Team Tharja blew a lot of flags going through her previous matches?

Come on Robin, get destroyed at least some of the time. I have flags to spend.

I think the best strategy right now is to keep this lead until the last hour or so then letting Tharja spends their flags to drop Robin into 3x. Then again I don't know.

 

[Alucrid]

I'm surprised that Robin isn't getting destroyed. Maybe Team Tharja blew a lot of flags going through her previous matches?

Come on Robin, get destroyed at least some of the time. I have flags to spend.


I'm not sure. Eirika is a very good support unit but not super powerful on her own. It's more like she's great at making someone else super powerful while being pretty decent in certain fights herself.

Something like Triangle Adept (2 is fine if you don't want to kill Roy) and Swordbreaker would make her good at dealing with red swords while also being able to take on Hector. Honestly, any red sword becomes good at that with TA and Swordbreaker (that's similar to what you can do with Olivia), but Eirika has a good defensive stat spread that makes her surprisingly hard to kill.

i have thousands of flags because both team julia and robin have been feckless so far

 

[commish]

Okay, thought I'd keep track of the units I face in my runs.

From my first 7 win streak:

Ike - 3
Hector - 4
Celica - 1
Azura - 3
Ninian - 1
Lucina - 2
Effie - 2
Tharja - 1
Sheena - 1
Zephiel - 1
Ephraim - 1
Takumi - 3
RobinM - 1
Ryoma - 1
Reinhardt - 1
Eirika - 1
Linde - 1

That variety is pretty amazing, tbh. I expect less Ike and more Xander/Celica in the next few days, but even still, hard to say that there's any defined meta from this admittedly very small sample size.

My team was my normal squad of Hector, Nowi and Julia with the Xander bonus unit. Tier 17, score of 4816, current rank of 798.

 

[Man-is-Obsolete]

Did they do away with the defensive tiles for this season? This is like the greatest (worst) hits of terrible maps. Bridge map and lava map. at least the mountain map with each team split is in there.

 

[Mupod]

on the one hand I don't see much variety in my arena matches other than an occasional Kagero episode instead of Nino and Reinhardt. But I guess this has let me refine how I deal with certain problem units pretty well. I had a rough start last week but then did 3 perfect runs back to back.

I'm actually kinda worried about defense wins this week. I'll try having 4* swordbreaker Alphonse out front with Linde and Azura. Fourth unit I'll switch between Nino and Hector. I'm always sketchy on Hector in my defense team, since he's so easy for me, but he seems to get a lot of wins.

Did they do away with the defensive tiles for this season? This is like the greatest (worst) hits of terrible maps. Bridge map and lava map. at least the mountain map with each team split is in there.

shit. I didn't miss those maps at all.

 

[ggx2ac]

Did they do away with the defensive tiles for this season? This is like the greatest (worst) hits of terrible maps. Bridge map and lava map. at least the mountain map with each team split is in there.

It's probably going to alternate each season since there's two seasons of the same bonus heroes all the time.

 

[evangd007]

Did they do away with the defensive tiles for this season? This is like the greatest (worst) hits of terrible maps. Bridge map and lava map. at least the mountain map with each team split is in there.

As someone who uses flier emblem, those are my absolute favorites.

 

[ggx2ac]

I was looking for this chart.

I remember tier 15 had about 6600 people that could move up to tier 17 iirc.

That means for people to move up to tier 18, the cap should be 3300 people since that would be 50% of the people in tier 17. (It started at 1010 and moved up to ~2800 currently​.)

Then at tier 18, only 1320 people can move to tier 19. Then at tier 19, only 462 people can move to tier 20.

Then to stay at tier 20 you need to be one of 139 people.

I could be wrong, maybe the cap size increases the more there are people in a certain tier. But maybe not.

 

[Man-is-Obsolete]

It's probably going to alternate each season since there's two seasons of the same bonus heroes all the time.

That'd be my guess as well. Next week will probably be the other regular maps like the double wall and the interior one with columns. Wonder if they will include any new boat maps.

 

[SliceSabre]

I was looking for this chart.



I remember tier 15 had about 6600 people that could move up to tier 17 iirc.

That means for people to move up to tier 18, the cap should be 3300 people since that would be 50% of the people in tier 17. (It started at 1010 and moved up to ~2800 currently​.)

Then at tier 18, only 1320 people can move to tier 19. Then at tier 19, only 462 people can move to tier 20.

Then to stay at tier 20 you need to be one of 139 people.

I could be wrong, maybe the cap size increases the more there are people in a certain tier. But maybe not.

