Summary of changes
Tier 1 Adjustments to Tier 2
- Arden: Strong and Tough
- Laslow: Dancing Duelist
- Halloween Myrrh: Spooky Monster
- Spring Idunn: Dragonkin Duo
- Legendary Hector: Marquess of Ostia
- Legendary Tiki (Young): Legendary Dragon
- Ascended Mareeta: Astra Awakened
- Brave Marth: Prince of Light
- Legendary Sigurd: Fated Holy Knight
- Dancing Sigurd: Destined Duo
- New Year Fáfnir: Fresh Ambition
- Legendary Byleth (F): The Fódlan Light
- Eitri: Youthful Sage
- Mila: Goddess of Love
- Múspell: Flame God
- Flame Múspell: Raging Inferno
- Resplendent Ishtar: Echoing Thunder
Arcane Sword Adjustments
- Winter Manuela: Silver Caroler <TIER 1>
- Zephiel: The Liberator <TIER 2>
- Generics: Speedy Armored Swords <TIER 2>
- Generics: Defensive Armored Swords <TIER 2>
- Generics: Speedy Cavalry Swords <TIER 3>
- Generics: Defensive Cavalry Swords <TIER 3>
- Generics: Speedy Infantry Swords <TIER 3>
- Generics: Defensive Infantry Swords <TIER 3>
- Generics: Speedy Flier Swords <TIER 4>
- Generics: Defensive Flier Swords <TIER 4>
Other Adjustments
- Brave Seliph: Enduring Legacy <TIER 1 (Anima / Dark)>
New Units / Refines
- Shez: Rising Mercenary <TIER 1>
- Monica: Favored Vassal <TIER 2>
- Hilda: Helping Hand <TIER 2>
- Arcane Lif: Arcane Blade <TIER 3>
- Holst: Hero of Leicester <TIER 3>
- Shez: Keen Mercenary <TIER 2>
- Legendary Ninian: Ice-Dragon Oracle <TIER 1>
- Halloween Corrin (F): Starry Seer <TIER 1>
- Halloween Corrin (M): Celestial Sorcerer <TIER 2>
- Halloween Duma: Strength and Love <TIER 1>
- Halloween Nils: Wandering Star <TIER 3>
- Summer Lyn: Lady of the Beach <TIER 2 (Defense)>
- Lethe: Gallia’s Valkyrie <TIER 3>
- Fallen Tiki (Y): Torpid Dragon <TIER 2>
- Fallen Delthea: Tatarrah’s Puppet <TIER 3 (Defense)>
- Yarne: Timid Taguel <TIER 3>
Introduction
Since the last update, the game had introduced many different mechanics that allow old units to catch up to newer units. This includes the introduction of Rearmed Heroes and the Null Follow-Up seal. The ramifications of these new mechanics introduced are astronomical, to say the least, as the team would have to re-evaluate many of the units from the ground up. This resulted in a slight delay in the update, however, the team right now is still not fully ready to release everything we have discussed. As such, for this update we would focus on a few things; Tier 1 re-evaluations, and the application of the new Arcane Sword on generic units. We will focus more on the application of it on units with personal weapons and the retroactive assessment of infantries with the release of the Null Follow-Up seal and effects in the next update.
Tier 1 Adjustments
As the power level of units increases, the gap within the highest tier is becoming increasingly difficult to justify. Prompted by the community feedback, the team felt that it is also a good time to relook at the highest tier and raise the bar of the highest tier. In this section, we will briefly discuss some of the reasons for the demotions.
- Arden: Strong and Tough
- Halloween Myrrh: Spooky Monster
- Spring Idunn: Dragonkin Duo
- Legendary Hector: Marquess of Ostia
- Legendary Tiki (Young): Legendary Dragon
Starting with armors; Arden’s lopsided effect is becoming increasingly problematic with the likes of Summer Nifl, Flame Muspell, and most notably Medeus as a threat. Spring Idunn and Legendary Hector are also starting to struggle as both somewhat rely on blocking the foe’s follow-up attacks. Hector’s damage reduction is also for naught due to his terrible match-up against the most common melee nuke right on defense; Brave Seliph. Legendary Tiki and Halloween Myrrh are less of them declining, but rather the increasingly competitive landscape of armors, as the other units in tier 1 perform their role at a much higher level, such as Caineghis against Legendary Tiki, and Brave Edelgard against Halloween Myrrh (despite Brave Edelgard’s color against Brave Seliph).
