Rate the Unit, Day 92: Brave Ephraim & Brave Veronica

[Fire Emblem Fan]

Abstain from Sonya, haven't summoned her.

Leon: Leon is one of the better infantry archers in the normal summoning pool, in my opinion. He has good speed, defense, and attack, for an archer. His low resistance is so common in other units that it never seemed like much of a problem to me. He already comes with a good weapon, but he can definitely run other options if you want him to, and he's pretty inexpensive to build. The only thing he really lacks is a personal weapon. 8/10

[LordFrigid]

Sonya

• Magically inclined stat line, with decent Atk and Res, ok Spd, and very poor Def.
  • Dark Excalibur (+10 damage when special triggers) is a solid offensive option.
  • Mediocre blue and poor green matchups on offense with a Dark Excalibur set. Strong blue and mediocre green matchups against Spd Ployed foes with the same set. Very strong blue, mediocre green matchups with a Gronnblade+ set.
  • Poor defensive capability due to her low Def. She can take a hit or two from a blue mage, though.
• She is capable of running stat ploys with her decent Res stat.

Overall, I give her 6.5 for combat (either Dark Excalibur/Spd Ploy or Gronnblade will net this score), and 1 for support (ploy capability), for a total rating of 6/10.

Leon

• Physically focused stat line, with good Atk, decent Def, mediocre Spd, and very poor Res.
  • Capable of running a standard Brave Bow set to take out enemies with lower defenses, but will struggle against common meta threats such as Armors and Dragons.
  • He can use his default Slaying Bow or a Guard Bow on the enemy phase for mediocre combat performance.
• He cannot provide much team support beyond the basic C Passive/Seal field or combat buff.

Overall, I give him 6 for combat (decent KO counts on offense, but struggles against bulky meta threats), and .5 for support (basic field/combat buff), for a total rating of 5.5/10.

~

Scoring method:

Spoiler

Units are evaluated based on both their combat performance and their team support capabilities (i.e. their whole contribution to a team).

• Combat performance is judged by matchups, especially against enemies that are at triangle disadvantage or neutral to the unit. Performance against more relevant meta threats is more valuable than performance against units that are rarely seen. Triangle Adept sets are not considered, though they might be noted. Scale of 0 to 10.
  • Sustainability and filling a useful niche are given small bonuses, when applicable.
  • I will look at least one PP-focused and one EP-focused skill set for each unit, but only evaluate based on performance for whichever phase I deem the unit to be stronger on.
• Support capabilities are decided by how much support a unit can provide (without horribly compromising their combat capabilities), and how valuable I feel that support is. Scale of 0 to 3.
• At the end, the combat and support scores will be weighted (with a heavy focus on combat performance), combined, and rounded to the nearest .5 to obtain the total rating. Dancers and Singers will get +1 point to their total rating (not to exceed 10), because I value Dance/Sing utility highly.

This method of evaluation essentially compares each unit to a hypothetical "god unit" who is stellar at everything, instead of each unit to each other.

All my ratings.

[LordFrigid]

Sonya: 6.29, Leon: 6.75

Day 65

Seth: Silver Knight

Spoiler

Max. Stats:
34/37/41
29/32/35
28/31/34
29/32/35
19/22/25

Base Skills:

Ruby Sword+
Swap
( - )

Fortress Def 3
Seal Atk/Def 2
( - )

Tana: Winged Princess

Spoiler

Max. Stats:
33/36/40
31/34/37
33/36/39
22/25/29
22/25/29

Base Skills:

Vidofnir
( - )
Moonbow

Spd/Def 2
( - )
Guidance 3

 

[MacLovin]

Seth gets a 6/10 for me

He's got disappointing stats and kit. But he can be used with enough investment. However, unlike the other 3* sword cav Stahl, he doesn't come for free. But on the other hand, Seth is totally usable with the same builds that work for stahl. Both will wall the fuck out of green axe units and can make use of bonfire/ignis. 

 

don't have tana. :/

[Usana]

Seth - Stahl 2.0 as I have heard him called. He trades a rather significant amount of HP(8) for a good chunk of speed(5), a bit of defense(2), and even some attack(1). His offense spread is similar to Cain's and Defensively they basically trade the difference in their HP and defense stats. However, this is actually a boon for Seth. With their relatively lowish speed defense is better than HP due to the fact that they are apt to be doubled. Sadly. 32/31 just isn't going to cut it offensively, not even with horse buffs. And 37 HP isn't really great for a defensive unit. His default kit of Ruby + Fortress is rather handy though. He makes a very good ruby wall. He can simply rely on Bonfire/Ignis for his damage. Because of this I think it is better to go Slaying so that you can get the +4 DEF and 5 HP. Those are great boons for him. If only his speed hadn't been raised he could have been a slightly less min-maxed red Freddy. But he just doesn't have any where that he excels at. I'd put him slightly above Cain since the difference in offense is minor and Seth has a notable defensive advantage and I would put him above Stahl since I find Stahl's extra HP to be eaten up too fast by doubles to really come into play. So lets say 5.5/10. Good source of Fortress though. Whatever that is worth.

 

Tana - 34/36 is one of the better offense statlines amoung lances. He PRF is a bit lacking in the current era so you'll likely want to swap it out. 61 bulk on both ends isn't shabby at all. She can quite reliably take one hit even without taking her weapon's effect into consideration. Actually she is pretty much a +DEF/-HP Cordelia. This doesn't exactly work in her favor since HP is quite handy for faster units and their defense is low enough that an extra 3 points doesn't mean much. BUT with the speed slowly creeping upward trading 1 attack for 1 speed is looking like a good trade. So basically the same as Cordelia, but much harder to merge and lacking some rather useful premium skills in the form of Galeforce and Bravelance and Triangle Adept. But she does have Guidance, and with the Tactics skills mixed teams are more useful than ever before. 8/10. A harder to merge Cordelia with a couple of niche options and slightly more resistance to being speed creeped. Part of me wants to drop her just a touch more. The other part says that is just because I am comparing my unmerged one to a merged Cordelia and that equally merged they would be rather interchangeable.

