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A good merge project to stay around tier 19?

Tier 18 is usually my easy week for ranking up but this round was the first time since I've reached it that I've had to put in some effort to not drop to 17.

My arena score usually only gets somewhere between 690 and 700, which clearly isn't cutting it anymore. But like a lot of people right now I have a bunch of feathers (140k) and am looking for a good 5* merge project that will get me to a higher score range.

Right now Sheena is looking appealing. I have a +spd -res one that can get to 170 BST and enough copies to get to 5*+5. The -res hurts but when merged I suspect she can still tank blue well enough. I don't have any DC or Steady Breath fodder, but I do have a couple of spare Legendary Ikes for Warding Breath.

Other options are a +spd -def Nino (7 merges possible), +res - spd A!Tiki (7 merges possible) and a neutral or +spd -hp Nowi (3 merges possible).

Rest of my arena core below for team building options, as well as suggestions on who to replace:

1) +Hp -Def Hector: Armads, Swap, Ignis ;
DC, Wary Fighter, Goad Armor, QR3 seal

2) neutral Nowi: Lightning breath+ (def), Swap, Ignis;
Earth Boost 3, QR2, Threaten Res 3, DD3 seal

3) -Hp + Atk W!Tharja: Candelabra+ (def), Reposition, Aether;
Close Counter, Vengeful Fighter, Ward Armor, Close Def 3 seal

Sorry for the long question. I wanted to give as much detail and options as possible so I can get some expert advice. I appreciate any help you can offer!

Asked by WeekendOtaku6 months 3 weeks ago

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Answers

I would recommend holding off on your merge project for a few days. Tiki(both versions) are about to receive a new unique weapon, so since she's one of the ones you're considering, I would wait.

Hmm, good point. I can wait to check out A!Tiki's new weapon. Just gotta resist the urge to not pull any more on the legendary banner -_-

A healer would seem to be really nice for your team actually; Hector running Wary Fighter, Nowi running Earth Boost and W!Tharja running Vengeful Fighter, so maybe consider a healer???

Oh crap sorry, just realized this is the freaking Arena you're talking about LOL- than I would suggest A!Tiki, to balance out your Res tank W!Tharja- and of course, she's getting a new refine, so let's look out for that lol

Haha yeah, wouldn't want to run a healer for arena offense :D

Were you suggesting A!Tiki in place of Tharja or alongside?

It's because Fjorm is a bonus unit and it's water season that the scores are unusually high this week. I still recommend merge projects as a strategy for attacking PvE content with inflated stats. I wouldn't accept a worse IV on Sheena just for 1-2 score points, especially when a merge is worth 4 points on a unit (if I remember right). When averaged across the team it means even less.

Same advice I always give when people ask about merge projects: pick units you really like and which you'll want to play a lot. Everything else is not worth your hard-earned feathers. You will be kicking yourself if you build a bunch of passive dragons and you're an attacking player (with armours, you could at least switch to bold fighter). Arena is a good way to get some extra feathers, but you will enjoy the game much more with characters you actually want to play than with 1000 extra feathers a week.

Same advice. Merge what you like. and I recognize that people have a million different reasons for liking a unit. Including potentially That the unit is a Powerhouse and can improve your scores. But if that is what motivates you, just recognize that your interest in the unit can shift with the meta, even though feathers are a long-term investment.

I really like the spirit of your suggestion, and would totally follow it if I could pull more of the units I really like :D

Julia was my favorite ever since I got her early on so Reinhardt was never a problem, but I only have her at +1. I do like Nino too, but I have a hard time using bladetome without a dancer to keep her safe which isn't great for arena. I generally like good enemy phase characters like the W!tharja I have and brave ike, which is why I thought Sheena might do well, with some work.

For Sheena, do you think the -res is not great?

Pleased to see you take charge of your preferences, and sorry that you can't pull what you'd like. I'm having difficulty getting the IVs I want for my intended arena core too. Also 7 Caeda (not for my arena core but an intended project) and no +atk or even +spd, I think. Rough.

