Most Balanced Prepromotes in the Series

[Jotari]

Questions right there in the title. Which prepromotes do you think slot naturally into your army the best, being neither overpowered or outclassed?

[Phantom037]

Jorge and Minerva in fe11, Calill in fe9, and Isadora in fe7 just off the top of my head. In terms of well designed Jeigans, I think fe6 Marcus and Jagen himself are the kind that I prefer, Marcus especially.

[Aircalipoor]

The problem is defining balance. It's not a thing in Fire Emblem.

FE4 isn't really about balance, but Claude and Briggid are usable but certainly not overpowered.

FE5 has some strong prepromotes and some weak ones. I guess Amalda would be in the middle. She has her niches on player phase, but get's killed pretty fast on enemy phase.

FE6 Marcus is one of the better balanced Jeigans imo. He is not that overwhelming in the western islands and falls behind after that.

FE7 Isadora may be inferiour to the other paladins in HP and def, but she can be quite useful in 23x. She does need some resources, though. Hawkeye and Vaida are bulky, but they can't double the more dangerously enemies. Then again, I may be overestimating the enemies stats in this game.

FE8: Saleh is Pent done right, if you want balance.

FE9: Calill is usable. Then again, bonus exp makes almost everyon good.

FE10: Many characters in this game are good in they starting chapter, but they get outclassed quickly. Then there is the problem with the availaility. And second tier may not even count as a prepromote in this game.

FE11: Etzel is one of the prepromotes that has it's uses without joining you so soon as Jeigan and Wendel. This game isn't about stats though.

FE12: Sirius is a great unit, but needs attention from the start. Same goes to Minerva. Jeorge works as well even on lunatic, just because of A bows. Katarina can work as Gharnef killer as well, if you train her.

Conquest: Maybe Xander. He can't really become overpowered because of his speed and may get doubled and screwed by mages because of it. He has trouble OHKOing everything as well, but on the other hand, he is a live saver in the mid game and tanking is pretty important, if you are not skipping the maps through flying and rescue.

[JSND Alter Dragon Boner]

FE5 Pahn is a unique case where he have decent overall utility and combat usage despite having skills and PCC that make him look stupid broken. Probably the most "in the middle" prepromote in that game since Dagda and Dean is IMO kinda broken for what they do(yeah Dagda speed, but that base durability is unmatched until Eyrios), the late game Prepromote is also WTF, the mid game prepromote feels eh, and theres Eyrios who is basically Superman

FE6 Despite having 2 Prf, Yodel is kinda outclassed by the best character in the game(its Niime lol), but his arrival grants you an extra staffbot with nuking potential straight of the bat which gave you extra support push.

Wendell in FE11 is so easy to fit on your team because he can literally do everything for a short while, and when he finally drops off, he can transition into Staffbot very easilly

Sirius in FE12 is basically the sucessor to FE11 Wendell, he's really not as powerful as most thinks in this game, but his arrival as a Pre Promote makes your big carry Palla and Kris job much easier. He can scale very late into the game, but is generally outclassed by the growth units by mid-late game. I feel like FE12 is basically Kris + Palla -> Kris + Catria -> Caeda as far as best character for specific parts goes

Aside from this, idk Duessel feels pretty balanced i think, he have WTC, and godlike combat, he don't move as far as Seth, or have as much utility + god combat as Saleh, and didn't fly like Cornag, but when you need to deal with some strong/tough shit, like late game boss, or Ghost Ship, Garm Duessel is your man

Edited September 22, 2016 by JSND

[Augestein]

Honestly? Probably Karel FE7. He's in a solid spot where he's not particularly bad nor good, but he's a decent replacement character in the event that you didn't use Guy or he died or whatever. And unlike Harken, he doesn't arrive with super base stats and dominate the scene (in HHM especially).

[Fire Emblem Fan]

Isadora and Karel both come to mind, as does Saleh. Minerva would probably slide in there, too.

