Surprisingly Powerful/Weak Units (Character Spoilers)

[Arkine]

You know what, other than having to build up weapon ranks, Subaki x Luna could make Subaki a fairly tanky Hero… he has Swordfaire access (although depending on practicalities you might not pull out too many level 15 promoted skills in one file), which in principle can be transferred over to Hero.

Hero has HP and SKL growths that complement his bases…. it also has SPD growths, which could help his speed at least stink less than it already does….

And he could combine potentially (as another option) Flowing Strike + Perfectionist + Axebreaker to really mess up enemy axe users… and Sol would actually help restore Perfectionist at times…. and Luna could likewise use a Flowing Strike + Axebreaker + Swordfaire combo if she wanted to…

There's also the issue that Luna has better availability than Hinoka in the 3rd route, even though growth wise Hinoka is the superior redhead mother for Matoi, so you'd be able to get started on Luna x Subaki before Hinoka is even recruited.

EDIT:

Now that I think of it, the chance of a crit is calculated independently for every single hit of Astra, so he'd be able to do a nice job of fueling Luna's Competitive Personal Skill, that is if anything survived the Astra…. he has high skill growth and a +2 mod, which works out to a higher chance of activating it, and on top of it high skill gives an improved crit chance…. then, every time it activates, it has five chances to provide the crit Luna needs.

It's a good idea, but just as you pointed out, Matoi might suffer from slightly inferior bases... On the other hand, what are your opinions Tsubaki having Line of Death? It's risky, but at the same time Tsubaki actually has HP growth (unlike some people... *cough* Azura *cough*) and given it activates in Player Phase where Flowing Strike would also activate, this can help compensate Tsubaki's lack of ability to double not to mention make him absolutely devastating if Astra procs.

[Luninareph]

Matoi at least has her personal skill to help compensate for bad bases or growths. If any kid is going to be shafted on stats, Matoi is one of the best choices since she can spin it to her advantage.

I'm a little torn on Tsubaki + Line of Death. On the one hand, he wants to try and evade-tank anyway, so he'd hopefully be avoiding Line of Death's downside most of the time. And it would definitely help pick up his offense if he can't double. But on the other hand, if he's SPD-screwed and isn't doubling, he's also got lower AVO, meaning he's more likely to get hit. So there's a fine SPD-based line between "where Line of Death is useful" and "where Line of Death is hurting more than it's helping." On the other hand, if you're deciding to just keep him out of the action as a Golden Kite and let him just pinpoint-bomb single units on the ally turn and stay out of harm's way on the enemy turn, then Line of Death is perfect. On the other other hand, though, Hoshido has a lot of very fragile units, so giving Tsubaki the ability to be one of your tanks may be more useful than making him yet another fragile bomber.

In my eyes, the "ideal" Tsubaki has stacked all the AVO he can, but also has the HP and DEF to eat a hit or two when his AVO fails him and then pick himself back up the next turn after being healed. So to me, Line of Death doesn't quite fit with what I think he should do. My ideal Tsubaki setup would probably be Flowing Strike, Vantage, Eastern Heart, Mirror Strike, and either Astra or Sol, depending on path and availability... I think.

[Keaton the wise]

How are Kaze, Saizou and Kagerou?

[Shadow Mir]

Oooh, thank you. I was curious about those two. And I *do* have one more question...

This could make or break the game for me.

... how's Harold? :3

I'm not sure, but I WILL say this: you're REALLY gonna have to do something about his god-effing-awful crit evade if you don't want him being more of a hindrance than a help.

[Hempmeister69]

Sorry, I know this isn't particularly character specific but how are Sorcs in general this time around? I absolutely understand why Nosferatu was nerfed this time around but seriously NO procs? What I've been getting so far is that they lost their tanky status and are now glass cannons, sort of like how sages were offensively in awakening.

[Shadow Mir]

Sorry, I know this isn't particularly character specific but how are Sorcs in general this time around? I absolutely understand why Nosferatu was nerfed this time around but seriously NO procs? What I've been getting so far is that they lost their tanky status and are now glass cannons, sort of like how sages were offensively in awakening.

I'd say that sounds dead-on accurate.

[The DanMan]

How are Kaze, Saizou and Kagerou?

Looking at their growth rates and what people have said, Kaze has decent skill (40%) and great speed (65%),and Kagerou has great strength (65%) and surprisingly respectable resistance (40%), making her a prime mage killer. Saizou seems more well-rounded, with Skill (60%) and Luck (55%) being his best stats, followed by Strength (50%) and... Magic and Defense (45%). I haven't seen much conversation on how best to use him.

[eharper256]

Personally I'm scared of Saizou's personal skill. Blowing himself up when he's on low HP is NOT exactly a good idea. I'm guessing that's why he's basically given some of the best growths in the game though (335! total).

Kaze is, in general, going to be the much more reliable Ninja; and is a rare example of someone in Fates who has a good HP growth (55!). Though his skill is fairly meh (he gives Miracle to a unit he's supporting).

