Ranking each game by class: Pegasus/Falcoknights

[Zapp Branniglenn]

Quote

"It's just you and me - And My Sisters. Triangle Attack!"

You know the drill by now. Next we're looking at the Winged Warriors. That thing that first tips you off this is a Fire Emblem game in reveal trailers. Regarding the Archanea games, I would include Dracoknights. Even if the DS remakes added actual Falcoknights, it's really just a branched promotion. Here are the classes we looked at in the past:

• Myrmidons / Swordmasters
• Mercenaries / Heroes
• Thieves / Assassins
• Fighter / Warrior
• Brigand / Pirate / Berserkers
• Archers / Snipers
• Nomads / Bow Knights
• Armor Knights / Generals
• Cavaliers / Paladins
• Dancers / Refresh Units

And here are my personal rankings of games I've played since 2017

Spoiler

1. FE9 Marcia and Tanith are stellar units – and they conveniently support with each other in a Seth/Franz relationship. They just don’t have the same availability as those units. Marcia’s only real issue is that she needs Bonus EXP level ups to take off quickly in Hard Mode. Tanith’s unique Reinforce skill lets you set up additional targets to distract enemies that might target someone who’s vulnerable. I like to use it when my fliers break off from the main pack to target another section of the map.  Some extra firepower will let them stay out longer. She’s also the best user of that Sonic Sword she joins with for what little that’s worth.
2. FE2 Clair was always the queen of bad first impressions. But if you’re willing to baby her for 11 levels of exp, that promotion is game changing. Probably the biggest stat gains you would theoretically see from a promotion in Fire Emblem. The Whitewings, meanwhile are all better out the gate and easily worth the exp investment – even Est. It’s because Celica’s route has more rough terrain, monsters, magic attackers, and access to Physic to keep them from having to limp back for healing. Promoted Palla and Catria can (and honestly should, for your mental health) duo the entirety of Celica’s Act 4. Mostly because of their movement, but the Slayer skill is outrageous damage, starting at 45 and going up by 3 every strength level up after promotion. And the Falcoknight’s base stats are on par with Tier 3 classes as well. Not having a weakness to archers is another bonus. And they can fly over every wall in the game. Gaiden indoor maps just don’t have a ceiling I guess. The Triangle Attack can miss (and trust me, it will), but it procs on enemy phase, so your placement can be used to bait enemies in and deliberately feed kills to Est.
3. FE3 Book 2: Catria and Palla are both extremely good units that should be soaking up as much early game exp as you can feed them. Even FE3's dismount mechanics can't keep them down, as they will probably cap several stats with only minor help from shards. They're the best user of the Lady Sword which deals effective damage against the mid game barbarians. And their promotion items are way earlier than they were in Book 1. There's also the chapter 3 Iote's Shield (removed from the remake) that allows them to keep from dismounting near archers.
4. Three Houses: Pegasus Knight is the only flier class before level 20, and it's a big help for the ickiest pre-time skip paralogues with time sensitive objectives. Canto needs no explanation. The ability to Dismount and take advantage of terrain bonuses while also activating Alert Stance is extremely abusive and unique to this game. Darting Blow is an excellent mastery bonus on the Normal/Hard modes. Compared to Wyverns, Pegs benefit from an additional +10 avoid class bonus. Three Houses fliers have unique drawbacks, but nothing that keeps them from being extremely versatile units even on Maddening mode. 
5. FE11: Caeda traded her Silver Lance and sword access for the Wing Spear and what an upgrade. Forge its might by 5 or 6, and she should be good for the whole game on H5. No need to go so high on lower difficulties. Sure it's not the only forgeable effective weapon in the game, but it's whole new territory to be using her for her combat. Another huge boost in this version is promotion items not being class specific. The earliest she can promote is chapter 10 from 19. Promoting her that early isn't a bad idea either considering the generous stat gains and how you won't need to spend a warp recruiting Jake in chapter 11. Beyond Ceada, Minerva's much better in this version. I think they nerfed Est but who cares. Fliers can't use wyrmslayers anymore, but they can use the new Dragonpike in its place. Axe access is nicer than swords 9 times out of 10. Terrain bonuses have been nerfed in FE11, so fliers not being able to take advantage of them isn't as relevant. And finally reclassing allows for a more useful Jagen, on top of letting one of your other long term projects be in a more threatening class.
6. The Last Promise: The Pegs are not the absolute best combat units, but the fact that all of them are viable combat units in addition to Rescue utility helps them stand out against GBA era. Raising all three sisters can really pay off for the finale. The Triangle Attack is a big help for guaranteeing damage on 80-110 Avoid bosses at the end of the game. There are also two Delphi Shields to collect – the first is in chapter 14 before you even get her back. Plus a third one if you opt for the Sylmeria lance instead of recruiting Leopold. That's a lot of protection against enemy archers typically boasting 2-3 range rifle bows (It's FE7 rules, so bows are 2x effective in the first place). 
7. FE8 Vanessa not being able to slip into terrain or dodge the many brigands really slows her growth in those early maps. It’s rough raising her but your diligence will pay off. Tana’s in no better situation. Going out of your way to raise her is a bigger detour than Ross in my opinion. And then finally there’s Syrene which is just going too far. Wyvern Knight is the preferred promotion choice, as the added Con allows them to have higher AS and Avoid while still maintaining 11 Aid which is a sweetspot benchmark. I guess my hot take is that falcoknight is not too much worse? It has better promotion gains for the short term. The extra Con is not necessary for getting many doubles, and the Pierce skill rarely activates. You might also want falco knight for its higher Aid if your roster includes units like Garcia, non-Hero Ross, Gerik, Kyle, Great Knight Gilliam or any of your other cavs that promoted to Great Knight. Those guys are notoriously hard to carry, but choosing Falcoknight keeps that relationship active.
8. FE6 In my playthroughs of FE6, I’ve actually never witnessed Shanna leveling strength. Just a weird anecdote, I know her strength growth isn’t particularly close to 0. 6 Str Falcoknight Shanna can still contribute through Rescue alone. Getting a super strong unit to a defensible position is so much of FE6 that you don’t really need her or Thea to join in on the fighting afterward. They can even pick up some units Miledy can’t, like Percival. If they do end up as decent fighters, and you end up going down Ilia route, that triangle attack can allow for speedier boss kills. Triangle Attack can’t miss, so the Throne is no match for it.
9. FE7 Assuming no Lyn Mode, I won't spend exp training Florina, and instead wait to raise Fiora. I don't have a lot to say on FE7 fliers. I think the wyverns are both better than the sisters individually. Most of the toughest maps I can think of are indoors maps (even if they don't appear to be indoors, like Dragons Gate), but I do think raising them finally pays off in Chapters 27 and 30.
10. FE4: Erin and her daughter get a lot of mileage out of being a canto unit with Follow Up. The substitute character Femina is definitely one of the biggest downgrades in Gen 2. Especially since Adept is something you’d eventually get from promotion anyway. But I think the biggest issue with the Pegs in FE4 is just that they’re alone. You get no second flier to come with them on daring expeditions until Altena joins way later. And with no vulneraries they may have to limp back early to get into physic range. Chapters also have invisible walls that fliers can’t traverse through – preventing them from getting a pre-emptive headstart on objectives. With road tiles in play, Pegs won’t arrive to the fight quite as quickly as horses do. I also find FE4’s ballistae to be especially menacing, even if they’re not everywhere. 45+ damage against fliers is pretty non-negotiable without save scumming.
11. Echoes: The promotion was way nerfed. Now providing -6HP, -5 Str, and -2Def compared to the original. It’s the only physical class that had adjusted stats. And Banish is just a flat +10 damage bonus. You are not one shotting Mogalls with that. The Whitewings are still decent units, in a route that was tailor made for them, but they’re not S tier units. As for Clair, she doesn’t have this amazing performance in late game waiting for her if you put all that effort into her. I notice efficiency players get her Swap and then do that every turn to get better units into the fray
12. FE1 You can hand Ceada Jagen's Silver Lance and watch her one round pirates. Between Javelins and Kill Swords her combat is not bad so long as she's not taking on too many attackers at once (and she probably won't thanks to Marth's universal taunt). It's a pretty easy game so nothing she can do in a fight is all that unique past the first couple of maps. Most of my FE1 memories of her is intercepting a thief and then using her to shop - since managing items to and from the convoy is a multi-turn ordeal. Then I maxed all my flier's stats at the infinite stat booster shop.
13. FE3 Book 1 Fliers were hurt by just about every one of FE3's changes. You need 3 more AS to double enemies instead of 1. You need to dismount and lose stats just to use a Sword. In indoors maps you're just a 6 Mov mercenary. 10 range Ballistae exist now. The only buff ceada and the whitewings got is promotion bonuses, but you lose those whenever you're dismounted. Try having Minerva body block the reinforcements of her join chapter. She was fine in FE1, but she's dead in one turn in this game. Indoors maps make up most of the back half of Book 1, so investing exp into fliers doesn't pay off as well long term. Book 1 does invent the Iote's Shield, but there is only one remaining map (chapter 19) where it will see any use, because the remaining two are indoors.

