Niles - Adventurer or Bow Knight?

[Fraven Pooth]

First Conquest play through, HM/Classic.

Niles is a complete beast - I gave him Point Blank and paired him up with Effie. Just wondering if Adventurer might possibly be worth it since I already gave him boots (oops), and he has move+1, does he really need a horse?

[saisymbolic]

I personally make him an Adventurer because having extra staff users is never a bad thing. I also like giving him the magic bow as his stats lean more towards Mag- and Res-oriented growths. The extra mobility as Bow Knight is useful, but at the same time, it isn't something that is necessary. I suppose it would be useful for carting around Effie for her to tank or destroy enemies in specific locations, but, since you gave him Boots and he has Move+1, it doesn't really matter as he can already move pretty far.

[Fraven Pooth]

13 minutes ago, saisymbolic said:

I personally make him an Adventurer because having extra staff users is never a bad thing. I also like giving him the magic bow as his stats lean more towards Mag- and Res-oriented growths. The extra mobility as Bow Knight is useful, but at the same time, it isn't something that is necessary. I suppose it would be useful for carting around Effie for her to tank or destroy enemies in specific locations, but, since you gave him Boots and he has Move+1, it doesn't really matter as he can already move pretty far.

He's only got 6 magic at lvl 17 Outlaw, so I dont know how usable that stat might be, but i do like Lucky 7 a lot more than Rally Skill. Pass vs. Shurikenbreaker is a wash to me.

 

I should add that Effie is just pair-up fodder, not someone im actually using.

Edited August 4, 2017 by AyraXLex

[ruruo]

Adventurer is really good with the Shining bow, and staves if you want to keep him that way. I'd still dip into Bow knight to get Shurikenbreaker, because it's quite helpful for later chapters where there's a lot of ninjas.

Generally for my own playthroughs I go Adventurer (Lv15) ---> Bow Knight, because I like him to have loads of movement. 

 

[Shadow Mir]

I really hoped someone would ask this, but since no one else bothered... What are his stats like?

[eclipse]

The question is whether or not you need another staffbot/mage.  Who shoots arrows.

Niles' secondary weapon as a horse bow is a sword.  As a foot bow, it's a staff.  IMO staves are a lot more useful, since he's a lot more likely to leverage those than swords. . .and Niles really doesn't want to be in enemy range during their phase.

[Extrasolar]

I always go with Adventurer, honestly because I find horseback archers so painfully mediocre, and the fact that Niles' usefulness as a combat unit falls off mid- and later game.. Snipers are the way to go imo, because it's better to specialize rather than be all-around and not excel at anything. That's the problem a lot of people have with Dark Knight, and while I think the class is okay (Lifetaker makes it a great tank), I prefer the strength/weakness model rather than the "okay at everything" model, personally.

And since Niles' strength is pitiful in the first place, he can at least aid the team after he falls off through his healing. Shura's strength is relatively low as well, but at least he's a walking crit machine.

Edited August 5, 2017 by Extrasolar

[Admiral "Bull" Halsey]

If this was Revelation I'd somehow go for Sniper. But I say Adventurer.

 

Edited August 5, 2017 by Admiral "Bull" Halsey
grammar

[Shadow Mir]

On August 4, 2017 at 7:02 PM, Extrasolar said:

I always go with Adventurer, honestly because I find horseback archers so painfully mediocre, and the fact that Niles' usefulness as a combat unit falls off mid- and later game.. Snipers are the way to go imo, because it's better to specialize rather than be all-around and not excel at anything. That's the problem a lot of people have with Dark Knight, and while I think the class is okay (Lifetaker makes it a great tank), I prefer the strength/weakness model rather than the "okay at everything" model, personally.

And since Niles' strength is pitiful in the first place, he can at least aid the team after he falls off through his healing. Shura's strength is relatively low as well, but at least he's a walking crit machine.

Personally, I'd say that depends on how damning the weakness is - for example, I'd EASILY choose Hero over Berserker when promoting a Fighter.

Edited August 9, 2017 by Levant Mir Celestia

[qwertyfatcat]

Personally, I'd go with Shura over Niles since he's essentially Niles without needing as much investments as him. On top of that, he's got bow and staff ranks, gives debuffs with a bow and comes with a free killer bow. 

 

[Extrasolar]

21 hours ago, Levant Mir Celestia said:

Personally, I'd say that depends on how damning the weakness is - for example, I'd EASILY choose Hero over Berserker when promoting a Fighter.

Generally speaking I would to, But Hero is generally a great all around class, and one of the stronger classes the series has to offer. Berserker may have more raw damage output and crit potential, but Hero's damage isn't too shabby, nor are its defenses as paper as the Berserker's are.

[De Geso]

Bow Knight is better. Having staves is mediocre for Niles since his staff rank will almost never get out of D at best and his mag isn't so high that he can shining bow everything to death as effectively as, say, Corrin or Nyx could as Adventurers.

 

Shurikenbreaker is more useful than Pass, I'd say, since there is an abundance of Master Ninja in Conquest's late game that Niles can beat pretty badly (his str is too low as an Adventurer to do it as well, and with a speed pairup he can double the MN regardless of his class). Pass is certainly good, though, but I don't think the trade off of a horse and being able to counter master ninja is worth staves and pass.

