First time, recommendations on team

[momogeek2141]

This is my first play through on easy. Here is my proposed team. I'm on Chapter nine

Ike

Boyd

Oscar w/ Bows (already promoted)

Rolf

Soren/Tormod/Calill

Nephenee

Marcia

Mia

Gatrie

Jill

Kieran w/ swords

Elincia

And that's all I have right now. Who should I add/subtract/replace?

Edited November 21, 2014 by momogeek2141

[Lord Raven]

I like Oscar w/ axes and Kieran w/ lances, but just about anyone in this game is usable so I wouldn't worry too much.

Edited November 21, 2014 by Lord Raven

[Jedi]

Continue using that team. Pretty much what Lord Raven said.

Everyone is usable in PoR especially thanks to BEXP. I constantly use the likes of Makalov, Tormod and pretty much everyone. (both are solid but not the absolute best choices)

[Comet]

This is my first play through on easy.

you should be fine with about anybody.

actually astrid's pretty frail at first but she catchse up really quickly so yeah about anybody

Edited November 21, 2014 by Comet

[Jedi]

you should be fine with about anybody.

actually astrid's pretty frail at first but she catchse up really quickly so yeah about anybody

Generally yeah Astrid after her first few levels (and thanks to that handy Knight Ward) she'll be tearing enemies a new one quickly. Even on hard.

Edited November 21, 2014 by Jedi

[Refa]

Astrid is wonderful, thanks Paragon.

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

I highly recommend you to train Mist (though it's annoying), because you'll need her for beating one certain Boss with Ike. She can get supports with Rolf, Boyd and Jill very fast.

Elincia is very hard to train, because she's only available for three chapters and starts level 1 second tier with poor base stats. If you really tend to use her, you should give her some bexp. levels and/or stat boosts in the base. Keep in mind that Elincia mustn't die!

Edited November 21, 2014 by The Taninator

[Snowy_One]

It's generally wise to pair up Mia with Rhys and/or Ilyana.

IMO, axe Elincia. She comes so late that using her is a bit more of a novelty than an actual team. You can still use her if you want, just don't waste a team-slot on her.

Edit: Pair Mia with adept or wrath. You will NOT regret the outcome!

Edited November 21, 2014 by Snowy_One

[Lord Raven]

Elincia is a good late game mounted healer if you dont wanna put effort into Mist, but Mia is mediocre at best at everything. Use her if you want but don't bother giving her Wrath or something especially since she already has Vantage which is a bit more useful.

[Wen Yang]

Need more Titania.

[Snowy_One]

Elincia is a good late game mounted healer if you dont wanna put effort into Mist, but Mia is mediocre at best at everything. Use her if you want but don't bother giving her Wrath or something especially since she already has Vantage which is a bit more useful.

She can use wrath and vantage at the same time, which is why she wants it bad.

Vantage automatically gives a unit the first strike in combat on the enemy phase. Normally this isn't too impressive since it means combat will play out like on the player-phase and, while you might kill off a weakling or two, isn't THAT outstanding...

Until you realize the swordmasters have a boosted critical rate. What this means is that a sword-master will have about a 15-30%ish chance of critting, most likely outright killing, any foe that attacks them. Wrath gives a unit with 50% or less health 50 critical, so when you combine both the swordmasters natural critical rate with wrath every time Mia drops below 50% health she's going to become a critting beast and will be able to take out a sizable chunk of foes before they even get to attack her on the enemy phase. Adept gives her a chance to get in a second 'first strike' as well, both of which can critical. She doesn't have enough capacity for both, but even one is a huge buff for her.

The reason this applies mainly to Mia is that, even though there is a vantage scroll in the game, Mia comes with it built in. This means you can give the other scroll to, say, Nephenee to take advantage of her innate skills as opposed to Zihark who would need Vantage for Vantage/Adept and BOTH vantage and wrath for Vantage/Wrath skill combos (as opposed to Nephenee taking vantage and Mia taking wrath for both to get vantage/wrath).

[Lord Raven]

what if shes hit at 2 range

[Shadow Mir]

what if shes hit at 2 range

inb4sonicsword

[Snowy_One]

what if shes hit at 2 range

Well, first off Mia is one of three sword-units capable of wielding the Sonic Sword well, but that takes a specific set-up and planning (using the mage band and/or the magic dusts combined with a support with Rhys/Ilyana pushes her MT JUST high enough that she can, viably, use it), but 1-2 range is simply a problem all units must deal with unless you're gonna go around with every unit wielding only javelins and/or hand axes. It's not like Mia is, somehow, defenseless when attacked from 2-range as she still can dodge and take a hit or two and if you're seriously intentionally flinging her into a situation where she's gonna be taking enough attacks to pose a threat to her life you have problems beyond Mia's stats. Sides, all mono-sword units who aren't Mist or Mia struggle at 2-range.

