Dawn Brigade appreciation thread: Final - Who's your favorite DB member?

[Sweet_Basil]

I like Micaiah as both a unit and a character, and I think that she has been misunderstood. It happens when a main character shares the spotlight with another more popular main character (Eliwood getting the shaft by fans, Eirika, Celica, and I suspect Celice too although I'm not sure). People say she's a Mary Sue but Mary Sues don't get their spotlight taken away, on the contrary they get more of it. As a unit she's useful and she can become a front liner if you want her to be one in nm/em and even hm (I've done it) but she's always going to be a convenient staff user that hardly anyone else outshines if you ask me. 

Edited August 5, 2017 by Sweet_Basil

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

#4 Meg
Meg is an interesting unit. She's an armor knight with a shiny orange looking armor but she doesn't really share the armor part. Her growths remind more on a peg. knight with her high speed, luck and resistance growth... at cost of her strength and defense.
Seriously her bases are really good if you consider she's only level 3. However still not good enough for hard mode. With her eight speed she'll get doubled and ORKOed by several tigers in 1-4. It's really hard - not impossible but hard - to give her some levels in this chapter to make her (semi)useful in combat.
Her biggest problem besides her low base level is that she's in the wrong class. She suffers on the low movement. Seriously she should have changed class with Aran who has exactly the growths a knight should have. On the other hand we would have basically a second Nephenee because Meg is Brom daughter, Nephenee's biggest friend from Ohma. 
So it was logical to put her in an other class than Neph. I guess she became an armor because of her dad. However her bases and growths don't work for this class unfortunately.
I used Meg in a draft in the longrun and even Fiona beat her by miles with her much better movement and caps.
If you need a tank, you should go for Aran... despite he might get into speed trouble.
If you need a sword user, you should go for Ed.
Meg is not bad on EM / NM but seriously never needed.


Note: I screenshotted the results for Micaiah and mentioned them in the OP.
I'll let revote Edward and Leonardo at the end to present all results.

Edited August 5, 2017 by Reimu Hakurei

[Shadow Mir]

Meg... Well what else is there to say, other than that she's one of the characters that really makes me question what the developers were thinking? Because she's underleveled with bases that aren't that great, her growths contradict her class, and I dare say she's an experience black hole.

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

#5: Fiona
Fiona shares Meg's problem. She joins late with low level. But unlike Meg her bases are pretty bad. Her strength stat is lower than her level which is really terrible. She needs an energy drop and forged lance to do slightly damage to the enemy. But the worst of her is her base speed. In HM she'll get doubled by each enemy with physical weapons. Only magic users can't ORKO her. Even in NM most enemies double her. 
Furthermore you can't really benefit from her strength that she's a mounted unit because all the chapters in part 1 she can be brought are indoor chapters which give her -2 movement. In 1-8 she's even busted. Awful preconditions to get trained.
However if you can manage to train her somehow, she has the potential to become a great unit, even the best silver / gold knight due to her caps. Furthermore she has earth affinity. Pair her with Nolan, Volug or Zihark to make her become a dodgetank combined with great power.
Overall Fiona needs more effort than Meg but at the end it's more paid off because of Fiona's better growths and caps. Female silver knights have the required speed (unlike males) to double the auras with whitepool.
If you can train her, she'll become really good but it's not that other units can't become as great as her with by far less investment.
Fiona suffers from her joining time and bases. It's really a shame because she could be a great unit technically.

Edited August 8, 2017 by Reimu Hakurei

[Sweet_Basil]

Aw I missed Meg's day but just like Fiona I would have voted yes. I like both of them even though they're terrible units. I find Meg's design to be one of the cutest but Fiona has a great design. Fiona also had that potential backstory that unfortunately didn't get explored much.

I find Fiona more difficult to use than the rest of the DB. Her main problems are her lack of good bases, at the very least if she would come with excellent defense or speed she wouldn't be that bad. It also sucks that her movement is handicapped by several of her available maps and that she joins so late and even gets reduced gameplay. 

Regardless I like her anyway, she's just one of those units I ignore how bad they are and use them because I like them. 

Edited August 8, 2017 by Sweet_Basil

[Baldrick]

Fiona has pretty good growths, but not enough time to use them. Seven chapters before endgame, and four of them have terrain that cripples her. Unlike the other wimps, she joins late and has to compete with your established team and good filler units.

[Interdimensional Observer]

Fiona, Fiona, Fiona. Could they come much worse? She joins at the same base level as Nolan, 9/0/0, but has worse stats than he does, and joins what amounts to a millennia later. Even on Normal she struggles to avoid being ORKO'ed, and requires massive babying to get off the ground. She has but one chapter before P1 Final, and it's an indoor chapter, disabling her move lead (not that it's relevant with her bad bad bases). For 1 Final, she has to take the stairs, which is bad if you don't mind having the BK or Nailah clear the cliffs for everyone else to climb.

