Shadow Mir

Seconding this. Also, other Fire Emblem games have their fair share of difficult recruitments.

Point taken, but you are sacrificing tactical flexibility, and a unit slot, two non-trivial sacrifices, for the sake of giving them a class that is mediocre at best (speaking of, what IS your opinion on Hero in Fates, anyway?). Not that I dislike pair up, but most of the time I use it, it's either for the sake of protecting someone else (*cough AZURA hack*) or because I might need it. Or for transport purposes. Case in point: chapter 23. Why then? Because you're just shooting yourself in the foot making him a Hero. And second, that's after the point in time where it might be conceivably advantageous to reclass him. Anyway, I actually like him as a mobile tank. Hero takes the mobile part away, and for what? One useful skill (that he can only get if he married Charlotte, who, to be fair, is a good wife for him)? To be frank, the only situation where it actually makes a difference is if it stops a unit from dying. Which ain't something I'd rely on when it's useless if the enemy is heavily damaged. To say nothing of the fact that I would generally try to avoid a calamitous outcome like my unit dying in the first place. I think you fail to get it. Assuming my unit takes a hit, one Sol proc won't necessarily undo all the damage they incurred. Largely because it needs too much to go in my favour at once to actuallybe useful. Also, the highest skill cap in Fates, disregarding character modifiers, is 35. That is only 5 higher than, say, the odds of hitting with an OHKO move in Pokémon. About the only way I can see Sol approaching anything even remotely reliable involves Hoshidan Unity and Quixotic - two level 15 skills, one of which has VERY limited distribution. Which means I have to devote three skill slots out of five to make it reliable (which of course ignores how you cannot legitimately have that build on anyone not named Kana or Corrin). Of course, you're gonna have less than a 30% chance (which you supposedly consider "lowballing it" when if anything, it's the exact opposite) for most of, if not the entire game. Do you earnestly think I'm gonna rely on something that is even less reliable than an OHKO move??? I'ma be honest, Renewal is waaaay better. What about Ignatius's paralogue? Because that one stands out as extremely poorly designed for lategame play. Same for Shiro, even though he's not relevant in Conquest. Those two are THE reason I feel it ain't worth it to play the paralogues late.

Abstain. Not much to say here other than some miscellaneous comments. Even ignoring it being a level 35 skill, it does jack in the main game. It only works in pvp castle battles

Hmm. Speaking of, HHM has to be the one time a game completely alters a chapter's enemy lineup. First is Cog of Destiny, the HHM version of which just might be the hardest map in the game. Then we have The Value of Life, the HHM version of which is better called Oops! All Berserkers! And no, it ain't necessarily a party for sword users.

Yeah. She has to be one of the biggest cases of "what were they thinking?!". Considering what you have to do to get her, I'd expect her to not suck so bad... Nino should not be too bad to train unless you're playing Hector hard mode, so there's that. Karla, on the other hand, requires actively training one of the worst units in the game just to get, and the results are NOT worth it. FFS, several sword characters that joined well before her have better base stats.

Honestly, I don't see it that way. If something goes wrong early, I could just restart, as I don't lose too much time getting back to wherever I was (also, most of the maps where the early turns are important are early-game maps, ergo before Lucky Seven is even relevant). Personally, I often find the more important turns to be later in a map - where Lucky Seven has long become a brick. I just can't see something that is basically the skill equivalent of a fair-weather friend to be good. That said... Most of the time I reset, it's early and because my preparation wasn't up to snuff. Or because I was experimenting. Doesn't that need Corrin to A rank with characters of the same gender as them? Because out of all the units with either, Selena is the only one that ain't hot garbage. Anyway, I don't have much issue with your Paladin critique - only your saying that Xander wants Hero when he gains little from it to make up for losing his horse. When there are like three chapters that it might be better for him to not have a horse. Well... whilst most games do allow you to get away with that, Fates actively punishes such because the exp formula is harder on higher level units. So I don't think it's a good move. As far as child units are concerned, I am not sure on your thoughts about when it's best to recruit them, but imho, it's best to pick them up before chapter 18 is cleared. I was specifically talking about Sol. On any single attack, its odds of activation are about 1 in 3 at best - a far cry from 97%. 97% is blatantly in your favor, whereas on an attack by attack basis, Sol has far, far less of a chance to activate. And even then, missing is still possible. That's not exactly what I would call a strong skill. Especially when more often than not it doesn't make any difference.

