Rate the Unit, Day 92: Brave Ephraim & Brave Veronica

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

I'd say Dorcas has the biggest jump from their original appearance to Heroes tied with Wendy. Second best axe infantry after Raven, actually the best with default skill and weapon set.

[Zangetsu]

Lute:

I feel like I'm using this unit completely wrong. I have nothing for the B skill because for the life of me I can't think of what she needs but I also feel like there's nothing I could improve on her. She's been fairly useful for me & ploy skills never hurt. I suppose it has to do with never really having any time dealing with red units but she still helps against Reinhardt. I suppose my problem with her is that I can't find a good synergy with her, & I don't have a lot of Hone Skills to inherit. 

7.5/10, probably way off on that score.

 

Dorcas:

So that's what Hector feels like without the armor. Dorcas personally feels like a versatile unit that always seems to be the answer. He's terrific tank & atk dog all in one.

Sometimes it does pay off to like minor characters. Even if they're meme legends.

9.5/10

[Usana]

Lute - I gotta give her an 8/10. I can't honestly put her above Delthea, but she and her tome manage to pull my bacon out of the fire. I know folks aren't always happy with ploying since it is easier to buff your own guys. But sometimes to do what needs done in the Infernal maps you need to both buff and debuff and Lute has the goods to pull that off and be an offensive threat at the same time.

 

I will abstain on Dorcas. I have not pulled him, not once, and his niche of weapon DC green is rare enough I haven't really used it. Only A DC. I imagine the 8-9 folk are probably right, but not enough confidence to make a call of my own.

[Shiki]

Lute: 7.61
Dorcas: 7.94

Ugh, child units.

Siegbert, Future King

Spoiler

Max. Stats:
37/41/44
31/34/37
32/35/38
28/31/34
12/16/19

Base Skills:

Dark Greatsword
( - )
Dragon Fang

Death Blow
( - )
Atk Tactic

Soleil, Adorable Adorer

Spoiler

Max. Stats:
34/37/41
35/38/41
32/35/38
24/28/31
21/24/28

Base Skills:

Firesweep Sword+
( - )
Blazing Wind

Darting Blow
( - )
Drive Res

 

[DehNutCase]

Siegbert:

BST: 41/34/35/31/16

34/35 offenses is near the top even for an infantry, and Siegbert is on a horse. Defenses are nicely min-maxed, although, once again, I'd prefer if it's a heavy hp focus over def and res rather than a heavy def focus, secondary hp focus, and dumping res. It's still nicely min-maxed as far as defense spreads go, but it weakens Siegbert against dragons.

Beyond that, there's not much more to talk about. His prf is decent, but worse than Slaying Lance for Galeforce sets, meaning in terms of his strongest set he's simply a more min-maxed offensively, less min-maxed defensively Brave Roy.

2 Atk and 1 Spd simply isn't enough to overshadow Brave Roy's more relevant Prf and better defensive spread, so Siegbert earns the same

8.5/10

 

Soleil:

BST: 37/38/35/28/24

Featuring possibly the best offensive spread in the game at 38/35, there are some units with better Spd + Atk, but all of them tend to be speed focused, which makes it the same Setsuna vs. Takumi scenario from a long ways back.

Setsuna's offenses was 28 + 37, or 65 combined, same as Takumi, yet Takumi was better for every set you cared to run. Heavy speed focus was bad to the point where Virion was better, and he was only 62 combined.

Similarly, the units with more combined Atk + Spd than Soleil all have at least 3 less Atk than she does, meaning Soleil's combat performance based on raw offenses would be comparable or better.

 

Defensively, she suffers from a strange preference for all 3 defensive stats rather than going all out on hp. It's not bad, given that it's well rounded, so a Refine would fix her bulk issues, but it does means she should be carrying a Refine. Unless you want to ignore her sky high Spd stat and simply run a one-shot Brave Sword set with DB3, turning her into a far worse Reinhardt. (Rein has more bulk, more mobility, stronger Brave Weapon, 2-range and easier access to +6 buffs, but if we ignore all his advantages and only focus on hitting people twice, Soleil should be plenty comparable, with her 6 Atk lead canceling out the 1 MT from Dire Thunder and the fact that Def tends to be higher than Res on average.)

 

A Slaying Edge Heavy Blade Galeforce set is possible, albeit more difficult to support than a Flier who has access to both Ninian and Azura for 6/6/4/4 buffs or better, and Soleil's worse mobility would mean she has more trouble taking combats on certain maps.

And, just like every melee infantry, she can run the standard DC + Wrath + Slaying Weapon set in order to solidify a niche at the cost of multiple 5* only skills.

With that in mind, Soleil is a solid

6.5/10

 

Note: the reason I've been dropping the better melee infantry compared to the lower ones isn't because the worse ones are 'catching up' with the ultra expensive Slaying Weapon DC Wrath set, but because the entire melee infantry class loses ground, relatively speaking, when you give everyone free access to 5* skills.

Breath skills can be simulated with a Slaying refine, Wrath is Infantry and Armor locked, fortunately, but CC on tome users, Def/Res Link, and tactics buffs means that even infantry tome users can run ultra-powerful CC Vantage -blade sets.

