#imo its one of the better stats to have in enemy phase

[uber--duper]

why do people say that speed isn’t important on enemy phase

[af1899]

FEH - My free summons on 9/17/2021 + data mine thoughts

Hey, what's good?

So, the banner based on the [Cindered Shadows] DLC from Fire Emblem: Three Houses (with Múspell on it) + its respective data update is finally out.

First, my free summons in the banner mostly weren't anything of special, prioritized blue as planned but nothing. In the round with the fourth free summon though, was forced to pick the fallback category (colorless) and...

Heh... nice, that's my second Leila, I won't complain at all, it's always nice to get a 5★ with valuable fodder or an unexpected merge on a project. I'll try to max her [HM] then fodder to Legendary Lilina for [Life and Death 4] as well as [Rally Atk/Spd+], fortunately these will be easy to get.

Nothing else but that's OK. I'll just move on and at least I know I'll eventually run on the other skill I want on Legendary Lilina, which is [A/R Far Trace 3], since it's going to be in the regular pool after this banner is over.

Now, onto data mine stuff, you can find the thread by redditor u/MrGengar123 right here, but feel free to read my thoughts onto what we've gotten (there'll be no talk about story spoilers and the like).

So... the thing that probably interests players the most when a data mine rolls out would be stats on the Heroes that come with the update.

Múspell doesn't really play so differently from what we've possibly experienced on [Ice & Flame 3] with him as an enemy, he's more of a dual-phase unit that focus his strength on a single blow, is durable both physically and magically (but slow as hecc) and prevents the foe from healing. Noteworthy is that he brings [Dragon Wall 3] to the regular pool, which you should definitely prioritize from his fodder if that's your plan and got him.

Also, more or less expected the statlines on the other three banner units, nothing too special to stand out in those but Yuri is probably going to give us new worries in nowadays metagame in PvP.

But Balthus has a similar statline to Mustafa (45/38/25+/36/28-) but Balthus's statline is superior, as you could have imagined, just being one point slower than Mustafa, but the rest, Balthus has the upper hand. About him there's also the skill choice, I didn't realize before that his weapon indeed looked like an {Instant} one, and it is, it's a good one and we're getting it for free, so, be sure you got your 5★ Balthus (check in-game inbox with Feh)! But I.S. just ruined it up with the passive skill choice, why do we have [Close Guard 3] still as a 5★ skill? It's just stupid specially since [Brazen Atk/Def 3] is already on Ares at 4★ and there's like nothing that should justify it staying locked to that rarity nowadays.

And Aelfric just got the worst treatment out of this batch, while his class seems to make sense due to how he's designed as a unit in his home game, his kit just feels completely lacking in creativity and also, he's just one of the several free red tome users we've been getting this year, his statline is basically a slightly beefed up Arete but without a horse, it's also our second month in a row with a red tome infantry user, their statlines are different (comparing to Pelleas) but this doesn't change he's the fourth unit in the year with that class, with not much to make him stand out compared to the other ones except for maybe the post-[CYL 2021] statline boost benefit, but chances are Pelleas will do better for you and his starting weapon is better too, {Rabbit} weapons in general are mostly terrible Imo, they're okay for short battles but generally, there are better options, including good ol' {Blade} tomes. At least his rarer skill is at 4★, it's [Threat. Def/Res 2], which you can use to get [Def/Res Menace] and another skill from Zeke's fodder ([Atk/Def Catch 3] if you plan to fodder a Legendary Sigurd with the Lv.4 version + [Fatal Smoke 3] or [Lull Atk/Def 3]).

Anyway, my plans on them would be:

Aelfric: fodder of [Threat. Def/Res 2] to users of physical weapons (thought of Legendary Lucina and Ephraim) after maxing out [HM], will keep one copy at 5★ for rerun quests.

Balthus: fodder of [Instant Axe+] and [Close Guard 3] for Groom Zealot, also after maxing out Balthus' [HM], working on that as of writing date of this post.

Now, next [Hall of Forms] lineup consists of these units from Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance:

Bridal Sanaki: green tome flier.