If I put these into tiers #1-4 are S tier, 5-6 are A, and the rest are B tier. Even at their worst, fliers demand your consideration in Fire Emblem games.

Edit: Clarified some entries. Moved FE3 Book 2 from fourth to third place

 

Edited October 10, 2023 by Zapp Branniglenn

[Interdimensional Observer]

Hmm, I haven't contributed to one of these topics yet, and I'm not fully confident in my opinions. But, going off of rusty memories of the games I've played (and mind I've typing this a little tired.)...

Best Games:

• Path of Radiance
  • Marcia GOAT. Tanith excellent as well.
• FE3 Book 2-
  • Palla and Catria come early with excellent stats and growths. They can dismount at any time to use swords -including Wyrmslayers and the Lady Sword- and stop being weak to bows. While star shards allow anyone to have incredible stats, the shards can't fix movement and these two have plenty of that.
• Shadows of Valentia
  • Nerfed compared to original Gaiden, I don't think I even need to play original Gaiden to see that. Yet even so, Pegs are extremely useful for Celica given her terrain woes and more plentiful monsters opponents. Alm doesn't benefit from Pegs as much, owing to open terrain and more human enemies. Dread Fighters are probably the best units on Celica's side in general though.

Okay Days:

• Thracia 776-
  • My one playthrough of Thracia 776 had Karin do a lot of dodgetanking. Your first flier with a significant availability lead over the others, and you can always see about scrolls to try fixing Karin weaker stats. Dismounting as an option reduces her fear of ballistae, and I remember having her move in and then dismount a couple times very close to the ballistae she would then destroy. Misha on the other hand is a tricky, split-exclusive recruit who isn't great.
• Genealogy of the Holy War 
  • Your one Peg per Gen is all your only flier for most of Genealogy. I don't recall Erinys getting a chance to do much other than poke the Freege forces once to trigger the Velthomer flip. But Phee can be useful for getting some villages in Gen 2, and with the Brave Lance, and maybe a magic sword, Phee can be a good combat unit. She can even staffbot well with Claud as her father.
• Radiant Dawn
  • All four girls riding Pegasi suffer from Radiant Dawn's availability shenanigans. The addition of Crossbows and the removal of the bow weakness from the Dracos are other issues.
  • Marcia might not be bad, if much weaker than she used to be, but she simply doesn't have very much time to be used.
  • Tanith and Sigrun are similar to Marcia, but they might be able in international RD to rush to promotion for alright stats. They're sure to be helpful even as second-rate units in Micaiah's Part Four, given she gets stuck with an awful desert map and Naesala can't be everywhere at once.
  • Elincia is wonderful in RD between staffs, her infinite-use personal Brave Sword, and amazing growths compensating for bases a tad low for someone with only 19 levels to grow. But again- availability is stifling. 
• FE Book 1
  • The Pegasus Knights other than Caeda -who has damage-dealing issues- join late. They've use in the Khadein battle that immediately follows, but otherwise simply don't have time to shine. Similar to Radiant Dawn, but worse.

Awakening and Fates- These two games are pretty similar I would say.:

• Awakening gives the precious meta-skill Galeforce to Dark Flier ...but you can reclass out of DF as soon as you've obtained it.
  • Beyond that, I don't like fliers as combat units in Awakening. Open huge enemy-phase maps means bows and wind magic are too much of a concern.
  • The return of Staffs to Falco isn't game-changing, but it does tone down the negative of weak-ish combat.
  • Pegasi are not worthless however. They're great designated Pair Up backpacks. Have a Peg ferry on the first turn or two your grounded enemy phase-soloing units to wherever they want to be, and swap over to them, leaving your pegs safe and sound while the other unit rampages away. That is the ideal strategy if you haven't a full-Galeforce team able to player phase instead (which you won't without tonnes of grinding).
• In Fates...
  • You don't really have access to Pegs, other than Shigure or a Severa reclass, on Conquest. Wyverns are better, so no Pegs, no problem.
  • On Birthright and Revelation, Hinoka is a solid combat unit who can make Peg work as a fighting class. Subaki on the other hand is very lackluster. By itself however, Peg/Falco Knight is not a good class. It can still ferry/pair with units in the same fashion as it did in Awakening, but its combat abilities are rather mediocre.
  • If you have Ebon Wings, Leo does amazing as a Dark Flier, and it's nice for any other magical character or Saizo/Asugi (peak hybrid characters) too. It's a nice player phase combat class, if not a strong one.
  • Kinshi seems intended to be anti-flier flier between Air Superiority and bow use. Yet I've never had the chance to use exploit these strengths. Not a bad class if you want something more mobile than a Sniper, and Reina uses it well enough, but it's still not good.

GBA FE:

• Sacred Stones
  • Probably the most friendly to the idea of a combat Pegasus Knight on the higher difficulty. Tana has good growths, Vanessa is viable and has much more availability. Mogalls are enemy magical fliers, gives them something they're actually capable of and suited to killing.
• Blazing Blade
  • The Lyn Mode Robe & Ring are good on Florina, she can reasonably become combat unit on Hard. Fiora and Farina less so. (On Normal? Pfffff! Blazing is too easy!😆)
  • Yet, on Hard, despite GBA FE being very friendly to dodgetanking, getting a Peg to the point where they do that nonstop here isn't that easy. Fliers can't benefit from terrain, and they To fix the Peg squishiness issue with enough Avoid, the sisters need to Support each other, will take quite a while to do.
  • Heath joins a bit late, and is one of the most lackluster Wyvern Riders in FE (only Eda is probably worse), and Vaida joins very late. So the Ilia sisters don't have to fear being outshined by an obviously better combat flier.
• Binding Blade
  • Heavily outshined by cavs, infantry, and Melady as combat units, in the GBA game that happens to be the most difficult. Rescue-dropping units is the best thing Shanna and Thea can do. Juno has miserable stats, which is bizarre when Niime, Joder, and especially Dayan are so solid for late-joining prepromotes.

