Rate the Unit, Seasonals & Legendaries. Oct. 26 - Nov 2: Niles (Forbidden Tease), and Kagero (Beverage Ninja)

[Alexmender]

Summer Leo. His stat spread focuses on Atk/Res with ok Hp and terrible in Spd/Def. Looking at his stats Leo is a mage tank and he can pull this off pretty well (he can tank Reinhardt under the right conditions which says a lot) and thanks to his huge Res can deal devasting damage with Iceberg/Glacies. This paints a great unit and in theory Leo is a great unit, then what's the problem? First of all, tanking mages is the only thing he can do, his Atk is low-ish and with his pathetic Spd he won't be doubling anyone unless he uses a Breaker or QR. Second, his pathetic physical bulk makes him an easy target for any kind of DC unit who will easily ORKO/OHKO him. Last but not least, red mages have a hard time making a dent because they're worse than swords 90% of the time and inside this category Leo competes against nukes like Tharja/Celica/Lilina/Sophia who sport more useful niches. Leo can Ploy but Lilina can do it too (not that she needs to thanks to her Chill Res tome). Leo has very little to offer when compared to other red mages and so he remains as an extremely niche magic sponge that may see a use once in a Blue Moon.

Rating: 3/10

Summer F!Corrin. A focus on Spd with ok Atk/Res and bad Hp/Def. S!Corrin is the first offensive blue flier (and the first one ever released) and she puts a lot of work thanks to this. Her Spd has seen better days but it's still very good when coupled with the right skills/buffs and her low-ish Atk can be patched up with a Blade tome so she doesn't have to worry about it too much. Her bulk is barely passable so don't try to take more than one hit with her. Her status as a fliers puts her above other Blade tome mages thanks to the extra utility she offers in the form of Guidance and the ability to ignore almost all terrain. S!Corrin is one of the best offensive units in the game but she's been totally outclassed by Summer Camilla who is better in everything but Res which is something that barely matters for offensive units. S!Corrin is good but with Camilla taking her spot there's little reason to use the former outside of favoritism/variety. Regardless, while Camilla may be the better one Corrin is still a nuke and due to their seasonal status it's not like many will have the freedom to choose between both of them.

Rating: 7.5/10

[MacLovin]

Leo 

2/10

He's kind of crappy. I eventually just foddered his atk ploy onto canas since I actually like the monocle man.

[LordFrigid]

Leo: 4, Corrin: 7.13.

Day 8

Xander, Student Swimmer

Spoiler

Max Stats:
40/43/46
29/32/35
27/30/33
33/36/39
13/16/20

Base Skills:

Lilith Floatie+
( - )
Bonfire

Fire Boost 3
( - )
Infantry Pulse 3

Elise, Tropical Flower

Spoiler

Max Stats:
31/34/37
33/36/39
31/34/37
15/18/21
22/25/29

Base Skills:

Hibiscus Tome+
Rally Atk/Res
( - )

Spd/Res 2
( - )
G Tome Valor 3

 

[eclipse]

Xander - Take Arthur, and turn him into a physical wall.  The floatie's not the best weapon for him, but it's funny.  Unlike Tiki, his best bet is to absorb physical hits.  He might work as a DC bow bait thing, but I'd rather run dual Close Counter to ensure that physical attacks bounce off of him forever.  Otherwise, 32/30 offensive stats aren't impressive, but Swift Stance is a thing (for +Spd variants).  5/10

Elise - Her offensive spread is absolutely impressive (36/34 is blue mage nuke numbers).  Her weapon is best replaced by -blade.  Nino may be faster, but Elise hits harder.  Like Xander, she's locked to a phase.  But unlike Xander, she doesn't have to put herself in danger to be effective.  Which is good, because she dies to a stiff breeze.  Too bad she doesn't have access to horse/flying buffs!  8.5/10

[Usana]

Oh Boy! Two units I have but haven't used much. Both have rather unpleasant boon/banes. Xander is +SPD/-DEF and Elise is +ATK/-SPD.

Summer Xander - He is basically an infantry Beruka with enough speed to deny some doubles, most of which probably aren't important for his role. Does give him a bit more offensive presence than she has though. Looks like she got a 6 in the regular pool thread, and that doesn't sound too far from where I would put Xander boy. His extra offensive presence is easily offset by flying. So yeah 6/10 sounds good to me.

