ZephyrShakuraus vs ZXValaRevan

[Defeatist Elitist]

Because no-one needs Speed anyway, huh?

I open. Post coming soon...

[Defeatist Elitist]

blahblahblah Gilliam wins.

The end.

Oh, you want something more? :P

One day in Chapter 1, Gilliam shows up to rescue TWO princesses. At the same time. He walks into the sunlight, and finds a Soldier waiting right there for him! Bam. Happy times.

But let's see what's going on "behind the scenes" here.

Gilliam is level 4, with the following combat parameters.

4/0 Gilliam with Iron Lance:

16.0 atk, 3.0 AS, 93.3 hit, 2.8 crit - - 9.0 avo, 25.0 hp, 9.0 def, 3.0 res, 3.0 critavo

His offense is not impressive compared to some of the other characters, due to not doubling, but he has the highest HP and Def out of any of your characters, other than Seth of course.

Let's see how he fares against the strongest enemy on the MAP (who is also standing on a gate). Assuming he gained 0 levels (not too unreasonable, but I'll get to this later)

He is 4 rounded. He deals 4 damage with a 66.79% true Hit chance.

Let's see how the others do...

Franz is 3 rounded, and deals 2x 2 damage at 61.72% true hit.

Eirika is 2 rounded and deals 2x 10 damage at 81% True hit.

Seth of course, rips it apart.

Now, Franz is outclassed on Defense horribly by Gilliam, although Offense is a little fuzzy. Neither is going to be killing the boss any time soon. Eirika COULD theoretically kill the boss, however she has to take the fairly significant risk here that she could be hit twice. She takes 2 rounds to kill the boss. That means that the Boss also gets 2 attacks in on her. If they both hit, she's toasted. Of course, Seth is probably the one killing this boss anyway.

Now, on most NORMAL enemies, Eirika's Rapier isn't dealing triple damage. Even the high strength Fighters in this map have a hard time killing Gilliam, WTA be damned! The Loldiers deal ~3 damage to him. Not so for little Eirika and Franz.

Gilliam can't really double, sure, but he doesn't actually NEED to. He chops 1/2 to 2/3 of most enemies Health off with a single attack, meaning that he can easily finish off almost any even slightly weakened enemy, or weaken it for another character.

But let me address another thing I know you all would be thinking "Gilliam has no Mov." Well, this game has no Tactics Rank. Sure going quickly > going slowly, but it isn't some sort of be all end all. Gilliam doesn't slow down the team much at all. Of course, you could also say that he won't get as much experience because of his slow movement. Luckily for us, FE8 features tons of maps with tons of enemies, and many maps where enemies come at you from every direction, or where low movement isn't a crippling disadvantage. Chapter 1 for example. Unless you intentionally AVOID getting Gilliam to kill things, he has a lot of potential kills.

I'll deal with Supports before my next example.

Let's look at Garcia... His best (bonus wise) Supports are with Ross and Neimi, but those aren't exactly great units. Otherwise he has Dozla (lol), Seth (who has other amazing options, but maybe he can get something here), and Gilliam (this support isn't actually very good though, but meh).

Gilliam has a subtly different set. He has Franz (a pretty solid option for full Def and Crit), Syrene (lol), Moulder (full Def and Avoid, and Moulder might want him as a supplement, what with Colm doing all that running around and Vanessa being a flyer), Neimi (same thing as with Garcia), and Garcia.

GarciaxGilliam, while it looks like something, is a pretty bad Support (Full Avoid and Crit).

So, I think I'll be nice and say that Garcia can get an A with Ross, if he's being played.

Gilliam at the very least should be able to get 2 Bs, possibly an A, from Supports with 2 of the best units in the game (Moulder and Franz), if one of those fails, he still has Garcia on the side.

ANYWAY, let's continue on to Garcia's join Chapter (next one, lawl), shall we? Gilliam could have gained a level, so he should be 5/0, but I'll be REALLY kind, and pretend that never happened, OK? Just because Gilliam doesn't need that level in order to win.

4/0 Garcia with Iron Axe:

16.0 atk, 7.0 AS, 90.3 hit, 3.3 crit - - 17.0 avo, 28.0 hp, 5.0 def, 1.0 res, 3.0 critavo

4/0 Gilliam with Iron Lance:

16.0 atk, 3.0 AS, 93.3 hit, 2.8 crit - - 9.0 avo, 25.0 hp, 9.0 def, 3.0 res, 3.0 critavo

Well, look at this... Offense is basically a tie. I know what you're gonna say "NO WAY, LOOK AT GARCIA'S AS LEAD!!!!!!!". But guess what? They fall very conveniently on a neat little area. Gilliam's AS is just high enough to get doubled by practically no-one, and Garcia's is just LOW enough to not double anyone. On most enemies, they have even AS.

On Defense, Garcia wins Avoid, and HP. Gilliam wins everything else. Oh, and his Def lead is BIGGER than Garcia's HP lead. His Res led almost is for crying out loud. Enemies like to tink off Gilliam. They like to impale Garcia.

