Laguz Discussion

[The Paladin]

Well, I'd rather use characters I've used... Or ones I like (I used Giffca... >_>)

I don't care if you used Giffca; I only say that Laguz=/=useless.

That indeed makes him useless then: you're not using him... Yet he is rape, so he clearly isn't.

Considering the laguz outnumber their side by about 3 or 4 to 1...

But they aren't taking them out in "one round"... It's two per beorc; even the sages. (AFAIHS) Oh, but then Shinon/Gatrie/Boyd/Titania/Ike/Soren?/Mia?/Rhys? can do that too...

No, I'm only talk about Skrimir and Ranulf, who one-round everything they fought against; Ike and Co. aren't until the endgame, where everyone is doing fine.

If they let an enemy fight them?

Yes, and...

Turn one: Use Olivi Grass
Turn two: Move Laguz into a bunch of enemies, then use Olivi Grass again. And IIRC, that method is still cheaper than weapons.

Ulki, Skrimir, and fully supported Volug w/o Wildheart can move into a bunch of enemies without the grass, and transform after a couple of fights while the enemies missing/not doing a whole lot of damage to them.

[Neofox]

Not really... I beat the game without using them for anything I didn't have other units that could do the same thing but better. >_>

Why are you constantly ignroing me when I state that their raw stats trump those of most beorc units? But if you want to play that way, fine. In FE6, Lot averages over 20 defence as a warrior. Bors averages the same as a General. They're both tanks, yes, but does Bors's class automatically make him the superior one of the two? No, no it does not.

Maybe you researched how to play first, because I wanted to use everyone... >_> So I had few good units.

I just used who I liked and only them.

That's like saying level 15 Vanessa > level 4 Tana in raw stats. >_>

...The hell? We're comparing Ranulf's level 40 stats to everyone else's level 20/20/20 stats. What does that have to do with anything?

You gave him B EXP.

What does that have to do with anything? Lots of units were given BEXP. In fact, I think everyone was upgraded so that they were close to their next level-up.

Don't forget they aren't transformed all the time...

Are you ignoring my posts? If not, give reason why my arguments that you can use items to deal with this problem doesn't work. Otherwise you're basically saying that the items exist, but I'm not allowed to use them (which is stupid, for obvious reason).

I'm kind of tired of repeating...

Than stop ignoring my arguements and you wouldn't have to, since if you were paying attention you'd see I already proved that argument does nothing for you.

Healers can err- heal. More than Vulneraries... >_>

What does that have to do with anything? Are you forgetting your own arguments now?

If you have him only countering and eating up items, he's not going to get a lot of EXP, and you'll beat chapters very slowly and inefficiently. >_>

Where did I say that I did that every chapter? We're only talking about chapter 1 here. Stop putting words in my mouth.

Then he's not attacking and killing himself...

I specifically said he lured them one at a time. Try not selectively reading my arguements next time.

Add them all together, add the other laguz items = tons of money

Will you stop with telling me to sell the laguz items already? You haven't proven that the laguz are useless, and therefore have not proven the items are better off sold. Also, no, vulneraries are not better off sold either, because you can't always rely on a healer being nearby to heal wounded units.

Eddie is still fragile and dying in two hits when Laura joins.

What does this have to do with anything?

Look up how B EXP works

I know how it works. How is it relevant to the discussion?

Only when transformed and being an EXP black hole unless fighting an enemy a way higher level yes.

Do you enjoy disregarding my arguments for no reason?

They're still pretty unreliable compared to beorc... >_>

You control when they transform and, to a point, when they can change back. You get plenty of items to have better control over their transformation, why not use them? And don't say because they're better off sold, because you haven't proven that yet.

And protecting something vs. having another reliable unit... Hmmm...

See above.

...Or I can give them to units like Mist and Micaiah that want more EXP then they get and just not use laguz...

Micaiah doesn't need it. If you have problems training a unit that comes in chapter 1, something is wrong. Mist I'll give you, but that leaves 2 other Paragons to give out, so there's nothing wrong with having at least one laguz on your team to give it to. It solves the EXP problem you won't stop bitching about, they will average well despite how much you ignore the averages in the very document you provided to me near the start of the debate, and will prove to be competent fighters throughout the game.

No. Even on Easy, there were truly useless people and ones that I did not even touch. >_>

This is so stupid I don't know how to react to it. I used both Ranulf and Lyre on NORMAL mode and they were very powerful assets to my team, Ranulf especially since he started out so strong. If I can use them on normal without any problems whatsoever, there's no way they're useless on easy.