Kagerou is a standard glass cannon who stole Rinkah's growths (or rather, what I would have expected RInkah's growths to be). A+'ing them and making Kagerou an Oni is pretty tempting to me. Her personal skill is rather subjective; though I guess she will be an optimal Maid/Butler-killer and passable Mage-Hunter. Though her low SKL will be concerning when using clubs...

Edited July 18, 2015 by eharper256

[astrophys]

Matoi at least has her personal skill to help compensate for bad bases or growths. If any kid is going to be shafted on stats, Matoi is one of the best choices since she can spin it to her advantage.

This is a point to consider… of course, it only spins into a net benefit in circumstances where the lowered growths/bases/caps relative to say Hinoka!Matoi allows for the triggering of Prodigy's +4 damage in excess of the damage that is lost. Although even in the case where damage would be lost, it is a mitigating factor, of course. For either of them, it will probably be nearly universally active against enemy mages, so its basically a question of which physical classes it triggers against.

Luna has inferior personal growths to Hinoka in almost all stats except for SPD (tied growth) and DEF (superior growth; 45% vs. 35%).

She also has 2 points lower in Strength caps that Hinoka does: -1 vs. +1. Luna actually doesn't have any magic penalty at all, but with a 5% personal growth she's not likely to be capping anytime soon barring ridiculously extreme RNG blessing.

Although assuming growths function like Awakening's (this still need to be confirmed), the fact that there would be a /3 factor that averages the father, mother's and child's growths comes into play…. over 29 levels (10/0 -> 20/0 -> promote to 20/1 --> 20/20), we'd expect Luna's lower growths to cost Matoi a total of 5.316 stat points on average, albeit with the losses distributed across the various stats. (Luna!Matoi would have 261.667% growths if Awakening growth inheritances apply, while Hinoka!Matoi would have 280% growths)

As for their mods for stat maxing (mainly applicable after Eternal Seals & grinding):

Hinoka!Matoi

+1 Str, +0 Mag, +2 Skl, +0 Spd, +0 Lck, +3 Def, +2 Res

Luna!Matoi

-1 Str, +1 Mag, +2 Skl, +1 Spd, +0 Lck, +5 Def, +0 Res

The -1 Str may actually help in triggering borderline cases of Prodigy for Luna!Matoi, or let her use classes with higher base strengths and still trigger the bonus against other capped units, including many mirror matches against others in her same class), but it hurts her in cases where she would have still gotten the bonus anyways. She does get +1 SPD in mods from Luna!Matoi, which is notable mainly because of SPD being a valued stat.

Her +1 MAG mod is mainly useless to her, but it could be interesting for passing to a kid…. although one will not likely be maxing such a Kanna's magic stat for a long time, as Kanna doesn't have an impressive magic growth to begin with and Matoi always will tend on the low side for magic (15% personal as a starting point).

She has the same total number of points in defense mods (only relevant once capped, not likely in the main game), but distributed differently… +5 DEF as Luna Matoi vs. +3 Def and +2 Res as Hinoka!Matoi.

[Keaton the wise]

Looking at their growth rates and what people have said, Kaze has decent skill (40%) and great speed (65%),and Kagerou has great strength (65%) and surprisingly respectable resistance (40%), making her a prime mage killer. Saizou seems more well-rounded, with Skill (60%) and Luck (55%) being his best stats, followed by Strength (50%) and... Magic and Defense (45%). I haven't seen much conversation on how best to use him.

Thanks for the response! Kaze sounds like a classic doging ninja, Kagerou for taking magic out and Saizou balanced. Dunno if magic s useful for a ninja though.

[astrophys]

It might not be that useful for a Ninja (except for the magic shurkien or for 3rd route Levin Swords), but if we assume Awakening-styled growth inheritance to the kids (not confirmed) that means he'd be able to marry a magic user and pass down a magic growth that isn't pathetic; basically, he'd be able to marry either a physical or magical woman and still give decent growths to any resulting kid.

[Leory]

How is Crimson as a unit?

Is she just an average wyvern rider as far as it goes?

-

I am somewhat amazed at how many crits Camilla can do in a single chapter later on in the game (from Hama's stream). Takumi was a very pleasant surprise, too, seeing I like archer units despite its major drawbacks.

[Ryo]

It's interesting to see that the classes that were generally considered terrible in other games (like archers, armor knight/generals, non-dragon transformers) seem to be among the most useful classes in this game (though the units themselves and their weapons are also major factors).

Edited July 18, 2015 by Ryo

[Fuzzlekins]

It might not be that useful for a Ninja (except for the magic shurkien or for 3rd route Levin Swords), but if we assume Awakening-styled growth inheritance to the kids (not confirmed) that means he'd be able to marry a magic user and pass down a magic growth that isn't pathetic; basically, he'd be able to marry either a physical or magical woman and still give decent growths to any resulting kid.

I actually married him to Orochi and their Grey makes a great Basara because his Strength and Magic are pretty similar so he can actually both of his weapons effectively, instead of my other Basaras that tend to stick to either Tomes or Spears.

