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

[Zapp Branniglenn]

15 minutes ago, Ice Dragon said:

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.

Oh my b, that's definitely better. He can spend less time failing to match Lukas' bulk and more on his better offenses.

[Korath88]

Shiro

Pretty much just premium Lukas, but his Atk is boosted by sturdy stance which means he's less dependent on special procs to kill his targets. He also has higher speed to avoid doubles, but at the cost of having less def and HP. Higher speed could also be seen as a drawback due to charging specials slower. But overall he's not different enough from Lukas, having similar matchups and weaknesses so he also gets a 7/10

Rhajat

A very standard offensive green mage that once again doesn't manage to outdo Nino at the bladetome role due to lesser speed. She also has less Res meaning she doesn't tank Reinhardt as well either.

Bladetome still gives her good combat performance like always but there isn't any reason to use her over Nino, even without taking availability into account. So she gets the standard "mediocre bladetome mage" rating of 6.5/10

[Fire Emblem Fan]

Ah, the ever-elusive Shiro and Rhajat...I have yet to summon either of them. Abstain.

[XRay]

6 hours ago, eclipse said:

It's not that Rhajat is bad, it's that everyone else either does her job better, or does something she can't

She does Nino's job pretty well though, and I think she should be judged in that direction. It is sort of like saying Lucina sucks because Zelgius, Ares, and Ayra exist. Zelgius and Ares have a different purpose and play style compared to Lucina, so comparing Rhajat to SF!Camilla and TOD!Henry with Enemy Phase builds does not really make sense. On the other hand, saying Lucina sucks compared to Ayra makes sense since they are both used as Player Phase units.

As for LA!Lilina, unless LA!Lilina gets full 6/6/6/6 buffs or something, Rhajat with [+Spd, -Res, Gronnblade, Atk/Spd Push, 4/4/0/0] still beats LA!Lilina with [+Spd, -Res, Gronnblade, Atk/Spd Push, 6/6/0/0]; Rhajat's much higher Spd helps her double more often, and the difference between +12 and +18 Atk does not really matter at that point since it is so ridiculously high.

— — — — — — —

Count my vote for Rhajat. I do not think I will ever get the perfect formula, so I think I will just resume voting as normal. I will still do adjustments over time to fix some weird implications that pop up, even if it means my scoring method will be inconsistent.

Speaking of weird implications, apparently, Rhajat's Enemy Phase performance is really good in the calculator when you take out Red and melee units, and it makes it look like she is better off as a an Enemy Phase unit, which I do not really agree with since she has really low bulk. Maybe I should give the enemies some buffs to weed out Enemy Phase builds with low bulk? Since no unit can realistically get a ratio of max#:0:0 maybe I should adjust how I weigh performance, and hopefully that should boost the scores of Blade mages a little more?

Maybe I should also allow myself to disregard my formula in cases like these where something does not look right, and rely more on gut feeling and experience like most people here.

Here is how my criteria are rated:

Spoiler

Mobility:
Armor units are 0/10. Infantry units are 5/10. Cavalry units are 8/10. Flying units are 9/10. Units with unique mobility skills will bump up their score.
Range:
Melee units are 0/10. Distant Counter Weapon melee units are 5/10. Ranged units are 10/10.

Player Phase General Performance (Raw):
This is based on the W:L:I ratio. Enemies will have a set up of +5, +Spd, Moonbow, and Fury. The unit will be +0, may not use Breakers, and will not have Chills or Ploys activate. Units may have access to buffs (usually, +4 to any two stats for infantry and armors, and 6/6/0/0 or 0/0/6/6 for cavalry and fliers). I would also list the build used to achieve that ratio. I think the following formula is pretty reasonable:
(W%) - (L%*0.25) = Raw Performance
Player Phase General Performance (Weighted):
Since most units can get a raw performance score of at least 5, setting 5 as 0 for the weighted performance makes more sense in judging how good a unit is.
(Raw Performance - 5) * 2 = Weighted Performance
Player Phase General Performance (Independence):
This just means how reliant the unit is on buffs. If I take off the buffs and the unit still performs pretty well, they will get a good score. The formula is that same as the raw performance:
(W%) - (L%*0.25) = Independence
Player Phase Adjusted Performance (Raw):
This is pretty much the same as general performance, except I take out certain classes of enemies. I will generally take two of the following classes of enemies out: Red, Blue, Green, Colorless, Melee, Ranged, Physical, Magical. Melee units I am testing will generally have ranged enemies taken out and vice versa. Units will also have the color that they are weak against taken out; colorless units usually would not have any color taken out, although they may have physical or magical enemies taken out.
Player Phase Adjusted Performance (Weighted):
See Above.
Player Phase Adjusted Performance (Independence):
See Above.
Player Phase Performance:
I consolidate the above scores into one score. If I took more than 2 classes out in the adjusted section, each additional class taken out will reduce the Adjusted Performance by 1 point. On the other hand, if I took 1 or 0 classes out, the unit will receive an additional 0.5 or 1 point.
(Weighted General * 0.8) + (Raw General * 0.1) + (Independence General * 0.1) =  General Performance
(Weighted Adjusted * 0.8) + (Raw Adjusted * 0.1) + (Independence Adjusted * 0.1) - [Classes Taken Out] + [Classes Added In] = Adjusted Performance
(General Performance + Adjusted Performance) * 0.5 = Player Phase Performance

Enemy Phase General Performance (Raw):
See Above.
Enemy Phase General Performance (Weighted):
See Above.
Enemy Phase General Performance (Independence):
See Above.
Enemy Phase Adjusted Performance (Raw):
See Above.
Enemy Phase Adjusted Performance (Weighted):
See Above.
Enemy Phase Adjusted Performance (Independence):
See Above.
Enemy Phase Performance:
See Above.