Julia will be either costly or slow to merge; Nino maybe you can make to work with some tank to reposition her. I hear that +10 Nino is quite dangerous even in high tier arena. So simple, so classic, and yet so effective. I've been playing around with the idea of using light breath or rogue dagger to buff the blade tome, and paradoxically enough (due to her native weapon), F.Corrin might be the best user of light breath because she has the speed and def to support it. With swift sparrow or sturdy blow (or cookie cutter fury) and a moonbow she might even add some punch to it. Downside is that her BST isn't on Nowi or Fae level...I guess fast Nowi could make pretty good use of light breath if you support her well, actually (and it'll send both her defenses almost into the 40s), but you'll either have to give up your A-slot (not so bad with the buff unless you want a breath skill) and a Hector or give up distant countering.

If you must use a dancer, Olivia (and if I remember right, Ninian...speaking of light breath, haha - but then you won't get to dance; you need to activate the buff on your turn) don't score terribly as long as you dodge the superbanes. 150BST is only 1-2 points behind A.Tiki.

Sheena...-res is fine if what I hear about super-high tier arena is true, that you'll need def more than res. I tend to want mixed defenses if I only have one tank, and she does that really easily with -spd +res if I remember right. Slaying axe DC vengeful aether? Wow. And her atk stat is kind of perfect for that build too because it leaves the attacker with enough health that she can heal up nicely, which is less the case with M.Grima who just overruns with his monstrous attack. Really this is a matter of taste, so again I encourage you to go the route that fits your play style. If you're a res dumper, go for it; I support you even though I wouldn't do that myself. Do remember that she'll probably want to tank Reinhardt (and QP moonbow is deceptively dangerous) until you get into high enough scoring range to start leaving the horses in the dust. Of course, if you choose Nino, then Sheena is out of consideration because of the colour crowding, but the concepts, especially if you consider Gwendolyn, who is actually in the same situation being tempted to take a questionable superboon to get to 170BST.

Funny how luck works. I have a +atk - def Caeda myself that works great in Arena Assault as a hard Grima counter. I would love to pull more Julias, but I'm pretty unlucky with green. Look at my only Hector :P

I don't know that I'll reach super high arena anytime soon but simulation shows that an unmerged -res Sheena survives a QB moonbow +10 rein with 8 hp. With warding breath she even charges Aether to heal next turn. If that's the worst she has to deal with, I think it's quite decent considering she can take DD3 or even deflect magic to deal with some green mages too.

Gwendy, like you said, is a decent alternative but I don't have many of her left because I put hones on a bunch of armors when I was trying raorblade on w!tharja. The experiment didn't last long because that suboptimal Hector is my second best armor. Alas.

I spent most of my Olivias on a 4* merge back when I didn't think I would ever get enough feathers to make her worthwhile. In any case I don't know how well having a 150 BST dancer along with Nino is great for long term scoring so maybe I'll look at having an armor reposition her if I can get her buffs another way. Eirika is actually an option too since I have a boatload of her and already one at +2.

It's quite the internal debate as you can see, which is why I reached out to you guys in the first place. I'd really just like consistent arena results so that the rewards give me a runway for personal preference projects that at this time might just dead end me if I can't keep up with arena.

Honestly, I wouldn't look to arena for your main source of income. The difference between 19.5 and 20 is...one orb? and 1000 feathers every second week. That's 2000 feathers a month. The difference between 18.5 and 19.5 is even less. We gain almost that much from one round of a gauntlet or 1-2 days of intense play on TT. If you farm hero merit, I think it's doable in 2 hours or less. The amount of investment you would need is minimum like 15 merges? More to stay in T20. That's 300 000 feathers, which is easily enough to build 5 units from 4* that require QR3 and 5* weapons they don't come with. Probably the biggest reason I would advocate for merging is, first and foremost, because you like the character a lot (or at minimum, how he/she plays strategically), and two, to deal with these ridiculous maps like the L.Lyn or L.Ryoma infernal.

About that Sheena vs Reinhardt calculation, beware of hone cavalry. Very dangerous if you don't use panic.

I think it's 4 orbs in all those cases actually, but I'm not sure about your feathers calculation. Ranking up to 20 gets 1200 more feathers than ranking down to 18. I don't recall the difference between 17 and 18 but I think you're right that it's not that much. You do get 1 less orb at 17 though, and every orb counts when you're f2p.

I definitely get your message about using feathers in a way that gets you the most enjoyment out of the game though. I'm just sitting on 150k right now and looking to fulfill as many roles as I can with them (like the unit + get better score). At this point I'm content to wait and see tikis new prf before seeing if I should do something about the 11 ninos sitting in my barracks.