Character viability impressions (gameplay spoilers)

[XeKr]

I kind of like the resist seal on Rinkah; since her main use is to pull enemies, she spreads out the resist Seal around. I tend to have Orochi following Rinkah closely. So if Rinkah pulled two enemies, she can sometime kill one using her magic as Oni with Orochi's dual attack (who is really good at that especially with the seal appliedl) and Orochi can kill the other by herself. Without the resist seal, Rinkah would definitively be worse. Of course, someone like Effie can do all that better without even needing Orochi (or anyone) at all, but... yeah. That's why even though I get some use out of Rinkah, I definitively agree with your "Don't use" rating from a gameplay perspective.

I did try Hinoka as an Holy Lancer on 3rd path playthrough (instead of a very mediocre pegasus knight in my two Hoshido playthrough) and she's faring much, much better.

I pretty much agree with all your ratings actually. There's some slight differences (Like I rate Jacob lower than you), but overall I definitively approve throughout.Thumbs up!

For your Jakob comment, I just think the Def is super strong. Kinda the reverse of the debuff situation mentioned earlier, Corrin might go from a 3hko to a 9-10hko or something (even more if including Dual Guard).

Though I didn’t realize before that some characters gave +2 Def, so I suppose you could have Gunter (+7 Str, +3 Mag, + 6 Def, +1 move) or Rinkah (+5 Str, +2 Spd, +6 Def) rather than Jakob (+4 Str, +1 Spd, +7 Def, +3 Res, +1 move). However, Jakob also gives avoid which for example can lower Axe/Bow hitsrates from 20% disp/8.2% true to 5%/0.55% true (the former is unlikely, but risky given how hard those hit. The latter is negligible.). Or it might turn neutral stuff from like 40%/32.4% true to 25% disp/12.75% true which is a massive improvement (on average, can take 3x number of enemies). Even if there’s not true hit (I still think there is), the avoid is still significant, like the old charisma/leadership star/support bonuses.

late edit: can't math

That was really interesting to read! On a side note, I have two questions...

(a) I heard that Setsuna's a really good mom, particularly due to her Spd mod. Given how powerful the children are, would this make her a more valuable character? If we're thinking of using children, would the investment be worth it?

(b) You mention child units once or twice. Do you plan on writing about them as well?

Thank you for the impressions! I really love having an idea of how the units perform before delving into the game.

a. lysander’s reply is great and really covers it. Basically, if the Spd modifier ever came into play, it would be on a few select enemies like the last 1% of the game. Which hardly matters compared to her performance in all the other chapters, which is heavily impacted by her low base level and Str growth.

b. Yes, though I was (and still am) debating whether to do the 1st gen Nohr characters first.

Sorry no updates, pretty busy this weekend playing when I do have time, not writing.

Edited August 4, 2015 by XeKr

[andodel]

A question for op, in Sakuras description you mention about how xp gain is higher for a promoted class if you promote earlier (so similar to awakening). My question is, do you think it's a better idea to promote early like it was in awakening, or would it be better to get the early lvs like in older FE games? Given that lv no longer resets, I thought it would be once again better to lv through tier 1 classes, but now I'm not so sure given that eternal seals are more of a roadblock than an actual limit. Btw, do you know if there is a max lv, or do eternal seals go on forever?

Edited August 2, 2015 by andodel

[Featherwick]

A question for op, in Sakuras description you mention about how xp gain is higher for a promoted class if you promote earlier (so similar to awakening). My question is, do you think it's a better idea to promote early like it was in awakening, or would it be better to get the early lvs like in older FE games? Given that lv no longer resets, I thought it would be once again better to lv through tier 1 classes, but now I'm not so sure given that eternal seals are more of a roadblock than an actual limit. Btw, do you know if there is a max lv, or do eternal seals go on forever?

Eternal seal are unlimited, at the level 3 seal shop, but cost a lot, and you really don't want to use them repeatedly probably. And even then, promoting early isn't that big of a benefit. You don't get more experience promoted, you just gain more than you would if you promoted at 20. So early units should probably stay unpromoted for a while, but later unpromoted units can be promoted instantly, like Benoit, or half the fucking cast of Invisible Kingdom.

[XeKr]

Was it true for Awakening? I thought 10/1 units got exp like 20/1 units, just some people suggested promoting early since Second Seals reset and the exp floor is high.

