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ITT I rank the characters


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I initially had this on gamefaqs, but I'm probably going to move this over here (or some other board, though this seems to be the most active fire emblem board right now), because there's an edit function, and I can also link to the character's rating.

I'll eventually repost all the ratings here. It won't be a complete repost though, since I'm generally going to touch up on a few things for old ratings.

BTW, this is based on beating HM as quickly and efficiently as possible.

The complete ratings (subject to be changed later)

10.0 - Haar, Ike

9.5 - Volug, Reyson

9.0 - Shinon, Nolan, Zihark, Nailah, Rafiel, Titania, Gatrie, Janaff, Ulki, Leanne

8.5 - Sothe, Mordy, Tibarn

8.0 - Naesala, Aran, Oscar, Mia, Ranulf, Cain, Giffca

7.5 - Micaiah, Laura, Elincia

7.0 - Jill, Heather, Mist

6.5 - Neph, Rhys, Tauroneo

6.0 - Nasir, Muarim

5.5 - Skrimir, Lehran Lehran, Boyd, Stefan, Volke, Tormod, Brom

5.0 - Geoffrey, Kieran, Soren, Vika, Nealuchi

4.5 - Marcia

EDIT: Apparently I can't have too many direct links in the same post, so scores from 4.0 and down will be in Micaiah's rating (see two posts below)

Edited by Andrew W.K.
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4.0 - Tanith, Oliver, Bastian, Ena

3.5 - Edward, Leo, Lucia, Kurth, Calill, Danved, Makalov, Gareth

3.0 - Renning, Sigrun, Ilyana, Rolf

2.5 -

2.0 - Lethe, Kyza

1.5 - Meg, Pelleas, Sanaki

1.0 - Astrid, Fiona, Lyre

Micaiah

To nobody's surprise, Micaiah's usefulness can be summed up as such: Thanibombing and staves.

IS thought it'd be a funny idea to make a character you're required to keep alive get one-rounded by every enemy on the map, so of course you're always going out of your way making walls for her and her getting in your way in general. Fortunately she does have some uses, namely as what I already said; Thanibombing OHKOs armors which not even Sothe can one-round, and 2HKOs everything else in part 1. Sacrifice + Wrath (or Resolve) is a nice trick, namely because Micaiah gets one rounded anyway. But her overall terrible durability limits her usefulness.

Once she promotes, she plays healbot, especially in part 3 where tigers who kill everyone on the team in 2-3 hits start running around all over the place. Despite the nerf staves got (lol force equip for enemy phase), it's still a nice bonus. She's pretty useless in 3-13 though without the physic staff; I usually just let Laura cover my healing and let Micaiah physic when I'm in trouble.

Micaiah isn't really the staff user I'd bring into 4-E, but because she's forced, she forces her usefulness onto the team anyway. It'd be stupid to not use a staff user when you're forced to bring it along, especially with physics buyable and the fortify sitting around.

Micaiah is one of those units who can function well even if you don't give her much exp, which is a pretty good thing actually. So don't worry about pushing her to max level in time for those forced promotions. She's never going to double, she'll always 2HKO (at least until she gets staves, then she never attacks again), and she'll always get one rounded. Well, unless you REALLY give her tons of crap, and that's just not worth it.

7.5/10

Edited by Andrew W.K.
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Edward

Edward's living proof that melee glass cannons just don't work.

Edward's one of those characters who looks ridiculously broken on paper, and before the game came out even I thought he'd be awesome. 60%+ growths on str, skl AND spd, AND joins in the very first chapter? Wtf is this ****?

Unfortunately he has problems that severely cripple him. His base def is only 5, with a 35% growth, so his durability is garbage. He gets 2HKO'd for almost every single DB chapter. He also cannot dodge, unlike what you'd expect from a low def, high avoid unit, because enemy hit rates are so high in DB chapters. He also has the lowest base str of the DB (yes, Leo's base str is higher than his), so his jawesome growth has to get out of that hole first before his str becomes impressive. And he also has issues doubling in his first few chapters despite his high 12 base because DB enemies just hate them all. So we have mediocre offense and defense. Lame.

Later in part 1 his offense gets better because he starts doubling, but he still fails to one round and by then most of your units are at least two rounding, so I can't say I'm impressed with his offense, since he's still very likely to get 2 rounded by the entire map. Lame.

In part 3, everything 2HKOs him, even cats, for like forever. Okay, well, cats don't 2HKO in 3-13, but who cares about that? Every frontliner who doesn't suck avoids getting 2HKO'd by cats in 3-13. He can't even double them for awhile because they have 22 spd, and he doesn't reach 26 until like, 20/8 or something. Overall, he has decent offense, but his defense is still terrible. When we have Volug, Nolan, Aran, Zihark, Jill, and Sothe outperforming him, and arguably Leo as well, this leaves, like, Meg and Fiona who Edward is beating. Who cares?