Three Houses I'm not very familiar with on a meta-gameplay level, so I won't comment on that. On Shadow Dragon and New Mystery, the Wing Spear complicates the prior, while the latter is complicated by Palla and Catria being able to use Peg only when they want to benefit from it, and can avoid it when it'd be a hindrance. Also, the Wyvern Knight promotion here matters more, another complication.

[Armchair General]

Honestly, they're basically useless in Shadows of Valentia, even with the terrain advantage and the extra damage against undead. But it's more of example of them filling an niche that doesn't necessarily needed an immediate answer. Might have something to do with being an remake of the second game if you really wanted to blame it on being unbalanced.

There were at their best in Awakening, solely because of Galeforce. But with that, Fates, and 3H; their more of filler/assassination unit than anything else.

[ping]

• PoR: Marcia is the best unit in the game on Hard, and maybe still the best on Maniac, although her low Str base becomes more relevant here. Tanith is quite good if you ignore her skill and excellent if you use it. I guess if you count Elincia, she's too underleveled to be truly good? I know she can be useful for Rescue shenanigans, but still.
• New Mystery: If it wasn't for Kris, Palla and Catria would be the best units in the game. Shiida isn't quite as good (nor as good as her previous incarnation), but still a pretty good pick.
• Gaiden: This is where I expect this game to go. I'm currently at the tail end of chapter 3, with none of the Pegasi promoted yet. But even up to this point, the Whitewings have been great on Celica's side, while Claire has been a glass cannon on Alm's. With the Falcoknight promotion being as good as it is, I expect all of them to be stellar during chapter 4.
• Shadow Dragon: Good lord, the Wing Spear is so broken. The Whitewings I don't think are that great in this one, but Shiida alone warrants a placement this high.
• BlaBla: Florina kinda wants Lyn Mode XP and stat boosters, but she's obviously great if she gets them. Fiora and Farina are both pretty good. Yes, the latter is rather underleveled for her joining time, but there's also has roughly 148 monks for her to kill, and her resulting stats are pretty nice.
• SacSto: I don't like using Vanessa all that much, because her combat at base is pretty shaky, but I know she's still very good. Tana is a classic good-with-investment unit, considering just how underleveled she joins, and Syrene is very mediocre when she joins.
• FE1: Sheeda is good early, when she can double with Jeigan's Silver Lance, then kinda bad when all the units that don't have 3 Str start doubling with Silver Lances (not to mention that Silver Swords become buyable eventually), then good again when she can finally promote late in the game. Even then, 9 Str isn't amazing that late in the game, but her overkill Spd and high Skl/Lck for crits are pretty good. I found the Whitewings (sans Catria, who's surprisingly mid) to be better than in Shadow Dragon - Palla for being about 160 XP away from promotion when she joins, and Est for having all-around good stats if you train her up (which isn't hard to do, even without the rubberband XP formula that every other game has).
• BinBla: Can't deny rescue utility considering its maps tend to be pretty big. Combat ability is kinda shaky for all of them, though - Shanna and Thea have shaky starts and require some babying, even though the latter becomes pretty competent on HM, while Juno is just an air taxi for ch.21.
• Radiant Dawn: Maybe I'm underrating them, but none of the Pegasi feel as useful in this game. Even Shanna has at least utility from almost the beginning of the game (and some pseudo-Jeigan role in the midgame, if you want her to), while Marcia, Tanith, and Sigrun all feel more like fillers that you don't really need to use. I guess if we count Elincia in this one, she is very good, all things considered, although with not a lot of availability.

[Whisky]

Pegasus Knights are one of those classes that are almost always good. Even if they aren’t great in combat, they’re probably great for their flier utility. With the advantage of flight, they need to be weaker than other classes to be balanced, the question is by how much, and in some cases, they don’t really seem any weaker.

The order could be switched around a bit, like I said they’re usually quite good in most FE games. The order isn’t as important as the write up, in my opinion.

Three Houses

I think Pegasus Knight is hands down the best Intermediate class in this game. Higher Move, flight, combat Cantó, and high Spd too while having no real weakness. You can even dismount if you need to remove your weakness to arrows for a turn. This is one of the examples of a flier class being just as strong if not stronger in combat as other classes and having the perks of flight (and Cantó).

The only issue is that there is no Advanced tier Pegasus/Falcon Knight since Falcon is Master tier. That’s one of the reasons I think Wyvern is better than Falcon, since you’re incentivized to switch to Wyvern Rider in Advanced tier anyway.

Falcon itself is generally not as good as Wyvern Lord but is still a great class. Being second best is still pretty good. There are male characters who wish they could be Falcon Knight which kind of shows how good the class is or at least can be. Most female units would prefer Wyvern but Falcon does shine for some units and is still great regardless. Again, high Move, flight, combat Cantó, and good stats being tied for the highest Spd in the game.

Flight is also really useful on a lot of maps throughout 3H.

Path of Radiance

The first game to have combat Cantó that I know of. I’ve always felt that the gap between mounted and infantry units was the highest in this game. They have Rescue/Dropping here too, and they’re pretty decent in combat. High Move, flight, combat Cantó, and Rescue/Dropping is an awful lot of advantages. Availability is but on the lower end though but I think they make up for it probably.

Radiant Dawn

Availability is really their main issue and just being less dominant in general but they’re still really good and have all the same advantages here. I’m not as familiar with Radiant Dawn but they seem good since they still have all same flying utility as in POR.

Engage

I’m going to count Gryphon Knights here. Chloe is really good as a Pegasus Knight and beyond. Gryphon Knight is a really good class. Flying and Staff utility? Yeah that’s great. I know they only have 1 extra move now and no Cantó or Rescue/Dropping, but I still find flight to be very useful in this game, especially combined with Staves, there’s some really cool things they can do. They have good stats too, making them just about as good in combat as non flying classes.

Binding Blade and Sacred Stones

I don’t really understand why FE6 is being rated lower to be honest, they seem about the same to me. A few people mentioned Yuno being weak but to be honest Syrene isn’t much better.

Anyway, flier utility is very useful in both of these games. Even if you mostly use them as sky ferries and keep them out of combat they’re still quite useful. High Move, Flight, and Rescue/Drop utility is always nice to have, and both of these games have several maps where this is very useful.

In combat they’re lacking a bit but I don’t find them too bad either.
Thany and Vanessa both have great availability giving them plenty of opportunity’s to gain experience and promote by the time you get the second Pegasus Knight. They’re able to contribute in combat just fine from my experience, just don’t expect them to be one of your strongest units.

Both games have a potentially better but under leveled  Pegasus Knight join roughly half way through the game. Again I think the flier utility alone makes these units worthwhile and if you train them up a bit they’re decent in combat too. It’s commonly said that FE6 has very few promotion items but Elysian Whips are an exception. You can get enough of them to promote Thany, Tate, and Miledy, and I find this worth it to do. You can have all three promoted just in time for the dreaded desert chapter which they’re very useful for.

yeah I don’t really know why people don’t like them as much as I do. They’re great.

Finally both games have a pre-promote Falcon Knight join late in the game with disappointing stats but can still contribute a bit as sky ferries. They’re in pretty much the same boat I feel.

