"And I've heard the sound from my cousin's bed...
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FIRE EMBLEM: PATH OF RADIANCE
An FAQ/Walkthrough
For the Nintendo GameCube
Copyright 2008 Richard Beast
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...the hiss of the train at the railway head..." - Porcupine Tree
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Table of Contents:
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-!NOTE!-
This guide, as you will soon see, is pretty big. Seeing as how this takes
effect, you will most likely be lost in trying to find out what you want to
read. There is one way to get to it, instantly. Press Ctrl + F, and then look
for whatever you want. Let's say you want to go to the Basics section. Type in
"IV. Basics", and then you'll go to the basics section, instantly! Pretty neat,
eh?
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~ -------------------------- * TABLE OF CONTENTS * -------------------------- ~
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I. Introduction
II. Legal Disclaimer
III. Contact Rules
IV. Basics
V. Characters
Va. Character Info
Vb. Supports
VI. Walkthrough (Part 1)
VIa. Mercenaries
VIb. The Battle Begins
VIc. Rescue
VId. Pirates Aground
VIe. Roadside Battle
VIf. Flight!
VIg. A Brief Diversion
VIh. Shades of Evil
VIi. Despair and Hope
VIj. Gallia
VIk. Prisoner Release
VIl. Blood Runs Red
VIm. A Strange Land
VIn. A Guiding Wind
VIo. Training
VIp. The Feral Frontier
VIq. The Atonement
VIr. Day Breaks part 1
VIs. Day Breaks part 2
VIt. Day Breaks part 3
VIu. Day Breaks part 4
VII. Walkthrough (Part 2)
VIIa. Crimea Marches
VIIb. Entrusted
VIIc. Defending Talrega
VIId. Without a King
VIIe. Solo
VIIf. The Great Bridge
VIIg. Battle Reunion
VIIh. Strange Lands
VIIi. Clash!
VIIj. Moment of Fate part 1
VIIk. Moment of Fate part 2
VIIl. Twisted Tower
VIIm. Repatriation
VIII. Extras
VIIIa. Final Stats
VIIIb. Repatriation - Hard Mode
VIIIc. Trial Map 1
VIIId. Trial Map 2
VIIIe. Trial Map 3
IX. Items
IXa. Weapons
IXb. Magic
IXc. Skills
IXd. Shops
X. FAQ
XI. Credits
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~-~ ~-~ ~-~  I. Introduction ~-~ ~-~ ~-~
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It's been a very long time since I've written for a strategy RPG. And that
should definitely surprise you, being that RPGs are like the only thing that
I wrote for nowadays anyway, but hey, I've done FFTactics, started both
Disgaeas... and that's about it. But I'm getting ahead of myself, am I not?
The name is Richard Beast and I kick ass. Of course, if you believe I kick ass
which I doubt that you do, then perhaps it amazes you that despite all that
kickassery, this introduction is so bad it's ridiculous.
I give up. On to the game. Path of Radiance is the ninth entry in the Fire
Emblem series, and actually only the third one that's been released into the
US, id est, that I've played. ;] It operates under that same Fire Emblem
system that we've come to know and hate, that if a character dies in combat,
s/he ain't comin' back. Yeah, die on a battlefield and see if one of your
allies can just use a phoenix down on you and bring you back. See what happens
(on second thought, don't). But that being said it's ridiculous fun and
addiction and whatnot, and you should pick it up. Because I said so. And since
this introduction is just getting worse, I'll end it now.
- Richard Beast
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~-~ ~-~ ~-~  II. Legal Disclaimer ~-~ ~-~ ~-~
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You are NOT permitted to put this FAQ on your site without my permission first.
All you have to do is email me or IM me saying you want this FAQ on your site,
then you can tell me your site and the chance is high that I'll let you. But if
you put this FAQ on your site without my permission I swear you will regret it.
If I let you, not ONE word should be changed from this FAQ! NOT ONE! Got it?
Good. Also, make sure that no money is involved. If you want this FAQ to be sold
on eBay, then just forget about it, man. And don't sell this guide either, or
pay people to use it, or you'll be in such big trouble you don't want to think.
Another little note is that I will not have this guide hosted on many other web
sites besides GameNotOver, GameFAQs, IGN, and Neoseeker. You need full-on
permission if it's not one of the four above sites. I am sick of people ripping
me off (I have been ripped off three times in the past), so if I don't like your
site, I won't let my guide be posted on it. I am sorry, but this is how it has
to be. If you ask politely and I like your site, you will definitely have the
luck of getting it up there. Thank you very much.
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~-~ ~-~ ~-~  III. Contact Rules ~-~ ~-~ ~-~
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First of all, feel free to check out the stuff I've written on GameFAQs. Those
include a guide for Baten Kaitos, a few other sorted RPGs, and tons of random
PSX games. Honor to the PSX, yanno? Hopefully, that'll be added with awesome
Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask and Disgaea 2 guides. As you might be able to
guess, I'm a large RPG fan and writer.
Alright, enough shameless advertisement about me. You can e-mail me if there is
a question you wish to ask that hasn't been answered in the guide, but I REALLY
don't want to bother answering questions that have already been done, answered,
and done again in the guide, if it isn't too much trouble. Feel free to tell me
if there's something I've forgotten, however.