By part 4 he's finally decent, because authority stars boost his avoid to respectable amounts and his growths are in full swing, but then we get units like Tibarn and Naesala who just pwn the face off of everything, and really, most units start doing the same. It's hard to care about Edward by now.

Edward requires a lot of babying and caring for all DB chapters, and the results are not worth it.

3.5/10

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Leonardo

Leo is so bad, even a 16 mt weapon with +5 spd can't save him.

You only need to take one look at his bases and growths and know that he'll be sucking for a long time. 8 str, 10 spd, 5 def, 40% str, 35% spd, 35% def? wtf IS. That's horrible in this game. 17 HP doesn't help either.

So, Leo never doubles (before his Lugh bow anyway), he does crap for damage, and he gets 2HKO'd. Fortunately, being an archer actually helps his case, because he doesn't take counters and you don't have to be worrying about him as much as you would about Edward (who also gets 2HKO'd, but takes counters far more often, though Edward does more damage). Unfortunately I already have people like Micaiah and even Ilyana who can do better potshots, so this means squat.

So after he sucks and blows in part 1, he enters part 3 and he gets his nice bow. Awesome. Unfortunately he's still pretty mediocre. Yes, Leo is so bad, we could give him a 16 mt bow that also boosts his speed by FIVE points, and he's not in uber mode. He's only *okay* because he doesn't take counters from laguz who would 2HKO his face, and manages to double tigers with it. He can also run around with a crossbow and kill off 3-12 pegs/3-13 hawks. Nolan could do it himself, but he has better things to do, like, plugging up chokepoints. He's still inferior to the likes of Volug, Nolan, Aran, etc.

And then part 4 comes around and he's falling behind even more because his terrible growths are biting him in the ass. Leo *can* double with Lugh, but he doesn't have a lot of att (since by part 4, 16 mt isn't impressing anyone), he still can't 1-range until Double Bow (where he can't double with it), and he still has garbage durability.

The only real plus to using Leo is you get to use his nice water affinity for supports. And he's *slightly* helpful in part 3 because he can crossbow at base level, which puts him slightly above garbage like Meg and Fiona.

3.5/10

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Nolan

Chuck Nolan has a special skill called "Roundhouse". He'll perform a roundhouse kick which will OHKO every enemy in the game.

Actually, Nolan is fairly overrated, but he's still a good unit. He starts off as one of the DB's best units. Yeah, a unit who 2HKOs and not double, and gets 3-4HKO'd is considered godly in the DB. That's how much IS hates them. But, he runs into serious competition starting around 1-5 when Volug joins, and then a swarm of overleveled units start coming and wtfpwning things better than he can, though he still remains decent.

Once they disappear, however, he jumps back up as one of the DB's best mostly thanks to Tarvos, which is nice because IS thought it'd be funny to throw enemy laguz at them that the GMs, who are 10-15 levels higher than the DB and with 3 extra authority stars, would struggle against. You'll probably need to throw a stat booster on Nolan so he can survive 2 tiger hits in 3-6 (unless his support boosts def), which sounds bad at first, but there aren't many units who can survive 2 tigers even WITH a booster. It's essentially limited to Volug, and Aran who barely survives (though without a stat booster). Offensively, he's never doubling cats, and doesn't double tigers until ~20/5, but his att is higher than everyone's except Beast killer sothe, so he hits hard enough.

Come part 4, Reaver's caps, axes, earth affinity, and his growth spread make him very good. I generally don't weigh part 4 very heavily, due to the fact that the competition is very tight (hi royals) and you have the most resources available to improve your weaker units, but the fact is that he's probably one of the best beorcs in part 4.

I really don't have much else to say about him. He's not a contender for best unit in the game like some may think, but he is good.

9/10

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Laura

People who complain that Laura is a waste of time and not worth using, are using her wrong.

Laura is one of those units who you don't dump exp into. She's like a jeigan, only not as useful. She exists and she helps out, but you don't seriously train her. Why? Saint caps are crap. She takes a ton of effort to train (note: she doesn't take much to USE), and the results are garbage.

She's also one of those units who looked really good on paper, but once I played the game I realized that wasn't the case. 70% mag/skl/spd growth is just wtf. But then 5 base spd and 2 base def just cripple her in terms of combat, and lollable caps don't help. Every single enemy in the DB chapters one rounds her, and unless you aggressively level her it remains that way in part 4.

