Meta Changes and Updates 24 (09/01/2023)

This is the monthly blog about changes in the meta for Fire Emblem Heroes (FEH). To know about any units that defined August 2023's meta and any other game changes, read on!

New Content in August

New Weapon Refines

Weapon Refinery Update
Legendary Seliph				Freyja				Spring Est
Ced			Echidna			Mareeta			Travant

New Banners

Choose Your Legends 7 - Turn of Fate

Active Period: 08/16/2023 ~ 09/15/2023

Who Should You Pull From CYL 7: Turn of Fate?
Brave Corrin (F) [9.5/10]	Brave Soren [9.5/10]	Brave Gullveig [9.5/10]	Brave Robin (M) [9.5/10]

Invitation to Tea

Active Period: 08/08/2023 ~ 09/07/2023

Who Should You Pull From Invitation to Tea?
Tea Lysithea [9.0/10]	Tea Sigurd [9.0/10]	Tea Ferdinand [8.5/10]	Tea Ayra [9.5/10]

New Legendary Hero

New Legendary Hero
Legendary Alear (F) [9.5/10]

New Resplendents

08/25 to 09/09	09/10 to 09/24
Morgan (M)	Rhajat

List of Resplendent Heroes

Are they meta defining?

All of the new Brave Heroes are quite powerful and have unique effects that set them apart from other units with similar weapon/movement types.

Brave Corrin (F) and Brave Gullveig introduce their own respective【Divine Vein】 terrain effects into the game, with Brave Corrin (F) having the defensive 【Divine Vein (Stone)】 and Brave Gullveig having the offensive 【Divine Vein (Flame)】 effects respectively.

Brave Soren introduces the 【Assign Decoy】 status effect which provides the Savior effect to allies, and Brave Robin (M) introduces the 【Rally Spectrum】 status effect which provides bonus stats and Special charges pre-combat to himself and his allies.

Legendary Seliph also received a huge upgrade with his weapon refine and remix skills, turning him from a meme into a sturdy defensive unit.

Legendary Alear (F) was only recently released, but she is tied for the fastest Spd in the game and is the only dragon unit to have a brave effect on her weapon. She can also provide piercing damage to herself and her allies, allowing them to neutralize non-Special damage reduction effects.

Meta Changes

Arena

Meta Units

Meta Units
Legendary Alear (F) [9.5/10]	Legendary Shez (F) [9.5/10]	Brave Corrin (F) [9.5/10]	Brave Gullveig [9.5/10]

It is currently a Fire Season month and these are the heroes we expect to see the most in Arena aside from the usual suspects like Valentine's Chrom and other metagame relevant duo heroes.

Legendary Alear (F) is the Legendary hero we most expect to see in Arena due to being newly released. She will be the bonus Legendary unit for the entire month and will greatly help summoners achieve their maximum possible Arena scores.

Legendary Alear (F) is a very powerful offensive hero with Dragon's Fist attacking twice and Dragon Blast neutralizing damage reduction effects. She also has her own damage reduction effects tied to her kit, making her a difficult unit to defeat.

Legendary Shez (F) is the other Fire Legendary hero we most expect to face in Arena with her Asura Blades also attacking twice and Swift Slice granting effective damage against every weapon type in the game.

The two skills above and her great stat spread make Legendary Shez (F) one of the hardest hitting offensive heroes in the game.

Brave Corrin (F) will be a bonus unit for some time during this month and she is arguably the best Savior unit in the game currently.

Her exclusive weapon Vallastone inflicts Atk/Spd/Def/Res-5 onto her foe and grants Corrin a Null Follow-Up effect and 30% damage reduction in combat.

Vallastone also applies 【Divine Vein (Stone)】 to Corrin's current occupied space and all spaces within 2 spaces of herself for one turn after she acts. She doesn't have to attack to create the Divine Veins; simply moving and ending turn creates them.

Brave Corrin (F)'s base kit has five sources of damage reduction with Vallastone's 30%, the 【Divine Vein (Stone)】 effect reducing damage from Specials, Armored Floe's 40%, Realms United's flat 7 reduction, and Counter Roar 4's 30%. The base kit is the most common set players will encounter and it is very difficult to bring down without a way to pierce through damage reduction.

