Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War 2017 Tier List - Day 39: The support kids (Corple, Lene, Sharlow and Laylea)

[Refa]

To be honest, he doesn't change much on that map in LTC. Sigurd and Ethlyn pretty well destroy that map without much help and everything Quan can do in that map can be substituted by Sigurd and Ethlyn in some way.

Doesn't he save a turn if you skip the Silver Sword?

[Valkama]

Doesn't he save a turn if you skip the Silver Sword?

No, his most noteworthy contribution is throwing a Javelin at the first boss, which you can substitute with Sigurd ending his turn in front of the boss the turn before. He can help kill the last boss of the map with a continue but Sigurd can also do that with a sibling crit from Ethlyn. The only thing that might be irreplaceable from him is enemy clean up during the last couple turns so Sigurd and Ethlyn have a path to the castle but to be honest that's what everyone is doing that map that has a horse. It's good to use him though even if he's not required because it makes him stronger for when he really shines in the later maps.

On a side note, the silver sword can be gotten without losing turns, it requires Alec or Noish to bait an enemy towards Sigurd which causes Arvis to attack said enemy getting him in range to talk to Sigurd himself the following turn.

[The Draco Knight]

Quan gets a 9/10 from me(with a bit of personal bias)

Like, the only thing that separates him fro being as good as Sigurd is the lack of Pursuit and, even then, it's not that much of an issue: sure, he can't double, but he does so much damage that it doesn't really matter and his high mov and defense makes him a fantastic tank. A pity that he leaves after Chapter 3.

[Refa]

He also can't use swords, which would really help him defensively (in the first two chapters, anyways; he'd gain a 58% avoid bonus!) and increase his chances of proccing Continue. Also he leaves early and doesn't get the ridiculous bias that Sigurd does (because it doesn't pay off for him or Altenna as it does for Sigurd and Celice). He's really good and actually has better growths than Sigurd, but I'd hesitate to say that he IS Sigurd w/o Pursuit.

[Shin]

Cuan's only faults are that he doesn't dodge quite as well as Sigurd and leaves you.. He's pretty much on par with Sigurd as your best unit for most of his existence. Even if he doesn't finish, he does enough of a chip for one of your chumps to take it. Javelin chips are a lot more helpful than they sound. He's easily better than your other not-Sigurd ponies whilst he exists, and to be honest, the others aren't really doing much once he leaves. Nobody's going to steal his lances from him, he'll hog the Steel and Silver for his entire lifespan.

8.5/10

[OliKad]

Cuan's only faults are that he doesn't dodge quite as well as Sigurd and leaves you.. He's pretty much on par with Sigurd as your best unit for most of his existence. Even if he doesn't finish, he does enough of a chip for one of your chumps to take it. Javelin chips are a lot more helpful than they sound. He's easily better than your other not-Sigurd ponies whilst he exists, and to be honest, the others aren't really doing much once he leaves. Nobody's going to steal his lances from him, he'll hog the Steel and Silver for his entire lifespan.

8.5/10

Well, Alec/Noish could arguably take the Steel one after promotion, especially Noish since he doesn't care about attack speed.

[General Horace]

when they promote Cuan has silver, so it doesn't matter anyway.

[Jave]

Azel: He's stuck with low movement for quite a while but he does have Pursuit and has some nice use as your only magic user until Lewyn joins. Solid 5/10.

Quan: Great unit since he's promoted and can fend for himself since the beginning, but he does have trouble in the first two maps since they're basically axe land. He also gets the Gaebolg by the time it barely even matters. 8/10.

[ZemZem]

8.5/10

Quan is a very strong unit who will always be a helpful aid to Sigurd, but unfortunately he doesn't stick around for very long. He also has some of the best growths in Gen I, which is funny since he starts off promoted and you get him when everyone else that isn't Sigurd is a chump. Silver lances are basically his (Finn and Fury prefer the brave lance), and javelin chips are always nice. When he gets his trump card, though, Sigurd's already off with the leg ring and at the final castle.

