Since I made it to tier 21 in the Aether Raids mode a few months ago, I decided to set a new goal: tier 21 in Arena mode. Arena mode is actually the oldest competitive mode in Fire Emblem Heroes game. Tier 20 was the original highest tier in the Arena mode which I achieved long time ago. However, IS decided to update the game and added tier 21 as the highest tier. But, I’ve never attempted to get to the highest tier since it was introduced.
When I made tier 21 in Aether Raids mode, I only have one 5* +10 hero: the original Reinhardt “Magic is everything”. Most of my other 5* heroes (220+ heroes) are unmerged. My typical arena score back then was about 696-700 per game. At that time, I was content with yoyo-ing between tier 17-19. My feathers count was really low at about 40K. I’ve used up all of the feathers I gained to promote each unique heroes to 5 star, rather than building a very strong arena team. It’s very wasteful if I think about it now as I don’t use many of those heroes that I spent the resources on. I think I use may be about 10+ heroes. Less than 10% of all the heroes I own. Based on the Hero Merit list, I only had 6 heroes with max HM and some with about 2K HM. Majority is in the 300 HM or below.
I searched up Reddit for the weekly arena score, trying to gauge what’s the score needed in order to get to the higher tier. As the mode has been around for a long time, the score has increased quite a lot. At the time of this writing, to promote from tier 19 to 20, we need to score at least 726 per game. To promote from tier 20 to 21, we need to score at least 750 per game. It’s such a tall order to raise at least 50 score per game.
I used the arena score calculator to calculate which heroes score better. It turns out that my +10 Reinhardt only score 726. I need to start building a high scoring arena team. Best scoring heroes are the armor units. However, I don’t like using armor as the movement is very limited. I prefer cavalry units, but they score low. I searched the score and found that dragon units score pretty well. Not as high as armor, but good enough.
I decided to build adult Tiki. I have 16 copies of her. Since I already have a 5* Tiki that I upgraded long time ago, I need 200K feathers to max her up to +10. After that, I decided to build Nowi to replace my Reinhardt. I need another 200K feathers. After I finished maxing out my 2 dragons, IS introduced new heroes, weapon and skill that can defeat dragon easier (Idunn, Roy, Naga, etc). I thought I’m screwed and I still need to build green unit. I wanted to build Fae, but it’s risky to have all dragon team. So, after searching for other heroes, I decided to build Camilla as I have 15 copies of her. I didn’t have her yet at 5*. So, I need 220K feathers. After maxing out those 3, I checked the arena calculator again. The score is not high enough. I need to give each of them Aether and better A, B, C and assist skills, which means at least 60K extra feathers. So, total feathers to build up the 3 heroes is almost 700K. It took me about 4 months to accumulate the feathers.
Now, all I need is the bonus unit. He/she needs to be high enough merge so I can get a high enough score. I have Ylgr, Gharnef, Leon, Tiki, Alfonse and Helbindi. I used the arena calculator again to gauge if I can get a high enough score to attempt to get to tier 21. Based on the calculator, with my 3 max out heroes and Legendary Tiki (unmerged), my arena score should be between 730-744. I thought that if I could get Legendary Tiki to defeat all of the enemies, I might be able to score 750+ per game (including the bonus). I have more than 800 swords that I don’t typically use. I could spend some of them to fish out the high score. That’s it. I decided to give it a try this week.
But first, I had to build Tiki, giving her Aether, reposition and renewal 3 seal. I had to spent another 20K to give Aether to Legendary Tiki. Sorry Chrom, I had to fodder off 4 of you.
It turns out as my gacha luck is not that good, it’s very hard to fish a high score. I had to spent lots of swords to replenish the stamina. Most of the time, it’s either 730, 732, 734, 736 or 738. The score is not high enough. If Legendary Tiki gets to defeat all enemies, I get +12 bonus per game. There’s no room for error and I thought it’s going to be really stressful. I need 740 base score or more. Unfortunately, I only get 740 a few times. 742 like 3 times. 744 only once.
First round:
I wasn’t able to defeat all enemies with Tiki. My total score was 3,742 (about 748 per game). I thought the score might not be high enough to advance. So, I tried another round.
Second round:
I was able to defeat all enemies with Tiki 3 games in a row. But in the 4th game, I had unfavorable match up, Nino with G-duel infantry. Since Legendary Tiki is an armor with 1 move and Nino can move 2 and range 2, I can’t maneuver Tiki. I lost my Tiki 🙁 I had to restart the round.
Third round:
Third time’s the charm I guess. Near perfect. Legendary Tiki defeated almost all of the enemies except 1. I thought Adult Tiki would be able to weaken Sheena in the last round. But, I didn’t take into account that I had drive speed that helps Adult Tiki to double Sheena and eliminate her. My total score is 3,761. It’s enough to secure me a spot in tier 21. :)
I used up about 40 swords to fish the scores for 3 rounds. Now that the season has ended and based on the comments on reddit, it seems that I may have wasted my resources too much. The score needed to advance from tier 20 to 21 is only 3,734 due to the shorten season by a day. Many people missed the notification and didn’t play the arena. My first round score was more than enough. Oh well. Anyway, I accomplish my goal. I have the Arena Crown 🙂
The arena screenshot was taken on Friday before the arena season ended. The inventory with the crown screenshot was taken on Sunday right after the season ended.