Summer Elise - I really wish I had her with her offenses at neutral. Even with a blade tome, being able to double is important. Though to be fair with her low bulk it would be tough to get into Desperation range anyways. Anyways as to theoretical performance when she isn't murdered by the boon/bane gods; She is effectively a Nino with their speed and attack reversed. And Nino gets the better out of that trade if you ask me. But never the less, they are effectively in the same ballpark. In addition for offense she shares Delthea's offenses. Trading 6 RES for 5 DEF isn't ideal, but it isn't terrible for a blade mage either. So I think I can dump her in the 8/10 along with Delthea. Assuming a halfway decent Boon/Bane of course. Half tempted to have dropped her to 7.5 due to loss of ploy and defense roll options, but that is just that Delthea is more flexible and can fill more roles, not strictly better. It is a factor, but not enough for me to drop Elise down a full step.

[Alexmender]

Summer Xander. He has a semi balanced spread with a focus on Def and a dump in Res. Summer Xander is a physical wall that can dish some damage back, and that's about it. His Spd works defensively but it isn't good enough to try using a PP build, and while his Atk is passable it isn't high enough for today's standards. Thanks to his good Hp Xander can take at least 1 hit from dragons but he'll be done when facing any speedy mage so keep him away from them at all costs. Xander is a one trick pony and sadly his one trick can be done better by units like Dorcas/B!Ike but he's still a very good unit in his own right.

Rating: 6/10

Summer Elise. An offensive spread with a focus on Atk. Summer Elise can be summarized like this: Take Nino and swap her Spd and Atk. This trade isn't very good so Elise ends up being inferior to Nino (not to a noticeable degree, they are practically the same on average). Elise is a great unit just like Nino is, but she does very little to make a niche for herself that there's nothing more to say. 

Rating: 7/10 (I think Nino had a 7.5 when I rated her so 7 is about right because Spd matters more than Atk with all the Speed creep going on).

[Xenomata]

I had nothing much to say about Leo, and Corrin I forgot about. So no rating for them from me.

Summer Xander

Spoiler

I always knew that horse was slowing him down...

Most of Xander's potential Resistance was lost in beefing his Attack and Defense up, with Speed managing to stay somewhat intact. HP is good.

Lilith  Floatie, while cute, doesn't have a very strong effect. Atk/Spd +1 combat buff to anyone within 2 spaces is neat, but it's such a small effect, plus it doesn't get upgraded in the Weapon Refinery to +2 to compare to HNY weapons Def/Res +2 effect. As such, it's not necessarily a weapon necessary to keep on Xander. Bonfire is at least a good Special to keep on him. Fire Boost isn't really anything worth speaking of despite the potential behind the effect, but Infantry Pulse is worth keeping, speeding up the Special Charge of infantry allies with worse HP than Xander. Between being good and getting a Weapon Refine, this will trigger on many allies.

 A defensive spread can work on Xander, such as via Handbell/Sack o Gifts to boost his Enemy Phase stats, or going a dangerously offensive spread via Slaying Axe and either Bonfire or Ignis with Steady Breath.

The weakness of note on Xander is his Resistance and Speed, both of which are usually not enough to resist Mages. With the limited number of axes available for inheritance, Xander also doesn't have much he can play around with compared to Lances and Swords.

Still, he isn't a bad unit.

Rating: 7/10 Xander is just as defensive as he is on a horse, but is just as resilient, which is to say not at all. With the lack of Axes for inheritance, Xander doesn't really have much to play around with, but he still goes for defensive really well.

 

Summer Elise

Spoiler

Let's compare to Nino, the best offensive Infantry Green Mage available. One extra point of HP, one less point of Resistance and Defense. Two less Speed, and three higher Attack.

This makes Elise more raw power over raw speed, despite still being just as speedy. The Hibiscus Tome isn't offensive though, and like Xander doesn't provide a large enough buff worth keeping over a more offensive tome. Rally Atk/Res, like all dual rallies with Atk involved, is rare and perhaps worth keeping on Elise. Spd/Res 2 isn't worth keeping though, given how shoddy her Res is anyways. G Tome Valor is useful, but not useful in actual battle.

