Getting a Tier List on this bad boy

[Progenitus]

Anyway, Lute/Artur vs Saleh

Now he joins in chapter 12. And promotion time seems to be around chapter 15. So for Lute who joins at the end of chapter 4 at level 1, that would be 10 chapters for 19 levels. So 1.9 levels a chapter or so. That would put Lute ~14/0. But let's put her at 13/0 anyway.

May as well do Artur. Since he joins at the start of chapter 4, one level higher, let's put him at 15/0.

As for supports, Artur is 15 + 3, and Vanessa is 10 + 2. With 7 chapters, I'd say spending 30 turns building supports over that time is reasonable. So that would put Artur at 105 (C, but about 1 chapter away from B) and Vanessa at 70 ©.

For Artur, he has Lute. I'd give him Neimi, but no one seems to think she's worth it, so I'll pair him with Joshua instead. It's 5 + 2 support, so it'll be about the same as Lute x Vanessa ©.

13/0 Lute, C Artur/C Vanessa.

Fire

19.8 atk, 11.4 AS, 117.7 hit, 4.5 crit - - 46.2 avo, 22.4 hp, 6.8 def, 11.8 res, 23.4 critavo

with B Artur/C Vanessa

20.8 atk, 11.4 AS, 120.7 hit, 4.5 crit - - 51.2 avo, 22.4 hp, 7.8 def, 12.8 res, 28.4 critavo

15/0 Artur, C Lute/C Joshua

Lightning

17.5 atk, 13.2 AS, 129.4 hit, 13.0 crit - - 38.6 avo, 26.1 hp, 5.0 def, 14.2 res, 15.3 critavo

with B Lute/C Joshua

17.5 atk, 13.2 AS, 132.4 hit, 13.0 crit - - 43.6 avo, 26.1 hp, 6.0 def, 15.2 res, 20.3 critavo

20/1 Saleh

24.0 atk, 14.0 AS, 121.3 hit, 13.8 crit - - 39.0 avo, 30.0 hp, 8.0 def, 13.0 res, 11.0 critavo

Considering this is where Saleh compares best, this doesn't look good for him. He does have more offense/staves, but durability is pretty even in Lute vs Saleh, and Artur doesn't lose by much, depending if he has B lute or note.

In a few chapters... let's say all support increased by 1 level. Save for Artur x Lute, let's say it's still at a B. Let's give Saleh the Gerik support (Eirika doesn't want him, lolewan, lolmyrrh).

20/1 MK Lute, B Artur/B Vanessa

Thunder

31.4 atk, 15.6 AS, 118.4 hit, 11.1 crit - - 67.7 avo, 28.6 hp, 11.8 def, 18.6 res, 36.5 critavo

20/2 Sage Artur, B Lute/B Joshua

Thunder

26.5 atk, 15.6 AS, 129.1 hit, 17.5 crit - - 53.0 avo, 33.5 hp, 10.8 def, 22.4 res, 26.8 critavo

20/5 Saleh, C Gerik

Thunder

25.2 atk, 15.6 AS, 126.0 hit, 19.3 crit - - 45.8 avo, 32.0 hp, 9.2 def, 14.4 res, 17.6 critavo

They all have the same spd O_o

Anyway, Lute is winning by the same amount she was losing when Saleh first joined. She lost att by 3 or 4, and spd by 2-3, but now she wins att by 5, and defensively she wins everything except HP, and some by giant amounts (wtf 22 avo lead).

Artur wins durability slightly and offense is too similar to care (well, Saleh has crit, w/e). But again, this is still chapter 15.

Then down the line some more...

