LogFAQs > #901568381

Another set of mages with cool skill ideas and unique tomes! Lower-ceiling Atk/Speed-only versions of Owltomes with no refinability but much easier activation conditions are neat. They're solid sidegrades to the Owltomes, but Prf. Cool gimmicks as far as Def/Res Link 3 and Spd Feint 3 go, though I don't know how viable they are. Def/Res Link 3 I think is more useful since movement assist skills are widely used as part of common kits, and it has fairly good synergy with how reposition is commonly used to protect weaker units. Being a B skill hurts it a lot though since your unit now can't run a skill like a breaker or desperation, heavily limiting their actual combat utility just to apply a buff for safer baiting. Which, I tend to think is an issue when so many of the units you might be targeting are DC melee units.

Spd Feint on the other hand I think is way too specialized. If you're using normal buffs at all, you're usually either running an emblem and probably have Hone and maybe Ward skills up already, or if you're running a mixed comp, there's a decent chance you're using the increasingly common Tactic C skills. I mostly see rallies being used to manipulate AI on defensive teams and/or just for score on T20 arena teams as opposed to actually buffing. Which, is a long way of me saying that Rally Assists aren't very commonly used for the most part, which means you're probably having to sacrifice a more useful Movement Assist to be able to use this. And then, you sacrifice the rallying unit's attack to be able to decrease Speed by 7 in cardinal directions.

Compared to a Ploy skill, you're taking the B slot instead of C slot, occupying your Assist skill slot with a Rally as opposed to having a stat requirement, and getting to line things up and activate the debuff during your turn (albeit while losing the Rally unit's ability to attack) instead of having to line things up then wait for the turn to begin to activate it. And you also debuff more. But compared to a Chill skill, you're being forced to use a Rally Assist, you have to be able to get into the right position, and you have to use your unit's action for the turn, in exchange for theoretically being able to hit multiple units and/or hit units besides the one with the highest stat. Which I really don't think is worth it, because I feel like the majority of the time, the unit with the highest speed is the one you want to debuff anyway.

As for Ninian's skills, the only inheritable weapon of the banner is nice, although probably not something you'll be inheriting off anytime soon unless you really want to buff speed. It's nice that the buff actually affects her too, at least. She's definitely very speed buff-oriented. It is awkward though since it's only a +4, so it doesn't get you as far as a Hone or Tactic buff would. Sure, she has Drive Speed, but she's still only getting you just slightly farther than a standalone max buff would even with her combat buff. I feel like her tome's utility is going to be redundant with whatever you end up finishing building her with.

Chill Atk is nice to have, but feels like it's probably the least relevant possible Chill skill to have on a dancer, since a dancer's usually more preoccupied with offensive buffs and debuffs, and Escape Route/WoM are much more relevant B-slots. I'd really love to have the skill to fodder away to have more of a chance to neuter some of the worst arena cancer I see (https://imgur.com/jFRfQ7t), but I sure as hell ain't foddering a seasonal dancing mage for just a niche skill option. I really would love to see accessible Chill skills though. They're something fairly situational that make it hard to justify pulling for 5* exclusives just to get the skills to mess around with, but I'd be more than willing to promote 4* pulls to fodder them for Chills if that were made available.

Also, I love this Reddit post on the logistics of flying dancers.
https://www.reddit.com/r/FireEmblemHeroes/comments/8kankm/
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsbvaQcuW9k
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3EAmdg3xls