ITT DA Ranks The Characters

[Smiley Jim]

Marcia

Base Stats

LVL 	MHP STR MAG SKL SPD LCK DEF RES
05/00   20  08  00  07  11  04  08  06

Growths

MHP STR MAG SKL SPD LCK DEF RES
55  40  20  50  55  40  25  30

I actually did Volke and was about to do Kieran when I COMPLETELY forgot about Marcia.

Marcia joins you as your first flying unit, and unfortunately, she's quite underleveled. Not as underleveled as Rolf, per say, but she is still 5 levels behind. As far as she goes, 8 str at base level is actually quite good(for a pegasus knight. Most pegs have, like, 4 or 5; looks at Caeda, Florina, and Vanessa), as is 11 speed, with respectable growths in both(40Str/55Spd). However, 20HP/8Def is meh at best, and she is prone to getting 2HKO'd, and with 55HP/25Def growths, it gets little better, and bow/ballistae weakness do not help at all. Her offense is decent; with an iron lance, she has 15 atk, which is 3-4HKOing most of the map(and is tinking knights); with 11 AS, she doubles and 2RKOs everything but the fighters and myrms at base(lol about the knights, she can't hurt 'em) However, she has better movement range than everyone and completely ignores terrain, so she isn't completely useless at base.

She is helpful in many maps because there is a lot of bad terrain. Ch12 and 13 are closed off boats which Marcia laughs at, Ch15 is desert which fucks up everybody else's move(well, except Fireman and magic users), Ch17 has swamp for the same reason as C15, Ch20 has a cliff area with only one entrance, which means your units can easily get backlogged, Ch21 has canals and rivers, Ch23 has pitfall traps that she doesn't care about(watch out for ballistae unless she has the full guard), and Ch25 is basically a mountain that takes a long-ass time to even get to the top.

Her supports are also decent. She can support with Kieran and later Tanith; Rolf is also decent because he wants the atk. She has no business supporting Gat because she dwarves his mov by 3, and Gat also has better things to do than support a unit that isn't going to stick close to the posse. I haven't really thought of skills, but Wrath is decent enough, never mind that several other units want the scroll.

She gets a

8.5/10

Support suggestion: Tanith A/Kevin B for starters. Rolfie is alright I suppose.

Band suggestion: Her str and HP could use some working, so I recommend Fighter.

Edited October 28, 2010 by DA125

[Loki Laufeyson]

Im digging your ratings. I agree about Marcia completely. Slow start, great outcome. Perfect candidate for the full guard. I usually stick the Paladin band on her but thats not a bad suggestion with the Fighter band..

[Smiley Jim]

Mordecai

Base Stats

LVL 	MHP STR MAG SKL SPD LCK DEF RES 
00/02   41  15  02  08  08  10  13  06

Growths

MHP STR MAG SKL SPD LCK DEF RES
150 65  00  55  50  40  40  20

Mordy, the more powerful and tanky of the two laguz reinforcements. It seems like a god's blessing when you get him.

His transformed state is ridiculous. He has 31 atk at base, which is higher than anyone else at this point. Which means that despite his poor 11 AS, he is going to be 2HKOing(some weaker dudes get OHKO'd. lol)everything in his starting chapter except the boss(he still 3HKO's Danomill), and if he doubles, it is an automatic ORKO. Ridiculous. Defensively, he's likely your most durable unit at this point with 41HP/16Def at base. To give out an idea, he takes 5 damage or less from every enemy on his starting map except the boss, who does 12. He's monstrous. Even untransformed, it takes a while before he finally dies. This pretty much continues for the next four maps.

If we are going to use him long term(which you should), he has some sick growths. His poor AS(for his level)picks up fairly quickly with a 50% growth, while he pretty much never has atk problems because his 65% str will kick in two level ups in a row on average. 150HP/40Def pretty much ensures adequate durability(as if his HP base alone was ridiculous, they decided to give him a super high growth on it). His only problem beyond all that is his late transformation, but the demi band fixes that(and fire mages, but luckily, those are quite scarce).

