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Bound Hero Battle: Ninian & Hawkeye

Map

  • Normal
  • Infernal

Bound Hero Battle: Ninian and Hawkeye

If you tend to find Grand and Bound Hero Battles a bit too difficult for your liking and the presence of dancers on a map makes you cringe, have no fear -- finally making a return is the dynamic (and not-so-dangerous) duo of Ninian and Hawkeye! This map features some tricky foes that can catch you by surprise, but don’t panic. Since none of them are particularly overspecialized, you can easily answer them with well-rounded units of your own, and the fact that there are no reinforcements means that what you see is what you get.

That’s not, however, the only factor you have going in your favour. The layout of this map allows for you to easily establish a chokepoint and pick off foes with ranged allies from the safety of behind the walls. Even the the eponymous dancer herself, Ninian, doesn’t present much of a threat; she struggles to KO units she even has a color advantage against, and really poses more of a nuisance than an actual danger. All and all, if you’re willing to use some trial and error and adjust your strategy when necessary, this Bound Hero Battle shouldn’t prove to be too frustrating. Patience (as per usual) is key, and being willing to burn a few stamina potions can’t hurt the situation either.

Before you begin teambuilding, it’s completely possible you already possess everything you need to beat this map. Created by Gamepress staff member RedFerrari1998, the video guide below uses only F2P units, one instance of Skill Inheritance, and seals -- see the description for more details. If it doesn’t work for you, though, then read on!

Who to Choose

As is generally true of Bound Hero Battles, the individual units used is very important as they will primarily inform a strategy. There are a few routes one can take depending on what units are personally available, and, of course, adjustment based on the units one possesses is always a possibility.

Baiters

Since the enemies on this map won’t start moving unless they are damaged or baited and there’s no immediate opportunity to strike and retreat, you’ll want to bring at least one unit that can bait on this map. While it is possible to use a dancer like Olivia, it’s far more effective to use a unit who can net a KO or two in Enemy Phase.

Dragons like Nowi, Adult Tiki, and Fallen Robin are particularly useful due to being able to counterattack regardless of range and their ability to take a fair deal of punishment before falling in battle. Armors such as Hector, Valentine Hector, Fallen Hardin, Winter Tharja, and Zelgius are able to easily withstand hits and hit hard upon counterattacking. Great F2P options include Legendary Ike, Black Knight, Xander, and Fjorm.

Atiki screenshot
Tanks such as Adult Tiki are able to withstand almost any melee foe that’s thrown at them, and may even sport decent Resistance to boot.

Strikers

Although decidedly less useful than baiters, ranged strikers can prove useful in this Bound Hero Battle by targeting enemies from the safety of behind the wall once a tank establishes a chokepoint. In particular, Brave Bow users can be incredibly potent on this map due to their ability to overpower finish off any foes your tanks may otherwise struggle with. Brave Lyn, Bridal Cordelia, Klein, and Setsuna are potential strikers you may want to use, with a special mention going to Brave Lyn given her F2P status.

Alternatively, Brave and Blade weapon wielders can also serve to be useful if your team composition provides them with the appropriate buffs. Tharja, Reinhardt, Tailtiu, and Nino are potential options here, especially if they are equipped with a Breaker skill to add to their coverage.

Tharja Screenshot
Strikers like Tharja can handle melee enemies without fear of getting counterattacked. With Desperation, they may not need to worry about the green mage either due to to being able to double consecutively.

Dancers

Dancers help provide support, may even have a decent offensive presence themselves, and can usually tank a hit or two, if need be. OliviaPerforming OliviaPerforming InigoPerforming ShigurePerforming AzuraAzuraNew Year Azura, and Ninian all give the refreshment that high-firepower units need while also possessing the ability to provide an assist to KO an enemy.

Healers

While not generally a great choice over units who can deal heavy damage or dancers, Healers can be incredibly useful in this Bound Hero Battle due to their ability to provide valuable healing to your tanks. GennyEliseWrys, and Lissa are potential additions to a team that may serve you well on this map, though any healer who possesses Rehabilitate will likely do the trick.

