Red Fox of Fire's character rankings topic

[Florete]

From last time...

In this topic, I will give my unbiased, tl;dr rankings on every playable character in the game in order of recruitment based on how well they help you complete the game in hard mode with max efficiency. My scale will be from 1-10, 1 being the worst, 10 being the best, 5 being average. Scores have a margin of error of +/- .5.

Yes, I did steal this idea from Mekkah, who I believe stole it from smash fanatic. Mine is better, because it's mine. :P

Also, a disclaimer: With how this game works, perfectly accurate ratings are not easy to do, what with the team switching and Laguz Royals and stuff like that. If you don't think my rating is good, first remember the margin of error, and if you still think it's completely wrong, compare it to a character who got a similar rating and tell why you think that character is better/worse. Hopefully this topic won't be as hectic as smash's on GFaqs.

Now the new...

Well, I had been looking forward to getting to the Greil Mercenaries, and so I will start this over where I left off (with Calill) and roll back around to the original characters. Who knows, maybe this will allow me to have more entertaining and detailed reviews? We'll find out.

Index of scores:

10.0 - Ike

9.5 - Titania

9.0 -

8.5 -

8.0 -

7.5 -

7.0 - Mist

6.5 -

6.0 -

5.5 -

5.0 -

4.5 - Calill

4.0 - Soren, Rolf

3.5 -

3.0 -

2.5 -

2.0 -

1.5 -

1.0 -

Calill

Largo's blonde-haired wife is a fairly average character, who I at least feel tends to be rather underrated. She joins in 2-E to help her Queen fight back rebels, and she's a fairly average character. She has little in the ways of durability, but her Magic allows for good ranged attacks over walls and such, so she's still valuable to have. Then she returns for 3-9, where she's in a similar position, only with fewer walls to shoot over. She's still fairly decent, though, and she should have Paragon to boost her growth.

3-11 comes and her problems begin. She'll now be somewhat bad, although not unusable either. Because of her low starting level, she can at least grow fast, and in time she'll learn to double fairly reliably, although she'll likely need Paragon for more than just 3-9. But she does become a reliable character due to decent caps and the eventual 3 Speed boost from Rexflame along with Staff use. She also has a good affinity, Dark, making her a decent partner for Marcia or Tanith if you choose to use one of them along with Calill. This is somewhat helped by the fact that Calill doesn't lose movement in 4-3's desert, so keeping up isn't usually tough.

The funny thing about Calill is that she'll probably need a good deal of favoritism, but favoritism that's actually kind of easy to justify. Paragon for 3-9 when most make no use of it. An easily possible Earth partner when everyone else is supported (unless Marcia and Tanith are both in play, in which case they likely support each other and Calill might be screwed, although a case could be made for Tanith preferring Dark to Fire despite movement differences, but I digress), and any Spirit Dust you can get your hands on, since we're rich as it is and any other units that might want magic are unlikely to even be in play (Soren and Micaiah have wtfMagic as is, healers such as Elincia, Laura, and Mist don't need more Magic, and the next best is like, Tormod or Ilyana. Yeah).

But it doesn't necessarily make up for her flaws. She has a pretty slow start due to a low Speed base, and although she's in the best Archsage class, Archsages aren't a great class to begin with. In the end, you'll get a unit who's a decent healer and a decent fighter. A hybrid, I suppose, only slightly worse in each area than most originals. She's not bad, but she's nothing special either.

4.5/10

Ike

The steroid-induced leader of the Greil Mercenaries makes his appearance, and he's ready for action. Really, there isn't a whole lot to say about Ike. He pretty much kills almost everything and never dies.

But I suppose I ought to go more in-depth, shouldn't I? Well, because of his high base Speed, he pretty much doubles everything that isn't a Swordmaster. Then he's got an awesome Strength base with a 50-use Prf Sword (that he even gets another one of for free) that even boosts his crit, giving him a bonus possibility to kill shit like Generals that might not die from two hits otherwise, and Bonds to further help it. He's kind of borderline on doubling a bit later due to a low Speed Growth, but even that can likely be remedied due to clever use of Bonus Experience.

