# 5 - Sirius (FE 3 Book 2)

           And here's our first dark horse contestant that very few people predicted would be on this list. I myself didn't originally anticipate Sirius being on the list (especially this high) when I created it but after talking to our resident Fire Emblem 3 expert, Sagi Heim, I have been convinced that this dude is just that awesome. All the information on this list was brought to you by Sagi Heim. Sagi, feel free to take a bow.
            So here's how Sirius in FE 3 was described to me: Think Percival, but with vastly superior availability in his game, good growths (for his game) and tankiness. I'm not saying that Percival's defense is bad, it's just not the first thing you think of when you think of Percival. Sirius in FE 3 has been noted for his defense not only by Sagi Heim, but also by serenesforest.net.
             Sirius has a 30 % defense growth, which is the highest defense growth out of any character in the game. Only a few other units have a 30 % defense growth so that's pretty pimpin'. What's also of note is that Sirius starts out with a base defense of 11 in a game where the caps only go up to 20. Combine that with a 30 % defense growth and HOLY COW! Sirius is going to laugh at the enemies who dare cross paths with him. Sirius also has a base of 13 speed which is practically light speed standards for a character that joins in chapter 4 of FE 3.

His growths are also really good:
HP - 80 %
Strength - 50 %
Skill - 50 %
Speed - 40 %
Luck - 30 %
Defense - 30 %
Resistance - 30 %
Weapon Level - 40 %

Did I mention that paladins in this game get a whopping 10 movement? Yeah that's pimptastic.

            Sirius is also part of a game whose experience gain formula is pre-promote friendly. Sirius will gain experience alongside all your other units so you can't even use the age old "experience drain" argument (not that you ever should but still). So you may or may not be convinced of Sirius's awesomeness in Fire Emblem 3. Well Sagi Heim was kind enough to produce a mountain of stats and numbers that show just how well Sirius performs AT BASE. All of the following calculations are just of him kicking butt without gaining a single point from his level-ups:

"Chap. 4 With a Iron Lance ORKO's all enemies 2RKO's the boss with a Steel lance. Reaches ORKO with a Silver Lance

Chap. 5 With a Iron Lance OHKO's mages 2RKO's Dragon knights with the Silver Lance ORKO's
Knights with the Silver Lance. 2RKO with the Steel lance. ORKO with the Armor Slayer. ORKO's Cavaliers with the steel lance ORKO's the boss with the Iron Lance


Chap. 7 OHKO's thieves and mages with the steel lance ORKO's knights with the steel lance 3RKO's the Dragon with the Silver Lance OHKO's the boss with the Silver Lance

Chap. 8 OHKO's thieves with the Iron Lance ORKO's Paladins with the Knight Killer 2RKO's Generals with the Armor Slayer 2RKO's Snipers with the Silver Lance

Chap. 9 ORKO's Bishops with the Iron Lance 2RKO's dragon Knights with the Silver Lance OHKO's mages and Thieves with the Iron Lance 2RKO's Snipers and Heros with the Silver Lance

Chap. 10 (dismounted) ORKO's mages with the Iron Sword ORKO's Mercenaries with the Iron Sword ORKO's bishops with the Steel sword

Sirius BASE is 5HKO'd by generic enemies during all the early-game

3HKO'd by Dragon Knights AKA most powerful enemies"

In addition to all those wonderful numbers I forgot to bring up the fact that Sirius joins your group already capable of wielding every sword and lance in the game including Regalia. That's the equivalent of an S rank in swords and lances and he joins in Chapter 4! He's also important for a certain endgame event so you might as well use him.

Overall, Sirius is a kick-butt paladin who turns Fire Emblem 3 into a joke. Heck, I might just want to play Fire Emblem 3 again just for Sirius and I hated Fire Emblem 3.

# 6 - Ares (Genealogy of the Holy War)

                  You know, I'm not a fan of most of the localized, translated names for the Holy War cast, but Ares is an exception. Naming this guy after the god of war seems appropriate given his amazing combat ability.