Ease of Use:
This is an average of the mobility and range scores.
Performance:
This is just Player Phase performance or Enemy Phase performance, whichever is higher.
Support:
Most units by default will be 0/10. Units with 30+ Res start from 1/10. Debuffers (dagger, staff, and breath units) start from 1/10. Healers (staff units and units with access to healing skills like Recover Ring) start from 1/10. Buffers start from 3/10. Fliers start from 4/10. Dancers/Singers start from 5/10. Other unique support skills may further boost their score.
Other:
If the unit has some unique application or fun build, it will be noted here.

Familiarity/Experience:
This just means how familiar I am with this particular unit or type of unit in Arena. If it is a low number, that means you should take the following rating number with a grain of salt since I do not have much experience with this particular unit and/or type of unit.
Rating:
The rating is how good I think a unit is. Here is how I weigh each criterion:
Ease of Use 4/10
Performance: 5/10
Support: 1/10
Other: If the unit got some unique application or fun build, they will get a boost to their rating.

Notes:
1. A unit's build in raw performance will not take into account a unit's support build, Raven build, or any other builds. Raw performance build aims to get the best score. Likewise, a unit's ease of use, support, and other criteria will not take into account the unit's raw performance build.
2. The build used in raw/weighted performance might not be the build with the best score. If there is an alternative build with a slightly less performance but much higher independence that results in a higher total score, that build will be used instead.
3. Axe and dagger versions of Wo Dao are not available in the regular summoning pool yet, but I think they will be added in the future, so I am using Giant Spoon and Lethal Carrot as place holders.

Disclosures:
I have a strong bias for non-armor Player Phase ranged units. My experience with melee and armor units in Arena is pretty minimal (i.e.: I suck at using them), so my rating for them is mostly based on theory. My Arena core consists of BH!Lyn, Reinhardt, and Olivia. I am usually in Tier 20, but I may drop to Tier 19 if I do not fish for points.

Experimental Stuff:

Ease of Use 3/10
Performance: 6/10
Support: 1/10
Other: If the unit got some unique application or fun build, they will get a boost to their rating.

Ease of Use 2/10
Performance: 7/10
Support: 1/10
Other: If the unit got some unique application or fun build, they will get a boost to their rating.

Revised Ease of Use:

Movement

1 Movement = 0
2 Movement = 2
3 Movement = 3
Go on Trenches = +0.5
Unimpeded by Trenches = +0.5
Go on Forests = +0.5
Unimpeded by Forests =+0.5
Go on Obstacles = +0.5
Unimpeded by Obstacles = +0.5
Exclusive Movement Effects = +1

Armor = 2 = 0.5+0.5+0.5+0.5
Infantry = 3.5 = 2+0.5+0.5+0.5 = 3.5
Cavalry = 3.5 = 3+0.5 = 3.5
Flier = 5 = 2+0.5+0.5+0.5+0.5+0.5+0.5

Weapon Range:

Melee = 0
Distant Counter = 2
Ranged = 4

Other:

Spoiler

Template

— — — — — — — ◆Red◆ — — — — — — —
— — — — — — — ◾Blue◾ — — — — — — —
— — — — — — — ⬟Green⬟ — — — — — — —
— — — — — — — ●Colorless● — — — — — — —

Mobility: /10
Range: /10

Player Phase General Performance (Raw): /10 — #:#:#
Player Phase General Performance (Weighted): /10
Player Phase General Performance (Independence): /10 — #:#:#
[+Boon, -Bane, Weapon, Special, A, B, Sacred Seal, #/#/#/#]
Player Phase Adjusted Performance (Raw — No Red/Blue/Green/Colorless/Melee/Ranged/Physical/Magical): /10 — #:#:#
Player Phase Adjusted Performance (Weighted — No Red/Blue/Green/Colorless/Melee/Ranged/Physical/Magical): /10
Player Phase Adjusted Performance (Independence — No Red/Blue/Green/Colorless/Melee/Ranged/Physical/Magical): /10 — #:#:#
[+Boon, -Bane, Weapon, Special, A, B, Sacred Seal, #/#/#/#]
Player Phase Performance: /10