On the defense, he has a great 44 HP, 21 Defense for awesome concrete durability and decent enough growths to keep them up as well. The only enemies that really threaten him at all are Sages, but those aren't too common and he still has good avoid.

But his combat ownage isn't all. Ike comes with Earth affinity, which not only makes himself practically invincible, but another unit as well. Since pretty much everyone wants him, he can choose where he wants to go, and since more Attack is likely the best we can do for him, either a Mia or Mist support is likely his best choice (inb4 incest), also possibly Boyd or Soren.

And it basically stays that way for the whole game. He never dies, and he even gets his own, unbreakable 1-2 range Sword to continue raping enemies with. If he's in need of extra power, he even gets access to Axes and Urvan. And then there are two bosses that he personally has to kill, so you can take that as you please. All this while making another unit pretty much just as invincible.

It doesn't really get much better than this guy. His only possible problems are Speed and Resistance, both with fairly simple remedies. Speed can be fixed via an easy PoR transfer, a Speedwing, or the ever-amazing bonus experience. Resistance is a fairly minor point as it is, but even can be fixed by the time it needs fixing via Ward staff and possibly bonus experience.

10/10

Edited June 22, 2009 by Red Fox of Fire

[Jaybee]

Does tis mean that after rating Lehran you'll rank Miccy? and that Devdan Danved will be the last one rated?

[Rolanmen1]

Does tis mean that after rating Lehran you'll rank Miccy? and that Devdan Danved will be the last one rated?

All of then was rated, but there was a problem and most data have been lost.

[nflchamp]

You give Calill too much credit. She never really has good offense, never has good durability (though better than most mages, eventually), basically requires paragon for extended periods, and still has trouble reaching a point where she'll be anything but a healer in Endgame.

[-Cynthia-]

Her speed growth allows her to double consistently after several levelups, giving her good offense especially because she targets Res. She gains durability over time, she's never going to have good Def, but her high Spd, Lck, and affinity give her enough Avo to dodge fairly consistently. She actually is pretty decent in Endgame, her high Res is handy, and since she can reach her Spd cap +3 speed from Rexflame she doesn't have doubling issues against auras and such. 4.5 is fair IMO.

[Progenitus]

lolwut, calill double?

She starts off SLOWER than the enemies. She has 18 spd when enemies in 2-E have 18-19. By 3-9 they're up to 20. And then right after she lands in 3-11 where your slowest enemies are paladins/sages/generals who have ~20, and the halbs/warriors/snipers have ~22, which means calill with lolcapped spd isn't doubling them. She doesn't even reach 24 spd to double the slow enemies until ~20/17, which is like the level your GMs like Mia/Boyd/Soren are at, not Calill who has 2 amazing chapters before 3-11 and needs 11 levels to reach that.

She's lucky if she's even going to be the same level as the DB, since they're ~20/1 when they hit 3-6 and have two chapters of wtflaguz so they're going to be like 20/15 when they reach part 4. Meanwhile Calill has 4 chapters before part 4 and starts at 20/6, and fights beorcs that'd give her like 25 exp a kill at most. The difference between the DB and Calill in part 4 is of course that my DB can either double and/or take hits. Calill gets 2HKO'd forever and is not dodging, especially since she has horrible support options due to never existing. She's not doubling, and with mediocre magic she's doing stupid damage.

Such an amazing unit, huh?

I'm gonna fucking punch the next guy who says "lolrexflame". The tome has an amazing FIFTEEN uses. You can't ever spam it in any chapter until you bless it because it can break on you, and it's useless in 4-E-3 because of loldragons where base level mordy can double them, and you're better off using thunder anyway. fuck yeah +3 spd in two of the shortest chapters in the entire game, mirite

Not to mention her mag is pretty low, so you're going to have to invest spirit dusts on her, ON TOP OF BABYING HER WITH PARAGON.

A 4.5 implies that Calill is only slightly below average. Getting 2HKO'd forever, not dodging reliably, never doubling, and doing lame damage a hit is NOT slightly below average.

Edited June 14, 2009 by smash fanatic

[DragonBladeSniper]

Wow, so you're going to stick to the topic eh?

