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Discussed Units & Links So there's been a lot of talk about units and teambuilding and "Who should I 5-star?" and "Who's better, X or Y?" so I figured I'd spend some time giving everyone a rundown on what units in a category have to offer, so people can make weighted decisions based on what they have, and build teams with a bit more projection given some knowledge that they might have either not had, misunderstood, forgotten or any combination of the above. Today, I want to look at Cavalry, since it's a growing meta given the current Sibling Bonds focus and the most recent Grand Hero Battle giving us a unit that's tailored to dealing with them. Is F!Robin the true counter to this meta being able to thrive? Will Raigh see some resurgence in viability? What other counters do Cavalry face? Let's examine what we have: Cavalry In this meta, we have a little over 15 units currently in the meta, which cover most but not all of the common weapon-types, with a heavy lean on Blue > Red and a handful of Green and Staff types. There's no Bows, which is a surprise, given the common sight of Nomads/Bow Knights noted historically through Fire Emblem. Cavalry units run general weaponry that you can see across many infantry type units, but their biggest feature is a universal movement boost of 1 (giving all Cavalry 3 movement) in exchange for the inability to traverse across Water, Chasms and Mountains (Fliers exclusively can cross) and Forests (Cavalry exclusively cannot cross). Cavalry units run a generally lower (but not significantly lower) overall stat decrease compared to common Infantry units in exchange for this greater movement, but offer a different kind of synergy in the form of what can simply be classified as "more potent buffs" via skills like Hone Cavalry and Fortify Cavalry, bestowing +6 to multiple stats simultaneously. Primary Benefits of running Cavaliers: 3-Movement trumps every other grounded movement method in terms of Distance All colors are covered Adjacency Buffs are phenomenal The primary Anti-Cavalry weaponry is two-range (-wolf tomes), and the majority of Cavalry units engage in one-range combat. These tomes have low Mt and exists on units that lack Arena presence, key stats and universally threatening skills. Primary Issues with running Cavaliers: The lower stats contribute to lower Ratings scores, which impact Arena visits by offering less points and therefore less potential for Feather acquisition at the end of each season. There are a few tomes that are Effective vs Cavalry, which exist on uncommon but still potentially dangerous units. This means that all cavalry have two types of weaknesses (Color via Gem weapons and Cavalry-Eff tomes) If you're committed to running a Cavalry team, you're required to run one or more of Eliwood/Gunter/Jagen, which all have lock to one range melee and middling offenses Without Hone Cavalry from Gunter, doubling opponents will not happen very often Staff support is not stellar No bows mean ranged attack is limited to Magic Cannot cross forests, making certain battle arenas very difficult to function in That's a synopsis of the types, but why not look at the key units themselves, and then the more interchangable ones. I'll cover one a day, because this stuff takes time to calculate! It All Starts with Reinhardt Reinhardt is the one of the best things when it comes to running raw offense, and if you're running a Reinhardt, you darn well know that Hone Cavalry is tantalizing to stack with that Dire Thunder brave attack, for huge offensive bonuses. Olwen has the same weapon, but lower offensive capabilities in exchange for some more speed to help her not get doubled, and more res + Warding Blow to help her assault Mages. It's superfluous, as Olwen's lower Atk means that she'll take hits where she may not have had to, and wouldn't normally be challenging mages anyway when a team should send melee fighters to do just that. Currently, Reinhardt is only available at 5*, so I'll update the list with skill unlockables as other versions become available. Stats: HP 41 ATK 41 DEF 27 SPD 18 (23 -5 from Dire Thunder) RES 22 Skills: ☆☆☆☆☆ Dire Thunder+ (9Mt, Attacks 2x on Player Phase, 2 Rng) Blazing Thunder [5-turn Cooldown] (Deals 1.5*Atk - Opponent Def/Res nearby, before initiating combat) Vantage 3 (Reinhardt counterattacks first if HP < 75% Goad Cavalry (+4 Atk & Spd to cavalry allies within 2 spaces) On the Offense Reinhardt has some pretty threatening offense, especially against commonly seen Falchion users and other sword lords in the meta. He also hammers foes like the Tikis with Blue x2 strikes. Currently, his 5* Offense averages out at 41 Atk *2 on Player Phase. His speed will never