Strategy

Strategizing for this Bound Hero Battle shouldn’t be too challenging due to the absence of reinforcements. While it can be difficult to exactly predict what will happen due to IV / Merge variance, here’s some general tips to get you started.

Casting Out Your Line

Since this isn’t a map where you can just wait for the enemy to come to you, you’re going to have to bait to get these foes moving. The archetypical strike, dance, and retreat strategy won’t work here unless your striker can take a hit. Or two. Or three.

Because of this, you’ll have to choose where to bait, but luckily, there’s really only two options -- the chokepoint in the middle of the map, and the chokepoint to the right. Both of these options are pretty compelling, but the middle chokepoint may be easier to use depending on AI movement. In my case, the blue lance cavalry was danced by Ninian instead of Hawkeye; this saves Nowi from being KO’d.

Nowi baiting
Hawkeye will be in range to be danced once he moves, but luckily the lance cavalry unit takes priority. Although...

Before you commit to baiting, though, it’s always a good idea to size up the foes you’ll be facing. At a glance, you may recognize that the sword cavalry unit is carrying Zanbato and the lance cavalry unit is carrying Ridersbane. Both of these weapons deal effective damage to cavalry, so if you’re trying to bait with your own horse-rider, you’ll have to start on the right.

Passing Off The Torch

If you’re unprepared for the lance cavalry foe with Pass, it can be a nasty surprise -- especially if you left your red or blue dancer in its post-danced range. This problem can easily be fixed by being careful with your positioning (which may take you a bit of trial and error to figure out) and/or ensuring your tank is bulky enough to comfortably withstand this foe. Remember: when it comes to a map with a dancer, it’s always better to be safe than sorry.

Axezura nearly getting owned
If Olivia was being used instead of Performing Azura here, this foe passing through Nowi could easily spell out disaster. When in doubt, keep your dancers far away from danger, especially when an enemy dancer is present.

Trembling With Antici...pation!

Although the AI can be downright unruly on this map due to Ninian’s dancing ability, you’ll likely be a lot more successful if you always anticipate the worst case scenario. Assume that if a foe can be danced and charge forward to KO one of your weakened units, it will do so, and make sure to act accordingly.

Fae swapping with Axezura
Once the lance cavalry unit has been KO’d, I can safely assume the AI will dance the sword unit to KO Performing Azura. Because of this, I can Swap her with Fae -- she has enough Speed to avoid being doubled and enough Defense to withstand the single hit.

All Aboard The Daisy Train

Once there’s only a few foes left, you can afford to play more conservatively and take less risks. If you find that you need your dancer and another unit to retreat as far as possible, using a Reposition and dance combo can move these two units across the map in a hurry. The benefits of this are very clear: the further your units are out of the danger zone, the less likely they are to get ambushed by a danced foe. From there, you can bait with a unit that you know for a fact can handle the enemy... and maybe even manipulate the AI with your positioning.

Nowi repositions Axezura, who dances her and lets her move again (choo choo)
Daisy chaining together reposition and dance allows two units to retreat farther than thy would be able to without assisting each other.

If At First You Don’t Succeed

Don’t be fooled by video walkthroughs of any Bound Hero Battle that you watch -- it’s very rare for anyone to beat high-difficulty content (or record a video of themselves doing so!) on their first try.  Additionally, the potential variance in unit builds that Skill Inheritance brought along with the random nature of summoning has resulted in pretty much every single summoner having different “building blocks” to work with. This, when combined with the high difficulty level of Infernal, may prove frustrating while someone is trying to find the right combination of units and moves. The key thing to keep in mind is that it may take some light Skill Inheritance and seal shuffling, multiple tries of the map, and a few stamina potions to find a strategy that works for you. Every single turn you complete gets you one step closer to completing the puzzle. Finally, reading about or watching videos of successful strategies may also help you break through a particularly difficult turn that you can’t complete, or may give you ideas of a new unit to use.