Supports? Well, he's water affinity, increasing his already ridiculous atk and def. He also supports with TWO people of the water affinity, and is one of Stefan's only two supporters. Innate Smite is pretty hax, especially in C13 and 22, though he makes good use of Resolve and Wrath thanks to his high HP. Don't waste an Occult on him; Roar is complete crap in this game, all it does IIRC is halt movement for one turn.

He gets a

8.0/10

Support suggestion: He honestly couldn't give a shit who he supports. Stefan A/Mist B is good enough.

Band suggestion: Anything with spd/skl. Mordy's HP, str, and def are overkill as it is. Once you get it, Demi.

Edited October 28, 2010 by DA125

[Anouleth]

Ilyana is rated too low. Pretty much the only difference between her and Soren is a Speedwing and a +spd band. That's pretty much it, yet he's a whole 2.5 points over her.

And many of the items that Volke can steal are just useless. Bolganone? Sleep? Tomahawk? A Master Seal in Chapter 21? These items are worthless, and all the good ones can be covered by Chest Keys. Physics are rarely necessary, even when you play very aggressively. The only thing I would truly give him credit for is the Boots.

[Smiley Jim]

Ilyana is rated too low. Pretty much the only difference between her and Soren is a Speedwing and a +spd band. That's pretty much it, yet he's a whole 2.5 points over her.

And many of the items that Volke can steal are just useless. Bolganone? Sleep? Tomahawk? A Master Seal in Chapter 21? These items are worthless, and all the good ones can be covered by Chest Keys. Physics are rarely necessary, even when you play very aggressively. The only thing I would truly give him credit for is the Boots.

Ok, maybe I underrated her a little. Yes, she could use a Speedwing and the speed band to be comparable to Soren, but I can just as easily give those two commodities to Soren to give him an even higher spd lead over her. I'll bump her rating by 1(I still don't like her very much).

Ok, maybe some of the items are worthless, such as the affronted Volcannon and Master Seal. Yes, you could use Chest Keys, but that requires that a unit who would much rather be fighting go out of his way to open a chest, not to mention that Chest Keys are finite(you can't buy them). Volke, however, can open chests without Chest Keys(course, you have to pay 50 for each lock)I was listing every item he could get, but I'll bold the most useful items.

Edited September 10, 2010 by DA125

[dondon151]

Marcia is rated about 2 points too low, I think.

[Shadow Mir]

With regard to the whole rant about female mages in other games, other than Lute, the female mages in other games were inferior to the males anyway (Nino joins late and underleveled, ditto Miranda, I think, and Lilina joins underleveled as well.) Also, you forgot about Lethe and Mordecai.

[Smiley Jim]

With regard to the whole rant about female mages in other games, other than Lute, the female mages in other games were inferior to the males anyway (Nino joins late and underleveled, ditto Miranda, I think, and Lilina joins underleveled as well.) Also, you forgot about Lethe and Mordecai.

I'll do Lethe and Mordy as soon as I'm done Brom and Neph since they join around the same time(if I could I'll just copy Kieran's rating to another page and do Lethe and Mordy's ratings on that page). I also know that most of the female mages have a price to pay for having better mag than their male counterparts; in most cases, being underleveled. I mean really? A Lv5 mage that joins in Ch28H? What were they thinking?

And yes, Miranda does join way underleveled. At least Sara and Homeros have Paragon to make up for said underleveledness. Plus she joins in an inferior route(IMO, I'd rather face Cyas and his 10 Leadership stars in 17A than go through those warp-tile infested woods in 16B(forcing me to spam Dean and his dragon lance), because you at least get 2 good units(usually one because Olwen>Eyrios) and a priest out of the A route as opposed to a joke unit and an underleveled mage that is inferior to Asvel.)

Marcia is rated about 2 points too low, I think.

She'd get a higher score if she joined at Lv10 instead of Lv5(or if she joined in Chapter 3). I have to dock points for underleveledness.