double anyone at a comparable level (23 speed -5 with Dire Thunder equipped), but Reinhardt's job isn't to take hits; it's to hit hard, twice. Goad Cavalry does not self-buff, but does stack with Hone Cavalry, letting Gunter and Reinhardt apply +10 Atk/Spd to units. This is gigantic, especially when paired with other Brave users like Olwen (Dire Thunder+ ), Cain (Brave Sword+[R]) and Abel (Brave Lance+). Reinhardt himself would boast 47 Atk and an almost-safe 24 speed on average, which is threatening, as 47*2 attack ORKOs a hearty handful and heavily chips anybody that isn't Sheena, Julia, Cecilia, Felicia, Niles, Est or a staffer without Res support on their end. Versus Reds: His main perk is being able to double-hit the popular Sword Lords and even some Red Mages like Tharja. Running around solo, he has his brave effect letting him double-strike from range, and free from counter, just about every red unit with ease. Hitting twice without fear of being hit back is a huge benefit. Reinhardt's 41 calculates out to an effective 49 Atk over Res, twice. This damage cannot kill Roy, Henry, Y!Tiki, Fir and Eliwood. That's it. Every other red unit dies unless given a Res buff from elsewhere. HP Variations make a difference here, so a +Atk Reinhardt accomodates for all variances of Red unit HP and Res. If you have Gunter's Hone Cavalry support for +6 Dmg, that equates to +7, so 56 Mt over Res. This assumes a neutral nature, and kills (assuming Non +HP/+Res) every red unit. +Atk nature covers for +HP/+Res, of course. Versus Blues: Since most of his KOs are close on the reds, he's not ORKO'ing blues without support. For what it's worth, he does put F!Corrin down to 1 HP, and with a Gunter buff of +6*2, that's 12 damage that lets him carry into battles vs common blues. DoubleStrikes even on Blues from 47 Atk over Res is threatening, and fails to kill only Gwendolyn, Shanna, Nowi, Jagen, Peri and Est. Again, this assumes no buffs are on the enemy and you're all running a neutral nature. Give yourself a +Atk nature and it'll match up with their +Hp/Res natures. Fight a neutral instance, and you're only struggling against Gwendolyns, Jagens and Peris. That's impressive! Versus Colorless: You're gonna have a mixed time. Most colorless units face him at his 41 Mt (let's not count Gunter in just yet). If I did my math correctly, Felicia takes 0 damage. Wow! Fortunately, there's more to life than Felicia. Takumi, Saizo, Jeorge, Gaius and Gordin dies. With Gunter Support, Kagero bites the dust (She survives normal onslaught with 2 HP so you can see just how close it is). If I didn't mention them, they either live or I just didn't calculate due to low battle presence (Healers, for instance, which off the top of my head, Sakura dies but not Elise). Versus Green: You're gonna have a bad time. Not only You're looking at 33 Atk before Gunter support per strike, and 38 with. That's so tiny, but can still make a decent dent. For instance, 33 Atk fails to ORKO any green unit, but does some alright chip. 11*2 vs Hector (before getting obliterated back), is probably the most notable, with heavier hitters like Minerva/Fred/Gunter/Cherche/Bartre/Barst taking 15-20 per hit (down the line). It'll deal heavy chip to these guys, at the very least.Julia and Sheena take 0 damage, and everybody else other than Merric takes about 20 damage in total. With Gunter support, Minerva, Frederick and Cherche still die, which is nice. Hefty chip damage happens to most everyone else, as that 15-20 per hit turns to 20-25 per hit, and 20 damage in total turns into 30. Only mages and Camilla have under 40 HP though, and other than Merric, none are taking that much damage. You're best bet is to bring a red like Eliwood (to sponge a hit with his high res and very safe speed), Cain (with his Escutcheon mitigating ranged damage after some battles) or Stahl (with his Ruby Sword) charge in to take out the Greens themselves. What about F!Robin? She'd kill him without effectiveness, to be honest. 53 Eff Mt doubled Reinhardt's snail-like 18 speed, and this doesn't even consider Blue Tomebreaker. 25 res and 38 HP mean Reinhardt takes 21*2 damage from a 5* F!Robin. This means that a 3* F!Robin at Level 40 should be able to kill him, with 46 EffectiveEffective Mt (from 34 Atk). Look man, this is a scale that you just can't tip. You lost before you got on your horse. On the Defense Unfortunately, his durability isn't anything to shake a stick at. 38 HP puts him in the bottom 5 out of the current 16 Cavalry units (beating out Elise, Clarine, Cecilia and Jagen), and with defensive parameters pretty much exactly average out of all of the cavaliers, him getting doubled is a problem. Vantage helps mitigate some damage that he might take after dealing with something like Savage Blow 3 (SB3's 7 Dmg puts him into Vantage range without shoving him into Combat) or any other skill like Glowing Light, Blazing Thunder, etc). His 27 Defense isn't exactly bad (like I said, it's exactly average, and he shouldn't be getting hit, but it won't take much to kill him. 41 attack from a blue unit with 23 speed or more (which is essentially, every other blue unit that isn't Effie) will ORKO him without defensive support. 