                   Mekkah's reaction upon Ares joining your army: "Really? I can have this? You know I will break your game with this, right? Well, thank you!" (http://serenesforest.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=29384&page=9#entry1795748)

                    My reaction upon Ares joining my army: "Eltoshan's kid is joining my army? I've got a black knight on my team? OH HECK YES!"

                Aless just screams ridiculously awesome. 43 base attack with the Mystletainn in addition to Pursuit, Adept and Vantage (I'm using the modern names of the skills here. They're known as Continue and Ambush in Holy War). I should also point out that the Mystletainn gives the skill Critical and boosts Ares's skill by 20. Ares will start with a whopping 28 % chance of activating Adept (thanks to Holy War's ridiculous formula for calculating Adept) and a base 32 % chance of landing a critical hit with the Mystletainn. Keep in mind that in Holy War critical evade is always at 0 so the more skill Ares obtains the higher that crit percent chance is. Also, Holy War criticals deal more damage on average than your regular critical hits so a critical hit from Ares equates to a 1 hit KO. Yeah, that's pretty darn cool.

                       To get some further perspective on that only a small handful of units can avoid getting a critical hit from Ares. 99 % of all units in the game will get crushed in the meantime. The Mystletainn also provides Ares with a + 10 resistance boost which is pretty important in Holy War given how many bosses and late-game units are mages. It also allows Ares to ignore those ridiculously annoying status staves that enemies love to spam. I think Mekkah also provided some additional information that further proves my point:

                       "The longer the game goes on, the more important Res becomes. Ch7 and Ch8 both have Mage sisters (who looooove attacking Aless up close) and Blume. Around Ch10 is when the true magic show begins, with the Lopt Sect's Dark Mages and all their silly long range bull and accurate Jormung, an Ishtar encounter, and a Meteor shower. The Final chapter is pretty much an Aless and Celice playground, with Edda's very interesting and well designed (no) horde of Sleep staves, Meteor and Bolting. Pretty much every castle is guarded by a Dark Bishop with Fenrir and Jormung, and there's some Dark Mages standing on random cliffs. And of course there's a large amount of Sages coming with Ishtar, and Manfroy and friends..."
(Source: http://serenesforest.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=29384&page=9#entry1795748)

Moral of the story: Resistance in the second generation is really important and Ares has a lot of it.

So to recap: Ares is a beast on a horse who's offensive prowess can roflstomp 99 % of all enemies in his game and his awesome resistance gives him long-term usefulness. I'll end with this little quote right here: "If Celice is the quarterback and Leaf is the receiver (who teleports the quarterback to his position, look this analogy only works so well), Aless is the lineman plowing through anything that stands between Team Horse and the endthrone." (Source: Renall - Rate the Unit: Aless. http://serenesforest.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=32368)

# 7 - Percival (Binding Blade)

                      Percival fan girls I give you permission to fan-girl all over the place. Just be quick about it. Percival fan boys (which I am proud to call myself one) I also give you permission to fanboy as well. Just be quick about it.

                     Now that we're all done geeking out over him (which I highly doubt will ever happen but anyway) let's proceed to explain why Percival is here. For starters his base stats are just unbelievably sexy. They're so good that he'll still be one of your best combat units in a 0 % growth run. Dondon151's 0 % growth run of Sword of Seals Hard Mode is proof of this (which you can check out here. The link is just the introduction but you can check out the other videos as well). So yeah, Percival's base stats are so high that he doesn't need to grow a single point anymore in order to wreck face. Now obviously I'm taking his Hard mode bonuses into account. Percival's base stats with Hard mode bonuses look like this:

HP - 51
Strength - 20
Skill - 16
Speed - 20
Luck - 15
Defense - 15
Resistance - 13
Con - 12

                  Look at that strength and speed. Also, I should point out that his constitution is high enough for him to wield a lot of weapons without attack speed (like that really matters but it's still nice to not get weighed down by everything).  

