Rate the Unit-Three Houses, Day 33: Alois

[Sooks]

It’s time for the one true playable dad in fe: He who makes dad jokes! No wonder he can live to the end.

Rules

- Ratings are assumed to be on Hard or Maddening Mode. Also, they should be based on when the unit is first available. (When rating a unit, please specify whether you are rating assuming Hard or Maddening.)

- Votes need some explanation regarding their gameplay performance to be counted (unless they fall into the general parameters of the average rating, but reasoning is still strongly encouraged on those even if you just wanna quote people) — incredibly low scores or high scores without proper justification will not be counted. Don't put in some random text thinking it'd count as justification. Put in at least a little thought and give REAL reasoning.

- Numbers for votes, please - not something like "Marcus/10", etc. Proper Justification will be determined by me and whoever decides to help.

+/- ≤1 point extra regarding personality/appearance is okay, but no more.

- Votes out of 10, or something proportional to it. Makes it easy to calculate, please and thank you~!

-The rating you give to a unit assumes a good build for said unit-nothing among the lines of, "Dedue is 2/10 because he's a bad mage."

-The ranking assumes no grinding of any form, no DLC and minor, (one or two stat boosters per month) use of the Greenhouse.

- Make votes easily visible, please! "[Explanation text]: So, overall, I think X unit is a 7.5/10, with a +1 bias included for being hawt/cute/funny/etc.."

- Every ranking phase ends approximately at 20:00 PST. Do the math for your timezone, please!

-We will ask you to not use the "Not X unit" reason. Because it will be used a lot. I.E, do not say "Linhardt bad because not Lysithea."

-The Black Eagles may be assessed based on their performances in either Silver Snow or Crimson Flower, other than when not applicable.

 

Scores:

Dimtri: 9.14

Byleth: 9.05

Edelgard: 9.00

Claude: 8.977

Felix: 8.625 

Lysithea: 8.472

Petra: 8.34

Leonie: 8.2

Ferdinand: 7.78

Catherine: 7.7556

Sylvain: 7.66

Ingrid: 7.34

Hilda: 7.31

Seteth: 7.2273

Bernadetta: 7.125

Linhardt: 7.11

Marianne: 6.9769

Mercedes: 6.756

Shamir: 6.65

Dorothea: 6.375

Cyril: 6.0454

Dedue: 5.8571

Annette: 5.5375

Hubert: 5.525

Ignatz: 4.88

Flayn: 4.583

Caspar: 4.32

Hanneman: 4.18

Lorenz: 3.8077

Raphael: 3.7273 

Ashe: 3.69 (nice)

Manuela: 3.1

 

Underscore: Black Eagles

Bold: Blue Lions

Itallics: Golden deer

Purple: Faculty

Boldunderscoreditallics: DLC

Average score for Black Eagles: 6.94

Average score for Blue lions: 6.82

Average score for Golden Deer: 6.543

Average score for Faculty: 5.65 (rounded, it was a very very long number)

[Zapp Branniglenn]

Alois is excellent. He's pretty much what you get from having raised Caspar/Raphael/Dedue, but with none of their early game ugliness or character specific issues. 27 base strength is monstrous, and his durability is fantastic for Maddening. On join time he's packing one-two punch, healing focus, rally luck and rally Strength, Batallion wrath and has already certified as a warrior to make the double wrath build happen quickly. This man joins with no class masteries and already has way too much good stuff to fit in 5 ability slots. You can go for wrath and vantage if that's the build you want him for, but Alois is an all-star gauntlet user. One-Two Punch secures the ORKO on sword users and pegasus knights for the rest of the game. He can probably kill them naturally with any training gauntlets, but even when that's the case, one counterattack is a small price to pay for 100 accuracy against the hardest enemies to kill. Especially when your healer appreciates the free exp and if they're not available he can patch himself up with healing focus as much as he wants. Alois' isn't particularly fast, but between One Two Punch and Quick Riposte he is one of just two units who will never be doubled in late game on either phase. People say his flying bane hurts his viability, but I think making him a wyvern would be a mistake - because mounted units can't punch and his offense will never be the same swinging an axe. His charm is great. He has weight -3 at base, and can continue on for Smite and Weight -5 if you want.