Blazing Sword

Maybe I just need to figure out the right strategies, but flier utility just doesn’t feel as useful to me in this game. They have worse availability too, you don’t get an early joining Pegasus Knight in this game, and if you skip LM then both Florina and Fiora are pretty under leveled. With LM Florina can be really good and it doesn’t take too much work to get Fiora going, and Farina is pretty decent with minimal investment too. They’re still good don’t get me wrong, like I said, I just don’t think there are as many maps for flier utility to shine in the game compared to the above.

Shadow Dragon

That have a minimal amount of utility in this game. There is no Rescue/Dropping here, nor any Cantó. Still high move and flight is always nice to have and they’re good in combat. Draco Knight has pretty good stats and has access to RidersBanes. Like I said before, Pegasus Knights are pretty much always good.

-

I don’t think I’m familiar enough with Echoes’ meta to comment on that. I’ve heard that Clair isn’t very good. I would think she’d still be decent with her higher Move and flight, but maybe not. I don’t know how many maps there are where this is particularly useful in this game.

Edited October 6, 2023 by Whisky

[Eltosian Kadath]

 

Time for another one of my tier lists to show my opinions on it. Admittedly, with how full the A tier is this time, I am tempted to split them into two tier, but I am trying to keep things vaguely comparable to my other class tier lists.

S Tier: One of the Best Classes in the Game

Path of Radiance: Each of the Pegasi have a lot going for them to get the class into this tier, starting with Marcia, the clear best unit in the game, followed by Tanith who gets the interesting Reinforce skill, which noticeably scales with difficulty, to make her more relevant on higher difficulties, and while there are a lot of risks to using Elincia, she has a lot of unique utility as the only flying staffer, and with her personal brave weapon, although she needs some extra investment to really shine (whether that is some early Bexp levels, or the Arms Scrolls to use the Sonic Sword immediately, which is fantastic on her). That is all before mentioning how incredibly powerful Canto is in this game.

Shadow Dragon: Great weapon ranks for the effective forges that break the game, the best possible mobility thanks to flight in a game with very rigid mobility, and of course the ease of just keeping the busted Wingspear in this class, makes this a clear S tier option.

Awakening: Including the Dark Flier in this class line, means it is one of the classes that gives you what you need to break this game wide open, which makes it a clear S-tier for me.

 

A Tier: A Good Class

New Mystery of the Emblem: I am very tempted to make this S rank, but deciding to put this in A tier is a clear sign that I don't think any of the New Mystery classes are dominate enough to reach S rank, as this is certainly the class that comes closest. For a significant portion of the game this is the best class you can be in, but it doesn't have the right caps for the last stretch of the game, and as you approach that late stage, you end up having to transition away from it. In fact the DracoKnight has the lowest Speed Cap of any promoted class, and this is a game where that really matters. This isn't a game where being a Pegasus/Wyvern gives you some great skill for the future, or is one of the classes with stellar growth rates, its just a great to be in for a significant portion of the game.

Radiant Dawn:  I really want to put this higher (and am probably still overrating them), as the time I brought all four pegs to the tower and setup a comically large number of triangle attacks per turn was the most fun I ever had with Radiant Dawn, but the only chapters that strat really worked on E-1 and maybe E-2 (and I should note that only the Ike side of E-2 actually matters), and there is a big weakness of this class that I can't ignore. Even in the weird availability of Radiant Dawn, the Pegasi have some of the most restrictive availability of any class. If the Pegasi even got close to the availability of the Wyverns it might have gotten itself to the S tier, but at this rate, I am waffling between A and B tier despite it having so much going for it in this game.

Sacred Stones: This might be a bit controversial to see this miss the S tier, but I do find that the combat stats of the pegasi are just that much worse than cavalry in this game. Still a very good class, but I find they need more babying than I think a class would need for S tier.

Blazing Sword: I almost put this class in S tier, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that they were far more similar to the quality of Sacred Stones than the S tiers they were surrounded by. I do think they fare better than in Sacred Stone, but not by all that much.

Thracia 776: Just like with Cavs I am very tempted to put this in the B tier due to the dismounting mechanics, but seeing as I put Cav in A, I can't put Pegasi below them. Don't get me wrong, the pegasi have significantly worse combat than the cavs, but flight gives them far better utility, and utility is almost universally better in Thracia than combat.

Engage: Flight is rather nice to have in Engage. The only universal base class with flight is a pagasi, it gets solid combat, and when it promotes to Griffon, it gets some rather useful staff utility. Its a good class, but as is often the case, it can get a bit overshadowed by the Wyverns, although the usefulness of staff still give it a reason to be chosen over Wyvern in some instances.

Fates:  Personally I find them to be a class that gets better skills than it is to necessarily use (due to their mediocre stat line), and I tend to give my Corrin this as their personal class on Conquest to pick up some of those skills up on people in the mid to late game (switching to a flying class for Fuga's wild ride and the staircase of doom, where flying utility is at a premium). Darting Blow is great for any player phase unit (although tends to be overkill for the Pegasus stat line itself), and Speed Rally is an amazing utility skill to get (and the most difficult rally to get in Conquest thanks to Izana coming with the other Birthright rallies for free), while going the Kinshi route gets easy access to the Air Superiority skill, which I like to have to make the Hinoka chapter more manageable on Lunatic. The Kinshi class line is probably the best option to stick with if you actually intend to stay in this class due to the power of bows in this game, and even without the skill utility, it would at least reach B tier from its combat capabilities in the other routes.

Three Houses: The intermediate class is probably the best to actually be in. That is somewhat undercut by the gender restriction, and how aggressively the line gets overshadowed by the Wyvern line at any class level above that. I keep trying to talk myself into putting this in B tier, but it is just way too good in the early game to mid-game.

 

B Tier: An OK Class

Echoes, Shadows of Valentia: Your Fliers are really good on Celica's side of things. Being able to ignore awful terrain, bonus damage on monsters after promotion (admittedly it is a far later promotion than I would like, because Gaiden hated female classes...). If there wasn't an Alm side to emphasize the weaknesses of this class, I might have even put it in A tier, although given how much more pronounced their bow weakness is in this game, where more enemies have actual bows, I doubt it would have made it anyway.

Genealogy of the Holy War:  Having Canto is good enough to make it at least one tier above every non-dancer infantry class in the game, but oddly enough, this is one of the few games where fliers have a noticeable mobility disadvantage over their horse mounted competition, as they can't take advantage of the ubiquitous roads, and thus can easily fall behind the ponies. Their stats also tend to be in the middle of the cav range, but they get some staff utility on promotion to try to make up for that.

Binding Blade: The worse combat of Pegasi is even more pronounced in this game, than the other GBA games, due to higher enemy quality, to the point that I think they deserve a lower tier. The utility of flight is enough to keep the from going any lower than this (in all likelihood that is true for every game). I do also think a lot of people over use them due to the common fear of Sacae, and thus see them in a better light than they deserve thanks to that intentional grinding.

 

C Tier:  A Subpar Class

 

D Tier: A Bad Class

 

[samthedigital]

I don't know that this has been mentioned yet, but in Sacred Stones Tana and Vanessa are considered better on Eirika route because they help out immediately on her chapters even if we have to go out of our way to grab the Elysian Whip. On the other hand on Ephraim route Cormag comes exactly when we need a combat flier with an Elysian Whip, and there isn't as much need for a second one.

