Most useful personal skills (Spoiler Free)

[Leif]

Out of all the playable characters, which personal skills are generally seen as the most useful in any run, whether it be Hoshido, Nohr, or Invisible Kingdom?

I was going to make a poll, but I realized that would be ridiculous and way too labor intensive.

Anyway, from what I researched, these seem to be incredible personal skills that standout above the rest.
I, obviously, don't own the game yet. This is mostly theory-crafting on my part.

1.)Harold's Unlucky Soul seems great as a support skill. Mostly because it is an area of effect skill that can, potentially, target multiple units and provide a bonus to allies--give them a higher probability of a critical hit.

2.) Odin and Ophelia's Blood-Boil and Blossoming Mind are essentially a free critical bonus. Satisfying both skills' respective condition is easy. Pairing their skills with Unlucky Soul seems to provide great synergy.

3.) Midoriko's Lucky Charm provides a free activation bonus to Luck% skills. It would work for skills such as Draconic Shield (should the Avatar be her mother), Miracle, Smithy, Easy Life, and Stubbornness. Draconic Shield and Easy Life are two decent skills that are made much better by Midoriko.

4.) Camilla's Bewitching Flower, Hinoka's Encouragement, Elise's Beautiful Flower, and Sakura's Little Cheer. These skills all provide a simple damage/defense bonus just by being in these units' presence. It's small, but every little bonus counts right?

5.) Subaki's Perfectionist seems like a good way to make a 'dodge tank' unit of sorts. It pairs nicely with Flowing Strike!

Skills that seem like garbage to me are Silas's, Izana's, Ignis's, and Deere's. These skills are either highly situational, benefit the enemy, or just flat out weaken the user. I don't even understand Deere's since it only works in My Castle! =/

That's all I can think of. I hope to have some input from members who have the game.
Since this topic only talks about a game mechanic, this should be a relatively spoiler-free thread.

Edited July 15, 2015 by Leif

[Gaia]

No mention of Flora's insane Ice Blood?

[Draco]

Nyx's seems really good.

Curse Reflection: When the user sustains damage from an enemy’s magic spell, the enemy receives half the same damage

Seems like a watered down Counter, but still good.

Pieri's seems pretty good too.

Edited July 15, 2015 by Draco

[Leif]

No mention of Flora's insane Ice Blood?

Totally missed that.

Holy crap. She might have the best skill yet.

[Airship Canon]

Nyx's seems really good.

Curse Reflection: When the user sustains damage from an enemy’s magic spell, the enemy receives half the same damage

Seems like a watered down Counter, but still good.

Pieri's seems pretty good too.

Curse Reflection + Magic Counter + Counter [Enter, Streetpass shopping] + Attack a mage at Range 1... Counterbomb from hell?

[Jariu]

Totally missed that.

Holy crap. She might have the best skill yet.

The real question here is it's range imo, I think I heard it does counter magic, but would it counter say Ballistas?

But yeah it's probably one of if not the most solid personal skill out there, I wonder if the debuff stacks with others... Felicia learn from your twin, damn does her personal skill suck :/

Edited July 15, 2015 by Jariu

[LCD]

Flora's skill is hands down the best in the game and should a PvP scene develop, I'd be willing to wager the metagame would revolve around her and ways to make her as difficult to kill as possible.

Other skill that is definitely better for PvP than the normal campaign is Charlotte's. This thing can end in a guaranteed critical against a female enemy, and would no doubt be used as a check if not a hard counter for Flora abuse.

The princes all have great skills. Marx's Chivalry makes for an amazing chokepoint-holder when stacked with his sword's defensive buff, terrain effects and other things like Azura's Voice of Peace. Leon's Cold-Blooded on the other hand makes him great to finish off wounded enemies and synergizes amazingly well with Camilla's Deadly Breath. Just send her towards an enemy formation, let her shave some HP from it and now they're all easy pickings for him.

