When to Use Glimmer Over Moonbow | Fire Emblem Heroes Guide

[@TheSacredSpear]

I am kind of hoping we start getting new inheritable specials because I think its an area that could benefit from a few more choices. For example, we’ve seen how powerful Regnal Astra became and I was kind of hoping we would get other specials that worked of a percentage of speed, although they will have to be weaker. As for Glimmer and Astra, I would love to have a 3-turn cooldown version that was +100% damage dealt. Again I want to take a closer look at Astra, but even after the buff I don’t think I’ve ever seen it used in Arena. Sad to see one of the most iconic skills in the franchise get left out on all the fun.

[@poofinator4952]

We really are due for a new special that's not exclusive. To put it in perspective, outside of new dual rallies, we haven't gotten new command skills either. (There's Sacrifice, but it's exclusive to Micaiah)

[@poofinator4952]

robert rowe well, their special quotes can be heard outside of the catalog in tap battle.

[@adamholt5395]

What is your opinion on Luna? I have Luna on my Brave Lance Est (your build). It works well, but that 3 Charge means that I have to tank a hit before I can use it.

[@golddust7095]

Hope rend heaven becomes a proc skill

[@Kurayamiblack]

I don't really run Astra in Arena but I do have about 6 or 7 units running it and I love it! It's great on units with Heavy Blade or Steady Breath. My favorite so far is the Sanaki I built before Lilina's Forblaze became a thing. Cymbeline, Draw Back, Astra, Fury3, Swordbreaker3, Threaten Res3, Heavy Blade3 Seal The idea was to erase (one round KO) any swordsmen that don't have Distant Counter and thanks to Heavy Blade, Astra is ready for the next battle and she would just annihilate almost anything resulting in Sanaki soloing half the enemy team. It's a casual build, I know but still super fun for me and helped me deal with alot of stuff.

[@kennethokubo3435]

Real men use noontime. Then they cry when they realized it’s only healing like 3 hp.

[@retnemmoc101]

It's eye sweat my dude.

[@CNightmare072]

You say this but Noontime is great on LA!Hector. I give him Vantage + QR seal & thanks to his built-in Wrath on Berserk Armads, it's constantly healing & doing extra damage.

[@kennethokubo3435]

CNightmare072 the issue with noontime is that not only is it reliant on you taking down a lot of hp at once, but it also scales terribly due to how percentages work in fire emblem heroes. Sol is generally much better since you get health for every 2 points of damage you do as opposed to every 4.

[@CNightmare072]

Kenneth Okubo & I agree Sol is better 99% of the time. The 1% being Blazing Armads thanks a 1 turn cooldown & built-in Wrath (both the +10 damage & recharging for next turn help) I agree Noontime is really bad outside of this one case lol.

[@frostbitex23]

It's cool if it's Shigure using Noontime because It's High Noontime!

[@MinkDaddy]

A good rule of thumb is Moonbow for those with low attack and Glimmer for those with high attack.

[@superkonijn988]

Nukes get glimmer Wallbreakers get moonbow

[@Harmonia96]

super konijn98 And effective-against weapons should usually use Glimmer to perform their niches better.

[@kmoorelovin1]

Plain and simple, nice

[@Xgil2Play]

What defines a Wall Breaker?

[@superkonijn988]

Lumify | Gil A unit that can break through high def enemies.

[@michaelhugh302]

Lumify | Gil Basically, someone who wants to fill in more damage on the enemy where they otherwise wouldn't have by caving in their defensive stat.

[@tremainesadipe]

Blade-tome users are great users of Glimmer, as that increased damage can boost Glimmer's output by a LOT.

[@LendinSwiftbolt]

I use Glimmer with a +2 +Atk Nino, so yes, Glimmer is VERY good on her. I like Moonbow as much as the next guy but Glimmer works better for me in most situations on her. It doesn't help that she's got an Ephraim and Eirika, both with refined weapons helping her out too, that damage is really nice.

[@DaDinkler]

Bladetome users are pretty much gonna blow away anyone without high res anyways so I feel like Moonbow is better to help take out magical tanks that bladetomes may struggle against. Glimmer is usually just overkill in my experience.

[@TheZeroteck]

Glimmer works nice with the more recent B skills like Chill Res/Def

[@PragmaticAntithesis]

I personally prefer dragon fang on Nino. Sure, a cool down of 5 sucks, but having a 100+ Atk nuke is just pure awesome!

[@stefanfr13]

The way I see it, and as you said in the video yourself: Moonbow is better whenever the unit is in a bad matchup and/or the enemy unit is just too bulky to take down with Glimmer. How-fucking-ever: You should ideally not be in those situations in the first place; Either through better team synergy or by playing better, another unit that your Moonbow user is poorly matched against should fight that enemy instead, so that your Moonbow unit can fight an enemy they're actually *good* against. And in that case, you might as well just use Glimmer for the higher damage output on good matchups. And when it comes to low atk units vs. bulky enemies... I just use Luna. Sure it's 1 extra cooldown, but I rarely find that to be an issue, plus the added damage tends to make or break the fights for me. Anyway that's just my 2 cents on the matter.

