Looking for advice on some potential fodders and which units/IVs to keep

Fire Emblem Heroes FEH Q&A
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#1

Hello everyone, first post here though I’ve been reading for a while now. I’m looking for some advice on various unit topics like which IV to keep for merges and whether to fodder a unit off or not. If it matters I’ve been playing since near release, so I do have a fair amount of resources to work with. Super high tier arena/AR aren’t big goals of mine

A fallen Celica-pulled a spare (neutral) and am wondering whether to merge her to the +Spd/-Res one I pulled a long while back or keep her as fodder/reserve for chill speed
Luke-similar thing, a neutral spare to either merge into a +Spd/-HP one or keep for panic ploy/brave sword+ fodder. I’m leaning towards merging since Garon is a thing now for 4* panic ploy and brave sword+ isn’t all that great anymore, and I can always just promote an ogma or something if I reaaaaaly want a unit to have it. Also to consider is his new weapon/refine that will be coming out soon
L!Marth-I first got a -Spd/+Res one, then later pulled 2 more spares, both +HP/-Res. Should I merge one of them to get either a +res or +Hp one? Or keep as fodder for infantry flash or atk/spd bond?
original Laevateinn-2, both +res/-atk. Been keeping them for the speed wave fodder or atk/def link (alongside a spare mordecai), but should I keep and merge them to get rid of the -atk? I’m neutral towards her character and have plenty of infantry swords, though her -blade type weapon is unique for melee
Winter Robin-main one is +Def/-Res, spare is +Res/-Atk. Merge or keep for brazen atk/spd (I know Linus has it at 5*) or armor march? I’ve gotten a fair number of armor units with armor march, but usually just a single copy of them so the spare could be used as armor march fodder (and brazen atk/spd if I want to sacrifice a Linus as well)
L!Tiki, I pulled a +Atk/-Spd one a while back, and later pulled a +Spd/-HP one. Which one should I keep? She’s supported with Brave Ephraim if that matters. So far she’s mainly kept her base kit and is using the QR3 seal
B!Ephraim-a +Res/-HP one and a +Def/-Spd one. I have a third one that has been made a manual, and for now am keeping both of them, but the one I use more/mainly is the +Def one. Should I keep them separate and possibly fodder special fighter to someone later, or merge to get a +1 with either +Def or +Res? Kept basic kit for most part, I have a DC I could give him, but I’d rather keep it just in case for someone else like original Myrrh if I ever pull her. Close Def 3 is a really good skill
NY!Azura-I have one that is +1 +Spd, but pulled a random spare neutral later-I had been keeping her as hone flier fodder potentially, but with HS!Camilla, that isn’t as relevant. Should I get the +Spd one to +2?
M!Grima-a +Res/-Spd one with several spares as manuals, and a +HP/-Spd one. Should I merge one/a few into the +Res one? Or keep for vengeful fighter fodder?
NY!Fjorm (bow flier)-got 2, one +HP/-Def, one +HP/-Atk, should I merge them or keep the -Atk one as Atk/Spd bond / Atk/Spd link fodder?

and lastly-should I fodder my only Sue to Eirika for Swift Sparrow 2, Chill Def 3, and Hone Speed 4? The Sue is +HP/-Atk, and I have two other green bows (the NY!Fjorm and a +1 +Spd L!Lyn) and already got the dragonflowers from Sue’s trial. I’ve got B!Lyn +1, V!Roy and Louise all as bow cavalry, so I wouldn’t be losing my only horse archer if I do fodder Sue

Eirika (+10 +atk) is the first 5* +10 I have (and so far only, still waiting to pull more Ninos to get her to +10, accidentally ran low on them when using them as draw back fodder after running out of Sullys, she’s currently +7) and I’ve been using her and Nino as my main arena team since the start. Her main loadout is Seiglinde (+Eff), Reposition, Moonbow, Darting Blow 3, Swordbreaker 3, Hone Speed 3, and Fortify Res 3 seal to help Nino get buffed and massacre things. All of Sue’s skills are looking mighty tempting to fodder for Eirika even if I only have 1 copy of Sue and at least SS2 and Hone Spd 4 would always be used, with Chill defense 3 being also a probable change. Also if it matters Eirika is my “lead” unit I have to send to other people

