Rate the Unit - Felix

[Archeleon]

No matter what class you choose for him he will very rarely get past 81 ish Mag and will average 54 Mag. I don't think it is worthwhile bothering with it.

When it comes to Lck he can get up to the 90s but will usually end up at 70s. If you are worried about Luna, it is only a 2 Def reduction difference.

You are better off focusing on his Str. His best options are below (These numbers are predictions based on growth rates):

Wyvern Lord = +36 Str, +18 Spd, +18 Def

War Master = +36 Str, +18 Dex, +24 Spd

Mortal Savant = +30 Str, +30 Mag, +18 Lck

(For comparison Holy Knight = +18 Str, +24 Mag, +12 Lck, +12 Def, +12 Res, +6 Cha.)

I personally prefer War Master for the boosts to Str, Dex and Spd. If you really want to improve magical damage and get more Lck, Mortal Savant is better than Holy Knight.

[Fabulously Olivier]

My general opinion is that Wyvern Lord is only the optimal leveling class for female physical damagers because they lack access to War Master's superior growth spread.

 

Wyvern Lord may be better than War Master for characters like Ferdinand if you're looking to build for the def conversion in Armored Cavalry's Wisdom and Armored Strike.

[Dark Holy Elf]

Ferdinand's someone I found... very average. Can't say I was impressed by his unique action at all, this is not a game where normal attack strings are that important, and a passive which buffs them AND needs to be manually recharged each time you switch... yeah, I don't vibe with it. As for his class line, Holy/Dark Knight are indeed great but Cavalier/Paladin are pretty whatever to me. On my first run he really failed to stand out at all, but in fairness this was my fault in not knowing what the good skills were (and he does get a lot of them!). On NG+ he hasn't really stood out because everyone feels OP now, and he doesn't really have anything that makes him extra OP, though he is solid.

I'd probably have kneejerked him to B originally but looking at how good the skills are I would adjust that to A tier.

(And yeah, I'm now halfway through NG+ maddening and S-ranking everything effortlessly despite not having anyone above Level 70 or any weapons past +40, so I'll re-iterate my stance that tiering NG+ at maximum power feels incredibly pointless.)

[Archeleon]

59 minutes ago, Dark Holy Elf said:

Ferdinand's someone I found... very average. Can't say I was impressed by his unique action at all, this is not a game where normal attack strings are that important, and a passive which buffs them AND needs to be manually recharged each time you switch... yeah, I don't vibe with it. As for his class line, Holy/Dark Knight are indeed great but Cavalier/Paladin are pretty whatever to me. On my first run he really failed to stand out at all, but in fairness this was my fault in not knowing what the good skills were (and he does get a lot of them!). On NG+ he hasn't really stood out because everyone feels OP now, and he doesn't really have anything that makes him extra OP, though he is solid.

I'd probably have kneejerked him to B originally but looking at how good the skills are I would adjust that to A tier.

(And yeah, I'm now halfway through NG+ maddening and S-ranking everything effortlessly despite not having anyone above Level 70 or any weapons past +40, so I'll re-iterate my stance that tiering NG+ at maximum power feels incredibly pointless.)

I'm in the camp that his UA is rather average. It is a good mobility boost and does get him very quick attacks speed. What is not often known about it is that it actually speeds up all his attacks, to include CAs. In theory this also lets him get to desirable strong attacks quicker than most if you manage to keep track of where in the string you are. It also interacts rather well with Consecutive Hits weapon attribute. Yes, he is the zoomiest of all, but that doesn't translate to power directly.

[Rleeg623]

Consecutive hits/speed up buffs are really only good for your first NG run I feel. Combat arts and spells are so overpowered comparatively speaking, that mashing out combos feels super inefficient. My first AG run Sylvian carried the run; subsequent runs had him resort to a bologagne/ragnarok bot. You could just run up to a base commander, use a spell, and then run out. Combo move sets just become a filler while waiting for a spell cooldown. 

Because of this, I personally just rank units on who can one shot the most consistently with the least investment. This usually results in units like Byleth and Yuri, etc… who gets impossible feat, lifeforce, dual onslaught, and decent growths, ranking high for me. While unfortunate, min/maxing doesn’t seem to yield much results compared to just playing who you like. Whoever can one shot the most consistently just becomes the most efficient. If they made cooldowns much longer on combat arts and spells, the conversation would be drastically different I feel.