Thankfully, she has utility on her side. She's the DB's only staff user, which means she's the only healer they have for part 1. Micaiah doesn't quite count, at least until part 3, and even then the DB have at least two fronts, so both Micaiah and Laura are playing healbot. Plus Micaiah can't heal without physics in 3-13, so it's up to Laura to keep the team healthy for that chapter.

Laura's usefulness dwindles by part 4 when other staff users start popping up, although because we have three teams to fill, she can find something to do. But by 4-E she's obsolete because Micaiah is forced, and nearly every other staff user will outclass her unless you seriously babied her. However, her usefulness in DB chapters makes her worth using. Just not training.

7.5/10

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Sothe

Sothe's performance over the game can be best described as an inverted exponential function. It starts off really high, and then slowly decreases and comes crashing down by part 4.

I don't need to explain how awesome Sothe is in the early DB chapters. One rounds everything at 1-2 range and never dies? Yes plz. That's good by any FE standard, let alone DB chapters which are among the hardest in any FE game that made it to the US (I've never played FEDS though). He can even hold his own in 1-E with no leveling at all (comparable to a 20/1 Nolan). There's not much to say about his part 1 rape. If I did, it would go on for about 2 posts.

Come part 3, however, he starts slowing down. His crappy 20% def growth means he's falling in 2 hits from tigers (3 from cats), and he has no chance of dodging without an earth support, and no earth affinity unit would ever want wind. Granted, beast killer means he one rounds tigers and 2 rounds cats, which is pretty good. But he can't kill off many laguz in a chapter because his durability limits that. He has his uses, but he's not nearly the best anymore.

Then comes part 4, and he just turns into crap at fighting. LOLWHISPERCAPS. LOL28 STR. LOLKNIVES. There's no point in trying to make him good either. You already have Ike + 10 rape units of your choice. Do you really need to fall back on a, 12th string fighter or whatever Sothe ends up being? And it's not like Sothe just needs a skill or a statbooster. He needs a LOT of help. Something for offense + something for defense + probably something else for offense, because his offense is that bad.

However, he steals, which is always a plus, and he's far more reliable at picking up hidden items than others such as 4-3's desert, so even when he has no combat usefulness, he's got thief usefulness. And DB chapters are littered with goods too, so he's always handy.

Use him, let him pull you out of tight spots, and you'll realize how godly he is. Just make sure you don't end up seriously training him, because you'll get nothing out of it.

8.5/10

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Ilyana

I'm not sure wtf IS was trying to do with Ilyana.

First of all, there's no point in dumping exp in her. That just hurts the DB, because she just leaves them after part 1, and all the exp you gave her, the DB will never see again or make use of it. Nevermind the fact that her growths are terrible. 50% mag is her only decent growth. LOL30 spd. LOL30 def.

Second, she goes ahead and joins the GMs in part 3 as the lowest level unit, and she's beyond terrible. You know you're bad when LYRE gives you a run for your money. She hits for crap damage (like 4HKO's enemies even with a forge), she gets 2HKO'd and she's very likely to get doubled. And because her growths are crap, it doesn't get much better for her.

Throw in crappy caps and being lolbad even in part 4, and you have a lame unit. The character guide FAQ here is pretty spot on for Ilyana, which is really surprising because these kind of FAQs tend to be very bad.

Oh, and for those who think she's "useful" in 4-E-3 because Rexbolt and dragons, yes she one rounds red dragons and 2 rounds white dragons, but they also do massive damage to her (red dragons easily 2HKO. I believe white dragons also 2HKO unless wardwood) and she can't dodge at all, so she's hardly any better than your other units. And then degh. Wtf. Degh OHKOs her unless she's on cover. She does more damage than most beorcs, but loses to royals.

Really, the only why she's getting a score above a 1 is because she's *okay* in her first few DB chapters. Okay as in, "Her damage is about the same as Nolan/Aran for her first few chapters, only she gets 2HKO'd, but at least 2-range". After that she becomes bad for the rest of the game. People would not use her at all if she wasn't moe.

3/10

Edited by Andrew W.K.
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Aran

Aran is one of the most underrated units in the game.

People like to brush him aside because of his spd. They fail to realize that very few in the DB are doubling anything at all, and the only things doubling Aran are the stuff that kills everyone else in the same number of rounds, despite Aran getting doubled (see: Myrms, cats). And the units that are doubling are losing durability. Overall, Aran is certainly not mediocre or bad like some want to think.

People also like to say how he can't tank. Well, he's still outtanking many other fellow DB. See, dying in 3 rounds when others die in 2 makes you a tank, just as a unit who dies in 6 rounds when others die in 4. You're just dealing with smaller numbers.

