SUMMER GOLDMARY IS REAL! - Thoughts on Summer Part 2

We have the second part of the Summer banner not long ago, and it certainly includes some fan-favorites. So, without further ado, let's dive into each unit.

Summer Alear (F)

We've gotten so many Alear alts within a span of a year and a half, as IS wants to promote the Engage propaganda. The artist does a good job making her cute in a ponytail though, not to forget the Sommie reference (Sommie debut when?).

Maritime Arts:

• Slaying
• Unconditional Brave
• Adaptive DMG

Grants the following if unit is within 3 spaces of ally:

• Omni+5
• Dull-X on Foe (Max: 10) = No. of Different Titles Among Allies Within 3 Spaces × 3, + 4
• Flat Damage (excl. AOEs) & Flat DR from 1st hit (incl. Braves)
• X (Max: 15) = 5 × Total No. of Allies from Different Titles & No. of Engaged Allies
• Null Guard

It looks like an improvement to her Legendary counterpart as she benefits a lot from the flat damage-reduction when dealing with Brave threats. Also, having Null Guard definitely helps to trigger her Special in ease.

Bond Blast:

• Boosts DMG by 50% Spd

If team has no support partner:

• Grants "Bonded" to Allies With The Highest Atk Within 2 Spaces

If team has a support partner or ally has "Bonded":

• Full DR-Piercing For Unit, Support Partner & Allies Within 2 Spaces

If within 3 spaces of a support partner or "Bonded" ally, and unit or foe's Special is ready:

• Unpierceable 40% DR after 1st Hit (once per combat)

The description for the Bonded status is so vague, that I fathom why IS couldn't simply tell us what it does exactly in the first place. After watching other analysis videos, it's revealed to grant full DR-piercing to allies with the "Bonded" effect, and it's not just Alear and her support partner. Again, some refinement to her support capability.

She has Spd/Res Finish 4 and Null C-Disrupt 4 as her passives, and we have another Wave 4 skill in the form of Even Res Wave D. This skill is restricted to dragon units since D stands for dragon, and it has built-in Scowl which is nice. However, you still have to meet the Res check.

Just like the Legendary version, Summer Alear (F) proves to be a solid jack-of-all-trades in certain game modes like Arena and AR-Offense as she can be blessed. Her full DR-piercing support is great, yet when it comes to tanking, she's not as insane as Emblem Ike, and she will never be, unfortunately.

Summer Petra

A unit foreshadowed by everyone for her appearance as a silhouette. Huge congratulations to all the Petra fans for getting a well-deserved alt.

Breaker Bow:

• Slaying
• Flier & Beast Effectiveness
• Canto (1)
• Aerial Maneuvers

Grants the following if unit's HP ≥ 25% at start of combat:

• Pseudo-Lull Spd/Def
• Omni+5
• Atk/Spd+X × 6)
• X (Max: 3) = No. of  Allies with Atk ≥ 55 +  No. of Allies with Spd ≥ 40 in 3R & 3C
• Accelerates Special by A Before 1st Atk
• A (Max: Special Cooldown Value) = X (same value from True Bonuses) + 1
• Accelerates Special by B Before 1st Follow-Up
• B (Min: 0) = X (same value from True Bonuses) + 1

Welp, there goes another Aerial Maneuvers ranged-unit who can hit harder than my girl Tana, and she can run Guidance support. Sadly, she's a bow version of Wind Tribe Claude, as being heavily reliant on spamming Deadeye leaves her vulnerable to Scowl effects. 

Additionally, she has Spd/Def Crux as a somewhat lackluster skill, given that NFU is prominent. As long as she's not facing Fallen Veyle, having Desperation 4 allows Deadeye to be triggered at least once. 

Overall, she's functions as a better Tana in AR-Offense, where she has good synergy with Winter Edelgard via Guidance. But again, when the first unit covering a similar niche fell off, I can't help but watch as Petra faces the same fate, and that both of them will eventually lose relevance.

