Who unexpectedly became one of your best units? And in what game(s)?

[Light Strategist]

Path of Radiance: I was trying my best to keep as many units roughly equal as possible so splitting the Bonus Exp around a little. Normally, I don't have much luck with Pegasus Knights but Marcia got a little wind under her wings and became a rampaging scion of death from the heavens above. Even then, I was pretty much using her sparingly and she was just one of my better Lancers alongside Nephenee.

[DisobeyedCargo]

Let’s see 

BB: Lilinna has gotten SUPER speed blessed along with a good amount of skill letting her destroy absolutely everything with only fire

BS: I know hector is a pretty good unit, but my hector was so blessed, that he CAPPED speed as a great lord! Needless to say, the game turned into a slaughterhouse for the enemy.

SS: Moulder the Boulder got incredibly blessed in magic which let him do amazing damage to everything upon promotion, especially since he can use the divine tome so well.

POR: Elincia actually ended up VERY strength blessed and with amiti one rounded damn near everything for the few maps I had her

Awakening: Stahl has always become a cornerstone of defense for me. Everytime I have used him he has had stupidly high defense.

Fates: Charlotte was a nonstop critting machine with a killer axe, and even without those she was able to one round a lot of things with her strength and speed, and gave Xander AMAZING pair up bonuses. I got pretty skill blessed as well so her hit wasn’t that bad at all.

Echoes: Mage Kliff got very attack blessed for me and with his high speed he doubled so many things. I even gave him the speed ring because why not and he was regularly doubling with SAGGITAE 

Edited August 10, 2018 by DisobeyedCargo

[DiogoJorge]

Vaike, he turned out pretty good for a Hero, just as good  as Flavia.

[Landmaster]

In Awakening, Olivia surprisingly became very good. So did Henry, Cynthia, Inigo, and Severa.

Fates: Oboro was surprisingly good in Birthright, she really ended up doing a lot of work. Selkie started a little rough, but she also ended up being pretty good~ For Conquest, I know beast units are generally good but Lord, Velouria is a monster. There were times she was the sole survivor on a map and ended up clearing the rest of it completely solo or in a Pair-Up with someone just to block hits to keep her alive. It's likely in part because she's my Corrin's daughter but FFS, she's crazy.

Heroes of Light and Shadow: Dad Jeorge and Ryan made me get over my bias against Bow users (I've never cared for them). I was also shocked at how Palla became one of my best units as a Dracoknight and Xane was FXXKING amazing. I just constantly had him transform into myself (since MU was pretty OP) and it was just a slaughterfest. Feena also became pretty good, as did Merrick and Yumina (I tried hard AF to make them work).

Echoes: Literally everyone. Seriously, Jessie was a monster, Delthea went from fragile AF to a crit machine, Claire was insane, Conrad was insane. Faye could actually take hits as a Saint. Python and Leon went from scrubs to actually being useful. It was truly the game of units you thought were useless ending up hard carrying.

[Chopper...]

18 minutes ago, Landmaster said:

Heroes of Light and Shadow: Dad Jeorge and Ryan made me get over my bias against Bow users (I've never cared for them). I was also shocked at how Palla became one of my best units as a Dracoknight and Xane was FXXKING amazing. I just constantly had him transform into myself (since MU was pretty OP) and it was just a slaughterfest. Feena also became pretty good, as did Merrick and Yumina (I tried hard AF to make them work).

Oh, wow, almost everything you said here happened to me too! haha  . I love Jeorge, and it was thanks to him alongside others in this game that made me start caring for bow users too, since before that they weren't that useful to me. My Palla was incredible, both her and Caeda had my complete trust on the battlefield, haha . And yeah, I did the same with Xane, his Ditto ability was awesome! And I worked very hard on my Feena, Yubello and Yumina, because I love them, but Merrick I had to leave behind in favor of Yubello and Linde.

