SS weapon questions

[Areth]

I'm getting pretty close to the end of the game, and I'd like some suggestions as to who should use which SS weapons. Most of them I've already decided on (Soren WILL use Rexcalibur, since he's the only one who can...), but I'm having trouble deciding whether to let Edward use Alondite or Vague Katti. (He's the only one I groomed to be my high-end sword user [other than Ike, but he's kind of stuck with Ragnell...]), so I'm probably not going to be able to use one of the SS swords.

That said, I do have some idea as to who will use what. Other than my indecision as to which sword Edward will get, here's my planned endgame lineup as regards SS weapons:

Gatrie: Wishblade
Nolan: Urvan
Shinon: Double Bow
Sothe: Baselard
Soren: Rexcalibur
Sanaki: Rexflame
Micaiah: Rexaura

Any suggestions as to who would be better suited to which weapons? (And any suggestions as to whom else to groom for the other SS Sword? Just for future reference...)

[Neofox]

I personally say to bless Sanaki's Cymbeline since Rexflame is rather heavy for her. If Calill is an archsage, she is worth considering to give the Rexflame tome to since she's one of the few spellcasters that can reliably double, and the speed boost helps that. If you have a saint nearing an SS in light, you can have them use the Rexaura and have Micaiah have Nosferatu blessed.

For Edward, I say bless the Vague Katti and have him use the Alondite when not facing people with mantle. The Vague Katti is stronger, and none of the Mantle bosses move, so there's no pain in blessing it and using the Alondite against random enemies (since contrary to popular belief, units CAN use weapons other than the blessed one).

EDIT: As for an additional sword-user... Who else is there? If Mia or Zihark are nearing their 3rd tier, they're worth considering. Lucia is hard to train, and doesn't have the potential the other swordmasters have, but she's not a bad option, either (and Elincia's Mercy skill makes training her much easier... good thing they're on the same team). Likewise, Makalov makes an effective alternative if you like the fact he can also swap to axes if so needed.

[Demonkingty]

Lol, I gave Mist the Alondite, and she just fucking owned everyone. lulz.

[Haken]

Do you have any other axe users built up and nearing third tier? Reavers like Nolan are nice and all, but it can be hard to count on their speed or skill against the final bosses. I would suggest Jill, Brom or Haar.

[Somewhat Overcooked Cheese]

(Soren WILL use Rexcalibur, since he's the only one who can...)

Bastian can use it too, and from the start.

Do you have any other axe users built up and nearing third tier? Reavers like Nolan are nice and all, but it can be hard to count on their speed or skill against the final bosses. I would suggest Jill, Brom or Haar.

Nolan's strengths are skill and speed.  All the three you named there tend to have a problem with either of these stats ( Jill with Skill, the other 2 with speed )

As for the rest:

The Baselard can be very well used by Volke.  I'd give him Gamble and Wrath for additional skills and preferably a Heaven support ( like Tibarn or Stefan ).  Sothe is pretty much a weaker Swordmaster without the huge critical hit rate and he tends to be more fragile.  Use him to get the Matrona and ditch him.

You do have a few other established swordsmen.  Both Stefan and Renning can use an SS sword and have pretty good stats.  Stefan will probably double most enemies while Renning can give an Avoid support to someone who needs it.  If you don't want to use either of them, bless the Vague Katti for bosses and use the Alondite for common enemies.

[Neofox]

The Baselard can be very well used by Volke.  I'd give him Gamble and Wrath for additional skills and preferably a Heaven support ( like Tibarn or Stefan ).  Sothe is pretty much a weaker Swordmaster without the huge critical hit rate and he tends to be more fragile.  Use him to get the Matrona and ditch him.

Eeh, I'd rather keep Sothe as my Baselard user, if for nothing else to help Micaiah. His Bane skill is going to leave enemies alive, which is good for having Micaiah finish off to level instantly (and if my sources are correct, it should still count as a kill for Sothe as well). Their A-support bonuses aren't too shabby, either. I also don't see a problem with Sothe's durability, but then again, I don't see him as a Jeigan and therefore actively train him to level 20 before promotion. If one doesn't do that, I can see how he'd be a bit behind in that aspect.

EDIT: Oh yeah, and if you use Renning, give him Imbue. With it he should effectively be incapable of dying.