[Glocksta]

Lurker with a new account here, just finished SB not long ago so giving this a try on Ferdie.

Spoiler

Availability - A

Full availability in one route.

Stats - A

Decent str and dex, good spd, as well as good lck to utilize Luna. Got crap mag unfortunately for using spells.

Skills - S

Really stacked in the damage department - Wild Abandon, Offensive Tactics, Life Force, Impossible Feat, and Luna.

The only unit with a hit-count based unique action that learns Concentration. Slaps Rejuvenation on top of it and you got a consistent way to self heal.

Essence of Fire and Fiendish Blow to boost the AOE and elemental effect of his fire combat arts/spells.

Burst of Valor and Dexterity Catalyst for filling his specials gauge, the former also has interesting synergy with Specials Master.

Absorb Speed is nice for reducing cooldowns on combat arts/spells as the battle drags on. He also got Mercenary's Wisdom to convert that to extra damage if you are running him as Mortal Savant.

Arts - A

He learns all the fire elemental combat arts naturally. Spells wise, besides Fire, the only other fire spell he learns is Bolganone, but he can learn Hades from Lysithea easily with A support, and he does learn Thoron naturally, which shreds stun gauges.

Assist - A

Trust, One Heart One Mind, Warrior Assist, and Rally Dexterity. I think this is the max number of adjutant passive skills you can learn as a male?

Preferred Class - S

Ferdinand is amazing as a Holy Knight. Its class action allows him to easily rack up hit count and trigger his unique action, and the class offering lots of way to heal allows him to gain back all the health loss due to Life Force/Impossible Feat. The class itself also offers satisfying attack combos and great mobility. 

Alternative Class - A

With his growth and unique action, he is probably good in any class that involves some kind of physical damage. Just listing some that I have tried so far:

• His unique action makes the two Axe classes much more satisfying to play, as normally their attack strings are a bit slow for my taste.
• He is also a pretty good War Master, either using Járngreipr's boosted healings to counter his self-damaging abilities, or try a riskier play style with Vajra-Mushti's weapon attribute with those abilities.
• Just don't main him as a Dark Bishop, I gave it a run on a few side maps and his damage output is yikes compare to the other options.

Crest - A

Crit on combat arts is pretty good, especially on the powerful ones like War Strike.

There are also three sacred weapons associated with this crest, which help a lot in countering the health loss from Life Force/Impossible Feat.

Unique Action - S

IMO one of the best unique actions in the game. It's pretty easy to trigger as long as you have some mooks nearby. Offering more movement speed is always appreciated. On the other hand, attack speed up also means you can dish out strong attacks faster, which breaks stun gauges faster (don't you just hate it when the stun gauge disappears when it just needs 1-2 more hits to break?)

As a side note, I think this Unique Action might be even better for someone that learns Piercing Gaze/Cry, just because it can help rack up hit counts much faster.

Unique Support - B

I won't say no for some free awakening gauge fills just for killing commanders.

Unique Tactical - B

Seize Defense, well at least it's a Seize unique tactical.

Bias - S

He is Ferdinand von good boi.

Overall Ranking - S

With great damage potential from his skill set, along with a good crest and a good unique action, I think it's hard for Ferdie to avoid an S rank here.

 

[Fabulously Olivier]

Felix is up.

 

Availability - A

Felix has perfect availability in one route.

Stats - A, maybe S

Felix has great Str and Spd, good HP and Dex, decent Lck and Mag, low durability. He's well rounded in all the right ways.

Skills - A, maybe S

Notable skills - Luna, Lifeforce, Impossible Feat, Essence of Lightning, Wild Abandon, Offensive Tactics, Wrath, Defiant Crit, Stalwart Stance, Armored Cavalry's Wisdom, Absorb Spd, Specials Master

Felix has many of the best standard damage skills, and also has all the tools for a high risk build. Ironically, he only pulls some of the worst skills from Mortal Savant and Trickster, which hurts quite a bit.

Arts - B

On the physical side, Felix is pretty well equipped. On the magical side, he's sorely lacking.

Assist - D, maybe C

Trust, One Heart One Mind, Warrior Assist.

