#needed me an offensive infantry healer

[zachsgamejournal]

PLAYING: PlanetSide 2

Massive, exciting, chaotic, confusing, overwhelming, and almost Battlefield...I'm having fun.

Before I dig into Battlefield, I'm gonna go on a long tangent about what I was looking for with PlanetSide 2:

Simply, I wanted an action-packed war simulator not based on kills where I get to be a medic and support my team achieving objectives. Battlefield.

It took me a bit to get into online shooters. Running in circles trying to kill people didn't make me very happy. Warhawk for PS3 was the first time I really got into competitive play...well, World of Warcraft's battlegrounds. I didn't like them, but I played them. I liked the idea of trying to secure territories and earn points as that felt like real-war. That is, you secure resources to be the most successful faction. I still preferred PVE, but that's also the game that made me fall in love with healers. Moving onto Warhawk (cause I was a fan of the original PS1 game), I loved the paper-rock-scissors gameplay. It wasn't just who was fastest on the trigger or who got around behind you--but who had the best counter attack to your offensive. Tanks could obliterate infantry, but an infantry with a flamethrower could obliterate a tank. A Warhawk was a nimble aircraft, but a tank could kill it in a single shot. Plus you had homing rocket launchers and anti-aircraft. The main game mode was territories where you tried to dominate the map, and that played into the "realistic war" aspect I enjoyed. Since in the end, it wasn't about killing to win--killing was a means to an end, not the end itself.

The problem with Warhawk, there were no classes. You had to go find weapons and hope other players hadn't taken them yet. So maybe you're a great sniper, but you had to compete for the sniper rifle lying around. And there was a chance some noob grabbed and got lost in the jungle. I had great time with Warhawk, but it left something to be desired.

Anyway, Warhawk made me hungry for strategy-based online shooters that emphasized teamwork. I did not see that in Call of Duty, and still don't. My next game was MAG for PS3. It touted 128 players online, which was insane and I thought I'd love it. I did not. At first, it was really cool to see so many players fighting (I think the 128 was actually broken up into zones so you were never in a 64 vs 64 battle...but the overall conflict involved as many players. I think.) I wanted to be a medic (Warcraft ,right) but sadly anyone could give themselves a self-heal kit. So anytime ppl got hurt, they just healed themselves. While I dedicated lots of points to being a medic. A medic most people NEVER needed. So basically, no classes. On top of that, players could equip super armor. So it would take a clip and a half to kill anyone. Basically it was a bunch of terminators fighting each other. And when no one is really scared of dying, everyone is just sorta walking out in the open. It just didnt' feel "intense".

While complaining about this, a friend said: "I think what you're looking for is Battlefield." So I bought Bad Company 2 and they were fucking right! It was 12 v 12, but conquest mode felt like what I was looking for. Instead of focusing on kills, you tried to control territories. Also, there were classes, and I got to play a medic! I loved Bad Company 2 and got all of my friends interested. When Battlefield 3 came out, I loved it even more. The Assault (medic) class was unstoppable and I did really well. For the first time in an online competitive game, I routinely was in the top 3 of every round, very often in first place. I usually had the most kills, most objectives taken, and my heals boosted my points way up. I loved that the stats emphasized your point score over your actually kills, as it showed who was the most impactful.

I tried Battlefield 4, but life got in the way of really enjoying it. When I finally had time to get back into Battlefield 3 & 4, people had moved on. I also started to hate killing in video games. I switched to only healing and playing the objectives. I actually got first place, twice, in Battlefield 3 solely on heals, revives, and objectives: zero kills.

I've been looking for an experience ever since. I've tried Paladins and Overwatch 2. While I enjoy the healing classes, the rounds are really short and don't have that epic quality of battlefield. It's fun, but not as exciting.

PLANETSIDE 2

When PS4 was about to launch, they bragged that they were bringing PlanetSide 2 to it. I was shocked that this game was so old and I had never heard of it. It looked like Battlefield but the maps were huge and rounds ongoing. It was intimidating but exciting. I had thought to bring over all my Battlefield friends. But PlanetSide 2 wasn't available at launch. and while I was waiting on it, life went on.

Recently, I was sitting around thinking: I want to play a medic in battlefield. But I don't own a copy of the game that other folks are really playing. Overwatch 2 was no better than Paladins and I prefer the healer in Paladins. I asked around and folks recommended PlanetSide 2. So I decided to give it a real play through.

WHAT'S HAPPENING?!

I'm still figuring the game out. Learning how to spawn caused some issues. I think I get it. The medic class is actually pretty popular. I was almost annoyed by how I was having to compete for heals. That's because I'm trying not to kill anyone, just healing.

I don't love the heal gun. You lock-on and heal, much like Mercy in Overwatch 2. I prefer the medpacks of Battlefield. I think Grohk's healing totem very much achieves that. I'm able to heal with Grohk's staff two, so it's like a combo of the heal gun and the medpack. Still prefer the medpack, as you can place them in strategic places. The medgun just makes it...awkward.

(I forgot to mention I love being a healer in The Last of Us: Factions. Great online game!!!)

I'm still struggling to figure out how to be supportive as a healer, especially as I refuse to shoot anyone. The frontline neads healers, but teams rarely move in a sensible way. While people die as fast as Battlefield, they're not smart about their advancements. Running blindly into hot spots and not taking up shooting positions (sometimes).

I also ran into an issue with controls. Since it's a PC game, I have to use mouse and keyboard. Unfortunately, I'm not used to that so my brain was having to translate my intent into keyboard/mouse actions--kind of like having to translate all my thoughts into a foreign language before I spoke. It slowed me down. So I used my AntiMicro program to assign keyboard/mouse actions to my controller. There's a few limitations, but I'm able to more comfortably navigate and commit actions.

Anyway--the experience itself:

Graphically, it looks pretty good! It feels like Halo, to me. The aesthetic just feels similar. The tanks and flying vehicles seem to have the same design sensibilities. But like Battlefield, it's a really exciting war experience. And what's really interesting is because it's so "big", while you're trying to take a position or objective, you're also parallel to whole other battles. Maybe not full battles, but it was cool to be attacking building A, while tanks and aircraft battle over Build B, and then somethign happens at building C that changes the whole tide of battle. It's almost exactly what I'm looking for--but I wish they had medpacks.

While I love the idea that the battles just rage on for hours. I did run into an issue where my team defended a major base for roughly an hour. The whole time, we kept edging into enemy territory, very nearly securing more ground. But they always seemed to push us back to our base. In Battlefield, the time limit on battles would have ended the stalemate and we would have been whisked off to a new level with a redistribution of players. It just mixes it all up and keeps it fresh. But here, I just kept spawning in the same places, attacking the same places, dying in the same places. It just didn't end.

I don't know when I'll play again, but I had fun.

#Zach's Game Journal #PLAYING #PlanetSide 2 #PC #PC Gaming #Video Games #Gaming

[crystalelemental]

TWILIGHT OF THE GODS, BITCH!  GET YOUR ASS WHUPPED!

So yeah, welcome to another “Fuck this Abyssal map” rant.  This one sucked.  A lot.  In fact this might have been the highest number of attempts, combined with the highest number of “Okay this team isn’t going to work” responses of anything I’ve done.  Which is terrifying, when you get down to it.

First, the team.  Please welcome Legendary Edelgard and Fallen Julia to their debut as Abyssal Champions.  Legendary Edelgard is absolutely, 100% the MVP here.  Not just for handling Mila, but for handling both the entire left side of the map, and being the one to finally put that fucking asshole Ninja in the ground.  Fallen Julia was also spectacular, but frankly met her match in said Ninja, who shouldn’t have been able to kill her under normal circumstances but could because The Cleaner is a bullshit weapon.

Now let’s talk about why this map sucks.  Mila is not offensive, she’s pure support.  And that support makes this a nightmare.  Yes, I used a Dancer here.  I pretty much had to.  Now imagine that, if you’re not careful with said dancer, Mila’s just going to shut them down next turn.  Have fun with that.  Oh but there’s more!  Her weapon effect gives an in-combat buff to all allies.  I initially thought +2 across the board wasn’t that much, but holy shit did it make all the difference in the world for some of these bastardous enemies.

Firesweep Bow flier and Green Mage both had really high speed, but my Celica has 50 and Swift Sparrow 3.  Surely she can double, right?  Wrong.  Because of Mila’s support and their naturally bonkers speed stats.  Only Fallen Julia could handle them at all, thanks to guaranteed follow-ups.  So get ready for the day they realize that’s too easy an answer and start slapping Null Follow-Up on shit like this.  Also special shoutouts to that fucking green mage.  Attack/Speed Form and Lull Speed/Res.  What an absolute fucking bastard.

There’s a healer, who normally shouldn’t be that bad, right?  Except they pack Speed and Attack Ploy.  And the map is a hallway.  So anyone trying to deal with stuff coming down the middle has to (1) deal with Mila shutting down their support or ability to be supported, and (2) deal with this asshole slowing you down and reducing damage output so you’re easily doubled by the bastards listed above.  Their weapon is Absorb, which frankly is a lot more kind than it could’ve been.  Not as strong outright as most other weapons of choice, and no horrific effects like Panic, Flash, or Melancholy.  So I guess that’s a mercy.

While nowhere near as bad, the Brave Lance infantry dude with Reposition can go fuck himself.  The Brave effect meant I had to find a way to KO him, the blue wyvern reinforcement, AND the red dragon, all in the same turn, without keeping anyone in range of the red ninja, or someone would die.  You would not believe how long it took to figure out a solution to that.

Speaking of, the crown jewel of bullshit is, once again, like every other fucking Abyssal map, the goddamn ninja.  I hate Ninjas.  These fucks were a mistake.  Thanks for adding them, Fates, glad we have to deal with this shit.  Honestly, what the hell is this supposed to be?  50 speed.  The Cleaner to punish buffs.  77HP and great defenses for a “frail” unit.  Basically immune to magical damage, so even Fallen Julia getting her double and not dying in one hit isn’t enough to finish him.  It’s obscene.  Every goddamn map, it’s always these fucking ninja ruining my life.  Eventually I found a way to position Edelgard such that she could still keep her two movement, tear through the healer, then Galeforce on the Ninja to net the KO.  With only Mila and the red armor left, I had to set Edelgard near Rinea but not adjacent, and took only 3 damage from Mila.  If we didn’t have Rinea, Edelgard would not have been able to finish the job, and would’ve died to Mila.  Which means Rinea is actually a critical dancer for this solution!  No one else could’ve done this.

Add to all of this, that my best Galeforce and guaranteed follow up units were Edelgard and Fallen Julia, two units who cannot be near allies, and this map was a whole-ass disaster.  They had to split up, Edelgard taking the left and F!Julia the right, while Celica and Rinea tried to manage the middle.  It was such a mess.  This map is hard as hell, and the fact that PM1 took the second longest time to find a solution to this one (second only to L!Eliwood) does not surprise me in the slightest.  I’m frankly impressed he pulled it off at all.  I just...goddamn.  Please let the next Abyssal be a breather.  Please.  I need it.

