aku chi

Why would you assume that? With the Cexp Aran can get it 1-3 and the Bexp you would give to Meg, Aran can easily reach level 8 by 1-4. Aran has +1 Spd, +1 Atk (from Lances), +1 Def, and +3 HP. We can't. Meg's growth order is: Lck: 75 Spd: 65 HP: 60 Res: 50 Skl: 40 Def: 35 Str: 35 Mag: 15 Bexp level-ups disproportionately favor higher-growth stats. So even after Meg caps Spd and Lck (~20/14), Str and Def are not amongst her highest three growths. Using Bexp at any point (before 20/20/14) will result in Meg gaining less Str and Def than usual. Aran, on the other hand, caps Str, Skl, and Def by 20/8, leaving HP, Spd, and Lck as his three highest growths. These just so happen to be the stats Aran is most in need of. In NM, it's realistic for Aran to reach 20/8 (or equivalent) by 3-13, so we have the option to Bexp him to his tier 2 Spd cap. With 28 Str, 28 Spd, and 27 Def entering Part 4, Aran can be a valuable contributor. In HM, Aran is hardly worth using, and certainly not worth pumping Bexp into at tier 2. Her durability is nothing special, but even if it were, Meg will double nothing and struggle (and generally fail) to 2HKO. I'm unimpressed.

Aran joins earlier than Meg, 4 levels higher... In an efficient HM playthrough, Aran is lucky to reach level 17 by 1-E. Meg would be extremely lucky to reach level 15. In NM, you can add ~2-3 levels to those estimates. Aran can reliably Bexp for Spd in tier 2 starting at ~level 8 (he caps Str, Skl, and Def). So Aran can reach 26 Spd in tier 2 if we're willing to spend a bunch of Bexp on him. This isn't really recommended, because Aran is still mediocre in Part 4, but it's an option. Meg cannot exceed 22 Spd at tier 2, no matter what we do.

Meg gains Lances at tier 2. E Rank. Have fun with Bronze Lances.

OK, seriously? Only 3/6 responses mentioned Meg's weight - none of them as the exclusive factor for her being a bad unit. Your response above is reductionist and disingenuous. Under what circumstance can Meg be "pretty great"? Even with a bunch of favoritism and/or Bexp, Meg is perpetually unable to 2HKO due to poor Strength. Meg is unable to double any but the slowest units because of her pitiful tier 2 Speed cap and mediocre tier 3 Speed Cap. Add to that the worst movement type, and we see no reason to use or train Meg.

Good luck with that plan. Ena needs Resolve to deal more damage to Ashnard than he can heal each turn. And even with Resolve, base Demi Band Ena can only deal 9 damage to Ashnard. That's assuming she hits and Ashnard misses. If one does the math, it's likely that Ashnard recovers more health per round than base Demi Band Resolve Ena can deal per round. Ike only needs 18 Str to match Ena's performance. Ike manages that at level 20/2, on average. More fun facts about how much Ena sucks: - Ena needs to be level 17 on average to double Ashnard with the Demi Band and Resolve. Ena needs to be ~level 18 or 19 to double Berserk Ashnard. Ike manages that at level 20/4-5 on average. - Even at level 20, Demi Band Ena can only deal ~28 damage to Ashnard per round with Resolve. Ike can deal 44 damage per round at level 20/17-18. - However, Demi Band Ena is no longer brought into Resolve range by Ashnard in one hit starting at ~level 15. Ashnard still doubles her un-Resolved, so he might take a huge chunk of her health away (more than we can heal with Physic) or miss one of his two hits and leave her out of Resolve range. Ike only needs to worry about this if he's received a Seraph Robe and is (un)lucky with Def growths. Ena being a better Resolve candidate than Ike is pure fiction. Likewise with Nasir, but only because Ike has defeated the Black Knight if Nasir is in play. Edit: Wait a moment. Will Ashnard even attack Ena at 1-range on enemy phase? If not, there's no way for Ena to safely attack from within Resolve range.

Giving Boyd or Largo Wrath and Vantage can make them sufficiently durable to drop at the top of the trail in C25. Largo, in particular, has 100% crit in Wrath range with a Killer Axe, so he'll take 0 damage from 1-range enemies (Boyd is likely to have 85-90% crit in this scenario). With a +crit Hand Axe forge, Largo is looking at a ~80-85% chance to crit-blick at 1-2 range while in Wrath range. Boyd has a less impressive 65-70% chance (but Boyd has more concrete durability). If Jill and Haar aren't recruited (because we early-cleared C11 or C12), dropping a tough footsoldier at the top might be the only way to 2-turn C25. With Wrath and Vantage, Boyd and Largo are the best candidates for this task (Nephenee with Vantage is close behind). A Marcia with Wrath and Vantage might also have some value here. Her lower Atk means that she won't kill everything with a (Killer Lance or Javelin forge) crit, but she can crit-kill most foes and can ORKO all foes with a crit and regular attack. Wrath might also make it easier to defeat Ena in C21. But we can use Resolve Tauroneo to remove the drama of a Wrath-crit hitting. Chapter 20 also features a boss too tough to 2HKO, so using Wrath to get a crit could be helpful. But using a Sage to siege-bomb for the extra damage works just as well. Chapters 23, 26, and 27 have tough bosses that need to be killed (so a crit from Wrath would be helpful), but it generally isn't too tough to bring another unit in range to finish the bosses off without losing a turn. Agreed. Resolve is the key skill to speed up Endgame. Wrath is just a potential bonus. Vantage is also a valuable skill. Especially in conjunction with Wrath, Adept, or Guard.