[Shadow Mir]

On 8/10/2017 at 11:21 AM, Extrasolar said:

Generally speaking I would to, But Hero is generally a great all around class, and one of the stronger classes the series has to offer. Berserker may have more raw damage output and crit potential, but Hero's damage isn't too shabby, nor are its defenses as paper as the Berserker's are.

That's not the only reason, at least as far as this game goes - Berserkers in this game suffer a crit evade penalty, which is a Very Bad Thing, Their increased crit rate and brute strength don't make up for this, not in the least.

[Extrasolar]

11 hours ago, Levant Mir Celestia said:

That's not the only reason, at least as far as this game goes - Berserkers in this game suffer a crit evade penalty, which is a Very Bad Thing, Their increased crit rate and brute strength don't make up for this, not in the least.

Yeah, I never bother with Berserkers in the first place. I just don't have the patience to try and baby Charlotte up to being usable, so I ditch her as soon as I get her. Fragile units (melee fragile units, more specifically, but even ranged units fall into this trip) in Fates are more of a headache to keep alive than anything, unless they're named Ryoma, that is. The weird RNG and heavy nerfs to dodgetanking do them no favors at all.

[Shadow Mir]

7 minutes ago, Extrasolar said:

Yeah, I never bother with Berserkers in the first place. I just don't have the patience to try and baby Charlotte up to being usable, so I ditch her as soon as I get her. Fragile units (melee fragile units, more specifically, but even ranged units fall into this trip) in Fates are more of a headache to keep alive than anything, unless they're named Ryoma, that is. The weird RNG and heavy nerfs to dodgetanking do them no favors at all.

Ditto. I only use Charlotte long enough to get her married to whoever, then bench her. As for fragile units, it's a particularly bad game to be a fragile melee unit in, yes. Ryoma only avoids this due to his sword (and to an extent, coming overleveled), but once enemies catch up in power level... yeah.

[Koumal8]

What difficulty are you on? And is your Effie at least level 10? Because if so I suggest you promot her to Great Knight, I did a playthrough on Hard where half my army was used as a pair up bot only and for obvious reasons promoted classes give more bonuses. Thanks to Effie's pair up bonuses you don't have to worry about your Niles's Str being too low and you can focus on his mobility, which is why I suggest you promote him to Bow Knight and Effie to Great Knight (which gives +1 Mov). This way you get an 11 move unit and I can't think of anything that Adventurer might have over such a movement range, Niles is never gonna be a good healer with that Mag stat and having your entire army always always paired up means you take less damage through dual guards and so you should have less need for additional healers. If your really, really want an Adventurer Shura works (unless you sacrificed him for his shoes)

HOWEVER I do suggest you eventually switch him to Adventurer in the very last few chapters: I remember it being easy to reach lv.15 with all of your units in that run of mine where basically, due half the army being pair up bots, I was pouring all the exp into half the number of ally units and as such you should be able to get both Pass and Lucky7 in the last couple of chapters (I don't remeber if I switched to Adventurer at lv.13 or if I managed to get Shurikenbreaker as well, sorry). The reason I'm suggesting this is that an Adventurer with pass and high Mov is an invaluable asset in the Endgame, where he can use Rescue even with his E Staff Rank to push your advance to quickly take out those pesky enemy staff users while still covering like 1/3 of the map in one turn on his own due to the Endgame map being pretty small. To conclude, one of the big advantages of Adventurer is using the Shining Bow for 1-2 Range and its high might, but your Niles seems to be doing fine Strength-wise (undoubtedly that's partly thanks to Effie), his Point Blank makes the Shining Bow's 1-2 default range unneeded, so your Niles most definitely doesn't need that weapon to fare well in combat and you're better off switching him to Adventurer for the class' utility rather than its combat when the former is more needed, and that is in the last couple of chapters.

[MeddlingMage]

I always go Adventurer for Niles,  Especially when he is paired up with either Nyx, Felicia, or Elise.   He's currently paired up with Elise on this current run since Odin hitched himself to Corrin.

Edited August 15, 2017 by MeddlingMage

[TheAstraWolf]

Adventurer. Shining Bow Niles is the good future and also another staff user is nice.

[Harvey]

I'd pick adventurer. Staves are helpful plus its not like his movement matters anyways since there are better horse units than him and you don't have many healers in Conquest  besides Elise.

 

 

[Punished Dayni]

On the one hand, he'll have 7 move as an adventurer regardless (keep in mind move +1 is likely staying on him), which isn't too shabby, he'll be pretty decent at proccing magic for Shining bow (and only the basic staves vary in how much they heal), and his other stats are still good. He'll have a low rank for staves to start, but you don't have too many units who can get staves without Heart Seals, and he's got decent growths for it too.

On the other hand, he can get 9 move with Bow Knight, an (also low) sword rank, he'll be better at getting growths for his physical attacks and eventually Shurikenbreaker and Rally Skill. Thing is that swords are not that big of a deal in Conquest, there are plenty of units who can use then besides Niles as is. And his higher skill's not too necessary unless he's using yumis anyway.

While I'd lean to adventurer, Bow Knight's Shurikenbreaker can be great... but it's unlikely to be of much use to you unless you grind for it in advance of some of the ninja chapters.

[Lyn]

I go with Adventurer

[Great Dane]

I lean towards Bow Knight since I feel that's a more practical use of his bow skills.

If I want an Adventurer I either just use Shura or Child Seal Nina.