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!