The Comprehensive Child Unit Ranking Thread: Part 2

[KiwiScribble]

Hello and welcome to the second part in a series where we go over every paring in Fire emblem Awakening. This time, we're actually reviewing some stuff!

 

Here are the rules-

 

1. I will post three to five parings and give explanations of their various attributes. I will leave each thread for a week or so before beginning the next. 

2. Ratings are given as follows: S (Amazing), A (Extremely Good), B (Pretty Good), C (Decent), D (Bad), F (Absolutely Terrible). 

3. You do not have to vote for every paring if you do not want to. 

4. Votes should be given based upon skills, classes, stats (Modifiers), and effectiveness during the Endgame and Apotheosis, NOT support conversations, hair color, Demand for a parent, etc. 

5. All avatar rankings are automatically godlike, so those and Morgan will not be covered. 

6. Any troll votes will be dismissed. 

 

Lets get started!

 

-Ricken!Owain-

The most popular dad for Owain, to my knowledge. Let's see what he gets! 

Mods- 

-2 Strength

+5 Magic

+1 Speed

+4 Luck

-1 Defense

+2 Resistance

New Classes- 

Mage Classline (Sage/Dark Knight)

Cavalier Classline (Paladin/Great Knight) 

Archer Classline (Sniper/Bow Knight)

Notable New Skills- 

Aegis, Bowfaire, Dual Guard+, Lifetaker, Luna, Tomefaire

Overall- 

This paring basically confines Owain to a Sage Pair-Up partner, due to the negative strength. The great magic mod from Ricken really adds some potency and Dual Guard+ and Tomefaire are great for support. Owain is reasonable with bows as well, but Sage is overall the better option. Luna is always a good skill to have, and will help if Owain ever needs to attack. Aegis and Lifetaker are also there if you really want them, but end up being lackluster on this Owain. This is probably the way you want to look for Magic Owain. 

-Henry!Noire- 

Dark Mage X Dark mage, huh? Godspeed Noire. Godspeed. 

Mods- 

+2 Strength

+5 Magic 

+2 Skill

+2 Speed

-4 Luck

+3 Defense

New Classes- 

Thief Classline (Trickster/Assassin)

Troubadour Classline (Valkyrie/War Cleric)

Notable New Skills-

Dual Support+, Lucky Seven, Movement +1, Renewal, Wrath (from inheritance) 

Overall-

We get a very mixed bag here. The mods say "Make me a Sage/Dread Fighter," but those are unfortunately not options. Positive defense on a mage is always welcome, though. The skills are inconsistant, with some support, some Magic oriented, and some physical oriented. She could theoretically use Axefaire in the War Monk class, but her strength is simply not as good as her Magic. Due to getting Renewal, and Movement +1, Dark Knight is the better option. Sorcerer is pretty good, but both Henry and Noire can certainly do better. 

-Donnel!Kjelle- 

Oh, boy, here we go. 

Mods-

+1 Strength

-1 Magic

+2 Skill

+2 Speed

+4 Luck

+1 Defense

New Classes-

Mercenary Classline (Hero/Bow Knight)

Pegasus Knight Classline (Falcon Knight/Dark Flier)

Troubadour Classline (Valkyrie/War Cleric) 

Notable New Skills- 

Aptitude (from inheritance), Armsthrift, Galeforce, Lancefaire, Renewal, Sol

Overall- 

The obvious draw of this set is Galeforce. Kjelle really apreciates this skill, especially since she won't be doing much moving in some of her classes. The mods are pretty good, but the skills are the true heroes (see what I did there?). Renewal and Sol are both great for sustain, while Lancefaire and Armsthrift are good for using Regalia. I'd say this paring more or less lives up to the hype. 

Edited July 20, 2017 by KiwiScribble

[Ronnie]

Ricken!Owain is S tier. Owain has good magic growth already combined with Lissa's and Ricken just injects more magical steroids into him. Turns him into a great Sage.

Henry!Noire is an A rank for me. Gaius is the better father for an Assassin or Sniper Noire but having her as a Sorcerer is pretty great too. She'll have 2 Sorcerer parents! She won't get any Galeforce which hurts her. None of the skills Henry passes down to her are that notable imo since DS+ is overshadowed by DG+ in my eyes and Renewal counteracts Vengeance. I think Vengeance has better synergy with Lifetaker and Noire will have those skills regardless of the parent. Henry's stat mods are nice for a magic based Noire though.

Donnel!Kjelle is pretty alright. I'd say a B tier. Kjelle really doesn't need Galeforce since she should be left as a General and tank hits like a truck. Renewal could be a more reliable way to self heal if you want her tanking the frontlines or you could opt for Sol to heal while damaging at the risk of Skill%. Donnel isn't a bad parent for her but there could be better choices. At least he can pass down Aptitude if you want your Kjelle up and at 'em in no time.

[SoulWeaver]

Cool, let's look into each of these and then I'm throwing out my top wanted for the next couple rounds.