Enemy Phase General Performance (Raw): /10 — #:#:#
Enemy Phase General Performance (Weighted): /10
Enemy Phase General Performance (Independence): /10 — #:#:#
[+Boon, -Bane, Weapon, Special, A, B, Sacred Seal, #/#/#/#]
Enemy Phase Adjusted Performance (Raw — No Red/Blue/Green/Colorless/Melee/Ranged/Physical/Magical): /10 — #:#:#
Enemy Phase Adjusted Performance (Weighted— No Red/Blue/Green/Colorless/Melee/Ranged/Physical/Magical): /10
Enemy Phase Adjusted Performance (Independence — No Red/Blue/Green/Colorless/Melee/Ranged/Physical/Magical): /10 — #:#:#
[+Boon, -Bane, Weapon, Special, A, B, Sacred Seal, #/#/#/#]
Enemy Phase Performance: /10

Ease of Use: /10
Performance: /10
Support: /10
Other: /10

Familiarity/Experience: /10
Rating: /10

Summary:

_______ got bad/okay/good/stellar combat performance.

She/He can the support the team with Ploys.

She/He can support the team with daggers/Light Breath and Dark Breath.

She/He is a great mobility support unit as a flier.

She/He can also run Firesweep-Hit and Run as a flier unit.

She/He can run a Firesweep-Poison Strike-Poison Strike.

She/He can run Wrathful Staff-Dazzling Staff to emulate Firesweep archers.

She/He can run a Raven set.

 

— — — — — — — ⬟Rhajat⬟ — — — — — — —

Mobility: 5/10
Range: 10/10

Player Phase General Performance (Raw): 6.91/10 — 193:31:44
Player Phase General Performance (Weighted): 3.82/10
Player Phase General Performance (Independence): 2.5/10 — 75:32:161
[+Spd, -Res, Gronnblade, Moonbow, Atk/Spd Push, Renewal, Speed +3, 4/4/0/0]
Player Phase Adjusted Performance (Raw — No Red/Melee): /10 — 84:5:9
Player Phase Adjusted Performance (Weighted — No Red/Melee): /10
Player Phase Adjusted Performance (Independence — No Red/Melee): /10 — 32:6:60
[+Spd, -Res, Gronnblade, Moonbow, Atk/Spd Push, Renewal, Speed +3, 4/4/0/0]
Player Phase Performance: 5.33/10

Enemy Phase General Performance (Raw): 5.89/10 — 176:73:19
Enemy Phase General Performance (Weighted): 1.77/10
Enemy Phase General Performance (Independence): 3.66/10 — 127:116:25
[+Atk, -Res, Gronnowl [Spd][1 Ally], Moonbow, Close Counter, Quick Riposte, Atk/Def 2, 4/4/0/0]
Enemy Phase Adjusted Performance (Raw — No Red/Melee): 9.54/10 — 94:2:2
Enemy Phase Adjusted Performance (Weighted— No Red/Melee): 9.08/10
Enemy Phase Adjusted Performance (Independence — No Red/Melee): 9.54/10 — 94:2:2
[+Spd, -Res, Gronnowl [Spd][1 Ally], Moonbow, Atk/Spd Push, Quick Riposte, Atk/Def 2, 4/4/0/0]
Enemy Phase Performance: 5.77/10

Ease of Use: 7.5/10
Performance: 5.77/10
Support: 0/10
Other: 0/10

Familiarity/Experience: 5/10
Rating: 7/10

Summary:

Rhajat got okay/good combat performance.

[eclipse]

14 minutes ago, XRay said:

She does Nino's job pretty well though, and I think she should be judged in that direction. It is sort of like saying Lucina sucks because Zelgius, Ares, and Ayra exist. Zelgius and Ares have a different purpose and play style compared to Lucina, so comparing Rhajat to SF!Camilla and TOD!Henry with Enemy Phase builds does not really make sense. On the other hand, saying Lucina sucks compared to Ayra makes sense since they are both used as Player Phase units.

As for LA!Lilina, unless LA!Lilina gets full 6/6/6/6 buffs or something, Rhajat with [+Spd, -Res, Gronnblade, Atk/Spd Push, 4/4/0/0] still beats LA!Lilina with [+Spd, -Res, Gronnblade, Atk/Spd Push, 6/6/0/0]; Rhajat's much higher Spd helps her double more often, and the difference between +12 and +18 Atk does not really matter at that point since it is so ridiculously high.

My criteria involves unit flexibility. . .and alas, while I see what you're getting at, Lucina has dragon-slaying over everyone else you named (Zelgius gets armor stats and has innate DC, Ares is a special-spamming machine, and Ayra's job is to be really fast).  Rhajat is stuck with generic weapons, much like Nino.  Her stats lean towards one build, with MAYBE a magical bait -raven if she's +Res/-HP or something.  With that kind of inflexibility, her score's going to take a hit.

Besides, I wouldn't build Lilina like that.  She can do something that Rhajat can't, and I'm going to take full advantage of that.

[MacLovin]

Shiro gets a 7/10

Mine has a shit nature, but he's def. usable even with minimal investment. He's basically Lukas 2.0. 