[Elieson]

FE7

Vaida is pretty decent for a Pre-Promo. She doesn't bring anything really new to the table but can fill in a blank flyer slot pretty easily with solid enough bases to fit right in when she joins. She'll never replace a unit though.

Isadora's an obvious contender.

FE8

Dozla and Syrene join with their shortcomings but can be patched up pretty easily if you want to try to use them. Dozla just wants a speedwing and/or Garm, while Syrene can function alright for her few battles just fine due to general flyer utility and being given a strong lance

Duessel can always be useful but doesn't add much to the party that is overall "godlike", such as Seth or Saleh, due to rockin single-hit offensive parameters, universal defensive parameters and just enough speed to keep from getting slaughtered back. It's the speed that brings him into "average" category, even though he's probably considered more as Above Average than Average (but not Great/Top)

FE9

Instant meteor with Calill is always helpful but she's never carrying the team

Largo isn't an absolute necessity, since he's kinda squishy and not the dodgiest without some good investment via supports primarily, but he still hits like a truck and can find use in an axe-lite team (why would you not be running axes though?). He's a decent sub for Boyd, and that's just it. He's decent, which is the point of this.

FE11

Jeorge is pretty run of the mill. He has enough speed to keep up (12base +40%) and his primary weakness can be offset through forging bows (lol20% str growth). No one else on your team is really gonna dedicate themselves to bows, and Parthia comes super early, so he's the best contender to utilize it, which while being niche, is still helpful at times.

FE13

Fred doesn't maintain his spot forever on teams, especially in earlier modes, but even when he's done being useful in combat, he can still chip and/or offer good Pair-Up bonuses as a natural Great knight. Decent support pool means that he can glue himself to Sumia at worst and always be able to contribute via pairup stats, without contributing directly to combat, making him useful utility and therefore pretty average.

Libra's a convenient staffbot if you haven't trained one and/or you're dropping your dedicated staffers, since he's bulkier than Maribelle will ever be, and can always reclass to Sorcerer for a passable (albeit not very powerful) Nostank.

[Jotari]

FE5 Pahn is a unique case where he have decent overall utility and combat usage despite having skills and PCC that make him look stupid broken. Probably the most "in the middle" prepromote in that game since Dagda and Dean is IMO kinda broken for what they do(yeah Dagda speed, but that base durability is unmatched until Eyrios), the late game Prepromote is also WTF, the mid game prepromote feels eh, and theres Eyrios who is basically Superman

FE6 Despite having 2 Prf, Yodel is kinda outclassed by the best character in the game(its Niime lol), but his arrival grants you an extra staffbot with nuking potential straight of the bat which gave you extra support push.

Wendell in FE11 is so easy to fit on your team because he can literally do everything for a short while, and when he finally drops off, he can transition into Staffbot very easilly

Sirius in FE12 is basically the sucessor to FE11 Wendell, he's really not as powerful as most thinks in this game, but his arrival as a Pre Promote makes your big carry Palla and Kris job much easier. He can scale very late into the game, but is generally outclassed by the growth units by mid-late game. I feel like FE12 is basically Kris + Palla -> Kris + Catria -> Caeda as far as best character for specific parts goes

Aside from this, idk Duessel feels pretty balanced i think, he have WTC, and godlike combat, he don't move as far as Seth, or have as much utility + god combat as Saleh, and didn't fly like Cornag, but when you need to deal with some strong/tough shit, like late game boss, or Ghost Ship, Garm Duessel is your man

Funny, Yodel (alongside Dayan) is the unit I immediately think of when I think useless prepromote. Though maybe that's bias on my part since something feels fundamentally wrong using a 20/20 unit that I didn't train. Though given he's forced on the chapter you get him he at least has a decent chance to appeal to me but he never managed to make it. I feel they should have given him S ranked Light Magic instead of staves as he'd get a lot of use as an Automatic Aureola user then (which would also fit pretty well with his in universe position).