[Alexmender]

Seth. He's basically an improved version of Stahl thanks to his higher Atk/Spd/Def in exchange of a much lower Hp. This basically puts Seth in a better position than Stahl but due to being so similar he also suffers from being outclassed by more specialized units. He'll work well as a mixed phase unit but he's not outstanding in any way, which is a shame considering he was a god in SS.

Rating: 3.5/10

Tana. Her stat spread is extremely close to that of Cordelia, exchanging one point of Atk for Spd and sacrificing Hp for slightly better bulk. She's a slightly better user of the Firesweep Lance than Cordelia thanks to her higher Spd but with the introduction of Shigure and the increase in bulk/ Speed creep she has lost a bit of power when it comes to this build. Thankfully for her, Tana has quite a bit of flexibility thanks to her Prf weapon Vidofnir which increases her Def by 7 if she's attacked by a melee unit, and thanks to having a superboon in Def she'll do a pretty good job as a physical tank with a double Close Def, just keep in mind that Tana's Hp is abysmal so she'll have a hard time taking repeated hits. Her weapon's effect has started to show it's age though, which means a refinement would certainly improve her viability in this ever changing meta. Tana is still one of the top fliers alongside Cordelia and Shigure, sadly her 5* exclusive nature tends to put her at a disadvantage compared to the other two due to a lack of merges, but even then Tana is still a top tier threat.

Rating: 8/10

[Zapp Branniglenn]

Seth - The Arthur of sword users. Seth may differ from launch units in not focusing on HP, but what remains is a painfully average stat spread with a cav's BST. Keep him on the ruby sword. Among the four sword cavs that have to use inheritable weapons, Cain is your firesweep user, Luke is your Brave Sword, and Stahl is the Slaying Edge. 2 out of 10.

Tana - I'm not entirely certain her personal weapon was good on release, much less now. Tana's main draw has always been that she can compete on the same level of Cordelia as a firesweep user and that's still the case a year later. She no longer shares the highest speed of her class with Clair. But the 34 attack is still appreciably high.Would be nice if she could score as high as Hinoka or Shigure though. 7 out of 10.

Past Ratings

Spoiler

1. Alfonse - 3
2. Marth - 7
3. Sharena - 3
4. Jagen - 1
5. Anna - 4.5
6. Barst - 3
7. Cain - 4
8. Draug - 7.5
9. Gordin - 5
10. Jeorge - 5.5
11. Abel - 5.5
12. Linde - 9
13. Minerva - Abstain
14. Merric - 3.5
15. Maria - 6
16. Wrys - 3.5
17. Ceada - Abstain
18. Ogma - 4
19. Catria - 4
20. Est - 6
21. Sheena - 6.5
22. Cecilia - 4
23. Clarine - 6.5
24. Matthew - 4
25. Palla - 2.5
26. Roy -7
27. Gwendolyn - 7.5
28. Shanna - 4.5
29. Bartre - 7
30. Fae - 7.5
31. Serra - 4
32. Lissa - 2
33. Y!Tiki - 8
34. Lilina - 7
35. Florina - 1.5
36. M!Robin - 3.5
37. Hector - 8
38. Raven - 8.5
39. Gaius - 4 
40. Virion - 3.5
41. Raigh - 1.5
42. Sophia - 3.5
43. Sully -2.5
44. Cordelia -7
45. Hawkeye - 5.5
46. Nino - 8
47. Felicia - 6.5
48. Jakob - 1
49. Fir - 4
50. Eliwood - 5.5
51. Donnel - 3.5
52. Nowi - 8.5
53. Frederick - 6.5
54. Cherche - 7.5
55. Saizo - 4
56. Kagero - 4.5
57. Lyn - 7
58. Chrom - 5
59. F!Corrin - 7
60. Azura - 6.5
61. Gunter - 3
62. Camilla - 5.5
63. Azama - 6.5
64. Setsuna - 3.5
65. Stahl - 2.5
66. Lonqu - 3
67. Hinoka - 7.5
68. Oboro - 2.5
69. Beruka - 6
70. Arthur - 2
71. Takumi - 5.5
72. Sakura - 3
73. Olivia - 7
74. Henry - 2
75. Subaki - 4.5
76. Peri - 6.5
77. Niles - 1.5
78. Elise - 7.5
79. Tharja - 5
80. A!Tiki - 8
81. Odin - 1 
82. Effie - 7.5
83. Lucina - 7
84. M!Corrin - 6
85. Ryoma - 5.5
86. Hinata - 4.5
87. Hana - 5.5
88. Laslow - 3
89. Selena - 2
90. Leo - 2
91. Eirika - 5
92. Seliph - 5.5
93. Ephraim - 7
94. Julia - 6
95. Eldigan - Abstain
96. Sanaki - 6.5
97. Reinhardt - 8
98. Olwen - 5.5
99. Lachesis - 3
100. Klein - 4
101. Karel - 6.5
102. Ninian - 7
103. Lucius - 4.5
104. Rebecca - 2.5
105. Priscilla - 4
106. Jaffar - 3.5
107. Alm - 9
108. Lukas - 7.5
109. Clair - 7
110. Faye - 5.5
111. Ike - 6
112. Titania - 3.5
113. Soren - 4
114. Mist - 2.5
115. Celica - 7
116. Mae - 6.5
117. Boey - 3.5
118. Genny - 6
119. Luke - 3.5
120. Katarina - 5.5
121. Athena - 3.5
122. Roderick - 6
123. Gray - 5
124. Saber - 3
125. Mathilda - 3
126. Delthea - 6.5
127. Sonya - 4.5
128. Leon - 6
129. Seth - 2
130. Tana - 7