 

Rhajat gets a 7/10. Good att/spd stats and can run bladetomes or keen gronnwolf. I admit, I kinda prefer Rhajat's design over Tharja's for some reason and idk why. But Rhajat is an easy to use nuke in the same fashion that Tharja is. Sure she's not the best and doesn't have a straight out niche, but she can function perfectly well. (I've only used her in VGs)

 

 

[Shiki]

Shiro: 7.0
Rhajat: 6.81

Funny that people say Shiro is an improved Lukas, even though he is arguably doing a worse job than him as a physical tank. Doesn't help that Nephenee pretty much usurped his other niche with her new weapon.

Zelgius, Jet-Black General

Spoiler

Max. Stats:
43/46/49
33/36/39
30/33/36
35/38/41
18/21/24

Base Skills:

Alondite
( - )
Black Luna

Fierce Stance
Warp Powder
Panic Ploy

Micaiah, Priestess of Dawn

Spoiler

Max. Stats:
32/35/39
32/35/38
24/28/31
14/18/21
32/35/38

Base Skills:

Thani
Sacrifice
( - )

Distant Def
Guard
Drive Atk

 

[redlight]

10 minutes ago, The Priest said:

Funny that people say Shiro is an improved Lukas

Shiro is basically Donnel

Edited July 15, 2018 by silveraura25

[kirauza343]

Zelgius: Black Knight was already a powerhouse, so a stronger, sturdier version with access to IVs is insane. Black Luna is one of (if not the most) powerful specials in the game, and with only a three charge cooldown and access to the fighter skills he can make excellent use of it. Alondite is your average distant counter weapon which can be very useful, or he can make use of some fairly ridiculous builds (for example brave sword + bold fighter + quickened pulse + his native Black Luna is just plain silly). He does need a little support to be mobile, but if you want an amazing sword armor look no further. Rating: 9.5/10

Micaiah: She has the honor of being one of three units to have a prf effective against both cavalry and armor units, and unlike Clair and Caeda she can attack from a distance and she actually has an attack stat (even at a bane her base attack is higher than either's super boon). Her speed is relatively low, but that doesn't matter as much when she can, if built for it, can one shot almost all of the red calvary and armor units, a large chunk of the blue and colorless, and even a few of the greens. Her resistance makes her excellent for dealing with mages and work well if you want to make us of ploys. One of the best infantry blue mages by virtue of filling a niche others do not by being an excellent counter to horse and armor emblem and having one of the best prfs released so far. Rating: 8.5/10

[Simpsons138]

37 minutes ago, The Priest said:

Funny that people say Shiro is an improved Lukas, even though he is arguably doing a worse job than him as a physical tank.

Has a higher attack, speed and resistance than Lukas, while the latter has more HP and Defense than Shiro, probably that's the reason why along with Bright Naginata and Steady Stance, but that's just me, anyways:

• Zelgius: He's a slower but stronger and bulkier version of the Black Knight, can work if given a Steady Breath + Vengeful/Bold Fighter combo to take care of his opponents, especially with Black Luna, plus he actually does a better job at baiting enemies with his stupidly high defense and he can practically one-shot his enemies if he uses Black Luna, even though he has a higher Res than Black Knight, it's not a good idea to bait mages with him too much, especially blue mages and a certain one I'll talk in a moment, plus he's mostly going to take physical hits anyway so, just bait him for mages if he already has his special ready, 9/10

 

• Micaiah: And now for the W!Tharja killer herself, insanely high resistance, the highest one of blue mages and highest overall with her weapon equipped, ties with Linde for the second highest attack among blue mages and with a weapon that not only gives her +3 res, not only does it mitigate the damage on ranged mounted and armored units (which is higher with Distant Def), it also utterly destroy them when she attacks them, especially if she uses a special like Glacies, she must have Quick Riposte if she's going to bait mages and mounted or armored mages since her speed is pretty bad and with a pretty low defense stat, she can't take any physical hits AT ALL, regardless of what she has for increasing her defense, she's a mage tank above all, the complete opposite of Zelgius who is a physical tank, slaying pesky W!Tharjas since January, 8/10

[eclipse]

1 hour ago, The Priest said:

Funny that people say Shiro is an improved Lukas, even though he is arguably doing a worse job than him as a physical tank. Doesn't help that Nephenee pretty much usurped his other niche with her new weapon.

Check my rating for Shiro.  Now check my rating for Lukas.

Ahem. . .

