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Fire Emblem Fates Unit Review

The following is a guide discussing the strengths, weaknesses and general usefulness of playable units in Fire Emblem Fates. Fates is an immense game, broken into three separate campaigns: Birthright, Conquest and Revelation. For convenience’s sake, units that appear in all paths will be mentioned initially in Birthright in terms of their strengths, and later if the different challenges will make a significant difference.

Birthright

Avatar (Corrin): You have ample time to grind and accumulate wealth in Birthright, meaning you can experiment with your Avatar. Generally, Hoshido units are not very mobile (unless Pegasus Knight) and tend to forgo Defense and Resistance in favor of speedy, brutal attacks. Magic units are in short supply, as are Defensive tanks. Corrin can fill these roles wonderfully, as s/he can choose classes from either Nohr or Hoshido. As for the stat spread, Corrin is more balanced than Robin was in Awakening, exceling in the boon stat while faltering in the flaw and being pretty decent in everything else.

Felicia: If Corrin is male, you get maid waifu 1. Felicia is the magic-oriented Maid/Butler unit, and hence establishes herself as the earliest healer in the route. Her ability to attack, weak as her attack may be, allows her to immediately overshadow Sakura and Azama. Her strength is low, but with the Flame Shuriken she can do a lot of damage in the late game, especially to slow, armored Nohrian units. Her big problem in Birthright, however, is that she is a shuriken/dagger user and the player is showered with units that use those weapons. Still, she’s pretty good in terms of magic attack and healing, and can really resolve some sticky situations in the early and late game alike.

Jakob: If Corrin is female, you get Jakob. There is no reason to use Jakob in Birthright, unless you are insistent that your dagger user be able to heal. Felicia excelled because she healed well, Jakob doesn’t. He’s strictly a physical attacker, and hence faces extreme competition from the Ninja units Hoshido provides. I’d recommend all other dagger users before Jakob in this route.

Kaze: And speaking of dagger users. Kaze is the fastest Ninja and one of the fastest units in the game. With an 85% growth rate in speed, Kaze will begin doubling enemies and never stop. His Skill is high, meaning he can Crit often, and his Resistance is also surprisingly decent, giving him some defense from magic users. Kaze’s big drawbacks are his bad Defense and Luck. So if he gets it by a physical attack, largely from a bow or axe, he’ll die. Kaze also has the benefit, in Birthright, of joining early on and remaining with Corrin. Reach at least an A-level support before mission 15.

Rinkah: Oh dear…It’s a shame, cause I like Rinkah’s design. I like how she has fire around her weapon when she attacks. I also like that she uses clubs/axes. In fact, she’s one of two natural axe/club users in Birthright. However, her stats are a train wreck. She has great Defense, but atrocious HP, allowing her to get worn down by physical attacks and outright destroyed by magical ones. She has Speed but no Strength to do damage. She has Skill to crit but no Luck so crits’ll also hit her. If you really want an axe user in the Hoshido route than Rinkah can work with lots of time, attention and investment, but otherwise she’s the definition of a below average unit.

Azura: A dancer unit. In Conquest I would recommend reclassing her immediately into a Pegasus Knight, but Azura is able to excel as a Dancer here. Her growths in Speed and Skill are fantastic and her growths in Luck and Strength are good. Her growths in Defense and Resistance are terrible, but hey, she’s a dancer. She can level up relatively easily by dancing, but her weapon level has a max of C as a Songstress, so you may want to reclass her eventually. Otherwise, she’s a surprisingly powerful dancer that can hit hard in addition to supporting allies.

Sakura: The general rule is to use all the nobles in whatever route. Sakura in Birthright is the one exception. Here she is optional, especially if Felicia is present. While her promotions to Onmyogi (Sage) and Shrine Priestess (Bow/Healing) give her excellent skills (particularly the Shrine Priestess), she ultimately is dead weight. Dead, defenseless weight until the promotion occurs, whereas Felicia is quite capable of defending herself. If you do use her, which is still encouraged if not mandatory, you’ll find her a very competent healer with great potential for Magic and Luck growth.

Hana: Hana is your generic Myrmidon. Hana has high Speed and Skill, along with reliably high Strength growth, allowing her to pack a punch. However, her HP is quite low, as are her defense. She and Azura are probably the two units that most require a Seraph Robe to shore up weaknesses. Aside from that, if you liked units like Lon’qu in Awakening, Joshua in Sacred Stones, Fir in Binding Blade, and/or Guy in Blazing Blade, you’ll probably like Hana.

Subaki: Your first Pegasus Knight…sorry, Sky Knight (I’ll call it Pegasus Knight), Subaki begins a cycle that Fates has of breaking traditional class expectations. In Awakening, for example, one could expect some minor differences in roles between, say, Lon’qu and Say’ri, the two swordmasters, but they still performed the same job of fast, skilled attacker. Here, Subaki sets a new precedent as being a slow, bulky Pegasus Knight, as opposed to fast and frail. Granted, Archers will still ruin his day, but less so than others, especially if he is given a Guard Lance…sorry, Guard Naginata to improve his Defense and Resistance. This being said, I hate Subaki. Enemies will double him constantly, necessitating attention from healers. Non-mounted units in the route can defend much better than he, with the same weapons and without the weaknesses. I don’t recommend Subaki from a practical standpoint, even if he is interesting from a theoretical standpoint.

Silas: I am biased against Silas. He’s never worked for me as a unit. I think it’s because he’s pretty slow. But here, he’s the only cavalier you’re getting. The only horse-mounted unit you’re getting. So learn to like him. He’s pretty okay in everything, and all-in-all will amount to one of the better non-royal units on the roster. His access to the Luna skill is helpful, and can be passed to his children later. The new support benefits from Paladins are also helpful, and Silas benefits from Hoshidan Units’ speed boosting capabilities. He also starts with great weapon ranks and can save you from early game issues.

Saizo: Ninja Number Two, Saizo is the more skilled of the three you’ll receive here. He has a high (80%) growth rate in skill, with average growths everywhere else. Saizo will likely stay relevant and balanced throughout the game, landing crits and taking hits. I don’t not recommend him, but I do recommend Kaze and Kagero over him, as Kaze arrives earlier and Kagero has greater offensive potential and can punch through armor in the late game. Saizo’s personal skill, Pyrotechnics, is risky but gives some helpful extra damage if you’re in a tough pinch.

Orochi: Like axe units, magic units are hard to come by in the Hoshido route. Orochi is probably as good as you’re going to get without promoting or reclassing somebody. She’s got fantastic Magic growth, nice Skill and adequate Resistance, allowing her to unleash magical hell on enemies. It should be noted that her HP and Defense are abysmally bad, though, and she will die if hit by a physical attack. To make matters worse, she has a surprisingly low Speed growth for a Hoshidan unit (30% growth rate), so if she doesn’t kill an enemy in her first attack she’ll be left without a counter, vulnerable. Consider putting her behind a defensive frontline unit.

Mozu: Mozu is not good. Unlike Donnel in Awakening, where he could grow and continue to acquire stats, Mozu has a drop off, leaving her at about the same point as the other units in your army. As a result, Mozu is not worth the grinding. She can turn out to be an okay apothecary and/or archer, but aside from that she’s pretty bad.

Hinoka: Deviating from Subaki, Hinoka is a return to normalcy for the Pegasus Knight class. She excels in Speed, Skill, Luck and Resistance, with her only real flaws being her Defense, Magic and HP. While promoting to Kinshi Knight gives Hinoka access to another offensive weapon, I urge sticking with the Falcon Knight. It fits her stat growths better. Hinoka is likely one of the better units in the route, and will serve as your de facto magic tank.

Setsuna: I love Setsuna. Not in terms of stats. Heavens no. She’s mediocre there, at best. I like her support conversations. They’re amusing. In terms of her performance as a unit, she’s functional but not great. You’ll get Takumi soon, who will outclass her in every category save for Speed and perhaps Resistance. She dodges pretty reliably and heals well thanks to her personal skill. She’s more a compliment to Takumi then a replacement for him, picking off leftovers from afar.

Azama: I feel bad for Azama. Clearly, he is another “break-the-mold” unit like Subaki, as he is a Monk (healer) designed for physical combat that has to wait until he promotes to start fighting. I found his personal skill, while interesting, to largely be useless, as putting him on the frontlines without a weapon will result in him getting killed far more often than it will result in him countering. If you’re willing to work on him, Azama can be a strong Great Master that can also heal competently enough, but at that point either Sakura or Felicia already have a couple of levels under their belts.

Hayato: ugh… Your alternative to Orochi blows. Even with training he’s just outclassed, and has trouble OHKOing enemies. Hell, he has trouble ORKOing enemies. Rend Heaven is a good skill available to Basara, and he can get a bit of strength, but he’s not worth it.

Oboro: The Hoshido equivalent of a Knight, the Spear Fighter Oboro is pretty well-rounded, faltering only in her Resistance (and magic, but we’re not here for that). Her personal is useful throughout the route, and she has the ability to reach S rank with spears and use the legendary Waterwheel towards the end of the game. Seal Defense also helps soften up enemies for other units to pick them off, and as a Spear Master she gains access to Seal Speed, essentially making it so that anything faster/bulkier than her won’t be after battle. Overall, Oboro may not be as defensive as a Knight, but she excels in her own regard and is worth a look.

Hinata: Like Subaki, Hinata takes a traditionally frail class and tries to make it bulky. Again, I find Hinata lacking. He goes to the gym a lot, as apparent by his buff biceps, and can consequently take hits and trade blows with powerful enemy units. But this is not a job I go to a sword user for. Especially not a Myrmidon. Sorry, especially not a Samurai. For reclassing, Master at Arms provides him wonderful coverage, as he has access to swords, clubs, and lances in the role, and the class plays to his natural growths and strengths.

Takumi: I really want to hate Takumi. His sprite looks awful, he has a pineapple for hair and his personality make me want to smash his face in with a piece of bent rebar. But, as a royal with a unique weapon that allows him to ignore terrain costs coupled with remarkable skill growth, Takumi is a fantastic unit. For some reason, whenever I use him, he gets more critical hits than any other unit in all three routes. The Fujin Yumi is a remarkable weapon that allows him to avoid those petty weapon debuffs from steel and silver bows while imparting a free skill onto him. He has solid mobility, moving through forests effortlessly, meaning he can hit enemies that believe they’re safe. Overall, not using Takumi would be a great loss for your team.

Kagero: I like Kagero best of all the Ninja options. She does face competition, but will have the greatest offensive potential of the Ninjas, exceling in Strength and Speed, allowing her to double and deal strong damage. Her Resistance is nothing to gawk at either. As a Master Ninja, her access to Swords improves her coverage and allows her to cover her green weapon weakness. Just be wary of physical damage.

Reina: Yeah she’s pretty good. But she’s not good because of her class. Christ, the Kinshi Knight class is trash, with trashy skills and trashy stat spreads. Incredible reach with flight and bows, but just bad everywhere else. Reina’s big strength is her personal skill, which restores 20% of her HP on killing an enemy. This is ridiculously good. It allows her to almost always be on the offensive. While her growths aren’t spectacular, they’re not abysmal for a pre-promoted unit joining nearly halfway through the route. She’s fast and strong and recovers readily, so there’s that. Very few supports though.

Kaden: The first beast unit (basically a Taguel) you will encounter if playing through Fates in the recommended order, Kaden’s pretty nice. His stat growths are solid all around, save for Magic. Particularly, he has good Strength, Speed, Luck and Resistance, meaning he can dodge and double for a lot of damage. His bonus damage against beasts is helpful for the legions of horse-mounted Nohrian units in the route. While I’m still a bit biased against using beast units, Kaden is probably one of the better options for non-royal units in this route.

Ryoma: If you choose to bench Ryoma then you should not be permitted to play these games. Ryoma is fantastic, with a unique weapon that can function up close or from afar, outstanding Strength, HP, Skill, Luck, and Speed growths, and a join point one level away from getting the Astra skill. Ryoma can handle every enemy in the game, and can probably do so without getting hit once. Holding him back a bit to allow other units the opportunity to level up may not be a bad idea, but eventually Ryoma will end up on your frontlines.

Scarlet: Oh damn, here comes Camilla’s only competition. Scarlet is badass, even though she starts pre-promoted. She is a Wyvern Lord, a flying physical tank that packs a punch, but can easily function as a Malig Knight if reclassed. As a Wyvern Lord, she is a strong frontline unit that can alternate between buffing allied Defense and striking enemies with Lunge/Swordbreaker. As a Malig Knight, she can chip away at enemies with Savage blow and annihilate anything without a mount. While she performs better as a Wyern Lord, the Malig Knight should be considered at least for its skills.

Yukimura: Yukimura is probably the only decent Mechanist in the game. He is only obtainable in the Birthright route, after a level 3 Puppet Box has been constructed in your castle, and he will join at around mission 23. Because of this, he is immediately outclassed by whatever Ninja(s) you chose to use. He’s more of a support unit, with a personal skill that boosts all allied hit rates. He also has the Apothecary base class skills, which allows him to utilize tonics and potions better than others. His Replicate skill is also interesting. Overall, Yukimura can be decent, especially if you’re in need of replacements, but won’t perform to the same standards of promoted units that have been with you for 15-some missions by this point.

Izana: Izana joins after a level 3 Hot Spings has been built, around mission 23. He’s a good mage, a traditional glass cannon Sage. Is far better than Hayato. Whether he’s better than Orochi depends on preference. Orochi will be better trained by this point, but will still likely be slower than Izana.

Shura: Bad. Avoid. He’s fast and has good Resistance, and his personal skill means he can do some damage against squishy enemies that can’t fight back. Aside from that, he’s outclassed by other units you’ve trained by this point. Can’t recommend.

Child Units in Order of Paralogue: Like in Awakening, child units are available, and their stats are dependent upon who their parent units are. Generally, while child units are functional, they’re seldom as good as they were in Awakening, where they could inherit the world and grow endlessly. Here they’ll end up being about the same as parent units. Their benefits come in three forms: (1) they are available far earlier than they were in Awakening, (2) they can fill any role if built properly, (3) provide extra missions that yield new unit replacements, money and experience, all of which are vital, primarily in the Conquest route. It should also be noted that while children were descended from Mothers in Awakening, here they are descended from fathers. In addition, the difficulty of the missions scale with how late they are accessed. If you play a paralogue late in the game, the recruitable units will start with an offspring seal, allowing them to remain relevant without excessive grinding.

Kana (Corrin’s Child): Like Morgan in Awakening, I have no way to quantifying how good this unit can be. Basically, the strengths and weaknesses of your Avatar.

Shigure (Azura’s Child): In Birthright, it’s easy for Shigure to get lost in the storm by the various other Sky Knights available. He inherits Azura’s Songstress skills, which give him support utility. Aside from that, he’s generally a bit slower than other Sky Knights, unless his father has speed growths, but excels in Strength and Skill growths.

Dwyer (Jakob’s Child): A male Troubadour, Dwyer is a bit odd, as he doesn’t really fit that role. He has good Strength growth naturally, like his father, implying that he should be reclassed to Butler at the earliest possible convenience. With the proper mother, he can perform well as a strategist, but will not outclass other healers or magic users in the route. Of all the child units, I generally recruit Dwyer the least, as I’m not a fan of him or his father.

