A HERO'S REDEMPTION - Emblem Ike Review

 We'll be getting a new Emblem Hero this month, and I did not expect it's Ike, who's back with so much insane stuff. Of course, I expect a red hero for this one but I thought it's going to be Sigurd first, because of the chronological order. To think that Marth and Ike being the first few Emblems making into FEH reminds me of the Super Smash Bros, where they stuck around together as the old school Fire Emblem reps.

Anyway, I'm so excited to see what skills does the Radiant Legend have in store.

Emblem Ike

At last, we got a weapon that's makes reading easier. "Emblem Ragnell" has Slaying and Distant Counter. He can steal 25% of his foe's Atk at the start of combat, making it into a buff of his own. He can even neutralize so many negative status effects, which include Penalties, Sweep effects and Guard.

He has a preferred Special, "Great Aether", and it feels good to see it back from Smash once again. What it does is that Ike's damage gets boosted based on the number of times his foe attacks, multiplied by 10, and then added by 40 exact damage. He also shares the same effect from Ephraim, which allows foes to attack him first if he initiates combat. On both phases, foes can do follow-ups like a Desperation effect if they're able to, even before Ike's turn during combat.

The next part gets complicated though, and it takes forever to get the gist of it. Basically, Ike gets non-pierceable DR from the first hit by 40%  - Ike's Special cooldown count value × 10. Then, from the second hit onward, its 70% - Ike's Special cooldown count value × 10. So, this means that Ike needs to bring down his Special cooldown count in order to get as much non-pierceable DR as possible. After combat, if this Special has been triggered, and for foes who are within 3 rows and 3 columns, Ike can inflict 5 damage, Pulse Smoke, and he can heal a ton by at most, 50% of his max HP based on the number of foes within his range × 5, +10.

We have Laguz Friend 4 as an inheritable B skill, because of the shining golden ring that surrounds the icon. I'm interested to see if there're are any inheritance restrictions later. First, it inflicts Atk-5 which synergizes with Ike's weapon. If a unit's max Special cooldown count is ≥ 3, he inflicts half DR-piercing to himself, which balances things a little bit. He gets true-DR based on either 20% of Def or Res, and he can jump through his Special by 2 before foe's first attack. During combat under the same criteria, unit does true damage based on either 20% of Def or Res, and he can fully pierce through DR. 

Lastly, his Emblem effect grants unpierceable 40% DR if a foe is ranged or his Special is ready. It is a nice touch to a majority of Far-Save units and other frontliners.

Emblem Ike is built to be an enemy-phase unit, and he can survive most hits via unpierceable-DR, proving to be an insane omni-tank. He gives a middle finger to Brave effects & especially Ninja Sanaki, who will eventually fall into irrelevance like the rest of the Ninjas due to penalty neutralization. 

However, pre-combat damage from Legendary Camilla & Valentine's Lyon can pose a problem for him, and he is vulnerable to Scowl effects too. Regardless, I can see Emblem Ike as a sign of enemy phase units slowly coming back to dominance over the meta, and there is more to come.

Overall Banner

The banner as a whole, is rather a hit-or-miss, as there's only half the value. We got Emblem Ike colorsharing with Legendary Elincia, who has insane mobility support, and there goes Embla, a defense mythic. I heard that she has shown her age as a support, given that nukes are getting stronger and they can wipe out many save units.

Green has a nice colorshare, with Legendary Camilla returning for the first time, and she deals insane pre-combat damaged, followed by half-DR piercing support to her nearby allies. Seidr is great as an Astra mythic in various strats like Galeforce & Hit-and-Run, making her a good merge project. Lastly, there's Attuned Nino who's decent in terms of viability and duplicating fodder.

Colorless is not great in my opinion; the only star of this batch is Tina. She makes a huge impact on AR-Defense because she can steal bonuses from enemy teams. Arval is good, but they're not as a huge deal as they use to be. Also, Safy is just Freyr at home, and she might end up being fodder. 

And finally, you should avoid blue. Legendary Byleth (F)'s Tempo niche, not to mention Mycen & Isadora, get utterly outclassed by other units who can do better in their respective roles.

Will I Summon? + Next Reruns

I've expected an Emblem Hero to show up not long ago, so I'll wait while saving up to 155 orbs as it's fairly sufficient for me to get Ike on spark. It's time for my Radiant boy to shine once again in FEH! Speaking of which, he's coming back in May with Emblem Marth and Kvasir, and the colorsharing looks pretty decent. Therefore, I suggest waiting for that particular month, as you'll get a ton of value from pulling two Emblems of the same color. You get Potent 4, a very good skill for your melee builds, and there's also Incite Atk/Res which is decent.