[@peopleschamp3170]

Yeah, I agree with you. Glimmer is way better when you are controlling your team (usually), but moonbow is more consistent on arena defense teams. In arena, you have to assume people will try to get color advantages on you

[@pancake1781]

stefanfr13 Moonbow is still good in those situations where you just can't escape a bad matchup

[@Harmonia96]

Killer-type weapons, Warding/Steady Breath, Infantry Pulse, and Quickened Pulse can help hasten the cooldown of the better specials. I have Summer Xander paired with Fir so on the first turn enemy phase, Fir can take a hit with Warding Breath and immediately retaliate with her natural Glacies thanks to Xander’s Infantry Pulse. Wo Dao-type weapons and Wrath can pair very well with Moonbow, Noontime, and Glimmer since their cooldown is very short and thus the bonus 10 damage can happen more frequently.

[@peopleschamp3170]

JNguyen Your comment gave me PTSD. First round glacies on Fir is terrifying. Luckily my F. Corrin can handle her, but Fir has actually ended arena runs for me

[@Harmonia96]

The Crow's Moon My team had a lot of synergy. Gunnthra lowers attack and speed so my Fir is guaranteed doubles. She is also equipped with Defense Tactics and Hone Speed. Summer Xander regenerates HP, has Quick Riposte and Fire Boost for massive damage and is a psuedo healer with Reciprocal Aid. On top of Fir’s Warding Breath Glacies set, she has Rally Attack, Seal Defense, Attack Ploy and Speed Ploy. Camus is there for support, with his Gradivus, Bonfire, Defiant Attack, Vantage, Spur Def/Res, Rally Def/Res, and Drive Defense.

[@keelezeibel1588]

Glimmer is underrated but not as much as AOE specials IMO

[@Harmonia96]

Aura Combining AoEs with Firesweep weapons takes away the risk of a Vantage counterattack, and the opportunity of damaging a crowd of enemies without charging their specials? That’s icing on the cake.

[@CNightmare072]

AoE specials are great for PvE content. I can't count how many times my Growing Flame Nino helped me clear GHBs

[@antonaviador5095]

AOEs are starting to shine on the spotlight

[@epsi9923]

Ares with any AoE special is disgusting.

[@luckymango636]

Firesweep can't even proc vantage in the first place. But your point still stands.

[@nrshocks6931]

Im so glad you made a video, i was tired of explaining the math to people. Basically in simple terms if attack is 50 use moonbow for enemies with 30 or more defres and glimmer for less than 30, if attack is 55 use moonbow for enemies with 35 or higher defres and glimmer for less than 35. Lots of units in arena have high defres with all the common armored units like hardin, effie and grima. Also its obvious to use moonbow if your attack is less than 50

[@seishuncomplex]

Personally I always will prefer Glimmer over Moonbow, the damage tends to always be much higher. It is however, rarer.

[@poofinator4952]

What's rarer? Glimmers damage or the special itself?

[@seishuncomplex]

Poofinator Glimmer is on a lot less units than Moonbow

[@poofinator4952]

Mako [Elisthetic] Not the case actually. At 4 star, moonbow is on 3 units (Athena, Odin and Palla) and Glimmer is on 4 units (Beruka, Lon'qu, Peri and Sothe) It's just those that have Glimmer you'd rather kill for their other skills. Sothe for Life and Death, Lon'qu for Vantage and Peri for Threaten def. Beruka is the only exception. (Barring weapons of course)

[@seishuncomplex]

Poofinator Sothe is 4-5 first of all but from personal experiences glimmer is rarer

[@maltamessiah6493]

Indeed Glimmer FTW...!

[@Robert256]

Thanks! Because of this clarification, my dragons now have Glimmer! It makes so much sense.

[@Harmonia96]

Blade tomes and effective-against weapons can take advantage of Glimmer and Astra’s base damage calculations more easily than other weapons. However in the case of Kitty’s Paddle vs. defensively bulky mages, Warrior Hinoka’s weapon vs armored units, armor-crushing melee weapons vs armored units, a Falchion vs female Corrin, etc., defense-cutting specials can also prove to be just as viable. Then it’s a matter of doing the math to decide between those 2 types of specials and then asking what units you are willing to have matchups with. For example: Chrom can deal some damage to Dragons, but his lopsided defenses and low speed can do him in very easily. A strategy for him would be to match up against other physical units and then strike the Dragon on the next phase to proc a burst-damage Special, in order to take it out safely.