- Ascended Mareeta: Astra Awakened
- Brave Marth: Prince of Light
- Múspell: Flame God
- Flame Múspell: Raging Inferno
As eluded by the previous article, Miracle effects are becoming increasingly common. This meant that taking out a foe in a single hit is nigh impossible under some circumstances. Unfortunately, the rise of Brave Seliph does mean that such effects are likely to stay for a long time. Hence, units that rely on the single-hit gimmick are punished.
- Legendary Sigurd: Fated Holy Knight
- Legendary Byleth (F): The Fódlan Light
- Resplendent Ishtar: Echoing Thunder
Legendary Sigurd has been falling off for a long time combat-wise, and the extended range provided by Holy Knight Aura actually makes it difficult to have enough firepower to break through Far Save related strategies. With Far and Near Save being commonplace at this point, it is a difficult call to allow Sigurd to stay in Tier 1 moving forward. As for Byleth and Ishtar, the continued lack of any ways of countering damage reduction alongside the common use of Deflect Magic meant that they are likely to continue struggling to break through those tanks. Similar to New Year Dagr in the past, we will be more open for a re-evaluation once the situation improves.
- Dancing Sigurd: Destined Duo
- New Year Fáfnir: Fresh Ambition
- Eitri: Youthful Sage
Lastly, this group of units is already outdone by units in Tier 1, and the difference in performance is starting to show; Dancing Sigurd is simply a lesser version of Hatari Azura, while Fafnir and Eitri are both lesser versions of Yuri. Yuri continues to be a relatively decent option due to the presence of Lethality and the ability to go in on the first turn to prevent Hardy Fighter from activating. Eitri simply lacks the brute force power of Lethality. At the same time, Fafnir has a significantly harder time charging the skill alongside having a disadvantaged matchup against the likes of Brave Hector and Ascended Idunn.
Arcane Sword considerations
Arcane Éljúðnir is our very first rearmed weapon that was introduced, where despite it being an inheritable weapon, the power level is actually closer to the modern personal weapons as opposed to normal inheritable ones. Unlike normal inheritable weapons though, the units will not be able to use their own personal abilities, which meant that the only main consideration for the weapon is largely the unit movement type and the stat distribution.
Fortunately, the existing infrastructure of the tier list is largely compatible with the introduction of Arcane weapons, as generics were treated as a separate entity compared to the normal tier list. However, the ramifications will also somewhat apply to units with personal weapons as well, as units that have weapons that are weaker than the Arcane weapons are also likely to consider the weapon as well. It also does not help that sword is the largest weapon group in the game with the most units as well. We are still in the midst of discussions with regard to how it affects the units with their own weapons, hence in this update, we would largely focus on generics barring a few exceptions in the higher tiers as those are much lesser in quantity.
- Winter Manuela: Silver Caroler <TIER 1>
- Zephiel: The Liberator <TIER 2>
- Generics: Speedy Armored Swords <TIER 2>
- Generics: Defensive Armored Swords <TIER 2>
As per the usual tier list tradition, whenever there is a new inheritable, there is usually the thought of applying it to armored units. The new Arcane weapon is no exception to the rule, as the sole existence of this weapon propelled most sword armors forward in viability to be used as a Near Save option. Most of the units are assessed with that intention in mind. Winter Manuela and Zephiel are largely brought up due to their relatively optimized stat distribution for the role, with the former likely to compete extremely well with the other fast Tier 1 Near Save units, which is likely going to be increasingly relevant due to most melee nukes having fast speed and somewhat reliant on winning the speed check against the opponent for a follow-up attack, such as Legendary Nanna and most notably Brave Seliph.
