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

[eclipse]

Alfonse - He's required for a bunch of quests, so putting some minimal effort into building him is recommended.  He's slow and somewhat bulky, and my favorite pastime is to have him bait the likes of Hector with QR ready to roll.  He's absolutely not going to outshine most of the newer swordies, but he still gets the job done.  4/10

Marth - This guy took forever for me to pull.  By himself, he's a decent dragon-killer - he's not One Punch Chrom, nor does he have Lucina's ability to double a giant chunk of the game.  Once he gets his weapon refine, he's basically a walking Drive unit.  If he can get low enough to trigger Escape Route, he can warp to whoever needs a giant boost to their stats.  Thanks to the fact that he merely needs to exist in order to shine, he gets a 7/10 for utility's sake.

[SatsumaFSoysoy]

Things I consider are: performance vs units that the unit has WTA over, performance vs units in the same color/Colorless, and team support. I'll mention cost of full potential sometimes, but not that often.

Alfonse

Right out of the gate, the simple fact that he needs Axebreaker to do his bare minimum job well is the hallmark of a terrible, terrible unit.

Folkvangr was quite mediocre even at launch, and now it's an even more outdated weapon, especially since ORKOs have become more and more important. At this point, Folkvangr is only good for Arena points, being 400 SP. Though, it's only 50 SP more than a refined weapon, which means depending on the rest of his skills, it might not make a difference. Speaking of, Alfonse's best weapon choices are now Slaying Edge and Wo Dao. Both weapons have their upsides, but overall Slaying Edge is more effective for Alfonse's statline, as it allows him to instantly proc Glimmer to use his only strong stat. While he can run Brave Sword, 32 Atk is heavily outclassed.

His best set overall is Slaying Edge Glimmer with Distant Counter and Wrath, allowing him to have a very strong instant counterattack, and somewhat helps him mitigate his poor Speed by killing the opponent before he is doubled. But no matter what set Alfonse runs, he'll just be a worse version of a bunch of units, such as Laslow and Chrom, as his statline just isn't efficient enough. He fails to even kill Myrrh, Fae and Male Grima, three very common units in Arena nowadays. Depending on their builds (max Spd Fae, Bold Fighter Grima), he can even die to them despite WTA. He's a poor choice as a Red unit overall, but believe it or not, there are worse units...

3/10. I thought about rating 4/10, but it doesn't make that much of a difference.

 

Marth

Marth is just extremely underwhelming combat-wise; pretty much the worse at combat of the four Falchion users at this point. Alm got his broken refine, Chrom and Lucina's Bond Refines are very good (though Chrom still does better with Slaying Edge), while Marth got team support instead.

His statline is very average, with 31/34 offenses. 31 Atk is considered low nowadays, but 34 base Speed is still fairly acceptable. His total physical bulk of 70 is also very average. It's a statline that hasn't aged well at all. General bulk and Speed have increased with refines giving HP, Def and Spd, and while he may still be able to combat Green units mostly adequately, he cannot compete with many Red units, especially those with boosted BST nowadays.

He is comparable to Eirika, who is also an averagely bulky Sword unit with poor Atk, and good team support options. Eirika's refine allows her to pad her BST and achieve stronger offenses, giving her a better general performance, but Marth's Falchion lets him target import dragons, like Grima, Fae, and the Tikis. The most important boon from Falchion, however, is allowing Marth to one-shot Myrrh, a very common Green unit on Arena Defense, and one that many Red units cannot deal with, including the aforementioned Eirika, due to Great Flame.

Overall, 6/10. As a combat unit, he's fairly lackluster, but he performs his minimum job, and his Drives provide support for the rest of the team.

[FoxyGrandpa]

Alfonse- Cannot comment, as I have not 5-stared him yet.

Marth -  8 / 10

Combat

6/10

Marth under-performs compared to most other sword units, lacking the mobility, raw offensive stats, and innate Distant Counter Weapon other units such as Legendary Ike possess. However, he still does do a serviceable job as countering a majority of green units and his Falchion, despite being the weakest Dragon slaying weapon, still lets him perform adequately in his match-ups against Dragons, though triangle adept blue dragons will be able to still hard counter him in Arena. 

