Earth Arena Team Building Part 1: Building an Archer!

[Sir-Emblem]

The time has finally come where I need to start building up a team to my needs for arena! As you know, my legendary unit is L!Robin.

Now for Earth Season, the first and most important thing I need is an archer with Deadeye or some kind of way to ignore damage reduction, since of L!Claude and his Fallen Star antics.

Now the first main unit I considered is Young Innes, since he is very powerful as a unit with the right build! I’m also including L!Robin speed blessings.

Young Innes build example

Young Innes is probably the most consistent I could get for an archer, but I have one teensy problem. I’d have to wait for more Divine Codes 2 to get Ruptured Sky, which could take months! If I did wait, it could be very much worth it!

Now the second archer that comes to mind is Jorge! He could be reliable at taking down L!Claude and can enemy phase him more reliably while also providing support!

Jorge build example

While Jorge is somewhat slower than Innes, but his durability is much higher, and all this fodder I already have so I can build him straight away! Also he would cost far less Heroic Grails, so that could open up extra options for other Arena units in the future! Plus he can run a ruse skill for support, and I LOVE those skills!

So which of these fellows would you think is most ideal?

• Wait a few months to build Y!Innes.
• Build Jorge for support and to start Arena sooner.

If there are any other units you’d like to recommend, just let me know! Thanks for reading this far you cuties

[nobody625]

That’s a rather difficult question. Innes is just better for Arena basically, but lack of ruptured sky and the time required to get it is a pretty significant setback. I guess the call is, do you want to suffer in arena for a while, and then get Innes and be more futureproofed, or get a short term bandaid solution that might not be as good in the long term.

Personally, I’d say to go for Innes. Arena awards are so small between tier 20-21, that in months you’ll only lose out on like >10 orbs. Crowns are a thing obviously, but imo, I’d wait and not get as many crowns right now, so that later down the line I can make a better investment. So yeah, personally I’d go for the long term solution rather than the more short term one, though it is really a lot up to preference

Thanks for reading this far you cuties

[Sir-Emblem]

Yeah, it’s quite the tricky choice for me.

I’m biased towards support units and Ruse skills but I can’t deny how potent Y!Innes would be.

But my third unit that I’ll think of after the archers will be different based on which archer I choose anyhow.

[VivatVeritas]

It’s certainly a tricky choice. I would be more inclined to say Young Innes and wait for Ruptured Sky a bit. Will probably be better for the future

[CByrd]

What are the other teammates you’ll be pairing them with? I just recently started working on my arena cores as well and it’s been a… humbling experience trying to counter what some people have out there. D!Peonies, D!Lyns, and wonderful L!Lilinas are quite rampant right now, and then of course you have the lovely L!Azura + L!Chrom combos in Water. Given that L!Grima is an older unit and hasn’t gotten her refine yet, you’ll definitely want to make sure you have some solid counters put together.

I bring that up because who I’d pick in terms of those two archers would be largely dependent on who your third unit is.

[Sir-Emblem]

Well I’ve had multiple considerations.

Since I’ve got G Duel Infantry 4, I can build units like Boey and Legion. Boey would fair well against the other Earth Legendaries, while Legion is a good Galeforce unit.

I’ve also considered Ross since he’d be easy to build, and Seteth (once I have the merges) since he provides good support and is a good combat unit.

I’ve also considered Itsuki and Nemesis since they’re durable sword infantry units, but Itsuki could take advantage of the speed blessing more.

I do also have Male Grima fully merged, but that might not be ideal since of L!Julia and I’d also need another armour unit.

[CByrd]

Boey is a very solid counter against L!Claude, Chrom, Azura, Leif, (possibly) Dimitri - and many others, so he’s a great option. If you were to go with him, I would definitely vote Innes as you need player-phase firepower to balance out Boey’s EP build.

I guess it comes down to balance between the phases (this is what I’m running into right now). If you have too many EP units, then you’ll be a sitting duck for nukes like L!Lilina and D!Lyn. If you have too many PP units, then you’ll provide momentary pressure before getting snuffed out by the likes of F!Edelgard or any other heavy tank. So, I would go with Y!Innes if your third unit is more EP oriented, and Jorge is a safe option if your third unit is more PP oriented.

I somewhat regretfully gave my G Duel Inf. 4 to B!Ike thinking he was one of the best users of it ('cause he can score 185 BST thanks to Beorc’s curse blessing (please, IS, please refine that useless skill). But without DC or any strong range allies, he can still get obliterated by the likes of L!Lilina or any other strong range threat. And I just ended up running him with NFU or Repel anyways, so he only scores 180 as a tank without DC… Still not a bad option, but… I’m thinking someone like Boey would’ve been a better use.

Seteth would be an excellent support/mixed-phase unit. Ross is sorta mixed phase as well, depending on how you build him. He already scores 752 with max equipment, so I would opt for him without G Duel Inf. 4 - the extra 2 points would be better used on a range unit, like Boey, and the versatility of an A slot will serve you much better.

Sadly, old armors like M!Grima don’t score very well anymore (I have an OG!Hector, so I’m in the same boat). I’m banking on them releasing a Duel Armor skill at some point, but… can’t really count on that for now. Plus, unless you run him with another armor for Armor March, he’ll just be a sitting duck. W!Felix could be a decent option if you were to build him PP and M!Grima EP.

Those are my thoughts, anyways. Like I said - I’m trying to answer the same questions lol.

[Sir-Emblem]

That’s a good point indeed!

I don’t normally focus on player phase units, so maybe I should give that a go.

Legion could be a solid choice if I built Jorge since of the strong player phase power (and Legion has a good weapon for Arena since of the panic effects).

If I built Y!Innes, I could try using Boey, or NY!Keaton (forgot to mention this one).

I could use Itsuki, Seteth, or Ross for a middle ground mixed phase like you mentioned, but I’ll have a good think about it!

[LadyLuna]

Well what stands out to me is you’re running L-Robin who is a wheelchair unit that dies very easily to a lot of top Arena threats. If you intend to run a supportive Jorge then your third core member better be as powerful as hell because they’ll be carrying your sorry ass. Especially because the Jorge/Robin duo is doing peanuts to any Edelgard

[CByrd]

It’s worth putting thought into!
I’ve spent over a week now trying to figure out my teams since I finished L!Claude and L!Corrin. It’s not been easy as most of my best units are used for AR… Having to balance them out without wasting blessings is proving to be difficult.

[CByrd]

Way to put it gently

But you’re right. Until Robin gets that refine, she’s only good for so much.

[Sir-Emblem]

I know that L!Robin is weak, I mainly built them because I really like Grima!

It definitely Makes building teams harder, but at least she will have a skill update and refine soon enough!

[LadyLuna]

I hope so too, because I also love her and I want to finish her off next month (only need two more copies)

But right now she is a terrible unit for Arena. I think it may be a good idea to wait and see what she gets for her Remix before deciding

[Sir-Emblem]

That’s a good point!

I could probably build one other unit up, but seeing what L!Robin will get might be a good option. But I’ll still make sure to plan things out!

[spenser]

Some have guessed that October we’d get a Y!Innes manual, so he’ll be cheaper by waiting anyway!

Edit: but of course I couldn’t wait
+10 Y!Innes gang