[Lord Raven]

Yes and most mono sword users save like Ike (who is much much more durable than Mia and Zihark/Stefan) are mediocre at best. I'd definitely take an option to hit with a cheap and affordable weapon that can still do plenty of damage over a limited supply Sonic Sword, that also doesn't require much effort or planning to do.

Anyway, came here for sonic sword Mia, not disappointed. Do you honestly think, in terms of offense, defense, AND utility, Mia is worth using over all the Paladins, Jill, Haar, Marcia, Tanith, Boyd, and hell even Shinon, Mist, Stefan, and Tormod? And in terms of very effective 1-range you'd take her over Muarim? Soren/Ilyana can do more damage and they get staffs eventually.

Yet Mia is the one you recommend.

Edited November 21, 2014 by Lord Raven

[Snowy_One]

You're joking, right? Shinon is gone for a sizable chunk of the game and is a mono-bow user who doesn't even get solid stats to make up for it. Mist and Mia aren't in competition except for the SS (which is the ONLY thing they have in common), Haar comes late and is super-slow, Stefan is pretty meh outside of his base stats (which are meh even for his level. If he didn't come overleveled no one would care about him), and all three of the mages are basically interchangeable until you start dabbling in things like Lowest Turn Count. Muarim is okay at first, but then hits the HUGE snag of basically wielding only an unforged steel weapon while Mia can upgrade to silver, specialized, and forged weapons, and has to deal with the Laguz gauge (the demiband helps, but it also cuts his STR by 3/4 points and speed by 1/2 points).

Mia may not be the most 'amazing' unit compared to things like the paladins, but it's important to remember that paladins and fliers dominate PoR outright with very, VERY, few units able to stand on equal ground, usually because of support abilities.

For the TC, Mia's placement and quality has always been very hotly debated. Some people think she's the worst unit in the game and fawn over units like Zihark, others think that she's very solid and has a lot of potential making her a good foot unit. I happen to be in the latter.

[Lord Raven]

I brain farted on Shinon but Mist has significantly better utility than Mia. Haar also has the utility advantage and he has enough def/str to make due with a brave axe. Stefan's base stats are spectacular for that point in the game and his growths are good enough. He may not grow as fast but he'll still be more likely to hit Level 20 and cap some of his stats before Mia hits Level like 10. Muarim is helping for a lot longer than Mia because he can absorb a ton of hits. the Mages are still more versatile given they can attack from 1-2 range and use staffs.

Mia's placement and quality has never really been in debate for a while. Nobody thinks she's the worst unit in the game, Snowy, that's exactly what a straw man is. Nobody thinks she's got a lot of potential either. She's just an okay character in a cast full of solid or amazing characters, so she is below average but not bad. Nothing really more than that.

[Dark Sage]

Well technically how bad Mia is depends on how you judge unit quality; if you judge units mainly based on how well they do against enemies or their utility in a vacuum (so judging based on PC vs enemies), Mia is indeed ok, competent enough even. If you judge unit quality mainly based on performance relative to other units in the cast (PC vs PC), then Mia could be considered bad because she's on the lower end of the totem pole.

[Snowy_One]

Mist isn't an amazing battler. SS aside she's bad at combat at best and need scrolls or dedicated training to even reach the SS in the first place.

Haar may negate his speed problems with a brave-axe, but a brave-axe has only so many uses and, once it breaks, he's stuck. All Mia loses if the SS breaks is her 2-range defensive capabilities which most mono-sword units don't have anyways. Not to mention he joins kinda late.

While it's true Stefan is powerful at first, he ends up behind both Zihark and Mia later-on as both get better stat-wise and have better skills.

Muarim isn't even around until about half-way through the game, so no, he's not 'helping longer than Mia'. That's not to mention the volume of tanks, tanks who DON'T need to keep an eye on a gauge to be tanks or become outright obsolete later-on due to poor weapons.

Mia's on the higher end of mid, maybe even upper-mid. She is not a bad pick in the slightest unless you obsess over 'max potential'.

