# 9 - Cliff (Gaiden)

                   So what happens when you put your Est archetype in the beginning of the game and give them ridiculous promotion boosts? You get Cliff! Cliff is one of those really weird examples when it comes to rating based on an objective efficiency metric. Cliff starts out as literally the worst unit out of all the units who join you first. Take a look at how well he does against a measly level 1 thief (which is the weakest enemy in the game) versus how well the rest of your army does:


Thief (Level 1)
HP: 26
Power: 7
Skill: 1
Speed: 2
Luck: 0
Defense: 2
Resistance: 0
Movement: 4
[Right outside Alm’s village. The first enemies that you have to fight]

(Alm deals 8 damage and double attacks every enemy. Enemies only deal 1 damage to Alm. If Alm dishes out a critical hit he deals 24 damage.)

(Ruka deals 8 damage and double attacks every enemy. Enemies only deal 1 damage to Ruka.)

(Robin deals 5 damage and double attacks every enemy. Since Robin dodged every attack, I could not determine the damage that enemies give to him)

(Gray deals 7 damage and double attacks every enemy. Enemies only deal 3 damage to Gray)

(Cliff deals 5 damage and only gets to attack once. Enemies deal 4 damage to Cliff)

Cliff is the only starting unit that you get who DOESN'T double attack the wimpy generic enemies. Considering how you only need an attack speed difference of 1 to double attack in Gaiden, that's pretty sad. When you also take into account the fact that Cliff has a starting HP of 20 you realize that even the weakest generic enemies kill Cliff just as quickly as he kills them. Said generic enemies have a better accuracy than he does on average (or that could just be the RNG Goddess acting like a spoiled pain in the butt for me. Seriously, the RNG in this game takes sadistic pleasure in screwing me over) so POINT GOES TO THE GENERIC ENEMIES.

                    So how does Cliff make it higher on the list than Soren if he starts out so bad? Well you can thank Gaiden's promotion mechanic for that. Unlike other Fire Emblem games there is no uniform level for which every character can promote by. Every individual class has a unique level in which they promote. (See here for more details: http://serenesforest.net/gaiden/classes/promotion/) Cliff doesn't start the game as a mage, he starts his game out as a villager, which means that he only needs 2 levels before he promotes. The link I just gave you explains why Gaiden promotions are so unique:

               "If any of the character’s stats (Max HP, Str, Skl, Spd, Lck, Def or Res) are lower than their promoted class’s base stats, those stats will be increased to their promoted class’s base stats."

           So translation: Cliff is going to be getting some pretty huge gains after promotion. His wimpy base stats magically vanish after 2 levels. Then his growths kick in and he turns into one of the best units in your army. Another major advantage that Cliff has over other characters in Gaiden are his really high growths (for his game). Gaiden is notorious for having the lowest growths all around. Compare and contrast some of Cliff's growths with some of the best growths out of the characters in Alm's party.

Name	HP	Strength	Skill	Speed	Luck	Defense	Resistance
Cliff	50	20	40	50	20	40	0
Alm	50	35	40	30	20	30	0
Zeke	40	20	35	55	30	40	0
Silk	20	30	30	30	30	10	0
Dyute	30	50	30	20	30	10	0

              Cliff is tied for the highest HP, defense and skill growths while he has the second highest speed growth out of anyone in Alm's party. It's only his strength and luck growths that are average. (Yeah 20 % is considered average for a strength and luck growth. That's how bad Gaiden growths are) Moral of the story: Cliff's growths are really awesome for his game and they help him surpass any of your starting units that aren't Alm since he'll be getting better level ups on average.

