Top 30 Fire Emblem Characters of ALL TIME Countdown

[Zak Something]

Aless for top 10.

[zahlman]

In b4 Mekkah trolls us all by putting Roy as #1.

[Progenitus]

23. Shannan, from FE4

I remember a poll, a long time ago, asking who was better: Lakche or Shannan. Lakche won, "because Shannan is only good with Balmung" . Silly fanboys and girls, where is your Lakche now?

At first Shannan looks like just a good old prepromote, though one with absolutely amazing parameters and skills. 18 Str, 22 Skl and 23 Spd at base in Ch7, with Pursuit, Continue AND Meteor Sword? And then he talks to Patty, apparently his biggest fan, and...he becomes even better. Apparently Patty was carrying a sword around that is basically a sharper version of Holsety. +10 Skl, +20 Spd, and 30 Mt. Now Shannan has 48 Atk, 40 AS, 32% Meteor Sword, and 60% Continue. Also 90 avoid. Too good. As long as he doesn't get goofed by the RNG, he will save the day in Yied, allowing Celice to pass through and seize in peace.

From there, I'll admit Shannan isn't much of an efficiency turn count saving cannon simply because, just like Sety, there's no horse underneath him. Still, there is no way he doesn't deserve to be somewhere in a more casual top 30 of best units of all time, because his stats stick out so much. Personally, I've had a lot of use for Shannan in my 0% growths playthrough, since that nerfed the children very severely, including Sety. Some details of that playthrough can be found here (and by details I mean a general summary of it). You also need to read this.

Shannan's growths other than HP and Skl aren't too fantastic. He actually ties Spd growth with Dorcas, and has a rather outstanding 40% Def growth. Still, the levels he'll rack up over time will make his parameters even more ridiculous than outlined before.

I think Paperblade did some numbers about how Shanan could solo the final map at base level.

But then again I've never played FE4.

[Caliban of Sycorax]

The best part of Shanan is that he faces very low hit rates from the Dark Mages with Balmung. Something like ~15. he still got killed because fuck you RNG

[Lord Raven]

I think Paperblade did some numbers about how Shanan could solo the final map at base level.

But then again I've never played FE4.

He um... posted that.

[Mekkah]

22. Othin and Fergus (from FE5)

For the record, Fergus is clearly better. Othin is really 22.5. Which means we'll be talking about him first, since this is a count down after all.

Othin joins along with a couple of other people, and he has Wrath. What does Wrath do in FE5? It lets you crit consistently on enemy phase. Everything that attacks you turns into fine red mist, as long as you don't miss and your Str isn't a joke. Neither of these problems apply to Othin. While a 6 base and a 30% Str growth would be outright terrible in other games, it's enough when you are backed by axes, as well as some scroll levels. Accuracy is notoriously low in FE5, but Othin has the Pugi all for himself, which just happens to be the most accurate axe in the game at 80 hit, as well as the most accurate ranged weapon (not including tomes). This also solves the issue of enemy archers and other ranged pests. Pugi's 10 mt allows the 60 uses to last a long, long time since he'll often just OHKO whatever he counters, not to mention slow (I mean casual) players can get a second Pugi from a Berserker in Ch16 (B route only).

But then after Ch3, everyone gets busted, and Othin can't help you anymore. Oh no, what do we do! You'd think Leaf is screwed now, but who is here to bail him out? Well, Brighton, Sety and friends, but this also results in Fergus being free to rampage through the prison cells. The moment you trade a sword to him is the moment the guards have to start praying. Fergus's stats look as average as anyone (including Othin's), no real weak points you can fault him for. What Fergus is good at is critting. His PCC is an outrageous 5, which means that at base with no help whatsoever, he already has 35% crit on his second attack. Every time his 45% skl growth procs, that's 5% added. Every time Karin is in his range or he is using a mere 10% crit weapon such as Rapier, that's 50% added. Give him a little time, or a little push, and Fergus crits every single thing that comes his way.

Once you've fought your way through the indoor chapters, Fergus hops on a horse that just randomly enters the scene and enjoys +1 Str/Def, +3 mov, Canto (the broken kind), and the ability to capture things for you. Along the way you may also have obtained several handy swords for him, such as Killing Edge, Rapier, Brave Sword, Fire Sword, all of which allow him to kill even (unthroned) bosses.