[Somewhat Overcooked Cheese]

Eeh, I'd rather keep Sothe as my Baselard user, if for nothing else to help Micaiah. His Bane skill is going to leave enemies alive, which is good for having Micaiah finish off to level instantly (and if my sources are correct, it should still count as a kill for Sothe as well). Their A-support bonuses aren't too shabby, either. I also don't see a problem with Sothe's durability, but then again, I don't see him as a Jeigan and therefore actively train him to level 20 before promotion. If one doesn't do that, I can see how he'd be a bit behind in that aspect.

Well, since I didn't find Sothe that good even with maxed stats, I just ditched him after part 3 for Nasir, since Volke had the Baselard anyway.  His critical bonus, better stats and better mastery skill easily beats Sothe's thief ability ( you could basically only steal items in part 1 and 2, and your only chest is in 1 ) and A support, and this last advantage can be equalled by Volke by 4-E-3.  I don't see Sothe much as a Jeigan, but Volke's a bit deadlier and Sothe's only role for me could be replaced by a chest key.

As for Micaiah, I let her fight a bit to get her SS in light, but she was mostly used for staves.  Rexaura is in better hands with Lehran once you get him while she gets his staff.

[Haken]

Nolan's strengths are skill and speed.  All the three you named there tend to have a problem with either of these stats ( Jill with Skill, the other 2 with speed )

I disagree. Most of the generals (except Meg) turn out capping speed, especially Gatrie. As for Nolan, he's just a better alternative compared to Boyd, as Jill usually turns up with excellent stats and can very well cap everything (even skill) and Haar is still fst enough to double most enemies.

Everyone gave good advice about the Alondite/Vague Katti usage, especially when it comes to the dragons. You might consider bringing in two Trueblades/Gold Knights to use both though.

Well, since I didn't find Sothe that good even with maxed stats, I just ditched him after part 3 for Nasir, since Volke had the Baselard anyway.  His critical bonus, better stats and better mastery skill easily beats Sothe's thief ability ( you could basically only steal items in part 1 and 2, and your only chest is in 1 ) and A support, and this last advantage can be equalled by Volke by 4-E-3.  I don't see Sothe much as a Jeigan, but Volke's a bit deadlier and Sothe's only role for me could be replaced by a chest key.

As for Micaiah, I let her fight a bit to get her SS in light, but she was mostly used for staves.  Rexaura is in better hands with Lehran once you get him while she gets his staff.

What do you see in Nasir?

Volke is better than Sothe in almost all areas, that is true, but I don't see the worth of bringing in another SS Knife user to just have a better Baselard accomodator. If there were two SS- Knives maybe, but... (Peshkatz isn't worth it).

Lehran does need a tome, that is true, but I think he'd be better off with Balberith. Pelleas has horrible accuracy, but Lehran has skill capped. Plus, Balberith has more might than Rexaura. (Or does it? Might as well check)

[Neofox]

Well, since I didn't find Sothe that good even with maxed stats, I just ditched him after part 3 for Nasir, since Volke had the Baselard anyway.  His critical bonus, better stats and better mastery skill easily beats Sothe's thief ability ( you could basically only steal items in part 1 and 2, and your only chest is in 1 ) and A support, and this last advantage can be equalled by Volke by 4-E-3.  I don't see Sothe much as a Jeigan, but Volke's a bit deadlier and Sothe's only role for me could be replaced by a chest key.

Volke's supports are always slow for me. Last time I used him be just barely got a B with someone by the final mission (don't remember who with). Volke is good, but A. I have trouble dropping a unit I've used literally the whole game until now, and B. it brings in another knife-user into the final chapter, and knives aren't exactly the best weapons in the world. I'd rather bring someone else, since the other weapon types have weapons other than the SS-rank ones worth blessing (or I could bring a laguz royal... not like there's any shortage of them).

And while we're at it, I'd personally rather not use too many dragons. As much as I like using laguz, they simply aren't as powerful as the story makes them out to be and can easily be doubled by spirits. I'd prefer to keep Sothe and his ability to double the spirits reliably without any outside assistance (something I like my final team as a whole to be able to do) and drop Ena for Nasir.

I disagree. Most of the generals (except Meg) turn out capping speed, especially Gatrie. As for Nolan, he's just a better alternative compared to Boyd, as Jill usually turns up with excellent stats and can very well cap everything (even skill) and Haar is still fst enough to double most enemies.

In terms of pure statistical averages, that's not true. You can BEXP-abuse people to be good in everything, but if we argue that then they can just use whoever they feel like using and be just dandy, rendering our entire little debate moot.