My e-mail address is richard_power1000 [at] yahoo [dot] com. Except, replace the
[at] and spaces with a "@" symbol and the [dot] and spaces with a period; I have
to write like that so I don't get a dozen spam bots e-mailing me and getting me
viruses. Just be polite in the e-mail, don't talk like "omg wtf rich ur gides r
t3h su> Lord
Attribute: Earth
HP ........... High           Speed ........ High
Strength ..... Very High      Defense ...... Average
Magic ........ Low            Resistance ... Average
Skill ........ High           Luck ......... Average
Ike, the main character of the story, is the son of Greil, who is obviously
the commander of the Greil Mercenaries, so obviously that means Ike is the
heir to the throne. Ike is brash and a rather rude human being, but hey, his
etiquette certainly isn't the reason he's the leader here. As you can see...
...he kicks supreme amounts of ass. Seriously, when you first start using Ike,
he's nothing special, as his HP is rather mediocre, and his strength isn't
outstanding. However, give him a Seraph Robe early and he'll be surviving for
much longer, and before you know it, he'll turn into one of your strongest
fighters. Still, just wait until you hit Level 20, and finish Chapter 17.
Ike will promote from a Ranger to a Lord after Chapter 17, and that is when he
REALLY kicks ass. His critical rate is amazing, speed is way up there, and
his strength is some of the best out there. If that weren't enough, give him an
Occult scroll (before Chapter 27 preferably), and he gains his special skill,
Aether, which is just amazing. Best skill, and one of the best characters in
the game. Yes, you always have to have him and the game ends if he dies, but I
am NOT complaining.
My Rating: 5/5
Name: Titania
Recruited: CHAPTER 1
Class: Paladin
Attribute: Light
HP ........... High           Speed ........ High
Strength ..... Average        Defense ...... High
Magic ........ Low            Resistance ... High
Skill ........ High           Luck ......... High
Deputy Commander of the Greil Mercenaries, Titania is Greil's most trusted
member. Why Greil didn't go ahead and make Titania the leader of it all,
considering how strong she is initially especially compared to Ike, I have no
idea.
Remembering Jeigan, Seth, et cetera? Titania is that type of character, and
if you're unfamiliar with what I mean, she starts at the equivalent of Level
21 while everyone else is 1-3, as an already promoted unit, and she absolutely
annihilates everything that dares look her in the eye. But like any of those
other characters, do NOT use her in the early game.
Yeah, I'm serious, Titania does little more than cheaply hog EXP from the whole
group while she barely gets stronger and everyone else suffers. She serves best
as a type of shield, i.e. unequip her and stand her in front of everyone else,
since her defense and everything is quite solid. When everyone else catches up
to her and can level up equally, it's up to you whether to use her or not, since
she really is a very decent character, just not one you want to use early, and
plus later, I'm really more of an Oscar/Geoffrey type of guy.
My Rating: 4/5
Name: Boyd
Recruited: CHAPTER 1
Class: Fighter -> Warrior
Attribute: Fire
HP ........... Very High      Speed ........ High
Strength ..... High           Defense ...... Average
Magic ........ Very Low       Resistance ... Low
Skill ........ High           Luck ......... Average
Boyd, as you can tell, is sort of Ike's rival, and their personalities are
definitely similar -- Boyd is brash and cocky, not exactly the politest guy
around. He definitely loves battles too, and if I were at all like him, I
probably would too.
Why is that, you ask? Because Boyd is just a goddamn beast. There's no other
way to describe it -- packing axes and using them at a skill that can only be
matched by Titania for all of the early game, he just kills anything. His
strength really is great, and you'll always want to him on the frontlines, so
trust me, he's going to level up fast.
Especially when Boyd promotes, he'll have some of the highest HP around. His
speed is great too, the only problem is his sub-par defense, which is really
his only downfall. As long as you have someone in the back with Mend going,
though, his HP will definitely make up for that, and his poor-ish Resistance.
The man is a beast. You gotta use him, plus he's the only Warrior in the game
unless you count Largo, who he dwarves. Just don't bother giving him the Occult
scroll, he kicks ass enough without Colossus.
My Rating: 5/5
Name: Oscar
Recruited: CHAPTER 1
Class: Lance Knight -> Paladin
Attribute: Earth
HP ........... High           Speed ........ High
Strength ..... High           Defense ...... High
Magic ........ Low            Resistance ... Average
Skill ........ High           Luck ......... Average
Oscar is Greil's second most loyal member, second only to Titania. He used to
be a Crimean knight, but left them to take care of his younger brother Rolf
when his parents died. So basically, Greil did make a fantastic choice when
he took in him and his two equally kickass brothers, Boyd and Rolf.
There's six Paladins in the game, and this is the second of them, first being
Titania. And obviously, Oscar is a Lance Knight who is absolutely nothing
compared to Titania early on, but hey, use him anyway, you need lances instead
of axes anyway. He's one of the best defensive and offensive characters early,
definitely, even though as you progress, his strength starts to suffer compared
to Boyd's.
But hey, just keep going, because Oscar becomes one of the more versatile
characters as you go on, especially once he gets promoted. His skill and speed
are both very good, plus at least he has half decent resistance, unlike Boyd.
Plus all in all, since I never use Titania later anyway, I'd consider him to
be the best Paladin out there except for maybe Geoffrey, so having Sol on him
from an Occult scroll wouldn't hurt.
My Rating: 4.5/5
Name: Rhys
Recruited: CHAPTER 2
Class: Priest -> Bishop
Attribute: Fire
HP ........... Low            Speed ........ Low
Strength ..... Very Low       Defense ...... Very Low
Magic ........ High           Resistance ... Very High
Skill ........ Average        Luck ......... High
Rhys is Titania's friend who is consequently part of the Greil Mercenaries
because of that, although he's definitely the weakest guy out there. He's a
wuss who's prone to seizures even at the thought of blood, and can barely
figure out which end of a sword to poke in someone, but oh well.