"Oh, but Garcia has Hand Axes for durability!" Sorry, but that lowers his hit and damage, which gives Gilliam a greater Offense lead. Not to mention Gilliam can potentially have Javelins very soon.

Now, let's see how they're fairing around the Route split... Chapter 9, either route...

I think it's fair to say that they each gained ~1 level per chapter (on average), so that would put them both at level 10. Sound fair to you?

10/0 Gilliam, Franz C, Moulder C

Iron Lance - 19.7 atk, 4.8 AS, 100.4 hit, 10.8 crit - - 21.4 avo, 30.4 hp, 14.3 def, 6.2 res, 11.8 critavo

Steel Lance - 22.7 atk, 4.8 AS, 90.4 hit, 10.8 crit - - 21.4 avo, 30.4 hp, 14.3 def, 6.2 res, 11.8 critavo

Javelin - 18.7 atk, 4.8 AS, 85.4 hit, 10.8 crit - - 21.4 avo, 30.4 hp, 14.3 def, 6.2 res, 11.8 critavo

10/0 Garcia, C Ross

Iron Axe - 20.9 atk, 8.2 AS, 101.3 hit, 9.4 crit - - 26.8 avo, 32.8 hp, 6.5 def, 1.9 res, 5.4 critavo

Steel Axe - 23.9 atk, 7.2 AS, 91.3 hit, 9.4 crit - - 24.8 avo, 32.8 hp, 6.5 def, 1.9 res, 5.4 critavo

Hand Axe - 19.9 atk, 8.2 AS, 86.3 hit, 9.4 crit - - 26.8 avo, 32.8 hp, 6.5 def, 1.9 res, 5.4 critavo

Garcia has an offense lead, while Gilliam destroys Defensively. Like, it's not even contestable in any way. He leads Def by 8 whole points, and Res by 5. He loses HP by 2.

Why is this so important?

An enemy that 2 hits Garcia needs 22 Atk. That 4 hits Gilliam.

As the Atk lowers, Gilliam's led grows even bigger.

For example, an enemy with 17 Atk 3 hits Garcia. It 10 hits Gilliam. Enemies with 14 Atk will do NOTHING to Gilliam. But those same enemies can easily kill Garcia in 4 hits.

As you can see, Gilliam rarely needs to worry about dieing, he can just run out into the open and kill people as they come to him.

Now, let's see them after Promotion, perhaps ~ Chapter 15? I'm assuming Garcia is gonna be a Hero, and Gilliam a General.

20/1 General Gilliam - Franz A, Moulder B

Steel Lance - 30.2 atk, 10.8 AS, 107.9 hit, 26.6 crit - - 46.4 avo, 43.4 hp, 24.7 def, 14.2 res, 24.8 critavo

Killer Lance - 30.2 atk, 10.8 AS, 107.9 hit, 56.5 crit - - 46.4 avo, 43.4 hp, 24.7 def, 14.2 res, 24.8 critavo

Steel Axe - 31.2 atk, 10.8 AS, 102.9 hit, 26.6 crit - - 46.4 avo, 43.4 hp, 24.7 def, 14.2 res, 24.8 critavo

20/1 Hero Garcia - Ross A

Steel Axe - 33.2 atk, 11.2 AS, 115.3 hit, 22.4 crit - - 46.8 avo, 44.8 hp, 11.0 def, 5.4 res, 9.4 critavo

Killer Axe - 33.2 atk, 12.2 AS, 115.3 hit, 52.5 crit - - 48.8 avo, 44.8 hp, 11.0 def, 5.4 res, 9.4 critavo

Killing Edge - 31.2 atk, 12.2 AS, 125.3 hit, 52.5 crit - - 48.8 avo, 44.8 hp, 11.0 def, 5.4 res, 9.4 critavo

Gilliam also COULD wield swords, but I figure this is enough.

What do we see here? Garcia's old Offense lead is definitely looking pretty much dried up, just like Gilliam's de-OH WAIT.

Gilliam however, still has an incredible and ridiculous lead in all the Defensive stats except for HP and Avoid, which he loses by lollable amounts. HE HAS DOUBLE GARCIA'S DEFENSE AND RES. So while Garcia has a small offense lead, remember that Gilliam can do what he wants without fear, because he will not die.

Interesting fact:

In order to DEAL DAMAGE to Gilliam, an enemy would have to have 25 Atk. That would deal 14 Damage to Garcia, 4 Rounding him. That's PATHETIC. Also fun to note, 33 Atk would 1 hit Garcia. Gilliam can take 5 of those before dieing. It's pretty funny that Garcia has the best durability compared to Gilliam when he's DIEING, isn't it?

I'm running a little long now, so I'll try to wrap this up soon.

Basically, the only thing changing between now and endgame is that Gilliam will be slowly catching up in HP and Speed, while getting an even bigger lead in Def and Res.

So, basically, Garcia has a tiny bit more Offense than Gilliam, and in return Gilliam destroys him durability wise. There is no real contest here, Gilliam just wins.