Ratings I would change in retrospect: Gordin would be a 2.5 and Jeorge a 4, Cain would be a 3, Cecilia would be a 3.5. Linde would be 7. And I'd drop Matthew and Saizo to 3.5. Beruka would be a 7. Caeda I'd rate a 5.5 now that I've been using her at 5 star. And Leo I'd bump up to a 3.

 

Edited July 4, 2018 by Glennstavos

[DehNutCase]

Seth:

BST: 37/32/31/32/22

To be perfectly honest, if you want to run a TA build it'd be better if your Def and Res are reasonably close. Part of it is my Selena bias (duh), but a 'Reinhardt' 40/35/23/31/28 is still miles better than a lopsided 32/22 defense spread.

To put it another way---his default set is shit, and probably needs to be completely replaced.

Past that point he'll be a reasonably min-maxed sword horse, passable offensive stats with bulk in the right direction. He'll have all the counter-build potential (Effective weapons to snipe certain targets, TA potential to shore up green weakness, etc.) of those foot-locked sword-locked losers from a few days back, but also the support capabilities that a horse unit naturally has in 3 move reposition and the ability to carry a Hone/Fort/Goad/Ward in the C-slot.

7.5/10

Basically the same score as Mathilda, for more or less the same reasons. Any horse with a halfway passable spread will be capable of counter-building to fill the weaknesses of a team while also providing 3 move support.

 

Tana:

BST: 36/34/36/25/25

Excellent offensive lance user with nearly min-maxed defensive spread. Cordelia's defensive and offensive spread is marginally superior due to hp focus and +1 Atk for -1 Spd. (One look at weapon refines ought to make it obvious that Atk is worth more than Spd.)

3 hp is quite a fair trade for 3 def, and Cordelia nabbed 4.

Unfortunately for Tana, Vidofnir is power creeped to hell and back by weapon refines. It's a +7 stat bonus in specific circumstances when we have things like Berkut's Lance that gives +7 stat bonus in less specific circumstances, and then +5 hp and a small bonus stat on top of that.

That is, Prf access doesn't affect Tana's scoring at all, since you'll be 100% replacing it until it gets a refine option.

 

Anyway, flier mobility paired with high offensive stats naturally lends Tana to a Galeforce build, just about the only niche Tome Reinhardt can't completely take over. Something like my Cordelia's Slaying Lance (Spd ref), Galeforce, L&D, Desperation, Savage Blow, Heavy Blade will provide the one utility ranged DPS cannot---unit-turn generation.

There's a lot more forgiveness in terms of unit placement and taking combats when only 3 units need to act to wipe a team.

Beyond that, Fliers have access to both high stat buff skills (Hones, Goads, etc.) and mobility buff skills (guidance), as well as mobility B slots. A Galeforce build can't afford to run anything but Desperation---or else they won't be able to properly sweep melee teams---but it's still an option for less offensively oriented Tana builds.

Bearing in mind fliers also have the second best reposition in the game thanks to the ability to ignore terrain, and Tana is a very solid

8.5/10

(Note: Cordelia would score the same 8.5/10, but because of her slight bulk lead, better offensive spread, and better starting kit---already having galeforce---she should be the preferred choice if personal preference isn't a factor.)

[LordFrigid]

Seth

• Balanced stat line featuring decent Atk, Spd, and Def, and low Res.
  • Mediocre offense matchups due to his non-stellar Atk and Spd.
  • Very strong green, passable red matchups on defense with a Slaying Edge set and cav buffs, taking a lot of damage from mages and dragons.
• As a cavalry unit, he can provide cavalry field/combat buffs for his allies.

Overall, I give him 6 for combat (strong green, passable red matchups on defense), and 1 for support (cavalry field/combat buff), for a total rating of 5.5/10.

Tana

• Offense-focused stat line with good Atk and Spd, and mediocre Def and Res.
  • Vidofnir (+7 Def when attacked by a Sword, Axe, or Lance user) is a decent defensive weapon, but a mediocre offense weapon. Particularly, it is strictly worse on offense than the Shell Lance+ (Spd), which is effectively a 16 Mt weapon that also provides HP/Spd+5, and Def/Res+2.
  • Very strong red, strong blue matchups on offense with a Shell Lance+ or Brave Lance+ set when Hone Fliers is active; sustainability through Desperation. She can also use a Firesweep L+ well; it will lower her KO power a bit, but she cannot be counterattacked in exchange.
  • She's has surprising one-range physical bulk with Vidofnir, which opens up some funny Close Def stacking options (very strong red, passable blue one-range matchups); it's a pity she can't reliably loose one-turn Bonfires though.
• As a flier unit, she can provide a flier field/combat buff for her allies.

Overall, I give her 9 for combat (very strong red, strong blue offense matchups, sustainability bonus), and 1 for support (flier field/combat buff), for a total rating of 8.5/10.

~

Scoring method:

Spoiler

Units are evaluated based on both their combat performance and their team support capabilities (i.e. their whole contribution to a team).

