Ranking each game by class: Manaketes & Beast Units

[Zapp Branniglenn]

Dragons n' other animals. I decided to combine the two into one thread for the purposes of casting a wider net and having more games to talk about for more people. I do acknowledge this creates a funky situation for Awakening and Fates that have both in the same game. Although in Fates' case, some of you might abstain on Corrin by virtue of him already being talked about in the Lord discussion. But you can talk about whoever you feel is appropriate. Here are our previous topics: 

• Myrmidons / Swordmasters
• Mercenaries / Heroes
• Thieves / Assassins
• Fighter / Warrior
• Brigand / Pirate / Berserkers
• Archers / Snipers
• Nomads / Bow Knights
• Armor Knights / Generals
• Cavaliers / Paladins
• Dancers / Refresh Units
• Pegasus / Falcoknights
• Wyverns
• Lords
• Troubadours / Valkyries
• Dark Mages / Druids
• Clerics / Bishops / infantry healers
• Mages / Sages

Here are my thoughts, looking at the games I've played / replayed since 2017

Spoiler

1. FE1: Bantu is a big crutch in stemming some of the game’s most egregious infinite reinforcements (not technically infinite, but cmon, who’s not finishing Chapter 9 in 30 turns, or 25 in 70?). His 15 Defense is not only the highest naturally in the game, but manaketes have the exclusive honor of being able to go beyond the defense cap of 20. It’s true Bantu will virtually never earn stats on level up, but stat boosters would not go to waste on him. Particularly HP and Skill, the latter of which is not in high demand. We just need him to wound and not kill enemies. He’s still vulnerable to magic damage like any other unit, but he has the inventory space to spare on Pure Water. Dragon stones do not have durability in FE1. Tiki's dragonstone grants +15 Def, and she earns even more stats on level up. Gaining stats sounds like a game changer, but she only has one full map for that to matter before we begin spending money to cap out our units’ stats at 20. At which point her and Bantu are pretty equal to the rest of your boosted units, except they have a strong, unbreakable weapon that lets them surpass the Defense cap. Also, a recently discovered bug lets them get more defense for free via Knights Crest. That's pretty funky! I wish I had a save state on the Famicom version to see if that bug was always there or introduced in the Switch version.
2. FE3 Book 1: Manaketes are the most different of any class between this and FE1 and FE11. It feels like you need a second players manual to grasp everything about dragons so I hope I don’t get the details wrong. Broad strokes to thin strokes: Dragons have 1-2 range, and need to spend a turn transforming. They stay transformed for about 5 turns, give or take 1 or 2. I’ve heard it’s influenced by their Luck stat but who could say maybe that’s just a Xane thing. Dragon stones go down in durability only via transformaton – you can attack as much as you want once transformed. Damage dealt by dragon attacks is fixed and can’t be resisted except by other dragons (whereby I think they use the Defense stat). Stats are mostly determined by dragon stone. With a firestone you always have 14 Def and 5 Res. Even if you naturally have more than that, you’re increased or decreased to that value. Skill and Luck come with you. Speed technically comes with you, but it’s irrelevant since your AS is capped at 0 with every breath type. Your HP is always doubled. Bantu with 36 HP and 5 Res ironically makes him your best anti-mage unit for what that’s worth, just watch out if they have Blizzard. Tiki flies now, when transformed as the divine dragon. Fire Dragons can cross Cliff tiles. Not the same as Peak tiles, but it’s relevant for chapter 19 and (I think) 17. Either stone grants 7 Mov instead of the usual 6. Even with all these changes I’d say It’s a tie with FE1. They still perform the same role of tanking hits and wounding enemies for others to kill. Having limited dragon stone uses sounds bad, but remember that Book 1 is the shortest version of this game, and they can potentially attack a hundred opponents over a playthrough.
3. Drums of War: This is definitely the appropriate time to bring up this game. Catsidhe is a monster. She needs to be babied at first, but for only a few maps. She’s guaranteed to get +2 HP and +1 in every other stat except Spd and Def (45 and 50% respectively). She can switch between being a physical or magical tank depending on the stone that’s equipped. But her natural Res eventually gets high enough that she won’t fear magic when equipped with Temperstone. Glisterstone offers 1-2 range, and both have 50 uses each. For the remaining 40% of the game, it’s more than enough assuming you don’t intend to solo maps with her once she’s strong enough. She does effective damage against monsters, which is appreciated for knocking out 80HP Revenant health bars in Act 3. She has flight while not having a weakness to archers. My only issues with her are her 5 Mov and inability to Shove. There are two more beast units. Literal beasts, not beast men, so it’s hard to say whether they qualify for this topic. They’re joke characters and pretty fun to try and master. It feels weird dragging down this ranking when they’re so secretive to recruit.
4. FE8: Myrrh’s 50 attacks should be enough for the remaining six chapters, but not enough for players hoping to grind her up to max level in the Tower of Valni. She’s a flier which is a huge boon for several of the maps. She’s weak to arrows, but bow-wielding enemies are pretty scarce by this point. And she deals effective damage to Monsters which is obviously valuable. Necrodragons with their fixed 35 ish damage are a huge menace to her low base HP, but she can still get the finishing blow on them.
5. FE3 Book 2: Honestly I'm just annoyed that Tiki joins right when the game stops throwing dragons at you. What awful timing. She can be a big help in Endgame 1 for dueling the flying dragons safely away from your army, but she'll need half a dozen physics to do that the entire map. It's an important niche though since the Dragonpike doesn't exist, and your wyverns can't dismount on a peak tile to swap to a wyrmslayer. A secret shop lets you buy more dragon stones to target more weaknesses, but again where was this five chapters ago? The Demon Dragon form can help you farm her up to 26 base HP in the chapters following her join time, but I don't think that's worth investing 18000 Gold. Bantu is there to contribute for that point of the game. By being the only unit who can resist dragons, he's an ideal candidate to lure groups of them into one spot to get blasted by Bows, Magic, and Wyrmslayers. And that's all I want from him. To tank.
6. FE11: Bantu’s age has really caught up with him in this version. He takes after his FE1 self, but now has conventional weapon durability that limits how much you could use him. I don’t think he can survive anything on Hard 5. You can try him on Wooden Cavalry Normal Mode holding a vulnerary, but he may end up succumbing to all the single digit damage anyway. Raising Tiki is hard to justify when you discover she gets replaced with a better version of herself when she dies. Her dragon effective damage is now in competition with the (new, and potentially forged) Dragonpike. But they gave her effective damage on Medeus which makes the 1 turn boss kill so unbelievably easy. You could also resurrect Tiki on that map, having both divine dragons at the same time. Whatever floats your warp skipping strategy.
7. FE9: Laguz! My takeaway is that they’re never your best unit, but also never useless. Except Reyson, but we already covered him with the other Dancers. Their lack of 2 range makes them feel like chumps on enemy phase, but they can often shove mounted units which allows them even greater canto possibilities. The best user of the Smite scroll is generally a Laguz for that reason. Lethe and Janaff have the turn 1 transformation leaving the Demi Band for anyone else you feel like using. Mordecai’s Smite gives him great utility on the turns where he’s not fighting, and I know on lower difficulties you can throw him into battle untransformed to build up his gauge faster and create heal exp for Mist in the process. Ulki and Janaff, if I have deployment slots for them, I’m usually just having them shove Reyson around or baiting ranged attacker enemies into weird spots to disrupt enemy formations. I don’t recall any Laguz unit’s combat being especially great, just handy to have a high Mov unit to swoop in whenever I missed a crucial attack
8. FE6: Fa is a fun unit with a bunch of dumb restrictions. Great growths for FE6 standards, but the more you level her up, the less she can fight for the True Ending chapters where she’s force deployed. But then again, she doesn’t survive those Dragons on her base stats. 30 attacks is just never enough for a good balance. Thankfully it doesn’t cost a use to simply absorb hits, so you’ll see players leveraging her 26+ Res stat as a lightning rod for status staves and Boltings. The former of which can be guaranteed via deployment order. And I’ll say this, she’s a good boss killer in a game where that matters. Her attack is very accurate.

