Summary of changes
- New Year Alfonse: Askran Duo <TIER 2 (Defense)>
- Nifl: God of Ice <TIER 2 (Defense)>
- Pent: Mage General <TIER 2 (Defense)>
- Jorge: Traveling Peddler <TIER 2>
- Catria: Azure Wing Pair <TIER 1>
- Lilina: Firelight Leader <TIER 1>
- Resplendent Amelia: Rose of the War <TIER 2>
- Legendary Tiki (Young): Legendary Dragon <TIER 1>
- Winter Sothis - Silver Specter <TIER 1>
- Black Knight: Sinister General <TIER 1>
- Zelgius: Jet-Black General <TIER 1>
- Mareeta: Sword of Stars <TIER 3>
- Lucina: Future Witness <TIER 3>
- Marth: Enigmatic Blade <TIER 3>
- Chrom: Exalted Prince <TIER 3>
- Corrin: Fateful Prince <TIER 3>
- Brave Lucina: Brave Princess <TIER 2>
- Hinoka: Blue Sky Warrior <TIER 1>
- Azura: Vallite Songstress <TIER 2>
- Brave Gatekeeper: Nothing to Report <TIER 2>
- Virion: Elite Archer <TIER 4>
- Valentine's Alm: Lovebird Duo <TIER 3>
- Nagi: Dragon Avatar <TIER 1>
- Lysithea: Earnest Seeker <TIER 3>
- Jamke: Prince of Verdane <TIER 2 (Defense)>
- Lugh: Anima Child <TIER 3>
- Camilla: Flower of Fantasy <TIER 3 (Defense)>
- Hríd: Icy Blade <TIER 3 (Defense)>
- Eir: Merciful Death <TIER 2>
- Legault: The Hurricane <TIER 3 (Defense)>
- Winter Ephraim: Sparkling Gallantly <TIER 1>
- Hatari Nailah : Hatari Scorcher <TIER 2>
- Hatari Karla : Sun-Piercing Steel <TIER 1>
- Hatari Azura : Hatari Duet <TIER 1>
- Valentines Lucina: Future Fondness <TIER 1>
- Valentines Robin (F): Tactful Deliverer <TIER 1>
- Valentines Chrom: Fate-Defying Duo <TIER 1 (Defense)>
- Mythic Elimine: Scouring Saint <TIER 1>
Introduction
While the changelog comes off as just a typical update, it is rather deceptive; many changes are happening under the hood with this month’s update. We hope that through the proposed changes, we can achieve better consistency in our tiering, especially in the lower tiers.
One thing that we were criticized on in the last update is our pessimism in New Year Dagr, specifically on Defense. We feel that we should apply the same set of standards to many of the other units in the tier list. As such, we also look into several other placements in terms of Aether Raids Defense this month, and more changes will be due over the next few updates
Generics Discussion
At the time of writing, we are currently at 770 heroes in the game (including the units introduced on the Here With Me banner). This means that making retroactive changes to the tier list is a big issue, and this is unlikely to go away anytime soon. The sheer quantity of units increases the difficulty in maintaining the tier list, so there is an increased likelihood of the team missing out on some units (case in point being Astrid when compared to generic Bow Cavaliers).
The approach we decided to do is to remove all generics from the tier list. This means that all units without a personal weapon or Skill will be removed; this includes new units such as Valentine’s Lissa and Valentine’s Owain from Here with Me, and Hatari Xane and Hatari Deen from Of Lost Kingdoms. We feel that this is most optimal, as most modern units are built similarly in terms of stat distribution (other than Merlinus, but that’s done as a joke…probably). Units with Refresh skills such as Dance or Sing are excluded from this rule and will remain on the tier list.
In its place, we now have a separate infographic on each generic weapon type depending on weapon access. Tomes such as the different Colored Tomes are treated separately as each has distinct inheritable options, while Colored Bows and Daggers are not as they do not differ in terms of inherits. We decided to also split between Colored and Colorless for Bow and Dagger, as we feel that the latter has a significant advantage in terms of consistency and significantly fewer weak matchups to face.
