Your Best Army: Exploring Characters *spoilers*

[ShararatSharara]

Hello All,

One of my favorite aspects of the fire emblem series is the opportunity to handpick a select number of units to train, level up, and class up, from a wide variety of units available. I bought conquest for Fates and played that arc first. Boy, am I ultra crazy about some of the characters I chose to storm the final battle on Garon with. 

Just a note - i haven't been too fond of heart seals in my playing experience. Or any seals that change a unit's original class path to another class path. 

Let me begin by describing my Avatar. I chose the female Avatar and made her youthful and cheery, but with long wavy hair in a reddish hue. She looks like she could be 18. No face marks, but her hair accessory is either a rose or butterfly. So she is quintessentially girly, which I love, so that I can make my experience of an otherwise rather masculine oriented game pretty shoujo!! I gave her an Indian name, Niharika, because I'm Indian. 

I married my Avatar to Silas, whom I think is pretty canonical in terms of the female avatar's romantic interest. The hints are just too overpowering in the game. They are like best friends and soul mates. So naturally, Silas is another unit in my army and one of the best by the time he classes up and maxes out. I kept him a Great Knight.  

My absolute favorite male in the whole game is Xander, YES! I am so gaga over him, all the way. He is hands down the most attractive man in the game, and of course one of the best, should Silas maybe not surpass him. I love toying with the idea of Xander and my Avatar having romantic liaisons as I was so thrilled over how he played the whole protective older brother act for the Avatar until the bitter end, when he storms in the other older brother's duel with Avatar, without giving a care. I literally took my Xander and just mowed everyone down in his path in that chapter. He is pretty much a great mow. I love him.

But you gotta guess, whom I paired him up with, and I think I've been finding it a pretty popular choice, but YES Charlotte, not only because I love her dollface looks, but of the so obvious hints she throws in the game of wishing to marry above her station in life. Of course, she is not the most scrupulous individual compared to Xander's straight-lacedness, but I could just see the sparks between them explode, more than with the other two top picks for Xander who are female Avatar and Peri. We all know the problem with Charlotte is her low defense, and if you have the gamble skill equipped, then low skill as well, so that renders her pretty useless as a stand-alone unit for all her strength and HP. I use her primarily as a pair-up unit for Xander to really beef his strength up even more. 

Next, I had to include all members of the royal family, minus Azura, so Camilla, Leo, and Elise, who are phenomenal just by virtue of being royalty. They take a hit in the defense department, but their other stats, particularly magic, skill, and resistance make them so effective when dealing with certain enemy units. They are all still single in my playthrough, as I never could get them married to anybody. 

I could almost imagine Kaze with Camilla, owing to the fact that I don't find too many characters who are suitable for a matured princess besides a ninja who has worked up the ranks to display exceptional talent. I would not pair up a seedy Niles or a goofy Arthur with Camilla. So speaking of which, yes I did include Kaze in my final party. Despite their low defense, and sometimes low strength, Kaze's class offers much in way of speed and skill, plus their high resistance, makes them very effective against low defense magical enemy units when you utilize physical based shuriken or knives. 

Leo being quite the soft, young, pretty boy I could see him balanced out will with a tomboyish female such as Beruka or Selena. I try to be cognizant of the royal units' noble status and therefore, do not wish to pair them up with any ordinary unit in the game. Classist, I know, so if Beruka or Selena were to prove themselves to be phenomenal, they can win Leo and royal title. So of course, I selected Beruka, who established A+ support with Camilla, and proves to be quite an effective wyvern unit, whom I also frequently pair up with Camilla, her BFF. 

After the royal family, and their spouses, the next honorary member is the duke Izana, who is a fantastic unit. I personally am a sucker for magical characters over physical strength characters, so I was immediately enamored of Izana, not to mention his quirky personality. But having him wield Gannungiggap, he is really a magical tank, maybe coming second to Leo, the ultimate magical unit in the game. I love units who use magic as well as healing, as those are my favorite abilities, in any RPG really. I loved giving him the circlet accessory which pretty much solidified his status as the ultimate magician of my army. He is so awesome, I can't imagine life without him. 

