Rate the Unit 4: Framme

[Imuabicus der Fertige]

Guidelines:

2.1.) mention the diffculty on which you rate the unit 

2.2.) what classes your unit went through, what skills they had and so on; don´t consider obviously suboptimal builds.

2.3.) no DLC rings, no non-unit DLC bonuses

2.4.) no grinding in skirmishes

2.5.) no rng abuse (no resetting for bond rings)

2.6.) cooking is allowed

2.7.) ratings to be given in the format X/10

2.8.) if it isn´t mentioned above, it´s fair game

2.9.) no "Kagetsu exists and obsoletes Lapis, 0/10", explain your rating

 

Unit: Framme

Class: Martial Monk

                     Lvl   HP    STR   MAG   DEX   SPD    LCK   DEF    RES     BLD

Bases:          1     18      3        5          8        7         5       4         8        3

T. Bases:      1      0       0        0         2        2         2       1          0        0

Growths:      /     55     30      25       35      55      25     25       30       0

 

Personal Skill:  If unit is adjacent to the Divine Dragon, grants Avo+10 during combat to both of them.

Innate Proficiency: Arts

SP: 300

 

Support Bonuses:

C Hit +15

B Hit +15, Avoid +5

A Hit +20, Avoid +5

S Hit +30, Avoid +5

 

Tools and mo stats:

Engage Numbers - Google Tabellen

Average Stats - Fire Emblem: Engage (FE17) (triangleattack.com)

 

Rating: 6.25

Next unit on Thursday

Edited June 22, 2023 by Imuabicus der Fertige

[lenticular]

Framme is somewhat similar to Vander in that her main appeal is in her unique early-game contribution. She is your only healer/staff user for chapters 2 through 5, which means she's going to see some use in most games. Yes, there are certain ways to approach the game that don't require a healer, but I think that most people are going to want to be fielding one at all times. I know I sure do.

After chapter 5, you start to get other options: Jean's paralogue is between chapters 5 and 6, Micaiah is in chapter 6, then having other characters (eg Céline, Chloé) gain staff use on promotion with the first master seal being avialable in Anna's paralogue before chapter 7. Even when you do start getting other options, you might want to stick with Framme. Jean is a weak unit if you aren't planning to invest in him longterm. You may want to prioritise promoting different units. And so on.

It's really not until the midgame that you start getting options that are clearly outclassing a low-investment Framme. If you're not planning to use her for the long haul, you might drop her when you do start getting the promoted staff users, or maybe when you pick up units like Ivy, Pandreo or Hortensia. This is a pretty good run though. Four chapters where she offers unique utility, and then another five or so where she's still likely to be somewhat useful.

And unlike Vander, she has better potential for endgame. I've never actually tried using her beyond the midgame so usual disclaimers about theorycraft apply, but I can't imagine that she wouldn't turn out somewhat competently. Her growths are pretty decent across the board and her speed growth is great. Still, she is lumbered with being a growth unit in a game that is not kind to growth units, so she's unlikely to be remarkable. She also has a weak personal skill and probably the worst weapon proficiency in the game. There's very little about her that will really stand out past the early game.

Even still, being very useful for a portion of the game and then kinda competent for the rest is enough for me to give her a 6/10.

[Barren]

“Senpai noticed me!” is the first thing I think of when it comes to Framme. Clanne too to an extent. But anyways, this our first healer we get in chapter 2.

 

Honestly, I find her underrated as a early game healer. Her ability to chain guard can be great to have around during the early game in case you need to have her block an attack. She also heals and can use other staves like Obstruct and Rewarp. Her damage output is quite low due to both strength and magic being quite low in the beginning but it’s the least important part of the overall package.

 

To me what can keep her competitive is the fact that aside from Alear, she has supports with a lot of the cast including Chloe, Lapis, Anna, Diamant, Kagetsu, Timmera and Goldmary. Most if not all of these units are at least worth raising depending on how much investment you’re willing to put into them. Same goes for Framme as well.

Alear in particular is definitely one her better supports since she grants the both of them 10 avoid. Plus she can even put a Micaiah engraving onto one of her Arte weapons, whether it be Initiate Arte for a measly 50 bond fragments or put it on a Shielding Arte to get that high avoid as well as that +5 defense. Shielding Arte will weigh her down unless you promote her to Martial Master so keep that in mind.
 

