Holy War Remake Ideas

Thanks to Shadows of Valentia it's possible that Int Sys will eventually do a Holy War remake. The idea makes me nervous that they'll screw it up, but it is a possibility. I've had a few ideas that would be fun to see in a remake, but will most likely never happen. Still, a man can dream right? I'd like to spitball some ideas that I think would be fun to see in a Holy War remake:

1. Having Children's Promotion Options Be Determined By Their "Variable" Parent: This would provide an extra set of pros and cons when deciding which male and female characters should be lovers. Here are some examples of how this would work:

• Tiltyu's Kids:  Azel x Tiltyu would give the kids the option to promote to Mage Knight. Lewyn x Tiltyu would give the kids access to the Sage class after promotion but Arthur still gets Forseti. 

                          In order for this to work you'd have to shrink the map sizes down because otherwise the pairing that gives the kids access to a horse wins, but if they were shrunk then at least this would be a more interesting set of pros and cons where Azel could be a more viable option. It also would potentially make Lewyn!Arthur and Lewyn!Ced more interesting.

• Ayra's Kids: Ayra x Lex would give the kids access to the Hero class, Ayra x Holyn would make the kids actual swordmasters, Ayra x Dew would make them thieves after promotion. 

In some cases this may have to be limited to only the child who gets their weapons from their parent (in most instances the male child) but this would help to make pairing that much more interesting. 

# 2: Skills Being Linked to Holy Blood: The idea here is that Holy Bloods give characters certain skills. Minor Holy Bloods get that skill after promotion, Major Holy Bloods give that skill before. I made a list of which Holy Blood gets which skill:

• Baldo: Luna. 
• Odo: Astra.
• Hezul: Crt + 30? (Since the the Holy Weapon is a sword that lets its user land critical hits I think it's only fair to give the Hezul bloodline some kind of crit boosting skill)

• Neir: Pavise (Aka the Skill that randomly negates damage from attacks. This is the class of tanky axe users after all)

• Noba: Charisma / Charm. (Fits the Leonster characters so why not?)

• Dain: Fortification? (It would be a skill that negates effective damage) 

• Fala: Nihil
• Tordo: Wrath
• Forsety: Adept 

• Blaggi: Miracle
• Ulir: Celerity? Blank Shot?: (This one is admittedly the toughest one but either giving them more movement or the ability to defend themselves at 1 range seems appropriate for a bow wielding class) 

• Naga: Renewal 
• Loptyr: Shroud? (Halves damage before applying defense calculations)

Implications: Yes I know that this also has a major impact on pairing kids up and on the viability of certain units. For example...

Ayra x Holyn is the only pair where the kids get Astra before promotion. If you keep the promotion levels the same as the original then that means that the kids get a whopping 20 extra levels of Astra at their disposal. Ayra x Lex means that they would get both Astra and Pavise after promotion. 

Leif gets Charisma and Luna after promotion. Altenna gets Charisma before promotion, and Luna afterwards. 

Claude x Fury means that Ced and Fee will get Miracle. 

Oifey now gets Luna, Ethlin gets Luna after promotion. Ayra gets Astra after promotion, Lex gets Pavise after promotion (so now he's even tankier than before. In case this balances things too much in favor of the characters with Holy Blood you could give non-Holy Blood characters different skills to offset this. 

# 3: Prf Rank Weapons

If a weapon is given to a character during a conversation then that character should have to keep said weapon or item. The major reason for this is that it can help distinguish units from each other more and it provides a way to mesh gameplay and story. The following weapons should be Prf Rank:

• The Light Brand Deirdre gives to Ethlin: In Thracia 776 Leif's Light Brand was supposed to be passed down to him from Ethlin so why not have the remake stay true to this? It seems wrong to give it to Sigurd / Seliph.

• The Brave Lance Quan gives to Finn: Same reason as the Light Brand. Finn's Brave Lance is Prf rank in Thracia 776 and the conversation behind that is supposed to be a moment of character growth and development for Finn.

• The Earth Sword Eldigan gives to Lachesis: Same reason as the previous two.

• The Silver Sword Alvis gives to Sigurd: It's already known as Sigurd's Silver Sword anyway. Plus it adds an extra bit of irony when Seliph is using that sword to topple Alvis's Empire.

