Rate the Unit: Day 49 - Ranulf

[Ema Skye]

Dat Rules (borrowed/stolen from Integrity)

- Ratings are assumed to be on Hard Mode (JP Maniac). And only hard mode!

- 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 when the next RTU thread is posted (at this point, it's hard to tell).

- 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" or "Gives you Bronze Sword" 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. I will not throw your vote out if I do not support your opinion. Possible reasons for a tossed vote include: your vote is higher/lower than the vast majority to "balance the score" and failure to justify a radically different score.

Averages:

Fiona: 1.20

Meg: 1.34

Astrid: 2.10

Lethe: 2.21

Vika: 2.40

Leonardo: 2.53

Lucia: 3.06

Danved: 3.11

Mist: 3.11

Rhys: 3.21

Tormod: 3.28

Rolf: 3.36

Brom: 3.56

Ilyana: 3.75

Makalov: 4.00

Nealuchi: 4.41

Tauroneo: 4.50

Geoffery: 4.50

Black Knight: 4.60

Maurim: 4.72

Kieran: 4.82

Aran: 4.92

Laura: 5.13

Heather: 5.29

Soren: 5.45

Edward: 6.31

Micaiah: 6.50

Calill: 6.59

Boyd: 6.85

Mordecai: 7.17

Gatrie: 7.22

Marcia: 7.31

Zihark: 7.44

Nephenee: 7.74

Shinon: 7.90

Oscar: 8.11

Elincia: 8.21

Leanne: 8.38

Rafiel: 8.45

Mia: 8.45

Jill: 8.46

Volug: 8.87

Sothe: 8.93

Nailah: 9.00

Nolan: 9.06

Ike: 9.28

Titania: 9.76

Haar: 9.91

[nano]

This one is tough... He looks nice on paper with his solid bases and high move, but his gauge and the lack of range really hurts him. He has a few places where he does reasonably well, because enemies are not too dense and are all holding melee weapons. Just needs 4 levels of Bexp (which is actually quite a lot) to be combat-worthy in part 4, and again can do stuff here and there. I don't like him though, being dealing with too many cats recently.

6/10 - 0.5 bias

[Loki Laufeyson]

Ranulf, the big blue kitty beast.

Pros:

Good bases.

Good base level.

High speed.

High move.

Cons:

Forced.

Cat gauge.

Ranulf comes along and forces himself on your team for like..the duration of the game. (until endgame) He looks good at first, really good in fact. But in truth, his gauge screws him so bad he cant do much. Yeah he can kill junk and dodge and get to where he needs to go pretty quick, but hes not doing it for long. I dont like how hes forced. Because most of the time, hes not necessary. Especially in levels where id rather have Reyson or something. Because hes at a high base level, hes hard to train. He wont get a lot of experience for murder for a long time. That gauge just dicks him so bad...poor cats.

6/10. 5.5/10 bias because he kinda drives me nuts as a unit.

[Samias]

Poor Ranulf would be pretty nice, if only his gauge weren't the dreaded cat gauge. Easy to fill, but even easier to deplete, Ranulf really has trouble staying in combat. He's at least got way better bases than Lyre and has base speed identical to a tiger's speed cap, but if he weren't forced, I wouldn't have much use for Ranulf. You can dump Howl and Quickclaw on him, since he's the best beast you've got for part 3, and he's very dodgy when he is in his transformed state at least and doubles a majority of enemies, though his offence at A-rank strike leaves much to be desired. EXP gain for laguz is really bad until part 4, so unless you feed Ranulf bexp, he probably won't even get to use his satori sign. You pretty much have to chug laguz stones for Ranulf to be useful. If laguz gems were more available, Ranulf would be one happy kitty, but then Giffca comes in part 4-F with bases that just crush a trained Ranulf anyway...

I don't even want to get into comparison with beorc units.

I'll give Ranulf a 4.5/10, since his combat is good when he has it, but that gauge is just such a massive hindrance...

[MacLovin]

Lesseee.

Just needs to have a different Gauge.

That's all.

And, some bexp, rend, and getting to S/SS strike.

-1, because gauge is balls.

7.242353254235235/10

Which, I'll raise to 8/10 for simplicity.