Without heavy babying or massive BEXP infusions, which hinders her growths since they exceed 300 when unpromoted, she will be going into Part 3 unpromoted with just a few levels gained. In other words, the Beasts will eat her alive, or rather dead since she'll get rigor mortis as soon as one of them comes within three feet of her. Weakness breeds weakness as she'll never catch up now for sure (barring massive babying), and even if she does go into P3 promoted, she'll struggle to get enough levels to hit tier 3 by P4, and will have to go with the Hawk Army to catch up in all likelihood.

Fiona has decent growths in Def and Spd, if low on Strength, and her Spd cap is at the magic number for P4 Final. She also gets two innate skills, both of which are good. The much desired Earth Affinity too. Yet everything else works against these few pros Fiona has. Including the fact none of the maps she can fight in demand high mobility, and that many are indoors. This effectively makes Savior worthless on her- as P3 DB are all maps best played defensively, and the GMs could clearly use Savior much more.

 

On Meg, she has much better bases for her level and availability than Fiona, which makes using her much much easier. Even factoring in her wonky growths, Meg's stats are comparable or better than a leveled Fiona's. Yet in terms of lategame potential (aka the Tower), Fiona is superior due to her higher Spd cap and Wishblade competition being much weaker than that for Vague Katti and Alondite. Meg also has the rather useless Fortune skill and the horrid Heaven Affinity.

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

#6 Nolan
Nolan is like the daddy of the DB. He protects the members and js Edward's and Leonardo's teacher. His age is unknown but I think he'll be around 30.
Not only is character is great, but also his combat. Nolan is an untypical fighter. Instead of having high HP and strength, he's more focussed on skill and speed with a better resistance than defense growth. His good speed speed and earth affinity are the main reasons why I prefer him over Boyd.
However his earlygame struggles. He can take 3-4 hits in 1-1 but it will change soon. Two steel axes and tigers will 2RKO him if he levels neither HP nor defense. Furthermore he needs strength and speed not to get doubled with the steel axe which might happen in 1-2 already because some enemies have 11 speed. 
At least in hard mode Nolan can be screwed easier than Edward because unlike him Nolan doesn't have a great base speed. A Nolan who gets doubled is a fail Nolan.
Seriously in part 1 Edward will do more than Nolan, but he'll start to shine when he has established a support with Volug or Zihark. He'll become a great dodgetank and definitely endgame material... if he can manage earlygame.

[Darros]

Wow I missed two days. Lame. Will say though, Fiona was huge wasted potential. The character she did get was pretty great, but they absolutely flubbed her as a unit - turning her into a joke across the entire damn series. Truly a shame.

 

Anyway, Nolan is fucking incredible. Earth affinity is really strong in this game, and he has the bases and growths to boot. Could use with more playtime to reach full potential better but Nolan is one of the most viable members of the DB for long term potential. Other than Jill I'd say he's actually probably the best the DB has to offer. Jill and Zihark are up there too though.

 

PS: Not voting in the poll because why do I have to choose Nolan or Boyd when I can choose Nolan and Boyd. They fill totally different roles and do them each well.

[Shadow Mir]

As for Nolan, I like him because he's not the typical fighter that only has good Strength and HP, but isn't so good at everything else - aka, a cliché of a unit. (About the only other fighters I can remember being fast are Vaike, maybe Barst, and Charlotte, of whom that last one has hit issues, in addition to being in a game where fighters are subpar units, in addition to being a glass cannon in a game where evasion is less reliable than ever.) It helps that he carries the team, at least for a while. As for him vs Boyd, I'd say he eclipses Boyd, whose only particularly high stats are Strength and HP.

Edited August 9, 2017 by Levant Mir Celestia

[Sweet_Basil]

I like Nolan too and I definitely use him more than Boyd, mainly because the DB is smaller but I like both of them. I also like that Nolan's design stands out, he's not another young kid makes him seem like the father figure of the group.

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

#7 Aran
Aran is an optional unit. However it's definitely better to have him along because he's a very useful front unit. He's a soldier with growths of a knight, very high strength and defense and great skill too... however at cost of speed. And that's his major downer for him in hard mode. His base speed is pretty low, same as Nolan's who joined two chapters ago. However unlike Nolan his speed growth is pretty mediocre. He needs lots of levels early on to have a decent enough speed without being worried getting doubled in future chapters. It's even more effortful than babying Edward in the beginning with a worse pay off tbh. Aran can tank but you'll have enough units like Sothe, Volug, Jill, Zihark and Nolan who fulfill this role. Seriously he's only a filler, not needed in hard mode anymore till you can't bring everyone, rather a safety risk because of his shaky speed. In lower difficulties he's definitely a really good unit and more variable since weapon triangle is a thing and he's your only real lance user in part 1 till Jill is promoted. In endgame Nephenee will do better due to her speed cap.
As for his character he's Laura's childhood friend who worked for the church. However he was forced to fight for Begnion against his own will. While his job he allowed the DB to escape the prison which shows that he doesn't share Begnion's intentions. Finally Laura could convince him to join the DB and to rebuild the church together.

