Should You Pull - New Year's Of Fire And Ice Edition

This is a 4 unit banner, meaning that the odds start at 3%. As there are two red units, the chances of getting a single red five star are higher than usual, however, because the banner has 4 units, your chances of getting any specific five star is lower than banners with fewer units.

Note that the red odds are for getting a specific red focus.

High Attack and Speed

With 37 Speed, New Year Gunnthrá is one of the fastest sword fliers, only slower than Legendary Ryoma who has the same Attack as her. She also has a high Attack of 34, matching Legendary Ryoma and Elincia both.

Mixed Bulk

Gunnthrá has 27 Defense and 26 Resistance, giving her impressive mixed bulk and allowing her to easily take a hit from any opponent. Though she isn’t a tank by any means, her high Speed helps her avoid being hit twice, making her fairly flexible to use against any opponent.

Stats Comparison

Compared with the 3 star Caeda

Compared with the 3 star Palla

Compared with the 5 star Legendary Ryoma

Debuff Support

NY!Gunnthrá is the only unit on this banner with a prf weapon, her Hikami. While it follows the same concept as the other New Year weapons, its application makes it easier to take advantage of its debuffs.

• By debuffing a -4 on all stats, Gunnthrá loses some of the stat-focused power of a Chill debuff, but gains an all-around application that offers both her and her teammates a great deal of flexibility.
• The Hitami activates in a 4 space AoE around her, exceeding the range of any other range-oriented buff or debuff, but only affecting her nearest opponents. If standing in the middle of a traditional map, Gunnthrá can debuff anyone on a vertical and horizontal plane (similar to a Ploy skill), as well as units two spaces diagonally from her.
• This means that if Gunnthrá is in one of the four tiles in the center of the map, only 13 of the 48 map tiles will not be hit by her debuff.
• However, the debuff only applies to her closest enemies, meaning that it will generally only hit one or two enemy units, as opposed to the entire team.

A New Kind of Buff

NY!Gunnthrá is the first unit in the game with a Joint skill in Joint Hone Spd, which buffs herself and all adjacent allies by +5 Speed for 1 turn.

• If using her in a tight formation then this is generally going to be preferable to a skill like Odd Spd Wave, which is only active 50% of the time (but it activates regardless of positioning, whereas Joint Hone Spd does not activate unless there’s someone standing next to her at the beginning of her turn).
• The buff is less than Hone Fliers or Wave skills, but benefits in that it buffs Gunnthrá too, which plays into her ability to function as a hybrid damage/support unit.

Flexibility and Combat

Between her buff and debuff capabilities present in her base kit, it’s clear that Gunnthrá is meant to support her team via buffs, and the best part is that she isn’t limited to a flier team to do so: all of her buffs and debuffs apply regardless of her teammates, making her fantastic in a mixed emblem team.

However, her excellent stats and 16 Mt weapon also means that Gunnthrá is capable of holding her own in combat, particularly because the vast majority of units attacking her will be suffering under Hitami’s debuff since it hits the closest foe.

Should You Pull?

Here are some reasons to try your luck on red orbs:

• You like New Year Gunnthrá and New Year Hríd, as both occupy the same focus.
• You want the ability to debuff nearby enemies for -4 to all stats.
• You want a powerful red flier who can shine with any team

Here are a few reasons you may want to stay away from red orbs:

• You dislike New Year Hríd
• You have a Legendary Ryoma, who has better offensive stats and Legendary bonus effects (but no debuff support)
• You have little issue with applying debuffs already- Hitami applies visible debuffs, which do not stack with debuffs like Ploys and Chills (only highest debuff is calculated).

Extremely High Attack

New Year Hríd has the highest Attack of red fliers by far, with 38 (the next highest being 34, with Elincia, Legendary Ryoma, and NY!Gunnthrá).

A Flying Tank

With 36 Defense (tied with Laegjarn for the highest Defense among red fliers) and a respectable 27 Resistance, along with 42 HP, Hríd is a remarkably sturdy wall, though he pays dearly for it with his 19 Speed, meaning he’ll almost always be hit twice, even by slower units.

Stats Comparison

Compared with the 3 star Palla

Compared with the 5 star Laegjarn

Compared with the 5 star Legendary Ryoma

No, You Move

Hríd has no unique skill or prf, but he does have a playstyle that’s all about him tanking through loads of enemy damage and dealing high damage in return.

• His Geishun comes with a built-in Chill Attack, which debuffs his most threatening opponent and gives him more room to maneuver.
• In addition, he comes with Atk/Def Bond and Quick Riposte, both skills which make him excel at Enemy Phase, where you can put him in the range of a debuffed opponent and let him counterattack twice with his large Attack stat.

Hone Attack

NY Hrid is has Hone Attack 4, a high-SP upgrade to Hone Attack 3.

• This skill grants more Attack to allied units than Hone Fliers would, and can apply to any movement type, making it a very flexible and powerful buffing skill.
• A unit with Hone Attack 4 can support an ally with a Blade tome and effectively double the effectiveness of a buff.

New Mount, New Problems

While Hríd is a new archetype of unit (no other red flier has “low Speed/high Attack and Defense” as a concept), he doesn’t pull the niche off as well as his red cavalry form because he lacks the powerful Gjoll. He is also hampered in his unit class due to flier inheritance restrictions: being unable to learn any of the Breath skills hurts his damage potential immensely and he must simply rely on raw stats to survive and do damage in combat.

Granted, those raw stats are very high and will often prove to be enough, but this essentially makes Hríd something of a stat stick: useful, particularly in Enemy Phase, but with little other finesse or utility that he can bring to the team.

Should You Pull?

