Rate the Unit, Day 13: Zihark

[PKL]

Dat Rules (borrowed/stolen from Integrity)

- Ratings are assumed to be on Hard Mode (JP Maniac).

- Votes need some explanation regarding their gameplay performance to be counted. If somebody else said what you want to already, quote them explicitly.

+/- ≤1 point extra regarding personality/appearance is encouraged, but no more. If you exercise your bias privileges, please do so explicitly.

- Numerical votes out of 10, or something proportional to it. Make it easy to calculate for my sake.

- Every ranking phase ends whenever I get out of bed, between 0700 and 0800 EST. Do the math for your timezone, Brits.

- I will insist you do not use the "Not X" reason on any character, where X is another unit. If you do, your vote will be thrown out.

- "Recruits X" or "takes you to X chapter" arguments are explicitly banned. C'mon, people, this shouldn't need to be a rule. That's not gameplay performance.

- Assume that the character in question is being recruited.

- Similar to the "Recruits X" rule, do not use "she brings a Savior to the team" as an argument.

- BEXP is free to be used in any quantity on any character.

- Skills can be reassigned freely.

- No transfers.

- I withhold the privilege to tell you your rating is bogus and demand you revise it if it breaks any of the above. I will not throw out votes anonymously, you will be informed and given a chance to revise.

Averages:

Meg: 1.341

Leonardo: 2.531

Ilyana: 3.75

Tauroneo: 4.5

Aran: 4.926

Laura: 5.139

Edward: 6.316

Micaiah: 6.5

Jill: 8.46

Volug: 8.875

Sothe: 8.938

Nolan: 9.069

[MacLovin]

Sothe as an SM and lower str growth.

Earth aff and is one of the 3 good earth aff DBers.

Helps out in the DB and is kinda clutch.

Also, anyone who transfers Zihark to the GMs in HM, is shooting themselves in the foot with a barbed harpoon.

He's not a bad choice to bring to the endgame, since he's got alot of good points.

Oh, and better than Edward if you want to train a Swordie for the DB.

9/10, good availibility, on a team that needs him.

Decent class and Earth aff. help too!

[Vicious Sal]

1334688090[/url]' post='1942562']

Sothe as an SM and lower str growth.

Earth aff and is one of the 3 good earth aff DBers.

Helps out in the DB and is kinda clutch.

Also, anyone who transfers Zihark to the GMs in HM, is shooting themselves in the foot with a barbed harpoon.

He's not a bad choice to bring to the endgame, since he's got alot of good points.

Oh, and better than Edward if you want to train a Swordie for the DB.

9/10, good availibility, on a team that needs him.

Decent class and Earth aff. help too!

I have only one thing to add to that. And that is a +1 for bias. Hes great for endgame as well, and with the db energy drop, he wil cap str on average. So that is all good.

10

[Sasori]

Being in the dawn brigade is the best thing that could happen to Zeehork. Sure he won't be as high leveled as Mia, but his team needs him a lot more.

Once again he has great offense, but he is far less durable then his fe9 self since enemies are actually able to hit in this game. An earth support works wonders for Zeehar-ack, but it takes a while before those get going.

His durability might not be the best, but the dawn brigade isn't exactly an durable brigade so it matters less.

Zihark gets a 9 from me. He makes life in the dawn brigade a lot easier and he's worth using troughout the entire game.

Edited April 17, 2012 by Sasori

[Renall]

A good unit in a bad team, which just makes him shine. Lacks Jill's flying and the hard durability of Sothe/Volug, but has more potential than Sothe (especially offensively) and a delicious Earth support which is just begging to be taken either by somebody weak who needs it or by Nolan or Volug to create a dodge-tanking partnership that will suit Zihark quite well indeed.

As a Trueblade he's at least viable in 4-E, too. I usually don't like to bring SMs but they're fast enough at least, and that's something.

Anything else? Oh yes: Zihark's caps are easy to play with if you want to give him a level or two before promotion through BEXP. He's gotta be in the mid-teens on average but if you hit those SKL/SPD caps he should shore up his STR and possibly even cap that as well. His stat spread is pretty much ideally suited to the caps of his class, so he has good long-term potential and can early promote by a few levels and be fine with that.

9/10

[Loki Laufeyson]

Zihark, that guy who likes Laguz and junk. Friends with Brom.

Pros:

Earth Affinity.

Decent bases.

Much needed on an underleveled team.

Free Adept.

Cons:

Not very durable.

Strength is kinda ehh.