Utility

10/10

Falchion's powerful Drive spectrum effect, combined additional buffs from Drive skills, enable Marth to provide powerful, universal buffs to his allies. Such powerful buffs enable other units on the team to reach critical speed thresholds and power thresholds, turning many neutral matchups to winning matchups for other characters. Additionally, the renewal 3 effect on his refined falchion makes him a powerful psuedo-cleric. This is situationally useful in Arena, but is fantastic in Tempest Trials and Chain Challenges. 

[LordFrigid]

So, if Arena play is assumed, and based on the fact that in many cases the Askr units are given a slot when they’re bonus units, should we consider that the next update will give Player bonus units +10/4/4/4/4 stat boosts (super hyped for that, as a random side note) when evaluating them?

Edited May 2, 2018 by LordFrigid

[AndrewMcC00l]

Alphonse: I don't want to comment since I don't have him at 5* yet.

Marth: Marth is a good unit, but unfortunately there are better options now. Dragonslaying is good, but his combat in general is only alright. Also Infantry Sword is one of the worst combinations in the game. Fortunately, Marth has his support role, which is excellent. Falchion and Renewal 3 give him a lot of healing, which lets him use Reciprocal Aid effectively. The real star of the show, however, is his Refined Falchion. Drive Spectrum is very powerful, and it can be combined with other drives to give +5 to two stats, which lets Marth as a Goad/Ward All user. The +3HP lets him heal better, too. I'd give him a 7.5/10.

Edited May 2, 2018 by AndrewMcC00l

[Shiki]

1 hour ago, LordFrigid said:

So, if Arena play is assumed, and based on the fact that in many cases the Askr units are given a slot when they’re bonus units, should we consider that the next update will give Player bonus units +10/4/4/4/4 stat boosts (super hyped for that, as a random side note) when evaluating them?

tbf doesn't this pretty much erase 1 complaint people have with Askr units? This change gives them effectively +10 merges if they are bonus units in the season.
I don't see a reason why we should not consider it, so yeah, keep that in mind.

@Ae†her
*polishes knife*
You didn't read the OP, did you now?

[LordFrigid]

16 minutes ago, The Priest said:

tbf doesn't this pretty much erase 1 complaint people have with Askr units? This change gives them effectively +10 merges if they are bonus units in the season.
I don't see a reason why we should not consider it, so yeah, keep that in mind.

Cool. Can we get a one-day extension for Alfonse reviews? (Or at least, for editing those submitted prior to the deadline?)

[Shiki]

I mean you can edit your score before the deadline.
But I don't think this change warrants an extension for Alphonse.

EDIT:
You can still change your score for Alphonse until the end of the next round since my announcement came a bit late. Just don't expect his score then.

Edited May 2, 2018 by The Priest

[Hawk King]

Alphonse - 2/10 - He isn't good.

Like any unit he can fill a role with specific builds (ie -TA3, Swordbreaker), but everyone can do that. He can't be merged. Outside of Arena, when he has Boosted stats, he is just all-around lackluster. None of his stats are exceptionally high so you can't even build to his strengths that well.

Marth - 9/10 - Top Tier support.

His Falchion's healing makes him excel at multi-map modes. His unique weapon refine allows him to significantly power-up all of his allies. And on his own, he has the stats to be on par with the likes of Lucina and Lyn. He has dragon effective damage to allow him to one-shot the common green dragons running around. His support options are very versatile as he can run Hones, Spurs, Drives or Tactics skills as well as Infantry Pulse to further enhance his teammates performance. Infantry Pulse also works at the beginning of every map in multi-map modes so it pairs well with his Falchion's healing.

 

 

[Shiki]

Well, the first round has concluded, let us continue with the next one.
Alfonse got a prelimenary 3.54, Marth landed on a perfect 7.

@Ae†her Since you didn't say anything I was kind enough to round your score for Marth to 7.5.