Felix has a decent assist kit, but a worthless unique support skill.

Preferred Class - A

Felix is very solid as a Trickster or Mortal Savant with his stat spread. Albeit he may want to learn Bolting or even invest his item slots into Foudroyant Strike.

Alternative Class - A

Felix is exceptional as any physical class. He'll need to learn spells to be worth using in any magical class.

Crest - B

Felix is rocking a good (but not ideal) Crest for increasing physical damage, which also gives him a good shield and an okay sacred weapon (still probably better to use Sword of Seiros).

Unique Action - A

Felix's UA has similar potential to Ferdinand's, albeit it takes more conscious effort to use. You also lose some dps in dodging to maintain it.

Unique Support - D

His unique support is certainly better than Catherine's, but you're essentially trading durability and WTA for damage. Not a good passive.

Unique Tactical - A

Seize attack is good.

Bias - B

I like Felix and I like playing as him. Not a favorite though.

Overall Ranking - A

I think he's at least comparable to (but worse than) Catherine. One of the best characters at his preferred playstyle (traditional Warriors combos), but that playstyle is outclassed here. Probably belongs near the bottom of A tier or top of B.

Edited September 4, 2022 by Fabulously Olivier

[Glocksta]

Seems like the discussion has died down, but I will give it a try anyway, though I am only on AG Chapter 11 atm.

Spoiler

Availability - A

Full availability in one route.

Stats - A

Good str, dex, and spd. Servicable lck for utilizing Luna. Def and res are both on the lower ends, and he need some patching for mag to better utilizing spells.

Skills - A, maybe S

Again, really stacked in the damage department - Wild Abandon, Offensive Tactics, Life Force, Impossible Feat, Luna.

Stalwart Stance + Serene Stance for stagger immunity.

Nullify Magic is nice so that he doesn't get blasted by Ragnarok from mages.

Fiendish Blow + Essence of Lightning for boosting AOE and effects of lighting combat arts/spells.

Absorb Speed for reducing cooldowns on combat arts/spells overtime, and he has Mercenary's Wisdom to convert that to extra damage.

He is quite lacking in skills for increasing fill rates of Specials/Awakening gauge, only having some basic ones like Knight's Wisdom and Luck Catalyst.

Arts - A

He learns all the lighting elemental combat arts naturally, plus ShadowBlade is nice for quickly applying debuffs. 

Spells wise, Thoron is good for destroying stun gauges, but he is stuck at 0.4% hell for learning Bolting.

Assist - D

Trust, One Heart One Mind, and Warrior Assist. Nothing impressive.

Preferred Class - A

Sword classes are pretty good, and Felix does great in them. I mostly run him as a trickster and he moves absurdly fast for the combos and class action.

Alternative Class - A

Similar to Ferdinand, his growth and unique action will most likely makes him good in any physical class.

He will need some patching to mag and learn more spells if you want to run him as a mage, though Thoron can still carry a long way (but again, you can also use Thoron in several other classes...)

Crest - B

Damage boost on strong attacks are nice, but it's definitely worse than those that can buff damage/guarantee crit for combat arts/spells.

Aegis Shield can help patching up his defenses.

He can also benefit from the boosted healing from Sword of Moralta, but sacred weapons that only have Divine Glow as their attribute as not that useful IMO. Sword or Seiros can do the same thing but better, and Rejuvenation can also give consistent heals while allowing you to use weapons with better attributes.

Unique Action - A

At level 3, his UA is much easier to get to the max speed buff compare to Ferdinand's, just 3 dodges compared to 1000 hit.

On the other hand, it feels really hard to consistently pulling off long combo chain while trying to maintain the speed buff. For example I run him for some maps as a Great Knight while trying to get Luna, but it feels impossible to execute the C7 attack + Class Action without the timer expires.

Unique Support - B?

iirc I saw it from somewhere that at level 3, his Unique Support gives 30% increase to damage, so I guess you can try to utilize it instead of using Offensive Tactics if there are no weapon triangle disadvantage to cover for the map.

Unique Tactical - A

Seize Attack is nice.

Bias - B

I like his supports and moments that he has in Three Hopes, though I just like some of the other characters more.

Overall Ranking - A

I feel like he can be best summarized as "can easily wipe the field, just not as hard as those that are in S tier".