What are some good ring pairings?

[Lopen187]

Going through hard now and currently on chapter 12. Curious what emblem rings will work with what units. I'm fairly new to Tactical JRPG's so not sure what too look for when setting up characters. Mostly running cannon classes except Anna which I made a mage to eventually use her for gold farming.

Currently like using Louis, Yunaka, Jean, Diamont, Anna, and Chloe. Not sure who else but Ivy, and Kagetsu seem good also.

[ra2bk]

My pairing from my run.... (no DLC for me)

Louis - Sigurd - No brainer. Louis likes basically every part of the kit. Movement + boost to single attack + engage attack is also movement + canter + lance power + bonus hit.

Kagetsu - Lyn - Adds a non-magic ranged weapon to Swordmaster. Alacrity + Speedtaker both great for the fastest character in the game. Call doubles really good for high avoid + crit characters.

Alear - Corrin - The dragon vein choose any is so good. 

Ivy - Celica - Of the mages, Ivy can take a hit, so can use the corrupted reflect damage. Echo good for her slower speed and ability to take hits back. Flying range for maximum warp. Tome precision shores up her medicore Dex.

Diamant - Ike - Just like improving his defenses. Becomes very hard to kill with Sol and Laguz Friend and Resolve. He has enough HP and def to survive some attacks and get Wrath going, but Sol will keep him out of complete danger. A lot of other good options for Diamant though, like Roy. Recommend either inheriting Wrath or Hold Out, depending which other Ring you go with.

Seadall - Lucina - Dual support and dual assist make Seadall useful while dancing.

Merrin - Marth - Avoid, sword agility, and extra attacks all good. 

Anna - Byleth - Luck boost for more gold.  

Pandreo - Micaiah - He was my main staff user. Shrug.

Chloe - Eirika - Specifically for Chloe as a mage knight. She can at least use the +mag boost from the ring while also using the physical based Lunar Brace and Lance agility.

Rosado - Roy - A bit by default for me.

Yunaka - Leif - Knife precision. Can't use adaptable, but oh well.

Edited February 4, 2023 by ra2bk

[Fire Emblem Fan]

Louis and Sigurd, Diamant and Ike or Roy, and honestly Lyn is good when paired with most characters but a couple of my favorites to pair her with are Alcryst, Ivy, and Kagetsu.

[FashionEmblem]

