Leonarth

Thanks, I'll probably just turn it into a Brave Sword then. Kind of a shame, it would've made Jesse very good.

So in the original Gaiden, the Shadow Sword was powerful, but had a chance of harming the wielder if used. Dread Fighters were immune to this, and I thought it would carry over to Echoes. However, there is no mention of this in Echoes, and no hint that it could happen. The Dread Fighter doesn't have a skill about it or anything of that sort. So, can anyone confirm or deny if it works this way? I haven't found any mention of it anywhere.

All right, thanks, can't wait for that!

So I've been playing with the randomizer the past couple of days, and I have to say great work. My only problem is that the divine weapons still can only be used by their original owner. For example, Leo replaced Xander, but not only can he not use Siegfried, but Siegfried got replaced with a Sunrise Katana in Ch. 6 and a Dual Katana in Ch. 16 of Conquest, I had to hack in Siegfried to test it. Leo can still use Brynhildr (once again, I hacked it in to test it), but not Marth, who replaced him. Is this supposed to be able to happen, or is there some option I clicked that did this?

Using the argument Base stats > Growths, then by that logic neither Mozu nor Donnel should be touched with a 10 foot pole. IIRC Mozu has to replace someone in every path, as there is one slot less than there are units, but then you wouldn't reasonably use Mozu because everyone else is going to have better stats. In the case of Donnel though, I'm not going to even attempt to justify using him in Lunatic, that's like shooting yourself in the foot. The problem is that I don't necessarily agree with the argument of Base stats > Growths in every scenario. The existence of Jagens outright refutes the idea, since you'd be making a mistake to even use one of them the entire game, as they'll never be as good as everyone else, despite starting off better. Then again, I think the whole idea of the Villager class and Donnel and Mozu as a whole are flawed, so I'm not going to defend that idea either. The fact that Takumi isn't in Conquest slipped my mind, but let me counter the Amaterasu idea. First off, your units are going to need to survive the encounters first, before Amaterasu will ever be useful. Kinshi Knights aren't very good at tanking physical attacks, and they're probably going to be the first target, after maybe Azura or Elise. Not to mention that Conquest Lunatic will rip you a new one for stacking that many of one class, as well as for the reason previously mentioned, but multiplied to 11 (especially towards the end when Inevitable End starts showing up). As for the better lance users, anyone trying to use Donnel even remotely seriously will not have him as a Villager for longer than necessary, but if we assume you are playing Lunatic seriously, you won't have him anyway. Also, Chrom and Robin second seal for lances, wouldn't they have to start at E-rank, just like Donnel does with his new weapon? Seriously though, why bother bringing Mozu when everyone else can accomplish just about the same thing? The only thing she has going for her is that she's a potential Archer in Conquest (the only non-avatar one if I'm not mistaken), or a potential Master of Arms. Merchant is an okay class, it just doesn't seem to work well with Conquest in my experience. At the same time though, Niles can capture an Archer or Master of Arms for you if you really wanted one, so I ask again, why bother? Granted, the same argument can be applied to Donnel, but Donnel can at least pass down Pegasus Knight to his daughter, granting access to Galeforce for Nah, Noire, or Kjelle if you really care about it. I think Galeforce is way overrated and is pointless outside of DLC grinding, so it really doesn't mean much, but that's a different topic for another day.

Yes, Donnel needs more to get to the same point as Mozu, but he gets there just as fast as her. In general Awakening seems to be more generous with EXP distribution, in my experience anyway, so Donnel will be ahead of Mozu in terms of pure level, but they'll probably have similar stats. One thing Donnel has over Mozu is that if they both could use more room to grow, Second Seals are WAY cheaper than Eternal Seals, especially since the likelihood of them capping more than maybe one stat is not very good. I suppose it comes down to preference in a way. Mozu has better bases, this can't be denied, but Donnel has better growths. Mozu doesn't need as much babying to get going, whereas Donnel needs to be spoon fed for quite a while before he can handle himself. Part of why I prefer Donnel is also because Donnel's growths with Aptitude are above and beyond most of the cast, with only the Manaketes and maybe some of the children surpassing him. Mozu with Aptitude only really comes close to rivaling the Royals at most. I'll definitely concede that Mozu isn't the worst unit by far, I just question why so many people call her one of the best units in the game, especially when she really only will end up as good as everyone else in the end. Also, may I mention how much Takumi overshadows all the other possible Archers in the game? He makes it seem like anyone else is just pointless since he'll always outdo them.

Yeah, I have had an easier time training Mozu, I just think that she gets screwed over because of how Fates treats EXP gains when you start over-leveling. Also, using Donnel on Lunatic is probably a bad idea as is, since Awakening Lunatic inflates enemy stats to absurd levels if I remember correctly. Fates really just starts giving weapon ranks and skills when you go from Hard to Lunatic, and I think it did get that much right when it came to difficulty at least.