Edited September 22, 2016 by Jotari

[Locke087]

4: balance that's hilarious, in this game either killing or lagging. what if I had to say one mabye Claude (Briggid has a holy weapon I'd hardly call her balanced)

6: most prepromotes are actually pretty balanced in this game as long as they're not named Perceval.

7: Vaida, Karel, and Isadora mostly mabye Loiuse when Pent is not around. I also wouldn't call really any of the other pre-promotes OP besides Pent and Marcus.

8: Saleh? I don't know how this game so easy I can hardly tell balanced and who's not, that and it's been a long time since I played it.

9: Calill

10: Skip due to loose definition of pre-promote

11: Don't remember.

12 Katrina and Minerva are the only ones I used so them..

13: umm... Libra mabye.

14. Leo of the Royals he is the least OP and I think the most balanced.

[Jotari]

Briggid has a holy weapon but she lacks a horse which is also pretty crucial in Holy War. Though the mountain parts of Chapter 4 and desert parts of Chapter 5 do help her in that regard.

[Agro]

Jakob and Felicia are pretty well-balanced IMO. They don't outshine your other units from their join time but both have staff utility and even Felicia has combat utility as she can debuff in Attack stance.

Their based and growths are actually much lower than average but this is mitigated by their ability to learn 2nd tier skills much earlier and thereby make better use of reclassing than everyone else.

Most of the FE5 and FE6 prepromotes are fairly well handled.

[Gradivus.]

Funny, Yodel (alongside Dayan) is the unit I immediately think of when I think useless prepromote.

But man, Yodel has like, a 3 use infinite range full HP + status healing to everyone at once staff, 14 range warp/physic and full status staff access with good accuracy. His combat isn't really worth anything, especially not on HM, but his staff utility is still pretty good, and outclassing isn't a problem because there's no reason you wouldn't want two good staff users.

On topic,

- FE6 Marcus

- FE11 Jagen, Wendell, Jeorge and Minerva

- FE12 Arran, Sirius and Etzel

- Fates C2 servant and Conquest!Shura

Edited September 23, 2016 by Gradivus.

[Jotari]

But man, Yodel has like, a 3 use infinite range full HP + status healing staff, 14 range warp/physic and full status staff access with good accuracy. His combat isn't really worth anything, especially not on HM, but his staff utility is still pretty good, and outclassing isn't a problem because there's no reason you wouldn't want two good staff users.

On topic,

- FE6 Marcus

- FE11 Jagen, Wendell, Jeorge and Minerva

- FE12 Arran, Sirius and Etzel

- Fates C2 servant and Conquest!Shura

Yeah but I generally already have several good staff users at that point. Not only Niime who the game gives you earlier but at least one staffbot I've been using since the beginning of the game and would no doubt have an A rank. Not unfeasble for one my sages to have a high staff rank either so by the time Yodel comes around I'm more than set in that regard and am better filling up those deployment slots with combatants. Even though I generally cheese the Gaiden directly after Yodel joins and generally let Roy solo the remainder of the game.

Edited September 23, 2016 by Jotari

[Irysa]

Yeah but I generally already have several good staff users at that point. Not only Niime who the game gives you earlier but at least one staffbot I've been using since the beginning of the game and would no doubt have an A rank. Not unfeasble for one my sages to have a high staff rank either so by the time Yodel comes around I'm more than set in that regard and am better filling up those deployment slots with combatants. Even though I generally cheese the Gaiden directly after Yodel joins and generally let Roy solo the remainder of the game.

It takes forever to grind staff rank in FE6 dude. Like each staff use is 1 WEXP and you need 50 uses to go up one rank. Sages start from E. Thats 200 turns for A (100 if you dance them every turn) of staff use, minus 50/25 per staff rank below A. Even casual players are unlikely to be sitting around for that long unless they're grinding the arena. In my experience in FE6, even in casual play, usually only the early staffbot I've focused on (Elen, Clarine, Saul) and Niime have A staves at that point, Cecilia may have B if I was dicking around a lot, but more than that is rather tedious.

