Top 30 Fire Emblem Characters of ALL TIME Countdown

[dondon151]

Grandjackal is also telling me that he has trouble using them both in hyper-efficient play. I think he's using one of them, though.

[zahlman]

Who's Alance? Oh, right. I see what I did there.

You... made it sound like you ship them?

Edit:

Plus, they have that very very sexy support triangle with each other and Roy

Confirmed for yaoi.

Edited December 19, 2011 by zahlman

[Mekkah]

Grandjackal is also telling me that he has trouble using them both in hyper-efficient play. I think he's using one of them, though.

He wouldn't be able to promote either of them anytime soon anyway because he reserves the Knight Crest for BORIS

[Dark Sage]

He wouldn't be able to promote either of them anytime soon anyway because he reserves the Knight Crest for BORIS

His name is Bors, after the knight in Arthurian legend. Boris is just GJ's dumb nickname for him.

[Thor Odinson]

I found Percival outclassing them once he joins, though they're still pretty good. Then there's the ridiculousness known as Miledy.

Maybe Percy and Millie will be even higher then.

Probably.

Edited December 20, 2011 by Luminescent Blade

[General Banzai]

I feel Alance should have been slapped into the same ranking as Kent/Sain and Oscar/Kieran. I mean, they're all near the top of their tiers (if not the top) and do basically the same thing. They join early with good bases, good growths, good move, good weapon control, some of the easiest-to-get supports in the game, etc, etc.

[bottlegnomes]

I feel Alance should have been slapped into the same ranking as Kent/Sain and Oscar/Kieran. I mean, they're all near the top of their tiers (if not the top) and do basically the same thing. They join early with good bases, good growths, good move, good weapon control, some of the easiest-to-get supports in the game, etc, etc.

Ehhh, I don't know. Alance join a fair bit earlier than Kent and Sain (discounting Lyn mode because it's Lyn mode) and especially Kieran. It's not like that hurts them too much more in leveling ability, but it does mean they aren't around to help as much. Kain and Able on the other hand are pretty much identical.

[Colonel M]

Actually I'm a little shocked that Alance made it to the list. They're good units... But nowadays I constantly question it.

[-Cynthia-]

They don't really dominate any stage of the game IMO. Marcus outclasses them early, Rutger's a better bosskiller for the midgame, and Percival and Miledy outdo them once they show up. Solid units throughout, but rarely amazing.

[Rewjeo]

Given that Mekkah has stated this does not run under the same assumptions as a tier list, I think it's worth pointing out that they're normal mode is pretty stellar. They're very good earlygame now, which leads to more EXP, meaning they have better stats than their competition when the competition shows up, and people like Miledy and Percy don't have HM bonuses anymore. These better stats are also in comparison to worse enemies, so at least in NM it doesn't take long to have the duo basically charging across every map and slaughtering things, and even before then they're pretty great compared to your team. I'm really not sure how much emphasis anyone puts on any of that, but it's there.

[Dark Sage]

Alance better than Paola and MU? That's insane.

[Refa]

I'm guessing Sigurd's going to be #1, because of how damn ridiculous he is (oh, and Celice I guess).

[Aethereal]

I'm guessing Sigurd's going to be #1, because of how damn ridiculous he is (oh, and Celice I guess).

I don't really think Celice is as good as Sigurd. That said, Sigurd being numero dos to Seth wouldn't surprise me.

[Rewjeo]

It wouldn't surprise me if Seth was pretty far back, though. I mean, FE8 is very easy, and to a lot of people, that makes him not so great a unit.

[Mekkah]

I will _kind of_ defend the list for a little when it's complete, and maybe change things around "in hindsight" to see how accurate we can make it. But again, note the OP. This is not just tier list playthroughs. It takes into account drafts as well as casual runs. Of course Alance aren't worth much if you use Marcus all of earlygame and Warpskip lategame.

They don't really dominate any stage of the game IMO. Marcus outclasses them early, Rutger's a better bosskiller for the midgame, and Percival and Miledy outdo them once they show up. Solid units throughout, but rarely amazing.

Sorry but this is terrible logic. Since when does Rutger being a better bosskiller mean they aren't dominating that part of the game anymore? There's a long, long, long path to the throne in pretty much every map, and you are acting like it shouldn't even be taken into account. Your statement can be reversed so easily. "Marcus starts getting outclassed by them by midgame, Rutger's unmounted and can't match their utility until he gets to the boss, and Percival and Miledy aren't even around for half of the game." Also, Alance with supports will generally be more uber than Percival, especially in NM.

Edited December 20, 2011 by Mekkah

[Life]

I haven't seem Alm yet. Not pleased.

[CrashGordon94]

He could be higher up.

Then again very few people care a great deal about Gaiden, especially when going back to the SNES for FE3/4/5 is a huge leap into the past for some members of the fanbase.

[Integrity]

Some games age gracefully. FE2 has not. I still regularly play games from the DOS era, because they did.

EDIT: Hell, I'd argue that FE4 hasn't aged gracefully either but that's another war for another day.