[@SoShiBias]

Would like to see more comparison videos like this. As a new player I cannot wrap my heads around little differences between specials yet, and a more direct situation-to-situation explanation do wonders to me.

[@asianp1067]

Astra helps some of my units who face multiple units and get wore down, vantage hits and they decimate the enemy. Only it is like Glimmer. 0 dmg means 0 dmg altogether so only high atk units should use it. And thanks for the advice about Ishtar.

[@nanashivii9237]

I use Astra on my +10 Rhomphaia Clair and +10 Wing Sword Caeda. With well over 50 Spd, the spec CD is reliable with the Flashing Blade refine. Since both weapons have dual effectiveness, they benefit a LOT from the massive damage spike, since their Atk stats aren't as impressive as other units, while still good. I remember hitting a poor Stahl for over 180 damage with Clair. As per your pinned post, this would be so much more effective with a 3-turn version at 100% bonus damage, as it would mean they proc it every combat, which is insane because of the amount of damage they put out.

[@timm8o475]

I don't use these as much as I used to since now I focus on dragons and Def-based skills, but I did give Glimmer to Fae. She's mainly for buffs, but uses Triangle Adept. So, in the rare cases she has to face a blue unit (especially Reinhardt), she tends to finish them off with that.

[@Kleshtrem]

YEEEEESS! I've been looking forward to this one for a while! You're the best SaSpe!

[@Icynova]

This is awesome man. I have a lot of both fodder, but have always just used Moonbow, I don't know why. This will give me the information so I can make an educated decision between the two.

[@acario.]

My Brazen Atk/Def Vantage Grima is loving his Glimmer, thank you!

[@jm-nf8xf]

This vid didnt really help me personally, but my friend will surely find it really helpful. I apreciate when i dont have to explain this stuff to him myself lol

[@kipame]

I like Glimmer more than Moonbow, my Charlotte tranformed in a monster with it

[@Ms10000123]

I just made a spreadsheet that compares damage based on the units stats and a range of enemy defenses. With that, I can judge which is stronger at which range. I can also add in multipliers like weapon triangle and effective damage. I have it seperated by charge duration and I have have the option for slaying vs wo dao.

[@KoopaKoot]

I like using Astra for tempest trials. For the "Less than Heroic" trial I used Lute with QP and Dorcas with IP. Because all the bad guys have super high hp, Astra's usual overkill is quite useful.

[@MustafaARIKLeBG]

I personnally use Glimmer for my Dragons, otherwise that i use Moonbow to counter high Res/Def units like armor units

[@somebodys7404]

I've been calculating with conclusions similar to what you presented - glimmer for enormous single hits, moonbow as the general choice if you're not using a cooldown-accelerating weapon or heavy/flashing blade, in which case the best bet is probably draconic aura, iceberg, or bonfire, depending on which of your unit's stats grants the biggest boost. Because the question isn't how hard you can hit, it's what the highest HP+def/res combo is that you can KO. Glimmer has better one-shot potential than moonbow at any realistic value of attack, but if your atk stat isn't big then you're probably not one-shotting values of HP+def/res that you would expect to encounter anyways (also, your speed is probably a bit better, so two-shotting is more often the plan). If aiming for two-hit kills, moonbow tends to win against slightly higher values of def/res if their HP is 35-48ish, depending on your atk (and this is true even at 52 atk, but it starts to get pretty even somewhere around this value). Make sense that def/res is more likely to be the problem than insane HP if you can't two-shot them.

[@mizutsunebubbledragon3382]

I use Astra on my Micaiah and Horse Eirika. It's amazing for one shotting disadvantagious matchups for them but the long cool down does make it situational lol

[@TheEmperorGulcasa]

Besides the obvious bladetome usage, I like glimmer on lightning breath dragons, although there are better options if you use one of the breaths in conjunction. Personally been using TA dragons, and they get good mileage from glimmer due to their high attack.

[@Alexander_Rivulet]

It would be cool to see a video similar to this but comparing swap to reposition

[@kmoorelovin1]

I wish that they would come out with skills based off of your opponent's attack (like breaking sky from FE Fates) or a skill that works like aether but it's a combination of Bonfire+Sol or Iceberg+Sol

[@EXTREMEbowser]

>50 atk = glimmer

[@derkuchenmacher1455]

I use glimmer on units like my heavy blade desperation wo dao Soleil. She pretty much always procs glimmer when activating desperation and not only deals a lot of damage, but also looks cool while obliterating people.

[@Zach984racer]

Astra is best for high attack-high speed units. I use it for units like Hana who I can stack heavy blade on and have it charged quickly. it basically gives her an instant kill.