Sophia and the like gains the most from this, possibly scoring 7.5 or even 8 off the fact that, with incredibly heavy investment, she turns into an incredibly powerful mixed-phased unit.

 

And this is ignoring DC horses, Wrath dragons, Wrath armors, and so on.

Edited July 13, 2018 by DehNutCase

[Alexmender]

Siegbert. His stat spread focuses on Atk/Spd while still having decent Def, relatively average Hp and dumping Res. Siegbert is basically a more min-maxed B!Roy meaning that they compete for the spot of offensive PP sword cavalier. Roy has a 19MT Prf weapon with Heavy Blade built-in while Siegbert has Swift Sparrow built-in in his. In terms of pure offense Siegbert wins while Roy has an easier time abusing high CD specials. This was until the release of the Heavy Blade seal, which made Siegbert better in every single way except for a turn 1 Galeforce set that only Roy can pull off due to his free S-slot (although that's not relevant in arena where Galeforce isn't that great outside of SP cost). Siegbert's main weakness is his pathetic Res stat which makes him an easy prey for dragons and mages, also while his physical bulk is decent Siegbert is an offensive unit so he'll easily get worn down if he has to tank repeated hits. All in all Siegbert is one of the best offensive cavaliers in the game, although being on a horse hurts him at times with stuff like trenches being around but outside of that he's still a very strong threat that should not be taken lightly.

Rating: 8/10

Soleil. Atk and Spd are the name of the game for her. Having the 2nd highest Atk in the game tied with Cherche while also having a Spd comparable to Cordelia while still having a passable bulk is nothing to scoof at. Soleil is a very powerful unit, only behind the likes of Ayra/Karla. Due to her sheer stats she has a lot of versatility when it comes to her builds. She can go for a full out Brave Sword, use a Slaying Edge/Wo Dao+Wrath to deal devasting damage with Luna/Moonbow/Draconic Aura, use her default Firesweep Sword to be a full PP monster or go for an unorthodox build with a +Def nature, Safeguard+ and double Close Def. Soleil is very well rounded which makes her a great unit overall, her main issues come from a lack of a Prf weapon which forces her to go with generic builds and below average Res which makes her relatively weak to mages. Sadly the infantry sword spot is extremely competitive and lacking a unique niche tends to hurt bad, but Soleil has availability and when invested properly is capable of doing thing worth of a 9/10 unit.

Rating: 7/10

[Troykv]

2 hours ago, DehNutCase said:

Siegbert:

BST: 41/34/35/31/16

34/35 offenses is near the top even for an infantry, and Siegbert is on a horse. Defenses are nicely min-maxed, although, once again, I'd prefer if it's a heavy hp focus over def and res rather than a heavy def focus, secondary hp focus, and dumping res. It's still nicely min-maxed as far as defense spreads go, but it weakens Siegbert against dragons.

Beyond that, there's not much more to talk about. His prf is decent, but worse than Slaying Lance for Galeforce sets, meaning in terms of his strongest set he's simply a more min-maxed offensively, less min-maxed defensively Brave Roy.

IS has abandoned HP based built; even the tankiest units are become less "healthy" with each update (a good example is Hector; that begin his base game version has 52 HP; and the Leg!Hector has 47 HP despite having an overall higher BST)

Edited July 13, 2018 by Troykv

[Korath88]

Siegbert 

Minmaxed stats for an offensive sword horse, and in swift sparrow makes him the single best player phase sword cavalry unit in the game. With horse buffs he easily doubles most units and has enough physical bulk to tank most counterattacks.

With the heavy blade seal he can even pull off brave Roy's galeforce niche better than the former due to better offensive stats and gen 2 BST. He does struggle against tanks and weapons that block follow ups and can't take a magic hit to save his life but it's nothing that other swords don't also struggle with. The main drawbacks to him are a poor enemy phase and trenches. 8/10 (I still don't like how he powercrept B!Roy though)

Soleil

38/35 is actually pretty nuts for an infantry sword, and probably the best statline for an infantry sword unit without a unique weapon. She doesn't bring anything unique to the table aside from better combat performance than other no prf swordies and those with lackluster prfs. But her lack of uniqueness means she's stuck at a 7/10

 

[LordFrigid]

@The Priest Rhajat (Black Magician) predates these two by 2 days.

Siegbert

• Offense-focused stat line with good Atk and Spd, decent Def, and poor Res.
  • Dark Greatsword (built-in Swift Sparrow 2) is a powerful offensive tool.
  • Very strong green, strong red matchups on offense with a basic Dark Greatsword Atk/Spd stacking set, or a Brave Sword set. Sustainability through Desperation. Has trouble with Myrrh (unless he is using a Brave Sword) and def-stacked reds.
  • Very strong green, decent red matchups on defense with a Slaying Edge set, but his defensive stat line is not optimized for this role, and he will take a lot of damage from mages and dragons.
• As a cavalry unit, he can provide cavalry field/combat buffs for his allies.

Overall, I give him 8.5 for combat (very strong green, strong red matchups on offense, sustainability bonus), and 1 for support (cavalry field/combat buff), for a total rating of 8/10.