Edited September 10, 2010 by DA125

[dondon151]

No you don't. It's only the case if being underleveled is a problem, but you have a glut of BEXP to dump onto her, so it's not a problem.

[Shadow Mir]

I'll do Lethe and Mordy as soon as I'm done Brom and Neph since they join around the same time(if I could I'll just copy Kieran's rating to another page and do Lethe and Mordy's ratings on that page). I also know that most of the female mages have a price to pay for having better mag than their male counterparts; in most cases, being underleveled. I mean really? A Lv5 mage that joins in Ch28H? What were they thinking?

And yes, Miranda does join way underleveled. At least Sara and Homeros have Paragon to make up for said underleveledness. Plus she joins in an inferior route(IMO, I'd rather face Cyas and his 10 Leadership stars in 17A than go through those warp-tile infested woods in 16B(forcing me to spam Dean and his dragon lance), because you at least get 2 good units(usually one because Olwen>Eyrios) and a priest out of the A route as opposed to a joke unit and an underleveled mage that is inferior to Asvel.)

Well, that works. Also, while Nino's joining situation is bad, it's leagues better than Sophia's.

Figures that she did join underleveled.

[Smiley Jim]

Lethe

Base Stats

LVL 	MHP STR MAG SKL SPD LCK DEF RES
00/03   34  12  04  10  12  15  09  07

Growths

MHP STR MAG SKL SPD LCK DEF RES
130 50  05  65  70  50  40  25

Lethe is the faster and more skillful of the laguz reinforcements. She's good but not as good as Mordecai.

Her base offense isn't too bad. 26 Atk with 15 AS is one rounding most enemies in her joining map, except the knights(she still 2 rounds them). With a 50% str and a 70% spd growth, this pretty much continues for most of the game. Defensively, she's doing alright. 34HP/12Def isn't nearly as good as Mordy's 41HP/16Def, but for the sake of comparing to what others have, she's above average, and she has 45 avoid right off the bat. 130HP/40Def growths don't hurt either.

Unlike Mordy, she transforms as soon as you start a map, so right off the bat, she's bringing her usefulness to the posse(whereas Mordy has to wait four turns before he can fight). However, this comes at a price; she untransforms mid-battle, and she is far from durable in her untransformed state(luckily, she still has 39 avoid, but 34HP/9Def is not that good). She's a little easier to use than Mordy as a result of this, which is cool.

Her support affinity isn't as good as Mordy's(lolHeaven), and none of her supporters need hit that badly. Her best supports are with Jill and Muraim(Ike wants A Soren/B Oscar, and Ranulf joins in Chapter 23)because she would like the def. Read Mordy's rating on what skills I recommend, and as I said, Roar is complete crap.

Overall, she gets a

7.0/10

Support suggestion: Only viable supports are Jill and Muraim.

Band suggestion: Anything for str, I guess? Her stats are OK as far as I'm concerned.

Edited October 28, 2010 by DA125

[Anouleth]

No you don't. It's only the case if being underleveled is a problem, but you have a glut of BEXP to dump onto her, so it's not a problem.

Now now, keep in mind these aren't low turn count rankings or efficiency ratings or something. Marcia certainly has disadvantages, it's just that they're hard to overcome in inefficient play since you can't pour BEXP/statboosters into her to overcome her flaws.

Marcia is barely even in Top Tier on the tier list. I'd think you'd complain about her being under Boyd on a list that claims to reflect efficiency before being too low in a Character Rating topic.

[Smiley Jim]

Kieran

Base Stats

LVL 	MHP STR MAG SKL SPD LCK DEF RES
12/00   30  11  00  10  12  05  10  01

Growths

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

Kevin, Oscar's eternal archrival and the red knight. There's not much else to say about him, except that he's the manliest person in Tellius.

