Barren

So now we get to *talk* about Zelkov. This is *assuming* hard mode. Will make mention of *maddening* however. Zelkov has good bases when he joins you along with Ivy and Kagetsu. As a thief he does contribute when he joins. Also being able to double enemies with reliable 1-2 range daggers like Yunaka can. He is a much higher level compared to Yunaka so he requires less babying compared to her. But it’s not all good news for Zelkov as others have pointed out that his low res and luck can work against him. Eventually thieves start to fall off late into hard. Sooner on maddening as daggers will start to look less impressive. Unless of course you forge his steel dagger to a silver dagger and upgrade that further to like +2 then his damage output can actually be useful for the entire mid game. What supports this idea is that he has an impressive 9 build. Technically wasted on the thief class but there is an upside too it as Silver Daggers doesn’t weigh him down like it would for Yunaka. *Not Quite* is a good ability for him to abuse so he could be a EP dodge tank. While Yunaka could explore magic class options once she reaches level 21, Zelkov would rather go physical. You could make him a Wolf Knight if like to keep daggers. Hobble can be a good ability when combined with canter. More on them when we get to Merrin. Wyvern Knight, Hero, even Warrior are good fits for him if you wish to take him further. I think he’s a 6.5/10. He can be useful for sure during the mid game. Late game he’s questionable and probably should leave on the bench if you don’t plan on taking him out of the thief class.

I can quiz you! Let’s talk about Kagetsu. This is assuming maddening. Kagetsu joins you along with Ivy and Zelkov and I have to say that his bases for a swordmaster is really damn good. 17 strength along with 22 dex and speed is something that most physical attackers would be jealous of. He doubles basically every enemy on his joining chapter. Even one rounds a few of them as well. Of course he does hit a bit of a snag for chapters 12 and 13 assuming no dlc of course because his reclass options are a bit limited for a while. Of course one could turn him into a sword locked Paladin or a Bow Knight if you like higher move but there are better options. Good things come to those who wait after all. Once you get Ike after beating chapter 13, he really really wants proficiency in axes because this allows him to change to either Wyvern Knight or Hero. Wyvern Knight is one the one hand, is his best class statistically. This gives him flight, a B rank in axes which is great for Tomahawks and Silver Axes. He can still get A rank in swords which really matters more than having an S rank sword. At least until the end of the game which wouldn’t be for a long time at that point. Even though WK will lower his base dex and speed a bit, his growths are so good that he can easily catch up. Plus if he has Ike equipped as an emblem, he can benefit from a number of his abilities in addition to flight. That includes reposition, axe power, resolve and wrath. He would be weak to bows and wind magic so watch out. On the other hand, Hero is also not a bad option. Because he can keep swords but his axe rank will go down to C. But in all fairness, Tomahawk would weigh him down and it might prevent him from doubling at times but a hand axe would not as much. Plus he can still use Hammers and Poleaxes so that is a plus. He should then nab Dual Assist+ from Lucina so he can help chip the enemies with Brave Assist and double up on chain attacks. Chain attacks are some of the best methods for taking down beefier bosses. Plus he would not have to worry about being weak to anything. Of course regardless of what physical class you give him he’ll turn out great. Canter, Sword Power, Speedtaker, etc are all really good options to pick up as well. He can get speedtaker or even speed + x whenever he wants whereas the other skills he’ll have to wait for. He gets a 9/10 from me. I probably should have given Ivy the same score but she pops off a bit quicker than Kagetsu imo. But the same can be said if the scores were the other way around. Kagetsu certainly earns his spot as one the best physical attackers in the game. Highly recommend you use him.

Have a taste of Camilla lite! Time to talk about Ivy. Finally a good unit. Great even. This assuming maddening. Ivy joins you around turn 5 (I think) of chapter 11 along with Kagetsu and Zelkov. Her bases are quite reasonable even for maddening standards. She can take more than a couple of hits and dish them out just as hard. Ivy also comes equipped with Emblem Lyn and gives Alear Emblem Lucina as you lose 6 emblems by the end of chapter 10. Ivy can have speed and accuracy issues if left unchecked. But that is easy enough to address. Speed + x from Lyn is one way. Another is to have her inherit speed taker and feed her kills can then she can start doubling. Her speed stat is good enough to where she can take advantage. Engraved tomes like with Leif, Sigurd or Lucina are all great options. She can also pull off a draconic hex set without needing to speed fix. An accurate thoron tome that can debuff enemies is great for those that need to pick up easy kills. You can even combine that with Celica’s Echo attack and activate debuffs and single minded in the same turn. Of course because sigurd is gone for a few chapters, she would have to wait a until around chapter 18 to inherit canter. Her biggest weakness is her luck stat. It’s so low and bad that she’s susceptible to critical hits. Now normally there is a way around it and there is. Celica’s engraving gives you 50 dodge which basically immune to crits. But you can also partner her up with Alear in a flying class to use bonded shield if she is using Lucina. Overall, surprise surprise, she gets a 10/10 from me. I can understand why the lower scores and I can assume people are playing this on random growths instead of fixed. And the concept of 10/10 can be skewed towards perfect unit with no flaws whatsoever. Ivy does in fact have flaws but they are easily fixed if invested. Definitely one of the best units in the game. At worst she’s at least above average.

