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Bound Hero Battle: Bartre & Fir

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  • Infernal

Bound Hero Battle: Bartre and Fir

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Ready for some spring cleaning? The season of showers and flowers brings us yet another Bound Hero Battle, this time featuring everyone’s favourite unit to receive when they pull green, Bartre, along with Fir in tow. These two units received new refines that are on showcase here, though thankfully the Bartre and Fir we’re facing don’t have the effect refine on these weapons. Still, armor effectiveness (in Bartre’s case) and a slaying effect (in Fir’s) are annoying to deal with, especially since there are other foes to look out for. But given that there’s no reinforcements to deal with here, this map, with any luck, shouldn’t prove to be too frustrating if you make use of smart Skill Inheritance and some AI manipulation.

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 – 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 your strategy. There are a few routes you can take depending on what units are available to you, and, of course, adjustment based on the units you possess is always a possibility.

Tanks

While you’ll likely want to use some sort of striker to get the foes on this map moving, as per usual it’s a good idea to bring along a tank of some sort. Any unit who can counterattack at-distance will be useful here due to their ability to check multiple types of foes.

Armors such as Zelgius, Winter Tharja, Legendary Tiki, and Legendary Hector are able to hit hard very upon attacking and counterattacking. Black Knight is a powerful F2P option due to his powerful semi-exclusive Special, Black Luna, with Xander and Camus following closely behind in utility. Halloween Dorcas' bulk, weapon, and native Wary Fighter make him a good choice for establishing chokepoints. Armors will have to be cautious of Bartre, though, as his exclusive Axe of Virility has effectiveness against them. For dealing with Fir, physical blue tanks with good defense will soak up her Special and KO her in return. Brave Hector, Nailah, and Panne will likely do the trick.

Infantry F2P options really are functionally limited to Legendary Ike, whose native Warding Breath grants him accelerated cooldown and extra Resistance, and Fjorm, who can easily tank ranged damage due to her exclusive Special, Ice Mirror. Fjorm’s ability to tank most ranged foes makes her a particularly good choice (as per usual), though the fact that the Brave Bow archer is green will give her some trouble.

Dragons are also very strong tanks, especially when they’re equipped with Lightning Breath (or another Breath and Distant Counter, if you’re feeling fancy). They are also incredibly useful due to their damage-seeking effect against ranged foes, meaning that they’re more likely to net you those tricky KOs.

Strikers

There’s a few things to consider when selecting your striker, though your main concern should likely be the lance armor, since KOing it through Wary Fighter makes this map a bit less challenging. Bartre also hits reasonably hard and presents quite a threat to melee units due to his inflated HP synergizing well with Brash Assault. One of the easiest ways to deal with him is to not engage him at all – a decently powerful mage will likely serve you well in KOing him before he can attack you.

Given that flying foes are relatively common on this map, Brave Lyn, WF Hinoka, Halloween Jakob, Spring Loki, and Klein are potential strikers you may want to use. A special mention goes to Brave Lyn, Spring Loki, and Klein for their accessibility and effectiveness. Colored archers like Legendary Lucina and Legendary Lyn may perform well, but will have to watch out for the Weapons Triangle – which is a distinct disadvantage when compared to their colorless counterparts.

Alternatively, melee Brave users are able to hit foes twice without retaliation, and may even quad hit if they outspeed an enemy. Cherche, Cordelia, and Elincia are all great melee Brave users who can make excellent use of class-specific buffs, and when equipped with Hit and Run or Drag Back they are able to retreat once attacking. WT Reinhardt and Keaton may also prove useful due to their weapons granting them follow-ups regardless of phase.

While the same powerful mages that are usually effective in these maps are as useful as ever (Reinhardt is a notable example), you don’t need a mage with a premium build to get through with relatively little effort. Most green mages with Triangle Adept 2 and Lancebreaker 1 should be able to KO the lance armor in one engagement to get the map moving. Furthermore, they should have no trouble KOing the flying blue mage as well.

