Anouleth

Lord: FE10 Ike Dark magic user: Umm, probably Ray, from what I've heard about him, but I've never used him or Canas Anima magic user: Lute Light magic user: Micaiah Staff user: Laura Sword user: FE10 Mia or Raven Axe user: FE9 Boyd Lance user: Oswin Archer: FE10 Shinon Pegasus rider: Tanith FE9 Marcia, although Vanessa is close Wyvern rider: FE10 Haar Paladin: Lots of good choice, but Titania Dancer/Heron: FE9 Reyson Lagooz: Ranulf Volug Thief: FE10 Sothe I'm not sure, Micaiah needs to be 20/20/11 to survive a hit from a Red Dragon. 10 levels seems like a lot to gain in 4-E-1 and 4-E-2. Although if you gave her a Robe back in Part 1, she'd only need some BEXP to cap Magic and Res and then she can do it fine.

Most of Moulder's supports give CEV. Very few enemies will actually display any crit on him. I'm not really a big fan of Moulder though. Since he's a healer, I usually end up having to underpromote him, and as a underpromoted Sage, he isn't great due to kind of substandard magic. He's better as a Bishop, because then he rapes the monsters you fight near the end of the game.

There was a lot more focus on Geoffrey/Elincia in this game. And even in PoR, it was established that Geoffrey was head over heels in love with Elincia. I couldn't see Ike marrying Elincia anyway... they're too different.

Soren's a dragon branded and he and amy have the same eyes (red). Soren's black hair => black dragon, amy has red hair => would mean red dragon Nasir's blue hair => Blue dragon Dheginsea's no hair => No dragon? It's pretty unlikely that amy is a dragon branded. Dragons are extremely uncommon outside of Goldoa.

Actually, Oliver could do damage to Reyson, as long as he just punched him and didn't bother with magic, since Oliver has 6 STR and Reyson has 2 DEF. I'd make Lotz playable. Or Sigrun - you can never have too many Falcoknights.

Use Volug. Even at base stats transformed, as long as he's not still stuck with lolWildheart, he's pretty durable.

Facing criticals is also an issue, I've seen it happen and it sucks to have to do the whole chapter if you're on hard. Two options: One: Card the BK. Cards don't allow counters. Two: Mist. Ike gets +10 cev and his base is 14, so being adjacent to Mist makes him immune to crits from the BK as long as he proc'd just 1 point of luck since 3-P began. As long as the other things nearby are dead and Ike is at the edge of BK's attack range, Mist will be safe (she'll be outside the BK's range). You have 2 hawks + Haar so rescuing both of them and getting them out of there afterwards is simple. With proper planning, if Ike has 27 spd then there should be zero probability of Ike dying. Letting Ike risk death is just horrible tactics. Without 27 spd, I hope you have a card and if you do then there is again 0% chance of Ike dying when done right. I'm pretty sure you can just buy the crappy cards at that point anyways. Unlike me who spends over an hour in every base dotting every i and crossing every t, lots of people seem to just go through the base as quickly as possible and then find themselves unprepared for the coming map. You wouldn't even realize the lack of a card until turn 10 or something when you are about to deal with the BK. But yeah, Spectre Card is available for purchase ever since 3-2. Now, I'm not saying that spending an hour+ in the base is inherently superior to spending less than 10 minutes, but I am saying that some things can be missed. Of course, even with the amount of time I spend in the base even I was unprepared for 4-2 on one of my playthrougs. Somehow I neglected to give Elincia any staves. Reset. Heh, first time I played this game, I went into 3-6 without realising that Micaiah had gained Staves. What's worse, I didn't have access to Laura either, since I let her die earlier on.

It's not the class, it's the characters.

The idea is 'which character is the best Sage'. It doesn't matter how good Lute is as a Mage Knight, only how good she is as a Sage.

what is this i don't even Funny that. He used two speedwings. Not everyone reads entire topics before posting. I wasn't expecting anyone to have read this whole topic. Though to be fair, it's not a very big expectation. We're not even on page two yet. Anyway, so I actually contribute something, redundant or otherwise, yes, it's possible to max out both Cain and Giffca, but I'm pretty sure you'll need stat-ups even with both of them getting four perfect level-ups, having them fight untransformed to level them can be a pain, (it's the only way they're both plausibly getting there), and I just don't see a reason to field both of them. I started writing that post when there was 0 replies, then I think I got distracted by something halfway through, so I didn't post it for a half-hour. And as I said, if Giffca gets a Robe, a Drop and two Icons, then BEXP him 4 levels, he's pretty likely to cap everything. And Cain needs an Icon, a Talisman, and either a Drop or a Wing to do the same. It's pretty costly, but it's almost guaranteed to work.