Brave Gullveig is an offensive tome flier with a very unique archetype - a ranged unit having an extra action after attacking. This effect was previously only on Legendary Leif, and Brave Gullveig hits harder and is not hindered by Guard effects to generate this extra action.

Brave Gullveig's exclusive B skill Gold Unwinding inflicts Spd/Res-5 onto her foe, and if Brave Gullveig's HP ≥ 50% and she initiates combat, also grants her 60% damage reduction on her foe's first attack.

More importantly, Gold Unwinding grants Brave Gullveig an additional action after combat if she initiates. However, she (and her Pair Up cohort, if any) are inflicted with the 【Gravity】 status for that extra action. Gold Unwinding's extra action only triggers for her first attack and will not trigger again for 2 turns after triggering.

How to Counter

Legendary Alear (F) is a speedy unit and her damage reduction effects protect her from getting bursted down by big nukes. Bring a unit that can pierce damage reduction to defeat her quickly.

Alternatively, you can bring a bulky unit of your own with a Guard effect to prevent Alear from triggering Dragon Blast.

Legendary Shez (F) is one of the best damage dealers in the entire game. However, her defensive bulk is rather low as most of her stats are focused toward her offenses.

Allow her to approach and attack her in the player phase to defeat her quickly.

Brave Corrin (F) has multiple sources of damage reduction on her kit and sets up 【Divine Vein (Stone)】 upon moving.

In Arena, attacking her before she can set up 【Divine Vein (Stone)】 is nearly impossible. Instead, we recommend defeating her in enemy phase, as the 【Divine Vein (Stone)】 effect ends as soon as enemy phase begins, and will not be active if she approaches for an attack.

Brave Gullveig is powerful offensively and can protect herself after attacking with Gold Unwinding's extra action and Flared Sparrow's 【Divine Vein (Flame)】 effects.

Allow her to approach without letting her attack, and then engage her in player phase before she can set up 【Divine Vein (Flame)】 to defeat her.

Aether Raids

Meta-Defining Units

Meta Units
Freyr [9.5/10]	Embla [9.5/10]	Bridal Catria [9.5/10]	Brave Corrin (F) [9.5/10]

The Aether Raids meta has remained relatively similar since the addition of Freyr. The addition of the new Brave heroes introduce new units to the metagame, but the strategies involving these heroes remain similar to before.

Freyr

Freyr has breathed new life back into defenses which were neutered by Elimine's Staff of the Saint, opening the door for their return.

Freyr's main role is to provide support through Dream Deliverer's ability to cleanse all 【Penalty】 effects onto himself and nearby allies. Key allies include Bridal Catria, Winter Cordelia, and heavy nuker units to team up with the aforementioned two units.

Aside from Dream Deliverer, Freyr also functions as a decent offensive unit with high bulk. Dream Horn has two sources of damage reduction, protecting Freyr and allowing him to survive more often to provide further support in the later turns. Melee beast cavalry units aren't a good offensive archetype, but offense isn't the reason why Freyr should be fielded in teams. His allies will provide the firepower instead.

Embla

Embla still warps Light/Dark season by being the Mythic to prepare multiple teams for.

Her exclusive C skill Severance inflicts 【Undefended】 and 【Feud】 on all foes within 3 columns or 3 rows centered on Embla at the start of the turn, shutting off Savior skills and rendering supports useless.

Players have begun fielding two Emblas, with one in column 2 and the other in column 5. This setup inflicts 【Undefended】 and 【Feud】 onto all six columns, effectively shutting down Save balls from the start.

Cavlines have been the main teammates of an Embla composition, with their extended range allowing instant offense on turn one. With the Emblas shutting off support and Savior, the Cavalry units have no trouble picking off the weaker members of raiding parties.

Bridal Catria and Winter Cordelia

Bridal Catria and Winter Cordelia have similar roles on their teams: providing a double-attack buff to their allies. The main differences between the two, aside from their kits, are:

• Wedding-Bell Axe's 【Triangle Attack】 requires two allies, but they can be within 2 spaces of said allies.
• Inseverable Spear's 【Dual Strike】 only requires one nearby ally, but the ally has to be adjacent to another ally with 【Dual Strike】.