Edited December 20, 2011 by Integrity

[Thor Odinson]

I'm a pretty casual player most of the time (enough that I can get several supports (1+1s that is) done on FE6 just because I want to, anyway) and Alance on HM has, IMO, a lot of issues in earlygame since terrible hitrates all around and they need a few levels under their belt to start dealing adequate damage/doubling in case of Lance. I found myself especially annoyed in Chapter 4 since Marcus and Dieck are the only real reliable damage dealers as Lot only gets something a little over 50% with Halberd against a lance cav. I find their midgame to be most useful, honestly, when Marcus and Zealot stop doubling stuff, and you got a crest to promote one of them. Once Millie and Percy joins, though...

I will give Alance credit for furthering Rutger in his conquest of rape via rescuedrop awesome.

[Mekkah]

You can't really fault Alance for a bad earlygame when their deployment is free and they are somewhere between 2nd and 4th best units you have regardless (Marcus being #1, Rutger and Dieck being better at some points but worse/not around in others). A lot of the early maps are all about ganging up on enemies, and they're pretty fine for that. I do agree they're in their prime in midgame though.

16. Aless, from FE4

When this guy joined my party the first time, I was basically like: "Really? I can have this? You know I will break your game with this, right? Well, thank you!" Aless joins with a "do you think that's enough" 43 base Atk thanks to the holy Mistolteen. At first sight the bonuses of this legendary weapon look rather awkward: +20 Skl and +10 Res? You'd think the only way it gets worse is if it gave +20 Luk instead. But they actually work out pretty well.

First off, Aless has an outrageous skillset, just like Shannan. Pursuit, Continue, Ambush, and then the Mistolteen also gives Critical. So basically, Aless packs enough of a punch to kill pretty much everything, even some of the toughest enemies in the game. One of these would be Ishtar, who somehow doesn't die even if you kill her two times. She's got a ton of Avo, the accuracy of a missile, Ambush, and Continue to make sure she hits twice when you don't want her to. The +10 Res boost allows Aless to survive a hit (or two, depending on what encounter and what Aless is like at that point), and the +20 Skl gives him a reasonable chance of killing Ishtar in one round of combat while also pretty much ensuring that he will hit.

The longer the game goes on, the more important Res becomes. Ch7 and Ch8 both have Mage sisters (who looooove attacking Aless up close) and Blume. Around Ch10 is when the true magic show begins, with the Lopt Sect's Dark Mages and all their silly long range bull and accurate Jormung, an Ishtar encounter, and a Meteor shower. The Final chapter is pretty much an Aless and Celice playground, with Edda's very interesting and well designed (no) horde of Sleep staves, Meteor and Bolting. Pretty much every castle is guarded by a Dark Bishop with Fenrir and Jormung, and there's some Dark Mages standing on random cliffs. And of course there's a large amount of Sages coming with Ishtar, and Manfroy and friends...

The only "bad" thing about Aless is his lack of good 1-2 range (which is understandable when you look at how good Holsety is), and the fact that real efficient FE4 runs are like, Celice solos, or Celice/Arthur shows. But he's still very very strong, you just can't go wrong with mounted units in FE4, especially not if they're this good at OHKOing without dying.

[Renall]

Given what you've said about Shannan and Aless, it seems like we're all but certain to see Sigurd, Celice, and Arthur coming up (though maybe more within the Top 10 than outside of it). And a couple more FE6 units. And FE10 Haar. And Seth. And somebody else from the DS games... doesn't leave us with many numbers left, does it?

EDIT: I could see Nailah/Tibarn ending up rolled together for one of these slots because, come on, Tibarn.

Edited December 20, 2011 by Renall

[Lord Raven]

I honestly can't see Nailah/Tibarn being here anytime soon.

[Zak Something]

I'm curious as to who the 15 characters that are better than Aless are.

Edited December 20, 2011 by STOUT SHAKO FOR 2 REFINED

[Renall]

I honestly can't see Nailah/Tibarn being here anytime soon.

I could see it if he lumps "Laguz Royals" into one character, as that spreads out their availability and they are quite dominating, especially for casual play. Alan and Lance don't deserve to be here individually, and neither did Sedgar and Wolf individually (hence getting an honorable mention together). Sigurd/Celice would have an entirely different position on the list if lumped together (arguably they could be #1), but would be somewhat differently-ranked if separated.

For example, Seth is good enough to be Top 5 all by himself, but if you did something like "Jeigan Archetype" and rolled Jeigan, Marcus, Seth, etc. all together as a single entry, there's no way they could rank worse than Seth, as you've taken all of Seth's traits and added to it multiple other characters with tons of utility in their own games.

Individually, I'd agree no Royal has a place on the list, but since combined entries are apparently allowed, a case could be made. Also he said he wanted to get Ulki and Janaff in and just couldn't justify it, so unless availability means a whole hell of a lot to him, the two non-Royal Hawks almost cracking the list does suggest a Royal (or at least "the Royals") could make it.

Edited December 20, 2011 by Renall

[Rehab]

Some games age gracefully. FE2 has not. I still regularly play games from the DOS era, because they did.

EDIT: Hell, I'd argue that FE4 hasn't aged gracefully either but that's another war for another day.

EDIT: Hell, I'd argue that FE4 hasn't aged gracefully either but that's another war for another day.

Ugh I've made a three paragraph post of my thoughts on this point so far, but it would be about as off-topic here as possible. Thread on FE concepts and how they've aged/something in the making?