Elise would prefer to go offensive if she can. Keen Gronnwolf would be deadly to any horses who try to attack her, while Gronnblade is the obvious route to take given the comparison to Nino earlier. Life and Death would be a good enough A Passive for her, while Fury wouldn't be, but helps to safely enter Desperation range. Lastly, worth mentioning is that if you are confident in Elise landing KOs with Hibiscus Tome, then she can keep it and run with Drive Atk or Drive Spd to net a +4 boost to those stats to any allies.

The defensive ability of Elise is lacking. A single hit from any kind of foe will drop her to single digits most of the time, and AoE damage will be guaranteed single digits.

So... I guess don't try to use her defensively is the lesson here.

Rating: 7/10 While not the most amazing offensive Green Mage, Elise still brings raw power to the table, and notably is capable of running Gronnblade just as well as Nino is. Hindered by no defensive ability may not even be an equal tradeoff considering the power Elise can pack so long as she can survive just one hit.

Edited August 7, 2018 by Xenomata

[LordFrigid]

Xander: 6, Elise: 7.63.

Day 9

Shigure, Dark Sky Singer

Spoiler

Max Stats:
31/34/38
28/31/34
26/29/32
18/21/24
21/24/28

Base Skills:

Dancer's Score+
Sing
( - )

( - )
Geyser Dance 2
B Tome Valor 3

Inigo, Indigo Dancer

Spoiler

Max Stats:
33/37/40
24/28/31
30/33/36
19/22/25
17/20/23

Base Skills:

Dancer's Ring+
Dance
( - )

( - )
Gale Dance 3
Hone Atk 3

~

Xander & Elise from yesterday, not included in averages. I had it mostly typed up yesterday, and then got distracted. And then I got held up at work. And now it's too late. Whoops.

Spoiler

Xander

• Physically bulky stat line, featuring good Def, decent Atk, mediocre Spd and poor Res.
  • Strong blue, passable green matchups on offense with a basic Brave Axe+ set. He will falter against high Def foes, including some blues.
  • Very strong blue, decent green one-range matchups on defense, taking a lot of damage from dragons.
• He is fairly capable of providing Panic Ploy support to his allies with his HP stat.

Overall, I give him 6.5 for combat (very strong blue, decent green one-range matchups on defense), and 1 for support (basic field/combat buff, Panic Ploy capability), for a total rating of 6/10.

Elise

• Offense-focused stat line, with good Atk and Spd, passable Res, and poor Def.
  • Very strong blue, strong green matchups on offense with a standard Gronnblade+ set when she's in Desperation range. She gets shut down by a number of high Spd or follow-up inhibiting foes, and may consider using Brash Assault to break through them.
  • Poor defensive matchups due to her low defensive stat line.
• She can provide basic field/combat buff support for her teammates.

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

 

[Xenomata]

Performing Arts Shigure

Spoiler

First, stat spread. It suffers BADLY because he's both a Dancer and Ranged unit, and it could only be worse if he were also a Cavalry Veteran. Bad HP, Bad defense and resistance, uncharacteristically low Speed for both Shigure and Dancers in general, and average Attack. He NEEDS Triangle Adept if he wants to do damage.

Dancer's Score isn't really anything worth mentioning on a ranged dancer, but give it to someone else and you could kinda make a supportive BoL healer. Geyser Dance is decent as a Dancer Buff, especially if you wanna position a defensive unit to a better spot, but mileage may vary as to if it's actually useful. Blue Tome Valor is useless in battle, but it does have the decency to be a Valor skill on a Dancer, so bonus brownie points for that.

Since he's gonna want TA3 anyways, you may as well give him Blarraven at the same time, just so he can take Bows and Daggers to the face as well. Distant Defense 3 is also an option in that regard, but it does severely hurt his damage output, so maybe only use it as a Sacred Seal. Escape Route and Wings of Mercy are always welcome on dancers, and Moonbow is probably your best bet for damage dealing on neutral targets, Glimmer for Triangle Advantage targets.

It's already a pain that Shigure has lacking stats all around, and anyone with even average Speed can decimate him, but hurting just as much is that, while he isn't in DIRECT competition with Inigo below, he is in competition for what he brings to a battle with Inigo, who can resist Blue targets in addition to Colorless (Blue tends to be slightly more frightening on offense than Red on offense) and actually has decent Speed while still only having enough Atk to consider using TA3 for any decent damage output.