Each weapon type will be divided into movement types, including those that currently do not have a generic counterpart in the game (such as generic Flying Dragons). Lastly, within each weapon movement type, we consider both defensive builds and speedy builds, as certain classes (such as Infantry and most recently Armored) benefit more from Speed compared to the other classes. Using the above parameters, each category will be assigned a tier following the tier list.
In general, Armored units tend to be viewed favorably due to their access to Fighter Skills and Near and Far Save. Defensive builds are dominated by Infantries and Armors due to having favorable skill access compared to the other 2 movement types.
With the new Savvy Fighter skill, speedy Armors now have a go-to skill to be used in both Player and Enemy Phase considerations (mostly the latter due to their lack of mobility). It is of the team’s opinion that stacking defensive stats continues to be the better call, as while reducing damage is nice, the sheer amount of stat-stacking for Save-based strategies means that a lot of the time, an Armor can take zero damage.
Lastly, the gulf between personal weapons and generic weapons in terms of firepower is nearly insurmountable in the modern era. For the most part, generics are not going to do well in the damage department. Their main area to which they can contribute is through disruptions (such as the likes of Cavalry Staves) or being able to block counterattacks (such as Firesweep Bow or Vicious Dagger + Windsweep), but even that can be dodgy due to the prevalence of Ascendant Fjorm.
We will discuss each generic category in brief in the article. Italicized weapons are weapons that are available on a seasonal unit, and bolded weapons are weapons that are only available on a 5-star unit.
Sword, Lance, and Axes
- Sword: Winter Rapier / Steadfast Sword
- Lance: Steadfast Lance / Stout Lance / Piercing Tribute / It’s Curtains
- Ax: Steadfast Axe / Love Candelabra
In terms of inheritable options, Lances simply have a deeper weapon pool that is more competitive compared to the other 2 melee weapon types. On a defensive front, melee units gravitate to deal with melee enemies, which makes weapons such as Stout Lance extremely valuable due to the relevant stats (Atk and Def) and damage reduction it grants. That is not to mention the new Piercing Tribute; granting the user the defensive half of Null Follow-Up, it can be leveraged by any speedy Lance unit so long as they have the Spd and Def to deal with their matchups effectively.
Speed build-wise, It’s Curtains is just much ahead of the competition (Player Phase-wise) despite its age, and it single-handedly makes Flying and Cavalry builds viable in terms of Galeforce. This is because of their lack of access to Flashing Blade, which means that using the Ninja weapons to activate Galeforce is not an option.
Dragons
- Dragons: Pale Breath / Blackfire Breath / Lightning Breath / Lantern Breath
Dragons are mostly Enemy Phase units. As Dragons can access an exclusive set of B Slots that is independent of their movement type, Dragons are probably the most consistent in terms of tiering, with the only exception being Cavalry due to their lower stat totals. Dragons are incredibly flexible due to their having access to an inheritable Distant Counter weapon; this potentially makes them both a good melee and ranged combatant. This is especially relevant for Armors, as Dragon Armors with good mixed bulk can be Far Save units (Nagi / Winter Fae), while dragons with high Def can focus on Near Save (Halloween Myrrh).
Tomes
- Red Tome: Unity Blooms
- Blue Tome: Pact Blooms / Spider Plush / Love Bouquet
- Green Tome: Amity Blooms / Snow Globe / Plegian Torch
Most of the Player Phase options for generic Tomes are simply not good enough. As a result, Tomes are generally evaluated for their Enemy Phase performance. This leads to Fliers and Cavalry doing poorly under both speed and defensive categories due to the lack of powerful Enemy Phase Skills. Speedy Infantry Tomes are also relatively struggling, as investing in Speed results in a cost opportunity in building for bulk, which is particularly annoying because ranged units need to deal with both physical and magic damage, unlike their melee counterparts which for the most part only care about physical.
Armors do not have this problem, as Savvy Fighter provides them with a little additional protection via first-hit damage reduction, and having Saves means being able to stack support. Lastly, Red Tomes in general are quite lacking in competitive weapons, making them typically difficult to use regardless of the movement type.