While Bridal Catria and Winter Cordelia are above average attackers themselves, granting a double attack to heavy nukers such as Brave Lysithea or Valentine's Chrom allows them to rip holes through most units, including tank units.

Brave Corrin (F)

Brave Corrin (F) will be a bonus unit for some time during this month and she is arguably the best Savior unit in the game currently, while being available for free to all players if they select her with their free summon.

Her exclusive weapon Vallastone inflicts Atk/Spd/Def/Res-5 onto her foe and grants Corrin a Null Follow-Up effect and 30% damage reduction in combat.

Vallastone also applies 【Divine Vein (Stone)】 to Corrin's current occupied space and all spaces within 2 spaces of herself for one turn after she acts. She doesn't have to attack to create the Divine Veins; simply moving and ending turn creates them.

Brave Corrin (F)'s base kit has five sources of damage reduction with Vallastone's 30%, the 【Divine Vein (Stone)】 effect reducing damage from Specials, Armored Floe's 40%, Realms United's flat 7 reduction, and Counter Roar 4's 30%. The base kit is the most common set players will encounter and it is very difficult to bring down without a way to pierce through damage reduction.

How to Counter

Freyr himself isn't a threatening unit. Rather, he enables threatening strategies that require specific setup to overcome.

Against Catria Ball or Cordelia Ball, the most common team compositions that Freyr enables, the best strategy is to break their formation by attacking once with a unit that can survive, then retreat to safety to engage the enemy AI.

The AI will then make their actions, hopefully separating Bridal Catria (or Winter Cordelia) from their Savior allies. If successful, you can then snipe the Harmonic flier down to severely reduce the enemy team's offensive firepower.

You can also rely on Bolt Tower to wear down the Savior units and use a Galeforce strategy to clear most of the enemy team in one turn while they're weakened. Medeus is a Dark mythic and thus should not be present alongside Freyr on the same team.

Embla shuts down Savior balls, and is often fielded on a Cavline team. These teams have powerful offensive options, but they all lack bulk.

Ensure you field an offensive raiding party in Light season such as Galeforce or Hit and Run. Using these teams, you can pick off most of the enemy units on turn one and then either retreat or unit block the remaining enemies in order to collect Aether resources on future turns.

Summer Edelgard is an amazing unit to field against Embla Cavlines, with her ability to act up to three times in one turn with Raging Storm and Galeforce. Equip self-recoil skills like Fury on her A and Sacred Seal slots, and bring a handful of units that can act multiple times in one turn with Wings of Mercy 3 equipped in order to sweep the map and keep your units safe.

Alternatively, a Vantage strategy can be fielded against these teams in order to prevent knockouts on any of your raiding party units.

Use a unit with high Atk, equip Vantage 3 or similar skills onto them, and move them forward. If using Vantage, ensure that they are under the HP threshold and that none of the enemy units can bypass it through the use of Hardy Bearing or sweep effects.

Finally, consider bringing an Omnitank unit and move them forward into the line of fire. This unit should be incredibly self-sufficient and capable of withstanding multiple attacks from different foes.

Bridal Catria and Winter Cordelia enable a similar strategy of granting double attacks to nearby allies. If Freyr isn't present on the enemy team, bring Elimine to apply 【False Start】 to these units and neuter them completely.

If Freyr is present, apply the strategies mentioned above on the Freyr section.

Brave Corrin (F) will be the Far Save unit to prepare for as she currently performs the role the best compared to the other options, and her bonus weeks are coming up this month too.

To defeat her, prepare units that can bypass damage reduction, as she has multiple sources of it on her kit.

Alternatively, you can save her for last by using a tanking strategy to defeat all her allies first. Once she is the last foe standing, collect the Aether resources and defeat her in enemy phase to disregard her 【Divine Vein (Stone)】 effects.

Fire Emblem Heroes - Related Guides

FEH Guide Wiki Top Page

▶︎Return to the FEH Guide Wiki Top Page

Popular Links

IV Checker	Hero Tier List	Rerolling
Pull from These Summons!	Unlock Potential Tier List	Beginner's Guide
All FEH Heroes	Skills and Sacred Seals	Weapon Refinery