šŸ° Esme ā€“ 5* Ice/ Blue from Clash of Knights

Yeah, the boost inc. overheal has definitely meant sheā€™s in my thoughts, where she wasnā€™t before - but all she has over my Wang Yuanji is speed and stats. I am running out of blue projects but Iā€™m still prioritising Aegir over her which probably says a lot.

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Itā€™s certainly not the buff I was looking for, but dayum 650 is a lot of boosted health at average speed. Sheā€™s been at 1/1 for me since I got her, but at a minimum sheā€™s now someone Iā€™m willing to consider leveling.

Unfortunately I just used the scopes on Aino last week, so this is a moot issue with me for the foreseeable future. But if this update had been released a week ago? I still probably would have gone with Aino, but it would definitely have been a much tougher decision.

EDIT: Shout-out to my boi Passepartout, who is so much fun and I desperately want to ascend, but I canā€™t in good conscience say is my best blue healer. When it comes time to ascend another blue healer itā€™ll be between him and Esme and thatā€™s a REALLY hard choice that I REALLY donā€™t want to make.

exactly, this is nothing, my Esme will stay on her bench probably getting pressure sores in the processā€¦.

new HOTMā€™s like Tahir and Celidana and I think more to come will overwhelm her niche abilityā€¦.

The overheal is an improvement, but Iā€™m not sure how much of a difference it will really make. The obvious fix was to remove the conditional portion of Esmeā€™s fiend protection. SG missed the mark on this one.

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The OP is adjusted with 2022 August Balance changes.

I on the other hand, see it differentlyā€¦

On offense, you can wait with Esme to remove fiends or just straight up boost health which before wasnt possible.

If they gave her minion protection without prerequesite, she would be just braindead solution for defenseā€¦ :slight_smile:

Personally, I prefer game to offer less braindead solutionsā€¦

I was also aganist Bards having pernament effects on enemyā€¦ Bard just steps into house, everyone sucks now :stuck_out_tongue:

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Itā€™s a fair point. I definitely see the value of the overheal but, to me, it doesnā€™t address the reason why I havenā€™t leveled her. For her to add more value than an Ariel, Aino, or Passepartout you have to wait until after youā€™re hit with the fiends. If youā€™re low on health, you generally canā€™t be waiting for a friend strike a turn or two away. The overheal doesnā€™t add much value in that case because if youā€™re already low on health thereā€™s not much difference between an overheal and a regular heal. Donā€™t get me wrong, sheā€™s not terrible and the overheal is an improvement, but Iā€™m not sure why I would level her before the three other healers mentioned above. Even Raffaele is a bit less niche to me because of his cleanse and how well he can work if the defense doesnā€™t have a dispeller.

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I agree. The issue was the conditional fiend immunity & iā€™m a little disappointed they didnā€™t understand most peoples problem with her. The consensus was Wang Yu does it better & only a 4* so Iā€™m thinking they just made her similar to Wang but being a 5* CoK with a recent balance change all that was needed was the removal of ā€˜if allies had fiendsā€™ & she becomes a viable fiend counter & not just a fiend remover. Keep the boosted health of course as that was a needed change also.

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Even with the change i donā€™t like her reactive playstyle. Although her usability is increased now, she still is not as good as most other blue healers. She is actually now an improved 5* version of Wang Yuanji. Not Worth Telescopes except you have enough of them or desperately need a blue Healer.

I agree. She should be an all in one fiend counter / healer. So much so that you have 2x solutions to 2x problems in 1 hero. A fiend counter not just removes but gives immunity to fiends, NO MATTER THE CIRCUMSTANCE & a top healer. Sheā€™s almost there. Most healers do a couple of other things extremely well but Esme heals & removes fiends but so too does Wang so there should be an extra skill that is very much need & unconditional fiend immunity is the 1, itā€™s that simple. Imagine Hannah hits u, Esme removes her 3x fiends then Liz hits you. Hang on, Iā€™ve just fired my top draw fiend counter !!! Yet Iā€™ve still got fiends !!! Whatā€™s going on ??? Exactly !!! So annoying that a balance change occurred & she was so close to getting what she needed but they didnā€™t even touch the part of her special that needed tweaking !!!