[@jakestavinsky3480]

Zaire Hamilton Thing is Astra is generally overkill Galeforce is usually better for Hana

[@Zach984racer]

While I do agree with that whole heartedly, galeforce is really hard to get ahold of. I believe there is no kill like overkill and back before I put desperation on her, I had escape route. This allowed her to teleport and KO anyone of my choosing and really saved me on a number of maps (plus, I had a +hp Hana so she could usually survive at least one hit)

[@jakestavinsky3480]

Zaire Hamilton Doesn't Galeforce have better availability than Astra though

[@Zach984racer]

Jake Stavinsky galeforce is 5 star only and locked to 2 characters. Astra can be gotten at silver from Virion

[@jakestavinsky3480]

Zaire Hamilton Really? Huh, Virion is one of the few units I instantly send home.

[@Thatawesomeguy14th]

I love using Astra for meme builds and I think are really good on any unit that has a decent base attack. As long as they don't deal 0 damage it's a really really good nuke to have on deck. I've had it on Hardin since I have yet to get him Galeforce and when he procs he, he's one shot enemies that I would've never expected him to otherwise with Astra. He could be in the 10-20 range and still deal like up to 50 damage

[@RaidikV]

So basically, you should use Glimmer with units that do a high base damage (like Bladetomes) or units with adaptive damage (like Dragons and even Felicia). Moonbow would be almost the opposite.

[@N7CommanderJohnFETactician]

Glimmer is nice on TA/Gem Weapon builds to help ensure KOs as well.

[@Ethan-nl2wg]

Imagine this for the Astra video having Astra Ares definitely overkill but it sounds like a lot of fun

[@epsi9923]

His base ult is better in general due to him having a good amount of attack, but not quite enough to easily punch into OSK range. Personally, I run AoE specials on him (these also guarantee a perma-cooldown), but something like Draconic Aura is just better for him than Astra given how his play goes.

[@Ethan-nl2wg]

Joshua Trehern yeah I know I was just giving a suggestion for his future Astra video Astra is definitely not his optimal special skill but just something that would be fun to try

[@ElhPudding]

I was using Slaying Bow Heavy Blade seal with D. Aura on my Bride Cordelia but because her 52 Atk a bit hard to Heavy Blade procs without an atk buff I swapped her special for Moonbow and the other build when D. Aura proc I find be an overkill too. And Moonbow procing in the second hit while Desperation will already kill the enemy (And I can use an Atk+3 seal) so I keep it. While for Glimmer I choose run on my Lilina (Previus with Keen Wolf now with DB6) and Regular Sanaki most because their builds are just for One-shoting everyone so Glimmer will help because of the low CD and the lack of QR or higher speed to double. I normally forget about this specials because I just prever more damage over lower CD (This is why I like Dragon Fang on my Cherche, specially because with her Slaying Axe and 44 effective speed), but I do think Moonbow is a good special for using in an unit with Slaying weapon+Desperation because the CD will go to 1 and basically will be certain to kill that unit (Excluding enemies with Guard activated). I don't think Glimmer can do the same because of disadvantageous fights. Side-note: I saw now that my Summer Corrin has Glimmer too, but I don't remember using it, she have 69 effective Atk when her Blárowl is fully power up (Which is a great choice for Glimmer), but since I don't mind make she fight some green units and D. Aura scales better I really never used (I think I pass for the Female Grima Legendary Battle but this mess up with the order of specials)

[@Artster900]

I'm sitting here with a fell Robin (M) with Astra and Heavy Blade 3... Astra 2 turn cool down is nice

[@astrathetactician]

I personally use Glimmer on Blue Reinhardt and I believe its the better than Moonbow. I normally want to attack people that dont have crazy res because they won't normally die in my first 2 attacks and I wont double with 15 spd and Lance Breaker. I use Astra on my Eliwood which I don't know if its perfect but Eliwood has 50 attack and it allows me to take down some lance units pretty constantly.

[@abdoufma]

I’ve be n using Glimmer on my Delthea and lilina (Both are +atk) since I got them. Had tons of people telling me to use moonbow instead, they should’ve known better! Next time someone asks me why i use glimmer I’ll just point them to this video.

[@epsi9923]

For Lilina, I've found that giving her an AoE special is better even than Glimmer, due to her naturally OSK'ing people. It allows her to act as a pre-damage support of sorts. Glimmer, however, is still a good option that isn't really needed in general.

[@sarenarterius6217]

I'm changing a lot of my buildings since now I can reach 742 to 752 in AA and almost all enemies are dragons or armor (some mages too, with blessing). For Est, Hana, Tobin and Alm, Glimmer (Hana with Glimmer killed even some blue armored foes with desp 3). Caeda with Luna; Mages anti-armor like Lilina, Micaiah, Tharja +def and Merric, Moonbow ;-) Oh, Merric can obliterate armor blue units, I'm always using him hehehe....

[@frostbitex23]

For me, I go with both Moonbow and Glimmer; however... I've been inclining to Glimmer these days. It's a handy skill for magic nukes. Astra? I'll find who'll make a good use of it in a meme build.