1. Marth + Alear. Hardly a secret since Alear starts with Marth equipped, but thanks to building up the bond level so early Alear can use Mercurius for extra exp and the bonus stats make Alear speedy and dodgy.
2. Sigurd + Chloé in the early game. Giving a flier Mov +1 and Canter is an excellent choice.
3. Celica + Céline/Citrinne in the early game. No-brainer to get the most out of Seraphim and War Ragnarok on units with high magic. Clanne can also use it, but I prefer the other two early game mages. Spamming Celica on Céline also helps her get mid-game Canter, which is the main reason I chose Céline over Citrinne.
4. Celica + Ivy Warp Ragnarok gains range on a flier, and the game gives you two flying mages.
5. Micaiah + unit needing levels or SP. Great Sacrifice gives a ton of experience and can really help push some characters to level 10 so they can promote early. Notably, Anna joins you underleveled and benefits greatly from early promotion. Chloé and Céline also enjoy early promotions for staff access and Great Sacrifice helps them get there sooner. Extra SP gained can help you inherit abilities before chapter 10. Jean also joins far from promotion, but as a healer it's not a big deal if he takes a long winding road to catch-up (but, he'll also be quite replaceable by those characters promoting to staff access the longer he takes).
6. Micaiah + worst unit you don't want to bench. Similar to choosing a Dancer in Three Houses, Micaiah makes any unit good so stick her on someone whom maybe should hit the bench but you just don't want to. When engaged Micaiah gives +1 range to staff effectiveness; for example, Obstruct can be used to set-up a 5-space cross of ice tiles—the tile you target + 4 adjacent tiles. Later on Micaiah gives Cleric+, boosting her staff rank to B, so now you're talking about 5-unit Rewarp, 4-unit warp, 5-unit rescue on any unit regardless of their class. A surprisingly good combination could be a hero with Micaiah since heroes want to stay at full HP for their brave chain attack class skill, so now they can support instead of engaging in combat.
7. Roy + tank. Roy gives stats for tanking and gives a Miracle.
8. Lucina + Merrin/dagger user. Daggers inflict and stack poison as chained attacks and Lucina lets non-backup units chain attack. Dual Assist also synergizes better with the higher movement of wolf knights vs. thieves.
9. Lyn + your mid-tier speedy characters. Lyn gives a speed boost, Speedtaker and Alacrity. Alacrity gives you a brave effect if you double, Speedtaker makes it easier to double as you accumulate kills. Characters that can already double (e.g., Merrin and Fogado) don't benefit as much as characters just a couple kills away from doubling thresholds.
10. Ike + Diamant. Ike makes you tanky but lowers avoid, but Diamant's personal already lowered avoid so you likely weren't relying on avoid strategies. Diamant's also pretty tanky with a high HP stat, high speed, and decent defense and Sol as his personal class skill.
11. Ike + tank that inherits Corrin's Pair-Up. Activate Great Aether to tank, inherit Corrin's Pair-Up so your character is immune to chain attacks, profit.
12. Byleth + Alear. Both Dance of the Goddess and Instruct provide a rally with the stat varying by unit type. Alear gives Rally Spectrum which is easily the best effect.
13. Byleth + Mystical unit. Mystical units get Thyrsus and Magic Range +2 as their base engage weapon with Byleth. Easily the best weapon Byleth gives, though their rally magic isn't an amazing effect.
14. Byleth + character needing exp/SP. Dance of the Goddess also gives a lot of experience and SP. At this point everyone should be promoted so power-leveling isn't as important, but the potential to SP farm can be useful. It's also easier to use since you don't need a bunch of characters to have taken damage.
15. Corrin + Yunaka/covert. Covert units' Dragon Vein create a 3x3 grid of fog tiles centered on the unit that grant Avo+30 and reduce movement. Since covert units get double the terrain bonuses, that's +60 avoid against non-mystical enemies; now you have a mobile dodge-tank. Thieves are better than archers since 1-2 range knives is a better enemy phase than 2-3 range bows. Yunaka is the best thanks to her personal skill giving crit on terrain. Note, on maddening enemies will ignore you if they can't inflict damage so you have to keep your avoid stat ever so slightly below enemy hit stats to enemy-phase. Also, enemies will attack you if chain attacks do damage, but eventually Corrin gives Pair-Up, negating them (a blessing really, since chain attacks always have 80% accuracy)
16. Corrin + Alear You can choose any dragon vein you want to best suit your current needs.
17. Corrin + tank. Gain Pair-Up by using the ring rather than worrying about accumulating enough SP to inherit the skill.

Edited February 5, 2023 by FashionEmblem

[BubbleOdyssey]

I'm just going to reiterate the fact that Louis and Sigurd is a godlike pair

[Lopen187]

On 2/4/2023 at 12:39 AM, FashionEmblem said:

1. Marth + Alear. Hardly a secret since Alear starts with Marth equipped, but thanks to building up the bond level so early Alear can use Mercurius for extra exp and the bonus stats make Alear speedy and dodgy.
2. Sigurd + Chloé in the early game. Giving a flier Mov +1 and Canter is an excellent choice.
3. Celica + Céline/Citrinne in the early game. No-brainer to get the most out of Seraphim and War Ragnarok on units with high magic. Clanne can also use it, but I prefer the other two early game mages. Spamming Celica on Céline also helps her get mid-game Canter, which is the main reason I chose Céline over Citrinne.
4. Celica + Ivy Warp Ragnarok gains range on a flier, and the game gives you two flying mages.
5. Micaiah + unit needing levels or SP. Great Sacrifice gives a ton of experience and can really help push some characters to level 10 so they can promote early. Notably, Anna joins you underleveled and benefits greatly from early promotion. Chloé and Céline also enjoy early promotions for staff access and Great Sacrifice helps them get there sooner. Extra SP gained can help you inherit abilities before chapter 10. Jean also joins far from promotion, but as a healer it's not a big deal if he takes a long winding road to catch-up (but, he'll also be quite replaceable by those characters promoting to staff access the longer he takes).
6. Micaiah + worst unit you don't want to bench. Similar to choosing a Dancer in Three Houses, Micaiah makes any unit good so stick her on someone whom maybe should hit the bench but you just don't want to. When engaged Micaiah gives +1 range to staff effectiveness; for example, Obstruct can be used to set-up a 5-space cross of ice tiles—the tile you target + 4 adjacent tiles. Later on Micaiah gives Cleric+, boosting her staff rank to B, so now you're talking about 5-unit Rewarp, 4-unit warp, 5-unit rescue on any unit regardless of their class. A surprisingly good combination could be a hero with Micaiah since heroes want to stay at full HP for their brave chain attack class skill, so now they can support instead of engaging in combat.
7. Roy + tank. Roy gives stats for tanking and gives a Miracle.
8. Lucina + Merrin/dagger user. Daggers inflict and stack poison as chained attacks and Lucina lets non-backup units chain attack. Dual Assist also synergizes better with the higher movement of wolf knights vs. thieves.
9. Lyn + your mid-tier speedy characters. Lyn gives a speed boost, Speedtaker and Alacrity. Alacrity gives you a brave effect if you double, Speedtaker makes it easier to double as you accumulate kills. Characters that can already double (e.g., Merrin and Fogado) don't benefit as much as characters just a couple kills away from doubling thresholds.
10. Ike + Diamant. Ike makes you tanky but lowers avoid, but Diamant's personal already lowered avoid so you likely weren't relying on avoid strategies. Diamant's also pretty tanky with a high HP stat, high speed, and decent defense and Sol as his personal class skill.
11. Ike + tank that inherits Corrin's Pair-Up. Activate Great Aether to tank, inherit Corrin's Pair-Up so your character is immune to chain attacks, profit.
12. Byleth + Alear. Both Dance of the Goddess and Instruct provide a rally with the stat varying by unit type. Alear gives Rally Spectrum which is easily the best effect.
13. Byleth + Mystical unit. Mystical units get Thyrsus and Magic Range +2 as their base engage weapon with Byleth. Easily the best weapon Byleth gives, though their rally magic isn't an amazing effect.
14. Byleth + character needing exp/SP. Dance of the Goddess also gives a lot of experience and SP. At this point everyone should be promoted so power-leveling isn't as important, but the potential to SP farm can be useful. It's also easier to use since you don't need a bunch of characters to have taken damage.
15. Corrin + Yunaka/covert. Covert units' Dragon Vein create a 3x3 grid of fog tiles centered on the unit that grant Avo+30 and reduce movement. Since covert units get double the terrain bonuses, that's +60 avoid against non-mystical enemies; now you have a mobile dodge-tank. Thieves are better than archers since 1-2 range knives is a better enemy phase than 2-3 range bows. Yunaka is the best thanks to her personal skill giving crit on terrain. Note, on maddening enemies will ignore you if they can't inflict damage so you have to keep your avoid stat ever so slightly below enemy hit stats to enemy-phase. Also, enemies will attack you if chain attacks do damage, but eventually Corrin gives Pair-Up, negating them (a blessing really, since chain attacks always have 80% accuracy)
16. Corrin + Alear You can choose any dragon vein you want to best suit your current needs.
17. Corrin + tank. Gain Pair-Up by using the ring rather than worrying about accumulating enough SP to inherit the skill.

This is an amazing write up and very helpful thank you. At current I don't plan to make Chloe a mage and just keep her in the default class. If she stays in my party not sure who I can give her but she is very mobile and seems good for backup damage, healing, and if given Cantor a good sniper (Not an archer but someone to rush in pick off a specific unit and back out). So maybe grab Cantor and put Lyn on her?