#fire emblem heroes #abyssal mila #the abyssal champions #legendary edelgard #legendary celica #rinea #fallen julia #legendary edelgard and fallen julia are supported #so technically this is a valid team and not me slapping shit together

[dailydoseofcolor]

FEH Divine Code Path Breakdown

So I am a near-launch player and am semi-F2P outside of the FEH Pass and occasional orb packs. I’m a hoarder of premium currency that isn’t orbs and I was starting to wonder what the overall return on investment a full path of Divine Codes would yield to someone who might also be a F2P hoarder. Since many F2P players who have hoarded their Divine Codes will begin hitting the 6,000 Divine Codes mark soon, I figured now was a good a time as any to look at this from a mostly fodder standpoint (no need to tell people who to go for if they’re looking specifically for merges). The final member of each path’s fodder more or less speaks for itself, so what else will you get along the way?

It’s been almost half a year since we learned what the Divine Codes were going to do, and the meta has already shifted in some ways, so I suspect this semi-analysis will be outdated by the time new paths are added.

The last obvious asterisk to all of this is that every player can and should evaluate exactly which path yields them the most usage, whether via merges or fodder. This is colored by my experience, but I’m going for objectivity.

Below is the full write-up, but here are a couple of interesting facts that I found after reviewing all of these:

Every route offers roughly 8 or 9 full skill sets, depending on what you invest in additional fodder. Radiance is the highest, but requires the most additional outside inheritance investment. 

Almost every single additional investment to make the most of your choices requires sacrificing a unit available in the Grail pool.

Every route except for Holy War includes at least one inheritable weapon. Heroes is the most at 4 inheritable weapons. The vast majority of them are powercrept or less “meta” choices, but they are super fun aesthetic weapons.

Four of the six paths will net you Swift Sparrow 2.

Only three of the thirty available units have specials that are worth inheriting. I personally view that as IS needing to increase the number of interesting specials we have. I'm tired of mostly every unit showcase having one of the same 5 specials.

It goes without saying, but IS has some very, very strange positions on what skills are considered more premium than others. But, I find that most of the routes are balanced and, true to intent, will draw different players for different reasons.

Let me know what Paths you choose! I’ll probably choose mine in the next week or so.

Awakening/Fates 

Summer Cordelia — Fallen M!Robin — Owain — Dancer Xander — Adrift M!Corrin

Summer Cordelia — It’s safe to say that S!Cordelia’s main skills are her Shell Lance+ and Dull Close 3. Neither of these are top tier fodder, but Shell Lance+ provides at least a little bit of utility with its inherit spectrum blow and Dull Close has the distinction of being a decent B Skill for physically-minded fliers. Shell Lance+ also has the aesthetic factor for many, never count that out. Dull Close 3 is only available at 4* on Cormag, so not a bad way to avoid spending grails. If you want her lance, you can also get Sturdy Blow 2 (make sure to pick up Armored Blow 1 from Gunter, Titania, Athena, or Catria). Otherwise you’re getting her lance and Dull Close 2.

Fallen M!Robin — The prize for continuing down this Path is either A) a merge for the OG Armored Dragon or B) Vengeful Fighter 3 and maybe Ward Dragons. If you’re here for the merge, you’ve already likely grabbed it. Otherwise you’re probably here for Vengeful Fighter 3. We don’t have a 4* option for Vengeful Fighter yet, so this is a solid fodder gift. For what it’s worth, the only other character with Ward Dragons is Spring Idunn. I wouldn’t blame you if you were shooting for Ward Dragons, but I’d have to ask how your Dragon Emblem team was holding up a year after the meta moved on.

Owain — The man with the hungering hand will net you Blue Flame (if you’re not considering this, I suppose I’d just be confused) and your choice of one extra ability: Atk/Def Bond, Wrath, or Spur Spd/Def 2. Theoretically, you can get Spur Spd/Def 2 and also level 1 of the other two, but that’s just dealer’s choice. Atk/Def Bond is also on Fjorm, Young Summer Tiki, New Year’s Hrid, Rutger (at 4*), Groom Hinata (at 4*), and, funnily enough, Adrift M!Corrin. Wrath is now on a cavalcade of 5* heroes and is most notably available on Astram. Wrath isn’t the premium fodder it once was, but it’s got its uses. If you’re looking for a more or less “free” Wrath without spending the grails and feathers to get Astram to 5*, then this is a pretty solid choice. Spur Spd/Def 2 is available on Oscar, just pull on Blue for a while and you’ll get it.

Dancer Xander — This is the first place in this Path where the choice for fodder is not an enviable one. Close Counter is the prize here, no doubt about that. So what do you take in addition? Dusk Uchiwa+ is a budget version of Dancer Micaiah’s Dawn Suzu and has at least some utility in AR and other modes. However, that requires choosing a dagger user that wants to be used in that way. The other (and more likely option, from my vantage point) is Quick Riposte 3. We’re 3+ years deep into this game and there’s still not a common unit with 4* QR 3, that value is hard to pass up for F2P. Another small note of commentary — it’s interested that Close Counter is considered less valuable than Distant Counter, even with no character having unconditional Close Counter built into a weapon, I’ve stopped trying to decide why IS makes the decisions it does.

Adrift M!Corrin — Finally, your grand prize for this Path is a character who just got powercrept by his own nightmare/fallen form. Null Follow-Up 3 is the jewel of this path and it makes sense — it’s still the main tried and true method for Infantry units who want to punch through those big, nasty armored units and their fighter skills. You can snag Atk/Def Bond 1 or, if you’re merging onto another infantry dragon, Hone Dragons. The only other character with Hone Dragons is Myrrh, so you’d be forgiven for pausing to consider infantry dragons that could utilize this skill. 

All in all, you get Shell Lance+ OR Dull Close 3; Vengeful Fighter 3 with potential for Ward Dragons; Blue Flame, dealer’s choice of Atk/Def Bond 3, Wrath 3, or Spur Spd/Def 2; Close Counter, Dusk Uchiwa+ OR Quick Riposte 3; Null Follow-Up 3 with potential for Hone Dragons. That’s 7 to 9 full skill sets across 5 units, which is an okay haul. 

Radiance 

 Leanne — Dancer Elincia — Lethe — Bridal Tanith — Valentine’s Greil

Leanne — Leanne might actually have the most interesting fodder of the 400 Divine Code options. But you’re likely here for one of two things: a Leanne merge or Flier Formation 3. If you’re interested in the merge, you’ve already likely grabbed it. Flier Formation 3 is only available at 4* on two grail units that are both popular in their own ways: Spring Loki and Young Minerva. As noted before, fliers don’t have access to a ton of B skills so this is a solid way to get it for “free.” Interestingly enough, Mirror Stance 2 is only available at 4* on Gharnef, so you’re spending grails for this. It’s by no means a top tier skill, but it has its uses on some builds (or, specifically, holding onto it as an easy way to get Mirror Stance 3 from Osian with a little less headache.) Finally, Hone Beasts is only available on Leanne and Lethe, who also makes an appearance on this path. You can grab both Flier Formation 3 and Hone Beasts for some special flying beastie.

Dancer Elincia — They continue to increase the difficulty of the inheritance math with Dancer Elincia. At her release, Dancer Elincia was probably the 3rd most enticing member of her banner, with her dragon-effective dagger being the main draw. Push skills were flawed and only desirable as one of the only options offensive healers got. Now, with the advent of Push 4 skills and the growth in dragon effective weapons, the calculus on Dancer Elincia’s fodder has changed. Her best fodder utility is to help you get Atk/Spd Push 4 onto the unit of your choice. If you do go the dagger route, you’ll get that and Atk/Spd Push 2. Drive Res 2 is available on Soleil, Lyon, and Summer Rhys, so you could at least get Atk/Spd Push 3 and Drive Res 1. If you’re here for her Dancer Skill in Rockslide Dance 2, you’re also getting one level one of the other two skills.

Lethe — The calculus for Lethe, on the other hand, isn’t hard at all. She’s the only character with Spd/Def Solo 3 and (as stated) one of only two characters with Hone Beasts. While it’s not the same as Atk/Spd Solo, boosting Speed by any means necessary is the name of the game for most units. Plenty of Calvary units would thank Manual Lethe for her sacrifice. Funnily enough, Lethe falls into that barrel of heroes where her base kit is mostly asynchronous, especially since she’s the one that wants the Hone Beasts buff. If you have a character in mind that can inherit all four, you’re a lucky Summoner.

Bridal Tanith — Again, they’ve decided to make the Summoner’s decision pretty hard. Getting both Lofty Blossoms+ and Swift Sparrow 2 on your favorite lance unit is nothing to sneeze at. However, you’d be forgiven for taking a few extra seconds to consider the other combinations. While Chill Attack 3 is available on 11 different units (tied with Chill Speed 3 at the time of writing), all of them have Chill Attack 3 5* locked. Gharnef and Conrad, two grail units, are the only characters that are easily obtainable, and you’ll be spending 20k feathers for the pleasure of inheriting that skill — not exactly economical. Sacrificing a 4* Gharnef or Conrad for Chill Attack 2 helps with the math, but you’ll have to make your own decision about that. If you do go that route, you can snag Chill Attack 3, Swift Sparrow 1 & 2, and Harsh Command+ (Harsh Command can be found on Clair, Gunter, and Saizo in the common pool) OR Fortify Fliers. So while this set up requires sacrificing a grail unit and a common, it’s a pretty potent combo. Fortify Flyers is available on Caeda, don’t spend 1,600 hard-earned Divine Codes on Fortify Fliers alone

Valentine’s Greil — You’ve made it to the end of this path! Your prizes are Aether and Fury 4, with some combination of Faithful Axe+ and Armor March thrown in for good measure. Ike’s heroic, if flawed, father has two skills that are excellent for Arena scoring, if that’s your thing. If that arena scoring character happens to be an axe unit, even better! You’ll get Faithful Axe+, Aether, and Fury 4 (make sure to pay homage to our Fury 3 lord, Hinata, beforehand). If these skills are destined for an armored unit, I’d suggest Fury 4 and Armor March 3. Grab a wayward infantry Chrom, stuff him full of 20,000 feathers, and Aether is yours as well. Obviously there are plenty of units that would love an Aether/Fury 4 combo and those alone are a pretty solid gift from Greil, don’t fret too much about the decision (Faithful Axe+ isn’t that great anyway).

This Path nets you the following: Flier Formation 3 or Mirror Stance 2 and potentially Hone Beasts; Atk/Spd Push 3 and Drive Res 1 OR Cloud Maiougi+ and Atk/Spd Push 2 or Drive Res 2; Spd/Def Solo 3 with potential for Hone Beasts; Lofty Blossoms 2 and Swift Sparrow 2 OR Chill Attack 3 and Swift Sparrow 1 or 2 (depending on other fodder) OR Chill Attack 3, Swift Sparrow 2, and Harsh Command+, for those willing to spend; Aether and Fury 4 with potential for either Faithful Axe+ OR Armor March. All told, this Path nets you 9 - 12 full skill sets over 5 units (with maximum inheritance investment). That’s pretty solid for people willing to make the math work. 