• Combat performance is judged by matchups, especially against enemies that are at triangle disadvantage or neutral to the unit. Performance against more relevant meta threats is more valuable than performance against units that are rarely seen. Triangle Adept sets are not considered, though they might be noted. Scale of 0 to 10.
  • Sustainability and filling a useful niche are given small bonuses, when applicable.
  • I will look at least one PP-focused and one EP-focused skill set for each unit, but only evaluate based on performance for whichever phase I deem the unit to be stronger on.
• Support capabilities are decided by how much support a unit can provide (without horribly compromising their combat capabilities), and how valuable I feel that support is. Scale of 0 to 3.
• At the end, the combat and support scores will be weighted (with a heavy focus on combat performance), combined, and rounded to the nearest .5 to obtain the total rating. Dancers and Singers will get +1 point to their total rating (not to exceed 10), because I value Dance/Sing utility highly.

This method of evaluation essentially compares each unit to a hypothetical "god unit" who is stellar at everything, instead of each unit to each other.

All my ratings.

Edited July 4, 2018 by LordFrigid

[Shiki]

1 hour ago, Glennstavos said:

The Arthur of sword users. Seth may differ from launch units in not focusing on HP, but what remains is a painfully average stat spread with a cav's BST. Keep him on the ruby sword. Among the four sword cavs that have to use inheritable weapons, Cain is your firesweep user, Luke is your Brave Sword, and Stahl is the Slaying Edge. 2 out of 10.

So Stahl can monopolize the Slaying Edge but Seth who has the better Spd for it should stay on a Ruby Sword. Never mind the fact that we casually forget about the Wo Dao and Cain with his 1 Spd lead is apparently the Firesweep user.
... he is the 'Arthur' among Sword users? wat.

I'm inclined to throw this vote out unless you want to change it.

[Zapp Branniglenn]

19 minutes ago, The Priest said:

So Stahl can monopolize the Slaying Edge but Seth who has the better Spd for it should stay on a Ruby Sword. Never mind the fact that we casually forget about the Wo Dao and Cain with his 1 Spd lead is apparently the Firesweep user.
... he is the 'Arthur' among Sword users? wat.

I'm inclined to throw this vote out unless you want to change it.

It follows the same logic as my ratings for the previous three I mentioned. He's the Arthur because he can't do anything better than them with such a balanced spread. He's also in a class where he's one of just 30% of the units in his class that has no personal weapon. Poor arena score, poor viability. Two out of ten.

If you want to keep my vote, don't act like you'd be doing me a favor. I'm still going to rate units. And I'm def not going to buff my score on somebody else's behalf.

Edited July 4, 2018 by Glennstavos

[eclipse]

Seth - Take Cain, and convert 5 HP to 5 Def (and fiddle a bit with Spd/Res), and that's Seth.  Unlike Stahl, Seth can't dump speed and call it a day. What he can do is pick up a Safeguard+, and tank.  He needs a pretty wonky set (+Def, Safeguard+ with a Def refine, Fury, and Close Def in the S slot), but like Hinata, he'll survive every last vanilla physical melee attack.  That, IMO is impressive on a unit with 154 BST (actually, Stahl can do it, too, but this is funnier, since Seth has a reason to give Valter the finger).  6.5/10

Tana - 34/36 offenses sandwich her between Shigure and Cordelia.  Vidofnir means she can bait a sword and get away with it, but why would you do that?  IMO she'd rather jack a Firesweep/Harmonic Lance and put her offensive parameters to work.  Guidance is great for non-horse teams, even if it means depriving everyone of a direct buff.  She can pull of the quad Brave Lance set, though I'm not sure if her one Spd over Cordelia matters more than the one Str she loses out on.  Very solid offensive unit, but try not to have her take too many hits to the face.  8.5/10

EDIT: Thought a bit more about Tana, and decided that her offensive performance deserves a bump.

Edited July 4, 2018 by eclipse

[Shiki]

3 minutes ago, Glennstavos said:

He's the Arthur because he can't do anything better than them with such a balanced spread.

His stat spread is better than Stahl's and arguably Cain's, at least in terms of being a Cavalier without personal weapon.

6 minutes ago, Glennstavos said:

And I'm def not going to buff my score on somebody else's behalf.

Then don't mind if I'm going to weed out those that are simply ridicilous.

[Korath88]

Skipping Seth

Tana

34/36 is up there with Cordelia's 35/35 and Shigure's 33/37 as one of the best offensive stat spreads for lance fliers. She can run brave, firesweep or slaying lance to great effect like the other 2. She also has a prf in Vidofnir but given how outdated it's effect is, she won't be getting any bonus points for it.

She has near perfect red matchups and great blue matchups against anyone who doesn't have ridiculous def like Lukas. Her enemy phase is lackluster but most fliers prioritise player phase anyways.

8/10, refine when?

[Xenomata]

Seth

Spoiler

Notable for being Stahl but better in every way. While his HP is not as high as Stahl, and results in Seth not being able to trigger Panic Ploy as well, every other stat except Resistance is better by at least a few points. He really is Stahl but better.

His base kit is also very similar to Stahl, with the Ruby Sword granting Triangle Adept 3, Swap as assist, and a form of Defense boosting, here being Fortress Defense. Seal Atk/Def 2 is just a seal skill and doesn't really have an effect on Seth's combat ability.

Seth remains somewhat average though, not having any notable "superior" stat to work around. His Attack and Defense are good enough that one can try to make him a decent physical wall, especially now that the Safegaurd sword exists, but there are arguably other Sword Cavs who can do so better than Seth. He isn't quite strong enough to go for a Brave Sword either. Keeping his Ruby Sword is viable of course, because he reaches a pretty decent amount of Attack with just a +Atk nature and Ruby Sword+.

