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Who are your favorite dodgetanks of the GBA games?


Charmeleonbrah
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I recently played through Sacred Stones again, and it got me thinking about which characters I love to use as dodgetanks.  It was inspired by Chapter 18, Last Hope, where you must survive 13 turns.  Marisa on a pillar had 100+ avoid and ~65% critical hit rate with killing edge equipped, and ORKO'd roughly half of the map's enemies, and only one enemy connected on a hit.  The GBA series has a ton of good dodgetanks, due to abundant myrmidons/mercenaries/healers/magic users.  Here's my favorites:

Binding Blade: Sue.  She got up to 80 avoid at the end of the game, which made her the best at baiting out ranged enemies.

Blazing Sword:  Oddly enough, Priscilla.  Her high magic, skill, speed, and luck stats guaranteed her to dodge most attacks, and the only attack disadvantage she suffers is dark magic, which is pretty rare.  She could sit on a base and take out an entire side of the map.  IMO mages can be the best dodgetanks because of their weapon advantage.

Sacred Stones: Tana and Marisa.  Both have 90 avoid on neutral terrain when standing next to their support character.  When Marisa is on good terrain, usually the enemy hit% is 0.

Who are you guy's favorite characters to use as dodgetanks?

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I have never played Binding Blade.

I have olny played Blazing Blade once, but I do remember using Priscilla, just like you.

I have played Sacred Stones countless times and I always use Tana and Lute. I love using them since you cannot damage what you cannot hit.

Also, I think the correct term would be "avoid tank". Dodge in Fire Emblem refers to critical rate and Avoidance to normal hit rate.

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Binding Blade: Sadly, haven't played it yet. It's on the list, just as soon as everybody agrees to stop making videogames for, like, five years so I can catch up.

Blazing Sword: Does Dart count? :^P

Lyn, no contest. GBA is the era of the dodgetank dream, and Lyn is the dodgetank lord. My favoritism usually gives her the angel robe and the strength potion, so she ends up being pretty frickin' durable through midgame, and always gets the first Heaven Seal. Combined with her crit-machine prf sword, if there is a forest tile nearby I can plop her on top of it and almost forget about her while I sweat bullets trying to position whichever squishy magic user I feel like babying that day.

Sacred Stones: Joshua. Aside from having an actual personality (if kinda two-dimensional) he boasts an actual strength growth, and his support options skew towards characters I actually like using. I like to pair him with Gerik, and then pretend the whole game is actually a buddy cop movie with these two chuckleheads as the leads. Tethys is the long-suffering secretary who makes barbed quips about them being a little too chummy to be 'just friends.' There is an imaginary cut sequence from the middle act where they have to outrun a giant Raiders of the Lost Ark boulder while wearing the two halves of a horse costume that was from a subplot that the studio thought was too cerebral for a summer action comedy. The special edition commentary with Joshua, Gerik, and the director has a great story about filming in Tunisia and how a sandstorm ruined a whole week's worth of footage and they didn't have time to re-shoot the sword fight while running atop a stampeding herd of camels, so they ultimately settled for what became Chapter 15.

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On 11/28/2017 at 7:30 PM, Charmeleonbrah said:

@Omegaprism Nice.  I would watch that anime for sure.  Gerik and Joshua seem like they'd be pretty cool to do some crazy s**t with or just to get a beer and make crude jokes.  Also I love Gerik's base stats.  And who in their right minds would promote Eliwood over Lyn?

Well, certainly not I, but there is a very vocal group on serenes who say Eliwood gaining a horse is a huge boon and that Lyn is hot garbage as a unit not worth deploying.

Philistines, the lot of them.

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22 hours ago, Omegaprism said:

Well, certainly not I, but there is a very vocal group on serenes who say Eliwood gaining a horse is a huge boon and that Lyn is hot garbage as a unit not worth deploying.

Philistines, the lot of them.

They're mentally ill, besides being wrong.  Only people who want "S rank" would care about movement difference.  Whatever, I can use the mine glitch to grind Nino to Sage in one chapter and kill Sonia and they can't. :B):

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Like many who posted so far, I've yet to play Binding Blade.

For Blazing Sword, I have either Lyn, Rebecca, or Legualt do the dodge tanking. (This depends if I play Lyn's , Eliwood's  or Hector's Stories respectfully)

Thought once I did get a very dodgy Bartre...

As for Sacred Stones Tana or Joshua, depending on if the enemy is a bow user or not.