It sounds more like you're talking about support characters - thieves, dancers/herons, healers, and maybe even Dragons (for their Tides). Best staff: Heal. I can't think of a staff I've used more, or has been more helpful. Worst staff: Umm, most of them are pretty useful. Probably Silence though - it's a less heplful status effect than Sleep because it only affects magic, and ironically, the magic users you want to use it on have high resistance as well, so it probably won't even hit!

I used Priscilla once, but I didn't really like her... I had to promote her early, because I was worried she was really going to fall behind in levels if she didn't get offense... So she ended up pretty substandard. At least L'arachel has a shot at promoting at 20 due to the tower. So I gave my vote to Lute.

Generally, people transfer from EM PoR, which is pretty generous with the EXP - you could probably get 15 people to level 20, maybe even more! And on HM definitely, a lot of people want transfers. Jill, Marcia and Neph are all weighed down by their weapons when they join, so they're actually getting +4SPD. Rolf starts doubling much faster, so do Soren and Boyd, the CRKs are doubling as soon as they appear. And there are many characters that don't get transfers that really want them anyway. If Lucia got HP/SKL/SPD/RES transfers, she'd cap 4 out of 8 stats after one level of BEXP, and if you fed her 5 more levels of BEXP, she'd cap STR in second tier!

They still have the same sprites, right? *Pictures Mist battling BK with Ragnell* I see why you are amused.

You make it sound like 9SPD/40% growth is great, when it isn't in FE8 since all the Sages are fast.

Saints heal in 2nd tier, while all Sages do is suck in combat there. The main advantage of anima over light is pretty much cancelled out by the fact that you only get to use anima against Laguz for like, 2 chapters. The healing that Saints do in Part 1, 3 and 4 >>> slightly better caps in Endgame and anima for 2 chapters. Even with Oliver's fail, Rhys and Laura do enough to make up for it. As for cats vs Dark, the only Dark guy is Pelleas. Pelleas won't have healing until partway through 4-5, and we already have Bastian/Elincia to heal in that chapter and Elincia/Micaiah in Endgame. In addition, they have Rend so they ORKO Dragons most of the time, except that since they do this against everything and not just Dragons, it's better than Thunder. And they can actually use it to kill Whites. Edit: Oh, and it turns out that there's this "Part 2 and 3" thing where Cats exist but Pelleas doesn't. So I guess they definitely win.

Because it's fun (to me)? I'll give you this, most people likely find this pointless and !fun, so there is no reason for this as far as most people are concerned. I don't really have much of an explanation for why this is meaningful. The only thing that I can come up with is that it summarizes the normal tier list in terms of how well the classes did over the game. Basically, it lists how "good" I.S. made each class. Not in a caps, movement, etc. manner, but in a "what actually happens in game" manner. If you think that "what actually happens in game" is more important than "caps, movement, etc.", why should we even bother to group all the Swordmasters together, when they aren't even that similiar (Edward is an Est, Zihark is prized for his great dodge, Mia is prized for her doubling, Lucia is useful in one chapter then underwhelming, Stefan is a filler unit)? The only thing that puts these characters in common is their class. So why should we bother to judge the class as a whole, when aside from the 'caps, movement, etc.' they share nothing in common?

1) Yes, but RNG abuse would be necessary, unless you're willing to dump stat-boosters on them. Cain needs 1 Goddess Icon (and 3 out of 4 level-ups with Luck) and Giffca needs two Goddess Icons (and 3 out of 4 level-ups with luck) to cap Speed. In addition, Giffca needs a Seraph Robe to cap HP. If you give Giffca a Seraph Robe, an Energy Drop and two Goddess Icons, you can simply BEXP him 4 levels and he should cap everything. The same can be done with Cain by giving him a Goddess Icon, a Talisman, and a Speedwing (you could give him another Drop instead of the Wing). 2) Ike will survive. Ike's main issue against the BK is that he may not have the 27 speed necessary to survive a round of combat (Ike has 23 base and 35% growth), but you seem to have been speed-blessed (4 points above average), so he'll be fine.