Oh, and I'm currently playing Echoes, I hope my weakest units become monsters too 

Edited August 18, 2018 by Chopper...

[Landmaster]

2 minutes ago, Chopper... said:

Oh, wow, almost everything you said here happened to me too! haha  . I love Jeorge, and it was thanks to him alongside others in this game that made me start caring for bow users too, since before that they weren't that useful to me. My Palla was incredible, both her and Caeda had my complete trust on the battlefield, haha . And yeah, I did the same with Xane, his Ditto ability was awesome! And I worked very hard on my Feena, Yubello and Yumina, because I love them, but Merrick I had to leave behind in favor of Yubello and Linde.

Oh, and I'm currently playing Echoes, I hope my weakest units become monsters too 

I hadn't mentioned her but Caeda was a good unit for me, too, it was near the end that I began to rely mostly on Palla~ I tried to get Yubello to work with Yumina but he kept falling behind ;~; I'm at least glad Yumina ended up well and Linde was also pretty good.

I'm sure they will! I'm convinced with enough determination, anyone in Echoes can be a monster. XD Python went from being two shot in the first two turns of every battle to promoted and with the squadron on the Endgame map ;3 

[Kubson]

My Nino and Eliwood were 2 of my best units in my recent FE7 run. Afa's Drops does wonders for Nino and Eliwood was just blessed as hell, hell Eliwood one-shotted Nergal and beat the fire dragon.

[Chopper...]

19 hours ago, Landmaster said:

I hadn't mentioned her but Caeda was a good unit for me, too, it was near the end that I began to rely mostly on Palla~ I tried to get Yubello to work with Yumina but he kept falling behind ;~; I'm at least glad Yumina ended up well and Linde was also pretty good.

I'm sure they will! I'm convinced with enough determination, anyone in Echoes can be a monster. XD Python went from being two shot in the first two turns of every battle to promoted and with the squadron on the Endgame map ;3 

Oh, I see! Poor Yubello. He really is hard to train, I had to put soo much effort! But it was worth it 

And thank you!! I will try my best in Echoes ❤

[henrymidfields]

On 7/8/2018 at 3:30 AM, Ertrick36 said:

And people seem to riff on Mozu a lot, but I've always been able to make her pretty damn good even without grinding skirmishes.

Is that in Conquest? I heard that Mozu is actually good as a Conquest!Sniper - which I also experienced in my LP. (It helps that Snipers are very valuable in conquest - I fielded both Niles and Mozu, because the class was that valuable.)

Beruka also seemed to be shafted in favor of Camilla according to a couple of opinions outside Serenes, but it turned out, fielding both was the right answer too - having Rally Defense and good Movement in Conquest should not be underestimated. 

On 8/10/2018 at 4:52 PM, DisobeyedCargo said:

BB: Lilinna has gotten SUPER speed blessed along with a good amount of skill letting her destroy absolutely everything with only fire

It helps that her proficient magic is one of the most accurate ones, with further boosts coming from shipping with Roy. Long ago (back in 2002), I had her speed around 20-25, and everything else at average or better as well.

[Ertrick36]

3 hours ago, henrymidfields said:

Is that in Conquest? I heard that Mozu is actually good as a Conquest!Sniper - which I also experienced in my LP. (It helps that Snipers are very valuable in conquest - I fielded both Niles and Mozu, because the class was that valuable.)

All paths, honestly.

Granted, Birthright and Revelation aren't exactly huge battlegrounds for tier wars, but I've always been able to make Mozu a good unit, even if I just leave her in her lame ol' Villager class line.  But yeah, she was helpful in Conquest as well, and the first time I saw her in that path, I was relieved that I would be able to use her yet again.

In terms of best class, I hear that either Dread Fighter or sniper work, but she's more invaluable as a sniper in Conquest.  In Birthright... well, the snipers you get are alright, if a bit specialized (Takumi's more about strength and skill, Setsuna's focused on speed), but Mozu could stand out as a more balanced sniper.