So now we get to Jade. This is assuming hard but will mention maddening. Jade is obviously in a bad spot upon her join chapter because around the time the player might be thinking about benching Louis you’re probably not going to give Jade a chance. At least not on maddening mode. On hard mode, she is workable. She has a interestingly higher res growth for a tank and her ability is essentially post time skip Edelgard but half the effectiveness. She can go Griffon Knight as already mentioned with Hurricane Axe since Jade also has a rather good magic growth. She can also go Sage if you want her to be completely different. It certainly wouldn’t be out of left field. Hurricane Axe to me is the worst weapon in the game because it’s a smash weapon that forces you to go second no matter what. Not to mention that it scales off of magic and not many units can really put it to good use. Other smash weapons like Silver Greataxe or Silver Blades are still good for engage attacks. At least Flame Lance you can sort of tolerate. Levin Sword and Radiant Bow are the best ones obviously. In fact why not just have her ditch axes entirely and have her focus on something else if you’re determined. Like Mage Knight or Royal Knight can be decent enough options for Jade. I’m giving her a 3/10. At least units like Anna lets say can be rewarding if you train her particularly during Jean’s paralogue with Micaiah as your emblem. Jade just needs too much help and effort to make her at least viable.

Hold your alpacas it’s time to talk about Amber. On my completed hard mode run he was pretty decent for what I saw in him. He’s got good HP, Strength and Luck. Everything else except Res is pretty average. He can be another investment project unit but with a higher level to start with and he can immediately promote if you want to. With second seals unlocked and gaining Leif albeit temporarily you can use the opportunity to explore his other options in physical classes. Aspiring Hero isn’t as bad of a ability some players might make it out to be. I say this because with proper AI luring, you can separate at least one of them and he can gain a +20 hit when using something like a javelin if he stays as Cavalier to Paladin. Or if you change him to something like Hero or Warrior he can have a second weapon to work with. Warrior in particular can work great with him if it’s going to further augment his strength growth. Long Bow + Aspiring Hero = very reliable chip damage/follow up damage after breaking an enemy. Hero is another good option for the Brave Assist. He makes a good Halberdier as well if you like doubling with Pincer Attack but would need a unit to surround the enemy. Amber does face competition later on with Panette who already promoted and has a higher strength stat starting out. Overall I’d say 6/10 if you’re willing to invest into him. He’s in the same boat as Diamant in my eyes but I think he can make for a good secondary slot for your team. Worth a try.

Did you know that Diamant is french for Diamond? Cool right? Anyways, Diamant. I remember people hyping him up since he’s a lord character that showed to have solid stats across the board. And admittedly he does have good enough base stats starting out. The fact that he is ready to promote as soon as you get him adds points to his favor. 800 starting SP is also quite nice since he would be able to inherit some good skills like Canter or Sword Power early on before the end of chapter 10. He does however start off sword locked which is unfortunate but he does have Emblem Roy equipped right out of the gate so he does benefit from engaging to enable rise above which gives him 5 levels worth of stat boosts. This also gives him lance reaver which allows him to break enemy lance users like lance fighters/cavaliers. He could double these units while engaged but is just a point of strength shy from ORKO’ing them. That is pretty unfortunate as he could have used a kill while engaged for some nice exp. His Successeur class while is unique in a sense that he could use a brave sword and a brave axe in this class, some of his stat caps in this class is what might let you down. Dex in particular is what people would often consider an eyesore. 22 is the max stat cap in Dex for him since his personal stat caps has -1 dex which means that the Successeur class should have 23 dex. The ability he gets Sol while can be nice to have for self healing and making him a sustainable tank, having it trigger around 1/5 of the time isn’t something one should be banking on. You can extend the cap with emblems and bond rings, including Chrom’s S rank ring, but that is RNG rigging at it’s finest. He does however have solid enough bulk and speed throughout where he doesn’t get doubled or one rounded but can’t do the same to the enemy. Fair Fight does also help with his accuracy if he initiates combat. +15 hit isn’t nothing to sneeze at but the same applies for the enemy. So you be best to use it if he is going to either break an enemy for one of your allies to capitalize on them, or if you’re going to feed him an easy kill. His build to me makes him stand out, at base a Steel Sword does not weigh him down at all so he can use it freely. When he promotes, he can use a Killing Edge without being weighed down as well as something like a forged Steel Axe. Even a Lyn engraved Killer Axe will do him wonders and a Lucina engraved Tomahawk helps improves his accuracy tremendously. Both of which he can get by chapter 10 and 11 respectively. By chapter 12 you can get him online assuming that you’re willing to invest into him. Speed + x from Lyn helps him reach certain thresholds to double much slower enemies and keep him from being doubled but enemy Swordmasters with smash weapons as well as Wolf Knights for the mid game. Unfortunately his speed isn’t the greatest so unless he has speed taker, he will eventually get doubled by the late game. You can however mitigate this by giving him a Silver Blade with Micaiah’s engraving as well as Avoid + x from Marth assuming you’re planning ahead for the long term. Speaking of Marth, he can also inherit Break Defenses assuming that you’re willing to use SP books from the well/update bonus to further enhance his Fair Fight ability. 2000 SP is a steep price to pay but this will allow him to inflict additional damage if you do this. Emblem Ike is also good for Diamant as his HP is high enough to withstand punishment as long as you’re not too greedy about it. Leif for Vantage if you’re going for Vantage + Hold Out/Wrath builds though as already pointed out this does have anti-synergy with Sol. Overall I could say he is 6/10. That’s about as far as I can do for him because I do like him and he does have a cool design. And he could work on maddening if invested. Not as well as some of the higher tier damage carries but can pull his weight. I would have given him a 4/10 if was being more honest because he just doesn’t exactly offer you a great return after investing into him considering that he’ll still run into problems. So guess if I had to even this out, it would actually be 5/10.

