Rate the Unit, Day 20: Zihark

[PKL]

Dat Rules (stolen/borrowed from Integrity)

- Ratings are assumed to be on Hard Mode+Fixed Mode.

- Votes need some explanation regarding their gameplay performance to be counted. If somebody else said what you want to already, quote them explicitly.

+/- ≤1 point extra regarding personality/appearance is encouraged, but no more. If you exercise your bias privileges, please do so explicitly.

- Numerical votes out of 10, or something proportional to it. Make it easy to calculate for my sake.

- Every ranking phase ends whenever I get out of bed, between 0700 and 0800 EST. Do the math for your timezone, Brits.

- I will insist you do not use the "Not X" reason on any character, where X is another unit. If you do, your vote will be thrown out.

- "Recruits X" or "takes you to X chapter" arguments are explicitly banned. C'mon, people, this shouldn't need to be a rule. That's not gameplay performance.

- Assume that the character in question is being recruited.

- Similar to the "Recruits X" rule, do not use "she brings a Knight Ward to the team" as an argument.

- BEXP is free to be used in any quantity on any character.

- Rating a unit too low because you think its overrated will make me throw away your vote without mercy public/style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif.

- I withhold the privilege to tell you your rating is bogus and demand you revise it if it breaks any of the above. I will not throw out votes anonymously, you will be informed and given a chance to revise.

Averages:

Rolf: 1.154

Brom: 2.32

Shinon: 3

Volke : 4.824

Ilyana: 4.98

Soren: 5.152

Rhys: 5.315

Gatrie: 5.463

Mia: 5.708

Mist: 6.413

Mordecai: 6.547

Lethe: 6.75

Nephenee: 6.79

Boyd: 8.293

Ike: 8.567

Oscar: 9.075

Kieran: 9.231

Marcia: 9.36

Titania: 9.91

[MacLovin]

6/10

Ike as a Myrm, and with crappy def/res.

Nice support list and earth makes him the best Myrm if you want one.

Not bad overall.

Edited April 17, 2012 by Folgore Green

[a.f.k.a. Howard Hughes]

6/10

Ike as a Myrm, and with crappy def/res.

Nice support list and earth makes him the best Myrm if you want one.

Not bad overall.

wrong game.

haven't played fe9

[Esaka]

Best swordie in the game?

Yeah, sure, why not.

Essentially Ike with crappy defense. But I do enjoy his spin on the archetype so...

7/10 +1 8/10

[Zman]

Zihark is essentially Ike with lower defense and resistance. His bases are decent, and his growths are pretty good too. He also has Adept, making his average offense a little better on certain occasions. He has one of the best support affinities, but his support partners aren't very good.

5.5/10

[ZemZem]

Zihark is awesome. Bases are good, and growths will make him even better. He comes with a killing edge, and his skill is adept, so his combat is pretty awesome because of that. As many others have said, he's basically an Ike with a lower STR cap and crappy DEF/RES. One of the best sword users in the game.

7.5/10, +.5 bias since Zihark's really cool. 8/10

[Excellen Browning]

Ike with worse defensive stats, no Ragnell and a much worse support list.

5/10

[Snowy_One]

6.5/10

Zihark is a lot like Mia. A more avoid focused Mia who needs the vantage scroll to get wrath/vantage. That... summarizes him pretty nicely actually. Most people know I dislike Zihark, but I actually don't. I disliked how people back on ye olde gamefaqes would put him a full tier or two above Mia simply because of his Muarim/Ilyana support while, in the same sentence, saying Mia could NEVER get an attack support at all (Ilyana is fielded for Zihark's support but it's impossible for her to give up 1 DEF for a Mia support? What?). Anyways, Zihark's... pretty similar to Mia. Except he lacks vantage, but gets adept. He lacks +attack supports (yes, Brom, I know. That was almost never discussed even then), but can get a pretty nice AVO boost. In my eyes choosing between them comes down to two questions. 1) 'Am I fielding Rhys/Muarim'(if no to either, drop their relative SM supporter) and 'Do I want vantage for someone else or more avoid?' For me, I prefer Mia and I dislike using the Laguz, hence his being lower than Mia.

[Silent Mercenary]

Pros:

+Great and most likely maxable Str/Skl/Spd

+Critical Bonus outside of Japan, but unfortunately, not many Killing Edges available, and forging slim/iron swords with more Mt/Crit is costly.