[@tacticianmagician4716]

I just tend to say, lower atk unit, moonbow, higher atk units glimmer

[@503NastyNate]

If: Atk > 50 = use glimmer Atk < 50 = use moonbow Otherwise, moonbow can be used on anyone for consistent damage.

[@jonah9076]

I don’t really think you need to take a look at astra again cause it’s still bad at 4 charges. The main reason for that is because you’d still do a lot of damage with something like ignis, glacies, or even dragon fang in some situations. Generally if you do a lot of damage you don’t need the extreme scaling of Astra, and while I could nuke with ignis for 30 damage or so something astra can be close to or completely useless. But that’s just my thoughts and this is another great vid!

[@nrshocks6931]

make a video on when to use astra or dragon fang. Honestly they are both underrated because my corderlia can proc is every turn as long as cordelia gets hit once, so mostly melee foes. she has 60 attack and 50 spd and has a slaying lance with heavy blade. Slaying lance makes astra a 3 turn move and heavy blade reduces it to 1 after she attacks then they attack her and she procs it

[@Blitz1Blacktail1]

Personally, Moonbow's strengths are offset with good team synergy, so the case of Moonbow being capable to revert a bad matchup is often fixed that way. Glimmer on the other hand can allow for a more succesful deathless run for fixing the issue of having a good matchup yet with too little attack power to finish the job (this happens a lot). That being said, it depends on the build, team and unit. Moonbow is still useful, and ideally you should give your units skills that your team needs the most.

[@PrinceofNohr]

i really want to see a Video about Astra because i think this Special is not so bad on some Units.

[@swanprincess3396]

Simon Gasser astra is amazing i love how it deals 150% extra damage i use it on my Marisa an she destroys everything

[@golddust7095]

Problem with astra is that will either be overkill or nothing

[@Mattroid99]

The problem with Astra is that is not worth using it on pretty much everyone. 90% of the times does or overkills, or low damage, and the cooldown is so high that is mainy focuded on EP, but why using Astra when you can use Glacies, Aether or Ignis? They will do pretty much the same damage on everyone and are more consistent. Even on heroes with high atk or effective dmg is not worth, Glimmer is just miles better

[@PrinceofNohr]

+Kanae Ellena Gavarette Well, this sounds Amazing but i really don't know which Unit from me make a good Use because even my Ryoma is with Draconic Aura better or Hector with Bonfire but i really want to use Astra, this Special was in Radiant Dawn really OP but in Heroes it's a Special where's really hard to make a good Use.

[@Mattroid99]

Astra was absolutely broken in fe4 too In heroes is just ... bad

[@Galdrazier]

I definitely am a fan of glimmer on my brave axe cherche+10 with heavy blade. Just sending her out and nuking people is satisfying.

[@ChipZ767]

Love content on this channel

[@passingby3344]

I use Glimmer on Reinhardt because everything I meet in Arena has 29 res or lower. Anything higher than that, my B!Lyn can handle. My only worry is Armor Emblem (W! Tharja, H!Jakob, etc)

[@ajmorales4272]

Laevatein + Astra + +6 in every stat + Naga’s Dragon Effectiveness Buff vs Chicken Dragon Fae = 585 damage.

[@benkindel9311]

My rule of thumb has more or less been "Never use Glimmer ever". It only adds a significant amount of additional damage when you're already dealing a lot of damage, and in that case you're probably getting pretty close to killing your opponent anyway. Generally close enough that the small damage boost from Moonbow should be enough. Which means Moonbow tends to be good enough in good matchups and much better in bad matchups. That said, Myrrh and some other dragons seem like a great fit for Glimmer. Between adaptive damage and the tendency of dragons to only be able to make a single attack it does make sense to use Glimmer. I think Glimmer is fairly niche though, it's just so rare that I encounter situations where I need a two-turn cooldown special to secure a kill and Glimmer would do the job and Moonbow wouldn't. Maybe that's just the way I tend to build my teams though.

[@eyeguyart8685]

One thing I've tried is Astra on Legendary Ephraim with his Solar Brace - It's almost like a mini-aether! Though, outside of that, I don't think Astra really has a niche, unfortunately!

[@ittapupu1612]

Eye Sakk atleast it looks Damn cool.

[@Omagadam1]

Good video!

[@alphabott4431]

6:05 Moonbow can also do 0 damage if you have low-ish attack to their high-ish def/res.

[@henshimai]

It only happens when there enemy's def/res is 30% higher than your attack (which is very unlikely to happen). In glimmer's case, your attack = enemy's def, you already deal 0 dmg.

[@goodperson656]

Yeah Myrhh is def one of the best units to put distant counter on, if not the best

[@YerpAlert]

I noticed that Lightbrand bonus damage isn’t factored into specials like glimmer. Regardless of how useful, I feel like it should be for other “true damage” effects down the road. What do you think?