- Generics: Speedy Cavalry Swords <TIER 3>
- Generics: Defensive Cavalry Swords <TIER 3>
- Arcane Lif: Arcane Blade <TIER 3>
The other big adjustment we have is with the Cavalry swords, as the Arcane sword is a significant step up for the generic cavalry units in being a Galeforce unit with its guaranteed follow-up attack alongside cooldown reduction. The stat boost has also helped with Heavy Blade checks for more consistent use of Galeforce as a whole. Arcane Lif follows suit to be Tier 3, as for some reason Lif insists on being an enemy phase cavalry with Deadly Balance and Open the Future, which is not a cavalry’s strong suit, to say the least.
- Generics: Speedy Infantry Swords <TIER 3>
- Generics: Defensive Infantry Swords <TIER 3>
- Generics: Speedy Flier Swords <TIER 4>
- Generics: Defensive Flier Swords <TIER 4>
Infantry units also received a slight boost largely in the enemy phase context, but that continues to be largely superseded by their armored counterparts. Nevertheless, this weapon is a good addition specifically for slower units, as slowing down the foe’s cooldown charge similar to Guard is helpful when dealing with follow-up attacks from the opponents. Fliers, unfortunately, continue to be restricted with their skill access alongside having worse mobility options in the Aether Raids context, which makes it difficult to justify their use over the other mobility classes
Other consideration
- Brave Seliph: Enduring Legacy <TIER 1 (Anima / Dark)>
We only have one other consideration for this update, and that is Brave Seliph. While the presence of Elimine is indeed an issue, there is also the argument of forcing the foe to make a decision to focus Seliph down in terms of False Start. Furthermore, there is no guarantee that Elimine can land the False Start on the next turn after the first engagement, which meant that should Seliph survive the combat (likely due to the weapon’s Miracle effect) or not engage in the combat at all, it is possible that Seliph can still get his additional mobility off. This meant that while Seliph is definitely weaker on defense, he is definitely no slouch either. Seliph is going to be a mainstay on defenses, and he will be giving any melee tanks a hard time moving forward.
Weapon Refines & New Units
Fallen Tiki (Y): Torpid Dragon <TIER 2>
Fallen Tiki’s refine is relatively unfortunate, as it follows the trend of most other weapons with Distant Counter being generally mediocre overall. As armors are not really built for the player phase under most circumstances, Tiki’s 2 main effects are Bonus Doubler and prevention of follow-up, which both effects are easily switched off by Lulls and Null Follow-Up respectively. With that said, however, the sole reason why Tiki is still considered for Tier 2 is simply due to the strength of the Armored class as a whole due to the strength of the Savior skills.
Aether Raids Defense
- Summer Lyn: Lady of the Beach <TIER 2 (Anima / Dark)>
- Fallen Delthea: Tatarrah’s Puppet <TIER 3 (Anima / Dark)>
Both Fallen Delthea and Summer Lyn have weapons that are largely more useful in the Aether Raids context. Starting with Fallen Delthea, while the sheer amount of stats Delthea could receive is impressive, the only additional combat effect she gets is buff neutralization on the foe. While the teleportation effect similar to Ninja Igrene and Spring Sonya can be potentially useful, Delthea is likely to struggle to break through against most enemy phase strategies, be it Far Save or any modern super tank such as Brave Dimitri. Summer Lyn on the other hand received a more significant combat boost with the neutralization of follow-up negation, Tempo, and preventing counterattacks against melee foes on a speed check. When coupled with her Armor effective properties, Summer Lyn can be potentially useful to tackle against Far Save units. However, Lyn’s subpar stat distribution alongside weak skill access as a ranged flier all somewhat weighs her down performance-wise.
Beast Refines
- Lethe: Gallia’s Valkyrie <TIER 3>
- Yarne: Timid Taguel <TIER 3>
Yarne and Lethe both gained additional firepower in their weapon refines, however, the primary concern continues to be the lack of focus on what Cavalries are primarily used in Aether Raids; Galeforce. Yarne’s cooldown acceleration akin to special spiral does provide some increased level of consistency, however, the lack of cooldown reduction akin to a Slaying weapon meant that in the event which Yarne accidentally take out the foe in a single hit, he would actually miss the Galeforce activation. As for Lethe, she has the same problem with the lack of cooldown reduction, and the additional damage on special cannot be used in conjunction with Galeforce as well. The lack of focus in their refinement resulted in them being slated for Tier 3.