Map Enemies

  • Hard
  • Lunatic
  • Infernal
HP ATK SPD DEF RES
36 37 18 19 23
Weapon Zanbato A Armored Blow 3
Support B Pass 2
Special Luna C Atk Ploy 2
HP ATK SPD DEF RES
36 37 18 19 23
Weapon Ridersbane A Armored Blow 3
Support B Pass 2
Special Dragon Fang C Spur Def/Res 1
HP ATK SPD DEF RES
34 34 28 18 23
Weapon Gronnraven A Fury 3
Support B Seal Res 2
Special Blazing Wind C Savage Blow 2
HP ATK SPD DEF RES
48 37 16 21 22
Weapon Killer Axe+ A Death Blow 3
Support B Wings of Mercy 3
Special Growing Light C Threaten Atk 3
HP ATK SPD DEF RES
44 31 26 18 19
Weapon Light Breath+ A Distant Def 3
Support Dance B Escape Route 3
Special Miracle C Fortify Def 3
HP ATK SPD DEF RES
49 49 25 26 30
Weapon Zanbato+ A Armored Blow 3
Support B Pass 3
Special Luna C Atk Ploy 3
HP ATK SPD DEF RES
49 49 25 26 30
Weapon Ridersbane+ A Armored Blow 3
Support B Pass 3
Special Dragon Fang C Spur Def/Res 2
HP ATK SPD DEF RES
45 45 35 23 31
Weapon Gronnraven+ A Fury 3
Support B Seal Res 3
Special Blazing Wind C Savage Blow 3
HP ATK SPD DEF RES
63 44 23 28 30
Weapon Killer Axe+ A Death Blow 3
Support B Wings of Mercy 3
Special Growing Light C Threaten Atk 3
HP ATK SPD DEF RES
60 38 34 24 27
Weapon Light Breath+ A Distant Def 3
Support Dance B Escape Route 3
Special Miracle C Fortify Def 3
HP ATK SPD DEF RES
61 50 37 36 28
Weapon Wo Dao+ A Fury 3
Support B Seal Spd 3
Special Reprisal C Spur Res 3
HP ATK SPD DEF RES
57 52 27 28 33
Weapon Zanbato+ A Armored Blow 3
Support B Pass 3
Special Luna C Atk Ploy 3
HP ATK SPD DEF RES
57 52 27 28 33
Weapon Ridersbane+ A Armored Blow 3
Support B Pass 3
Special Dragon Fang C Spur Def/Res 2
HP ATK SPD DEF RES
52 48 38 25 34
Weapon Gronnraven+ A Fury 3
Support B Seal Res 3
Special Blazing Wind C Savage Blow 3
HP ATK SPD DEF RES
72 47 25 31 33
Weapon Killer Axe+ A Death Blow 3
Support B Wings of Mercy 3
Special Growing Light C Threaten Atk 3
HP ATK SPD DEF RES
69 40 37 26 30
Weapon Light Breath+ A Distant Def 3
Support Dance B Escape Route 3
Special Miracle C Fortify Def 3

User Submitted Teams

help lancina broked this map
09-20
Submitted by Pitaya
Show Explanation

> YTiki: (S summoner support, S support with lancina) - G Tomebreaker, Hone Spd, HP +3 seal, Lightning Breath+ + Bonfire
> Lancina: (S support with YTiki) - LnD 3, Desperation 3, Drive Spd 2, Attack +1 seal, Geirskogul + Aether
> Julia: (S support with Azura) - Hone Atk 3, Fortify Res 1 seal
> Azura: (S support with Julia) - Hone Spd 3

(pasted this from my strategy post on the relevant Reddit megathread, and yeah lancina is really good for most of the map)

Julia and Azura buff Tiki up turn 1, then Tiki lures in the green mage, with Lancina moving right next to her via Azura's Sing. With G Tomebreaker, Tiki removes the green mage after losing 8 health. Ninian dances the lance cavalier into Tiki, who does a whopping 26 damage on Tiki (who has 47 max HP coming into this) and loses more than half of its health to Tiki's double follow-up (Bonfire procs). Julia and Tiki both fall back out of enemy range (the sword cavalier with Pass can be dangerous) while Lancina comes in and finishes off the lance cavalier before being sung to by Azura and moving out of Ninian's threat range while baiting the sword cavalier at the same time. The cavalier dies after doing about 40% of Lancina's health, and Lancina, in Desperation range, can now double and proc Aether on Ninian, recovering right back to full health. At this time, Hawkeye is passing through the bottleneck accompanied with a sword fighter behind him. Tiki, positioned next to Lancina, baits Hawkeye and is able to finish him off on the next player phase while Lancina proceeds to pick off the last sword fighter.

