ITT DA Ranks The Characters

[Smiley Jim]

While I'm doing my Path of Radiance HM playthrough, I've also decided that I'm going to start rating the characters of this game based on their usefulness over the course of the game. Smash didn't get to complete his character ratings before he got banned, so I've taken up his post.

Anyway, ratings are based on a Hard Mode performance. It's no use rating units based on NM since basically everybody is usable. Also, for the sake of people using blessings/screwages to rate units, I'm assuming Fixed Mode. I am going to rate each unit from 0 to 10(0 meaning you are just garbage, 5 being the average, and 10 meaning you are epic). And while I'm going to try my best to give everybody unbiased ratings, there is a .5 margin of error. If I haven't used a character much or at all, I will do my best to give him/her an unbiased rating using the limited information I got from SF/GFAQs.

Also, I'll try my best to rank the units based on an efficient playthrough, but I can't guarantee anything since I haven't done an efficient playthrough(so I don't have any idea about that stuff), so I'm basing this stuff on what I DO know. Sorry for the inconvenience.

I will also be putting in support/band suggestions as I go along.

I will be using the Hard Mode enemy stats as a guideline. It may or may not be complete since Vykan DID use only units with 9 move.

Oh, and feel free to comment. I'm doing this to contribute to SF. And please don't plagiarize my work. Just don't. I spent over a month working on this, and I don't want people stealing what is rightfully mine(Not that I have to worry about that here ;)). Also note that this thread is rife with jokes, some really good, others as lame as Aquaman.

The following attributes will increase ratings:

-Positive Utility

-Good Offense(ex. 2 rounding when everyone else is 3 rounding)

-Good Durability(ex. getting 5RKO'd when others are getting 3RKO'd)

The following attributes will decrease ratings:

-Negative Utility

-Having to be babied

-Shitty Offense(ex. 4 rounding when others are 2 rounding)

-Shitty Durability(ex. getting 2RKO'd when others are 3RKO'd)

Note: I am using simple averages to judge characters. Any decimals >=.5 will be rounded up, anything <.4 will be rounded down.

I will post each individual rating as soon as I'm done with that character.

Index of Ratings

10.0: Tits McGee

9.5: Ike, Jill, Raisin

9.0: Oscar, Boyd

8.5: Marcia, Kevin, Muraim

8.0: Mordy, Stefan, Manith

7.5: Gatrie, Mist, Neph

7.0: Volke, Zihark, Astrid

6.5: Soren, Mak, Calill

6.0: Rice, Mia, Chap

5.5: Ranulf, Haar, Geoff

5.0: Ilyana, Giffca, Tibarn

4.5: Devdan, Tauroneo, Naesala

4.0: Largo

3.5: Tormod, Sothe, Nasir

3.0: Shinon, Janaff, Ulki

2.5: Rofl, Elincia

2.0: Lucia

1.5: Ena

1.0: Bastian

0.5:

0.0:

Also, just because I have successfully used a 'low tier' character in my playthrough does not guarantee him a high rating. PEMN counts here. So just because my Rolf was 20/1 by the start of 17-4(with 16Str/18Spd/13Def to boot) doesn't mean he's good. Just that my playstyle allowed me to use him the way I did.

If the ratings were based on my PT, you'd see shit like Rolf and Mia getting 9's, and things like Tits getting shitty scores.

This character guide is based on Casual efficiency, and does allow room for unit suggestions while maintaining a decently low turncount. I'm not like DD151 and have this urge to get the lowest possible turncount.

Final Note: I will bump a unit up or down only if I have solid evidence. Any fanboys/fangirls or trolls will be ignored.

If you want to see my HM playthrough, here's the link:

http://serenesforest...showtopic=21822

Have a nice day.

Edited December 18, 2010 by DA125

[Smiley Jim]

Ike

Base Stats

LVL 	MHP STR MAG SKL SPD LCK DEF RES
01/00   19  05  01  06  07  06  05  00

Growths

MHP STR MAG SKL SPD LCK DEF RES
75  50  20  50  55  35  40  40

Ike is one of the best lords in FE history, right next to FE7!Hector and FE4!Sigurd and Celice. He, like those guys, has great growth rates and a ridiculous endgame weapon.

However, he starts off a bit unimpressive. 5 str is the lowest out of your initial group(yes, Oscar has a higher str base than Ike), so he isn't hitting very hard at first(esp. with sword-lock), and he also has the lowest HP base out of the group. 5 def is tied with Boyd, except that he(Boyd)has 11 higher HP, so his durability is better anyway. The Ch1 seraph robe will fix Ike's HP problem, but you might be saving it for a flimsier unit. He also has poor avoid for a while except against axes, and even those have ~50 hit on him. In short, Ike is blocking axes with his face. Now, he is doubling since the enemies are dumbasses and like to weigh themselves down, but his Atk is still low enough to not one-round for a good while.