@Hawk King *draws knife*

Sharena, Princess of Askr

Spoiler

Max. Stats:
-/43/-
-/32/-
-/32/-
-/29/-
-/22/-

Base Skills:

Fensalir (At start of turn, inflicts Atk-4 on foes within 2 spaces through their next actions.)
Rally Attack
( - )

Speed+
( - )
Fortify Def

Jagen, Veteran Knight

Spoiler

Max. Stats:
34/37/40
24/27/31
21/24/27
22/25/28
32/35/38

Base Skills:

Silver Lance+
( - )
Aegis

Fury
( - )
Fortify Cavalry

 

Edited May 2, 2018 by The Priest

[Jingle Jangle]

Sharena: 5/10   She has a solid stat spread, can can use a breaker skill to improve her performance. However she is overshadowed by strong lance infantry. 

Jagen: 2/10 He is not very good, with all around low stats except in resistance. All other lance cavaliers can do what he can and better. The only  niche he has is to be a  anti mage tank, but yet again others can do that better.

[Punished Dayni]

Sharena: The princess of Askr has a pretty decent stat spread actually. Her speed is pretty good (not as good as at launch) attack, defence and HP aren't too low and even her resistance is decent, much as like Alfonse faster mages can wreck her easily. Her base kit also allows her to boost allies alright enough and she hits 35 speed, which isn't as good a threshold as it used to be but not a bad speed category to be in. The real problem is she still isn't all that optimised and other similar units can do better than her (see: Nephenee, Lancina, Summer Robin, I could go on, especially outside of infantry). Fensalir is also a very limited weapon, I'd say a bit worse than Folkvanger. She is alright as an offensive unit (can run desperation pretty easily) and can tank at least halfway decently if it isn't green, but there's better out there. Could do with replacing most of her kit too.

5/10 with the new arena boosts incoming. She would have been 4/10 otherwise.

Jagen: You poor old man. Again theoretical best, because I don't think I'd want to get him to 5*. He's a veteran unit (literally only him and Gunter right now) and in this game the Jagens suck with lower BST, making it difficult to argue that he's useful in arena. He has an odd gimmick with his sky high res, he gets Fury to give him a leg up and attack is a superboon and makes it halfway decent. However, his defence is pretty low and that's bad when the main enemies who counter him are physical opponents. His speed also sucks and there's not much point in investing in it. You either invest a bit to get a unit who can tank breaths alright enough but not much else or quite a lot to make him a bit of a non-green magic stopper, though he's still going to be doubled and likely easily killed. He's at the bottom of a tough crowd in cav lances, I could have used just that sentence to describe him.

1/10. Maybe he should get a legendary alt.

Edited May 2, 2018 by Dayni

[Humanoid]

Sharena is the only one of the Askr trio I've 5-starred, and at the time I think it was a reasonable enough decision. I didn't have any 5-star infantry lances, and she by consensus was the most useful of the trio. It hasn't truly worked out, in large part because I randomly got Ephraim as a free summon later that week, and then Nephenee later that month.

These days, Sharena is relegated to being an Arena Assault specialist, running Swordbreaker to counter speedy swords. Thing is though, pretty much any lancer can do that these days, and likely do so better due to more specialised stat spreads. Sharena is more of a once-and-done duellist, even most swords will hit her hard enough that she can't take a second engagement. Furthermore, she doesn't typically have the speed to one-round many ranged threats, and other lances can often kill her outright. Last year, I would have rated her slightly above Alfonse, but these days I'm not so sure - quest usage aside, the rarely seen but commonly available Donnel is almost always the better choice. 2/10.

 

Jagen is one of the rare units I've never considered building. A high res melee unit typically has little value outside of whales with reasonable access to DC. Furthermore his utterly unjustified 5 BST penalty for being old is one of the most vindictive things IS has done to any unit. Gunter has the same penalty, but at least has a more usable stat spread, and is in a less common class. Then along comes Mathilda to drive the final nail into Jagen's coffin, subtracting his one last point to end with a round 0/10.

[XRay]

19 hours ago, LordFrigid said:

So, if Arena play is assumed, and based on the fact that in many cases the Askr units are given a slot when they’re bonus units, should we consider that the next update will give Player bonus units +10/4/4/4/4 stat boosts (super hyped for that, as a random side note) when evaluating them?