Why would you even want to use expensive forges to Boss Abuse?

Moulder. But APPARENTLY he's not important enough to be on your little poll.

Well, they beat up FE9 Ranulf despite being unpromoted.

Well, thanks for posting the guide. I think I'd rather send Volke after the statue frag anyway, but it's nice to know I don't need to have Kieran and Oscar talk.

Alright, I'll go through the units you're likely to have on Tibarn's group. Elincia (your healer who can also fight somewhat) Lucia (she's underleveled (a plus) but you're likely to have several tier 3 units at this point, so if BEXP is limited, I'd rather focus on characters I'm taking to the tower.) Tauroneo (The Bull is a prime candidate for a crown, and has the defense to tank after that, but suffers severe movement issues with the 4-2 thickets and the 4-5 swamp) Geoffrey (He's a silver knight. Enough said) Pelleas (He's got a separate King Daein tier below bottom tier - at least Oliver can use staves right away.) Ranulf (He's got speed, but suffers from cat gauge issues. You might not even be able to keep him transformed all the time, and he lacks the concrete durability to take hits once he reverts. Grass might help, but you'll sacrifice your player phase to do so.) Of the good characters that are likely to see action at this point: Nolan, Zihark, and Volug - probably with Micaiah since their Earth affinity will help balance Micaiah's lack of stars during her levels. Mia already has an Ike support, and she's not leaving him. Mordecai needs to go with Ike to tank in 4-4, since he's the king of concrete durability. He's probably got >40 def at this point and an A support give 2 more defense (or 3 if a defense support). Mist is helped greatly by the 3 atk and def, so Mordecai needs to go with Ike. Calill is the only reasonably viable sage (Soren is forced with Ike), and is likely going with Micaiah since she won't lose movement range. Most flyers will go with her for the same reason. That leaves for Tibarn's group: Nephenee, Aran, Ulki, Shinon, Gatrie, and one of Jill and Haar in terms of solid units. However, Ike hasn't taken his units. He needs Shinon, Gatrie, and we'll put Janaff here as well (+5 vision and high avoid is good for him here. Flying is another benefit, since he's likely the only good flyer you've got with Ike). We'll assume that you've got the required units plus Neph, Aran, Ulki, and Jill. That's a solid team, but Ulki is likely still at A strike here since Janaff was fed more kills, meaning that he's not going to ORKO much. Tear helps, but he still needs a couple of levels to get there. Jill's probably just starting tier 3 or is very near tier 3, getting BEXP to finish her tier 2 levels before 4-2. Aran is a tank, but has such speed issues that he's not going to double and ORKO much at all without a lot of BEXP, and while one of the best candidates for it (to help speed and HP in tier 2), we don't have an unlimited supply of BEXP, and I doubt you're assuming EM where that's not the case (I'm not). Even on NM, you are still going to want to pump BEXP on Neph, Jill, Haar (for speed), and others as well as Aran. All this means that unless Jill and Ulki are tag teaming on units, we've got a lot of weakened but living units left. Elincia is likely our only healer here besides our medicine, so she won't always be able to pick off kills in the swamp. Tibarn, on the other hand, easily kills everything except for red dragons and they don't move anywhere quickly anyway. He's also got his 4 stars, and therefore makes every unit better in his part 4. On to Janaff, who went with Ike. Ike has: himself, Nailah, Janaff, Shinon, Gatrie, Mia, Mist, Mordecai, Soren, and Titania. Rhys probably also went here, (and Laura went with Micaiah). The strategy is simple: Nailah and Ike in front, Mia three units behind Ike for support, Shinon snipes on the right while Gatrie tanks over there (they're a fast support that gives defense - improving their tanking abilities a lot). Mordecai and Mist work on the weaker left side, and Janaff is useful but hardly needed. Rafiel can do whatever... On to the hardest part of part 4, 4-4. Nailah and Ike go up the platform immediately above the GM's and kill the enemies while the LEA retreats. Gatrie and Mordy guard the right chokepoint, since their defense means they can take several hits. Mist cantos to pick up kills, Shinon snipes at 3-range, Mia stays near Ike, and Soren is very careful. Janaff is probably going near Heather to help her get the treasures. Again, helpful, but not nearly as much as Tibarn will be, since he's going to be much stronger than his units will be, while Janaff will only be on par with his other units. Back to part 3: Arguably very helpful in 3-8, and he does help with the swamp in 3-7, but his impact is diminished since he's not being recruited until turn 3 or 4. 