However, Ike grows very well, and will soon leave those humble beginnings. He has ridiculous offensive growths(50str/55spd) and great defensive growths(75HP/40Def/40Res); however, those growths will need to get him out of his hole before he's considered above average, which is about Lv10. Once he starts growing, he will soon kill shit in 3-4 hits at least, double everything, and get 4HKO'd or better at decent hit rates, which is good by this game's standards. Earth affinity does Ike a lot of favors since it grants him a ridiculous avoid boost, but in all seriousness, his avoid isn't anything special until he gets a B support, which is around Ch11-12.

As far as his promotion goes, he promotes at the end of C17, around the same time as everyone else(unlike Roy, who promotes at the ass end of his game)and gets great promo bonuses(including +3 Str/Def), and access to his mastery skill, Aether. Basically, once promoted, Ike is a monster. He will kill everything he touches in 2 rounds at most(usually one)and his HP/def and avoid means he isn't getting close to dying, and even if there is something that he can't two round, he has Aether as a backup(he has 18% activation at 20/1 IIRC). His supports are probably established by now(B Oscar/B Soren; Oscar could even be at A if you don't want to give Soren the A with Ike), so he has great avoid. As if that's not enough, he gets Ragnell in Ch27-2, and from there, a giant walks among you. 44 Atk at 1-2 range and 52HP/23Def(28 with Ragnell bonuses) is just ridiculous.

The only thing destroying his bid for a ten is his shaky earlygame and his lack of 1-2 range before he gets Ragnell.

9.5/10

Support suggestion: Soren A/Oscar B. Tits is decent for the defense boost, but stay away from the others.

Band suggestion: In the earlygame, I'd give Ike something that boosts his str. So Fighter band for him. HP can be covered by the C1 Seraph Robe. Post-promotion, I would either give him the Pegasus/Priest band or the Soldier band.

Edited December 1, 2010 by DA125

[Anouleth]

I think what keeps Ike from being a 10 is that he's not the best unit in the game.

[Smiley Jim]

Titania

Base Stats

LVL 	MHP STR MAG SKL SPD LCK DEF RES
20/01   33  12  04  13  14  11  11  07

Growths

MHP STR MAG SKL SPD LCK DEF RES
80  40  25  60  50  45  40  45

If you took Oifey, made him into a woman, gave him red hair and green eyes and an A in axes, this would be the result.

Tits McGee is absolutely ridiculous earlygame. I am not even kidding around. She has 20 base atk with an Iron axe(which is double Ike's base atk), and has 14 AS(almost triple Ike's base AS with an Iron sword) at base, so she will one round pretty much everything for the first 10 maps. 33HP/11Def/7Res means that she is also extremely hard to take down, so you can steamroll through an entire wave of enemies with her if you wanted to. However, she only gets 2 EXP a kill, which harms your weaker unit's CEXP gain, so I would use her as an unequipped wall unless you are in a really tough situation in which you would need her for something(C5 and C8 come to mind)

Unlike other prepromoted pallies such as Jeigan and Marcus(mostly his FE6 version, his FE7 variant is debatable as a good unit), and like Seth, Tits here has a respectable midgame. All her growth rates are 40 or above, so she grows well enough to be used extensively. Yes, some other dudes, notably Ike, Boyd, and Kevin match her in sheer stats even in the unpromoted state, but she can use things like KW to boost her spd growth or a robe to patch her average-ish HP for her level. Her supports are also pretty good; she can easily support with Rhys/Mist and Boyd, which will boost her lowish atk for her level.

Lategame is where Tits' lowish initial stats start to bite her in the ass. For reference, at Lv12(which is an ideal level for C20-21), she has 42HP/17 Str/20 Spd/15 Def. Her competition, Oscar and Kevin, have comparable stats at Lv8(though they will usually be lowered level than this.) Her atk might be a bit low compared to what other guys have(at Lv12, she has 28 Atk with a steel axe; Boyd at Lv5 has 33 Atk with the same weapon), but she has supports and forges to make up for it, and she can even use any killers or braves lying around to improve her offense even more. Durability-wise, 45HP/17Def at 20/16 isn't exactly what I want to see in the lategame, but she has Light affinity and Sol to make up for it.

Between her ridiculous earlygame and her OK mid/lategame, she will get a

10/10

Support suggestion: Boyd A/Mist B. Ike's decent, but Rice has too low move to be useful for supporting.

Band suggestion: You can give Tits things like the Knight band at first to improve on her average str and def. Once you get the KW, you can put it on her if Gatrie isn't in play(which in 8/10 of my PT's, he was on my team).