Both of these units are kinda hurt if you go for ultra efficiency, LTC, SSS, or whatever you call it. They are both very very strong casual combat units, but if you go as low as possible, Othin gets kind of trivialized by Fin, Dagda, and Eyvel simply because they have more movement, while Fergus has to deal with having only 5 mov against Asvel/Leaf's 6. I personally think Fergus is getting the better end of the stick here. Fergus is better in outdoor maps, Othin in indoor maps. Othin can't crit reliably on player phase without a Killer Axe or something, but Fergus doesn't have a personal weapon with range and thus has to share the magic swords with some other candidates.

The solution to this dilemma is to shut up and use both.

Edited December 14, 2011 by Mekkah

[dondon151]

I disagree with them being ranked higher than Asvel :<

[Thor Odinson]

I will have to agree with dondon here. Maaaaybe Felg can stay because he has a horse for outdoors, but I wouldn't put Othin over Asvel either.

[Esaka]

Othin deserves his placement.

Fergus? Ehh... not so much.

[Mekkah]

I blame the fact that Asvel wasn't in top 30 to begin with when I made the first list. Things always get messier when you add things later.

I don't really care much though, I'll just blame it on the fact that Asvel has a shaky ish start speed wise. Or maybe the fact that Othin and Fergus are in a spot together, their combined power overwhelming Asvel. Or maybe just their pants.

[Anouleth]

Othin and Fergus are way hotter, especially when they're sharing a place

<3

[Thor Odinson]

I will give that both Othin and Felg are more attractive than Asvel.

...Given that Asvel's a shota.

ANOU YOU NINJA

Edited December 14, 2011 by Luminescent Blade

[dondon151]

I don't really care much though, I'll just blame it on the fact that Asvel has a shaky ish start speed wise.

I can say from personal experience that he doesn't, though. Sety scroll guarantees a +spd on every level up. Asvel has 4 AS at base with Grafcalibur and that only increases for every level he gains. He can afford to burn through a good 20 uses of that tome and still have enough left for bosskilling purposes throughout the rest of the game. Once he gains a couple of levels he can switch to the slightly heavier Fire or more powerful Thunder.

[Mekkah]

21. Ike, from FE10

We like Ike. Thankfully, Intelligent Systems did too. Ike enters the scene by KOing several enemies with one strike while holding Lucia (who's jelly?). Not completely representative of his "real" combat powers, but it sets the tone.

Ike's bases are completely monstrous. 44 HP, 24 Str, 23 Spd, and 21 Def? I don't know everything about what's good and what's not in FE10 because I've never played a game where everyone starts at Tier 2 before, but just from hearsay and enemy stats I can tell he's ridiculous. That 23 Spd is actually surprisingly borderline doubling 3-P enemies in HM but enemies get slightly slower after that, and from there his 30% Spd growth can get him far enough. He can also be aided through BEXPing...his Str is actually only 3 from capping, and his Skl only 2, so that can definitely have a positive effect on him.

Whether or not you want to do that is up to you though, because you actually have to fight Ike in 3-13, and defeating him ends the map. I like how if you do get his HP to zero there, he's like "Alright, we're done playing around. Let's just take over this fort!" Any other (non FE4-cheating-teleport-boss) character would die or retreat, but Ike just puts in a little extra effort if you take him down by normal means. What a beast.

Ike has a slight issue with a late promotion. He's never anything but great at combat, but movement-wise he lags behind Haar and to a lesser extent Titania and Oscar further down the road in part 3, and he also spends at least two chapters in Haar's saddlebags because the goal of the chapter is to take Ike and put him somewhere else and then use seize.

I wish there was more to say about Ike's part 3 than "he's really good at fighting" but that really sums it up quite well. Around 3-11, he gets the Ragnell while he may or may not be level capped. Some people think this should make you stop using him, but hey, as long as you don't particularly need the CEXP, why care? Then soon after, part 4 hits and Ike is promoted through the power of the Gods (clearly no one else is good enough to improve Ike). He becomes even more of a badass than he already is, having access to axes but more importantly still that infinite use 1-2 range Ragnell thing. Which is good because he's locked to his own route, which is naturally the most difficult, or at least the one with the strongest enemies. Fuckin 4-4.

4-E, he still destroys faces left and right. He is obviously the one that fights the Black Knight, he can contribute to defeating Dheginsea, and during the last part he "takes all the power I have" and wins the game for us.

Ike doesn't fly or ride a horse, but he does just about everything else you can ask of a unit. Well, he also doesn't heal others, but I guess every hit he takes is one that doesn't hurt poor Soren. Also you can support him with Mia or really anyone that wants Earth.

[dondon151]

You should add how Ragnell is a million times better than any other ranged weapon (also +5 def) and Ike does somewhat poorly against magic using enemies.