With the nobility out of the way, the next units I will list are classically talented units. Effie has the highest strength and defense, as should be expected from the general class and is just so useful in difficult situations. So she is an honorary member. I couldn't think of too many guys to pair her up with, so I finally selected Benny, another similar unit whom I also classed up to general. Only Benny is not quite as talented as Effie what with exceptionally low speed, but the two paired up put up a robust front on the battlefield. 

Note: I love to have a fair amount of great knights and generals in my army as they are your classic strength + defense powerhorses whom you will absolutely have to rely on. 

Like Izana, I was instantly enamored of Shura, another Japanese-inspired character, and replaced Niles with him as my main bow unit. Plus I loved he could heal. Alas, my Shura died in the fight against Iago, so - I am hoping that my Elise will one day revive him with Bifrost. Her staff proficiency is currently at A and is not showing a meter of leveling up. I miss my Shura sorely. I just couldn't restart the level after going through it so many times already. 

Then come the honarary children, the ones I unlocked, I included them all, for their exceptional talents, so: Kana, Sophie, Siegbert, and Ignatius. 

P.S. anybody else find the interfamily romancing in this game a tad weird? Apparently, blood siblings can also marry such as with Avatar and Azura with their respective royal siblings, and Sophie shows S possibility with her cousin Siegbert. 

And this concludes my final party of 15 units (excluding the Avatar and having lost Shura). 

[Shadow Mir]

Terribly sorry that I have to be that guy, aka the bearer of bad news, but you won't be able to revive Shura... If you read the fine print, aka the description, you'd have realized how limited Bifröst really is. (For the record, Bifröst only allows you to revive a unit that died in that battle. As if that isn't limiting enough, you don't get to pick who you revive - you can only revive the most recently fallen unit in that battle.)

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P.S. anybody else find the interfamily romancing in this game a tad weird? Apparently, blood siblings can also marry such as with Avatar and Azura with their respective royal siblings, and Sophie shows S possibility with her cousin Siegbert. 

Umm... Not exactly. And this is because there's more to those two than meets the eye.

[Ertrick36]

Could you put that in a straight list for those who are TL;DR inclined?  And yes, I find incest/pseudo incest awkward; I even had troubles with marrying a Corrin to Leo.  It just didn't feel right.  Though in regards to children, most of their S-supports are merely them swearing platonic companionship.  Kana in particular seems to often get shafted at every corner in this regard.

Anyway, here's my usual, strongest army:

1. Corn (mandatory, obviously): Usually is a dude.  I tend to fiddle with reclassing, but unless I impose limitations on myself, he/she tends to always wind up back into their original class line.  I try to give others more of a chance, so Corn usually gets shafted.  Lately, I've been naming Corrin after Daedric Lords.
2. 'Boro: I'm building an army out of clones of this beautiful, magnificent woman via Einherjar.  Soon enough, she'll have access to just about every skill in the game.  Sometimes she marries the avatar, other times she settles with a Nohrian or eats the Taco Meat.  But always, I make her a great, balanced unit whose only real weakness is all things magical.
3. Taco Meat: Speaking of the 'Boro's love, he often is thrown in the mix as well.  Typically just leave him as an archer, though I always try to get him the Point Blank skill because from a realism standpoint, an archer not being able to fight back is stupid unless they're using a longbow.  Memekumi marries whoever he damn wants because damn, that's a tasty looking pineapple on his head.
4. Leonardo Di Caprio: The only other royal I consistently use.  He's my Grandmaster tactician, and often winds up being my more tanky mage who can also sorta do sword fighting.  Who Leo marries depends on what I want Forrest to be like, tbh.  Nyx's hair doesn't look too bad on the young dandy dude.
5. Forrest Gump: And speaking of Leo, I find in his son one really good healer.  If I can, I'll try to slap on him some tasty Renewal, and send him off to turn one of the Gen 2 ladies gay.  If it even counts.
6. Miitomo: Next is yet another healer, though one that is generally less potent.  Nevertheless, she proves to be quite handy with either physical or magical weapons, and is usually left as a Shrine Maiden/Priestess.  I love this lady, even though I force her out of her comfort zone by slinging her out of bed and into battle and demanding her to make friends.
7. Smolzu: I don't know about you, but I can make this little farm girl into pretty much anything that isn't a magic user.  I generally like making her one of the DLC classes, her most powerful and unique obviously being Dread Fighter.  She was actually first waifu to Corn for me, but she honestly finds great companionship in just about anyone.
8. Charlottesville: People seem to not know how to properly use this class, 'cuz I've never really had problems using a fighter.  Charlotte's an insane heavy hitter; great for units with high defenses all around.  I always love seeing the crit rate raise to above 60% and watching as she pulls a consistent 100+ damage to all her foes.  Chocolate goes great with Xander Root, though she's good with others like Kaden Alenko.
9. Belka: On the hardier side of the Nohrian ladies, Beruka is my replacement for Camilla because... well, she's a little too psychotically overbearing for my liking.  In my best file, she's a General, and a pretty tough one at that.
10. Velouria: She's an adaptable tank-like unit, thanks to the variety of beast stones, and she's pretty much my favorite beast unit in the game.  Excellent at tanking cavs without needing to use a stinkin' beast killer or hunter's bow.  And pretty adorable to boot.
11. Rhajat: She and Tharja get a really bad rep... and I myself am not much a fan of the stalking aspects of their characters either (or rather, how the stalking is ultimately handled in their S-supports), but I'll admit that I'm a sucker for that goth girl/wicked witch aesthetic.  Also just like dark magic; Rhajat is good as a straight up witch.  I wish her lesbian S-support from the Japanese version was left intact for the English release; I'd always go for that one just because it's the only time a romantic support between this character and the avatar didn't leave me completely ashamed with the pairing.
12. Kaze Emanuar: I think he's a good, fair replacement for Ryoma "Kill Stealer" Lobster-Man.  It's easy to understand why he's such a ladies-man; the dude is just likable, even if he's willing to help an enemy kingdom destroy his own kingdom and kill his brother just because he likes Corn.  If you pair him up with a defensive unit, you'll end up with a speedy tank with 1-2 range that'll just decimate everything around him.  He's good just following the Master Ninja class line.
13. Raine from Tales of Symphonia: Actually a pretty good prepromote, all things considered.  I generally like older characters, and though she has just one support line, she doesn't have an overt gimmick that permeates with every line of dialogue she speaks.  I also just like the Kinshi Knight class; flying bow users is pretty bad-ass.
14. Hannah Montana: Somehow, she found a way to make it into my party.  Sort of the same deal with Charlotte, except Hana has less of a chance of getting crit'd.  I really just use her because I want to use a samurai, but Ryoma is too OP and Hinata isn't quite cut out for that line of work (he's better as an Oni Savage).  She sometimes ends up with higher defense stats than Ryoma, oddly enough.
15. Soleil: Last person I've really been using is this pseudo-lesbo.  Yet another girl that gets a lot of flak, but I think she's genuinely likable.  Great Hero, too.

[ShararatSharara]

1 hour ago, Levant Mir Celestia said:

For the record, Bifröst only allows you to revive a unit that died in that battle.

Oh, that really sucks, I did not realize that. I was seriously feeling hopeful, but I guess not...but the description does not make it seem like it is limited to a unit who died in that particular battle. 

1 hour ago, Levant Mir Celestia said:

you don't get to pick who you revive - you can only revive the most recently fallen unit in that battle.)

Well, Shura is the only character I have ever lost. 

I started a second playthrough where I am going to be even more careful when I get towards the final, more difficult chapters, to not lose anybody. Because, I love them all so dearly. ;)

55 minutes ago, Ertrick36 said:

Could you put that in a straight list for those who are TL;DR inclined?

Sorry, my bad! I was all about writing a whole analytical essay here, LOL! 