Nino has the semi standard Fury 3 + Desperation loadout, with Iris Tome (+eff) draw back, glimmer, savage blow 3 and even def wave 3 being the rest of her main set. As a side question should I give her even res wave 3 (or even def wave 3, I have both seals to level 3) to help boost her max stats a little higher? Or just keep SB3 for the chip damage-it’s helped out more than I would have thought when I first saw someone mention it as an option a long time ago

The ones that I’m most interested in opinions on are L!Tiki, B!Ephraim, and M!Grima since those are the ones that merging could make the biggest difference in

#2

  • Fallen Celica - Chill Spd can come in handy for building support units for your Arena core, so I’d fodder one for her B skill.

  • Luke - I’d recommend saving until we know what his refine will be.

  • Legendary Marth - I wouldn’t really fodder the Bond since, if I recall, it’s found off of Louise and she’s A Grail unit. Infantry Flash is nice as a support skill, but requires a bit of team composition thinking before use since your teammates have to be faster than the opponent to get the Cooldown acceleration, so if your unit only has like 36 speed then they won’t be getting it against the faster units, but they’ll probably get it against a lot of the armored units so there’s that.

  • Laevatein - I’d keep one and fodder the other. I have a +Spd/-Atk Laev and she as still cleans greens and some reds (and some blues depending on the build). Link skills can come in handy with support units, and Mordecai, in my opinion, is too valuable a unit to really fodder off. His support capabilities can be amazing.

  • Winter Robin - Brazen Atk Spd is on Linus, so I personally wouldn’t recommend doing that unless you were merging him, and Armor March, in my opinion, is not that great of a skill. Unless your main team is Armor Emblem, then I’d probably just merge. But that’s just me.

  • Legendary Tiki - +Atk is arguably better. She has Bold Fighter which let’s her double on player phase.

  • Brave Ephraim - +Def/-Spd is the better one. He has a resistance superboon if I recall but I personally don’t find it worth it to sacrifice his HP for it. Unless you’ll have him fighting dragons or mages with Distant Counter, he really doesn’t need resistance all that much. Special Fighter is good fodder for armored units, so I’d keep one for fodder.

  • New Years Azura - You might as well merge unless you want to fodder her Hagoita to an Axe unit on your Arena team.

  • Male Grima - Up to you. Vengeful Fighter is indeed powerful, but if you want to merge him up then I say go for it.

  • New Years Fjorm - I’d merge. She really doesn’t have anything worth foddering in my opinion. The Link skill is decent, I guess.

  • Sue - Probably the best option.

  • Eirika - If she’s your main unit, then I see it as a good investment.

  • Nino - Depends. Because she’s on your Arena team, giving her a triple Wave build can be good for your bonus unit, and due to the nature of her stats, it’s best for her not to get kills because it takes away from the Bonus Unit kills.

Those are just my opinions anyway.

2 Likes
#3

F!Celica for fodder, sounds good. Chills are pretty great support skills, and I don’t really have a lot to go around, though some on like Walhart and a few other grail units are options. +Spd/-Res is a pretty good IV anyways, and for a unit I don’t use often (she only has ~900 HM) that’s good enough

Luke-that’s what I had been thinking for now, though even if his refine is garbage Brave Sword+ and Panic Ploy aren’t really premium fodder anymore (only real user I could have for it would be 5* Alphonse-who is using Folkvangr and a 4* merged Hana who already has Brave Sword+) so I’ll probably end up merging him

L!Marth-I’ve got 3 of him total, one as a manual and the other 2 are +Res and +HP. The +HP one works pretty well as a B-C team support character (paired with Sothe) even with -Res since he isn’t screwed with a -Spd that the +Res one has. Atk/Spd bond is on louise and while infantry flash is a nifty support option, I’m not sure if it’s worth holding 2 spares in reserve. If merging would +Res or +HP be a better boon for him to keep?