Edited October 24, 2010 by DA125

[Anouleth]

If you took Seth, made him into a woman, gave him red hair and green eyes and an A in axes, this would be the result.

fixed

[Smiley Jim]

Oscar

Base Stats

LVL 	MHP STR MAG SKL SPD LCK DEF RES
03/00   26  06  01  06  07  05  08  00

Growths

MHP STR MAG SKL SPD LCK DEF RES
55  45  20  50  45  30  35  30

Oscar the Grouch is the first cavalier you get. He squints and doesn't afraid of anything.

His durability starts off fairly good. 26HP/8Def is the fourth best of the GM's overall and it grows fairly well with 55HP/35Def growth rates. Basically, he's beating out many first tiers as well as some second tiers in concrete durability. What makes him ridiculous is that he has Earth affinity, as well as a really quick support with Ike(also Earth), giving him stupid amounts of avoid. Basically, he is arguably the most durable unit overall(Gatrie and Brom beat him in concrete durability, but lose avoid by a crapton). Offensively, he's doing alright. 6Str/7Spd is almost as bad as Ike, arguably worse since he is facing WTD for his first two maps. 45str/45Spd growths are fairly average, but he will generally be fast enough to double shit and atk is easy enough to fix(use steels for higher str gain, Fighter or Knight bands)

He does run into some competition when Kevin arrives. Base Kevin beats 12/0 Oscar in atk by 2(assuming both guys use the same weapon grade), and wins HP/str/def growth by 5; however, Oscar wins durability by 1 def and avoid by a crapton thanks to supports, so he's still the superior unit. Moving on, once people start promoting, Oscar becomes even more ridiculous. He will get access to a weapon of his choosing(I usually go with bows, most people use axes), as well as Sol, increasing his survivability to almost Gatrie-like proportions. And it shows: 20/10 Oscar has 43HP/19Def/10Res, which is good as far as durability goes(For reference, he beats 20/10 Titania in HP by 3 and Def by 5), and his avoid can break 100 assuming A Kevin/B Ike. His atk might be a bit shaky, but he's doing alright.

With that all said, I give him his rating:

9.0/10

Support suggestion: Kevin A/Ike B. Tanith comes a tad late, and lolJanaff.

Band suggestion: Fighter or Knight. He needs the str.

Edited October 24, 2010 by DA125

[Smiley Jim]

Boyd

Base Stats

LVL 	MHP STR MAG SKL SPD LCK DEF RES 
02/00	30  07  00  04  06  04  05  00

Growths

MHP STR MAG SKL SPD LCK DEF RES
75  50  05  50  45  35  25  25

Boyd. Ike's rival and the manliest of the three brothers.

Let's get to the short and quick of it. Boyd turns into a motherfucking beast. He, like other units in the earlygame, must escape humble beginnings, in his case, behaving like FE7!Bartre. He has a pitiful 3 AS with an Iron Axe equipped, but that fixes itself quickly with an effective 105% AS growth. In fact, if he gets either a str or spd on his first level up(he will get both on FM), he will actually one-round most of the bandits in C1 and C2. Ridiculous. With his manly str, Fire affinity(which means at least half atk), and good speed, this will pretty much last the whole game. To give out an idea, he can use an Iron Axe and still match everyone else's atk with silver weapons. For example, 20/10 Boyd with an Iron Axe has 33 Atk(32 w/ Hand). 20/10 Ike with a silver sword has 35 Atk. Even when silver isn't in the shop, he STILL matches or beats everyone. 20/1 Boyd with Iron has 28 Atk(27 w/ Hand). 20/1 Kevin would need a steel axe to match that.

Defensively, he could be better. 30HP/5Def with 75HP/25Def growths is pretty good, and he can buff it up with supports(all his supports give def). So he's not going to be like Gatrie and get tinked/take single digit damage by everything that breathes, but he's not going to get killed if spat on either. This is great, because we want to apply his overkill offense as much as we can.

With all that said, he gets a

9.0/10

Support suggestion: Brom A/Mist B. Both boost his atk and def.

Band suggestion: Anything with def. Spd and skl come in at a close second, but aren't as important as getting his def up.

Edited October 24, 2010 by DA125

[Shadow Mir]

she can easily support with Rhys and Boyd

True, but Rhys is Titania's single worst support option. Mist is better for Titania due to better bonuses, and being able to keep up more easily post-promotion helps.

Edited September 2, 2010 by Ein Lanford

[Smiley Jim]

Rhys

Base Stats

LVL 	MHP STR MAG SKL SPD LCK DEF RES 
04/00	22  00  10  08  05  08  00  14

Growths

MHP STR MAG SKL SPD LCK DEF RES
40  05  60  50  40  50  25  55

Rhys is just like Safy, Lena, and Malliesia: He has low maintenance and input, and moderate output.

There is no explanation how useful healing is earlygame, where your dudes aren't anywhere close to developed. Keeping people alive without eating CEXP is actually pretty cool.