Ultimately, Seth isn't bad, but he is still a little hampered by being average with no defining trait. He suffers a bit from low Resistance, but most of the FEH cast has just as low or lower Res. If you like using Stahl and don't mind the loss of ability to trigger Panic Ploy, then Seth is a safe and easily accessible bet.

Rating: 5.5/10 Seth is somewhat average, but at least can soundly beat out Stahl in most of what he does, save for Panic Ploy. He is powerful and bulky enough to run decently average versions of some other sets, but he doesn't necessarily excel at anything either.

 

Tana

Spoiler

A flying menace for multiple reasons. Tana has reasonable Attack and Speed that can easily become threatening with the right nature. Her defensive ability is not great, but her Defense at least can be compensated.

The Vidofnir isn't the most interesting part of her default kit, though it is notable for making Tana potentially very bulky on the right nature and set. +7 defense when being attacked with a Sword, Lance, or Axe is not to be underestimated, and she can actually survive even most powerful Axe hits with the right support. Moonbow is a good default Special, and Spd/Def 2 is... well, it's there. Guidance is probably more interesting though, as it allows nearby Infantry and Armor allies to move to any spot next to her. Infantry can ignore obstacles such as mountains and forests, while Armors can just get to the battle all the faster. It's a nice support skill and lets Tana mingle with that crowd just as much as she can with fliers.

Her speed is high. It may not be the highest among fliers or even other Lances anymore, but it is still noteworthy, and she does not shy away from Attack either. Such a spread calls for a powerful weapon, the Firesweep Lance. Keeping Vidofnir and defense stacking also lets her become a speedy and defensive wall for S/L/A units.

Her Defense without Vidofnir's protection is otherwise quite lackluster, and she doesn't have the Res to really take on Manaketes all that well. Vidofnir also doesn't do anything against Bows, but she'd be dead to them either way so not much lost there.

Overall, a powerful player phase flier who can also become an enemy phase physical wall. Tana isn't to be underestimated, and coming with Guidance for free is all the more notable a reason why you should have her around.

Rating: 7.5/10 Tana has the right spread of Attack and Speed to run a deadly Firesweep set, and the Defense to become a physical wall. Either way works, just keep in mind that Tana isn't all that bulky outside of Vidofnir.

[Fire Emblem Fan]

Seth: He isn't terrible, but also not even close to being the best red sword cavalry. His starting kit kinda sucks and will need to be completely reworked, but he has decent stats around the board, with the exception of maybe his resistance. I'm not really sure what else to say about him, he's just kinda...there. 5/10

Tana: Tana might possibly be the best blue lance flyer in the game. She has good stats across the board, with great attack and speed, and Vidofnir makes her defense much stronger during enemy phase. She won't need much inheritance right off the bat as her starting kit is pretty good, but she's good for running Firesweep builds too, if that's what you want, or something else entirely. 8.5/10

[Silverly]

Seth: Remember when this guy could fell anything foolish enough enough to attack him in Sacred Stones thanks to his unparalleled stats? Well you can forget all about that because in Heroes he’s painfully mediocre and forgettable. His only claim to fame is more or less powercreeping Stahl. Congratulations. His stats are good but not great stats all around, and honestly he doesn’t add anything new to the table other than being easier access to Fortress Defense 3. Woohoo? Honestly, he’s not pathetic like Mathilda, but he’s arguably just as disappointing. 4/10

Tana: The little sis of Innes can really put in work, and she’s also fairly versatile. She has good offensive stats at the cost of so-so defenses. On the physical side, however, her personal weapon Vidofnir can help out on the enemy phase by giving a hefty +7 defense, which can turn it to respectable levels and beyond should you apply additional skills. If you prefer to be more aggressive, you could always go for the Firesweep or Slaying Lance. She’s a great flier, and her former signature (though not exclusive) ability Guidance can be extremely helpful in a pinch. 8/10

[Simpsons138]

My reviews:

• Seth: Super overpowered and someone worth using in almost any arena team, is something I would say if he were what he was in Sacred Stones, average speed, high defense to make him bulky, pretty low HP among sword cavaliers, middling attack, poor resistance and a pretty bad base kit, heavy investment is needed on him to make him what he was in Sacred Stones, but aside from that, he was made to take down greens, sorry Seth but, 5/10

 

• Tana: Has an amazing stat spread among fliers, you don't see someone with a balanced stat spread without that many penalties, second highest on attack and speed are amazing among flying lancers, giving her the ability to double or avoid doubles and dish out a high amount of damage, surprisingly her defenses are pretty balanced out so she wouldn't need to worry about being defeated quickly, especially since her weapon gives her +7 defense against melee units and having Moonbow as a default special already makes her a threat, her only main problem is that she has the lowest HP among fliers with Est and bows and Excalibur are her enemies and Lancebreakers as well, but is you get pass that, you've got one of the best lance fliers in the game, 8/10

[Shiki]

Seth: 5.40
Tana: 8.05

Amelia, Rose of the War

Spoiler

Max. Stats:
44/47/50
31/34/37
31/34/37
32/35/38
20/23/27

Base Skills:

Slaying Axe+
( - )
Sacred Cowl

Earth Boost
( - )
Armor March

Innes, Regal Strategician

Spoiler

Max. Stats:
32/35/39
30/33/36
31/34/37
11/14/18
28/31/34

Base Skills:

Nidhogg ( Effective against flying foes. During combat, boosts unit's Atk/Spd/Def/Res by number of adjacent allies × 2. )
( - )
Iceberg

Fortress Res
Cancel Affinity
( - )

 

Edited July 5, 2018 by The Priest

[Zapp Branniglenn]

Amelia - The fastest of the axe armors and her inflated BST means she doesn't have to shirk on physical bulk or attack power. Her Res isn't high, but the speed tier makes it feasible for her to avoid doubles from a few mages and at least the dragons. Amelia was insane on release and it's hard to believe every axe armor since is even better with the debatable exception of W!Lissa. 8 out of 10. All she's missing is some variant of Armads. Garmads?