20/7 MK Lute, A Artur/B Vanessa

Thunder

35.3 atk, 18.3 AS, 125.4 hit, 12.0 crit - - 80.8 avo, 31.3 hp, 13.8 def, 22.0 res, 44.3 critavo

20/8 Sage Artur, A Lute/B Joshua

Thunder

29.5 atk, 18.0 AS, 137.9 hit, 19.0 crit - - 64.3 avo, 36.8 hp, 12.8 def, 26.8 res, 33.3 critavo

20/10 Saleh, B Gerik

Thunder

27.7 atk, 17.6 AS, 132.6 hit, 24.9 crit - - 54.8 avo, 34.5 hp, 11.7 def, 17.1 res, 24.6 critavo

Lute's crushing Saleh pretty badly now. 7-8 att, 26 avo, 2 def vs 3 HP? She may even win spd by 1.

Artur wins, though not nearly as much as Lute beats Saleh.

The only way Lute/Artur can't win is if their earlygame performance is beyond terrible, which is doubtful. I'm pretty sure Lute doesn't lose to people like Joshua, or even Franz, by the same amounts that Lute is beating Saleh when she promotes, and Artur's earlygame is a bit better than Lute's (he has 8 base AS to Lute's 6, and they have similar durability/att). Plus, chip damage earlygame does have its uses.

[Jaybee]

Is Natasha really > Joshua? I can't see her healing being so much better than Joshua's good combat ability. Sure, he starts slow, but once he hits SM, well, he's fucking up everything that can reach him. Give him a Killing Edge and he's good to go. Natasha can go Bishop for Slayer or Valkyrie for 7 mv, but she's been a defensive basketcase for quite some time now. And then she's got Moulder who's on healing duty as well.

[Scarlet]

Give him a Killing Edge and he's good to go.

He needs a killing edge in a game where almost every other dude ORKOs everything in their way with irons. I'd say that's why.

Also, with a killing edge, pretty much anyone turns into a freaking killing machine.

Also, Joshua's growths aren't all that great, he's locked to swords (no 2-range), and he has no utility outside of combat.

Closer comparisons will follow if needed.

[CATS]

Is Natasha really > Joshua? I can't see her healing being so much better than Joshua's good combat ability. Sure, he starts slow, but once he hits SM, well, he's fucking up everything that can reach him. Give him a Killing Edge and he's good to go. Natasha can go Bishop for Slayer or Valkyrie for 7 mv, but she's been a defensive basketcase for quite some time now. And then she's got Moulder who's on healing duty as well.

Joshua is one of about twenty good fighters. There's only one other healer and (before promotion, if nothing else) he doesn't beat Natasha by the same amounts as the god tier fighters are beating Joshua. After promotion is just worse for Joshua if anything because he's still stuck on swords while other people are gaining ranged options, including Natasha who now has the staff use that she had earlier in the game + her own combat ability + new utility on top of all that in the form of Warp / Rescue / Hammerne, as she's one of the only two units (maybe three, I forget what Saleh's staff rank is) who will be able to use those.

Edited August 15, 2009 by CATS

[Vykan12]

However unique staff utility may be is irrelevant. What matters is the consequences of Natasha's healing vs Joshua's combat. In the former case, you have to look at how Natasha's healing affects team offense and durability.

[-Cynthia-]

Natasha is one of the worst healers overall IMO. She's pretty badly underleveled (level 1 in Ch5 in't so good), and doesn't get nearly as much Staff Exp as a combat unit would get CEXP. She's got a lot of competition for the first few Guiding Rings(Lute,Artur,Moulder), so I see Natasha promoting pretty late.

That being said, staff utility is pretty handy, hence her current position, not sure if she >Joshua though. I don't understand the gap between them between routes either, is Natasha so much better on Eph route? The only real difference I see is that Gerik comes later(Marisa and L'Arachel too I guess but they're not that good), but Joshua has support options outside of them anyway.

[Mekkah]

Sometimes I forget to update one of the lists...that's the case here, too.

[CATS]

Moulder is in different tiers on the two different routes for no reason that I can think of. Same for Joshua. Natasha is for some reason above Colm on one route and below him on another.

[Florete]

Is Amelia really the worst character in the game? I mean, worse than the likes of Ewan, Syrene, and Knoll? I know she sucks, but she grows out of it fairly fast, right?