Pelleas has horrible accuracy, but Lehran has skill capped. Plus, Balberith has more might than Rexaura. (Or does it? Might as well check)

I'm pretty sure Pelleas doesn't have bad skill. He starts with 20 with a cap of 23 before promotion, so he starts out close to capping it. He also has a decent 45% growth in the stat. If you really think it's an issue though, you can support him with someone of wind or heaven affinity.

[Ayanami]

Volke's supports are always slow for me. Last time I used him be just barely got a B with someone by the final mission (don't remember who with). Volke is good, but A. I have trouble dropping a unit I've used literally the whole game until now, and B. it brings in another knife-user into the final chapter, and knives aren't exactly the best weapons in the world.

You do not have to bring Sothe in any chapter other that Rebirth (1).

-----

The characters that I would recommend to use the SS ranked weapons are...

Gatrie: Wishblade
Ike: Urvan
Rolf: Double Bow
Volke: Baselard
Soren: Rexcalibur
Callil: Rexflame
Laura/Lehran: Rexaura

Wishblade for Gatrie, because for his good speed growth that is 60% and that he can likely double with it. Urvan, for Ike, because this weapon does better damage than the Ragnell and that you cannot bless it (if Ike is equipeed with it.) because of the Ragnell that is needed to defeat the last boss. The Double Bow for Rolf, because he does far better damage than Shinon, overall, he is the best bow user in the game. Baselard for Volke, as he is the only Knife user in the game that has Leathality skill, and that overall he has alot better magic defense and attack power than Sothe. Callil should have the Rexflame tome as she is porbably the only character in the game to be able to double attack with it, as Neofox already pointed out.Rexaura for Laura, as she is possibly the only character in the game other than Lehran that can double with it. For the first four chapters of Rebirth, give it to Laura, and for the final chapter, give it to Lehran.

[UchihaHunter]

Here's my general opinion on the matter...

Volke in Endgame >>> Sothe in Endgame.  They're both Wind, so whatever support you need, either one can do, and if you're going to support a character with Volke, it's not hard to put them on Tibarn's team to start off the support...Volke also has the best critical bonus, and better stats than Sothe overall.  Even with all stats capped, Sothe isn't better than Volke during the Endgame...

The Marshalls capping speed is completely irrelevant as they have horrible speed caps...if you're going to use the Wishblade, ideally you'd use Nephenee or a Seraph Knight.

As already stated, Sanaki should probably get Cymbeline, unless she's unusually blessed with Strength, since it's light and it also does nearly as much damage.  As Neofox stated, Calill is your best option for Rexflame, based on stats and availability. 

Ike shouldn't get Urvan, since the extra damage is largely irrelevant for Ike, as he's a complete monster.  He already has Ragnell that must be blessed, so you might as well let him keep that.  Urvan could go to a relatively large number of people.  Titania is probably your best Axe Gold Knight, and Haar is completely indestructible.  Nolan caps just about every stat, and Boyd has pretty good strength.  You even have Jill and Kieran if you want more speed or more Hp/Str/Def, respectively. 

Double Bow is fine on Rolf, but in terms of training and stats, Shinon is better than Rolf.  It's also my opinion that his affinity is better than Rolf's as well.

Rexaura has never been extremely useful to me, but if you're going to use it, I'd suggest either Laura (with Adept, since she has the best speed outside of Lehran, IIRC), or Micaiah, since her Mag is ridiculous.  On the other hand though, I personally like to use Micaiah as an all-around staffer/Sacrificer to cure people of Silence and Sleep, etc., so Nosferatu would probably be better for her.

As far as broken Lehran, either Rexaura or Balberith are excellent for close combat, as he's simply God.

As far as the Dragons being weak, I agree that Ena is pretty subpar, and Gareth is slightly vulnerable since he has horrible resistance, but Nasir is a monster that cannot be killed!  Even without Nihil, he's completely fine if you give him Imbue.  In addition, he gives +5 Speed and Magic, both of which are useful in most situations.

As far as swords, I'd say that most of the sword users that you get are at least decent...the following are pretty damn good, and viable contenders for the Vague Katti and Alondite:

Stefan
Zihark
Mia
Eddie
Renning
Makalov
Elincia (she has Amiti, which is probably better for her, but she's still a monster with Alondite or the Vague Katti)
Lucia (the worst Trueblade, IMO, but that doesn't really mean much, considering how broken they are...)