Sadly, that is where his positives end. His concrete durability is the worst out of the GM's, and the second worst overall(beating out only Raisin), and his speed is absolutely atrocious. This basically means that his combat is terrible. It doesn't help that he's Fire aff(which boosts Hit and Atk), which boosts two things he DOESN'T need, given his overkill Mag and Skl. To give out an idea, Rice is worried about dying for his whole existence. That's what terrible durability and not enough avoid to make up for it will do. And let's not get to his offense: his speed means he's not getting close to doubling; in fact, Rhys is worried about GETTING doubled. Even if he had good spd, his str makes it very hard for him to use any tomes without AS loss(he gets, like, 3 Str at 20/20, and the lightest Light tome is 4 weight.) So his offense is basically laughable.

Basically, Rhys is a healbot, nothing more. He's good for the first few maps, but post-promotion, gets WTFstomped in every way by Mist and Soren, and is a liability unless you have Volke steal Physics for him.

His rating:

6.0/10

Support suggestion: He'll be lucky to support anyone besides Mia.

Band suggestion: Paladin, Archer, or Thief bands. His speed just sucks.

EDIT: Dropped him to a 6.

Edited October 24, 2010 by DA125

[Smiley Jim]

Shinon

Base Stats

LVL 	MHP STR MAG SKL SPD LCK DEF RES 
20/01   32  09  06  15  13  09  09  06

Growths

MHP STR MAG SKL SPD LCK DEF RES
75  65  20  70  65  35  50  40

Shinon gets my vote for most improved unit from PoR to GoD.

Which means he's worse than horse crap in this game.

Earlygame, he's doing alright. 9Str/13Spd is above average, and 32HP/9Def is the third highest durability of the GM's(which is an understatement since Oscar has 26HP/8Def). His usefulness in early chapters is limited due to his lack of 1 range. But hey, he can weaken stuff for Ike, Soren, and Gatrie, which is cool. However, all that is too good to be true, since he packs up and leaves in Ch8 and doesn't come back until...Chapter 19, where he's beyond terrible. His offense is a greater joke than the Detroit Lions and his durability is ass. His growths are epic, but all they do is turn his shitty stats into slightly less shitty stats, and after like 15 levels, becomes good. And even with the growths, he isn't as good as Rolf at the same level(and I have some pretty bad things to say about Rofl.)

With all that said, he gets a

3.0/10

Support suggestion: I really don't give a shit, so Gatrie A/Janaff B.

Band suggestion: If you are going to use him, I'd recommend something for str and spd. But I still wouldn't bother with him since Rolf and Astrid are better anyway.

Edited October 24, 2010 by DA125

[Smiley Jim]

Gatrie

Base Stats

LVL 	MHP STR MAG SKL SPD LCK DEF RES 
09/00	31  12  00  06  05  05  14  00

Growths

MHP STR MAG SKL SPD LCK DEF RES
80  55  05  55  25  25  60  30

This was Gatrie before IS genetically engineered his speed growth. However, he's almost as good here and is sadly underrated.

Earlygame, Gat is pretty awesome with excellent durability and good atk, possibly as useful as Tits without the mov. He might even be able to sneak a few doubles here and there since earlygame enemy AS is lame. His hit is shaky against the many axes, but he hits hard and doesn't die. His higher level means that he won't gain as many levels as Ike or Soren would, but he still gains way more than Tits or Shinon are getting, so if he gets kills, no one really gives a damn.

Just like with Shinon, he leaves at the start of Ch8. Unlike Shinon, he comes back at Ch13, where he will likely be Lv15(assuming he gets 1.5 levels in the four chapters he's in, which isn't unreasonable.) Unlike his buddy though, he's still average. Sadly, his spd is far from good and his mobility isn't the greatest in the world. He still hits hard and still super-tanks, which is a plus, but several other guys aren't too concerned about dying either. Luckily his spd is salvageable with the KW, but he has to compete with Brom and Tits for it(never mind that Oscar and Kevin may want it, too.) Post-promotion, he's above average in durability but average in offense.

With his high durability, he, in theory, would be a good candidate for Resolve and/or Wrath. But he's actually a bad user of those skills because the only way for him to drop to =<50%HP is to get hit by magic(which IIRC, makes up less than 25% of the entire map in almost all cases). Luna is probably his best skill overall, but it would need to OHKO to be really significant. As for supports, he supports with people that either dwarf his mov by 3 or are really shitty, not to mention Light does little for him since he has an effective 135% hit growth(but a mediocre base)and has defense coming out of his ass.

With that out of the way, he gets a

7.5/10

Support suggestion: He'll be lucky to support ANYBODY, since Astrid/Marcia have 3 more move than him, and Shinon/Illy aren't that good.

Band suggestion: When he shows his face again, just give him the KW. He needs it.

EDIT: raised him to a 7.5.