I haven't actually reclassed her to Archer (Takumi does wonders already), but I have heard it does work well. I have reclassed her to Dread Fighter before, and she turned out pretty well also. The problem with her base stats is that she rarely can do 1 damage to the faceless, whereas Donnel could do around 3 or 4 (at least in Hard). The problem with Lunatic Conquest is that enemy skills and stats make it hard to get her going without sacrificing EXP for other units who need it also. She will get destroyed on CH. 10 due to how much the game likes to throw at you. I think the big difference in the jump from Hard to Lunatic on Conquest is that Lunatic Conquest tries its hardest at times to royally screw you over. I remember fuming on the Wind Tribe chapter because of the damn Falcon Knights with Armored Blow, and enough speed to double almost everyone. Conquest is very volatile, and Mozu doesn't do well with some of the BS pulled in it. I think part of my justification also has to do with how EXP is handled in 13 vs. 14. In Awakening, EXP is at ridiculous levels, meaning Donnel can easily get 2 or 3 kills and be around level 2 or 3 (those archers are easy to corner as well), whereas with the same effort Mozu will probably only be level 2 at best. Part of my argument also comes from the fact of where your EXP is better spent. It is ridiculously easy to over-level a couple of units in Awakening, but Fates shuts down that shit very quickly. So Mozu will probably be stuck at the same level as everyone else with those god awful bases, while Donnel flourishes by being able to easily level past everyone else to keep his stats going. Awakening's stat inflation is another topic on its own, but the fact that Donnel with Aptitude can easily level up most of his important stats consistently means that as long as you keep him going, he should be fine quite quickly. Mozu's growths, even with her version of Aptitude, are not going to achieve the same thing though, as Donnel's base growths are the same as her growths with Aptitude. So yeah, even though there is the uphill battle with Stat Inflation, Donnel will at least make it through it. Yeah, she can survive with Dual Guard, but why bother? Also, yeah she can promote from villager, but that also is a hindrance. Fates and Awakening treat their reclassing way differently, with Fates making it more a "suit your class to the situation" while Awakening makes it "learn new abilities and grow even stronger". This key difference makes it so that Donnel will thrive while Mozu will struggle. I think my biggest problem with the argument that Donnel is worse than Mozu is that Donnel starts crap, but Awakening's system allows him to surpass everyone else. Mozu starts crap, and her system is specifically designed so that she won't be able to go much farther than everyone else. While Est-types are certainly usable, the point is that their bases are supposed to be usable for when you get them, and their growths will carry them the rest of the way. Mozu isn't really any better than anyone else (who isn't Gunter) when it comes to growth rates, and Aptitude barely does anything to solve the issue. At the end of the day, I think Mozu is bad because she got thrown into a system designed to prevent the exact thing she was designed to do: get good level ups and get a lot of them. Sure, she starts better than Donnel, but Donnel will always surpass her.

After playing Fates on Lunatic for the first time, I'm going to go with Mozu. I'm not saying that previously mentioned units aren't bad, I mean they've earned their place, but I don't like stating the obvious. Yes, Mozu can become one of the best units in the game, and Aptitude is certainly not a bad skill, but what place does she have in the army? In Conquest, she isn't doing you any favors, and the experience you waste on her is better served on other units honestly. In Birthright, EVERYONE can be good because of grinding, so who cares what you use? Other than that, same as Conquest. In Revelations, you have too many units as it is, so what good is it to have to waste time and effort on a weak unit when others are ready to go? Also, her bases are god awful (that's the point), and I remember her struggling to kill the damn faceless in her own chapter. So I ask, why bother?

I'll go with Kagero, her growths and bases work best with my playstyle honestly. Kaze is good at killing mages, but there are a lot of other units that can do the same (not even going into reclassing people into Dread Fighter) and Saizo is pretty well rounded, but I like to play with extremes, hence my preference for classes like Berserkers, Swordmasters, and so on. Since I rarely use Saizo, I barely use Asugi, and I prefer for the mothers that would give Asugi extreme stat leaning to be used elsewhere, so he gets the shaft honestly. In terms of availability, Kaze may have the best, but he can only do so much with it (see above). Saizo has better than Kagero in both routes, with a few chapters in Birthright and only one chapter in Revelations. In Birthright, he can get a bit of a headstart on Kagero, but more than likely she'll join the same level as him or just under him, so it's negligible at best. In Revelations this is even more pronounced, with Saizo probably only being able to get 1 or 2 levels at most, putting him at the same point as Kagero. Asugi has the worst availability, with the earliest being one chapter after Saizo, but you probably won't get him anywhere close to then. I can live with Kagero's join time, and for the reasons above it works out well. Personality wise, I can say for sure that Saizo rubs me the wrong way, I think he isn't a good person all the time. The funny part about that though is that for the same reason I hate Saizo I love Leo, but that probably is because Leo is a cynical ass but I find it more entertaining somehow. Kaze is a bit bland for me, all I can remember was the whole Prince Charming thing and guilt about what happened in Cheve, not much else. Asugi is Gaius 2.0, so any praise he has would be attributed to Gaius. Kagero though... I don't know what it is but something about her gives me good vibes. I think my favorite part is how she does art (despite lacking the skill to do it well) and does it as a passion. I think it also says something about who she forms relationships with when Orochi is her childhood friend, and Orochi is one of the few people who appreciates Kagero's art for what it is.

Out of the ones I have played, I think Walhart deserves a mention for being a villain that isn't just an "I'm evil lol" villain in a story where everyone else pretty much was. From what I understand, he isn't the only one in the series, with Lyon being the first example that comes to mind, but I like Walhart because he was doing it for ultimately good reasons. He was trying to end all wars by conquering everyone else to prevent any wars. Obviously, this wouldn't work, but I think Walhart works because he has a set of beliefs that he follows adamantly. When you recruit him, he follows Chrom because he believes that the strong leads. This means that in Walhart's eyes, Chrom wins because he is stronger and follows the "better path" or in other words, Chrom's path must be right because Chrom won. This is part of why I like him as a villain, he doesn't seek redemption by following Chrom, he follows what he believes is right. He didn't get seduced by evil intentions or man's greed for power or anything like that, he does what he feels he must to achieve what he believes to be right. Only real problem is that Awakening's story telling isn't the best and that you only figure most of this out from supports between Walhart and Robin, and that the majority of it can only be accessed after playing a paralogue just before endgame, but details I guess.