Plus not to mention that on maddening the enemy now checks accuracy and damage before they attack. In this case it’s the former. So fog vein while useful can be a waste turn if the user’s avoid is too high. The only way I can think of that you could mitigate that issue is to carry a heavier weapon that has an engraving on it like Ike or Roy.

Pandreo and Panette is one of my favorites as well because it’s not a happy-go lucky kind of interaction, the likes of which we see too frequently. Rather it’s a brother and sister who both have different perspectives about their parents despite both of them knowing what they did. And how can they resolve their differences together, that to me stands out. Ivy with Timmera and Panette are entertaining but it’s just played up for laughs. Nothing more.

Now we talk about Lapis. This is assuming Maddening mode but will mention Hard on occasion. Lapis joins you turn 1 of chapter 7 like Alcryst and Citrine. She’s a sword fighter with good stats but unfortunately her first impression isn’t the best. But it is better than Alfred imo. 11 strength and 14 speed are good traits to have as she can double but not ORKO physically weaker/slower enemies. She is level 10 though so she can promote immediately if one wants to. The easy way for her is to promote to Swordmaster which basically increases her already good speed stat along with strength and res. Her other option if you’re willing to unlock a lance proficiency from Sigurd early on is Hero. Hero imo is a better fit for Lapis because Brave Assist is one of the best ways to quick chip at enemies’ HP with chain attacks. You can also wait for Axe proficiency as well once you get Leif. He does also offer Lance early on as well. Also to a tangent on swordmasters really quick: I really do like Swordmasters. From a design and play style point of view anyways. They are functionally head hunters that doubles and sometimes ORKO weaker enemies. But they are generally underwhelming throughout the series aside from FE6’s Rutger and FE14’s Ryoma (but he has Raijinto so it’s a joke really). You could argue that Kagetsu is a good Swordmaster with his crazy starting base stats (more on him later please refrain), as well as Stefan from FE9 but being sword locked is mostly unfavorable. In fairness to the Swordmaster class, Run Through can be a interesting skill to experiment with if you are trying to help set up chain attacks. It also synergies with Canter and the Halberdier’s Pincer Attack. Plus Run Through essentially gives Swordmaster 2 more spaces to move while attacking. So more position purposes it can be used effectively. At least IS is trying something different with them. They are fast, frequently double and often score crits with Killing Edges of the like but their strength tends to be a let down from time to time. Fortunately in Engage, you can address the issue with Strength + x or even Sword Power from Emblem Roy. And Lapis definitely could use these buffs before the end of chapter 10. Another thing that can help out Lapis is build. Her build is bad. Not irredeemable but like Citrine she has issues. Build + x can help her wield heavier weapons that would otherwise weigh her down like steel weapons and javelins/hand axes. If Lapis is a chain attack bot that can also fight, she can do well. She has served me well personally so far and this is considered to be pretty low to mid investment considering that you’ll also want her to unlock dual assist + later on. That’s assuming you’re keeping her as a back up unit. She can also go Wyvern Knight if you’re willing to use a second seal onto her. Then you would probably want to give a raw offensive build rather than a dual assist build. I would give her a 6/10. Obviously outclassed but not unusable by any stretch of the imagination. 500 starting SP might seem like not a lot to work with at first, but with help from the well in addition to the FEH bonus item set she can be a sleeper candidate as one of the better ones to invest into.