One could easily make a case for Laguz Royals > Ena, but anything above that seems like a stretch to me. Bastian and Lucia can actually contribute meaningfully in C25, so I'd be inclined to give them the nod over even Giffca. Truth be told, I could probably be convinced that Lucia and Bastian are more valuable than Nasir. Even at level 20. Ena deals ~3.5 damage to Ashnard full-transformed (which probably requires a very valuable Laguz Stone) or ~1.5 damage with the Demi Band. Giving Ena an Energy Drop to boost that damage by 2 is the height of silliness (plus, you could give it to Naesala instead if you like). The only skill that saves Ena's combat is Resolve, which is almost always better to give to Ike instead. Ena is good for nothing but shoving in two chapters.

+3 Def from Vague Katti was assumed, it seems. Mia does have pretty good 1-2 range combat with a Tempest Blade which Nailah cannot match.

I'm open to the idea of Mia (N) moving as far down as right below Oscar (T) or Nolan, TBH. Transformed Muarim can ORKO everything on the map except Jarod. He does need to spend most player phases eating Olivi Grass and can't ORKO everything when ferrying (like Nailah), but he's otherwise like a second Nailah in 1-E. Mia < Reyson, in particular, makes a lot of sense to me.

Reavers and Marksman are good endgame classes. They have more damage potential than any of the mounted beorc (well, maxed Jill with a Brave Axe is slightly better than a maxed Marksman with the Brave Bow). And Marksman have the occasionally useful 3-range. If I were to make an endgame class tier list (assuming max stats), it might look something like this: [spoiler=Endgame Class Tier List] Herons Rafiel Reyson Leanne Top Caineghis Tibarn Giffca Ike Jill Reavers High Skrimir Naesala Elincia Ena Haar Marksmen Kieran Gold Knights Nasir Nailah Seraph Knights Mid Astrid Hawks Volug Gareth Trueblades Fiona ...

[spoiler=Endgame Spoilers]Oscar is a pretty poor endgame unit, all-around. The female Silver Knights aren't a whole lot better (assuming you can even get them to a decent level). I'd certainly prefer a trained Seraph Knight, who can wield a Wyrmslayer (and even deal good damage to Dheginsea), double Sephiran and Ashera without Nasir, and, of course, fly. Edit: Yeah, spoiler tags make sense in a topic like this. Sorry.