He also has great taste in girls. Ethlyn is sexy.

[Darrman]

oh it's ethlin day now in the title i'm posting early

She's your first healer. She's also a mounted healer. That means she can catch up to Zigludo's mad rampage sometimes. That's pretty cool. Not so cool is the fact she only has C staves... but that's enough to be able to use Return at least. Her combat is awful before promotion and she lacks Pursuit, but healing is nice. Really nice. Plus she can keep up. She kinda gets the first magic sword so she can use that well enough.

Wanna go fast? Better bring Ethlin along. 8/10.

[OliKad]

With the almost same amount of votes, the Cuanmaster got an impressive average of 8.15/10, which puts him as the 2nd best so far in this tier list!

But now, let's talk about our second member of the Lenster crew, which just so happens to be Cuan's adorable wife and Sigurd's sister, Ethlyn!

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Class: Troubadour (Level 1)

Holy Blood: Minor Baldo
Personal Skills: Critical

Class Skills: None
28 HP (60%)
5 Strength (30%)
8 Magic (5%)
11 Skill (30%)
12 Speed (30%)
4 Defense (20%)
6 Resistance (10%)
8 Luck (20%)

My thoughts: Let me just get this straight: Ethlyn is probably our first unit that is more about utility than combat. Sure, she can fight with swords if you want. but she won't do it super well. Why? She has some kinda poor growth rates (even in magic!?) all-around, especially in Power. So even if her base stats are pretty good, she won't be that much better in fighting. If you pair that up with not having any multi-attack skills - only Critical - it'll pretty much be obvious that her presence at the battlefield won't be for her *ahem* swordplay. Getting the Chapter 2 Light Brand might help to weaken well some enemies, but that's pretty much it. HOWEVER, here's where our cutie shines.

She can heal. Sure, even if her Magic base is good enough, since her growth in that stat is pathetic, it won't help her much. But that's not really important. Why? Because she is mounted. In Horse Emblem. Even is she could be much better in those two areas - especially combat - it doesn't really matter for her to do her portable hospital job, because she will almost always keep up with your other units thanks to her high movement, so it'll be much easier for you to keep your army's health in check.
Sadly, like Cuan and the next character in our tierlist, she'll leave your party at the start of Chapter 4, so her availability could be better. This alone makes it hard to promote her in time (for the sweet Leif stat bonuses) without Heal-spamming, but oh-well.
Still, for all of these reasons, I'll give her a 6.5/10, BUT with a 0.5 bias - because she makes an adorable couple with her husband and makes a kickass Leif - my final score for her will be a 7/10, just like the love of her life. :3

[OliKad]

oh it's ethlin day now in the title i'm posting early

She's your first healer. She's also a mounted healer. That means she can catch up to Zigludo's mad rampage sometimes. That's pretty cool. Not so cool is the fact she only has C staves... but that's enough to be able to use Return at least. Her combat is awful before promotion and she lacks Pursuit, but healing is nice. Really nice. Plus she can keep up. She kinda gets the first magic sword so she can use that well enough.

Wanna go fast? Better bring Ethlin along. 8/10.

You sure are xD

Oh well, goodbye perfection it seems... :P

[Valkama]

Ethlyn is one of the best units in the game. She is first off is your only mounted healer for a very long time which is very important because it means she can keep up. She gets return which is very handy on early maps with a lot of backtracking. She's Sigurd's sister meaning she can help Sigurd set up sibling crits. Her combat may appear poor but if you give her the prologue silver sword it actually lets her fight fairly well. 9/10.

Edited December 11, 2016 by Valkama

[Flee Fleet!]

Ah, time to tackle Ethlyn.

A 9.5/10, and with a positive bias, 10/10.

I'm not joking. When Ethlyn first comes, it seems her only purpose is healing, especially being a mounted one who can easily reach others. She's also not that good in combat, at first...However, being able to heal and also getting the Return Staff means easy exp. She also comes with a Slim Sword so she can do decent damage(in order to steal kills obviously). However, Ethlyn can become a good fighter, since she can gain the first Magic Sword you get in the game. With that sword, she can easily kill enemies from a 2 range distance.