Anyway, Eternal Seals are prohibitively expensive if not grinding, at 12000. You might get 1 if you skip some weapon purchases and don't buy too many Parallel/Buddy/Marriage Seals for skills, otherwise maybe none. They do go on forever, and extra levels don't seem subject to the same exp formula.

In Lunatic especially, most characters would like all the levels and stats possible since the lategame enemies scale that way. A few characters might like to promote early to get weapon usage (start building that rank) or for the short term stats. Someone like Kaze probably doubles everyone regardless and doesn't have the Str lategame regardless. Or maybe promote some character early to help out through the midgame, then substitute them for later promos.

On a side, but related note, it seems Camilla was promoted at 10 like Yuugiri, which gives them about a 5 level advantage exp wise. For enemies around their disp level or higher it's maybe a 15 exp difference, but for lowlevel enemies (--/6 fighting --/1 or fighting unpromoted units at base) it might be the difference between like 4 exp and 30 exp so very noticeable. So I suppose think of early promotes as level 15 units and expect them to maintain around a 5 level lead over 20/1 units.

Edited August 2, 2015 by XeKr

[XeKr]

I notice I mixup weapon types a lot, probably because I’m so used to the standard Swords/Lances/etc from other games. It’s easy enough to say magic for Tomes/Spells but harder for the others and it takes too much effort to write out Sword/Katana every time. You do get enough of the Nohr weapons that it feels a little weird using the Hoshido names all the time, even when talking about that faction’s characters. As a result for now I think I will usually use the Nohr/western names to broadly refer to the type of weapon, unless specifically referring to the stat boosts of the Hoshido variants, or specific weapons.

Some minor edits. Some stuff about Seal skills added. Kagerou, Yuugiri, Nishiki added.

Random thought when writing up Yuugiri, if Takumi Marries/Buddies into Pegasus Warrior and goes to Golden Kite, does he get Swallow Strike? Or not because he already has Golden Kite access from Bowman? Would be pretty good for him, and fairly easy to build up the support since he likes the move/Spd anyway.

[astrophys]

I don't have the game and thus cannot verify myself, but from asking similar questions with regards to possible Hinoka x Setsuna buddy supports I am under the impression that they would indeed start picking up the skills from the other tree if they had a common promotion… in that case, I was asking if Hinoka + Setsuna buddy would allow Hinoka to class change into Golden Kite Warrior, gain two levels after the A+ support was established, and pick up Prescient Victory that way. People were suggesting that that would indeed work.

I'd imagine Takumi could do this marrying a Pegasus Warrior…. Azura could qualify (as she gives Pegasus instead of Singer)… she also fixes his speed problem in inheritance to kids (+3-2+1 = +2 modifier)

[XeKr]

Interesting. None of my pairings had anything like that so I never came across the situation.

I suppose that might mean if say Yuugiri married Corrin with secondary Bowman, she would get the skills on her next 2 levels, even staying in her original class?

[astrophys]

I think so, but once again, my information is secondhand from conversations with other SerenesForest users, so anything I say on the subject should be independently verified.

But yes, I think that she'd get Skill +2 on her next level and Prescient Victory on her level after that.

I wonder which base class would take priority for learning the skills if you did something like this:

Have Aqua marry Takumi, having never gone into the Pegasus tree before. Switch her into Golden Kite Warrior (a common promotion of her Pegasus secondary and her marriage seal Bowman with Takumi)… would she get Swallow Strike or Skill+2 first?

Maybe someone can tell us.

[Thor Odinson]

I like Ryouma's synopsis is just one line.

[XeKr]

Oh right Takumi can’t A+ Subaki or S Hinoka so eh.

Actually I realized I did Takumi+Aqua, so I just tested and it works. Just reclassed to Golden Kite and gained a level and got Swallow Strike. I always kept him in Holy Bowman for Zanshin before and I think I just didn’t notice for Kisaragi since he was fast already (and child overlap is a little different situation. He also would've gotten it while child sealing so easy to skip over). Takumi might actually be good now.

Speaking of which I actually like Takumi+Aqua from a gameplay perspective since she refreshes and boosts Spd at the same time. Kisaragi doesn’t care too much about the Def either, unlike a lot of other children, and his Spd is quite good (side note, my current inheritance theory is opposite parent affects growths more but it’s hard to really narrow down).

