Rate the Unit, Day 1: Ike

[Ϲharlie]

5/10

Ike is basically Eliwood with boosted growths. I think his bad start is much worse than a lot of people in this topic are making it out to be. I can't pull up any numbers, but I distinctly remember Ike struggling a bit even after promoting the last time I played PoR.

Edited March 27, 2012 by Charlie

[Scarlet]

As I'm seeing a lot of "but he gets RNG-screwed" thrown about in here, I'd like to point out that the OP states that these ratings assume Fixed Mode. In other words, no stat screwage (or blessing, for that matter) can occur.

[ALEXANDER]

Pros:

Good growths

MASTERY RAPE

Earth affinity

Uses Ragnell

Availability (duh)

Cons:

Early durability is poopy (He wants that first seraph robe)

Sword locked means no 1-2 range outside of magic swords/Ragnell

Slow and laggy as hell SSBB doing it wrong

Rating: 9/10

[Dark Sage]

So mediocre and underwhelming. Swordlocked, late promotion and foot movement. Not even that special after promotion.

5/10.

[Esaka]

8.5

He takes a while, so yeah. Does pretty good for a foot unit. He is around forever so you might as well use him

[PKL]

Finally, a game I know enough about to participate in one of these! Easily among the best lords ever to grace Fire Emblem. Sigurd still beats him, though. I find that earlygame he's powerful enough with the Robe boosting HP, but whenever I do a runthrough he suffers from Roy Syndrome for a few chapters as he just awkwardly sits there and doesn't get any XP for kills. Promoted? Give him Aether (And Parity for the Black Knight fight), and watch shit get real 9/10 (-.5 for no pony, -.25 for not being Sigurd, -.25 for Swordlock).

Read the rules. No "Not X character" reasonings. Ill let it slip this time, since its only .25. Also, @ a lot of people saying he is prone to RNG screwage - Read the rules before voting please. This is Fixed mode, theres no way to get a screwed ike here. Ill let it slip this time though since its the first day and it doesnt seem to be affecting the scores too much.

[Just call me AL]

9/10

Sure he has a shaky start, but then again, so do others in the game. Even early joiners not named Titania. He's pretty good once his growths kick in, and better still after promotion. Aether is a good skill and all, but he can also take advantage of that Wrath scroll (best scroll to give him, IMO) during almost the same time Aether is available. Then we have Resolve which, especially when combined with Wrath, gives him the power of the Valkyrur definitely helps with Ashnard. Unfortunately, Resolve almost shares Ragnell's availability, but hey! What can you do?

The only other issue is the lack of 2-range outside of the Sonic Sword, Runesword, and Ragnell though.

Edited March 27, 2012 by Little Al

[Smiley Jim]

Ike is overrated as all hell, but he is still good.

He starts off a bit(READ:very)unimpressive. 5 str is the lowest out of your initial group(yes, Oscar has a higher str base than Ike), so he isn't hitting very hard at first(esp. with sword-lock), and he also has the lowest HP base out of the group. 5 def is tied with Boyd, except that he(Boyd)has 11 higher HP, so his durability is better anyway. The Ch1 seraph robe will fix Ike's HP problem, but you might be saving it for a flimsier unit. He also has poor avoid for a while except against axes, and even those have ~50 hit on him. In short, Ike is blocking axes with his face. Now, he is doubling since the enemies are dumbasses and like to weigh themselves down, but his Atk is still low enough to not one-round for a good while.

However, Ike grows very well, and will soon leave those humble beginnings. He has ridiculous offensive growths(50str/55spd) and great defensive growths(75HP/40Def/40Res); however, those growths will need to get him out of his hole before he's considered above average, which is about Lv10. Once he starts growing, he will soon kill shit in 3-4 hits at least, double everything, and get 4HKO'd or better at decent hit rates, which is good by this game's standards. Earth affinity does Ike a lot of favors since it grants him a ridiculous avoid boost, but in all seriousness, his avoid isn't anything special until he gets a B support, which is around Ch11-12.

As far as his promotion goes, he promotes at the end of C17, around the same time as everyone else(unlike Roy, who promotes at the ass end of his game)and gets great promo bonuses(including +3 Str/Def), and access to his mastery skill, Aether. Basically, once promoted, Ike is a monster. He will kill everything he touches in 2 rounds at most(usually one)and his HP/def and avoid means he isn't getting close to dying, and even if there is something that he can't two round, he has Aether as a backup(he has 18% activation at 20/1 IIRC). His supports are probably established by now(B Oscar/B Soren; Oscar could even be at A if you don't want to give Soren the A with Ike), so he has great avoid. As if that's not enough, he gets Ragnell in Ch27-2, and from there, a giant walks among you. 44 Atk at 1-2 range and 52HP/23Def(28 with Ragnell bonuses) is just ridiculous.

The only thing destroying his bid for a ten, or even a nine, is his shaky earlygame, infantry move, and his lack of 1-2 range before he gets Ragnell.

8.5

Edited March 27, 2012 by Mercenary James

[ZemZem]

What a badass.

Ike is doubling almost everything from the start. He reaches level 20 pretty fast, and he has to wait until after chapter 17 to promote. Once he does, he'll completely solo the rest of the game (even though he probably will before hand, since FE9 isn't too difficult). Aether or Resolve/Wrath will further the massacre, and Ragnell's the icing on the cake.

9/10, +1 bias because Ike's a fucking badass. 10/10.