[Phazon Archon]

On 1/21/2018 at 6:56 PM, ShararatSharara said:

I am hoping that my Elise will one day revive him with Bifrost. Her staff proficiency is currently at A and is not showing a meter of leveling up.

The only class(es) capable of reaching rank S with staves are Maid/Butler. Assuming you have Elise as a Strategist, she will not be able to use the Bifröst.

Who are the components of my best army? My Revelations army is my best, but all I use them for is farming gold at this point. I'm still too lazy to beat the final chapter(s). Even then, only 10 units have earned a solid place on this list; the last 5 are more along the lines of "I have used these as part of my 12 farming units at some point". All mentioned unit pairs have S-ranked each other.

-Hana (Swordmaster) is the first and and greatest of these. She is joined by her pair-up bot, Brolaf Corrin (Swordmaster with speed talent), because evasion is the king of all stats. With a souped-up Sunrise Katana, she is nearly untouchable. If ever I must break though someone's annoying castle to buy a skill, I use these two as my only units. It may take a few tries, but they can overcome almost any castle. Through the magic of favoritism, she received two boots.
-Kana (Swordmaster) uses my next-best Sunrise Katana until it will finally be time to upgrade Hana's. She is joined by Kiragi (Sniper, Oboro's son), though neither unit is strictly the pair-up bot of the other. The only reason Kana's evasion is equal to Hana's (rather than above) is because Kiragi wasn't designed to maximize someone else's evasion.
-Camilla (Wyvern Lord) and Ryoma (Swordmaster) hit hard and reach far, by virtue of flying or wielding a broken strong sword. Neither is the dedicated pair-up bot of the other.
-Xander (Vanguard) is head of the weakest pair in my top 10, but this is mostly due to his ~75% chance to hit master ninjas with Siegfried. He is joined by Charlotte (Berserker). On occasion, the latter will be used when I want this pair to land a guaranteed hit on a master ninja, but she is mostly here to speed up Xander and make him hit harder. (Her 60+% critical chance with a forged Killer Axe is gravy)
-Mozu (Sniper) and Kaze (Master Ninja) are the primary ranged pair on my team. I have been too lazy to acquire Point Blank for Mozu, which is why I will sometimes need to let Kaze take over for combat.
-Asugi (Master Ninja, Kagero's son) and Mitama (Falcon Knight, Hinoka's daughter) are my current "don't give them replicate but still use them" pair. They function like a softer version of Camilla and Ryoma for me (can't hit as hard and less durable).
-Velouria (Wolfssegner, Peri's daughter) and Siegbert (Berserker) were the pair replaced by Asugi and Mitama. Siegbert is mostly a pair-up bot here, though I will sometimes think "I want to watch someone take a guaranteed critical" and let Siegbert swing a forged Great Club. I replaced them largely because I wanted a pair with more mobility for my farming runs.
-Percy (Lodestar, Azura's son) is another unit retired from my farming team. Like Hana and Kana, he filled the role of "poke someone in melee range with a sword, then dodge most hits".

I would like to remind everyone that a +7 iron weapon makes almost any character hilariously broken.
Why do I not have a magic user on my list? It feels like magic is weaker in this game than in most others. You also can't generate magic weapons with the Salvage Blow skill, so my strongest magic weapon is sitting at +4. There are few problems a +7 iron bow can't solve.

I am disappointed that I have no real challenge for my units to overcome, but I still want to continue buying all skills for them. Back to grinding unto infinity!

Edited January 23, 2018 by Phazon Archon

[Shadow Mir]

59 minutes ago, ShararatSharara said:

Oh, that really sucks, I did not realize that. I was seriously feeling hopeful, but I guess not...but the description does not make it seem like it is limited to a unit who died in that particular battle.

Actually, the flavor text reads as follows:

"Revives the most recently fallen ally in the current battle."

That sounds self-explanatory, if ya ask me. Also, I failed to mention this earlier, but only Maids and Butlers can reach the S rank required to use it.

Edited January 22, 2018 by Levant Mir Celestia

[ShararatSharara]

How do you know which units can reach S rank for any particular weapon or staff? Is there a reference somewhere for this info? I was not aware...