If I put this into tiers, 1-3 Are A tier,4-7 are B, the last is C

Apologies for being late this week. Although if I had been on time, I'm not sure too many people would find the time to turn in their post on holiday. Next week is our last topic, throwing a bone to the always a bridesmaid never a bride units. Yes you guessed it. Soldiers / Halberdiers / lance infantry.

[SnowFire]

Excellent: Awakening Manakete, FE10 Laguz Lords (?!)

Good: Fates Nine-Tails / Wolfessenger

Good but highly limited use: FE6, FE8

Average: FE10 Birds, FE10 Dragons, FE11, Awakening Taguel, Fates Kana (w/ a Dragonstone build)

Bad: FE9 Laguz, FE10 Lions, FE10 Wolves, FE12

Very bad: FE10 Cats

N/A: Dancers (FE7 Bard/Dancer, FE9/10 Herons)

--

Fa is weird in FE6.  Extremely, extremely limited usage due to Dragonstone shortage, but very good for whatever you do want to throw her at.  Notably, she's one of your best options for enemy Manaketes other than mages / Legendary Weapons.  Amazing Res means she's good for soaking long-range status staves.  Myrrh has a few more uses of her Dragonstone, but it's still limited such that you can't use her everywhere, and she has trouble with archers and she & her dad kinda counter each other.