I agree with Ike's rating and Calill IS a bit overrated in this topic in my opinion.

[Loki Laufeyson]

Yay its back!! I really like this topic.

Calill is a fair rating considering the one time i used her she was pretty average but had decent speed especially after promotion. Her magic growth isnt what i like much but Calill makes due.

[Suga]

hmm i dont know if i would put ike as a 10, however he is a beast throughout the whole game, there is a large portion of time where he is a level 20 hero and he has low res, which means he can get raped by mages, but usually doesn't happen. i'd say he's more of like a 9.2. everyone in the game has some huge skill deficit.

[Rewjeo]

I wouldn't have given Ike a perfect 10. He joins at level 15 and can't promote until part 4, meaning that actually having him kill everything is a problem. But whatever, your topic, not mine.

[-Cynthia-]

^ Ike joins at level 11.

[Vykan12]

He joins at level 15 and can't promote until part 4, meaning that actually having him kill everything is a problem

Why? Even if he joined at lv --/20/0, he'd still be very useful. In fact, moreso assuming we gave him his --/20/0 average stats.

[Zkirsche]

hmm i dont know if i would put ike as a 10, however he is a beast throughout the whole game, there is a large portion of time where he is a level 20 hero and he has low res, which means he can get raped by mages, but usually doesn't happen. i'd say he's more of like a 9.2. everyone in the game has some huge skill deficit.

His avo and HP are good enougth to survive through this.

[Mekkah]

Ike's performance against Mages, even during 20/0, is nothing to worry about. 50 hp, 8 res, and ~80 avo even without his supporter in range, 103 with Water/Fire/Light, 110 with Wind/Thunder/Dark.

[Florete]

Don't want to forget about this...

Titania

Our Scarlet-Haired Paladin is no longer as Godly as last game, but still a damn good unit. She's one of the most durable, mobile, and powerful units on the team right from the start, even comparing with the likes of Ike.

She has some doubling troubles, since she's the highest leveled unit on the team (meaning low experience gain) and a base of 21 Speed doesn't double everything. However, since she's a powerful hitter at a time where most aren't doubling and one rounding, this means very little. The problem arrives a bit later in part 3, when her low experience gain catches up and her Strength cap is unable to penetrate enemy Defense. Basically, she'll need a promotion. Once she promotes, she'll pretty much be raping things left and right again, with Sol.

She'll run into some durability issues as well. Her base durability is decent despite a fairly low HP base, but 60% HP and 20% Defense growth isn't doing her justice. That's where her Light affinity comes in. She's a good partner for someone like Shinon, Mordecai, or Mist (due to her eventual horse and Ike's team lock) for the full Defense and, in the latter two cases, some good Atk bonuses.

She'll pretty much remain a very reliable unit for the rest of the game. Her growths are pretty good all around and her weapon choices are also very nice (mainly for Axes). 33 Speed catches up at Endgame, but high Strength allows her to make good use of Brave weapons. She has very few short-comings, most of which can be resolved quite easily.

9.5/10

Soren

In my honest opinion, Soren is the most overrated character in this game. People tend to think he's some kind of God. He's not. He's one of the worst members of the Greil mercenaries, a candidate for the worst.

First off, he's shit defensively. Everything physical in 3-P two rounds him, some Swordmasters even one rounding him due to doubling. And then when you see 40% HP, 35% Speed and Luck, and 25% Defense, you notice it isn't really going anywhere very fast. 11 base Luck, combined with that low growth, means he also faces critical chances against a lot of enemies, so even some enemies that don't double have a chance to insta-kill him throughout the entire game.

His offense isn't too bad, though. He has innate Adept, but due to being pretty much the worst unit on the team for that, there's absolutely no reason for him to keep it. He hits pretty hard in a single shot, though, so he's at least being helpful on the player phase. However, his low mobility at only 6 move cuts into this as well.

It doesn't really get much better. He never doubles, he sucks at dodging without an Earth support (and even with one his avoid can barely be called reliable), and his durability is constantly in the shitter. He has a nice affinity at least, since Dark pairs well with other good affinities like Earth and Water.

