Characters very strong gameplay (Lord excluded)

[drattakbowser]

Black eagles :

- Bernadetta (Multiple attack and strong if not full HP)

- Dorothea (Strong dancer)

Blue Lions :

- Felix (High base damage)

- Mercedes (Strong heal)

- Ingrid (Strong flying unit)

Golden Deers :

- Lysithea (Great range and might defense if she equip Thyrsus)

- Hilda (High charm and speed)

- Leonie (Incredible physical attack and defense)

Edited August 4, 2020 by drattakbowser

[Palasid]

To preface, this is just how I feel for units. I've tried maddening a few times, but only beat it once (Black Eagles, no NG+). 

Black Eagles: 

Ferdinand is a very versatile character, I tend to make him a dodge tank Assassin/Swordmaster because he's very fast, and tends to be able to dodge attacks most other people may not. But you can use him in most roles with decent results, he doesn't even have the worst spell list.

Lindhart is a great Healer, but mainly because Warp is the best assist spell.

Petra is a speedy unit who may lack raw power, but she has decent critical chance which is only boosted by her personal skill.

Blue Lions:

Felix is a strong fast unit, decent defenses and his crest is insanely good.

Sylvain hits hard, and is one of the main units you can use to beat the Death Knight without Lysithea. Additionally he can be put into most melee offensive classes pretty easily. He even gets that small boost to reason, which is... nice?

Golden Deer:

Lorenz is like Ferdinand, but less fast and more defensive. Additionally he has strong enough magic he makes a decent mage. If your willing to sacrifice Thrysus on  a non-mage, he becomes really bulky as a paladin or Fortress Knight.

I am one of few people in the world who will call Ignatz a strong unit. By himself he really isn't that good, but if you lean completely into him being a support unit, he becomes extremely reliable. He will almost always hit his target, he can gain seal strength from his reason hidden talent, and you can apply that reason towards Dark Mage to get him poison strike. Give him assassin so enemies don't target him, and he can soften most dangerous foes with his bow. Also he gets Break Shot, which helps give your allies some extra oomph. He also gets rally speed and dexterity for off turns.

Lysithea is the hardest hitting mage, what else needs to be said?

Leonie is fast, strong, defensive with a good charm stat. She almost feels like what Jeralt should have played like. Shes able to use most classes well, except for her low magic, but decent spell list.

[Dark Holy Elf]

Eagles

Petra has decent Str, incredible speed, a great talent list (axes and flying!), easy pegasus access... basically everything a physical unit needs to excel in this game.

Dorothea's combination of Physic, Thoron, and Meteor makes her one of the most useful spellcasters.

Ferdinand has a good personal for evade builds and a solid talent list, though his start is a touch shaky compared to other good physical units (8/8 offensive stats, no pegasus).

Lions

Felix is a monster out of the gate with effective 15 str / 9 spd. His personal eventually falls off a cliff but he always has great str/spd, and will excel in any physical build.

Sylvain is generally solid fighter (respectable stats all-around, decent personal decent talent list, a brave combat art), who gets Ruined Sky in chapter 6 and that's a heck of a beatstick.

Ingrid is a slightly worse Petra (trades some str/spd for charm/res) but that's not a bad place to be, makes an outstanding dodge-tank.

Mercedes has Physic and Fortify, and probably the best all-around stat build of the mages (bulk and charm are better than most). Her personal synergizes very well with both of these traits.

Deer

Leonie and Hilda are two more members of the "solid physical stats and pegasus access" club. Hilda emphasizes strength a bit more, Leonie speed, both have decent charm as a bonus. Neither is strong in flying but Leonie does a brave combat art and Hilda a strong relic attack.

Lysithea's the best character for raw magic nuking and Warp access.

Marianne has Physic and Thoron which are both nice, and can rock a mean Frozen Lance if that's more your style. Her biggest problem is a Reason weakness, but  if you have the DLC her strength in flying/riding make up for that with the Abyssal class options.

[Barren]

Black Eagles

I like Ferdinand as a front line attacker because he can assume a number of physical roles like Paladin, or Wyvern Lord. Paladin for Swift Strikes, Wyvern Lord for extra avoid in conjunction with Confidence. He can also go Swordmaster with Sword Avoid along with Confidence as well. Or if you want him to go into a tanking role, there is Fortress Knight or Great Knight. I know the latter two classes aren't great on maddening but he can be a useful guard adjutant that can grant you a nice hit bonus.