Edited September 23, 2016 by Irysa

[DragonFlames]

I think Say'ri from Awakening is a pretty good example, if you didn't do much grinding until you get her, since promotion only starts around the time you get her and she's strong enough to take on some enemies, thus not placing her in the 'useless prepromote' shelf. Libra and Anna may count, too.

I think Miledy and/or Perceval from Binding Blade fit the mold as well, as does Minerva in Shadow Dragon.

[Jotari]

It takes forever to grind staff rank in FE6 dude. Like each staff use is 1 WEXP and you need 50 uses to go up one rank. Sages start from E. Thats 200 turns for A (100 if you dance them every turn) of staff use, minus 50/25 per staff rank below A. Even casual players are unlikely to be sitting around for that long unless they're grinding the arena. In my experience in FE6, even in casual play, usually only the early staffbot I've focused on (Elen, Clarine, Saul) and Niime have A staves at that point, Cecilia may have B if I was dicking around a lot, but more than that is rather tedious.

Well I didn't say my sages had an A staff rank, I said high. Possibly a B staff for using Physic. Possibly not, it does depend on how much arena abuse one is doing (and of all games I feel most compelled to Arena abuse in FE6 since more money = more stat boosters for lots of ridiculous stuff. Like giving Roy max movement). A staffbot you had to grind through ~20 levels to promote will very likely have A rank staves however. Unless you immediately stopped using them for healing completely once they can attack.

[Weeping Dalek (MK)]

FE7's prepromotes are the best, ignoring Pent and Jaffar, they all are useable, but will be overshined by units trained up from scratch that you got before them (Marcus and Isadora vs. Sain and Kent, Rebecca and Wil vs. Louise, Dart vs. Hawkeye, etc.)

[Topaz Light]

If we're assuming an anything-goes playthrough, then the prepromotes in Awakening, because bases and growths literally do not matter at all in that game if you're letting yourself grind, especially if you're playing on a lower difficulty and/or have EXPonential Growth.

Assuming you're not letting yourself utterly shatter any semblance of balance the game in question has, I'm gonna have to second FE7. Even just looking at their bases, most of the prepromotes in that game aren't half bad at all, are generally pretty powerful around the time they join, and have growths that are good enough not to fall that far behind the others if you adopt them into your central squad. Of course, units of the same/comparable classes who you trained from scratch will probably end up better in most areas in the end but the prepromotes are still absolutely useful, especially since (where applicable) they usually come with built-in secondary weapon ranks that would take a good deal of going out of your way to develop in an unpromoted counterpart.

Edited September 28, 2016 by Topaz Light

[Weeping Dalek (MK)]

If we're assuming an anything-goes playthrough, then the prepromotes in Awakening, because bases and growths literally do not matter at all in that game if you're letting yourself grind, especially if you're playing on a lower difficulty and/or have EXPonential Growth.

Assuming you're not letting yourself utterly shatter any semblance of balance the game in question has, I'm gonna have to second FE7. Even just looking at their bases, most of the prepromotes in that game aren't half bad at all, are generally pretty powerful around the time they join, and have growths that are good enough not to fall that far behind the others if you adopt them into your central squad. Of course, units of the same/comparable classes who you trained from scratch will probably end up better in most areas in the end but the prepromotes are still absolutely useful, especially since (where applicable) they usually come with built-in secondary weapon ranks that would take a good deal of going out of your way to develop in an unpromoted counterpart.

Prepromotes are good in FE7, Pent is the best magic unit, period and Jaffar is the best Thief (Because compared to Jaffar, Matthew and Legault suck) and Pent destroys any mage stat-wise but Nino (and Nino sucks because Chapter 26/28 as a Level 5 Mage)

[Just call me AL]

FE7's prepromotes are the best, ignoring Pent and Jaffar, they all are useable, but will be overshined by units trained up from scratch that you got before them (Marcus and Isadora vs. Sain and Kent, Rebecca and Wil vs. Louise, Dart vs. Hawkeye, etc.)