So lets talk about Pookums. Hes pretty solid. If Adept is left on him, he gets spammy with that Killing Edge. Hes Earth Affinity. You know what that means? Oh yeah, broken support bonuses. Whats with the DBs and Earth Affinities? Well, its nice to have on such a team....Pairing up Zihark with Volug or Nolan or Fiona means mega avoid. Given that Zihark has kinda dumpy defense, this is a good thing. Hes not a bad candidate for Paragon at least in part 1. (of course other guys like Jill use it the best.) His strength growth isnt that high though. So for a good while, hes relying on crits to ORKO junk. Not a big deal but it can hurt him in later parts. He can have a pretty decent part 4 too. I actually used to prefer him over Mia but....well...She gets just outright ridiculous most of the time, so thats a thing...

8/10.

[Biabarr]

Sothe as an SM and lower str growth.Earth aff and is one of the 3 good earth aff DBers.Helps out in the DB and is kinda clutch.Also, anyone who transfers Zihark to the GMs in HM, is shooting themselves in the foot with a barbed harpoon.He's not a bad choice to bring to the endgame, since he's got alot of good points.Oh, and better than Edward if you want to train a Swordie for the DB.9/10, good availibility, on a team that needs him.Decent class and Earth aff. help too!

This

[Anouleth]

As we all know, Zihark isn't required for anything.

0/10

[Titamon]

I love Zihark, but I need to be realistic

He's solid in Part 1, Kitty chow in Part 3 and just OK in Part 4

6.5/10

[Snapdragon]

8/10 I find him pretty damn useful since the dawn brigade suck. Earth affinity and adept are nice. Not the best unit but he can certainly remain usable the entirety of the game.

[Melonhead]

Zihark, the guy with the broken affinity, great starting level compared to the rest of the DB, and adept. I prefer Edward over him personally, but he still is a great unit, and should be treated as one, even with competition with Lucia Mia. Only issues I can think of with him is that he starts with only a killing edge (Stealing from edward or buying a steel sword is almost a must) +1 bias for non-racism and epic clothes for a

9.5/10

REVISED

Zihark, the guy with the broken affinity, great starting level compared to the rest of the DB, and adept. I prefer Edward over him personally, but he is still a decent unit, and has some uses as far in as part 3, and if Trueblade, can be very good until endgame. I find him to be a pretty good Laguz killer in 3-13 with his killing edge and adept, even without many levels. Sadly, he comes in a little overleveled, tagging him by some as an exp hog in part 1, and has the Strength and Defence growths of most mages.

His skill is what really makes him good, with it easily capping, and he is a great choice for the gamble skill, as he starts with a killing edge. +.5 bias for non-racism and epic clothes for a

7.5/10

Edited April 18, 2012 by Melonhead215

[Esaka]

DOUBLING!

TRANSFER POTENTIAL!

SWORDUHS! (I like em)

EARTH!

ON A BAD TEAM!!!!

FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF YEAAAAAAAAAAAH

9/10 +1 because he's awesome

[Silent Mercenary]

Pros:

+Great stats and growths in everything except Magic, and even then, his base is good enough to give him Imbue for a while. Luck is also not as high as other swordusers, but enough to dodge non-Killer weapon criticals.

+Good endgame, specially because of high HP/Res.

~Potential for transfers to overpower his Skl/Spd and raise Str and Def to max on average

+Earth affinity with various other Earth (or Thunder) options available

+Contributes a lot to the Dawn Brigade by being a reliable fighter

+The option to either have more availability or keep helping a team that needs him

+Adept is still a great skill

+10-20 critical bonus

Cons:

-.25 for foot-soldier move

-1 since initial durability isn't that good and supports don't happen in an instant

I don't know what else to penalize him for (dumb NPC AI sometimes?) so with a +.5 for affinity and the same +.75 personality bias I gave him in PoR, this is 10/10 from me. I think his assistance to the DB/being good throughout compared to other units who disappear or on teams that don't need help, makes him deserve something over 9.

[Serene Flight]

As we all know, Zihark isn't required for anything.

This. Except I used him as avoid tank in like... 2 first chapters after recruiting him, then I threw him away.

5/10

+1 because he Laguz loving person

-1 because I hate his appearance

So 5/10 it is.

Edited April 18, 2012 by Serene Flight

[PKL]

Quoting a rating I wont count wont do you any good serene flight. Not counting yours either, because you didnt convince me with your "reasoning".

[Ciarre]

I give him a 7.5/10

I find that his strength growth really lags most of time and after part 1, he's actually kind of frail. He does have adept and a hax affinity, so that's something, and being able to consistently kill things in part 1 is nice. His endgame, if you can get him there, is also good.

