FE10 Tierlist 2017

[Shadow Mir]

For whatever reason when the devs decided that Thunder tomes were too good in PoR, they decided to nerf both the tomes and Ilyana's class into the ground. Bad hit rate, bad might, and Ilyana is stuck at 30 speed max with a 30% growth rate. You'd probably be better off handing a blessed Bolting to someone rather than Rexbolt since there's no way Ilyana can even approach Deghinsea without getting murdered. 45 HP and 24 defense won't even survive one counter and Mantle negates crit...

Ehh, I honestly think Bolting's too much of a pain in the ass to try to steal (Heather isn't exactly known for her strength growth, and you're stuck with her for two of the maps where you can run into a Bolting mage, the first of which you ain't stealing from unless you got obscenely lucky; the final chance you have, you have Sothe... but on the other hand, the mage with Bolting has nothing else). Also, she can survive with a cover tile.

Edited December 13, 2016 by Levant Mir Celestia

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

Micaiah earned an average score of 6,5 (including the vote of post #25) which is (for me at least) surprisingly good. Not amazing but at least decent.

Anyways I'll do a new poll everyday. If someone still wants to vote afterwards, please mention your score in your comment! I'll add your votes in my table and update the average score.

#2 Edward

Growthrates (%)

HP: 85

strength: 60

mag: 5

skill: 65

speed: 60

luck: 50

defense: 35

resistance: 20

personal skill: wrath

affinity: light

Edward is for me an underrated unit. Many people like to replace him by Zihark when he joins. As for me I find both great in a different way. Edward has great growths for a myrmidon. 60% strength is amazing.

However he has one main weakness which disqualifies him for several players: earlygame. In hard mode he can't double everyone even in the prolog already. He has to level speed immediately to double all the bandits in the prolog and the fighters in chapter 1. Furthermore he's forced to level strength and in his first level up to finish off a weaken fighter by Nolan. If he levels neither in his first level... well... then you have already a problem. Edward needs good levels in the beginning so badly to shine. If he does, he really can shine. He's the only first tier unit besides Jill who's able to double some enemies in HM. With good strength and a support with someone who gives him strength (Leonardo, Micaiah) he can even oneround a fighter, archer and soldier. With a decent defense and Leonardo support he might even take two steel lance hits.

Wrath is a skill which screws him more. It mainly will kill himself for the most part. He can only really benefit from it in the chapters you fight Laguz. Bring his HP down to wrath-zone and attack with wind edges and storm swords till the rest of the chapter. That's the way how he can get experience. In the other chapters Micaiah will benefit more from this skill.

Unfortunately his support doesn't give him any evasion. Of course you could support him with an earth-unit, but honestly they want to have a support who gives them evasion too to take more use of their affinity (other earth-unit or Jill / Aran). Leonardo is Edward's best option because it gives him strength and defense, two important stats for a front unit.

Many people tend to bench (even a good Edward) when they get Zihark. In general both are absoulutely usuable, just different. Zihark will become a dodgetank while Edward a powerhouse from range.

If you play on EM / NM, Edward doesn't really have all the mentioned problems.

7.5 / 10

Edited February 1, 2017 by Eleanor Hume

[Augestein]

Edward is king average to me. He's terrible if you don't use him immediately but pays off fairly well if you do use him. 5/10 for me.

[Anacybele]

I'd say Edward is a bit above average, he can be good, but only if you're willing to put in the effort for him. Like a lot of the DB, he falls behind later due to later units being much better to begin with and later on. I'd say Zihark outclasses him for this very reason since he's a pre-promote. So 5.5 for me.

[Fire Emblem Fan]

Eh, I'd give Edward a 7/10. Like the vast majority of the Dawn Brigade, he's just a pain to use, however I find he's among those with the most potential. If you can get him going, he can be Endgame material! 7/10.

EDIT: Oh my, I seem to have the complete wrong idea of what "average" means. I've been thinking in terms of video game scores...6 and above, average to great. 5 and below...bad to terrible. Whoops...maybe?