[BloodRonin]

I am going to put some pairing I am using for my 2nd maddening run that I have found to be really fun.

Celine Marth with Levin sword is actually insane. You get the bonus attack from breaks, does magic damage, you get the extra attack because Marth, and each of these attacks have a chance to proc ignis. Lodestar rush also is based on magic damage for her. She is also the only magical unit type that can use swords. It is hella good. (Though of course so is Marth Alear)

 

Lyn Alcryst really good. His personal skill Luna can proc off of every hit in astra, and he also gets another +10 range with it. He lacks speed, so she really helps out in that department.

 

Martial Master and Erika, (or dagger unit and Erika) are really strong. Her skill Lunar Brace really makes lower hitting units hit for so much more. It is especially effective on fist weapons since they attack twice. I made jean into a killing machine. (though he lacks speed so had to invest in +speed from Lyn)

Theif Corrin (especially Yunaka) is broken. You give yourself fog for the avoidance squares, which also procs her natural skill of having bonus crit. It is just too good and gives you free avoidance anytime you want. That being said, Alear Corrin is also really strong as you can choose ANY type of terrain.

 

Wolf Knight Lucina. Wolf Knights get the extra movement for being a cav, that combined with being able to chain attack from all over with Lucina is really strong, especially since their chain attacks WILL apply poison. They also get the added benefit of 100% bonded shield when used on other cav units. 

 

Sigurd and Seadall. This gives your Dancer unmatched movement and able to move again after dancing. Really really strong. (Though you can also tech Seadall canter+ regardless, just loses out on the extra movement)

 

Sigurd + Warrior Long Bow user with Assist+ learned.  Makes it so this warrior with Long bow will literally chain attack from anywhere pretty much.

 

Panette Ike is really strong. Her personal skill in combo with Wrath makes her crit all the time. Combine this with Vantage+ learned form Leif, and she will be a nonstop killing machine on player OR enemy phase.

 

Louis (great Knight) with Leif. This is really strong. Leif when engage will let him change weapons whenever the npc attacks, so you will never be broken. You take 7 less damage because you have weapon advantage with armshield, You get vantage built in as well. You can then learn whatever 2 skills you think would be useful(combine this with learning resolve+ and you really have a monster tank). This set up is my personal favorite thus far for tanking. 

Byleth+ Sage (Preference Anna)

This combo is just ludacris. You gain +2 magic range while engaged... which is amazing. 5 range thorons... But Byleth gives all the stats Anna would want, including luck to proc her gold making skill.  I gave her boots as well just for the extra movement incase I needed Anna to dance everyone. 

 

Micaiah and Mage Knight is a good combo. This allows mage knights to also use staves, while also getting the bonus 3 speed pretty much all the time on offense (assuming you also use the magic weapons like levin sword for example)

 

Griffin knight and erika is also another good combo. The bonus magic will help their healing, but the erika skill will also help their offense(which they seem to be lacking in damage for) 

 

If you have DLC, 3houses Diamont is one I have been experimenting with. She gives STR DEX DEF all things he wants. The extra DEX is also important since he caps at 22, getting +5 (Once bond is maxed) will help with getting those SOL procs, add str/dex skill  and you have even more. 

 

I personally liked using Roy and Alear.  Getting stats as if you were +6 levels is pretty nice. Hold++ makes it so they will literally never die, assuming you stay 2hp or more. And you gain additional range with his blazing lion skill, which is really nice for control. Not to mention you gain lancereaver, which is great for weapon advantage, but you also can get the ranged sword has has at bond15 which gives def and res too. (advance is also nice for the extra mobility on offense) If you have dlc, using weapon sync will also give you +5 damage at all times. 