Bernadetta is someone to me what makes Fire Emblem fun. A weird unit that may have shaky growths but can certainly dish out massive damage with Vengeance. Persecution Complex is actually better than people think. Paladin or Bow Knight Bernie is simple to get into and both are incredibly effective. Even Encloser can be super useful for freezing enemies in place and to keep things from getting too overwhelming.

Dorothea I think gets slept on at times since her growths aren't as high as other mages. In some cases Dancer can be a good option for her since she can not only buff her allies quite nicely but linked attacks with meteor makes her quite valuable. Though I can understand why people would rather have another dancer instead of her. I consider Marianne to be more suited. Gremory Dorothea brings out the best out of her kit. 2x uses of Thoron, Physic and Meteor all good traits.

Petra I feel like Ferdie she can go in a number of physical roles. Assassin, Swordmaster, Sniper all good options for her. But of course her two best classes in my opinion are Falcon Knight for the speed or Wyvern Lord for more power. She honestly benefits from Wyvern Lord more because she needed the added HP, Strength and Defense. Sure her Resistance stats won't get the boost that she would from Falcon Knight and Falcon Knight has a higher dex stat modifier. But I think the positives outweighs the negatives with her in Wyvern Lord.

 

Blue Lions

Felix hits like truck early on. His crest makes him hit even harder at times. The game pushes him to be a Swordmaster. But I like to think of him as a Assassin to help with his Dex growth since 55% strength is still pretty high. Sniper or Warmaster/Grappler are better options though because either his crest can trigger with range attacks or quad hitting someone with gauntlets. His bane in authority is a problem though. He could really use the higher ranked battalions for those extra stats.

Sylvain, like Ferdinand can assume a number of physical roles. Like Paladin and Wyvern Lord. Similar to Ferdinand minus the extra hit/avoid. His dex growth is not that great though, 35% is pretty low. Might not be a bad idea to get him to learn hit +20 along the way I feel. Still, philanderer can be helpful when wanting him to deal extra damage. He can even try Dark Knight as his reason and faith spell list is not too bad. Though you would have to train him in the mage route throughout the whole game to make it a somewhat viable option for him. 

Annette fills the support rally bot role quite nicely as a flier since fliers don't care about terrain. Perseverance being rally strength gives her an immediate edge as a support unit over Mercedes in my opinion since it can be combined with other rallies she has. Dark Flier or Wyvern Lord or good options for her pending on your taste. Regardless, always make sure she has rally speed. That can be the difference maker for at least early on in the game. I can understand if for some people rallies may not be needed latter on anymore, but it's still great to have on board.

 

Golden Deer

Ignatz having an innate hit +20 is really useful throughout the entire game because on hard or maddening mode their avoid can be really high. Obviously his growths aren't particulary impressive to begin with but he can be patched up to a damage dealer with Death Blow + Hunter's Volley. In addition to another hit +20 makes sure he'd not going to be missing any shots any time soon. He could go Assassin as well for the extra speed and dex growth if you want for Lethality, but I can understand why people find it to be unreliable. Dex/4 is not a formula I'm comfortable with banking on either

Lysithea is a walking nuke but with paper thin defenses and lop sided stat growths. That said, giving her the Thyrsus staff helps out her spell range issues. She is amazing as a gremory. Dark Knight for her is an okay option but terrain may be an issue at times where you'll be forced to dismount so you may not get the benefit from all that riding training in the first place. Not much else to say about her honestly.

Marianne I've grown to be fond of since she has so many options. Falcon Knight if you want to use frozen lance, Gremory, Swordmaster, Dark Flier, etc. So many options for her to take advantage of her magic stat and/or her boon in swords with Levin Sword+ and Blutgang. Physic, Silence,Thoron, Fimbulvetr and Aura having double uses as a gremory is a pretty big deal. 

Leonie is great, I really like her. No banes to worry about and can do well in any physical role. Paladin, Falcon Knight, Bow Knight. All of them are good class options for her. I know that Wyvern Lord (I know I know, that stupid good class) is another great option for her. Rivalry is also useful for the similar reasons Sylvain's is useful