I rate Alois an 8.0 out of 10. He's joining your party with the effectiveness of your Lord or Byleth, but 8 is the highest I go for somebody that joins this late. There aren't a lot of tough maps left in the game by chapter 11. And he's not available for non-CF chapter 13 so that really leaves SS endgame, AM endgame, and whichever post-time skip paralogues you find especially tricky as the only difficult maps left. He's the Pent of this game. 

[Barren]

So now we get to Fodlan's worst comedian Alois. That sounds pretty cruel considering he tries at making puns but he's honestly not a bad guy. This jolly fellow certainly has something to offer or does he? This is assuming hard and no dlc.

Alois may be bad at jokes, but looking at his starting tool kit is not a joke. He does join you quite late in part 1, particularly chapter 12. Alois stats off as a Warrior, and thanks to the class bonus, he has a really high HP growth at 85% with 50 HP starting out. So he can take a hit if need be. His strength being at 60% growth is also worth nothing. His defense and speed isn't too bad either. They are both at a 40% growth but his defense is higher than his speed. The warrior class might be not necessarily the class you would like for him to start off as but that doesn't mean it's a bad thing. Reason being is that Axefaire and Axe Crit + 10 are still good traits. His charm is at an alright 45% growth rate so he is a decent battalion user. You would hope his luck growth be nice but it's at a rather low 30% growth. Luck does play a part at landing a critical hit which similar to Swordmaster is what the Warrior class is designed to be. Speaking of luck, his personal ability Compassion is Rally Luck. Rally Luck is one of the worst rallies in the game as you can't bank on it helping you out. 

Alois comes with quite a few nice boons starting out. He has a boon in Axes, Brawling, and Heavy Armor. He has banes in Reason magic and Flying. Since he is a Warrior, he can re-class into a fighter or brigand if you want Strength +2 and/or Death Blow. He already comes with all of his axe combat arts including Spike which is pretty good and Exhaustive Strike which is pretty bad. Having Axes at rank A also Lancebreaker available to him. Lancebreaker is a nice ability to have against enemy Cavaliers and Pegasus Knights. He has a brawling rank of B, which already comes with One-Two Punch which is a double attack and he already has Healing Focus which is a free heal for him basically. He gets Might Blow at Brawl rank A which is powerful but not as useful as Grappler's Fierce Iron Fist since that hits three times. He also has Authority and Heavy Armor at rank C. Weight -3 and Battalion Wrath are good abilities for him as well since Weight -3 can help him land a double attack if brawling or if significantly faster quad hit. If you're adamant about raising his heavy armor, you could get smite which is a powered up version of shove, and weight -5 which essentially makes you a bit more nimbler. But weight -3 is usually enough. Alois also gets Rally Strength so he could have a minor role at boosting stats similar to Raphael. Though I guess he would have two rallies at once as opposed to one.

If you're wanting to, you could get Vantage for him if you're wanting to take advantage of Wrath. He has the bulk to pull it off especially when you give him a battalion with a good hit rate boost and retribution gambit activated. Of course you go for Battalion Wrath along with Quick Riposte as a War Master instead. The class offers critical +20. So in addition to using a forged killer's axe or gauntlets, a good battalion that offers high hit and crit means that he'll be KO'ing enemies left and right. Grappler is another good option for him as he gets Tomebreaker. You can even bring Quick Riposte with you once you master War Master if you want. He could also be a guard adjutant as either a armored knight or fortress knight if need be and give a support bonus to allies like Leonie, Catherine, Shamir, Bernadetta. His magic options are basically non existent. Fire and Bolganone, no thanks. Recover....do better. So yea, stay away from making him a mage. 

EDIT: Another interesting option for him would be the Hero class since he only needs swords to be at C+ rank and he can get Defiant Strength. This combos well with his Vantage + Wrath set. Hero more so since the class has innate Vantage so you just need Wrath really. Or you could bring Defiant Strength to other classes like Grappler and War Master if you're dead set on murdering enemies when at 25% or less HP. Just be sure to bring either a guard adjutant for him or using the Blessing gambit on him

Overall, I think Alois is a 7/10 unit. His personal ability for me holds him back since it's essentially a worthless rally. But aside from that, he's a solid choice to bring on as a team member or a adjutant since he offers good stat bonuses. Just don't let him teach you on how to make jokes, he's just not that clever. 