ROUND 2 Fiona didn't turn out so well last time. Let's perform the analysis again with a few changes. We're still going to give Fiona all of the DB's Bexp. But this time, we won't finish off her last level of Bexp before each chapter. This will allow Fiona to get more Str and Skl from her Cexp level-ups. We'll also give Fiona (and Jill, whom we're comparing her against) a Seraph Robe and Energy Drop on top of all of this Bexp. Finally, I'll be using a different Bexp level-up heuristic that more closely matches empirical data on Fiona's Bexp level-ups. The heuristic I'll be using this time is to cube and normalize Fiona's growths. Before any stats are capped, her Bexp-growths will look like this: 0.31 HP, 0.21 Str, 0.01 Mag, 0.21 Skl, 0.72 Spd, 0.56 Lck, 0.56 Def, 0.42 Res Our analysis begins in 1-7: Fiona's first chapter of availability. This time, we give Fiona (and Jill) a Seraph Robe and Energy Drop. Fiona then has these base stats: Level 9 - 32 HP, 10 Str, 6 Mag, 8 Skl, 10 Spd, 7 Lck, 8 Def, 6 Res Again, we have 5410 Bexp (mostly from 1-6). (I've assumed that we always reach the Bexp turn limit, a few units escaped in 1-3, and 10/13 Knights + Civilians survived in 1-6.) If we give Fiona all of this Bexp, she can just barely reach level 17. This time, we'll Bexp her up to 16.99 and let her reach level 17 with Cexp. Here are her stats at that point: Level 17 Fiona - 34.6 HP, 11.9 Str, 6.2 Mag, 9.9 Skl, 15.7 Spd, 11.5 Lck, 12.5 Def, 9.4 Res Level 16 Jill - 32 HP, 13.9 Str, 1.3 Mag, 12.9 Skl, 16.3 Spd, 15.2 Lck,, 13.7 Def, 3.9 Res Fiona's Speed looks pretty good (like Jill's). Unfortunately, it's only enough to double Armors and Mages. With a max-Mt Iron Lance forge, Fiona has 23.9 Atk. That's enough to 2HKO Mages, so she can ORKO them. But she can only 3HKOing Archers, Soldiers, and Fighters. And she doesn't double them. So that's pretty bad. Even with doubling Armors, Fiona 2-3RKOs. BTW, even with a max-Hit forge, Fiona doesn't quite have perfect hit. Jill has a 3 Atk advantage plus Hammer access. On the defensive end, Fiona is getting 3-4HKO by just about everything - except Myrmidons, who 5-6HKO. Jill is similar, except she might get 2HKO by some Mages. Oh, this map is indoors - so Fiona (and Jill) has -2 mov. There are also ledges which Fiona is unable to traverse. An unimpressive start, to be sure, but let's see how things pick up for Fiona down the line. Fiona is unavailable in 1-8, which is just as well considering the terrain, so Fiona's next chapter of availability is 1-E. Let's assume Fiona (and Jill) got one (additional) regular level-up in 1-7. By 1-E we can have accumulated 10,550 more Bexp (assuming all Prisoners survive and 3/5 escape in 1-7 and 5/6 survive in 1-8). Crazy! This is enough to Bexp Fiona all the way to 20/6.99! This is getting unfair for Jill, right? Let's give her a Master Seal. (BTW, Fiona capped Res in tier 1.) Level 20/7 Fiona - 39.7 HP, 15.3 Str, 8.6 Mag, 13.3 Skl, 23.2 Spd, 16.6 Lck, 18.6 Def, 14.5 Res Level 17/1 Jill - 34.5 HP, 16.4 Str, 3.5 Mag, 14.4 Skl, 18.0 Spd, 15.8 Lck, 16.1 Def, 6.4 Res Let's see how this overleveled Fiona can tear up 1-E! She doubles everything (even Myrmidons) with her massive Speed. That's a good start. Jill can only double Mages, Armors, and maybe some slow Fighters. But... Fiona's Strength is still poor. With a max-Mt Steel Lance, Fiona has 30.3 Atk. This is enough to 2HKO Mages, Myrmidons, Archers, and some Soldiers. It's enough to 2RKO everything, so Fiona's offense isn't too bad here! Fiona has imperfect (but generally high) accuracy with a max-Hit forge. Fiona has 22.3 Atk with a Javelin, so she can 2HKO Mages at 1-2 range - with poor accuracy. Now, Jill still has a 2.1 Atk advantage over Fiona with a Steel Axe forge. Jill can 2HKO Soldiers and Fighters. Fiona does have a notable offensive advantage against Myrmidons, Archers, and some Soldiers when compared with Jill. Things look good for Fiona in the durability department. Decent HP and high defense means that even the toughest enemies 4HKO her. Many are in the 5-8HKO range. Jill isn't doing quite as well, but with her C support, she avoids all physical 2HKOs and is more often 4-5HKO. Mages still 2HKO Jill, which makes Jill sad. Oh, this map is also indoor, so Fiona (and Jill) suffer from -2 mov. There are also tons of ledges which Fiona cannot climb; she must go the long way around. This chapter is pretty good for Fiona on the whole. Ages later, we return to the Dawn Brigade. I'll assume 1 additional level for Fiona and 2 levels for Jill in 1-E (maybe they used Paragon). 1-E gave us 3750 Bexp. That's enough for 1.99 more levels of Bexp (and a little to spare). Fiona caps Speed here. Level 20/10 Fiona - 41.0 HP, 16.3 Str, 8.9 Mag, 14.3 Skl, 24 Spd, 18.4 Lck, 20.4 Def, 16.0 Res Level 17/3 Jill - 35.5 HP, 17.3 Str, 3.8 Mag, 15.3 Skl, 19.3 Spd, 17 Lck, 16.9 Def, 7.3 Res Fiona again has impressive Spd. It's not only enough to double all of the Tigers, but even the majority of the Cats. Fiona also continues to demonstrate poor Str. She has 31.3 Atk with a Steel Lance forge. This 3HKOs all of the Cats. Fiona can 4HKO most of the Tigers but falls short against the toughest. With Beastfoe, Fiona can OHKO all of Cats but only 2HKOs Tigers. Jill, meanwhile, doubles nothing to start but will start doubling Tigers after one level. Jill has a 2 Atk advantage with a Steel Axe forge, but also has the option to use the Brave Axe with 3 less Atk than Fiona (albeit with imperfect hit). So, Jill soon deals more damage against Tigers (4HKOing all of them) and similar damage vs. Cats with the Brave Axe (she 3HKOs some and 4HKOs the rest). Fiona's durability is pretty impressive, she just barely avoids 2HKOs from the S-Strike Tigers, no small feat. The A-Strike Tigers and S-Strike Cats 4-6HKO and the A-Strike Cats tink. Jill is in worse shape on the durability front, but she still avoids 2HKOs from all but the S-Strike Tigers. Jill also has the option to canto over the swamp to strategically expose herself to the desired attackers. Fiona is, instead, locked to the starting island. While a lot of laguz can come to her, the freedom to pursue them would have been welcome. So, Fiona is decent in a tough chapter. Let's suppose Fiona got 3 additional levels from this chapter (thanks to either Paragon or Beastfoe, perhaps). Let's suppose Jill got 5 levels thanks to Paragon, a lower level, and flight. With the 4500 Bexp from 3-6, we can give Fiona 3 more levels. I'll finish off the Bexp level here because Fiona has now capped Def and Res in addition to Spd. Level 20/16 Fiona - 44.3 HP, 18.9 Str, 9.5 Mag, 16.9 Skl, 24 Spd, 22.8 Lck, 23 Def, 18 Res Level 17/8 Jill - 37 HP, 19.5 Str, 4.5 Mag, 17.5 Skl, 22.5 Spd, 20 Lck, 18.5 Def, 9.5 Res Fiona's Speed is still very good. She can't double Swordmasters, but she can double every other enemy in the chapter. Jill