Oh, and Knoll > Dozla? Really? Durability doesn't get much worse than 0 Luck and 21/2 HP/Def, not to mention he isn't the greatest offensively, and even if you insta-promote him we're at the point where staves aren't nearly as helpful due to lol enemies and h4x PC's. In fact, should Dozla even be in Bottom at all? Sure, his base Spd sucks, but IIRC, he at least isn't getting doubled, hits fairly hard, and is decently durable.

[Mekkah]

I put Knoll this high because having summons + staves allows him to contribute no matter what his stats are, so in practice the only negative utility he builds is the protection he needs (which is some when he heals someone, and practically none when he summons because those things can move).

I have Amelia so low because, unlike Ewan, she has no accurate 2-range, meaning she misses extremely often or runs death risks every time she attacks.

Dunno about Dozla, he does get doubled by the faster things, and to make things worse it kills his avo which means he has to be healed like every turn, not to mention he has bad cev.

Lemme do some re-arranging.

EDIT: Fixed the inconsistencies, I think, and changed some other things, like Gerik out of Lower Mid on Eph...

Edited August 19, 2009 by Mekkah

[CATS]

Is Amelia really the worst character in the game? I mean, worse than the likes of Ewan, Syrene, and Knoll? I know she sucks, but she grows out of it fairly fast, right?

Oh, and Knoll > Dozla? Really? Durability doesn't get much worse than 0 Luck and 21/2 HP/Def, not to mention he isn't the greatest offensively, and even if you insta-promote him we're at the point where staves aren't nearly as helpful due to lol enemies and h4x PC's. In fact, should Dozla even be in Bottom at all? Sure, his base Spd sucks, but IIRC, he at least isn't getting doubled, hits fairly hard, and is decently durable.

Amelia will never, ever get any kills or Exp unless you set them up for her. Or at least, she won't get enough for it to matter. When comparing her to someone like Dozla, you have to consider that even after Amelia has been trained, she's liek, way in debt in terms of utility. She's slowed you down a fair bit just to become reasonably usable, and it takes a while more after that before she actually becomes good. You also have to consider that all those kills you're feeding her could've gone to a different unit, whereas Dozla is immediately usable without requiring hundreds and hundreds of Exp and constant setup. I find it hard to believe that she's not worse than anyone not named Ewan.

As for Ewan vs Amelia, I don't really know who wins that one, and they both suck so much that I don't really care enough to try and figure it out.

Knoll vs Dozla, I dunno lol. There abilities are completely different, so it's hard to objectively say one or the other is obviously better. I lean more towards Dozla though, since you might be able to justify seriously fielding him for a chapter or two after he joins. And I could definitely agree with moving him out of bottom. IIRC he is not at all bad compared to everyone else when he joins.

[Mekkah]

I threw Dozla to bottom of Low on both lists for now, and on Ephraim Route I took Marisa with him based on intuition but I don't think it matters much.

tbh it's hard to justify tier gaps in FE8 because besides trainees and people like Knoll pretty much everyone can boast semi decent offense/durability

Edited August 20, 2009 by Mekkah

[-Cynthia-]

Another factor in Knoll vs. Dozla is that Knoll uses a recruitment item. It's fairly minor, though there are a lot of good Guiding Ring candidates overall.

I'm pretty sure Amelia is the worst character in the game. She just requires excessive babying to become even vaguely useful, Syrene and Knoll are sort of usable at jointime(assuming we give Knoll a Guiding Ring). Ewan is similar to Amelia, I would put him above her just because he can get Exp easier due to attacking at range. I guess I could see above him if she starts outclassing him in a short timespan.

You might have bumped up Gerik a little too much. For some reason he's above Tethys on Eph route, but like a tier below her on Eir route.

