Top 30 Fire Emblem Characters of ALL TIME Countdown

[Swordsalmon]

If being able to staff-bot and fight warrants a position, where's Salem?

[MacLovin]

I'm guessing Sigurd, Jeigan archtypes as a whole, Pent, Haar and Hectank/Ephraim will end up here.

Especially Jeigan and all those like him

Marcus,Seth, Titania, Oifaye, Cuan.

Those guys are among the best in their games!!!

[bottlegnomes]

If being able to staff-bot and fight warrants a position, where's Salem?

"I suppose this is also where I can sort of lump in Salem, Tina, and whatever other staffbot I forgot"

There.

[dondon151]

If being able to staff-bot and fight warrants a position, where's Salem?

Salem doesn't really fight well, though. Linoan especially has the property of being virtually invincible as long as her combined HP + mag/def is greater than the enemy's atk and Resire hits.

[Lord Raven]

Well Salem is good at killing with a Wind tome. But he still sucks.

[Mekkah]

19. Palla, from FE12

I have never finished FE12 in Lunatic Mode. It's too much for my quickly distracted self to do. But Colonel M and dondon did, and Palla showed up quite a bit in their strategies...so, hello Palla! I did play it in lower difficulties, and there I found myself going: "so this is what FE10 Haar is like..." (spoilers: Haar is up even higher!).

It's hard to go into detail here because for one, FE12 is a reclass game. People are no longer really judged by their unique traits as much as their abslute bases (in stats and weapon levels), their availability, and their class set, and that's about it. But Palla scores really well there. She joins at level 10, which means she can promote any time she wants, and her absolute bases are consistently higher than anyone else who joins earlygame, including even the prepromote Sirius. With 50% absolute base Str growth and being able to use Silver off the bat, even single hits from her are going to put major dents in enemies. The fact that she has the option of flying, even with male classes not merged, is absolutely great because FE12 throws quite a few curveballs at you when it comes to terrain.

Palla does have a bit of a suspect Spd growth at 30% (as a Peg), which can start biting at some point later in the game. Thankfully FE12 growths are great in general and Palla is no exception, and having only one real flaw is usually not a problem as fixing that flaw through the extra levels gained or a stat booster (you actually get three sets of Speedwings at times where you can consider them relevant) often pays off in dividends.

In Lunatic Mode, Palla is pretty much forced on you simply because of how ridiculous the enemies are compared to your own army. You kind of have to use Palla for a lot of things, and then might also have to promote her just to be able to accomplish some "secondary" goals like keeping random separated allies alive. In normal difficulties...she's a ridiculously strong flier that will just fly across the map and mop up enemies for you. There's no other way to put it. I put more of an emphasis on the harder difficulties for this top 30, so that means Palla does have to cop with a slightly less stellar game overall...but top 20 units of all time? That's damn good.

[dondon151]

Spoiler: I didn't finish FE12 H3 either. I lost my flashcart halfway through the game =(

[Momo]

I call shenanigans if Sirius is higher on the list, since Palla is essentially him but better.

[bottlegnomes]

I call shenanigans if Sirius is higher on the list, since Palla is essentially him but better.

Well this is FE12 Palla. In 3 that's definitely true, but here Sirius might be better thanks to better overall growths, IIRC, and access to male promoted classes, like sniper, dracoknight, and swordmaster from the get go. Then again, I haven't even tried H3.

[dondon151]

Sirius is good enough for lower difficulties, but he has some big issues on H3 that Palla doesn't have.

[Seven Deadly Sins]

Well this is FE12 Palla. In 3 that's definitely true, but here Sirius might be better thanks to better overall growths, IIRC, and access to male promoted classes, like sniper, dracoknight, and swordmaster from the get go. Then again, I haven't even tried H3.

Fun fact: the three classes you mentioned are all classes that both males and females have access to, including one that is actually the class Palla promotes into naturally.

The more notable ones are access to Berserker with its ridiculous 9 STR and SPE bases and 30% growths in those stats, and Hero, which gives lots of Speed and axes.

EDIT: Regarding Sirius, the thing about Palla is that she actually has time to grow before she promotes, which is incredibly useful. Sirius actually is incredibly good, and easily second best in the game, but Palla has clutch availability, and Speedwings actually aren't that rare considering that two of them show up in quick succession (ch9 and 11) and there are 3 to be purchased in the shop if need be. Generally, I'd say that Palla's issues are easier to deal with than Sirius' in general.

Then again, they're basically both incredible, indispensable, and obligatory to use for the entire game, so Palla only really wins based on availability. I would have liked to see her grouped with Sirius if anything, though, since they basically fill the same role, in much the same way that Othin and Fergus got piled into the same spot. Maybe 19.5 Sirius or something.

Edited December 18, 2011 by Seven Deadly Sins

[Anouleth]

Fun fact: the three classes you mentioned are all classes that both males and females have access to, including one that is actually the class Palla promotes into naturally.