Lethe & Mordecai are okay early in FE9 as some sort of subpar Titania variant.  In particular, there's some fun usages of Mordecai's Smite to help recruit Astrid on turn 1 and the like, and Mordecai is honestly pretty solid at holding chokepoints.  That said, laguz keep falling off the later the game goes.  Combat is too common in the second half where being untransformed is a pain, the stats don't keep up once beorc promote and grab forged weapons, and saving a little bit of money isn't that important.  I guess Nasir / Ena get mild credit as helping out vs. Ashnard if Ike is stat-screwed or something, but meh.

FE10 is a mess.  Obviously Volug is usable, but more due to coming well-leveled and with Wildheart than Wolf being particularly good.  Cat gauge is infamous and a good way to get Ranulf killed if you're not careful.  Lion gauge is much better than Cat Gauge but Skrmir being forced to trudge around a desert map isn't great compared to flyers.  Dragons are at least okay support units for the Tower, and the birds are fine.  The Laguz Lords I'm setting aside as a separate thing - they feel different enough to rank separately as not having to deal with gauge mechanics makes them play very differently, although it's hard to disentangle them from all being Level Awesome as well.  Speaking of which, availability of Laguz Gems at endgame also mess with this as you can make a few Laguz units honorary Lords and bump them up a tier, make of that what you will.

For FE11....   uh, Tiki is usable enough, sure.  One of those units who really likes some favoritism though from stat boosters and/or the Starsphere to prevent her weapon from breaking.  Bantu is bad but that's Bantu being bad rather than the class.  Nagi is an escape hatch vs. Medeus, as is a leveled Tiki, which deserves some cred.

FE12 is rougher.  Bantu is still bad, but now Tiki is bad too, as her niche is killing dragons and you recruit her after 3 maps filled with dragons and the like just in time for lots of maps with no dragons and enemy mages packing Glower which cuts through her good Resistance.  Great.  At least Nagi is still usable and ready to go for the final maps.

In Awakening, Nosferatu is one of the most famous ways of surviving brutal enemy phases, but it's not the only one.  Building a supertank is also fine and Manaketes are probably the best unit for it, especially since they also fling back counterattacks at 1-2 range (and thus get the opportunity for pair-up attacks to finish off counter-kills that they might not get alone).  Nowi / Tiki / Nah all make fine super-tanks to send in front of your force.  Meanwhile, Taguel...  exists.  Decent speed helps save it's nothing special either, just averageish.

For Fates...  assuming we ranked Corrin in the Lords set...  Dragonstone is very good early, but falls off a bit later in the game as tanking gets tougher and giving up follow-up attacks becomes more punishing if your Corrin has decent Speed.  Kana has a passive that makes using Dragonstones slightly better, but isn't really that special, just increased regen.  There's still a niche here but it's weaker than Corrin's spot.  Also doesn't help that maximizing Kana probably implies a wacky Corrin build since Kana has swapped stat growths (i.e. the perfect Kana involves something like a +Str, -Mag Corrin which isn't very meta).

Meanwhile, for Kaden / Selkie / Keaton / Velouria..  eh, I think the Fates beast classes are fine.  They don't really have any tricks (aside from the Grisly Wound max HP damage, I guess?) but at least feel like they have a significant stat edge to compensate for the range-1 lock.  They're all usable.

Edited November 26, 2023 by SnowFire

[samthedigital]

A Tier:

FE10.

FE10 features a few fantastic royal Laguz with limited availability and a lot of decent filler ones throughout the game. If I remember correctly one of Janaff/Ulki can also contribute provided they get their strike rank up, but I don't remember the specifics of that.

B Tier: FE8

Myrrh is pretty decent at damaging Leon when there aren't a lot of good options. I might be overvaluing her slightly since FE8 is not my forte.

C Tier: Awakening

I'm not too sure about Awakening's placement. I might even want to put this in B tier and not have a D tier, but whatever. Taguel isn't good because of the lack of 1-2 range. The dragons can work well though. Nah can start juggernauting Lunatic; it just takes a little longer than some of the other options because her mom joins after we probably already have one. I'm just not sure how much I value that even if it's fun to sweep the difficulty with dragons. I have no experience with them on Lunatic+.

D tier: FE9, FE6

None of these are necessarily bad; they're almost purely utility though. Muarim and Lethe have serviceable combat at certain points in the game, but they're shove bots first and foremost. Fae in FE6 is also purely staff avoidance utility; as mentioned if she's late in the deployment order units will prefer to target her which helps for the myriad of staves that enemies spam.

[Jotari]

13 hours ago, SnowFire said:

FE12 is rougher.  Bantu is still bad, but now Tiki is bad too, as her niche is killing dragons and you recruit her after 3 maps filled with dragons and the like just in time for lots of maps with no dragons and enemy mages packing Glower which cuts through her good Resistance.  Great.  At least Naga is still usable and ready to go for the final maps.

