Best first gen. characters in Genealogy of the Holy War?

[Pretty Cool Guy]

It's exactly what you said, the promotion and Astra. Especially in this game, Astra is a freaking beast and upon promotion her skill is raised even more, leading to Astra activating almost all the time. Also, she gets a brave sword in Chapter 3 that makes her basically unstoppable.

I will cede that her promotion is superior for giving Adept, and like 3 skill, but 3 extra speed is pretty superfluous since swords + pursuit means the both of them will double forever. On Astra, while it is powerful, so is Luna. If either of them activates the receiving end is gonna be dead either way, with Luna having the nice bonus of never being able to miss. The Brave Sword isn't a PRF weapon by the way. Anyone with B swords can use it. 8 HP, 3 Strength, 4 Defense, equal or superior growths in every stat, and being 8 levels closer to promotion > Adept, 3 Skill, and 3 Speed on promotion.

[BillNyeTheBlackGuy]

Deu is pretty underrated in the first gen. While he is difficult to level up, he's still your best access to getting gold. The more gold you get, the more chances you get to buy and sell the elite ring for multiple characters. If you do manage to promote him, you get an awesome fighter he can't get hit when standing next to Sigurd and Lachesis.

[CyborgZeta]

I had good results with Sigurd, Levin, Ayra and Lex.

Tiltyu is pretty good too, IMO, thanks to Thoron. However, he can be tough to train.

[OliKad]

Here's how I see the Ayra Vs. Holyn debate:
- Ayra is better at killing a lone, tough enemy (like a boss, for example)
- However, thanks to a better defense stat, Holyn can manage much more easily almost any enemy phase

[Flee Fleet!]

^For your second point, Ayra can too, since I always found her dodging attacks almost all the time, especially after she gets the brave sword. Although Holyn does gain more defense and HP than her, even if he doesn't dodge attacks as much as her, in my experience.

[The Draco Knight]

Here's how I see the Ayra Vs. Holyn debate:

- Ayra is better at killing a lone, tough enemy (like a boss, for example)

- However, thanks to a better defense stat, Holyn can manage much more easily almost any enemy phase

It happens only if she uses astra tough, otherwise, the enemy will most likely survive

^For your second point, Ayra can too, since I always found her dodging attacks almost all the time, especially after she gets the brave sword. Although Holyn does gain more defense and HP than her, even if he doesn't dodge attacks as much as her, in my experience.

The problem with Ayra is that she has to rely on dodgetanking in order to survive in a game that, after chapter 1, likes to throw at you Lance enemy users, who have actually a decent chance to hit her.

Meanwhile, Holyn has HP and Defense, which means that, even if he doesn't dodge, he will be able to survive few more hits than Ayra.

[Lantairu]

The problem with Ayra is that she has to rely on dodgetanking in order to survive in a game that, after chapter 1, likes to throw at you Lance enemy users, who have actually a decent chance to hit her.

Meanwhile, Holyn has HP and Defense, which means that, even if he doesn't dodge, he will be able to survive few more hits than Ayra.

In my experience, Holyn has always died way more times than Ayra. Therefore, dodgetanking is, even with lance units in mind, incredibly effective with Ayra.

Edited September 28, 2016 by Lantairu

[OliKad]

In my experience, Holyn has always died way more times than Ayra. Therefore, dodgetanking is, even with lance units in mind, incredibly effective with Ayra.

Really? It's the exact opposite for me. Maybe I'm just very unlucky with the RNG...

[Pretty Cool Guy]

I want to weigh in on if higher avoid is a good point for her. Ayra's is higher, but it's maybe not as much as you may think. In FE4, the avoid formula is (Attack Speed x 2) + Luck + Terrain bonus + Leadership bonus + Charisma bonus + Lover bonus. Let's assume they have no weapon weighing them down, and they have no other external bonuses. at level 12 ( Holyn's base level) on average Ayra has 19 speed and 4 luck, which would equal about 42 avoid. Holyn has 17 speed and 1 luck, so that's about 35 avoid. That's a difference of 7. after they both promote, Ayra has 26 speed and 6 luck, which should equal 58 avoid. Holyn has 21 speed and 2 luck, so thats 44 avoid, a difference of 14 avoid. At level 30, Ayra has 29 speed and 8 luck, which is about 64 avoid. Holyn has 24 speed and 4 luck, so that's about 52 avoid. a difference of 12 avoid. Unless i majorly goofed, Ayra hovers around 7 to 8 more avoid than Holyn before promotion. After promotion, it's around 12 to 14 avoid. As they fight pretty similarly, it comes down to if you think that 7 to about 15 avoid is more valuable than a firm defensive lead. The numbers used were average stats at the same level for both of them.