• The Brave Sword Ayra gets from either Lex or Holyn: Seems messed up story-wise for Ayra to sell off a sword that her supposed lover gives to her. 

• The Brave Bow Aideen gives to either Jamke or Midir

• Jamke's Killer Bow: (While it doesn't solve his movement issue it would ideally give him a huge combat boost over Midir)

• Lex's Brave Axe: (Practically speaking it's already his anyway so why not make it official?)

In addition I think there should be two prf rank items for the following characters:

• The Beo Sword: In Thracia 776 Delmud joins your army with the Beo Sword. It's a sword that only he and Fergus can use. I find it strange that Thracia claims that Beowulf had a prf rank sword that somehow never existed in Holy War. This would provide some neat little continuity plus Beowulf having a powerful Prf rank sword would also provide an incentive for why the player should pair Beowulf up with a woman.

• Arden's Super Duper Amazing Ring: If a Holy War remake gets rid of the Pursuit and Critical skills, and gives everyone those two things, then it would be neat for Arden to still have a special event where he gets a ring. But this time he gets to keep it for himself. It can be a super amazing, extra special ring like the Angel Ring in the OG Gaiden that gave + 2 level ups. If it's a Prf rank ring that cannot be traded, bought or sold then the player might have an actual reason to pair Arden with a female character. Plus Arden needs the most love out of any of the characters in Holy War.

In addition to everything mentioned above there is something else I'd like to see: If Ayra and Holyn are lovers then it would be cool if Holyn!Larcei or Holyn!Ulster get a shot at wielding the Balmung. There could even be a special scene / conversation where they challenge their cousin to a duel (where Shannan cannot use the Balmung). If either of the sword twins win then they are deemed worthy of wielding the Balmung. 

# 4 - Some Extra Tweaks

• Delmud should be able to wield lances as well as swords. This would have some amazing pairing implications. For one thing, Finn x Lachesis would be far more viable since Finn can actually pass his Brave Lance down to Delmud. It would also mean that Alec and Noish would actually be more viable partners for Lachesis. 

The idea here would be that:

•  Beowulf could pass down his Prf ranked Sword, but not lances.

• Finn could pass down his Brave Lance, but not swords.

• Alec and Noish can't provide any powerful weapons, but at least they can provide both swords AND lances to Delmud. 

Tiltyu should already be promoted: Claude and Briggid join at the same time that she does and they're both promoted so why not her?

Arthur should join later, Ced should join earlier: If they have similar availability then it becomes a more interesting choice for who you should pass Forseti down to.

Thieves should be able to have more control over how much money they give: As of right now a thief can only give all of their money or none of their money to someone else. Here, being able to pick and choose how much money they give would most likely amplify their unique utility. 

Last, But Not Least: Thracia 776 Cameos 

    There are multiple characters in Thracia 776 whose existence in the narrative of Holy War would enrich the story. Here's a list of characters that could do that:

• Saias: He's Alvis's bastard child. It would interesting to see a conversation between Alvis and Saias. Manfroy deemed Saias a threat due to his Fala blood so why not make that a subplot in Holy War? Plus having a Valflame user on the player's side would be cool to have for once.

• Sara: She's Manfroy's granddaughter. Her existence alone could add some insight into Manfroy's character and the Loptyr Cult. 

• Eyvale: She's Briggid but having her go by the name Eyvale could have interesting ramifications for the narrative. It makes Briggid a more memorable and interesting character, because she actually survived the events of Chapter 5. Having her regain her memories by the time of Chapter 10 would be interesting too. Having Briggid survive like this and regain her memory would also provide character development for her. 

• Reinhardt: Thanks to Heroes he's already popular and well known so this could be a nice inclusion for those people who know him from there. Reinhardt could either be a Gotoh type character or he could be a powerful endgame boss for the player to defeat. His existence alone gives more of a dynamic between Julius and Ishtar. 

• Fergus & Asvel: Fergus is supposed to be Beowulf's kid and Asvel already has a personal connection with Ced. 

• Misha: She's the daughter of a minor antagonist in Holy War. This could make a forgettable minor villain into a more memorable one. Maybe her existence could shed some light on what happened to Silesse between Generations 1 & 2. 