Tiki is actually really good in FE12, as the Magestone gives her immunity to Glower. At least...if you're not playing Lunatic where warping, and thus the most fun Secret Shop, is denied. But even without Mage stone or enemy dragons, she should still be a pretty good unit once you get her going. Though on harder difficulties her speed cap will hurt her a lot (New Mystery's Speed Cap his hilariously centralizing to its gameplay and class balance). Nagi also suffers heavily in this regard as her effective 18 speed will have her getting doubled by end game enemies. Sure, she deals tonnes of damage to enemy dragons, but they deal more to her and they will one round her if you haven't weakened them down with someone else first or saved her a few speed wings. A trained Tiki is going to be a lot more useful than base Nagi for end game.

[Interdimensional Observer]

I'd say FE3 has the best implementation of Manaketes or shapeshifters in general that I've experienced.

• The Dstones last at least five turns per use, and a battle can be mostly won in five turns (not the first five necessarily, you transform on the turn before you think you need the dragon).
• Great durability, the only units that don't have their Def penetrated by dragon breath.
• In the player's hands, range 1-2 Def & Res-ignoring breath is pretty strong. Can OHKO some enemies even, and leaves everything else crippled. It's just a little inaccurate, and it is literally impossible for a dragon to double. Yet, Javelins are 20 Wt in FE3, and Book 2 doesn't have hand axes. Only magic has better 1-2 range -although admittedly Star Shard abuse could let you turn Merric/Linde/Jubelo/Arlen into a strong & durable super mage. Still, not bad.
• A nice variety of stones -on paper at least. Even if Bantu can't use anything except Fire, and all Tiki really needs is her Divinestone, though buying a Magestone would be nice too.
• The 20 Wt of Breath and lack of negative AS does keep Manaketes balanced to an important extent I would say. If they could double, then they would be broken.

Now, best implementation, doesn't mean best in practice. -I just wanted to extoll the FE3 Manakete.😅 

Although, FE3 does do best what the dragons in other games try to be- very strong, tanky units. In the case of Radiant Dawn and Awakening, they even have the valuable 1-2 range, which I think is quite nice for helping to carve out a flavor-niche for dragons, in a way.

 

As for Fates and dragons, the two Dragonstones are kinda weird, in that they're more an equal tool in the arsenal than a separate class. (Although this makes them more capable of being ranked than Binding/Sacred/Shadow Dragon, where the great limitations on how many times they can attack makes them feel not like full units, just special... things. -For me.)

I consider the Dragonstone to be a shield to the literal sword of the Yato. Swords are physical and can double, Dragonstones are magical and can't double. The Dragonstone bolsters both Def & Res, for viable mixed-tanking, yet without any 1-2 range.

A Shuriken/Siegjinto/scrolltome/magical-physical weapon can have better EP offense than a Dragonstone thanks to doubling 1-2 range. If on CQ and Rev, Draconic Hex can be some compensation, -4 durability & Spd could be comparable to chip damage and allow someone to ORKO a target perhaps. -Although at least Fates makes good 1-2 EPing something that mostly requires at least a modicum of work to achieve.

Kana seemed consistently mediocre without 3rd Gen inheritance and their base durability is kinda low. Not great for any hopes of them being a dragon-tank.

 

On 11/25/2023 at 12:21 AM, Zapp Branniglenn said:

The Demon Dragon form can help you farm her up to 26 base HP in the chapters following her join time, but I don't think that's worth investing 18000 Gold

I bought her the Magestone, but having 20 Res IIRC meant some enemies didn't even bother attacking her. I also tried warping her somewhere in the untrue final battle, but the enemy bishops are too healthy to be OHKO'ed, and since she can't double, enemy Fortify (and maybe Physic?) spam meant she couldn't get kills as easily I thought she would.

 

On 11/25/2023 at 3:21 PM, SnowFire said:

Nagi is an escape hatch vs. Medeus, as is a leveled Tiki, which deserves some cred.

I don't think leveling is even necessary? I know you can warp a slayer of the fire dragon in front of Medeus, warp Tiki who suicides on Medeus, use Aum on Tiki (she'll be able to act again right away), warp Tiki again and kill Medeus, even on 5* Hard. Not entirely sure if Tiki can do that at base, but there is a shop that'll sell three Energy Drops a few chapters beforehand, and that'll certainly give Tiki the power to 2HKO Medeus. Warp is very available in Shadow Dragon too, you can veeeeery easily skip the final battle. I know it's how I ended my one Merciless run.

On 11/25/2023 at 3:21 PM, SnowFire said:

Meanwhile, Taguel...  exists.  Decent speed helps save it's nothing special either, just averageish.