Now it’s time to talk about Citrine. This is assuming hard but will mention maddening. She is your typical magical bomb. Good offense but weak everywhere else except for res and luck. People have already mentioned her Dire Thunder build so there is that. Though still good on Hard throughout, on maddening it starts to become average by end of mid game and heading into late game. But still very useful early on when or if you get it. She is immediately ready to promote since she joins you at level 10 so that is a plus. Citrine can go either Sage or Mage Knight in this case. Mage Knight is likely the better option if you want her to be more offensive. Especially since it will help her speed, build and move. Though she might end up having to use a forged El Fire tome to make sure that the weight of the book matches her build so she wouldn’t be slowed down. Her high magic growth is enough to make it matter and she would seriously need something like speed + x to help her double or avoid getting doubled as we head towards the mid game. Hold Out is a great option for her survivability assuming you get lucky with the well. This can also support her personal ability generosity where if she heals herself with a vulnerary or elixir, adjacent allies can get in on the healing as well. More so if Celine was nearby and gentle flower was active as it would boost the healing by 50%. Even though Citrine can end up being pretty decent if trained, she does face stiff competition as already mentioned from the likes of Ivy and Hortensia who can fly and use magic as well. Ivy has better bulk with a easy way to fix her accuracy and speed. Hortensia can potentially save a staff use thanks to world tree. Then there is Pandreo who is sporting better HP, speed and build which means he along with Ivy can wield Bolganone tomes while being able to double. I’d say she is 5/10. Not terrible but definitely out classed.

Time to add more fuel to the fire because it’s Alcryst time. As mentioned previously there was (and is) a debate going over between Etie and Alcyrst on who is better. We already talked about Etie so what does Alcryst bring to the table on hard mode? Will also mention Maddening. Alcryst joins you turn 1 of chapter 7 along with his two retainers Lapis and Citrine. He like Etie is a covert bow user but is a unique Lord class similar to his brother Diamant. He comes in level 10 and is already ready to promote. In a meta where promoting as early as possible is the best way to get someone online, Alcyrst doesn’t need as much investment as Etie would. Not only that but his speed and HP is high enough to where if he has to take a hit he could afford at least two hits before needing healing. Now of course archers shouldn’t be exposed to enemy fire where they can’t retaliate but at least he can survive for a while if need be. When be promotes to Tireur d'élite which translates to Marksman from French to English, he’ll eventually gain access to Luna. The biggest selling point for him is his really high Dex growth. With this in mind, Luna will eventually start to proc over time. But until he can get that many chances to trigger Luna, he does have a mid game slump and his lower strength growth doesn’t exactly help in that department. People who don’t think Alcryst is a good unit will often bring up that he needs Luna which doesn’t always trigger even with high dex in order to inflict some kind of damage. Some even prefer Etie for more consistency. Alcryst does have a few things still going for him. You can forge a Killer Bow for him with a Byleth or Corrin engraving to really boost his critical hit chance. Canter is a fantastic option for him which you can get before the end of chapter 10 thanks in part to the well. And when Lyn shows up he can get speed + x along with speedtaker and alacrity. This would allow him to eventually double attack or quad slower enemies with a brave bow and thus giving him multiple chances to trigger Luna. Speaking of multiple triggers, Lyn is definitely his best emblem for Luna procing Astra Storm and him being a covert can shoot up to 20 tiles away. On hard, he’s absolutely good. On maddening he is fine but not spectacular due to how fixed growths work in maddening. Mainly this means that his strength may not always go up as often as you want it to despite the high dex since as mentioned earlier is worse than Etie’s. And people may not be his biggest fan because of this flaw. That said he can also use Lunar Brace from Erika to help out his low strength. Corrin for Draconic Hex. Or if you’re lucky which is going to take time, you could get Claude’s S rank ring, Wind God. This will allow him essentially Bos Range + 1 while at full HP. If you can manage to keep him out of danger then he can really useful with this ring. Especially if he is a Warrior with Dual Assist+. But you would be giving up Luna in exchange. I say he is a 6/10 unit. Solid overall but does have performance issues during the mid stages until late game where his high dex pays dividends and procs Luna. Of course I can understand if he is like a 5/10 unit because if him being reliant on Luna.

That’s a good point. I just figured that doing activities can grant you extra bond fragments for the sake of insurance.

So now we get to talk about Yunaka. This will be assuming Hard but will mention Maddening. Yunaka joins you turn 1 of chapter 6. Though she doesn’t get Micaiah immediately until you kill one of the bandits on her side of the map that has the ring. That’s easy enough to do. Once you do get Micaiah, then she would be able to take advantage of the mend staff that she has which is very convenient. She can also also start earning a huge amount of EXP with Great Sacrifice making leveling her up easy early on. Same can be said for alot of units though. Daggers in this game when forged can be one of the more potent 1-2 range damage options available since it can inflict poison and gets +2 might per forge until you get the weapon to +5 then that last might increase would only be +1. This compensates Yunaka’s lowish strength growth. She is also a proficient mage killer as she has a good res stat and speed stat to double mages early on. If you forge the iron dagger she comes with high enough, she can ORKO mages. Thief in this game is a special class so she would not need a master seal to reclass if you level her up to level 21. Same with Zelkov but we’ll get to him later. So if you want to reclass her to a different class without needing a master seal, she can go wolf knight for higher move, a secondary weapon type and eventually the skill hobble which can be useful against high move enemies including paladins, wyvern knights and even enemy wolf knights. She has a good magic growth so she could also go Sage or Mage Knight pending on what proficiencies you decide to give her. As the game goes on, her lower HP, strength and defense growth will eventually start to go against her as she may not be able to withstand attacks as well as other might. But that’s not to say she becomes useless, trained to kill can help her score critical hits and be a dodge tank at the same time for being a covert unit. There is something potentially game breaking you can do on hard mode of this game. You can keep Yunaka/Zelkov as a thief and use Corrin emblem to enable Fog Vein which functions like a AoE avoid tile. You can do this to create a potential choke point for your thief and hold the line. The enemy AI doesn’t see your avoid and just attacks you but only end up missing. On maddening however it’s not as abusable as you hope it would because if your avoid is too high then they will ignore you. Overall, she gets a 6/10 for me. Yunaka is good where it counts and she can still contribute late game. But I personally don’t think that her damage will be all that meaningful by the end. But make no mistake, if invested into her, she can be a good unit. On maddening she is worse but not awful.