Ashnard: sword flier. ([GHB] unit)

Halloween Ilyana: blue tome armored. (!!!)

Soiree Nephenee: colorless bow infantry user with ability to refresh an ally. (And she's currently summonable and obtainable for a limited time as a [Combat Manual])

Now this is a really well balanced team, no healers but you get a refresher and one unit of each color, two that use physical weapons and two that use magical ones, which should make things more workable in the event as it goes on and you fill everyone with skills that suit them. It's a nice line-up indeed and Halloween Ilyana is great for [A/R Far Save 3], if you'll go for her, [Atk/Res Unity], [Pact Blooms+] (go for another seasonal weapon if you already have (or can get) Valentine's Veronica!) and an enemy-phase oriented {Fighter} B-skill such as [Slick Fighter 3] are also excellent to take along (if you take these, remember [Atk/Res Unity] and [Slick Fighter 3] are counterproductive, you'd like [Crafty Fighter 3] instead!).

Two of them happen to be my Tellius favs (Ilyana and Nephenee) but sadly can't purchase them and only got 1 [Celestial Stone] out of 3. Still, I'll build them as best as RNG allows it to, I specially adore Ilyana and I'll do what I can to make her great.

Bonuses in [Arena]... hmm... not much of interesting, at least I got Scion Julia but I'll use Scion Nanna so that I can balance the team color distribution in the team I'll use and have a healer (Idoun, Sonya and Ninian are the rest of the members).

In [Aether Raids] I got better luck with Mila and Naga, both of which are projects and characters I actually appreciate, so I'm set for two weeks there.

The End

That's all! I do apologize if the post was too long for you, I often need more words to express properly what I mean while also palcing some extra things for convenience.

If you've made it this far, I appreciate you took the time to read my thoughts, I hope you found something helpful in this post and good luck in your summons!

[annathetrickster]

new tempest new seals

its that time again and i’ve once again updated the sacred seals tier list to feature the latest seals. if you’ve been keeping track at all you’ll agree that most of the seals we’ve gotten for the past few months have been pretty mediocre, so its very nice to see IS stepping up their game and giving us 3 very good seals in one go. 

spd/def 2 (S tier, medium priority) dual stat boosting skills are severely underrated imo. they work great because theyre one of the only dual phase skills without any special requirements or penalties attached. while speed and defense seems like a weird combination to rank highly, its easily a plug and play seal for speedy armored units with CC, or anyone who’s running CC + vantage builds. especially if close defense is already being used.

darting stance (A tier, low priority) i would have put darting stance on S tier as well, but it lacks the dual phase capabilities of the other 2 seals as its enemy phase only. it also only fills a very specific niche and that is to help vantage users or units like ayra become even more broken. i’d say about... 70-80% of units will have no use for this seal. use it if you need it, but generally speaking there are much better options.

brazen atk/res (S tier, high priority) the fact that a brazen skill is available as a seal means we’re truly reaching uncharted territory in terms of powercreep. having +7 atk/res in both phases without any HP cost (like fury) is a big deal, so this is obviously the one you want to upgrade out of this batch if you can only afford one. pretty much any mage, mixed tank, or high res unit can make great use of this seal

[gateofeden]

The Similarities of Ludwig from Bloodborne and Jacob Seed

Short answer? They were both men transformed into weapons, men who were made to be protectors/defenders with no one to do the same for them; they were men put into a position of power where they trained those around them to be hunters/warriors, people who could be ruthlessly efficient to cut down enemies without question–and that responsibility broke them irreparably. They are men to be pitied, who can only achieve true peace in death.

Long answer?

(I’ll be pulling from summaries and gifs seen here and also here. I recommend scrolling down to the gallery to get a good look at some of Ludwig’s attacks to see how impressive he can be.)

Make sure you have this on loop as you read–it’s Ludwig’s themes.

Ludwig was the first hunter of the Healing Church. This means that while the beast scourge was ravaging Yharnam and slowly getting more and more out of control, the Church turned to this man and told him, “Fight the beasts. Keep Yharnam safe.” Jacob was likewise put into a position of having to protect/defend his brothers when they were children, stepping in to take the punishment their father inflicted on them. His protection of his brothers extended so far as to committing arson to keep them safe, and he was dragged off to juvenile detention for it, where he was kept until he turned 18, where he most likely shuffled right into the Army, as he had very little options left to him (read: no options).