Innes - I think Owl Bows could be really interesting on certain archer stat spreads, but not Innes'. He only needs three of those stats under normal circumstances. Drop Nidhogg at the earliest opportunity because Innes will perform quite well with a brave or firesweep bow. Even a Slaying Bow would be a strict improvement making use of his high res. Bride Cordelia still has him beat, and both of the Summer archers also have more speed. He really has to clutch his Def Ploy potential to match them in offense. Plus Brave Lyn and Kinshi!Hinoka have more exotic classes and comparable ploy potential. Innes is your best archer pick only when the seasonal units are not an option and you specifically want an infantry. Otherwise, he comes short of the mark in offense, arena scoring, and unique niches. 6 out of 10. Still a competitive choice.

Past Ratings

Spoiler

1. Alfonse - 3
2. Marth - 7
3. Sharena - 3
4. Jagen - 1
5. Anna - 4.5
6. Barst - 3
7. Cain - 4
8. Draug - 7.5
9. Gordin - 5
10. Jeorge - 5.5
11. Abel - 5.5
12. Linde - 9
13. Minerva - Abstain
14. Merric - 3.5
15. Maria - 6
16. Wrys - 3.5
17. Ceada - Abstain
18. Ogma - 4
19. Catria - 4
20. Est - 6
21. Sheena - 6.5
22. Cecilia - 4
23. Clarine - 6.5
24. Matthew - 4
25. Palla - 2.5
26. Roy -7
27. Gwendolyn - 7.5
28. Shanna - 4.5
29. Bartre - 7
30. Fae - 7.5
31. Serra - 4
32. Lissa - 2
33. Y!Tiki - 8
34. Lilina - 7
35. Florina - 1.5
36. M!Robin - 3.5
37. Hector - 8
38. Raven - 8.5
39. Gaius - 4 
40. Virion - 3.5
41. Raigh - 1.5
42. Sophia - 3.5
43. Sully -2.5
44. Cordelia -7
45. Hawkeye - 5.5
46. Nino - 8
47. Felicia - 6.5
48. Jakob - 1
49. Fir - 4
50. Eliwood - 5.5
51. Donnel - 3.5
52. Nowi - 8.5
53. Frederick - 6.5
54. Cherche - 7.5
55. Saizo - 4
56. Kagero - 4.5
57. Lyn - 7
58. Chrom - 5
59. F!Corrin - 7
60. Azura - 6.5
61. Gunter - 3
62. Camilla - 5.5
63. Azama - 6.5
64. Setsuna - 3.5
65. Stahl - 2.5
66. Lonqu - 3
67. Hinoka - 7.5
68. Oboro - 2.5
69. Beruka - 6
70. Arthur - 2
71. Takumi - 5.5
72. Sakura - 3
73. Olivia - 7
74. Henry - 2
75. Subaki - 4.5
76. Peri - 6.5
77. Niles - 1.5
78. Elise - 7.5
79. Tharja - 5
80. A!Tiki - 8
81. Odin - 1 
82. Effie - 7.5
83. Lucina - 7
84. M!Corrin - 6
85. Ryoma - 5.5
86. Hinata - 4.5
87. Hana - 5.5
88. Laslow - 3
89. Selena - 2
90. Leo - 2
91. Eirika - 5
92. Seliph - 5.5
93. Ephraim - 7
94. Julia - 6
95. Eldigan - Abstain
96. Sanaki - 6.5
97. Reinhardt - 8
98. Olwen - 5.5
99. Lachesis - 3
100. Klein - 4
101. Karel - 6.5
102. Ninian - 7
103. Lucius - 4.5
104. Rebecca - 2.5
105. Priscilla - 4
106. Jaffar - 3.5
107. Alm - 9
108. Lukas - 7.5
109. Clair - 7
110. Faye - 5.5
111. Ike - 6
112. Titania - 3.5
113. Soren - 4
114. Mist - 2.5
115. Celica - 7
116. Mae - 6.5
117. Boey - 3.5
118. Genny - 6
119. Luke - 3.5
120. Katarina - 5.5
121. Athena - 3.5
122. Roderick - 6
123. Gray - 5
124. Saber - 3
125. Mathilda - 3
126. Delthea - 6.5
127. Sonya - 4.5
128. Leon - 6
129. Seth - 2
130. Tana - 7
131. Amelia -8
132. Innes - 6

Ratings I would change in retrospect: Gordin would be a 2.5 and Jeorge a 4, Cain would be a 3, Cecilia would be a 3.5. Linde would be 7. And I'd drop Matthew and Saizo to 3.5. Beruka would be a 7. Caeda I'd rate a 5.5 now that I've been using her at 5 star. Leo I'd bump up to a 3. Hector is a 7.5 because he's been powercreeped again.