Ricken->Owain: This…this is a thing? Lon'qu makes more sense to me for inspiring the dark hero, but whatever. You forgot to mention he can naturally get Astra thanks to Swordmaster, and considering you're looking at Apotheosis as a thing, a Sage using a max-forged Celica's Gale and triggering Astra twice is, while uncommon, definitely something that needs to be looked at. You're also forgetting that with a little training for Lissa, Owain can get Galeforce, which should be considered when rating his other Skills - Luna, for example, seems to me to become more useful if Owain has inherited Galeforce. My build for a Ricken->Owain Sage would use Galeforce, Astra, Luna, Tomefaire, and Lifetaker or Aegis depending on the map in question and use him as an attack Unit, not a Pair-Up bench liner. Overall, not bad, but I'd rather use Henry if we're looking at a magic-based parent, in part because Henry also drops Barbarian Tree and consequently Despoil for early to mid game and Counter for Counter. Probably B, but I might be convinced to go to A.

Henry->Noire: The second most obvious Tharja pairing, behind only Robin of course. I disagree about Lucky Seven being as useful as the other Skills for Apotheosis, though, and would use Acrobat or Pass as alternatives - Acrobat in particular is very useful for her Wood-heavy Paralogue in addition to any Desert maps you may happen to run into, and Pass can get her out of tight spots(though it unfortunately can't save her from her mother). For your War Cleric argument, give her a Bolt Axe and the problem is solved. Also, as I mentioned above, Henry can pass along Despoil or Counter. Despoil is useful early to mid game, and Counter is helpful if you either equip Mire as a Magic wielder or keep her a Sniper because it means you aren't necessarily free game at point-blank, though it won't help you in Apotheosis thanks to Dragonskin. My Henry->Noire would run Renewal, Vengeance, Tome/Bowbreaker or possibly Lethality depending on the Difficulty level, Pavise, and Luna(because Tharja passes on Knight Tree for whatever reason), and she could easily be a frontline War Cleric or a backline Sniper, Sorcerer or Valkyrie with equal success. Not my all-time favorite pairing for her, that'd be Stahl for Pavise-Aegis duo because I like to play defensively, but still a pretty good choice. I'mma go with a solid A, though Noire is tied for my second-favorite Gen 2 character so that might affect it just a touch.

Donnel->Kjelle: The conversations were just…weird with this one, but hey, float your boat I'll float mine. First off, Sully passes along the Wyvern Rider and Myrmidon Trees not to mention Cavalier, which means Aegis, Deliverer, and Astra to mention a couple of the Skills she can get that way. I'd say Deliverer is a must for movement if you're planning on keeping her as a General since it buffs Movement by 2 while she's Paired Up with someone(perhaps your Sage Owain, eh?), and she can also get Lancebreaker if you want her to be a Sword user instead. Myrmidon means Assassin, which means Pass and I guess Lethality, though it's less helpful for Apotheosis, and also Swordmaster, so hello Astra, plus Myrmidon itself drops Vantage, helpful if she happens to tank one too many hits and then gets attacked again before she can heal. Aptitude's nice, but if you're training for Apotheosis you're going to end up reclassing her until she maxes all her stats out anyways and then it's just there. It speeds up the process a little, sure, but I'd rather just use it to help Donnel more quickly reach a good Skill that Kjelle can't normally get. She also naturally gets the Pavise-Aegis duo, so that's a thing if you're a defensive Robin like myself. I don't really use Kjelle all that much despite her being Noire's contender for second-place in my heart, so I don't really have a preferred setup for her as I swap her around every time I do use her, but my Donnel->Kjelle'd probably focus on the Pavise-Aegis duo with Astra/Luna as my attack Skill and make the last two depend on the Class I decide for her - Deliverer for General, Lancebreaker for Swordmaster, etc. I think she toes the line between A and B, just slightly to the A side.

Now for my requests! Do maybe like one per thread if other people have ideas. Also, come on, everyone, you can all request stuff too. Whether it gets in immediately might not be so sure, but hey, never ask, never hear yes, gotcha?

Stahl->Severa

Vaike->Inigo

[Shadow Mir]

17 hours ago, SoulWeaver said:

Ricken->Owain: This…this is a thing? Lon'qu makes more sense to me for inspiring the dark hero, but whatever. You forgot to mention he can naturally get Astra thanks to Swordmaster, and considering you're looking at Apotheosis as a thing, a Sage using a max-forged Celica's Gale and triggering Astra twice is, while uncommon, definitely something that needs to be looked at. You're also forgetting that with a little training for Lissa, Owain can get Galeforce, which should be considered when rating his other Skills - Luna, for example, seems to me to become more useful if Owain has inherited Galeforce. My build for a Ricken->Owain Sage would use Galeforce, Astra, Luna, Tomefaire, and Lifetaker or Aegis depending on the map in question and use him as an attack Unit, not a Pair-Up bench liner. Overall, not bad, but I'd rather use Henry if we're looking at a magic-based parent, in part because Henry also drops Barbarian Tree and consequently Despoil for early to mid game and Counter for Counter.

Actually, Owain already has Barbarian in his class tree. And if I may be honest, Counter's garbage for the player.

That being said:

Ricken!Owain is S tier - his mother already sets him up to be a good mage, and Ricken just augments that further.