Edited December 13, 2016 by Fire Emblem Fan

[Shadow Mir]

4/10. He's practically hit-or-miss, but mostly miss, unfortunately. He's pretty bad early on, other than the prologue, and by the time he comes into his own, whoops, he's obsolete. His innate Wrath generally does him more harm than good, too, and is thus best used on anyone who can use it without having to send them to the guillotine to do so (AKA, a mage).

Edited December 13, 2016 by Levant Mir Celestia

[eclipse]

Growth units aren't always bad. However, Edward's on a time table. If he misses certain stat level-ups in a certain time frame, he's in for a bad time. Not even his personal boomstick can get him out of that! Great if he gets going, but far too tied to RNG for my tastes.

4.5/10

[Locke087]

Micaiah

Your stuck with her so you might as well use her overall she has Thani (thank goodness for this tome) bomb, and a Staff which gives her some utility which is not too shabby, yeah if she likely to die if she sees combat up close, but overall I give 6.5/10. (I voted earlier btw.)

Edward

Gets a legendary weapon is and legendarily ignored by this game just like the entire dawn brigade. But he is one of the few competent members of the Dawn brigade so using him is recommended 6/10.

Edited December 13, 2016 by Locke087

[Florete]

Edward is in a weird position. He's super solid on easy and normal but gets his ass chopped up in hard. He can still be pretty good in hard, it's just...well, hard. But he doesn't take too much effort and he is helping you quite a lot when you need it.

7/10 from me.

[ping]

5/10

His growths are great, but thanks to caps and BEXP this doesn't mean as much as it would in other FE games. Both Mia and Zihark have around the same long-term potential while having a better start than Edward. Among the Dawn Brigade, he just doesn't have the same value as units like Nolan or Jill (or the prepromotes), making it easy for the player to mostly ignore him as soon as the ranks have grown a bit. He's not terrible, just... average in a part of the game where focussing your attention on the best units is rewarded, so 5/10 seems appropriate.

[Radiant head]

5/10

not terrible but kind of superfluous. db chapters encourage focusing on giving exp to limited characters which kind of shafts both him and aran.

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

Would it be ok, if I'm letting you rate two characters in one day from tomorrow on?
Since FE10 has a huge number of characters, I'd like to save a little bit time.

EDIT: Oh my, I seem to have the complete wrong idea of what "average" means. I've been thinking in terms of video game scores...6 and above, average to great. 5 and below...bad to terrible. Whoops...maybe?

This is how I'd turn the points into a tier class.
9 - 10 = S
8 - <9 = A
7 - <8 = B
6 - <7 = C
5 - <6 = D
3 - <5 = E
0 - <3 = FAIL

[Shadow Mir]

Would it be ok, if I'm letting you rate two characters in one day from tomorrow on?

Since FE10 has a huge number of characters, I'd like to save a little bit time.

I'm okay with that.

[Jave]

Edward: He's strange. He's certainly got the stats and growths to be good and is useful during Part 1, but like most of the Dawn Brigade he has serious trouble holding up during Part 3 and unless you really favored him he would be outclassed by the time Part 4 hits. Still, I acknowledge his usefulness so he gets a solid 6/10 from me.

[Naturesshadow]

Haven't used him in endgame before but early game has been good for me. Double reliably, good strength and decent dodging help with part 1. For my first HM run I plan on using alot of the dawn brigade so I'll get a chance to see him at his full potential there.

7/10 for now.

[Fire Emblem Fan]

Would it be ok, if I'm letting you rate two characters in one day from tomorrow on?

Since FE10 has a huge number of characters, I'd like to save a little bit time.

This is how I'd turn the points into a tier class.

9 - 10 = S

8 - <9 = A

7 - <8 = B

6 - <7 = C

5 - <6 = D

3 - <5 = E

0 - <3 = FAIL

Thanks! With that chart, I see I did in fact rate Micaiah and Edward how I'd have wanted to.

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

Edward gained an average score of 6,25.

Leonardo

Growthrates (%)

HP: 60

Strength: 40

Magic: 15

Skill: 75

Speed 35

Luck: 65

Defense: 35

Resistance: 55

Skill: cancel

Affinity: water

It’s unquestionable that Leonardo is one of the worse archers in FE growthwise, even one of the worst. 40% strength and 35% speed growth are just unsatisfying for this class. So don’t expect to see him double much, muss less oneround unless it’s a pegasus knight in 1-6-1. He’s basically just a worse chipper than Micaiah. At least he should be able to take a shot in regular cases. However with his low speed he still can be onerounded by a myrm.

