#lance stays with blue while ophelia gets red

[samsloves]

thinking how my vld insert, ophelia, did not expect to go back to the paldins, be thrown into piloting red, and having their crush, lotor, chase them on a gas planet dbdbdbd

[crystalelemental]

Oh man.  GamePress apparently updated the offensive tier list to be AR exclusive, and boy have there been some changes.  You know I have opinions on this one.

Okay let’s start with the obvious part: how in the hell is any Legendary hero considered above Tier 2?  Like, are we not factoring in score?  Or are we only accounting for if they score well?  Because realistically, half the time, a legendary hero is an active detriment to the scoring.  Also it turns out this isn’t just offense, but both offense AND defense, since Mirabilis is Tier 1.  So that’s gonna be...honestly, a bit confusing.  I’m sure some people can tell which is which, but I’m willing to bet others aren’t clear.

Let’s start with the biggest changes at the top.  Eliwood and Brave Roy are now Tier 1, likely because Galeforce.  Nothing else is different that I can tell.  Maybe some demotion?  But nothing substantial.  Lysithea is finally recognized as Tier 1, and I’m certain it’s because of her power on AR-D.  Girl is obscene.  Otherwise, Fallen Julia is the only other T1 Red Mage, and damn good on her.  Idunn demoted, but honestly, fair.  AR is not for her.  Armor units are not hard to handle, and are pretty bad on offense.  Especially with Thrasir existing, armor dragons just have a rough go.  Spring Idunn and Tibarn alone are T1.  What I do find interesting is that Dancer Micaiah didn’t maintain.  I guess the Hardy Bearing effect isn’t as impressive anymore.  Also Karla stayed T2, that’s...astonishing, actually.  Duo Byleth is also T2, which kinda makes sense.  Defense can’t make use of her Duo skill, and her bulk is pathetic, so any typical ranged defense unit can handle her.  On offense, it’s going to be tough.  Desperation effect is good, but conditional on having a fast team, not to mention Galeforce sets can require the foe to retaliate, like with Eliwood/Brave Roy.  So I can’t say I’m surprised she’s not on top.

Lance seems to just be B!Lucina, Duo Ephraim, and Trio Palla.  Which is fair.  Blue mages, though?  Damn is this crowded.  L!Azura and Peony, because obscene dancers.  Ophelia, because bitch.  Duo Alphonse, because immortality.  Brunnya, because honestly Fimbulvetr is perfect for this game mode, and she’s got the infantry status and abilities to do whatever she wants.  And L!Julia.  I’m willing to bet she’s more AR-D focused.  Rafiel and L!Chrom are also T1, of course.  I think what really surprises me is that Reinhardt is T2.  Is anyone else surprised about this?  I guess he’s not the most threatening thing in the world anymore, but still.  Actually wait, what’s REALLY neat is that Naga is T3.  So clearly scoring considerations are not paramount.

Axes have V!Duo Alm, Annette, L!Edelgard, and B!Ike.  Because of course.  All of them are ridiculous.  Mages have L!Celica, Thrasir, and Fallen Lyon, with beasts/dragons having Reyson.  Which, again, makes sense.  I’m glad Surtr demoted to T2.  I really don’t think of him as the most threatening aspect of AR anymore, even on dedicated stall, so this feels overdue.  Yune’s also T2, which..okay, fair.  While I think she’s great, she’s a ranged flying unit who plays defense, and her debuff game is crippled severely by Eir’s bonuses.  It’s super weird that F!Kana demoted, though.  She was T1 before, and that was entirely based on AR potential, so...okay.  Guess the meta has shifted hard enough against her.  Also, big shoutouts to Julia for maintaining T2 status.  That’s my girl.

Bows have L!Alm, L!Leif, V!Faye, and Duo Marth.  I can’t speak for Duo Marth, I don’t have him, but I feel like the fact I’ve never faced one means he’s at least not good on AR-D.  I can vouch for V!Faye, though, holy shit.  In fact can we establish Tier 0 for the primordial beings that break the world over their knees?  Anyway, Bernadetta and B!Lyn are T2, and I’m betting that’s for hit-and-run offense teams.  Also Norne’s T2 now, which is super correct.  I’ve felt this for a while, and the forum backs me up pretty hard on it: Norne’s the best common archer by a mile.  But of course, you all know what I’m going to say.  There is no way Faye is T3.  I have played her ranged defense game long enough to know that she is really strong at it.  While some threats like Lysithea can blow past her, and Thrasir isn’t always one-shot with my current supports, she is very capable of performing better than T3.  Also, poor Clarisse.  Finally gets a kickass refine that’s just not particularly great for AR, and instead of climbing the ranks of the offensive tier list, they change the conditions on her.  Girl can’t catch a break.