Laevatein-keep one fodder other? Sounds good, so I’ll probably go with that. Incidentally I had also pulled 2 Lewyns around the same time as I pulled her and both were also +Res/-Atk. One Lewyn has since been foddered to an Ophelia I recently pulled for Special Spiral while the other is chilling on the bench awaiting judgement, and they are supported with each other. Since I’m keeping at least 1 Laevatein, I suppose I’ll favorite and keep the remaining Lewyn. As for the Mordecai that could be sacrificed with laevatein so she can give Atk/Def Link 3 and Spd Wave 3-I pulled a 5* neutral one before and have that one raised up and supported with a random Kaden I pulled later. I have a +Spd/-HP 4* one in reserve, and would use that spare 4* one

W!Robin-armor march can be nice for making PvE stuff less tedious to do with armor units, stuff like clear tower floor 10 with armor only 15x, but for an actual arena team or something a wave or ward would probably be better. Looks like I’ll probably go with merging him then and into the +Def one

L!Tiki-I had been leaning towards the +Atk one since she does have bold fighter, just had been a bit undecided since both have their merits.

B!Ephraim-I actually have 3 of him, the +Def/-Spd one, the +Res/-HP one and one as a manual. I’m thinking I’ll stick with my current plan which is just wait and see to see if I happen to pull some amazing armor unit that really wants special fighter (like Ophelia just loves Special Spiral) and just use the +Def one as my main version of him.

NY!Azura-merge it is then, NY!Azura is part of a flying -blade tome team I have (S!Corrin, B!Sanaki, Caeda), so the little extra stats should help a bit, and while nice Hagoita probably wouldn’t be used on anything other than another dancer and I still don’t have PA!Azura who is better with her own Prf Ax anyways

M!Grima-I have 2 manuals and a spare, so I’ll probably use one of the manuals as a merge to get rid of the -Spd. The +Res one seems like a better choice than the +HP one, or do you think +HP is better for M!Grima?

NY!Fjorm-merge it is. Atk/Spd link is neat, but not worth holding on to since Odin or another blade tome would be the best user and Odin can get it via his refine while I prefer Desperation for most other blade tome users

Sue-looks like it’s time for Sue to bite the dust, she’s seriously going to help power up Eirika. I do hope I pull another one on the bandana brawl banner, but even if I don’t I won’t be heartbroken

Nino-for the longest time I’d forgotten/ignored the “arena bonus unit needs to get kills for extra points” change that happened…whenever it did, so I’d just been using Eirika + Nino (and originally Ninian, but later replaced by L!Azura) to kill things with the bonus unit doing whatever. I think I might go with giving Nino a third wave skill (defense wave from the new Yglr, perfectly timed really) since the only Even res wave source I have is the NY!Fjorms who I’ll be merging.

Speaking of arena-I’ve been floating between tiers 17-19, and since the Askr lords are consistently rotating bonus units, if I’d like to hang around closer to 19-20 should I get around to fully building Alfonse and Sharena? I got all 3 to 5* but I’m skipping building Anna since she’s just an abysmal unit-whenever her weeks come up I’ll just take the lost points or use whatever other bonus units are around. Alfonse and Sharena are actually both pretty decent units, especially since Alfonse can triple stack brazens, I currently have him with mostly his base kit + Swordbreaker 3, no weapon refine for him, but I have tons of spare dew so I could do that for him. Sharena could also probably be pretty good stacking bond skills (currently have her with basic skillset, reposition, luna and QR2). Do you think it would be worth giving them their weapon refines (probably…+Def on Alfonse and +Eff for Sharena) and some better skills? I have like…15 spare 4* Ares to give Alfonse Brazen Atk/Def and could give Sharena one of the bond skills and…lance breaker?

Thanks for the advice

#4

I don’t think he needs resistance unless you want him to tank mages (and even then he’s really not that great at it). +HP increases his physical damage soaking and he can still destroy dragons with his Binding Shield.

+Res.

Mm, honestly, I can’t really answer that. I don’t have any of the Askr Trio units built. They’re not even promoted to 5* rarity. I go between Tier 19 and 20 with a +10 Donnel, Odin, a +7 NY!Corrin, and a bonus unit. I usually have at least one bonus unit for each Arena season so I don’t really feel the need to promote them.

Triple Brazen and maybe Sword breaker is one of the popular builds for him with Triple Bond being good for Sharena. I’m not sure if she really needs a Breaker, but it could be good for Wary Fighter Lance units, but I’ve literally never used them outside of quests.