And Ryoma’s writeup is just filler for now. But I might keep it since it says enough. ;P

Edited August 4, 2015 by XeKr

[XeKr]

Crimson, Izana, Asyura, Yukimura added. That should be all of Hoshido first gen. Probably some revisions and short additions for Invisible Kingdom, and then Nohr first gen next. The children are really pretty filler and all “use if you like” status, even if it’s certainly interesting to think about all the possibilities there.

Anyways, besides that fact I haven’t had as much time as I would like lately (life), slow updates have been because I’m been distracted by some resetless/noDLC efficiency attempts and Lunatic Nohr is alskfjsldkjsldkfj hard there.

As for why the rest of this post in this topic, some people are interested in more seriously (<_<) assessing character viability beyond leisurely/casual use, and in brief, “efficiency” is a basis or metric to do so. I may make a new topic soon, however.

- For the purpose of this post, efficient clears of the game will be fast and reliable. To go a step further, for the most part, the clears are reliable enough to be used in resetless or ironman runs. Low turns over low real time, since while both emphasize optimized strategy and tactics, the latter is heavily impacted by outside technical and physical factors such as animation skip and cursor movement. This is preference.
- No DLC. This includes Dread Fighter, Dark Falcon and such from owning other paths. It can be interesting to allow these, especially since you can have a 10 move flier and Galeforce!Felicia early, but it’s not under the purview of this particular type of run.
- A lot of the My Castle stuff is time-based and/or unreliable, so I only use Armory, Vendor and character recruitment things. Actually the prison could perhaps be helpful, something to look into.
- Full recruitment (excepting paralogues), no one dies, etcetc. This does mean Corrin needs to stick with Kaze for a bit in Hoshido, which can be inconvenient.
- Paralogues and skirmishes count for turns. Mozume’s chapter could be forced, since it’s always available, but it’s kinda boring this way is a little cleaner imo.

https://kantopia.wordpress.com/2015/06/23/fire-emblem-fates-importers-source-chapter-data-ongoing/some map details but beware spoilers.

Pro: 2/2
C1: 4/6. +Hp or +Def can 4 turn this, I’m not sure the other assets can.
C2: 3/9. Depends how the enemy moves, but easy transition to 4 turns if necessary. I think going up the right side first is more consistent but not too sure. Attack stance is hard to optimize.
C3: 5/14. Quite risky because of the boss avoid, but still early in the run so I allow breaking the typical reliability requirement (to be clear, still favored to succeed but not 99+ish). Obviously could take significantly more turns for safety, but eh.
C4: 8/22. +Hp can survive the Dragon’s Vein that aggros the boss group. Fairly safe, tc is mostly limited by Ryoma since everyone else is rekt’d by debuffs. Getting Kaze some exp can help if he procs Res.
C5: 7/29. This is pretty safe strat I feel. If Kaze has a Res level it’s possible to be a bit more aggressive. It’s otherwise very narrow 3hko with Sakura/Debuffs and various mage combinations (Sakura/Azura both can, and may need to, take a hit) but positioning can be hard to work out. Usually aggro the bottom turn 3 to be conservative.
C6: 2/31. I feel like I’ve 1 turned this before (no crits), but lately Xander likes to run away into Elise’s arms.

Past these chapters the clears are increasingly less optimized since I try different routes, assets, reclasses, etc (translation: basically really slow for reliability purposes). I’m leaning toward +Hp/-Luck/Dark Mage atm, at least in Hoshido. Hard time against the early Ninja chapter (have to haphazardly lean on GKW!Takumi, Hinoka, and Silas) but seems better elsewhere (especially in H8 where 1-2 range is good, can move with desert with Kaze Pair Up). It does occasionally miss out on some kills in lacking damage, but +mag might just be dead in other instances. Definitely still need testing.

H7: 10/41. Bottom left Cavs don’t seem to move until turn 10, even if Silas is killed and such, so it’s hard to improve for now. It’s helpful to have Kaze to fight, so the Seraph robe is skipped in favor of the Armorslayer. 10 Turns is lenient enough that maybe can get both chests, so that’s something to look into later. Or maybe just push bottom corner with more units (Corrin is there by turn 7 or so but only kills 1 unit at a time)

Moar later as I get better at them. Also for fun though…

[spoiler=definitely not a Hoshido Lunatic Efficiency tier list]
God
Gunter

-by the Sigurd clause, in which disappearing from the game is ignored, this is trivially true

Top
Corrin (M/F)
Ryoma
Azura

[spoiler=top]
-Best availability and arguably router. Reclass for 1-2 range, def boost from Felicia/Jakob. +Hp asset, Horse God gives more durability, attacking Res kills stuff (though some is whiffed).
-Misses too much, 0/10
-Facilitates a lot, especially since it’s (relatively) hard to steamroll stuff early. Obviously invaluable to bosskills. Tbh could be toppest depending how uniqueness and irreplicability are valued (ala FE12!Malicia, FE5!Safy, etc).