As others have mentioned you would have to use Ike regularly and invest bond fragments to reach max bond with him which is very much doable even on maddening. Do you do activities around the somminel? Do you cook? Buy stat tonics? And so forth

Time to talk about Louis. This is assuming Maddening but will mention Hard. Louis joins you along with Chloe turn 1 of chapter 4. He also makes a good first impression because he can body block the archer from reaching Chloe by parking onto the healing tile while Chloe ORKOs the mage that threatens him. His defense is solid enough for him along with Vander to endure hits for you and his strength is high enough to smack them around in return with an iron lance. He like Chloe can make a good candidate to use Sigurd as the extra movement is really appreciated since being stuck at 4 move, while not terrible in this game as it might sound since they nerfed move for basically all mounted classes. The 5 extra move from gallop can allow him to chase down targets and then if they line up he can hit them all with override. Louis can even hold his own during the Brodia arc in case you need to him to take a few hits from other enemies as long as they are not mages since they could probably ORKO him. As the game goes on, his defense becomes less impressive because his speed growth or rather lack thereof is going to catch up to him. Louis can certainly go general if you want to double down on his defense and ensure that he can’t get fractured from being attacked. Great Knight does improve his mobility and adds another weapon type which helps him get around enemies better. Halberdier can allow him to double with Pincer attack, funnily enough, if you give him Micaiah Emblem early on, and he remains in a armored class, he can use Great Sacrifice to restore HP and add defense+1 to all allies for that one turn of combat. It’s a small detail but it can be helpful from time to time. As far as other emblems in the mid to late game, Ike can improve his durability as well as grant him Wrath if he was someone like a Great Knight or Wyvern Knight with an Axe. Byleth can give him the Aegis Shield if he is an armored unit when engaged. Or Luin if he changes to a flier. Or if you happen to make him a Royal Knight, the Areadbhar. Overall, I’d say 7/10 seems good. He’ll probably have trouble contributing further past or during the Solm arc but in the early game he is very good. On hard mode he’s way better from my experience.

It’s just like a fairy tale as we can discuss Chloe. Also she’s voiced by the same girl that currently voices Minnie Mouse. I see what the casting team did there. Anyways, Chloe along with Louis who we will talk about later, joins you turn 1 of chapter 4. Unlike the other units that you have that are pretty low leveled, she is at a high enough level where her base stats are appropriate for this part of the early game. Even for maddening standards these are good base stats to have. 8 strength and 13 speed is enough to ORKO a mage with a slim lance in her joining chapter. This is how you make a good first impression. This kind of highlights the problem I personally have with Engage is that as soon as one character joins, someone else who basically does the same thing with a similar starting class over shadows the one that came before. But having said that, spoilers but not really, Chloe is one of the best early game units to invest into. She can take more than 2 hits during combat, she doesn’t get doubled and she can double in return. If you bring her speed tonic, it can allow her to double enemies with a iron lance which definitely a positive. Sigurd and Marth emblem early on does wonders for her as this will either allow to either hold her own against axe users or she can zip across the map and catch up to enemies that are far away. Canter changes how you play the game for a lot of characters and Chloe is no exception. She also can afford to get lance/sword power early on pending on what you have in mind for her. Her strength and magic growth may not be the highest but she is so versatile in a way that she can do well as either a Griffon Knight (particularly a levin sword variant), Wyvern Knight or even a Mage Knight. Any of one these allows her to further contribute as the game goes on which makes her a good candidate for a early master seal. Chloe even makes an interesting candidate for a Martial Master. There is a reddit post about how to achieve that if anyone wants to check it out. She also likes Lyn, Erica if you like Lance Agility or Gentility. Even Hold Out is good for her in case she needs to survive enough rounds of combat to get away and get healed. There are plenty of ways to get Chloe online here and certainly worth your time training. She’s definitely somewhere in the top ten best units in the game. Her combat might begin to fall off late game if her growths don’t kick in. But there is no denying how useful she really is as a combat unit. 9/10 for me. She’s great. The ideal early game flier that can help carry your army.

While that is true, you can go beyond the stat cap with the aid of emblem rings i.e Lyn or Lucina in the case of dex.