Edited November 12, 2020 by Barren

[L3xandr3]

Dad Jokes and being generally positive. Alois is likeable. On Hard, Alois is quite good. Not the same for Maddening.

     Skill Levels:      Boons: Axe A, Brawling B, Armor C. Banes: Reason and Flying. I guess putting him in an Armor class would help his bulk a bit. He also has C base Authority.

     Abilities:     The third character with a reskinned Rally skill, Alois has Compassion, which is Rally Luck. To be fair to him, Luck is better than Skill in this game. He begins with Rally Strength and Battalion Wrath. He’s already in Warrior, so all he needs for a Crit build is to class down to Mercenary for Vantage.

     Arts:     One-Two Punch is his best Art. He also starts with Spike and Exhaustive Strike, both of those are decent Arts. At A Brawling he gets Mighty Blow, but we all know the problem with most Gauntlet Arts. A Brave weapon that loses the Brave effect? No thanks.

     Stats:     50+45% HP and 18+40% Defense, He very bulky. 27+45% Strength is very good. So, now for the discrepancy between Hard and Maddening: His 15+40% Speed. On Hard, that’s Ok, he won’t be doubled by that much. Enter Maddening. 15 Speed is only enough to double Armors, while pretty much anything else doubles him. This is remedied latter on by QR and early on by Gauntlets. His 8+20% Resistance is pretty bad. Combine with his low Speed, and any Magic will destroy him, or leave him low enough for him to be killed by a Physical attacker. His other stats are middling and not worth mention.

     Classes:     Intermediate- Class down for Vantage (Mercenary) and/or Death Blow (Brigand)

Advanced- Warrior is good enough. If you do need to change his Class, Grappler for FIF or Fortress for the Defense

Master- Alois is very close to getting War Master, just 1 Rank away in Brawling.

          The Verdict

High Damage. Solid Physical Bulk. Atrocious Speed and Resistance. You will probably have a solid team by the point he joins, so he doesn’t really have a place to fit in. But if you’re doing a Ironman or have RNG screwed Gauntlet users, then go ham with Alois. 5/10. Good filler material.

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

Alois, considered on Maddening.

The Bad

First, his availability is among the lowest in the game. He can join by the start of chapter 11. Byleth must be level 15, but if they aren't by that point, you're doing something very wrong. Interestingly, he can be playable (as a green unit) in his own Paralogue before being recruited, much like Seteth. Still, coming halfway through the game with no mastery skills kinda blows.

How about his stats? This is evaluating him as a level 21 Warrior. His poor Magic (8 + 0.15x) should come as no surprise, nor should his Resistance (8 + 0.20x). His Luck (12 + 0.30x) is also unimpressive, and his Dexterity (12 + 0.35x) is hardly better. They won't help him much in hitting or critting. Finally, his Speed (15 + 0.40x), while slightly less terrible, lets him double few targets.

Looking at proficiencies, he has a couple weak spots. He has a Reason bane, but unlike with Manuela, that doesn't matter much given everything going against a magic build. Heck, one of his lost items lampshades his unsuitability for spellcasting. His one other weak area is in Flight - this sucks more, as it makes the Wyvern classes harder to reach (but still achievable). Speaking of, he has E ranks in a few weapons (Sword, Lance, Bow), as well as Riding. So if you want, say, Bow Knight Alois... well, you've got your work cut out for you.

Going back to magic, his spell lists are both short and boring. Putting him into the magical arts is nothing more than a gag build. As a Commoner, he also lacks a Crest. So tools like the Aegis Shield and Freikugel will take a chunk out of his HP. What can this fun-loving, mustachioed father figure bring to the table.