I must say that he at least makes good use of bonus experience. He caps Magic, Skill, and Resistance pretty fast, so he can use it to start getting his other problem stats up. Then his tier 2 Speed cap shows up and fucks him even further. He needs an early promotion, something that's contested for mainly by the likes of Gatrie, but also possibly by Titania and Haar.

He gets staves, which is nice. This allows him to help without needing to worry about his durability. However, starting at E rank near or at part 4 is nothing to write home about at all. And since his caps suck and he has no Speed boosting SS rank weapon to help him out, he's not a good endgame character.

At the end of the day, he's a heavy player phase hitter, which is pretty helpful for a while, but diminishes, and he can never take a hit. He's not terrible, but he isn't good either.

4/10

[Loki Laufeyson]

sorry but... LOL at your Soren ranking. I mean seriously, have you used him? Sure he gets a slow start (just like PoR) but once he gets going, shit! Hes nearly unstoppable. (also one should mention data transfer bonuses)

Adept is pretty great for him starting out because at first he doesnt double much. Only morons would pit Soren as a frontline fighter at the beginning, leaving him open. I mean seriously. But having him max out his weapon levels (which isnt very hard) he can spam Bolganone and Thoron AND Rexcaliber. thats not too bad. Plus Flare works in his favor. His skill caps easy so i dont see the issue there. Raising his rating to about 6.5 to 7 would be more fair.

[Pride]

The Titania rating is alright, but Soren does deserve a bit more...I'd give him a 5 or 5.5.

[dondon151]

Soren's fairly bad, but you should at least mention effective damage against WKs, something the team finds difficult to muster (and from 2 range, no less!).

[Jaybee]

Normally, we'd raise about 6 GMs properly, with these being Ike, Titania, Shinon, Gatrie, Mia and Haar. Gatrie is mainly used as a wall and Titania is overleveled. We get ample time to train the other 4 until they catch up to crowned Gatrie and promoted Titania before proceeding to rip levels up with Reyson and the hawks.

What the hell is a WK?

Edited June 16, 2009 by Joshybear25

[-Cynthia-]

Wyrmslayers are difficult?

Anyway, you could maybe raise it to a 4.5 or something, but I pretty much agree. Lol durability with pretty poor offense isn't so good.

I assumed Wyvern Knights.

Edited June 16, 2009 by -Cynthia-

[Jaybee]

Oh, Wyvern Knights. I always prefer DK/DM, but w/e.

Dracos are not hard. Ike and another unit can own them in about 1 turn. Soren isn't even effective against them unless you're talking about the suck that is Elthunder.

[dondon151]

What if Ike wants to own another unit? What if Mia wants to own another unit? Consider all of the possibilities: Soren takes away over 50% of a WK's HP from a safe distance. That has to be noteworthy, doesn't it?

[Interceptor]

It's noteworthy, but there are only two, maybe three chapters, if that, where he can actually leverage something like this.

A 9.5 is terribly high for a unit that's not actually nearly as good as Ike or Haar, particularly given her fail in the usual horse-unfriendly chapters, her horrible mastery skill, her base AS problems, her durability as the game goes on... etc.

[-Cynthia-]

It's noteworthy, but there are only two, maybe three chapters, if that, where he can actually leverage something like this.

A 9.5 is terribly high for a unit that's not actually nearly as good as Ike or Haar, particularly given her fail in the usual horse-unfriendly chapters, her horrible mastery skill, her base AS problems, her durability as the game goes on... etc.

I could see Titania dropping to 9, but then again Volug's a 10 so I feel these scores are slanted a little upwards.

Sol's horrible? It doesn't activate at range and it's only Skill/2%, but it's not really worse than most other masteires, it heals at least.

Soren dealing effective dmg to WK's is a fairly minor point in his favor. Mia and Ike can do the same thing with Wyrmslayer, and Haar/Titania/Gatrie can ORKO if they double. They're relatively uncommon enemies and no one has huge problems with them IMO.

[dondon151]

I'm not trying to give Soren more points; I think Red Fox is not covering all the bases.