             Let's fast forward a little bit to when you actually meet the first difficult boss in Gaiden:

The Enemies in the Barren Wasteland after the Thief Shrine:
Enemy Thief - Level 1:
HP: 26
Power: 7
Skill: 1
Speed: 2
Luck: 0
Defense: 2
Resistance: 0
Movement: 4

Enemy Archer (Level 1):
HP: 24
Strength: 9
Skill: 1
Speed: 2
Luck: 0
Defense: 3
Resistance: 0
Movement: 4


Thief Boss (Level 3):
HP: 29
Strength: 8
Skill: 2
Speed: 3
Luck: 0
Defense: 3
Resistance: 0
Movement: 4

Uber Merc (w / Leather Shield)
Level 4
HP: 27
Strength: 9
Skill: 9
Speed: 11
Luck: 0
Defense: 8
Resistance: 1
Movement: 4

(Archer Robin deals 6 damage and gets to land 2 strikes. Generic enemy thief deals 4 damage)

(Mage Cliff deals 11 damage in 1 strike to generic enemy thieves)

(Mercenary Gray deals 7 damage and gets to land 2 strikes. Generic thief deals 3 damage)

(Alm deals 7 damage to thief boss and double attacks. Thief boss deals 2 damage to Alm)

(Archer!Robin deals 1 damage to Uber Merc)

(Alm deals 2 damage to Uber Merc. Uber Merc deals 3 damage to Alm and gets to strike twice)

(Mage!Cliff deals 10 damage to Uber Merc)

(Ruka deals 3 damage to Uber Merc. Uber Merc deals 3 damage to Ruka and gets to strike twice)

 

                   "Uber Merc" is the first of many frightening mercenary bosses this game likes to throw at you. What makes Uber Merc so challenging is that he's guaranteed to double attack your entire army while also doing a pretty good job of dodging anything you throw at him. Uber Merc is the first actually difficult enemy you the player have to deal with. Mage!Cliff dispatches Uber Merc in 3 hits without having to worry about taking a counter from Uber Merc while Alm, the best unit in the game, deals a measly 2 damage. Cliff is essential for taking out Uber Merc. Also, Cliff went from killing the same generic thief in 5 hits to killing said thief in 3 hits with range advantage. That's a big leap and this is still the beginning of the game. Robin and Grey's low growths will eventually make them irrelevant once Part 3 comes around. Cliff, on the other hand, will still be one of your best units. 

This is the face of a stone hard killer right here. 

                       One of the reasons why Cliff is rated higher than Soren is because Cliff doesn't have to deal with nearly as much competition as Soren does. Most of the cavaliers in Soren's game are either god tier or are very good plus Soren has to deal with 2 god tier fliers and a third flier who's still one of the best units in the game (Tanith). Cliff only has to deal with 2 cavaliers who aren't anywhere near as good as the cavaliers in Soren's game and he only has 1 flier to deal with. Granted, said flier is still good, but again nowhere near Marcia or Jill level. Cliff's biggest competition is Alm (who is better than everyone else in his army), Silk (little Miss Generic Warp bot), with Claire (the aforementioned flier) being a debatable possibility. Because of this, Cliff tends to stand out more in his game and his contributions tend to be more significant.

                            

               There are a couple of downsides to Cliff that prevent him from rising any higher up. The first downside is his brief, terrible start. From # 8 on this list onwards every character will either start out as good or great. In other words, Cliff's got some crazy competition in this list. The other major downside is that magic costs HP to use in Gaiden regardless of whether the mage hits their target or not. This is a big disadvantage in comparison to the other mages who rank above him. 

 

               Even with these so called downsides Cliff is one of the best units in his game and like Soren, Cliff is the best mage in his game (staffbots don't count) which is why he gets the # 9 spot on this list.

# 10 - Soren (Path of Radiance)

                So kicking off my "Top 10 Greatest Mages in the Fire Emblem Series" list is Soren from Path of Radiance. Some of you who are reading this may wonder why Soren isn't rated higher up on this list. Some of the really hardcore fans of the series who may be reading this would most likely believe that Soren shouldn't even be on the list to begin with. This is something of a compromise between the two and chances are, neither side will be fully satisfied. So with that in mind, let's begin our analysis of Soren's worth as a unit.