                   Percival has been described as an RNG proof cavalier and I completely agree with this. In addition to his base stats he joins with some killer weapon ranks. Lances and swords are A rank while axes are C rank. So he can wield any sword or lance that isn't regalia (and only takes a little bit of effort before he gets there) and he can start out wielding Killer Axes. Yeah that's pretty awesome. His complete weapon triangle control allows him to deal with any kind of unit in any kind of situation.

                 The only qualm with Percival on a list like this is his availability. He's around for about 60 % of his game. He's clearly one of the Top 3 best units in his game but unfortunately he's in a list where other characters can roflstomp their games from an earlier availability. Even when you take that into consideration Percival is still freaking awesome and is an obvious candidate for a high spot on this list.

# 8 - Sain and Kent (Blazing Sword)

              Sain and Kent: The best Christmas Cavalier combo in the entire series. Yeah I said it. If personal experience actually meant anything (which it doesn't for the record) I probably wouldn't have them on here since they've never turned out anything special for me. However, personal experience means nothing and more to the point Sain and Kent have been highly ranked on a consistent basis by just about every hardcore ltc Fire Emblem player so apparently these guys have a lot to offer that I'm just not getting.

          Well it all started when Wallace offered a simple Knight Crest. Little did he know that he was offering our Christmas Cavalier duo the road to greatness. On a more serious note Sain and Kent are this high up primarily due to Lyn mode. Sain and Kent will be your best units in Lyn mode (it's not like they've got actual competition here lol) and I have to say that having about 11 chapters of free training before the real quest even begins is a huge benefit. All the player has to do is get Sain and Kent to a reasonable level above 10, hand them the Knight Crest and then BAM! you've got an early-game mini-Marcus.

         Dondon151 and Mekkah have already provided the numbers on a silver platter which is great because I'm too lazy to provide the calculations myself. Mekkah shows us how dominant Sainadain (or Supersain) is:

   "How dominant are they? Well, using Sain as an example, at L12 he will have 28 HP, 14-15 Str, 8 Skl, 10-11 Spd, 8 Def. 

Promotion will make that 30 HP, 15-16 Str, 9 Skl, 11-12 Spd, and 10 Def.

L6 Archer w/ Steel Bow: 17 Atk, 25 HP, 4 Def, 4 AS. Even with an Iron Sword, Sain will ORKO, and in the meantime he gets 5HKO'd back. 

L5 Merc w/ Steel Sword: 16 Atk, 25 HP, 5 Def, 10 AS. Sain doesn't double, but with WTA he is getting 6HKO'd in return.

L5 Mage w/ Thunder: 14 Atk, 21 HP, 4 Def, 7 AS. Sain nearly OHKOs this with an Iron Axe and does so with Steel...not that he needs to, since he doubles. He does get 3HKO'd back but w/e.

There's some more jokes, like enemies with Iron Swords and Slim Lances. These do joke damage, like 2-3 dmg to his 30 HP. Sain doesn't even notice them."

(Source: http://serenesforest.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=29384&page=11#entry1800181)

            Usually Sain is the one that gets the Knight Crest in Lyn mode due to the fact that he's usually considered better than Kent. The reason for this being that Sain and Kent are usually pretty close to each other in terms of stats. However, Sain has the offensive edge over Kent and once Sain's speed is high enough to double attack consistently he'll be dishing out the KO's easier than Kent. Dondon151 provides some additional explanation when he says:

             "Sain's offensive ability comes from his high atk. 8 base str is above average, and 60% str growth is tied for the highest in the game. 

               Sain's str truly begins to shine later in the game, when his spd is also high enough to permit him to double consistently. While 16/4 Kent has trouble 2HKOing chapter 26 WKs, 16/4 Sain has no such problem, averaging 28.8 atk with an Iron Axe after WTA against 32 HP, 12 def. He'll also have 14.2 AS, enough to double even the higher end 10 AS Iron Lance WKs"

(Source: http://serenesforest.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=23766&page=4) 

          Their durability is about the same too (see the above link for a more detailed analysis). Also, these guys get the GBA paladin treatment which means that they have access to partial weapon triangle control before promotion and complete weapon triangle control after promotion.