The Good

A whole lot, it turns out! Getting back to stats, he has some good areas. His HP (50 + 0.85x) is gargantuan, and combined with his firm Defense (18 + 0.40x), he can take a hit or two. His Charm (16 + 0.45x), too, is at least decent. His standout area, though, is his Strength. That a Warrior would deliver 27 + 0.60x is no surprise, but it should impress regardless, standing with units you've been raising from day one.

How about the proficiencies? He has a boon in Armor (C), so he joins with Weight-3. Smite is within reach, and even upgrading to Weight-5 is within the question. As for weapons, he comes in swinging, with a Gauntlet (B) boon. So even if you haven't trained anyone in this weapon type, now you've got a ready-made specialist (with Healing Focus, no less). His strongest starting point, however, is A Axes - this lets him use any Axe in the game, from the get-go. One more thing - he comes with C Authority. Not the greatest at this point, but among the highest for a joining unit.

As for classes, he has an easy route to Fortress Knight (for the bulk), Grappler (Fierce Iron Fist), and War Master (Crit + 20 yo). Wyvern Rider/Lord is attainable with effort, as is Great Knight. In the short term, though, his best bet is to go down to Brigand. It's only a slight downgrade from Warrior, and Death Blow will be crucial on any physical build.

Looking at combat arts, Alois has some good ones. He joins with Spike, which I maintain is just a better Smash, and Exhaustive Strike, which is... wasteful, but there's a lot of potential there. He can also get Mighty Blow, which is better left forgotten. His strongest art, though, has to be One-Two Punch. A two-strike art that grants Might +8 and Hit +20 helps secure kills where he sould otherwise fall short. It comes at the cost of taking a counterattack, but his defense is good enough that it's rarely a problem. And since Dedue is the only other unit who can learn this art, it's an Alois-exclusive on non-AM routes.

One last thing - Alois can provide a bit of extra team support, in the form of Rallies. His personal skill is Rally Luck, and he joins with Rally Strength as an equippable. So if it's not Alois who's dealing with the foe, he can nonetheless help out another physically-offensive ally. Strength is among the best rallies, and there's no reason to turn down a little more Luck.

The Verdict

Alois isn't around for most of the game, which hurts his ranking. And when he shows up, it's with no mastery skills and constrained class options. But he can perform strongly, in limited roles, from the moment he joins. A Axes and B Gauntlets is impressive, and he has great offense and solid bulk on the physical side. He can terrorize targets with a One-Two Punch, survive abuse in a suit of armor, or even mount a horse or wyvern for the mobility. And even when he's off the frontlines, he can Rally to bolster his teammates. He may have no Crest or potential in the world of magic. But he doesn't need it to make for a good contributor, from chapter 11 into the post-skip. On balance, I believe his performance warrants a 5 out of 10.

[GaryGaryGary]

Ah Alois. The master of Dad jokes and member of the Jeralt Appreciation Club along with Leonie. Let’s see how well he does.

Good Traits 

Comes to your house with great skill levels such as C+ in axes D+ in Brawling, and C in both Authority and Heavy Armor.

This allows Alois to accumulate important skills such Weight -3 and Battalion Wrath, which is neat.

He comes to you as a Warrior, meaning he can grab Wrath and stack with Bat. Wrath, if you could.

Great guard adjutant for three of your best units: Byleth, Leonie, and Bernie, so if you need a guard for them then he comes to you prepared.

Bad Traits

You already know what it is, bad availability! Hooray! You get him so late within the game, recruiting him at Chapter 11. That  is the second worse recruiting moment right after Seteth and SS Cyril and Catherine. Ugh..

Mediocre 40% in Speed. Not all that bad but not too good either.

Sadly, a bane in Flying, which means a struggle to put him on the most OP class known as Wyvern Lord. 😔

Overall Score: 6.5/10

Pretty usable, not gonna be as good as your other units tho. But hey, free guard Adjutant!

 

[Dark Holy Elf]

Alois largely joins so late as to be outclassed by various other units you have raised, but he has some merits.