Zelgius - Man, if this guy has 36/33 offenses on PP, then Gatrie's gonna be some next-level broken.  What makes this especially worrying is that he turns into 42/33 when he's baiting someone - and he wants to bait people, because he has the third-highest defense among all swordies (only Ardan and Draug beat him), AND gets innate DC on his weapon.  Black Luna is great for arena scoring, as is Warp Powder (and an armor should NOT be that mobile).  Strangely enough, his best boon is Speed.  As long as he isn't trying to bait the original Reinhardt, he'll do well.  9.5/10

Micaiah - So remember that Reinhardt I mentioned earlier?  Micaiah's job is to make him regret ever being summoned.  Thani augments her already excellent Res, and has armor/cavalry effectiveness.  The only mages she might have problems baiting are green -blade mages with proper buffs that have a competent attack stat and can double her, and Nino on a flying mount.  Her 35 base attack is one off of the absolute highest for blue mages.  Her job is to bait mages and make armor/cavalry units cry, and she does it very well.  Alas, Sacrifice sucks.  8/10

[Alexmender]

Zelgius. His stat spread focuses on Atk/Def while having a relatively above average Spd/Hp and pathetic Res. Zelgius is imo the most busted unit in this game, despite his terrible Res he has enough Hp/Spd to survive a hit from dragons and non-Reinhardt/fully buffed blade tome mages, his status as an armor allows him to use the ever busted Bold Fighter and to make things better his Prf weapon Alondite has DC built-in which frees his A-Slot to run Steady/Warding Breath in conjuction with the Quick Riposte seal to become a perfect mixed phase monster. This alone puts him at a very high tier but what pushes him beyond is his exclusive special Black Luna which reduces the enemy Def by 80%, that's massive as it can cripple every unit in the game if not outright kill them and thanks to his pretty great bulk it is going to be very hard to take him down in one round, which can easily spell the doom of your team. His only weakness lies in his Res but like I said he doesn't suffer as hard thanks to his Spd allowing him to not be doubled often and due to how Arena works the higher you go the less he'll suffer from this kind of issues. Seriously, this man can be the strongest asset in your team when played properly and can also be the bane of your existance if you don't have a reliable answer to him.

Rating: 10/10

Micaiah. She focuses on Atk/Res while dumping Def. Micaiah is a unit that can perform two kinds of jobs depending on what the player needs. She can be a decent mage tank thanks to her high Res which coupled with her native Distant Def and the Distant Def seal lets her take practically no damage from magic hits outside of specials, or she can go for the complete opposite role and become an anti-horse/armor nuke during PP. From what I've played the second role is the best for Micaiah because the first one will still suffer in the presence of archers which will target her pathetic Def and due to her mediocre Spd it's likely she'll get doubled and ORKO'd by them even if she doesn't take that much damage from the first hit. Her offensive role is very straightfoward, if she sees a horse/armor unit, she'll nuke them into oblivion thanks to her Prf tome, Thani, which grants her Res+3, reduces the damage from the first horse/armor ranged hit she takes by 30% and has effectiveness against horse/armor units. Micaiah is also pretty unique in that she's the only unit with an exclusive assist skill, Sacrifice, which is basically Harsh Command+an improved Ardent Sacrifice. That allows Micaiah to score on par with Gen 1 infantry/fliers so she's a pretty good unit to bring along in arena which is infested with horses on the lower spectrum and armors in the upper. Her weakness comes from her Spd/Def which makes her prone to be killed by any kind of physical unit she can't OHKO and she'll also take a lot of damage from dragons. She can patch this up with Atk Ploy as her high Res will ensure she'll proc it against every relevant threat so she's not as fragile as one may initially think, still it's better to keep her away from DC infantry/fliers and dragons and focus on her Horse/Armor killer capabilities.

Rating: 9/10

Edited July 16, 2018 by Alexmender

[Zapp Branniglenn]

Put me in the camp of people that rated Lukas higher. When it comes to litmus tests of how well people understand unit viability, at least appreciate that Shiro's score was averaged 0.6 points below Lukas. I'm still trying to math out how Effie is the third highest rated unit we've looked at so far.

Zelgius - Ashera be praised, they made a red armor unit that could reach max merge level. AND he's a strictly superior version of the current best Red Armor? Zelgius is excellent, and the only unit I've been considering for a perfect 10 rating. Though I don't own any of the other, mostly green potential candidates so maybe I'm overrating him. There are a few armor units that have come out since Zelgius that have his strengths even if they don't share a color. Hardin and M!Grima can combine DC with a Breath skill which is an excellent combination. Plus I feel armored boots and new armor B skills have cut into the viability of his Warp Powder skill. Warp Powder helps Zelgius not feel like an armor unit, but the advent of the Bold and Vengeful Fighter skills makes his B slot much more valuable to him and his seal slot less so. So Armored Boots over Warp Powder is probably appropriate for a mixed emblem team His third personal skill, Black Luna, is perhaps the greatest highlight. It's low charge, scores high in SP, and can delete many units he would have disadvantage against. 9.5 out of 10. Not a perfect rating since he spoils the Black Knight's identity.

Micaiah - Sacrifice is not a gotta-have-it support skill, but it does help her arena score an absurd amount. She's also a BST tier higher than the rest of her class and has a personal weapon so she more than makes up for taking an infantry tome user into the arena. She's also got top of the line Res even before the +3 boost from Thani. Res Ploy can help her bomb the crap out of units. Though if you value ploys a lot in a support sense then you may be looking for Lute. Micaiah's biggest shortcoming is her speed. It's just about low enough to consider that speed superbane. 8 out of 10. I think she'll always find ways to contribute despite the sea of units that will counterkill her if she fails the OHKO or ORKO.