Usefulness is ALWAYS relative to the rest of the team, NOT against enemies. A unit who dies in 3 hits when others die in 2 is considered good. A unit who dies in 3 hits when others die in 5 is bad. The unit isn't dying in a different number of hits, but the unit's usefulness changed depending on how the rest of the team fared. Nolan vs Boyd is a perfect example of this; Nolan 2HKOs and doesn't double and gets 3-4HKO'd. Boyd 2HKOs and doesn't double and gets 3-4HKO'd. Yet Nolan's more useful than Boyd, simply because Nolan's teammates are weaker, where 2HKOing and getting 3-4HKO'd is that much more impressive.

This post here highlights my point, only in more detail.

http://s11.zetaboards.com/Fire_Emblem_Fusi...65&t=395621

This is something that flies above everyone's head when they see Aran. They expect Aran to be an invincible tank like Oswin or FE10 Haar (who are facing joke enemies, mind) and are sorely disappointed when Aran still falls in 3-4 hits, ignoring the fact that those hits would've killed most other teammates in 2.

Aran is essentially a second Nolan who doesn't do as well in part 4 because most units are at least 2-rounding (Aran isn't because he doesn't double and his str cap gets in the way. Nolan doubles), and good durability is standard, not a luxury (again, Aran's def cap gets in the way). If you have the BEXP (probably not though, since this is HM), you can BEXP him in 2nd tier for more spd.

8/10

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Meg

So Fred and George, two programmers at IS, were talking about ideas for characters for Radiant Dawn.

Fred: Hey, let's make this character called Meg. She'll join really underleveled. She'll have semi decent strength and defense bases for her level, but a horrible speed base, but we'll give her a good growth because I think that'll cancel it out. We'll also give her good luck and resistance.

George: Cool. Got any ideas on what class she'll be?

Fred: Pegasus! Why else would she have speed, luck, and resistance?

George: Cool. But wait, is she going to have enough time to catch up? She's going to be underleveled.

Fred: I don't know. That's too much work to figure out.

And that's when Fred and George realized they shouldn't program characters when drunk. Because if they do, they only end up making characters that are in the wrong class. And are completely terrible.

1.5/10

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Volug

Here's a story. A story about the strong rivalry between Captain Volug "Abs" Wolf, hailing from the deserts of Hatari, and Chuck Nolan, the DB's semi jeigan of the Dawn Brigade of Daein.

The story of course starts in 1-5 when Volug joins.

Nolan: Haha I'm a pretty cool guy.

Volug: Haha, I pwn you in every single stat.

Nolan: FFFFFFFFFFFF-

So while Volug just starts pwning all the enemies, Nolan tries to catch up to his rival. And then he finally promotes.

Nolan: Haha! I promoted! Take that, Volug!

Volug: Hey I just got S-strike. My att went up. I still beat you in every stat.

Nolan: FFFFFFFFFFFF-

So then Nolan starts fighting to get stronger again while Volug continues to pwn everything in sight. And then at the start of part 3, they have another conversation.

Nolan: Ha! I got my almighty Tarvos! What do you have to say to that, Volug?

Volug: Oh hey I can get rid of Wildheart and get my full transformation bonuses. I still beat you in every stat.

Nolan: FFFFFFFFFFFFF-

So Nolan decides to train and get stronger. And finally, around the start of part 4...

Nolan: Yes! I promoted into 3rd tier. I just got h4x promotion bonuses, and mastery skill. I'm certainly beating you now, Volug!

Volug: Oh hey, I just got SS-strike. We're kinda tied now, I guess. Oh wait, I heard that 4-3 is a desert chapter. I'm one of the few people who'd keep their full move if I went there. Guess I got some more pwning to do. Have fun eating my dust, Nolan.

Nolan: FFFFFFFFFFFFF-

But by 4-E...

Nolan: Ha! What do you do now, Volug?

Volug: Eh. I'm tired of eating all the enemies. I guess I'll let you have fun.

Nolan: Yes!

Volug: I was beating you for 90% of the game anyway.

Nolan: FFFFFFFFFFFFF-

Moral of the story: Volug pwns.

I also have a more detailed story, but it only covers 1-5, 1-6-1, and 1-6-2.

http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/genmessage....;topic=45526417

9.5/10

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Tauroneo

Tauroneo would've been a pretty good unit, if the ****er actually existed.

He's got an amazing 3 total chapters before part 4. He rapes face in 1-6 with a bronze lance, and there's not much else to say about that.

