The Maids of Fire Emblem Heroes

It's about time I come back from the dead and work on some more posts! And since this FEHAPrompt's theme is maids, we all know where this is gonna go.

I'll try to make as few non-family friendly jokes as possible, okay?

Now, what DEFINES a maid? Well, to steal Wikipedia's definition for both of our conveniences

A maid, or housemaid, or maidservant, is a female domestic worker. Although now usually found only in the most wealthy of households, in the Victorian era domestic service was the second largest category of employment in England and Wales, after agricultural work.

Well... that wasn't of much help. I'm pretty sure that with the twisted real-ish scenarios of Fire Emblem there's a whole bunch of girls who were maids at least at SOME point in their lives, whether they wanted to or not.

And yes, I'm pretty sure that if kidnapping is a thing in this series then speaking of slavery isn't too far off from a possibility. There are a few examples of it anyway.

So, we're back to square one.

You know what? We're just going to take the girls who we KNOW work as maids and call it a day.

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☃Felicia☃

Ah, yes, who better to start off with than our favorite (more or less) maid from our favorite FE game?

Before we get into FEH, however, who is Felicia?

Well, she's a maid originating from FE Fates. She's the female equivalent of Jakob, in the sense that if your avatar is male, you get her as your personal, loyal servant. She's a member of the Ice Tribe, who has quite a few bones to pick with Nohr despite residing within the kingdom's borders. She's famous for being a klutz

and for the "WE'VE GOT TROUBLE" meme.

And now, let's talk FEH Felicia.

She not only makes part of the first heroes released in the game, but is even one of the normal Hero Battles, whatever you call those battles you forget exist like 1 week into your FEH experience (seriously IS you need to change them to new Heroes and rewards).

She's an infantry colorless dagger . She's always been known for her high Res and Spd, but criticized for her subpar Atk, which was something common amongst dagger units back then (with a few exceptions, of course).

However! She has gained an invaluable asset since she was given her own weapon: Felicia's Plate.

It's a 14 Mt dagger, on-par with Legendary bows, which calculates damage using the lower of foe's Def or Res! This means that unless the enemy is a mixed tank (which makes me question your choices in tackling enemies), you can take down enemies much easier than with most dagger units! You could even kill a damn Lukas with this girl!

With all this said, she's still best suited for dealing with mages. Her Prf enchantment makes it so she gains +1 to her Special Cooldown Charge if the foe uses magic. This makes it easy for her to kill a mage, then unleash the full wrath of Glacies upon another enemy!

☆★Builds★☆

:snowflake: ✎Budget Felicia✎ :snowflake:

Some might say that this isn't a budget build in of the necessary Grails, Feathers, Divine Dew and SP, but I think it's perfectly expectable for anyone to dish (get it?) out a few items for a character they like. And in of budget and effectiveness, this is one of the best I could come up with. So how and where does this build shine?

This build makes Felicia a powerful, menacing mage check. Considering all skills are in effect (all it takes is a Swap and making sure you have an ally close-by), she'll have 45 Spd and 52 Res.

Not to mention, since you're using an ally, you could have that ally's C/Seal slot be something like Spur Res! She'll most likely double up on the enemy, too, activating Glacies mid-battle. But if she survives without doubling-up, you'll have Glacies available for the next turn, opening up many other kill possibilities!

:snowflake: ✎Mystic Counter Felicia✎ :snowflake:

Ah, the builds where I go all out are the best. Who would expect this to work? Well, according to some of the FEH Mass Simulator's unit lists, she has a win rate of:

- 78.9% (Full Filtered List, no Healers);

- 54.7% (Sundere's List, merged to +9);

- 55.3% (700-710 Tally List, merged to +1);

- 47.5% (DPT List, merged to +8).

This all averages out to 59.1%. All battles were done in the following order: Enemy, Felicia, Enemy, Felicia. If she's merged to +10 for all battles, this shoots up the average by quite a bit. So, statistically, this build should win you more than half your battles if you have her merged a bit. And, let's be honest: she's not hard to come by. You're going to be +10ing her before you know it.

I know what you're all thinking: isn't there a better refinement than +Def? Why would you give her Close Counter with a less-than-mediocre Def stat?

Well, as for the refinement, the Prf one isn't the best since we're not focusing on mages anymore. Her Atk refinement gives a single point to her Atk stat, which didn't prove to help. Her Spd is already pretty good, and it'll only get better with merges, and the same goes for her Res. So, overall, the best enchantment is the Def one, by process of elimination. Giving her Close Counter makes her more capable during Enemy Phase, and is better than any other Slot in general for the purpose of this build. Mystic Boost is mostly there for dragons or any other unit that would target her Def instead of Res. Odd Atk Wave and Flashing Blade both make sense, so I don't think I have to explain why I chose those.

