Glass Cannon Units?

[Minischew]

Who are the glass cannons in this game? I think some of them are really obvious, but I'm wondering if I'm overlooking anyone. For instance, I'm pretty fond of the characters listed below, except for Nyx. So I feel like it's easy for me to forget about someone.

Anyhow, this is the impression I'm getting:

Physical Glass Cannons:

Azura: I know most people leave her as a Singer, but isn't she physically capable as a Great Lord?

Charlotte: Strong crit machine with low Def.

Hana: Fast and strong, but has fragile defenses.

Yuugiri

Magical Glass Cannons:

Elise: High Mag and Lck, low HP and Def.

Nyx: To be honest, I don't really know much about her, but I've seen people call her a magical glass cannon.

Ophelia: I guess this could vary depending on her parent, but her natural Def growth is 20%, so as a Sorcerer she'd only have 25% Def.

If she takes Elise as her mother, she'd have 55% Mag, but 37.5% HP and 17.5% Def. So with Sorcerer bonuses, she'd have 80% Mag, 37.5% HP, and 22.5% Def. That screams glass cannon to me, and I've seen Elise!Ophelia the most.

(The second most popular option seems to be Nyx!Ophelia, and I'm pretty sure that would result in a glass cannon Ophelia as well.)

Orochi: High Mag, low Def.

Edited November 16, 2015 by Minischew

[Shadow Mir]

Physical Glass Cannons:

Azura: I know most people leave her as a Singer, but isn't she physically capable as a Great Lord?

Really? Because I never saw Azura mentioned as a glass cannon... That said, I don't know if anyone else stands out as such.

Edited November 15, 2015 by Levant Colthearts

[Phantom037]

Nyx has 30/20 hp and defense growths respectively as a dark mage and sorcerer, so she probably counts.

[Azz]

Kagerou is low on DEF but she is a perfectly capable mage killer (Like most Ninjas but IMO she is especially good). But yeah the whole list seems pretty accurate.

[Shadowess]

I've heard Orochi!Ophelia turns her into a glass cannon, so there's that.

[NekoKnight]

Kagerou is low on DEF but she is a perfectly capable mage killer (Like most Ninjas but IMO she is especially good). But yeah the whole list seems pretty accurate.

Suzukaze is definitely this. He can mow down endless mages but takes physical hits like a wet paper towel.

Nyx has 30/20 hp and defense growths respectively as a dark mage and sorcerer, so she probably counts.

Even as a level 3 Sorcerer, my Nyx had like 20HP. It was sad.

[Minischew]

I've heard Orochi!Ophelia turns her into a glass cannon, so there's that.

So I'm guessing Ophelia is always going to be a glass cannon. I wonder if Orochi counts as one?

Suzukaze is definitely this. He can mow down endless mages but takes physical hits like a wet paper towel.

Isn't he a bit too weak to be a glass cannon, though? I know he's good at taking on mages, but he doesn't strike me as particularly strong... and I've never seen a playthrough where Kaze easily seemed to ORKO a physical opponent (unless he was grinded), especially given HW's low Mt. Then again, I've only seen a few playthroughs, mostly of paralogues, in order to avoid spoilers, so my inference may be flawed.

Edited November 15, 2015 by Minischew

[Avarice Shadow]

^ I think Orochi counts as a glass canon.

[Ownagepuffs]

So I'm guessing Ophelia is always going to be a glass cannon. I wonder if Orochi counts as one?

Isn't he a bit too weak to be a glass cannon, though? I know he's good at taking on mages, but he doesn't strike me as particularly strong... and I've never seen a playthrough where Kaze easily seemed to ORKO a physical opponent (unless he was grinded), especially given HW's low Mt. Then again, I've only seen a few playthroughs, mostly of paralogues, in order to avoid spoilers, so my inference may be flawed.

Kaze has no issues ORKOing with relevant +Str pair up, steel Forge, effective weaponry (when applicable), tonics, and kitchen strength food.

[Dark Paladin X]

Mozume is pretty much glass cannon, at least with her class options.

[NekoKnight]

Isn't he a bit too weak to be a glass cannon, though? I know he's good at taking on mages, but he doesn't strike me as particularly strong... and I've never seen a playthrough where Kaze easily seemed to ORKO a physical opponent (unless he was grinded), especially given HW's low Mt. Then again, I've only seen a few playthroughs, mostly of paralogues, in order to avoid spoilers, so my inference may be flawed.