Blades / Sacred Stones 

Valentine’s Lilina — Amelia — Flying Nino — Winter Ephraim — Valentine’s Hector 

Valentine’s Lilina — Hector’s pride and joy’s first Alt didn’t age well. She personally pity broke me 4 times while attempting to entice her father to come home, which he never did. I’d say she was Atk Tactic 3 fodder, but Legault really has that covered. HP/Atk 2 has some utility on HP-support builds, but is available at 4* on both Valbar and Iago. Green Gift+ has Dull Ranged built in, which provides some interesting builds, but that’s all there really is to say about it. After all that…yeah, she’s Atk Tactic 3 fodder. 

Amelia — While hovering on Amelia shows you her PRF weapon in Grado Poleaxe, Amelia is also packing Slaying Axe+. She’s the only character who comes with Slaying Axe+ naturally, otherwise you’re evolving it from Beruka, Hawkeye, and Sheena. This is the default “best axe” for Axe Heroes who don’t have a PRF, so I’d actually give it a bit more weight than the original draw of Amelia — Armor March. If the intended recipient is an Armored Axe, you’ll need to choose between the two unless you want to spend 20k feathers to inherit Killer Axe+ and send it on over.

Flying Nino — She can’t read, but she sure can fly! Your likely goal here is a “free” Swift Sparrow 2, and you’re not wrong. However, Aerobatics is great for flying units and, something I’ll mention for a 3rd time on this write-up, Fliers are hurting for B-skill options. Speed Smoke is a great skill, but is available on the otherwise lackluster Chad as well as Fallen Takumi (although you’ll spend 20k feathers for it from him). You’ll need to make a not-so-fun choice between those, but Swift Sparrow fodder is becoming more available every few months, so I personally feel Aerobatics is worth more.

Winter Ephraim — I will break F2P form slightly with W!Ephraim. At the time of writing, the man who can’t be bothered to put down Siegmund in any of his alts is featured as a Hall of Forms unit. Now would be a pretty decent time (if you like him) to grab a merge and enjoy using him with some primo fodder. If not, he’s got plenty of options for the more casual Summoner. Atk/Def Solo 3 is the main draw. Only available on 4 total units, this skill is regularly coveted by those who want a little more bulk. However, Bold Fighter 3 might be more your speed. I will caution, however. Bold Fighter 3 is available on 12 unique units and that list grows every time IS wants to add an Armored Unit but can’t think of what to put in their B slot. You’ll likely find other options for it (from personal experience, Kjelle might as well change her name to be Bold Fighter Fodder). Close Guard 3 is a Sacred Seal and also available at 4* on the Death Knight. Grab it if you really want, but know you have better options.

Valentine’s Hector — He’s DC fodder. If you know you need DC fodder (which is more or less evergreen in this game), this has been your prize from the start. Pamper your favorite new unit that wants to smack others from near or far. 

Our friends from the Blazing Blade and Sacred Stones Path gets you Attack Tactic 3 OR HP/Atk 2 and Green Gift+; Slaying Axe+ and Armor March 2 OR Armor March 3; Aerobatics 3 and Swift Sparrow 2 (with investment) OR Aerobatics 3 and Speed Smoke 1 OR Swift Sparrow 2 and Aerobatics 2 etc; Atk/Def Solo 3 and Close Guard 3 (with investment) OR Bold Fighter 3 and Close Guard 3; Distant Counter. This totals to roughly 7 or 8 full skill sets across 5 units, which is the lowest return on investment so far. However, you now have Distant Counter fodder, so was it worth it? 

Holy War 

 Leif — Deirdre — Sigurd — Lewyn — Dancer Ishtar

Leif — If you’re here for his merge, take it and go and don’t look back. If you’re looking to use him for fodder well, Drive Atk 2 is your main bet. However, with proper investment from common units, you can get Steady Blow 2 and Drive Atk 2 in one fell swoop. Easy, simple, no fuss.

Deirdre — So, Gamepress has Deirdre listed as Tier 2 on their Heroes Tier list. They make some questionable recommendations, but this one is a real head scratcher. Her Res holds up well and she has decent flexibility with her Dragon effective weapons but, I just don’t see it. Regardless, you’re here for one of two things: Quick Riposte or Speed Ploy. As mentioned four Paths ago, there aren’t any 4* QR users, so a free QR that’ll save you 20k feathers is excellent. Especially considering Speed Ploy is available at 4* from Saias, a rather unremarkable Grail unit. If anything, this goes to show you that the Ploy skills really need an upgrade and also they need to spread out their skills a little more evenly, this is just ludicrous. Take QR and don’t sweat the decision.

Sigurd — Our favorite BBQ father is an example of the level of power creep that now takes place every few months. Six months ago, we were only a month removed from the inclusion of Chad — a straight to 3/4* unit that packs Speed Smoke at 4* in the hell that is pulling on colorless. Most Summoners have now had 7 months to pull on colorless and find Chad waiting for them. You maybe are here for Close Defense, because you have a pretty solid idea for stacking Close Def on the A and SS slots on a stall tank. I respect it. Also, Miracle isn’t rare, but it’s here. Take Close Def 3 or Speed Smoke 3 for fodder but, I suspect you’re here for a merge. Honestly Sigurd and Deirdre should be switched, if they were following any kind of real rarity considerations, so just thank the stars you got QR 3 1,200 Divine Codes ago. 

Lewyn — Special Spiral. Don’t even hesitate. Swift Sparrow 2 is great, and you can snag that as well if you’re judicious with your Grail sacrifices, but don’t let Odd Atk Wave 3 cloud your judgement, especially since Spring Bartre was just added to the Grail pool. It’s Special Spiral or bust.

Dancer Ishtar — One of the few dancers that can boast to have offensive utility outside of dancing, maybe you’d like a merge. Otherwise, you’re here for Swift Sparrow 3 and I don’t blame you. However, if you’re content to hoard a little longer, this skill will continue to be added on newer units that you might snag and not care for. Outside of Distant Counter, Swift Sparrow 3 is the second most available skill of the 2,000 Divine Code options. If you don’t spend them, you pretty much have enough to snag the first three options from any other Path…sometimes F2P is about quantity over quality. One last thought: if you’re particularly fond of Flier teams, Air Orders is an excellent C skill and some lucky flier could get both Air Orders 3 and Swift Sparrow 3 as new tools in their tool box.

This Path has the distinction of having only one unit that’s a seasonal, everything else is in the summoning pool. This makes it the Path I suspect the fewest people will take (as well as a testament to just how little IS seems to care for the Jugdral cast.) You’re getting Steady Blow 2 and Drive Atk 2; Quick Riposte 3 and Spd Ploy 1; Close Defense 3 and Miracle OR Speed Smoke and Miracle; Special Spiral 3 and Swift Sparrow 2 with the right move; and Swift Sparrow 3 OR Air Orders and Swift Sparrow 3, depending. That’s roughly 9 skill sets across 5 units, but I’d say the quality of those skills is lower, simply because most of this path’s units are available in the summoning pool. 

Mystery / Shadows 

Bridal Caeda — Celica — Picnic Genny — Spring Palla — Kliff

Bridal Caeda — Listen, Bridal Caeda has a nigh-useless weapon, and skills that are either borderline between useless and powercrept. You started on this path for a Bridal Caeda merge, and you likely took it months ago.

Celica — Another candidate for “you likely wanted a merge.” Distant Def 3, while 5* locked, is best used on units that can Distant Def stack (Guard Bow+ users), everyone else can just use the SS. If you’ve got a good Guard Bow+ user in mind, that’s solid fodder. Spur Def 3 is available on both Sully AND M!Robin at 4*… you have this.

Picnic Genny — Here’s where this calculus starts to get fun. The least painful decision is Toasty Skewer + and Fireflood Balm+, these are direct upgrades for most common healers (plus the aesthetic of Toasty Skewer+ is top tier). Your other options are weird, less satisfying choices of Wrathful Staff 3 and Def Opening 3. Similar to how new 5* armors get Bold/Vengeful Fighter 3 if Intelligent Systems is having a bad brain day, new 5* healers get either Wrathful/Dazzling Staff 3. Stay focused. Def Opening 3 isn’t a bad choice, but it is available on Cormag, a grail unit +20k feathers. It’s also just not as useful as Attack or Speed Opening. Your most satisfying bet is Toasty Skewer+ and Fireflood Balm+.

Spring Palla — IS is showing us that they really, really value the AR-related skills highly. For the layman, take Pegasus Carrot+ and Swift Sparrow 2 for your favorite dagger user, they deserve to be spoiled a little bit. Hone Fliers is one of those weird rarer skills that find their use on Flier teams. If that’s what you need for your barracks, no one will hold it against you. Otherwise, Armored effective items are always excellent to have for things like AA and various high-level Lunatic/Abyssal maps. If you must take Disarm Trap…I’ll leave it at that.

Kliff — I’ll actually say that, while Kliff isn’t a particularly effective unit, you gotta give IS props for trying to be creative. Fortress Def/Res 3 is your prize for finishing this Path. Make sure you inherit either Fortress Def or Res 1 from one of the various common units that possess it. Chill Speed 3 is enticing, but there are other avenues for it (or sacrifice a Panne). Enjoy your unit’s newly enhanced defenses! 

This Path really doesn’t hit its stride until the third option. All told, you’re getting Blessed Bouquet+ and Attack/Res 2; Distant Def 3; Toasty Skewer+ and Fireflood Balm+ OR Def Opening 3 OR Wrathful Staff 3; Pegasus Carrot+ and Swift Sparrow 2 OR Disarm Trap 3 and Hone Fliers; and Fortress Def/Res 3 and Chill Speed 3 (if you sacrifice a Panne). Roughly 8 or 9 full skill sets from 5 units, half of which are (debatably) not worth the cost. 

Heroes 

Spring Alfonse — Yglr — Spring Bruno — New Year’s Fjorm — Summer Laevatein

Spring Alfonse — Alfonse’s first alt hasn’t aged well, but packs a couple of useful skills, namely Giant Spoon+. The seasonal version of Wo Gun+ has aesthetic appeal for many. You can also snag Def Smoke 3 if you sacrifice a 4* Panne or Rath as well, which is a decent return on investment.

Ylgr — The only non-seasonal unit in this Path. For a while, Ylgr was one of the only source of Speed Tactic that wasn’t on a Legendary Hero and is still the only source of Sorcery Blade (both of which are now seals). Speed Tactic obviously still has use on mixed teams, but the cost is much lower with the addition of Summer Lute. Sorcery Blade, while a fun skill, is actually better as a sacred seal, allowing units to shine with an A skill as well. Chill Speed technically has wide-spread availability, but on either 5* locked units, seasonals, or Panne. The skill is usually very nice to have on a team, and I suspect most Ylgr’s pulled will be for Chill Speed.