isn't far behind. Warriors and a few Halberdiers may elude her to start the chapter, but a level or two will bring them into doubling range as well. Fiona's Atk is a mediocre 33.9 with the Steel Lance forge. This is enough to 2HKO Sages, Swordmasters, and non-Armor tier 1 units, but that's it. Fiona 3-4HKOs most tier 2 enemies, but Generals are 5-6HKO. Jill has 35.5 Atk with a Steel Axe forge or 30.5 with the Brave Axe. (Silver Great/Pole weapons are available for purchase but neither Fiona nor Jill has the Hit to wield them reliably - nor does Fiona likely have the weapon level.) Offense goes to Jill. Fiona is quite durable. The very strongest enemies will 4HKO her, and most are in the 5-8HKO range. Jill's durability isn't too shabby, but she faces 3-5HKOs from most enemies. Fiona finally doesn't suffer any major movement penalties, but Jill's ability to fly up and down the cliff is nice. Let's suppose overleveled Fiona comes up just short of one level in 3-12. We'll give Jill 2 levels (she doesn't even need Paragon for that). With the 7500 Bexp from 3-12, we have just enough for Fiona to promote before 3-13 (before which, she caps HP as well). We'll throw Jill a Master Crown. Level 20/20/1 Fiona - 49 HP, 25.5 Str, 13.6 Mag, 22.5 Skl, 26 Spd, 26.8 Lck, 26 Def, 22 Res Level 17/10/1 Jill - 43 HP, 23.4 Str, 8.8 Mag, 20.4 Skl, 25.8 Spd, 21.2 Lck, 22.2 Def, 14.4 Res 26 Spd likely doubles all of the laguz. Unfortunately, it doesn't double even base Ike. Fiona's Atk is now at a respectable 40.5 with a Steel Lance forge. Jill has 39.4 Atk with a Steel Axe forge and 34.4 Atk with the Brave Axe. Fiona and Jill cleanly 2HKO all of the Cats and Hawks. Fiona can 3HKO Tigers but Jill can ORKO them with the Brave Axe (with imperfect accuracy), so Jill has a slight offensive advantage. Against a base Ike with Ragnell equipped, Fiona can deal ~15-16 damage compared to Jill's ~12-13 (due to WTD). Jill, however, has a higher chance to proc Stun against Ike (Skill% vs. Skill/2% activation). Fiona's durability is good; Cats and Hawks will 10HKO at best. S-Strike Tigers (the majority) only 4HKO, which is cool. Jill is 3HKO'd by those same Tigers, and takes more damage from Cats and Hawks as well. Both take heavy damage from Ike. Even a base Ike has 42 Atk with Ragnell, dealing 15 damage to Fiona and ~19 damage to Jill. Both can canto away to avoid a counter-attack when needed. Oh, both Fiona and Jill's mounts decided that the snow was a conspiracy and they were really indoors: -2 mov. Fiona can't mess with ledges and so has to go the long way around. Fiona is almost as good as Jill here, which is an underwhelming compliment for a unit that's taken over 30,000 Bexp, but there you have it. We might as well make good on our promise to give Fiona all of the DB's Bexp - including the Bexp from 3-13. Suppose that Fiona got one level in 3-13. There's enough Bexp to give Fiona another 3 levels. Fiona certainly isn't heading with the Silver Army, so a comparison with Jill is no longer appropriate. Let's use an 18/4 Oscar, instead (that seems like a reasonably leveled Oscar entering Part 4 in NM with no Bexp). Level 20/20/5 Fiona - 50.4 HP, 26.5 Str, 13.8 Mag, 23.5 Skl, 28.8 Spd, 29.0 Lck, 28 Def, 23.8 Res Level 18/4 Oscar - 46.5 HP, 25.2 Str, 12.8 Mag, 28.0 Skl, 27.8 Spd, 23.0 Lck, 21.7 Def, 18.8 Res Hmm, this Fiona is actually very similar to a low-resources Oscar in Part 4. They even have similar growths. Fiona does have noticeably more concrete durability, but Oscar will easily have an A support, which gives him good avoid in the Greil or Hawk armies (where they're going). Even if Fiona's partner comes with her (he/she has received no Bexp, and so probably isn't great), she's only had 5 chapters to build up a support, so it's probably only at the B level to start Part 4. So, this Fiona's Part 4 performance is about as good as Oscar's (i.e. not especially good). While they can double most enemies, 2HKOing anything tougher than a Swordmaster is pretty much impossible for them in the Greil Army. With a Silver Lance forge, Fiona and Oscar can pull off some 2HKOs in 4-2 against Warriors, Halberdiers, and Snipers. That might be their preferred route, but then they get slowed down by thickets and can't do much in 4-5. What happens if we bring Fiona into 4-E? Let's assume 7 levels of Cexp for Fiona in Part 4 (that means she probably went with the Greil Army, where she can't contribute much). Let's bring our Jill back for the 4-E comparison, assuming she got 1 level in 3-13 and 8 levels in 4-P and 4-3. Level 20/20/12 Fiona - 53.5 HP, 29.3 Str, 14.9 Mag, 26.3 Skl, 33.0 Spd, 32.9 Lck, 28 Def, 27 Res Level 17/10/10 Jill - 47.5 HP, 27.5 Str, 10 Mag, 24.5 Skl, 31.7 Spd, 26.6 Lck, 25.4 Def, 18.5 Res Fiona and Jill can both double everything in 4-E-1. General-slaying is definitely not a task for Fiona in 4-E-1. Even with a max-Mt Silver Lance, Fiona has 47.3 Atk, nowhere near enough to 2HKO non-cover Generals. Fiona also has a low mastery activation rate and a merely decent Adept activation rate. Jill has 49.5 Atk with the Urvan, which is also insufficient to 2HKO Generals, but with a Hammer (66.5 effective Mt), Jill can even 2HKO most cover Generals (unfortunately, Jill has poor accuracy with the Hammer). Jill even has a higher mastery activation rate. Fiona does have just enough Atk with a Javelin forge (41.3) to 2HKO all of the Sages. With Fiona's high Resistance, she is well suited for this role. Jill also has enough Atk with a forged Hand Axe (40.5) to 2HKO Sages, but her Thunder weakness and lower Resistance do present some problems, though her flight lets her escape to safety. Getting the Wishblade in 4-E-2 helps Fiona. But not in 4-E-3. Even with 34 AS (which is likely), neither Fiona nor Jill can deal much damage to Dheginsea. Neither Fiona nor Jill can reach the 36 AS to double Sephiran without Nasir, so they aren't much help in 4-E-4. They can both ORKO Spirits with their SS weapons. Fiona can do so at 2-range, if needed. Against the Auras in 4-E-5, Fiona and Jill are likely to deal a similar amount of damage (either with Brave weapons or SS weapons). It takes 53 Atk to 4HKO a Wardwood Aura. Fiona needs all three dragons and either 33 Str, 32 Str and a +Str support, or 31 Str and an A-level +Str support to ORKO an Aura with the Brave Lance. Jill needs one less Str for the same feat with the Brave Axe. Neither unit has very good Hit with the Brave weapons, though, even with both Red Dragons. In conclusion, Fiona does appear to be usable in NM if we give her all of the DB's Bexp (almost 40,000!) plus their Energy Drop and Seraph Robe. On the whole she's almost as useful in her chapters as a Jill with the same stat boosters but 0 Bexp. I would hesitate to call this "good", but I would have no problem labeling her performance as "decent" in round 2 of this thought experiment.

