New Legendary Hero Leif debuts October 29th

Are you ready, Summoners? Another month brings with it another Legendary Hero with an accompanying trailer! This time, Leif from Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy war and Thracia 776 joins the illustrious ranks of his peers. He is a mounted colourless archer attuned to the element of Water and is also a Pair Up hero, so he’ll never fight alone. You can watch his reveal trailer below!

Leif already has the advantage of being among the incredibly powerful ranks of mounted archers, but his strengths do not stop there. His exclusive personal bow, Meisterbogen, is essentially the ranged version of WT Reinhardt’s prf sword, granting him the ability to follow up regardless of whether he is attacking or being attacked. Although it does inflict a -5 Speed penalty in exchange, the fact that Leif seems to have incredibly low Speed anyways makes this a non-issue. It also prevents enemy follow-ups when Leif initiates combat under player control, making it decidedly less dangerous for him to chip away at foes he can’t KO outright.

The most interesting aspect of Leif’s kit, however, is definitely his exclusive Special, Njörun's Zeal. Essentially functioning similarly to Galeforce, it grants Leif an extra action after combat concludes when he initiates – though his movement will be limited to one space when he acts again. This Special has great synergy with Leif’s default C-Skill, Def Smoke, and its 3 Cooldown makes it much easier to activate than its comparable. although it likely won’t allow for the same strike-and-retreat strategies that Galeforce does. Also notable is the B-Skill that Leif shares with his original version, S-Drink. It grants him a 99 HP heal as well as -1 Cooldown at the start of a map, and although it likely won’t prove too useful in most PVP game modes, it should be quite handy in multi-map challenges like Chain Challenges and Tempest Trials.

Overall, Leif seems like he could become a very threatening unit, even in the hands of the AI. Although the fact that Njörun's Zeal limits his movement to one on his next action and that he can’t deny follow-ups when under AI control does make him slightly less flexible than other Galeforce cavaliers, he does have his unique strengths. His Special’s lower Cooldown and other aspects of his kit make him a fearsome foe; since his weapon prevents follow-ups from foes when he initiates under play control, he can easily gallop in, chip at a foe who does not KO him, debuff the opposing team, and then finish the job (or attack another nearby enemy) when his Special activates. Even without denying follow-ups, a prf ranged Brave weapon under the effects of cavalry buffs is a threatening prospect indeed. Because of these reasons, it’s likely that Leif as a sum of his parts will prove to be a rather prolific (but still fairly balanced) presence.