Let me know if you're excited about this banner. Now that we have broken the trend, which Emblem Hero would you like to see for the next few months? Thank you so much for reading my thoughts and have some great summons out there!

BUNNIES AWAKEN FROM PITY HIBERNATION - Engage Easter Summons

The spring banner is out for a while, and it has the harmonic duo Chloe & Cordelia, two of my favorite pegasus knights who are in one alt, and that made me excited. So, let's hop through the results for this summoning session.

15th March - I had 166 orbs in hand after the New Heroes banner got revealed, and thankfully, it's not Engage so I felt safe. As usual, it was a full-circle session, hoping to get one copy of Chloe, but Framme would make things even better. Besides, I won't mind pulling more copies of Mirabilis since I loved the artstyle so much.

Speaking of which, I got my first copy of Mirabilis, and I couldn't get more excited, especially when concluding the first circle. 

The cheery steward had a keen sense on the Divine Dragons' presence, and so on the 10th summon, Framme showed up! I was absolutely ecstatic at that moment. I heard that she doesn't offer that much in terms of support, but I take it regardless as an Engage collector.

Then, on the 22nd try, I pulled Lute from the 4-Star Special Rate - a unit I was surprised to find that I didn't own, and yet, she didn't interest me that much for being an outdated Year 1 unit.

To my surprise, I got back-to-back 5 star units, with Fallen Tiki on the 26th try, swiftly followed by Spring Sylvain on the 27th try. I've summoned for Fallen Tiki before, whereas Sylvain, the latter I felt less inclined to utilize. Amazingly, I got another Mirabilis after an additional 2 summons.

I did not get any 5 star exclusives for the last 2 circles, and that means getting Chloe on spark. In fact, I would not get frustrated whenever Mirabilis broke my pity-rates because she's simply adorable. I managed to get two more copies of her from the 31st & 40th summons.

Here they are, having come to me after renewing my FEH pass.

Conclusion

Overall, I felt quite lucky in my summons, as the Engage gods have answered. I didn't expect to get everyone from the focus batch at all. Could it be that the bunnies, after sleeping through long pity winters, have brought their lucky eggs to my session?

In the meantime, get ready for a new Emblem Hero to be revealed at the end of this month. I bet he's going to bring more crazy meta shenanigans as well.

THE QUEEN SOARS IN - Archanea New Heroes Review 2024

 As expected by a majority of players, we're getting an Archanea banner. It's a well-deserved break for me given the back-to-back Engage content released, at least for now. Without further ado, let's jump into it.

Attuned Caeda

My favorite pegasus girl has received an alt this year, and she looks pretty gorgeous in her Marth-esque armor. This time, she's an infantry unit which surprises me because she's usually a rider for most of her alts. 

First, she has "Pure-Wing Spear" which grants Slaying and as usual, armor & cavalry effectiveness. If she's within 2 spaces of an ally at the start of turn, she grants bonuses to Atk & Spd and Warping for herself and any of her allies for 1 turn. As long as she's within 3 spaces of her ally, she grants Omni+X which is based on the number of allies within 3 spaces multiplied by 3, then added by 5. She also gets 30% DR from all attacks, and that she restores more HP if she faces a cav-foe.

Then, she gets a new preferred B skill, "Believe In Love?", which sounds silly as if she appears not to believe in love at all. It has built-in Phantom, penalty infliction to foe's Atk & Def and she has stolen Legendary Male Robin's Grand Strategy effect which is strong. Also, if she meets the Spd check, she gets an additional Spd difference-based DR (excluding AOEs), up to 50%, and if she encounters a armor or cavalry foe, she gets true DR based on the total amount of bonuses among herself and her allies within 2 spaces. Otherwise, she gets 40% Brave DR instead.

She comes with D Bonus Doubler, a formidable skill that shocks many players because it combines Distant Counter & Bonus Doubler into one, and there is Def/Res Pledge as another Pledge skill. As she's an attuned unit, she comes with Guard Echo which functions the same as Guard 4, but less DR.

I feel like omni-tanks are trying to come back to their former prime, and thankfully, we have a nice fodder factory designed for infantries besides Ganglot. However, she's weak to Sweep effects & the prominent pre-combat damage, so I believe she could have functioned better if there is Null C-Disrupt built into her weapon. Perhaps, time will tell if we get a Sacred Seal to compensate that.

