Are children even good for the main game?

[QWUB.Qwest]

In all my runs of Conquest and Birthright, every single child unit I've used (except my Velouria, who was god-like, and Siegbert who was only slightly worse than his father due to lack of the Siegfried,) have been below all my main units, at an equal level. Children units seem to be better when you get them in the late-game, so they can get more high level skills from their parents, but then their availability is terrible and they don't have any chance to build up weapon ranks or supports. I'm having a hard time using the children units, which is a shame because I really like a few of them. I use optimal pairings, it just never seems worth it to recruit the children for my team, aside from the late game when you just want to fill out recruitment slots.

[Avalanche]

Aside from recruiting them super late game (as in they join at 20/18 and are just replacements), you kinda need to plan when you wanna recruit the kids. In general, children aren't really optimal, just fun. People like Percy, Caeldori, Ophelia and Shigure can be recruited early and can perform pretty well if their variable parent was good. Heck, Caeldori and Ophelia can probably replace their dads if you really want to.

Edited April 14, 2016 by Avalanche

[Thane]

Short version: Velour and Critelia

Longer version: some child units are really better than others, at least right off the bat. However, the best part about pairing people up in Conquest is not necessarily the children, but rather the fact that you get extra maps to farm on.

[Shadow Mir]

Not really, in large part since the best time to recruit them is when the enemy units are still unpromoted, particularly between chapters 15 and 18. (I learned the hard way that Offspring Seals don't make up for how terrible a majority of the paralogues get once the enemies promote, which is after chapter 18 - that's a mistake I'll never make again.)

Edited April 14, 2016 by Levant Mir Celestia

[Thor Odinson]

They're fine if you want them to be, especially some of the stronger ones, but pretty unnecessary.

In Birthright I used Shiro because I like Shiro and he's very usable and actually pretty good but he wasn't like, vital or anything (but he did have 41 defense after some boosts, he was my strongest physical tank)

In Conquest I used Nina more or less for no effort shurikenbreaker+pass staffer just in time for chapter 25 ninja hell but I could've replicated the same utility on Niles by class changing him after 20/15 (but since I did get her, I enjoy having niles on a horse, 9-10 movement bless). She did have Camilla as a mom so her stats are pretty great, though.

Bar a few /really/ bad paralogues, a lot of them can still be done in nogrind with enough strategy (or a really good tank) lategame. Just don't expect to use them as exp maps anymore because you'd likely rely on your highest levelled unit heavily anyway.

Edited April 14, 2016 by Thor Odinson

[Leif]

I agree with Thane; Velouria and Ophelia are the best children to focus on in Conquest. Especially since you may not recruit all the children if you don't rely on My Castle abuse.

Velouria has great stats and Ophelia has one of the best personal skills. A vanilla Elise!Ophelia easily gets up to 40-50% critical hit rates with Mjolnir (plus 2 other tomes). I had an amazing Odin (after giving him 1 dragon herb) and Ophelia in my Normal Nohr route. They were my go to critical hit bots.

[Soapbar]

my Midori started out with Lunge (inherited from me) and then instantly promoted to Mechanist.

so yeah Children can be good if you want them to be good and are willing to put in the time and effort in to them, like most units. Their stats might not come up to their fathers (or in Kana and Midori's case, Mother's) but they can get stupid skill combinations without the using a million seals and will only lag a few points behind them.

[Lady Sansa]

Ophelia is extremely dependent on her mother to be good, like most children.

Velouria will always be good, and is the only child I ever end up using.

[Konnor97]

I've only grabbed Shiro mid-story, and he works well enough, though he makes my billionth Basara/Spear Master. In Conquest, the kids, mainly Velouria, Sophie, Percy, and Forrest, helped with Ch. 27 and Endgame.

[Leif]

Ophelia is extremely dependent on her mother to be good, like most children.

Velouria will always be good, and is the only child I ever end up using.

Ophelia is good with Elise, Orochi, and maybe Felicia. I'd argue that Elise!Ophelia is a more potent and durable version of Elise herself. Elise!Ophelia is faster than Orochi!Ophelia, but Orochi!Ophelia does get better skills than Elise!Ophelia. However, those can be logbooked to Elise!Ophelia, which is the better unit stat-wise.

Edited April 14, 2016 by Leif

[Emblem Blade]

Ophelia is good with Elise, Orochi, and maybe Felicia. I'd argue that Elise!Ophelia is a more potent and durable version of Elise herself. Elise!Ophelia is faster than Orochi!Ophelia, but Orochi!Ophelia does get better skills than Elise!Ophelia. However, those can be logbooked to Elise!Ophelia, which is the better unit stat-wise.