• Galzus and Mareeta: Galzus is the prince of Rivough, the castle that kick started the war between Grannvale and Issach in Holy War. If these two ever meet Shannan and the sword twins that would make for a really interesting dynamic. Heck, you could even have Galzus die and reappear as a Dreadlord. That would give a face to the Dreadlords that you have to fight later on in the game. 

Top 15 Underrated Units Part 3

# 5 - Gordin (FE 3 Book 2)

So here's a character that doesn't get talked about very much, but should. Gordin in Fire Emblem 3 Book 2 is a surprisingly good unit. Gordin starts the game off with the ability to use every bow except for the Parthia (which is this game's Regalia Bow). And he joins you in the first level of the game. Gordin makes for a good candidate for the Arms Scroll because then he'll get to use the Parthia Bow, which doubles experience gains. Once he does that, his levels will skyrocket which in turn leads to him snowballing into a great unit. There are also plenty of enemy Wyvern Knights for Gordin to shoot down in FE 3 Book 2 which enhances his overall usefulness. It also helps that he has good base stats too. 

# 4 - Tobin (Shadows of Valentia)



About a year ago I made the "Rate the Unit" polls for Echoes in both Main and Nino's Magical Circlejerk (back when it was called that). I still remember how disappointed I felt as I saw people consistently call him "mediocre" and give him a low rating. Nino's Magical Circlejerk gave him a 7 /10 as his highest rating: 



And here was what main gave him as his most popular rating:

So the best rating that he got was a 7 / 10. Just like Lethe, it is obvious that Tobin is underrated. The biggest reason for this is that Tobin is often judged based off his performance as an archer. It's sad that this is the case because archer isn't his best class. Heck, it's not even his second best class. There are two other classes that Tobin shines in. 

First, there's his performance as a mage. Mage!Tobin is actually very good. With a small speed boost from the Lion Head Tobin can start double attacking enemies right away with a simple Fire tome. At Level 6 he'll learn Excalibur, which is a spell that gives + 20 Crit, which is a great way to take advantage of his high skill. As a Level 5 Sage Tobin will learn Physic, which is super helpful. So even if Mage!Tobin can't keep up he's still benefiting the team. Mage!Tobin is at least an 8 / 10.



Counter Argument: "But I've used Tobin as a mage before and I'm not convinced he's all that special."

Well then you're in for a real treat, because Tobin shines very brightly as a Mercenary.  When I went back to dig up the popular consensus for these characters I found a statement that Ronaldo made when we were doing the "Rate the Unit" polls for Tobin. 




Here's where things start to get trippy: I just beat Echoes again and I made Tobin a Mercenary. I completely forgot that Ronaldo even said this and I ended up doing this exact strategy on my own. The only thing I did differently was forge Tobin a Zweihander and then switch off between a Zweihander and a Brave Sword during the Endgame. 

So basically I can confirm that what Ronaldo says is true. Tobin's earlygame offense with the Lightning Sword is nothing short of incredible as he'll be killing virtually everything in one round of combat. Once the Lightning Sword falls off you can replace it with a Zweihander and he won't have to land crits (although that is a bonus since the sword gives him + 10 Crit) and if you need to, you can switch the Zweihander for a Brave Sword for maximum critical hit carnage. After seeing what I've seen Merc!Tobin do I find Ronaldo's 9 / 10 rating to be accurate. As the saying goes: "Never count Tobin out".


# 3 - Marcia (Radiant Dawn)


PLOT TWIST! There are actually four characters that I put on this list of my own choosing. Originally it was just Chrom, Lethe and Tobin but then I started thinking about the list some more and I swapped Gaiden!Est (who would have made it on the previous post) in exchange for Marcia's Radiant Dawn counterpart? Why the swap? Both Pegasus Knights are underrated, but Radiant Dawn Marcia is more underrated in my opinion. 

We all know how powerful Marcia was in Path of Radiance and we the fanbase have rightfully concluded that Marcia's Radiant Dawn counterpart isn't as good. But here lies an interesting question: How nerfed did Marcia get between games? The answer: Not as much as you'd think.



It's true that Marcia suffers a similar setback to Lucia in that her availability isn't good. But Marcia does have her strengths too. Her offense in the early parts of Part 2 are actually pretty good. She's a good candidate for Adept, which will give her additional extra attacks. She benefits tremendously from transfers, which boost her strength, skill and speed. The faster Marcia can cap her skill and speed, the more worthwhile the Bonus Experience to her is. 