I donā€™t understand the hate for this hero post buff. She now has the highest average speed boosted heal in the game and she removes minions. That by itself can win you matches by making your attack team extremely hard to kill. The fact she even has the option to block minions is just a cherry on top. This is an elite healer now with just the heal alone. Plenty of slow heroes wish they had her heal. Iā€™m personally loving her now if you canā€™t tell. Haha

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Thereā€™s no hate from me. In fact sheā€™s 2nd in line for mats. But I think most have the gripe that because mats are so rare Wang Yu does something very similar, yes sheā€™s slow & yes she doesnā€™t give immunity but still. My issue is that Iā€™m puzzled as to why the conditional immunity wasnā€™t removed. Thatā€™s all she needed to be a proper fiend counter which she is supposed to be. Give her the tools to do the job that sheā€™s intended for is my only shout. You can see the scenario, Liz is just about to fire but u REALLY need that heal cuz your HP is low but if you fire Esme u lose the fiend removal but if it was unconditional fiend immunity u cud cast the heal & let Liz fire. I just believe that with the upcoming fiend heavy heroes SG missed a trick by not making her THE fiend counter with both unconditional immunity, fiend removal & the boosted heal. BTW, probably an unintended error but she removes fiends not minions. :wink:

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I like her now. 650HP boost for average speed is a big one. For comparison

Heimdall:

  • Speed: Slow
  • 500HP overheal
  • +30% Attack
  • +20% chance to revive

Esme:

  • Speed: Average
  • 650 overheal after destroying all fiends
  • Fiend protection if fiends were destroyed

Sheā€™s not that lacking behind and as healer sheā€™s also rather powerful. Granted, that fiend protection could be unconditional, but that doesnā€™t mean Esme is bad anymore.

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To me it seems like she went from being mainly a fiend remover with a bonus heal pre-buff to being mainly a healer with a fiend remover addition post buff.

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That maybe true but when her special is called fiendslayer then u wud assume she is THE fiend counter & her 1st instance is sorting out those pesky fiends with both removal & unconditional immunity (apologies for constantly mentioning it) & with healing as a close but still secondary effect. Yes, it does seem tho that she is now a healer that kinda combats minions as long as they are present 1st !!!

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Well, she does slay the fiends, and rather efficiently at that. She just does not protect against them all the time.

But it is true that her utility shifted a lot after buff. Before she had okay heal, so her primary feature was killing fiends, which was quite niche. Now she has massive HP boost that canā€™t be blocked by fiends so she becomes mainly healer. Also, this buff makes her great flank to Ludwig: provides family bonus but that instant overheal becomes a lot more troublesome when she fires it in short sequence than her previous regular heal.

Of course another question is whether sheā€™s worth it when there is a 4* that does similar thing. I ascended her before mainly for that family bonus so no such questions for me.

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Sheā€™s better now but is still too niche. The fiend portion is still useless in almost every fight and Iā€™d rather take a healer who also cleanses, gives mana, provides attack up, etc. I just leveled Aino instead of Esme for that very reason.

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LampnBr

I agree with you. She was never the bad hero some (usually the ones who didnt have her)made her out to be and now she is top notch. In wars with Elizabeth etc she is the best choice, but sheā€™s also a great healer in her own right.

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GizmO _o

You canā€™t even compare her to Wang! N othing against Wang - great artwork- but she is slow. Thatā€™s a big difference. Ive maxed both and have fully emblemed Esme as well as Alexandrine. I use both, of course, both are great - but Esme has the edge. As for Wang: she comes out now and then, usually as a back up. Different roles for different heroes. Esme rocks!

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