When he rejoins, he's still not bad, but he's clearly outclassed by most of the DB. Nolan with Tarvos matches Tauroneo in most stats, only Nolan has supports so he's crushing him in avoid, which means Nolan's actually avoiding stuff in 3-12, and in 3-13 it's better than nothing. Aran will have a ~5 def lead on him with similar str, and while Tauroneo wins spd, he's still not doubling anyway. etc., etc. Tauroneo beats out, like, Edward and Leo. Although, he does this without any resources, so that's not bad.

And then part 4 comes, and he's pretty much useless by now, because his stats are lame. He doesn't double, he has low str for someone who can't, and he's not particularly tanky, and he has lol6move, and he still won't have a support, and probably never well.

1 god chapter + 2 decent chapters + rest meh = above average overall

6.5/10

Edited by Andrew W.K.
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Jill

Jill is a decent unit, but is highly overrated by some.

Her bases at first glance aren't too bad. 15 spd/13 def is pretty good. However, 11 str and 24 HP are low, and on HM even 15 spd has issues doubling. This means that Jill can't tank very well because she dies in 2-3 hits (in comparison Nolan/Zihark die in 3-4, and Aran dies in 4).

Jill needs to be overleveled to consistently double despite her high base spd, which limits her usefulness because the DB can't afford to baby units that much. It's *possible*, but the amount of effort is noticeable.

In addition thunder mages are really bad for her. Unlike, say, Volug vs Fire mages, Volug has the HP to safely take one, maybe even two more physical hits even after being hit by a fire mage. If Jill is hit by a thunder mage, she's either OHKO'd or left at so little HP that anything can finish her off.

She has canto, but unfortunately it's not the end all for her, because canto's use is to amplify combat stats (reposition to protect other units, for example), but when your combat is average, it doesn't do much. Proof? Look at her in 1-5 as an NPC. She attacks, takes damage, then cantos away but not far enough to get away from the enemy. Then the enemy comes up and finishes her off, and I smash my head into the ground because Jill just died on me and there's nothing I could do about it. Canto basically means Jill attacks and then hides behind a unit who can protect her. Not all that useful.

She DOES have one of the best 3rd tier caps, but it takes some babying to get there, and she still has issues doubling because her 2nd tier spd cap is horrible, which means when she promotes into third tier she still may not double.

Basically, Jill has canto + thunder affinity. And if you overlevel her, she becomes good. Unfortunately that's not always possible, and in the more common scenario, she's not very helpful when it comes to fighting. Volug/Nolan/Aran/etc. are doing most of the work. She's basically freeloading off of them.

7/10

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Zihark

May as well start from the top with him.

He's pretty good in part 1. Doubles everything, with a forge (note: Everyone on the DB you're planning to use should have one already...) he one rounds, innate adept + crit, and brave sword/killing edge options. So his offense is great. Defensively, 30 HP/13 def is about even with Nolan at joining time, so it's okay. He *might* dodge, but certainly don't rely on it, because enemy hit rates are just so ridiculous in DB chapters. Overall he's a good unit to have.

In part 3, though, Zihark is a mixed bag. His offense is still good, but his durability is extremely reliant on biorhythm, due to laguz having such ridiculous hit even with his supports. He needs to be in best bio (or support abuse'd in part 1 so he can get an A support by 3-6, though that's usually not possible. I usually just have a B support) to dodge. This forces you to keep an eye out on his bio (though, he's a type 1 bio, where he stays in good or bad for a very long time, so it's easy to plan ahead). Resolve can fix this issue, but it's a heavily contended skill especially pre-part 4 when resources are scarce, so it doesn't quite fix the issue overall. It's the roughest part of the game for him, but he's still pretty useful. Just not as good as people like Volug or Nolan. His part 3 is roughly the same as Sothe's, maybe a little better.

Come part 4, Zihark makes a sudden change. In DB chapters, his offense can be regarded as one of the best, but his defense is fairly average. But once part 4 starts, it makes a complete turnaround; his offense drops to average but now he has one of the best defense. Now that the commander has authority stars (he doesn't want to go with Micaiah because of desert), he'll be dodging regardless of biorhythm. He sometimes faces 0 hit even in worst bio. I usually send Zihark x Nolan down one path and everyone else including my laguz royal down the other, and Zihark x Nolan have fewer problems because nothing ever hits them.

His terrible str growth is biting him in the ass now, but he still has crit/innate adept, and he can combo it with skills like wrath and imbue. With so many skills and resources in part 4, you can find something to throw on him.

Basically, at any point in the game, Zihark excels in offense or defense, but is fairly average in the other. Then again many other units in the game are similar. This puts him below a unit such as Volug who does excel in both, but he's still above most of the other units in the game.

9/10

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Fiona

IS had a good idea in Fiona, but unfortunately they forgot to give her something really important: a good joining time.

