Rate the unit, Day 4: Serra

[chococoke]

Serra's usefulness is really rather limited. She doesn't have a lot of time as the team's only healer before Prissy shows up and basically outclasses her. Plus base Magic of 2, and the only time I used her she had a whopping 6 Magic upon promotion. Of course, she does heal and has a few maps of free deployment, and can come up with a clutch heal or two before we get Priscilla.

5/10

[Raven]

Looking at these threads, it seems the latest version of the FE7 tier list is way out of date.

[Titamon]

6.5/10

2 Base Magic. Bad Tome Rank. Average Move. Priscilla is better

[Shadow Mir]

6.5/10

2 Base Magic. Bad Tome Rank. Average Move. Priscilla is better

Bold: Priscilla has it worse, having to start from E rank... Plus, considering that pretty much anything from C rank on up murders most mages' AS...

Edited December 21, 2011 by Metal King Slime

[Titamon]

Bold: Priscilla has it worse, having to start from E rank... Plus, considering that pretty much anything from C rank on up murders most mages' AS...

I'd rather have E Anima than D Light

Fire > Lightning

And Shine makes Serra lose 3 AS

[Shadow Mir]

I'd rather have E Anima than D Light

Fire > Lightning

And Shine makes Serra lose 3 AS

Not going to contest that.

Which is tolerable compared to the AS loss most mages would get from crap like Divine or Elfire.

[Florete]

I never thought my score for Serra would be on the high end. Poor girl.

[PKL]

Everything has been said already. I once used her and she had really low magic post promotion. At the pace I was going, she promoted in the chapter before light. -_-

5/10

[Titamon]

I've never had problems with getting her promoted at a decent time. Physic staffs give good exp

I guess it depends on how fast you play

[Kngt_Of_Titania]

Serra: 8/10. Here's why:

- I believe she has the best availability of just about any character in the game (only Lyn, Wil, Erk compare). As a healer, to boot. Now, you can talk about how you don't NEED a healer in LHM, but I do recall her healing helping in ending chapters earlier.

- Barring stupid luck with Nils dodging, she's required for a 7-Nils, S-Rank LHM run.

- Erk/Lucius, at least on my S rank runs, are lucky to hit D staves, meaning that they're stuck with Mend if they're lucky, and never have access to the best staves.

- Serra, mainly due to the first point, will have a level lead of Priscilla...normally this wouldn't be an issue, but due to the way how healers get experience (which is naturally limited by turns and people that need healing), Serra will tend to keep that lead if both are used.

- Once you get your first physic (assuming you're intelligent enough to stock up on them), healer movement becomes less of an issue. Prissy does have the advantage in many mid-game chapters due to movement, but Serra wins early-game for actually BEING there and about ties on end-game because, well, movement doesn't mean much at that point. Also, in some mid-game maps (Pirate Ship, maybe Dread Isles depending on how you play it, Dragon's Gate), you'll probably want both healers deployed anyways.

- Serra has slightly better RES than Prissy, which is not that big of a deal but still useful in places like Genesis or NoF, where everybody's trying to silence you.

- Prissy wins in combat (anima v. light), although I have issues with her durability (slightly less AVO, less HP than Serra IIRC). To be honest, though, neither are suited to serious combat, but the option is nice to have.

- Mounted v. unmounted shouldn't be ignored regardless of physic.

Realistically, Serra's ratings should fall between 5 and 9; IMO, anything above or below that is probably not realistic. I play for S ranks, and Serra tends to shine on that end, so I usually put her on the high end of that range.

Edited December 21, 2011 by Kngt_Of_Titania

[Thor Odinson]

Uh, Lucius gets C on promotion. There's NEVER a time when Lucius has D staves EVER.

[Raven]

KOT, your rating is based on the assumption that LHM is also being played. It isn't. Just HHM, where Serra gains nothing from LHM.

[Florete]

KOT, your rating is based on the assumption that LHM is also being played. It isn't. Just HHM, where Serra gains nothing from LHM.

OP doesn't say anything about LHM being excluded. The way I see the only constant factor is that the main game portion is HHM, not ENM, EHM, or HNM. Anything else goes.

[riariadne]

what is with some of these scores

we are going from 1s to 10s and that is so stupid

8/10. She's a healer, you get her early. That's merit in and of itself. Priscilla shows up soon, yes, but there's no reason you can't use two healers. It seems like a lot of people are saying she's worthless because of that.

Edited December 21, 2011 by Dave Strider

[zahlman]

Like... the game will still totally give you an S rank if you skip 19xx. In fact, that will make things easier in the tactics category, which is actually not easy any more in HHM thanks to the other 0-req chapters.

So now we're praising Serra for enabling you to pull off an S-rank in LHM (which results aren't cumulative with HHM results for determining HHM rank anyway, to the best of my knowledge at least) while still gaining access to a specific way of experiencing HHM that's arguably harder to S-rank.

I normally play through LHM pretty efficiently without using Serra or consuming any Vulneraries. To say she's not necessary here is an understatement.

And even if you did use her, the level lead she'd get on Priscilla would be insignificant if you're playing at all efficiently. (BTW, healer using Heal = 11 exp for 20G; combat unit ORKOing with two strikes of an Iron Sword = 30+ exp for 20G - and lances and axes are cheaper than that). Even if she keeps a 2-level lead somehow (getting that lead seems very generous to me considering Prissy's base lv is 3 and again keeping in mind "how healers get experience"), that doesn't really make up for Prissy's superior bases (and nothing will ever really make up for the Mov difference).