EDIT: His bases are pretty mediocre, but his growths help him out a ton. Plus, earlygame is an axe fest. Well, at least until chapter 4. His DEF growth (40%) is pretty good, though, so he should hold his own against the soldiers.

Edited March 28, 2012 by zeldamaster456

[Caliban of Sycorax]

Gary Stu 0/10

Ike starts decent. He has swordlock throughout the game, which helps in the first few chapters when he's in axeland. Afterward, though, he's in lanceland. And he needs all the help he can get in lanceland.

Statistically he rocks, but he needs constant babying. He needs to be babied for the first nine chapters after he promotes to be able to beat the Black Knight in 27, which, we're assuming will happen in optimal situations minus Ena, right?

He rocks with either Aether or a Resolve/Wrath combo, as well. And he can claim those fairly easily over other units.

Also, -1 BIAS BECAUSE I HATE HIM UTTERLY

6/10 after bias.

[Ϲharlie]

As I'm seeing a lot of "but he gets RNG-screwed" thrown about in here, I'd like to point out that the OP states that these ratings assume Fixed Mode. In other words, no stat screwage (or blessing, for that matter) can occur.

That's actually not true. Fixed mode doesn't ensure your characters reach their averages. A lot of different factors influence a character's stat gains in fixed mode, and characters can still be "blessed" or "screwed" depending on your actions. For example, My Mia capped strength not too long after promoting when I last played fixed mode, putting her well above average in that area.

If anything, "assume average stats" would be a better stipulation.

[Sunwoo]

Read the rules. No "Not X character" reasonings.

I think that his "not Sigurd" docking was particularly ridiculous because Ike and Sigurd don't even exist in the same f*****g game. If FE4 rate the unit threads don't let "not Sigurd" be a reason to dock points from characters and FE8 rate the unit threads don't let "not Seth" be a valid reason for point deduction, why would "not Sigurd" be allowed in rating Ike, when the two don't even exist in the same game?

Edited March 28, 2012 by Boron

[Gone2Ground]

Dude...-.25! It was a joke! Seriously! It was more -.5 for Swordlock.

[Sunwoo]

Dude...-.25! It was a joke! Seriously! It was more -.5 for Swordlock.

My point isn't that you took off a fraction of a point. It was the reasoning itself that was ridiculous. Like I said: if we're not allowed to compare characters in Sigurd's game to Sigurd, then why would we be able to compare Ike to Sigurd when they do not even exist in the same game?

It's not because you took off points. It's because bringing up "not Sigurd" for a character not even in his game is ridiculous.

[Dark Sage]

ITT Boron does not understand the concept of trolling.

[Loki Laufeyson]

We get it. Moving on.

I used Sigurd as an example because hes said to be like, THE best lord in FE. Having only played a couple of chapters of FE4, i believe this is truly the case. THAT IS ALL. Usually when people are like "notSigurd/10" its a joke.

[Sunwoo]

ITT Boron does not understand the concept of trolling.

Hey, I just like to clear, all right?

[The_Purple_Knight]

seriously guys?

ike is super mediocre

Stop with your LTC trolling >:| anyways I'm gonna go with average 9/10 for the same reasons everyone else brought up .

[Ϲharlie]

lol

I don't care about low turn counts and I agree that Ike is mediocre.

[General Horace]

aw man I wish I actually finished FE9 so I could vote in these, but from what I played in FE9, Ike was like the worst member of the Greil Mercs (soren aside) until Mia. From what I understand, he still has issues after promotion till he gets Ragnell.

[Lord Raven]

5/10

Ike is basically Eliwood with boosted growths. I think his bad start is much worse than a lot of people in this topic are making it out to be. I can't pull up any numbers, but I distinctly remember Ike struggling a bit even after promoting the last time I played PoR.

+1 to this but he doesn't struggle after promotion at all. Once he hits promotion, he's pretty much set for the rest of the game because he really does have the defensive capabilities. The only thing he really ends up struggling with after promotion is his lack of 2-range.

I'm giving him 7+1 (bias)=8/10 simply because he is baller enough after promotion- lack of 2 range until Ragnell hurts, though. But he's fine with a Seraph Robe. Looking super bright, it's easy to give him the resources he needs to be able to survive rescue drops fairly easily once they start occurring too... Compare to someone like Roy and you see what I mean, and the situation is almost like Celice's.

Edited March 28, 2012 by Mercenary Raven

[Mekkah]

Better stats + Regal Sword + Ragnell + only unit able to seize + only unit that can't die = pwnage incarnate. The judges banned Ike in the debates, not Kieran, and for good reason. You tried to argue utility and effectiveness vs things, but in the end, Ike's superior stats and supports make him win. And Ike is also 10000000000% vital to finishing the game since only he can take out Ashnard's first form.

8/10

Edited March 28, 2012 by Mekkah

[The_Purple_Knight]

stop being stupid >:|

(is that even possible)

You're a jerk . why don't you get off your high horse don . Oh wait you can't you'd be losing turns wouldn't you ?

Edited March 28, 2012 by The_Purple_Knight

[Parrhesia]

You're a jerk . why don't you get off your high horse don . Oh wait you can't you'd be losing turns wouldn't you ?

I'll be honest

the fact that you think this is witty repartee genuinely depresses me

[The_Purple_Knight]

I'll be honest

the fact that you think this is witty repartee genuinely depresses me

I don't it's just so stupid that it works or it's 3 am and I've just missed the mark . Its the Internet dude all there is porn ,crappy interest forums like this one, and of course bad jokes .