Best Ninja in Fates?

[Shadow Mir]

What's this about Kaze sucking in revelations??? He joins with a weapon class above E-rank and immediately usable base stats; that alone makes him one of your more viable units (assuming your going for a no-grind run. With grinding, there is no such thing as an unviable unit in revelations). Revelations is very kind to him, as he's one of those units that really appreciates having access to both armories to max out his utility. With nhor's hunting knife he can reliably double every mounted unit (up to and including the fastest falco Knights) in the game at 1-2 range with effective damage. With hoshido's dual shuriuken he can reliably dodge-tank against axe users. The value of his speed is really being undersold here, because everyone is just talking about dodge-tanking and ignoring doubling. Its not just about how reliably you dodge. It's about how often you're at that magic number where you attack twice in one round against a slower opponent (Saizo misses out on some important doubling benchmarks that kaze consistently hits). Kaze's proc rate is deceptively high compared to saizo's because when you're attack twice in one round you are getting two rolls of the RNG to fish for a proc instead of one (not that u should ever be fishing for procs as a strategy, but it seems to be a thing people are taking into consideration in their evaluations). Kaze will proc more than Saizo, despite the skill gap, simply because he's getting more doubles and thus more opportunities over the course of a map to activate a proc. The value of Saizo's skill is likewise being oversold (super high skill really isn't that useful, unless you're an axe user. You just don't want to have super low skill). Finally, I would like to share my observation that Kaze with a dual shuriuken is a very solid answer to malig Knights, who very few units can handle on both the magical and physical end (this is a niche shared with dual naginata hinoka. Although she has to switch to spear master to pull it off as well as kaze, because as a flier she can not abuse evade bonuses from terrain). They don't have the skill to hit him with their axes, and even with reverse weapon triangle disadvantage, kaze is not threatened by their tomes. This is something saizo and Kagero cannot do.

Last I checked, it's not like the Hunter's Knife, Dual Shuriken, etc. magically became Kaze-only. And what's with the mention of terrain? Because about the only terrain that tends to make any real difference in battle are forts and that ward in chapter 26 of Revelations.

Saizo has retardedly good bases and growths and he can dip into Swordmaster to pick up Astra and Vantage if you want. Like lategame, there's virtually no difference between Ryoma and Saizo's performances, they both skullfuck the competition without breaking a sweat, Saizo just has a bit more concrete bulk in exchange for less avoid and an earlier jointime.

Kagero is the best of the three in Revelation though. Saizo's ok there but kind of average and Kaze sucks massive dick there.

Vantage access would be fine and dandy if being at Vantage level wasn't tantamount to playing Russian roulette, which it is.

Edited December 13, 2016 by Levant Mir Celestia

[BANRYU]

Saizo wins pretty solidly IMO. I might be a bit biased in this regard, but balanced growths are always preferable to me and just make a unit overall easier to use IMO. Saizo can take a hit (physically at least) better than the other 2 from gen 1, has mad skill for abusing crits with Barb Shuriken (or even just in general tbh), and still outspeeds the significant majority of things he wants to outspeed. Kagero is my personal favorite and I've no shortage of love for Kaze either, but Saizo definitely seems like he puts the most work in.

[Leonarth]

I'll go with Kagero, her growths and bases work best with my playstyle honestly. Kaze is good at killing mages, but there are a lot of other units that can do the same (not even going into reclassing people into Dread Fighter) and Saizo is pretty well rounded, but I like to play with extremes, hence my preference for classes like Berserkers, Swordmasters, and so on. Since I rarely use Saizo, I barely use Asugi, and I prefer for the mothers that would give Asugi extreme stat leaning to be used elsewhere, so he gets the shaft honestly.

In terms of availability, Kaze may have the best, but he can only do so much with it (see above). Saizo has better than Kagero in both routes, with a few chapters in Birthright and only one chapter in Revelations. In Birthright, he can get a bit of a headstart on Kagero, but more than likely she'll join the same level as him or just under him, so it's negligible at best. In Revelations this is even more pronounced, with Saizo probably only being able to get 1 or 2 levels at most, putting him at the same point as Kagero. Asugi has the worst availability, with the earliest being one chapter after Saizo, but you probably won't get him anywhere close to then. I can live with Kagero's join time, and for the reasons above it works out well.

Personality wise, I can say for sure that Saizo rubs me the wrong way, I think he isn't a good person all the time. The funny part about that though is that for the same reason I hate Saizo I love Leo, but that probably is because Leo is a cynical ass but I find it more entertaining somehow. Kaze is a bit bland for me, all I can remember was the whole Prince Charming thing and guilt about what happened in Cheve, not much else. Asugi is Gaius 2.0, so any praise he has would be attributed to Gaius. Kagero though... I don't know what it is but something about her gives me good vibes. I think my favorite part is how she does art (despite lacking the skill to do it well) and does it as a passion. I think it also says something about who she forms relationships with when Orochi is her childhood friend, and Orochi is one of the few people who appreciates Kagero's art for what it is.