Soleil

• Offense-focused stat line with very good Atk, good Spd, and ok Def and Res.
  • Very strong green, strong red performance with a Brave Sword+ set (with sustainability through Desperation) or a Slaying Edge+/Moonbow/Wrath set (sustainability through OHKOs). Strong green and red matchups on offense with a Firesweep S+/Swordbreaker set.
  • Very strong green, decent red matchups on defense with a Slaying Edge+/Moonbow/Wrath set. This set is not very sustainable, but she can simply switch to Player Phase OHKOs after one or two fights.
• She can provide basic field/combat buff support for her allies.

Overall, I give her 9 for combat (very strong green, strong red matchups on offense, sustainability bonus), and .5 for support (basic field/combat buff), for a total rating of 8.5/10.

She doesn’t have the sheer ridiculousness that is Nameless Blade, but her high Atk stat makes up for this somewhat.

~

Scoring method:

Spoiler

Units are evaluated based on both their combat performance and their team support capabilities (i.e. their whole contribution to a team).

• Combat performance is judged by matchups, especially against enemies that are at triangle disadvantage or neutral to the unit. Performance against more relevant meta threats is more valuable than performance against units that are rarely seen. Triangle Adept sets are not considered, though they might be noted. Scale of 0 to 10.
  • Sustainability and filling a useful niche are given small bonuses, when applicable.
  • I will look at least one PP-focused and one EP-focused skill set for each unit, but only evaluate based on performance for whichever phase I deem the unit to be stronger on.
• Support capabilities are decided by how much support a unit can provide (without horribly compromising their combat capabilities), and how valuable I feel that support is. Scale of 0 to 3.
• At the end, the combat and support scores will be weighted (with a heavy focus on combat performance), combined, and rounded to the nearest .5 to obtain the total rating. Dancers and Singers will get +1 point to their total rating (not to exceed 10), because I value Dance/Sing utility highly.

This method of evaluation essentially compares each unit to a hypothetical "god unit" who is stellar at everything, instead of each unit to each other.

All my ratings.

Edited July 14, 2018 by LordFrigid

[Zapp Branniglenn]

Siegbert - The Brave Roy comparisons were rampant since he launched in close proximity to the Heavy Blade Seal. And in that direct comparison, Siegbert trades a single point of attack for a point in speed. And Siegbert has an open A slot while Roy has an open seal slot. What does make Siegbert objectively better is the higher BST tier and better stat distribution favoring physical defense. 7.5 out of 10. A notch higher than Brave Roy. I just wish he had a bit more build versatility. 

Soleil - Why in the world is your attack this high? I feel like you could give Soleil any weapon and she'll wield it almost as good as any other infantry sword. 'Course this comes at the cost of a fancy personal weapon. Soleil's build versatility comes at the cost of a unique niche. Even without unique skills, I think Soleil would be a strong consideration no matter the conditions. 7 out of 10. Your sword pick shouldn't be caught dead without personal skills. But if you absolutely had to, Soleil is the only one with sensible stats outside of Hana whom she is straight up better than.

Past Ratings

Spoiler

1. Alfonse - 3
2. Marth - 7
3. Sharena - 3
4. Jagen - 1
5. Anna - 4.5
6. Barst - 3
7. Cain - 4
8. Draug - 7.5
9. Gordin - 5
10. Jeorge - 5.5
11. Abel - 5.5
12. Linde - 9
13. Minerva - Abstain
14. Merric - 3.5
15. Maria - 6
16. Wrys - 3.5
17. Ceada - Abstain
18. Ogma - 4
19. Catria - 4
20. Est - 6
21. Sheena - 6.5
22. Cecilia - 4
23. Clarine - 6.5
24. Matthew - 4
25. Palla - 2.5
26. Roy -7
27. Gwendolyn - 7.5
28. Shanna - 4.5
29. Bartre - 7
30. Fae - 7.5
31. Serra - 4
32. Lissa - 2
33. Y!Tiki - 8
34. Lilina - 7
35. Florina - 1.5
36. M!Robin - 3.5
37. Hector - 8
38. Raven - 8.5
39. Gaius - 4 
40. Virion - 3.5
41. Raigh - 1.5
42. Sophia - 3.5
43. Sully -2.5
44. Cordelia -7
45. Hawkeye - 5.5
46. Nino - 8
47. Felicia - 6.5
48. Jakob - 1
49. Fir - 4
50. Eliwood - 5.5
51. Donnel - 3.5
52. Nowi - 8.5
53. Frederick - 6.5
54. Cherche - 7.5
55. Saizo - 4
56. Kagero - 4.5
57. Lyn - 7
58. Chrom - 5
59. F!Corrin - 7
60. Azura - 6.5
61. Gunter - 3
62. Camilla - 5.5
63. Azama - 6.5
64. Setsuna - 3.5
65. Stahl - 2.5
66. Lonqu - 3
67. Hinoka - 7.5
68. Oboro - 2.5
69. Beruka - 6
70. Arthur - 2
71. Takumi - 5.5
72. Sakura - 3
73. Olivia - 7
74. Henry - 2
75. Subaki - 4.5
76. Peri - 6.5
77. Niles - 1.5
78. Elise - 7.5
79. Tharja - 5
80. A!Tiki - 8
81. Odin - 1 
82. Effie - 7.5
83. Lucina - 7
84. M!Corrin - 6
85. Ryoma - 5.5
86. Hinata - 4.5
87. Hana - 5.5
88. Laslow - 3
89. Selena - 2
90. Leo - 2
91. Eirika - 5
92. Seliph - 5.5
93. Ephraim - 7
94. Julia - 6
95. Eldigan - Abstain
96. Sanaki - 6.5
97. Reinhardt - 8
98. Olwen - 5.5
99. Lachesis - 3
100. Klein - 4
101. Karel - 6.5
102. Ninian - 7
103. Lucius - 4.5
104. Rebecca - 2.5
105. Priscilla - 4
106. Jaffar - 3.5
107. Alm - 9
108. Lukas - 7.5
109. Clair - 7
110. Faye - 5.5
111. Ike - 6
112. Titania - 3.5
113. Soren - 4
114. Mist - 2.5
115. Celica - 7
116. Mae - 6.5
117. Boey - 3.5
118. Genny - 6
119. Luke - 3.5
120. Katarina - 5.5
121. Athena - 3.5
122. Roderick - 6
123. Gray - 5
124. Saber - 3
125. Mathilda - 3
126. Delthea - 6.5
127. Sonya - 4.5
128. Leon - 6
129. Seth - 2
130. Tana - 7
131. Amelia -8
132. Innes - 6
133. Brave Roy - 6.5
134. Brave Lucina - Abstain
135. Brave Ike - 8
136. Brave Lyn - 8.5
137. Elincia - 7.5
138. Osxar - 6
139. Nephenee - 7
140. Sigurd - 7.5
141. Tailtiu - 4.5
142. Deirdre - 6
143. Ayra - 9
144. Mia - 8
145. Lute - 7.5
146. Dorcas -8
147. Siegbert - 7.5
148. Soleil - 7

