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Best: Reyson

Gotta go with the prince here, given Canto and his refreshing capacity. He's also integral to obtaining the Knight Ring in FE9, and his supports are so fun and help do a lot of building both backstory for the general universe and for him and his support partners. I love it.

Also, if you really want him to fight, he can. Did you guys forget about the Daemon, Reaper, and Spectre Cards in FE10? Reyson can use those.

Worst: Tethys

Unlike Lalum and Ethlin, her support options are less useful, she can't support any Lords, and she's a refresher unit in one of the easiest games in the series, and usually on pretty small maps. Her niche is a little less noteworthy as a result.

Sorry, hon, I love you, but the others are more objectively useful in their own games.

I actually didn't consider stats too much for the Lalum/Elphin/Tethys decision because all their growths make them very dodgy and they shouldn't be getting attacked anyway. Especially since they're defenseless, although they can probably dodge-tank to a small extent.

I would also point out the likelihood of them hitting level 20 is probably pretty low unless you're grinding for it.

And Elphin is bulkier, but Lalum is dodgier until they both cap Speed, but Lalum has the higher growth and base stat between the two. It might seem incredibly small, but Lalum has the lead in Speed until she caps at level 14 going by her averages and Elphin doesn't hit the cap until level 17. I don't think either of them would get to those levels in the first place, though unless you're intentionally slowing down to level them up. Lalum's affinity makes her dodgier AND bulkier simultaneously, it's also worth noting, while Elphin's makes him bulkier, but not dodgier as well. They both perform the role nearly equally as well though. And again, I don't think the stats matter too much in this instance given the nature of the class for these entries.

I can't help but feel that this is toward me since I used the sweatdrop emote in my worst part. sweatdrop

But anyway, while it seemed that I "go with the crowd" about Tethys, I did do my research about the refresh units that I had played before making the post. I can't comment about Elphin and Lalum since I haven't play the games they're in. And truth be told, I was thinking about voting Leanne as my worst, but I didn't. The reason why I didn't vote Leanne as worst is not because of her usefulness (aka: Blessing, Canto, etc.) The reason why I didn't vote her is because... Well... I hadn't play FULLY on Radiant Dawn. She was pretty mediocre when I used her at the beginning. However, I can't judge her like that if I only played partial of the game. That would be like making a decision of how the cake is tasted when it's only half-baked.

So while I'm aware that Tethys is a decent unit, I'm still standing by my vote due to my experience. So my apologies if you disagree with my decision.

While I was addressing one post in particular, I was speaking broadly for anybody that hasn't voted yet, not accusing people who have already voted of going with the crowd.

Also, Isadora (and some others), you underestimate the ability to objectively evaluate units just because you haven't played the game or only played part of it. I haven't played 5 passed chapter 2, but I still look up information on characters for each round the best I can. And if people who have played come in and make a strong case for the character, I'll evaluate it, compare, and possibly agree even without having played. For some rounds that doesn't work though, because there's too much subjectivity going on, where the vote is based upon personal experience and opinion rather than pure objective evaluation. However, when one has the ability to get the answers required for voting, such as comparing units, Serenes is the main tool to use, not one's memory of the game, thereby negating the requirement of playing it, though it does help.

You are correct FD, our refreshers hardly ever cap levels unless we're grinding for it, and they all perform their duties just about as well. (Although, if the tactician were to mess up, Tethys has the best chance of surviving- I'm especially fond of that 'high' res) I was mostly posting the growths and stats because I read a reason somebody had voted Tethys was for lower growths, which is clearly false. They've recognized the error now, however.

Sorry to say but this week's best/worst will be delayed until I get back from class tomorrow. I forgot for a while and then I got distracted, plus I don't have a topic for this week. The other unfortunate thing is that it will cause the topic to be shorter this week. There is still time however to get votes in and talk about last week's topic.

-Mel

Best: Anima

something magical. Can't decide what type of tome to vote for, but constant 1-2 range is simply inherently superior to all other types of weapons by such a wide margin it takes them to the top of the pack. Other types of weapons have certain 1-2 options but they're generally lacking in durability and are also substantially weaker. That tomes also attack what is usually the lower defensive stat as well seals that deal. As for which to vote for, which type is best depends highly the game, so I'll have to think about how they measure up overall.

Worst: Bows

'Dat perpetual lack of 1-range has curses them to this position. This is not saying they are useless or even "bad" or that all bow users suck.

But just looking at how each weapon type functions, even with their occasional niche uses and selling points, cumulatively and objectively they're bound to fall to the bottom.

Send your condolences to the mono-bow units. Those poor, poor souls.

I have a question.

Only in some of the games is "anima" an entire school of magic that includes all elements. However, I wouldn't vote that school of magic best (at least not at the time). What if I wanted to vote for FE4/5 wind magic or FE9/10 thunder magic, for instance? Am I correct in saying that if I want to talk about things like that, I would have to vote for the specific element of magic and not just the all-purpose "Anima?"

How is it under the same roof if you have distinct weapon ranks for all of them, though? And in FE4/10, specifically, you have units that can't even wield all of the types at once.