      If this were Sword of Seals Kent would probably be considered the better one, but it's Blazing Sword, which is not only significantly easier but is also the game where enemies have crap for attack speed which means that having higher strength is more desirable.

               
                  

 According to Mekkah, Sain's growths are higher than the enemy's so Sain will become stronger than the HHM enemies. If you don't give them the Knight Crest in Lyn's mode they'll be one of the best units in the game, but they won't be anywhere near as high on this list as they are now. Both of these characters MUST be used in Blazing Sword if you want to beat the game within a reasonable time-frame.

# 9 - Jagen (Shadow Dragon)

                   Old man Jagen. The knight who began the long tradition of kick butt old men who lose steam towards the endgame. The interesting thing is that Jagen archetype characters usually are among your best units despite eventually falling off. As you would expect Jagen excels in the early-game where his base stats are superior to everybody else. He also has weapon ranks going for him (silver lance says hi). Jagen is also in a game where forges exist so giving him a forged Silver Lance or a Ridersbane is par for the course. Jagen will continuously one round KO stuff with said forges for a while. How long Jagen remains useful depends on which difficulty you're playing in. In H2 for example Jagen will still be useful up until Chapter 18. In H5 he drops off a little earlier but compensates for it by virtue of being in a game with significantly stronger enemies. If Warpskip is taken into account he's even better. Jagen also has access to reclassing to a wyvern knight which ups his durability and gives him access to axes.

         With all that being said Jagen WILL eventually lose steam sooner or later. Once the rest of your army builds up you won't have much use for him. Also, his growths are terrible:

HP - 40 %
Strength - 20 %
Skill - 35 %
Speed - 15 %
Luck - 30 %
Defense - 20 %
Resistance - 0 %

Like I said, terrible. That begin said, Jagen is still clutch early on and is still a major contributor to your army in the early game and probably will be one of your best units even in the mid-game hence the # 9 spot.

# 10 - Frederick (Awakening)

                    Have you ever tried to beat Lunatic or Lunatic + mode on Awakening without Frederick? No? Well now you know why Frederick is this high on the list. Frederick is so powerful that he makes the most unfair modes in all Fire Emblem (in my opinion) actually possible. Frederick has a clutch early game leading fans to start calling the harder difficulties "Frederick Emblem".

                     He starts the game off "with a D rank in swords, a B rank in lances and a D rank in axes which allow him to use 1-2 range from the get go." (JSND: Rate the Unit: Frederick - http://serenesforest.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=40201&page=9#entry2409367) Frederick also comes with the Discipline skill so he's going to get high weapon ranks very soon. Like a good number of Jeigan / Oifey characters Frederick starts off with a Silver Lance and will either kill early game enemies in one hit or one round. In the meantime most enemies won't even scratch his armor (unless they have Luna + or a Hammer). 

                       Within a few level-ups Frederick gets Luna and if you really want to you could probably reclass him to a Paladin just to get his speed higher. He also is a great pair up partner for your army as he gives a + movement and defense boost. He's an especially good Pair-Up partner for Sumia and Cordelia as he gives them boosts in stats they want boosts in (strength and defense although they wouldn't mind extra movement).

Another factor to take into consideration are his growths. His Great Knight growths are greater than or equal to PoR Titania's:

Frederick

HP: 110

Strength: 65

Magic: 10

Skill: 55

Speed: 50

Luck: 40

Defense: 55

Resistance: 25

Titania

HP: 80

Strength: 45

Magic: 25

Skill: 60

Speed: 50

Luck: 45

Defense: 40

Resistance: 45


That's pretty dang impressive.

             So some of you may be asking why Frederick isn't higher up on this list. Well, Frederick embodies the negative that people associate Jeigan characters with. He has a fantastic start but his mid-game is shaky and his endgame isn't quite as good. His problems do have solutions though in the form of Second Seals, Pair-Up and stat-booster items. Nevertheless he will be outclassed later on by characters like Robin and Wyvern!Panne.