Like Jacob, Ludwig took on his role and all the responsibility it demanded–as well as all the horror and hurt and, as we later see in his boss fight, the utter corruption and horrific transformation of his body into something subhuman. This is seen in his first phase boss name: Ludwig, the Accursed. The Accursed. Meaning, something that is cursed, or something loathsome, detestable, despicable, horrible, ghastly. Not even human.

The Whitetails and other Resistance members refer to Jacob as a psychopath, dismissing him as barely human, as just a monster. They despise his motives and his methods and the means he uses to achieve them all. Ludwig was likewise reviled and denigrated by those who didn’t agree with him, but these were two men put into situations that had no good choices. All the choices they had were bad ones, and they still had to make it. “It’s not something I wanted, it was something I had to do.” And they were reviled for it.

Ludwig’s boss fight is our first glimpse at Ludwig in the game, but it is not the first we’ve heard of him. The game has been building him up as this impressive warrior, this beacon of a man who stood firm against the worst of the worst of the worst, monsters and creatures that are so twisted and corrupted as to be barely recognizable as once human. And Ludwig fought them. More than fought them, he struck them down. Ludwig was the first cleric (a holy man) to take up arms in the name of the church, and the man whom regular citizens of the city rallied around and were converted into hunters themselves.

I repeat–he recruited regular citizens to become hunters to fight the scourge. He recruited regular people–civilians–and made them hunters, fierce and fearless. He made them strong. That should be ringing a few bells.

We learn of Ludwig only in snatches of item descriptions, the first of which says:  Ludwig was the first of many Healing Church hunters to come, many of whom were clerics. As it was, clerics transformed into the most hideous beasts. The very people within the church who were made to cleanse it and be emblems of it were the most corrupted. Similar to how Jacob, the leader of the Eden’s Gate forces, was himself a broken, weak man who had to use the Deputy to take out Eli and the Whitetails; a man who knew he was just a sacrifice, who knew he was disposable, his life meaningless, his death nothing to fear.

We find Ludwig’s Greatsword early in the game and can use it as our own weapon. It has a hidden damage stat called “righteous” damage–any creature you fight in the game that is especially corrupt or messed up takes more damage from this sword, because the sword is derived from a holy blade. But it’s not the true holy blade–we only get that after we kill Ludwig.

And guess what you get after you kill Jacob? His weapon–his rifle.

Ludwig’s true holy blade was taken with him into the Hunter’s Nightmare, where he suffers in the River of Blood at its lowest, most disgusting level: the corpse pile. It’s a terrifying, horrible place, similar to the fugue state conditioning Jacob puts the Deputy through. The colors are the same (albeit Ludwig’s arena has a more logical architecture to it), and the threat is the same: you can only kill to survive. That’s it. Kill. Hunt. Slaughter. Survive.

Once we get Ludwig down to his second phase of the boss fight, he collapses to the ground screaming. The camera slowly shifts, and we see a glowing blade in a pool of blood next to him–the holy blade. His eyes open wider: “Ah, you were at my side all along. My true mentor…my guiding moonlight.”

After this, he stands up. We see him lift up the blade and shift into a new battle stance. And then the second phase begins, and he’s no longer a beast screaming on all fours. He’s no longer a monster at all–he’s standing up as a man, and his boss name changes: Ludwig, the Holy Blade.

Ludwig’s attacks in this phase are precise, hard, punishing. He fights like a knight. He fights with dignity and ruthless control. He can lift the blade high and channel moonlight into it, slamming it in beams that burn you, thrusting it through the air in sharp stabs. He’s not just a boss anymore, he’s a warrior, righteous and proud–just as proud as Jacob sounds when he praises the Deputy: You’re a warrior.