There's only two characters in the game who are innate healers, and Rhys is
one of them. First of all, though, let me put this straight and honest: Rhys
is a gigantic pain in the ass. He has the worst defense in the entire game,
going at 0 for almost the entire game, so if anyone comes up to him, he's as
good as gone. His terrible speed and HP don't help either, and while he doesn't
need it, he obviously has no strength.
However, Rhys is invaluable. You are going to need someone who has the ability
to heal, especially early on, and for that Rhys is your man. As long as you
keep doing that, he'll gain the EXP that he needs, slowly but surely, and then
he'll promote into a Bishop, and is the ONLY, I repeat ONLY character in the
game who can use Light magic. Why they ditched Light magic in this game so bad,
I don't know, but you can put him to some offensive use at last. Just work on
his crappy speed and defense, and you'll have a good character going,
My Rating: 4/5
Name: Gatrie
Recruited: CHAPTER 3 (CHAPTER 13)
Class: Knight -> General
Attribute: Light
HP ........... Very High      Speed ........ Very Low
Strength ..... High           Defense ...... Very High
Magic ........ Very Low       Resistance ... Low
Skill ........ High           Luck ......... Low
Gatrie is another member of the Greil Mercenaries, and a rather laidback one
at that. He's sort of a coward, which is evident because of the enormous amount
of armor he wears, which obviously slows him down as a consequence, and in
life, there's few things that appeal to him. Pretty much women, and that's it.
Yeah, you need to re-recruit him in Chapter 13, so talk to Astrid with Ike,
and then Gatrie with Astrid.
If you're not familiar with the knights in the Fire Emblem series, it's pretty
easy to guess. Gatrie is obviously going to be slow as hell, usually being
double hitted when attacking, but he's going to have enormous amounts of HP and
defense, plus solid strength on top of that. That's pretty much what he is, and
he'll join you in Chapter 3, where he's amazingly useful, and that's coming from
a place where Titania and Shinon are around to take names.
Gatrie leaves you though, and doesn't rejoin until Chapter 13, when he's
anywhere from Level 12-14, depending on where you got him before. Now I gotta
warn you, you HAVE to level him up at that point, or he WILL lose his value
right then and there, and in every department not be able to catch up. If you
do level him up to become a General, though, his stats should definitely be
passable, even speed, and he'll be one of your best fighters. To put it bluntly,
use Gatrie responsibly.
My Rating: 4/5
Name: Shinon
Recruited: CHAPTER 3 (CHAPTER 18)
Class: Sniper
Attribute: Thunder
HP ........... Average        Speed ........ High
Strength ..... High           Defense ...... High
Magic ........ Low            Resistance ... Average
Skill ........ Very High      Luck ......... Low
One more member of the Greil Mercenaries, Shinon is a jackass and it shows. If
he disagrees with what you're doing, he'll tell you, and if that means turning
around to someone else, you bet. Doesn't help that he hates Ike's guts. At the
same time, though, he happens to be a good teacher, and a very talented archer.
I won't spoil how to get him back here, so refer to the Chapter 18 section.
Shinon is a mixed bag. First of all, I've got to spoil something for you --
he'll be with you in Chapters 3-5, leave and come back in Chapter 7, and then
leave for good until Chapter 18, when he'll return at about the same level as
the rest of your characters. By then, you'll have Rolf going, and probably,
Rolf will be way stronger than Shinon is, if you use him like I do, anyway.
When I got Shinon back in any case, his strength and speed were far inferior
to Rolf's, although his skill was still better. That's the thing with Shinon;
his stats are all pretty good, but Rolf will be better if you plan to use him.
So... yeah, either Rolf or Shinon deserve a place in your final party, but you
can't use both, and since Rolf is part of the Triangle Attack and has more
raw potential, I've really got to recommend him. If you choose to use Shinon,
though, rest assured that he's a good, strong character.
My Rating: 3.5/5 (loses a whole point for coming back at such a low level)
Name: Soren
Recruited: CHAPTER 4
Class: Mage -> Sage
Attribute: Dark
HP ........... Average        Speed ........ Average
Strength ..... Very Low       Defense ...... Low
Magic ........ Very High      Resistance ... High
Skill ........ High           Luck ......... Low
Yet another member of the Greil Mercenaries (don't worry, it's the last one),
Soren is the intelligence behind the operations, and that's not a good thing
because like Shinon, he's a jackass and tends to be in the minority. He's also
a saucerful of secrets, one of the more interesting characters, AND he uses
magic, which is cool.
Some people like Soren, some people don't. I am personally a huge fan and go
an average of one battle per game without using him. First of all, let's start
with the bad. He's frail as all hell when you get him; his HP is low, his Wind
spells aren't really that strong, and he gets his ass beat bad. When you get
him Fire and Thunder and a few levels, he can stay behind a strong unit like
Boyd or Oscar and own pretty much anyone. That's the way it will go for awhile.
Here's another complaint I have though: his weapon affinities are pretty bad,
and when you get let's say Calill, she'll have a huge edge over him, so make
sure he's always going. He has natural orientation in wind, just for your
record. And yes, his strength/speed/luck aren't terrific, which is most
people's complaint, but as long as you don't go overboard, you shouldn't have
a problem. He's not perfect, but in my opinion, he's the best magic user in
the game, and just utterly badass.