A unit with 55% def growth, 50% res growth, 175% avoid growth, earth affinity, innate imbue AND savior with a decent mag score? Holy **** on a mother **** stick in a **** pile, on paper she sounds like a godly tank. Avoid liek everything, and anything that does hit you deals crappy damage, and you heal it back the next turn. And she's mounted. Her str is low, but I doubt that matters overall.

Unfortunately, she like 5-10 levels behind the rest of the team, and her bases are crap for a 9/0 unit. Her bases are marginally better than a 4/0 Edward's, and worse than a 3/0 Meg. A frickin iron lance weighs her down. Apparently IS thought she'd be balanced if they gave her stats that your units had in 1-P and had her join 7 chapters later AND miss 1-8. So basically, she's terrible the entire game.

IS hates her so much. Just look at the chapters she's in before part 4. Every single one of them except 3-12 hinders her move in some way. 1-7, 1-E, and 3-13 are indoors, reducing her move by 2, PLUS they have loads of ledges that she can't cross, and 3-6 is a swamp that just pwn her horse because she can't even go in it. 1-8 would've been pretty bad too, except IS saved her the misery and didn't make her exist anyway. IS gave her a horse, and then went "LOLNO" and made available for only chapters where the horse actually gets in the way.

True story: I was trying to use Fiona on NM, and in 1-7 I was about to have her javelin an injured archer while she had a height advantage. She would have done about 10 damage (which wouldn't have killed it, even though it was already at about half HP), and the archer would've one rounded her back at about 50 hit. Just for kicks, I battle save'd because it was NM, then I had her attack. She hit, and then got one rounded. I laughed, then cried, then restarted and had Tormod kill it.

It would've been like Obi-Wan vs Anakin, only Obi-wan was unconscious and Anakin was already Darth Vader.

IS really hates colored people. We should all mail them and ask why they are so racist.

1/10

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Tormod

Tormod is like Tauroneo, only his problem is amplified 9001 times.

The. ****er. Is. Never. Around.

For some reason, IS gave 90% of the magic users in this game terrible speed AND def. And then on a unit like Tormod, who manages to excel in both (well, relatively; 12 base def/35 growth at 20/5 is good for a magic user), they thought it'd be funny if he never existed. The guy is in 3 chapters in part 1, and then disappears until 4 ****ing 4. I have no idea why IS didn't try to throw Tormod into the storyline somehow. They thought it'd be funny to give us crappy units like Lyre and Kyza in 3-4, and yet not bother to make Tormod and his friends rejoin earlier? FFS, they could've made him join up at the same time as Ilyana did. Or, considering Ike was fighting for his friends, they could've just had Tormod join up with his cause.

I think IS has something against short pants. Or maybe shotas in general. Well I guess they don't like lolis either. Just look at Sanaki. If Mist counts as a loli, yeah, look at her too.

Instead we just get more wasted potential, because by the time Tormod joins he's like 20 levels behind and there's no point in using him at all. However, at least he's useful in part 1, so it's not completely wasted. He might actually be the most useful sage in the game (Micaiah doesn't quite count), because of how terrible sages are in this game.

5.5/10

Edited by smash fanatic
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Muarim

Muarim has the same problems as Tormod, so basically you can read Tormod's entry for the facts on him.

I do want to say a few other things though. His transformed state is completely ridiculous. He's level 19, and he'd be beating the living **** out of Lethe, Kyza, and Lyre, who are a higher level or a similar level. FFS, he has comparable bases to Skrimir, who is 6 levels higher (Skrimir has +1 str, +2 spd, +1 def). Muarim in part 1 is essentially Nailah without formshift, and we all know how much Nailah pwns everything in part 1. However, there's a severe lack of olivi grass in part 1, so that's not quite as impressive at it seems.

Oddly enough, Muarim has his uses in 4-4 as a forced unit (unlike Tormod/Vika, who don't do anything other than shove/open doors/chests). Because of his wtf 46 base att and 30 base def, he hits hard and can take 3-4 rounds to die, even considering the fact he got doubled. I usually throw resolve on him for this chapter since it makes him go from "gets doubled" to "doubles", and he's forced anyway and has the durability to survive at half HP.

6/10

Edited by smash fanatic
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Vika

Vika has ridiculous growths, but has the same problems as Tormod and Muarim.

Vika isn't as good as Tormod or Muarim because her att and def are pretty average even as an overleveled part 1 unit. 25 att is meh. However she is useful for saving some civilians in 1-8 because of flying in a swamp, and she has 50 billion avoid.