It is in this phase of the fight that Ludwig shows himself to be the man all the item descriptions have been hyping him up to be, a man worthy of the acclaim built around his name. But he’s still suffering. He’s still an enemy. We still have to kill him–and he is in the Nightmare, which, as the game tells us, is a realm that was born out of the hunters’ misdeeds. Which means he’s being punished–and Jacob is no different.

Joseph’s eulogy for Jacob mentions how he brought demons back from war with him, how he was always fighting some kind of war, mostly against himself. Ludwig, trapped as he is in the Nightmare, is a boss that must fight hunter after hunter after hunter who comes to confront him, and is likewise stuck in a constant battle.

“War” and “hunt” are comparable phrases between Far Cry 5 and Bloodborne, and the two of them meet in themes by the final words that pass over the screen each time you beat a boss: PREY SLAUGHTERED.

Prey slaughtered. And what does Jacob’s region drill into your head, over and over? Cull the herd. Hunt. Kill.

The Hunters Nightmare is like hell, an endless prison of killing and violence; blood oozes from almost every surface, creatures terrifying and inexplicable patrol every corner, and some of the darkest secrets of the Healing Church are only made known the further you travel in. Ludwig is your first boss, the first obstacle, and the first sign that the Healing Church were worse than the scourge they were fighting, because they made Ludwig. They gave him a task, they made him a tool, they made him a weapon. He was no longer just Ludwig, he was the Holy Blade–a tool. A weapon.

And so was Jacob, and the responsibility for this is shared not just among the Army and his father, but Joseph himself. What Joseph demanded of Jacob, whether Joseph knew it or not, further denigrated this barely composed shell of a man into something even more broken, someone who saw himself as hollow, disposable, empty–a sacrifice.

Ludwig knows himself to be corrupted and beyond saving. He talks to you after the fight, asking you quietly, almost timidly, if his hunters are “the honorable spartans” that he always hoped they would be. You can tell him yes, they are (a pleasant lie), and he sighs happily–”so I did not suffer such denigration for nothing.” He then speaks further, telling you that he was always a little wary of the dark truths of the Church, as well as what his “guiding moonlight,” really was (IMO this refers to the hope he clung to, as well as the arcane, eldritch power of his blade, the very thing that gave him his name) that he knew something had to be wrong, but he didn’t want to know what it was.

“Good hunter, have you seen the thread of light? Just a hair, a fleeting thing, yet I clung to it, steeped as I was in the stench of blood and beasts. I never wanted to know, what it really was. Really, I didn’t.”

He was understandably scared of what that truth would do to him once he discovered it; he preferred to take comfort in the brutal simplicity of the hunt.

Now, who does that sound like?

If you lie to him, Ludwig’s final words to the hunter are words of peace and acceptance. He thanks you, saying he can finally sleep in peace. “Even in this darkest of nights, I see…the moonlight…” If you don’t lie to him, he sobs, broken and miserable: “Just as I feared. Then a beast-possessed degenerate was I, as my detractors made eminently clear. Does the nightmare never end?!“

And even through all this, even after how broken and corrupted and twisted Ludwig’s body is, I still think he has it better than Jacob–because Ludwig at least had hope. Jacob doesn’t.

Jacob’s dying words to you aren’t as broken, but they are certainly bitter and miserable. Joseph saw all this coming; he knew exactly how it’d all play out. Jacob doesn’t care if what he was doing was right–if it was honorable, if it was exactly as God willed. None of that matters, because none of that changes the fact that it still happened. It happened as Joseph was it would happen, and Jacob has no more questions to ask. The nightmare doesn’t end for him–he doesn’t even consider the possibility of it ending because to him, it never did.

Much like how Ludwig is trapped in the Nightmare, freed only if you kill him or lie to him (and let him sleep peacefully), Jacob is still fighting his own war. He never came back–he could never come back. And the only way to free him is to kill him.

And yet, even so, I can’t help but love them, and pity them, and be proud of them–Ludwig more than Jacob. With Jacob I feel pity and sorrow, with Ludwig I feel all of that and real, painful sympathy. Because I’m a hunter, even if I’m not one of Ludwig’s. I’m carrying on his legacy; I see that there were things the hunters had to kill that were beyond men’s capacity to comprehend, and the killing of them likewise diminishes the humanity and overall sanity/peace of those killing them.

