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Underused Skills - Smite, Blazing/Growing X, Reprisal, etc

There has been a lot of talk about underused heroes lately, which I love, but with something like 75% of offensive builds recommending Moonbow I've been giving some thought to the skills we don't even consider any more...

Smite: This was an excellent skill in the Fire Emblem series but it seems far less useful in FEH. Reposition is far more versatility...aside from launching units across impassable terrain does Smite have any viable niche? Shove, on the other hand, seems like a complete waste...maybe if it worked on enemy units.

Blazing/Growing X: I think that these are, far and away, the best offensive skills in regards to damage output as they effectively give a free colorless attack in addition to what they'd do normally...while also harming nearby enemy units! The problem is that they 1) don't trigger during the enemy phase, 2) have massive cooldowns, and 3) hurting other units can be a problem if they're running vantage or similar skills. So...does anyone still use these despite the downsides?

Reprisal: The other two charge offensive Special... I've become aware of how little damage Moonbow actually adds in most matchups and begun wondering if Reprisal wouldn't be a more reliable damage dealer...especially on high HP units running Wo Dao+, Fury, and Desperation builds. I'm planning to try this out in the near future.

So those are a few underused skills... Do you run any of them and, if so, how has that worked out? Are there other underused skills that you use or are considering using?

Asked by Kaihaku1 year 3 months ago

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I use Blazing Light whenever I run Celica on an Infantry Pulse team or during Tempest Trials. She just murders everyone with that special. Weapon triangle might as well not even exist.

I kept Smite on my Effie and it has gotten even more ridiculous with the release of Armor March. Watching Hector move 4 spaces to obliterate back liners is awfully satisfying.

One skill I have been meaning to try out is Harsh Command. Ploys are growing in popularity and reversing those penalties sounds like it could be awfully handy.

I've thought about Harsh Command as well but I feel like giving up a unit's action just to flip penalties is a huge sacrifice. Still, could be worthwhile if Panic Ploy becomes more common...definitely would have helped during Valter's GHB.

Regrettably, Panic is a status effect and not a debuff, so Harsh Command cannot help a Panic Ploy affected hero.

I would also add the Defiant skills to the list. I have never seen them in higher level arena. Although I personally also dont see a good use for them.

As fot Shove, I agree that it's a waste, basically a worse reposition with less good opportunities. Smite can be sometimes good on highly mobile units. I actually gave it to Eliwod just for fun and the 3-space movement combined with either offensive or defensive push of your ally can sometimes surprisingly give awesome results.

And yeah, I really like the growing/blazing things. My favorite is Blazing flame (I think?), which is the one that shoots in a vertical line. Reprisal is godlike on high hp units. I kept it on Karel and it generally does more dmg than moonbow, but Wo dao usually just overkills people anyway.

The Defiant skills are great examples. I tried several times to make them work - especially on Seliph - but the smaller increase at full HP seemed better in almost all circumstances. The only niche use that stands out is on a stand-alone blade tome user running Desperation...but it's still better and easier to just provide them with team support as most units can afford to Fortify/Hone in their C slot.

Exactly. Even units that have a below 50% hp playstyle profit more from skills like fury which can get them to that number much safer. Maybe a weapon with actual in-built fury 2 (cursed lance is the closest thing to it) could give us a reason to consider a defiant skill.

I'm pretty sure its lightning that goes in a vertical line that Camus and Michalis come with. One has blazing one has rising

Yes, my Reinhardt runs Growing Wind with Hardy Bearing for Arena weighting. Brave Lyn too, but she doesn't need Hardy Bearing.
They both don't need specials, so they perform fine.

As for Smite, I only ever ran it as a troll idea for Arena Defence, but I honestly could not find too many uses since it's too situational.
However, it's great for, as you said, getting people over terrain, pushing your offensive units into range (works with Shove too), and finally for getting your units out of the danger zone.
I'd consider using this on my front liner tanks.

Reprisal on the other hand, is just not reliable enough. But units like Legion and Lyn who have lower defensive stats and have their whole play style built around having low HP can work decently well (Legion due to his HP pool, Lyn due to Wrath!Sol Katti), but as I said, it's not as reliable as their other options.

Indeed. I've been giving a lot of thought to Wrath Lyn running Reprisal over Moonbow due to her low HP play-style. But, as you note, there are only a few units that can get away with being at low enough HP to make it worthwhile.

I actually use Vengeance on my Tharja with Fury and Desperation. Might Add Savage Blow just for more Destruction haha I sadly don't use her as I have Heavy Blade and Aether on my Celica which is amazing, and Celica is baemage.

This is actually a really good point you've brought up. Fury!Desperation makes a fantastic combination for Vengeance/Reprisal.

Due to Desperation, you have little to no chance of getting hit when at low HP, and because of the offensive nature of the skill, you can constantly engage in fights and lose HP due to Fury.

Thanks for the enlightenment, I always overlooked the two specials so I never even thought about it. Cheers mate.

I've been running Vengeance instead of Moonbow on my +Spd Ryoma, and I find it compliments his Fury Vantage set, esp when he's at 1HP.

Welp, i gave amelia smite for the lols of catapulting a 2 mov effie. Now, if the AI could use it correctly it would be an awesome defense gimmick,

It would be terrifying if the AI knew how to use it... I'm imagining dancers being smited after Brave Roy in the arena.

I run Celica's default Blazing Light on her because she doesn't really need a standard special--works great in Tempest Trials. Need to run her + Summer Xan more for that Infantry Pulse bonus, but Quickened Pulse would also work great if you have the seal handy (mine's on Broy, haha)

As for other skills, I kept Watersweep on my Soren just because it's really interesting to see in play. Probably not the most effective--and I'll probably swap it out for this upcoming TT--but still a neat little skill. Slaying Bow is also underrated in the Brave Bow meta, IMO.

I've been interested in Wind/Watersweep but haven't found a great use for it. I thought about inheriting it to a Clarisse's Bow or Dagger user but...debuffing seems to run better in the meta as a unit's secondary function rather than their primary.

Good point about Slayer's Bow. I think it's the best non-legendary bow for baiting. There was a great Leon build posted here the other day that used it to destroy all versions of B!Lyn.
https://fireemblem.gamepress.gg/q-a/anti-lyn-leon-build

My Nino runs Merric's special purely for arena weight. Surprisingly, the skill has also helped me out in some GHBs, TTs and Chain Challenges (most notably against Celica and her legendary tome's speed bonus at full health).