The good: I've mentioned before you only really need one really good offensive stat (str, mag, or spd) to be an effective unit in FE3H, and Alois has good strength. While 9+45% doesn't sound that impressive, getting 20 levels of Warrior growth helps, and his 24 base upon join is actually a bit ahead of Felix and Raphael (though Felix will surpass him in time, and Raphael will catch him) and behind only Edelgard, Dimitri, and Catherine. This allows Alois to swing a solid brave axe or punch things pretty hard. He also has excellent HP thanks to Warrior: a base of 47 puts him right up there among the very best. And dad jokes have their appeal, apparently, as Alois's 7+40% charm is also above average.

He has boons in axes, brawling, and armour, and has respectable skill ranks for his join time in those areas (so long as you don't have your heart set on a Brawl Crit) of A/B/C in those. These ranks funnel him towards one of two class lines: wyvern or grappler. While I would normally favour wyvern, Alois has another perk which might make you favour punching instead: his combat art One-Two Punch. This essentially gives him +8 damage at the cost of eating a counter, as long as he isn't doubling (and he doesn't double much). While this advantage is eventually eroded by the powerful Fierce Iron Fist, it's still a nice thing to have before he picks that up.

His personal is Rally Luck, and he also has Rally Strength. I'm not the world's biggest Rally fan, but that combination is certainly good enough to note due to its versatility.

The less good: Other than HP/str and charm to a lesser extent, the rest of Alois' stat build is unimpressive. His speed and res are both the absolute minimum values for an Advanced class (i.e. everyone else had them when they certified for Advanced classes in Chapter 9 or so), and 40%/20% growth are mediocre and bad, respectively. His base defence of 17 is also easily matched by anyone else who copies his skill build, since it's the same as the Fortress Knight minimum (though 40% growth means he'll eventually open a small lead on the likes of Felix or Petra).

But more significant are just the usual problems of joining late. Alois has good strength on paper, but he needs major backtracking to make good on it. Death Blow is a must, needing 50 actions in Brigand. A stat+2 (probably Str) and a positioning art would also be nice, an extra 30 actions. If you want to make him a Grappler, all of this delays his progress toward Fierce Iron Fist, which any other Grappler has already started on by now (another 75 actions). And if you'd rather make him a Wyvern, he needs to start building his E rank flying (a bane) and lances. While the Knowledge Gem can half the class exp numbers, it still means he'll be playing catchup for a while, being thoroughly outclassed by the likes of Raphael and Caspar until he does. And given that those two aren't exactly the best units, that's a problem.

Overall, Alois is a similar unit to Caspar, Dedue, or Raphael. While I've been convinced in the past that he's a bit better than Caspar (who has lower str and a worse talent list), I do think he's definitely worse than Raphael, who benefits from picking up multiple key skills ahead of Alois and roughly matches him in str/HP (leaving Alois's charm as his only advantage over the big guy). The comparison with Dedue is just dismal, of course. As such, there isn't much reason to use Alois unless you like him. Being between Caspar and Raphael means he gets a 3/10 (Maddening).

[L3xandr3]

6 hours ago, GaryGaryGary said:

Good Traits 

Comes to your house with great skill levels such as C+ in axes D+ in Brawling, and C in both Authority and Heavy Armor.

[GaryGaryGary]

4 hours ago, L3xandr3 said:

Well not a C+ in Axes, just a C. But that’s still pretty good. I consider it good.

Edited November 13, 2020 by GaryGaryGary

[Anathaco]

12 hours ago, GaryGaryGary said:

Comes to your house with great skill levels such as C+ in axes D+ in Brawling, and C in both Authority and Heavy Armor

Those are his initial skill levels, true, but those are reflective of what his bases would be if he joined in chapter 1. By the time he joins in chapter 11 they’ve grown to an A in axes and B in brawling. His Cs in Authority and Heavy Armour do stay the same, however.

[GaryGaryGary]

27 minutes ago, Anathaco said:

Those are his initial skill levels, true, but those are reflective of what his bases would be if he joined in chapter 1. By the time he joins in chapter 11 they’ve grown to an A in axes and B in brawling. His Cs in Authority and Heavy Armour do stay the same, however.

Wow I didn’t  know that! That is pretty cool! Which means that he to comes to you as a Warmaster basically.

No wonder why people were confused about what I said, thanks!

Edited November 13, 2020 by GaryGaryGary