Yeah, using him is painful especially in hard. However if you could give him a few levels you might be paid off for this effort. In part 3 he will get the best of Daein’s holy weapons, Lughnasadh. It gives him +5 speed which can completly change his usefulness. A Leonardo with 15 speed at the beginning of part 3 (not impossible to reach) can double the tigers, and with a crit he can even oneround them. Since Ilyana left and Micaiah will be used mainly for healing he’ll be your main range weapon user in part 3.

In part 4 he’ll behind again unlike you could somehow promote him to third tier. That's what he needs to become useful in part 4. However there’s no point to bring him to the endgame (even if he could double an aura without a Heron with Lughnasadh) because Shinon and Rolf simply outclass him.

He has cancel, the skill, an archer needs the least.

His affinity gives him boost in strength and defense. If you want to have more power with range weapons, support him with Micaiah. Or support him with Edward to give him up to +3 defense and make it maybe possible to let him take two hits.

He has his uses but only for like 3-4 chapters in the entire game. Having him for chipping with the longbow in 1-5 is also quite nice.

5 / 10

_______________________________________

Nolan

Growthrates (%)

HP: 60

Strength: 45

Skill: 70

Speed: 60

Luck: 60

Defense: 35

Resistance: 40

Skill: nihil

Affinity: earth

Nolan is the lifesaver of the DB in the very beginning because in the early chapters he’s the only first tier unit who can take more than one hit in HM.

He is a very untypical fighter growthwise. His growths remind pretty much on a myrmidon. He starts with very solid bases. His only handicap is his equippment becuase his steel axe gives him speed penalty. It really matters at the latest in 1-4. If he hasn’t leveled strength, so buy / forge him an iron axe.

Anyways he is a bit similar to Edward. His early level ups will decide, if he’ll turn out great or land on the bench. He really needs strength and especially speed in the beginning to become useful later on in HM. In lower modes he normally is amazing, but in HM he needs the speed early on not to land into double-territorry for the opponent. He’s also not the tankiest fighter so he really needs as much evasion as possible.

Speaking of evasion: Nolan has the best affinity of the game, earth. Definitely support him with Zihark to make both become dodgetanks. It’s not so likely that his HP and defense (even with Tarvos equipped) will be enough to take two hits by tigers in part 3 so better give him the evasion.

Tarvos gives him defense which is very nice because it’s one of his weaker stats.

Nihil is a nice skill but he can only benefit from it in endgame.

Warrior Nolan can oneshot all the Laguz with the crossbows. Giving him vantage is very recommended.

Nolan can become great endgame material and is probably the best fighter after the fighter-twins from FE5, if his early levels work.

7.5 / 10

Edited January 4, 2017 by Eleanor Hume

[Anacybele]

Leonardo: He's pretty bad. Weak strength, weak speed, weak defense, etc. You're WAY better off using Shinon instead later, and even Rolf. Leo does get Lughnasadh, which is a good bow, but that's his only good point, imo. 4/10

Nolan: He's better than Leonardo, but still not great. That low strength growth is blah. Boyd always ends up with higher stats because he comes in stronger and in a better group. Nolan just falls behind like the rest of the DB, even if he could be better statwise in the end. But it's easier to raise Boyd who still has good stats as well, so Nolan is rather obsolete. 5/10.

Edited December 14, 2016 by Anacybele

[Fire Emblem Fan]

Leonardo:

Yeah...he's not very good. He has some uses here and there, and his personal weapon is pretty decent, but in the end it's just better to use one of the other bow-users. If you're gonna use a bow-user, anyway. 4/10.

Nolan:

One of the better DB characters! Nolan can actually be useful through the whole game! He starts at a good enough level, and he's not nearly as frustrating to train as 98% of the rest of the DB. 7/10.