High
Yuugiri
Crimson
Hinoka
Takumi
Felicia/Jakob (early)
Izana

[spoiler=high]
-Yuugiri is really good in the chapters she has over Crimson but the combat difference is also fairly big when the latter joins. Still she can reclass for Vanished Disaster (VD, it’s the rescue staff) later
-Pretty amazing.
-Filler fighting, then VD, ferry, Rally Speed.
-Promote to Golden Kite immediately to fly over forests. prf bonus is no substitute for actual flight and 2 move. Maybe lower.
-I’ve mainly done FCorrin so far because Jakob can fight at base and the extra Def+avoid really helps later, but Felicia could reclass to Strategist for 8 move 1-2 range very early, despite questionable durability. Mostly useful for Corrin after support with Kaze is built, however. And not to say Felicia’s bonus doesn’t matter, it’s 3 Magx2= 6 damage.
-mage stuff + VD. Midgame some HorseGod+tonics shenanigans. Later best Mag for Misfortune and Sin which does (sometimes) hit some bosses.

Mid
Kaze
Subaki
Sakura
Felicia/Jakob (late)
Asyura
Asama
Silas

[spoiler=mid]
-Not sure if overinflated because forced to get A support. Still gives Spd and move which is nice. Also atm I purposely undervalue/credit him for chapters 4 and 5, ala FE10!Edward.
-ferrybot. Probably can find a way to efficiently train him to 10 for other stuff.
-VD and aura. Early heals are very important too.
-staffbot, reclass for 8 move.
-filler bows + VD. 7 move is cool
-staffbot. Maybe superfluous.
-I haven’t found too much use. You have desert, ninja forest, boat, opera chapters very soon, so he’s just a nonflying dude later. Rescue-take-drop is cool but without canto is eh. Perhaps I’m missing some obvious use; he does do some filler fighting early, but arguably worse than Saizou who sometimes doubles at 1-2 range and gives move to his ferry.

Low
Saizou
Kagerou
Yukimura
Setsuna
Nishiki
Oboro
Rinkah

[spoiler=low]
-Chip and gives +Spd/move. Tho I’m looking into 10/1 Saizou for H10 which could speed things up a lot since no one else fights Ninjas too well. Again Kaze sticks with Corrin early, but admittedly this could be relaxed with better support point optimization.
-Chip and gives +Spd/move
-filler fighter for H23.
-kills fliers in H11, chips stuff, gives offensive stats in Pair Up
-filler hits mounts pretty hard
- gives offensive stats in Pair Up, maybe help in H13 rout
- gives early Str/Def which is nice?

Bottom
Hana
Hinata
Tsukuyomi

[spoiler=bottom]
-gives Spd but so do many others who give flight and stuff
-gives Spd, instapromote for other stats plus help in H13 rout (probably not worth), but so do others who give flight and stuff
-chipper. A long way from 10/1 and Rescue range doesn’t scale anyway.

Edited August 15, 2015 by XeKr

[Luninareph]

Yay! I've been looking forward to the next time this updated! :D

Some very minor thoughts:

Asyura as Puppeteer: Kunai are notable in that you really don't need a high weapon level with them to get some good use out of them; even with a D in them, you can use things like the Iron Shuriken (helps shutting down mages,) the Needle Shuriken (massacres Knights,) or the Hard Bread (perma-regen). So needing kunai weapon levels is a bit less important than some other ones, particularly for Asyura, who's probably helping most by debuffing anyway, which might save you an Arms Scroll.

Yukimura: I wouldn't level Yukimura as a Puppeteer, personally. Puppeteer will play up his already-high SKL and RES without giving him attention where he needs it. I'd level as Mountain Priest for the STR, SPD, and LUC, then dip into Great Merchant for Extravagance and back into Puppeteer for Copycat Puppet near max. He can end as any physical class in this way and enjoy many Copycat-Extravagance shenanigans because of it, which is pretty cool. It would take that Arms Scroll you saved from Asyura to work, though XD; If you don't have one to spare, you could level as Great Merchant instead, to save on Seals and Scrolls at the expense of SPD. I'd take either one over Puppeteer for his leveling career, though.