Dagger/Mage combos have, of course, Bramimond, Leila, Eir, and Duo Micaiah.  Absolutely no surprises here.  What is surprising, maybe just to me, is that Winter Cecilia is down to T3.  She was considered T2 for a long while, and I’d guessed that was based on AR potential.  I guess Duo Micaiah is causing substantial problems for armors across the board?  But man, Larum is T2.  LARUM.  Larum sucks, what could she possibly be doing that’s useful?

Dragons/Beasts have Fallen Female Corrin, Leanne, Mila, and Velouria.  I love everything about this.  Leanne makes sense for Defense teams, Velouria is a great Galeforcer, Mila is probably the best Light mythic for supertank strategies, and Fallen Female Corrin makes me happy because Fallen Male Corrin is only T2.  Get fucked, loser.  Your higher BST does nothing for your shit ass.  I do think there’s an argument for Caineghis in T1 for an offensive supertank, but honestly, he struggles.  To a degree I’d say he’s worse than Faye.  We don’t have any beast Mythics, and the only offensive dragon is Mila.  His DC is conditional on transforming, and he’s an armor unit.  He can’t run Null C-Disrupt, or Null Follow-Up like she can, so there are defense teams that can beat him by exploiting this.  I feel like Faye’s a lot better, but hey, what do I know.

And finally, staves.  Bridal Fjorm is the only one in T1.  Brave Veronica actually dropped, which is funny because she was T1 before solely on AR.  She doesn’t place in Arena.  I guess the meta has shifted away from Brave Veronica lately.  I haven’t been scared of one in a long time.  And hey, Maribelle is T2 as well, and Forrest got pushed up to T3!  Unfortunately, Brave Camilla was reduced to T3, so she’s still below B!Veronica.  Which in this game mode I guess is fair.

Now for the opposite end of the spectrum.  There are now 6 tiers, which I like.  I feel the subdivisions are appropriate, we have enough units that categorization was tough.  T4 for lances and swords was like 60 units before, I’m glad it got cleaned up a bit.  For red stuff, Alfonse remains at the bottom, but is no longer alone.  NY!Camilla, Chrom, V!Conrad, Beach Fiora, Hinata, and NY!Hrid are also down there.  Haha, Hrid, get fucked you loser.  That’s for January 2019, you fuck.  Mages here include Canas, Julius (ouch), Leo, Beach Leo, Raigh, and Beach Lorenz.  No surprises.  There are no dragons, daggers, or bows for red down here, the lowest they go is T4.  Hysterically, every form of red Tiki is in T4.  Also, maybe this is me not understanding something, but NY!Anna and NY!Eir in T4 surprises me.  I thought their weapons were considered great team support.  Are their stats just not optimized for it? 

T6 lances are many.  Too many, I’m not listing all of that.  What I will say is, tell my Forma Finn running on the double cav Galeforce defense team that he’s T6.  Considering I only lost two matches at all last season, and only 38 Lift, I’d say he’s doing alright.  But there are probably better options out there, I’m just working with what I have.  Mages are just Oliver and M!Robin.  Man, I hope M!Robin goes up with the resplendent.  Leave Oliver to die.  No dragons, bows, or daggers, they’re all up in T4 where...where...no.  No, there’s no way.  Lilith has warp abilities from anywhere.  NAESALA is considered T4, despite being paired with Tibarn for some of the nastiest offensive AR-D strategies out there.  Mordecai has the Smite thing.  I don’t agree with this at all.  And Ninian is T3?  Even though she’s one of the top picks for Infantry Pulse AR-D dancers?  I know Nils exists and is better in every way pretty much, but that’s a bit much to me.  I think the blue dragon/beast section is the most ridiculous by far.

There are also a lot of axes down in T6, but I agree with all of them.  The green mages make me sad, though.  Picnic Leo, Cecilia, and Female Robin.  I do think F!Robin has a lot of utility within the game, but...honestly they’re super right, she cannot possibly compete in AR.  Defense teams have no use for her, and offensive teams using her as a support are a bad idea with Panic Manor around.  Mostly Cecilia makes my heart hurt.  Come on, IS.  Null C-Disrupt Raven Tome when?  As with the other tiers, all dragons, bows, and daggers of this color are higher ranked.  That said, L!Lyn in T5.  Get fucked.  There’s also...absolutely nothing controversial about their T4 picks.  Green’s pretty well sorted, good job team.