With Jacob, he turns me into a killer, a warrior–he trains me, he’s my unasked for mentor–and I have to kill him. He trains me to be the best of the best of the best, and then asks me to strike him down. How can I be proud of him for that? How can I take any pride or joy in killing him?

In this way, he’s also like another Bloodborne boss: Gehrman, the First Hunter (who shows you more mercy than Jacob does). But that’s for another post, at another time. This one is long enough as it is.

[ljreflet]

Archer/Sniper/Bow Knight Clair (Guide/Analysis)

Growths

HP: 30%

ATK: 40%

SKL: 65%

SPD: 65%

LCK: 50%

DEF: 25%

RES: 2%

Analysis

Clair has a very mediocre start with below average bases for her join time. She is very likely to have low damage output and is held back by her terrible bulk. However, she does carry overall good to great growth rates (barring defense and HP), and with her early join, she can grow to become a good and usable unit.

Clair is not necessarily a bad unit, but lacks combat prowess and has survivability issues. Her claim to glory, though, is her extremely high speed growth at 70% (75% in her base class). She has the privilege of being able to double most enemies as well as being the only natural flier on Alm’s route.

She does have potential to be a decent Ridersbane user for Alm’s route, as she has the best movement in his party due to being his only flier. The effective damage from Ridersbane does increase her potential damage output, and her high speed ensures she could at least double unlike the slower lancer-wielders like Clive or Lukas.

However, Clair can enhance her overall performance if reclassed as an Archer. The Archer class line is a great class for any unit to fall back on (by the virtue of the Killer Bow), and Clair is no exception.

Clair will still retain her bad survivability, however, as an Archer, she has access to up to 5-range weapons and her low bulk is salvaged by being able to snipe from afar without retaliation. Bows have hit rate penalties the further you attack, but her great skill stat can help relieve this issue.

Due to Clair having the highest speed growth in the whole game, she is one of the few that do not get hurt by the Archer line’s speed growth penalty and the heavy weight of bows. Her high speed ensures she can double all but the fastest enemies, but even if she cannot, she can fall back on the option to use Hunter’s Volley with the Killer Bow.

She also boasts very high skill and luck growths, which allows for her to develop high crit rates. With her high speed, skill, and luck, her stats synergize perfectly with the Killer Bow. Its naturally high crit rate topped with Clair’s great skill and luck stat ensure that she can land crits very frequently.

Also, the fact that the Archer class line does not have a strength growth penalty--unlike her base class as a Pegasus Knight--does help her overall damage output.

It may be an argument of whether Clair is a good Archer or if Archers are just good in general. But overall, Clair’s stats fit in with the Archer class line to a tee, allowing for a very min-max build. She can prove to be a very effective bow-user that will pair well with Alm’s other Archer. Having Clair as an Archer will also open up more options for Kliff and Tobin (the usual Villager Archers) and they could fill in her role as Alm’s Pegasus Knight.

My Personal Experience

Look, I know we all wanted Archer Faye, but I made Clair an Archer instead of Faye just because she was faster and I just really value Physic LOL.

And to be honest, I don’t regret it at all--Clair was arguably my best archer, both in Alm’s and Celica’s route.

Leon is too slow and has a hard time doubling before unlocking Hunter’s Volley. He’s also very vulnerable on enemy phase due to his low speed and bulk. Python is good (and IMO, better than Leon), but has hit rate issues which are amplified when sniping from 3-range or more. Clair had none of these problems, and had a good crit rate to boot.

I always had Clair and Python fighting next to each other so that they could trade the Killer Bow between one another. It’s unfortunate though that they lack a support-chain because that would have really amplified both of their performances LOL.

Overall, a great class for Clair and I would highly recommend this build for anyone. 