Sophie (Silas’ Child): Sophie! She’s basically female Silas. Skilled and Strong and Speedy. A mother can help all of these stats. She starts out as a Cavalier like Silas, so consider a mother that can pass on some new skills. Her personal is pretty nifty, lower enemy defense upon initiating attacks. Like Silas, her utility comes from her reliability. She’s a generic Cavalier, nothing better, nothing worse.

Midori (Kaze’s Child): Midori is the only Apothecary unit in the game you receive, meaning that she’s an archer with the ability to make use of tonics, salves and potions and can promote into the Merchant and/or Mechanist class. This alone can perhaps justify her use, as she is a unique support unit. Aside from that, her stats aren’t spectacular. She can survive a magic attack and is fast, but she won’t exactly be decimating enemy lines.

Shiro (Ryoma’s Child): Shiro is lucky in being a different class than his father, Ryoma, meaning he’ll be able to inherit Samurai/Swordmaster skills while learning Spear Fight skills. He won’t challenge his father, but is okay in his own right. Seal Defense is a great skill to have, turning him into a viable frontline tank. He’s fast and skilled and his mother can help patch some of his less than spectacular stat growth rates. If you want a Basara than can actually make use of both Scrolls and Naginata, consider Orochi for a mother, as Shiro’s Magic growth rate will be kind of decent in this scenario.

Kiragi (Takumi’s Child): Being an archer child unit, Kiragi is largely rendered vestigial by this point in the game. Takumi is better. Setsuna is better. He inherits no new skills from Takumi and learns no new skills from his class line. Consider a mother carefully, as she will consider his vital stat growths and skills.

Asugi (Saizo’s Child): Asugi is part of Fates’ ploy to save money by not having the designer develop new sprites. Asugi is identical to Gaius from Awakening in terms of appearance and personality. His personal skill is interesting, allowing him to use Wait in order to regenerate health. He also has surprising magic growth. Aside from that, he’s a balanced Ninja. Regardless of inherited skills and stat spread, he’ll face a lot of competition from the other three Ninja in the game.

Selkie (Kaden’s Child): Selkie is Kaden. In her base from, her stat growths are identical to Kaden’s. He mother’s stat growths are vital here, as are her skills, as Selkie follows down the Taguel/Nine-tails path. She can dodge efficiently, and her personal skill, which damages adjacent enemies, means she can get surrounded without much alarm. Overall, she’s a solid child unit, but Kaden will likely be better trained by this point if you chose to use him.

Hisame (Hinata’s Child): Unlike his father, Hisame is a more typical Samurai class, exceling in Strength, Speed and Skill. His HP growth is also pretty good, placing him above his father in my opinion. Still, he faces a lot of competition from his father, Hana, and Ryoma, all of whom perform specific roles better than Hisame does. Hisame is moreso a generic Swordmaster, and henceforth is likely to fade into white noise.

Mitama (Azama’s Child): If you enjoy Japanese culture, Mitama will at the very least amuse. She’s a far better healer than her father, and can perform well as an Onmyogi or a Shrine Priestess. She’s an excellent replacement for Sakura if Sakura is dead or benched. Her personal skill requires odd unit placement, but can be an excellent help when pulled off correctly. Overall, I think Mitama is okay, and can give Sakura some fierce competition.

Caledori (Subaki’s Child): Unlike Cordelia in Awakening, Caledori is not best girl. She’s a generic Sky Knight, save for her low Resistance growths, doing what generic Sky Knights do. I don’t recommend her. Hinoka is a better Sky Knight. Azura is a better Sky Knight. Shigure is a better Sky Knight.

Rhajat (Hayato’s Child): FINALLY, a good magic unit in this fucking route. Rhajat has outstanding magic and speed, allowing her to double enemies for swathes of damage. Her big drawbacks, however, come from her bad stat spread everywhere else and the fact that she likely won’t inherit many skills from her parents. Like Laurent from Awakening, Rhajat performs best as a pure mage, nuking anything that gets in her paths. Mothers should be able to impart skill or shore up her low defenses. Aside from that, Rhajat will easily establish herself as the most useful magic users in the route, and one of the best child units available.

Conquest

Avatar (Corrin): Unlike Birthright, experience and money are limited. This means that Corrin will have to pull double-duty, especially in the early game when units are scarce and unreliable. I recommend pouring whatever you can into Strength, Magic, or Speed and building him/her from that base. Gather experience with him early and lessen his utility in the mid-game to allow other units to catch up. By the endgame, however, Corrin should be able to deal with most threats, and possess decent weapon proficiency in whatever class s/he chooses to pursue.

Felicia: If Corrin is male, you get Felicia. She performs largely the same role as she did in Birthright, a strong early-game healer with excellent magic and the ability to use the Flame Shurkien better than other dagger users. However, while in Birthright Felicia faced competition from other dagger/shuriken users, here she faces competition from other healers/Magic users, namely Elise, who joins around the same time as she does. That being said, Felicia can remain relevant throughout, as dagger/shuriken units are more rare in the Conquest route.

Jakob: If Corrin is female, you get Jakob. Jakob has far more utility here than he does in Birthright, where he was gradually outclassed by Ninjas. Since there are few offensive-oriented dagger users, Jakob is valuable early as a ranged offensive force that can debuff any enemies he can’t kill. That being said, he does face a drop-off in the mid game, but can overcome it with proper training.

Silas: Remember when Silas joined in the first mission of Birthright with really good weapon proficiency, equipment and virtually no competition? Welcome to Conquest, where he joins with garbage weapon proficiency, bad equipment, and lots of competition. Still, Silas is useful. He performs the cavalier role well, and more time to train him allows him to perform more roles on certain teams. His main competition comes from Xander, who joins much later but is better on practically all fronts. In general though, if you enjoyed using Silas in other routes you’ll enjoy using him here.

Elise: Unlike Sakura, Elise starts off relevant and remains as such. There is a much greater emphasis on debuffing staffs in Conquest, since dagger users are scarce. Elise starts with a Freeze staff and the ability to use it, meaning she can stop enemies in their tracks to allow allies to reposition, heal, or commence an offensive movement. Upon promotion to Strategist, Elise becomes one of the strongest attackers on your team, as her high Speed and Magic growth allows her to double and decimate any enemies in her path. Her fantastic Luck also allows her to dodge incoming attacks, making her one of the few proficient dodgers in the route. Overall, you must use Elise, as a better healer will not present itself.

Effie: God damn Effie is good. She’s a Knight, with low movement and high Defense and HP. What’s odd about Effie though is that she also has solid Speed and Skill growth, as well as phenomenal Strength growth. This means that she will likely become the indestructible scion of death that leads charges. She is weak to magic, so avoid mages if possible. As for promotion, the General emphasizes Defense, but the Great Knight provides the Luna skill and gives her great mobility. Regardless, of the two Knights you receive, I think Effie is better, arriving earlier and ultimately yielding better results.

Arthur: Arthur’s greatest flaw is that he has no Luck. Literally, no Luck whatsoever. A start of 1 Luck with a growth rate of 10% means he will get hit by enemies frequently. Thankfully, he has good growths in Defense and HP, and excels in Strength and Skill, meaning he can hit hard. When he does hit, it’s devastating. But with the low hit rate of axes and his low luck, Arthur’s usefulness depends on how lucky the player is, ironically. My general rule for Arthur is not to rely on him to clinch a battle. Never use him to initiate an attack or hold off an enemy unless you have another unit that can more reliably fill the role if Arthur falters.

Mozu: While it is arguably easier to train her in the port mission where enemies come to you, allowing you to weaken them and pick them off with Mozu, Mozu is still quite bad. Unless you really want a Kinshi Knight (for whatever reason) I’d immediately bench Mozu.

Odin: Yeah, Owain’s back. Unfortunately he’s not great in Fates like he was in Awakening. Here, Odin is crying out for a Myrmidon class he simply doesn’t have. Sure, you can reclass him, but Heart Seals are expensive, especially in the Conquest route and that means training him in an entirely new weapon. He is more useful in Conquest than he is in Revelation, as Conquest provides many Spirit Dusts, items that raise magic, which can be used to turn Odin into a nuke-level mage. His stats are balanced all around, meaning he can perform a bit better as a Dark Knight than a Sorcerer in my opinion. But it’s up to you. I find him to be the more reliable non-royal magic user in the route. My recommendation is to craft him a Mjolnir spell that fills the parameters of his personal, as it will allow him to crit many enemies for massive damage.

Niles: Niles is the Mage-killer. He has excellent Resistance, meaning that magic attacks will do almost nothing to him. He’s also fast and has a decent Skill growth rate. Where Niles fails is in his ability to actually deliver killing blows. His strength is low and will remain that way, leading to frustrations in the mid and late game. He has the ability to open chests, however, and can perform well in both the Adventurer and Bow Knight classes. As an Adventurer, he excels in his Resistance, Speed and Skill, becoming a deadly bow user when facing mages. The Bow Knight fixes some of his flaws, and gives access to the Shurikenbreaker skill, which will be vital in the late game when you are assaulted by waves of Ninja.

Azura: Azura returns but she isn’t nearly as useful as a Songstress in Conquest as she is in Birthright. It’s much easier for units to fall behind in this route, meaning that only units that are inherently strong or units that the player invests in constantly will remain relevant. If you want to use Azura, I recommend reclassing her to a Sky Knight using a Heart Seal as early as you can. You get no Sky Knights in this route unless you reclass Azura or Selena, so Azura can fill this roll much better than that of Songstress.

Nyx: Nyx has an outstanding 70% growth in Magic, 60% growth in Speed, a solid 40% growth in Resistance, and garbage growths everywhere else. She is a glass cannon, remarkably powerful but with absolutely no defenses. Regardless, Nyx does serve an interesting role. In Birthright, you may have noticed that units seemed to have good Attack and Speed, in lieu of Defense. In Conquest, units tend to be more focused on Attack and Defense, sacrificing Speed. Nyx breaks this mold, functioning like a Hoshido unit and shaving away enemies with quick, powerful assaults. I recommend either her or Odin. Avoid the Dark Knight promotion.

Camilla: In my opinion, Camilla is tied for the spot of best unit in this route with Xander. Starting promoted at level 1, the player has plenty of time to train Camilla, and thankfully she has solid growths all around, except for Luck. Access to both axes and tomes gives her spectacular offensive coverage, and her personal skill provides adjacent allies with +3 damage dealt and -1 damage taken. Her mobility coupled with tomes gives her spectacular reach, and she is the unit that can best utilize a Bolt Axe in this route. Savage Blow allows her to chip away health at tanky enemy units, and Trample gives her a bonus against most enemy units in the route. In short, use Camilla as she is as good as it gets in Conquest.

Selena: Selena is fast. She has good Speed and Defense growth and is competent in Strength and Skill. She’s the second fastest unit in the route, placing her in a good position. As a Mercenary, she can play either the role of frontline tank or frontline support. As a Hero, she gains the Sol skill for recovery and gains access to axes, giving her good defensive and offensive coverage. As a Bow Knight, she gains access to the bow and the Shurkienbreaker skill that is useful for the late game, but gains a mounted weakness. Selena can function well as both, but I prefer her as a Hero, as I find she works better with higher Defense.

Beruka: It should be noted that Beruka will not outclass Camilla. Dispense with any notions like that immediately. Rather, Beruka fills the role of Wyvern Lord, with everything that entails. She has good HP, Skill, Luck and Defense growth and can rally her ally’s defense upon promotion to Wyvern Lord. She has poor magic growth, so using her permanently as a Malig Knight is not advised. Rather, I recommend grabbing at least the Savage Blow skill from the Malig Knight route (possibly Trample if you want it), then reclassing to Wyvern Lord for the late game.

Kaze: Kaze is the only Ninja you receive in Conquest and the fastest unit in the route. He also faces far less competition for the role of shuriken/dagger user here, allowing him to carve out a niche in any Conquest team. He does have fairly low Strength, so investing an Energy Drop or two into him may pay off in the long run.

Peri: Niles is the mage killer, Peri is the mage blocker. She has surprisingly good Resistance growths that only improve with a promotion to Paladin. She also has great Strength and Speed growths, and solid growths everywhere else with the exception of Magic and possibly Defense. I recommend using either her or Niles, as while mages aren’t everywhere, they will give you trouble later in the game if you don’t have a unit with good Resistance that can remove them.

Laslow: Yep. He’s a Mercenary. Laslow has good Strength, Skill and Luck and is designed to pick off enemies or support allies. I like Selena better. Laslow makes a good hero. Bow Knight allows him to Rally Skill and turn allies into offensive behemoths. He’s versatile I suppose.

Benny: Effie = Offense. Benny = Defense. As a General, Benny has 75% growth in HP and Defense, 65% growth in Skill, 60% growth in Strength, and 50% growth in Resistance. The tradeoff is that he has 10% growth in speed, but he doesn’t need it. If you want a unit that simply will not die from a physical attack, use Benny.

Charlotte: Charlotte makes a better Berserker than Arthur does, as it plays more to her inherent stat growths. Like Benny, here are her outstanding stat growths as a Berserker: 95% growth in HP, 80% growth in Strength, 50% growth in Skill, and 65% growth in Speed. However, Charlotte has two main drawbacks. The first comes from her level at the time of her join. Where Benny joins at level 15, Charlotte joins at 10, meaning she will need more attention to remain relevant. The second is that her Luck isn’t spectacular and her Defense and Resistance are crap. If she is hit, which will happen, it’s likely she will lose ½-3/4 of her health. She’ll likely die if doubled. If hit by a mage, she’ll probably die upon the first hit. Oh, and that low Luck mean’s she’ll miss a lot. Not as much as Arthur, but enough for you to notice. I prefer Arthur to Charlotte. Since axe users are plentiful in Conquest, you won’t lose much benching Charlotte either.

Leo: Leo is pretty good. He excels in Magic and HP, and is balanced everywhere else. He’s a solid and mobile frontline magic user. He has access to swords and a bit of strength to use them somewhat effectively. His unique tome, Brynhildr, gives him a boost to Critical hit evasion and has the possibility of halving magic damage. I consider him the least useful of the Nohr nobles, but he’s still eons ahead of non-royal units in this route.

Keaton: Like Kaden, Keaton is typical of the stat spread of Nohrian units. He has good Defense and spectacular Strength and HP (80%). He jut won’t be dodging much. He gets a bonus against mounted and beast units (not overly useful in Conquest) and proves to be a solid frontline attacker. I recommend Keaton here more than I do Kaden in Birthright.

Gunter: Oh, Gunter! His growths are garbage. Though he does join at the midway point in the group with stats allowing him to slot into your team at that point. His personal makes him an exceptional support for Corrin. Aside from that, while he’s not spectacular like Xander is, Gunter can be a solid support Great Knight, boosting Corrin’s stats and mopping up weakened enemies.

Xander: Xander is the other candidate for best unit in Conquest. He has very high Luck growths, allowing him to dodge readily and compensates for his shoddy Resistance. Any physical attack he takes he can normally shrug off. His Strength, HP and Skill are also quite good. His Paladin skills compliment his role as physical tank quite well. He does appear late in the game, but doesn’t suffer for it. Of course, his unique weapon gives him 10 Dodge and 4 Defense, in addition to allowing him to strike up closer and from afar.

Shura: Same here as he was in Birthright, just coming much earlier. In the short run, Shura is useful. In the long run, Niles will outclass him as an Adventurer. If you kill Shura you get a Boots item, which increases movement and could be more useful depending upon personal preference. I don’t recommend using Shura, but I hold that opinion in Birthright, Conquest and Revelation alike.