Edited August 20, 2009 by -Cynthia-

[Rewjeo]

I think a big part of it is that Ewan only needs to reach 10/10/1 for summoning and staves, which are guaranteed to be useful while Amelia needs more experience to become a decent fighter and then is still not helping your group much.

[Mekkah]

Another factor in Knoll vs. Dozla is that Knoll uses a recruitment item. It's fairly minor, though there are a lot of good Guiding Ring candidates overall.

promotiong item*, anyway that's as minor as it gets. By the time Knoll joins you could've bought a ring for him in the Ch14 Secret Shop, or you can use the Earth Seal he can retrieve from the village the first turn he arrives. Both essentially dig you out of 10k of goodies, but that's an entirely different kind of detriment than causing Lute to promote late. Basically, it just makes him more expensive in a game where money comes out of your ears.

Fixing Gerik/Tethys, they should be in the same tier, probably with Gerik right below Tethys or vice versa. Doesn't matter too much. They're in the High version now. Eirika route now has only 2 top tiers...

Edited August 20, 2009 by Mekkah

[-Cynthia-]

Oh yeah, forgot about the Secret Shop. Man, they really went all out on making FE8 easy.

Hmm, is Myrrh< Duessel on Eir route? He's got a lot of AS issues compared to Eph route(13 AS in Ch 16 is pretty bad, IE he misses most generic Wyvern Riders), even though he has good durability. Myrrh takes a little while to get good I guess, though since she gains about a level a kill and has insane growths this doesn't last long at all. Plus, she can fly.

Duessel can fix his AS issues with Garm I guess, though it has limited uses and someone else might want it, Myrrh has her Dragonstone all to herself. It is limited to 50 uses, but considering there's only 5 chapters to go it shouldn't run out.

Basically, Duessel wins for a very short period of time before Myrrh gets a few kills, then she starts winning offense by a lot(she doesn't even need to double, since she ORKOs so much).

[Mekkah]

They're about the same, so there should be no tier gap. Myrrh up or Duessel down is the question.

[-Cynthia-]

I would put Duessel below Gilliam actually, they're pretty similar when Duessel joins(Duessel has weapon ranks, Gilliam has supports built up), but Gilliam is marginally useful earlygame.

Is there a particular reason Joshua is above Lute/Artur on Eirika route but below them on Ephraim route?

Edited August 20, 2009 by -Cynthia-

[CATS]

Oh yeah, forgot about the Secret Shop. Man, they really went all out on making FE8 easy.

Hmm, is Myrrh< Duessel on Eir route? He's got a lot of AS issues compared to Eph route(13 AS in Ch 16 is pretty bad, IE he misses most generic Wyvern Riders), even though he has good durability. Myrrh takes a little while to get good I guess, though since she gains about a level a kill and has insane growths this doesn't last long at all. Plus, she can fly.

Duessel can fix his AS issues with Garm I guess, though it has limited uses and someone else might want it, Myrrh has her Dragonstone all to herself. It is limited to 50 uses, but considering there's only 5 chapters to go it shouldn't run out.

Basically, Duessel wins for a very short period of time before Myrrh gets a few kills, then she starts winning offense by a lot(she doesn't even need to double, since she ORKOs so much).

Myrrh doesn't win on offense. At L15, Myrrh has 43-44 Atk, which is a shitload, yeah, but how often does it actually OHKO? Not very much. FE8 is easy because the PCs are so ridiculous, not because the enemies suck. She'll be at 15 around Last Hope, I estimate. She can OHKO some of the unpromoted enemies at the start of the chapter, but that's mostly it. Among promoted enemies, Druids and Generals are slow enough for her to double, but Duessel owns those guys just as much (using Hammer against the Generals). Both have the potential to one-round Great Knights aswell, barely averaging enough AS to double them. And then Myrrh can reliably OHKO only the Mage Knights, which Duessel can also kill with various things (Garm, Brave Axe, Halberd, etc).

