blazingsword How could you not use Dart?

[ThunderKeybladeMaster]

Seriously, Dart was actually useful to me, he can become a Berserker, if you get the Ocean Seal in Living Legend, hidden in the sand, and honestly, if you want a good Axe Wielder, I recommend Dart to be on your team, and I suggest you give him Basilikos in the Final Chapter when a Sword Wielder, or a simple Assassin takes Brendan Down.

[thejohnmatthews]

Ocean Seal is worth 50,000 gold and there is only one in the game (excluding the secret shop). Even then, his bases are nothing special either, and he also doesn't have a mount unlike Marcus/Lowen/Sain/Florina etc etc who will be doing a portion of the fighting. His crappy con for an axe user bites that low base speed even more.

[Shadow Mir]

Too inaccurate (by FE7 standards, at least), for starters. The Ocean Seal costing an arm and a leg doesn't help, nor does it that the only one you can get is hidden in an out-of-the-way location.

[eclipse]

If I really want an axe guy, I'll use Marcus - has the CON to wield most axes half-competently, has good Skill, and shows up much earlier.

Dart tends to be passed over by the time he shows up.  Did decently enough on those rare occasions that I trained him.

[Slumber]

For ranked runs, that Ocean Seal is way more valuable being unused.

Edited September 5, 2017 by Slumber

[Punished Dayni]

Yeah, it's mainly his accuracy and the Ocean Seal's worth holding him back.

Keep in mind, I still think Dart is fun to use: Just that he's also got some cost to him for ranked runs that might make it not worthwhile.

[Magical Glace]

I'm not too fond of axe infantry units.  He also joins after I already have a core team going.

He gets points for being my favorite FE character's uncle but that's about it.

[Von Ithipathachai]

I probably would have used Dart more if I had known before that you could find a free Ocean Seal in Living Legend.

At least Bartre is performing well for me.

[Tuvy]

3 hours ago, Glaceon Mage said:

I'm not too fond of axe infantry units.  He also joins after I already have a core team going.

He gets points for being my favorite FE character's uncle but that's about it.

Who?

[Magical Glace]

Just now, Tuvy said:

Who?

Wolt.  Dart is heavily implied to be Rebecca's brother, and Rebecca is Wolt's mother, so therefore Dart is Wolt's uncle.

[Just call me AL]

Like others have said, the Ocean Seal costs a lot of money. If you're ranking, you're better off not using it. And he's also kinda mediocre, as well as inaccurate. Plus, you have others that can use Axes as well such as Marcus, Hector, Hawkeye, and later Geitz and Harken.

Edited September 5, 2017 by Just call me AL

[Thinks Their Own Way]

I look at Hector... and then I look at Dart; my Axe units needs have been meet. So that's where the Ocean Seal is, I normally try to get desert chapters over and done with as soon I can.

[Kazuya]

While I don't use Dart, he is isn't bad. A mount isn't necessary contrary to popular beliefs. I think it's quite obvious that you can use whoever you want. Even the demon Florina...ugh

[Hawk King]

I personally love Dart. Sure he destroys your funds rank, but his 60% Str and Spd growths are ridiculous, and Berzerker is my favorite GBA class. Since you already don't care about your funds rank when using him, you can also feed him your secret books to help out his poor Skl.

[Shadow Mir]

3 hours ago, I'm a Spheal said:

I look at Hector... and then I look at Dart; my Axe units needs have been meet. So that's where the Ocean Seal is, I normally try to get desert chapters over and done with as soon I can.

I forgot about Hector. Anyway, the fact that he's one of the main characters, and an axe user that doesn't completely suck, is just another nail in Dart's coffin.

[Slumber]

1 hour ago, Levant Mir Celestia said:

I forgot about Hector. Anyway, the fact that he's one of the main characters, and an axe user that doesn't completely suck, is just another nail in Dart's coffin.

You do get Basilikos, which does somewhat justify using another axer. Of the ones left, Geitz is better off as a bow user and potential Rienfleche wielder, and the rest simply aren't as good as Dart. Barte can be solid, and Hawkeye starts off with decent bases, but his growths are terrible. Dorcas is... Dorcas.

You could make any of the Paladins use axes, but most of them are better off with Lances or Swords, and Marcus' speed and con don't really justify making him use axes for the hell of it.

[X-Naut]

If Dart had a decent base Speed at his join time I would consider using him more, but between his lacking base and Pirate Con holding him back until promotion it's hard to justify keeping him aboard. That and as other people have said the Ocean Seal nonsense.

[Shadow Mir]

10 minutes ago, Slumber said:

You do get Basilikos, which does somewhat justify using another axer. Of the ones left, Geitz is better off as a bow user and potential Rienfleche wielder, and the rest simply aren't as good as Dart. Barte can be solid, and Hawkeye starts off with decent bases, but his growths are terrible. Dorcas is... Dorcas.

You could make any of the Paladins use axes, but most of them are better off with Lances or Swords, and Marcus' speed and con don't really justify making him use axes for the hell of it.

Basilikos would be a good argument... that is, if it weren't for the fact that it's relevant for all of one chapter. And need I point out we're talking about a GBA game here (and the fact that pretty much all infantry axe users in the GBA games are utter guano)???

[Just call me AL]

On 9/5/2017 at 2:59 PM, Slumber said:

You do get Basilikos, which does somewhat justify using another axer. Of the ones left, Geitz is better off as a bow user and potential Rienfleche wielder, and the rest simply aren't as good as Dart. Barte can be solid

Bartre has horrid Spd base, and is competing for a promotion item. I fail to see how that's "solid".