5*Gwendolyn runs an average of 24 speed, to put it in perspective. He needs that Gunter support to keep from getting ORKO'd by your average 5* Gwendolyn. There's only a handful of units that do not double him, but fortunately, of those, they're not threatening (Raigh, Sophia) or can't easily reach him (Effie). Hawkeye fits in here, but can tank Reinhardt hard even with getting 4x'd. As a note, Reinhardt has the lowest Arena Rating out of all of the Cavalry, being 149 (Tied with Olwen). This reduces your rewards for Feather gains, so run Reinhardt and you probably won't see as high placing as you could with other horses that all run 10-30 points more than him. Other Synergy and Team Options: Gunter At 4*, there's no one better. Gunter gives Reinhardt the extra punch he needs to take on any red or blue with comfort, and lets him take on variants in Colorless and Green with a little bit less sweat to lose. Gunter support lets Reinhardt kill all variants of Takumi, even though most Takumis run +Spd or +Atk to secure kills of their own, so you should be fine as a basic version. He also gives Gunter a bit of extra firepower to charge ahead with his base 47 Atk at 5*, letting you run 4* 44 Atk Gunter with a neat +4 attack boost, which is a hefty Axe hit. The bonus to speed gives him 27 speed, which is much safer than 21 speed, and can let Gunter bait a bit more effectively, especially with his enormous 30 Def at 4*. Jagen/Eliwood +6 D/R and +4 D/R respectively, which stack. Eliwood covers Reds with a very safe 30 speed at 5*, and if you're needing some extra comfort to take on Greens, Eliwood runs Axebreaker to minimize the damage he himself will take from fast axe users like Minerva or Anna. It also makes approaching Hector much safer, though you should always let Hector attack you anyway, just to avoid that Followup strike of his via Armads. Eldigan Eldigan offers no synergy to your team, but huge benefits in terms of Arena potential. His 182 Rating is the highest of all of the Cavs, and with Fury, he's carrying some heavy stats, including 51 Atk (highest neutral atk by 4), and runs a Sword at that. His AoE, Growing Light, combined with Mystletainn's time reduction and high Defense (37) means that he should be able to proc one instance of Growing Light per match, giving Reinhardt what he needs to finish any job. The quirky thing about his AoE move is that it hits the unit he's attacking, and then alternating tiles. Fury means that you're taking additional damage each turn, but in reality, it's just going to offset the damage you might've taken from combat, and your Fury burn can't actually kill you after the battle. Hone and Goad Cavalry turn this into a 61 point monster with 37 speed. That will double a lot...basically any other horse without support, and most mages. Frederick Fred runs Fortify Def, which can serve as a +4 Def backup option to Jagen/Eliwood's defensive coverage. It's not as good, but does offer a boost to Def that is pretty comparable. He also has Wings of Mercy, which lets Fred teleport to Reinhardt for immediate aid. Since Reinhardt's most afraid of direct combat from the quicker units that tend to double him, Fred can lend a hand with his Hammer and benefit from Goad Cavalry at the same time. This offers Green coverage with a Hammer, which might not be appealing since Reinhardt can decimate armors on his own and Fred overlaps with Gunter. It's not a bad option though, since Fred boasts huge offense and gives additional coverage to take out Effies with. Fortify Def doesn't stack with Jagen's buff, so it'd be better to run Fred over Jagen than Eliwood. Wings of Mercy is hilariously effective, in giving Fred 51 Atk at 5* while teleporting over to Reinhardts in trouble from incoming units with high res and low def. Stahl/Cain Stahl runs Ruby Sword and Obstruct, which can help both discourage and even prevent greens from approaching Reinhardt, especially green fliers like Minerva and Camilla, while eating them up in the process. Swap allows for quick placement shifts to get Reinhardt in for chip and out of danger, and Goad Cavalry makes Stahl's Ruby Sword his super duper hard against the greens that threaten him. Cain runs Brave Sword and Wings of Mercy, which let Cain snag a quick buff from Goad Cavalry