18 hours ago, The Priest said:

tbf doesn't this pretty much erase 1 complaint people have with Askr units? This change gives them effectively +10 merges if they are bonus units in the season.
I don't see a reason why we should not consider it, so yeah, keep that in mind.

Yeah, I think this means Askr units should not be penalized for not having merges anymore.

17 hours ago, The Priest said:

You can still change your score for Alphonse until the end of the next round since my announcement came a bit late. Just don't expect his score then.

I am going to edit my score too. I changed it from 4/10 to 5.5/10.

— — — — — — —

Here is how my criteria are scored:

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.
Ease of Use:
This is based primarily on the mobility and range scoring.
Player Phase Performance:
This is based on the W:L:I ratio. Enemies will have a set up of +5, +Spd, Moonbow, and Fury, while the unit will be +0 but have access to buffs (usually +4 to two stats for infantry and armors, and +6 to two stats 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%*0.5) = Performance
Enemy Phase Performance:
See Above.
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. Independence will be based on the higher of Player Phase or Enemy Phase performance. The formula is this:
(Performance Rating without buffs) / (Performance Rating) = Independence
Support:
Most units by default will be 0/10. Units with 30+ Res start from 1/10. Healers start from 2/10. 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.
Merges:
This is based on the number of extra copies available, so Askr Trio will be 0/10, summonable units will be 10/10, and most Tempest Trials units will be 1/10.
Other:
If the unit has some unique application or fun build, it will be noted here. For example, since Raven mages have a performance penalty, they will get some extra points here for being relevant and viable in certain team compositions.

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 or type of unit.
Rating:
The rating is how good I think a unit is. Here is how I weight each criterion:
Ease of Use 4/10
Performance: 3/10 (The higher of Player Phase or Enemy Phase will be used.)
Independence: 1/10
Support: 1/10
Merges: 1/10
Other: The unit may get a slight bump to their score if their uniqueness is relevant.

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, 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.

Other:

Spoiler

Template

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

Mobility: /10
Range: /10
Ease of Use: /10
Player Phase Performance: /10 — #:#:#
[Weapon, Special, A, B, Sacred Seal, #/#/#/#]
Enemy Phase Performance: /10 — #:#:#
[Weapon, Special, A, B, Sacred Seal, #/#/#/#]
Independence: /10 — #:#:#
[Weapon, Special, A, B, Sacred Seal]
Support: /10
Merges: /10
Other: /10

Familiarity/Experience: /10
Rating: /10

Summary:

 

— — — — — — — ◾Sharena◾ — — — — — — —

Mobility: 5/10
Range: 0/10
Ease of Use: 2.5/10
Player Phase Performance: 7/10 — 183:29:33
[Brave Lance, Moonbow, Death Blow, Lancebreaker, Quickened Pulse, 4/4/0/0]
Enemy Phase Performance: 7/10 — 181:15:49
[Harmonic Lance [Spd], Moonbow, Distant Counter, Quick Riposte, Speed +3, 4/4/0/0]
Independence: 8/10 — 155:40:50
[Brave Lance, Moonbow, Death Blow, Lancebreaker, Quickened Pulse]
Support: 0.5/10
Merges: 10/10
Other: 5/10

Familiarity/Experience: 1/10
Rating: 5.5/10

Summary:

Sharena got good Player Phase and Enemy Phase performance. I gave her half a point in support since her Fensalir can debuff enemies if you plan to keep it, but since it works as a Threaten skill, it is not that great. While she does not have access to merges, she does get a stat buff that equates to +10 when she is a bonus unit.

Like the other Askr Trio and Fjorm, she got a niche as a frequent Arena bonus unit.

— — — — — — — ◾Jagen◾ — — — — — — —

Mobility: 8/10
Range: 0/10
Ease of Use: 4/10
Player Phase Performance: 6.5/10 — 178:46:21
[Brave Lance, Moonbow, Death Blow, Lancebreaker, Quickened Pulse, 6/6/0/0]
Enemy Phase Performance: 4/10 — 129:69:47
[Harmonic Lance [Def], Moonbow, Distant Counter, Quick Riposte, Close Def, 0/0/6/6]
Independence: 6.5/10 — 133:64:48
[Brave Lance, Moonbow, Death Blow, Lancebreaker, Quickened Pulse]
Support: 1/10
Merges: 10/10
Other: 2/10

Familiarity/Experience: 0/10
Rating: 5.5/10

Summary:

Jagen's performance is quite lackluster as expected from his low BST. He can do some light support for his team by running Ploys with his high Res.

