Thoughts on Fighters?

[Knight]

Pure strength and HP typically aren't the best stats of you don't have the speed to double or not be doubled nor the skill to hit reliably. Wyvern Knights and usually one of your cavaliers often have about the same strength and much better other stats to back them up, so fighters are often useless. Pirate/Berserkers are better because of their crit and high speed in addition to HP, so they pretty much invalidate them, the low defence vs mediocre defence isn't really a problem if one class is dodging and doubling. The exceptions to this of course are fighters that do have high growths in other, more useful stats such as Boyd, Nolan, and I hear FE5 fighters are good. Suspiciously, these games also lack recruitable pirates.

Nolan's one of my favourite units.

Edited August 30, 2015 by Knight

[Tamanoir]

Pure strength and HP typically aren't the best stats of you don't have the speed to double or not be doubled nor the skill to hit reliably. Wyvern Knights and usually one of your cavaliers often have about the same strength and much better other stats to back them up, so fighters are often useless. Pirate/Berserkers are better because of their crit and high speed in addition to HP, so they pretty much invalidate them, the low defence vs mediocre defence isn't really a problem if one class is dodging and doubling. The exceptions to this of course are fighters that do have high growths in other, more useful stats such as Boyd, Nolan, and I hear FE5 fighters are good. Suspiciously, these games also lack recruitable pirates.

Nolan's one of my favourite units.

There are many explanations for FE5's Fighters. First, there's Pugi (a Killer Axe with 2 Range option, for short.) The Brave Axe is only D Rank (and as good as the other Brave Weapons who are generally B Rank).

Then both uints are really good, with each a really usefull Skill (100% Crit on very counterattack for Othin, or always attack first for Halvan.) and good growths.

Actually, now that I think of it... Axe Fighter become Heroes (Mercenary, but same thing)...

You don't have Pirate but you have Brigands (who are somewhat closer to the GBA Fighter Archetype). Dagda is usefull (because he's the closest thing this game have to a Jeigan), but Marty is quite bad.

[X-Naut]

The issue with Fighter vs Pirate is that they tend to have the same Strength and balance them around Skill vs Speed (and sometimes HP vs Defense) which goes over poorly when you consider how valuable each stat is... there's also mobility, but water-walk vs no water-walk is small time compared to cavalier vs infantry.

[Loki Laufeyson]

I fucking love Fighters. I lurves them so. However, i dont use them as often as someone should who loves them. Mostly because so many of them get speed screwed. (or just have shit personalities like Vaike.)

Lets see....i didnt use the fighters in FE6. (except Bartre. Because yes)

FE7: We get Dorcas and Bartre. Dorcas has a worse speed growth than Bartre i think. (Bartre has just worse base) I like, never use Dorcas because he just is so lackluster. But i love Bartre. I love his character loads and hes just the best. <3 He isnt the BEST unit in the game or anything, but i just....Bartre bias. If Dart counts, i do like him but dont use him that much.

FE8: Not big on the Fighters here. Garcia is alright for the most part but hes got some issues. lets face it, anyone can work in this game. I rather Ross go Pirate for Zerker tho.

FE9: Boyd is actually really bomb.

FE10: Nolan Nolan Nolan is Nolan Nolan. Hes so amazing... Boyd is ok with transfers...

FE13: Vaike is blah mostly due to personality. As a unit, hes not bad but i just dont use him.

I really hope Charlotte rocks my socks.

[Glitchy]

FE6: Lot was decent at best and Wade was pretty bad. Really inaccurate though.

FE7: Dorcas and Bartre were pretty bad. They had awful speed and have a hard time hitting. Never used Geitz so I can't say anything for him.

FE8: Garcia is a pretty good unit. I usually go Hero for the speed and swords, because Hand Axes > Bows. I always make Ross a Pirate over a Fighter, so I don't know if he makes a good one, but he sure does make a great Berserker.

FE10: I haven't played much of this, but Nolan is pretty good. One of the few fighters I like using.

FE13: I've used Vaike a few times, and he makes a much better Hero than Warrior. As a Warrior, I felt he had a hard time taking hits and bows aren't very helpful when Hand Axes exist. Postgame-wise I go Berserker for him.

