FE4 Weapon Tier List

[Renall]

Where would you place them, and as an aside, which bow is better? It seems from my experience that Hero is better at clearing trash, but the Killer is more useful where it counts, against bosses, hardened targets, and in the arena.

[Life]

Sorry to raise this up from the dead but I can't see a reason for why Wind Sword > Tron.

Wind Sword:

- Takes an extra 15ish turns for Dew to get.

- Is pretty redundant thanks to us getting the Thunder Sword earlier in the chapter.

- Is decent in 2nd Gen but no better than the Thunder or Fire Sword (one which is bought and the other is handed down, usually Fury to Fee).

- Requires decent Mag to use properly, something that only people like Levin/Claude!Fee or Nanna/Janne has as a sword user.

Tron (or Thoron, whatever floats your boat):

- Comes on Tiltyu automatically.

- Easily sees action during Chapter 3 since Wrath!Thunder isn't guaranteed to kill anything (36 Mt) in one shot while Wrath!Thoron does.

- Cannot be passed down but is snagged off of Ishtor's dead body.

- Promoted Tinny/Linda has exclusive claim to it (Linda even has Elite to help her promote faster).

Am I missing something here?

Edited October 7, 2010 by Sue Sylvester

[Tables]

I'll defend Wind Sword.

Wind Sword:

- Takes an extra 15ish turns for Dew to get.

- Is pretty redundant thanks to us getting the Thunder Sword earlier in the chapter.

- Is decent in 2nd Gen but no better than the Thunder or Fire Sword (one which is bought and the other is handed down, usually Fury to Fee).

- Requires decent Mag to use properly, something that only people like Levin/Claude!Fee or Nanna/Janne has as a sword user.

It's significantly less than 15 turns if you're aiming to get Ichival as well, and/or the experience from killing those bandits and/or any arena training from Brigid, Tiltyu and Claude. Something like 3-8 turns above those is more reasonable depending on what you do (assuming Ethlin charges through with the Return staff, you're looking at about 8 turns. Assuming you want that Return staff in Gen 2 so not Ethlin, closer to 3)

5 AS is pretty nice and you have a fair number of characters who would like ranged attack, even if relatively weak ones (Dew and Fury for two, or Alec and Beowulf who'd love to double at 2 range)

Once again, the more ranged attacks the better, especially considering it's the best ranged sword (debatably the Light Sword, but both aren't doing much against magic users). Celice, Fee, Delmud, Leaf, Oifaye, Aless, Lachke and Skasaha and a few others can all benefit from having a ranged sword, depending on their dad, and once again, having the Wind Sword available pretty much means +5 AS for them.

It has 14 base might, and enemy resistance is a lot lower than defence except against mages. Which means it's damage output is still pretty good as long as you have moderately good MAG (see above listed units).

Tron (or Thoron, whatever floats your boat):

- Comes on Tiltyu automatically.

- Easily sees action during Chapter 3 since Wrath!Thunder isn't guaranteed to kill anything (36 Mt) in one shot while Wrath!Thoron does.

- Cannot be passed down but is snagged off of Ishtor's dead body.

- Promoted Tinny/Linda has exclusive claim to it (Linda even has Elite to help her promote faster).

Am I missing something here?

Comes on Tiltyu and won't do a whole lot asides from picking up a few kills.

Only sees a little action during chapter 3 - perhaps 7-10 kills if you're picking up the wind sword and Ichival, a lot less if you just rush Sigurd to the throne.

Which means it's less available than the Wind Sword

How is this an up side? Only one unit can use it (actually, Arthur can too, so two units), and excluding THAT dad they're two fairly mediocre/middling characters - low move especially means they won't be promoting for a while. If they do happen to be Levin's children, Arthur uses Holsety and Tinny uses Tornado which is strictly better except again fire mages, so it's not even getting used. If they aren't, then Arthur is a lot worse, Tinny could actually be better (Azel!Tinny especially) and then it could actually be very useful but it generally means it's locked on one/two mediocre units who sometimes don't want to use it, and most of the time promote late. In Linda's case, she's fairly meh but, yes, she can use it somewhat well.

I think I'd have to take the stand of Wind Sword > Tron due mainly to availability and not being slightly redundant in 2nd gen.

[Narga_Rocks]

- Promoted Tinny/Linda has exclusive claim to it (Linda even has Elite to help her promote faster).

Are you saying either has to be promoted or just Tinny?

Linda is a Thunder Mage just like Tiltyu and also has the right blood for a +1 to her weapon rank. AKA she's got A Thunder at base. Tinny doesn't have that since instead of a Thunder Mage she is just a Mage so has CCC fire/wind/thunder instead of B thunder and nothing for the others. Tinny must be promoted. Linda doesn't.

And Fire Sword isn't even in the same league as Wind Sword. 2 wt compared to 12 wt when casting magic at two range?

[Shin]

I agree with the Wind Sword outdoing the Fire and Thunder Swords. Especially with the WTA against all the Thunder using enemies you face in chapters 7 and 8, plus the weight.

Tron has the problem that it's stuck on a select group of units, due to the high weapon rank, whilst the Wind Sword is pretty much available for every sword user. Although Tron does wonders for those who can use it, Linda and Tiltyu really being saved from the gutter.