Ryoma's personal might as well read "if close to someone, attack and defense buff" because as Hoshido's biggest, baddest, most buttery prepromote he's all but guaranteed to be the highest-leveled guy around. Takumi's is more finicky but it can still be used to great effect, despite turning entirely off once Takumi hits the level cap.

Ignis's isn't that terrible, you just need to keep him in Guard Stance, something you'll be doing anyways since the last thing you want is your meatshield be subjected to death of a thousand cuts by a horde of enemies abusing Attack Stance.

[Othin]

Curse Reflection + Magic Counter + Counter [Enter, Streetpass shopping] + Attack a mage at Range 1... Counterbomb from hell?

Counterbombing is out.

Counter no longer works when the user initiates combat, and I assume the same goes for all related skills.

[Thor Odinson]

Ryouma for best user of Eternal Seal

[Jariu]

Well, Takumi's skill would actually be rather handy in on-line as he's only recruitable on the routes where you can grind, meaning that you'll probably use Eternal Seals on your team to max out stats, skills and the like, meaning that you can simply make the max level level of your other units higuer than Takumi's max level and so his skill will always be active, you can also apply this trick to Ryouma as I doubt you need nor really want to get to lvl99 with everyone.

[Shadow Mir]

Out of all the playable characters, which personal skills are generally seen as the most useful in any run, whether it be Hoshido, Nohr, or Invisible Kingdom?

I was going to make a poll, but I realized that would be ridiculous and way too labor intensive.

Anyway, from what I researched, these seem to be incredible personal skills that standout above the rest.

I, obviously, don't own the game yet. This is mostly theory-crafting on my part.

1.)Harold's Unlucky Soul seems great as a support skill. Mostly because it is an area of effect skill that can, potentially, target multiple units and provide a bonus to allies--give them a higher probability of a critical hit.

2.) Odin and Ophelia's Blood-Boil and Blossoming Mind are essentially a free critical bonus. Satisfying both skills' respective condition is easy. Pairing their skills with Unlucky Soul seems to provide great synergy.

3.) Midoriko's Lucky Charm provides a free activation bonus to Luck% skills. It would work for skills such as Draconic Shield (should the Avatar be her mother), Miracle, Smithy, Easy Life, and Stubbornness. Draconic Shield and Easy Life are two decent skills that are made much better by Midoriko.

4.) Camilla's Bewitching Flower, Hinoka's Encouragement, Elise's Beautiful Flower, and Sakura's Little Cheer. These skills all provide a simple damage/defense bonus just by being in these units' presence. It's small, but every little bonus counts right?

5.) Subaki's Perfectionist seems like a good way to make a 'dodge tank' unit of sorts. It pairs nicely with Flowing Strike!

Skills that seem like garbage to me are Silas's, Izana's, Ignis's, and Deere's. These skills are either highly situational, benefit the enemy, or just flat out weaken the user. I don't even understand Deere's since it only works in My Castle! =/

That's all I can think of. I hope to have some input from members who have the game.

Since this topic only talks about a game mechanic, this should be a relatively spoiler-free thread.

*sees number 1*

Seriously? Honestly, I'd consider Harold's Unlucky Soul to be garbage. Making enemies easier to crit does NOT even come close to making up for also being easier to crit yourself.

Edited July 15, 2015 by Levant Colthearts

[Draco]

But it's +15 crit against enemies for all allies in 2 tiles iirc while it's -5 crit evade for him. Far from garbage.

[Yari]

*sees number 1*

Seriously? Honestly, I'd consider Harold's Unlucky Soul to be garbage. Making enemies easier to crit does NOT even come close to making up for also being easier to crit yourself.

Lutz skill Lucky soul gives enemies +15 crit evade and +5 crit evade to himself so Unlucky soul is way better when you think about it.

Edit:

So yeah that was a mistake. It's allies not enemies. That's what you get for not paying atention to personal skills. But anyway Harold's ability is in no way bad. You just need a good plan for him for example avoid weapons that lower crit evade and give him goddess icons because his luck is bad and if you recruit Lutz keep them in close proximity so he can recive a crit evade boost.