1 Like
#5

Yep, I have L!Marth as an anti dragon unit for the most part, so +HP did seem the better choice even when unmerged. If I run into mages while fielding him I’ll just have Sothe take them out

M!Grima-+Res it is.

Just doing a quick test in Arena right now-with the current arena team (+10 Eirika, +7 Nino, +0 L!Azura) and L!Tiki as bonus unit, I saw a ~720 as max score, so my current max is probably around that much per match (Eirika and Nino are water blessed). Getting enough score to maintain tier 18+ for the orbs would be my main goal , and really the main reason why I was considering building Alfonse and Sharena. I may or may not build them more to be able to really contribute in Arena battles both combat and value wise

NY!Corrin as an arena main unit? Really neat. I have a soft spot for him, even though I still have him as a +0, I find him a pretty amusing unit. With swordbreaker and bonfire to add to his base skillset, he’s been a pretty useful unit in some PvE stuff. What are your sets for him and Donnel?

#6
Corrin

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This is the main build I use for him, but if I’m trying to support the bonus unit more, then I’ll use Hama Ya with dual Drives or Spur Def/Res or something. If clearing PvE content or something, the C skill changes to either Def Smoke or Threaten Def.

Donnel

Seal changes occasionally.

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Arena support build.

Screenshot_2019-07-02-23-26-58
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Mixed Tank build. Actually meant to switch out Quick Riposte. Oops.

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1 Like
#7

Neat donnel, interesting to use Shell lance as a main weapon. What B skill would be used instead for the mixed tank build? Special spiral? Guard? I’d guess guard. Will you replace Berkut’s lance with the newer Barrier lance, or is there no real reason to do that?

That NY!Corrin is also really cool and seems particularly brutal, that double brazen bonfire with special spiral…

At some point I may consider giving Eirika or someone else infantry pulse from a spare original Dorcas manual since it is a pretty useful support skill, though I don’t have the team setup to get instant specials. I’ve got Marisa and Dorcas with IP, but no one else.

Thanks again for the advice

#8

Guard. Because of Odin’s Spd Link, the need for Quick Riposte is really only for extreme speed demons, and there really is no need for replacing Berkut’s Lance with Barrier since they do the same thing.

#9

F.Celica: I’d fodder the neutral to save feathers (otherwise required to promote Panne) unless you’re looking for her to get a refine, but these days it looks like IS is working on units that need the refines more.

Luke: wait for the refine, and then decide what you’ll do. I tend to prefer to fodder the brave sword. Feathers so valuable.

L.Marth: I’m the foddering type but this is one of your stronger options for merging, depending on what skills you gave him and how much you use him. If it were my barracks, I don’t think I would deploy him that often so I would probably try to fodder both extra copies, one for infantry flash and the other to save feathers promoting B.Louise.

Laevatein: depends how much you like spd wave. I wouldn’t do anything with your extra copy until we see a spd wave on a grail unit.Then again, we got both def waves at 4* on grail units, so maybe we’ll get both spd waves too.

W.Robin: probably fodder for brazen atk/spd, armour march, or both. Between him and B.Ephraim, one is getting foddered for armour march, and whether you take brazen atk/spd or special fighter depends on what other units come to you and what you want to do with them. I will note that I’m not that much a fan of brazen atk/spd as an A-skill except on tanky units because on glass cannons I want to be able to one-round on their first combat.

L.Tiki: In the past I would easily have recommended +spd, and I think it’s probably the better IV for PvE. +atk is probably better in arena because you can one-shot some dragons and save yourself getting hit on the weaker defensive stat, but -spd I really don’t like for PvE even though her def and res are pretty good. Depends on where you want to use her more, I guess.
I’ve been wanting to give my M.Grima fierce breath + bold fighter, but I’m not sure if you want to fodder her.

B.Ephraim: interesting. I would probably prefer +res myself (especially if stacking wards), but there’s a case to be made for +def. Anyways, depends how much you use armours. There aren’t a lot of armours who are good with special fighter who don’t come with it. H.Myrrh and Amelia are the most often-cited examples; Draug is a maybe, and then there are also some attempts to OHKO with a safety net (ex: P.Lukas slaying bonfire). Either way, I think probably fodder the B-skill or the C-skill so I don’t think I recommend merging. He deletes just about everything on the ignis anyways so the extra stats feel unnecessary.

