CappnRob

Of all the holy swords though the Balmunk and Mystletainn are both pretty good; you get them early-mid Chapter 7 so they don't come that late. Between the two I rate the Mystletainn a bit higher because Ares is generally better than Shannan imo (mounted and better growths) plus it has the critical skill (Balmunk's huge speed buff is nice but the Mystletainn just objectively has more going for it because of the critical skill). I always let Ulster have one Brave Sword and circulate the other. Larcei gets continue on promotion so having her hold onto it is kind of redundant imo.

Divine Weapons aside I'd say Heroes Sword is the best in FE4. Heroes is stupidly powerful and allows consecutive attack and only does 2 less damage than a silver sword. Its B rank too, so you almost any sword unit can use it as well, its freaking ridiculous. Silver is good too simply because its just a straight upgrade over Iron and Steel but it isn't anything special, just reliable and strong. The fact Sigurd gets one at the start of G1 is generally why its regarded so well (I tend to pass it on to Oifey for G2) because you just get so much mileage out of it. Silver Blade is also a good sword for its pure damage but its inaccurate.

Celice is.... idk. He underwhelms me. Like, statistically he's amazing - sure he doesn't start as great as Daddy does, but once he promotes he gets a horse and thus is spearheading attacks easily and his growths are basically Sigurd's but BETTER in every way thanks to Deirdre and Naga blood, but... He's so goddamn boring lol. Like, as a character. So for that I'm giving him a -.5 negative bias, because dammit character matters to me. He's such a wide eyed dweeby dork and its lame in comparison to how go-getter and tough guy Sigurd was. He looks like a dweeb, too. Get a real haircut like your dad, nerd! But I can't deny how fantastic he becomes even if he's got a leveling curve. So 9/10 for me, bah!

I never saw a need to rescue the Lenster squad myself. Send Fee over to help fight and they can basically hold their own and the reinforcements make good experience.

I'm pretty open to alternative pairings but is there ANY reason to pair Aideen with Claude? Sure, Lana will get A in staves and can inherit them, but you still lose Valkyrie because Lester can't use staves and both kids get noooo skills. Lana becomes an A+ tier healer but Lester is absolutely trashed growth wise as well. Is the rescue staff really worth all that?

I forgot if Aideen got the needed staff skill buff when promoted, but regardless Claude comes with it and there's no reason to take it off of him.

Briggid: Comes at a decent level with fantastic bases and moderate growth rates, and gets ez access to a holy weapon to boot. Sure the Ichival is a bit less imposing than other holy weapons but its ranged and still far outclasses any non-holy weapon in its family line. She also pairs well with almost anyone, though not quite as RNG proof as Ayra's kids are due to Patty being a thief. Either way, Briggid is extremely useful out the gate and there's no reason NOT to use her, her only drawbacks are you only have her for the final third of the game. That said, she's a bow user right before fighting a whole fuckton of pegasus knights... 8/10 for me! Claude: Comes at a HIGH level (20!) and is basically the best staffbot. He has no skills and can only use C rank magic so its best just to keep him unarmed entirely really, but he's the only one who can use the almighty reserve staff in G1 short of a master knight Lachesis (and he puts it to better use with his far better magic stat), plus the Valkyrie Staff which allows you to resurrect fallen allies! Leveling him is basically a nonfactor because both of these basically grant a whole free level up on use (Reserve grants what, 85 exp?). So yeah, like Briggid, why WOULDN'T you use Claude? his movement is low, but reserve is ranged at least. As a father he's really only good for Sylvia and maybe Fury, as his divine weapon is extremely niche being a staff and all. All the same, great healer, carries his own weight, only drawback is like Briggid he comes in the final third of the game, but holds his own for that duration. 8/10 as well!

I think when we get to it that discussing the different variants of each kid can prove interesting. Plus there's subs and guaranteed characters like Ares and Oifey.

Lucius is honestly held back by his stat caps. He's going to max magic early and its an only okish cap of 25. He does get great magic defense at least.