:pencil: :crystal_ball: Ending Thoughts :crystal_ball: :pencil:

Felicia is a unit that, with just a bit of work and love put into her, can do wonders. She clearly doesn't need much to be a helpful asset, as shown by my budget build. She's made to be a mage check and she does that job wonderfully. If you want her to be more than just that, she can, as the second build shows! She's a great example of IS making older units still viable, which I can certainly give them props for, since they're still doing a great job in that regard!

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☃Flora☃

Flora is... quite an interesting character. You might not think much of her from Heroes, but she's actually been through some stuff. Not to mention, while Felicia's maid skills are... awful, at best, it seems Flora lacks in combat abilities. She's apparently jealous on her twin sister, and lacks any sort of self-esteem or self-care. As if that wasn't enough, she commits Sudoku in Birthright after realizing she made a bad choice. You gotta hand it to Corrin for choosing right all the time (or it's just the magical protagonist shield, damn it).

She also seems to not be as devoted to Corrin as her younger sister or Jakob, for that matter. She fears Garon for what he might do to her tribe, of which she is actually the next in line to being a chief.

What about Flora in FEH?

Unlike Felicia, she appeared much later into the game. Also unlike her sister, she's available only at 5 stars and is a colored dagger . That might not mean much now, but before, speaking of colorless dragons and/or colored dagger/bow s felt like you were only spouting nonsense. But, times have changed and what was once considered witchcraft is now just another part of the game.

Oddly enough in regards to their whole story, she has the higher Atk out of the two, but her Spd is comparable to that of a Reinhardt's. Much like her younger sister, however, her kit allows her to shine through forced double-ups and being a total nuisance to DC units.

Killing mages is definitely something you can do with her, but she's more capable of dealing with other units as well, unlike Felicia (at least without much work being put into them).

☆★Builds★☆

:snowflake: ✎Budget Flora✎ :snowflake:

Unlike Felicia's budget build, Flora really doesn't need much because her base kit is already amazing! You could argue there are better budget-y B Skills for her (perhaps Guard, or a Link skill), but I believe QR is still the best. For an Assist skill, you can add anything you'd like, as usual, and same goes for the Sacred Seal slot, but I find Distant Def to work best with her kit. Perhaps you could also choose Fierce Stance, or QR with another B Skill, but Distant Def combined with Atk/Res gives her a total of 50 Res, so she can check most mages (although the weapon triangle might give her more trouble, which wasn't a problem with Felicia). Her weapon allows her to be more effective than Felicia at a base-level against melee units as well.

As such, this build works on her strengths, allowing her to check mages and even kill a few annoying units that have Distant Counter. I'd highly advise using her alongside a healer, though.

:snowflake: ✎OHKO Flora✎ :snowflake:

Before I speak of what nonsense I thought of while creating this build, here's the FEH Mass Simulator's unit list win rates:

- 52.9% (Full Filtered List, no Healers, merged to +1);

- 61.9% (Sundere's List);

- 54.1% (700-710 Tally List);

- 57.5% (DPT List).

This time, we have an average of 56.6%. This IS lower than Felicia's average, yes, but let's not forget that Felicia needed up to +9 merges to get a win rate higher than 50% for a list, while the most Flora needed was a +1 merge. These battles were simulated in the following turn order: Flora, Enemy, Flora, Enemy. Unlike Felicia, you won't be +10ing her that easy, but if you ARE willing to put in the work, then this Flora can beat any build I can come up with for Felicia.

This build is definitely more self-explanatory than Felicia's expensive build. We use Death Blow 4 and Attack +3 to maximize our Player Phase damage. Null Follow-Up gives her more survivability, while Def Ploy ensures she can constantly deal 5 more damage to her enemies... for the most part. There are few units with more than 37 Res, which can be increased with merges, Dragonflowers and Summoner .

:pencil: :crystal_ball: Ending Thoughts :crystal_ball: :pencil:

In contrast to her sister, Flora can work wonders without much being put into her. But, in my opinion, she's also not as fun to use as Felicia. I mean, she was the first to introduce Solo skills, I believe, but that doesn't necessarily mean she's as amazing NOW as she was back then. Her weapon can be of great help for those struggling with DC units though, and I have to give it to her for that. Overall, she's not the worst pitybreaker out there, and might even be worth summoning for. (PRAY you don't get a -Atk +Spd one like I did... on the Picnic banner.)

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And with that, we've come to the end of our little analysis!

I searched for any other maid in FEH other than these obvious two, but have found none. I had to double-check to make sure my memory wasn't playing tricks on me. And although Sumia's title is "Maid of Flowers", it doesn't really qualify her as a maid. Regarding Flora's and Felicia's alts, blame the Mass Simulator and Unit Builder for not including them as of the creation of this post. But I probably wouldn't had included them anyway, seeing as their original incarnations in FEH portray them best.

Anyhow, I hope you enjoyed this analysis! Until next time!

In 1 month or more.

#FEHAPrompt8

#kiransummonme