Jagen does not have a lot of other stuff going for him besides running a mage tank/counter build.

Edited May 3, 2018 by XRay

[Hawk King]

26 minutes ago, The Priest said:

@Hawk King *draws knife*

Sorry, I totally spaced out on when the start and end of each round was.

 

Sharena 4/10 - Shah - Ray - Nuh

Best of the Askr trio, imo. She has a nice stat distribution which allows her to run several different builds with a Weapon refinement that focus on one specific stat. Her Fensalir is also fairly easy to make use of so she can stick with that if you want. Arena bonus stats will make her quite fun to use in the Arena. Lack of merges is her one downfall. With them, she would be one of the better lance infantry.

Jagen 3/10 - Fortify Cavalry Fodder

Awful Atk and Spd. Below average HP and Def. Sexy Res. He can run Berkut's lance, DC, and QR to be a very effective Mage and Dragon killer, but that is a pretty big investment for such a specialized role. Any Sword unit worth his salt can take out the old man with this build. He would need to run Swordbreaker and take QR on his seal, and QR is just too valuable of a Sacred Seal to do this. Best used on a Cavalry team that could use his specific skills to fill out a role.

 

[Alexmender]

Sharena, the friendliest princess of Askr. Her stat spread is decent across the board, while she doesn't sport a lot of strenghts like Alfonse and Anna she also lacks glaring weaknesses with only her Res being on the low side but that's fairly common for infantry units. She has a lot of flexibility to run either player or enemy phase builds. Her best build would probably be one with a Def refined Slaying Lance and Steady Breath with Quick Riposte in order to Ignis bomb a huge portion of the game, but she can also run a Spd stack build to net some kills during Player Phase. Her Prf weapon Fensalir has a nice effect that allows her to be a nice debuffer if stacked with two other Threaten skills for her C and S slots. With that being said, while she has a lot of versatility she suffers for being a "Jack of all trades, Master of none". Whatever build she can run other lances like Nephenee and Shiro can do better and her lack of merges and natures means that she won't be able to specialize in any kind of build.

Score: 5/10

--

Jagen's rating will be fully theorical because I'll never bother to make him a 5*.

Jagen sports a terrible BST thanks to the veteran status he shares with Gunther, while his lopsided stats allow him to become a great Res tank thanks to Berkut's Lance and Distant Counter/Warding Stance. His mediocre Def, Atk and awful Spd means that he'll fall to a big portion of physical units (bows included). Despite being a blue unit he lacks the stats to fight common red units like Ayra and Zelgius unless he runs a specialized set with Swordbreaker/QR and Triangle Adept/Sapphire Lance+. Thankfully his Res is enough to tank even green Dragons like Grima and Myrrh if he uses the Close Def seal and retaliate back with a powerful Glacies so he has a niche as an anti-dragon duelist. Despite his niche potential the veteran status makes Jagen a terrible investment in the long run due to how the scores to get in a decent tier keep increasing while his low BST due to his many penalties keeps him from being usable in the long term.

Score: 2/10

[Poimagic]

Sharena: A decent Lance unit and is one of the best if not the best of the three askr’s. Just like Alphonse, she is also outclassed by other units of her type. Nephenne, S!Robin, B!Lyn, Ephriamand even B!Charlotte (I have seen some insane shit with her). These units also have a leg up on her, with access to more merges and iv’s. Rating: 5/10

Jagen: Jagen is one of the worst cav’s in the game. Everything he can do, other units do much better. Mage/Dragon tanking units like Clair, Mathilda, and Fjorm have both good availability (One is free while the other two are 3-4 star units) and better stats (Fjorm has boosted BST if memory is right and both Mathilda and Clair don’t have the veteran debuff)

Rating: 0/10

[Ae†her]

8 hours ago, The Priest said:

*polishes knife*
You didn't read the OP, did you now?

What did I... oh...