As I said, if you don't like laguz that's totally fine, but saying they're useless units is just plain dumb when their averages clearly state otherwise.

That wasn't my point at all... I mean people that can kill the enemy without dying/taking much/any damage.

The laguz are among these people. Your point?

...Duh? But no. It's more like saying... You have 10 people that can kill the enemy in a turn. You get another. Is he useful? Not really...

The same argument could be given with Athos. You don't have to use him, you have lots of others who can do his jobs just fine, but there's nothing wrong with a unit who statistically overshadows most units. Even you admit you used Giffca.

And leadership stars only affect people under ___'s control. IIRC he's under Ike's control.
...

I'll try to leave The Paladin's arguments to The Paladin, but I want to state here that you're wrong. Lucia's authority stars affected my final team and she's not the leader.

[kryptonite]

That indeed makes him useless then: you're not using him... Yet he is rape, so he clearly isn't.

>_> Did you ignore what I just said? Or not quote it?

Just because he's better than your units that rape the enemies anyways doesn't mean auto-useful... You already have everyone you trained. >_>

No, I'm only talk about Skrimir and Ranulf, who one-round everything they fought against; Ike and Co. aren't until the endgame, where everyone is doing fine.

I'm pretty sure that they're a high level there... But I dunno.

Ulki, Skrimir, and fully supported Volug w/o Wildheart can move into a bunch of enemies without the grass, and transform after a couple of fights while the enemies missing/not doing a whole lot of damage to them.

Hmmm... I don't think that's true... Even on Easy mode, Skirmir got massacred when not transformed... I was so disappoiinted. >_>

Why are you constantly ignroing me when I state that their raw stats trump those of most beorc units?

Don't forget that they need to transform and get more EXP... I know I've said it before, but all three make them more appealing to me...

...The hell? We're comparing Ranulf's level 40 stats to everyone else's level 20/20/20 stats. What does that have to do with anything?

I realize that the quote chains are getting long, but it was base Ranulf vs. 20/15 Shinon (and etc.).

What does that have to do with anything? Lots of units were given BEXP. In fact, I think everyone was upgraded so that they were close to their next level-up.

Well, no wonder you don't know that laguz gain utterly mediocre EXP when tranformed...

Are you ignoring my posts? If not, give reason why my arguments that you can use items to deal with this problem doesn't work.

No... You still need to use two turns to transform even with the items thing. Unless you have an enemy attac them as well.

Where did I say that I did that every chapter? We're only talking about chapter 1 here. Stop putting words in my mouth.

kk Eddie is 2HKOed until I guess about chapter 5 or 6. Is he eating up items for Prologue-chapter 4-5?

I specifically said he lured them one at a time. Try not selectively reading my arguements next time.

He is STILL 2HKOed by the enemy he is attacking. Therefore, you either had him sit there and use healing items or had Micaiah heal him.

You haven't proven that the laguz are useless, and therefore have not proven the items are better off sold.

I've beaten the game without using them (positively). When I did use them, they were more of a liability than a benefit. Personal experience, yes, but unless you can prove that the game is impossible without using laguz...

I know how it works. How is it relevant to the discussion?

B EXP is better used on units with capped stats

You control when they transform and, to a point, when they can change back.

But the fact that they have to build up a gague and transform at all...

Micaiah doesn't need it. If you have problems training a unit that comes in chapter 1, something is wrong.

Micaiah doesn't promote the second time until chapter 4-endgame[/s], so she's 20/20/1 when everyone else is probably around 20/20/10. Needs EXP? I think so.

but that leaves 2 other Paragons to give out, so there's nothing wrong with having at least one laguz on your team to give it to.

Geoffery... If yo're using him, he's probably just promoted by the time you get him back in chapter 4-5, so he's almost as low a level as Micaiah.

But I guess if you don't use Geoffery (or Mist), you have Paragons to spare...

I used both Ranulf and Lyre on NORMAL mode and they were very powerful assets to my team, Ranulf especially since he started out so strong. If I can use them on normal without any problems whatsoever, there's no way they're useless on easy.

It's not that they had problems (other than EXP going up by so little killing enemies that would have given __ double digits). It's that they didn't have a use. I had plenty of other fighters that could kill the enemy (for GOOD EXP). Hence, "useless." However, on Easy, your units do get more EXP, and are therefore better, so that would only make them MORE useless on Easy (I can't imagine laguz getting worse EXP than on Easy already, but it's possible...)