Marcia's flight utility is also super helpful in the chapters that she's in. In 2-3 (Geoffrey's Charge) she's your only flier. She's actually a good candidate for the Horseslayer since there are a lot of cavaliers in that chapter. Her flight utility is also of value during the Part 2 Endgame. Then in 3-9 Marcia's flight helps her deal with that map's elevation. Your cavaliers have to take extra turns going the long way around since they can't climb higher elevations and your infantry units lose movement whenever they climb. Neither of these are issues for Marcia. Once again you could make the argument that Geoffrey's Paragon should go to her.



There are also two routes in Part 4 where her flying can be of use: Micaiah's Route, which has the notorious desert map. And Elincia's Route, which has the Swamp map. The usual issues people bring up with Radiant Dawn Marcia are her strength and defense. Her strength is a problem that can be solved with forges and Adept. Her defense will never truly be great, but you can at least give her Nullify. 

Marcia admittedly requires effort and investment in Radiant Dawn. The question one should ask though, is if she's worth it. As you could already deduce by this list my answer would be "Yes".

# 2 - Dew (Genealogy of the Holy War)


Dew is a deceptively useful character. When one takes a look at his stats it's easy to dismiss him as kind of worthless. After all, his base Strength of 3 is awful, his durability sucks (28 HP, 1 Defense and 0 Resistance at base is yucky) and he doesn't even start with Pursuit! What gives? He's also a foot unit in a game whose maps are ridiculously large. So with all those negatives going against him how could he wind up with the # 2 spot for an Underrated Unit list? 

The answer is simple: Combat is not where Dew's value truly lies. Dew has a utility that nobody else has in the first generation: He can give anyone all the money he's got. And he can steal an enemy's money too. When Dew's utility is properly utilized he can help several units in your army promote faster. Remember back in Part 1 where Alec, Noish and Midir were brought up? This prepubescent sugar daddy can hook them up with all the gold they'll need. Lachesis and Azelle also appreciate all the extra gold he can bring. When you've got numerous characters whose promotions and access to quality items are dependent on him you start to see the value. 

  

Quite frankly it doesn't matter what Dew's combat is, because he has a niche that nobody else has in Gen 1. By funding your army Dew manages to contribute FAR FAR more than a significant percentage of most of the cast. 


The Most Underrated Unit: Wendell (Every Game He's In)



When it's comes to underappreciated in at least the main Fire Emblem group on Facebook (and Guyden as well) I can think of no other unit who deserves the # 1 spot more than Wendell. Why? Because he isn't just good in one game; He's good in pretty much every game he ever appears in. Quick question: Is there a Fire Emblem game where Wendell sucks? 

What are Wendell's defining characteristics across the Archanea games? Good - Great bases, a good staff rank (I remember Ronaldo telling me that he's a warpbot in FE 1 in addition to being a powerhouse) and good reclass options in both the DS remakes. As a fun side note here's something dondon151 said about Wendell about 3 years ago on Reddit:

"In my FE11 H5 0% LTCs I always reclass Wendell to dracoknight and forge a +5 MT Iron Lance that I label the Pope Stick.

This is because he's the only guy that can handle the Master Seal hero in chapter 10." 

Now to be fair I should point out that this entry is mostly specific to main and Guyden. Outside of those two groups...Wendell's actually pretty well recognized. It's eye-opening to see what everyone else has to say about him. For example, tvtropes.org has a lengthy section on how stupidly powerful he is in FE 1 under their Game Breaker section:

" Wendell is an example in and of himself. Recruited at chapter 5, Wendell comes with insane base stats, including a ridiculously high base speed of 14, and access to every single non-exclusive tome and staff in the game. Defensively, he starts with fairly high HP and Defense stats, which is enough for him to take on a lot of punishment during the enemy phase all the way into the late game. 

Offensively, due to the mechanics of FE1, Wendell is capable of at worst 2 rounding every single enemy in the game, including a notable performance of being able to go toe to toe with Gharnef at base stats. For a Mage to be as good as Wendell, they basically need to promote, something that is only achieved very late into the game due to the availability of the item, and the promotion mechanic of the game. 