Maybe not one-rounding all physical enemies but can do significant damage with effective weapons and/or snake poison. A number of the "glass cannon" characters will only severely wound full health enemies, unless they get criticals or activate skills.

[Ryo]

Technically Ryouma is also a glass canon because his defense and resistance aren't very hot. In the case that he gets hit, he will receive substantial damage.

Orochi is definitely a magical glass canon.

Dancer!Aqua has decent offence if you have the patience to train her weapon rank, but don't be surprised if she got OHKO'd by enemies that are 5 levels lower than her.

[Shephen]

I wouldn't really call base 36/17/13 with Ryoma's Personal activated not very hot. Ryoma is like one of the bulkier units in Hoshido and it only seems bad at times is because he is taking 20 enemies at once which racks up.

Edited November 15, 2015 by Shephen

[Ryo]

At base, yes. But he'll not grow much in the long run with only 35% Def as a Trueblade. Mine at Lv. 11 still only has 19 Def and 16 Res, not the worst but definitely not one of the best. The main reason we don't have to worry about him is because he's not likely to get hit in the first place, not because he's bulky (though he has decent HP).

[Tooru]

Charlotte isn't a crit machine. The only Axe user with lower personal Skl growth than her is Gunter.

Kagerou has pretty good Res and she is in an anti-mage class.

Xander's Res is lower than Kagerou's Def: why don't you consider Xander as a glass cannon?

[Minischew]

Charlotte isn't a crit machine. The only Axe user with lower personal Skl growth than her is Gunter.

Oh yeah, sorry about that. Berserker gives an innate +20 Crit bonus, and I got too fixated on that.

Kagerou has pretty good Res and she is in an anti-mage class.

Kagero has the highest Str growth of 65%; it feels like a bit of a waste to send her to deal only with mages when mages don't make up the majority of enemies. When Kagero is attacking physical enemies, I think Def plays an important role in determining Kagero's defenses.

(But do feel free to correct me if that's a huge assumption on my part. In Awakening, I often had my mage killers attack physical units as well, since mages weren't all that common. And considering Fates nerfed Mag, I'm assuming mages aren't that big of a presence that requires Kagero to focus most of her attacks on them.)

However, despite what I said above, I realized that Kagero's Def doesn't actually matter because she uses Hidden Weapons. Having a 1-2 range weapon lets her attack hard-hitting classes (and archers) without getting counterattacked. And if I didn't list Ryoma as a glass cannon because of his high Avo and unlikelihood to get attacked, it doesn't seem very accurate for me to label Kagero as one when she won't be getting attacked very much (given smart positioning) either.

So yeah, In hindsight, it does seem like Kagero isn't a glass cannon. I've edited her out.

Xander's Res is lower than Kagerou's Def: why don't you consider Xander as a glass cannon?

That's because Xander shouldn't be fighting mages. He definitely does have a weakness to them, but more often than not, I'd think it's easy enough to avoid the threat. You have plenty of units-- in Nohr alone-- at your disposal that could be capable mage killers. Camilla (as a Revenant Knight) has a 60% Res growth, Kaze (as a Ninja/Elite Ninja) has 60%, and even Pieri has 45%. Either of these three units are strong enough to take out mages. And if you need more, there are plenty of units with 30/35% personal Res growths that could take a hit from a mage and not be completely screwed over.

If you're willing to argue that Kagero shouldn't be a glass cannon because she has high Res-- and you're implying that she should primarily fight mages-- then it doesn't make much sense for you to assert that Xander should be a glass cannon when he has high Def (and he should definitely be fighting physical units over mages).

Besides, Xander can tank physical attacks. And a glass cannon has low defenses. Even if he's weak to mages, he's not really a glass cannon if he has such high defensive capabilities overall.

Edited November 16, 2015 by Minischew

[Ryo]

Xander can OHKO pretty much all mages. Though he cannot do that without Attack Stance when facing magic-wielding physical enemies (like Shura, Basara, Reverent etc.) What he shouldn't do is tanking magic attacks on enemy phase.

Edited November 16, 2015 by Ryo

[Tooru]

Actually Xander is one of the best unit for "fighting" mages. He kill mages without taking damage so low Res doesn't matter.

"Tanking" mages is different. Before wiping mages out, we "tank" them with Kaze/Felicia/Jakob. Pieri isn't as good as them in her base class, and Camilla is a worse tank.

For Kagerou, she fight physical enemies without taking damage. OHKO is not the only way to avoid damage in this case so it is easier than "fighting" mage.