The bolded is kind of a widely-spread claim that has no basis in reality, while the italicized is the one who's doing the "outshining" in the provided examples.

It takes forever to grind staff rank in FE6 dude. Like each staff use is 1 WEXP and you need 50 uses to go up one rank. Sages start from E. Thats 200 turns for A (100 if you dance them every turn) of staff use, minus 50/25 per staff rank below A. Even casual players are unlikely to be sitting around for that long unless they're grinding the arena. In my experience in FE6, even in casual play, usually only the early staffbot I've focused on (Elen, Clarine, Saul) and Niime have A staves at that point, Cecilia may have B if I was dicking around a lot, but more than that is rather tedious.

From what I understand, it also takes forever to raise a weapon rank from E to S as well in FE6. In some instances, like Deke, I imagine that it can be done. But in other instances, eh... In all honesty, I'm probably one of the few people who's glad that Yodel's Light Tome rank is as high as it is, considering that there's no Light Mages, Monks, or Maidens in FE6.

Edited September 29, 2016 by Just call me AL

[KMT4ever]

The bolded is kind of a widely-spread claim that has no basis in reality, while the italicized is the one who's doing the "outshining" in the provided examples.

Lolwut?

Marcus vs. Kent vs. Sain at lvl 1 Paladin

• HP: 31 vs. 38.15 vs. 36.2 (65% vs. 85% vs. 80%)
• Strength: 15 vs. 14.6 vs. 20.4 (30% vs. 40% vs. 60%)
• Skill: 15 vs. 16.5 vs. 11.65 (50% vs. 50% vs. 35%)
• Speed: 11 vs. 16.55 vs. 14.6 (25% vs. 45% vs. 40%)
• Luck: 8 vs. 5.8 vs. 10.65 (30% vs. 20% vs. 35%)
• Defense: 10 vs. 11.75 vs. 11.8 (15% vs. 25% vs. 20%)
• Resistance: 8 vs. 6.75. vs. 4.8 (35% vs. 25% vs. 20%)

Obviously Marcus has a significant starting level advantage even with Lyn mode used, but statistically he will fall behind, especially since you shouldn't be using him early on. For growths he beats Kent in Luck, Sain in Skill, and both of them in Resistance. Everywhere else he's either tied or way behind, especially Speed and Strength.

That doesn't mean he can't clean house given how bad FE7 enemies are, but he's definitely not a better unit if we use bases and growths instead of convenience (where he does still win out).

Louise vs. Wil vs. Rebecca at lvl 4 Sniper

• HP: 28 vs. 38.75 vs. 34.2 (60% vs. 75% vs. 60%)
• Strength: 12 vs. 17.5 vs. 15 (40% vs. 50% vs. 40%)
• Skill: 14 vs. 17.5 vs 15.5 (40% vs. 50% vs. 50%)
• Speed: 17 vs. 15.4 vs. 18.4 (40% vs. 40% vs. 60%)
• Luck: 16 vs. 14.4 vs. 13.5 (30% vs. 40% vs. 50%)
• Defense: 9 vs. 11.2 vs. 7.85 (20% vs. 20% vs. 15%)
• Resistance: 12 vs. 8.25 vs. 8.7 (30% vs. 25% vs. 30%)

I really don't see how Louise outshines either of them statistically. She's about equal, perhaps a little behind. Again, she wins in convenience, but only if you decide to go 2/3 of the way through the game without using either Wil or Rebecca, at which point you don't need Louise anyway. Of course her instant A support with Pent is great.