Edited July 15, 2015 by Yari

[Yari]

Ryouma for best user of Eternal Seal

I second this. Go lobster lord!

[Shadow Mir]

Lutz skill Lucky soul gives enemies +15 crit evade and +5 crit evade to himself so Unlucky soul is way better when you think about it.

...Okay, how do you know this? Because that conflicts with the description on the site.

[Yari]

...Okay, how do you know this? Because that conflicts with the description on the site.

Oh crap! I read it a long time ago so my memory is a little fuzzy...

I'll go check it again.

Edited July 15, 2015 by Yari

[goodperson707]

*sees number 1*

Seriously? Honestly, I'd consider Harold's Unlucky Soul to be garbage. Making enemies easier to crit does NOT even come close to making up for also being easier to crit yourself.

The skill only lowers your crit ev by 5, which is not that much, though if you make harold a berserker you get -10 which is a tad more substantial but you get +20 crit from the class (and if you want it you can get another +10 from roundhouse) and-15 crit evasion for nearby enemies from the personal skillmake up for a -10 crit evade (and possibly -10 hit from roundhouse), plus this is kinda a moot point anyway because as said it can also be used as a support skill so if you position him right Harold won't be attacked enough for the lowered crit evade to matter plus if he is support unit you can give him some survival skills and not make him a berserker. Though sadly it is difficult, (only a Faimui can give it to him i belive) to make him a holy lancer as that has crt evade +10 and decent defence caps.

Really -5 isn't that bad it is more his actual luck stat that is the problem, but that can be worked around if i understand spotpass correctly as you should be able to give him all the goddess, icons per playthrough than beat the game than repeat the process till capped it is tedious though and he would be a spotpass unit. Anyway i think i overthinked this and it is 3 30 in the mornig and i should sleep so sorry if this post is garbled and incoherent.

Oh crap! I read it a long time ago so my memory is a little fuzzy...

I'll go check it again.

Don't worry you remembered correctly (i have the info from the earlier version) , there was just a couple errors on the site early on, there were a lot of skills to translate and look trough. It also had ingis's and foleo's skills swapped. Edited July 15, 2015 by goodperson707

[Thane Tali]

Talking about Harold's crit shenanigans is a little moot when Nohr doesn't make the best use of a crit optimizing build anyway, Rinkah has the best crit loadout in the game with Ogre Strike + Great Club + Raven Strike [ + Prescient Victory + Flame Blood]. Raven Strike is important to offset the Great Club loltacular 45 hit, you can probably tell I'll be setting her up with a Takumi support. Unlucky Soul's best use is honestly just letting Charlotte go ham on a female enemy, like Golden-Kites and whatnot.

Pieri honestly has the flat-out best personal skill. In the FE game with the best dancer availability, getting +4 Str/Skill/Speed off a kill on player phase is huge. If you position well, refreshing Pieri is as good a job as any for Azura [if she isn't enabling flierskips, or double-healer, or something, and Pieri still benefits from those bonuses on EP.] You definitely want to set Pieri up with Lifetaker and Galeforce when you get the chance. I'm probably going to have her end up in Dark Falcon.

I like Flame Blood as well, for my earlier Rinkah/Takumi shenanigans. From what I've seen I'm pretty sure the +8 Flame Blood/Prescient Victory bonuses get multiplied in the crit, so Rinkah should be exploding things on Player Phase if used well. Nohr-Hater is cool for similar, pure damage output reasons and Oboro might have a better claim on the Takumi support [i plan to ParaSeal Takumi to Lance Fighter early for Defence Seal] but Critkah sounds too sexy to give up just yet.