Edited November 2, 2010 by DA125

[Smiley Jim]

Soren

LVL 	MHP STR MAG SKL SPD LCK DEF RES 
01/00	18  00  06  08  08  05  02  07

Growths

MHP STR MAG SKL SPD LCK DEF RES
45  05  60  55  40  30  15  55

Soren, the strategist of the GM's, is the best magic user in this game, but even he has his issues.

His join time is one of the worst in the game. The only units who have a worse earlygame rut are Rolf, Astrid, and Tormod, and it shows. 8 Atk with Wind is pretty bad, even taking into account that he hits res, and he might not double attack every enemy on the map. As far as concrete durability is concerned, 18HP/2Def is fucking terrible, worse than anyone else except Rice, and 45HP/15Def does not do him any favors. He has 1-2 range, but he gets 2HKO'd pretty much all the time at dangerously high hit rates.

Luckily for him, his offense improves quickly. 60% mag growth means that his atk picks up quickly(and he's dark aff, so he gets atk from his supports. His only supports are Ike and Stefan, though) and he has an effective 45% AS growth(since he doesn't stop losing AS from anything until 20/0, and only gets 4 Str at 20/20, lol0base and 5 growth). And he basically has full claim on Spirit Dusts since I doubt any other mage would be used except Calill. Durability wise, he could use a little help. He gets a somewhat fast support with Ike(though it takes until C22 to max out...)so his avoid will at least be at respectable levels. His concrete durability is still ass, but 1-2 range alleviates that for the most part, and staves are pretty nice, so he can function as a healbot if need be. Most of that will make up for his piss earlygame, but only barely cancels out his shitty durability. There is no excuse for getting 2RKO'd most of the game.

He will get an above average score overall.

6.5/10

Support suggestion: His only option is Ike A/Stefan B. Nuff said.

Band suggestion: I would put the mage band on him, since I doubt that anyone else is going to use it besides Calill.

Edited January 6, 2011 by DA125

[Junkhead]

This is indeed nice. I was hoping for someone to continue Grand Elder Smash's work. If not, I would've...

Anyway, this is going good so far.

[Smiley Jim]

This is indeed nice. I was hoping for someone to continue Grand Elder Smash's work. If not, I would've...

Anyway, this is going good so far.

Thank you for your compliment, good sir. Mia is up next.

Edited September 4, 2010 by DA125

[Smiley Jim]

Mia

Base Stats

LVL 	MHP STR MAG SKL SPD LCK DEF RES 
06/00   21  07  00  10  13  06  07  02

Growths

MHP STR MAG SKL SPD LCK DEF RES
50  40  30  45  60  45  20  25

Mia the Loli is the last of the initial Greil Mercenaries and is like her larger-breasted FE10 incarnation. Starts off fairly bad, but becomes good soon enough. As in good offense, shitty durability.

Mia's largest problem earlygame is that in the first 5 chapters you have her, most of the map is composed of lance users. To give an idea, 2/3's of the map are lances, and chapters 8, 10, and 11 aren't a whole lot better. She's pretty good in Ch9 due to the beach being axe-heavy, but otherwise is getting 2HKO'd at dangerously high hit rates(so she is essentially blocking axes with her face, except replace axes with lances), doesn't have good damage output except against fighters/myrms/mages, and is taking counters from everything except archers. Compare this to Soren, who has worse concrete durability, but has 1-2 range to make up for it and the fact that mages can't damage him.

After this rough start, she does improve. Her offense is great since she doubles everything except fellow myrms with decent atk, but her durability is still frickin' terrible and is still blocking attacks with her face(which is bad). The only units that she's beating in durability is Soren and Rhys/Mist, nevermind the fact that Soren avoids player phase counters and the healers are hiding in the backlines. Vantage can help, but she's reliant on crits to KO anything(since she sure as hell isn't 2HKOing things with her only moderate atk)and even then, armors and generals just shrug it off like it was nothing. Also, a lack of 2-range just hurts, and she can get easily mugged by mages/archers.

Post-promotion, her offense is still good(doubles everything, atk is OK, but is low compared to the likes of Boyd/Ike/Gatrie, but has crit to make up for it), but the people that she used to beat in durability have finally caught up(supported 20/1 Soren has 6 more avoid than 20/1 Mia, and 20/1 Mist has about the same def). No 1-2 range still hurts since people like Jill and Boyd are raping face with hand axes and Neph/Marcia does alright with javelins(Mia has the sonic/runeswords, but those are heavily sought after.)

Her supports aren't too great. Bitch supports with only one decent character(Rice)and two fail characters(Largo and Ilyana). Fire affinity is nice though. She also makes great use of Wrath thanks to her innate Vantage and not-so-good concrete durability/good avoid(actually, you can combine Vantage with some other cool abilities such as Adept, Guard and Resolve.)

She's decent enough, so she deserves a

6.0/10

Support suggestion: She likes atk, so Rice A. Ilyana can be used if her speed works out. lolLargo.