She is can be opportunity cost though since you could in theory be wanting to wait until you get maybe Jean as a chain guarder/healer, or maybe wait until you get Citrrine and immediately promote her to Sage for staff access. Or perhaps wait until you Hortensia who is considered to be the best healer in the game. But make no mistake, Framme does not steal exp from other combat units, nor is it a waste of a deployment slot since she is a healer and you will need at least 1 throughout the entire game.

 

Her default promotion Martial Master does improve her build which is the biggest thing for her considering that she has no build growth whatsoever. If one would rather have her focus on her better magic stat, work on her tome rank early which she can with Celica or Micaiah before the end of chapter 10 and she could go High Priest for tome access. You could even second seal her to Sage if you go down the Micaiah route easily. 

Finally for emblems, if she were to remain Martial Master, she could use Lucina as a dedicated Bonded Shield user. As a Qi Adept, it will have a 100% activation rate. So those units I mentioned that has a support with Framme, will greatly appreciate the support bonuses and Bonded Shield on top of that to survive enemy onslaughts. She can also go Micaiah or even Byleth for Goddess Dancing.

 

She can inherit avoid + x from Marth which in conjunction with a Micaiah engraved weapon can be useful. Dual Support + is probably her best skill considering her support tree. She can use Divine Pulse in case you like to use staves that inflict status effects. Healing Light is also fine if you think that it is needed after a chain guard.

 

Overall I’d say she is a 7/10. Her growths are kinda of irrelevant in a way since she does bring so much utility if you’re willing to train her. Replaceable maybe. But without a doubt, worth a shot for your team.

Edited June 19, 2023 by Barren
More info.

[Dark Holy Elf]

Framme's a lot like Vander. She plays a useful, unique role early in the game and doesn't need to take many resources (kills, mainly, in her case) to play that role. Then she transitions into a "might as well" filler role around chapter 7-11 as you get others who do her job better, but not so many that Framme won't still see use. And finally there's little reason to use her past Chapter 11 unless you like her (hello Ivy, hello Pandreo). I agree with lenticular that she's likely better than Vander in the lategame, but on the other hand I'm inclined to say she's not quite as useful early.

6/10.

[Armchair General]

I mainly kept her around as an spare healer. Then she immediately got replaced by Pandero and Sedall because she doesn't really brings much of anything to the table. I think that the game really screws over anyone who relies on the Arts in this and early game Framme is the perfect example of it; I had her one-rounding mages and all of an sudden she's just an staffbot against people who can OHKO her.

[SnowFire]

Framme 20/20 Martial Master stats:

45 HP, 21 Str, 22 Mag, 21 Dex, 28 Spd, 20 Def, 28 Res, 19 Lck, 6 Bld, 5 Move
6 Build is so horrible that Flashing Fist Art only provides +2 Spd rather than +5, since it's still weighing Framme down...  for all that, let's be real, you're not killing stuff with MM Framme anyway.  Speed's average, Resistance good, HP/Def meh.

--

I think people have covered Framme pretty well already...  although I'm definitely a lot higher on Framme than Vander.  Framme is a genuine contributor from C2-C11 who almost certainly deserves a team slot because Engage staves are good (and hell, running both Framme and Jean is hardly unreasonable), and maybe you didn't early promote Celine or Chloe.  Even the humble Obstruct staff, available early, enables all sorts of cool plays.  (While I personally want to ditch Vander by C6 or so, and definitely by C9.)  And as lenticular noted, if you want to keep using Framme the whole game, you certainly can.  She's not really providing any unique value, but having a single Qi Adept can be useful - use them with Lucina for super-guarding, or give them Byleth to make them a Dancer/Chain Guarder, or really just any support Emblem.  Sure, you could have turned any ol' person into a Qi Adept too if you want one later, but I guess Framme does save you a Second Seal.  That said, strictly speaking you probably SHOULD drop Framme after C11, just saying the support role covers for her weak mixed offense / Arts build.  I took her all the way to Sombron and it was fine, even if she couldn't really kill much of anything.

Framme's one unique attribute is providing an Avoid bonus to Alear, and... that's actually not bad, given that Alear's "default" build with Marth is that of a dodge-tank!  So there's that too, I suppose (usual disclaimer that reducing enemies to 0 Hit is actually counterproductive).

So yeah, 6/10 works.

Edited June 20, 2023 by SnowFire