Celine has arrived. So is she any good? Let’s talk about her; assuming Hard mode but will mention Maddening. She joins you turn 1 of chapter 4 with Celica’s Emblem ring equipped. This demonstrates Celica’s Warp Ragnarok where a unit can teleport 10 tiles across the map and hit an enemy for pretty massive damage assuming their HP and Res is low. Since she starts as a mystic, her damage output is actually better than normal. Her base stats though are okay. Her magic is serviceable early on and she can probably OHKO with Warp Ragnarok pending on the target. If you buy a magic tonic for her on the next few chapters she can certainly make better use with Celica as her damage output will improve. Celine’s personal ability Gentle Flower increases the potency of healing items by 50% for allies within 2 spaces. That’s not a terrible ability by any means since vulneraries and elixirs can now heal for 22 and 45 HP respectively. It also has nice synergy with Cittrine’s generosity ability that shares the healing with adjacent allies. Her unique class promotion Vidame while not the worst in this game, doesn’t exactly improve her rougher spots such as magic and speed. It does however provide her with some good staff utility and staves are quite good in this game. Being able to use spells like Physic, Warp, Rescue, Fracture and others gives her a nice support role. Celine could also proc Ignis which is what Robin gets as a Grandmaster in Awakening. This takes advantage of the fact that she is basically a mixed attacker. Of course it’s a dex based chance so it might not always trigger when you want it to. But when it does, her higher strength growth does help her pump out more damage than normal. Vidame being a mystic also allows her to keep her sword and tome rank as this increase her flexibility in terms of how you want her to function. As mentioned from one of the previous posts, things like Bolganone and Levin Sword will weigh her down. So you would preferably make her a forged Elfire tome which does weigh less. can This can even improve her damage output pending on the engraving can be about on par with a non forged Bolganone. She can afford to use El Thunder or even Thoron with a accuracy engraving since she wouldn’t be doubling anyways. Aside from Celica, other emblems like Byleth and Corrin are good for her. She can use Roy for Sword Power and Hold Out; so it is basically a get out of jail free card for her. Sword power does increase the damage with Levin Sword. Interestingly enough, she can also effectively use Sigurd for override with a Levin Sword. That can actually do some pretty major damage if you forge a Levin Sword asap. Plus you get Sigurd back by the end of chapter 17 so it’s not like Canter is completely out of the question. Of course Divine Pulse and it’s plus variant can be very useful. Quality Time from Corrin can also be nice to have to shave off damage for adjacent allies as well. Her overall performance tends to be either average or serviceable pending on how you’re trying to use her. She’s not that bad to use but there are better mages you’ll get later on. Celine’s speed and durability will become worse and worse for you as power creep kicks in. Especially heading towards late to end game on maddening where the enemies just get ridiculously fast and powerful. I’ll give her a 5/10. Celine is fine but not spectacular.

So it’s time to talk about this big softie Boucheron. He joins you turn 2 of chapter 3 like Etie and Alfred as previously mentioned, and he’s your first back up unit in the game. As the post above already explains it, back up units can participate in battle using chain attacks to chip away at the enemy’s HP based on their max HP so it could either lead into a kill or kill themselves. Its great for maddening later on as enemies tend to be way more bulkier than normal. Despite having a good hp, speed, dex and build growth, his personal strength growth is at 20%, which is suspiciously low. This is before factoring in class growths on top of that. Axe users tend to have shaky hit rates from the start, and Boucheron is no different. His ability moved to tears adds 2 damage when units are able to participate in chain attacks. This in conjunction with Alear’s divinely inspiring can help mitigate his lowish strength growth despite being an axe fighter. Plus in chapter 4 he can get a hand axe from a corrupted cavalier so that can add to his arsenal. He does contribute early on like Etie but eventually you may consider dropping him for a better strength unit down the line. But let’s say you do want to use him, Berserker can be a decent option for him as it can add more HP, strength and build as the game goes on. Warrior is definitely his better option for similar reasons but Warriors get a bow rank and a higher dex stat cap which is what Berserkers really lack towards the end of the game. Ike or Lyn is good for him pending on what you want to focus on. But there are better candidates for these emblems than him. I’d say 4/10 seems fair.