Spring Camilla screenshot
Premium builds definitely aren’t necessary for any green mage you bring along to check the lance armor – level one of Lancebreaker is perfectly sufficient.

Refreshers

Refreshers help provide support, may even have a decent offensive presence themselves, and can usually tank a hit or two, if need be. Any of them will work, since they really shouldn’t be battling too many foes anyways – though Legendary Azura is particularly notable due to her ability to grant her flying and infantry allies 1 extra movement when she sings for them, and flying refreshers in general will be more useful given their ability to ignore forests.

olivia screenshot
If you’re having trouble with the green brave archer, giving your red dancer a Ruby Sword makes them an effective check.

Healers

Due to every healer having access to the Wrathful Staff refinement, they can serve as incredibly potent colorless pseudo-mages – who can heal to boot! Brave Veronica is known as the scourge of Aether Raids for good reason: her excellent exclusive weapon prevents counterattacks, buffs allies, and debuffs foes after she attacks, and her access to Wrathful Staff makes her a potent offensive force in her own right. If you don’t have her, though, other healers like Genny, Loki, Elise, Ethlyn, Wrys, and Lissa are potential additions to a team that may serve you well.

Strategy

Strategizing for this Bound Hero Battle shouldn’t be too complicated 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.

Scoping Out

If you’re a dedicated reader of these guides, you’ll know by now that most of these maps are won or lost before they even start. While it may be tempting to jump right in, knowing (and loving!) your foes will help you not only choose your units, but also figure out where to begin.

The first foe to consider is the lance armor, who should jump out at you as a target to strike, KO, and get the map moving. Unfortunately, it has Wary Fighter. Put a pin in that – there’s a few ways to get around this that we will be exploring later.

lance fighter screenshot
You’ll likely want to take out this lance armor first, but Wary Fighter will make that difficult by preventing follow-ups.

Someone else to look out for is the big man Bartre himself. His Axe of Virility carries effectiveness against armors and Brash Assault combined with his inflated HP makes him quite a threat to melee foes, but units that target his lower Resistance shouldn’t have much trouble with him. Do keep in mind that Infantry Pulse will be in effect for Fir and the Brave archer though, giving them +1 Special charge right at the get-go.

bartre screenshot
Bartre's axe makes him a big threat to armors and he provides support to his infantry allies by reducing their cooldown.

Next on the list is the blue flier mage. This foe’s high Speed combined with the fact that they carry Darting Stance means that they’ll be exceptionally difficult to follow-up on while initiating (unless you’re making use of a Brave weapon). An archer will likely handily dispatch this foe, but other options will require careful play.

blue mage flier screenshot
Any unit who initiates on this flier without a Brave weapon will need 52 (!!!) Speed to follow-up, so it’s best to defeat them with a Special activation if you can’t KO them outright.

Whew, halfway done. The red flier isn’t too notable except for the fact that they carry Triangle Adept, so make sure to keep your greens far, far away from them! This foe also carries Flier Formation, but that shouldn’t be too problematic given that there’s only two fliers on this map.

TA red mage flier screenshot
Pretty much any green put in the crosshairs of this mage flier will be melted into a puddle, so keep them out of range.

This archer only really has two defining characteristics; they’re green, and they have a Brave Bow. Eugh. Thankfully their low Speed makes them easy to follow-up on, but surviving their initial two attacks (especially since Bartre’s Infantry Pulse means Moonbow will proc on their second hit) may prove to be difficult for blues and greens. For that reason, it’s better to initiate on them if you can.

brave bow green archer screenshot
Oh great, a Brave Bow user. The usual rules apply – it’s advisable to do your best to attack them before they can attack you first.

