Elf writes way too much about FE3H characters (unit rating topic)

[Dark Holy Elf]

I wrote these for a ratings thread on Serenes Forest and figured that why not, there's a bunch of 3H fans here too who might appreciate my propensity for spilling many words about FE3H gameplay.


Assumptions for the thread:

-Characters are rated assuming Maddening difficulty, no NG+, no DLC, no imported data or other prizes. (DLC will obviously be considered for characters who require it, though in their cases only they will be compared with the assumption that other characters have access to the DLC classes as well.) For what it's worth I think the ratings are roughly similar on Hard too, the biggest difference IMO being that doubling is easier on Hard so mid-range speed characters look a bit better.

-I assume the player doesn't do any mega hardcore turtle strats, but certainly not a low-turn run either.

-Characters are rated based off of a good build for them. It doesn't matter whether Dimitri or Dedue is a better mage when neither is touching magic anyway.

-No grinding (including but not limited to: optional battles EXCEPT paralogues and quests, excessive fishing, extra arena use, drawing out a fight needlessly using enemy regen or broken weapons, etc.). Minimal stat booster use.

-Conversely, I assume the player completes a majority of paralogues (certainly including all the really important ones, such as Lorenz's) and completes most quests. Unique rewards will generally not be assumed to go to any one character, but the possibility of having them affects the ranking (e.g. all mages are considered to possibly have Caduceus or Thyrsus, and lance-users are considered to possibly have Luin or Lance of Ruin, etc.)

-Every unit's numeric score is based on their best route, should they be available on more than one. Usually this is the route with their earliest availability and/or highest number of available supports.

-I'll be adopting a scale of 1 to 10, where 1 is the worst and 10 is the best, in this particular game. It should be noted before I start that FE3H is a better-balanced game than many: a 1/10 in this game is certainly not as bad as Sophia in Binding Blade, let alone Jogurt in Shining Force. The average score will be somewhere between 5 and 6.

-In addition to a score, I'm also providing my personal recommendation of whether to use the character, for each route they're available: Yes, Maybe, or No.


Some general talk about builds:

For physical characters, they are generally rated based on the following builds, in order of importance:

1. Fliers. Fliers are the most powerful physical class set in 3H, due to Canto, high mobility, and shockingly high stats (strength, speed, and avoid in particular), with Dismount as an option to remove normal flying weaknesses.
2. Archers. Bows are a powerful weapon due to their ranged options: 2 at base, +1 from Curved Shot, +1 from Archer/Sniper, +2 from Sniper with Hunter's Volley, +2 from Bow Knight. This gives them unparalleled linked attack potential among physical classes. Sniper additionally has an innate 4-range 2-hit combat art, while Bow Knight has 8 move and canto.
3. Other classes. Of note: paladin is useful for characters with lance-specific arts due to Lancefaire (but is outclassed by fliers otherwise), assassin has a high speed modifier and Stealth (but significantly lower damage/mobility than fliers), grapplers have a 3-hit combat art (which generally does similar damage to a wyvern lord's brave axe while being way less mobile, but cheaper?).

The point is that obviously it's better to be a "good wyvern" than a "good assassin", because the former simply performs significantly better. If, however, a character has advantages that make them perform better at other roles, they will be mentioned, just not rated as highly.

For magic users, their classes are generally more balanced, so I won't speak of specific classes there very often. Instead I'll focus on their available spells and magical combat arts.

Some things I'll be discussing often during character ratings:
1. Stats. Obviously these matter. Strength/Magic, and Speed are very important. Defence and Charm are also notable, but less so. Large differences in HP and Res are also notable, but less so still. Luck will be mentioned occasionally, Dex almost never.
2. Talent list. Axes and flying get you to wyvern. Armour gets you Weight-3 and armour certifications for defence (with axes). Bows get you bow classes (and Curved Shot is neat). Lances help get you to all mounted classes (and most people want to get to D early, because Tempest Lance rocks). Reason and Faith are crucial for magic users, both for their classes and unlocking spells. Authority matters for everyone. It's important to note off the top that getting to Intermediate classes is quite easy even in things which are banes, so I won't be saying much "axe boon = easier Death Blow". Conversely, though, boons matter a lot for Advanced classes with A requirements, such as Warlock and Sniper.
3. Personal skill. Most of them aren't too notable, but if it is, I'll mention it.
4. Unique combat arts, either innately learned or accessed through a personal relic. Many don't matter too much, but some (e.g. Swift Strikes, Point-Blank Volley, Vengeance, Raging Storm) are quite significant. Note that the relics themselves are NOT considered in a character's rating; everyone can use those.
5. (magic users only) Spell list. Obviously super important.
6. Joining time. It's much better to join earlier in FE3H, because nobody gains class masteries before they join, and many class masteries (repositioning arts from Beginner tier, Death/Darting/Fiendish Blow in Intermediate tier) are a big deal! Also, characters can't start active tutoring until after they join. The effects of this will be noted in characters' individual entries.

I'll also mention other things like support list, crest, etc., on the rare times I deem them important enough to bring up.


Discussion and debate is welcome! I'm constantly updating my feelings on this game and its cast.


Byleth

Byleth is good, but not as good as the lords.

The good: Byleth gains exp at an enhanced rate, so their stats are better than they look on paper. Even past that, 13+45% str is great, and with a +2 from his/her personal post-timeskip, the stat ends up behind only Edelgard and Dimitri. The charm is also great; while 7+45% is only above average on paper, it ends up really high in practice due to tea times (though the start isn't special). The rest of the stats have no standouts, but nothing bad either. Of most note, 8+45% speed is respectable, comparable to Hilda or Ignatz once you account for the level boost (though that's a range that definitely wants Darting Blow to secure doubles, giving FByleth a notable advantage).

The Sword of the Creator is decent, if not the game-changer the plot suggests it should be. The base weapon is a slightly modified Iron Bow+ until it upgrades (at which point it becomes a slightly better Silver Bow+), but can't benefit from Bow Range+ or Curved Shot. The best thing about it is its combat art, which lets Byleth deal solid damage at range 2 (25+Mag*0.3 after chapter 10), but it's not actually THAT much stronger than, say, Heavy Draw, and is comparable to Fallen Star but with less range and without the cool effect. Being a sword also kinda sucks with how underwhelming sword classes are in this game (outside of Sword Avoid, which Byleth can't get).

Authority boon is always nice, and the combination of that and high charm allows Byleth to wield any battalion/gambit you want with ease. Byleth also supports everyone in the game (except Anna), which means more opportunities for linked attacks.

The less good: The talent list is underwhelming: swords are the least useful weapon class in the game, faith is mostly wasted given Byleth's terrible faith list and physical focus, brawling's pretty niche as well (and nearly useless for FByleth without DLC). Overall, it's a talent list that does not help Byleth get into the best physical builds in the game, which involve flight or bow use. Ruptured/Sublime Heaven is nice but not as decisive as some other combat arts, and the only other noteworthy one on Byleth's unique list is Windsweep, a handy tool for bosses but requires heavy investments in swords (A).

Also, Byleth's method of training is a major problem. Every other character has two avenues of skill exp that Byleth does not: passive instruction and active tutoring. The former is worth 40 weapon exp (for neutral) per week, the latter a number which can vary anywhere from 16-80 depending on RNG luck, statue bonuses, and professor expertise (even higher with sauna DLC). Even assuming towards the low end of that, Byleth needs 3 to 4 faculty training sessions a week to keep up, and this isn't remotely practical early in the game, where doing so adversely affects professor rank, motivation, support building, and recruitment. To make matters worse it's not even possible in chapter 2, so other in-house characters get a significant head start on skills (e.g. it's possible to give Tempest Lance to any lance-neutral character by Chapter 2... except Byleth). Later in the game, doing 3-4 (or even more) faculty trains a week becomes practical, so Byleth does eventually catch up, although certain areas such as Riding and Flying A+ may be difficult to reach due to a lack of instructors, unless someone else on your team gets there first to help out. But it's definitely a major depressing effect on skills you might want to grab early in the game, like Close Counter or Weight-3.

Compared to the lords: I've sometimes seen people claim Byleth is better than some or even all of the lords; I disagree. Byleth's a very easy comparison to Edelgard, since they have nearly identical bases. And Edelgard ties or wins almost every facet of the comparison: bases (similar, but +3 charm and some HP beats out some dex/luck/res, the three worst stats), growths (+10% str > +5% spd), talent list (axes + armour is much better than brawling), and relic (you get it later, but Raging Storm is a game-changer). And that's before considering her head start on skills. Byleth's comparisons to the other lords are less obvious, but I feel the other lords come out ahead too... but I'll talk about their unique perks in their own writeups.

Overall, Byleth is actually pretty easy to rank. The clearly superior stats to the non-lords cause me to rate Byleth above them, but the lords all roughly match Byleth's stats while having better unique tricks of their own, and without the training flaw. As such, Byleth ends up in between them. Spoiler alert, the lowest lord is 9/10, and the highest non-lord student is 8/10. As such!

Byleth's rating: 8.5/10
Use him/her?: Yes (s/he's a forced deployment making it moot, but the answer would be Yes even were this not the case)

[Dark Holy Elf]

Edelgard

I'll try not to be biased but Edelgard is really really good!

The decision as to whether to give Edelgard a 10 depends more on one's definitions of what consitutes a 10, I think. Certainly, she is not on the same level as some characters from other games such as Sigurd, Seth, and Titania (PoR), whose leads over their competition is insurmountable due to a large level and/or mobility lead. By comparison all FE3H characters are closer together for worth (everyone joins at comparable levels and has largely the same class options). But Edelgard is most likely the best unit in FE3H, and certainly is on her own route. So I figured I might as well use the whole scale for this game, and that means giving her 10/10, even as I acknowledge that I might not give her that score on a series-wide rating.

The good: Well let's start with the obvious overpowered toy, Raging Storm. 5 uses of "do massive damage, then take an extra turn", with an extra 5 for each of the final two maps (assuming you break the Titanus in Chapter 16) is a ridiculous advantage and makes her status as the best unit post-timeskip Crimson Flower unquestionable. The more interesting question is how good is she outside of that. And the answer is she stands out in two ways, both talent list and stats.

The most important talents for a physical unit are axes, flying, and authority, simply because Wyvern is the strongest physical class option. Edelgard has boons in two out of three, a distinction she shares with only Claude and Petra (Cyril and Seteth too, but this advantage is eroded by their join times). Additionally, she has a boon in armour, which allows her to easily snag Weight-3. While nothing about talents allows her to do anything other units cannot, it means that she can do them with less tutoring investment and/or achieve benchmarks faster. And of course, further helping her route to flying dominance is her access to Pegasus Knight, which also ensures an outstanding combat performance in Intermediate tier.