[Jotari]

Haven't read everyone else's opinion yet, so I'm going to give my blind perspective. Pegasus knights are really well designed units. They're good without being great, unlike they're wyvern counter parts which sometimes run the risk of just being too good. They also have a pretty unique niche in being physical units with high res. That being said, they're units that you really have to know how to use. They're fast, but fragile. You have to make sure you don't get them killed while maximizing they're benefits. In a way, the better you are at Fire Emblem the better they become.

Their worst outing is no doubt the GBA games where the con system really fucks then over, taking away their speed which is meant to be their niche. Swords really should be the main pegasus weapon. But even in their worst outing, they're going to be units you can make use of if you deploy them. Terrain ignoring rescue canto alone is a pretty useful utility to have.

Their best outing would be a toss up between NES Shadow Dragon, where they promote which gives ridiculous stat boosts to any class that can. Shadow Dragon DS nerfs them a bit in exchange for Shiida being an absolute beast thanks to her prf and enemy composition. Calla and Patria are also really good in the following game, though that might more be the units. I've never really had the desire to class change my whole army into pegasus knights. In Old Mystery hey have the benefit of Iote's Shield coming really early, but forced demote inside isn't fun (though there's only like four or five chapters where that's actually a thing).

The other contenders are Genealogy because staff pegasus knights are awesome, especially in a game where staff abuse gives so much exp. Course you have to get them to promotion level first.

Their last best outing is probably Awakening, because Gale Force. Though, it does come pretty late and by the time you get it you probably won't want to stay in Dark Flier, so it's a bit middle as to how the worth of that skill should be attributed to Pegasus Knights themselves (also Awakening Falcon knights have staves again which is still cool).

Edited October 7, 2023 by Jotari

[Dark Holy Elf]

Path of Radiance: A lot of class features conspire to make them really good. Bow weakness is only 2x in this game, and the wind weakness might as well not exist given the low might of such tomes. There's a lot of terrain for fliers to ignore, but very little that grants much evade (never more than 10?). Combat canter rules, of course. But on top of that, both fliers have great stats: high speed and nothing else bad, and lances are a solid weapon in this game. I don't think Marcia is the best unit in the game but there's a case for it, and Tanith is real great too.

Shadow Dragon/New Mystery: I normally abstain on these games because I haven't played either in close to a decade. Still, in my four playthroughs of the games I consistently found Pegasus Knight to be one of the greatest classes, and was basically always at or near the reclass limit for them. Particularly in New Mystery, it felt like there was a lot of maps which rewarded them. And of course one of them wields the Wing Spear.

Blazing Blade: Florina might be the best unit in the game not named Marcus, and Fiora is certainly very solid too. They have good combat, good supports, and obviously the mobility rules; lots of maps where it helps. Only 2x bow weakness is also very nice; they can fly off on their own and tank their weakness pretty easily.

Sacred Stones: Vanessa might be the best unit in the game not named Seth, and Tana is certainly very solid too. They have good combat, good supports, and obviously the mobility rules; lots of map where it helps. 3x bow weakness, though, and Syrene is fairly dire although I'm not inclined to count that too strongly. Wyvern Knight is a better promotion than Pegasus which helps the units a bit, but I dunno if I feel like giving Pegasus Knight credit for that!

Three Houses: Odd case. Pegasus Knight is bonkers, Falcon Knight is good in theory but outclassed in practice. As others have mentioned, Pegasus Knight is the best intermediate class and I don't think it's that close. One of two classes with 6+ move, good speed, avoid+10, canter, dismount to basically negate any weaknesses the class might have. On top of that it gives a great mastery skill, dodging a problem which Cavalier has. The class is so good it has a niche in Advanced tier (Wyvern doesn't get Avo+10), but... it's not a great option then outside one particular hyper-specialized build. Falcon Knight is mostly inferior to Wyvern Lord for a few reasons, though (one of which is that many pegasi like to go Wyvern Rider so they get axe training anyway). The other weakness the class has is its limited battalions; in particular you only have one until Chapter 8 so you can't just spam the class without drawbacks until then.

Genealogy: Flight is good but they are a bit shaky on stats. Fee can have a pretty kill skillset and they do make good use of various weapons.

Fates: Pegasus Knights are solid but well-enough balanced here, their stats are clearly worse than Spear Master for instance. They have good skills and sometimes the mobility is real good. Staves are also neat.

Awakening: Similar to the above, but a bit worse. The pegasus knights have solid combat but the combination of ambush spawns with stupidly overforged weapons mean they run the risk of being one-shotted later. They have good skills and sometimes the mobility is real good.

Radiant Dawn: The pegasus knights are still good but they all have availability woes, none of them have super stats, and the crossbow weakness is pretty nasty. On the other hand they do have canto. The availability alone makes this one of their weaker outings, but they're still useful!

Binding Blade: Compared to the other GBA games the combat is pretty clearly weaker; Shanna is decent but the strength is shaky and Thea's stats are quite dire in NM, though competent in HM; lances are also weaker in that game. 3x bow weakness too. They're still very useful, but this is definitely one of their weaker outings.

[lenticular]

I'm a little surprised that people are so consistently putting Path of Radiance as their number one choice. Which isn't to say that I don't think that Pegasus Knights are excellent there, because they clearly are. But they're excellent in a way that mostly feels fair. If I were tasked with making a balance patch for PoR, I wouldn't immediately be thinking that I had to nerf the Pegasus class line because they broke the game. Which I absolutely am doing in otyher games. For Three Houses, Falcon Knights are the second thing I'd nerf, immediatly after Wyvern Lords. I'm not super familiar with Shadow Dragon (DS) but from my memory of it, the Wing Spear is right up there on the list of things that need to be nerfed. And then there's Awakening, and while I'm not sure if Dark Flier should count for this thread, but if it does count then it (well, Galeforce) is absolutely a prime candidate for a severe nerf. Marcia and Tanith are both great units, but I don't think either of them are egregiously above the overall power curve of their game.

[Shadow Mir]

7 hours ago, lenticular said:

I'm a little surprised that people are so consistently putting Path of Radiance as their number one choice. Which isn't to say that I don't think that Pegasus Knights are excellent there, because they clearly are. But they're excellent in a way that mostly feels fair. If I were tasked with making a balance patch for PoR, I wouldn't immediately be thinking that I had to nerf the Pegasus class line because they broke the game. Which I absolutely am doing in otyher games. For Three Houses, Falcon Knights are the second thing I'd nerf, immediatly after Wyvern Lords. I'm not super familiar with Shadow Dragon (DS) but from my memory of it, the Wing Spear is right up there on the list of things that need to be nerfed. And then there's Awakening, and while I'm not sure if Dark Flier should count for this thread, but if it does count then it (well, Galeforce) is absolutely a prime candidate for a severe nerf. Marcia and Tanith are both great units, but I don't think either of them are egregiously above the overall power curve of their game.

Prolly because of 2x effectiveness. Anyway, which games do you think they're better in?

On Galeforce: imho, it isn't that great from a purely ingame perspective. Having an extra turn is nice, but it is likely coming very late in the game.

Edited October 7, 2023 by Shadow Mir

[samthedigital]

1 hour ago, Shadow Mir said:

but it is likely coming very late in the game

It depends on difficulty and the amount of juggernauting we're doing. Robin can go Tactician>Merc>Hero>Dark Flier and reach it by chapter 13 on Lunatic. It's not strictly the most efficient (in terms of experience) way to get there, but it's easier for her to juggernaut. It's probably possible to get Sumia there in time for Lucina too, but I haven't experimented with that yet; I got her there by chapter 15 or so if I remember correctly because I was getting as much experience as possible on Robin. If you're playing on a lower difficulty or spreading experience between a lot of units then it's going to take a lot longer with less experience available naturally.