Taguel is like a Swordmaster without the weapon triangle and possibly Armsthrift Ragnell/Amatsu. The tradeoff, compared to Swordmaster, is okay I guess for most of the game? Yet with Awakening being so heavily enemy-phase oriented (outside of a full Galeforce army), I feel like that throws Taguel below a whole lot of other classes. I'd say a little below average. Not sure exactly where though.

On 11/25/2023 at 3:21 PM, SnowFire said:

Meanwhile, for Kaden / Selkie / Keaton / Velouria..  eh, I think the Fates beast classes are fine.  They don't really have any tricks (aside from the Grisly Wound max HP damage, I guess?) but at least feel like they have a significant stat edge to compensate for the range-1 lock.  They're all usable.

I'd consider Kitsune and Wolfskin to be not quite equals.

Kitsune is decidedly the worse of the two beast classes. Dodgetanking is difficult in Fates, and while Triangle-neutral has its flip side of not giving any enemies +Hit, not inflicting any enemies with -Hit can possibly be worse for survival. Kitsune might have good Res, but Birthright and Revelation give you the Ninjas nice and early and they're simply better anti-mages. Even when they benefit from anti-cav effectiveness, Kitsune had little bite I felt. A weak class I would say.

Wolfskin might be a little slower, slightly less accurate, and vulnerable to magic. Yet it isn't that slow, and Wolfskin's gains in Str and physical durability (instead of unreliable dodgetanking) make Keaton and Velouria much better units. Wolfskin is solid enough. 

I do like the Beastrune having an alternative stat boost spread compared against the Beaststone and Bstone+. Feels befitting for a shapeshifting class, and it gives them a smidgen of weapon variety. Although my canine bias says the 'stone(+) helps Wolfskin more than the 'rune helps Kitsune.🐺

Is the difference big enough to put them in separate tiers? Not entirely sure.

Edited November 27, 2023 by Interdimensional Observer

[Zapp Branniglenn]

2 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

I'd say FE3 has the best implementation of Manaketes or shapeshifters in general that I've experienced.

Now, best implementation, doesn't mean best in practice. -I just wanted to extoll the FE3 Manakete.😅 

Yeah I really like how good and unique these dragons can be without overshadowing the rest. I always find myself gravitating to units with extremely potent strengths and weaknesses. Units with a rewarding learning curve and intended niche.

One of your bullet points I want to echo is Book 2's Star Shards. That's a very key mechanic to that game that Bantu just doesn't get to take advantage of anywhere near as much as other units. The only stats he takes with him into battle are Skill and HP (up to 26, any additional point wouldn't matter). Book 2 units have huge rifts in stats that might make FE6 blush, but Star Shards are the great equalizer that let you make any awful creature into a star, provided that they don't join after the point of the game where you give them up. And then in the remake Star Shards are flat stat boosts that only widen those rifts between units. It's like you say. Dragons can't ORKO enemies, and I think that keeps them from making the game boring, rather than just being a shrewd balancing decision.

But here we are, Bantering about Bantu, and most Fire Emblem fans are like "...I have...no recollection of using Bantu...". He doesn't feel like he belongs anymore in FE11. And it doesn't help that FE11 (and maybe FE12? Don't remember) is the only Archanea game that fails to tell you a manakete's actual stats. In-game or through the help of the player's manual. I dusted off my DS game case to investigate that. That uncertainty behind everything he can and cannot do makes the player too wary to use him. 

Edited November 27, 2023 by Zapp Branniglenn

[BrightBow]

8 hours ago, Zapp Branniglenn said:

But here we are, Bantering about Bantu, and most Fire Emblem fans are like "...I have...no recollection of using Bantu...". He doesn't feel like he belongs anymore in FE11. And it doesn't help that FE11 (and maybe FE12? Don't remember) is the only Archanea game that fails to tell you a manakete's actual stats. In-game or through the help of the player's manual. I dusted off my DS game case to investigate that. That uncertainty behind everything he can and cannot do makes the player too wary to use him. 

What beef did the DS devs have with Bantu, seriously? FE3 Bantu kicks ass.

In any case with the DS games it's basically the worst of both FE1 and FE3. Dragonstones are once again ordinary weapons, just like in FE1. Except now they also have limited durability. And BOY do they have limited durability.

[Shadow Mir]

1 hour ago, BrightBow said:

In any case with the DS games it's basically the worst of both FE1 and FE3. Dragonstones are once again ordinary weapons, just like in FE1. Except now they also have limited durability. And BOY do they have limited durability.

It's even worse than that. Every combat they enter reduces dragonstone durability. Even if they cannot counter.

[Jotari]

8 hours ago, BrightBow said:

What beef did the DS devs have with Bantu, seriously? FE3 Bantu kicks ass.

In any case with the DS games it's basically the worst of both FE1 and FE3. Dragonstones are once again ordinary weapons, just like in FE1. Except now they also have limited durability. And BOY do they have limited durability.