Last, but most certainly not least, is Fir. While outwardly she doesn’t seem too challenging to deal with, the cooldown reduction of her Nameless Blade combined with Bartre’s Infantry Pulse support means that she’ll likely proc Glacies (which scales off her high Resistance) if she attacks you. Depending on your blue, this could range from being annoying but manageable to absolutely devastating. And once her Special procs, Special Spiral will grant her additional cooldown. It’s best to take her out as soon as you can.

fir screenshot
The more opportunities you give Fir to attack you, the more of a problem she’ll likely become. If you can, KOing her quickly will save you a headache.

Breaking Hearts and Breaking Heads

Fortunately, the lance armor is easy to reach and KO with a little light Skill Inheritance, so that is a good place to start if you’re unsure of where to begin. You’ll need to account for the fact that this foe carries Wary Fighter, though, which will deny follow-ups even if you outspeed it. If you’re not using the standard Death Blow Lancebreaker Reinhardt™, any green mage with Triangle Adept and Lancebreaker should be able to defeat this enemy without issues. If you find you’re missing out on the KO by a few points of damage, try the Attack +3 Seal or equip your refresher with Hone Attack.

camilla attacks the lance armor screenshot
This enemy also carries Panic Ploy, so if you’re making use of buffs, make sure you don’t start the turn in a cardinal direction of it.

From there, your mage will be in the range of the blue mage flier and Bartre, so you’ll need to retreat. While you can simply move your unit out of danger once they’re refreshed, you may want to consider using an Assist like Draw Back or Swap to get your positioning in order.

camilla draws back olivia screenshot
Once Olivia refreshed Spring Camilla, I used Draw Back on her so she’s not as close to the front lines.

Other options include striking at Fir with a strong blue mage, but most aside from Swordbreaker Reinhardt will likely struggle to KO her given her high Speed and Resistance. A ranged flying colorless unit like Spring Loki or Eir might also work, but will likely require more support.

Idle Hands...

Even if you don’t need to do anything else during your turn, that shouldn’t be an excuse to stay idle. Try moving your units around to see if you can get the AI to move in a way that’s more favourable to you during enemy phase. Worst case scenario, you make things worse and start again – though you’ll more likely find that your experimentation worked out for the better. Plus, giving yourself more room to maneuver is rarely a bad idea.

moving hector and nailah screenshot
Although moving Nailah and Hector up one space doesn’t seem to do much, it gives me more room space to keep them away from foes that I don’t want to battle.

I Have Fury!!!

Or, well, Bartre does. Don’t underestimate the power of Fury’s chip damage – while 6 HP might not seem like a lot, it could come in handy in a pinch when you’re fishing for a KO. If you’re using a ranged striker, it’s a good idea to use them to chip away at Bartre, even if they can’t KO him immediately. As long as you can KO him before he can initiate and activate his Special on one of your units, you’re in good shape – just be sure to be careful if you damage him then bait him with a melee unit. Brash Assault will grant him guaranteed follow-ups when his HP is ≤ 50%, which could spell a world of pain for some units.

camilla attacks bartre screenshot
Even though Spring Camilla isn’t fast enough to follow-up on Bartre, Fury’s chip damage will lower his HP to the point that she can KO him later with a second attack (41 - 6 = 35, and she does 38 damage while buffed from Olivia’s Hone Attack).

Fir Better or Fir Worse...

While ideally you’d be able to KO Fir outright by making use of Quick Riposte, Vengeful Fighter, or Speed stacking, that just may not be possible for whatever reason. So what should you do if that’s the case? You won’t have much of a choice but to invest in your unit’s Defense instead. The Close Def and Even Def Wave Seals are good choices to self-sufficiently give your units that extra boost, but don’t forget that your other units can provide support too. Spur Def, Rally Def, and Drive Def are all accessible Skills that can help your units shrug off Fir’s attacks.

putting nailah in position to tank fir screenshot
Fir’s Special will hurt, but since she barely does any damage (if any) to Nailah due to the Close Def Seal, she’s not really much of a threat.