There's more than just mere power from the children that makes children good in FE, especially in Fates but I'll drop that part. Think of how useful the children are with the classes they only get from their original parent (ie Velouria and Keaton). Shiro becomes one of your strongest Hoshidian children and possibly one of your strongest children by default thanks to access to Basara giving him both Rend Heaven and Quixotic, making him one of your first powerful powerhouses who can possibly stomp his Paralogue's boss into the dust (and arguably any enemy NPC in the game that lacks Dragonskin/Divine Shield). He gains access to Vantage, Duelist's Blow and Astra thanks to getting Samurai/Swordmaster/Master of Arms from Ryoma which gives him more power (Vantage + Quixotic + Rend Heaven). Kiragi and Midori become very staple Replicate users as both their fathers and/or their main class give them access to Mechanist, allowing them to set up on enemies with more ease. Velouria by default thanks to Keaton as well as Pery and Soliel (due to Arthur and Laslow) become quite durable tanks who can both heal with Sol and in the case of the Velouria and Percy, they become fearsome Berserkers (if you go that way).

[joshcja]

The BR kids are pretty decent but...entirely unnecessary due to it being BR.

All the CQ kids are pretty great though, they range from strong as fuck to absolutely game-breaking.

[GuiltyLove]

Ophelia is extremely dependent on her mother to be good, like most children.

Velouria will always be good, and is the only child I ever end up using.

What makes Velouria so good? Won't her stats be similar to Keaton's? They should be about the same then, right?

[joshcja]

What makes Velouria so good? Won't her stats be similar to Keaton's? They should be about the same then, right?

She's just got really solid mods and growths.

A devils choice between forever 1-1 and e rank axes limits her a lot main game, but unlike Keaton her raw stats are actually good enough to make using her not suck.

Edited April 14, 2016 by joshcja

[Jakkun]

Siegbert is pretty good as a pair up slave (specially Charlotte!Sieg), too bad his chapter is annoying as balls.

[VeryAngryBisharp]

Velouria is great. I recruited Nina right before Ch25 with shuriken breaker just to help out with those damn ninjas and another staffbot is always good.

[Shadow Mir]

Having thought about it I'll likely be using using most of the female children on my CQ playthrough, though tbh, that'll take some grinding since no way in the seven hells am I waiting until after chapter 18 to try to recruit any of them other than Kana (and THAT one depends on who I decide to marry).

[Emblem Blade]

Having thought about it I'll likely be using using most of the female children on my CQ playthrough, though tbh, that'll take some grinding since no way in the seven hells am I waiting until after chapter 18 to try to recruit any of them other than Kana (and THAT one depends on who I decide to marry).

No-grind run CQ and no using other players My Castles?

Every time I do Post-Chapter 18 Children Recruitment on CQ it was mostly just infuriating to get Forrest and Iggy due to map layout and/or the types of enemies on the map.

[Shadow Mir]

No-grind run CQ and no using other players My Castles?

Every time I do Post-Chapter 18 Children Recruitment on CQ it was mostly just infuriating to get Forrest and Iggy due to map layout and/or the types of enemies on the map.

Can't I grind supports on the DLC in Conquest?

[Emblem Blade]

Can't I grind supports on the DLC in Conquest?

You can use DLC maps to grind (on any path but it's more relevant to CQ than BR and RV). I was pondering on your frustration when some of us could lend you My Castle support considering how hard CQ in general is in-game.

[joshcja]

Having thought about it I'll likely be using using most of the female children on my CQ playthrough, though tbh, that'll take some grinding since no way in the seven hells am I waiting until after chapter 18 to try to recruit any of them other than Kana (and THAT one depends on who I decide to marry).

All of the fem kids sans velouria are easily available pre ch18 and her chapter is actually a joke no matter where you are in the game.

[Ebony]

Ophelia is good with Elise, Orochi, and maybe Felicia. I'd argue that Elise!Ophelia is a more potent and durable version of Elise herself. Elise!Ophelia is faster than Orochi!Ophelia, but Orochi!Ophelia does get better skills than Elise!Ophelia. However, those can be logbooked to Elise!Ophelia, which is the better unit stat-wise.

I've heard surprisingly good things about Kagero!Ophelia, actually.

Also i use Orochi!Ophelia and she's essentually getting 80+% chances of crits off the bat with Mjolnir.

Edited April 14, 2016 by Ebony