[Wuzzy]

S - Tier

FE9 - Marcia needs the investment through a huge BEXP dump but, she does pay it forward by being a top tier unit. She's able to comfortably deal with side objectives and she also thrives in chapters like 11-15, all of 17, 19, 20, etc. due to her flight and combat when invested. I know people generally will always talk about Marcia not gaining STR compared to Jill which means her combat is typically regarded as worse but, Marcia and Jill have the exact same STR growth, Jill just has access to Axes upon promotion for better combat. Even then, FE9 has low enemy quality so Marcia still thrives for majority of the game by just throwing Javelins (and is probably the best recipient of the Adept Scroll with her Skill cap and growth). Tanith is also very solid with her base Mag stat allowing her to use the Sonic Sword and Flame Lance with success, Reinforce is also a very good skill due to the Falcon Knight reinforcement being quite the juggernaut herself. Both characters also benefit from flight + rescue combo, super canto, and higher move overall.

FE11 - I will be counting Dracoknights in the game since it is the natural promotion of Pegasus Knights. Caeda alone makes Pegasus Knight good because of the Wing Spear and how amazing effective weaponry is in the game. Dracoknights have access to the Ridersbane and Dragonpike is also a huge boon for the same reasons as the Wing Spear while also having the flight to traverse maps with a lot of annoying terrain like mountains and water so it's still a really solid reclass option for the likes of Jagen, Hardin, and honestly Wendell (but for different reasons). Minerva is not as dominant as Caeda but she still has good bases and access to Hautecleure, Hammer and Poleaxe at base. The Whitewings are pretty underwhelming, Palla has pretty decent bases and weapon ranks to use the Ridersbane and Dragonpike but joins sort of late, Catria is overrated (not sure where how people feel about Catria now but back in the day I generally saw Palla and Catria ranked side by side on tier lists) as she has noticeably lower weapon ranks and bases while also joining sort of late, and Est is well Est (though she is salvagable because she joins with the Ridersbane on a Cavalier-filled map so there is potential to train her up if you want to use her). 

 

A - Tier

FE12 - Unlike FE11, I will not be counting Dracoknights in the game since Falcon Knights are available without the use of online services. Pegasus Knights are still a really good class at base for the same reason as FE11 Pegasus Knights (except now we add Forest tiles to the list of annoying terrain) and all the base Pegasus Knights bar 1 are all top tier units. While Dracoknights are generally better in the mid game - early late game for better STR, Falcon Knights are still a solid promotion choice for characters like Cecil, Athena, and Malice since they'll have access to the Lady Sword, flight and potential access to the Ridersbane/Dragonpike with some grinding. 

FE17 - I will be counting Griffon Knights as the equivalent of Falcon Knights, they fundamentally are the same class. Staff utility alone carries the class since being able to use Obstruct, Physic and Rewarp at base (with a Staff proficiency on the likes of Pandreo and Lindon they will add Rescue, Recover and Warp to the list) is amazing. Chloe is also one of the better candidates to feed early on due to how well she scales; I will say that Wyvern Chloe is a huge trap since the extra STR doesn't let her reach any relevant benchmarks compared to Griffon. In addition, Griffon let's Chloe scale as a solid Magic unit due to it's higher class Magic growth in combination with Chloe's high base Magic growth and since Magic combat is better than Physical combat, Griffon Chloe will ultimately do more with the Levin Sword alongside Staff utility.

FE6 - Honestly I think the whole bad combat argument is overblown, specifically in regards to Shanna. On HM, there's very few units that can reliably 1RKO without effective weaponry or critical hits in play due to HM enemies having much high HP. Even then I'd still say Shanna's early combat is still better than the likes of Alance and the axe bros mainly because she doubles (5x2 is still more than the 7/9 Alance do, and all 3 get 2-rounded by Axe Fighters so using bulk isn't an excuse with average stats in mind) with better reliability than the axe bros so she's a better candidate for EXP regardless of whether you want to go to Ilia or Sacae. Shanna doubling consistently also results in her Lance rank going up faster which means she's able to be able to use better weapons (yes her Con is low but her Speed is going to be so high that it tends to cancel out the weapon weight outside of Steel Lances which are not good due to low hit, just stick to Iron Lances). Shanna definitely wants an early promotion due to access to Swords which makes her very good for the Shadow Isles, and her mid game combat will be fine with Silver / Killer Lances and the Armorslayer if she reaches D-Swords. Tate is also pretty serviceable on HM (she's really mediocre in NM because her base Speed is so low) due to having similar stats to a promoted Shanna but she obviously joins much later.

I think the biggest mistake when it comes to talking about Pegasus Knights in FE6 is the immediate comparison to Milady, every unit (bar like Percival) will look subpar if you compare them to her so it's not exactly a fair comparison since she is the best unit in the game. Anyways with all that out of the way, flight alone makes the class really solid, especially early on like in Chapter 2 or 8x and I find the concerns of their bad combat to be overblown when most units in the game won't be able to reliably 1RKO regardless. 

FE8 - Same thing as FE7 where flying utility is very good (I wrote FE7's paragraph first but decided to rank FE8 higher) and they have canto however, FE8's enemy quality is much lower than FE7 so Vanessa gets away with lower STR (the extra Con from Wyvern Knight also enables her to use heavier lances and access to Pierce) and Syrene is a lot more salvageable despite joining late with mediocre bases. Tana joins later but has good offensive growths and requires babying but, she's still worth using long term. 

FE7 - Fliers are still good because of rescue dropping and normal canto. Lyn-mode Florina is very good and is one of the best candidates for Lyn-mode EXP but, I think HHM Florina is regulated to filler flying ferry (which is still a good role to have). Fiora is much better if you skipped Lyn-mode since she's at a higher level and she can grind up very easily in the next chapter against the mage reinforcements or the mages silenced by Kishuna. Farina does have a cost but, I find money not a problem in HHM and there's many monks she can take out for EXP.

FE14 - Flight utility is useful in all 3 routes because of Fates' obsession with terrain gimmicks (open oceans, lakes, chasms, mountains, forests, caltrops, etc.) so even if your Falcon Knights don't turn out great, they'll always be relevant because of their ability to fly over terrain along with being able to use Rescue at base and Rally Speed. Falcon Knight also gives very good pair up bonuses which is more relevant in Conquest/Revelations Unit due to the Nohrian cast usually benefitting more from the pair ups than the Hoshidan cast. Unit wise, I think Hinoka is pretty overhated as she's typically regarded as the worst royal (gameplay wise, and I can think of 2 others that rank below her); Birthright has very low enemy quality until the last couple of chapters and she's also tankier than Subaki (same base defense, higher HP, and higher Lance rank that lets her use the Guard Naginata at base). Reina is fantastic in both routes she's availabel in, Subaki is alright, I usually relegate him to Rally Speed duties or ferry duties if I do use him but he's still useful as filler for the early game of Revelations since he's your only flier, and Shigure/Caeldori are pretty solid child units overall. 