Her Critical skill can also ensure that she will ORKO enemies with her Magic Sword (attacking from distance that is). Ethlyn's also not bad at dodging.

Ethlyn upon promotion will probably be one of your best units(she WILL ORKO everyone).

Edited December 11, 2016 by Flee Fleet!

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

A mobile but not too amazing healer due to her low magic. However she can be a lifesaver with her return stave and a mounted healer is always welcome, especially in mounted FE like FE4 is. In close combat she's not all that great with her rather low strength and lacking of pursuit but with the light sword she can do tons of damage from range.

8 / 10

Edited December 11, 2016 by Eleanor Hume

[Punished Dayni]

I am going to be gushing here, fair warning.

Ethlyn is a unit who's not fantastic at taking out enemies. But she's great for chipping (And if Critical hits killing). Her growths are genuinely poor though, so she'll often get nothing. She does get some damm fine gains on promoting, but she'll still be stuck to one attack. However, she's the healer early on. On a horse. This is important, as she'll be making sure units, including Sigurd, don't die, and that matters. She also gets two useful items early on that make things easier for her: The Return Staff and the Light Brand. The Light Brand is a ranged attack that acts like light magic. This of course means that most enemies tend to take damage from her, even the bosses, and she actually has bases to do it better than at least Noish. The Return staff, however, is her chance to grind like crazy and easily promote in Chapter 1 or 2, which helps make her more useful. That's beside being able to manoeuvre units where they need to go to a lesser extent than Warp (Still, sending Levin back with it is highly important, so don't knock it). She'll also provide crit support for Cuan and Sigurd, which is obviously powerful for making bosses suffer. While she's stuck with Heal and not much combat potential to start, she's still a highly useful unit for being able to keep up with Sigurd, lord of lords. And once she is promoted (more likely than you'd think) she's a powerful mount. Unfortunately, she'll leave in Chapter 4 as well, depriving you of a powerful healer. So availability ain't perfect.

She's also the parent to Leaf and Altenna. While Altenna only gets Critical and some growth in general, she'll pass weapons to Leaf. If you want him to have a chance in Chapter 7, giving him good equipment is essentially a must do. While many will recommend passing the light brand for kills (definitely a legitimate choice), I tend to leave it on her so that he can deal with the brigands and knights early on, while also passing an Iron Blade. Really, he'll be fine with those on him. Though I bet that not getting kills on the light brand will sound like heresy.

Honestly, a 9/10 is appropriate. Like I said, she's stronger than you'd expect and a healer who can keep up is appreciated.

[BrightBow]

Considering that there are no true healing items in this game, Ethlyn work as a mounted healer is immensely important. She is a probably a good contender for being the most valuable unit next to Sigurd regardless of playstyle. Like, she could of course keep Sigurd and Cuan alive while they power through the enemy forces but even if you take things slow her ability to heal while using Re-Move to stay out of harms way is immensely helpful. Having only a C rank in staffs may sound bad but it's enough to use Adean's Relive Staff, which from my experience is more then sufficient for any healer. If you want to make her a little more then a walking medkit and teleport bot, she can also make good use of magic swords. Or you could try to give her the Silver Sword or a heavy Blade weapon.

9/10

Edited December 11, 2016 by BrightBow

[Yojinbo]

9.5/10

Tied with Sylvia for 2nd best gen 1 unit. She's completely unrivaled at what she does for the entirety of her lifespan, which is the better part of gen 1. The significance of mounted Return Staff usage in Ch.2 alone is hard to understate, not talking about mounted healing and supporting both Sigurd and Cuan. Even if you didn't give her any equipment whatsoever her supports and dodgetanking skills would still make her a unit you'd employ whenever you can.

