Best Staff Wielder to turn into combat Unit in GBA games?

[Prince Blueblood]

For me, in the three games, it would be Saul and nobody else coming even close with him (maybe because in Blazing Sword and Sacred Stones, their Monks are simply superior when turned into Bishops, while Saul in binding blade are your best bet for light magic user since Ellen is often to frail). In relative terms, the second best staff wielder to combat unit is Moulder, as Sage, with Elfire without AS loss, but he could get magically screwed and all that's left are his moustache.

And yeah, the one I refer to in the title is someone who start with only staff rank (cleric/priest/troubadour), not some certain prepromotes who coming with respectable ranks in staffs.

[kittyinpink]

Priscilla for me usually has pretty good magic and other stats other them def.

[Klokinator]

Serra because she got that pigtail power.

[Mekkah]

I liked Clarine with Rutger and Dieck supports when I played super slow.

[Magical Glace]

L'Arachel can wreck if you manage to train her (If you're willing to, the easiest way is mine v2 glitching monster dark magic then Valni grinding...)

Shame she can't get Slayer though...

[DragonLord]

Priscilla for me usually has pretty good magic and other stats other them def.

Yeah, other than Nino she usually has the highest magic stat for me, making her useful as an offensive magic unit. That defence could use some work though.

[MacLovin]

DA BOULDER IS DA BEST.

[Jiac]

I agree with Saul.

He pretty much always end up with decent stats on everything he needs.

HP, Magic, Skill, Speed and Res.

It's like a toned down Lucius.

[Just call me AL]

I'm gonna say Serra, Priscilla, Natasha, and L'Arachel.

In every single case besides Priscilla's, they have easy access to the fastest weapon level growth in their games due to D Light (which in turn grants Shine access), and C Anima. (The latter of which is exclusive to L'Rachel, and also grants Elfire access.) Literally, they're only 110 Shine tome uses at most from using Aureola in FE7 and Ivaldi in FE8. While L'Arachel only needs 90 Elfire uses at most to use Excalibur. Most staff users in the series in general don't exactly have this particular advantage. Not even in BInding Blade, where BIshops not named Yodel have to struggle through 200 Light tome uses at most just to be able to use Aureola. (Though said disadvantage can be made up for in other FEs with stuff like one master stat for equipment a la FEs 1-3, fixed ranks like in FE4, and the DIscipline skill in FEs 10 and 13.)

Adding to that, the fact that Valkyries and Bishops (sans Lucius and Renault) generally have a faster EXP gain than most other units. Which can be helpful to keep in mind when doing stuff like Ranks. And is also why I mention Priscilla, even though she sadly gets an E in Anima upon promotion.

I will admit that Moulder counts towards this as well. But I don't think I've had as much fun using him as I did with Natasha or L'Rachel in FE8.

Edited February 1, 2015 by Just call me AL

[Ownagepuffs]

Pent

Priscilla.

[Kiseki]

It doesn't matter how much the RNG hates you, L'Arachel is always viable and will demolish everything.

Honorable mentions to Serra.

[Lord of Gabriel Knight]

If you promote Ellen and have her support with Miledy, you get massive critical boosts.

[Eselred]

Priscilla is a monster with Sain and/or Raven supports.

[JSND Alter Dragon Boner]

Priscilla

Just promote her at level 10 and start to own shit with that unpromoted EXP gain

[Glaceon10]

I can recall my Clarine being absolutely fantastic when I put her in a Clarine / Dieck / Rutger Support triangle. Her Speed was so high that she was rarely hit, and she still had good Magic for good damage. It was amazing.

[Prince Blueblood]

oh well, when I think in absolute number terms, Priscilia did win out of sheer magic and movements.

but when compared to the rest of their fellow comrades, Saul will most likely shines in unmodified FE6 stats, yes he often has bad luck, but at least he could take ranged attack well and not die or horribly mauled (compared to Clarine and Ellen, especially), plus there's few light magic users and Yodel is just plain up bad. Too bad, Saul did have limited support options, but while we're talking about it, Dorothy is often worth it because it turn Saul into combat medic who don't really budge when theres some stray attacks upon him (as long as it wasn't swordsmaster in melee, thankfully ranged axes accuracy sucks in FE6, so Saul still laughs at berserkers while loldodging)

Ellen simply weaker, less magic version of Saul, with frail condition that she will be killed by anything thrown at her, while Clarine did has nice Anima things and has pretty pony to carry her in good moves, but considering that Hugh and Lugh is far better option already for Anima magic... (yes I know Niime put all the youngsters to shame with the staff and Dark Magic, but still, this is about promotables, not prepromotes)

Serra is... simply bad in terms of magic, and Light Magic is Lucius' own in Blazing Sword, Priscilia definitely outclass Serra by far, including nice supports with Raven and or Guy (your most likely sword users in late game), but still, she's often prone to mag-screw, and Lyn trained Erk often worth far more than her in terms of combat (plus with sage, all you need is heal, and Lucius can be grinded as bishop to use Physic quickly - due to start with C staff)

Moulder, the moustachioed, manlier version Wrys, in my opinion, is better staffbot than Natasha and L'Arachel. He's far more durable often take hand axe to the face and just calmly do his job afterward, while Natasha and L'Arachel will end up needing rescue and or healing to keep them not killed in the next turn if you can't sweep down the enemies, not a common situation in FE8 I admit, but it is quite nice to have a staffbot that could take a hit

[Jotari]

From what I can remember Clarine has awesome avoid in a game where hit rates are godawful. Stick her on a forest and her durability doesn't even matter so long as no one can hit her.