For grinding her without skirmishes, I usually just have her kill most of the enemies in her Paralogue.  She usually ends up getting to at least level 6 before the end of the Paralogue, though she often reaches 8-10.  And at that point she's more than suitable enough to use, assuming I tackled her Paralogue ASAP.

[TheGoodHoms]

I'm not sure why, but when ever I play Awakening Sully always gets above average level ups. The RNG must really want me to all cavilers more than I already do(which is quite a lot).

[Thinks Their Own Way]

GBA mounted healer normally end up being somewhat RNG screwed, not L'Arachel on one play-through of Scared Stones were she was capped every important stat for her before hitting level 20 un-promoted. Laslow ended up surprisingly good in my recent Conquest play-through constantly getting Strength, Skill and Speed. I feel that Lucius in Blazing Sword ends up have more speed than he normally should. I also feel like Python in Echoes ended up better for me than most; hitting hard, doubling and landing hits.

[Hawkwing]

8 hours ago, TheGoodHoms said:

I'm not sure why, but when ever I play Awakening Sully always gets above average level ups. The RNG must really want me to all cavilers more than I already do(which is quite a lot).

Same situation. It always seems like Sully and Stahl are in a competition to see who can get the most kills and the best level ups before the game ends. It's honestly more surprising when one of them gets RNG screwed more than anything else.

As for the topic itself, I have a few more to add:

• I did not expect Lissa to become as durable and well-balanced as she would be when I promoted her into a War Cleric. While not a front-line fighter (although she could still fulfill the role on certain maps), her defense and hp were high enough that I rarely had to worry about her dying. Her strength, combined with the might of axes, meant that she seriously damaged or even killed most enemies, and she had the speed to dodge most attacks, and the skill to hit accurately. The presence of hand-axes and Lissa's high resistance made her a natural mage-killer.
• I expected that reclassing Sumia into a knight gave her a much needed boost to her strength and defense. However, I was not expecting how much strength and defense she would gain! Sumia also had a significant amount of speed leftover, and was able to double a fair number of enemy units. She competed with Kellam over who was the best tank!
• I've mentioned Panne before, and though it requires a fair amount of reclassing, taking advantage of the skills available in both the thief and wyvern rider class lines can make her a movement queen. Every time I've made her a wyvern rider, she's capped strength long before even hitting level ten, and often times she could ORKO late game enemy units with even bronze weaponry.
• During my first Ironman run of Awakening, I lost Maribelle on Gangrel's boss chapter. Thus I relied on Libra as a back-up healer to fill in the lost position. And you know what? He did his job... pretty damn well. He showed that being a master of none didn't have to be a bad thing, and besides Robin, he had the highest resistance in the entire army, making him a reliable unit to send in against magic users. He was overall durable enough to be near the front lines without having to worry about him dying, and overall, Libra excels at fulfilling his role of being a back-up healer, as he doesn't need much experience or training to be good at his job, yet can still reliably make it through tough situations.

[RexBolt]

Gee @Hawkwing i guess that's me. My Sully isn't bad bad, she was kinda decent even, but 2-3 lower than Sthal in every stat.

[Hawkwing]

5 minutes ago, RexBolt said:

Gee @Hawkwing i guess that's me. My Sully isn't bad bad, she was kinda decent even, but 2-3 lower than Sthal in every stat.

In all honesty, it really depends on the playthrough and how kind the RNG is to them that determines which one comes out on top. Even when RNG screwed, the worst either of the cavaliers have been is average.

[MyLuckyHaiku]

In Birthright, My Azama, Who I reclassed into sniper, (S support Mozu) he is a beast. The only stat he's really lacking in is Resistance, So I have to keep him away from Mages.