Ratings I would change in retrospect: Gordin would be a 2.5 and Jeorge a 4, Cain would be a 3, Cecilia would be a 3.5. Linde would be 7. And I'd drop Matthew and Saizo to 3.5. Beruka would be a 7. Caeda I'd rate a 5.5 now that I've been using her at 5 star. Leo I'd bump up to a 3. Hector is a 7.5 because he's been powercreeped again

 

[Fire Emblem Fan]

Siegbert: There isn't too much to say about him. Among the sword cavalry units, he's one of the best! He can't quite tank hits like Sigurd, and his resistance is pitiful, but he comes with a great personal weapon and surpasses a pretty big majority of other sword cavalries in pretty much all respects. 8.5/10

Soleil: Her attack is shockingly high, and coupled with great speed she has very good offensive capabilities. Yet, at the same time, she doesn't really offer anything that Fir, Mia, Ayra, and now Karla don't, she's just another fast swordwoman in a sea of other swordwoman. She has speed and power like the others, and not-so-great defense like the others. She's a decent enough budget option if you haven't summoned the 5-star exclusive Mia, Ayra, or Karla, or if you don't want to worry about refining and upgrading Fir. Still, though...nothing really special here. 6/10

[Xenomata]

Hey, lay off on the children, they're probably from the Heirs of Fate Outrealms.

Siegbert

Spoiler

This apple not only fell far from the tree, but somehow landed in undiscovered land and started it's own far-flung dropped apple society, and somehow it's working out.

Siegbert's high Attack and Speed, decent Defense, decent HP, and horrid Resistance have next to no links to Xander. His personal Dark Greatsword further emphasizes his stronger offensive stats by having Swift Sparrow built into it, Draconic Aura and Death Blow together trigger an 18 might Special Trigger on 60 base Attack, and Attack Tactics strengthens Siegberts allies with a rather massive +6 Attack, great for Brave users and Infantry.

The obvious path is to emphasize on Siegbert's high Attack and Speed further, be it from giving him Swift Sparrow or Life and Death, and also pairing it with Desperation. His Attack can become high enough that he can trigger Heavy Blade on most enemies, so a 2 turn special like Glimmer hurts a lot, while he can also run with Galeforce. Another possible path is the Firesweep Sword, and he is among the best users of it among Cavalry.

Siegbert has no business taking magic damage. Most of his power and speed is in the player phase, and as such he is very weak to player phase mages who have a lot of Speed when initiating. Blue mages just hurt in general, and Manaketes barely glance Siegberts way before killing him. In general, Siegbert needs to not be taking magic damage.

Overall, a powerful Sword Cavalry is to be found in Siegbert.

Rating: 8/10 Siegbert is powerful and speedy, even before Horse Cav buffs, and is capable of triggering Heavy Blade as a result. There are powerful combos to be had between the Dark Greatsword and the Firesweep Sword, but Siegbert needs to keep mages and manaketes in mind, else he will die a quick death.

 

Soleil.

Spoiler

Ah... this is gonna be hard to do without a LOT of bias...

Soleil is the strongest possible Infantry user in the game, in terms of raw Attack anyways. Most units can only have 38 Atk as a +Atk boon, yet it is her default here. Her Speed is not shabby either, while her defensive ability on all fronts is... meh.

Her default kit has the Firesweep Sword that many Sword users seek out, and she herself is a solid user of it given her good offensive spread. Blazing Wind is pretty powerful and has, IMO, the best setup of the Blazing AoE specials, but Growing Wind may be better in some scenarios. Darting Blow is a decent A skill to have by default, but can be replaced, while Drive Res is useful in some cases, but may be replacable.