Her stats are also extremely good. Part of this is that everything is amped up a little by her Imperial Lineage skill, which tends to give her about +2 levels given equal combat (which in turn is good for about +1 to each stat). Beyond that, 13+55% str is the best in the game (roughly equalled by Dimitri's 12+60%), which is very important in this game with how possible OHKOs are (and later, 2HKOs with Brave). Compared to her immediate competition in the Eagles she has 4-5 more base and 10-20% more growth, which is a big deal (a 10-point lead over the other physical Eagles by the game's end is typical). Her charm is also ridiculous, allowing her to both land her gambits reliably (something most other units struggle with early) and reduce virtually all enemy gambits to 20% hit rate. She has good bulk (HP/def are the best of the Eagles, along with Ferdinand, though in fairness the tankiest units are in other houses) with no weak stats to hold that back (that is, spd/res/cha). And finally she's surprisingly faster than her 40% growth suggests. 8 base helps, as does the fact that she mitigates more weight than anyone (high str + easy access to Weight-3), and finally the fact that she can pick up Darting Blow, which male units cannot. In fact, for practical player phase speed, she is significantly behind only Leonie, Petra, Ingrid, and Catherine, and is comparable to the likes of Felix (Felix leads by 1-7 raw spd at equal levels, but Edelgard's str, Darting Blow, and level lead counteract that).

The less good: Her worst stats are dex and luck, but neither is below average by much and both are relatively unimportant stats because their effects are easily overwhelmed by other sources - e.g. the fact that she can A-support Dorothea and/or Hanneman (to benefit from Meteor linked attacks) more than counteracts her marginally below average dex. She also misses out on two maps (Chapter 6 and 11) and one optional paralogue (Leonie's).

It all adds up to a unit who is possibly the best in the game even before relic combat arts are considered, and thus almost certainly is after.

Edelgard's rating: 10/10
Use her?: Yes


Hubert

Hubert is a respectable magic unit but well short of the best, even before the DLC landed and gave other mages more options than him.

The good: Hubert has a good magic stat; at 12+55% it's roughly on par with Lysithea for the best in the game. In fact, his stats are reasonably solid overall, if short of outstanding: his speed is on the high end for mages (doesn't say much), his charm is okay, his bulk is unimpressive but well above the worst mages for this.

He has several ways to use this magic stat which are nice. He gets Mire at D+ Reason, which he can potentially snag by chapter 2, and certainly by chapter 3, giving him quick access to 3 range. This is a notable advantage over mages like Lysithea and Annette. Mire's power is a bit low, but fortunately he also gets Death as well, later. He also gets Banshee, which allows him to seal the move of any enemy with move <= 5 (in the first half of the game, this is everyone except mounted units). And finally he gets Frozen Lance, after just three tutoring sessions in lances (i.e. in chapter 3 or 4, most likely). Off of Hubert's good stats this attack is devastating, often claiming OHKOs.

The less good:. His Advanced class options limit him in a big way: he has no access to Dark Tomefaire, so his magic lead will be eroded if he goes Warlock and gets to watch other mages get +5 damage which he does not. Despite his magic stat, he trails Dorothea by 4 damage at Level 21 using his three-range tomes; he trails Marianne by 6. With two-range tomes, he's held back by topping out the 13-might Dark Spikes, so again he trails characters like Dorothea and even Lorenz at this stage in the game. You can go Paladin to get Lancefaire on his Frozen Lance, and I often do, but this involves giving up all his skillset and other advantages until you reach Level 30 (snagging Arrow of Indra helps, at least). Level 30 is certainly a big help to him, but since he's locked to Crimson Flower, the game doesn't go on much longer after he reaches that. We're not considering the DLC for this, but it's worth mentioning that if you do, Hubert tumbles a bit further, because the female mages get even more options at Advanced tier which he lacks.

His other problem is his garbage Faith list. Magic units have advantages (ignoring terrain, targeting res, faith utility) and disadvantages (worse stats, worse mobility, lack of double-hit attacks) compared to physical units. Hubert doesn't bring much to the table in terms of faith utility. When both his magical competition in the Eagles bring Physic to the table, that's a notable minus. And the temptation to replace him with Lysithea (Luna and Warp), Marianne (Physic and Silence), or Mercedes (Physic and Fortify) from another house is notable.

In summary, Hubert is pretty good as an offensive mage, but not without flaws. It works out to an average unit overall.

Hubert's rating: 5/10.
Use him?: Maybe ("yes" if you're just trying to maximize your team's style points, though, obv)


Ferdinand

Ferdinand's a unit who appears bland at first, but quietly has enough going for him to be pretty solid overall. I think the fanbase (myself included) slept on him a bit at first.

The good: Ferdinand has talent in axes, lances, riding, with no banes, which sets him up well to go to any physical class he wants. The most likely candidates are Wyvern because it's Wyvern, or Paladin to enhance Swift Strikes. He also has a very good personal. At full HP, he gets +15 hit and avoid, which allows him to be a premier dodgetank. He's a great choice for Dancer because of how high his avoid can get, or just Alert Stance flying builds (though the lack of +flying and lower speed than Petra or Ingrid means they give him good competition for the latter role). Swift Strikes is a nice combat art, giving him quite good offence once he reaches A in lances, though not especially different than what other units can manage with Brave post-TS.

The less good: Ferdinand's base stats are underwhelming, 8/8 offence compared to Petra's 9/10 or Edelgard and Byleth's 13/8, and his respectable but not overwhelming growths and lack of access to Darting Blow means he has trouble keeping up with the best physical fighters. Swift Strikes would be better if the Lancefaire classes available to Ferdinand weren't a touch problematic (horses do poor things to one's speed and can have mobility problems in some maps) or if brave weapons weren't storebought as soon as we hit the timeskip.

He's solid, but only the third best physical fighter in his own house, and doesn't really start standing out until well into the game (either A lances or an evade build getting rolling). But once he does, watch out.

Ferdinand's rating: 6.5/10
Use him?: Yes (CF,SS); Maybe (AM,VW)

[Dark Holy Elf]

Linhardt

Linhardt's the weakest of the dedicated house healers IMO, but he's still useful.

The good: Linhardt has Physic, the uber-useful healing spell which allows you to heal regardless of position (and with the low move and most mage classes, that's big). He also gets Warp at A rank; I'm not obsessed with Warp the way some people are, but it's still a very nice addition to one's faith toolbox. Finally, he also has Restore, which is only rarely useful, but can be a lifesaver in those rare times (an enemy gambit incapcitating multiple party members can ruin your day). So basically, his faith list is one of the very best. He has boons in both Reason and Faith, by far the two most important skills for a mage, and no relevant banes (lance, riding, armour). Excalibur lets him strike weakness on fliers and potentially OHKO them, though how valuable this is depends a lot on how many archers you are running.

The less good: Linhardt's stats are easily worse than other student mages, with only 5 base speed (the others have 7-8) and 10 base magic, as well as the worst charm stat in the game (both base and growth). His low charm encourages you to neglect his authority since he can't land Resonant [element] gambits and just use the E-rank Stride battalion, which is certainly a fine option, but this hamstrings his magical offence even further. He does not get a magical combat art either, so it all adds up to him having the hardest time running magical offence of any of the student mages: hardest time getting OHKOs, hardest time doubling faster armours (Hanneman and Flayn share the latter problem). He's also squishy; memorably, he is the only one of the 24 students who is ORKOed by archers at base in chapter 2.

In summary, Linhardt has an excellent faith list and not much else to recommend him. If you're just looking for someone who can go Bishop and sling white spells, he's your guy. If you're looking for a bit of offence to go with that, you should look elsewhere.

Linhardt's rating: 5.5/10
Use him?: Maybe (CF,SS); Probably not, unless you really want to use Warp on Lysithea (AM,VW)


Caspar

Caspar is probably the worst student in the game. He's not the worst unit in the game because joining late is a big downside, but otherwise...

The good: Not much. If I had to look for something, I guess I'd bring up the Bombard combat art, which gives him +3 damage and helps bring his strength up to Raphael level when specifically considering player phase punching... too bad Fierce Iron Fist renders this moot. He also has a pretty good personal, giving him an effective +10 hit at melee and also helping out his allies. And finally, since I'm scraping the bottom of the barrel, I will emphasize that joining early is a big help; you can start training him however you want, get him useful masteries like Reposition, etc. This will be relevant when we discuss the actual worst character in the game.

The less good: Oh dear. Let's start with his talent list. He only has +axes, which every physical Eagle gets sans Bernadetta, and +brawling. Brawling isn't really that great to start with. But okay, let's say you disagree. His talent list is still bad because he's -authority. Compared to say, Grappler/War Master Ferdinand (nobody recommends Grappler/War Master Ferdinand), Caspar is +brawling but -authority, which will lead to about the same amount of training needed for this build.

The stats are also just terrible. 9+45% str is only fractionally better (either 1 base or 5% growth) than the far superior Ferdinand and Petra. 6 base speed is terrible. And while the growth is better than Raphael (the only other physical character to start this slow), it's still poor enough that on average, he'll only barely be ahead of the 14 speed base of all the Advanced tier physical jobs at LEvel 20... and behind the 20 speed base of Wyvern Lord at Level 30. His charm and res are both bad (the charm is particularly notable because it means you don't want to hand him the lord's C-rank battalion with its excellent gambit). His durability is also mediocre, with raw HP/def that trail Edelgard and Ferdinand being held back further by his poor spd, charm, and res. In other words: probably the worst stat build in the game.

I used to think Caspar had some competition for worst student; these days I don't even think it's that close.

Caspar's rating: 2.5/10
Use him?: Generally No, but you might want to level him for Silver Snow because he's forced in Chapter 13.


Bernadetta

Bernadetta may be the single character in the game I have the hardest time rating. I tend to think she works out to roughly average overall, but at times she feels either significantly better or significantly worse than that.

The good: Her personal skill grants her +5 damage at anything besides full HP. It's not hard to get her HP below full, of course, and +5 damage is obviously great. Her str is thus closer 13+35% instead of the 8+35% she has on paper (not quite this good because it's not always active and doesn't affect AS). That puts her at base tied for the best in the game, and while thanks to growth she still falls behind the actual high-str characters rapidly, she will forever maintain a small effective str lead over more average scores, notably including all her fellow Eagles except Edelgard.

Her combat arts are also an interesting set. Vengeance allows her to dish out some potentially extreme single-hit damage, though since it's melee and a counter will usually kill her, you do have to take steps to ensure she hits, as well as maintain her very low HP. While magical combat arts typically need Fiendish Blow to achieve such results and most other high-end combat arts don't appear until A rank or Advanced mastery, Bernadetta can get this started as soon as she hits C+ lances, so there's a stretch of the early-midgame (usually around chapters 4-6, give or take) where she'll be one of the most damaging options available. Later on, she also has Encloser (from A bows), which allows her to seal the movement of enemies who you can't kill this turn (particularly useful if you want to ignore a monster for a bit. Each combat art wants you to go a different direction longterm (Lancefaire for Vengeance, Bow Range+ for Encloser), but both are definitely nifty. Also from bows she has Deadeye, which doesn't get that much attention, but anything which expands range is good, potentially giving her offensive actions she wouldn't have otherwise. She also gets Pass which is occasionally very nice to have for all that I feel that FE3H map design rarely creates the types of enemy formations where it would really shine (unlike Conquest).

The less good: Her talent list includes an unfortunate weakness in axes (making her one of the few physical units I never recommend wyvern for), although her access to Pegasus Knight certainly softens that blow. Her statline is also very problematic, with low str (8+35%) holding her back whenever her personal isn't active (and preventing her from having exceptional damage even when it is, Vengeance aside), a base spd of 7 that leaves much to be desired (though it grows well enough, and she can get Darting Blow), durability which is on the low end for a frontliner, and mediocre charm.

