# 3 - Linde (Mystery of the Emblem)

                    So here's our other dark horse candidate: Linde. Like most Archanean units, Linde shows up in the 4 different Fire Emblem games starring the Archanean cast. Linde's Fire Emblem 3 version is her best one so naturally it's the one I'm going to go with. Linde in Fire Emblem 3 is a powerhouse mage with many positives. For starters, she has exclusive access to Aura, which has the highest might out of any tome in her game (it has a might of 20 and she gets to use it right from the very start). Linde also gets to use Nosferatu which is a big plus for her considering the fact that the only other units who can use it in that game are promoted healer chicks. (For some strange reason only women can wield Nosferatu in FE 3 / 12. Interesting social commentary Intelligent Systems. The only way for a fragile woman to survive is by sucking the life out of an angry hoard of men who want to kill her. That's an empowered woman for you. Today's feminists would be proud of Linde :P ) For all intents and purposes, Nosferatu is practically her prf rank weapon which solves her durability issues.

                   Linde's skill, speed, luck and weapon level growths are also very high. She has a 70 % skill growth, a 60 % speed growth, an 80 % luck growth and a 70 % weapon level growth so she'll be fast, accurate and she's be able to use high level tomes and staves in no time (not that it really matters though because her prf rank tome is the best in the game lol). Her 70 % weapon level growth will allow her quick access to some of the most broken staves in the game: The Again staff, the Warp staff and the Rescue staff.

                       So in addition to having some really nice perks Linde's combat ability in Fire Emblem 3 is outrageous. Sagit Heim once again provided me with a wonderful analysis of Linde's abilities. All credit and kudos go to him for all the wonderful number crunching.

Linde 22 atk, 2 AS (Aura)

Palla 24 atk, 9 AS (Silver Lance)

Catria 21 atk, 7 AS (Silver Lance)

 Arran 22 ATK, 4 AS (Silver Lance)

So, Linde joins at chapter 3 with one nof the best offensive of your army. 22 atk is superior to Palla, Catria and Sirius since Linde strikes at the Resistance stat, the only problem with it is the poor 2 AS that stops her for doubling enemies.

 Even so, she OHKOs Machis's cavaliers with Aura, something that even Palla can't do. Like the Pegasi sisters, she 2RKOs the Dragon Knights, AKA the strongest enemies of the earlygame alongside with Astoria. However, unlike Palla, Linde has range 1-2, so she can attack at range and avoid a counterattack.

Linde starts ORKOing DracoKnights at level 6 while Palla needs to be at level 17 (she needs to level up 7 times). With this said, Linde is the best unit to take DracoKnights out.

Being an effective unit against Draco Knights is good, very good, but Linde has more potential as a unit. She also comes with Nosferatu, a magic that only women can use. Linde is going to be the only one who can use that tome until Malicia and Yumina promote, which is a looooong way. With Nosferatu Linde reaches 14 atk and 0 (!) AS. The AS could be an issue, but then you realize that there are NO ENEMIES with 3 AS, so Linde at BASE level is safe until Chapter 9, lol.


Linde is your MVP in indoor maps and your best bosskiller of the game. Let's use Lang, one of the toughest bosses in the earlygame as an example:

 Lang
 45 HP 19 DEF

Marth lvl 10 (Rapier)
 dmg 10 x 2, 3RKOs Lang

Palla lvl 17 (Armor Killer)
dmg 14 x 2, 2RKOs Lang

Linde lvl 9 (Aura) dmg 23 x 2, ORKOs Lang

As you can see, Linde is the best unit to take the almighty Lang out. Awesome. You could argue that Linde's utility comes basically of her personal weapon, Aura (and maybe Nosferatu). In the other side, the Hammerne staff is obtained at chapter 5 and it can only repair WEAPONS (forget about the warp staff back up), so the 5 uses of this staff can be invested in more Excalibur, Lady sword, Aura and Nosferatu.

During the earlygame, Linde is one of your best and most independent unit thanks to Nosferatu. Moreover, things get even better in the midgame.

Linde lvl 12 (from now on, I'm assuming the Leo Star shard on her)
23 atk 7 AS (Aura)
8 atk 13 AS (Shaver)
 9 atk 12 AS (Thunder)

Chapter 9
ORKOs DracoKnights and mages. ORKOs everything with Aura. ORKOs Thieves and Mages with Thunder. Linde's show. She is a killing machine that destroys everything in her way. And now she has 3 AS with Nosferatu so she can literally solo the map with no fear (fastest enemies in the chapter are 5 AS thiefs).

 I must explain one thing. From chapter 11 onwards, you're in Anri's Path. In this part of the game, Dragons are the most abundant enemies, and they're ferocious foes to face. Dragons are tanks with 40 HP and 10 of defense. Using common weaponry against them is futile. You need to use the Dragon Killer to ORKO them... or use Magic.

Palla lvl 1 Draco Knight (Dragon Killer)
Dmg 35 x 2, ORKOs Dragons

Sirius lvl 7 Paladin (Dragon Killer)
Dmg 32 x 2, ORKOs Dragons

Linde lvl 1 Bishop
Fire, Dmg 20 x 2, ORKOs Ice Dragons
Blizzard, Dmg 23 x 2, ORKOs Fire Dragons
Shaver, Dmg 20 x 2, ORKOs Flying Dragons

The three of them ORKO dragons without problem. What makes Linde special then? Well, Sirius and Palla need to dismount in order to use the Dragon Killer, and with this they lose a few points in stats and the high movement. They also need to compete for the weapons: Dragon Killers are rare and expensive while you don't have enough money to buy a ton of them. Linde, unlike Sirius and Palla just needs common weaponry to ORKO dragons without having to lose movement and stats. Linde has just become your best unit in the Anri's path.


What about the endgame? Like Thracia 776, FE3 endgame chapters are completed in 1 or 2 turns thanks to insane Warp-Again-Rescue combos. You can literally beat the rest of the game in 10 minutes.

This affects the majority of your units. Since Marth is already trained, he is going to be your boss killer, basically because the Warp staff CAN´T be repaired with Hammerne, and you need to save most of its uses. Because of this, Palla and Sirius are no longer as useful and Marth becomes your new hero... or does he?

Linde as a Bishop can use staves like Wendel in FE1, but unlike the other staffbots her Wpn Growth is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G.

 Linde lvl 12/ 7 has 20 Wpn lvl. Malliesia and Yumina need to be at level 12/10 in order to achieve 20 Wpn lvl as well, and Wendell... He never reaches 20 Wpn lvl, xDD

Why is 20 Wpn lvl that special? Well, it means you can use the Again staff and ALL magic/staves in the game, Linde is the only staffbot who reaches that benchmark with the least possible investment. With this said, the endgame chapters are easily beaten thanks to Linde with the support of Marth, Yumina and Malliesia. Too good. 



     

                So what how does one sum up Linde in Fire Emblem 3? Well, Sagit Heim's last quote says it all:


        "So, Linde has just become some kind of Monstrous-Saphy/FE1!Wendell-game-breaker that allows you to beat the rest of the game in just 10 minutes. Linde is the reason why the game is trivialized and clearly one of the best mages in the franchise. 

                Linde is basically what happens when you take Wendell from Fire Emblem 1 and give him a 20 might tome plus Nosferatu and put him in a game with the ridiculously broken Again staff and you get a monster combat unit that also has some wicked staff utility.