Are children characters generally worth using?

[Quirino]

I've been playing through both Birthright and Conquest now, and so far I've been pretty underwhelmed by the children.

In Hoshido, I've been using Oboro!Sophie (great knight) and Corrin!Shigure (falcon knight). Shigure was demoted to a healbot pretty soon because he didn't do a lot of damage. I had better fliers such as Dark Flier Orochi and Falcon Knight Hinoka. Sophie was pretty good as in she was a slightly worse version of her father, who was my main tank. Due to the lack of defensive units in Hoshido, Sophie was still useful though.

As for Nohr, I read that Percy (wyvern lord) was great but when I used him I was very underwhelmed by everything but his defense. I mean his defense was great, but I had enough of those units. He didn't do a lot of damage, he couldn't double anyone and his hit rates were in the 60s-70s range mostly. As an attacker he just didn't do it and as a tank Xander and Effie were better alternatives because they could deal more and more reliable damage.

Also I've been using Camilla!Velouria in conquest who was basically just a second Keaton. In an earlier topic I started someone told me Velouria would basically be Keaton on steroids but she was actually slightly worse in all stats (except resistance). I mean she was still very good (Keaton was among my best units) but my point is that she was not Keaton on steroids in any way.

I realize that these are only a couple of children I actually used, but I heard good stories about all of these and none of them was actually better than their parent (especially Percy I was disappointed with).

It made me wonder if children are worth using at all, if some of these are considered among the best children. Is their catch that they're basically a copy of their parent if slightly worse? Or did I screw up in a way to have considerably worse children than people have been telling about? I recruited all the children between chapter 18 and chapter 21.

[Shinehollow]

It all depends on their parents. If you have the right parents and the right skills, some kids can become OP. And if you also put in the effort to train them.

EDIT: My Camilla/Valouria is basically Keaton on steroids but you usually only see the results once you cap their stats. If they're not capped they may look worse.

Basically if you don't train them (at least in Revelations and Birthright) they probably won't do so well.

Edited July 24, 2016 by Devil Bringer

[Esme]

Not really. Certain pairings are very good, but for the most part the children in Fates aren't as ridiculously powerful as the ones in Awakening.

[MeddlingMage]

Some pairings are pretty amazing. Currently my Setsuna!Hisame and my Hinoka!Kana can destroy one side of the map by themselves. Also my Mozu!Shiro, Oboro!Caerldori, and Sakura!Rhajat are doing pretty well as well.

One of my favorite is Elise!Ophelia.

[joshcja]

Most of the kids are meh main game due to shit bases/growths. (Looking at you kana)

Hoshido exceptions:

A very early dwyer is the best cav in the game, a very early haikuface reclassed into anything,has...greater than azama smashkill, Shiro generaly turns out alright along with whoever the fuck mozu mothers.

Conquest exceptions:

Same deal with Dwyer, Mozu is waaay better in CQ than BR so her kid has even more value, Nina will always be a top 5 unit, Ophelia and Soliel are flat out broken, the game actually ends when you get them.

Edited July 24, 2016 by joshcja

[Shadow Mir]

I'd say not really, but they're still worth considering in the event the fathers don't pan out.

Edited July 25, 2016 by Levant Mir Celestia

[Admiral "Bull" Halsey]

On the bright side, Fates' children don't overshadow their parents compare to Awakening.

[Alastor15243]

A lot of children are objectively worse than their parents, though some, like Velouria, are better. I'd look at their growth rates before deciding which ones are worth using.

But whatever the case, it's always worth it to unlock their paralogues, unless you're allowing infinite grinding, because it's a valuable source of experience and items.

[Augestein]

With the introduction of Offspring Seals, they can be worth using if one of your characters is starting to fall behind in the campaign or has gotten particularly nasty level ups. Or in some character cases, the kid can be worth using because he's not similar classes to his parents so he can easily grab some nice skills.

Shigure makes a good Falcon Knight Rally Bot IMO. Give him 4 Rallies and Amatarasu and he's a nice support unit all around.

[Water Mage]

Many children, especially those who share the same class as their father, tend to be very similar to the parents in stats, but rarely completely superior.

Even Conquest is completely doable without the children units.

[DragonFlames]

There are some children who will always outperform their parents, while others will generally just straight up BE their parents and some children are worse than their parents, so they really do fill the entire spectrum.