I'm hoping Arthur is a good unit because I want to use him for Nohr.

[kantoorfarina]

I don't think I'll use Arthur, because Base 2 Luck is literally the exact reason why I don't like Fighters in the first place.

Charlotte's character really appeals to me though, so I hope she's good. I also wish her armor was more modest, but that's not the point.

My exact experience with Fighters has been...

Garcia: He was getting doubled, and didn't hit much. He was my worst unit earlygame. He was decent after promotion, but by the time he promoted I had a lot of better units.

Dorcas: He was worse than Bartre.

Bartre: Saw his speed base, said no.

Vaike: Awakening isn't that hard so you can use whoever you want. Even then, there's a lot of better units.

Not saying any of these units are bad, to be honest my opinion is very uneducated. But that's my experience, and looking at it I haven't used many fighters. Barst and Charlotte will form my definitive opinion on them.

[Shadow Mir]

I'm hoping Arthur is a good unit because I want to use him for Nohr.

I wouldn't hold your breath on him - his Luck stinks, as does his Luck growth. And as a further kick in the teeth, his personal skill makes him even easier to crit than he already is.

Edited August 31, 2015 by Levant Colthearts

[HF Makalov Fanboy Kai]

I wouldn't hold your breath on him - his Luck stinks, as does his Luck growth. And as a further kick in the teeth, his personal skill makes him even easier to crit than he already is.

whats the benefit of his personal skill?

[Jedi]

whats the benefit of his personal skill?

According to what I found its something like this.

"Enemies within a 2 tile radius have their Critical Evade reduced by 15, while Arthur’s Critical Evade is reduced by 5"

[HF Makalov Fanboy Kai]

According to what I found its something like this.

"Enemies within a 2 tile radius have their Critical Evade reduced by 15, while Arthur’s Critical Evade is reduced by 5"

well thats not too bad i suppose, abit risky but hey, thats ironman mode fire emblem.

i mean, thats what i play anyways.

[Batter the Beast]

I find that most fighters are good early game since only a select few units will double anyway and they do a good amount of damage due to naturally high STR and axe might. Their highish base HP also lets them tank a few hits since enemy damage isn't that high early on non-Lunatic difficulties. If the fighter has a good speed base/growth on top of this, like Nolan/Vaike then they will be good units all game, but if they don't then they're only marginally useful after early game.

[Mighty Kamina]

I wouldn't hold your breath on him - his Luck stinks, as does his Luck growth. And as a further kick in the teeth, his personal skill makes him even easier to crit than he already is.

Arthur's luck is extremely fixable though. You get a grand total of 3 goddess Icons in Nohr's early game which now boost Luck by 4. His Personal skill is a fantastic offensive skill, even if it's defensive application is questionable. Not to mention he has solid growths in everything else (50% speed as a fighter for example) and one of the highest skill growths in the game which is important to compensate for his luck, and gives him WTF crit rates in conjunction with his personal skill.

Edited August 31, 2015 by Monado Boy

[Knight]

Now I'm looking forward to using Arthur even more.

[Shadow Mir]

Arthur's luck is extremely fixable though. You get a grand total of 3 goddess Icons in Nohr's early game which now boost Luck by 4. His Personal skill is a fantastic offensive skill, even if it's defensive application is questionable. Not to mention he has solid growths in everything else (50% speed as a fighter for example) and one of the highest skill growths in the game which is important to compensate for his luck, and gives him WTF crit rates in conjunction with his personal skill.

I didn't mention (outright, at least) the fact that crit evade is only half luck in Fates (at least, that was what I was told), so that is even less effective than you'd think.

Edited August 31, 2015 by Levant Colthearts

[DarthMikey]

They are usually not a great class, since their focus on HP and Strength above all other stats tends to make for very stilted, mediocre units, but they're also better in certain games than they are in others. The more balanced Tellius fighters (Boyd, Nolan) tend to fare a lot better than the especially lopsided GBA fighters (Wade, Bartre, Dorcas), for example.

Edited August 31, 2015 by TheCosmicDude

[KMT4ever]

I use fighters occasionally for the sake of weapon variety, but I really don't like them unless they're fast like Nolan. Their niche of killing tough lance units is easily achieved with fast mages and archers, and they're completely outclassed by sword units, which tend to be faster in addition to triangle advantage and the lower accuracy of axes, so the hit rate is incredibly skewed (i.e. 100 to 50 in the enemy's favor) throughout the game.