[Shadow Mir]

what if shes hit at 2 range

inb4sonicsword

Well, first off Mia is one of three sword-units capable of wielding the Sonic Sword well, but that takes a specific set-up and planning (using the mage band and/or the magic dusts combined with a support with Rhys/Ilyana pushes her MT JUST high enough that she can, viably, use it), but 1-2 range is simply a problem all units must deal with unless you're gonna go around with every unit wielding only javelins and/or hand axes. It's not like Mia is, somehow, defenseless when attacked from 2-range as she still can dodge and take a hit or two and if you're seriously intentionally flinging her into a situation where she's gonna be taking enough attacks to pose a threat to her life you have problems beyond Mia's stats. Sides, all mono-sword units who aren't Mist or Mia struggle at 2-range.

Yes and most mono sword users save like Ike (who is much much more durable than Mia and Zihark/Stefan) are mediocre at best. I'd definitely take an option to hit with a cheap and affordable weapon that can still do plenty of damage over a limited supply Sonic Sword, that also doesn't require much effort or planning to do.

Anyway, came here for sonic sword Mia, not disappointed. Do you honestly think, in terms of offense, defense, AND utility, Mia is worth using over all the Paladins, Jill, Haar, Marcia, Tanith, Boyd, and hell even Shinon, Mist, Stefan, and Tormod? And in terms of very effective 1-range you'd take her over Muarim? Soren/Ilyana can do more damage and they get staffs eventually.

Yet Mia is the one you recommend.

...And this, my friends, is what I call "being an open book". Snowy, Snowy, Snowy... would it kill you to be even a smidgen less predictable??? It's like you can't NOT mention SS Mia every single time she's brought up...

Edited November 22, 2014 by Levant Caprice

[Snowy_One]

You make it sound like I like bringing it up. I don't. Rather, I wish people had enough respect of Mia to not laugh at her every time she comes up and downplay her usefulness compared to Zihark and Stefan. I don't care so much that people think they're better so much as I care about them thinking Mia is 'worse' if that makes sense. I, very much so, get the vibe that people are actively looking for ways to downplay or remove what she can actually do for the sake of elevating Zihark and/or Stefan. For example, in this thread the TC already made his choice as to which units to use. I gave some advise on how to better utilize Mia, then Raven had to go poking around about the 2-range thing. How can I NOT feel like he's mocking Mia? Sure, I may be predictable in my defense, I've had several years of experience regarding it, but it's trolling at the least for Raven to make a response like that in the first place.

[Lord Raven]

Mia is worse than Stefan and is basically interchangeable with Zihark. But Sonic Sword is not the reason she is interchangeable with Zihark.

Don't play the victim with the 2-range thing because I'm not going to recommend Mia to someone unless they want to use her; I'm also not going to tell whoever wants to use her she's a good unit. Sonic Sword/Wrath is far from the best way to use her at any rate, considering I'd rather have Wrath on someone who can counter attack more often on enemy phase, rather than risking Mia taking hits at <50% HP.

Edited November 22, 2014 by Lord Raven

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

Mia and Zihark are both great and the best myrmidons/swordmasters in FE9.

Zihark is slightly better than Mia because of better strength growth/cap and earth affinity.

However I prefer using Mia, because she's the first myrmidon you can get and she usually will get at least the same stats like Zihark, when he joins.

Stefan has good base strength and free astra, but his luck is terrible. He's not that good in dodging like the mentioned two.

[Lord Raven]

In all honesty when you are up against lance users I think the difference between Stefan and Mia is negligible in terms of evade, considering Stefan's level lead (and by extension his speed lead).

It's just a matter of where you prefer to put your resources, and you do get plenty of them. The general view of Mia is that she's a decent unit, she's just a small fish in a very massive pond, and may not even be the best unit in her class because she isn't at any single point noticeably better than anyone else. In fact, she might just be worse, whilst Stefan comes out kicking ass with effectively the same (if not better) returns. She's really just lost in a sea of decent to very good units and she just doesn't give us anything unique.

I get the feeling Snowy is very vehement about defending her because he assumes many of us have a low opinion of Mia, when in reality we don't have a low opinion of her so much as we believe she's just basically below average unit.

Edited November 22, 2014 by Lord Raven

[Refa]

Honestly, the fact that Stefan isn't fucking ridiculous shows how much mounts trivialize the game. Don't really see what Mia brings to the table over him (besides availability I guess, but I don't think that's enough), especially since neither of them are taking on enough enemies in 1 turn for Vantage/Wrath to be a significant advantage on her part (both of them are kind of lame skills overall, since for the most part my units aren't even hitting 50% or below HP to begin with when that skill combination becomes possible). She's probably better than Zihark though by virtue of joining earlier (at a time when every unit counts, whilst Zihark joins after mount rushmore can feasibly become a thing and is therefore less useful).

Edited November 22, 2014 by Refa