                Soren is hands down the greatest mage in Path of Radiance. This doesn't say a whole lot about him given the fact that he doesn't have the best competition, but it's still something that he has going for him. His availability is fantastic and he gets a sweet support bonus from Ike. Soren also comes with innate Adept, which helps his offense out quite nicely because who wouldn't enjoy getting an extra consecutive hit? Soren usually doesn't have any trouble double attacking enemies either which helps his case out quite a bit. Let us also not forget that Soren has staff utility after promotion which is also very nice as it means that he can eventually use the Rescue staff, provided you manage to somehow get his staff rank up to the point where he can use it.

                Speaking of Soren's offense Chiki-chan gave a wonderful post about Soren's usefulness on the Fire Emblem Reddit that you should check out (which you can find here). According to Chiki, Soren does incredibly well with forged Thunder tomes that have maxed crit so there's that for you. Add the Vantage skill and ballistic siege tomes and Soren can pretty much wreck face. It's wonderful watching Chiki's videos of Soren ballistic blicking enemy scrubs from long distances away.

                 So with all those positives in mind, how does Soren get such a low spot on the list? Well, for starters, his durability is crap. If Ike is considered fragile in comparison to the rest of the Greil Mercenaries how do you think Soren would fare? Soren starts out with a measly 18 HP and 5 defense which means that he's gets killed in 2 hits by just about any enemy that isn't a mage. The rest of the Greil Mercenaries all have vastly superior durability at base and the thing here is that they're not going to remain at base level when Soren joins the group. What further compounds this problem is that Soren joins in a chapter where the map is an open field chock full of non-magic enemies. Basically, Soren starts out as a major liability for your team and has to fight an uphill battle for resources and bonus experience.  

                     Also, Soren has 5 movement. You want to know who else has 5 movement? Freaking Gatrie, the armor knight. There is only one Fire Emblem game where 5 movement isn't considered horrible at first and Path of Radiance isn't it. Sure, you can mitigate this problem with Shove and Rescue but that still doesn't change the fact that Soren's going to lag behind the rest of your team. What also makes this worse is that all of the best units in Path of Radiance happen to have very high movement too. Titania, Marcia, Jill, Oscar and Kieran can all wreck schmucks left and right while also getting to the enemies first. They can also do other things that Soren can't do too which makes his life even more miserable. Yeah, no wonder Soren's so sullen most of the time. He just wants a little extra love and attention.

                    While Soren will eventually get high speed and magic his base stats in both areas start off less than desirable. 99 % of the Tellius cast rejoices at the new attack speed formula which keeps them from getting attack speed losses; guess who's part of the 1 %? Yeah Soren. Being a mage means that his strength stat isn't likely to be very high and it doesn't grow very much on average so getting weighed down by a considerable number of the tomes in his game. Fortunately, this isn't as bad in practice as it looks, but it is a setback for Soren. His low base magic means that he's dealing chip damage too at first. Again, like his speed, this gets remedied over time but it's still a pain in the butt.

                Overall, Soren is a good unit that faces a lot of challenges and setbacks when he joins, but given enough time and experience he will eventually grow into a powerful mage in his own right. Given the fact that Soren doesn't face the same level of competition as the cavaliers did in my cavalier list, he gets to make it to the list, but barely. In spite of all his shortcomings, he is a pretty good unit and character wise he is one of my favorite units in the series and I will probably always use him in Path of Radiance regardless of what anyone else may say.

Responses to Crazy Fanboys

                So in light of the controversy surrounding the new Fire Emblem game, and the subsequent information coming out, I thought I'd type up some kind of a response to everything that's been going on.

Crazy Fan-boy # 1: No weapon durability? OHMYGOSH!  LIKE O-M-G! THE SERIES HAS BEEN RUINED FOREVER! THEY'RE TAKING AWAY A CORE MECHANIC OF FIRE EMBLEM!

Austin Durbin:
 "I hate the new weapon mechanics!^×:!&÷&÷^×:!!!"
"Have you played the only other game in the series with those mechanics?"
"No!"
"Is if out yet?"
"No!"
"But you know for a fact that this will destroy the series forever"
"Yes"   

I believe Austin Durbin deserves a cookie of his choosing for this. Moral of the story ladies and gentlemen: Don't knock down a game mechanic until you see it in action. 
  