My Rating: 4.5/5
Name: Mia
Recruited: CHAPTER 7
Class: Myrmidon -> Swordmaster
Attribute: Fire
HP ........... Average        Speed ........ High
Strength ..... Average        Defense ...... Low
Magic ........ Average        Resistance ... Low
Skill ........ High           Luck ......... High
Alright, I lied, Mia is sort of one of the Greil Mercenaries, as she was hired
as a backing mercenary by Greil, and said budding swordswoman is found in the
fort of Chapter 7. To recruit her, just have Ike head north and talk to her,
and she'll join ya. Don't want to miss her.
Mia is the Marisa of Path of Radiance, and if you're unfamiliar with my Sacred
Stones viewpoints, that means she's not a bad character by any means, and has
a great critical rate (classic myrmidon statistics), but compared to her male
counterpart, in this game Zihark, kind of falls short. That's because her stats
really are rather mediocre: HP is weak, strength is quite low, and she can't
back the lack of HP with defense and resistance.
Obviously, the skill, speed, and resistance are going to be high, but Mia will
be hurting all game long, even after promotion, because of the strength. So
what I'd recommend doing is definitely using her early on, and making her a
custom made sword with a good damage and critical rate. Still, you can't do
that all game long, even though her Vantage skill is sweet. So yeah, later on,
if you only have room for one swordmaster, use Zihark; you probably won't have
space for Mia.
My Rating: 3.5/5
Name: Ilyana
Recruited: CHAPTER 8
Class: Mage -> Sage
Attribute: Light
HP ........... Low            Speed ........ Average
Strength ..... Low            Defense ...... Low
Magic ........ High           Resistance ... High
Skill ........ Average        Luck ......... Average
Ilyana is a sickly young girl who got captured by Daein after attempting to
escape from Crimea. She's found in Chapter 8 in the raid on the fort, and
since she's not exactly in good condition, she finds Ike, who agrees to help
her out.
In my opinion Ilyana is a bit on the mediocre side of things. Let's start with
when she joins. She's at that point quite a bit inferior to Soren, even though
she comes with a D in thunder and can use Elthunder. However, her base stats
are rather bad, especially her speed. But let's just ignore that for a moment
and keep going. She's got one thing going over Soren, and that's that she has
strength. Why is that good? So she can lift heavy magic.
However, Ilyana's speed never gets good, whereas Soren's is fantastic, so that's
a huge low point, plus her HP and defense are weak even by mage standards. In
the end there's really only going to be room for one mage in the party, and
the one I choose is Soren, because the only thing he's got going against him is
his non-existant strength, whereas Ilyana has a whole world of things going
against her. Underleveledness (I just invented that word) is once again evil.
My Rating: 3/5
Name: Rolf
Recruited: CHAPTER 9
Class: Archer -> Sniper
Attribute: Wind
HP ........... Average        Speed ........ High
Strength ..... Average        Defense ...... High
Magic ........ Low            Resistance ... Low
Skill ........ High           Luck ......... High
Rolf is the youngest of the three brothers, and it kind of shows if you know
what I mean. For the first part of the game, Ike, Boyd, and Oscar refuse to
allow him to participate in combat, but with Mist he forces his way in there,
because apparently he's been taking secret lessons with someone in archery.
Too right he has.
At first, Rolf sucks a lot of ass. His strength is terrible, his defense sucks
sitting duck, and he's just low leveled. O ye of little faith, look what you
can make him. Level him up a little, make him a weapon or two, and you'll see.
While he starts out as a pain, Rolf will quickly turn into an absolutely
outstanding character. You don't get a whole lot of choice when it comes to
bows anyway.
Rolf will turn out with solid HP, good speed, decent strength, high skill and
luck, and even rather good defense. That's if you're willing to put forth the
effort to train him up, which you'd have to be mad to decide not to. He's not
even as much a pain as Nephenee (in my opinion) so... yeah. Plus I might add,
he can do the triangle attack with Boyd and Oscar later, so you have NO excuse
not to use him.
My Rating: 4.5/5
Name: Mist
Recruited: CHAPTER 9
Class: Cleric -> Valkyrie
Attribute: Water
HP ........... Low            Speed ........ Average
Strength ..... Low            Defense ...... Very Low
Magic ........ High           Resistance ... High
Skill ........ Low            Luck ......... Very High
Mist is Ike's younger sister. She spends the early part of the game just
following the group around aimlessly with Rolf until they force their way into
the group. She wears with her an accursed seeming pendant which is a keepsake
of her mother, and that's really it. Yeah...
Let me put this bluntly: Mist blows. I can't come up with any reason you might
want to use her, since in the beginning of the game, you've got Rhys, who you
already have some levels on, and who has far more potential than Mist anyway.
Then you come to this point: Mist's stats are AWFUL. And I mean it. Her HP,
strength, skill, and defense are all absolutely hideous. Her speed isn't even
great. All she has going for her are resistance and luck.
When Mist promotes, she turns into a Valkyrie and ride a horse. That's all well
and good, except she can't use light magic! I mean, I'd actually use her in that
case, since I'm desperate for people with light magic, but all she gets is a
sword, and I don't see what the point is when Mist's strength is so pathetic.
Alas, you must use her in Chapter 27, so you might want to make her a Valkyrie
at that point so she can use Physic, but otherwise, stay FAR away from her.