Henry!Noire is A tier. Good magic mod and offers Renewal. Though I disagree on Wrath being a notable skill, since 20 crit is hardly worth being under half health.

Donnel!Kjelle is B tier. Sure, it offers Galeforce, but it basically offers little else of note, and the mods are nothing to write home about (Donnel!Kjelle is practically a carbon copy of her mom mod wise), which I don't really think Galeforce access makes up for.

Edited July 20, 2017 by Levant Mir Celestia

[SoulWeaver]

36 minutes ago, Levant Mir Celestia said:

Actually, Owain already has Barbarian in his class tree.

Oh, whoops. Clearly I don't use Owain enough, haha. I'd still take Henry over Ricken, though.

37 minutes ago, Levant Mir Celestia said:

And if I may be honest, Counter's garbage for the player.

…Why do I get the feeling I've heard this before…I know I heard it somewhere…nope, I got nothing. :P

As I mentioned above, I like to play defensively, and for that kind of playstyle Counter's not complete garbage, particularly for Mire or Bow users as I mentioned when talking about Noire. Yes, it's not the best use of the Skill slot, but the only time I've ever really been disappointed in Counter was when I realized Dragonskin negated it. Also, hopefully you noticed I didn't include Counter once in my actual setups I said I'd use if I did each pairing(I didn't even mention it for Donnel->Kjelle), in part because there are better options and also because the OP specifically said to take Apotheosis into consideration, and using Counter for Apotheosis is literally just trying to win with only four Skills equipped.

[Shadow Mir]

22 minutes ago, SoulWeaver said:

Oh, whoops. Clearly I don't use Owain enough, haha. I'd still take Henry over Ricken, though.

…Why do I get the feeling I've heard this before…I know I heard it somewhere…nope, I got nothing. :P

As I mentioned above, I like to play defensively, and for that kind of playstyle Counter's not complete garbage, particularly for Mire or Bow users as I mentioned when talking about Noire. Yes, it's not the best use of the Skill slot, but the only time I've ever really been disappointed in Counter was when I realized Dragonskin negated it. Also, hopefully you noticed I didn't include Counter once in my actual setups I said I'd use if I did each pairing(I didn't even mention it for Donnel->Kjelle), in part because there are better options and also because the OP specifically said to take Apotheosis into consideration, and using Counter for Apotheosis is literally just trying to win with only four Skills equipped.

Any particular reason?

Actually,  I'm sure you did... because I was involved.

What really kills Counter's usefulness, as I see it, is that it's too much effort for too little reward. Getting any real mileage out of it means you likely need to have low defense, else it doesn't do much of anything.

[SoulWeaver]

2 hours ago, Levant Mir Celestia said:

Any particular reason?

I think I just feel like Henry fits Owain better for the whole "Hero of the Dark" thing plus his hair color looks better on Owain, though if those modifiers mentioned in the OP for Henry->Noire are static no matter who Henry's paired to then I'd also rather have that as opposed to Ricken's mods. The first reason doesn't really fit the rating requirements for the OP, though, so I guess I'd rather have Sorcerer Owain than Sage Owain because he then has access to Dark Tomes.

2 hours ago, Levant Mir Celestia said:

Actually,  I'm sure you did... because I was involved.

What really kills Counter's usefulness, as I see it, is that it's too much effort for too little reward. Getting any real mileage out of it means you likely need to have low defense, else it doesn't do much of anything.

Yeah, that was me being sarcastic, sorry - I've kind of reached the point where I troll without meaning to or realizing that's what I'm doing.

It is sometimes frustrating, yeah, but on higher difficulties it's not a bad option because enemies get buffed and consequently do more damage. I still only really try to get Counter on whoever Vaike's child is because it's the easiest to do, though, and I do agree it's not the best Skill, especially on Normal Difficulty.

[SSJDennis]

Ricken!Owain is a -S- rank unit. High magic strength, paired with Luna and Galeforce.

Henry!Noire is just -B- rank to me. Main reason would be the wasted potential of both Henry AND Noire. Sure, the makes a good Sorcerer, but won't she always?

Donnel!Kjelle is a -A- rank, but still her best option, if you ask me. Getting Galeforce is really nice, to bad it takes so long to gain. If she had an "easier" start, I think she could go higher. Knight is just meh in this game.

[KnightOfNohr]

I give Noire an A-. She's primarily a hard support for my Morgan

Ricken!Owain and Donnel!Kjelle are A+s. Both very good pairings that you can't go wrong with.

For the next one, may I suggest a Nah fathered by the aforementioned Donnel?

[Errorik]

On 7/24/2017 at 8:10 PM, KnightOfNohr said:

I give Noire an A-. She's primarily a hard support for my Morgan

Ricken!Owain and Donnel!Kjelle are A+s. Both very good pairings that you can't go wrong with.

For the next one, may I suggest a Nah fathered by the aforementioned Donnel?

I usually pair Robin with Nowi. Nah and Morgan turn into manakete monsters.

[KnightOfNohr]

OMG ME TOO NOWI IS TOTES AWESOME WIFE