and do double somebody up with his respectable 40 [R] attack. Threaten Atk lets Cain and Reinhardt live longer. The neatest thing about Wings of Mercy is that you can teleport to Reinhardt's aid, should he need it, and get the boost from Goad Cavalry immediately. Both of these can replace Eliwood as damage takers rather than damage reducers, but emphasize more offense in particular environments. Cain offers much more flexibility to Stahl's hard counter against Greens and not much more. Abel Abel runs a Brave Lance, which would grow like nuts with +10 Atk. His middling stats everywhere else work well enough for him because of his 27 speed keeping him safe from harm, but Swordbreaker and HP+5 don't give him a lot to do. Blues counter him hard but often fall short of ORKO'ing Abel back, so it's not a big liability to have Abel charge forward or draw in opponents. He also kills Reds dead, but with Reinhardt already doing that, the choice is yours to have two Red killers on your team or not. However, greens counter him harder. The biggest benefit is the +10 Atk that touches the Brave Lance, and +10 Spd to Abel himself. 51 Atk and 37 Spd will probably spell death for anyone it comes across, which is super nice. Sully/Peri Sully carries a Sapphire Lance and Swordbreaker, letting her decimate reds, but that overlap with Reinhardt isn't often necessary unless you're dealing with a horde of sword lords and have no terrain coverage to hide behind. Her Draw Back lets her pull Reinhardt back from dealing Chip/Kill damage in Danger Areas, which can be neat., and also can technically give you further movement options for both units. It's situational. Peri doesn't synergize with Reinhardt all that well, because she reduces Defense, which benefits her. She fits alright on the team, with Threaten Def combining well with Goad Cavalry to help her enjoy more benefits from Reinhardt. She doesn't offer him very much though, is the point Cecilia/Leo Cecilia can boost Reinhardt's middling Res and if hurt herself, can teleport away to give Reinhardt more room to maneuver around. Her green coverage doesn't help him all that much though and her weapon offers only Counter damage options against bow users that probably kill her anyway (Neutral Takumi doubled +Spd Cecilias, for instance). If you need a Res boost, take Eliwood, for coverage and for passive buffs over active buffs Leo can offer some unique assistance due to his hard hitting Brynhildr tome, high Res to absorb hits from green mages like Nino and Julia (that with proper buffs, could otherwise OHKO Reinhardt) and returning hits with Savage Blow to put nearby units at safe kill range. Quick Riposte lets him hit back hard, if he survives, but his best use is to work with Goad Cavalry to run 47 Mt attacks and Savage Blow to soften up enemies, letting them be surefire ORKO fodder for Reinhardt's Dire Thunder on Player Phase. Olwen A second Blue brave tome user with worse offensive stats and Spur Res / Reposition as her gimmicks, can help, but is far from useful. She's a poor man's Reinhardt, and begs for Gunter+Reinhardt support so she can touch 41->45 Atk and be threatening. Her safe res lets her bait mages though, but the Greens will hurt her big time anyway, Nino/Julia are powerhouses and hit her hard while taking little in return, while Merric and F!Robin just take a punch and deal one back. Clarine/Elise Clarine offers Swift Winds Balm and Fear, while Elise offers higher consistent heals and Live to Serve. Clarine's Fear drops Atk for foes by -6, which is nice and has saved my butt on many occassions. I'd run Imbue over SWB though, as more Heal Power helps keep my team going. Reinhardt doesn't care about the speed, and the bonus speed for Cavalry won't amount to much. Elise just heals for more, always. She runs Gravity, which can be nice in arenas that have walls or bridges to attack across, but in any other terrain, you probably won't see much use from her, because she's too squishy and Gravity doesn't do enough to matter when you have a high mobility team already Who I suggest to run? Under normal circumstances, running Reinhardt implies that your team craves reactionary offense rather than defensive counters to hit your enemies. Gunter. Reinhardt's Goad Cavalry and Gunter's Hone Cavalry allow excellent team boosts to offense by pushing attack for your team up from +4 on his own to +10 with Gunter around. It's too good to pass up, and with Gunter around, you have coverage against blues and safe bait to use to draw in slower melee blues like Effie and Sully, and especially Cordelias and Gwendolyns. Sharena can still hit Gunter hard at 1 range with her lance (48 atk and doubling will hit hard but won't kill Gunter, even with a Hone Attack on