Persecution Complex and especially Vengeance are also finnicky to work with. You won't have access to them turn 1 regardless, and then you have to be careful to not accidentally heal her to full (a couple of her fellow Eagles may sabotage her, between Linhardt's Crest of Cethleann and Dorothea's personal... and watch out for enhanced regen from the Inexhaustible, or Fortify!). Vengeance is even more annoying, of course, as getting good damage out of it also involves leaving her one hit from death, which can limit her use, especially since her sword bane makes her a poor fit for Assassin.

Other: I find it very funny how she's probably the only character in the game who would be improved by removing her crest. A 10% chance of an extra attack (which does not work on combat arts) is too low to rely on, and being crestless would let her safely and easily lower her HP with relic backlash damage. (You can kinda do something similar with devil weapons, but that involves training one of her banes and it'd be a lot more convenient if she could do it with Luin or Lance of Ruin.)

I find that she's often a very solid unit in the early midgame (Vengeance, Pegasus Knight access) who falls off around Advanced tier as other characters get OHKO options and no Advanced class seems to really let her excel.

Bernadetta's rating: 5/10
Use her?: Maybe (CF,SS); No (AM,VW)

[Dark Holy Elf]

Dorothea

Dorothea's easily the best of the Eagles' three mages, and one of the best in the game, due to how ridiculously good her spell list is.

The good: Dorothea's worth as a unit is summed up by her three most useful spells: Thoron, Physic, and Meteor. Thoron, first, is just an incredible spell, with 9 mt (highest of any spell typically earned before A rank) and 3 range, and Dorothea can have it by chapter 3. Only Hubert gets 3 range faster, and his doesn't deal as much damage. (The only other student mage who gets it, period, is Marianne.) Being able to strike from where others can't is a huge boon in this game, especially as mages start falling behind in move. Second, there's Physic. It comes a little later for her than for the primary healers (due to Faith being budding talent and starting at E), but she should still get it by chapter 4 or 5, and it automatically makes her a very useful healer. Finally, there's Meteor. I could write a whole paragraph about Meteor. In fact, I will.

Tactically, striking from range 10+ is obviously useful (even only once or twice per battle); it allows you to make plays beyond where you should, chipping or finishing off enemies who would otherwise pose problems. You can also use it to aggro formations safely; an enemy attacked will start moving towards you, regardless of how much damage you deal or even if you hit. Meteor even strikes an area of effect as a bonus. But perhaps even more important than the spell's own usefulness when cast is its ability to hand out linked attacks, offering +7 or +10 for normal hits and +15 or +20 to gambits. Even if you want the Meteor-user to do something else that turn, it's a simple matter to equip Meteor, have allies benefit from its effects, then do something else with your mage. And if that something else is using Physic, Meteor even stays equipped! Dorothea, simply, is by far the best source of Meteor/Bolting linked attacks in the game. She gets it at A, off a strength in reason (i.e. around chapter 9, give or take). Hanneman has to wait until A+. Manuela is weak in Reason and can't start training it until Chapter 8. Hilda is neutral in Reason and her statline screams to make her a physical unit instead.  Even the DLC characters don't really change this: Constance has a crippled support list, Anna has none at all. On Eagles runs, Dorothea supports everyone in her house (reaching A with all of them except Bernadetta). On Lions runs, she still supports the (IMO) three best in-house physical units not named Dimitri. Only on Deer runs does she not shine at this.

In terms of stats... if you're the type who's more enamoured with damage, she also gets Agnea's Arrow (which helps keep her looking good on the damage scale even after her less impressive magic growth has had time to kick in) and Hexblade, though both do need some investment (A+ reason or C+ swords). I don't generally recommend giving up her amazing skillset just to optimize Hexblade via Assassin, but it's worth noting that if you do, she can OHKO every enemy on the dreaded SS Reunion at Dawn with it, for instance. It also makes Mortal Savant an interesting option for her, so she can get -faire on both Hexblade and her attack magic (by contrast, no class with magic gets Lancefaire or Axefaire), if one values move and melee damage over double Meteor. Her only particularly strong stat is her charm, though it's worth noting that she's got the best charm of the mages along with Mercedes, allowing her to land powerful magical gambits more easily.

The less good: Dorothea's weakness compared to other mages lies in her magic stat. 11 base is right in line with the other best mages, but 40% growth is on the low end. It does mean that at Level 21 (chosen for easy calcuations and being midway through the game), she'll be 2 points behind Marianne or Annette, and 4 points behind Lyisthea or Hubert. But due to her getting stronger spells and/or Tomefaire, she actually keeps up with (or even ahead of) them better than you'd think, until the very late stages of the game (where magic falls off as a OHKO option anyway). She also has the usual mage failings of poor bulk and mobility, and the most mobile non-DLC magic class, Dark Knight, is a poor fit for her due to her riding bane. With regard to bulk, her def growth is quite bad even for a mage, although her respectable HP (the best of the non-Lorenz student mages) and Warlock class base make this not as big a problem as it could be. Her start is also not very good, thanks to starting with just a single D and E+ for skills and also Thunder being on the low end for uses, though I don't personally put much stock in this; she'll have her good toolkit of Thoron + Physic by the time you can reasonably recruit someone to replace her, DLC characters aside.

The DLC classes Dark Flier and Valkyrie have created more options and have improved her competition more than her (particularly Marianne and Lysithea), but without DLC, I think she's got a very good case to be the most useful magical unit in the game.

Dorothea's rating: 8/10.
Use her?: Yes (CF,SS,AM); Maybe (VW)


Petra

Petra is really good. Everything about her seems calculated to make her excel as an offensive physical fighter. Wyvern Lord is the best class in the game and you'll be hard-pressed to find many better at it than Petra.

The good: 9+40% str and 10+60% spd. The str is only average (though 9 is a nice base), but the speed is screaming, and the combination is something no other unit can claim except perhaps Catherine (the only other characters even close to her on speed are no stronger than her). With her easy access to both Death Blow and Darting Blow (something that isn't available to Felix, for instance), she can dish out high damage and double things that are very difficult to double on Maddening, like fliers and heroes. And virtually nothing in the game tears through monsters better than Petra with a brave weapon.

The talent list also rules. +flying and +axes eases her route through the strongest general class line in the game (pegasus/brigand into wyvern), either freeing her up to train authority rapidly, train an alternate weapon like bows (yet ANOTHER strength of hers), or free up tutoring time for the rest of the team. With her strength in flying and super-high speed she's an outstanding choice for an Alert Stance dodgetank (and she's even strong in swords if you want to get those evade numbers as high as possible with sword prowess)... notably, she can expect to get Alert Stance+ before any other unit in the game, along with Ingrid.

The less good: she doesn't have many weaknesses, but if you want to find them, you can look at her right-side stats. Her raw bulk is on the low end for a frontliner (a bit worse than Caspar's, though without the spd problem), and her charm is below average which puts a hole in her dodgetank game (her competition for this role, Ferdinand and Ingrid, are better off here), though it's good enough to be salvageable.

Petra's rating: 8/10
Use her?: Yes (CF,SS); Maybe (AM,VW) ... though I'm close to Yes for VW. Maybe if Riding were actually at all useful for Byleth...

[Dark Holy Elf]

Dimitri

All the house leaders are exceptionally good. Dimitri is probably the most flawed of the three, but also has incredible upside.

The good: Well, let's start with the stats. Royal Lineage amps the already impressive numbers further, but even without considering that... 12+60% str is the best in the game (along with Edelgard), 9+55% charm trails only Edelgard, 7+40% def and 28+55% HP both trail only Dedue and Raphael... and unlike Dedue/Raphael, he actually has a good spd growth of 50%, though being male and having only 7 base prevents him from being actively good at this. This might well be the best overall stat build in the game. His talent list is a bit of a mix, but having +riding and +lance gives him easy access to mounted classes, and +authority is always great, essentially compensating for a bane elsewhere.

But of course, being a lord, he picks up some things post-timeskip that make him shine even more. First is his personal, which now grants him +20 avoid at full HP. See all the comments about dodgetank Ferdinand, Dimitri can do the same things but even better. (Dancer Dimitri is hilariously effective.) Second, his unique relic combat art, Atrocity. Unless his target has a Null Weakness ability, this lets Dimitri launch a 53-might attack, which kills almost anything in one hit. How good is this? Bernadetta or Dedue need to lose 37 HP just for their Silver Lance Vengeance to catch up, before considering Dimitri's superior strength. And Dimitri can do this at any time, with any HP. Finally, there's Battalion Vantage + Wrath. While maintaining battalion skills is a bit finnicky (you have to be careful to avoid damage which might finish the battalion off), it's hard to argue with the results: roughly 100% crit on enemy phase, with monstrous strength, allows him to finish off all but the tankiest enemies (e.g. monsters) before they can even strike him. And since he can do this with full HP (and his evade personal active), he's in far less danger than normal Vantage/Wrath builds. He also builds to it more easily, just needing A authority (which you would get for him anyway), instead of mastering two mediocre classes.

Dimitri can make a wide variety of builds work: paladin or high lord for maximal lance damage, super-str wyvern in the vein of Edelgard, battalion vantage/wrath (can stack with either of the previous), invincible dodgetank. The only consistent thing is he'll be an amazing unit regardless.

The less good: Though an outstanding unit, there are definitely some weaknesses worth noting. One is his bane in axes, which slows his path to the only male flying class. The other is the fact that he goes through a four-chapter stretch where he won't train at all, so it's extremely important you get the key parts of his build (e.g. A authority) up and running before then. And for a unit with a claim to be the best in the game, he's not super-impressive in the early stages (i.e. before level 20); in particular, a lack of pegasus knight means the best female physical units (e.g. FByleth, who also has better bases) will outclass him during that stage of the game.

That said he still has a claim to be the best unit in the game, for all that I personally think he falls just short. He's incredibly dominant post-timeskip; just as Edelgard is on CF, I think Dimitri is the unquestioned MVP for post-timeskip AM.

Dimitri's rating: 9.5/10
Use him?: Yes


Dedue

Dedue's got a great start and falls off a lot. FE3H doesn't use this model as much as earlier FEs due to how levels work, but it certainly sums up Dedue.

The good: As mentioned, he's got a good start. His HP/def are the best of anyone, his str not far behind (12, equal to Dimitri and one behind Edelgard/Byleth). But raw stats undersell how much better his def is than others, and that's because of his personal. Raising his def by 4 means it's actually 5 points higher than the next best, if he can afford to wait. Or, to put it another way to drive this home: the second best base defence in the game (7) is actually closer to Lysithea's (3) than it is to a waiting Dedue's (12). He can take hits nobody else can, and can dish back good damage too.

And once you train his lance rank up, his damage potential becomes even better. Vengeance allows him to deal out severe punishment if you can get his HP low: similiar to Bernie, except Dedue's got more HP to lose and more str (even after accounting for Persecution Complex, he passes Bernie at around Level 8). He doesn't get pegasus knight, but otherwise, he easily outclasses her at the use of this combat art.

He's got talent in axes and armour, so he can go wyvern easily, which also patches up his bad speed. Armour gives him Weight-3. Brawling gives him easy access to Grappler, and with his low speed and high str, he's a great fit for Fierce Iron Fist. One-Two Punch also helps out his punch damage before he masters Grappler, +8 damage at the cost of eating a counter in the middle, which is bad against mages, but good against physical units. On the axe side, he also gets Monster Breaker, which is solid (even aginst human enemies, it's the axe version of Tempest Lance). Whether by punching or with a brave axe, Dedue is ready to transfer away from using Vengeance when it falls off, and still have solid offence.