Personally I take into account everything a unit has when evaluating them :S There's a line where detriments outweigh benefits; its a fine one to be sure but its there. Tiltyu I think is worth using so her kids start out better and Tron is a hella cool magic spell that can wreck some face when used right but the fact she comes 3/4 into G1 and is severely weak by your army's standards by the time (most characters should be nearing promotion or already be promoted) and with little to compensate (she doesn't have a mount to help keep up with the cavalry units or a skill that lets her level faster or attack repeatedly or anything like that) means she has little "utility" as it were. Everyone's evaluating the characters differently by their own standards for sure, and everyone values different standards. I personally think everyone disliking anyone on foot is a tad silly because FE4 is only Horse Emblem is you're speed bombing it but to each their own :P

Tiltyu is a sad case. She's mother to two fairly useful characters in G2, but she herself comes near the end of the game and right before a chapter where her magic type loses in the anima triangle. Wrath is fun but risky and Tiltyu lacks follow up skills to take true advantage of it. She's really weak defensively, but has decent bases for the most part. The real kicker is her coming at level 3, though. She just takes forever to promote, which doesn't even help her that much in the long run. She's qt as fuck though so I'll give her a +1 bias for 5/10. She can be used but you have to go out of her way to do it. I don't mind, but she's definitely not "useful" outside of being a mother.

While passing continue on to Larcei is redundant due to her promotion it isn't for Ulster who doesn't get it on promotion. Ayra should be paired with Jamuka or Noish, and pair Lachesis with Beowulf as he gives Delmud and Nana pursuit. Everyone else you have listed is fine, though pair Azel with Tiltyu instead of Lex, Lex can be good but its a gimmick pairing that can be tricky to work with.

Fury's growths are.... surprisingly on the low end side of things, but she comes with bases that are ridiculously high for her level. She has great utility due to being a flier, allowing her to bypass terrain to approach targets directly. She is weak to arrows as a flier and all, but by the time she joins the amount of archers you're facing are very low (with the exception of Andre's bow knights at the start of Chapter 5) so that's rarely a risk for her in the big picture. When she promotes she can use basic staves, which isn't much but a Mend staff is a guaranteed 20+ HP healed at least and the fact she flies means she can reach people with ease. It shines especially so when you get Bridget and she's surrounded by pirates everywhere. She also has surprisingly unscrewable kids - if you favor a magic parent then Sety basically becomes a god and Fee can use magic swords and staves (esp with Claude as the father); physical fathers make Fee a more upfront fighter and Sety.... Sety is RNG proof honestly. Even with abysmal magic growths he can make good use of B rank spells and the C rank Light spell Lightning, and with most non-magical enemies offering no magic defense and guaranteed pursuit.... yeah. But, back to mama now. Fury gets an 8 for me. Flying is useful! Good weapon variety is good! Staves on promotion is also good! RNG proof kids means flexible pairing options! Really all that holds her back is her bad growths preventing her from getting too much better than she already is, along with weird lopsided promo gains (the huge magic buff is nice but everything else is ehhhh....).

Sylvia has prayer which DOES let her cheese arena fights lel. Just get her to drop below 10 HP in a fight and watch he dodge forever while chipping away 1HP at a time. Fun times.

Sylvia is a mixed case. She's super useful as a utility but made of paper and doesn't get much better than that. She needs rings to reach full potential and even with them can get absolutely annihilated if targeted by an enemy. She's also the only mother in the game with an argument to be made for NOT pairing her up, as her children's subs can actually do better than the kids themselves short of a Claude pairing. 5/10 for me, super useful when properly utilized (FE4 dancers need to make a comeback) but absolutely must be kept out of combat. Also she can fudge up your Levin pairing if you don't pay attention yo. I do like her personality, she's hilarious, especially with Alec (I wish Alec was mechanically viable a good dad for her ech).

Pairing is a key mechanic of FE4 and some units that are underperforming as an individual still make great fathers which both 1: makes it worth fielding them for love points and 2: leveling them so their kids start out better statistically. Its a valid element of evaluating a character if one chooses to do so. Also what's gimmicky about Levin's pairs? Tiltyu isn't gimmicky, its just OP and broken. Fury is arguably fairly middle of the road (Forsetti is gonna be OP no matter what you do), and Sylvia is gimmicky only in that Corple is Forsetti capable only upon promotion.