Pirates and Berserkers have speed and that awesome critical bonus, so I use them more.

[Zerosabers]

Pirates just seem kinda better all around.

They have good HP and Strength but thats kinda worthless with bad speed and defense.

[Mighty Kamina]

I didn't mention (outright, at least) the fact that crit evade is only half luck in Fates (at least, that was what I was told), so that is even less effective than you'd think.

The crit formula is also a bit less generous in Fates, so both skill and luck have been nerfed, but that nerf makes them more important. In my Nohr Lunatic run, the 3 goddess icons were enough for Arthur to be facing 0% crit rates throughout the early-mid game, and less than 7% on most enemies aside from Berserkers and Trueblades who have an innate crit bonus.

[Shadow Mir]

The crit formula is also a bit less generous in Fates, so both skill and luck have been nerfed, but that nerf makes them more important. In my Nohr Lunatic run, the 3 goddess icons were enough for Arthur to be facing 0% crit rates throughout the early-mid game, and less than 7% on most enemies aside from Berserkers and Trueblades who have an innate crit bonus.

Still, if I'm forced to have to throw all three of them at him just to get around the negative effect of his personal skill... I shouldn't have to go that far to work around it, EVER.

Edited September 1, 2015 by Levant Colthearts

[Mighty Kamina]

Still, if I'm forced to have to throw all three of them at him just to get around the negative effect of his personal skill... I shouldn't have to go that far to work around it, EVER.

You're kind of right, but Arthur uses those goddess Icons better than anybody else, as aside from a -Luck Kamui, (but -Res is better) everbody has much better luck than Arthur. The offensive potential does outweigh the risks, IMO.

Edited September 1, 2015 by Monado Boy

[Azz]

Charlotte is defiantly better then Harold IMO.Yeah she comes a bot late, but you can easily work around it.Though it sucks her reclass option is Rod Knight of all things.

[Carter]

I never really was a fan of Fighters until Fates. Charlotte is a fun character! She's strong, fast, has hilarious supports! She has it all! I don't like Arthur as much as Charlotte, but he's nice too.

[PM ME MARIANNE ART]

There's not much inherently wrong with the class itself, but many of the units belonging to it are questionable.

Well, I say 'many' but thinking about it more, there are less terrible fighters than people seem to give credit.

Barst is good, Orsin and Halvan are legends, GBA fighters aren't the best but Lott and Garcia can be helpful and Geitz is the best FE7 bow user imo, and more.

So overall I guess Fighters are alright in my book, though I do generally prefer Pirates/Berserkers.

I think this sums up my opinion of them perfectly. I also love Bartre's character so I use him in every one of my runs. I also like Vaike and Boyd, and Harold is going to be the star of FE14 for me

Edited September 1, 2015 by Duck

[Mighty Kamina]

Charlotte is defiantly better then Harold IMO.Yeah she comes a bot late, but you can easily work around it.Though it sucks her reclass option is Rod Knight of all things.

Eh, depends on the mode really, IMO. In Nohr Lunatic, Charlotte's bases are pretty bleh and she's actually quite squishy when you get her (dies in two hits to everything), whereas Arthur comes with good bases for the chapter you get him, and has a 7 chapter advantage on her. (Chapters 7-12, and Mozume's gaiden)

On IK where they come at the same chapter, Charlotte's better.

Edited September 1, 2015 by Monado Boy

[Azz]

Eh, depends on the mode really, IMO. In Nohr Lunatic, Charlotte's bases are pretty bleh and she's actually quite squishy when you get her (dies in two hits to everything), whereas Arthur comes with decent bases for the chapter you get him, and has a 7 chapter advantage on her. (Chapters 7-13, and Mozume's gaiden)

On IK where they come at the same chapter, Charlotte's better.

Well, yeah, on my Nohr Lunatic I couldn't use Charlotte at all since I had already been using Arthur but on both Normal, Hard and in IK she is far more supreme.(And post game if you plan on focusing on My Castle battles and PvP)