I've never had much issue with DS durability of the dragon stones. Bantu is just too bad to use so Tiki is the only dragonstone user worth considering. And once you get her you A) Don't have that many chapters left B) Already have the Starsphere for infinite durability and C) If you really have to, she can still use Bantu's Firestone. And I think you even get another Firestone at some point. So Tiki running out of stone charges at any point seems highly unlikely. At least in Shadow Dragon. In New Mystery you have all those fun other dragonstones you can buy for her, unless you're playing lunatic (seriously could they not have but a circuitous northern route to that secret shop or something instead of just axing it entirely on the hardest difficulties?).

[Dark Holy Elf]

6. Binding Blade: Fae... exists and isn't great. She's a bit awkward to level and use. Low move, 1 range.

5. Path of Radiance: Lethe and Mordecai are both pretty good, but overall that's despite their class, not because of it; prepromos in Chapter 9 are just nice to have. Most of the later laguz (particularly after Muarim) have serious trouble doing damage and are locked at 1 range, generally some of the worst units in the game.

4. Sacred Stones: Myrrh at base has some issues killing things but you can level her up a bunch if you really want and then she'll kill most things then, while having durability which is kinda good but weird (very tanky against weaker enemies, but dies surprisingly fast to stronger axes/bows and of course defence-ignoring attacks). But 6 move and 1 range just isn't very impressive at this point. She's kinda like if Eirika couldn't promote. Her dragonstone should suffice for whatever your plans are for her in the maingame, though, unlike Fae.

3. Fates: Foxes are pretty mediocre (as mentioned, they kinda try to have the same niche as ninjas, but with 1 range instead of 1-2, no thanks), wolves are decent. No 1-2 range but that's less terrible in Fates than some games.

2. Awakening: Taguel are pretty mediocre, somewhere between Fates's foxes and wolves I think. On the other hand, Awakening manaketes are very solid. Tanky with 1-2 range, very nice.

1. Radiant Dawn: They're a real feast or famine group, aren't they? The idea behind them is "high stats, but you have to watch a transformation gauge, also 1 range is a downer". So how good they are depends on how good those stats are. If your name is Giffca, Janaff, Ulki, or Volug? Yeah you have excellent stats for the time and are very useful. If your name is Lyre, Kyza, or Vika? Not so much. Birds having both shove+canter is cool. Obviously if the laguz royals are included they're an excellent set of units; I'm not sure whether to count them or not for this. But I feel like if I give the game even partial credit for them it's going to top this list, despite the bad.

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

Since we're talking about shifters, it's time for a shift in my approach. That's right, I'll be breaking them up into the three kinds that exist. Internally ranked from worst to best, of course. Beginning with...

Birdfolk

Spoiler

2. Path of Radiance. Janaff and Ulki are the only playable ones here, at least before the Endgame. They're both... fine, I guess. Definitely worse than the flying beorc, due to their lack of Canto. Although like those beorc, the fact that effective damage is only 2x is to their benefit. Passable filler units. Tibarn or Naesala could be useful in the final battle, but on Hard Mode, they barely exist.

1. Radiant Dawn. This time, Janaff and Ulki are actually very strong additions to Ike's squad, thanks in part to Canto. They're pretty much the best available users of either the Olivi Grass, or the Wildheart skill. Beyond these two, Vika and Nealuchi are decent contributors around their respective jointimes, but will in no universe be Tower-worthy. Speaking of Tower-worthy, Nealuchi and Tibarn can more than hold their own in their respective Part IV arcs, and can soar into the Endgame.

Beastformers

Spoiler

4. Awakening. The Taguel are massively disappointing, with access to just two distinct weapons, neither one hitting at range. Not that we should expect that to change for beastformers. Panne, to her credit, can be really good... when reclassed into Wyvern Rider. Just reclass and never look back. Likewise, if you choose to use Yarne. It ain't funny, being a bunny.

3. Fates. The Kitsune and Wolfskin classes feel very much like refinements of the Taguel. They suffer the similar issue, of no ranged attacking options, but gain a new tool in the defensive Beastrune. Although starting with just 5 movement, having a native promotion improves their long-term prospects, with promotion boosts and native skills. I personally favor Kaden the Kitsune (for, y'know, actually being able to double), but Keaton the Wolfskin can be good in Conquest, and feel free to use either (or both! they support) in Revelation. The daughters are... fine units, even if Selkie's personality leaves me shuddering to this very day.

2. Radiant Dawn. The Beast Laguz are really all over the map in this game. You go from the obscenely overpowered "Part I Nailah", to the weak-as-a-kitten Lyre in Part III, and everyone else in between. The "fast gauge" really tends to kneecap Cat Laguz, although the other varieties fare better. Mordecai has a fun niche (crazy high defense, plus innate Smite), Volug is there for the Dawn Brigade when they really need him, and "Part I Muarim" is only a little bit weaker than Nailah. Speaking of Nailah, she's solid help to Ike's team in Part IV, Skrimir is of decent help to Micaiah's team, and either Caineghis or Giffca can be great Tower picks. You could certainly do worse than go beastmode in Tellius.