Speaking of "core mechanics" you do realize that almost every Fire Emblem game in the series has changed some aspect of the series right?

•  FE 2: Introduced third tiers, the world map concept, dramatically changed the promotion mechanics that no other Fire Emblem game has replicated, gave bows 1 range and 5 range as well, caused magic to decrease HP and chucked weapon durability right out the window. Also, split stories. The map objectives changed from seize to route.

• FE 3: Introduced the trading system and was the first FE game where you could see the movement ranges of your units and the movement ranges of enemy units.

•  FE 4: Introduced the weapon triangle system, paired endings, started the primitive prototype of the support system, introduced the second generation system, got rid of trading and introduced the skill system. Also Canto says hi.

• FE 5: First game in the series to have more than one map objective, introduced gaiden chapters, Fog of War chapters, the fatigue mechanic and the capture mechanic. Also introduced the rescue mechanic. First game to have the magic trinity and a playable Dark Mage (but he didn't wear a monocle)

•  FE 6: The modern day support system that everybody has come to know and love started here. First game to have trial maps.

•  FE 7: .....It introduced the tactician concept? Can't really think of anything here. It also had a tutorial mode.

•  FE 8: Tweaked the branch promotion concept from Gaiden. In fact this game pretty much brought back Gaiden's mechanics.

• FE 9: Introduced forging, brought back the skill system from Holy War, laguz say hi. Also, bonus experience

• FE 10: You got to fight yourself. Hooray! Tweaked bonus experience and forging.

• Shadow Dragon: Reclassing and tweaked forges, the avoid formula is an abomination.

• FE 12: Introduced the My Unit concept, Casual mode, the barracks / everybody says hi thing. Also, the avoid formula is still an abomination.

• FE 13: Uh, Pair Up? DLC? This game is mostly just a DBZ Fusion Dance of all the different mechanics from previous games.

              Do you get the point now? Fire Emblem has ALWAYS been tweaking some mechanic or another. They're always switching things up and they're always trying something new. Some changes have been for the best, some changes haven't always been so good but hey at least it keeps things fresh and tries something new. Wouldn't it be boring to have the exact same thing over and over and over again?

Crazy Fan-boy # 2: I HATE HOW FIRE EMBLEM IS TURNING INTO THAT ANIMU CRAP! 

Me: You do realize that this is a series that's well known for sporting characters that have blue, green and pink hair right? Awakening didn't invent that. Fire Emblem has had that ever since the first game came out. You also realize that Fire Emblem has other anime-ish stuff in it right? There are a considerable amount of moe characters in it, "and Genealogy of the Holy War did marriage, children, incest and underaged characters before it was cool." (http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/701254-shin-megami-tensei-x-fire-emblem/65399409)

Oh and Oscar has those kitsune eyes too. Yeah that's not anime-like at all. Bytheway could someone please explain to me why being like an anime is bad?

Crazy Fan-boy # 3: THEY'RE DUMBING DOWN THE SERIES! HOW DARE THEY CATER TO CASUALS!

Me: To paraphrase Beatriz, "Fire Emblem games are getting both easier and harder". FE 12 & 13 have the most difficult hard modes in the entire series. I have an easier time beating FE 5 than I do Lunatic mode on either FE 12 or 13. Also, have you played Reverse Lunatic on FE 12? I seriously doubt that.

             Also, you do realize that Fire Emblem 7, 8 & 9 are considered some of the easiest games in the series right? You know, the games that most of you started out with right? I don't see you whining and complaining about FE 7 & 9's difficulty and those are some pretty easy games. Oh that's right, those were the first FE games that you played weren't they? For those of you who didn't start out with those games, chances are you probably played a game that had a very simple Easy mode which would have been catered to you. So yeah, catering to noobs isn't always a bad thing.

            Bytheway, appealing to hardcore Fire Emblem veterans isn't going to make IntSys money. If it weren't for Awakening's mass appeal the series would be no more. Ask yourself: Would you rather play Fire Emblem 7 1,000,000,000 more times or would you rather have the series continue to produce new games? Your call.