[@Castorxd635]

I thought this video was older. I have Glimmer on a Bladetome Spring Catria and she is able to deal tons of damage even against most greens units (screw you Hector!), thanks to Reinhardt’s and Spring Alfonse’s respective Hone and Fortify cavalry buffs (I gave them the buffs through Inheritance). I’m thinking it would be a good idea to give Moonbow to Groom Marth, because his attack, while not bad, it’s also not that high imo.

[@MrVbgames]

I main tharja so i currently use glimmer but I'm gonna try moonbow see how that goes

[@jislas12]

i think that Glimmer is excelent when you use an efective against weapon too

[@Exisist5151]

Hey SS I’ve built a Julius and I’ve recently gotten an idea. You said both CC and heavy blade were iffy builds. Well what if we combined them. I give you Julius: Close Counter Quick Riposte Atk Ploy Heavy Blade Escutcheon.

[@trainelviajero]

really interesting comparactive

[@luckyc4t110]

Most of the time, I prefer Moonbow. Anybody in a position where Glimmer is better doesn't need Glimmer. Meanwhile, Moonbow improves matchup spread by giving more damage against units you could not otherwise kill. Of course, I make an exception for TA and Gem Weapon users with low Atk. Glimmer/Astra work wonders on my small army of Raventome users. (PA Inigo, Leon, and SF! Camilla)

[@supasneak]

Myrrh for arena would prefer bonfire/ignis, but glimmer is actually pretty great for everything else

[@kellamyoshikage286]

For that matter, anyone who expects that they can't double would also prefer Glimmer. Getting 2 hits restricts Glimmer's relevance by a lot, since, if a unit can double, Moonbow will almost always kill when Glimmer does. If you were to fight, say, Virion, yeah, Glimmer would be the uncontested best for one-rounding even when a double is available, but a unit with 40 HP would need less than 27 Def or Res, and the attack would need to deal 16 or more damage with a double, in order for Glimmer to be better, which, sadly, is really rare to properly occur, and most tanks just want a defense-based special. And any special in the game can deal 0 damage, as they all have to work through any damage deficit a unit faces before they can actually deal their damage.

[@k.s3ca]

Anyone know what the epic outro is? Doesnt look like it was mentioned in the description

[@TheSacredSpear]

It is the Fire Emblem Warriors version of Road Taken (Roar).

[@k.s3ca]

can you tell me the timestamp?

[@bentonstacy6315]

I like Astra over Glimmer because I can do 200 damage upwards and the overkill factor is fun :)

[@ZeroSnake]

Glimmer vs Ruptured sky please??

[@jblen]

For a 60 atk unit: 18 extra damage with draconic aura (Opponent of same colour with 30 Def) 15 extra damage with glimmer Glimmer is better in this scenario as the 3 less damage is made up for by 1 less cooldown, but what point would it be worth switching to glimmer over draconic aura? I'm thinking this because I have a +9 raven with 62 attack who's had draconic aura since I got the first raven (paired with heavy blade seal). Should I give him glimmer and a different seal?

[@RemnantZX]

Due to the Cav and Armor effectiveness Caeda actually makes a decent glimmer user.

[@johnnychiu8862]

Which should caeda use? She is +atk and can do high damage to armor and cavalry but still cannot kill high def infantry/flier

[@Bken96]

With a killer weapon or something, astra can actually be ridiculous. My unmerged plus attack New Years takumi could consistently one round the highest difficulty tempest grima with astra and desperation up

[@rought4764]

As someone who took the time to level up a Barst to a 5 star lvl 40+1 with 44 attack, which one should I use?

[@CNightmare072]

What do you think about Glimmer vs Moonbow on Gem weapons/TA builds? I figure you're either committing to destroying units of a certain color with Glimmer or can fight units of the same color better with Moonbow. Thoughts?

[@TheSacredSpear]

I think for fighting units of the same color, unless the unit has high base attack already Moonbow will probably be a better option. If you want to use Gem weapons or Triangle Adept on a slower unit then maybe Glimmer is the better option, since it can get you a 1-shot KO. That would be assuming you aren't using skills like Quick Riposte or Breaker skills to get a guaranteed double. Faster units may just want to go with Moonbow since they may not hit as hard, but 2-hits + Moonbow proc will be nice when dueling the same color or even the color they hold advantage over.

[@andrijor]

I've been thinking about putting Glimmer on Felicia with her plate, because she targets the lower defense of the opponent, so moonbow wouldn't be so good. Iceberg and Glacies are only good against mages, but I feel like she could probably do a lot more (maybe giving her Windsweep and a +Spd IV). Any feedback?

[@TheSacredSpear]

Felicia is an odd case because while she does have adaptive damage against all units, she also has one of the lowest base Atk stats in the game. For her Glimmer will be decent against the really low Res units out there, but I don't think Moonbow is that bad either in Felicia's case.