But you don't wanna hear how bad Shigure is at attacking when he can just Dance and never enter combat anyways, so 10/10 best unit evar.

Actual Rating: 6.5/10 Saving Shigure from a low score is the ability to Sing allies back into action. While he can still run with RavenAdept pretty well, he doesn't necessarily compare to the other Mage Dancer when using it, and generally speaking Shigure may disappoint if expecting exemplar results.

 

Performing Arts Inigo

Spoiler

Inigo is slightly more blessed statwise than Shigure above. Most of what could have been unnecessary Attack instead went to making sure Inigo could avoid some doubles with decent Speed. Defensively, Inigo is still not that great at it, but since he'll be running TA3 anyways it shouldn't be that big a deal.

Dancer's Ring isn't exactly good, but it'll still get the job done on a budget. Gale Dance might not be that great a Dance buffing skill, considering you want an ally to have good Speed on all rounds of combat, but if you just need an ally to get to a better position then it works. Hone Atk combined with Gale Dance ensures that an ally will have good offensive capabilities all around.

Pretty much everything I said about Shigure's skillset applies here to, just replace Blar with Gronn. Inigo could also try to run with a Gronnblade set, given his decent Speed, but since he usually wants to be dancing and not attacking, plus he doesn't even have the Attack to land kills reliably, it'd be best to stick to RavenAdept.

Mostly the same weaknesses as Shigure to, though Inigo has the speed to avoid some doubles and the HP to take at least one solid neutral hit.

Really, both Shigure and Inigo are pretty similar, even if their tome color is different. But Inigo being green is a bit of an advantage that can be exploited to good results. But again, Inigo can just dance and never enter combat anyways, 10/10 best unit evar blah blah blah.

Actual Rating: 7.5/10 Being Green and faster than Shigure gives Inigo some advantages that make him more desirable than Shigure. While being a Ranged Dancer still hurts, Inigo at least doesn't distribute his stats quite as shoddily as Shigure did.

Welp, if this is how I judge the kids, I wonder just how bad I'll be handing it to the moms... well, Olivia anyways.

[Usana]

Both magic Dancers huh. Ordinarily I would bother going indepth with both. Dancers who can run RavenAdept are actually kinda handy. Obviously running a gem or adept are a solid way to bring dancers to combat ready. Being able to take on two colors rather than just one is a nice addition. But the cost. The cost is horrific. And this hurts Shigure more than Inigo. Not only did Inigo choose the better offense stat to focus on, but he choose the better color for a RavenAdept set. Being dancers they get bonus points that are unrelated to combat alone.

Shigure - 5.5+1 = 6.5/10 Slow and Frail enough that even RavenAdept can't completely save him from the strongest threats on the red and colorless spectrums.

Inigo - 6.5+1 = 7.5/10 Not particularly strong. But he manages to take down more targets of the relevant colors than Shigure does. That and he manages to be the right color to deal with both Lyn and Reinhardt, which he is rather famous for.

 

There were 5.5 and 6.5, but I added 1 for dancing utility. I think these are the first dancers I have rated in these threads. So I will probably continue to do that. Rate them on combat and then add 1.

[eclipse]

Fair warning: I value dancers HIGHLY.

Both dancers - Their weapon is mostly for utility, and having a heal without a healer is helpful for topping off scratch damage (I'm looking at you, Celica).  The downside is that they need to attack in order to get the heal off - and my dancers usually have better things to do with their time.  So, with that out of the way. . .

Shigure - 31/29 is ever-so-slightly better offense numbers than -raven Robin.  The difference is that he doesn't have Robin's weird tankiness, so he can't fill the "absorb damage" niche very well.  But I don't field Shigure to fight, I field him to either snipe or dance, and he does both just fine.  8.5/10

Inigo - 28/33 is only better than Merric.  While there was the whole "tank Reinhardt" nonsense going on, I wasn't too keen on it - one misstep (like an unexpected Spur), and you're out a dancer.  Luckily, his main job is dancing, and maybe a side of sniping.  He can tank if he must, but he probably won't survive more than one hit (unless it's Owain or something).  Still, he's a dancer, and he hits Res at range, and that's worth something.  8.5/10

[Fire Emblem Fan]

Ah dang somehow I missed Elise. Oh well. I would have given her an 8/10, she's basically a slightly slower Nino. Anyway!