 

Last one since this list is long already, Ivy Celica is really strong if you have Dragonic hex inherited. Being able to attack twice with echo and apply hex is super nice for bosses or even attacking other enemies to secure kills. (combine this with learning center and you can be a super debuffer that also gets away)

[scigeek101]

So my run I had Lucina and Yunaka going for most of the game. Which seems slightly counterintuitive and probably not the most optimal set up, but, between chip poison damage on bosses stacking each attack, and the broken dual guard, it ended up being quite strong. 

Especially for dual guard set ups, dual guard on Yunaka only procs 80% of the time, but that's still good enough, Yunaka is already a dodge tank and doesn't need to worry about getting hit. You can just march her into a bunch of enemies, set up a chain guard, then have your units position around here strategically and boom, you win. Used this to cheese some particularly hard enemy phases. I'm sure it works well on just about anyone but it was nice not having to worry about Yunaka taking much damage from anything. 

Yunaka was utterly broken in my run, I stuck a +5 silver dagger on her and most everyone had single digit hit rates. Save one enemy on the final chapter that scared me with a 56% hit rate. 

Was also integral for poisoning the final boss and being able to one round it so as to not have to deal with the reinforcements. 

[Miltek]

6 hours ago, BloodRonin said:

I am going to put some pairing I am using for my 2nd maddening run that I have found to be really fun.

Celine Marth with Levin sword is actually insane. You get the bonus attack from breaks, does magic damage, you get the extra attack because Marth, and each of these attacks have a chance to proc ignis. Lodestar rush also is based on magic damage for her. She is also the only magical unit type that can use swords. It is hella good. (Though of course so is Marth Alear)

 

Lyn Alcryst really good. His personal skill Luna can proc off of every hit in astra, and he also gets another +10 range with it. He lacks speed, so she really helps out in that department.

 

Martial Master and Erika, (or dagger unit and Erika) are really strong. Her skill Lunar Brace really makes lower hitting units hit for so much more. It is especially effective on fist weapons since they attack twice. I made jean into a killing machine. (though he lacks speed so had to invest in +speed from Lyn)

Theif Corrin (especially Yunaka) is broken. You give yourself fog for the avoidance squares, which also procs her natural skill of having bonus crit. It is just too good and gives you free avoidance anytime you want. That being said, Alear Corrin is also really strong as you can choose ANY type of terrain.

 

Wolf Knight Lucina. Wolf Knights get the extra movement for being a cav, that combined with being able to chain attack from all over with Lucina is really strong, especially since their chain attacks WILL apply poison. They also get the added benefit of 100% bonded shield when used on other cav units. 

 

Sigurd and Seadall. This gives your Dancer unmatched movement and able to move again after dancing. Really really strong. (Though you can also tech Seadall canter+ regardless, just loses out on the extra movement)

 

Sigurd + Warrior Long Bow user with Assist+ learned.  Makes it so this warrior with Long bow will literally chain attack from anywhere pretty much.

 

Panette Ike is really strong. Her personal skill in combo with Wrath makes her crit all the time. Combine this with Vantage+ learned form Leif, and she will be a nonstop killing machine on player OR enemy phase.

Louis (great Knight) with Leif. This is really strong. Leif when engage will let him change weapons whenever the npc attacks, so you will never be broken. You take 7 less damage because you have weapon advantage with armshield, You get vantage built in as well. You can then learn whatever 2 skills you think would be useful(combine this with learning resolve+ and you really have a monster tank). This set up is my personal favorite thus far for tanking. 

Byleth+ Sage (Preference Anna)

This combo is just ludacris. You gain +2 magic range while engaged... which is amazing. 5 range thorons... But Byleth gives all the stats Anna would want, including luck to proc her gold making skill.  I gave her boots as well just for the extra movement incase I needed Anna to dance everyone. 

 

Micaiah and Mage Knight is a good combo. This allows mage knights to also use staves, while also getting the bonus 3 speed pretty much all the time on offense (assuming you also use the magic weapons like levin sword for example)

 

Griffin knight and erika is also another good combo. The bonus magic will help their healing, but the erika skill will also help their offense(which they seem to be lacking in damage for) 

 

If you have DLC, 3houses Diamont is one I have been experimenting with. She gives STR DEX DEF all things he wants. The extra DEX is also important since he caps at 22, getting +5 (Once bond is maxed) will help with getting those SOL procs, add str/dex skill  and you have even more. 