We "tank" physical enemies with other units because why not.

Nyx is a glass cannon because she is going to "tank" almost nothing but "fight" a lot.

Edited November 16, 2015 by Tooru

[Duke of Dozel]

Xander has 11 RES at base. The only characters with more are Zero, Camilla, Kaze and Leon. He's got a good enough res growth as a paladin to not die from them, and enough speed to not get doubled by them. Also take into account his access to Aegis. He's not nearly fragile enough to be listed as one. Also having a whopping 27 defense at base means he'll laugh at the face of physical units. While Kagerou isn't good at taking hits, she at least has a good enough base at 9 DEF and has a 30 DEF growth as a puppeteer. Also the enemies in Hoshido are way too weak to give Ryouma too much trouble, and he can easily kill them first with vantage before they even land a hit.

For the people who use her, Yuugiri is a glass cannon without a doubt.

Edited November 16, 2015 by Duke of Dozel

[Shadow Mir]

Xander's Res is lower than Kagerou's Def: why don't you consider Xander as a glass cannon?

That's because Xander shouldn't be fighting mages. He definitely does have a weakness to them, but more often than not, I'd think it's easy enough to avoid the threat. You have plenty of units-- in Nohr alone-- at your disposal that could be capable mage killers. Camilla (as a Revenant Knight) has a 60% Res growth, Kaze (as a Ninja/Elite Ninja) has 60%, and even Pieri has 45%. Either of these three units are strong enough to take out mages. And if you need more, there are plenty of units with 30/35% personal Res growths that could take a hit from a mage and not be completely screwed over.

If you're willing to argue that Kagero shouldn't be a glass cannon because she has high Res-- and you're implying that she should primarily fight mages-- then it doesn't make much sense for you to assert that Xander should be a glass cannon when he has high Def (and he should definitely be fighting physical units over mages).

Besides, Xander can tank physical attacks. And a glass cannon has low defenses. Even if he's weak to mages, he's not really a glass cannon if he has such high defensive capabilities overall.

For what it's worth, most people seem to focus primarily on Defense when talking about glass cannons because most enemies in FE tend to be physical. Which isn't to say that a glass cannon can't have low resistance as well, though the most common glass cannons (mages) tend to have high Resistance.

Edited November 16, 2015 by Levant Colthearts

[Tooru]

Xander has 11 RES at base. The only characters with more are Zero, Camilla, Kaze and Leon. He's got a good enough res growth as a paladin to not die from them, and enough speed to not get doubled by them. Also take into account his access to Aegis. He's not nearly fragile enough to be listed as one. Also having a whopping 27 defense at base means he'll laugh at the face of physical units. While Kagerou isn't good at taking hits, she at least has a good enough base at 9 DEF and has a 30 DEF growth as a puppeteer. Also the enemies in Hoshido are way too weak to give Ryouma too much trouble, and he can easily kill them first with vantage before they even land a hit.

For the people who use her, Yuugiri is a glass cannon without a doubt.

11 base Res as a 20/4 unit.

If you use Xander for "fighting" mages he will do a good job, even if his base Res is 0.

I don't understand why you are thinking about "tanking" mages with Xander and "tanking" physical enemies with Kagerou, especially when beating physical enemies without taking hits is easier in this game.

Edited November 16, 2015 by Tooru

[Minischew]

For the people who use her, Yuugiri is a glass cannon without a doubt.

Totally overlooked that. Thanks!

(On a side note, is she considered an early pre-promote, in that she gains more EXP than a normal pre-promote would?)

Edited November 16, 2015 by Minischew

[Tooru]

Totally overlooked that. Thanks!

(On a side note, is she considered an early pre-promote, in that she gains more EXP than a normal pre-promote would?)

The real level of a 20/X unit is 20+X.

For Yuugiri/Camilla, it is 15+X.

For Leo, it is 18+X.

For Felicia/Jakob, it is X.

Edited November 16, 2015 by Tooru

[HTakara82]

Charlotte isn't a crit machine. The only Axe user with lower personal Skl growth than her is Gunter.

Kagerou has pretty good Res and she is in an anti-mage class.

Xander's Res is lower than Kagerou's Def: why don't you consider Xander as a glass cannon?

not!Tharja has a skill growth of 15% >_>

[Tooru]

not!Tharja has a skill growth of 15% >_>

10% personal.

But she isn't an axe user in her base class.