My Rating: 2/5
Name: Marcia
Recruited: CHAPTER 9
Class: Pegasus Knight -> Falcon Knight
Attribute: Fire
HP ........... Average        Speed ........ High
Strength ..... Average        Defense ...... Low
Magic ........ Low            Resistance ... High
Skill ........ Average        Luck ......... High
Marcia is a former pegasus knight of Begnion, but she stopped that to help out
her brother Makalov, who is undergoing an extreme gambling addiction. Marcia
is very outgoing and spunky, plus she has something going on for Ike, which
DOES lead to her showing up in Chapter 9 to chase him down, so whatever.
Once again, initial underleveledness is fatal. Marcia joins at about level five
when most of the rest of your party is going into their tens, making her quite
hard to fit in there. Maybe because she joins at the wrong time (Chapter 9
instead of Chapter 3). And let me tell you this: she's extremely hard to raise.
None of her growths are particularly great, which just makes the leveling up
a ton harder.
Plus Marcia's HP, strength, and defense are all quite lackluster. Early on in
the game, it's not just archers who will give her a hard time: it's everything
short of myrmidons. She never really overcomes that, even though her resistance
is great, and she's got a good evasion going on. She's just overly fragile,
and plus face it: when you get Tanith, she's a Level 10 Falcon Knight. There's
no way Marcia will be that high at that point, and while if you level them both
all the way, Marcia DOES outmatch Tanith, it's just... not worth it.
My Rating: 3/5
Name: Lethe
Recruited: CHAPTER 10
Class: Cat
Attribute: Heaven
HP ........... High           Speed ........ High
Strength ..... High           Defense ...... Average
Magic ........ Very Low       Resistance ... Low
Skill ........ High           Luck ......... High
Lethe is a Gallian warrior who was ordered by King Caineghis to give her aid
to Ike. Not exactly the best idea, because Lethe has a huge grudge against
beorc, meaning she's generally rude and unfriendly. She does eventually
overcome said grudge, though.
Alright, so Lethe is your first laguz unit, and is of the beast tribe. Let's
just get started on the differences from beorc and laguz. Think of Lethe as an
already promoted unit, since she has great stats, gains EXP extremely slowly,
and obviously can't promote. Her stats when you get her are fantastic: she'll
get two extremely powerful hits to anything, and will take no damage: nothing
can damage her... and nothing can hit her anyway. That's the first five or so
turns.
Then after that, Lethe transforms into "sub-human" form and cannot attack for
the next five or so turns, depending on how things play out. So, she's good
for quick brawls, but of course that leads to her possibly being another
Titania if you abuse her. Laguz are EXTREMELY hard to level up, which is why
I don't use them a whole lot. And of course, when it's all said and done,
everyone catches up to Lethe, and despite her high evasion, her terrible
resistance does her in. She's good for what he is, but I'm more for Ranulf.
My Rating: 4/5
Name: Mordecai
Recruited: CHAPTER 10
Class: Tiger
Attribute: Water
HP ........... Very High      Speed ........ Low
Strength ..... High           Defense ...... Average
Magic ........ Very Low       Resistance ... Low
Skill ........ Average        Luck ......... Average
Mordecai is an accomplice to Lethe who was ordered by King Caineghis to assist
Ike. He's a far more passionate, gentle person than Lethe is, although just
look at the two. Mordecai is a big tiger... subordinate to a kitten like Lethe.
But yeah, he's not got a beorc grudge.
In battle, Mordecai is quite a bit different from Lethe. First of all, it
takes about four turns for him to transform, meaning he's not going to be able
to attack in the early parts of the battle. That's okay, though, because his
defense is pretty good early on, and you're probably not going to be abusing
him quite as much. Then when he transforms, you've got strength up the wazoo.
He's not going to be dodging as much as Lethe, but the damage is off the
charts.
All that doesn't last forever, though. While if you level Mordecai up (once
again, leveling laguz up is hard), his HP is always going to be great, plus
he's always going to have tons of strength, his speed is eventually going to go
straight downhill, and his defense in the end turns out a bit average. One
thing he has going for him, however, is Smite. Even when not transformed, early
on, he's going to be able to support other characters, so shoving characters
two spaces is good. But yeah, he's not going to stand up later.
My Rating: 3.5/5
Name: Volke
Recruited: CHAPTER 10
Class: Thief -> Assassin
Attribute: Wind
HP ........... Average        Speed ........ High
Strength ..... Average        Defense ...... Average
Magic ........ Low            Resistance ... Very Low
Skill ........ High           Luck ......... Average
One of my personal favorite characters in the game, Volke is a thief that
Ike runs into when going through the castle to release prisoners, and upon
choosing to hire him, he's a guy who does odd jobs for you, but for a price,
and a person who disappears every two seconds. However, post Chapter 19, his
real identity is revealed, and it's quite relevant.
Volke has standard thief stats. He's always, always going to double hit the
enemy, because of his outstanding speed. His strength is obviously mediocre,
but that's understandable. His HP is surprisingly solid, plus he's going to
be dodging a ton. And he's not underleveled, which is also good. However, you
are pretty much required to use him early on, since he auto promotes in Chapter
19, and you'll want him to be Level 20 by then.
When he promotes into an Assassin, Volke is a beast, plain and simple. Give
him some Stilettos, and his strength is great, plus his critical rate is way
up there. I actually wouldn't give him an Occult scroll though, because while
Lethality's concept is great... the activation rate is Critical/2 %. That's
terrible. But still, Volke is strong on the battlefield because he has great
speed, skill, and his only visible downside is his awful resistance.