3-10 is a good map with lot of enemies, but there are quite a few snipers here. He got better in 3-11 due to flying over pitfalls, but there are still a ton of snipers (not to mention that the boss easily OHKO's him). Plus, Tibarn and co. diminish his effectiveness here by taking out quite a few units. You're also required to bring Sigrun and Tanith, and no sane person will leave Haar behind here, so again, he's not doing as much as you might think. On to 3-E. This is probably his best map, but there are so many 1-2 range enemies here that he starts spending so much time grassing and so little time actually attacking. Not only that, but also the partner units are going to help a bunch, and the map is over at 80 kills... Of course, Tibarn will easily be making it to the tower. Besides the required units, I've got the royals (5 units), Jill, Haar, Mordecai, another healer (Elincia, probably), and one other unit (Neph for wishblade, most likely). If you can't convince me why Janaff should go to the tower instead of one of the other units named, Tibarn gets all 5 tower levels to add to his 'score' while Janaff doesn't. In summary, I'm easily willing to say that Janaff is a viable unit, and a very good unit, but not quite as useful as Tibarn is. Uhh, why is Calill going with Micaiah instead of the route where she can kill laguz super easily and get ridiculous amounts of CEXP (which she needs)? With Mickey and Sanaki, you have more than enough mages in Silver Army. And I don't see why Nolan/Zihark/Volug are going on Mickey's route either, when they have crap move in the desert. I think you gave way too many units to Ike as well, he's getting Gatrie, Shinon, Janaff, Mia, and Shinon, and he already has himself, Titania and Nailah. No wonder you say that Janaff isn't as helpful, since you put him on the team with all the other great units, the team with the least need for flying units. And you split up Janaff/Ulki as well, when they should be supporting each other. And if we're using Ulki, why is he A strike? Getting him to S should be one of our highest priorities since he needs it to counteract his substandard strength. This take 70 hits, which is 35 rounds of combat since he doubles everything, which is pretty doable in 5 chapters. And he'll easily have Tear as well, since he only needs 2 levels to get it and the game isn't exactly stingy with Satori Signs. So yeah, Hawk Army is only doing badly in your example because you heavily sandbagged it by giving it only 4 units, 2 of which are a bit underlevelled and only 1 unit that's actually good. And Elincia isn't the only healer either, since we can easily bring Rhys or Laura along to Physic and we have Bastian in 4-5. As for Janaff's part 3 performance, it's nothing short of great. You won't be fighting until turn 3 or 4 anyway because of the swamp in 3-7. You say there are 'lots of Snipers' in 3-10 - there are actually 2, and only 1 Crossbow user, which you'll be taking out immediately anyway to protect Elincia. And even the Steel Bow Paladins do badly against Janaff - if Janaff has B Ulki, they 3HKO him with 30 display hit. In 3-11, again, only 1 Crossbow, and Janaff doesn't need to fight the boss to be useful. In 3-E, most enemies are 1-range, maybe 1 out of every 4 has a 2-range weapon. And why wouldn't we bring Janaff to Endgame if we've been using him? So we can bring Haar, who struggles to double Generals? Or Mordecai, who averages 26 speed at level 40 and gets 2RKOed by Wind Spirits without countering?

Uhm if i remember right, ike sat around for a turn or 2, while volke was opening chests and marcia went to open neph's door. So you should be okay. Actually, now that I think about it, Danomill has 27ATK with his Steel Lance, so he 2HKOes any Ike below level 19. And there are archers as well to kill... I think Ike would need some help to clear out the boss room. Well, you can always just forget about the chests and use Oscar, since it's not like what's in them is super valuable.

What good is paragon? This is FE9: skills are gone once removed. Never mind, you were talking about Astrid, a.k.a the third or fourth worst unit in the game. She's not getting good even with a str/skl/spd/def transfer. Don't bother. And, a simple answer is: no. Train other units for transfers instead. Jill, Ike, Zihark, Mia, Gatrie, and Neph are all excellent candidates. Actually, Gatrie is a pretty bad choice to transfer because it just means he caps his stats even faster, which means... well, you just ending up crowning him a chapter early. Rolf or Marcia are better choices - Rolf getting STR/SPD makes him much better in RD, and Marcia also wants STR/SPD so she can start doubling straight away with the Steel Greatlance.