Here is my
personal tier list for a
first run through. Basically, you're familiarizing yourself with the story, the units, the enemies, and you're probably not abusing arenas or anything. I took theshim's list and modified it, because I agreed with a lot of it anyway.
God ~ You can't go wrong with them... except in cases of severe RNG-rape.
Rutger (Swordmasters are great in this game. Maybe you'll only use one, maybe both. Both have weakish Def and Res, decent Str, but naturally fantastic avoid and enough HP to take hits. Their greatest weakness is Berserk Staffs.)
Clarine (Troubadour/Valkyrie. High Spd, Luck in particular. Magic might suffer, but who knows? My first run, I thought she was a God with maxed Magic. Her HP is low, but well, magic units... Her Def is also magic-unit-weak [actually, forget magic-unit-weak. Most units don't get above 15 Def in this game], but her Res and Skl are fine. Has great support options in Rutger, Dieck, and Lance... Her fastest supports are with Rutger and her brother Klein, who is a decent prepromote.)
Fil (Other great Swordmaster <3 See comments under Rutger)
Dieck (Lots of HP and Skl. Str is significantly higher than that of Rutger and Fil. Enough Spd to handle and double most enemies. Some luck, slightly more def than Rutger. Con prevents speed loss that the other Mercenary, Oujay, will get from heavier weapons, though Oujay is still good).
Top
Sue (Sue and Shin are your primary nomads. They're better than the archers you get... except in the lone desert chapter where you'd like foot archers to shoot down the dragon knights. But that's just one map. Magic units can fry the dragons too. Shin has plenty of the first four stats, though actually his strength averages about 23, and maxes at 24. Oh well. Sue only averages 45 HP, and 18.3 Str, but also has plenty of Skl and Spd, moreso than Shin, and significantly more Luck for more avoid and more critical avoid. They have fast supports, but Sue would benefit more from a Fire support from Roy. Rath >>>>> Sue. Rath >>>>> Shin. Sue + Shin > Rath. Too bad in this game, nomads can't triangle... whether you take Sacae path or Ilia path, it makes no difference really...)
Shin (see above)
Lance (Support him with Alen, and then maybe a C from Roy each? Solidly good. Not as much power as Alen early on, but plenty of HP, Skl, Spd. Not godly, but handles things fine. Alen and Lance wind up similar. Great HP, good Str, good Skl, Decent Spd, some Def, low Res, Some Luck)
Alen (see above)
Percival (Greatest prepromote in this game. Even better with hard mode bonuses. Poor support options though)
Zeiss (Zeiss and Miledy are siblings from Bern, and superior Dragon Knights. Zeiss has lots of HP, Str, Skl. Decent Spd, and above average Defense for this game. His Luck is a little lower than we'd like, and his Resistance is utter crap, but... Anyhow. Miledy is pretty much the same except 1 less Strength for about 2 points more of Speed. Slightly lower Def for slightly less crappy Res.)
Miledy (see above)
Gonzales (For an axe-user, use either Gonzales if you get him at level 5, or Geese otherwise. Gonzales is scary-looking, but he's got lots of HP, Str, and Spd. As a Berserker later, his critical, +30 for Berserkers and Swordmasters in this game instead of the measley +15 in the NA games, more than makes up for his poor Skl. His Def averages 17.5, but he'll have plenty of HP. If your Gonzales is level 12, DO NOT USE THAT ONE.)
Chad (Chad, Lugh, and Rei are childhood friends. Support them together. They have similar movement, the same once Lugh and Rei are promoted. The Thieves are all decent in this game, but Chad is clearly on top. Too bad they don't promote here. Lugh is the mage, and a good one. Not stellar like Nino, but more well-rounded than Lyrina. Enough Mag and Spd and Luck, and superior Skl. Supports reinforce his 39 hp and weak defense. Rei is the Shaman with more HP and Power than his brother, plenty of Skl, decent Spd, weak Luck and Def, and better Res. Good, but like his friends, needs supports.)