My Rating: 4.5/5
Name: Kieran
Recruited: CHAPTER 10
Class: Axe Knight -> Paladin
Attribute: Wind
HP ........... High           Speed ........ Average
Strength ..... High           Defense ...... Average
Magic ........ Low            Resistance ... Average
Skill ........ High           Luck ......... Low
An accomplice to Geoffrey, the foremost retainer of Elincia, Kieran is a knight
of Crimea who got thrown in jail when Daein invaded. Kieran is one of those
egomaniacs who just can't shut up, but hey, don't mess with him in battle, I
tell you, because he's got a sharp axe.
Just as Kieran and Oscar are rivals in character, they're rivals on the battle
scene as well. Kieran, first and foremost, has far superior strength. He's an
axe user compared to Oscar with lances, but he's got good skill on top of that
too. He's not going to double hit nearly as much as Oscar, though, which is a
big minus for me. But enough with the comparison. Kieran joins at a relatively
good level, and he's quite a solid character in the beginning and end.
When you really get Kieran going, however, you'll find that Oscar really does
turn out superior. Kieran does NOT have the defense or the resistance that is
required to support oneself in the later parts of the game. In Repatriation,
for instance, you will definitely find him getting in tough situations. His
strength and skill, however, are awesome, so even if in the long run he's
probably inferior to Oscar, use the guy. You won't regret it.
My Rating: 4/5
Name: Nephenee
Recruited: CHAPTER 10
Class: Soldier -> Halberdier
Attribute: Wind
HP ........... Average        Speed ........ High
Strength ..... Average        Defense ...... High
Magic ........ Low            Resistance ... Low
Skill ........ High           Luck ......... Low
Nephenee is a country girl who joined the militia to protect her family, but
ended up getting captured by Daein and taken to prison until Ike and company
rescue her there with Kieran, Brom, and Sephiran. Because she's from the country
she was an old fashioned way of speaking that leads her to ridicule.
I think of Nephenee as the Amelia of this game. She starts out weak as anything,
having an E in lances and that's it. However, just keep using her anyway, it's
not something you can openly say you'll regret. Load her with some bonus and
some regular EXP, and she'll catch up in levels to the rest of the party, and
become a true force on the battlefield. Her speed is always quite good, and it
just gets better as she levels up.
Although Nephenee's weak HP and resistance are always something that brings her
down half a point for me, her defense eventually skyrockets, and her strength
will become quite solid by the time she reaches Halberdier status. So yeah,
you'll always hear how Nephenee is the best character in the game. I completely
disagree with that notion but you have to admit, Nephenee really does kick ass
if you can get past her initial difficulty of use.
My Rating: 4.5/5
Name: Brom
Recruited: CHAPTER 10
Class: Knight -> General
Attribute: Water
HP ........... High           Speed ........ Low
Strength ..... Average        Defense ...... Very High
Magic ........ Low            Resistance ... Very Low
Skill ........ High           Luck ......... Very Low
Brom is a farmer from Crimea who got dragged into the militia, and he's not
exactly a big fan of it. He IS just a farmer who, to put it bluntly, knows how
to handle a knife and a fork. He's in jail at the castle, and he shivers at the
thought of torture.
I think Brom would have been a much better Soldier than a Knight. Of the three
knights in the game, Gatrie runs in one extreme while Brom is in the other:
his speed isn't too terrible, but his strength takes a huge dive because of
that. Trust me, I don't use Knights for that terrible kind of balance. While
Brom does join at a decent level and his defense rocks ass, strength is a key
factor for Knights for me, and Brom lacks that.
Even with the speed bonus, Brom will very rarely double attack, so what's the
use anyway, even Gatrie double attacks every now and then. So yeah, I can't see
a whole lot of reason to use Brom; Gatrie rejoins two chapters after Brom joins,
so if you're craving Knight power, you won't be left standing for too long. I
might weigh in the fact Brom has extremely poor luck and resistance. Tauroneo
or Gatrie are superior, sorry.
My Rating: 3/5
Name: Zihark
Recruited: CHAPTER 11
Class: Myrmidon -> Swordmaster
Attribute: Earth
HP ........... Average        Speed ........ High
Strength ..... High           Defense ...... Average
Magic ........ Low            Resistance ... Low
Skill ........ Average        Luck ......... Average
Zihark is a swordsman who is in a vigilante group that fights alongside Daein,
who the party runs into at Port Toha. He's highly opposed to the discrimination
against laguz, and if he's spoken to by Lethe or Mordecai in Chapter 11... guess
what, he's joining you.
An absolutely fantastic character, Zihark should become a staple in your party
as soon as he joins. He's got the edge over Mia in almost every way: his HP is
about the same, but his strength is quite superior. Zihark starts with a Killing
Edge anyway, meaning he's going to have at least a 30% critical rate early on.
His magic and resistance are obviously pretty low down there, but for a myrmidon
he has relatively good defense.
The only question will be whether you'll want to use Stefan or Zihark later on.
Personally, I slightly prefer Zihark, because if you're willing to level Zihark
all the way up to Swordmaster 10-20, his stats will probably end up a bit
higher, particularly luck over Stefan's piss poor fortune. I certainly prefer
Zihark over Mia and Lucia, and it's in your best interest to give him a try
and keep him in your party until the end.
My Rating: 4.5/5
Name: Sothe
Recruited: CHAPTER 12
Class: Thief
Attribute: Wind
HP ........... Low            Speed ........ High
Strength ..... Low            Defense ...... Low
Magic ........ Low            Resistance ... Low
Skill ........ High           Luck ......... High
Sothe is a mysterious thief who sneaks onboard Nasir's ship when it sets sail,
apparently to look for someone. Of course, Nasir manages to grab him when he's
there, and upon questioning by Ike, his problems are understood and he's
welcomed onboard. Doesn't mean you're gonna know much about this kid, though.