From my personal experience, children who are better than their parents include:

• Ophelia, especially with Felicia as a mother
• Shiro, who can be better than Ryoma if you patch up his Defence through someone like Rinkah or Camilla
• Midori, probably one of the most broken units in the game.
• Velouria, who can be Keaton on steroids, especially if you patch up her skill.
• Mitama, if only because Bows are better than Lances

Children who basically ARE their parents:

• Caeldori
• Selkie
• Hisame
• Asugi, who is basically Saizo with a magic growth
• Percy, Arthur as a Wyvern Rider, has the same shoddy hit rate
• Dwyer

Children who are worse than their parents:

• Siegbert (he's Xander without Siegfried)
• Forrest (he's Leo as a Strategist without Brynhildr)
• Kiragi (he is an annoying version of his father without the Fujin Yumi)
• Sophie (she hasn't got the tankiness of her father, though higher speed helps)
• Rhajat (low skill REALLY holds her back)
• Shigure (just because he can't sing. Good Rally bot, though, otherwise incredibly weak and useless (like his mother, if she couldn't sing))
• Kana (she has possibly the lowest growths out of any character in this game.)

I haven't done much with Soleil and Nina, that's why I can't really say anything about them, but yeah, that's how it was in my experience until now.

[Mira Vermilion]

If you haven't faced someone who uses Miracle Midori (4 from logbook, 1 owned), then you'll never learn the real meaning of "tilting".

BTT: Most of the children are very helpful. Some of them depends on their mother.

In Birthright I have a full offensive Shigure, who wields an Iron Naginata +7. He shreds through his enemy.

My Kana was a good Sword Master, but I never use the dragonstones. Not on Kana, nor on Kamui.

Selkie is really good and I got her married to Shigure (I love this ship). With Death Blow she just have a ton of crt, she can dodge a lot and deals tons of dmg.

Currently I'm working on my Shiro and Kiragi. But in the end, it depends on how you build the children. Meaning in skills and classes.

Edit: Once I had 5 Miracle Midori and 5 Kaze. 4 from logbook and 1 which I own. Nobody visited my castle until I changed my castle units ^^

Edited July 25, 2016 by Mira Vermilion

[Thinks Their Own Way]

I really like using:

Elise!Nina- The best adventurer in the game if you ask me

Velouria- Because she destroys everything for me even when her mother was Felicia.

Orochi!Rhajat- Best magic user in Birthright by far.

Caeldori is so much better than Subaki in every single way.

Kiragi is a really good archer even without daddy's weapon.

[Time the Crestfallen]

In my experience, the only worthwhile children for story are Shiro, Midori, Velouria and Ophelia. Everyone else is basically just their parents with a different skin or worse than their parents.

In PVP, children pretty much invalidate their parents across the board. Xander, Ryoma, Corrin, Takumi (prf weapons), Azura (Warp + Sing) and Kaze (great pair-up, especially for Midori) are the only good parent units in PVP.

Edited July 25, 2016 by Phillius

[Rend Keaven]

In Conquest, the Paralogues are worth playing for the extra experience cash and weapons, my best children in my Conquest file were:

Velouria!Azura
Ignatius!Camilla
Soleil!My Unit
Nina!Beruka
Forrest!Peri

Percy!Mozu

OK, most of these children's parents are royals, but I still think they are worth getting compared to Birthrights children because not only are they somewhat better units most of the CQ children have better characters than the Hoshidan children.

[MeddlingMage]

Hisame is pretty good. I didn't use him that much during my first run of Birthright. But he's pretty good. He may not be my favorite kid in Birthright, but he's still pretty good. Currently on Chapter 21 on my second run through of Birthright and my top 3 kids are Oboro!Caeldori, Sakura!Rhajat, and Setsuna!Hisame.

Edited July 25, 2016 by MeddlingMage

[Dark Holy Elf]

Percy justifies a roster spot with his personal skill alone, IMO, at least in Conquest. You can face berserkers and other +crit enemies with no fear, use silver weapons at no penalty, etc. Even with crappy stats and/or a bad parent he can still be a rallybot with innate access to Rally Str/Def while rocking that anti-crit aura.

[RoyLKing]

There are some children who will always outperform their parents, while others will generally just straight up BE their parents and some children are worse than their parents, so they really do fill the entire spectrum.

From my personal experience, children who are better than their parents include:

• Ophelia, especially with Felicia as a mother
• Shiro, who can be better than Ryoma if you patch up his Defence through someone like Rinkah or Camilla
• Midori, probably one of the most broken units in the game.
• Velouria, who can be Keaton on steroids, especially if you patch up her skill.
• Mitama, if only because Bows are better than Lances

Children who basically ARE their parents:

• Caeldori
• Selkie
• Hisame
• Asugi, who is basically Saizo with a magic growth
• Percy, Arthur as a Wyvern Rider, has the same shoddy hit rate
• Dwyer

Children who are worse than their parents:

• Siegbert (he's Xander without Siegfried)
• Forrest (he's Leo as a Strategist without Brynhildr)
• Kiragi (he is an annoying version of his father without the Fujin Yumi)
• Sophie (she hasn't got the tankiness of her father, though higher speed helps)
• Rhajat (low skill REALLY holds her back)
• Shigure (just because he can't sing. Good Rally bot, though, otherwise incredibly weak and useless (like his mother, if she couldn't sing))
• Kana (she has possibly the lowest growths out of any character in this game.)