The less good: Dedue is let down by his speed growth and magic durability. At most points in the game, mages will typically double him for extreme (potentially even ORKO) damage, so any time mages are around (and from chapter 4 on, they're quite common compared to some other FEs), that puts a serious dent in his tanking game. He's -flying, which slows his path to wyvern, either putting him behind on skills (a problem which is exacerbated by what I'll talk about next) or consigns him to a low-mobility role which has to avoid mages.

He leaves from chapter 13 to 16, losing out on all training both in and out of battle. This tends to leave him somewhat unimpressive upon his return.

Finally, his tanking role is simply done much better by dodgetanks in this game, after the early going. He needs to avoid magic, dodgetanks do not. And concrete tanks require low-move classes to be at their most effective, while dodgetanks do best while flying.

Add that all up and there isn't much reason to use him once he returns, unless you like him. But he's outstanding for chapters 1-3, and decently solid for a while thereafter. I put more stock in performance after one is able to make party choices (i.e. recruitment starts) which hurts him a bit, but I still like him.

Dedue's rating: 5.5/10
Use him?: Yes early, but this drops to Maybe as the game goes on... he's a pretty good candidate to replace (and/or turn into a Dimitri adjutant) since you'll need a midgame replacement for him anyway.


Felix

Dedue's one candidate for best start of a non-lord student; Felix is the other. But Felix holds up better, for sure. On Hard I considered him the best non-lord student in the game; I don't think he still is on Maddening, but he's still great.

The good: 10+55% str, 9+55% speed. No other early joiner has that combination of str/spd for either bases or growths (though a few are lateral, like the lords, and Catherine matches/exceeds this once she shows up). At every point in the game, Felix hits hard and is one of the best at not being doubled, as well as above average at doubling things himself. None of his other stats are that special but they don't have to be, strength (or magic) and speed are far and away the two most important in this game. And the crazy thing is, those bases actually underrate his start, because his personal grants +5 damage without a battalion. Nobody has a battalion in chapter 1, and most people don't in chapter 2, so Felix essentially has 15 str + 9 spd to get started, which is just wild. It doesn't last long (even some low-rank battalions give better bonuses than +5 atk and nothing else, so you probably want to get him one in chapter 3 or at the latest, 4), but is still worth nooting.

With those stats, Felix will do well in any physical class, but I like to draw particular attention to his merits as an archer. He's +bows, and gets Heavy Draw, an underrated combat art, at C+. Bows often struggle to deal damage, since their only generic CA has only +1 damage. Heavy Draw provides +8, along with a hit boost, and lets him deal major damage against things he can't double, compared to other archers, who need to wait for Hunter's Volley to have anything that matches that. With his good speed for doubling, str for the brave bow, and Heavy Draw, he's a great choice for going bow knight while lesser archers have to stick with the less flexible sniper. Another notable CA he has is Nimble Combo, at Brawling C+, which similarly gives him a power advantage over his competition: +4 damage, also +20 avoid lets him null boss crit if they survive. And of course, if he doubles with gauntlets (or a brave weapon), that's 4 chances at +5 damage from his crest. And if none of those unique advantages appeal to you, he can always go wyvern, and excel as you would expect from anyone with his stat build.

The less good: The most damning thing about Felix by far is his authority bane; coupled with the fact that he doesn't actually have that many boons (he'd love axes, or riding, or flying, or armour), he's not actually in a great shape for training (and while not a factor for rating, this is even worse on non-BL routes, where he auto-trains the idiotic combo of swords+brawling). I often try to save the lord's battalion for him, since that only needs C, but that's a valuable tool and Felix's lowish charm (another weakness of his, at 5+30%) makes him less good at using it than I'd like. His other defensive stats aren't great either, similar to Petra, but like Petra, speed goes a long way towards helping me forgive that.

And as I've written before in comparisons with other units, he also can't get Darting Blow, which on Maddening is really important to maintain doubling ability long-term, meaning that he ends up a fair bit lower on the offensive speed ranking than 9+55% alone would suggest. Obviously this is a point in discussing any male physical unit but Felix's stat build craves it more than most.

Every house has a very solid fast physical unit (Petra and Leonie are the others); Felix certainly has the most flaws out of that trio, but sometimes it's hard to argue with his raw numbers, especially out of the gate.

Felix's rating: 7.5/10
Use him?: Yes (AM); Maybe (CF,VW,SS)

[Dark Holy Elf]

Ashe

Ashe isn't a terrible unit, but there also isn't much to recommend him.

The good: 9+50% speed is just behind Felix for third fastest in the Lions. He's also got pretty good res (6+35% is about as good as physical units get). In terms of talents, he has both bows and axes, which help his way towards the most powerful physical builds, i.e. wyvern and archer. In terms of combat arts, the most notable one is Deadeye, which gives him 5-7 range depending on his class, obviously nice for his targeting options although he'll definitely want to raise his accuracy if he wants to use the full extent of that range with any reliability. And finally, while I wouldn't call his personal that good objectively, it is rather convenient to have someone who can open treasure without an inventory slot, especially if you forget to buy chest keys.

The less good: The rest of his stats leave much to be desired. 8+35% str is the bottom rung for physical units, 23+35% HP and 5+20% defence look more like mage numbers (did you know that fellow Lion Mercedes tops him for HP, def, and res?). 5+25% charm is also unimpressive. It's a similar bad stat build to what Bernadetta and Ignatz have, but Ashe doesn't have Bernie's unique perks (Ignatz is more debatable). He's slightly faster than them, but nowhere near fast enough especially since he can't get Darting Blow. Having no boons in any non-weapon skills isn't great either (same problem Felix had, but at least he's not -authority).

This was a pretty short writeup, but there's really not much to say. Nothing about Ashe really stands out that positively, and his mediocre stats (str, bulk, charm) mean that anything you'd want him to do, someone else can probably do better. He's lucky that sniper is a great low-effort physical build for people with mediocre stats, and he gets to it easily, so that puts him above Caspar, at least. But he's probably the weakest Lion.

Ashe's rating: 3.5/10
Use him?: Maybe (AM); No (CF,VW,SS)


Sylvain

Sylvain's a lot like Ferdinand (strikingly so, their growths are almost identical), but slightly better outside one particular build.

The good: Sylvain has above average key stats across the board: 9+45% str, 8+50% spd, 6+40% def, and 7+40% charm. None of these are outstanding, but they're all solid. Sylvain also has a relevant personal which boosts his performance a bit further: +2 damage dealt and received while adjacent to a female ally. It's not trivial to make use of (especially since enemy gambits can punish adjacent allies on enemy phase) but a nice bonus when it comes up. He's got a decent talent list that includes +lances, +axes, and +riding, giving him easy access to every high-mobility class in the game.

He also has two notable unique combat arts which allow him to be one of the heaviest hitters for the midgame starting at chapter 6. First, there's Ruined Sky. While anyone can wield the 22-might Lance of Ruin, only Sylvain can drag an extra 13 damage out of it (admittedly, anyone else can get 8 with Tempest Lance, but that costs 5 durability instead of 3)... and against fliers or dragons, that becomes an extra 35 instead. Its +10 bonus to crit avoid also helps him safely take a big chunk from high-crit bosses. The second is Swift Strikes, available at A lances, giving him a brave-like effect before braves become easily available. His crest synergises well with Swift Strikes, giving him a 64% chance to get at least +5 damage while using it, an advantage Ferdinand and Seteth do not enjoy.

He also has an interesting magic build. While it's likely not his best build (5+30% magic is well short of "real" mages, even Lorenz), the combination of Black Magic Avoid +20, Physic, a good Reason list, his talents for all the Dark Knight prereqs, and his solid overall stat build makes him a quite respectable "red mage" type of unit if you want to build him that way (and he can still bust out some good lance damage even as a mage).

Finally, although this won't factor into his rating since we're rating on everyone's best route, it's worth noting that Sylvain can be recruited (with FByleth) as early as Chapter 2 by both the Eagles and the Deer, meaning that Sylvain is a rare character whose worth does not decrease on other routes; he can be a great addition to any team. His huge support list also helps this.

The less good: As with Ferdinand, it's important not to get carried away with the advantages of Swift Strikes, as male Lancefaire options pale as classes compared to the Wyvern line. And while his statline and talent list are solid, they're also not exceptional: for instance, most high-end physical units boast notably better strength or speed (though typically not both).

Other: Although this won't factor into his rating since we're rating on everyone's best route, it's worth noting that Sylvain can be recruited (with FByleth) as early as Chapter 2 by both the Eagles and the Deer, meaning that Sylvain is a rare character whose worth does not decrease much on other routes; he can be a great addition to any team. His huge support list also helps this, especially on VW (although as usual, it's best in his home house).

Overall, though, Sylvain is a very solid unit. I feel pretty comfortable saying he's a bit better than Ferdinand (whose only advantage is his dodgetank build) but a bit worse than Felix, which means only one score is possible.

Sylvain's rating: 7/10
Use him?: Yes (AM, or VW with FByleth); Maybe (other routes/possibilities)


Mercedes

Mercedes is one of the game's premier magic units, and the best healer by a lot.

The good: Mercedes's strengths as a magical unit can be boiled down to two things: her stats, and her healing abilities. First, her overall stats, which for whatever reason just look better than those of the other 6 student mages. The other mages have 7 base speed (except Linhardt who has 5); she has 8 (although her growth is average at 40%). Disregarding Lorenz (who has some obvious disadvntages as a mage), her bulk is clearly best in class, too: 25+30% HP trails only Dorothea, 5+25% def only trails Linhardt (who gets doubled way more), 9+45% res is also the best (along with Linhardt). Her charm of 8+40% is also the best (along with Dorothea) among mages, which makes her a great wielder of the powerful Resonant series of gambits. The only knock on her stat build is that she "only" has 10+50% magic, but seeing as she gets Ragnarok, she's highly competitive for power anyway; from the time she hits A reason, she will trail only Lysithea for spell damage, as well as Hubert during Master tier only, and Hanneman (barely) if the latter catches up on the masteries of Monk and Mage.

The other place Mercedes shines is her healing ability, which is due to three tools: Physic, Fortify, and Live to Serve. Physic, of course, is basically a prerequisite to being considered a good healer in this game. Fortify is "what if Physic healed 7 more HP but also could hit multiple targets?"; its utility is unmatched when you're trying to maintain multiple fronts at once. Live to Serve is a very underrated personal ability. Coupled with her respectable bulk, Mercedes is a great choice to take hits (she can absorb incredible amounts of magical punishment and usually one physical enemy as well, even on Maddening) and then she can heal herself for free when she heals someone else. She simply allows far more flexibility than her competition when it comes to managing your party's HP. It can be a tough decision whether to go Bishop or Warlock with Mercedes, since she's both a great healer and a good attacker (the DLC hasn't made the Advanced choice any easier).

The less good: While Mercedes can certainly bring solid magical offence when outfitted with the usual mage tools (Fiendish Blow, a +mag battalion, and a selection of accessories), she lacks two things that would make her better at it. One is a three-range spell, which limits her targeting compared to some. The other is a magical combat art, making her bow talent largely a trap; only Linhardt also lacks a magical combat art among the student mages. So while her offence is good specifically at range 2 (plus Caduceus and/or Thyrsus), other mages outdo her at range 1 and obviously at Thoron/Mire range. This is particularly noteworthy because both Dorothea and Marianne, who also have Physic, have both those advantages she lacks.