Yuliya

Oh wow! Another colorless demote to ignite the agonizing flames of summoning hell even more. I predicted Yuliya debutting in FEH not long ago, and unfortunately, she's not with her twin brother this time. At least, she is the first to offer tier 3 versions of Finish skills, which is a good sign as we don't have to waste more manuals on tiers of Finish skills alone.

Arlen

A highly requested character from Archanea, that's it. I don't really know anything about him. "Lightburst Tome" grants +6 to Atk, Spd & Def as well as terrain support to himself and nearby allies. If he's more than 25% of HP, and he can trigger Specials, he grants Special acceleration before combat begins. He can also inflict penalties to Atk, Spd & Res based on foe's max Special cooldown value, and I think it works as a soft-counter to Gambit users. In fact, he gets some DR and retaliates back with the amount reduced.

To make things stir a bit, he has C Bonus Doubler, which is insane. Legendary Chrom is going to enjoy this new toy. We're getting two of the new skills revolving around Bonus Doubler simultaneously, so while he faces intense competition from other mage units, there's no doubt that his fodder is quite worth it.

P.S. Atk/Res Tempo 4 is now in the regular pool, so that releases the pressure on Veyle.

Ascended Merric

I'm glad that IS is still aware of the concept of Ascended Heroes, not like other game modes that are nearly abandoned a long time ago. Merric fans can now rejoice after not hearing any updates for nearly 4 years (ignoring the resplendent). 

He is a green-cav unit and his tome, "Tender Excalibur" is a let-down for all. Aside from Slaying & flying effectiveness, he grants Omni+X based on the number of allies within three spaces. There is built-in Null Follow-Up, followed by 30% DR & Special cooldown acceleration, yet no pre-combat damage. 

"Sacred Wind" is his preferred special which deals true damage based on 40% of his Spd, cancels out DR-effects, some healing and Canto (1) for 1 turn. With this, I can tell that he's offered nothing really crazy in particular; just a relatively tame nuke vulnerable to Scowl. Most of the latest tanks, like Winter Byleth can survive every blow he delivers. 

There is Seal Spd/Res 3 as a new inheritable skill, but Seal skills are almost redundant in general, despite at the highest tier. So, unless he's your favorite or if you want Incite Atk/Spd fodder, it's best to avoid summoning for him.

Will I summon?

Attuned Caeda is no doubt the star of this banner. But if the nuke meta still persists, I'm not surprised if she's fallen off after a while. Merric's niche as a green cav-nuke, is okay but he gets outclassed by Duo Lyon, who is the only better option. And colorless as always, gets depreciated further. 

I love Caeda; she's a boss and I really want to grab a copy of her. But as far as I want to, I'm getting exhausted as I spend consecutively on Engage units. Therefore, I'm going to skip this one as not only I'm saving for Spring Chloe, but for the Emblem unit confirmed this month.

What do you think? Are you looking forward to the gradual rise of omni-tanks in the meta? Thank you for reading my thoughts on this banner and have some great summons out there!

A WILD ENGAGE RIDE - Elusia Summons

I was caught off guard when Elusia dropped at the worst possible moment, right when we just got Duo Lyon, who has being one of the most meta-breaking monsters to-date. As a devoted Engage collector, my goal was to secure one copy of every focus unit from this banner, with no intention of waiting for their return in the long run.

So, here we are, as I take you to one of the longest summoning sessions I've ever done.

24th February - With 204 orbs at hand, I couldn't resist waiting until the last day, so I decided to split my summoning sessions into two (if my luck somehow got worse). For my top pick, I went for Hortensia as colorless is notoriously tough to snipe on, while Ivy came in second for being the Attuned unit.

Unfortunately, with 142 orbs spent, together with the free tickets, it turned out very painful. At least, I got 2 copies of Kagetsu (I keep one), but the rest were pity breakers, which I have already owned in my barracks. Here's whom I got:

• Dorcas (4* Special, 1st summon)
• Brave Seliph (6th summon)
• Female Byleth (4* Special, 29th summon)
• Brave Chrom (34th summon)
• Maribelle (4* Special, 37th summon)
• Caeldori (40th summon)

With that, my focus bubbles were fully charged, so I went for Hortensia from the spark. But in the end, I felt scammed because those units could have been Elusians instead, leaving me utterly disappointed. To make things worse, none of them provides any rare fodder at all. 