I don't want to talk about her problems because I already said them for Tormod, so I'm going to talk some funnies about her. Her total growth is 400%, which is tied for highest in the entire game (Micaiah and Sanaki tie). And she levels like a 20/6 beorc, which is very low. She has FIVE growths that are 60 or above, but unfortunately her str and def are her two lowest growths.

If you wanted to baby a unit Vika makes a hilarious candidate, since you'll see lots of flashing green numbers.

5/10

Edited by smash fanatic
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Nailah

****ing Nailah.

****ing royals.

I believe that IS only put overpowered royals in because they were too lazy to balance the game. They were like, "Well **** we're too lazy to see if the game is too hard for the average gamer, so instead we'll throw in hilariously overpowered units just as a failsafe and call it a day".

Statistically Nailah is one of the worst royals, but that hardly matters because she's still uber anyway. LOL54 ATT. LOL38 SPD. LOL32 DEF. LOL46 SAVAGE. LOLFORMSHIFT. LOL9MOVE.

In fact, she's actually the BEST royal, due to the fact that she's actually around outside of part 4 to help out the DB in some of their most annoying chapters. 1-8 and 1-E quickly get out of hand if she isn't around to help, especially if you're aiming for max BEXP. And she's also in 4-4, the only real hard chapter in part 4 and probably the hardest in the game, although because so many enemies in that chapter have 2-range (could be my imagination though), her usefulness is limited a bit.

The only reason why she doesn't get a better score (as well as the rest of the royals) is that she is still in only a few chapters, which doesn't make her as useful overall as a unit who's been pwning everything for half the game, such as Ike or Volug. But for those chapters she's in, she's uber incarnate.

Really, you can take her or any royal into 4-E, and the difference in performance is almost unnoticeable. Okay, well, except against guys like Degh, but screw Degh. ****er will not move.

9/10

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Rafiel

Untransformed, he's damn awesome, as we all know. Chanting 4 units at once? Yes plz. That's plain awesome. I can't say much more about that without repeating myself. Although, he doesn't get any better when he transforms. He gets +1 move and... can't move up ledges? Uh, wtf IS. Okay...

But he has his share of problems. The first one is that his availability blows just as much as Nailah's. You can pretty much read up my rankings on previous units about availability.

The second is that his durability is ass, even worse than magic users. He gets one rounded by everything. You really need to keep an eye on him so he doesn't die.

Despite this, he's obviously still worth using. You can't pass up chanting 4 guys at once.

There's always a big debate about who's the best heron for 4-E, and it's typically between Rafiel and Reyson. Basically it comes down to not needing a laguz gem vs move + canto. I'd take better mobility on my heron, as the laguz gem just means one of my laguz with no formshift doesn't have to worry about gauge, but we have a ton of uber units to choose from, so I can make a team where Reyson can get a gem and a second laguz can get the other. And after you gem, you can always trade to another laguz. However, it's not like Rafiel is a significantly inferior choice, since even if Reyson gem'd, he can't do anything on his first turn, while Rafiel can go and chant 4 guys. Since 4-E chapters tend to be very short, this means Rafiel does 10-20% more chants every map (of course after that Reyson wins the rest of the chapter because of 3 more move + canto...).

It's surprising how the three herons, relative to each other, are fairly balanced. IS is terrible at balancing anything (look at this game), so when all three herons are pretty equal in usefulness, that surprised me. Unfortunately they're all broken anyway.

9/10

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Elincia

Elincia looks pretty broken on paper, but in reality she has some flaws. Big ones, at that.

The obvious good thing about her is that Amiti became really rigged. It is easily one of the best weapons in the game. 15 mt, x2 attack, +3 def/res, infinite durability? wtf. I'm surprised IS didn't throw in 1-2 range just for the hell of it. The only weapon that comes even close to Amiti in brokenness is Double Bow (effective 25 mt at 1-2 range. Granted, Double Bow is probably better). Throw in flying and staves, and a huge growth spread (65 str, 70 spd, 385 total, 200% avoid, wtf. The only bad part is 20 def) and you get a unit that sounds completely ridiculous.

However, she has some big problems. First, her base speed is terrible, at an amazing 22. She's never quadding unless you overlevel her or you're in 2-E, and with a terrible 19 str base, she's doing bad damage if she only doubles (although 2 chances to stun isn't too bad). It's worth noting that it's a bit easier to baby her due to flying + staves, and she's got ridiculous offense when she starts quadding (4 chances to stun is just the start of it), rather than most people just become *good*, but it's still babying.

Second, even if you do overlevel Elincia so she can quad, her durability is mediocre. Even factoring in Amiti's bonuses, 36 HP/21 def is bad for part 4, and 45% HP and 20% def growths means it doesn't get any better. And with LOLHEAVEN affinity, she's not attracting anyone with earth, so she's not going to do much dodging (73 avoid before stars is kinda ehhh. Even with 200% avoid growth it's nothing special). Bow weakness doesn't help either. This means Elincia can't go on a rampage anyway because she's just going to die.