As I said, if you don't like laguz that's totally fine, but saying they're useless units is just plain dumb when their averages clearly state otherwise.

No, I like laguz. I was interested when they supposedly double thir stats" when transformed, so I was planning to use a few... But then I was so disappointed when I didn't get what I expected...

The laguz are among these people. Your point?

So are beorc, and not only "sometimes." =D

The same argument could be given with Athos. You don't have to use him, you have lots of others who can do his jobs just fine, but there's nothing wrong with a unit who statistically overshadows most units. Even you admit you used Giffca.

His 30 damage with Luna pretty much overshadows most magic users, his Fortify can cover literally the entire screen, he massacres Nergal with ease, and the Dragon as well. I guess if you were lucky with Canas or Nino (or maybe Pent/Erk/Serra/Lucius), they could be almost as good, but they can't have 30 Mag, S in all magics (Forblaze, Luna, Aureola). You have to use him anyways (he's forced). For healing, others can come close enough that it doesn't matter, but Serra/Lucius can't match him in Mag for Aureola, Canas is his only competition for Luna (and he's optional), and the Mages have less Mag and can't use Forblaze. Oh, and he's a Godsend to people that used everyone. >_> But I guess Cainghis/Giffca/Tibarn could be that last one too...

Giffca was kind of useless for me, because I got him to level 40 and never touched him again because I wanted more 20/20/20s, but...

I'll try to leave The Paladin's arguments to The Paladin, but I want to state here that you're wrong. Lucia's authority stars affected my final team and she's not the leader.

http://boards.gamefaqs.com/gfaqs9/genmessage.php?board=932999&topic=40015409

"If you aren't the leader, your stars mean nothing. This applies to both your side and the enemy's side."

i dunno lol

If you can prove that laguz are somehow essential and aren't "just another physical unit (that is slightly better but needs to transform and/or use items)"... But I just don't see (non-royal) laguz as anything more of a "novelty" unit... >_>

[skeptical]

Attempting to dismiss all non-royal laguz as "novelty" is just your worthless generalizing opinion and doesn't constructively lend to this discussion, definitely no more than peppering your posts with too-cool-for-school “<_<”s. It doesn't matter how essential you may or may not consider them, it just displays your voluntary ignorance of their battle performance and utility when available, lumping some of the game's best units in the same boat as some of the absolute worst like that. Nobody cares how much you brag about selling transformation items, because Fire Emblem Planet has outlined how all laguz are cheaper than beorc anyway. The objective of the game is to beat it as efficiently as possible with a variety of units, not play favorites or gorge oneself on EXP. If a given laguz unit can raep an enemy harder in one round than a given beorc by whatever amount, carping about both being interchangeable due to the result isn't saying a thing. It won't change the fact that the former is still better.

As for those non-royals in question:

Nasir, Nealuchi and Lethe are bleh, Ena and Gareth are even worse, Vika/Kyza/Lyre are simply horrendous.

But Volug is clutch for first act Dawn Brigade levelling, Muarim and Mordecai make okay tanks, Kurthnaga is somewhat tolerable to develop.

And then half of the laguz in this game are awesome, which includes Giffca, Ranulf, Ulki, Janaff, Skrimir and the herons.

[The Paladin]

>_> Did you ignore what I just said? Or not quote it?

Just because he's better than your units that rape the enemies anyways doesn't mean auto-useful... You already have everyone you trained. >_>

I'm not using Pent when I get him just because I'm using Erk.
I'm not using Harken because I'm using Raven.
I'm not using Athos when he's a bit better than the other magic users.
I'm not using Seth cause he pwns.
I'm not using FE9 Titania, Stefan and Tanith because they rape when they join too.
I'm not using FE10 Stefan, Volke, and Renning because I have other units.
I'm not using Laguz Royals because they are the best units in the game.

Are any of those units bad? Hell no. They're just lategame/overlvled units that are very good.

So lolwut? ?

I'm pretty sure that they're a high level there... But I dunno.

Another advantage for Laguz: They don't need to gain that much lvls and still pwn.

Hmmm... I don't think that's true... Even on Easy mode, Skirmir got massacred when not transformed... I was so disappoiinted. >_>

60+ HP and 50% DEF growth ftw. He only needs to fight 3 times to tranform. Skirmir for teh high tier.