So we are going to add more to this seemingly hardcore discussion of Etie vs Alcryst. Plus that one guy named Fogado. (Seriously I have seen videos addressing this topic). But let’s just simply get into her pros and cons because yes she is one of those units that you either really like to invest into or just completely skip over when the next archer shows up. There is no middle ground. Etie joins you turn 2 chapter 3 along with Alfred and Boucheron. She does make a decent enough impression to where she does what archers do best: one shot fliers. Her decent strength stat is nicely complemented by her good strength growth as in she can deal consistently good chip damage. Even during chapter 4 where there are fliers can she still contribute, with Alear’s help of course but she still gets the job done. Plus if anything else she can be a good candidate for using Sigurd as early canter can position her safely enough for other units to finish them off. Marth can also help her reach doubling thresholds early on as well or at the very least prevent her from being doubled. This is honestly a weakness of her that may or may not matter for some people, but she isn’t the fastest nor the bulkiest. Her low build doesn’t do her any favors either as she is weighed down by a Iron Bow at base. It’s not as bad for her as it is for Alfred considering that she shouldn’t be enemy phasing anyways. As the game goes on, you start to really notice her frailty. For example the chapter 5 and 6 bosses OHKOs or ORKOs her on maddening mode and that isn’t a good sign for our buffed woman. She may be rocking them abs but her durability is made of paper. Some would drop her off for Alcryst because unlike Etie, he can just promote as soon as he joins which for some can be an advantage. While one is barely better than the other if I’m being honest, he does require less work to get going whereas she needs more investment to get going. In a game where master seals early on are hotly contested, she may or may not be on your list of priorities on who gets the first or second master seal available. But hey, if you like Etie, you can absolutely use her and there are some good end game classes for her to be in. Warrior is her most popular option as it enhances her strength and helps fixes her build. She is one of the warrior candidates that can use up to B rank in bows where others can only go up to C rank. So there is more variety for her as a Warrior. Long Bow and being a backup unit allows her to contribute in chain attacks. Plus with her being able to use Axes including Killer Axe, Brave Axe as well as effective weaponry like Poleaxes and Hammers, she can sneak in a direct melee attack. However even then, she still ends up frail as her durability barely improves and she can still get ORKO’d by enemies later on in maddening. Emblem Lyn is likely her best option as this will fix her speed and using Astra Storm can KO fliers from afar or cause bosses to move if you’re looking to lure them out. I would honestly give her a 5/10. She can be a good unit if you can keep her away from danger for all of her tenure. She can struggle to deal damage later but as long as her chip damage is decent enough when using forges and engravings, she can be still be good to have.

So far for my maddening run Amber is a level 15 cavalier and and Pandreo is a level 3 High Priest. I just did the Lyn Paralogue as well. For Pandreo, I’m not sure if I want to second seal him to either Sage or Mage Knight. Sage allows him to keep staves at A rank and get S rank tomes. While Mage Knight with sword and tome makes him more offensive. He’s got a good build stat so he wouldn’t get weighed down as much when using a Levin Sword or a Bolganone/Thoron. I do plan on making Framme an Enchanter once I get Soren (admittedly I didn’t think to do so before the end of chapter 10 so I didn’t get dagger proficiency). Plus I’m definitely using Ivy and Hortensia, so maybe having someone with an A rank in staves can round out my staff users nicely. Amber, who I have been hearing good things about of late thanks to his good HP, Strength and Luck growth, can become basically Panette 2.0. Certainly better than Diamant. I’m thinking either Hero, Wolf Knight, Warrior or Halberdier. I know that Paladin is okay but I have heard that having S rank in most weapons (aside from probably tomes) isn’t really necessary. Though S rank weapons really don’t matter until end game. I like chain attack spamming, though Wolf Knight for him would require only a master seal with a dagger proficiency (thank you Soren). Halberdier and Warrior feels like better fits for him, and I know how useful Warriors are. Any tips going forward would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

So it’s time to talk about Alfred. One of the first royals you automatically recruit in this game. They are good right? Well, maybe not all of them but is he good? Also slight correction @Imuabicus der Fertige he actually has a 5% build growth because according to the calculator you provided he gets 1 point of build by level 14 assuming that he kept him from promoting until that time. First off I will say that his starting base stats are pretty underwhelming and loses 1 point of speed thanks to him being weighed down by an iron lance that he comes with. On hard mode, it’s not too bad but on maddening, being doubled by around 90% of the enemies during his joining chapter is a not a good first impression. Though to be fair, he is bulky enough for his joining chapter to not be OHKO by the sword fighters or the lance fliers since 27 HP and 8 defense isn’t all that terrible. And I know that part of this criteria is to not compare any physical unit to Kagetsu since he’s really damn good, but he does get over shadowed by Chloe and to an extent Louis one chapter later. That’s really a pretty bad first impression for the guy. But let’s say you did want to keep using him, his growths are not too bad but you wish his bases were better. Like at least 1 across the board including build. His unique class promotion Avenir gives him an A rank in lances and B rank in swords. He would then eventually learn Golden Lotus which is Pavise basically. Part of the problem is that his unique class doesn’t address the problems he has. Which is he needs better speed to at least not get doubled. Mekkah in his video, talking to a co-host about Alfred pointed out that there is more utility he can provide before the end of chapter 10 when you use a master seal then later a second seal you can make him a Great Knight for better defense, Royal/Griffon Knight for staff utility. Now don’t get me wrong. All of these sound pretty good if you could get him to contribute somehow, but these roles can be used by strictly better units. He just doesn’t feel like worth a go after his own’s country’s arc but if you believe in him as a underdog, absolutely go for it. The thing about Fire Emblem is that you can take anyone can make them good. Stat boosters exists and knowing their better matchups is always the key so yes your mileage will vary. I would honestly give him a 5/10. He just gets over shadowed as a lance user pretty badly as the game goes on and while he could venture outside of his unique class, just be aware that others can do his job better than he could. Except for being a staff bot as a royal knight with Canter, or a chain attack bot with dual assist as a hero. Anyone can accomplish that.