Flora: Maid waifu 2 joins after constructing a level 3 magic turret in your castle. She’s alright. If you need a replacement for Felicia or Jakob, Flora can fill the role. She’s the more balanced of the two, exceling only in Skill. She starts at level 5, but has a B rank in both Daggers and Staffs. So she makes a solid support unit. Her personal skill causes enemies to think twice about attacking her from range. If she didn’t come so late (around chapter 21), she’d probably be great.

Izana: If Odin or Nyx have died or been benched, Izana may fill the void, but I wouldn’t recommend it. He joins around chapter 21 after a level 3 hot springs has been built, and faces far more competition for the role of Sage in Conquest then he does in Birthright.

Child Units: For convenience, I will not recount the stats/strengths/weaknesses of child units that are available in both Birthright and Conquests, but rather just access their usefulness in this route. While child units aren’t particularly more useful here than they are in Birthright, they provide access to valuable experience and gold. I recommend playing through as many paralogues as you possibly can, as the experience, items, gold and units you receive will help weaker units remain relevant in the late game. Also, plan out your S support and achieve them early so more units can take part in the paralogues and gain experience.

Kana (Corrin’s Child): Impossible to assess due to variation. If you need another Corrin, Kana could be good. Otherwise don’t bother.

Shigure (Azura’s Child): While he faces less competition here, Shigure is still outclassed as a Sky Knight by both his mother and a properly reclassed Selena. Still, he’s useful if Azura has remained a Songstress and Selena a Hero/Bow Knight. He’s the only natural Sky Knight you’ll receive here.

Dwyer (Jakob’s Child): Elise makes a better Strategist, Felicia/Jakob/Flora make better Maids/Butlers. Skip.

Sophie (Silas’ Child): Sophie faces far more competition here, from Silas, Peri, Gunter and Xander. Her use will rely on her mother’s stat growths, allowing her to be tailored to what a player wants in a Cavalier. Not the most useful child unit, but not the least useful either.

Midori (Kaze’s Child): As she was in Birthright, as she is in Conquest, Midori is lucky but little else. She can use tonics and salves well. I recommend playing through her paralogue for at least the Dragon Herbs, which give +1 to all stats of a single unit.

Siegbert (Xander’s Child): I don’t like Siegbert. I think a lot of it is his character design. Another part of it is his personality. The last part of it is that his stats are kind of meh…he doesn’t do anything particularly well and any (literally any) of the other cavalier options are better than he is.

Forrest (Leo’s Child): Forrest is Elise’s only real competition for the Strategist class. He’s solid at all things magic, but will likely sustain more damage than Elise, as he has a lower luck stat. He’s also considerably slower, meaning that his mother should contribute Speed growths of some kind. His big draw is that he has slightly better Resistance than Elise does, but it hardly matters.

Ignatius (Benny’s Child): Ignatius is a bit faster than Benny, but otherwise is vastly inferior to him. He’s a better Great Knight, but units like Effie, Peri and Silas vastly outclass Ignatius in this role. Perhaps he can be salvaged with the proper mother and stat spread, but otherwise I can’t recommend too highly.

Velouria (Keaton’s Child): Velouria’s utility depends largely on her mother’s inheritance. At a base level, she fills largely the same roll as Keaton. Her mother’s stat inheritance can patch up her weaknesses, largely her slow speed, or to buff her good Strength and HP.

Percy (Arthur’s Child): Percy is likely the best child unit in Conquest. Unlike his father, Percy has remarkably high Luck, (75% growth rate), meaning he’ll dodge often and hit reliably. He also has solid Defense, Skill and Speed. As a Wyvern Knight, he has two great reclassing options, the Malig Knight for fantastic skills and possibly tomes depending on his mother’s stat growths, and Wyvern Lord his plays more to his strengths.

Ophelia (Odin’s Child): Ophelia’s Strength, Defense and Resistance are subpar, but she’s competent everywhere else. Consider a mother with Magic, Skill or Speed growths. She comes with a unique weapon, the Misseltainn, which increase her Skill and Resistance. Her personal skill is easy to activate, as it only requires three or more tomes in her inventory to impart +10 critical hit rate. Overall, I think she’s pretty solid compared to the other child units, but will face competition from the many tome users you likely already have trained up.

Soleil (Laslow’s Child): I like Soleil. Like Laslow, she’s got good Skill and Strength potential, but is less competent in terms of HP. A mother that can impart Speed growths will turn Soleil into a fantastic Bow Knight, especially when she gets Shurikenbreaker. Overall, avoid taking hits with Soleil and she’ll prove to be a capable offensive force.

Nina (Niles’ Child): Nina can make best use of staffs of all the Adventurers available, especially with the proper mother. Like Niles, she has fantastic Speed, and her Resistance growths are solid. She also has balanced Luck and Strength, meaning that with the right mother she can excel in these areas (perhaps Effie?).

Revelation: Instead of stat descriptions, all of these units have already been reviewed. Here I will simply assess their usefulness in the Revelation route. I will not review child units again, as any of them can preserve their usefulness from previous routes due to Offspring seals.

Avatar (Corrin): In Reveltion, you receive anywhere between 65-70 units from the combination of Birthright, Conquest, one or two unique from Revelation, and possibly a few from DLC. Therefore, it is easy for units to get lost amongst the chaos. I recommend using all of the royals, as they will all perform better then non-royal units regardless of their join time or level. The fact that you’ve likely experienced using these units ought to give you some idea of the role you want Corrin to fill. If built correctly, Corrin will lead many of you teams, as he/she should. You also have access to both the Hoshido and Nohr noble, so you can tailor for whether you want your Avatar to be more offensive or defensive.

Azura: Azura is most viable as a Songstress in this route, though I still recommend reclassing her to Sky Knight eventually. She joins you from the start, and will likely prove pivotal in the early game. In the first mission of the route, Azura (and Corrin and Felicia/Jakob) have the potential to grow considerably, providing them with a great base for the rest of the game. As per usual, Dancer generally excel in Speed and Skill, but Azura also has reliably decent Strength growth. Her big flaw as a Songstress is her C level cap for weapon proficiency with lances. Though, a forged killer lance will allow her to do a lot of damage.

Felicia: If Corrin is male, Felicia will join you in the first mission. She’s basically the same as in Birthright here. Excellent with the Flame Shuriken and a competent healer. Not much else to say.

Jakob: If Corrin is female, Jakob will join you in the first mission. He’s not spectacular in this route. He will likely be a healer for the first few missions, a role he isn’t great at. Still, some funny dialogue with Gunter. Unlike Felicia, he will face a more significant drop off in the mid to late game.

Gunter: In addition to his poor growths, Gunter is crippled by the fact that he has absolutely no supports in this route. That being said, he remains a fantastic guard stance partner for Corrin thanks to his personal. He also will prove indispensible during the early part of the game, when units are sparse and the player is forced to rely almost solely upon their Avatar and Azura. I don’t recommend relying on Gunter in the late game, however, as he will be forcibly absent for a few missions.

Sakura: At the close of chapter 8, four units join you, Sakura first among them. Sakura is probably the most useful here, especially if Corrin is female, as Jakob is incompetent as a healer. Like before, she has strong Magic and Luck growth, allowing her to excel in either or her promotions. I prefer the Shrine Priestess, as I find it makes her a bit sturdier and bow users (aside from Takumi) are generally rare in Hoshido. Also, Shrine Priestess has an A cap for staff proficiency while Onmyogi has a B cap. Regardless, if you wish to make her a potent offensive force reclass to Onmyogi.

Subaki: Subaki’s draw here is that he joins early in the route. This allows him to accumulate a greater amount of experience and possibly be useful by the late game. However, in terms of Sky Knights he is still outclassed by Hinoka and a reclassed Azura. In terms of flying defensive unit he is outclassed by Beruka, who can take arrows better than him. All in all, Subaki remains redundant and janky unless you insist on having a defensive Sky Knight.

Hana: Hana remains a generic Samurai. Ryoma is better than her. Though Hana can make use of S class swords, meaning she may like the Hagakure blade in the late game. Otherwise, she excels as a Swordmaster but faces competition in the role.

Kaze: Kaze is back and generally unchanged. The fast Ninja. He’s far less plot relevant in this route, however, so it may be less interesting to use him as part of the main team.

Rinkah: Rinkah is virtually unusable in this route. She leaves for a while, then returns with no levels, stats or weapon proficiency. Her stats all contradict each other, leaving her largely irrelevant. And she faces competition from plentiful Nohrian axe users, all of whom are significantly more useful than she is.

Hayato: Surprisingly, Hayato is quite useful here. Joining at level 9 with good growths in Magic, Speed and Luck, Hayato begins ahead of others units that have joined at this point and still have a great opportunity to grow. While he’ll be nowhere near the magical powerhouses that are Strategist Elise or Onmyogi Sakura in the late game, he can save the player from difficult situations early on.

Takumi: Here he is again. He’s good. Use him. He’s the same as he was in Birthright, but on steroids.

Oboro: Oboro returns in largely the same role. She faces competition from Nohrian Knights for the role of defensive wall. However, she has two advantages over them. The first is that she joins almost 5 missions earlier, allowing her to accumulate some experience and weapon proficiency. The second is that her promotion, Spear Master, allows her to use S level Lances, something Generals sacrifice for access to axes. Since you receive all S level weapons in this route, Oboro is useful at least for using the Waterwheel in the late game.

Hinata: In Revelation, Hinata is able to serve as the alternative to a Great Knight in his Master at Arms class. Aside from that, it is likely that you will have better physically defensive units by the late game. Xander in particular outclasses him in this role.

Saizo: Speak to Saizo and you recruit him, Orochi and Reina. If they are defeated before recruited that unit is dead. Saizo joins much late but still has more use in the long run than, say, Kaze. However, he isn’t as effective in the late game compared to Kagero, who, with proper equipment, can defeat most enemy units without taking damage. Still, Saizo can be useful if the player prefers him. He is better in Birthright, I will remind, but acceptably useful here.

Orochi: Whereas you were sort of stuck with her n Birthright as a magic user, you have plenty of alternatives in Revelation, most of whom are much faster than she is. Hayato (whom you already have), Onmyogi Sakura, Strategist Elise, Leo, Nyx, any of them perform better late game than Orochi does.

Reina: If you can forgive her being generally just bad to average in every category save for her personal skill, Reina can be a great unit. However, Kinshi Knights are far less useful than Falcon Knights, her stat growths aren’t great, she has very few supports. Generally, the same positive and many negatives she had in Birthright.

Kagero: If you want to use all the Ninjas, I’d recommend Saizo in Birthright, Kaze in Conquest, and Kagero in Revelation. She requires a bit more training here, but the variety of enemies she faces in the late game allows her offensive prowess to shine. She becomes the biggest dagger/shuriken damage dealer in the game. I recommend her for that alone.

Camilla: Spectacular, still. Her stat spread and skills allow her to deal with almost any enemy the game can throw at her. She’ll also compliment the other royal units well, as she and Hinoka will be able to pick off units using their strong offense and mobility in the late game.

Selena: I forged a Brave Sword (named it the Tsundere) and gave it to Selena. She didn’t have any trouble from that point on. She’s the first Mercenary you receive, and considering no Royals occupy this class, it makes her viable for the late game. In addition, including Corrin and Azura, Selena has supports with four out of the ten royals, keeping her relevant in guard stance in the late game.

Beruka: As she was in Conquest, as she is in Revelation. Beruka is a solid physical tank. She is not a replacement for Camilla, but Scarlet is present in the route for only a few missions, meaning that Beruka has the opportunity to remain relevant.

Kaden: Kaden’s back in the opera house. He’s solid here, like he was in Birthright. It may be nice to have at least one beast unit in order to check enemy mounted units (though Xander with a Beast Killer fill this role as well).

Keaton: Joining alongside Kaden, Keaton remains largely unchanged, being a strong, bulky beast unit. Both his and Kaden join at a good time, as their join mission has many choke points that they can occupy, gathering experience.

Elise: Woo! She’s back and sooooo happy! As before, promote Elise to Strategist and you won’t have to worry about getting a strong magic user or healer for your team. She will require some extra attention, as she does join at level 7 when most units are getting ready to promote. She is essential for recruiting Benny and Charlotte in chapter 14.

Effie: Effie is still quite good, if a tad under leveled. While the second mission on the Port Dia map eventually forces the player to become mobile, bulky knights are indispensible early on to repel initial enemy attacks. Effie’s main problem in the route is that her (arguably) best promotion, the Great Knight, faces competition from other mounted units like Xander. But aside from that, Effie’s growths remain fantastic.

Arthur: While in Conquest you were pressed for units and had to tolerate Arthur’s faults and use him regardless, here he is largely useless. Bench him early and never look back, as there are many better axe users with perfectly adequate Luck stats and growths.

Benny: To recruit Benny, talk to him with Elise. Fortunately for Benny, he’s basically the same as he was in Conquest, a defensive wall.

Charlotte: To recruit Charlotte, talk to her with Elise. Unfortunately for Charlotte, she’s basically the same as she was in Conquest, shit. If you really want to have a unit that can use the S-class legendary axe, I suppose Berserker Charlotte can do this, but it isn’t worth it.

Silas: Hope you didn’t forget about Silas! He joins much later here and faces competition from many other units. However, he does have a big benefit, mainly that he joins at level 18 with B proficiency in swords and lances. So Silas is basically ready to promote and get to work, which is refreshing.

Shura: Oh, it’s you again. Shura joins with the level and stats he joined with in Birthright and the weapon proficiency he joined with in Conquest. Still, meh. He’s a better Adventurer than Niles in this route, but that’s not saying much.

Nyx: Nyx is the best non-royal magic user in the route, probably. She’s still a glass cannon and joins underleveled, but she does eventually gain access to the S Legendary Tome, and her high magic and speed allows her to remain more relevant here, since she has time to grow.

Ryoma: The Killer Lobster Samurai has returned. Ryoma joins ready to go for the remainder of the game. He’s one level away from Astra, has the Raijinto, and carries a Master Seal that other units may appreciate. Use him.

Scarlet: Scarlet remains in the party for only two levels, so I don’t recommend investing a lot into her. She’s the same as she was in Birthright.

Hinoka: Hinoka will really appreciate the Master Seal Ryoma joins with. She joins at level 17, nearly ready to promote. Her mobility is helpful for the mission she joins in, where walls are continually rising and falling. Again, I recommend Falcon Knight for her, as it augments her stat strengths.

Setsuna: Setsuna has some great support conversations with Selena, and she can also get the Bow Knight class from Selena’s Buddy Set. However, joining at level 11 means that Setsuna starts behind and kind of just stays behind. Since Takumi can use the S class legendary bow, her presence is largely for the entertainment of her supports.

Azama: Give me a break. It’s hard enough training up underleveled units that can fight back, but now you expect me to train one that can’t? And for what, another lance user? I’ve got, like, ten of them that are nearly ready for promotion. Skip Azama here.

Xander: Xander and Ryoma are the dynamic duo in Revelation. They will likely lead charges in tandem and can handily deal with the majority of enemies on their own. Stat wise Xander is unchanged, but you can experiment more with his reclassing options here.

Leo: Leo’s pretty good. His unique weapon keeps him relevant and his strong Magic and mobility allow him to devastate enemy lines or pick off stragglers. It might not be a bad idea to great Vengence from the Sorcerer class for him, as it synergizes well with the Dark Knight’s Lifetaker skill.