Against most all the other enemies, Duessel has more one-rounding potential with his plethora of specialized weapons. Myrrh barely misses the OHKO on Swordmasters (average 47 Atk needed to OHKO), while Duessel can kill them in one hit using the Swordslayer's ridiculous 30+ Mt against them. Swordslayer Duessel can even OHKO the Heroes (average 55.3 Atk needed to one-shot; coincidentally, 14 Duessel w/ Swordslayer and WTA averages exactly that). Warriors are barely outside their average doubling range, but Duessel can equip Garm and shoot his AS up to 19 and pwn them, or failing that, just go for a Killer Axe crit which will OHKO. Same deal with Snipers and Paladins. etc.

Then in Darkling Woods, Myrrh gets monster-effective, but Duessel pretty much does too. Seriously, who else will be using Garm? IIRC all the other people with decent axe ranks are on the lower end of the list.

[CATS]

Rennac needs to move down, I think. Do you really want to field L'Arachel in Ch 14? I imagine it would be better to be able to field a real unit in that slot. The alternative to recruiting him is paying him 10000G with your Main Lord, which is a big no (10K down the drain on the same chap where Killer, Physic and Knight Crests become buyable, and before we have the Silver Card? absolutely not). You can steal his Member Card and (on Eph Route) Elixir with Colm and then just kill him for some Exp. He offers basically no benefits after being recruited as his combat is a complete failure and Colm is already able to steal anything left that's worth stealing. Someone like Dozla at least has some limited use right after he joins.

In the same vein, let me go back to the Colm topic earlier. As far as I remember, there are no chest keys available in Ch 8, and I know they do not become buyable until after Ch 9, so afaik, Colm is the only way to open the chests in Ch 8. Those chests get you an Elysian Whip, which is significant on Eph Route as you only get one other one. Without that Elysian Whip, you'd have to purchase one without the Silver Card in Ch 14, which means 10K less to spend on Killers and Physics. Colm also gets you various other items to sell for the Ch 14 secret shop (I remember a Red Gem in 10 Eir, among other things). The other chest in Ch 8 is an Angelic Robe. There's an Energy Ring in Ch 7 which only Colm can steal, and a Body Ring and a Speedwing on both routes which once again, only Colm can steal.

I definitely feel both of these are better. Just quick comparing:

At Ch8/Ch9ish:

9/0 Kyle (C Forde)

Iron Lance: 18.0 atk, 8.6 AS - - 26.0 avo, 28.4 hp, 10.0 def, 1.8 res

(note that Kyle joins at L5, not at L6 as FEA says)

9/0 Colm

Steel Sword: 14.8 atk, 10.5 AS - - 32.2 avo, 23.2 hp, 4.8 def, 2.4 res

Kyle has the lead in like every single significant aspect but AS and a bit of avo (+8 avo if Colm uses iron, but then he also loses like 3 atk), paticulary hp/def are big leads. Compounded by Kyle's 1 mov lead and WTC, so he can face like 3-4 times as many enemies as Colm does during enemy phases. And he has the option of 1-2 range, too, so he's countering a lot more as well. I'd go as far as saying this outweighs Colm's EXP bonus and lets them grow equally fast.

15/0 Kyle (B Forde)

Iron Lance: 22.0 atk, 11.0 AS - - 35.0 avo, 33.5 hp, 12.5 def, 4.0 res

15/0 Colm

Steel Sword: 17.2 atk, 14.3 AS - - 42.5 avo, 27.8 hp, 6.2 def, 3.6 res

Pretty much the same deal as above...