+Awesome skill for assuring finishing up, although it slows down his weapon rank raising a bit

~The pros above make him a good candidate for Gamble, and also Vantage or Wrath.

+Good affinity

Cons:

-.25 for average foot-soldier movement

-1 for rocky start, and needing some Str fast to wield heavier/stronger swords better

-.75 for bad defenses, although salvageable

-1 for sword lock, considering only a few magic ones are around and late

+.25 for Earth support, but no other Earth support options, and only other avoid-giver is Muarim

7.25 +.75 (personality/favorite swordsman) bias to round it up to 8/10

[OrangeCrush980]

A double earth support with Nolan or Volug makes him pretty awesome.

[Sasori]

Zihark has good offensive stats and adept to make him awesome. Sadly he isn't very durable. He can dodge pretty well and his earth support helps, but it isn't exactly reliable.

7 for being a solid unit.

[Excellen Browning]

A double earth support with Nolan or Volug makes him pretty awesome.

the RD thread is that way >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

[Renall]

A double earth support with Nolan or Volug makes him pretty awesome.

I almost fell for this. Well played, sir.

Anyway, Zihark's an okay guy, the crit bonus is helpful but otherwise he's inferior to Ike and comes later than Mia. He's probably more solid than she is overall and it's nice having Adept, but that alone can't really save him from being just an above-average foot unit. Still, raise him well and he's pretty good offensively, if you can scrape together the necessary crit weaponry.

6.5/10

[Shadow Mir]

6.5/10

Zihark is a lot like Mia. A more avoid focused Mia who needs the vantage scroll to get wrath/vantage. That... summarizes him pretty nicely actually. Most people know I dislike Zihark, but I actually don't. I disliked how people back on ye olde gamefaqes would put him a full tier or two above Mia simply because of his Muarim/Ilyana support while, in the same sentence, saying Mia could NEVER get an attack support at all (Ilyana is fielded for Zihark's support but it's impossible for her to give up 1 DEF for a Mia support? What?). Anyways, Zihark's... pretty similar to Mia. Except he lacks vantage, but gets adept. He lacks +attack supports (yes, Brom, I know. That was almost never discussed even then), but can get a pretty nice AVO boost. In my eyes choosing between them comes down to two questions. 1) 'Am I fielding Rhys/Muarim'(if no to either, drop their relative SM supporter) and 'Do I want vantage for someone else or more avoid?' For me, I prefer Mia and I dislike using the Laguz, hence his being lower than Mia.

The problem with Ilyana taking Mia over Zihark comes in the form of Fire/Light being iinferior to Earth/Light bonus wise. I'd assume that the avoid Zihark gives does more for Ily than Mia's fire does.

[Loki Laufeyson]

Didnt i just rate this guy? Oh yeah, other game...

Zihark, friend of laguz and...stuff.

Pros:

Earth Affinity.

Good strength for a swordie.

Good base level.

Cons:

Not very durable.

Somewhere between this game and the next, his strength took a hit. But here, its not that bad. Hes solid here too. He comes with Adept and thats cool. I like Adept! Its a shame that skills arent reassignable in this game. D: But he works that Adept pretty well. Sticking Vantage on him, and things can get ridiculous. He is very similar to Ike even with affinity. I dont need to go on about how awesome that affinity is. Sad he doesnt support with the more awesome folks. (Muarim is alright though.)

7/10

[Biabarr]

Zihark had good offence but not very durable. Sure he can dodge, but if that fails then he may just die.

7/10

[Snowy_One]

The problem with Ilyana taking Mia over Zihark comes in the form of Fire/Light being iinferior to Earth/Light bonus wise. I'd assume that the avoid Zihark gives does more for Ily than Mia's fire does.

A Zihark support gives her 5/10/15 AVO respectively. A 20/1 Ilyana has 42 AVO base and a B Zihark won't happen until chapter 20. A doesn't happen until roughly 25. For comparison, a B Mia will happen at chapter 16 or so. So between 16 and 25 it's a choice between 10 AVO or 1 attack. I won't say which is better, just that the bonus is small enough for Ilyana that assuming Ilyana will always support Zihark is stupid (especially if he's going for an A Muarim as that means she can only get 10 AVO).

