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Ninian vs. Falchion users

So I did pretty well in the arena last week with my current team (Fae, Ninian, Alfonse, B!Lyn), making it up to tier 19, which is the first time I've managed it when I had to drag Alfonse along with me. (I really wish he were less useless, but there it is.) But my team has a pretty glaring weakness to Falchion users, and I've had a couple of otherwise-deathless runs ruined by Lucina and Chrom. I know a lot of people give Ninian Triangle Adept to help her deal with Falchions, but will that be enough to cover my team's weakness? Especially since my Ninian is woefully low on SP and is only going to manage TA1 at this time (and I'm out of Roys so I can't give her TA3 anyway)? (She's +spd -atk, if that makes a difference.)

Asked by SourPeridot1 year 2 months ago
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Answers

by Astro 1 year 2 months ago

Even with Triangle Adept, Ninian's speed doesn't cover up her getting doubled.

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This is true. It's counterintutitive but, when on the same speed tier*, Fury Ninian survives Lucina while Triangle Adept Ninian dies. Triangle Adept Ninian would need to run Swordbreaker in order to survive (and KO in one turn). However, Fury Ninian can leave her B slot open for teleportation (though she can only win against Lucina on the bait over two turns).

*One discrepancy: Lucina running Life & Death will still KO Ninian even if on the same speed tier.

The situation is reversed with Chrom (Deathblow or +ATK/Fury). Triangle Adept Ninian survives but Fury Ninian does not.

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Not to mention her abysmal defense. Ninian is a great support unit however, training her was so frustrating because she died constantly. Even with the Triangle Advantage, Falchion will destroy her.

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Huh. So which should I go with? I see Lucina more than Chrom (and I don't think I've ever seen Deathblow!Chrom), but I also haven't recently encountered any Lucinas with more than 39 or 40 speed. (This is probably luck, since I know there are plenty of Lucinas with Darting Blow running around, I just haven't run into them lately.)

Given that I'm only getting around 686 points per win (I'm f2p, trying to go much higher is more trouble than it's worth right now), how likely am I to run into Chrom/Lucina optimized in those ways? I'm guessing Lucina's probably the bigger threat, so Fury is probably better? Problem is, I'm fresh out of Hinatas. I could go with Bartre and Fury 2, or just go for spd +3, or give up on countering speedy Lucinas and go for TA 2. Do you have any thoughts which is better?

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Lucina and Masked Martha are much more common than Chrom...so I'd prioritize dealing with her. If he does so up, Brave Lyn should able to double him and whittle down his HP enough that Ninian can finish the job.

I don't think Fury 2 on it's own will quite do it (already closed out the damage calculator) but should be enough with the SPD +2/3 seal.

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I just went and ran the numbers myself. (Never used Kagerochart before today, but it's cool!) Looks like +spd Ninian with Fury 2 can survive +spd Fury!Lucina, and also +atk Fury!Lucina if she has an hp or def seal. If Lucina has a spd seal though then Ninian will also need a spd seal, leaving her to be defeated by +atk Lucina. I'm guessing +spd Lucina is probably more common though.

Here's another thought: give up on Ninian entirely and go with Swordbreaker!Alfonse.

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I ran the numbers through the kagerochart damage calculator. If you want Ninian to survive both you'll need to run Triangle Adept and Swordbreaker. This will limit her primary function a bit as she will have to give her up her B slot...so no teleportation.

I did rerun the calculations with Triangle Adept 1 and that is enough to survive Chrom...but the upgraded Seals will change things a bit. You should probably get her a DEF+2/3 seal if you really want to make her a reliable counter.

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Chrom*
This is another reason that Female Corrin is the best dragon unit. She's tanky, strong, and agile. Her only real weakness is Julia and other green mages but you don't see them too much.

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Don't get me wrong, I adore female Corrin, she just doesn't love me. I almost never pull her, and the two or three I do have have sub-optimal IVs. Maybe one day. ;)

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I've been playing since launch and until maybe two weeks ago the only one I had was a free one I'd gotten from a giveaway. In the last couple of weeks I've now summoned two, but I have absolutely no idea why she hid from me for so long, it was really weird. (I've also never summoned Caeda for whatever reason, but I care a lot less about her.)

I've been holding out for +spd before I start to build her, but you think neutral is worth it?

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Gotta say I really don't want to give up teleportation. Especially since after dealing with a Falchion user she's almost certainly going to be able to activate Escape Route. Sounds like I have to pick and choose here. I haven't done much with the upgraded seals yet, but I'll definitely start looking into it!

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Actually... There is another option. Don't know why I didn't think to bring this up sooner but Escutcheon should enable Triangle Adept Ninian to tank Lucina on the bait.

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by sivo 1 year 2 months ago

Hm with Brave Lyn you should actually have no problem vs Chrom / Lucina or any other Falcion user.
Still ofc you think of emergency fights and i must actually say TA2(Selena inherit) is enough to kill Chrom because he is slow.
Question is rather what are your Ivs and enemys Ivs example Lucina +spd you will highly never escape follow ups vs her, she will most in time survive the attack from your Ninian and kill you.

TA Swordbreaker is a possibility with her yes still you lose then the most usefull b slot with dance/sing hero wing of mercy or escape route but still not to forget Ninian can learn Lightning Breath and thx to that can be used in other ways like lure a range attacker.
Is rather the question of Ivs and what you want to do with her B slot.

One more thing because you wrote you have low SP you can still use the Warrior maps example camilla map the lvl 35 map to farm actually good SP.

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