Shigure: Honestly, while dancers are very handy, I think Performing Arts Shigure is one of the worst. His BST is AWFUL and he's extremely vulnerable to pretty much everything, physical and magical attacks alike! He doesn't really do enough to differentiate himself from other blue mages, and simply dancing doesn't really do much when you have better options out there. As with every unit, he CAN be a good unit that'll serve you well if you really invest in him, but for me personally I like others way more. 3/10

Inigo: I don't think Performing Arts Inigo is that much better than Shigure, honestly. He can survive a tad bit more, but he really only has the dancer thing going for him. He's marginally better, but really not by all that much. 4/10

[Alexmender]

Ok, this one will be hard. I think this time I'll give BST a higher value because these next units are on a tier of their own.

PA!Shigure. Mediocre stat spread with a slight focus on Atk. As a dancer, Shigure provides unmatched utility and thanks to being a mage he can run a Raven or Blade tome set in order to do more than dancing. That being said, there's little to no reason to do this. Shigure's stats are absolute garbage on every front. Slow, frail and with a barely passable Atk. Shigure's main issue is to refresh other units and that's all that he should be doing because he's totally outclassed in every other role.

Rating: 5/10 (dance boosts him by 2 points).

PA!Inigo. Mediocre spread with a slight focus on Spd. Inigo used to be the best dancer during the ReinLyn era thanks to his ability to run a TA+Raven tome set that allowed him to check both of those threats. Nowadays he's just a dance bot because the Armor/Dragon meta is too bulky for him in terms of offensive performance. His low bulk doesn't help matters as he'll be easily dispatched by any unit with a decent Atk stat, while his Spd helps him being a bit bulky the recent Speed creep puts a halt to this. Having such a low BST really makes him suffer, luckily he performs greatly as a dance bot and he can still take care of any stray Reinhardt in the arena.

Rating: 6/10 (dance boosts him by 2 points).

[ZeManaphy]

Performing Shigure: Faces competition from Bridal Ninian, but retains a higher niche thanks to higher attack, as well as being able to do a Blarraven set without sacrificing an S-slot. Alternativley, Dancer's Score is a useful weapon that stacks with Breath of Life. Sing makes up for his low stats. 6/10.

Performing Inigo: Same as above, but slightly more useful due to lack of competition Green Tome Dancer. 7/10

[LordFrigid]

Shigure: 5.92, Inigo: 6.75.

Day 10

Azura, Lady of Ballads

Spoiler

Max Stats:
32/35/39
29/32/35
31/34/37
17/20/23
24/28/31

Base Skills:
Urðr
Sing
( - )

Triangle Adept 3
( - )
Drive Res 2

Olivia, Festival Dancer

Spoiler

Max Stats:
31/34/38
24/28/31
31/34/37
12/16/19
25/28/31

Base Skills:
Dancer's Fan+
Dance
( - )

Distant Def 3
Blaze Dance 3
( - )

 

[Korath88]

Azura

Probably the only one on this banner with a reasonable offensive stat spread. Her bulk is still poor like most dancers but she can hold her own in combat to some extent. Her prf gives stat buffs to refreshed units but the timing of said buffs isn't exactly ideal, and probably won't be relevant for those using hit and run tactics. 7 for niche and combat, 1.5 for being an infantry refresher for a final 8.5/10

Olivia

lol daggers. Poor Atk and pitiful def hurts her combat performance. Her speed is ok but won't help her if she gets one shotted so for the most part she prefers to stay on the back lines and dance. Being able to debuff enemies isn't much of an advantage as the opportunity cost of not using her turn to dance isn't worth it. 5+1.5 makes 6.5/10

[Alexmender]

PA!Azura/Axura. Her stats focus on Atk/Spd with decent Res and low Def. And here we have the best infantry dancer in the game. Azura not only offers great support thanks to her Prf weapon which increases all the stats of an ally she has danced by 3 but her good stat spread allows her to be a formidable unit on her own. While she doesn't have the sheer power of Raven or the sturdiness of B!Ike, Azura makes up for it with her support capabilities. She can run the classic TA+WoM combo in order to focus on one role but that's a waste of her good stats, imo. Her main weakness is her low physical bulk which makes her prone to getting one shot by many sword units and some axes but Azura isn't meant to tank hits so it's not that big of a deal. 