Here are some reasons to try your luck on red orbs:

• You like New Year Gunnthrá and New Year Hríd, as both occupy the same focus.
• You want a new kind of unit archetype for niche application in the future
• You want a red flier with extremely high Attack
• You want a defensive red flier

Here are a few reasons you may want to stay away from red orbs:

• You dislike New Year Gunnthrá or pulling from a split focus
• You prefer units with prfs or units with additional utility
• You have a good defensive red unit already

New Take On The Same Stats

While her Attack and Speed are the same as Summer Takumi’s and similar to WF Hinoka’s, Fjorm is a green bow unit, giving her Weapon Triangle advantages and disadvantages in her various combats.

Stats Comparison

Compared with the free Fallen Takumi

Compared with the 3 star Setsuna

Compared with the 5 star Legendary Lyn

Compared with the 5 star Summer Takumi

Attack and Speed

Fjorm’s stats and skills are all based around enhancing her Attack and Speed so she can attack twice with massive damage.

• Her Kabura Ya comes with an innate Chill Speed, offering her an advantage over the fastest enemy unit.
• To further this, New Year Fjorm has Atk/Spd Link in her B slot, a rare skill that allows both her and an ally to get Attack and Speed buffs after an Assist skill has been used on them. Finally, she has Atk/Spd Bond in her A slot, pushing her high stats even higher if she has an ally with her.

Green Archer

NY!Fjorm is the first non-legendary green archer in the game and the first colored bow flier

• While this makes her more susceptible to red units, it increases her viability against blues.
• This is both a blessing and a curse for her because red units are typically those with the highest Speed- her bow’s debuff is more likely to hit a unit that she cannot properly fight.
• This also means that utilizing a Firesweep Bow is somewhat less effective for Fjorm than it is for Summer Takumi: without the universal colorless damage, she has less applicability

Death From Above

Fjorm is a powerful archer, but whether she’s limited or enhanced by her having a color designation is up to you. She won’t struggle to double many blue units, particularly lance units, as the majority of them aren’t as fast as her and she can hit higher Speed caps with investment. However, red units are likely to walk all over her, as she will not be able to outspeed them and her defenses are somewhat limited.

As a green unit, she’s a great option for a team but won’t score as highly in Arena due to her lack of prf and lower stats overall.

Should You Pull?

Here are some reasons to try your luck on green orbs:

• You lack Legendary Lyn and like the novelty of having a green archer
• You want to vary up your flier team with different types of units
• You want to inherit Atk/Spd Link to another unit
• You want to inherit Kabura Ya to another unit

Here are a few reasons you may want to stay away from green orbs:

• Summer Takumi is arguably the better unit as he doesn’t have color limitations
• Fjorm will not score highly in the Arena due to her lower stats and lack of legendary weapon
• You don’t like using fliers

Limited Mobile Offense

Tied with the new Winter Eirika for the highest Attack of all healers at 36, Laevatein is far more mobile in her offenses, allowing her close to full map coverage with her staff. Unfortunately, she also carries her mediocre Speed over from her infantry form, which, at 30, leaves her in an awkward spot when it comes to combat capability.

Iron Maiden

While 27 Defense may not seem high for a combat unit, it’s rather high when compared to other healers and the highest for all cavalry healers, eking out Ethlyn who has 26. This can make Laevatein deceptively tanky and capable of taking a hit- if her low HP stat of 33 doesn’t let her down.

Stats Comparison

Compared with the free Ethlyn

Compared with the free Brave Veronica

Compared with the 5 star Maribelle

Built for Success

New Year’s Laevatein comes with almost everything a healer needs to be good.

• Wrathful Staff as her default B slot lets her put her high Attack to work and helps her to shine offensively.
• Her weapon, the Kumade, acts as a variant of Gunnthrá’s Chilling Seal, by debuffing her opponent with the highest Defense. However, while the Attack debuff is nice, the Speed debuff may be unnecessary due to its target, as her opponent with the highest Defense will likely not rely on Speed much.
• Laevatein also comes with the new and powerful Earthfire Balm, an inheritable skill that buffs all of her allies while healing one.

Too Many Niches, Not Enough Stats

Like many other ranged cavalry units, Laevatein spreads herself a little thin while trying to cover all of her bases.

• In trying to carry over her powerful Attack stat from her infantry form, she sacrificed -7 Defense, -6 HP, and -1 Speed, making her far more fragile than her infantry self.
• Her Speed at 30 is particularly disappointing- without an Asset, its only purpose is to prevent her from being doubled by slow units.
• Still, a high Attack stat is useful for her as it means that she can heal her allies for more HP. In addition, her being a healer helps to mitigate her poor stats, since her opponent generally won’t be able to retaliate into her attacks with the Dazzling enhancement on her weapon.

A Loyal Healer

Overall, Laevatein is comparable to the many cavalry healers who came before her with the exception of her high Attack stat, which she shares with healers like Maribelle.  Since she has no unique or exclusive skills, she doesn’t bring much else new to the table.

Still, she’s solid in her niche and having a healer on your side is never a bad option, considering the incredible amount of utility they can bring onto the field.

Should You Pull?

Here are some reasons to try your luck on colorless orbs:

• You didn’t pick Veronica as your CYL 2 freebie and need a powerful cavalry healer
• You want to inherit Kumade, Even Def Wave, or Earthfire Balm+ to another unit
• You want a healer with a high Attack stat

Here are a few reasons you may want to stay away from colorless orbs:

• Many healers can operate similarly to Laevatein, as the value that they add is not strictly based on their combat performance.
• Other cavalry healers will have an easier time in combat despite Laevatein’s high Attack due to their higher Speed.
• Kumade is an interesting weapon, but other staves (such as Flash) have more utility on a team.