Summer Clanne

After Framme, here comes her twin-brother in alt-hell, who's also predicted from the silhouette. Judging by the braid, wouldn't it be nice if we have Mamori and others from TMS instead? That game has been forgotten for too long, and seriously needs more attention.

Anyway, there's nothing worth mentioning for a demote like him, other than having Atk/Spd Finish 3 and Spd/Def Tempo 3 for building up fodder.  After all, "Small Spade" feels underwhelming like the rest of the daggers, even though it borrows some of the effects from Petra's weapon.

Summer Goldmary + Bernadetta

At last, the moment I've been waiting for, yet it turns out quite unexpected. It's very exciting for me that Goldmary finally shows up in FEH, and she's paired up with...Bernadetta? Well, they serve as comic-relief characters in their respective games, and they have contrasting personalities, so why not? Also, a nice little treat for Bernie fans before CYL approaches.

Diva-Pair Parasol:

• Slaying

For foes within 3R & 3C, and if unit meets Def check:

• True Atk/Spd Penalties = 15% of Foe's Atk
• Lull Atk/Spd

Grants the following if unit's HP ≥ 25%:

• Omni+X (Max: 14) = (No. Of Allies Within 3R & 3C × 3) + 5
• True DMG (excl. AOEs) = 15% Atk
• Inflicts Guard
• 7 HP Healing

Ugh, that weapon does not meet my expectations, and I'd argue that even Mozu's weapon does better than that. She lacks damage-reduction in any form, no damage reflection, and Guard especially is useless nowadays when it can be nullified by so many units.

Yes, she has Godlike Reflexes and Laguz Friend 4 to compensate that, but why would I run her if I could just use a generic melee infantry with all of her skills?

Even Atk Wave N is yet another Wave 4 skill built for melee units, and it now deals flat DMG, more Atk bonuses and some healing. Great! Another skill that I don't care in general.

Lastly, her Harmonic button grants "Resonance: Shields", Def/Res+6, "Bonus Doubler", and "Bulwark" to allies from the same title for 1 turn. This could have been a good support, but granting Anti-Warp support for 1 turn feels underwhelming, as Valentine's Myrrh does a lot better than this! Why not just incorporate it into her weapon for permanent Bulwark support instead?

As a Goldmary fan, I'm so disappointed that she fails to impress me as a unit, and I can't think of any game mode she would be good at as support units are highly competitive. In fact, there goes another omni-tank who gets overshadowed by Emblem Ike, and he's enjoying the best vacation for now.

Final Thoughts + Will I Summon?

Overall, the real star of the banner in my opinion, is female Alear, who has improved significantly with better DR-piercing support and better tanking abilities. Even so, I think she might age like her Legendary counterpart in the future. Petra is just a bow-version of Wind Tribe Claude, and Goldmary is straight up accessible Laguz Friend fodder. What a shock that the second part of Summer appears to be even worse than the first part, but it's good that we can take a short break from this unending powercreep.

It's a shame because Goldmary is one of my favorites from Engage, but I feel like it's not worth spending 155 orbs on full circles, merely to get a copy of her on spark, when she's already lackluster on release. It's not like Emblem Celica's banner, where you get Celica on spark, and she impacts the game beneficially, which is worth the cost. So for me, I'm going to skip this before I would regret spending on it.

Nevertheless, I believe that fans have been waiting for a Petra alt for a long time, so I would encourage you to summon only if any of these units are your absolute favorites. We're getting a Mythic Hero Banner at the end of this month, and I bet it's Eikþrnir color-sharing with Loki & Alear. For sure, he's going to come out incredibly busted, and I want Heiðrun for green as well.

Thank you so much for reading my thoughts on this somewhat underwhelming banner, and be sure to don't fall for the Summer orb trap! Up next, I'll be sharing my summoning session on Emblem Celica's banner, which was done after the reveal of Summer Part 2.