Berkah's Ambush Duty also intrigues me. Given that she has access to one of the few sources of ranged weaponry that can double [Tomes] as well as the psuedo-brave-weapon Lightning, Ambush Duty + Overbearing + Devilish Wind support could make her a really good Revenant Knight, with 1-2 tanking on EP and explosive damage output on PP. She doesn't quite come with the best Mag and Spd growths though, but depending on what the promo bonuses are like it could work out on Lunatic's Fixed Mode with a Forge and the appropriate support. I'll have to see. None of these post-promo useful skills have quite the off-the-bat craziness of Pieri's Killer Instinct, though.

Also, OP, wtf are you going on about with Silas' skill being junk, while simultaneously seeing praise for the modest bonuses provided by the Royals' personal skills? Let me put this in perspective. Mysterious Appeal + Friendship Oath means a Silas buddied up with Corrin in Attack or Guard stance gets +5 damage dealt/-5 damage recieved. Setting it up so we also proc Open Assault [we may not have the choice of cover if the choke point is just bare] means +8/-5. Finally, if we want hardcore tanking, bring in your praised Elise with her Beautiful Flower bonuses. Silas/Corrin in Guard Stance with Silas in the lead now has +9 damage dealt, -8 damage recieved, and Jav access. Seeing Corrin at sub-half health and buddying him up with Silas for a turn or two for a more efficient tanking unit [silas is the best candidate to ferry Corrin too if Corrin needs to get places] is hardly a sub-par strategy, and one that is available very quickly early-game [you just need a C support for mysterious appeal, which you'll get since Corrin and Silas are both melee units and Silas can pull taxi duty.] You even have dragon form on Corrin for reliably tanking a bit and performing a useful function while getting into sub-50% without dying.

Admittedly, Sakura supports the TANK OF FRIENDSHIP better than Elise, since she can both heal and provide her -2 damage skill at 2-range. Hinoka can also fly over for some Encouragement. Lol, Friendship Oath being useless ...

Edited July 15, 2015 by Thane Tali

[goodperson707]

^ for the crit shenigcans there is the third path, plus available skills are a moot point if you buy them.

And minor nitpick Elise can heal at 2 range as well.

[Thane Tali]

^ for the crit shenigcans there is the third path, plus available skills are a moot point if you buy them.

And minor nitpick Elise can heal at 2 range as well.

... not off the bat, which is what I'm talking about. Earlygame. Elise starts off with a D rank in Staves.

[NekoKnight]

Here are Skills I found useful. Others' accounts may vary.

Hoshido:

Azura - Healing Voice: Every little bit of healing helps.

Oboro - Nohr Hater: Obviously most useful on the Hoshido route, but a reliable +3 increase in damage.

Rinka - Flame Blood: Being damaged is an extremely easy condition to meet in order to get +4 damage.

Sakura - Little Cheer: -2 damage might not seem like much but it can make a difference when facing enemies that can one-shot you.

Hinoka - Encouragement: Same principle as Sakura.

Yuugiri - Victor's Delight: Great source of healing.

Nishiki - Gratitude: Useful if you only use a single healer or are using healers that participate in battle.

Midoriko - Lucky Charm: Lots of potential here. Give her Miracle, Easy Life and Smithy Skill.

Matoi - Prodigy: Easy way to get +4 damage against any magic user and several physical units.

Abilities that sound good but aren't really in practice

Kazahana - Tomboy: Situations where you have adjacent enemies AFTER defeating your target are actually rather uncommon.

Tsubaki - Perfectionist: The buff is nice when it's on but you're bound to get hit eventually. Bye bye bonus.

Saizo - Explosive Flame: To physical attacks, ninja are made of paper so you don't want Saizo to be in a situation where he gets hit.

Hinata - Desperate struggle: Same principle as Saizo. You don't want to be in a position where you are getting hit a lot.

Kagerou - Ninja reversal: You don't fight THAT many hidden weapon users and ninja aren't the class you want to use to tank a hit.