[Renall]

A few additional points about FE10 Ike that are kinda nice:

If you're a casual player and happen to have played FE9, it's not impossible that Ike will get transfer bonuses. He doesn't need a lot of work in FE9 to cap his Speed, which just makes him even more likely to double everything ever in FE10. With some luck/boosters he can get other stats too. If he transfers STR, he'll basically cap in a level or so and suddenly BExp looks very, very good for him.

Also, he's very resource-efficient in casual play. He has two Ettards which he will almost certainly not get through before getting Ragnell, plus he does shitloads of damage with mere Wind Swords at 2-range because he's got biceps of steel. Then he gets Ragnell, and well, you don't get more efficient than "I can kill everything forever at 1~2 with this sword, it gives me +5 DEF, and I can use it as many times as I want for the rest of eternity forever, forever." And that lets you free up your ridicuforges for somebody who isn't getting automatic favoritism from IS.

[Mekkah]

These are good points, but I don't need to edit them in. You just posted them. This thread will go down in history as a resourceful thread where every detail that I missed is picked up by others.

[bottlegnomes]

Ike has a 35% speed growth. Anyway, also maybe something about the wyrmslayer and how he can, IIRC, take down half Deggy's health in one round.

EDIT: ninja'd. Well add mine to that as well. Still love the list.

Edited December 15, 2011 by bottlegnomes

[Progenitus]

Ike is ridiculous because he requires barely any resources (even gold) to one round in a game where pulling that off WITH resources is already hard to do, and once he gets ragnell he's doing that at 1-2 range. That would be hilarious already, but he's also like "HEY EVERYONE WANTS TO SUPPORT MY EARTH AFFINITY" and he's available forever.

Edited December 16, 2011 by smash fanatic

[General Banzai]

Haar, Seth in top 10 probably. Seth may even be #1

[Renall]

If he does a combo post with the two of them as one entry I can see Sigurd/Celice pretty high. Separated, maybe less so.

Also Titania could potentially show back up again, in her FE9 incarnation.

[Colonel M]

Still think its dumb that Wendell isn't here. What about the amount of win he has?

Think of the times, Mekkah. Think of the times!

[bottlegnomes]

Still think its dumb that Wendell isn't here. What about the amount of win he has?

Think of the times, Mekkah. Think of the times!

Maybe he just hasn't gotten around to him.

[Mekkah]

Entering the top twenty! We're done with gimmicks now. These folks are the real deal!

Almost.

20. Linoan and Sarah

August, Leaf, and Dorias having a strategic meeting before the events of chapter [almost any].

August: "How about we let Othin go west, and then Fin can cover the east, and we'll launch a surprise attack over the bridge to the north..."

Dorias: "No, you dumbass, don't you know anything? We should put all of our army into one place and simply charge into their frontlines. They won't know what hit them!"

August: "That is pretty much suicide. Their frontline is insanely powerful. We need to be more careful and subtle to win this one, even with the powerful individual forces we have."

Dorias: "You are so full of shit. Lord Leaf, what is your opinion?"

Leaf proceeds to point a few spots on the map where he wants people to be Warped to, including the seize point, and that's pretty much the end of the meeting.

FE5 wants to try to be really difficult, but throughout the years, people have (inevitably) figured out how to trivialize almost the entire game with the infinite range Warp staves you've been given. There is pretty much no way to balance such a game, though I guess they tried by making it possible for Warp to miss...

Even when you aren't Warping everyone around as if it's an Apparation 101, these two units are absolutely crutch in lategame. As I said in Asvel's entry, there are only two kinds of units in FE5 lategame: those that can use staves and have high magic, and those that can't. Lategame throws enemy status staves at you at high frequency, creating a high demand for Restore, and your party gets split up quite a bit in the last few maps. In addition, you can use their own weapons against them and use Sleep/Silence on those Dark Mages to cover yourself. There's also Rescue and Rewarp, which are kind of worse than Warp but they have some uses (like bailing people out of prison).

I suppose this is also where I can sort of lump in Salem, Tina, and whatever other staffbot I forgot (there's a particular one I didn't forget but that's simply going to be...elsewhere). I think Sarah and Linoan are the best of them because they also have some semblance of combat, Linoan with Resire and enrmous PCC + Dean support, and Sarah with Elite and some other skills that may or may not require a death chance to work at all. And also because they have pretty good staff levels. They also fatigue a lot though and might need to rummage through your S drink supply to keep going.

Oh, I guess I should mention Linoan promotes pretty damn late for no reason. Not a huge bother since for the most part her stats don't matter, but she'd rather have the option of a Knight Crest.

[Life]

Safy for 3rd place.