Best GBA Healer

[Katie]

Use whatever criteria you like. Anyway, for me, Saul for FE6, Serra for FE7, and MOULDER THE BOULDER for the win.

[MacLovin]

it's kind of hard to judge this, since some healers are kinda needed and useful early on, but not in the long run.

I.E.

Elen in fe6, Serra[ sort of] in fe7. Fe8 is so easy that Natasha isn't better than Moulder unless you want the S light tome on a mount. But it's so easy to do efficient runs of it. :/

Fe6 HM makes you want a Healer, so Elen's going to get a crapton of healing early on, even when Clarine joins with that low base, e staves, and 30% growth.

But shit spd growth man. :/ shitastic speeed.

Fe7 HHM is kinda tricky, but Serra's fairly useful.

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

FE6:

Tbh no one of the list (though I voted for Niime because of her high magic and stave level). For me it's Lilina, because she can heal effectively thanks to her very high magic. Even Lugh is better than all the suggested characters. Unfortunately it always takes so much time to raise the stave level.

FE7:

I only have played it once yet. Only used Serra. She turned out quite decently. I cannot say more.

FE8:

L'Arachel. She joins underleveled, but has pretty damn good growths. She's a dodgetank like Clarine, but with higher magic growth. Natasha has higher magic growth than L'Arachel, but her mobility makes her to the most usable healer in FE8 and in all GBA games.

Edited February 4, 2015 by The Taninator

[Kirie]

L'Arachel is best just because she's the best, but Serra is probably the most generally useful of all of them, at least in my playthroughs.

[BrightBow]

FE6:

Probably Clarine because she has a horse and comes early. Although I guess that low magic hurts her a lot.

FE7:

Priscilla for basically the same reason.

FE8:

I actually feel it's Natasha and not Moulder. She doesn't join too much after him while Moulder is more durable, his luck is so low that when he actually gets attacked there is always a risk of him getting a critical in his face.

The best is probably Priscilla since she has a lot more magic on her disposal then Clarine. And I guess for a game with weaker enemies, it's more important to have a mount too.

[Garnef]

FE6: Saulina Gomez

FE7: The rate of Serra being a bad unit is Rarera.

FE8: Moulder Delgado Boulder McGee VII

[Radiant Dragon]

Pent is the best of the group in my opinion. I like it when my healers can also kill everything and never die.

[Florete]

Priscilla is pretty easily the best if we're talking about healing utility alone. If we're talking about staff use overall, things can get a bit messy.

Things are closer for the healers in the other games but I voted for Clarine and L'Arachel because mounts (though L'Arachel is probably not actually the best in that game).

[Shadow Mir]

FE6: Clarine.

FE7: Priscilla, though this might have more to do with her being mounted; Serra's not too far behind.

FE8: Natasha. Moulder's availability advantage ain't enough to make him better by any stretch of the imagination imo, and his shit luck cuts into whatever durability advantage he might have.

Edited February 4, 2015 by Levant Caprice

[Paper Jam]

I'm more interested in additional utilities besides healing. For example, Ellen and Saul are the only characters in Binding Blade who can use Aureola (unless you want to waste combat experience getting Yodel's Light skill up to S), so I consider them the most utile healers in Binding Blade. (And of the two, I like Saul's growth rates better.)

Serra and Priscilla both get a bonus to combat experience after promotion, but Serra has about ten more chapters' worth of availability than Priscilla, so I like Serra better. (Incidentally, I somehow like Serra better than Lucius for using Aureola, because while Lucius' caps and Constitution are better, his Luck sucks.)

I like Natasha's growth rates more than Moulder's, and Natasha also has better availability than L'arachel.

[Shadow Mir]

I'm more interested in additional utilities besides healing. For example, Ellen and Saul are the only characters in Binding Blade who can use Aureola (unless you want to waste combat experience getting Yodel's Light skill up to S), so I consider them the most utile healers in Binding Blade. (And of the two, I like Saul's growth rates better.)

Serra and Priscilla both get a bonus to combat experience after promotion, but Serra has about ten more chapters' worth of availability than Priscilla, so I like Serra better. (Incidentally, I somehow like Serra better than Lucius for using Aureola, because while Lucius' caps and Constitution are better, his Luck sucks.)

I like Natasha's growth rates more than Moulder's, and Natasha also has better availability than L'arachel.

Bold: Lucius's caps are better? Really? I disagree, given that his better caps are in... Skill (AKA, dump stat) and Defense (which doesn't matter because he ain't reaching it). I'll take 2 extra Speed over those.

Edited February 5, 2015 by Levant Caprice

[Just call me AL]

@Levant: Serra's not expected to reach her Spd cap, though. If anything, she'll likely be as fast as Lucius. And despite knowing how to work around it, I don't like that she starts with a D in Light as a Bishop.

I'm more interested in additional utilities besides healing. For example, Ellen and Saul are the only characters in Binding Blade who can use Aureola (unless you want to waste combat experience getting Yodel's Light skill up to S), so I consider them the most utile healers in Binding Blade. (And of the two, I like Saul's growth rates better.)

There's something I don't get, though. I'm not gonna deny that Yodel is pretty much the worst Bishop in FE6. But how exactly are you "wasting" CEXP in getting his Light Tome level up to S? He only needs 50 Light WEXP. Which equates to 50 Light uses, 25 kills, or 17 ORKOs. Ellen and Saul both need four times as much to be able to reach S in Light.