Bow and Dagger
- Bow: Tannenbow / Courtly Bow / Reindeer Bow / Firesweep Bow / Ninja Yumi
- Dagger: Courtly Mask / Vicious Dagger / Broadleaf Fan / Sky Maiougi
Unlike Tomes, Bows and Daggers have some solid Player Phase options: Firesweep Bow can be used to chip away Far Save enemies (save Ascendant Fjorm), Ninja Yumi can be used for its double attacks alongside true damage, and Sky Maiougi is useful due to its Armor-effective damage and innate Hardy Bearing, which is useful against Vantage (even if it is relatively rare) and Brave Ike. For the most part, they are not ground-breaking, but they can put in work nonetheless. Defensively the bows do have a slight edge, which results in colorless bow being viewed slightly more favorably in that regard.
Staves
- Staves: Observant Staff / Palm Staff / Staff of Tribute / Melancholy / Flash
Combat-wise, for Staves on Offense, Observant Staff probably has no contest as it provides the most stats. Staff of Tribute does have some potential due to its defensive properties, but it can be neutered by Fatal Smoke. In general, though, Palm Staff can essentially make any Staff unit a Save Ball support by debuffing foes when at the front of the formation. This makes any Infantry and Flying Staff somewhat usable, with the former being able to provide Even Pulse Tie support and the latter having access to Reins, which synergize well with Palm Staff. Melancholy and Flash are the usual disruption for Staves on Defense, in which Cavalry units are king.
Aether Raids (D)ead?
As mentioned in the introduction, even before Mythic Elimine’s release, the team has been rather harsh on the defensive side of the metagame. An example would be New Year Dagr in the previous update, as we believe that our placement of New Year Dagr is fair due to her unconvincing matchups depending on the Raiding Party’s support. However, it can be tough to retroactively look at every single unit again with the same set of standards every time. The following changes will probably not be sufficient, as we might look into either demoting more units or overhauling the system as a whole, but we hope that it is, at the very least, a step in the right direction.
- Jorge: Traveling Peddler <TIER 2>
- Bridal Catria: Azure Wing Pair <TIER 1>
- Lilina: Firelight Leader <TIER 1>
We pivoted these units away from their Defense designations. While these units are no longer as good on Defense due to either not being evaluated for a long time (Jorge / Legendary Lilina) or recent developments (Bridal Catria), their contribution on Offense is still significant enough for them to keep their current tiering. For example, Bridal Catria allows a huge increase in firepower for Galeforce strategies, and Jorge is good support for a Save comp akin to Hinoka (WF).
- New Year Alfonse: Askran Duo <TIER 2 (Defense)>
- Nifl: God of Ice <TIER 2 (Defense)>
- Pent: Mage General <TIER 2 (Defense)>
On the other hand, these units do not offer as much on Offense, hence they are demoted. New Year Alfonse has fallen off on Defense, and using him on Offense for his original purpose is dodgy at best. With Flayn and now Elimine providing damage reduction on both hits, Nifl’s Domain of Ice is simply less useful on Offense; however, it should be mentioned that she can run Even Pulse Tie, which does have niche uses. Lastly, Pent’s cooldown acceleration is a decent effect, but he does not provide other forms of support compared to better alternatives such as Groom Rafiel.
Other Adjustments
- Resplendent Amelia: Rose of the War <TIER 2>
- Legendary Tiki (Young): Legendary Dragon <TIER 1>
- Winter Sothis: Silver Specter <TIER 1>
- Black Knight: Sinister General <TIER 1>
- Zelgius: Jet-Black General <TIER 1>
As if Armors did not have enough tools already, they now have what is essentially a combination of Null Follow-Up and damage reduction B Slots in a single Skill: Savvy Fighter. This means that Speed is no longer a less useful stat and speedy Armors finally get to thrive. One main consideration for Savvy Fighter is that it is probably better on Near Save than Far Save, as most damage reduction-piercing effects are on ranged units (Duo Lif, Young Innes, Lethality, Deadeye, etc.). Regardless, all of these units benefited from the introduction of Savvy Fighter, hence they are promoted.
