My Ballot for A Hero Rises 2024

Unit submissions for this year's A Hero Rises event have finally come to a close. While we're still awaiting the final results, I'm thrilled to share the units I've picked. There have been a multitude of great options available since last year, and that's difficult for me to decide whom to pick.

My Battle Ballot

Day 1: Ninja Sanaki + Micaiah

There has been a history of a Ninja unit winning the AHR events, first being Lyn in 2021 while female Corrin in 2022. Camilla, despite not winning, was in the Top 4 banner last year. For this year, I can see Ninja Sanaki being an obvious candidate. She is very insane as a powerful nuke, with a built-in DR piercing effect, and its percentage increases with more penalties present on her foe. She can also deal pre-combat damage with her Flared Mirror, and it stacks very well with Attuned Triandra's support and Occultist Strike, bypassing DR effects. Because of that, not even the best tanks could survive her nuking capabilities, and that proves her as a very intimidating unit whom I'm not surprised to see climbing up the ranks.

Day 2: Legendary Camilla

Last year's December was a month of Powercreep, where so many new units released have changed the ways we play FEH. And legendary Camilla was one of those units. She serves as an excellent jack-off-all trades, being both a strong support unit and an extremely formidable nuke. Firstly, she can deal absurd amounts of pre-combat damage equal to 40% of her foe's Atk, which means she can reduce most of her foes' HP to half or below. After that, she can inflict "Divine Vein Haze" from Deadly Miasma which is a strong inheritance option, yet sadly restricted to fliers. Her B skill provides a half DR-piercing effect to herself and her surrounding allies, which is also insane for a support effect. Therefore, her stupid capabilities in every game mode proves her a very strong option for the Top 8.

Day 3: Winter Edelgard

This is the Edelgard that everyone should vote for "tradition". Although she lacks the brave effect like her Summer counterpart, it is still the most powerful iteration of Edelgard we've ever gotten. She has a new preferred skill which has a built-in Charge effect, one extra movement and grants another action like her past versions. Besides that, she can pierce through foes' DR effects and leave the Divine Vein Flame terrain effect after combat. She is even better as a player phase Galeforcer-initiator, and many people are switching out Summer's for her because of this. I don't care if she loses again, but getting into the top 8 is still worth it.

Day 4: Veyle

Not only she's one of my favorite engage characters, but in FEH, she is a decent nuke providing insane Scowl support to her nearby allies, which really helps so many teams. This is the answer to Wind Tribe Claude back then, who can trigger his special at an instant and devastated many units. As an Astra season equivalent to Askr, Veyle is a strong pick, and garnering more votes for her would mean easier merges in the top 4 banner, compared to the notorious rates of Legendary & Mythic banners. In fact, she provides excellent fodder, with Atk/Res Tempo 4 as a premium choice for mages. Therefore, she's my personal choice for the AHR event.

Day 5: Attuned Peony

She's excellent when it comes to fodder duplication, and as a fantastic refresher, she grants the extra "Canto 1" effect to anyone so they can retreat a bit. She also grants bonus stats to herself, together with a remarkable warping effect that allows her to move to nearby allies within 2 spaces. Since she does not have a preferred passive, there are numerous skill options available for investment, such as Soaring Guidance. As of the latest update, she now has the ability to duplicate arcane weapons, enhancing her utility as a fodder factory. What's more, Atk Oath Echo is a great Echo skill for an extra warping effect in ranged nukes, so they become even more potent on the battlefield. Attuned Peony, in my opinion, deserves my vote for her excellent versatility and refresh capabilities.

Day 6: Winter Dimitri

The last of my two votes are not surprising for the community, as they are from the Christmas banner. Winter Dimitri proves to be an unstoppable force, and he hits like a truck. He can pre-charge his special, No Quarter which is invaluable fodder to a lot of melee units who require DR-piercing. Additionally, after combat, he grants Vantage and Dodge to himself, followed by Canto (2). This combination is perfect for AR-Offense teams specializing in Vantage strategies, as well as a raid boss teams in Summoner Duels. When he's first released, many players have underestimated his potential, but now he's used quite often. He's definitely a unit I believe all players should try out.

Day 7: Winter Byleth (M) + Byleth (F)

Lastly, the Byleth duo is still one of the most insane Save armors today. They have the ability to increase the Special cooldown count on foes during combat, making Specials like Deadeye & Lethality harder to trigger. The Byleths can function exceptionally well with their base kit, including their exclusive Special that penetrates through foes' DR-effects and reduces some damage from ranged units. What's more impressive is their Duo skill, which grants significant damage reduction from AOE-Specials to nearby allies and it also cancels their armor weakness. As a result, they stand out as an outstanding tank in every game mode, capable of doing anything beyond what a typical Save unit could.

To sum up,

Those are very strong candidates in my opinion, and I can see other candidates competing for the spots as well. When the interim results are released, I noticed a lot of green options in the ranks, which leads me to believe we might get an another all-green AHR banner like two years ago. Whoever wins the event would definitely help a lot for all players.

Let me know who do you think will emerge victorious in the AHR this year. Do you think it's a good idea to have a single-colored focus banner, or will it be a nightmare? For me, aiming for one particular color can be a good thing, but the colorsharing will make it harder to obtain merges on a specific unit. Thank you for reading this once again. I'm looking forward to hearing the results for the Top 8 soon.