Adding that Energy Ring and Angelic Robe to Colm's stats in the first comparison, the stat gaps close by a significant amount (and wth @ that C with Forde......if Kyle can squeeze off a 17 turn support in 2-3 chaps, Colm can pull like B Moulder by now). You might as well give them to Colm for purposes of comparison, as if he were not there, you would not get them at all. I also question Kyle gaining 4 levels in 1-2 chaps while Colm gets only 7 levels across 7-8 chaps. "but you have only 4 guys in 5x"--and one of them is Orson, who is basically Seth, and is undoubtedly the fastest way to finish the chap. And Kyle doesn't one-round anything except the Soldiers. 2 levels, maybe, 4, not likely. So I'm going to increase Colm's level by one and decrease Kyle's level by one. We get this:

8 Kyle, Iron Lance: 17.5 Atk, 8.2 Spd----27.6 Hp, 9.8 Def, 1.6 Res, 25 Avo

10 Colm, Iron / Steel Sword: 14.2/17.2 Atk, 15.2/11.2 Spd----31 Hp, 5 Def, 2.6 Res, 42/34 Avo

Is Kyle still better? Maybe. 5 Def is rather alot. Colm's Spd advantage is also very big, however. Colm can double all enemies in Ch 9 except some Iron Sword Mercs that get 12 Spd and that one Killing Edge Fencer (which both are going to stay the hell away from regardless, since they can both get one-rounded by it). Kyle only doubles a Steel Axe Pirate and a Shaman. Which one ends up better is mostly subjective. I suppose I'd give the edge to Kyle due to Javelin and 1 move, but I'm not impressed. And this closeness in combat ability means that Colm is growing faster with his Exp bonus. He gains more Exp than Kyle even though his level is higher.

So for the L15 comparison, you can imagine where I'm going with this. I'll stick Kyle at 14 and Colm at 17. Also, lol again @ the supports. What is this, Ch 13? Let's say 13-14. B Forde is 44 turns and Kyle / Forde have had 6-7 chaps together. B Moulder is 80 turns and Colm / Moulder have had 11-12 chaps together. So if Kyle can get B Forde by now, Colm can get B Moulder. More realistically I think it'll just be a C on both sides. And Colm got more stat boosters for you. He got a Speedwing and a Body Ring. Imma just slap these onto him aswell, though keep in mind that this is an underrepresentation of their worth, as both would be better used on other units.

14 Kyle, C Forde, Iron Lance: 20.5 Atk, 10.6 AS----32.6 Hp, 11.2 Def, 2.8 Res, 31 Avo

17 Colm, C Moulder, Iron / Steel: 18/21 Atk, 20/18 AS----36.2 Hp, 7.8 Def, 5 Res, 56.8/52.8 Avo

Kyle > Colm looks less believable here at first glance. Don't have enemy stats for these chaps atm, but the Def gap closed by a couple points while the Avo and Spd gaps got bigger.

Throw in the fact that, once again, the Speedwing / Body Ring are actually worth more than what they're doing here, and Colm's positive utility from helping in many more chapters early on, along with more items from the secret shop as a result of funds produced by Colm, and I see Colm definitely winning overall.

[Florete]

Rennac needs to move down, I think. Do you really want to field L'Arachel in Ch 14? I imagine it would be better to be able to field a real unit in that slot. The alternative to recruiting him is paying him 10000G with your Main Lord, which is a big no (10K down the drain on the same chap where Killer, Physic and Knight Crests become buyable, and before we have the Silver Card? absolutely not). You can steal his Member Card and (on Eph Route) Elixir with Colm and then just kill him for some Exp. He offers basically no benefits after being recruited as his combat is a complete failure and Colm is already able to steal anything left that's worth stealing. Someone like Dozla at least has some limited use right after he joins.

@Bolded: I take offense to that.

Despite her being raised earlier, I still feel L'Arachel is underrated. But that's beside the point. Recruiting Rennac means I have a ready-to-go Rogue, meaning I don't have to promote Colm and can save the Ocean Seal for Ross if he happens to be in play, or it means I can promote Colm into an Assassin and let him have slightly better offense. Or I can drop Colm altogether, since he might not have gotten a whole lot of experience if he was being used strictly for Thief utility.

[-Cynthia-]

I agree with Red Fox. Rennac means we either have the option not to use Colm or to promote him to Assassin, if we don't want to waste turns using Chest Keys. Plus, on some maps we might want two theives anyway, due to number of chests, and Ch19 for example offers theif competition, so we wan to get to them as quickly as possible.