[Shadow Mir]

A Zihark support gives her 5/10/15 AVO respectively. A 20/1 Ilyana has 42 AVO base and a B Zihark won't happen until chapter 20. A doesn't happen until roughly 25. For comparison, a B Mia will happen at chapter 16 or so. So between 16 and 25 it's a choice between 10 AVO or 1 attack. I won't say which is better, just that the bonus is small enough for Ilyana that assuming Ilyana will always support Zihark is stupid (especially if he's going for an A Muarim as that means she can only get 10 AVO).

I can say Mia's bonuses are more trivial. 1 atk and 10 hit aren't exactly groundbreaking, you know.

[Lord Raven]

5.6/10, Mia with less availability but more supports and durability, so a slightly larger score is justifiable

Edited April 17, 2012 by Mercenary Vergil

[Titamon]

Mia with less availability but Better stats, no horse blows though...

Fixed Mode was kinder to him as opposed to Mia, because he is guaranteed to level up str,skl,spd, on his first level up, and speed again on the second

Yay Zihark

6/10

[Snapdragon]

6.5 A solid unit. Adept and Earth affinity are nice. However, he's sword locked even though he's probably my favorite swordmaster to use, I still don't like the class.

[Hawk King]

PROS:

-good stats and growths

-good availability

-earth affinity

-adept skill

CONS:

-sword-locked

-meh support options

-meh durability

Zihark is just like Mia, but a little bit better due to his growth rates being spread out better. He doesnt need much Bexp, and he can get some good Cexp for killing ravens with the Laguzslayer on Chapter 12. He cant use the magic swords because of his lack of a MAG stat.

6.5/10 - If he had a 2 range attack option he would be on par with Boyd and Nephenee.

[PuffPuff]

A double earth support with Nolan or Volug makes him pretty awesome.

*Turns your head gently*

This is not the Radiant Dawn thread. =P

The problem with Ilyana taking Mia over Zihark comes in the form of Fire/Light being iinferior to Earth/Light bonus wise. I'd assume that the avoid Zihark gives does more for Ily than Mia's fire does.

Flame: Attack +1.5, Accuracy +7.5

Light:Defence +1.5, Accuracy +7.5

Earth: Avoid +15

With an A support of these combos. What total does these combinations make?

Zihark had good offence but not very durable. Sure he can dodge, but if that fails then he may just die.

7/10

Then Mia will have to come on down to the price is right battlefield.

------

As everyone else has already said about him, the other bad news with him is his lack of 1~2 ranged weapons. Because of his shit Mag. So he will almost never, or be good at retaliating with 1~2 ranged attackers. Great growths in nearly everything but Def. If he gets Vantage, he will get better on the enemy phase. But don't throw him into a wave of enemies as his small Defenses cannot handle it! And his love for the Laguz over humans makes him my most favorite swordfighter in the series.

NM

8/10

HM

7.5/10

[Snowy_One]

I can say Mia's bonuses are more trivial. 1 atk and 10 hit aren't exactly groundbreaking, you know.

I never said that the bonuses were terribly great for Ilyana. However, starting in chapter 21 the enemies have ~100-110 hit average. Ilyana will have 52 base AVO making their hit between 50-60 roughly (depending on various factors). Ilyana won't have to worry about counters the majority of the time on the PP, so the AVO doesn't help out there, and on the EP she will go from a 50-60 to a 40-50 which, while not bad, is... not terribly impressive. She will dodge about one in ten attacks that she wouldn't have dodged otherwise. I would seriously question ones tactical ability if Ilyana even got attacked on the EP that many times in the first place.

[Shadow Mir]

I never said that the bonuses were terribly great for Ilyana. However, starting in chapter 21 the enemies have ~100-110 hit average. Ilyana will have 52 base AVO making their hit between 50-60 roughly (depending on various factors). Ilyana won't have to worry about counters the majority of the time on the PP, so the AVO doesn't help out there, and on the EP she will go from a 50-60 to a 40-50 which, while not bad, is... not terribly impressive. She will dodge about one in ten attacks that she wouldn't have dodged otherwise. I would seriously question ones tactical ability if Ilyana even got attacked on the EP that many times in the first place.

Regardless, I'm not really seeing either Mia or Ily benefitting from the support because the extra hit's practically superfluous and 1 atk isn't exactly going to make much of a difference for Mia.