FE SD Merric vs Linde

[XxWolfxX]

This is a long debated question on pretty much every guide/forum i've read about shadow dragon.

While both Merric and Linde are very similar, they also couldn't be more different.

Pros to 20/20 Merric:

-HP is higher then any mage should ever have.

-Excalibur is strong against flying units

-very fast and skilled for a mage similar to Bastian on a "best" biorythm.

Cons to a 20/20 merric:

-low luck and def growths so despite all that hp he can't take more then two (maybe 3) hits.

-magic growth is 40% and he starts with 3 magic. this means you you have 39 levels to get 25 magic (you get 2 hes promoted) which at 40% is alot harder then it sounds. he'll more then likely end at 17-19 which imo is bad.

Pros to 20/20 linde:

-50% magic growth which makes her magic usually around 24-26

-very good luck pretty much always caps.

-resistance also almost always caps which makes her great against garnef.

-she makes swarm more useful because shes usually stronger.

Cons to a 20/20 linde:

-pathetic hp shes hit and shes down

-can be very difficult to train in arena

-aura while powerful gains no vs advantange (that i remember)

I make the comparison between her an lv 30 Sanaki.

I personally use linde just because shes more useful as a healer with swarm, or a levin swordsman.

what do you guys think.

[Dr. Tarrasque]

I prefer Merric because I don't care for 20/20 stats and Merric has earlier join and less time where he sucks. Moving to the FESD board since that's where this belongs.

[Krad]

Main problem with your comparison is that you are comparing them both at level 20/20, without taking into account all the levels before it.

And a few things about your points:

-very fast and skilled for a mage similar to Bastian on a "best" biorythm.

Bastian is slow. If he's somehow comparing to Bastian, that should be a con.

-low luck and def growths so despite all that hp he can't take more then two (maybe 3) hits.

His DEF growth is only low due to his starting class. And Linde lacks a defense growth. When compared to Linde, that's a Pro.

-magic growth is 40% and he starts with 3 magic. this means you you have 39 levels to get 25 magic (you get 2 hes promoted) which at 40% is alot harder then it sounds. he'll more then likely end at 17-19 which imo is bad.

Seems like you are comparing them for Wi-Fi. Because 30 MAG is overkill anywhere else.

-50% magic growth which makes her magic usually around 24-26

It's overkill. Enemies don't have enough RES to actually need so much magic.

[Bryan]

I always use Both. Linde is my "light" user, while Merric is my "Anima" user.

[Interceptor]

Merric is just flat-out better. Most of the advantages that Linde has over him can be replicated with stat boosters, other than the mt ceiling that she can reach with Aura. However, Aura is effective against nothing, and EKUSU KARIBA lets you easily take down some of the most difficult enemies in the game, fliers.

[Tables]

This is a long debated question on pretty much every guide/forum i've read about shadow dragon.

While both Merric and Linde are very similar, they also couldn't be more different.

Pros to 20/20 Merric:

-HP is higher then any mage should ever have.

-Excalibur is strong against flying units

-very fast and skilled for a mage similar to Bastian on a "best" biorythm.

Cons to a 20/20 merric:

-low luck and def growths so despite all that hp he can't take more then two (maybe 3) hits.

-magic growth is 40% and he starts with 3 magic. this means you you have 39 levels to get 25 magic (you get 2 hes promoted) which at 40% is alot harder then it sounds. he'll more then likely end at 17-19 which imo is bad.

Bastian is fast? Last time I checked, he was one of the slowest Sages in FE9 and FE10. Also, Merric is only a tiny bit faster than Linde. His Magic is fine, ends up about 19 at 20/20, and 22 LUK is low? Really? Also, he ends up with about 9 DEF, which is good for a mage.

Pros to 20/20 linde:

-50% magic growth which makes her magic usually around 24-26

-very good luck pretty much always caps.

-resistance also almost always caps which makes her great against garnef.

-she makes swarm more useful because shes usually stronger.

Cons to a 20/20 linde:

-pathetic hp shes hit and shes down

-can be very difficult to train in arena

-aura while powerful gains no vs advantange (that i remember)

He magic ends up around 22 on average, so that's pretty exaggerated. Luck has a decent chance of capping, yeah, but Resistance? Last time I checked, Sages capped at 25, not 15. That's 10 away from capping. It just isn't happening.