He's nice when free, but needs to chug Olivi Grass every turn or so.

[Shadow Mir]

4/10. The best cat in the game, but that means very little between the fact that cats are arguably the worst class in the game, as well as the fact that his "competition" is so bad it's depressing. His high level also means he NEEDS BEXP to get anywhere fast because laguz gain experience at a rate that describing as "snail's pace" would be too kind.

Edited June 20, 2012 by Golden Cucco

[Starwave]

Eh... what is with the discrepancy between Ranulf's rating and his tiering position? He must have done something to earn being in upper mid... Disregarding the fact that his competition is utterly irrelevant, Ranufl is forced in many maps, so you're using him regardless of whether you like him or not. It's not place to say this, but I think you guys are being overly critical..

Anyway, I love Ranulf. As a character, he's the best Laguz in the game (reasonable to the point of absurdity) and he definitely keeps the army from falling apart with his quick thinking. Bias aside, I don't see what the hate is about. Yes, Cat Laguz have disgusting transformation gauges but Olivi grass is cheap, and he just needs to guzzle them every so often in order to maintain his laguz form, which kicks ass. (The GMs are not poor!) He's a high level unit that comes with awesome bases for his class. He doubles forever, has a decent enough strength to actually "kill" things, and his above average movement range makes him a good offensive unit. Giving him 4 levels of BEXP isn't that big of a deal at all (even in hard mode) unless you're dead set on not using him. Also, as a silver lining, since he's never leveling up via CEXP you can BEXP manipulate to get the right stat ups, making him even more of a threat than usual. The laguz cat mastery skill is also arguably the best in the game.

7.5/10 + 0.5 bias

8/10

[PuffPuff]

His high level also means he NEEDS BEXP to get anywhere fast because laguz gain experience at a rate that describing as "snail's pace" would be too kind.

Even though he can get alot more EXP untransformed. Magic Cards might work to get him some C EXP.

Edited June 20, 2012 by アイネ

[Shadow Mir]

Eh... what is with the discrepancy between Ranulf's rating and his tiering position? He must have done something to earn being in upper mid... Disregarding the fact that his competition is utterly irrelevant, Ranufl is forced in many maps, so you're using him regardless of whether you like him or not. It's not place to say this, but I think you guys are being overly critical..

Anyway, I love Ranulf. As a character, he's the best Laguz in the game (reasonable to the point of absurdity) and he definitely keeps the army from falling apart with his quick thinking. Bias aside, I don't see what the hate is about. Yes, Cat Laguz have disgusting transformation gauges but Olivi grass is cheap, and he just needs to guzzle them every so often in order to maintain his laguz form, which kicks ass. (The GMs are not poor!) He's a high level unit that comes with awesome bases for his class. He doubles forever, has a decent enough strength to actually "kill" things, and his above average movement range makes him a good offensive unit. Giving him 4 levels of BEXP isn't that big of a deal at all (even in hard mode) unless you're dead set on not using him. Also, as a silver lining, since he's never leveling up via CEXP you can BEXP manipulate to get the right stat ups, making him even more of a threat than usual. The laguz cat mastery skill is also arguably the best in the game.

7.5/10 + 0.5 bias

8/10

As for why people don't like Ranulf, you said it yourself; cat gauge is extremely restrictive. I consider him more of an albatross around my neck (read: a burden) in part 3 because cat laguz are that bad. Also, if you can say we're being overly critical, I can just as easily say you're coddling him. Needing to have him grass up every other player phase is a major inconvenience. Also, I call BS on cats having the best mastery skill in the game. And personally, I *really* am not very fond of non-royal laguz units in this game. More often than not, I feel like I got kicked in the nuts seeing them level up and get hardly anything for the trouble. And I ask you, in what universe is 1600 gold for one olivi grass "cheap"???

Even though he can get alot more EXP untransformed. Magic Cards might work to get him some C EXP.

I like how you're implying Ranulf will be damaging anything with a magic card. (Hint: He won't do any damage to almost everything)

Edited June 20, 2012 by Golden Cucco

[MacLovin]

Ranulfs main problem is his gauge.

If it were slower, similar to a Tiger or Hawk gauge, he'd be a pretty damn good unit.

I think Ranulf minus gauge equals Volug.

