Berwick Saga Character Guide - Flawed But Still Useable Part 2

 Before I continue with the "flawed, but useful" category, I'd like to remind you that these characters are still useable, and that there are benefits to having them in your army.

Daoud

Pros

• High Damage Output: Daoud has access to "Pulverize" which doubles his Strength. This lets him deal ridiculous amounts of damage. He also has "Battle Cry" which buffs his accuracy and damage. "Battle Cry" stacks up to 6 times, which means that he can progressively get more powerful. 

• Immune to Crippling: In Berwick Saga, crippling means that your character can't attack, counterattack, use items, or heal. Their movement is usually very limited too. It's a nasty status effect. Daoud is immune to that, which is really helpful.

• Availability: Daoud joins in Chapter 4 for free. If all the NPCs in Chapter 4 survive and escape, he'll permanently join you. That's a fairly easy recruitment requirement and you don't have to worry about paying money to get him to join.

Cons

• Low Movement: He's got Armor Knight levels of movement, which means that you'll be dragging him around the battlefield. To add insult to injury, his skills only activate when he doesn't move, which makes it even harder for him to move across the battlefield. This means that he's useless for time-sensitive missions.

• Accuracy Problems: His starting axe rank isn't very good, which means that he'll have problems hitting enemies. He can also be a pain to promote because of that.

Conclusion: "Daoud is a mediocre unit. Though not lacking in positive qualities, his strengths are somewhat dulled by his numerous flaws, and it can often be difficult to justify granting him a deployment slot. He has a few moments of glory should one choose to put the time in him, but can safely be benched without missing much."

(Source: https://fireemblem.fandom.com/wiki/Daoud#Overall)

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Esteban

Pros

• Awesome Endgame Skills: Estoban eventually gets Aim and Pursuit (yes, this game has a skill called Pursuit). Aim buffs his accuracy and Pursuit gives him an extra attack if his Attack Speed is 5 or more than his enemy's. Unlike Holy War, your characters can double attack without Pursuit, so this skill manages to be great without being over-centralizing like it was in Holy War.

• Has increased vision in Fog of War maps.

• If Estoban attacks an enemy on a forest tile with a bow, he has a special skill that can negate their avoid bonuses.

• Terrain Bonuses: Like your thieves, Estoban can become invisible in certain terrain tiles. He has another skill that gives him extra avoid when he's on those tiles. 

• Good Availability: Joins at the end of Chapter 3. He's also fairly easy to permanently recruit.

Cons

• Poor Base Stats for his join time.

• Low Base Level that prevents him from using good bows for a while.

• Low Base Knife Rank + Low Knife Growth = Borderline useless with his secondary weapon.

Conclusion: Estoban is easily the worst bow user in the game, and his promotion benefits don't make up for his horrible start.

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Marcel

Pros

• Shieldfaire: If he has a shield equipped, he will most likely activate it which will let him block a huge number of hits.

• Guard: Marcel has the same skill as Ward and Sherpa, meaning that he can block hits for adjacent allies. 

• He joins your group for free.

• He gets a good prf rank sword called the Zweihander.

Cons

• 3 Movement: Even in Berwick Saga, 3 movement is still pretty bad. 

• Large Shields have low durability, meaning that whenever Marcel blocks a hit, his shields are likely to break. In addition to having low durability, large shields are expensive and in low quantity at shops. As a result, it gets expensive having to replace his shields.

Conclusion:  Marcel's your other armored knight. His awful movement makes him a plan in the butt to use, but there are times when you need a tank like him.

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Burroughs

Pros

• High Range: Burroughs is your ballista user, so naturally he can hit enemies from afar. 

• Good Skills: Has Armsthrift, Battle Cry, Hurry, and Aim. Aim increases his accuracy. Armsthrift reduces his weapon uses. Hurry increases his movement at the cost of his turn. Battle Cry improves his accuracy and damage output.

• Joins you for free.

Cons

• Low Movement: Burroughs has 2 movement, and even with the skill Hurry, his movement will be 3. That's awful.

• Wonky "Turn" feature: In order for Ballista to fire on enemies, they have to be facing the right direction. Even if enemies are the appropriate distance away, Burroughs might not be able to fire on them. 

• He can't attack after moving. 

• Poor Availability: Burroughs doesn't join your group until after Chapter 8. That's over halfway through the game, by which point most of the cast will either have joined you, or will at least be hirable.

Conclusion: Burroughs is a gimmicky character. He's fun for killing hard to reach enemies, but there aren't that many times where that's useful.