Utility vs. Damage Units

This article discusses the differences of utility units and damage units. To find out more information about the types of utility and damage units, their pros and cons, and in which PvP game modes they would be suitable, read on!

Utility vs. Damage Units

Units in Fire Emblem Heroes fall into one of 3 categories - Utility, Damage, or Mixed.

These categories determine a unit's role in a team and what they bring to the table when it comes to combat.

Utility

Utility units deal little to no damage and are mainly there to provide support to their team, whether it be mobility, buffs, or additional actions.

Damage

Damage units are exactly that - their job is to deal large amounts of damage when they get into combat.

They'll have little to no utility for their team, the way they help is to defeat enemy units.

Mixed

Mixed units have both utility and damage and can fulfill both roles in their team.

Types of Utility Units

Dancers

Dancers provide additional actions to their teammates through their Assist skill.

Some dancers have additional buffs in their kit when they grant an another action to their ally, or have skills that either give visible or invisible buffs during combat or that start of the turn.

Examples

Legendary Azura is one of the best dancers in the game, giving her allies buffs and also enabling flying and infantry units to move an extra space.

Triandra, on the other hand, inflicts debuffs and the Guard effect on enemy units, making them more vulnerable to her allies.

Support

These units have different types of supportive skills that they could give their team.

Some take the form of mobility like Aerobatics 3 or Guidance 3, while others provide combat buffs like Joint Drive Atk or Distant Guard 3.

Examples

Brave Lucina is a popular unit to use for Ally Support due to the buffs she gives with her refined weapon.

An alternative for those who don't have Brave Lucina is Corrin (M). His refined Yato gives buffs to his Support partner if he is within 2 spaces.

Healers

Healers are as the name implies - their job is to keep their allies healthy and keep their HP up.

Healers are staff units, though there is a subset of staff units that can function as healers but are also damage-dealers.

More information on this below.

Examples

Flayn is a popular choice as a healer and also as a utility unit due to her weapon giving damage reduction to her allies.

Bridal Fjorm is sometimes seen in Aether Raids due to her weapon's ability to inflict【Isolation】to enemy units in her cardinal directions.

Types of Damage Units

Nukers

Nukers are damage units that specialize in dishing out tons of damage, ideally defeating an enemy unit in one round of combat.

They have little to no utility and are mainly focused and built to reach high Atk numbers.

Examples

Reinhardt remains as one of the most popular F2P units in the game.

His weapon enables him to attack twice and with the right skill inheritance, he can defeat a good number of units in the game.

Legendary Lilina is another popular Aether Raids unit because her weapon gives her Special acceleration and will also give her Special cooldown count-1 at the start of the turn 1.

This means that her Special, Gifted Magic, can be triggered the moment she attacks an enemy unit.

Effective Weapons

Units with effective weapons are damage units whose function is to defeat enemy units of a specific type.

With the current meta in mind, these usually take on the form of units with armor-effective weapons such as Micaiah's Thani or an inherited Slaying Hammer+.

Examples

Micaiah has both cavalry and armor effectiveness in her weapon, which makes her ideal for taking out units such as Reinhardt.

Summer Caeda is another unit with an effective weapon - her Dolphin-Dive Axe makes her effective against sword, lance, axe, colorless bow, and armored foes.

This means that, despite having an axe, she can take out a wide variety of units.

Types of Mixed Units

Frontline Tanks

Many tanks fall under the mixed type since they not only provide utility by being the wall in the way of the enemy team, but also by retaliating with a large amount of damage.

Examples

Brave Edelgard has good mobility thanks to her Flower Hauteclere.

She can warp to an ally within 2 spaces and her Black Eagle Rule skill also gives her a follow-up attack and also reduces damage from enemy units.

Valentine's Gustav debuted with one of the【Savior】skills - D/R Near Save 3.

This skill lets him take combat in an ally's place within 2 spaces if they are attacked by a melee unit, making him a good candidate to protect his backline.

Certain Specific Units

There are a handful of specific units that count towards being mixed.

A couple of examples of mixed units are Legendary Chrom and Legendary Lucina. Their utility comes from their Assist skills - To Change Fate! and Future Vision.

The second type of specific units are what we'll call damage healers.

These healers have healing as a secondary or even tertiary role but their main job is as a damage dealer.

Young L'Arachel and Summer Hilda are some of the several damage healers in the game.

Young L'Arachel is a speedy damage healer who applies the Flash status from range, while Summer Hilda buffs herself if she is not adjacent to an ally.

Initiators

These types of units' primary role is to initiate combat and through this, will enable certain outcomes and strategies for the rest of their team.

Strategies include being a Wings of Mercy beacon or being a part of a Hit and Run team.

Examples

Eldigan is an example of a Wings of Mercy beacon, though others could include Ninja Lyn or even Eir.

With his weapon refine and Fury 4, he can initiate combat and bring his HP down low enough for the rest of his team to activate Wings of Mercy to clean up the rest of the enemy team.