Odin: These last four units you receive (save for Flora and the Child units) all join marvelously underleveled, and I don’t recommend using any of them unless you feel some primal need to. He joins as a level 12 Dark Mage when the bulk of your army should be promoted. He doesn’t excel in anything and requires a lot of investment. If you insist on using him, just bite the bullet and reclass him to a Samurai, he’ll probably work better that way.

Niles: Whereas Niles filled a relatively unique niche role in Conquest, he’s largely irrelevant in Revelation on account of his fabulously low Strength. Shurikenbreak from the Bow Knight isn’t nearly as useful here, and his personal can be used by Orochi. Shrine Priestess Sakura and Sniper Takumi are both much better bow users than he is.

Laslow: If you want a Hero and benched Selena (but why would you?) then Laslow may be the best of these final units joining. But aside from that he’s largely useless. Again, Bow Knights aren’t as necessary as Shurkenbreaker has lost its value on account of Ninjas no longer being the dominant enemy type.

Peri: I find it funny that Peri is immediately outclassed by Xander, who joined a mere turn before her. Hell, Silas, who joined just two missions ago, outclasses her immediately. Shame, really. Oh well.

Flora: Joins after a level 3 magic turret is built. Identical to her join in Conquest. If you need a replacement for a Ninja or Maid/Butler unit, Flora is available.

Fuga: Fuga joins in Revelation after a level 3 hot springs has been built in the castle, likely sometime between chapter 21 and 23. Fuga is a solid Master-At-Arms with acceptable stats for his join time. His personal skill, which gives him a lot of buffs when his HP is less than full, is quite useful. He just won’t be growing much, and he joins quite late so i’d recommend Hinata Master-at-Arms before Fuga.

Mozu: Not sure exactly when Mozu joins, but she still sucks so it hardly matters.

#fire emblem #fire emblem #fire emblem fates #fire emblem birthright #fire emblem conquest #fire emblem revelation #review #Nintendo 3DS #nintendo

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fecompendium · 8 years ago

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Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones Unit Review

The following is a guide discussing the strengths, weaknesses and utility of the playable characters in Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones. Popularly considered to be the easiest Fire Emblem game before awakening, the Sacred Stones allows for grinding experience and money, allowing new players a softer barrier to entry. In addition, its challenge mode and alternate routes provides series veterans with a meaty challenge.

Units in Order of Appearance (Eirika’s Route):

Eirika: The main heroine of the Sacred Stones and likely your main unit throughout, Eirika is a Lord that has the stats of a Myrmidon: High Skill, Speed, and Luck growths, Low Defense, Resistance and HP growth. Eirika is fairly useful throughout her route, as non-mounted sword users are relatively rare in the early part of the game. Upon promotion to a Great Lord, she gets a mount, giving her remarkable reach. Overall, Eirika will prove a vital part of the team in the late game, provided you can keep her alive.

Seth: Imagine FE: Conquest Gunther, but with excellent growths and joining on mission 1. That’s Seth in Sacred Stones. He’s a pre-promoted unit with great stats and pretty great growths as well. He can stomp out any enemy in the early game and can remain relevant in the late game. While he likely won’t be as good as other promoted cavaliers, Seth can and will remain relevant throughout.

Franz: You are, unfortunately, showered with mounted units throughout the game, meaning that some units may get lost n the background. Franz comes early and has the benefit of being balanced in stats and growths. This means the player can tailor him to any given cavalier role. Franz has about 40-50% growths in every stat, save for Defense and Resistance, which are a bit lower. As a Paladin, Franz becomes more defensive, allowing him to patch-up his low Defense and Resistance growths. As a Great Knight, Franz becomes an offensive powerhouse, attacking with all three physical weapons. I recommend Franz above the other Cavaliers, as his versatility will prove valuable in the late game when enemies are strong and plentiful.

Gilliam: Gilliam is the premiere defensive tank in the game. He has great Defense and HP growths, allowing him to tank hits early and grow into an unstoppable wall in the late game. There’s little else for me to say about Gilliam, as he exists solely for this role. General or Great Knight, Gilliam will take hits and kick ass regardless.

Vanessa: Vanessa is the first flying unit in the game, and fits the Florina/Shanna/Sumia archetype; a weak, early game unit with remarkable growths and potential. Vanessa has fantastic Speed, Skill and Luck growth, as well as excellent mobility thanks to her flying status. Her defenses and HP are low, so she should be handled with care. Upon promotion, she can either become a Falcon Knight, playing to her stat strengths and giving her access to swords, or a Wyvern Knight, allowing her to break through enemy lines. I recommend the Falcon Knight promotion, as Wyvern units are a bit underpowered in this game.

Moulder: Eh…Moulder is hindered throughout the game by a low Magic stat, which, for a Healer/Sage/Bishop, is a very bad stat to lag behind in. I’ve used Moulder throughout a game and found him vastly inferior in both promoted roles to other units. If you insist on using him, he’ll be at least functional, but will ultimately fall behind other healers, despite his early join time.

Ross: Ross starts out as a Journeyman (villager with an axe) and will promote to a base class upon level 10. His best stats are in Strength and Luck, allowing him to hit hard and dodge readily, making him the easiest of the three villagers to train. He has either the option to become a Fighter or a Pirate, and later a Hero, Warrior, or Berserker. I recommend Pirate-Berserker most, with a good second option being Fighter-Hero. Avoid Warrior with him. Warriors tend to be more defensive units, while Ross is clearly designed to be a powerful offensive axe wielder.

Garcia: Like in the Blazing Blade, I don’t recommend using Fighters. They just don’t have the staying power that other axe users do. Garcia is the best Fighter in the game, and probably makes the best Warrior in the game. He has great HP, Strength, Skill and Luck, but is incredibly weak everywhere else, most notably in Speed.

Neimi: Archer suck in this game. But Neimi is the best of the worst. She’s got good growths across the board, save for Defense, Resistance and HP, but it never seems to help. One might assume that she’d make a great Sniper, but this is a mistake. Ranger is clearly the better path for her, as Snipers lack movement, secondary weapons, and the Sure Strike skills are rendered useless by their already high Skill. You may as well use her, as the other bow user is worse, but don’t expect miracles from Neimi.

Colm: Thieves are also a rare and underpowered class in The Sacred Stones. Colm joins early, and henceforth is more useful than the other option for the Thief role. He’s fast. And he can dodge. That’s it. He can open chests, so keep him around. But aside from that, he’s really just meh. Assassin is the more offensive promotion, Rogue eliminates the need for buying Lockpicks.

Artur: Light magic is very useful in this game, as you are faced by legions of Terrors, especially while grinding or in the late game. Artur makes a good Bishop, having great growths in Magic, Skill and Resistance, with his magic flaws being his low Defense and HP. As a Bishop, he can deal with the majority of enemies with his powerful Light Magic, and heal a significant portion of damage. As a Sage, he gains access to Anima magic as well as staffs, giving him offensive coverage. Artur’s greatest flaw, in my opinion, is that he faces competition from many magic users, a lot of whom specialize in Light magic.

Lute: Lute is the best magic user in the game. She has the highest magic growth of all units, and has respectable Speed and Resistance. As a sage, she becomes an offensive powerhouse, blowing away hostile enemies. As a Magic Knight, she is able to travel great distances, hitting any enemy within her range for great damage. She is likely the only viable Magic Knight, but functions better as a Sage, so the choice is largely preferential.

Natasha: Natasha is easily my choice healer, and later my choice for Bishop. Natasha is able to dodge more readily than Artur, and tends to double more frequently (upon promotion). She is also viable as a Valkyrie, but there is a better unit that comes later to fill that specific role.

Joshua: Joshua has story relevance later, so I recommend keeping him around, even if you don’t use him. The two Myrmidons are quite similar in uses and stat spread in this game, so you can get away with using either. Joshua joins much earlier than the other Myrmidon, and on an arena level, allowing him to accumulate levels and weapon proficiency. He has good Speed and Skill, and as a Swordmaster these stats are augmented, in meaning he’ll double and crit readily. I’d avoid the Assassin class with Joshua, as it isn’t the best option for his growths.

Ephraim: Eirika’s brother and the second main character, if you choose his route, Ephraim is the more durable of the Lords. Ephraim has great growths in Strength, Skill, Speed and Luck, with salvageable Defense. He wields a unique Lance, giving him a strong initial advantage over Eirika. Upon promotion, he gains great advantages as a lance wielder and a mount, giving him extra mobility. If you choose to go down his route, be aware that enemies are generally stronger and missions far more difficult.

Forde: As apparent by the color of his armor, Forde is the Kent of this game: a cavalier with good Skill, Luck and Resistance. I recommend Forde the least of the cavaliers. He joins too late to make much of a difference, as his brother Franz will already be trained and probably close to promotion. He can reliably hit and double, but will find trouble breaking through tougher enemies in the late game, primarily armored foes.

Kyle: The Sain of the game, Kyle is the most offensively oriented cavalier. He has good Strength, Skill and Speed growths, which, couple with his mobility, makes him a potent offensive force. I recommend him over Forde, but admit that both Seth and Franz will have a significant head start, and he will likely falter as a Great Knight when compared with other options in the late game.

Orson: Orson is available for only one mission in the main game, and therefore is hardly worth mentioning.

Tana: Tana! Tana is likely the best Pegasus Knight in the game. She has higher total stats than Vanessa, despite her later join time, and can really do some damage if you promote her to a Wyvern Knight. As a Falcon Knight, she’s far more durable, and her access to swords will give her great Defensive coverage. Her best growths are in Speed and Luck, with solid Strength and Skill, typical of a Pegasus Knight.

Amelia: Amelia is a Recruit (villager), and as such will require significant attention. I will admit, from a practical standpoint, that Amelia is likely one of the less useful villagers, as one of the main promotions she has is the Cavalier/Paladin/Great Knight line, and the player has already received four units in this area. The two promoted lords add up to six mounted units, so Amelia face redundancy issues in this line. Instead, I recommend Amelia as a Knight, then promoting her to a General. As a General, she is excellent in using both Lances and Axes, and her naturally high Luck coupled with the General class’s great Defense makes her able to withstand whatever physical hit she isn’t able to dodge. Again, she will require training, but the payoff is good if the player chooses her promotions carefully.

Innes: Again, bow units are pretty lackluster in this game. Innes is balanced, except for his Defense and Resistance, but will have trouble keeping up to Neimi. Also, Sniper isn’t exactly the best class, so it’s easy to ignore Innes after using him to recruit the other units on his mission.

Gerik: The first (and only) Mercenary in the game, Gerik comes as a welcome relief. He doesn’t really excel in any stat, but instead can be tailored to fit any role. Think Franz but not mounted. He does join fairly late, but does so on an Arena level with a Dancer, so it’s easy to train him up. I recommend the Hero promotion, as axes are arguably more useful than bows in this game. Ranger is also acceptable.

Tethys: Tethys is a Dancer. Yep. She can’t attack, but instead can give strong allies a second turn. She maxes out at level 20, and is useful in certain situations. Her high luck and speed allows her to dodge incoming attacks with regularity. I don’t like sacrificing slots on my team for Dancers, but the player can easily make Tethys work.

Marisa: She’s alright. Marisa joins late and will require training. Luckily she joins on an arena level, but it can still be a hassle. She’s essentially Joshua 2.0. She has better Luck and Resistance, but is on par with him in Speed and Skill, and will lag everywhere else. It’s up to personal preference whether Marisa deserves a spot on your team. I’ve had runs where she’s been great and useless, so I’m pretty neutral towards her.

L’Arachel: Easily the greatest character that has ever existed in any Fire Emblem game ever, L’Arachel is both funny, cute, a great mounted healer and, upon promotion, a great offensive unit. It should be noted that L’Arachel demands immediate and fastidious grinding, as she joins late in the game at a pitiful low level. Healers tend to level up relatively fast regardless, but I still recommend taking the time to gather bonus experience with her. L’Arachel’s big claim to fame is being a great Valkyrie, with excellent Luck, good Magic and Resistance, and solid Skill and Speed growths. Note that she will die if hit with a physical attack. But otherwise, she will heal damage in massive quantities and obliterate enemies with powerful Light magic in the late game.

Dozla: Ross is a better Berserker. Skip if Ross Berserker is present. Is you insist on Dozla, you’ll find a functional if unimpressive pre-promoted axe unit, with great HP, Strength and Speed.

Saleh: He’s sort of like Pent, a mid-game mage with good stats but unimpressive growths. Saleh has his uses, but magic users are plentiful and you likely already have a dedicated healer, Light mage, Anima mage, or someone who can use all three, on your team.

Ewan: Popular opinion would dictate that Ewan would be more useful than Amelia, as he has the ability to become a Dark Mage, a class that is traditionally very rare in the Fire Emblem series. However, Ewan’s late join time makes him by far the most difficult villager to train, despite his benefits when promoted. He has fantastic potential for Magic, Skill, Luck and Resistance, but this won’t keep him relevant, especially when Knoll, the other option for Dark mage, joins three or four chapters after with a net of 20 levels on Ewan. Overall, I’d say that if you want to train Ewan, he will be an excellent magic user, but if you want to bench him I can hardly blame you for it.

Cormag: Like Joshua, Cormag is a unit with story subtle story significance and some great dialogue with bosses later on. He is also the first and only Wyvern Rider you receive. As a Wyvern Rider, Cormag has good HP, Strength, Skill and Speed, making him a potent offensive force that can decimate enemy lines. He is also the only unit capable of becoming a Wyvern Lord, making him an offensively oriented Falcon Knight. As a Wyvern Knight, he can punch through armor and wield heavy lances well, meaning he’ll be a mobile and unstoppable physical tank. Overall, I recommend Cormag, despite his late join time.

Rennac: I like Rennac, and recommend recruiting him, but not using him. He holds the Member Card, an essential item if you wish to properly upgrade units. He’s okay, but suffers from joining as a pre-promoted Rogue. His growths, aside from Speed and Skill, are garbage. He’s outclassed by Colm in almost every category, so there’s not much point in using him. His banter with L’Arachel and Dozla is priceless.

Duessel: He’s actually good. It’s odd that, while traditionally pre-promoted units are pretty good save for the Cavaliers, that Sacred Stones gives you many pre-promoted units that are crap with the exception of the cavaliers. Duessel has great HP, Strength, Skill and Defense, and that’s all he really needs. He faces extreme competition from the other cavaliers that have likely already joined and been promoted, however.

Knoll: The only Dark Mage in the game, unless you choose to promote Ewan down this route, Knoll is alright. He joins late, and at level 10, and will require significant attention. However, upon promotion he can become your premiere Dark Magic user, with phenomenal Magic and Skill. His main drawbacks are his low Defense and middling Speed, making him susceptible to strong counterattacks.

Myrrh: Myrrh is severely handicapped by receiving only one Dragonstone with a 50 hit charge. This means, unless the player has Hammerne staffs, that Myrrh can only attack and/or counter 50 times before becoming entirely useless. That being said, if you are willing to use her sparingly, Myrrh is fantastic. Her stat growths are remarkably good, and she is guaranteed to gain points in HP and Defense every time she levels up. She can annihilate monsters, and most enemies will have trouble injuring her. If the player can find a good strategy to preserve her attacking potential, Myrrh is easily one of the best units in the game.