He starts off fairly good. 19 atk with an iron axe is decent, and he is doubling most of the enemies in his joining chapter thanks to his 12 AS, 2 rounding every enemy he DOES double except the armors. Defensively, he's doing alright. 30HP/10Def is getting 4RKO'd for the most part, and even the strongest enemies 3RKO. Considering the average durability is 3-4RKO'd, this isn't bad. His offense improves quickly thanks to his 50% str growth and 90% effective AS growth, and while his def is about average, 60HP/40Def gives acceptable durability.

Chapter 12 and 13 aren't so hot for him since the crows can reach up to 16 AS, which 2RKO's him at base. However he does well against most human enemies due to their stats sucking for the most part(only sucks against myrms, does well vs. soldiers and good against everything else). At equal levels, he's comparable to Oscar. Against base Kevin, 12/0 Oscar has +1 HP, -1 Str, -1 Spd, +1 Def, and +2 Res. Even at 20/1, they are remarkably similar; Kevin has -1 HP, +1 Str, -1 Skl, +1 Spd, -1 Def and -2 Res on Oscar. Not bad in all honesty. DYK it takes Oscar until Lv13 to tie and surpass Kevin's spd lead? Meanwhile Kevin takes until 20/15 to beat Oscar's durability lead(Kevin wins str like forever). As for promotion items, he works well with swords or lances.

He only supports 3 people, but thankfully for him, two of them match his move and are uber in their own right. His own affinity is crap(lolwind)but he supports Oscar, who effectively gives him a sharp avoid boost(and it's quick to boot) Marcia is also a good option, seeing as she's the only other Kevin supporter that matches his move(lolRice). Gamble is a crap skill for Kieran, given his shaky hit. I would recommend Sol if you can fork over an Occult.

His rating:

8.5/10

Support suggestion: Oscar A/Marcia B. You know why.

Band suggestion: Speed isn't one of his strong points, so I guess KW. Soldier also works to give him a durability lead.

Edited December 15, 2010 by DA125

[Smiley Jim]

Brom

Base Stats

LVL 	MHP STR MAG SKL SPD LCK DEF RES
08/00   28  10  01  09  07  04  13  02

Growths

MHP STR MAG SKL SPD LCK DEF RES
75  45  10  50  25  20  55  25

Chap. The fattest farmer in all of Crimea. He takes hits and doesn't afraid of torture.

All jokes aside, he does alright for himself when you first get him. 28HP/13Def gives him reasonable durability, letting him get 4HKO'd at worst, and thanks to his 7 AS, the only enemy that can reliably double him is the boss, assuming he doesn't get weighed down. Speaking of that, his offense is god awful. The guy has 17 atk with an iron lance(the only weapon that won't weigh him down besides lolslim), which is frickin' terrible, especially since he can't double(and he only causes 5-7 dmg to the cavaliers. Does well vs myrms, though). If he equips that steel lance, he's gonna get doubled(and 2RKO'd). He does alright in Chapter 12 as well assuming he gets a level in C11(or feed him some extra BEXP); his only issue in that chapter is that every crow has 1-2 listed crit on him, but 30HP/14def at Lv10 only takes 4X2 damage a round from the 18 atk ravens so he's good to go there.

Like Gatrie, Chap grows into a total tank thanks to his 75HP/55Def growths; however, his 45% str growth combined with his poor speed base(and growth) means that his offense isn't getting anywhere without forges. This is a problem since at least Gat is hitting hard with base weapons despite not doubling; Brom doesn't even hit very hard unless you hand him a steel lance forge or something(and forges are very sought after). Luckily for him, his speed woes are easily patched with the KW, and unlike Gat, he actually has a speed base(7 spd at 8/0>5 spd at 9/0)to make use of the KW, so he will ultimately be faster than his azure-clad rival, and therefore, double sooner. Once he promotes, he's actually decent. 40HP/21Def is still better than what most guys have, and assuming we give him the KW after Lv11, he has 13 spd at 20/1. Not bad in all honesty. He still has severe mobility problems, though.