Crazy Fan-boy # 4: I WOULD RATHER PLAY FIRE EMBLEM 7 1,000,000,000 MORE TIMES THAN PLAY A BUNCH OF NEW FIRE EMBLEMS.

 Me: Seriously? You're entitled to like Fire Emblem 7 but is it really THAT entertaining for you? Plus do you really not want any more Fire Emblem games to come out? I don't know about you, but I want more Fire Emblem games to come out. 

The Greatest Cavalier in Fire Emblem History - Seth

                 Fire Emblem - The Sacred Seth. Seth Emblem - The Sacred Seth. Fire Emblem 8 - Seth's Playground. Is anybody surprised that Seth is # 1? No? Well me neither. By now, Seth's ridiculousness is legendary. Seth is all you need to beat Fire Emblem 8. I guess Eirika and Ephraim exist for the sole purpose of seizing (and the story) but for the most part Seth will dominate Fire Emblem 8 and nobody is anywhere near close to how good he is.

                Seth will be in every chapter except one (I believe it's Ephraim first chapter in the game) so he's basically around forever. He starts the game with an A rank in swords and lances so he's using everything that isn't Regalia, although he'll be your first unit to use regalia due to his awesome weapon ranks. Seth murders 90 + percent of all enemies in the game with a javelin. A freaking javelin. It's also scary just how many mooks he can slaughter with an iron weapon as well. Also, the best units in our entire army don't even catch up to Seth's level without ridiculous amounts of favoritism or resources / turns. "Ephraim needs to be Lv14 on average to match Seth's str/def bases, and Franz doesn't hit Seth's str/def until Lv19, and needs to be Lv10 on average to match Seth's spd base." (Smiley Jim - Rate the Unit: Seth - http://serenesforest.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=30304)

              Heck, even in the endgame Seth is still your best unit (arguably). Here's a list of endgame stats that helps prove my point:

           "Moreover, even in more "typical" playthroughs where Seth is not used for every task, Seth is still very adequate in terms of late-game stats:

Level 15 Seth B Franz
42.6 HP 21+2 STR 19.3 SKL 18.3 SPD 16.5 LUK 16.6+2 DEF 12.2+2 RES

Level 10 Franz B Seth
44.4 HP 19.2+2 STR 17.2 SKL 22 SPD 13.2 LUK 15+2 DEF 7.6+2 RES

Level 10 Forde A Kyle
45.55 HP 17.2+1 STR 20.5 SKL 19.35 SPD 15.05 LUK 14.6+1 DEF 8.75+1 RES

Level 10 Kyle A Forde
48.6 HP 22+1 STR 16.6 SKL 17.6 SPD 10.8 LUK 17+1 DEF 6.8+1 RES

And for kicks and giggles:

Level 6 Gerik
49.5 HP 21.75 STR 21 SKL 19.5 SPD 12.5 LUK 17.25 DEF 9.75 RES

(All these numbers brought to you by Anouleth in the Rate the Unit: Seth thread - http://serenesforest.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=30304)

            So basically Seth is still competitive in the late-game while he makes the early and mid game of Fire Emblem 8 his personal punching bag. The reason why he's able to do this is because his growths are fantastic!

HP - 90%

Str - 50%

Skl - 45%

Spd - 45%

Def - 40%

Res - 30 %

Luck - 25%

             Holy growths Batman! Those are some of the best growths in the entire game! Seth also supports some of your higher tiered units as well like Franz and Cormag while also supporting Eirika (an important unit that you'll have to use if you go on Eirika route) and Natasha so he has that going for him too.

                 "One more thing I want to mention about Seth is that he gets to abuse 3x Mt slayer weapons, unlike for example FE7 Marcus or FE9 Titania. And unlike FE6 Marcus, he gets to have good accuracy with them. So whenever not even Silver or Killer weapons do the trick, Seth has access to an extra trick up his sleeve." (Mekkah - http://serenesforest.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=29384&page=18)

               I don't know what else there is to say about him. Seth is literally a textbook definition of a perfect unit. He has high movement, awesome availability, he's very durable, his growths are great and he slaughters everything without slowing down. If you don't give Seth a perfect score (10 / 10) then you get tarred and feathered. I'm just saying. Seth isn't just the greatest cavalier in Fire Emblem history, he's the second best unit in all Fire Emblem history. Seth is second only to Sigurd in terms of game-breaking awesomeness.