Extra levels can't make her worse. I mean, they could if she actually capped level, but that's just about impossible for Fiona. But I can do a second pass to try to make Fiona "good". This time, I'll hold off on completing levels with Bexp, so she can gain a few more levels with Cexp. I'll give her both an Energy Drop and Seraph Robe (along with Jill, to keep the comparison sane). I'll also derive another heuristic for calculating Bexp growths that more nearly matches this empirical data. If anybody has additional empirical data on Fiona's Bexp growths that could refine my heuristic: please offer them now. If you have any other critiques of my initial analysis or suggestions for how to make Fiona "good": voice them now. Reset abuse will not be considered, for reasons I consider obvious. Nor will clearly inefficient play be considered. This analysis does not exist to see what would happen if we spent 25 turns in 1-E feeding Fiona kills. It exists to determine if Fiona can be valuable in efficient play if we are willing to give her almost all our resources.

I took into account NM enemies being slightly weaker than HM enemies in the analysis. Fiona only has 5 chapters before Part 4 in which to gain Cexp, 4 of which she suffers substantial movement penalties. I assumed that she gained 6 levels in those chapters, anyway, despite being very overleveled in all but 1-7. More Bexp!? I gave her all of the Dawn Brigade's Bexp in this thought experiment. How can Fiona be "good"?

No. Let us consider a simple example. Titania has 21 Speed at base. She has a 50% Speed growth. After gaining one level, Titania has a 50% chance of having 21 Speed and a 50% chance of having 22 Speed. The expected value of Titania's Speed at level 17 is 21.5. It is inaccurate to state that Titania averages either 21 or 22 Speed at level 17.

My "mathy" heuristic conforms quite closely with empirical data. The biggest outlier is Resistance, which Fiona is likely to gain more of, in place of luck or defense. I'm not sure it would make much difference in the analysis. You'll notice that once Fiona caps Spd and Def, her Res and HP jump up. Once Spd, Def, and Res cap, Skl and Spd finally have a chance to grow at a decent pace. It's just too little, too late for Fiona. I could do another pass with a different Bexp heuristic that attempts to more closely mimic the linked empirical data, if requested. Why would I round the stats to the nearest integer? They represent the expected value that the stat may take. An expected Str of 9.3, for instance, is neither 9 nor 10. It represents the weighted average of the likelihood that Fiona will have 9 Str, or 10 Str, or 8 Str, or 11 Str, etc...