Edited August 11, 2017 by Reimu Hakurei

[Phazon Archon]

As a character, I deem Aran interesting enough to be worth trying.
...Or, I would, were it not for Nephenee.

I first dove into Radiant Dawn with memories of Path of Radiance fresh on my mind - and some of those memories were of Nephenee, the unit with a class I thought was fun to use (basic soldier yes!!) who ended up being my best lance unit throughout the game. She sports cool blue armor and neat light-green hair; I like when my units look nice while kicking ass.

Radiant Dawn (fairly) quickly introduces us to Aran, the soldier with cool black armor, neat light-green hair...uh oh.
He's Nephenee, but worse.

I tried using him in my first run of the game. I figured I could use him alongside Nephenee, especially since I didn't know who all I would bring into the finale at that time. He quickly fell off (really, most of the Dawn Brigade did around the same time), and this was in normal mode. I think the last bit of use I squeezed out of him was acting as a wall for a turn to protect Laura in chapter...uh...the one where you roll rocks down onto Sanaki's guards.

Aran is completely overshadowed by Nephenee. I wouldn't have a problem with his low speed (hey, a knight with better movement!) were it not for the fact that almost everyone in the Dawn Brigade requires a good deal of tender love and care. You need a few of its members to not suck come Part 3, and there is only enough experience to make a few of them viable for it (being viable for endgame, of course, requires even more care with how you manage experience).

Aran seems like a nice guy, but I would say any experience given to him is wasted - even if it leaves you with no real lance user in the Dawn Brigade. Most units in Part 1 are starving for experience and you barely have enough to satisfy your favorite few. I am of the mind that most (if not all) experience should go to those you know you will take into the finale.
I sometimes forget wannabe-Nephenee even exists, but the same could be said for the Fiona and Meg. Sadly, they just exist to give you token access to a lance unit, a mounted unit, and an armor unit respectively.

Edited August 11, 2017 by Phazon Archon

[Shadow Mir]

Aran's just what the doctor ordered - a tanky unit in a group primarily composed of units that generally can't take more than one hit. His speed can be an issue, but unless it gets so bad he gets doubled by more than just myrmidons and cats, idgaf. Also, he's about the only unit that can stand up to tigers in part 3 (other than the BK, that is, but it takes time for him to show up).

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

Actually the time when Aran can take two HM tigers is the same as Nolan's: level 4 second tier 
(if I add the defense boost of Tarvos)
 

[Shadow Mir]

8 hours ago, Reimu Hakurei said:

Actually the time when Aran can take two HM tigers is the same as Nolan's: level 4 second tier 
(if I add the defense boost of Tarvos)
 

I don't factor hard mode into these, frankly - it's more of an exercise in tedium than an actual challenge.

[Interdimensional Observer]

18 hours ago, Phazon Archon said:

Radiant Dawn (fairly) quickly introduces us to Aran, the soldier with cool black armor, neat light-green hair...uh oh.
He's Nephenee, but worse.

Only if we're talking 4-Final. Otherwise- Aran roughly tying with Edward for the 3rd best non-Micaiah unpromoted unit to dump P1 experience into (Jill and Nolan are the top two), is better than Neph in P2 (where she gets Brominated) and P3, where the GMs have plenty of members able to outdo or rival her. She's kinda fast, but kinda fragile and kinda puny and comes at a low level. 

 

I've expressed my preference for Aran in the past, his tanking is great for me is more valuable than Edward's potential doubling, as I generally don't end up bringing DBs to 4-Final. I acknowledge Aran's flaws, but still find him quite useful.

 

5 hours ago, Levant Mir Celestia said:

I don't factor hard mode into these, frankly - it's more of an exercise in tedium than an actual challenge.

I concur- that disabling of enemy range display is just annoying. Plus, aren't the enemy HM bonuses like ~2 per stat? Not a big difference over NM. And any BEXP cut doesn't matter that much since BEXP gimps unit growth generally for Beorc without several stats capped.

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

HM enemies have +1 in each stat in average compared to NM. However it varies. If you're lucky you face an opponent with the same speed as in NM.
The only noticable difficulty change is that most Laguz in 3-6 and 3-13 have S strike which means +5 damage which matters a lot because no DB member aside of Volug can take usually two hits in 3-6 at least.
E-4 and E-5 are the same as in NM because the spirits are level 20 in both modes.