I haven't done much with Soleil and Nina, that's why I can't really say anything about them, but yeah, that's how it was in my experience until now.

Excuse me but I can't hear over the sound of my Azura!Kiragi one shotting PvP units with a silver bow.

But seriously, Kiragi is fucking OP as hell, even more than his father, Fujin Yumi is good but it need terrain to work greatly, which isn't much in birthright.

Edited July 26, 2016 by RoyLKing

[DragonFlames]

Excuse me but I can't hear over the sound of my Azura!Kiragi one shotting PvP units with a silver bow.

But seriously, Kiragi is fucking OP as hell, even more than his father, Fujin Yumi is good but it need terrain to work greatly, which isn't much in birthright.

Eh, I haven't gotten much into PvP.

As I've said, this is how I personally experienced it and from my personal experience, Kiragi was basically Takumi (how that was possible, I don't know and I don't care enough to check) but without his personal weapon, which in Fates sadly translates to 'less useful' (see my notes on Siegbert and Forrest). I wish it was different, I really do. But I don't want to rant about me being anti-Royal, anti-Takumi, or my anti-Royal bias again. I've done that enough now.

As a unit, I can only say that he may be good, but I didn't see much of his potential during my time playing Birthright and the one time I actually bothered marrying some poor girl to Takumi (it was Oboro, the poor thing). Maybe, I should have left him out of my list like I did with Nina and Soleil. Sorry.

Edited July 26, 2016 by DragonFlames

[Thor Odinson]

I would not say Shiro is better than Ryoma. Heirs of Fates aside, he isn't getting Raijinto ingame and doesn't have the sheer field-clearing power Ryoma can achieve. However, he plays completely different than his dad, which makes him not obsolete by being a shittier copy of his parent and instead being able to do a completely different role. That makes him stand out.

His stats are generally pretty solid given a physical parent, anyway.

Edited July 26, 2016 by Thor Odinson

[DragonFlames]

I would not say Shiro is better than Ryoma. Heirs of Fates aside, he isn't getting Raijinto ingame and doesn't have the sheer field-clearing power Ryoma can achieve. However, he plays completely different than his dad, which makes him not obsolete by being a shittier copy of his parent and instead being able to do a completely different role. That makes him stand out.

His stats are generally pretty solid given a physical parent, anyway.

I believe Shiro is better suited for more defensive players like myself, since Ryoma favours an offensive approach. Shiro can take more hits than his father can and you have enough specialized sword users anyway (especially on Revelations), while you have only one other unit that can reach S-rank in Lances/Naginatas, namely Oboro.

So I would agree with you, but I still put Shiro on my 'better than their parents' list, because I have yet to see the supposedly god-like power Ryoma apparently possesses for myself.

[Thor Odinson]

Ryoma's the definition of "the best defense is a good offense". He uses a combination of high avoid, enough bulk to survive a few hits, vantage+killing power, and astra filling the dual guard gauge that when put together, statistically actually make him fairly reliable at not dying. I was fairly conservative with using Ryoma earlier in my first BR Lunatic run (mainly because he's too powerful) but when chapter 23 hit I decided to just go "fuck it" and unleashed him quite liberally. His effective durability is actually pretty good and can be used in a defensive manner. I played through 25 the long, tank way as well, and he filled a tank role pretty well.

Anyway more on topic, I found Nina opportunely recruited before chapter 25 nohr and passed shurikenbreaker an incredible asset in doing chapter 25 the long way. In my case she was Camilla's kid, so she also had swordbreaker. Definitely helped alleviate the headache in 25 significantly.

Edited July 26, 2016 by Thor Odinson

[SSJDennis]

I really haven't bothered getting children, as supports don't tend to grow to fast for me.

I did recruit Dwyer, which could be recruited in 1turn, just open the gate and nuke the boss.

Dwyer is used as an upgraded Elise to me, Elise just doesn't get enough EXP to stay strong, or even reach level 10 to promote...

[Inference]

Most of the kids are meh main game due to shit bases/growths. (Looking at you kana)

Hoshido exceptions:

A very early dwyer is the best cav in the game, a very early haikuface reclassed into anything,has...greater than azama smashkill, Shiro generaly turns out alright along with whoever the fuck mozu mothers.

Conquest exceptions:

Same deal with Dwyer, Mozu is waaay better in CQ than BR so her kid has even more value, Nina will always be a top 5 unit, Ophelia and Soliel are flat out broken, the game actually ends when you get them.

Ophelia's a given, but what's Soliel's ace in the hole?

[joshcja]

Ophelia's a given, but what's Soliel's ace in the hole?

Soliel is less dumb broken than Ophelia but she's still pretty stupid. Personal + inherited base + growths generally let her bump the gen 2 master ninja speed cap/berserker Str cap with inherent 1-2 sol, xander bulk in her personal, with inherent damage stack,and breaker stack.