herself). Gunter struggles against Nowis and Lindes though, which is where he's best off simply buffing Reinhardt and letting Reinhardt take care of them himself. Gunter at 5* or 4*+Atk should be able to OHKO most Lindes, especially with a Goad Cavalry support, just don't let him get hit by her even with WTA. Jagen gives Reinhardt some cushion to work with, and helps boster your entire team at the same time. +6 D/R is gigantic, when combined with Reinhardt's already very average defenses and Gunter's sky high Def. Other options like Eliwood appreciate the Res buff, and Cain/Abel crave it to do their jobs for more. It helps pull the need for sustainability via Healer out of the equation. Eldigan is Red, and has incredible stats for a horseman (the highest, at 182). Growing Light and Lunge require careful use but can benefit your team by giving you more area coverage if necessary. If Eldigan kills, Lunge doesn't proc, so that's no big deal. Speaking of, Cain offers excellent coverage. While Eliwood looks appealing with his +4 D/R that can stack on Jagen's +6, you really want Reinhardt to thrive on the offense here, and Cain helps Reinhardt live longer with Threaten Attack as his AOE Passive debuff. Wings of Mercy lets Cain rush to get harmed Reinhardts out of trouble, and immediately benefit eachother through the +Atk and -Atk they both throw out. Cain hits 37 speed with both buffs from Gunter and from Reinhardt, which is very threatening, especially when dealing with a brave. If it's green, it's dead. No butts about it. Eliwood offers alternative Red coverage, which Jagen/Reinhardt/Gunter are begging for, but his offense isn't stellar until he hits 5* and acquires Durandal. If you have a 5* Eliwood, then sub in Cain for Eliwood for that higher raw offense (and innate Deathblow on Durandal) for hard single-hits. Cain's utility and Brave lets him do more against most though, while Eliwood's going to offer a bit more defense for G/J/R to work with, which isn't all that big of a deal. Frederick makes decent coverage too, with Wings of Mercy letting him get Reinhardt out of trouble. Fred's problem is that he buffs Defense, which Reinhardt doesn't really want to get hit. If Reinhardt's hit, he's probably dead, or at least in Vantage range, and not lasting another one. Final Words A Cavalry team is fun, in the right maps. Bad maps, like those with...any terrain, really screw you up. Forests create narrow corridors that opponents can just fly or walk over, and all that does is set you up for pinser attacks and put you on the immediate defensive. Running braves mean that you want to initiate the attacks, not the other way around. It's hard work to pull off a team like this, and you're not even going to do that well in the Arena with it, in terms of rewards. Jagen/Gunter/Reinhardt/Cain run 645 pts on average, when a different team could cross past 700 and still have strong synergy. Given my previous placement of running 605-610s in a perfect run getting me into the top 40,000 though for Feather prizes, it could still offer you rewards with fun. Reinhardt as a standalone unit is very good with intelligent play and a team to work with. Without strong Attack support, he checks most reds but begs for a Dancer and an Attack buff from Sharena/Eirika/Olivia/Raigh/etc, and if you're doing that, you could run any kind of team like a Nino Nuke team, Brave w/ Gordin/Klein team...it's nothing special. Blue lets him check Sword Lords reds in general, which fill the Arena to the brim. If you intend to just have a Blue Brave beater charge ahead and kill stuff willynilly, you're going to lose Reinhardt almost instantly. He has no defensive abilities or sustainability whatsoever, so don't use him like he does, play cautiously, and you can accomplish a lot with the guy.

So in your opinion, who's the best axe user in this game and why? I personally prefer Barst, because his stats are close to each other unlike Cord and Bord's axe duo growths. Darros, I have never used before...

Is Lucius really Overpowered? First, let's see his Growth Rates... HP: 55% Magic:60% Skill:50% Speed:40% Luck:20% Def:10% Res:60% Hm... These are pretty good growth rates, but VERY bad in Luck and Defense... He also gains a C rank on staves upon promotion... So, is he overpowered? My answer to that is, yes and no, it depends on how you use him, I personally prefer using Lucius as a Magic Tank or a Physic Bot for my other units... His low defense makes him almost unusable for attacking at melee range, but since he has extremely high magic, he can easily heal units that can be his meat shield... So yes, IN MY OPINION, Lucius IS overpowered, unless you get unlucky... I'll be happy to hear your opinions as well, have a good day everyone...