Merric is better in just about every way. Linde is so far behind, she's never catching up even if she's trained, while Merric helps the team enormously from start to finish. I honestly can't see how there's any debate between them possible.

[Bryan]

I make a motion that we debate Merric vs. Elice!

(Off in the background: "I second!")

Elice has Boobies /topic.

Edited April 13, 2010 by Bryan

[Rodykitty]

I voted Gato.

[BEST TRYNDAMERE PLAYER]

20/20 stats are something you really shouldn't be using for comparison.

It's all about how they can be used as utility and if they can contribute without having to waste too many turns.

Now see, Merric joins reasonably early with an amazingly good tome that is effective against fliers. Keep in mind Excalibur can also be used as a very reliable bosskiller for almost every chapter. He also has pretty much no competition for Excalibur lategame seeing as by then Wendell isn't that great and Etzel has pretty bad bases for joining at such a high level and will probably be used as a backup healer/warper if anything.

Linde, although she comes wth Aura and can use it no matter what, she still joins incredibly late for a unit that's underleveled and has major durability issues. You will have to go out of your way many times to get her some kills so she can be up to par with the rest of your team. And Lena if you bothered to promote her actually makes a decent candidate for that spell once she hits B magic, so she'll have some competition over it if that happens.

[Scarlet]

Merric has Excalibur.

Merric wins.

[/thread]

But even that aside, Merric has an epic availability lead, has an existant Def growth even as a freaking MAGE (no other unit in FE11 with an A class has that!), lots of HP, and just all-around good stats. Honestly, I couldn't give less of a damn about whether he caps out his magic or not when even dudes like Gharnef only have 10 Res. Gharnef's a magic class and a freaking important boss. That's just a joke. If you really need MAG so badly (though I honestly don't know why you would), that's what spirit dusts are for, or those Thoron and Bolganone tomes you'll have no other use for anyway.

Linde has just about no advantages over Merric. She's got Aura. But look, Merric has Excalibur. No-one cares about Excalibur having 5 Mt less than Aura against normal enemies when it has 21 Mt more than Aura against Fliers. And even with just 13 Mt, it KOs just about everything. And it has 20 Crt, as much as killer weapons in this game have, just to top it off. Merric wins.

If I really really want a female sage, I usually just raise Lena. Lena does not have Linde's availability and underleveledness issues, and even comes with a decent staff rank so that raising her as a staff user and ignoring her durability issues (which Linde also has) that way is really easy.

[Parrhesia]

This is a long debated question on pretty much every guide/forum i've read about shadow dragon.

With a one-sided result, I would assume. Unless you're debating that guy who wrote that GFAQ suggesting to boss abuse Gordin til he hits 20.

[XxWolfxX]

LOL well damn i've never seen such a group of linde haters. just wow lol guess i saw it coming though.

linde has one advantage lol shes prettier? lol

[Parrhesia]

I'm a Linde hater and I haven't even played the goddamn game yet.

[Tables]

We're not Linde haters. We're just being logical and fair to both of them, and let's face it, who's better out of a unit who joins late and underlevelled or one that joins early and powerful, when the one who joins early is also better in the long run?

[XxWolfxX]

We're not Linde haters. We're just being logical and fair to both of them, and let's face it, who's better out of a unit who joins late and underlevelled or one that joins early and powerful, when the one who joins early is also better in the long run?

meh, thats kind of irrelevant to me, i usually unless im feeling lazy, get them both to 20 by the end of the ch you get them in. (they both have arenas in their ch) so ya as far as i can see the only reason hed be more useful is cuz you have him longer. but considering i do the same for all my characters that i like no one is really more useful then the other unless used in wifi, in which i usually just use my 5 favorites, linde being one of them. i understand your guys arguments as why merric would be more useful in story mode. but as far as im concerned norne can be as good as merric in story mode nevermind linde. it really depends on preference, how much effort you want to put in, and how much you want to abuse the rng.

Merric is for me was harder to train due not really having access to more mend staffs. so ya *shrugs*

(note: i never asked who was better, i was making a comparison based on my personal experience, i obviously know merric has better bases, therefore is usually "better" in the long run. but notice the poll question, perhaps i shouldnt've assume you guys thought i meant wifi team.)

Edited April 13, 2010 by XxWolfxX

[Ansem]

Did i ever mention that aura weighs her down a lot?