As far as the use of the Vague Katti and the Alondite, I honestly think that Alondite > Vague Katti.  Probably because my sword user is generally one of the main ones fighting the bosses, and placing both of those swords on one character just to give them 2 more attack is just ridiculous in my mind, since I can sell it for like 10000G, right?  At the very least, you can give them to 2 different sword users, but that's up to you. 

[Neofox]

Volke in Endgame >>> Sothe in Endgame.  They're both Wind, so whatever support you need, either one can do, and if you're going to support a character with Volke, it's not hard to put them on Tibarn's team to start off the support...Volke also has the best critical bonus, and better stats than Sothe overall.  Even with all stats capped, Sothe isn't better than Volke during the Endgame...

Perhaps its just me, but I kinda like how from the start of the game to the end of it, Sothe has always specialized in helping train other units. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if he started a new FE tradition in that aspect, but that's besides the point... Personally, I find him particularly useful in the endgame because Micaiah is freshly promoted and will therefore need some help training, and as I just said, Sothe does that job rather well. His Guard helps keep her safe and doesn't take up any skill capacity, either.

I won't deny that Volke is good, but as stated before, the only knife that's really worth blessing is the Baselard. If you give it to Volke, Sothe is stuck with the Peshkatz, and until part 4 of the Endgame, you don't really have anyone else to take his character slot (and IMO, simply not using his slot is kind of a waste, and just having him stand around in each chapter when he has his uses is equally pointless). Volke is indeed a viable option, but I don't see why someone should be penalized for wanting to use Sothe instead.

As far as the Dragons being weak, I agree that Ena is pretty subpar, and Gareth is slightly vulnerable since he has horrible resistance, but Nasir is a monster that cannot be killed!  Even without Nihil, he's completely fine if you give him Imbue.  In addition, he gives +5 Speed and Magic, both of which are useful in most situations.

I would agree with this. That's why I generally drop Ena for Nasir. Kurthnaga also has some good potential, so I like to slap a Paragon on him and keep him on the team the whole time.

As far as the use of the Vague Katti and the Alondite, I honestly think that Alondite > Vague Katti.  Probably because my sword user is generally one of the main ones fighting the bosses, {...}

You're aware that trueblades can't harm Dheginsea, even with capped strength, without the Vague Katti, right?

Regardless, I agree that there's a ton of good swordusers worthy of bringing into the final chapter. As such, picking between the two probably isn't going to be that big a deal since you're most likely going to end up giving each one to a different unit for blessing.

[Somewhat Overcooked Cheese]

Perhaps its just me, but I kinda like how from the start of the game to the end of it, Sothe has always specialized in helping train other units. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if he started a new FE tradition in that aspect, but that's besides the point... Personally, I find him particularly useful in the endgame because Micaiah is freshly promoted and will therefore need some help training, and as I just said, Sothe does that job rather well. His Guard helps keep her safe and doesn't take up any skill capacity, either.

I'd say it depends of what job you want Micaiah to do.  I see you clearly prefer her as a fighter, while I prefer her as a healer instead.  Therefore, that is maybe a reason why I don't like Sothe that much, since he's not helping her healing a lot, except by guarding her.  However, if she gets damaged a bit, her healing staff should be good enough to give her back some HP ( Physic and Fortify restore 20 and 30 HP each ), and I always keep a few Sages for backup healing when needed.

I won't deny that Volke is good, but as stated before, the only knife that's really worth blessing is the Baselard. If you give it to Volke, Sothe is stuck with the Peshkatz, and until part 4 of the Endgame, you don't really have anyone else to take his character slot (and IMO, simply not using his slot is kind of a waste, and just having him stand around in each chapter when he has his uses is equally pointless). Volke is indeed a viable option, but I don't see why someone should be penalized for wanting to use Sothe instead.

Well...Volke does have a few other choices since he doesn't need the Baselard's power as much as Sothe does.  Criticals being one of his major strengths, he's fine with a Stiletto and they're buyable in case one breaks.  The accuracy would drop a bit if you Gamble, but Dragons are slow enough and Spirits don't require that to be killed.  You could just drop Gamble and have him try to kill his enemies in one hit with Lethality.

Alternatively, you could bless a basic forged Silver Knife.  The only thing Volke will lose there is his ability to activate Lethality, but his critical rate is so high ( I think 70 with the forged Silver Knife if you have the Seraph Feather card, substract around 20-25 for enemies' luck, and double that with Gamble ) I doubt it's going to matter.

Therefore, there are a few more candidates for knife blessing should you choose to use both knife users.