Bah, I was on a plane trip and missed updates, reeee. Beowulf: Someone on FESS once said Beo was the pride of the peaches Sadly I've forgotten who that was. Anyway, Beowulf has always been a very polarizing character in FE4, even back in the oooold days. He's extremely useful at glance: mounted, good growths, uses the best weapon of the triangle in FE4 (swords are stupidly light and if you feel they lack power then the blade tree basically compensates for that and despite their low accuracy are still pretty damn light at least and hit like trucks... and that 60% accuracy is only marginally lower than most other non-sword weapons anyway), has one essential skill (pursuit) and one not so great skill (duel), and makes a great easy dad for at least one character (Lachesis). On the other hand he comes fairly late at a not-so-hot level (he's a bit lower than what most of your units will be around and your best ones will greatly outclass him) and charges you a lot of gold to get him. He's the definition of great but at what cost. He absolutely makes Alec and Noish redundant but comes midway into Chapter 2 so you don't really get as much utilitarian mileage out of him. As a dad Lachesis is really his only good bet, his skill combo is rather wasted on other moms and his lack of holy blood doesn't help him there either. Personally I think Beo with Lachesis is redundant because it beefs their strengths too high and doesn't cover any weaknesses but eh. Their story is interesting anyway! The Free/Forrest Knight line is interesting though. In FE4 the usual tradeoff between infantry and mounted units are stat caps: mounted ones typically has lesser caps all around, but the Forrest Knight has a skill cap of 30! That's 3 more than the actual infantry Forrest unit that it draws its name from, and it has the same speed cap of 27! Str and Def are low at 23, but with pursuit and access to blade weapons, that's hardly a problem. Beowulf definitely has access to one of the game's best classes, if not the best mounted class for physical units. All in all, Beowulf is an 8/10 for me. What he lacks in early game utility he makes up for in just being DAMN GOOD of a unit all around. Shell out for him and his stupid smug face and his stupid 80s haircut. Seriously, look at this fucker As for Levin! Levin is baller. He lacks pursuit, but can crit and has a good enough speed growth and SUPER LIGHTEST WEAPONS IN THE GAME WITH WIND MAGIC so once leveled yeah he's basically always going to double attack period. He also has the good graces to join in the second half of chapter 2, where being mounted isn't quite so essential (though you do have to take time to move him and everyone else into position). He's needed to recruit Fury who is another fantastic unit, and once promoted into a sage he makes a great off-healer if you need it as well. And then in the end of chapter 4 he gains access to the LITERAL BEST HOLY WEAPON IN THE GAME. In a game where holy weapons are all OP garbage, Forsetti stands above the rest as the MOST OP of them all. Its wind magic, so its light. It gives 20 freakin' speed, so it easily compensates for what little weight it had anyway. It gives 10 skill to help Levin with the crits. Its magic so its RANGED. Sure Naga is better statistically, but Forsetti gets more mileage in the long run. Its just ridiculous. And you can pass that shit down! Pair Levin with Tiltyu and laugh as G2 becomes an even bigger joke than it already was with Arthur vaporizing anything mildly dangerous out the gate. Then he promotes and gets a horse so you can do it from even longer distances! Pair Levin with Fury and turn Sety into literally Levin but better (and also abide by canon you depraved sickos). Just.... Levin, man. 10/10 for me, sure he comes almost half way in, but he carries his weight with ease and absolutely obliterates anyone in his path.

..... goddamn using Finn to prayer-tank the Herhein knights was brilliant. I wish I thought of that, pffffft. Takes the whole troop out in one go.

Just an aside, but I always have Finn killing blow Shagall for his Silver Blade so Delmud gets it in G2 (as I always pair Finn with Lachesis). Food for thought if you don't mind missing out on the Silver Blade for G1.

Yeah, but if Levin appears after turn 10 (ie subduing Herhein after then), he won't be able to reach the village in time to get the bandit (unless I guess he gets a lucky crit or continue kicks in).

I've gotten it before but this most recent playthrough I just couldn't punch through Phillip's wall of armors fast enough to beat up Bordeaux in time. It always seems like a crapshoot, does anyone have any actual strategies for getting to Herhein by turn 9/10? (Damn those stupid cliffs that force you to waste movement going around them to reach the armors, too. Bah!)