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. Zelgius - 9.5
152. Micaiah - 8

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 15, 2018 by Glennstavos

[Troykv]

Zelgius is a incredible unit with access to some one the most insane combinations in the game thanks to being and armor (giving him access to pretty much all of the best skills in the game) and having Black Luna as you delete button to destroy anything that isn't a hard counter.

9.5/10

The only thing that stops being from being perfect is the fact you need your team to make him move decently.

Micaiah is a min maxed unit speciallist in doing her work... Her power is very high (only beaten for the trinity of High Power Blue Mages), and her Res is pretty much the highest in the game (even with a Bane she would still have at least 35 Res), making her a good ploy user and magic tank... But of course; Micaiah's main point of utility is the other properties of her weapon... Destroying Armor and Cavalier Units without much problem; and getting damage reduction against ranged enemies it's a very welcome extra effect; specially because this essencially turns her into a perfect counter for people like Winter Tharja and Reinhardt; and many other annoying units.

8.5/10

 

[Hilda]

Micaiah: "i wreak Armorers and Horses with a finger snip... all colors... even green ones" Desperation + Brash Assault Seal ahoi!
Best T20 whale counter evar. Need to kill Zelgius + Ayra + Legendary Hector or any Hector or any Armorer? or Jakob... Just put her in a Team with a Dancer and watch her beast through all of them

[LordFrigid]

Zelgius

• Physically focused stat line, with very good Def, good Atk, decent Spd, and low Res.
  • Alondite (built-in Distant Counter) is a powerful defensive tool.
  • Black Luna (Ignores 80% of enemy Def/Res) is an incredibly strong offensive special.
  • Very strong green and red matchups on offense with a Steady Breath/Bold Fighter set, leveraging one-round Black Lunas to cut through his foes.*
  • Very strong green, strong red matchups on defense with the same Steady Breath/Bold Fighter set. He can use either the Quick Riposte or Quickened Pulse seals for this set, the former gives him more consistent defensive performance as long as he's at or above 70% HP, while the latter provides an immediate Black Luna on his first EP engagement to ensure he does not take a potential double attack and get KO'd.*
• As an armor unit, he can provide armor field/combat buff support. He has the HP stat to run Panic Ploy as well.

Overall, I give him 9.5 for combat (very strong green and red matchups on both phases), and 1.5 for support (armor field/combat buff, Panic Ploy capability), for a total rating of 9/10.

*16 Jul Edit: He can capably run all of the other prominent swords, with some granting him better performance on one phase or the other, but it wouldn't affect the rating I gave him.

Micaiah

• Magically focused stat line, with good Atk and Res, mediocre Spd, and poor Def.
  • Thani (Res +3, deals effective damage against cavalry and armored units, reduces damage taken from the first hit of 2-range cavalry and armored units by 30%) is a powerful weapon that grants her a useful combat niche.
  • Very strong red, decent blue matchups on offense when using a Ploy setup. She dominates the vast majority of cavalry and armor foes in those colors, though she does take losses to some Effie variants.
  • Very strong matchups against mages on defense with a Distant Def stacking set.
• She can provide stat ploy support with her good Res stat (which is further amplified by Thani).

Overall, I give her 8.5 for combat (very strong red, decent blue matchups, useful combat niche bonus), and 1 for support (stat ploy capability), for a total rating of 8/10.

~

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.

Edited July 16, 2018 by LordFrigid

[Korath88]

Zelgius 

Black Knight, whale edition. Gen 2 BST, a distant counter weapon and Black Luna with bold fighter access makes him the single best red unit in the game, and his dual phase kit (Bold fighter, steady breath and QR seal) makes him one of the most versatile units, allowing him to get accelerated specials on both phases so he can charge up his broken special even faster.

He has stellar performance on both phases, with his main weakness being blue magic damage and guard, and while he does want movement support, none of it is detrimental enough to deny the fact that he is one of the current meta defining units in the game, and as such, one of the very few units I'm willing to give a 10/10

Micaiah

About time IS did something unique with a blue mage. Her stats are quite different from the average blue mage having great Atk and Res but poor speed, and rather than trying to surpass Linde in raw offensive stats, she instead opts to become a horse and armor deleting nuke with mage tanking capabilities as well. 

Thani is the first weapon to have dual effectiveness allowing her to serve as a solid anti meta unit. However her matchups are shaky if she doesn't have effective damage. She usually runs death blow for maximum nuking potential or CC vantage to take out multiple horses and armors on enemy phase. QR seal can also be run to take out enemy mages as well. Overall, her unique niche and good combat capabilities make her a solid 8/10

[DehNutCase]

Zelgius:

BST: 46/36/33/38/21

Functionally speaking, Black Luna is similar to a generic 4 CD special, except at 3 CD instead. We can therefore treat it as an exceedingly specific killer effect that happens to come with Zelgius/BK.

Like I've mentioned with Dorcas, a DC Prf isn't anything special now that the weapon slot is comparable or stronger than the A-slot in terms of effects. Warding\Steady Breath + DC Prf effects can be simulated with Killer (Atk Refine) + Distant Counter in A-slot, and the fact that Prfs are often stronger than generics means that Prf + DC tends to beat DC Prf + A-slot, or even DC Prf + A-slot + Special Prf.