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On 11/30/2017 at 10:10 PM, Charmeleonbrah said:

They're mentally ill, besides being wrong.  Only people who want "S rank" would care about movement difference.  Whatever, I can use the mine glitch to grind Nino to Sage in one chapter and kill Sonia and they can't. :B):

One- don't offend the actually mentally ill.

Two- Move is a stat, more move is better than less, just as more Speed is better than less, and more of every stat (save Con maybe) is better than less. You don't need to be an LTC or S rank player to like higher move units. It is far easier to tackle Battle Before Dawn if I have a few high move units so Zephiel and Jaffar can be reached much faster. Need I mention turn limit Gaiden chapters, getting to chests/villages before thieves/bandits get there, the ability of fliers to move over terrain others can't? Movement isn't the end all be all- you need good stats elsewhere to back them up.

Three- you promoted Nino in two fights? Well if that was fun for you, then sure, yay! But there is zero intrinsic value in that, just as you may assert there is no intrinsic value in in S ranking. Both are ultimately objectively meaningless, they only take on personal subjective value on an individual basis. But c'est la vie!

 

On 11/30/2017 at 10:10 PM, Charmeleonbrah said:

And who in their right minds would promote Eliwood over Lyn?

Someone who likes Eliwood? Not everyone is beholden to Lyn. And maybe there is a gameplay argument that promoting him first is better than promoting Lyn first, just as you make make one arguing the opposite?

Assuming you even want to bother training Lyn, or Eliwood, at all. Which is a personal decision, no something that can be dictated. I get by just fine leveling Lyn and Eliwood enough to get Linus's Four Fanged Offense, and then I bench them both generally (I might raise them- depends what I want to do with the run) because I want the EXP to go to others, and it isn't like they need to ever really fight. The few chapters where they are mandatory leave plenty of room for them to avoid combat.

 

Other opinions exist, often but not always with some justification. I'm just politely and with detail informing you of this.

 

--------

As for the topic at hand of dodgetanks, Raven and Gerik I guess would be my usuals. 

Edited by Interdimensional Observer
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2 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Other opinions exist, often but not always with some justification. I'm just politely and with detail informing you of this.

Posts like that make it funny to me when people call out LTC players specifically for elitism or for claiming that their way of playing is the "correct one".

@Topic: Definitely Clarine. Great avoid in a game with relatively low hitrates? Yes please!

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FE6: How can you not say Clarine? She is majestic, and the true dodgetank of this game! 

Oh, and Rutger, Sue, and Thany (when she's not facing arrows) get an honourable menton.

FE7: I never really found anyone too dodgetanky, but I guess Serra and Priscilla were good at dodging for me. Especially Priscilla, but she's definitely not on the same level as Clarine.

Honourable mention goes to PENT, Lyn (con is her only problem, she's otherwise speedy enough) and the Pegasus Knights (when not facing arrows).

FE8: Kind of hard to pick, but I decided to go with Joshua. Not as dodgetanky as Marisa, but stronger and thus, more reliable.

Honourable mentions goes to Marisa, Lute (same problem as Lyn, although not as bad. Otherwise, I would have picked her), Artur, The Trainees, Seth and all flier units (when not facing arrows).

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On November 30, 2017 at 9:10 PM, Charmeleonbrah said:

They're mentally ill, besides being wrong.  Only people who want "S rank" would care about movement difference.  Whatever, I can use the mine glitch to grind Nino to Sage in one chapter and kill Sonia and they can't. :B):

Saying stuff like this is an easy way to not get taken seriously. Also, saying that only people who want S ranks would care about movement is a sweeping generalization, and wrong at that. As for Nino, I don't see that as a point for her when anyone gets easy experience when everything can't fight back. Her case isn't helped by the fact that (1) FE7 has weak enemies, and (2) there's no guarantee that there'll be a spare Guiding Ring for her to use... Also, I don't see Nino defeating Sonia when the latter has 23 resistance on normal mode.

As for the thread...

Clarine for FE6

Priscilla for FE7

Natasha for FE8

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5 hours ago, Levant Mir Celestia said:

Saying stuff like this is an easy way to not get taken seriously. Also, saying that only people who want S ranks would care about movement is a sweeping generalization, and wrong at that. As for Nino, I don't see that as a point for her when anyone gets easy experience when everything can't fight back. Her case isn't helped by the fact that (1) FE7 has weak enemies, and (2) there's no guarantee that there'll be a spare Guiding Ring for her to use... Also, I don't see Nino defeating Sonia when the latter has 23 resistance on normal mode.

