Grand Hero Battle - Valter

Typical for villains such as Valter, this GHB opens with an instant blitz from enemy forces, quickly followed by reinforcements. Adding to the mayhem is a mage toting a tome effective against your cavalry units, a firesweep lancer, archers appearing out of nowhere, Valter possessing the ability to Panic Ploy your buffs, and fliers that advance regardless of terrain to quickly ruin your day. Talk about not fighting fair!

Unlike some of the other more challenging GHB maps that feature reinforcements, however, Valter’s map is still reasonably manageable without completely specialized builds that require specific IVs or heavy merges / skill investment. If you’re missing KOs by one or two points of damage or doubles by a small threshold, seals will be your saviour here, but with strong units, careful strategizing, and the right mix of offensive and defensive play, you should be able to beat this GHB without too many issues.

As is generally true of GHBs, the individual units you will use is very important as it will primarily inform your strategy. There are a few routes you can take depending on what units you have available to you, and, of course, adjustment based on the units you possess is always a possibility.

Strikers

Brave weapons, how we love and adore thee. Combined with the appropriate breaker skill, Brave weapons are able to trounce same color matchups and win outright against units who face them with a weapon triangle disadvantage. Melee Brave users even have movement options such as Drag Back and Hit and Run that grant them greater mobility. Reinhardt, Brave Bow B!Lyn, Brave Bow Bridal Cordelia, Brave Lance Cordelia, and Brave Axe Cherche all possess the firepower needed to power through tough enemies, although fliers will have to be extra careful around archers, with the same care needing to be afforded to cavalry going against effective weaponry.

Of special note in this GHB are archers with effective base kits or native Brave Bows, especially Gordin, Klein, and B!Lyn. Since fliers and mid-speed units are common on this map, these units possess the ability to utilize effective damage and follow-ups, netting KOs without ever receiving a point of damage themselves. Also of note is Reinhardt, who is able to -- as per usual -- wipe almost every red on this map from existence and check lances with some light skill inheritance (Lancebreaker and Moonbow, unsurprisingly).

Distant Counter Users

In this GHB due to the presence of a healthy mix of melee and ranged attackers, it may be worthwhile to bring a unit who can hit back no matter what. Be warned, however, that the Firesweep lancer present among enemy forces does negatively impact the effect of baiting strategies on this map a bit, as dedicated bait units will not be able to KO this foe on enemy phase as they normally would (a well-timed charged special helps mitigate this problem on player phase, however).

Hector, Black Knight, Zelgius, Xander, Camus, Nowi, A!Tiki, Y!Tiki, and Fae can all use class-specific buffs and counterattack regardless of distance. Fjorm is also useful here, given her exclusive special which makes her a great choice for battling mages, and A skill that allows her to duke it out with melee units as well.

Dancers

Dancers help support units with high firepower, may even have a decent offensive presence themselves, and can usually tank a hit or two, if need be. In this GHB, a bow user, a certain tiny hands man on a horse, and two dancers is a perfectly viable strategy. Olivia, PA!Azura, PA!Inigo, PA!Olivia,  Azura, NY!Azura, and Ninian all provide the support that high-firepower units need while also possessing the ability to take a hit or two if necessary.

Healers

While not generally a great choice for GHBs over units who can deal heavy damage or dancers, Healers will generally be prioritized by the enemy AI, can now deal full value colourless damage due to Wrathful staff refinement, and can also heal your primary damage dealing units when they’re low on health. When paired with a dancer or an offensively focused unit with reposition / swap who can grant them greater mobility, any healer could be a valuable ally in a GHB.

Fliers

Although slightly less viable on this map in particular due to the proliferance of archers, Fliers are able to easily bait or KO reinforcements when they arrive due to their lack of movement penalties. They are also able to take advantage of class-specific flier buffs. Also of note is that Fliers can use the Guidance skill and seal, which grants infantry and armor units on your team greater mobility as well. Hinoka, Cordelia, NY!Azura, S!Corrin, S!Camilla, Myrrh, and Cherche all are able to quickly move across a map and confront enemy units wherever and whenever they appear.

