What is Cordelia better at?

[Azz]

When I say this I mean between Falcon Knight and Dark Flier.

I was wondering cause one of them will be my final class for her.

I was leaning more so towards Dark Flier cause she is good at magic but I was just wondering.

[astrophys]

This is a tricky one.

You see, in terms of raw statistical leans, the answer would at first look like Falcon Knight.

In terms of modifiers Cordelia has +1 to strength and -1 to magic. So that at first seems to lean her towards the Falcon Knight.

But then you consider that Falcon Knights have low base strength (38), which becomes 38 + 1 = 39 with her modifier.

Dark Fliers have a higher base magic (42), which becomes 42 -1 = 41 with her modifier.

But then we consider that Cordelia has Lancefaire from Falcon Knight level 15. This increases her effective strength by 5 when using a lance at the cost of a skill slot.

So that gives her 39 + 5 = 44 strength as a Lancefaire Falcon Knight. But again, this requires the commitment of one of her five skills to achieve.

However, Dark Flier is also capable of using lanes, although not as well. She would have 36 + 1 + 5 = 42 strength as a Lancefaire Dark Flier (as well as her 41 magic).

Both classes have access to brave weapons. Brave Lances have significantly higher might than Celica's Gale. Falcon Knight or Lancefaire Dark Flier does more damage than Celica's Gale Dark Flier PRIOR TO considering defensive stats.

That said, its not that clear cut because many enemies have weak resistance stats throughout the game. Any foe with a sufficiently low resistance stat will tip the balance back into the favor of a Celica's Gale Dark Flier.

There is also the issue that Celica's Gale has positioning advantages as it can attack from 1-2 range, while a Brave Lance is limited to 1 range only. Sure, one can use Javelins/Short Spear/Spear/Gradivus to get a 1-2 ranged lance attack, but these don't have a Brave weapon effect like Celica's Gale can.

Another point is the pair-up bonuses. Dark Flier gives a magic bonus which can be quite valuable, in addition to the speed and resistance bonuses. Falcon Knight, if I recall correctly, gives larger speed and resistance bonuses but no special magic bonus.

Finally, Cordelia's magic stat grows very slowly during leveling, so she doesn't really get good with magic unless you grind her a lot or give her lots of Spirit Dust. But if we're considering final classes I suppose we can assume that she has received that grinding.

Overall I'd go with the Dark Flier. You still get your spears, you can exploit tomes against enemies with bad resistances or when you want to avoid 1 range counterattacks, and you can grant a magical pair-up bonus to another unit.

If she has a magical husband, I'd definitely go Dark Flier.

Falcon Knight is still worth consideration if she's in a strictly physical pairing, that said.

[Chastlily]

talking about Chrom endlessly ~

I don't like her as a Dark Flier because her Mag Growth is...meh

[astrophys]

It is a very bad growth rate, but growth rates don't matter to final classes (at max stats) because they'll reach max eventually.

Particularly, as I noted before, her magic stat will get capped thanks to Spirit Dusts and grinding.

By all means, I get your sentiment that the magic isn't impressive during the main game (no grind), but in terms of final classes (post grind) its only a -1 she has to her cap. But that still leaves her with 41 magic as a Dark Flier, more than enough to work with.

And even in the main game you can actually get her doing good magic damage by giving her the Spirit Dusts you get during the campaign and then giving her a magical husband and having Cordelia lead.

[Ownagepuffs]

Magical husbands that aren't avatar are bad, sadly. Either they have to be reclassed to mage (Virion), just suck in general (Ricken), or have low availability (Henry).

Henry is a pretty swell choice since he gives her +Magic and +Defense as a Sorcerer on pair up, both of which she wouldn't mind having. In turn, as a Dark flier she gives Henry +Mag which is always good but the +Spd is VERY helpful since Henry has shit base Spd (he has 3 less speed than Tharja... who joins 4 chapters earlier). Henry makes up for it with his surprisingly high skill stat which works well with Dark Magic and Hexathema. You could also second seal Henry to one of his Physical classes if you wanted Cordelia to continue using Lances. A win all around.

Thing is Henry joins in C13 and you generally want Cordelia paired up if you intend to get Cynthia (which you should since Cynthia rapes face assuming Chrom is her father) in a reasonable time frame.

[Czar_Yoshi]

more than enough to work with.

But this isn't about merely being good, it's about what's better.

TC, your answer depends entirely on whether you mean which class will Cordelia perform the best in (DF- it's just a way better class for most combat purposes) or which class will her growths, mods and skillset be better tailored to (Falco- has a Faire and is definitely physically oriented).

[Nobody]

Are you just doing a main game run without worrying about post game or anything? If so, Falcon knight without a doubt

[astrophys]

Magical husbands that aren't avatar are bad, sadly. Either they have to be reclassed to mage (Virion), just suck in general (Ricken), or have low availability (Henry).

As it happens, the magical husband I normally give Cordelia IS the Avatar. I tend to run Chrom x Sumia and Avatar x Cordelia.

Yes, I know that's not an "optimal" pairing in terms of the children, although it works well as an in-game couple for me.

[Ownagepuffs]

As it happens, the magical husband I normally give Cordelia IS the Avatar. I tend to run Chrom x Sumia and Avatar x Cordelia.

Yes, I know that's not an "optimal" pairing in terms of the children, although it works well as an in-game couple for me.

I know you usually run with Avatar x Cordelia, so that's why I pointed out that avatar is the most practical +Mag husband as he also gives +Str and Spd because Grandmaster pair up bonuses are ridiculous.

Aside from Henry, Cordy's other +Mag choices are not so hot.