Attempting to dismiss all non-royal laguz as "novelty" is just your worthless generalizing opinion and doesn't constructively lend to this discussion, definitely no more than peppering your posts with too-cool-for-school “<_<”s. It doesn't matter how essential you may or may not consider them, it just displays your voluntary ignorance of their battle performance and utility when available, lumping some of the game's best units in the same boat as some of the absolute worst like that. Nobody cares how much you brag about selling transformation items, because Fire Emblem Planet has outlined how all laguz are cheaper than beorc anyway. The objective of the game is to beat it as efficiently as possible with a variety of units, not play favorites or gorge oneself on EXP. If a given laguz unit can raep an enemy harder in one round than a given beorc by whatever amount, carping about both being interchangeable due to the result isn't saying a thing. It won't change the fact that the former is still better.

As for those non-royals in question:

Nasir, Nealuchi and Lethe are bleh, Ena and Gareth are even worse, Vika/Kyza/Lyre are simply horrendous.

But Volug is clutch for first act Dawn Brigade levelling, Muarim and Mordecai make okay tanks, Kurthnaga is somewhat tolerable to develop.

And then half of the laguz in this game are awesome, which includes Giffca, Ranulf, Ulki, Janaff, Skrimir and the herons.

Yep, I basically read Leaf's and Sentenel's posts, too. I knew Laguz were good before that, I just wanted to see some support for them because in the beginning, everyone was like "l4guz r leik n00b l0lz."

Btw, Tigers suck. Lol Mordecai's speed growth. Muarim would be great with playing time.

[Neofox]

Don't forget that they need to transform and get more EXP... I know I've said it before, but all three make them more appealing to me...

Then stop ignoring my posts, dammit! I've gone over ways to deal with these things, yet you totally ignore them

I realize that the quote chains are getting long, but it was base Ranulf vs. 20/15 Shinon (and etc.).

That was the later comparisons you made and we were discussing the endgame level ones you made... Regardless, stats are what matter, not level. Something you showed that Ranulf beats them in.

Well, no wonder you don't know that laguz gain utterly mediocre EXP when tranformed...

What are you talking about? I admitted several times that they gain EXP slower than other units, and therefore are worthy of things like Paragon to help them level. Stop putting words in my mouth!

No... You still need to use two turns to transform even with the items thing. Unless you have an enemy attac them as well.

Two turns at the start, once they transform you can use the grass to sustain their animal form if the meter starts to run low, but chances are you probably won't have to. My laguz performed just fine without items because I timed use of them so that they would be able to transform when needed, and if there would be downtime they'd revert and preserve the meter.

kk Eddie is 2HKOed until I guess about chapter 5 or 6. Is he eating up items for Prologue-chapter 4-5?

We're talking about the first chapter... what do all those have to do with anything?

I've beaten the game without using them (positively). When I did use them, they were more of a liability than a benefit. Personal experience, yes, but unless you can prove that the game is impossible without using laguz...

If beating the game without them makes them useless, then paladins are useless because you can beat the game without using them. Swordmasters are useless because you can beat the game without them. Magic users are useless because you can beat the game without them. Starting to see my point, here?

B EXP is better used on units with capped stats

Um... still, how is that relevant to this discussion?

But the fact that they have to build up a gague and transform at all...

How many times must I repeat myself? Stop ignoring my posts and make points that I haven't countered.

Micaiah doesn't promote the second time until chapter 4-endgame, so she's 20/20/1 when everyone else is probably around 20/20/10. Needs EXP? I think so.

Meh. She was only level 20/20/10 by the end of my first play and survived just fine, so why does she need too much training? She's best as a healer anyways, because her speed stat isn't exactly suited for combat, what with all the 30+ AS enemy units that are in the tower...

Geoffery... If yo're using him, he's probably just promoted by the time you get him back in chapter 4-5, so he's almost as low a level as Micaiah.

Wrong. I trained him just fine in that chapter without it. He gains a ton of EXP from the laguz in that chapter as it is, Paragon makes it redundant.

Besides, one probably wouldn't even want to use him in the first place since you only have him for like... 4 chapters before the endgame.

It's not that they had problems (other than EXP going up by so little killing enemies that would have given __ double digits). It's that they didn't have a use.

To you. Read my final chapter team; Lyre was one of the units responsible for bringing the final boss down to beatable size for Ike. She and Ranulf tore up those final chapters with ease.

I had plenty of other fighters that could kill the enemy (for GOOD EXP). Hence, "useless." However, on Easy, your units do get more EXP, and are therefore better, so that would only make them MORE useless on Easy (I can't imagine laguz getting worse EXP than on Easy already, but it's possible...)