Third, LOLAVAILABILITY. She has two chapters in part 2, one of them being lol2-P, and then disappears until part 4. Basically she pwns face in 1 chapter, then falls behind a lot as a fighter for the rest of the game.

Elincia is kinda like Jill with a staff. They *can* perform at average levels, but they need to be overleveled to be really good.

Still, despite these problems, it's hard to say no to a flying healer. Even with just a 17 mag base, she's a very good healer because of her mount. It's not a bad idea to bring Elincia into 4-E, despite Micaiah already being there, since the mount comes in handy for some situations that Micaiah can't cover, such as using Restore on whoever got slept in 4-E-1 (Micaiah is basically restricted to physic/fortify, since if she goes anywhere near the frontlines she dies). And if you can scrounge up the exp/resources, Elincia is a good candidate to sink it in.

7.5/10

Edited by smash fanatic
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Marcia

Marcia flies. And... that's about it.

In part 2 she's helpful, because of flying. When it comes to fighting though... she's about as good as Neph in combat, and Neph is pretty bad. She has huge issues doubling outside of 2-P (and 2-P's a complete joke), and with low str she doesn't have good offense. It doesn't help that she's not very durable; 34 HP/16 def is among the lowest in part 2. Like Jill, she can't abuse canto becuase she just doesn't have the stats to do so. Doing hit and runs with low att and probably not doubling is pretty meh.

And then after part 2 she has one chapter until she joins the GMs in 3-11, and she'll be ridiculously underleveled. Even if you give her paragon in 3-9 (which other CRKs want, except Geoffrey because he ****ing disappears until 4-5, and Astrid who's terrible even with it anyway), she's going to be 5-10 levels behind. She doubles, but her str is so bad she's doing crappy damage anyway, and her durability is no better. Even if you can make her catch up, her str is still balls, and her durability is pretty average. Not very appealing, even with a mount.

Although, flying makes her useful in 3-9 because of ledges and burning houses. Then again everyone is lending a helping hand in 3-9 because of how undermanned the CRKs are (except lolastrid), and there are a few snipers running around.

She has her uses in part 2 + 3-9. After that, she's not worth it.

4.5/10

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Nealuchi

Nealuchi joins with pretty ridiculous stats, aside from attack which sucks. He has 18 spd (60 avoid before stars), 10 def, and 10 res untransformed, plus 53 HP. That's pretty scary. He's beating several beorcs like Marcia/Neph in durability untransformed. He's kinda like part 2's Ulki (they actually have the same base spd and res, and Ulki wins lck/def by 1 point). His offense isn't very good, but he has godly durability, mainly because of his huge avoid, and good mobility, and if you get him to drop to a low enough HP (do it when he's untransformed), he can go on a wrath rampage.

But then the dumbass doesn't show up until part 4, and by then he's lolcrap because his att sucks even more because it didn't go up, and it was already pretty bad (though his speed and avoid are still good, with passable HP/def). There's no reason to ever bother with him anymore, even with flying/canto/durability, because his att is just terrible. And it never gets better, because he's level 22 which counts as a level 20/20/4 beorc, so he's really far from learning his mastery, yet he doesn't get a whole lot of EXP to grow and get his str up. It doesn't help that raven talon is balls.

Although, for some reason the old fart has a 40% def growth, which is ****ing scary because the only laguz who have a higher growth are Mordy and Skrimir (Tibarn and Kyza tie). 40% growth actually beats a ton of beorcs. wth.

He's like Marcia, minus the 3-9 usefulness but superior in part 2. Good for a few chapters. Then meh.

5/10

Edited by pen15
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Leanne

Leanne can best be described as the "middle-road" of the herons. Untransformed she has the second best chanting (Rafiel is better, Reyson is worse. Although when transformed she's definitely the worst). She has the second most availability at 6 chapters before 4-E (Rafiel is 4, Reyson is 7). Her chapters are the second-hardest (Rafiel's are overall harder, Reyson's are easier). She does have the best affinity, but it's not like people want to support herons, because herons spend more time going around everywhere chanting people, and not sticking to one person.

She's probably the worst heron overall, due to her being the worst heron for 4-E. Then again, "worst heron" is about the same as "worst royal". As in, LOL WHO CARES STILL BROKEN. Still, the whole availability issue + durability concerns give her problems. But she's definitely one of the best units in the chapters that she exists in, and for that she deserves a good score.

...I don't really have much else to say.

9/10

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