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Roster Rearming: The best uses of Arcane Eclipse

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Rearmed Heroes and Arcane Weapons

Rearmed Heroes and Arcane Weapons are a relatively new addition to Fire Emblem Heroes.

Arcane Weapons function as a normal inheritable weapon, with a few distinctions. So far, they have all had a significantly more powerful combination of effects than almost any inheritable weapon. Because of this, any unit that inherits an Arcane Weapon cannot have it equipped simultaneously with any other unique, non-inheritable skills, with a few small exceptions like Dance. So if Legendary Lilina inherits Arcane Eclipse, she cannot use it simultaneously with Gifted Magic.

In addition to this, Rearmed Heroes function in an usual way with regards to skill inheritance. Essentially, a Rearmed Hero can be used one time to pass skills on to another unit like any normal unit can, but does not vanish from the barracks when doing so. So Ophelia can be used to pass skills to a unit like Tharja one time and you’ll still be able to use her as well. This inheritance can only be used once, but if another copy of the Rearmed Hero is obtained, that copy comes with a fresh inheritance. Or they can be used to “refresh” the inheritance of a used copy. So you could use an Ophelia to pass skills to a unit like Valentine’s Henriette, then merge another Ophelia into the first copy and use her to pass skills again to a different unit like Lilina. This can actually allow “duplication” in a sense of other rare inheritable skills like Ruptured Sky, with the usual rule that units can only inherit 4 skills from one hero. Nevertheless, it is worth noting. 

Arcane Eclipse

Ophelia’s new tome, Arcane Eclipse, comes with various strengths. It has the Slaying effect of accelerating Special trigger by 1, making Specials reach full charge more quickly. In addition, it charges the unit’s Special by 1 at the start of turn 1. If the unit’s HP is at least 25% in combat, it also boosts all stats by 5, grants a guaranteed follow-up attack, and neutralizes any penalties to the unit’s Atk during combat, such as those applied by Chill Atk.

Overall, it is a very strong book, particularly for how it allows units to charge up Specials immediately on turn 1. This excels when used on infantry units, since it can be combined with Time’s Pulse to charge a 3-cooldown Special immediately, and Special Spiral 4 to “re-charge” a Special by 2 after combat if it activated before or during combat, in addition to boosting Special damage by 5 and negating any non-Special sources of percentage-based damage reduction such as Close Call or Deflect Magic. While armored units can also use Special Spiral, their limited mobility somewhat reduces the effectiveness of that build, but it could still be a strong option on a Far Save unit. On a flying or cavalry unit, Special Spiral 4 and Time’s Pulse cannot be used, but you can still charge up a 2-cooldown Special on turn 1 to activate it immediately in the first combat, and the other boosts like the guaranteed follow-up, attack penalty neutralization, and stat boosts make it easily the strongest inheritable red tome. 

Ophelia’s Other Skills

In addition to Arcane Eclipse, Ophelia has other useful skills including the new Special Spiral 4, which adds +5 damage on Special activation and neutralizes any sources of percentage-based damage reduction on Special activation, in addition to the Special Spiral 3 effect of charging Special by 2 after combat if it activated before or during combat. This allows a unit to chain Specials easily over multiple combats, potentially wielding a 3-cooldown Special like Luna, charging it immediately at the start of turn 1, activating it immediately on their first combat to one-hit KO their opponent, and then fully charging it again after combat. Obviously there will be some units that can survive the hit, but it is an extremely strong combination and not just on mages; it allows for a similar piercing of damage reduction to Deadeye and Lethality, but with any Special, so you can use those with shorter cooldowns like Ruptured Sky, or more beneficial damaging effects like Luna. In addition, it also costs 300 SP, making it ideal for units that are used on an Arena scoring team. It is a great skill that can find use on many different units.

Ophelia also has Time’s Pulse 3, which is a great choice on Infantry units, and Atk/Res Finish 4, which is a great choice on certain specific infantry units. Unfortunately, there is currently no unit available at 3 or 4 star rarity with access to any tier of Time’s Pulse or Atk Res Finish. So inheritance from Ophelia is very limited, since you can only inherit four “tiers” of skills from one copy of a unit. Simply inheriting Special Spiral fully will “use up” all four of those. However, if you have access to another unit with Special Spiral 3 and inherit it to your target unit before using Ophelia’s inheritance, then you can simply take Special Spiral 4 and three of Ophelia’s other skills. This would also be true for Atk/Res Finish 4 if there were other accessible units with Atk/Res Finish 3, but at the time of writing, there are not. 

Best Uses

Ophelia’s inheritance is best used on a unit that: 

  • You use frequently, or want to use frequently
  • Benefits substantially from either Arcane Eclipse or Special Spiral 4, or especially both
  • Has already inherited Special Spiral 3, if the unit is an Infantry unit

Other than your personal favorite units, which can always be a good choice, the most valuable units to choose are likely going to be red tome infantry, which can now use a similar build to Young Innes in which they charge a Special at the start of turn 1 that they can immediately activate in their first combat, penetrating an enemy’s damage reduction to potentially KO them in one hit. Lilina is a great user of this build due to her high Atk, but it works great on most infantry mages, with the downside being that depending on the specific skills chosen and your skill access, you may not be able to inherit everything you need from a single Ophelia. If using a 2-cooldown Special like Ruptured Sky, Time’s Pulse is not required, but the damage may be weaker than the 3-cooldown Luna

While the build definitely has weaknesses, the combination of Arcane Eclipse and Special Spiral 4 is also valid on armored units, with Valentine’s Henriette being a standout due to her high mixed bulk and Atk and base kit that includes A/R Far Save. With Arcane Eclipse, she can run a similar build to Valentine’s Robin, with a weapon that includes a guaranteed follow-up, and the ability to activate a Special like Moonbow or Glimmer on her first counterattack and penetrate an enemy’s damage reduction. You could potentially use a longer-cooldown Special as well if you have some way of charging it before the first combat, such as Askr’s Opened Domain

The following are some sample builds that are intended to represent a spread of possible options for how you might use Arcane Eclipse and Ophelia’s other skills. It is not intended to be a comprehensive list; the best options for you specifically will depend on your units, priorities, favorites, and intentions. 

Sample Henriette build

Sample Lilina Build

Sample Tharja build for Arena

Sample Summer Mercedes build

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the real Fire Emblem was the bonds we Fjorged along the way

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