Raven and Linus' Basilikos is perhaps the most obvious example---featuring +3 hp and a less restrictive killer effect compared to L&D + DC Prf + Black Luna that Zelgius or BK could use. Although they have to use Astra or Dragon Fang instead of Black Luna.

And, of course, the moment Zelgius stops trying to use Black Luna he loses his 'killer effect' Prf entirely.

 

Considering Amelia's 47/34/34/35/23 is easily comparable to Zelgius' spread, the fact that his weapon Prf is essentially comparable to generic weapons, and that his other Prf is exceedingly specific and slightly underpowered, and Zelgius gets a simple

6/10

Same as Amelia, for much the same reasons. Stellar combat + atrocious support combine to form a mediocre unit. While there is, in fact, a point where mobility stops mattering once enough combat effectiveness is acquired, Zelgius doesn't have nearly enough.

 

Winter Tharja would score around 8.5, for reference, thanks to her better mobility (2-range) and access to a 37 MT weapon. If an armored dancer with natural 2 move (preferably in the weapon slot, preferably working both alone and with allies) existed, W!Tharja might even score 9 or 9.5.

 

Micaiah:

BST: 35/35/28/18/35

Effective damage is a 50% damage increase, meaning at 46 Atk (which Micaiah naturally has) it'll out damage -blade tomes. Assuming you only ever run into horses and armors. There's also a 30% damage reduction against ranged Armors and Cavalry, which gives her an enemy phase.

 

I don't often say this, but... her Prf is actually good enough to compete with blade tomes.

It's not Dire Thunder or Thunderhead level, but it's good.

 

Because of her dedicated role as horse and armor hoser, and her Tome's excellent damage reduction effect, it would've been better, like always, if she had an hp focus defensively, and relatively even def/res. As is, Bow Lyn, Roy, or Jakob all have very good odds of 2HKOing her with a Brave Bow.

Then again, there's always the chance of her Res falling low enough that Dire Thunder threatens a 2HKO.

 

35+28 is good enough to run a -blade Tome, so she'll score at least a 7 even without a Prf. (For the record, 10 Atk/40 Spd is probably good enough to run a -blade Tome, to give an idea of how little Atk you actually need, and 40 Atk/10 Spd would be the most busted tome user in the game.)

 

So, for her excellent hosing abilities on top of being a Tome user, Micaich receives a

7.5/10

With a caveat that your team better actually need her specialty, Otherwise she's just another offensive tome user with an unfortunate defensive spread.

(Ignore Micaiah's Sacrifice---A restore staff healer is just as good at hosing teams with a dazzling gravity+, but with a better assist and better mobility if you pick someone with a horse.)

Edited July 16, 2018 by DehNutCase

[Midnox]

Zelgius rlz. His only weakness is res, but he has practically everything else goin' for him. Micaiah holds a powerful weapon that's effective against two of the most commonly annoying enemies, and has high attack. Sadly, she can't take hits either, as her poor def is insta death, and poor speed. She has high res, but abusing it when she has rather low hp on top of being slow has to think twice on magic baiting 

[Fire Emblem Fan]

Abstain from Zelgius, I haven't summoned him.

Micaiah: Her weapon covering both armors and cavalry is extremely dangerous, she's one of the only characters in the game that can (usually) handle the enormous threats of Brave Lyn, Reinhardt, and (from what I understand) Zelgius. That alone makes her very valuable. Couple that with her high attack and resistance, and she can handle most other mages as well. She's a very good option for a blue mage unit if that's what you want for your team since she's so versatile, although she has bad defense and could still be nuked by B/Lyn or Reinhardt if they have enough buffs and support. 8.5/10

[Troykv]

3 hours ago, DehNutCase said:

(For the record, 10 Atk/40 Spd is probably good enough to run a -blade Tome, to give an idea of how little Atk you actually need, and 40 Atk/10 Spd would be the most busted tome user in the game.)

I'm not sure if I would use an Unit with 10 Atk even with a Bladetome.

[DehNutCase]

27 minutes ago, Troykv said:

I'm not sure if I would use an Unit with 10 Atk even with a Bladetome.

Offensively? Yeah, it's worthless.

Defensively though they can afford to skip QR and run renewal off the back of that 40 speed, since you'll have stats around what Sophia's looks like. Sophia has 33 + 19 = 52 Atk + Spd. This guy has 2 more points in bulk, never gets doubled, and usually doubles you back.

 

And bear in mind that having a low attack with -blade means that you get the one option no other defensive unit has:

You can choose when you get your attack damage. You can go bait the first round with no buffs, dealing 0 damage, meaning things like WoM and Vantage don't trigger but you get special charge.

 

Edit: It'll play extremely similar to a ranged Brave Ike, basically. You don't damage the other guy first round so you don't trigger hp shenanigans, and then you Special Proc them for their entire hp pool. (Since you get 30 damage from -blade and then probably another 20 or so from your special proc.)