 

I personally liked using Roy and Alear.  Getting stats as if you were +6 levels is pretty nice. Hold++ makes it so they will literally never die, assuming you stay 2hp or more. And you gain additional range with his blazing lion skill, which is really nice for control. Not to mention you gain lancereaver, which is great for weapon advantage, but you also can get the ranged sword has has at bond15 which gives def and res too. (advance is also nice for the extra mobility on offense) If you have dlc, using weapon sync will also give you +5 damage at all times. 

 

Last one since this list is long already, Ivy Celica is really strong if you have Dragonic hex inherited. Being able to attack twice with echo and apply hex is super nice for bosses or even attacking other enemies to secure kills. (combine this with learning center and you can be a super debuffer that also gets away)

Pretty much my go to. For all charracters. 

Ivy Celica for double Draconic Hex.  

Roy Alear gives him damage which he lacks for consistent oneshooting units (all through Byleth is also crazy good for 3+ to all stats instruct/dance).  

Micaiah went to Hortensia since her pasive makes AoE warps/freezes chance to not use charge. Plus she lacks in MAG so it's win-win situation for her. Also you can slap Hold ++ for some nasty immortality combo with Nosferatu. She's crazy fast so she wont get doubled at all.

As for Leif, I put him on Timmera for one reason: sandstorm procs on each hit of Quadraple Strike hit, making it reliable oneshot for multi-bar bosses. Also she lacks BLD for silver/brave spears which Timmera lacks. Good stuff. 

Lucina + Marrin (wolf knight) is go to for huge rage of poison asists, plus compared to thief, wolf knight is rather tanky - making her not targeted by ranged units while Bond Shielding.

As for Celiene I found that Corrin is best pick for her, simply becouse of how busted Flame Gambit/Field is (and ppl dont realise how broken it is). You've got permament, indestructable field which does slow enemy units to 1 tile per turn, while your units can shoot them down from 2-3 range then retreat with Canter. Pretty much destroys all missions where you can turtle in 3 squares wide terrain. Plus she can pack a punch with Yato thanks to non-garbage STR and Ignis.

 

[Dark Holy Elf]

One I haven't seen talked about that I really enjoy is Corrin + Ivy. The ability to go where you want and drop Dreadful Aura on groups from range 3 is crazy good. Dreadful Aura working on bosses allows you to control almost anything (as a bonus you Draconix Hex them too), and you can Dance and do it multiple times per turn if desired. I've seen some people talk about Chapter 17 being hard and I can certainly see it because that main trio of bosses is pretty scary on paper but with Corrin it was easy to keep them under control.

Any thunder / longbow user can get pretty good results too I imagine, and some of them have more useful dragon veins for sure, but the flying mobility does make this extra potent.

Lyn + Panette is another I've enjoyed. With Panette's monster strength she can kill almost anything she doubles. Lyn lets her double most things, saves her a counter hit, and gives her access to a hard-hitting Astra Storm.

[Fabulously Olivier]

So I'd like to make a case for Merrin/Micaiah. 

 

Merrin's got a fairly high base magic and decent magic growth for her class. It results in her having almost as much Mag as Str (mine actually ended with more). A couple Mag boosters and she'll be doing as much work as your mages.

 

Dagger Wielders have more free inventory space than any other class (barring maybe Martial Master). All they need to function is a refined Steel or Silver Dagger (until the S rank becomes available). Even tome wielders like to have Thunder for 3 range poking and at least 1 spell with 2 range for doubling. So a dagger wielder can easily afford to carry 4 staves.

 

Merrin's high avoidance makes her a strong Nosferatu tank. She'll avoid most damage, and anything that does get through (through a bad roll or chain attacks) will be healed right back up. She also has a high enough base Bld to not be weighed down by Micaiah's tomes, unlike Citrinne or Celine.