Dart vs. Hawkeye at lvl 4 Berserker

• HP: 48.5 vs. 50 (70% vs. 50%)
• Strength 22.75 vs. 18 (65% vs. 40%)
• Skill: 12 vs. 14 (20% vs. 30%)
• Speed: 18 vs. 11 (60% vs. 25%)
• Luck: 8.25 vs. 13 (35% vs. 40%)
• Defense: 11 vs. 14 (20% vs. 20%)
• Resistance: 5.25 vs. 10 (15% vs. 35%)

Dart's skill deficiency can be handled with the Secret Books nobody else is using. Otherwise he only really loses out in Resistance, which with his mountain of HP shouldn't matter very much.

[Just call me AL]

Obviously Marcus has a significant starting level advantage even with Lyn mode used

Which is one of the reasons why he's outshining Sain and Kent.

but statistically he will fall behind

Only slightly if he does, and during a point where a single unit isn't worth as much due to how strong your team will be. And even if he does, he's still usable all the same.

especially since you shouldn't be using him early on

Good luck on HHM without without him then. And good luck with stuff like Ranked Runs without him for that matter. For there's really no reason why you shouldn't use him early on.

That doesn't mean he can't clean house given how bad FE7 enemies are, but he's definitely not a better unit if we use bases and growths instead of convenience (where he does still win out).

Now it's my turn to say "lol wut". Because Marcus's bases are nothing short of amazing for when they arrive. He can ORKO pretty much every mook and boss in the earlygame, and can still remain able to do so in the midgame. He has a bit kore trouble in the lategame, yes. But the enemies he does have actual trouble against are rare ones. And again, when he does start facing trouble, other units will be able to pick up the slack. Facing trouble against enemies when other units can help pick up the slack isn't really a point against him overall outshining Sain and Kent when he's awesome when he's the one picking up the slack when other units can't.

I really don't see how Louise outshines either of them statistically. She's about equal, perhaps a little behind. Again, she wins in convenience, but only if you decide to go 2/3 of the way through the game without using either Wil or Rebecca, at which point you don't need Louise anyway.

Except even if you do decide to go 2/3 of the way through the game while using Wil or Rebecca, Louise stilll wins due to the level gap that's present between her and either of those two. Archers don't gain much EXP due to lacking an enemy phase. Adding to that, Wil's and Rebecca's bases are poor. The logical conclusion gained from those two facts couldn't be more obvious.

Dart's skill deficiency can be handled with the Secret Books nobody else is using. Otherwise he only really loses out in Resistance, which with his mountain of HP shouldn't matter very much.

Secret Books can't do anything about Dart's mediocre start, or the funds lost in using the Ocean Seal.

[Jedi]

FE7's prepromotes are the best, ignoring Pent and Jaffar, they all are useable, but will be overshined by units trained up from scratch that you got before them (Marcus and Isadora vs. Sain and Kent, Rebecca and Wil vs. Louise, Dart vs. Hawkeye, etc.)

Marcus outdoes Kent, Sain, Lowen and Isadora for the entire game, and Pent's power can be emulated by Erk fairly easily, Jaffar isn't anything spectacular though because of the cruddy Assassin stat caps and no 1-2 range.

[Just call me AL]

Pent's power can be emulated by Erk fairly easily

On the other hand, Pent requires no effort or promotion item, and has that A in Staves, and that auto-A with Louise.

Jaffar isn't anything spectacular though because of the cruddy Assassin stat caps and no 1-2 range.

Not to mention, he's not really doing anything worthwhile that no one else is doing by the time he joins.

[JSND Alter Dragon Boner]

Marcus vs Sain is actually kinda funny since once Sain arrives with LHM, Marcus usefulness drops from "doing everything" into "doing everything Sain can't do" and things that Sain "can't" do is something small, but pretty useful like having stupidly high res and having a more accurate Javelin

Also A Staff is actually not that important in FE7 compared to other games due to Warp coming so late.

Come to think of it its kinda funny how FE7 had Marcus + Pent while FE8 had Seth + Saleh

Edited September 29, 2016 by JSND