Reginn, on the other hand, is one of the initiators for a Hit and Run strat.

Her Lyngheiðr enables【Canto】, which will allow her to attack and then retreat to safety.

Game Modes for Utility vs. Damage Units

Arena

Prioritize Damage

Arena is a simplier game mode and both teams start on opposite sides of the map with obstructions or the map layout itself preventing any fast gap closing.

Since you have fewer units to deal with in this game mode than in Aether Raids, you would want to invest in more Damage/Mixed units than Utility because you will need every bit of damage.

Many of the units in the meta need to be defeated quickly, like Fallen Edelgard or Legendary Byleth (M), which are very dangerous when allowed to attack your team.

Legendary Heroes

Legendary heroes are a good investment for Arena because they provide bonuses to teammates carrying the appropriate blessing for the active season.

Using a Legendary hero in your team in addition to appropriately blessed units in the active season also boosts your Arena score, leading to higher weekly rewards.

Take note, however, that this may require investing in at least 3 different Legendary heroes because of the season rotation and the different bonuses they give.

Each week includes two elemental seasons in Arena, thus only 3 different Legendary heroes are necessary to have at least one with an active bonus per week.

The top Legendary heroes in Arena per season are:

• Water - Legendary Chrom, Legendary Byleth (M)
• Wind - Legendary Sigurd, Legendary Micaiah
• Earth - Legendary Claude
• Fire - Legendary Lilina, Legendary Edelgard

A notable thing about these Legendary heroes is that they are either a Damage or Mixed type of unit.

Aether Raids

Prioritize Utility

Aether Raids is different from Arena in the sense that your team may be in danger right from the start.

Offensive Cavlines can reach your starting spaces from turn one, and losing one unit harms your score.

Against teams that do not threaten you on turn one, having to defend against 6-7 enemies with overlapping threat ranges is completely different from defending against 1-2 enemies in Arena where you can choose your matchups.

With this in mind, your team should be composed of both Damage/Mixed units and Utility units.

The Damage or Mixed units are in charge of eliminating all the enemies.

The Utility units provide much needed support to the Damage or Mixed units to ensure that they do not fall in combat.

Mythic Heroes

Mythic heroes, unlike your other units, do not receive the Mythic blessing bonuses in Aether Raids matches.

This means that offensive Mythic heroes are at a disadvantage compared to other offensive units simply by virtue of having less stats.

Thus, it is best to have supportive Mythic heroes and rely on your other units for damage.

Peony and Plumeria are both refresher units that grant additional actions and provide other supportive bonuses through their unique assists.

Peony's Gentle Dream provides bonuses and movement buffs to multiple allies while Plumeria's Sweet Dreams grants bonuses to an ally and penalties to a nearby foe.

However, there are some good offensive Mythic heroes that can fulfill a damage role.

Reginn can kill an enemy with her pre-charged Seiðr Shell and retreat immediately after with her 【Canto】 effect.

Dagr can take advantage of an enemy Infantry School or Panic Manor to stack up in-combat bonuses with her Skinfaxi's Unity effect to perform just as well, if not better than your other offensive units.

Be aware of the best roles your Mythic heroes can perform and use them appropriately.

Blessed Heroes

Your non-Mythic heroes receive blessing bonuses that are provided by your Mythic heroes.

These additional stats are very helpful in both survival and damage, making winning combat easier.

Thus, it is generally a better option to have your Blessed units fulfill the damage dealing roles your team needs.

A powerful unit like Brave Hector shines even more when he is boosted by Mythic blessing bonuses.

Brave Hector has subpar Res, making him vulnerable to multiple magical threats on the enemy team.

Receiving +10 HP and Res from fielding both Eir and Dagr, for example, improves Brave Hector's survivability to the point where he may be able to tank the entire enemy team.

Adding extra support through skills and Sacred Seals like Distant Guard 3 or Drive Res 2 on your support units skew the matchup even further.

Ninja Lyn already has strong nuking prowess with her Tailwind Shuriken enabling her to attack twice per round.

Fielding both Reginn and Altina on your team grants +10 HP and +6 Atk to Ninja Lyn.

That +6 Atk bonus leads to an additional 12 damage per attack due to Tailwind Shuriken's effects!

Bringing along an additional support like New Year Peony further empowers Ninja Lyn to clear the map of enemies.

New Year Peony provides multiple Atk bonuses through her weapon Bond of the Álfar and her C skill Joint Drive Atk.

She can even use her Duo skill to grant an additional action to Ninja Lyn, clearing one more enemy off the map!

Pros and Cons of Utility vs. Damage Units

While certain game modes favor one type over another, is there really a type that is better than the other?

Below are the pros and cons listed for each type of unit.

Pros of Utility Units

• Dancers grant additonal actions to their team as well as different types of buffs.
• Several units are good to be used an an Ally Support to another because they provide even more buffs.
• Some healers are excellent support units due to not only being able to keep their team healthy, but also the different buffs or debuffs they can give.