Brom is water affinity and supports characters that actually want his affinity(unlike Gatrie and his light affinity, and him supporting units that could care less about him) Boyd helps patch his failure atk(for a knight)thanks to his Fire affinity, and Zihark gives him +10 avoid(not that he needs it, since he has overkill def). While Neph's aff is one of the worst in the game, she could use the atk and def that Brom dispenses, as well. As for skills, he makes a fine user of Adept, given his high skill(and that fact that he doesn't double for a long time), and Luna can turn some 2RKO's into ORKO's if he doubles.

I will give him a

6.0/10

Support suggestion: Brom practically NEEDS atk, so Boyd A/Zihark B.

Band suggestion: KW. He's mediocre at best without it.

Fun fact: Chap's growths are all 5 lower than Gatrie's besides spd, which he ties, and mag which is 5 higher.

Edited December 15, 2010 by DA125

[Smiley Jim]

Nephenee

Base Stats

LVL 	MHP STR MAG SKL SPD LCK DEF RES
07/00   22  08  02  10  11  06  09  03

Growths

MHP STR MAG SKL SPD LCK DEF RES
55  40  20  55  55  25  35  25

Neph is an excellent unit, but is heavily overrated. A lot. Go check out the GFAQ's ratings. I saw some guys give her a perfect score.

In all seriousness, she starts out pretty bad, even worse than Brom. Her base offense is only slightly better than Chap's. With only 8 str, she only has 15 atk with an iron lance, but her spd is 4 higher than her armored friend, so she will double a hell of a lot more. Her durability is a LOT worse than Brom's. She gets 2HKO'd by 20 atk(Brom gets 4HKO'd by the same amount), and unfortunately, a lot of the enemies(like, all the lance knights and two armors)have that. She does have innate Wrath to help with her offense, but considering her not-so-great durability, it actually doesn't do a whole lot for her at first, and runs the risk of becoming an hero. If you aren't too stingy(or hoarding)with BEXP, then she can get 2-3 levels worth and it won't harm the team significantly.

Fortunately for her, Neph improves quickly. 40% str growth is about average, however, she has a 55% spd growth, so her offense picks up fairly quickly. Defensively, she could be better, but she's doing alright. 55HP/35Def is about average(same as Oscar), but with only 22 base HP, her durability figures won't ever be as good as Oscar or Kieran's(9 def is pretty good, though), but it is good enough for her to abuse Wrath without getting killed all the time. Once she and others start promoting, she has above average offense thanks to her speed and Wrath, and average durability. Not bad in all honesty.

As for her support affinity, her affinity is probably one of the worst, but all her supports give atk. Brom is probably her best bet since it fixes another problem: her durability. Calill isn't bad either. She makes good use of Resolve or Vantage thanks to her innate Wrath, but if you don't like Wrath for some reason, you could give her Luna.

She gets a

7.5/10

Support suggestion: Brom A/Calill B. I honestly don't give a shit since all her supports give atk.

Band suggestion: Neph really benefits from the Knight/Wyvern bands. Otherwise, anything with str/def. Don't bother with the KW, her speed is overkill as it is(lol18 spd at 20/0 and 26 spd by 20/11).

EDIT: Ein said that she didn't need the scroll since by the time she reaches D lances, she will have ~12 Str.

Edited October 29, 2010 by DA125

[Shadow Mir]

Nephenee

Base Stats

LVL 	MHP STR MAG SKL SPD LCK DEF RES
07/00   22  08  02  10  11  06  09  03

Growths

MHP STR MAG SKL SPD LCK DEF RES
55  40  20  55  55  25  35  25

Neph is an excellent unit, but is heavily overrated. A lot. Go check out the GFAQ's ratings. I saw some guys give her a perfect score.