[Ownagepuffs]

Takumi's Spd is brought up often and overblown. I'm doing a Hoshido Lunatic log on the FE subreddit and I wished I compiled enemy stats but I at least took note of some doubling thresholds for C13(?).

The highest there was like, 20 for the Wyvern Lords (he one shots the fuck out of them regardless). The thieves at 19 spd for doubling were one shotted. He needed 20 Spd to double Luna, a merc. He has an 11 base and a 55% growth. Elite Ninja (instant promote Kagerou) gives 4 and tonics brings that to 17. Azura dance makes that 20 at base. He's fine. I mean you've got him at high tier anyway but still I see "low speed" brought up for Takumi way too often.

I think Hana's actually good. More or less Ryoma-lite after investment, grows well in important stats and she's got first chapter availability to grow with. The game is basically designed against prolonged EP exposure anyway so her lack of EP isn't really a problem. The exp curve is strict in that in doesn't let units plow ahead of the stat curve a la Awakening so no dumb shit like level 20/15 Kamui in chapter 9 or something.

Edited for clarification.

Edited August 15, 2015 by Ownagepuffs

[NinjaMonkey]

I'm going to assume that Benoit with his 6 base speed and 15% Speed growth is pretty much unusable even on Nohr Normal, right?

[-Cynthia-]

I'm going to assume that Benoit with his 6 base speed and 15% Speed growth is pretty much unusable even on Nohr Normal, right?

Well if he can get to Defensive Formation, I imagine he could wall pretty well. Getting the 5 promoted levels might be tough though.

[Ownagepuffs]

I've heard you just have to rush his ass to Defensive Formation. Effie may actually be good tho. She's like Oswin.

Edit: lol Ninja Cynthia.

Edited August 15, 2015 by Ownagepuffs

[CyborgZeta]

Effie has always been pretty good when I used her.

At least in Nohr. I tried utilizing her in my second IK run on Hard, but lost interest.

[FrostyFireMage]

Tsukuyomi seems tailor-made for the Dark Falcon class.

I can't think of anyone else who'd shine as one outside of the royals.

[-Cynthia-]

I'm not sure Effie's offense is too great overall, her base speed just seems like it'd be too low for her to double even if she goes Great Knight. Tanking seems pretty useful though.

[Ownagepuffs]

Effie's personal skill + something like Harold pair up let's her straight up OHKO shit sometimes.

[gayserbeam]

Tsukuyomi seems tailor-made for the Dark Falcon class.

I can't think of anyone else who'd shine as one outside of the royals.

Saizou is a stronger, slower option with much greater potential to go mixed. Tsukuyomi also has something of a niche as the best potential Spellcaster in Hoshido and owner of the otherwise rare Oni set, while Saizou competes with several others as both a Ninja and Samurai, so reclassing him is worth it from a cost/value perspective.

[FrostyFireMage]

I'm guessing Nyx/Ophelia/Maybe Eponine/Syalla are the best candidates for the Witch class.

Maybe Orochi too because of Shadowgift.

Edited August 15, 2015 by FrostyFireMage

[Ownagepuffs]

Saizou is a stronger, slower option with much greater potential to go mixed. Tsukuyomi also has something of a niche as the best potential Spellcaster in Hoshido and owner of the otherwise rare Oni set, while Saizou competes with several others as both a Ninja and Samurai, so reclassing him is worth it from a cost/value perspective.

Tsukuyomi also has the dubious honor of having bases comparable to or worse than Mozume's, lol.

[FrostyFireMage]

Tsukuyomi also has the dubious honor of having bases comparable to or worse than Mozume's, lol.

Tsukuyomi has reliable 1-2 range and Arrogance though

[XeKr]

Yay! I've been looking forward to the next time this updated! :D

Some very minor thoughts:

Asyura as Puppeteer: Kunai are notable in that you really don't need a high weapon level with them to get some good use out of them; even with a D in them, you can use things like the Iron Shuriken (helps shutting down mages,) the Needle Shuriken (massacres Knights,) or the Hard Bread (perma-regen). So needing kunai weapon levels is a bit less important than some other ones, particularly for Asyura, who's probably helping most by debuffing anyway, which might save you an Arms Scroll.