The only colorless option with units in T6 are healers, where we have Azama, Mist, Wrys, Sakura, and Lissa.  Nothing controversial here.  In fact, nothing controversial in T5, either.  What is sad but super true, is that F!Grima’s here.  All the other colorless beasts and dragons are clustered in T1 and T2, but she’s down in T5.  Expiration refine when?  Felicia and Jaffar are the lowest ranked daggers, to no one’s surprise.  None of the bows are shocking either, except I’m kinda surprised Niles isn’t at least a little higher.  I feel like his massive Res must account for something when attempting to tank out the many ranged magic threats on AR-D, right?

Overall, I...actually agree with the majority of this.  It’s a solid tierlist for Aether Raids.  There are some things I don’t entirely agree with, but would have trouble arguing in their favor in the current meta.  Like Micaiah.  As we move entirely away from armor units, Micaiah becomes less and less significant.  I do think the blue dragon/beast section could take some revisiting, given that goddamn Naesala is down in T4, but one area that seems off isn’t bad when you have so much to organize.  I like it.  Definitely a lot better than the previous list, because at least now we’re specialized.  Before, there was always an argument that a certain unit was better or worse based on performance in a specific area.  But here, it’s more stable.  I’m not sure if there’s intent to make an Arena one, or if that’s even necessary since scoring is a lot more specific for Arena, but we’ll see.

[wat-dha-fak]

ok so who wants to hear my conspiring thoughts on how every existent fates children would work if they’re chosen for the incoming babyb(h)ell children of fate focus (i also put descriptions in the case the picture refuses to load/you don’t want to see ‘em)

(disclaimer: i used their before-inheritance growths to guide myself for the Heroes ones)

Let’s begin with everybody’s favourite salty butler’s son. I think that his staff/weapon would be Fear/Fear+. Should he have a passive skill, he’d have Mend, and the special he unlocks after Imbue could be Still-Water Balm. As for growths, Dwyer would have low Def/HP but high Res.

This daydreamer would have matching weapon with her father (slight difference is that she’d have a Slaying Bow+ rather then the Killer one) and probably the same kind of Special, even if she’d start with Iceberg instead of Chilling Wind. Like her father, she would have low Def, but high Res/Spd.

Probably the unit I gave more thoughts than I thought was Forrest because he can come either as a Troubadour (then Staff/Cavalry) or, to recall Heirs of Fate, as a Strategist (so, to follow the edgelord’s papa Leo’s footsteps, Red Tome/Cavalry). Should he stay in his Troubadour class, in Heroes he can learn Panic/Panic+ and would have Recover as passive skill. The Special he learns is Kindled-Fire Balm (or Swift-Winds Balm). But should he be the Forrest from Heirs of Fate, then he would be a Red Tome/Cavalry Unit, and he would come with his father’s sick weapon BlahBlahHairDry Brynhildr, his passive would be Swap (to avoid his allies to get hurt? idk) and would have Iceberg as Special (which is also his edgy father’s opposite Special, even though this Special’s opposite is Bonfire). Forrest would possibly have the same struggles Dwyer has (low Def/HP, high Res), but his Spd would be slightly lower than him.

Now we need to talk about teenager Gaius, as known as Asugi. I think he’d work just like Gaius, but his weapon would be the Silver Dagger+ and, unlike Gaius/like his father Saizo, he would come with a learnable Special (which is Reprisal). Asugi would have exceptional Spd and good Res, but would struggle with Def.

Good ol’ Pickleman would have either the Killing Edge+ or the Ruby Sword+ (like his father) as weapon of his choice, Reposition would be his potential passive and he’d have Sol as Special/learnable Special. Hisame’s growths would probably work like the Asugi ones, only difference is that he’d struggle with Res rather than Def.

Ignatius would be the only Armored child of the Children of Fate focus (should he be chosen), but would come with Brave Lance+ (ironic, huh?) and, if a passive has to be equipped, he probably would have Shove. To avoid the struggle he’d have with Mages, he comes with Sacred Cowl (that can potentially become Aegis). Even though he’ll have that weapon, he’d have the problem of having low Spd/Res, but hey, he’ll have good Def/Atk. (I accidentally used his father’s hair color, oh my)

“Hey! What about the Kanabeans?!” Well, I think that they’ll follow the Avatar’s footsteps like they did in Heirs of Fate: Female Kana would be a Sword Unit to match Male Corrin, while Male Kana would be a Blue Dragon to match Female Corrin. Female Kana would be the one with the Yato, while Male Kana would come with the same Breath of his mother’s (Dark Breath+) or the opposite one (Light Breath+), but both would come with the same Special: Dragon Fang.

Should Selkie made it into Heroes, we would probably/finally have a new class type, Beast (works like Dragons but they hold the purple-like Beaststone) and Claws/Fangs as weapon. She would probably have a passive (Pivot perhaps), and her Special would be Blazing Flame (can learn Growing Flame), which somewhat references her Personal Skill “Playthings”. Selkie would have high Spd/Res, kind of high Atk but low Def.