Soleil is very flexible thanks to her statspread. While a defensive playstyle might not be easy to achieve, it's still there thanks to the Safeguard sword, but her potential lies in her offenses. Slaying Edge or Wo Dao, either will bring out powerful specials often thanks to her good Speed. Armorsmasher or Zanbato, either will let her decimate most, if not all, of the strongest candidates in one hit with her great Attack. Firesweep remains a good choice on her thanks to both Speed and Attack. Need a B skill? I personally have gotten good results with Chill Spd, but hey there's plenty of other good B skills for her to use.

The bads, her Resistance isn't good, leaving her vulnerable to fast mages. Even with a refined weapon, her HP is not good enough to trigger Infantry Pulse on much more than glass cannons, and is also not high enough to protect her from repeated hits. She is still a Melee Infantry unit, so many attempts at an offensive built may fall on their face compared to other movement types. Finally, she is not Ayra or Karla. She may be stronger, but she will need heavy speed stacking just to match unbuilt Ayra or Karla.

Still, I vouch for Soleil. If you see a set that can work on her, go for it. I even feel her not having a Personal Weapon is a point in her favor, because it means she doesn't have one set that, regardless of what you try to do with other weapons, outperforms everything else by a landslide (unless that personal weapon is a Wing Sword type of weapon with Heavy Blade in it, THEN we will talk business). End of the day, I recommend Soleil.

Rating: 8/10 Please pardon any rating point inflation present, but I just feel Soleil is that good of a Sword Infantry. She may not be as fast as Ayra or Karla, but she is still quite powerful, and can kill whatever units need killing depending on the set you give her. Her flaws aren't that uncommon among Sword Infantry though, and her bulk does take a hit for some of her most powerful sets, but even still Soleil is a potent unit.

[eclipse]

Siegbert - Take the first Ryoma, give him Swift Sparrow, then give Siegbert Distant Counter, and you've got the same unit, offensively (except one is on a horse).  On PP, Siegbert hits 38/39 numbers with his weapon alone, which completely blows every other red cavalry out of the water.  On EP, he has comparable physical bulk to Reinhardt, and ever-so-slightly worse magical bulk than Chrom.  In other words, all he really wants is Desperation in the B slot, so he can go nuts on PP.  Thanks to his not-awful ability to tank (it's not great, but it's not irredeemable, either), he should be able to sneak into Desperation range.  Or he can swap out Death Blow for Fury, which WILL put him in Desperation range eventually.  9/10

Soleil - Highest Atk out of all swordies, with a withering 35 Speed to back it up, AND a default Firesweep, Soleil is pure offense.  She can run Life and Death in her A slot to hit 43/40 offensive numbers before her sword is factored in.  Her weapon options are pretty varied, ranging from Wo Dao +Spd to a quad Brave build (best done with +Spd IMO), to flat-out Firesweeping and making things cry.  While there are other swordies with their own unique beatsticks, Soleil can happily take a generic sword and dish out the pain.  9/10

[Usana]

Siegbert - A guy I wasn't much interested in, who pity broke me, and who now is a mainstay on my Fire team not just because he has ATK Tactic, but because he is just a solid addition. Thanks to his sword he effectively has 38/39 offenses before other skills or weapon might come into play. 41 HP is really nice for someone with his speed and he even nets 31 defense which isn't shabby. RES stinks, but that just means he is minmaxed on that end. Offensively he doesn't quite reach Brave Roy since Roy can run HB+QP+A Slot, and I just wouldn't use him purely defensively. So lets say 8.5/10, slightly less desirable than Roy in my eyes.

 

Soliel - Defensively she and Mia are basically the same. In other words she isn't bulky or min maxed in that area and relies on speed to take a hit. Also greatly appreciates a Refine to boost her HP by 5. Karla and Legendary Ryoma have power creept her a bit in that her 73 combined offenses no longer stands at the top. Karla has 75 and Ryoma has 73 as well. That said I personally find her better than Mia, who is very similar but choose speed instead of atk as her offensive focus. Since I put Mia at 8, that means I should probably put Soliel at 8.5/10. This sounds close to right. Though I imagine if I didn't have a bit of bias towards her that I could just say = Mia. But I definitely like fielding her more than Mia, probably because she feels more flexible.

[Simpsons138]

Oh boy, here are the child units of fates, well some of them:

• Siegbert: Incredible attack and speed stat, has Death Blow right off the bat, a weapon that gives him Swift Sparrow, decent defense and HP,  horrible resistance stat especially against anti-horse mages, slap him with Swift Sparrow skill, Desperation, Heavy Blade seal and you've got yourself a better B!Roy, that's just how good Siegbert is, he doesn't have DC like his father, but at least he's got the speed and strength to make up for it, 8/10

 

• Soleil: Comparing her to her father would be a sin, she has the highest attack stat among swords, a decent speed stat and average defenses that won't keep her alive due to her low HP stat, in her base kit she's mostly a player phase unit with Firesweep Sword, but if you change her weapon to something else, give her Life and Death or Fury and power her up, you've got a speedy heavy hitter that has weak defenses, just keep her away from Brave users, especially any Reinhardt and Brave Lancers, 7/10

[MacLovin]

don't have siegbert, haven't used him at all. no ratings.