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

#8 Laura
Laura is a healer, and healers are always appreciated.
However she comes up with lots of problems:

• She joins with low level and the fitting bases. She'll be oneshotted and doubled by like everything in the entire game. ...... Maybe she can take a hit by a ballista and a steel lance pegasus knight but that's it.
• It's just a pain to level her. She needs around ten staff uses to get a level up. Since you normally spend less than ten turns for a chapter, you can imagine what level she'll be at the end of part 1. Definitely not high enough to use the masterseal.
• Her movement is a huge problem especially in chapters where enemies from the back chase you and you need optimal positioning of your allies. 1-F is just a pain to have her around. The swamp chapter is also absolutely unfriendly to her. Seriously I don't even bother with her in part 1 when I don't have to bring her.
• Priests have a speed cap of 15 - WTF! Ironically she has a superb speed growth.
   

In part 3 however her healing abilites will be very important because Micaiah all alone can't heal everyone since lots of front units will take heavy damage. She gets a sleep stave which is pointless on her if you haven't seriously train her. Also the range of physics won't be all that large. 
In part 4 she's ok in the desert chapter. The two other routes, especially Ike's route offer awkward terrain for her and enemies everywhere.
At the end if you really trained her she'll be a second Micaiah, and since Micaiah is forced for the endgame, Laura is just a wasted slot.

Laura has tons of problems but it's nice to have her arround.
Furthermore she has a quite cute personality and outfit. Her base conversation with Aran in 3-13 is adorable.
Too bad FE10 made her so mediocre.

[Ether]

Laura is useful for part 1 since she can allow the DB members to play more riskily, and keep HP topped up. A lot of the early DB are frail, so having Laura around is helpful to keep them alive, but she just can't level if you're going at anywhere near a brisk pace. Still, having additional healing is better than a 5th-6th string combat unit like an untrained Edward, Meg, Aran, etc, so deploying her usually isn't much of a problem unless you're unable to keep enemies off of her. Micaiah does her job better come part 3 with a high base staff rank and naturally higher Mag, but as before, a level 1 Laura is still worth more in the DB's part 3 than a 7/0/0 Edward or someone similar.

Tl;dr Laura does her job, she's not the best at her job, but she does it, and is worth deploying over an untrained scrub combat unit. She's never going to be good at fighting, poor exp gain and every tier of the Cleric class line having actively detrimental stat caps ensure this, but fighting isn't Laura's job.

[Phazon Archon]

I like Laura, which is why I'm sad mine has never been good enough to see much use in Part 3 (and none beyond it). Alas, she's a slightly worse Micaiah.

In lower difficulties, Micaiah doesn't have to steal her healing experience: sacrifice conveniently doesn't reduce the number of injured units you have. For most of Part 1, I have those two act as the Heal Chain, which really just converts time (and patience) into free experience for Micaiah. Yes, this does up your turn count.

[Shadow Mir]

I like Laura. The only real problem I have with her is that exp gain for healing is low. That being said, she's still useful in part 3 because the AI healers are braindead and think it's okay to expose themselves despite having Physic staves.

[Sweet_Basil]

She's one of my favorites in this game, and I don't really know why. I think she's cute but not the cutest, not a bad unit or the best either, but I just like her.

Edited August 14, 2017 by Sweet_Basil

[Interdimensional Observer]

Laura heals, that is it. Even though Laura requires rampant staff spam (and there aren't any high EXP staffs around) to get anywhere near level 20 to promote, she does just fine healing your team in Parts 1 and 3, maybe even 4 if you can keep her safe during it. Laura has 70% in Mag, Skl, and Spd, (good Lck too) but sadly terribly low Spd caps of 22 and 31 keep her from ever doubling and gimp her 4 Final potential. As a Final Staffbot, Rhys and Elincia can do the same job with far less training. On top of this tomes are fairly weak in RD, enemy Res values high, and getting her to SS Light for Rexaura will be difficult (barring use of all those Arms Scrolls you can find hidden in places- but they also give 4k each so you may opt to sell them).

[Shadow Mir]

5 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Laura heals, that is it. Even though Laura requires rampant staff spam (and there aren't any high EXP staffs around) to get anywhere near level 20 to promote, she does just fine healing your team in Parts 1 and 3, maybe even 4 if you can keep her safe during it. Laura has 70% in Mag, Skl, and Spd, (good Lck too) but sadly terribly low Spd caps of 22 and 31 keep her from ever doubling and gimp her 4 Final potential. As a Final Staffbot, Rhys and Elincia can do the same job with far less training. On top of this tomes are fairly weak in RD, enemy Res values high, and getting her to SS Light for Rexaura will be difficult (barring use of all those Arms Scrolls you can find hidden in places- but they also give 4k each so you may opt to sell them).

Bold: Um, Discipline is a thing, and pretty much no one else has need of it...