The Asgardr Report - 3rd Edition: October 2021

The Asgardr Report aims to provide high-level Fire Emblem Heroes content on a regular basis. Each article will contain 3-4 topics related to the end-game content of the game; Aether Raids (Offense & Defense) and Arena. 

In this month’s edition of the Asgardr’s report, we would first discuss what is commonly known as the “ranged flier curse” in many of our analyses, be it in unit analysis or on the tier list perspective. We will then discuss some of the ways to utilize your favorite units even if they do not have a competitive weapon to work with. We will then round up the article by analyzing the new developments within the game, be it refinements, skills, etc. 

The Ranged Flier Curse

For many players who are not familiar with the competitive side of the metagame, it could be potentially difficult for them to understand most of our concerns regarding being a flier wielding a ranged weapon. We hope to explain the reasoning behind the general pessimism regarding this combination of weapon and movement types.

Firstly, fliers are inherently weak to a single weapon type in the game. While most units have to deal with some effective weapons in some way, shape, or form, fliers will face this problem even more so simply due to how common it is relative to other effective weapons This could be patched up by sacrificing the seal slot for Iote’s Shield, but that still incurs an opportunity cost as another movement type need not struggle with this problem and use a more competitive seal instead. This is especially damning when seals in general are getting stronger.

Furthermore, the lack of competitive skill access especially in Slot B is a constant pain point for Fliers as a whole. Before 2020, the only skills that fliers received in their Slot B passive were revolving around mobility through the likes of Aerobatics and Flier Formation. Since then, melee fliers received Flight skills (Wyvern / Pegasus) and Guard Bearing. While these skills are not exactly the most cutting edge, it does provide melee fliers with some options in terms of combat. Ranged Fliers continued to be ignored throughout 2020, with some of the most competitive fliers such as Summer Byleth / Ninja Lyn being given the double chill skills when the skill series already was out of meta for a long time. That is probably a testament to the lack of competitive skill access.

While in 2021, we finally got something in the form of a Trace skill, as it relies on the remaining movement on the enemy, it could be argued that Cavalry units are far more likely to leverage this skill in a more competitive manner. Even if the mobility is useful, the combat prowess of the skill pales in comparison to the likes of Infantry and Armor. This continues to put fliers in a weird spot, as they were outdone by cavalry in terms of mobility, and infantry/armor in terms of combat. 

The existence of saves skills also somewhat helped out melee fliers in some way, as they could now be used as melee specialists when their supposed weaknesses to bow could be covered up by using a Far Save unit. Unfortunately, that is not possible for a ranged flier as of the time of writing. This meant that in theory, should there be any ranged flier tank, they would probably need to incur the opportunity cost to run Iote’s Shield, which as mentioned in the earlier paragraph is not ideal.

It is not doom and gloom for fliers though; fliers are probably one of the better movement types for arena use due to a large amount of flier unique terrains in most of the arena maps. This does show one thing about fliers though; fliers need to have a terrain advantage for their use to be justified. For the case of Aether Raids, the terrain advantage to fliers ranges from marginal (Springwater, Desert) to non-existent (Spring Breeze, Abandoned Castle). 

In conclusion, being a ranged flier currently lacks any form of meaningful competitive advantage in Aether Raids due to a lack of terrain advantages. This meant that they had to take the brunt of shortfalls in combat due to the lack of strong combat options skills and having to deal with bow allergies. Ranged fliers are mostly outdone by cavalry in terms of mobility and Infantry / Armor in combat. While strong ranged fliers do exist, those are largely carried by their special abilities, and not the movement type itself. 

The Asgardr’s Hall of Fame is a form of recognition for units that fulfills either of the following 2 requirements.

1. The unit is sufficiently common in Aether Raids Offense strategies and performs at a sufficiently high level.
2. The unit performs at an exceptional level even if they are less accessible without a steep learning curve.

Updates

• Yuri is added to due to his performance as a very effective AoE sweeping unit. While being a physical attacker could potentially diminish his effectiveness, not only does he have the option to run Disarm Trap to increase his positional flexibility, the ability to retreat using Canto after attacking is invaluable.
• Scion Leif is added due to similarities to Legendary Leif.

Arena Modes

Building your units for arena modes is fairly straightforward. This would not only be applicable to Arena, but also modes that use the same scoring system such as Mjolnir Strike and Arena Assault. 

• Ensure that your unit scores high enough to be competitive, otherwise use a Duel Skill if it exists for your units.
• Inherit skills with high SP cost. Units without personal weapons would need skills with 300 SP cost on both their Passive A and Passive C, while the others would only need one on either passive slot.
• Ideally, be a specialist; being good in one role is better than being a master of none, as these units tend to lack the competitive stat distribution to stand out. Mix it up with ideally meta units to potentially patch up your favorite’s shortcomings. Remember to pay attention to all the in-season Legendary units and make adjustments accordingly.