The more notable ones are access to Berserker with its ridiculous 9 STR and SPE bases and 30% growths in those stats, and Hero, which gives lots of Speed and axes.

Wow, Heroes give lots of axes? I'll have to ask one next time I see one, thanks for the tip!

[bottlegnomes]

Sirius is good enough for lower difficulties, but he has some big issues on H3 that Palla doesn't have.

Fun fact: the three classes you mentioned are all classes that both males and females have access to, including one that is actually the class Palla promotes into naturally.

The more notable ones are access to Berserker with its ridiculous 9 STR and SPE bases and 30% growths in those stats, and Hero, which gives lots of Speed and axes.

EDIT: Regarding Sirius, the thing about Palla is that she actually has time to grow before she promotes, which is incredibly useful. Sirius actually is incredibly good, and easily second best in the game, but Palla has clutch availability, and Speedwings actually aren't that rare considering that two of them show up in quick succession (ch9 and 11) and there are 3 to be purchased in the shop if need be. Generally, I'd say that Palla's issues are easier to deal with than Sirius' in general.

Then again, they're basically both incredible, indispensable, and obligatory to use for the entire game, so Palla only really wins based on availability. I would have liked to see her grouped with Sirius if anything, though, since they basically fill the same role, in much the same way that Othin and Fergus got piled into the same spot. Maybe 19.5 Sirius or something.

Fair enough, like I said, haven't played H3 yet. The only reason I mentioned those was because Sirius can use them off the bat, while Palla has to promote first, though that's hardly an issue, and from what I read of the NMotE tier list, they're incredibly helpful thanks to flying, killing flying dragons and great speed, and auto-wyrmslayers and great speed.

[dondon151]

The more notable ones are access to Berserker with its ridiculous 9 STR and SPE bases and 30% growths in those stats, and Hero, which gives lots of Speed and axes.

Sirius doesn't make a really good berserker because he has no base axe rank.

Sirius actually is incredibly good, and easily second best in the game,

Sirius has huge problems going into H3 lategame. His earlygame is great but he only has about 4 chapters before Palla is promoted and doing everything that he does, but better.

[Seven Deadly Sins]

Sirius doesn't make a really good berserker because he has no base axe rank.

D is enough for Hand Axes, IIRC, and there are times when that's all you really need. But yeah, there's not really a lot going for him with the male classes.

Sirius has huge problems going into H3 lategame. His earlygame is great but he only has about 4 chapters before Palla is promoted and doing everything that he does, but better.

This would be more relevant were Palla not guilty of the same amount of tapering lategame. Nor am I saying that Sirius should be better, just that he deserves a similar level of recognition. Lategame is when all your other units are amazing and holding their weight, earlygame is where your ranged game consists of Ryan, Gordin, and Linde, and Luke / Catria / etc. are still busy being mediocre and not nearly strong enough for what you need at the time. Plus, My Unit still needs to promote, so take from it what you will.

p.s.: fu anouleth

[Momo]

Sirius has huge problems going into H3 lategame. His earlygame is great but he only has about 4 chapters before Palla is promoted and doing everything that he does, but better.

Does it even take that long? Looking at their stats, Sirius only wins by 4 hp, 2 strength and 2 defense, while Palla wins by 3 speed. While he does have a B in swords, it's not put to much use, since the first sword that high comes in chapter 9. While he's clearly a bit better defensively, Palla's already better than him at combat. The only thing he has on her is one move, which she can instantly remedy by promoting.

[Anouleth]

Does it even take that long? Looking at their stats, Sirius only wins by 4 hp, 2 strength and 2 defense, while Palla wins by 3 speed. While he does have a B in swords, it's not put to much use, since the first sword that high comes in chapter 9. While he's clearly a bit better defensively, Palla's already better than him at combat. The only thing he has on her is one move, which she can instantly remedy by promoting.

And y'know, all that durability. And unrestricted reclass.

And if Palla instantly promotes to catch up to Sirius, then he kicks her butt at growths. He has the same strength growth, but 15% more HP and DEF and 35% more speed. So while in the short term, she's stronger, Sirius will eventually get ahead of her in speed and HP and catch up to her defense.

[Colonel M]

Being a person who has beaten H3 and used both Palla and Sirius, Mekkah is definitely right about putting Palla here. She's just too good.

Sirius's problem is right after earlygame, he gets this weird thing going on. Like, he's good still, but he's borderline on it. A single point screwed or lack of Rainbow Potion makes him dicey. He definitely doesn't have the durability Palla does, and the only reason he can irk a win lategame is because he carries the rare niche of being a good Horseman if you feed him a bit. And yes, Horseman is an awesome class to have when you're in the tower - Brave Bow and Wyrmslayer access is sick.

[Mekkah]

Kinda late.

18. My Unit, from FE12

My Unit, or MU for short, is meant to be a representation of the player within the game, kind of like FE7's tactician. Unlike this silent strategist that gives orders from a helicopter, MU gets to actually be on the field during the fight, attacking and defending things. And since they did not want to insult any players, they made his stats really, really good.