Yukimura: I wouldn't level Yukimura as a Puppeteer, personally. Puppeteer will play up his already-high SKL and RES without giving him attention where he needs it. I'd level as Mountain Priest for the STR, SPD, and LUC, then dip into Great Merchant for Extravagance and back into Puppeteer for Copycat Puppet near max. He can end as any physical class in this way and enjoy many Copycat-Extravagance shenanigans because of it, which is pretty cool. It would take that Arms Scroll you saved from Asyura to work, though XD; If you don't have one to spare, you could level as Great Merchant instead, to save on Seals and Scrolls at the expense of SPD. I'd take either one over Puppeteer for his leveling career, though.

Fair points on Kunai use for debuffing. The effective weapons are all D rank, so Arms scrolls have a lot of potential uses there, perhaps giving a fresh promote some situational tech weapons. It’s still a good bit of investment for small utility, imo, for Asyura himself.

Yukimura is already --/10, so differences in growths don’t help him very much, just fractions of a point. It’s late in the game and enemies are actually starting to get strong (can’t lolRyoma them all) so I think even starting at D rank (Mountain Priest w/ Arms Scroll) for a primary weapon isn’t the best idea.

Takumi's Spd is brought up often and overblown. I'm doing a Hoshido Lunatic log on the FE subreddit and I wished I compiled enemy stats but I at least took note of some doubling thresholds for C13(?).

The highest there was like, 20 for the Wyvern Lords (he one shots the fuck out of them regardless). The thieves at 19 spd for doubling were one shotted. He needed 20 Spd to double Luna, a merc. He has an 11 base and a 55% growth. Elite Ninja (instant promote Kagerou) gives 4 and tonics brings that to 17. Azura dance makes that 20 at base. He's fine. I mean you've got him at high tier anyway but still I see "low speed" brought up for Takumi way too often.

I think Hana's actually good. More or less Ryoma-lite after investment, grows well in important stats and she's got first chapter availability to grow with. The game is basically designed against prolonged EP exposure anyway so her lack of EP isn't really a problem. The exp curve is strict in that in doesn't let units plow ahead of the stat curve a la Awakening so no dumb shit like level 20/15 Kamui in chapter 9 or something.

Edited for clarification.

Nah Takumi sucks. ;P (I’m interested in your thoughts on him after you beat Hoshido and IK lunatic)

Here’s my thoughts, if I have to do all that (hold 2 deployment slots, level Azura to 10 and stick to him) so Takumi can kill 1-2 units a turn in range of his 6 move (that’s 3 units used, and one is the dancer), I’m not sure I’m very impressed. I know it somewhat works, as that’s pretty much what I did my first Hoshido/IK runs. A lot of stuff works; Hoshido especially is easy enough if playing casually.

I rated him “use” in the op because my impression is he’ll make it easier for new players to beat lunatic. This is really subjective as “easiness” is even more impossible to characterize and something like that always depends on player knowledge, skill, and playstyle.

He’s high tier because 11/1 Takumi is actually good, especially for his joining chapter as possibly the best unit there, and he still does solid enough damage later between Prescient Victory and his Personal. As in, if absent, the speed and reliability of clears are significantly impacted (this can be empirically shown from playthroughs or at least rationally intuited from experience).

I don’t see how Hana is any good in efficient play. Is Amelia good because she’s Seth-lite? I think everyone is good in this game with some investment, but not everyone is good at facilitating efficient clears (which a tier list should reflect). I’m probably currently underrating good combat units in non-Corrin centric team compositions, but to that end I’d raise people like Saizou and others over Hana.

While Corrin isn’t Robin, his advantages (availability, Yato buff, Jakob/Felicia) still let him do a lot of work on enemy phase, with certain builds. Most mages are very limited, but Corrin actually has the Spd/bulk and can use Horse/Reverse God much better. It’s possible to slingshot single units but not whole teams (with VD, Azura) to reach far enemies/bosses, so this is still efficient (despite less steamrolling than past FEs).

Re: Effie. Yeah quite good since it’s nice to have tanks (or multiple). Corrin isn’t always tanky-built (and limited to Dragonstone) and Camilla is weak to bows. Getting doubled is also a big deal, especially if debuffed, which Effie will avoid later. Benoit’s Hp and even Res actually can matter a bit too, which gives him a niche.

Re: Dark Falcon. Probably the best mage class since it’s the only really fast one with 11 base, essentially. Plus flies. So most potential mages like going there if the seals are available. Saizou is actually a really funny and interesting option.

Edited August 16, 2015 by XeKr