Rating: 8.5/10

PA!Olivia. Oh dear, her only passable stats are her Spd and Res. Her Spd is the same as Azura's so she is in a good spot there. Sadly her bulk is pathetic and her Atk isn't making things better so don't bother using her for nothing outside of dancing. She can try doing extra support with a Windsweep/Watersweep+double Savage Blow build but there are better units for doing this role. Olivia is nothing more than a dance bot and should not even try fighting at all.

Rating: 4/10 (+2 points for dance).

[Fire Emblem Fan]

1 hour ago, Alexmender said:

PA!Azura/Axura. Her stats focus on Atk/Spd with decent Res and low Def. And here we have the best infantry dancer in the game. Azura not only offers great support thanks to her Prf weapon which increases all the stats of an ally she has danced by 3 but her good stat spread allows her to be a formidable unit on her own. While she doesn't have the sheer power of Raven or the sturdiness of B!Ike, Azura makes up for it with her support capabilities. She can run the classic TA+WoM combo in order to focus on one role but that's a waste of her good stats, imo. Her main weakness is her low physical bulk which makes her prone to getting one shot by many sword units and some axes but Azura isn't meant to tank hits so it's not that big of a deal. 

Rating: 8.5/10

PA!Olivia. Oh dear, her only passable stats are her Spd and Res. Her Spd is the same as Azura's so she is in a good spot there. Sadly her bulk is pathetic and her Atk isn't making things better so don't bother using her for nothing outside of dancing. She can try doing extra support with a Windsweep/Watersweep+double Savage Blow build but there are better units for doing this role. Olivia is nothing more than a dance bot and should not even try fighting at all.

Rating: 4/10 (+2 points for dance).

Yup yup, I'd think the same and give Azura a 7/10 and Olivia a 4/10.

[eclipse]

Azura - Stats, schmats, her axe gives her dance target a stat boost.  She's a -blade tome's BFF, and that stat boost has bailed me out of more than one sticky situation.  Plus, she can hit back, somewhat (32/34 isn't groundbreaking).  She has a Res stat to speak of, and +Res variants can think about ploys - some nice utility on top of what she already does.  9/10

Olivia - Besides healing, her weapon also debuffs.  But unlike the male dancers, she doesn't his Res, so her 28 Atk kinda sucks.  Like Azura, she can think about running ploys if she's +Res, and thanks to Distant Def, she can also do some light mage-tanking.  Was the sole colorless dancer until recently, too.  8.5/10

[Usana]

Axura - Highest attack amoung dancers. Though I wouldn't be surprised if she losses this distinction with the new dancers coming around the corner. Also she has a PRF weapon which is basically 2 free attack so one could almost say she has 34/34. That said if you were going to use her primarily for fighting you would end up giving her an axe that helps her out more than it helps out her allies. Dance buffs are kinda weird, but if you position right they can still be handy. Anyways combat wise; on the offense she can beat down a good chunk of the blues even without TA, and with Life and Death or Fury she can smack some greens around the block. She isn't much use against reds no matter what you do though. Defensively you can get some decent numbers out of a Slaying Axe Distant Counter set. Point is she isn't too shabby in combat despite the dancer penalty. 7+1 for an 8/10. The only thing holding her back is her infantry status.

Performing Olivia - I want to like her. I do. But between being physical and not having a color it is so hard to salvage her attack. Particularly if you have an Attack Bane. Really, all she can do is run Doubled Distant Defense and try and Iceberg/Glacies bomb people. If she had access to Felicia's Plate she would be a lot more usable. Anyways I give her a 4 for combat. So that is 5/10 overall.

[LordFrigid]

Azura: 8.2, Olivia: 5.6.