Band suggestion: I'd recommend Knight or Wyvern.

More funnies: The guy who made that 'maximal error' tier list thinks that Mia is utter trash(I think his name is CATS I believe). I don't agree with a lot of things he said in that tier list, and as I said, she's good enough for that 6.

EDIT: I underrated her last time. She gets a 6. Apparaently, her and Z are close enough to warrant a 1.5 gap, not a 2 gap(Z was also dropped by .5).

Edited October 28, 2010 by DA125

[Anouleth]

After this rough start, she does improve. Her offense is great since she doubles everything except fellow myrms with decent atk, but her durability is still frickin' terrible and is still blocking attacks with her face(which is bad). The only units that she's beating in durability is Soren and Rhys/Mist, nevermind the fact that Soren avoids player phase counters and the healers are hiding in the backlines. Vantage can help, but she's reliant on crits to KO anything(since she sure as hell isn't 2HKOing things with her only moderate atk)and even then, armors and generals just shrug it off like it was nothing. Also, a lack of 2-range just hurts, and she can get easily mugged by mages/archers.

Mia should double literally everything. There are only three enemies she is permitted to fail to double:

Ashnard

Black Knight

Endgame Swordmasters (which can proc 27AS)

If she's not doubling everything, you didn't give her enough BEXP.

[Zkirsche]

Well, it's permittable for chapter 12 ravens IMO.

[Anouleth]

I think the payoff from ORKOing Chapter 12 Ravens is easily worth whatever amount of BEXP you need to give her. Although some of them do have 17AS, iirc, I don't know if promoting her is worth it when that's only a minority.

Add 'any douchebag Ravens that proc 17AS in Chapter 12' to that list, I guess. But no way is she missing Myrms.

[Zkirsche]

I'd rather just put that bexp into Marcia so she ORKOs teh ravens, gives us a better unit in the long term.

[Anouleth]

Super-Marcia is cool for dealing with Ravens, but she needs a REALLY high level. Like, promoted. She's also not guaranteed to be in play.

In addition, completing the chapter faster makes you miss out on Jill. Now, it's questionable just how valuable Jill is in comparison to the benefits of skipping her recruitment, but many people would balk at splurging on Marcia when you won't be using her to power through the chapter anyway so you can get Jill.

[Smiley Jim]

Ilyana

Base Stats

LVL 	MHP STR MAG SKL SPD LCK DEF RES 
06/00	20  01  08  10  09  06  03  10

Growths

MHP STR MAG SKL SPD LCK DEF RES
45  25  50  45  30  45  15  50

Ilyana is the second magic user you receive(and the first female), but like in most FE games, she's inferior to her male counterpart.

She's alright at base. She packs a whooping 15 atk with Elthunder at base, higher than anything Soren, who is likely 2-3 levels ahead, can accomplish(8/0 Soren has 14 atk with Thunder), but gets weighed down by 5, preventing her from doubling anything but weighed down armors with it(as if she was doubling anything anyway, lol9base and 30% growth). Durability wise, she's little better than Soren. 20HP/3Def with the same growths as Soren is still pretty terrible. Shade can cover for her durability, but enemies will likely still be attracted to her like iron nails to a magnet.

Ilyana grows decent enough, albeit at a slower pace than Soren. Her only good growths are magic and res, both at 50. What really hurts her offense, though is her 30% speed growth. She DOES have 25% str growth to compensate so she won't be weighed down by heavy tomes such as Thoron or Bolganone later on in life. But that really doesn't make up for the fact that she doesn't double anything except armors and generals(which make up around 30% of the enemy force)and is prone to getting doubled by fast things(such as swordmasters). Her durability is still ass, but her affinity, Light, gives Def, and she can net a support with Zihark, who is Earth(to be fair she has a support with Lucia, who is also Earth, but unfortunately completely sucks). She can also get full def from Mordy IIRC.

And while most of the female mages in previous games(Linda, Miranda, Lilina, Nino, and Lute)have higher magic growth than their male counterparts(Merric, Asvel, Lugh, Erk, Ewan)(and in the case of Lilina, Miranda, and Lute, have SIGNIFICANTLY higher mag than Lugh/Asvel/Ewan), Ilyana actually has LOWER magic growth than Soren. In fact, he ties or beats Ilyana in every growth except luck and str. Sad, eh?

With that all said, she gets a

5.0/10

Support Suggestion: Zihark, Mordy, and Gatrie are her best choices for an A support, with Mia as a secondary B support. lolLucia.

Band suggestion: Anything with speed. Her speed growth is just that bad(it's like only five higher than fricking Gatrie, and he can boost his spd growth by THIRTY as opposed to just 5.)

Edited October 28, 2010 by DA125

[Zkirsche]

Super-Marcia is cool for dealing with Ravens, but she needs a REALLY high level. Like, promoted. She's also not guaranteed to be in play.