I don't really like Zihark though, so -1 bias, which brings him to a 6.5/10.

[Anouleth]

Quoting a rating I wont count wont do you any good serene flight. Not counting yours either, because you didnt convince me with your "reasoning".

Fine, if I give him a 3/10 will you be happy?

[Silith]

Holy shit. Why are people rating him so high?

He starts off at a high level with above average stats compared to the rest of the team. He's not durable enough to do Tauroneo's Job and obviously lacks the utility that Jill brings.

The best part about him is his Earth affinity but that doesn't really help either.

His dodge while niche won't save him from the laguz in 3-6 because his actual defences are pretty low.

5/10 (with a good +1 because I never tried to REALLY use him)

[Colonel M]

Yeah, the people who are rating 9s and 10s need to get off their rockers for a second. It's almost like the fanatic-era all over again, except Interceptor isn't here with the side-swiping comments (though I wish he was). Let's think this over carefully for a moment.

Zihark has inferior 2 range to Sothe

Zihark has inferior durability to Tauroneo, and he does eventually have even more inferior durability to Jill and Nolan

Zihark's offense is good throughout Part 1 (especially on 1-8's Bandits); however, his offense in Part 3 is mediocre-to-pathetic compared to Volug, Nolan, and Jill.

Zihark's situation with BEXP isn't as good as Mia's, nor is his amount of time that can be used.

When Zihark joins he has a couple of advantages, but they're either superfluous or only last for a short time. 30 HP | 13 Def is pretty comparable to a 15 Nolan with C Edward (32.6 HP | 12 Def vs. 30 HP | 13 Def). While Zihark has better Avoid, the enemies in this game aren't really shitty in the Hit department. You would have to constantly use the thickets to your advantage. Zihark has a base Avoid of 57, which becomes 67 with a thicket. Most enemies have over 100 Hit, though, the thicket is keeping his Def up-to-par. His chance of death shouldn't be too ridiculous so long as you aren't having him tank everything. So how, you may ask, makes Zihark terrible? He has better offense than Nolan at this point, and he's about equal in durability (if not better because of Avoid), and he's in Tier 2. What's the problem?

Let's hit 3-6.

Now we likely have a promoted Nolan and Jill, and Volug possibly has S Strike. Sothe has Beast Killer, which also doesn't help Zihark's case. Jill is likely quick enough to double Tigers at this point and Nolan is likely OHKOing with Beastfoe in his attire. Volug is tearing Cats in one round while he's leaving a hefty dent on Tigers. Zihark needs a Spd proc to double the 20 AS Cats, and he'll miss the ones with 22 AS. The Tigers are at least in his reach. With a forged Steel Sword he 3HKOes Cats, and Tigers are like a 4-5HKO (yes, the 20 Def kitties can be a 5HKO). This isn't terrible (I mean the rest of the schmucks who are untrained are likely not going to take two hits, let alone one), but now we hit durability, which raises a gigantic eyebrow. Zihark is getting 3HKOed by 27 Atk Cats, and he can be 2HKOed if he doesn't stand in a Thicket. The Tigers? Fuck it, he's getting 2HKOed by the goddamn A Strike Tiger. They're pretty accurate too. Let's assume that we can (somehow) get a B Earth support. Zihark has 87 Avoid, or 97 in a Thicket. The lowest Hit here is 132, and that's with the A Strike Tiger. Outside of a thicket, Zihark has a 45% chance of being Hit (40.95% True) and within the thicket it's 35%, 24.85% True. But let's remember the two conditions:

1) I listed the lowest Hit for the enemy.

2) That excludes Biorhythm, which can fluctuate of up to 30% Avoid. For OR against you.

The most common Tigers have 137 Hit, which brings those numbers up to 50% displayed outside of a thicket and 40%, or 32.2% True inside a thicket. The average Cats have 137, 141, and 142 Hit.

Now also consider that Zihark's HP / Def growth also isn't improving much. 55% HP and 25% Def is far from stellar, so chances are those 2HKOes are going to stay there for quite a while. So in review, we have a unit who doesn't have the greatest offense or defense.

Could he take a skill resource? Certainly, but now we hit further into the competition line. First, we have Beastfoe. Zihark with a forged Steel has 59 Atk, which obviously fails to OHKO Tigers and just OHKOes Cats. I guess that isn't bad since it's still ORKOing Tigers, but that likely forces eating a counterattack in the process. Then you have units like Nolan who OHKO with a +3 Def weapon or from 1-2 range, then you have Volug who can nearly OHKO Tigers. Let's also not forget Jill can use it to be a mobile beast killer with Canto on the side. The next is Paragon, which comes at the cost of losing one of Nolan or Jill within the process. While it's definitely possible to beat the game without Jill or Nolan, it's also difficult to do 3-13 without a little luck (we're looking at Trueblade Zihark to killing Ike) and the loss of mobility for Part 4 kind of hurts.