1. Path of Radiance. I debated amidst the placement, as I think this game is pretty tight with its successor. That said, comparing the Beast Laguz that are in both games, I think they're just a little bit better in this game than in the sequel. Lethe and Ranulf don't have the "fast gauge" issue that they encounter later on, while Mordecai has essentially a monopoly on Smite through the midgame. As for Muarim, while he doesn't "dominate" to the degree of his Part I RD performance, the fact that he doesn't leave your army means he can be a long-term contributor. As for Giffca, he can be a vital help against Ashnard - although, more likely than not, he's just gonna give his subsequent version +2 Strength via transfer bonus, haha.

Manaketes (and the like)

Spoiler

7. Path of Radiance. Ena barely exists here, and depending on the player's choices, Nasir doesn't exist at all! ...Too soon? Anyway, they have the lowest movement of any Laguz, and can only attack at melee range this time. Either one has high stats, and in theory, can save a player whose Ike isn't up to snuff. In practice, I've never really needed them against Ashnard. Not bad to use when they're around, they're just... barely around.

6. Radiant Dawn. Dragons play totally different this time around. In combat, their Breath attacks can now hit at range, while White Dragons (Nasir) can do magical damage. Most important, however, are the "Tide" skills, providing a big buff to adjacent allies. Ena's combat may as well not exist, but Blood Tide means she's doing a big favor for your actual combat units. Kurthnaga enjoys never getting attacked on floor 3 of the Tower, and can be a fun "training project" there, even if he's not actually... well, "good". Nasir can actually hit Ashera without getting Corona'd (while also helping allies double), whereas Gareth provides Blood Tide support (while praying that magical enemies never look in his direction). The Dragon Laguz all have their use, but as in the last game, they only show up in the eleventh hour.

5. FE6. Fae is your only Manakete here, and she comes a little beyond the halfway point. Is she worth using? Well, that will vary chapter-to-chapter. Her Divinestone is quite powerful, especially against enemy Manaketes, but it comes with only 35 uses. You can't purchase any more, so... use sparingly! Thankfully, she won't exhaust uses when she can't counter, which is especially nice when she's targeted by enemy status staves (something something deployment order). Which will tend to miss, owing to her high Resistance. Her low defense and HP are issues, but she's still an offensive nuke against the right targets. 

4. Sacred Stones. Every game has Gold, and no game has Frankincense, but only one game has Myrrh. She's a late-joining Manakete, with low base stats, but a lot going in her favor. 6 movement, with flying mobility, is great here, especially with some of the tricky terrain ahead. Her Dragonstone has a native 50 uses, which should hold up through the rest of the main campaign, as long as you're not expecting her to rout maps. Finally, she's doing effective damage against monsters, who constitute the vast majority of lategame enemies. Played carefully, she's very useful within her narrow timeframe of existence.

3. Fates. Er... does Corrin even count? I already counted them in the Lords discussion, but they technically transform into a dragon... qilin... thingy. They're a great unit, although they don't have to stay in their default class to perform well. The Dragonstones are weird here, acting more as defensive tools, with no ability to double... but also doing magical damage... even though they attack at melee with direct combat? Go figure. Still, also having access to Swords - and later, Staves or Tomes - is a cool boon, relative to other incarnations of Manakete-types.

2. Shadow Dragon. Tiki comes pretty late, but she can be really useful, especially in the dragon-rich chapters of the lategame. Her Divinestone is really strong, although her frailty might be an issue. If you're worried about the relatively low use count, don't - the Hammerne has 13 uses, haha. If things go south with Tiki, then you can get Nagi to replace her. Hell, with some creative play, you can have both of them! Either one can be hugely useful against Medeus, even if they may perish in the process. Overall, a strong first outing for Manaketes. Am I forgetting one? Banter? Bantha? ...Nah!

1. Awakening. Nowi has low base stats, but very high growth rates, even by this game's standards. She also joins quite early for a Manakete. Moreover, having 1-2 range on breath attacks is a huge deal, as is 6 move from the get-go. Nah is a pretty good child unit (you monster), while Tiki can be solid in the lategame, if you're willing to put up with her paralogue conditions. Dragonstone+ is a nice extra resource, as is the fact that stones are buyable. Probably the best incarnation of Manakets in the series, even if they're also the most... boring... ones.

Anyway, those are my thoughts on the shifters. Three Houses, Genealogy, FE7... huh, I haven't played a game with any shifters in a while. Perhaps I should get back into that? Who knows! Let me know what you think.

[Eltosian Kadath]

This was an odd one to rank.