[Shadow Mir]

@Levant: Serra's not expected to reach her Spd cap, though. If anything, she'll likely be as fast as Lucius. And despite knowing how to work around it, I don't like that she starts with a D in Light as a Bishop.

True that. I only said that because he said that Lucius' caps were better.

[eclipse]

No choice for Elixir, I am disappoint

I don't remember much about FE6, but if Niime can warp someone halfway across the map, she can save their sorry ass from that distance, too. Oh, and she can heal herself.

Like Niime, Pent has pretty good staff reach. . .but unlike Niime, I can throw him into the middle of stuff, and not have to worry too much about his demise.

I would've chosen Artur for best healer, as it's not that hard to get him to promote to C staves, so I chose Lyon in protest.

[Loki Laufeyson]

I used Ellen and Clarine in FE6. Clarine was better because horse.

Lucius and Priscilla are bomb in FE7. I like using Serra, but shes not the best.

Boulder in FE8, hands down. L'Arachel is good because horse, but she joins kinda late. If she joined hella earlier and without such a bad staff rank, she'd be best.

Overall, Pent because Pent.

Edited February 5, 2015 by Loki Laufeyson

[Paper Jam]

There's something I don't get, though. I'm not gonna deny that Yodel is pretty much the worst Bishop in FE6. But how exactly are you "wasting" CEXP in getting his Light Tome level up to S? He only needs 50 Light WEXP. Which equates to 50 Light uses, 25 kills, or 17 ORKOs. Ellen and Saul both need four times as much to be able to reach S in Light.

What was going through my mind at the time was that Yodel wouldn't get any experience from those kills since he's already level 20, and somebody who wasn't already level 20 would.

But I guess there's no dearth of enemies in chapter 21 and 22, and a good many of them are still unpromoted and thus don't give much experience anyway.

[Samias]

In FE6 I just voted Niime, can't really go wrong with those bases. FE7 I voted Priscilla as her bases and horse are great, usually Serra will not be that great by the time Priscilla joins. I would say Pent but ultimately I treat Pent more like a combat unit than having him be dedicated into staff use, so usually he'll just toss a physic someone's way though he is very, very good. In FE8 I WANT to say L'arachel but that's only for post game, in which case I went with Natasha since I never have good luck (literally in both ways) with the Boulder's growths and he gets magic screwed every time.

[SSJDennis]

FE6 Clarine. Never used Saul or the others... Lugh is always my fighting mage.

FE7 Priscilla. She moves all over the place. Serra can't do that.

FE8 Moulder. Great healer, later great offensive mage.

Best overal, Priscilla. I feel like I need her most. Never used Erk or Pent much for healing.

[Katie]

I only included people who starts out with the ability to use staves, so as not to overflow the poll. And I personally find Serra more useful than Priscilla, because you get her earlier than Priscilla and as such she'll likely be several levels higher than her by the time you get her (especially if you do Lyn mode), and is not bogged down by the desert. Overall though, I feel it's usually best to have at least two healers deployed in a given chapter, so that if one gets hurt the other can heal them. I honestly don't factor growths or bases into what units I use though. I pick based on how much I like them.

[Florete]

Most of Serra's additional chapters are worthless and entirely skippable. Otherwise it's like...3 maps, and Priscilla beats her completely thereafter.

I've changed my opinions on a lot of things over the years, but people saying Serra is better than Priscilla is something I never understood.

[Magical Glace]

Usually I just use the first healer I get (with the exception of Clarine because screw Ellen) until my mages start promoting. Lategame, I tend to get far more healing utility out of Lilina, Lugh, Erk, Lucius, Canas, Artur, Ewan, and Lute than any of them... mainly because they are far easier to level before promotion. Even Nino is a better healer in the NMs of FE7 (playing defensively on Cog of Destiny there will get her to Level 20 unpromoted fast, in my experience).

[Katie]

Most of Serra's additional chapters are worthless and entirely skippable. Otherwise it's like...3 maps, and Priscilla beats her completely thereafter.

I've changed my opinions on a lot of things over the years, but people saying Serra is better than Priscilla is something I never understood.

I don't see how Lyn's chapter are worthless, considering it's extra EXP and a requirement if you want to unlock a certain gaiden chapter on HM. I also don't see how Priscilla beats her completely. Her only real advantage is a horse, in a game where having a horse isn't that much of an advantage. Not to mention that having a horse makes her utter trash on the desert map, meaning you'll have to use Serra on that one unless you've gotten Canas/Erk/Lucius to promotion already.

[eclipse]

One chapter doesn't invalidate Priscilla - she can still move in the desert, albeit slowly. Having a horse is a HUGE advantage in the other 30ish chapters without sand - canto is really good, even if it's not FE4-style.

[lazydoggamer]

I don't see how Lyn's chapter are worthless, considering it's extra EXP and a requirement if you want to unlock a certain gaiden chapter on HM. I also don't see how Priscilla beats her completely. Her only real advantage is a horse, in a game where having a horse isn't that much of an advantage. Not to mention that having a horse makes her utter trash on the desert map, meaning you'll have to use Serra on that one unless you've gotten Canas/Erk/Lucius to promotion already.

Lyn's mode is worthless to Serra because she'll get barely any levels there and she needs 8 levels to match Priscilla's magic base. That alone is enough reason to consider Priscilla better but Priscilla also has more movement meaning she can reach wounded units faster than Serra can and she also uses a weapon type that isn't shit.