6th March - It was the last day of Elusia, and I had 158 orbs at hand which seemed enough, after doing some calculations. Since the bubbles were already full, things might look up eventually, but will they? Anyway, that was what I hoped for as I pressed the "Summon" button, fervently praying to get everyone on time.

With consecutively 53 summons, followed by a whopping 7% rate, I got - Hortensia again. Honestly, I wish IS could add an option that allows me to spark later, so that I won't get duplicates. Yet, I offered her to Elice for her Arcane staff & special, so getting another copy definitely makes her reusable for future builds.

However, with 2 units away, and the bubbles were reset, I thought things were going downhill after all. Maybe I just take Ivy and calling it quits. After all, Rosado could show up at any time for being a pity breaker.

But then, fate took an unexpected turn. The crown princess finally showed up in her regality at the 66th summon, right at the end of the circle. It was a moment, so amazing that it reignited my desire to keep summoning until 80 summons.

On the 71st summon, I pulled another Ivy, after Leo as a 4-star special. Great! Now I have more fodder options. It seems the second try made up the loss from the first one.

Got Ascended Hilda on the second-last summon, but at this point, I couldn't care less. Just one more summon from getting Rosado.

And finally, into my proud collection of Engage units, here's my boy.

Final Thoughts

My first session left much to be desired, but the second run took an unexpected twist. With literally one orb remaining, I was filled with immense joy as I gathered my beloved Engage characters into Heroes once more. It's certainly a rollercoaster. Now, it's time for me to save up for both the Spring & Emblem banners this month, and hopefully I can get a nice break from getting more Engage units.

Thank you for reading my results from the Elusia banner. How did it go for your summons? Have a great day ahead.

ENGAGE TRAIN NEVER STOPS - 2024 Spring Banner Review

I thought it's already over, but no! We got 3 Engage banners in a row, and for a pure Engage collector like myself, my orb wallet has been shattered like a fallen star. Given that an Emblem unit is expected to come out at the end of this month, I'm getting overwhelmed. 

Anyway, it's time to dive into this year's Spring banner and see what we get.

Spring Framme

One of the Divine Dragon's stewards hops into the fray, with "Hippity-Hop Axe" as her preferred weapon. It has Slaying, and it grants her allies Omni +4 and a HP-based damage reduction. If the unit has full HP at the start of combat, the percentage is equal to that value, otherwise, it will be half the number of HP (up to 60%). And after the DR effect has triggered, unit deals 1 damage after combat. It seems confusing at first, because it doesn't explicitly explain whose HP is it, but I guess it could be Framme herself, and/or her allies who are granted that effect.

Also, she can restore 7 HP to her allies within 2 spaces at the start of turn like Reyson does.

If Framme is within 3 spaces of her ally, she grants herself +14 at max to all stats, and it basically works like a Finish effect. She has built-in Tempo as well. For maths shenanigans, this is the first time we've seen a Z variable in a weapon. Great! What's next then? Powers, roots etc. This is also stackable damage reduction, which also depends on Framme's HP, but on first & brave hits.

She comes with another type of Boost skill in the form of "Firestorm Boost". With so much DR-piercing & pre-combat damage going on, I don't think she can do well as a support & frontliner, even on release.

Spring Sylvain

Yes, another Three Houses unit on a spring banner robbing other characters' spot. Sylvain comes with Slaying and grants himself an extra action when using Rally, making him a decent candidate for Ruse 4. Additionally, he can boost Specials to himself for 1 turn, and he can also make a guaranteed follow-up attack, grant 40% brave DR, anti guard and unconditional brave hits.

His weapon kit looks solid for a melee nuke, but it makes him vulnerable to Null-Follow Up which is very common in the meta. However, his support capabilities are great, especially for being a cav as he can initiate his assist, and attack at the same time within a larger range. He also comes with a Tier 4 version of Near Trace which is nice.

Spring Mirabilis

First of all, I think Mirabilis has been on a rough spot when it comes to alts. She's not an awakened unit like the rest of the fairies in the previous Tempest Trials. But now she's donned a spring outfit, fans are very excited and for them, she's steals the show.

Sadly, she's a demote, but she has another preferred refresh skill that grants Atk +6 and Bonus Doubler to her target, and that she inflicts penalties on Atk and Panic to her foes. Her weapon 'Daydream Egg" grants Res +3, and she inflicts penalties on Atk, Des and Res as well as Guard on her foes. 