[LucarioGamer812]

I'm going with Kagero on this. As what has been said has been said, her strength and speed are amazing and I like her character alot more then the other ninja. My favorite unit to have as a ninja though? Midori. I have her set up with Miracle, Nohrian trust, Vantage, Death blow, and Shurikenfaire. Her Support unit knows astra, sol, luna, aether, and dragon fang

[Ryuke]

Saizo > Kagero >> Kaze

 

I love Saizo... he's a solid overall ninja with good strength.

Kagero is really your red cavalier with high strength.

while Kaze is your green cavalier with high speed/skill.

 

That being said. I love all of them!

Edited February 16, 2017 by Ryuke

[Tarisaskia]

Voted Saizo. He's a beast, I can always count on him on the field. All those instant kills !
I admit I never really used Kagero because ... I dont know ? I have enough with the twins on the battlefield?

 

[KadenTheKitsune]

I voted Saizo too. I think that out of all the ninjas, he's the strongest/most reliable. He's amazing with Flame Shuriken.
Kagero is great too, but she's not as strong as Saizo.
I like Kaze too, but he's the weakest out of all the ninjas and has a more boring personality.

I used all three of them in my playthrough of Birthright, but I felt like Saizo was the better one out of all of them.

(I married Kaze and Kagero).

[Melissa]

I like Saizo for his unfaltering seriousness 

[joshcja]

Where's the option for Silias and Laslow yo.

Kaze is substantially better than the other inherent ninja's.

Edited March 14, 2017 by joshcja

[Rifas Club]

So, statwise? Asugi no contest, I mean, he is a second gen, and he actually will be connecting lethalities unlike the other three.

Edited April 26, 2017 by Rifas Club

[Ae†her]

On 3/13/2017 at 3:46 PM, KadenTheKitsune said:

(I married Kaze and Kagero).

That's literally the worst thing you could do to Saizo, your stronger ninja.

[MediocreLee]

Kagero always managed to be a really solid unit for me no matter the playthrough.  I am currently, but slowly, doing a ninja run in FE Fates and Kagero is still proving to be very useful.  Kaze and Saizo are pulling their weight too!

[Shoblongoo]

On 4/25/2017 at 11:34 PM, Rifas Club said:

So, statwise? Asugi no contest, I mean, he is a second gen, and he actually will be connecting lethalities unlike the other three.

I'm hesitant to give any real ranking to Asugi, because how good he turns out is so dependent on when you recruit him + who his mother is.

On my first playthrough of birthright, Saizo spent ALOT of the early game paried up with Rinkah. They were the first couple in my party to hit S-Support. And I went for the marriage + the paralouge right away.

...My Asugi was shit...

On my last playthrough of birthright, I paired Saizo with Hinoka. Recruited Asugi late enough to pop his offspring seal and get him up-to-snuff for the endgame as soon as he joined the party. He joined with Darting Blow + Hinoka's speed and resistance, on top of his ninja base stats.

...My Asugi instantly outclassed Kaze and Saizo...

His availability isn't as good as the other ninjas though. Especially if you want to optimize his skill inheritance + fully abuse the offspring seal (which you generally do)

 

Edited May 28, 2017 by Shoblongoo

[Shadow Mir]

On April 25, 2017 at 10:34 PM, Rifas Club said:

So, statwise? Asugi no contest, I mean, he is a second gen, and he actually will be connecting lethalities unlike the other three.

I have a hard time buying this for reasons already mentioned. Also, I don't see how he'll be connecting lethalities when Lethality's far too unreliable to bank on (skill/4 activation rate? Reeks of a wasted skill slot to me...).

17 hours ago, Shoblongoo said:

I'm hesitant to give any real ranking to Asugi, because how good he turns out is so dependent on when you recruit him + who his mother is.

On my first playthrough of birthright, Saizo spent ALOT of the early game paried up with Rinkah. They were the first couple in my party to hit S-Support. And I went for the marriage + the paralouge right away.

...My Asugi was shit...

On my last playthrough of birthright, I paired Saizo with Hinoka. Recruited Asugi late enough to pop his offspring seal and get him up-to-snuff for the endgame as soon as he joined the party. He joined with Darting Blow + Hinoka's speed and resistance, on top of his ninja base stats.

...My Asugi instantly outclassed Kaze and Saizo...

His availability isn't as good as the other ninjas though. Especially if you want to optimize his skill inheritance + fully abuse the offspring seal (which you generally do)

 

I disagree on the offspring seal matter - far as I'm concerned, it's far more trouble than it's worth. Especially when I have to work with a set of characters who mostly have garbage defensive abilities.