I take back what I said about Mist being the worst character in the game. That
title goes to Sothe, for one reason: he can NOT promote. Let me just put this
into perspective: you've got Volke, who starts at Level 10, grows relatively
well, and after Chapter 19 promotes into an Assassin, and dominates. Meanwhile,
Sothe grows EXTREMELY slowly, and while his growths are decent enough, that's
only because of his Blossom ability, which causes him to level up very slowly.
If somehow you get him to Level 20 (i.e. waste thousands of bonus EXP on him),
you'll find he's got thief caps, and he can NEVER be good enough to withstand
the kind of things you'll be facing after even Chapter 17. I might add, he joins
when you're in the middle of a number of hard battles, so... there's no way to
make him good. His HP, strength, defense, and resistance all blow, and no matter
what you do with him, he becomes unusable anyway. My suggestion: don't use him
at all, ever.
My Rating: 1/5
Name: Jill
Recruited: CHAPTER 12
Class: Wyvern Rider -> Wyvern Lord
Attribute: Thunder
HP ........... Average        Speed ........ Average
Strength ..... Average        Defense ...... Average
Magic ........ Low            Resistance ... Average
Skill ........ Average        Luck ......... Average
Jill is the daughter of the famous Daein general Shiharam. Because of that, she
always wants to do stupid things to make her daddy proud. The most idiotic thing
she does (which helps you out) is seeing Ike's army fighting laguz... so hey,
Ike's army is the enemy, but laguz are bad, so let's get Ike in her range and
have her talk to him and turn traitor. Makes a whole lot of sense.
Regardless of what an idiot she is, Jill's actually quite a good character in
battle. Let's put it into perspective: Marcia joins three chapters earlier,
about three levels lower, and her stats are far worse. Meanwhile, I know Jill
is a Wyvern Rider whereas Marcia is a Pegasus Knight, but the two are quite
comparable, and Jill isn't ridiculously frail. Especially not against laguz,
since she comes with a Laguzguard.
My only real complaint about Jill is how she's constantly getting killing by
the random number generator, sometimes not leveling a single stat up when she
gains a level. That's why all her stats are really average, but hey, she
doesn't have a single particularly bad stat, except magic which doesn't matter
anyway. So just use her, and you'll find someone with great strength and speed.
You only get one more Wyvern Lord anyway.
My Rating: 4.5/5
Name: Astrid
Recruited: CHAPTER 13
Class: Bow Knight -> Paladin
Attribute: Wind
HP ........... Average        Speed ........ High
Strength ..... Average        Defense ...... Low
Magic ........ Low            Resistance ... Low
Skill ........ High           Luck ......... Average
Astrid is a noble of Begnion who ends up fighting for her own reasons, but is
commonly seen as a liability on the battlefield because she's not got a whole
lot of experience. And of course, when something like that turns up, Gatrie
gets involved. Astrid is recruited by talking to her in Chapter 13.
So anyways, Astrid joins at Level 1 in Chapter 13, and obviously has terrible
base stats at that point, so I know you're expecting me to tell you she sucks.
Actually, she doesn't -- my opinion is that she's one of the most underrated
characters in the game. She comes with the Paragon ability, meaning she'll level
up twice as fast as anyone else. Give her a custom weapon, and eventually she'll
start owning everyone she sees, and leveling up about twice per three kills.
Astrid should have absolutely no problem promoting, except by then I'd delete
Paragon so she doesn't get overleveled. And at that point she's a very good
utility unit: her strength is quite solid, skill and speed are great, and her
evasion is way up there. She'll never get the HP to really stand up, though,
plus there aren't a whole lot of archers in the game. While it's up to you
whether you'd rather use Rolf and Geoffrey, though, I'd say definitely give
Astrid a chance.
My Rating: 4/5
Name: Makalov
Recruited: CHAPTER 14
Class: Sword Knight -> Paladin
Attribute: Thunder
HP ........... Average        Speed ........ Average
Strength ..... Average        Defense ...... Average
Magic ........ Low            Resistance ... Average
Skill ........ Average        Luck ......... Low
Makalov just so happens to be Marcia's brother. You can see just by looking at
him (and his hideous character portrait) that there's a reason Marcia quit the
pegasus knights. Makalov is a moron always gambling, and getting himself into
trouble. Then again, you can always have Marcia talk to him in Chapter 14 to
get him to join.
Makalov is my least favorite of the cavaliers in the game by far. I don't know
about you, but I've got Oscar, Kieran, Astrid, and later Geoffrey. There is no
room in my ideal party for Makalov, what with the ridiculous amount of work he
requires to become a great member of your party. Not to mention his character
portrait makes Lowen's from FE7 look good. Level 10 without Paragon in Chapter
14 is just not good enough in my book.
I might add to that, Makalov's base stats are horrible. His strength, skill,
and speed are all so mediocre I can barely bring myself to level him up. Now
don't get me wrong, Makalov has potential. If you really do use him a lot,
everything except maybe his skill will go up, but it's just a sacrifice I'm not
willing to make. I have four other paladins to use, I don't need another. And
I discriminate against ugly people. Whoops, I wasn't supposed to say that...
