D-I-S-C-O

Personally I'd say that... Marth or Alm will place first. Marth primarily because people believe this lord doesn't get the popularity he deserves and Alm I don't really know why. Personally I'm not a big fan of Alm, I don't really like people who have some sort of harem. Camilla actually has a chance of not making it. There are enough people out there who hate Camilla so much that they would probably find someone else to vote for in order for Camilla to place 3rd again. Some females who could make it are probably Tharja, Eirika, or one of the Muspel sister (the hot ones (in more that one way)). Reinhardt could make it because of how powerful he is and always will be. Just... what can he be at this point? Give him a lance and call him Fred? I'm not that creative on that front. I'd personally like to see characters that ARE in heroes get brave versions. Noire and Charlotte don't sit well with me cause I just want a vanilla version of them. That's all I have right now, I'll probably have more thing to say later. Let me know what you guys think. (Oh, and if it's about the Alm harem thing, forget it, you are not changing my mind even if he does get with Celica at the end. Doesn't change the fact that of course he has three ladies wanting to ride him throughout the game.)

I think there are overall different issues in regards to 4th tier abilities. Obviously there would need to be other skills with fourth tiers because having one skill get that high makes the whole concept mute and wasted. Another issue (for me personally) is just that even if a skill were to get a fourth tier, it probably wouldn't be that useful. Nobody would have it because it is likely locked behind a five star unit, and some other abilities are just better. BA 4 would be pretty useless considering that most people prefer desperation or QP, and while guard is great, both of the aforementioned abilities are pretty much outclassed by "Armor Privileged" skills. Brash Assault is shut down by Bold Fighter, Vengeful Fighter for QP, and now Special Fighter for Guard. I know that the other tier fours for BA, guard, and QP can be given to other move types, but people are more inclined to use armor cause it raises score. Maybe dragons could use them, but they have speed problems (outside of Summer Young Tiki) and are mostly looking for enemy phase. But armor still does that (IMO) better.

I think the reason why people are likely to use Lightning Breath over Expiration is because Lightning Breath can be forged for things like +3 Spd or +4 Def while the only thing that makes Expiration better is just having 4 more might. That might isn't really a big deal when most high res units are ranged, so instead you target defence for bigger damage, and 4 damage isn't much compared to having better bulk or being faster. That's just me though.

Distant counter weapons are primarily the reason why magic has been less effective in the current meta. Most magic users host weak defence, and with dragons and armors likely attacking defence, they get easily one shot. Add steady breath to the mix (a skill magic units can't get) and they aren't that useful, save for Mr. Magiciseverything.