 

S Tier: One of the Best Classes in the Game

Radiant Dawn: The Laguz in this game do vary a lot, but there are enough absolutely broken Laguz units that you get access to at varying parts of the game that I can't deny them the S tier. Starting in part one, you get the solid Voloug, who helps a lot in part one, and while he falls off a bit in the DB maps of Part three, you even get to use the utterly broken Wolf Queen for a few maps of part one, and even the blink and you miss her Vika has some special utility as the only flier in the swamp map. The Laguz of part 2 are fairly forgettable, but Part 3 brings back some solid entries with the Birds, and even the forgettable Lyre and Kyza are mostly so due to the far better Ranulf, and nearly identical but objectively superior Mordecai and Lethe showing up at about the same time. All of this talk is burying the lead, as Part 4 lets you use the Royal Laguz in earnest, and even some semi-Royal Laguz that are almost as good, and all of them are easy S tiers, and I would even say not bringing a Royal Laguz to the tower is a challenge run for this game. 

 

A Tier: A Good Class

 

 

B Tier: An OK Class

Awakening: I almost gave this class A tier, as the Manakete class has a lot going for it, and is definitely a debatable contender for A tier on its own. It doesn't break the game wide open, but the high defense, and 1-2 range make for a potent combo, but I do have a distinct memory of it taking a fair bit of effort to get them as good as those tools should make them...and I am burying the lead about the Taguel being at least one tier below this one if looked at alone.

Sacred Stones: You wouldn't expect a low level growth unit to really work with as late as Myrrh arrives, but with Myrrh having effective damage against monsters, and how easy Sacred Stones tends to be, you can get some good work out of her. She also gets flight to give her slightly better movement capabilities. Being only one range definitely keeps her out of A tier, despite what she has going for her.

 

Shadow Dragon: The two things Manaketes are most famous for, are Bantu being objectively the worst unit in this game, and for suiciding and reviving one being the best way to deal with Medeus on the highest difficulties. I will even give them credit for having some solid effective damage against enemy Manaketes, but by the time those are on a map, you should be warp skipping them to the end. Being the best method of dealing with an otherwise difficult final boss is something I feel I am giving them fair credit for here with this ranking.

 

C Tier:  A Subpar Class

New Mystery of the Emblem: Bantu is still objectively the worst unit in the game, and with Divine Dragon stones losing its effective damage against Medeus, the class's greatest niche was lost, but the Secret Dragon Stone Shop gave it another. The Mage Dragon stone giving them immunity to all Magic damage (even the resistance ignoring spell...) is something useful the divine dragons can do, the Flying Dragon stone lets them hit speed tiers they otherwise couldn't (although the worst stat bonuses that comes with that are harsh), and the divine dragon stone has some nice stat bonuses, and effective damage against all other dragon...but you get the first divine dragon right after the major dragon arc where that would have really been most useful. I am giving this class a lot of praise for a C tier class, but you aren't able to access the Secret Dragon Stone shop on Lunatic, and Lunatic reverse difficulties, and if I am being honest, the only way you will know about this secret shop that is inaccessible without the warp staff (so it also cost a use of what would otherwise let you warp skip a chapter) is by looking it up. That is just a few too many caveats to get it into even the middle tier...although I must admit it is a close call, I am still considering letting them slip their way into B tier anyway.

 

Path of Radiance: Theoretically you could make use of the Laguz, but they are not great. I definitely get just enough use out of their pushing (and smiting) capabilities to avoid the D tier...plus Ena is an out for a stat cursed Ike, if you read your luck early enough, and saved some good things to give Ena (to be fair, with Wrath-Resolve, and a few stat boosters she can pull off the minimum turn kill on him, but those are some of the best resources to use on a unit, and it takes some real shenanigans with equipping and unequipped the Laguz band to pull it off as well). I could see someone talking me into bringing them up to B tier due to that Ena utility, but it is simply so common for people to train up Ike for the Ashnard kill instead.

 

Fates: I have already ranked Corrin and kid's class back in the Lord's section, so I will not be ranking them here (for those wondering they just barely eked their way into S tier, and would have definitely been driven down a tier if tied to these anchors). The Wolf and Fox classes are the only promoted classes that are locked to a single range, 1 range, which is a notable detriment to them. Personally I like the interplay between the tanky -rune, and the speedier and deadlier -stones, but in practice the class ends up rather underwhelming.

 

Binding Blade: Fah has some funny utility with the stone buffs making her a rather good staff sponge, a deployment slot dedicated to her in the last map (although it is free for anyone to use if she dies), plus effective damage against Manaketes is a nice plus. In practice she acts a lot like Myrrh does in Sacred Stones, but in a game difficult enough to make training her harder, with less opportunity to use her effective damage, and without terrain ignoring flight.

 

D Tier: A Bad Class