My Rating: 3/5 (not my cup of tea, but maybe yours)
Name: Stefan
Recruited: CHAPTER 15
Class: Swordmaster
Attribute: Heaven
HP ........... Average        Speed ........ High
Strength ..... High           Defense ...... Average
Magic ........ Low            Resistance ... Average
Skill ........ High           Luck ......... Low
Stefan, much like Soren, is half beorc and half laguz, and we all know how bad
that is. Unlike Soren, however, Stefan chooses to isolate himself from society
and remain a hermit in the desert. To have him join in Chapter 15, you need to
move a laguz to the northeast, then two squares to the left and one square down.
Yeah, that's seriously what you have to do.
In my opinion, Stefan is just slightly inferior to Zihark. Obviously, he'll be
joining in Chapter 15 if you find him, and he's a Level 8 Swordmaster. That's
crazy, and there's no way you'll be using him at that point, since he swipes
EXP from you worse than Titania. He does, however, have pretty good stats,
except his luck, which I'll get to in a second, so in the early to mid 20s when
the rest of your party has caught up to him, start using Stefan.
Stefan comes equipped with the Vague Katti sword, which has only 25 uses but a
wild critical rate, so he's not a man you want to mess with. I'd definitely
use the Hammerne at least once on the Vague Katti, especially with Stefan's
awesome default Astra raping it. But here's my issue: Stefan has very poor
luck, so he's not going to be able to critical very much without the Katti.
If you can, give him an Ashera Icon, then raise him a bit later, and he'll be
good. Not perfect, but a great alternative to Zihark or especially Mia/Lucia.
My Rating: 4/5
Name: Tormod
Recruited: CHAPTER 15
Class: Mage -> Sage
Attribute: Fire
HP ........... Low            Speed ........ High
Strength ..... Low            Defense ...... Low
Magic ........ High           Resistance ... High
Skill ........ High           Luck ......... Average
Tormod is a young mage who lives in the desert under the care of the tiger
Maurim. He's also the self proclaimed leader of the Laguz Emancipation Army
in the desert. Why he cares so much about the laguz, I don't know, but when
Maurim surrenders and joins, he does.
Tormod comes with one flaw that I absolutely cannot look past: he is horribly
underleveled, plus he's the last unpromoted character that will ever join you,
coming in at Chapter 16. This is the deal breaker for me and Tormod: he comes
at such a low level, that you have to load him up with tons of bonus EXP that I
would just rather give it to Soren, if you want him to be of any use. It's just
a question of whether or not you're willing to do that.
He's not without his good points though. He can turn out to be a very decent
sage, perhaps a rival to Soren if you do train him up, plus he comes with the
Celerity skill, which, while it hogs 15 capacity, gives him two extra movement.
Very helpful. Tormod also has a rather decent innate strength compared to Soren
(well hell, anyone does...), so couple that with his very good speed and he'll
be able to double attack, but for me it's just too much effort needed to get
him caught up with the rest of your party.
My Rating: 3.5/5
Name: Maurim
Recruited: CHAPTER 15
Class: Tiger
Attribute: Thunder
HP ........... Very High      Speed ........ Average
Strength ..... High           Defense ...... Average
Magic ........ Very Low       Resistance ... Low
Skill ........ High           Luck ......... Average
Maurim is a tiger laguz living the Begnion desert to get away from the
discrimination of society, much like Stefan. He's the other leader of the Laguz
Emancipation Army there, but starts out as a boss of chapter 15. Once he's
beaten, though, he realizes Ike isn't racist and joins, ya.
If I haven't said it yet, I'll say it again: laguz are ridiculously hard to
level up because of the fact they're already considered on their second cycle
of levels, so if you're going to use them you're better off with the ones that
are already at a high level. Being that you only have two tigers, Mordecai and
Maurim, Maurim is definitely your answer to that. You saw him in Chapter 15,
he's Level 9 with 45 HP.
The only disadvantage to Maurim rather than Mordecai, to me, is the fact Maurim
doesn't have Smite. That's not too major of a loss though, since his stats are
extremely decent. His HP is quite high and will of course always increase upon
levels, his strength and defense are both solid, and his speed isn't too bad
either, so where can you go wrong. It just depends on whether you like laguz or
not. If you do, only Ranulf can hope to top Maurim.
My Rating: 4/5
Name: Devdan
Recruited: CHAPTER 16
Class: Halberdier
Attribute: Fire
HP ........... High           Speed ........ Low
Strength ..... Average        Defense ...... Average
Magic ........ Average        Resistance ... Average
Skill ........ Average        Luck ......... Average
Devdan is a weird dude under Duke Tanas whom I think is mentally retarded. By
that, I'm referring to the fact he speaks in the first person and just generally
looks like he has problems. To recruit him in Chapter 16, have one of the
following characters talk to him: Soren, Rolf, Mist, Sothe, or Tormod. Why does
that work? Because the guy doesn't want to fight kids.
Surprise surprise. Devdan is a rather mediocre character all in all. Starting
with the stats, you may notice that almost all of them are average. He isn't as
bad as some people might claim, but he's quite inferior to Nephenee, except
the fact that he is, of course, a little higher leveled. But being that their
stats are probably about the same when he joins in Chapter 16, yet Nephenee is
lower leveled, you run into a problem.
While just from looking above you can tell that Devdan's stats are at least
average, that's all they are... average. Nephenee beats him in almost
everything except luck, which isn't the most important thing in the world.
Devdan has decent magic power (Flame Lance yo), plus early on his strength
isn't terrible, but in the endgame there are so many characters miles ahead of
him that you just can't be bothered anymore.