Spring Bruno — As with Picnic Genny before, Spring Bruno’s main draw is his Ovoid Staff+, which provides solid utility to teammates, especially in longer maps like Chain Challenges or Tempest Trials. Atk/Def Push 3 was rare for a period of time before released on Heath a few months ago. Dazzling Staff is useful, but widespread, with more units packing it surely to come. Atk/Def Push 3 is the main draw for boosting other staff merge projects and will be useful to hold on to for when Atk/Def Push 4 is released on a character not named Bramimond. Either pull and wait or use him for his staff.

New Year’s Fjorm — Another unit that will make you do some major inheritance math. Fjorm packs the Kabura Ya+ bow (which has Chill Speed 3 built in) as well as Atk/Spd Bond 3, Atk/Spd Link 3, and Even Res Wave 3. Chill Speed in a weapon allows its inheritor to be one of a short list of characters able to run the Triple Chill strategy, which has significant merit. Unfortunately, going that route more or less locks you out of a full skill in addition. Atk/Spd Bond 3 is available on 11 different units, the cheapest being Bridal Louise. Sacrificing a 4* Bridal Louise will allow you to snag Atk/Spd Bond 3 as well. Atk/Spd Link 3 is even rarer, appearing only on seasonal units, none of which appear at 4 stars. Even Res Wave is slightly cheaper, being on Brave Hector, but it’s honestly a skill you can pass on. If you’re willing to spend a Bridal Louise, grabbing Kabura Ya+, Atk/Spd Bond 3 (after sacrificing Bridal Louise), and a “free” Reposition is your best bet.

Summer Laevatein — And finally, the last unit on the last route, S!Laevatein. You’re gonna grab Mirror Impact, currently a skill only available on a Legendary unit and two seasonals. If you take the time to sacrifice an Oliver, you’ll be able to snag your choice of either Def/Res Link 3 or Odd Attack Wave 3 — both of which are available at 4* on Grail units (Sigurn for Def/Res Link 3, Spring Bartre for Odd Attack Wave 3). Feel free to attempt to snag Buoyboard+ as well for the aesthetic, but you’re better off with other tomes. All in all, dealer’s choice! 

As stated, this route has the distinction of only having one non-seasonal unit and provides a decent amount of variety. You’ll get Giant Spoon+ and Def Smoke 3 (with Panne/Rath sacrifice) OR Sturdy Blow 2 and Def Smoke 3 with common sacrifice from someone like Athena; Sorcery Blade 3 OR Chill Speed 3 OR Speed Tactic by themselves OR Chill Speed 3 and your choice of the others with a Panne sacrifice; Ovoid Staff+ and Atk/Def Push OR Wrathful Staff 2, or one of those fully and a Martyr+ to avoid other feather costs; Kabura Ya+ and Atk/Spd Bond 3 (with Bridal Louise sacrifice) OR Atk/Spd Link 3 with Atk/Spd Bond 3, thanks to Bridal Louise’s sacrifice; and Mirror Impact and Def/Res Link 3 OR Odd Attack Wave 3 with Oliver sacrifice. All in all, you’re looking at 8 or 9 full skill sets across 5 units, which is an average return, but the variety in these skills is slightly higher due to the number of seasonals and Ylgr having a strangely high number of desirable skills. 

If you made it this far, thanks for sticking with me. I hope some people found this helpful!

#fire emblem heroes #fire emblem #divine codes #fire emblem heroes f2p #ddc talks feh

[ncfan-1]

Three Houses: Master Tier Additions

So, something I’ve noticed since Three Houses’s release is that there is some level of dissatisfaction with the master classes and a desire for more diversity. The master classes tend to heavily favor riding-oriented units, the massive nerf to the Mortal Savant’s speed growths can easily wreck a unit promoted to Mortal Savant, and so on. Personally, I am not someone with any influence over how the master classes work in Three Houses, nor how many there are, but I will admit wishing that some changes could be made—and that new master classes could be added. Here are some changes I would make, and the master classes I would add on—keeping in mind that I’m not an expert in FE game mechanics, and there may be things you guys think of that I didn’t.

For existing classes:

- Remove the gender-lock from all classes, not just the master classes. Linhardt’s a born Gremory, Lysithea’s a born Dark Mage/Bishop, and I was going to say that the Pegasus line could keep the gender-lock because the Wyvern line is a perfectly viable alternative, but damn it, let Hubert be the Pegasus Knight he’s always dreamed of being.

- Remove the -10% speed growth from Mortal Savant. Seriously, I don’t know what they were thinking with that one. A 0% increase in speed growth would have been fine; for the most part, you’re going to be promoting units with already-decent speed growths like Felix, Catherine, and Lysithea to that class, so it’s not like a 0% increase would hurt them too much.

- Let infantry magic units use gauntlets. I understand not letting cavalry or fliers use gauntlets, but the magic users, too? Like, the developers seriously thought Dorothea wouldn’t be prepared to throw down if the situation demanded it? That girl used to have to fend off attempted kidnappers and murderers when she was a songstress, and she broke their arms as a deterrent. She was 100% ready to fight Ingrid’s would-be fiancé in that one paralogue, and 110% ready to fight Bernadetta’s dad. Also, there are magic gauntlets in this game. Magic. Gauntlets. Seriously; the Aura Knuckles scale attack power off of a unit’s magic stats. And don’t tell me they’re something you can give to a Mortal Savant. Let. Magic. Units. Have. Gauntlets. Let Dorothea punch people 2k19.

Now, onto the classes I would add to the Master Class list of Three Houses, if I had that kind of power.

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The first thing you guys are going to notice about this list is that there’s a lot of classes on it. Well, it seems to me that the Master Class list should have the greatest diversity of all the tiers, the better to make the best use of a unit’s strengths. When a unit is first starting out, their skills and knowledge are limited, and thus, so are the number of beginner classes they have to choose from. You either know swords (Myrmidon), lances (Soldier), axes or bows (Fighter), or magic (Monk). But as time wears on, you hone your skills, train in other weapons and related skills, and discover you had talents you were never aware of, your horizons broaden, and more options become open to you. Hence the need for a massive Master Class tier list. Furthermore, while some of these classes would be the natural progression from a class in the Advanced tier, in keeping with the pattern this game has been establishing, not all of them are. And some of them you need to be planning to get a unit into since pretty much the beginning of the game.

1. Gold Knight

I’ve only played Awakening, Fates, Echoes, and Three Houses, and I haven’t played any of the DLC for the former three games, so I’ve only encountered this class in Echoes. But I loved the Gold Knight. It was a truly awesome class, and Mathilda was a fearsome tank once promoted to Gold Knight. For use in Three Houses, it would also serve as a good promotion for the Paladin that doesn’t involve putting a ton of time and effort into grinding the Heavy Armor skill level for riding units, or grinding the Riding skill for armored units.

Requirements for Gold Knight:

- Lance: A - Riding: A - Authority: B

You may be curious about the Authority requirement. Well, this goes back to my knowledge of what the Gold Knight is. Mycen and Zeke are both renowned generals; Mathilda, even as a Paladin, is regarded as a charismatic leader and a paragon of Zofian knighthood. These are people who have earned the respect and admiration of everyone around them, and thus, I think having an Authority requirement (and a fairly high one, at that) for the Gold Knight class would be appropriate. On top of that, part of the promotion to Gold Knight would involve a +10% increase in charm growth rates, thus making the Gold Knight’s gambits more and more potent as time wears on.

This would be a decent class for Dimitri to promote to, one that would actually be able to make good use of his budding talent in Riding. Other candidates include Sylvain, Lorenz, and Ferdinand. Leonie’s also a good candidate.

And I promise, this is the only cavalry unit on this list, though there are two three flying units.

2. Dread Fighter

I know Dread Fighter is a DLC class in Awakening, and maybe Fates as well, but my sole experience with it was as promotions for Gray and Saber, and damn, was this a fantastic class. Once Gray promoted to Dread Fighter, I could actually take him into late game battles without worrying about an arcanist one-shotting him; it was great. (Yeah, I know, I know; I shouldn’t have been directing him towards parts of the map that had arcanists on them to start with. I’ve learned better since then.)

Anyways, requirements for Dread Fighter:

- Sword: A - Brawl: A

This class would be a viable alternative to Mortal Savant for characters like Felix and Catherine, especially since I envision Dread Fighter getting a +10% increase to speed growths.

I considered making Apotrope (the class skill that automatically halves damage from magic attacks) a skill Dread Fighters learn automatically upon promotion, but it occurred to me that that would make this class incredibly broken, and while a Dread Fighter-only run would probably be fun to watch, it’s not very balanced. So Apotrope is the skill Dread Fighters learn upon class mastery instead, and unless you’ve been seriously grinding your units, it’s not likely to be something they’ll pick up until the last couple of chapters of the game (Though just peeking at screenshots of the map, it sounds like something that would be hella useful on the final map of the Blue Lions route).

3. Dark Flier

Personally, of my three Pegasus Knights in Awakening, Cordelia, Sumia, and Cynthia, I only made Cynthia a Dark Flier. Call me cautious, but I like to have as many healers on the field as possible, and to me, Falcon Knight seemed like a better option. But Dark Flier is a popular class, apparently, and I can see why. A flier that can use offensive magic, if they’ve got decent Defense/Resistance, would be a potent vanguard unit in any army.

Requirements for Dark Flier:

- Lance: C - Flying: B+ - Reason: B+ - Faith: B+

The Flying requirement is based on the Flying requirement for Falcon Knight also being B+. As for the Lance requirement being C instead of A, I made that because the Dark Flier is more magic-oriented than physical-oriented. Odds are, you’re going to be promoting units that were previously magic units, rather than flying units, to this class. And since, according to Serenesforest, Falcon Knights get a 5% buff to their resistance growths, Dark Fliers should conversely get a 5% buff to their defense growths. Again, it’s more likely people will be promoting magic users to this class, and since magic users tend to be a bit frail defense-wise, a 5% buff to defense would be a great thing for them. The Dark Flier’s natural role is to be the magic user that can kite in, take out a low-Resistance unit, and then Canto their way out of harm’s way.

The Dark Flier doesn’t get Lancefaire like Falcon Knights, and they don’t get Black Magic, Dark Magic, or White Magic Uses x2 the way a Gremory would. Basically, you’re trading the massive pool of spells at a Gremory’s disposal for the versatility of a magic user with much higher mobility than infantry mages. Instead, upon promoting, Dark Flier learns Avoid +10 and Canto as a Falcon Knight would. And similarly to the Dread Fighter, Galeforce should be the Class Mastery skill, since learning that right away would make them incredibly broken.

As for who might do well in this class, I would probably indulge myself and bust my ass getting Hubert’s Flying skill up to A so I could fulfill his dreams and make him a pegasus knight who can use magic. Practically speaking, there are other classes that would serve him better (sacrificing Black/Dark Magic Uses x2 is probably not the smartest move, especially considering he’s also got a negative modifier in Faith), but I still have a soft spot for this class for him. Interestingly enough, Flayn comes to your army with a positive modifier to Lances and Faith, a budding talent in Reason, and though she doesn’t have any modifiers to Flying, she starts out with a D rank in that skill. I suspect the developers wanted us to consider the Pegasus line for her as a possible alternative to any of the magic classes, especially considering she also has a negative modifier to Riding. If Dark Flier was a class in this game, she’d be an ideal candidate for it.