Resources item-wise? I guess Zihark could take a Dracoshield and Seraph Robe, but once again competition stands stiff with Nolan and Jill putting it to their advantages.

Zihark's issue is this - he's in the wrong fucking team and comes at the worst fucking time. Zihark feels nothing more but flat-out redundant when you consider a Swordmaster isn't really what the Dawn Brigade "needs" for their chapters. They need someone who's just quick enough to deal damage, has high Mt weapons to take advantage of Beastfoe, and just durable to pull it all off. Let's not forget that Zihark's support requires his partner practically glued to him, and that can create even more issues. Nolan is a very slow support, Volug is usually off running around eating some humans, and don't even get me started on him support Fiona...

Though I guess there's still 3-12, right? Enemies are a little easier for him, but he can't go Godmode it like Nolan or Jill can, sadly. It would likely take the A Support to really consider him tanking the enemies, and that's kind of rough to assume even at this point. If you can somehow put up with Zihark up to Part 4... he's... okay. But let's face it - you put up with a mediocre-to-crummy unit just to have something that's easily replicable at this point. Astra isn't that awesome, and dodge-tanking is slightly overrated when you're going to have minor issues ORKOing. Zihark's 41 Atk with a Silver Blade whiffs ORKOes on Halberdiers, and Silver forges aren't available until Chapter 4-2.

For extra credit, he has Adept, and I guess if you're stupidly desperate in Part 3 you could use Resolve on him, but let's be honest... he's... not... good. Acceptable. But not good.

6.5/10

[Anouleth]

PKL, you threw out my Tauroneo vote without giving me a chance to explain and defend it. Can you please factor it back in?

[I.M. Gei]

Yeah, the people who are rating 9s and 10s need to get off their rockers for a second. It's almost like the fanatic-era all over again, except Interceptor isn't here with the side-swiping comments (though I wish he was). Let's think this over carefully for a moment.

Zihark has inferior 2 range to Sothe

Zihark has inferior durability to Tauroneo, and he does eventually have even more inferior durability to Jill and Nolan

Zihark's offense is good throughout Part 1 (especially on 1-8's Bandits); however, his offense in Part 3 is mediocre-to-pathetic compared to Volug, Nolan, and Jill.

Zihark's situation with BEXP isn't as good as Mia's, nor is his amount of time that can be used.

When Zihark joins he has a couple of advantages, but they're either superfluous or only last for a short time. 30 HP | 13 Def is pretty comparable to a 15 Nolan with C Edward (32.6 HP | 12 Def vs. 30 HP | 13 Def). While Zihark has better Avoid, the enemies in this game aren't really shitty in the Hit department. You would have to constantly use the thickets to your advantage. Zihark has a base Avoid of 57, which becomes 67 with a thicket. Most enemies have over 100 Hit, though, the thicket is keeping his Def up-to-par. His chance of death shouldn't be too ridiculous so long as you aren't having him tank everything. So how, you may ask, makes Zihark terrible? He has better offense than Nolan at this point, and he's about equal in durability (if not better because of Avoid), and he's in Tier 2. What's the problem?

Let's hit 3-6.

Now we likely have a promoted Nolan and Jill, and Volug possibly has S Strike. Sothe has Beast Killer, which also doesn't help Zihark's case. Jill is likely quick enough to double Tigers at this point and Nolan is likely OHKOing with Beastfoe in his attire. Volug is tearing Cats in one round while he's leaving a hefty dent on Tigers. Zihark needs a Spd proc to double the 20 AS Cats, and he'll miss the ones with 22 AS. The Tigers are at least in his reach. With a forged Steel Sword he 3HKOes Cats, and Tigers are like a 4-5HKO (yes, the 20 Def kitties can be a 5HKO). This isn't terrible (I mean the rest of the schmucks who are untrained are likely not going to take two hits, let alone one), but now we hit durability, which raises a gigantic eyebrow. Zihark is getting 3HKOed by 27 Atk Cats, and he can be 2HKOed if he doesn't stand in a Thicket. The Tigers? Fuck it, he's getting 2HKOed by the goddamn A Strike Tiger. They're pretty accurate too. Let's assume that we can (somehow) get a B Earth support. Zihark has 87 Avoid, or 97 in a Thicket. The lowest Hit here is 132, and that's with the A Strike Tiger. Outside of a thicket, Zihark has a 45% chance of being Hit (40.95% True) and within the thicket it's 35%, 24.85% True. But let's remember the two conditions:

1) I listed the lowest Hit for the enemy.