Syrene: Despite joining late and with crummy stats, Syrene has two main advantages. First, she is able to initiate, with Tana and Vanessa, the powerful Triangle Attack, which will come in handy in the late game. Second, her growths are quite good, enabling her to grow from a pre-promoted level 1 Falcon Knight into an unstoppable flying machine by the late game, with proper training. She’s a fantastic replacement for a flying unit that has been killed, but otherwise her utility depends on personal preference.

#fire emblem #fire emblem the sacred stones #Nintendo 3DS #nintendo #gameboy advance

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fecompendium · 8 years ago

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Fire Emblem (The Blazing Blade) Unit Review

The following is a guide discussing the strengths, weaknesses and general usefulness of playable units in Fire Emblem (The Blazing Blade). The first Fire Emblem game released in the United States and Europe, Fire Emblem is the seventh installment of the series and provides three separate routes. The first, Lyn’s route, is largely a tutorial. Eliwood’s route is the main story of the game. Hector’s route is essentially hard mode. I will review the units as they appear in order from Lyn’s route to Eliwood’s route. Only units that are unique to Hector’s route will be reviewed.

General Tips and Strategies

Perma-Death: For players who were introduced to the Fire Emblem series through games like Awakening and Fates, all units in this game that are defeated will be permanently killed. There is no option to opt out of this, so it is recommended that one proceeds with caution and saves regularly. My general rule is that you can afford to lose one, maybe two, of your best units. But if you lose more than three, you should restart the route.

Arena Grinding: While there are side missions for bonus experience and resources, the bulk of experience can be obtained by grinding at arenas. There are a few arena missions peppered throughout the campaign. Always view maps before initiating the battle, and plan which units you would like to grind with at the arena. Do not let your units be killed in arenas. Bring healers/dancers to maximize grinding efficiency.

Plan your team: These earlier games prioritize careful planning and strategy over the endless grinding in Awakening. Plan out what you want your team to consist of, then ensure you have the necessary items to promote units. If a unit if not working out, don’t be afraid to bench them.

Save: Save often. Keep one or two save slots free and save before pivotal missions. Do not be afraid to restart if a vital unit is killed in a mission.

Units in order of Recruitment

Lyn: Lyn is the first unit you recruit and the first Lord. From her appearance, you may be forgiven for thinking her a Myrmidon. Well, you wouldn’t be too far off. She has great Speed and Skill growth, with solid Luck as well. This means she’ll hit twice almost every time she initiates combat and dodge attacks more than the other Lords. Her downsides, however, stem from her shoddy defenses and relatively low Strength growths. It is easy for her to fall behind in the mid and late game, resulting in her being dead weight by the final missions. Therefore, she requires the most attention of all the Lords. However, she also offers the greatest rewards, in my opinion. If properly handled, her unique weapon and frequent dodging will allow her to carve holes through enemy lines. While she’s certainly not an armor or boss killer, she’s useful in picking off enemies. Level her up early in her route and you’ll be rewarded later on.

Sain: Sain is strong and mobile. He has great Strength growth and reasonably decent speed and skill growths, allowing him to knock out enemy frontline units, creating holes that other units can capitalize on. The player receives three cavaliers in this game, and Sain is the most offensive of the lot, meaning he’ll primarily be a damage dealer in the late game, but will be fairly easy for enemies to kill. If the player wants an offensive powerhouse, Sain is the best mounted choice. However, he will not survive powerful magic attacks.

Kent: Kent is Sain’s immediate alternative. If you want defense early, neither Kent nor Sain can do this well. Instead, Kent focuses on Speed and Skill, allowing him to double enemies with reliable frequency. Unfortunately, his Defense, Resistance and Luck are garbage, and his strength will fall behind other units’. I recommend Kent the least of the cavaliers, and would recommend using Lyn as the fast, skilled attacker in the early game.

Florina: The archetype for all Pegasus Knights that followed, Florina is fast, lucky, and skilled, but has no Defense or HP. Her Strength and Resistance growths fluctuate but aren’t anything spectacular. One should use Florina with extreme caution, as any archer, regardless of relative level, will be able to do extreme damage and likely kill her. I recommend using the Seraph Robe on her to patch up her low HP. Aside from her notable weaknesses, Florina can grow into a formidable unit in the late game if the player can stomach her weaknesses.

Wil: Wil is the first Archer the player receives, and is not typical for an Archer. He has high Skill, naturally, but opts for Strength rather than speed. This means that he will hit harder but hit less. I can’t recommend him too highly. In my opinion, Snipers Crit so often that Speed becomes more vital than Strength. Two moderately powerful crits will always do more damage than one powerful crit. Still, it is up to the player. Wil’s main draw is that he has a better chance to accumulate early experience.

Dorcas: I find it difficult to recommend many axe users in this game. Back in the day, axe users were notorious for having garbage hit rates, leading to many frustrating misses. Hector and Dart, who appear later, vastly outclass the Fighters you receive earlier like Dorcas and Bartre. For what it’s worth, Dorcas has excellent HP and Strength, allowing him to do a lot of damage. Unfortunately, he has very bad speed, meaning he’ll get doubled and taken down easily. His main benefit comes from joining early in Lyn’s route, allowing him to gather experience early.

Serra: The first healer in the game, Serra is pretty solid, especially when promoted to a Bishop. She has good Magic, Luck and Resistance growths, allowing her to fill the roles of dodgy healer, magic tank, and magic attacker relatively well. She does have low Defense. Really low Defense. And she lacks mobility that Priscilla has, despite her late join time. It’s largely a matter of preference between her and Priscilla, though I normally opt for Priscilla, for what it’s worth.

Erk: Erk is a solid magic user. He joins early in both Lyn and Eliwood’s route, allowing him to remain relevant. Upon promotion to a Sage his high magic allows him to be an offensive force with a bit more durability than Lucius or Serra. However, Erk’s usefulness comes from his early join. In terms of stats, he’s quite average. Good, but average. Nino, who joins later, will turn into a much more ferocious sage than Erk, but requires effort to get there. If one doesn’t want to train her in the late game, Erk is the best non-promoted mage.

Rath: The forerunning candidate for the Most Badass Name in a Fire Emblem Game award, Rath is the only mounted archer (Nomad) the player receives in the game. As a Nomad, Rath’s best strength is his remarkable reach. With a longbow equipped, he can potentially hit any relatively nearby enemies, and often times retreat afterwards. His best attributes are HP, Strength, and Speed, while his worst being in Defense, Resistance, and Luck. This means that he should avoid taking damage at all costs, as even hits from weak enemies could put Rath in peril. Rath is probably my choice bow user for the route, though in terms of skill and punching power he falls behind both Wil and Rebecca.

Matthew: I don’t recommend having a Thief in your main team in this game. Keep one around for chests, but otherwise thieves are largely useless, especially in the mid game. The reason for this is that the Fell Contract, the item needed to promote them, does not come until five missions from the final battle. This leaves units like Matthew vulnerable throughout the game, as his stats will cap at his base class level 20, and experience will be wasted on him. In terms of a unit, Matthew is great in Speed and Luck, meaning he won’t get hit, but is quite bad in Strength, meaning that he can potentially complete the game without getting a single kill.

Nils: Nils is this game’s equivalent of a Dancer, called a Bard. As such, he has minimal Strength/Magic and Skill growth. He does, however, have fantastic Speed and Luck growths, with pretty good Resistance growth as well. So he will dodge physical hits and tank magical hits, and can buff or revitalize allies. Having him or his sister Ninian along in arena missions is great for grinding.

Lucius: Lucius is a far better Bishop then Serra, but cannot heal early in the game. As a Bishop, he’s got high Magic, Skill, Resistance and Speed, allowing him to decimate enemies with powerful Light Magic. I recommend Lucius on your team, in tandem with promoted Priscilla for healing and Anima magic and Cannas for Dark magic. I’ve discovered this core of magic users can deal with most enemies in the game.

Wallace: In Lyn’s route, unless playing on Hard mode, you will be forced to waste a Knight Seal to promote Wallace, saying goodbye as that extra experience disappears. Worse still, Wallace can only be recruited in Eliwood and Hector’s routes if certain level parameters are met, meaning that the Knight Seal could be completely wasted. If you insist on using him, Wallace isn’t the best Knight/General, but he’s competent enough. He’s got fine Strength, Speed and HP growths, but is average to subpar everywhere else. Meh.

Eliwood: Eliwood is the balanced of the three Lords, exceling in no stat in particular. Upon promotion, which comes quite late in his route, he gains a mount, giving him great mobility compared to the other Lords. His rapier helps him deal with enemies early on and gain experience, but he may have trouble defeating enemies throughout. Because of his late promotion, I recommend using Eliwood sparingly, especially when compared to Lyn or Hector. Try to spread out his experience gains across the game so he doesn’t max out early and cease to gain experience.

Marcus: Marcus has very bad growths. He’s alright in Skill, but he joins pre-promoted, crippling his potential throughout the game. He can still be useful, especially early on as a shield for squishier units like Eliwood or Rebecca. In the long run, however, Sain and Lowen outclass him, and Kent ends up about on par with him.

Lowen: While Sain is about attack and Kent is about reliability, Lowen is about Defense. He’s easily the most difficult cavalier for enemy units to kill. He will have fantastic HP and Luck, and his Defense will end up quite high as well. This allows him to shrug off physical attacks throughout the game. He will be vulnerable to enemy magic attackers, but they ultimately will be able to do little to stop his advances. While he won’t be ORKOing many foes, he’ll not be taking much damage from them either.

Rebecca: The second and my preferred archer choice, Rebecca fills the role of Sniper far more traditionally than Wil. She has excellent Speed and Luck, allowing her to dodge regularly, and good Skill as well, meaning she’ll hit and double often. Upon promotion, she’ll get many critical hits on enemies from afar. She’s less durable than Wil, meaning she can’t take hits, but her having to take hits in the first place is bad strategy.

Bartre: He’s alright. Probably the best option for the Fighter/Warrior line, but still an average unit overall. He’s reasonably fast and packs a punch, and will have pretty high HP, but otherwise he lags behind other units. The access to bows upon promotion is useful, but his lackluster Skill means he won’t be hitting with them very often.

Hector: In Fire Emblem Heroes, Hector is depicted as an unstoppable behemoth. In the Blazing Blade, Hector is just that. He’s got excellent HP, Strength and Defense, making him an unstoppable frontline unit. Avoid magic attacks if you can, but otherwise Hector will likely end up being the damage dealer of your team, falling behind possibly only Raven and/or Dart because of his lower Speed and mobility. Use the Wolf Beil sparingly, as it will be handier later in the game than earlier.

Oswin: The only Knight you’ll be able to train in the game, Oswin is pretty generic for his class, but useful because of it. Like Hector, he’s got great HP, Defense, and Strength, allowing them to work well together as physical tanks on the frontlines. Oswin’s big difference from Hector is that he is armored, inferring both the strengths and weaknesses of it. I recommend Oswin. He’ll remain useful throughout the game.

Guy: Guy is your average Myrmidon. He’s fast and skilled but lacks in strength and defenses. He joins with a killing edge, which helps shore up his dodgy strengths early on by allowing him to crit regularly. Keep him fighting unarmored axe users, of which there are plenty in the earlier parts of Eliwood’s route, and Guy will grow into a fine Swordmaster for your team, though a promoted Lyn may render him redundant.

Merlinus: As a merchant, Merlinus does not take up a unit slot, but in turn cannot attack. He is deployed at the beginning of missions near the ally spawn point. This means that it is advisable that you leave one or two units behind to defend him. Merlinus gains a level for each mission he survives while deployed. His presence on the field acts as a convoy, allowing units that pick up more than five items to send them to the convoy instead of dropping them. This is quite helpful. In terms of growths…Christ do you really care about this guy’s growths? They’re solid but he can’t defend himself so it hardly matters. Upon promotion he has the ability to move and stay with units, allowing for an easier defense.

Priscilla: Priscilla is the mobile healer, being of the Troubadour class. She’s balanced across the board, save for her HP and Defense. Upon promotion she becomes a strong magic attacker as well. I recommend her, as she serves a greater utility than Serra does, allowing her to heal, rescue, and attack. She will need to be present in order to recruit Raven and Lucius a mission or two after she joins.

Raven: Use Raven, he is an excellent unit. He excels in HP, Strength, Speed and Skill, meaning he’ll be able to deal with almost any enemy he attacks handily. Upon promotion to Hero he gains access to axes, allowing him to deal with nearly any threat. He is also the only base class Mercenary you will receive, making him remarkably valuable. His only big flaw is his low Resistance, which becomes an Achilles Heel later in the game. But otherwise, Raven will likely turn into your premiere offensive unit if you choose to use him.

Canas: Dark mages are traditionally rare in the Fire Emblem series. Canas is the only dark magic user you can recruit in this game, save for Athos who joins for one mission in the final mission. Canas is a remarkable magic user, with HP, Magic and Skill being among his best stats. Otherwise, he is balanced. I recommend him for the access to Dark Magic alone.

Dart: The only recruited pirate and the fastest natural axe user in the game, Dart has great growths in HP, Strength and Speed. His flaws are many. He has low Defense, Resistance, Luck and Skill, giving him dodging and accuracy issue throughout. If he does manage to hit, he’ll almost always double and he’ll do a lot of damage. I recommend him over both Dorcas and Bartre, though he will not be able to outclass Hector.

Fiora: Most Pegasus Knights have low HP, but not Fiora. She has quite high HP, allowing her to withstand physical attacks better than her sisters. Her Defense growths aren’t great, but they’re superior to Florina’s. In addition, she has solid Resistance, Speed and Skill growths. If you opted to skip Florina, Fiora is the best alternative you get in Eliwood’s route.

Legault: I like Legault. He can be a pain to recruit, but once trained is the only alternative to Matthew you get. Compared to Matthew, Legault has better Skill, Luck and Resistance, making him the better dodger and more accurate. Still, like Matthew, he won’t be killing many enemies. I recommend giving him a killing edge if you choose to use him to compensate for his low Strength.

Ninian: Equivalent to Nils. See Nils’ description.

Isadora: If you need a Paladin replacement, Isadora is more than capable. She has good physical offense, allowing her to take Sain’s place if the unit is dead or has been benched. Unfortunately, she is pre-promoted, and as such has less utility in the long term. Kent may be a bit worse, but both Lowen and Sain will easily outclass Isadora.

Heath: Heath is a Wyvern Knight and a potent offensive force. He has good HP, Strength and Skill growths, allowing him to hit hard and often. Aerial units are sparse in this game, and heath will require a bit of training to remain relevant early on. However, he can be a reliable frontline attacker. He can take arrows better than the Pegasus Knights, but it is recommended that he make an effort to avoid them regardless. Magic attacks should also be avoided.

Hawkeye: I can’t recommend Hawkeye. His growths are bad all around. He has high HP, but otherwise is a less capable Berserker than Dart. Give his killer axe to Dart or Hector, they can make better use of it.

Geitz: You must choose between recruiting Geitz or Wallace. The choice is dependent upon the collective levels of the three lords. Of the collective sum is above 50, you get Wallace. If below, Geitz. Geitz must be talked to by Dart. If you insist on using a Warrior, I recommend Geitz over Bartre and Dorcas. He’s less sturdier than the other fighters, but can double more regularly, allowing him greater opportunity for damage output. He, too, joins with a killer axe that can be put to good use by any axe user. He also joins on an arena level, allowing him to gain valuable experience at little to no cost.

Pent: He’s pretty solid. He’s a pre-promoted unit, so his stats aren’t going to grow much, but they don’t really need to. I recommend him more for utility than offensive potency, though he can perform both roles quite well.