 

 

Edited July 5, 2018 by Glennstavos

[Silverly]

Amelia: If Seth was disappointing, then Amelia is stunning. Often made fun of by some because of her pathetic start in her home game, in Heroes she’s not to be messed with. She some of the best BST in the game, with all her stats being at the very least good aside from her meh resistance. Because she’s faster than average for an armored unit, you might not even need skills like Quick Reposte (or at least not entirely rely on it). Anything that works for most armored units works just as well for Amelia, if not better. While she lacks a personal weapon, Amelia doesn’t really need one (yet). With her only real shortcomings being her resistance and to a lesser degree her movement (the latter can be fixed with Armor March and/or Guidance), Amelia is probably one of the best armored units that isn’t seasonal. 9/10

Innes: Like sister, like brother, Innes is also a viable unit and one of the better ones of his class. He packs solid offenses and impressive resistance, allowing him to soak some magical. The same can’t be said for his nonexistent defense, he makes Hana look like a tank! Nidhogg is an interesting weapon, as it gives an owltome effect. Sadly, outside of magic users, Innes makes poor use of it (don’t even think about having him take physical hits as they’ll turn him to pulp), and archers in general prefer to be more aggressive than take passive buffs. Nidhogg will likely get a refine down the line, but for now Innes should stick to Firesweep or Brave Bows. Overall, a solid unit, though perhaps one that hasn’t quite aged the best. 7/10

[Alexmender]

Amelia. The precursor of the Armor overlord meta. She has a semi balanced spread with a dump on Res, thanks to her armor+trainee BST she has above average Def and average everything else. Normally being a non-dragon balanced unit is a negative but the huge amounts of BST that Amelia has lets her use that kind of spread very effectively as it offers her tons of build flexibility and because none of her stats is close to being middling it means she'll always have something to do in any kind of team she's in. As an armor unit she has access to the ever broken Bold Fighter to launch a very powerful Ignis during Player Phase. Now, Amelia isn't without shortcomings despite her incredible levels of BST. To begin with, despite having great stats across the board she lacks specialization which makes her an inferior choice compared to more min-maxed armors, her Spd acts as a defensive stat but it isn't high enough to protect her against Ayra/Karla/Mia and it also tends to clash with Bold Fighter offensively as Amelia doesn't need her Spd to double. Her low Res also puts her in trouble when facing mages, although her high Hp lets her counterkill a good number of those but her Atk isn't high enough to ensure she'll kill Red mages. All in all Amelia is a beast of a unit, her well rounded nature works in her favor most of the time thanks to her high stats, she can lack damage at times but her bulk is good enough to let her fight for a few rounds.

Rating: 8.5/10

Innes. His stats focus on Atk/Spd/Res and dump Hp/Def. Innes is one fo the best archers when it comes to his niche and what Niles wishes he could be. Thanks to his high Res he'll be able to Ploy a good number of melee threats and then use a Firesweep Bow to destroy his enemies. His Prf weapon Nidhogg has a very decent effect, the problem is that it doesn't work well with Innes statline (while he has the Res to tank mages, his low Hp means that he'll be able to do this for 2 rounds at best) so let's hope it'll get a refinement soon. In any case, while Innes stats may seem like the ones of a mage tank, he is anything but. Use that Res to let him debuff his opponents and go nuts with his great offensive spread. I'd recommend using Spd Ploy+Def Ploy to allow him to shine at his brightest.

Rating: 8/10

[Xenomata]

Amelia

Spoiler

Amelia has a bit of a conundrum to overcome: She is not the best Axe Armor and gets compared to among the literal best units in the game. Somewhat average Attack, Speed, and Defense are boosted a bit from her being both a Trainee and Armor unit before units just started getting BST/GP boosts for existing, while her HP is a little average for Armors and her Resistance is poor.

Her base kit has two notable cornerstones of any Armor unit, the Slaying Axe and Armor March. Slaying Axe speeds up Special Charge, enabling for a powerful special sooner, while Armor March gives any Armor unit equal movement space to Infantry and Fliers, becoming a mix of the two who aren't impacted by Forests and Trenches, but can't pass through mountains and rivers and such. There's not much of a reason to drop either one here. Meanwhile, Sacred Cowl tries to fix a problem that Amelia doesn't really need to fix in the first place, while Earth Boost is useless.

Amelia compares to WE!Chrom, Hector, Vector, and Lector by having less Attack and Defense but more Speed, and Sheena by having less Defense and Resistance but more Attack and Speed, while being similar to WE!Lissa save for higher Speed. What Amelia has going for herself compared to all the others is Speed, because while it isn't the HIGHEST among armors, it is certainly the best among Axe Armors, who usually favor dropping their speed to exemplify one of their other stats. Amelia's Speed being what it is lets her disable follow-up attacks from most enemies, though she'd still might want to pack Vengeful Fighter/Bold Fighter since they have special charge +1 effects. Also noteworthy is how Amelia's statline is above-averagely balanced, so she remains somewhat powerful and bulky without having to sacrifice one other stat.

Hurting Amelia is her low movement outside of Armor March and being very vulnerable to Red Mages and Armorsmasher units. She also just has trouble comparing to other Axe Armors, who despite being much slower usually actually welcome being slower, or have methods of disabling enemy follow ups anyways, while remaining some of the most powerful and bulky units in the game, all with similar Resistance to Amelia.

Still, Amelia coming with Armor March by default shouldn't be overlooked. It remains one of the most used skills in the game, and is worth keeping at least one Amelia around just for that good support. Plus you get a good Armor unit out of keeping Amelia around.

Rating: 7.5/10 Amelia doesn't really match other, better Axe Armors, but has a high Speed stat that helps to avoid being doubled, while still having good enough Attack and Defense to play the role of an Armor. Being compared to other Axe Armors may hurt, but coming with Armor March keeps Amelia being just as relevant.

 

Innes

Spoiler

An exemplary Archer, boasting good Attack and Speed, average Resistance and HP, and horrid Defense, makes Innes what Archers look at to see just how they want to build their stats around.