[astrophys]

Given "Low HP Emblem", as well as the limitations on Staves beyond Heal/Mend and their Hoshidan equivalents, I'm not surprised that healing related personals are very useful.

Rinka and Matoi's personals both indeed make sense why they would be good…. Rinkah, as you noted, doesn't have a difficult one to activate, so it will be active most of the time.

Matoi's would also be active much of the time…. she has a terrible magic growth rate, so she isn't getting anywhere near her magic cap during the main game and certainly won't be anywhere close to the enemy magic users's magic stats, so at a minimum this personal pretty much translates into: "Get a free +4 damage against mages". And then when you consider that many of her physical classes don't have that high of a strength stat (Trueblade, Pegasus Warrior, and Golden Kite Warrior), you'd expect her to typically activate it against a lot of the physical enemies too if she was comparably leveled. And if talking about PvP with capped stats, she'd definitely have it active against most enemy physical classes.

Speaking of Nohr route, I don't have the game, but I think Lutz's personal would be awesome… inherent crit bonuses are back, so getting +15 crit evade to nearby allies to help them fight enemies with inherit crit sounds very nice.

[Bovinian]

So this might get ignored again like the last three or so times I posted it, but...

Flora's skill description on the site is wrong. It only activates against ranged attacks and deals back half the damage, not all of it. The part about it only working when she's not at full HP and reducing the enemy's Skill/Speed by 3 is still correct.

Proof:

[spoiler=in Japanese, also minor spoilers maybe]

Edited July 15, 2015 by Bovinian

[astrophys]

Have you considered messaging VincentASM or posting on the Site Content forums to point out the mistake?

Let's see…

Effie's personal is basically a guaranteed +3 vs. Mages, as well as +3 against hybrid/speedy physical classes that are low on strength…. of course, Knights/Great Knights/Generals tend to be bad against magic… but doesn't she get Rod Knight, so she could pick up Tomebreaker to complete that anit-mage role.

Ambush duty is another nice +4 damage…. use a ranged weapon against a 1 range opponent, or use it to kill bow-equipped units at 1 range.

Blossoming Mind is nice as it should be very easy to trigger as a Tome-using class.

[Bovinian]

Have you considered messaging VincentASM or posting on the Site Content forums to point out the mistake?

Alright, I might do that. But I'd at least like for someone who actually has her to confirm it first. Surely someone must have noticed...

Anyway since I don't have the game either these are some skills that I feel will be good from a PvP theorycrafting standpoint:

Effie's Super Strength: if you can get Effie access to Berserker (and why wouldn't you, it's like the perfect class for her), then at capped Strength she will have at least 5 higher strength than basically everyone else that isn't a Berserker. Free +3 damage.

Midoriko's Lucky Charm: the best way to take advantage of this in PvP is Miracle abuse.

Matoi's Prodigy: Like astrophys mentioned, it shouldn't be hard to have the +4 damage active against super offensive enemies, and basically all magic users.

Arthur's Unlucky Soul: imo the usefulness of this depends on if it is also active while he is supporting someone in Guard Stance where he can't be hit

Odin/Ophelia's free Crit+10 skills: self explanatory, but Ophelia is the better unit

Charlotte's Woman's Nature: depending on how popular female units become in pvp, Charlotte can get insane critical rates extremely easily as a Berserker. Guaranteed +40 crit on female enemies before even considering class skills or weapons.

Flora's Ice Blood: even if it works the way I described it is still clearly a good skill. Get Counter on her (only possible by marrying her to Oni Kamui though I think) and she will be almost impossible to hit without taking severe damage.

Left out skills that involve Attack/Guard stance or having units within a certain range for now because I can't really tell how important unit positioning will be in PvP yet.

Edit: Does using HP tonics in the middle of a map still increase your maximum HP while leaving your current HP unchanged? If so, then Turn 1 HP tonics can be an easy way to activate skills that only work when the user is not at full HP, like Ice Blood or Rinka's Flame Blood.

Edited July 15, 2015 by Bovinian