Since we got Arena covered, what is left is Aether Raids. Unfortunately, for most cases it is difficult to justify the use of generic units in Aether Raids Offense; since those usually rely less on stats but more on the unique effects that either a personal weapon or ability would bring. The only ones that are likely to be truly useful are either refreshers such as Masquerade Eldigan or Azura, or Far Save tanks to protect the nukes such as Winter Felix or Valentine’s Faye.

We will now specifically focus on some archetypes that could be used by generic units specifically in Aether Raids Offense. Do note that this list is not meant to be exhaustive.

Area of Effect Sweepers

The tried and tested set of using AoE and Spiral together, this build can be pretty much used by units with decent ATK and is an Infantry. This can be augmented by units such as Velouria and Rafiel along with Infantry Pulse to ensure that these units are ready to go in Turn 1. 

However, it could be argued that using a highly merged character for such a role is kind of a waste, as the only stat that is beneficial for this is ATK. This meant that a unit that is more suited for the build such as the likes of Ophelia and Yuri might perform much better in this role. Nevertheless, should a player already be using their favorites to sweep in the PvE context, this could definitely work in Aether Raids Offense.

Ranged Specialists

This build leverages on the extra stats much better, as it utilizes every single stat on the unit; HP DEF and RES when foe attacks, SPD to double and prevent doubles, and ATK to take foes out. Should a player lack any of the premium units that perform a more competitive role such as the likes of Micaiah and Guinevere, these units are likely to match or even outperform in some of the metrics. Infantries are again likely to be the best for this role due to relevant Passive B such as the likes of Null Follow-Up and Null C-Disrupt.

Players could either choose to run this as it is or pair it up with a Near Save Unit. For the former, players should opt for Solo skills so that the said unit could at the very least survive in both melees and ranged situations. When paired up with Near Save, skills that focus on Ranged survival such as Distant Def and Distant Guard are especially effective.

Melee Specialists

The melee specialist, as the name suggests, focuses on dealing with anything in the melee range. The beauty of such builds is that you are not locked to a movement type; so long as your unit has a competitive stat distribution (high ATK and DEF), it is theoretically possible for any form of melee specialist to succeed. Infantries and Fliers do have a slight competitive advantage as they have a larger set of skills to access (Null Follow-Up for Infantries, Wyvern Flight / Guard Bearing for Fliers). 

Due to the prominence of ranged foes, it is imperative for this to be paired up with a Far Save unit at the back to ensure that such units are protected against ranged threats. Other than that, this is probably one of the most competitive ways for almost any unit to succeed, as in theory, most units should be able to do this role in a limited capacity.

Saves

If your generic unit is an armor, you are in luck as Save skills are rather powerful even if you are not fielding powerful meta units such as the likes of Brave Hector and Ascendant Fjorm. So long as your units do have the relevant stats (RES for Far Save, DEF for Near Save), they will continue to perform admirably. In fact, sometimes running other units might be preferred as the defender might not bother countering against the random unit that you field on offense.

While it is true that most of the time, a stronger armor is probably outperforming your favorite in this job (Picnic Lukas vs Pirate Surtr / Brave Hector), that does not mean that your generic unit is unusable by any means. Give it a spin and you will probably be surprised.

Galeforce

Galeforce is probably another archetype that is fairly lax in terms of requirements. So long as the unit has ways to activate Galeforce in a single round of combat, they would be useful in a Galeforce team. Infantry and Fliers probably prefer running Wings of Mercy and coupled with a recoil-based set-up such as the likes of Winter Bernadetta and Ninja Lyn, while Cavalry would probably want to find a way to engage on the opponent and rely on the Trace skill for unparalleled mobility. 

Compared to more competitive Galeforce units, they are probably unable to be the actual focus point of the set-up as usually they are either more reliable or have more firepower. The generic units however could serve as a follow-up to provide additional cover when it is actually required.

… Staves?

Staves are kind of garbage in combat as they usually need a skill or refinement to do normal damage, and they do not have offensive specials. They however can perform admirably as a Save Ball support should a player insist to use a healer in their team. They can be a pure support by using skills such as Sabotage or Even Pulse Tie (keeping in mind only Infantry and Cavalier healers could get it), and focus on topping up the allies’ HP should it be required. 

This is especially useful when the foe fields Fatal Smoke, as a Save Ball team could just end turn to get rid of the affliction, and the healer could simply heal up the tank should it be required. While there are probably staves that provide more meaningful support such as the likes of Summer Hilda and Flayn, these healers could still perform their role admirably as Palm Staff’s stat debuff does work relatively well when they are placed at the front of the formation. 