In addition, completing the chapter faster makes you miss out on Jill. Now, it's questionable just how valuable Jill is in comparison to the benefits of skipping her recruitment, but many people would balk at splurging on Marcia when you won't be using her to power through the chapter anyway so you can get Jill.

Then we won't need Mia eitehr, as its easily possible to kill ravens as soon as they arrive in relative ease because they only come 1 at a time, so they proceed to get gang raped. 1-rounding is a trivival thing.

And getting Mia to ORKO ravens is pretty bexp expensive in itself, but at least with Marcia you get a much, much better long-term unit out of it.

[Smiley Jim]

Rolf

Base Stats

LVL 	MHP STR MAG SKL SPD LCK DEF RES 
01/00 	18  05  00  08  08  04  06  02

Growths

MHP STR MAG SKL SPD LCK DEF RES
60  40  25  45  50  40  30  25

I really did not want to do this one, but it's something that needs to be done.

Rolf, the youngest and least manly of the three brothers, has a lot of controversy. Some players say he's good, others say he's just plain crap.

Rolf's earlygame is, to be blunt, quite bad. Firstly, his offense at this point in the game is beyond terrible. He has only 11 Atk with Iron(13 w/ Rolf's bow)thanks to his 5 str, and 6 speed is only doubling the armors(which he tinks)and the Lv8 Fighters(and the poleaxe fighter). Durability wise, he's little better. He's getting 2HKO'd by basically every unit on the map. The only units that don't 2HKO are the iron sword myrms, but those double and 2RKO anyway. And what's worse is that he's facing crit against several enemies on the map, which isn't good. Being an archer helps his case, since he avoids counters from everything except mages and other archers.

One problem I have with archers and snipers is that they don't have 1-range, and Rofl is no exception. This really cuts into his CEXP gain, since at least other underleveled characters(Mia, Marcia, Neph)can counter melee fighters, and Mist(who is also underleveled) is not even a combat unit. Rolf, however, is only countering archers and mages, which is decent, but face it, archers and mages don't make up a whole lot of the enemy army. End rant.

How does Rolf grow? His growth rates are average, not great, but not bad either. 50% speed growth means that his speed picks up fairly quickly, but his 40% str growth means that his atk is average at best. 60HP/30Def is average as far as durability is concerned, but with his base durability being as bad as it is, it doesn't pick up for a while. Still, his chip damage can be useful in chapter 12 and 13 if he's trained, but Soren can cause slightly more damage with Elwind and is way easier to use. Post-promotion, he's finally good, but you probably wasted a lot of BEXP and CEXP to get him to that point.

I also forgot to mention that he's Wind(the worst aff in the game), so he's not attracting a lot of the guys he DOES support(Marcia and Rhys could be useful, I guess)

All I can give him is a

2.5/10

Support suggestion: Marcia A/Rice B or Mist A/Marcia B. Pick yer poison.

Band suggestion: Fighter is probably his best bet for a while. He can also use archer/thief to boost his spd.

Edited October 28, 2010 by DA125

[Smiley Jim]

Mist

Base Stats

LVL 	MHP STR MAG SKL SPD LCK DEF RES 
01/00 	16  01  04  04  07  06  02  07

Growths

MHP STR MAG SKL SPD LCK DEF RES
50  35  50  25  40  60  15  40

Mist. Ike's loli sister and the keeper of Lehran's Medallion. Like Rolf, starts off bad, but ends up good.

Mist joins you as your second healer, and her stats at base are frickin' terrible, even worse than Rolf's(and I had some bad things to say about him). 16HP/2Def is possibly the worst durability on a unit at this point(yes, even worse than Rhys). It doesn't take anything to OHKO her(like 18 atk)and many enemies on her joining chapter have that. So basically, you have to fence her in so she doesn't get attacked, kind of like Laura in RD except that you have 5 built up units to protect her by now instead of only having Sothe, Aran, and Nolan(Edward doesn't count yet since he is still blocking shit with his face). And what's worse is that she doesn't heal a whole lot either. 4 mag with E staves is pretty blegh, compared to a 8/0 Rhys' 12 mag and at least C staves. And she starts at Lv1 and she only gets 11exp for using a heal staff(compared to Rolf's 15-20exp chip) In other words, she is leveling slowly.

She does improve quite quickly, assuming that she is properly leveled. 50% mag growth is serviceable enough for healing, and 40% speed and 60% luck means that her avoid will at least be respectable. Durability wise, she's little better than Soren and Rice in that regard. 50HP/15Def is still quite terrible, so her rut of getting killed if an enemy so much as pokes her never really disappears, but being a healer helps and her purpose isn't to even go on the front line. This is basically Mist before her promotion.