Seeing I'm in the Eight Generals and in a high tier makes my pride swell larger than it should.

 

[theprodigy]

I was looking for this chart.



I remember tier 15 had about 6600 people that could move up to tier 17 iirc.

That means for people to move up to tier 18, the cap should be 3300 people since that would be 50% of the people in tier 17. (It started at 1010 and moved up to ~2800 currently​.)

Then at tier 18, only 1320 people can move to tier 19. Then at tier 19, only 462 people can move to tier 20.

Then to stay at tier 20 you need to be one of 139 people.

I could be wrong, maybe the cap size increases the more there are people in a certain tier. But maybe not.

You realize the number of people in each tier expands significantly over time as people move up right

 

[ggx2ac]

You realize the number of people in each tier expands significantly over time as people move up right

Hence why I said in the last sentence, "Maybe the cap size increases the more there are people in a certain tier."

 

[Rodin]

Does it make sense to give Rally Speed to Takumi? My main units have no support skills and this might be useful in some cases.

 

[Sushen]

I guess I'm in minority here who feels comfortable sitting at tier 15. I don't mind going up to 18 once my horse emblem completes. Above it seems to be too stressful in the whale land.
To me, the meaning of the arena is the best source of feathers, but 200-300 feathers more doesn't tempt me much.

 

[Aveyn Knight]

Aww, I miss the defensive maps. Most of them made it very easy to bait units though. Guess I have to rely on random AI positioning again, yay.

Thankfully I got a good 7-streak already, so no problem I guess.

 

[_Legacy_]

Aww, I miss the defensive maps. Most of them made it very easy to bait units though. Guess I have to rely on random AI positioning again, yay.

Thankfully I got a good 7-streak already, so no problem I guess.

Yeah it certainly made it easier, especially for counter-attack units. I hope they bring them back in the future.

 

[SolarKnight]

oh boy Robin better not pull a Sanaki this match and get like only 5 hours of 3x multipliers

I'm surprised that Robin isn't getting destroyed. Maybe Team Tharja blew a lot of flags going through her previous matches?

Come on Robin, get destroyed at least some of the time. I have flags to spend.

I really hope they rethink the multiplier for the next gauntlet because the fact that we are disappointed that we are having a close match is ridiculous.

 

[Akuun]

I had exactly 13 orbs left and with no more free daily orbs, I was like fuck it and tried to pull on the mage banner again.

+atk -res Julia
+atk -res 4* Rein
+def -res 3* Olivia.

Wow, uh, I guess my shitty luck streak stopped, at least this time. And I think the game is telling me that I will die to magic.

 

[Kar L]

Level 40 5* Roy. (Current bonus hero.)
Level 40+5 5* with 168 BST.
Level 40+4 5* with 155 BST.
Level 40+4 5* with 165 BST.

I am impressed with your whaling.

 

[Mupod]

I may need to rethink my opinion of defensive Hector. Pretty much instant defenses as soon as I put him in, despite 4* Alfonse weighing the team down.

 

[sproutella]

Had saved up my orbs to try for a Julia to finish out my team (Have +atk, -spd Ryoma, Reinherdt, Brave axe+ Cherche as my core group, with +atk mrobin, reg lucina x 2 [have no idea how to build], and -def emphraim being used depending on circumstances) and had just about run out of orbs when I rolled a neutral Hector. I had never let myself think that I'd get one and now I have no idea what to do with him. I still have no one that stands up that well to the meta green/blue mage oneshots (what I wanted Julia for), does Hector?

Do I just slap vantage on him and slot him in? Who do I use him with?

 

[Kar L]

reg lucina x 2 [have no idea how to build],

The nice thing about Lucina is that she is great right out of the box, and no matter how you decide to build her. Keep Luna on her, don't buy Aether. Defiant Spd 3 is even fine because you will double everything when it kicks in.

I'm a huge fan of Renewal 3 on her b) slot. Between that and Falchion you are ticking for HP on most turns. You could then add Fury to her if you want to.

I have two Lucinas. One +Def -HP, the other is +Spd -HP and surprisingly I much prefer the +def one with renewal over the speed one with swordbreaker. She acts as a bruiser and lives much longer plus the boon is +4 def. 29 def on a high dmg bruiser is great.

 

[Mupod]

Had saved up my orbs to try for a Julia to finish out my team (Have +atk, -spd Ryoma, Reinherdt, Brave axe+ Cherche as my core group, with +atk mrobin, reg lucina x 2 [have no idea how to build], and -def emphraim being used depending on circumstances) and had just about run out of orbs when I rolled a neutral Hector. I had never let myself think that I'd get one and now I have no idea what to do with him. I still have no one that stands up that well to the meta green/blue mage oneshots (what I wanted Julia for), does Hector?