Quote

And Hawkeye starts off with decent bases, but his growths are terrible.

The only notable advantage Dart has over Hawkeye is his Spd. Everything else Hawkeye either ties in (Str) or wins in (durability).

Quote

You could make any of the Paladins use axes, but most of them are better off with Lances or Swords, and Marcus' speed and con don't really justify making him use axes for the hell of it.

Except, with the possibly sole exception of Marcus, none of the Pallies even want to use anything other than Iron and Hand Axes. Nevermind that, as pointed out earlier, Basilikos is available for one chapter only.

And besides, you forgot about Harken. Whose bases are solid and never disappoints.

[Slumber]

43 minutes ago, Just call me AL said:

Bartre has horrid Spd base, and is competing for a promotion item. I fail to see how that's "solid".

I said "Can be", not "Will be". Bartre CAN be solid if he gets enough early speed procs, which isn't that unlikely, since he has a decent enough speed growth.

43 minutes ago, Just call me AL said:

The only notable advantage Dart has over Hawkeye is his Spd. Everything else Hawkeye either ties in (Str) or wins in (durability).

I think you're overhyping Hawkeye a bit. Hawkeye definitely doesn't tie Dart in strength, since he starts as a prepromote with only 6 more points of Str than Dart, and Dart has 25% in strength growth over him. Dart will comfortably beat Hawkeye in strength. Hawkeye does beat Dart in durability, but it's not nearly enough to offset the BIG difference between the two. Hawkeye averages out to 3 points more of Def, and while he does have quite a bit more Res, FE7 rarely tosses mages at you outside of boss encounters where you should usually have the advantage. They'll both cap HP.

But, the BIG difference is the speed. Dart will nearly double Hawkeye in his total speed stat. Hawkeye turns out barely any faster than Dorcas does, the second slowest character in the game. Hawkeye will have a hard time doubling even common mooks near the endgame(I think they're usually around 13-14 speed on average even on normal?). Hawkeye's defense and res can only get him so far as an offensive class, while his offense will be sorely lacking if he doesn't proc crits every time.

43 minutes ago, Just call me AL said:

Except, with the possibly sole exception of Marcus, none of the Pallies even want to use anything other than Iron and Hand Axes. Nevermind that, as pointed out earlier, Basilikos is available for one chapter only.

And besides, you forgot about Harken. Whose bases are solid and never disappoints.

The first part is true, I was mostly mentioning Marcus as somebody who could potentially wield Basilikos, since he's the only Pally that will likely get a half decent axe rank. Though he'd end up likely with the same effective speed as Hawkeye. And while Basilikos is available for one chapter, it is a goal to aim for that justifies a second axe user. I never said it was the ONLY reason to use an axer besides Hector. If you're not doing a ranked run, Dart will be a cannon with an offense that damn near can't be topped. But it is a decent excuse to level one up for the long term and bring another one into the final fight.

True, Harken does exist, and he is a solid, pretty much RNG-proof unit, but his con really doesn't emphasize axe usage. Not saying he can't use axes, but he'll probably get more out of using swords, or swords and axes equally, which means it might be tight on if he ever gets an S axe rank.

Edited September 7, 2017 by Slumber

[Shadow Mir]

3 hours ago, Slumber said:

I said "Can be", not "Will be". Bartre CAN be solid if he gets enough early speed procs, which isn't that unlikely, since he has a decent enough speed growth.

To be frank, that isn't something I'd have any faith in between Bartre's deplorable speed base and no speed growth on promotion...

[Dark Holy Elf]

I don't think Basilikos makes much of a case to use Dart, or any other axe user. One chapter is in fact greatly overstating how long you have it. By the time you secure it, you pretty much only have Morph Lloyd, Morph Linus, Nergal, and the Dragon left (plus some scrubs you can probably one-round with iron). Two of those enemies use swords, so Basilikos won't be used against them, and the last two are better off dispatched by some combination of Aureola/Luna mages (including Athos obviously), and the lords due to their weapons hitting weakness.

Otherwise I broadly agree that Dart is okay if you don't care about money at all (but only okay) but rather poor most of the rest of the time. I want to say you can sell the Ocean Seal and use nothing but killer/silver (and better) weapons the rest of the game, which doesn't speak too highly for him.

[Fire Emblem Fan]

Because I like Bartre and Hawkeye more.

[Charmeleonbrah]

I liked using him in Normal mode, but he's semi-unusable in HHM.  Also, besides Hector, there's Raven, who is one of the best units n the game and gets axes after promotion.  Starting out at E rank besides, his high str/spd/skl makes using Iron & Steel Axes a non-issue.

[Florete]

As long as you don't care about ranks (let's not kid ourselves here, folks; most people don't), Dart is a unit I'm a little surprised doesn't get more attention. He has a slow start, but once he gets going, he doesn't stop. The cost of the Ocean Seal is pretty superfluous. His accuracy can be an issue but since he grows so strong he's usually good to go with just an Iron Axe, and it's easy to prioritize putting him against Lance enemies. He's got Spd to dodge a lot and HP to soak up some hits.

He's interesting in a way. His negatives are just bad enough to make him not very tier-friendly, but not quite bad enough to keep from being very casual-friendly (as long as one gets the Ocean Seal). For what it's worth, he has Fire affinity to give him everything he wants, and a quick Fire support partner in Rebecca.