As for the thread...

Clarine for FE6

Priscilla for FE7

Natasha for FE8

None of my posts in this topic, and in general, are to be taken seriously.  (Have you seen my screenname and status) It's just me goofing off and saying silly things with my fellow poasters.  @Interdimensional Observer, I agree with your argument regarding movement.  I meant in the context of the debate regarding Lyn v Eliwood.  My 0.02 is that cavs/paladins aren't very useful in endgame due to their low BST, and have trouble fighting elite units.  You're right though that the main point of leveling them is to fight Linus in Four-Fanged Offense.

17 hours ago, Flee Fleet! said:

Honourable mention goes to PENT, Lyn (con is her only problem, she's otherwise speedy enough) and the Pegasus Knights (when not facing arrows).

FE8: Kind of hard to pick, but I decided to go with Joshua. Not as dodgetanky as Marisa, but stronger and thus, more reliable.

Honourable mentions goes to Marisa, Lute (same problem as Lyn, although not as bad. Otherwise, I would have picked her), Artur, The Trainees, Seth and all flier units (when not facing arrows).

Shout out to Farina.  I always pay $$$ to get her, she's one of my favorites in the game.  Dodgetank + great offense + FIli Shield + Boots = soloing the rest of the game

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2 hours ago, Harvey said:

Rutger and Fir are also good too you know?

They are, but their avoid is less reliable in the lance-heavy endgame and their 1-2 range is very limited. I use them more as player phase nukes than dodge tanks.

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Pretty much all the Swordmasters and Nomads from Binding Blade, no contest. And Clarine. I really wish Avoid Tank was a game-breaking thing again. 

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4 hours ago, henrymidfields said:

Pretty much all the Swordmasters and Nomads from Binding Blade, no contest. And Clarine. I really wish Avoid Tank was a game-breaking thing again. 

I'm a bit surprised you guys are all saying Clarine.  I may have just gotten RNG-screwed, but I remember her going 10 level-ups and getting a +1 to Magic.  She could dodge-tank, but had nowhere near the firepower of let's say, Priscilla from FE7.

8 hours ago, ping said:

They are, but their avoid is less reliable in the lance-heavy endgame and their 1-2 range is very limited. I use them more as player phase nukes than dodge tanks.

Yes, Murdock's map is very unfriendly to sword-users.  Then again, I used Miledy to solo 2/3 of the map, so what do I know.

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1 hour ago, Charmeleonbrah said:

I'm a bit surprised you guys are all saying Clarine.  I may have just gotten RNG-screwed, but I remember her going 10 level-ups and getting a +1 to Magic.  She could dodge-tank, but had nowhere near the firepower of let's say, Priscilla from FE7.

She's great for avoiding because of her luck and speed. Her offense, sadly, is not as solid, that amount of magic gain certainly isn't impossible, but it's unlucky. She can dodge, and res still hits a lot of enemies hard. So while she might not be the most powerful, she does fit as a dodgetank when promoted.

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16 hours ago, Harvey said:

Rutger and Fir are also good too you know? 

 

Is Fir good?  I never use her because she's a pain to level and Deke is a much better character overall imo.  I love how a ton of characters in Binding Blade start at level 1 with terrible base stats.  It's like they never playtested the game.  Btw Critger is the man. 

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8 hours ago, Charmeleonbrah said:

Is Fir good?  I never use her because she's a pain to level and Deke is a much better character overall imo.  I love how a ton of characters in Binding Blade start at level 1 with terrible base stats.  It's like they never playtested the game.  Btw Critger is the man. 

She's quite decent with HM bonuses. With those extra stats, her bases are very high for a level 1 unit, and her averages are almost identical to Rutger (a bit less Def in exchange for higher Lck and Res, but nothing major). And she joins in a very axe-heavy part of the game, so you have plenty opportunities to feed her kills - if you farm the pirate reinforcements in her joining chapter (who have ~20-25 hit on her), she's easily able to reach level 7 or 8 right away.

So basically, not as good as Rutger because availability and XP deficit, but still much better than other underleveld FE6 units.

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I’m not a fan of dodge tanks because half the time they’re super unreliable, but I have to say that my favorite dodgetank is Rutger due to the fact that he’s a very strong offensive unit. Shoutouts to Joshua though, I don’t think he’s a very good unit, but I explicitly remember him dodging like 4 40% hits that would’ve killed him when I was playing sacred stones.

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