Also I'm amused by the part where we're stocking up on Physic with the apparent intent of going through that supply, in the same argument where using a Vulnerary instead of a Heal staff is presumably horrible news for our Funds rank. Also the part where the range of Physic means that movement doesn't matter so much - except that the range of Physic is determined by Mag, and our higher-Mov early-game healer is also the higher-Mag one. So when you really need long range...

Edited December 21, 2011 by zahlman

[Loki Laufeyson]

Early healer, hilarious personality, own leifmotif, kinda speedy, pink hair, cool Bishop sprite.

Cons:

Magic is low, slow ass supports (and how! :o), unmounted, can get outclassed by Priscilla.

7/10.

(i would have given her an 8 but that would been personal bias speaking. I really like her and use her all the time.)

[Kngt_Of_Titania]

Uh, Lucius gets C on promotion. There's NEVER a time when Lucius has D staves EVER.

Oh, damn. I forgot bishop gets a different staff weapon rank gain than sage. I haven't used Lucius in forever. My apologies.

When I said "better staves", I really was referring to physic. Lucius CAN use it if he manages to get B staves (which is certainly possible, but you'd have to make an active effort), but it likely won't be until late-game.

P.S.: First, there's nothing saying that LHM is excluded. Second, I think you'd be hard pressed to say she's worthless in LHM if you're gunning for best turns possible. Third, Serra's level lead tends to be...2-3 levels in S rank runs, IIRC, not "hard pressed to hit 2 level lead". Fourth, as I said before, even if Serra is outclassed by Prissy overall (which I think is somewhat questionable, although Prissy does have an edge with horse despite her lower availability), there's no reason not to use two healers, especially when the game rewards you for doing it in S rank runs because of the experience rank.

P.S.S.: Vulneraries aren't always recommended because they cost money (Jesus Christ, man, it's 100G a use. It's not breaking the damn bank!). The reason why you don't use them in place of healers is because you give up player phase on a potent combat unit in order to use them, and Mend/Heal often heal a ton more; and also because, in rare occasions, you might need vulneraries AND heal staves to keep somebody alive. Also, you can buy like 3 physics (getting a fourth from Pent) to make things easier for you mid- to late- game. I did it, used no prepromos, and still S ranked EHM (which has the hardest funds rank to meet of any mode).

P.S.S.S.: Do you guys pronounce Physic PHI-SICK (like me) or FIZZ-SICK (like the science)?

Edited December 21, 2011 by Kngt_Of_Titania

[Bryan]

I'd probably give her a 6.7.

[Iris]

7/10.

Although Priscilla easily is better, Serra is really quite useful. I still use Serra even though Priscilla exists, because two healers ain't going to kill my playing style.

[Titamon]

P.S.S.S.: Do you guys pronounce Physic PHI-SICK (like me) or FIZZ-SICK (like the science)?

It's Fizz-sick

[Vorena]

I think its best to assume no Lyn Mode at all. If you do, you might as well go and say that every character could end up with the strength ring, angelic robe, and anywhere from base level to level 10. From there, you argue they have good usefulness in categories. Hell, with Serra, you could abuse her usage in Staves so much to end up with a lv 20 Serra by the time you get her. From there, you could promote her as early as chapter 17 with the Guiding Ring. Sure, she gives no contributions in HHM early on except not being so easily killed, but still, where do you really draw the limit in those sort of arguments?

[Florete]

I think its best to assume no Lyn Mode at all. If you do, you might as well go and say that every character could end up with the strength ring, angelic robe, and anywhere from base level to level 10. From there, you argue they have good usefulness in categories. Hell, with Serra, you could abuse her usage in Staves so much to end up with a lv 20 Serra by the time you get her. From there, you could promote her as early as chapter 17 with the Guiding Ring. Sure, she gives no contributions in HHM early on except not being so easily killed, but still, where do you really draw the limit in those sort of arguments?

That doesn't connect at all and is majorly over-exaggerating what Lyn mode is actually for.

[Vorena]

Yeah, I could have worded that slightly differently. But, what is Lyn's Mode for if not to gain weapon experience for units, a white gem, use the stat boosters, or increase the level of the characters higher than there base level?

[Florete]

Yeah, I could have worded that slightly differently. But, what is Lyn's Mode for if not to gain weapon experience for units, a white gem, use the stat boosters, or increase the level of the characters higher than there base level?

That is what it's for, but how is that comparable to blatant favoritism and wasting turns staff-spamming? I don't think LHM absolutely needs to be included, but if it isn't, those shouldn't be the reasons.

[Kngt_Of_Titania]

Yeah, I could have worded that slightly differently. But, what is Lyn's Mode for if not to gain weapon experience for units, a white gem, use the stat boosters, or increase the level of the characters higher than there base level?

Why don't we just assuming S rank on LHM and stat-boosted on Lyn if it is used? That leaves us with minimal or no Lungdren abuse and reasonable base levels for characters. Let's be honest, the "no LHM" bases for some characters really screws them pretty bad.

Sain, Kent, Serra, and Wil come to mind.

Edited December 22, 2011 by Kngt_Of_Titania