Overall, though, she's very good at what she does. If I'm running very few mages, I want Mercedes because she's a better one-woman healer than anyone else available. If I'm running lots of mages, I probably still want her, because she's a versatile mage good at both magical offence and healing. I go back and forth on whether Dorothea or her is the best mage.

Mercedes's rating: 8/10
Use her?: Yes (AM); Probably (CF,SS,VW)

[Dark Holy Elf]

Annette

Annette is a mage with mediocre stats, a bad reason list, and a bad faith list. She's... not as bad as that description makes her sound, at least!

The not-so-good: First, the stats. 23+25% HP, 5+20% def, 4+30% res makes for some bad durability (she even loses to two physical Lions plus Byleth in res, and not by especially small margins). 7+35% speed is definitely on the low end for the student mages, which erodes whatever advantage she might gain from wind spells' lower weights (a recurring theme for wind mages in this game). 6+35% charm is mildly below average. Following up on the rating to Mercedes, it's worth emphasizing that Annette loses to her fellow Lion mage in every relevant stat, aside from +1 base magic.

Her reason list includes mostly wind spells, as mentioned, which top out at 11 might. So, even though her magic stat is solid on paper, she can expect to be towards the bottom of the spell damage curve among dedicated magic units... even Lorenz spends a good chunk of the game ahead of her. Don't expect anything useful like Thoron, either. Her faith list is somehow even more underwhelming... no Physic or Fortify, no Warp or Rescue or Silence, nothing besides the same Heal/Nosferatu/Recover that even the most magically inept units get, plus the trashy Abraxas if you want to gain another 1000 faith exp to get to A. Oh, and she's only neutral in Faith, so she'll have to wait longer than most to even get Recover (this also somewhat cancels out the benefits of her Authority boon).

The good: So why on earth would you use such an obviously outclassed mage? Well, she brings two unique advantages, one relevant early and one relevant late. First is her access to Rally Strength+Speed. The former is free from her personal, the latter is picked up at Authority C+. Spending only one ability slot to get such a good rally is certainly nice. Rallies definitely got a bit of a nerf compared to Awakening/Fates; they're now singletarget and range 1, and Three Houses is more of a player phase game where rallies have less chance to be decisive (a rally might let another unit kill a target, but any other mage can do the same by throwing a spell to chip... and that action actually gets you exp, weapon/authority levels, and class exp, to boot!). Still, the option is nice.

The other relevant advantage is from her relic, the Crusher. Midgame, Annette's magical combat art game doesn't really stand out... sure, Lightning Axe hits harder than Hexblade/Soulblade/Frozen Lance on paper, but in practice it's held back by a lack of good class to utilize it: either you go wyvern and miss out on a +mag battalion (allowing the other arts mentioned to surpass it) or you go Warlock/Warrior and miss out on mobility and either Stealth or Canto. However, Crusher changes this. Dust results in an attack which has 38 might, the most powerful single-hit magic attack in the game. That gives Annette the best potential magical damage from the moment she completes her paralogue until the game ends. It's up to the player to decide whether to use this from the back of a wyvern, with no skillset (besides Rally), or whether to stick to a magical class (Dark Knight is the best option for her, though takes some skill investment) and trade some damage and mobility for utility. But either way, Annette can bring something unique to the table.

Do I think Annette's unique pros make up for what other mages offer? No; I want my mages to have good threat range and good skillset options like Physic, Fortify, Warp/Rescue, or Meteor. Annette doesn't deliver either. And certainly, outside Lions runs, she's basically garbage, as she lacks both Crusher and earlygame rally use. But on her own team, she at least offers enough to be interesting, and I think that lets her barely edge out Ashe for me, even if I consider both prime candidates for replacement.

Annette's rating: 4/10
Use her?: Maybe (AM); No (CF,VW,SS)


Ingrid

Each house gets a female fighter with 60% speed growth. Ingrid is the worst of the three, but that's kind of like being the worst paladin in Path of Radiance.

The good: The stat growths. As mentioned, she has 60% speed growth. The base is only 8, but this still leaves her the third fastest character in the game from Intermediate tier on (DLC changes nothing, Yuri can't get Darting Blow). Her other standout growths are 8+45% charm (rivals Hilda for best non-lord) and 8+40% res (the best outside the healers, whom she beats in HP/spd/def). This makes her good at doubling, good at dodging, good at tanking magic and gambits, and good at launching gambits of her own (her personal gives her a further boost here).

Second, she has a talent list which includes lances, flying, and riding. This gives her super-easy access to Falcon Knight as well as the Alert Stance line, as well as Move+1. It also gives her good access to Wyvern Lord, if you prefer that (and some axe training is a good idea for her anyway, for a potential +12 or even +24 damage from Death Blow). Alert Stance deserves particular note because it puts Ingrid on the short list for best dodgetanks in the game: with good speed, a flying boon, and a high charm (so gambits don't spoil her), she's built to excel in this role, just so long as you don't expect her to deal huge damage back (but even then, doubling can help; slap on Retribution and watch her punish archers and mages). She even has a sword boon if you really want to get the best avoid possible.

Her relic combat art, Burning Quake, is also a big help. Since it scales off her great speed, its effective might goes well into the 30's (surpassing Ruined Sky around the timeskip), so if Ingrid comes up against something she can't double, or just needs a critical avoid boost to chip a boss safely, she can still output solid damage.

And while it doesn't affect her score much, it should be emphasized that, like her Lion lancer buddy Sylvain, she's a great pickup on other routes. Grab her in chapter 6 onwards and you'll benefit from her excellent enemy-pegasus-knight growths, which almost makes up for missing out on the training and class mastery before then. Almost.

The less good: Ingrid's strength leaves plenty to be desired: at 8+35%, it's noticeably behind that of fellow speedsters Petra and Leonie, instead being equal to the likes of Ashe and Ignatz at the bottom tier of physical units. Her defence and HP are also on the shaky side for a frontliner, being comparable to Felix and Petra (although like them, her other stats go a long way to making this not a problem). And since her speed is growth-based, her overall start isn't great (it's very similar to Ferdinand's, slightly worse than Sylvain's).

Ingrid, along with Felix and Sylvain, form a trio of very solid non-lord physical units the Lions can rely on. Felix is the best of that trio, but the other two aren't that far behind.

Ingrid's rating: 7/10
Use her?: Yes (AM); Maybe (CF,VW,SS)

[Dark Holy Elf]

Claude

Consider Felix, but instead of having one of the worst talent lists in the game, you have one of the best ones instead. That's basically Claude.

The good: 8+55% speed, 11+40% str. Yes, I know the str growth doesn't sound that special, but between the base and Leicester Lineage giving him extra levels, he definitely has some great all-around offensive stats. 8+55% charm rules as well. Dex is junk as a stat but for what very, very little it's worth, Claude's is great.

The talent list is just amazing. Authority, riding (for Move+1), flying (for wyvern or Alert Stance), bows, and a budding talent in axes? I mentioned before axe/authority/flying is the best combo for going wyvern, and he's the only one with all three (except Seteth who has issues which counteract this).

His unique post-timeskip perks aren't quite as good as those of the other lords, but Fallen Star is still nice: a 28 might attack which makes him immune to the next attack he faces, so if you play your cards right you can use it to kill a target and then bait the scariest thing imaginable next turn. His other notable combat art is Encloser, letting him neutralize any enemy he can't kill. And his classes, Wyvern Master-Barbarossa, are super-nice, basically a wyvern lord but with bows instead. Since he gets it for free, he can ease up on any skill ranks for class certifications. Combined with all his boons, you can do silly things like get him both Move+1 and Alert Stance+, or even reasonably get him to Bowfaire2 without sacrificing the rest of his build (though I fell a bit short when I tried myself, others have convinced me it's possible).

The less good: The raw strength doesn't hit the ludicrous numbers that Edelgard or Dimitri reach (and he will eventually fall a bit behind the likes of Felix, despite my opening comments). And no Darting Blow means there will definitely be faster enemies he can't double. 35% HP and 30% def means he's never gonna be some sort of great concrete tank, it's a durability statline that resembles Petra and Felix more than Edelgard, Dimitri, or Sylvain.

That's about it, really? He's the only lord who isn't clearly the best unit in his own route... but he's still got a very good case for it.

Claude's rating: 9/10
Use him?: Do you need to ask?


Hilda

Authority banes suck, and you need a lot to make up for one. Felix manages. Does Hilda? Not quite as well, but close.

The good: Like Sylvain, Hilda is just solidly above average in every important stat. 10+45% str, 8+50% spd, 7+50% cha (best non-lord), 29+50% HP, 6+35% def... that's a lot to like. Aside from the lords, any student who beats her in str is significantly slower, and anyone who beats her in speed is at least appreciably weaker, though Petra/Leonie come close on the latter and Felix is straight-up an exception (until Hilda gets Darting Blow, anyway).

Her talent list includes axes and lances, so she's well-set to go pegasus and brigand (picking up Double Blows), and wyvern. Budding talent armour helps with Weight-3.

She also has access to Apocalyptic Flame, a monstrous 38-might attack (61 against dragons, which includes a couple notable bosses and most lategame demonic beasts) with decent accuracy (just 5 less than Silver Axe Smash). It's not as big a factor as Sylvain's or Ingrid's relics, since she has to wait until chapter 12 to get it, but that sure does hurt.

The less good: The authority bane. By far the most devastating part of Hilda's build, especially since unlike Felix, her talents strongly push her to be a flier, where high-rank battalions are that much more important. The one saving grace is that on Verdant Wind, you get Immortal Corps, and with Hilda's sky-high charm she can put it to amazing use while Claude keeps building authority and uses something like Cichol Wyverns instead.

Like Sylvain, her stats are solid but not exceptional, although they're certainly closer to exceptional than his. So while she's good, you may find yourself more enamoured of other units whose stats aren't that much worse who don't need to fight an authority bane every step of the way.

Other: She's only available on three routes, and is notably worse on AM because of the lack of good low-rank flying battalions, and worse still on SS because of her awful join time. Although as usual, I'm scoring her by her best route.

She really is a lot like Sylvain, with pegasus/Darting Blow and slightly better stats, but has to wait 6 extra chapters for her relic and has an authority bane. I'd say that roughly balances.

Hilda's rating: 7/10
Use her?: Yes (VW); Maybe (AM); No (SS)


Lorenz

Lorenz can't decide if he wants to be a fighter or a mage. The answer is probably a mage, but either way he's not very good.

Why he's a bad fighter: His stats just aren't good enough. 8+40% str (admittedly, +2 from his personal in practice) and 7+40% spd is an awful combination. Only Caspar, Dedue, and Raphael are slower, and they're all stronger (okay, Caspar is basically equal. Caspar has terrible stats too). His talent list includes only lances (with no pegasus access) and riding, and he has no unique physical combat arts. While he's salvageable as a fighter if you insist on using him as one, almost anyone can do the same job better than him (Sylvain, Ferdinand, Leonie, and Ingrid all also have lance+riding along with better stats/talents/arts). His capabilities as a magic attacker are the only actually interesting thing about him, so I'm going to assume him as a mage (and/or a magic-focused paladin) for the rest of this analysis.