[OrangeCrush980]

Eh... what is with the discrepancy between Ranulf's rating and his tiering position? He must have done something to earn being in upper mid... Disregarding the fact that his competition is utterly irrelevant, Ranufl is forced in many maps, so you're using him regardless of whether you like him or not. It's not place to say this, but I think you guys are being overly critical..

This is the same series where some people gave Mist a 0/10 even though she's mid tier.

[MacLovin]

This is the same series where some people gave Mist a 0/10 even though she's mid tier.

I think Mist is mid tier due to restore utility in p4 Greil route, and due to being locked to Greil.

[Melonhead]

Ranulf is seriously the only cat worth using.

For one thing, he's Blue, has good movement, and has some good base stats, but his gauge seriously hurts him, and is hard to train without BexP. It's possible, but not exactly the best way to go. With the good amount of Olivi grass in the game, Ranulf can chug them every now and then.

6/10

[nano]

Think of it this way. There are four enemies in need of engaging, three are melee and one ranged. Oscar will probably 2RKO all of them with a Javelin forge, or maybe just a vanilla Javelin. He drinks two vulneraries and enemies are all dead in two turns. Here comes Ranulf, he has to eat a stone on turn 1, grass on turn 2, attack that one lone ranged enemy on turn 3 and grass again on turn 4. This is not even counting the chance that some melee enemies will not die and may force another grass on turn 3. Stones are also in limited supply and every laguz wants them, including the herons. And with no stone Raulf does nothing until turn 3.

Ranulf is just so difficult to use effectively, at least for me.

[Shadow Mir]

Think of it this way. There are four enemies in need of engaging, three are melee and one ranged. Oscar will probably 2RKO all of them with a Javelin forge, or maybe just a vanilla Javelin. He drinks two vulneraries and enemies are all dead in two turns. Here comes Ranulf, he has to eat a stone on turn 1, grass on turn 2, attack that one lone ranged enemy on turn 3 and grass again on turn 4. This is not even counting the chance that some melee enemies will not die and may force another grass on turn 3. Stones are also in limited supply and every laguz wants them, including the herons. And with no stone Raulf does nothing until turn 3.

Ranulf is just so difficult to use effectively, at least for me.

It's even worse than that; considering that every combat costs 4 points from a cat's gauge, Ranulf being attacked by the three melee enemies and the turn passing deplete more of his gauge than an olivi grass restores.

[fuzz94]

Oh ranulf. All around he's not too bad. He's got some strength so he can make it to your end game team and help out. Maybe not against the goddess. His stats and growths are pretty solid. All around he's a decent unit.

6/10 +1 because i love him (cats <3)

7/10

[Chiki]

2/10 no 2-range, sub-par offense. And he's a laguz.

Edited June 20, 2012 by Aeine

[Only My Unit]

4/10. I like him, but I know I'm not using him more than I have to. Kinda okay stats, but you really can't make him much better.

[PKL]

Godly bases. Close to signing. Buuuut, he has cat gauge which severely limits how many enemies he can take in every EP. There's grass but needing to chug that to stay transformed instead of just killing more shit in PP is a flaw that cannot be overlooked. 3/10 (4/10 -1 bias)

Edited June 20, 2012 by Professor PicKLe

[Ema Skye]

4/10

He's the best cat, but that's like being the best archer; it has no weight. Rule #2 of this game is that RD hates Cats (almost as much as it hates Fiona). No 1-2 range, requires at least one turn on a map to be able to even have an existent player phase and terrible EXP gain are all nails in Ranulf's coffin. At least his bases are good.

[I don't play for turns]

Stat-wise he's much better than the other cats, but he shares the gauge. 6.5/10 Including a +1 bias because he's so darn awesome.

[Starwave]

As for why people don't like Ranulf, you said it yourself; cat gauge is extremely restrictive. I consider him more of an albatross around my neck (read: a burden) in part 3 because cat laguz are that bad. Also, if you can say we're being overly critical, I can just as easily say you're coddling him. Needing to have him grass up every other player phase is a major inconvenience. Also, I call BS on cats having the best mastery skill in the game. And personally, I *really* am not very fond of non-royal laguz units in this game. More often than not, I feel like I got kicked in the nuts seeing them level up and get hardly anything for the trouble. And I ask you, in what universe is 1600 gold for one olivi grass "cheap"???