Edited July 16, 2018 by DehNutCase

[Ice Dragon]

3 hours ago, DehNutCase said:

For the record, 10 Atk/40 Spd is probably good enough to run a -blade Tome,

If you really want a black hole of support, here's your guy. I gave Odin 10 base Atk and 40 base Spd (the remaining 4 points split between Def and Res), and he needs the full +6/6/6/6 with Blarblade+ to simply perform the same as Linde with +4/4/4/0... with refined Aura.

That's really, really bad.

 

11 minutes ago, DehNutCase said:

And bear in mind that having a low attack with -blade means that you get the one option no other defensive unit has:

You can choose when you get your attack damage. You can go bait the first round with no buffs, dealing 0 damage, meaning things like WoM and Vantage don't trigger but you get special charge.

And bear in mind that this is worse than just having a functional Special skill that nukes the crap out of the opponent in one round of combat, which is what actually-useful enemy-phase units do.

[DehNutCase]

1 hour ago, Ice Dragon said:

If you really want a black hole of support, here's your guy. I gave Odin 10 base Atk and 40 base Spd (the remaining 4 points split between Def and Res), and he needs the full +6/6/6/6 with Blarblade+ to simply perform the same as Linde with +4/4/4/0... with refined Aura.

That's really, really bad.

You're thinking in terms of amount of buffs rather than the number of units needed to provide said buffs. 6/6/5/6 only needs one dancer to provide. (Or 6/6/0/6 if you want to keep your action turn.) Hell, like you've said, 4/4/6/6 is possible with just Ninian.

The biggest reason I don't rate Reinhardt 10/10 right now is because he'll always need 2 people buffing him to reach peak or near peak---unless you start sacrificing action-turns to buff with def/res link.

Mind, an infantry or armor with this spread would be unbearable to use.

1 hour ago, Ice Dragon said:

And bear in mind that this is worse than just having a functional Special skill that nukes the crap out of the opponent in one round of combat, which is what actually-useful enemy-phase units do.

The reason I don't rate Zelgius on the same level as Reinhardt is, because, to be on Reinhardt's level, since he's an enemy phase specialist, he needs a player phase as good as Reinhardt's enemy phase, and an enemy phase as good as Reinhardt's player phase.

In terms of numbers Zelgius has this easily---his matchups in both directions are probably better than Rein's. But Rein, in my opinion, is by far the superior unit, because he gives you the choice of which combat he takes. That is, Rein gets to choose where, when, and who he fights, using only the things he has in his base kit, 3 move and 2 range.

It's similar to the difference between a Charm and Vexing Devil (Vexing Devil is a card with 2 overpowered effects that your opponent gets to choose from).

 

This 10/40 guy is basically Reinhardt lite. He trades raw power for the ability to choose. He doesn't have to nuke the guy who just hit him, he has, presumably, at least 2 move and definitely 2 range. He gets to choose how much damage he does, and who he does it to. 10 + 13 + 30 = 53 is, in fact, enough to ORKO people with a double if he wants to do that, particularly with triangle advantage. But he can also choose to leave this guy he can easily ORKO (and presumably does 0 damage to him) alone, and use them to nuke the back-line that actually matters.

 

Mind, even with perfect play this guy is still probably only around 7, and only if he's on a horse or a pegasus, and probably like a 5 or a 6 if he's an infantry, but it's really hard for him to be dead-weight in any matchup (since he can still serve as repo and C-slot S-slot fodder if he isn't armored), and there'll definitely be matchups where he can sweep off his excellent bulk and sustain.

 

Edit: I should clarify that I'm imagining this guy running a CC, Renewal, Free Slot, Flashing Blade, Astra set, with the first combat loading Astra completely and possibly ORKOing his enemy or leaving the enemy completely unscathed depending on what the team needs.

It's pretty shit for the heavy investment, but I'm treating investment as free for my unit ratings.

Hmm... but that only works if he's armor or infantry, lul.

 

Nevermind, this guy's around 6.5 even as horse or flier. I'd still take him over Zelgius but god damn that's bad for a Type Tome user.

Edited July 16, 2018 by DehNutCase

[TheBraveGallade]

Zelgius 

The best sword armor TT, but better in every way sans spd. What's not to love? Has defences to laugh off almost all phisical damage not Tadept or rediculously boosted Lance nukes. Plus, his special just erases you unless you have high HP if he didn't kill you before. DC allows him to be dangerous to even mages, as most would at best take severe damage on retaliation and at worse get erased. And a black Luna is usually just an instant kill for most. Unless you have high boosted blade tomes, effectiveness lances, blue dragons or dire thunder, you are screwed VS zelgius

Oh also warp powder. Yeah.

8.5/10

 

Micaiah

Micaiah's thani is just the perfect specialty weapon. Vs cav and armor, exept for high res greens she just erases them either with QR vantage or death blow desperation/brash assault. Her rediculous res and base distant defece also makes her the perfect magic bait. Overall one of the most unique good blue mage out there.

7.5/10