I've heard that any unit "is usable" or "can be good" in NM. I thought to myself: "Really? Even Fiona!?" This thought experiment is meant to explore how Fiona performs in NM if we give her all of the DB's Bexp. I will assume efficient play - with the exception of this resource distribution choice. I'll be comparing her to Jill that takes no Bexp along the way, because these units have similar growth spread and movement. It has been observed that Bexp level-ups tend to disproportionately favor higher growth stats. As a heuristic to emulate Bexp level-ups, I will alternate between simply raising the 3 stats with the highest growths and increasing each stat by: [growth * (3 / total growths)]. Let us begin: Funnily enough, our analysis begins in 1-7: Fiona's first chapter of availability. Fiona joins with these base stats: Level 9 - 25 HP, 8 Str, 6 Mag, 8 Skl, 10 Spd, 7 Lck, 8 Def, 6 Res Ouch. But, we have 5410 Bexp (mostly from 1-6). (I've assumed that we always reach the Bexp turn limit, a few units escaped in 1-3, and 10/13 Knights + Civilians survived in 1-6.) If we give Fiona all of this Bexp, she can just barely reach level 17. We'll also look at a level 16 Jill as a point of comparison. Level 17 Fiona - 26.5 HP, 9.3 Str, 6.5 Mag, 9.3 Skl, 16 Spd, 12.8 Lck, 13.8 Def, 7.7 Res Level 16 Jill - 25 HP, 11.9 Str, 1.3 Mag, 12.9 Skl, 16.3 Spd, 15.2 Lck,, 13.7 Def, 3.9 Res Fiona's Speed looks pretty good (like Jill's). Unfortunately, it's only enough to double Armors and Mages. With a max-Mt Iron Lance forge, Fiona has 21.3 Atk. That's enough to 2HKO Mages, so she can ORKO them. But she's borderline on 3-4HKOing Archers, Soldiers, and Fighters. And she doesn't double them. So that's pretty bad. Even with doubling Armors, Fiona 4RKOs. That's real bad. BTW, even with a max-Hit forge, Fiona doesn't quite have perfect hit. Jill has a 3.6 Atk advantage plus Hammer access. And this is Jill, whom it is highly recommended to give an Energy Drop. On the defensive end, Fiona is getting 3HKO by just about everything - except Myrmidons, who 4-5HKO. Jill is similar, except she might get 2HKO by some Mages. Oh, this map is indoors - so Fiona has -2 mov. There are also ledges which Fiona is unable to traverse. An unimpressive start, to be sure, but let's see how things pick up for Fiona down the line. Fiona is unavailable in 1-8, which is just as well considering the terrain, so Fiona's next chapter of availability is 1-E. Let's assume Fiona (and Jill) got one regular level-up in 1-7. By 1-E we can have accumulated 10,550 more Bexp (assuming all Prisoners survive and 3/5 escape in 1-7 and 5/6 survive in 1-8). Crazy! This is enough to Bexp Fiona all the way to 20/7! This is getting unfair for Jill, right? Let's give her a Master Seal. Level 20/7 Fiona - 30.5 HP, 12.1 Str, 9.2 Mag, 12.1 Skl, 23.6 Spd, 19.2 Lck, 21.2 Def, 11.8 Res Level 17/1 Jill - 27.5 HP, 14.4 Str, 3.5 Mag, 14.4 Skl, 18.0 Spd, 15.8 Lck, 16.1 Def, 6.4 Res Let's see how this overleveled Fiona can tear up 1-E! She doubles everything (even Myrmidons) with her massive Speed. That's a good start. Jill can only double Mages, Armors, and maybe some slow Fighters. But... Fiona's Strength is still pitiful. With a max-Mt Steel Lance, Fiona has 27.1 Atk. This is only enough to 2HKO Mages and Myrmidons. It's enough to 2RKO everything except Jarod - even the Armors. Again, Fiona has imperfect accuracy against even with a max-Hit forge. Fiona's 1-2 range is too weak to consider. Now, Jill still has a 3.3 Atk advantage over Fiona with a Steel Axe forge. Jill can 2HKO Soldiers, Fighters, and Snipers. So Fiona only has a notable offensive advantage against Myrmidons when compared with Jill. Things are looking up in for Fiona in the durability department. Fiona's HP may be low but her high defense means that even the toughest physical enemies 4HKO her. Many are in the 6-10HKO region. Some Mages may 3HKO Fiona, but she usually avoids that. Jill isn't doing quite as well, but with her C support, she avoids all physical 2HKOs and is more often 4-5HKO. Mages still 2HKO Jill, which makes Jill sad. Oh, this map is also indoor, so Fiona (and Jill) suffer from -2 mov. There are also tons of ledges which Fiona cannot climb; she must go the long way around. So this chapter is pretty okay for Fiona on the whole. Ages later, we return to the Dawn Brigade. I'll assume 1 level for Fiona and 2 levels for Jill in 1-E (maybe they used Paragon). 1-E gave us 3750 Bexp. That's enough for 2 more levels of Bexp (and a little to spare). It's worth mentioning that Fiona's capped Spd and Def at this point. Level 20/10 Fiona - 31.4 HP, 12.9 Str, 9.5 Mag, 12.9 Skl, 24 Spd, 21.3 Lck, 23 Def, 13.8 Res Level 17/3 Jill - 28.5 HP, 15.3 Str, 3.8 Mag, 15.3 Skl, 19.3 Spd, 17 Lck, 16.9 Def, 7.3 Res Fiona again has impressive Spd. It's not only enough to double all of the Tigers, but even the majority of the Cats. Fiona also continues to demonstrate poor Str. She has 27.9 Atk with a Steel Lance forge. This 3HKOs the weakest Cats and 4HKOs the rest. Fiona unimpressively 5-6HKOs the Tigers. With Beastfoe, Fiona can ORKO all but the faster Cats, but she OHKOs nothing. Jill, meanwhile, doubles nothing to start but will start doubling Tigers after one level. Jill has a 3.4 Atk advantage with a Steel Axe forge, but also has the option to use the Brave Axe with just 1.6 less Atk than Fiona (albeit with imperfect hit). So Jill soon deals more damage against Tigers and similar damage vs. Cats. Fiona's durability looks pretty impressive, but the S-Strike Tigers can still 2HKO her: those guys are tough. The A-Strike Tigers and S-Strike Cats 4-5HKO and the A-Strike Cats tink. Jill is in worse shape on the durability front, but she still avoids 2HKOs from all but the S-Strike Tigers (with a support). Jill also has the option to canto over the swamp to strategically expose herself to the desired attackers. Fiona is, instead, locked to the starting island. While a lot of laguz can come to her, the freedom to pursue them would have been welcome. So, Fiona is decent in a tough chapter. Let's suppose Fiona got 2 levels from this chapter. Let's be sympathetic to Jill and suppose that she got 5 levels thanks to Paragon. With the 4500 Bexp from 3-6, we can give Fiona 3 more levels. Level 20/15 Fiona - 34.8 HP, 14.2 Str, 9.9 Mag, 14.2 Skl, 24 Spd, 25.1 Lck, 23 Def, 17.5 Res Level 17/8 Jill - 31 HP, 17.5 Str, 4.5 Mag, 17.5 Skl, 22.5 Spd, 20 Lck, 18.5 Def, 9.5 Res Fiona's Speed is still very good. She can't double Swordmasters, but she can double every other enemy in the chapter. Jill isn't far behind. Warriors and a few Halberdiers may elude her to start the chapter, but a level or two will bring them into doubling range as well. Fiona's Atk is a poor 29.2 with the Steel Lance forge. This isn't even enough to 2HKO Swordmasters or Soldiers. Fiona 4HKOs most enemies, but Generals take hardly any damage. Jill has 33.5 Atk with a Steel Axe forge or 28.5 with the Brave Axe. (Silver Great/Pole weapons are available for purchase but neither Fiona nor Jill has the Hit to wield them reliably - nor does Fiona likely have the weapon level.) Offense goes to Jill. Fiona is quite durable. The very strongest enemies will struggle to 3HKO her, but most are in the 4-8HKO range. Jill's durability isn't too shabby, but she faces 3-4HKOs from most enemies. Fiona finally doesn't suffer any major movement penalties, but Jill's ability to fly up and down the cliff is nice. Overleveled Fiona is lucky to get one level in 3-12, but we'll give it to her. We'll give Jill 2 levels (she doesn't even need Paragon for that). With the 7500 Bexp from 3-12, Fiona can gain another 4 levels. She ends up capping Resistance and almost capping Luck. The Bexp leaves Fiona at level 20/20 entering 3-13, but I'll be nice and compare a 20/20/1 Fiona with a 17/10/1 Jill (Master Crown'd, of course). Level 20/20/1 Fiona - 42.6 HP, 19.8 Str, 14.6 Mag, 18.8 Skl, 26 Spd, 29.33 Lck, 26 Def, 22 Res Level 17/10/1 Jill - 36 HP, 21.4 Str, 8.8 Mag, 20.4 Skl, 25.8 Spd, 21.2 Lck, 22.2 Def, 14.4 Res Alright, tier 3 beorc in 3-13! 26 Spd likely doubles all of the laguz. Unfortunately, it doesn't double even base Ike. Fiona's Atk is now at an almost respectable 34.8 with a Steel Lance forge. Jill has 37.4 Atk with a Steel Axe forge and 32.4 Atk with the Brave Axe. Fiona still misses 2HKOs on even the weakest Cats and Hawks, though she can 2HKO Hawks with a bow. Jill can ORKO most Cats and Hawks with the Steel Axe forge and all of them with the Brave Axe. Fiona can 4HKO Tigers and Jill can't ORKO them without a Stun proc, so they're almost even there. Neither Fiona nor Jill deals much damage to Ike normally. Even a base Ike with Ragnell equipped takes only ~7-8 damage from the pair. Jill, however, has a much higher chance to proc Stun against Ike (higher Skill and Skill% vs. Skill/2% activation). Fiona's durability is good; Cats and Hawks will 8HKO at best. S-Strike Tigers (the majority) only 4HKO, which is cool. Jill is 3HKO'd by those same Tigers, and takes more damage from Cats and Hawks as well. Both take heavy damage from Ike. Even a base Ike has 42 Atk with Ragnell, dealing 15 damage to Fiona and ~19 damage to Jill. Both can canto away to avoid a counter-attack when needed. Oh, both Fiona and Jill's mounts decided that the snow was a conspiracy and they were really indoors: -2 mov. Fiona can't mess with ledges and so has to go the long way around. Fiona is pretty good here, which is an underwhelming compliment for a tier 3 unit, but she is still pretty good. Then Fiona enters Part 4 around 20/20/2. Fiona's Speed is not high enough to reliably double in the Greil or Hawk armies. But we don't want to send Fiona with the Silver army, because she is worthless in 4-3. So Fiona's kinda in a pickle. I guess we can feed her even more Bexp to get her up to 28 AS so she can double in the Greil or Hawk armies. But 35 Atk is really unimpressive, especially in the Greil Army. If she goes with Tibarn to 4-2, she can take a Silver Lance forge, which at least lets her 2RKO. Fiona's durability seems like it would be a selling point, but I'd like to point out that her 20/20/1 durability is almost identical to base Ranulf's durability. In fact, base Ranulf (even with A-Strike) is equal or greater than a 20/20/1 Fiona in almost every way. So that's hardly an inspiring Part 4 performance. In conclusion, it is a devaluation of the word "good" to suggest that Fiona can be good, even in normal mode. Even if we give her the entirety of the Dawn Bridage's Bexp (31,500 total), she's never stellar. And even with all that Bexp, she mediocre at best in Part 4. I hope you had fun reading. I had fun stat crunching and analyzing. Until next time (there probably will be no next time).