[Miltek]

4 hours ago, Fabulously Olivier said:

Merrin's high avoidance makes her a strong Nosferatu tank. She'll avoid most damage, and anything that does get through (through a bad roll or chain attacks) will be healed right back up. She also has a high enough base Bld to not be weighed down by Micaiah's tomes, unlike Citrinne or Celine.

Or you can slap Hold-Out on Hortensia-Micayah. She's got one of highest speed growths in the game making her doubling most enemies even with overweighted tomes. 

Since she's got pretty low max HP and almost highest speed it makes her great target for Hold Out->Nosferatu abuse.

[Fabulously Olivier]

2 minutes ago, Miltek said:

Or you can slap Hold-Out on Hortensia-Micayah. She's got one of highest speed growths in the game making her doubling most enemies even with overweighted tomes. 

Since she's got pretty low max HP and almost highest speed it makes her great target for Hold Out->Nosferatu abuse.

I refuse to use Hortensia, but I do acknowledge that argument and that similar arguments also apply to Ivy.

 

However, when one of your Emblem's best aspects is enabling A rank staves on any class, essentially creating a new and more powerful healer, using it on a class that already has A rank staff access is wasting one part of her.

[Technoweirdo]

11 hours ago, Fabulously Olivier said:

I refuse to use Hortensia, but I do acknowledge that argument and that similar arguments also apply to Ivy.

 

However, when one of your Emblem's best aspects is enabling A rank staves on any class, essentially creating a new and more powerful healer, using it on a class that already has A rank staff access is wasting one part of her.

Pairing Micaiah with someone with staff access is like pairing Lucina with someone who's already a Backup: A waste of part of their kit, yes.  

That said, I'd guess people don't mind wasting it because they already feel they have enough staff users. I myself already have Celine, Ivy, Hortensia, and Jean. Adding yet another staff user doesn't have quite the same impact as another Backup for me, so it comes down to Sync bonuses and Engage weapons/abilities.

[FashionEmblem]

A point in favor of Micaiah on a current staff user is that a unit with low Magic will likely have to inherit Staff mastery to make good use of her. It's pretty cheap SP-wise, but also comes with opportunity cost of a different second skill, for what it's worth. And I do think there's diminishing returns to additional staff users unless you are doing LTC strats (e.g., warp-rescue chaining). I see Hortensia + Micaiah synergizing well because of Hortensia's personal skill conserving staves: can use AOE on the good staves while making it easier to ignore that RPG hoarding mindset. Another good option is take a speedier mage like Pandreo or Céline and reclass them into Mage Knight to make use of Chaos Storm and mobility while retaining up to A rank staves.

[Dandy Druid]

My personal favorites:

1. Sigurd + Seadall: Allows Seadall to dance and then canter. Also gives your dancer some extra MOV so Seadall has no issues keeping up with your army. 

2. Lucina + Ranged Attacker: I put her on Fogado, but I think any longbow or thoron user will do the trick. This essentially turns them into a backup unit, which means you have more opportunities to chip damage when they're nearby.

3. Micaiah + Mage Knight: Gives your mage knight a little more magic and a staff. Mounted healing is neat. Works on MAG blessed wyvern knight Chloe too.

4. Lyn + Panette: Alacrity giving Panette a brave effect is neat and useful. Although she's a bit tanky, being able to one round enemies without taking damage is just too good to pass up. Also, she will just straight up eliminate with Astra Storm. Also will give Panette bow proficiency, for those that enjoy warriors.

5.  Byleth + Support MAG: Has a built-in Thyrsus, which means you use Thoron from an even farther range or give your bolganoe extra range. It's always useful. I like Byleth with Celine, Hortensia, Clanne, etc. I wouldn't put him on Ivy or Citrinne, since they've never turned out to be support units for me. They've always been offense-oriented with some supportive capabilities. I think Celica or Soren would be better on those two personally, BUT you could put Byleth on them as well.