Day 11

Nowi, Eternal Witch

Spoiler

Max Stats:
31/34/37
31/34/37
29/32/35
17/20/23
24/27/31

Base Skills:
Grimoire
Reposition
( - )

Atk/Res Bond 3
Live for Bounty
Hone Fliers

Henry, Happy Vampire

Spoiler

Max Stats:
33/36/40
30/33/36
31/34/37
22/26/29
33/36/39

Base Skills:
Spectral Tome+
( - )
Reprisal

( - )
Live for Honor
Armor March 3

 

[Usana]

The Lolicopter - 34/32 isn't exactly a great offensive statline. But as the only red flying mage she had a rather niche role to fill. Sadly she got bumped off the ladder by Tana. 33/36 is a much better statline. Anyways Nowi can run a blade pretty well. She is a bit weaker than Tana, but not by much. It is mostly a case of Tana's highest possible potential being better. Most of the time the two will perform very closely. Particularly if you stack enough buffs on them. In addition Red tomes generally lack the offensive stat lines of blues, so Nowi faces a bit less competition than Corrin does. There are only 7 red tomes faster than Nowi but Corrin has 8 above her. Attack wise Nowi has only 4 mages besting her where as Corrin is facing 14 better. And of those only 1 beats Nowi at both. And she has flying advantage over Bridal Tharja. So yeah I don't user her as much as Corrin, and in general performance I would put Corrin over her. But when it comes to filling a color slot on a team Nowi actually has a stronger presence in general. That and there are still only two flying red mages, all of whom are seasonal. Both Blue and Green have non-seasonal entries. But anyways, 8/10. Solid blade tome performance, if a tad on the slow side.

Vampire Henry - Oh boy. I know this guy is well liked, or at least was. But I can't ever find a spot for him on my armor teams. As such the only green tome armor languishes around and only gets called in when Amelia has already been used and I need a green armor marcher. He does have the highest RES of all the green mages, he has decent speed and attack, and his defense isn't horrible. His HP though. . . it doesn't do a speedier tank like him any favors. All in all though he looks very solid doesn't he? Oh, look at those shiny's over there! That is his problem. Green armors are the bloated armor category(a third of whom are Hector). Worse. They are strong. The other armored mages have it a bit easier. They also have more defined roles. Henry is a bit of a generalist(Like Amelia), which again doesn't do him many favors. Still he is not a bad unit by any means. Just tends to get crowded out by an army of Hectors. 7.5/10. Not Hector. But I do use him as an 'upgraded' Deirdre from time to time.

[Fire Emblem Fan]

Nowi: Her offensive stats are okay. Not amazing and lower than Summer Tana's, but still okay. Her defense is bad, but that's to be expected, and she fills the rare role of being a red flying mage. She has access to that flier mobility and good buffs, but she's a bit reliant on those buffs for maximum output. 6/10

Henry: Henry is a very good green armored mage. He can hit hard and fast, and he has very high resistance. His defense is low for an armored unit, though, but I suppose that's the price for his great resistance, and it still isn't terrible! His only real drawback is the competition he faces from a bunch of other green mages, but he'll probably be used on an armor team anyway so if you want a green armor mage, he's your man! 8/10

[eclipse]

Nowi - Her greatest asset IMO is her mobility - Grimoire + Guidance in the S slot means a lot of fun warping shenanigans.  I'm glad she's 34/32, because mine is -Atk, and it hurts because I've missed several KOs because of that bane.  She comes with Hone Fliers, which is a gigantic pain in the butt to get otherwise.  Definitely meant for a flying team, but might see some usage elsewhere (Darting Blow helps with the speed issues).  Probably not a good idea to tank too much with her.  7.5/10 (because warping all over the place is fun)

Henry - Take Soren, make him insanely bulky, and that's Henry.  This guy can take his pick of C slots - Ploys, Armor March, and the usual buffers all work well with him.  His ability to tank magic is really good, and with something like the defensive equivalent of Swift Strike, he'll be difficult for non-red spellcasters to take down.  His 26 defense doesn't seem impressive, but it's actually on the high side for green tomes - only Merric, Robin, Camilla, and Boey beat him (and he, in turn, beats out everyone except for Camilla in raw power).  While he isn't the ideal -blade armored mage (Lyn is thataway), he can work well with just about any other book.  +Atk or +Def can consider -raven.  However, being an armor kinda sucks, movement-wise.  8/10

[Xenomata]

I more or less abstained from Azura and Olivia, but I'm not abstaining from the unit I spent all of a month to pull.