While there are better sages later on in the game (such as Boah (who is essentially Wendell, but better) and Gotoh), the combination of his early join time, combat, and utility of Wendell ended up defining the ridiculous standard of prepromote in the entire series, which ended up with him getting nerfed in every single one of his future appearances, with lower base speed, higher enemy stats, changes in the weapon rank mechanic, and the revamp towards promotion mechanic all being done just to make him less of a dominant unit."

When TV Tropes is declaring that you defined the "ridiculous standard of prepromote in the entire series" I think that's worth not just taking notice of, but also worthy of our admiration. 

Moral of the story: Don't mess with the Pope!

Top 15 Underrated Units Part 2

# 10 - Isadora (Blazing Sword)


Isadora is what happens when a unit is thought to be mediocre (or just plain bad) because people get too caught up comparing that unit to the other units of their class and conclude that said unit is bad because they suffer by comparison. Since Isadora isn't as good as Marcus, Sain, Kent or Lowen she must be bad right? The answer is of course not.

Wait. This sounds familiar. Didn't we just go through this exact routine with Lowen in the previous post? Yes. Yes we did. But Lowen's starting to get more recognition while Isadora still hasn't had her strengths properly acknowledged. 


At least Mekkah acknowledges her usefulness. Toward the end of his video, "Fire Emblem Pitfalls - Part 3", Mekkah talks about weapon weight and speed. Then he says this:

 "this is why units like Isadora and Echidna deserve more credit than they often get. Sure, their constitution is low, but they're naturally fast. They need more attack power but if their speed advantage is large enough, they can afford to slow themselves down." 

Isadora being a Paladin automatically means that she has 8 movement, weapon triangle control and can rescue drop. All these things make her useable at worst. Yes her Strength is lower than what one would hope, but as Mekkah pointed out she can make herself slower in order to use heavier weapons so her problem does have a solution. Since she's a pre-promote she also doesn't have to worry about Knight Crest competition. The next time you play Blazing Sword try giving Isadora a fair chance. You might find that she's better than you expected.


# 9 - Bartre (Binding Blade)



               Just so we're clear, I'm talking about FE6!Bartre, not FE7!Bartre nor Heroes!Bartre. There is a pretty big difference between their performances in combat. So why is he on this list? It seems like Bartre gets ignored either because 

a) People see his FE 7 counterpart and assume that FE 6 Bartre must be the same.

b) He's an unmounted axe user in a game where axes are notorious for being bad. 

                  FE 6 Bartre might not look like much at a glance. He's got 11 Skill and 10 Speed at base. Neither of those stats are good, especially when you take into consideration the fact that he's a pre-promote. But Bartre manages to compensate for those with the following:

           A Brave Axe right out the gate. And his strength is so high that he can kill a lot of things with it in a single round of combat. He can achieve similar results with a Silver Axe, which he can use bytheway thanks to his A rank in Axes. 

He is the type of dad every girl would tell you not to worry about lol.

Bartre also has bows going for him. "Wait, aren't bows supposed to be a negative?" Not in Binding Blade. This game loves throwing tanky Wyvern Knights at you. Considering how strong they are, it's actually a boon in your favor to be carrying a powerful bow user at your side and Bartre fits that role. Bartre also has durability on his side with that base 48 HP and 10 Defense. Another point in his favor is that he doesn't have to worry about competing with Rutger or Deke for the Hero Crest.

While it's true that Bartre has his negatives, his positives make up for them. Heck, even Ronaldo considers this guy to be a B tier unit. 

# 8 - Lethe (Path of Radiance)


Back when I wrote about Chrom I mentioned how there were 3 characters that I chose to put on this list that didn't come from people's suggestions. Lethe is the second of those three characters. Lethe is a character that gets left out of most Path of Radiance unit discussions and during the few times where she is brought up, many people don't generally have very nice things to say about her. About a year ago I made the "Rate the Unit" polls for different characters of different games. In these polls characters were rated on a scale between 1 - 10. Here was what the Main Fire Emblem group rated Lethe:





Her most popular score was a 5 / 10 and her average was a 5.76 / 10. Both of these scores are far too low for her. So what are Lethe's strengths?