The good: Compared to other mages, Lorenz has clearly better bulk. 28+55% HP and 6+30% def are the best of any mage (unless one counts Edelgard or Sylvain), and in the case of HP it's by a large margin (they top out at 30%, otherwise). Additionally, he has a good Reason spell list, mostly in that he picks up Ragnarok at B (it's an A rank spell for everyone else). This means Lorenz actually briefly has second the best spell damage before other units hit A (Lysithea's Dark Spikes is #1 during this time). At A he gets Agnea's Arrow, whose 16 might allows him to stay ahead of Linhardt forever, though he falls behind Mercedes at this point, with Dorothea passing him at A+, and Hubert/Marianne/Annette doing so later in the game as their growths kick in. He also has Frozen Lance; magical combat arts are always nice to have, even if Lorenz's will be towards the weak end. His riding talent helps him get to Dark Knight easily, and potentially get Move+1.

The less good: 7+40% magic is way below that of other mages. Even after his personal grants him +2, he's still 2 points behind Dorothea (and roughly Linhardt). As alluded to earlier, this means that despite his good reason list, he's often not in a great place for relative magic damage. This would be forgivable, except that magic damage is basically all he does. He has no utility at all. Physic, Warp, Rescue, Fortify, Silence, Thoron, Meteor, Rallies, weakness-hitting? Lorenz does none of that. His faith list is garbage (the default + Ward at B) and he starts at E for it. He has awful charm (3+35%), which further limits his utility and also blows a hole in his durability when enemy gambits are around. So if other mages bring equal/better damage AND better (often much better) utility, why use him?

The answer is because he's forced at the west side of VW Reunion at Dawn, and having a decent Lorenz helps there. But while that's a reason to use him, it's not a reason he's good. And it also means he's extremely untempting to use on any other route, especially since he leaves for four chapters on two of them. But hey, at least he's the single most valuable recruit in the game because he unlocks access to Thyrsus! (Nothing in this paragraph affects the score I'm giving him.)

Lorenz's rating: 3.5/10
Use him?: Maybe (VW); No (CF); Hell no (AM,SS)

[Dark Holy Elf]

Raphael

Raphael mostly looks like a worse Dedue, but at least he can't compete with Dedue on his home route. He's not great, but he definitely has his merits.

The good: Raphael has three strong stats: 30+65% HP is the best in the game, 7+45% def is second to Dedue, and 11+50% str is solid, comparable to Felix and a bit ahead of Hilda. The strength in particular is the important stat, allowing him to hit hard with a brave weapon, Fierce Iron Fist, or reliably critical-OHKO with a Wrath build, for instance. The HP/def are a nice bonus, although as we'll see in a moment, they really don't end up much of an advantage in practice.

His talent list includes axes, giving him easy access to the wyvern, and armour, giving him easy access to Weight-3. Thanks to the great speed base of the wyvern line (and to a lesser extent other advanced classes like Grappler, if you'd prefer), he ends up not as slow as one might fear, though still slow, especially during Intermediate tier.

The less good: Raphael's stats besides HP/str/def are definitely not good. 6+15% speed is awful, and completely sabotages his durability. As an example, archers on chapter 2 deal 20 damage to him (before Poison Strike), because they double him (and no other Deer). And with 15% growth he'll be facing doubles for a long time, from many things. And you definitely want to keep him away from mages, who double and deal extreme damage to his 1+10% res. Even once you get his defence rolling via battalions, shields, class bonuses, etc., you'll still need to watch out for those, as well as gambits against his 4+25% charm. When fellow Deer Leonie has the same base Def and only 5% less growth, while being far superior to him in spd/res/charm, it becomes clear that he's not going to excel in a tanking role, except a highly specialized one.

He also doesn't bring much else to the table outside his strength. His set of unique combat arts is pretty shallow (Monster Breaker is decent, with its 9 mt and weakness hits); unlike many other characters with a strength in brawling he does not get any two-hit combat art. He gets Rally Strength, but if I didn't think that highly of Annette getting Rally Str+Spd for one ability slot, you can probably guess how much credit I give Str alone - the best thing I will say about his Rally is it gives him something to do while funnelling exp into other characters if you plan to bench him. His personal might just be the worst in the game.

Ultimately Raphael's only hope is to try to use his high str as best you can. Str is a very important stat in this game, so Raphael ends up not as bad as he would with the same stat build in some other Fire Emblem games. But even in this one, other characters like Felix, Hilda, and Sylvain have either equal to only slightly less strength, and do so many other things better than him, so he ends up feeling outclassed anyway.

Raphael's rating: 3.5/10
Use him?: Probably not (VW); No (CF,AM,SS)


Ignatz

Ignatz is yet another archer with 35/50 growths for the key offensive stats. Every house has one, and none of them are great.

The good: Ignatz has a boon in both bows and authority, which are the two most important talents if your gameplan is Sniper. (His only other boon is swords, in case you'd rather go Assassin.) And he has a nifty personal, which grants him +20 hit. This both allows him to strike from extreme range more reliably, as an archer, and also grants him a bonus accuracy to gambits. On offence, you can think of his base charm as being 8 instead of 4, which is on par with the likes of Claude and Ingrid. And his 8+55% luck is tied for the best in the game with Shamir, so there may occasionally be some higher-crit enemies he is particularly good at baiting, although usually either an accessory or an art which prevents counters or crit-evade is more useful for nullifying crits in this game.

The less good: Ignatz doesn't have much else going for him, with his stats being a particular problem. 8+35% str and 8+50% speed are just not good, 4+25% def and 25+35% HP is mage-level, and 4+25% charm is a problem too... despite my comments above about his base charm (adding +4 from his personal) being relatively good for offence, it doesn't grow well so it will be below average by midgame, and is always terrible for facing enemy gambits. In other words, Ignatz is bad at dealing damage and bad at taking damage, limiting the roles he can play effectively.

His combat arts are also bleh, especially compared to his fellow archers with the same stats. Bernadetta and Ashe both get Deadeye; Ignatz really wishes he had that too, since he'd be great at using it with his accuracy. Instead he gets Break Shot, a defence debuff which isn't very good since two-rounding enemies is easy in this game, though it has some niche use against bulky monsters. He's also weak in flying, making him one of the single worst wyvern candidates in the game.

Other: Like Raphael he gets a single useful rally skill (Rally Speed, in his case); like Raphael I will mainly mention it as mostly useful if you're using him as total filler and aren't concerned about him not getting experience.

His magic build is mildly interesting, with a reason budding talent and access to Physic. But it compares poorly with that of Sylvain (same magic growth), for instance, who has a much better reason list, better bulk/evade/charm, and talents for Dark Knight. Of course Ignatz's physical build is worse than Sylvain's too, so the magic build may be worth considering anyway. Generally though, Sniper is probably the way to go for him.

Overall, Ignatz is a low-reward character... but on the other hand, he's a low-effort one. Aim him at Sniper, which he gets too with relatively little effort, and use Hunter's Volley with a Killer Bow and hope for the best. Literally anyone can do this, but Ignatz can do it while taking less training away from the rest of the team getting there, and needs less help from linked attacks. Overall I find him about equal to Ashe, trading the latter's Deadeye, +1 speed, and far superior performance as a wyvern for an authority boon and slightly better personal. I'd say that balances.

Ignatz's rating: 3.5/10
Use him?: Maybe (VW); No (CF,AM,SS)


Lysithea

Lysithea's an interesting unit. Despite being a big fan of the character I often find her performance a bit overrated, either due to Death Knight memes or people giving her Thyrsus and misattributing the immense power of that accessory to her. She's still good, though.

The good: Lysithea is noted for her superior killing power over other mages. 11+60% growth magic is the best in the game (comparable to Hubert), but what really sets her apart is her spells. Dark Spikes has 13 might at B, well ahead of the 7-9 most other units have at that point (with a further +26 against hapless cavalry, which she can OHKO for most of the game). Hades, at A, has 18 might which is the strongest of any spell. And yet against the toughest targets, it will be Luna, which essentially has might equal to the target's Res, which will be even stronger still. Nobody else has that selection, so Lysithea ends up ahead of other PCs for magic damage for a large part of the game, and is particularly far ahead late.

On the faith side, she has Warp. While I'm not as enamoured with this as some, it's still a very nice repositioning tool at worst, and a shortcut to quickly winning a battle at best. She's by far the best Warper in the game, getting it at B while others wait for A, and having a much higher magic stat (Linhardt, the next closest, will typically have 1-2 less squares of range) than her competition.

Finally, she has boons in reason, faith, and authority, which is pretty much the best a mage could hope for. And her Mastermind ability further speeds her acquisition of skills, and more importantly classes. She'll get Fiendish Blow 25 actions before other mages, for instance, amplifying her power lead further. And she can afford to dip for esoteric class masteries like Hit+20% or Darting Blow much more easily than her competition.

The less good: Lysithea deals high damage and has Warp, but doesn't do much else. She has no 3-range spells, and no healing spells beyond Heal (not even Recover!). This makes her feel a bit one-dimensional, compared to other mages who offer considerably more non-offensive utility and/or range.

Her stats, aside from her magic, are problematic. 3+10% def, 4+25% res, and 22+20% HP are awful even for a mage (the low res also weakens her Soublade). 4+15% luck is also game-worst, meaning that the enemies that don't one-round her are likely to have a critical rate against her. In other words, she's the single least durable character in the entire game. The one mercy on her durability is that class bases help her out a lot, especially at Advanced where all classes have at least 12 base def. 5+25% charm is also quite poor, which further limits her utility as she has more trouble landing offensive gambits.

Finally, without DLC, she has a bit of a problem at Advanced tier, where other mages benefit from Black Tomefaire and she can't. While it says something about her power that she's still the hardest-hitting mage even in this tier, the gap is quite small (just 1-3 points above Mercedes and Dorothea). That's a bit of a drag when power is her biggest pro. Fortunately, Dark Knight fixes this. (And with the DLC, Valkyrie gives her a valid dark-boosting option, albeit it's a range boost instead of a power boost.)

I value versatility in mages a lot, which makes me favour a couple other mages over Lysithea. But she's undoubtedly good at what she does. She's easy to compare to someone like Bernie, but Lysithea's offence is more impressive (due to not falling off a cliff past range 1), and she's certainly much easier to use.

Lysithea's rating: 7.5/10
Use her?: Yes (VW); Maybe (CF,AM,SS)

[Dark Holy Elf]

Marianne

Marianne's another very solid magical unit for the Golden Deer. I go back and forth on which one is better between her and Lysithea.

The good: The best thing about Marianne is her one-two punch of Physic and Thoron, with Silence getting an honourable mention. Physic, as usual, immediately vaults her into the camp of having excellent healing utility, with how good that spell is. And Thoron is, as always, by far the best black spell to pick up at reason C, having both the highest power at that tier and an extra point of range, which allows both more targetting options and better linked attack support for her allies. And Silence, at B faith, is useful because of its huge range. Being able to turn off an enemy mage for a turn can make certain formations easier to bait, and is a great way to approach a siege tome user.