Lachesis is a character I have a love/hate relationship with. Definitely interesting with some juicy expanded story in the Judgral Saga such as her possible romantic feelings for her own brother plus having a fling with Beowulf while also being in love with Finn and all that crazy goodness.... but sadly she's a real pain in the ass character to get the full use of mechanically. She comes early-mid game, at a low level with low bases, and sadly unlike other characters in her station, has not been able to get a lead on things by punching axedudes in the face (plus again the whole 2 chapters later deal). She CAN heal which helps by miles as she can be spammed out to grind for exp, but this is still a bit tedious. Plus, it means dividing your staffs even thinner among your previous three (or really just two given Deirdre is such a non entity in the game mechanically) which can be troublesome. That all said, she MORE than makes up for it if you can reach promotion with her. Her somewhat lackluster growths are more than compensated by the Master Knight's INSANE promotion gains, though it's doubtful she'll ever reach their equally insane stat caps (except for strength anyway). She gains access to every weapon you can use in the game and can use the very BEST of these weapons to boot, and pursuit, so she can smack bitches twice and call it nice with high grade weaponry. More than anyone else really, Lachesis is very much an investment character - but that investment hill is quite steep. As a mother, Lachesis shines very well though. Her daughter is a healer and her son is a mounted sword user and thanks to Hezul blood they will never be lacking in strength, which means her father pool is fairly flexible for interesting play styles. Finn and Beowulf are the typical go-tos for well balanced and strong children, offering either prayer or duel as their unique skills depending on what the player favors (combat potential vs survivability), though Finn is a difficult pair on his end. Azel's Vala blood makes Nana a great healer instead of just an okish one, and makes Delmud a great magic swordsman. Oh, and she spares you from being brutally savaged by Eldigan in the middle of chapter 3. That's pretty useful. And a semi-useful ring but it requires babysitting her bodyguards along with a lot of luck and holding Lachesis back even more than you already are. Oh, and two different useful swords - thief and earth. Goddamn Lachesis brings in the goods, doesn't she? All in all, Lachesis is.... 8.5/10 for me. She's really hard for me to rate, honestly - there's a lot to get out of her, but she starts out significantly gimped and without an easy means of getting that full potential. Other investment characters like Azel come much earlier and can dropkick easy picking enemies for an early game boost (as well as having access to more arena fights for what that's worth).On the other hand, as a mother she's essential to make use out of if you want her children to start off good, and the rewards for using her are massive: a ring, two swords, and being spared a total ass kicking at the hands of Eldigan really put her up over the curve. Tough that difficulty curve I say!

Not only should you sell Deirdre's stuff but you should drop all her gold on Sigurd if possible. It'll only go to waste otherwise.

Egh, Holyn. He's a character lots of people liked but never did much for me. He's good at what he does but nothing terribly special. He joins a bit later than Ayra and though he is significantly easier to recruit, comes at the start of a chapter where infantry really get shafted for the first half (and nary an axeguy in sight to beat the crap out of for levels either). People say he's tankier than Ayra but he's not THAT much tougher, his growths and bases are only marginally higher and his main selling point is still being a speed and skill unit. Moonlight Sword is great for surprise meatshots on heavily defensive bosses though, I'll give him that. However once he promotes he's basically an inferior Ayra period because the Forrest/Hero in FE4 is just a less good swordmaster. I don't know why they made this design choice, making two classes identical but giving one a slightly smaller speed and skill cap and one less class skill and nothing to compensate for it, but they did, and that's what hurts Holyn the most for me. As a dad he's tricky. Ayra is imo overkill because Moonlight and Meteor Sword can't trigger at the same time (sadly, it'd be hilarious to deliver 5 defense negating hits in a row) and the double Odo blood means Larcei and Ulster get WAY more skill than they're ever going to need (but the Balmunk exploit can be fun i guess, give Ulster a much needed edge over his sister and cousin's superior swordmaster class), so I really don't consider them a good pair. The only other pair that I think he truly benefits is Briggid, which his Odo blood really helps Faval out with his archery and lets Patty actually fight with B rank swords early game, and passes on Moonlight Sword to her for the lulz. Sadly no other pair really takes advantage of Holyn's would-be benefits: Odo blood gives good skill but there aren't fathers lacking in it; the sword rank buff is nice but most kids who use swords have a mother that already has sword holy blood (Ayra and Lachesis). Briggid is really all he's got going for him. 6/10 unit, he's a less good Ayra with less options in the long term of the game, but on his own merits is a good sword using foot unit.

Deirdre.... agh. I adore her as a character, because she's cute and while her romance with Sigurd is shallow, I found it endearing all the same (and it wasn't that much less developed than anyone else's romantic possibilities in FE4 itself tbh). But... yeah she's fuckin' trash lol. She's only around for the Verdane capture, all of chapter 2 (which is the least infantry friendly chapter in the game), and the first castle in chapter 3 but she's stuck in the home one. Silence is a fantastic staff to have in FE4 though, so she can at least pass that on after she gets benched in chapter 3. Aura is powerful but unless you let her hold the magic ring (something other characters can put to better use) she's not going to be doing ENOUGH damage to win fights. The circlet gives her prayer at least, so she can at least cheese the arena for some gold (to give to Sigurd pffft). Let's be real though: Deirdre exists to give Celice growths. ALL her growths save for magic and magic defense are 10, as to not make Celice TOO over powered. Major Naga means Celice ends up with minor and gets hella good MDef and Magic for magic swords. And an even bigger HP boost than Sigurd. That's it. The sad, unfortunate truth. Oh, and she can't promote either, reeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. 1/10 unit, she's really only good for giving Sigurd money even if she is a cutie patootie. DIDN'T STOP ME FROM COMPLETING THE CHAPTER 1 ARENA WITH HER THOUGH GWAHAHAHAHA.