Do You Kill or Spare Shura?

[Magenta Fantasies]

I always spare Shura. I love Shura as a character (he’s one of my favorite characters in Fates,) and I think it’s a huge shame that he Scarlet, Izana and Reina have only two supports each. Shura is one of the very few characters in Fates with ties to both Nohr and Hoshido, and reasons to side with or against either. I find him fascinating, and it’s a shame he didn’t have more supports, even just a couple more. I would have given him supports with Azura, Izana and Niles.

I tend to like, to paraphrase Wreck-It Ralph, “bad guys who aren’t bad guys,” antagonists who underneath it all have some redeemable qualities and have sympathetic reasons behind their actions. For the same reason I’m also very fond of Minerva, Zelgius and Naesala.

Even from a more objective gameplay perspective, I would still never pass Shura up for Boots. He’s a good unit. From my experiences, he’s better than Nina, but not as good as Niles. Shura has high enough base stats that he’s immediately useful, and is indispensable in the ninja-filled chapter after you recruit him.

Unless you desperately need every unit fighting on a map and have no room for a backpack, it’s pointless to kill Shura. Boots only give +1 movement in Fates. While movement is by far the most important stat to have a boost in, there are other ways to get that same effect. If you want the extra point of movement, you can simply pair Shura with anyone. Adventurers grant an extra point of movement (not dependent on supports) and his reclass options Master Ninja and Bow Knight grant the same +1 movement bonus. You also gain a pair of Boots in Chapter 23.

Now if Boots granted +4 or even +2 movement like in some of the earlier games, I might be tempted to kill Shura in a playthrough or two. As much as I like him, the promise of Azura, Corrin, a Bow Knight, Xander or Camilla with 2-4 extra movement is extremely tempting.

[Jotari]

I've spared him every time I've played Conquest, but that's only because I didn't know that you got boots for killing him until some time last year. So any subsequent playthroughs of Conquest I might do will surely involve giving him the axe. I've used him plenty of times in previous playthroughs.

Edited May 8, 2023 by Jotari

[Parrhesia]

I needed a thief, and it sure as hell wasn't going to be Niles. Even if he didn't have 10 strength at the time.

[Imuabicus der Fertige]

He´s a free Mend staff and a Killer Bow, the latter pairs quite well with an Archer/Sniper Mozu which is my go to bow-user and boots woul just sit in the convoy.

And Shura is a reusable +4SPD/1MOV, so chew on that bootlickers. 

so 50/50, but there´s no option for that

4 hours ago, Magenta Fantasies said:

From my experiences, he’s better than Nina, but not as good as Niles.

That seems surprising - A 1/20 Adventurer Niles which is only coming around in chapter 16/17 has -6HP/-5STR/-6SKL/-2SPD and it takes Niles a bit to even equalize.

[Femboy Advance SP]

Really baffles me that IS refuses to give us another shura or sonya/deen type boss that we can choose to spare and recruit should we desire.    
Would make Kronya and Marni actually fun engaging characters instead of being cheap deaths for the sake of plot progression. 

[𝐍𝐲𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐥]

Kill him so he magically shapeshifts into a pair of boots

[Saint Rubenio]

He's basically my favorite character in the game, so uh, yeah. His introduction gimmick is excellent, his battle convo with Kotaro was pretty much the only time I wasn't laughing my butt off at Conquest's writing and while Corrinsexuality is of course detrimental, at least his one support is pretty good. That's more than a few of his peers can say.

Plus, I honestly feel there's kind of an argument to be made for him over the boots. Between the boat map and the ninja map, the game gives you two extra deployment slots, which at this point feel tailor-made for Xander and Shura. Everyone else is going to be either underleveled or Gunter. It's not as if you lose the move boost by picking Shura, either. As an adventurer, Shura grants 1 move on pair-up. So basically, you're trading away a permanent +1 move boost on a single unit for a temporary +1 move boost on any unit that might need it at any given situation. And of course, he's a unit on his own right, meaning he can also dish out some decent damage, take a hit, open stuff and apply the occasional debuff. All of this, with zero required investment. He beats the boots in versatility, if you ask me.

To be completely honest, I find Shura vs Generic Adventurer from the boat map on Lunatic to be a more interesting debate. The one generic with Seal Strength and Defense is arguably better at debuffing than Shura, has comparable stats and a better staff rank lol

Edited May 8, 2023 by Saint Rubenio

[Eltosian Kadath]

I do end up killing him more than I spare him, as by the time I reach him, I usually have a plan for who to use going forwards, and those Shura-skin boots are generally more useful than an extra unit wasting away on the bench.

[AnonymousSpeed]

Cool dudes spare Shura.

He has a whole support exploring the concept of national spirit.

Best unironic character in Fates.

[Jotari]

23 minutes ago, AnonymousSpeed said:

Cool dudes spare Shura.

He has a whole support exploring the concept of national spirit.