My bad, I didn't know it was only integers from 0-10 with +0.5. Also I was asleep probably when you wrote that, and I had classes so I couldn't change it in time. Thanks for rounding it down though. xP 

[Zapp Branniglenn]

Sharena - Average in all regards, and that's not a complement. Like Oboro, she also has no notable base skills. All I've done with her is give her a special, an assist, and swordbreaker so she can check swordies. Anything else feels like it would better serve a different character. I rate her a 3 out of 10. It would be irresponsible to rate her as average when she has no access to merges and lacks a niche. She's finely outclassed by the likes of Shiro and Nephenee. and doesn't have the physical bulk of slower lance infantry like Lukas or Ephraim. She is a bonus unit 25% of the time and that improves her average stat spread, but she'll be worthless outside of those weeks so I'm only bringing her score up one point for it.

Also, if we're allowed to change out numbers for day 1, I'd like to switch my Alfonse score from a 2 to a 3 out of 10. I find Alfonse to be a more impressive melee infantry compared to Sharena with room for a weird niche and possibly the second best slaying sword among infantry unit (not counting Chrom, since I assume players using Chrom will stick to his personal sword), but infantry swords are a far more competitive market than lance infantry. Alfonse is only getting a boost in score by virtue of being a bonus unit 25% of the time. That gives him stats superior to some other infantry swords at +10 merge level.

Jagen - Wrys on a horse. 35 Res looks impressive, but his health is under average and speed is low enough that even dragons may very well double him. You need to give him berkut's lance for him to survive such foes consistently and his attack stat will fail to kill any dragon even with QR. I rate him a 1 out of 10. He may exist in a rare niche for cavs, but Horse!Chrom can check dragons while I believe Mathilda is the better mage lance cav counter by just being fast enough to avoid doubles - and the extra two points in strength. And most would agree Mathilda doesn't match up to the task either. Cavs shouldn't tank, they don't have the BST to compete with the other movement types.

Edited May 2, 2018 by Glennstavos

[LordFrigid]

Alfonse's score has been adjusted to 7.

Sharena

• Balanced but mediocre stat line. After the May 2018 version update, she will gain +10/4/4/4/4 stat boosts when she is a bonus unit, which is the main use case for her and thus worth factoring into her rating.
  • Bonus unit stat boosts make her powerful in lower score ranges, and keep her competent in higher score ranges.
  • Fensalir (built-in Threaten Atk 2) can be useful in certain situations, but it is overall a lackluster weapon.
  • Capable of running a Brave Lance+ player phase set, but has shaky or losing matchups to strong defense-oriented threats (Dragons, Blue Armors, Zelgius)
  • Capable of running an enemy phase set, ideally using Guard/QR seal to minimize damage taken from special activation-focused red units such as Ayra and Zephiel. If she's using a DC set, she will take heavy damage from fast red tomes due to her mediocre Spd (allowing them to double her) and Atk (making it difficult for her to OHKO them).
• Running a Guard/QR set prevents Sharena from providing much support to her teammates beyond her C Passive (and possibly Fensalir).

Overall, I give her 6.5 for combat (strong matchups against swords, but troubling damage taken numbers against red tomes. Passable matchups against blue units), and .5 for support (basic field or combat buff). for a total rating of 6/10.

Jagen

• Poor stat line and distribution, with low offenses and Def, but high Res.
  • Has access to Cavalry buffs, which helps his combat performance a little bit.
  • Brave Lance+/Death Blow/Lancebreaker gives him surprisingly decent matchups against red and blue units when Hone Cavalry is active, though he will lose to Zelgius, Nowi, and many Lance units that can activate a special on their counterattack.
  • Can run a defensive set, but performs poorly against physical enemies and absolutely needs Guard to survive Zelgius and Ayra.
• Can pass out Cavalry field or combat buffs with his C slot, and run ploys in his Seal slot (if he isn't using it for his combat performance).

Overall I give him a 5.5 for combat (decent offense matchups, but shaky on dragons and outright loses to Zelgius, both of which are key meta threats), and a 1.5 for support (cavalry buffs and ploy capability), for a total rating of 5.5/10.