NY Azura: I don’t like the 2nd merge. One merge makes sense to me because HP and spd are two of her most important stats, but I think you get better value foddering the hagoita.

M.Grima: depends how much you use armours and dragons. It’s not entirely absurd to fodder both copies of him, if you ask me, but most people would keep a copy (and I’ve actually kept two myself, just being lazy and not committing to an IV. I know I prefer +atk). I think it’s reasonable for most people to keep one vengeful fodder in their library.

Sue I think you fodder, but take a moment to consider the weapon if you don’t have and don’t plan to get L.Alm (which would be very odd to me, but I won’t assume). Leon +atk -HP with sturdy impact + armoured blow can blast through over 100 physical bulk with a pre-charged ignis if you want to make an infantry pulse team (ex: for AR def, but flash+ came not that long after the rerun of candlelight’s debut so we might get a non-seasonal witchy wand in November or something so think this through). If you fodder Sue to Eirika, understand that you’re doing it probably more for arena score than for anything else. (Also, I think I prefer null follow-up on Eirika. Easier when you don’t need to worry about bold fighters and can double Surtr regardless of his HP or yours.) In about two years we have received a lot of ways to buff Nino which are probably more effective than Eirika.

On Nino have you considered the flashing blade seal? If you find it unnecessary then pick the wave that boosts the stat your team needs the most.

#10

thanks for the response, though a few of them I have already decided what to do with such as the L!Tiki (Merge and kept +Atk) and NY!Azura (merge to +2, Hagoita would only be useful to me on PA!Azura who I don’t have and would rather use with her starting axe anyways if I ever do get her).

spare F!Celica is being held on to for fodder, extra luke is being held for now (only unit I have that I would build with brave sword+ is Alfonse who has Folkvangr and Hana who already has a brave sword+), the two spare L!Marths are being held for now, +HP/-Res being the one I’m actually using. Laevatein has one copy being used and the other held in reserve, though for now I still haven’t and don’t plan to invest any skill inheritance on her in case I do pull another that has a decent IV spread and I’ll be able to use the extra speed wave fodder without having wasted any inherits.

For B!Ephraim I’ve seen the arguments for +Res which is why I’ve still kept him for now, but I think I’ll get the most use out of the +Def one since I’m not likely to ever be able to merge him to +10 and use for ultra high arena or AR. I actually had considered giving my +1 +Atk Amelia the third copy’s special fighter since she already has distant counter, but haven’t yet and my H!Myrrh (+Res/-Spd) doesn’t have DC to make the most out of special fighter for PvE.

M!Grima-I had 4 total copies, 2 manuals and 2 still around, I merged the spare into the +Res one to get rid of the speed bane and still have 2 manuals for vengeful fighter. I too would like a +Atk one most, but I have yet to pull a +Atk M!Grima, so +Res will do for now.

I’d love to pull a L!Alm (and/or a regular one, still haven’t pulled either), but so far no luck on that and his Lunar Arc bow is already pretty insane. If I ever pull a second/third sue to fodder for a short bow after pulling a L!Alm I’ll consider it, but that’s a pretty remote chance to happen. I haven’t built a Leon and don’t have any plans for it-I have other good archers already at 5* and built with skillsets, and have yet to pull any Tibarns for that sturdy impact fodder. I do actually have a +Atk/-HP one as my main copy of him, but only at 4* level 40 and minimal inheritance.

I’d also love to give stuff like null follow up or null counter to a bunch of units, but I’ve only ever pulled a single Nailah that I’m still using and have never pulled any null follow up units. Super premium skill fodder 5* only skills are things I really am short on, with stuff like only getting that single Nailah and have yet to pull many/any spare B!Ikes or L!Ikes, Surtr, etc.

I think I have one of Nino’s skillsets with the flashing blade seal, but I mainly have her with the defense wave 3 seal to compliment Eirika’s Seiglinde, Hone speed and fortify res 3 seal to get max attack boost.

Thanks again for chiming in, it does help plan some things for later as well as options to consider in the future