FE13 - Pegasus Knight line gets some of the best skills in the game, between Galeforce, Lancefaire, and both Rally Move and Speed. Even if any of your Pegasus Knights don't turn out up to par, they still have really good utility through amazing pair ups and top tier Rally skills. With that said, unit wise Sumia and Cordelia are both really good overall and can get Galeforce around Chapter 15 (this assumes an early promotion at Level 10 and Lunatic mode for more promoted enemies for extra EXP), while Cynthia is one of the better child units because she can potentially inherit Galeforce as a result. I think a Pegasus Knight reclass is a bit overrated, it means trying to funnel exp into otherwise subpar combat units (Maribelle and Olivia) to quickly get Galeforce on them or the child units that can get Pegasus Knight through reclass (Kjelle/Nah/Noire with Robin/Gaius/Donnel as the father) won't get Galeforce at a reasonable time.

FE5 - I know the bad combat thing got brought up again however, I also don't think it's as big of a deal in this game either. Scrolls exist in this game and the bonuses stack in addition to enemies from the early-mid game not being too threatening either. Both Karin and Misha have access to canto outdoors, rescue and flier utility (nice in chapters like 9 and 10) so they are still always going to be relevant even when uninvested. Their dismounted combat doesn't effect them too much honestly, Karin has a higher Sword rank and she's forced to use Swords for the majority of Manster so if properly utilized then she could potentially hit B Swords to use the Flame Sword (Karin's base Magic is higher than her Str) and/or C Swords to use the Rapier, Misha also has A Swords at base so she's able to use any Sword she wants. 

 

B - Tier

FE15 -  Honestly a borderline performance between A/B tier but ultimately went with B. I think it's a decent class overall, especially on Celica's route due to the swamps, deserts, and mountain maps but I agree with the notion that Clair and Est's poor performance drags them down to A- territory. I think Palla is a wee-bit overrated, especially the old super Palla builds that require backtracking to fountains (which means monster encounters) and to also get her to promotion level ASAP but, she's still very good; Catria is also very solid but not as good as Palla due to lower bases and level.

FE16 - Pegasus Knight is a really solid class but suffers from not having a smooth class path towards Falconknight and also Falconknight generally being outclassed by Wyvern Lord while also having the same issues (aka flying battalions being limited), being genderlocked when certain male-characters would really prefer Falcoknight over Wyvern (Sylvain/Dimitri/Ferdinand) and being statistically very similar. Pegasus Knights provide Flight early on which enables some easy 1-turns (Lorenz paralogue for example) and a really good class skill through Darting Blow. Falconknight is outclassed but, it's still an easier class to get into compared to Wyvern for certain characters like Ingrid, Catherine, Bylass and maybe Bernie so it does have its uses. Dismount also alleviates their weakness to bows and the fact that they can dismount/remount any time and still retain the class's high move is a very huge benefit.

FE10 - All the available Pegs are really solid combat wise (well Marcia has a rather shaky start) but they are here mainly because all of them have wonky availability. However all of them have their benefits, Elincia has staff utility and solid combat outside of 2-P, Marcia can help prevent fires and potential arson in Part 3, while Sigrun and Tanith have solid combat (Sigrun may have wonky growths but she has good bases and joins in a chapter that gives a free Master Crown, her combat is prefectly fine) with Sigrun being forced deployed in all of her remaining Part 3 and 4 maps is also a huge benefit. Triangle Attack seems gimmicky but, it's a pretty reliable way to take down Auroras in the tower.

 

C - Tier

FE4 - Erin unfortunately joins too late in her join chapter to be useful (would've been nice if she joined during Sylvia/Lewyn vs. Brigands) and doesn't really do much until the finale of Gen 1 where she's the only character that can reliably take down Vaha's Meteor Mages stationed on top of the cliffs. Fee/Hermina are better (moreso Fee since she can potentially inherit good weapons like the Brave Lance) but, they are still really just there to save the villages and to help out Leif/Nanna/Finn in Chapter 7. I'll admit I could be underrating Fee/Hermina but, I personally don't think they contribute as much. Also fliers don't benefit from roads so their movement ends up being slower than the horses.

Edited October 7, 2023 by Wuzzy

[Shadow Mir]

On 10/7/2023 at 1:06 PM, samthedigital said:

It depends on difficulty and the amount of juggernauting we're doing. Robin can go Tactician>Merc>Hero>Dark Flier and reach it by chapter 13 on Lunatic. It's not strictly the most efficient (in terms of experience) way to get there, but it's easier for her to juggernaut. It's probably possible to get Sumia there in time for Lucina too, but I haven't experimented with that yet; I got her there by chapter 15 or so if I remember correctly because I was getting as much experience as possible on Robin. If you're playing on a lower difficulty or spreading experience between a lot of units then it's going to take a lot longer with less experience available naturally.

Well, you're right. Frankly, though, I don't talk about Lunatic in Awakening. Mostly because almost the entire cast ends up being nigh useless. And that's a sure sign they went way too far. There is a very thin line between challenge and frustration, and that is a running leap over that line.

That aside...

B tier in Blazing Blade. All three are great units, though Florina needs Lyn mode to stand out, as her bases without it are pretty bad (that can be said of most Lyn mode characters). The effective bonus being lowered to only double helps their case. If you ever play HHM, they're a great investment because what is arguably the hardest map in the game is full of mages.

B tier in Sacred Stones. Tana and Vanessa are great, but they need to beware of bows, as they can easily be one-shot by archers.

A tier in Path of Radiance. This is mostly because of Marcia, honestly, as Tanith has underwhelming stats for her high level. Also, the effective bonus went down to double again, which makes wind magic laughable against them due to its low might.

B tier in SoV. All of them are good at worst, though I'm of the mind Palla is overrated in this game; she's prone to miss doubles her sisters can get, as well as get doubled when her sisters wouldn't. 

C tier in Holy War. Long story short, whilst they are in a better position than infantry, they have trouble keeping up with cavalry because they cannot benefit from roads. I could be selling them short, though.

[lenticular]

On 10/7/2023 at 5:33 PM, Shadow Mir said:

Anyway, which games do you think they're better in?

If you go back and reread what I wrote, I'm pretty sure you'll be able to figure that one out for yourself. I believe in you.

[Shadow Mir]

On 10/8/2023 at 6:00 PM, lenticular said:

If you go back and reread what I wrote, I'm pretty sure you'll be able to figure that one out for yourself. I believe in you.

In other words, Awakening, SD, and Three Houses. Though I'm not sure Pegasus Knights as a class are that much better in those games...

On the Wing Spear: Frankly, what makes it broken is something else entirely. Namely, forging. The enemy lineup being mostly cavalry and knights (as in, the very unit types that get their faces bashed in by it) didn't help.

Edited October 10, 2023 by Shadow Mir

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

I've been thinking about this one for a while now! But first, who am I actually counting? I'll explain below:

Spoiler

- Anyone who starts out on a Pegasus, or derived forms, counts. This includes classes like Falcon Knight and Dark Flier. Also counted if a unit reclasses into any such class.

- Edge cases I AM counting (non-exhaustive): Wyvern Knight Vanessa, Elincia in both appearances, Dracoknight Palla (FE11), Kinshi Knight Subaki, Kinshi Knight Reina, PK->WR->FK Ingrid

- Edge cases I AM NOT counting (again, non-exhaustive): Wyvern Knight Cormag, Dracoknight Minerva (FE11), Kinshi Knight Takumi, PK->WR->WL Ingrid

As for how I'd rate the games, let me start with the "worst" for them, and climb up to the "best". I could say a lot, but I'll keep my typed-out words brief.