4. Malig Knight

Most people who have played Conquest have stories of how many times Camilla pulled their army’s collective asses out of the fire. Even if she gets RNG-screwed badly upon level-ups, her bases are good enough that she’s still viable throughout much of the game, and her versatility as a flying axe and magic unit is excellent. And since this game could use more variety in Master Class flying units (and I’m not fond of Awakening’s Griffon Rider, though given that the heraldic symbol of House Blaiddyd is Loog riding a griffin into battle… actually, yeah, I’ll make an entry for this one, too), Malig Knight gets an entry on this list.

Requirements for Malig Knight:

- Lance: C - Axe: B - Flying: A - Reason: B+

The Malig Knight is somewhat more balanced regarding physical vs. magic fighting than the Dark Flier, hence the Axe requirement being lower than Wyvern Lord, but still fairly high. The Malig Knight retains the weakness to bows and magic of the other Wyvern units, but makes up for it by being able to dish out magic right back. Like the Dark Flier, Malig Knight doesn’t learn Black Magic, Dark Magic, or White Magic Uses x2, trading a deep well of spells for high mobility. The Malig Knight will get 5% buffs to their magic and resistance growths, and will learn Savage Blow from Fates (a skill that enables the unit, when it initiates battle against an enemy, to reduce the HP of all enemies within a two tile radius by 20% after the battle) as its Class Mastery skill.

5. Griffon Rider

Okay, I’m only putting this one on the list because the heraldic symbol of House Blaiddyd is Loog riding a griffin into battle. It has world-building significance, and I’ll admit, the idea of someone riding a griffin into battle is a cool image, even if I didn’t like this class in Awakening. So. Griffon Rider.

Requirements for Griffon Rider:

- Axe: B - Sword: B - Flying: A+

I’ve put Flying at a higher rank than it is for either of the canonical flying Master Classes or the two previously mentioned on this list. This is because of a headcanon for me, that Griffons are harder to tame than pegasi or wyverns, and more difficult to direct in battle.

Mechanically, Griffon Riders are basically Glass Cannon: The Unit (As opposed to Awakening, where their growth rates are so average as to make them essentially mediocre). They have high strength and speed (though their speed isn’t as high as the likes of Falcon Knights or Dark Fliers), and given my headcanon about how hard Griffons are to tame and train, their luck and dexterity isn’t bad, either. Their HP growths are great. But their defense and resistance are both low. Griffon Riders in this game have the same weaknesses as Griffon Riders from Awakening; they’re weak to arrows, beast-slaying weapons, and wind magic (Other kinds of magic do not deal effective damage). You have to be careful about where you place them on the map if you don’t want them to get bum-rushed and killed in a single enemy phase.

The biggest appeal of the Griffon Rider is its exceptionally high mobility. Falcon Knights and Wyvern Lords start out with 8 movement, and the same goes for Dark Fliers and Malig Knights. Griffon Riders, on the other hand, get 9 movement. The Griffon Rider would be effective in its ability to, say, swoop in to rescue an infantry mage being closed in on by an enemy unit with higher movement than them. Any unit can be effective if used correctly, even if it’s in a class I don’t particularly care for.

6 and 7. Sorcerer and its Faith Magic equivalent (Sage?)

The Gremory embodies the saying “A jack of all trades, while master of none, is often better than a master of one.” Gremory is a fan-favorite as far as classes go, and I can see why. The fact that the Gremory gets Black Magic, Dark Magic, and Faith Magic Uses x2 makes them quite potent as a unit, competent in all forms of magic, though I suspect the fact that it’s the only infantry unit in the Master Tier that specializes in magic might make us appreciate it a little more than we otherwise would.

But, for these two units, let’s talk about a couple of Masters of One.

Requirements for Sorcerer:

- Reason: A+

If you aim to make one of your units a Sorcerer, you had better start training their Reason skill up early, because it can be hard to get Reason up to A+ if you’re trying to train a unit up in any other skills. The Sorcerer learns Black and Dark Magic Uses x3, learns Black Tomefaire as well, and learns Seal Resistance as a class mastery skill. However, this comes with a trade-off. Anyone who is classed into Sorcerer loses access to Faith Magic. Therefore, you have to really think about who you want to promote to Sorcerer. Hubert would be a decent choice, since he has a positive modifier in Reason and a negative modifier in Faith; the same goes for Dorothea, if you never foster her budding talent in Faith. But if you have a unit with a good Faith spell list, you might think twice about classing them to Sorcerer.

I’m not certain what to call the Faith Magic equivalent. For right now, I’m calling it Sage, though I know that in other games, a Sage is typically a red mage, rather than a pure white mage. Saint is a class unique to Seiros, so I don’t think it would be appropriate for this class. Anyways.

Requirements for Sage:

- Faith: A+

This really is the Faith Magic equivalent to Sorcerer. The Sage learns White Magic Uses x3 and White Tomefaire, at the expense of losing access to Black and Dark Magic. Like, a character like Marianne, who has an excellent Faith list, or Manuela, who has a positive modifier in Faith and a negative in Reason, would be good candidates for Sage. Someone like Lysithea? Well, you’d think twice, wouldn’t you? I mean, yeah, she gets Seraphim and Abraxas, but damn, look at her Reason spell list. It’s all about the tradeoffs you’re willing to make.

8. General

The thing about armored units in this game is that you get two infantry units, one for Intermediate and one for Advanced, and then you have to switch gears and start furiously grinding riding skill if you want to get them into the Great Knight Master class. And that’s okay for a unit like Ferdinand, who has a positive modifier in Riding and a budding talent in Heavy Armor. But if you’re trying to get Dedue up to Great Knight, grinding Riding is a pain in the ass. Hence, the need for an infantry heavy armor unit in the Master Tier.

General requirements:

- Axe: B+ - Lance: B+ - Heavy Armor: A

I’m not averse to the idea of training up skills for a Master Class that weren’t required in the closest equivalent on the Advanced Tier, though something as disparate as riding was an unpleasant surprise. Unless we’re dealing with a character with a negative modifier in Lances, Lance skill will be something much easier to get up to snuff, as an infantry unit can actually gain skill XP in battle, unlike with Riding skill.

The General gains 1 movement upon promotion, going from 4 movement to 5 movement, the same as a Gremory (And, for the purposes of this post, a Sorcerer and a Sage). Like the Armored Knight and Fortress Knight, the General’s specialty is to be a high HP, high defense tank that can shrug off blows from non-armor breaking weapons like they just got hit with a piece of straw. Magic can hurt a general quite badly, but unless they’ve been getting RNG-screwed badly on level-ups, or they get hit with an especially potent spell like Meteor (or as I like to call it, Death From Above), odds are they’ll be able to tank at least two hits.

A General learns Lancefaire, Axefaire, and Weight -5 upon promotion, and learns Wary Fighter from Fates as a Class Mastery skill, thus preventing attacking units from doubling. Like an Armored Knight and a Fortress Knight, a General is good for holding down a chokepoint and letting frailer units like archers or mages pick off enemies from behind them, but their higher mobility make them more viable for moving around the map and picking off physical-oriented units.

9. Adventurer

Adventurer was a Nohrian class introduced in Fates. It, along with its Hoshidan rough-equivalent (in terms of mechanics, rather than class description) of Priestess was a combination Archer and White Mage. Depending on the situation, the Adventurer works better as either an offensive unit with its skill in bows, or a support unit in its skill with staves. On Conquest, there were only two first-generation units who had access to this class, Niles and Shura, and the utility of having offensive units who could heal on Conquest’s maps was certainly useful.

Adventurer Requirements:

- Bow: A - Faith: B

For Three Houses, I’m envisioning the Adventurer as a unit somewhat more attack-oriented than magic-oriented. It can only make use of Faith Magic; no Reason Magic for this class. Basically, the Adventurer is a seasoned thief who has learned healing magic, the better to patch itself up when it goes on expeditions alone, and to act as a healer to the rest of the team when going on raids. Like the Thief and Assassin, the Adventurer learns Locktouch upon promoting, though this class is more bow-oriented, while the former two are more sword-oriented. The Adventurer has high Speed, Dexterity, and Resistance, average Magic and Strength, and is somewhat frail Defense-wise. I mentioned the Thief and Assassin, but this would be a viable promotion from Sniper as well, since it has the same Bow skill requirement as Sniper, and so long as the unit in question doesn’t have a negative modifier in Faith, it won’t be that hard to get their Faith skill level up to B while you’re waiting for them to reach Level 30. Especially if you’ve already been paying some points into Faith.

So, Adventurer. Hits hard, has a good chance of critting enemies. Bit of a glass cannon, and as far as Faith Magic goes, works better as a utility healer than an offensive magic-wielder, though if you promote a unit with a Faith spell list like Marianne’s to Adventurer, that can change. They do well with the Magic Bow.

10. Master of Arms

You know how I called the Gremory a jack of all trades? Well, the Master of Arms, introduced in Fates, is the ultimate jack of all trades. As you will see directly below, promoting to Master of Arms requires training up more weapons skills than any other master class, but while they all require fairly high skill levels, none of them are super high.

Master of Arms Requirements:

- Sword: B - Lance: B - Axe: B - Bow: B

In Fates, the Master of Arms could only use the first three weapons on that list, but Three Houses being the kind of game it is, and Master of Arms being the kind of name for a class that it is, I feel that the Master of Arms should be on the high-end of competent with multiple weapons.

Is this easily attainable? No. There are no characters in Three Houses who have proficiencies in all four of these areas—Ashe, Ferdinand, Petra, Seteth, Claude, and Cyril come the closest, with three. Hell, the avatar only has a positive modifier in one of them. You’re more likely to encounter characters who have negative modifiers in at least one of them—Mercedes has negative modifiers in all of them, aside from Bows, which she has a Budding Talent in. It will not be easy to get someone up to snuff for Master of Arms, and that’s the point. The Master of Arms is a seasoned combatant who has learned to fight well with multiple weapons, and knows the answer to roughly 90% of the problems combat will throw at them. That is not easy to accomplish.

Stat-wise, the Master of Arms will have high dexterity. Dexterity is the Three Houses-equivalent of skill, and in case I haven’t hammered it in hard enough, it takes a lot of skill to get up to B in four different weapons. Their strength and speed will be slightly above average, magic will be mediocre (but that isn’t really relevant, since the Master of Arms doesn’t have access to magic), and like the seasoned, versatile combatant they are, their defense and resistance are both fairly high.

Since the Master of Arms is a jack of all trades, they do not learn Swordfaire, Lancefaire, Axefaire, or Bowfaire upon promotion. After all, they are not a specialist in any one weapon. Instead, they learn Seal Strength upon promotion, which allows the Master of Arms to, if they initiate an attack against an enemy and land a hit, to reduce the enemy unit’s strength by 6, recovering 1 point of strength by turn. Their Class Mastery skill is Defiant Dexterity, which allows the unit in question to gain Dexterity +8 when its HP is at 25% or lower.