Just Nino? I woulda thought you'd mention Renault or Karla.

I did. And I was not impressed by lenticular's comment. Once again, if Cavalier was really that much better than other classes, I might buy into it, but it ain't even close. ...aaaand what was the cost of this? Because I would imagine hyperfocusing on Riding like that would impede my progress on other, more important areas. More like if you're ltcing, because I tend to take far, FAR more than seven turns to clear maps. Because by that point, my A-team is already close to complete, at least, to say nothing of promoting. And I don't see any real benefit to kicking someone I have invested in out for someone who works well with Corrin and Corrin alone at that point. If anything, I am only shooting myself in the foot by doing so. Also, that's assuming Corrin picked fighter or merc, neither of which are prime talent choices. You must have low standards than, because there's better you can do than rely on dumb luck - emphasis on "dumb". Not that Sol is good enough to be worth a reclass to get. If I wanted to rely on a drain tank, there's Nosferatu, though I just might be better off relying on an actual tank instead.

That ain't a 97% chance it actually helps, though. To be blunt, Sol is win-more AT FUCKING BEST. Anyone who can actually survive 10 enemies prolly wouldn't even need it. Which is the problem. Or at least, part of it. Also, Jakob is only worth using if Corrin is a girl, which ain't something I would readily assume because needless to say, not everyone is gonna want to play as a female Corrin... and Lucky Seven is not that useful either.

If Cavalier was that much better than other classes, I might agree, but it just... isn't. Therefore, I would feel it's a better use of my time to pick up desirable masteries now than have to do it later. The problem is that Stride exists. Cavalier's mobility edge doesn't look so amazing when I can give almost all my units Cavalier movement without them being slowed down by anything that ain't plains. Also, time spent in Cavalier is time not spent picking up the good shit, and odds are Move +1 is gonna arrive too late to matter. I wouldn't call Sol "pretty strong". I'd call it JP! JUST PATHETIC!!!, your assertion that it is JR! JUST RIDICULOUS!!! And of course, too damn unreliable. I consider it *foolish* to bank on a skill that is worse than useless if the enemy ain't healthy. Also, I generally find evade unreliable unless you're benefitting from a Breaker skill. Aka, for the whole damn game, pretty much.

Iono... I think Hero makes Xander worse for marginal gain. The new and not-so-improved Sol is about as useful as tits on a bull, and 26 is pretty much the only chapter where Axebreaker does anything. Anyhow... A tier in Holy War. On paper, they're supposed to be held back by stats, but the giant maps mean they are usually - by which I mean pretty much always - getting to the action before infantry can. On top of this, Canter is at a series high here. B tier in all of the GBA games. Paladins have the whole weapon triangle in the Elibe games, making them able to match up well against most enemies (it helped that in the overseas release of Blazing Blade, effective weapons got nerfed). While Sacred Stones tried to nerf Paladins by taking axes away from them, it didn't do that much to them. Cavaliers can also class change into Great Knights, but that's a Powerup Letdown. Also, Paladin is Amelia's best option (though that ain't saying much when her other options are underwhelming to outright bad). A tier in Path of Radiance. Effective weapons suck big time here, and cavaliers get to choose their new weapon when they class change. Also, Canter is a thing again (whilst it was in the GBA games, it was restricted to non-attack actions). C tier in Radiant Dawn. Intsys realized cavaliers were too good in PoR and nerfed them to hell; ledges exist, they get penalties to movement in indoors maps, they lost the weapon choice on promotion, and their caps are generally pretty bad. Titania is still good... but that's about it. Every other cavalry unit is underwhelming at best. D tier in Three Houses. I know this is a hot take, but Cavalier SUCKS in 3H. Poor speed, crappy mastery ability (which really doesn't help its already shitty case when some of the most desirable mastery abilities ALSO happen to be in the intermediate tier), and a negative speed growth for good measure. Mobility can only do so much in the face of such negatives... especially in a game where Stride exists. Oh, and as yet another kick in the nuts, terrain that slows cavalry down is common, which means they often don't even have that going for them. The end result is that excuses to go into Cavalier are rare at best. Paladin isn't much better. The only units who actually have much of an excuse to stay in Paladin are Ferdinand and Sylvain.

