Rate the Unit, Day 19: Nephenee

[Hawk King]

PROS:

-good growths

-Knight Ward access for over-kill SPD

-great skill

CONS:

-E lance rank

-weak at base level

-needs a few LVs to get going

-no good support options

Nephenee is the 3rd or 4th best footie in the game. She can use Oscar or Marcis's old Iron Lance forge to get out of E lances. She only needs 2-3 Bexp LVs to be able to handle the soldiers around your starting position in Chapter 11. She will usually double everything so she is always a good choice if you have a deployment spot for her.

7/10 - Nephenee is basically a faster, weaker, lance-weilding version of Boyd.

[BBM]

Nephenee's my favourite unit. Sigh, Nephenee... Y u no have horse? I find her the third-best foot unit, after Boyd and Ike. Unfortunately, when you have, what, 6 Paladins, 2FKs, and a Wyvern Lord tearing shit up, third best foot unit isn't so amazing. Her Strength is also lowish, but there are only two Strength bands, and I find that Oscar and Ike make better use of them. She also needs some BEXP. Her Speed and Skill are both pretty high. Sticking Vantage on her yields pretty good results, because her fairly decent avoid let's her stay rather reliably in Wrath range without dying. She's basically Mia with slightly more Strength, slightly more durability, and Lances instead of Swords. 7.5/10, +1 bias gives her 8.5/10.

[Esaka]

Most overrated unit evar1!!!

But in honestly, that weapon rank is really bad, not like there is no scroll competition either. Wrath is nice I suppose. But her start is so mehish.

5/10 -1 because I hate her fanbase for some reason, so yeah 4/10

[Silent Mercenary]

Probably too late to count, but I don't mind the vote thrown out.

When I started PoR after RD and reading sites that constantly gave her 10's (gamefaqs), I quickly found she was overrated in this game. If anything, it's because of the slow start, but after a chapter or two, she's ready to go and thrust her lance at anything.

Pros:

+Knight Ward access for faster speed maxing (85% Spd) and +2 to defenses

+Great growths, with the high possibility of maxing Str, Skl and Spd (for transfer or just great offense/avoid)

+Defenses are (slightly above) average and can become good with some help

+Wrath is still a great skill, though not as broken as in FE5. Her averages of HP and Def/Res are enough to get damaged to half HP slowly but not killed in case someone does hit her. The good/bad thing is her high avoid and defenses (if aided) would make Wrath health a rarity for her, except against powerful units like dragons or on purposely getting her into rock range on ch 25 (the only time I can manage getting her wrathed easily outside of her start).

~Vantage/Wrath as early as chapter 15, or endgame!Resolve/Wrath for those that like to wait. Being a foot unit, also means she can get Provoke or Miracle to help in getting to or avoid dying at half HP.

~Average Magic if you like Flame Lances

~Lances is one of the 2 best weapons to be locked to, 1-2 range available and -1 mt/+5 hit/-2 wt compared to axes.

Cons:

-.25 for the Hit-giving half of her affinity (at least the other is avoid)

-.25 for meh support options (although Calill is a good option) to the point she's been supportless on all my playthroughs until my next one

-1 for low level when starting the 2nd third of the game

-.5 for E lance rank and needing an Iron Lance forge with some more hit and might when she joins

-.25 for movility, since it's just average foot unit movility

7.75 + 1 bias pt because I like her personality/appearance/blue armor = 8.75/10

[Shadow Mir]

~Average Magic if you like Flame Lances

That doesn't sound like a pro when 20/20 Neph's average magic is 9 - not enough to make the Flame Lance worth using. And I know that characters won't be at 20/20 at the end of the game, but still, saying Neph can use the Flame Lance well is a stretch.

Edited April 17, 2012 by Metal King Slime

[Silent Mercenary]

That doesn't sound like a pro when 20/20 Neph's average magic is 9 - not enough to make the Flame Lance worth using. And I know that characters won't be at 20/20 at the end of the game, but still, saying Neph can use the Flame Lance well is a stretch.

I included it with a ~ instead of a + because it's still decent to be of some use. Tanith and Jill who have better magic will most likely be using the magic swords/axes. Also, the rules say that you are free to use items however you choose, so if you give Neph a Mage Band, that raises her 20/20 average by 4 since she's at level 1 7 and can take good advantage of it, even more on random mode than fixed mode.

It's just a comment, since to me average on a not so useful stat is half the cap (10 of 20). Magic weapons are not that good anyway in PoR unless you want to purposely do chip damage.

Edited April 17, 2012 by Silent Mercenary

[Shadow Mir]

I included it with a ~ instead of a + because it's still decent to be of some use. Tanith and Jill who have better magic will most likely be using the magic swords/axes. Also, the rules say that you are free to use items however you choose, so if you give Neph a Mage Band, that raises her 20/20 average by 4 since she's at level 1 and can take good advantage of it, even more on random mode than fixed mode.

It's just a comment, since to me average on a not so useful stat is half the cap (10 of 20). Magic weapons are not that good anyway in PoR unless you want to purposely do chip damage.

She starts at level 8, not 1. And I'd think the mage band on a physical unit's just a waste. Also, the Bolt Axe is completely impractical (not to mention I'd have trouble seeing Jill get the weapon rank for it). At any rate, I agree magic weapons aren't that good.

[Colonel M]

Actually, getting to Bolt Axe's weapon rank isn't too impractical. Forge a Steel Axe, which gives 2 WEXP per swing, build up to D Rank (real easy), then Arms Scroll x2. Of course, the question is why bother (and obviously the answer is because you shouldn't).

[Silent Mercenary]

She starts at level 8, not 1. And I'd think the mage band on a physical unit's just a waste. Also, the Bolt Axe is completely impractical (not to mention I'd have trouble seeing Jill get the weapon rank for it). At any rate, I agree magic weapons aren't that good.

Yeah, my error. She actually starts at 7, which would be 3.2, so 9.4+3.2=12.6 which if rounded up is 13. It is mostly a waste, but some people like magic weapons for a reason. I've used the Bolt Axe to have Jill do chip damage on chapter 28 and endgame for others to finish off. Outside of a speed run and by giving her Steel axes as soon as she promotes, she has a chance of getting to B near endgame. It's a matter of how you play.

[Zman]

Forge a Steel Axe, which gives 2 WEXP per swing, build up to D Rank (real easy), then Arms Scroll x2.

Steel axes are E rank in this game. Just saying.

oh wait i read that wrong.

Edited April 17, 2012 by Zman

[Shadow Mir]

Yeah, my error. She actually starts at 7, which would be 3.2, so 9.4+3.2=12.6 which if rounded up is 13. It is mostly a waste, but some people like magic weapons for a reason. I've used the Bolt Axe to have Jill do chip damage on chapter 28 and endgame for others to finish off. Outside of a speed run and by giving her Steel axes as soon as she promotes, she has a chance of getting to B near endgame. It's a matter of how you play.

And I see I was off by one level. At any rate, as I see it, the issue with the Bolt Axe is that almost all axe users have magic scores that suck to the point where they'd be better off using a physical weapon.