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. 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 ratings (Google Spreadsheet format).

Edited May 3, 2018 by LordFrigid

[Fire Emblem Fan]

Sharena: Like Alfonse, Sharena really doesn't have anything that makes her stand out to me. There's no special skills, no combat proficiency, or anything else at all. She does seem a tad bit better than Alfonse just because she seems to be able to hold her own a little better in combat, but she's still just kinda...there.
4/10

Jagen: Honestly he's basically like Alfonse, but on a horse and with a lance. He's possibly the worst mounted lance unit in the game and I'd only ever 5-star 10+ merge him for a novelty, or just for completion's sake. He's just a not-so-good unit. I mean, you can make literally any unit in the game work, but when a unit like Jagen comes along, it's like...why?
3/10

[Shiki]

Sharena ends with 4.45, Jagen gets a 2.3.
Alfonse score will be adjusted to 3.79

Not too many votes this time around.

Anna, Commander

Spoiler

Max. Stats:
-/41/-
-/29/-
-/38/-
-/22/-
-/28/-

Base Skills:

Noatun (If unit’s HP ≤ 40%, unit can move to a space adjacent to any ally.)
( - )
Astra

( - )
Vantage
Spur Res

Barst, the Hatchet

Spoiler

Max. Stats:
43/46/49
30/33/36
29/32/35
27/30/33
13/17/20

Base Skills:

Brave Axe+
Reposition
( - )

( - )
Knock Back
Spur Atk

---

Anna: 7/10
Among the Askr Trio she enjoys the most long-term potential thanks to her stats and color. She is a Green unit with high Spd and solid Res, which allows her to stand up against most common Arena mages like Reinhardt or Nino. With the new Arena change she can serve as a consistent mage counter who can also deal with blue Dragons if required.
Her poor physical bulk holds her back though as she has even more trouble to deal with Sword units than other Greens and she is an easy target for common Brave Bow users like Lyn. Her below-average Atk is still enough against mages and most Blue units but Armor units and other physical tanks will pose a problem for her.

Edited May 3, 2018 by The Priest

[Hawk King]

Anna 3.5/10 - Jake for FEH

Better than Alphonse at handling her color advantage. Decent stat distribution which allows her to take advantage of the Noatun's special effect. Running Fury on her further helps her survive hits and end with low HP. Wrath with Reprisal could work really well on her. Arena boost actually help her out a lot. At the end of the day, she has the same issues as the other limited characters have.

Barst 7/10 - Reposition fodder is actually good

Has really good stat distribution which allows you to make several builds focusing on raising either Atk, Spd, or Def. However, he lacks a unique weapon and none of his stats are truly exceptional, so no matter what build you go with there will be one or more units who can run it better.

[XRay]

I think I need to reexamine my rating formula since I gave everyone a rating of 5 or 5.5 so far and that seems a bit weird.

Here is how my criteria are scored:

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.
Ease of Use:
This is based primarily on the mobility and range scoring.
Player Phase Performance:
This is based on the W:L:I ratio. Enemies will have a set up of +5, +Spd, Moonbow, and Fury, while the unit will be +0 but have access to buffs (usually +4 to two stats for infantry and armors, and +6 to two stats 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%*0.5) = Performance
Enemy Phase Performance:
See Above.
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. Independence will be based on the higher of Player Phase or Enemy Phase performance. The formula is this:
(Performance Rating without buffs) / (Performance Rating) = Independence
Support:
Most units by default will be 0/10. Units with 30+ Res start from 1/10. Healers start from 2/10. 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.
Merges:
This is based on the number of extra copies available, so Askr Trio will be 0/10, summonable units will be 10/10, and most Tempest Trials units will be 1/10.
Other:
If the unit has some unique application or fun build, it will be noted here. For example, since Raven mages have a performance penalty, they will get some extra points here for being relevant and viable in certain team compositions.

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 or type of unit.
Rating:
The rating is how good I think a unit is. Here is how I weight each criterion:
Ease of Use 4/10
Performance: 3/10 (The higher of Player Phase or Enemy Phase will be used.)
Independence: 1/10
Support: 1/10
Merges: 1/10
Other: The unit may get a slight bump to their score if their uniqueness is relevant.