[MacLovin]

Clarine is the best chipper in casual fe6 HM runs.

Stick on forests/mountains, probably with a dieck/rutger support, and she dodges shit forever and does major chip damage.

[Shadow Mir]

I'm highly inclined to say it's one of Serra, Priscilla, Natasha, and L'Arachel.

[Scarlet]

Gonna echo Clarine with the Deke/Rutger support triangle. Her Avoid becomes so completely ridiculous that outside of Sacae, I can't really think of any non-boss enemy that can reasonably hit her, and that's not even taking into account terrain. The Crt boost from that same support triangle also improves her offense quite a bit.

I certainly ended up using her enough to have her S-rank Anima lol.

[ViewtifulBo]

FE6: Ellen

FE7: Serra

FE8: L'Arachel

But I don't think Staff users should ever be in combat in the first place with the exception of the one you want to use for S rank Light Magic.

Edited February 4, 2015 by ViewtifulBo

[Just call me AL]

But I don't think Staff users should ever be in combat in the first place with the exception of the one you want to use for S rank Light Magic.

Anything to help them defend themselves. And I actually think that having an S Rank staff would be a little more pointless to have outside of certain situations. (Made a little more poignant by the fact that you do typically get an S Rank Staff user at some point in the game in some FEs like 6, 7, and 10.)

[Vorena]

If we are looking for combat I would have to say FE8 since that is where the power actually comes in handy. Unless you plan to grind a unit more than any other characters, then healers will be promoting rather late in the series and will be lacking stuff like WEXP and such. Not to mention that many of them lack any good magic power. Some have good bases and suffer from bad growths. Or some have low bases and high magic growth.

Serra. Good magic growth, but terrible base magic. She really does not get enough magic to KO anything much more than weak unpromoted units.

Priscilla. She is not really anything special. Good enough stats to be useable, but not enough to be as strong as some mage born units (pent/canas/athos) in terms of combat.

Moulder and Natasha are actually really good combat unit choices. With monsters they have very demanding combat with stuff like purge or simply getting effective bonus against monster along with normal enemies to deal with.

L'arachel is a pretty good combat unit all around and is like priscilla, but with better stats. Having over 20 luck and about 17 speed at 20/1 is something that evades most hits in the game.

Clarine... 10 mag at 20/1....

Saul reminds me of a natasha/serra unit.

Natasha gets better stats and comes at a time where she can pretty much take over for moulder and not fall behind. L'arachel with better stats simply comes rather late and does not have bonus damage against anything. Still good combat.

[Shadow Mir]

L'Arachel can wreck if you manage to train her (If you're willing to, the easiest way is mine v2 glitching monster dark magic then Valni grinding...)

Shame she can't get Slayer though...

Why would you wait until chapter 18 for that, though??? (I know it's possible to do on some other maps, but that one seemed like it was the easiest to do it on)

I'm gonna say Serra, Priscilla, Natasha, and L'Arachel.

In every single case besides Priscilla's, they have easy access to the fastest weapon level growth in their games due to D Light (which in turn grants Shine access), and C Anima. (The latter of which is exclusive to L'Rachel, and also grants Elfire access.) Literally, they're only 110 Shine tome uses at most from using Aureola in FE7 and Ivaldi in FE8. While L'Arachel only needs 90 Elfire uses at most to use Excalibur. Most staff users in the series in general don't exactly have this particular advantage. Not even in BInding Blade, where BIshops not named Yodel have to struggle through 200 Light tome uses at most just to be able to use Aureola. (Though said disadvantage can be made up for in other FEs with stuff like one master stat for equipment a la FEs 1-3, fixed ranks like in FE4, and the DIscipline skill in FEs 10 and 13.)

Adding to that, the fact that Valkyries and Bishops (sans Lucius and Renault) generally have a faster EXP gain than most other units. Which can be helpful to keep in mind when doing stuff like Ranks. And is also why I mention Priscilla, even though she sadly gets an E in Anima upon promotion.

I will admit that Moulder counts towards this as well. But I don't think I've had as much fun using him as I did with Natasha or L'Rachel in FE8.

Bold: I'm not sure why you're mentioning fixed ranks as a solution to that issue, given that it's not a very good one... Well, that, and I despise the idea of fixed weapon ranks with a blazing passion.

Edited February 5, 2015 by Levant Caprice

[eclipse]

FE6: I remember very little about this, except thinking that staffbots weren't that great in terms of offense (what I DO remember is Clarine being at single-digit magic at 20/10 and thinking it was utter bollocks).

FE7: I prefer Priscilla for raw damage - Serra's magic ranges from wildly successful to awful (gotta love that growth rate).

FE8: Hmmm. . .Moulder's better for tanking, Natasha's better at lending her affinity for supports (and randomly being tanky for me, but that was a hilarious one-off), and L'Arachel is best for blasting the everliving crap out of everything. Since I like blasting things, L'Arachel for me~!

Edited February 5, 2015 by eclipse