 

Soleil is so stupidly solid.

38/35 is a damn good base offensive spread. She's got solid defenses, and comes with built in FS+ sword. The sole bad thing is that she has no real prf weapon, but given her sheer versatility, why would you want to powercreep her? Ayra and the myrmidons exist, but they're locked to 5* for the most part. Soleil's a 4* unit that can be merged for funsies and can run any build you want. DB3/LnD using Firesweep Sword sweeper? Yep. Brazen Att/etc. user? yep. Brave Sword User? Yep Slaying Edge+Wrath+DC? Yep.

Hell, if it wasn't for the utter ridiculousness of Ayra/Karla/Mia, Soleil would likely be one of the best sword infantry units availible. As a total f2p player who uses budget sets, I'd found Soleil to be incredibly solid and fun to use. My current Soleil is a -HP/+defense one and she still shits all over non-lance dudes.

[Shiki]

Siegbert: 8.22
Soleil: 7.44

@LordFrigid She is an alt, we do them later, right?

Shiro, Raw Talent

Spoiler

Max. Stats:
37/41/44
32/35/38
27/30/33
32/35/38
19/22/25

Base Skills:

Bright Naginata
Swap
( - )

Steady Stance
( - )
Def Tactic

Rhajat, Black Magician

Spoiler

Max. Stats:
33/36/40
32/35/38
31/34/37
18/21/24
21/24/27

Base Skills:

Keen Gronnwolf+
Rally Atk/Def
( - )

Distant Def
( - )
Savage Blow

 

Edited July 14, 2018 by The Priest

[Usana]

Guh! Two units I have never pulled and thus never used. Going to have to abstain this round, though I will say that you would think Shiro would score close to Donnel since statistically he trades 2 HP/1RES for 1SPD/3DEF. Good trade and a special niche with his prf means he would come out ahead, but should still be in a similar ballpark. Rhajat. I'll pay attention to how folks rate her, since she and Summer Elise are very similar statistically so ideas for one should work for the other. So maybe something someone says will get me to take Summer Elise off the bench and let her see some action.

[LordFrigid]

Rhajat

• Offense-focused stat line, with good Atk and Spd, and low Def and Res.
  • Very strong blue, strong green matchups on offense with a Gronnblade+ set. Buff dependence, sustainability with Desperation.
  • Her defensive stat spread is not well-suited to an EP role.
• She can provide basic field/combat buff support.

Overall, I give her 8.5 for combat (very strong blue, strong green matchups on offense), and .5 for support (basic field/combat buff), for a total rating of 8/10.

Shiro

• Physically focused stat line, with good Atk and Def, ok Spd, and low Res.
  • Bright Naginata (built-in Sturdy Stance 2) is a strong defensive tool.
  • Strong red, passable blue offensive performance with a standard Brave Lance set.
  • Very strong red, strong blue one-range performance with a Steady Breath set. Very strong red, passable blue defense performance with a Distant Counter set.
• He can provide basic field/combat buff support.

Overall, I give him 7.5 for combat (very strong red, strong blue one-range defense performance), and .5 for support (basic field/combat buff), for a total rating of 7/10.

~

Scoring method:

Spoiler

Units are evaluated based on both their combat performance and their team support capabilities (i.e. their whole contribution to a team).

• Combat performance is judged by matchups, especially against enemies that are at triangle disadvantage or neutral to the unit. Performance against more relevant meta threats is more valuable than performance against units that are rarely seen. Triangle Adept sets are not considered, though they might be noted. Scale of 0 to 10.
  • Sustainability and filling a useful niche are given small bonuses, when applicable.
  • I will look at least one PP-focused and one EP-focused skill set for each unit, but only evaluate based on performance for whichever phase I deem the unit to be stronger on.
• Support capabilities are decided by how much support a unit can provide (without horribly compromising their combat capabilities), and how valuable I feel that support is. Scale of 0 to 3.
• At the end, the combat and support scores will be weighted (with a heavy focus on combat performance), combined, and rounded to the nearest .5 to obtain the total rating. Dancers and Singers will get +1 point to their total rating (not to exceed 10), because I value Dance/Sing utility highly.

This method of evaluation essentially compares each unit to a hypothetical "god unit" who is stellar at everything, instead of each unit to each other.

All my ratings.

[Simpsons138]

• Shiro: Similar to his father's stats but switched around, focusing more on defense than speed, tying for the third highest defense among lancers and fourth on attack, he's slow but he's bulky as heck with that decent HP stat as well, he's mostly a physical tank with his high defense, personal weapon which has Sturdy Stance and if he's given Steady Breath instead of Steady Stance, you've practically got a check for dangerous red units if you don't have Lukas, the latter has more defense but Shiro has a decent enough speed, not the best but not the worst, only bad thing is that he's easily destroyed by magic units and dragons, so that's the only thing with him, 7/10

 

• Rhajat: Fourth fastest and second strongest green mage, average resistance which won't make her a magic tank even with Distant Defense, but she does have the needs to be a Blade tome user, not the best one but even if she's not a blade tome, she can still work on using Keen Gronnwolf+ to take care of horse units, especially those with weak resistance, with her speed and strength she can hit hard and avoid doubles, but her low defenses and HP won't make her bait her opponents out unless she's build properly for enemy phase, so that's just about it for her, 6/10

[DehNutCase]

Shiro:

BST: 41/35/30/35/22

The unit that comes to mind in comparison, ignoring color, is Brave Ike, who gets 2 more hp, 1 more atk in exchange for 2 less speed, 2 less res. Generally speaking, 2 speed is worth 1 atk, and Shiro's speed is just high enough where, if you spend half his skill-slots pumping up his speed (spd refine, L&D, etc), he'll have a fairly decent offensive set.