To reach what? Rolf (T) is pretty much stuck to player phase offense. Rolf (T) starts out by ORKOing nothing except Sages (against which he is borderline before 3-2). Rolf (T) takes serious damage from Sages, so it might not even be wise for him to be our Sage-killer. Concerning the enemies that Rolf cannot ORKO (everything except Sages), if we're playing intelligently, Rolf won't be the one to get the kill, because he can avoid counterattacks via 2-range. But even if we occasionally give Rolf kill favoritism for his growth, 1 level per chapter is still optimistic. 6 levels in those 4 chapters for a unit is not realistic, especially when said unit has no enemy phase and cannot ORKO anything except Sages. Rolf will have ~23 Spd going into 3-4, which fails to double all of the Warriors, Halberdiers, and Snipers. With our level-a-chapter metric, Rolf (T) will reach 24 AS by 3-7 or 3-8. By 3-8, all of the Warriors, Halberdiers, and Snipers have at least 21 AS, so that's no help. Rolf (T) might be able to double almost half the units in 3-7. While that doesn't help us complete the game, it does help him grab a bit more Cexp. Rolf (T) isn't likely to reach 25 AS until ~level 10. With out one level a chapter metric, Rolf (T) will reach that level around 3-11. To Rolf (T)'s dismay, Halberdiers and Warriors once again elude his doubling by having at least 22 AS. Rolf (T) can ORKO all of the Paladins in this chapter, so it isn't all bad. Surely you jest. Base Rolf (T) - 32 HP, 13 Def, 9 Res Base Shinon - 43 HP, 20 Def, 14 Res Level 12 Rolf (T) - 41 HP, 17 Def, 11 Res Level 20 (with Bexp) Shinon - 45 HP, 24 Def, 15-16 Res Rolf's durability is a problem, because the only enemies he can ORKO (except the occasional Paladin) are Sages, which he must take a counter from. Rolf is 2-3HKO from Sages throughout Part 3 and faces crit from some! Shinon is 4-5HKO. Crossbow enemy phase isn't terrible, especially early in Part 3, so physical durability is far from irrelevant. Shinon's major leads in durability make him much more suitable with Crossbows than Rolf (T). Bexping for something other than Spd or Str is undoubtedly a waste. Rolf (T) will need to be crowned anyway, we might as well do it when he caps Str and Spd (around level 12). Rolf (T) does have a Str advantage over Shinon in Part 4. Shinon has a much harder time getting the Atk to 2HKO non-Cover Generals in 4-E-1. On the other hand, Rolf (T) has a harder time with Spd. If Rolf (T) heads with the Greil Army, he may find Halberdiers and Warriors once again escape from his doubling. And while getting 30 AS for 4-E-1 is pretty much guaranteed, Rolf (T) has a much harder time getting 34 AS by 4-E-3 to contribute against Dheginsea (and later the Auras). Rolf (T) will need to cap Str before he can reliably Bexp for Spd. But Shinon can just as easily Bexp for Str after capping Spd, if we like. So Rolf (T) has no clear lead over Shinon even in Part 4. This is our chief disagreement. Rolf (T) just doesn't have enough Speed to do what Shinon does. Unless we give him a Speedwings - but that's a huge cost.