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, 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.

Other:

Spoiler

Template

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

Mobility: /10
Range: /10
Ease of Use: /10
Player Phase Performance: /10 — #:#:#
[+Boon, +Bane, Weapon, Special, A, B, Sacred Seal, #/#/#/#]
Enemy Phase Performance: /10 — #:#:#
[+Boon, +Bane, Weapon, Special, A, B, Sacred Seal, #/#/#/#]
Independence: /10 — #:#:#
[+Boon, +Bane, Weapon, Special, A, B, Sacred Seal]
Support: /10
Merges: /10
Other: /10

Familiarity/Experience: /10
Rating: /10

Summary:

 

— — — — — — — ⬟Anna⬟ — — — — — — —

Mobility: 5.5/10
Range: 0/10
Ease of Use: 3/10
Player Phase Performance: 5.5/10 — 135:9:101
[Brave Axe, Escutcheon, Life and Death, Axebreaker, Attack +3, 4/4/0/0]
Enemy Phase Performance: 5.5/10 — 142:15:88
[Giant Spoon [Spd], Moonbow, Distant Counter, Quick Riposte, Speed +3, 4/0/4/0]
Independence: 8/10 — 120:24:101
[Giant Spoon [Spd], Moonbow, Distant Counter, Quick Riposte, Speed +3]
Support: 0/10
Merges: 10/10
Other: 5/10

Familiarity/Experience: 1/10
Rating: 5.5/10

Summary:

Her mobility is about the same as any other infantry unit, but if you can manage to get her to low enough health, Nóatún is pretty useful to have her teleport around.

Anna's combat performance is rather abysmal though. You can utilize her stat spread for specialized roles like mage tanking and fighting dragons.

Anna does not have much else going for her other than as a frequent Bonus unit.

— — — — — — — ⬟Barst⬟ — — — — — — —

Mobility: 5/10
Range: 0/10
Ease of Use: 2.5/10
Player Phase Performance: 6/10 — 176:51:18
[+Atk, -Res, Brave Axe, Moonbow, Death Blow, Axebreaker, Quickened Pulse, 4/4/0/0]
Enemy Phase Performance: 6.5/10 — 163:12:70
[+Spd, -Res, Giant Spoon [Spd], Moonbow, Distant Counter, Quick Riposte, Speed +3, 4/4/0/0]
Independence: 8.5/10 — 140:21:84
[+Spd, -Res, Giant Spoon [Spd], Moonbow, Distant Counter, Quick Riposte, Speed +3]
Support: 0/10
Merges: 10/10
Other: 0/10

Familiarity/Experience: 0/10
Rating: 5/10

Summary:

I am quite a bit surprised by Barst's Enemy Phase performance. 

Other than that, he does not have a lot going for him though, as he does not have any unique support skills or outstanding Res.

Edited May 4, 2018 by XRay

[Alexmender]

Anna, the Order of Heroes commander. She has a great base Spd of 38 which means very little will double her and her base 28 Res lets her survive combat against blue dragons like Nowi. With Fury she reaches a very good stat spread that lets her duel a good amount of blue units. Her Prf weapon, Noatún has Escape Route 2 built into it which lets Anna teleport to either rescue a teammate or to finish off a low health opponent which grants her a pretty solid utility role. Her main downfall lies in her base 29 Atk and lack of merges, this means that Anna will hit like a wet noodle without a special like Moonbow and will be unable to dent high def blues like Effie (who is quite common in arena) and SB Hardin. 

Rating: 6.5/10

Barst, the premier Reposition fodder of FEH. He has a very nice stat spread and due to being available at 3 and 4 star rarities he has easy access to different nature spreads that will allow him to perform a ton of different roles competently. With that being said, Barst suffers from being a Jack of all Trades, Master of None syndrome. He has a decent Spd that would suggest making him a sweeper yet Raven does this job better, he has the Def stat to be a tank yet Bartre is more optimized for this job. All things considered Barst will always perform well in the role you want him to do, just keep in mind there's always more optimized units that can perform a certain role better. As a note, his Res is unsalvageable so keep him away from mages at all costs.

Rating: 7.5/10