Well for starters Lethe's combat during the early and middle of the game is actually really good. Lethe joins your army with the ability to kill enemy mooks in a single round of combat on a consistent basis. Like other cat laguz Lethe gets higher movement when she transforms, which is always a good thing. Lethe transforms during the beginning of the map, which is the optimal time for a laguz to transform. She transforms exactly when you need her to and by the time she's about to transform out of her cat form she's already put in significant work. Lethe doesn't have to sit around and wait for her transformation to happen like Mordecai or Muarim. Lethe can learn Smite too, which is a big deal. 

Yes, Lethe comes with the stereotypical laguz weaknesses (and later falls off), but are they really enough to outweigh her strengths? The answer should be obvious: No. 

  

# 7 - Erk (Blazing Sword)

So here comes a mage that is commonly thought of as "average" when in reality he has more to offer. Before I go over why he's good I'll first start with reasons why people often overlook him. 

a) Pent exists. Because Pent is better than Erk there's no reason to use him. (Once again we're back to the whole "in-class comparison shenanigans")

b) If you don't play Lyn mode Erk is kind of lame. 

c) He's frail

Just because X is better than Y doesn't automatically mean that Y is bad or not worthy of being used. In this scenario "Y" is Erk. So what does Erk have going for him? I could tell you, but Blaine had this amazing wall of text that did all the work for me so I'm going to be lazy and quote him instead. Just so we're clear these are Blaine's words, not mine:
"Let's do this thang. Erk is lvl 4 after Lyndis Leg queen's mode, no stat boosterinos, LET'S SEE WHAT HE CAN DO, LET'S SEE IF HE TRULY DOES SUCK

18 hp, 6 magic, 7 skill, 8 speed, 3 luck, 2 defense, 5 res

14 atk with thunder, 7 AS

vs Knights, he ORKOs them, vs cavs, he 2RKOs them, vs pirates, 2RKOs them, he sucks against Erik

chapter 15, lvl 5. he now has 9 speed, 9 as with fire, 8 as with thunder

vs archers, he 2rkos them, gets 2rko'd back, vs knights and soldiers, he ORKOs both, he 2-3RKOs the Fighters

chapter 16, lvl 7, 20 hp, 7 magic (15 atk from thunder), 8 skill, 10 speed (9 AS with thunder, 10 AS with fire)

vs archers, he ORKOs them with being 2 hit killed back, he can 2RKO the 6 AS cavaliers with thunder, and with fire, he 2RKOs the mercenary, and the myrm

chapter 17, lvl 8, he now has an extra point of HP

vs the steel bow archers, he ORKOs them, and the short bow guy, he ORKOs the cavaliers after being lvl 9, ORKOs the Knights, 2RKOs the mercenaries and the nomads

chapter 17x is florina-skipped

chapter 18, lvl 10, 22 hp, 8 magic (16 atk with thunder), 9 skill, 11 speed (10 AS with thunder, 11 with Fire), 5 luck, 3 def, 7 res

He's going to 2RKO everything but the shamans, but dies in retaliation

up until chapter 21 (because most of the chapters yield the same result, he 2RKOs things or ORKOs things), he's going to be lvl 15, 26 HP, 11 magic (18 with thunder), 11 skill, 14 speed (needed to double the entire game), 7 luck, 5 defense, 9 res

vs archers, he ORKOs them, vs Brigands, he ORKOs them, vs Monks, 2RKOs them, vs Wyverns, he 2RKOs them with Fire, ORKOs them with Thunder if he is +1 speed on his average, 3RKOs Oleg

chapter 22, lvl 16, 26 HP, 11 magic (19 atk with thunder), 12 skill, 14 speed, 7 luck, 5 def, 10 res

vs Wyverns, he ORKOs them, vs Fighters, he ORKOs then, vs Nomads, he ORKOs them with Fire, he ORKOs the Knights and Cavaliers

chapter 23, lvl 18, 28 HP, 11 magic, 12 skill, 15 speed, 8 luck, 5 def, 10 res

vs Knights, ORKOs, vs Cavaliers, he ORKOs, he ORKOs the Nomads, 2RKOs the mages, and ORKOs the Wyverns

23x, 20/1 (assuming he netted those kills and jasmine), 32 HP, 13 magic, 13 skill, 16 speed, 8 luck, 8 defense, 14 res