- Mareeta: Sword of Stars <TIER 3>
- Lucina: Future Witness <TIER 3>
- Marth: Enigmatic Blade <TIER 3>
- Chrom: Exalted Prince <TIER 3>
In contrast, what these units do is no longer unique. In the past, blocking follow-ups on top of damage reduction was a powerful combination; however, now that Savvy Fighter by itself provides both effects (albeit damage reduction to a lesser extent), their uniqueness is slightly diminished. The other consideration is also the introduction of Piercing Tribute, which grants the defensive half of Null Follow-Up. The combination of these factors made us reconsider any form of weaponry Null Follow-Up. We decided to maintain Byleth and Ryoma’s positions; the former has Null Guard for Galeforce, whereas the latter still has Distant Counter. While Distant Counter is not as good as before, it can still be useful in certain situations such as running them as ranged specialists instead of melee ones.
- Corrin: Fateful Prince <TIER 3>
- Brave Lucina: Brave Princess <TIER 2>
- Hinoka: Blue Sky Warrior <TIER 1>
- Azura: Vallite Songstress <TIER 2>
We also considered the changing landscape of supports. Corrin (M) is likely an overdue demotion; his stats being locked to his ally support means he can only support one unit at a time (the only exception is if you somehow run the same unit for Far and Near Save, but that is too restrictive). Similarly, we feel that Brave Lucina deserves a demotion due to cooldown acceleration being not as unique compared to the time of her refine’s release. Finally, Legendary Azura is also likely an overdue demotion, as movement boosters are no longer as unique as before.
The only promotion for support in this update is Hinoka (WF); while she was already good, she becomes phenomenal should the player opt to leverage on Speed in their Save Ball strategies, and the availability of Savvy Fighter allows Hinoka to be one of the best supports a player could bring in a Save-focused strategy.
- Brave Gatekeeper: Nothing to Report <TIER 2>
- Virion: Elite Archer <TIER 4>
- Valentine's Alm: Lovebird Duo <TIER 3>
- Nagi: Dragon Avatar <TIER 1>
- Lysithea: Earnest Seeker <TIER 3>
Lastly, we have some other miscellaneous changes. Gatekeeper’s Omni-Obstruct and warp disruption, while fun, can be niche and finicky. His best use continues to be a wall specifically for Hit-and-Run strategies, but his survivability is starting to become questionable due to his lack of stats as a ranged unit and his B Skill providing absolutely nothing in terms of combat.
As for the rest, Virion’s support, similarly to Aversa’s, is no longer as useful as before, and Valentine’s Alm’s Scepter of Love is simply not enough to separate him from generic speedy axes. Nagi’s min-maxed stat distribution alongside a slight dip in the usage of Valentines Lif makes Nagi a relatively safe option to use as a Far Save on Aether Raids Offense, and lastly, Brave Lysithea’s firepower even with set-up is no longer as groundbreaking as before
Weapon Refinery
Jamke: Prince of Verdane <TIER 2> (Defense)
In short, Jamke’s Bow of Verdane makes him Ullr based on a Speed check, except without the Guard nullification and her specialized stat distribution. Jamke likely needs to put in a lot of effort to ensure he can pass the Speed checks on his weapon due to subpar Speed compared to Ullr.
However, unlike Ullr, Jamke is not locked to being an Offense Mythic, which means that he can be placed on Defense Keeps. This can be especially potent in conjunction with Bridal Catria, which isn’t too bad even if it is practically locked to Dark season due to the newly released Elimine.
Adrift Camilla: Flower of Fantasy <TIER 3>
Adrift Camilla shares many similarities with Riev, as both units have rather potent debuffs that are easy to activate. However, Riev is still better; not only is he a tech option via Stall on his weapon, but he is also Infantry, meaning he has access to competitive Skills and easier Special charges compared to other movement types. Meanwhile, Camilla is plagued by the Ranged Flier curse, as she continues to be stuck without a competitive B Slot.
Legault: The Hurricane <TIER 3> (Defense)
As a Dagger unit, Legault has access to Lethality, one of the most potent inheritable Specials in terms of pure damage output. However, Legault might struggle to charge Lethality, as his weapon does not provide Special acceleration or charges. While Legault does have a trick up his sleeve in the form of Speed-based reduction, his lackluster bulk alongside the now-increased emphasis in Speed on Armors affects Legault’s proficiency in taking even a single hit on Player Phase. Using Legault as a ranged tank is also dangerous due to his aforementioned bulk issues and the increased prominence of damage reduction-piercing. As such, we feel that Legault is probably more useful in Defense.