[Luninareph]

Grey has pretty ridiculous MAG. Between Saizou's 45% MAG and Grey's 50%, even a mother with 0% MAG to pass down herself results in a Grey with 32% MAG growth, which is higher than Asama, Oboro, or Azura. I kinda want to marry Saizou to Orochi too, just so I can make Saizou and Grey Exorcists for the hell of it XD

Edited July 19, 2015 by Luninareph

[posthumus77]

How's Yuugiri btw? is she ok?

[Viberum]

These are some really interesting character analyses. I hear Harold's personal skill makes it incredibly easy for him to crit enemies. The downside is that he himself is also more vulnerable to receiving a crit.

I'd like to know how Tsukuyomi fare in the game. I hear he has low bases and starts out as level one, but high growths. I'd like someone who has used him tell me how he is as a unit.

[Ownagepuffs]

but hows my girl hinoka tho

[B.Leu]

How are Kaze, Saizou and Kagerou?

Huh, here my NohrKaze, who's a Elite Ninja lv17, I'm pretty satisfied with him.

38HP Str:24 Mag:0 Skl: 32 Spd: 37 Lck:12 Def 13 Res:27

I've heard that Kagerou had one of the best Str devs of the whole game, and she is overall awesome.

Now my Elfie is much better than before, I reclassed her at lv 15 into a General now her stats are...

Str: 33 Ma: 0 Skl: 21 Spd: 13 Lck: 21 Def: 31 (+2 with Def+2), Res: 12

Mozume, while is totally my warrior waifu of doom, bothers me. Why ? Because I finally got the Line of Death skill, and I want to reclass her from a Weapon Master to a Sniper, the thing is, if I do that, she'll only have a E rank in bows. I know that I have an item for that, but I want to keep them for the character who I'll give the S rank weapon to. If that even exist.

The joy of playing a Fire Emblem games for the first time and having to face the concequences of your choices ! I missed it !

[CocoaGalaxy]

Promotion Bonuses are actually fairly important, at times anyway.....

Asama seems somewhat broken in theory, in practice I still don't know, plus I personally don't really want to use a Herb Merchant for that matter (which is basically an "inferior archer", as is Great Merchant), among a few other things

Subaki and Hinata are both "defensive" with not much else. I suppose they actually have survivability, but their speed is kinda....unacceptable in my opinion (less than 25 speed at 20/20?)

I haven't done the promotion bonuses for all the characters yet, but Hinoka actually seems pretty dang good as a 20/20 Holy Lancer.

She actually turns out better than Camilla in everything, except Defense, but even her Defense is still pretty good (27 is damn good for Hoshido)

For the others, I'm not so sure. Crimson's growths are a bit awkward, but overall Crimson is as "broken" as you would think (starts with good bases? has modest to good growths?) And yes Crimson reaches 30 Defense by 20/20, though that by itself isn't nearly enough to wall

[Meh]

How are the Nohr Royals as units?

[CocoaGalaxy]

How are the Nohr Royals as units?

I'm nearly done on numbers for the Hoshido units, though I did start on the Nohr siblings already. I do admit I'm a little biased but what can I say...

Xander is "kind of" slow, (22 at 20/20) but that's his only downfall. It can be remedied with a +speed pair up, assuming you care about that anyway

Camilla is kind of broken, she gets 30 Str/Skl/Spd/Def at 20/20, though this is with Wyvern Lord

Leo is actually fairly tame, his lower speed (only 24 at 20/20) kind of gets him, but he also has 1-2 range and can tank magic fairly well, and hitting magic is good for like destroying generals anyway. If you need it

Elise has 30+ Mag/Spd/Luck/Res, but her physical defense is "practically nonexistent". I suppose she "might" survive a Silver weapon from maybe a 25 Str Unit.

Edited July 19, 2015 by CocoaGalaxy

[Keaton the wise]

Huh, here my NohrKaze, who's a Elite Ninja lv17, I'm pretty satisfied with him.

38HP Str:24 Mag:0 Skl: 32 Spd: 37 Lck:12 Def 13 Res:27

I've heard that Kagerou had one of the best Str devs of the whole game, and she is overall awesome.

Now my Elfie is much better than before, I reclassed her at lv 15 into a General now her stats are...

Str: 33 Ma: 0 Skl: 21 Spd: 13 Lck: 21 Def: 31 (+2 with Def+2), Res: 12

Mozume, while is totally my warrior waifu of doom, bothers me. Why ? Because I finally got the Line of Death skill, and I want to reclass her from a Weapon Master to a Sniper, the thing is, if I do that, she'll only have a E rank in bows. I know that I have an item for that, but I want to keep them for the character who I'll give the S rank weapon to. If that even exist.

The joy of playing a Fire Emblem games for the first time and having to face the concequences of your choices ! I missed it !

With that resistance, looks like ninjas aren't assassins reskinned! I look forward to using them!

[Thane Tali]

How important are fliers?

Is having terrain-ignoring units as essential to completing chapter goals as it was in previous titles? Because if not there's a good chance I'll be mass-spamming Holy Lancers, at least as an intermediate class.

[Medeus]

For those playing Nohr, how's Flannel, Benoit, and Belka? I've seen some Normal playthroughs of Flannel where he does do well, but I haven't seen the other two in action and I'm curious how all three fare in the higher difficulties.