Best unironic character in Fates.

You're begging the question of who the best ironic character in Fates is there.

[Fire Emblem Fan]

Spare, always. I like Shura, I can't kill him.

[Dark Holy Elf]

Unit slots keep expanding in lategame Conquest, and you don't get many good units to fill them. Shura is one, and as mentioned he gives move on pairup anyway. Just from pure gameplay I'd probably favour him over Boots, but it's the other reasons that have me really siding towards spare.

[Shadow Mir]

I always spare him. He wants revenge, and I might as well help him get it. Many of the other reasons were already stated.

EDIT:

On 5/7/2023 at 9:26 PM, Magenta Fantasies said:

From my experiences, he’s better than Nina, but not as good as Niles.

Really now? Because I'd beg to differ on Niles being better.

Edited May 9, 2023 by Shadow Mir

[Magenta Fantasies]

 

On 5/8/2023 at 4:44 AM, Femboy Advance SP said:

Really baffles me that IS refuses to give us another shura or sonya/deen type boss that we can choose to spare and recruit should we desire.    
Would make Kronya and Marni actually fun engaging characters instead of being cheap deaths for the sake of plot progression. 

I always really liked the type of character who you can choose to recruit or not, and there are benefits to either choice. I wish Silas had been like that in Birthright.

 

On 5/8/2023 at 11:14 AM, Saint Rubenio said:

He's basically my favorite character in the game, so uh, yeah. His introduction gimmick is excellent, his battle convo with Kotaro was pretty much the only time I wasn't laughing my butt off at Conquest's writing and while Corrinsexuality is of course detrimental, at least his one support is pretty good. That's more than a few of his peers can say.

That’s my favorite boss conversation in the series. It’s worth sparing Shura just for this, and he’s massively useful in that map, too.

Which support are you referring to? I thought all three of them were great.

 

On 5/8/2023 at 3:22 AM, Imuabicus said:

That seems surprising - A 1/20 Adventurer Niles which is only coming around in chapter 16/17 has -6HP/-5STR/-6SKL/-2SPD and it takes Niles a bit to even equalize.

On 5/9/2023 at 3:18 AM, Shadow Mir said:

I always spare him. He wants revenge, and I might as well help him get it. Many of the other reasons were already stated.

EDIT:

Really now? Because I'd beg to differ on Niles being better.

I’ve had Niles turn out amazing as a Bow Knight. He’s consistently been one of my best units in Conquest and I don’t even like him as a character.

[Shadow Mir]

9 minutes ago, Magenta Fantasies said:

I’ve had Niles turn out amazing as a Bow Knight. He’s consistently been one of my best units in Conquest and I don’t even like him as a character.

Honestly, I've NEVER had a good Niles. Which is why I can't help but roll my eyes at everyone who swears up and down that he's amazing. Or those that think that he's gonna be an asset when I play Lunatic. Excellent speed only does so much when you have garbage stats almost everywhere else. 

[Alastor15243]

On 5/8/2023 at 6:40 PM, Jotari said:

You're begging the question of who the best ironic character in Fates is there.

Christ, that is some stiff competition, isn't it? So many characters are utterly hysterical for all the wrong reasons, but I think it's a big competition between Garon and Lilith.

Garon is just the most shamelessly generically evil despot Fire Emblem has ever seen, but Lilith spends just about every scene she's in doing something utterly, hysterically ridiculous that the game expects you to take seriously.

[Shadow Mir]

34 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

Garon is just the most shamelessly generically evil despot Fire Emblem has ever seen

I see this and raise you Desmond from Blazing Blade.

[Alastor15243]

Just now, Shadow Mir said:

I see this and raise you Desmond from Blazing Blade.

Desmond is infinitely more human. He's vile, but his anger and cruelty stem from far more believably human sources. He's consumed by bitterness over a messy political marriage and jealousy over the incredibly talented son it produced.

[Jotari]

And aside from being a bit too incompetent at killing his own heir, we never see Desmond do anything really tyrannical as a leader. He seems to be a decent king as far as general ruling is (unless he actually is horrible and we don't hear anything about it, and that's precisely why the public are so eager to see Zephiel on the throne).

[Acacia Sgt]

29 minutes ago, Jotari said:

And aside from being a bit too incompetent at killing his own heir, we never see Desmond do anything really tyrannical as a leader. He seems to be a decent king as far as general ruling is (unless he actually is horrible and we don't hear anything about it, and that's precisely why the public are so eager to see Zephiel on the throne).

I'd say it's not that he was bad. Zephiel was just that good, it made him come off as mediocre. Or at least, he seemed to think that was Zephiel's intention from the start.

[Jotari]

7 hours ago, Acacia Sgt said:

I'd say it's not that he was bad. Zephiel was just that good, it made him come off as mediocre. Or at least, he seemed to think that was Zephiel's intention from the start.

That's the impression I get to, but I'm just spit balling other possibilities.