[annathetrickster]

full steam ahead on the hype train, azura is a flying dancer. that said here are my thoughts on the new units.

starting with azura

HP 37 | ATK 30 | SPD 35 | DEF 22 | RES 20

she stacks up favorably vs regular azura having much more speed for less res. while having lower attack and res, but higher spd and HP than PA azura. as a flier she’ll get compared against cherche, minerva and spring camilla for the green flier slot. unfortunately the only thing she has over them in terms of stats is her speed. you should still have no trouble replacing any green flier for azura due to the fact that her dance ability paired with hone fliers will give much more versatility to your flier emblem teams. as for her skillset, its pretty underwhelming besides hone fliers. if you’re running her on flier emblem you’d be better off with wings of mercy or desperation in slot B since fortify fliers will handle +6 def/res far more easily than +5 def to just one unit. overall she is easily the best unit from this banner, and a must have for any potential flier emblem team.

next up is takumi 

HP 40 | ATK 34 | SPD 34 | DEF 17 | RES 27

at first glance he looks like a weaker version of kagero. his most notable feature is the fact that his weapon is basically a killer dagger, accelerating special cooldown by -1. other than that kagero is still better offensively and atk/res bond is sort of a niche skill at best. if you don’t have kagero yet and you need a good dagger unit then takumi can put in work for you. TD sakura still outclasses him due to a similar offensive spread as well as her much higher res and ability to work as a magic check.

lastly camilla

HP 40 | ATK 33 | SPD 35 | DEF 31 | RES 23

her stats are pretty underwhelming compared to elincia, but she’ll have no problem outclassing palla and sheeda for the red sword flier spot on your flier emblem team. she has above average def and decent res, which lets her run enemy phase sets if you wanted to go that route. her skillset is nothing special either since bond skills are too niche to work that well imo, but if you really wanted to run them then spd/def bond would work nicely with vantage in slot B. she’s definitely not going to replace your elincia but if you don’t have her yet, or you haven’t invested heavily into palla or caeda, then she’s definitely an upgrade at that position.

[annathetrickster]

Any tips on building a flier team? I feel like aside from Myrrh I have no clue what I’m doing, and even in her case I’m considering def ploy for c slot (does Great flame take debuffs into account?) I’m not up for switching out units though since I want to only use FE 8-10 ones and these are the only fliers from those games (if I limit myself to my fav games I won’t be so tempted to spend orbs…)

@whenyousayrun it looks like a very solid team overall, no need to change any units. great flame should take debuffs into account, but i don’t recommend panic ploy if you’re running a flier team. its best to focus on buffs and synergy.

elincia looks fine, for the most part. i’d just give her desperation instead of flier formation since its more useful imo. she’s also a great choice for galeforce and it seems like youre headed towards that

tana i prefer as enemy phase if you’re gonna use her vidofnir, otherwise she’d be better with a brave lance desperation setup in the player phase. especially since you already gave her LD3.

valter can run either player phase or enemy phase sets so his skill setup depends on what you want to do with tana, since myrrh is a solid enemy phase unit, and elincia is a solid player phase unit. he can run desperation as well with darting blow and bonfire/luna as his special.

myrrh looks fine and i wouldnt change anything if thats working for you

the main thing you’ll have to sort out is which phase you want tana and valter to excel in. they can do both, but not at the same time due to lack of DC.

a good enemy phase for tana would be;

vidofnir bonfire A fury/DC B vantage C (any c slot) close def seal

and valters skillsetups can be found here;

http://annathetrickster.tumblr.com/post/170448322994/feh-recommended-builds-valter-stats-wise-hes-one

[annathetrickster]

Hello, if you dont mind, do you have any tips for a -hp + atck kagero? I was thunking abt luna and death blow but idk what else. Or should i just wait a better iv one?

+atk is her best IV so no need to try for another one

125 wins +atk -hppoison dagger+lunaA LD3B desperationC threaten def/spd/any hone skillatk+1 sealardent sacrifice

death blow gets you 12 less wins than LD3 so its up to you if you want to run that instead.

unfortunately kagero is way too fragile to not run desperation or a similar counter-attack negating skill. she’ll also need to run ardent to safely get into desperation range because she can’t safely take a hit like brave roy, cordelia or elincia. 

imo this is probably her best set since her HP is too low to be an anti-mage unit, and there’s no way she can run an enemy phase set with her low defensive stats. so its best to take advantage of her unique anti-infantry weapon.