Hríd: Icy Blade <TIER 3> (Defense)
Being a defensive Cavalier kind of sucks, and while nothing is lost when Hrid sacrifices generic B Slots for his rather disruptive Freezing Seal II, it does not contribute combatively outside of debuffs, and the follow-up negation on Gjöll that piggybacks on these debuffs is not useful against guaranteed follow-ups due to his sub-par Speed. However, Freezing Seal II does have some strong application in Defense, as its Guard affliction can potentially throw off Special-dependent Enemy Phase strategies. Additionally, Hrid’s guaranteed follow-up from Gjöll can be powerful should the enemy lack protection against follow-ups. However, we feel that his combat lacks the proficiency needed to qualify for a higher tier.
Eir: Merciful Death <TIER 2>
Eir’s refine is largely a combat-focused one, but she lost her recoil niche that allows for strategies revolving around Wings of Mercy. Theoretically, Eir’s in-combat Guard alongside blocking follow-ups can be useful to ensure she does not get OHKO’d, but her combat potential is limited by lacking combative B Slots due to her status as a Ranged Flier. While the additional boosts in Attack are substantial, Eir’s damage can still be easily tanked by any competitive Far Save Armor.
The biggest boost for Eir is probably Sparkling Boost+, as she now provides 20 HP on the most damaged ally per turn on top of an in-combat +5 Res buff for any ally provided they have ≥ 50% HP. Lyfjaberg’s refine aside, Eir still has the choice of being purely supportive with her trusty ol’ Temari alongside the new Sparkling Boost+. Additionally, she still has the usual Wings of Mercy beacon for Galeforce strategies via Pumpkin-a-Box and Fury.
Lugh: Anima Child <TIER 3>
Tome of Reason is a modern-day stat-stick weapon, granting high in-combat buffs to himself on easy conditions and inflicting high in-combat debuffs to the enemy based on visible buffs that his weapon grants to both himself and allies. This is essentially Legendary Tiki’s Divine Mist, but the stat swing is significantly stronger. However, the big difference between the two is that Legendary Tiki is an Armored unit, which is better compared to being an Infantry due to having significantly better B Slots alongside Save Skills.
Lugh can also be compared to Julius, as their bulk distributions are rather similar (much higher Res than Def). While Lugh is faster and has more stats, Julius has Resistance-based damage reduction, which is likely to scale better in the long run due to his lopsided defenses. Since purely being a stat-stick is a relatively uncertain role nowadays, he is promoted only to Tier 3.
Winter Ephraim: Sparkling Gallantly <TIER 1>
Winter Ephraim’s main gimmick is being able to attack twice on Enemy Phase as long as he meets the Atk check; this somewhat locks him to Near Save, as he loses an Atk-boosting A Slot if he tries a Far Save set. Other than that, he is a Blue Arden with an extra cooldown acceleration from Winter Siegmund; however, this is not particularly useful, as there are no Specials that hit harder than Ignis at a higher cooldown.
New Units
As mentioned in the generic discussions, Hatari Deen, Hatari Xane, Valentine’s Lissa, and Valentine’s Owain are no longer assessed due to the changes to how generics are tiered.
Hatari Nailah: Hatari Scorcher <TIER 2>
Hatari Nailah shares similarities with Byleth and Scion Larcei, as all three have Null Follow-Up and Guard nullification in their weapons. The main difference is that Nailah is a beast unit, which means that, unlike Larcei and Byleth, she does not have access to damage reduction B Slots. However, the team does not feel that this difference is enough to split the tiering between these three units, as Nailah’s main role is likely as a reliable Galeforce unit with Wings of Mercy. As such, she is tiered in the same tier as Byleth and Larcei.
Hatari Karla: Sun-Piercing Steel <TIER 1>
While Karla’s cooldown reduction effects are akin to Navarre’s Scarlet Sword, she has an additional trick of gaining damage on Special activation based on her Speed and max Special cooldown. The former means that she can be used as a Galeforce unit, and the latter means that she both has no pressure in using Null Follow-Up (as she is very likely to OHKO enemies) and can be used as a melee specialist. Karla’s being Blue also means that her Legendary Sigurd matchup is solid by default, even if her physical defensive bulk leaves much to be desired.
