Schluch

There is also this nice analysis in another topic I think many if not most of the A rank are actually underwhelming, since many of them are worse than B ranks ...Also, Jeralt Mercenaries are E-rank (3 atk, 10 crit, 15 avoid) and still great, even in the endgame for people with deficiencies in authority (it fits Felix as a swordmaster/assassin super well)

Fair enough ! I am just planning to try all sorts of impossible (without ng+) combination I can think of in this last playthrough (also vantage+wrath+defiant crit on Hilda, finally giving a shot to ignatz as a buff/debuff with poison strike, ingrid with a levin sword and the dancer sword avoid... still looking for ideas ! )

On my last playthrough (GD route), I want to experiment a bit! I have Cyril who learned quick riposte in my current playthrough and want to buy that back and build him up as a fortress knight/great knight (speed doesn't really matter anymore with quick riposte, and I want him to be bulkier) or paladin/great knight He'll still have pretty low res though, and I was wondering if the aegis shield ability could stack up with the actual aegis ability ? It would make it reasonably reliable then and make it much easier to survive mages