It's hard to get into exact numbers here because MU's stats can be configured to your preferences even more than normal units, due to the three questions at the start of the game in addition to all the reclass options. Suffice it to say you can either make him a nearly invincible Knight, an extremely powerful Fighter, or...a pretty damn good Cavalier. People tend to mix up MU's class as they go on, depending on what they just happen to need during a chapter.

Sadly, being a male, My Unit can't fly no matter what before promoting, but he does have the opportunity to get good weapon ranks in either lances or axes pretty easily for promotion, so that's worth something. And in the hardest difficulty, it's not like you want or need every unit to fly. Sometimes what you need is someone who kills things without dying. And that's what MU is.

A last minor but cool thing about My Unit is that he supports everyone in the game. Supports have never been that great in FEDS, but sometimes if you stack them while having WTA, you can get some pretty decent results that might just put you through an extra enemy phase. Also, he can be a pope with sunglasses.

[eclipse]

Uh, what about female MU? Some of us play as chicks!

[Bluedoom]

Female MU does basically what Male MU does, except as a mage she can go Resire/Aurabomb on everything. Really, there's no notable difference otherwise.

[eclipse]

She flies, and she can't go Class B. I'd like to know if this makes a difference.

[Bluedoom]

She flies, and she can't go Class B. I'd like to know if this makes a difference.

That's only pegasus knight, and half the time its not necessary earlygame where cavaliers can do much better. PK's have bow weakness as well. And after promotion male A and female share same class sets, so there.

Not being able to go Class B may seem bad at first, but really, the superior classes all belong in class A male set, bar Berserker. They also have access to general if you're so worried about not having any Class B, so there. :P

Warriors are shit, and Horsemen have lower base stats but better movt than Sniper, which MAY seem cool, but Snipers also have longbows and are overall cool to deploy. And then Female Mage/Sage/Bishop MU can staffbot and use Aura,Resire as I mentioned before.

Reallu, MU is just MU and broken no matter the gender.

Oh yeah, and lady sword. That's the only big difference I can find there, and it counters the missing of Class B set and Excalibur.

Edited December 19, 2011 by Marth

[dondon151]

She flies, and she can't go Class B. I'd like to know if this makes a difference.

The class set A base classes are all really mediocre for H3 prologue. Grandjackal says that he made myrm MU work, but fighter and knight are probably a lot better. And if myrm MU works, then merc MU might be better.

If MU starts as fighter, he also has a good axe rank when going dracoknight. Axe rank is hard to get in this game because there are no promoted classes in this game that give auto-C axes.

Also worth mentioning is that supports give out +hit, in a game where hit rates don't tend to fluctuate too far beyond weapon hit because 1 skl only gives +1 hit.

Edited December 19, 2011 by dondon151

[Mekkah]

And here you guys get another so we're back on schedule.

17. Alance, from FE6

Who's Alance? Oh, right. I see what I did there.

Alan and Lance are your Christmas cavaliers in FE6. One is faster, the other is stronger, but they're both good. They don't really look that broken early on, especially not in Hard Mode, but they're already off to a good start by being in the broken Cavalier class. I don't know why they gave most foot classes in FEGBA one weapon, 5 mov, and no canto and con-1 aid, while the cavaliers get two weapons, 7 mov, canto AND 20/25-con aid. I guess they like horses. Maybe Daniel Radcliffe works for IS?

Anyway, the practical consequences involve partial weapon triangle control, and being able to move far, far ahead over the enormous maps full of nothing that FE6 gives you. I think only FE4 and both FEDS games can beat FE6 at that. Now getting far ahead wouldn't do them a whole lot of good if they were bad at fighting, but they aren't. With 40-50% growths in both Str and Spd, and your average bases, they'll get good pretty quickly. Plus, they have that very very sexy support triangle with each other and Roy, providing a total of +5 Atk and +25 Avo to each of them, thanks to the Fire and Anima affinities. This pretty much makes them both invincible killer machines.

The above is great for first time HM playthroughs and other kinds of casual runs. For turbo efficiency runs, the two of them have a little more issues gaining EXP. I remember someone (Ballerzak or Gergeshwan (sp)) did a run involving them ending well but dondon doesn't think they're all that good...still, I think they belong up here. They are pretty much the perfect unpromoted growth units, with maximized availability and movement. That support may not happen in faster playthroughs, but it is one of the best things to fall back on in HM.

Other random things to mention about them...they get axes on promotion, which mostly means even more WTA than they had. Having both Hand Axes and Javelins is nice, too bad the accuracy of those weapons suck. Then again, the enemies also have rather bad accuracy, which makes their Avoid support so insanely broken. Like, enemies with Javelins/Steel Lances have around 70 hit in Ch8. L10 Lance averages 30 avo from stats alone, and then he could have +20 or so from supports (talking slow playthroughs here), that would make for 20% disp (8.2% true). Ridonkulous.

Edited December 19, 2011 by Mekkah