[Shadow Mir]

18 minutes ago, ShararatSharara said:

How do you know which units can reach S rank for any particular weapon or staff? Is there a reference somewhere for this info? I was not aware...

There is:

https://serenesforest.net/fire-emblem-fates/hoshidan-classes/maximum-stats/

You can also access pages that have the max stats for Nohrian classes and other classes from that page.

[Shoblongoo]

So am I like the only one that hard ships Ryoma x Mozu??? (I don't care what anyone says; the samurai prince and the farm girl make a cute couple)    

I consistently make Mozu a dread fighter on her recruitment chapter, give her a bronze throwing weapon, and put her to work killing--everything. Whereby the quivering little farm girl very quickly rises to the rank of most overpowered, choke-point holding, army slaughtering monster in the entire army. Surpassing royal champions and trained warriors and ninjas who have dedicated their entire life to their craft.  

My head-canon is that this of course draws Ryoma's immediate notice and--well--things take off from their.

[Gameplay Sidenote]: Shiro inheriting aptitude. Shiro. Inheriting aptitude.
...Hit the bench, Oboro.    


  

Edited January 25, 2018 by Shoblongoo

[starburst]

Here is the party that I have been toying with for weeks.

1. Nohr Noble female Corrin with +Magic -Luck and Oni Savage as her talent.
She is fast, can tank with a Dragon Stone, and has a decent 1-2 range attack through tomes and a Levin Sword.

2. Sorcerer Odin, married to Corrin, with level-ups 23-25 as Oni Chieftain (for Death Blow).
Critical hits. That is it.

3. Ophelia, who inherited Dragon Fang, is either a Sorcerer or a Nohr Noble.
More critical hits.

Odin's conversations are always odd, but the ones with Ophelia are endearing and in character with both of them.

4. Silas, married to Mozu, with two level-ups as Archer (for Quick Draw) and then Mercenary » Hero.
The 5 % Speed growth increase does matter, and he gets Elbow Room, Quick Draw and Strong Riposte.

5. Sniper Mozu.
The quintessential boss killer, and another critical hits maniac. She might have one level-up as Great Knight for Elbow Room.

6. Sophie, who inherited Aptitude and Quick Draw, is a Great Knight, at least until level 25 (for Luna and some bulk), then might be a Paladin or a Hero.

A charming family with natural interactions, and a great trio of units.

7. Effie, married to Niles, is either a General or a Great Knight, always with Luna.

8. Bow Knight Nina, who inherited Defence +2.
She doubles everything, hits hard enough, is immune to magic and dodges very often.

Effie is the first single mother of the party. Their mother-daughter interaction is in character. Great units by themselves and even better synergy.

9. Camilla, married to Keaton, most likely a Malig Knight but could be a Wyvern Lord, always with Savage Blow.

10. Velouria, who inherited Savage Blow, is a Fighter » Hero.
She is fast and sturdy, and delivers critical hits often.

Camilla is another single mother, and while Velouria does not really need Camilla's statistics, their personalities and supports were made for each other. Tier 1 units, sweet interaction.

11. Songstress Azura, married to Laslow.

12. Bow Knight Soleil, who inherited Luck +4.
She doubles everything, hits hard enough and dodges very often. Another Nina.

Azura is the last single mother, and has a natural mother-daughter interaction with Soleil.

These last two couples are interchangeable. Azura could marry Keaton (a great support, which would also explain Velouria's interaction with Nina), while Camilla could marry Laslow. With this setup, however, both Soleil and Velouria have shaky defence (as Heroes). In contrast, Velouria as Camilla's daughter is sturdy enough to be a front liner or dive into a group of enemies, and Soleil as Azura's daughter is a quite capable Bow Knight.

13. Strategist Elise.
The best support unit. Ever.

14. Xander is a Paladin or a Hero, always with Defender.

15. Strategist Leo.
A second healer is handy in the last chapters of the game, and Leo fulfils that role without training (unlike Anna or Felicia [2].)

Edited January 31, 2018 by starburst
Added commentaries about supports.