The main problematic matchup for Karla is probably Otr, but due to how uncommon he is at the time of writing, it is difficult to penalize Karla for that. We believe that Karla is sufficient for Tier 1 because her firepower gives her a distinct edge over other melee specialist counterparts, and the ability to pivot to a Galeforce build also gives Karla some brownie points for versatility (similarly to how Byleth was tiered in the past).
Hatari Azura: Hatari Duet <TIER 1>
Being able to provide a refresh on her Harmonic Skill opens up plenty of overwhelming strategies on Offense, the main one involving Ninja Corrin and her self-refresh shenanigans in addition to other options such as Ophelia for AoE Special spamming and Azura for repeated refreshes. Defensively, Hatari Azura is probably superior to Masquerade Sigurd due to Gray Waves and the increased movement; however, like Sigurd, she is marred with the similar problem that her high Attack leaves her prone to meeting the 5 damage check that makes her attack rather than refresh. Because of her Harmonic Skill and the damage check conundrum, we feel that Hatari Azura should be rated based on her Offense potential, in which she is Tier 1.
Valentines Lucina: Future Fondness <TIER 1>
Due to her fantastic Speed and Savvy Fighter, it is unlikely for Lucina to not perform a follow-up, let alone receive one from an enemy. As a result, Lucina typically only takes one hit, as there aren’t many melee units that hit twice in the Defense meta right now. Furthermore, as she is a Near Save unit, she can be deployed with a Far Save ally to only receive melee enemy attacks. The sparsity of damage reduction piercing on melee units leads to Lucina usually keeping her 58% damage reduction, providing Lucina the longevity she needs even if her bulk is slightly less than her Near Save competition.
It could be argued that building defensive bulk similar to the likes of Arden and Brave Hector is better than Speed-stacking, as taking no damage is better than taking reduced damage. However, it is not without its benefits, as Lucina can deal with Windsweep better (even if it is not particularly common on melee units). While the point about defensive bulk is probably true right now, we believe that the difference in performance is not enough to differentiate between Lucina and the other Tier 1 Near Save units.
Valentines Robin (F): Tactful Deliverer <TIER 1>
Valentine’s Robin is a typical Armored Tome unit, but better; her main competitive advantage is her unconditional, 30% first-hit damage reduction. However, her Achilles’ heel is her abysmal Speed, allowing nearly everyone to easily perform follow-up attacks because she does not block enemy follow-ups. The only way for Robin to leverage on her first-hit damage reduction is by OHKOing her enemies through Specials and the cooldown reduction on her weapon.
What further sets Robin apart from other Armors is that Robin need not necessarily be the Save unit. As support, Robin shares many similarities with Hinoka (WF), with the main difference being that Robin does not provide SPD; rather, she gives on-hit healing to her allies. If Hinoka is the queen of support for Speed-based teams, Robin is probably good for non-Speed-based teams.
Valentines Chrom: Fate-Defying Duo <TIER 1 (Defense)>
As a Red unit, there is no pressure for Valentine’s Chrom to deal with Brave Hector, the only Armor in the game whose weapon negates Destiny’s Bow’s Armor-effectiveness. Chrom can focus on dealing with Red and Green units while relying on allies to deal with Blue matchups. Once considered in that context, Valentine’s Chrom does his job extremely well, as his matchups are overall very favorable.
His biggest non-Blue challenge is Ascendant Fjorm, as her Ice Mirror can reflect the effective damage onto Chrom. However, should the Defense Keep be able to charge Chrom’s Deadeye, he can simply OHKO Ascendant Fjorm. As his win condition is well-established, we believe that he is deserving of Tier 1 on Defense. Just make sure that your team has some way of dealing with Brave Hector.
Mythic Elimine: Scouring Saint <TIER 1>
The sheer quantity of units that gets shut down by Elimine is ridiculous. In particular, she shuts down 2 of the most prominent strategies used in Defense: those revolving around Bridal Catria and those revolving around Legendary Sigurd. The damage reduction from her exclusive C Skill alongside her Mythic status alone is probably enough to justify her position to be Tier 1, but her weapon’s False Start effect is simply on another level. The ramifications on Defense are obvious, and it is her presence that resulted in many Defense units being demoted. As mentioned in the introduction, we will continue to review our Defense placements in the next few updates.