[Peppy]

We have our only mounted healer for the first generation (Well, our only unit that STARTS as a mounted healer, anyways). That fact alone makes her pretty good. Even though her strength and magic isn't good and that she is stuck with C staves forever, having a healer that can actually keep up with the action is pretty damn invaluable. Return is also good for those dreaded maps where you are required to backtrack.

9/10 (with +0.5 bias included. I mean hey, she's cute).

Edited December 11, 2016 by Peppy

[Excellen Browning]

Mounted staff and sibling/lovers crit bot. It's unfortunate she doesn't get warp but thems the brakes. 9/10

[ZemZem]

Ethlyn~

Mounted healer who keeps Sigurd/Quan/Finn/Lex/whoever else alive. I found that Pursuit Ring/Light Sword shenanigans makes her really fun, especially in Chapter 3 when she's promoted. Unfortunately her combat aside from that is pretty ass and her stats aren't that good in the long run.

8/10, +.5 bias because she's really cute. 8.5/10

[CappnRob]

Ethlyn! I adore her. However, she has some big flaws I think a lot of people are overlooking.

Yeah, she's your first healer, and she's on a horse, so she reaches the front lines quickly and can retreat without issue. Her magic however is pretty bad and she comes with a weak live staff, though for some reason Relive is also C rank so she can trade with Adean for a much better performance boost. She has the critical skill but doesn't reaaaally get much use out of it due to average fighting skills, but because she's a healer she can spam some staffs for exp boosts. She's a great contender for the Pursuit Ring imo because it'll let her double and passing it down to Lief is nice.

However, I do think Ethlyn eventually gets outshone by other characters. Adean is just a better healer all around, but she lacks a mount. Claude also lacks a mount, but when he comes onto the scene Ethlyn is already gone, so not much to compare there, but Claude's healing is some of the best G1 has. However, Lachesis and Fury can both use staves when promoted (hell Lachesis can use them before it but you knooow) - and both outclass cute Ethlyn by a longshot. Fury can fly, and is with you the whole of G1 once she joins, meaning she at least replaces Ethlyn once she departs the story in Chapter 4. Lachesis once promoted is the all might Master Knight, and thus can use ANY A rank item, including staffs - which simply means whatever Ethlyn brought to the table is now totally out played.

This doesn't mean Ethlyn is bad though - she's your best healer for the whole early game and holds strong through the middle, but once other healers and characters with healing potential catch up, she loses some luster. And then she leaves and dies and breaks my friggen heart :'|

7/10 for me, great early game unit that slows down a bit before being prematurely removed from your party.

Edited December 11, 2016 by CappnRob

[Caster]

Ethyln is great, the best healer for the time you have her, can fight well, and any crit with the magic sword that early will most likely kill, due to the lack of res in general in Gen 1.

Can be a pretty competent fighter, too.

Great support, and decent fighter if you want her to be.

I'll give her a 9.5 with some bias.

She's pretty fantastic for the short time you have her.

[The Draco Knight]

Ethlyn is fantastic thanks to her being mounted healer, which allows her to stay near her other mounted companions and heal them and she can even use Canto, so that she can escape a possible danger.

As a fighter, she can't double and her stats are pretty bad in general, but she can still be useful by doing some chip damage with her light brand and, if she actives her "Critical" skill, she may even kill an enemy. Plus, she can do sibling/lover crit thanks to Sigurd/Quan, something that these two can do as well.

9.5/10 with some personal bias because I like her design a lot tbh

[eclipse]

Sigurd can use lances! (if he feels like it...). There's even a second javelin in chapter 1.

Sigurd's job is to rack up kills on his swords! What is this lance rank you speak of?

Why? Are you going to describe to us in detail your depraved sexual fantasies involving Midir?

TEE-HEE~!

---

Anyway, Ethlyn. Being mounted is amazing. Why? Because she can keep up with Sigurd and Cuan, and patch up either one of them. She can also contribute crits to both of them. Hand her a magic sword, and she can take care of herself on EP, too. She's frail, and leaves, which are the only two bad things I can say about her. In other words, support for two very powerful characters.

9/10