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Anyways, here is my wishlist for additions to the Master Classes of Fire Emblem Three Houses. I suppose I can hope for at least for a couple of them to show up after more of the Expansion Pass DLC drops. (And for them to remove the gender-locks on all of the classes.) Given their popularity, Dread Fighter and Dark Flier might show up, at least.

#Fire Emblem Three Houses #Fe16 #Meta #Master Class Tier

[sothe]

I finished Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE and I liked it a lot more than I thought I would..so I tried to make the main cast into FEH units...explanations under the cut.

Itsuki Aoi - Everyman

Type - Sword Infantry 

BST - 163

Stats - HP (43) Attack (34) Speed (36) Defense (25) Resistance (25)

Weapon - Idol Falchion (Effective against dragon units, Inflicts -7 Attack to unit on enemy team with the highest Attack until their next action, Grants Def/Res +3 to adjacent allied units)

Assist - Rally Up Atk/Spd+ (Grants Attack/Speed +4 to target ally and all allies within two spaces of target, excluding unit, for one turn)

Special - Aether

A Skill - Fury 3

B Skill - Chill Speed 

C Skill - N/A

Explanation: Itsuki is an all-arounder type of unit. His stats look impressive, but that’s due to Fury’s +3 to all stats. Chill Attack in his weapon and Chill Speed as his skill give him a supportive niche...that I just realized Soren has with his tome. But whatever, Soren is a green mage and Lon’qu and Raven have the same refine so just let me have this. Rally Up Atk/Spd is something that i see coming since Ophelia brought the first Rally Up skill and it took a little bit for dual rallies to come out. Most of the Falchion users have some support based bonus granted by their sword so I made Itsuki’s help out allies instead of himself since in TMS he is usually helping instead being on the forefront. (Story-wise, gameplay wise he is force deployed whether you want him or not lmaoo) He doesn’t have his own show or song, but he’s always helping his friends with their show business jobs. 

------------------------------------------------------- 

Tsubasa Oribe - Dreamer

Type - Flying Lance Singer

BST - 150

Stats - HP (32) Attack (31) Speed (37) Defense (24) Resistance (26)

Weapon - Ethereal Feather (If Sing is used on an allied unit grants unit another action and heals unit 10 HP)

Assist - Sing

Special - N/A

A Skill - HP/Atk 2

B Skill - Aerobatics 3

C Skill - Distant Guard 3

Explanation: So she could have just been a regular Peg Knight but since in TMS her main focus is becoming an idol I made her a singer/refresher. Her Weapon is supportive and not offensive because tbh...she doesn’t have the best offensive capabilities compared to Touma, the other lance user in TMS. He beats her in raw physical dmg, but she destroys him in the magic department, BUT Kiria takes the cake for best magic user so Tsubasa is best used as a support healer with some offensive moves thrown in. Distant Guard helps give her teammates some extra def/res and Aerobatics help her get to her teammates, but Wings of Mercy is easily another skill that could be there. IS hasn’t actually given a dancer/singer WoM so I figured it was just taboo for them and I was ‘trying’ to go for realism.

-------------------------------------------------------

Touma Akagi - Just an Extra

Type - Lance Cavalier 

BST - 157

Stats - HP (42) Attack (35) Speed (28) Defense (31) Resistance (21)

Weapon - Brionac (Grants Atk+3, If units attack is greater than enemies attack then special cooldown -1 for each attack)

Assist - Shove

Special - Growing Flame

A Skill - Atk/Def Solo 3

B Skill - Quick Riposte 3

C Skill - N/A

Explanation: Touma is best boy. Ok, but he is my favorite of the cast and his whole journey as a character is him trying to become a hero people look up to. So I wanted his kit to represent that. His weapon has Heavy Blade built into it since he is pretty slow and he needs the extra cooldown reductions. He has Atk/Def solo to represent his want of being a hero on his own and he has Shove to get a nearby ally away from him so he can take advantage of his skill. Quick Riposte would have been his go-to B skill so I just gave it to him and it makes sense for the kit. TBH no one in this game is slow...besides Mamori so I put him in the high attack/def, low speed category since I didn’t want all the builds to look the same?

-------------------------------------------------------

Kiria Kurono - Poker Face

Type - Green Infantry Mage

BST - 140

Stats - HP (32) Attack (34) Speed (30) Defense (15) Resistance (29)

Weapon - Sharur (Grants Res +3, if unit is adjacent to an ally at the start of the turn then ally and unit granted Atk/Spd +3)

Assist - Sing

Special - N/A

A Skill - N/A

B Skill - Chill Res 3

C Skill - Spd Ploy 3

Explanation: Kiria is another one of my favorite characters, her cool demeanor and hidden love for cute things is fun. (Plus her aesthetic is on point) She is the resident magic nuke of the bunch, and even though I gave her lower BST than regular mages I tried to represent that as well. Kind of anyways, she is already an established idol by the begining of the game so I made her a refresher. I wanted her to be supportive since a refresher’s job is to help teammates and give extra turns, but I also tried to make her a threat. Her weapon Sharur grants an adjacent ally, and Kiria herself, +3 Atk/Spd. The buff coupled with Spd Ploy gives her a decent offensive presence if needed. Chill Res is to help her and any other mages on her team, and Spd Ploy is just helpful all around. 

-------------------------------------------------------

Eleonora Yumizuru - Rising Star

Type - Blue Infantry Archer

BST - 150

Stats - HP (35) Attack (32) Speed (38) Defense (23) Resistance (22)

Weapon - Pinaka (Grants Def +3, After combat, if unit attacked, inflicts status on target and foes within 2 spaces of target preventing counterattacks through their next actions)

Assist - N/A

Special - Blazing Thunder

A Skill - Mirror Strike 2

B Skill - Windsweep 3

C Skill - N/A

Explanation: So Eleonora grew on me since at first she seemed supper arrogant, but through her side missions and with her appearances in other side stories she shows a lot of character that would be missed otherwise. She’s like the groups big sister, and ironically she’s younger than most of the cast, but like Yashiro and Kiria she’s been in the entertainment industry longer than Itsuki, Tsubasa, Touma, and Mamori so she has the knowledge. So in TMS she has quite a few moves that inflict status effects like Charm, Poison, etc. I tried representing that in her weapon which acts like the healer stave Candlelight+. Blazing Thunder is because her affinity is electric imo since she learns more electric attacks than any other magic element. That’s also my reasoning for making her a blue archer since thunder mages are usually represented in FEH as blue. Windsweep is to apply the Candlelight debuff safely on physical units with DC, and Mirror Strike is to even out her defenses if she were to initiate on a Dragon unit or mage.

-------------------------------------------------------

Mamori Minamoto - Microwave Idol

Type - Green Axe Armor

BST - 175

Stats - HP (46) Attack (35) Speed (27) Defense (36) Resistance (31)

Weapon - Holy Axe (Grants Res +3, Allies within two spaces of unit are granted Def/Res +3 during combat)

Assist - N/A

Special - Pavise

A Skill - N/A

B Skill - Vengeful Fighter 3

C Skill - Close Guard 3

Explanation: So Mamori is the newest mirage master and she’s the most supportive of all of them. She literally protects her friends from attacks and takes them herself. So I tried to make her supportive in a defensive way. Her weapon Holy Axe gives her more Res and is basically Drive Def/Res for any allies within two spaces. Pavise hearkens to her Radiant Skill that reduces dmg taken when she protects an ally. Vengeful Fighter is just disgustingly good and she’s an armor who isn’t fast enough for Special Fighter and since she has the stats for defense instead of offense I chose VF. Close Guard is also supposed to be a callback to her protecting skills. 

Something to note is that the cast is sort of split into singers and actors. All the characters cross into the other form of entertainment at some point in the game, and Mamori is more focused on becoming a singer over becoming an actor or something. BUT an armored singer would be weird so I just didn’t make her one...

-------------------------------------------------------

Yashiro Tsurugi - Cold Hearted

Type - Red Sword Infantry

BST - 149

Stats - HP (37) Attack (34) Speed (37) Defense (22) Resistance (22)

Weapon - Futsuno Mitama (At the start of the turn enemies within two spaces of unit receive -5 Atk/Spd)

Assist - Sing

Special - N/A

A Skill - Spd/Def Bond 3

B Skill - N/A

C Skill - Spur Atk/Def 2

Explanation: Yashiro is a good representation for the ‘enemy becomes an ally’ trope. I feel like that’s a spoiler but it’s not like he does anything super important as an ‘enemy’ he’s just the typical angsty “I’m just measuring your abilities” guy for a while until he decides Itsuki and co are cool enough to hang with. MOST of the time I dislike those characters since if I was Itsuki I would have called bullshit and told him to screw off, but Yashiro has the best character growth throughout the game imo. He’s a myrmidon so high atk/spd and low defenses, but since I made him a Singer due to his established Idol status his defenses are...bad. His skills are offensive and defensive since I wanted him to be potent as a killer and decent as a support. His weapon is both supportive and offensive as well since it debuffs for either him or an ally to take out the enemy.

-------------------------------------------------------

Tiki - Mirage Uta-loid

Type - Green Infantry Dragon

BST - 150

Stats - HP (33) Attack (32) Speed (36) Defense (22) Resistance (27)

Weapon - Divine Songstone (Grants ally atk/spd/def/res +3 when refreshed, also if foe is ranged targets lower of the foes defense or resistance)

Assist - Sing

Special - N/A

A Skill - N/A

B Skill - Wings of Mercy 3

C Skill - Guidance 3

Explanation: So Tiki isn’t playable, but she does play a big part of the story and she’s well known in the FEH community so I made her into a unit as well. I keep saying the word supportive in these explanations but Tiki literally can’t help with anything offensive besides forging weapons for the main cast to use. So her Songstone grants the Uror/Skuld buffs, Wings of Mercy is taboo for a refresher to have by default but I don’t care, and then Guidance is to help ferry her team. In TMS Tiki exists as an Vocaloid like Hatsune Miku, but they call them Uta-loids(?) so she is also a refresher. This build was mostly for fun and had the least amount of thought put into it. :)

#tokyo mirages sessions #fire emblem #fire emblem heroes #tiki fire emblem #itsuki aoi #tsubasa oribe #touma akagi #kiria kurono #eleanora yumizuru #mamori minamoto #yashiro tsurugi #lol #pls dont roast me yall

[thefe7squad]

Greetings Queen Serra! As you can see I’m currently on my way to make you all powerful! Do you have any suggestions on how to make you even more powerful?

——————————————————————————————————— “THOSE ARE SOME MIGHTY FINE, WELL-ROUNDED STATS IF I DO SAY SO MYSELF!!6!”

“WELL FIRST OFF, SINCE I AM PRETTY MUCH OMNIPOTENT COMPARED TO MORE MIN-MAXED HEALERS, YOU NEED TO ASK YOURSELF: HOW DO YOU INTEND TO USE MY POWER? DO YOU WANNA GO ALL OFFENSIVE AND GIVE ME, SAY, ATK/SPD BOND OR A PUSH/SOLO SKILL IN SLOT A, OR DO YOU WANNA TURN ME INTO A DEFENSIVE TANK WITH STUFF LIKE FORTRESS DEF/RES? IT’S UP TO YOU! I CAN DO ANYTHING, BABY!!”