She's also got a pair of magical combat arts: either Frozen Lance through a Budding Talent, or Soulblade through C+ in swords (and eventually Beast Fang, a Soulblade variant which hits weakness on dragons, although the other CAs will outperform it against cavalry with Rapier or Horseslayer). If you're willing to trade in her utility, she can do some pretty serious damage (11+50% magic helps) as an Assassin, Paladin, or Falcon Knight, and she's makes a versatile-as-heck Mortal Savant. Her boons in faith, swords, lances, riding, and flying give her easy access to a surprisingly large array of classes, depending on what you want her to do.

Her magic, res, and charm are good. 8+45% res only barely trails Linhardt and Mercedes, and her 7+40% charm only barely trails Dorothea and Mercedes.

The less good: Marianne is pretty close to exactly what I want out of a mage in this game, but has one glaring weakness: being only neutral in Reason. This slows her acquisition of Thoron (C) and Cutting Gale (B)... the latter would not normally deserve note, except that she's stuck with Blizzard at D, so Cutting Gale is her first spell with more than 75 hit (i.e. she has shaky accuracy before she reaches Mage). It also makes it more difficult for her to certify as Warlock (IMO the clear winner of the non-DLC classes at advanced tier, though at least Bishop boosts her Physic by 10). And finally, it prevents or at best greatly delays her from getting Black Magic Range+1, eroding the advantage of her Thoron later in the game (as a consolation, she can get Move+1 more easily).

Her physical durability is relatively poor even for a mage (beating only Lysithea and arguably Linhardt, the latter due to speed); 4+15% def is tied for second worst with Dorothea, who has better HP.

Other: She's definitely significantly helped by the DLC. Being strong in riding and flying helps offset being only neutral in Reason when it comes to certifying for Dark Flier or Valkyrie. The other drawbacks of being Reason neutral remain, unfortunately.

I think Marianne isn't quite as good as Dorothea and Mercedes because I think their Meteor and Fortify are each better than Silence, and they aren't Reason neutral. But she's another very good PC in their mold.

Marianne's rating: 7/10
Use her?: Yes (VW); Maybe (CF,AM,SS)


Leonie

Leonie is the last student, and she's a good one. She might even be the best one who isn't a lord.

The good: Her stats are great in general. The highlight is 9+60% speed, a close second to Petra for fastest in the game. But there's also her defence (7+40%), which is just behind Raphael for the tankiest character not locked to Azure Moon, and her charm (also 7+40%) which is solidly above average. 9+40% strength isn't special (comparable to Ferdinand or Petra) but considering how good the rest of her stat build is, the fact that it's clearly above the likes of Ingrid or Ignatz is a win. Or to put it another way, the fastest unit (excluding Catherine) to actually beat her on strength is Hilda, who trails her by a significant 1-5 points of speed depending on level while only winning str by 1-3. Leonie's personal also helps her out, being the mirror of Sylvain's. Give her an adjacent male ally and her base str/def are effectively 11 and 9, which is outstanding (but as always, be careful about adjacent allies being caught up in enemy gambit attacks).

Some of the other characters who come close to matching her on stats have a problematic talent list (particularly Hilda and Felix); no such issue hurts Leonie. While she might like a few more boons, there are no banes to hold her back, and her boons in riding, lances, and bows make it easy for her to pursue classes such as Bow Knight and Falcon Knight, and at least don't hold her back from going Wyvern if that's more your bag. It's also easy to get her Move+1, especially if you go Bow Knight.

Finally, she has one quite notable unique combat art, Point-Blank Volley, at A in bows. While this is less important for her than the other unit with it because she's so fast she'll often double without it, it's still a nice option against very fast enemies, and ensures there's no reason to leave her a low-mobility Sniper, getting a similar two-hit combat art but with 3 more points of move and canto (not to mention 3-5 more speed) at Master tier. You can go Bow Knight to max its power, or just have her be a flier who can nuke enemy fliers, according to taste.

The less good: There's not much bad you can say about her. She'd have liked an extra boon or two (any of axes or authority or flying would have been particularly nice), she'd have liked good strength instead of "good enough". Her res of 2+15% is pretty bad (only beating the likes of Dedue and Raphael), and her HP of 26+40% is only average, so her magic durability is a bit shaky (aside from the fact that mages have trouble doubling her compared to slower fighters). But it's worth noting that every complaint I have about Leonie boils down to "this is a way she's only average instead of great".

She's clearly shy of lord level, but one of the best otherwise. I think she has a definite edge on Felix and Hilda, as well as the Swift Strikes crew, and is comparable to Petra, who has a better talent list (matters for Alert Stance+ in particular) but worse def/charm and no Point-Blank Volley.

Leonie's rating: 8/10
Use her?: Yes (VW); Maybe (CF,AM,SS)

[Dark Holy Elf]

Seteth

Seteth's the first unit who showcases the problems of joining late.

The good: On paper, Seteth seems like he'll be great. Boons in axe, flying, authority, and lance? That's the best talent list in the game, except maybe Claude. And he gets Swift Strikes on top of that! His stats are fine too: strength and defence are both quite high, charm is above average. His stat build is pretty similar to Hilda's, trading away some speed for slightly better stats elsewhere thanks to autolevelling as a wyvern, and that's a good place to be.

The less good: Seteth joins in chapter 12 and he has not done a good job of training his skills. He can't get Swift Strikes until Chapter 14 at the earliest, compared to other units who've had their A-rank skills since around Chapter 9 or so. Despite his authority boon, it's not hard to have anyone authority neutral at B by his join time, and those with authority boons can reasonably expect to be at A. Want to go paladin to max out his Swift Strikes damage? Guess you're training Riding from an E, then. And did I say he has a flying boon? Yeah that's a lie, C in Chapter 12 means he's never getting Alert Stance+. His defence isn't actually good in practice because any other axe user could dip into Fortress Knight and almost match his join stat with that class's base. (And most of them have better than 5+50% speed.) I could go on.

The biggest chilling effect, though, is that he'll miss out on key skills. Repositioning combat arts are extremely useful; everyone else one for free, Seteth needs a 30-action detour in a 4-move class (ugh). Death Blow? Try 50 actions in a 5-move class. (Knowledge Gem halves these, to be fair.) Stacking Death Blow with Hit+20% or Darting Blow (not that he can get the latter anyway)? lol.

You see this effect most strongly in SS Reunion at Dawn. Frankly, if Seteth isn't your worst PC there out of the westside joiners, you've probably screwed up the build of one of the other four. When I played SS I had a Hexblade Dorothea who could one-shot every enemy on the map and a dodgetank Dancer Caspar who could bait and survive anything, Petra and Byleth were good too. Seteth... was not.

The good, again: Now, the nice thing is, if you are willing to stick with him and pick up the skills he missed, get Swift Strikes, get A authority, then suddenly you have a good PC probably around chapter 16 or 17 or so, who will put in solid work the rest of the way. Seteth's strength is quite good, the best of the three Swift Strikes users once he gets Death Blow, so he will sometimes snag kills they miss, even if they might beat him for speed and utility (and in Ferdinand's case, dodging). Or, if you're feeling lazy, and just want to fill out your roster in maps where deployment balloons to 12, and he'll do fine (especially if you make him an adjutant before this so he can get the skills he missed).

That turned into a bit of an illustration of the problem of joining late, so I don't have to repeat myself over and over for the other characters this applies to. However, Seteth is still decent despite this, the second best unit who joins after Chapter 6 (Jeritza beats him). He's clearly worse than Sylvain or Ferdinand, but still respectable.

Seteth's rating: 5.5/10
Use him?: Maybe


Cyril

Since the introduction of the skill in Awakening, every "Aptitude" character has been less extreme than the last. Donnel had an absolutely wretched start but eventually reached ludicrous stats. Mozu had a better start but her growths were merely very good. And then Cyril... barely fits the archetype at all. His stats still follow it a bit.

The good: Cyril's stat growths, after factoring Aptitude, are very solid, being similar to Petra (same str/spd/def/cha, slightly ahead in other less important stats). Cyril has a very strong talent list, which includes axes, bows, flying, riding and lances. This is basically Petra's talent list, trading swords for lances amd riding, and that's certainly a good place to be. He's well set up to excel in the best physical classes in the game. Being comparable to Petra is obviously a good thing.

He also gets some cool unique combat arts. The best of these is Point-Blank Volley, a brave combat art also rocked by Leonie. The best thing about Cyril's PBV is he gets it at C+, so he can actually reasonably have it in Chapter 6. While his stats prevent him from excelling right out of the gate, that's still a big edge, and means he can start being a decent contributor relatively quickly, especially for a growth-based character. He also has access to Vengeance. See Dedue/Bernadetta for that; since it comes later for him (he doesn't auto-train lances), he misses out on the window where it's extremely good, but it's still worth noting.

The less good: Cyril's bases are, politely, trash. 7 str/6 spd is the worst base offence of any physical unit (next worst is Caspar's 9/6), 24 HP and 5 def is the same as Linhardt, 2 res and 4 charm both suck. This means that even with his good growths, his stats never get THAT great. His str, in particular, is comparable to Ingrid's 8+35% in practice, and his speed is only slightly above average... until we consider he can't get Darting Blow. So while he gets PBV earlier than Leonie, once she earns it too (around 3 chapters later), it's hard to find something he actually does better than her, for instance.

Joining in Chapter 5 is, of course, also a negative. Axes and bows are both good auto-trains, but he'll start a bit behind on other ranks such as flying or armour (to patch up his bad AS/def) or authority.

Overall, Cyril is a mediocre choice, but not a terrible one. There's only so bad you can be when you can strap yourself onto a wyvern and have a brave combat art. But he's rather clearly the worst of the five units who can do that.

Cyril's rating: 4/10
Use him?: Maybe (VW); Probably not (AM); Hell no (SS)


Catherine

Catherine is the closest thing this game has to a jeigan. Which, since this is 2020 and we aren't bad at Fire Emblem, means she's one of the best characters in the game.

The good: It's possible to get Catherine to join as early as Chapter 4, but this takes a lot of investment on Maddening (probably enough to be considered favouritism). I'm going to assume you get her in Chapter 5, though, which is easy: Level 9 and C+ support is quite doable (one meal per week should do it). And if you do, she has some really good stats for her level. 17 str, 14 spd, 12 def at Level 9 for bases (before class mods). At Level 9, that's equal to Edelgard for strength, Leonie for speed, and Dedue for defence! On top of that, she'll join with Swordmaster unlocked, and while this is not a good class at Level 20, it sure as heck is at Level 9, giving her good stat modifiers, 5 move and Swordfaire for what is surely the highest damage on your team.

Catherine has good offensive growths, too (50% str and 55% spd is Felix-like, but with better bases than Felix meaning she'll always be ahead of him in both). This allows her to excel at any physical build, and since she has no physical banes, you very much have your pick. Going for flight is my favourite (her post-Darting Blow speed is ridiculous), especially since that's the only time her personal may be relevant. During the early stretch of the game where flying battalions are limited she essentially has a free one that grants +5 def/res (but no gambit or authority growth, so this ain't optimal). But if playing with the DLC you should consider War Cleric as well, since she gets Nimble Combo against things she can't double (which has a 91% chance to proc her crest for +5 damage or more) and lets her stack Brawl Avoid on top of her crazy speed. You could also keep her with swords... having 1320 sword exp in chapter 5 is so high that getting Swordfaire2 is actually vaguely reasonable for her, which gives her some mean Atk indeed.