Cavalry

As is usually true, Cavalry units are able to take advantage of their superior movement range to hit hard and then quickly retreat away from danger. They can also, like Fliers, take advantage of class-specific buffs. Although this GHB features weaponry that is effective against cavalry, staying out of range and then KOing the enemies who have those weapons before they can attack isn’t too difficult. Reinhardt and B!Lyn are great choices that also fill other roles that have been discussed above, while Xander and Camus are free units who are able to counterattack at range while taking advantage of buffs.

Due to the variability of the AI depending on your team’s stats and the unpredictability factor that reinforcements provide, it unfortunately isn’t possible to create a strategy that will work for absolutely everyone. There are, however, a few basic tips that may help those who are struggling with this GHB.

Don’t Just Be A Sitting Duck

Unlike most GHBs, Valter’s map has the enemy move in the first enemy phase whether you damage / KO enemy forces or not. That does not mean, however, that you necessarily have to wait to have the battle be brought to you. B!Lyn is able reach the flying axe if she starts in the far right space (3). She can then be moved out of range of the archer by having a dancer in the far left space (1) be repositioned over by an ally in the middle space (2). Most dancers should be able to tank this hit, and now you’ve got one less enemy swarming you when reinforcements come rushing in. Score one for the Summoner.

In Combat We Kill

As is true of all maps with reinforcements, since the enemy can quickly overwhelm your team, you generally want to KO the units you attack outright. If your unit won’t take a lot of damage when attacked, finishing off a weakened opposing unit in enemy phase is fine, but having an enemy survive into the next player phase means that you must expend one more attack to KO them. This could spell disaster if your positioning isn't ideal. If you're struggling with your bait netting KOs, you may find that the Quick Riposte seal will help you get more consistent one-round kills.

Use Cavalry and Dancers

Due to the layout of this GHB, a Cavalry unit’s mobility combined with a dancer becomes a very potent force. Reinforcements almost always spawn at the very back of this map, pushing your units forward into enemy range if you don’t have an answer for them. Being able to come charging in from the opposite direction and snipe a flier or two is a godsend, and has the added bonus of earning you some safe space to adjust your positioning as well.

Watch Where You Step

Positioning is very important in this GHB, especially because enemy reinforcements. Given this map layout has two chokepoints, your first instinct may be to split your forces, but keeping your units close together allows them to account for weaknesses and readjust if something doesn’t go to plan. This is especially true if you’re going the dual dancer route, as you may need to use both of your dancers to refresh one unit if they are too far away or need an extra damage boost. Try to take note of all the moves you make that seem to be working, and if your positioning is faulty or reinforcements arrive that you can’t handle, start again from turn one. That way you’ll be able to use your knowledge to keep yourself from getting into a sticky situation.

Don’t Overextend

Since reinforcements mostly spawn at the back of this map, you’ll generally want to stay in range of the back wall in order to deal with them as soon as possible. Additionally, sometimes the enemies already on this map won’t advance right away if you don’t bait them, and you can use this to your advantage. If an enemy unit poses a particular threat to you (mainly if it has weaponry effective against your unit type) and is in range, try to KO it as soon as possible, but it may be worthwhile to wait for it to advance if it’s too far away or requires you to tank hits.

If At First You Don’t Succeed

This tip applies to any map that's giving you trouble. The first GHBs were more simple and have strategies that are easier to adapt, but the potential variance in unit builds that Skill Inheritance brought has resulted in pretty much every single player having different “building blocks” to work with. The key thing to keep in mind is that it may take some light skill inheritance (breaker skills and attack +3 are your friends!), seals, multiple tries of the map, and a few stamina potions for you to find a strategy that works. 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 inspire you to try a new unit in your team composition.