Also in a different run, My Swordmaster Sakura is probably the best thing I ever did. Give her a sunrise katana and BOOM, Her avoid is 92 right now. (On enemy phase, When she starts combat Duelist's blow will kick in.) Without the Sunrise katana her avo is 71, Which the only weapon I gave her is the sunrise katana, So it is always 92

Edited September 10, 2018 by MyLuckyHaiku

[Sasori]

I'm not sure if I would call him one of my best units, but Fuga took me by complete surprise. Fates doesn't even pretend to care about Fuga so I assumed he was just as bad as units like Flora or Izana. What I got instead was a unit with absurd base stats, super high defense, an avoid skill/avoid personal skill/and maybe a +avoid sword and full weapon triangle control. He was no Xander or Ryoma, but Fuga was a unit that was consistently useful and who did't end up getting outclassed by those whippersnappers around him.

Edited September 10, 2018 by Sasori

[Vestrikslana]

Hayato in my current run of Lunatic Birthright. Given his greatly underpowered start I didn't expect him to be much of anything special, and even now I doubt I'd recommend him for no-grind because he takes a lot of investment, but as a Basara he's been absolutely tearing it up with the Bolt Naginata (albeit, he took an Arms Scroll and most of the kills on the wolfskin chapter to get him for the proper rank for it) and his defenses are nothing to scoff at either, ~24 in both Def and Res factoring in his pair-up.

In previous playthroughs... Aran was an important player in the Dawn Brigade sections of Radiant Dawn for me, though he too needed some favoritism (and bonus EXP!) to get to that point. Fir in Binding Blade also turned out better than Rutger for me, iirc, though to be fair it was on Hard Mode where Fir gets better mode bonuses since she joins later.

[MyLuckyHaiku]

5 hours ago, Ruminant said:

Hayato in my current run of Lunatic Birthright. Given his greatly underpowered start I didn't expect him to be much of anything special, and even now I doubt I'd recommend him for no-grind because he takes a lot of investment, but as a Basara he's been absolutely tearing it up with the Bolt Naginata (albeit, he took an Arms Scroll and most of the kills on the wolfskin chapter to get him for the proper rank for it) and his defenses are nothing to scoff at either, ~24 in both Def and Res factoring in his pair-up.

Interesting, Maybe I should start using Hayato. (He's one of those units I never use, Along with Setsuna and Hinoka)

[Geenoble]

I decided to do a Fe7 run with Bartre and he was so good as a fighter that i ended up benching Raven so i could use my Hero crest on him. Iirc he ended up capping HP Str and SPD and was 6 points off capping skill. He actually killed Karla twice before i could recruit her.

Edited October 4, 2018 by Geenoble

[Soviet Cut]

I know Lyn has potential but this one is gold, pure and shiny aurum. This is from a ENM after a LNM, because I lost my old save with the modes unlocked.

She didn't become one of my favorite units, because I know how bad she can be most of the time.

Edited October 7, 2018 by Soviet Cut
Very forgetful old lady me

[Kedata]

With a S rank support with Keaton, a forged javelin, and cap str, my Effie had JUST ENOUGH damage to oneshot the bullshit Inevitable End Master Ninjas on Ch.25 of Lunatic Conquest. She had like -16def/res at least by the time I reached Saizo and Kagero.

That chapter was still insanely difficult as much, but I was able to complete it with Kagero and Saizo defeated and all treasure chests and units taken/defeated after at LEAST 60 soft resets.

[starburst]

In Conquest:

· Mechanist Anna, was the greatest surprise in my last all-girls run.
Anna was immediately class-changed into an Apothecary upon recruitment, right after Ch 9. She has surprisingly useful growths (both in theory and in action.) I finally met a useful puppeteer and an Anna not made of paper. With a Hunter's Dagger, she had no problems facing the Paladins in Ch 18 and the Kitsune in the following chapter. She also took care of the Master of Arms gang in Ch 23 and the Bow Knights in Endgame.

· Sniper Mozu is an MVP nominee every time. Her being a monster is so consistent that the surprise factor falls off quickly. The quintessential boss killer.

Edited October 10, 2018 by starburst