His base kit is somewhat decent from the start. Fortress Resistance is not among the decents, but is a budget option for making Innes into the mage killer he is. Cancel Affinity is a good skill to have on a colorless unit, since it disables RavenAdepts, but may be replaced if RavenAdepts don't actually appear for you anymore. Iceberg works well with his good Resistance.

Nidhogg is a legendary Owltome for bows, boosting stats in relation to the number of nearby allies. While this does little to fix his horrid Defense, it does enable Innes to take magical hits better than before while retaliating with powerful blows.

Nidhogg may not appeal to everyone though, and fortunately Innes can deliver. The Brave Bow is a viable option here given his good Attack, while the Firesweep Bow sees good use with his combination of Attack and Speed. Innes also has good enough Resistance to run with Ploy skills though, so maybe run with Swift Sparrow over Life and Death...

Hurting Innes is how damn weak he is to physical attacks. I mean, he's lucky he doesn't have a superbane in Defense, but it's still stupidly low. As with all weak-defensed units, can't take physical hits for beans, and weak to Manaketes. Innes also isn't the best archer overall, and his Personal Weapon doesn't necessarily enable a strong Player Phase setup.

Innes is still a great unit to have though, and if all you want is a unit who can inflict powerful strikes with good speed and is able to trigger Ploys, then Innes delivers.

Rating: 7/10 Innes isn't the best Archer, but he still delivers on good offense and magic resistance, with the option of going with his Owltome bow or just picking up the standard offensive bow and bringing destruction to unknowing foes. Just... god, keep him away from physical hits.

Magvel sure does have some interesting unit representation, doesn't it... I mean, Guidance and Armor March on the same new unit banner, PLUS Eirika and Ephraim being good buffbots, without mentioning later units? Makes you wonder just what a Magvel remake would try to bring to the table with how many goodies Heroes has given us...

[DehNutCase]

Amelia:

Spoiler

 

BST: 47/34/34/35/23

All armors have stellar combat, for the simple reason that their BST is sky high. Unfortunately, that's a trait shared by every single tome user in the game, thanks to -blade tomes being an 40 MT weapon half the time. (Technically 'only' 37 MT, or 38 MT for Green Olwen's, with +24 from class buffs. But being more than twice as good as a Prf weapon with an Atk refine is still pretty okay.)

And, aside from the rare armored tome user, mages aren't 1 move locked, and even armored mages at least have 2 attack range for a bigger threat radius.

 

Ranged units tend to lose 8-10 BST for being ranged, and melee armors tend to gain 8-10 BST for being armored. Ignoring Amelia's trainee status for a moment (because there are trainee mages as well), and that's a difference of 16-20 BST.

-Blade tomes have 14 MT on Vassal's Blade, which sits at a nice 16 MT + 7 (if you have 10 more speed).

 

Armored BST is simply trading one support requirement (class buffs), for another (mobility). Personally, I'd rather my ability to run the hell away (or run right into combat) not depend on the fact that all my teammates are right next to me.

There is, in fact, a point where mobility stops mattering---when BST is high enough that no matter who starts the combat, and no matter who on the team the enemy chooses to hit, you'll teamwipe the enemy team regardless. But that's the domain of people like Winter Tharja, who happened to have armored BST and Tome access.

 

Add that to the fact that armored units, almost by definition, can't support (almost all support abilities have positioning requirements---even Tactics needs you to be within 2 spaces), but require support, and you have an entire class of units that can do nothing except attempt to sweep teams. And, worse, have difficulties sweeping teams on offense, for the simple reason that you need to get up to the enemy to sweep them.

 

Further, armors are one of only two classes without dancer access (the other one's horses), meaning they're lacking the best possible support option of dancer & class buff on the same unit. An armored dancer would probably be pretty hard to use regardless, due to the whole 'you need mobility to support' thing, but how good a sweeper looks is always dependent on how good your supports are.

(This is why I wouldn't rate Reinhardt 10/10 for the moment, because there isn't a 10/10 support for him, but I would rate Spring!Camilla 10/10, because Flying Ninian and Azura exists.)

 

Stellar combat and atrocious support combine to form a mediocre unit. Probably still better than Gray, Saber, and the like, but not enough that I'd be happy to see her in any of my teams.

6/10

 

Innes:

BST: 35/33/34/14/31

Excellent offenses (better than Takumi), unfortunately min-maxed bulk (any mage who touches him should still OHKO, and any dragon will be hitting his defense stat), combine to make a reasonably flexible unit who can decide to try and counter kill mages or simply go to the good old Brave Bow standby.

The mage counter-killer set suffers from the fact that CA and Dull Ranged share a slot---CA stops raven TA, Dull Ranged stops blade, but you can't stop both at once.

Still, it is an option, in case you didn't want to run the cookie cutter brave bow set.

6.5/10

More or less a stronger offensively, weaker bulk-wise Leon, and, as such, nabs the same score.

Edited July 5, 2018 by DehNutCase

[Korath88]

Amelia

Coincidentally, I just sacrificed her last night for armor march. But the reason for that is actually quite relevant to her rating. While she is a high BST armor comparable to a gen 2 armor due to trainee bonus, she now exists in a meta with 3 Hectors and an armor dragon while she lacks a prf to give her an edge over them. Her higher speed is irrelevant when bold fighter exists, making her worse than the more minmaxed W!Chrom.

As such there's really no actual reason to include her in an armor team aside from lack of other options, but fighter skill access prevents her from falling below a 7/10

Skip Innes, I've never used an infantry archer ever

Edited July 5, 2018 by Korath88