You're aware that trueblades can't harm Dheginsea, even with capped strength, without the Vague Katti, right?

Supports ( up to +2-3 depending of the said Trueblade ) and Ena's Blood Tide help, but I won't deny I prefer using Shinon for the job.

[Lord Fuckboy]

The Marshalls capping speed is completely irrelevant as they have horrible speed caps...if you're going to use the Wishblade, ideally you'd use Nephenee or a Seraph Knight.

Oscar?  His Spd/Skl cap quickly and he doubles slightly more than Gatrie, and +45 from Earth x Earth (Ike, anyone?  They come in near the same time, so they have plenty of time for the support to build up and, on top of that, the support is there for plenty of time) while having only one less point in the cap.  Because, due to BEXP, he can reach the cap in Strength quite easily.

Lucia (the worst Trueblade, IMO, but that doesn't really mean much, considering how broken they are...)

Unless you're really as bad as Lucia lol.  She's the only bad Trueblade by far.

[Neofox]

Unless you're really as bad as Lucia lol.  She's the only bad Trueblade by far.

To be fair, she'll hit her caps in speed, skill, and resistance pretty quickly. That should make it easier to use BEXP on her and bring up her strength.

[Lord Fuckboy]

But how she'll even get to that point is beyond my understanding - she's in for Part II where she barely gains EXP, and then getting killed easily by enemies in part IV.  She's quite a pill to level as a result.

[Neofox]

But how she'll even get to that point is beyond my understanding - she's in for Part II where she barely gains EXP, and then getting killed easily by enemies in part IV.  She's quite a pill to level as a result.

What are you talking about? I think she's actually pretty easy to train, mostly because she's on the perfect team for training up weaker units.

Elincia's Mercy always leaves enemies with 1 HP, which is more than enough for Lucia to finish them off. Have them and maybe a mage cover the western part of the starting point of chapter 4-2, and it shouldn't take too long for her to start gaining a decent amount of levels. Forged weapons also exist if you really think she needs more power to train.

EDIT: Oh yeah, and I'm pretty sure it can help if she kills all the tier-2 units in the mission where she is the commander. She'll probably just gain one level at most, but aside from Nephenee (and Leanne, but she doesn't fight), there's really nobody else in that mission that you're likely going to be using on a long-term basis.

[Lord Fuckboy]

If you're going to be using Lucia on a long-term basis, then why aren't you going to be using Brom or Heather...?  Both have just as much availability as Nephenee and a lot more than Lucia.

Elincia's Mercy always leaves enemies with 1 HP, which is more than enough for Lucia to finish them off. Have them and maybe a mage cover the western part of the starting point of chapter 4-2, and it shouldn't take too long for her to start gaining a decent amount of levels. Forged weapons also exist if you really think she needs more power to train.

That argument doesn't just apply to Lucia like you're making it seem; it is somewhat easy to say that x unit can be more powerful because they can be put on Elincia's route to finish off anyone remaining from Mercy.  Lucia shouldn't be given any special treatment by letting her hog all (of Elincia's) kills in the chapter.    And if you do this, you're giving her less room to grow with the benefit of BEXP.  Which leaves her strength crappy.

[Neofox]

If you're going to be using Lucia on a long-term basis, then why aren't you going to be using Brom...?

I don't quite understand... Relevance?

That argument doesn't just apply to Lucia like you're making it seem; it is somewhat easy to say that x unit can be more powerful because they can be put on Elincia's route to finish off anyone remaining from Mercy.  Lucia shouldn't be given any special treatment by letting her hog all (of Elincia's) kills in the chapter.    And if you do this, you're giving her less room to grow with the benefit of BEXP.

Where did I say that it only applied to Lucia? I even said that Elincia's team is the easiest one to train weaker units on, and Lucia just so happens to be a weaker unit.

As for stealing kills? Elincia doesn't need those kills. She's already a tier-3 unit with good stats. If anything she'd be the one stealing kills from other units that still need to reach their 3rd tiers if you were to remove Mercy and let her go on a rampage with the Amiti.

As for the BEXP part... Lucia has to actually hit her caps before she can benefit from BEXP. And what do you know? She starts out pretty close to her skill, speed, and resistance caps. She doesn't need THAT many levels to get to where you want her to be.

[Lord Fuckboy]

Hold up, before I continue; are you arguing that Lucia isn't as hard to build up as we give her credit for or are you arguing that she is a good unit?  Because I'm not going to bother with an argument that starts with a misunderstanding.