Lugh (see above)
Rei (see above)
High
Lyrina (I love
It's just that she's usually so unbalanced. Averages 36.1 hp, maxes Mag at 30, decent Spd at 20.2, lots of Res 22 and Luck 23. She's built like a Shaman, except her low 15.6 Skl doesn't blow since Anima is so accurate. She won't critical much on her own, but she will. Her support with Fire affinity Roy is fast and great. Give only Fire tomes, and she'll still burn a hole through enemy lines without any Speed loss, and it's cheap. Her fast supports are also good for Roy, since Roy seems too balanced. As she only needs Fire tomes, she'll maintain an average of 63 avoid. Add supports, and maybe even a terrain bonus. Highly useful to take out Dragon Knights in the desert chapter)
Asthol (the thief from Ostia. Supports with Igrene if you're interested in a completely irrelevant story. He's useable, just pales next to Chad)
Sol (the philandering priest! Once, I forgot he was equipped with a Light magic tome, and when Douglass attacked him, he criticaled Douglass and I had to restart. Anyway. Light sucks next to Anima in this game, but Sol isn't by any means a bad character. Slightly higher HP than most magic units, he has weaker magic power than even Lugh, but lots of Skl and Spd and Res. Weak Def and Luck means don't put this guy against Swordmasters)
Oujay (really good Mercenary. Lower Con than Dieck, so he will be weighed down, but he does have more Spd)
Geese (your axe-user if you got level 12 Gonzales. He's good. Lots of HP and Str, good Luck, average Def, poor Res, and more balanced decent Skl and Spd)
Noah (supports Fil. Decent.)
Roy (all-around decent but not outstanding... until he gets the 20 use Sword of Seals right near the end of the game
)
Hugh (usually forgotten, Canas' son is pretty good, if you get him for full price. Very average Def and Luck, and low Res for a magic user, but higher HP than other magic users, more power than Lugh, plenty of skill what with Lyrina's skill being quite enough, and a decently good 23 speed)
Tate (I prefer Thany over Tate, but overall, the three Pegasi suck next to the FE7 girls. Tate has more Str and is more durable, but her Spd isn't as high, and with weak Luck, that means her avoid isnt' that high. She is harder to train up, compared to Thany. Yes, Tate is more durable, but that doesn't mean she IS durable. In the end though, both will be solid. I've even given Thany Durandal, though more for fun; I usually just stick them with Killer Swords and let them rip.)
Thany (see above)
Cass (like Asthol, severely pales next to Chad, and comes later than both. As a thief, she is needed for the gaiden right after she comes, which means you'd better abuse-train her as soon as you get her. Which is a pain. If she came in Lyrina's chapter, like Asthol, that'd be great. Her Str, Def, and Res all suck. It also sucks that at level 5 she has 11 speed and a killer 85% growth especially since everything except luck maxes at 20. her 80% growth in HP also is made useless as she starts off level 5 with 16 HP, resulting in an average of 28. Even if you're lucky and she goes up in HP every single time, that's only 31 HP if you don't use steroids. On the other hand, I rely heavily on thieves to prevent enemies from using vulneraries every time they don't die, and for 12x to nab treasure and steal from other thieves.)
Mid
Lot (slightly better than his best friend Ward, but still weak)
Sofia (she's like Lyrina, except Dark magic is heavy and inaccurate, comes in a difficult map, and that late into the game, is ridiculously hard to train. She does have higher HP than her fellow female magic users at 39.8; her growth isnt' bad at 60%, just starts really low. She has lots of Magic and Res, probably will max both. Low Def and surprisingly Luck, and her Spd only averages 18.4... She's more a story character)
Lalam/Elfin (they have different growths as they are different characters. They can refresh characters, but with lower speed max, they become weak links quickly. Elfin in particular has some interesting supports...)
Dorothy (both your archers are decent, with decent first 4 stats, but the nomads are much better, and you might as well just use Klein and Igrene)
Wolt (see above)
Treck (decent in the end.