Defensively, Shiro suffers from a lackluster Prf and worse color---in theory, all colors are equal, in practice, blue has Reinhardt, meaning you want to be green a lot of the time if you want to run defensive sets. Dying to someone your own color weakens a defensive set a lot.

Mobility, bulk, offenses, sustain, counter-kill, utility, usually one of these factors have to be sacrificed during team creation, because usually multiple of these factors have to be sacrificed during unit creation. The more sketchy your units are, the more of the other things you have to sacrifice in other to get the thing you want. A defensive Shiro could have a place on a team, but he'll require either an extremely strong defensive partner---which usually mean armors, which in turn means low utility, low mobility, unless you go the CC Vantage -blade route, which sacrifices utility, because they'll be sucking up a lot of the team's support buffs---or else two other defensive units on the team as well.

This is ignoring the case where you only need a defensive blue---if your team is very green offense heavy, for instance, a specialist in counter-killing reds would make runs against highly mobile red teams a lot simpler.

All in all, a

6.5/10

For Shiro's fairly decent offensive potential and ability to run the expensive mix-phased or enemy phased DC Wrath etc. sets like every other infantry. (With this in mind, Brave Ike is probably going to remain 6.5, what he loses slightly in offensive sets---he could run Brave Axe---he gains defensively from a better Prf from a defensive set standpoint.)

 

Rhajat:

BST: 36/35/34/21/24

Good offenses for a tome at 35/34, which, unfortunately, also means her defenses will be thinner, and she suffers from a very slight res preference, meaning all 3 stats are about the same. Once again, would be better if she has 18/18 def res and pumped the other stats into hp.

Odd as it might seem, but Odin actually has one of the best defensive spreads for an offensive tome---hp focus and balanced bulk is very nice, but he suffers from 1st gen BST and the fact that he's about 4 or 6 points bulkier than he needs to be, leading to his unfortunate Atk stat. Which -blade can fix, mind, just usually not worth the loss in utility from a team building perspective, not when you can drop 5 hp to gain 10 Atk by using Reinhardt.

 

Back to Rhajat, not much to say. Gronnwolf suffers from the fact that high tier offensive units--which Rhajat is---don't need effective damage to murder horses. Low bulk means a CC Vantage -blade set is extremely sketchy, so Rhajat gets the typical

7/10

just about every tome user is going to get.

(It might seem odd, but Odin might actually get 7.5 for his CC Vantage or CC QR abilities on top of the fact that he does, in fact, kill people with L&D -blade. Unlike most other mages he has the raw bulk to not explode from a stern look, and thus actually get to double DC or 2-ranged units.)

Edited July 14, 2018 by DehNutCase

[Alexmender]

I have very little knowledge about Shiro and Rhajat so I'll abstain from rating those two.

[eclipse]

Shiro - Who needs another country to pay for a wall when you ARE the wall?  Bright Naginata gives him 1 more DEF on EP than Lukas (assuming both run Steady Stance), and he's far less likely to eat a double than Lukas, thanks to the 8 speed lead.  He's not as exciting on PP, though, and he's really sad if he needs to bait a mage.  Works best with QR somewhere in his set.  7.5/10

Rhajat - Her offensive numbers are really good, at 35/34.  However, a bunch of seasonals more-or-less ruined her day.  Spring Camilla has the same base Atk and is one of the best -raven mages that green has, Elise hits harder, Lilina can get horse buffs (and her weapon's effect is arguably more useful), Henry gets armor buffs and can tank magic, and Sanaki is both flying and has an incredible offensive weapon.  Throw in Julia and Deirdre's ability to tank magic, flying Nino forever being faster (and thus hitting harder due to her weapon's effect), Soren's really cool unique weapon, and the only people Rhajat beats out are the original Nino (barely) and Sonya.  I guess she can run Nino's -blade set, but Nino herself does a decent job of it.  It's not that Rhajat is bad, it's that everyone else either does her job better, or does something she can't.  6/10

[Zapp Branniglenn]

Shiro - I don't own this guy but he 's clearly just trying to creep into Lukas' territory. His weapon applies Steady Stance for 6 more defense on enemy phase, while Lukas' Slaying Lance applies more bulk at the cost of two points of MT and a little less arena scoring. He's also a tier higher in BST. Pick Shiro if you're conscious about arena score and want better matchups against manaketes. Otherwise, stick to Lukas who is the sturdier wall. 

Edit: it's actually sturdy stance on his weapon, allowing him to better capitalize on hitting harder than Lukas without a special proc. So my score for him is now a 7 out of 10. More perks over Lukas than I initially thought but Lukas is still the more min-maxed unit.