[Shadow Mir]

Leonardo: 6/10. While he might not be that great in the long run, at least he has his shining moments (mostly in part 3, where Beastfoe's amazing on him), and unlike Edward, he (1) doesn't have to stick his neck out to contribute, and (2) isn't screwed over by a superior alternative coming later.

Nolan: 8/10. He largely carries the team during the early chapters, and remains a solid unit throughout the game, as well as generally being endgame material. He's also much more valuable to his team than Boyd is to the Mercenaries.

Edited December 14, 2016 by Levant Mir Celestia

[Radiant head]

Leonardo - 5/10

almost ranked him much lower because strictly speaking he's a poor combat unit. his bases are poor and he's fragile even for DB standards. his growths are really wtf, iirc a lot of res, luck, etc. but not much useful stuff. despite this though, he ironically is a lot more useful than he should be, chipping is very much desired so that your other units can safely kill and he delivers on this end. if his str is really bad, he can opt to use a crossbow which isn't dependent on it. if you're lucky with spd, he can double with his special bow. in a way leo is more fun to use than shinon or rolf because there's a bit more effort involved in how to leverage his strengths, which is more interesting than just orko'ing everything

Nolan - 9/10

fucking love this guy. acts like a solid tank in the early game when you're given a pack of scrubs. loses a bit of his novelty when sothe, zihark, and volug join but he's still one of your better units alongside jill. earth affinity is almost essential. then part 3 comes in and he comes surging back with relevance with nice speed growths, a sick personal axe, and if you want beastfoe/crossbow for laguz hunting. you no longer need him by part 4, but he's good enough to stay relevant and can get enough exp to hit tier 3. innate nihil and reaver's amazing caps makes him a good endgame candidate as well. personally i always break micaiah from sothe for him. way more valuable to his team than boyd is to the mercs.

Edited December 14, 2016 by Radiant head

[Augestein]

Leonardo: Leonardo is odd. He has moments where he can be good, but he has a lot of problems. For starters, it was like they wanted him to be a crossbowman but didn't know how to accomplish that. You'll find this is rather obvious in the sense that they gave him CANCEL of all things as his ability. The issue with that, is that Cancel is a speed proc, and that's easily Leonardo's 2nd worst relevant stat. Note IS, the way to do that is to give him decent Spd, Def, and Res, not bad Str, Spd, and Defense. That said, Leonardo still isn't in the same boat as miserable characters, because this guy doesn't need to gain a single level to actually be useful. Beastfoe can cover all of his damaging needs in Part 3, Leonardo has a monopoly on Killer Bows and Brave Bows in the DB chapters, and even better is that he actually has enough hp / def spread initially to not die from things in part 1 for the most part. He can chip, and like Micaiah, he doesn't miss like other DB members have a nasty tendency to do. His support affinity is great as well. His special bow is incredible as well. If you're a fan of Blood Tide, this weapon can be great as well if you bring him to the final chapter. If you're a bad character, you need to be bad like Leonardo. He's not endgame material under normal circumstances, but man, I'd say he was more useful than a ton of people. I still rate him low, because Leonardo needs things to really go his way to work. You need to find Beastfoe, and you need to find the Brave Bow, and you need to remember to buy the killer bow. If you don't, this guy can be a disaster.

3 /10 (because that's what I voted)

Nolan is awesome. His bases aren't terrible for his level outside of perhaps his initial skill, and he has earth affinity which makes him great for whomever supports him. Outside of his shaky early game hit, he's one of the most durable DB members in the game that doesn't leave. This guy is good enough to be worth training to Tier 3 and taking to the end. He's fast, he hits hard, and doesn't take much damage. At tier 2, he can even pull Leo's Beastfoe trick if he wants-- though I prefer to leave that to Leo and give Nolan Paragon. Nihil innately is great for Part 4 as well. A unit that has something to offer at every given turn even if he was never the best outside of maybe Ch.1.

8.5 / 10

Edited December 14, 2016 by Augestein

[Florete]

Leonardo is bad. Like, he's not awful, but he's bad. He helps a bit early on, but his growths are just too bad to get him anywhere. Lughnasadh helps, but it's just not enough.