           Another issue that Frederick faces is that since his early-game is where he shines the most his usefulness varies by difficulty. In Lunatic and Lunatic + mode he saves your army from death and destruction. In "hard mode" he's not quite as useful and it's much easier for the rest of your army to surpass him. 

           Frederick also wishes that he had more speed as well. Great Knights are meant to be tanks on horses and aren't known for their speed. "Starting at 10 base is already annoying. Adds in the chance of getting Speed Screwed, and growth speed being absurdly low and it adds up. I already have problem with Stahl, but Frederick is basically Stahl, but worse when it comes to this problem. Basically IMO, the more speed screwed Freddy is, the faster he is forced as a Pair Up Fodder." (JSND: Rate the Unit: Frederick - http://serenesforest.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=40201&page=11)

            Plus, keep in mind that Frederick has some intense competition on this list. Everybody else above him can trivialize their games even more without suffering from Frederick's problems. In addition to that he's # 10 for goodness sakes that's pretty awesomely high given how many powerful units he's passed up.

Anyway, Frederick is a great unit and definitely a clutch Jeigan character. The characters only get better from here.

# 11 - Finn (Thracia 776)

                  Before I begin talking about Finn's combat ability I'd like to give a shout-out to this guy. He survived both generations of Holy War and he kept Leif and Nanna alive from the greatest military juggernaut in the Fire Emblem series. Surviving the turbulent political maelstrom known as Jugdral actually means something since that continent holds the record for highest body count (percentage-wise) of named characters important to the plot. Not even the good guys always make it out alive in Jugdral so massive props to Finn for living long enough to see his homeland retaken and the mighty Grandbell Empire overthrown.

                   FE 5 Finn > FE 4 Finn. In Fire Emblem 4 Finn is one of your best units in the first generation but he starts out taking axes to the face and he eventually leaves your army. In the second generation he's less useful due to being completely outclassed by virtually all the kids (assuming that the player actually made good pairs for them) and the enemies being more powerful in general. In Thracia 776 Finn got a massive upgrade resulting in him being this high up the list.

               For starters Finn has great availability in this game. He's part of your beginning army in Chapter 1. He'll leave your army in chapter 4 but will rejoin in chapter 7. There's a gaiden chapter in there so he's actually gone for 4 levels but once he rejoins you he never leaves so his availability is definitely a plus for him.

              Another major plus for Finn is his prf ranked Brave Lance. Apparently that conversation that he had with Cuan is canon. If a FE 4 remake ever happens I.S. needs to make sure that if Cuan gives Finn a Brave Lance that the Brave Lance becomes prf ranked. Anyway, in Thracia 776 said Brave Lance has a + 10 luck boost which also significantly increases Finn's chances of activating Miracle (in addition to increasing his dodge as well). Finn's Brave Lance also turns him into a capturing machine which is a huge boon in Finn's favor because in Thracia 776 capturing enemies is your primary way of getting stuff. (See here if you don't know what the capturing mechanic is: http://fireemblem.wikia.com/wiki/Capture)

                Finn also comes with a leadership star in addition to a Leif and Nanna support. It's quite rare to see a cavalier with support utility like this so that's another little perk Finn has going for him. Nanna comes with innate Charisma in addition to supporting Finn so he's getting a major evasion boost which is always welcome. Finn also starts at 3 levels away from promotion and has some pretty good base stats too. He'll start as one of your Top 3 best units. One of the units who outclasses him leaves your army because (spoilers) while the other unit has to deal with the fact that Finn has a pony (and rejoins a chapter later).

              Finn however hates indoor maps where he's forced to be unmounted (and gets only 5 movement) and can only use swords, which he only starts out using a D rank in. Granted, he's 20 swings away from a killing edge or a rapier so it's not hopeless, it's just a big disadvantage since he won't have access to powerful weapons. Once the Manster chapters end Finn's viability will decrease a little as his competition will have increased but he's still one of the best units in Thracia 776 and definitely an awesome unit worthy of this # 11 spot.