And what if she is? Her promotion bonuses are actually pretty good(+2str/+3spd/+3def)and gains a mount and swords. However, thanks to her 35% str growth and 1 base, she only has 10 str at 20/1, which translates to 19 atk with the strongest weapon available to her at this point(an iron blade). And considering she's promoting Ch20 at the earliest(a.k.a dracoknight land), her atk is garbage. 18 speed at 20/1 is decent, but she gets weighed down by any weapon that packs high enough atk to offset her low str. However, if she can get to B rank, she can utilize the sonic sword, and if you are patient enough for A rank, runeswords assume position. Healing wise, she has 18 mag, so she is healing 28 HP on average, and it's hard to say no to a mounted healer. Her concrete durability could be better though(29HP/8Def at 20/1)

Support wise, she's in the money. She is water affinity, which boosts two things she needs(atk and def), and ALL her supporters except Rolf give either atk OR def(and Mordy gives both since he's water, as well) A Jill/B Boyd, for example gives her a healthy mix of atk and def(and both are top tier units lololol). For skillz, keep Miracle on her, since it activates on luck(which she has a lot of), and she's prone to dying. She's not one of my top candidates for Occults, but she can make alright use of Sol(don't expect it to activate often since her skill is crap)

All in all, I'd give her

7.5/10

Support suggestion: Jill A/Boyd B is great here. Tits and Mordy are decent, too. Rolf...not so much, though he's like atk/def too.

Band suggestion: If no one else is using it, Knight. Otherwise, anything with str, skl, or def.

Edited November 26, 2010 by DA125

[Smiley Jim]

Volke

Base Stats

LVL 	MHP STR MAG SKL SPD LCK DEF RES 
10/00	25  12  00  13  13  07  07  03

Growths

MHP STR MAG SKL SPD LCK DEF RES
65  50  05  55  65  35  20  10

Volke, the first of two thieves, and the better of the two, since the other one just blows giant elephant cock. Badly.

His starting stats aren't too bad. 13 speed allows him to double anything that isn't a myrmidon or a boss, and 25HP/7Def is respectable enough durability against most things. What makes him mediocre at combat is his atk. 12 base str is good, but his starting weapon(a knife)only has 2 might, for a total of 14 atk. However, being a thief isn't really about combat, it's more or less about the utility that comes from being a thief. Let's see the chapters in which he's useful for stealing/picking, given some training.

C=Chest item

S=Stolen item

H=Hidden item

Chapter 10

Statue frag, Short axe, Steel lance, Javelin, Counter(all C)

Chapter 11

Laguzslayer(S)

Chapter 13

Killer bow, Laguz axe, Elfire, Longsword, Occult, Energy drop, Speedwing(all C)

Chapter 15

Guard, Silver blade, Physic, Statue frag, White gem, Boots, Coin x3(all H)

Chapter 16

Silver lance, Ashera icon, Full guard, Dracoshield, Bolting, Physic(all C)

Chapter 17

Physic(S)

Chapter 18

Silence, Wrath, Recover(all C)

Chapter 20

Physic(S)

Chapter 21

Thoron, Talisman, Energy drop, Brave sword, Stiletto, Corrosion, Parity, Master seal(all C), Sleep x2(S), Physic(S)

Chapter 22

Spirit dust, Nosferatu, Silver bow, Sleep, Tomahawk, Bolganone(all C), Killer axe(S), Physic(S)

Chapter 23-24

Physic x3(S), Short axe(S)

Chapter 26

Physic x2(S), Sleep(S), Short axe(S), Short spear/Killer lance(S), Spear(S)

Chapter 27

Bolganone, Resolve, Laguz axe, Fortify, Spear, Silver lance, Physic(all C), Physic x3(S), Sleep(S), Silence(S), Brave lance/Spear(S)

Chapter 28

Bolting(S), Sleep(S), Silence(S)

While there are several rare items in Endgame, Berserk Ashnard makes it too risky.

So he's rather useful for nabbing some pretty rare items, but combat wise, he's pretty crap. The problem is not his growths(50str/65spd is actually quite good), but the fact that his weapons have shitty might. His strongest weapon(a stiletto)only has 8 might, and he doesn't even get that until C21. So basically, he's doubling but can't do a whole lot of damage. Even after his latish promotion, his atk isn't too great. We are looking at 24 atk at 20/1 with a dagger, which is laughable compared to the rest of the team. A 23 str cap doesn't help him any, either. And don't think that his mastery skill will help him either. Lethality has a terrible proc rate(lolcrit/2), and requires that you waste an Occult that a superior combatant(READ: Ike, paladins, and Gatrie)could have used.

I forgot to mention, he's wind and only supports Bastian, who is also Wind and is one of the worst units in FE9.

So all in all, I'll give him a 9.5/10 for his thieving and a 4.5/10 for his combat for an average of

7.0/10

Support suggestion: LOLWUT?

Band suggestion: He really doesn't need anything. But if you insist, give him a Priest/Peg band.

Edited October 28, 2010 by DA125