Pulling Weight By Not Pulling Punches

Refreshers have to pull their weight too! Consider equipping them with a gem weapon or Triangle Adept if you want them to net a KO or two on their own – while their combat abilities are usually lacking, the extra 20% damage boost they’ll receive against some foes will likely prove to be handy.

olivia tanks and KOs the green brave archer screenshot
Olivia was easily able to tank this green archer due to her Ruby Sword, even when they activated Moonbow against her, and is able to KO them in return. Nice!

Not So Adept After All

While the red flying mage’s Triangle Adept will wipe most green units off the face of the planet, it makes them an easy KO for most blues. One attack should be all it takes to defeat them – whether they initiate or you do.

camilla draws back nailah and nailah attacks the red flying mage screenshot
After drawing back Nailah with Camilla, I’m able to attack this mage directly for massive damage and complete the map.

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 as well as multiple tries of the map 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
52 47 21 28 12
Weapon Axe of Virility A Fury 3
Support B Brash Assault 3
Special Draconic Aura C Infantry Pulse 3
HP ATK SPD DEF RES
42 34 31 17 23
Weapon Nameless Blade A Speed +3
Support B Special Spiral 3
Special Glacies C Odd Atk Wave 3
HP ATK SPD DEF RES
49 40 11 32 13
Weapon Vanguard A Distant Def 2
Support B Wary Fighter 2
Special Aegis C Panic Ploy 3
HP ATK SPD DEF RES
30 29 29 11 24
Weapon Blárserpent A Darting Stance 2
Support B Spd Feint 3
Special Iceberg C Drive Atk 1
HP ATK SPD DEF RES
37 28 17 21 11
Weapon Brave Bow A Atk/Spd Bond 2
Support B Lancebreaker 2
Special Moonbow C Infantry Flash 3
HP ATK SPD DEF RES
68 55 28 36 16
Weapon Axe of Virility A Fury 3
Support B Brash Assault 3
Special Draconic Aura C Infantry Pulse 3
HP ATK SPD DEF RES
57 41 39 24 31
Weapon Nameless Blade A Speed +3
Support B Special Spiral 3
Special Glacies C Odd Atk Wave 3
HP ATK SPD DEF RES
66 52 16 40 19
Weapon Vanguard+ A Distant Def 3
Support B Wary Fighter 3
Special Aegis C Panic Ploy 3
HP ATK SPD DEF RES
40 41 37 16 32
Weapon Blárserpent+ A Darting Stance 3
Support B Spd Feint 3
Special Iceberg C Drive Atk 2
HP ATK SPD DEF RES
51 39 24 29 16
Weapon Brave Bow+ A Atk/Spd Bond 3
Support B Lancebreaker 3
Special Moonbow C Infantry Flash 3
HP ATK SPD DEF RES
79 58 31 39 18
Weapon Axe of Virility A Fury 3
Support B Brash Assault 3
Special Draconic Aura C Infantry Pulse 3
HP ATK SPD DEF RES
66 44 42 27 34
Weapon Nameless Blade A Speed +3
Support B Special Spiral 3
Special Glacies C Odd Atk Wave 3
HP ATK SPD DEF RES
76 56 17 44 21
Weapon Vanguard+ A Distant Def 3
Support B Wary Fighter 3
Special Aegis C Panic Ploy 3
HP ATK SPD DEF RES
46 44 41 17 35
Weapon Blárserpent+ A Darting Stance 3
Support B Spd Feint 3
Special Iceberg C Drive Atk 2
HP ATK SPD DEF RES
59 42 27 32 17
Weapon Brave Bow+ A Atk/Spd Bond 3
Support B Lancebreaker 3
Special Moonbow C Infantry Flash 3
HP ATK SPD DEF RES
46 43 41 17 35
Weapon Rauðrraven+ A Triangle Adept 3
Support Rally Up Atk+ B Flier Formation 3
Special Moonbow C Goad Fliers

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