The long distance squad! Video included
09-20
Submitted by Grimcreeper1234
Show Explanation

Sanaki +1 merged -atk +res
Ninian -atk +spd
Clarisse neutral
Lyn neutral
Watch video for all the details!
https://youtu.be/QeMt5O2KCm8

Camus the Horse Emblem Wall (Infernal)
09-20
Submitted by Xamuswing
Show Explanation

This team is focused on Camus and holding the line where Hawkeye can actually strike Camus. This requires a bit of set up, however.
-Camus needs Dragon Fang or Ignis, either works fine for this.
-Equip Eliwood or other High Res Red with at least Atk Ploy 1 (I used the SS). Lloyd or Sanaki is good for this as well.
(Note: this heavily relies on killing the enemy in one turn. G Tome Breaker may be necessary.
-Your healer needs Rehabilitate, Fortify Cav, and enough Res to tank a hit from Ninian. Just about anyone that isn't Azama can do this, since you only need to move 2 for this to work.
-Gunter is here for buffs and hurting the Blue Cav, so he can be replaced by any Axe with Hone Cav.

Position Eliwood or other High Res Red on the cardinal space below Hawkeye in Turn 1. This will lower his Atk enough to where Hawkeye can't kill Camus on Counterattack.

With Cav buffs, put Camus at the edge of the Enemy Red Cav's range, and your High Res Red two spaces right. He should easily bait and kill him with Grani's Shield. Hawkeye will be danced into range and give a hardy blow, but can't kill Camus. With Cav buffs again, Camus will out-speed Hawkeye and can kill him in Player Phase. Move your healer south of Camus and heal him back to full HP. Move your High Res Red another space right and Gunter under your healer. You should have an L shape of Camus, healer, Gunter, and HRR. The green mage should be approaching the right side. The Blue Cav will move to the right of Camus and Ninian will attack Camus directly. Camus can tank both these hits easily, but be careful of the Blue Cav's special.

Move Gunter in to attack the Blue Cav, as Goad should be enough to kill. If not (Atk-), then equip Gunter with TA or other Atk boosting A skills. Move Camus out of the way and put your healer in Camus' place. Your HRR attacks the green mage on the right. and kills them. Posistion Gunter next to Camus. Ninian attacks your healer, but shouldn't be able to kill them.

From here, it's just a matter of cleaning up. Camus can take out both of the Sword and Ninian on his own.

2 Tanks 1 Range 1 Dancer
09-20
Submitted by WE_LIKE_IKE
Show Explanation

Zephiel pulls out the red calv to start. He has pass but if you put all other units on the left side, he can't kill b!lyn. Reposition Zeph out using b!ike and b!lyn kills the red calv and Hawkeye usiing dance. Ike should tank everyone except the red sword infantry who gets killed by b!lyn. The green mage on the right is taken out by b!ike and b!lyn can tank a shot from Ninian.

Legends
09-20
Submitted by AngelsSoul
Show Explanation

BLyn
Skill set
Mulgair - repo - moonbow - swift Sparrow - sacrea’s blessing - hone calvary - spd+1

Xander
Skill set
Siegfried - repo - ignis - fury 3 - vantage 3 - hone calvary - Distance def 1

Reinhardt
Skill set
Dire thunder - repo - moonbow - deathblow 3 - lance breaker 3 - goad calvary - quickend pulse

Ninian
Skill set
Lightning breath - dance - Luna - triangle adept 2 - wings of mercy 2 - forify def 3 - hp+3

I hope it helps