In all seriousness, she starts out pretty bad, even worse than Brom. Her base offense is only slightly better than Chap's. With only 8 str, she only has 15 atk with an iron lance, but her spd is 4 higher than her armored friend, so she will double a hell of a lot more. Her durability is a LOT worse than Brom's. She gets 2HKO'd by 20 atk(Brom gets 4HKO'd by the same amount), and unfortunately, a lot of the enemies(like, all the lance knights and two armors)have that. She does have innate Wrath to help with her offense, but considering her not-so-great durability, it actually doesn't do a whole lot for her at first, and runs the risk of becoming an hero.

Fortunately for her, Neph improves quickly. 40% str growth is about average, however, she has a 55% spd growth, so her offense picks up fairly quickly. Defensively, she could be better, but she's doing alright. 55HP/35Def is about average(same as Oscar), but with only 22 base HP, her durability figures won't ever be as good as Oscar or Kieran's(9 def is pretty good, though), but it is good enough for her to abuse Wrath without getting killed all the time. I also forgot to mention that E lances is complete ass(Rolf had E bows, but he could get away with it since he had Rolf's bow), so you may want to use an arms scroll on her. Once she and others start promoting, she has above average offense thanks to her speed and Wrath, and average durability. Not bad in all honesty.

As for her support affinity, her affinity is probably one of the worst, but all her supports give atk. Brom is probably her best bet since it fixes another problem: her durability. Calill isn't bad either. She makes good use of Resolve or Vantage thanks to her innate Wrath, but if you don't like Wrath for some reason, you could give her Luna.

She gets a

7.0/10

Band suggestion: Neph really benefits from the Knight/Wyvern bands. Otherwise, anything with str/def. Don't bother with the KW, her speed is overkill as it is(lol18 spd at 20/0 and 26 spd by 20/11).

I agree with most of this, but personally, I think that an arms scroll on Nephenee would be a waste, since by the time she can handle steel lances without being weighed down too much, she'd be at D rank already.

[eclipse]

Thanks for being one of the few people that doesn't think Nepheenee is the Goddess of Everything.

However, what does this mean?

She does have innate Wrath to help with her offense, but considering her not-so-great durability, it actually doesn't do a whole lot for her at first, and runs the risk of becoming an hero.

[Tables]

An hero: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=an+hero

Also, why are you assuming no BEXP onto Neph? Taking 2-3 levels of BEXP when she joins isn't massive favouritism (it's probably about 1/10th of what you've earnt at that point and you probably use about 10 characters) and thanks to her impressive growths, it seems reasonable to give to her. Now, don't get me wrong, I think Nephenee is pretty average out of the early joiners, but it feels like you're sandbagging her for no reason.

[Smiley Jim]

Also, why are you assuming no BEXP onto Neph? Taking 2-3 levels of BEXP when she joins isn't massive favouritism (it's probably about 1/10th of what you've earnt at that point and you probably use about 10 characters) and thanks to her impressive growths, it seems reasonable to give to her. Now, don't get me wrong, I think Nephenee is pretty average out of the early joiners, but it feels like you're sandbagging her for no reason.

I wasn't sandbagging her at all. It just didn't cross my mind that BEXP plays a factor, especially since you can manipulate it in Fixed mode. I'll do an update on BEXP useage. I still have to dock points for underleveledness. Sorry for the understanding. Next up is Zihark.

[Smiley Jim]

Zihark

Base Stats

LVL 	MHP STR MAG SKL SPD LCK DEF RES
10/00   25  10  01  13  15  06  07  00

Growths

MHP STR MAG SKL SPD LCK DEF RES
55  45  15  50  60  40  30  20

Zihark is the biggest furry on the face of Tellius. However, this is a rating on his usefulness as a unit, not an anti-furry rant.