Genesis is a tricky map to judge a mage's performance, but he manages to sneak in a level from healing

chapter 24, lvl 2, 33 HP, 14 magic, 14 skill, 17 speed, 9 luck, 9 def, 14 res

vs mercs, he 2RKOs them, ORKOs the pirates, the Wyverns, misses out on that Hero, but cheats death

chapter 25, lvl 3, 34 HP, 14 magic, 14 skill, 17 speed, 9 luck, 9 def, 15 res

ORKOs everything but the Monks, Pascal, and the Warrior

His offenses keep on climbing up, so you guys probably get the memo, even on average, the guy still performs well, and this is just a level 4 unit, Kent/Sain/Florina stole the kills, and he was left with scraps in Lyn mode, and what we were left with was still a unit very capable of taking on the game's mooks

He doesn't"

One more point I'd like to add to that gigantic wall of text is that Erk's staff level can reach to a very high level even in fast playthroughs of the game, which is another boon he has going for him.



# 6 - Lucia (Radiant Dawn)


"Wait, are you saying Lucia is actually good?"

Yes. Yes I am. And quite frankly, I'm not the only person to actually do so. Just so we're clear, I'm talking about the Radiant Dawn version of Lucia, not the Path of Radiance version. Radiant Dawn Lucia actually has a lot going for her despite the fact that her availability is less than desirable. Lucia joins with her skill and speed close to capping. Once she caps both of those stats, you can use Bonus Experience on her to help her other stats rise. And what happens once she promotes? I'll let Ronaldo tell you since he did all the math here:

"Since she's a trueblade, Adept and critical hits give her some excellent offense. 16% Astra, 32% Adept, 51% Critical gives her a 92,16%~ to ORKO enemies she would normally kill in three hits."

"But Mia and Zihark already exist. Why would I use Lucia when I already have them?"

Because there's nothing wrong with using three awesome Trueblades. Just because Mia and Zihark exist does not negate any of Lucia's positives. When a unit is meant to be rated, they're supposed to be rated on their own merits. There are two additional positives that Lucia has going for her:

 (1) She's awesome in 2-2.

 (2) She has Earth affinity, which is the best affinity.  

Top 15 Most Underrated Units List: Part 1

# 15 - Jill (Radiant Dawn)

Kicking off the “Top 15 Most Underrated Units” list is Jill’s Radiant Dawn version. Most people already recognize Jill as a worthwhile top tier unit. Why is she on here? Because Jill isn’t just top tier. She’s the best unit in the game. 

A lot of people (until recently I was one of those people too) believe that Haar is the best unit in the game, and for good reason. Haar is a total beast. He’s bulky, he flies, his availability is top notch, he's got all the makings of a top tier unit. It makes sense why we all used to think it was him. So what makes Jill better? Simple. Haar is a god among demigods, Jill is a goddess among scrubs. 

Jill's contributions to the Dawn Brigade stand out more than Haar's. There's a bigger gap in usefulness between Jill and even the second best Dawn Brigade member (who would that be btw?) than there is between Haar and say...Titania, Transfers!Boyd and Transfers!Ike. Jill stands out more than Haar does, which is why she barely snipes the "Best Unit in RD" spot from Haar. The difference between Jill and Haar isn't great, but it does exist.

"Well if Jill is so great, why is she only # 15 on your list?" Simple. Out of all the characters on this list, Jill is the character that people think the most highly of. There isn't a huge discrepancy between how good people think she is versus how good she actually is. What determines a unit's placement on this list is the gap between how good they really are versus people's common perceptions of their usefulness. From here on out that gap is going to get bigger. 

# 14 - Lowen (Blazing Sword)

For those of you who don't know, I asked people for suggestions on who should be in this list. Of the 15 candidates, 13 of them came from your suggestions (I'll point out who the 3 I chose are when we get to them). Lowen was by the far the most popular candidate. So let's talk about Lowen's merits.

 He's a cavalier, which is an amazing class to be in, and his base stats are pretty good for his join time. He also has good availability so you can use him for a significant portion of the game. So why's he underrated? Well Lowen gets ignored, or gets low unit rankings from fans, because he's a cavalier who isn't as good as Sain and Kent. While this is true, it's also true that the same can be said for the majority of the cast. It also doesn't change the fact that Lowen can do things like rescuing other units, getting to places quicker and having an actual Enemy Phase.