Honestly, effective weapons are hardly useful in Engage anyway. They're too weak for how heavy they are. I would go as far as to say they're about as much of a meme as PoR effective weapons (10 damage vs an armor and no double... yeah, that's worth it). Especially the wyrmslayer, which ends up being useless against the shit it would've been nice against, aka Corrupted Wyrms.

They want to reclass... Into what really? Because outside of Wyvern Xander for a few chapters (but after 21, you're likely shooting yourself in the foot tho), I'm not really seeing what they're best off going into...

Also, effective weapons suck in PoR, being only x2 effectiveness. Remember this, it's gonna be on the test. And it's liable to come up again in these threads. They depend on the unit. Kieran caps at only 31, Oscar and Geoffrey cap at 32, the other Gold Knights cap at 33. Fiona and Astrid have the fortune of having caps of 34 or higher, ironically... not that it takes away from cavalry units clearly being downgraded from their Path of Radiance highs.

Cheap ain't a word I'd use to describe a build that needs 2000 SP and a boatload of bond fragments... effective, I could agree on, but... is it effective enough to justify the maintenance it needs? That is where it falls apart imho. I wouldn't go so far as to compare it to pre-3H Devil Axe (or for that matter, Devil Sword). Those were innately risky because the worst-case scenario was really awful. What I'm complaining about is the fact that these need a lot of maintenance. And with how much they need, I'd expect them to be absolutely amazing when active, but... that just is *not* what happens. It especially stands out here in Engage because there's at least three effects that make full HP mandatory. For that matter... No one sees Subaki's personal as good, and yet Ferdinand's Confidence gets a lot of praise despite it literally being the same as Subaki's... what the fuck is up with this *blatant* double standard???

Honestly, I'd recommend against Zeiss. He comes too late imho.

I tend to abstain from giving ratings because I've only played the game to completion once. Of course, this is gonna be another one of those times. If I'm using her, I'm probably not using her just for chain attacks. Chain Guard costs HP, but regardless, the problem of HP level ups disabling it extends to them too.

Homunculi, huh? That's where you're heading. Cannot say I dislike it, though. Also, have you watched Fullmetal Alchemist? Because I'm of the mind that the morphs in Blazing Blade were inspired by FMA's homunculi.

While we're here, I might as well ask... just how useful is Brave Assist, really??? Because the full HP requirement is aggravating, no thanks to the fact that an HP level up is enough to disable it. This applies to Chain Guard, too, for that matter. If this sounds familiar, that's because it most likely is; I had complained about the same thing for Ferdinand's personal skill in 3H discussion.

. . . You might be right. Man, I really wanna take a shot at HHM again... especially after seeing some peeps try and phail to ironman it.

Tbh, I wouldn't be too concerned about that. The only games I actively consider bad are Shadow Dragon and Binding Blade. At least, out of the ones I have played.

It ain't my units I'm concerned about there. It's Zephiel. He's super fragile. Oh, and the fact you start super far away from him.

Not even Battle Before Dawn? Wow. I see a ton of complaints on that one HHM wise.

Of course, it can be used to their advantage. To be fair, Radiant Dawn does have some dickish chapters. Like 1-9, for example, as without spoilers, your sole unit is a mage... in a game where mages are at their worst. Or worse, 3-6.

I had already alluded to the uselessness of the likes of javelins and hand axes in this game; there's pretty much no scenario where they're better than anything else. If I want range, I get better mileage out of a bow. If I am prepping for enemy phase, I'm better off using a lighter and/or stronger weapon. As for Black Magic Avoid +20, it would be useful if it was actually on someone magically inclined. Cutting through hordes of enemies is fun, but the secret to my success in those games is priorities. Like, what can wait, and what am I best off dealing with now?