For the rest, it's nothing special, really. But I feel very happy for the fans for getting what they deserve, and it should be easier for merges. 

P.S. Her art is cute and it really stands out for me.

Spring Chloe + Cordelia

Two of my favorite Pegasus knights from different games have soared in as one Harmonic unit. Her weapon "Sky-Hopper Egg" grants Canto (1) to herself, and I just realised that her support capabilities are a side-upgrade to Legendary Hinoka. She can now grant Charge to any of her allies within 2 spaces, regardless of their movement type, and those allies will have bonuses to Atk/Spd and 40% damage-reduction when they initiate combat. This is very strong, because anyone in her team can have the Charge effect, and it's not just fliers.

What's more, if her HP is more than 25%, she grants bonuses to all stats for herself and additional bonuses to her Atk/Spd based on the number of allies who have the Charge effect, other than herself. She even deals true damage based on 20% of her Spd and pierces through DR-skills by 50%.

Her Harmonic skill boosts her allies' Specials by 2 which is really insane too, not to forget Resonance: Blades and Incite. She offers a new type of Rein skill in the form of Spd/Res Crux. What it simply does is that any foe inflicted by that status would mean that any of her allies can do guarantee follow-up attacks during combat. Again, Null-Follow Up has already devalued the skill.

Overall, Chloe turns out to be a very powerful nuke and support like Legendary Hinoka does. Imagine if she offers DR-piercing instead of DR to her allies, that would be unbalanced for sure. As one of my favorite waifus from Engage, I simply can't resist even at the worst odds.

Final Thoughts

When it comes to competition, the banner doesn't really offer much value to all players, but Chloe is worth the mention for her nuking & support capabilities, as she's in the same level as Hinoka. For an Engage collector however, I feel devastated as if IS couldn't give me a break at all from so much orb spending.

For now, I will be saving 155 orbs and use them on full circles, aiming for a copy of Chloe before Spark as well as Framme. Mirabilis is so cute in her outfit and I won't bother getting more merges on her.

Thank you so much for reading my opinions on the Spring banner. Let me know if you're excited for any of these heroes. And as always, hop into great summons 🐰🐰

THE DRAGON'S ROAR - Legendary Alear (M) Summons

 So, I decided to spend orbs on the legendary banner this time, as my FEH pass was expiring, and that I have to get Freyr on spark. Before that, I've spent orbs on Elusia too, but the results didn't go that well, so that session has split into two parts. Without further ado, here are my summons on Legendary Male Alear's banner.

29th February - With 209 orbs on hand, I've obligated myself for one thing - Freyr. He has been avoiding me since the past summoning sessions, and it's time for me to get him right away as he's a must have for my team on AR-Defense. It's now or never.

As usual, I'm pulling on full circles. On the 8th summon, I got Heidr, who's a solid unit for support. When the next batch of Divine Codes gets announced, I'm pretty excited because it has Ninja Heather for Ruse 4, and I can't wait to give it to Heidr. It synergizes perfectly with her exclusive assist, making it so that she can spam the "Schism" status on enemy teams.

Male Alear showed up on the 10th summon, which is so good due to his insane omni-tank potential. I believe his Miracle condition, where his HP must be greater than 1 implies a soft counter to the prevalent pre-combat damage meta we're getting today. As Brave Seliph is next in line for his refine, I wonder if he gets the same effect as well. For now, I don't have to wait ridiculously long before his next rerun. Also, I got Exalt Chrom as a back-to-back 4* Special, who offers nothing intersting in particular.

I got a copy of Harken on the 19th summon. He has an interesting part that enables him to move to any space adjacent to his foe within 4 spaces. Apparently, this makes him a potent melee nuke, but unfortunately, he lacks DR-piercing. If we get another unit who does better than him in terms of combat, he might as well be Brash Assault 4 fodder.

On the 27th summon, I got Gotoh. Really wish it's Gullveig instead for fodder, and Gotoh gets completely outclassed from his tanking capabilities. However, Guard 4 is still decent, but not that amazing in my opinion.

Reaching 40 summons, Freyr literally refused to show up, so I pulled him right away on spark. Nothing makes me happier than that.

Overall, I'm pretty satisfied with my summons, as I got the focus units that I really wanted. On the 7th, the Elusia banner will disappear soon, so I'll rack up the orb amount and try to get everyone on the later part. May your summons turn out great.