Louise: Like Pent, Louise is competent in support roles but won’t outclass Rebecca or Wil in the long run. The white gem she joins with is quite useful for additional funds.

Karel: You must choose between recruiting Karel and Harken. To recruit Karel, you must either: Open more than 3 doors in Jerme’s map, or defeat 2 or more promoted units in Kenneth’s map, both by turn 9. I recommend Karel over Harken. He’s simply more useful, being a Swordmaster with the unique weapon Wo Dao. He has great Speed and Skill, but lacks in Defense and Resistance. He will dodge and crit regularly. He is a more than capable replacement for Guy, though he won’t perform as well late game.

Harken: You must choose between recruiting Harken and Karel. To recruit Harken, you must either: open less than three doors in Jerme’s map, or defeat less than 2 or more promoted units in Kenneth’s map, both by turn 9. Harken is garbage, do not recruit him. He’s a below average replacement for Raven. He will not grow in any significant way, and will likely get slaughtered by late game units.

Nino: “Do my best!” Nino joins late in the game at level 5, but if you invest time into training her (a difficult task considering the main arena grinding levels have passed) she can easily become the best magic user in the game. Upon promotion to Sage, she can wield Excalibur well and destroy any enemy that approaches her. She has great stat growths all around save for defense. You must save both her and Jaffar if you wish to unlock the side mission and recruit Jaffar.

Jaffar: Jaffar is easily the best pre-promoted unit. You likely will not have an Assassin (thief promotion) before Jaffar is recruited. He joins at level 13 with most of his trouble stats maxed out. His growths are low, but he’s already done growing so it hardly matters. With a killing edge he will crit regularly and efficiently. I recommend supporting with Nino to help training her. He’s easily the best thief you will have be the end game, unless you invest in Matthew.

Vaida: Meh. Heath’s better. Vaida joins too late to make much of a difference. I don’t recommend her.

Renault: Renault is an interesting character and unique stat spread utterly wasted by the ridiculously late join time. He joins one mission before the last, resulting in him being outclassed by a properly leveled Serra and Lucius. As a Bishop, his stat spread is odd, giving him high HP, Defense, Skill and Speed. However, he has a very bad Magic stat, meaning he won’t be healing or doing much damage. He’s largely a defensive unit, surprisingly. Still, he joins with a Fortify staff, which is nice.

Athos: Athos joins for the last mission with S rank in Anima, Dark, Light magic and staffs, and carries a legendary Anima and Light magic tome. He’s essentially a powerful free unit that won’t level up, so may as well use him. He’s helpful and versatile in the final mission. Yep.

Farina: Farina is available only in Hector’s route, and she costs 20,000 gold to join, no modest sum, but if you’ve been arena grinding you should have plenty gold. She’s the most balanced of the Pegasus Knights, but isn’t too spectacular overall. Her usefulness comes from her ability to initiate the powerful Triangle Attack with her sisters, a staple of the series. Aside from that, I don’t recommend her unless her sisters are dead or have been benched.

Karla: I’ve never recruited Karla, so I cannot speak from experience. She appears in Hectors route and requires some contrived bullshit with Bartre and arena grinding in order to recruit her, all within four to five turns as well. She’s cut-rate Karel from what I can tell, and you likely already have a Swordmaster of Lyn to fill her role.

#fire emblem #fire emblem unit #fire emblem blazing sword #fire emblem heroes #nintendo #review

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fecompendium · 8 years ago

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Awakening Unit Review

Fire Emblem Awakening Unit Review

The following is a general guide discussing the units in Fire Emblem Awakening and their strengths, weaknesses, and utilities. Fans of the series, old and new, will find something to like about Awakening, as it combines positive qualities of the older titles in the series with a cushion to attract new audiences. First, some housekeeping tips about the game:

Support: The revamped support system is the big innovation of the game. By pairing units up or having them fight alongside one another, they develop bonds, providing increased stats and unlocking support conversations. Compatible S-rank units will unlock access to paralogues and more units later in the game. There is no reason not to immediately combine units into support teams. Power is more essential than number of units in this game, and I recommend getting as many A-rank supports amongst your main team.

Child Units: Children units come later in the game and are dependent upon the class of their parents. Since there is a great degree of variety here, I will provide only a brief description of these units, and my recommendations. Aside from that, these units have a wide range of reclassing options, and can theoretically perform any job so long as one of their parents provides the requisite stats or skill inheritance.

Difficulty: There are two parameters in determining difficulty. The first, Normal-Hard-Lunatic, determines the enemies strengths and the frequency of grinding opportunities. The second, Casual-Classic, determines whether units are lost forever upon their deaths. Hard-Classic is what I recommend for people who have played older Fire Emblem games. New players may want to stick to causal until they are comfortable, but will likely find Hard more stimulating than Normal.

Grinding: While Awakening provides opportunities for you to grind almost entirely at your own leisure, whether or not you actually need to grind is another matter. I’ve found that so long as you’re within 1-3 levels of the enemy units (save the boss) you’re generally fine. On higher difficulties grinding is more important, as enemies on Lunatic will pulverize you if you’re not a few levels higher than them.

Team Size: I recommend having a team of 14-16 well trained and relevantly promoted units throughout. You should have at least twelve units.

Units in Order of Recruitment

Your Avatar: Your Avatar (who will be called Robin in this review for convenience) is the first unit you will receive and the first unit that you can control in terms of stats. While appearance is fun to fiddle with, do not disregard the effect that the asset and flaw functions. These allow you to help the character excel in an area. So, let’s say that you choose Strength as an asset and Magic as a flaw, your unit will have powerful physical attacks, but low magic attacks and healing potential. Have a plan while creating him. If you want to change to a certain class alter (say, knight) then choose an asset and flaw that are typical of such class (asset Defense, flaw Luck). Aside from that, Robin tends to have balanced stat growths, save for a slightly higher growth in HP. The Tactician/Grandmaster line allows players to experiment with both physical and magical combat, and gives great skills like Ignis that are useful regardless of the later classes chosen.

Chrom: Chrom is the main character of the game and one of the best units in it. The Lord/Great Lord line provides access to swords and lances and creates a powerful, if a little slow, frontline unit. Chrom’s Defense, Resistance, and Magic growth rates aren’t good, but his high HP growth rate, Strength, Skill, Speed and Luck can easily overshadow his weaknesses. It should be noted that, being the main characters, both Chrom and Robin will trigger a Game Over if killed in battle, even if playing on Casual. Consequently, their survival should be prioritized over the survival of other units.

Lissa: Your first healer, Lissa performs well in the role. She has low Defense, making her quite frail, but is incredibly useful for healing and will level up with striking haste. Upon reclassing, Lissa will become a powerful attacker as well. Is reclassed into a Sage, Lissa will be able to deliver fierce magic attacks but will have lower Defense and HP potential. I prefer to have Lissa as a War Cleric, as she will have access to axes and be able to hit with them rather well, thanks to her high Luck stat. Regardless, she performs well in both classes and will have solid Magic, Luck and Resistance growths throughout the game.

Frederick: A pre-promoted unit received early in the game, Frederick will face a severe drop-off in terms of usefulness in the mid to late game. In the early game, his usefulness will save you from many frustrating losses, but he also tends to absorb valuable experience other units could be getting. His Luna skill, obtained at level 5, is very useful throughout the game. Overall, Frederick is a good unit for newcomers in the early game, but most experienced players will drop him rather quickly, especially since better long-term cavaliers arrive just a few levels after Frederick.

Sully: Of the two cavaliers you receive in the early game, Sully is the faster and more skilled of the two. Sully’s Speed, Skill, HP and Luck growth rates are all rather high, and her mounted status allows her to navigate the battlefield with ease, dispatching units that break off from a group. She is more suited to the Paladin class, as it shores up her dodgy resistance and plays to her strengths. The Great Knight class I recommend just to get the Luna skill, though it will patch up her relatively low Defense and Strength.

Virion: As the man who puts the Arch in Archer, Virion is expectantly quite good in this roll. One of the few Archers you’ll get in the game, Virion claims a ridiculously high Skill growth, meaning he’ll Hit and Crit. I prefer Virion as a Sniper, though if you wish to reclass him into a flying unit, Bow Knight is recommended for the interim for the Bowbreaker skill. Aside from that, the Sniper class gives Virion a bit more Defense and plays to his inherent strengths. Overall, I’d recommend using Virion largely because a better option for ranged physical attacker will not present itself for some time.

Stahl: While Sully is harder for enemies to hit, Stahl is harder for them to kill. He has far better Defense than the other mounted units, and has more punching power than Sully does. He is the inverse to Sully, however, as his Speed, Skill and Luck are left wanting. In addition, the Great Knight plays more to Stahl’s strengths in the long run while the Paladin lessens his weaknesses. While it is largely up to you whether Sully or Stahl is better, I recommend using one of them for the mobility, especially if you drop Frederick early.

Vaike: The Vaike is the premiere axe user of the game, and a welcome axe user at that. He will likely muscle his way onto your team, as axe users in Awakening are a rarity, and the next viable one doesn’t come for some time, and has many more inherent class weaknesses. As a fighter, Vaike enjoys his Strength, HP, Speed and Skill, allowing him to hit hard and sponge damage. He will have terrible Resistance and Magic regardless of reclassing. In terms of his secondary classes, Warrior is the more defensive, giving Vaike access to Bows, while Hero is more offensive, giving him a sword and letting him go. Berserker can be obtained by reclassing a second time, and sacrifices whatever defenses Vaike had in order to make him a killing machine. In short, you can’t go wrong with Vaike.

Miriel: Yup, she’s a mage. That’s about it. I do have a bias against mages in this game, as I find their skills to be lackluster. Dark Mages and Sorcerers also outclass them in many regards, specifically offensively. That being said, Miriel is the better of the two mages and ideal for the Sage promotion. She has great growths in Magic, Speed and Skill, and can take a magic attack as well. Going down the Dark Knight path should be exclusively for obtaining the Lifetaker skill. Aside from that, while Miriel has her uses she will get outshined by better units that can use both regular magic and dark magic.

Sumia: Sumia will die a lot. She’s frail, par for the course in terms of Pegasus Knights, and will have higher Magic than other PKs in the game, meaning she can utilize both the Dark Flier and the Falcon Knight promotions well. Still, I’ve always been lukewarm towards Sumia. With proper training she can be excellent, especially with the Dark Flier’s Galeforce skill, allowing her to move and attack twice if she kills a unit during the first attack. However, you will get a better Pegasus Knight later, meaning Sumia’s training will be essential early on to keep her relevant.

Kellam: The only unit that can promote to the General class on the first promote, Kellam is your generic Knight. He has high HP, Defense, and can do some physical damage, sacrificing movement and Resistance. He’s a solid defensive wall, but he won’t be doing much else. He makes an incredibly bulky Great Knight as well, but you’ll likely already have a dedicated mounted unit. Kellam’s usefulness, I think, occurs later in the game, when choke points and cavalry charges (by the enemy) become more frequent.

Donnel: Donnel will start out shitty but has the potential to morph into potentially the best unit in the game. He starts out as a Villager, and must gain at least one level in his recruitment missions to be recruited permanently. Once he is, train him up. Upon promotion from Villager (into either Mercenary or Fighter), he will need to learn a new weapon entirely, so don’t fret if he’s not A-rank lance user during his Villager years. I like Donnel more as a Mercenary, as his high Luck growths scale will to balance out the class’ strengths. Though I could easily see him performing well as a Fighter and possibly Berserker later on. Ultimately, Donnel’s usefulness depends on whether the player wants to train him.

Lon’qu: Your basic Myrmidon. Promotes into your basic Swordmaster. For some reason, I always end up with more Swordmasters than I know what to do with by the end of the game. Still, Lon’qu is the best of them. He is fast, skilled, and with a little investment can wreak havoc with his Astra skill. As an assassin, he can activate Lethality often and tear apart enemies with little effort. As usual, avoid armored units. Unless you have a specific child unit in mind, I recommend Lon’qu.

Ricken: I’ve always found Ricken to just be bad. He’s a more balanced mage, sacrificing what mages are traditionally good at in order to not be good at anything. Still, he makes a better Dark Knight than Miriel and Henry, so there’s that.

Maribelle: Your first (and only) mounted healer, Maribelle has great Luck and Magic growth, good mobility and respectable Resistance. If you’re not using Lissa, then Maribelle is a fine replacement as a healer. I often find myself using both, Lissa as a War Cleric frontline healer and Maribelle as a Valkyrie ranged healer. In general, avoid the War Cleric path with Maribelle. She serves far better with tomes, doubling enemies and removing anything with sub-par Resistance.

Panne: Another unit I’m lukewarm towards, Panne is one of the few Taguels in the game, meaning she’ll have only one reclassing option unless you want to teach her how to use another weapon. In her base class, Panne is fast, Skilled, and Strong, able to dispatch many enemies in her path. While she suffers the weaknesses of mounted units, she also does bonus damage against them. I think my problem with Panne, aside from her restrictive reclassing options, comes from the fact that her Defense and Resistance aren’t good, leaving her vulnerable throughout. Not quite a glass cannon, but not good on the defenses either. Just kind of average.

Gaius: Gaius serves many functions on your team. He is the first Thief you’ll get, allowing him to open doors and chests at no cost. As a thief, he is vulnerable when defending and won’t be killing anything with high defense. His Skill and Speed are his main draws. As an Assassin, Gaius gains access to Bows and Lethality, and he is able to decimate units with crits. As a Trickster, Gaius isn’t great. He has low magic, making staffs useless in his hands. Really, it’s the Trickster’s skills that Gaius wants. Overall, Assassin Gaius will be an important offensive support unit, picking off weakened enemies.

Cordelia: Not only is Cordelia the best girl, she’s also the best unit. Unless you Avatar is specialized and reclassed, Coredlia is simply the best unit. Cordelia’s only glaring weakness is Archers, but aside from that there isn’t much that she can’t handle. Her stats are balanced across the board, save for her Strength, Skill and Speed, which are excellent. Her magic is low, meaning that both the secondary weapons of the Falcon Knight and Dark Flier classes will be useless in her hands. But she doesn’t need them. Give her a Brave Lance and Galeforce and Cordelia can deal with most enemies in the game.

Gregor: Slow and Strong, Gregor is the game’s premiere Mercenary. As a Hero, Gregor is just plain good. Simple as that. His access to axes gives him great coverage, and Sol gives him recovery potential. Gregor’s main weakness is his low Resistance, making him susceptible to magic attacks, which become stronger and more frequent throughout the game. Overall, Gregor is a sword user who wants to be an axe user, and should be treated as such for the best results.

Nowi: Nowi wins. She wins against dragons. She wins against weak units. She wins against strong units. In all seriousness, Nowi is unhampered by her lack of reclassing potential early on. She is strong and bulky, but will take hits. Consider healing her ever couple of turns. She is also weak to anti-Dragon weapons and units.

Libra: Libra is a balanced, pre-promoted War Priest (akin to War Cleric) with balanced growths all around. The Ward and Killer Axe he spawns with will be useful in the mission where he is recruited. While Libra is more viable in the long term than Frederick is, he still faces competition from other healers and axe users that are likely already an integral part of your team.

Tharja: Easily the best magic user in the game by a large margin, Tharja is the first dark mage, meaning she can use both dark and regular magic. He growths are interesting, essentially she is a speedy magic attacker with strong Defense. This comes at the coast of Skill, but her class perks decrease the enemy’s avoid rate to compensate. This odd stat spread comes together to create a deadly unit in whatever situation she finds herself in. Reclassing to a Sorceror gives access to Vengence, which allows her to trade blows with physical units. Overall, Tharja is easily one of the best five units of the game.