The less good: While joining in chapter 5 (or even potentially 4) is certainly better than joining later, it's still worse than joining in chapter 1, and Catherine suffers a bit from needing to correct her skill growth. No build wants both swords and brawling, so whichever one you end up ignoring is more or less 3 chapters of training exp down the drain. She doesn't have any boons outside those two, so without DLC all the best builds for her involve training entirely neutral skills, which isn't great. Fortunately since she joins before the marathon Miklan map but right after unlocking the class exp+1 saint statue, it's pretty easy to throw her into a beginner class so she can still get a stat+2 and a repositioning art, unlike everyone who joins after her.

Her 4+25% charm is rough, as well, the one real blight on an otherwise ridiculous stat build. She's a good choice for utility gambits, and shaky choice for a dodgetank despite her speed and sword prowess.

Other: You may notice I haven't mentioned her relic, Thunderbrand. That's because its relic combat art is trashy due to not hitting twice the way the weapon itself does at base, and any character can make use of it for standard attacks. Catherine starting with high Sword Prowess does make her a little better with it, I suppose.

She's also way worse on Silver Snow due to joining in Chapter 12. Probably a bit worse than Seteth (still has better overall stats, but is in an even worse place for skills).

Overall, Catherine is likely your best PC on join (easily so if you leave her in swordmaster), and while she undoubtedly falls off, she's still highly competitive with strong combat units like Felix and Leonie right up to the very end of the game, beating them very clearly in strength, speed, or both. As such it's hard to say she's not at least as good as the best students. Maybe it's easiest to compare her to FByleth: Catherine has a stronger start and is only mildly worse by the end (mostly the charm... she still wins str/spd). A good place to be.

Catherine's rating: 8.5/10
Use her?: Yes (AM,VW); Maybe (SS)

[Dark Holy Elf]

Shamir

Shamir's a lot like Catherine, joining with an Advanced class's bases at a low level. She's not as good for a few reasons, but still solid.

The good: Like Catherine, Shamir's bases are very good for her level because of her class minimums. In her case, the earliest you can get her is Chapter 6 (it's easy to do so, C support and Level 12 will do). Thus she'll join at Level 11 with bases of 17 str, 14 spd, and 12 def (hey, that's a familiar set of numbers). This matches Dedue for strength, Ashe for speed, and Raphael for def... not quite as impressive as Catherine, but still good. And of course, she joins with the option of sticking in Sniper for Bowfaire, which ramps her raw Atk up to "only trails Catherine", at least temporarily.

Unlike Catherine, she also starts in a good class! And it's a nice one to get a head start in: 75 actions in Sniper are needed for Hunter's Volley, and Shamir can get started on those right away. You can throw her back into earlier classes too if you want (e.g. for Death Blow or positioning arts, though she'll need to build axe rank first for the former), but even then that may not completely nullify her head start on Sniper mastery; she'll probably finish mastering one other class before other PCs can hit Level 20 and qualify for Sniper. Finally, starting with A in bows is very good for that point in the game, which means she'll get Bow Crit +10 well before other units, and potentially even Bowfaire2 on the longer routes, something that no other unit is likely to get. Her personal skill also has great synergy with your Dancer, meaning that if you dance for her, her offence will be extra scary on her second action. (It also helps her enemy phase, but Shamir is a difficult unit to build for enemy phase.)

If you want to build a unit who gets reliable critical hits, Shamir is probably the best in the game. Earlier Weapon Crit+10 coupled with game-best dex+luck and the +10 from Hunter's Volley can give her the best chance possible of getting at least one crit out of two, which ups her killing power. (And I'm definitely fonder of critical-based builds with long range, as they have more flexibility and there's less punishment if you fail to kill.)

The less good: Unfortunately, unlike Catherine, Shamir's growths leave a lot to be desired. The combination of 40% str and 40% spd is matched only by Lorenz for mediocrity. 20% def and 15% res ensure she'll end up rather squishy. And 6+30% charm is a bit underwhelming, too. So even though Shamir starts ahead of Felix for strength, don't expect that to last; he'll be 3 points ahead by the end of the game given equal classes. And her speed growth only barely keeps her ahead of wyvern bases long-term. She often doesn't have the raw stats to perform in Bow Knight, so ends up outclassed by archers who can cut it there, like Felix and Leonie, and instead is reliant on tossing out lower-move Hunter's Volleys and needing to rely on crits (which, to be fair, she's good at, as mentioned).

Joining in Chapter 6 (as opposed to even 5) is also quite annoying because chapter 5 has a lot of combat (a merchant quest followed by the longest map in the game). While Catherine or Cyril can pick up a beginner mastery with only a slight delay, Shamir really can't, and if you want her to master both a beginner and intermediate class, she'll likely lose her advantage of having a head start on Sniper. And of course, she'll be behind on ranks that aren't bow (although at least lance helps her get to Bow Knight if you decide to go for it).

Other: Shamir is a rare character, other than Byleth and (almost) FByleth!Sylvain who is equally available on all routes, which is neat. Since I'm only rating characters on their highest-availability route, that won't affect her score, but is still worth noting. She does vary a bit by route; she supports the most characters on VW (cementing that route's status as the bow route) and the fewest on AM.

Overall, it's easy to compare her to the 35/50 class of archers and see that she comes out ahead: her stats certainly look clearly better than them. But she doesn't really have the ability to dominate throughout the game the way Catherine does; the former is just too much better offensively between her advantages in both bases and growths. Still a solid unit out of the gate who is a low-effort at worst, and has some definite potential at filling the Hunter's Volley niche better than most of her competition.

Shamir's rating: 6/10
Use her?: Maybe-yes (CF,VW,SS); Maybe-no (AM)


Flayn

Flayn's a character who is extremely reliant on having two rare faith spells for her use. It's something, at least.

The good: Flayn has access to Fortify and Rescue, which are both neat spells to have. Fortify is extremely good action economy when multiple people need healing. Rescue is a nice tactical option to have too in a pinch, although a bit devalued in this game compared to e.g. Fates due to its reduced range and the fact that everyone has a access to a weaker 2-range version called Reposition.

She has good magic growth (55%, though having only 9 base holds this back) and charm (9+45%, ahead of any of the student mages).

The less good: Hoo boy, there's a lot. Flayn joins at Chapter 7 with an E in Reason, and needs three tutoring sessions to turn it into a boon. This puts her way behind other mages. She'll get important mage skills like Mag+2, Draw Back, and Fiendish Blow (especially this one, since she needs to get to D+ Reason first), later than her competition, leaving her woefully inept on offence compared to other mages. Her speed is also horrid (5+35%) so she's gonna have a hard time doubling even armour knights, and will get doubled herself. And her 55% magic growth is held back by her spell list (no spell above 11 power) and while she does get a magical combat art, she has to wait for A in lances, way later than the other mages. An E in Authority means she'll need training there too to use some of the better mage battalions.

That leaves her as a character only worth using for her Faith list, like Linhardt. But unlike Linhardt, she misses out on a crucial spell for a healer: Physic! Until she reaches A faith she's just a terrible healer. Once she gets Fortify and Bishop she'll mostly be able to spam it (4 uses, plus Cethlean Crest activations), but it still only has half the range of Physic.

Overall, Flayn just does not compare well to mages who have joined earlier. Being behind on a variety of skills and having little offensive upside means she's only really good for a filler role. You can throw her in in fights where deployment slots are high or you really want Rescue, but she's clearly worse than the student mages overall.

Flayn's rating: 3/10
Use her?: No

[Luther Lansfeld]

*CHARGES IN LIKE A WRECKING BALL*

i decided to do an Objective Analysis of how other mages compared to Hubert Von Vestra because someone challenged my claim that he was mediocre. As a person who has used Hubert many times, I feel qualified to comment on his utter mediocrity as a PC.

I judge mages by a few criteria:

-Crest (does not take 10 from Thyrsus)
-access to 3 range
-access to Meteor / Bolting* see note
-access to female-only classes Valk/DF
-Faith list (access to Physic, Warp, Rescue, Fortify, Seraphim, and Restore, in that order)
-magic / speed / charm
-authority boon/bane
-Banshee (move down)
-magical combat arts

Speed thresholds that matter:

Can double armor knights
Can not be doubled by certain midtier enemies
(none of the mages are super fast)

Magic thresholds that matter:
Can one round armor knights
2 hit kill enemies

Charm: just generally higher is better for hitting Gambits

*note: Linked attacks: Access to Meteor and Bolting means that the character can activate linked attacks at long range, up to 10 squares. This grants supported allies +10 hit (20 for gambits) and +3 hit unsupported. You can equip Meteor/Bolting and get the effect without actually using the spells.

Dorothea supports the most characters and gets it at A rather than A+ so she is the person who utilizes the advantage the most. I think the fact that people don’t know about this might be why Dorothea is an underrated PC.

Anyway…

Hubert vs. other mages

Hubert vs. Lysithea
Hubert’s wins: 3 range spells, Banshee, Charm
Lysithea’s wins: Luna, Seraphim, Warp, Crest, access to female only classes

Amy’s verdict: Lysithea

Hubert vs. Mercedes
Hubert’s wins: 3 range spells, Banshee, magical combat art, Authority boon
Mercedes’s wins: Physic, Fortify, Restore, Crest, access to female only classes

Amy’s verdict: Mercedes

Hubert vs. Dorothea
Hubert’s wins: Banshee, Authority boon
Dorothea’s wins: Physic, Meteor/Linked Attacks, access to female only classes

Amy’s verdict: Dorothea

Hubert vs. Linhardt
Hubert’s wins: 3 range, Banshee, Authority boon, magical combat arts, faster, charm
Linhardt’s wins: Physic, Warp, Restore, Crest

Amy’s verdict: close call but probably Linhardt

Hubert vs. Marianne
Hubert’s wins: Banshee, Authority boon, Reason boon
Marianne’s wins: Physic, Silence, Crest, access to female only classes

Amy’s verdict: Marianne

Hubert vs. Annette
Hubert’s wins: 3 range spells, Banshee, faster
Annette’s wins: Crest, access to female only classes

Amy’s verdict: Hubert before DLC, close afterward

Hubert vs. Hanneman
Hubert’s wins: Banshee, magical combat art, Authority boon, way faster, join time
Hanneman’s wins: Crest, Meteor

Amy’s verdict: Hubert

Hubert vs. Constance
Hubert’s wins: 3 range spells, Banshee, faster (I think??)
Constance’s wins: Rescue, Bolting, Crest, access to female only classes

Amy’s verdict: Constance

Hubert vs. Hapi
Hubert’s wins: faster acquisition of 3 range spells, magical combat arts, faster, Authority boon, Charm
Hapi’s wins: Physic, Crest, access to female only classes

Amy’s verdict: very close

Hubert vs. Manuela
Hubert’s wins: 3 range spells, join time, higher magic, Authority boon, Reason boon and not bane
Manuela’s wins: Warp, Silence, personal ability, access to female only classes, has Bolting (but hard to get)

Amy’s verdict: Hubert

Hubert vs. Sylvain
Hubert’s wins: 3 range spells, Banshee, magical combat arts, Authority boon, higher magic
Sylvain’s wins: Physic, Crest, Black Magic Evade

Amy’s verdict: Hubert

Hubert vs. Lorenz
Hubert’s wins: 3 range spells, Banshee, Authority boon, higher magic, Charm
Lorenz’s wins: Crest

Amy’s verdict: Hubert

Now, wasn't that fun~?