[@Percival917]

Basically, on a unit whose damage output is always ridiculously high.

[@GamerLogan-ve1vm]

Would a minus hp plus res area still work

[@erenergul2118]

how did he get an slaying spear+ on a 4 star est?

[@Delahunta]

my olivia with wo dao + plus moonbow is a surprisingly good melee duelist. What's your opinion about glimmer/moonbow + wo dao effect. Does the extra 10 flat damage from wo dao make moon bow better.

[@TheSacredSpear]

The flat +10 damage from Wo-dao type weapons and Wrath don't really affect Moonbow or Glimmer since its added after Special damage is calculated. I think Moonbow benefits better because that 10 damage can actually make a big difference, but Glimmer already should be dealing enough damage to not need another +10 damage. Of course it can be useful in certain situations, but I don't think Glimmer with Wo-Dao/Wrath is anything special. Wo-Dao users tend to focus on Spd to try and get as many special procs as possible, so they may not have the highest Atk out there. Moonbow would benefit them more, especially for lowish Atk units like Olivia.

[@neph312]

How i decide moonbow or glimmer: >55 atk = moonbow,

[@tikibestgirl6108]

4:43 I think that was my team

[@shipxhx887]

I have +Attack B!Tharja and im thinking about giving her Glimmer... (I will use her default weapon) What do you guys think ?

[@cjbelmont12]

Hey how did that Est get slaying spear+ at four star? Curious because this isn't the first time ive seen this.

[@TheSacredSpear]

When you skill inherit or merge you can pass on 5* restricted weapons to a unit of lower rarity. If you wanted you could give something like a Slaying Edge+ to a 1 star sword unit.

[@Jabari98]

Hey Sacred, which special do you think is better for Lilina (Dragon Fang/Glimmer)? Watching this video made me curious about this, but I'd want your opinion b4 I fodder a unit to try it out

[@TheSacredSpear]

There isn't anything wrong with Dragon Fang or Draconic Aura, but the issue is how fast can Lilina charge those specials. Even if you run Heavy Blade, she needs 2 attacks to charge Dragon Fang and with her high Atk stat, 1-shotting someone will actually slow down her special charging. If you run a breaker skill or Quick Riposte then you can let her get 2 attacks in, but Lilina is pretty slow meaning she will have to survive hits from enemies if you want her to tank a hit. With Heavy Blade + Glimmer all she needs is 1 single Atk and you have Glimmer ready to nuke someone out of existence. In my opinion it fits her high damage playstyle really well at least for Arena where there are only 4 enemies on the field.

[@Jabari98]

The Sacred Spear Thanks for the advice Spear !

[@epsi9923]

While Glimmer is much superior to Dragon Fang, I personally find that Heavy Blade 3 plus an AoE special, especially Growing Flame/Thunder, are vastly greater than both of the two, especially if you somehow have Heavy Blade as her A and can run Hardy Bearing as her seal to prevent Vantage countering. It's a significantly stronger tactic from my experience, though only works well in reinforcement battles or Grand Conquests.

[@rodolfovalle2547]

Does glimmer work with Wrath? Thinking about switching from moonbow to glimmer on my slaying edge wrath Soleil

[@epsi9923]

If you mean "Does glimmer force wrath to give +15?" then, no. Wrath is a +10 damage added after _all_ calculated damage, so for example, 30 damage with a wrath glimmer would be 55, because of (1.5×30)+10, rather than it being 60 by means of 1.5×(30+10). Hope this helps.

[@lightboxpho]

Hey a quick question, why use draconic aura when you have astra as a 4 cool down special and has more of an atk boost?

[@TheSacredSpear]

Well Draconic Aura is a 3-turn cooldown special that increases Atk by 30%. If you are talking about Dragon Fang, that is the 4-turn cooldown version that increases Atk by 50%. Astra boosts damage dealt by 150%. You should first understand that Draconic Aura/Dragon Fang are different than Glimmer/Astra. Increases Atk by 50% is not the same as boost damage by 50%. As we discussed in this video, boosting damage is only using the Base damage a unit will deal to the enemy and part of that is based on your enemy's Def/Res stats. Increasing Atk is taking your unit's Atk Stat and increasing it before doing any damage calculations to get your base damage. If a unit has 50 Atk vs. an enemy with 30 Def, they will deal 20 base damage. In this scenario Dragon Fang will be 50 Atk * 0.5 = 25 Damage. Your unit will always be dealing 25 extra damage when Dragon Fang activates, unless their Atk stat changes. In the same situation, Astra would be 20 Base Damage * 1.5 = 30 Damage. However, if the enemy has 40 Def now, our unit only deals 10 base damage. As mentioned Dragon Fang will still be a 25 Damage proc. Astra will now look like 10 Base damage * 1.5 = 15 Damage, which is now way lower than Dragon Fang.