!? Shinon just rocks Rolf (T) throughout Part 3. Shinon's Spd lead is most important. You mention Rolf with 22 AS, but that only doubles Sages and Generals (who he tinks). Even assuming a generous one level per chapter, Rolf just can't get enough Speed to double Snipers, Halberdiers, and Warriors until the very end of Part 3. Shinon is effortlessly doubling them forever. Rolf's doubling woes don't end in Part 3. Assuming we crown Rolf before Part 4 when he caps Spd, just as Shinon naturally promotes, Shinon still has the better Spd growth and so has a better chance to double the faster Warriors in 4-1 and 4-4 and an easier time reaching 34 AS before 4-E-3. With respect to Str, Rolf starts off only slightly behind and catches up pretty quickly thanks to his excellent growth. But if we Bexp slowplay Shinon (as we should), Shinon will come very close to maxing Str in tier 2 anyway, so Rolf has no Str leads until Part 4. And then there's durability. Unlike Rolf (T), Shinon actually has some. So he can have a decent enemy phase with crossbows. Even 12/1 Rolf has a pitiful 19 Def, lower than Shinon's base (Shinon will have 25-26 Def and more HP at this point). Most importantly, Shinon is valuable to us in Part 3 even with 0 resources. Rolf (T) needs resources to be valuable at all (beyond 3-1). They aren't in the same ballpark.

I was suggesting that we Bexp-slowplay Soren (T) from the word go. With seven chapters to slowplay five levels, Soren can end up taking just a tiny fraction of Bexp. The Master Crown is required if you want Soren (T) to do anything valuable beyond 3-1. Training Rolf (T) requires at least as many resources. Even if we're generous and assume that this Sniper with poor durability can gain one level per chapter, we're still left with a Level 12 Sniper come Part 4. So Rolf needs a Master Crown, too (though he can take one of the later ones, which are slightly less valuable). But, as I said, a level a chapter is pretty generous for Rolf; he might need Paragon or some Bexp to get there (level 12 is where he wants to be, because he caps both Str and Spd at that level on average). Offensively, Rolf (T) can theoretically become as good as Shinon in Part 4 (more Str, less Spd). Rolf's durability is poor, though, so he really can't put the crossbows to nearly as good a use as Shinon. Soren's part 4 is mostly chip and staff utility, but he retains the awesome ability to ORKO Generals.

Rolf has a 45% Spd growth. With a base of 21 Spd, this allows Rolf (T) to just barely double Sages and Generals. Doubling Halberdiers and Warriors is mostly out of the picture until Rolf promotes (which will require a Master Crown: the downside of a low base level). 19 Str with a great growth allows Rolf to ORKO Sages and Bishops, but that's about it. Soren (T), on the other hand, is Bexp-able from the get-go and a great candidate for a Master Crown (probably the 3-6 one, because it has lower demand). With just Bexp, Soren will cap Mag, Skl, Spd, and Res by level 10. 10/1 Soren (T) - 37 HP, 13 Str, 29 Mag, 25 Skl, 25 Spd, 15 Lck, 14 Def, 25 Res At this point, Soren can double all Halberdier, Warriors and slower enemies for the duration of Part 3. With sky-high magic, Soren 2HKOs everything. I posted this in another topic:

Geoffrey > Tormod makes sense to me.

Now that I look at it, I could see both Nephenee and Nephenee (T) moving down. I'd suggest Nephenee move right above Boyd. Both units need a lot of resources to be worth using beyond 3-2. Boyd ends up better with more resources, but Nephenee doesn't need quite as many resources to be decently useful (just enough Bexp to double consistently). Nephenee's Part 2 is slightly more valuable than Boyd's 3-P and 3-1, so that pushes her above Boyd. Nephenee (T) should definitely move below Jill (T) (IMO), but one could also make a case for her to be below Shinon, as well. - WOAH - What is Rolf (T) doing in Upper-Mid? Or above Soren (T), for that matter?

Silencer has 4 more Mt, Shinon has more Str, some crit, and Shinon doubles even without a Master Crown. Yeah, I can see a promoted Oscar with a support doing well in 3-E. *shrug* It's not difficult for Mist/Rhys to be within support range but outside of EP danger. And if Mist/Rhys don't want some extra durability from supports, they definitely don't want anything else a support can give them, so it's not like they'd prefer another support partner. Big picture: it's absurd to claim that Shinon can't/won't have an Atk support. How did you calculate this, out of curiousity? You could, but considering that Oscar (T) is already above Shinon, it would be irrelevant. On the otherhand, Shinon and Shinon (T) are currently merged, so it seems relevant to consider their differences. Even in the best case scenario, Oscar struggles to be useful in 4-E-1. 17/9 Oscar - 27 Str, 31 AS 20 (with Bexp for Str)/7 Oscar - 29 Str, 30 AS Oscar needs 41-44 Atk to 2HKO Sages in 4-E-1. So Oscar could 2HKO the weaker Sages in 4-E-1 with a Javelin forge if we Bexp slow-played Oscar in Part 3 instead of giving him the crown, but that hurts his Part 3 and Part 4 (he basically can't double Halberdiers, Warriors, or Snipers). An Atk support would let him 2HKO almost all of the Sages. If we crowned Oscar, he would need an A Atk support to 2HKO the weakest Sages with a Javelin forge. If we use a Spear or have a +6 Mt Javelin forge, Oscar can do something with a C/B Atk support. As you can see, Oscar needs a lot of help to 2HKO Sages with 1-2 range in 4-E-1. That doesn't really impress me, especially considering how worthless Oscar is for the rest of 4-E. I support Oscar > Nephenee. In fact, I thought there was a discussion a month or two back about this. --- incognit0, it's incorrect to state that Shinon has no enemy phase. You've disregarded my posts explaining how Shinon's enemy phase with crossbows is similarly valuable to Oscar's enemy phase pre-promotion. And Shinon's EP with Aqqar is respectable, if unspectacular. I've just been arguing Shinon > Oscar. I don't think Shinon should rise (above Nephenee (T) would be the only possibility in my mind).