[Tables]

I agree with the Wind Sword outdoing the Fire and Thunder Swords. Especially with the WTA against all the Thunder using enemies you face in chapters 7 and 8, plus the weight.

Hold on a second. Who is it we're thinking can do well with the Wind Sword against Mages at range? The only people I can see possibly doing that are... well, Oifaye and anyone with Azel/Claude as their dad, plus Fee/Nanna with a somewhat decent dad. I really don't think the WTA is a major point unless you have some swordmage or something from parents.

[mai]

Any reasons why Narga < Berserk sword? I know getting Narga takes forever, but it makes killing Yurius much faster, as it's basically the only weapon in the game that can hurt him. Narga sucks, but I don't think it's worse than the Berserk sword.

[Tables]

Hm, I'm inclined to agree. The Berserk sword rarely activates (~25%), means you're doing a bunch less damage (usually), is expensive, and is so situational that it almost never gets used (I think I probably attack with it <1 time per playthrough?). Narga might only see one battle, but it's a pretty important one.

[Narga_Rocks]

It takes you 6 rounds, tops, to beat Yurius with Celice plugging away 3x2 hits per turn for 5 each. 30 damage, he heals 15. And if you have help it goes faster. Help like Shanan or someone else. It takes a while to go and conquer that castle then go and recruit Julia then go and warp her there and get her back. It seems hard to believe it'll make any difference.

And it's not like Celice is dying any time soon with 35+ res (up to 43 if you cap and give him a ring) against 55 mt while facing hit rates in the 20s or 30s.

Also, the berserk sword gets 100% on anything with more res than 30. Though that's not exactly very many enemies.

[riariadne]

I'm going to say something that will probably bring massive ridicule/ hate/ whatever, buuut...

1st Gen Hero Sword> Holsety.

Before I have half the forum flaming me, I have a reason. As fucking awesome as Holsety may be, it's not exactly available. 1st Gen Hero Sword's got nearly all of Chapter 3 to the rest of the game (its default inheritor is Lakche, who can arguably use it best), where Holsety has a minor part of Ch 4, Ch 5, and the rest depends on inheritance (depending on whether Arthur or Sety gets it). If Sety gets it, that's almost another 3 chapters of availability the Hero Sword beats it on. If it's Arthur that's another story, but if Sety's got it, 1st Gen Hero Sword has 9 chapters to Holsety's 4 and 1/2. Holsety is great and all, but the availability really makes a difference here. Plus, Hero Sword can be put to great use on many units- if not Lakche, someone like Skasaher or even Delmud can use it. Holsety's locked to 2 guys, which is kind of moot, but the Hero Sword can make decent units good and great units awesome.

Plus, Holsety costs much much more to repair, which can put a bit of a dent in its usefulness.

[Shin]

Valid reasoning, Lightning. I'd actually be inclined to agree. Whilst Holsety is amazingly broken, it's not around too long and doesn't help that many units, not even Corple ^^.

The Hero Sword also has utility in aiding units through the arena, Alec and Noish certainly benefit from it. I like to stick mine on Holyn!Patty, which really does help her level up until I can stop babying her. Most Holsety users tend to get to level 30 fairly quickly, so the "help" isn't really appreciated. Most enemies tend to avoid Holsety users (especially if they have 100+ evade), meaning their usefulness enemy-phase is cut a little. However, the Hero-sword can be used for some serious tanking. I've had a Holyn!Delmud (bad first playthrough) protect Chalphy from the entire Grauen Ritter with it (especially nice as it had over 50 kills).

There's also the large number of units that can use it. Pretty much every sword-user has access to it (aside from Patty or Leen) and another one comes along later.

[Tables]

I'm actually very tempted to agree. That Hero Sword is also likely to get 50 kills fairly quickly, and veer towards a good 70-80+ by endgame and moderately good damage + critical skill + continue skill = awesome sword. Passing it around in the arena is just another massive plus. Holsety is great and a powerful boss killer, but I think the Hero Sword is just... better.

[Smiley Jim]

I'm going to agree on what everyone her says and say 1st gen Hero sword>Holsety. Of course, Holsety is god-broken when you DO have it, but when you have it is very short in the first generation(like, the ass end of C4 and all of C5; and most players don't see it again until after they reach Manster, when they get Sety, which is in C8. You can get it earlier by pairing Levin with Tiltyu), and even then, it's locked to Levin and, in my case, Sety. Meanwhile, the Hero sword is acquired by Aira at the start of C3 and can be used by pretty much every sword user who isn't unpromoted Dew or Sylvia, which means that even mediocre fighters like pre-promo Beo, Alec, and Noish(Holyn!Patty, Hannibal, and pre-promo Delmud) can benefit from it, and turns any sword user who is good, like Aira and Holyn(Lakche, Skasaher, and Leaf), into total monsters. There is also reparation costs to consider. Hero swords only cost 160 GPU to repair, while nukes Holy weapons cost 1000 GPU. And considering that you have to go back and repair things on a regular basis, it adds up quickly. Not that money was a problem for anybody not named Aideen/Claude/Lana/Corple.