Conclusion

The above are some ideas that allow players to utilize their favorite units. One consistent theme is that whenever a player is using a generic unit, they would need to keep their expectations in check; Picnic Lukas is not as good as Brave Hector, and Tatiana will never compete with a fully decked out Micaiah. That is not the point; the point is to use the units that you have an attachment to, and they would serve you well enough such that you do not pull your hair out while using them.

Can every single unit be salvaged in this manner? Unfortunately, that is not the case. In the modern meta, combat units still need to take foes down, and tanks still need to survive initiations. Some of the units from launch could not even meet this basic requirement, which could be a headache for some players.

Nevertheless, we hope that this section provides some inspiration for aspiring players who wish to use their favorite units again.

In this segment, we would focus on units or skills that the author thinks are new and going to be meta-relevant moving forward due to the updates introduced in the game. For this month, this segment would cover from the Mythic Otr banner to all the content introduced in the month of October.

Mythic Otr

In terms of strength, Mythic Otr does a decent job as a green melee nuke that specifically has a good matchup against the competitive blue tanks such as Brave Hector and Pirate Surtr. However, the additional Canto on his weapon could sometimes be rather problematic on defense, as you could not set up a rally trap with Otr, and sometimes the movement after combat is undesirable.

Otr’s main strength is his personal special, which is essentially an instantly charged Luna. This damage could be patched up by damage reduction from such as the likes of Valentine’s Gustav and Pirate Surtr, but this could be somewhat circumvented by using other weapons such as Giant Spoon (you can use Wo Gun but what’s the fun of that?) and Slaying Hammer.

It is difficult to say that he will create a splash in the meta, however, financially Mythic Otr is the worst performing banner to date by a country mile. It remains to be seen how many players would actually pull for him, but at least from the initial launch, it is unlikely for Otr to be that common in a defense team.

Ascended Fjorm

Ascended Fjorm is the very first Armor that could retaliate against any ranged foes that block counter-attacks. Note the distinction as units such as Soleil with Soleil’s Shine and Brave Alm with Dracofalchion could potentially cause some issues. It can be said that if a melee unit managed to hit Fjorm, you kind of screwed up.

The existence of Ascended Fjorm does mean that Flash effects from ranged are no longer the panacea against Save Armors. It is still possible for Flash effects to remain competitive, but they would need to be able to deal with Ascended Fjorm without the Flash effect. The main method would revolve around denying Ice Mirror. This can be done in a number of ways, such as inflicting Guard, Pulse Smoke, or using a Pulse Tie (this is unreliable in Astra season as Reginn might absorb the first activation). The other way would be to survive the attack from Fjorm and the unit follows up, which leaves Fjorm vulnerable in the next attack. 

Another thing that Ascended Fjorm brings to the table is Hardy Fighter. Offensively this could be seen as a defensive skill for faster armors such as the likes of Amelia, however, this would probably need some additional support in terms of dealing damage (Muspell’s Domain of Flame could work). 

What is noteworthy however is its application on defense, as this could ward very well against AoE-based skills. Assuming the unit has a cooldown reduction and Aegis with Hardy Fighter, the attacker would need to deal at least 21 damage in order to deal a single point of damage against the said armor. As for melee tanks, this could be even worse as a defensive special could potentially activate twice in combat assuming the foe does not bring Guard to the team. Players at the highest echelon of Aether Raids would likely need to consider counterplays such as the likes of Pulse Ties to take down such foes. Attacking on Turn 1 before Hardy Fighter activates is also an option. 

Other news

• Even Pulse Tie is introduced as a demote skill in the Halloween 2021 banner. It is potentially a good tech option against Infantry Pulse and Hardy Fighter in Aether Raids Offense, and against AoE sweeping in Aether Raids Defense.
• Dragon’s Wrath is a new skill introduced by Halloween Sothis. Dragon units that rely on taking out the foe with a single hit would be the most likely to leverage this skill well. This includes units such as Halloween Grima (M), Muspell, and Winter Sothis.
• Both Lantern Breath and Spider Plushie are very competitive options for slower tanks who are more likely to get followed-up, such as the likes of Halloween Ilyana, Sonia, and Winter Fae. 
• Legendary Fae is released. Yay. 

Final Remarks

We hope you enjoyed this month’s edition of Asgardr’s Report. In the next edition, we would be temporarily stepping out of the realms of Aether Raids and into Arena-related modes such as the likes of Arena, Arena Assault, and Mjolnir Strike. We hope to see you again.