Spoiler

11. Radiant Dawn. While ledges and super-canto are broadly to fliers' benefit in this game, the problem here is that Pegasus classes barely exist. You get them in a whopping 7 chapters before Part IV. Elincia is great when she's around (drop Mercy!), and the other three are decent. Just watch out for Crossbows.

10. Three Houses. PK is a very good Intermediate choice for a lot of units. Flying mobility is great for maps like Remire, or the Lorenzlogue. Training in Flying helps to get Alert Stance, too. Trouble is, there's no clear Advanced option, aside from Wyvern Rider. And beyond that point, Wyvern Lord is better than Falcon Knight for most. Dark Flier is good for some female mages, but only has one viable battalion.

9. Echoes. Catria is excellent, Palla pretty good, Clair is kinda meh, and Est has got Res. Plus, PK is a popular reclass choice for Mae, with good reason. Flying mobility lets them ignore the tricky terrain on Celica's side, and the effective damage against monsters on promotion is especially welcome. But there's no Canto or Rescue-carry, and they can't abuse high Avoid terrain, while the single item slot forces tough choices.

8. Fates. They barely exist on CQ, so how about the other two routes? Well, BR doesn't have that much difficult terrain to deal with, although the class can do fine enough. RV is where they really shine, though. Subaki is a must-bring to "Mister Fuga's wild ride, take two", and Reina is tremendously useful for when she shows up, with high stats and wide weapon options.

7. FE6. Shanna shows up early, which is welcome, while Thea enjoys HM bonuses. Plus, as GBA fliers, they have tremendous Rescue-carry utility, especially in a game that's "all Seize, all the time". But the trouble is, Juno isn't great, and Miledy just blows all other fliers outta the water. 3x weapon effectiveness is rough, too, especially amidst ballistae. You need to use Shanna and Thea to go to Ilia, but I don't think that's really to their credit, any more than FE7 Bartre "benefiting" from being needed to recruit Karla.

6. FE7. They have less availability here than in the Roy game, but on the other hand, the Wyverns aren't as impressive. And only 2x weapon effectiveness is a goddessend for them. Florina good, Fiora better, Farina expensive. Anyway, being a flier in GBAFE will always be good.

5. Genealogy. That's right, I'm saying it: "FE4 Pegasi good, actually". Super-canto is always welcome, as is instant access to both the Brave Lance and Brave Sword. They can't keep up as well on road tiles on the mainland, but there are plenty of exclusive tasks they can do. Whether it's Erinys flying up to the Bragi peninsula to rob a bunch of Pirates and help the Claud squad, or Fee saving the hard-to-reach Shield Ring Village east of Darna, or either of them fighting countless seige tome Mages who hide three tiles up a cliff, in a game without Longbows. On top of that, access to Staves is huge, with each becoming premier Return Staff users, as well as a source of Heal/Mend. Finally, bothhave Pursuit and a monumental Speed stat, so with the right weapon, they can double almost anyone. FE4 Pegasi good.

4. Sacred Stones. Probably the best GBAFE for Pegasus Knights. If it weren't for early Vanessa crossing the mountains, Ross would be dead by now. She's also huge for visiting villages. When Tana shows up, she'll usually have better stats, albeit taking some time to promote. Speaking of which, Wyvern Knight is a cool option, assuming it doesn't crash your game. Syrene is "just okay", but even then, she can be useful for Rescue-carry shenanigans.

3. Path of Radiance. It's a tremendously good time for fliers here, with super-Canto and a mere 2x weapon effectiveness. Marcia takes a little while to show up, but this time, she's in it for the long haul. Pump her fulla BEXP, and she's set. Tanith is also excellent for a late-joiner, with her Earth affinity and Reinforce skill. Jill is theoretically a "competitor", but hey, just use all the fliers. Oh, they can also benefit from forged Javelins.

2. Awakening. Galeforce is perhaps the single strongest skill in the game. So even if you don't want a unit to end up in Dark Flier, you want them to spend time there, if possible. Plus, Rally Movement is great for Rallybot. On the other side, Rally Speed is even better for a Rallybot, while getting the Rescue Staff as a flier is huge. Both excellent classes, even if it takes Sumia, Cordelia, and Cynthia some training to really get up-to-snuff.

1. Shadow Dragon. Shiida is likely the single-strongest unit in the game, due in no small part to the forgeable Wing Spear, alongside tremendous Skill and Speed stats. As such, she's the best unit for killing high-powered Armored and Cavalry enemies, particularly bosses. She can use the Wing Spear in Paladin, sure, but before promoting, PK is her only option. Palla and Catria are both very strong, again, while Est... well, she brings Mercurius, so she can't be all-bad, right? It's also a generally decent reclass for physical female units, like Athena or Norne. Regardless, Shiida mostly carries this one - all the way to the front.

This was a lot of fun to compose. Feel free to give any feedback!

[SnowFire]

I think people have basically covered the points adequetely.  I'll just expand on a few.

Short version:

Top Tier: Path of Radiance, Shadow Dragon, New Mystery, Three Houses

Excellent: Engage, Blazing Blade, Awakening-if-counting-Dark-Flier

Good: Echoes, Sacred Stones, Awakening-restricted-to-Falcon-Knight

Average: Binding Blade, Radiant Dawn

For 3H, I feel like Wyvern Lord is doing its usual thing of messing with perceptions - even if WL is a *little* better than Falcon Knight, I feel it's like comparing FE9 Cavs & Fliers, it's not by enough to care.  And the strong performance of Intermediate Pegasus Knight still carries the overall class to a top tier rank - I definitely just left Ingrid in Pegasus Knight through Advanced tier, it was fine.

New Mystery map design just loves favoring fliers.  Lots of chasing after stuff, scary reinforcements, terrain getting in the way, etc.  And as noted, SD Pegs can carry forged Wing Spears / Ridersbanes that kill most enemies regardless of the stats of the holder.

While it's acquired fairly late (short of DLC grinding), Galeforce is such a centralizing skill in Awakening that any class that offers it gets a look.  Even ignoring GF, though, flying Pair-Up taxis are great, although a lot of enemies have bows (notably including enemy Assassins, a fairly common enemy type).

For Echoes, the class has some issues in a vacuum as seen by Clair's woes at dealing damage in Alm route (or FK!Faye), but are hard-carried by Celica map design featuring hordes of Terrors for Anti-Terrors to work against and big swamps to fly over.  They're still a good class thanks to that.

I feel like I'm being a little unfair to Radiant Dawn flyers, as they're...  fine, especially with how many people will play the game with trying to let the lesser units catch up and level-up.  But objectively speaking, by the time you hit Act 4, you also have nonsense like near-unkillable Laguz lords, or potentially unkillable Dracoknights.  Sure, Sigrun & Elincia will put in some good work, but it's harder to stand out against the power creep.

[Zapp Branniglenn]

Forgot to mention the chapter 3 hidden Iote's Shield in Book 2. Definitely another contributor to why I rate it so high (and would also rate it above FE12. But I didn't finish FE12 and don't feel qualified to speak on that game's broader picture. Also my Kris was male and I made him a bald archer so get off my case)

As for our poll...A four way tie? If you say so. I haven't been voting because I have no preference. Let me lay out the schedule for those people that want to compile notes ahead of time. I'm planning to go in this order:

• Wyverns
• Lord classes
• Troubadours / Horse Mounted Healers
• Dark Mages / Druids / Sorcerors

Then when we finished with those, we run the poll again for the order of remaining topics. Probably should have set a deadline for the poll to close, as I will not acknowledge any new votes or people changing their vote