“Senpai noticed me!” is the first thing I think of when it comes to Framme. Clanne too to an extent. But anyways, this our first healer we get in chapter 2. Honestly, I find her underrated as a early game healer. Her ability to chain guard can be great to have around during the early game in case you need to have her block an attack. She also heals and can use other staves like Obstruct and Rewarp. Her damage output is quite low due to both strength and magic being quite low in the beginning but it’s the least important part of the overall package. To me what can keep her competitive is the fact that aside from Alear, she has supports with a lot of the cast including Chloe, Lapis, Anna, Diamant, Kagetsu, Timmera and Goldmary. Most if not all of these units are at least worth raising depending on how much investment you’re willing to put into them. Same goes for Framme as well. Alear in particular is definitely one her better supports since she grants the both of them 10 avoid. Plus she can even put a Micaiah engraving onto one of her Arte weapons, whether it be Initiate Arte for a measly 50 bond fragments or put it on a Shielding Arte to get that high avoid as well as that +5 defense. Shielding Arte will weigh her down unless you promote her to Martial Master so keep that in mind. She is can be opportunity cost though since you could in theory be wanting to wait until you get maybe Jean as a chain guarder/healer, or maybe wait until you get Citrrine and immediately promote her to Sage for staff access. Or perhaps wait until you Hortensia who is considered to be the best healer in the game. But make no mistake, Framme does not steal exp from other combat units, nor is it a waste of a deployment slot since she is a healer and you will need at least 1 throughout the entire game. Her default promotion Martial Master does improve her build which is the biggest thing for her considering that she has no build growth whatsoever. If one would rather have her focus on her better magic stat, work on her tome rank early which she can with Celica or Micaiah before the end of chapter 10 and she could go High Priest for tome access. You could even second seal her to Sage if you go down the Micaiah route easily. Finally for emblems, if she were to remain Martial Master, she could use Lucina as a dedicated Bonded Shield user. As a Qi Adept, it will have a 100% activation rate. So those units I mentioned that has a support with Framme, will greatly appreciate the support bonuses and Bonded Shield on top of that to survive enemy onslaughts. She can also go Micaiah or even Byleth for Goddess Dancing. She can inherit avoid + x from Marth which in conjunction with a Micaiah engraved weapon can be useful. Dual Support + is probably her best skill considering her support tree. She can use Divine Pulse in case you like to use staves that inflict status effects. Healing Light is also fine if you think that it is needed after a chain guard. Overall I’d say she is a 7/10. Her growths are kinda of irrelevant in a way since she does bring so much utility if you’re willing to train her. Replaceable maybe. But without a doubt, worth a shot for your team.

Clanne is definitely an interesting unit but maybe not for all the right reasons. I know Mekkah did a discussion video about is Clanne really that bad. It’s available on YouTube for those who want to check it out. But not taking that into account, obviously that personal 10% magic growth is quite glaring. His bases are okay for a level 1 unit but his speed growth is pretty good. This sort of allows him to at least later on not get doubled by enemies in the early stages of maddening, even during the Broadia arc. Verdant Faith allows himself and Alear when they are adjacent Hit +10. While the extra accuracy is appreciated and can be nice later on. Alear in general doesn’t suffer from accuracy issues and tomes are also rather accurate themselves. His strength growth for a mage is pretty good which could encourage the player to switch to a physical class like Hero, or if like to at least put his decent mage base stat to use a Griffon Knight. Mage Knight is where he seems to be the most effective because of his good speed and if paired with the Lyn Ring, can take advantage of Speedtaker, Chaod Style, and maybe even Alacrity along with speed + X. Of course in doing that you’ll just be doubling down on his speed and not doing a lot of damage because of his low magic growth. Some would just give him Celica early on to fix his magic and then maybe later on Corrin which still boosts magic as well as accuracy with the Levin Sword thanks to Sword Focus. Draconic Hex with Thoron on Clanne is also enticing while remaining in Mage Knight. As others have noted he faces competition from Chloe who joins in chapter 4 and can do the same thing but better or if want want more dedicated magical bombs, go with Cittrine or Ivy. It’s not that he’s terrible at playing the mixed attacking/magical role, it’s just that there are better options later. Though for some people, if build is an issue for Clanne when wielding something like Levin Sword, or Bolganone, there is Build + X you can inherit so he would be weighed down less. Engravings on certain tomes can also be effective. Like putting a Roy engraving on a forged Thunder tome for added might. You’re never doubling with it anyways so you might as well get the most out of that 3 range poke. While I am not going to factor this in my rating, if you’re lucky enough to roll for a S rank Olwen ring by the beginning of chapter 9 where you get Leif, Dire Thunder becomes a really potent brave weapon for you in the early game and with high enough magic you can effectively ORKO enemies with low res. Citrrine is a prime candidate for that set up. But more on her later. I’d say he’s a 5/10 for me personally. He’s usable of course with high investment but ultimately you’ll want someone else to be a magical bomb or even a stronger mixed attacker. Also @Shadow Mir were you trying him out on hard or maddening? And at what point did you decide for yourself that he wasn’t worth the investment? Just asking out of curiosity.

I would imagine that it would be a rather expensive run pending in how many staves you end up buying. Especially considering that they will eventually break.