[@lightboxpho]

The Sacred Spear thx a lot

[@louswrecktum8787]

Is Soleil a good Glimmer user? Mine is using a Firesweep sword and is pretty fast, so she doubles nearly every enemy, and with heavy blade and her high attack, she can proc Glimmer on the second hit, so I'm assuming Glimmer is her best option

[@TheSacredSpear]

Yeah I see no problems with that. Many times units who are speedy tend to not have the highest Atk stat because they want to double to make up for their lack of raw attack. However, there are definitely units like Soleil that have high Atk and Spd. In those cases Glimmer may just be the better choice over Moonbow as long as you feel they are consistently dishing out good damage.

[@ProfNekko]

eh Astra's still somewhat weak just cause it's frankly overkill for the most part. When used properly glimmer users will usually kill their target with a proc, so unless you like watching your enemy pop 17 times over you don't really need it

[@ninfreak95]

I'm surprised you didn't mention Felicia. Although I often consider Luna better on her.

[@Ethan-nl2wg]

Ninfreak95 even though Felicia uses the lower of a targets defense or resistance her attack is still pitifully low definitely use Luna or iceberg or if your running her refine use glacies

[@ninfreak95]

I have 48 attack on mine without buffs. She ORKO's 95% of base stat units in the game without a special.

[@AdamChan318]

Astra 3 turn special when

[@yukicraft3210]

Do boosts from things like Wrath/Wo Dao/Blade Tomes/Spurs and other invisible stats affect the damage of glimmer?

[@TheSacredSpear]

Wrath & Wo-Dao type weapons just add a flat +10 damage after all damage calculations. This means Glimmer's damage is not affected. You will do Base Hit + Glimmer Damage + 10 Damage. Blade Tomes & Combat Buffs like Spurs/Drives/etc. will affect a unit's stats meaning they can affect how much Base Damage is done. All of that is calculated and is the value shown to you in the battle preview screen. If it says you will deal 30 Damage, that is your Base Damage and Glimmer is going to do 15 Damage. If you gave that unit a Spur Atk buff, they may deal 34 Base Damage, which translates into Glimmer doing 17 Damage.

[@beefbelly]

Do bladetome users benefit from Drive Attack, Hone attack, or is there a better C skill to support Bladetomes?

[@TheSacredSpear]

A Bladetome user really wants any Field buff, which are the buffs that turn your unit's stats blue. Those would be skills like Hone Atk, Atk Tactic, or Fortify Def. Ideally you want a field buff that grants the highest stat boost, so if you can make it work then Atk Tactic is better than Hone Atk since it grants +2 extra Atk. The Emblem Team buffs, like Hone Armor or Fortify Cavalry, are extremely strong for buffing Bladetomes because they grant +6 to two different stats. There is nothing wrong with Drive Atk or Spur Atk, but those are in-combat buffs and Bladetomes won't benefit more from those than any other unit.

[@beefbelly]

@@TheSacredSpear Thank you for the detailed explanation!

[@arsia.]

yeah glimmer..., i wanted to give glimmer to bridal tharja and moonbow to ninian, but accidentally gave both to tharja lol

[@burntfriedrice2512]

all i was thinking was "yes yes and regnal astra" i want an ayra. cri

[@JJO902]

From my personal experience Odin is to damn rare, its a waste to use Palla for anything other then goad fliers and I have yet to get a plus defense Beruka so people get glimmer.

[@kelving420]

Basically always

[@taki1208]

rip reprisal

[@kingsrowcollectibles6363]

High Atk = glimmer Low Atk = moonbow

[@swanprincess3396]

Moonbow was always overrated tbh at least in my opinion.

[@Mattroid99]

Kanae Ellena Gavarette It was pretty much the best special in the game for a long time. Being a consistent (Since always helps, even when you'r winning or when you're losing) and 2 cooldown, it was extremely versatile and usable on pretty much anyone It was just as good as how it was rated imo Now we have more options for triggering special, and the best is probably Aether, but is still really strong

[@swanprincess3396]

Luna is better just one extra cooldown isn't bad tbh,Moonbow is overrated an sometimes cant even kill a unit when it procs.

[@Mattroid99]

Luna has 3 cooldown tho, you can't proc it on offensive units without HB seal or a Slaying weapon. Moonbow is just consistent, is pretty much a flat 8-11 extra damage on everyone, in every matchup

[@nathancory7278]

Kanae Ellena Gavarette I've always thought the same, then again I almost exclusively prefer the more powerful versions of specials that take longer to charge. They take an extra turn sure, but as soon as you realise just how much extra killing potential they give, you really don't miss that one turn

[@Delahunta]

its good with wo dao/wrath users though

[@AnimeGeek139]

Such a shame about Astra. Its has the best looking special animation in my opinion.