Do I just slap vantage on him and slot him in? Who do I use him with?

vantage/bonfire/pivot. I use Hone Speed in his third slot because my team exists to support a blade tome user, and Hector doesn't need speed so it makes sense for him to carry it. Threaten Def would be fine too. Ignis is another option for his special - if he kills a unit that doubled him on his quick riposte followup, he'd have Ignis charged and Vantage ready, whatever attacked him would get fucked up. Bonfire is more consistent though and I like to make sure the job gets finished.

I run the HP+3 seal on him, and I also have Fortify Res on one of my other teammates at all times. This lets him survive and counter kill heavily merged Reinhardts. As long as you don't let a Linde get into Desperation 3 range he can handle her as well.

He's a lot less reliable for green mages, in theory he could handle Nino and Julia. In practice the ones I face are all +5 and running Fury 3, so they tend to survive. Hector won't last through two hits. Distant counter red swords solve that problem but I have to run without this week.

I also recommend a movement assist on another party member to help get Hector out of, and into trouble. Reposition is my favorite, Smite is fun too. As strong as he is, Hector is still quite vulnerable especially to magic and durable physical attackers running Luna. So you need to have a way to move him around, and Pivot isn't always enough.

 

[CountAntonius]

I'm taking a new approach with this game. Since I've been playing less Puzzles and Dragons lately I've begun just rolling whenever I have the orbs to roll. Since I am F2P hoarding tons of stones and rolling to not get anything I want is just an awful feeling I get probably 90% of the time.Rolling whenever has actually made the game a lot more fun for me after years of hoarding. After a couple of really bad runs with this game I am going to start doing the same thing. When I hit 20 I will just roll on whatever banner I like most no matter the colors. At least with the inheritance units can all be useful.

 

[Kar L]

I'm taking a new approach with this game. Since I've been playing less Puzzles and Dragons lately I've begun just rolling whenever I have the orbs to roll. Since I am F2P hoarding tons of stones and rolling to not get anything I want is just an awful feeling I get probably 90% of the time.Rolling whenever has actually made the game a lot more fun for me after years of hoarding. After a couple of really bad runs with this game I am going to start doing the same thing. When I hit 20 I will just roll on whatever banner I like most no matter the colors. At least with the inheritance units can all be useful.

That's totally the way to do it. You'll get interesting characters to use, faster. Hoarding your orbs really sets yourself up for disappointment. Especially when you save 100-200 and still don't get the character you want.

 

[Aveyn Knight]

I think both methods have their merits, but I'm happy to see someone having fun ^^

With the steady supply of orbs (especially if you're a day 1 player) you ought to have an excess of heroes by now.

So rather than spend them whenever and get heroes you probably already have, I'd rather focus them on specific upcoming banners and heroes I like. It creates disappointment sure, but at least you had a chance ; )

Anyway, got a possibly dumb question.

I managed to get a dupe 5* Tiki (with crap stats) and she doesn't have any good skills to pass down. If I merged her to get a Tiki +1, would my arena matching change a little or a lot?

Just worried I'll start seeing whales since I'm F2P and my team is still a WIP .

 

[CountAntonius]

That's totally the way to do it. You'll get interesting characters to use, faster. Hoarding your orbs really sets yourself up for disappointment. Especially when you save 100-200 and still don't get the character you want.

After three years of PAD and the first few months on I've had here I know what's probably gonna work out better for me. In Pad I used to horde for months for a specific godfest and only once did I get a unit I wanted.

 

[theprodigy]

If it's only 200 orbs is it really hoarding though?

 

[commish]

After three years of PAD and the first few months on I've had here I know what's probably gonna work out better for me. In Pad I used to horde for months for a specific godfest and only once did I get a unit I wanted.

That is certainly my experience in PAD

 

[BlueLiquid]

I guess things had to balance out after the Hero Fest banner.

 

[MANUELF]

Is better to use the orbs when you can, it has worked out for me, I have 15 5* and only 3 were upgraded (Kagero, Reinhardt and Eliwood)

 

[CountAntonius]

If it's only 200 orbs is it really hoarding though?

For me yes. That takes me a very long time to save up. There is nothing wrong with hoarding especially if you are looking for a specific unit I've just been doing it too long with poor result that it started killing my enjoyment of gatcha game so I wanted to try out a new way of pulling. On pad the last few months it worked out really well so I want to try the same thing here now.