# 2 - Titania (Path of Radiance)

                 My reaction when playing Path of Radiance (a.k.a my first Fire Emblem game) for the first time: O_______O Holy crap! Titania is a 1 person army!

              I kind of wish that I hadn't gone along with the popular trend of that day of bashing pre-promotes but now that that train of thought has been changed my reaction to Titania is still the same after 10 years of playing Fire Emblem: Holy crap! Titania is a 1 person army!

               Titania, in Path of Radiance, is nothing short of a monster. She starts out her game being able to wield lances and axes, which are the best physical weapons in her game, and she just wrecks everything. Mekkah summed up her base stats beautifully when he said "33 HP/12 Str/14 Spd/11 Def turns Titania into an anything killer extraordinaire when some enemies are still trying to have a positive AS value. She can even take care of bosses on her own, and that's exactly what she should do to try and activate those beautiful growths." (http://serenesforest.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=29384&page=16)

              Titania may not dominate the weapon triangle like Marcus but she compensates by having better growths which means that her domination of Path of Radiance has been assured.

HP: 80 %
Strength: 45 %
Skill: 60 %
Speed: 50 %
Luck: 45 %
Defense: 40 %
Resistance: 45 %

             Dang son! Those growths are awesome! Are you sure she's not a growth unit? Those growth percentages are usually what you'd see for a growth unit. Just to add even more ridiculous to the table there's the Knight Ward's defense and resistance boosts along with a + 30 % speed growth. Let's also not forget that bonus experience exists in this game so you can get extra level-ups FOR FREEEEEEEEE! (yes I just referenced the movie "Bedtime Stories" with Adam Sandler in it. Despite hating Adam Sandler movies I actually liked that one)

                  
               Idk what else is left to say about Titania. She just dominates the game for forever and never stops being awesome. She would be # 1 if a certain red-head cavalier weren't even more ridiculous than her.

# 3 - Younger Marcus (FE 7)

                   Ah Marcus. Where do I begin? Marcus basically exemplifies everything that a powerful paladin / cavalier should have: High base stats, weapon triangle control and growths that allow him to stay powerful throughout the entire game. The primary ltc strategy for Fire Emblem 7 usually revolves around letting Marcus rush ahead and kill everything while everyone else stays behind and cleans up the left-overs.

              So what can be said about Marcus's base stats?

                 "Amazing. 15 str pretty much 2HKOs any generic enemy for the first half of the game (e.g. chapter 25 cavaliers have around 32 HP, 8 def to Marcus's 24 atk with Iron Axe and WTA), 11 spd doubles a huge portion of early-game enemies that hover around 6-7 AS, and 31 HP, 10 def allow Marcus to take an incredible amount of combat before succumbing" (dondon151 FE 7 character ratings: http://serenesforest.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=23766)

            Note: If dondon151 says amazing about something, you know it's going to be amazing because virtually nobody gets that kind of comment from him.

                  I should note that 11 speed is about as high as what Matthew gets at base and Matthew's a thief. Except unlike Matthew, Marcus has a horse, complete weapon triangle control and actual durability (Matthew is a scrub btw).

            Marcus starts out with an A rank in swords and lances and a B rank in axes. That's Percival level weapon ranks (except for an even better weapon rank in axes) except Marcus joins your army at the beginning of the game. Marcus can basically use any weapon he wants outside of Silver Axes and the regalia / S rank weapons. Marcus will probably be your first unit to use all of those weapons anyway just based on the fact that his weapon ranks are so much farther ahead of everybody else's.

                
                   Also being a prepromote has an advantage in a game where promotion items exist: He doesn't have to compete with anybody over who gets said promotion item. Also, many ltc players won't even get all of the promotion items because it costs too much turns. I realize that this applies to a good number of units on this list but for some weird reason I forgot to bring that up until now.