3/10

Nolan is pretty good, but I never thought he was as good as many seemed to. He has some accuracy issues early on and while his growths are good, he depends on them a bit too much for my liking. That is to say, he can fall behind pretty badly if he doesn't get the strength and speed he needs in time. But he's pretty great when he does get them, and Tarvos makes him pretty tanky.

7.5/10

[Augestein]

Leonardo is bad. Like, he's not awful, but he's bad. He helps a bit early on, but his growths are just too bad to get him anywhere. Lughnasadh helps, but it's just not enough.

3/10

Nolan is pretty good, but I never thought he was as good as many seemed to. He has some accuracy issues early on and while his growths are good, he depends on them a bit too much for my liking. That is to say, he can fall behind pretty badly if he doesn't get the strength and speed he needs in time. But he's pretty great when he does get them, and Tarvos makes him pretty tanky.

7.5/10

This is exactly why I stand that Nolan needs to support with Edward in the early game. Edward is the only form of hit bonus outside of Sothe, and when Nolan's biorhythm goes towards Worst, -10 hit is simply dreadful for him for quite some time. Supporting with Edward eventually at least makes both of them virtually immune to biorhythm's effects (you'll always suffer a whopping -1 hit), and makes both more durable. I'd go for Meg, but I hate Heaven affinity and Meg isn't... Good.

Edited December 14, 2016 by Augestein

[Shadow Mir]

Leonardo: Leonardo is odd. He has moments where he can be good, but he has a lot of problems. For starters, it was like they wanted him to be a crossbowman but didn't know how to accomplish that. You'll find this is rather obvious in the sense that they gave him CANCEL of all things as his ability. The issue with that, is that Cancel is a speed proc, and that's easily Leonardo's 2nd worst relevant stat. Note IS, the way to do that is to give him decent Spd, Def, and Res, not bad Str, Spd, and Defense. That said, Leonardo still isn't in the same boat as miserable characters, because this guy doesn't need to gain a single level to actually be useful. Beastfoe can cover all of his damaging needs in Part 3, Leonardo has a monopoly on Killer Bows and Brave Bows in the DB chapters, and even better is that he actually has enough hp / def spread initially to not die from things in part 1 for the most part. He can chip, and like Micaiah, he doesn't miss like other DB members have a nasty tendency to do. His support affinity is great as well. His special bow is incredible as well. If you're a fan of Blood Tide, this weapon can be great as well if you bring him to the final chapter. If you're a bad character, you need to be bad like Leonardo. He's not endgame material under normal circumstances, but man, I'd say he was more useful than a ton of people. I still rate him low, because Leonardo needs things to really go his way to work. You need to find Beastfoe, and you need to find the Brave Bow, and you need to remember to buy the killer bow. If you don't, this guy can be a disaster.

3 /10 (because that's what I voted)

Nolan is awesome. His bases aren't terrible for his level outside of perhaps his initial skill, and he has earth affinity which makes him great for whomever supports him. Outside of his shaky early game hit, he's one of the most durable DB members in the game that doesn't leave. This guy is good enough to be worth training to Tier 3 and taking to the end. He's fast, he hits hard, and doesn't take much damage. At tier 2, he can even pull Leo's Beastfoe trick if he wants-- though I prefer to leave that to Leo and give Nolan Paragon. Nihil innately is great for Part 4 as well. A unit that has something to offer at every given turn even if he was never the best outside of maybe Ch.1.

8.5 / 10

And here I thought Cancel's activation rate was based on Skill for the longest time... Also, I think a Killer Bow wouldn't help that much, though that's because I'm jaded on killer weapons in RD and think they... aren't good.

This is exactly why I stand that Nolan needs to support with Edward in the early game. Edward is the only form of hit bonus outside of Sothe, and when Nolan's biorhythm goes towards Worst, -10 hit is simply dreadful for him for quite some time. Supporting with Edward eventually at least makes both of them virtually immune to biorhythm's effects (you'll always suffer a whopping -1 hit), and makes both more durable. I'd go for Meg, but I hate Heaven affinity and Meg isn't... Good.

That reminds me, Edward's largely reliant on evade for his durability, but that's not as reliable thanks to biorhythm.

Edited December 14, 2016 by Levant Mir Celestia