Elen (I prefer Sol. She has magic-unit HP and Def, FANTASTIC Res and Luck... If you only stick her on basic Light tomes, she won't be weighed down. With a magic of 22.3 and skl of 20, she'll be doing okay damage. Her 17.4 Speed really blows for me though. That's just 64 avoid, similar to Lyrina's, except lower attack speed. She won't double ANYTHING, and she's not doing godly damage either)
Karel (decent all-around, and has crazy growths... for one level. He also comes in like the second to last map ever. >__<)
Bors (the best of the armors, and not that good)
Igrene (both your Snipers are decent prepromotes)
Klein (see above)
Low
Dayan (Rath's father, and Sue's grandfather. Past his prime, apparently, the feared Silver Wolf. Can't triangle, but he's a bit better than Juno)
Bartre (Past his prime as well. The only one who improved in growths over time was Karel, apparently, and I don't believe he improved overall, either)
Cecilia (Weak Valkyrie Mage General. Roy and Lyrina have surpassed their tutor)
Ward (Fighter. Blah)
Douglas (blah blah blah Etrurian general. Etruria doesn't know how to hire people when only one general, Percival, is any good)
Garret (a scary-looking berserker that Lyrina can recruit. Unlike Gonzales, this guy sucks, and I'd prefer to just feed him as experience to Clarine)
Yodel (Like Niime <_< If you really want Light magic and hate Sol and Elen, then play the game 9 times over to use Guinivere)
Wendy (I don't mind her if she were in FE8, but here? Worse than Sofia to train)
Barth (Worst of the triangle armors)
Niime (Canas' grandmother. More amazing than my grandmother is probably all I can say. For the map she's in, protect her and let her heal people. Get her supports if you're OCD, and then ditch her.)
Bottom
Zealot (a paladin whose supposed to be intelligent, but sucks. Married to Juno.)
Juno (unlike Farina of FE7, the late-coming sister sucks. A lot. She's already promoted too, so she'll be slow to level, with low growth. Her one redeeming point is that she can Triangle with her sisters, unlike Dayan, so if you like a fancier animation...)
Marcus (if you thought FE7 Marcus was bad...)
OVERALL: Fire affinities, the preferred affinity for offense since it only really lacks in defense and critical evade, in the whole army are Roy, Alen, Ward, Lugh, Dorothy, Wendy, Fil, and Geese. We can make do with Roy and Fil, and 2 out of Alen, Fil, and Geese. Wind is okay for everything except evade and defense.
Roy (Lyrina A, Sue B) ~ Added power, hit, crit... basically will turn your jack-of-all-trades into something good.
Lyrina (Roy A, Gonzales B) ~ She doesn't need more power, but the added hit and crit are good, as are fast supports and some evade. As she herself is Light, she adds even more firepower, hit and crit. Low skill be gone.
Gonzales (Lyrina B) ~ He does need the hit, though it might be a moot point. The added crit = one big powerhouse hit.
Rutger (Clarine A, Dieck C, Fil C) Rutger and Clarine need Attack, something neither of their affinities gives them. However, they add crit, which makes Rutger deadlier than ever. Both dodge king and dodge queen get extra avoid. The support for Rutger with Fil gives both a bit more of everything --- sizzling hot!
Clarine (Rutger A, Dieck C) Here, the double Thunder with Dieck won't help Clarine, but it will supplement Dieck's only decent speed and low luck. Clarine's low defense will never be a problem at that.
Fil (Shin A, Rutger C) Fil's fire will make sure both she and Rutger get a little supplement for lower Str, and Crit everything else away. Shin doesn't really need more power, but she's his best support choice, as Sue definitely does not need Ice.
Dieck (Rutger C, Clarine C)
Chad (Lugh/Rei A, Miledy C)
Lugh/Rei (Chad A, Miledy B [if Lugh]) ~ Why would Lugh be Fire and Rei be Ice? They have the same birthmonth unless Nino went into labor on the last day of the month in the evening. And they definitely have the same blood type... Anyway. Chad and Miledy are versatile, so both offensive and defensive supports will do them good.
Sue (Roy B, Shin B) ~ She needs some power and crit from Roy, a fast supplemental support from Shin.
Shin (Sue B, Fil A) ~ more crit power is always good. It's more reliable.
Miledy (Zeiss A, Lugh B)
Zeiss (Miledy A)