Yay another arena abuser

Everyone else here plays efficient

NO#GBA doesnt have savestates so i had to play efficent too :(

EDIT: I voted for them both

Edited April 13, 2010 by Kai

[_____]

If you put as much effort into arena abusing Merric as you did with Linde, you would get a superior result with Merric. There is really no logical situation where Linde is better than Merric.

[Ansem]

Linde is pretty awesome in book 2 though

[_____]

There's certainly no denying that Linde is better in Book 2, but here? Not a chance.

[Ansem]

People can be tempted to use her

I mean she was Aura

That kills most enemies in one hit

[Krad]

Did i ever mention that aura weighs her down a lot?

We're not talking about FE4 Aura here. It has a weight of 1. Along with Fire and Excalibur it is the lightest tome.

Well, that 1 SPD does cost her quite a lot since 6 AS gets doubled IIRC.

Merric is for me was harder to train due not really having access to more mend staffs. so ya *shrugs*

How does Linde get Mend Staffs earlier than Merric? Merric has 8 chapters to train his Staff rank before Linde even appears

People can be tempted to use her

I mean she was Aura

That kills most enemies in one hit

I'm pretty sure 20 ATK isn't OHKOing anything in chapter 11.

[XxWolfxX]

Did i ever mention that aura weighs her down a lot?

Yay another arena abuser

Everyone else here plays efficient

NO#GBA doesnt have savestates so i had to play efficent too :(

EDIT: I voted for them both

well excuse me i enjoy having forged weapons of decent calibur by the end of the game, to me playing through the game with the amount of money they give you is hardly effecient when it comes to constructing a wifi team early on. I mean sure maybe if you use a guide on where to move everyone exactly and how to maximize the use of the "good" characters in h5 you may just ignore the arena.

But to me effecient is making uses of all your in game resources, arena included. and not with the help of save states/ar.

@ninji: when did i ever say linde was better then merric? i personally prefer linde but thats just because i like her more, but as i said i trained all my characters who are capable (like i liked even a little) to (20)/20 through the arena. only exceptions were julian, sedgar and wolf. I used Lena, Maria, Linde(sage), Merric(sage) to heal every turn. So its not like I gave anyone any special attention during story mode unless i just didnt want to use them. (wrys, boa, astram, midia and gang, draug and a fistful more that prevented me from the gaiden chapters)

this made sure i ended the game with around 800k+ gold total worth of forged brv, and killer gear, thoron, etc. for my wifi team and no real need to replace equipment other then staffs and such.

to me thats pretty effecient but i could be wrong...

EDIT: @krad: um what? I was saying its harder cuz lena doesnt have access to additional men staffs to heal more at the arena because there's no store to buy them, minus online store.

Edited April 13, 2010 by XxWolfxX

[Ansem]

I didnt get it either when i first came

When you finish a game you get your ranking

An efficient run is when you strive to get all A's in the each area's

To be efficient you need to beat chapters in about 15 turns and have to have a good amount of funds

Your tatics have to be good to

Arena abusing destroys the turn rating

[Parrhesia]

well excuse me i enjoy having forged weapons of decent calibur by the end of the game, to me playing through the game with the amount of money they give you is hardly effecient when it comes to constructing a wifi team early on. I mean sure maybe if you use a guide on where to move everyone exactly and how to maximize the use of the "good" characters in h5 you may just ignore the arena.

But to me effecient is making uses of all your in game resources, arena included. and not with the help of save states/ar.

(some stuff)

this made sure i ended the game with around 800k+ gold total worth of forged brv, and killer gear, thoron, etc. for my wifi team and no real need to replace equipment other then staffs and such.

to me thats pretty effecient but i could be wrong...

SF definition of efficiency doesn't include having full-use forged braves by the end of the game.

The earlier you learn this the less pain you will endure.

EDIT:

An efficient run is when you strive to get all A's in the each area's

No. Unless I'm wrong about why there's a massive difference between Ranked and Efficient tier lists.

Edited April 14, 2010 by Furetchen

[Krad]

@krad: um what? I was saying its harder cuz lena doesnt have access to additional men staffs to heal more at the arena because there's no store to buy them, minus online store.

My mistake. I though you were training Merric as a Curate and you were complaining about him leveling slower than Linde due to not having Mend Staffs.

I apologise.