“IF I WERE YOU I’D TOTES GIVE MYSELF ANOTHER STAFF!!!! ABSORB’S MIGHT IS PATHETIC TO SAY THE LEAST AND WAY MORE USEFUL ON BULKY SLOWPOKES LIKE BUNNY BRUNO AND CHRISTMAS EIRIKA. YOU COULD GO FOR SOMETHING LIKE GRAVITY+ OR PAIN+ TO GIVE ME SOME UTILITY!!66! WRATHFUL/DAZZLING STAFF IN SLOT B IS A CLASSIC AND A MUST IF YOURE NOT RUNNING CLOSE COUNTER/VANTAGE! GO FOR LIVE-TO-SERVE OR WINGS OF MERCY IF YOU DONT HAVE THE FODDER FOR THAT!!”

“AS FOR C, PLOYS ARE ALWAYS NICE TO HAVE, BUT IF YOURE GOING DOWN THE SPLASH DAMAGE RABBIT HOLE, I’D SUGGEST SAVAGE BLOW.”

“LASTLY, IF YOU WANNA GO ALL OUT (WHICH YOU SHOULD!!!!) WINDFIRE/EARTHWATER BALM!!”

“THE OPTIONS ARE TRULY LIMITLESS!!!!!!1″

“THIS BUILD IS A PRIME EXAMPLE OF MY VERSATILITY! IT’S A MORE OR LESS EXPERIMENTAL SET-UP THE FORMER ADMIN OF THIS BLOG CAME UP WITH. THE IDEA HERE IS TO TRIGGER INFANTRY PULSE RELIABLY!! WHOAA, I HAVE SOOO MUCH HP!!!!1!!!!!”

#NICE!!!1 #ONLY THE BEST FOR ME #*CLAP* *CLAP* SERRA REVIEW!! #YES IM DOING MY HOMEWORK; GOTTA PROBLEM?!! #submission

[of-invisible-ties]

I’ve been grinding the Tempest Trials for a bit, and here are a few tips I’ve come up with! I’ve placed this under a cut due to length. If this helped you, feel free to reblog!

In general 

Horse Emblem is really good here! In the previous TT, horse teams were a little screwed thanks to all the terrain and the emphasis on fliers as bonus units. In this TT, we’ve got half of the bonus units being cavaliers, and wide-open terrain for them to take advantage of. In fact, the boss is tailor-made for horse units, because he’s an armor unit, lacks Distant Counter, and can be safely kited by mage cavs. 

The reward unit, Titania, is the third red mage cavalier in the game. Her two competitors are 5*-locked, meaning that a lot of players will have her as their only option. It helps that her statline and skills are solid, and she’s really budget friendly to build. In addition, she has the triangle advantage over the TT boss, Greil, and comes with an innate Triangle Adept. It’s actually a benefit to keep it on her if Greil’s giving you trouble. 

ALWAYS pack a red unit with you, because Greil will always be waiting on the final map. Because you can skirt around him (ie. attack him and move the attacker out of his range), you’re not screwed if you lose your red unit before his map. You just have to be careful he doesn’t spook you with Armor March. 

Dancers, while helpful, aren’t a must here. I’ve done all my grinding without dancers, and it’s possible thanks to the wide-open terrain. In the previous TT, I felt screwed without dancers because of how closed off the maps were, but this one is much kinder in that regard. Just make sure you have enough movement-based assist skills (at least two in your team), and you should be okay. 

As always, passive healers are a godsend here. Anyone with the Renewal + Ardent Sacrifice combo will suffice, with Falchion-users, herons, Tiki, and Arvis being recommended. I’ve experimented with giving Renewal to tanky units (like Merric, who has good defense, and NY Takumi, who’s a decent mage-killer), and it’s worked well for me. I’ve also given Renewal + Ardent Sacrifice to Female Grima, and it’s very helpful on her because she doubles as a ranged check in addition to being a passive healer.  Honestly, if you can give it to a unit who can still tank with the loss of the HP, and aren’t in dire need of their B-skill or meeting HP threshold conditions, you should be good. 

Tactics teams work well here if you’re up for them! Because armors have bad movement and we have two armored bonus units, it’s good if you can pair them with a Guidance flier. You can also experiment with Aerobatics if you go for this. 

Building around the bonus units!

Mia: I was lucky enough to pull a +spd/-def Mia ages ago. Honestly, a standard Fury/Life and Death + Desperation build works wonders for her. Because she’s an infantry unit and depends on her special, I highly recommend pairing her with Infantry Pulse users. Her specials are explosive thanks to her decent attack and her weapon’s effect. I feel like if you do run her, you will want a dancer. Mia is very frail and will need help escaping enemy range. She synergizes best with an aggressive playstyle and other player phase units. 

Ike (Young Mercenary): He’s sadly outclassed by his Legendary self, who we all got for free. Still, he can function with a Quick Reposite set and can check daggers and archers. The sad truth is that most mages, other than some green mages, will threaten him despite his Distant Counter weapon. As for his teammates, you really want at least one mage-killer on his team. Ike has synergy in that he can handle physical threats outside of lance-users --- so giving him an axe-user and a mage-killer is a must. 

Valentine’s Titania, Soren, and Mist: Since they’re all mage cavaliers with the same weapon, I’m lumping them together so I don’t repeat myself. Basically, you want to use the Attack/Speed Bond seal we got in the previous TT. All three of them can run it well -- especially Soren, who has an innate bond skill. Because of Mist’s Swift Sparrow, you can run this TT’s Darting Blow instead (you can also run this with Titania if you want, although her low attack can make her miss getting kills). Obviously, their full power comes out with a horse team, especially with a defensive core that prefers to stick together. Most horses do prefer to be offensive due to their range, though. Being offensive means separating more often than not. If that’s your preferred playstyle, you can still use their weapons because chances are you’ll have to retreat with your assist skills anyway (which means they’ll be huddling together during the enemy phase, and their weapons and bond skills can help you during the enemy phase). I’ve seen people replace their weapons with blade tomes, so if you prefer blade tomes to their weapons, that’s a very real option. If you’d prefer not to run horse emblem, tactics are your best friend, seeing as we have three units with tactic refines (both Robins and Seth), and two tactic seals (Res and Def Tactic). 

Greil: I’d replace Fury 4 just for the TT. It’s okay to run in Arena or other modes, but the TT is based around longevity, and Fury 4 actively works against that. I’d suggest replacing it with Steady Stance (4* Silas), Sturdy Stance (4* Halloween Dorcas), or, if you lack those skills Attack+3 or Defense+3. If you plan on running Fury 4 after the TT, you may as well slap on the latter two. Steady and Sturdy Stance can be useful for other budget builds. Otherwise, Greil is good to go! Run him with any armor unit you want to get the most out of Armor March. I don’t recommend running a full armor team unless you have Armor Eirika, because armors otherwise lack innate healing outside of a fighter skill combined with Aether. Even then, armors are completely dependent on positioning and Armor March to move fast. If separated from his allies, Greil not only loses the benefits of Armor March, but also his weapon’s effect. For better efficiency, I recommend running him with a flier (preferably with Guidance), especially a flier healer or Eir. Running a tactic team can really help with speeding up the pace, especially since less turns gives you more points. 

Valentine’s Ike:  The above points I made with Greil apply to him, too. Armors are slow and getting sped up by fliers with Guidance is very helpful for them. I have no tips to give for Ike’s builds, though. He comes with a downright perfect base kit. Unless you want to run Barrier Blade+ on him, you really should just stick to what he has. 

#ooc #feh #strategy

[slanax]

Big ol’ infodump post for Conquest (Lunatic) and how to survive it

(because @xpegasusuniverse asked and I ain’t letting an opportunity to infodump slip by)

Part 1/?: General strategies and earlygame

*cracks knuckles*

Overall, all of this is naturally just a suggestion, not the only way you could ever play Conquest. Especially on modes below Lunatic, you definitely don’t need to follow it to a T to still beat the game, but it’s what I found works best for me (and I played this mode an unhealthy amount :P)

- You’ll want Corrin to be female (you want Jakob earlygame for the insane Def and Avo boost to the avatar that his personal provides) with a Speed boon (Quick) and a Luck bane (Unlucky). Speed is the best stat, and Luck is both the least important and the easiest to patch up because you get a Goddess Icon pre-route split that should fix her Luck for most if not all of the game.

- For her talent, I’ve had the best experiences with Fighter to go Hero later. Generally, you’ll want to stay in the Nohr Noble line until Lv5 promoted to grab Draconic Hex, then switch to a sword class of your preference. I personally find Fighter!Hero to be better than Merc!Hero for its skills; other options include Swordmaster and Paladin. Lategame (one chapter in particular) has a lot of effective weapons that you need to tank though, and your other two main tanks will likely be Xander and Benny, so a regular old infantry class can be beneficial to not get completely screwed by beastkillers and hammers. Hero has a nice balance of good Str, Spd and Def (especially with the Fighter’s HP+5 and its own Sol helping out its bulk) and Axebreaker is great for reliably tanking otherwise risky Berserkers. They can’t crit what they can’t hit.

- For her spouse I usually end up with Jakob (mainly because I tend to want the extra paralogues for EXP and support points) though as her mid to lategame support unit I’ve come to appreciate Gunter a lot, especially reclassed to a Wyvern Lord. Str, Def and Mov on pairup is great, the ability to ferry her quickly thanks to being a flier is awesome, and his personal giving you +15 Hit and +3 damage is a huge boost to her offense. It also means that the Fighter’s Gamble skill amounts to a free +10 Crit since the Hit penalty just gets eaten up by Gunter’s personal. I ended up ditching her Dragon Fang for more Sol procs (the game rolls for Dragon Fang first, so if it procs you can’t proc Sol, and I want Sol procs for more bulk) and using Gamble crits as my “offensive skill”

- Early on, Silas is your best friend. His personal gives him +3/+3 to attack and defense if the avatar is below half health, so just start killing things with her and as soon as she is weakened (or heck, deliberately get her a little banged up) have Silas take over. As soon as they have a C support, you can also pair them up to stack his personal with the avatar’s, giving him a total of +5/+5 and humiliating the game even on Lunatic. I affectionately refer to it as “Juggernaut Mode”. Just make sure to start working on his lance rank ASAP for Javelin utility.

- Make use of Elise! Her personal is incredibly useful at keeping you alive, giving you a huge defense buff if you keep her adjacent to your frontline fighters (watch for ranged enemies though ofc, she is very squishy and can easily get oneshotted) Make sure to have her heal a lot so she hits Lv10 by Chapter 10, early promoting her to Strategist for that is immensely useful.

- Use. Mozu. Bring a Heart Seal and a Bronze Bow to her paralogue, change her to Archer and start training her right there. Baiting enemies with Silas and finishing them off with Mozu by dual striking off him usually works, though depending on levelups Jakob might have to throw a dagger too. Generally, she’s reasonably easy to bring up to speed and once she’s there she’s awesome. Plus, you get so few bow users in Conquest that you’ll want to make use of every single one you can get.