I already gave ways to deal with the low EXP gain.

No, I like laguz. I was interested when they supposedly double thir stats" when transformed, so I was planning to use a few... But then I was so disappointed when I didn't get what I expected...

Explain.

So are beorc, and not only "sometimes." =D

You can control when the "sometimes" takes place, so that really doesn't matter here.

Oh, and he's a Godsend to people that used everyone. >_> But I guess Cainghis/Giffca/Tibarn could be that last one too...

Precisely.

-link-

You're trusting someone from gameFAQs over the personal experience of someone here? IOS's too, since he made a team of everyone with authority stars and said that in total they all gave his team +190% dodge and hit.

And that explination makes no sense. If authority stars only work when that unit is the leader, why do units who are never the leader like Sanaki, the laguz royals, etc. have them?

If you can prove that laguz are somehow essential and aren't "just another physical unit (that is slightly better but needs to transform and/or use items)"...

Beorc need items, too. They're called "weapons". Maybe you've heard of them?

I've already said how 90% of units in the game aren't essential if you want to argue that, so that's not a legitimate argument.

But I just don't see (non-royal) laguz as anything more of a "novelty" unit... >_>

And that's a stupid generalization for reasons that Skeptical pointed out. You keep saying they're useless because they can do the same as any other physical unit, but as I said before, that's stating the obvious and doesn't help you in any way.

[Tiltyu]

Vika/Kyza/Lyre are simply horrendous.

Just thought I'd note, being underleveled doesn't make them "horrendous", especially considering they have some of the best Laguz growths. (Though, I'm clueless as to why Beezes MAG is so high compared to her STR..)

[Neofox]

Don't ravens still have that Vortex spell?

And Kyza and Lyre aren't that bad. Their transformed stats are sufficient for the chapters they first appear in (same one Ranulf becomes available in, I might add), and their low level works in their favor because that means they gain better EXP.

[kryptonite]

No, they have a Maelstrom Skill instead...

I'm kind of sick of this, because no one will move an inch. >_> So I give up. D:

But I'm not the only one that thinks laguz could be done better:
http://boards.gamefaqs.com/gfaqs9/genmessage.php?board=932999&topic=39957273

If you want, you can argue with them there... >_>

Attempting to dismiss all non-royal laguz as "novelty" is just your worthless generalizing opinion and doesn't constructively lend to this discussion, definitely no more than peppering your posts with too-cool-for-school “<_<”s.

Huh?

Nobody cares how much you brag about selling transformation items, because Fire Emblem Planet has outlined how all laguz are cheaper than beorc anyway.

Brag? And I don't go to FEP...

The objective of the game is to beat it as efficiently as possible with a variety of units, not play favorites or gorge oneself on EXP.

I don't think using laguz would be more efficient... But eh.

If a given laguz unit can raep an enemy harder in one round than a given beorc by whatever amount, carping about both being interchangeable due to the result isn't saying a thing. It won't change the fact that the former is still better.

I'm kind of sick of this, but... Beorc can "raep an enemy harder in one round" than a given laguz on many rounds too, and the difference is higher...

I'm not using Pent when I get him just because I'm using Erk.
I'm not using Harken because I'm using Raven.
I'm not using Athos when he's a bit better than the other magic users.
I'm not using Seth cause he pwns.
I'm not using FE9 Titania, Stefan and Tanith because they rape when they join too.
I'm not using FE10 Stefan, Volke, and Renning because I have other units.
I'm not using Laguz Royals because they are the best units in the game.

IIRC Pent is a bit higher level than your team when he joins...
Harken joins at around the same level as your units IIRC, so...
Athos joins in the last chapter... >_>
People shouldn't use Seth for fighting until the other units are at least 15/0 so he isn't as much of an EXP drain... <_<
Titania and Stefan (and maybe Tanith too) are also EXP drains for some time...
Well, they join so late... You probably used Mia and Eddie already, Sothe is required and can do almost everything Volke can, and Renning, well, isn't that good and you have, like, 7 other paladins... >_>
...because you have ___ other units that are perfectly fine? I didn't say not to use them or they were bad at all... just that they didn't have much use... IMO at least. >_>

Explain.

?

I was going to use Ranulf (decided not to use Mordy), Ulki, and Giffca, but when I got Ranulf (actually, it was Volug at first), I was appalled at how little EXP he was gaining compared to my other units, so I dropped him (and Volug), planning to use Ranulf later, but he still got only meh-ish EXP even in the chapter with Izuka, so I got Tibarn to level 40 (by countering) and dropped Ranulf completely. <_<

Err- And when I fed them EXP and levelled up in the chapter, they gained nothing but HP and Luck most of the time... >_>; So I used B EXP a bit for them, but they suck B EXP away.