2) That excludes Biorhythm, which can fluctuate of up to 30% Avoid. For OR against you.

The most common Tigers have 137 Hit, which brings those numbers up to 50% displayed outside of a thicket and 40%, or 32.2% True inside a thicket. The average Cats have 137, 141, and 142 Hit.

Now also consider that Zihark's HP / Def growth also isn't improving much. 55% HP and 25% Def is far from stellar, so chances are those 2HKOes are going to stay there for quite a while. So in review, we have a unit who doesn't have the greatest offense or defense.

Could he take a skill resource? Certainly, but now we hit further into the competition line. First, we have Beastfoe. Zihark with a forged Steel has 59 Atk, which obviously fails to OHKO Tigers and just OHKOes Cats. I guess that isn't bad since it's still ORKOing Tigers, but that likely forces eating a counterattack in the process. Then you have units like Nolan who OHKO with a +3 Def weapon or from 1-2 range, then you have Volug who can nearly OHKO Tigers. Let's also not forget Jill can use it to be a mobile beast killer with Canto on the side. The next is Paragon, which comes at the cost of losing one of Nolan or Jill within the process. While it's definitely possible to beat the game without Jill or Nolan, it's also difficult to do 3-13 without a little luck (we're looking at Trueblade Zihark to killing Ike) and the loss of mobility for Part 4 kind of hurts.

Resources item-wise? I guess Zihark could take a Dracoshield and Seraph Robe, but once again competition stands stiff with Nolan and Jill putting it to their advantages.

Zihark's issue is this - he's in the wrong fucking team and comes at the worst fucking time. Zihark feels nothing more but flat-out redundant when you consider a Swordmaster isn't really what the Dawn Brigade "needs" for their chapters. They need someone who's just quick enough to deal damage, has high Mt weapons to take advantage of Beastfoe, and just durable to pull it all off. Let's not forget that Zihark's support requires his partner practically glued to him, and that can create even more issues. Nolan is a very slow support, Volug is usually off running around eating some humans, and don't even get me started on him support Fiona...

Though I guess there's still 3-12, right? Enemies are a little easier for him, but he can't go Godmode it like Nolan or Jill can, sadly. It would likely take the A Support to really consider him tanking the enemies, and that's kind of rough to assume even at this point. If you can somehow put up with Zihark up to Part 4... he's... okay. But let's face it - you put up with a mediocre-to-crummy unit just to have something that's easily replicable at this point. Astra isn't that awesome, and dodge-tanking is slightly overrated when you're going to have minor issues ORKOing. Zihark's 41 Atk with a Silver Blade whiffs ORKOes on Halberdiers, and Silver forges aren't available until Chapter 4-2.

For extra credit, he has Adept, and I guess if you're stupidly desperate in Part 3 you could use Resolve on him, but let's be honest... he's... not... good. Acceptable. But not good.

6.5/10

^this is my vote/reasoning too.

Seriously what is this, 2009?

[Shadow Mir]

^this is my vote/reasoning too.

Seriously what is this, 2009?

I suppose I might as well agree with Colonel M's rating. People are going way overboard here. Personally, I see Zihark as worth a 7 at best, but what's with the truckload of 9s and 10s?

Edited April 18, 2012 by Metal King Slime

[PKL]

PKL, you threw out my Tauroneo vote without giving me a chance to explain and defend it. Can you please factor it back in?

It seemed like you were trolling :S. So I thought I didnt even need to point out I was going to throw it out.

[Melonhead]

PKL, you threw out my Tauroneo vote without giving me a chance to explain and defend it. Can you please factor it back in?

Let him use the 3/10. I admit 0/10 is stupid, but if he gives a reason, let him go with a 3/10.

On another note, I have changed my rating for Zihark to a 7.5/10. I edited my old post, so look there for the reason.

Edited April 18, 2012 by Melonhead215

[PuffPuff]

Shit attack without RD bonus transfer. But other than that, a solid unit worth using getting good Res too. Yay! No being prone to status staves later on like they'll effect Eddie, cuz of his shit Res. Every other SM gets good Res but Eddie. Also one of your best units for Part 1 which Eddie starts off like shit.

6.5/10

Edited May 20, 2012 by リンダ