Anna: I do believe Anna can be recruited before some of the other units on the list, but this is generally when you want to grab her, as she’s rather useful in the Mad King level as a support healer. You can first recruit her at the point where most units will be getting ready promote the first time, allowing Anna to slot into a team easily. She has more magic and luck than Gaius, but aside from that is inferior to him. She also suffers from having a low number of support partners (2), meaning she’ll need to reach A rank with one of them and stick close throughout the game.

Olivia: The only Dancer in the game, Olivia performs a role that one would expect her to. She supports her allies, had good Speed, Skill and Luck (meaning she is a proficient dodger), and dies if someone hits her. Once leveled up she can be extremely potent. If reclassed to a Pegasus Knight or a Myrmidon she can be one of the best units in the game. But arriving at level 1 at the point where most units are promoting means lots of grinding, so it’s up to personal preference whether or not you want to do it.

Cherche: Cherche is a pretty solid unit. Easily the best Wyvern Knight you get largely because she is the only Wyvern Knight you get. She’s essentially a physical tank, while the Pegasus Knights lean more towards magic tanks. Cherche can hold her own against powerful enemies, and has little trouble remaining relevant even though she joins in a level with many promoted enemies. Her hammer is quite valuable and turns armored enemies in jokes. Archers are still threatening, but less so than they are to Cordelia and Sumia. Overall, I recommend Cherche, especially if Kellam is serving as your physical tank, as Cherche provides a bit more punching power and mobility in addition to defense. The two compliment each other well on the frontlines.

Henry: Trade Tharja’s Speed for accuracy (Skill) and you get Henry. I find that he has a lot more trouble keeping up than Cherche does, considering his relatively late join. He has his uses. He’s a solid Dark Knight candidate. But for some stupid reason, Dark Knights can’t use Dark Magic. So you’ll have to reequip Henry. Frankly, Tharja does any job Henry can do much better. Little reason to use him unless you want another magic user.

Lucina: As the first child unit, Lucina’s stats will vary to a significant degree depending on who her mother is. Generally, Lucina has high Luck, Skill, and Speed growths often with respectable Strength growths as well. Like Chrom, she has a unique weapon that does not decay. She is likely one of the best five units in the game, as she inherits all of Chrom’s strength’s along with her mother’s strengths as well. As for who her mother should be, here’s a brief guide: FemRobin for Ignis, Sully for power, Maribelle for Luck, Sumia for Skill, Olivia for Strength.

Say’ri: Say’ri immediately suffers from being a pre-promoted unit that comes halfway through the game with about two to three support conversations. It’s a shame, too, because she’s pretty important to the plot and will unlock some interesting dialogue with bosses later on. I used her and found her functional, but nowhere near as good as the offensive powerhouse that is Lon’qu. As for the comparison with Lon’qu, Say’ri is slower but can take a hit a bit better. But frankly, a swordmaster getting hit means that something has gone wrong. Overall, not great, but you could do a lot worse.

Tiki: I consider Tiki to be fantastic. She is easy to train despite being a late-game join. She comes with a Dragonstone+, and has solid growths in everything except for strength and resistance, but she doesn’t need them. If you didn’t take Nowi, I recommend putting Tiki on your team. A powerful ranged Manakete can solve many difficult problems coming from the endgame.

Basilio: You’ve likely come to know and love the bald, one-eyed badass that’s been accompanying you throughout the story. While his Resistance is garbage, Basilio can be a good unit. His stats are about on par for where your units ought to be at that point, unless you’ve been doing excessive grinding. However, Basilio and Flavia’s problem is that they join halfway through the third-to-last mission in the game. You will likely have both a bow and axe user by this point, rendering Basilio vestigial. If Vaike or Gregor died then certainly Basilio is a godsend, but he’s not worth replacing one of them.

Flavia: Like Basilio, Flavia join way too late to make a huge impact. She’s adequate stat wise, if weak to the numerous mages you’ll be bombarded by, but isn’t worth replacing anybody. She’s a generic, pre-promoted hero. Not much else to say. Not better than Gregor or Donnel at this point.

Child Units in Order of Paralogue Number

Owain (Lissa’s Child): Lol, Owain. He’s alright. You have a swordmaster by this point then it probably isn’t worth replacing with Owain. He benefits from Lissa’s growths more than her inherited skills. He will naturally have access to both Astra and Lethality, and hence has no need to inherit them, which is good. Consider a father that can round out Owain’s weak defenses or give him vitally needed Strength.

Inigo (Olivia’s Child): Inheriting Olivia’s Speed, Skill, and Luck, Inigo excels as a Mercenary and as both a Hero and Bow Knight. He’s pretty balanced everywhere else, but is somewhat lacking in skills (save for Sol), so consider a Father that can give him a good perk like Ignis, Astra or Lethality.

Brady (Maribelle’s Child): Brady is the generic priest/cleric archetype that you were missing in the main game. Not that he isn’t functional. As both Sage and War Priest he is quite good. But he’s nothing you don’t already have on your team. He gets Luck and Magic from his mother, so for father choose whatever other stats you want to improve I guess.

Kjelle (Sully’s Child): If you need a General to serve as a Defensive wall for your team and Kellam has either been benched or killed, Kjelle can fit that niche nicely. Better still, she is a different class than her mother, meaning she can inherit cavalier-based skills while learning Knight-based skills. Aside from that, Kjelle is defensive Sully. Simple as that really.

Cynthia (Sumia’s Child): I recommend Cynthia before I recommend her mother, Sumia. She has a small pool of potential fathers, meaning that there’s a set number of options for her. Essentially, any of her potential fathers will give her pretty good skill, so it’s up to the player. If you want a good Dark Flier to blast magic, I recommend Henry as her father, and maybe inheriting Vengence from the Sorcerer class. In general, Cynthia will often outperform Sumia and can even challenge Cordelia for dominance over the skies.

Severa (Cordelia’s Child): Like Kjelle, Severa starts in a class different from her mother, meaning she inherits Pegasus Knight skills while learning Mercenary skills. If Severa inherits the Galeforce skill, she can rise through the ranks to be one of your best units. She’s fast, skilled and powerful and can clean up a lot of units that may be giving your team problems. Sol gives her recovery to make up for her possibly shoddy defenses. In my opinion, Kjelle, Severa and Cynthia are as good as it gets for child units (exempting Lucina, of course).

Gerome (Cherche’s Child): Batman is pretty solid in this game. He can possibly eclipse his mother if handled well, but otherwise performs a similar role as flying physical tank. Gerome is a bit more focused on the offensive part of tanking than the defensive part, however. Not that it really matters. Consider inheriting some skills from his father, preferably strength-based. Also, avoid the Griffon Rider promotion, as it is largely useless.

Morgan (Robin’s Child): I have almost no way of reviewing this unit, as his/her stat potential varies to a ridiculous degree. She/He is a cut-rate version of the Avatar. Do with that what you will.

Yarne (Panne’s Child): Yarne is a more bulky version of Panne. He’s got a bit more Luck and Defense growth, but isn’t as fast or as powerful. When reclassed he can make a decent axe user, particularly a Berserker, but it can take a while to get him there. As for fathers, avoid anybody contributing magic growth.

Laurent (Miriel’s Child): I’ve always considered Laurent to be a bit of a conundrum, as he sort of breaks the logic behind the parent-child system. Ideally, one parent provides the base for a child while the other helps to shore up weaknesses or provide skills. But Laurent performs best as a pure mage, inheriting massive amounts of magic growth from both parents and obliterating anything in his path. So he’ll be struggling to find skills, as he likely won’t be getting much variation in that area from his parents. He’s easily the best mage in the game.

Noire (Tharja’s Child): Noire is probably the most versatile of the child units, not in terms of reclassing but in terms of stats and inherited skills. On account of her Magic and Defense growths inherited from her mother, and the Skill growths of her archer class, Noire can perform the roles of physical attacker, physical tank, or magic attacker. Giving her Astra, Lethality, Ignis, or whatever skill or stats from her father tends to work out for her in the end. In short, she is quite a good unit if you’re looking for a slot to fill, as she can perform any role.

Nah (Nowi’s Child): Would you like to add Nah to your team? Nah, I’m good. I got Tiki as my Manakete. Don’t need much else.

Spotpass Characters (Spoilers!)

Gangrel: I believe spotpass characters are free but it’s been a while so who knows. Regardless, if you have no sense of narrative structure, here’s every major villain or NPC that was important resurrected, because fuck any sort of danger or stakes in the story. That being said, Gangrel is pretty good. It’s likely you’ll get him late in the game, and he’s a pain to recruit (talk to him three times with Chrom without him or yourself being killed), but his stats scale well, making him a glass-cannon Trickster. He performs well with a Levin Sword. That being said, his HP, Defense, Luck, and Resistance as all quite low. So he will get hit, and when he does he will die. Don’t put him on the front lines.

Walhart: If this fuck’s cavalry charges didn’t give you enough of a headache, then have fun recruiting him. He’s pretty okay. He’s like a great knight, but with less Resistance. He has access to a unique weapon that is nice.

Emmeryn: Emmeryn joins late and is an adequate healer. She can use Fortify immediately and can rend enemies with powerful magical spells. Still, like all the Spotpass characters, he supports are limited, meaning she’ll likely be working alone, and be vulnerable. Overall, she outshines the non-child mage units, but pales when compared to Laurent or reclassed child units.

Yen’fay: Yen’fay with a killing edge breaks the game. If you’re tired of doing actual work, then equip a killing edge and walk away with the victory. Good stats and the Swordmaster’s Astra means game over for anything he’s up against.

Aversa: You’ll probably remember Aversa, if not for her prominent visible cleavage then from the boss fights. Aversa’s main draw is that she’s a Dark Flier with the Shadowgift skill, allowing her to wield Dark Magic when others wouldn’t be able to. This means she can wield Ruin or Goetia and do a lot of damage. She’s the best flying magic user, but she comes so late it’s not saying a lot.

Priam: A descendant of Ike and one of the few units with a unique weapon, Priam is another Spotpass unit that breaks the game. He has five skills: Swordbreaker, Lancebreaker and Axebreaker for dealing with almost any enemy with ease, Sol for recovery in the rare instance that he is injured, and Luna to deal extra damage. I feel obliged to mention his low Resistance, but he performs exceedingly well everywhere else, rendering the point moot. Priam is excellent, and performs excellently as a Hero. Use him if you’re tired of the whole “game” part of the video game.

#fire emblem #fire emblem unit #fire embem awakening #nintendo #lucina #robin #nintendo 3ds

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fecompendium · 8 years ago

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Shadows of Valentia Unit Review

The following is a general guide discussing the units in Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia. Veterans of the series may remember most of these characters from Gaiden, and some more recent fans may remembers a few familiar faces from Shadow Dragon and New Mystery of the Emblem. For everybody else, I’ll walk through the units, their strengths, weaknesses, and some general tips about them. But first, some strategy tips:

Mobility: While missions are not timed, many levels in the game, particularly in the mid- and late-game feature enemies with the Conjure skill, which allows them to summon units at the cost of HP. It is essential that you remove these enemies as quickly as possible, prioritizing the need for units that can travel across the field quickly and perform surgical strikes. If they are able to withstand hits, all the better.

Resistance: While Attack, Skill and Speed are the three top skills for determining a unit’s usefulness, units that achieve high growths in these areas along with high growths in Resistance will establish themselves as incredibly potent units, especially in Celica’s route. Resistance is the black market contraband of stats in this game: very few units have decent growths in the area, and many units have little to none of it. Without at least moderate Resistance, strong, late-game mages with teleport will decimate much of an unprepared team.

Specialization: Unlike Awakening and Fates, seldom will a unit like Xander, Ryoma or Chrom arrive and wipe out the bulk of the enemy army. Enemies are diversified and well placed, with copious reinforcements of varying skillsets. You should give units enhanced weapons and items to allow them to excel in defeating or removing a certain type of enemy. For example, consider giving your magic wall (High Resistance) a ring that further boosts resistance, while protecting this unit with a strong Defense unit to prevent the him/her from being OHKOed. As stated, mobility is good. Separate and surrounding enemies tends to work as well.

Grind, but Promote Early: For better or worse, you will need to grind in dungeons. Begin doing so from the earliest point available. Many units, particularly on Alm’s route, will require extra attention to become viable. While I tend to allow my Villager units some time to grow, do not be afraid to promote them early. They will be far more useful and their stats won’t suffer to a great degree.

Units: In order of Recruitment in Route

Alm’s Route

Alm: The first unit you receive is our Hero Alm, and luckily, he will remain relevant throughout the game, becoming incredibly powerful in the late game. I hasten to say he is likely the best unit in the game, as his access to both the Noble Sword and Falchion elevate him above Catria (his closest competition for best unit). His respectable Defense growth and high HP growths somewhat offset his bad Resistance (though you will likely find a way to circumvent this weakness by the end of the game regardless). Alm is strong and can handle most enemies. I found that he was the unit I got closest to maxing out before promoting, as his promotion does come quite late, but his base class does a lot to compensate. In general, if you enjoyed using Chrom in Awakening, you’ll find yourself at home with Alm.

Gray: Alm’s merry band of villagers begins with Gray. We’re off to a strong start with Gray, as he is almost exclusively a physical attacker, best suited to a sword wielding class. Mage should be avoided for Gray, as his spell list is underwhelming. While a lance or bow based class is entirely functional, Gray excels as a sword-wielding Mercenary. Upon promotion to the Dread Fighter, the Apotrope skill manages to offset his low Resistance, turning him into an offensive frontline unit with respectable mobility that can decimate enemies. He can also promote immediately upon recruitment.

Tobin: Tobin is quite bad. His growth rate in Skill is exceptional, no doubt, but it doesn’t do much to compensate for mediocre (at best) growths in everything else. I recommend the Archer class for Tobin, as it means he can hit enemies from range without taking damage, and the natural high Skill in the class can make him a Critical machine. However, Crits performed by a unit with low strength won’t OHKO many problem units. Mage is also a pretty good class for Tobin. The greatest value Tobin can contribute is his supports (active and passive) with many units, including Alm, Celica, Gray, and Kliff, four of the strongest units in the game.

Kliff: Promote Kliff to a mage and he’ll do most work for the rest of the game on his own. Kliff has high Speed and Defense growths, allowing him to perform well in slower classes as well as classes with more fragility. He also starts with the highest Resistance of Alm’s Merry Villager Band, but does so at the expense of Resistance Growth rates. Again, I highly recommend making Kliff the premiere magic user on Alm’s route. He has a fantastic spell list that can annihilate enemies from afar and up close, and dispatch Terrors.

Faye: Despite what FE Heroes suggests, farmgirl waifu cannot become an archer. Thankfully, she doesn’t need to. In my opinion, Faye is entirely average in terms of her strengths, but also average in terms of her weaknesses, making her quite good. Like Kliff, she can perform well in any class. As a Pegasus Knight, she can perform powerful, mobile strikes and take hits better than her counterpart Clair thanks to her good HP and Defense growths. As a Cleric, Faye has access to a plethora of fantastic supports spells that can reposition, heal, and revitalize allies. While she may not be the best, Faye doesn’t really need to be the best in order to work on any given role on any given team.