- Speaking of which, Niles. You want to train him too, because Capture is super valuable in Lunatic. The Ch9 boss has Rally Def which is amazingly useful, the boss of Forrest’s paralogue is a Berserker with S axes and Certain Blow, and that’s only the beginning. Plus, bows. You want bows because Fates bows are great and there’s so many places where effective anti-air will save your butt.

- Don’t break any of your Rescue staves. Ever. Trust me on this. Use their first charge if absolutely necessary, but don’t break them.

- General strategy is to low-man with few well-trained units and use leftover deployment slots for pure pairup units and supports like healers or Rally skill users. Watch for enemy skills at all times, and learn to fear the Lunge icon. For help with any specific chapters, let me know where you’re struggling. (Note: Towards endgame, this will naturally shift in favor of more combat units as you get more characters that can kill things really really well. You’ll still usually bring at least a few pure support units all the way to the end though.)

And finally, here’s a quick rundown of the pairings I found to work really well:

- Avatar x Jakob, with Gunter later replacing him as your support of choice. See above.

- Effie x Arthur. Easy to achieve because Effie will see a lot of use early on and Arthur makes a good support unit for her. Percy’s paralogue gives a lot of cash and tbh that’s all you need this pairing for.

- Elise x Odin: Basically, Ophelia’s paralogue gives you several exclusive tomes, all of them are stupidly useful, and you want them. Just have Odin deal some chip damage adjacent to Elise, and pair them up once Elise early promotes. Of all my pairings this one is the biggest hassle to get done in a timely manner (so you don’t waste a recruitment slot on Odin for too long bc he really isn’t all that great) but for the tomes it’s well worth it.

- Niles x Mozu: For two reasons. One, Nina can inherit Quick Draw and that’s awesome. Two, Mozu can partner seal into Bow Knight. You can have her grab Shurikenbreaker (and Mov+1) and then have her go back to Sniper. Trust me, you want Shurikenbreaker. You don’t know it yet, but you want it. With her and Nina (I like Niles in Adventurer to make more use of his magic potential with the Shining Bow) you’ll have two Shurikenbreaker units, and they come very much in handy during one specific lategame chapter.

- Camilla x Benny: Mobility and getting ferried for Benny, hella bulk for Camilla. A filler pairing tbh since they don’t get any fancy skills or classes out of it, but they work well stat wise.

- Kaze x Azura: Now this is a pure filler pairing. Azura generates free support points, Midori’s paralogue gives dank herb, Shigure is a free Rally Spd bot, you don’t need them for anything else, ‘nuff said.

- Leo x Felicia: Magic and Speed for Leo, Demoiselle for Forrest. Felicia herself is pure support.

- Xander x Charlotte: Xander with the ability to Partner Seal into Hero for skills. Xander with Sol. Self-sustaining wall. Need I say more?

That’s all the pairings I usually do, I believe. There’s still a few unpaired characters, but that’s mostly because deployment slots are scarce and I don’t want to bring all their would-be partners along just to get supports.

Also, I did write up a guide for the whole thing way back when. It’s terribly outdated in places (+Def Swordmaster Corrin, what was I thinking) but most of it should still work as a good guideline (heck, I even use parts of it myself, if only for the tried and tested reinforcement listings) Rule of thumb: If this post contradicts the old guide, listen to this instead of the year-old guide. I was young and foolish :P

You can find it here.

#cl guide #heck might as well put it in the tag

[zanpyreanor]

CW Prompt: Introduction

Tell us about your character! What are their favorite things, their least favorite things? How old are they? Have they been in any battle.

Let's say we were meeting for the first time at Kit's Tavern Night, How would you introduce yourself?

Zan: Massive Idiot who really isn’t.

The Zan character has been played for many many years, so some of his developments may seem over the top, but it's largely due to all the things he's done since BC.

Zan is the fourth of six children (blame the dice) of a now deceased high priest and a ranger captain and was the late bloomer of his family, having flunked out of seminary and everything else he tried. He spent most of his life before the fall of Quel'thalas helping his retired mother around the family jewelry shop; which was the front half of a third of a building which the family lived in. It's located at 24 Phoenix Way, the Bazaar, Silvermoon. Zan was a shop boy, accountant, and artisan crafter. As a non-combatant, when Zan noticed the first undead wandering the Bazaar he locked up the shop, covered the windows with blankets and blocked them with shelves, then locked himself in a large hidden walk-in safe closet.

By pure luck, the building he was in wasn't destroyed, his family's part of the building had some damage but it was salvagable, other parts of the building reqired repair. Zan's sisters managed to escape the Scourge alive and found their brother. They brought a priest named Tyan Sunbrand who they'd rescued with them and entrusted their brother with babysitting him. With their flight from Silvermoon they collected other survivors, Dalaen Duskhallow and Iviaen Brightblaze, and the three along with Tyan's brother and nephew wound up staying attached to the Pyreanor clan as their homes and families were lost, and they had nothing to return to.

To Zan's surprise, his parents had bank account not just in Quel'thalas but in other locations, too. He sent Iviaen as an agent to collect those funds and began loaning out money to those seeking to rebuild their businesses while the vaults in Quel'thalas were still smoldering.

Zan fell for Tyan shortly before the rest of his family and friends went off with Kael'thas, leaving him alone. In the time shortly before the departure, Zan befriended Kemnebi Sunrunner, a psychologically malfunctioning and half-feral ranger whom he managed to earm the trust of by providing food and eventually Tyan's healing. When Zan fell into a deep depression with his friends and family gone, and Kemnebi realized that something was wrong when three days passed without a food visitation. He tracked Zan down and remained at Zan's residence indefinitely. As time passed, Zan gave up on his family returning. Kemnebi taught him to tinker to help him pass the time and Zan began to create not only jewelry but little practical gadgets as well.

Eventually his family returned, without Tyan, but with rumors of his death by a creature called a Naaru. He learned of the Blood Knight Order from his uncle, and that the creature that killed Tyan was being used to grant people access to the Light. Zan took his elder sister's sword and sought to join the order and heal in Tyan's place or at least avenge Tyan. One rejection, one full body sunburn from a Naaru later, and his uncle pulling a bunch of strings including taking on training Zan himself, he successfully joined the order. Since he was a -5 on the scale of 0 to hero, Zan had to work arguably harder than most of the other initiates just to be on an even footing.

Tyan turned out to be alive and eventually Tyan reciprocated Zan's affection. The Pyreanor became a boarding house, expanded into the rest of its building, and built more floors, making it what it is today. He's also managed to get security clearances and has various associations with a number of different groups, including a group of Inquisitors through Tyan and a Reliquary vault through Dalaen and Iviaen.

Zan enjoys cooking, cuddling, inventing, and cracking jokes. He finds those who take themselves too seriously or are cruel just to be cruel distasteful, he finds those that lust after or flaunt power and authority unbecoming.

He plays dumb and has a self-depreciating sense of humor. For many people it's hard to take him seriously, he seems like an idiot, but he's hiding his potential beneath his facade, and beneath that he's hiding a lifetime of guilt, self-loathing, and failure that very few ever see.

Zan is old enough to know better but young enough to not give a damn. He's largely chaotic good and holds moral law above written law whenever he can safely do so.

Those who delve deep into Zan's file at the Blood Knight hall will find a service record that shows he served in many battles throughout the Outland campaign at the rank of Knight as a healer, and then senior healer. The Blood Knights worked with the Shattered Sun offensive during the Sunwell campaign and pre-campaign. One notable incident during that era for Zan was a time the unit he served in was purging Felblood Elves from the Throne of Kil'jaden, which ended disastrously when the unit found itself face to face with Kazzak. This wiped out a majority of the infantry and command, leaving the healers and back line alone. He called the back line back and the group of survivors together, behind arcane and light barriers, managed to get down off the mountain to safety with minimal further casualties, which landed the awkward light-wielding tinkerer-accountant a battlefield promotion in command of a small unit throughout the Sunwell campaign. He proved surprisingly competent when pushed came to shove, and his group did well. The result of this was the battlefield promotion to Champion before the final battle for the well and a larger force under his command.

After the second Scourge attack on Quel'thalas, Zan took a leave of absence and traveled with the Argent Dawn, now the Argent Crusade, to Northrend. He assisted them, and then the Ashen Verdict, in the war against the Lich King because fuck that guy, though Zan didn't really get much farther than helping secure the citadel, and wasn't among the heroes who vanquished Arthas.

When he returned to Quel'thalas he shifted to reservist status and spent his service time working as a desk jock so he can spend more time watching over home, family, and business.

Zan drifts where he's needed, or where he's interested in sharing his healing and inventive abilities. As a reservist, he's sometimes called to work with vanguard forces as an agent of the Blood Knight Order largely providing not healing but his technical expertise in establishing infrastructure. Once a new front's infrastructure is secure, he returns home.

Zan doesn't talk about his combat experience, most people who were not there or don’t have access to his file probably don't know all that much about it. People know he sets up communication arrays, that he will create light hands to slap people upside the head when they're acting stupid, and can locate people if they leave their com device keyed up long enough.

His playing dumb routine is how he shirks responsibility, he's actually dangerously clever and his routine tricks people into doing what they should never do--underestimate him. Along the same thought line, he's doesn't flaunt his rank, or display his full potential--the extent of his skills is a jealously guarded secret left for those rare moments when shit gets real. People are left wondering why this idiot is a reserve in the Order's roster at all.

When meeting people for the first time, Zan's likely to smile a big stupid smile and introduce himself as, "Hi I'm Zandrae Pyrenaor, but you can call me "You Idiot."" Yes, he finger quotes that shit.

#Long post #stuff #disregard this I suck cocks #mostly ooc post #spoiler as fuck #Zan's done a lot in the many many years he's existed

[annathetrickster]

At least with my experience I've found healers to be extremely useful. The fact that they can heal without losing any health or needing a skill can make up for the fact that they don't hit hard or are frail. Seriously, my Alissa has saved me so many times I can't even count.

they are useful but i have a very offense based playstyle so i don’t usually have room for them on my teams. i do use elise on my backup horse emblem team but that’s about it. bride lyn doesn’t have a permanent team but she is good for helping to grind units.

Anonymous said:who do you think are the best healers in Heroes? I so far only have managed to get a Lissa, and would like to summon more- which should i keep?

well you can see from my units that i only have bride lyn and elise as my healers, although i do run a passive healer build on PAolivia as well. i think any healer can be good, especially now that they all have access to wrathful or dazzling staff via refinery. that said i still think elise is the best overall healer because of her offensive stat spread. refined gravity is also very good as well.

bride lyn would be my choice as best infantry healer because her refined candlelight is completely broken (as you probably saw from ngyope’s developer map) and can completely change a battle in one turn.

if you like splash damage sets you can run any healer with pain+ and double savage blow as well. any healer can heal so it really comes down to what else you want them to do besides just that.

#anon #ask me things #fire emblem heroes #firesoul377