New Heroes & Rearmed Líf
- Shez (M): Rising Mercenary <TIER 1>
As eluded in the tier list addendum, Shez is the perfect combination of high speed to leverage on Godlike Reflexes on top of having the ability twice in the player phase. The extra speed is likely going to be a deciding factor, especially against the likes of Brave Seliph and many other fast nukes moving forward. Due to the increasing speed thresholds needed, Shez is slated for Tier 1.
- Monica: Favored Vassal <TIER 2>
Monica is a relatively competitive infantry mage with the ability to have large stat swings with the help of her weapon. The existence of the Null Follow-Up seal also adds some variety to her build options, as she now can leverage both Tempo and Null Follow-Up at the same time. Unfortunately, Monica shares the same problem as the likes of Legendary Byleth (F) and Ascended Ishtar; the lack of counterplay against damage reduction continues to be a problem. This meant that her damage output is highly neutered even if the special goes off, and her lack of bulk meant that she is going to be taken out more often than not.
- Ascended Hilda: Helping Hand <TIER 2>
- Shez (F): Keen Mercenary <TIER 2>
- Holst: Hero of Leicester <TIER 3>
As for the rest of the melee infantry units, Ascended Hilda is a support unit with significant combat potential, which unfortunately is not the most useful archetype as of the time of writing as her support is a slightly worse version of the likes of Flayn and Elimine with higher percentage damage reduction and it applying on both hits. Shez (F) having unconditional cooldown acceleration can be useful in a Galeforce strategy, and being Infantry meant that not having cooldown reduction is not exactly a death sentence, unlike the cavalry counterparts. Lastly, there is not much to like about Holst’s weapon, as the better play is probably to use the new Arcane weapon on Holst. In that regard, he is ranked similarly to other speedy sword infantry generics.
Legendary Ninian: Ice-Dragon Oracle <TIER 1>
Ninian’s main draw would be her personal refresh skill, Dragon Dance; as it provides Ninian with an additional action after refreshing her ally. Ninian shares similarities with Galeforce dancers and Brave Marianne with the added advantage of being a Cavalry unit. This flexibility meant that Ninian is not locked into using Wings of Mercy, and instead use her base Trace skill to assist in trapping foes for Aether structures in the next turn. Lastly, Ninian’s combat potential is also significantly higher compared to other refreshers, and she is not reliant on special charges to get the extra turn. The combination of these factors makes her a strong candidate for Tier 1.
Divine Harvest
- Halloween Corrin (F): Starry Seer <TIER 1>
- Halloween Corrin (M): Celestial Sorcerer <TIER 2>
Both variants of Corrin do have some damage reduction properties, with the female version having Shield Pulse embedded on the weapon alongside having access to Negating Fang, while the male one gets a percentage damage reduction on the first attack. Due to the increased prominence of damage reduction piercing, special-based damage reduction such as Negating Fang is more consistent as opposed to normal damage reduction. Furthermore, it can also be argued that Female Corrin has a better color in the current landscape due to red being a rather common color for player phase units such as the likes of Brave Seliph and Valentine’s Chrom.
- Halloween Duma: Strength and Love <TIER 1>
After only a month, Brave Tiki’s weapon gimmick has passed onto another unit, and it is on an Armored unit which fundamentally fixes Tiki’s weaknesses by having access to the Savior skills, which Duma’s personal skill being what is essentially a variant of Far Save. The ability to remove special charges meant that it is much more difficult for player phase units to get their special charges off, which meant lesser counterplay against the likes of damage reduction similar to Brave Tiki, with the main difference being able to stack much more stat support alongside a much more optimized stat distribution.
- Halloween Nils: Wandering Star <TIER 3>
While Nils does have quite a decent stat distribution for a refresher, that is rarely put to good use as dancers are usually not used for combat, with the only exception being Galeforce which dragons do not have access to. Furthermore, dragons also lack any supportive weapon such as the likes of the Allied and Rein weapons, making them an even more difficult proposition over other weapon types as a support unit.