Lukas: In the early game, Lukas is a vital defensive powerhouse and remains as such. Lukas will excel in HP, Defense and raw Attack power throughout the game, carving a niche as the defensive wall on Alm’s team, as the other Knight, Forsyth, is more suited for offense. However, the player will grow to hate Lukas as the game progresses. His low speed will prevent him from doubling, and result in powerful counter attacks, and his abysmal Resistance will lead to many frustrating deaths. While Lukas certainly has his strengths, his weaknesses are equally as noticeable.

Silque: If you chose not to turn Faye into a Cleric, it is likely Silque will be a constant on your team. Silque’s low HP and Defense make her vulnerable early on, and she won’t be KOing many enemies. Invest in her properly, and late-game Silque can summon legions of Dread Fighters to harass enemies, heal off damage, reposition allies across the battlefield (yay, mobility), and deal with enemies with her powerful Seraphim spell. Like many units on Alm’s route, Silque will be good if you invest time into training her, and be bad if you do not.

Clair: Clair’s long terms growths, numerous supports with powerful units, and the fact that she is the only flying unit on Alm’s route will make her almost essential for your team. She starts off at level 1, and will likely get destroyed by every responsible gun owner on the enemy team if not handled properly due to her low HP and Defense. While these stats will likely remain low, her Speed (at a whopping 70% growth rate!), Attack, Skill, Luck and mobility will eclipse her weaknesses. I found her useful in picking off weakened enemies then flying out of range into mountains or heavily forested tiles. Just don’t expect her to tank physical damage.

Clive: Clive has non-existent Resistance. His Res starts as 1 and will likely remain there, making him unable to take any type of magic attack. He does have good HP, Attack and mobility, but falls behind other cavaliers in every other category. I don’t recommend Clive. He’ll likely just die whenever a mage spits in his general direction. Maybe try Mathilda or Conrad as your premiere cavalier instead.

Forsyth: As the other armored option in Alm’s route, Forsyth can be said to perform a bit better than Lukas, though it hardly makes a difference. Both are slow, bulky, strong units. They are rocks. However, while Lukas is a boulder (hard to break, not going anywhere) Forsyth is a jagged rock at the bottom of a waterfall (hurts when to smash into it). Which one you use is entirely up to your playstyle and preference. Think of the debate between Effie and Benny in FE Conquest/Revelation.

Python: A strong archer that sacrifices speed for power, Python may be difficult to train early on, but will shine later in the game. He remains relevant throughout the game thanks to his Attack and his ability to hit enemies from range. When promoted to Bow Knight he becomes a premiere damage dealer, ruining enemies from afar and retreating before he can take damage. Essentially, he is the Fire Emblem equivalent of Genghis Khan: a frightfully powerful mobile archer.

Luthier: Luthier is kind of outshined by other mages. He goes for a more balanced stat spread and spell list, managing to rival Tobin in Skill growth potential. Aside from that, he’s just kind of average. Even underleveled mages you receive later serve better purposes in the long run. He’s not bad, just nothing spectacular, worth a slot on the team only if you didn’t promote a villager to a mage or (somehow) like his character.

Mathilda: Mathilda is easily the best cavalier in the game, unrivaled by the strikingly bad Clive. Mathilda has solid growths all around and has fairly okay stats when joining, great stats when you consider she joins pre-promoted. She can only grow better from there, being able to withstand hits and deliver damage. Her mobility is incredibly useful for the Nuibaba level, and for all levels really. Mathilda is just good because she is capable and excels at doing almost anything. I recommend using her, preferably with an upgraded silver lance or other powerful weapon.

Delthea: The Nino of the game, Delthea can be a pain to recruit and requires a lot of investment, but the training pays off in spades. While her low Defense and HP make her a glass cannon, her high Attack growth rate allows her to nuke enemy units out of existence. Her lack of long-range spells can be remedied by giving her a Mage Ring to increase her range. In general, Delthea has the potential of being one of the top 5 units, is worth the effort, and synergizes well as powerful unit for any team in the long run. Also, she starts with good Resistance, making her instrumental for surviving powerful mages attacks from henceforth.

Tatiana: Meh. I can take or leave her. You simply must recruit her if you wish to recruit Zeke and consequently turn that entire level into a joke. Tatiana’s stats and growths are nothing to write home about. She’ll die if she’s hit by a physical attack, can maybe survive a magic attack, and can heal allies sufficiently well. Her utility comes from her Fortify spell, which can heal multiple allies at once. I found some use in having her follow my frontline and healing the group at the beginning of every turn. Aside from that, can’t recommend.

Zeke: Zeke (or Camus) is a rarity in that he has acceptable growths across the board despite being a third-tier pre-promoted unit. He can give some competition to Mathilda, but by the point he is recruited it’s likely you’ll already have a dedicated mounted unit. Still, Zeke may be worth the effort if Mathilda and Clive aren’t working out for you, or if you have nostalgia for his role in earlier FE games.

Mycen: Joining moments before the final battle, Mycen is not good. His growths range from bad to disastrous. His Attack and Defense are good, as is his mobility, but it’s likely such a role is already being filled by Mathilda or Zeke, and defensive positions are likely occupied by Lukas or Forsyth. Overall, Mycen is not worth sacrificing the use of a unit you’ve spent the entire game training.

Celica’s Route

Celica: The lovely Celica fills the role of female protagonist and offensive machine. If I was rating best units, Celica is probably in my top five due to her usefulness throughout the game, solid growths and unique weapon access. Celica starts as a Priestess with solid growths everywhere (save for Defense and Resistance, but what else is new) and access to magic and swords. Upgrade the Golden Dagger into the Beloved Zofia to unlock her ultimate arte in the late game and turn strong enemies into humorous asides. Seraphim is vital for dealing with Terrors throughout her route, and her healing prowess allows her to serve support roles as well as offensive ones. So long as she doesn’t get hit by a critical from a pesky Dread Fighter, Celica will likely be able to deal with whatever threat you’re facing at the time.

Mae: Mae is good. She is fragile, but fast and powerful, the more offensive of the two early-game magic users on Celica’s route. Her spell list is good, and if augmented with proper items it scales well with the difficulty of her route. I recommend Mae, though she will likely be outclassed by possibly Sonya later in her route and almost certainly by Delthea in the post-game.

Boey: I liked Boey’s character, but he wasn’t working for me as a unit. If you’re sick of mages dying all the time, and want one who’s bones aren’t made of glass, then certainly Boey is your man. However, his Defense and HP come at the expense of Speed and Luck and (of course) Resistance. His low mobility means he won’t be too useful in dispatching pesky Conjuror’s either. It’s up to personal preference, but I found Boey to be largely useless past the first part of Celica’s route.

Genny: Genny is an odd duck. She’s a cleric that is proficient in healing, but can also do swathes of damage against enemies. She is frail, starting with a measly 1 Defense and will likely remain with that number, meaning she’ll need to hid behind Boey, Saber, or Valbar. Her Invoke spell gives her remarkable usefulness, being able to create a mini army of soldiers to distract and pester enemies, or to obstruct advances. Upon promotion she will likely become one of your chief damage dealers, if she is not filling this roll already.

Saber: Where Alm received no Mercenaries unless you promoted a villager into the class, Celica receives up to four, five if you promote Atlas. All of them have their own strengths and compete for a valuable Dread Fighter slot on your team. It is ultimately up to you which will work best on your team. Saber is the more defensive of the lot, with good growths in HP and Defense. His early join in the route means he’ll likely be a few levels higher than other Mercenary recruits. If you want a Defensive and mobile sword user, Saber fits this roll best, but may have trouble OHKOing or doubling enemies later in the game. Consider giving him a Brave Sword to increase his critical chance to compensate for dodgy speed.

Valbar: Like Saber, Valbar is a bulky defensive unit (with even worse Resistance than Clive if you can believe that) that can go toe-to-toe with most physical attackers in the route. The only armored unit available to Celica, Valbar presents a tradeoff: mobility (which Saber has) for more Defense (armor). Regardless, Valbar has his uses, and when used in conjunction with his Goon Squad Leon and Kamui, he can be formidable indeed.

Leon: Likely the best Archer in the game. Leon is a generic Sniper archetype, but is almost refreshing for being so at this point in the game. He can hit from a distance, has good skill growth, and can Crit fairly often. I found him particularly useful for knocking out ranged mages with low Defense, without taking damage in return. He doesn’t have the punching power Python does, but fills a roll of his own. He is probably the only Archer you’ll get on Celica’s route, so he’s largely hit or miss.

Kamui: Kamui is the more offense-oriented mercenary, focusing on Attack and Speed at the expesnve of defense. As a Dread Fighter, Apotrope can offset his low Resistance. His HP is also respectable. Personally, I find myself lukewarm towards Kamui. Like Valbar and Leon, he’ll either shine at the fore of your team or disappears into the backlogs of history.

Palla: Palla and the Whitewing sisters improve in terms of utility drastically depending on if you use all three of them together. Individually, Palla is likely the worst of the sisters, and probably the worst Pegasus Knight. The reason for this is that she sacrifices Speed, an essential trait to the Pegasus classes, for Attack, Skill, and HP. Her Defenses also remain low throughout the game, adding an annoying Achilles Heel to whatever you want to use her for. While Palla can perform well on the frontlines individually, and can decimate enemies when supported by her sisters, she will be outclassed by Catria and Est in the long term.

Catria: Catria is one of the best units in the game by a large margin. She’s fast (high Speed/Mobility), powerful (high Attack), able to take a hit (decent HP), can deliver Crits (high Skill), and can shrug off Magic attacks (comparatively high Resistance). I upgraded a silver lance for her and found most enemies couldn’t deal with her. I also used her for a while with a Prayer ring, restoring HP at the end of each turn and making her borderline invincible. Whether you use her sisters is optional, but Catria is an essential part of any team on Celica’s route.

Jesse: Jesse is the luckiest Mercenary in Celica’s route, meaning he’ll dodge attacks and Crits, while being able to hit frequently. He joins under leveled, but can really get going later in the game. Give him a Brave Sword and he becomes a Critical hit machine. Again, Mercenary choice is largely up to personal preference, but Jesse has the most potential and can perform the widest variety of tasks. Provided you put in the effort.

Atlas: Yuck…Training up Alm’s Merry Band of Villagers in the early game was frustrating enough, but if you didn’t have enough punishment then here’s Atlas: a mid-game villager with terrible growths. Granted, Atlas can be promoted the moment you get him, but he’s still in a base class, so whoop-de-fucking-do, more grinding. Just the thing I need to get me through the mid-game slog. Atlas has decent attack and is bad everywhere else. I didn’t even recruit him in one play through. Probably make him a cavalier or archer. You have enough competition for mercenaries at this point and Atlas would likely just embarrass himself anyway.

Sonya: You will have to choose between recruiting Sonya or Deen. You will fight one and recruit the other. If you want Sonya, fight Deen. Sonya is the better unit in the long run. She has decent growths all around, except for Defense and Resistance, but that’s basically the standard for units in this game. Her spell list is varied and useful, providing offensive prowess and repositioning support. She can utilize the Ladyblade best (Save for Celica, but she has Beloved Zofia), allowing her to potentially deal with any type of enemy. If you’re still looking for a powerful mage, Sonya is a top tier unit that can fill that niche well.

Deen: If you wish to recruit Deen, then fight Sonya. Deen has the lowest Luck stat and growth of all the mercenaries in Celica’s route and absolutely no Resistance. However, he is recruited (and drops) a Brave Sword, allowing him to deliver critical hits. His stat growths otherwise are solid. If you can accept the fact that a single enemy crit can (and likely will) ruin his day, Deen is a fine addition to any team.

Est: The final Whitewing sister, Est combines positive attributes of her sisters Palla and Catria. She packs on hell of a punch and is pretty speedy. She also has a high Luck growth rate, meaning she’ll be able to avoid many incoming attacks, and is recruited with remarkably high Resistance (12!), allowing her to tank increasingly frequent magical hits. As a Falcon Knight, Est can become a Terror slayer. Her big drawback, however, is her low HP, which never quite seems to grow. She also tends to get exhausted more frequently than other units while exploring dungeons, making her necessary training tedious.

Nomah: Garbage. Garbage growths. Garbage stats. Garbage spells. Even his high Resistance can’t justify using him. Avoid at all costs.

Conrad: The only mounted horse unit on the route, Conrad joins late game with a high Resistance and good Defense, Skill, HP, and Speed growth rates. His blessed lance is a welcome tool to combat the legions of Terrors you’ve been encountering. He joins promoted once, and can easily catch up to your main units, making him useful throughout the remainder of the game, should you chose to put him on your team. Certainly, he’ll provide some relief in dispatching those troublesome conjurors.

Specific Levels

Greith’s Citadel: This is the big turning point in the game, where you will likely need to start grinding to remain relevant. Enemy unit placement is quite good here, with a ranged bow and magic users in a three-pronged formation. You will need to move between the prongs to advance, and likely be smashed by up to four ranged units. Consider having Palla and/or Catria take out one of the prongs, or have Leon hit them from a range. Once a side prong is clear, have your mobile units occupy the healing tiles in the center prong. Meanwhile, set up a defensive line on the path to stop the Conuror’s Terrors. Genny can stay back and Invoke and have the damage healed off by Celica or Mae. Once the prongs are clear, begin an advance, place physical tanks like Valbar or Saber on the frontlines. Greith can be difficult (first Dread Fighter Boss), but if unsupported by other units can be dealt with in time. Remove the conjuror at your earliest convenience. Flying units can be out of range in the back portion of the map, allowing them an escape route if damaged.

Desaix’s Fortress: Do not delay. Get a unit to remove the conjuror as quickly as possible. Mathilda can hold her own, but will be overwhelmed if unassisted/unhealed for too long. Desaix himself is a heavily armored unit, defended by armor and archers. Mages can deal with him with relative ease, but will need a defensive cushion to avoid damage. If you’ve managed to give Mage Kliff Excalibur, then hoping for a crit will turn the boss fight into a joke. Aside from that, my advice would be to save Mathilda without delay, then focus on the stronger enemies.

Sluice Gate: Delthea must survive is she is to be recruited. She can teleport behind you at any point. If she attacks a ranged ally she will likely die. I left a unit with Resistance behind to tank her hits and waited for Delthea to go down to 1 HP. When this happens she will be unable to attack and become irrelevant. Overall, Resistance comes into play on this level probably more than any other.

Nuibaba’s Abode: This level really separates the men from the boys. Send your bulkiest, most mobile units out first. Mathilda, PK Faye, and possibly Clair can circumvent Nuibaba’s devastating ranged attack. Use them to chip away at enemies from behind. Remove the conjuror with them or with an archer. Then retreat and form a defensive line. Nuibaba, I found, has the ability to knock out the bulk of HP for any given unit, but had difficulty OHKOing. The danger comes from the other units, but if you grind them down Nuibaba will be defenseless.

Swamp Missions: Even if you’re not planning on using them, the Whitewing sisters are tremendous assets in any of the swamp levels. As flying units, they do not take damage from terrain, and as falcon knights they deal massive damage against terrors. Allow the three of them to distract enemies and create a diversion for the rest of your army to cross and heal before confronting the bulk of the enemy army.

Jedah: Jedah is a fuck. He nullifies your first three attacks, but is vulnerable to the fourth. Attack with high Resistance units then try to OHKO him. Do this as quickly as possible, as his ability to conjure can present a deadly challenge for your team in the frantic final mission.

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