Rhajat - Second highest attack stat of her class outside of just Summer Elise. Rhajat's lack of personal weapon leaves players with little reason to choose something other than a blade tome which she is excellent at using. Her BST also scores higher than other options within her class. It's a shame her defensive stats don't allow for cool niches. There is a bizarre lack of green mages with good Res stats. Rhajat is one dimensional, but a solid unit. 7 out of 10.

Past Ratings

Spoiler

1. Alfonse - 3
2. Marth - 7
3. Sharena - 3
4. Jagen - 1
5. Anna - 4.5
6. Barst - 3
7. Cain - 4
8. Draug - 7.5
9. Gordin - 5
10. Jeorge - 5.5
11. Abel - 5.5
12. Linde - 9
13. Minerva - Abstain
14. Merric - 3.5
15. Maria - 6
16. Wrys - 3.5
17. Ceada - Abstain
18. Ogma - 4
19. Catria - 4
20. Est - 6
21. Sheena - 6.5
22. Cecilia - 4
23. Clarine - 6.5
24. Matthew - 4
25. Palla - 2.5
26. Roy -7
27. Gwendolyn - 7.5
28. Shanna - 4.5
29. Bartre - 7
30. Fae - 7.5
31. Serra - 4
32. Lissa - 2
33. Y!Tiki - 8
34. Lilina - 7
35. Florina - 1.5
36. M!Robin - 3.5
37. Hector - 8
38. Raven - 8.5
39. Gaius - 4 
40. Virion - 3.5
41. Raigh - 1.5
42. Sophia - 3.5
43. Sully -2.5
44. Cordelia -7
45. Hawkeye - 5.5
46. Nino - 8
47. Felicia - 6.5
48. Jakob - 1
49. Fir - 4
50. Eliwood - 5.5
51. Donnel - 3.5
52. Nowi - 8.5
53. Frederick - 6.5
54. Cherche - 7.5
55. Saizo - 4
56. Kagero - 4.5
57. Lyn - 7
58. Chrom - 5
59. F!Corrin - 7
60. Azura - 6.5
61. Gunter - 3
62. Camilla - 5.5
63. Azama - 6.5
64. Setsuna - 3.5
65. Stahl - 2.5
66. Lonqu - 3
67. Hinoka - 7.5
68. Oboro - 2.5
69. Beruka - 6
70. Arthur - 2
71. Takumi - 5.5
72. Sakura - 3
73. Olivia - 7
74. Henry - 2
75. Subaki - 4.5
76. Peri - 6.5
77. Niles - 1.5
78. Elise - 7.5
79. Tharja - 5
80. A!Tiki - 8
81. Odin - 1 
82. Effie - 7.5
83. Lucina - 7
84. M!Corrin - 6
85. Ryoma - 5.5
86. Hinata - 4.5
87. Hana - 5.5
88. Laslow - 3
89. Selena - 2
90. Leo - 2
91. Eirika - 5
92. Seliph - 5.5
93. Ephraim - 7
94. Julia - 6
95. Eldigan - Abstain
96. Sanaki - 6.5
97. Reinhardt - 8
98. Olwen - 5.5
99. Lachesis - 3
100. Klein - 4
101. Karel - 6.5
102. Ninian - 7
103. Lucius - 4.5
104. Rebecca - 2.5
105. Priscilla - 4
106. Jaffar - 3.5
107. Alm - 9
108. Lukas - 7.5
109. Clair - 7
110. Faye - 5.5
111. Ike - 6
112. Titania - 3.5
113. Soren - 4
114. Mist - 2.5
115. Celica - 7
116. Mae - 6.5
117. Boey - 3.5
118. Genny - 6
119. Luke - 3.5
120. Katarina - 5.5
121. Athena - 3.5
122. Roderick - 6
123. Gray - 5
124. Saber - 3
125. Mathilda - 3
126. Delthea - 6.5
127. Sonya - 4.5
128. Leon - 6
129. Seth - 2
130. Tana - 7
131. Amelia -8
132. Innes - 6
133. Brave Roy - 6.5
134. Brave Lucina - Abstain
135. Brave Ike - 8
136. Brave Lyn - 8.5
137. Elincia - 7.5
138. Osxar - 6
139. Nephenee - 7
140. Sigurd - 7.5
141. Tailtiu - 4.5
142. Deirdre - 6
143. Ayra - 9
144. Mia - 8
145. Lute - 7.5
146. Dorcas -8
147. Siegbert - 7.5
148. Soleil - 7
149. Shiro - 6.5
150. Rhajat - 7
151.  

Ratings I would change in retrospect: Gordin would be a 2.5 and Jeorge a 4, Cain would be a 3, Cecilia would be a 3.5. Linde would be 7. And I'd drop Matthew and Saizo to 3.5. Beruka would be a 7. Caeda I'd rate a 5.5 now that I've been using her at 5 star. Leo I'd bump up to a 3. Nino should be a 6. Hector is a 7.5.

 

Edited July 14, 2018 by Glennstavos

[Ice Dragon]

15 minutes ago, Glennstavos said:

His weapon applies Steady Stance for 6 more defense on enemy phase,

It's actually Sturdy Stance for +4 Str and +4 Def. I think you confused it with the fact that he has Steady Stance as his default passive A skill.