And their gauge built up really slowly (when not using items, jut waiting), so my other characters could kill most of the enemies before they could transform....

Ulki got killed, so...

But Giffca was good and even countered well when untransformed (with Resolve >_>), yeah (although I had to drop Calill to make room for him D:)...

You're trusting someone from gameFAQs over the personal experience of someone here? IOS's too, since he made a team of everyone with authority stars and said that in total they all gave his team +190% dodge and hit.

And that explination makes no sense. If authority stars only work when that unit is the leader, why do units who are never the leader like Sanaki, the laguz royals, etc. have them?

Really? Cool. I'll try that for Hard mode...

And I thought they did that for storyline purposes... "Sanaki is the leader of Beginon... She has great authority to prove it!" And same for the others... >_> Especially because I didn't really notice my people dodge better than normal...

[The Paladin]

IIRC Pent is a bit higher level than your team when he joins...

Not really. He's only lvl 6. Your guys should be around 3-5, and Marcus and Oswin should be well ahead of that.

Harken joins at around the same level as your units IIRC, so...

Lion King joins at around the same level as your units IIRC, so...

Athos joins in the last chapter... >_>

So does Lion King.

People shouldn't use Seth for fighting until the other units are at least 15/0 so he isn't as much of an EXP drain... <_<

Slim Weapons ftw. You get them early ftw.

Titania and Stefan (and maybe Tanith too) are also EXP drains for some time...

*Reads Lord Kratos's post on how good Titania is...*

Stefan and Tanith is doing the same thing in the midgame. Plus Tanith never dies thanks to high SPD and Earth affinity. Stefan has the best offense until someone gets S Swords. Both can kill things your other units can't.

And BEXP. Since these guys are overlvled, they're not using BEXP, so more for your other units ftw.

Hell, overlvled units in general ftw. Most of the good laguz are overlvled, so that ftw.

Well, they join so late... You probably used Mia and Eddie already, Sothe is required and can do almost everything Volke can, and Renning, well, isn't that good and you have, like, 7 other paladins... >_>

And they are outclassing Stefan, how? They are at about the same lvl, with the same stats. Stefan is in the same boat as Lion King, but Lion King pwns harder. If people say Stefan is good, then Lion King is God. If unit1 doesn't outclass unit2 by a huge amount, then unit2 can definately be used.

Volke>>>Sothe when he joins. Stefan-like stats+Lethality+25% critical=hax. Sothe's endgame sucks cause he promotes late. Point for Volke.

Renning has very good stats overall and has no weaknesses. Since he has high MAG, you can give him Imbue so he never dies. Renning ftw.

...because you have ___ other units that are perfectly fine? I didn't say not to use them or they were bad at all... just that they didn't have much use... IMO at least. >_>

Raep>Fine. Lion King>All. Far from useless.

[hyde]

Don't ravens still have that Vortex spell?

It uses strength now.

[Callandor]

On my playthrough, I used quite a few laguz units: Volug, Skrimir and Kurthnaga I all used extensively (and the Herons, but that's a different story).  I used different methods for levelling each of them up.

Since they all level up slowly, I found that giving one of them Paragon (Skrimir), untransforming them, and then weakening many enemy units around them so that the laguz counter would kill the enemy worked wonders.  He would easily gain a couple levels per turn of fighting. 

For another (Volug), I would level him up so that he would almost reach a level change then before the next fight, I gave him a couple bonus exp.  He capped everything quite early and was my best unit (besides the royals) when transformed.

For Kurth, I just had Reyson use the song on him to raise his transform gauge to max, and then I had him solo half of the map on a couple of the final chapters.  I think he only lost one point on his transform gauge for every time he entered a fight.  With a little bit of bonus exp to get him to a decent level, by the end, he was my best unit, hands down.  Capped everything.

One other thing of note, is that if you put the time into your units to raise their strikes to SS level, they are amazing both in untransformed and transformed states.  Personally, I found nothing wrong with the laguz.  Their shortcomings when untransformed were more than made up for when transformed.

[Bastian]

I found laguz near useless in this game. Besides the royals of course.

[Neofox]

I found laguz near useless in this game. Besides the royals of course.

And I personally found them to be among the most useful on my team. Didn't even have to bother with the royals.