Is H!Jakob worth pulling for nowadays?

[PityBreaker]

Hi all - I’ve been saving up orbs (~300 or so) for a chance at H!Jakob on the banner that’s about to be rerun, because I started playing FEH too late to get him the first time around. I was always intrigued by the fact that he’s a consistent tier 1 unit in Gamepress (I know, insert obligatory roasting of tier lists) and because I’ve seen videos of him wrecking stuff with his Brave Bow/Ignis/Bold Fighter set.

Now, though, I’m wondering if the Gen 3-4 BST that we see in tankier archers like Norne, and to a lesser extent Dancer Nephenee, means that I shouldn’t really go all in for H!Jakob. At best I’ll get a merge or two, but then again, I mostly just play for fun, not to be super competitive in AR or anything.

I’m going to post H!Jakob with the abovementioned set and Norne with her base kit for comparison. Not going to do +10 or AR bonuses since those won’t likely apply to my case, though Norne does have the long term advantage of easier merges (even though I have yet to get one) and is infantry to boot.

Thoughts would be welcome!

[Thehalohedgehog]

Here’s the thing: bold fighter + brave bow is stupid good. Norne may be a better tank (which I’d say is honestly debatable, Jakob is still good at it too) but Jakob has the bold fighter set. So kinda different roles you’re talking about here.

[Krazytre]

With Null Follow-up existing, not to mention units like Byleth, I would say that she’s probably the better tank, or at least the more reliable one.

With that said, Guard effects are much more common than they’ve ever been I think. Special Fighter is running rampant, and Hack O’Lantern is still one of the most, if not the most, used/popular Axe weapon, not to mention things like Witchy Wand. I don’t think Brave Bow Bold Builds are that… “effective” compared to how they used to be.

[Tandor]

He is the only colorless armored bow, so until that changes he’ll always have that niche.

I have 550 orbs for H!Sakura I’ll trade you my H!Jakob pulls for your H!Sakura pulls

[Venatorio]

Null f exists, but it’s still incredibly rare.

Ask yourself: “Do I love Halloween Jakob?”

He’s a great unit, you will enjoy using him. If you want him, want to use him, then get him, he will be worth it.

[Thehalohedgehog]

Oh Norne is definitely the better tank these days. And yeah bold fighter Jakob isn’t quite what he used to be, but he’s still pretty good. Honestly their question was slightly confusing, since they were comparing two very different builds.

[PityBreaker]

My thought process is … we normally think of H!Jakob as a very strong offensive archer who also has the benefit of being much tankier than other archers.

But putting the stats side by side, Norne has similar attack, and with Guard Bow she actually has more DEF/RES than H!Jakob. Granted, she won’t quad into Ignis like H!Jakob does, which is a big deal, but with her good speed stat and Brazen speed boost, she should have no trouble doubling most units.

[Thehalohedgehog]

While yes their stats are similar, the two builds in question are fundamentally different. One is an offensive player phase build and the other a defensive enemy phase build. They aren’t really meant to be compared. Now if Jakob were using guard bow it’d be different.

[Cygnus]

IMO Jakob is especially useful for PvE content. Use him with Lazura+Guidance seal and your basically all set. Only other units that can do this so reliably are Special Spiral AoE users and L!Alm.

I have an AR defense map with him on it alongside hector. Don’t use it too often anymore, but basically giving him -1 cooldown ensures he gets Luna activation twice in one round of combat when initiating (provided he doesnt get ohko’d, which is not easy).

[AliceMX]

Worth pulling is a definition that may vary depending on your role needs.

Most of units are worth pulling for. Issue is, How good can your desired unit be at said role? Also questions such as Do you own someone covering a same niche? . As far as I know, HJakob is the only colorless bow and is also the only EP oriented Bow Armor
(While Niles is more as Mixed Phase, but is colored, which might be a disadvantage for some).
As his uniqueness goes, he’s unique in his class, but how much do you need or would you use him?

High priority units to me are always favourites, even If I know they tend to be worse than others at some point, you never know when they’re gonna become great or some of the best in their class.
I have a list for that that I won’t quote, but I’ve seen the rise, the fall and the re-rise of my favourites.
HJakob has the advantage of barely facing competition in that, so he’s pretty set for a long while I do think.

[Nthos]

You fools! Jakob is the only tank you’d ever need!

Not to mention that his panic smoke bow is actually pretty nice with all the buffs thrown around nowadays. He’s got more options than norne is what i’m saying.

[LSSPope]

He’ll destroy any pve maps with the brave bow set tho

[Krazytre]

pve

Yeah, but PvE isn’t that hard. The hardest maps are Hero Battle maps.

[PityBreaker]

I have 550 orbs for H!Sakura I’ll trade you my H!Jakob pulls for your H!Sakura pulls

Man, I wish I could take you up on that! I’ve spent half of my orb stash (~150 orbs) and got two H!Sakuras so far, but no Jakob. It was cruel of IS to randomly have those two color sharing instead of the usual 4 color banner. At least with the 4 color banner, you can usually get what you want if you’re willing to snipe and spend a lot.