Just because a character requires precision, doesn't instantly make them worthless. You can't park him in front of several enemies. You CAN plan ahead and ensure he isn't out of laguz form on the EP. Just so you know You get more than enough free olivi grass from the game, so buying a few won't really kill your bank. Last I checked, the laguz cat mastery skill multiplied damage by 5 and is based on your speed stat, I don't really see how anything else can compete with that. Ranulf an unconventional character, true but those bases whi. Not even going to bother countering the no "1-2 range" arguments since they're laughable.

Regardless, I just don't see how any can score an upper mid tier character lower than a 5. Unless there's some groundshaking universal event that rendered Ranulf crappy overnight, I really think its just a case of personal experience deciding "everything."

PS: Where did the tier list thread go?

Edited June 20, 2012 by Starwave

[PKL]

Starwave- I myself dont like cats, no matter how OP ranulf's bases are. Because of that same thing you are saying. He cant go in and murder everything in EP because of his gauge. Having to limit EP exposure means he gets to kill only a few enemies and that means taking longer in a map.

[Vicious Sal]

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Just because a character requires precision, doesn't instantly make them worthless. You can't park him in front of several enemies. You CAN plan ahead and ensure he isn't out of laguz form on the EP. Just so you know You get more than enough free olivi grass from the game, so buying a few won't really kill your bank. Last I checked, the laguz cat mastery skill multiplied damage by 5 and is based on your speed stat, I don't really see how anything else can compete with that. Ranulf an unconventional character, true but those bases whi. Not even going to bother countering the no "1-2 range" arguments since they're laughable.

Regardless, I just don't see how any can score an upper mid tier character lower than a 5. Unless there's some groundshaking universal event that rendered Ranulf crappy overnight, I really think its just a case of personal experience deciding "everything."

PS: Where did the tier list thread go?

Wind edge, storm sword, javelin, short spear, hand axe, short axe, very rare case of tempest blade/spear/tomahawk, iron bow, steel bow, silver bow, occasional knife. Wind, elwind, arcwind etc, fire, etc, thunder, etc.

Any three of those, and he loses 17 points of his gauge. and that is without even a shred of 1 range. (5 points of turn change). Oh, and 3-4 might be ok range wise, but is does have an occasional ballista, true, NPC's are targeted more. 3-7 is full of 2 range. 3-8 is even worse. 3-10 has bows everywhere, and a section of bishops. 3-11 is designed for 2 range with those sandbags. gauge sucks, period. It kills his use.

Also, lolmymasteryisbetterbuteveryoneelsesstillKO'stheenemyaswell

He gets a 4/10 And that is with bias.

[Shadow Mir]

Just because a character requires precision, doesn't instantly make them worthless. You can't park him in front of several enemies. You CAN plan ahead and ensure he isn't out of laguz form on the EP. Just so you know You get more than enough free olivi grass from the game, so buying a few won't really kill your bank. Last I checked, the laguz cat mastery skill multiplied damage by 5 and is based on your speed stat, I don't really see how anything else can compete with that. Ranulf an unconventional character, true but those bases whi. Not even going to bother countering the no "1-2 range" arguments since they're laughable.

Regardless, I just don't see how any can score an upper mid tier character lower than a 5. Unless there's some groundshaking universal event that rendered Ranulf crappy overnight, I really think its just a case of personal experience deciding "everything."

PS: Where did the tier list thread go?

*sigh* You just don't get it do you? I dislike Ranulf for most of the reasons you yourself stated, and the fact Radiant Dawn hates cats' guts only pushes the nail further in Ranulf's coffin. As for your statement about the cat's mastery skill, what's it matter when a mastery going off usually means the poor sap on the receiving end will be six feet under? Also, if you think Ranulf's tiering position means he should be getting good ratings, you must be really naive. For [EFF]'s sake, Rhys and Mist only averaged about 3, and they're mid tier! And I don't see how no 1-2 range is a laughable argument when it means the enemy can go "lawl I get to knock 4 points off your gauge and u can't do a thing".

Edited June 20, 2012 by Golden Cucco