"But Lowen's growths aren't the best"

This is true but Bases > Growths. Now you might be wondering why Lowen is so low on this list. Well, here's the thing, the fact that Lowen was the most popular candidate for this list means that a lot of people are already aware that this guy is a good unit. I wouldn't be surprised if he stopped being underrated in a few years time.

# 13 - Alec, Noish & Midir (Genealogy of the Holy War)

So I'm going to be lazy here and simply post Mekkah's video on why Alec, Noish and Midir are underrated units:

I completely agree with everything Mekkah said in his video so go check it out. That being said, the fact that a respected Fire Emblem veteran made a whole video about these guys means that they've gotten recognition for how good they are, which makes them less underrated since they've already gotten more recognition for their merits than the majority of the characters on this list. Still, it's worth putting them on here, because Mekkah's right.

# 12 - Azelle (Genealogy of the Holy War)

Azel was a little trickier to rate for this list because he deserves at least some of the criticism that's lobbied at him. I mean, his start is legitimately awful. He joins you with 5 movement in a game chock full of gargantuan maps with a Fire Tome (which is a terrible weapon type) and his starting durability of 2 Defense and 30 HP isn't going to do him any favors either. 

So why is he here? Well here's the thing: After Azel promotes he gets a horse. After he gets a horse (and promotion bonuses) he's... useful. Nowhere near as good as Sigurd or Cuan, but he has his uses. I've seen Ronaldo and Tavari bring up how Azelle can defeat Lombard (Langobalt aka Lex's Dad) rather quickly so his combat can be made good. 

So while I'm not trying to suggest that "Azelle's actually amazing" I will say that he's far from being the worst unit in Holy War. He has his merits that deserve to be acknowledged by the community as a whole.

# 11 - Chrom (Awakening)


Earlier in this post I brought up how there were 3 characters that I chose to put on this list that didn't come from people's suggestions. Chrom is one of those three characters.

Why Chrom? Well, let's start with a question: Have you ever heard of the term "Chrom Syndrome"? If you haven't, the reason why is because I made it up a few years ago. "Chrom Syndrome" refers to a character that's perfectly good and worthwhile as a unit in their own right, but tends to get overshadowed because the top tier units in the game are absolutely ridiculous. I first noticed this trend with Chrom, but it can apply to other Fire Emblem games. 

As a unit, Chrom has a lot going for him. Now that I think about it, Chrom shares similar gameplay positives to Seliph from Holy War:

•  Neither lords have story-based promotions.

•  Both units get access to higher movement after they promote.

• Neither of them have to worry about a lack of 1 -2 range.

So why is Seliph the best unit in his game while Chrom mostly gets forgotten about in his? 

 There are multiple reasons why, but arguably the biggest one is that Robin exists in Awakening and completely overshadows Chrom. Depending on who you talk to, Robin is either the most broken, or one of the most broken, units in the entire series. Veteran, infinite reclassing (or the closest thing to it), and customizable growths make Robin obscenely OP. It also doesn't help that Awakening's mechanics make it so that you really don't NEED your lord for anything. Awakening's objectives are either "Rout Enemy" or "Kill Boss". Neither of those objectives make your lord necessary as opposed to games that predominantly have the Seize objective. 

 Awakening also heavily emphasizes stats over strats so a sufficiently powered up Robin paired up with any unit of your choice is all you need to break the game. To be fair here, Robin isn't the only unit who overshadows Chrom, but that proves my point even more, because all the other units that are better than Chrom are ridiculous too. If Chrom were in a different Fire Emblem game, but he still had a non-story based promotion accompanied by a horse and lance, he would shine far more than he does. But Awakening is a game where your stats can skyrocket thanks to Pair Up, you don't need to be a lord to accomplish anything meaningful, Nosferatu tomes are practically limitless, and Dark Fliers exist. So as a result Chrom gets forgotten about even though he's still a worthwhile unit. 



P.S. One more thing I forgot to mention about Chrom is that his skill set is also pretty solid in his game. He gets access to Aether, Luna, Rightful King, Aegis, Dual Guard + and starts out with Dual Strike +. That is not a bad skill set to have in Awakening.