u/ImperialSynthesizer

The real Sothis is not dead, it was basically confirmed in conversations with Fortuna that the “Sothis” killed in the Red Canyon of Fodlan was just a simulacrum. If the real Sothis had been attacked/killed, it would have caused another Great Undoing level event.

Peter’s personal skill is one of the best in the game though. Both of them have great usability despite subpar stat spreads

He can’t use mounted classes.

I think she has the best all-around kit as an anti-mage support unit. And there are definitely some late game maps which appreciate that even on just Hard mode. You can either go Armor Knight with high Res, or go Guardian/Sentinel for Ward and Physic. Sentinel starts to get really silly if you can splash into War Monk for its mastery combat art that lets you attack and use assist magic in the same turn.

She’s not flashy, but she occupies a niche.

Ninae does not get Armored Move+, only Armored Move. I still think she’s one of the best candidates for a mixed tank, but it’s worth noting. She won’t be quite as speedy as Buccar. I think there’s also a case for Armor Knight early on, but going Guardian/Sentinel later. She gets access to Physic and Ward, which basically means she has the ultimate anti-mage support kit. If you’re able to splash into War Monk for the mastery before going back to Sentinel, she can do some really busted nonsense.

I think I have to disagree here. Io may get access to better growths than other units, but that only really starts to kick in after a while because of how slow the mount bond takes to grow without Cai’s feeding mechanic.

The real killer for Io is that his base stats when first recruited are abysmal compared to other units once they reach similar levels. And it doesn’t take very long for units to reach level parity with him. 

Is he without a niche? No, he can be useful in the right circumstances. But I think he’s realistically gonna be benched by part 2/3 in most playthroughs. Basically, he’s a Jagen unit in a game without the need for a Jagen (maybe once maddening releases, who knows).

Agree with you except the 3 classes you listed have some of the best growths in that tier.

Bird time really isn’t necessary at all. It’s a slog, and the mechanic is basically like modern Pokemon games where they will “tough it out” for you. If you feel you need that assistance, by all means use bird time, but you have access to so many rewinds and other powerful tools via Divine Sand that in all honesty, it isn’t necessary.

It’s mostly talking about permanent stat increases you can get by certifying in a class where your stats are below the minimums for the class. For example, if you have less than 10 defense, certifying into Armor Knight will bump you to 10. Priest will bump your Res below 10, etc. Even if you don’t intend to use the class, you keep those stats permanently (not including the additional stats provided by just being in a class). It was a lot stronger to do this in 3H as the minimums were higher, but you can still spend a seal to give someone like +3 in a stat in this game.

She is quite good if you take her the Charioteer > Elephant Rider route. The downside is that, well, nearly any character can succeed in those classes. Outside of Elephant Rider, her personal skill is nearly useless. Cavalry Pass sounds great on paper, but you can get movement so ludicrously high in this game due to mount mechanics that there’s hardly any need for the skill unless you are a 2x2 unit.

Yes, but also Part 3 accounts for the fewest (and least impactful) levels in the game. When your stats are in the 10s, 1 stat point is a significant marginal improvement. When your stats are 30s to 40s, 1 stat point is worth a lot less.

I think Charioteer (for the class mastery ability) + Armor Knight (for Atk/bulk) into Elephant rider definitely has some appeal. Charioteer definitely helps her Dex issues, but at the end of it all idk if she’d have much Atk to do much still.

Definitely worth grabbing a bunch of extra Ferghanan horses, some black pegasus, Bau, and maybe red Meganius. At the start of part 3, most of your units will still be limited to advanced classes just due to seal availability. At the end of the day, you just want to have at least 1 mount for every unit that needs one, even if it's not the "perfectly optimal" one. Yes, there are better mount types you can get in act 3, but they can take some time to acquire in any volume. So it's good to have a different mount in the meantime.

He’s very classic FE-coded. Random early villain with no character relevance to the story, becomes your best combat unit, refuses to elaborate, leaves.

Did you not see the cutscene in Theodora’s route? Balor definitely deserved what he got.

I do think that as a combat unit Ninae is pretty bad, but making her a priest/bishop has some merits. She’s fine as a physic/ward bot and I think her personal skill (+hit/avoid to nearby teammates against mages) may come in a lot handier on maddening when that releases, just to dodge Bolting spam. She’s one of the few units in the game with a personal skill that helps other units.

Fwiw random skirmishes do actually provide loot in monster meats and bullions from mummies. But it’s so minor that there’s no big reason to seek them out for that reason.

Yep, it’s one of the best advanced classes. Not just the growths, but the class stat boosts. You lose access to swords but in exchange take a lot of pressure off other casters from being relegated to heal bots. The number of mounted units running around later acts is crazy. IMO Shido, Guardian, and Dreadnought are the best non-mounted melee classes by a country mile.

Wdym, he is an absolute beefcake? His overblaze abilities give him +20 to Prt or Res. He turns into a stonewall of your choosing any time you need.

Overlapping is fine, I agree. But the difference is, you don’t have to make that concession with physical units. You are drowning in neutral units that can fit into any type of physical role without overlap if you want. But mages are the exception, which is why it feels weird. 

The non-mounted units definitely have better stats and growths compared to non-Cai mounts, but certain maps really push you to at least have a few mounted units. And in general those non-Cai mounted classes just feel kinda mediocre, which is disappointing considering half of the advanced classes are mounted.

Yeah there are a lot of units who do not get armored move. That said, the replacement effects are usually almost as good. Dex+ and Res+ both really help with accuracy or mage issues. At the end of the day, move isn’t terribly important on any one single unit. And there’s very few maps where you’re incentivized to low turn count.

Unless your speed stat is absolutely blessed for your Ninae, I think it's better to not try and patch it too much. Her base Str and Dex are already low enough that you really should be focusing on boosting those. She'll end up fast enough to not get doubled by medium speed enemies, but she won't double much beyond armor knights either. Your Cai route experience should probably not be taken as the litmus test if you had her in mounted classes, because mounted unit growths are just cracked beyond belief in that route.

Sadly, I think Ninae is going to come out as a lower tier unit overall. Her growths in general are just subpar compared to a lot of other units, and her personal skill is mid at best. That combined with the late recruitment window is a tough sell unfortunately.

Edit: forgot to recommend an intermediate class, Armored Ornius and Pugilist are both solid. Pugilist in general has really good growths if you can stick it out with just fist weapons till 35.