Cons of Utility Units

No damage means that they cannot defeat enemy units by themselves unless they're a Mixed unit type.

This is an important trade-off for a team because they will not be able to defend themselves well if they are attacked.

Pros of Damage Units

Damage units can usually one-shot a wide variety of units.

There are those that do better in specific matchups and are built to counter certain units, but overall Damage units are important to teams due to pure offensive power.

Cons of Damage Units

• Many damage units have low Def and Res so they are easily taken out if another unit initiates combat on them unless they are a Mixed unit.
• They are the type of unit most prone to powercreep so what could be a really good damage unit now could easily get taken over by another unit later.

Longevity of Utility vs. Damage Units

How long a unit will remain good to use in PvP game modes is something that many take into consideration whenever a new banner gets announced.

This is in large part due to the skills that can be powercrept at any time as well as ever-increasing stats and their scoring potential.

With this in mind, is it better to pull for Utility or Damage when thinking of using a unit in the long run?

Things to Consider When a Banner Gets Announced

Unique Skills

Utility, Damage, or Mixed units can come with a number of different skills.

A big consideration is the Prf skill a unit comes with and how unique it is compared to other existing skills.

If you want immediate results in Arena and Aether Raids, though they may not be meta-defining, then you can pull for a Damage unit.

However, for longevity, Utility wins out. This is because supportive skills can more flexible to be suited to any Damage unit that comes out.

For instance, Flayn is looking to be a regular in several teams for a long time because of the damage reduction on her weapon.

Player-Specific Teams

Each player has their own preferred playstyle and there are multiple strategies that lead to victory.

The three most common are Tanking, Galeforce, and Hit and Run.

Each unit has a defined role that fits each strategy different compared to others.

A purely offensive unit like Charlotte, for example, performs very well in Galeforce and Hit and Run strategies, but her paper-thin defenses make her suboptimal in Tanking compositions.

If a player prefers using a more defensive approach to the game, Charlotte no longer becomes a unit worth summoning for, despite her being a powerful unit.

Furthermore, what each player has in their barracks also determines whether certain new units are worth summoning for.

For example, if a player is lacking in offensive lance cavalry, it is definitely worth summoning for a unit like Brave Eirika who fits multiple strategies and excels when properly utilized.

Relation to Existing Heroes

Newly released heroes will always be compared to the current heroes in the game; specifically, those with the same weapon and movement type.

It is the fastest way to determine whether the new heroes are strong and worth spending orbs to summon for.

For example, all future lance armored units introduced to the game will always be compared to Brave Hector, the cream of the crop of lance armored units.

Brave Hector is a very powerful unit who is in the permanent summoning pool, has had multiple banners, and is on multiple banners included in the rotation of Weekly Revival Banners.

As such, he is an accessible unit who is guaranteed to be on a future summoning banner.

If you don't have a copy, you can plan ahead for his return.

All future new lance armored units are not worth summoning for specifically unless they're one of your favorites or if they have a unique niche that makes them distinct from Brave Hector.

Pirate Surtr is a good example.

Despite being a lance armored unit, he is different enough from Brave Hector and is a powerful unit in his own right to be worth summoning for.

On Powercreep and Longevity

Considering Refines and Stats

Longevity in an ever-changing game is a rather tricky topic to consider because of powercreep.

However, there are units that still find themselves relevant in the current meta due to their weapon refines and their stats.

Brave Lucina is an older unit but her weapon refine has solidified her as one of the best supports in the game and she is still widely used.

Brave Ike is another unit that found himself a regular in many teams due to how loaded Urvan became in conjuction with how good his stats become when he is fully invested.

Related Guides

Useful Links

Useful Information and Guides

Building Units

Building Your Heroes
Level Grinding | How to Level Up Fast	How to Gain SP Quickly
How to Use Inherit Skill	Merge Allies Guide
Heroes You Should Unlock Potential For	Which Heroes Should You Send Home?
When Should You Unlock Potential?	How to Use the Training Tower
Trait Fruits: How to Change IVs	How to use Dragonflowers
How to Get Divine Codes	How to Grind Summoner Support
How to Increase Ally Support	General Tips for Building Units

Building Specific Roles

Hero Roles
Heroes with Refresher Skills	List of Staff Users
Physical Wall Heroes (Tanks)	Magic Wall Heroes (Res Tanks)

Beginner Guides

Beginner Guides
Five Things to Know Before Starting	Reroll Tier List
Hero Building	Beginner's Guide
List of All Skills	How to Get Free Orbs
My Summoner Guide	Should I Merge or Fodder Off Units?

Arena

Arena Guides
Arena Guide	Best Arena Teams
Win 5 Battles in Arena With No Deaths	Arena and Aether Raids Seasons

Aether Raids

Aether Raids Articles
Aether Guides	List of Aether Raids Structures
Aether Raids Offense Guide	Best Aether Raid Defense Units

Summoner Duels

Summoner Duels Articles
Summoner Duels Guide