How could I forget this sunshine made of pure joy/optimism? Like the other royal children, if Kiragi’s the one from Heirs of Fate, he’d have the Fudgy Yummy Fujin Yumi, then he would help his allies with Rally Atk/Spd and, to mimic his pineapple father, he would have Vengeance as his Special. Kiragi would probably only have the Res struggle, while the other stats (Atk/Spd/Def) are all quite good.

This little justice boy blessed by Lady Luck would probably come with the stronger version of his father’s weapon (so Emerald Axe+) or use a Hammer+, and his passive skill would probably be Rally Defense or Reposition. His Special? I think Rising Wind. Like almost every Wyvern Unit, Percy’s main problem would be the low Res.

Another unit that would work like its Awakening counterpart would be Caeldori. She would probably have either a Brave Lance+ (like Cordelia) or use a Sapphire Lance+ like her father. Her Special would be probably Luna or Astra. She would possibly deal with a slightly low Spd (reminder that his father and potential grandmother have this problem), while her Atk/Def growths are ok.

Oh, yeah, “Don’t count Midori out!”. Midori would probably use the Assassin’s Bow+ (so you can see her doubling the shit out of her uncle and an older version of his cousin haha), Ardent Sacrifice would be her potential passive (and so could be Reciprocal Aid) and Escutcheon her Special to avoid lots of physical damage (and can learn Pavise). Like in Fates, she would have the same problem she inherits from Green Naruto (or Kaze): low Def (that’s why Escutcheon’s there) but good Spd and an ok Res. ...Am I right?

This other sleepy healer would potentially have as weapon Slow/Slow+ after Assault, and she would come with Martyr as equipped passive. After Imbue, her Special can be Heavenly Light. I think that her Spd would be quite high, while her Def/HP would be a bit low.

Even though Dark Mages are usually Red Tomes in Heroes, I think Ophy would be a Blue one like her father. Unlike other children, her weapon, the tome Missiletainn, isn’t heritable (gives +2 to Res/Atk and it accelerates the Special cooldown). Like her father, her Special is Moonbow. Her Atk and Spd would be quite high, and she would struggle a bit with her Def.

Just like Asugi and Caeldori, Rhajat would work like her Awakening counterpart. She’d probably have Bolganone+ or Rauðrowl+ (or even Fenrir+), and her special would be Vengeance. I think her growths would work like the Ophelia ones I mentioned (low Def, good Atk/Spd).

Good ol’ Chickenlicious would have the same problem of Forrest: should he come as a Spear Fighter (so Lance/Infantry), he’d have a Slaying Lance+; should he be the Shiro from Heirs of Fate, he’d come as a Swordmaster (so Sword/Infantry) and have Raijinto. In any case, his passive would still be Harsh Command and his Special Astra (to match his lobster father). I guess he’d have a strong Atk/Def growth, and an acceptable Spd?

If we first talked about some chicken Shiro, now we need to talk about some noodles Siegbert. In both cases, he’d still be a Sword/Cavalry unit, he’d still have Rally Spd/Def as passive and Moonbow as Special (Luna needs to be inherited), but in the case it’s a normal one, he’d have a Silver Sword+, in the Heirs of Fate case he’d have Siegfried. I think he’d have good Spd/Def but low Res.

This literal sunshine would probably have either an Armorslayer+ or a Slaying Edge+, and her Special would be of course Sol. Soleil would work a bit like her father Laslow: good Atk/Spd but has problems with Res.

Wouldn’t be ironical if we get Sophie before Silas? In any case she would be equipped with either a Heavy Spear+ or a Ridersbane+, and her potential Special would be Pavise. She would have a good Atk/Res growth.

Like Selkie, if Velouria makes it into Heroes, we would have the Beast class whose weapon of choice might be Claws/Fangs and is divided in the same way Dragons are. She would have a passive (Rally Attack), but I don’t think she’d have a Special (or, if she has it, it would be Holy Vestments to help her in a sticky situation with Mages). Velouria would work as some kind of Selkie’s opposite: would have high Atk/Def, kind of high Spd but low Res. She also has good HP growths.

CAN YOU BELIEVE I ALMOST FORGOT SHIGURE THE SINGING BIRB  And, to end everything, we speak of Snow White 2.0: his weapon of choice would probably be Silver Lance+ or, to follow his water mom’s footsteps, Sapphire Lance+, his passive would be Reciprocal Aid (which references his Personal Skill in Fates “Perfect Pitch”) and his special would be Moonbow. Shigure would have good Spd/Res growths but slightly low Def/HP ones.