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