Also, we can't entitle Colm to stat boosters just because he's the one that obtained them, unless you want to support giving theives a large majority of stat boosters in every FE game, it seems a little ridiculous.

[dondon151]

Given the fact that the marginal utility of additional units decreases, fielding L'Arachel to recruit Rennac has a rather trivial opportunity cost.

[CATS]

Colm's High Tier for a reason. He's basically forced for a long series of chapters. Ch 6 has fog. 7 has an Energy Ring to steal. 8 has chests. 9 Eph has chests, and 9 Eir has a Speedwing to steal. 11 on both routes has fog. 13 Eir has a Body Ring to steal, and 13 Eph has a Speedwing to steal. 14 Eph has a Body Ring to steal. etc. And his combat isn't at all bad. So you might as well train him. The option to "not use Colm" after Rennac is recruited isn't worth anything as you won't field Rennac in any chapters after his recruitment anyways. He sucks horribly and there's no longer much need for thief skills, as there's almost nothing left worth stealing and keys have been buyable for a while.

Saving the Ocean Seal for Ross is a lulzy excuse. He's low tier. Even if he's used, just go Fighter -> Hero. It's arguable against Pirate -> Berserker anyways.

Promoting Colm into an Assassin isn't worth recruiting Rennac. There's a Dragonshield to steal in Ch 17, so promoting Colm to Assassin means I have to field Rennac here in order to get that, which is more trouble than the Shield is worth in the first place. Fail. Getting that Shield >>> Assassin (which has what as an advantage......Silencer and 1 Con iirc? lol).

Ch 19 is also no excuse. Chest Keys are buyable after Ch 9. Any crappy filler prepromo stocked with Chest Keys can do what Rennac does.

It's true that when actually playing the game, those stat boosters won't all actually go to Colm. However, it doesn't matter who they go to. No matter who gets them, Colm gets credit for their worth, as without him, you would not be able to attain them at all. Just giving them to Colm is the best way to objectify their worth. Their true worth is even more than what they do for Colm, since they can, in fact, go to absolutely anyone who might be in need of them.

I also forgot a couple more things. Colm is the one who lets you bum the Member Card off Rennac without recruiting him, so Colm does something very unique here. He basically creates an extra deployment slot for you in Ch 14, as you no longer need to field L'Arachel in order to recruit Rennac. Ch 8 has 3 chests. I forgot the 3rd one which contains, of all things, a Silver Sword. w1n. Ch 9 Eph also has 3 chests. They contain the Ocean Seal, 2500G, and the Restore staff, and you get only one Chest Key dropped during the chapter (they're not buyable until map mode after this chap). Basically just more cash, but still. You don't have the Silver Card for the Ch 14 Secret Shop, so Physics are a whopping 3750G, Killers are 1000-1300, and you probably want to pick up a few Silver Blades too (1800G) as many people use Swords and Silver Blades have the highest Mt of any buyable weapon before the other Silvers become buyable (which isn't until Ch 20).

Given the fact that the marginal utility of additional units decreases, fielding L'Arachel to recruit Rennac has a rather trivial opportunity cost.

And zero payoff.

Edited August 25, 2009 by CATS

[dondon151]

And zero payoff.

No unit has zero payoff if he can do damage or use a staff, and L'Arachel uses a staff. Furthermore, I don't see how this justifies not recruiting Rennac. One might be able to get away with saying that Hugh isn't worth recruiting because he costs at least 5000G, but he can't get away with saying that Rennac isn't worth recruiting because he forces one character for one chapter.

I mean, having to use L'Arachel for one chapter isn't nearly as bad as having to pay 5000G. The FE6 tier list doesn't penalize Shin for requiring Sue to be fielded for one map or Gonzales/Garret for requiring Lilina to be fielded for one map.

Edited August 25, 2009 by dondon151