When he starts off, he's not bad. Assuming you recruit him in one turn(not recommended due to the vigilantes), he doubles everything in his joining chapter except the boss thanks to his 15 AS. With his killing edge, his atk is fairly impressive(relatively, 19 atk on a Lv10 myrmidon is not bad)and he has 36 base crit with it. So his offense is good to start with, and with 45str/60spd growths, this continues for his whole existence. His durability isn't as hot; 25HP/7Def is getting 2HKO'd by most of the common enemies(armors and lance knights)and with 55HP/30def growths, this doesn't go away anytime soon. He does well in C12 and C13 despite not doubling the crows(granted no one's doubling them anyway)since he has laguzslayer access and innate Adept(he only has 13 AS with it at base, but I don't remember any crows having 17 AS so he's safe. To be entirely safe, give him a level of BEXP)

Once out of crow's land, he's likely above average again since he's doubling every enemy in C14 and C16(watch for knights)for a 3HKO(with 30+ crit if you still have the KE)at 15/0(yes, I'm being nice and giving him 5 levels in two chapters.). With Adept, he can turn some 2RKO's into ORKO's. Not bad in all honesty. It gets even funnier when he does promote. 22Spd/25crit borders on overkill and 16 str isn't half bad. His only problem mid-game is that people start getting better with 1-2 range, so his offense figures aren't as high as one would expect. His durability is still suspect, but luckily, he's Earth affinity and all his supports give def(unlike Mia, who only gets def from Ilyana(who supports with Zihark as well), who as we've discussed is mediocre).

As I said before, he's earth affinity, so his avoid will ultimately be higher than Mia's, and again, as I said, all his supports give def. A Brom/B Muraim(or vice versa) is best, IMO. As for any skills, he works well with Vantage or Resolve. Don't remove his Adept unless you like Astra for some reason(Hint: Star Strike isn't as good here as it is in FE4/5, where it was in the hands of Aira/Lakche/Marita and didn't halve atk.)

The only thing keeping him down is his lack of 1-2 range that isn't a magic sword.

7.0/10

Support suggestion: Muraim A/Brom B. Brom wants full atk more than avo, and Ilyana sucks.

Band suggestion: He makes good use of the Fighter, Knight, or Soldier bands.

EDIT: I dropped him to a 7 because I felt like it.

Edited November 5, 2010 by DA125

[Anouleth]

I'm not seeing why Zihark gets a whole point more than Nephenee, when they're roughly equal (his offense is better at times, she has 1-2 range).

[eclipse]

I'm not seeing why Zihark gets a whole point more than Nephenee, when they're roughly equal (his offense is better at times, she has 1-2 range).

Nepheenee comes in at a lower level, comes with nothing, and has a terrible affinity.

Zihark is a free Killing Edge with an awesome affinity.

Once you get both of them going, I think they'll be closer. How hard is it to get Neph up two levels (actually curious, since I never used her)?

[Soren37]

BEXP. It's quite easy. That and you have her clean-up after Oscar, Boyd, and Titan storm through.

[Anouleth]

Nepheenee comes in at a lower level, comes with nothing, and has a terrible affinity.

Nephenee doesn't need supports, her durability is naturally higher than Zihark's anyway.

Zihark is a free Killing Edge with an awesome affinity.

Zihark is not a Killing Edge, he is a Myrmidon. And his affinity merely covers up his durability issues. It is no substitute for 1-2 range.

Once you get both of them going, I think they'll be closer. How hard is it to get Neph up two levels (actually curious, since I never used her)?

Go to the 'Manage' option in the base, and give Nephenee 200 BEXP.

[eclipse]

Nephenee doesn't need supports, her durability is naturally higher than Zihark's anyway.

Nepheenee's best option is Brom, which will give her a little more durability. Otherwise, it's late stuff that does not help her defenses (by "late", I mean Zihark's final support comes in before her second one).

Is it enough of a durability difference to matter?

(again, I haven't used Neph)

Zihark is not a Killing Edge, he is a Myrmidon. And his affinity merely covers up his durability issues. It is no substitute for 1-2 range.

He's a Myrmidon that comes with a Killing Edge, which he may or may not keep.

I was under the impression that raising one's Avoid was a good thing.

Go to the 'Manage' option in the base, and give Nephenee 200 BEXP.

I keep getting the sense that I have better things to do with my BEXP. . .is it that hard for her to gain those levels via combat?