                The only reason why Marcus isn't higher on this list is primarily due to his growths (especially his speed growth). Marcus only has a 25 % speed growth so he's averaging 1 in 4 speed level-ups. Thankfully for Marcus this isn't as much of a problem for him as one might think due to the fact that FE 7 enemies and attack speed don't often mix so his base 11 speed will be enough to allow him to double scrubby generic enemies throughout the early and mid game. His defense growth is also really bad (15 %? Yuck!). Thankfully we have stat-boosters that rectify these problems but the thing is the two higher ranked cavaliers don't have this issue.

# 4 - Cavalier Chris (FE 12's My Unit)

             And now for the character that absolutely nobody saw coming: Chris, the My Unit from Fire Emblem 12 - Heroes of Light and Shadow. The rule for this list is that the most powerful version of a character can only make it on a list. Well, Chris has a lot of versions. Unlike Robin, Chris doesn't have a class unique to his/her self. You the player choose which class Chris starts out as and believe me there's a lot of different classes to choose from. Depending on who you talk to and what difficulty you're playing on there will usually be a different opinion on which class Chris should start out as. Cavalier is usually either the best or one of the best. As such, this is the class I'm choosing to go with. I may or not (probably not) choose to have another class involving Chris show up on a future list but for now, I'm going to assume the Cavalier class since that's arguably Chris's best class. Another reason why I may be choosing this class is because I'm biased towards it due to having recently completed a FE 12 playthrough with Chris being a cavalier (I named him Goku).

      

                       So now that we got the logistics out of the way you may be wondering why Chris is this high up. Well Chris is the first character on this list that's actually considered the best unit in his / her game. Up until now many of our other top tier cavaliers have been considered one of the best units in their games, but Chris actually is the best character in FE 12. Just look at any tier list of FE 12 and the top tier of that list will basically consist of all of Chris's different builds competing with each other for dominance. Sure you might see Mallesia and Catria up there but for the most part it's Chris that sits up there usually competing against all the different versions of himself.

                     Chris has perfect availability in FE 12 and basically gets 5 prologue chapters where he / she gets extensive amounts of training which is similar in a way to what Sain and Kent get in their game. Even in the harder difficulties of Fire Emblem 12 the optimal strategy revolves around rigging Chris's level-ups and letting him / her go to town on enemies while the rest of your army barely struggles to survive. The prologue also gives Chris the added benefit of having an actually good weapon rank once the prologue finishes.

(Here's the artwork for the female My Unit in FE 12. For reasons unknown to me the male cavalier is supposedly better than the female cavalier in terms of combat and in terms of artwork too. Could someone please explain this to me?)

                   Chris will also be your first character to actually be able to take 2 hits from an enemy. This is an outstanding accomplishment for a FE 12 character because nobody takes 2 hits from an enemy (ok this may be a bit of an exaggeration, but seriously durability is a foreign concept in this game. So is dodging). This problem is even more exacerbated in Lunatic or Reverse Lunatic mode where the enemies are even that much more ridiculous. Having a character be able to survive an enemy phase is a pretty big deal and Chris will be first character to actually do so. I think Mekkah said it best: "Sometimes what you need is someone who kills things without dying. And that's what MU is." 

                     Thanks to the way FE 12 is set up you the player can increase Chris's growth rates and will increase some of Chris's base stats further making him / her an awesome game-breaking unit. Serenesforest.net has all of the different growth rates and base stat increases so it's actually easy to make a really good My Unit. Mekkah also pointed out another nifty perk that Chris comes with:
               "A last minor but cool thing about My Unit is that he supports everyone in the game. Supports have never been that great in FEDS, but sometimes if you stack them while having WTA, you can get some pretty decent results that might just put you through an extra enemy phase."

                       So overall, Chris is unbelievably broken in one of the most difficult Fire Emblem games in the series. Heck, Chris is one of the most powerful units in the entire series beginning a tradition of broken My Unit characters that Kamui will probably continue.