Witchy Nowi

Spoiler

As the first Red Tome Flier made available, Nowi came with better stats than expected at least. More or less shafted defensive ability, not even really having enough Res to trigger Ploys reliably, gave Nowi enough Attack and Speed to be considered average, with a stronger Attack focus.

Grimoire comes with the Shadow Step effect, letting Nowi teleport to the side of anyone within 2 spaces of her at turn start. This is a fun effect to take advantage of, but besides might equal to a forged Bolganone Grimoire offers not much else. Atk/Res Bond does at least work well with this effect, as Nowi can teleport to the side of someone and still have a boost to Attack and Resistance. Live for Bounty is useless in actual battles, and finally Nowi is one of the few holders of Hone Fliers, making her quite valuable in that regard. Reposition is both a good Assist and pairs well with Grimoire's effect.

Grimoire is fun, but it offers no offensive bonuses, and besides Rauðrblade is just too potent an option on a flying tome user to pass up anyways. If you have a Bride Ninian with Fresh Bouquet, Nowi can get 4/4/6/6 buffs from being next to her, being a great boost for Rauðrblade without needing to heavily surround Nowi. In this case, LnD3, Desperation, Glimmer, all the usual Bladetome goodies. If you'd rather keep Grimoire, then Fury 3 can help Nowi trigger Ploys slightly more reliably as well as keeping her Speed up. For Ploys, Speed Ploy would be the best option for Nowi, as her Speed isn't exactly stellar enough on its own. Hone Fliers is a rare skill still, so whether you want to sack it for a Ploy is up to you and your needs: personally, I would only drop it if Hone Fliers gets dropped to the 4* pool. Desperation still works on this Nowi, but a Chill can also work to.

Her defensive ability is lacking. Hurting just as much, however, is her Speed: 32 on an offensive tome isn't bad, especially since she'd want Flier buffs to go along with it, but it isn't the best offered by Red Mage Fliers anymore, and requires stacking to get to a comfortable level of reliability. Also of note, her Res, while it CAN get to a decent level, it isn't high enough by default to consider using it for Ploy purposes.

Nowi makes for a good Red Mage Flier. Maybe not the best dressed one, but still good.

Rating: 8/10 Call it bias, but Nowi still serves as a good choice for an offensive Red Mage thanks to flying status allowing her to attack from angles others may find harder to attack from, and her default tome is fun to play with, if lacking for direct combat purposes. Her defensive ability is shoddy though.

 

Hallowed Henry

Spoiler

A very strange Armor unit. Henry sports at least above-average Attack and Speed, good Resistance for ploys, and somewhat bad Defense. What's odd is his HP: For an Armor unit, it sucks, and is more on-par with most other mages.

Spectral Tome is what you get if you turned the Panic+ staff into a normal weapon with no Staff Damage Modifiers, at least after forging it. Basically, Field Buffs turn into negative values, good for combating Bladetomes, Cav/Flier Emblems, and Tactic teams. Reprisal is useless here especially, replace it. Live for Honor is just as useless in an actual fight, get rid of it. Armor March brings Henry and another Armor ally up to Infantry movement, don't replace it.

Spectral Tome is a good option for Henry and lets him have an option for the previously mentioned targets. For other options though, Gronnowl is an overall high boost to his stats and will almost always be at maximum trigger thanks to the nature of Armor units, Gronnraven lets him resist Colorless units now that they are all the scarier to be around, and Gronnblade is a nightmare to combat with enough buffs. Give Henry Close Counter, Vengeful Fighter, and Glacies for deadly counterattacks, or go with Death Blow and Bold Fighter on Gronnblade for deadly player phase initiations.

Henry doesn't really have good Defensive ability, thanks to low HP and low Defense. Even with the help of Gronnowl, he will still be taking huge damage from both Armorsmashers and Slaying Hammers, maybe even some Slaying Spears. Generally speaking, Red will be a nightmare for him, and he won't last long against many of the popular Red choices.

Still though, Henry is one of the better Green Armors you can pick from if Hector, Hector, and Hector don't quite live up to your expectations, and Grima still avoids you.

Rating: 8.5/10 With good offensive ability and great Resistance, Henry has the making of an offensive Armor who can also Ploy you for even better results. Defense is bad, and HP is horrid for being an Armor, but I suppose something had to go down to keep his other stats up... just keep him safe from Armor slaying weaponry.